“Salve Regina!”—seated on the bloom
And verdure sheltered by the dingle side.
SORDELLO.
“Ere yon low sun shall nestle in his bed”
(Began the Mantuan who had brought us here),
“Desire not down among them to be led;
You better will observe how they appear,
Both face and action, from this bank, instead
Of mixing with them in the dale. That one
Who sits the highest, looking, ‘mid the throng,
As though some duty he had left undone,
Who moves his lips not with the rest in song,
Was Rodolph, Emperor, he who might have healed
Those wounds which Italy have so far spent
That slow relief all other helpers yield.
The other, that on soothing him seems bent,
Once ruled the region whence those waters are
Which Moldau bears to Elbe, and Elbe the sea.
His name was Ottocar, and better far,