XVII.

Yet were these Florentines as self-retired In hungry pride and gainful cowardice, 130 As two close Hebrews in that land inspired, Paled in and vineyarded from beggar-spies; The hawks of ship-mast forests--the untired And pannier'd mules for ducats and old lies-- Quick cat's-paws on the generous stray-away,-- Great wits in Spanish, Tuscan, and Malay.