along the left a band of souls appeared
to me to be approaching us-but so
unhurriedly, their movements did not show.
"Lift up your eyes," I told my master; "here
are those who can advise us how to go,
if you can find no counsel in yourself."
At this, he looked at them and, less distressed,
replied: "Let us go there; their steps are slow;
and you, my gentle son, hold fast to hope."
The distance from that company to us-
I mean when we had gone a thousand paces-
was still as far as a fine hurler's toss,
when they all huddled toward the hard rock wall
and, once they'd crowded there, refused to budge,
even as men, when apprehensive, halt.
"O chosen souls, you who have ended well,"
Virgil began, "by virtue of that peace
which I believe awaits you all, please tell
us where the slope inclines and can be climbed;
for he who best discerns the worth of time
is most distressed whenever time is lost."
Even as sheep that move, first one, then two,
then three, out of the fold-the others also
stand, eyes and muzzles lowered, timidly;
and what the first sheep does, the others do,
and if it halts, they huddle close behind,
simple and quiet and not knowing why:
so, then, I saw those spirits in the front
of that flock favored by good fortune move-
their looks were modest; seemly, slow, their walk.
(Dante, Purgatory, canto 3, ll.58-87; trans. by Allan Mandelbaum. Text available at: dante.ilt.columbia.edu/new/comedy/index.html)
HTH. I have a concordance of the Divine Comedy here, so if you want to copy the passage you're trying to find a source for, I may be able to do a bit more detective work for you....