Replied that shade of the Magnanimous, “Thy soul attainted is with cowardice, Which many times a man encumbers so, It turns him back from honored enterprise, As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy. That thou mayst free thee from this apprehension, I’ll tell thee why I came, and what I heard At the first moment when I grieved for thee. Among those was I who are in suspense, 31 And a fair, saintly Lady called to me In such wise, I besought her to command me. Her eyes where shining brighter than the Star; 32 And she began to say, gentle and low, 33 With voice angelical, in her own language: ‘O spirit courteous of Mantua, Of whom the fame still in the world endures, And shall endure, long-lasting as the world; A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune, Upon the desert slope is so impeded Upon his way, that he has turned through terror, And may, I fear, already be so lost,