Because this beast, at which thou criest out, Suffers not any one to pass her way, But so doth harass him, that she destroys him;
And has a nature so malign and ruthless, That never doth she glut her greedy will, And after food is hungrier than before.
Many the animals with whom she weds, And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain.
He shall not feed on either earth or pelf, But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue;
'Twixt Feltro and Feltro shall his nation be;
Of that low Italy shall he be the saviour, On whose account the maid Camilla died, Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds;
Through every city shall he hunt her down, Until he shall have driven her back to Hell, There from whence envy first did let her loose.
Therefore I think and judge it for thy best Thou follow me, and I will be thy guide, And lead thee hence through the eternal place, Where thou shalt hear the desperate lamentations, Shalt see the ancient spirits disconsolate, Who cry out each one for the second death;
And thou shalt see those who contented are Within the fire, because they hope to come, Whene'er it may be, to the blessed people;
To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend, A soul shall be for that than I more worthy;
With her at my departure I will leave thee;
Because that Emperor, who reigns above, In that I was rebellious to his law, Wills that through me none come into his city.
He governs everywhere, and there he reigns;
There is his city and his lofty throne;
O happy he whom thereto he elects!"
And I to him: "Poet, I thee entreat, By that same God whom thou didst never know, So that I may escape this woe and worse, Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said, That I may see the portal of Saint Peter, And those thou makest so disconsolate."
Then he moved on, and I behind him followed.