THE DIVINE COMEDY: Inferno, Purgatorio & Paradiso (3 Classic Translations in One Edition). Dante Alighieri

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       Say, if thou know, where our old Terence bides,

       Caecilius, Plautus, Varro: if condemn'd

       They dwell, and in what province of the deep."

       "These," said my guide, "with Persius and myself,

       And others many more, are with that Greek,

       Of mortals, the most cherish'd by the Nine,

       In the first ward of darkness. There ofttimes

       We of that mount hold converse, on whose top

       For aye our nurses live. We have the bard

       Of Pella, and the Teian, Agatho,

       Simonides, and many a Grecian else

       Ingarlanded with laurel. Of thy train

       Antigone is there, Deiphile,

       Argia, and as sorrowful as erst

       Ismene, and who show'd Langia's wave:

       Deidamia with her sisters there,

       And blind Tiresias' daughter, and the bride

       Sea-born of Peleus." Either poet now

       Was silent, and no longer by th' ascent

       Or the steep walls obstructed, round them cast

       Inquiring eyes. Four handmaids of the day

       Had finish'd now their office, and the fifth

       Was at the chariot-beam, directing still

       Its balmy point aloof, when thus my guide:

       "Methinks, it well behooves us to the brink

       Bend the right shoulder' circuiting the mount,

       As we have ever us'd." So custom there

       Was usher to the road, the which we chose

       Less doubtful, as that worthy shade complied.