“As sheep come issuing forth from out the fold
By ones and twos and threes, and the others stand
Timidly, holding down their eyes and nostrils,
And what the foremost does the others do,
Huddling themselves against her, if she stop,
Simple and quiet and the wherefore know not.”

—  Dante Alighieri , book Purgatorio

Canto III, lines 79–84 (tr. Longfellow).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Purgatorio

Original

Come le pecorelle escon del chiuso | a una, a due, a tre, e l'altre stanno | timidette atterrando l'occhio e 'l muso; | e ciò che fa la prima, e l'altre fanno, | addossandosi a lei, s'ella s'arresta, | semplici e quete, e lo 'mperché non sanno.

III, 79-84
Variant: Come le pecorelle escon del chiuso
a una, a due, a tre, e l'altre stanno
timidette atterrando l'occhio e 'l muso;
e ciò che fa la prima, e l'altre fanno,
addossandosi a lei, s'ella s'arresta,
semplici e quete, e lo 'mperché non sanno.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

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Dante Alighieri photo
Dante Alighieri 105
Italian poet 1265–1321

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