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FRA SEBASTIANO.

An achievement Worthy of Charlemagne, or of Orlando. Berni and Ariosto both shall add

A canto to their poems, and describe you As Furioso and Innamorato.

Now I must say good-night.

IPPOLITO.

You must not go;
First shall sup
you
with me. My seneschal,
Giovan Andrea dal Borgo a San Sepolcro,-
I like to give the whole sonorous name,
It sounds so like a verse of the Æneid,-
Has brought me eels fresh from the Lake of
Fondi,

And Lucrine oysters cradled in their shells:
These, with red Fondi wine, the Cæcuban
That Horace speaks of, under a hundred keys
Kept safe, until the heir of Posthumus.
Shall stain the pavement with it, make a feast
Fit for Lucullus, or Fra Bastian even;
So we will go to supper, and be merry.

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In part I do so; for to put a stop

To idle tongues, what men might say of me
If I lived all alone here in my palace,
And not from a vocation that I feel
For the monastic life, I now am living
With Sister Caterina at the convent
Of Santa Chiara, and I come here only
On certain days, for my affairs, or visits
Of ceremony, or to be with friends.
For I confess, to live among my friends
Is Paradise to me; my Purgatory
Is living among people I dislike.

And so I pass my life in these two worlds,
This palace and the convent.

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Ah me, I cannot bring my troubled mind
To wish well to that Adam, our first par-
ent,

Who by his sin lost Paradise for us,
And brought such ills upon us.

VALDESSO.

We ourselves,

When we commit a sin, lose Paradise,
As much as he did. Let us think of this,
And how we may regain it.

JULIA.

Teach me, then,

To harmonize the discord of my life,
And stop the painful jangle of these wires.

VALDESSO.

That is a task impossible, until

You tune your heart-strings to a higher key Than earthly melodies.

JULIA.

How shall I do it? Point out to me the way of this perfection, And I will follow you; for you have made My soul enamored with it, and I cannot Rest satisfied until I find it out.

But lead me privately, so that the world Hear not my steps; I would not give occa

sion

For talk among the people.

VALDESSO.

Now at last

I understand you fully. Then, what need
Is there for us to beat about the bush?
I know what you desire of me.

JULIA.

What rudeness!

If you already know it, why not tell me?

VALDESSO.

Because I rather wait for you to ask it With your own lips.

JULIA.

Do me the kindness, then,

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From the vexatious thoughts that come and go
Through your imagination, and would have me
Point out some royal road and lady-like
Which you may walk in, and not wound your
feet;

You would attain to the divine perfection,
And yet not turn your back upon the world;
You would possess humility within,
But not reveal it in your outward actions;
You would have patience, but without the
rude

Occasions that require its exercise;

You would despise the world, but in such fashion

The world should not despise you in return ; Would clothe the soul with all the Chris

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