sinners up to the last hour; then light from Heaven made us
mindful, so that both penitent and pardoning we issued forth from
life, at peace with God, who fills our hearts with the desire to
see him." And I, "Although I gaze upon your faces, not one I
recognize; but if aught that I can do be pleasing to you, spirits
wellborn,[1] speak ye, and I will do it by that peace which makes
me, following the feet of such a guide, seek for itself from
world to world." And one began, "Each of us trusts in thy good
turn without thy swearing it, provided want of power cut not off
the will; wherefore I, who alone before the others speak, pray
thee, if ever thou see that land that sits between Romagna and
the land of Charles,[2] that thou be courteous to me with thy
prayers in Fano, so that for me good orisons be made, whereby I
may purge away my grave offences. Thence was I; but the deep
wounds, wherefrom issued the blood in which I had my seat,[3]
were given me in the bosom of the Endoneuria,[4] there where I
thought to be most secure; he of Este had it done, who held me in
wrath far beyond what justice willed. But if I had fled toward
Mira,[5] when I was overtaken at Oriaco, I should still be yonder
where men breathe. I ran to the marsh, and the reeds and the mire
hampered me so that I fell, and there I saw a lake made by my
veins upon the ground."

[1] Elect from birth to the joys of Paradise, in contrast with
the ill-born, the miscreants of Hell.

[2] The March of Ancona, between the Romagna and the kingdom of
Naples, then held by Charles II. of Anjou. It is Jacopo del
Cassero who speaks. He was a noted and valiant member of the
leading Guelph family in Fano. On his way to take the place of