A greeting, and a smile
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Da ch’ ebber ragionato insieme alquanto, volsersi a me con salutevol cenno, e ’l mio maestro sorrise di tanto;
When they had talked together a while, they turned to me with a sign of greeting, and my master smiled at it;
After they had talked together a while, they turned to Dante with a sign of greeting, and Virgil smiled at it.
The poets confer, then acknowledge the newcomer with a <i>salutevol cenno</i>, a gesture of welcome. Dante is being received, wordlessly, into their number.
Virgil's response is one of the warmest small moments in the canto: he <i>sorrise</i>, smiled. The grave guide, pale with grief a hundred lines ago, now smiles with quiet pride to see his pupil greeted by the greatest poets of the ancient world. It is a teacher's pleasure in a student's honor.
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Inferno 4.97 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/dante-inferno/4.97/