For us to win the light of saving day;
Resplendent star, whose undeservèd ray
Made glory in the nest where I had birth;
Whose recompense not all a stainèd earth,
But Thou his Maker, Thou alone couldst pay.
Dante I mean, and that unfair return
Endured from a community ingrate,
That only to the just awardeth scorn;
Would I were he! To equal fortune born,
For his pure virtue, for his exile stern,