Strange verses

Item one: Random word I thought of. Thespionage. Is this the undercover slaying of actors/actresses by nefarious parties?

Item two: Guess where the following passage is from. Whoever gets it right will probably get linked to my blog. Dante's Purgatorio, canto XV, lines 1-15, trans. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

 As much as 'twixt the close of the third hour

And dawn of day appeareth of that sphere

Which aye in fashion of a child is playing,

So much it now appeared, towards the night,

Was of his course remaining to the sun;

There it was evening, and 'twas midnight here;

And the rays smote the middle of our faces,

Because by us the mount was so encircled,

That straight towards the west we now were going;

When I perceived my forehead overpowerd

Beneath the splendor far more than at first,

And stupor were to me the things unknown;

Whereat towards the summit of my brow

I raised my hands, and made myself the visor

Which the excessive glare diminishes. 

Item three: a very poetic (in an odd political way) photo. This is not me but I wish it were.