Not a man, though once I was
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Rispuose mi: « Non omo, omo già fui, e li parenti miei furon lombardi, mantoani per patrïa ambedui.
He answered me: “Not a man, though once I was a man; my parents were Lombards, Mantuans both by their homeland.
The figure answers: not a man now, though once he was; his parents were Lombards, both Mantuans.
The answer is exact and haunting: <i>non omo, omo già fui</i> — not a man now, but once a man. He is a soul, one of the dead, and he places himself in history the way the dead in this poem always do, by naming where they came from.
Lombardy, Mantua: the guide is being introduced by his roots before his name. Dante withholds the name a little longer, letting the reader, like the pilgrim, feel the recognition gather.
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