[2] Conrad III. of Suabia. In 1143 he joined in the second Crusade.
[3] Made me a belted knight.
[4] The law of Mahomet.
[5] The Holy Land, by right belonging to the Christians.
CANTO XVI.
The boast of blood.—Cacciaguida continues his discourse concerning the old and the new Florence.
O thou small nobleness of our blood! If thou makest folk glory in thee down here, where our affection languishes, it will nevermore be a marvel to me; for there, where appetite is not perverted, I mean in Heaven, I myself gloried in thee. Truly art thou a cloak which quickly shortens, so that, if day by day it be not pieced, Time goeth round about it with his shears.
With the YOU,[1] which Rome first tolerated, in which her family least perseveres,[2] my words began again. Whereat Beatrice, who was a little withdrawn,[3] smiling, seemed like her[4] who coughed at the first fault that is written of Guenever. I began, “You are my father, you give me all confidence to speak; you lift me so that I am more than I. Through so many streams is my mind filled with gladness that it makes of itself a joy, in that it can bear this and not burst.[5] Tell me then, beloved first source of me, who were your ancestors, and what were the years that were numbered in your boyhood. Tell me of the sheepfold of St. John,[6] how large it was then, and who were the people within it worthy of the highest seats.”
[1] The plural pronoun, used as a mark of respect. This usage was introduced in the later Roman Empire.
[2] The Romans no longer show respect to those worthy of it.