# Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867)/Volume 3/Canto 6

"After that Constantine the eagle turned  Against the course of heaven, which it had followed  Behind the ancient who Lavinia took,
Two hundred years and more the bird of God  In the extreme of Europe held itself,  Near to the mountains whence it issued first;
And under shadow of the sacred plumes  It governed there the world from hand to hand,  And, changing thus, upon mine own alighted.
Caesar I was, and am Justinian,  Who, by the will of primal Love I feel,  Took from the laws the useless and redundant;
And ere unto the work I was attent,  One nature to exist in Christ, not more,  Believed, and with such faith was I contented.
But blessed Agapetus, he who was  The supreme pastor, to the faith sincere  Pointed me out the way by words of his.
Him I believed, and what was his assertion  I now see clearly, even as thou seest  Each contradiction to be false and true.
As soon as with the Church I moved my feet,  God in his grace it pleased with this high task  To inspire me, and I gave me wholly to it,
And to my Belisarius I commended  The arms, to which was heaven's right hand so joined  It was a signal that I should repose.
Now here to the first question terminates  My answer; but the character thereof  Constrains me to continue with a sequel,
In order that thou see with how great reason  Men move against the standard sacrosanct,  Both who appropriate and who oppose it.
Behold how great a power has made it worthy  Of reverence, beginning from the hour  When Pallas died to give it sovereignty.
Thou knowest it made in Alba its abode  Three hundred years and upward, till at last  The three to three fought for it yet again.
Thou knowest what it achieved from Sabine wrong  Down to Lucretia's sorrow, in seven kings  O'ercoming round about the neighboring nations;
Thou knowest what it achieved, borne by the Romans  Illustrious against Brennus, against Pyrrhus,  Against the other princes and confederates.
Torquatus thence and Quinctius, who from locks  Unkempt was named, Decii and Fabii,  Received the fame I willingly embalm;
It struck to earth the pride of the Arabians,  Who, following Hannibal, had passed across  The Alpine ridges, Po, from which thou glidest;
Beneath it triumphed while they yet were young  Pompey and Scipio, and to the hill  Beneath which thou wast born it bitter seemed;
Then, near unto the time when heaven had willed  To bring the whole world to its mood serene,  Did Caesar by the will of Rome assume it.
What it achieved from Var unto the Rhine,  Isere beheld and Saone, beheld the Seine,  And every valley whence the Rhone is filled;
What it achieved when it had left Ravenna,  And leaped the Rubicon, was such a flight  That neither tongue nor pen could follow it.
Round towards Spain it wheeled its legions; then  Towards Durazzo, and Pharsalia smote  That to the calid Nile was felt the pain.
Antandros and the Simois, whence it started,  It saw again, and there where Hector lies,  And ill for Ptolemy then roused itself.
From thence it came like lightning upon Juba;  Then wheeled itself again into your West,  Where the Pompeian clarion it heard.
From what it wrought with the next standard-bearer  Brutus and Cassius howl in Hell together,  And Modena and Perugia dolent were;
Still doth the mournful Cleopatra weep  Because thereof, who, fleeing from before it,  Took from the adder sudden and black death.
With him it ran even to the Red Sea shore;  With him it placed the world in so great peace,  That unto Janus was his temple closed.
But what the standard that has made me speak  Achieved before, and after should achieve  Throughout the mortal realm that lies beneath it,
Becometh in appearance mean and dim,  If in the hand of the third Caesar seen  With eye unclouded and affection pure,
Because the living Justice that inspires me  Granted it, in the hand of him I speak of,  The glory of doing vengeance for its wrath.
Now here attend to what I answer thee;  Later it ran with Titus to do vengeance  Upon the vengeance of the ancient sin.
And when the tooth of Lombardy had bitten  The Holy Church, then underneath its wings  Did Charlemagne victorious succor her.
Now hast thou power to judge of such as those  Whom I accused above, and of their crimes,  Which are the cause of all your miseries.
To the public standard one the yellow lilies  Opposes, the other claims it for a party,  So that 'tis hard to see which sins the most.
Let, let the Ghibellines ply their handicraft  Beneath some other standard; for this ever  Ill follows he who it and justice parts.
And let not this new Charles e'er strike it down,  He and his Guelfs, but let him fear the talons  That from a nobler lion stripped the fell.
Already oftentimes the sons have wept  The father's crime; and let him not believe  That God will change His scutcheon for the lilies.
This little planet doth adorn itself  With the good spirits that have active been,  That fame and honour might come after them;
And whensoever the desires mount thither,  Thus deviating, must perforce the rays  Of the true love less vividly mount upward.
But in commensuration of our wages  With our desert is portion of our joy,  Because we see them neither less nor greater.
Herein doth living Justice sweeten so  Affection in us, that for evermore  It cannot warp to any iniquity.
Voices diverse make up sweet melodies;  So in this life of ours the seats diverse  Render sweet harmony among these spheres;
And in the compass of this present pearl  Shineth the sheen of Romeo, of whom  The grand and beauteous work was ill rewarded.
But the Provencals who against him wrought,  They have not laughed, and therefore ill goes he  Who makes his hurt of the good deeds of others.
Four daughters, and each one of them a queen,  Had Raymond Berenger, and this for him  Did Romeo, a poor man and a pilgrim;
And then malicious words incited him  To summon to a reckoning this just man,  Who rendered to him seven and five for ten.
Then he departed poor and stricken in years,  And if the world could know the heart he had,  In begging bit by bit his livelihood,
Though much it laud him, it would laud him more."