Note 19 — Chapter IV · The Scaligers
Reading edition
“Thine earliest refuge and thine earliest inn Shall be the mighty Lombard’s courtesy, Who on the ladder bears the holy bird, Who such benign regard shall have for thee That ’twixt you twain, in doing and in asking, That shall be first which is with others last. With him shalt thou see one who at his birth Has by this star of strength been so impressed, That notable shall his achievements be.” Paradiso, canto xvii., 76, &c. (Longfellow’s Translation).