human
If I cannot return without calling myself guilty, I will never return (_nunquam revertar_).
gpt
How hard is the path (_Come è duro calle_). The wretched are not cheerful company. Dante, poor and banished, with his proud earnest nature, with his moody humors, was not a man to conciliate men. Petrarch reports of him that being at Can della Scala's court, and blamed one day for his gloom and taciturnity, he answered in no courtier-like way. Della Scala stood among his courtiers, with mimes and buffoons (_nebulones ac histriones_) making him heartily merry; when turning to Dante, he said:--
human
Is it not strange, now, that this poor fool should make himself so entertaining; while you, a wise man, sit there day after day, and have nothing to amuse us with at all? Dante answered bitterly:--
gpt
No, not strange; your Highness is to recollect the Proverb, '_Like to Like_;'