Xcviii

Soon I knew why. (Propose a riddle, and 't is solved Forthwith--in dream!) They spoke; but, since on me devolved To see, and understand by sight,--the vulgar speech Might be dispensed with. "He who cannot see, must reach As best he may the truth of men by help of words They please to speak, must fare at will of who affords The banquet,"--so I thought. "Who sees not, hears and so Gets to believe; myself it is that, seeing, know, And, knowing, can dispense with voice and vanity Of speech. What hinders then, that, drawing closer, I Put privilege to use, see and know better still These simulacra, taste the profit of my skill, Down in the midst?"

XCIX And plumb I pitched into the square-- A groundling like the rest. What think you happened there? Precise the contrary of what one would expect! For,--whereas, so much more monstrosities deflect From nature and the type, as you the more approach Their precinct,--here, I found brutality encroach Less on the human, lie the lightlier as I looked The nearlier on these faces that seemed but now so crook'd And clawed away from God's prime purpose. They diverged A little from the type, but somehow rather urged To pity than disgust: the prominent, before, Now dwindled into mere distinctness, nothing more. Still, at first sight, stood forth undoubtedly the fact Some deviation was: in no one case there lacked The certain sign and mark, say hint, say, trick of lip Or twist of nose, that proved a fault in workmanship, Change in the prime design, some hesitancy here And there, which checked the man and let the beast appear; But that was all.