LX.
“If thine own single honour move not thee,
“And the high deeds which thou art called to do,
“Wherefore defraud thy fair posterity[31]
“Of what, was oft predicted, should ensue?
“Alas! why seal the womb God willed should be
“Pregnant by thee with an illustrious crew,
“That far-renowned, and more than human line,
“Destined the sun in glory to outshine?
LXI.
“Forbid not of the noblest souls the birth,
“Formed in the ideas of the eternal mind,
“Destined, from age to age, to visit earth,
“Sprung from thy stock, and clothed in corporal rind;
“The spring of thousand palms and festal mirth,
“Through which, to Italy with losses pined
“And wounds, thy good descendants shall restore
“The fame and honours she enjoyed of yore.
LXII.
“Not only should these many souls have weight
“To bend thy purpose, holy souls, and bright,
“Which from thy fruitful tree shall vegetate;
“But, though alone, a single couple might
“Suffice a nobler feeling to create,
“Alphonso and his brother Hyppolite:
“Whose like was seldom witnessed to this time,
“Through all the paths whence men to virtue climb.
