But what I died for does not bring me here. ’Tis true I said to him, speaking in jest, That I could rise by flight into the air, And he who had conceit, but little wit, Would have me show to him the art; and only Because no Daedalus I made him, made me 445 Be burned by one who held him as his son. But unto the last Bolgia of the ten, For alchemy, which in the world I practised, Minos, who cannot err, has me condemned.” And to the Poet said I: “Now was ever So vain a people as the Sienese? 446 Not for a certainty the French by far.” Whereat the other leper, who had heard me, Replied unto my speech: “Taking out Stricca, 447 Who knew the art of moderate expenses, And Niccolò, who the luxurious use Of cloves discovered earliest of all Within that garden where such seed takes root; And taking out the band, among whom squandered Caccia d’ Ascian his vineyards and vast woods,