After you had ruined it. Nevertheless, may that day at Empoli be
counted to you for righteousness in this world and the next, Messer
Farinata! And may St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of Florence,
bear to the ear of our Lord the words which you uttered in the assembly
of the Ghibellines! Repeat to me, I pray you, those praiseworthy words.
They are diversely reported, and I would know them exactly. Is it true,
as many say, that you took as your text two Tuscan proverbs--one of the
ass, the other of the goat?