Thou, therefore, that didst lift for me the covering that was hiding from me such great good as I say, while we have remainder of ascent, tell me where is our ancient Terence, Caecilius, Plautus, and Varro, if thou knowest it; tell me if they are damned, and in what region?” “They, and Persius, and I, and many others,” replied my Leader, “are with that Greek whom the Muses suckled more than any other ever, in the first girdle of the blind prison. Oftentimes we discourse of the mountain[12] that hath our nurses[13] always with itself. Euripides is there with us, and Antiphon, Simonides, Agathon, and many other Greeks who of old adorned their brows with laurel. There of thine own people[14] are seen Antigone, Deiphile, and Argia, and Ismene sad[15] even as she was. There she is seen who showed Langia;[16] there is the daughter of Tiresias and Thetis,[17] and Deidamia with her sisters.” [1] Quid non mortalia peetora yogis, Auri sacra fames? Aeneid. iii. 56-57. [2] I should be in Hell among the prodigals rolling heavy weights and striking them against those rolled by the avaricious. See Hell, Canto VII. [3] A reference to the symbolic short hair of prodigals in Hell. [4] As, for instance, avarice and prodigality. [5] In the Thebaid. [6] Eteocles and Polynices, the two sons of Jocasta. See Hell, Canto XXVI. [7] On her lyre. [8] From the general course of thy poems. [9] St. Peter. [10] The famous prophecy of the Cumaean Sibyl, very early applied to the coming of Christ:— Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo. Jam redit et virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna: Jam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto.—Ecloga, iv. 5-7. [11] Where love too slack is punished. [12] Parnassus. [13] The Muses. [14] The people celebrated in thy poems. [15] Two pairs of sisters, and, of the four, Ismene, sister of Antigone, had the hardest lot. [16] Hypsipyle, who showed the fountain Langia to Adrastus, and the other kings, when their army was perishing with thirst. [17] Manto is the only daughter of Tiresias, who is mentioned by Statius; but Manto is in the eighth circle in Hell. See Canto XX. Now both the poets became silent, once more intent on looking around, free from the ascent and from the walls; and four of the handmaids of the day were now remaining behind,[1] and the fifth was at the pole,[2] directing still upward its burning horn, when my Leader, “I think that it behoves us to turn our right shoulders to the outer edge, circling the Mount as we are wont to do.” Thus usage was there our guide, and we took the way with less doubt because of the assent of that worthy soul. [1] The first four hours of the day were spent. It was between ten and eleven o’clock. [2] Of the car.