Praised be thy name and thine omnipotence
  By every creature, as befitting is
  To render thanks to thy sweet effluence.

Come unto us the peace of thy dominion,
  For unto it we cannot of ourselves,
  If it come not, with all our intellect.

Give unto us this day our daily manna,
  Withouten which in this rough wilderness
  Backward goes he who toils most to advance.

And even as we the trespass we have suffered
  Pardon in one another, pardon thou
  Benignly, and regard not our desert.

This last petition verily, dear Lord,
  Not for ourselves is made, who need it not,
  But for their sake who have remained behind us."

Thus for themselves and us good furtherance
  Those shades imploring, went beneath a weight
  Like unto that of which we sometimes dream, 

If there good words are always said for us,
  What may not here be said and done for them,
  By those who have a good root to their will?

Well may we help them wash away the marks
  That hence they carried, so that clean and light
  They may ascend unto the starry wheels! 

Show us on which hand tow'rd the stairs the way
  Is shortest, and if more than one the passes,
  Point us out that which least abruptly falls;

For he who cometh with me, through the burden
  Of Adam's flesh wherewith he is invested,
  Against his will is chary of his climbing." 

But it was said: "To the right hand come with us
  Along the bank, and ye shall find a pass
  Possible for living person to ascend.

And were I not impeded by the stone,
  Which this proud neck of mine doth subjugate,
  Whence I am forced to hold my visage down, 

A Latian was I, and born of a great Tuscan;
  Guglielmo Aldobrandeschi was my father;
  I know not if his name were ever with you.

The ancient blood and deeds of gallantry
  Of my progenitors so arrogant made me
  That, thinking not upon the common mother, 

I am Omberto; and not to me alone
  Has pride done harm, but all my kith and kin
  Has with it dragged into adversity.

And here must I this burden bear for it
  Till God be satisfied, since I did not
  Among the living, here among the dead." 

And looked at me, and knew me, and called out,
  Keeping his eyes laboriously fixed
  On me, who all bowed down was going with them.

"O," asked I him, "art thou not Oderisi,
  Agobbio's honour, and honour of that art
  Which is in Paris called illuminating?"

In sooth I had not been so courteous
  While I was living, for the great desire
  Of excellence, on which my heart was bent.

Here of such pride is paid the forfeiture;
  And yet I should not be here, were it not
  That, having power to sin, I turned to God. 

In painting Cimabue thought that he
  Should hold the field, now Giotto has the cry,
  So that the other's fame is growing dim.

So has one Guido from the other taken
  The glory of our tongue, and he perchance
  Is born, who from the nest shall chase them both.

What fame shalt thou have more, if old peel off
  From thee thy flesh, than if thou hadst been dead
  Before thou left the 'pappo' and the 'dindi,'

Ere pass a thousand years? which is a shorter
  Space to the eterne, than twinkling of an eye
  Unto the circle that in heaven wheels slowest.

Where he was lord, what time was overthrown
  The Florentine delirium, that superb
  Was at that day as now 'tis prostitute.

Your reputation is the colour of grass
  Which comes and goes, and that discolours it
  By which it issues green from out the earth." 

"That," he replied, "is Provenzan Salvani,
  And he is here because he had presumed
  To bring Siena all into his hands.

He has gone thus, and goeth without rest
  E'er since he died; such money renders back
  In payment he who is on earth too daring." 

(Unless good orison shall him bestead,)
  Until as much time as he lived be passed,
  How was the coming granted him in largess?"

"When he in greatest splendour lived," said he,
  "Freely upon the Campo of Siena,
  All shame being laid aside, he placed himself;

I say no more, and know that I speak darkly;
  Yet little time shall pass before thy neighbours
  Will so demean themselves that thou canst gloss it.

This action has released him from those confines."