“For I have lost the good I might have had

Through little wit, and not of mine own will.”

“For I have lost the good I might have had Through little wit, and not of mine own will.”

It is like the wail of a lost soul, and the same in tone as the words which Dante here puts into his mouth. Dante may have heard him utter similar selfaccusations while living, and seen on his face the blush of shame, which covers it here. ↩

The Neri were banished from Pistoia in 1301; the Bianchi, from Florence in 1302. ↩