“Do not be afraid; our fateCannot be taken from us; it is a gift.”

“One ought to be afraid of nothing other then things possessed of power to do us harm, but things innoucuous need not be feared.”

“The broken branch hissed loudly, and then thatwind was converted into these words: "Briefly willyou be answered.When the fierce soul departs from the body fromwhich it has uprooted itself, Minos sends it to theseventh mouth.It falls into the wood, and no place is assigned toit, but where chance hurls it, there it sprouts like agrain of spelt.It grows into a shoot, then a woody plant; theHarpies, feeding on its leaves, give it pain and awindow for the pain.Like the others, we will come for our remains, butnot so that any may put them on again, for it is notjust to have what one has taken from oneself.Here we will drag them, and through the sadwood our corpses will hang, each on the thornbrushof the soul that harmed it.”

“those cries rose from among the twisted rootsthrough which the spirits of the damned were slinkingto hide from us. Therefore my Master said:'If you break off a twig, what you will learnwill drive what you are thinking from your head.'Puzzled, I raised my hand a bit and slowlybroke off a branchlet from an enormous thorn:and the great trunk of it cried: 'Why do you break me?'And after blood had darkened all the bowlof the wound, it cried again: 'Why do you tear me?Is there no pity left in any soul?Men we were, and now we are changed to sticks;well might your hand have been more mercifulwere we no more than souls of lice and ticks.'As a green branch with one end all aflamewill hiss and sputter sap out of the otheras the air escapes- so from that trunk there camewords and blood together, gout by gout.Startled, I dropped the branch that I was holdingand stood transfixed by fear,...”

“Love, which absolves no one beloved from loving,seized me so strongly with his charm that,as you see, it has not left me yet.Love brought us to one death.”

“Amor, ch'al cor gentile ratto s'apprendeprese costui de la bella personache mi fu tolta; e 'l modo ancor m'offende.Amor, che a nullo amato amar perdona,Mi prese del costui piacer sì forte,Che, come vedi, ancor non m'abbandona...""Love, which quickly arrests the gentle heart,Seized him with my beautiful formThat was taken from me, in a manner which still grieves me.Love, which pardons no beloved from loving,took me so strongly with delight in himThat, as you see, it still abandons me not...”

“In His will, our peace.”