10 I only smiled, like a man who makes a sign; whereat the shade became silent, and looked at me 111 in the eyes where the expression is most fixed. And: “So mayst thou bring to a good end so great a labor,” it said, “why did thy face just now 114 a Rash of a smile display to me?” Now am I caught on one side and the other; one bids me be silent, the other conjures 117 me to speak: wherefore I sigh, and am understood by my Master, and: “Have no fear,” he said to me, “to speak, but speak, and tell him 120 what he asks so earnestly.” Whereon I: “Perhaps thou marvellest, ancient spirit, at the smile I gave; 123 but I would have more wonder seize thee. This one, who guides my eyes on high, is that Virgil from whom thou didst derive 126 the strength to sing of men and of the gods. If thou didst believe other cause for my smile, leave it as not being true, and believe it was 129 those words which thou saidst of him.” Already he was stooping to embrace the feet of my Teacher, but he said to him: “Brother, 132 do it not, for thou art a shade, and thou seest a shade.” And he rising: “Now canst the sum thou comprehend of the love that to thee warms me, 135 when I forget our emptiness,
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