Have you read Dante ?" "I know the _Vita Nuova_ by heart, and some of the _Commedia_.

But how the diavolo does Dante enter into this question ?" "And Silvio Pellico, and a little literature ?" continued Ercole, not heeding the comment.
"Yes, after a fashion.

And you?
Do you know them ?" "Che c'entro io ?" cried Ercole, impatiently; "what do I want to know such things for?
But I have heard of them." "I congratulate you," replied Nino, ironically.
"Have patience.

You are no longer an artist.

You are a professor of literature." "I--a professor of literature?
What nonsense are you talking ?" "You are a great stupid donkey, Nino.