Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Complete

The light in which was smiling my own treasure Which there I had discovered, flashed at first As in the sunshine doth a golden mirror;

Then made reply: “A conscience overcast Or with its own or with another’s shame, Will taste forsooth the tartness of thy word;

But ne’ertheless, all falsehood laid aside, Make manifest thy vision utterly, And let them scratch wherever is the itch;

For if thine utterance shall offensive be At the first taste, a vital nutriment ’Twill leave thereafter, when it is digested.

This cry of thine shall do as doth the wind, Which smiteth most the most exalted summits, And that is no slight argument of honour.

Therefore are shown to thee within these wheels, Upon the mount and in the dolorous valley, Only the souls that unto fame are known;

Because the spirit of the hearer rests not, Nor doth confirm its faith by an example Which has the root of it unknown and hidden,

Or other reason that is not apparent.”