LXIII.
“I was more wont to dwell upon this pair
“Than all the rest, of whom I prophesied;
“As well that these a greater part should bear
“In lofty virtues, as that I descried
“Thee, listening to my lore with closer care,
“Than to the tale of all thy seed beside.
“I saw thee joy that such a pair would shine
“Amid the heroes of thy noble line.
LXIV.
“Say, what has she, thou makest thy fancy’s queen,
“More than what other courtezans possess?
“Who of so many concubine has been;
“How used her lovers in the end to bless,
“Thou truly know’st: but that she may be seen
“Without disguise, and in her real dress,
“This ring, returning, on thy finger wear,
“And thou shalt see the dame, and mark how fair.”
LXV.
Abashed and mute, Rogero, listening,
In vain to her reproof an answer sought:
Who on his little finger put the ring,
Whose virtue to himself the warrior brought.
And such remorse and shame within him spring,
When on his altered sense the change is wrought,
A thousand fathoms deep he fain would lie
Buried in earth, unseen of any eye.
