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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1001-0.txt b/1001-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0037803 --- /dev/null +++ b/1001-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6569 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1001 *** + +The Divine Comedy + +of Dante Alighieri + +Translated by +HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW +INFERNO + + +Contents + +Canto I. The Dark Forest. The Hill of Difficulty. The Panther, the Lion, and the Wolf. Virgil. +Canto II. The Descent. Dante’s Protest and Virgil’s Appeal. The Intercession of the Three Ladies Benedight. +Canto III. The Gate of Hell. The Inefficient or Indifferent. Pope Celestine V. The Shores of Acheron. Charon. The Earthquake and the Swoon. +Canto IV. The First Circle, Limbo: Virtuous Pagans and the Unbaptized. The Four Poets, Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. The Noble Castle of Philosophy. +Canto V. The Second Circle: The Wanton. Minos. The Infernal Hurricane. Francesca da Rimini. +Canto VI. The Third Circle: The Gluttonous. Cerberus. The Eternal Rain. Ciacco. Florence. +Canto VII. The Fourth Circle: The Avaricious and the Prodigal. Plutus. Fortune and her Wheel. The Fifth Circle: The Irascible and the Sullen. Styx. +Canto VIII. Phlegyas. Philippo Argenti. The Gate of the City of Dis. +Canto IX. The Furies and Medusa. The Angel. The City of Dis. The Sixth Circle: Heresiarchs. +Canto X. Farinata and Cavalcante de’ Cavalcanti. Discourse on the Knowledge of the Damned. +Canto XI. The Broken Rocks. Pope Anastasius. General Description of the Inferno and its Divisions. +Canto XII. The Minotaur. The Seventh Circle: The Violent. The River Phlegethon. The Violent against their Neighbours. The Centaurs. Tyrants. +Canto XIII. The Wood of Thorns. The Harpies. The Violent against themselves. Suicides. Pier della Vigna. Lano and Jacopo da Sant’ Andrea. +Canto XIV. The Sand Waste and the Rain of Fire. The Violent against God. Capaneus. The Statue of Time, and the Four Infernal Rivers. +Canto XV. The Violent against Nature. Brunetto Latini. +Canto XVI. Guidoguerra, Aldobrandi, and Rusticucci. Cataract of the River of Blood. +Canto XVII. Geryon. The Violent against Art. Usurers. Descent into the Abyss of Malebolge. +Canto XVIII. The Eighth Circle, Malebolge: The Fraudulent and the Malicious. The First Bolgia: Seducers and Panders. Venedico Caccianimico. Jason. The Second Bolgia: Flatterers. Allessio Interminelli. Thais. +Canto XIX. The Third Bolgia: Simoniacs. Pope Nicholas III. Dante’s Reproof of corrupt Prelates. +Canto XX. The Fourth Bolgia: Soothsayers. Amphiaraus, Tiresias, Aruns, Manto, Eryphylus, Michael Scott, Guido Bonatti, and Asdente. Virgil reproaches Dante’s Pity. Mantua’s Foundation. +Canto XXI. The Fifth Bolgia: Peculators. The Elder of Santa Zita. Malacoda and other Devils. +Canto XXII. Ciampolo, Friar Gomita, and Michael Zanche. The Malabranche quarrel. +Canto XXIII. Escape from the Malabranche. The Sixth Bolgia: Hypocrites. Catalano and Loderingo. Caiaphas. +Canto XXIV. The Seventh Bolgia: Thieves. Vanni Fucci. Serpents. +Canto XXV. Vanni Fucci’s Punishment. Agnello Brunelleschi, Buoso degli Abati, Puccio Sciancato, Cianfa de’ Donati, and Guercio Cavalcanti. +Canto XXVI. The Eighth Bolgia: Evil Counsellors. Ulysses and Diomed. Ulysses’ Last Voyage. +Canto XXVII. Guido da Montefeltro. His deception by Pope Boniface VIII. +Canto XXVIII. The Ninth Bolgia: Schismatics. Mahomet and Ali. Pier da Medicina, Curio, Mosca, and Bertrand de Born. +Canto XXIX. Geri del Bello. The Tenth Bolgia: Alchemists. Griffolino d’ Arezzo and Capocchino. +Canto XXX. Other Falsifiers or Forgers. Gianni Schicchi, Myrrha, Adam of Brescia, Potiphar’s Wife, and Sinon of Troy. +Canto XXXI. The Giants, Nimrod, Ephialtes, and Antaeus. Descent to Cocytus. +Canto XXXII. The Ninth Circle: Traitors. The Frozen Lake of Cocytus. First Division, Caina: Traitors to their Kindred. Camicion de’ Pazzi. Second Division, Antenora: Traitors to their Country. Dante questions Bocca degli Abati. Buoso da Duera. +Canto XXXIII. Count Ugolino and the Archbishop Ruggieri. The Death of Count Ugolino’s Sons. Third Division of the Ninth Circle, Ptolomaea: Traitors to their Friends. Friar Alberigo, Branco d’ Oria. +Canto XXXIV. Fourth Division of the Ninth Circle, the Judecca: Traitors to their Lords and Benefactors. Lucifer, Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius. The Chasm of Lethe. The Ascent. + + + + +Inferno: Canto I + + +Midway upon the journey of our life + I found myself within a forest dark, + For the straightforward pathway had been lost. + +Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say + What was this forest savage, rough, and stern, + Which in the very thought renews the fear. + +So bitter is it, death is little more; + But of the good to treat, which there I found, + Speak will I of the other things I saw there. + +I cannot well repeat how there I entered, + So full was I of slumber at the moment + In which I had abandoned the true way. + +But after I had reached a mountain’s foot, + At that point where the valley terminated, + Which had with consternation pierced my heart, + +Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders, + Vested already with that planet’s rays + Which leadeth others right by every road. + +Then was the fear a little quieted + That in my heart’s lake had endured throughout + The night, which I had passed so piteously. + +And even as he, who, with distressful breath, + Forth issued from the sea upon the shore, + Turns to the water perilous and gazes; + +So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward, + Turn itself back to re-behold the pass + Which never yet a living person left. + +After my weary body I had rested, + The way resumed I on the desert slope, + So that the firm foot ever was the lower. + +And lo! almost where the ascent began, + A panther light and swift exceedingly, + Which with a spotted skin was covered o’er! + +And never moved she from before my face, + Nay, rather did impede so much my way, + That many times I to return had turned. + +The time was the beginning of the morning, + And up the sun was mounting with those stars + That with him were, what time the Love Divine + +At first in motion set those beauteous things; + So were to me occasion of good hope, + The variegated skin of that wild beast, + +The hour of time, and the delicious season; + But not so much, that did not give me fear + A lion’s aspect which appeared to me. + +He seemed as if against me he were coming + With head uplifted, and with ravenous hunger, + So that it seemed the air was afraid of him; + +And a she-wolf, that with all hungerings + Seemed to be laden in her meagreness, + And many folk has caused to live forlorn! + +She brought upon me so much heaviness, + With the affright that from her aspect came, + That I the hope relinquished of the height. + +And as he is who willingly acquires, + And the time comes that causes him to lose, + Who weeps in all his thoughts and is despondent, + +E’en such made me that beast withouten peace, + Which, coming on against me by degrees + Thrust me back thither where the sun is silent. + +While I was rushing downward to the lowland, + Before mine eyes did one present himself, + Who seemed from long-continued silence hoarse. + +When I beheld him in the desert vast, + “Have pity on me,” unto him I cried, + “Whiche’er thou art, or shade or real man!” + +He answered me: “Not man; man once I was, + And both my parents were of Lombardy, + And Mantuans by country both of them. + +‘Sub Julio’ was I born, though it was late, + And lived at Rome under the good Augustus, + During the time of false and lying gods. + +A poet was I, and I sang that just + Son of Anchises, who came forth from Troy, + After that Ilion the superb was burned. + +But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance? + Why climb’st thou not the Mount Delectable, + Which is the source and cause of every joy?” + +“Now, art thou that Virgilius and that fountain + Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech?” + I made response to him with bashful forehead. + +“O, of the other poets honour and light, + Avail me the long study and great love + That have impelled me to explore thy volume! + +Thou art my master, and my author thou, + Thou art alone the one from whom I took + The beautiful style that has done honour to me. + +Behold the beast, for which I have turned back; + Do thou protect me from her, famous Sage, + For she doth make my veins and pulses tremble.” + +“Thee it behoves to take another road,” + Responded he, when he beheld me weeping, + “If from this savage place thou wouldst escape; + +Because this beast, at which thou criest out, + Suffers not any one to pass her way, + But so doth harass him, that she destroys him; + +And has a nature so malign and ruthless, + That never doth she glut her greedy will, + And after food is hungrier than before. + +Many the animals with whom she weds, + And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound + Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain. + +He shall not feed on either earth or pelf, + But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue; + ’Twixt Feltro and Feltro shall his nation be; + +Of that low Italy shall he be the saviour, + On whose account the maid Camilla died, + Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds; + +Through every city shall he hunt her down, + Until he shall have driven her back to Hell, + There from whence envy first did let her loose. + +Therefore I think and judge it for thy best + Thou follow me, and I will be thy guide, + And lead thee hence through the eternal place, + +Where thou shalt hear the desperate lamentations, + Shalt see the ancient spirits disconsolate, + Who cry out each one for the second death; + +And thou shalt see those who contented are + Within the fire, because they hope to come, + Whene’er it may be, to the blessed people; + +To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend, + A soul shall be for that than I more worthy; + With her at my departure I will leave thee; + +Because that Emperor, who reigns above, + In that I was rebellious to his law, + Wills that through me none come into his city. + +He governs everywhere, and there he reigns; + There is his city and his lofty throne; + O happy he whom thereto he elects!” + +And I to him: “Poet, I thee entreat, + By that same God whom thou didst never know, + So that I may escape this woe and worse, + +Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said, + That I may see the portal of Saint Peter, + And those thou makest so disconsolate.” + +Then he moved on, and I behind him followed. + + + + +Inferno: Canto II + + +Day was departing, and the embrowned air + Released the animals that are on earth + From their fatigues; and I the only one + +Made myself ready to sustain the war, + Both of the way and likewise of the woe, + Which memory that errs not shall retrace. + +O Muses, O high genius, now assist me! + O memory, that didst write down what I saw, + Here thy nobility shall be manifest! + +And I began: “Poet, who guidest me, + Regard my manhood, if it be sufficient, + Ere to the arduous pass thou dost confide me. + +Thou sayest, that of Silvius the parent, + While yet corruptible, unto the world + Immortal went, and was there bodily. + +But if the adversary of all evil + Was courteous, thinking of the high effect + That issue would from him, and who, and what, + +To men of intellect unmeet it seems not; + For he was of great Rome, and of her empire + In the empyreal heaven as father chosen; + +The which and what, wishing to speak the truth, + Were stablished as the holy place, wherein + Sits the successor of the greatest Peter. + +Upon this journey, whence thou givest him vaunt, + Things did he hear, which the occasion were + Both of his victory and the papal mantle. + +Thither went afterwards the Chosen Vessel, + To bring back comfort thence unto that Faith, + Which of salvation’s way is the beginning. + +But I, why thither come, or who concedes it? + I not Aeneas am, I am not Paul, + Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it. + +Therefore, if I resign myself to come, + I fear the coming may be ill-advised; + Thou’rt wise, and knowest better than I speak.” + +And as he is, who unwills what he willed, + And by new thoughts doth his intention change, + So that from his design he quite withdraws, + +Such I became, upon that dark hillside, + Because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise, + Which was so very prompt in the beginning. + +“If I have well thy language understood,” + Replied that shade of the Magnanimous, + “Thy soul attainted is with cowardice, + +Which many times a man encumbers so, + It turns him back from honoured enterprise, + As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy. + +That thou mayst free thee from this apprehension, + I’ll tell thee why I came, and what I heard + At the first moment when I grieved for thee. + +Among those was I who are in suspense, + And a fair, saintly Lady called to me + In such wise, I besought her to command me. + +Her eyes where shining brighter than the Star; + And she began to say, gentle and low, + With voice angelical, in her own language: + +‘O spirit courteous of Mantua, + Of whom the fame still in the world endures, + And shall endure, long-lasting as the world; + +A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune, + Upon the desert slope is so impeded + Upon his way, that he has turned through terror, + +And may, I fear, already be so lost, + That I too late have risen to his succour, + From that which I have heard of him in Heaven. + +Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate, + And with what needful is for his release, + Assist him so, that I may be consoled. + +Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go; + I come from there, where I would fain return; + Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak. + +When I shall be in presence of my Lord, + Full often will I praise thee unto him.’ + Then paused she, and thereafter I began: + +‘O Lady of virtue, thou alone through whom + The human race exceedeth all contained + Within the heaven that has the lesser circles, + +So grateful unto me is thy commandment, + To obey, if ’twere already done, were late; + No farther need’st thou ope to me thy wish. + +But the cause tell me why thou dost not shun + The here descending down into this centre, + From the vast place thou burnest to return to.’ + +‘Since thou wouldst fain so inwardly discern, + Briefly will I relate,’ she answered me, + ‘Why I am not afraid to enter here. + +Of those things only should one be afraid + Which have the power of doing others harm; + Of the rest, no; because they are not fearful. + +God in his mercy such created me + That misery of yours attains me not, + Nor any flame assails me of this burning. + +A gentle Lady is in Heaven, who grieves + At this impediment, to which I send thee, + So that stern judgment there above is broken. + +In her entreaty she besought Lucia, + And said, “Thy faithful one now stands in need + Of thee, and unto thee I recommend him.” + +Lucia, foe of all that cruel is, + Hastened away, and came unto the place + Where I was sitting with the ancient Rachel. + +“Beatrice” said she, “the true praise of God, + Why succourest thou not him, who loved thee so, + For thee he issued from the vulgar herd? + +Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint? + Dost thou not see the death that combats him + Beside that flood, where ocean has no vaunt?” + +Never were persons in the world so swift + To work their weal and to escape their woe, + As I, after such words as these were uttered, + +Came hither downward from my blessed seat, + Confiding in thy dignified discourse, + Which honours thee, and those who’ve listened to it.’ + +After she thus had spoken unto me, + Weeping, her shining eyes she turned away; + Whereby she made me swifter in my coming; + +And unto thee I came, as she desired; + I have delivered thee from that wild beast, + Which barred the beautiful mountain’s short ascent. + +What is it, then? Why, why dost thou delay? + Why is such baseness bedded in thy heart? + Daring and hardihood why hast thou not, + +Seeing that three such Ladies benedight + Are caring for thee in the court of Heaven, + And so much good my speech doth promise thee?” + +Even as the flowerets, by nocturnal chill, + Bowed down and closed, when the sun whitens them, + Uplift themselves all open on their stems; + +Such I became with my exhausted strength, + And such good courage to my heart there coursed, + That I began, like an intrepid person: + +“O she compassionate, who succoured me, + And courteous thou, who hast obeyed so soon + The words of truth which she addressed to thee! + +Thou hast my heart so with desire disposed + To the adventure, with these words of thine, + That to my first intent I have returned. + +Now go, for one sole will is in us both, + Thou Leader, and thou Lord, and Master thou.” + Thus said I to him; and when he had moved, + +I entered on the deep and savage way. + + + + +Inferno: Canto III + + +“Through me the way is to the city dolent; + Through me the way is to eternal dole; + Through me the way among the people lost. + +Justice incited my sublime Creator; + Created me divine Omnipotence, + The highest Wisdom and the primal Love. + +Before me there were no created things, + Only eterne, and I eternal last. + All hope abandon, ye who enter in!” + +These words in sombre colour I beheld + Written upon the summit of a gate; + Whence I: “Their sense is, Master, hard to me!” + +And he to me, as one experienced: + “Here all suspicion needs must be abandoned, + All cowardice must needs be here extinct. + +We to the place have come, where I have told thee + Thou shalt behold the people dolorous + Who have foregone the good of intellect.” + +And after he had laid his hand on mine + With joyful mien, whence I was comforted, + He led me in among the secret things. + +There sighs, complaints, and ululations loud + Resounded through the air without a star, + Whence I, at the beginning, wept thereat. + +Languages diverse, horrible dialects, + Accents of anger, words of agony, + And voices high and hoarse, with sound of hands, + +Made up a tumult that goes whirling on + For ever in that air for ever black, + Even as the sand doth, when the whirlwind breathes. + +And I, who had my head with horror bound, + Said: “Master, what is this which now I hear? + What folk is this, which seems by pain so vanquished?” + +And he to me: “This miserable mode + Maintain the melancholy souls of those + Who lived withouten infamy or praise. + +Commingled are they with that caitiff choir + Of Angels, who have not rebellious been, + Nor faithful were to God, but were for self. + +The heavens expelled them, not to be less fair; + Nor them the nethermore abyss receives, + For glory none the damned would have from them.” + +And I: “O Master, what so grievous is + To these, that maketh them lament so sore?” + He answered: “I will tell thee very briefly. + +These have no longer any hope of death; + And this blind life of theirs is so debased, + They envious are of every other fate. + +No fame of them the world permits to be; + Misericord and Justice both disdain them. + Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass.” + +And I, who looked again, beheld a banner, + Which, whirling round, ran on so rapidly, + That of all pause it seemed to me indignant; + +And after it there came so long a train + Of people, that I ne’er would have believed + That ever Death so many had undone. + +When some among them I had recognised, + I looked, and I beheld the shade of him + Who made through cowardice the great refusal. + +Forthwith I comprehended, and was certain, + That this the sect was of the caitiff wretches + Hateful to God and to his enemies. + +These miscreants, who never were alive, + Were naked, and were stung exceedingly + By gadflies and by hornets that were there. + +These did their faces irrigate with blood, + Which, with their tears commingled, at their feet + By the disgusting worms was gathered up. + +And when to gazing farther I betook me. + People I saw on a great river’s bank; + Whence said I: “Master, now vouchsafe to me, + +That I may know who these are, and what law + Makes them appear so ready to pass over, + As I discern athwart the dusky light.” + +And he to me: “These things shall all be known + To thee, as soon as we our footsteps stay + Upon the dismal shore of Acheron.” + +Then with mine eyes ashamed and downward cast, + Fearing my words might irksome be to him, + From speech refrained I till we reached the river. + +And lo! towards us coming in a boat + An old man, hoary with the hair of eld, + Crying: “Woe unto you, ye souls depraved! + +Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens; + I come to lead you to the other shore, + To the eternal shades in heat and frost. + +And thou, that yonder standest, living soul, + Withdraw thee from these people, who are dead!” + But when he saw that I did not withdraw, + +He said: “By other ways, by other ports + Thou to the shore shalt come, not here, for passage; + A lighter vessel needs must carry thee.” + +And unto him the Guide: “Vex thee not, Charon; + It is so willed there where is power to do + That which is willed; and farther question not.” + +Thereat were quieted the fleecy cheeks + Of him the ferryman of the livid fen, + Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame. + +But all those souls who weary were and naked + Their colour changed and gnashed their teeth together, + As soon as they had heard those cruel words. + +God they blasphemed and their progenitors, + The human race, the place, the time, the seed + Of their engendering and of their birth! + +Thereafter all together they drew back, + Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore, + Which waiteth every man who fears not God. + +Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede, + Beckoning to them, collects them all together, + Beats with his oar whoever lags behind. + +As in the autumn-time the leaves fall off, + First one and then another, till the branch + Unto the earth surrenders all its spoils; + +In similar wise the evil seed of Adam + Throw themselves from that margin one by one, + At signals, as a bird unto its lure. + +So they depart across the dusky wave, + And ere upon the other side they land, + Again on this side a new troop assembles. + +“My son,” the courteous Master said to me, + “All those who perish in the wrath of God + Here meet together out of every land; + +And ready are they to pass o’er the river, + Because celestial Justice spurs them on, + So that their fear is turned into desire. + +This way there never passes a good soul; + And hence if Charon doth complain of thee, + Well mayst thou know now what his speech imports.” + +This being finished, all the dusk champaign + Trembled so violently, that of that terror + The recollection bathes me still with sweat. + +The land of tears gave forth a blast of wind, + And fulminated a vermilion light, + Which overmastered in me every sense, + +And as a man whom sleep hath seized I fell. + + + + +Inferno: Canto IV + + +Broke the deep lethargy within my head + A heavy thunder, so that I upstarted, + Like to a person who by force is wakened; + +And round about I moved my rested eyes, + Uprisen erect, and steadfastly I gazed, + To recognise the place wherein I was. + +True is it, that upon the verge I found me + Of the abysmal valley dolorous, + That gathers thunder of infinite ululations. + +Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous, + So that by fixing on its depths my sight + Nothing whatever I discerned therein. + +“Let us descend now into the blind world,” + Began the Poet, pallid utterly; + “I will be first, and thou shalt second be.” + +And I, who of his colour was aware, + Said: “How shall I come, if thou art afraid, + Who’rt wont to be a comfort to my fears?” + +And he to me: “The anguish of the people + Who are below here in my face depicts + That pity which for terror thou hast taken. + +Let us go on, for the long way impels us.” + Thus he went in, and thus he made me enter + The foremost circle that surrounds the abyss. + +There, as it seemed to me from listening, + Were lamentations none, but only sighs, + That tremble made the everlasting air. + +And this arose from sorrow without torment, + Which the crowds had, that many were and great, + Of infants and of women and of men. + +To me the Master good: “Thou dost not ask + What spirits these, which thou beholdest, are? + Now will I have thee know, ere thou go farther, + +That they sinned not; and if they merit had, + ’Tis not enough, because they had not baptism + Which is the portal of the Faith thou holdest; + +And if they were before Christianity, + In the right manner they adored not God; + And among such as these am I myself. + +For such defects, and not for other guilt, + Lost are we and are only so far punished, + That without hope we live on in desire.” + +Great grief seized on my heart when this I heard, + Because some people of much worthiness + I knew, who in that Limbo were suspended. + +“Tell me, my Master, tell me, thou my Lord,” + Began I, with desire of being certain + Of that Faith which o’ercometh every error, + +“Came any one by his own merit hence, + Or by another’s, who was blessed thereafter?” + And he, who understood my covert speech, + +Replied: “I was a novice in this state, + When I saw hither come a Mighty One, + With sign of victory incoronate. + +Hence he drew forth the shade of the First Parent, + And that of his son Abel, and of Noah, + Of Moses the lawgiver, and the obedient + +Abraham, patriarch, and David, king, + Israel with his father and his children, + And Rachel, for whose sake he did so much, + +And others many, and he made them blessed; + And thou must know, that earlier than these + Never were any human spirits saved.” + +We ceased not to advance because he spake, + But still were passing onward through the forest, + The forest, say I, of thick-crowded ghosts. + +Not very far as yet our way had gone + This side the summit, when I saw a fire + That overcame a hemisphere of darkness. + +We were a little distant from it still, + But not so far that I in part discerned not + That honourable people held that place. + +“O thou who honourest every art and science, + Who may these be, which such great honour have, + That from the fashion of the rest it parts them?” + +And he to me: “The honourable name, + That sounds of them above there in thy life, + Wins grace in Heaven, that so advances them.” + +In the mean time a voice was heard by me: + “All honour be to the pre-eminent Poet; + His shade returns again, that was departed.” + +After the voice had ceased and quiet was, + Four mighty shades I saw approaching us; + Semblance had they nor sorrowful nor glad. + +To say to me began my gracious Master: + “Him with that falchion in his hand behold, + Who comes before the three, even as their lord. + +That one is Homer, Poet sovereign; + He who comes next is Horace, the satirist; + The third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan. + +Because to each of these with me applies + The name that solitary voice proclaimed, + They do me honour, and in that do well.” + +Thus I beheld assemble the fair school + Of that lord of the song pre-eminent, + Who o’er the others like an eagle soars. + +When they together had discoursed somewhat, + They turned to me with signs of salutation, + And on beholding this, my Master smiled; + +And more of honour still, much more, they did me, + In that they made me one of their own band; + So that the sixth was I, ’mid so much wit. + +Thus we went on as far as to the light, + Things saying ’tis becoming to keep silent, + As was the saying of them where I was. + +We came unto a noble castle’s foot, + Seven times encompassed with lofty walls, + Defended round by a fair rivulet; + +This we passed over even as firm ground; + Through portals seven I entered with these Sages; + We came into a meadow of fresh verdure. + +People were there with solemn eyes and slow, + Of great authority in their countenance; + They spake but seldom, and with gentle voices. + +Thus we withdrew ourselves upon one side + Into an opening luminous and lofty, + So that they all of them were visible. + +There opposite, upon the green enamel, + Were pointed out to me the mighty spirits, + Whom to have seen I feel myself exalted. + +I saw Electra with companions many, + ’Mongst whom I knew both Hector and Aeneas, + Caesar in armour with gerfalcon eyes; + +I saw Camilla and Penthesilea + On the other side, and saw the King Latinus, + Who with Lavinia his daughter sat; + +I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin forth, + Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia, + And saw alone, apart, the Saladin. + +When I had lifted up my brows a little, + The Master I beheld of those who know, + Sit with his philosophic family. + +All gaze upon him, and all do him honour. + There I beheld both Socrates and Plato, + Who nearer him before the others stand; + +Democritus, who puts the world on chance, + Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales, + Zeno, Empedocles, and Heraclitus; + +Of qualities I saw the good collector, + Hight Dioscorides; and Orpheus saw I, + Tully and Livy, and moral Seneca, + +Euclid, geometrician, and Ptolemy, + Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicenna, + Averroes, who the great Comment made. + +I cannot all of them pourtray in full, + Because so drives me onward the long theme, + That many times the word comes short of fact. + +The sixfold company in two divides; + Another way my sapient Guide conducts me + Forth from the quiet to the air that trembles; + +And to a place I come where nothing shines. + + + + +Inferno: Canto V + + +Thus I descended out of the first circle + Down to the second, that less space begirds, + And so much greater dole, that goads to wailing. + +There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls; + Examines the transgressions at the entrance; + Judges, and sends according as he girds him. + +I say, that when the spirit evil-born + Cometh before him, wholly it confesses; + And this discriminator of transgressions + +Seeth what place in Hell is meet for it; + Girds himself with his tail as many times + As grades he wishes it should be thrust down. + +Always before him many of them stand; + They go by turns each one unto the judgment; + They speak, and hear, and then are downward hurled. + +“O thou, that to this dolorous hostelry + Comest,” said Minos to me, when he saw me, + Leaving the practice of so great an office, + +“Look how thou enterest, and in whom thou trustest; + Let not the portal’s amplitude deceive thee.” + And unto him my Guide: “Why criest thou too? + +Do not impede his journey fate-ordained; + It is so willed there where is power to do + That which is willed; and ask no further question.” + +And now begin the dolesome notes to grow + Audible unto me; now am I come + There where much lamentation strikes upon me. + +I came into a place mute of all light, + Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest, + If by opposing winds ’t is combated. + +The infernal hurricane that never rests + Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine; + Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. + +When they arrive before the precipice, + There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments, + There they blaspheme the puissance divine. + +I understood that unto such a torment + The carnal malefactors were condemned, + Who reason subjugate to appetite. + +And as the wings of starlings bear them on + In the cold season in large band and full, + So doth that blast the spirits maledict; + +It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them; + No hope doth comfort them for evermore, + Not of repose, but even of lesser pain. + +And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays, + Making in air a long line of themselves, + So saw I coming, uttering lamentations, + +Shadows borne onward by the aforesaid stress. + Whereupon said I: “Master, who are those + People, whom the black air so castigates?” + +“The first of those, of whom intelligence + Thou fain wouldst have,” then said he unto me, + “The empress was of many languages. + +To sensual vices she was so abandoned, + That lustful she made licit in her law, + To remove the blame to which she had been led. + +She is Semiramis, of whom we read + That she succeeded Ninus, and was his spouse; + She held the land which now the Sultan rules. + +The next is she who killed herself for love, + And broke faith with the ashes of Sichaeus; + Then Cleopatra the voluptuous.” + +Helen I saw, for whom so many ruthless + Seasons revolved; and saw the great Achilles, + Who at the last hour combated with Love. + +Paris I saw, Tristan; and more than a thousand + Shades did he name and point out with his finger, + Whom Love had separated from our life. + +After that I had listened to my Teacher, + Naming the dames of eld and cavaliers, + Pity prevailed, and I was nigh bewildered. + +And I began: “O Poet, willingly + Speak would I to those two, who go together, + And seem upon the wind to be so light.” + +And, he to me: “Thou’lt mark, when they shall be + Nearer to us; and then do thou implore them + By love which leadeth them, and they will come.” + +Soon as the wind in our direction sways them, + My voice uplift I: “O ye weary souls! + Come speak to us, if no one interdicts it.” + +As turtle-doves, called onward by desire, + With open and steady wings to the sweet nest + Fly through the air by their volition borne, + +So came they from the band where Dido is, + Approaching us athwart the air malign, + So strong was the affectionate appeal. + +“O living creature gracious and benignant, + Who visiting goest through the purple air + Us, who have stained the world incarnadine, + +If were the King of the Universe our friend, + We would pray unto him to give thee peace, + Since thou hast pity on our woe perverse. + +Of what it pleases thee to hear and speak, + That will we hear, and we will speak to you, + While silent is the wind, as it is now. + +Sitteth the city, wherein I was born, + Upon the sea-shore where the Po descends + To rest in peace with all his retinue. + +Love, that on gentle heart doth swiftly seize, + Seized this man for the person beautiful + That was ta’en from me, and still the mode offends me. + +Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving, + Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly, + That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me; + +Love has conducted us unto one death; + Caina waiteth him who quenched our life!” + These words were borne along from them to us. + +As soon as I had heard those souls tormented, + I bowed my face, and so long held it down + Until the Poet said to me: “What thinkest?” + +When I made answer, I began: “Alas! + How many pleasant thoughts, how much desire, + Conducted these unto the dolorous pass!” + +Then unto them I turned me, and I spake, + And I began: “Thine agonies, Francesca, + Sad and compassionate to weeping make me. + +But tell me, at the time of those sweet sighs, + By what and in what manner Love conceded, + That you should know your dubious desires?” + +And she to me: “There is no greater sorrow + Than to be mindful of the happy time + In misery, and that thy Teacher knows. + +But, if to recognise the earliest root + Of love in us thou hast so great desire, + I will do even as he who weeps and speaks. + +One day we reading were for our delight + Of Launcelot, how Love did him enthral. + Alone we were and without any fear. + +Full many a time our eyes together drew + That reading, and drove the colour from our faces; + But one point only was it that o’ercame us. + +When as we read of the much-longed-for smile + Being by such a noble lover kissed, + This one, who ne’er from me shall be divided, + +Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating. + Galeotto was the book and he who wrote it. + That day no farther did we read therein.” + +And all the while one spirit uttered this, + The other one did weep so, that, for pity, + I swooned away as if I had been dying, + +And fell, even as a dead body falls. + + + + +Inferno: Canto VI + + +At the return of consciousness, that closed + Before the pity of those two relations, + Which utterly with sadness had confused me, + +New torments I behold, and new tormented + Around me, whichsoever way I move, + And whichsoever way I turn, and gaze. + +In the third circle am I of the rain + Eternal, maledict, and cold, and heavy; + Its law and quality are never new. + +Huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow, + Athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain; + Noisome the earth is, that receiveth this. + +Cerberus, monster cruel and uncouth, + With his three gullets like a dog is barking + Over the people that are there submerged. + +Red eyes he has, and unctuous beard and black, + And belly large, and armed with claws his hands; + He rends the spirits, flays, and quarters them. + +Howl the rain maketh them like unto dogs; + One side they make a shelter for the other; + Oft turn themselves the wretched reprobates. + +When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm! + His mouths he opened, and displayed his tusks; + Not a limb had he that was motionless. + +And my Conductor, with his spans extended, + Took of the earth, and with his fists well filled, + He threw it into those rapacious gullets. + +Such as that dog is, who by barking craves, + And quiet grows soon as his food he gnaws, + For to devour it he but thinks and struggles, + +The like became those muzzles filth-begrimed + Of Cerberus the demon, who so thunders + Over the souls that they would fain be deaf. + +We passed across the shadows, which subdues + The heavy rain-storm, and we placed our feet + Upon their vanity that person seems. + +They all were lying prone upon the earth, + Excepting one, who sat upright as soon + As he beheld us passing on before him. + +“O thou that art conducted through this Hell,” + He said to me, “recall me, if thou canst; + Thyself wast made before I was unmade.” + +And I to him: “The anguish which thou hast + Perhaps doth draw thee out of my remembrance, + So that it seems not I have ever seen thee. + +But tell me who thou art, that in so doleful + A place art put, and in such punishment, + If some are greater, none is so displeasing.” + +And he to me: “Thy city, which is full + Of envy so that now the sack runs over, + Held me within it in the life serene. + +You citizens were wont to call me Ciacco; + For the pernicious sin of gluttony + I, as thou seest, am battered by this rain. + +And I, sad soul, am not the only one, + For all these suffer the like penalty + For the like sin;” and word no more spake he. + +I answered him: “Ciacco, thy wretchedness + Weighs on me so that it to weep invites me; + But tell me, if thou knowest, to what shall come + +The citizens of the divided city; + If any there be just; and the occasion + Tell me why so much discord has assailed it.” + +And he to me: “They, after long contention, + Will come to bloodshed; and the rustic party + Will drive the other out with much offence. + +Then afterwards behoves it this one fall + Within three suns, and rise again the other + By force of him who now is on the coast. + +High will it hold its forehead a long while, + Keeping the other under heavy burdens, + Howe’er it weeps thereat and is indignant. + +The just are two, and are not understood there; + Envy and Arrogance and Avarice + Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled.” + +Here ended he his tearful utterance; + And I to him: “I wish thee still to teach me, + And make a gift to me of further speech. + +Farinata and Tegghiaio, once so worthy, + Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca, + And others who on good deeds set their thoughts, + +Say where they are, and cause that I may know them; + For great desire constraineth me to learn + If Heaven doth sweeten them, or Hell envenom.” + +And he: “They are among the blacker souls; + A different sin downweighs them to the bottom; + If thou so far descendest, thou canst see them. + +But when thou art again in the sweet world, + I pray thee to the mind of others bring me; + No more I tell thee and no more I answer.” + +Then his straightforward eyes he turned askance, + Eyed me a little, and then bowed his head; + He fell therewith prone like the other blind. + +And the Guide said to me: “He wakes no more + This side the sound of the angelic trumpet; + When shall approach the hostile Potentate, + +Each one shall find again his dismal tomb, + Shall reassume his flesh and his own figure, + Shall hear what through eternity re-echoes.” + +So we passed onward o’er the filthy mixture + Of shadows and of rain with footsteps slow, + Touching a little on the future life. + +Wherefore I said: “Master, these torments here, + Will they increase after the mighty sentence, + Or lesser be, or will they be as burning?” + +And he to me: “Return unto thy science, + Which wills, that as the thing more perfect is, + The more it feels of pleasure and of pain. + +Albeit that this people maledict + To true perfection never can attain, + Hereafter more than now they look to be.” + +Round in a circle by that road we went, + Speaking much more, which I do not repeat; + We came unto the point where the descent is; + +There we found Plutus the great enemy. + + + + +Inferno: Canto VII + + +“Pape Satan, Pape Satan, Aleppe!” + Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began; + And that benignant Sage, who all things knew, + +Said, to encourage me: “Let not thy fear + Harm thee; for any power that he may have + Shall not prevent thy going down this crag.” + +Then he turned round unto that bloated lip, + And said: “Be silent, thou accursed wolf; + Consume within thyself with thine own rage. + +Not causeless is this journey to the abyss; + Thus is it willed on high, where Michael wrought + Vengeance upon the proud adultery.” + +Even as the sails inflated by the wind + Involved together fall when snaps the mast, + So fell the cruel monster to the earth. + +Thus we descended into the fourth chasm, + Gaining still farther on the dolesome shore + Which all the woe of the universe insacks. + +Justice of God, ah! who heaps up so many + New toils and sufferings as I beheld? + And why doth our transgression waste us so? + +As doth the billow there upon Charybdis, + That breaks itself on that which it encounters, + So here the folk must dance their roundelay. + +Here saw I people, more than elsewhere, many, + On one side and the other, with great howls, + Rolling weights forward by main force of chest. + +They clashed together, and then at that point + Each one turned backward, rolling retrograde, + Crying, “Why keepest?” and, “Why squanderest thou?” + +Thus they returned along the lurid circle + On either hand unto the opposite point, + Shouting their shameful metre evermore. + +Then each, when he arrived there, wheeled about + Through his half-circle to another joust; + And I, who had my heart pierced as it were, + +Exclaimed: “My Master, now declare to me + What people these are, and if all were clerks, + These shaven crowns upon the left of us.” + +And he to me: “All of them were asquint + In intellect in the first life, so much + That there with measure they no spending made. + +Clearly enough their voices bark it forth, + Whene’er they reach the two points of the circle, + Where sunders them the opposite defect. + +Clerks those were who no hairy covering + Have on the head, and Popes and Cardinals, + In whom doth Avarice practise its excess.” + +And I: “My Master, among such as these + I ought forsooth to recognise some few, + Who were infected with these maladies.” + +And he to me: “Vain thought thou entertainest; + The undiscerning life which made them sordid + Now makes them unto all discernment dim. + +Forever shall they come to these two buttings; + These from the sepulchre shall rise again + With the fist closed, and these with tresses shorn. + +Ill giving and ill keeping the fair world + Have ta’en from them, and placed them in this scuffle; + Whate’er it be, no words adorn I for it. + +Now canst thou, Son, behold the transient farce + Of goods that are committed unto Fortune, + For which the human race each other buffet; + +For all the gold that is beneath the moon, + Or ever has been, of these weary souls + Could never make a single one repose.” + +“Master,” I said to him, “now tell me also + What is this Fortune which thou speakest of, + That has the world’s goods so within its clutches?” + +And he to me: “O creatures imbecile, + What ignorance is this which doth beset you? + Now will I have thee learn my judgment of her. + +He whose omniscience everything transcends + The heavens created, and gave who should guide them, + That every part to every part may shine, + +Distributing the light in equal measure; + He in like manner to the mundane splendours + Ordained a general ministress and guide, + +That she might change at times the empty treasures + From race to race, from one blood to another, + Beyond resistance of all human wisdom. + +Therefore one people triumphs, and another + Languishes, in pursuance of her judgment, + Which hidden is, as in the grass a serpent. + +Your knowledge has no counterstand against her; + She makes provision, judges, and pursues + Her governance, as theirs the other gods. + +Her permutations have not any truce; + Necessity makes her precipitate, + So often cometh who his turn obtains. + +And this is she who is so crucified + Even by those who ought to give her praise, + Giving her blame amiss, and bad repute. + +But she is blissful, and she hears it not; + Among the other primal creatures gladsome + She turns her sphere, and blissful she rejoices. + +Let us descend now unto greater woe; + Already sinks each star that was ascending + When I set out, and loitering is forbidden.” + +We crossed the circle to the other bank, + Near to a fount that boils, and pours itself + Along a gully that runs out of it. + +The water was more sombre far than perse; + And we, in company with the dusky waves, + Made entrance downward by a path uncouth. + +A marsh it makes, which has the name of Styx, + This tristful brooklet, when it has descended + Down to the foot of the malign gray shores. + +And I, who stood intent upon beholding, + Saw people mud-besprent in that lagoon, + All of them naked and with angry look. + +They smote each other not alone with hands, + But with the head and with the breast and feet, + Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth. + +Said the good Master: “Son, thou now beholdest + The souls of those whom anger overcame; + And likewise I would have thee know for certain + +Beneath the water people are who sigh + And make this water bubble at the surface, + As the eye tells thee wheresoe’er it turns. + +Fixed in the mire they say, ‘We sullen were + In the sweet air, which by the sun is gladdened, + Bearing within ourselves the sluggish reek; + +Now we are sullen in this sable mire.’ + This hymn do they keep gurgling in their throats, + For with unbroken words they cannot say it.” + +Thus we went circling round the filthy fen + A great arc ’twixt the dry bank and the swamp, + With eyes turned unto those who gorge the mire; + +Unto the foot of a tower we came at last. + + + + +Inferno: Canto VIII + + +I say, continuing, that long before + We to the foot of that high tower had come, + Our eyes went upward to the summit of it, + +By reason of two flamelets we saw placed there, + And from afar another answer them, + So far, that hardly could the eye attain it. + +And, to the sea of all discernment turned, + I said: “What sayeth this, and what respondeth + That other fire? and who are they that made it?” + +And he to me: “Across the turbid waves + What is expected thou canst now discern, + If reek of the morass conceal it not.” + +Cord never shot an arrow from itself + That sped away athwart the air so swift, + As I beheld a very little boat + +Come o’er the water tow’rds us at that moment, + Under the guidance of a single pilot, + Who shouted, “Now art thou arrived, fell soul?” + +“Phlegyas, Phlegyas, thou criest out in vain + For this once,” said my Lord; “thou shalt not have us + Longer than in the passing of the slough.” + +As he who listens to some great deceit + That has been done to him, and then resents it, + Such became Phlegyas, in his gathered wrath. + +My Guide descended down into the boat, + And then he made me enter after him, + And only when I entered seemed it laden. + +Soon as the Guide and I were in the boat, + The antique prow goes on its way, dividing + More of the water than ’tis wont with others. + +While we were running through the dead canal, + Uprose in front of me one full of mire, + And said, “Who ’rt thou that comest ere the hour?” + +And I to him: “Although I come, I stay not; + But who art thou that hast become so squalid?” + “Thou seest that I am one who weeps,” he answered. + +And I to him: “With weeping and with wailing, + Thou spirit maledict, do thou remain; + For thee I know, though thou art all defiled.” + +Then stretched he both his hands unto the boat; + Whereat my wary Master thrust him back, + Saying, “Away there with the other dogs!” + +Thereafter with his arms he clasped my neck; + He kissed my face, and said: “Disdainful soul, + Blessed be she who bore thee in her bosom. + +That was an arrogant person in the world; + Goodness is none, that decks his memory; + So likewise here his shade is furious. + +How many are esteemed great kings up there, + Who here shall be like unto swine in mire, + Leaving behind them horrible dispraises!” + +And I: “My Master, much should I be pleased, + If I could see him soused into this broth, + Before we issue forth out of the lake.” + +And he to me: “Ere unto thee the shore + Reveal itself, thou shalt be satisfied; + Such a desire ’tis meet thou shouldst enjoy.” + +A little after that, I saw such havoc + Made of him by the people of the mire, + That still I praise and thank my God for it. + +They all were shouting, “At Philippo Argenti!” + And that exasperate spirit Florentine + Turned round upon himself with his own teeth. + +We left him there, and more of him I tell not; + But on mine ears there smote a lamentation, + Whence forward I intent unbar mine eyes. + +And the good Master said: “Even now, my Son, + The city draweth near whose name is Dis, + With the grave citizens, with the great throng.” + +And I: “Its mosques already, Master, clearly + Within there in the valley I discern + Vermilion, as if issuing from the fire + +They were.” And he to me: “The fire eternal + That kindles them within makes them look red, + As thou beholdest in this nether Hell.” + +Then we arrived within the moats profound, + That circumvallate that disconsolate city; + The walls appeared to me to be of iron. + +Not without making first a circuit wide, + We came unto a place where loud the pilot + Cried out to us, “Debark, here is the entrance.” + +More than a thousand at the gates I saw + Out of the Heavens rained down, who angrily + Were saying, “Who is this that without death + +Goes through the kingdom of the people dead?” + And my sagacious Master made a sign + Of wishing secretly to speak with them. + +A little then they quelled their great disdain, + And said: “Come thou alone, and he begone + Who has so boldly entered these dominions. + +Let him return alone by his mad road; + Try, if he can; for thou shalt here remain, + Who hast escorted him through such dark regions.” + +Think, Reader, if I was discomforted + At utterance of the accursed words; + For never to return here I believed. + +“O my dear Guide, who more than seven times + Hast rendered me security, and drawn me + From imminent peril that before me stood, + +Do not desert me,” said I, “thus undone; + And if the going farther be denied us, + Let us retrace our steps together swiftly.” + +And that Lord, who had led me thitherward, + Said unto me: “Fear not; because our passage + None can take from us, it by Such is given. + +But here await me, and thy weary spirit + Comfort and nourish with a better hope; + For in this nether world I will not leave thee.” + +So onward goes and there abandons me + My Father sweet, and I remain in doubt, + For No and Yes within my head contend. + +I could not hear what he proposed to them; + But with them there he did not linger long, + Ere each within in rivalry ran back. + +They closed the portals, those our adversaries, + On my Lord’s breast, who had remained without + And turned to me with footsteps far between. + +His eyes cast down, his forehead shorn had he + Of all its boldness, and he said, with sighs, + “Who has denied to me the dolesome houses?” + +And unto me: “Thou, because I am angry, + Fear not, for I will conquer in the trial, + Whatever for defence within be planned. + +This arrogance of theirs is nothing new; + For once they used it at less secret gate, + Which finds itself without a fastening still. + +O’er it didst thou behold the dead inscription; + And now this side of it descends the steep, + Passing across the circles without escort, + +One by whose means the city shall be opened.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto IX + + +That hue which cowardice brought out on me, + Beholding my Conductor backward turn, + Sooner repressed within him his new colour. + +He stopped attentive, like a man who listens, + Because the eye could not conduct him far + Through the black air, and through the heavy fog. + +“Still it behoveth us to win the fight,” + Began he; “Else. . .Such offered us herself. . . + O how I long that some one here arrive!” + +Well I perceived, as soon as the beginning + He covered up with what came afterward, + That they were words quite different from the first; + +But none the less his saying gave me fear, + Because I carried out the broken phrase, + Perhaps to a worse meaning than he had. + +“Into this bottom of the doleful conch + Doth any e’er descend from the first grade, + Which for its pain has only hope cut off?” + +This question put I; and he answered me: + “Seldom it comes to pass that one of us + Maketh the journey upon which I go. + +True is it, once before I here below + Was conjured by that pitiless Erictho, + Who summoned back the shades unto their bodies. + +Naked of me short while the flesh had been, + Before within that wall she made me enter, + To bring a spirit from the circle of Judas; + +That is the lowest region and the darkest, + And farthest from the heaven which circles all. + Well know I the way; therefore be reassured. + +This fen, which a prodigious stench exhales, + Encompasses about the city dolent, + Where now we cannot enter without anger.” + +And more he said, but not in mind I have it; + Because mine eye had altogether drawn me + Tow’rds the high tower with the red-flaming summit, + +Where in a moment saw I swift uprisen + The three infernal Furies stained with blood, + Who had the limbs of women and their mien, + +And with the greenest hydras were begirt; + Small serpents and cerastes were their tresses, + Wherewith their horrid temples were entwined. + +And he who well the handmaids of the Queen + Of everlasting lamentation knew, + Said unto me: “Behold the fierce Erinnys. + +This is Megaera, on the left-hand side; + She who is weeping on the right, Alecto; + Tisiphone is between;” and then was silent. + +Each one her breast was rending with her nails; + They beat them with their palms, and cried so loud, + That I for dread pressed close unto the Poet. + +“Medusa come, so we to stone will change him!” + All shouted looking down; “in evil hour + Avenged we not on Theseus his assault!” + +“Turn thyself round, and keep thine eyes close shut, + For if the Gorgon appear, and thou shouldst see it, + No more returning upward would there be.” + +Thus said the Master; and he turned me round + Himself, and trusted not unto my hands + So far as not to blind me with his own. + +O ye who have undistempered intellects, + Observe the doctrine that conceals itself + Beneath the veil of the mysterious verses! + +And now there came across the turbid waves + The clangour of a sound with terror fraught, + Because of which both of the margins trembled; + +Not otherwise it was than of a wind + Impetuous on account of adverse heats, + That smites the forest, and, without restraint, + +The branches rends, beats down, and bears away; + Right onward, laden with dust, it goes superb, + And puts to flight the wild beasts and the shepherds. + +Mine eyes he loosed, and said: “Direct the nerve + Of vision now along that ancient foam, + There yonder where that smoke is most intense.” + +Even as the frogs before the hostile serpent + Across the water scatter all abroad, + Until each one is huddled in the earth. + +More than a thousand ruined souls I saw, + Thus fleeing from before one who on foot + Was passing o’er the Styx with soles unwet. + +From off his face he fanned that unctuous air, + Waving his left hand oft in front of him, + And only with that anguish seemed he weary. + +Well I perceived one sent from Heaven was he, + And to the Master turned; and he made sign + That I should quiet stand, and bow before him. + +Ah! how disdainful he appeared to me! + He reached the gate, and with a little rod + He opened it, for there was no resistance. + +“O banished out of Heaven, people despised!” + Thus he began upon the horrid threshold; + “Whence is this arrogance within you couched? + +Wherefore recalcitrate against that will, + From which the end can never be cut off, + And which has many times increased your pain? + +What helpeth it to butt against the fates? + Your Cerberus, if you remember well, + For that still bears his chin and gullet peeled.” + +Then he returned along the miry road, + And spake no word to us, but had the look + Of one whom other care constrains and goads + +Than that of him who in his presence is; + And we our feet directed tow’rds the city, + After those holy words all confident. + +Within we entered without any contest; + And I, who inclination had to see + What the condition such a fortress holds, + +Soon as I was within, cast round mine eye, + And see on every hand an ample plain, + Full of distress and torment terrible. + +Even as at Arles, where stagnant grows the Rhone, + Even as at Pola near to the Quarnaro, + That shuts in Italy and bathes its borders, + +The sepulchres make all the place uneven; + So likewise did they there on every side, + Saving that there the manner was more bitter; + +For flames between the sepulchres were scattered, + By which they so intensely heated were, + That iron more so asks not any art. + +All of their coverings uplifted were, + And from them issued forth such dire laments, + Sooth seemed they of the wretched and tormented. + +And I: “My Master, what are all those people + Who, having sepulture within those tombs, + Make themselves audible by doleful sighs?” + +And he to me: “Here are the Heresiarchs, + With their disciples of all sects, and much + More than thou thinkest laden are the tombs. + +Here like together with its like is buried; + And more and less the monuments are heated.” + And when he to the right had turned, we passed + +Between the torments and high parapets. + + + + +Inferno: Canto X + + +Now onward goes, along a narrow path + Between the torments and the city wall, + My Master, and I follow at his back. + +“O power supreme, that through these impious circles + Turnest me,” I began, “as pleases thee, + Speak to me, and my longings satisfy; + +The people who are lying in these tombs, + Might they be seen? already are uplifted + The covers all, and no one keepeth guard.” + +And he to me: “They all will be closed up + When from Jehoshaphat they shall return + Here with the bodies they have left above. + +Their cemetery have upon this side + With Epicurus all his followers, + Who with the body mortal make the soul; + +But in the question thou dost put to me, + Within here shalt thou soon be satisfied, + And likewise in the wish thou keepest silent.” + +And I: “Good Leader, I but keep concealed + From thee my heart, that I may speak the less, + Nor only now hast thou thereto disposed me.” + +“O Tuscan, thou who through the city of fire + Goest alive, thus speaking modestly, + Be pleased to stay thy footsteps in this place. + +Thy mode of speaking makes thee manifest + A native of that noble fatherland, + To which perhaps I too molestful was.” + +Upon a sudden issued forth this sound + From out one of the tombs; wherefore I pressed, + Fearing, a little nearer to my Leader. + +And unto me he said: “Turn thee; what dost thou? + Behold there Farinata who has risen; + From the waist upwards wholly shalt thou see him.” + +I had already fixed mine eyes on his, + And he uprose erect with breast and front + E’en as if Hell he had in great despite. + +And with courageous hands and prompt my Leader + Thrust me between the sepulchres towards him, + Exclaiming, “Let thy words explicit be.” + +As soon as I was at the foot of his tomb + Somewhat he eyed me, and, as if disdainful, + Then asked of me, “Who were thine ancestors?” + +I, who desirous of obeying was, + Concealed it not, but all revealed to him; + Whereat he raised his brows a little upward. + +Then said he: “Fiercely adverse have they been + To me, and to my fathers, and my party; + So that two several times I scattered them.” + +“If they were banished, they returned on all sides,” + I answered him, “the first time and the second; + But yours have not acquired that art aright.” + +Then there uprose upon the sight, uncovered + Down to the chin, a shadow at his side; + I think that he had risen on his knees. + +Round me he gazed, as if solicitude + He had to see if some one else were with me, + But after his suspicion was all spent, + +Weeping, he said to me: “If through this blind + Prison thou goest by loftiness of genius, + Where is my son? and why is he not with thee?” + +And I to him: “I come not of myself; + He who is waiting yonder leads me here, + Whom in disdain perhaps your Guido had.” + +His language and the mode of punishment + Already unto me had read his name; + On that account my answer was so full. + +Up starting suddenly, he cried out: “How + Saidst thou,—he had? Is he not still alive? + Does not the sweet light strike upon his eyes?” + +When he became aware of some delay, + Which I before my answer made, supine + He fell again, and forth appeared no more. + +But the other, magnanimous, at whose desire + I had remained, did not his aspect change, + Neither his neck he moved, nor bent his side. + +“And if,” continuing his first discourse, + “They have that art,” he said, “not learned aright, + That more tormenteth me, than doth this bed. + +But fifty times shall not rekindled be + The countenance of the Lady who reigns here, + Ere thou shalt know how heavy is that art; + +And as thou wouldst to the sweet world return, + Say why that people is so pitiless + Against my race in each one of its laws?” + +Whence I to him: “The slaughter and great carnage + Which have with crimson stained the Arbia, cause + Such orisons in our temple to be made.” + +After his head he with a sigh had shaken, + “There I was not alone,” he said, “nor surely + Without a cause had with the others moved. + +But there I was alone, where every one + Consented to the laying waste of Florence, + He who defended her with open face.” + +“Ah! so hereafter may your seed repose,” + I him entreated, “solve for me that knot, + Which has entangled my conceptions here. + +It seems that you can see, if I hear rightly, + Beforehand whatsoe’er time brings with it, + And in the present have another mode.” + +“We see, like those who have imperfect sight, + The things,” he said, “that distant are from us; + So much still shines on us the Sovereign Ruler. + +When they draw near, or are, is wholly vain + Our intellect, and if none brings it to us, + Not anything know we of your human state. + +Hence thou canst understand, that wholly dead + Will be our knowledge from the moment when + The portal of the future shall be closed.” + +Then I, as if compunctious for my fault, + Said: “Now, then, you will tell that fallen one, + That still his son is with the living joined. + +And if just now, in answering, I was dumb, + Tell him I did it because I was thinking + Already of the error you have solved me.” + +And now my Master was recalling me, + Wherefore more eagerly I prayed the spirit + That he would tell me who was with him there. + +He said: “With more than a thousand here I lie; + Within here is the second Frederick, + And the Cardinal, and of the rest I speak not.” + +Thereon he hid himself; and I towards + The ancient poet turned my steps, reflecting + Upon that saying, which seemed hostile to me. + +He moved along; and afterward thus going, + He said to me, “Why art thou so bewildered?” + And I in his inquiry satisfied him. + +“Let memory preserve what thou hast heard + Against thyself,” that Sage commanded me, + “And now attend here;” and he raised his finger. + +“When thou shalt be before the radiance sweet + Of her whose beauteous eyes all things behold, + From her thou’lt know the journey of thy life.” + +Unto the left hand then he turned his feet; + We left the wall, and went towards the middle, + Along a path that strikes into a valley, + +Which even up there unpleasant made its stench. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XI + + +Upon the margin of a lofty bank + Which great rocks broken in a circle made, + We came upon a still more cruel throng; + +And there, by reason of the horrible + Excess of stench the deep abyss throws out, + We drew ourselves aside behind the cover + +Of a great tomb, whereon I saw a writing, + Which said: “Pope Anastasius I hold, + Whom out of the right way Photinus drew.” + +“Slow it behoveth our descent to be, + So that the sense be first a little used + To the sad blast, and then we shall not heed it.” + +The Master thus; and unto him I said, + “Some compensation find, that the time pass not + Idly;” and he: “Thou seest I think of that. + +My son, upon the inside of these rocks,” + Began he then to say, “are three small circles, + From grade to grade, like those which thou art leaving. + +They all are full of spirits maledict; + But that hereafter sight alone suffice thee, + Hear how and wherefore they are in constraint. + +Of every malice that wins hate in Heaven, + Injury is the end; and all such end + Either by force or fraud afflicteth others. + +But because fraud is man’s peculiar vice, + More it displeases God; and so stand lowest + The fraudulent, and greater dole assails them. + +All the first circle of the Violent is; + But since force may be used against three persons, + In three rounds ’tis divided and constructed. + +To God, to ourselves, and to our neighbour can we + Use force; I say on them and on their things, + As thou shalt hear with reason manifest. + +A death by violence, and painful wounds, + Are to our neighbour given; and in his substance + Ruin, and arson, and injurious levies; + +Whence homicides, and he who smites unjustly, + Marauders, and freebooters, the first round + Tormenteth all in companies diverse. + +Man may lay violent hands upon himself + And his own goods; and therefore in the second + Round must perforce without avail repent + +Whoever of your world deprives himself, + Who games, and dissipates his property, + And weepeth there, where he should jocund be. + +Violence can be done the Deity, + In heart denying and blaspheming Him, + And by disdaining Nature and her bounty. + +And for this reason doth the smallest round + Seal with its signet Sodom and Cahors, + And who, disdaining God, speaks from the heart. + +Fraud, wherewithal is every conscience stung, + A man may practise upon him who trusts, + And him who doth no confidence imburse. + +This latter mode, it would appear, dissevers + Only the bond of love which Nature makes; + Wherefore within the second circle nestle + +Hypocrisy, flattery, and who deals in magic, + Falsification, theft, and simony, + Panders, and barrators, and the like filth. + +By the other mode, forgotten is that love + Which Nature makes, and what is after added, + From which there is a special faith engendered. + +Hence in the smallest circle, where the point is + Of the Universe, upon which Dis is seated, + Whoe’er betrays for ever is consumed.” + +And I: “My Master, clear enough proceeds + Thy reasoning, and full well distinguishes + This cavern and the people who possess it. + +But tell me, those within the fat lagoon, + Whom the wind drives, and whom the rain doth beat, + And who encounter with such bitter tongues, + +Wherefore are they inside of the red city + Not punished, if God has them in his wrath, + And if he has not, wherefore in such fashion?” + +And unto me he said: “Why wanders so + Thine intellect from that which it is wont? + Or, sooth, thy mind where is it elsewhere looking? + +Hast thou no recollection of those words + With which thine Ethics thoroughly discusses + The dispositions three, that Heaven abides not,— + +Incontinence, and Malice, and insane + Bestiality? and how Incontinence + Less God offendeth, and less blame attracts? + +If thou regardest this conclusion well, + And to thy mind recallest who they are + That up outside are undergoing penance, + +Clearly wilt thou perceive why from these felons + They separated are, and why less wroth + Justice divine doth smite them with its hammer.” + +“O Sun, that healest all distempered vision, + Thou dost content me so, when thou resolvest, + That doubting pleases me no less than knowing! + +Once more a little backward turn thee,” said I, + “There where thou sayest that usury offends + Goodness divine, and disengage the knot.” + +“Philosophy,” he said, “to him who heeds it, + Noteth, not only in one place alone, + After what manner Nature takes her course + +From Intellect Divine, and from its art; + And if thy Physics carefully thou notest, + After not many pages shalt thou find, + +That this your art as far as possible + Follows, as the disciple doth the master; + So that your art is, as it were, God’s grandchild. + +From these two, if thou bringest to thy mind + Genesis at the beginning, it behoves + Mankind to gain their life and to advance; + +And since the usurer takes another way, + Nature herself and in her follower + Disdains he, for elsewhere he puts his hope. + +But follow, now, as I would fain go on, + For quivering are the Fishes on the horizon, + And the Wain wholly over Caurus lies, + +And far beyond there we descend the crag.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XII + + +The place where to descend the bank we came + Was alpine, and from what was there, moreover, + Of such a kind that every eye would shun it. + +Such as that ruin is which in the flank + Smote, on this side of Trent, the Adige, + Either by earthquake or by failing stay, + +For from the mountain’s top, from which it moved, + Unto the plain the cliff is shattered so, + Some path ’twould give to him who was above; + +Even such was the descent of that ravine, + And on the border of the broken chasm + The infamy of Crete was stretched along, + +Who was conceived in the fictitious cow; + And when he us beheld, he bit himself, + Even as one whom anger racks within. + +My Sage towards him shouted: “Peradventure + Thou think’st that here may be the Duke of Athens, + Who in the world above brought death to thee? + +Get thee gone, beast, for this one cometh not + Instructed by thy sister, but he comes + In order to behold your punishments.” + +As is that bull who breaks loose at the moment + In which he has received the mortal blow, + Who cannot walk, but staggers here and there, + +The Minotaur beheld I do the like; + And he, the wary, cried: “Run to the passage; + While he wroth, ’tis well thou shouldst descend.” + +Thus down we took our way o’er that discharge + Of stones, which oftentimes did move themselves + Beneath my feet, from the unwonted burden. + +Thoughtful I went; and he said: “Thou art thinking + Perhaps upon this ruin, which is guarded + By that brute anger which just now I quenched. + +Now will I have thee know, the other time + I here descended to the nether Hell, + This precipice had not yet fallen down. + +But truly, if I well discern, a little + Before His coming who the mighty spoil + Bore off from Dis, in the supernal circle, + +Upon all sides the deep and loathsome valley + Trembled so, that I thought the Universe + Was thrilled with love, by which there are who think + +The world ofttimes converted into chaos; + And at that moment this primeval crag + Both here and elsewhere made such overthrow. + +But fix thine eyes below; for draweth near + The river of blood, within which boiling is + Whoe’er by violence doth injure others.” + +O blind cupidity, O wrath insane, + That spurs us onward so in our short life, + And in the eternal then so badly steeps us! + +I saw an ample moat bent like a bow, + As one which all the plain encompasses, + Conformable to what my Guide had said. + +And between this and the embankment’s foot + Centaurs in file were running, armed with arrows, + As in the world they used the chase to follow. + +Beholding us descend, each one stood still, + And from the squadron three detached themselves, + With bows and arrows in advance selected; + +And from afar one cried: “Unto what torment + Come ye, who down the hillside are descending? + Tell us from there; if not, I draw the bow.” + +My Master said: “Our answer will we make + To Chiron, near you there; in evil hour, + That will of thine was evermore so hasty.” + +Then touched he me, and said: “This one is Nessus, + Who perished for the lovely Dejanira, + And for himself, himself did vengeance take. + +And he in the midst, who at his breast is gazing, + Is the great Chiron, who brought up Achilles; + That other Pholus is, who was so wrathful. + +Thousands and thousands go about the moat + Shooting with shafts whatever soul emerges + Out of the blood, more than his crime allots.” + +Near we approached unto those monsters fleet; + Chiron an arrow took, and with the notch + Backward upon his jaws he put his beard. + +After he had uncovered his great mouth, + He said to his companions: “Are you ware + That he behind moveth whate’er he touches? + +Thus are not wont to do the feet of dead men.” + And my good Guide, who now was at his breast, + Where the two natures are together joined, + +Replied: “Indeed he lives, and thus alone + Me it behoves to show him the dark valley; + Necessity, and not delight, impels us. + +Some one withdrew from singing Halleluja, + Who unto me committed this new office; + No thief is he, nor I a thievish spirit. + +But by that virtue through which I am moving + My steps along this savage thoroughfare, + Give us some one of thine, to be with us, + +And who may show us where to pass the ford, + And who may carry this one on his back; + For ’tis no spirit that can walk the air.” + +Upon his right breast Chiron wheeled about, + And said to Nessus: “Turn and do thou guide them, + And warn aside, if other band may meet you.” + +We with our faithful escort onward moved + Along the brink of the vermilion boiling, + Wherein the boiled were uttering loud laments. + +People I saw within up to the eyebrows, + And the great Centaur said: “Tyrants are these, + Who dealt in bloodshed and in pillaging. + +Here they lament their pitiless mischiefs; here + Is Alexander, and fierce Dionysius + Who upon Sicily brought dolorous years. + +That forehead there which has the hair so black + Is Azzolin; and the other who is blond, + Obizzo is of Esti, who, in truth, + +Up in the world was by his stepson slain.” + Then turned I to the Poet; and he said, + “Now he be first to thee, and second I.” + +A little farther on the Centaur stopped + Above a folk, who far down as the throat + Seemed from that boiling stream to issue forth. + +A shade he showed us on one side alone, + Saying: “He cleft asunder in God’s bosom + The heart that still upon the Thames is honoured.” + +Then people saw I, who from out the river + Lifted their heads and also all the chest; + And many among these I recognised. + +Thus ever more and more grew shallower + That blood, so that the feet alone it covered; + And there across the moat our passage was. + +“Even as thou here upon this side beholdest + The boiling stream, that aye diminishes,” + The Centaur said, “I wish thee to believe + +That on this other more and more declines + Its bed, until it reunites itself + Where it behoveth tyranny to groan. + +Justice divine, upon this side, is goading + That Attila, who was a scourge on earth, + And Pyrrhus, and Sextus; and for ever milks + +The tears which with the boiling it unseals + In Rinier da Corneto and Rinier Pazzo, + Who made upon the highways so much war.” + +Then back he turned, and passed again the ford. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XIII + + +Not yet had Nessus reached the other side, + When we had put ourselves within a wood, + That was not marked by any path whatever. + +Not foliage green, but of a dusky colour, + Not branches smooth, but gnarled and intertangled, + Not apple-trees were there, but thorns with poison. + +Such tangled thickets have not, nor so dense, + Those savage wild beasts, that in hatred hold + ’Twixt Cecina and Corneto the tilled places. + +There do the hideous Harpies make their nests, + Who chased the Trojans from the Strophades, + With sad announcement of impending doom; + +Broad wings have they, and necks and faces human, + And feet with claws, and their great bellies fledged; + They make laments upon the wondrous trees. + +And the good Master: “Ere thou enter farther, + Know that thou art within the second round,” + Thus he began to say, “and shalt be, till + +Thou comest out upon the horrible sand; + Therefore look well around, and thou shalt see + Things that will credence give unto my speech.” + +I heard on all sides lamentations uttered, + And person none beheld I who might make them, + Whence, utterly bewildered, I stood still. + +I think he thought that I perhaps might think + So many voices issued through those trunks + From people who concealed themselves from us; + +Therefore the Master said: “If thou break off + Some little spray from any of these trees, + The thoughts thou hast will wholly be made vain.” + +Then stretched I forth my hand a little forward, + And plucked a branchlet off from a great thorn; + And the trunk cried, “Why dost thou mangle me?” + +After it had become embrowned with blood, + It recommenced its cry: “Why dost thou rend me? + Hast thou no spirit of pity whatsoever? + +Men once we were, and now are changed to trees; + Indeed, thy hand should be more pitiful, + Even if the souls of serpents we had been.” + +As out of a green brand, that is on fire + At one of the ends, and from the other drips + And hisses with the wind that is escaping; + +So from that splinter issued forth together + Both words and blood; whereat I let the tip + Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid. + +“Had he been able sooner to believe,” + My Sage made answer, “O thou wounded soul, + What only in my verses he has seen, + +Not upon thee had he stretched forth his hand; + Whereas the thing incredible has caused me + To put him to an act which grieveth me. + +But tell him who thou wast, so that by way + Of some amends thy fame he may refresh + Up in the world, to which he can return.” + +And the trunk said: “So thy sweet words allure me, + I cannot silent be; and you be vexed not, + That I a little to discourse am tempted. + +I am the one who both keys had in keeping + Of Frederick’s heart, and turned them to and fro + So softly in unlocking and in locking, + +That from his secrets most men I withheld; + Fidelity I bore the glorious office + So great, I lost thereby my sleep and pulses. + +The courtesan who never from the dwelling + Of Caesar turned aside her strumpet eyes, + Death universal and the vice of courts, + +Inflamed against me all the other minds, + And they, inflamed, did so inflame Augustus, + That my glad honours turned to dismal mournings. + +My spirit, in disdainful exultation, + Thinking by dying to escape disdain, + Made me unjust against myself, the just. + +I, by the roots unwonted of this wood, + Do swear to you that never broke I faith + Unto my lord, who was so worthy of honour; + +And to the world if one of you return, + Let him my memory comfort, which is lying + Still prostrate from the blow that envy dealt it.” + +Waited awhile, and then: “Since he is silent,” + The Poet said to me, “lose not the time, + But speak, and question him, if more may please thee.” + +Whence I to him: “Do thou again inquire + Concerning what thou thinks’t will satisfy me; + For I cannot, such pity is in my heart.” + +Therefore he recommenced: “So may the man + Do for thee freely what thy speech implores, + Spirit incarcerate, again be pleased + +To tell us in what way the soul is bound + Within these knots; and tell us, if thou canst, + If any from such members e’er is freed.” + +Then blew the trunk amain, and afterward + The wind was into such a voice converted: + “With brevity shall be replied to you. + +When the exasperated soul abandons + The body whence it rent itself away, + Minos consigns it to the seventh abyss. + +It falls into the forest, and no part + Is chosen for it; but where Fortune hurls it, + There like a grain of spelt it germinates. + +It springs a sapling, and a forest tree; + The Harpies, feeding then upon its leaves, + Do pain create, and for the pain an outlet. + +Like others for our spoils shall we return; + But not that any one may them revest, + For ’tis not just to have what one casts off. + +Here we shall drag them, and along the dismal + Forest our bodies shall suspended be, + Each to the thorn of his molested shade.” + +We were attentive still unto the trunk, + Thinking that more it yet might wish to tell us, + When by a tumult we were overtaken, + +In the same way as he is who perceives + The boar and chase approaching to his stand, + Who hears the crashing of the beasts and branches; + +And two behold! upon our left-hand side, + Naked and scratched, fleeing so furiously, + That of the forest, every fan they broke. + +He who was in advance: “Now help, Death, help!” + And the other one, who seemed to lag too much, + Was shouting: “Lano, were not so alert + +Those legs of thine at joustings of the Toppo!” + And then, perchance because his breath was failing, + He grouped himself together with a bush. + +Behind them was the forest full of black + She-mastiffs, ravenous, and swift of foot + As greyhounds, who are issuing from the chain. + +On him who had crouched down they set their teeth, + And him they lacerated piece by piece, + Thereafter bore away those aching members. + +Thereat my Escort took me by the hand, + And led me to the bush, that all in vain + Was weeping from its bloody lacerations. + +“O Jacopo,” it said, “of Sant’ Andrea, + What helped it thee of me to make a screen? + What blame have I in thy nefarious life?” + +When near him had the Master stayed his steps, + He said: “Who wast thou, that through wounds so many + Art blowing out with blood thy dolorous speech?” + +And he to us: “O souls, that hither come + To look upon the shameful massacre + That has so rent away from me my leaves, + +Gather them up beneath the dismal bush; + I of that city was which to the Baptist + Changed its first patron, wherefore he for this + +Forever with his art will make it sad. + And were it not that on the pass of Arno + Some glimpses of him are remaining still, + +Those citizens, who afterwards rebuilt it + Upon the ashes left by Attila, + In vain had caused their labour to be done. + +Of my own house I made myself a gibbet.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XIV + + +Because the charity of my native place + Constrained me, gathered I the scattered leaves, + And gave them back to him, who now was hoarse. + +Then came we to the confine, where disparted + The second round is from the third, and where + A horrible form of Justice is beheld. + +Clearly to manifest these novel things, + I say that we arrived upon a plain, + Which from its bed rejecteth every plant; + +The dolorous forest is a garland to it + All round about, as the sad moat to that; + There close upon the edge we stayed our feet. + +The soil was of an arid and thick sand, + Not of another fashion made than that + Which by the feet of Cato once was pressed. + +Vengeance of God, O how much oughtest thou + By each one to be dreaded, who doth read + That which was manifest unto mine eyes! + +Of naked souls beheld I many herds, + Who all were weeping very miserably, + And over them seemed set a law diverse. + +Supine upon the ground some folk were lying; + And some were sitting all drawn up together, + And others went about continually. + +Those who were going round were far the more, + And those were less who lay down to their torment, + But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation. + +O’er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall, + Were raining down dilated flakes of fire, + As of the snow on Alp without a wind. + +As Alexander, in those torrid parts + Of India, beheld upon his host + Flames fall unbroken till they reached the ground. + +Whence he provided with his phalanxes + To trample down the soil, because the vapour + Better extinguished was while it was single; + +Thus was descending the eternal heat, + Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinder + Beneath the steel, for doubling of the dole. + +Without repose forever was the dance + Of miserable hands, now there, now here, + Shaking away from off them the fresh gleeds. + +“Master,” began I, “thou who overcomest + All things except the demons dire, that issued + Against us at the entrance of the gate, + +Who is that mighty one who seems to heed not + The fire, and lieth lowering and disdainful, + So that the rain seems not to ripen him?” + +And he himself, who had become aware + That I was questioning my Guide about him, + Cried: “Such as I was living, am I, dead. + +If Jove should weary out his smith, from whom + He seized in anger the sharp thunderbolt, + Wherewith upon the last day I was smitten, + +And if he wearied out by turns the others + In Mongibello at the swarthy forge, + Vociferating, ‘Help, good Vulcan, help!’ + +Even as he did there at the fight of Phlegra, + And shot his bolts at me with all his might, + He would not have thereby a joyous vengeance.” + +Then did my Leader speak with such great force, + That I had never heard him speak so loud: + “O Capaneus, in that is not extinguished + +Thine arrogance, thou punished art the more; + Not any torment, saving thine own rage, + Would be unto thy fury pain complete.” + +Then he turned round to me with better lip, + Saying: “One of the Seven Kings was he + Who Thebes besieged, and held, and seems to hold + +God in disdain, and little seems to prize him; + But, as I said to him, his own despites + Are for his breast the fittest ornaments. + +Now follow me, and mind thou do not place + As yet thy feet upon the burning sand, + But always keep them close unto the wood.” + +Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes + Forth from the wood a little rivulet, + Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end. + +As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet, + The sinful women later share among them, + So downward through the sand it went its way. + +The bottom of it, and both sloping banks, + Were made of stone, and the margins at the side; + Whence I perceived that there the passage was. + +“In all the rest which I have shown to thee + Since we have entered in within the gate + Whose threshold unto no one is denied, + +Nothing has been discovered by thine eyes + So notable as is the present river, + Which all the little flames above it quenches.” + +These words were of my Leader; whence I prayed him + That he would give me largess of the food, + For which he had given me largess of desire. + +“In the mid-sea there sits a wasted land,” + Said he thereafterward, “whose name is Crete, + Under whose king the world of old was chaste. + +There is a mountain there, that once was glad + With waters and with leaves, which was called Ida; + Now ’tis deserted, as a thing worn out. + +Rhea once chose it for the faithful cradle + Of her own son; and to conceal him better, + Whene’er he cried, she there had clamours made. + +A grand old man stands in the mount erect, + Who holds his shoulders turned tow’rds Damietta, + And looks at Rome as if it were his mirror. + +His head is fashioned of refined gold, + And of pure silver are the arms and breast; + Then he is brass as far down as the fork. + +From that point downward all is chosen iron, + Save that the right foot is of kiln-baked clay, + And more he stands on that than on the other. + +Each part, except the gold, is by a fissure + Asunder cleft, that dripping is with tears, + Which gathered together perforate that cavern. + +From rock to rock they fall into this valley; + Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon they form; + Then downward go along this narrow sluice + +Unto that point where is no more descending. + They form Cocytus; what that pool may be + Thou shalt behold, so here ’tis not narrated.” + +And I to him: “If so the present runnel + Doth take its rise in this way from our world, + Why only on this verge appears it to us?” + +And he to me: “Thou knowest the place is round, + And notwithstanding thou hast journeyed far, + Still to the left descending to the bottom, + +Thou hast not yet through all the circle turned. + Therefore if something new appear to us, + It should not bring amazement to thy face.” + +And I again: “Master, where shall be found + Lethe and Phlegethon, for of one thou’rt silent, + And sayest the other of this rain is made?” + +“In all thy questions truly thou dost please me,” + Replied he; “but the boiling of the red + Water might well solve one of them thou makest. + +Thou shalt see Lethe, but outside this moat, + There where the souls repair to lave themselves, + When sin repented of has been removed.” + +Then said he: “It is time now to abandon + The wood; take heed that thou come after me; + A way the margins make that are not burning, + +And over them all vapours are extinguished.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XV + + +Now bears us onward one of the hard margins, + And so the brooklet’s mist o’ershadows it, + From fire it saves the water and the dikes. + +Even as the Flemings, ’twixt Cadsand and Bruges, + Fearing the flood that tow’rds them hurls itself, + Their bulwarks build to put the sea to flight; + +And as the Paduans along the Brenta, + To guard their villas and their villages, + Or ever Chiarentana feel the heat; + +In such similitude had those been made, + Albeit not so lofty nor so thick, + Whoever he might be, the master made them. + +Now were we from the forest so remote, + I could not have discovered where it was, + Even if backward I had turned myself, + +When we a company of souls encountered, + Who came beside the dike, and every one + Gazed at us, as at evening we are wont + +To eye each other under a new moon, + And so towards us sharpened they their brows + As an old tailor at the needle’s eye. + +Thus scrutinised by such a family, + By some one I was recognised, who seized + My garment’s hem, and cried out, “What a marvel!” + +And I, when he stretched forth his arm to me, + On his baked aspect fastened so mine eyes, + That the scorched countenance prevented not + +His recognition by my intellect; + And bowing down my face unto his own, + I made reply, “Are you here, Ser Brunetto?” + +And he: “May’t not displease thee, O my son, + If a brief space with thee Brunetto Latini + Backward return and let the trail go on.” + +I said to him: “With all my power I ask it; + And if you wish me to sit down with you, + I will, if he please, for I go with him.” + +“O son,” he said, “whoever of this herd + A moment stops, lies then a hundred years, + Nor fans himself when smiteth him the fire. + +Therefore go on; I at thy skirts will come, + And afterward will I rejoin my band, + Which goes lamenting its eternal doom.” + +I did not dare to go down from the road + Level to walk with him; but my head bowed + I held as one who goeth reverently. + +And he began: “What fortune or what fate + Before the last day leadeth thee down here? + And who is this that showeth thee the way?” + +“Up there above us in the life serene,” + I answered him, “I lost me in a valley, + Or ever yet my age had been completed. + +But yestermorn I turned my back upon it; + This one appeared to me, returning thither, + And homeward leadeth me along this road.” + +And he to me: “If thou thy star do follow, + Thou canst not fail thee of a glorious port, + If well I judged in the life beautiful. + +And if I had not died so prematurely, + Seeing Heaven thus benignant unto thee, + I would have given thee comfort in the work. + +But that ungrateful and malignant people, + Which of old time from Fesole descended, + And smacks still of the mountain and the granite, + +Will make itself, for thy good deeds, thy foe; + And it is right; for among crabbed sorbs + It ill befits the sweet fig to bear fruit. + +Old rumour in the world proclaims them blind; + A people avaricious, envious, proud; + Take heed that of their customs thou do cleanse thee. + +Thy fortune so much honour doth reserve thee, + One party and the other shall be hungry + For thee; but far from goat shall be the grass. + +Their litter let the beasts of Fesole + Make of themselves, nor let them touch the plant, + If any still upon their dunghill rise, + +In which may yet revive the consecrated + Seed of those Romans, who remained there when + The nest of such great malice it became.” + +“If my entreaty wholly were fulfilled,” + Replied I to him, “not yet would you be + In banishment from human nature placed; + +For in my mind is fixed, and touches now + My heart the dear and good paternal image + Of you, when in the world from hour to hour + +You taught me how a man becomes eternal; + And how much I am grateful, while I live + Behoves that in my language be discerned. + +What you narrate of my career I write, + And keep it to be glossed with other text + By a Lady who can do it, if I reach her. + +This much will I have manifest to you; + Provided that my conscience do not chide me, + For whatsoever Fortune I am ready. + +Such handsel is not new unto mine ears; + Therefore let Fortune turn her wheel around + As it may please her, and the churl his mattock.” + +My Master thereupon on his right cheek + Did backward turn himself, and looked at me; + Then said: “He listeneth well who noteth it.” + +Nor speaking less on that account, I go + With Ser Brunetto, and I ask who are + His most known and most eminent companions. + +And he to me: “To know of some is well; + Of others it were laudable to be silent, + For short would be the time for so much speech. + +Know them in sum, that all of them were clerks, + And men of letters great and of great fame, + In the world tainted with the selfsame sin. + +Priscian goes yonder with that wretched crowd, + And Francis of Accorso; and thou hadst seen there + If thou hadst had a hankering for such scurf, + +That one, who by the Servant of the Servants + From Arno was transferred to Bacchiglione, + Where he has left his sin-excited nerves. + +More would I say, but coming and discoursing + Can be no longer; for that I behold + New smoke uprising yonder from the sand. + +A people comes with whom I may not be; + Commended unto thee be my Tesoro, + In which I still live, and no more I ask.” + +Then he turned round, and seemed to be of those + Who at Verona run for the Green Mantle + Across the plain; and seemed to be among them + +The one who wins, and not the one who loses. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XVI + + +Now was I where was heard the reverberation + Of water falling into the next round, + Like to that humming which the beehives make, + +When shadows three together started forth, + Running, from out a company that passed + Beneath the rain of the sharp martyrdom. + +Towards us came they, and each one cried out: + “Stop, thou; for by thy garb to us thou seemest + To be some one of our depraved city.” + +Ah me! what wounds I saw upon their limbs, + Recent and ancient by the flames burnt in! + It pains me still but to remember it. + +Unto their cries my Teacher paused attentive; + He turned his face towards me, and “Now wait,” + He said; “to these we should be courteous. + +And if it were not for the fire that darts + The nature of this region, I should say + That haste were more becoming thee than them.” + +As soon as we stood still, they recommenced + The old refrain, and when they overtook us, + Formed of themselves a wheel, all three of them. + +As champions stripped and oiled are wont to do, + Watching for their advantage and their hold, + Before they come to blows and thrusts between them, + +Thus, wheeling round, did every one his visage + Direct to me, so that in opposite wise + His neck and feet continual journey made. + +And, “If the misery of this soft place + Bring in disdain ourselves and our entreaties,” + Began one, “and our aspect black and blistered, + +Let the renown of us thy mind incline + To tell us who thou art, who thus securely + Thy living feet dost move along through Hell. + +He in whose footprints thou dost see me treading, + Naked and skinless though he now may go, + Was of a greater rank than thou dost think; + +He was the grandson of the good Gualdrada; + His name was Guidoguerra, and in life + Much did he with his wisdom and his sword. + +The other, who close by me treads the sand, + Tegghiaio Aldobrandi is, whose fame + Above there in the world should welcome be. + +And I, who with them on the cross am placed, + Jacopo Rusticucci was; and truly + My savage wife, more than aught else, doth harm me.” + +Could I have been protected from the fire, + Below I should have thrown myself among them, + And think the Teacher would have suffered it; + +But as I should have burned and baked myself, + My terror overmastered my good will, + Which made me greedy of embracing them. + +Then I began: “Sorrow and not disdain + Did your condition fix within me so, + That tardily it wholly is stripped off, + +As soon as this my Lord said unto me + Words, on account of which I thought within me + That people such as you are were approaching. + +I of your city am; and evermore + Your labours and your honourable names + I with affection have retraced and heard. + +I leave the gall, and go for the sweet fruits + Promised to me by the veracious Leader; + But to the centre first I needs must plunge.” + +“So may the soul for a long while conduct + Those limbs of thine,” did he make answer then, + “And so may thy renown shine after thee, + +Valour and courtesy, say if they dwell + Within our city, as they used to do, + Or if they wholly have gone out of it; + +For Guglielmo Borsier, who is in torment + With us of late, and goes there with his comrades, + Doth greatly mortify us with his words.” + +“The new inhabitants and the sudden gains, + Pride and extravagance have in thee engendered, + Florence, so that thou weep’st thereat already!” + +In this wise I exclaimed with face uplifted; + And the three, taking that for my reply, + Looked at each other, as one looks at truth. + +“If other times so little it doth cost thee,” + Replied they all, “to satisfy another, + Happy art thou, thus speaking at thy will! + +Therefore, if thou escape from these dark places, + And come to rebehold the beauteous stars, + When it shall pleasure thee to say, ‘I was,’ + +See that thou speak of us unto the people.” + Then they broke up the wheel, and in their flight + It seemed as if their agile legs were wings. + +Not an Amen could possibly be said + So rapidly as they had disappeared; + Wherefore the Master deemed best to depart. + +I followed him, and little had we gone, + Before the sound of water was so near us, + That speaking we should hardly have been heard. + +Even as that stream which holdeth its own course + The first from Monte Veso tow’rds the East, + Upon the left-hand slope of Apennine, + +Which is above called Acquacheta, ere + It down descendeth into its low bed, + And at Forli is vacant of that name, + +Reverberates there above San Benedetto + From Alps, by falling at a single leap, + Where for a thousand there were room enough; + +Thus downward from a bank precipitate, + We found resounding that dark-tinted water, + So that it soon the ear would have offended. + +I had a cord around about me girt, + And therewithal I whilom had designed + To take the panther with the painted skin. + +After I this had all from me unloosed, + As my Conductor had commanded me, + I reached it to him, gathered up and coiled, + +Whereat he turned himself to the right side, + And at a little distance from the verge, + He cast it down into that deep abyss. + +“It must needs be some novelty respond,” + I said within myself, “to the new signal + The Master with his eye is following so.” + +Ah me! how very cautious men should be + With those who not alone behold the act, + But with their wisdom look into the thoughts! + +He said to me: “Soon there will upward come + What I await; and what thy thought is dreaming + Must soon reveal itself unto thy sight.” + +Aye to that truth which has the face of falsehood, + A man should close his lips as far as may be, + Because without his fault it causes shame; + +But here I cannot; and, Reader, by the notes + Of this my Comedy to thee I swear, + So may they not be void of lasting favour, + +Athwart that dense and darksome atmosphere + I saw a figure swimming upward come, + Marvellous unto every steadfast heart, + +Even as he returns who goeth down + Sometimes to clear an anchor, which has grappled + Reef, or aught else that in the sea is hidden, + +Who upward stretches, and draws in his feet. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XVII + + +“Behold the monster with the pointed tail, + Who cleaves the hills, and breaketh walls and weapons, + Behold him who infecteth all the world.” + +Thus unto me my Guide began to say, + And beckoned him that he should come to shore, + Near to the confine of the trodden marble; + +And that uncleanly image of deceit + Came up and thrust ashore its head and bust, + But on the border did not drag its tail. + +The face was as the face of a just man, + Its semblance outwardly was so benign, + And of a serpent all the trunk beside. + +Two paws it had, hairy unto the armpits; + The back, and breast, and both the sides it had + Depicted o’er with nooses and with shields. + +With colours more, groundwork or broidery + Never in cloth did Tartars make nor Turks, + Nor were such tissues by Arachne laid. + +As sometimes wherries lie upon the shore, + That part are in the water, part on land; + And as among the guzzling Germans there, + +The beaver plants himself to wage his war; + So that vile monster lay upon the border, + Which is of stone, and shutteth in the sand. + +His tail was wholly quivering in the void, + Contorting upwards the envenomed fork, + That in the guise of scorpion armed its point. + +The Guide said: “Now perforce must turn aside + Our way a little, even to that beast + Malevolent, that yonder coucheth him.” + +We therefore on the right side descended, + And made ten steps upon the outer verge, + Completely to avoid the sand and flame; + +And after we are come to him, I see + A little farther off upon the sand + A people sitting near the hollow place. + +Then said to me the Master: “So that full + Experience of this round thou bear away, + Now go and see what their condition is. + +There let thy conversation be concise; + Till thou returnest I will speak with him, + That he concede to us his stalwart shoulders.” + +Thus farther still upon the outermost + Head of that seventh circle all alone + I went, where sat the melancholy folk. + +Out of their eyes was gushing forth their woe; + This way, that way, they helped them with their hands + Now from the flames and now from the hot soil. + +Not otherwise in summer do the dogs, + Now with the foot, now with the muzzle, when + By fleas, or flies, or gadflies, they are bitten. + +When I had turned mine eyes upon the faces + Of some, on whom the dolorous fire is falling, + Not one of them I knew; but I perceived + +That from the neck of each there hung a pouch, + Which certain colour had, and certain blazon; + And thereupon it seems their eyes are feeding. + +And as I gazing round me come among them, + Upon a yellow pouch I azure saw + That had the face and posture of a lion. + +Proceeding then the current of my sight, + Another of them saw I, red as blood, + Display a goose more white than butter is. + +And one, who with an azure sow and gravid + Emblazoned had his little pouch of white, + Said unto me: “What dost thou in this moat? + +Now get thee gone; and since thou’rt still alive, + Know that a neighbour of mine, Vitaliano, + Will have his seat here on my left-hand side. + +A Paduan am I with these Florentines; + Full many a time they thunder in mine ears, + Exclaiming, ‘Come the sovereign cavalier, + +He who shall bring the satchel with three goats;’” + Then twisted he his mouth, and forth he thrust + His tongue, like to an ox that licks its nose. + +And fearing lest my longer stay might vex + Him who had warned me not to tarry long, + Backward I turned me from those weary souls. + +I found my Guide, who had already mounted + Upon the back of that wild animal, + And said to me: “Now be both strong and bold. + +Now we descend by stairways such as these; + Mount thou in front, for I will be midway, + So that the tail may have no power to harm thee.” + +Such as he is who has so near the ague + Of quartan that his nails are blue already, + And trembles all, but looking at the shade; + +Even such became I at those proffered words; + But shame in me his menaces produced, + Which maketh servant strong before good master. + +I seated me upon those monstrous shoulders; + I wished to say, and yet the voice came not + As I believed, “Take heed that thou embrace me.” + +But he, who other times had rescued me + In other peril, soon as I had mounted, + Within his arms encircled and sustained me, + +And said: “Now, Geryon, bestir thyself; + The circles large, and the descent be little; + Think of the novel burden which thou hast.” + +Even as the little vessel shoves from shore, + Backward, still backward, so he thence withdrew; + And when he wholly felt himself afloat, + +There where his breast had been he turned his tail, + And that extended like an eel he moved, + And with his paws drew to himself the air. + +A greater fear I do not think there was + What time abandoned Phaeton the reins, + Whereby the heavens, as still appears, were scorched; + +Nor when the wretched Icarus his flanks + Felt stripped of feathers by the melting wax, + His father crying, “An ill way thou takest!” + +Than was my own, when I perceived myself + On all sides in the air, and saw extinguished + The sight of everything but of the monster. + +Onward he goeth, swimming slowly, slowly; + Wheels and descends, but I perceive it only + By wind upon my face and from below. + +I heard already on the right the whirlpool + Making a horrible crashing under us; + Whence I thrust out my head with eyes cast downward. + +Then was I still more fearful of the abyss; + Because I fires beheld, and heard laments, + Whereat I, trembling, all the closer cling. + +I saw then, for before I had not seen it, + The turning and descending, by great horrors + That were approaching upon divers sides. + +As falcon who has long been on the wing, + Who, without seeing either lure or bird, + Maketh the falconer say, “Ah me, thou stoopest,” + +Descendeth weary, whence he started swiftly, + Thorough a hundred circles, and alights + Far from his master, sullen and disdainful; + +Even thus did Geryon place us on the bottom, + Close to the bases of the rough-hewn rock, + And being disencumbered of our persons, + +He sped away as arrow from the string. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XVIII + + +There is a place in Hell called Malebolge, + Wholly of stone and of an iron colour, + As is the circle that around it turns. + +Right in the middle of the field malign + There yawns a well exceeding wide and deep, + Of which its place the structure will recount. + +Round, then, is that enclosure which remains + Between the well and foot of the high, hard bank, + And has distinct in valleys ten its bottom. + +As where for the protection of the walls + Many and many moats surround the castles, + The part in which they are a figure forms, + +Just such an image those presented there; + And as about such strongholds from their gates + Unto the outer bank are little bridges, + +So from the precipice’s base did crags + Project, which intersected dikes and moats, + Unto the well that truncates and collects them. + +Within this place, down shaken from the back + Of Geryon, we found us; and the Poet + Held to the left, and I moved on behind. + +Upon my right hand I beheld new anguish, + New torments, and new wielders of the lash, + Wherewith the foremost Bolgia was replete. + +Down at the bottom were the sinners naked; + This side the middle came they facing us, + Beyond it, with us, but with greater steps; + +Even as the Romans, for the mighty host, + The year of Jubilee, upon the bridge, + Have chosen a mode to pass the people over; + +For all upon one side towards the Castle + Their faces have, and go unto St. Peter’s; + On the other side they go towards the Mountain. + +This side and that, along the livid stone + Beheld I horned demons with great scourges, + Who cruelly were beating them behind. + +Ah me! how they did make them lift their legs + At the first blows! and sooth not any one + The second waited for, nor for the third. + +While I was going on, mine eyes by one + Encountered were; and straight I said: “Already + With sight of this one I am not unfed.” + +Therefore I stayed my feet to make him out, + And with me the sweet Guide came to a stand, + And to my going somewhat back assented; + +And he, the scourged one, thought to hide himself, + Lowering his face, but little it availed him; + For said I: “Thou that castest down thine eyes, + +If false are not the features which thou bearest, + Thou art Venedico Caccianimico; + But what doth bring thee to such pungent sauces?” + +And he to me: “Unwillingly I tell it; + But forces me thine utterance distinct, + Which makes me recollect the ancient world. + +I was the one who the fair Ghisola + Induced to grant the wishes of the Marquis, + Howe’er the shameless story may be told. + +Not the sole Bolognese am I who weeps here; + Nay, rather is this place so full of them, + That not so many tongues to-day are taught + +’Twixt Reno and Savena to say ‘sipa;’ + And if thereof thou wishest pledge or proof, + Bring to thy mind our avaricious heart.” + +While speaking in this manner, with his scourge + A demon smote him, and said: “Get thee gone + Pander, there are no women here for coin.” + +I joined myself again unto mine Escort; + Thereafterward with footsteps few we came + To where a crag projected from the bank. + +This very easily did we ascend, + And turning to the right along its ridge, + From those eternal circles we departed. + +When we were there, where it is hollowed out + Beneath, to give a passage to the scourged, + The Guide said: “Wait, and see that on thee strike + +The vision of those others evil-born, + Of whom thou hast not yet beheld the faces, + Because together with us they have gone.” + +From the old bridge we looked upon the train + Which tow’rds us came upon the other border, + And which the scourges in like manner smite. + +And the good Master, without my inquiring, + Said to me: “See that tall one who is coming, + And for his pain seems not to shed a tear; + +Still what a royal aspect he retains! + That Jason is, who by his heart and cunning + The Colchians of the Ram made destitute. + +He by the isle of Lemnos passed along + After the daring women pitiless + Had unto death devoted all their males. + +There with his tokens and with ornate words + Did he deceive Hypsipyle, the maiden + Who first, herself, had all the rest deceived. + +There did he leave her pregnant and forlorn; + Such sin unto such punishment condemns him, + And also for Medea is vengeance done. + +With him go those who in such wise deceive; + And this sufficient be of the first valley + To know, and those that in its jaws it holds.” + +We were already where the narrow path + Crosses athwart the second dike, and forms + Of that a buttress for another arch. + +Thence we heard people, who are making moan + In the next Bolgia, snorting with their muzzles, + And with their palms beating upon themselves + +The margins were incrusted with a mould + By exhalation from below, that sticks there, + And with the eyes and nostrils wages war. + +The bottom is so deep, no place suffices + To give us sight of it, without ascending + The arch’s back, where most the crag impends. + +Thither we came, and thence down in the moat + I saw a people smothered in a filth + That out of human privies seemed to flow; + +And whilst below there with mine eye I search, + I saw one with his head so foul with ordure, + It was not clear if he were clerk or layman. + +He screamed to me: “Wherefore art thou so eager + To look at me more than the other foul ones?” + And I to him: “Because, if I remember, + +I have already seen thee with dry hair, + And thou’rt Alessio Interminei of Lucca; + Therefore I eye thee more than all the others.” + +And he thereon, belabouring his pumpkin: + “The flatteries have submerged me here below, + Wherewith my tongue was never surfeited.” + +Then said to me the Guide: “See that thou thrust + Thy visage somewhat farther in advance, + That with thine eyes thou well the face attain + +Of that uncleanly and dishevelled drab, + Who there doth scratch herself with filthy nails, + And crouches now, and now on foot is standing. + +Thais the harlot is it, who replied + Unto her paramour, when he said, ‘Have I + Great gratitude from thee?’—‘Nay, marvellous;’ + +And herewith let our sight be satisfied.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XIX + + +O Simon Magus, O forlorn disciples, + Ye who the things of God, which ought to be + The brides of holiness, rapaciously + +For silver and for gold do prostitute, + Now it behoves for you the trumpet sound, + Because in this third Bolgia ye abide. + +We had already on the following tomb + Ascended to that portion of the crag + Which o’er the middle of the moat hangs plumb. + +Wisdom supreme, O how great art thou showest + In heaven, in earth, and in the evil world, + And with what justice doth thy power distribute! + +I saw upon the sides and on the bottom + The livid stone with perforations filled, + All of one size, and every one was round. + +To me less ample seemed they not, nor greater + Than those that in my beautiful Saint John + Are fashioned for the place of the baptisers, + +And one of which, not many years ago, + I broke for some one, who was drowning in it; + Be this a seal all men to undeceive. + +Out of the mouth of each one there protruded + The feet of a transgressor, and the legs + Up to the calf, the rest within remained. + +In all of them the soles were both on fire; + Wherefore the joints so violently quivered, + They would have snapped asunder withes and bands. + +Even as the flame of unctuous things is wont + To move upon the outer surface only, + So likewise was it there from heel to point. + +“Master, who is that one who writhes himself, + More than his other comrades quivering,” + I said, “and whom a redder flame is sucking?” + +And he to me: “If thou wilt have me bear thee + Down there along that bank which lowest lies, + From him thou’lt know his errors and himself.” + +And I: “What pleases thee, to me is pleasing; + Thou art my Lord, and knowest that I depart not + From thy desire, and knowest what is not spoken.” + +Straightway upon the fourth dike we arrived; + We turned, and on the left-hand side descended + Down to the bottom full of holes and narrow. + +And the good Master yet from off his haunch + Deposed me not, till to the hole he brought me + Of him who so lamented with his shanks. + +“Whoe’er thou art, that standest upside down, + O doleful soul, implanted like a stake,” + To say began I, “if thou canst, speak out.” + +I stood even as the friar who is confessing + The false assassin, who, when he is fixed, + Recalls him, so that death may be delayed. + +And he cried out: “Dost thou stand there already, + Dost thou stand there already, Boniface? + By many years the record lied to me. + +Art thou so early satiate with that wealth, + For which thou didst not fear to take by fraud + The beautiful Lady, and then work her woe?” + +Such I became, as people are who stand, + Not comprehending what is answered them, + As if bemocked, and know not how to answer. + +Then said Virgilius: “Say to him straightway, + ‘I am not he, I am not he thou thinkest.’” + And I replied as was imposed on me. + +Whereat the spirit writhed with both his feet, + Then, sighing, with a voice of lamentation + Said to me: “Then what wantest thou of me? + +If who I am thou carest so much to know, + That thou on that account hast crossed the bank, + Know that I vested was with the great mantle; + +And truly was I son of the She-bear, + So eager to advance the cubs, that wealth + Above, and here myself, I pocketed. + +Beneath my head the others are dragged down + Who have preceded me in simony, + Flattened along the fissure of the rock. + +Below there I shall likewise fall, whenever + That one shall come who I believed thou wast, + What time the sudden question I proposed. + +But longer I my feet already toast, + And here have been in this way upside down, + Than he will planted stay with reddened feet; + +For after him shall come of fouler deed + From tow’rds the west a Pastor without law, + Such as befits to cover him and me. + +New Jason will he be, of whom we read + In Maccabees; and as his king was pliant, + So he who governs France shall be to this one.” + +I do not know if I were here too bold, + That him I answered only in this metre: + “I pray thee tell me now how great a treasure + +Our Lord demanded of Saint Peter first, + Before he put the keys into his keeping? + Truly he nothing asked but ‘Follow me.’ + +Nor Peter nor the rest asked of Matthias + Silver or gold, when he by lot was chosen + Unto the place the guilty soul had lost. + +Therefore stay here, for thou art justly punished, + And keep safe guard o’er the ill-gotten money, + Which caused thee to be valiant against Charles. + +And were it not that still forbids it me + The reverence for the keys superlative + Thou hadst in keeping in the gladsome life, + +I would make use of words more grievous still; + Because your avarice afflicts the world, + Trampling the good and lifting the depraved. + +The Evangelist you Pastors had in mind, + When she who sitteth upon many waters + To fornicate with kings by him was seen; + +The same who with the seven heads was born, + And power and strength from the ten horns received, + So long as virtue to her spouse was pleasing. + +Ye have made yourselves a god of gold and silver; + And from the idolater how differ ye, + Save that he one, and ye a hundred worship? + +Ah, Constantine! of how much ill was mother, + Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower + Which the first wealthy Father took from thee!” + +And while I sang to him such notes as these, + Either that anger or that conscience stung him, + He struggled violently with both his feet. + +I think in sooth that it my Leader pleased, + With such contented lip he listened ever + Unto the sound of the true words expressed. + +Therefore with both his arms he took me up, + And when he had me all upon his breast, + Remounted by the way where he descended. + +Nor did he tire to have me clasped to him; + But bore me to the summit of the arch + Which from the fourth dike to the fifth is passage. + +There tenderly he laid his burden down, + Tenderly on the crag uneven and steep, + That would have been hard passage for the goats: + +Thence was unveiled to me another valley. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XX + + +Of a new pain behoves me to make verses + And give material to the twentieth canto + Of the first song, which is of the submerged. + +I was already thoroughly disposed + To peer down into the uncovered depth, + Which bathed itself with tears of agony; + +And people saw I through the circular valley, + Silent and weeping, coming at the pace + Which in this world the Litanies assume. + +As lower down my sight descended on them, + Wondrously each one seemed to be distorted + From chin to the beginning of the chest; + +For tow’rds the reins the countenance was turned, + And backward it behoved them to advance, + As to look forward had been taken from them. + +Perchance indeed by violence of palsy + Some one has been thus wholly turned awry; + But I ne’er saw it, nor believe it can be. + +As God may let thee, Reader, gather fruit + From this thy reading, think now for thyself + How I could ever keep my face unmoistened, + +When our own image near me I beheld + Distorted so, the weeping of the eyes + Along the fissure bathed the hinder parts. + +Truly I wept, leaning upon a peak + Of the hard crag, so that my Escort said + To me: “Art thou, too, of the other fools? + +Here pity lives when it is wholly dead; + Who is a greater reprobate than he + Who feels compassion at the doom divine? + +Lift up, lift up thy head, and see for whom + Opened the earth before the Thebans’ eyes; + Wherefore they all cried: ‘Whither rushest thou, + +Amphiaraus? Why dost leave the war?’ + And downward ceased he not to fall amain + As far as Minos, who lays hold on all. + +See, he has made a bosom of his shoulders! + Because he wished to see too far before him + Behind he looks, and backward goes his way: + +Behold Tiresias, who his semblance changed, + When from a male a female he became, + His members being all of them transformed; + +And afterwards was forced to strike once more + The two entangled serpents with his rod, + Ere he could have again his manly plumes. + +That Aruns is, who backs the other’s belly, + Who in the hills of Luni, there where grubs + The Carrarese who houses underneath, + +Among the marbles white a cavern had + For his abode; whence to behold the stars + And sea, the view was not cut off from him. + +And she there, who is covering up her breasts, + Which thou beholdest not, with loosened tresses, + And on that side has all the hairy skin, + +Was Manto, who made quest through many lands, + Afterwards tarried there where I was born; + Whereof I would thou list to me a little. + +After her father had from life departed, + And the city of Bacchus had become enslaved, + She a long season wandered through the world. + +Above in beauteous Italy lies a lake + At the Alp’s foot that shuts in Germany + Over Tyrol, and has the name Benaco. + +By a thousand springs, I think, and more, is bathed, + ’Twixt Garda and Val Camonica, Pennino, + With water that grows stagnant in that lake. + +Midway a place is where the Trentine Pastor, + And he of Brescia, and the Veronese + Might give his blessing, if he passed that way. + +Sitteth Peschiera, fortress fair and strong, + To front the Brescians and the Bergamasks, + Where round about the bank descendeth lowest. + +There of necessity must fall whatever + In bosom of Benaco cannot stay, + And grows a river down through verdant pastures. + +Soon as the water doth begin to run, + No more Benaco is it called, but Mincio, + Far as Governo, where it falls in Po. + +Not far it runs before it finds a plain + In which it spreads itself, and makes it marshy, + And oft ’tis wont in summer to be sickly. + +Passing that way the virgin pitiless + Land in the middle of the fen descried, + Untilled and naked of inhabitants; + +There to escape all human intercourse, + She with her servants stayed, her arts to practise + And lived, and left her empty body there. + +The men, thereafter, who were scattered round, + Collected in that place, which was made strong + By the lagoon it had on every side; + +They built their city over those dead bones, + And, after her who first the place selected, + Mantua named it, without other omen. + +Its people once within more crowded were, + Ere the stupidity of Casalodi + From Pinamonte had received deceit. + +Therefore I caution thee, if e’er thou hearest + Originate my city otherwise, + No falsehood may the verity defraud.” + +And I: “My Master, thy discourses are + To me so certain, and so take my faith, + That unto me the rest would be spent coals. + +But tell me of the people who are passing, + If any one note-worthy thou beholdest, + For only unto that my mind reverts.” + +Then said he to me: “He who from the cheek + Thrusts out his beard upon his swarthy shoulders + Was, at the time when Greece was void of males, + +So that there scarce remained one in the cradle, + An augur, and with Calchas gave the moment, + In Aulis, when to sever the first cable. + +Eryphylus his name was, and so sings + My lofty Tragedy in some part or other; + That knowest thou well, who knowest the whole of it. + +The next, who is so slender in the flanks, + Was Michael Scott, who of a verity + Of magical illusions knew the game. + +Behold Guido Bonatti, behold Asdente, + Who now unto his leather and his thread + Would fain have stuck, but he too late repents. + +Behold the wretched ones, who left the needle, + The spool and rock, and made them fortune-tellers; + They wrought their magic spells with herb and image. + +But come now, for already holds the confines + Of both the hemispheres, and under Seville + Touches the ocean-wave, Cain and the thorns, + +And yesternight the moon was round already; + Thou shouldst remember well it did not harm thee + From time to time within the forest deep.” + +Thus spake he to me, and we walked the while. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXI + + +From bridge to bridge thus, speaking other things + Of which my Comedy cares not to sing, + We came along, and held the summit, when + +We halted to behold another fissure + Of Malebolge and other vain laments; + And I beheld it marvellously dark. + +As in the Arsenal of the Venetians + Boils in the winter the tenacious pitch + To smear their unsound vessels o’er again, + +For sail they cannot; and instead thereof + One makes his vessel new, and one recaulks + The ribs of that which many a voyage has made; + +One hammers at the prow, one at the stern, + This one makes oars, and that one cordage twists, + Another mends the mainsail and the mizzen; + +Thus, not by fire, but by the art divine, + Was boiling down below there a dense pitch + Which upon every side the bank belimed. + +I saw it, but I did not see within it + Aught but the bubbles that the boiling raised, + And all swell up and resubside compressed. + +The while below there fixedly I gazed, + My Leader, crying out: “Beware, beware!” + Drew me unto himself from where I stood. + +Then I turned round, as one who is impatient + To see what it behoves him to escape, + And whom a sudden terror doth unman, + +Who, while he looks, delays not his departure; + And I beheld behind us a black devil, + Running along upon the crag, approach. + +Ah, how ferocious was he in his aspect! + And how he seemed to me in action ruthless, + With open wings and light upon his feet! + +His shoulders, which sharp-pointed were and high, + A sinner did encumber with both haunches, + And he held clutched the sinews of the feet. + +From off our bridge, he said: “O Malebranche, + Behold one of the elders of Saint Zita; + Plunge him beneath, for I return for others + +Unto that town, which is well furnished with them. + All there are barrators, except Bonturo; + No into Yes for money there is changed.” + +He hurled him down, and over the hard crag + Turned round, and never was a mastiff loosened + In so much hurry to pursue a thief. + +The other sank, and rose again face downward; + But the demons, under cover of the bridge, + Cried: “Here the Santo Volto has no place! + +Here swims one otherwise than in the Serchio; + Therefore, if for our gaffs thou wishest not, + Do not uplift thyself above the pitch.” + +They seized him then with more than a hundred rakes; + They said: “It here behoves thee to dance covered, + That, if thou canst, thou secretly mayest pilfer.” + +Not otherwise the cooks their scullions make + Immerse into the middle of the caldron + The meat with hooks, so that it may not float. + +Said the good Master to me: “That it be not + Apparent thou art here, crouch thyself down + Behind a jag, that thou mayest have some screen; + +And for no outrage that is done to me + Be thou afraid, because these things I know, + For once before was I in such a scuffle.” + +Then he passed on beyond the bridge’s head, + And as upon the sixth bank he arrived, + Need was for him to have a steadfast front. + +With the same fury, and the same uproar, + As dogs leap out upon a mendicant, + Who on a sudden begs, where’er he stops, + +They issued from beneath the little bridge, + And turned against him all their grappling-irons; + But he cried out: “Be none of you malignant! + +Before those hooks of yours lay hold of me, + Let one of you step forward, who may hear me, + And then take counsel as to grappling me.” + +They all cried out: “Let Malacoda go;” + Whereat one started, and the rest stood still, + And he came to him, saying: “What avails it?” + +“Thinkest thou, Malacoda, to behold me + Advanced into this place,” my Master said, + “Safe hitherto from all your skill of fence, + +Without the will divine, and fate auspicious? + Let me go on, for it in Heaven is willed + That I another show this savage road.” + +Then was his arrogance so humbled in him, + That he let fall his grapnel at his feet, + And to the others said: “Now strike him not.” + +And unto me my Guide: “O thou, who sittest + Among the splinters of the bridge crouched down, + Securely now return to me again.” + +Wherefore I started and came swiftly to him; + And all the devils forward thrust themselves, + So that I feared they would not keep their compact. + +And thus beheld I once afraid the soldiers + Who issued under safeguard from Caprona, + Seeing themselves among so many foes. + +Close did I press myself with all my person + Beside my Leader, and turned not mine eyes + From off their countenance, which was not good. + +They lowered their rakes, and “Wilt thou have me hit him,” + They said to one another, “on the rump?” + And answered: “Yes; see that thou nick him with it.” + +But the same demon who was holding parley + With my Conductor turned him very quickly, + And said: “Be quiet, be quiet, Scarmiglione;” + +Then said to us: “You can no farther go + Forward upon this crag, because is lying + All shattered, at the bottom, the sixth arch. + +And if it still doth please you to go onward, + Pursue your way along upon this rock; + Near is another crag that yields a path. + +Yesterday, five hours later than this hour, + One thousand and two hundred sixty-six + Years were complete, that here the way was broken. + +I send in that direction some of mine + To see if any one doth air himself; + Go ye with them; for they will not be vicious. + +Step forward, Alichino and Calcabrina,” + Began he to cry out, “and thou, Cagnazzo; + And Barbariccia, do thou guide the ten. + +Come forward, Libicocco and Draghignazzo, + And tusked Ciriatto and Graffiacane, + And Farfarello and mad Rubicante; + +Search ye all round about the boiling pitch; + Let these be safe as far as the next crag, + That all unbroken passes o’er the dens.” + +“O me! what is it, Master, that I see? + Pray let us go,” I said, “without an escort, + If thou knowest how, since for myself I ask none. + +If thou art as observant as thy wont is, + Dost thou not see that they do gnash their teeth, + And with their brows are threatening woe to us?” + +And he to me: “I will not have thee fear; + Let them gnash on, according to their fancy, + Because they do it for those boiling wretches.” + +Along the left-hand dike they wheeled about; + But first had each one thrust his tongue between + His teeth towards their leader for a signal; + +And he had made a trumpet of his rump. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXII + + +I have erewhile seen horsemen moving camp, + Begin the storming, and their muster make, + And sometimes starting off for their escape; + +Vaunt-couriers have I seen upon your land, + O Aretines, and foragers go forth, + Tournaments stricken, and the joustings run, + +Sometimes with trumpets and sometimes with bells, + With kettle-drums, and signals of the castles, + And with our own, and with outlandish things, + +But never yet with bagpipe so uncouth + Did I see horsemen move, nor infantry, + Nor ship by any sign of land or star. + +We went upon our way with the ten demons; + Ah, savage company! but in the church + With saints, and in the tavern with the gluttons! + +Ever upon the pitch was my intent, + To see the whole condition of that Bolgia, + And of the people who therein were burned. + +Even as the dolphins, when they make a sign + To mariners by arching of the back, + That they should counsel take to save their vessel, + +Thus sometimes, to alleviate his pain, + One of the sinners would display his back, + And in less time conceal it than it lightens. + +As on the brink of water in a ditch + The frogs stand only with their muzzles out, + So that they hide their feet and other bulk, + +So upon every side the sinners stood; + But ever as Barbariccia near them came, + Thus underneath the boiling they withdrew. + +I saw, and still my heart doth shudder at it, + One waiting thus, even as it comes to pass + One frog remains, and down another dives; + +And Graffiacan, who most confronted him, + Grappled him by his tresses smeared with pitch, + And drew him up, so that he seemed an otter. + +I knew, before, the names of all of them, + So had I noted them when they were chosen, + And when they called each other, listened how. + +“O Rubicante, see that thou do lay + Thy claws upon him, so that thou mayst flay him,” + Cried all together the accursed ones. + +And I: “My Master, see to it, if thou canst, + That thou mayst know who is the luckless wight, + Thus come into his adversaries’ hands.” + +Near to the side of him my Leader drew, + Asked of him whence he was; and he replied: + “I in the kingdom of Navarre was born; + +My mother placed me servant to a lord, + For she had borne me to a ribald knave, + Destroyer of himself and of his things. + +Then I domestic was of good King Thibault; + I set me there to practise barratry, + For which I pay the reckoning in this heat.” + +And Ciriatto, from whose mouth projected, + On either side, a tusk, as in a boar, + Caused him to feel how one of them could rip. + +Among malicious cats the mouse had come; + But Barbariccia clasped him in his arms, + And said: “Stand ye aside, while I enfork him.” + +And to my Master he turned round his head; + “Ask him again,” he said, “if more thou wish + To know from him, before some one destroy him.” + +The Guide: “Now tell then of the other culprits; + Knowest thou any one who is a Latian, + Under the pitch?” And he: “I separated + +Lately from one who was a neighbour to it; + Would that I still were covered up with him, + For I should fear not either claw nor hook!” + +And Libicocco: “We have borne too much;” + And with his grapnel seized him by the arm, + So that, by rending, he tore off a tendon. + +Eke Draghignazzo wished to pounce upon him + Down at the legs; whence their Decurion + Turned round and round about with evil look. + +When they again somewhat were pacified, + Of him, who still was looking at his wound, + Demanded my Conductor without stay: + +“Who was that one, from whom a luckless parting + Thou sayest thou hast made, to come ashore?” + And he replied: “It was the Friar Gomita, + +He of Gallura, vessel of all fraud, + Who had the enemies of his Lord in hand, + And dealt so with them each exults thereat; + +Money he took, and let them smoothly off, + As he says; and in other offices + A barrator was he, not mean but sovereign. + +Foregathers with him one Don Michael Zanche + Of Logodoro; and of Sardinia + To gossip never do their tongues feel tired. + +O me! see that one, how he grinds his teeth; + Still farther would I speak, but am afraid + Lest he to scratch my itch be making ready.” + +And the grand Provost, turned to Farfarello, + Who rolled his eyes about as if to strike, + Said: “Stand aside there, thou malicious bird.” + +“If you desire either to see or hear,” + The terror-stricken recommenced thereon, + “Tuscans or Lombards, I will make them come. + +But let the Malebranche cease a little, + So that these may not their revenges fear, + And I, down sitting in this very place, + +For one that I am will make seven come, + When I shall whistle, as our custom is + To do whenever one of us comes out.” + +Cagnazzo at these words his muzzle lifted, + Shaking his head, and said: “Just hear the trick + Which he has thought of, down to throw himself!” + +Whence he, who snares in great abundance had, + Responded: “I by far too cunning am, + When I procure for mine a greater sadness.” + +Alichin held not in, but running counter + Unto the rest, said to him: “If thou dive, + I will not follow thee upon the gallop, + +But I will beat my wings above the pitch; + The height be left, and be the bank a shield + To see if thou alone dost countervail us.” + +O thou who readest, thou shalt hear new sport! + Each to the other side his eyes averted; + He first, who most reluctant was to do it. + +The Navarrese selected well his time; + Planted his feet on land, and in a moment + Leaped, and released himself from their design. + +Whereat each one was suddenly stung with shame, + But he most who was cause of the defeat; + Therefore he moved, and cried: “Thou art o’ertakern.” + +But little it availed, for wings could not + Outstrip the fear; the other one went under, + And, flying, upward he his breast directed; + +Not otherwise the duck upon a sudden + Dives under, when the falcon is approaching, + And upward he returneth cross and weary. + +Infuriate at the mockery, Calcabrina + Flying behind him followed close, desirous + The other should escape, to have a quarrel. + +And when the barrator had disappeared, + He turned his talons upon his companion, + And grappled with him right above the moat. + +But sooth the other was a doughty sparhawk + To clapperclaw him well; and both of them + Fell in the middle of the boiling pond. + +A sudden intercessor was the heat; + But ne’ertheless of rising there was naught, + To such degree they had their wings belimed. + +Lamenting with the others, Barbariccia + Made four of them fly to the other side + With all their gaffs, and very speedily + +This side and that they to their posts descended; + They stretched their hooks towards the pitch-ensnared, + Who were already baked within the crust, + +And in this manner busied did we leave them. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXIII + + +Silent, alone, and without company + We went, the one in front, the other after, + As go the Minor Friars along their way. + +Upon the fable of Aesop was directed + My thought, by reason of the present quarrel, + Where he has spoken of the frog and mouse; + +For ‘mo’ and ‘issa’ are not more alike + Than this one is to that, if well we couple + End and beginning with a steadfast mind. + +And even as one thought from another springs, + So afterward from that was born another, + Which the first fear within me double made. + +Thus did I ponder: “These on our account + Are laughed to scorn, with injury and scoff + So great, that much I think it must annoy them. + +If anger be engrafted on ill-will, + They will come after us more merciless + Than dog upon the leveret which he seizes,” + +I felt my hair stand all on end already + With terror, and stood backwardly intent, + When said I: “Master, if thou hidest not + +Thyself and me forthwith, of Malebranche + I am in dread; we have them now behind us; + I so imagine them, I already feel them.” + +And he: “If I were made of leaded glass, + Thine outward image I should not attract + Sooner to me than I imprint the inner. + +Just now thy thoughts came in among my own, + With similar attitude and similar face, + So that of both one counsel sole I made. + +If peradventure the right bank so slope + That we to the next Bolgia can descend, + We shall escape from the imagined chase.” + +Not yet he finished rendering such opinion, + When I beheld them come with outstretched wings, + Not far remote, with will to seize upon us. + +My Leader on a sudden seized me up, + Even as a mother who by noise is wakened, + And close beside her sees the enkindled flames, + +Who takes her son, and flies, and does not stop, + Having more care of him than of herself, + So that she clothes her only with a shift; + +And downward from the top of the hard bank + Supine he gave him to the pendent rock, + That one side of the other Bolgia walls. + +Ne’er ran so swiftly water through a sluice + To turn the wheel of any land-built mill, + When nearest to the paddles it approaches, + +As did my Master down along that border, + Bearing me with him on his breast away, + As his own son, and not as a companion. + +Hardly the bed of the ravine below + His feet had reached, ere they had reached the hill + Right over us; but he was not afraid; + +For the high Providence, which had ordained + To place them ministers of the fifth moat, + The power of thence departing took from all. + +A painted people there below we found, + Who went about with footsteps very slow, + Weeping and in their semblance tired and vanquished. + +They had on mantles with the hoods low down + Before their eyes, and fashioned of the cut + That in Cologne they for the monks are made. + +Without, they gilded are so that it dazzles; + But inwardly all leaden and so heavy + That Frederick used to put them on of straw. + +O everlastingly fatiguing mantle! + Again we turned us, still to the left hand + Along with them, intent on their sad plaint; + +But owing to the weight, that weary folk + Came on so tardily, that we were new + In company at each motion of the haunch. + +Whence I unto my Leader: “See thou find + Some one who may by deed or name be known, + And thus in going move thine eye about.” + +And one, who understood the Tuscan speech, + Cried to us from behind: “Stay ye your feet, + Ye, who so run athwart the dusky air! + +Perhaps thou’lt have from me what thou demandest.” + Whereat the Leader turned him, and said: “Wait, + And then according to his pace proceed.” + +I stopped, and two beheld I show great haste + Of spirit, in their faces, to be with me; + But the burden and the narrow way delayed them. + +When they came up, long with an eye askance + They scanned me without uttering a word. + Then to each other turned, and said together: + +“He by the action of his throat seems living; + And if they dead are, by what privilege + Go they uncovered by the heavy stole?” + +Then said to me: “Tuscan, who to the college + Of miserable hypocrites art come, + Do not disdain to tell us who thou art.” + +And I to them: “Born was I, and grew up + In the great town on the fair river of Arno, + And with the body am I’ve always had. + +But who are ye, in whom there trickles down + Along your cheeks such grief as I behold? + And what pain is upon you, that so sparkles?” + +And one replied to me: “These orange cloaks + Are made of lead so heavy, that the weights + Cause in this way their balances to creak. + +Frati Gaudenti were we, and Bolognese; + I Catalano, and he Loderingo + Named, and together taken by thy city, + +As the wont is to take one man alone, + For maintenance of its peace; and we were such + That still it is apparent round Gardingo.” + +“O Friars,” began I, “your iniquitous. . .” + But said no more; for to mine eyes there rushed + One crucified with three stakes on the ground. + +When me he saw, he writhed himself all over, + Blowing into his beard with suspirations; + And the Friar Catalan, who noticed this, + +Said to me: “This transfixed one, whom thou seest, + Counselled the Pharisees that it was meet + To put one man to torture for the people. + +Crosswise and naked is he on the path, + As thou perceivest; and he needs must feel, + Whoever passes, first how much he weighs; + +And in like mode his father-in-law is punished + Within this moat, and the others of the council, + Which for the Jews was a malignant seed.” + +And thereupon I saw Virgilius marvel + O’er him who was extended on the cross + So vilely in eternal banishment. + +Then he directed to the Friar this voice: + “Be not displeased, if granted thee, to tell us + If to the right hand any pass slope down + +By which we two may issue forth from here, + Without constraining some of the black angels + To come and extricate us from this deep.” + +Then he made answer: “Nearer than thou hopest + There is a rock, that forth from the great circle + Proceeds, and crosses all the cruel valleys, + +Save that at this ’tis broken, and does not bridge it; + You will be able to mount up the ruin, + That sidelong slopes and at the bottom rises.” + +The Leader stood awhile with head bowed down; + Then said: “The business badly he recounted + Who grapples with his hook the sinners yonder.” + +And the Friar: “Many of the Devil’s vices + Once heard I at Bologna, and among them, + That he’s a liar and the father of lies.” + +Thereat my Leader with great strides went on, + Somewhat disturbed with anger in his looks; + Whence from the heavy-laden I departed + +After the prints of his beloved feet. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXIV + + +In that part of the youthful year wherein + The Sun his locks beneath Aquarius tempers, + And now the nights draw near to half the day, + +What time the hoar-frost copies on the ground + The outward semblance of her sister white, + But little lasts the temper of her pen, + +The husbandman, whose forage faileth him, + Rises, and looks, and seeth the champaign + All gleaming white, whereat he beats his flank, + +Returns in doors, and up and down laments, + Like a poor wretch, who knows not what to do; + Then he returns and hope revives again, + +Seeing the world has changed its countenance + In little time, and takes his shepherd’s crook, + And forth the little lambs to pasture drives. + +Thus did the Master fill me with alarm, + When I beheld his forehead so disturbed, + And to the ailment came as soon the plaster. + +For as we came unto the ruined bridge, + The Leader turned to me with that sweet look + Which at the mountain’s foot I first beheld. + +His arms he opened, after some advisement + Within himself elected, looking first + Well at the ruin, and laid hold of me. + +And even as he who acts and meditates, + For aye it seems that he provides beforehand, + So upward lifting me towards the summit + +Of a huge rock, he scanned another crag, + Saying: “To that one grapple afterwards, + But try first if ’tis such that it will hold thee.” + +This was no way for one clothed with a cloak; + For hardly we, he light, and I pushed upward, + Were able to ascend from jag to jag. + +And had it not been, that upon that precinct + Shorter was the ascent than on the other, + He I know not, but I had been dead beat. + +But because Malebolge tow’rds the mouth + Of the profoundest well is all inclining, + The structure of each valley doth import + +That one bank rises and the other sinks. + Still we arrived at length upon the point + Wherefrom the last stone breaks itself asunder. + +The breath was from my lungs so milked away, + When I was up, that I could go no farther, + Nay, I sat down upon my first arrival. + +“Now it behoves thee thus to put off sloth,” + My Master said; “for sitting upon down, + Or under quilt, one cometh not to fame, + +Withouten which whoso his life consumes + Such vestige leaveth of himself on earth, + As smoke in air or in the water foam. + +And therefore raise thee up, o’ercome the anguish + With spirit that o’ercometh every battle, + If with its heavy body it sink not. + +A longer stairway it behoves thee mount; + ’Tis not enough from these to have departed; + Let it avail thee, if thou understand me.” + +Then I uprose, showing myself provided + Better with breath than I did feel myself, + And said: “Go on, for I am strong and bold.” + +Upward we took our way along the crag, + Which jagged was, and narrow, and difficult, + And more precipitous far than that before. + +Speaking I went, not to appear exhausted; + Whereat a voice from the next moat came forth, + Not well adapted to articulate words. + +I know not what it said, though o’er the back + I now was of the arch that passes there; + But he seemed moved to anger who was speaking. + +I was bent downward, but my living eyes + Could not attain the bottom, for the dark; + Wherefore I: “Master, see that thou arrive + +At the next round, and let us descend the wall; + For as from hence I hear and understand not, + So I look down and nothing I distinguish.” + +“Other response,” he said, “I make thee not, + Except the doing; for the modest asking + Ought to be followed by the deed in silence.” + +We from the bridge descended at its head, + Where it connects itself with the eighth bank, + And then was manifest to me the Bolgia; + +And I beheld therein a terrible throng + Of serpents, and of such a monstrous kind, + That the remembrance still congeals my blood + +Let Libya boast no longer with her sand; + For if Chelydri, Jaculi, and Phareae + She breeds, with Cenchri and with Amphisbaena, + +Neither so many plagues nor so malignant + E’er showed she with all Ethiopia, + Nor with whatever on the Red Sea is! + +Among this cruel and most dismal throng + People were running naked and affrighted. + Without the hope of hole or heliotrope. + +They had their hands with serpents bound behind them; + These riveted upon their reins the tail + And head, and were in front of them entwined. + +And lo! at one who was upon our side + There darted forth a serpent, which transfixed him + There where the neck is knotted to the shoulders. + +Nor ‘O’ so quickly e’er, nor ‘I’ was written, + As he took fire, and burned; and ashes wholly + Behoved it that in falling he became. + +And when he on the ground was thus destroyed, + The ashes drew together, and of themselves + Into himself they instantly returned. + +Even thus by the great sages ’tis confessed + The phoenix dies, and then is born again, + When it approaches its five-hundredth year; + +On herb or grain it feeds not in its life, + But only on tears of incense and amomum, + And nard and myrrh are its last winding-sheet. + +And as he is who falls, and knows not how, + By force of demons who to earth down drag him, + Or other oppilation that binds man, + +When he arises and around him looks, + Wholly bewildered by the mighty anguish + Which he has suffered, and in looking sighs; + +Such was that sinner after he had risen. + Justice of God! O how severe it is, + That blows like these in vengeance poureth down! + +The Guide thereafter asked him who he was; + Whence he replied: “I rained from Tuscany + A short time since into this cruel gorge. + +A bestial life, and not a human, pleased me, + Even as the mule I was; I’m Vanni Fucci, + Beast, and Pistoia was my worthy den.” + +And I unto the Guide: “Tell him to stir not, + And ask what crime has thrust him here below, + For once a man of blood and wrath I saw him.” + +And the sinner, who had heard, dissembled not, + But unto me directed mind and face, + And with a melancholy shame was painted. + +Then said: “It pains me more that thou hast caught me + Amid this misery where thou seest me, + Than when I from the other life was taken. + +What thou demandest I cannot deny; + So low am I put down because I robbed + The sacristy of the fair ornaments, + +And falsely once ’twas laid upon another; + But that thou mayst not such a sight enjoy, + If thou shalt e’er be out of the dark places, + +Thine ears to my announcement ope and hear: + Pistoia first of Neri groweth meagre; + Then Florence doth renew her men and manners; + +Mars draws a vapour up from Val di Magra, + Which is with turbid clouds enveloped round, + And with impetuous and bitter tempest + +Over Campo Picen shall be the battle; + When it shall suddenly rend the mist asunder, + So that each Bianco shall thereby be smitten. + +And this I’ve said that it may give thee pain.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXV + + +At the conclusion of his words, the thief + Lifted his hands aloft with both the figs, + Crying: “Take that, God, for at thee I aim them.” + +From that time forth the serpents were my friends; + For one entwined itself about his neck + As if it said: “I will not thou speak more;” + +And round his arms another, and rebound him, + Clinching itself together so in front, + That with them he could not a motion make. + +Pistoia, ah, Pistoia! why resolve not + To burn thyself to ashes and so perish, + Since in ill-doing thou thy seed excellest? + +Through all the sombre circles of this Hell, + Spirit I saw not against God so proud, + Not he who fell at Thebes down from the walls! + +He fled away, and spake no further word; + And I beheld a Centaur full of rage + Come crying out: “Where is, where is the scoffer?” + +I do not think Maremma has so many + Serpents as he had all along his back, + As far as where our countenance begins. + +Upon the shoulders, just behind the nape, + With wings wide open was a dragon lying, + And he sets fire to all that he encounters. + +My Master said: “That one is Cacus, who + Beneath the rock upon Mount Aventine + Created oftentimes a lake of blood. + +He goes not on the same road with his brothers, + By reason of the fraudulent theft he made + Of the great herd, which he had near to him; + +Whereat his tortuous actions ceased beneath + The mace of Hercules, who peradventure + Gave him a hundred, and he felt not ten.” + +While he was speaking thus, he had passed by, + And spirits three had underneath us come, + Of which nor I aware was, nor my Leader, + +Until what time they shouted: “Who are you?” + On which account our story made a halt, + And then we were intent on them alone. + +I did not know them; but it came to pass, + As it is wont to happen by some chance, + That one to name the other was compelled, + +Exclaiming: “Where can Cianfa have remained?” + Whence I, so that the Leader might attend, + Upward from chin to nose my finger laid. + +If thou art, Reader, slow now to believe + What I shall say, it will no marvel be, + For I who saw it hardly can admit it. + +As I was holding raised on them my brows, + Behold! a serpent with six feet darts forth + In front of one, and fastens wholly on him. + +With middle feet it bound him round the paunch, + And with the forward ones his arms it seized; + Then thrust its teeth through one cheek and the other; + +The hindermost it stretched upon his thighs, + And put its tail through in between the two, + And up behind along the reins outspread it. + +Ivy was never fastened by its barbs + Unto a tree so, as this horrible reptile + Upon the other’s limbs entwined its own. + +Then they stuck close, as if of heated wax + They had been made, and intermixed their colour; + Nor one nor other seemed now what he was; + +E’en as proceedeth on before the flame + Upward along the paper a brown colour, + Which is not black as yet, and the white dies. + +The other two looked on, and each of them + Cried out: “O me, Agnello, how thou changest! + Behold, thou now art neither two nor one.” + +Already the two heads had one become, + When there appeared to us two figures mingled + Into one face, wherein the two were lost. + +Of the four lists were fashioned the two arms, + The thighs and legs, the belly and the chest + Members became that never yet were seen. + +Every original aspect there was cancelled; + Two and yet none did the perverted image + Appear, and such departed with slow pace. + +Even as a lizard, under the great scourge + Of days canicular, exchanging hedge, + Lightning appeareth if the road it cross; + +Thus did appear, coming towards the bellies + Of the two others, a small fiery serpent, + Livid and black as is a peppercorn. + +And in that part whereat is first received + Our aliment, it one of them transfixed; + Then downward fell in front of him extended. + +The one transfixed looked at it, but said naught; + Nay, rather with feet motionless he yawned, + Just as if sleep or fever had assailed him. + +He at the serpent gazed, and it at him; + One through the wound, the other through the mouth + Smoked violently, and the smoke commingled. + +Henceforth be silent Lucan, where he mentions + Wretched Sabellus and Nassidius, + And wait to hear what now shall be shot forth. + +Be silent Ovid, of Cadmus and Arethusa; + For if him to a snake, her to fountain, + Converts he fabling, that I grudge him not; + +Because two natures never front to front + Has he transmuted, so that both the forms + To interchange their matter ready were. + +Together they responded in such wise, + That to a fork the serpent cleft his tail, + And eke the wounded drew his feet together. + +The legs together with the thighs themselves + Adhered so, that in little time the juncture + No sign whatever made that was apparent. + +He with the cloven tail assumed the figure + The other one was losing, and his skin + Became elastic, and the other’s hard. + +I saw the arms draw inward at the armpits, + And both feet of the reptile, that were short, + Lengthen as much as those contracted were. + +Thereafter the hind feet, together twisted, + Became the member that a man conceals, + And of his own the wretch had two created. + +While both of them the exhalation veils + With a new colour, and engenders hair + On one of them and depilates the other, + +The one uprose and down the other fell, + Though turning not away their impious lamps, + Underneath which each one his muzzle changed. + +He who was standing drew it tow’rds the temples, + And from excess of matter, which came thither, + Issued the ears from out the hollow cheeks; + +What did not backward run and was retained + Of that excess made to the face a nose, + And the lips thickened far as was befitting. + +He who lay prostrate thrusts his muzzle forward, + And backward draws the ears into his head, + In the same manner as the snail its horns; + +And so the tongue, which was entire and apt + For speech before, is cleft, and the bi-forked + In the other closes up, and the smoke ceases. + +The soul, which to a reptile had been changed, + Along the valley hissing takes to flight, + And after him the other speaking sputters. + +Then did he turn upon him his new shoulders, + And said to the other: “I’ll have Buoso run, + Crawling as I have done, along this road.” + +In this way I beheld the seventh ballast + Shift and reshift, and here be my excuse + The novelty, if aught my pen transgress. + +And notwithstanding that mine eyes might be + Somewhat bewildered, and my mind dismayed, + They could not flee away so secretly + +But that I plainly saw Puccio Sciancato; + And he it was who sole of three companions, + Which came in the beginning, was not changed; + +The other was he whom thou, Gaville, weepest. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXVI + + +Rejoice, O Florence, since thou art so great, + That over sea and land thou beatest thy wings, + And throughout Hell thy name is spread abroad! + +Among the thieves five citizens of thine + Like these I found, whence shame comes unto me, + And thou thereby to no great honour risest. + +But if when morn is near our dreams are true, + Feel shalt thou in a little time from now + What Prato, if none other, craves for thee. + +And if it now were, it were not too soon; + Would that it were, seeing it needs must be, + For ’twill aggrieve me more the more I age. + +We went our way, and up along the stairs + The bourns had made us to descend before, + Remounted my Conductor and drew me. + +And following the solitary path + Among the rocks and ridges of the crag, + The foot without the hand sped not at all. + +Then sorrowed I, and sorrow now again, + When I direct my mind to what I saw, + And more my genius curb than I am wont, + +That it may run not unless virtue guide it; + So that if some good star, or better thing, + Have given me good, I may myself not grudge it. + +As many as the hind (who on the hill + Rests at the time when he who lights the world + His countenance keeps least concealed from us, + +While as the fly gives place unto the gnat) + Seeth the glow-worms down along the valley, + Perchance there where he ploughs and makes his vintage; + +With flames as manifold resplendent all + Was the eighth Bolgia, as I grew aware + As soon as I was where the depth appeared. + +And such as he who with the bears avenged him + Beheld Elijah’s chariot at departing, + What time the steeds to heaven erect uprose, + +For with his eye he could not follow it + So as to see aught else than flame alone, + Even as a little cloud ascending upward, + +Thus each along the gorge of the intrenchment + Was moving; for not one reveals the theft, + And every flame a sinner steals away. + +I stood upon the bridge uprisen to see, + So that, if I had seized not on a rock, + Down had I fallen without being pushed. + +And the Leader, who beheld me so attent, + Exclaimed: “Within the fires the spirits are; + Each swathes himself with that wherewith he burns.” + +“My Master,” I replied, “by hearing thee + I am more sure; but I surmised already + It might be so, and already wished to ask thee + +Who is within that fire, which comes so cleft + At top, it seems uprising from the pyre + Where was Eteocles with his brother placed.” + +He answered me: “Within there are tormented + Ulysses and Diomed, and thus together + They unto vengeance run as unto wrath. + +And there within their flame do they lament + The ambush of the horse, which made the door + Whence issued forth the Romans’ gentle seed; + +Therein is wept the craft, for which being dead + Deidamia still deplores Achilles, + And pain for the Palladium there is borne.” + +“If they within those sparks possess the power + To speak,” I said, “thee, Master, much I pray, + And re-pray, that the prayer be worth a thousand, + +That thou make no denial of awaiting + Until the horned flame shall hither come; + Thou seest that with desire I lean towards it.” + +And he to me: “Worthy is thy entreaty + Of much applause, and therefore I accept it; + But take heed that thy tongue restrain itself. + +Leave me to speak, because I have conceived + That which thou wishest; for they might disdain + Perchance, since they were Greeks, discourse of thine.” + +When now the flame had come unto that point, + Where to my Leader it seemed time and place, + After this fashion did I hear him speak: + +“O ye, who are twofold within one fire, + If I deserved of you, while I was living, + If I deserved of you or much or little + +When in the world I wrote the lofty verses, + Do not move on, but one of you declare + Whither, being lost, he went away to die.” + +Then of the antique flame the greater horn, + Murmuring, began to wave itself about + Even as a flame doth which the wind fatigues. + +Thereafterward, the summit to and fro + Moving as if it were the tongue that spake, + It uttered forth a voice, and said: “When I + +From Circe had departed, who concealed me + More than a year there near unto Gaeta, + Or ever yet Aeneas named it so, + +Nor fondness for my son, nor reverence + For my old father, nor the due affection + Which joyous should have made Penelope, + +Could overcome within me the desire + I had to be experienced of the world, + And of the vice and virtue of mankind; + +But I put forth on the high open sea + With one sole ship, and that small company + By which I never had deserted been. + +Both of the shores I saw as far as Spain, + Far as Morocco, and the isle of Sardes, + And the others which that sea bathes round about. + +I and my company were old and slow + When at that narrow passage we arrived + Where Hercules his landmarks set as signals, + +That man no farther onward should adventure. + On the right hand behind me left I Seville, + And on the other already had left Ceuta. + +‘O brothers, who amid a hundred thousand + Perils,’ I said, ‘have come unto the West, + To this so inconsiderable vigil + +Which is remaining of your senses still + Be ye unwilling to deny the knowledge, + Following the sun, of the unpeopled world. + +Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang; + Ye were not made to live like unto brutes, + But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.’ + +So eager did I render my companions, + With this brief exhortation, for the voyage, + That then I hardly could have held them back. + +And having turned our stern unto the morning, + We of the oars made wings for our mad flight, + Evermore gaining on the larboard side. + +Already all the stars of the other pole + The night beheld, and ours so very low + It did not rise above the ocean floor. + +Five times rekindled and as many quenched + Had been the splendour underneath the moon, + Since we had entered into the deep pass, + +When there appeared to us a mountain, dim + From distance, and it seemed to me so high + As I had never any one beheld. + +Joyful were we, and soon it turned to weeping; + For out of the new land a whirlwind rose, + And smote upon the fore part of the ship. + +Three times it made her whirl with all the waters, + At the fourth time it made the stern uplift, + And the prow downward go, as pleased Another, + +Until the sea above us closed again.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXVII + + +Already was the flame erect and quiet, + To speak no more, and now departed from us + With the permission of the gentle Poet; + +When yet another, which behind it came, + Caused us to turn our eyes upon its top + By a confused sound that issued from it. + +As the Sicilian bull (that bellowed first + With the lament of him, and that was right, + Who with his file had modulated it) + +Bellowed so with the voice of the afflicted, + That, notwithstanding it was made of brass, + Still it appeared with agony transfixed; + +Thus, by not having any way or issue + At first from out the fire, to its own language + Converted were the melancholy words. + +But afterwards, when they had gathered way + Up through the point, giving it that vibration + The tongue had given them in their passage out, + +We heard it said: “O thou, at whom I aim + My voice, and who but now wast speaking Lombard, + Saying, ‘Now go thy way, no more I urge thee,’ + +Because I come perchance a little late, + To stay and speak with me let it not irk thee; + Thou seest it irks not me, and I am burning. + +If thou but lately into this blind world + Hast fallen down from that sweet Latian land, + Wherefrom I bring the whole of my transgression, + +Say, if the Romagnuols have peace or war, + For I was from the mountains there between + Urbino and the yoke whence Tiber bursts.” + +I still was downward bent and listening, + When my Conductor touched me on the side, + Saying: “Speak thou: this one a Latian is.” + +And I, who had beforehand my reply + In readiness, forthwith began to speak: + “O soul, that down below there art concealed, + +Romagna thine is not and never has been + Without war in the bosom of its tyrants; + But open war I none have left there now. + +Ravenna stands as it long years has stood; + The Eagle of Polenta there is brooding, + So that she covers Cervia with her vans. + +The city which once made the long resistance, + And of the French a sanguinary heap, + Beneath the Green Paws finds itself again; + +Verrucchio’s ancient Mastiff and the new, + Who made such bad disposal of Montagna, + Where they are wont make wimbles of their teeth. + +The cities of Lamone and Santerno + Governs the Lioncel of the white lair, + Who changes sides ’twixt summer-time and winter; + +And that of which the Savio bathes the flank, + Even as it lies between the plain and mountain, + Lives between tyranny and a free state. + +Now I entreat thee tell us who thou art; + Be not more stubborn than the rest have been, + So may thy name hold front there in the world.” + +After the fire a little more had roared + In its own fashion, the sharp point it moved + This way and that, and then gave forth such breath: + +“If I believed that my reply were made + To one who to the world would e’er return, + This flame without more flickering would stand still; + +But inasmuch as never from this depth + Did any one return, if I hear true, + Without the fear of infamy I answer, + +I was a man of arms, then Cordelier, + Believing thus begirt to make amends; + And truly my belief had been fulfilled + +But for the High Priest, whom may ill betide, + Who put me back into my former sins; + And how and wherefore I will have thee hear. + +While I was still the form of bone and pulp + My mother gave to me, the deeds I did + Were not those of a lion, but a fox. + +The machinations and the covert ways + I knew them all, and practised so their craft, + That to the ends of earth the sound went forth. + +When now unto that portion of mine age + I saw myself arrived, when each one ought + To lower the sails, and coil away the ropes, + +That which before had pleased me then displeased me; + And penitent and confessing I surrendered, + Ah woe is me! and it would have bestead me; + +The Leader of the modern Pharisees + Having a war near unto Lateran, + And not with Saracens nor with the Jews, + +For each one of his enemies was Christian, + And none of them had been to conquer Acre, + Nor merchandising in the Sultan’s land, + +Nor the high office, nor the sacred orders, + In him regarded, nor in me that cord + Which used to make those girt with it more meagre; + +But even as Constantine sought out Sylvester + To cure his leprosy, within Soracte, + So this one sought me out as an adept + +To cure him of the fever of his pride. + Counsel he asked of me, and I was silent, + Because his words appeared inebriate. + +And then he said: ‘Be not thy heart afraid; + Henceforth I thee absolve; and thou instruct me + How to raze Palestrina to the ground. + +Heaven have I power to lock and to unlock, + As thou dost know; therefore the keys are two, + The which my predecessor held not dear.’ + +Then urged me on his weighty arguments + There, where my silence was the worst advice; + And said I: ‘Father, since thou washest me + +Of that sin into which I now must fall, + The promise long with the fulfilment short + Will make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.’ + +Francis came afterward, when I was dead, + For me; but one of the black Cherubim + Said to him: ‘Take him not; do me no wrong; + +He must come down among my servitors, + Because he gave the fraudulent advice + From which time forth I have been at his hair; + +For who repents not cannot be absolved, + Nor can one both repent and will at once, + Because of the contradiction which consents not.’ + +O miserable me! how I did shudder + When he seized on me, saying: ‘Peradventure + Thou didst not think that I was a logician!’ + +He bore me unto Minos, who entwined + Eight times his tail about his stubborn back, + And after he had bitten it in great rage, + +Said: ‘Of the thievish fire a culprit this;’ + Wherefore, here where thou seest, am I lost, + And vested thus in going I bemoan me.” + +When it had thus completed its recital, + The flame departed uttering lamentations, + Writhing and flapping its sharp-pointed horn. + +Onward we passed, both I and my Conductor, + Up o’er the crag above another arch, + Which the moat covers, where is paid the fee + +By those who, sowing discord, win their burden. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXVIII + + +Who ever could, e’en with untrammelled words, + Tell of the blood and of the wounds in full + Which now I saw, by many times narrating? + +Each tongue would for a certainty fall short + By reason of our speech and memory, + That have small room to comprehend so much. + +If were again assembled all the people + Which formerly upon the fateful land + Of Puglia were lamenting for their blood + +Shed by the Romans and the lingering war + That of the rings made such illustrious spoils, + As Livy has recorded, who errs not, + +With those who felt the agony of blows + By making counterstand to Robert Guiscard, + And all the rest, whose bones are gathered still + +At Ceperano, where a renegade + Was each Apulian, and at Tagliacozzo, + Where without arms the old Alardo conquered, + +And one his limb transpierced, and one lopped off, + Should show, it would be nothing to compare + With the disgusting mode of the ninth Bolgia. + +A cask by losing centre-piece or cant + Was never shattered so, as I saw one + Rent from the chin to where one breaketh wind. + +Between his legs were hanging down his entrails; + His heart was visible, and the dismal sack + That maketh excrement of what is eaten. + +While I was all absorbed in seeing him, + He looked at me, and opened with his hands + His bosom, saying: “See now how I rend me; + +How mutilated, see, is Mahomet; + In front of me doth Ali weeping go, + Cleft in the face from forelock unto chin; + +And all the others whom thou here beholdest, + Disseminators of scandal and of schism + While living were, and therefore are cleft thus. + +A devil is behind here, who doth cleave us + Thus cruelly, unto the falchion’s edge + Putting again each one of all this ream, + +When we have gone around the doleful road; + By reason that our wounds are closed again + Ere any one in front of him repass. + +But who art thou, that musest on the crag, + Perchance to postpone going to the pain + That is adjudged upon thine accusations?” + +“Nor death hath reached him yet, nor guilt doth bring him,” + My Master made reply, “to be tormented; + But to procure him full experience, + +Me, who am dead, behoves it to conduct him + Down here through Hell, from circle unto circle; + And this is true as that I speak to thee.” + +More than a hundred were there when they heard him, + Who in the moat stood still to look at me, + Through wonderment oblivious of their torture. + +“Now say to Fra Dolcino, then, to arm him, + Thou, who perhaps wilt shortly see the sun, + If soon he wish not here to follow me, + +So with provisions, that no stress of snow + May give the victory to the Novarese, + Which otherwise to gain would not be easy.” + +After one foot to go away he lifted, + This word did Mahomet say unto me, + Then to depart upon the ground he stretched it. + +Another one, who had his throat pierced through, + And nose cut off close underneath the brows, + And had no longer but a single ear, + +Staying to look in wonder with the others, + Before the others did his gullet open, + Which outwardly was red in every part, + +And said: “O thou, whom guilt doth not condemn, + And whom I once saw up in Latian land, + Unless too great similitude deceive me, + +Call to remembrance Pier da Medicina, + If e’er thou see again the lovely plain + That from Vercelli slopes to Marcabo, + +And make it known to the best two of Fano, + To Messer Guido and Angiolello likewise, + That if foreseeing here be not in vain, + +Cast over from their vessel shall they be, + And drowned near unto the Cattolica, + By the betrayal of a tyrant fell. + +Between the isles of Cyprus and Majorca + Neptune ne’er yet beheld so great a crime, + Neither of pirates nor Argolic people. + +That traitor, who sees only with one eye, + And holds the land, which some one here with me + Would fain be fasting from the vision of, + +Will make them come unto a parley with him; + Then will do so, that to Focara’s wind + They will not stand in need of vow or prayer.” + +And I to him: “Show to me and declare, + If thou wouldst have me bear up news of thee, + Who is this person of the bitter vision.” + +Then did he lay his hand upon the jaw + Of one of his companions, and his mouth + Oped, crying: “This is he, and he speaks not. + +This one, being banished, every doubt submerged + In Caesar by affirming the forearmed + Always with detriment allowed delay.” + +O how bewildered unto me appeared, + With tongue asunder in his windpipe slit, + Curio, who in speaking was so bold! + +And one, who both his hands dissevered had, + The stumps uplifting through the murky air, + So that the blood made horrible his face, + +Cried out: “Thou shalt remember Mosca also, + Who said, alas! ‘A thing done has an end!’ + Which was an ill seed for the Tuscan people.” + +“And death unto thy race,” thereto I added; + Whence he, accumulating woe on woe, + Departed, like a person sad and crazed. + +But I remained to look upon the crowd; + And saw a thing which I should be afraid, + Without some further proof, even to recount, + +If it were not that conscience reassures me, + That good companion which emboldens man + Beneath the hauberk of its feeling pure. + +I truly saw, and still I seem to see it, + A trunk without a head walk in like manner + As walked the others of the mournful herd. + +And by the hair it held the head dissevered, + Hung from the hand in fashion of a lantern, + And that upon us gazed and said: “O me!” + +It of itself made to itself a lamp, + And they were two in one, and one in two; + How that can be, He knows who so ordains it. + +When it was come close to the bridge’s foot, + It lifted high its arm with all the head, + To bring more closely unto us its words, + +Which were: “Behold now the sore penalty, + Thou, who dost breathing go the dead beholding; + Behold if any be as great as this. + +And so that thou may carry news of me, + Know that Bertram de Born am I, the same + Who gave to the Young King the evil comfort. + +I made the father and the son rebellious; + Achitophel not more with Absalom + And David did with his accursed goadings. + +Because I parted persons so united, + Parted do I now bear my brain, alas! + From its beginning, which is in this trunk. + +Thus is observed in me the counterpoise.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXIX + + +The many people and the divers wounds + These eyes of mine had so inebriated, + That they were wishful to stand still and weep; + +But said Virgilius: “What dost thou still gaze at? + Why is thy sight still riveted down there + Among the mournful, mutilated shades? + +Thou hast not done so at the other Bolge; + Consider, if to count them thou believest, + That two-and-twenty miles the valley winds, + +And now the moon is underneath our feet; + Henceforth the time allotted us is brief, + And more is to be seen than what thou seest.” + +“If thou hadst,” I made answer thereupon, + “Attended to the cause for which I looked, + Perhaps a longer stay thou wouldst have pardoned.” + +Meanwhile my Guide departed, and behind him + I went, already making my reply, + And superadding: “In that cavern where + +I held mine eyes with such attention fixed, + I think a spirit of my blood laments + The sin which down below there costs so much.” + +Then said the Master: “Be no longer broken + Thy thought from this time forward upon him; + Attend elsewhere, and there let him remain; + +For him I saw below the little bridge, + Pointing at thee, and threatening with his finger + Fiercely, and heard him called Geri del Bello. + +So wholly at that time wast thou impeded + By him who formerly held Altaforte, + Thou didst not look that way; so he departed.” + +“O my Conductor, his own violent death, + Which is not yet avenged for him,” I said, + “By any who is sharer in the shame, + +Made him disdainful; whence he went away, + As I imagine, without speaking to me, + And thereby made me pity him the more.” + +Thus did we speak as far as the first place + Upon the crag, which the next valley shows + Down to the bottom, if there were more light. + +When we were now right over the last cloister + Of Malebolge, so that its lay-brothers + Could manifest themselves unto our sight, + +Divers lamentings pierced me through and through, + Which with compassion had their arrows barbed, + Whereat mine ears I covered with my hands. + +What pain would be, if from the hospitals + Of Valdichiana, ’twixt July and September, + And of Maremma and Sardinia + +All the diseases in one moat were gathered, + Such was it here, and such a stench came from it + As from putrescent limbs is wont to issue. + +We had descended on the furthest bank + From the long crag, upon the left hand still, + And then more vivid was my power of sight + +Down tow’rds the bottom, where the ministress + Of the high Lord, Justice infallible, + Punishes forgers, which she here records. + +I do not think a sadder sight to see + Was in Aegina the whole people sick, + (When was the air so full of pestilence, + +The animals, down to the little worm, + All fell, and afterwards the ancient people, + According as the poets have affirmed, + +Were from the seed of ants restored again,) + Than was it to behold through that dark valley + The spirits languishing in divers heaps. + +This on the belly, that upon the back + One of the other lay, and others crawling + Shifted themselves along the dismal road. + +We step by step went onward without speech, + Gazing upon and listening to the sick + Who had not strength enough to lift their bodies. + +I saw two sitting leaned against each other, + As leans in heating platter against platter, + From head to foot bespotted o’er with scabs; + +And never saw I plied a currycomb + By stable-boy for whom his master waits, + Or him who keeps awake unwillingly, + +As every one was plying fast the bite + Of nails upon himself, for the great rage + Of itching which no other succour had. + +And the nails downward with them dragged the scab, + In fashion as a knife the scales of bream, + Or any other fish that has them largest. + +“O thou, that with thy fingers dost dismail thee,” + Began my Leader unto one of them, + “And makest of them pincers now and then, + +Tell me if any Latian is with those + Who are herein; so may thy nails suffice thee + To all eternity unto this work.” + +“Latians are we, whom thou so wasted seest, + Both of us here,” one weeping made reply; + “But who art thou, that questionest about us?” + +And said the Guide: “One am I who descends + Down with this living man from cliff to cliff, + And I intend to show Hell unto him.” + +Then broken was their mutual support, + And trembling each one turned himself to me, + With others who had heard him by rebound. + +Wholly to me did the good Master gather, + Saying: “Say unto them whate’er thou wishest.” + And I began, since he would have it so: + +“So may your memory not steal away + In the first world from out the minds of men, + But so may it survive ’neath many suns, + +Say to me who ye are, and of what people; + Let not your foul and loathsome punishment + Make you afraid to show yourselves to me.” + +“I of Arezzo was,” one made reply, + “And Albert of Siena had me burned; + But what I died for does not bring me here. + +’Tis true I said to him, speaking in jest, + That I could rise by flight into the air, + And he who had conceit, but little wit, + +Would have me show to him the art; and only + Because no Daedalus I made him, made me + Be burned by one who held him as his son. + +But unto the last Bolgia of the ten, + For alchemy, which in the world I practised, + Minos, who cannot err, has me condemned.” + +And to the Poet said I: “Now was ever + So vain a people as the Sienese? + Not for a certainty the French by far.” + +Whereat the other leper, who had heard me, + Replied unto my speech: “Taking out Stricca, + Who knew the art of moderate expenses, + +And Niccolo, who the luxurious use + Of cloves discovered earliest of all + Within that garden where such seed takes root; + +And taking out the band, among whom squandered + Caccia d’Ascian his vineyards and vast woods, + And where his wit the Abbagliato proffered! + +But, that thou know who thus doth second thee + Against the Sienese, make sharp thine eye + Tow’rds me, so that my face well answer thee, + +And thou shalt see I am Capocchio’s shade, + Who metals falsified by alchemy; + Thou must remember, if I well descry thee, + +How I a skilful ape of nature was.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXX + + +’Twas at the time when Juno was enraged, + For Semele, against the Theban blood, + As she already more than once had shown, + +So reft of reason Athamas became, + That, seeing his own wife with children twain + Walking encumbered upon either hand, + +He cried: “Spread out the nets, that I may take + The lioness and her whelps upon the passage;” + And then extended his unpitying claws, + +Seizing the first, who had the name Learchus, + And whirled him round, and dashed him on a rock; + And she, with the other burthen, drowned herself;— + +And at the time when fortune downward hurled + The Trojan’s arrogance, that all things dared, + So that the king was with his kingdom crushed, + +Hecuba sad, disconsolate, and captive, + When lifeless she beheld Polyxena, + And of her Polydorus on the shore + +Of ocean was the dolorous one aware, + Out of her senses like a dog she barked, + So much the anguish had her mind distorted; + +But not of Thebes the furies nor the Trojan + Were ever seen in any one so cruel + In goading beasts, and much more human members, + +As I beheld two shadows pale and naked, + Who, biting, in the manner ran along + That a boar does, when from the sty turned loose. + +One to Capocchio came, and by the nape + Seized with its teeth his neck, so that in dragging + It made his belly grate the solid bottom. + +And the Aretine, who trembling had remained, + Said to me: “That mad sprite is Gianni Schicchi, + And raving goes thus harrying other people.” + +“O,” said I to him, “so may not the other + Set teeth on thee, let it not weary thee + To tell us who it is, ere it dart hence.” + +And he to me: “That is the ancient ghost + Of the nefarious Myrrha, who became + Beyond all rightful love her father’s lover. + +She came to sin with him after this manner, + By counterfeiting of another’s form; + As he who goeth yonder undertook, + +That he might gain the lady of the herd, + To counterfeit in himself Buoso Donati, + Making a will and giving it due form.” + +And after the two maniacs had passed + On whom I held mine eye, I turned it back + To look upon the other evil-born. + +I saw one made in fashion of a lute, + If he had only had the groin cut off + Just at the point at which a man is forked. + +The heavy dropsy, that so disproportions + The limbs with humours, which it ill concocts, + That the face corresponds not to the belly, + +Compelled him so to hold his lips apart + As does the hectic, who because of thirst + One tow’rds the chin, the other upward turns. + +“O ye, who without any torment are, + And why I know not, in the world of woe,” + He said to us, “behold, and be attentive + +Unto the misery of Master Adam; + I had while living much of what I wished, + And now, alas! a drop of water crave. + +The rivulets, that from the verdant hills + Of Cassentin descend down into Arno, + Making their channels to be cold and moist, + +Ever before me stand, and not in vain; + For far more doth their image dry me up + Than the disease which strips my face of flesh. + +The rigid justice that chastises me + Draweth occasion from the place in which + I sinned, to put the more my sighs in flight. + +There is Romena, where I counterfeited + The currency imprinted with the Baptist, + For which I left my body burned above. + +But if I here could see the tristful soul + Of Guido, or Alessandro, or their brother, + For Branda’s fount I would not give the sight. + +One is within already, if the raving + Shades that are going round about speak truth; + But what avails it me, whose limbs are tied? + +If I were only still so light, that in + A hundred years I could advance one inch, + I had already started on the way, + +Seeking him out among this squalid folk, + Although the circuit be eleven miles, + And be not less than half a mile across. + +For them am I in such a family; + They did induce me into coining florins, + Which had three carats of impurity.” + +And I to him: “Who are the two poor wretches + That smoke like unto a wet hand in winter, + Lying there close upon thy right-hand confines?” + +“I found them here,” replied he, “when I rained + Into this chasm, and since they have not turned, + Nor do I think they will for evermore. + +One the false woman is who accused Joseph, + The other the false Sinon, Greek of Troy; + From acute fever they send forth such reek.” + +And one of them, who felt himself annoyed + At being, peradventure, named so darkly, + Smote with the fist upon his hardened paunch. + +It gave a sound, as if it were a drum; + And Master Adam smote him in the face, + With arm that did not seem to be less hard, + +Saying to him: “Although be taken from me + All motion, for my limbs that heavy are, + I have an arm unfettered for such need.” + +Whereat he answer made: “When thou didst go + Unto the fire, thou hadst it not so ready: + But hadst it so and more when thou wast coining.” + +The dropsical: “Thou sayest true in that; + But thou wast not so true a witness there, + Where thou wast questioned of the truth at Troy.” + +“If I spake false, thou falsifiedst the coin,” + Said Sinon; “and for one fault I am here, + And thou for more than any other demon.” + +“Remember, perjurer, about the horse,” + He made reply who had the swollen belly, + “And rueful be it thee the whole world knows it.” + +“Rueful to thee the thirst be wherewith cracks + Thy tongue,” the Greek said, “and the putrid water + That hedges so thy paunch before thine eyes.” + +Then the false-coiner: “So is gaping wide + Thy mouth for speaking evil, as ’tis wont; + Because if I have thirst, and humour stuff me + +Thou hast the burning and the head that aches, + And to lick up the mirror of Narcissus + Thou wouldst not want words many to invite thee.” + +In listening to them was I wholly fixed, + When said the Master to me: “Now just look, + For little wants it that I quarrel with thee.” + +When him I heard in anger speak to me, + I turned me round towards him with such shame + That still it eddies through my memory. + +And as he is who dreams of his own harm, + Who dreaming wishes it may be a dream, + So that he craves what is, as if it were not; + +Such I became, not having power to speak, + For to excuse myself I wished, and still + Excused myself, and did not think I did it. + +“Less shame doth wash away a greater fault,” + The Master said, “than this of thine has been; + Therefore thyself disburden of all sadness, + +And make account that I am aye beside thee, + If e’er it come to pass that fortune bring thee + Where there are people in a like dispute; + +For a base wish it is to wish to hear it.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXXI + + +One and the selfsame tongue first wounded me, + So that it tinged the one cheek and the other, + And then held out to me the medicine; + +Thus do I hear that once Achilles’ spear, + His and his father’s, used to be the cause + First of a sad and then a gracious boon. + +We turned our backs upon the wretched valley, + Upon the bank that girds it round about, + Going across it without any speech. + +There it was less than night, and less than day, + So that my sight went little in advance; + But I could hear the blare of a loud horn, + +So loud it would have made each thunder faint, + Which, counter to it following its way, + Mine eyes directed wholly to one place. + +After the dolorous discomfiture + When Charlemagne the holy emprise lost, + So terribly Orlando sounded not. + +Short while my head turned thitherward I held + When many lofty towers I seemed to see, + Whereat I: “Master, say, what town is this?” + +And he to me: “Because thou peerest forth + Athwart the darkness at too great a distance, + It happens that thou errest in thy fancy. + +Well shalt thou see, if thou arrivest there, + How much the sense deceives itself by distance; + Therefore a little faster spur thee on.” + +Then tenderly he took me by the hand, + And said: “Before we farther have advanced, + That the reality may seem to thee + +Less strange, know that these are not towers, but giants, + And they are in the well, around the bank, + From navel downward, one and all of them.” + +As, when the fog is vanishing away, + Little by little doth the sight refigure + Whate’er the mist that crowds the air conceals, + +So, piercing through the dense and darksome air, + More and more near approaching tow’rd the verge, + My error fled, and fear came over me; + +Because as on its circular parapets + Montereggione crowns itself with towers, + E’en thus the margin which surrounds the well + +With one half of their bodies turreted + The horrible giants, whom Jove menaces + E’en now from out the heavens when he thunders. + +And I of one already saw the face, + Shoulders, and breast, and great part of the belly, + And down along his sides both of the arms. + +Certainly Nature, when she left the making + Of animals like these, did well indeed, + By taking such executors from Mars; + +And if of elephants and whales she doth not + Repent her, whosoever looketh subtly + More just and more discreet will hold her for it; + +For where the argument of intellect + Is added unto evil will and power, + No rampart can the people make against it. + +His face appeared to me as long and large + As is at Rome the pine-cone of Saint Peter’s, + And in proportion were the other bones; + +So that the margin, which an apron was + Down from the middle, showed so much of him + Above it, that to reach up to his hair + +Three Frieslanders in vain had vaunted them; + For I beheld thirty great palms of him + Down from the place where man his mantle buckles. + +“Raphael mai amech izabi almi,” + Began to clamour the ferocious mouth, + To which were not befitting sweeter psalms. + +And unto him my Guide: “Soul idiotic, + Keep to thy horn, and vent thyself with that, + When wrath or other passion touches thee. + +Search round thy neck, and thou wilt find the belt + Which keeps it fastened, O bewildered soul, + And see it, where it bars thy mighty breast.” + +Then said to me: “He doth himself accuse; + This one is Nimrod, by whose evil thought + One language in the world is not still used. + +Here let us leave him and not speak in vain; + For even such to him is every language + As his to others, which to none is known.” + +Therefore a longer journey did we make, + Turned to the left, and a crossbow-shot oft + We found another far more fierce and large. + +In binding him, who might the master be + I cannot say; but he had pinioned close + Behind the right arm, and in front the other, + +With chains, that held him so begirt about + From the neck down, that on the part uncovered + It wound itself as far as the fifth gyre. + +“This proud one wished to make experiment + Of his own power against the Supreme Jove,” + My Leader said, “whence he has such a guerdon. + +Ephialtes is his name; he showed great prowess. + What time the giants terrified the gods; + The arms he wielded never more he moves.” + +And I to him: “If possible, I should wish + That of the measureless Briareus + These eyes of mine might have experience.” + +Whence he replied: “Thou shalt behold Antaeus + Close by here, who can speak and is unbound, + Who at the bottom of all crime shall place us. + +Much farther yon is he whom thou wouldst see, + And he is bound, and fashioned like to this one, + Save that he seems in aspect more ferocious.” + +There never was an earthquake of such might + That it could shake a tower so violently, + As Ephialtes suddenly shook himself. + +Then was I more afraid of death than ever, + For nothing more was needful than the fear, + If I had not beheld the manacles. + +Then we proceeded farther in advance, + And to Antaeus came, who, full five ells + Without the head, forth issued from the cavern. + +“O thou, who in the valley fortunate, + Which Scipio the heir of glory made, + When Hannibal turned back with all his hosts, + +Once brought’st a thousand lions for thy prey, + And who, hadst thou been at the mighty war + Among thy brothers, some it seems still think + +The sons of Earth the victory would have gained: + Place us below, nor be disdainful of it, + There where the cold doth lock Cocytus up. + +Make us not go to Tityus nor Typhoeus; + This one can give of that which here is longed for; + Therefore stoop down, and do not curl thy lip. + +Still in the world can he restore thy fame; + Because he lives, and still expects long life, + If to itself Grace call him not untimely.” + +So said the Master; and in haste the other + His hands extended and took up my Guide,— + Hands whose great pressure Hercules once felt. + +Virgilius, when he felt himself embraced, + Said unto me: “Draw nigh, that I may take thee;” + Then of himself and me one bundle made. + +As seems the Carisenda, to behold + Beneath the leaning side, when goes a cloud + Above it so that opposite it hangs; + +Such did Antaeus seem to me, who stood + Watching to see him stoop, and then it was + I could have wished to go some other way. + +But lightly in the abyss, which swallows up + Judas with Lucifer, he put us down; + Nor thus bowed downward made he there delay, + +But, as a mast does in a ship, uprose. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXXII + + +If I had rhymes both rough and stridulous, + As were appropriate to the dismal hole + Down upon which thrust all the other rocks, + +I would press out the juice of my conception + More fully; but because I have them not, + Not without fear I bring myself to speak; + +For ’tis no enterprise to take in jest, + To sketch the bottom of all the universe, + Nor for a tongue that cries Mamma and Babbo. + +But may those Ladies help this verse of mine, + Who helped Amphion in enclosing Thebes, + That from the fact the word be not diverse. + +O rabble ill-begotten above all, + Who’re in the place to speak of which is hard, + ’Twere better ye had here been sheep or goats! + +When we were down within the darksome well, + Beneath the giant’s feet, but lower far, + And I was scanning still the lofty wall, + +I heard it said to me: “Look how thou steppest! + Take heed thou do not trample with thy feet + The heads of the tired, miserable brothers!” + +Whereat I turned me round, and saw before me + And underfoot a lake, that from the frost + The semblance had of glass, and not of water. + +So thick a veil ne’er made upon its current + In winter-time Danube in Austria, + Nor there beneath the frigid sky the Don, + +As there was here; so that if Tambernich + Had fallen upon it, or Pietrapana, + E’en at the edge ’twould not have given a creak. + +And as to croak the frog doth place himself + With muzzle out of water,—when is dreaming + Of gleaning oftentimes the peasant-girl,— + +Livid, as far down as where shame appears, + Were the disconsolate shades within the ice, + Setting their teeth unto the note of storks. + +Each one his countenance held downward bent; + From mouth the cold, from eyes the doleful heart + Among them witness of itself procures. + +When round about me somewhat I had looked, + I downward turned me, and saw two so close, + The hair upon their heads together mingled. + +“Ye who so strain your breasts together, tell me,” + I said, “who are you;” and they bent their necks, + And when to me their faces they had lifted, + +Their eyes, which first were only moist within, + Gushed o’er the eyelids, and the frost congealed + The tears between, and locked them up again. + +Clamp never bound together wood with wood + So strongly; whereat they, like two he-goats, + Butted together, so much wrath o’ercame them. + +And one, who had by reason of the cold + Lost both his ears, still with his visage downward, + Said: “Why dost thou so mirror thyself in us? + +If thou desire to know who these two are, + The valley whence Bisenzio descends + Belonged to them and to their father Albert. + +They from one body came, and all Caina + Thou shalt search through, and shalt not find a shade + More worthy to be fixed in gelatine; + +Not he in whom were broken breast and shadow + At one and the same blow by Arthur’s hand; + Focaccia not; not he who me encumbers + +So with his head I see no farther forward, + And bore the name of Sassol Mascheroni; + Well knowest thou who he was, if thou art Tuscan. + +And that thou put me not to further speech, + Know that I Camicion de’ Pazzi was, + And wait Carlino to exonerate me.” + +Then I beheld a thousand faces, made + Purple with cold; whence o’er me comes a shudder, + And evermore will come, at frozen ponds. + +And while we were advancing tow’rds the middle, + Where everything of weight unites together, + And I was shivering in the eternal shade, + +Whether ’twere will, or destiny, or chance, + I know not; but in walking ’mong the heads + I struck my foot hard in the face of one. + +Weeping he growled: “Why dost thou trample me? + Unless thou comest to increase the vengeance + of Montaperti, why dost thou molest me?” + +And I: “My Master, now wait here for me, + That I through him may issue from a doubt; + Then thou mayst hurry me, as thou shalt wish.” + +The Leader stopped; and to that one I said + Who was blaspheming vehemently still: + “Who art thou, that thus reprehendest others?” + +“Now who art thou, that goest through Antenora + Smiting,” replied he, “other people’s cheeks, + So that, if thou wert living, ’twere too much?” + +“Living I am, and dear to thee it may be,” + Was my response, “if thou demandest fame, + That ’mid the other notes thy name I place.” + +And he to me: “For the reverse I long; + Take thyself hence, and give me no more trouble; + For ill thou knowest to flatter in this hollow.” + +Then by the scalp behind I seized upon him, + And said: “It must needs be thou name thyself, + Or not a hair remain upon thee here.” + +Whence he to me: “Though thou strip off my hair, + I will not tell thee who I am, nor show thee, + If on my head a thousand times thou fall.” + +I had his hair in hand already twisted, + And more than one shock of it had pulled out, + He barking, with his eyes held firmly down, + +When cried another: “What doth ail thee, Bocca? + Is’t not enough to clatter with thy jaws, + But thou must bark? what devil touches thee?” + +“Now,” said I, “I care not to have thee speak, + Accursed traitor; for unto thy shame + I will report of thee veracious news.” + +“Begone,” replied he, “and tell what thou wilt, + But be not silent, if thou issue hence, + Of him who had just now his tongue so prompt; + +He weepeth here the silver of the French; + ‘I saw,’ thus canst thou phrase it, ‘him of Duera + There where the sinners stand out in the cold.’ + +If thou shouldst questioned be who else was there, + Thou hast beside thee him of Beccaria, + Of whom the gorget Florence slit asunder; + +Gianni del Soldanier, I think, may be + Yonder with Ganellon, and Tebaldello + Who oped Faenza when the people slep.” + +Already we had gone away from him, + When I beheld two frozen in one hole, + So that one head a hood was to the other; + +And even as bread through hunger is devoured, + The uppermost on the other set his teeth, + There where the brain is to the nape united. + +Not in another fashion Tydeus gnawed + The temples of Menalippus in disdain, + Than that one did the skull and the other things. + +“O thou, who showest by such bestial sign + Thy hatred against him whom thou art eating, + Tell me the wherefore,” said I, “with this compact, + +That if thou rightfully of him complain, + In knowing who ye are, and his transgression, + I in the world above repay thee for it, + +If that wherewith I speak be not dried up.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXXIII + + +His mouth uplifted from his grim repast, + That sinner, wiping it upon the hair + Of the same head that he behind had wasted. + +Then he began: “Thou wilt that I renew + The desperate grief, which wrings my heart already + To think of only, ere I speak of it; + +But if my words be seed that may bear fruit + Of infamy to the traitor whom I gnaw, + Speaking and weeping shalt thou see together. + +I know not who thou art, nor by what mode + Thou hast come down here; but a Florentine + Thou seemest to me truly, when I hear thee. + +Thou hast to know I was Count Ugolino, + And this one was Ruggieri the Archbishop; + Now I will tell thee why I am such a neighbour. + +That, by effect of his malicious thoughts, + Trusting in him I was made prisoner, + And after put to death, I need not say; + + But ne’ertheless what thou canst not have heard, + That is to say, how cruel was my death, + Hear shalt thou, and shalt know if he has wronged me. + +A narrow perforation in the mew, + Which bears because of me the title of Famine, + And in which others still must be locked up, + +Had shown me through its opening many moons + Already, when I dreamed the evil dream + Which of the future rent for me the veil. + +This one appeared to me as lord and master, + Hunting the wolf and whelps upon the mountain + For which the Pisans cannot Lucca see. + +With sleuth-hounds gaunt, and eager, and well trained, + Gualandi with Sismondi and Lanfianchi + He had sent out before him to the front. + +After brief course seemed unto me forespent + The father and the sons, and with sharp tushes + It seemed to me I saw their flanks ripped open. + +When I before the morrow was awake, + Moaning amid their sleep I heard my sons + Who with me were, and asking after bread. + +Cruel indeed art thou, if yet thou grieve not, + Thinking of what my heart foreboded me, + And weep’st thou not, what art thou wont to weep at? + +They were awake now, and the hour drew nigh + At which our food used to be brought to us, + And through his dream was each one apprehensive; + +And I heard locking up the under door + Of the horrible tower; whereat without a word + I gazed into the faces of my sons. + +I wept not, I within so turned to stone; + They wept; and darling little Anselm mine + Said: ‘Thou dost gaze so, father, what doth ail thee?’ + +Still not a tear I shed, nor answer made + All of that day, nor yet the night thereafter, + Until another sun rose on the world. + +As now a little glimmer made its way + Into the dolorous prison, and I saw + Upon four faces my own very aspect, + +Both of my hands in agony I bit; + And, thinking that I did it from desire + Of eating, on a sudden they uprose, + +And said they: ‘Father, much less pain ’twill give us + If thou do eat of us; thyself didst clothe us + With this poor flesh, and do thou strip it off.’ + +I calmed me then, not to make them more sad. + That day we all were silent, and the next. + Ah! obdurate earth, wherefore didst thou not open? + +When we had come unto the fourth day, Gaddo + Threw himself down outstretched before my feet, + Saying, ‘My father, why dost thou not help me?’ + +And there he died; and, as thou seest me, + I saw the three fall, one by one, between + The fifth day and the sixth; whence I betook me, + +Already blind, to groping over each, + And three days called them after they were dead; + Then hunger did what sorrow could not do.” + +When he had said this, with his eyes distorted, + The wretched skull resumed he with his teeth, + Which, as a dog’s, upon the bone were strong. + +Ah! Pisa, thou opprobrium of the people + Of the fair land there where the ‘Si’ doth sound, + Since slow to punish thee thy neighbours are, + +Let the Capraia and Gorgona move, + And make a hedge across the mouth of Arno + That every person in thee it may drown! + +For if Count Ugolino had the fame + Of having in thy castles thee betrayed, + Thou shouldst not on such cross have put his sons. + +Guiltless of any crime, thou modern Thebes! + Their youth made Uguccione and Brigata, + And the other two my song doth name above! + +We passed still farther onward, where the ice + Another people ruggedly enswathes, + Not downward turned, but all of them reversed. + +Weeping itself there does not let them weep, + And grief that finds a barrier in the eyes + Turns itself inward to increase the anguish; + +Because the earliest tears a cluster form, + And, in the manner of a crystal visor, + Fill all the cup beneath the eyebrow full. + +And notwithstanding that, as in a callus, + Because of cold all sensibility + Its station had abandoned in my face, + +Still it appeared to me I felt some wind; + Whence I: “My Master, who sets this in motion? + Is not below here every vapour quenched?” + +Whence he to me: “Full soon shalt thou be where + Thine eye shall answer make to thee of this, + Seeing the cause which raineth down the blast.” + +And one of the wretches of the frozen crust + Cried out to us: “O souls so merciless + That the last post is given unto you, + +Lift from mine eyes the rigid veils, that I + May vent the sorrow which impregns my heart + A little, e’er the weeping recongeal.” + +Whence I to him: “If thou wouldst have me help thee + Say who thou wast; and if I free thee not, + May I go to the bottom of the ice.” + +Then he replied: “I am Friar Alberigo; + He am I of the fruit of the bad garden, + Who here a date am getting for my fig.” + +“O,” said I to him, “now art thou, too, dead?” + And he to me: “How may my body fare + Up in the world, no knowledge I possess. + +Such an advantage has this Ptolomaea, + That oftentimes the soul descendeth here + Sooner than Atropos in motion sets it. + +And, that thou mayest more willingly remove + From off my countenance these glassy tears, + Know that as soon as any soul betrays + +As I have done, his body by a demon + Is taken from him, who thereafter rules it, + Until his time has wholly been revolved. + +Itself down rushes into such a cistern; + And still perchance above appears the body + Of yonder shade, that winters here behind me. + +This thou shouldst know, if thou hast just come down; + It is Ser Branca d’ Oria, and many years + Have passed away since he was thus locked up.” + +“I think,” said I to him, “thou dost deceive me; + For Branca d’ Oria is not dead as yet, + And eats, and drinks, and sleeps, and puts on clothes.” + +“In moat above,” said he, “of Malebranche, + There where is boiling the tenacious pitch, + As yet had Michel Zanche not arrived, + +When this one left a devil in his stead + In his own body and one near of kin, + Who made together with him the betrayal. + +But hitherward stretch out thy hand forthwith, + Open mine eyes;”—and open them I did not, + And to be rude to him was courtesy. + +Ah, Genoese! ye men at variance + With every virtue, full of every vice + Wherefore are ye not scattered from the world? + +For with the vilest spirit of Romagna + I found of you one such, who for his deeds + In soul already in Cocytus bathes, + +And still above in body seems alive! + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXXIV + + +“‘Vexilla Regis prodeunt Inferni’ + Towards us; therefore look in front of thee,” + My Master said, “if thou discernest him.” + +As, when there breathes a heavy fog, or when + Our hemisphere is darkening into night, + Appears far off a mill the wind is turning, + +Methought that such a building then I saw; + And, for the wind, I drew myself behind + My Guide, because there was no other shelter. + +Now was I, and with fear in verse I put it, + There where the shades were wholly covered up, + And glimmered through like unto straws in glass. + +Some prone are lying, others stand erect, + This with the head, and that one with the soles; + Another, bow-like, face to feet inverts. + +When in advance so far we had proceeded, + That it my Master pleased to show to me + The creature who once had the beauteous semblance, + +He from before me moved and made me stop, + Saying: “Behold Dis, and behold the place + Where thou with fortitude must arm thyself.” + +How frozen I became and powerless then, + Ask it not, Reader, for I write it not, + Because all language would be insufficient. + +I did not die, and I alive remained not; + Think for thyself now, hast thou aught of wit, + What I became, being of both deprived. + +The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous + From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice; + And better with a giant I compare + +Than do the giants with those arms of his; + Consider now how great must be that whole, + Which unto such a part conforms itself. + +Were he as fair once, as he now is foul, + And lifted up his brow against his Maker, + Well may proceed from him all tribulation. + +O, what a marvel it appeared to me, + When I beheld three faces on his head! + The one in front, and that vermilion was; + +Two were the others, that were joined with this + Above the middle part of either shoulder, + And they were joined together at the crest; + +And the right-hand one seemed ’twixt white and yellow; + The left was such to look upon as those + Who come from where the Nile falls valley-ward. + +Underneath each came forth two mighty wings, + Such as befitting were so great a bird; + Sails of the sea I never saw so large. + + No feathers had they, but as of a bat + Their fashion was; and he was waving them, + So that three winds proceeded forth therefrom. + +Thereby Cocytus wholly was congealed. + With six eyes did he weep, and down three chins + Trickled the tear-drops and the bloody drivel. + +At every mouth he with his teeth was crunching + A sinner, in the manner of a brake, + So that he three of them tormented thus. + +To him in front the biting was as naught + Unto the clawing, for sometimes the spine + Utterly stripped of all the skin remained. + +“That soul up there which has the greatest pain,” + The Master said, “is Judas Iscariot; + With head inside, he plies his legs without. + +Of the two others, who head downward are, + The one who hangs from the black jowl is Brutus; + See how he writhes himself, and speaks no word. + +And the other, who so stalwart seems, is Cassius. + But night is reascending, and ’tis time + That we depart, for we have seen the whole.” + +As seemed him good, I clasped him round the neck, + And he the vantage seized of time and place, + And when the wings were opened wide apart, + +He laid fast hold upon the shaggy sides; + From fell to fell descended downward then + Between the thick hair and the frozen crust. + +When we were come to where the thigh revolves + Exactly on the thickness of the haunch, + The Guide, with labour and with hard-drawn breath, + +Turned round his head where he had had his legs, + And grappled to the hair, as one who mounts, + So that to Hell I thought we were returning. + +“Keep fast thy hold, for by such stairs as these,” + The Master said, panting as one fatigued, + “Must we perforce depart from so much evil.” + +Then through the opening of a rock he issued, + And down upon the margin seated me; + Then tow’rds me he outstretched his wary step. + +I lifted up mine eyes and thought to see + Lucifer in the same way I had left him; + And I beheld him upward hold his legs. + +And if I then became disquieted, + Let stolid people think who do not see + What the point is beyond which I had passed. + +“Rise up,” the Master said, “upon thy feet; + The way is long, and difficult the road, + And now the sun to middle-tierce returns.” + +It was not any palace corridor + There where we were, but dungeon natural, + With floor uneven and unease of light. + +“Ere from the abyss I tear myself away, + My Master,” said I when I had arisen, + “To draw me from an error speak a little; + +Where is the ice? and how is this one fixed + Thus upside down? and how in such short time + From eve to morn has the sun made his transit?” + +And he to me: “Thou still imaginest + Thou art beyond the centre, where I grasped + The hair of the fell worm, who mines the world. + +That side thou wast, so long as I descended; + When round I turned me, thou didst pass the point + To which things heavy draw from every side, + +And now beneath the hemisphere art come + Opposite that which overhangs the vast + Dry-land, and ’neath whose cope was put to death + +The Man who without sin was born and lived. + Thou hast thy feet upon the little sphere + Which makes the other face of the Judecca. + +Here it is morn when it is evening there; + And he who with his hair a stairway made us + Still fixed remaineth as he was before. + +Upon this side he fell down out of heaven; + And all the land, that whilom here emerged, + For fear of him made of the sea a veil, + +And came to our hemisphere; and peradventure + To flee from him, what on this side appears + Left the place vacant here, and back recoiled.” + +A place there is below, from Beelzebub + As far receding as the tomb extends, + Which not by sight is known, but by the sound + +Of a small rivulet, that there descendeth + Through chasm within the stone, which it has gnawed + With course that winds about and slightly falls. + +The Guide and I into that hidden road + Now entered, to return to the bright world; + And without care of having any rest + +We mounted up, he first and I the second, + Till I beheld through a round aperture + Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear; + +Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1001 *** diff --git a/1001-h/1001-h.htm b/1001-h/1001-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a4de320 --- /dev/null +++ b/1001-h/1001-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9917 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Divine Comedy, Hell, by Dante Alighieri</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1001 ***</div> + +<h1>The Divine Comedy</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">of Dante Alighieri</h2> + +<h3>Translated by<br />HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW<br /><br />INFERNO</h3> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.I">Canto I. The Dark Forest. The Hill of Difficulty. The Panther, the Lion, and the Wolf. Virgil.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.II">Canto II. The Descent. Dante’s Protest and Virgil’s Appeal. The Intercession of the Three Ladies Benedight.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.III">Canto III. The Gate of Hell. The Inefficient or Indifferent. Pope Celestine V. The Shores of Acheron. Charon. The Earthquake and the Swoon.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.IV">Canto IV. The First Circle, Limbo: Virtuous Pagans and the Unbaptized. The Four Poets, Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. The Noble Castle of Philosophy.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.V">Canto V. The Second Circle: The Wanton. Minos. The Infernal Hurricane. Francesca da Rimini.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.VI">Canto VI. The Third Circle: The Gluttonous. Cerberus. The Eternal Rain. Ciacco. Florence.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.VII">Canto VII. The Fourth Circle: The Avaricious and the Prodigal. Plutus. Fortune and her Wheel. The Fifth Circle: The Irascible and the Sullen. Styx.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.VIII">Canto VIII. Phlegyas. Philippo Argenti. The Gate of the City of Dis.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.IX">Canto IX. The Furies and Medusa. The Angel. The City of Dis. The Sixth Circle: Heresiarchs.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.X">Canto X. Farinata and Cavalcante de’ Cavalcanti. Discourse on the Knowledge of the Damned.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XI">Canto XI. The Broken Rocks. Pope Anastasius. General Description of the Inferno and its Divisions.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XII">Canto XII. The Minotaur. The Seventh Circle: The Violent. The River Phlegethon. The Violent against their Neighbours. The Centaurs. Tyrants.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XIII">Canto XIII. The Wood of Thorns. The Harpies. The Violent against themselves. Suicides. Pier della Vigna. Lano and Jacopo da Sant’ Andrea.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XIV">Canto XIV. The Sand Waste and the Rain of Fire. The Violent against God. Capaneus. The Statue of Time, and the Four Infernal Rivers.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XV">Canto XV. The Violent against Nature. Brunetto Latini.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XVI">Canto XVI. Guidoguerra, Aldobrandi, and Rusticucci. Cataract of the River of Blood.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XVII">Canto XVII. Geryon. The Violent against Art. Usurers. Descent into the Abyss of Malebolge.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XVIII">Canto XVIII. The Eighth Circle, Malebolge: The Fraudulent and the Malicious. The First Bolgia: Seducers and Panders. Venedico Caccianimico. Jason. The Second Bolgia: Flatterers. Allessio Interminelli. Thais.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XIX">Canto XIX. The Third Bolgia: Simoniacs. Pope Nicholas III. Dante’s Reproof of corrupt Prelates.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XX">Canto XX. The Fourth Bolgia: Soothsayers. Amphiaraus, Tiresias, Aruns, Manto, Eryphylus, Michael Scott, Guido Bonatti, and Asdente. Virgil reproaches Dante’s Pity. Mantua’s Foundation.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXI">Canto XXI. The Fifth Bolgia: Peculators. The Elder of Santa Zita. Malacoda and other Devils.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXII">Canto XXII. Ciampolo, Friar Gomita, and Michael Zanche. The Malabranche quarrel.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXIII">Canto XXIII. Escape from the Malabranche. The Sixth Bolgia: Hypocrites. Catalano and Loderingo. Caiaphas.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXIV">Canto XXIV. The Seventh Bolgia: Thieves. Vanni Fucci. Serpents.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXV">Canto XXV. Vanni Fucci’s Punishment. Agnello Brunelleschi, Buoso degli Abati, Puccio Sciancato, Cianfa de’ Donati, and Guercio Cavalcanti.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXVI">Canto XXVI. The Eighth Bolgia: Evil Counsellors. Ulysses and Diomed. Ulysses’ Last Voyage.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXVII">Canto XXVII. Guido da Montefeltro. His deception by Pope Boniface VIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXVIII">Canto XXVIII. The Ninth Bolgia: Schismatics. Mahomet and Ali. Pier da Medicina, Curio, Mosca, and Bertrand de Born.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXIX">Canto XXIX. Geri del Bello. The Tenth Bolgia: Alchemists. Griffolino d’ Arezzo and Capocchino.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXX">Canto XXX. Other Falsifiers or Forgers. Gianni Schicchi, Myrrha, Adam of Brescia, Potiphar’s Wife, and Sinon of Troy.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXXI">Canto XXXI. The Giants, Nimrod, Ephialtes, and Antaeus. Descent to Cocytus.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXXII">Canto XXXII. The Ninth Circle: Traitors. The Frozen Lake of Cocytus. First Division, Caina: Traitors to their Kindred. Camicion de’ Pazzi. Second Division, Antenora: Traitors to their Country. Dante questions Bocca degli Abati. Buoso da Duera.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXXIII">Canto XXXIII. Count Ugolino and the Archbishop Ruggieri. The Death of Count Ugolino’s Sons. Third Division of the Ninth Circle, Ptolomaea: Traitors to their Friends. Friar Alberigo, Branco d’ Oria.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXXIV">Canto XXXIV. Fourth Division of the Ninth Circle, the Judecca: Traitors to their Lords and Benefactors. Lucifer, Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius. The Chasm of Lethe. The Ascent.</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.I"></a>Inferno: Canto I</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Midway upon the journey of our life<br /> + I found myself within a forest dark,<br /> + For the straightforward pathway had been lost. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say<br /> + What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,<br /> + Which in the very thought renews the fear. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So bitter is it, death is little more;<br /> + But of the good to treat, which there I found,<br /> + Speak will I of the other things I saw there. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I cannot well repeat how there I entered,<br /> + So full was I of slumber at the moment<br /> + In which I had abandoned the true way. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But after I had reached a mountain’s foot,<br /> + At that point where the valley terminated,<br /> + Which had with consternation pierced my heart, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders,<br /> + Vested already with that planet’s rays<br /> + Which leadeth others right by every road. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then was the fear a little quieted<br /> + That in my heart’s lake had endured throughout<br /> + The night, which I had passed so piteously. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And even as he, who, with distressful breath,<br /> + Forth issued from the sea upon the shore,<br /> + Turns to the water perilous and gazes; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward,<br /> + Turn itself back to re-behold the pass<br /> + Which never yet a living person left. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After my weary body I had rested,<br /> + The way resumed I on the desert slope,<br /> + So that the firm foot ever was the lower. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And lo! almost where the ascent began,<br /> + A panther light and swift exceedingly,<br /> + Which with a spotted skin was covered o’er! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And never moved she from before my face,<br /> + Nay, rather did impede so much my way,<br /> + That many times I to return had turned. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The time was the beginning of the morning,<br /> + And up the sun was mounting with those stars<br /> + That with him were, what time the Love Divine +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +At first in motion set those beauteous things;<br /> + So were to me occasion of good hope,<br /> + The variegated skin of that wild beast, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The hour of time, and the delicious season;<br /> + But not so much, that did not give me fear<br /> + A lion’s aspect which appeared to me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He seemed as if against me he were coming<br /> + With head uplifted, and with ravenous hunger,<br /> + So that it seemed the air was afraid of him; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And a she-wolf, that with all hungerings<br /> + Seemed to be laden in her meagreness,<br /> + And many folk has caused to live forlorn! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +She brought upon me so much heaviness,<br /> + With the affright that from her aspect came,<br /> + That I the hope relinquished of the height. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as he is who willingly acquires,<br /> + And the time comes that causes him to lose,<br /> + Who weeps in all his thoughts and is despondent, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +E’en such made me that beast withouten peace,<br /> + Which, coming on against me by degrees<br /> + Thrust me back thither where the sun is silent. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While I was rushing downward to the lowland,<br /> + Before mine eyes did one present himself,<br /> + Who seemed from long-continued silence hoarse. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When I beheld him in the desert vast,<br /> + “Have pity on me,” unto him I cried,<br /> + “Whiche’er thou art, or shade or real man!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He answered me: “Not man; man once I was,<br /> + And both my parents were of Lombardy,<br /> + And Mantuans by country both of them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +‘Sub Julio’ was I born, though it was late,<br /> + And lived at Rome under the good Augustus,<br /> + During the time of false and lying gods. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A poet was I, and I sang that just<br /> + Son of Anchises, who came forth from Troy,<br /> + After that Ilion the superb was burned. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance?<br /> + Why climb’st thou not the Mount Delectable,<br /> + Which is the source and cause of every joy?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Now, art thou that Virgilius and that fountain<br /> + Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech?”<br /> + I made response to him with bashful forehead. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O, of the other poets honour and light,<br /> + Avail me the long study and great love<br /> + That have impelled me to explore thy volume! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou art my master, and my author thou,<br /> + Thou art alone the one from whom I took<br /> + The beautiful style that has done honour to me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Behold the beast, for which I have turned back;<br /> + Do thou protect me from her, famous Sage,<br /> + For she doth make my veins and pulses tremble.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Thee it behoves to take another road,”<br /> + Responded he, when he beheld me weeping,<br /> + “If from this savage place thou wouldst escape; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because this beast, at which thou criest out,<br /> + Suffers not any one to pass her way,<br /> + But so doth harass him, that she destroys him; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And has a nature so malign and ruthless,<br /> + That never doth she glut her greedy will,<br /> + And after food is hungrier than before. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Many the animals with whom she weds,<br /> + And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound<br /> + Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He shall not feed on either earth or pelf,<br /> + But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue;<br /> + ’Twixt Feltro and Feltro shall his nation be; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of that low Italy shall he be the saviour,<br /> + On whose account the maid Camilla died,<br /> + Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Through every city shall he hunt her down,<br /> + Until he shall have driven her back to Hell,<br /> + There from whence envy first did let her loose. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore I think and judge it for thy best<br /> + Thou follow me, and I will be thy guide,<br /> + And lead thee hence through the eternal place, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Where thou shalt hear the desperate lamentations,<br /> + Shalt see the ancient spirits disconsolate,<br /> + Who cry out each one for the second death; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And thou shalt see those who contented are<br /> + Within the fire, because they hope to come,<br /> + Whene’er it may be, to the blessed people; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend,<br /> + A soul shall be for that than I more worthy;<br /> + With her at my departure I will leave thee; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because that Emperor, who reigns above,<br /> + In that I was rebellious to his law,<br /> + Wills that through me none come into his city. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He governs everywhere, and there he reigns;<br /> + There is his city and his lofty throne;<br /> + O happy he whom thereto he elects!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “Poet, I thee entreat,<br /> + By that same God whom thou didst never know,<br /> + So that I may escape this woe and worse, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said,<br /> + That I may see the portal of Saint Peter,<br /> + And those thou makest so disconsolate.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he moved on, and I behind him followed. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.II"></a>Inferno: Canto II</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Day was departing, and the embrowned air<br /> + Released the animals that are on earth<br /> + From their fatigues; and I the only one +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Made myself ready to sustain the war,<br /> + Both of the way and likewise of the woe,<br /> + Which memory that errs not shall retrace. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O Muses, O high genius, now assist me!<br /> + O memory, that didst write down what I saw,<br /> + Here thy nobility shall be manifest! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I began: “Poet, who guidest me,<br /> + Regard my manhood, if it be sufficient,<br /> + Ere to the arduous pass thou dost confide me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou sayest, that of Silvius the parent,<br /> + While yet corruptible, unto the world<br /> + Immortal went, and was there bodily. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But if the adversary of all evil<br /> + Was courteous, thinking of the high effect<br /> + That issue would from him, and who, and what, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To men of intellect unmeet it seems not;<br /> + For he was of great Rome, and of her empire<br /> + In the empyreal heaven as father chosen; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The which and what, wishing to speak the truth,<br /> + Were stablished as the holy place, wherein<br /> + Sits the successor of the greatest Peter. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon this journey, whence thou givest him vaunt,<br /> + Things did he hear, which the occasion were<br /> + Both of his victory and the papal mantle. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thither went afterwards the Chosen Vessel,<br /> + To bring back comfort thence unto that Faith,<br /> + Which of salvation’s way is the beginning. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But I, why thither come, or who concedes it?<br /> + I not Aeneas am, I am not Paul,<br /> + Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore, if I resign myself to come,<br /> + I fear the coming may be ill-advised;<br /> + Thou’rt wise, and knowest better than I speak.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as he is, who unwills what he willed,<br /> + And by new thoughts doth his intention change,<br /> + So that from his design he quite withdraws, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such I became, upon that dark hillside,<br /> + Because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise,<br /> + Which was so very prompt in the beginning. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If I have well thy language understood,”<br /> + Replied that shade of the Magnanimous,<br /> + “Thy soul attainted is with cowardice, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Which many times a man encumbers so,<br /> + It turns him back from honoured enterprise,<br /> + As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That thou mayst free thee from this apprehension,<br /> + I’ll tell thee why I came, and what I heard<br /> + At the first moment when I grieved for thee. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Among those was I who are in suspense,<br /> + And a fair, saintly Lady called to me<br /> + In such wise, I besought her to command me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Her eyes where shining brighter than the Star;<br /> + And she began to say, gentle and low,<br /> + With voice angelical, in her own language: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +‘O spirit courteous of Mantua,<br /> + Of whom the fame still in the world endures,<br /> + And shall endure, long-lasting as the world; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune,<br /> + Upon the desert slope is so impeded<br /> + Upon his way, that he has turned through terror, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And may, I fear, already be so lost,<br /> + That I too late have risen to his succour,<br /> + From that which I have heard of him in Heaven. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate,<br /> + And with what needful is for his release,<br /> + Assist him so, that I may be consoled. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go;<br /> + I come from there, where I would fain return;<br /> + Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When I shall be in presence of my Lord,<br /> + Full often will I praise thee unto him.’<br /> + Then paused she, and thereafter I began: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +‘O Lady of virtue, thou alone through whom<br /> + The human race exceedeth all contained<br /> + Within the heaven that has the lesser circles, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So grateful unto me is thy commandment,<br /> + To obey, if ’twere already done, were late;<br /> + No farther need’st thou ope to me thy wish. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But the cause tell me why thou dost not shun<br /> + The here descending down into this centre,<br /> + From the vast place thou burnest to return to.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +‘Since thou wouldst fain so inwardly discern,<br /> + Briefly will I relate,’ she answered me,<br /> + ‘Why I am not afraid to enter here. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of those things only should one be afraid<br /> + Which have the power of doing others harm;<br /> + Of the rest, no; because they are not fearful. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +God in his mercy such created me<br /> + That misery of yours attains me not,<br /> + Nor any flame assails me of this burning. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A gentle Lady is in Heaven, who grieves<br /> + At this impediment, to which I send thee,<br /> + So that stern judgment there above is broken. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In her entreaty she besought Lucia,<br /> + And said, “Thy faithful one now stands in need<br /> + Of thee, and unto thee I recommend him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Lucia, foe of all that cruel is,<br /> + Hastened away, and came unto the place<br /> + Where I was sitting with the ancient Rachel. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Beatrice” said she, “the true praise of God,<br /> + Why succourest thou not him, who loved thee so,<br /> + For thee he issued from the vulgar herd? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint?<br /> + Dost thou not see the death that combats him<br /> + Beside that flood, where ocean has no vaunt?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Never were persons in the world so swift<br /> + To work their weal and to escape their woe,<br /> + As I, after such words as these were uttered, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Came hither downward from my blessed seat,<br /> + Confiding in thy dignified discourse,<br /> + Which honours thee, and those who’ve listened to it.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After she thus had spoken unto me,<br /> + Weeping, her shining eyes she turned away;<br /> + Whereby she made me swifter in my coming; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And unto thee I came, as she desired;<br /> + I have delivered thee from that wild beast,<br /> + Which barred the beautiful mountain’s short ascent. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +What is it, then? Why, why dost thou delay?<br /> + Why is such baseness bedded in thy heart?<br /> + Daring and hardihood why hast thou not, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Seeing that three such Ladies benedight<br /> + Are caring for thee in the court of Heaven,<br /> + And so much good my speech doth promise thee?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as the flowerets, by nocturnal chill,<br /> + Bowed down and closed, when the sun whitens them,<br /> + Uplift themselves all open on their stems; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such I became with my exhausted strength,<br /> + And such good courage to my heart there coursed,<br /> + That I began, like an intrepid person: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O she compassionate, who succoured me,<br /> + And courteous thou, who hast obeyed so soon<br /> + The words of truth which she addressed to thee! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou hast my heart so with desire disposed<br /> + To the adventure, with these words of thine,<br /> + That to my first intent I have returned. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now go, for one sole will is in us both,<br /> + Thou Leader, and thou Lord, and Master thou.”<br /> + Thus said I to him; and when he had moved, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I entered on the deep and savage way. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.III"></a>Inferno: Canto III</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Through me the way is to the city dolent;<br /> + Through me the way is to eternal dole;<br /> + Through me the way among the people lost. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Justice incited my sublime Creator;<br /> + Created me divine Omnipotence,<br /> + The highest Wisdom and the primal Love. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Before me there were no created things,<br /> + Only eterne, and I eternal last.<br /> + All hope abandon, ye who enter in!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +These words in sombre colour I beheld<br /> + Written upon the summit of a gate;<br /> + Whence I: “Their sense is, Master, hard to me!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me, as one experienced:<br /> + “Here all suspicion needs must be abandoned,<br /> + All cowardice must needs be here extinct. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We to the place have come, where I have told thee<br /> + Thou shalt behold the people dolorous<br /> + Who have foregone the good of intellect.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And after he had laid his hand on mine<br /> + With joyful mien, whence I was comforted,<br /> + He led me in among the secret things. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There sighs, complaints, and ululations loud<br /> + Resounded through the air without a star,<br /> + Whence I, at the beginning, wept thereat. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Languages diverse, horrible dialects,<br /> + Accents of anger, words of agony,<br /> + And voices high and hoarse, with sound of hands, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Made up a tumult that goes whirling on<br /> + For ever in that air for ever black,<br /> + Even as the sand doth, when the whirlwind breathes. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I, who had my head with horror bound,<br /> + Said: “Master, what is this which now I hear?<br /> + What folk is this, which seems by pain so vanquished?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “This miserable mode<br /> + Maintain the melancholy souls of those<br /> + Who lived withouten infamy or praise. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Commingled are they with that caitiff choir<br /> + Of Angels, who have not rebellious been,<br /> + Nor faithful were to God, but were for self. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The heavens expelled them, not to be less fair;<br /> + Nor them the nethermore abyss receives,<br /> + For glory none the damned would have from them.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “O Master, what so grievous is<br /> + To these, that maketh them lament so sore?”<br /> + He answered: “I will tell thee very briefly. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +These have no longer any hope of death;<br /> + And this blind life of theirs is so debased,<br /> + They envious are of every other fate. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +No fame of them the world permits to be;<br /> + Misericord and Justice both disdain them.<br /> + Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I, who looked again, beheld a banner,<br /> + Which, whirling round, ran on so rapidly,<br /> + That of all pause it seemed to me indignant; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And after it there came so long a train<br /> + Of people, that I ne’er would have believed<br /> + That ever Death so many had undone. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When some among them I had recognised,<br /> + I looked, and I beheld the shade of him<br /> + Who made through cowardice the great refusal. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Forthwith I comprehended, and was certain,<br /> + That this the sect was of the caitiff wretches<br /> + Hateful to God and to his enemies. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +These miscreants, who never were alive,<br /> + Were naked, and were stung exceedingly<br /> + By gadflies and by hornets that were there. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +These did their faces irrigate with blood,<br /> + Which, with their tears commingled, at their feet<br /> + By the disgusting worms was gathered up. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And when to gazing farther I betook me.<br /> + People I saw on a great river’s bank;<br /> + Whence said I: “Master, now vouchsafe to me, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That I may know who these are, and what law<br /> + Makes them appear so ready to pass over,<br /> + As I discern athwart the dusky light.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “These things shall all be known<br /> + To thee, as soon as we our footsteps stay<br /> + Upon the dismal shore of Acheron.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then with mine eyes ashamed and downward cast,<br /> + Fearing my words might irksome be to him,<br /> + From speech refrained I till we reached the river. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And lo! towards us coming in a boat<br /> + An old man, hoary with the hair of eld,<br /> + Crying: “Woe unto you, ye souls depraved! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens;<br /> + I come to lead you to the other shore,<br /> + To the eternal shades in heat and frost. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And thou, that yonder standest, living soul,<br /> + Withdraw thee from these people, who are dead!”<br /> + But when he saw that I did not withdraw, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He said: “By other ways, by other ports<br /> + Thou to the shore shalt come, not here, for passage;<br /> + A lighter vessel needs must carry thee.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And unto him the Guide: “Vex thee not, Charon;<br /> + It is so willed there where is power to do<br /> + That which is willed; and farther question not.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereat were quieted the fleecy cheeks<br /> + Of him the ferryman of the livid fen,<br /> + Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But all those souls who weary were and naked<br /> + Their colour changed and gnashed their teeth together,<br /> + As soon as they had heard those cruel words. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +God they blasphemed and their progenitors,<br /> + The human race, the place, the time, the seed<br /> + Of their engendering and of their birth! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereafter all together they drew back,<br /> + Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore,<br /> + Which waiteth every man who fears not God. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede,<br /> + Beckoning to them, collects them all together,<br /> + Beats with his oar whoever lags behind. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As in the autumn-time the leaves fall off,<br /> + First one and then another, till the branch<br /> + Unto the earth surrenders all its spoils; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In similar wise the evil seed of Adam<br /> + Throw themselves from that margin one by one,<br /> + At signals, as a bird unto its lure. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So they depart across the dusky wave,<br /> + And ere upon the other side they land,<br /> + Again on this side a new troop assembles. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“My son,” the courteous Master said to me,<br /> + “All those who perish in the wrath of God<br /> + Here meet together out of every land; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And ready are they to pass o’er the river,<br /> + Because celestial Justice spurs them on,<br /> + So that their fear is turned into desire. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This way there never passes a good soul;<br /> + And hence if Charon doth complain of thee,<br /> + Well mayst thou know now what his speech imports.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This being finished, all the dusk champaign<br /> + Trembled so violently, that of that terror<br /> + The recollection bathes me still with sweat. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The land of tears gave forth a blast of wind,<br /> + And fulminated a vermilion light,<br /> + Which overmastered in me every sense, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as a man whom sleep hath seized I fell. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.IV"></a>Inferno: Canto IV</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Broke the deep lethargy within my head<br /> + A heavy thunder, so that I upstarted,<br /> + Like to a person who by force is wakened; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And round about I moved my rested eyes,<br /> + Uprisen erect, and steadfastly I gazed,<br /> + To recognise the place wherein I was. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +True is it, that upon the verge I found me<br /> + Of the abysmal valley dolorous,<br /> + That gathers thunder of infinite ululations. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous,<br /> + So that by fixing on its depths my sight<br /> + Nothing whatever I discerned therein. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Let us descend now into the blind world,”<br /> + Began the Poet, pallid utterly;<br /> + “I will be first, and thou shalt second be.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I, who of his colour was aware,<br /> + Said: “How shall I come, if thou art afraid,<br /> + Who’rt wont to be a comfort to my fears?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “The anguish of the people<br /> + Who are below here in my face depicts<br /> + That pity which for terror thou hast taken. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Let us go on, for the long way impels us.”<br /> + Thus he went in, and thus he made me enter<br /> + The foremost circle that surrounds the abyss. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There, as it seemed to me from listening,<br /> + Were lamentations none, but only sighs,<br /> + That tremble made the everlasting air. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And this arose from sorrow without torment,<br /> + Which the crowds had, that many were and great,<br /> + Of infants and of women and of men. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To me the Master good: “Thou dost not ask<br /> + What spirits these, which thou beholdest, are?<br /> + Now will I have thee know, ere thou go farther, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That they sinned not; and if they merit had,<br /> + ’Tis not enough, because they had not baptism<br /> + Which is the portal of the Faith thou holdest; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if they were before Christianity,<br /> + In the right manner they adored not God;<br /> + And among such as these am I myself. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For such defects, and not for other guilt,<br /> + Lost are we and are only so far punished,<br /> + That without hope we live on in desire.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Great grief seized on my heart when this I heard,<br /> + Because some people of much worthiness<br /> + I knew, who in that Limbo were suspended. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Tell me, my Master, tell me, thou my Lord,”<br /> + Began I, with desire of being certain<br /> + Of that Faith which o’ercometh every error, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Came any one by his own merit hence,<br /> + Or by another’s, who was blessed thereafter?”<br /> + And he, who understood my covert speech, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Replied: “I was a novice in this state,<br /> + When I saw hither come a Mighty One,<br /> + With sign of victory incoronate. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Hence he drew forth the shade of the First Parent,<br /> + And that of his son Abel, and of Noah,<br /> + Of Moses the lawgiver, and the obedient +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Abraham, patriarch, and David, king,<br /> + Israel with his father and his children,<br /> + And Rachel, for whose sake he did so much, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And others many, and he made them blessed;<br /> + And thou must know, that earlier than these<br /> + Never were any human spirits saved.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We ceased not to advance because he spake,<br /> + But still were passing onward through the forest,<br /> + The forest, say I, of thick-crowded ghosts. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not very far as yet our way had gone<br /> + This side the summit, when I saw a fire<br /> + That overcame a hemisphere of darkness. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We were a little distant from it still,<br /> + But not so far that I in part discerned not<br /> + That honourable people held that place. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O thou who honourest every art and science,<br /> + Who may these be, which such great honour have,<br /> + That from the fashion of the rest it parts them?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “The honourable name,<br /> + That sounds of them above there in thy life,<br /> + Wins grace in Heaven, that so advances them.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In the mean time a voice was heard by me:<br /> + “All honour be to the pre-eminent Poet;<br /> + His shade returns again, that was departed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After the voice had ceased and quiet was,<br /> + Four mighty shades I saw approaching us;<br /> + Semblance had they nor sorrowful nor glad. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To say to me began my gracious Master:<br /> + “Him with that falchion in his hand behold,<br /> + Who comes before the three, even as their lord. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That one is Homer, Poet sovereign;<br /> + He who comes next is Horace, the satirist;<br /> + The third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because to each of these with me applies<br /> + The name that solitary voice proclaimed,<br /> + They do me honour, and in that do well.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus I beheld assemble the fair school<br /> + Of that lord of the song pre-eminent,<br /> + Who o’er the others like an eagle soars. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When they together had discoursed somewhat,<br /> + They turned to me with signs of salutation,<br /> + And on beholding this, my Master smiled; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And more of honour still, much more, they did me,<br /> + In that they made me one of their own band;<br /> + So that the sixth was I, ’mid so much wit. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus we went on as far as to the light,<br /> + Things saying ’tis becoming to keep silent,<br /> + As was the saying of them where I was. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We came unto a noble castle’s foot,<br /> + Seven times encompassed with lofty walls,<br /> + Defended round by a fair rivulet; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This we passed over even as firm ground;<br /> + Through portals seven I entered with these Sages;<br /> + We came into a meadow of fresh verdure. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +People were there with solemn eyes and slow,<br /> + Of great authority in their countenance;<br /> + They spake but seldom, and with gentle voices. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus we withdrew ourselves upon one side<br /> + Into an opening luminous and lofty,<br /> + So that they all of them were visible. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There opposite, upon the green enamel,<br /> + Were pointed out to me the mighty spirits,<br /> + Whom to have seen I feel myself exalted. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw Electra with companions many,<br /> + ’Mongst whom I knew both Hector and Aeneas,<br /> + Caesar in armour with gerfalcon eyes; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw Camilla and Penthesilea<br /> + On the other side, and saw the King Latinus,<br /> + Who with Lavinia his daughter sat; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin forth,<br /> + Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia,<br /> + And saw alone, apart, the Saladin. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When I had lifted up my brows a little,<br /> + The Master I beheld of those who know,<br /> + Sit with his philosophic family. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +All gaze upon him, and all do him honour.<br /> + There I beheld both Socrates and Plato,<br /> + Who nearer him before the others stand; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Democritus, who puts the world on chance,<br /> + Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales,<br /> + Zeno, Empedocles, and Heraclitus; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of qualities I saw the good collector,<br /> + Hight Dioscorides; and Orpheus saw I,<br /> + Tully and Livy, and moral Seneca, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Euclid, geometrician, and Ptolemy,<br /> + Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicenna,<br /> + Averroes, who the great Comment made. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I cannot all of them pourtray in full,<br /> + Because so drives me onward the long theme,<br /> + That many times the word comes short of fact. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The sixfold company in two divides;<br /> + Another way my sapient Guide conducts me<br /> + Forth from the quiet to the air that trembles; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And to a place I come where nothing shines. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.V"></a>Inferno: Canto V</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus I descended out of the first circle<br /> + Down to the second, that less space begirds,<br /> + And so much greater dole, that goads to wailing. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls;<br /> + Examines the transgressions at the entrance;<br /> + Judges, and sends according as he girds him. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I say, that when the spirit evil-born<br /> + Cometh before him, wholly it confesses;<br /> + And this discriminator of transgressions +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Seeth what place in Hell is meet for it;<br /> + Girds himself with his tail as many times<br /> + As grades he wishes it should be thrust down. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Always before him many of them stand;<br /> + They go by turns each one unto the judgment;<br /> + They speak, and hear, and then are downward hurled. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O thou, that to this dolorous hostelry<br /> + Comest,” said Minos to me, when he saw me,<br /> + Leaving the practice of so great an office, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Look how thou enterest, and in whom thou trustest;<br /> + Let not the portal’s amplitude deceive thee.”<br /> + And unto him my Guide: “Why criest thou too? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Do not impede his journey fate-ordained;<br /> + It is so willed there where is power to do<br /> + That which is willed; and ask no further question.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And now begin the dolesome notes to grow<br /> + Audible unto me; now am I come<br /> + There where much lamentation strikes upon me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I came into a place mute of all light,<br /> + Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest,<br /> + If by opposing winds ’t is combated. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The infernal hurricane that never rests<br /> + Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine;<br /> + Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When they arrive before the precipice,<br /> + There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments,<br /> + There they blaspheme the puissance divine. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I understood that unto such a torment<br /> + The carnal malefactors were condemned,<br /> + Who reason subjugate to appetite. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as the wings of starlings bear them on<br /> + In the cold season in large band and full,<br /> + So doth that blast the spirits maledict; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them;<br /> + No hope doth comfort them for evermore,<br /> + Not of repose, but even of lesser pain. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays,<br /> + Making in air a long line of themselves,<br /> + So saw I coming, uttering lamentations, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Shadows borne onward by the aforesaid stress.<br /> + Whereupon said I: “Master, who are those<br /> + People, whom the black air so castigates?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“The first of those, of whom intelligence<br /> + Thou fain wouldst have,” then said he unto me,<br /> + “The empress was of many languages. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To sensual vices she was so abandoned,<br /> + That lustful she made licit in her law,<br /> + To remove the blame to which she had been led. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +She is Semiramis, of whom we read<br /> + That she succeeded Ninus, and was his spouse;<br /> + She held the land which now the Sultan rules. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The next is she who killed herself for love,<br /> + And broke faith with the ashes of Sichaeus;<br /> + Then Cleopatra the voluptuous.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Helen I saw, for whom so many ruthless<br /> + Seasons revolved; and saw the great Achilles,<br /> + Who at the last hour combated with Love. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Paris I saw, Tristan; and more than a thousand<br /> + Shades did he name and point out with his finger,<br /> + Whom Love had separated from our life. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After that I had listened to my Teacher,<br /> + Naming the dames of eld and cavaliers,<br /> + Pity prevailed, and I was nigh bewildered. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I began: “O Poet, willingly<br /> + Speak would I to those two, who go together,<br /> + And seem upon the wind to be so light.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And, he to me: “Thou’lt mark, when they shall be<br /> + Nearer to us; and then do thou implore them<br /> + By love which leadeth them, and they will come.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Soon as the wind in our direction sways them,<br /> + My voice uplift I: “O ye weary souls!<br /> + Come speak to us, if no one interdicts it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As turtle-doves, called onward by desire,<br /> + With open and steady wings to the sweet nest<br /> + Fly through the air by their volition borne, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So came they from the band where Dido is,<br /> + Approaching us athwart the air malign,<br /> + So strong was the affectionate appeal. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O living creature gracious and benignant,<br /> + Who visiting goest through the purple air<br /> + Us, who have stained the world incarnadine, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If were the King of the Universe our friend,<br /> + We would pray unto him to give thee peace,<br /> + Since thou hast pity on our woe perverse. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of what it pleases thee to hear and speak,<br /> + That will we hear, and we will speak to you,<br /> + While silent is the wind, as it is now. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Sitteth the city, wherein I was born,<br /> + Upon the sea-shore where the Po descends<br /> + To rest in peace with all his retinue. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Love, that on gentle heart doth swiftly seize,<br /> + Seized this man for the person beautiful<br /> + That was ta’en from me, and still the mode offends me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving,<br /> + Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly,<br /> + That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Love has conducted us unto one death;<br /> + Caina waiteth him who quenched our life!”<br /> + These words were borne along from them to us. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As soon as I had heard those souls tormented,<br /> + I bowed my face, and so long held it down<br /> + Until the Poet said to me: “What thinkest?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When I made answer, I began: “Alas!<br /> + How many pleasant thoughts, how much desire,<br /> + Conducted these unto the dolorous pass!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then unto them I turned me, and I spake,<br /> + And I began: “Thine agonies, Francesca,<br /> + Sad and compassionate to weeping make me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But tell me, at the time of those sweet sighs,<br /> + By what and in what manner Love conceded,<br /> + That you should know your dubious desires?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And she to me: “There is no greater sorrow<br /> + Than to be mindful of the happy time<br /> + In misery, and that thy Teacher knows. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But, if to recognise the earliest root<br /> + Of love in us thou hast so great desire,<br /> + I will do even as he who weeps and speaks. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +One day we reading were for our delight<br /> + Of Launcelot, how Love did him enthral.<br /> + Alone we were and without any fear. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Full many a time our eyes together drew<br /> + That reading, and drove the colour from our faces;<br /> + But one point only was it that o’ercame us. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When as we read of the much-longed-for smile<br /> + Being by such a noble lover kissed,<br /> + This one, who ne’er from me shall be divided, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating.<br /> + Galeotto was the book and he who wrote it.<br /> + That day no farther did we read therein.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And all the while one spirit uttered this,<br /> + The other one did weep so, that, for pity,<br /> + I swooned away as if I had been dying, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And fell, even as a dead body falls. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.VI"></a>Inferno: Canto VI</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +At the return of consciousness, that closed<br /> + Before the pity of those two relations,<br /> + Which utterly with sadness had confused me, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +New torments I behold, and new tormented<br /> + Around me, whichsoever way I move,<br /> + And whichsoever way I turn, and gaze. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In the third circle am I of the rain<br /> + Eternal, maledict, and cold, and heavy;<br /> + Its law and quality are never new. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow,<br /> + Athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain;<br /> + Noisome the earth is, that receiveth this. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Cerberus, monster cruel and uncouth,<br /> + With his three gullets like a dog is barking<br /> + Over the people that are there submerged. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Red eyes he has, and unctuous beard and black,<br /> + And belly large, and armed with claws his hands;<br /> + He rends the spirits, flays, and quarters them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Howl the rain maketh them like unto dogs;<br /> + One side they make a shelter for the other;<br /> + Oft turn themselves the wretched reprobates. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm!<br /> + His mouths he opened, and displayed his tusks;<br /> + Not a limb had he that was motionless. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And my Conductor, with his spans extended,<br /> + Took of the earth, and with his fists well filled,<br /> + He threw it into those rapacious gullets. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such as that dog is, who by barking craves,<br /> + And quiet grows soon as his food he gnaws,<br /> + For to devour it he but thinks and struggles, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The like became those muzzles filth-begrimed<br /> + Of Cerberus the demon, who so thunders<br /> + Over the souls that they would fain be deaf. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We passed across the shadows, which subdues<br /> + The heavy rain-storm, and we placed our feet<br /> + Upon their vanity that person seems. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They all were lying prone upon the earth,<br /> + Excepting one, who sat upright as soon<br /> + As he beheld us passing on before him. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O thou that art conducted through this Hell,”<br /> + He said to me, “recall me, if thou canst;<br /> + Thyself wast made before I was unmade.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “The anguish which thou hast<br /> + Perhaps doth draw thee out of my remembrance,<br /> + So that it seems not I have ever seen thee. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But tell me who thou art, that in so doleful<br /> + A place art put, and in such punishment,<br /> + If some are greater, none is so displeasing.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Thy city, which is full<br /> + Of envy so that now the sack runs over,<br /> + Held me within it in the life serene. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +You citizens were wont to call me Ciacco;<br /> + For the pernicious sin of gluttony<br /> + I, as thou seest, am battered by this rain. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I, sad soul, am not the only one,<br /> + For all these suffer the like penalty<br /> + For the like sin;” and word no more spake he. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I answered him: “Ciacco, thy wretchedness<br /> + Weighs on me so that it to weep invites me;<br /> + But tell me, if thou knowest, to what shall come +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The citizens of the divided city;<br /> + If any there be just; and the occasion<br /> + Tell me why so much discord has assailed it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “They, after long contention,<br /> + Will come to bloodshed; and the rustic party<br /> + Will drive the other out with much offence. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then afterwards behoves it this one fall<br /> + Within three suns, and rise again the other<br /> + By force of him who now is on the coast. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +High will it hold its forehead a long while,<br /> + Keeping the other under heavy burdens,<br /> + Howe’er it weeps thereat and is indignant. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The just are two, and are not understood there;<br /> + Envy and Arrogance and Avarice<br /> + Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here ended he his tearful utterance;<br /> + And I to him: “I wish thee still to teach me,<br /> + And make a gift to me of further speech. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Farinata and Tegghiaio, once so worthy,<br /> + Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca,<br /> + And others who on good deeds set their thoughts, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Say where they are, and cause that I may know them;<br /> + For great desire constraineth me to learn<br /> + If Heaven doth sweeten them, or Hell envenom.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he: “They are among the blacker souls;<br /> + A different sin downweighs them to the bottom;<br /> + If thou so far descendest, thou canst see them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But when thou art again in the sweet world,<br /> + I pray thee to the mind of others bring me;<br /> + No more I tell thee and no more I answer.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then his straightforward eyes he turned askance,<br /> + Eyed me a little, and then bowed his head;<br /> + He fell therewith prone like the other blind. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the Guide said to me: “He wakes no more<br /> + This side the sound of the angelic trumpet;<br /> + When shall approach the hostile Potentate, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Each one shall find again his dismal tomb,<br /> + Shall reassume his flesh and his own figure,<br /> + Shall hear what through eternity re-echoes.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So we passed onward o’er the filthy mixture<br /> + Of shadows and of rain with footsteps slow,<br /> + Touching a little on the future life. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Wherefore I said: “Master, these torments here,<br /> + Will they increase after the mighty sentence,<br /> + Or lesser be, or will they be as burning?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Return unto thy science,<br /> + Which wills, that as the thing more perfect is,<br /> + The more it feels of pleasure and of pain. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Albeit that this people maledict<br /> + To true perfection never can attain,<br /> + Hereafter more than now they look to be.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Round in a circle by that road we went,<br /> + Speaking much more, which I do not repeat;<br /> + We came unto the point where the descent is; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There we found Plutus the great enemy. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.VII"></a>Inferno: Canto VII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Pape Satan, Pape Satan, Aleppe!”<br /> + Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began;<br /> + And that benignant Sage, who all things knew, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Said, to encourage me: “Let not thy fear<br /> + Harm thee; for any power that he may have<br /> + Shall not prevent thy going down this crag.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he turned round unto that bloated lip,<br /> + And said: “Be silent, thou accursed wolf;<br /> + Consume within thyself with thine own rage. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not causeless is this journey to the abyss;<br /> + Thus is it willed on high, where Michael wrought<br /> + Vengeance upon the proud adultery.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as the sails inflated by the wind<br /> + Involved together fall when snaps the mast,<br /> + So fell the cruel monster to the earth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus we descended into the fourth chasm,<br /> + Gaining still farther on the dolesome shore<br /> + Which all the woe of the universe insacks. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Justice of God, ah! who heaps up so many<br /> + New toils and sufferings as I beheld?<br /> + And why doth our transgression waste us so? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As doth the billow there upon Charybdis,<br /> + That breaks itself on that which it encounters,<br /> + So here the folk must dance their roundelay. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here saw I people, more than elsewhere, many,<br /> + On one side and the other, with great howls,<br /> + Rolling weights forward by main force of chest. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They clashed together, and then at that point<br /> + Each one turned backward, rolling retrograde,<br /> + Crying, “Why keepest?” and, “Why squanderest thou?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus they returned along the lurid circle<br /> + On either hand unto the opposite point,<br /> + Shouting their shameful metre evermore. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then each, when he arrived there, wheeled about<br /> + Through his half-circle to another joust;<br /> + And I, who had my heart pierced as it were, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Exclaimed: “My Master, now declare to me<br /> + What people these are, and if all were clerks,<br /> + These shaven crowns upon the left of us.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “All of them were asquint<br /> + In intellect in the first life, so much<br /> + That there with measure they no spending made. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Clearly enough their voices bark it forth,<br /> + Whene’er they reach the two points of the circle,<br /> + Where sunders them the opposite defect. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Clerks those were who no hairy covering<br /> + Have on the head, and Popes and Cardinals,<br /> + In whom doth Avarice practise its excess.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “My Master, among such as these<br /> + I ought forsooth to recognise some few,<br /> + Who were infected with these maladies.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Vain thought thou entertainest;<br /> + The undiscerning life which made them sordid<br /> + Now makes them unto all discernment dim. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Forever shall they come to these two buttings;<br /> + These from the sepulchre shall rise again<br /> + With the fist closed, and these with tresses shorn. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ill giving and ill keeping the fair world<br /> + Have ta’en from them, and placed them in this scuffle;<br /> + Whate’er it be, no words adorn I for it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now canst thou, Son, behold the transient farce<br /> + Of goods that are committed unto Fortune,<br /> + For which the human race each other buffet; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For all the gold that is beneath the moon,<br /> + Or ever has been, of these weary souls<br /> + Could never make a single one repose.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Master,” I said to him, “now tell me also<br /> + What is this Fortune which thou speakest of,<br /> + That has the world’s goods so within its clutches?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “O creatures imbecile,<br /> + What ignorance is this which doth beset you?<br /> + Now will I have thee learn my judgment of her. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He whose omniscience everything transcends<br /> + The heavens created, and gave who should guide them,<br /> + That every part to every part may shine, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Distributing the light in equal measure;<br /> + He in like manner to the mundane splendours<br /> + Ordained a general ministress and guide, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That she might change at times the empty treasures<br /> + From race to race, from one blood to another,<br /> + Beyond resistance of all human wisdom. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore one people triumphs, and another<br /> + Languishes, in pursuance of her judgment,<br /> + Which hidden is, as in the grass a serpent. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Your knowledge has no counterstand against her;<br /> + She makes provision, judges, and pursues<br /> + Her governance, as theirs the other gods. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Her permutations have not any truce;<br /> + Necessity makes her precipitate,<br /> + So often cometh who his turn obtains. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And this is she who is so crucified<br /> + Even by those who ought to give her praise,<br /> + Giving her blame amiss, and bad repute. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But she is blissful, and she hears it not;<br /> + Among the other primal creatures gladsome<br /> + She turns her sphere, and blissful she rejoices. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Let us descend now unto greater woe;<br /> + Already sinks each star that was ascending<br /> + When I set out, and loitering is forbidden.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We crossed the circle to the other bank,<br /> + Near to a fount that boils, and pours itself<br /> + Along a gully that runs out of it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The water was more sombre far than perse;<br /> + And we, in company with the dusky waves,<br /> + Made entrance downward by a path uncouth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A marsh it makes, which has the name of Styx,<br /> + This tristful brooklet, when it has descended<br /> + Down to the foot of the malign gray shores. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I, who stood intent upon beholding,<br /> + Saw people mud-besprent in that lagoon,<br /> + All of them naked and with angry look. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They smote each other not alone with hands,<br /> + But with the head and with the breast and feet,<br /> + Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Said the good Master: “Son, thou now beholdest<br /> + The souls of those whom anger overcame;<br /> + And likewise I would have thee know for certain +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Beneath the water people are who sigh<br /> + And make this water bubble at the surface,<br /> + As the eye tells thee wheresoe’er it turns. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Fixed in the mire they say, ‘We sullen were<br /> + In the sweet air, which by the sun is gladdened,<br /> + Bearing within ourselves the sluggish reek; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now we are sullen in this sable mire.’<br /> + This hymn do they keep gurgling in their throats,<br /> + For with unbroken words they cannot say it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus we went circling round the filthy fen<br /> + A great arc ’twixt the dry bank and the swamp,<br /> + With eyes turned unto those who gorge the mire; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Unto the foot of a tower we came at last. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.VIII"></a>Inferno: Canto VIII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +I say, continuing, that long before<br /> + We to the foot of that high tower had come,<br /> + Our eyes went upward to the summit of it, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +By reason of two flamelets we saw placed there,<br /> + And from afar another answer them,<br /> + So far, that hardly could the eye attain it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And, to the sea of all discernment turned,<br /> + I said: “What sayeth this, and what respondeth<br /> + That other fire? and who are they that made it?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Across the turbid waves<br /> + What is expected thou canst now discern,<br /> + If reek of the morass conceal it not.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Cord never shot an arrow from itself<br /> + That sped away athwart the air so swift,<br /> + As I beheld a very little boat +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Come o’er the water tow’rds us at that moment,<br /> + Under the guidance of a single pilot,<br /> + Who shouted, “Now art thou arrived, fell soul?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Phlegyas, Phlegyas, thou criest out in vain<br /> + For this once,” said my Lord; “thou shalt not have us<br /> + Longer than in the passing of the slough.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As he who listens to some great deceit<br /> + That has been done to him, and then resents it,<br /> + Such became Phlegyas, in his gathered wrath. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My Guide descended down into the boat,<br /> + And then he made me enter after him,<br /> + And only when I entered seemed it laden. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Soon as the Guide and I were in the boat,<br /> + The antique prow goes on its way, dividing<br /> + More of the water than ’tis wont with others. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While we were running through the dead canal,<br /> + Uprose in front of me one full of mire,<br /> + And said, “Who ’rt thou that comest ere the hour?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “Although I come, I stay not;<br /> + But who art thou that hast become so squalid?”<br /> + “Thou seest that I am one who weeps,” he answered. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “With weeping and with wailing,<br /> + Thou spirit maledict, do thou remain;<br /> + For thee I know, though thou art all defiled.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then stretched he both his hands unto the boat;<br /> + Whereat my wary Master thrust him back,<br /> + Saying, “Away there with the other dogs!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereafter with his arms he clasped my neck;<br /> + He kissed my face, and said: “Disdainful soul,<br /> + Blessed be she who bore thee in her bosom. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That was an arrogant person in the world;<br /> + Goodness is none, that decks his memory;<br /> + So likewise here his shade is furious. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +How many are esteemed great kings up there,<br /> + Who here shall be like unto swine in mire,<br /> + Leaving behind them horrible dispraises!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “My Master, much should I be pleased,<br /> + If I could see him soused into this broth,<br /> + Before we issue forth out of the lake.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Ere unto thee the shore<br /> + Reveal itself, thou shalt be satisfied;<br /> + Such a desire ’tis meet thou shouldst enjoy.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A little after that, I saw such havoc<br /> + Made of him by the people of the mire,<br /> + That still I praise and thank my God for it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They all were shouting, “At Philippo Argenti!”<br /> + And that exasperate spirit Florentine<br /> + Turned round upon himself with his own teeth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We left him there, and more of him I tell not;<br /> + But on mine ears there smote a lamentation,<br /> + Whence forward I intent unbar mine eyes. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the good Master said: “Even now, my Son,<br /> + The city draweth near whose name is Dis,<br /> + With the grave citizens, with the great throng.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “Its mosques already, Master, clearly<br /> + Within there in the valley I discern<br /> + Vermilion, as if issuing from the fire +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They were.” And he to me: “The fire eternal<br /> + That kindles them within makes them look red,<br /> + As thou beholdest in this nether Hell.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then we arrived within the moats profound,<br /> + That circumvallate that disconsolate city;<br /> + The walls appeared to me to be of iron. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not without making first a circuit wide,<br /> + We came unto a place where loud the pilot<br /> + Cried out to us, “Debark, here is the entrance.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +More than a thousand at the gates I saw<br /> + Out of the Heavens rained down, who angrily<br /> + Were saying, “Who is this that without death +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Goes through the kingdom of the people dead?”<br /> + And my sagacious Master made a sign<br /> + Of wishing secretly to speak with them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A little then they quelled their great disdain,<br /> + And said: “Come thou alone, and he begone<br /> + Who has so boldly entered these dominions. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Let him return alone by his mad road;<br /> + Try, if he can; for thou shalt here remain,<br /> + Who hast escorted him through such dark regions.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Think, Reader, if I was discomforted<br /> + At utterance of the accursed words;<br /> + For never to return here I believed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O my dear Guide, who more than seven times<br /> + Hast rendered me security, and drawn me<br /> + From imminent peril that before me stood, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Do not desert me,” said I, “thus undone;<br /> + And if the going farther be denied us,<br /> + Let us retrace our steps together swiftly.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And that Lord, who had led me thitherward,<br /> + Said unto me: “Fear not; because our passage<br /> + None can take from us, it by Such is given. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But here await me, and thy weary spirit<br /> + Comfort and nourish with a better hope;<br /> + For in this nether world I will not leave thee.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So onward goes and there abandons me<br /> + My Father sweet, and I remain in doubt,<br /> + For No and Yes within my head contend. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I could not hear what he proposed to them;<br /> + But with them there he did not linger long,<br /> + Ere each within in rivalry ran back. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They closed the portals, those our adversaries,<br /> + On my Lord’s breast, who had remained without<br /> + And turned to me with footsteps far between. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +His eyes cast down, his forehead shorn had he<br /> + Of all its boldness, and he said, with sighs,<br /> + “Who has denied to me the dolesome houses?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And unto me: “Thou, because I am angry,<br /> + Fear not, for I will conquer in the trial,<br /> + Whatever for defence within be planned. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This arrogance of theirs is nothing new;<br /> + For once they used it at less secret gate,<br /> + Which finds itself without a fastening still. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O’er it didst thou behold the dead inscription;<br /> + And now this side of it descends the steep,<br /> + Passing across the circles without escort, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +One by whose means the city shall be opened.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.IX"></a>Inferno: Canto IX</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +That hue which cowardice brought out on me,<br /> + Beholding my Conductor backward turn,<br /> + Sooner repressed within him his new colour. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He stopped attentive, like a man who listens,<br /> + Because the eye could not conduct him far<br /> + Through the black air, and through the heavy fog. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Still it behoveth us to win the fight,”<br /> + Began he; “Else. . .Such offered us herself. . .<br /> + O how I long that some one here arrive!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Well I perceived, as soon as the beginning<br /> + He covered up with what came afterward,<br /> + That they were words quite different from the first; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But none the less his saying gave me fear,<br /> + Because I carried out the broken phrase,<br /> + Perhaps to a worse meaning than he had. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Into this bottom of the doleful conch<br /> + Doth any e’er descend from the first grade,<br /> + Which for its pain has only hope cut off?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This question put I; and he answered me:<br /> + “Seldom it comes to pass that one of us<br /> + Maketh the journey upon which I go. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +True is it, once before I here below<br /> + Was conjured by that pitiless Erictho,<br /> + Who summoned back the shades unto their bodies. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Naked of me short while the flesh had been,<br /> + Before within that wall she made me enter,<br /> + To bring a spirit from the circle of Judas; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That is the lowest region and the darkest,<br /> + And farthest from the heaven which circles all.<br /> + Well know I the way; therefore be reassured. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This fen, which a prodigious stench exhales,<br /> + Encompasses about the city dolent,<br /> + Where now we cannot enter without anger.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And more he said, but not in mind I have it;<br /> + Because mine eye had altogether drawn me<br /> + Tow’rds the high tower with the red-flaming summit, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Where in a moment saw I swift uprisen<br /> + The three infernal Furies stained with blood,<br /> + Who had the limbs of women and their mien, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And with the greenest hydras were begirt;<br /> + Small serpents and cerastes were their tresses,<br /> + Wherewith their horrid temples were entwined. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he who well the handmaids of the Queen<br /> + Of everlasting lamentation knew,<br /> + Said unto me: “Behold the fierce Erinnys. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This is Megaera, on the left-hand side;<br /> + She who is weeping on the right, Alecto;<br /> + Tisiphone is between;” and then was silent. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Each one her breast was rending with her nails;<br /> + They beat them with their palms, and cried so loud,<br /> + That I for dread pressed close unto the Poet. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Medusa come, so we to stone will change him!”<br /> + All shouted looking down; “in evil hour<br /> + Avenged we not on Theseus his assault!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Turn thyself round, and keep thine eyes close shut,<br /> + For if the Gorgon appear, and thou shouldst see it,<br /> + No more returning upward would there be.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus said the Master; and he turned me round<br /> + Himself, and trusted not unto my hands<br /> + So far as not to blind me with his own. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O ye who have undistempered intellects,<br /> + Observe the doctrine that conceals itself<br /> + Beneath the veil of the mysterious verses! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And now there came across the turbid waves<br /> + The clangour of a sound with terror fraught,<br /> + Because of which both of the margins trembled; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not otherwise it was than of a wind<br /> + Impetuous on account of adverse heats,<br /> + That smites the forest, and, without restraint, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The branches rends, beats down, and bears away;<br /> + Right onward, laden with dust, it goes superb,<br /> + And puts to flight the wild beasts and the shepherds. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Mine eyes he loosed, and said: “Direct the nerve<br /> + Of vision now along that ancient foam,<br /> + There yonder where that smoke is most intense.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as the frogs before the hostile serpent<br /> + Across the water scatter all abroad,<br /> + Until each one is huddled in the earth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +More than a thousand ruined souls I saw,<br /> + Thus fleeing from before one who on foot<br /> + Was passing o’er the Styx with soles unwet. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From off his face he fanned that unctuous air,<br /> + Waving his left hand oft in front of him,<br /> + And only with that anguish seemed he weary. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Well I perceived one sent from Heaven was he,<br /> + And to the Master turned; and he made sign<br /> + That I should quiet stand, and bow before him. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah! how disdainful he appeared to me!<br /> + He reached the gate, and with a little rod<br /> + He opened it, for there was no resistance. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O banished out of Heaven, people despised!”<br /> + Thus he began upon the horrid threshold;<br /> + “Whence is this arrogance within you couched? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Wherefore recalcitrate against that will,<br /> + From which the end can never be cut off,<br /> + And which has many times increased your pain? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +What helpeth it to butt against the fates?<br /> + Your Cerberus, if you remember well,<br /> + For that still bears his chin and gullet peeled.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he returned along the miry road,<br /> + And spake no word to us, but had the look<br /> + Of one whom other care constrains and goads +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Than that of him who in his presence is;<br /> + And we our feet directed tow’rds the city,<br /> + After those holy words all confident. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Within we entered without any contest;<br /> + And I, who inclination had to see<br /> + What the condition such a fortress holds, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Soon as I was within, cast round mine eye,<br /> + And see on every hand an ample plain,<br /> + Full of distress and torment terrible. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as at Arles, where stagnant grows the Rhone,<br /> + Even as at Pola near to the Quarnaro,<br /> + That shuts in Italy and bathes its borders, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The sepulchres make all the place uneven;<br /> + So likewise did they there on every side,<br /> + Saving that there the manner was more bitter; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For flames between the sepulchres were scattered,<br /> + By which they so intensely heated were,<br /> + That iron more so asks not any art. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +All of their coverings uplifted were,<br /> + And from them issued forth such dire laments,<br /> + Sooth seemed they of the wretched and tormented. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “My Master, what are all those people<br /> + Who, having sepulture within those tombs,<br /> + Make themselves audible by doleful sighs?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Here are the Heresiarchs,<br /> + With their disciples of all sects, and much<br /> + More than thou thinkest laden are the tombs. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here like together with its like is buried;<br /> + And more and less the monuments are heated.”<br /> + And when he to the right had turned, we passed +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Between the torments and high parapets. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.X"></a>Inferno: Canto X</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now onward goes, along a narrow path<br /> + Between the torments and the city wall,<br /> + My Master, and I follow at his back. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O power supreme, that through these impious circles<br /> + Turnest me,” I began, “as pleases thee,<br /> + Speak to me, and my longings satisfy; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The people who are lying in these tombs,<br /> + Might they be seen? already are uplifted<br /> + The covers all, and no one keepeth guard.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “They all will be closed up<br /> + When from Jehoshaphat they shall return<br /> + Here with the bodies they have left above. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Their cemetery have upon this side<br /> + With Epicurus all his followers,<br /> + Who with the body mortal make the soul; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But in the question thou dost put to me,<br /> + Within here shalt thou soon be satisfied,<br /> + And likewise in the wish thou keepest silent.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “Good Leader, I but keep concealed<br /> + From thee my heart, that I may speak the less,<br /> + Nor only now hast thou thereto disposed me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O Tuscan, thou who through the city of fire<br /> + Goest alive, thus speaking modestly,<br /> + Be pleased to stay thy footsteps in this place. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thy mode of speaking makes thee manifest<br /> + A native of that noble fatherland,<br /> + To which perhaps I too molestful was.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon a sudden issued forth this sound<br /> + From out one of the tombs; wherefore I pressed,<br /> + Fearing, a little nearer to my Leader. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And unto me he said: “Turn thee; what dost thou?<br /> + Behold there Farinata who has risen;<br /> + From the waist upwards wholly shalt thou see him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I had already fixed mine eyes on his,<br /> + And he uprose erect with breast and front<br /> + E’en as if Hell he had in great despite. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And with courageous hands and prompt my Leader<br /> + Thrust me between the sepulchres towards him,<br /> + Exclaiming, “Let thy words explicit be.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As soon as I was at the foot of his tomb<br /> + Somewhat he eyed me, and, as if disdainful,<br /> + Then asked of me, “Who were thine ancestors?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I, who desirous of obeying was,<br /> + Concealed it not, but all revealed to him;<br /> + Whereat he raised his brows a little upward. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said he: “Fiercely adverse have they been<br /> + To me, and to my fathers, and my party;<br /> + So that two several times I scattered them.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If they were banished, they returned on all sides,”<br /> + I answered him, “the first time and the second;<br /> + But yours have not acquired that art aright.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then there uprose upon the sight, uncovered<br /> + Down to the chin, a shadow at his side;<br /> + I think that he had risen on his knees. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Round me he gazed, as if solicitude<br /> + He had to see if some one else were with me,<br /> + But after his suspicion was all spent, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Weeping, he said to me: “If through this blind<br /> + Prison thou goest by loftiness of genius,<br /> + Where is my son? and why is he not with thee?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “I come not of myself;<br /> + He who is waiting yonder leads me here,<br /> + Whom in disdain perhaps your Guido had.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +His language and the mode of punishment<br /> + Already unto me had read his name;<br /> + On that account my answer was so full. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Up starting suddenly, he cried out: “How<br /> + Saidst thou,—he had? Is he not still alive?<br /> + Does not the sweet light strike upon his eyes?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When he became aware of some delay,<br /> + Which I before my answer made, supine<br /> + He fell again, and forth appeared no more. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But the other, magnanimous, at whose desire<br /> + I had remained, did not his aspect change,<br /> + Neither his neck he moved, nor bent his side. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“And if,” continuing his first discourse,<br /> + “They have that art,” he said, “not learned aright,<br /> + That more tormenteth me, than doth this bed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But fifty times shall not rekindled be<br /> + The countenance of the Lady who reigns here,<br /> + Ere thou shalt know how heavy is that art; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as thou wouldst to the sweet world return,<br /> + Say why that people is so pitiless<br /> + Against my race in each one of its laws?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence I to him: “The slaughter and great carnage<br /> + Which have with crimson stained the Arbia, cause<br /> + Such orisons in our temple to be made.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After his head he with a sigh had shaken,<br /> + “There I was not alone,” he said, “nor surely<br /> + Without a cause had with the others moved. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But there I was alone, where every one<br /> + Consented to the laying waste of Florence,<br /> + He who defended her with open face.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Ah! so hereafter may your seed repose,”<br /> + I him entreated, “solve for me that knot,<br /> + Which has entangled my conceptions here. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +It seems that you can see, if I hear rightly,<br /> + Beforehand whatsoe’er time brings with it,<br /> + And in the present have another mode.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“We see, like those who have imperfect sight,<br /> + The things,” he said, “that distant are from us;<br /> + So much still shines on us the Sovereign Ruler. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When they draw near, or are, is wholly vain<br /> + Our intellect, and if none brings it to us,<br /> + Not anything know we of your human state. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Hence thou canst understand, that wholly dead<br /> + Will be our knowledge from the moment when<br /> + The portal of the future shall be closed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then I, as if compunctious for my fault,<br /> + Said: “Now, then, you will tell that fallen one,<br /> + That still his son is with the living joined. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if just now, in answering, I was dumb,<br /> + Tell him I did it because I was thinking<br /> + Already of the error you have solved me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And now my Master was recalling me,<br /> + Wherefore more eagerly I prayed the spirit<br /> + That he would tell me who was with him there. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He said: “With more than a thousand here I lie;<br /> + Within here is the second Frederick,<br /> + And the Cardinal, and of the rest I speak not.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereon he hid himself; and I towards<br /> + The ancient poet turned my steps, reflecting<br /> + Upon that saying, which seemed hostile to me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He moved along; and afterward thus going,<br /> + He said to me, “Why art thou so bewildered?”<br /> + And I in his inquiry satisfied him. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Let memory preserve what thou hast heard<br /> + Against thyself,” that Sage commanded me,<br /> + “And now attend here;” and he raised his finger. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“When thou shalt be before the radiance sweet<br /> + Of her whose beauteous eyes all things behold,<br /> + From her thou’lt know the journey of thy life.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Unto the left hand then he turned his feet;<br /> + We left the wall, and went towards the middle,<br /> + Along a path that strikes into a valley, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Which even up there unpleasant made its stench. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XI"></a>Inferno: Canto XI</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon the margin of a lofty bank<br /> + Which great rocks broken in a circle made,<br /> + We came upon a still more cruel throng; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And there, by reason of the horrible<br /> + Excess of stench the deep abyss throws out,<br /> + We drew ourselves aside behind the cover +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of a great tomb, whereon I saw a writing,<br /> + Which said: “Pope Anastasius I hold,<br /> + Whom out of the right way Photinus drew.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Slow it behoveth our descent to be,<br /> + So that the sense be first a little used<br /> + To the sad blast, and then we shall not heed it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Master thus; and unto him I said,<br /> + “Some compensation find, that the time pass not<br /> + Idly;” and he: “Thou seest I think of that. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My son, upon the inside of these rocks,”<br /> + Began he then to say, “are three small circles,<br /> + From grade to grade, like those which thou art leaving. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They all are full of spirits maledict;<br /> + But that hereafter sight alone suffice thee,<br /> + Hear how and wherefore they are in constraint. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of every malice that wins hate in Heaven,<br /> + Injury is the end; and all such end<br /> + Either by force or fraud afflicteth others. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But because fraud is man’s peculiar vice,<br /> + More it displeases God; and so stand lowest<br /> + The fraudulent, and greater dole assails them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +All the first circle of the Violent is;<br /> + But since force may be used against three persons,<br /> + In three rounds ’tis divided and constructed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To God, to ourselves, and to our neighbour can we<br /> + Use force; I say on them and on their things,<br /> + As thou shalt hear with reason manifest. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A death by violence, and painful wounds,<br /> + Are to our neighbour given; and in his substance<br /> + Ruin, and arson, and injurious levies; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence homicides, and he who smites unjustly,<br /> + Marauders, and freebooters, the first round<br /> + Tormenteth all in companies diverse. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Man may lay violent hands upon himself<br /> + And his own goods; and therefore in the second<br /> + Round must perforce without avail repent +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whoever of your world deprives himself,<br /> + Who games, and dissipates his property,<br /> + And weepeth there, where he should jocund be. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Violence can be done the Deity,<br /> + In heart denying and blaspheming Him,<br /> + And by disdaining Nature and her bounty. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And for this reason doth the smallest round<br /> + Seal with its signet Sodom and Cahors,<br /> + And who, disdaining God, speaks from the heart. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Fraud, wherewithal is every conscience stung,<br /> + A man may practise upon him who trusts,<br /> + And him who doth no confidence imburse. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This latter mode, it would appear, dissevers<br /> + Only the bond of love which Nature makes;<br /> + Wherefore within the second circle nestle +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Hypocrisy, flattery, and who deals in magic,<br /> + Falsification, theft, and simony,<br /> + Panders, and barrators, and the like filth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +By the other mode, forgotten is that love<br /> + Which Nature makes, and what is after added,<br /> + From which there is a special faith engendered. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Hence in the smallest circle, where the point is<br /> + Of the Universe, upon which Dis is seated,<br /> + Whoe’er betrays for ever is consumed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “My Master, clear enough proceeds<br /> + Thy reasoning, and full well distinguishes<br /> + This cavern and the people who possess it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But tell me, those within the fat lagoon,<br /> + Whom the wind drives, and whom the rain doth beat,<br /> + And who encounter with such bitter tongues, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Wherefore are they inside of the red city<br /> + Not punished, if God has them in his wrath,<br /> + And if he has not, wherefore in such fashion?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And unto me he said: “Why wanders so<br /> + Thine intellect from that which it is wont?<br /> + Or, sooth, thy mind where is it elsewhere looking? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Hast thou no recollection of those words<br /> + With which thine Ethics thoroughly discusses<br /> + The dispositions three, that Heaven abides not,— +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Incontinence, and Malice, and insane<br /> + Bestiality? and how Incontinence<br /> + Less God offendeth, and less blame attracts? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If thou regardest this conclusion well,<br /> + And to thy mind recallest who they are<br /> + That up outside are undergoing penance, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Clearly wilt thou perceive why from these felons<br /> + They separated are, and why less wroth<br /> + Justice divine doth smite them with its hammer.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O Sun, that healest all distempered vision,<br /> + Thou dost content me so, when thou resolvest,<br /> + That doubting pleases me no less than knowing! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Once more a little backward turn thee,” said I,<br /> + “There where thou sayest that usury offends<br /> + Goodness divine, and disengage the knot.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Philosophy,” he said, “to him who heeds it,<br /> + Noteth, not only in one place alone,<br /> + After what manner Nature takes her course +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From Intellect Divine, and from its art;<br /> + And if thy Physics carefully thou notest,<br /> + After not many pages shalt thou find, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That this your art as far as possible<br /> + Follows, as the disciple doth the master;<br /> + So that your art is, as it were, God’s grandchild. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From these two, if thou bringest to thy mind<br /> + Genesis at the beginning, it behoves<br /> + Mankind to gain their life and to advance; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And since the usurer takes another way,<br /> + Nature herself and in her follower<br /> + Disdains he, for elsewhere he puts his hope. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But follow, now, as I would fain go on,<br /> + For quivering are the Fishes on the horizon,<br /> + And the Wain wholly over Caurus lies, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And far beyond there we descend the crag.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XII"></a>Inferno: Canto XII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +The place where to descend the bank we came<br /> + Was alpine, and from what was there, moreover,<br /> + Of such a kind that every eye would shun it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such as that ruin is which in the flank<br /> + Smote, on this side of Trent, the Adige,<br /> + Either by earthquake or by failing stay, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For from the mountain’s top, from which it moved,<br /> + Unto the plain the cliff is shattered so,<br /> + Some path ’twould give to him who was above; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even such was the descent of that ravine,<br /> + And on the border of the broken chasm<br /> + The infamy of Crete was stretched along, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Who was conceived in the fictitious cow;<br /> + And when he us beheld, he bit himself,<br /> + Even as one whom anger racks within. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My Sage towards him shouted: “Peradventure<br /> + Thou think’st that here may be the Duke of Athens,<br /> + Who in the world above brought death to thee? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Get thee gone, beast, for this one cometh not<br /> + Instructed by thy sister, but he comes<br /> + In order to behold your punishments.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As is that bull who breaks loose at the moment<br /> + In which he has received the mortal blow,<br /> + Who cannot walk, but staggers here and there, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Minotaur beheld I do the like;<br /> + And he, the wary, cried: “Run to the passage;<br /> + While he wroth, ’tis well thou shouldst descend.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus down we took our way o’er that discharge<br /> + Of stones, which oftentimes did move themselves<br /> + Beneath my feet, from the unwonted burden. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thoughtful I went; and he said: “Thou art thinking<br /> + Perhaps upon this ruin, which is guarded<br /> + By that brute anger which just now I quenched. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now will I have thee know, the other time<br /> + I here descended to the nether Hell,<br /> + This precipice had not yet fallen down. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But truly, if I well discern, a little<br /> + Before His coming who the mighty spoil<br /> + Bore off from Dis, in the supernal circle, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon all sides the deep and loathsome valley<br /> + Trembled so, that I thought the Universe<br /> + Was thrilled with love, by which there are who think +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The world ofttimes converted into chaos;<br /> + And at that moment this primeval crag<br /> + Both here and elsewhere made such overthrow. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But fix thine eyes below; for draweth near<br /> + The river of blood, within which boiling is<br /> + Whoe’er by violence doth injure others.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O blind cupidity, O wrath insane,<br /> + That spurs us onward so in our short life,<br /> + And in the eternal then so badly steeps us! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw an ample moat bent like a bow,<br /> + As one which all the plain encompasses,<br /> + Conformable to what my Guide had said. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And between this and the embankment’s foot<br /> + Centaurs in file were running, armed with arrows,<br /> + As in the world they used the chase to follow. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Beholding us descend, each one stood still,<br /> + And from the squadron three detached themselves,<br /> + With bows and arrows in advance selected; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And from afar one cried: “Unto what torment<br /> + Come ye, who down the hillside are descending?<br /> + Tell us from there; if not, I draw the bow.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My Master said: “Our answer will we make<br /> + To Chiron, near you there; in evil hour,<br /> + That will of thine was evermore so hasty.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then touched he me, and said: “This one is Nessus,<br /> + Who perished for the lovely Dejanira,<br /> + And for himself, himself did vengeance take. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he in the midst, who at his breast is gazing,<br /> + Is the great Chiron, who brought up Achilles;<br /> + That other Pholus is, who was so wrathful. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thousands and thousands go about the moat<br /> + Shooting with shafts whatever soul emerges<br /> + Out of the blood, more than his crime allots.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Near we approached unto those monsters fleet;<br /> + Chiron an arrow took, and with the notch<br /> + Backward upon his jaws he put his beard. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After he had uncovered his great mouth,<br /> + He said to his companions: “Are you ware<br /> + That he behind moveth whate’er he touches? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus are not wont to do the feet of dead men.”<br /> + And my good Guide, who now was at his breast,<br /> + Where the two natures are together joined, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Replied: “Indeed he lives, and thus alone<br /> + Me it behoves to show him the dark valley;<br /> + Necessity, and not delight, impels us. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Some one withdrew from singing Halleluja,<br /> + Who unto me committed this new office;<br /> + No thief is he, nor I a thievish spirit. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But by that virtue through which I am moving<br /> + My steps along this savage thoroughfare,<br /> + Give us some one of thine, to be with us, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And who may show us where to pass the ford,<br /> + And who may carry this one on his back;<br /> + For ’tis no spirit that can walk the air.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon his right breast Chiron wheeled about,<br /> + And said to Nessus: “Turn and do thou guide them,<br /> + And warn aside, if other band may meet you.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We with our faithful escort onward moved<br /> + Along the brink of the vermilion boiling,<br /> + Wherein the boiled were uttering loud laments. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +People I saw within up to the eyebrows,<br /> + And the great Centaur said: “Tyrants are these,<br /> + Who dealt in bloodshed and in pillaging. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here they lament their pitiless mischiefs; here<br /> + Is Alexander, and fierce Dionysius<br /> + Who upon Sicily brought dolorous years. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That forehead there which has the hair so black<br /> + Is Azzolin; and the other who is blond,<br /> + Obizzo is of Esti, who, in truth, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Up in the world was by his stepson slain.”<br /> + Then turned I to the Poet; and he said,<br /> + “Now he be first to thee, and second I.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A little farther on the Centaur stopped<br /> + Above a folk, who far down as the throat<br /> + Seemed from that boiling stream to issue forth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A shade he showed us on one side alone,<br /> + Saying: “He cleft asunder in God’s bosom<br /> + The heart that still upon the Thames is honoured.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then people saw I, who from out the river<br /> + Lifted their heads and also all the chest;<br /> + And many among these I recognised. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus ever more and more grew shallower<br /> + That blood, so that the feet alone it covered;<br /> + And there across the moat our passage was. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Even as thou here upon this side beholdest<br /> + The boiling stream, that aye diminishes,”<br /> + The Centaur said, “I wish thee to believe +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That on this other more and more declines<br /> + Its bed, until it reunites itself<br /> + Where it behoveth tyranny to groan. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Justice divine, upon this side, is goading<br /> + That Attila, who was a scourge on earth,<br /> + And Pyrrhus, and Sextus; and for ever milks +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The tears which with the boiling it unseals<br /> + In Rinier da Corneto and Rinier Pazzo,<br /> + Who made upon the highways so much war.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then back he turned, and passed again the ford. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XIII"></a>Inferno: Canto XIII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not yet had Nessus reached the other side,<br /> + When we had put ourselves within a wood,<br /> + That was not marked by any path whatever. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not foliage green, but of a dusky colour,<br /> + Not branches smooth, but gnarled and intertangled,<br /> + Not apple-trees were there, but thorns with poison. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such tangled thickets have not, nor so dense,<br /> + Those savage wild beasts, that in hatred hold<br /> + ’Twixt Cecina and Corneto the tilled places. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There do the hideous Harpies make their nests,<br /> + Who chased the Trojans from the Strophades,<br /> + With sad announcement of impending doom; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Broad wings have they, and necks and faces human,<br /> + And feet with claws, and their great bellies fledged;<br /> + They make laments upon the wondrous trees. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the good Master: “Ere thou enter farther,<br /> + Know that thou art within the second round,”<br /> + Thus he began to say, “and shalt be, till +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou comest out upon the horrible sand;<br /> + Therefore look well around, and thou shalt see<br /> + Things that will credence give unto my speech.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I heard on all sides lamentations uttered,<br /> + And person none beheld I who might make them,<br /> + Whence, utterly bewildered, I stood still. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I think he thought that I perhaps might think<br /> + So many voices issued through those trunks<br /> + From people who concealed themselves from us; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore the Master said: “If thou break off<br /> + Some little spray from any of these trees,<br /> + The thoughts thou hast will wholly be made vain.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then stretched I forth my hand a little forward,<br /> + And plucked a branchlet off from a great thorn;<br /> + And the trunk cried, “Why dost thou mangle me?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After it had become embrowned with blood,<br /> + It recommenced its cry: “Why dost thou rend me?<br /> + Hast thou no spirit of pity whatsoever? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Men once we were, and now are changed to trees;<br /> + Indeed, thy hand should be more pitiful,<br /> + Even if the souls of serpents we had been.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As out of a green brand, that is on fire<br /> + At one of the ends, and from the other drips<br /> + And hisses with the wind that is escaping; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So from that splinter issued forth together<br /> + Both words and blood; whereat I let the tip<br /> + Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Had he been able sooner to believe,”<br /> + My Sage made answer, “O thou wounded soul,<br /> + What only in my verses he has seen, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not upon thee had he stretched forth his hand;<br /> + Whereas the thing incredible has caused me<br /> + To put him to an act which grieveth me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But tell him who thou wast, so that by way<br /> + Of some amends thy fame he may refresh<br /> + Up in the world, to which he can return.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the trunk said: “So thy sweet words allure me,<br /> + I cannot silent be; and you be vexed not,<br /> + That I a little to discourse am tempted. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I am the one who both keys had in keeping<br /> + Of Frederick’s heart, and turned them to and fro<br /> + So softly in unlocking and in locking, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That from his secrets most men I withheld;<br /> + Fidelity I bore the glorious office<br /> + So great, I lost thereby my sleep and pulses. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The courtesan who never from the dwelling<br /> + Of Caesar turned aside her strumpet eyes,<br /> + Death universal and the vice of courts, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Inflamed against me all the other minds,<br /> + And they, inflamed, did so inflame Augustus,<br /> + That my glad honours turned to dismal mournings. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My spirit, in disdainful exultation,<br /> + Thinking by dying to escape disdain,<br /> + Made me unjust against myself, the just. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I, by the roots unwonted of this wood,<br /> + Do swear to you that never broke I faith<br /> + Unto my lord, who was so worthy of honour; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And to the world if one of you return,<br /> + Let him my memory comfort, which is lying<br /> + Still prostrate from the blow that envy dealt it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Waited awhile, and then: “Since he is silent,”<br /> + The Poet said to me, “lose not the time,<br /> + But speak, and question him, if more may please thee.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence I to him: “Do thou again inquire<br /> + Concerning what thou thinks’t will satisfy me;<br /> + For I cannot, such pity is in my heart.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore he recommenced: “So may the man<br /> + Do for thee freely what thy speech implores,<br /> + Spirit incarcerate, again be pleased +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To tell us in what way the soul is bound<br /> + Within these knots; and tell us, if thou canst,<br /> + If any from such members e’er is freed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then blew the trunk amain, and afterward<br /> + The wind was into such a voice converted:<br /> + “With brevity shall be replied to you. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When the exasperated soul abandons<br /> + The body whence it rent itself away,<br /> + Minos consigns it to the seventh abyss. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +It falls into the forest, and no part<br /> + Is chosen for it; but where Fortune hurls it,<br /> + There like a grain of spelt it germinates. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +It springs a sapling, and a forest tree;<br /> + The Harpies, feeding then upon its leaves,<br /> + Do pain create, and for the pain an outlet. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Like others for our spoils shall we return;<br /> + But not that any one may them revest,<br /> + For ’tis not just to have what one casts off. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here we shall drag them, and along the dismal<br /> + Forest our bodies shall suspended be,<br /> + Each to the thorn of his molested shade.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We were attentive still unto the trunk,<br /> + Thinking that more it yet might wish to tell us,<br /> + When by a tumult we were overtaken, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In the same way as he is who perceives<br /> + The boar and chase approaching to his stand,<br /> + Who hears the crashing of the beasts and branches; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And two behold! upon our left-hand side,<br /> + Naked and scratched, fleeing so furiously,<br /> + That of the forest, every fan they broke. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He who was in advance: “Now help, Death, help!”<br /> + And the other one, who seemed to lag too much,<br /> + Was shouting: “Lano, were not so alert +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Those legs of thine at joustings of the Toppo!”<br /> + And then, perchance because his breath was failing,<br /> + He grouped himself together with a bush. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Behind them was the forest full of black<br /> + She-mastiffs, ravenous, and swift of foot<br /> + As greyhounds, who are issuing from the chain. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +On him who had crouched down they set their teeth,<br /> + And him they lacerated piece by piece,<br /> + Thereafter bore away those aching members. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereat my Escort took me by the hand,<br /> + And led me to the bush, that all in vain<br /> + Was weeping from its bloody lacerations. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O Jacopo,” it said, “of Sant’ Andrea,<br /> + What helped it thee of me to make a screen?<br /> + What blame have I in thy nefarious life?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When near him had the Master stayed his steps,<br /> + He said: “Who wast thou, that through wounds so many<br /> + Art blowing out with blood thy dolorous speech?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to us: “O souls, that hither come<br /> + To look upon the shameful massacre<br /> + That has so rent away from me my leaves, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Gather them up beneath the dismal bush;<br /> + I of that city was which to the Baptist<br /> + Changed its first patron, wherefore he for this +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Forever with his art will make it sad.<br /> + And were it not that on the pass of Arno<br /> + Some glimpses of him are remaining still, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Those citizens, who afterwards rebuilt it<br /> + Upon the ashes left by Attila,<br /> + In vain had caused their labour to be done. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of my own house I made myself a gibbet.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XIV"></a>Inferno: Canto XIV</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because the charity of my native place<br /> + Constrained me, gathered I the scattered leaves,<br /> + And gave them back to him, who now was hoarse. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then came we to the confine, where disparted<br /> + The second round is from the third, and where<br /> + A horrible form of Justice is beheld. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Clearly to manifest these novel things,<br /> + I say that we arrived upon a plain,<br /> + Which from its bed rejecteth every plant; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The dolorous forest is a garland to it<br /> + All round about, as the sad moat to that;<br /> + There close upon the edge we stayed our feet. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The soil was of an arid and thick sand,<br /> + Not of another fashion made than that<br /> + Which by the feet of Cato once was pressed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Vengeance of God, O how much oughtest thou<br /> + By each one to be dreaded, who doth read<br /> + That which was manifest unto mine eyes! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of naked souls beheld I many herds,<br /> + Who all were weeping very miserably,<br /> + And over them seemed set a law diverse. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Supine upon the ground some folk were lying;<br /> + And some were sitting all drawn up together,<br /> + And others went about continually. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Those who were going round were far the more,<br /> + And those were less who lay down to their torment,<br /> + But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O’er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall,<br /> + Were raining down dilated flakes of fire,<br /> + As of the snow on Alp without a wind. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As Alexander, in those torrid parts<br /> + Of India, beheld upon his host<br /> + Flames fall unbroken till they reached the ground. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence he provided with his phalanxes<br /> + To trample down the soil, because the vapour<br /> + Better extinguished was while it was single; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus was descending the eternal heat,<br /> + Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinder<br /> + Beneath the steel, for doubling of the dole. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Without repose forever was the dance<br /> + Of miserable hands, now there, now here,<br /> + Shaking away from off them the fresh gleeds. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Master,” began I, “thou who overcomest<br /> + All things except the demons dire, that issued<br /> + Against us at the entrance of the gate, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Who is that mighty one who seems to heed not<br /> + The fire, and lieth lowering and disdainful,<br /> + So that the rain seems not to ripen him?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he himself, who had become aware<br /> + That I was questioning my Guide about him,<br /> + Cried: “Such as I was living, am I, dead. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If Jove should weary out his smith, from whom<br /> + He seized in anger the sharp thunderbolt,<br /> + Wherewith upon the last day I was smitten, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if he wearied out by turns the others<br /> + In Mongibello at the swarthy forge,<br /> + Vociferating, ‘Help, good Vulcan, help!’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as he did there at the fight of Phlegra,<br /> + And shot his bolts at me with all his might,<br /> + He would not have thereby a joyous vengeance.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then did my Leader speak with such great force,<br /> + That I had never heard him speak so loud:<br /> + “O Capaneus, in that is not extinguished +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thine arrogance, thou punished art the more;<br /> + Not any torment, saving thine own rage,<br /> + Would be unto thy fury pain complete.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he turned round to me with better lip,<br /> + Saying: “One of the Seven Kings was he<br /> + Who Thebes besieged, and held, and seems to hold +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +God in disdain, and little seems to prize him;<br /> + But, as I said to him, his own despites<br /> + Are for his breast the fittest ornaments. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now follow me, and mind thou do not place<br /> + As yet thy feet upon the burning sand,<br /> + But always keep them close unto the wood.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes<br /> + Forth from the wood a little rivulet,<br /> + Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet,<br /> + The sinful women later share among them,<br /> + So downward through the sand it went its way. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The bottom of it, and both sloping banks,<br /> + Were made of stone, and the margins at the side;<br /> + Whence I perceived that there the passage was. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“In all the rest which I have shown to thee<br /> + Since we have entered in within the gate<br /> + Whose threshold unto no one is denied, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Nothing has been discovered by thine eyes<br /> + So notable as is the present river,<br /> + Which all the little flames above it quenches.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +These words were of my Leader; whence I prayed him<br /> + That he would give me largess of the food,<br /> + For which he had given me largess of desire. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“In the mid-sea there sits a wasted land,”<br /> + Said he thereafterward, “whose name is Crete,<br /> + Under whose king the world of old was chaste. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There is a mountain there, that once was glad<br /> + With waters and with leaves, which was called Ida;<br /> + Now ’tis deserted, as a thing worn out. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Rhea once chose it for the faithful cradle<br /> + Of her own son; and to conceal him better,<br /> + Whene’er he cried, she there had clamours made. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A grand old man stands in the mount erect,<br /> + Who holds his shoulders turned tow’rds Damietta,<br /> + And looks at Rome as if it were his mirror. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +His head is fashioned of refined gold,<br /> + And of pure silver are the arms and breast;<br /> + Then he is brass as far down as the fork. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From that point downward all is chosen iron,<br /> + Save that the right foot is of kiln-baked clay,<br /> + And more he stands on that than on the other. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Each part, except the gold, is by a fissure<br /> + Asunder cleft, that dripping is with tears,<br /> + Which gathered together perforate that cavern. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From rock to rock they fall into this valley;<br /> + Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon they form;<br /> + Then downward go along this narrow sluice +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Unto that point where is no more descending.<br /> + They form Cocytus; what that pool may be<br /> + Thou shalt behold, so here ’tis not narrated.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “If so the present runnel<br /> + Doth take its rise in this way from our world,<br /> + Why only on this verge appears it to us?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Thou knowest the place is round,<br /> + And notwithstanding thou hast journeyed far,<br /> + Still to the left descending to the bottom, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou hast not yet through all the circle turned.<br /> + Therefore if something new appear to us,<br /> + It should not bring amazement to thy face.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I again: “Master, where shall be found<br /> + Lethe and Phlegethon, for of one thou’rt silent,<br /> + And sayest the other of this rain is made?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“In all thy questions truly thou dost please me,”<br /> + Replied he; “but the boiling of the red<br /> + Water might well solve one of them thou makest. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou shalt see Lethe, but outside this moat,<br /> + There where the souls repair to lave themselves,<br /> + When sin repented of has been removed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said he: “It is time now to abandon<br /> + The wood; take heed that thou come after me;<br /> + A way the margins make that are not burning, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And over them all vapours are extinguished.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XV"></a>Inferno: Canto XV</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now bears us onward one of the hard margins,<br /> + And so the brooklet’s mist o’ershadows it,<br /> + From fire it saves the water and the dikes. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as the Flemings, ’twixt Cadsand and Bruges,<br /> + Fearing the flood that tow’rds them hurls itself,<br /> + Their bulwarks build to put the sea to flight; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as the Paduans along the Brenta,<br /> + To guard their villas and their villages,<br /> + Or ever Chiarentana feel the heat; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In such similitude had those been made,<br /> + Albeit not so lofty nor so thick,<br /> + Whoever he might be, the master made them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now were we from the forest so remote,<br /> + I could not have discovered where it was,<br /> + Even if backward I had turned myself, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When we a company of souls encountered,<br /> + Who came beside the dike, and every one<br /> + Gazed at us, as at evening we are wont +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To eye each other under a new moon,<br /> + And so towards us sharpened they their brows<br /> + As an old tailor at the needle’s eye. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus scrutinised by such a family,<br /> + By some one I was recognised, who seized<br /> + My garment’s hem, and cried out, “What a marvel!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I, when he stretched forth his arm to me,<br /> + On his baked aspect fastened so mine eyes,<br /> + That the scorched countenance prevented not +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +His recognition by my intellect;<br /> + And bowing down my face unto his own,<br /> + I made reply, “Are you here, Ser Brunetto?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he: “May’t not displease thee, O my son,<br /> + If a brief space with thee Brunetto Latini<br /> + Backward return and let the trail go on.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I said to him: “With all my power I ask it;<br /> + And if you wish me to sit down with you,<br /> + I will, if he please, for I go with him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O son,” he said, “whoever of this herd<br /> + A moment stops, lies then a hundred years,<br /> + Nor fans himself when smiteth him the fire. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore go on; I at thy skirts will come,<br /> + And afterward will I rejoin my band,<br /> + Which goes lamenting its eternal doom.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I did not dare to go down from the road<br /> + Level to walk with him; but my head bowed<br /> + I held as one who goeth reverently. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he began: “What fortune or what fate<br /> + Before the last day leadeth thee down here?<br /> + And who is this that showeth thee the way?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Up there above us in the life serene,”<br /> + I answered him, “I lost me in a valley,<br /> + Or ever yet my age had been completed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But yestermorn I turned my back upon it;<br /> + This one appeared to me, returning thither,<br /> + And homeward leadeth me along this road.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “If thou thy star do follow,<br /> + Thou canst not fail thee of a glorious port,<br /> + If well I judged in the life beautiful. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if I had not died so prematurely,<br /> + Seeing Heaven thus benignant unto thee,<br /> + I would have given thee comfort in the work. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But that ungrateful and malignant people,<br /> + Which of old time from Fesole descended,<br /> + And smacks still of the mountain and the granite, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Will make itself, for thy good deeds, thy foe;<br /> + And it is right; for among crabbed sorbs<br /> + It ill befits the sweet fig to bear fruit. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Old rumour in the world proclaims them blind;<br /> + A people avaricious, envious, proud;<br /> + Take heed that of their customs thou do cleanse thee. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thy fortune so much honour doth reserve thee,<br /> + One party and the other shall be hungry<br /> + For thee; but far from goat shall be the grass. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Their litter let the beasts of Fesole<br /> + Make of themselves, nor let them touch the plant,<br /> + If any still upon their dunghill rise, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In which may yet revive the consecrated<br /> + Seed of those Romans, who remained there when<br /> + The nest of such great malice it became.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If my entreaty wholly were fulfilled,”<br /> + Replied I to him, “not yet would you be<br /> + In banishment from human nature placed; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For in my mind is fixed, and touches now<br /> + My heart the dear and good paternal image<br /> + Of you, when in the world from hour to hour +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +You taught me how a man becomes eternal;<br /> + And how much I am grateful, while I live<br /> + Behoves that in my language be discerned. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +What you narrate of my career I write,<br /> + And keep it to be glossed with other text<br /> + By a Lady who can do it, if I reach her. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This much will I have manifest to you;<br /> + Provided that my conscience do not chide me,<br /> + For whatsoever Fortune I am ready. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such handsel is not new unto mine ears;<br /> + Therefore let Fortune turn her wheel around<br /> + As it may please her, and the churl his mattock.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My Master thereupon on his right cheek<br /> + Did backward turn himself, and looked at me;<br /> + Then said: “He listeneth well who noteth it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Nor speaking less on that account, I go<br /> + With Ser Brunetto, and I ask who are<br /> + His most known and most eminent companions. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “To know of some is well;<br /> + Of others it were laudable to be silent,<br /> + For short would be the time for so much speech. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Know them in sum, that all of them were clerks,<br /> + And men of letters great and of great fame,<br /> + In the world tainted with the selfsame sin. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Priscian goes yonder with that wretched crowd,<br /> + And Francis of Accorso; and thou hadst seen there<br /> + If thou hadst had a hankering for such scurf, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That one, who by the Servant of the Servants<br /> + From Arno was transferred to Bacchiglione,<br /> + Where he has left his sin-excited nerves. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +More would I say, but coming and discoursing<br /> + Can be no longer; for that I behold<br /> + New smoke uprising yonder from the sand. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A people comes with whom I may not be;<br /> + Commended unto thee be my Tesoro,<br /> + In which I still live, and no more I ask.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he turned round, and seemed to be of those<br /> + Who at Verona run for the Green Mantle<br /> + Across the plain; and seemed to be among them +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The one who wins, and not the one who loses. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XVI"></a>Inferno: Canto XVI</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now was I where was heard the reverberation<br /> + Of water falling into the next round,<br /> + Like to that humming which the beehives make, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When shadows three together started forth,<br /> + Running, from out a company that passed<br /> + Beneath the rain of the sharp martyrdom. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Towards us came they, and each one cried out:<br /> + “Stop, thou; for by thy garb to us thou seemest<br /> + To be some one of our depraved city.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah me! what wounds I saw upon their limbs,<br /> + Recent and ancient by the flames burnt in!<br /> + It pains me still but to remember it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Unto their cries my Teacher paused attentive;<br /> + He turned his face towards me, and “Now wait,”<br /> + He said; “to these we should be courteous. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if it were not for the fire that darts<br /> + The nature of this region, I should say<br /> + That haste were more becoming thee than them.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As soon as we stood still, they recommenced<br /> + The old refrain, and when they overtook us,<br /> + Formed of themselves a wheel, all three of them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As champions stripped and oiled are wont to do,<br /> + Watching for their advantage and their hold,<br /> + Before they come to blows and thrusts between them, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus, wheeling round, did every one his visage<br /> + Direct to me, so that in opposite wise<br /> + His neck and feet continual journey made. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And, “If the misery of this soft place<br /> + Bring in disdain ourselves and our entreaties,”<br /> + Began one, “and our aspect black and blistered, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Let the renown of us thy mind incline<br /> + To tell us who thou art, who thus securely<br /> + Thy living feet dost move along through Hell. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He in whose footprints thou dost see me treading,<br /> + Naked and skinless though he now may go,<br /> + Was of a greater rank than thou dost think; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He was the grandson of the good Gualdrada;<br /> + His name was Guidoguerra, and in life<br /> + Much did he with his wisdom and his sword. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The other, who close by me treads the sand,<br /> + Tegghiaio Aldobrandi is, whose fame<br /> + Above there in the world should welcome be. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I, who with them on the cross am placed,<br /> + Jacopo Rusticucci was; and truly<br /> + My savage wife, more than aught else, doth harm me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Could I have been protected from the fire,<br /> + Below I should have thrown myself among them,<br /> + And think the Teacher would have suffered it; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But as I should have burned and baked myself,<br /> + My terror overmastered my good will,<br /> + Which made me greedy of embracing them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then I began: “Sorrow and not disdain<br /> + Did your condition fix within me so,<br /> + That tardily it wholly is stripped off, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As soon as this my Lord said unto me<br /> + Words, on account of which I thought within me<br /> + That people such as you are were approaching. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I of your city am; and evermore<br /> + Your labours and your honourable names<br /> + I with affection have retraced and heard. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I leave the gall, and go for the sweet fruits<br /> + Promised to me by the veracious Leader;<br /> + But to the centre first I needs must plunge.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“So may the soul for a long while conduct<br /> + Those limbs of thine,” did he make answer then,<br /> + “And so may thy renown shine after thee, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Valour and courtesy, say if they dwell<br /> + Within our city, as they used to do,<br /> + Or if they wholly have gone out of it; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For Guglielmo Borsier, who is in torment<br /> + With us of late, and goes there with his comrades,<br /> + Doth greatly mortify us with his words.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“The new inhabitants and the sudden gains,<br /> + Pride and extravagance have in thee engendered,<br /> + Florence, so that thou weep’st thereat already!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In this wise I exclaimed with face uplifted;<br /> + And the three, taking that for my reply,<br /> + Looked at each other, as one looks at truth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If other times so little it doth cost thee,”<br /> + Replied they all, “to satisfy another,<br /> + Happy art thou, thus speaking at thy will! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore, if thou escape from these dark places,<br /> + And come to rebehold the beauteous stars,<br /> + When it shall pleasure thee to say, ‘I was,’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +See that thou speak of us unto the people.”<br /> + Then they broke up the wheel, and in their flight<br /> + It seemed as if their agile legs were wings. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not an Amen could possibly be said<br /> + So rapidly as they had disappeared;<br /> + Wherefore the Master deemed best to depart. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I followed him, and little had we gone,<br /> + Before the sound of water was so near us,<br /> + That speaking we should hardly have been heard. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as that stream which holdeth its own course<br /> + The first from Monte Veso tow’rds the East,<br /> + Upon the left-hand slope of Apennine, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Which is above called Acquacheta, ere<br /> + It down descendeth into its low bed,<br /> + And at Forli is vacant of that name, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Reverberates there above San Benedetto<br /> + From Alps, by falling at a single leap,<br /> + Where for a thousand there were room enough; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus downward from a bank precipitate,<br /> + We found resounding that dark-tinted water,<br /> + So that it soon the ear would have offended. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I had a cord around about me girt,<br /> + And therewithal I whilom had designed<br /> + To take the panther with the painted skin. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After I this had all from me unloosed,<br /> + As my Conductor had commanded me,<br /> + I reached it to him, gathered up and coiled, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whereat he turned himself to the right side,<br /> + And at a little distance from the verge,<br /> + He cast it down into that deep abyss. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“It must needs be some novelty respond,”<br /> + I said within myself, “to the new signal<br /> + The Master with his eye is following so.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah me! how very cautious men should be<br /> + With those who not alone behold the act,<br /> + But with their wisdom look into the thoughts! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He said to me: “Soon there will upward come<br /> + What I await; and what thy thought is dreaming<br /> + Must soon reveal itself unto thy sight.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Aye to that truth which has the face of falsehood,<br /> + A man should close his lips as far as may be,<br /> + Because without his fault it causes shame; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But here I cannot; and, Reader, by the notes<br /> + Of this my Comedy to thee I swear,<br /> + So may they not be void of lasting favour, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Athwart that dense and darksome atmosphere<br /> + I saw a figure swimming upward come,<br /> + Marvellous unto every steadfast heart, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as he returns who goeth down<br /> + Sometimes to clear an anchor, which has grappled<br /> + Reef, or aught else that in the sea is hidden, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Who upward stretches, and draws in his feet. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XVII"></a>Inferno: Canto XVII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Behold the monster with the pointed tail,<br /> + Who cleaves the hills, and breaketh walls and weapons,<br /> + Behold him who infecteth all the world.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus unto me my Guide began to say,<br /> + And beckoned him that he should come to shore,<br /> + Near to the confine of the trodden marble; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And that uncleanly image of deceit<br /> + Came up and thrust ashore its head and bust,<br /> + But on the border did not drag its tail. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The face was as the face of a just man,<br /> + Its semblance outwardly was so benign,<br /> + And of a serpent all the trunk beside. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Two paws it had, hairy unto the armpits;<br /> + The back, and breast, and both the sides it had<br /> + Depicted o’er with nooses and with shields. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With colours more, groundwork or broidery<br /> + Never in cloth did Tartars make nor Turks,<br /> + Nor were such tissues by Arachne laid. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As sometimes wherries lie upon the shore,<br /> + That part are in the water, part on land;<br /> + And as among the guzzling Germans there, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The beaver plants himself to wage his war;<br /> + So that vile monster lay upon the border,<br /> + Which is of stone, and shutteth in the sand. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +His tail was wholly quivering in the void,<br /> + Contorting upwards the envenomed fork,<br /> + That in the guise of scorpion armed its point. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Guide said: “Now perforce must turn aside<br /> + Our way a little, even to that beast<br /> + Malevolent, that yonder coucheth him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We therefore on the right side descended,<br /> + And made ten steps upon the outer verge,<br /> + Completely to avoid the sand and flame; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And after we are come to him, I see<br /> + A little farther off upon the sand<br /> + A people sitting near the hollow place. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said to me the Master: “So that full<br /> + Experience of this round thou bear away,<br /> + Now go and see what their condition is. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There let thy conversation be concise;<br /> + Till thou returnest I will speak with him,<br /> + That he concede to us his stalwart shoulders.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus farther still upon the outermost<br /> + Head of that seventh circle all alone<br /> + I went, where sat the melancholy folk. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Out of their eyes was gushing forth their woe;<br /> + This way, that way, they helped them with their hands<br /> + Now from the flames and now from the hot soil. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not otherwise in summer do the dogs,<br /> + Now with the foot, now with the muzzle, when<br /> + By fleas, or flies, or gadflies, they are bitten. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When I had turned mine eyes upon the faces<br /> + Of some, on whom the dolorous fire is falling,<br /> + Not one of them I knew; but I perceived +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That from the neck of each there hung a pouch,<br /> + Which certain colour had, and certain blazon;<br /> + And thereupon it seems their eyes are feeding. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as I gazing round me come among them,<br /> + Upon a yellow pouch I azure saw<br /> + That had the face and posture of a lion. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Proceeding then the current of my sight,<br /> + Another of them saw I, red as blood,<br /> + Display a goose more white than butter is. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one, who with an azure sow and gravid<br /> + Emblazoned had his little pouch of white,<br /> + Said unto me: “What dost thou in this moat? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now get thee gone; and since thou’rt still alive,<br /> + Know that a neighbour of mine, Vitaliano,<br /> + Will have his seat here on my left-hand side. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A Paduan am I with these Florentines;<br /> + Full many a time they thunder in mine ears,<br /> + Exclaiming, ‘Come the sovereign cavalier, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He who shall bring the satchel with three goats;’”<br /> + Then twisted he his mouth, and forth he thrust<br /> + His tongue, like to an ox that licks its nose. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And fearing lest my longer stay might vex<br /> + Him who had warned me not to tarry long,<br /> + Backward I turned me from those weary souls. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I found my Guide, who had already mounted<br /> + Upon the back of that wild animal,<br /> + And said to me: “Now be both strong and bold. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now we descend by stairways such as these;<br /> + Mount thou in front, for I will be midway,<br /> + So that the tail may have no power to harm thee.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such as he is who has so near the ague<br /> + Of quartan that his nails are blue already,<br /> + And trembles all, but looking at the shade; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even such became I at those proffered words;<br /> + But shame in me his menaces produced,<br /> + Which maketh servant strong before good master. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I seated me upon those monstrous shoulders;<br /> + I wished to say, and yet the voice came not<br /> + As I believed, “Take heed that thou embrace me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But he, who other times had rescued me<br /> + In other peril, soon as I had mounted,<br /> + Within his arms encircled and sustained me, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And said: “Now, Geryon, bestir thyself;<br /> + The circles large, and the descent be little;<br /> + Think of the novel burden which thou hast.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as the little vessel shoves from shore,<br /> + Backward, still backward, so he thence withdrew;<br /> + And when he wholly felt himself afloat, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There where his breast had been he turned his tail,<br /> + And that extended like an eel he moved,<br /> + And with his paws drew to himself the air. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A greater fear I do not think there was<br /> + What time abandoned Phaeton the reins,<br /> + Whereby the heavens, as still appears, were scorched; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Nor when the wretched Icarus his flanks<br /> + Felt stripped of feathers by the melting wax,<br /> + His father crying, “An ill way thou takest!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Than was my own, when I perceived myself<br /> + On all sides in the air, and saw extinguished<br /> + The sight of everything but of the monster. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Onward he goeth, swimming slowly, slowly;<br /> + Wheels and descends, but I perceive it only<br /> + By wind upon my face and from below. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I heard already on the right the whirlpool<br /> + Making a horrible crashing under us;<br /> + Whence I thrust out my head with eyes cast downward. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then was I still more fearful of the abyss;<br /> + Because I fires beheld, and heard laments,<br /> + Whereat I, trembling, all the closer cling. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw then, for before I had not seen it,<br /> + The turning and descending, by great horrors<br /> + That were approaching upon divers sides. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As falcon who has long been on the wing,<br /> + Who, without seeing either lure or bird,<br /> + Maketh the falconer say, “Ah me, thou stoopest,” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Descendeth weary, whence he started swiftly,<br /> + Thorough a hundred circles, and alights<br /> + Far from his master, sullen and disdainful; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even thus did Geryon place us on the bottom,<br /> + Close to the bases of the rough-hewn rock,<br /> + And being disencumbered of our persons, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He sped away as arrow from the string. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XVIII"></a>Inferno: Canto XVIII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +There is a place in Hell called Malebolge,<br /> + Wholly of stone and of an iron colour,<br /> + As is the circle that around it turns. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Right in the middle of the field malign<br /> + There yawns a well exceeding wide and deep,<br /> + Of which its place the structure will recount. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Round, then, is that enclosure which remains<br /> + Between the well and foot of the high, hard bank,<br /> + And has distinct in valleys ten its bottom. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As where for the protection of the walls<br /> + Many and many moats surround the castles,<br /> + The part in which they are a figure forms, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Just such an image those presented there;<br /> + And as about such strongholds from their gates<br /> + Unto the outer bank are little bridges, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So from the precipice’s base did crags<br /> + Project, which intersected dikes and moats,<br /> + Unto the well that truncates and collects them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Within this place, down shaken from the back<br /> + Of Geryon, we found us; and the Poet<br /> + Held to the left, and I moved on behind. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon my right hand I beheld new anguish,<br /> + New torments, and new wielders of the lash,<br /> + Wherewith the foremost Bolgia was replete. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Down at the bottom were the sinners naked;<br /> + This side the middle came they facing us,<br /> + Beyond it, with us, but with greater steps; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as the Romans, for the mighty host,<br /> + The year of Jubilee, upon the bridge,<br /> + Have chosen a mode to pass the people over; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For all upon one side towards the Castle<br /> + Their faces have, and go unto St. Peter’s;<br /> + On the other side they go towards the Mountain. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This side and that, along the livid stone<br /> + Beheld I horned demons with great scourges,<br /> + Who cruelly were beating them behind. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah me! how they did make them lift their legs<br /> + At the first blows! and sooth not any one<br /> + The second waited for, nor for the third. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While I was going on, mine eyes by one<br /> + Encountered were; and straight I said: “Already<br /> + With sight of this one I am not unfed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore I stayed my feet to make him out,<br /> + And with me the sweet Guide came to a stand,<br /> + And to my going somewhat back assented; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he, the scourged one, thought to hide himself,<br /> + Lowering his face, but little it availed him;<br /> + For said I: “Thou that castest down thine eyes, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If false are not the features which thou bearest,<br /> + Thou art Venedico Caccianimico;<br /> + But what doth bring thee to such pungent sauces?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Unwillingly I tell it;<br /> + But forces me thine utterance distinct,<br /> + Which makes me recollect the ancient world. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I was the one who the fair Ghisola<br /> + Induced to grant the wishes of the Marquis,<br /> + Howe’er the shameless story may be told. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not the sole Bolognese am I who weeps here;<br /> + Nay, rather is this place so full of them,<br /> + That not so many tongues to-day are taught +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +’Twixt Reno and Savena to say ‘sipa;’<br /> + And if thereof thou wishest pledge or proof,<br /> + Bring to thy mind our avaricious heart.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While speaking in this manner, with his scourge<br /> + A demon smote him, and said: “Get thee gone<br /> + Pander, there are no women here for coin.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I joined myself again unto mine Escort;<br /> + Thereafterward with footsteps few we came<br /> + To where a crag projected from the bank. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This very easily did we ascend,<br /> + And turning to the right along its ridge,<br /> + From those eternal circles we departed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When we were there, where it is hollowed out<br /> + Beneath, to give a passage to the scourged,<br /> + The Guide said: “Wait, and see that on thee strike +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The vision of those others evil-born,<br /> + Of whom thou hast not yet beheld the faces,<br /> + Because together with us they have gone.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From the old bridge we looked upon the train<br /> + Which tow’rds us came upon the other border,<br /> + And which the scourges in like manner smite. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the good Master, without my inquiring,<br /> + Said to me: “See that tall one who is coming,<br /> + And for his pain seems not to shed a tear; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Still what a royal aspect he retains!<br /> + That Jason is, who by his heart and cunning<br /> + The Colchians of the Ram made destitute. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He by the isle of Lemnos passed along<br /> + After the daring women pitiless<br /> + Had unto death devoted all their males. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There with his tokens and with ornate words<br /> + Did he deceive Hypsipyle, the maiden<br /> + Who first, herself, had all the rest deceived. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There did he leave her pregnant and forlorn;<br /> + Such sin unto such punishment condemns him,<br /> + And also for Medea is vengeance done. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With him go those who in such wise deceive;<br /> + And this sufficient be of the first valley<br /> + To know, and those that in its jaws it holds.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We were already where the narrow path<br /> + Crosses athwart the second dike, and forms<br /> + Of that a buttress for another arch. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thence we heard people, who are making moan<br /> + In the next Bolgia, snorting with their muzzles,<br /> + And with their palms beating upon themselves +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The margins were incrusted with a mould<br /> + By exhalation from below, that sticks there,<br /> + And with the eyes and nostrils wages war. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The bottom is so deep, no place suffices<br /> + To give us sight of it, without ascending<br /> + The arch’s back, where most the crag impends. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thither we came, and thence down in the moat<br /> + I saw a people smothered in a filth<br /> + That out of human privies seemed to flow; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And whilst below there with mine eye I search,<br /> + I saw one with his head so foul with ordure,<br /> + It was not clear if he were clerk or layman. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He screamed to me: “Wherefore art thou so eager<br /> + To look at me more than the other foul ones?”<br /> + And I to him: “Because, if I remember, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I have already seen thee with dry hair,<br /> + And thou’rt Alessio Interminei of Lucca;<br /> + Therefore I eye thee more than all the others.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he thereon, belabouring his pumpkin:<br /> + “The flatteries have submerged me here below,<br /> + Wherewith my tongue was never surfeited.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said to me the Guide: “See that thou thrust<br /> + Thy visage somewhat farther in advance,<br /> + That with thine eyes thou well the face attain +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of that uncleanly and dishevelled drab,<br /> + Who there doth scratch herself with filthy nails,<br /> + And crouches now, and now on foot is standing. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thais the harlot is it, who replied<br /> + Unto her paramour, when he said, ‘Have I<br /> + Great gratitude from thee?’—‘Nay, marvellous;’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And herewith let our sight be satisfied.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XIX"></a>Inferno: Canto XIX</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +O Simon Magus, O forlorn disciples,<br /> + Ye who the things of God, which ought to be<br /> + The brides of holiness, rapaciously +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For silver and for gold do prostitute,<br /> + Now it behoves for you the trumpet sound,<br /> + Because in this third Bolgia ye abide. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We had already on the following tomb<br /> + Ascended to that portion of the crag<br /> + Which o’er the middle of the moat hangs plumb. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Wisdom supreme, O how great art thou showest<br /> + In heaven, in earth, and in the evil world,<br /> + And with what justice doth thy power distribute! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw upon the sides and on the bottom<br /> + The livid stone with perforations filled,<br /> + All of one size, and every one was round. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To me less ample seemed they not, nor greater<br /> + Than those that in my beautiful Saint John<br /> + Are fashioned for the place of the baptisers, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one of which, not many years ago,<br /> + I broke for some one, who was drowning in it;<br /> + Be this a seal all men to undeceive. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Out of the mouth of each one there protruded<br /> + The feet of a transgressor, and the legs<br /> + Up to the calf, the rest within remained. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In all of them the soles were both on fire;<br /> + Wherefore the joints so violently quivered,<br /> + They would have snapped asunder withes and bands. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as the flame of unctuous things is wont<br /> + To move upon the outer surface only,<br /> + So likewise was it there from heel to point. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Master, who is that one who writhes himself,<br /> + More than his other comrades quivering,”<br /> + I said, “and whom a redder flame is sucking?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “If thou wilt have me bear thee<br /> + Down there along that bank which lowest lies,<br /> + From him thou’lt know his errors and himself.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “What pleases thee, to me is pleasing;<br /> + Thou art my Lord, and knowest that I depart not<br /> + From thy desire, and knowest what is not spoken.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Straightway upon the fourth dike we arrived;<br /> + We turned, and on the left-hand side descended<br /> + Down to the bottom full of holes and narrow. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the good Master yet from off his haunch<br /> + Deposed me not, till to the hole he brought me<br /> + Of him who so lamented with his shanks. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Whoe’er thou art, that standest upside down,<br /> + O doleful soul, implanted like a stake,”<br /> + To say began I, “if thou canst, speak out.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I stood even as the friar who is confessing<br /> + The false assassin, who, when he is fixed,<br /> + Recalls him, so that death may be delayed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he cried out: “Dost thou stand there already,<br /> + Dost thou stand there already, Boniface?<br /> + By many years the record lied to me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Art thou so early satiate with that wealth,<br /> + For which thou didst not fear to take by fraud<br /> + The beautiful Lady, and then work her woe?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such I became, as people are who stand,<br /> + Not comprehending what is answered them,<br /> + As if bemocked, and know not how to answer. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said Virgilius: “Say to him straightway,<br /> + ‘I am not he, I am not he thou thinkest.’”<br /> + And I replied as was imposed on me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whereat the spirit writhed with both his feet,<br /> + Then, sighing, with a voice of lamentation<br /> + Said to me: “Then what wantest thou of me? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If who I am thou carest so much to know,<br /> + That thou on that account hast crossed the bank,<br /> + Know that I vested was with the great mantle; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And truly was I son of the She-bear,<br /> + So eager to advance the cubs, that wealth<br /> + Above, and here myself, I pocketed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Beneath my head the others are dragged down<br /> + Who have preceded me in simony,<br /> + Flattened along the fissure of the rock. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Below there I shall likewise fall, whenever<br /> + That one shall come who I believed thou wast,<br /> + What time the sudden question I proposed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But longer I my feet already toast,<br /> + And here have been in this way upside down,<br /> + Than he will planted stay with reddened feet; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For after him shall come of fouler deed<br /> + From tow’rds the west a Pastor without law,<br /> + Such as befits to cover him and me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +New Jason will he be, of whom we read<br /> + In Maccabees; and as his king was pliant,<br /> + So he who governs France shall be to this one.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I do not know if I were here too bold,<br /> + That him I answered only in this metre:<br /> + “I pray thee tell me now how great a treasure +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Our Lord demanded of Saint Peter first,<br /> + Before he put the keys into his keeping?<br /> + Truly he nothing asked but ‘Follow me.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Nor Peter nor the rest asked of Matthias<br /> + Silver or gold, when he by lot was chosen<br /> + Unto the place the guilty soul had lost. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore stay here, for thou art justly punished,<br /> + And keep safe guard o’er the ill-gotten money,<br /> + Which caused thee to be valiant against Charles. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And were it not that still forbids it me<br /> + The reverence for the keys superlative<br /> + Thou hadst in keeping in the gladsome life, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I would make use of words more grievous still;<br /> + Because your avarice afflicts the world,<br /> + Trampling the good and lifting the depraved. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Evangelist you Pastors had in mind,<br /> + When she who sitteth upon many waters<br /> + To fornicate with kings by him was seen; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The same who with the seven heads was born,<br /> + And power and strength from the ten horns received,<br /> + So long as virtue to her spouse was pleasing. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ye have made yourselves a god of gold and silver;<br /> + And from the idolater how differ ye,<br /> + Save that he one, and ye a hundred worship? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah, Constantine! of how much ill was mother,<br /> + Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower<br /> + Which the first wealthy Father took from thee!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And while I sang to him such notes as these,<br /> + Either that anger or that conscience stung him,<br /> + He struggled violently with both his feet. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I think in sooth that it my Leader pleased,<br /> + With such contented lip he listened ever<br /> + Unto the sound of the true words expressed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore with both his arms he took me up,<br /> + And when he had me all upon his breast,<br /> + Remounted by the way where he descended. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Nor did he tire to have me clasped to him;<br /> + But bore me to the summit of the arch<br /> + Which from the fourth dike to the fifth is passage. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There tenderly he laid his burden down,<br /> + Tenderly on the crag uneven and steep,<br /> + That would have been hard passage for the goats: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thence was unveiled to me another valley. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XX"></a>Inferno: Canto XX</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of a new pain behoves me to make verses<br /> + And give material to the twentieth canto<br /> + Of the first song, which is of the submerged. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I was already thoroughly disposed<br /> + To peer down into the uncovered depth,<br /> + Which bathed itself with tears of agony; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And people saw I through the circular valley,<br /> + Silent and weeping, coming at the pace<br /> + Which in this world the Litanies assume. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As lower down my sight descended on them,<br /> + Wondrously each one seemed to be distorted<br /> + From chin to the beginning of the chest; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For tow’rds the reins the countenance was turned,<br /> + And backward it behoved them to advance,<br /> + As to look forward had been taken from them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Perchance indeed by violence of palsy<br /> + Some one has been thus wholly turned awry;<br /> + But I ne’er saw it, nor believe it can be. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As God may let thee, Reader, gather fruit<br /> + From this thy reading, think now for thyself<br /> + How I could ever keep my face unmoistened, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When our own image near me I beheld<br /> + Distorted so, the weeping of the eyes<br /> + Along the fissure bathed the hinder parts. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Truly I wept, leaning upon a peak<br /> + Of the hard crag, so that my Escort said<br /> + To me: “Art thou, too, of the other fools? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here pity lives when it is wholly dead;<br /> + Who is a greater reprobate than he<br /> + Who feels compassion at the doom divine? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Lift up, lift up thy head, and see for whom<br /> + Opened the earth before the Thebans’ eyes;<br /> + Wherefore they all cried: ‘Whither rushest thou, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Amphiaraus? Why dost leave the war?’<br /> + And downward ceased he not to fall amain<br /> + As far as Minos, who lays hold on all. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +See, he has made a bosom of his shoulders!<br /> + Because he wished to see too far before him<br /> + Behind he looks, and backward goes his way: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Behold Tiresias, who his semblance changed,<br /> + When from a male a female he became,<br /> + His members being all of them transformed; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And afterwards was forced to strike once more<br /> + The two entangled serpents with his rod,<br /> + Ere he could have again his manly plumes. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That Aruns is, who backs the other’s belly,<br /> + Who in the hills of Luni, there where grubs<br /> + The Carrarese who houses underneath, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Among the marbles white a cavern had<br /> + For his abode; whence to behold the stars<br /> + And sea, the view was not cut off from him. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And she there, who is covering up her breasts,<br /> + Which thou beholdest not, with loosened tresses,<br /> + And on that side has all the hairy skin, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Was Manto, who made quest through many lands,<br /> + Afterwards tarried there where I was born;<br /> + Whereof I would thou list to me a little. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After her father had from life departed,<br /> + And the city of Bacchus had become enslaved,<br /> + She a long season wandered through the world. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Above in beauteous Italy lies a lake<br /> + At the Alp’s foot that shuts in Germany<br /> + Over Tyrol, and has the name Benaco. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +By a thousand springs, I think, and more, is bathed,<br /> + ’Twixt Garda and Val Camonica, Pennino,<br /> + With water that grows stagnant in that lake. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Midway a place is where the Trentine Pastor,<br /> + And he of Brescia, and the Veronese<br /> + Might give his blessing, if he passed that way. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Sitteth Peschiera, fortress fair and strong,<br /> + To front the Brescians and the Bergamasks,<br /> + Where round about the bank descendeth lowest. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There of necessity must fall whatever<br /> + In bosom of Benaco cannot stay,<br /> + And grows a river down through verdant pastures. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Soon as the water doth begin to run,<br /> + No more Benaco is it called, but Mincio,<br /> + Far as Governo, where it falls in Po. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not far it runs before it finds a plain<br /> + In which it spreads itself, and makes it marshy,<br /> + And oft ’tis wont in summer to be sickly. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Passing that way the virgin pitiless<br /> + Land in the middle of the fen descried,<br /> + Untilled and naked of inhabitants; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There to escape all human intercourse,<br /> + She with her servants stayed, her arts to practise<br /> + And lived, and left her empty body there. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The men, thereafter, who were scattered round,<br /> + Collected in that place, which was made strong<br /> + By the lagoon it had on every side; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They built their city over those dead bones,<br /> + And, after her who first the place selected,<br /> + Mantua named it, without other omen. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Its people once within more crowded were,<br /> + Ere the stupidity of Casalodi<br /> + From Pinamonte had received deceit. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore I caution thee, if e’er thou hearest<br /> + Originate my city otherwise,<br /> + No falsehood may the verity defraud.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “My Master, thy discourses are<br /> + To me so certain, and so take my faith,<br /> + That unto me the rest would be spent coals. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But tell me of the people who are passing,<br /> + If any one note-worthy thou beholdest,<br /> + For only unto that my mind reverts.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said he to me: “He who from the cheek<br /> + Thrusts out his beard upon his swarthy shoulders<br /> + Was, at the time when Greece was void of males, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So that there scarce remained one in the cradle,<br /> + An augur, and with Calchas gave the moment,<br /> + In Aulis, when to sever the first cable. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Eryphylus his name was, and so sings<br /> + My lofty Tragedy in some part or other;<br /> + That knowest thou well, who knowest the whole of it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The next, who is so slender in the flanks,<br /> + Was Michael Scott, who of a verity<br /> + Of magical illusions knew the game. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Behold Guido Bonatti, behold Asdente,<br /> + Who now unto his leather and his thread<br /> + Would fain have stuck, but he too late repents. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Behold the wretched ones, who left the needle,<br /> + The spool and rock, and made them fortune-tellers;<br /> + They wrought their magic spells with herb and image. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But come now, for already holds the confines<br /> + Of both the hemispheres, and under Seville<br /> + Touches the ocean-wave, Cain and the thorns, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And yesternight the moon was round already;<br /> + Thou shouldst remember well it did not harm thee<br /> + From time to time within the forest deep.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus spake he to me, and we walked the while. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXI"></a>Inferno: Canto XXI</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +From bridge to bridge thus, speaking other things<br /> + Of which my Comedy cares not to sing,<br /> + We came along, and held the summit, when +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We halted to behold another fissure<br /> + Of Malebolge and other vain laments;<br /> + And I beheld it marvellously dark. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As in the Arsenal of the Venetians<br /> + Boils in the winter the tenacious pitch<br /> + To smear their unsound vessels o’er again, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For sail they cannot; and instead thereof<br /> + One makes his vessel new, and one recaulks<br /> + The ribs of that which many a voyage has made; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +One hammers at the prow, one at the stern,<br /> + This one makes oars, and that one cordage twists,<br /> + Another mends the mainsail and the mizzen; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus, not by fire, but by the art divine,<br /> + Was boiling down below there a dense pitch<br /> + Which upon every side the bank belimed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw it, but I did not see within it<br /> + Aught but the bubbles that the boiling raised,<br /> + And all swell up and resubside compressed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The while below there fixedly I gazed,<br /> + My Leader, crying out: “Beware, beware!”<br /> + Drew me unto himself from where I stood. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then I turned round, as one who is impatient<br /> + To see what it behoves him to escape,<br /> + And whom a sudden terror doth unman, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Who, while he looks, delays not his departure;<br /> + And I beheld behind us a black devil,<br /> + Running along upon the crag, approach. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah, how ferocious was he in his aspect!<br /> + And how he seemed to me in action ruthless,<br /> + With open wings and light upon his feet! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +His shoulders, which sharp-pointed were and high,<br /> + A sinner did encumber with both haunches,<br /> + And he held clutched the sinews of the feet. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From off our bridge, he said: “O Malebranche,<br /> + Behold one of the elders of Saint Zita;<br /> + Plunge him beneath, for I return for others +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Unto that town, which is well furnished with them.<br /> + All there are barrators, except Bonturo;<br /> + No into Yes for money there is changed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He hurled him down, and over the hard crag<br /> + Turned round, and never was a mastiff loosened<br /> + In so much hurry to pursue a thief. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The other sank, and rose again face downward;<br /> + But the demons, under cover of the bridge,<br /> + Cried: “Here the Santo Volto has no place! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here swims one otherwise than in the Serchio;<br /> + Therefore, if for our gaffs thou wishest not,<br /> + Do not uplift thyself above the pitch.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They seized him then with more than a hundred rakes;<br /> + They said: “It here behoves thee to dance covered,<br /> + That, if thou canst, thou secretly mayest pilfer.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not otherwise the cooks their scullions make<br /> + Immerse into the middle of the caldron<br /> + The meat with hooks, so that it may not float. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Said the good Master to me: “That it be not<br /> + Apparent thou art here, crouch thyself down<br /> + Behind a jag, that thou mayest have some screen; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And for no outrage that is done to me<br /> + Be thou afraid, because these things I know,<br /> + For once before was I in such a scuffle.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he passed on beyond the bridge’s head,<br /> + And as upon the sixth bank he arrived,<br /> + Need was for him to have a steadfast front. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With the same fury, and the same uproar,<br /> + As dogs leap out upon a mendicant,<br /> + Who on a sudden begs, where’er he stops, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They issued from beneath the little bridge,<br /> + And turned against him all their grappling-irons;<br /> + But he cried out: “Be none of you malignant! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Before those hooks of yours lay hold of me,<br /> + Let one of you step forward, who may hear me,<br /> + And then take counsel as to grappling me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They all cried out: “Let Malacoda go;”<br /> + Whereat one started, and the rest stood still,<br /> + And he came to him, saying: “What avails it?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Thinkest thou, Malacoda, to behold me<br /> + Advanced into this place,” my Master said,<br /> + “Safe hitherto from all your skill of fence, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Without the will divine, and fate auspicious?<br /> + Let me go on, for it in Heaven is willed<br /> + That I another show this savage road.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then was his arrogance so humbled in him,<br /> + That he let fall his grapnel at his feet,<br /> + And to the others said: “Now strike him not.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And unto me my Guide: “O thou, who sittest<br /> + Among the splinters of the bridge crouched down,<br /> + Securely now return to me again.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Wherefore I started and came swiftly to him;<br /> + And all the devils forward thrust themselves,<br /> + So that I feared they would not keep their compact. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And thus beheld I once afraid the soldiers<br /> + Who issued under safeguard from Caprona,<br /> + Seeing themselves among so many foes. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Close did I press myself with all my person<br /> + Beside my Leader, and turned not mine eyes<br /> + From off their countenance, which was not good. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They lowered their rakes, and “Wilt thou have me hit him,”<br /> + They said to one another, “on the rump?”<br /> + And answered: “Yes; see that thou nick him with it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But the same demon who was holding parley<br /> + With my Conductor turned him very quickly,<br /> + And said: “Be quiet, be quiet, Scarmiglione;” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said to us: “You can no farther go<br /> + Forward upon this crag, because is lying<br /> + All shattered, at the bottom, the sixth arch. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if it still doth please you to go onward,<br /> + Pursue your way along upon this rock;<br /> + Near is another crag that yields a path. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Yesterday, five hours later than this hour,<br /> + One thousand and two hundred sixty-six<br /> + Years were complete, that here the way was broken. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I send in that direction some of mine<br /> + To see if any one doth air himself;<br /> + Go ye with them; for they will not be vicious. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Step forward, Alichino and Calcabrina,”<br /> + Began he to cry out, “and thou, Cagnazzo;<br /> + And Barbariccia, do thou guide the ten. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Come forward, Libicocco and Draghignazzo,<br /> + And tusked Ciriatto and Graffiacane,<br /> + And Farfarello and mad Rubicante; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Search ye all round about the boiling pitch;<br /> + Let these be safe as far as the next crag,<br /> + That all unbroken passes o’er the dens.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O me! what is it, Master, that I see?<br /> + Pray let us go,” I said, “without an escort,<br /> + If thou knowest how, since for myself I ask none. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If thou art as observant as thy wont is,<br /> + Dost thou not see that they do gnash their teeth,<br /> + And with their brows are threatening woe to us?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “I will not have thee fear;<br /> + Let them gnash on, according to their fancy,<br /> + Because they do it for those boiling wretches.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Along the left-hand dike they wheeled about;<br /> + But first had each one thrust his tongue between<br /> + His teeth towards their leader for a signal; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he had made a trumpet of his rump. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXII"></a>Inferno: Canto XXII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +I have erewhile seen horsemen moving camp,<br /> + Begin the storming, and their muster make,<br /> + And sometimes starting off for their escape; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Vaunt-couriers have I seen upon your land,<br /> + O Aretines, and foragers go forth,<br /> + Tournaments stricken, and the joustings run, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Sometimes with trumpets and sometimes with bells,<br /> + With kettle-drums, and signals of the castles,<br /> + And with our own, and with outlandish things, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But never yet with bagpipe so uncouth<br /> + Did I see horsemen move, nor infantry,<br /> + Nor ship by any sign of land or star. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We went upon our way with the ten demons;<br /> + Ah, savage company! but in the church<br /> + With saints, and in the tavern with the gluttons! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ever upon the pitch was my intent,<br /> + To see the whole condition of that Bolgia,<br /> + And of the people who therein were burned. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as the dolphins, when they make a sign<br /> + To mariners by arching of the back,<br /> + That they should counsel take to save their vessel, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus sometimes, to alleviate his pain,<br /> + One of the sinners would display his back,<br /> + And in less time conceal it than it lightens. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As on the brink of water in a ditch<br /> + The frogs stand only with their muzzles out,<br /> + So that they hide their feet and other bulk, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So upon every side the sinners stood;<br /> + But ever as Barbariccia near them came,<br /> + Thus underneath the boiling they withdrew. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw, and still my heart doth shudder at it,<br /> + One waiting thus, even as it comes to pass<br /> + One frog remains, and down another dives; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And Graffiacan, who most confronted him,<br /> + Grappled him by his tresses smeared with pitch,<br /> + And drew him up, so that he seemed an otter. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I knew, before, the names of all of them,<br /> + So had I noted them when they were chosen,<br /> + And when they called each other, listened how. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O Rubicante, see that thou do lay<br /> + Thy claws upon him, so that thou mayst flay him,”<br /> + Cried all together the accursed ones. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “My Master, see to it, if thou canst,<br /> + That thou mayst know who is the luckless wight,<br /> + Thus come into his adversaries’ hands.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Near to the side of him my Leader drew,<br /> + Asked of him whence he was; and he replied:<br /> + “I in the kingdom of Navarre was born; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My mother placed me servant to a lord,<br /> + For she had borne me to a ribald knave,<br /> + Destroyer of himself and of his things. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then I domestic was of good King Thibault;<br /> + I set me there to practise barratry,<br /> + For which I pay the reckoning in this heat.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And Ciriatto, from whose mouth projected,<br /> + On either side, a tusk, as in a boar,<br /> + Caused him to feel how one of them could rip. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Among malicious cats the mouse had come;<br /> + But Barbariccia clasped him in his arms,<br /> + And said: “Stand ye aside, while I enfork him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And to my Master he turned round his head;<br /> + “Ask him again,” he said, “if more thou wish<br /> + To know from him, before some one destroy him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Guide: “Now tell then of the other culprits;<br /> + Knowest thou any one who is a Latian,<br /> + Under the pitch?” And he: “I separated +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Lately from one who was a neighbour to it;<br /> + Would that I still were covered up with him,<br /> + For I should fear not either claw nor hook!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And Libicocco: “We have borne too much;”<br /> + And with his grapnel seized him by the arm,<br /> + So that, by rending, he tore off a tendon. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Eke Draghignazzo wished to pounce upon him<br /> + Down at the legs; whence their Decurion<br /> + Turned round and round about with evil look. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When they again somewhat were pacified,<br /> + Of him, who still was looking at his wound,<br /> + Demanded my Conductor without stay: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Who was that one, from whom a luckless parting<br /> + Thou sayest thou hast made, to come ashore?”<br /> + And he replied: “It was the Friar Gomita, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He of Gallura, vessel of all fraud,<br /> + Who had the enemies of his Lord in hand,<br /> + And dealt so with them each exults thereat; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Money he took, and let them smoothly off,<br /> + As he says; and in other offices<br /> + A barrator was he, not mean but sovereign. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Foregathers with him one Don Michael Zanche<br /> + Of Logodoro; and of Sardinia<br /> + To gossip never do their tongues feel tired. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O me! see that one, how he grinds his teeth;<br /> + Still farther would I speak, but am afraid<br /> + Lest he to scratch my itch be making ready.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the grand Provost, turned to Farfarello,<br /> + Who rolled his eyes about as if to strike,<br /> + Said: “Stand aside there, thou malicious bird.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If you desire either to see or hear,”<br /> + The terror-stricken recommenced thereon,<br /> + “Tuscans or Lombards, I will make them come. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But let the Malebranche cease a little,<br /> + So that these may not their revenges fear,<br /> + And I, down sitting in this very place, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For one that I am will make seven come,<br /> + When I shall whistle, as our custom is<br /> + To do whenever one of us comes out.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Cagnazzo at these words his muzzle lifted,<br /> + Shaking his head, and said: “Just hear the trick<br /> + Which he has thought of, down to throw himself!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence he, who snares in great abundance had,<br /> + Responded: “I by far too cunning am,<br /> + When I procure for mine a greater sadness.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Alichin held not in, but running counter<br /> + Unto the rest, said to him: “If thou dive,<br /> + I will not follow thee upon the gallop, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But I will beat my wings above the pitch;<br /> + The height be left, and be the bank a shield<br /> + To see if thou alone dost countervail us.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O thou who readest, thou shalt hear new sport!<br /> + Each to the other side his eyes averted;<br /> + He first, who most reluctant was to do it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Navarrese selected well his time;<br /> + Planted his feet on land, and in a moment<br /> + Leaped, and released himself from their design. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whereat each one was suddenly stung with shame,<br /> + But he most who was cause of the defeat;<br /> + Therefore he moved, and cried: “Thou art o’ertakern.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But little it availed, for wings could not<br /> + Outstrip the fear; the other one went under,<br /> + And, flying, upward he his breast directed; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not otherwise the duck upon a sudden<br /> + Dives under, when the falcon is approaching,<br /> + And upward he returneth cross and weary. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Infuriate at the mockery, Calcabrina<br /> + Flying behind him followed close, desirous<br /> + The other should escape, to have a quarrel. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And when the barrator had disappeared,<br /> + He turned his talons upon his companion,<br /> + And grappled with him right above the moat. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But sooth the other was a doughty sparhawk<br /> + To clapperclaw him well; and both of them<br /> + Fell in the middle of the boiling pond. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A sudden intercessor was the heat;<br /> + But ne’ertheless of rising there was naught,<br /> + To such degree they had their wings belimed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Lamenting with the others, Barbariccia<br /> + Made four of them fly to the other side<br /> + With all their gaffs, and very speedily +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This side and that they to their posts descended;<br /> + They stretched their hooks towards the pitch-ensnared,<br /> + Who were already baked within the crust, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And in this manner busied did we leave them. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXIII"></a>Inferno: Canto XXIII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Silent, alone, and without company<br /> + We went, the one in front, the other after,<br /> + As go the Minor Friars along their way. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon the fable of Aesop was directed<br /> + My thought, by reason of the present quarrel,<br /> + Where he has spoken of the frog and mouse; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For ‘mo’ and ‘issa’ are not more alike<br /> + Than this one is to that, if well we couple<br /> + End and beginning with a steadfast mind. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And even as one thought from another springs,<br /> + So afterward from that was born another,<br /> + Which the first fear within me double made. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus did I ponder: “These on our account<br /> + Are laughed to scorn, with injury and scoff<br /> + So great, that much I think it must annoy them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If anger be engrafted on ill-will,<br /> + They will come after us more merciless<br /> + Than dog upon the leveret which he seizes,” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I felt my hair stand all on end already<br /> + With terror, and stood backwardly intent,<br /> + When said I: “Master, if thou hidest not +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thyself and me forthwith, of Malebranche<br /> + I am in dread; we have them now behind us;<br /> + I so imagine them, I already feel them.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he: “If I were made of leaded glass,<br /> + Thine outward image I should not attract<br /> + Sooner to me than I imprint the inner. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Just now thy thoughts came in among my own,<br /> + With similar attitude and similar face,<br /> + So that of both one counsel sole I made. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If peradventure the right bank so slope<br /> + That we to the next Bolgia can descend,<br /> + We shall escape from the imagined chase.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not yet he finished rendering such opinion,<br /> + When I beheld them come with outstretched wings,<br /> + Not far remote, with will to seize upon us. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My Leader on a sudden seized me up,<br /> + Even as a mother who by noise is wakened,<br /> + And close beside her sees the enkindled flames, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Who takes her son, and flies, and does not stop,<br /> + Having more care of him than of herself,<br /> + So that she clothes her only with a shift; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And downward from the top of the hard bank<br /> + Supine he gave him to the pendent rock,<br /> + That one side of the other Bolgia walls. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ne’er ran so swiftly water through a sluice<br /> + To turn the wheel of any land-built mill,<br /> + When nearest to the paddles it approaches, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As did my Master down along that border,<br /> + Bearing me with him on his breast away,<br /> + As his own son, and not as a companion. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Hardly the bed of the ravine below<br /> + His feet had reached, ere they had reached the hill<br /> + Right over us; but he was not afraid; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For the high Providence, which had ordained<br /> + To place them ministers of the fifth moat,<br /> + The power of thence departing took from all. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A painted people there below we found,<br /> + Who went about with footsteps very slow,<br /> + Weeping and in their semblance tired and vanquished. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They had on mantles with the hoods low down<br /> + Before their eyes, and fashioned of the cut<br /> + That in Cologne they for the monks are made. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Without, they gilded are so that it dazzles;<br /> + But inwardly all leaden and so heavy<br /> + That Frederick used to put them on of straw. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O everlastingly fatiguing mantle!<br /> + Again we turned us, still to the left hand<br /> + Along with them, intent on their sad plaint; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But owing to the weight, that weary folk<br /> + Came on so tardily, that we were new<br /> + In company at each motion of the haunch. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence I unto my Leader: “See thou find<br /> + Some one who may by deed or name be known,<br /> + And thus in going move thine eye about.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one, who understood the Tuscan speech,<br /> + Cried to us from behind: “Stay ye your feet,<br /> + Ye, who so run athwart the dusky air! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Perhaps thou’lt have from me what thou demandest.”<br /> + Whereat the Leader turned him, and said: “Wait,<br /> + And then according to his pace proceed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I stopped, and two beheld I show great haste<br /> + Of spirit, in their faces, to be with me;<br /> + But the burden and the narrow way delayed them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When they came up, long with an eye askance<br /> + They scanned me without uttering a word.<br /> + Then to each other turned, and said together: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“He by the action of his throat seems living;<br /> + And if they dead are, by what privilege<br /> + Go they uncovered by the heavy stole?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said to me: “Tuscan, who to the college<br /> + Of miserable hypocrites art come,<br /> + Do not disdain to tell us who thou art.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to them: “Born was I, and grew up<br /> + In the great town on the fair river of Arno,<br /> + And with the body am I’ve always had. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But who are ye, in whom there trickles down<br /> + Along your cheeks such grief as I behold?<br /> + And what pain is upon you, that so sparkles?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one replied to me: “These orange cloaks<br /> + Are made of lead so heavy, that the weights<br /> + Cause in this way their balances to creak. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Frati Gaudenti were we, and Bolognese;<br /> + I Catalano, and he Loderingo<br /> + Named, and together taken by thy city, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As the wont is to take one man alone,<br /> + For maintenance of its peace; and we were such<br /> + That still it is apparent round Gardingo.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O Friars,” began I, “your iniquitous. . .”<br /> + But said no more; for to mine eyes there rushed<br /> + One crucified with three stakes on the ground. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When me he saw, he writhed himself all over,<br /> + Blowing into his beard with suspirations;<br /> + And the Friar Catalan, who noticed this, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Said to me: “This transfixed one, whom thou seest,<br /> + Counselled the Pharisees that it was meet<br /> + To put one man to torture for the people. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Crosswise and naked is he on the path,<br /> + As thou perceivest; and he needs must feel,<br /> + Whoever passes, first how much he weighs; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And in like mode his father-in-law is punished<br /> + Within this moat, and the others of the council,<br /> + Which for the Jews was a malignant seed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And thereupon I saw Virgilius marvel<br /> + O’er him who was extended on the cross<br /> + So vilely in eternal banishment. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he directed to the Friar this voice:<br /> + “Be not displeased, if granted thee, to tell us<br /> + If to the right hand any pass slope down +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +By which we two may issue forth from here,<br /> + Without constraining some of the black angels<br /> + To come and extricate us from this deep.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he made answer: “Nearer than thou hopest<br /> + There is a rock, that forth from the great circle<br /> + Proceeds, and crosses all the cruel valleys, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Save that at this ’tis broken, and does not bridge it;<br /> + You will be able to mount up the ruin,<br /> + That sidelong slopes and at the bottom rises.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Leader stood awhile with head bowed down;<br /> + Then said: “The business badly he recounted<br /> + Who grapples with his hook the sinners yonder.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the Friar: “Many of the Devil’s vices<br /> + Once heard I at Bologna, and among them,<br /> + That he’s a liar and the father of lies.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereat my Leader with great strides went on,<br /> + Somewhat disturbed with anger in his looks;<br /> + Whence from the heavy-laden I departed +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After the prints of his beloved feet. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXIV"></a>Inferno: Canto XXIV</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +In that part of the youthful year wherein<br /> + The Sun his locks beneath Aquarius tempers,<br /> + And now the nights draw near to half the day, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +What time the hoar-frost copies on the ground<br /> + The outward semblance of her sister white,<br /> + But little lasts the temper of her pen, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The husbandman, whose forage faileth him,<br /> + Rises, and looks, and seeth the champaign<br /> + All gleaming white, whereat he beats his flank, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Returns in doors, and up and down laments,<br /> + Like a poor wretch, who knows not what to do;<br /> + Then he returns and hope revives again, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Seeing the world has changed its countenance<br /> + In little time, and takes his shepherd’s crook,<br /> + And forth the little lambs to pasture drives. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus did the Master fill me with alarm,<br /> + When I beheld his forehead so disturbed,<br /> + And to the ailment came as soon the plaster. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For as we came unto the ruined bridge,<br /> + The Leader turned to me with that sweet look<br /> + Which at the mountain’s foot I first beheld. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +His arms he opened, after some advisement<br /> + Within himself elected, looking first<br /> + Well at the ruin, and laid hold of me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And even as he who acts and meditates,<br /> + For aye it seems that he provides beforehand,<br /> + So upward lifting me towards the summit +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of a huge rock, he scanned another crag,<br /> + Saying: “To that one grapple afterwards,<br /> + But try first if ’tis such that it will hold thee.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This was no way for one clothed with a cloak;<br /> + For hardly we, he light, and I pushed upward,<br /> + Were able to ascend from jag to jag. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And had it not been, that upon that precinct<br /> + Shorter was the ascent than on the other,<br /> + He I know not, but I had been dead beat. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But because Malebolge tow’rds the mouth<br /> + Of the profoundest well is all inclining,<br /> + The structure of each valley doth import +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That one bank rises and the other sinks.<br /> + Still we arrived at length upon the point<br /> + Wherefrom the last stone breaks itself asunder. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The breath was from my lungs so milked away,<br /> + When I was up, that I could go no farther,<br /> + Nay, I sat down upon my first arrival. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Now it behoves thee thus to put off sloth,”<br /> + My Master said; “for sitting upon down,<br /> + Or under quilt, one cometh not to fame, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Withouten which whoso his life consumes<br /> + Such vestige leaveth of himself on earth,<br /> + As smoke in air or in the water foam. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And therefore raise thee up, o’ercome the anguish<br /> + With spirit that o’ercometh every battle,<br /> + If with its heavy body it sink not. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A longer stairway it behoves thee mount;<br /> + ’Tis not enough from these to have departed;<br /> + Let it avail thee, if thou understand me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then I uprose, showing myself provided<br /> + Better with breath than I did feel myself,<br /> + And said: “Go on, for I am strong and bold.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upward we took our way along the crag,<br /> + Which jagged was, and narrow, and difficult,<br /> + And more precipitous far than that before. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Speaking I went, not to appear exhausted;<br /> + Whereat a voice from the next moat came forth,<br /> + Not well adapted to articulate words. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I know not what it said, though o’er the back<br /> + I now was of the arch that passes there;<br /> + But he seemed moved to anger who was speaking. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I was bent downward, but my living eyes<br /> + Could not attain the bottom, for the dark;<br /> + Wherefore I: “Master, see that thou arrive +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +At the next round, and let us descend the wall;<br /> + For as from hence I hear and understand not,<br /> + So I look down and nothing I distinguish.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Other response,” he said, “I make thee not,<br /> + Except the doing; for the modest asking<br /> + Ought to be followed by the deed in silence.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We from the bridge descended at its head,<br /> + Where it connects itself with the eighth bank,<br /> + And then was manifest to me the Bolgia; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I beheld therein a terrible throng<br /> + Of serpents, and of such a monstrous kind,<br /> + That the remembrance still congeals my blood +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Let Libya boast no longer with her sand;<br /> + For if Chelydri, Jaculi, and Phareae<br /> + She breeds, with Cenchri and with Amphisbaena, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Neither so many plagues nor so malignant<br /> + E’er showed she with all Ethiopia,<br /> + Nor with whatever on the Red Sea is! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Among this cruel and most dismal throng<br /> + People were running naked and affrighted.<br /> + Without the hope of hole or heliotrope. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They had their hands with serpents bound behind them;<br /> + These riveted upon their reins the tail<br /> + And head, and were in front of them entwined. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And lo! at one who was upon our side<br /> + There darted forth a serpent, which transfixed him<br /> + There where the neck is knotted to the shoulders. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Nor ‘O’ so quickly e’er, nor ‘I’ was written,<br /> + As he took fire, and burned; and ashes wholly<br /> + Behoved it that in falling he became. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And when he on the ground was thus destroyed,<br /> + The ashes drew together, and of themselves<br /> + Into himself they instantly returned. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even thus by the great sages ’tis confessed<br /> + The phoenix dies, and then is born again,<br /> + When it approaches its five-hundredth year; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +On herb or grain it feeds not in its life,<br /> + But only on tears of incense and amomum,<br /> + And nard and myrrh are its last winding-sheet. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as he is who falls, and knows not how,<br /> + By force of demons who to earth down drag him,<br /> + Or other oppilation that binds man, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When he arises and around him looks,<br /> + Wholly bewildered by the mighty anguish<br /> + Which he has suffered, and in looking sighs; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such was that sinner after he had risen.<br /> + Justice of God! O how severe it is,<br /> + That blows like these in vengeance poureth down! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Guide thereafter asked him who he was;<br /> + Whence he replied: “I rained from Tuscany<br /> + A short time since into this cruel gorge. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A bestial life, and not a human, pleased me,<br /> + Even as the mule I was; I’m Vanni Fucci,<br /> + Beast, and Pistoia was my worthy den.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I unto the Guide: “Tell him to stir not,<br /> + And ask what crime has thrust him here below,<br /> + For once a man of blood and wrath I saw him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the sinner, who had heard, dissembled not,<br /> + But unto me directed mind and face,<br /> + And with a melancholy shame was painted. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said: “It pains me more that thou hast caught me<br /> + Amid this misery where thou seest me,<br /> + Than when I from the other life was taken. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +What thou demandest I cannot deny;<br /> + So low am I put down because I robbed<br /> + The sacristy of the fair ornaments, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And falsely once ’twas laid upon another;<br /> + But that thou mayst not such a sight enjoy,<br /> + If thou shalt e’er be out of the dark places, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thine ears to my announcement ope and hear:<br /> + Pistoia first of Neri groweth meagre;<br /> + Then Florence doth renew her men and manners; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Mars draws a vapour up from Val di Magra,<br /> + Which is with turbid clouds enveloped round,<br /> + And with impetuous and bitter tempest +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Over Campo Picen shall be the battle;<br /> + When it shall suddenly rend the mist asunder,<br /> + So that each Bianco shall thereby be smitten. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And this I’ve said that it may give thee pain.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXV"></a>Inferno: Canto XXV</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +At the conclusion of his words, the thief<br /> + Lifted his hands aloft with both the figs,<br /> + Crying: “Take that, God, for at thee I aim them.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From that time forth the serpents were my friends;<br /> + For one entwined itself about his neck<br /> + As if it said: “I will not thou speak more;” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And round his arms another, and rebound him,<br /> + Clinching itself together so in front,<br /> + That with them he could not a motion make. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Pistoia, ah, Pistoia! why resolve not<br /> + To burn thyself to ashes and so perish,<br /> + Since in ill-doing thou thy seed excellest? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Through all the sombre circles of this Hell,<br /> + Spirit I saw not against God so proud,<br /> + Not he who fell at Thebes down from the walls! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He fled away, and spake no further word;<br /> + And I beheld a Centaur full of rage<br /> + Come crying out: “Where is, where is the scoffer?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I do not think Maremma has so many<br /> + Serpents as he had all along his back,<br /> + As far as where our countenance begins. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon the shoulders, just behind the nape,<br /> + With wings wide open was a dragon lying,<br /> + And he sets fire to all that he encounters. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My Master said: “That one is Cacus, who<br /> + Beneath the rock upon Mount Aventine<br /> + Created oftentimes a lake of blood. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He goes not on the same road with his brothers,<br /> + By reason of the fraudulent theft he made<br /> + Of the great herd, which he had near to him; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whereat his tortuous actions ceased beneath<br /> + The mace of Hercules, who peradventure<br /> + Gave him a hundred, and he felt not ten.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While he was speaking thus, he had passed by,<br /> + And spirits three had underneath us come,<br /> + Of which nor I aware was, nor my Leader, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Until what time they shouted: “Who are you?”<br /> + On which account our story made a halt,<br /> + And then we were intent on them alone. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I did not know them; but it came to pass,<br /> + As it is wont to happen by some chance,<br /> + That one to name the other was compelled, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Exclaiming: “Where can Cianfa have remained?”<br /> + Whence I, so that the Leader might attend,<br /> + Upward from chin to nose my finger laid. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If thou art, Reader, slow now to believe<br /> + What I shall say, it will no marvel be,<br /> + For I who saw it hardly can admit it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As I was holding raised on them my brows,<br /> + Behold! a serpent with six feet darts forth<br /> + In front of one, and fastens wholly on him. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With middle feet it bound him round the paunch,<br /> + And with the forward ones his arms it seized;<br /> + Then thrust its teeth through one cheek and the other; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The hindermost it stretched upon his thighs,<br /> + And put its tail through in between the two,<br /> + And up behind along the reins outspread it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ivy was never fastened by its barbs<br /> + Unto a tree so, as this horrible reptile<br /> + Upon the other’s limbs entwined its own. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then they stuck close, as if of heated wax<br /> + They had been made, and intermixed their colour;<br /> + Nor one nor other seemed now what he was; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +E’en as proceedeth on before the flame<br /> + Upward along the paper a brown colour,<br /> + Which is not black as yet, and the white dies. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The other two looked on, and each of them<br /> + Cried out: “O me, Agnello, how thou changest!<br /> + Behold, thou now art neither two nor one.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Already the two heads had one become,<br /> + When there appeared to us two figures mingled<br /> + Into one face, wherein the two were lost. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of the four lists were fashioned the two arms,<br /> + The thighs and legs, the belly and the chest<br /> + Members became that never yet were seen. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Every original aspect there was cancelled;<br /> + Two and yet none did the perverted image<br /> + Appear, and such departed with slow pace. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as a lizard, under the great scourge<br /> + Of days canicular, exchanging hedge,<br /> + Lightning appeareth if the road it cross; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus did appear, coming towards the bellies<br /> + Of the two others, a small fiery serpent,<br /> + Livid and black as is a peppercorn. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And in that part whereat is first received<br /> + Our aliment, it one of them transfixed;<br /> + Then downward fell in front of him extended. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The one transfixed looked at it, but said naught;<br /> + Nay, rather with feet motionless he yawned,<br /> + Just as if sleep or fever had assailed him. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He at the serpent gazed, and it at him;<br /> + One through the wound, the other through the mouth<br /> + Smoked violently, and the smoke commingled. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Henceforth be silent Lucan, where he mentions<br /> + Wretched Sabellus and Nassidius,<br /> + And wait to hear what now shall be shot forth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Be silent Ovid, of Cadmus and Arethusa;<br /> + For if him to a snake, her to fountain,<br /> + Converts he fabling, that I grudge him not; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because two natures never front to front<br /> + Has he transmuted, so that both the forms<br /> + To interchange their matter ready were. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Together they responded in such wise,<br /> + That to a fork the serpent cleft his tail,<br /> + And eke the wounded drew his feet together. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The legs together with the thighs themselves<br /> + Adhered so, that in little time the juncture<br /> + No sign whatever made that was apparent. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He with the cloven tail assumed the figure<br /> + The other one was losing, and his skin<br /> + Became elastic, and the other’s hard. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw the arms draw inward at the armpits,<br /> + And both feet of the reptile, that were short,<br /> + Lengthen as much as those contracted were. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereafter the hind feet, together twisted,<br /> + Became the member that a man conceals,<br /> + And of his own the wretch had two created. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While both of them the exhalation veils<br /> + With a new colour, and engenders hair<br /> + On one of them and depilates the other, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The one uprose and down the other fell,<br /> + Though turning not away their impious lamps,<br /> + Underneath which each one his muzzle changed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He who was standing drew it tow’rds the temples,<br /> + And from excess of matter, which came thither,<br /> + Issued the ears from out the hollow cheeks; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +What did not backward run and was retained<br /> + Of that excess made to the face a nose,<br /> + And the lips thickened far as was befitting. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He who lay prostrate thrusts his muzzle forward,<br /> + And backward draws the ears into his head,<br /> + In the same manner as the snail its horns; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And so the tongue, which was entire and apt<br /> + For speech before, is cleft, and the bi-forked<br /> + In the other closes up, and the smoke ceases. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The soul, which to a reptile had been changed,<br /> + Along the valley hissing takes to flight,<br /> + And after him the other speaking sputters. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then did he turn upon him his new shoulders,<br /> + And said to the other: “I’ll have Buoso run,<br /> + Crawling as I have done, along this road.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In this way I beheld the seventh ballast<br /> + Shift and reshift, and here be my excuse<br /> + The novelty, if aught my pen transgress. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And notwithstanding that mine eyes might be<br /> + Somewhat bewildered, and my mind dismayed,<br /> + They could not flee away so secretly +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But that I plainly saw Puccio Sciancato;<br /> + And he it was who sole of three companions,<br /> + Which came in the beginning, was not changed; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The other was he whom thou, Gaville, weepest. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXVI"></a>Inferno: Canto XXVI</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Rejoice, O Florence, since thou art so great,<br /> + That over sea and land thou beatest thy wings,<br /> + And throughout Hell thy name is spread abroad! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Among the thieves five citizens of thine<br /> + Like these I found, whence shame comes unto me,<br /> + And thou thereby to no great honour risest. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But if when morn is near our dreams are true,<br /> + Feel shalt thou in a little time from now<br /> + What Prato, if none other, craves for thee. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if it now were, it were not too soon;<br /> + Would that it were, seeing it needs must be,<br /> + For ’twill aggrieve me more the more I age. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We went our way, and up along the stairs<br /> + The bourns had made us to descend before,<br /> + Remounted my Conductor and drew me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And following the solitary path<br /> + Among the rocks and ridges of the crag,<br /> + The foot without the hand sped not at all. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then sorrowed I, and sorrow now again,<br /> + When I direct my mind to what I saw,<br /> + And more my genius curb than I am wont, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That it may run not unless virtue guide it;<br /> + So that if some good star, or better thing,<br /> + Have given me good, I may myself not grudge it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As many as the hind (who on the hill<br /> + Rests at the time when he who lights the world<br /> + His countenance keeps least concealed from us, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While as the fly gives place unto the gnat)<br /> + Seeth the glow-worms down along the valley,<br /> + Perchance there where he ploughs and makes his vintage; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With flames as manifold resplendent all<br /> + Was the eighth Bolgia, as I grew aware<br /> + As soon as I was where the depth appeared. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And such as he who with the bears avenged him<br /> + Beheld Elijah’s chariot at departing,<br /> + What time the steeds to heaven erect uprose, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For with his eye he could not follow it<br /> + So as to see aught else than flame alone,<br /> + Even as a little cloud ascending upward, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus each along the gorge of the intrenchment<br /> + Was moving; for not one reveals the theft,<br /> + And every flame a sinner steals away. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I stood upon the bridge uprisen to see,<br /> + So that, if I had seized not on a rock,<br /> + Down had I fallen without being pushed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the Leader, who beheld me so attent,<br /> + Exclaimed: “Within the fires the spirits are;<br /> + Each swathes himself with that wherewith he burns.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“My Master,” I replied, “by hearing thee<br /> + I am more sure; but I surmised already<br /> + It might be so, and already wished to ask thee +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Who is within that fire, which comes so cleft<br /> + At top, it seems uprising from the pyre<br /> + Where was Eteocles with his brother placed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He answered me: “Within there are tormented<br /> + Ulysses and Diomed, and thus together<br /> + They unto vengeance run as unto wrath. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And there within their flame do they lament<br /> + The ambush of the horse, which made the door<br /> + Whence issued forth the Romans’ gentle seed; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therein is wept the craft, for which being dead<br /> + Deidamia still deplores Achilles,<br /> + And pain for the Palladium there is borne.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If they within those sparks possess the power<br /> + To speak,” I said, “thee, Master, much I pray,<br /> + And re-pray, that the prayer be worth a thousand, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That thou make no denial of awaiting<br /> + Until the horned flame shall hither come;<br /> + Thou seest that with desire I lean towards it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Worthy is thy entreaty<br /> + Of much applause, and therefore I accept it;<br /> + But take heed that thy tongue restrain itself. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Leave me to speak, because I have conceived<br /> + That which thou wishest; for they might disdain<br /> + Perchance, since they were Greeks, discourse of thine.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When now the flame had come unto that point,<br /> + Where to my Leader it seemed time and place,<br /> + After this fashion did I hear him speak: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O ye, who are twofold within one fire,<br /> + If I deserved of you, while I was living,<br /> + If I deserved of you or much or little +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When in the world I wrote the lofty verses,<br /> + Do not move on, but one of you declare<br /> + Whither, being lost, he went away to die.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then of the antique flame the greater horn,<br /> + Murmuring, began to wave itself about<br /> + Even as a flame doth which the wind fatigues. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereafterward, the summit to and fro<br /> + Moving as if it were the tongue that spake,<br /> + It uttered forth a voice, and said: “When I +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From Circe had departed, who concealed me<br /> + More than a year there near unto Gaeta,<br /> + Or ever yet Aeneas named it so, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Nor fondness for my son, nor reverence<br /> + For my old father, nor the due affection<br /> + Which joyous should have made Penelope, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Could overcome within me the desire<br /> + I had to be experienced of the world,<br /> + And of the vice and virtue of mankind; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But I put forth on the high open sea<br /> + With one sole ship, and that small company<br /> + By which I never had deserted been. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Both of the shores I saw as far as Spain,<br /> + Far as Morocco, and the isle of Sardes,<br /> + And the others which that sea bathes round about. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I and my company were old and slow<br /> + When at that narrow passage we arrived<br /> + Where Hercules his landmarks set as signals, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That man no farther onward should adventure.<br /> + On the right hand behind me left I Seville,<br /> + And on the other already had left Ceuta. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +‘O brothers, who amid a hundred thousand<br /> + Perils,’ I said, ‘have come unto the West,<br /> + To this so inconsiderable vigil +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Which is remaining of your senses still<br /> + Be ye unwilling to deny the knowledge,<br /> + Following the sun, of the unpeopled world. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang;<br /> + Ye were not made to live like unto brutes,<br /> + But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So eager did I render my companions,<br /> + With this brief exhortation, for the voyage,<br /> + That then I hardly could have held them back. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And having turned our stern unto the morning,<br /> + We of the oars made wings for our mad flight,<br /> + Evermore gaining on the larboard side. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Already all the stars of the other pole<br /> + The night beheld, and ours so very low<br /> + It did not rise above the ocean floor. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Five times rekindled and as many quenched<br /> + Had been the splendour underneath the moon,<br /> + Since we had entered into the deep pass, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When there appeared to us a mountain, dim<br /> + From distance, and it seemed to me so high<br /> + As I had never any one beheld. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Joyful were we, and soon it turned to weeping;<br /> + For out of the new land a whirlwind rose,<br /> + And smote upon the fore part of the ship. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Three times it made her whirl with all the waters,<br /> + At the fourth time it made the stern uplift,<br /> + And the prow downward go, as pleased Another, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Until the sea above us closed again.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXVII"></a>Inferno: Canto XXVII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Already was the flame erect and quiet,<br /> + To speak no more, and now departed from us<br /> + With the permission of the gentle Poet; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When yet another, which behind it came,<br /> + Caused us to turn our eyes upon its top<br /> + By a confused sound that issued from it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As the Sicilian bull (that bellowed first<br /> + With the lament of him, and that was right,<br /> + Who with his file had modulated it) +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Bellowed so with the voice of the afflicted,<br /> + That, notwithstanding it was made of brass,<br /> + Still it appeared with agony transfixed; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus, by not having any way or issue<br /> + At first from out the fire, to its own language<br /> + Converted were the melancholy words. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But afterwards, when they had gathered way<br /> + Up through the point, giving it that vibration<br /> + The tongue had given them in their passage out, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We heard it said: “O thou, at whom I aim<br /> + My voice, and who but now wast speaking Lombard,<br /> + Saying, ‘Now go thy way, no more I urge thee,’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because I come perchance a little late,<br /> + To stay and speak with me let it not irk thee;<br /> + Thou seest it irks not me, and I am burning. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If thou but lately into this blind world<br /> + Hast fallen down from that sweet Latian land,<br /> + Wherefrom I bring the whole of my transgression, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Say, if the Romagnuols have peace or war,<br /> + For I was from the mountains there between<br /> + Urbino and the yoke whence Tiber bursts.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I still was downward bent and listening,<br /> + When my Conductor touched me on the side,<br /> + Saying: “Speak thou: this one a Latian is.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I, who had beforehand my reply<br /> + In readiness, forthwith began to speak:<br /> + “O soul, that down below there art concealed, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Romagna thine is not and never has been<br /> + Without war in the bosom of its tyrants;<br /> + But open war I none have left there now. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ravenna stands as it long years has stood;<br /> + The Eagle of Polenta there is brooding,<br /> + So that she covers Cervia with her vans. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The city which once made the long resistance,<br /> + And of the French a sanguinary heap,<br /> + Beneath the Green Paws finds itself again; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Verrucchio’s ancient Mastiff and the new,<br /> + Who made such bad disposal of Montagna,<br /> + Where they are wont make wimbles of their teeth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The cities of Lamone and Santerno<br /> + Governs the Lioncel of the white lair,<br /> + Who changes sides ’twixt summer-time and winter; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And that of which the Savio bathes the flank,<br /> + Even as it lies between the plain and mountain,<br /> + Lives between tyranny and a free state. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now I entreat thee tell us who thou art;<br /> + Be not more stubborn than the rest have been,<br /> + So may thy name hold front there in the world.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After the fire a little more had roared<br /> + In its own fashion, the sharp point it moved<br /> + This way and that, and then gave forth such breath: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If I believed that my reply were made<br /> + To one who to the world would e’er return,<br /> + This flame without more flickering would stand still; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But inasmuch as never from this depth<br /> + Did any one return, if I hear true,<br /> + Without the fear of infamy I answer, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I was a man of arms, then Cordelier,<br /> + Believing thus begirt to make amends;<br /> + And truly my belief had been fulfilled +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But for the High Priest, whom may ill betide,<br /> + Who put me back into my former sins;<br /> + And how and wherefore I will have thee hear. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While I was still the form of bone and pulp<br /> + My mother gave to me, the deeds I did<br /> + Were not those of a lion, but a fox. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The machinations and the covert ways<br /> + I knew them all, and practised so their craft,<br /> + That to the ends of earth the sound went forth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When now unto that portion of mine age<br /> + I saw myself arrived, when each one ought<br /> + To lower the sails, and coil away the ropes, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That which before had pleased me then displeased me;<br /> + And penitent and confessing I surrendered,<br /> + Ah woe is me! and it would have bestead me; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Leader of the modern Pharisees<br /> + Having a war near unto Lateran,<br /> + And not with Saracens nor with the Jews, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For each one of his enemies was Christian,<br /> + And none of them had been to conquer Acre,<br /> + Nor merchandising in the Sultan’s land, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Nor the high office, nor the sacred orders,<br /> + In him regarded, nor in me that cord<br /> + Which used to make those girt with it more meagre; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But even as Constantine sought out Sylvester<br /> + To cure his leprosy, within Soracte,<br /> + So this one sought me out as an adept +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To cure him of the fever of his pride.<br /> + Counsel he asked of me, and I was silent,<br /> + Because his words appeared inebriate. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And then he said: ‘Be not thy heart afraid;<br /> + Henceforth I thee absolve; and thou instruct me<br /> + How to raze Palestrina to the ground. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Heaven have I power to lock and to unlock,<br /> + As thou dost know; therefore the keys are two,<br /> + The which my predecessor held not dear.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then urged me on his weighty arguments<br /> + There, where my silence was the worst advice;<br /> + And said I: ‘Father, since thou washest me +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of that sin into which I now must fall,<br /> + The promise long with the fulfilment short<br /> + Will make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Francis came afterward, when I was dead,<br /> + For me; but one of the black Cherubim<br /> + Said to him: ‘Take him not; do me no wrong; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He must come down among my servitors,<br /> + Because he gave the fraudulent advice<br /> + From which time forth I have been at his hair; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For who repents not cannot be absolved,<br /> + Nor can one both repent and will at once,<br /> + Because of the contradiction which consents not.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O miserable me! how I did shudder<br /> + When he seized on me, saying: ‘Peradventure<br /> + Thou didst not think that I was a logician!’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He bore me unto Minos, who entwined<br /> + Eight times his tail about his stubborn back,<br /> + And after he had bitten it in great rage, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Said: ‘Of the thievish fire a culprit this;’<br /> + Wherefore, here where thou seest, am I lost,<br /> + And vested thus in going I bemoan me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When it had thus completed its recital,<br /> + The flame departed uttering lamentations,<br /> + Writhing and flapping its sharp-pointed horn. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Onward we passed, both I and my Conductor,<br /> + Up o’er the crag above another arch,<br /> + Which the moat covers, where is paid the fee +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +By those who, sowing discord, win their burden. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXVIII"></a>Inferno: Canto XXVIII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Who ever could, e’en with untrammelled words,<br /> + Tell of the blood and of the wounds in full<br /> + Which now I saw, by many times narrating? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Each tongue would for a certainty fall short<br /> + By reason of our speech and memory,<br /> + That have small room to comprehend so much. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If were again assembled all the people<br /> + Which formerly upon the fateful land<br /> + Of Puglia were lamenting for their blood +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Shed by the Romans and the lingering war<br /> + That of the rings made such illustrious spoils,<br /> + As Livy has recorded, who errs not, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With those who felt the agony of blows<br /> + By making counterstand to Robert Guiscard,<br /> + And all the rest, whose bones are gathered still +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +At Ceperano, where a renegade<br /> + Was each Apulian, and at Tagliacozzo,<br /> + Where without arms the old Alardo conquered, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one his limb transpierced, and one lopped off,<br /> + Should show, it would be nothing to compare<br /> + With the disgusting mode of the ninth Bolgia. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A cask by losing centre-piece or cant<br /> + Was never shattered so, as I saw one<br /> + Rent from the chin to where one breaketh wind. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Between his legs were hanging down his entrails;<br /> + His heart was visible, and the dismal sack<br /> + That maketh excrement of what is eaten. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While I was all absorbed in seeing him,<br /> + He looked at me, and opened with his hands<br /> + His bosom, saying: “See now how I rend me; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +How mutilated, see, is Mahomet;<br /> + In front of me doth Ali weeping go,<br /> + Cleft in the face from forelock unto chin; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And all the others whom thou here beholdest,<br /> + Disseminators of scandal and of schism<br /> + While living were, and therefore are cleft thus. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A devil is behind here, who doth cleave us<br /> + Thus cruelly, unto the falchion’s edge<br /> + Putting again each one of all this ream, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When we have gone around the doleful road;<br /> + By reason that our wounds are closed again<br /> + Ere any one in front of him repass. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But who art thou, that musest on the crag,<br /> + Perchance to postpone going to the pain<br /> + That is adjudged upon thine accusations?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Nor death hath reached him yet, nor guilt doth bring him,”<br /> + My Master made reply, “to be tormented;<br /> + But to procure him full experience, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Me, who am dead, behoves it to conduct him<br /> + Down here through Hell, from circle unto circle;<br /> + And this is true as that I speak to thee.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +More than a hundred were there when they heard him,<br /> + Who in the moat stood still to look at me,<br /> + Through wonderment oblivious of their torture. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Now say to Fra Dolcino, then, to arm him,<br /> + Thou, who perhaps wilt shortly see the sun,<br /> + If soon he wish not here to follow me, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So with provisions, that no stress of snow<br /> + May give the victory to the Novarese,<br /> + Which otherwise to gain would not be easy.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After one foot to go away he lifted,<br /> + This word did Mahomet say unto me,<br /> + Then to depart upon the ground he stretched it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Another one, who had his throat pierced through,<br /> + And nose cut off close underneath the brows,<br /> + And had no longer but a single ear, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Staying to look in wonder with the others,<br /> + Before the others did his gullet open,<br /> + Which outwardly was red in every part, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And said: “O thou, whom guilt doth not condemn,<br /> + And whom I once saw up in Latian land,<br /> + Unless too great similitude deceive me, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Call to remembrance Pier da Medicina,<br /> + If e’er thou see again the lovely plain<br /> + That from Vercelli slopes to Marcabo, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And make it known to the best two of Fano,<br /> + To Messer Guido and Angiolello likewise,<br /> + That if foreseeing here be not in vain, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Cast over from their vessel shall they be,<br /> + And drowned near unto the Cattolica,<br /> + By the betrayal of a tyrant fell. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Between the isles of Cyprus and Majorca<br /> + Neptune ne’er yet beheld so great a crime,<br /> + Neither of pirates nor Argolic people. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That traitor, who sees only with one eye,<br /> + And holds the land, which some one here with me<br /> + Would fain be fasting from the vision of, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Will make them come unto a parley with him;<br /> + Then will do so, that to Focara’s wind<br /> + They will not stand in need of vow or prayer.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “Show to me and declare,<br /> + If thou wouldst have me bear up news of thee,<br /> + Who is this person of the bitter vision.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then did he lay his hand upon the jaw<br /> + Of one of his companions, and his mouth<br /> + Oped, crying: “This is he, and he speaks not. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This one, being banished, every doubt submerged<br /> + In Caesar by affirming the forearmed<br /> + Always with detriment allowed delay.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O how bewildered unto me appeared,<br /> + With tongue asunder in his windpipe slit,<br /> + Curio, who in speaking was so bold! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one, who both his hands dissevered had,<br /> + The stumps uplifting through the murky air,<br /> + So that the blood made horrible his face, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Cried out: “Thou shalt remember Mosca also,<br /> + Who said, alas! ‘A thing done has an end!’<br /> + Which was an ill seed for the Tuscan people.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“And death unto thy race,” thereto I added;<br /> + Whence he, accumulating woe on woe,<br /> + Departed, like a person sad and crazed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But I remained to look upon the crowd;<br /> + And saw a thing which I should be afraid,<br /> + Without some further proof, even to recount, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If it were not that conscience reassures me,<br /> + That good companion which emboldens man<br /> + Beneath the hauberk of its feeling pure. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I truly saw, and still I seem to see it,<br /> + A trunk without a head walk in like manner<br /> + As walked the others of the mournful herd. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And by the hair it held the head dissevered,<br /> + Hung from the hand in fashion of a lantern,<br /> + And that upon us gazed and said: “O me!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +It of itself made to itself a lamp,<br /> + And they were two in one, and one in two;<br /> + How that can be, He knows who so ordains it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When it was come close to the bridge’s foot,<br /> + It lifted high its arm with all the head,<br /> + To bring more closely unto us its words, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Which were: “Behold now the sore penalty,<br /> + Thou, who dost breathing go the dead beholding;<br /> + Behold if any be as great as this. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And so that thou may carry news of me,<br /> + Know that Bertram de Born am I, the same<br /> + Who gave to the Young King the evil comfort. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I made the father and the son rebellious;<br /> + Achitophel not more with Absalom<br /> + And David did with his accursed goadings. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because I parted persons so united,<br /> + Parted do I now bear my brain, alas!<br /> + From its beginning, which is in this trunk. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus is observed in me the counterpoise.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXIX"></a>Inferno: Canto XXIX</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +The many people and the divers wounds<br /> + These eyes of mine had so inebriated,<br /> + That they were wishful to stand still and weep; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But said Virgilius: “What dost thou still gaze at?<br /> + Why is thy sight still riveted down there<br /> + Among the mournful, mutilated shades? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou hast not done so at the other Bolge;<br /> + Consider, if to count them thou believest,<br /> + That two-and-twenty miles the valley winds, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And now the moon is underneath our feet;<br /> + Henceforth the time allotted us is brief,<br /> + And more is to be seen than what thou seest.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If thou hadst,” I made answer thereupon,<br /> + “Attended to the cause for which I looked,<br /> + Perhaps a longer stay thou wouldst have pardoned.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Meanwhile my Guide departed, and behind him<br /> + I went, already making my reply,<br /> + And superadding: “In that cavern where +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I held mine eyes with such attention fixed,<br /> + I think a spirit of my blood laments<br /> + The sin which down below there costs so much.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said the Master: “Be no longer broken<br /> + Thy thought from this time forward upon him;<br /> + Attend elsewhere, and there let him remain; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For him I saw below the little bridge,<br /> + Pointing at thee, and threatening with his finger<br /> + Fiercely, and heard him called Geri del Bello. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So wholly at that time wast thou impeded<br /> + By him who formerly held Altaforte,<br /> + Thou didst not look that way; so he departed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O my Conductor, his own violent death,<br /> + Which is not yet avenged for him,” I said,<br /> + “By any who is sharer in the shame, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Made him disdainful; whence he went away,<br /> + As I imagine, without speaking to me,<br /> + And thereby made me pity him the more.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus did we speak as far as the first place<br /> + Upon the crag, which the next valley shows<br /> + Down to the bottom, if there were more light. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When we were now right over the last cloister<br /> + Of Malebolge, so that its lay-brothers<br /> + Could manifest themselves unto our sight, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Divers lamentings pierced me through and through,<br /> + Which with compassion had their arrows barbed,<br /> + Whereat mine ears I covered with my hands. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +What pain would be, if from the hospitals<br /> + Of Valdichiana, ’twixt July and September,<br /> + And of Maremma and Sardinia +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +All the diseases in one moat were gathered,<br /> + Such was it here, and such a stench came from it<br /> + As from putrescent limbs is wont to issue. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We had descended on the furthest bank<br /> + From the long crag, upon the left hand still,<br /> + And then more vivid was my power of sight +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Down tow’rds the bottom, where the ministress<br /> + Of the high Lord, Justice infallible,<br /> + Punishes forgers, which she here records. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I do not think a sadder sight to see<br /> + Was in Aegina the whole people sick,<br /> + (When was the air so full of pestilence, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The animals, down to the little worm,<br /> + All fell, and afterwards the ancient people,<br /> + According as the poets have affirmed, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Were from the seed of ants restored again,)<br /> + Than was it to behold through that dark valley<br /> + The spirits languishing in divers heaps. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This on the belly, that upon the back<br /> + One of the other lay, and others crawling<br /> + Shifted themselves along the dismal road. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We step by step went onward without speech,<br /> + Gazing upon and listening to the sick<br /> + Who had not strength enough to lift their bodies. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw two sitting leaned against each other,<br /> + As leans in heating platter against platter,<br /> + From head to foot bespotted o’er with scabs; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And never saw I plied a currycomb<br /> + By stable-boy for whom his master waits,<br /> + Or him who keeps awake unwillingly, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As every one was plying fast the bite<br /> + Of nails upon himself, for the great rage<br /> + Of itching which no other succour had. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the nails downward with them dragged the scab,<br /> + In fashion as a knife the scales of bream,<br /> + Or any other fish that has them largest. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O thou, that with thy fingers dost dismail thee,”<br /> + Began my Leader unto one of them,<br /> + “And makest of them pincers now and then, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Tell me if any Latian is with those<br /> + Who are herein; so may thy nails suffice thee<br /> + To all eternity unto this work.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Latians are we, whom thou so wasted seest,<br /> + Both of us here,” one weeping made reply;<br /> + “But who art thou, that questionest about us?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And said the Guide: “One am I who descends<br /> + Down with this living man from cliff to cliff,<br /> + And I intend to show Hell unto him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then broken was their mutual support,<br /> + And trembling each one turned himself to me,<br /> + With others who had heard him by rebound. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Wholly to me did the good Master gather,<br /> + Saying: “Say unto them whate’er thou wishest.”<br /> + And I began, since he would have it so: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“So may your memory not steal away<br /> + In the first world from out the minds of men,<br /> + But so may it survive ’neath many suns, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Say to me who ye are, and of what people;<br /> + Let not your foul and loathsome punishment<br /> + Make you afraid to show yourselves to me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“I of Arezzo was,” one made reply,<br /> + “And Albert of Siena had me burned;<br /> + But what I died for does not bring me here. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +’Tis true I said to him, speaking in jest,<br /> + That I could rise by flight into the air,<br /> + And he who had conceit, but little wit, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Would have me show to him the art; and only<br /> + Because no Daedalus I made him, made me<br /> + Be burned by one who held him as his son. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But unto the last Bolgia of the ten,<br /> + For alchemy, which in the world I practised,<br /> + Minos, who cannot err, has me condemned.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And to the Poet said I: “Now was ever<br /> + So vain a people as the Sienese?<br /> + Not for a certainty the French by far.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whereat the other leper, who had heard me,<br /> + Replied unto my speech: “Taking out Stricca,<br /> + Who knew the art of moderate expenses, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And Niccolo, who the luxurious use<br /> + Of cloves discovered earliest of all<br /> + Within that garden where such seed takes root; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And taking out the band, among whom squandered<br /> + Caccia d’Ascian his vineyards and vast woods,<br /> + And where his wit the Abbagliato proffered! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But, that thou know who thus doth second thee<br /> + Against the Sienese, make sharp thine eye<br /> + Tow’rds me, so that my face well answer thee, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And thou shalt see I am Capocchio’s shade,<br /> + Who metals falsified by alchemy;<br /> + Thou must remember, if I well descry thee, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +How I a skilful ape of nature was.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXX"></a>Inferno: Canto XXX</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +’Twas at the time when Juno was enraged,<br /> + For Semele, against the Theban blood,<br /> + As she already more than once had shown, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So reft of reason Athamas became,<br /> + That, seeing his own wife with children twain<br /> + Walking encumbered upon either hand, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He cried: “Spread out the nets, that I may take<br /> + The lioness and her whelps upon the passage;”<br /> + And then extended his unpitying claws, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Seizing the first, who had the name Learchus,<br /> + And whirled him round, and dashed him on a rock;<br /> + And she, with the other burthen, drowned herself;— +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And at the time when fortune downward hurled<br /> + The Trojan’s arrogance, that all things dared,<br /> + So that the king was with his kingdom crushed, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Hecuba sad, disconsolate, and captive,<br /> + When lifeless she beheld Polyxena,<br /> + And of her Polydorus on the shore +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of ocean was the dolorous one aware,<br /> + Out of her senses like a dog she barked,<br /> + So much the anguish had her mind distorted; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But not of Thebes the furies nor the Trojan<br /> + Were ever seen in any one so cruel<br /> + In goading beasts, and much more human members, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As I beheld two shadows pale and naked,<br /> + Who, biting, in the manner ran along<br /> + That a boar does, when from the sty turned loose. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +One to Capocchio came, and by the nape<br /> + Seized with its teeth his neck, so that in dragging<br /> + It made his belly grate the solid bottom. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the Aretine, who trembling had remained,<br /> + Said to me: “That mad sprite is Gianni Schicchi,<br /> + And raving goes thus harrying other people.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O,” said I to him, “so may not the other<br /> + Set teeth on thee, let it not weary thee<br /> + To tell us who it is, ere it dart hence.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “That is the ancient ghost<br /> + Of the nefarious Myrrha, who became<br /> + Beyond all rightful love her father’s lover. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +She came to sin with him after this manner,<br /> + By counterfeiting of another’s form;<br /> + As he who goeth yonder undertook, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That he might gain the lady of the herd,<br /> + To counterfeit in himself Buoso Donati,<br /> + Making a will and giving it due form.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And after the two maniacs had passed<br /> + On whom I held mine eye, I turned it back<br /> + To look upon the other evil-born. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw one made in fashion of a lute,<br /> + If he had only had the groin cut off<br /> + Just at the point at which a man is forked. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The heavy dropsy, that so disproportions<br /> + The limbs with humours, which it ill concocts,<br /> + That the face corresponds not to the belly, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Compelled him so to hold his lips apart<br /> + As does the hectic, who because of thirst<br /> + One tow’rds the chin, the other upward turns. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O ye, who without any torment are,<br /> + And why I know not, in the world of woe,”<br /> + He said to us, “behold, and be attentive +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Unto the misery of Master Adam;<br /> + I had while living much of what I wished,<br /> + And now, alas! a drop of water crave. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The rivulets, that from the verdant hills<br /> + Of Cassentin descend down into Arno,<br /> + Making their channels to be cold and moist, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ever before me stand, and not in vain;<br /> + For far more doth their image dry me up<br /> + Than the disease which strips my face of flesh. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The rigid justice that chastises me<br /> + Draweth occasion from the place in which<br /> + I sinned, to put the more my sighs in flight. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There is Romena, where I counterfeited<br /> + The currency imprinted with the Baptist,<br /> + For which I left my body burned above. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But if I here could see the tristful soul<br /> + Of Guido, or Alessandro, or their brother,<br /> + For Branda’s fount I would not give the sight. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +One is within already, if the raving<br /> + Shades that are going round about speak truth;<br /> + But what avails it me, whose limbs are tied? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If I were only still so light, that in<br /> + A hundred years I could advance one inch,<br /> + I had already started on the way, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Seeking him out among this squalid folk,<br /> + Although the circuit be eleven miles,<br /> + And be not less than half a mile across. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For them am I in such a family;<br /> + They did induce me into coining florins,<br /> + Which had three carats of impurity.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “Who are the two poor wretches<br /> + That smoke like unto a wet hand in winter,<br /> + Lying there close upon thy right-hand confines?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“I found them here,” replied he, “when I rained<br /> + Into this chasm, and since they have not turned,<br /> + Nor do I think they will for evermore. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +One the false woman is who accused Joseph,<br /> + The other the false Sinon, Greek of Troy;<br /> + From acute fever they send forth such reek.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one of them, who felt himself annoyed<br /> + At being, peradventure, named so darkly,<br /> + Smote with the fist upon his hardened paunch. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +It gave a sound, as if it were a drum;<br /> + And Master Adam smote him in the face,<br /> + With arm that did not seem to be less hard, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Saying to him: “Although be taken from me<br /> + All motion, for my limbs that heavy are,<br /> + I have an arm unfettered for such need.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whereat he answer made: “When thou didst go<br /> + Unto the fire, thou hadst it not so ready:<br /> + But hadst it so and more when thou wast coining.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The dropsical: “Thou sayest true in that;<br /> + But thou wast not so true a witness there,<br /> + Where thou wast questioned of the truth at Troy.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If I spake false, thou falsifiedst the coin,”<br /> + Said Sinon; “and for one fault I am here,<br /> + And thou for more than any other demon.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Remember, perjurer, about the horse,”<br /> + He made reply who had the swollen belly,<br /> + “And rueful be it thee the whole world knows it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Rueful to thee the thirst be wherewith cracks<br /> + Thy tongue,” the Greek said, “and the putrid water<br /> + That hedges so thy paunch before thine eyes.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then the false-coiner: “So is gaping wide<br /> + Thy mouth for speaking evil, as ’tis wont;<br /> + Because if I have thirst, and humour stuff me +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou hast the burning and the head that aches,<br /> + And to lick up the mirror of Narcissus<br /> + Thou wouldst not want words many to invite thee.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In listening to them was I wholly fixed,<br /> + When said the Master to me: “Now just look,<br /> + For little wants it that I quarrel with thee.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When him I heard in anger speak to me,<br /> + I turned me round towards him with such shame<br /> + That still it eddies through my memory. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as he is who dreams of his own harm,<br /> + Who dreaming wishes it may be a dream,<br /> + So that he craves what is, as if it were not; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such I became, not having power to speak,<br /> + For to excuse myself I wished, and still<br /> + Excused myself, and did not think I did it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Less shame doth wash away a greater fault,”<br /> + The Master said, “than this of thine has been;<br /> + Therefore thyself disburden of all sadness, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And make account that I am aye beside thee,<br /> + If e’er it come to pass that fortune bring thee<br /> + Where there are people in a like dispute; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For a base wish it is to wish to hear it.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXXI"></a>Inferno: Canto XXXI</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +One and the selfsame tongue first wounded me,<br /> + So that it tinged the one cheek and the other,<br /> + And then held out to me the medicine; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus do I hear that once Achilles’ spear,<br /> + His and his father’s, used to be the cause<br /> + First of a sad and then a gracious boon. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We turned our backs upon the wretched valley,<br /> + Upon the bank that girds it round about,<br /> + Going across it without any speech. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There it was less than night, and less than day,<br /> + So that my sight went little in advance;<br /> + But I could hear the blare of a loud horn, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So loud it would have made each thunder faint,<br /> + Which, counter to it following its way,<br /> + Mine eyes directed wholly to one place. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After the dolorous discomfiture<br /> + When Charlemagne the holy emprise lost,<br /> + So terribly Orlando sounded not. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Short while my head turned thitherward I held<br /> + When many lofty towers I seemed to see,<br /> + Whereat I: “Master, say, what town is this?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Because thou peerest forth<br /> + Athwart the darkness at too great a distance,<br /> + It happens that thou errest in thy fancy. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Well shalt thou see, if thou arrivest there,<br /> + How much the sense deceives itself by distance;<br /> + Therefore a little faster spur thee on.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then tenderly he took me by the hand,<br /> + And said: “Before we farther have advanced,<br /> + That the reality may seem to thee +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Less strange, know that these are not towers, but giants,<br /> + And they are in the well, around the bank,<br /> + From navel downward, one and all of them.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As, when the fog is vanishing away,<br /> + Little by little doth the sight refigure<br /> + Whate’er the mist that crowds the air conceals, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So, piercing through the dense and darksome air,<br /> + More and more near approaching tow’rd the verge,<br /> + My error fled, and fear came over me; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because as on its circular parapets<br /> + Montereggione crowns itself with towers,<br /> + E’en thus the margin which surrounds the well +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With one half of their bodies turreted<br /> + The horrible giants, whom Jove menaces<br /> + E’en now from out the heavens when he thunders. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I of one already saw the face,<br /> + Shoulders, and breast, and great part of the belly,<br /> + And down along his sides both of the arms. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Certainly Nature, when she left the making<br /> + Of animals like these, did well indeed,<br /> + By taking such executors from Mars; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if of elephants and whales she doth not<br /> + Repent her, whosoever looketh subtly<br /> + More just and more discreet will hold her for it; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For where the argument of intellect<br /> + Is added unto evil will and power,<br /> + No rampart can the people make against it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +His face appeared to me as long and large<br /> + As is at Rome the pine-cone of Saint Peter’s,<br /> + And in proportion were the other bones; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So that the margin, which an apron was<br /> + Down from the middle, showed so much of him<br /> + Above it, that to reach up to his hair +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Three Frieslanders in vain had vaunted them;<br /> + For I beheld thirty great palms of him<br /> + Down from the place where man his mantle buckles. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Raphael mai amech izabi almi,”<br /> + Began to clamour the ferocious mouth,<br /> + To which were not befitting sweeter psalms. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And unto him my Guide: “Soul idiotic,<br /> + Keep to thy horn, and vent thyself with that,<br /> + When wrath or other passion touches thee. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Search round thy neck, and thou wilt find the belt<br /> + Which keeps it fastened, O bewildered soul,<br /> + And see it, where it bars thy mighty breast.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said to me: “He doth himself accuse;<br /> + This one is Nimrod, by whose evil thought<br /> + One language in the world is not still used. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here let us leave him and not speak in vain;<br /> + For even such to him is every language<br /> + As his to others, which to none is known.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore a longer journey did we make,<br /> + Turned to the left, and a crossbow-shot oft<br /> + We found another far more fierce and large. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In binding him, who might the master be<br /> + I cannot say; but he had pinioned close<br /> + Behind the right arm, and in front the other, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With chains, that held him so begirt about<br /> + From the neck down, that on the part uncovered<br /> + It wound itself as far as the fifth gyre. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“This proud one wished to make experiment<br /> + Of his own power against the Supreme Jove,”<br /> + My Leader said, “whence he has such a guerdon. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ephialtes is his name; he showed great prowess.<br /> + What time the giants terrified the gods;<br /> + The arms he wielded never more he moves.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “If possible, I should wish<br /> + That of the measureless Briareus<br /> + These eyes of mine might have experience.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence he replied: “Thou shalt behold Antaeus<br /> + Close by here, who can speak and is unbound,<br /> + Who at the bottom of all crime shall place us. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Much farther yon is he whom thou wouldst see,<br /> + And he is bound, and fashioned like to this one,<br /> + Save that he seems in aspect more ferocious.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There never was an earthquake of such might<br /> + That it could shake a tower so violently,<br /> + As Ephialtes suddenly shook himself. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then was I more afraid of death than ever,<br /> + For nothing more was needful than the fear,<br /> + If I had not beheld the manacles. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then we proceeded farther in advance,<br /> + And to Antaeus came, who, full five ells<br /> + Without the head, forth issued from the cavern. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O thou, who in the valley fortunate,<br /> + Which Scipio the heir of glory made,<br /> + When Hannibal turned back with all his hosts, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Once brought’st a thousand lions for thy prey,<br /> + And who, hadst thou been at the mighty war<br /> + Among thy brothers, some it seems still think +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The sons of Earth the victory would have gained:<br /> + Place us below, nor be disdainful of it,<br /> + There where the cold doth lock Cocytus up. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Make us not go to Tityus nor Typhoeus;<br /> + This one can give of that which here is longed for;<br /> + Therefore stoop down, and do not curl thy lip. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Still in the world can he restore thy fame;<br /> + Because he lives, and still expects long life,<br /> + If to itself Grace call him not untimely.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So said the Master; and in haste the other<br /> + His hands extended and took up my Guide,—<br /> + Hands whose great pressure Hercules once felt. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Virgilius, when he felt himself embraced,<br /> + Said unto me: “Draw nigh, that I may take thee;”<br /> + Then of himself and me one bundle made. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As seems the Carisenda, to behold<br /> + Beneath the leaning side, when goes a cloud<br /> + Above it so that opposite it hangs; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such did Antaeus seem to me, who stood<br /> + Watching to see him stoop, and then it was<br /> + I could have wished to go some other way. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But lightly in the abyss, which swallows up<br /> + Judas with Lucifer, he put us down;<br /> + Nor thus bowed downward made he there delay, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But, as a mast does in a ship, uprose. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXXII"></a>Inferno: Canto XXXII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +If I had rhymes both rough and stridulous,<br /> + As were appropriate to the dismal hole<br /> + Down upon which thrust all the other rocks, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I would press out the juice of my conception<br /> + More fully; but because I have them not,<br /> + Not without fear I bring myself to speak; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For ’tis no enterprise to take in jest,<br /> + To sketch the bottom of all the universe,<br /> + Nor for a tongue that cries Mamma and Babbo. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But may those Ladies help this verse of mine,<br /> + Who helped Amphion in enclosing Thebes,<br /> + That from the fact the word be not diverse. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O rabble ill-begotten above all,<br /> + Who’re in the place to speak of which is hard,<br /> + ’Twere better ye had here been sheep or goats! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When we were down within the darksome well,<br /> + Beneath the giant’s feet, but lower far,<br /> + And I was scanning still the lofty wall, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I heard it said to me: “Look how thou steppest!<br /> + Take heed thou do not trample with thy feet<br /> + The heads of the tired, miserable brothers!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whereat I turned me round, and saw before me<br /> + And underfoot a lake, that from the frost<br /> + The semblance had of glass, and not of water. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So thick a veil ne’er made upon its current<br /> + In winter-time Danube in Austria,<br /> + Nor there beneath the frigid sky the Don, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As there was here; so that if Tambernich<br /> + Had fallen upon it, or Pietrapana,<br /> + E’en at the edge ’twould not have given a creak. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as to croak the frog doth place himself<br /> + With muzzle out of water,—when is dreaming<br /> + Of gleaning oftentimes the peasant-girl,— +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Livid, as far down as where shame appears,<br /> + Were the disconsolate shades within the ice,<br /> + Setting their teeth unto the note of storks. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Each one his countenance held downward bent;<br /> + From mouth the cold, from eyes the doleful heart<br /> + Among them witness of itself procures. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When round about me somewhat I had looked,<br /> + I downward turned me, and saw two so close,<br /> + The hair upon their heads together mingled. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Ye who so strain your breasts together, tell me,”<br /> + I said, “who are you;” and they bent their necks,<br /> + And when to me their faces they had lifted, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Their eyes, which first were only moist within,<br /> + Gushed o’er the eyelids, and the frost congealed<br /> + The tears between, and locked them up again. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Clamp never bound together wood with wood<br /> + So strongly; whereat they, like two he-goats,<br /> + Butted together, so much wrath o’ercame them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one, who had by reason of the cold<br /> + Lost both his ears, still with his visage downward,<br /> + Said: “Why dost thou so mirror thyself in us? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If thou desire to know who these two are,<br /> + The valley whence Bisenzio descends<br /> + Belonged to them and to their father Albert. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They from one body came, and all Caina<br /> + Thou shalt search through, and shalt not find a shade<br /> + More worthy to be fixed in gelatine; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not he in whom were broken breast and shadow<br /> + At one and the same blow by Arthur’s hand;<br /> + Focaccia not; not he who me encumbers +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So with his head I see no farther forward,<br /> + And bore the name of Sassol Mascheroni;<br /> + Well knowest thou who he was, if thou art Tuscan. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And that thou put me not to further speech,<br /> + Know that I Camicion de’ Pazzi was,<br /> + And wait Carlino to exonerate me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then I beheld a thousand faces, made<br /> + Purple with cold; whence o’er me comes a shudder,<br /> + And evermore will come, at frozen ponds. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And while we were advancing tow’rds the middle,<br /> + Where everything of weight unites together,<br /> + And I was shivering in the eternal shade, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whether ’twere will, or destiny, or chance,<br /> + I know not; but in walking ’mong the heads<br /> + I struck my foot hard in the face of one. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Weeping he growled: “Why dost thou trample me?<br /> + Unless thou comest to increase the vengeance<br /> + of Montaperti, why dost thou molest me?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “My Master, now wait here for me,<br /> + That I through him may issue from a doubt;<br /> + Then thou mayst hurry me, as thou shalt wish.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Leader stopped; and to that one I said<br /> + Who was blaspheming vehemently still:<br /> + “Who art thou, that thus reprehendest others?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Now who art thou, that goest through Antenora<br /> + Smiting,” replied he, “other people’s cheeks,<br /> + So that, if thou wert living, ’twere too much?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Living I am, and dear to thee it may be,”<br /> + Was my response, “if thou demandest fame,<br /> + That ’mid the other notes thy name I place.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “For the reverse I long;<br /> + Take thyself hence, and give me no more trouble;<br /> + For ill thou knowest to flatter in this hollow.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then by the scalp behind I seized upon him,<br /> + And said: “It must needs be thou name thyself,<br /> + Or not a hair remain upon thee here.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence he to me: “Though thou strip off my hair,<br /> + I will not tell thee who I am, nor show thee,<br /> + If on my head a thousand times thou fall.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I had his hair in hand already twisted,<br /> + And more than one shock of it had pulled out,<br /> + He barking, with his eyes held firmly down, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When cried another: “What doth ail thee, Bocca?<br /> + Is’t not enough to clatter with thy jaws,<br /> + But thou must bark? what devil touches thee?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Now,” said I, “I care not to have thee speak,<br /> + Accursed traitor; for unto thy shame<br /> + I will report of thee veracious news.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Begone,” replied he, “and tell what thou wilt,<br /> + But be not silent, if thou issue hence,<br /> + Of him who had just now his tongue so prompt; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He weepeth here the silver of the French;<br /> + ‘I saw,’ thus canst thou phrase it, ‘him of Duera<br /> + There where the sinners stand out in the cold.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If thou shouldst questioned be who else was there,<br /> + Thou hast beside thee him of Beccaria,<br /> + Of whom the gorget Florence slit asunder; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Gianni del Soldanier, I think, may be<br /> + Yonder with Ganellon, and Tebaldello<br /> + Who oped Faenza when the people slep.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Already we had gone away from him,<br /> + When I beheld two frozen in one hole,<br /> + So that one head a hood was to the other; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And even as bread through hunger is devoured,<br /> + The uppermost on the other set his teeth,<br /> + There where the brain is to the nape united. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not in another fashion Tydeus gnawed<br /> + The temples of Menalippus in disdain,<br /> + Than that one did the skull and the other things. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O thou, who showest by such bestial sign<br /> + Thy hatred against him whom thou art eating,<br /> + Tell me the wherefore,” said I, “with this compact, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That if thou rightfully of him complain,<br /> + In knowing who ye are, and his transgression,<br /> + I in the world above repay thee for it, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If that wherewith I speak be not dried up.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXXIII"></a>Inferno: Canto XXXIII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +His mouth uplifted from his grim repast,<br /> + That sinner, wiping it upon the hair<br /> + Of the same head that he behind had wasted. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he began: “Thou wilt that I renew<br /> + The desperate grief, which wrings my heart already<br /> + To think of only, ere I speak of it; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But if my words be seed that may bear fruit<br /> + Of infamy to the traitor whom I gnaw,<br /> + Speaking and weeping shalt thou see together. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I know not who thou art, nor by what mode<br /> + Thou hast come down here; but a Florentine<br /> + Thou seemest to me truly, when I hear thee. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou hast to know I was Count Ugolino,<br /> + And this one was Ruggieri the Archbishop;<br /> + Now I will tell thee why I am such a neighbour. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That, by effect of his malicious thoughts,<br /> + Trusting in him I was made prisoner,<br /> + And after put to death, I need not say; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + But ne’ertheless what thou canst not have heard,<br /> + That is to say, how cruel was my death,<br /> + Hear shalt thou, and shalt know if he has wronged me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A narrow perforation in the mew,<br /> + Which bears because of me the title of Famine,<br /> + And in which others still must be locked up, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Had shown me through its opening many moons<br /> + Already, when I dreamed the evil dream<br /> + Which of the future rent for me the veil. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This one appeared to me as lord and master,<br /> + Hunting the wolf and whelps upon the mountain<br /> + For which the Pisans cannot Lucca see. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With sleuth-hounds gaunt, and eager, and well trained,<br /> + Gualandi with Sismondi and Lanfianchi<br /> + He had sent out before him to the front. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After brief course seemed unto me forespent<br /> + The father and the sons, and with sharp tushes<br /> + It seemed to me I saw their flanks ripped open. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When I before the morrow was awake,<br /> + Moaning amid their sleep I heard my sons<br /> + Who with me were, and asking after bread. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Cruel indeed art thou, if yet thou grieve not,<br /> + Thinking of what my heart foreboded me,<br /> + And weep’st thou not, what art thou wont to weep at? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They were awake now, and the hour drew nigh<br /> + At which our food used to be brought to us,<br /> + And through his dream was each one apprehensive; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I heard locking up the under door<br /> + Of the horrible tower; whereat without a word<br /> + I gazed into the faces of my sons. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I wept not, I within so turned to stone;<br /> + They wept; and darling little Anselm mine<br /> + Said: ‘Thou dost gaze so, father, what doth ail thee?’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Still not a tear I shed, nor answer made<br /> + All of that day, nor yet the night thereafter,<br /> + Until another sun rose on the world. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As now a little glimmer made its way<br /> + Into the dolorous prison, and I saw<br /> + Upon four faces my own very aspect, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Both of my hands in agony I bit;<br /> + And, thinking that I did it from desire<br /> + Of eating, on a sudden they uprose, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And said they: ‘Father, much less pain ’twill give us<br /> + If thou do eat of us; thyself didst clothe us<br /> + With this poor flesh, and do thou strip it off.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I calmed me then, not to make them more sad.<br /> + That day we all were silent, and the next.<br /> + Ah! obdurate earth, wherefore didst thou not open? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When we had come unto the fourth day, Gaddo<br /> + Threw himself down outstretched before my feet,<br /> + Saying, ‘My father, why dost thou not help me?’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And there he died; and, as thou seest me,<br /> + I saw the three fall, one by one, between<br /> + The fifth day and the sixth; whence I betook me, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Already blind, to groping over each,<br /> + And three days called them after they were dead;<br /> + Then hunger did what sorrow could not do.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When he had said this, with his eyes distorted,<br /> + The wretched skull resumed he with his teeth,<br /> + Which, as a dog’s, upon the bone were strong. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah! Pisa, thou opprobrium of the people<br /> + Of the fair land there where the ‘Si’ doth sound,<br /> + Since slow to punish thee thy neighbours are, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Let the Capraia and Gorgona move,<br /> + And make a hedge across the mouth of Arno<br /> + That every person in thee it may drown! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For if Count Ugolino had the fame<br /> + Of having in thy castles thee betrayed,<br /> + Thou shouldst not on such cross have put his sons. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Guiltless of any crime, thou modern Thebes!<br /> + Their youth made Uguccione and Brigata,<br /> + And the other two my song doth name above! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We passed still farther onward, where the ice<br /> + Another people ruggedly enswathes,<br /> + Not downward turned, but all of them reversed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Weeping itself there does not let them weep,<br /> + And grief that finds a barrier in the eyes<br /> + Turns itself inward to increase the anguish; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because the earliest tears a cluster form,<br /> + And, in the manner of a crystal visor,<br /> + Fill all the cup beneath the eyebrow full. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And notwithstanding that, as in a callus,<br /> + Because of cold all sensibility<br /> + Its station had abandoned in my face, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Still it appeared to me I felt some wind;<br /> + Whence I: “My Master, who sets this in motion?<br /> + Is not below here every vapour quenched?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence he to me: “Full soon shalt thou be where<br /> + Thine eye shall answer make to thee of this,<br /> + Seeing the cause which raineth down the blast.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one of the wretches of the frozen crust<br /> + Cried out to us: “O souls so merciless<br /> + That the last post is given unto you, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Lift from mine eyes the rigid veils, that I<br /> + May vent the sorrow which impregns my heart<br /> + A little, e’er the weeping recongeal.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence I to him: “If thou wouldst have me help thee<br /> + Say who thou wast; and if I free thee not,<br /> + May I go to the bottom of the ice.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he replied: “I am Friar Alberigo;<br /> + He am I of the fruit of the bad garden,<br /> + Who here a date am getting for my fig.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O,” said I to him, “now art thou, too, dead?”<br /> + And he to me: “How may my body fare<br /> + Up in the world, no knowledge I possess. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such an advantage has this Ptolomaea,<br /> + That oftentimes the soul descendeth here<br /> + Sooner than Atropos in motion sets it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And, that thou mayest more willingly remove<br /> + From off my countenance these glassy tears,<br /> + Know that as soon as any soul betrays +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As I have done, his body by a demon<br /> + Is taken from him, who thereafter rules it,<br /> + Until his time has wholly been revolved. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Itself down rushes into such a cistern;<br /> + And still perchance above appears the body<br /> + Of yonder shade, that winters here behind me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This thou shouldst know, if thou hast just come down;<br /> + It is Ser Branca d’ Oria, and many years<br /> + Have passed away since he was thus locked up.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“I think,” said I to him, “thou dost deceive me;<br /> + For Branca d’ Oria is not dead as yet,<br /> + And eats, and drinks, and sleeps, and puts on clothes.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“In moat above,” said he, “of Malebranche,<br /> + There where is boiling the tenacious pitch,<br /> + As yet had Michel Zanche not arrived, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When this one left a devil in his stead<br /> + In his own body and one near of kin,<br /> + Who made together with him the betrayal. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But hitherward stretch out thy hand forthwith,<br /> + Open mine eyes;”—and open them I did not,<br /> + And to be rude to him was courtesy. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah, Genoese! ye men at variance<br /> + With every virtue, full of every vice<br /> + Wherefore are ye not scattered from the world? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For with the vilest spirit of Romagna<br /> + I found of you one such, who for his deeds<br /> + In soul already in Cocytus bathes, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And still above in body seems alive! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXXIV"></a>Inferno: Canto XXXIV</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +“‘Vexilla Regis prodeunt Inferni’<br /> + Towards us; therefore look in front of thee,”<br /> + My Master said, “if thou discernest him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As, when there breathes a heavy fog, or when<br /> + Our hemisphere is darkening into night,<br /> + Appears far off a mill the wind is turning, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Methought that such a building then I saw;<br /> + And, for the wind, I drew myself behind<br /> + My Guide, because there was no other shelter. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now was I, and with fear in verse I put it,<br /> + There where the shades were wholly covered up,<br /> + And glimmered through like unto straws in glass. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Some prone are lying, others stand erect,<br /> + This with the head, and that one with the soles;<br /> + Another, bow-like, face to feet inverts. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When in advance so far we had proceeded,<br /> + That it my Master pleased to show to me<br /> + The creature who once had the beauteous semblance, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He from before me moved and made me stop,<br /> + Saying: “Behold Dis, and behold the place<br /> + Where thou with fortitude must arm thyself.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +How frozen I became and powerless then,<br /> + Ask it not, Reader, for I write it not,<br /> + Because all language would be insufficient. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I did not die, and I alive remained not;<br /> + Think for thyself now, hast thou aught of wit,<br /> + What I became, being of both deprived. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous<br /> + From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice;<br /> + And better with a giant I compare +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Than do the giants with those arms of his;<br /> + Consider now how great must be that whole,<br /> + Which unto such a part conforms itself. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Were he as fair once, as he now is foul,<br /> + And lifted up his brow against his Maker,<br /> + Well may proceed from him all tribulation. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O, what a marvel it appeared to me,<br /> + When I beheld three faces on his head!<br /> + The one in front, and that vermilion was; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Two were the others, that were joined with this<br /> + Above the middle part of either shoulder,<br /> + And they were joined together at the crest; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the right-hand one seemed ’twixt white and yellow;<br /> + The left was such to look upon as those<br /> + Who come from where the Nile falls valley-ward. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Underneath each came forth two mighty wings,<br /> + Such as befitting were so great a bird;<br /> + Sails of the sea I never saw so large. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + No feathers had they, but as of a bat<br /> + Their fashion was; and he was waving them,<br /> + So that three winds proceeded forth therefrom. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereby Cocytus wholly was congealed.<br /> + With six eyes did he weep, and down three chins<br /> + Trickled the tear-drops and the bloody drivel. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +At every mouth he with his teeth was crunching<br /> + A sinner, in the manner of a brake,<br /> + So that he three of them tormented thus. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To him in front the biting was as naught<br /> + Unto the clawing, for sometimes the spine<br /> + Utterly stripped of all the skin remained. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“That soul up there which has the greatest pain,”<br /> + The Master said, “is Judas Iscariot;<br /> + With head inside, he plies his legs without. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of the two others, who head downward are,<br /> + The one who hangs from the black jowl is Brutus;<br /> + See how he writhes himself, and speaks no word. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the other, who so stalwart seems, is Cassius.<br /> + But night is reascending, and ’tis time<br /> + That we depart, for we have seen the whole.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As seemed him good, I clasped him round the neck,<br /> + And he the vantage seized of time and place,<br /> + And when the wings were opened wide apart, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He laid fast hold upon the shaggy sides;<br /> + From fell to fell descended downward then<br /> + Between the thick hair and the frozen crust. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When we were come to where the thigh revolves<br /> + Exactly on the thickness of the haunch,<br /> + The Guide, with labour and with hard-drawn breath, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Turned round his head where he had had his legs,<br /> + And grappled to the hair, as one who mounts,<br /> + So that to Hell I thought we were returning. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Keep fast thy hold, for by such stairs as these,”<br /> + The Master said, panting as one fatigued,<br /> + “Must we perforce depart from so much evil.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then through the opening of a rock he issued,<br /> + And down upon the margin seated me;<br /> + Then tow’rds me he outstretched his wary step. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I lifted up mine eyes and thought to see<br /> + Lucifer in the same way I had left him;<br /> + And I beheld him upward hold his legs. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if I then became disquieted,<br /> + Let stolid people think who do not see<br /> + What the point is beyond which I had passed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Rise up,” the Master said, “upon thy feet;<br /> + The way is long, and difficult the road,<br /> + And now the sun to middle-tierce returns.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +It was not any palace corridor<br /> + There where we were, but dungeon natural,<br /> + With floor uneven and unease of light. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Ere from the abyss I tear myself away,<br /> + My Master,” said I when I had arisen,<br /> + “To draw me from an error speak a little; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Where is the ice? and how is this one fixed<br /> + Thus upside down? and how in such short time<br /> + From eve to morn has the sun made his transit?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Thou still imaginest<br /> + Thou art beyond the centre, where I grasped<br /> + The hair of the fell worm, who mines the world. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That side thou wast, so long as I descended;<br /> + When round I turned me, thou didst pass the point<br /> + To which things heavy draw from every side, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And now beneath the hemisphere art come<br /> + Opposite that which overhangs the vast<br /> + Dry-land, and ’neath whose cope was put to death +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Man who without sin was born and lived.<br /> + Thou hast thy feet upon the little sphere<br /> + Which makes the other face of the Judecca. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here it is morn when it is evening there;<br /> + And he who with his hair a stairway made us<br /> + Still fixed remaineth as he was before. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon this side he fell down out of heaven;<br /> + And all the land, that whilom here emerged,<br /> + For fear of him made of the sea a veil, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And came to our hemisphere; and peradventure<br /> + To flee from him, what on this side appears<br /> + Left the place vacant here, and back recoiled.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A place there is below, from Beelzebub<br /> + As far receding as the tomb extends,<br /> + Which not by sight is known, but by the sound +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of a small rivulet, that there descendeth<br /> + Through chasm within the stone, which it has gnawed<br /> + With course that winds about and slightly falls. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Guide and I into that hidden road<br /> + Now entered, to return to the bright world;<br /> + And without care of having any rest +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We mounted up, he first and I the second,<br /> + Till I beheld through a round aperture<br /> + Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1001 ***</div> +</body> + +</html> diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..519ab9d --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #1001 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1001) diff --git a/old/1001-0.txt b/old/1001-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..812657e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1001-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6952 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Divine Comedy, Hell, by Dante Alighieri + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: The Divine Comedy + Hell + +Author: Dante Alighieri + +Translator: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow + +Release Date: August, 1997 [eBook #1001] +[Most recently updated: April 8, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: Dennis McCarthy + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DIVINE COMEDY *** + + + + +The Divine Comedy + +of Dante Alighieri + +Translated by +HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW +INFERNO + + +Contents + +Canto I. The Dark Forest. The Hill of Difficulty. The Panther, the Lion, and the Wolf. Virgil. +Canto II. The Descent. Dante’s Protest and Virgil’s Appeal. The Intercession of the Three Ladies Benedight. +Canto III. The Gate of Hell. The Inefficient or Indifferent. Pope Celestine V. The Shores of Acheron. Charon. The Earthquake and the Swoon. +Canto IV. The First Circle, Limbo: Virtuous Pagans and the Unbaptized. The Four Poets, Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. The Noble Castle of Philosophy. +Canto V. The Second Circle: The Wanton. Minos. The Infernal Hurricane. Francesca da Rimini. +Canto VI. The Third Circle: The Gluttonous. Cerberus. The Eternal Rain. Ciacco. Florence. +Canto VII. The Fourth Circle: The Avaricious and the Prodigal. Plutus. Fortune and her Wheel. The Fifth Circle: The Irascible and the Sullen. Styx. +Canto VIII. Phlegyas. Philippo Argenti. The Gate of the City of Dis. +Canto IX. The Furies and Medusa. The Angel. The City of Dis. The Sixth Circle: Heresiarchs. +Canto X. Farinata and Cavalcante de’ Cavalcanti. Discourse on the Knowledge of the Damned. +Canto XI. The Broken Rocks. Pope Anastasius. General Description of the Inferno and its Divisions. +Canto XII. The Minotaur. The Seventh Circle: The Violent. The River Phlegethon. The Violent against their Neighbours. The Centaurs. Tyrants. +Canto XIII. The Wood of Thorns. The Harpies. The Violent against themselves. Suicides. Pier della Vigna. Lano and Jacopo da Sant’ Andrea. +Canto XIV. The Sand Waste and the Rain of Fire. The Violent against God. Capaneus. The Statue of Time, and the Four Infernal Rivers. +Canto XV. The Violent against Nature. Brunetto Latini. +Canto XVI. Guidoguerra, Aldobrandi, and Rusticucci. Cataract of the River of Blood. +Canto XVII. Geryon. The Violent against Art. Usurers. Descent into the Abyss of Malebolge. +Canto XVIII. The Eighth Circle, Malebolge: The Fraudulent and the Malicious. The First Bolgia: Seducers and Panders. Venedico Caccianimico. Jason. The Second Bolgia: Flatterers. Allessio Interminelli. Thais. +Canto XIX. The Third Bolgia: Simoniacs. Pope Nicholas III. Dante’s Reproof of corrupt Prelates. +Canto XX. The Fourth Bolgia: Soothsayers. Amphiaraus, Tiresias, Aruns, Manto, Eryphylus, Michael Scott, Guido Bonatti, and Asdente. Virgil reproaches Dante’s Pity. Mantua’s Foundation. +Canto XXI. The Fifth Bolgia: Peculators. The Elder of Santa Zita. Malacoda and other Devils. +Canto XXII. Ciampolo, Friar Gomita, and Michael Zanche. The Malabranche quarrel. +Canto XXIII. Escape from the Malabranche. The Sixth Bolgia: Hypocrites. Catalano and Loderingo. Caiaphas. +Canto XXIV. The Seventh Bolgia: Thieves. Vanni Fucci. Serpents. +Canto XXV. Vanni Fucci’s Punishment. Agnello Brunelleschi, Buoso degli Abati, Puccio Sciancato, Cianfa de’ Donati, and Guercio Cavalcanti. +Canto XXVI. The Eighth Bolgia: Evil Counsellors. Ulysses and Diomed. Ulysses’ Last Voyage. +Canto XXVII. Guido da Montefeltro. His deception by Pope Boniface VIII. +Canto XXVIII. The Ninth Bolgia: Schismatics. Mahomet and Ali. Pier da Medicina, Curio, Mosca, and Bertrand de Born. +Canto XXIX. Geri del Bello. The Tenth Bolgia: Alchemists. Griffolino d’ Arezzo and Capocchino. +Canto XXX. Other Falsifiers or Forgers. Gianni Schicchi, Myrrha, Adam of Brescia, Potiphar’s Wife, and Sinon of Troy. +Canto XXXI. The Giants, Nimrod, Ephialtes, and Antaeus. Descent to Cocytus. +Canto XXXII. The Ninth Circle: Traitors. The Frozen Lake of Cocytus. First Division, Caina: Traitors to their Kindred. Camicion de’ Pazzi. Second Division, Antenora: Traitors to their Country. Dante questions Bocca degli Abati. Buoso da Duera. +Canto XXXIII. Count Ugolino and the Archbishop Ruggieri. The Death of Count Ugolino’s Sons. Third Division of the Ninth Circle, Ptolomaea: Traitors to their Friends. Friar Alberigo, Branco d’ Oria. +Canto XXXIV. Fourth Division of the Ninth Circle, the Judecca: Traitors to their Lords and Benefactors. Lucifer, Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius. The Chasm of Lethe. The Ascent. + + + + +Inferno: Canto I + + +Midway upon the journey of our life + I found myself within a forest dark, + For the straightforward pathway had been lost. + +Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say + What was this forest savage, rough, and stern, + Which in the very thought renews the fear. + +So bitter is it, death is little more; + But of the good to treat, which there I found, + Speak will I of the other things I saw there. + +I cannot well repeat how there I entered, + So full was I of slumber at the moment + In which I had abandoned the true way. + +But after I had reached a mountain’s foot, + At that point where the valley terminated, + Which had with consternation pierced my heart, + +Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders, + Vested already with that planet’s rays + Which leadeth others right by every road. + +Then was the fear a little quieted + That in my heart’s lake had endured throughout + The night, which I had passed so piteously. + +And even as he, who, with distressful breath, + Forth issued from the sea upon the shore, + Turns to the water perilous and gazes; + +So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward, + Turn itself back to re-behold the pass + Which never yet a living person left. + +After my weary body I had rested, + The way resumed I on the desert slope, + So that the firm foot ever was the lower. + +And lo! almost where the ascent began, + A panther light and swift exceedingly, + Which with a spotted skin was covered o’er! + +And never moved she from before my face, + Nay, rather did impede so much my way, + That many times I to return had turned. + +The time was the beginning of the morning, + And up the sun was mounting with those stars + That with him were, what time the Love Divine + +At first in motion set those beauteous things; + So were to me occasion of good hope, + The variegated skin of that wild beast, + +The hour of time, and the delicious season; + But not so much, that did not give me fear + A lion’s aspect which appeared to me. + +He seemed as if against me he were coming + With head uplifted, and with ravenous hunger, + So that it seemed the air was afraid of him; + +And a she-wolf, that with all hungerings + Seemed to be laden in her meagreness, + And many folk has caused to live forlorn! + +She brought upon me so much heaviness, + With the affright that from her aspect came, + That I the hope relinquished of the height. + +And as he is who willingly acquires, + And the time comes that causes him to lose, + Who weeps in all his thoughts and is despondent, + +E’en such made me that beast withouten peace, + Which, coming on against me by degrees + Thrust me back thither where the sun is silent. + +While I was rushing downward to the lowland, + Before mine eyes did one present himself, + Who seemed from long-continued silence hoarse. + +When I beheld him in the desert vast, + “Have pity on me,” unto him I cried, + “Whiche’er thou art, or shade or real man!” + +He answered me: “Not man; man once I was, + And both my parents were of Lombardy, + And Mantuans by country both of them. + +‘Sub Julio’ was I born, though it was late, + And lived at Rome under the good Augustus, + During the time of false and lying gods. + +A poet was I, and I sang that just + Son of Anchises, who came forth from Troy, + After that Ilion the superb was burned. + +But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance? + Why climb’st thou not the Mount Delectable, + Which is the source and cause of every joy?” + +“Now, art thou that Virgilius and that fountain + Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech?” + I made response to him with bashful forehead. + +“O, of the other poets honour and light, + Avail me the long study and great love + That have impelled me to explore thy volume! + +Thou art my master, and my author thou, + Thou art alone the one from whom I took + The beautiful style that has done honour to me. + +Behold the beast, for which I have turned back; + Do thou protect me from her, famous Sage, + For she doth make my veins and pulses tremble.” + +“Thee it behoves to take another road,” + Responded he, when he beheld me weeping, + “If from this savage place thou wouldst escape; + +Because this beast, at which thou criest out, + Suffers not any one to pass her way, + But so doth harass him, that she destroys him; + +And has a nature so malign and ruthless, + That never doth she glut her greedy will, + And after food is hungrier than before. + +Many the animals with whom she weds, + And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound + Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain. + +He shall not feed on either earth or pelf, + But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue; + ’Twixt Feltro and Feltro shall his nation be; + +Of that low Italy shall he be the saviour, + On whose account the maid Camilla died, + Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds; + +Through every city shall he hunt her down, + Until he shall have driven her back to Hell, + There from whence envy first did let her loose. + +Therefore I think and judge it for thy best + Thou follow me, and I will be thy guide, + And lead thee hence through the eternal place, + +Where thou shalt hear the desperate lamentations, + Shalt see the ancient spirits disconsolate, + Who cry out each one for the second death; + +And thou shalt see those who contented are + Within the fire, because they hope to come, + Whene’er it may be, to the blessed people; + +To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend, + A soul shall be for that than I more worthy; + With her at my departure I will leave thee; + +Because that Emperor, who reigns above, + In that I was rebellious to his law, + Wills that through me none come into his city. + +He governs everywhere, and there he reigns; + There is his city and his lofty throne; + O happy he whom thereto he elects!” + +And I to him: “Poet, I thee entreat, + By that same God whom thou didst never know, + So that I may escape this woe and worse, + +Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said, + That I may see the portal of Saint Peter, + And those thou makest so disconsolate.” + +Then he moved on, and I behind him followed. + + + + +Inferno: Canto II + + +Day was departing, and the embrowned air + Released the animals that are on earth + From their fatigues; and I the only one + +Made myself ready to sustain the war, + Both of the way and likewise of the woe, + Which memory that errs not shall retrace. + +O Muses, O high genius, now assist me! + O memory, that didst write down what I saw, + Here thy nobility shall be manifest! + +And I began: “Poet, who guidest me, + Regard my manhood, if it be sufficient, + Ere to the arduous pass thou dost confide me. + +Thou sayest, that of Silvius the parent, + While yet corruptible, unto the world + Immortal went, and was there bodily. + +But if the adversary of all evil + Was courteous, thinking of the high effect + That issue would from him, and who, and what, + +To men of intellect unmeet it seems not; + For he was of great Rome, and of her empire + In the empyreal heaven as father chosen; + +The which and what, wishing to speak the truth, + Were stablished as the holy place, wherein + Sits the successor of the greatest Peter. + +Upon this journey, whence thou givest him vaunt, + Things did he hear, which the occasion were + Both of his victory and the papal mantle. + +Thither went afterwards the Chosen Vessel, + To bring back comfort thence unto that Faith, + Which of salvation’s way is the beginning. + +But I, why thither come, or who concedes it? + I not Aeneas am, I am not Paul, + Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it. + +Therefore, if I resign myself to come, + I fear the coming may be ill-advised; + Thou’rt wise, and knowest better than I speak.” + +And as he is, who unwills what he willed, + And by new thoughts doth his intention change, + So that from his design he quite withdraws, + +Such I became, upon that dark hillside, + Because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise, + Which was so very prompt in the beginning. + +“If I have well thy language understood,” + Replied that shade of the Magnanimous, + “Thy soul attainted is with cowardice, + +Which many times a man encumbers so, + It turns him back from honoured enterprise, + As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy. + +That thou mayst free thee from this apprehension, + I’ll tell thee why I came, and what I heard + At the first moment when I grieved for thee. + +Among those was I who are in suspense, + And a fair, saintly Lady called to me + In such wise, I besought her to command me. + +Her eyes where shining brighter than the Star; + And she began to say, gentle and low, + With voice angelical, in her own language: + +‘O spirit courteous of Mantua, + Of whom the fame still in the world endures, + And shall endure, long-lasting as the world; + +A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune, + Upon the desert slope is so impeded + Upon his way, that he has turned through terror, + +And may, I fear, already be so lost, + That I too late have risen to his succour, + From that which I have heard of him in Heaven. + +Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate, + And with what needful is for his release, + Assist him so, that I may be consoled. + +Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go; + I come from there, where I would fain return; + Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak. + +When I shall be in presence of my Lord, + Full often will I praise thee unto him.’ + Then paused she, and thereafter I began: + +‘O Lady of virtue, thou alone through whom + The human race exceedeth all contained + Within the heaven that has the lesser circles, + +So grateful unto me is thy commandment, + To obey, if ’twere already done, were late; + No farther need’st thou ope to me thy wish. + +But the cause tell me why thou dost not shun + The here descending down into this centre, + From the vast place thou burnest to return to.’ + +‘Since thou wouldst fain so inwardly discern, + Briefly will I relate,’ she answered me, + ‘Why I am not afraid to enter here. + +Of those things only should one be afraid + Which have the power of doing others harm; + Of the rest, no; because they are not fearful. + +God in his mercy such created me + That misery of yours attains me not, + Nor any flame assails me of this burning. + +A gentle Lady is in Heaven, who grieves + At this impediment, to which I send thee, + So that stern judgment there above is broken. + +In her entreaty she besought Lucia, + And said, “Thy faithful one now stands in need + Of thee, and unto thee I recommend him.” + +Lucia, foe of all that cruel is, + Hastened away, and came unto the place + Where I was sitting with the ancient Rachel. + +“Beatrice” said she, “the true praise of God, + Why succourest thou not him, who loved thee so, + For thee he issued from the vulgar herd? + +Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint? + Dost thou not see the death that combats him + Beside that flood, where ocean has no vaunt?” + +Never were persons in the world so swift + To work their weal and to escape their woe, + As I, after such words as these were uttered, + +Came hither downward from my blessed seat, + Confiding in thy dignified discourse, + Which honours thee, and those who’ve listened to it.’ + +After she thus had spoken unto me, + Weeping, her shining eyes she turned away; + Whereby she made me swifter in my coming; + +And unto thee I came, as she desired; + I have delivered thee from that wild beast, + Which barred the beautiful mountain’s short ascent. + +What is it, then? Why, why dost thou delay? + Why is such baseness bedded in thy heart? + Daring and hardihood why hast thou not, + +Seeing that three such Ladies benedight + Are caring for thee in the court of Heaven, + And so much good my speech doth promise thee?” + +Even as the flowerets, by nocturnal chill, + Bowed down and closed, when the sun whitens them, + Uplift themselves all open on their stems; + +Such I became with my exhausted strength, + And such good courage to my heart there coursed, + That I began, like an intrepid person: + +“O she compassionate, who succoured me, + And courteous thou, who hast obeyed so soon + The words of truth which she addressed to thee! + +Thou hast my heart so with desire disposed + To the adventure, with these words of thine, + That to my first intent I have returned. + +Now go, for one sole will is in us both, + Thou Leader, and thou Lord, and Master thou.” + Thus said I to him; and when he had moved, + +I entered on the deep and savage way. + + + + +Inferno: Canto III + + +“Through me the way is to the city dolent; + Through me the way is to eternal dole; + Through me the way among the people lost. + +Justice incited my sublime Creator; + Created me divine Omnipotence, + The highest Wisdom and the primal Love. + +Before me there were no created things, + Only eterne, and I eternal last. + All hope abandon, ye who enter in!” + +These words in sombre colour I beheld + Written upon the summit of a gate; + Whence I: “Their sense is, Master, hard to me!” + +And he to me, as one experienced: + “Here all suspicion needs must be abandoned, + All cowardice must needs be here extinct. + +We to the place have come, where I have told thee + Thou shalt behold the people dolorous + Who have foregone the good of intellect.” + +And after he had laid his hand on mine + With joyful mien, whence I was comforted, + He led me in among the secret things. + +There sighs, complaints, and ululations loud + Resounded through the air without a star, + Whence I, at the beginning, wept thereat. + +Languages diverse, horrible dialects, + Accents of anger, words of agony, + And voices high and hoarse, with sound of hands, + +Made up a tumult that goes whirling on + For ever in that air for ever black, + Even as the sand doth, when the whirlwind breathes. + +And I, who had my head with horror bound, + Said: “Master, what is this which now I hear? + What folk is this, which seems by pain so vanquished?” + +And he to me: “This miserable mode + Maintain the melancholy souls of those + Who lived withouten infamy or praise. + +Commingled are they with that caitiff choir + Of Angels, who have not rebellious been, + Nor faithful were to God, but were for self. + +The heavens expelled them, not to be less fair; + Nor them the nethermore abyss receives, + For glory none the damned would have from them.” + +And I: “O Master, what so grievous is + To these, that maketh them lament so sore?” + He answered: “I will tell thee very briefly. + +These have no longer any hope of death; + And this blind life of theirs is so debased, + They envious are of every other fate. + +No fame of them the world permits to be; + Misericord and Justice both disdain them. + Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass.” + +And I, who looked again, beheld a banner, + Which, whirling round, ran on so rapidly, + That of all pause it seemed to me indignant; + +And after it there came so long a train + Of people, that I ne’er would have believed + That ever Death so many had undone. + +When some among them I had recognised, + I looked, and I beheld the shade of him + Who made through cowardice the great refusal. + +Forthwith I comprehended, and was certain, + That this the sect was of the caitiff wretches + Hateful to God and to his enemies. + +These miscreants, who never were alive, + Were naked, and were stung exceedingly + By gadflies and by hornets that were there. + +These did their faces irrigate with blood, + Which, with their tears commingled, at their feet + By the disgusting worms was gathered up. + +And when to gazing farther I betook me. + People I saw on a great river’s bank; + Whence said I: “Master, now vouchsafe to me, + +That I may know who these are, and what law + Makes them appear so ready to pass over, + As I discern athwart the dusky light.” + +And he to me: “These things shall all be known + To thee, as soon as we our footsteps stay + Upon the dismal shore of Acheron.” + +Then with mine eyes ashamed and downward cast, + Fearing my words might irksome be to him, + From speech refrained I till we reached the river. + +And lo! towards us coming in a boat + An old man, hoary with the hair of eld, + Crying: “Woe unto you, ye souls depraved! + +Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens; + I come to lead you to the other shore, + To the eternal shades in heat and frost. + +And thou, that yonder standest, living soul, + Withdraw thee from these people, who are dead!” + But when he saw that I did not withdraw, + +He said: “By other ways, by other ports + Thou to the shore shalt come, not here, for passage; + A lighter vessel needs must carry thee.” + +And unto him the Guide: “Vex thee not, Charon; + It is so willed there where is power to do + That which is willed; and farther question not.” + +Thereat were quieted the fleecy cheeks + Of him the ferryman of the livid fen, + Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame. + +But all those souls who weary were and naked + Their colour changed and gnashed their teeth together, + As soon as they had heard those cruel words. + +God they blasphemed and their progenitors, + The human race, the place, the time, the seed + Of their engendering and of their birth! + +Thereafter all together they drew back, + Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore, + Which waiteth every man who fears not God. + +Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede, + Beckoning to them, collects them all together, + Beats with his oar whoever lags behind. + +As in the autumn-time the leaves fall off, + First one and then another, till the branch + Unto the earth surrenders all its spoils; + +In similar wise the evil seed of Adam + Throw themselves from that margin one by one, + At signals, as a bird unto its lure. + +So they depart across the dusky wave, + And ere upon the other side they land, + Again on this side a new troop assembles. + +“My son,” the courteous Master said to me, + “All those who perish in the wrath of God + Here meet together out of every land; + +And ready are they to pass o’er the river, + Because celestial Justice spurs them on, + So that their fear is turned into desire. + +This way there never passes a good soul; + And hence if Charon doth complain of thee, + Well mayst thou know now what his speech imports.” + +This being finished, all the dusk champaign + Trembled so violently, that of that terror + The recollection bathes me still with sweat. + +The land of tears gave forth a blast of wind, + And fulminated a vermilion light, + Which overmastered in me every sense, + +And as a man whom sleep hath seized I fell. + + + + +Inferno: Canto IV + + +Broke the deep lethargy within my head + A heavy thunder, so that I upstarted, + Like to a person who by force is wakened; + +And round about I moved my rested eyes, + Uprisen erect, and steadfastly I gazed, + To recognise the place wherein I was. + +True is it, that upon the verge I found me + Of the abysmal valley dolorous, + That gathers thunder of infinite ululations. + +Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous, + So that by fixing on its depths my sight + Nothing whatever I discerned therein. + +“Let us descend now into the blind world,” + Began the Poet, pallid utterly; + “I will be first, and thou shalt second be.” + +And I, who of his colour was aware, + Said: “How shall I come, if thou art afraid, + Who’rt wont to be a comfort to my fears?” + +And he to me: “The anguish of the people + Who are below here in my face depicts + That pity which for terror thou hast taken. + +Let us go on, for the long way impels us.” + Thus he went in, and thus he made me enter + The foremost circle that surrounds the abyss. + +There, as it seemed to me from listening, + Were lamentations none, but only sighs, + That tremble made the everlasting air. + +And this arose from sorrow without torment, + Which the crowds had, that many were and great, + Of infants and of women and of men. + +To me the Master good: “Thou dost not ask + What spirits these, which thou beholdest, are? + Now will I have thee know, ere thou go farther, + +That they sinned not; and if they merit had, + ’Tis not enough, because they had not baptism + Which is the portal of the Faith thou holdest; + +And if they were before Christianity, + In the right manner they adored not God; + And among such as these am I myself. + +For such defects, and not for other guilt, + Lost are we and are only so far punished, + That without hope we live on in desire.” + +Great grief seized on my heart when this I heard, + Because some people of much worthiness + I knew, who in that Limbo were suspended. + +“Tell me, my Master, tell me, thou my Lord,” + Began I, with desire of being certain + Of that Faith which o’ercometh every error, + +“Came any one by his own merit hence, + Or by another’s, who was blessed thereafter?” + And he, who understood my covert speech, + +Replied: “I was a novice in this state, + When I saw hither come a Mighty One, + With sign of victory incoronate. + +Hence he drew forth the shade of the First Parent, + And that of his son Abel, and of Noah, + Of Moses the lawgiver, and the obedient + +Abraham, patriarch, and David, king, + Israel with his father and his children, + And Rachel, for whose sake he did so much, + +And others many, and he made them blessed; + And thou must know, that earlier than these + Never were any human spirits saved.” + +We ceased not to advance because he spake, + But still were passing onward through the forest, + The forest, say I, of thick-crowded ghosts. + +Not very far as yet our way had gone + This side the summit, when I saw a fire + That overcame a hemisphere of darkness. + +We were a little distant from it still, + But not so far that I in part discerned not + That honourable people held that place. + +“O thou who honourest every art and science, + Who may these be, which such great honour have, + That from the fashion of the rest it parts them?” + +And he to me: “The honourable name, + That sounds of them above there in thy life, + Wins grace in Heaven, that so advances them.” + +In the mean time a voice was heard by me: + “All honour be to the pre-eminent Poet; + His shade returns again, that was departed.” + +After the voice had ceased and quiet was, + Four mighty shades I saw approaching us; + Semblance had they nor sorrowful nor glad. + +To say to me began my gracious Master: + “Him with that falchion in his hand behold, + Who comes before the three, even as their lord. + +That one is Homer, Poet sovereign; + He who comes next is Horace, the satirist; + The third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan. + +Because to each of these with me applies + The name that solitary voice proclaimed, + They do me honour, and in that do well.” + +Thus I beheld assemble the fair school + Of that lord of the song pre-eminent, + Who o’er the others like an eagle soars. + +When they together had discoursed somewhat, + They turned to me with signs of salutation, + And on beholding this, my Master smiled; + +And more of honour still, much more, they did me, + In that they made me one of their own band; + So that the sixth was I, ’mid so much wit. + +Thus we went on as far as to the light, + Things saying ’tis becoming to keep silent, + As was the saying of them where I was. + +We came unto a noble castle’s foot, + Seven times encompassed with lofty walls, + Defended round by a fair rivulet; + +This we passed over even as firm ground; + Through portals seven I entered with these Sages; + We came into a meadow of fresh verdure. + +People were there with solemn eyes and slow, + Of great authority in their countenance; + They spake but seldom, and with gentle voices. + +Thus we withdrew ourselves upon one side + Into an opening luminous and lofty, + So that they all of them were visible. + +There opposite, upon the green enamel, + Were pointed out to me the mighty spirits, + Whom to have seen I feel myself exalted. + +I saw Electra with companions many, + ’Mongst whom I knew both Hector and Aeneas, + Caesar in armour with gerfalcon eyes; + +I saw Camilla and Penthesilea + On the other side, and saw the King Latinus, + Who with Lavinia his daughter sat; + +I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin forth, + Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia, + And saw alone, apart, the Saladin. + +When I had lifted up my brows a little, + The Master I beheld of those who know, + Sit with his philosophic family. + +All gaze upon him, and all do him honour. + There I beheld both Socrates and Plato, + Who nearer him before the others stand; + +Democritus, who puts the world on chance, + Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales, + Zeno, Empedocles, and Heraclitus; + +Of qualities I saw the good collector, + Hight Dioscorides; and Orpheus saw I, + Tully and Livy, and moral Seneca, + +Euclid, geometrician, and Ptolemy, + Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicenna, + Averroes, who the great Comment made. + +I cannot all of them pourtray in full, + Because so drives me onward the long theme, + That many times the word comes short of fact. + +The sixfold company in two divides; + Another way my sapient Guide conducts me + Forth from the quiet to the air that trembles; + +And to a place I come where nothing shines. + + + + +Inferno: Canto V + + +Thus I descended out of the first circle + Down to the second, that less space begirds, + And so much greater dole, that goads to wailing. + +There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls; + Examines the transgressions at the entrance; + Judges, and sends according as he girds him. + +I say, that when the spirit evil-born + Cometh before him, wholly it confesses; + And this discriminator of transgressions + +Seeth what place in Hell is meet for it; + Girds himself with his tail as many times + As grades he wishes it should be thrust down. + +Always before him many of them stand; + They go by turns each one unto the judgment; + They speak, and hear, and then are downward hurled. + +“O thou, that to this dolorous hostelry + Comest,” said Minos to me, when he saw me, + Leaving the practice of so great an office, + +“Look how thou enterest, and in whom thou trustest; + Let not the portal’s amplitude deceive thee.” + And unto him my Guide: “Why criest thou too? + +Do not impede his journey fate-ordained; + It is so willed there where is power to do + That which is willed; and ask no further question.” + +And now begin the dolesome notes to grow + Audible unto me; now am I come + There where much lamentation strikes upon me. + +I came into a place mute of all light, + Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest, + If by opposing winds ’t is combated. + +The infernal hurricane that never rests + Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine; + Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. + +When they arrive before the precipice, + There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments, + There they blaspheme the puissance divine. + +I understood that unto such a torment + The carnal malefactors were condemned, + Who reason subjugate to appetite. + +And as the wings of starlings bear them on + In the cold season in large band and full, + So doth that blast the spirits maledict; + +It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them; + No hope doth comfort them for evermore, + Not of repose, but even of lesser pain. + +And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays, + Making in air a long line of themselves, + So saw I coming, uttering lamentations, + +Shadows borne onward by the aforesaid stress. + Whereupon said I: “Master, who are those + People, whom the black air so castigates?” + +“The first of those, of whom intelligence + Thou fain wouldst have,” then said he unto me, + “The empress was of many languages. + +To sensual vices she was so abandoned, + That lustful she made licit in her law, + To remove the blame to which she had been led. + +She is Semiramis, of whom we read + That she succeeded Ninus, and was his spouse; + She held the land which now the Sultan rules. + +The next is she who killed herself for love, + And broke faith with the ashes of Sichaeus; + Then Cleopatra the voluptuous.” + +Helen I saw, for whom so many ruthless + Seasons revolved; and saw the great Achilles, + Who at the last hour combated with Love. + +Paris I saw, Tristan; and more than a thousand + Shades did he name and point out with his finger, + Whom Love had separated from our life. + +After that I had listened to my Teacher, + Naming the dames of eld and cavaliers, + Pity prevailed, and I was nigh bewildered. + +And I began: “O Poet, willingly + Speak would I to those two, who go together, + And seem upon the wind to be so light.” + +And, he to me: “Thou’lt mark, when they shall be + Nearer to us; and then do thou implore them + By love which leadeth them, and they will come.” + +Soon as the wind in our direction sways them, + My voice uplift I: “O ye weary souls! + Come speak to us, if no one interdicts it.” + +As turtle-doves, called onward by desire, + With open and steady wings to the sweet nest + Fly through the air by their volition borne, + +So came they from the band where Dido is, + Approaching us athwart the air malign, + So strong was the affectionate appeal. + +“O living creature gracious and benignant, + Who visiting goest through the purple air + Us, who have stained the world incarnadine, + +If were the King of the Universe our friend, + We would pray unto him to give thee peace, + Since thou hast pity on our woe perverse. + +Of what it pleases thee to hear and speak, + That will we hear, and we will speak to you, + While silent is the wind, as it is now. + +Sitteth the city, wherein I was born, + Upon the sea-shore where the Po descends + To rest in peace with all his retinue. + +Love, that on gentle heart doth swiftly seize, + Seized this man for the person beautiful + That was ta’en from me, and still the mode offends me. + +Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving, + Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly, + That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me; + +Love has conducted us unto one death; + Caina waiteth him who quenched our life!” + These words were borne along from them to us. + +As soon as I had heard those souls tormented, + I bowed my face, and so long held it down + Until the Poet said to me: “What thinkest?” + +When I made answer, I began: “Alas! + How many pleasant thoughts, how much desire, + Conducted these unto the dolorous pass!” + +Then unto them I turned me, and I spake, + And I began: “Thine agonies, Francesca, + Sad and compassionate to weeping make me. + +But tell me, at the time of those sweet sighs, + By what and in what manner Love conceded, + That you should know your dubious desires?” + +And she to me: “There is no greater sorrow + Than to be mindful of the happy time + In misery, and that thy Teacher knows. + +But, if to recognise the earliest root + Of love in us thou hast so great desire, + I will do even as he who weeps and speaks. + +One day we reading were for our delight + Of Launcelot, how Love did him enthral. + Alone we were and without any fear. + +Full many a time our eyes together drew + That reading, and drove the colour from our faces; + But one point only was it that o’ercame us. + +When as we read of the much-longed-for smile + Being by such a noble lover kissed, + This one, who ne’er from me shall be divided, + +Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating. + Galeotto was the book and he who wrote it. + That day no farther did we read therein.” + +And all the while one spirit uttered this, + The other one did weep so, that, for pity, + I swooned away as if I had been dying, + +And fell, even as a dead body falls. + + + + +Inferno: Canto VI + + +At the return of consciousness, that closed + Before the pity of those two relations, + Which utterly with sadness had confused me, + +New torments I behold, and new tormented + Around me, whichsoever way I move, + And whichsoever way I turn, and gaze. + +In the third circle am I of the rain + Eternal, maledict, and cold, and heavy; + Its law and quality are never new. + +Huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow, + Athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain; + Noisome the earth is, that receiveth this. + +Cerberus, monster cruel and uncouth, + With his three gullets like a dog is barking + Over the people that are there submerged. + +Red eyes he has, and unctuous beard and black, + And belly large, and armed with claws his hands; + He rends the spirits, flays, and quarters them. + +Howl the rain maketh them like unto dogs; + One side they make a shelter for the other; + Oft turn themselves the wretched reprobates. + +When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm! + His mouths he opened, and displayed his tusks; + Not a limb had he that was motionless. + +And my Conductor, with his spans extended, + Took of the earth, and with his fists well filled, + He threw it into those rapacious gullets. + +Such as that dog is, who by barking craves, + And quiet grows soon as his food he gnaws, + For to devour it he but thinks and struggles, + +The like became those muzzles filth-begrimed + Of Cerberus the demon, who so thunders + Over the souls that they would fain be deaf. + +We passed across the shadows, which subdues + The heavy rain-storm, and we placed our feet + Upon their vanity that person seems. + +They all were lying prone upon the earth, + Excepting one, who sat upright as soon + As he beheld us passing on before him. + +“O thou that art conducted through this Hell,” + He said to me, “recall me, if thou canst; + Thyself wast made before I was unmade.” + +And I to him: “The anguish which thou hast + Perhaps doth draw thee out of my remembrance, + So that it seems not I have ever seen thee. + +But tell me who thou art, that in so doleful + A place art put, and in such punishment, + If some are greater, none is so displeasing.” + +And he to me: “Thy city, which is full + Of envy so that now the sack runs over, + Held me within it in the life serene. + +You citizens were wont to call me Ciacco; + For the pernicious sin of gluttony + I, as thou seest, am battered by this rain. + +And I, sad soul, am not the only one, + For all these suffer the like penalty + For the like sin;” and word no more spake he. + +I answered him: “Ciacco, thy wretchedness + Weighs on me so that it to weep invites me; + But tell me, if thou knowest, to what shall come + +The citizens of the divided city; + If any there be just; and the occasion + Tell me why so much discord has assailed it.” + +And he to me: “They, after long contention, + Will come to bloodshed; and the rustic party + Will drive the other out with much offence. + +Then afterwards behoves it this one fall + Within three suns, and rise again the other + By force of him who now is on the coast. + +High will it hold its forehead a long while, + Keeping the other under heavy burdens, + Howe’er it weeps thereat and is indignant. + +The just are two, and are not understood there; + Envy and Arrogance and Avarice + Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled.” + +Here ended he his tearful utterance; + And I to him: “I wish thee still to teach me, + And make a gift to me of further speech. + +Farinata and Tegghiaio, once so worthy, + Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca, + And others who on good deeds set their thoughts, + +Say where they are, and cause that I may know them; + For great desire constraineth me to learn + If Heaven doth sweeten them, or Hell envenom.” + +And he: “They are among the blacker souls; + A different sin downweighs them to the bottom; + If thou so far descendest, thou canst see them. + +But when thou art again in the sweet world, + I pray thee to the mind of others bring me; + No more I tell thee and no more I answer.” + +Then his straightforward eyes he turned askance, + Eyed me a little, and then bowed his head; + He fell therewith prone like the other blind. + +And the Guide said to me: “He wakes no more + This side the sound of the angelic trumpet; + When shall approach the hostile Potentate, + +Each one shall find again his dismal tomb, + Shall reassume his flesh and his own figure, + Shall hear what through eternity re-echoes.” + +So we passed onward o’er the filthy mixture + Of shadows and of rain with footsteps slow, + Touching a little on the future life. + +Wherefore I said: “Master, these torments here, + Will they increase after the mighty sentence, + Or lesser be, or will they be as burning?” + +And he to me: “Return unto thy science, + Which wills, that as the thing more perfect is, + The more it feels of pleasure and of pain. + +Albeit that this people maledict + To true perfection never can attain, + Hereafter more than now they look to be.” + +Round in a circle by that road we went, + Speaking much more, which I do not repeat; + We came unto the point where the descent is; + +There we found Plutus the great enemy. + + + + +Inferno: Canto VII + + +“Pape Satan, Pape Satan, Aleppe!” + Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began; + And that benignant Sage, who all things knew, + +Said, to encourage me: “Let not thy fear + Harm thee; for any power that he may have + Shall not prevent thy going down this crag.” + +Then he turned round unto that bloated lip, + And said: “Be silent, thou accursed wolf; + Consume within thyself with thine own rage. + +Not causeless is this journey to the abyss; + Thus is it willed on high, where Michael wrought + Vengeance upon the proud adultery.” + +Even as the sails inflated by the wind + Involved together fall when snaps the mast, + So fell the cruel monster to the earth. + +Thus we descended into the fourth chasm, + Gaining still farther on the dolesome shore + Which all the woe of the universe insacks. + +Justice of God, ah! who heaps up so many + New toils and sufferings as I beheld? + And why doth our transgression waste us so? + +As doth the billow there upon Charybdis, + That breaks itself on that which it encounters, + So here the folk must dance their roundelay. + +Here saw I people, more than elsewhere, many, + On one side and the other, with great howls, + Rolling weights forward by main force of chest. + +They clashed together, and then at that point + Each one turned backward, rolling retrograde, + Crying, “Why keepest?” and, “Why squanderest thou?” + +Thus they returned along the lurid circle + On either hand unto the opposite point, + Shouting their shameful metre evermore. + +Then each, when he arrived there, wheeled about + Through his half-circle to another joust; + And I, who had my heart pierced as it were, + +Exclaimed: “My Master, now declare to me + What people these are, and if all were clerks, + These shaven crowns upon the left of us.” + +And he to me: “All of them were asquint + In intellect in the first life, so much + That there with measure they no spending made. + +Clearly enough their voices bark it forth, + Whene’er they reach the two points of the circle, + Where sunders them the opposite defect. + +Clerks those were who no hairy covering + Have on the head, and Popes and Cardinals, + In whom doth Avarice practise its excess.” + +And I: “My Master, among such as these + I ought forsooth to recognise some few, + Who were infected with these maladies.” + +And he to me: “Vain thought thou entertainest; + The undiscerning life which made them sordid + Now makes them unto all discernment dim. + +Forever shall they come to these two buttings; + These from the sepulchre shall rise again + With the fist closed, and these with tresses shorn. + +Ill giving and ill keeping the fair world + Have ta’en from them, and placed them in this scuffle; + Whate’er it be, no words adorn I for it. + +Now canst thou, Son, behold the transient farce + Of goods that are committed unto Fortune, + For which the human race each other buffet; + +For all the gold that is beneath the moon, + Or ever has been, of these weary souls + Could never make a single one repose.” + +“Master,” I said to him, “now tell me also + What is this Fortune which thou speakest of, + That has the world’s goods so within its clutches?” + +And he to me: “O creatures imbecile, + What ignorance is this which doth beset you? + Now will I have thee learn my judgment of her. + +He whose omniscience everything transcends + The heavens created, and gave who should guide them, + That every part to every part may shine, + +Distributing the light in equal measure; + He in like manner to the mundane splendours + Ordained a general ministress and guide, + +That she might change at times the empty treasures + From race to race, from one blood to another, + Beyond resistance of all human wisdom. + +Therefore one people triumphs, and another + Languishes, in pursuance of her judgment, + Which hidden is, as in the grass a serpent. + +Your knowledge has no counterstand against her; + She makes provision, judges, and pursues + Her governance, as theirs the other gods. + +Her permutations have not any truce; + Necessity makes her precipitate, + So often cometh who his turn obtains. + +And this is she who is so crucified + Even by those who ought to give her praise, + Giving her blame amiss, and bad repute. + +But she is blissful, and she hears it not; + Among the other primal creatures gladsome + She turns her sphere, and blissful she rejoices. + +Let us descend now unto greater woe; + Already sinks each star that was ascending + When I set out, and loitering is forbidden.” + +We crossed the circle to the other bank, + Near to a fount that boils, and pours itself + Along a gully that runs out of it. + +The water was more sombre far than perse; + And we, in company with the dusky waves, + Made entrance downward by a path uncouth. + +A marsh it makes, which has the name of Styx, + This tristful brooklet, when it has descended + Down to the foot of the malign gray shores. + +And I, who stood intent upon beholding, + Saw people mud-besprent in that lagoon, + All of them naked and with angry look. + +They smote each other not alone with hands, + But with the head and with the breast and feet, + Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth. + +Said the good Master: “Son, thou now beholdest + The souls of those whom anger overcame; + And likewise I would have thee know for certain + +Beneath the water people are who sigh + And make this water bubble at the surface, + As the eye tells thee wheresoe’er it turns. + +Fixed in the mire they say, ‘We sullen were + In the sweet air, which by the sun is gladdened, + Bearing within ourselves the sluggish reek; + +Now we are sullen in this sable mire.’ + This hymn do they keep gurgling in their throats, + For with unbroken words they cannot say it.” + +Thus we went circling round the filthy fen + A great arc ’twixt the dry bank and the swamp, + With eyes turned unto those who gorge the mire; + +Unto the foot of a tower we came at last. + + + + +Inferno: Canto VIII + + +I say, continuing, that long before + We to the foot of that high tower had come, + Our eyes went upward to the summit of it, + +By reason of two flamelets we saw placed there, + And from afar another answer them, + So far, that hardly could the eye attain it. + +And, to the sea of all discernment turned, + I said: “What sayeth this, and what respondeth + That other fire? and who are they that made it?” + +And he to me: “Across the turbid waves + What is expected thou canst now discern, + If reek of the morass conceal it not.” + +Cord never shot an arrow from itself + That sped away athwart the air so swift, + As I beheld a very little boat + +Come o’er the water tow’rds us at that moment, + Under the guidance of a single pilot, + Who shouted, “Now art thou arrived, fell soul?” + +“Phlegyas, Phlegyas, thou criest out in vain + For this once,” said my Lord; “thou shalt not have us + Longer than in the passing of the slough.” + +As he who listens to some great deceit + That has been done to him, and then resents it, + Such became Phlegyas, in his gathered wrath. + +My Guide descended down into the boat, + And then he made me enter after him, + And only when I entered seemed it laden. + +Soon as the Guide and I were in the boat, + The antique prow goes on its way, dividing + More of the water than ’tis wont with others. + +While we were running through the dead canal, + Uprose in front of me one full of mire, + And said, “Who ’rt thou that comest ere the hour?” + +And I to him: “Although I come, I stay not; + But who art thou that hast become so squalid?” + “Thou seest that I am one who weeps,” he answered. + +And I to him: “With weeping and with wailing, + Thou spirit maledict, do thou remain; + For thee I know, though thou art all defiled.” + +Then stretched he both his hands unto the boat; + Whereat my wary Master thrust him back, + Saying, “Away there with the other dogs!” + +Thereafter with his arms he clasped my neck; + He kissed my face, and said: “Disdainful soul, + Blessed be she who bore thee in her bosom. + +That was an arrogant person in the world; + Goodness is none, that decks his memory; + So likewise here his shade is furious. + +How many are esteemed great kings up there, + Who here shall be like unto swine in mire, + Leaving behind them horrible dispraises!” + +And I: “My Master, much should I be pleased, + If I could see him soused into this broth, + Before we issue forth out of the lake.” + +And he to me: “Ere unto thee the shore + Reveal itself, thou shalt be satisfied; + Such a desire ’tis meet thou shouldst enjoy.” + +A little after that, I saw such havoc + Made of him by the people of the mire, + That still I praise and thank my God for it. + +They all were shouting, “At Philippo Argenti!” + And that exasperate spirit Florentine + Turned round upon himself with his own teeth. + +We left him there, and more of him I tell not; + But on mine ears there smote a lamentation, + Whence forward I intent unbar mine eyes. + +And the good Master said: “Even now, my Son, + The city draweth near whose name is Dis, + With the grave citizens, with the great throng.” + +And I: “Its mosques already, Master, clearly + Within there in the valley I discern + Vermilion, as if issuing from the fire + +They were.” And he to me: “The fire eternal + That kindles them within makes them look red, + As thou beholdest in this nether Hell.” + +Then we arrived within the moats profound, + That circumvallate that disconsolate city; + The walls appeared to me to be of iron. + +Not without making first a circuit wide, + We came unto a place where loud the pilot + Cried out to us, “Debark, here is the entrance.” + +More than a thousand at the gates I saw + Out of the Heavens rained down, who angrily + Were saying, “Who is this that without death + +Goes through the kingdom of the people dead?” + And my sagacious Master made a sign + Of wishing secretly to speak with them. + +A little then they quelled their great disdain, + And said: “Come thou alone, and he begone + Who has so boldly entered these dominions. + +Let him return alone by his mad road; + Try, if he can; for thou shalt here remain, + Who hast escorted him through such dark regions.” + +Think, Reader, if I was discomforted + At utterance of the accursed words; + For never to return here I believed. + +“O my dear Guide, who more than seven times + Hast rendered me security, and drawn me + From imminent peril that before me stood, + +Do not desert me,” said I, “thus undone; + And if the going farther be denied us, + Let us retrace our steps together swiftly.” + +And that Lord, who had led me thitherward, + Said unto me: “Fear not; because our passage + None can take from us, it by Such is given. + +But here await me, and thy weary spirit + Comfort and nourish with a better hope; + For in this nether world I will not leave thee.” + +So onward goes and there abandons me + My Father sweet, and I remain in doubt, + For No and Yes within my head contend. + +I could not hear what he proposed to them; + But with them there he did not linger long, + Ere each within in rivalry ran back. + +They closed the portals, those our adversaries, + On my Lord’s breast, who had remained without + And turned to me with footsteps far between. + +His eyes cast down, his forehead shorn had he + Of all its boldness, and he said, with sighs, + “Who has denied to me the dolesome houses?” + +And unto me: “Thou, because I am angry, + Fear not, for I will conquer in the trial, + Whatever for defence within be planned. + +This arrogance of theirs is nothing new; + For once they used it at less secret gate, + Which finds itself without a fastening still. + +O’er it didst thou behold the dead inscription; + And now this side of it descends the steep, + Passing across the circles without escort, + +One by whose means the city shall be opened.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto IX + + +That hue which cowardice brought out on me, + Beholding my Conductor backward turn, + Sooner repressed within him his new colour. + +He stopped attentive, like a man who listens, + Because the eye could not conduct him far + Through the black air, and through the heavy fog. + +“Still it behoveth us to win the fight,” + Began he; “Else. . .Such offered us herself. . . + O how I long that some one here arrive!” + +Well I perceived, as soon as the beginning + He covered up with what came afterward, + That they were words quite different from the first; + +But none the less his saying gave me fear, + Because I carried out the broken phrase, + Perhaps to a worse meaning than he had. + +“Into this bottom of the doleful conch + Doth any e’er descend from the first grade, + Which for its pain has only hope cut off?” + +This question put I; and he answered me: + “Seldom it comes to pass that one of us + Maketh the journey upon which I go. + +True is it, once before I here below + Was conjured by that pitiless Erictho, + Who summoned back the shades unto their bodies. + +Naked of me short while the flesh had been, + Before within that wall she made me enter, + To bring a spirit from the circle of Judas; + +That is the lowest region and the darkest, + And farthest from the heaven which circles all. + Well know I the way; therefore be reassured. + +This fen, which a prodigious stench exhales, + Encompasses about the city dolent, + Where now we cannot enter without anger.” + +And more he said, but not in mind I have it; + Because mine eye had altogether drawn me + Tow’rds the high tower with the red-flaming summit, + +Where in a moment saw I swift uprisen + The three infernal Furies stained with blood, + Who had the limbs of women and their mien, + +And with the greenest hydras were begirt; + Small serpents and cerastes were their tresses, + Wherewith their horrid temples were entwined. + +And he who well the handmaids of the Queen + Of everlasting lamentation knew, + Said unto me: “Behold the fierce Erinnys. + +This is Megaera, on the left-hand side; + She who is weeping on the right, Alecto; + Tisiphone is between;” and then was silent. + +Each one her breast was rending with her nails; + They beat them with their palms, and cried so loud, + That I for dread pressed close unto the Poet. + +“Medusa come, so we to stone will change him!” + All shouted looking down; “in evil hour + Avenged we not on Theseus his assault!” + +“Turn thyself round, and keep thine eyes close shut, + For if the Gorgon appear, and thou shouldst see it, + No more returning upward would there be.” + +Thus said the Master; and he turned me round + Himself, and trusted not unto my hands + So far as not to blind me with his own. + +O ye who have undistempered intellects, + Observe the doctrine that conceals itself + Beneath the veil of the mysterious verses! + +And now there came across the turbid waves + The clangour of a sound with terror fraught, + Because of which both of the margins trembled; + +Not otherwise it was than of a wind + Impetuous on account of adverse heats, + That smites the forest, and, without restraint, + +The branches rends, beats down, and bears away; + Right onward, laden with dust, it goes superb, + And puts to flight the wild beasts and the shepherds. + +Mine eyes he loosed, and said: “Direct the nerve + Of vision now along that ancient foam, + There yonder where that smoke is most intense.” + +Even as the frogs before the hostile serpent + Across the water scatter all abroad, + Until each one is huddled in the earth. + +More than a thousand ruined souls I saw, + Thus fleeing from before one who on foot + Was passing o’er the Styx with soles unwet. + +From off his face he fanned that unctuous air, + Waving his left hand oft in front of him, + And only with that anguish seemed he weary. + +Well I perceived one sent from Heaven was he, + And to the Master turned; and he made sign + That I should quiet stand, and bow before him. + +Ah! how disdainful he appeared to me! + He reached the gate, and with a little rod + He opened it, for there was no resistance. + +“O banished out of Heaven, people despised!” + Thus he began upon the horrid threshold; + “Whence is this arrogance within you couched? + +Wherefore recalcitrate against that will, + From which the end can never be cut off, + And which has many times increased your pain? + +What helpeth it to butt against the fates? + Your Cerberus, if you remember well, + For that still bears his chin and gullet peeled.” + +Then he returned along the miry road, + And spake no word to us, but had the look + Of one whom other care constrains and goads + +Than that of him who in his presence is; + And we our feet directed tow’rds the city, + After those holy words all confident. + +Within we entered without any contest; + And I, who inclination had to see + What the condition such a fortress holds, + +Soon as I was within, cast round mine eye, + And see on every hand an ample plain, + Full of distress and torment terrible. + +Even as at Arles, where stagnant grows the Rhone, + Even as at Pola near to the Quarnaro, + That shuts in Italy and bathes its borders, + +The sepulchres make all the place uneven; + So likewise did they there on every side, + Saving that there the manner was more bitter; + +For flames between the sepulchres were scattered, + By which they so intensely heated were, + That iron more so asks not any art. + +All of their coverings uplifted were, + And from them issued forth such dire laments, + Sooth seemed they of the wretched and tormented. + +And I: “My Master, what are all those people + Who, having sepulture within those tombs, + Make themselves audible by doleful sighs?” + +And he to me: “Here are the Heresiarchs, + With their disciples of all sects, and much + More than thou thinkest laden are the tombs. + +Here like together with its like is buried; + And more and less the monuments are heated.” + And when he to the right had turned, we passed + +Between the torments and high parapets. + + + + +Inferno: Canto X + + +Now onward goes, along a narrow path + Between the torments and the city wall, + My Master, and I follow at his back. + +“O power supreme, that through these impious circles + Turnest me,” I began, “as pleases thee, + Speak to me, and my longings satisfy; + +The people who are lying in these tombs, + Might they be seen? already are uplifted + The covers all, and no one keepeth guard.” + +And he to me: “They all will be closed up + When from Jehoshaphat they shall return + Here with the bodies they have left above. + +Their cemetery have upon this side + With Epicurus all his followers, + Who with the body mortal make the soul; + +But in the question thou dost put to me, + Within here shalt thou soon be satisfied, + And likewise in the wish thou keepest silent.” + +And I: “Good Leader, I but keep concealed + From thee my heart, that I may speak the less, + Nor only now hast thou thereto disposed me.” + +“O Tuscan, thou who through the city of fire + Goest alive, thus speaking modestly, + Be pleased to stay thy footsteps in this place. + +Thy mode of speaking makes thee manifest + A native of that noble fatherland, + To which perhaps I too molestful was.” + +Upon a sudden issued forth this sound + From out one of the tombs; wherefore I pressed, + Fearing, a little nearer to my Leader. + +And unto me he said: “Turn thee; what dost thou? + Behold there Farinata who has risen; + From the waist upwards wholly shalt thou see him.” + +I had already fixed mine eyes on his, + And he uprose erect with breast and front + E’en as if Hell he had in great despite. + +And with courageous hands and prompt my Leader + Thrust me between the sepulchres towards him, + Exclaiming, “Let thy words explicit be.” + +As soon as I was at the foot of his tomb + Somewhat he eyed me, and, as if disdainful, + Then asked of me, “Who were thine ancestors?” + +I, who desirous of obeying was, + Concealed it not, but all revealed to him; + Whereat he raised his brows a little upward. + +Then said he: “Fiercely adverse have they been + To me, and to my fathers, and my party; + So that two several times I scattered them.” + +“If they were banished, they returned on all sides,” + I answered him, “the first time and the second; + But yours have not acquired that art aright.” + +Then there uprose upon the sight, uncovered + Down to the chin, a shadow at his side; + I think that he had risen on his knees. + +Round me he gazed, as if solicitude + He had to see if some one else were with me, + But after his suspicion was all spent, + +Weeping, he said to me: “If through this blind + Prison thou goest by loftiness of genius, + Where is my son? and why is he not with thee?” + +And I to him: “I come not of myself; + He who is waiting yonder leads me here, + Whom in disdain perhaps your Guido had.” + +His language and the mode of punishment + Already unto me had read his name; + On that account my answer was so full. + +Up starting suddenly, he cried out: “How + Saidst thou,—he had? Is he not still alive? + Does not the sweet light strike upon his eyes?” + +When he became aware of some delay, + Which I before my answer made, supine + He fell again, and forth appeared no more. + +But the other, magnanimous, at whose desire + I had remained, did not his aspect change, + Neither his neck he moved, nor bent his side. + +“And if,” continuing his first discourse, + “They have that art,” he said, “not learned aright, + That more tormenteth me, than doth this bed. + +But fifty times shall not rekindled be + The countenance of the Lady who reigns here, + Ere thou shalt know how heavy is that art; + +And as thou wouldst to the sweet world return, + Say why that people is so pitiless + Against my race in each one of its laws?” + +Whence I to him: “The slaughter and great carnage + Which have with crimson stained the Arbia, cause + Such orisons in our temple to be made.” + +After his head he with a sigh had shaken, + “There I was not alone,” he said, “nor surely + Without a cause had with the others moved. + +But there I was alone, where every one + Consented to the laying waste of Florence, + He who defended her with open face.” + +“Ah! so hereafter may your seed repose,” + I him entreated, “solve for me that knot, + Which has entangled my conceptions here. + +It seems that you can see, if I hear rightly, + Beforehand whatsoe’er time brings with it, + And in the present have another mode.” + +“We see, like those who have imperfect sight, + The things,” he said, “that distant are from us; + So much still shines on us the Sovereign Ruler. + +When they draw near, or are, is wholly vain + Our intellect, and if none brings it to us, + Not anything know we of your human state. + +Hence thou canst understand, that wholly dead + Will be our knowledge from the moment when + The portal of the future shall be closed.” + +Then I, as if compunctious for my fault, + Said: “Now, then, you will tell that fallen one, + That still his son is with the living joined. + +And if just now, in answering, I was dumb, + Tell him I did it because I was thinking + Already of the error you have solved me.” + +And now my Master was recalling me, + Wherefore more eagerly I prayed the spirit + That he would tell me who was with him there. + +He said: “With more than a thousand here I lie; + Within here is the second Frederick, + And the Cardinal, and of the rest I speak not.” + +Thereon he hid himself; and I towards + The ancient poet turned my steps, reflecting + Upon that saying, which seemed hostile to me. + +He moved along; and afterward thus going, + He said to me, “Why art thou so bewildered?” + And I in his inquiry satisfied him. + +“Let memory preserve what thou hast heard + Against thyself,” that Sage commanded me, + “And now attend here;” and he raised his finger. + +“When thou shalt be before the radiance sweet + Of her whose beauteous eyes all things behold, + From her thou’lt know the journey of thy life.” + +Unto the left hand then he turned his feet; + We left the wall, and went towards the middle, + Along a path that strikes into a valley, + +Which even up there unpleasant made its stench. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XI + + +Upon the margin of a lofty bank + Which great rocks broken in a circle made, + We came upon a still more cruel throng; + +And there, by reason of the horrible + Excess of stench the deep abyss throws out, + We drew ourselves aside behind the cover + +Of a great tomb, whereon I saw a writing, + Which said: “Pope Anastasius I hold, + Whom out of the right way Photinus drew.” + +“Slow it behoveth our descent to be, + So that the sense be first a little used + To the sad blast, and then we shall not heed it.” + +The Master thus; and unto him I said, + “Some compensation find, that the time pass not + Idly;” and he: “Thou seest I think of that. + +My son, upon the inside of these rocks,” + Began he then to say, “are three small circles, + From grade to grade, like those which thou art leaving. + +They all are full of spirits maledict; + But that hereafter sight alone suffice thee, + Hear how and wherefore they are in constraint. + +Of every malice that wins hate in Heaven, + Injury is the end; and all such end + Either by force or fraud afflicteth others. + +But because fraud is man’s peculiar vice, + More it displeases God; and so stand lowest + The fraudulent, and greater dole assails them. + +All the first circle of the Violent is; + But since force may be used against three persons, + In three rounds ’tis divided and constructed. + +To God, to ourselves, and to our neighbour can we + Use force; I say on them and on their things, + As thou shalt hear with reason manifest. + +A death by violence, and painful wounds, + Are to our neighbour given; and in his substance + Ruin, and arson, and injurious levies; + +Whence homicides, and he who smites unjustly, + Marauders, and freebooters, the first round + Tormenteth all in companies diverse. + +Man may lay violent hands upon himself + And his own goods; and therefore in the second + Round must perforce without avail repent + +Whoever of your world deprives himself, + Who games, and dissipates his property, + And weepeth there, where he should jocund be. + +Violence can be done the Deity, + In heart denying and blaspheming Him, + And by disdaining Nature and her bounty. + +And for this reason doth the smallest round + Seal with its signet Sodom and Cahors, + And who, disdaining God, speaks from the heart. + +Fraud, wherewithal is every conscience stung, + A man may practise upon him who trusts, + And him who doth no confidence imburse. + +This latter mode, it would appear, dissevers + Only the bond of love which Nature makes; + Wherefore within the second circle nestle + +Hypocrisy, flattery, and who deals in magic, + Falsification, theft, and simony, + Panders, and barrators, and the like filth. + +By the other mode, forgotten is that love + Which Nature makes, and what is after added, + From which there is a special faith engendered. + +Hence in the smallest circle, where the point is + Of the Universe, upon which Dis is seated, + Whoe’er betrays for ever is consumed.” + +And I: “My Master, clear enough proceeds + Thy reasoning, and full well distinguishes + This cavern and the people who possess it. + +But tell me, those within the fat lagoon, + Whom the wind drives, and whom the rain doth beat, + And who encounter with such bitter tongues, + +Wherefore are they inside of the red city + Not punished, if God has them in his wrath, + And if he has not, wherefore in such fashion?” + +And unto me he said: “Why wanders so + Thine intellect from that which it is wont? + Or, sooth, thy mind where is it elsewhere looking? + +Hast thou no recollection of those words + With which thine Ethics thoroughly discusses + The dispositions three, that Heaven abides not,— + +Incontinence, and Malice, and insane + Bestiality? and how Incontinence + Less God offendeth, and less blame attracts? + +If thou regardest this conclusion well, + And to thy mind recallest who they are + That up outside are undergoing penance, + +Clearly wilt thou perceive why from these felons + They separated are, and why less wroth + Justice divine doth smite them with its hammer.” + +“O Sun, that healest all distempered vision, + Thou dost content me so, when thou resolvest, + That doubting pleases me no less than knowing! + +Once more a little backward turn thee,” said I, + “There where thou sayest that usury offends + Goodness divine, and disengage the knot.” + +“Philosophy,” he said, “to him who heeds it, + Noteth, not only in one place alone, + After what manner Nature takes her course + +From Intellect Divine, and from its art; + And if thy Physics carefully thou notest, + After not many pages shalt thou find, + +That this your art as far as possible + Follows, as the disciple doth the master; + So that your art is, as it were, God’s grandchild. + +From these two, if thou bringest to thy mind + Genesis at the beginning, it behoves + Mankind to gain their life and to advance; + +And since the usurer takes another way, + Nature herself and in her follower + Disdains he, for elsewhere he puts his hope. + +But follow, now, as I would fain go on, + For quivering are the Fishes on the horizon, + And the Wain wholly over Caurus lies, + +And far beyond there we descend the crag.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XII + + +The place where to descend the bank we came + Was alpine, and from what was there, moreover, + Of such a kind that every eye would shun it. + +Such as that ruin is which in the flank + Smote, on this side of Trent, the Adige, + Either by earthquake or by failing stay, + +For from the mountain’s top, from which it moved, + Unto the plain the cliff is shattered so, + Some path ’twould give to him who was above; + +Even such was the descent of that ravine, + And on the border of the broken chasm + The infamy of Crete was stretched along, + +Who was conceived in the fictitious cow; + And when he us beheld, he bit himself, + Even as one whom anger racks within. + +My Sage towards him shouted: “Peradventure + Thou think’st that here may be the Duke of Athens, + Who in the world above brought death to thee? + +Get thee gone, beast, for this one cometh not + Instructed by thy sister, but he comes + In order to behold your punishments.” + +As is that bull who breaks loose at the moment + In which he has received the mortal blow, + Who cannot walk, but staggers here and there, + +The Minotaur beheld I do the like; + And he, the wary, cried: “Run to the passage; + While he wroth, ’tis well thou shouldst descend.” + +Thus down we took our way o’er that discharge + Of stones, which oftentimes did move themselves + Beneath my feet, from the unwonted burden. + +Thoughtful I went; and he said: “Thou art thinking + Perhaps upon this ruin, which is guarded + By that brute anger which just now I quenched. + +Now will I have thee know, the other time + I here descended to the nether Hell, + This precipice had not yet fallen down. + +But truly, if I well discern, a little + Before His coming who the mighty spoil + Bore off from Dis, in the supernal circle, + +Upon all sides the deep and loathsome valley + Trembled so, that I thought the Universe + Was thrilled with love, by which there are who think + +The world ofttimes converted into chaos; + And at that moment this primeval crag + Both here and elsewhere made such overthrow. + +But fix thine eyes below; for draweth near + The river of blood, within which boiling is + Whoe’er by violence doth injure others.” + +O blind cupidity, O wrath insane, + That spurs us onward so in our short life, + And in the eternal then so badly steeps us! + +I saw an ample moat bent like a bow, + As one which all the plain encompasses, + Conformable to what my Guide had said. + +And between this and the embankment’s foot + Centaurs in file were running, armed with arrows, + As in the world they used the chase to follow. + +Beholding us descend, each one stood still, + And from the squadron three detached themselves, + With bows and arrows in advance selected; + +And from afar one cried: “Unto what torment + Come ye, who down the hillside are descending? + Tell us from there; if not, I draw the bow.” + +My Master said: “Our answer will we make + To Chiron, near you there; in evil hour, + That will of thine was evermore so hasty.” + +Then touched he me, and said: “This one is Nessus, + Who perished for the lovely Dejanira, + And for himself, himself did vengeance take. + +And he in the midst, who at his breast is gazing, + Is the great Chiron, who brought up Achilles; + That other Pholus is, who was so wrathful. + +Thousands and thousands go about the moat + Shooting with shafts whatever soul emerges + Out of the blood, more than his crime allots.” + +Near we approached unto those monsters fleet; + Chiron an arrow took, and with the notch + Backward upon his jaws he put his beard. + +After he had uncovered his great mouth, + He said to his companions: “Are you ware + That he behind moveth whate’er he touches? + +Thus are not wont to do the feet of dead men.” + And my good Guide, who now was at his breast, + Where the two natures are together joined, + +Replied: “Indeed he lives, and thus alone + Me it behoves to show him the dark valley; + Necessity, and not delight, impels us. + +Some one withdrew from singing Halleluja, + Who unto me committed this new office; + No thief is he, nor I a thievish spirit. + +But by that virtue through which I am moving + My steps along this savage thoroughfare, + Give us some one of thine, to be with us, + +And who may show us where to pass the ford, + And who may carry this one on his back; + For ’tis no spirit that can walk the air.” + +Upon his right breast Chiron wheeled about, + And said to Nessus: “Turn and do thou guide them, + And warn aside, if other band may meet you.” + +We with our faithful escort onward moved + Along the brink of the vermilion boiling, + Wherein the boiled were uttering loud laments. + +People I saw within up to the eyebrows, + And the great Centaur said: “Tyrants are these, + Who dealt in bloodshed and in pillaging. + +Here they lament their pitiless mischiefs; here + Is Alexander, and fierce Dionysius + Who upon Sicily brought dolorous years. + +That forehead there which has the hair so black + Is Azzolin; and the other who is blond, + Obizzo is of Esti, who, in truth, + +Up in the world was by his stepson slain.” + Then turned I to the Poet; and he said, + “Now he be first to thee, and second I.” + +A little farther on the Centaur stopped + Above a folk, who far down as the throat + Seemed from that boiling stream to issue forth. + +A shade he showed us on one side alone, + Saying: “He cleft asunder in God’s bosom + The heart that still upon the Thames is honoured.” + +Then people saw I, who from out the river + Lifted their heads and also all the chest; + And many among these I recognised. + +Thus ever more and more grew shallower + That blood, so that the feet alone it covered; + And there across the moat our passage was. + +“Even as thou here upon this side beholdest + The boiling stream, that aye diminishes,” + The Centaur said, “I wish thee to believe + +That on this other more and more declines + Its bed, until it reunites itself + Where it behoveth tyranny to groan. + +Justice divine, upon this side, is goading + That Attila, who was a scourge on earth, + And Pyrrhus, and Sextus; and for ever milks + +The tears which with the boiling it unseals + In Rinier da Corneto and Rinier Pazzo, + Who made upon the highways so much war.” + +Then back he turned, and passed again the ford. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XIII + + +Not yet had Nessus reached the other side, + When we had put ourselves within a wood, + That was not marked by any path whatever. + +Not foliage green, but of a dusky colour, + Not branches smooth, but gnarled and intertangled, + Not apple-trees were there, but thorns with poison. + +Such tangled thickets have not, nor so dense, + Those savage wild beasts, that in hatred hold + ’Twixt Cecina and Corneto the tilled places. + +There do the hideous Harpies make their nests, + Who chased the Trojans from the Strophades, + With sad announcement of impending doom; + +Broad wings have they, and necks and faces human, + And feet with claws, and their great bellies fledged; + They make laments upon the wondrous trees. + +And the good Master: “Ere thou enter farther, + Know that thou art within the second round,” + Thus he began to say, “and shalt be, till + +Thou comest out upon the horrible sand; + Therefore look well around, and thou shalt see + Things that will credence give unto my speech.” + +I heard on all sides lamentations uttered, + And person none beheld I who might make them, + Whence, utterly bewildered, I stood still. + +I think he thought that I perhaps might think + So many voices issued through those trunks + From people who concealed themselves from us; + +Therefore the Master said: “If thou break off + Some little spray from any of these trees, + The thoughts thou hast will wholly be made vain.” + +Then stretched I forth my hand a little forward, + And plucked a branchlet off from a great thorn; + And the trunk cried, “Why dost thou mangle me?” + +After it had become embrowned with blood, + It recommenced its cry: “Why dost thou rend me? + Hast thou no spirit of pity whatsoever? + +Men once we were, and now are changed to trees; + Indeed, thy hand should be more pitiful, + Even if the souls of serpents we had been.” + +As out of a green brand, that is on fire + At one of the ends, and from the other drips + And hisses with the wind that is escaping; + +So from that splinter issued forth together + Both words and blood; whereat I let the tip + Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid. + +“Had he been able sooner to believe,” + My Sage made answer, “O thou wounded soul, + What only in my verses he has seen, + +Not upon thee had he stretched forth his hand; + Whereas the thing incredible has caused me + To put him to an act which grieveth me. + +But tell him who thou wast, so that by way + Of some amends thy fame he may refresh + Up in the world, to which he can return.” + +And the trunk said: “So thy sweet words allure me, + I cannot silent be; and you be vexed not, + That I a little to discourse am tempted. + +I am the one who both keys had in keeping + Of Frederick’s heart, and turned them to and fro + So softly in unlocking and in locking, + +That from his secrets most men I withheld; + Fidelity I bore the glorious office + So great, I lost thereby my sleep and pulses. + +The courtesan who never from the dwelling + Of Caesar turned aside her strumpet eyes, + Death universal and the vice of courts, + +Inflamed against me all the other minds, + And they, inflamed, did so inflame Augustus, + That my glad honours turned to dismal mournings. + +My spirit, in disdainful exultation, + Thinking by dying to escape disdain, + Made me unjust against myself, the just. + +I, by the roots unwonted of this wood, + Do swear to you that never broke I faith + Unto my lord, who was so worthy of honour; + +And to the world if one of you return, + Let him my memory comfort, which is lying + Still prostrate from the blow that envy dealt it.” + +Waited awhile, and then: “Since he is silent,” + The Poet said to me, “lose not the time, + But speak, and question him, if more may please thee.” + +Whence I to him: “Do thou again inquire + Concerning what thou thinks’t will satisfy me; + For I cannot, such pity is in my heart.” + +Therefore he recommenced: “So may the man + Do for thee freely what thy speech implores, + Spirit incarcerate, again be pleased + +To tell us in what way the soul is bound + Within these knots; and tell us, if thou canst, + If any from such members e’er is freed.” + +Then blew the trunk amain, and afterward + The wind was into such a voice converted: + “With brevity shall be replied to you. + +When the exasperated soul abandons + The body whence it rent itself away, + Minos consigns it to the seventh abyss. + +It falls into the forest, and no part + Is chosen for it; but where Fortune hurls it, + There like a grain of spelt it germinates. + +It springs a sapling, and a forest tree; + The Harpies, feeding then upon its leaves, + Do pain create, and for the pain an outlet. + +Like others for our spoils shall we return; + But not that any one may them revest, + For ’tis not just to have what one casts off. + +Here we shall drag them, and along the dismal + Forest our bodies shall suspended be, + Each to the thorn of his molested shade.” + +We were attentive still unto the trunk, + Thinking that more it yet might wish to tell us, + When by a tumult we were overtaken, + +In the same way as he is who perceives + The boar and chase approaching to his stand, + Who hears the crashing of the beasts and branches; + +And two behold! upon our left-hand side, + Naked and scratched, fleeing so furiously, + That of the forest, every fan they broke. + +He who was in advance: “Now help, Death, help!” + And the other one, who seemed to lag too much, + Was shouting: “Lano, were not so alert + +Those legs of thine at joustings of the Toppo!” + And then, perchance because his breath was failing, + He grouped himself together with a bush. + +Behind them was the forest full of black + She-mastiffs, ravenous, and swift of foot + As greyhounds, who are issuing from the chain. + +On him who had crouched down they set their teeth, + And him they lacerated piece by piece, + Thereafter bore away those aching members. + +Thereat my Escort took me by the hand, + And led me to the bush, that all in vain + Was weeping from its bloody lacerations. + +“O Jacopo,” it said, “of Sant’ Andrea, + What helped it thee of me to make a screen? + What blame have I in thy nefarious life?” + +When near him had the Master stayed his steps, + He said: “Who wast thou, that through wounds so many + Art blowing out with blood thy dolorous speech?” + +And he to us: “O souls, that hither come + To look upon the shameful massacre + That has so rent away from me my leaves, + +Gather them up beneath the dismal bush; + I of that city was which to the Baptist + Changed its first patron, wherefore he for this + +Forever with his art will make it sad. + And were it not that on the pass of Arno + Some glimpses of him are remaining still, + +Those citizens, who afterwards rebuilt it + Upon the ashes left by Attila, + In vain had caused their labour to be done. + +Of my own house I made myself a gibbet.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XIV + + +Because the charity of my native place + Constrained me, gathered I the scattered leaves, + And gave them back to him, who now was hoarse. + +Then came we to the confine, where disparted + The second round is from the third, and where + A horrible form of Justice is beheld. + +Clearly to manifest these novel things, + I say that we arrived upon a plain, + Which from its bed rejecteth every plant; + +The dolorous forest is a garland to it + All round about, as the sad moat to that; + There close upon the edge we stayed our feet. + +The soil was of an arid and thick sand, + Not of another fashion made than that + Which by the feet of Cato once was pressed. + +Vengeance of God, O how much oughtest thou + By each one to be dreaded, who doth read + That which was manifest unto mine eyes! + +Of naked souls beheld I many herds, + Who all were weeping very miserably, + And over them seemed set a law diverse. + +Supine upon the ground some folk were lying; + And some were sitting all drawn up together, + And others went about continually. + +Those who were going round were far the more, + And those were less who lay down to their torment, + But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation. + +O’er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall, + Were raining down dilated flakes of fire, + As of the snow on Alp without a wind. + +As Alexander, in those torrid parts + Of India, beheld upon his host + Flames fall unbroken till they reached the ground. + +Whence he provided with his phalanxes + To trample down the soil, because the vapour + Better extinguished was while it was single; + +Thus was descending the eternal heat, + Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinder + Beneath the steel, for doubling of the dole. + +Without repose forever was the dance + Of miserable hands, now there, now here, + Shaking away from off them the fresh gleeds. + +“Master,” began I, “thou who overcomest + All things except the demons dire, that issued + Against us at the entrance of the gate, + +Who is that mighty one who seems to heed not + The fire, and lieth lowering and disdainful, + So that the rain seems not to ripen him?” + +And he himself, who had become aware + That I was questioning my Guide about him, + Cried: “Such as I was living, am I, dead. + +If Jove should weary out his smith, from whom + He seized in anger the sharp thunderbolt, + Wherewith upon the last day I was smitten, + +And if he wearied out by turns the others + In Mongibello at the swarthy forge, + Vociferating, ‘Help, good Vulcan, help!’ + +Even as he did there at the fight of Phlegra, + And shot his bolts at me with all his might, + He would not have thereby a joyous vengeance.” + +Then did my Leader speak with such great force, + That I had never heard him speak so loud: + “O Capaneus, in that is not extinguished + +Thine arrogance, thou punished art the more; + Not any torment, saving thine own rage, + Would be unto thy fury pain complete.” + +Then he turned round to me with better lip, + Saying: “One of the Seven Kings was he + Who Thebes besieged, and held, and seems to hold + +God in disdain, and little seems to prize him; + But, as I said to him, his own despites + Are for his breast the fittest ornaments. + +Now follow me, and mind thou do not place + As yet thy feet upon the burning sand, + But always keep them close unto the wood.” + +Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes + Forth from the wood a little rivulet, + Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end. + +As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet, + The sinful women later share among them, + So downward through the sand it went its way. + +The bottom of it, and both sloping banks, + Were made of stone, and the margins at the side; + Whence I perceived that there the passage was. + +“In all the rest which I have shown to thee + Since we have entered in within the gate + Whose threshold unto no one is denied, + +Nothing has been discovered by thine eyes + So notable as is the present river, + Which all the little flames above it quenches.” + +These words were of my Leader; whence I prayed him + That he would give me largess of the food, + For which he had given me largess of desire. + +“In the mid-sea there sits a wasted land,” + Said he thereafterward, “whose name is Crete, + Under whose king the world of old was chaste. + +There is a mountain there, that once was glad + With waters and with leaves, which was called Ida; + Now ’tis deserted, as a thing worn out. + +Rhea once chose it for the faithful cradle + Of her own son; and to conceal him better, + Whene’er he cried, she there had clamours made. + +A grand old man stands in the mount erect, + Who holds his shoulders turned tow’rds Damietta, + And looks at Rome as if it were his mirror. + +His head is fashioned of refined gold, + And of pure silver are the arms and breast; + Then he is brass as far down as the fork. + +From that point downward all is chosen iron, + Save that the right foot is of kiln-baked clay, + And more he stands on that than on the other. + +Each part, except the gold, is by a fissure + Asunder cleft, that dripping is with tears, + Which gathered together perforate that cavern. + +From rock to rock they fall into this valley; + Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon they form; + Then downward go along this narrow sluice + +Unto that point where is no more descending. + They form Cocytus; what that pool may be + Thou shalt behold, so here ’tis not narrated.” + +And I to him: “If so the present runnel + Doth take its rise in this way from our world, + Why only on this verge appears it to us?” + +And he to me: “Thou knowest the place is round, + And notwithstanding thou hast journeyed far, + Still to the left descending to the bottom, + +Thou hast not yet through all the circle turned. + Therefore if something new appear to us, + It should not bring amazement to thy face.” + +And I again: “Master, where shall be found + Lethe and Phlegethon, for of one thou’rt silent, + And sayest the other of this rain is made?” + +“In all thy questions truly thou dost please me,” + Replied he; “but the boiling of the red + Water might well solve one of them thou makest. + +Thou shalt see Lethe, but outside this moat, + There where the souls repair to lave themselves, + When sin repented of has been removed.” + +Then said he: “It is time now to abandon + The wood; take heed that thou come after me; + A way the margins make that are not burning, + +And over them all vapours are extinguished.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XV + + +Now bears us onward one of the hard margins, + And so the brooklet’s mist o’ershadows it, + From fire it saves the water and the dikes. + +Even as the Flemings, ’twixt Cadsand and Bruges, + Fearing the flood that tow’rds them hurls itself, + Their bulwarks build to put the sea to flight; + +And as the Paduans along the Brenta, + To guard their villas and their villages, + Or ever Chiarentana feel the heat; + +In such similitude had those been made, + Albeit not so lofty nor so thick, + Whoever he might be, the master made them. + +Now were we from the forest so remote, + I could not have discovered where it was, + Even if backward I had turned myself, + +When we a company of souls encountered, + Who came beside the dike, and every one + Gazed at us, as at evening we are wont + +To eye each other under a new moon, + And so towards us sharpened they their brows + As an old tailor at the needle’s eye. + +Thus scrutinised by such a family, + By some one I was recognised, who seized + My garment’s hem, and cried out, “What a marvel!” + +And I, when he stretched forth his arm to me, + On his baked aspect fastened so mine eyes, + That the scorched countenance prevented not + +His recognition by my intellect; + And bowing down my face unto his own, + I made reply, “Are you here, Ser Brunetto?” + +And he: “May’t not displease thee, O my son, + If a brief space with thee Brunetto Latini + Backward return and let the trail go on.” + +I said to him: “With all my power I ask it; + And if you wish me to sit down with you, + I will, if he please, for I go with him.” + +“O son,” he said, “whoever of this herd + A moment stops, lies then a hundred years, + Nor fans himself when smiteth him the fire. + +Therefore go on; I at thy skirts will come, + And afterward will I rejoin my band, + Which goes lamenting its eternal doom.” + +I did not dare to go down from the road + Level to walk with him; but my head bowed + I held as one who goeth reverently. + +And he began: “What fortune or what fate + Before the last day leadeth thee down here? + And who is this that showeth thee the way?” + +“Up there above us in the life serene,” + I answered him, “I lost me in a valley, + Or ever yet my age had been completed. + +But yestermorn I turned my back upon it; + This one appeared to me, returning thither, + And homeward leadeth me along this road.” + +And he to me: “If thou thy star do follow, + Thou canst not fail thee of a glorious port, + If well I judged in the life beautiful. + +And if I had not died so prematurely, + Seeing Heaven thus benignant unto thee, + I would have given thee comfort in the work. + +But that ungrateful and malignant people, + Which of old time from Fesole descended, + And smacks still of the mountain and the granite, + +Will make itself, for thy good deeds, thy foe; + And it is right; for among crabbed sorbs + It ill befits the sweet fig to bear fruit. + +Old rumour in the world proclaims them blind; + A people avaricious, envious, proud; + Take heed that of their customs thou do cleanse thee. + +Thy fortune so much honour doth reserve thee, + One party and the other shall be hungry + For thee; but far from goat shall be the grass. + +Their litter let the beasts of Fesole + Make of themselves, nor let them touch the plant, + If any still upon their dunghill rise, + +In which may yet revive the consecrated + Seed of those Romans, who remained there when + The nest of such great malice it became.” + +“If my entreaty wholly were fulfilled,” + Replied I to him, “not yet would you be + In banishment from human nature placed; + +For in my mind is fixed, and touches now + My heart the dear and good paternal image + Of you, when in the world from hour to hour + +You taught me how a man becomes eternal; + And how much I am grateful, while I live + Behoves that in my language be discerned. + +What you narrate of my career I write, + And keep it to be glossed with other text + By a Lady who can do it, if I reach her. + +This much will I have manifest to you; + Provided that my conscience do not chide me, + For whatsoever Fortune I am ready. + +Such handsel is not new unto mine ears; + Therefore let Fortune turn her wheel around + As it may please her, and the churl his mattock.” + +My Master thereupon on his right cheek + Did backward turn himself, and looked at me; + Then said: “He listeneth well who noteth it.” + +Nor speaking less on that account, I go + With Ser Brunetto, and I ask who are + His most known and most eminent companions. + +And he to me: “To know of some is well; + Of others it were laudable to be silent, + For short would be the time for so much speech. + +Know them in sum, that all of them were clerks, + And men of letters great and of great fame, + In the world tainted with the selfsame sin. + +Priscian goes yonder with that wretched crowd, + And Francis of Accorso; and thou hadst seen there + If thou hadst had a hankering for such scurf, + +That one, who by the Servant of the Servants + From Arno was transferred to Bacchiglione, + Where he has left his sin-excited nerves. + +More would I say, but coming and discoursing + Can be no longer; for that I behold + New smoke uprising yonder from the sand. + +A people comes with whom I may not be; + Commended unto thee be my Tesoro, + In which I still live, and no more I ask.” + +Then he turned round, and seemed to be of those + Who at Verona run for the Green Mantle + Across the plain; and seemed to be among them + +The one who wins, and not the one who loses. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XVI + + +Now was I where was heard the reverberation + Of water falling into the next round, + Like to that humming which the beehives make, + +When shadows three together started forth, + Running, from out a company that passed + Beneath the rain of the sharp martyrdom. + +Towards us came they, and each one cried out: + “Stop, thou; for by thy garb to us thou seemest + To be some one of our depraved city.” + +Ah me! what wounds I saw upon their limbs, + Recent and ancient by the flames burnt in! + It pains me still but to remember it. + +Unto their cries my Teacher paused attentive; + He turned his face towards me, and “Now wait,” + He said; “to these we should be courteous. + +And if it were not for the fire that darts + The nature of this region, I should say + That haste were more becoming thee than them.” + +As soon as we stood still, they recommenced + The old refrain, and when they overtook us, + Formed of themselves a wheel, all three of them. + +As champions stripped and oiled are wont to do, + Watching for their advantage and their hold, + Before they come to blows and thrusts between them, + +Thus, wheeling round, did every one his visage + Direct to me, so that in opposite wise + His neck and feet continual journey made. + +And, “If the misery of this soft place + Bring in disdain ourselves and our entreaties,” + Began one, “and our aspect black and blistered, + +Let the renown of us thy mind incline + To tell us who thou art, who thus securely + Thy living feet dost move along through Hell. + +He in whose footprints thou dost see me treading, + Naked and skinless though he now may go, + Was of a greater rank than thou dost think; + +He was the grandson of the good Gualdrada; + His name was Guidoguerra, and in life + Much did he with his wisdom and his sword. + +The other, who close by me treads the sand, + Tegghiaio Aldobrandi is, whose fame + Above there in the world should welcome be. + +And I, who with them on the cross am placed, + Jacopo Rusticucci was; and truly + My savage wife, more than aught else, doth harm me.” + +Could I have been protected from the fire, + Below I should have thrown myself among them, + And think the Teacher would have suffered it; + +But as I should have burned and baked myself, + My terror overmastered my good will, + Which made me greedy of embracing them. + +Then I began: “Sorrow and not disdain + Did your condition fix within me so, + That tardily it wholly is stripped off, + +As soon as this my Lord said unto me + Words, on account of which I thought within me + That people such as you are were approaching. + +I of your city am; and evermore + Your labours and your honourable names + I with affection have retraced and heard. + +I leave the gall, and go for the sweet fruits + Promised to me by the veracious Leader; + But to the centre first I needs must plunge.” + +“So may the soul for a long while conduct + Those limbs of thine,” did he make answer then, + “And so may thy renown shine after thee, + +Valour and courtesy, say if they dwell + Within our city, as they used to do, + Or if they wholly have gone out of it; + +For Guglielmo Borsier, who is in torment + With us of late, and goes there with his comrades, + Doth greatly mortify us with his words.” + +“The new inhabitants and the sudden gains, + Pride and extravagance have in thee engendered, + Florence, so that thou weep’st thereat already!” + +In this wise I exclaimed with face uplifted; + And the three, taking that for my reply, + Looked at each other, as one looks at truth. + +“If other times so little it doth cost thee,” + Replied they all, “to satisfy another, + Happy art thou, thus speaking at thy will! + +Therefore, if thou escape from these dark places, + And come to rebehold the beauteous stars, + When it shall pleasure thee to say, ‘I was,’ + +See that thou speak of us unto the people.” + Then they broke up the wheel, and in their flight + It seemed as if their agile legs were wings. + +Not an Amen could possibly be said + So rapidly as they had disappeared; + Wherefore the Master deemed best to depart. + +I followed him, and little had we gone, + Before the sound of water was so near us, + That speaking we should hardly have been heard. + +Even as that stream which holdeth its own course + The first from Monte Veso tow’rds the East, + Upon the left-hand slope of Apennine, + +Which is above called Acquacheta, ere + It down descendeth into its low bed, + And at Forli is vacant of that name, + +Reverberates there above San Benedetto + From Alps, by falling at a single leap, + Where for a thousand there were room enough; + +Thus downward from a bank precipitate, + We found resounding that dark-tinted water, + So that it soon the ear would have offended. + +I had a cord around about me girt, + And therewithal I whilom had designed + To take the panther with the painted skin. + +After I this had all from me unloosed, + As my Conductor had commanded me, + I reached it to him, gathered up and coiled, + +Whereat he turned himself to the right side, + And at a little distance from the verge, + He cast it down into that deep abyss. + +“It must needs be some novelty respond,” + I said within myself, “to the new signal + The Master with his eye is following so.” + +Ah me! how very cautious men should be + With those who not alone behold the act, + But with their wisdom look into the thoughts! + +He said to me: “Soon there will upward come + What I await; and what thy thought is dreaming + Must soon reveal itself unto thy sight.” + +Aye to that truth which has the face of falsehood, + A man should close his lips as far as may be, + Because without his fault it causes shame; + +But here I cannot; and, Reader, by the notes + Of this my Comedy to thee I swear, + So may they not be void of lasting favour, + +Athwart that dense and darksome atmosphere + I saw a figure swimming upward come, + Marvellous unto every steadfast heart, + +Even as he returns who goeth down + Sometimes to clear an anchor, which has grappled + Reef, or aught else that in the sea is hidden, + +Who upward stretches, and draws in his feet. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XVII + + +“Behold the monster with the pointed tail, + Who cleaves the hills, and breaketh walls and weapons, + Behold him who infecteth all the world.” + +Thus unto me my Guide began to say, + And beckoned him that he should come to shore, + Near to the confine of the trodden marble; + +And that uncleanly image of deceit + Came up and thrust ashore its head and bust, + But on the border did not drag its tail. + +The face was as the face of a just man, + Its semblance outwardly was so benign, + And of a serpent all the trunk beside. + +Two paws it had, hairy unto the armpits; + The back, and breast, and both the sides it had + Depicted o’er with nooses and with shields. + +With colours more, groundwork or broidery + Never in cloth did Tartars make nor Turks, + Nor were such tissues by Arachne laid. + +As sometimes wherries lie upon the shore, + That part are in the water, part on land; + And as among the guzzling Germans there, + +The beaver plants himself to wage his war; + So that vile monster lay upon the border, + Which is of stone, and shutteth in the sand. + +His tail was wholly quivering in the void, + Contorting upwards the envenomed fork, + That in the guise of scorpion armed its point. + +The Guide said: “Now perforce must turn aside + Our way a little, even to that beast + Malevolent, that yonder coucheth him.” + +We therefore on the right side descended, + And made ten steps upon the outer verge, + Completely to avoid the sand and flame; + +And after we are come to him, I see + A little farther off upon the sand + A people sitting near the hollow place. + +Then said to me the Master: “So that full + Experience of this round thou bear away, + Now go and see what their condition is. + +There let thy conversation be concise; + Till thou returnest I will speak with him, + That he concede to us his stalwart shoulders.” + +Thus farther still upon the outermost + Head of that seventh circle all alone + I went, where sat the melancholy folk. + +Out of their eyes was gushing forth their woe; + This way, that way, they helped them with their hands + Now from the flames and now from the hot soil. + +Not otherwise in summer do the dogs, + Now with the foot, now with the muzzle, when + By fleas, or flies, or gadflies, they are bitten. + +When I had turned mine eyes upon the faces + Of some, on whom the dolorous fire is falling, + Not one of them I knew; but I perceived + +That from the neck of each there hung a pouch, + Which certain colour had, and certain blazon; + And thereupon it seems their eyes are feeding. + +And as I gazing round me come among them, + Upon a yellow pouch I azure saw + That had the face and posture of a lion. + +Proceeding then the current of my sight, + Another of them saw I, red as blood, + Display a goose more white than butter is. + +And one, who with an azure sow and gravid + Emblazoned had his little pouch of white, + Said unto me: “What dost thou in this moat? + +Now get thee gone; and since thou’rt still alive, + Know that a neighbour of mine, Vitaliano, + Will have his seat here on my left-hand side. + +A Paduan am I with these Florentines; + Full many a time they thunder in mine ears, + Exclaiming, ‘Come the sovereign cavalier, + +He who shall bring the satchel with three goats;’” + Then twisted he his mouth, and forth he thrust + His tongue, like to an ox that licks its nose. + +And fearing lest my longer stay might vex + Him who had warned me not to tarry long, + Backward I turned me from those weary souls. + +I found my Guide, who had already mounted + Upon the back of that wild animal, + And said to me: “Now be both strong and bold. + +Now we descend by stairways such as these; + Mount thou in front, for I will be midway, + So that the tail may have no power to harm thee.” + +Such as he is who has so near the ague + Of quartan that his nails are blue already, + And trembles all, but looking at the shade; + +Even such became I at those proffered words; + But shame in me his menaces produced, + Which maketh servant strong before good master. + +I seated me upon those monstrous shoulders; + I wished to say, and yet the voice came not + As I believed, “Take heed that thou embrace me.” + +But he, who other times had rescued me + In other peril, soon as I had mounted, + Within his arms encircled and sustained me, + +And said: “Now, Geryon, bestir thyself; + The circles large, and the descent be little; + Think of the novel burden which thou hast.” + +Even as the little vessel shoves from shore, + Backward, still backward, so he thence withdrew; + And when he wholly felt himself afloat, + +There where his breast had been he turned his tail, + And that extended like an eel he moved, + And with his paws drew to himself the air. + +A greater fear I do not think there was + What time abandoned Phaeton the reins, + Whereby the heavens, as still appears, were scorched; + +Nor when the wretched Icarus his flanks + Felt stripped of feathers by the melting wax, + His father crying, “An ill way thou takest!” + +Than was my own, when I perceived myself + On all sides in the air, and saw extinguished + The sight of everything but of the monster. + +Onward he goeth, swimming slowly, slowly; + Wheels and descends, but I perceive it only + By wind upon my face and from below. + +I heard already on the right the whirlpool + Making a horrible crashing under us; + Whence I thrust out my head with eyes cast downward. + +Then was I still more fearful of the abyss; + Because I fires beheld, and heard laments, + Whereat I, trembling, all the closer cling. + +I saw then, for before I had not seen it, + The turning and descending, by great horrors + That were approaching upon divers sides. + +As falcon who has long been on the wing, + Who, without seeing either lure or bird, + Maketh the falconer say, “Ah me, thou stoopest,” + +Descendeth weary, whence he started swiftly, + Thorough a hundred circles, and alights + Far from his master, sullen and disdainful; + +Even thus did Geryon place us on the bottom, + Close to the bases of the rough-hewn rock, + And being disencumbered of our persons, + +He sped away as arrow from the string. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XVIII + + +There is a place in Hell called Malebolge, + Wholly of stone and of an iron colour, + As is the circle that around it turns. + +Right in the middle of the field malign + There yawns a well exceeding wide and deep, + Of which its place the structure will recount. + +Round, then, is that enclosure which remains + Between the well and foot of the high, hard bank, + And has distinct in valleys ten its bottom. + +As where for the protection of the walls + Many and many moats surround the castles, + The part in which they are a figure forms, + +Just such an image those presented there; + And as about such strongholds from their gates + Unto the outer bank are little bridges, + +So from the precipice’s base did crags + Project, which intersected dikes and moats, + Unto the well that truncates and collects them. + +Within this place, down shaken from the back + Of Geryon, we found us; and the Poet + Held to the left, and I moved on behind. + +Upon my right hand I beheld new anguish, + New torments, and new wielders of the lash, + Wherewith the foremost Bolgia was replete. + +Down at the bottom were the sinners naked; + This side the middle came they facing us, + Beyond it, with us, but with greater steps; + +Even as the Romans, for the mighty host, + The year of Jubilee, upon the bridge, + Have chosen a mode to pass the people over; + +For all upon one side towards the Castle + Their faces have, and go unto St. Peter’s; + On the other side they go towards the Mountain. + +This side and that, along the livid stone + Beheld I horned demons with great scourges, + Who cruelly were beating them behind. + +Ah me! how they did make them lift their legs + At the first blows! and sooth not any one + The second waited for, nor for the third. + +While I was going on, mine eyes by one + Encountered were; and straight I said: “Already + With sight of this one I am not unfed.” + +Therefore I stayed my feet to make him out, + And with me the sweet Guide came to a stand, + And to my going somewhat back assented; + +And he, the scourged one, thought to hide himself, + Lowering his face, but little it availed him; + For said I: “Thou that castest down thine eyes, + +If false are not the features which thou bearest, + Thou art Venedico Caccianimico; + But what doth bring thee to such pungent sauces?” + +And he to me: “Unwillingly I tell it; + But forces me thine utterance distinct, + Which makes me recollect the ancient world. + +I was the one who the fair Ghisola + Induced to grant the wishes of the Marquis, + Howe’er the shameless story may be told. + +Not the sole Bolognese am I who weeps here; + Nay, rather is this place so full of them, + That not so many tongues to-day are taught + +’Twixt Reno and Savena to say ‘sipa;’ + And if thereof thou wishest pledge or proof, + Bring to thy mind our avaricious heart.” + +While speaking in this manner, with his scourge + A demon smote him, and said: “Get thee gone + Pander, there are no women here for coin.” + +I joined myself again unto mine Escort; + Thereafterward with footsteps few we came + To where a crag projected from the bank. + +This very easily did we ascend, + And turning to the right along its ridge, + From those eternal circles we departed. + +When we were there, where it is hollowed out + Beneath, to give a passage to the scourged, + The Guide said: “Wait, and see that on thee strike + +The vision of those others evil-born, + Of whom thou hast not yet beheld the faces, + Because together with us they have gone.” + +From the old bridge we looked upon the train + Which tow’rds us came upon the other border, + And which the scourges in like manner smite. + +And the good Master, without my inquiring, + Said to me: “See that tall one who is coming, + And for his pain seems not to shed a tear; + +Still what a royal aspect he retains! + That Jason is, who by his heart and cunning + The Colchians of the Ram made destitute. + +He by the isle of Lemnos passed along + After the daring women pitiless + Had unto death devoted all their males. + +There with his tokens and with ornate words + Did he deceive Hypsipyle, the maiden + Who first, herself, had all the rest deceived. + +There did he leave her pregnant and forlorn; + Such sin unto such punishment condemns him, + And also for Medea is vengeance done. + +With him go those who in such wise deceive; + And this sufficient be of the first valley + To know, and those that in its jaws it holds.” + +We were already where the narrow path + Crosses athwart the second dike, and forms + Of that a buttress for another arch. + +Thence we heard people, who are making moan + In the next Bolgia, snorting with their muzzles, + And with their palms beating upon themselves + +The margins were incrusted with a mould + By exhalation from below, that sticks there, + And with the eyes and nostrils wages war. + +The bottom is so deep, no place suffices + To give us sight of it, without ascending + The arch’s back, where most the crag impends. + +Thither we came, and thence down in the moat + I saw a people smothered in a filth + That out of human privies seemed to flow; + +And whilst below there with mine eye I search, + I saw one with his head so foul with ordure, + It was not clear if he were clerk or layman. + +He screamed to me: “Wherefore art thou so eager + To look at me more than the other foul ones?” + And I to him: “Because, if I remember, + +I have already seen thee with dry hair, + And thou’rt Alessio Interminei of Lucca; + Therefore I eye thee more than all the others.” + +And he thereon, belabouring his pumpkin: + “The flatteries have submerged me here below, + Wherewith my tongue was never surfeited.” + +Then said to me the Guide: “See that thou thrust + Thy visage somewhat farther in advance, + That with thine eyes thou well the face attain + +Of that uncleanly and dishevelled drab, + Who there doth scratch herself with filthy nails, + And crouches now, and now on foot is standing. + +Thais the harlot is it, who replied + Unto her paramour, when he said, ‘Have I + Great gratitude from thee?’—‘Nay, marvellous;’ + +And herewith let our sight be satisfied.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XIX + + +O Simon Magus, O forlorn disciples, + Ye who the things of God, which ought to be + The brides of holiness, rapaciously + +For silver and for gold do prostitute, + Now it behoves for you the trumpet sound, + Because in this third Bolgia ye abide. + +We had already on the following tomb + Ascended to that portion of the crag + Which o’er the middle of the moat hangs plumb. + +Wisdom supreme, O how great art thou showest + In heaven, in earth, and in the evil world, + And with what justice doth thy power distribute! + +I saw upon the sides and on the bottom + The livid stone with perforations filled, + All of one size, and every one was round. + +To me less ample seemed they not, nor greater + Than those that in my beautiful Saint John + Are fashioned for the place of the baptisers, + +And one of which, not many years ago, + I broke for some one, who was drowning in it; + Be this a seal all men to undeceive. + +Out of the mouth of each one there protruded + The feet of a transgressor, and the legs + Up to the calf, the rest within remained. + +In all of them the soles were both on fire; + Wherefore the joints so violently quivered, + They would have snapped asunder withes and bands. + +Even as the flame of unctuous things is wont + To move upon the outer surface only, + So likewise was it there from heel to point. + +“Master, who is that one who writhes himself, + More than his other comrades quivering,” + I said, “and whom a redder flame is sucking?” + +And he to me: “If thou wilt have me bear thee + Down there along that bank which lowest lies, + From him thou’lt know his errors and himself.” + +And I: “What pleases thee, to me is pleasing; + Thou art my Lord, and knowest that I depart not + From thy desire, and knowest what is not spoken.” + +Straightway upon the fourth dike we arrived; + We turned, and on the left-hand side descended + Down to the bottom full of holes and narrow. + +And the good Master yet from off his haunch + Deposed me not, till to the hole he brought me + Of him who so lamented with his shanks. + +“Whoe’er thou art, that standest upside down, + O doleful soul, implanted like a stake,” + To say began I, “if thou canst, speak out.” + +I stood even as the friar who is confessing + The false assassin, who, when he is fixed, + Recalls him, so that death may be delayed. + +And he cried out: “Dost thou stand there already, + Dost thou stand there already, Boniface? + By many years the record lied to me. + +Art thou so early satiate with that wealth, + For which thou didst not fear to take by fraud + The beautiful Lady, and then work her woe?” + +Such I became, as people are who stand, + Not comprehending what is answered them, + As if bemocked, and know not how to answer. + +Then said Virgilius: “Say to him straightway, + ‘I am not he, I am not he thou thinkest.’” + And I replied as was imposed on me. + +Whereat the spirit writhed with both his feet, + Then, sighing, with a voice of lamentation + Said to me: “Then what wantest thou of me? + +If who I am thou carest so much to know, + That thou on that account hast crossed the bank, + Know that I vested was with the great mantle; + +And truly was I son of the She-bear, + So eager to advance the cubs, that wealth + Above, and here myself, I pocketed. + +Beneath my head the others are dragged down + Who have preceded me in simony, + Flattened along the fissure of the rock. + +Below there I shall likewise fall, whenever + That one shall come who I believed thou wast, + What time the sudden question I proposed. + +But longer I my feet already toast, + And here have been in this way upside down, + Than he will planted stay with reddened feet; + +For after him shall come of fouler deed + From tow’rds the west a Pastor without law, + Such as befits to cover him and me. + +New Jason will he be, of whom we read + In Maccabees; and as his king was pliant, + So he who governs France shall be to this one.” + +I do not know if I were here too bold, + That him I answered only in this metre: + “I pray thee tell me now how great a treasure + +Our Lord demanded of Saint Peter first, + Before he put the keys into his keeping? + Truly he nothing asked but ‘Follow me.’ + +Nor Peter nor the rest asked of Matthias + Silver or gold, when he by lot was chosen + Unto the place the guilty soul had lost. + +Therefore stay here, for thou art justly punished, + And keep safe guard o’er the ill-gotten money, + Which caused thee to be valiant against Charles. + +And were it not that still forbids it me + The reverence for the keys superlative + Thou hadst in keeping in the gladsome life, + +I would make use of words more grievous still; + Because your avarice afflicts the world, + Trampling the good and lifting the depraved. + +The Evangelist you Pastors had in mind, + When she who sitteth upon many waters + To fornicate with kings by him was seen; + +The same who with the seven heads was born, + And power and strength from the ten horns received, + So long as virtue to her spouse was pleasing. + +Ye have made yourselves a god of gold and silver; + And from the idolater how differ ye, + Save that he one, and ye a hundred worship? + +Ah, Constantine! of how much ill was mother, + Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower + Which the first wealthy Father took from thee!” + +And while I sang to him such notes as these, + Either that anger or that conscience stung him, + He struggled violently with both his feet. + +I think in sooth that it my Leader pleased, + With such contented lip he listened ever + Unto the sound of the true words expressed. + +Therefore with both his arms he took me up, + And when he had me all upon his breast, + Remounted by the way where he descended. + +Nor did he tire to have me clasped to him; + But bore me to the summit of the arch + Which from the fourth dike to the fifth is passage. + +There tenderly he laid his burden down, + Tenderly on the crag uneven and steep, + That would have been hard passage for the goats: + +Thence was unveiled to me another valley. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XX + + +Of a new pain behoves me to make verses + And give material to the twentieth canto + Of the first song, which is of the submerged. + +I was already thoroughly disposed + To peer down into the uncovered depth, + Which bathed itself with tears of agony; + +And people saw I through the circular valley, + Silent and weeping, coming at the pace + Which in this world the Litanies assume. + +As lower down my sight descended on them, + Wondrously each one seemed to be distorted + From chin to the beginning of the chest; + +For tow’rds the reins the countenance was turned, + And backward it behoved them to advance, + As to look forward had been taken from them. + +Perchance indeed by violence of palsy + Some one has been thus wholly turned awry; + But I ne’er saw it, nor believe it can be. + +As God may let thee, Reader, gather fruit + From this thy reading, think now for thyself + How I could ever keep my face unmoistened, + +When our own image near me I beheld + Distorted so, the weeping of the eyes + Along the fissure bathed the hinder parts. + +Truly I wept, leaning upon a peak + Of the hard crag, so that my Escort said + To me: “Art thou, too, of the other fools? + +Here pity lives when it is wholly dead; + Who is a greater reprobate than he + Who feels compassion at the doom divine? + +Lift up, lift up thy head, and see for whom + Opened the earth before the Thebans’ eyes; + Wherefore they all cried: ‘Whither rushest thou, + +Amphiaraus? Why dost leave the war?’ + And downward ceased he not to fall amain + As far as Minos, who lays hold on all. + +See, he has made a bosom of his shoulders! + Because he wished to see too far before him + Behind he looks, and backward goes his way: + +Behold Tiresias, who his semblance changed, + When from a male a female he became, + His members being all of them transformed; + +And afterwards was forced to strike once more + The two entangled serpents with his rod, + Ere he could have again his manly plumes. + +That Aruns is, who backs the other’s belly, + Who in the hills of Luni, there where grubs + The Carrarese who houses underneath, + +Among the marbles white a cavern had + For his abode; whence to behold the stars + And sea, the view was not cut off from him. + +And she there, who is covering up her breasts, + Which thou beholdest not, with loosened tresses, + And on that side has all the hairy skin, + +Was Manto, who made quest through many lands, + Afterwards tarried there where I was born; + Whereof I would thou list to me a little. + +After her father had from life departed, + And the city of Bacchus had become enslaved, + She a long season wandered through the world. + +Above in beauteous Italy lies a lake + At the Alp’s foot that shuts in Germany + Over Tyrol, and has the name Benaco. + +By a thousand springs, I think, and more, is bathed, + ’Twixt Garda and Val Camonica, Pennino, + With water that grows stagnant in that lake. + +Midway a place is where the Trentine Pastor, + And he of Brescia, and the Veronese + Might give his blessing, if he passed that way. + +Sitteth Peschiera, fortress fair and strong, + To front the Brescians and the Bergamasks, + Where round about the bank descendeth lowest. + +There of necessity must fall whatever + In bosom of Benaco cannot stay, + And grows a river down through verdant pastures. + +Soon as the water doth begin to run, + No more Benaco is it called, but Mincio, + Far as Governo, where it falls in Po. + +Not far it runs before it finds a plain + In which it spreads itself, and makes it marshy, + And oft ’tis wont in summer to be sickly. + +Passing that way the virgin pitiless + Land in the middle of the fen descried, + Untilled and naked of inhabitants; + +There to escape all human intercourse, + She with her servants stayed, her arts to practise + And lived, and left her empty body there. + +The men, thereafter, who were scattered round, + Collected in that place, which was made strong + By the lagoon it had on every side; + +They built their city over those dead bones, + And, after her who first the place selected, + Mantua named it, without other omen. + +Its people once within more crowded were, + Ere the stupidity of Casalodi + From Pinamonte had received deceit. + +Therefore I caution thee, if e’er thou hearest + Originate my city otherwise, + No falsehood may the verity defraud.” + +And I: “My Master, thy discourses are + To me so certain, and so take my faith, + That unto me the rest would be spent coals. + +But tell me of the people who are passing, + If any one note-worthy thou beholdest, + For only unto that my mind reverts.” + +Then said he to me: “He who from the cheek + Thrusts out his beard upon his swarthy shoulders + Was, at the time when Greece was void of males, + +So that there scarce remained one in the cradle, + An augur, and with Calchas gave the moment, + In Aulis, when to sever the first cable. + +Eryphylus his name was, and so sings + My lofty Tragedy in some part or other; + That knowest thou well, who knowest the whole of it. + +The next, who is so slender in the flanks, + Was Michael Scott, who of a verity + Of magical illusions knew the game. + +Behold Guido Bonatti, behold Asdente, + Who now unto his leather and his thread + Would fain have stuck, but he too late repents. + +Behold the wretched ones, who left the needle, + The spool and rock, and made them fortune-tellers; + They wrought their magic spells with herb and image. + +But come now, for already holds the confines + Of both the hemispheres, and under Seville + Touches the ocean-wave, Cain and the thorns, + +And yesternight the moon was round already; + Thou shouldst remember well it did not harm thee + From time to time within the forest deep.” + +Thus spake he to me, and we walked the while. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXI + + +From bridge to bridge thus, speaking other things + Of which my Comedy cares not to sing, + We came along, and held the summit, when + +We halted to behold another fissure + Of Malebolge and other vain laments; + And I beheld it marvellously dark. + +As in the Arsenal of the Venetians + Boils in the winter the tenacious pitch + To smear their unsound vessels o’er again, + +For sail they cannot; and instead thereof + One makes his vessel new, and one recaulks + The ribs of that which many a voyage has made; + +One hammers at the prow, one at the stern, + This one makes oars, and that one cordage twists, + Another mends the mainsail and the mizzen; + +Thus, not by fire, but by the art divine, + Was boiling down below there a dense pitch + Which upon every side the bank belimed. + +I saw it, but I did not see within it + Aught but the bubbles that the boiling raised, + And all swell up and resubside compressed. + +The while below there fixedly I gazed, + My Leader, crying out: “Beware, beware!” + Drew me unto himself from where I stood. + +Then I turned round, as one who is impatient + To see what it behoves him to escape, + And whom a sudden terror doth unman, + +Who, while he looks, delays not his departure; + And I beheld behind us a black devil, + Running along upon the crag, approach. + +Ah, how ferocious was he in his aspect! + And how he seemed to me in action ruthless, + With open wings and light upon his feet! + +His shoulders, which sharp-pointed were and high, + A sinner did encumber with both haunches, + And he held clutched the sinews of the feet. + +From off our bridge, he said: “O Malebranche, + Behold one of the elders of Saint Zita; + Plunge him beneath, for I return for others + +Unto that town, which is well furnished with them. + All there are barrators, except Bonturo; + No into Yes for money there is changed.” + +He hurled him down, and over the hard crag + Turned round, and never was a mastiff loosened + In so much hurry to pursue a thief. + +The other sank, and rose again face downward; + But the demons, under cover of the bridge, + Cried: “Here the Santo Volto has no place! + +Here swims one otherwise than in the Serchio; + Therefore, if for our gaffs thou wishest not, + Do not uplift thyself above the pitch.” + +They seized him then with more than a hundred rakes; + They said: “It here behoves thee to dance covered, + That, if thou canst, thou secretly mayest pilfer.” + +Not otherwise the cooks their scullions make + Immerse into the middle of the caldron + The meat with hooks, so that it may not float. + +Said the good Master to me: “That it be not + Apparent thou art here, crouch thyself down + Behind a jag, that thou mayest have some screen; + +And for no outrage that is done to me + Be thou afraid, because these things I know, + For once before was I in such a scuffle.” + +Then he passed on beyond the bridge’s head, + And as upon the sixth bank he arrived, + Need was for him to have a steadfast front. + +With the same fury, and the same uproar, + As dogs leap out upon a mendicant, + Who on a sudden begs, where’er he stops, + +They issued from beneath the little bridge, + And turned against him all their grappling-irons; + But he cried out: “Be none of you malignant! + +Before those hooks of yours lay hold of me, + Let one of you step forward, who may hear me, + And then take counsel as to grappling me.” + +They all cried out: “Let Malacoda go;” + Whereat one started, and the rest stood still, + And he came to him, saying: “What avails it?” + +“Thinkest thou, Malacoda, to behold me + Advanced into this place,” my Master said, + “Safe hitherto from all your skill of fence, + +Without the will divine, and fate auspicious? + Let me go on, for it in Heaven is willed + That I another show this savage road.” + +Then was his arrogance so humbled in him, + That he let fall his grapnel at his feet, + And to the others said: “Now strike him not.” + +And unto me my Guide: “O thou, who sittest + Among the splinters of the bridge crouched down, + Securely now return to me again.” + +Wherefore I started and came swiftly to him; + And all the devils forward thrust themselves, + So that I feared they would not keep their compact. + +And thus beheld I once afraid the soldiers + Who issued under safeguard from Caprona, + Seeing themselves among so many foes. + +Close did I press myself with all my person + Beside my Leader, and turned not mine eyes + From off their countenance, which was not good. + +They lowered their rakes, and “Wilt thou have me hit him,” + They said to one another, “on the rump?” + And answered: “Yes; see that thou nick him with it.” + +But the same demon who was holding parley + With my Conductor turned him very quickly, + And said: “Be quiet, be quiet, Scarmiglione;” + +Then said to us: “You can no farther go + Forward upon this crag, because is lying + All shattered, at the bottom, the sixth arch. + +And if it still doth please you to go onward, + Pursue your way along upon this rock; + Near is another crag that yields a path. + +Yesterday, five hours later than this hour, + One thousand and two hundred sixty-six + Years were complete, that here the way was broken. + +I send in that direction some of mine + To see if any one doth air himself; + Go ye with them; for they will not be vicious. + +Step forward, Alichino and Calcabrina,” + Began he to cry out, “and thou, Cagnazzo; + And Barbariccia, do thou guide the ten. + +Come forward, Libicocco and Draghignazzo, + And tusked Ciriatto and Graffiacane, + And Farfarello and mad Rubicante; + +Search ye all round about the boiling pitch; + Let these be safe as far as the next crag, + That all unbroken passes o’er the dens.” + +“O me! what is it, Master, that I see? + Pray let us go,” I said, “without an escort, + If thou knowest how, since for myself I ask none. + +If thou art as observant as thy wont is, + Dost thou not see that they do gnash their teeth, + And with their brows are threatening woe to us?” + +And he to me: “I will not have thee fear; + Let them gnash on, according to their fancy, + Because they do it for those boiling wretches.” + +Along the left-hand dike they wheeled about; + But first had each one thrust his tongue between + His teeth towards their leader for a signal; + +And he had made a trumpet of his rump. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXII + + +I have erewhile seen horsemen moving camp, + Begin the storming, and their muster make, + And sometimes starting off for their escape; + +Vaunt-couriers have I seen upon your land, + O Aretines, and foragers go forth, + Tournaments stricken, and the joustings run, + +Sometimes with trumpets and sometimes with bells, + With kettle-drums, and signals of the castles, + And with our own, and with outlandish things, + +But never yet with bagpipe so uncouth + Did I see horsemen move, nor infantry, + Nor ship by any sign of land or star. + +We went upon our way with the ten demons; + Ah, savage company! but in the church + With saints, and in the tavern with the gluttons! + +Ever upon the pitch was my intent, + To see the whole condition of that Bolgia, + And of the people who therein were burned. + +Even as the dolphins, when they make a sign + To mariners by arching of the back, + That they should counsel take to save their vessel, + +Thus sometimes, to alleviate his pain, + One of the sinners would display his back, + And in less time conceal it than it lightens. + +As on the brink of water in a ditch + The frogs stand only with their muzzles out, + So that they hide their feet and other bulk, + +So upon every side the sinners stood; + But ever as Barbariccia near them came, + Thus underneath the boiling they withdrew. + +I saw, and still my heart doth shudder at it, + One waiting thus, even as it comes to pass + One frog remains, and down another dives; + +And Graffiacan, who most confronted him, + Grappled him by his tresses smeared with pitch, + And drew him up, so that he seemed an otter. + +I knew, before, the names of all of them, + So had I noted them when they were chosen, + And when they called each other, listened how. + +“O Rubicante, see that thou do lay + Thy claws upon him, so that thou mayst flay him,” + Cried all together the accursed ones. + +And I: “My Master, see to it, if thou canst, + That thou mayst know who is the luckless wight, + Thus come into his adversaries’ hands.” + +Near to the side of him my Leader drew, + Asked of him whence he was; and he replied: + “I in the kingdom of Navarre was born; + +My mother placed me servant to a lord, + For she had borne me to a ribald knave, + Destroyer of himself and of his things. + +Then I domestic was of good King Thibault; + I set me there to practise barratry, + For which I pay the reckoning in this heat.” + +And Ciriatto, from whose mouth projected, + On either side, a tusk, as in a boar, + Caused him to feel how one of them could rip. + +Among malicious cats the mouse had come; + But Barbariccia clasped him in his arms, + And said: “Stand ye aside, while I enfork him.” + +And to my Master he turned round his head; + “Ask him again,” he said, “if more thou wish + To know from him, before some one destroy him.” + +The Guide: “Now tell then of the other culprits; + Knowest thou any one who is a Latian, + Under the pitch?” And he: “I separated + +Lately from one who was a neighbour to it; + Would that I still were covered up with him, + For I should fear not either claw nor hook!” + +And Libicocco: “We have borne too much;” + And with his grapnel seized him by the arm, + So that, by rending, he tore off a tendon. + +Eke Draghignazzo wished to pounce upon him + Down at the legs; whence their Decurion + Turned round and round about with evil look. + +When they again somewhat were pacified, + Of him, who still was looking at his wound, + Demanded my Conductor without stay: + +“Who was that one, from whom a luckless parting + Thou sayest thou hast made, to come ashore?” + And he replied: “It was the Friar Gomita, + +He of Gallura, vessel of all fraud, + Who had the enemies of his Lord in hand, + And dealt so with them each exults thereat; + +Money he took, and let them smoothly off, + As he says; and in other offices + A barrator was he, not mean but sovereign. + +Foregathers with him one Don Michael Zanche + Of Logodoro; and of Sardinia + To gossip never do their tongues feel tired. + +O me! see that one, how he grinds his teeth; + Still farther would I speak, but am afraid + Lest he to scratch my itch be making ready.” + +And the grand Provost, turned to Farfarello, + Who rolled his eyes about as if to strike, + Said: “Stand aside there, thou malicious bird.” + +“If you desire either to see or hear,” + The terror-stricken recommenced thereon, + “Tuscans or Lombards, I will make them come. + +But let the Malebranche cease a little, + So that these may not their revenges fear, + And I, down sitting in this very place, + +For one that I am will make seven come, + When I shall whistle, as our custom is + To do whenever one of us comes out.” + +Cagnazzo at these words his muzzle lifted, + Shaking his head, and said: “Just hear the trick + Which he has thought of, down to throw himself!” + +Whence he, who snares in great abundance had, + Responded: “I by far too cunning am, + When I procure for mine a greater sadness.” + +Alichin held not in, but running counter + Unto the rest, said to him: “If thou dive, + I will not follow thee upon the gallop, + +But I will beat my wings above the pitch; + The height be left, and be the bank a shield + To see if thou alone dost countervail us.” + +O thou who readest, thou shalt hear new sport! + Each to the other side his eyes averted; + He first, who most reluctant was to do it. + +The Navarrese selected well his time; + Planted his feet on land, and in a moment + Leaped, and released himself from their design. + +Whereat each one was suddenly stung with shame, + But he most who was cause of the defeat; + Therefore he moved, and cried: “Thou art o’ertakern.” + +But little it availed, for wings could not + Outstrip the fear; the other one went under, + And, flying, upward he his breast directed; + +Not otherwise the duck upon a sudden + Dives under, when the falcon is approaching, + And upward he returneth cross and weary. + +Infuriate at the mockery, Calcabrina + Flying behind him followed close, desirous + The other should escape, to have a quarrel. + +And when the barrator had disappeared, + He turned his talons upon his companion, + And grappled with him right above the moat. + +But sooth the other was a doughty sparhawk + To clapperclaw him well; and both of them + Fell in the middle of the boiling pond. + +A sudden intercessor was the heat; + But ne’ertheless of rising there was naught, + To such degree they had their wings belimed. + +Lamenting with the others, Barbariccia + Made four of them fly to the other side + With all their gaffs, and very speedily + +This side and that they to their posts descended; + They stretched their hooks towards the pitch-ensnared, + Who were already baked within the crust, + +And in this manner busied did we leave them. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXIII + + +Silent, alone, and without company + We went, the one in front, the other after, + As go the Minor Friars along their way. + +Upon the fable of Aesop was directed + My thought, by reason of the present quarrel, + Where he has spoken of the frog and mouse; + +For ‘mo’ and ‘issa’ are not more alike + Than this one is to that, if well we couple + End and beginning with a steadfast mind. + +And even as one thought from another springs, + So afterward from that was born another, + Which the first fear within me double made. + +Thus did I ponder: “These on our account + Are laughed to scorn, with injury and scoff + So great, that much I think it must annoy them. + +If anger be engrafted on ill-will, + They will come after us more merciless + Than dog upon the leveret which he seizes,” + +I felt my hair stand all on end already + With terror, and stood backwardly intent, + When said I: “Master, if thou hidest not + +Thyself and me forthwith, of Malebranche + I am in dread; we have them now behind us; + I so imagine them, I already feel them.” + +And he: “If I were made of leaded glass, + Thine outward image I should not attract + Sooner to me than I imprint the inner. + +Just now thy thoughts came in among my own, + With similar attitude and similar face, + So that of both one counsel sole I made. + +If peradventure the right bank so slope + That we to the next Bolgia can descend, + We shall escape from the imagined chase.” + +Not yet he finished rendering such opinion, + When I beheld them come with outstretched wings, + Not far remote, with will to seize upon us. + +My Leader on a sudden seized me up, + Even as a mother who by noise is wakened, + And close beside her sees the enkindled flames, + +Who takes her son, and flies, and does not stop, + Having more care of him than of herself, + So that she clothes her only with a shift; + +And downward from the top of the hard bank + Supine he gave him to the pendent rock, + That one side of the other Bolgia walls. + +Ne’er ran so swiftly water through a sluice + To turn the wheel of any land-built mill, + When nearest to the paddles it approaches, + +As did my Master down along that border, + Bearing me with him on his breast away, + As his own son, and not as a companion. + +Hardly the bed of the ravine below + His feet had reached, ere they had reached the hill + Right over us; but he was not afraid; + +For the high Providence, which had ordained + To place them ministers of the fifth moat, + The power of thence departing took from all. + +A painted people there below we found, + Who went about with footsteps very slow, + Weeping and in their semblance tired and vanquished. + +They had on mantles with the hoods low down + Before their eyes, and fashioned of the cut + That in Cologne they for the monks are made. + +Without, they gilded are so that it dazzles; + But inwardly all leaden and so heavy + That Frederick used to put them on of straw. + +O everlastingly fatiguing mantle! + Again we turned us, still to the left hand + Along with them, intent on their sad plaint; + +But owing to the weight, that weary folk + Came on so tardily, that we were new + In company at each motion of the haunch. + +Whence I unto my Leader: “See thou find + Some one who may by deed or name be known, + And thus in going move thine eye about.” + +And one, who understood the Tuscan speech, + Cried to us from behind: “Stay ye your feet, + Ye, who so run athwart the dusky air! + +Perhaps thou’lt have from me what thou demandest.” + Whereat the Leader turned him, and said: “Wait, + And then according to his pace proceed.” + +I stopped, and two beheld I show great haste + Of spirit, in their faces, to be with me; + But the burden and the narrow way delayed them. + +When they came up, long with an eye askance + They scanned me without uttering a word. + Then to each other turned, and said together: + +“He by the action of his throat seems living; + And if they dead are, by what privilege + Go they uncovered by the heavy stole?” + +Then said to me: “Tuscan, who to the college + Of miserable hypocrites art come, + Do not disdain to tell us who thou art.” + +And I to them: “Born was I, and grew up + In the great town on the fair river of Arno, + And with the body am I’ve always had. + +But who are ye, in whom there trickles down + Along your cheeks such grief as I behold? + And what pain is upon you, that so sparkles?” + +And one replied to me: “These orange cloaks + Are made of lead so heavy, that the weights + Cause in this way their balances to creak. + +Frati Gaudenti were we, and Bolognese; + I Catalano, and he Loderingo + Named, and together taken by thy city, + +As the wont is to take one man alone, + For maintenance of its peace; and we were such + That still it is apparent round Gardingo.” + +“O Friars,” began I, “your iniquitous. . .” + But said no more; for to mine eyes there rushed + One crucified with three stakes on the ground. + +When me he saw, he writhed himself all over, + Blowing into his beard with suspirations; + And the Friar Catalan, who noticed this, + +Said to me: “This transfixed one, whom thou seest, + Counselled the Pharisees that it was meet + To put one man to torture for the people. + +Crosswise and naked is he on the path, + As thou perceivest; and he needs must feel, + Whoever passes, first how much he weighs; + +And in like mode his father-in-law is punished + Within this moat, and the others of the council, + Which for the Jews was a malignant seed.” + +And thereupon I saw Virgilius marvel + O’er him who was extended on the cross + So vilely in eternal banishment. + +Then he directed to the Friar this voice: + “Be not displeased, if granted thee, to tell us + If to the right hand any pass slope down + +By which we two may issue forth from here, + Without constraining some of the black angels + To come and extricate us from this deep.” + +Then he made answer: “Nearer than thou hopest + There is a rock, that forth from the great circle + Proceeds, and crosses all the cruel valleys, + +Save that at this ’tis broken, and does not bridge it; + You will be able to mount up the ruin, + That sidelong slopes and at the bottom rises.” + +The Leader stood awhile with head bowed down; + Then said: “The business badly he recounted + Who grapples with his hook the sinners yonder.” + +And the Friar: “Many of the Devil’s vices + Once heard I at Bologna, and among them, + That he’s a liar and the father of lies.” + +Thereat my Leader with great strides went on, + Somewhat disturbed with anger in his looks; + Whence from the heavy-laden I departed + +After the prints of his beloved feet. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXIV + + +In that part of the youthful year wherein + The Sun his locks beneath Aquarius tempers, + And now the nights draw near to half the day, + +What time the hoar-frost copies on the ground + The outward semblance of her sister white, + But little lasts the temper of her pen, + +The husbandman, whose forage faileth him, + Rises, and looks, and seeth the champaign + All gleaming white, whereat he beats his flank, + +Returns in doors, and up and down laments, + Like a poor wretch, who knows not what to do; + Then he returns and hope revives again, + +Seeing the world has changed its countenance + In little time, and takes his shepherd’s crook, + And forth the little lambs to pasture drives. + +Thus did the Master fill me with alarm, + When I beheld his forehead so disturbed, + And to the ailment came as soon the plaster. + +For as we came unto the ruined bridge, + The Leader turned to me with that sweet look + Which at the mountain’s foot I first beheld. + +His arms he opened, after some advisement + Within himself elected, looking first + Well at the ruin, and laid hold of me. + +And even as he who acts and meditates, + For aye it seems that he provides beforehand, + So upward lifting me towards the summit + +Of a huge rock, he scanned another crag, + Saying: “To that one grapple afterwards, + But try first if ’tis such that it will hold thee.” + +This was no way for one clothed with a cloak; + For hardly we, he light, and I pushed upward, + Were able to ascend from jag to jag. + +And had it not been, that upon that precinct + Shorter was the ascent than on the other, + He I know not, but I had been dead beat. + +But because Malebolge tow’rds the mouth + Of the profoundest well is all inclining, + The structure of each valley doth import + +That one bank rises and the other sinks. + Still we arrived at length upon the point + Wherefrom the last stone breaks itself asunder. + +The breath was from my lungs so milked away, + When I was up, that I could go no farther, + Nay, I sat down upon my first arrival. + +“Now it behoves thee thus to put off sloth,” + My Master said; “for sitting upon down, + Or under quilt, one cometh not to fame, + +Withouten which whoso his life consumes + Such vestige leaveth of himself on earth, + As smoke in air or in the water foam. + +And therefore raise thee up, o’ercome the anguish + With spirit that o’ercometh every battle, + If with its heavy body it sink not. + +A longer stairway it behoves thee mount; + ’Tis not enough from these to have departed; + Let it avail thee, if thou understand me.” + +Then I uprose, showing myself provided + Better with breath than I did feel myself, + And said: “Go on, for I am strong and bold.” + +Upward we took our way along the crag, + Which jagged was, and narrow, and difficult, + And more precipitous far than that before. + +Speaking I went, not to appear exhausted; + Whereat a voice from the next moat came forth, + Not well adapted to articulate words. + +I know not what it said, though o’er the back + I now was of the arch that passes there; + But he seemed moved to anger who was speaking. + +I was bent downward, but my living eyes + Could not attain the bottom, for the dark; + Wherefore I: “Master, see that thou arrive + +At the next round, and let us descend the wall; + For as from hence I hear and understand not, + So I look down and nothing I distinguish.” + +“Other response,” he said, “I make thee not, + Except the doing; for the modest asking + Ought to be followed by the deed in silence.” + +We from the bridge descended at its head, + Where it connects itself with the eighth bank, + And then was manifest to me the Bolgia; + +And I beheld therein a terrible throng + Of serpents, and of such a monstrous kind, + That the remembrance still congeals my blood + +Let Libya boast no longer with her sand; + For if Chelydri, Jaculi, and Phareae + She breeds, with Cenchri and with Amphisbaena, + +Neither so many plagues nor so malignant + E’er showed she with all Ethiopia, + Nor with whatever on the Red Sea is! + +Among this cruel and most dismal throng + People were running naked and affrighted. + Without the hope of hole or heliotrope. + +They had their hands with serpents bound behind them; + These riveted upon their reins the tail + And head, and were in front of them entwined. + +And lo! at one who was upon our side + There darted forth a serpent, which transfixed him + There where the neck is knotted to the shoulders. + +Nor ‘O’ so quickly e’er, nor ‘I’ was written, + As he took fire, and burned; and ashes wholly + Behoved it that in falling he became. + +And when he on the ground was thus destroyed, + The ashes drew together, and of themselves + Into himself they instantly returned. + +Even thus by the great sages ’tis confessed + The phoenix dies, and then is born again, + When it approaches its five-hundredth year; + +On herb or grain it feeds not in its life, + But only on tears of incense and amomum, + And nard and myrrh are its last winding-sheet. + +And as he is who falls, and knows not how, + By force of demons who to earth down drag him, + Or other oppilation that binds man, + +When he arises and around him looks, + Wholly bewildered by the mighty anguish + Which he has suffered, and in looking sighs; + +Such was that sinner after he had risen. + Justice of God! O how severe it is, + That blows like these in vengeance poureth down! + +The Guide thereafter asked him who he was; + Whence he replied: “I rained from Tuscany + A short time since into this cruel gorge. + +A bestial life, and not a human, pleased me, + Even as the mule I was; I’m Vanni Fucci, + Beast, and Pistoia was my worthy den.” + +And I unto the Guide: “Tell him to stir not, + And ask what crime has thrust him here below, + For once a man of blood and wrath I saw him.” + +And the sinner, who had heard, dissembled not, + But unto me directed mind and face, + And with a melancholy shame was painted. + +Then said: “It pains me more that thou hast caught me + Amid this misery where thou seest me, + Than when I from the other life was taken. + +What thou demandest I cannot deny; + So low am I put down because I robbed + The sacristy of the fair ornaments, + +And falsely once ’twas laid upon another; + But that thou mayst not such a sight enjoy, + If thou shalt e’er be out of the dark places, + +Thine ears to my announcement ope and hear: + Pistoia first of Neri groweth meagre; + Then Florence doth renew her men and manners; + +Mars draws a vapour up from Val di Magra, + Which is with turbid clouds enveloped round, + And with impetuous and bitter tempest + +Over Campo Picen shall be the battle; + When it shall suddenly rend the mist asunder, + So that each Bianco shall thereby be smitten. + +And this I’ve said that it may give thee pain.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXV + + +At the conclusion of his words, the thief + Lifted his hands aloft with both the figs, + Crying: “Take that, God, for at thee I aim them.” + +From that time forth the serpents were my friends; + For one entwined itself about his neck + As if it said: “I will not thou speak more;” + +And round his arms another, and rebound him, + Clinching itself together so in front, + That with them he could not a motion make. + +Pistoia, ah, Pistoia! why resolve not + To burn thyself to ashes and so perish, + Since in ill-doing thou thy seed excellest? + +Through all the sombre circles of this Hell, + Spirit I saw not against God so proud, + Not he who fell at Thebes down from the walls! + +He fled away, and spake no further word; + And I beheld a Centaur full of rage + Come crying out: “Where is, where is the scoffer?” + +I do not think Maremma has so many + Serpents as he had all along his back, + As far as where our countenance begins. + +Upon the shoulders, just behind the nape, + With wings wide open was a dragon lying, + And he sets fire to all that he encounters. + +My Master said: “That one is Cacus, who + Beneath the rock upon Mount Aventine + Created oftentimes a lake of blood. + +He goes not on the same road with his brothers, + By reason of the fraudulent theft he made + Of the great herd, which he had near to him; + +Whereat his tortuous actions ceased beneath + The mace of Hercules, who peradventure + Gave him a hundred, and he felt not ten.” + +While he was speaking thus, he had passed by, + And spirits three had underneath us come, + Of which nor I aware was, nor my Leader, + +Until what time they shouted: “Who are you?” + On which account our story made a halt, + And then we were intent on them alone. + +I did not know them; but it came to pass, + As it is wont to happen by some chance, + That one to name the other was compelled, + +Exclaiming: “Where can Cianfa have remained?” + Whence I, so that the Leader might attend, + Upward from chin to nose my finger laid. + +If thou art, Reader, slow now to believe + What I shall say, it will no marvel be, + For I who saw it hardly can admit it. + +As I was holding raised on them my brows, + Behold! a serpent with six feet darts forth + In front of one, and fastens wholly on him. + +With middle feet it bound him round the paunch, + And with the forward ones his arms it seized; + Then thrust its teeth through one cheek and the other; + +The hindermost it stretched upon his thighs, + And put its tail through in between the two, + And up behind along the reins outspread it. + +Ivy was never fastened by its barbs + Unto a tree so, as this horrible reptile + Upon the other’s limbs entwined its own. + +Then they stuck close, as if of heated wax + They had been made, and intermixed their colour; + Nor one nor other seemed now what he was; + +E’en as proceedeth on before the flame + Upward along the paper a brown colour, + Which is not black as yet, and the white dies. + +The other two looked on, and each of them + Cried out: “O me, Agnello, how thou changest! + Behold, thou now art neither two nor one.” + +Already the two heads had one become, + When there appeared to us two figures mingled + Into one face, wherein the two were lost. + +Of the four lists were fashioned the two arms, + The thighs and legs, the belly and the chest + Members became that never yet were seen. + +Every original aspect there was cancelled; + Two and yet none did the perverted image + Appear, and such departed with slow pace. + +Even as a lizard, under the great scourge + Of days canicular, exchanging hedge, + Lightning appeareth if the road it cross; + +Thus did appear, coming towards the bellies + Of the two others, a small fiery serpent, + Livid and black as is a peppercorn. + +And in that part whereat is first received + Our aliment, it one of them transfixed; + Then downward fell in front of him extended. + +The one transfixed looked at it, but said naught; + Nay, rather with feet motionless he yawned, + Just as if sleep or fever had assailed him. + +He at the serpent gazed, and it at him; + One through the wound, the other through the mouth + Smoked violently, and the smoke commingled. + +Henceforth be silent Lucan, where he mentions + Wretched Sabellus and Nassidius, + And wait to hear what now shall be shot forth. + +Be silent Ovid, of Cadmus and Arethusa; + For if him to a snake, her to fountain, + Converts he fabling, that I grudge him not; + +Because two natures never front to front + Has he transmuted, so that both the forms + To interchange their matter ready were. + +Together they responded in such wise, + That to a fork the serpent cleft his tail, + And eke the wounded drew his feet together. + +The legs together with the thighs themselves + Adhered so, that in little time the juncture + No sign whatever made that was apparent. + +He with the cloven tail assumed the figure + The other one was losing, and his skin + Became elastic, and the other’s hard. + +I saw the arms draw inward at the armpits, + And both feet of the reptile, that were short, + Lengthen as much as those contracted were. + +Thereafter the hind feet, together twisted, + Became the member that a man conceals, + And of his own the wretch had two created. + +While both of them the exhalation veils + With a new colour, and engenders hair + On one of them and depilates the other, + +The one uprose and down the other fell, + Though turning not away their impious lamps, + Underneath which each one his muzzle changed. + +He who was standing drew it tow’rds the temples, + And from excess of matter, which came thither, + Issued the ears from out the hollow cheeks; + +What did not backward run and was retained + Of that excess made to the face a nose, + And the lips thickened far as was befitting. + +He who lay prostrate thrusts his muzzle forward, + And backward draws the ears into his head, + In the same manner as the snail its horns; + +And so the tongue, which was entire and apt + For speech before, is cleft, and the bi-forked + In the other closes up, and the smoke ceases. + +The soul, which to a reptile had been changed, + Along the valley hissing takes to flight, + And after him the other speaking sputters. + +Then did he turn upon him his new shoulders, + And said to the other: “I’ll have Buoso run, + Crawling as I have done, along this road.” + +In this way I beheld the seventh ballast + Shift and reshift, and here be my excuse + The novelty, if aught my pen transgress. + +And notwithstanding that mine eyes might be + Somewhat bewildered, and my mind dismayed, + They could not flee away so secretly + +But that I plainly saw Puccio Sciancato; + And he it was who sole of three companions, + Which came in the beginning, was not changed; + +The other was he whom thou, Gaville, weepest. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXVI + + +Rejoice, O Florence, since thou art so great, + That over sea and land thou beatest thy wings, + And throughout Hell thy name is spread abroad! + +Among the thieves five citizens of thine + Like these I found, whence shame comes unto me, + And thou thereby to no great honour risest. + +But if when morn is near our dreams are true, + Feel shalt thou in a little time from now + What Prato, if none other, craves for thee. + +And if it now were, it were not too soon; + Would that it were, seeing it needs must be, + For ’twill aggrieve me more the more I age. + +We went our way, and up along the stairs + The bourns had made us to descend before, + Remounted my Conductor and drew me. + +And following the solitary path + Among the rocks and ridges of the crag, + The foot without the hand sped not at all. + +Then sorrowed I, and sorrow now again, + When I direct my mind to what I saw, + And more my genius curb than I am wont, + +That it may run not unless virtue guide it; + So that if some good star, or better thing, + Have given me good, I may myself not grudge it. + +As many as the hind (who on the hill + Rests at the time when he who lights the world + His countenance keeps least concealed from us, + +While as the fly gives place unto the gnat) + Seeth the glow-worms down along the valley, + Perchance there where he ploughs and makes his vintage; + +With flames as manifold resplendent all + Was the eighth Bolgia, as I grew aware + As soon as I was where the depth appeared. + +And such as he who with the bears avenged him + Beheld Elijah’s chariot at departing, + What time the steeds to heaven erect uprose, + +For with his eye he could not follow it + So as to see aught else than flame alone, + Even as a little cloud ascending upward, + +Thus each along the gorge of the intrenchment + Was moving; for not one reveals the theft, + And every flame a sinner steals away. + +I stood upon the bridge uprisen to see, + So that, if I had seized not on a rock, + Down had I fallen without being pushed. + +And the Leader, who beheld me so attent, + Exclaimed: “Within the fires the spirits are; + Each swathes himself with that wherewith he burns.” + +“My Master,” I replied, “by hearing thee + I am more sure; but I surmised already + It might be so, and already wished to ask thee + +Who is within that fire, which comes so cleft + At top, it seems uprising from the pyre + Where was Eteocles with his brother placed.” + +He answered me: “Within there are tormented + Ulysses and Diomed, and thus together + They unto vengeance run as unto wrath. + +And there within their flame do they lament + The ambush of the horse, which made the door + Whence issued forth the Romans’ gentle seed; + +Therein is wept the craft, for which being dead + Deidamia still deplores Achilles, + And pain for the Palladium there is borne.” + +“If they within those sparks possess the power + To speak,” I said, “thee, Master, much I pray, + And re-pray, that the prayer be worth a thousand, + +That thou make no denial of awaiting + Until the horned flame shall hither come; + Thou seest that with desire I lean towards it.” + +And he to me: “Worthy is thy entreaty + Of much applause, and therefore I accept it; + But take heed that thy tongue restrain itself. + +Leave me to speak, because I have conceived + That which thou wishest; for they might disdain + Perchance, since they were Greeks, discourse of thine.” + +When now the flame had come unto that point, + Where to my Leader it seemed time and place, + After this fashion did I hear him speak: + +“O ye, who are twofold within one fire, + If I deserved of you, while I was living, + If I deserved of you or much or little + +When in the world I wrote the lofty verses, + Do not move on, but one of you declare + Whither, being lost, he went away to die.” + +Then of the antique flame the greater horn, + Murmuring, began to wave itself about + Even as a flame doth which the wind fatigues. + +Thereafterward, the summit to and fro + Moving as if it were the tongue that spake, + It uttered forth a voice, and said: “When I + +From Circe had departed, who concealed me + More than a year there near unto Gaeta, + Or ever yet Aeneas named it so, + +Nor fondness for my son, nor reverence + For my old father, nor the due affection + Which joyous should have made Penelope, + +Could overcome within me the desire + I had to be experienced of the world, + And of the vice and virtue of mankind; + +But I put forth on the high open sea + With one sole ship, and that small company + By which I never had deserted been. + +Both of the shores I saw as far as Spain, + Far as Morocco, and the isle of Sardes, + And the others which that sea bathes round about. + +I and my company were old and slow + When at that narrow passage we arrived + Where Hercules his landmarks set as signals, + +That man no farther onward should adventure. + On the right hand behind me left I Seville, + And on the other already had left Ceuta. + +‘O brothers, who amid a hundred thousand + Perils,’ I said, ‘have come unto the West, + To this so inconsiderable vigil + +Which is remaining of your senses still + Be ye unwilling to deny the knowledge, + Following the sun, of the unpeopled world. + +Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang; + Ye were not made to live like unto brutes, + But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.’ + +So eager did I render my companions, + With this brief exhortation, for the voyage, + That then I hardly could have held them back. + +And having turned our stern unto the morning, + We of the oars made wings for our mad flight, + Evermore gaining on the larboard side. + +Already all the stars of the other pole + The night beheld, and ours so very low + It did not rise above the ocean floor. + +Five times rekindled and as many quenched + Had been the splendour underneath the moon, + Since we had entered into the deep pass, + +When there appeared to us a mountain, dim + From distance, and it seemed to me so high + As I had never any one beheld. + +Joyful were we, and soon it turned to weeping; + For out of the new land a whirlwind rose, + And smote upon the fore part of the ship. + +Three times it made her whirl with all the waters, + At the fourth time it made the stern uplift, + And the prow downward go, as pleased Another, + +Until the sea above us closed again.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXVII + + +Already was the flame erect and quiet, + To speak no more, and now departed from us + With the permission of the gentle Poet; + +When yet another, which behind it came, + Caused us to turn our eyes upon its top + By a confused sound that issued from it. + +As the Sicilian bull (that bellowed first + With the lament of him, and that was right, + Who with his file had modulated it) + +Bellowed so with the voice of the afflicted, + That, notwithstanding it was made of brass, + Still it appeared with agony transfixed; + +Thus, by not having any way or issue + At first from out the fire, to its own language + Converted were the melancholy words. + +But afterwards, when they had gathered way + Up through the point, giving it that vibration + The tongue had given them in their passage out, + +We heard it said: “O thou, at whom I aim + My voice, and who but now wast speaking Lombard, + Saying, ‘Now go thy way, no more I urge thee,’ + +Because I come perchance a little late, + To stay and speak with me let it not irk thee; + Thou seest it irks not me, and I am burning. + +If thou but lately into this blind world + Hast fallen down from that sweet Latian land, + Wherefrom I bring the whole of my transgression, + +Say, if the Romagnuols have peace or war, + For I was from the mountains there between + Urbino and the yoke whence Tiber bursts.” + +I still was downward bent and listening, + When my Conductor touched me on the side, + Saying: “Speak thou: this one a Latian is.” + +And I, who had beforehand my reply + In readiness, forthwith began to speak: + “O soul, that down below there art concealed, + +Romagna thine is not and never has been + Without war in the bosom of its tyrants; + But open war I none have left there now. + +Ravenna stands as it long years has stood; + The Eagle of Polenta there is brooding, + So that she covers Cervia with her vans. + +The city which once made the long resistance, + And of the French a sanguinary heap, + Beneath the Green Paws finds itself again; + +Verrucchio’s ancient Mastiff and the new, + Who made such bad disposal of Montagna, + Where they are wont make wimbles of their teeth. + +The cities of Lamone and Santerno + Governs the Lioncel of the white lair, + Who changes sides ’twixt summer-time and winter; + +And that of which the Savio bathes the flank, + Even as it lies between the plain and mountain, + Lives between tyranny and a free state. + +Now I entreat thee tell us who thou art; + Be not more stubborn than the rest have been, + So may thy name hold front there in the world.” + +After the fire a little more had roared + In its own fashion, the sharp point it moved + This way and that, and then gave forth such breath: + +“If I believed that my reply were made + To one who to the world would e’er return, + This flame without more flickering would stand still; + +But inasmuch as never from this depth + Did any one return, if I hear true, + Without the fear of infamy I answer, + +I was a man of arms, then Cordelier, + Believing thus begirt to make amends; + And truly my belief had been fulfilled + +But for the High Priest, whom may ill betide, + Who put me back into my former sins; + And how and wherefore I will have thee hear. + +While I was still the form of bone and pulp + My mother gave to me, the deeds I did + Were not those of a lion, but a fox. + +The machinations and the covert ways + I knew them all, and practised so their craft, + That to the ends of earth the sound went forth. + +When now unto that portion of mine age + I saw myself arrived, when each one ought + To lower the sails, and coil away the ropes, + +That which before had pleased me then displeased me; + And penitent and confessing I surrendered, + Ah woe is me! and it would have bestead me; + +The Leader of the modern Pharisees + Having a war near unto Lateran, + And not with Saracens nor with the Jews, + +For each one of his enemies was Christian, + And none of them had been to conquer Acre, + Nor merchandising in the Sultan’s land, + +Nor the high office, nor the sacred orders, + In him regarded, nor in me that cord + Which used to make those girt with it more meagre; + +But even as Constantine sought out Sylvester + To cure his leprosy, within Soracte, + So this one sought me out as an adept + +To cure him of the fever of his pride. + Counsel he asked of me, and I was silent, + Because his words appeared inebriate. + +And then he said: ‘Be not thy heart afraid; + Henceforth I thee absolve; and thou instruct me + How to raze Palestrina to the ground. + +Heaven have I power to lock and to unlock, + As thou dost know; therefore the keys are two, + The which my predecessor held not dear.’ + +Then urged me on his weighty arguments + There, where my silence was the worst advice; + And said I: ‘Father, since thou washest me + +Of that sin into which I now must fall, + The promise long with the fulfilment short + Will make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.’ + +Francis came afterward, when I was dead, + For me; but one of the black Cherubim + Said to him: ‘Take him not; do me no wrong; + +He must come down among my servitors, + Because he gave the fraudulent advice + From which time forth I have been at his hair; + +For who repents not cannot be absolved, + Nor can one both repent and will at once, + Because of the contradiction which consents not.’ + +O miserable me! how I did shudder + When he seized on me, saying: ‘Peradventure + Thou didst not think that I was a logician!’ + +He bore me unto Minos, who entwined + Eight times his tail about his stubborn back, + And after he had bitten it in great rage, + +Said: ‘Of the thievish fire a culprit this;’ + Wherefore, here where thou seest, am I lost, + And vested thus in going I bemoan me.” + +When it had thus completed its recital, + The flame departed uttering lamentations, + Writhing and flapping its sharp-pointed horn. + +Onward we passed, both I and my Conductor, + Up o’er the crag above another arch, + Which the moat covers, where is paid the fee + +By those who, sowing discord, win their burden. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXVIII + + +Who ever could, e’en with untrammelled words, + Tell of the blood and of the wounds in full + Which now I saw, by many times narrating? + +Each tongue would for a certainty fall short + By reason of our speech and memory, + That have small room to comprehend so much. + +If were again assembled all the people + Which formerly upon the fateful land + Of Puglia were lamenting for their blood + +Shed by the Romans and the lingering war + That of the rings made such illustrious spoils, + As Livy has recorded, who errs not, + +With those who felt the agony of blows + By making counterstand to Robert Guiscard, + And all the rest, whose bones are gathered still + +At Ceperano, where a renegade + Was each Apulian, and at Tagliacozzo, + Where without arms the old Alardo conquered, + +And one his limb transpierced, and one lopped off, + Should show, it would be nothing to compare + With the disgusting mode of the ninth Bolgia. + +A cask by losing centre-piece or cant + Was never shattered so, as I saw one + Rent from the chin to where one breaketh wind. + +Between his legs were hanging down his entrails; + His heart was visible, and the dismal sack + That maketh excrement of what is eaten. + +While I was all absorbed in seeing him, + He looked at me, and opened with his hands + His bosom, saying: “See now how I rend me; + +How mutilated, see, is Mahomet; + In front of me doth Ali weeping go, + Cleft in the face from forelock unto chin; + +And all the others whom thou here beholdest, + Disseminators of scandal and of schism + While living were, and therefore are cleft thus. + +A devil is behind here, who doth cleave us + Thus cruelly, unto the falchion’s edge + Putting again each one of all this ream, + +When we have gone around the doleful road; + By reason that our wounds are closed again + Ere any one in front of him repass. + +But who art thou, that musest on the crag, + Perchance to postpone going to the pain + That is adjudged upon thine accusations?” + +“Nor death hath reached him yet, nor guilt doth bring him,” + My Master made reply, “to be tormented; + But to procure him full experience, + +Me, who am dead, behoves it to conduct him + Down here through Hell, from circle unto circle; + And this is true as that I speak to thee.” + +More than a hundred were there when they heard him, + Who in the moat stood still to look at me, + Through wonderment oblivious of their torture. + +“Now say to Fra Dolcino, then, to arm him, + Thou, who perhaps wilt shortly see the sun, + If soon he wish not here to follow me, + +So with provisions, that no stress of snow + May give the victory to the Novarese, + Which otherwise to gain would not be easy.” + +After one foot to go away he lifted, + This word did Mahomet say unto me, + Then to depart upon the ground he stretched it. + +Another one, who had his throat pierced through, + And nose cut off close underneath the brows, + And had no longer but a single ear, + +Staying to look in wonder with the others, + Before the others did his gullet open, + Which outwardly was red in every part, + +And said: “O thou, whom guilt doth not condemn, + And whom I once saw up in Latian land, + Unless too great similitude deceive me, + +Call to remembrance Pier da Medicina, + If e’er thou see again the lovely plain + That from Vercelli slopes to Marcabo, + +And make it known to the best two of Fano, + To Messer Guido and Angiolello likewise, + That if foreseeing here be not in vain, + +Cast over from their vessel shall they be, + And drowned near unto the Cattolica, + By the betrayal of a tyrant fell. + +Between the isles of Cyprus and Majorca + Neptune ne’er yet beheld so great a crime, + Neither of pirates nor Argolic people. + +That traitor, who sees only with one eye, + And holds the land, which some one here with me + Would fain be fasting from the vision of, + +Will make them come unto a parley with him; + Then will do so, that to Focara’s wind + They will not stand in need of vow or prayer.” + +And I to him: “Show to me and declare, + If thou wouldst have me bear up news of thee, + Who is this person of the bitter vision.” + +Then did he lay his hand upon the jaw + Of one of his companions, and his mouth + Oped, crying: “This is he, and he speaks not. + +This one, being banished, every doubt submerged + In Caesar by affirming the forearmed + Always with detriment allowed delay.” + +O how bewildered unto me appeared, + With tongue asunder in his windpipe slit, + Curio, who in speaking was so bold! + +And one, who both his hands dissevered had, + The stumps uplifting through the murky air, + So that the blood made horrible his face, + +Cried out: “Thou shalt remember Mosca also, + Who said, alas! ‘A thing done has an end!’ + Which was an ill seed for the Tuscan people.” + +“And death unto thy race,” thereto I added; + Whence he, accumulating woe on woe, + Departed, like a person sad and crazed. + +But I remained to look upon the crowd; + And saw a thing which I should be afraid, + Without some further proof, even to recount, + +If it were not that conscience reassures me, + That good companion which emboldens man + Beneath the hauberk of its feeling pure. + +I truly saw, and still I seem to see it, + A trunk without a head walk in like manner + As walked the others of the mournful herd. + +And by the hair it held the head dissevered, + Hung from the hand in fashion of a lantern, + And that upon us gazed and said: “O me!” + +It of itself made to itself a lamp, + And they were two in one, and one in two; + How that can be, He knows who so ordains it. + +When it was come close to the bridge’s foot, + It lifted high its arm with all the head, + To bring more closely unto us its words, + +Which were: “Behold now the sore penalty, + Thou, who dost breathing go the dead beholding; + Behold if any be as great as this. + +And so that thou may carry news of me, + Know that Bertram de Born am I, the same + Who gave to the Young King the evil comfort. + +I made the father and the son rebellious; + Achitophel not more with Absalom + And David did with his accursed goadings. + +Because I parted persons so united, + Parted do I now bear my brain, alas! + From its beginning, which is in this trunk. + +Thus is observed in me the counterpoise.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXIX + + +The many people and the divers wounds + These eyes of mine had so inebriated, + That they were wishful to stand still and weep; + +But said Virgilius: “What dost thou still gaze at? + Why is thy sight still riveted down there + Among the mournful, mutilated shades? + +Thou hast not done so at the other Bolge; + Consider, if to count them thou believest, + That two-and-twenty miles the valley winds, + +And now the moon is underneath our feet; + Henceforth the time allotted us is brief, + And more is to be seen than what thou seest.” + +“If thou hadst,” I made answer thereupon, + “Attended to the cause for which I looked, + Perhaps a longer stay thou wouldst have pardoned.” + +Meanwhile my Guide departed, and behind him + I went, already making my reply, + And superadding: “In that cavern where + +I held mine eyes with such attention fixed, + I think a spirit of my blood laments + The sin which down below there costs so much.” + +Then said the Master: “Be no longer broken + Thy thought from this time forward upon him; + Attend elsewhere, and there let him remain; + +For him I saw below the little bridge, + Pointing at thee, and threatening with his finger + Fiercely, and heard him called Geri del Bello. + +So wholly at that time wast thou impeded + By him who formerly held Altaforte, + Thou didst not look that way; so he departed.” + +“O my Conductor, his own violent death, + Which is not yet avenged for him,” I said, + “By any who is sharer in the shame, + +Made him disdainful; whence he went away, + As I imagine, without speaking to me, + And thereby made me pity him the more.” + +Thus did we speak as far as the first place + Upon the crag, which the next valley shows + Down to the bottom, if there were more light. + +When we were now right over the last cloister + Of Malebolge, so that its lay-brothers + Could manifest themselves unto our sight, + +Divers lamentings pierced me through and through, + Which with compassion had their arrows barbed, + Whereat mine ears I covered with my hands. + +What pain would be, if from the hospitals + Of Valdichiana, ’twixt July and September, + And of Maremma and Sardinia + +All the diseases in one moat were gathered, + Such was it here, and such a stench came from it + As from putrescent limbs is wont to issue. + +We had descended on the furthest bank + From the long crag, upon the left hand still, + And then more vivid was my power of sight + +Down tow’rds the bottom, where the ministress + Of the high Lord, Justice infallible, + Punishes forgers, which she here records. + +I do not think a sadder sight to see + Was in Aegina the whole people sick, + (When was the air so full of pestilence, + +The animals, down to the little worm, + All fell, and afterwards the ancient people, + According as the poets have affirmed, + +Were from the seed of ants restored again,) + Than was it to behold through that dark valley + The spirits languishing in divers heaps. + +This on the belly, that upon the back + One of the other lay, and others crawling + Shifted themselves along the dismal road. + +We step by step went onward without speech, + Gazing upon and listening to the sick + Who had not strength enough to lift their bodies. + +I saw two sitting leaned against each other, + As leans in heating platter against platter, + From head to foot bespotted o’er with scabs; + +And never saw I plied a currycomb + By stable-boy for whom his master waits, + Or him who keeps awake unwillingly, + +As every one was plying fast the bite + Of nails upon himself, for the great rage + Of itching which no other succour had. + +And the nails downward with them dragged the scab, + In fashion as a knife the scales of bream, + Or any other fish that has them largest. + +“O thou, that with thy fingers dost dismail thee,” + Began my Leader unto one of them, + “And makest of them pincers now and then, + +Tell me if any Latian is with those + Who are herein; so may thy nails suffice thee + To all eternity unto this work.” + +“Latians are we, whom thou so wasted seest, + Both of us here,” one weeping made reply; + “But who art thou, that questionest about us?” + +And said the Guide: “One am I who descends + Down with this living man from cliff to cliff, + And I intend to show Hell unto him.” + +Then broken was their mutual support, + And trembling each one turned himself to me, + With others who had heard him by rebound. + +Wholly to me did the good Master gather, + Saying: “Say unto them whate’er thou wishest.” + And I began, since he would have it so: + +“So may your memory not steal away + In the first world from out the minds of men, + But so may it survive ’neath many suns, + +Say to me who ye are, and of what people; + Let not your foul and loathsome punishment + Make you afraid to show yourselves to me.” + +“I of Arezzo was,” one made reply, + “And Albert of Siena had me burned; + But what I died for does not bring me here. + +’Tis true I said to him, speaking in jest, + That I could rise by flight into the air, + And he who had conceit, but little wit, + +Would have me show to him the art; and only + Because no Daedalus I made him, made me + Be burned by one who held him as his son. + +But unto the last Bolgia of the ten, + For alchemy, which in the world I practised, + Minos, who cannot err, has me condemned.” + +And to the Poet said I: “Now was ever + So vain a people as the Sienese? + Not for a certainty the French by far.” + +Whereat the other leper, who had heard me, + Replied unto my speech: “Taking out Stricca, + Who knew the art of moderate expenses, + +And Niccolo, who the luxurious use + Of cloves discovered earliest of all + Within that garden where such seed takes root; + +And taking out the band, among whom squandered + Caccia d’Ascian his vineyards and vast woods, + And where his wit the Abbagliato proffered! + +But, that thou know who thus doth second thee + Against the Sienese, make sharp thine eye + Tow’rds me, so that my face well answer thee, + +And thou shalt see I am Capocchio’s shade, + Who metals falsified by alchemy; + Thou must remember, if I well descry thee, + +How I a skilful ape of nature was.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXX + + +’Twas at the time when Juno was enraged, + For Semele, against the Theban blood, + As she already more than once had shown, + +So reft of reason Athamas became, + That, seeing his own wife with children twain + Walking encumbered upon either hand, + +He cried: “Spread out the nets, that I may take + The lioness and her whelps upon the passage;” + And then extended his unpitying claws, + +Seizing the first, who had the name Learchus, + And whirled him round, and dashed him on a rock; + And she, with the other burthen, drowned herself;— + +And at the time when fortune downward hurled + The Trojan’s arrogance, that all things dared, + So that the king was with his kingdom crushed, + +Hecuba sad, disconsolate, and captive, + When lifeless she beheld Polyxena, + And of her Polydorus on the shore + +Of ocean was the dolorous one aware, + Out of her senses like a dog she barked, + So much the anguish had her mind distorted; + +But not of Thebes the furies nor the Trojan + Were ever seen in any one so cruel + In goading beasts, and much more human members, + +As I beheld two shadows pale and naked, + Who, biting, in the manner ran along + That a boar does, when from the sty turned loose. + +One to Capocchio came, and by the nape + Seized with its teeth his neck, so that in dragging + It made his belly grate the solid bottom. + +And the Aretine, who trembling had remained, + Said to me: “That mad sprite is Gianni Schicchi, + And raving goes thus harrying other people.” + +“O,” said I to him, “so may not the other + Set teeth on thee, let it not weary thee + To tell us who it is, ere it dart hence.” + +And he to me: “That is the ancient ghost + Of the nefarious Myrrha, who became + Beyond all rightful love her father’s lover. + +She came to sin with him after this manner, + By counterfeiting of another’s form; + As he who goeth yonder undertook, + +That he might gain the lady of the herd, + To counterfeit in himself Buoso Donati, + Making a will and giving it due form.” + +And after the two maniacs had passed + On whom I held mine eye, I turned it back + To look upon the other evil-born. + +I saw one made in fashion of a lute, + If he had only had the groin cut off + Just at the point at which a man is forked. + +The heavy dropsy, that so disproportions + The limbs with humours, which it ill concocts, + That the face corresponds not to the belly, + +Compelled him so to hold his lips apart + As does the hectic, who because of thirst + One tow’rds the chin, the other upward turns. + +“O ye, who without any torment are, + And why I know not, in the world of woe,” + He said to us, “behold, and be attentive + +Unto the misery of Master Adam; + I had while living much of what I wished, + And now, alas! a drop of water crave. + +The rivulets, that from the verdant hills + Of Cassentin descend down into Arno, + Making their channels to be cold and moist, + +Ever before me stand, and not in vain; + For far more doth their image dry me up + Than the disease which strips my face of flesh. + +The rigid justice that chastises me + Draweth occasion from the place in which + I sinned, to put the more my sighs in flight. + +There is Romena, where I counterfeited + The currency imprinted with the Baptist, + For which I left my body burned above. + +But if I here could see the tristful soul + Of Guido, or Alessandro, or their brother, + For Branda’s fount I would not give the sight. + +One is within already, if the raving + Shades that are going round about speak truth; + But what avails it me, whose limbs are tied? + +If I were only still so light, that in + A hundred years I could advance one inch, + I had already started on the way, + +Seeking him out among this squalid folk, + Although the circuit be eleven miles, + And be not less than half a mile across. + +For them am I in such a family; + They did induce me into coining florins, + Which had three carats of impurity.” + +And I to him: “Who are the two poor wretches + That smoke like unto a wet hand in winter, + Lying there close upon thy right-hand confines?” + +“I found them here,” replied he, “when I rained + Into this chasm, and since they have not turned, + Nor do I think they will for evermore. + +One the false woman is who accused Joseph, + The other the false Sinon, Greek of Troy; + From acute fever they send forth such reek.” + +And one of them, who felt himself annoyed + At being, peradventure, named so darkly, + Smote with the fist upon his hardened paunch. + +It gave a sound, as if it were a drum; + And Master Adam smote him in the face, + With arm that did not seem to be less hard, + +Saying to him: “Although be taken from me + All motion, for my limbs that heavy are, + I have an arm unfettered for such need.” + +Whereat he answer made: “When thou didst go + Unto the fire, thou hadst it not so ready: + But hadst it so and more when thou wast coining.” + +The dropsical: “Thou sayest true in that; + But thou wast not so true a witness there, + Where thou wast questioned of the truth at Troy.” + +“If I spake false, thou falsifiedst the coin,” + Said Sinon; “and for one fault I am here, + And thou for more than any other demon.” + +“Remember, perjurer, about the horse,” + He made reply who had the swollen belly, + “And rueful be it thee the whole world knows it.” + +“Rueful to thee the thirst be wherewith cracks + Thy tongue,” the Greek said, “and the putrid water + That hedges so thy paunch before thine eyes.” + +Then the false-coiner: “So is gaping wide + Thy mouth for speaking evil, as ’tis wont; + Because if I have thirst, and humour stuff me + +Thou hast the burning and the head that aches, + And to lick up the mirror of Narcissus + Thou wouldst not want words many to invite thee.” + +In listening to them was I wholly fixed, + When said the Master to me: “Now just look, + For little wants it that I quarrel with thee.” + +When him I heard in anger speak to me, + I turned me round towards him with such shame + That still it eddies through my memory. + +And as he is who dreams of his own harm, + Who dreaming wishes it may be a dream, + So that he craves what is, as if it were not; + +Such I became, not having power to speak, + For to excuse myself I wished, and still + Excused myself, and did not think I did it. + +“Less shame doth wash away a greater fault,” + The Master said, “than this of thine has been; + Therefore thyself disburden of all sadness, + +And make account that I am aye beside thee, + If e’er it come to pass that fortune bring thee + Where there are people in a like dispute; + +For a base wish it is to wish to hear it.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXXI + + +One and the selfsame tongue first wounded me, + So that it tinged the one cheek and the other, + And then held out to me the medicine; + +Thus do I hear that once Achilles’ spear, + His and his father’s, used to be the cause + First of a sad and then a gracious boon. + +We turned our backs upon the wretched valley, + Upon the bank that girds it round about, + Going across it without any speech. + +There it was less than night, and less than day, + So that my sight went little in advance; + But I could hear the blare of a loud horn, + +So loud it would have made each thunder faint, + Which, counter to it following its way, + Mine eyes directed wholly to one place. + +After the dolorous discomfiture + When Charlemagne the holy emprise lost, + So terribly Orlando sounded not. + +Short while my head turned thitherward I held + When many lofty towers I seemed to see, + Whereat I: “Master, say, what town is this?” + +And he to me: “Because thou peerest forth + Athwart the darkness at too great a distance, + It happens that thou errest in thy fancy. + +Well shalt thou see, if thou arrivest there, + How much the sense deceives itself by distance; + Therefore a little faster spur thee on.” + +Then tenderly he took me by the hand, + And said: “Before we farther have advanced, + That the reality may seem to thee + +Less strange, know that these are not towers, but giants, + And they are in the well, around the bank, + From navel downward, one and all of them.” + +As, when the fog is vanishing away, + Little by little doth the sight refigure + Whate’er the mist that crowds the air conceals, + +So, piercing through the dense and darksome air, + More and more near approaching tow’rd the verge, + My error fled, and fear came over me; + +Because as on its circular parapets + Montereggione crowns itself with towers, + E’en thus the margin which surrounds the well + +With one half of their bodies turreted + The horrible giants, whom Jove menaces + E’en now from out the heavens when he thunders. + +And I of one already saw the face, + Shoulders, and breast, and great part of the belly, + And down along his sides both of the arms. + +Certainly Nature, when she left the making + Of animals like these, did well indeed, + By taking such executors from Mars; + +And if of elephants and whales she doth not + Repent her, whosoever looketh subtly + More just and more discreet will hold her for it; + +For where the argument of intellect + Is added unto evil will and power, + No rampart can the people make against it. + +His face appeared to me as long and large + As is at Rome the pine-cone of Saint Peter’s, + And in proportion were the other bones; + +So that the margin, which an apron was + Down from the middle, showed so much of him + Above it, that to reach up to his hair + +Three Frieslanders in vain had vaunted them; + For I beheld thirty great palms of him + Down from the place where man his mantle buckles. + +“Raphael mai amech izabi almi,” + Began to clamour the ferocious mouth, + To which were not befitting sweeter psalms. + +And unto him my Guide: “Soul idiotic, + Keep to thy horn, and vent thyself with that, + When wrath or other passion touches thee. + +Search round thy neck, and thou wilt find the belt + Which keeps it fastened, O bewildered soul, + And see it, where it bars thy mighty breast.” + +Then said to me: “He doth himself accuse; + This one is Nimrod, by whose evil thought + One language in the world is not still used. + +Here let us leave him and not speak in vain; + For even such to him is every language + As his to others, which to none is known.” + +Therefore a longer journey did we make, + Turned to the left, and a crossbow-shot oft + We found another far more fierce and large. + +In binding him, who might the master be + I cannot say; but he had pinioned close + Behind the right arm, and in front the other, + +With chains, that held him so begirt about + From the neck down, that on the part uncovered + It wound itself as far as the fifth gyre. + +“This proud one wished to make experiment + Of his own power against the Supreme Jove,” + My Leader said, “whence he has such a guerdon. + +Ephialtes is his name; he showed great prowess. + What time the giants terrified the gods; + The arms he wielded never more he moves.” + +And I to him: “If possible, I should wish + That of the measureless Briareus + These eyes of mine might have experience.” + +Whence he replied: “Thou shalt behold Antaeus + Close by here, who can speak and is unbound, + Who at the bottom of all crime shall place us. + +Much farther yon is he whom thou wouldst see, + And he is bound, and fashioned like to this one, + Save that he seems in aspect more ferocious.” + +There never was an earthquake of such might + That it could shake a tower so violently, + As Ephialtes suddenly shook himself. + +Then was I more afraid of death than ever, + For nothing more was needful than the fear, + If I had not beheld the manacles. + +Then we proceeded farther in advance, + And to Antaeus came, who, full five ells + Without the head, forth issued from the cavern. + +“O thou, who in the valley fortunate, + Which Scipio the heir of glory made, + When Hannibal turned back with all his hosts, + +Once brought’st a thousand lions for thy prey, + And who, hadst thou been at the mighty war + Among thy brothers, some it seems still think + +The sons of Earth the victory would have gained: + Place us below, nor be disdainful of it, + There where the cold doth lock Cocytus up. + +Make us not go to Tityus nor Typhoeus; + This one can give of that which here is longed for; + Therefore stoop down, and do not curl thy lip. + +Still in the world can he restore thy fame; + Because he lives, and still expects long life, + If to itself Grace call him not untimely.” + +So said the Master; and in haste the other + His hands extended and took up my Guide,— + Hands whose great pressure Hercules once felt. + +Virgilius, when he felt himself embraced, + Said unto me: “Draw nigh, that I may take thee;” + Then of himself and me one bundle made. + +As seems the Carisenda, to behold + Beneath the leaning side, when goes a cloud + Above it so that opposite it hangs; + +Such did Antaeus seem to me, who stood + Watching to see him stoop, and then it was + I could have wished to go some other way. + +But lightly in the abyss, which swallows up + Judas with Lucifer, he put us down; + Nor thus bowed downward made he there delay, + +But, as a mast does in a ship, uprose. + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXXII + + +If I had rhymes both rough and stridulous, + As were appropriate to the dismal hole + Down upon which thrust all the other rocks, + +I would press out the juice of my conception + More fully; but because I have them not, + Not without fear I bring myself to speak; + +For ’tis no enterprise to take in jest, + To sketch the bottom of all the universe, + Nor for a tongue that cries Mamma and Babbo. + +But may those Ladies help this verse of mine, + Who helped Amphion in enclosing Thebes, + That from the fact the word be not diverse. + +O rabble ill-begotten above all, + Who’re in the place to speak of which is hard, + ’Twere better ye had here been sheep or goats! + +When we were down within the darksome well, + Beneath the giant’s feet, but lower far, + And I was scanning still the lofty wall, + +I heard it said to me: “Look how thou steppest! + Take heed thou do not trample with thy feet + The heads of the tired, miserable brothers!” + +Whereat I turned me round, and saw before me + And underfoot a lake, that from the frost + The semblance had of glass, and not of water. + +So thick a veil ne’er made upon its current + In winter-time Danube in Austria, + Nor there beneath the frigid sky the Don, + +As there was here; so that if Tambernich + Had fallen upon it, or Pietrapana, + E’en at the edge ’twould not have given a creak. + +And as to croak the frog doth place himself + With muzzle out of water,—when is dreaming + Of gleaning oftentimes the peasant-girl,— + +Livid, as far down as where shame appears, + Were the disconsolate shades within the ice, + Setting their teeth unto the note of storks. + +Each one his countenance held downward bent; + From mouth the cold, from eyes the doleful heart + Among them witness of itself procures. + +When round about me somewhat I had looked, + I downward turned me, and saw two so close, + The hair upon their heads together mingled. + +“Ye who so strain your breasts together, tell me,” + I said, “who are you;” and they bent their necks, + And when to me their faces they had lifted, + +Their eyes, which first were only moist within, + Gushed o’er the eyelids, and the frost congealed + The tears between, and locked them up again. + +Clamp never bound together wood with wood + So strongly; whereat they, like two he-goats, + Butted together, so much wrath o’ercame them. + +And one, who had by reason of the cold + Lost both his ears, still with his visage downward, + Said: “Why dost thou so mirror thyself in us? + +If thou desire to know who these two are, + The valley whence Bisenzio descends + Belonged to them and to their father Albert. + +They from one body came, and all Caina + Thou shalt search through, and shalt not find a shade + More worthy to be fixed in gelatine; + +Not he in whom were broken breast and shadow + At one and the same blow by Arthur’s hand; + Focaccia not; not he who me encumbers + +So with his head I see no farther forward, + And bore the name of Sassol Mascheroni; + Well knowest thou who he was, if thou art Tuscan. + +And that thou put me not to further speech, + Know that I Camicion de’ Pazzi was, + And wait Carlino to exonerate me.” + +Then I beheld a thousand faces, made + Purple with cold; whence o’er me comes a shudder, + And evermore will come, at frozen ponds. + +And while we were advancing tow’rds the middle, + Where everything of weight unites together, + And I was shivering in the eternal shade, + +Whether ’twere will, or destiny, or chance, + I know not; but in walking ’mong the heads + I struck my foot hard in the face of one. + +Weeping he growled: “Why dost thou trample me? + Unless thou comest to increase the vengeance + of Montaperti, why dost thou molest me?” + +And I: “My Master, now wait here for me, + That I through him may issue from a doubt; + Then thou mayst hurry me, as thou shalt wish.” + +The Leader stopped; and to that one I said + Who was blaspheming vehemently still: + “Who art thou, that thus reprehendest others?” + +“Now who art thou, that goest through Antenora + Smiting,” replied he, “other people’s cheeks, + So that, if thou wert living, ’twere too much?” + +“Living I am, and dear to thee it may be,” + Was my response, “if thou demandest fame, + That ’mid the other notes thy name I place.” + +And he to me: “For the reverse I long; + Take thyself hence, and give me no more trouble; + For ill thou knowest to flatter in this hollow.” + +Then by the scalp behind I seized upon him, + And said: “It must needs be thou name thyself, + Or not a hair remain upon thee here.” + +Whence he to me: “Though thou strip off my hair, + I will not tell thee who I am, nor show thee, + If on my head a thousand times thou fall.” + +I had his hair in hand already twisted, + And more than one shock of it had pulled out, + He barking, with his eyes held firmly down, + +When cried another: “What doth ail thee, Bocca? + Is’t not enough to clatter with thy jaws, + But thou must bark? what devil touches thee?” + +“Now,” said I, “I care not to have thee speak, + Accursed traitor; for unto thy shame + I will report of thee veracious news.” + +“Begone,” replied he, “and tell what thou wilt, + But be not silent, if thou issue hence, + Of him who had just now his tongue so prompt; + +He weepeth here the silver of the French; + ‘I saw,’ thus canst thou phrase it, ‘him of Duera + There where the sinners stand out in the cold.’ + +If thou shouldst questioned be who else was there, + Thou hast beside thee him of Beccaria, + Of whom the gorget Florence slit asunder; + +Gianni del Soldanier, I think, may be + Yonder with Ganellon, and Tebaldello + Who oped Faenza when the people slep.” + +Already we had gone away from him, + When I beheld two frozen in one hole, + So that one head a hood was to the other; + +And even as bread through hunger is devoured, + The uppermost on the other set his teeth, + There where the brain is to the nape united. + +Not in another fashion Tydeus gnawed + The temples of Menalippus in disdain, + Than that one did the skull and the other things. + +“O thou, who showest by such bestial sign + Thy hatred against him whom thou art eating, + Tell me the wherefore,” said I, “with this compact, + +That if thou rightfully of him complain, + In knowing who ye are, and his transgression, + I in the world above repay thee for it, + +If that wherewith I speak be not dried up.” + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXXIII + + +His mouth uplifted from his grim repast, + That sinner, wiping it upon the hair + Of the same head that he behind had wasted. + +Then he began: “Thou wilt that I renew + The desperate grief, which wrings my heart already + To think of only, ere I speak of it; + +But if my words be seed that may bear fruit + Of infamy to the traitor whom I gnaw, + Speaking and weeping shalt thou see together. + +I know not who thou art, nor by what mode + Thou hast come down here; but a Florentine + Thou seemest to me truly, when I hear thee. + +Thou hast to know I was Count Ugolino, + And this one was Ruggieri the Archbishop; + Now I will tell thee why I am such a neighbour. + +That, by effect of his malicious thoughts, + Trusting in him I was made prisoner, + And after put to death, I need not say; + + But ne’ertheless what thou canst not have heard, + That is to say, how cruel was my death, + Hear shalt thou, and shalt know if he has wronged me. + +A narrow perforation in the mew, + Which bears because of me the title of Famine, + And in which others still must be locked up, + +Had shown me through its opening many moons + Already, when I dreamed the evil dream + Which of the future rent for me the veil. + +This one appeared to me as lord and master, + Hunting the wolf and whelps upon the mountain + For which the Pisans cannot Lucca see. + +With sleuth-hounds gaunt, and eager, and well trained, + Gualandi with Sismondi and Lanfianchi + He had sent out before him to the front. + +After brief course seemed unto me forespent + The father and the sons, and with sharp tushes + It seemed to me I saw their flanks ripped open. + +When I before the morrow was awake, + Moaning amid their sleep I heard my sons + Who with me were, and asking after bread. + +Cruel indeed art thou, if yet thou grieve not, + Thinking of what my heart foreboded me, + And weep’st thou not, what art thou wont to weep at? + +They were awake now, and the hour drew nigh + At which our food used to be brought to us, + And through his dream was each one apprehensive; + +And I heard locking up the under door + Of the horrible tower; whereat without a word + I gazed into the faces of my sons. + +I wept not, I within so turned to stone; + They wept; and darling little Anselm mine + Said: ‘Thou dost gaze so, father, what doth ail thee?’ + +Still not a tear I shed, nor answer made + All of that day, nor yet the night thereafter, + Until another sun rose on the world. + +As now a little glimmer made its way + Into the dolorous prison, and I saw + Upon four faces my own very aspect, + +Both of my hands in agony I bit; + And, thinking that I did it from desire + Of eating, on a sudden they uprose, + +And said they: ‘Father, much less pain ’twill give us + If thou do eat of us; thyself didst clothe us + With this poor flesh, and do thou strip it off.’ + +I calmed me then, not to make them more sad. + That day we all were silent, and the next. + Ah! obdurate earth, wherefore didst thou not open? + +When we had come unto the fourth day, Gaddo + Threw himself down outstretched before my feet, + Saying, ‘My father, why dost thou not help me?’ + +And there he died; and, as thou seest me, + I saw the three fall, one by one, between + The fifth day and the sixth; whence I betook me, + +Already blind, to groping over each, + And three days called them after they were dead; + Then hunger did what sorrow could not do.” + +When he had said this, with his eyes distorted, + The wretched skull resumed he with his teeth, + Which, as a dog’s, upon the bone were strong. + +Ah! Pisa, thou opprobrium of the people + Of the fair land there where the ‘Si’ doth sound, + Since slow to punish thee thy neighbours are, + +Let the Capraia and Gorgona move, + And make a hedge across the mouth of Arno + That every person in thee it may drown! + +For if Count Ugolino had the fame + Of having in thy castles thee betrayed, + Thou shouldst not on such cross have put his sons. + +Guiltless of any crime, thou modern Thebes! + Their youth made Uguccione and Brigata, + And the other two my song doth name above! + +We passed still farther onward, where the ice + Another people ruggedly enswathes, + Not downward turned, but all of them reversed. + +Weeping itself there does not let them weep, + And grief that finds a barrier in the eyes + Turns itself inward to increase the anguish; + +Because the earliest tears a cluster form, + And, in the manner of a crystal visor, + Fill all the cup beneath the eyebrow full. + +And notwithstanding that, as in a callus, + Because of cold all sensibility + Its station had abandoned in my face, + +Still it appeared to me I felt some wind; + Whence I: “My Master, who sets this in motion? + Is not below here every vapour quenched?” + +Whence he to me: “Full soon shalt thou be where + Thine eye shall answer make to thee of this, + Seeing the cause which raineth down the blast.” + +And one of the wretches of the frozen crust + Cried out to us: “O souls so merciless + That the last post is given unto you, + +Lift from mine eyes the rigid veils, that I + May vent the sorrow which impregns my heart + A little, e’er the weeping recongeal.” + +Whence I to him: “If thou wouldst have me help thee + Say who thou wast; and if I free thee not, + May I go to the bottom of the ice.” + +Then he replied: “I am Friar Alberigo; + He am I of the fruit of the bad garden, + Who here a date am getting for my fig.” + +“O,” said I to him, “now art thou, too, dead?” + And he to me: “How may my body fare + Up in the world, no knowledge I possess. + +Such an advantage has this Ptolomaea, + That oftentimes the soul descendeth here + Sooner than Atropos in motion sets it. + +And, that thou mayest more willingly remove + From off my countenance these glassy tears, + Know that as soon as any soul betrays + +As I have done, his body by a demon + Is taken from him, who thereafter rules it, + Until his time has wholly been revolved. + +Itself down rushes into such a cistern; + And still perchance above appears the body + Of yonder shade, that winters here behind me. + +This thou shouldst know, if thou hast just come down; + It is Ser Branca d’ Oria, and many years + Have passed away since he was thus locked up.” + +“I think,” said I to him, “thou dost deceive me; + For Branca d’ Oria is not dead as yet, + And eats, and drinks, and sleeps, and puts on clothes.” + +“In moat above,” said he, “of Malebranche, + There where is boiling the tenacious pitch, + As yet had Michel Zanche not arrived, + +When this one left a devil in his stead + In his own body and one near of kin, + Who made together with him the betrayal. + +But hitherward stretch out thy hand forthwith, + Open mine eyes;”—and open them I did not, + And to be rude to him was courtesy. + +Ah, Genoese! ye men at variance + With every virtue, full of every vice + Wherefore are ye not scattered from the world? + +For with the vilest spirit of Romagna + I found of you one such, who for his deeds + In soul already in Cocytus bathes, + +And still above in body seems alive! + + + + +Inferno: Canto XXXIV + + +“‘Vexilla Regis prodeunt Inferni’ + Towards us; therefore look in front of thee,” + My Master said, “if thou discernest him.” + +As, when there breathes a heavy fog, or when + Our hemisphere is darkening into night, + Appears far off a mill the wind is turning, + +Methought that such a building then I saw; + And, for the wind, I drew myself behind + My Guide, because there was no other shelter. + +Now was I, and with fear in verse I put it, + There where the shades were wholly covered up, + And glimmered through like unto straws in glass. + +Some prone are lying, others stand erect, + This with the head, and that one with the soles; + Another, bow-like, face to feet inverts. + +When in advance so far we had proceeded, + That it my Master pleased to show to me + The creature who once had the beauteous semblance, + +He from before me moved and made me stop, + Saying: “Behold Dis, and behold the place + Where thou with fortitude must arm thyself.” + +How frozen I became and powerless then, + Ask it not, Reader, for I write it not, + Because all language would be insufficient. + +I did not die, and I alive remained not; + Think for thyself now, hast thou aught of wit, + What I became, being of both deprived. + +The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous + From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice; + And better with a giant I compare + +Than do the giants with those arms of his; + Consider now how great must be that whole, + Which unto such a part conforms itself. + +Were he as fair once, as he now is foul, + And lifted up his brow against his Maker, + Well may proceed from him all tribulation. + +O, what a marvel it appeared to me, + When I beheld three faces on his head! + The one in front, and that vermilion was; + +Two were the others, that were joined with this + Above the middle part of either shoulder, + And they were joined together at the crest; + +And the right-hand one seemed ’twixt white and yellow; + The left was such to look upon as those + Who come from where the Nile falls valley-ward. + +Underneath each came forth two mighty wings, + Such as befitting were so great a bird; + Sails of the sea I never saw so large. + + No feathers had they, but as of a bat + Their fashion was; and he was waving them, + So that three winds proceeded forth therefrom. + +Thereby Cocytus wholly was congealed. + With six eyes did he weep, and down three chins + Trickled the tear-drops and the bloody drivel. + +At every mouth he with his teeth was crunching + A sinner, in the manner of a brake, + So that he three of them tormented thus. + +To him in front the biting was as naught + Unto the clawing, for sometimes the spine + Utterly stripped of all the skin remained. + +“That soul up there which has the greatest pain,” + The Master said, “is Judas Iscariot; + With head inside, he plies his legs without. + +Of the two others, who head downward are, + The one who hangs from the black jowl is Brutus; + See how he writhes himself, and speaks no word. + +And the other, who so stalwart seems, is Cassius. + But night is reascending, and ’tis time + That we depart, for we have seen the whole.” + +As seemed him good, I clasped him round the neck, + And he the vantage seized of time and place, + And when the wings were opened wide apart, + +He laid fast hold upon the shaggy sides; + From fell to fell descended downward then + Between the thick hair and the frozen crust. + +When we were come to where the thigh revolves + Exactly on the thickness of the haunch, + The Guide, with labour and with hard-drawn breath, + +Turned round his head where he had had his legs, + And grappled to the hair, as one who mounts, + So that to Hell I thought we were returning. + +“Keep fast thy hold, for by such stairs as these,” + The Master said, panting as one fatigued, + “Must we perforce depart from so much evil.” + +Then through the opening of a rock he issued, + And down upon the margin seated me; + Then tow’rds me he outstretched his wary step. + +I lifted up mine eyes and thought to see + Lucifer in the same way I had left him; + And I beheld him upward hold his legs. + +And if I then became disquieted, + Let stolid people think who do not see + What the point is beyond which I had passed. + +“Rise up,” the Master said, “upon thy feet; + The way is long, and difficult the road, + And now the sun to middle-tierce returns.” + +It was not any palace corridor + There where we were, but dungeon natural, + With floor uneven and unease of light. + +“Ere from the abyss I tear myself away, + My Master,” said I when I had arisen, + “To draw me from an error speak a little; + +Where is the ice? and how is this one fixed + Thus upside down? and how in such short time + From eve to morn has the sun made his transit?” + +And he to me: “Thou still imaginest + Thou art beyond the centre, where I grasped + The hair of the fell worm, who mines the world. + +That side thou wast, so long as I descended; + When round I turned me, thou didst pass the point + To which things heavy draw from every side, + +And now beneath the hemisphere art come + Opposite that which overhangs the vast + Dry-land, and ’neath whose cope was put to death + +The Man who without sin was born and lived. + Thou hast thy feet upon the little sphere + Which makes the other face of the Judecca. + +Here it is morn when it is evening there; + And he who with his hair a stairway made us + Still fixed remaineth as he was before. + +Upon this side he fell down out of heaven; + And all the land, that whilom here emerged, + For fear of him made of the sea a veil, + +And came to our hemisphere; and peradventure + To flee from him, what on this side appears + Left the place vacant here, and back recoiled.” + +A place there is below, from Beelzebub + As far receding as the tomb extends, + Which not by sight is known, but by the sound + +Of a small rivulet, that there descendeth + Through chasm within the stone, which it has gnawed + With course that winds about and slightly falls. + +The Guide and I into that hidden road + Now entered, to return to the bright world; + And without care of having any rest + +We mounted up, he first and I the second, + Till I beheld through a round aperture + Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear; + +Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DIVINE COMEDY *** + +***** This file should be named 1001-0.txt or 1001-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/0/1001/ + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Divine Comedy<br /> +Hell</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Dante Alighieri</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Translator: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August, 1997 [eBook #1001]<br /> +[Most recently updated: April 8, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Dennis McCarthy</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DIVINE COMEDY ***</div> + +<h1>The Divine Comedy</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">of Dante Alighieri</h2> + +<h3>Translated by<br />HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW<br /><br />INFERNO</h3> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.I">Canto I. The Dark Forest. The Hill of Difficulty. The Panther, the Lion, and the Wolf. Virgil.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.II">Canto II. The Descent. Dante’s Protest and Virgil’s Appeal. The Intercession of the Three Ladies Benedight.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.III">Canto III. The Gate of Hell. The Inefficient or Indifferent. Pope Celestine V. The Shores of Acheron. Charon. The Earthquake and the Swoon.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.IV">Canto IV. The First Circle, Limbo: Virtuous Pagans and the Unbaptized. The Four Poets, Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. The Noble Castle of Philosophy.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.V">Canto V. The Second Circle: The Wanton. Minos. The Infernal Hurricane. Francesca da Rimini.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.VI">Canto VI. The Third Circle: The Gluttonous. Cerberus. The Eternal Rain. Ciacco. Florence.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.VII">Canto VII. The Fourth Circle: The Avaricious and the Prodigal. Plutus. Fortune and her Wheel. The Fifth Circle: The Irascible and the Sullen. Styx.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.VIII">Canto VIII. Phlegyas. Philippo Argenti. The Gate of the City of Dis.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.IX">Canto IX. The Furies and Medusa. The Angel. The City of Dis. The Sixth Circle: Heresiarchs.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.X">Canto X. Farinata and Cavalcante de’ Cavalcanti. Discourse on the Knowledge of the Damned.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XI">Canto XI. The Broken Rocks. Pope Anastasius. General Description of the Inferno and its Divisions.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XII">Canto XII. The Minotaur. The Seventh Circle: The Violent. The River Phlegethon. The Violent against their Neighbours. The Centaurs. Tyrants.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XIII">Canto XIII. The Wood of Thorns. The Harpies. The Violent against themselves. Suicides. Pier della Vigna. Lano and Jacopo da Sant’ Andrea.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XIV">Canto XIV. The Sand Waste and the Rain of Fire. The Violent against God. Capaneus. The Statue of Time, and the Four Infernal Rivers.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XV">Canto XV. The Violent against Nature. Brunetto Latini.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XVI">Canto XVI. Guidoguerra, Aldobrandi, and Rusticucci. Cataract of the River of Blood.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XVII">Canto XVII. Geryon. The Violent against Art. Usurers. Descent into the Abyss of Malebolge.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XVIII">Canto XVIII. The Eighth Circle, Malebolge: The Fraudulent and the Malicious. The First Bolgia: Seducers and Panders. Venedico Caccianimico. Jason. The Second Bolgia: Flatterers. Allessio Interminelli. Thais.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XIX">Canto XIX. The Third Bolgia: Simoniacs. Pope Nicholas III. Dante’s Reproof of corrupt Prelates.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XX">Canto XX. The Fourth Bolgia: Soothsayers. Amphiaraus, Tiresias, Aruns, Manto, Eryphylus, Michael Scott, Guido Bonatti, and Asdente. Virgil reproaches Dante’s Pity. Mantua’s Foundation.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXI">Canto XXI. The Fifth Bolgia: Peculators. The Elder of Santa Zita. Malacoda and other Devils.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXII">Canto XXII. Ciampolo, Friar Gomita, and Michael Zanche. The Malabranche quarrel.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXIII">Canto XXIII. Escape from the Malabranche. The Sixth Bolgia: Hypocrites. Catalano and Loderingo. Caiaphas.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXIV">Canto XXIV. The Seventh Bolgia: Thieves. Vanni Fucci. Serpents.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXV">Canto XXV. Vanni Fucci’s Punishment. Agnello Brunelleschi, Buoso degli Abati, Puccio Sciancato, Cianfa de’ Donati, and Guercio Cavalcanti.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXVI">Canto XXVI. The Eighth Bolgia: Evil Counsellors. Ulysses and Diomed. Ulysses’ Last Voyage.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXVII">Canto XXVII. Guido da Montefeltro. His deception by Pope Boniface VIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXVIII">Canto XXVIII. The Ninth Bolgia: Schismatics. Mahomet and Ali. Pier da Medicina, Curio, Mosca, and Bertrand de Born.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXIX">Canto XXIX. Geri del Bello. The Tenth Bolgia: Alchemists. Griffolino d’ Arezzo and Capocchino.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXX">Canto XXX. Other Falsifiers or Forgers. Gianni Schicchi, Myrrha, Adam of Brescia, Potiphar’s Wife, and Sinon of Troy.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXXI">Canto XXXI. The Giants, Nimrod, Ephialtes, and Antaeus. Descent to Cocytus.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXXII">Canto XXXII. The Ninth Circle: Traitors. The Frozen Lake of Cocytus. First Division, Caina: Traitors to their Kindred. Camicion de’ Pazzi. Second Division, Antenora: Traitors to their Country. Dante questions Bocca degli Abati. Buoso da Duera.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXXIII">Canto XXXIII. Count Ugolino and the Archbishop Ruggieri. The Death of Count Ugolino’s Sons. Third Division of the Ninth Circle, Ptolomaea: Traitors to their Friends. Friar Alberigo, Branco d’ Oria.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><a href="#CantoI.XXXIV">Canto XXXIV. Fourth Division of the Ninth Circle, the Judecca: Traitors to their Lords and Benefactors. Lucifer, Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius. The Chasm of Lethe. The Ascent.</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.I"></a>Inferno: Canto I</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Midway upon the journey of our life<br /> + I found myself within a forest dark,<br /> + For the straightforward pathway had been lost. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say<br /> + What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,<br /> + Which in the very thought renews the fear. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So bitter is it, death is little more;<br /> + But of the good to treat, which there I found,<br /> + Speak will I of the other things I saw there. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I cannot well repeat how there I entered,<br /> + So full was I of slumber at the moment<br /> + In which I had abandoned the true way. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But after I had reached a mountain’s foot,<br /> + At that point where the valley terminated,<br /> + Which had with consternation pierced my heart, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders,<br /> + Vested already with that planet’s rays<br /> + Which leadeth others right by every road. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then was the fear a little quieted<br /> + That in my heart’s lake had endured throughout<br /> + The night, which I had passed so piteously. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And even as he, who, with distressful breath,<br /> + Forth issued from the sea upon the shore,<br /> + Turns to the water perilous and gazes; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward,<br /> + Turn itself back to re-behold the pass<br /> + Which never yet a living person left. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After my weary body I had rested,<br /> + The way resumed I on the desert slope,<br /> + So that the firm foot ever was the lower. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And lo! almost where the ascent began,<br /> + A panther light and swift exceedingly,<br /> + Which with a spotted skin was covered o’er! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And never moved she from before my face,<br /> + Nay, rather did impede so much my way,<br /> + That many times I to return had turned. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The time was the beginning of the morning,<br /> + And up the sun was mounting with those stars<br /> + That with him were, what time the Love Divine +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +At first in motion set those beauteous things;<br /> + So were to me occasion of good hope,<br /> + The variegated skin of that wild beast, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The hour of time, and the delicious season;<br /> + But not so much, that did not give me fear<br /> + A lion’s aspect which appeared to me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He seemed as if against me he were coming<br /> + With head uplifted, and with ravenous hunger,<br /> + So that it seemed the air was afraid of him; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And a she-wolf, that with all hungerings<br /> + Seemed to be laden in her meagreness,<br /> + And many folk has caused to live forlorn! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +She brought upon me so much heaviness,<br /> + With the affright that from her aspect came,<br /> + That I the hope relinquished of the height. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as he is who willingly acquires,<br /> + And the time comes that causes him to lose,<br /> + Who weeps in all his thoughts and is despondent, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +E’en such made me that beast withouten peace,<br /> + Which, coming on against me by degrees<br /> + Thrust me back thither where the sun is silent. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While I was rushing downward to the lowland,<br /> + Before mine eyes did one present himself,<br /> + Who seemed from long-continued silence hoarse. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When I beheld him in the desert vast,<br /> + “Have pity on me,” unto him I cried,<br /> + “Whiche’er thou art, or shade or real man!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He answered me: “Not man; man once I was,<br /> + And both my parents were of Lombardy,<br /> + And Mantuans by country both of them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +‘Sub Julio’ was I born, though it was late,<br /> + And lived at Rome under the good Augustus,<br /> + During the time of false and lying gods. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A poet was I, and I sang that just<br /> + Son of Anchises, who came forth from Troy,<br /> + After that Ilion the superb was burned. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance?<br /> + Why climb’st thou not the Mount Delectable,<br /> + Which is the source and cause of every joy?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Now, art thou that Virgilius and that fountain<br /> + Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech?”<br /> + I made response to him with bashful forehead. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O, of the other poets honour and light,<br /> + Avail me the long study and great love<br /> + That have impelled me to explore thy volume! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou art my master, and my author thou,<br /> + Thou art alone the one from whom I took<br /> + The beautiful style that has done honour to me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Behold the beast, for which I have turned back;<br /> + Do thou protect me from her, famous Sage,<br /> + For she doth make my veins and pulses tremble.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Thee it behoves to take another road,”<br /> + Responded he, when he beheld me weeping,<br /> + “If from this savage place thou wouldst escape; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because this beast, at which thou criest out,<br /> + Suffers not any one to pass her way,<br /> + But so doth harass him, that she destroys him; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And has a nature so malign and ruthless,<br /> + That never doth she glut her greedy will,<br /> + And after food is hungrier than before. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Many the animals with whom she weds,<br /> + And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound<br /> + Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He shall not feed on either earth or pelf,<br /> + But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue;<br /> + ’Twixt Feltro and Feltro shall his nation be; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of that low Italy shall he be the saviour,<br /> + On whose account the maid Camilla died,<br /> + Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Through every city shall he hunt her down,<br /> + Until he shall have driven her back to Hell,<br /> + There from whence envy first did let her loose. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore I think and judge it for thy best<br /> + Thou follow me, and I will be thy guide,<br /> + And lead thee hence through the eternal place, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Where thou shalt hear the desperate lamentations,<br /> + Shalt see the ancient spirits disconsolate,<br /> + Who cry out each one for the second death; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And thou shalt see those who contented are<br /> + Within the fire, because they hope to come,<br /> + Whene’er it may be, to the blessed people; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend,<br /> + A soul shall be for that than I more worthy;<br /> + With her at my departure I will leave thee; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because that Emperor, who reigns above,<br /> + In that I was rebellious to his law,<br /> + Wills that through me none come into his city. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He governs everywhere, and there he reigns;<br /> + There is his city and his lofty throne;<br /> + O happy he whom thereto he elects!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “Poet, I thee entreat,<br /> + By that same God whom thou didst never know,<br /> + So that I may escape this woe and worse, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said,<br /> + That I may see the portal of Saint Peter,<br /> + And those thou makest so disconsolate.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he moved on, and I behind him followed. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.II"></a>Inferno: Canto II</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Day was departing, and the embrowned air<br /> + Released the animals that are on earth<br /> + From their fatigues; and I the only one +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Made myself ready to sustain the war,<br /> + Both of the way and likewise of the woe,<br /> + Which memory that errs not shall retrace. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O Muses, O high genius, now assist me!<br /> + O memory, that didst write down what I saw,<br /> + Here thy nobility shall be manifest! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I began: “Poet, who guidest me,<br /> + Regard my manhood, if it be sufficient,<br /> + Ere to the arduous pass thou dost confide me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou sayest, that of Silvius the parent,<br /> + While yet corruptible, unto the world<br /> + Immortal went, and was there bodily. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But if the adversary of all evil<br /> + Was courteous, thinking of the high effect<br /> + That issue would from him, and who, and what, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To men of intellect unmeet it seems not;<br /> + For he was of great Rome, and of her empire<br /> + In the empyreal heaven as father chosen; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The which and what, wishing to speak the truth,<br /> + Were stablished as the holy place, wherein<br /> + Sits the successor of the greatest Peter. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon this journey, whence thou givest him vaunt,<br /> + Things did he hear, which the occasion were<br /> + Both of his victory and the papal mantle. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thither went afterwards the Chosen Vessel,<br /> + To bring back comfort thence unto that Faith,<br /> + Which of salvation’s way is the beginning. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But I, why thither come, or who concedes it?<br /> + I not Aeneas am, I am not Paul,<br /> + Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore, if I resign myself to come,<br /> + I fear the coming may be ill-advised;<br /> + Thou’rt wise, and knowest better than I speak.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as he is, who unwills what he willed,<br /> + And by new thoughts doth his intention change,<br /> + So that from his design he quite withdraws, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such I became, upon that dark hillside,<br /> + Because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise,<br /> + Which was so very prompt in the beginning. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If I have well thy language understood,”<br /> + Replied that shade of the Magnanimous,<br /> + “Thy soul attainted is with cowardice, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Which many times a man encumbers so,<br /> + It turns him back from honoured enterprise,<br /> + As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That thou mayst free thee from this apprehension,<br /> + I’ll tell thee why I came, and what I heard<br /> + At the first moment when I grieved for thee. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Among those was I who are in suspense,<br /> + And a fair, saintly Lady called to me<br /> + In such wise, I besought her to command me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Her eyes where shining brighter than the Star;<br /> + And she began to say, gentle and low,<br /> + With voice angelical, in her own language: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +‘O spirit courteous of Mantua,<br /> + Of whom the fame still in the world endures,<br /> + And shall endure, long-lasting as the world; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune,<br /> + Upon the desert slope is so impeded<br /> + Upon his way, that he has turned through terror, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And may, I fear, already be so lost,<br /> + That I too late have risen to his succour,<br /> + From that which I have heard of him in Heaven. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate,<br /> + And with what needful is for his release,<br /> + Assist him so, that I may be consoled. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go;<br /> + I come from there, where I would fain return;<br /> + Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When I shall be in presence of my Lord,<br /> + Full often will I praise thee unto him.’<br /> + Then paused she, and thereafter I began: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +‘O Lady of virtue, thou alone through whom<br /> + The human race exceedeth all contained<br /> + Within the heaven that has the lesser circles, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So grateful unto me is thy commandment,<br /> + To obey, if ’twere already done, were late;<br /> + No farther need’st thou ope to me thy wish. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But the cause tell me why thou dost not shun<br /> + The here descending down into this centre,<br /> + From the vast place thou burnest to return to.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +‘Since thou wouldst fain so inwardly discern,<br /> + Briefly will I relate,’ she answered me,<br /> + ‘Why I am not afraid to enter here. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of those things only should one be afraid<br /> + Which have the power of doing others harm;<br /> + Of the rest, no; because they are not fearful. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +God in his mercy such created me<br /> + That misery of yours attains me not,<br /> + Nor any flame assails me of this burning. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A gentle Lady is in Heaven, who grieves<br /> + At this impediment, to which I send thee,<br /> + So that stern judgment there above is broken. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In her entreaty she besought Lucia,<br /> + And said, “Thy faithful one now stands in need<br /> + Of thee, and unto thee I recommend him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Lucia, foe of all that cruel is,<br /> + Hastened away, and came unto the place<br /> + Where I was sitting with the ancient Rachel. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Beatrice” said she, “the true praise of God,<br /> + Why succourest thou not him, who loved thee so,<br /> + For thee he issued from the vulgar herd? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint?<br /> + Dost thou not see the death that combats him<br /> + Beside that flood, where ocean has no vaunt?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Never were persons in the world so swift<br /> + To work their weal and to escape their woe,<br /> + As I, after such words as these were uttered, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Came hither downward from my blessed seat,<br /> + Confiding in thy dignified discourse,<br /> + Which honours thee, and those who’ve listened to it.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After she thus had spoken unto me,<br /> + Weeping, her shining eyes she turned away;<br /> + Whereby she made me swifter in my coming; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And unto thee I came, as she desired;<br /> + I have delivered thee from that wild beast,<br /> + Which barred the beautiful mountain’s short ascent. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +What is it, then? Why, why dost thou delay?<br /> + Why is such baseness bedded in thy heart?<br /> + Daring and hardihood why hast thou not, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Seeing that three such Ladies benedight<br /> + Are caring for thee in the court of Heaven,<br /> + And so much good my speech doth promise thee?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as the flowerets, by nocturnal chill,<br /> + Bowed down and closed, when the sun whitens them,<br /> + Uplift themselves all open on their stems; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such I became with my exhausted strength,<br /> + And such good courage to my heart there coursed,<br /> + That I began, like an intrepid person: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O she compassionate, who succoured me,<br /> + And courteous thou, who hast obeyed so soon<br /> + The words of truth which she addressed to thee! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou hast my heart so with desire disposed<br /> + To the adventure, with these words of thine,<br /> + That to my first intent I have returned. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now go, for one sole will is in us both,<br /> + Thou Leader, and thou Lord, and Master thou.”<br /> + Thus said I to him; and when he had moved, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I entered on the deep and savage way. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.III"></a>Inferno: Canto III</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Through me the way is to the city dolent;<br /> + Through me the way is to eternal dole;<br /> + Through me the way among the people lost. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Justice incited my sublime Creator;<br /> + Created me divine Omnipotence,<br /> + The highest Wisdom and the primal Love. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Before me there were no created things,<br /> + Only eterne, and I eternal last.<br /> + All hope abandon, ye who enter in!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +These words in sombre colour I beheld<br /> + Written upon the summit of a gate;<br /> + Whence I: “Their sense is, Master, hard to me!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me, as one experienced:<br /> + “Here all suspicion needs must be abandoned,<br /> + All cowardice must needs be here extinct. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We to the place have come, where I have told thee<br /> + Thou shalt behold the people dolorous<br /> + Who have foregone the good of intellect.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And after he had laid his hand on mine<br /> + With joyful mien, whence I was comforted,<br /> + He led me in among the secret things. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There sighs, complaints, and ululations loud<br /> + Resounded through the air without a star,<br /> + Whence I, at the beginning, wept thereat. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Languages diverse, horrible dialects,<br /> + Accents of anger, words of agony,<br /> + And voices high and hoarse, with sound of hands, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Made up a tumult that goes whirling on<br /> + For ever in that air for ever black,<br /> + Even as the sand doth, when the whirlwind breathes. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I, who had my head with horror bound,<br /> + Said: “Master, what is this which now I hear?<br /> + What folk is this, which seems by pain so vanquished?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “This miserable mode<br /> + Maintain the melancholy souls of those<br /> + Who lived withouten infamy or praise. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Commingled are they with that caitiff choir<br /> + Of Angels, who have not rebellious been,<br /> + Nor faithful were to God, but were for self. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The heavens expelled them, not to be less fair;<br /> + Nor them the nethermore abyss receives,<br /> + For glory none the damned would have from them.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “O Master, what so grievous is<br /> + To these, that maketh them lament so sore?”<br /> + He answered: “I will tell thee very briefly. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +These have no longer any hope of death;<br /> + And this blind life of theirs is so debased,<br /> + They envious are of every other fate. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +No fame of them the world permits to be;<br /> + Misericord and Justice both disdain them.<br /> + Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I, who looked again, beheld a banner,<br /> + Which, whirling round, ran on so rapidly,<br /> + That of all pause it seemed to me indignant; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And after it there came so long a train<br /> + Of people, that I ne’er would have believed<br /> + That ever Death so many had undone. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When some among them I had recognised,<br /> + I looked, and I beheld the shade of him<br /> + Who made through cowardice the great refusal. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Forthwith I comprehended, and was certain,<br /> + That this the sect was of the caitiff wretches<br /> + Hateful to God and to his enemies. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +These miscreants, who never were alive,<br /> + Were naked, and were stung exceedingly<br /> + By gadflies and by hornets that were there. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +These did their faces irrigate with blood,<br /> + Which, with their tears commingled, at their feet<br /> + By the disgusting worms was gathered up. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And when to gazing farther I betook me.<br /> + People I saw on a great river’s bank;<br /> + Whence said I: “Master, now vouchsafe to me, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That I may know who these are, and what law<br /> + Makes them appear so ready to pass over,<br /> + As I discern athwart the dusky light.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “These things shall all be known<br /> + To thee, as soon as we our footsteps stay<br /> + Upon the dismal shore of Acheron.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then with mine eyes ashamed and downward cast,<br /> + Fearing my words might irksome be to him,<br /> + From speech refrained I till we reached the river. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And lo! towards us coming in a boat<br /> + An old man, hoary with the hair of eld,<br /> + Crying: “Woe unto you, ye souls depraved! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens;<br /> + I come to lead you to the other shore,<br /> + To the eternal shades in heat and frost. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And thou, that yonder standest, living soul,<br /> + Withdraw thee from these people, who are dead!”<br /> + But when he saw that I did not withdraw, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He said: “By other ways, by other ports<br /> + Thou to the shore shalt come, not here, for passage;<br /> + A lighter vessel needs must carry thee.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And unto him the Guide: “Vex thee not, Charon;<br /> + It is so willed there where is power to do<br /> + That which is willed; and farther question not.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereat were quieted the fleecy cheeks<br /> + Of him the ferryman of the livid fen,<br /> + Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But all those souls who weary were and naked<br /> + Their colour changed and gnashed their teeth together,<br /> + As soon as they had heard those cruel words. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +God they blasphemed and their progenitors,<br /> + The human race, the place, the time, the seed<br /> + Of their engendering and of their birth! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereafter all together they drew back,<br /> + Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore,<br /> + Which waiteth every man who fears not God. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede,<br /> + Beckoning to them, collects them all together,<br /> + Beats with his oar whoever lags behind. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As in the autumn-time the leaves fall off,<br /> + First one and then another, till the branch<br /> + Unto the earth surrenders all its spoils; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In similar wise the evil seed of Adam<br /> + Throw themselves from that margin one by one,<br /> + At signals, as a bird unto its lure. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So they depart across the dusky wave,<br /> + And ere upon the other side they land,<br /> + Again on this side a new troop assembles. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“My son,” the courteous Master said to me,<br /> + “All those who perish in the wrath of God<br /> + Here meet together out of every land; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And ready are they to pass o’er the river,<br /> + Because celestial Justice spurs them on,<br /> + So that their fear is turned into desire. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This way there never passes a good soul;<br /> + And hence if Charon doth complain of thee,<br /> + Well mayst thou know now what his speech imports.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This being finished, all the dusk champaign<br /> + Trembled so violently, that of that terror<br /> + The recollection bathes me still with sweat. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The land of tears gave forth a blast of wind,<br /> + And fulminated a vermilion light,<br /> + Which overmastered in me every sense, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as a man whom sleep hath seized I fell. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.IV"></a>Inferno: Canto IV</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Broke the deep lethargy within my head<br /> + A heavy thunder, so that I upstarted,<br /> + Like to a person who by force is wakened; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And round about I moved my rested eyes,<br /> + Uprisen erect, and steadfastly I gazed,<br /> + To recognise the place wherein I was. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +True is it, that upon the verge I found me<br /> + Of the abysmal valley dolorous,<br /> + That gathers thunder of infinite ululations. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous,<br /> + So that by fixing on its depths my sight<br /> + Nothing whatever I discerned therein. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Let us descend now into the blind world,”<br /> + Began the Poet, pallid utterly;<br /> + “I will be first, and thou shalt second be.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I, who of his colour was aware,<br /> + Said: “How shall I come, if thou art afraid,<br /> + Who’rt wont to be a comfort to my fears?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “The anguish of the people<br /> + Who are below here in my face depicts<br /> + That pity which for terror thou hast taken. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Let us go on, for the long way impels us.”<br /> + Thus he went in, and thus he made me enter<br /> + The foremost circle that surrounds the abyss. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There, as it seemed to me from listening,<br /> + Were lamentations none, but only sighs,<br /> + That tremble made the everlasting air. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And this arose from sorrow without torment,<br /> + Which the crowds had, that many were and great,<br /> + Of infants and of women and of men. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To me the Master good: “Thou dost not ask<br /> + What spirits these, which thou beholdest, are?<br /> + Now will I have thee know, ere thou go farther, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That they sinned not; and if they merit had,<br /> + ’Tis not enough, because they had not baptism<br /> + Which is the portal of the Faith thou holdest; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if they were before Christianity,<br /> + In the right manner they adored not God;<br /> + And among such as these am I myself. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For such defects, and not for other guilt,<br /> + Lost are we and are only so far punished,<br /> + That without hope we live on in desire.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Great grief seized on my heart when this I heard,<br /> + Because some people of much worthiness<br /> + I knew, who in that Limbo were suspended. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Tell me, my Master, tell me, thou my Lord,”<br /> + Began I, with desire of being certain<br /> + Of that Faith which o’ercometh every error, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Came any one by his own merit hence,<br /> + Or by another’s, who was blessed thereafter?”<br /> + And he, who understood my covert speech, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Replied: “I was a novice in this state,<br /> + When I saw hither come a Mighty One,<br /> + With sign of victory incoronate. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Hence he drew forth the shade of the First Parent,<br /> + And that of his son Abel, and of Noah,<br /> + Of Moses the lawgiver, and the obedient +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Abraham, patriarch, and David, king,<br /> + Israel with his father and his children,<br /> + And Rachel, for whose sake he did so much, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And others many, and he made them blessed;<br /> + And thou must know, that earlier than these<br /> + Never were any human spirits saved.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We ceased not to advance because he spake,<br /> + But still were passing onward through the forest,<br /> + The forest, say I, of thick-crowded ghosts. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not very far as yet our way had gone<br /> + This side the summit, when I saw a fire<br /> + That overcame a hemisphere of darkness. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We were a little distant from it still,<br /> + But not so far that I in part discerned not<br /> + That honourable people held that place. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O thou who honourest every art and science,<br /> + Who may these be, which such great honour have,<br /> + That from the fashion of the rest it parts them?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “The honourable name,<br /> + That sounds of them above there in thy life,<br /> + Wins grace in Heaven, that so advances them.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In the mean time a voice was heard by me:<br /> + “All honour be to the pre-eminent Poet;<br /> + His shade returns again, that was departed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After the voice had ceased and quiet was,<br /> + Four mighty shades I saw approaching us;<br /> + Semblance had they nor sorrowful nor glad. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To say to me began my gracious Master:<br /> + “Him with that falchion in his hand behold,<br /> + Who comes before the three, even as their lord. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That one is Homer, Poet sovereign;<br /> + He who comes next is Horace, the satirist;<br /> + The third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because to each of these with me applies<br /> + The name that solitary voice proclaimed,<br /> + They do me honour, and in that do well.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus I beheld assemble the fair school<br /> + Of that lord of the song pre-eminent,<br /> + Who o’er the others like an eagle soars. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When they together had discoursed somewhat,<br /> + They turned to me with signs of salutation,<br /> + And on beholding this, my Master smiled; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And more of honour still, much more, they did me,<br /> + In that they made me one of their own band;<br /> + So that the sixth was I, ’mid so much wit. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus we went on as far as to the light,<br /> + Things saying ’tis becoming to keep silent,<br /> + As was the saying of them where I was. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We came unto a noble castle’s foot,<br /> + Seven times encompassed with lofty walls,<br /> + Defended round by a fair rivulet; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This we passed over even as firm ground;<br /> + Through portals seven I entered with these Sages;<br /> + We came into a meadow of fresh verdure. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +People were there with solemn eyes and slow,<br /> + Of great authority in their countenance;<br /> + They spake but seldom, and with gentle voices. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus we withdrew ourselves upon one side<br /> + Into an opening luminous and lofty,<br /> + So that they all of them were visible. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There opposite, upon the green enamel,<br /> + Were pointed out to me the mighty spirits,<br /> + Whom to have seen I feel myself exalted. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw Electra with companions many,<br /> + ’Mongst whom I knew both Hector and Aeneas,<br /> + Caesar in armour with gerfalcon eyes; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw Camilla and Penthesilea<br /> + On the other side, and saw the King Latinus,<br /> + Who with Lavinia his daughter sat; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin forth,<br /> + Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia,<br /> + And saw alone, apart, the Saladin. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When I had lifted up my brows a little,<br /> + The Master I beheld of those who know,<br /> + Sit with his philosophic family. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +All gaze upon him, and all do him honour.<br /> + There I beheld both Socrates and Plato,<br /> + Who nearer him before the others stand; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Democritus, who puts the world on chance,<br /> + Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales,<br /> + Zeno, Empedocles, and Heraclitus; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of qualities I saw the good collector,<br /> + Hight Dioscorides; and Orpheus saw I,<br /> + Tully and Livy, and moral Seneca, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Euclid, geometrician, and Ptolemy,<br /> + Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicenna,<br /> + Averroes, who the great Comment made. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I cannot all of them pourtray in full,<br /> + Because so drives me onward the long theme,<br /> + That many times the word comes short of fact. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The sixfold company in two divides;<br /> + Another way my sapient Guide conducts me<br /> + Forth from the quiet to the air that trembles; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And to a place I come where nothing shines. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.V"></a>Inferno: Canto V</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus I descended out of the first circle<br /> + Down to the second, that less space begirds,<br /> + And so much greater dole, that goads to wailing. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls;<br /> + Examines the transgressions at the entrance;<br /> + Judges, and sends according as he girds him. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I say, that when the spirit evil-born<br /> + Cometh before him, wholly it confesses;<br /> + And this discriminator of transgressions +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Seeth what place in Hell is meet for it;<br /> + Girds himself with his tail as many times<br /> + As grades he wishes it should be thrust down. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Always before him many of them stand;<br /> + They go by turns each one unto the judgment;<br /> + They speak, and hear, and then are downward hurled. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O thou, that to this dolorous hostelry<br /> + Comest,” said Minos to me, when he saw me,<br /> + Leaving the practice of so great an office, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Look how thou enterest, and in whom thou trustest;<br /> + Let not the portal’s amplitude deceive thee.”<br /> + And unto him my Guide: “Why criest thou too? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Do not impede his journey fate-ordained;<br /> + It is so willed there where is power to do<br /> + That which is willed; and ask no further question.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And now begin the dolesome notes to grow<br /> + Audible unto me; now am I come<br /> + There where much lamentation strikes upon me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I came into a place mute of all light,<br /> + Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest,<br /> + If by opposing winds ’t is combated. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The infernal hurricane that never rests<br /> + Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine;<br /> + Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When they arrive before the precipice,<br /> + There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments,<br /> + There they blaspheme the puissance divine. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I understood that unto such a torment<br /> + The carnal malefactors were condemned,<br /> + Who reason subjugate to appetite. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as the wings of starlings bear them on<br /> + In the cold season in large band and full,<br /> + So doth that blast the spirits maledict; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them;<br /> + No hope doth comfort them for evermore,<br /> + Not of repose, but even of lesser pain. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays,<br /> + Making in air a long line of themselves,<br /> + So saw I coming, uttering lamentations, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Shadows borne onward by the aforesaid stress.<br /> + Whereupon said I: “Master, who are those<br /> + People, whom the black air so castigates?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“The first of those, of whom intelligence<br /> + Thou fain wouldst have,” then said he unto me,<br /> + “The empress was of many languages. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To sensual vices she was so abandoned,<br /> + That lustful she made licit in her law,<br /> + To remove the blame to which she had been led. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +She is Semiramis, of whom we read<br /> + That she succeeded Ninus, and was his spouse;<br /> + She held the land which now the Sultan rules. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The next is she who killed herself for love,<br /> + And broke faith with the ashes of Sichaeus;<br /> + Then Cleopatra the voluptuous.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Helen I saw, for whom so many ruthless<br /> + Seasons revolved; and saw the great Achilles,<br /> + Who at the last hour combated with Love. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Paris I saw, Tristan; and more than a thousand<br /> + Shades did he name and point out with his finger,<br /> + Whom Love had separated from our life. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After that I had listened to my Teacher,<br /> + Naming the dames of eld and cavaliers,<br /> + Pity prevailed, and I was nigh bewildered. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I began: “O Poet, willingly<br /> + Speak would I to those two, who go together,<br /> + And seem upon the wind to be so light.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And, he to me: “Thou’lt mark, when they shall be<br /> + Nearer to us; and then do thou implore them<br /> + By love which leadeth them, and they will come.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Soon as the wind in our direction sways them,<br /> + My voice uplift I: “O ye weary souls!<br /> + Come speak to us, if no one interdicts it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As turtle-doves, called onward by desire,<br /> + With open and steady wings to the sweet nest<br /> + Fly through the air by their volition borne, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So came they from the band where Dido is,<br /> + Approaching us athwart the air malign,<br /> + So strong was the affectionate appeal. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O living creature gracious and benignant,<br /> + Who visiting goest through the purple air<br /> + Us, who have stained the world incarnadine, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If were the King of the Universe our friend,<br /> + We would pray unto him to give thee peace,<br /> + Since thou hast pity on our woe perverse. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of what it pleases thee to hear and speak,<br /> + That will we hear, and we will speak to you,<br /> + While silent is the wind, as it is now. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Sitteth the city, wherein I was born,<br /> + Upon the sea-shore where the Po descends<br /> + To rest in peace with all his retinue. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Love, that on gentle heart doth swiftly seize,<br /> + Seized this man for the person beautiful<br /> + That was ta’en from me, and still the mode offends me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving,<br /> + Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly,<br /> + That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Love has conducted us unto one death;<br /> + Caina waiteth him who quenched our life!”<br /> + These words were borne along from them to us. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As soon as I had heard those souls tormented,<br /> + I bowed my face, and so long held it down<br /> + Until the Poet said to me: “What thinkest?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When I made answer, I began: “Alas!<br /> + How many pleasant thoughts, how much desire,<br /> + Conducted these unto the dolorous pass!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then unto them I turned me, and I spake,<br /> + And I began: “Thine agonies, Francesca,<br /> + Sad and compassionate to weeping make me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But tell me, at the time of those sweet sighs,<br /> + By what and in what manner Love conceded,<br /> + That you should know your dubious desires?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And she to me: “There is no greater sorrow<br /> + Than to be mindful of the happy time<br /> + In misery, and that thy Teacher knows. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But, if to recognise the earliest root<br /> + Of love in us thou hast so great desire,<br /> + I will do even as he who weeps and speaks. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +One day we reading were for our delight<br /> + Of Launcelot, how Love did him enthral.<br /> + Alone we were and without any fear. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Full many a time our eyes together drew<br /> + That reading, and drove the colour from our faces;<br /> + But one point only was it that o’ercame us. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When as we read of the much-longed-for smile<br /> + Being by such a noble lover kissed,<br /> + This one, who ne’er from me shall be divided, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating.<br /> + Galeotto was the book and he who wrote it.<br /> + That day no farther did we read therein.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And all the while one spirit uttered this,<br /> + The other one did weep so, that, for pity,<br /> + I swooned away as if I had been dying, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And fell, even as a dead body falls. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.VI"></a>Inferno: Canto VI</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +At the return of consciousness, that closed<br /> + Before the pity of those two relations,<br /> + Which utterly with sadness had confused me, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +New torments I behold, and new tormented<br /> + Around me, whichsoever way I move,<br /> + And whichsoever way I turn, and gaze. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In the third circle am I of the rain<br /> + Eternal, maledict, and cold, and heavy;<br /> + Its law and quality are never new. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow,<br /> + Athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain;<br /> + Noisome the earth is, that receiveth this. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Cerberus, monster cruel and uncouth,<br /> + With his three gullets like a dog is barking<br /> + Over the people that are there submerged. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Red eyes he has, and unctuous beard and black,<br /> + And belly large, and armed with claws his hands;<br /> + He rends the spirits, flays, and quarters them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Howl the rain maketh them like unto dogs;<br /> + One side they make a shelter for the other;<br /> + Oft turn themselves the wretched reprobates. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm!<br /> + His mouths he opened, and displayed his tusks;<br /> + Not a limb had he that was motionless. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And my Conductor, with his spans extended,<br /> + Took of the earth, and with his fists well filled,<br /> + He threw it into those rapacious gullets. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such as that dog is, who by barking craves,<br /> + And quiet grows soon as his food he gnaws,<br /> + For to devour it he but thinks and struggles, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The like became those muzzles filth-begrimed<br /> + Of Cerberus the demon, who so thunders<br /> + Over the souls that they would fain be deaf. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We passed across the shadows, which subdues<br /> + The heavy rain-storm, and we placed our feet<br /> + Upon their vanity that person seems. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They all were lying prone upon the earth,<br /> + Excepting one, who sat upright as soon<br /> + As he beheld us passing on before him. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O thou that art conducted through this Hell,”<br /> + He said to me, “recall me, if thou canst;<br /> + Thyself wast made before I was unmade.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “The anguish which thou hast<br /> + Perhaps doth draw thee out of my remembrance,<br /> + So that it seems not I have ever seen thee. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But tell me who thou art, that in so doleful<br /> + A place art put, and in such punishment,<br /> + If some are greater, none is so displeasing.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Thy city, which is full<br /> + Of envy so that now the sack runs over,<br /> + Held me within it in the life serene. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +You citizens were wont to call me Ciacco;<br /> + For the pernicious sin of gluttony<br /> + I, as thou seest, am battered by this rain. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I, sad soul, am not the only one,<br /> + For all these suffer the like penalty<br /> + For the like sin;” and word no more spake he. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I answered him: “Ciacco, thy wretchedness<br /> + Weighs on me so that it to weep invites me;<br /> + But tell me, if thou knowest, to what shall come +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The citizens of the divided city;<br /> + If any there be just; and the occasion<br /> + Tell me why so much discord has assailed it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “They, after long contention,<br /> + Will come to bloodshed; and the rustic party<br /> + Will drive the other out with much offence. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then afterwards behoves it this one fall<br /> + Within three suns, and rise again the other<br /> + By force of him who now is on the coast. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +High will it hold its forehead a long while,<br /> + Keeping the other under heavy burdens,<br /> + Howe’er it weeps thereat and is indignant. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The just are two, and are not understood there;<br /> + Envy and Arrogance and Avarice<br /> + Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here ended he his tearful utterance;<br /> + And I to him: “I wish thee still to teach me,<br /> + And make a gift to me of further speech. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Farinata and Tegghiaio, once so worthy,<br /> + Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca,<br /> + And others who on good deeds set their thoughts, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Say where they are, and cause that I may know them;<br /> + For great desire constraineth me to learn<br /> + If Heaven doth sweeten them, or Hell envenom.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he: “They are among the blacker souls;<br /> + A different sin downweighs them to the bottom;<br /> + If thou so far descendest, thou canst see them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But when thou art again in the sweet world,<br /> + I pray thee to the mind of others bring me;<br /> + No more I tell thee and no more I answer.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then his straightforward eyes he turned askance,<br /> + Eyed me a little, and then bowed his head;<br /> + He fell therewith prone like the other blind. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the Guide said to me: “He wakes no more<br /> + This side the sound of the angelic trumpet;<br /> + When shall approach the hostile Potentate, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Each one shall find again his dismal tomb,<br /> + Shall reassume his flesh and his own figure,<br /> + Shall hear what through eternity re-echoes.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So we passed onward o’er the filthy mixture<br /> + Of shadows and of rain with footsteps slow,<br /> + Touching a little on the future life. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Wherefore I said: “Master, these torments here,<br /> + Will they increase after the mighty sentence,<br /> + Or lesser be, or will they be as burning?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Return unto thy science,<br /> + Which wills, that as the thing more perfect is,<br /> + The more it feels of pleasure and of pain. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Albeit that this people maledict<br /> + To true perfection never can attain,<br /> + Hereafter more than now they look to be.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Round in a circle by that road we went,<br /> + Speaking much more, which I do not repeat;<br /> + We came unto the point where the descent is; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There we found Plutus the great enemy. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.VII"></a>Inferno: Canto VII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Pape Satan, Pape Satan, Aleppe!”<br /> + Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began;<br /> + And that benignant Sage, who all things knew, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Said, to encourage me: “Let not thy fear<br /> + Harm thee; for any power that he may have<br /> + Shall not prevent thy going down this crag.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he turned round unto that bloated lip,<br /> + And said: “Be silent, thou accursed wolf;<br /> + Consume within thyself with thine own rage. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not causeless is this journey to the abyss;<br /> + Thus is it willed on high, where Michael wrought<br /> + Vengeance upon the proud adultery.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as the sails inflated by the wind<br /> + Involved together fall when snaps the mast,<br /> + So fell the cruel monster to the earth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus we descended into the fourth chasm,<br /> + Gaining still farther on the dolesome shore<br /> + Which all the woe of the universe insacks. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Justice of God, ah! who heaps up so many<br /> + New toils and sufferings as I beheld?<br /> + And why doth our transgression waste us so? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As doth the billow there upon Charybdis,<br /> + That breaks itself on that which it encounters,<br /> + So here the folk must dance their roundelay. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here saw I people, more than elsewhere, many,<br /> + On one side and the other, with great howls,<br /> + Rolling weights forward by main force of chest. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They clashed together, and then at that point<br /> + Each one turned backward, rolling retrograde,<br /> + Crying, “Why keepest?” and, “Why squanderest thou?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus they returned along the lurid circle<br /> + On either hand unto the opposite point,<br /> + Shouting their shameful metre evermore. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then each, when he arrived there, wheeled about<br /> + Through his half-circle to another joust;<br /> + And I, who had my heart pierced as it were, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Exclaimed: “My Master, now declare to me<br /> + What people these are, and if all were clerks,<br /> + These shaven crowns upon the left of us.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “All of them were asquint<br /> + In intellect in the first life, so much<br /> + That there with measure they no spending made. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Clearly enough their voices bark it forth,<br /> + Whene’er they reach the two points of the circle,<br /> + Where sunders them the opposite defect. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Clerks those were who no hairy covering<br /> + Have on the head, and Popes and Cardinals,<br /> + In whom doth Avarice practise its excess.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “My Master, among such as these<br /> + I ought forsooth to recognise some few,<br /> + Who were infected with these maladies.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Vain thought thou entertainest;<br /> + The undiscerning life which made them sordid<br /> + Now makes them unto all discernment dim. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Forever shall they come to these two buttings;<br /> + These from the sepulchre shall rise again<br /> + With the fist closed, and these with tresses shorn. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ill giving and ill keeping the fair world<br /> + Have ta’en from them, and placed them in this scuffle;<br /> + Whate’er it be, no words adorn I for it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now canst thou, Son, behold the transient farce<br /> + Of goods that are committed unto Fortune,<br /> + For which the human race each other buffet; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For all the gold that is beneath the moon,<br /> + Or ever has been, of these weary souls<br /> + Could never make a single one repose.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Master,” I said to him, “now tell me also<br /> + What is this Fortune which thou speakest of,<br /> + That has the world’s goods so within its clutches?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “O creatures imbecile,<br /> + What ignorance is this which doth beset you?<br /> + Now will I have thee learn my judgment of her. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He whose omniscience everything transcends<br /> + The heavens created, and gave who should guide them,<br /> + That every part to every part may shine, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Distributing the light in equal measure;<br /> + He in like manner to the mundane splendours<br /> + Ordained a general ministress and guide, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That she might change at times the empty treasures<br /> + From race to race, from one blood to another,<br /> + Beyond resistance of all human wisdom. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore one people triumphs, and another<br /> + Languishes, in pursuance of her judgment,<br /> + Which hidden is, as in the grass a serpent. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Your knowledge has no counterstand against her;<br /> + She makes provision, judges, and pursues<br /> + Her governance, as theirs the other gods. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Her permutations have not any truce;<br /> + Necessity makes her precipitate,<br /> + So often cometh who his turn obtains. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And this is she who is so crucified<br /> + Even by those who ought to give her praise,<br /> + Giving her blame amiss, and bad repute. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But she is blissful, and she hears it not;<br /> + Among the other primal creatures gladsome<br /> + She turns her sphere, and blissful she rejoices. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Let us descend now unto greater woe;<br /> + Already sinks each star that was ascending<br /> + When I set out, and loitering is forbidden.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We crossed the circle to the other bank,<br /> + Near to a fount that boils, and pours itself<br /> + Along a gully that runs out of it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The water was more sombre far than perse;<br /> + And we, in company with the dusky waves,<br /> + Made entrance downward by a path uncouth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A marsh it makes, which has the name of Styx,<br /> + This tristful brooklet, when it has descended<br /> + Down to the foot of the malign gray shores. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I, who stood intent upon beholding,<br /> + Saw people mud-besprent in that lagoon,<br /> + All of them naked and with angry look. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They smote each other not alone with hands,<br /> + But with the head and with the breast and feet,<br /> + Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Said the good Master: “Son, thou now beholdest<br /> + The souls of those whom anger overcame;<br /> + And likewise I would have thee know for certain +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Beneath the water people are who sigh<br /> + And make this water bubble at the surface,<br /> + As the eye tells thee wheresoe’er it turns. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Fixed in the mire they say, ‘We sullen were<br /> + In the sweet air, which by the sun is gladdened,<br /> + Bearing within ourselves the sluggish reek; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now we are sullen in this sable mire.’<br /> + This hymn do they keep gurgling in their throats,<br /> + For with unbroken words they cannot say it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus we went circling round the filthy fen<br /> + A great arc ’twixt the dry bank and the swamp,<br /> + With eyes turned unto those who gorge the mire; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Unto the foot of a tower we came at last. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.VIII"></a>Inferno: Canto VIII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +I say, continuing, that long before<br /> + We to the foot of that high tower had come,<br /> + Our eyes went upward to the summit of it, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +By reason of two flamelets we saw placed there,<br /> + And from afar another answer them,<br /> + So far, that hardly could the eye attain it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And, to the sea of all discernment turned,<br /> + I said: “What sayeth this, and what respondeth<br /> + That other fire? and who are they that made it?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Across the turbid waves<br /> + What is expected thou canst now discern,<br /> + If reek of the morass conceal it not.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Cord never shot an arrow from itself<br /> + That sped away athwart the air so swift,<br /> + As I beheld a very little boat +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Come o’er the water tow’rds us at that moment,<br /> + Under the guidance of a single pilot,<br /> + Who shouted, “Now art thou arrived, fell soul?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Phlegyas, Phlegyas, thou criest out in vain<br /> + For this once,” said my Lord; “thou shalt not have us<br /> + Longer than in the passing of the slough.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As he who listens to some great deceit<br /> + That has been done to him, and then resents it,<br /> + Such became Phlegyas, in his gathered wrath. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My Guide descended down into the boat,<br /> + And then he made me enter after him,<br /> + And only when I entered seemed it laden. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Soon as the Guide and I were in the boat,<br /> + The antique prow goes on its way, dividing<br /> + More of the water than ’tis wont with others. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While we were running through the dead canal,<br /> + Uprose in front of me one full of mire,<br /> + And said, “Who ’rt thou that comest ere the hour?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “Although I come, I stay not;<br /> + But who art thou that hast become so squalid?”<br /> + “Thou seest that I am one who weeps,” he answered. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “With weeping and with wailing,<br /> + Thou spirit maledict, do thou remain;<br /> + For thee I know, though thou art all defiled.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then stretched he both his hands unto the boat;<br /> + Whereat my wary Master thrust him back,<br /> + Saying, “Away there with the other dogs!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereafter with his arms he clasped my neck;<br /> + He kissed my face, and said: “Disdainful soul,<br /> + Blessed be she who bore thee in her bosom. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That was an arrogant person in the world;<br /> + Goodness is none, that decks his memory;<br /> + So likewise here his shade is furious. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +How many are esteemed great kings up there,<br /> + Who here shall be like unto swine in mire,<br /> + Leaving behind them horrible dispraises!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “My Master, much should I be pleased,<br /> + If I could see him soused into this broth,<br /> + Before we issue forth out of the lake.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Ere unto thee the shore<br /> + Reveal itself, thou shalt be satisfied;<br /> + Such a desire ’tis meet thou shouldst enjoy.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A little after that, I saw such havoc<br /> + Made of him by the people of the mire,<br /> + That still I praise and thank my God for it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They all were shouting, “At Philippo Argenti!”<br /> + And that exasperate spirit Florentine<br /> + Turned round upon himself with his own teeth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We left him there, and more of him I tell not;<br /> + But on mine ears there smote a lamentation,<br /> + Whence forward I intent unbar mine eyes. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the good Master said: “Even now, my Son,<br /> + The city draweth near whose name is Dis,<br /> + With the grave citizens, with the great throng.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “Its mosques already, Master, clearly<br /> + Within there in the valley I discern<br /> + Vermilion, as if issuing from the fire +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They were.” And he to me: “The fire eternal<br /> + That kindles them within makes them look red,<br /> + As thou beholdest in this nether Hell.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then we arrived within the moats profound,<br /> + That circumvallate that disconsolate city;<br /> + The walls appeared to me to be of iron. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not without making first a circuit wide,<br /> + We came unto a place where loud the pilot<br /> + Cried out to us, “Debark, here is the entrance.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +More than a thousand at the gates I saw<br /> + Out of the Heavens rained down, who angrily<br /> + Were saying, “Who is this that without death +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Goes through the kingdom of the people dead?”<br /> + And my sagacious Master made a sign<br /> + Of wishing secretly to speak with them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A little then they quelled their great disdain,<br /> + And said: “Come thou alone, and he begone<br /> + Who has so boldly entered these dominions. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Let him return alone by his mad road;<br /> + Try, if he can; for thou shalt here remain,<br /> + Who hast escorted him through such dark regions.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Think, Reader, if I was discomforted<br /> + At utterance of the accursed words;<br /> + For never to return here I believed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O my dear Guide, who more than seven times<br /> + Hast rendered me security, and drawn me<br /> + From imminent peril that before me stood, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Do not desert me,” said I, “thus undone;<br /> + And if the going farther be denied us,<br /> + Let us retrace our steps together swiftly.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And that Lord, who had led me thitherward,<br /> + Said unto me: “Fear not; because our passage<br /> + None can take from us, it by Such is given. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But here await me, and thy weary spirit<br /> + Comfort and nourish with a better hope;<br /> + For in this nether world I will not leave thee.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So onward goes and there abandons me<br /> + My Father sweet, and I remain in doubt,<br /> + For No and Yes within my head contend. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I could not hear what he proposed to them;<br /> + But with them there he did not linger long,<br /> + Ere each within in rivalry ran back. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They closed the portals, those our adversaries,<br /> + On my Lord’s breast, who had remained without<br /> + And turned to me with footsteps far between. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +His eyes cast down, his forehead shorn had he<br /> + Of all its boldness, and he said, with sighs,<br /> + “Who has denied to me the dolesome houses?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And unto me: “Thou, because I am angry,<br /> + Fear not, for I will conquer in the trial,<br /> + Whatever for defence within be planned. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This arrogance of theirs is nothing new;<br /> + For once they used it at less secret gate,<br /> + Which finds itself without a fastening still. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O’er it didst thou behold the dead inscription;<br /> + And now this side of it descends the steep,<br /> + Passing across the circles without escort, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +One by whose means the city shall be opened.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.IX"></a>Inferno: Canto IX</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +That hue which cowardice brought out on me,<br /> + Beholding my Conductor backward turn,<br /> + Sooner repressed within him his new colour. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He stopped attentive, like a man who listens,<br /> + Because the eye could not conduct him far<br /> + Through the black air, and through the heavy fog. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Still it behoveth us to win the fight,”<br /> + Began he; “Else. . .Such offered us herself. . .<br /> + O how I long that some one here arrive!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Well I perceived, as soon as the beginning<br /> + He covered up with what came afterward,<br /> + That they were words quite different from the first; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But none the less his saying gave me fear,<br /> + Because I carried out the broken phrase,<br /> + Perhaps to a worse meaning than he had. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Into this bottom of the doleful conch<br /> + Doth any e’er descend from the first grade,<br /> + Which for its pain has only hope cut off?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This question put I; and he answered me:<br /> + “Seldom it comes to pass that one of us<br /> + Maketh the journey upon which I go. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +True is it, once before I here below<br /> + Was conjured by that pitiless Erictho,<br /> + Who summoned back the shades unto their bodies. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Naked of me short while the flesh had been,<br /> + Before within that wall she made me enter,<br /> + To bring a spirit from the circle of Judas; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That is the lowest region and the darkest,<br /> + And farthest from the heaven which circles all.<br /> + Well know I the way; therefore be reassured. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This fen, which a prodigious stench exhales,<br /> + Encompasses about the city dolent,<br /> + Where now we cannot enter without anger.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And more he said, but not in mind I have it;<br /> + Because mine eye had altogether drawn me<br /> + Tow’rds the high tower with the red-flaming summit, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Where in a moment saw I swift uprisen<br /> + The three infernal Furies stained with blood,<br /> + Who had the limbs of women and their mien, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And with the greenest hydras were begirt;<br /> + Small serpents and cerastes were their tresses,<br /> + Wherewith their horrid temples were entwined. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he who well the handmaids of the Queen<br /> + Of everlasting lamentation knew,<br /> + Said unto me: “Behold the fierce Erinnys. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This is Megaera, on the left-hand side;<br /> + She who is weeping on the right, Alecto;<br /> + Tisiphone is between;” and then was silent. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Each one her breast was rending with her nails;<br /> + They beat them with their palms, and cried so loud,<br /> + That I for dread pressed close unto the Poet. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Medusa come, so we to stone will change him!”<br /> + All shouted looking down; “in evil hour<br /> + Avenged we not on Theseus his assault!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Turn thyself round, and keep thine eyes close shut,<br /> + For if the Gorgon appear, and thou shouldst see it,<br /> + No more returning upward would there be.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus said the Master; and he turned me round<br /> + Himself, and trusted not unto my hands<br /> + So far as not to blind me with his own. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O ye who have undistempered intellects,<br /> + Observe the doctrine that conceals itself<br /> + Beneath the veil of the mysterious verses! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And now there came across the turbid waves<br /> + The clangour of a sound with terror fraught,<br /> + Because of which both of the margins trembled; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not otherwise it was than of a wind<br /> + Impetuous on account of adverse heats,<br /> + That smites the forest, and, without restraint, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The branches rends, beats down, and bears away;<br /> + Right onward, laden with dust, it goes superb,<br /> + And puts to flight the wild beasts and the shepherds. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Mine eyes he loosed, and said: “Direct the nerve<br /> + Of vision now along that ancient foam,<br /> + There yonder where that smoke is most intense.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as the frogs before the hostile serpent<br /> + Across the water scatter all abroad,<br /> + Until each one is huddled in the earth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +More than a thousand ruined souls I saw,<br /> + Thus fleeing from before one who on foot<br /> + Was passing o’er the Styx with soles unwet. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From off his face he fanned that unctuous air,<br /> + Waving his left hand oft in front of him,<br /> + And only with that anguish seemed he weary. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Well I perceived one sent from Heaven was he,<br /> + And to the Master turned; and he made sign<br /> + That I should quiet stand, and bow before him. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah! how disdainful he appeared to me!<br /> + He reached the gate, and with a little rod<br /> + He opened it, for there was no resistance. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O banished out of Heaven, people despised!”<br /> + Thus he began upon the horrid threshold;<br /> + “Whence is this arrogance within you couched? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Wherefore recalcitrate against that will,<br /> + From which the end can never be cut off,<br /> + And which has many times increased your pain? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +What helpeth it to butt against the fates?<br /> + Your Cerberus, if you remember well,<br /> + For that still bears his chin and gullet peeled.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he returned along the miry road,<br /> + And spake no word to us, but had the look<br /> + Of one whom other care constrains and goads +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Than that of him who in his presence is;<br /> + And we our feet directed tow’rds the city,<br /> + After those holy words all confident. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Within we entered without any contest;<br /> + And I, who inclination had to see<br /> + What the condition such a fortress holds, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Soon as I was within, cast round mine eye,<br /> + And see on every hand an ample plain,<br /> + Full of distress and torment terrible. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as at Arles, where stagnant grows the Rhone,<br /> + Even as at Pola near to the Quarnaro,<br /> + That shuts in Italy and bathes its borders, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The sepulchres make all the place uneven;<br /> + So likewise did they there on every side,<br /> + Saving that there the manner was more bitter; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For flames between the sepulchres were scattered,<br /> + By which they so intensely heated were,<br /> + That iron more so asks not any art. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +All of their coverings uplifted were,<br /> + And from them issued forth such dire laments,<br /> + Sooth seemed they of the wretched and tormented. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “My Master, what are all those people<br /> + Who, having sepulture within those tombs,<br /> + Make themselves audible by doleful sighs?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Here are the Heresiarchs,<br /> + With their disciples of all sects, and much<br /> + More than thou thinkest laden are the tombs. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here like together with its like is buried;<br /> + And more and less the monuments are heated.”<br /> + And when he to the right had turned, we passed +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Between the torments and high parapets. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.X"></a>Inferno: Canto X</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now onward goes, along a narrow path<br /> + Between the torments and the city wall,<br /> + My Master, and I follow at his back. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O power supreme, that through these impious circles<br /> + Turnest me,” I began, “as pleases thee,<br /> + Speak to me, and my longings satisfy; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The people who are lying in these tombs,<br /> + Might they be seen? already are uplifted<br /> + The covers all, and no one keepeth guard.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “They all will be closed up<br /> + When from Jehoshaphat they shall return<br /> + Here with the bodies they have left above. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Their cemetery have upon this side<br /> + With Epicurus all his followers,<br /> + Who with the body mortal make the soul; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But in the question thou dost put to me,<br /> + Within here shalt thou soon be satisfied,<br /> + And likewise in the wish thou keepest silent.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “Good Leader, I but keep concealed<br /> + From thee my heart, that I may speak the less,<br /> + Nor only now hast thou thereto disposed me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O Tuscan, thou who through the city of fire<br /> + Goest alive, thus speaking modestly,<br /> + Be pleased to stay thy footsteps in this place. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thy mode of speaking makes thee manifest<br /> + A native of that noble fatherland,<br /> + To which perhaps I too molestful was.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon a sudden issued forth this sound<br /> + From out one of the tombs; wherefore I pressed,<br /> + Fearing, a little nearer to my Leader. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And unto me he said: “Turn thee; what dost thou?<br /> + Behold there Farinata who has risen;<br /> + From the waist upwards wholly shalt thou see him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I had already fixed mine eyes on his,<br /> + And he uprose erect with breast and front<br /> + E’en as if Hell he had in great despite. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And with courageous hands and prompt my Leader<br /> + Thrust me between the sepulchres towards him,<br /> + Exclaiming, “Let thy words explicit be.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As soon as I was at the foot of his tomb<br /> + Somewhat he eyed me, and, as if disdainful,<br /> + Then asked of me, “Who were thine ancestors?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I, who desirous of obeying was,<br /> + Concealed it not, but all revealed to him;<br /> + Whereat he raised his brows a little upward. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said he: “Fiercely adverse have they been<br /> + To me, and to my fathers, and my party;<br /> + So that two several times I scattered them.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If they were banished, they returned on all sides,”<br /> + I answered him, “the first time and the second;<br /> + But yours have not acquired that art aright.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then there uprose upon the sight, uncovered<br /> + Down to the chin, a shadow at his side;<br /> + I think that he had risen on his knees. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Round me he gazed, as if solicitude<br /> + He had to see if some one else were with me,<br /> + But after his suspicion was all spent, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Weeping, he said to me: “If through this blind<br /> + Prison thou goest by loftiness of genius,<br /> + Where is my son? and why is he not with thee?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “I come not of myself;<br /> + He who is waiting yonder leads me here,<br /> + Whom in disdain perhaps your Guido had.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +His language and the mode of punishment<br /> + Already unto me had read his name;<br /> + On that account my answer was so full. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Up starting suddenly, he cried out: “How<br /> + Saidst thou,—he had? Is he not still alive?<br /> + Does not the sweet light strike upon his eyes?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When he became aware of some delay,<br /> + Which I before my answer made, supine<br /> + He fell again, and forth appeared no more. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But the other, magnanimous, at whose desire<br /> + I had remained, did not his aspect change,<br /> + Neither his neck he moved, nor bent his side. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“And if,” continuing his first discourse,<br /> + “They have that art,” he said, “not learned aright,<br /> + That more tormenteth me, than doth this bed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But fifty times shall not rekindled be<br /> + The countenance of the Lady who reigns here,<br /> + Ere thou shalt know how heavy is that art; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as thou wouldst to the sweet world return,<br /> + Say why that people is so pitiless<br /> + Against my race in each one of its laws?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence I to him: “The slaughter and great carnage<br /> + Which have with crimson stained the Arbia, cause<br /> + Such orisons in our temple to be made.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After his head he with a sigh had shaken,<br /> + “There I was not alone,” he said, “nor surely<br /> + Without a cause had with the others moved. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But there I was alone, where every one<br /> + Consented to the laying waste of Florence,<br /> + He who defended her with open face.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Ah! so hereafter may your seed repose,”<br /> + I him entreated, “solve for me that knot,<br /> + Which has entangled my conceptions here. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +It seems that you can see, if I hear rightly,<br /> + Beforehand whatsoe’er time brings with it,<br /> + And in the present have another mode.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“We see, like those who have imperfect sight,<br /> + The things,” he said, “that distant are from us;<br /> + So much still shines on us the Sovereign Ruler. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When they draw near, or are, is wholly vain<br /> + Our intellect, and if none brings it to us,<br /> + Not anything know we of your human state. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Hence thou canst understand, that wholly dead<br /> + Will be our knowledge from the moment when<br /> + The portal of the future shall be closed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then I, as if compunctious for my fault,<br /> + Said: “Now, then, you will tell that fallen one,<br /> + That still his son is with the living joined. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if just now, in answering, I was dumb,<br /> + Tell him I did it because I was thinking<br /> + Already of the error you have solved me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And now my Master was recalling me,<br /> + Wherefore more eagerly I prayed the spirit<br /> + That he would tell me who was with him there. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He said: “With more than a thousand here I lie;<br /> + Within here is the second Frederick,<br /> + And the Cardinal, and of the rest I speak not.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereon he hid himself; and I towards<br /> + The ancient poet turned my steps, reflecting<br /> + Upon that saying, which seemed hostile to me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He moved along; and afterward thus going,<br /> + He said to me, “Why art thou so bewildered?”<br /> + And I in his inquiry satisfied him. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Let memory preserve what thou hast heard<br /> + Against thyself,” that Sage commanded me,<br /> + “And now attend here;” and he raised his finger. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“When thou shalt be before the radiance sweet<br /> + Of her whose beauteous eyes all things behold,<br /> + From her thou’lt know the journey of thy life.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Unto the left hand then he turned his feet;<br /> + We left the wall, and went towards the middle,<br /> + Along a path that strikes into a valley, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Which even up there unpleasant made its stench. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XI"></a>Inferno: Canto XI</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon the margin of a lofty bank<br /> + Which great rocks broken in a circle made,<br /> + We came upon a still more cruel throng; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And there, by reason of the horrible<br /> + Excess of stench the deep abyss throws out,<br /> + We drew ourselves aside behind the cover +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of a great tomb, whereon I saw a writing,<br /> + Which said: “Pope Anastasius I hold,<br /> + Whom out of the right way Photinus drew.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Slow it behoveth our descent to be,<br /> + So that the sense be first a little used<br /> + To the sad blast, and then we shall not heed it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Master thus; and unto him I said,<br /> + “Some compensation find, that the time pass not<br /> + Idly;” and he: “Thou seest I think of that. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My son, upon the inside of these rocks,”<br /> + Began he then to say, “are three small circles,<br /> + From grade to grade, like those which thou art leaving. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They all are full of spirits maledict;<br /> + But that hereafter sight alone suffice thee,<br /> + Hear how and wherefore they are in constraint. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of every malice that wins hate in Heaven,<br /> + Injury is the end; and all such end<br /> + Either by force or fraud afflicteth others. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But because fraud is man’s peculiar vice,<br /> + More it displeases God; and so stand lowest<br /> + The fraudulent, and greater dole assails them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +All the first circle of the Violent is;<br /> + But since force may be used against three persons,<br /> + In three rounds ’tis divided and constructed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To God, to ourselves, and to our neighbour can we<br /> + Use force; I say on them and on their things,<br /> + As thou shalt hear with reason manifest. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A death by violence, and painful wounds,<br /> + Are to our neighbour given; and in his substance<br /> + Ruin, and arson, and injurious levies; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence homicides, and he who smites unjustly,<br /> + Marauders, and freebooters, the first round<br /> + Tormenteth all in companies diverse. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Man may lay violent hands upon himself<br /> + And his own goods; and therefore in the second<br /> + Round must perforce without avail repent +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whoever of your world deprives himself,<br /> + Who games, and dissipates his property,<br /> + And weepeth there, where he should jocund be. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Violence can be done the Deity,<br /> + In heart denying and blaspheming Him,<br /> + And by disdaining Nature and her bounty. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And for this reason doth the smallest round<br /> + Seal with its signet Sodom and Cahors,<br /> + And who, disdaining God, speaks from the heart. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Fraud, wherewithal is every conscience stung,<br /> + A man may practise upon him who trusts,<br /> + And him who doth no confidence imburse. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This latter mode, it would appear, dissevers<br /> + Only the bond of love which Nature makes;<br /> + Wherefore within the second circle nestle +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Hypocrisy, flattery, and who deals in magic,<br /> + Falsification, theft, and simony,<br /> + Panders, and barrators, and the like filth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +By the other mode, forgotten is that love<br /> + Which Nature makes, and what is after added,<br /> + From which there is a special faith engendered. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Hence in the smallest circle, where the point is<br /> + Of the Universe, upon which Dis is seated,<br /> + Whoe’er betrays for ever is consumed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “My Master, clear enough proceeds<br /> + Thy reasoning, and full well distinguishes<br /> + This cavern and the people who possess it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But tell me, those within the fat lagoon,<br /> + Whom the wind drives, and whom the rain doth beat,<br /> + And who encounter with such bitter tongues, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Wherefore are they inside of the red city<br /> + Not punished, if God has them in his wrath,<br /> + And if he has not, wherefore in such fashion?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And unto me he said: “Why wanders so<br /> + Thine intellect from that which it is wont?<br /> + Or, sooth, thy mind where is it elsewhere looking? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Hast thou no recollection of those words<br /> + With which thine Ethics thoroughly discusses<br /> + The dispositions three, that Heaven abides not,— +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Incontinence, and Malice, and insane<br /> + Bestiality? and how Incontinence<br /> + Less God offendeth, and less blame attracts? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If thou regardest this conclusion well,<br /> + And to thy mind recallest who they are<br /> + That up outside are undergoing penance, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Clearly wilt thou perceive why from these felons<br /> + They separated are, and why less wroth<br /> + Justice divine doth smite them with its hammer.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O Sun, that healest all distempered vision,<br /> + Thou dost content me so, when thou resolvest,<br /> + That doubting pleases me no less than knowing! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Once more a little backward turn thee,” said I,<br /> + “There where thou sayest that usury offends<br /> + Goodness divine, and disengage the knot.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Philosophy,” he said, “to him who heeds it,<br /> + Noteth, not only in one place alone,<br /> + After what manner Nature takes her course +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From Intellect Divine, and from its art;<br /> + And if thy Physics carefully thou notest,<br /> + After not many pages shalt thou find, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That this your art as far as possible<br /> + Follows, as the disciple doth the master;<br /> + So that your art is, as it were, God’s grandchild. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From these two, if thou bringest to thy mind<br /> + Genesis at the beginning, it behoves<br /> + Mankind to gain their life and to advance; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And since the usurer takes another way,<br /> + Nature herself and in her follower<br /> + Disdains he, for elsewhere he puts his hope. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But follow, now, as I would fain go on,<br /> + For quivering are the Fishes on the horizon,<br /> + And the Wain wholly over Caurus lies, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And far beyond there we descend the crag.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XII"></a>Inferno: Canto XII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +The place where to descend the bank we came<br /> + Was alpine, and from what was there, moreover,<br /> + Of such a kind that every eye would shun it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such as that ruin is which in the flank<br /> + Smote, on this side of Trent, the Adige,<br /> + Either by earthquake or by failing stay, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For from the mountain’s top, from which it moved,<br /> + Unto the plain the cliff is shattered so,<br /> + Some path ’twould give to him who was above; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even such was the descent of that ravine,<br /> + And on the border of the broken chasm<br /> + The infamy of Crete was stretched along, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Who was conceived in the fictitious cow;<br /> + And when he us beheld, he bit himself,<br /> + Even as one whom anger racks within. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My Sage towards him shouted: “Peradventure<br /> + Thou think’st that here may be the Duke of Athens,<br /> + Who in the world above brought death to thee? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Get thee gone, beast, for this one cometh not<br /> + Instructed by thy sister, but he comes<br /> + In order to behold your punishments.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As is that bull who breaks loose at the moment<br /> + In which he has received the mortal blow,<br /> + Who cannot walk, but staggers here and there, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Minotaur beheld I do the like;<br /> + And he, the wary, cried: “Run to the passage;<br /> + While he wroth, ’tis well thou shouldst descend.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus down we took our way o’er that discharge<br /> + Of stones, which oftentimes did move themselves<br /> + Beneath my feet, from the unwonted burden. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thoughtful I went; and he said: “Thou art thinking<br /> + Perhaps upon this ruin, which is guarded<br /> + By that brute anger which just now I quenched. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now will I have thee know, the other time<br /> + I here descended to the nether Hell,<br /> + This precipice had not yet fallen down. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But truly, if I well discern, a little<br /> + Before His coming who the mighty spoil<br /> + Bore off from Dis, in the supernal circle, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon all sides the deep and loathsome valley<br /> + Trembled so, that I thought the Universe<br /> + Was thrilled with love, by which there are who think +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The world ofttimes converted into chaos;<br /> + And at that moment this primeval crag<br /> + Both here and elsewhere made such overthrow. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But fix thine eyes below; for draweth near<br /> + The river of blood, within which boiling is<br /> + Whoe’er by violence doth injure others.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O blind cupidity, O wrath insane,<br /> + That spurs us onward so in our short life,<br /> + And in the eternal then so badly steeps us! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw an ample moat bent like a bow,<br /> + As one which all the plain encompasses,<br /> + Conformable to what my Guide had said. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And between this and the embankment’s foot<br /> + Centaurs in file were running, armed with arrows,<br /> + As in the world they used the chase to follow. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Beholding us descend, each one stood still,<br /> + And from the squadron three detached themselves,<br /> + With bows and arrows in advance selected; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And from afar one cried: “Unto what torment<br /> + Come ye, who down the hillside are descending?<br /> + Tell us from there; if not, I draw the bow.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My Master said: “Our answer will we make<br /> + To Chiron, near you there; in evil hour,<br /> + That will of thine was evermore so hasty.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then touched he me, and said: “This one is Nessus,<br /> + Who perished for the lovely Dejanira,<br /> + And for himself, himself did vengeance take. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he in the midst, who at his breast is gazing,<br /> + Is the great Chiron, who brought up Achilles;<br /> + That other Pholus is, who was so wrathful. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thousands and thousands go about the moat<br /> + Shooting with shafts whatever soul emerges<br /> + Out of the blood, more than his crime allots.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Near we approached unto those monsters fleet;<br /> + Chiron an arrow took, and with the notch<br /> + Backward upon his jaws he put his beard. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After he had uncovered his great mouth,<br /> + He said to his companions: “Are you ware<br /> + That he behind moveth whate’er he touches? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus are not wont to do the feet of dead men.”<br /> + And my good Guide, who now was at his breast,<br /> + Where the two natures are together joined, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Replied: “Indeed he lives, and thus alone<br /> + Me it behoves to show him the dark valley;<br /> + Necessity, and not delight, impels us. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Some one withdrew from singing Halleluja,<br /> + Who unto me committed this new office;<br /> + No thief is he, nor I a thievish spirit. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But by that virtue through which I am moving<br /> + My steps along this savage thoroughfare,<br /> + Give us some one of thine, to be with us, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And who may show us where to pass the ford,<br /> + And who may carry this one on his back;<br /> + For ’tis no spirit that can walk the air.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon his right breast Chiron wheeled about,<br /> + And said to Nessus: “Turn and do thou guide them,<br /> + And warn aside, if other band may meet you.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We with our faithful escort onward moved<br /> + Along the brink of the vermilion boiling,<br /> + Wherein the boiled were uttering loud laments. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +People I saw within up to the eyebrows,<br /> + And the great Centaur said: “Tyrants are these,<br /> + Who dealt in bloodshed and in pillaging. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here they lament their pitiless mischiefs; here<br /> + Is Alexander, and fierce Dionysius<br /> + Who upon Sicily brought dolorous years. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That forehead there which has the hair so black<br /> + Is Azzolin; and the other who is blond,<br /> + Obizzo is of Esti, who, in truth, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Up in the world was by his stepson slain.”<br /> + Then turned I to the Poet; and he said,<br /> + “Now he be first to thee, and second I.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A little farther on the Centaur stopped<br /> + Above a folk, who far down as the throat<br /> + Seemed from that boiling stream to issue forth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A shade he showed us on one side alone,<br /> + Saying: “He cleft asunder in God’s bosom<br /> + The heart that still upon the Thames is honoured.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then people saw I, who from out the river<br /> + Lifted their heads and also all the chest;<br /> + And many among these I recognised. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus ever more and more grew shallower<br /> + That blood, so that the feet alone it covered;<br /> + And there across the moat our passage was. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Even as thou here upon this side beholdest<br /> + The boiling stream, that aye diminishes,”<br /> + The Centaur said, “I wish thee to believe +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That on this other more and more declines<br /> + Its bed, until it reunites itself<br /> + Where it behoveth tyranny to groan. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Justice divine, upon this side, is goading<br /> + That Attila, who was a scourge on earth,<br /> + And Pyrrhus, and Sextus; and for ever milks +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The tears which with the boiling it unseals<br /> + In Rinier da Corneto and Rinier Pazzo,<br /> + Who made upon the highways so much war.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then back he turned, and passed again the ford. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XIII"></a>Inferno: Canto XIII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not yet had Nessus reached the other side,<br /> + When we had put ourselves within a wood,<br /> + That was not marked by any path whatever. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not foliage green, but of a dusky colour,<br /> + Not branches smooth, but gnarled and intertangled,<br /> + Not apple-trees were there, but thorns with poison. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such tangled thickets have not, nor so dense,<br /> + Those savage wild beasts, that in hatred hold<br /> + ’Twixt Cecina and Corneto the tilled places. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There do the hideous Harpies make their nests,<br /> + Who chased the Trojans from the Strophades,<br /> + With sad announcement of impending doom; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Broad wings have they, and necks and faces human,<br /> + And feet with claws, and their great bellies fledged;<br /> + They make laments upon the wondrous trees. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the good Master: “Ere thou enter farther,<br /> + Know that thou art within the second round,”<br /> + Thus he began to say, “and shalt be, till +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou comest out upon the horrible sand;<br /> + Therefore look well around, and thou shalt see<br /> + Things that will credence give unto my speech.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I heard on all sides lamentations uttered,<br /> + And person none beheld I who might make them,<br /> + Whence, utterly bewildered, I stood still. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I think he thought that I perhaps might think<br /> + So many voices issued through those trunks<br /> + From people who concealed themselves from us; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore the Master said: “If thou break off<br /> + Some little spray from any of these trees,<br /> + The thoughts thou hast will wholly be made vain.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then stretched I forth my hand a little forward,<br /> + And plucked a branchlet off from a great thorn;<br /> + And the trunk cried, “Why dost thou mangle me?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After it had become embrowned with blood,<br /> + It recommenced its cry: “Why dost thou rend me?<br /> + Hast thou no spirit of pity whatsoever? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Men once we were, and now are changed to trees;<br /> + Indeed, thy hand should be more pitiful,<br /> + Even if the souls of serpents we had been.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As out of a green brand, that is on fire<br /> + At one of the ends, and from the other drips<br /> + And hisses with the wind that is escaping; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So from that splinter issued forth together<br /> + Both words and blood; whereat I let the tip<br /> + Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Had he been able sooner to believe,”<br /> + My Sage made answer, “O thou wounded soul,<br /> + What only in my verses he has seen, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not upon thee had he stretched forth his hand;<br /> + Whereas the thing incredible has caused me<br /> + To put him to an act which grieveth me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But tell him who thou wast, so that by way<br /> + Of some amends thy fame he may refresh<br /> + Up in the world, to which he can return.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the trunk said: “So thy sweet words allure me,<br /> + I cannot silent be; and you be vexed not,<br /> + That I a little to discourse am tempted. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I am the one who both keys had in keeping<br /> + Of Frederick’s heart, and turned them to and fro<br /> + So softly in unlocking and in locking, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That from his secrets most men I withheld;<br /> + Fidelity I bore the glorious office<br /> + So great, I lost thereby my sleep and pulses. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The courtesan who never from the dwelling<br /> + Of Caesar turned aside her strumpet eyes,<br /> + Death universal and the vice of courts, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Inflamed against me all the other minds,<br /> + And they, inflamed, did so inflame Augustus,<br /> + That my glad honours turned to dismal mournings. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My spirit, in disdainful exultation,<br /> + Thinking by dying to escape disdain,<br /> + Made me unjust against myself, the just. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I, by the roots unwonted of this wood,<br /> + Do swear to you that never broke I faith<br /> + Unto my lord, who was so worthy of honour; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And to the world if one of you return,<br /> + Let him my memory comfort, which is lying<br /> + Still prostrate from the blow that envy dealt it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Waited awhile, and then: “Since he is silent,”<br /> + The Poet said to me, “lose not the time,<br /> + But speak, and question him, if more may please thee.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence I to him: “Do thou again inquire<br /> + Concerning what thou thinks’t will satisfy me;<br /> + For I cannot, such pity is in my heart.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore he recommenced: “So may the man<br /> + Do for thee freely what thy speech implores,<br /> + Spirit incarcerate, again be pleased +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To tell us in what way the soul is bound<br /> + Within these knots; and tell us, if thou canst,<br /> + If any from such members e’er is freed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then blew the trunk amain, and afterward<br /> + The wind was into such a voice converted:<br /> + “With brevity shall be replied to you. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When the exasperated soul abandons<br /> + The body whence it rent itself away,<br /> + Minos consigns it to the seventh abyss. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +It falls into the forest, and no part<br /> + Is chosen for it; but where Fortune hurls it,<br /> + There like a grain of spelt it germinates. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +It springs a sapling, and a forest tree;<br /> + The Harpies, feeding then upon its leaves,<br /> + Do pain create, and for the pain an outlet. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Like others for our spoils shall we return;<br /> + But not that any one may them revest,<br /> + For ’tis not just to have what one casts off. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here we shall drag them, and along the dismal<br /> + Forest our bodies shall suspended be,<br /> + Each to the thorn of his molested shade.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We were attentive still unto the trunk,<br /> + Thinking that more it yet might wish to tell us,<br /> + When by a tumult we were overtaken, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In the same way as he is who perceives<br /> + The boar and chase approaching to his stand,<br /> + Who hears the crashing of the beasts and branches; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And two behold! upon our left-hand side,<br /> + Naked and scratched, fleeing so furiously,<br /> + That of the forest, every fan they broke. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He who was in advance: “Now help, Death, help!”<br /> + And the other one, who seemed to lag too much,<br /> + Was shouting: “Lano, were not so alert +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Those legs of thine at joustings of the Toppo!”<br /> + And then, perchance because his breath was failing,<br /> + He grouped himself together with a bush. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Behind them was the forest full of black<br /> + She-mastiffs, ravenous, and swift of foot<br /> + As greyhounds, who are issuing from the chain. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +On him who had crouched down they set their teeth,<br /> + And him they lacerated piece by piece,<br /> + Thereafter bore away those aching members. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereat my Escort took me by the hand,<br /> + And led me to the bush, that all in vain<br /> + Was weeping from its bloody lacerations. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O Jacopo,” it said, “of Sant’ Andrea,<br /> + What helped it thee of me to make a screen?<br /> + What blame have I in thy nefarious life?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When near him had the Master stayed his steps,<br /> + He said: “Who wast thou, that through wounds so many<br /> + Art blowing out with blood thy dolorous speech?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to us: “O souls, that hither come<br /> + To look upon the shameful massacre<br /> + That has so rent away from me my leaves, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Gather them up beneath the dismal bush;<br /> + I of that city was which to the Baptist<br /> + Changed its first patron, wherefore he for this +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Forever with his art will make it sad.<br /> + And were it not that on the pass of Arno<br /> + Some glimpses of him are remaining still, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Those citizens, who afterwards rebuilt it<br /> + Upon the ashes left by Attila,<br /> + In vain had caused their labour to be done. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of my own house I made myself a gibbet.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XIV"></a>Inferno: Canto XIV</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because the charity of my native place<br /> + Constrained me, gathered I the scattered leaves,<br /> + And gave them back to him, who now was hoarse. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then came we to the confine, where disparted<br /> + The second round is from the third, and where<br /> + A horrible form of Justice is beheld. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Clearly to manifest these novel things,<br /> + I say that we arrived upon a plain,<br /> + Which from its bed rejecteth every plant; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The dolorous forest is a garland to it<br /> + All round about, as the sad moat to that;<br /> + There close upon the edge we stayed our feet. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The soil was of an arid and thick sand,<br /> + Not of another fashion made than that<br /> + Which by the feet of Cato once was pressed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Vengeance of God, O how much oughtest thou<br /> + By each one to be dreaded, who doth read<br /> + That which was manifest unto mine eyes! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of naked souls beheld I many herds,<br /> + Who all were weeping very miserably,<br /> + And over them seemed set a law diverse. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Supine upon the ground some folk were lying;<br /> + And some were sitting all drawn up together,<br /> + And others went about continually. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Those who were going round were far the more,<br /> + And those were less who lay down to their torment,<br /> + But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O’er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall,<br /> + Were raining down dilated flakes of fire,<br /> + As of the snow on Alp without a wind. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As Alexander, in those torrid parts<br /> + Of India, beheld upon his host<br /> + Flames fall unbroken till they reached the ground. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence he provided with his phalanxes<br /> + To trample down the soil, because the vapour<br /> + Better extinguished was while it was single; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus was descending the eternal heat,<br /> + Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinder<br /> + Beneath the steel, for doubling of the dole. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Without repose forever was the dance<br /> + Of miserable hands, now there, now here,<br /> + Shaking away from off them the fresh gleeds. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Master,” began I, “thou who overcomest<br /> + All things except the demons dire, that issued<br /> + Against us at the entrance of the gate, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Who is that mighty one who seems to heed not<br /> + The fire, and lieth lowering and disdainful,<br /> + So that the rain seems not to ripen him?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he himself, who had become aware<br /> + That I was questioning my Guide about him,<br /> + Cried: “Such as I was living, am I, dead. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If Jove should weary out his smith, from whom<br /> + He seized in anger the sharp thunderbolt,<br /> + Wherewith upon the last day I was smitten, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if he wearied out by turns the others<br /> + In Mongibello at the swarthy forge,<br /> + Vociferating, ‘Help, good Vulcan, help!’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as he did there at the fight of Phlegra,<br /> + And shot his bolts at me with all his might,<br /> + He would not have thereby a joyous vengeance.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then did my Leader speak with such great force,<br /> + That I had never heard him speak so loud:<br /> + “O Capaneus, in that is not extinguished +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thine arrogance, thou punished art the more;<br /> + Not any torment, saving thine own rage,<br /> + Would be unto thy fury pain complete.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he turned round to me with better lip,<br /> + Saying: “One of the Seven Kings was he<br /> + Who Thebes besieged, and held, and seems to hold +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +God in disdain, and little seems to prize him;<br /> + But, as I said to him, his own despites<br /> + Are for his breast the fittest ornaments. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now follow me, and mind thou do not place<br /> + As yet thy feet upon the burning sand,<br /> + But always keep them close unto the wood.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes<br /> + Forth from the wood a little rivulet,<br /> + Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet,<br /> + The sinful women later share among them,<br /> + So downward through the sand it went its way. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The bottom of it, and both sloping banks,<br /> + Were made of stone, and the margins at the side;<br /> + Whence I perceived that there the passage was. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“In all the rest which I have shown to thee<br /> + Since we have entered in within the gate<br /> + Whose threshold unto no one is denied, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Nothing has been discovered by thine eyes<br /> + So notable as is the present river,<br /> + Which all the little flames above it quenches.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +These words were of my Leader; whence I prayed him<br /> + That he would give me largess of the food,<br /> + For which he had given me largess of desire. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“In the mid-sea there sits a wasted land,”<br /> + Said he thereafterward, “whose name is Crete,<br /> + Under whose king the world of old was chaste. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There is a mountain there, that once was glad<br /> + With waters and with leaves, which was called Ida;<br /> + Now ’tis deserted, as a thing worn out. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Rhea once chose it for the faithful cradle<br /> + Of her own son; and to conceal him better,<br /> + Whene’er he cried, she there had clamours made. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A grand old man stands in the mount erect,<br /> + Who holds his shoulders turned tow’rds Damietta,<br /> + And looks at Rome as if it were his mirror. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +His head is fashioned of refined gold,<br /> + And of pure silver are the arms and breast;<br /> + Then he is brass as far down as the fork. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From that point downward all is chosen iron,<br /> + Save that the right foot is of kiln-baked clay,<br /> + And more he stands on that than on the other. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Each part, except the gold, is by a fissure<br /> + Asunder cleft, that dripping is with tears,<br /> + Which gathered together perforate that cavern. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From rock to rock they fall into this valley;<br /> + Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon they form;<br /> + Then downward go along this narrow sluice +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Unto that point where is no more descending.<br /> + They form Cocytus; what that pool may be<br /> + Thou shalt behold, so here ’tis not narrated.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “If so the present runnel<br /> + Doth take its rise in this way from our world,<br /> + Why only on this verge appears it to us?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Thou knowest the place is round,<br /> + And notwithstanding thou hast journeyed far,<br /> + Still to the left descending to the bottom, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou hast not yet through all the circle turned.<br /> + Therefore if something new appear to us,<br /> + It should not bring amazement to thy face.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I again: “Master, where shall be found<br /> + Lethe and Phlegethon, for of one thou’rt silent,<br /> + And sayest the other of this rain is made?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“In all thy questions truly thou dost please me,”<br /> + Replied he; “but the boiling of the red<br /> + Water might well solve one of them thou makest. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou shalt see Lethe, but outside this moat,<br /> + There where the souls repair to lave themselves,<br /> + When sin repented of has been removed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said he: “It is time now to abandon<br /> + The wood; take heed that thou come after me;<br /> + A way the margins make that are not burning, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And over them all vapours are extinguished.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XV"></a>Inferno: Canto XV</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now bears us onward one of the hard margins,<br /> + And so the brooklet’s mist o’ershadows it,<br /> + From fire it saves the water and the dikes. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as the Flemings, ’twixt Cadsand and Bruges,<br /> + Fearing the flood that tow’rds them hurls itself,<br /> + Their bulwarks build to put the sea to flight; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as the Paduans along the Brenta,<br /> + To guard their villas and their villages,<br /> + Or ever Chiarentana feel the heat; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In such similitude had those been made,<br /> + Albeit not so lofty nor so thick,<br /> + Whoever he might be, the master made them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now were we from the forest so remote,<br /> + I could not have discovered where it was,<br /> + Even if backward I had turned myself, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When we a company of souls encountered,<br /> + Who came beside the dike, and every one<br /> + Gazed at us, as at evening we are wont +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To eye each other under a new moon,<br /> + And so towards us sharpened they their brows<br /> + As an old tailor at the needle’s eye. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus scrutinised by such a family,<br /> + By some one I was recognised, who seized<br /> + My garment’s hem, and cried out, “What a marvel!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I, when he stretched forth his arm to me,<br /> + On his baked aspect fastened so mine eyes,<br /> + That the scorched countenance prevented not +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +His recognition by my intellect;<br /> + And bowing down my face unto his own,<br /> + I made reply, “Are you here, Ser Brunetto?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he: “May’t not displease thee, O my son,<br /> + If a brief space with thee Brunetto Latini<br /> + Backward return and let the trail go on.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I said to him: “With all my power I ask it;<br /> + And if you wish me to sit down with you,<br /> + I will, if he please, for I go with him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O son,” he said, “whoever of this herd<br /> + A moment stops, lies then a hundred years,<br /> + Nor fans himself when smiteth him the fire. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore go on; I at thy skirts will come,<br /> + And afterward will I rejoin my band,<br /> + Which goes lamenting its eternal doom.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I did not dare to go down from the road<br /> + Level to walk with him; but my head bowed<br /> + I held as one who goeth reverently. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he began: “What fortune or what fate<br /> + Before the last day leadeth thee down here?<br /> + And who is this that showeth thee the way?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Up there above us in the life serene,”<br /> + I answered him, “I lost me in a valley,<br /> + Or ever yet my age had been completed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But yestermorn I turned my back upon it;<br /> + This one appeared to me, returning thither,<br /> + And homeward leadeth me along this road.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “If thou thy star do follow,<br /> + Thou canst not fail thee of a glorious port,<br /> + If well I judged in the life beautiful. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if I had not died so prematurely,<br /> + Seeing Heaven thus benignant unto thee,<br /> + I would have given thee comfort in the work. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But that ungrateful and malignant people,<br /> + Which of old time from Fesole descended,<br /> + And smacks still of the mountain and the granite, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Will make itself, for thy good deeds, thy foe;<br /> + And it is right; for among crabbed sorbs<br /> + It ill befits the sweet fig to bear fruit. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Old rumour in the world proclaims them blind;<br /> + A people avaricious, envious, proud;<br /> + Take heed that of their customs thou do cleanse thee. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thy fortune so much honour doth reserve thee,<br /> + One party and the other shall be hungry<br /> + For thee; but far from goat shall be the grass. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Their litter let the beasts of Fesole<br /> + Make of themselves, nor let them touch the plant,<br /> + If any still upon their dunghill rise, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In which may yet revive the consecrated<br /> + Seed of those Romans, who remained there when<br /> + The nest of such great malice it became.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If my entreaty wholly were fulfilled,”<br /> + Replied I to him, “not yet would you be<br /> + In banishment from human nature placed; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For in my mind is fixed, and touches now<br /> + My heart the dear and good paternal image<br /> + Of you, when in the world from hour to hour +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +You taught me how a man becomes eternal;<br /> + And how much I am grateful, while I live<br /> + Behoves that in my language be discerned. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +What you narrate of my career I write,<br /> + And keep it to be glossed with other text<br /> + By a Lady who can do it, if I reach her. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This much will I have manifest to you;<br /> + Provided that my conscience do not chide me,<br /> + For whatsoever Fortune I am ready. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such handsel is not new unto mine ears;<br /> + Therefore let Fortune turn her wheel around<br /> + As it may please her, and the churl his mattock.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My Master thereupon on his right cheek<br /> + Did backward turn himself, and looked at me;<br /> + Then said: “He listeneth well who noteth it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Nor speaking less on that account, I go<br /> + With Ser Brunetto, and I ask who are<br /> + His most known and most eminent companions. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “To know of some is well;<br /> + Of others it were laudable to be silent,<br /> + For short would be the time for so much speech. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Know them in sum, that all of them were clerks,<br /> + And men of letters great and of great fame,<br /> + In the world tainted with the selfsame sin. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Priscian goes yonder with that wretched crowd,<br /> + And Francis of Accorso; and thou hadst seen there<br /> + If thou hadst had a hankering for such scurf, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That one, who by the Servant of the Servants<br /> + From Arno was transferred to Bacchiglione,<br /> + Where he has left his sin-excited nerves. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +More would I say, but coming and discoursing<br /> + Can be no longer; for that I behold<br /> + New smoke uprising yonder from the sand. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A people comes with whom I may not be;<br /> + Commended unto thee be my Tesoro,<br /> + In which I still live, and no more I ask.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he turned round, and seemed to be of those<br /> + Who at Verona run for the Green Mantle<br /> + Across the plain; and seemed to be among them +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The one who wins, and not the one who loses. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XVI"></a>Inferno: Canto XVI</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now was I where was heard the reverberation<br /> + Of water falling into the next round,<br /> + Like to that humming which the beehives make, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When shadows three together started forth,<br /> + Running, from out a company that passed<br /> + Beneath the rain of the sharp martyrdom. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Towards us came they, and each one cried out:<br /> + “Stop, thou; for by thy garb to us thou seemest<br /> + To be some one of our depraved city.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah me! what wounds I saw upon their limbs,<br /> + Recent and ancient by the flames burnt in!<br /> + It pains me still but to remember it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Unto their cries my Teacher paused attentive;<br /> + He turned his face towards me, and “Now wait,”<br /> + He said; “to these we should be courteous. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if it were not for the fire that darts<br /> + The nature of this region, I should say<br /> + That haste were more becoming thee than them.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As soon as we stood still, they recommenced<br /> + The old refrain, and when they overtook us,<br /> + Formed of themselves a wheel, all three of them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As champions stripped and oiled are wont to do,<br /> + Watching for their advantage and their hold,<br /> + Before they come to blows and thrusts between them, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus, wheeling round, did every one his visage<br /> + Direct to me, so that in opposite wise<br /> + His neck and feet continual journey made. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And, “If the misery of this soft place<br /> + Bring in disdain ourselves and our entreaties,”<br /> + Began one, “and our aspect black and blistered, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Let the renown of us thy mind incline<br /> + To tell us who thou art, who thus securely<br /> + Thy living feet dost move along through Hell. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He in whose footprints thou dost see me treading,<br /> + Naked and skinless though he now may go,<br /> + Was of a greater rank than thou dost think; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He was the grandson of the good Gualdrada;<br /> + His name was Guidoguerra, and in life<br /> + Much did he with his wisdom and his sword. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The other, who close by me treads the sand,<br /> + Tegghiaio Aldobrandi is, whose fame<br /> + Above there in the world should welcome be. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I, who with them on the cross am placed,<br /> + Jacopo Rusticucci was; and truly<br /> + My savage wife, more than aught else, doth harm me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Could I have been protected from the fire,<br /> + Below I should have thrown myself among them,<br /> + And think the Teacher would have suffered it; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But as I should have burned and baked myself,<br /> + My terror overmastered my good will,<br /> + Which made me greedy of embracing them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then I began: “Sorrow and not disdain<br /> + Did your condition fix within me so,<br /> + That tardily it wholly is stripped off, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As soon as this my Lord said unto me<br /> + Words, on account of which I thought within me<br /> + That people such as you are were approaching. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I of your city am; and evermore<br /> + Your labours and your honourable names<br /> + I with affection have retraced and heard. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I leave the gall, and go for the sweet fruits<br /> + Promised to me by the veracious Leader;<br /> + But to the centre first I needs must plunge.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“So may the soul for a long while conduct<br /> + Those limbs of thine,” did he make answer then,<br /> + “And so may thy renown shine after thee, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Valour and courtesy, say if they dwell<br /> + Within our city, as they used to do,<br /> + Or if they wholly have gone out of it; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For Guglielmo Borsier, who is in torment<br /> + With us of late, and goes there with his comrades,<br /> + Doth greatly mortify us with his words.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“The new inhabitants and the sudden gains,<br /> + Pride and extravagance have in thee engendered,<br /> + Florence, so that thou weep’st thereat already!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In this wise I exclaimed with face uplifted;<br /> + And the three, taking that for my reply,<br /> + Looked at each other, as one looks at truth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If other times so little it doth cost thee,”<br /> + Replied they all, “to satisfy another,<br /> + Happy art thou, thus speaking at thy will! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore, if thou escape from these dark places,<br /> + And come to rebehold the beauteous stars,<br /> + When it shall pleasure thee to say, ‘I was,’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +See that thou speak of us unto the people.”<br /> + Then they broke up the wheel, and in their flight<br /> + It seemed as if their agile legs were wings. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not an Amen could possibly be said<br /> + So rapidly as they had disappeared;<br /> + Wherefore the Master deemed best to depart. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I followed him, and little had we gone,<br /> + Before the sound of water was so near us,<br /> + That speaking we should hardly have been heard. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as that stream which holdeth its own course<br /> + The first from Monte Veso tow’rds the East,<br /> + Upon the left-hand slope of Apennine, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Which is above called Acquacheta, ere<br /> + It down descendeth into its low bed,<br /> + And at Forli is vacant of that name, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Reverberates there above San Benedetto<br /> + From Alps, by falling at a single leap,<br /> + Where for a thousand there were room enough; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus downward from a bank precipitate,<br /> + We found resounding that dark-tinted water,<br /> + So that it soon the ear would have offended. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I had a cord around about me girt,<br /> + And therewithal I whilom had designed<br /> + To take the panther with the painted skin. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After I this had all from me unloosed,<br /> + As my Conductor had commanded me,<br /> + I reached it to him, gathered up and coiled, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whereat he turned himself to the right side,<br /> + And at a little distance from the verge,<br /> + He cast it down into that deep abyss. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“It must needs be some novelty respond,”<br /> + I said within myself, “to the new signal<br /> + The Master with his eye is following so.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah me! how very cautious men should be<br /> + With those who not alone behold the act,<br /> + But with their wisdom look into the thoughts! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He said to me: “Soon there will upward come<br /> + What I await; and what thy thought is dreaming<br /> + Must soon reveal itself unto thy sight.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Aye to that truth which has the face of falsehood,<br /> + A man should close his lips as far as may be,<br /> + Because without his fault it causes shame; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But here I cannot; and, Reader, by the notes<br /> + Of this my Comedy to thee I swear,<br /> + So may they not be void of lasting favour, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Athwart that dense and darksome atmosphere<br /> + I saw a figure swimming upward come,<br /> + Marvellous unto every steadfast heart, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as he returns who goeth down<br /> + Sometimes to clear an anchor, which has grappled<br /> + Reef, or aught else that in the sea is hidden, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Who upward stretches, and draws in his feet. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XVII"></a>Inferno: Canto XVII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Behold the monster with the pointed tail,<br /> + Who cleaves the hills, and breaketh walls and weapons,<br /> + Behold him who infecteth all the world.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus unto me my Guide began to say,<br /> + And beckoned him that he should come to shore,<br /> + Near to the confine of the trodden marble; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And that uncleanly image of deceit<br /> + Came up and thrust ashore its head and bust,<br /> + But on the border did not drag its tail. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The face was as the face of a just man,<br /> + Its semblance outwardly was so benign,<br /> + And of a serpent all the trunk beside. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Two paws it had, hairy unto the armpits;<br /> + The back, and breast, and both the sides it had<br /> + Depicted o’er with nooses and with shields. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With colours more, groundwork or broidery<br /> + Never in cloth did Tartars make nor Turks,<br /> + Nor were such tissues by Arachne laid. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As sometimes wherries lie upon the shore,<br /> + That part are in the water, part on land;<br /> + And as among the guzzling Germans there, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The beaver plants himself to wage his war;<br /> + So that vile monster lay upon the border,<br /> + Which is of stone, and shutteth in the sand. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +His tail was wholly quivering in the void,<br /> + Contorting upwards the envenomed fork,<br /> + That in the guise of scorpion armed its point. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Guide said: “Now perforce must turn aside<br /> + Our way a little, even to that beast<br /> + Malevolent, that yonder coucheth him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We therefore on the right side descended,<br /> + And made ten steps upon the outer verge,<br /> + Completely to avoid the sand and flame; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And after we are come to him, I see<br /> + A little farther off upon the sand<br /> + A people sitting near the hollow place. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said to me the Master: “So that full<br /> + Experience of this round thou bear away,<br /> + Now go and see what their condition is. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There let thy conversation be concise;<br /> + Till thou returnest I will speak with him,<br /> + That he concede to us his stalwart shoulders.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus farther still upon the outermost<br /> + Head of that seventh circle all alone<br /> + I went, where sat the melancholy folk. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Out of their eyes was gushing forth their woe;<br /> + This way, that way, they helped them with their hands<br /> + Now from the flames and now from the hot soil. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not otherwise in summer do the dogs,<br /> + Now with the foot, now with the muzzle, when<br /> + By fleas, or flies, or gadflies, they are bitten. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When I had turned mine eyes upon the faces<br /> + Of some, on whom the dolorous fire is falling,<br /> + Not one of them I knew; but I perceived +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That from the neck of each there hung a pouch,<br /> + Which certain colour had, and certain blazon;<br /> + And thereupon it seems their eyes are feeding. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as I gazing round me come among them,<br /> + Upon a yellow pouch I azure saw<br /> + That had the face and posture of a lion. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Proceeding then the current of my sight,<br /> + Another of them saw I, red as blood,<br /> + Display a goose more white than butter is. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one, who with an azure sow and gravid<br /> + Emblazoned had his little pouch of white,<br /> + Said unto me: “What dost thou in this moat? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now get thee gone; and since thou’rt still alive,<br /> + Know that a neighbour of mine, Vitaliano,<br /> + Will have his seat here on my left-hand side. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A Paduan am I with these Florentines;<br /> + Full many a time they thunder in mine ears,<br /> + Exclaiming, ‘Come the sovereign cavalier, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He who shall bring the satchel with three goats;’”<br /> + Then twisted he his mouth, and forth he thrust<br /> + His tongue, like to an ox that licks its nose. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And fearing lest my longer stay might vex<br /> + Him who had warned me not to tarry long,<br /> + Backward I turned me from those weary souls. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I found my Guide, who had already mounted<br /> + Upon the back of that wild animal,<br /> + And said to me: “Now be both strong and bold. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now we descend by stairways such as these;<br /> + Mount thou in front, for I will be midway,<br /> + So that the tail may have no power to harm thee.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such as he is who has so near the ague<br /> + Of quartan that his nails are blue already,<br /> + And trembles all, but looking at the shade; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even such became I at those proffered words;<br /> + But shame in me his menaces produced,<br /> + Which maketh servant strong before good master. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I seated me upon those monstrous shoulders;<br /> + I wished to say, and yet the voice came not<br /> + As I believed, “Take heed that thou embrace me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But he, who other times had rescued me<br /> + In other peril, soon as I had mounted,<br /> + Within his arms encircled and sustained me, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And said: “Now, Geryon, bestir thyself;<br /> + The circles large, and the descent be little;<br /> + Think of the novel burden which thou hast.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as the little vessel shoves from shore,<br /> + Backward, still backward, so he thence withdrew;<br /> + And when he wholly felt himself afloat, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There where his breast had been he turned his tail,<br /> + And that extended like an eel he moved,<br /> + And with his paws drew to himself the air. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A greater fear I do not think there was<br /> + What time abandoned Phaeton the reins,<br /> + Whereby the heavens, as still appears, were scorched; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Nor when the wretched Icarus his flanks<br /> + Felt stripped of feathers by the melting wax,<br /> + His father crying, “An ill way thou takest!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Than was my own, when I perceived myself<br /> + On all sides in the air, and saw extinguished<br /> + The sight of everything but of the monster. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Onward he goeth, swimming slowly, slowly;<br /> + Wheels and descends, but I perceive it only<br /> + By wind upon my face and from below. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I heard already on the right the whirlpool<br /> + Making a horrible crashing under us;<br /> + Whence I thrust out my head with eyes cast downward. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then was I still more fearful of the abyss;<br /> + Because I fires beheld, and heard laments,<br /> + Whereat I, trembling, all the closer cling. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw then, for before I had not seen it,<br /> + The turning and descending, by great horrors<br /> + That were approaching upon divers sides. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As falcon who has long been on the wing,<br /> + Who, without seeing either lure or bird,<br /> + Maketh the falconer say, “Ah me, thou stoopest,” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Descendeth weary, whence he started swiftly,<br /> + Thorough a hundred circles, and alights<br /> + Far from his master, sullen and disdainful; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even thus did Geryon place us on the bottom,<br /> + Close to the bases of the rough-hewn rock,<br /> + And being disencumbered of our persons, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He sped away as arrow from the string. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XVIII"></a>Inferno: Canto XVIII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +There is a place in Hell called Malebolge,<br /> + Wholly of stone and of an iron colour,<br /> + As is the circle that around it turns. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Right in the middle of the field malign<br /> + There yawns a well exceeding wide and deep,<br /> + Of which its place the structure will recount. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Round, then, is that enclosure which remains<br /> + Between the well and foot of the high, hard bank,<br /> + And has distinct in valleys ten its bottom. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As where for the protection of the walls<br /> + Many and many moats surround the castles,<br /> + The part in which they are a figure forms, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Just such an image those presented there;<br /> + And as about such strongholds from their gates<br /> + Unto the outer bank are little bridges, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So from the precipice’s base did crags<br /> + Project, which intersected dikes and moats,<br /> + Unto the well that truncates and collects them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Within this place, down shaken from the back<br /> + Of Geryon, we found us; and the Poet<br /> + Held to the left, and I moved on behind. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon my right hand I beheld new anguish,<br /> + New torments, and new wielders of the lash,<br /> + Wherewith the foremost Bolgia was replete. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Down at the bottom were the sinners naked;<br /> + This side the middle came they facing us,<br /> + Beyond it, with us, but with greater steps; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as the Romans, for the mighty host,<br /> + The year of Jubilee, upon the bridge,<br /> + Have chosen a mode to pass the people over; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For all upon one side towards the Castle<br /> + Their faces have, and go unto St. Peter’s;<br /> + On the other side they go towards the Mountain. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This side and that, along the livid stone<br /> + Beheld I horned demons with great scourges,<br /> + Who cruelly were beating them behind. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah me! how they did make them lift their legs<br /> + At the first blows! and sooth not any one<br /> + The second waited for, nor for the third. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While I was going on, mine eyes by one<br /> + Encountered were; and straight I said: “Already<br /> + With sight of this one I am not unfed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore I stayed my feet to make him out,<br /> + And with me the sweet Guide came to a stand,<br /> + And to my going somewhat back assented; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he, the scourged one, thought to hide himself,<br /> + Lowering his face, but little it availed him;<br /> + For said I: “Thou that castest down thine eyes, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If false are not the features which thou bearest,<br /> + Thou art Venedico Caccianimico;<br /> + But what doth bring thee to such pungent sauces?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Unwillingly I tell it;<br /> + But forces me thine utterance distinct,<br /> + Which makes me recollect the ancient world. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I was the one who the fair Ghisola<br /> + Induced to grant the wishes of the Marquis,<br /> + Howe’er the shameless story may be told. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not the sole Bolognese am I who weeps here;<br /> + Nay, rather is this place so full of them,<br /> + That not so many tongues to-day are taught +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +’Twixt Reno and Savena to say ‘sipa;’<br /> + And if thereof thou wishest pledge or proof,<br /> + Bring to thy mind our avaricious heart.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While speaking in this manner, with his scourge<br /> + A demon smote him, and said: “Get thee gone<br /> + Pander, there are no women here for coin.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I joined myself again unto mine Escort;<br /> + Thereafterward with footsteps few we came<br /> + To where a crag projected from the bank. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This very easily did we ascend,<br /> + And turning to the right along its ridge,<br /> + From those eternal circles we departed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When we were there, where it is hollowed out<br /> + Beneath, to give a passage to the scourged,<br /> + The Guide said: “Wait, and see that on thee strike +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The vision of those others evil-born,<br /> + Of whom thou hast not yet beheld the faces,<br /> + Because together with us they have gone.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From the old bridge we looked upon the train<br /> + Which tow’rds us came upon the other border,<br /> + And which the scourges in like manner smite. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the good Master, without my inquiring,<br /> + Said to me: “See that tall one who is coming,<br /> + And for his pain seems not to shed a tear; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Still what a royal aspect he retains!<br /> + That Jason is, who by his heart and cunning<br /> + The Colchians of the Ram made destitute. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He by the isle of Lemnos passed along<br /> + After the daring women pitiless<br /> + Had unto death devoted all their males. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There with his tokens and with ornate words<br /> + Did he deceive Hypsipyle, the maiden<br /> + Who first, herself, had all the rest deceived. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There did he leave her pregnant and forlorn;<br /> + Such sin unto such punishment condemns him,<br /> + And also for Medea is vengeance done. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With him go those who in such wise deceive;<br /> + And this sufficient be of the first valley<br /> + To know, and those that in its jaws it holds.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We were already where the narrow path<br /> + Crosses athwart the second dike, and forms<br /> + Of that a buttress for another arch. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thence we heard people, who are making moan<br /> + In the next Bolgia, snorting with their muzzles,<br /> + And with their palms beating upon themselves +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The margins were incrusted with a mould<br /> + By exhalation from below, that sticks there,<br /> + And with the eyes and nostrils wages war. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The bottom is so deep, no place suffices<br /> + To give us sight of it, without ascending<br /> + The arch’s back, where most the crag impends. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thither we came, and thence down in the moat<br /> + I saw a people smothered in a filth<br /> + That out of human privies seemed to flow; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And whilst below there with mine eye I search,<br /> + I saw one with his head so foul with ordure,<br /> + It was not clear if he were clerk or layman. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He screamed to me: “Wherefore art thou so eager<br /> + To look at me more than the other foul ones?”<br /> + And I to him: “Because, if I remember, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I have already seen thee with dry hair,<br /> + And thou’rt Alessio Interminei of Lucca;<br /> + Therefore I eye thee more than all the others.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he thereon, belabouring his pumpkin:<br /> + “The flatteries have submerged me here below,<br /> + Wherewith my tongue was never surfeited.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said to me the Guide: “See that thou thrust<br /> + Thy visage somewhat farther in advance,<br /> + That with thine eyes thou well the face attain +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of that uncleanly and dishevelled drab,<br /> + Who there doth scratch herself with filthy nails,<br /> + And crouches now, and now on foot is standing. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thais the harlot is it, who replied<br /> + Unto her paramour, when he said, ‘Have I<br /> + Great gratitude from thee?’—‘Nay, marvellous;’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And herewith let our sight be satisfied.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XIX"></a>Inferno: Canto XIX</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +O Simon Magus, O forlorn disciples,<br /> + Ye who the things of God, which ought to be<br /> + The brides of holiness, rapaciously +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For silver and for gold do prostitute,<br /> + Now it behoves for you the trumpet sound,<br /> + Because in this third Bolgia ye abide. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We had already on the following tomb<br /> + Ascended to that portion of the crag<br /> + Which o’er the middle of the moat hangs plumb. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Wisdom supreme, O how great art thou showest<br /> + In heaven, in earth, and in the evil world,<br /> + And with what justice doth thy power distribute! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw upon the sides and on the bottom<br /> + The livid stone with perforations filled,<br /> + All of one size, and every one was round. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To me less ample seemed they not, nor greater<br /> + Than those that in my beautiful Saint John<br /> + Are fashioned for the place of the baptisers, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one of which, not many years ago,<br /> + I broke for some one, who was drowning in it;<br /> + Be this a seal all men to undeceive. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Out of the mouth of each one there protruded<br /> + The feet of a transgressor, and the legs<br /> + Up to the calf, the rest within remained. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In all of them the soles were both on fire;<br /> + Wherefore the joints so violently quivered,<br /> + They would have snapped asunder withes and bands. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as the flame of unctuous things is wont<br /> + To move upon the outer surface only,<br /> + So likewise was it there from heel to point. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Master, who is that one who writhes himself,<br /> + More than his other comrades quivering,”<br /> + I said, “and whom a redder flame is sucking?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “If thou wilt have me bear thee<br /> + Down there along that bank which lowest lies,<br /> + From him thou’lt know his errors and himself.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “What pleases thee, to me is pleasing;<br /> + Thou art my Lord, and knowest that I depart not<br /> + From thy desire, and knowest what is not spoken.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Straightway upon the fourth dike we arrived;<br /> + We turned, and on the left-hand side descended<br /> + Down to the bottom full of holes and narrow. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the good Master yet from off his haunch<br /> + Deposed me not, till to the hole he brought me<br /> + Of him who so lamented with his shanks. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Whoe’er thou art, that standest upside down,<br /> + O doleful soul, implanted like a stake,”<br /> + To say began I, “if thou canst, speak out.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I stood even as the friar who is confessing<br /> + The false assassin, who, when he is fixed,<br /> + Recalls him, so that death may be delayed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he cried out: “Dost thou stand there already,<br /> + Dost thou stand there already, Boniface?<br /> + By many years the record lied to me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Art thou so early satiate with that wealth,<br /> + For which thou didst not fear to take by fraud<br /> + The beautiful Lady, and then work her woe?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such I became, as people are who stand,<br /> + Not comprehending what is answered them,<br /> + As if bemocked, and know not how to answer. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said Virgilius: “Say to him straightway,<br /> + ‘I am not he, I am not he thou thinkest.’”<br /> + And I replied as was imposed on me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whereat the spirit writhed with both his feet,<br /> + Then, sighing, with a voice of lamentation<br /> + Said to me: “Then what wantest thou of me? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If who I am thou carest so much to know,<br /> + That thou on that account hast crossed the bank,<br /> + Know that I vested was with the great mantle; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And truly was I son of the She-bear,<br /> + So eager to advance the cubs, that wealth<br /> + Above, and here myself, I pocketed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Beneath my head the others are dragged down<br /> + Who have preceded me in simony,<br /> + Flattened along the fissure of the rock. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Below there I shall likewise fall, whenever<br /> + That one shall come who I believed thou wast,<br /> + What time the sudden question I proposed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But longer I my feet already toast,<br /> + And here have been in this way upside down,<br /> + Than he will planted stay with reddened feet; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For after him shall come of fouler deed<br /> + From tow’rds the west a Pastor without law,<br /> + Such as befits to cover him and me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +New Jason will he be, of whom we read<br /> + In Maccabees; and as his king was pliant,<br /> + So he who governs France shall be to this one.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I do not know if I were here too bold,<br /> + That him I answered only in this metre:<br /> + “I pray thee tell me now how great a treasure +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Our Lord demanded of Saint Peter first,<br /> + Before he put the keys into his keeping?<br /> + Truly he nothing asked but ‘Follow me.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Nor Peter nor the rest asked of Matthias<br /> + Silver or gold, when he by lot was chosen<br /> + Unto the place the guilty soul had lost. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore stay here, for thou art justly punished,<br /> + And keep safe guard o’er the ill-gotten money,<br /> + Which caused thee to be valiant against Charles. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And were it not that still forbids it me<br /> + The reverence for the keys superlative<br /> + Thou hadst in keeping in the gladsome life, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I would make use of words more grievous still;<br /> + Because your avarice afflicts the world,<br /> + Trampling the good and lifting the depraved. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Evangelist you Pastors had in mind,<br /> + When she who sitteth upon many waters<br /> + To fornicate with kings by him was seen; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The same who with the seven heads was born,<br /> + And power and strength from the ten horns received,<br /> + So long as virtue to her spouse was pleasing. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ye have made yourselves a god of gold and silver;<br /> + And from the idolater how differ ye,<br /> + Save that he one, and ye a hundred worship? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah, Constantine! of how much ill was mother,<br /> + Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower<br /> + Which the first wealthy Father took from thee!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And while I sang to him such notes as these,<br /> + Either that anger or that conscience stung him,<br /> + He struggled violently with both his feet. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I think in sooth that it my Leader pleased,<br /> + With such contented lip he listened ever<br /> + Unto the sound of the true words expressed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore with both his arms he took me up,<br /> + And when he had me all upon his breast,<br /> + Remounted by the way where he descended. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Nor did he tire to have me clasped to him;<br /> + But bore me to the summit of the arch<br /> + Which from the fourth dike to the fifth is passage. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There tenderly he laid his burden down,<br /> + Tenderly on the crag uneven and steep,<br /> + That would have been hard passage for the goats: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thence was unveiled to me another valley. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XX"></a>Inferno: Canto XX</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of a new pain behoves me to make verses<br /> + And give material to the twentieth canto<br /> + Of the first song, which is of the submerged. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I was already thoroughly disposed<br /> + To peer down into the uncovered depth,<br /> + Which bathed itself with tears of agony; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And people saw I through the circular valley,<br /> + Silent and weeping, coming at the pace<br /> + Which in this world the Litanies assume. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As lower down my sight descended on them,<br /> + Wondrously each one seemed to be distorted<br /> + From chin to the beginning of the chest; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For tow’rds the reins the countenance was turned,<br /> + And backward it behoved them to advance,<br /> + As to look forward had been taken from them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Perchance indeed by violence of palsy<br /> + Some one has been thus wholly turned awry;<br /> + But I ne’er saw it, nor believe it can be. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As God may let thee, Reader, gather fruit<br /> + From this thy reading, think now for thyself<br /> + How I could ever keep my face unmoistened, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When our own image near me I beheld<br /> + Distorted so, the weeping of the eyes<br /> + Along the fissure bathed the hinder parts. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Truly I wept, leaning upon a peak<br /> + Of the hard crag, so that my Escort said<br /> + To me: “Art thou, too, of the other fools? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here pity lives when it is wholly dead;<br /> + Who is a greater reprobate than he<br /> + Who feels compassion at the doom divine? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Lift up, lift up thy head, and see for whom<br /> + Opened the earth before the Thebans’ eyes;<br /> + Wherefore they all cried: ‘Whither rushest thou, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Amphiaraus? Why dost leave the war?’<br /> + And downward ceased he not to fall amain<br /> + As far as Minos, who lays hold on all. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +See, he has made a bosom of his shoulders!<br /> + Because he wished to see too far before him<br /> + Behind he looks, and backward goes his way: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Behold Tiresias, who his semblance changed,<br /> + When from a male a female he became,<br /> + His members being all of them transformed; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And afterwards was forced to strike once more<br /> + The two entangled serpents with his rod,<br /> + Ere he could have again his manly plumes. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That Aruns is, who backs the other’s belly,<br /> + Who in the hills of Luni, there where grubs<br /> + The Carrarese who houses underneath, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Among the marbles white a cavern had<br /> + For his abode; whence to behold the stars<br /> + And sea, the view was not cut off from him. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And she there, who is covering up her breasts,<br /> + Which thou beholdest not, with loosened tresses,<br /> + And on that side has all the hairy skin, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Was Manto, who made quest through many lands,<br /> + Afterwards tarried there where I was born;<br /> + Whereof I would thou list to me a little. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After her father had from life departed,<br /> + And the city of Bacchus had become enslaved,<br /> + She a long season wandered through the world. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Above in beauteous Italy lies a lake<br /> + At the Alp’s foot that shuts in Germany<br /> + Over Tyrol, and has the name Benaco. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +By a thousand springs, I think, and more, is bathed,<br /> + ’Twixt Garda and Val Camonica, Pennino,<br /> + With water that grows stagnant in that lake. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Midway a place is where the Trentine Pastor,<br /> + And he of Brescia, and the Veronese<br /> + Might give his blessing, if he passed that way. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Sitteth Peschiera, fortress fair and strong,<br /> + To front the Brescians and the Bergamasks,<br /> + Where round about the bank descendeth lowest. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There of necessity must fall whatever<br /> + In bosom of Benaco cannot stay,<br /> + And grows a river down through verdant pastures. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Soon as the water doth begin to run,<br /> + No more Benaco is it called, but Mincio,<br /> + Far as Governo, where it falls in Po. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not far it runs before it finds a plain<br /> + In which it spreads itself, and makes it marshy,<br /> + And oft ’tis wont in summer to be sickly. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Passing that way the virgin pitiless<br /> + Land in the middle of the fen descried,<br /> + Untilled and naked of inhabitants; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There to escape all human intercourse,<br /> + She with her servants stayed, her arts to practise<br /> + And lived, and left her empty body there. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The men, thereafter, who were scattered round,<br /> + Collected in that place, which was made strong<br /> + By the lagoon it had on every side; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They built their city over those dead bones,<br /> + And, after her who first the place selected,<br /> + Mantua named it, without other omen. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Its people once within more crowded were,<br /> + Ere the stupidity of Casalodi<br /> + From Pinamonte had received deceit. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore I caution thee, if e’er thou hearest<br /> + Originate my city otherwise,<br /> + No falsehood may the verity defraud.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “My Master, thy discourses are<br /> + To me so certain, and so take my faith,<br /> + That unto me the rest would be spent coals. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But tell me of the people who are passing,<br /> + If any one note-worthy thou beholdest,<br /> + For only unto that my mind reverts.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said he to me: “He who from the cheek<br /> + Thrusts out his beard upon his swarthy shoulders<br /> + Was, at the time when Greece was void of males, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So that there scarce remained one in the cradle,<br /> + An augur, and with Calchas gave the moment,<br /> + In Aulis, when to sever the first cable. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Eryphylus his name was, and so sings<br /> + My lofty Tragedy in some part or other;<br /> + That knowest thou well, who knowest the whole of it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The next, who is so slender in the flanks,<br /> + Was Michael Scott, who of a verity<br /> + Of magical illusions knew the game. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Behold Guido Bonatti, behold Asdente,<br /> + Who now unto his leather and his thread<br /> + Would fain have stuck, but he too late repents. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Behold the wretched ones, who left the needle,<br /> + The spool and rock, and made them fortune-tellers;<br /> + They wrought their magic spells with herb and image. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But come now, for already holds the confines<br /> + Of both the hemispheres, and under Seville<br /> + Touches the ocean-wave, Cain and the thorns, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And yesternight the moon was round already;<br /> + Thou shouldst remember well it did not harm thee<br /> + From time to time within the forest deep.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus spake he to me, and we walked the while. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXI"></a>Inferno: Canto XXI</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +From bridge to bridge thus, speaking other things<br /> + Of which my Comedy cares not to sing,<br /> + We came along, and held the summit, when +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We halted to behold another fissure<br /> + Of Malebolge and other vain laments;<br /> + And I beheld it marvellously dark. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As in the Arsenal of the Venetians<br /> + Boils in the winter the tenacious pitch<br /> + To smear their unsound vessels o’er again, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For sail they cannot; and instead thereof<br /> + One makes his vessel new, and one recaulks<br /> + The ribs of that which many a voyage has made; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +One hammers at the prow, one at the stern,<br /> + This one makes oars, and that one cordage twists,<br /> + Another mends the mainsail and the mizzen; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus, not by fire, but by the art divine,<br /> + Was boiling down below there a dense pitch<br /> + Which upon every side the bank belimed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw it, but I did not see within it<br /> + Aught but the bubbles that the boiling raised,<br /> + And all swell up and resubside compressed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The while below there fixedly I gazed,<br /> + My Leader, crying out: “Beware, beware!”<br /> + Drew me unto himself from where I stood. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then I turned round, as one who is impatient<br /> + To see what it behoves him to escape,<br /> + And whom a sudden terror doth unman, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Who, while he looks, delays not his departure;<br /> + And I beheld behind us a black devil,<br /> + Running along upon the crag, approach. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah, how ferocious was he in his aspect!<br /> + And how he seemed to me in action ruthless,<br /> + With open wings and light upon his feet! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +His shoulders, which sharp-pointed were and high,<br /> + A sinner did encumber with both haunches,<br /> + And he held clutched the sinews of the feet. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From off our bridge, he said: “O Malebranche,<br /> + Behold one of the elders of Saint Zita;<br /> + Plunge him beneath, for I return for others +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Unto that town, which is well furnished with them.<br /> + All there are barrators, except Bonturo;<br /> + No into Yes for money there is changed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He hurled him down, and over the hard crag<br /> + Turned round, and never was a mastiff loosened<br /> + In so much hurry to pursue a thief. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The other sank, and rose again face downward;<br /> + But the demons, under cover of the bridge,<br /> + Cried: “Here the Santo Volto has no place! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here swims one otherwise than in the Serchio;<br /> + Therefore, if for our gaffs thou wishest not,<br /> + Do not uplift thyself above the pitch.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They seized him then with more than a hundred rakes;<br /> + They said: “It here behoves thee to dance covered,<br /> + That, if thou canst, thou secretly mayest pilfer.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not otherwise the cooks their scullions make<br /> + Immerse into the middle of the caldron<br /> + The meat with hooks, so that it may not float. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Said the good Master to me: “That it be not<br /> + Apparent thou art here, crouch thyself down<br /> + Behind a jag, that thou mayest have some screen; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And for no outrage that is done to me<br /> + Be thou afraid, because these things I know,<br /> + For once before was I in such a scuffle.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he passed on beyond the bridge’s head,<br /> + And as upon the sixth bank he arrived,<br /> + Need was for him to have a steadfast front. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With the same fury, and the same uproar,<br /> + As dogs leap out upon a mendicant,<br /> + Who on a sudden begs, where’er he stops, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They issued from beneath the little bridge,<br /> + And turned against him all their grappling-irons;<br /> + But he cried out: “Be none of you malignant! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Before those hooks of yours lay hold of me,<br /> + Let one of you step forward, who may hear me,<br /> + And then take counsel as to grappling me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They all cried out: “Let Malacoda go;”<br /> + Whereat one started, and the rest stood still,<br /> + And he came to him, saying: “What avails it?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Thinkest thou, Malacoda, to behold me<br /> + Advanced into this place,” my Master said,<br /> + “Safe hitherto from all your skill of fence, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Without the will divine, and fate auspicious?<br /> + Let me go on, for it in Heaven is willed<br /> + That I another show this savage road.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then was his arrogance so humbled in him,<br /> + That he let fall his grapnel at his feet,<br /> + And to the others said: “Now strike him not.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And unto me my Guide: “O thou, who sittest<br /> + Among the splinters of the bridge crouched down,<br /> + Securely now return to me again.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Wherefore I started and came swiftly to him;<br /> + And all the devils forward thrust themselves,<br /> + So that I feared they would not keep their compact. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And thus beheld I once afraid the soldiers<br /> + Who issued under safeguard from Caprona,<br /> + Seeing themselves among so many foes. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Close did I press myself with all my person<br /> + Beside my Leader, and turned not mine eyes<br /> + From off their countenance, which was not good. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They lowered their rakes, and “Wilt thou have me hit him,”<br /> + They said to one another, “on the rump?”<br /> + And answered: “Yes; see that thou nick him with it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But the same demon who was holding parley<br /> + With my Conductor turned him very quickly,<br /> + And said: “Be quiet, be quiet, Scarmiglione;” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said to us: “You can no farther go<br /> + Forward upon this crag, because is lying<br /> + All shattered, at the bottom, the sixth arch. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if it still doth please you to go onward,<br /> + Pursue your way along upon this rock;<br /> + Near is another crag that yields a path. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Yesterday, five hours later than this hour,<br /> + One thousand and two hundred sixty-six<br /> + Years were complete, that here the way was broken. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I send in that direction some of mine<br /> + To see if any one doth air himself;<br /> + Go ye with them; for they will not be vicious. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Step forward, Alichino and Calcabrina,”<br /> + Began he to cry out, “and thou, Cagnazzo;<br /> + And Barbariccia, do thou guide the ten. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Come forward, Libicocco and Draghignazzo,<br /> + And tusked Ciriatto and Graffiacane,<br /> + And Farfarello and mad Rubicante; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Search ye all round about the boiling pitch;<br /> + Let these be safe as far as the next crag,<br /> + That all unbroken passes o’er the dens.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O me! what is it, Master, that I see?<br /> + Pray let us go,” I said, “without an escort,<br /> + If thou knowest how, since for myself I ask none. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If thou art as observant as thy wont is,<br /> + Dost thou not see that they do gnash their teeth,<br /> + And with their brows are threatening woe to us?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “I will not have thee fear;<br /> + Let them gnash on, according to their fancy,<br /> + Because they do it for those boiling wretches.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Along the left-hand dike they wheeled about;<br /> + But first had each one thrust his tongue between<br /> + His teeth towards their leader for a signal; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he had made a trumpet of his rump. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXII"></a>Inferno: Canto XXII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +I have erewhile seen horsemen moving camp,<br /> + Begin the storming, and their muster make,<br /> + And sometimes starting off for their escape; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Vaunt-couriers have I seen upon your land,<br /> + O Aretines, and foragers go forth,<br /> + Tournaments stricken, and the joustings run, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Sometimes with trumpets and sometimes with bells,<br /> + With kettle-drums, and signals of the castles,<br /> + And with our own, and with outlandish things, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But never yet with bagpipe so uncouth<br /> + Did I see horsemen move, nor infantry,<br /> + Nor ship by any sign of land or star. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We went upon our way with the ten demons;<br /> + Ah, savage company! but in the church<br /> + With saints, and in the tavern with the gluttons! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ever upon the pitch was my intent,<br /> + To see the whole condition of that Bolgia,<br /> + And of the people who therein were burned. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as the dolphins, when they make a sign<br /> + To mariners by arching of the back,<br /> + That they should counsel take to save their vessel, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus sometimes, to alleviate his pain,<br /> + One of the sinners would display his back,<br /> + And in less time conceal it than it lightens. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As on the brink of water in a ditch<br /> + The frogs stand only with their muzzles out,<br /> + So that they hide their feet and other bulk, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So upon every side the sinners stood;<br /> + But ever as Barbariccia near them came,<br /> + Thus underneath the boiling they withdrew. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw, and still my heart doth shudder at it,<br /> + One waiting thus, even as it comes to pass<br /> + One frog remains, and down another dives; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And Graffiacan, who most confronted him,<br /> + Grappled him by his tresses smeared with pitch,<br /> + And drew him up, so that he seemed an otter. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I knew, before, the names of all of them,<br /> + So had I noted them when they were chosen,<br /> + And when they called each other, listened how. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O Rubicante, see that thou do lay<br /> + Thy claws upon him, so that thou mayst flay him,”<br /> + Cried all together the accursed ones. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “My Master, see to it, if thou canst,<br /> + That thou mayst know who is the luckless wight,<br /> + Thus come into his adversaries’ hands.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Near to the side of him my Leader drew,<br /> + Asked of him whence he was; and he replied:<br /> + “I in the kingdom of Navarre was born; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My mother placed me servant to a lord,<br /> + For she had borne me to a ribald knave,<br /> + Destroyer of himself and of his things. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then I domestic was of good King Thibault;<br /> + I set me there to practise barratry,<br /> + For which I pay the reckoning in this heat.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And Ciriatto, from whose mouth projected,<br /> + On either side, a tusk, as in a boar,<br /> + Caused him to feel how one of them could rip. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Among malicious cats the mouse had come;<br /> + But Barbariccia clasped him in his arms,<br /> + And said: “Stand ye aside, while I enfork him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And to my Master he turned round his head;<br /> + “Ask him again,” he said, “if more thou wish<br /> + To know from him, before some one destroy him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Guide: “Now tell then of the other culprits;<br /> + Knowest thou any one who is a Latian,<br /> + Under the pitch?” And he: “I separated +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Lately from one who was a neighbour to it;<br /> + Would that I still were covered up with him,<br /> + For I should fear not either claw nor hook!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And Libicocco: “We have borne too much;”<br /> + And with his grapnel seized him by the arm,<br /> + So that, by rending, he tore off a tendon. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Eke Draghignazzo wished to pounce upon him<br /> + Down at the legs; whence their Decurion<br /> + Turned round and round about with evil look. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When they again somewhat were pacified,<br /> + Of him, who still was looking at his wound,<br /> + Demanded my Conductor without stay: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Who was that one, from whom a luckless parting<br /> + Thou sayest thou hast made, to come ashore?”<br /> + And he replied: “It was the Friar Gomita, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He of Gallura, vessel of all fraud,<br /> + Who had the enemies of his Lord in hand,<br /> + And dealt so with them each exults thereat; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Money he took, and let them smoothly off,<br /> + As he says; and in other offices<br /> + A barrator was he, not mean but sovereign. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Foregathers with him one Don Michael Zanche<br /> + Of Logodoro; and of Sardinia<br /> + To gossip never do their tongues feel tired. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O me! see that one, how he grinds his teeth;<br /> + Still farther would I speak, but am afraid<br /> + Lest he to scratch my itch be making ready.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the grand Provost, turned to Farfarello,<br /> + Who rolled his eyes about as if to strike,<br /> + Said: “Stand aside there, thou malicious bird.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If you desire either to see or hear,”<br /> + The terror-stricken recommenced thereon,<br /> + “Tuscans or Lombards, I will make them come. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But let the Malebranche cease a little,<br /> + So that these may not their revenges fear,<br /> + And I, down sitting in this very place, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For one that I am will make seven come,<br /> + When I shall whistle, as our custom is<br /> + To do whenever one of us comes out.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Cagnazzo at these words his muzzle lifted,<br /> + Shaking his head, and said: “Just hear the trick<br /> + Which he has thought of, down to throw himself!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence he, who snares in great abundance had,<br /> + Responded: “I by far too cunning am,<br /> + When I procure for mine a greater sadness.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Alichin held not in, but running counter<br /> + Unto the rest, said to him: “If thou dive,<br /> + I will not follow thee upon the gallop, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But I will beat my wings above the pitch;<br /> + The height be left, and be the bank a shield<br /> + To see if thou alone dost countervail us.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O thou who readest, thou shalt hear new sport!<br /> + Each to the other side his eyes averted;<br /> + He first, who most reluctant was to do it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Navarrese selected well his time;<br /> + Planted his feet on land, and in a moment<br /> + Leaped, and released himself from their design. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whereat each one was suddenly stung with shame,<br /> + But he most who was cause of the defeat;<br /> + Therefore he moved, and cried: “Thou art o’ertakern.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But little it availed, for wings could not<br /> + Outstrip the fear; the other one went under,<br /> + And, flying, upward he his breast directed; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not otherwise the duck upon a sudden<br /> + Dives under, when the falcon is approaching,<br /> + And upward he returneth cross and weary. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Infuriate at the mockery, Calcabrina<br /> + Flying behind him followed close, desirous<br /> + The other should escape, to have a quarrel. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And when the barrator had disappeared,<br /> + He turned his talons upon his companion,<br /> + And grappled with him right above the moat. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But sooth the other was a doughty sparhawk<br /> + To clapperclaw him well; and both of them<br /> + Fell in the middle of the boiling pond. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A sudden intercessor was the heat;<br /> + But ne’ertheless of rising there was naught,<br /> + To such degree they had their wings belimed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Lamenting with the others, Barbariccia<br /> + Made four of them fly to the other side<br /> + With all their gaffs, and very speedily +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This side and that they to their posts descended;<br /> + They stretched their hooks towards the pitch-ensnared,<br /> + Who were already baked within the crust, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And in this manner busied did we leave them. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXIII"></a>Inferno: Canto XXIII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Silent, alone, and without company<br /> + We went, the one in front, the other after,<br /> + As go the Minor Friars along their way. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon the fable of Aesop was directed<br /> + My thought, by reason of the present quarrel,<br /> + Where he has spoken of the frog and mouse; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For ‘mo’ and ‘issa’ are not more alike<br /> + Than this one is to that, if well we couple<br /> + End and beginning with a steadfast mind. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And even as one thought from another springs,<br /> + So afterward from that was born another,<br /> + Which the first fear within me double made. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus did I ponder: “These on our account<br /> + Are laughed to scorn, with injury and scoff<br /> + So great, that much I think it must annoy them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If anger be engrafted on ill-will,<br /> + They will come after us more merciless<br /> + Than dog upon the leveret which he seizes,” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I felt my hair stand all on end already<br /> + With terror, and stood backwardly intent,<br /> + When said I: “Master, if thou hidest not +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thyself and me forthwith, of Malebranche<br /> + I am in dread; we have them now behind us;<br /> + I so imagine them, I already feel them.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he: “If I were made of leaded glass,<br /> + Thine outward image I should not attract<br /> + Sooner to me than I imprint the inner. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Just now thy thoughts came in among my own,<br /> + With similar attitude and similar face,<br /> + So that of both one counsel sole I made. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If peradventure the right bank so slope<br /> + That we to the next Bolgia can descend,<br /> + We shall escape from the imagined chase.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not yet he finished rendering such opinion,<br /> + When I beheld them come with outstretched wings,<br /> + Not far remote, with will to seize upon us. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My Leader on a sudden seized me up,<br /> + Even as a mother who by noise is wakened,<br /> + And close beside her sees the enkindled flames, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Who takes her son, and flies, and does not stop,<br /> + Having more care of him than of herself,<br /> + So that she clothes her only with a shift; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And downward from the top of the hard bank<br /> + Supine he gave him to the pendent rock,<br /> + That one side of the other Bolgia walls. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ne’er ran so swiftly water through a sluice<br /> + To turn the wheel of any land-built mill,<br /> + When nearest to the paddles it approaches, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As did my Master down along that border,<br /> + Bearing me with him on his breast away,<br /> + As his own son, and not as a companion. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Hardly the bed of the ravine below<br /> + His feet had reached, ere they had reached the hill<br /> + Right over us; but he was not afraid; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For the high Providence, which had ordained<br /> + To place them ministers of the fifth moat,<br /> + The power of thence departing took from all. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A painted people there below we found,<br /> + Who went about with footsteps very slow,<br /> + Weeping and in their semblance tired and vanquished. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They had on mantles with the hoods low down<br /> + Before their eyes, and fashioned of the cut<br /> + That in Cologne they for the monks are made. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Without, they gilded are so that it dazzles;<br /> + But inwardly all leaden and so heavy<br /> + That Frederick used to put them on of straw. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O everlastingly fatiguing mantle!<br /> + Again we turned us, still to the left hand<br /> + Along with them, intent on their sad plaint; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But owing to the weight, that weary folk<br /> + Came on so tardily, that we were new<br /> + In company at each motion of the haunch. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence I unto my Leader: “See thou find<br /> + Some one who may by deed or name be known,<br /> + And thus in going move thine eye about.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one, who understood the Tuscan speech,<br /> + Cried to us from behind: “Stay ye your feet,<br /> + Ye, who so run athwart the dusky air! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Perhaps thou’lt have from me what thou demandest.”<br /> + Whereat the Leader turned him, and said: “Wait,<br /> + And then according to his pace proceed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I stopped, and two beheld I show great haste<br /> + Of spirit, in their faces, to be with me;<br /> + But the burden and the narrow way delayed them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When they came up, long with an eye askance<br /> + They scanned me without uttering a word.<br /> + Then to each other turned, and said together: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“He by the action of his throat seems living;<br /> + And if they dead are, by what privilege<br /> + Go they uncovered by the heavy stole?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said to me: “Tuscan, who to the college<br /> + Of miserable hypocrites art come,<br /> + Do not disdain to tell us who thou art.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to them: “Born was I, and grew up<br /> + In the great town on the fair river of Arno,<br /> + And with the body am I’ve always had. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But who are ye, in whom there trickles down<br /> + Along your cheeks such grief as I behold?<br /> + And what pain is upon you, that so sparkles?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one replied to me: “These orange cloaks<br /> + Are made of lead so heavy, that the weights<br /> + Cause in this way their balances to creak. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Frati Gaudenti were we, and Bolognese;<br /> + I Catalano, and he Loderingo<br /> + Named, and together taken by thy city, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As the wont is to take one man alone,<br /> + For maintenance of its peace; and we were such<br /> + That still it is apparent round Gardingo.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O Friars,” began I, “your iniquitous. . .”<br /> + But said no more; for to mine eyes there rushed<br /> + One crucified with three stakes on the ground. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When me he saw, he writhed himself all over,<br /> + Blowing into his beard with suspirations;<br /> + And the Friar Catalan, who noticed this, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Said to me: “This transfixed one, whom thou seest,<br /> + Counselled the Pharisees that it was meet<br /> + To put one man to torture for the people. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Crosswise and naked is he on the path,<br /> + As thou perceivest; and he needs must feel,<br /> + Whoever passes, first how much he weighs; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And in like mode his father-in-law is punished<br /> + Within this moat, and the others of the council,<br /> + Which for the Jews was a malignant seed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And thereupon I saw Virgilius marvel<br /> + O’er him who was extended on the cross<br /> + So vilely in eternal banishment. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he directed to the Friar this voice:<br /> + “Be not displeased, if granted thee, to tell us<br /> + If to the right hand any pass slope down +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +By which we two may issue forth from here,<br /> + Without constraining some of the black angels<br /> + To come and extricate us from this deep.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he made answer: “Nearer than thou hopest<br /> + There is a rock, that forth from the great circle<br /> + Proceeds, and crosses all the cruel valleys, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Save that at this ’tis broken, and does not bridge it;<br /> + You will be able to mount up the ruin,<br /> + That sidelong slopes and at the bottom rises.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Leader stood awhile with head bowed down;<br /> + Then said: “The business badly he recounted<br /> + Who grapples with his hook the sinners yonder.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the Friar: “Many of the Devil’s vices<br /> + Once heard I at Bologna, and among them,<br /> + That he’s a liar and the father of lies.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereat my Leader with great strides went on,<br /> + Somewhat disturbed with anger in his looks;<br /> + Whence from the heavy-laden I departed +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After the prints of his beloved feet. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXIV"></a>Inferno: Canto XXIV</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +In that part of the youthful year wherein<br /> + The Sun his locks beneath Aquarius tempers,<br /> + And now the nights draw near to half the day, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +What time the hoar-frost copies on the ground<br /> + The outward semblance of her sister white,<br /> + But little lasts the temper of her pen, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The husbandman, whose forage faileth him,<br /> + Rises, and looks, and seeth the champaign<br /> + All gleaming white, whereat he beats his flank, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Returns in doors, and up and down laments,<br /> + Like a poor wretch, who knows not what to do;<br /> + Then he returns and hope revives again, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Seeing the world has changed its countenance<br /> + In little time, and takes his shepherd’s crook,<br /> + And forth the little lambs to pasture drives. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus did the Master fill me with alarm,<br /> + When I beheld his forehead so disturbed,<br /> + And to the ailment came as soon the plaster. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For as we came unto the ruined bridge,<br /> + The Leader turned to me with that sweet look<br /> + Which at the mountain’s foot I first beheld. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +His arms he opened, after some advisement<br /> + Within himself elected, looking first<br /> + Well at the ruin, and laid hold of me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And even as he who acts and meditates,<br /> + For aye it seems that he provides beforehand,<br /> + So upward lifting me towards the summit +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of a huge rock, he scanned another crag,<br /> + Saying: “To that one grapple afterwards,<br /> + But try first if ’tis such that it will hold thee.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This was no way for one clothed with a cloak;<br /> + For hardly we, he light, and I pushed upward,<br /> + Were able to ascend from jag to jag. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And had it not been, that upon that precinct<br /> + Shorter was the ascent than on the other,<br /> + He I know not, but I had been dead beat. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But because Malebolge tow’rds the mouth<br /> + Of the profoundest well is all inclining,<br /> + The structure of each valley doth import +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That one bank rises and the other sinks.<br /> + Still we arrived at length upon the point<br /> + Wherefrom the last stone breaks itself asunder. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The breath was from my lungs so milked away,<br /> + When I was up, that I could go no farther,<br /> + Nay, I sat down upon my first arrival. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Now it behoves thee thus to put off sloth,”<br /> + My Master said; “for sitting upon down,<br /> + Or under quilt, one cometh not to fame, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Withouten which whoso his life consumes<br /> + Such vestige leaveth of himself on earth,<br /> + As smoke in air or in the water foam. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And therefore raise thee up, o’ercome the anguish<br /> + With spirit that o’ercometh every battle,<br /> + If with its heavy body it sink not. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A longer stairway it behoves thee mount;<br /> + ’Tis not enough from these to have departed;<br /> + Let it avail thee, if thou understand me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then I uprose, showing myself provided<br /> + Better with breath than I did feel myself,<br /> + And said: “Go on, for I am strong and bold.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upward we took our way along the crag,<br /> + Which jagged was, and narrow, and difficult,<br /> + And more precipitous far than that before. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Speaking I went, not to appear exhausted;<br /> + Whereat a voice from the next moat came forth,<br /> + Not well adapted to articulate words. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I know not what it said, though o’er the back<br /> + I now was of the arch that passes there;<br /> + But he seemed moved to anger who was speaking. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I was bent downward, but my living eyes<br /> + Could not attain the bottom, for the dark;<br /> + Wherefore I: “Master, see that thou arrive +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +At the next round, and let us descend the wall;<br /> + For as from hence I hear and understand not,<br /> + So I look down and nothing I distinguish.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Other response,” he said, “I make thee not,<br /> + Except the doing; for the modest asking<br /> + Ought to be followed by the deed in silence.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We from the bridge descended at its head,<br /> + Where it connects itself with the eighth bank,<br /> + And then was manifest to me the Bolgia; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I beheld therein a terrible throng<br /> + Of serpents, and of such a monstrous kind,<br /> + That the remembrance still congeals my blood +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Let Libya boast no longer with her sand;<br /> + For if Chelydri, Jaculi, and Phareae<br /> + She breeds, with Cenchri and with Amphisbaena, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Neither so many plagues nor so malignant<br /> + E’er showed she with all Ethiopia,<br /> + Nor with whatever on the Red Sea is! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Among this cruel and most dismal throng<br /> + People were running naked and affrighted.<br /> + Without the hope of hole or heliotrope. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They had their hands with serpents bound behind them;<br /> + These riveted upon their reins the tail<br /> + And head, and were in front of them entwined. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And lo! at one who was upon our side<br /> + There darted forth a serpent, which transfixed him<br /> + There where the neck is knotted to the shoulders. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Nor ‘O’ so quickly e’er, nor ‘I’ was written,<br /> + As he took fire, and burned; and ashes wholly<br /> + Behoved it that in falling he became. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And when he on the ground was thus destroyed,<br /> + The ashes drew together, and of themselves<br /> + Into himself they instantly returned. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even thus by the great sages ’tis confessed<br /> + The phoenix dies, and then is born again,<br /> + When it approaches its five-hundredth year; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +On herb or grain it feeds not in its life,<br /> + But only on tears of incense and amomum,<br /> + And nard and myrrh are its last winding-sheet. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as he is who falls, and knows not how,<br /> + By force of demons who to earth down drag him,<br /> + Or other oppilation that binds man, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When he arises and around him looks,<br /> + Wholly bewildered by the mighty anguish<br /> + Which he has suffered, and in looking sighs; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such was that sinner after he had risen.<br /> + Justice of God! O how severe it is,<br /> + That blows like these in vengeance poureth down! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Guide thereafter asked him who he was;<br /> + Whence he replied: “I rained from Tuscany<br /> + A short time since into this cruel gorge. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A bestial life, and not a human, pleased me,<br /> + Even as the mule I was; I’m Vanni Fucci,<br /> + Beast, and Pistoia was my worthy den.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I unto the Guide: “Tell him to stir not,<br /> + And ask what crime has thrust him here below,<br /> + For once a man of blood and wrath I saw him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the sinner, who had heard, dissembled not,<br /> + But unto me directed mind and face,<br /> + And with a melancholy shame was painted. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said: “It pains me more that thou hast caught me<br /> + Amid this misery where thou seest me,<br /> + Than when I from the other life was taken. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +What thou demandest I cannot deny;<br /> + So low am I put down because I robbed<br /> + The sacristy of the fair ornaments, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And falsely once ’twas laid upon another;<br /> + But that thou mayst not such a sight enjoy,<br /> + If thou shalt e’er be out of the dark places, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thine ears to my announcement ope and hear:<br /> + Pistoia first of Neri groweth meagre;<br /> + Then Florence doth renew her men and manners; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Mars draws a vapour up from Val di Magra,<br /> + Which is with turbid clouds enveloped round,<br /> + And with impetuous and bitter tempest +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Over Campo Picen shall be the battle;<br /> + When it shall suddenly rend the mist asunder,<br /> + So that each Bianco shall thereby be smitten. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And this I’ve said that it may give thee pain.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXV"></a>Inferno: Canto XXV</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +At the conclusion of his words, the thief<br /> + Lifted his hands aloft with both the figs,<br /> + Crying: “Take that, God, for at thee I aim them.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From that time forth the serpents were my friends;<br /> + For one entwined itself about his neck<br /> + As if it said: “I will not thou speak more;” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And round his arms another, and rebound him,<br /> + Clinching itself together so in front,<br /> + That with them he could not a motion make. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Pistoia, ah, Pistoia! why resolve not<br /> + To burn thyself to ashes and so perish,<br /> + Since in ill-doing thou thy seed excellest? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Through all the sombre circles of this Hell,<br /> + Spirit I saw not against God so proud,<br /> + Not he who fell at Thebes down from the walls! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He fled away, and spake no further word;<br /> + And I beheld a Centaur full of rage<br /> + Come crying out: “Where is, where is the scoffer?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I do not think Maremma has so many<br /> + Serpents as he had all along his back,<br /> + As far as where our countenance begins. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon the shoulders, just behind the nape,<br /> + With wings wide open was a dragon lying,<br /> + And he sets fire to all that he encounters. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +My Master said: “That one is Cacus, who<br /> + Beneath the rock upon Mount Aventine<br /> + Created oftentimes a lake of blood. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He goes not on the same road with his brothers,<br /> + By reason of the fraudulent theft he made<br /> + Of the great herd, which he had near to him; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whereat his tortuous actions ceased beneath<br /> + The mace of Hercules, who peradventure<br /> + Gave him a hundred, and he felt not ten.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While he was speaking thus, he had passed by,<br /> + And spirits three had underneath us come,<br /> + Of which nor I aware was, nor my Leader, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Until what time they shouted: “Who are you?”<br /> + On which account our story made a halt,<br /> + And then we were intent on them alone. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I did not know them; but it came to pass,<br /> + As it is wont to happen by some chance,<br /> + That one to name the other was compelled, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Exclaiming: “Where can Cianfa have remained?”<br /> + Whence I, so that the Leader might attend,<br /> + Upward from chin to nose my finger laid. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If thou art, Reader, slow now to believe<br /> + What I shall say, it will no marvel be,<br /> + For I who saw it hardly can admit it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As I was holding raised on them my brows,<br /> + Behold! a serpent with six feet darts forth<br /> + In front of one, and fastens wholly on him. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With middle feet it bound him round the paunch,<br /> + And with the forward ones his arms it seized;<br /> + Then thrust its teeth through one cheek and the other; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The hindermost it stretched upon his thighs,<br /> + And put its tail through in between the two,<br /> + And up behind along the reins outspread it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ivy was never fastened by its barbs<br /> + Unto a tree so, as this horrible reptile<br /> + Upon the other’s limbs entwined its own. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then they stuck close, as if of heated wax<br /> + They had been made, and intermixed their colour;<br /> + Nor one nor other seemed now what he was; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +E’en as proceedeth on before the flame<br /> + Upward along the paper a brown colour,<br /> + Which is not black as yet, and the white dies. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The other two looked on, and each of them<br /> + Cried out: “O me, Agnello, how thou changest!<br /> + Behold, thou now art neither two nor one.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Already the two heads had one become,<br /> + When there appeared to us two figures mingled<br /> + Into one face, wherein the two were lost. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of the four lists were fashioned the two arms,<br /> + The thighs and legs, the belly and the chest<br /> + Members became that never yet were seen. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Every original aspect there was cancelled;<br /> + Two and yet none did the perverted image<br /> + Appear, and such departed with slow pace. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Even as a lizard, under the great scourge<br /> + Of days canicular, exchanging hedge,<br /> + Lightning appeareth if the road it cross; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus did appear, coming towards the bellies<br /> + Of the two others, a small fiery serpent,<br /> + Livid and black as is a peppercorn. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And in that part whereat is first received<br /> + Our aliment, it one of them transfixed;<br /> + Then downward fell in front of him extended. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The one transfixed looked at it, but said naught;<br /> + Nay, rather with feet motionless he yawned,<br /> + Just as if sleep or fever had assailed him. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He at the serpent gazed, and it at him;<br /> + One through the wound, the other through the mouth<br /> + Smoked violently, and the smoke commingled. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Henceforth be silent Lucan, where he mentions<br /> + Wretched Sabellus and Nassidius,<br /> + And wait to hear what now shall be shot forth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Be silent Ovid, of Cadmus and Arethusa;<br /> + For if him to a snake, her to fountain,<br /> + Converts he fabling, that I grudge him not; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because two natures never front to front<br /> + Has he transmuted, so that both the forms<br /> + To interchange their matter ready were. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Together they responded in such wise,<br /> + That to a fork the serpent cleft his tail,<br /> + And eke the wounded drew his feet together. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The legs together with the thighs themselves<br /> + Adhered so, that in little time the juncture<br /> + No sign whatever made that was apparent. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He with the cloven tail assumed the figure<br /> + The other one was losing, and his skin<br /> + Became elastic, and the other’s hard. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw the arms draw inward at the armpits,<br /> + And both feet of the reptile, that were short,<br /> + Lengthen as much as those contracted were. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereafter the hind feet, together twisted,<br /> + Became the member that a man conceals,<br /> + And of his own the wretch had two created. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While both of them the exhalation veils<br /> + With a new colour, and engenders hair<br /> + On one of them and depilates the other, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The one uprose and down the other fell,<br /> + Though turning not away their impious lamps,<br /> + Underneath which each one his muzzle changed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He who was standing drew it tow’rds the temples,<br /> + And from excess of matter, which came thither,<br /> + Issued the ears from out the hollow cheeks; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +What did not backward run and was retained<br /> + Of that excess made to the face a nose,<br /> + And the lips thickened far as was befitting. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He who lay prostrate thrusts his muzzle forward,<br /> + And backward draws the ears into his head,<br /> + In the same manner as the snail its horns; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And so the tongue, which was entire and apt<br /> + For speech before, is cleft, and the bi-forked<br /> + In the other closes up, and the smoke ceases. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The soul, which to a reptile had been changed,<br /> + Along the valley hissing takes to flight,<br /> + And after him the other speaking sputters. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then did he turn upon him his new shoulders,<br /> + And said to the other: “I’ll have Buoso run,<br /> + Crawling as I have done, along this road.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In this way I beheld the seventh ballast<br /> + Shift and reshift, and here be my excuse<br /> + The novelty, if aught my pen transgress. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And notwithstanding that mine eyes might be<br /> + Somewhat bewildered, and my mind dismayed,<br /> + They could not flee away so secretly +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But that I plainly saw Puccio Sciancato;<br /> + And he it was who sole of three companions,<br /> + Which came in the beginning, was not changed; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The other was he whom thou, Gaville, weepest. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXVI"></a>Inferno: Canto XXVI</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Rejoice, O Florence, since thou art so great,<br /> + That over sea and land thou beatest thy wings,<br /> + And throughout Hell thy name is spread abroad! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Among the thieves five citizens of thine<br /> + Like these I found, whence shame comes unto me,<br /> + And thou thereby to no great honour risest. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But if when morn is near our dreams are true,<br /> + Feel shalt thou in a little time from now<br /> + What Prato, if none other, craves for thee. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if it now were, it were not too soon;<br /> + Would that it were, seeing it needs must be,<br /> + For ’twill aggrieve me more the more I age. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We went our way, and up along the stairs<br /> + The bourns had made us to descend before,<br /> + Remounted my Conductor and drew me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And following the solitary path<br /> + Among the rocks and ridges of the crag,<br /> + The foot without the hand sped not at all. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then sorrowed I, and sorrow now again,<br /> + When I direct my mind to what I saw,<br /> + And more my genius curb than I am wont, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That it may run not unless virtue guide it;<br /> + So that if some good star, or better thing,<br /> + Have given me good, I may myself not grudge it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As many as the hind (who on the hill<br /> + Rests at the time when he who lights the world<br /> + His countenance keeps least concealed from us, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While as the fly gives place unto the gnat)<br /> + Seeth the glow-worms down along the valley,<br /> + Perchance there where he ploughs and makes his vintage; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With flames as manifold resplendent all<br /> + Was the eighth Bolgia, as I grew aware<br /> + As soon as I was where the depth appeared. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And such as he who with the bears avenged him<br /> + Beheld Elijah’s chariot at departing,<br /> + What time the steeds to heaven erect uprose, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For with his eye he could not follow it<br /> + So as to see aught else than flame alone,<br /> + Even as a little cloud ascending upward, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus each along the gorge of the intrenchment<br /> + Was moving; for not one reveals the theft,<br /> + And every flame a sinner steals away. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I stood upon the bridge uprisen to see,<br /> + So that, if I had seized not on a rock,<br /> + Down had I fallen without being pushed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the Leader, who beheld me so attent,<br /> + Exclaimed: “Within the fires the spirits are;<br /> + Each swathes himself with that wherewith he burns.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“My Master,” I replied, “by hearing thee<br /> + I am more sure; but I surmised already<br /> + It might be so, and already wished to ask thee +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Who is within that fire, which comes so cleft<br /> + At top, it seems uprising from the pyre<br /> + Where was Eteocles with his brother placed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He answered me: “Within there are tormented<br /> + Ulysses and Diomed, and thus together<br /> + They unto vengeance run as unto wrath. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And there within their flame do they lament<br /> + The ambush of the horse, which made the door<br /> + Whence issued forth the Romans’ gentle seed; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therein is wept the craft, for which being dead<br /> + Deidamia still deplores Achilles,<br /> + And pain for the Palladium there is borne.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If they within those sparks possess the power<br /> + To speak,” I said, “thee, Master, much I pray,<br /> + And re-pray, that the prayer be worth a thousand, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That thou make no denial of awaiting<br /> + Until the horned flame shall hither come;<br /> + Thou seest that with desire I lean towards it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Worthy is thy entreaty<br /> + Of much applause, and therefore I accept it;<br /> + But take heed that thy tongue restrain itself. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Leave me to speak, because I have conceived<br /> + That which thou wishest; for they might disdain<br /> + Perchance, since they were Greeks, discourse of thine.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When now the flame had come unto that point,<br /> + Where to my Leader it seemed time and place,<br /> + After this fashion did I hear him speak: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O ye, who are twofold within one fire,<br /> + If I deserved of you, while I was living,<br /> + If I deserved of you or much or little +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When in the world I wrote the lofty verses,<br /> + Do not move on, but one of you declare<br /> + Whither, being lost, he went away to die.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then of the antique flame the greater horn,<br /> + Murmuring, began to wave itself about<br /> + Even as a flame doth which the wind fatigues. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereafterward, the summit to and fro<br /> + Moving as if it were the tongue that spake,<br /> + It uttered forth a voice, and said: “When I +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +From Circe had departed, who concealed me<br /> + More than a year there near unto Gaeta,<br /> + Or ever yet Aeneas named it so, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Nor fondness for my son, nor reverence<br /> + For my old father, nor the due affection<br /> + Which joyous should have made Penelope, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Could overcome within me the desire<br /> + I had to be experienced of the world,<br /> + And of the vice and virtue of mankind; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But I put forth on the high open sea<br /> + With one sole ship, and that small company<br /> + By which I never had deserted been. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Both of the shores I saw as far as Spain,<br /> + Far as Morocco, and the isle of Sardes,<br /> + And the others which that sea bathes round about. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I and my company were old and slow<br /> + When at that narrow passage we arrived<br /> + Where Hercules his landmarks set as signals, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That man no farther onward should adventure.<br /> + On the right hand behind me left I Seville,<br /> + And on the other already had left Ceuta. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +‘O brothers, who amid a hundred thousand<br /> + Perils,’ I said, ‘have come unto the West,<br /> + To this so inconsiderable vigil +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Which is remaining of your senses still<br /> + Be ye unwilling to deny the knowledge,<br /> + Following the sun, of the unpeopled world. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang;<br /> + Ye were not made to live like unto brutes,<br /> + But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So eager did I render my companions,<br /> + With this brief exhortation, for the voyage,<br /> + That then I hardly could have held them back. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And having turned our stern unto the morning,<br /> + We of the oars made wings for our mad flight,<br /> + Evermore gaining on the larboard side. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Already all the stars of the other pole<br /> + The night beheld, and ours so very low<br /> + It did not rise above the ocean floor. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Five times rekindled and as many quenched<br /> + Had been the splendour underneath the moon,<br /> + Since we had entered into the deep pass, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When there appeared to us a mountain, dim<br /> + From distance, and it seemed to me so high<br /> + As I had never any one beheld. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Joyful were we, and soon it turned to weeping;<br /> + For out of the new land a whirlwind rose,<br /> + And smote upon the fore part of the ship. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Three times it made her whirl with all the waters,<br /> + At the fourth time it made the stern uplift,<br /> + And the prow downward go, as pleased Another, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Until the sea above us closed again.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXVII"></a>Inferno: Canto XXVII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Already was the flame erect and quiet,<br /> + To speak no more, and now departed from us<br /> + With the permission of the gentle Poet; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When yet another, which behind it came,<br /> + Caused us to turn our eyes upon its top<br /> + By a confused sound that issued from it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As the Sicilian bull (that bellowed first<br /> + With the lament of him, and that was right,<br /> + Who with his file had modulated it) +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Bellowed so with the voice of the afflicted,<br /> + That, notwithstanding it was made of brass,<br /> + Still it appeared with agony transfixed; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus, by not having any way or issue<br /> + At first from out the fire, to its own language<br /> + Converted were the melancholy words. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But afterwards, when they had gathered way<br /> + Up through the point, giving it that vibration<br /> + The tongue had given them in their passage out, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We heard it said: “O thou, at whom I aim<br /> + My voice, and who but now wast speaking Lombard,<br /> + Saying, ‘Now go thy way, no more I urge thee,’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because I come perchance a little late,<br /> + To stay and speak with me let it not irk thee;<br /> + Thou seest it irks not me, and I am burning. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If thou but lately into this blind world<br /> + Hast fallen down from that sweet Latian land,<br /> + Wherefrom I bring the whole of my transgression, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Say, if the Romagnuols have peace or war,<br /> + For I was from the mountains there between<br /> + Urbino and the yoke whence Tiber bursts.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I still was downward bent and listening,<br /> + When my Conductor touched me on the side,<br /> + Saying: “Speak thou: this one a Latian is.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I, who had beforehand my reply<br /> + In readiness, forthwith began to speak:<br /> + “O soul, that down below there art concealed, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Romagna thine is not and never has been<br /> + Without war in the bosom of its tyrants;<br /> + But open war I none have left there now. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ravenna stands as it long years has stood;<br /> + The Eagle of Polenta there is brooding,<br /> + So that she covers Cervia with her vans. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The city which once made the long resistance,<br /> + And of the French a sanguinary heap,<br /> + Beneath the Green Paws finds itself again; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Verrucchio’s ancient Mastiff and the new,<br /> + Who made such bad disposal of Montagna,<br /> + Where they are wont make wimbles of their teeth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The cities of Lamone and Santerno<br /> + Governs the Lioncel of the white lair,<br /> + Who changes sides ’twixt summer-time and winter; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And that of which the Savio bathes the flank,<br /> + Even as it lies between the plain and mountain,<br /> + Lives between tyranny and a free state. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now I entreat thee tell us who thou art;<br /> + Be not more stubborn than the rest have been,<br /> + So may thy name hold front there in the world.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After the fire a little more had roared<br /> + In its own fashion, the sharp point it moved<br /> + This way and that, and then gave forth such breath: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If I believed that my reply were made<br /> + To one who to the world would e’er return,<br /> + This flame without more flickering would stand still; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But inasmuch as never from this depth<br /> + Did any one return, if I hear true,<br /> + Without the fear of infamy I answer, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I was a man of arms, then Cordelier,<br /> + Believing thus begirt to make amends;<br /> + And truly my belief had been fulfilled +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But for the High Priest, whom may ill betide,<br /> + Who put me back into my former sins;<br /> + And how and wherefore I will have thee hear. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While I was still the form of bone and pulp<br /> + My mother gave to me, the deeds I did<br /> + Were not those of a lion, but a fox. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The machinations and the covert ways<br /> + I knew them all, and practised so their craft,<br /> + That to the ends of earth the sound went forth. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When now unto that portion of mine age<br /> + I saw myself arrived, when each one ought<br /> + To lower the sails, and coil away the ropes, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That which before had pleased me then displeased me;<br /> + And penitent and confessing I surrendered,<br /> + Ah woe is me! and it would have bestead me; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Leader of the modern Pharisees<br /> + Having a war near unto Lateran,<br /> + And not with Saracens nor with the Jews, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For each one of his enemies was Christian,<br /> + And none of them had been to conquer Acre,<br /> + Nor merchandising in the Sultan’s land, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Nor the high office, nor the sacred orders,<br /> + In him regarded, nor in me that cord<br /> + Which used to make those girt with it more meagre; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But even as Constantine sought out Sylvester<br /> + To cure his leprosy, within Soracte,<br /> + So this one sought me out as an adept +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To cure him of the fever of his pride.<br /> + Counsel he asked of me, and I was silent,<br /> + Because his words appeared inebriate. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And then he said: ‘Be not thy heart afraid;<br /> + Henceforth I thee absolve; and thou instruct me<br /> + How to raze Palestrina to the ground. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Heaven have I power to lock and to unlock,<br /> + As thou dost know; therefore the keys are two,<br /> + The which my predecessor held not dear.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then urged me on his weighty arguments<br /> + There, where my silence was the worst advice;<br /> + And said I: ‘Father, since thou washest me +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of that sin into which I now must fall,<br /> + The promise long with the fulfilment short<br /> + Will make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Francis came afterward, when I was dead,<br /> + For me; but one of the black Cherubim<br /> + Said to him: ‘Take him not; do me no wrong; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He must come down among my servitors,<br /> + Because he gave the fraudulent advice<br /> + From which time forth I have been at his hair; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For who repents not cannot be absolved,<br /> + Nor can one both repent and will at once,<br /> + Because of the contradiction which consents not.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O miserable me! how I did shudder<br /> + When he seized on me, saying: ‘Peradventure<br /> + Thou didst not think that I was a logician!’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He bore me unto Minos, who entwined<br /> + Eight times his tail about his stubborn back,<br /> + And after he had bitten it in great rage, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Said: ‘Of the thievish fire a culprit this;’<br /> + Wherefore, here where thou seest, am I lost,<br /> + And vested thus in going I bemoan me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When it had thus completed its recital,<br /> + The flame departed uttering lamentations,<br /> + Writhing and flapping its sharp-pointed horn. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Onward we passed, both I and my Conductor,<br /> + Up o’er the crag above another arch,<br /> + Which the moat covers, where is paid the fee +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +By those who, sowing discord, win their burden. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXVIII"></a>Inferno: Canto XXVIII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Who ever could, e’en with untrammelled words,<br /> + Tell of the blood and of the wounds in full<br /> + Which now I saw, by many times narrating? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Each tongue would for a certainty fall short<br /> + By reason of our speech and memory,<br /> + That have small room to comprehend so much. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If were again assembled all the people<br /> + Which formerly upon the fateful land<br /> + Of Puglia were lamenting for their blood +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Shed by the Romans and the lingering war<br /> + That of the rings made such illustrious spoils,<br /> + As Livy has recorded, who errs not, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With those who felt the agony of blows<br /> + By making counterstand to Robert Guiscard,<br /> + And all the rest, whose bones are gathered still +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +At Ceperano, where a renegade<br /> + Was each Apulian, and at Tagliacozzo,<br /> + Where without arms the old Alardo conquered, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one his limb transpierced, and one lopped off,<br /> + Should show, it would be nothing to compare<br /> + With the disgusting mode of the ninth Bolgia. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A cask by losing centre-piece or cant<br /> + Was never shattered so, as I saw one<br /> + Rent from the chin to where one breaketh wind. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Between his legs were hanging down his entrails;<br /> + His heart was visible, and the dismal sack<br /> + That maketh excrement of what is eaten. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +While I was all absorbed in seeing him,<br /> + He looked at me, and opened with his hands<br /> + His bosom, saying: “See now how I rend me; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +How mutilated, see, is Mahomet;<br /> + In front of me doth Ali weeping go,<br /> + Cleft in the face from forelock unto chin; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And all the others whom thou here beholdest,<br /> + Disseminators of scandal and of schism<br /> + While living were, and therefore are cleft thus. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A devil is behind here, who doth cleave us<br /> + Thus cruelly, unto the falchion’s edge<br /> + Putting again each one of all this ream, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When we have gone around the doleful road;<br /> + By reason that our wounds are closed again<br /> + Ere any one in front of him repass. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But who art thou, that musest on the crag,<br /> + Perchance to postpone going to the pain<br /> + That is adjudged upon thine accusations?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Nor death hath reached him yet, nor guilt doth bring him,”<br /> + My Master made reply, “to be tormented;<br /> + But to procure him full experience, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Me, who am dead, behoves it to conduct him<br /> + Down here through Hell, from circle unto circle;<br /> + And this is true as that I speak to thee.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +More than a hundred were there when they heard him,<br /> + Who in the moat stood still to look at me,<br /> + Through wonderment oblivious of their torture. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Now say to Fra Dolcino, then, to arm him,<br /> + Thou, who perhaps wilt shortly see the sun,<br /> + If soon he wish not here to follow me, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So with provisions, that no stress of snow<br /> + May give the victory to the Novarese,<br /> + Which otherwise to gain would not be easy.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After one foot to go away he lifted,<br /> + This word did Mahomet say unto me,<br /> + Then to depart upon the ground he stretched it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Another one, who had his throat pierced through,<br /> + And nose cut off close underneath the brows,<br /> + And had no longer but a single ear, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Staying to look in wonder with the others,<br /> + Before the others did his gullet open,<br /> + Which outwardly was red in every part, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And said: “O thou, whom guilt doth not condemn,<br /> + And whom I once saw up in Latian land,<br /> + Unless too great similitude deceive me, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Call to remembrance Pier da Medicina,<br /> + If e’er thou see again the lovely plain<br /> + That from Vercelli slopes to Marcabo, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And make it known to the best two of Fano,<br /> + To Messer Guido and Angiolello likewise,<br /> + That if foreseeing here be not in vain, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Cast over from their vessel shall they be,<br /> + And drowned near unto the Cattolica,<br /> + By the betrayal of a tyrant fell. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Between the isles of Cyprus and Majorca<br /> + Neptune ne’er yet beheld so great a crime,<br /> + Neither of pirates nor Argolic people. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That traitor, who sees only with one eye,<br /> + And holds the land, which some one here with me<br /> + Would fain be fasting from the vision of, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Will make them come unto a parley with him;<br /> + Then will do so, that to Focara’s wind<br /> + They will not stand in need of vow or prayer.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “Show to me and declare,<br /> + If thou wouldst have me bear up news of thee,<br /> + Who is this person of the bitter vision.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then did he lay his hand upon the jaw<br /> + Of one of his companions, and his mouth<br /> + Oped, crying: “This is he, and he speaks not. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This one, being banished, every doubt submerged<br /> + In Caesar by affirming the forearmed<br /> + Always with detriment allowed delay.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O how bewildered unto me appeared,<br /> + With tongue asunder in his windpipe slit,<br /> + Curio, who in speaking was so bold! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one, who both his hands dissevered had,<br /> + The stumps uplifting through the murky air,<br /> + So that the blood made horrible his face, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Cried out: “Thou shalt remember Mosca also,<br /> + Who said, alas! ‘A thing done has an end!’<br /> + Which was an ill seed for the Tuscan people.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“And death unto thy race,” thereto I added;<br /> + Whence he, accumulating woe on woe,<br /> + Departed, like a person sad and crazed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But I remained to look upon the crowd;<br /> + And saw a thing which I should be afraid,<br /> + Without some further proof, even to recount, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If it were not that conscience reassures me,<br /> + That good companion which emboldens man<br /> + Beneath the hauberk of its feeling pure. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I truly saw, and still I seem to see it,<br /> + A trunk without a head walk in like manner<br /> + As walked the others of the mournful herd. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And by the hair it held the head dissevered,<br /> + Hung from the hand in fashion of a lantern,<br /> + And that upon us gazed and said: “O me!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +It of itself made to itself a lamp,<br /> + And they were two in one, and one in two;<br /> + How that can be, He knows who so ordains it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When it was come close to the bridge’s foot,<br /> + It lifted high its arm with all the head,<br /> + To bring more closely unto us its words, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Which were: “Behold now the sore penalty,<br /> + Thou, who dost breathing go the dead beholding;<br /> + Behold if any be as great as this. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And so that thou may carry news of me,<br /> + Know that Bertram de Born am I, the same<br /> + Who gave to the Young King the evil comfort. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I made the father and the son rebellious;<br /> + Achitophel not more with Absalom<br /> + And David did with his accursed goadings. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because I parted persons so united,<br /> + Parted do I now bear my brain, alas!<br /> + From its beginning, which is in this trunk. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus is observed in me the counterpoise.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXIX"></a>Inferno: Canto XXIX</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +The many people and the divers wounds<br /> + These eyes of mine had so inebriated,<br /> + That they were wishful to stand still and weep; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But said Virgilius: “What dost thou still gaze at?<br /> + Why is thy sight still riveted down there<br /> + Among the mournful, mutilated shades? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou hast not done so at the other Bolge;<br /> + Consider, if to count them thou believest,<br /> + That two-and-twenty miles the valley winds, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And now the moon is underneath our feet;<br /> + Henceforth the time allotted us is brief,<br /> + And more is to be seen than what thou seest.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If thou hadst,” I made answer thereupon,<br /> + “Attended to the cause for which I looked,<br /> + Perhaps a longer stay thou wouldst have pardoned.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Meanwhile my Guide departed, and behind him<br /> + I went, already making my reply,<br /> + And superadding: “In that cavern where +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I held mine eyes with such attention fixed,<br /> + I think a spirit of my blood laments<br /> + The sin which down below there costs so much.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said the Master: “Be no longer broken<br /> + Thy thought from this time forward upon him;<br /> + Attend elsewhere, and there let him remain; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For him I saw below the little bridge,<br /> + Pointing at thee, and threatening with his finger<br /> + Fiercely, and heard him called Geri del Bello. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So wholly at that time wast thou impeded<br /> + By him who formerly held Altaforte,<br /> + Thou didst not look that way; so he departed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O my Conductor, his own violent death,<br /> + Which is not yet avenged for him,” I said,<br /> + “By any who is sharer in the shame, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Made him disdainful; whence he went away,<br /> + As I imagine, without speaking to me,<br /> + And thereby made me pity him the more.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus did we speak as far as the first place<br /> + Upon the crag, which the next valley shows<br /> + Down to the bottom, if there were more light. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When we were now right over the last cloister<br /> + Of Malebolge, so that its lay-brothers<br /> + Could manifest themselves unto our sight, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Divers lamentings pierced me through and through,<br /> + Which with compassion had their arrows barbed,<br /> + Whereat mine ears I covered with my hands. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +What pain would be, if from the hospitals<br /> + Of Valdichiana, ’twixt July and September,<br /> + And of Maremma and Sardinia +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +All the diseases in one moat were gathered,<br /> + Such was it here, and such a stench came from it<br /> + As from putrescent limbs is wont to issue. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We had descended on the furthest bank<br /> + From the long crag, upon the left hand still,<br /> + And then more vivid was my power of sight +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Down tow’rds the bottom, where the ministress<br /> + Of the high Lord, Justice infallible,<br /> + Punishes forgers, which she here records. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I do not think a sadder sight to see<br /> + Was in Aegina the whole people sick,<br /> + (When was the air so full of pestilence, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The animals, down to the little worm,<br /> + All fell, and afterwards the ancient people,<br /> + According as the poets have affirmed, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Were from the seed of ants restored again,)<br /> + Than was it to behold through that dark valley<br /> + The spirits languishing in divers heaps. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This on the belly, that upon the back<br /> + One of the other lay, and others crawling<br /> + Shifted themselves along the dismal road. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We step by step went onward without speech,<br /> + Gazing upon and listening to the sick<br /> + Who had not strength enough to lift their bodies. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw two sitting leaned against each other,<br /> + As leans in heating platter against platter,<br /> + From head to foot bespotted o’er with scabs; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And never saw I plied a currycomb<br /> + By stable-boy for whom his master waits,<br /> + Or him who keeps awake unwillingly, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As every one was plying fast the bite<br /> + Of nails upon himself, for the great rage<br /> + Of itching which no other succour had. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the nails downward with them dragged the scab,<br /> + In fashion as a knife the scales of bream,<br /> + Or any other fish that has them largest. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O thou, that with thy fingers dost dismail thee,”<br /> + Began my Leader unto one of them,<br /> + “And makest of them pincers now and then, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Tell me if any Latian is with those<br /> + Who are herein; so may thy nails suffice thee<br /> + To all eternity unto this work.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Latians are we, whom thou so wasted seest,<br /> + Both of us here,” one weeping made reply;<br /> + “But who art thou, that questionest about us?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And said the Guide: “One am I who descends<br /> + Down with this living man from cliff to cliff,<br /> + And I intend to show Hell unto him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then broken was their mutual support,<br /> + And trembling each one turned himself to me,<br /> + With others who had heard him by rebound. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Wholly to me did the good Master gather,<br /> + Saying: “Say unto them whate’er thou wishest.”<br /> + And I began, since he would have it so: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“So may your memory not steal away<br /> + In the first world from out the minds of men,<br /> + But so may it survive ’neath many suns, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Say to me who ye are, and of what people;<br /> + Let not your foul and loathsome punishment<br /> + Make you afraid to show yourselves to me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“I of Arezzo was,” one made reply,<br /> + “And Albert of Siena had me burned;<br /> + But what I died for does not bring me here. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +’Tis true I said to him, speaking in jest,<br /> + That I could rise by flight into the air,<br /> + And he who had conceit, but little wit, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Would have me show to him the art; and only<br /> + Because no Daedalus I made him, made me<br /> + Be burned by one who held him as his son. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But unto the last Bolgia of the ten,<br /> + For alchemy, which in the world I practised,<br /> + Minos, who cannot err, has me condemned.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And to the Poet said I: “Now was ever<br /> + So vain a people as the Sienese?<br /> + Not for a certainty the French by far.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whereat the other leper, who had heard me,<br /> + Replied unto my speech: “Taking out Stricca,<br /> + Who knew the art of moderate expenses, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And Niccolo, who the luxurious use<br /> + Of cloves discovered earliest of all<br /> + Within that garden where such seed takes root; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And taking out the band, among whom squandered<br /> + Caccia d’Ascian his vineyards and vast woods,<br /> + And where his wit the Abbagliato proffered! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But, that thou know who thus doth second thee<br /> + Against the Sienese, make sharp thine eye<br /> + Tow’rds me, so that my face well answer thee, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And thou shalt see I am Capocchio’s shade,<br /> + Who metals falsified by alchemy;<br /> + Thou must remember, if I well descry thee, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +How I a skilful ape of nature was.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXX"></a>Inferno: Canto XXX</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +’Twas at the time when Juno was enraged,<br /> + For Semele, against the Theban blood,<br /> + As she already more than once had shown, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So reft of reason Athamas became,<br /> + That, seeing his own wife with children twain<br /> + Walking encumbered upon either hand, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He cried: “Spread out the nets, that I may take<br /> + The lioness and her whelps upon the passage;”<br /> + And then extended his unpitying claws, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Seizing the first, who had the name Learchus,<br /> + And whirled him round, and dashed him on a rock;<br /> + And she, with the other burthen, drowned herself;— +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And at the time when fortune downward hurled<br /> + The Trojan’s arrogance, that all things dared,<br /> + So that the king was with his kingdom crushed, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Hecuba sad, disconsolate, and captive,<br /> + When lifeless she beheld Polyxena,<br /> + And of her Polydorus on the shore +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of ocean was the dolorous one aware,<br /> + Out of her senses like a dog she barked,<br /> + So much the anguish had her mind distorted; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But not of Thebes the furies nor the Trojan<br /> + Were ever seen in any one so cruel<br /> + In goading beasts, and much more human members, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As I beheld two shadows pale and naked,<br /> + Who, biting, in the manner ran along<br /> + That a boar does, when from the sty turned loose. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +One to Capocchio came, and by the nape<br /> + Seized with its teeth his neck, so that in dragging<br /> + It made his belly grate the solid bottom. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the Aretine, who trembling had remained,<br /> + Said to me: “That mad sprite is Gianni Schicchi,<br /> + And raving goes thus harrying other people.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O,” said I to him, “so may not the other<br /> + Set teeth on thee, let it not weary thee<br /> + To tell us who it is, ere it dart hence.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “That is the ancient ghost<br /> + Of the nefarious Myrrha, who became<br /> + Beyond all rightful love her father’s lover. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +She came to sin with him after this manner,<br /> + By counterfeiting of another’s form;<br /> + As he who goeth yonder undertook, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That he might gain the lady of the herd,<br /> + To counterfeit in himself Buoso Donati,<br /> + Making a will and giving it due form.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And after the two maniacs had passed<br /> + On whom I held mine eye, I turned it back<br /> + To look upon the other evil-born. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I saw one made in fashion of a lute,<br /> + If he had only had the groin cut off<br /> + Just at the point at which a man is forked. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The heavy dropsy, that so disproportions<br /> + The limbs with humours, which it ill concocts,<br /> + That the face corresponds not to the belly, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Compelled him so to hold his lips apart<br /> + As does the hectic, who because of thirst<br /> + One tow’rds the chin, the other upward turns. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O ye, who without any torment are,<br /> + And why I know not, in the world of woe,”<br /> + He said to us, “behold, and be attentive +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Unto the misery of Master Adam;<br /> + I had while living much of what I wished,<br /> + And now, alas! a drop of water crave. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The rivulets, that from the verdant hills<br /> + Of Cassentin descend down into Arno,<br /> + Making their channels to be cold and moist, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ever before me stand, and not in vain;<br /> + For far more doth their image dry me up<br /> + Than the disease which strips my face of flesh. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The rigid justice that chastises me<br /> + Draweth occasion from the place in which<br /> + I sinned, to put the more my sighs in flight. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There is Romena, where I counterfeited<br /> + The currency imprinted with the Baptist,<br /> + For which I left my body burned above. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But if I here could see the tristful soul<br /> + Of Guido, or Alessandro, or their brother,<br /> + For Branda’s fount I would not give the sight. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +One is within already, if the raving<br /> + Shades that are going round about speak truth;<br /> + But what avails it me, whose limbs are tied? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If I were only still so light, that in<br /> + A hundred years I could advance one inch,<br /> + I had already started on the way, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Seeking him out among this squalid folk,<br /> + Although the circuit be eleven miles,<br /> + And be not less than half a mile across. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For them am I in such a family;<br /> + They did induce me into coining florins,<br /> + Which had three carats of impurity.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “Who are the two poor wretches<br /> + That smoke like unto a wet hand in winter,<br /> + Lying there close upon thy right-hand confines?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“I found them here,” replied he, “when I rained<br /> + Into this chasm, and since they have not turned,<br /> + Nor do I think they will for evermore. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +One the false woman is who accused Joseph,<br /> + The other the false Sinon, Greek of Troy;<br /> + From acute fever they send forth such reek.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one of them, who felt himself annoyed<br /> + At being, peradventure, named so darkly,<br /> + Smote with the fist upon his hardened paunch. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +It gave a sound, as if it were a drum;<br /> + And Master Adam smote him in the face,<br /> + With arm that did not seem to be less hard, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Saying to him: “Although be taken from me<br /> + All motion, for my limbs that heavy are,<br /> + I have an arm unfettered for such need.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whereat he answer made: “When thou didst go<br /> + Unto the fire, thou hadst it not so ready:<br /> + But hadst it so and more when thou wast coining.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The dropsical: “Thou sayest true in that;<br /> + But thou wast not so true a witness there,<br /> + Where thou wast questioned of the truth at Troy.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“If I spake false, thou falsifiedst the coin,”<br /> + Said Sinon; “and for one fault I am here,<br /> + And thou for more than any other demon.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Remember, perjurer, about the horse,”<br /> + He made reply who had the swollen belly,<br /> + “And rueful be it thee the whole world knows it.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Rueful to thee the thirst be wherewith cracks<br /> + Thy tongue,” the Greek said, “and the putrid water<br /> + That hedges so thy paunch before thine eyes.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then the false-coiner: “So is gaping wide<br /> + Thy mouth for speaking evil, as ’tis wont;<br /> + Because if I have thirst, and humour stuff me +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou hast the burning and the head that aches,<br /> + And to lick up the mirror of Narcissus<br /> + Thou wouldst not want words many to invite thee.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In listening to them was I wholly fixed,<br /> + When said the Master to me: “Now just look,<br /> + For little wants it that I quarrel with thee.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When him I heard in anger speak to me,<br /> + I turned me round towards him with such shame<br /> + That still it eddies through my memory. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as he is who dreams of his own harm,<br /> + Who dreaming wishes it may be a dream,<br /> + So that he craves what is, as if it were not; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such I became, not having power to speak,<br /> + For to excuse myself I wished, and still<br /> + Excused myself, and did not think I did it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Less shame doth wash away a greater fault,”<br /> + The Master said, “than this of thine has been;<br /> + Therefore thyself disburden of all sadness, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And make account that I am aye beside thee,<br /> + If e’er it come to pass that fortune bring thee<br /> + Where there are people in a like dispute; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For a base wish it is to wish to hear it.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXXI"></a>Inferno: Canto XXXI</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +One and the selfsame tongue first wounded me,<br /> + So that it tinged the one cheek and the other,<br /> + And then held out to me the medicine; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thus do I hear that once Achilles’ spear,<br /> + His and his father’s, used to be the cause<br /> + First of a sad and then a gracious boon. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We turned our backs upon the wretched valley,<br /> + Upon the bank that girds it round about,<br /> + Going across it without any speech. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There it was less than night, and less than day,<br /> + So that my sight went little in advance;<br /> + But I could hear the blare of a loud horn, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So loud it would have made each thunder faint,<br /> + Which, counter to it following its way,<br /> + Mine eyes directed wholly to one place. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After the dolorous discomfiture<br /> + When Charlemagne the holy emprise lost,<br /> + So terribly Orlando sounded not. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Short while my head turned thitherward I held<br /> + When many lofty towers I seemed to see,<br /> + Whereat I: “Master, say, what town is this?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Because thou peerest forth<br /> + Athwart the darkness at too great a distance,<br /> + It happens that thou errest in thy fancy. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Well shalt thou see, if thou arrivest there,<br /> + How much the sense deceives itself by distance;<br /> + Therefore a little faster spur thee on.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then tenderly he took me by the hand,<br /> + And said: “Before we farther have advanced,<br /> + That the reality may seem to thee +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Less strange, know that these are not towers, but giants,<br /> + And they are in the well, around the bank,<br /> + From navel downward, one and all of them.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As, when the fog is vanishing away,<br /> + Little by little doth the sight refigure<br /> + Whate’er the mist that crowds the air conceals, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So, piercing through the dense and darksome air,<br /> + More and more near approaching tow’rd the verge,<br /> + My error fled, and fear came over me; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because as on its circular parapets<br /> + Montereggione crowns itself with towers,<br /> + E’en thus the margin which surrounds the well +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With one half of their bodies turreted<br /> + The horrible giants, whom Jove menaces<br /> + E’en now from out the heavens when he thunders. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I of one already saw the face,<br /> + Shoulders, and breast, and great part of the belly,<br /> + And down along his sides both of the arms. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Certainly Nature, when she left the making<br /> + Of animals like these, did well indeed,<br /> + By taking such executors from Mars; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if of elephants and whales she doth not<br /> + Repent her, whosoever looketh subtly<br /> + More just and more discreet will hold her for it; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For where the argument of intellect<br /> + Is added unto evil will and power,<br /> + No rampart can the people make against it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +His face appeared to me as long and large<br /> + As is at Rome the pine-cone of Saint Peter’s,<br /> + And in proportion were the other bones; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So that the margin, which an apron was<br /> + Down from the middle, showed so much of him<br /> + Above it, that to reach up to his hair +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Three Frieslanders in vain had vaunted them;<br /> + For I beheld thirty great palms of him<br /> + Down from the place where man his mantle buckles. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Raphael mai amech izabi almi,”<br /> + Began to clamour the ferocious mouth,<br /> + To which were not befitting sweeter psalms. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And unto him my Guide: “Soul idiotic,<br /> + Keep to thy horn, and vent thyself with that,<br /> + When wrath or other passion touches thee. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Search round thy neck, and thou wilt find the belt<br /> + Which keeps it fastened, O bewildered soul,<br /> + And see it, where it bars thy mighty breast.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then said to me: “He doth himself accuse;<br /> + This one is Nimrod, by whose evil thought<br /> + One language in the world is not still used. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here let us leave him and not speak in vain;<br /> + For even such to him is every language<br /> + As his to others, which to none is known.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Therefore a longer journey did we make,<br /> + Turned to the left, and a crossbow-shot oft<br /> + We found another far more fierce and large. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +In binding him, who might the master be<br /> + I cannot say; but he had pinioned close<br /> + Behind the right arm, and in front the other, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With chains, that held him so begirt about<br /> + From the neck down, that on the part uncovered<br /> + It wound itself as far as the fifth gyre. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“This proud one wished to make experiment<br /> + Of his own power against the Supreme Jove,”<br /> + My Leader said, “whence he has such a guerdon. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ephialtes is his name; he showed great prowess.<br /> + What time the giants terrified the gods;<br /> + The arms he wielded never more he moves.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I to him: “If possible, I should wish<br /> + That of the measureless Briareus<br /> + These eyes of mine might have experience.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence he replied: “Thou shalt behold Antaeus<br /> + Close by here, who can speak and is unbound,<br /> + Who at the bottom of all crime shall place us. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Much farther yon is he whom thou wouldst see,<br /> + And he is bound, and fashioned like to this one,<br /> + Save that he seems in aspect more ferocious.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +There never was an earthquake of such might<br /> + That it could shake a tower so violently,<br /> + As Ephialtes suddenly shook himself. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then was I more afraid of death than ever,<br /> + For nothing more was needful than the fear,<br /> + If I had not beheld the manacles. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then we proceeded farther in advance,<br /> + And to Antaeus came, who, full five ells<br /> + Without the head, forth issued from the cavern. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O thou, who in the valley fortunate,<br /> + Which Scipio the heir of glory made,<br /> + When Hannibal turned back with all his hosts, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Once brought’st a thousand lions for thy prey,<br /> + And who, hadst thou been at the mighty war<br /> + Among thy brothers, some it seems still think +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The sons of Earth the victory would have gained:<br /> + Place us below, nor be disdainful of it,<br /> + There where the cold doth lock Cocytus up. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Make us not go to Tityus nor Typhoeus;<br /> + This one can give of that which here is longed for;<br /> + Therefore stoop down, and do not curl thy lip. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Still in the world can he restore thy fame;<br /> + Because he lives, and still expects long life,<br /> + If to itself Grace call him not untimely.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So said the Master; and in haste the other<br /> + His hands extended and took up my Guide,—<br /> + Hands whose great pressure Hercules once felt. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Virgilius, when he felt himself embraced,<br /> + Said unto me: “Draw nigh, that I may take thee;”<br /> + Then of himself and me one bundle made. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As seems the Carisenda, to behold<br /> + Beneath the leaning side, when goes a cloud<br /> + Above it so that opposite it hangs; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such did Antaeus seem to me, who stood<br /> + Watching to see him stoop, and then it was<br /> + I could have wished to go some other way. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But lightly in the abyss, which swallows up<br /> + Judas with Lucifer, he put us down;<br /> + Nor thus bowed downward made he there delay, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But, as a mast does in a ship, uprose. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXXII"></a>Inferno: Canto XXXII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +If I had rhymes both rough and stridulous,<br /> + As were appropriate to the dismal hole<br /> + Down upon which thrust all the other rocks, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I would press out the juice of my conception<br /> + More fully; but because I have them not,<br /> + Not without fear I bring myself to speak; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For ’tis no enterprise to take in jest,<br /> + To sketch the bottom of all the universe,<br /> + Nor for a tongue that cries Mamma and Babbo. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But may those Ladies help this verse of mine,<br /> + Who helped Amphion in enclosing Thebes,<br /> + That from the fact the word be not diverse. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O rabble ill-begotten above all,<br /> + Who’re in the place to speak of which is hard,<br /> + ’Twere better ye had here been sheep or goats! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When we were down within the darksome well,<br /> + Beneath the giant’s feet, but lower far,<br /> + And I was scanning still the lofty wall, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I heard it said to me: “Look how thou steppest!<br /> + Take heed thou do not trample with thy feet<br /> + The heads of the tired, miserable brothers!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whereat I turned me round, and saw before me<br /> + And underfoot a lake, that from the frost<br /> + The semblance had of glass, and not of water. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So thick a veil ne’er made upon its current<br /> + In winter-time Danube in Austria,<br /> + Nor there beneath the frigid sky the Don, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As there was here; so that if Tambernich<br /> + Had fallen upon it, or Pietrapana,<br /> + E’en at the edge ’twould not have given a creak. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And as to croak the frog doth place himself<br /> + With muzzle out of water,—when is dreaming<br /> + Of gleaning oftentimes the peasant-girl,— +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Livid, as far down as where shame appears,<br /> + Were the disconsolate shades within the ice,<br /> + Setting their teeth unto the note of storks. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Each one his countenance held downward bent;<br /> + From mouth the cold, from eyes the doleful heart<br /> + Among them witness of itself procures. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When round about me somewhat I had looked,<br /> + I downward turned me, and saw two so close,<br /> + The hair upon their heads together mingled. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Ye who so strain your breasts together, tell me,”<br /> + I said, “who are you;” and they bent their necks,<br /> + And when to me their faces they had lifted, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Their eyes, which first were only moist within,<br /> + Gushed o’er the eyelids, and the frost congealed<br /> + The tears between, and locked them up again. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Clamp never bound together wood with wood<br /> + So strongly; whereat they, like two he-goats,<br /> + Butted together, so much wrath o’ercame them. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one, who had by reason of the cold<br /> + Lost both his ears, still with his visage downward,<br /> + Said: “Why dost thou so mirror thyself in us? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If thou desire to know who these two are,<br /> + The valley whence Bisenzio descends<br /> + Belonged to them and to their father Albert. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They from one body came, and all Caina<br /> + Thou shalt search through, and shalt not find a shade<br /> + More worthy to be fixed in gelatine; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not he in whom were broken breast and shadow<br /> + At one and the same blow by Arthur’s hand;<br /> + Focaccia not; not he who me encumbers +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +So with his head I see no farther forward,<br /> + And bore the name of Sassol Mascheroni;<br /> + Well knowest thou who he was, if thou art Tuscan. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And that thou put me not to further speech,<br /> + Know that I Camicion de’ Pazzi was,<br /> + And wait Carlino to exonerate me.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then I beheld a thousand faces, made<br /> + Purple with cold; whence o’er me comes a shudder,<br /> + And evermore will come, at frozen ponds. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And while we were advancing tow’rds the middle,<br /> + Where everything of weight unites together,<br /> + And I was shivering in the eternal shade, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whether ’twere will, or destiny, or chance,<br /> + I know not; but in walking ’mong the heads<br /> + I struck my foot hard in the face of one. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Weeping he growled: “Why dost thou trample me?<br /> + Unless thou comest to increase the vengeance<br /> + of Montaperti, why dost thou molest me?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I: “My Master, now wait here for me,<br /> + That I through him may issue from a doubt;<br /> + Then thou mayst hurry me, as thou shalt wish.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Leader stopped; and to that one I said<br /> + Who was blaspheming vehemently still:<br /> + “Who art thou, that thus reprehendest others?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Now who art thou, that goest through Antenora<br /> + Smiting,” replied he, “other people’s cheeks,<br /> + So that, if thou wert living, ’twere too much?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Living I am, and dear to thee it may be,”<br /> + Was my response, “if thou demandest fame,<br /> + That ’mid the other notes thy name I place.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “For the reverse I long;<br /> + Take thyself hence, and give me no more trouble;<br /> + For ill thou knowest to flatter in this hollow.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then by the scalp behind I seized upon him,<br /> + And said: “It must needs be thou name thyself,<br /> + Or not a hair remain upon thee here.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence he to me: “Though thou strip off my hair,<br /> + I will not tell thee who I am, nor show thee,<br /> + If on my head a thousand times thou fall.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I had his hair in hand already twisted,<br /> + And more than one shock of it had pulled out,<br /> + He barking, with his eyes held firmly down, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When cried another: “What doth ail thee, Bocca?<br /> + Is’t not enough to clatter with thy jaws,<br /> + But thou must bark? what devil touches thee?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Now,” said I, “I care not to have thee speak,<br /> + Accursed traitor; for unto thy shame<br /> + I will report of thee veracious news.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Begone,” replied he, “and tell what thou wilt,<br /> + But be not silent, if thou issue hence,<br /> + Of him who had just now his tongue so prompt; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He weepeth here the silver of the French;<br /> + ‘I saw,’ thus canst thou phrase it, ‘him of Duera<br /> + There where the sinners stand out in the cold.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If thou shouldst questioned be who else was there,<br /> + Thou hast beside thee him of Beccaria,<br /> + Of whom the gorget Florence slit asunder; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Gianni del Soldanier, I think, may be<br /> + Yonder with Ganellon, and Tebaldello<br /> + Who oped Faenza when the people slep.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Already we had gone away from him,<br /> + When I beheld two frozen in one hole,<br /> + So that one head a hood was to the other; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And even as bread through hunger is devoured,<br /> + The uppermost on the other set his teeth,<br /> + There where the brain is to the nape united. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not in another fashion Tydeus gnawed<br /> + The temples of Menalippus in disdain,<br /> + Than that one did the skull and the other things. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O thou, who showest by such bestial sign<br /> + Thy hatred against him whom thou art eating,<br /> + Tell me the wherefore,” said I, “with this compact, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That if thou rightfully of him complain,<br /> + In knowing who ye are, and his transgression,<br /> + I in the world above repay thee for it, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +If that wherewith I speak be not dried up.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXXIII"></a>Inferno: Canto XXXIII</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +His mouth uplifted from his grim repast,<br /> + That sinner, wiping it upon the hair<br /> + Of the same head that he behind had wasted. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he began: “Thou wilt that I renew<br /> + The desperate grief, which wrings my heart already<br /> + To think of only, ere I speak of it; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But if my words be seed that may bear fruit<br /> + Of infamy to the traitor whom I gnaw,<br /> + Speaking and weeping shalt thou see together. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I know not who thou art, nor by what mode<br /> + Thou hast come down here; but a Florentine<br /> + Thou seemest to me truly, when I hear thee. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thou hast to know I was Count Ugolino,<br /> + And this one was Ruggieri the Archbishop;<br /> + Now I will tell thee why I am such a neighbour. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That, by effect of his malicious thoughts,<br /> + Trusting in him I was made prisoner,<br /> + And after put to death, I need not say; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + But ne’ertheless what thou canst not have heard,<br /> + That is to say, how cruel was my death,<br /> + Hear shalt thou, and shalt know if he has wronged me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A narrow perforation in the mew,<br /> + Which bears because of me the title of Famine,<br /> + And in which others still must be locked up, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Had shown me through its opening many moons<br /> + Already, when I dreamed the evil dream<br /> + Which of the future rent for me the veil. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This one appeared to me as lord and master,<br /> + Hunting the wolf and whelps upon the mountain<br /> + For which the Pisans cannot Lucca see. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +With sleuth-hounds gaunt, and eager, and well trained,<br /> + Gualandi with Sismondi and Lanfianchi<br /> + He had sent out before him to the front. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +After brief course seemed unto me forespent<br /> + The father and the sons, and with sharp tushes<br /> + It seemed to me I saw their flanks ripped open. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When I before the morrow was awake,<br /> + Moaning amid their sleep I heard my sons<br /> + Who with me were, and asking after bread. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Cruel indeed art thou, if yet thou grieve not,<br /> + Thinking of what my heart foreboded me,<br /> + And weep’st thou not, what art thou wont to weep at? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +They were awake now, and the hour drew nigh<br /> + At which our food used to be brought to us,<br /> + And through his dream was each one apprehensive; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And I heard locking up the under door<br /> + Of the horrible tower; whereat without a word<br /> + I gazed into the faces of my sons. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I wept not, I within so turned to stone;<br /> + They wept; and darling little Anselm mine<br /> + Said: ‘Thou dost gaze so, father, what doth ail thee?’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Still not a tear I shed, nor answer made<br /> + All of that day, nor yet the night thereafter,<br /> + Until another sun rose on the world. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As now a little glimmer made its way<br /> + Into the dolorous prison, and I saw<br /> + Upon four faces my own very aspect, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Both of my hands in agony I bit;<br /> + And, thinking that I did it from desire<br /> + Of eating, on a sudden they uprose, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And said they: ‘Father, much less pain ’twill give us<br /> + If thou do eat of us; thyself didst clothe us<br /> + With this poor flesh, and do thou strip it off.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I calmed me then, not to make them more sad.<br /> + That day we all were silent, and the next.<br /> + Ah! obdurate earth, wherefore didst thou not open? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When we had come unto the fourth day, Gaddo<br /> + Threw himself down outstretched before my feet,<br /> + Saying, ‘My father, why dost thou not help me?’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And there he died; and, as thou seest me,<br /> + I saw the three fall, one by one, between<br /> + The fifth day and the sixth; whence I betook me, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Already blind, to groping over each,<br /> + And three days called them after they were dead;<br /> + Then hunger did what sorrow could not do.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When he had said this, with his eyes distorted,<br /> + The wretched skull resumed he with his teeth,<br /> + Which, as a dog’s, upon the bone were strong. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah! Pisa, thou opprobrium of the people<br /> + Of the fair land there where the ‘Si’ doth sound,<br /> + Since slow to punish thee thy neighbours are, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Let the Capraia and Gorgona move,<br /> + And make a hedge across the mouth of Arno<br /> + That every person in thee it may drown! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For if Count Ugolino had the fame<br /> + Of having in thy castles thee betrayed,<br /> + Thou shouldst not on such cross have put his sons. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Guiltless of any crime, thou modern Thebes!<br /> + Their youth made Uguccione and Brigata,<br /> + And the other two my song doth name above! +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We passed still farther onward, where the ice<br /> + Another people ruggedly enswathes,<br /> + Not downward turned, but all of them reversed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Weeping itself there does not let them weep,<br /> + And grief that finds a barrier in the eyes<br /> + Turns itself inward to increase the anguish; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Because the earliest tears a cluster form,<br /> + And, in the manner of a crystal visor,<br /> + Fill all the cup beneath the eyebrow full. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And notwithstanding that, as in a callus,<br /> + Because of cold all sensibility<br /> + Its station had abandoned in my face, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Still it appeared to me I felt some wind;<br /> + Whence I: “My Master, who sets this in motion?<br /> + Is not below here every vapour quenched?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence he to me: “Full soon shalt thou be where<br /> + Thine eye shall answer make to thee of this,<br /> + Seeing the cause which raineth down the blast.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And one of the wretches of the frozen crust<br /> + Cried out to us: “O souls so merciless<br /> + That the last post is given unto you, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Lift from mine eyes the rigid veils, that I<br /> + May vent the sorrow which impregns my heart<br /> + A little, e’er the weeping recongeal.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Whence I to him: “If thou wouldst have me help thee<br /> + Say who thou wast; and if I free thee not,<br /> + May I go to the bottom of the ice.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then he replied: “I am Friar Alberigo;<br /> + He am I of the fruit of the bad garden,<br /> + Who here a date am getting for my fig.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“O,” said I to him, “now art thou, too, dead?”<br /> + And he to me: “How may my body fare<br /> + Up in the world, no knowledge I possess. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Such an advantage has this Ptolomaea,<br /> + That oftentimes the soul descendeth here<br /> + Sooner than Atropos in motion sets it. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And, that thou mayest more willingly remove<br /> + From off my countenance these glassy tears,<br /> + Know that as soon as any soul betrays +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As I have done, his body by a demon<br /> + Is taken from him, who thereafter rules it,<br /> + Until his time has wholly been revolved. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Itself down rushes into such a cistern;<br /> + And still perchance above appears the body<br /> + Of yonder shade, that winters here behind me. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +This thou shouldst know, if thou hast just come down;<br /> + It is Ser Branca d’ Oria, and many years<br /> + Have passed away since he was thus locked up.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“I think,” said I to him, “thou dost deceive me;<br /> + For Branca d’ Oria is not dead as yet,<br /> + And eats, and drinks, and sleeps, and puts on clothes.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“In moat above,” said he, “of Malebranche,<br /> + There where is boiling the tenacious pitch,<br /> + As yet had Michel Zanche not arrived, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When this one left a devil in his stead<br /> + In his own body and one near of kin,<br /> + Who made together with him the betrayal. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But hitherward stretch out thy hand forthwith,<br /> + Open mine eyes;”—and open them I did not,<br /> + And to be rude to him was courtesy. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Ah, Genoese! ye men at variance<br /> + With every virtue, full of every vice<br /> + Wherefore are ye not scattered from the world? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For with the vilest spirit of Romagna<br /> + I found of you one such, who for his deeds<br /> + In soul already in Cocytus bathes, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And still above in body seems alive! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="CantoI.XXXIV"></a>Inferno: Canto XXXIV</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +“‘Vexilla Regis prodeunt Inferni’<br /> + Towards us; therefore look in front of thee,”<br /> + My Master said, “if thou discernest him.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As, when there breathes a heavy fog, or when<br /> + Our hemisphere is darkening into night,<br /> + Appears far off a mill the wind is turning, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Methought that such a building then I saw;<br /> + And, for the wind, I drew myself behind<br /> + My Guide, because there was no other shelter. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Now was I, and with fear in verse I put it,<br /> + There where the shades were wholly covered up,<br /> + And glimmered through like unto straws in glass. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Some prone are lying, others stand erect,<br /> + This with the head, and that one with the soles;<br /> + Another, bow-like, face to feet inverts. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When in advance so far we had proceeded,<br /> + That it my Master pleased to show to me<br /> + The creature who once had the beauteous semblance, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He from before me moved and made me stop,<br /> + Saying: “Behold Dis, and behold the place<br /> + Where thou with fortitude must arm thyself.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +How frozen I became and powerless then,<br /> + Ask it not, Reader, for I write it not,<br /> + Because all language would be insufficient. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I did not die, and I alive remained not;<br /> + Think for thyself now, hast thou aught of wit,<br /> + What I became, being of both deprived. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous<br /> + From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice;<br /> + And better with a giant I compare +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Than do the giants with those arms of his;<br /> + Consider now how great must be that whole,<br /> + Which unto such a part conforms itself. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Were he as fair once, as he now is foul,<br /> + And lifted up his brow against his Maker,<br /> + Well may proceed from him all tribulation. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +O, what a marvel it appeared to me,<br /> + When I beheld three faces on his head!<br /> + The one in front, and that vermilion was; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Two were the others, that were joined with this<br /> + Above the middle part of either shoulder,<br /> + And they were joined together at the crest; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the right-hand one seemed ’twixt white and yellow;<br /> + The left was such to look upon as those<br /> + Who come from where the Nile falls valley-ward. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Underneath each came forth two mighty wings,<br /> + Such as befitting were so great a bird;<br /> + Sails of the sea I never saw so large. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + No feathers had they, but as of a bat<br /> + Their fashion was; and he was waving them,<br /> + So that three winds proceeded forth therefrom. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thereby Cocytus wholly was congealed.<br /> + With six eyes did he weep, and down three chins<br /> + Trickled the tear-drops and the bloody drivel. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +At every mouth he with his teeth was crunching<br /> + A sinner, in the manner of a brake,<br /> + So that he three of them tormented thus. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To him in front the biting was as naught<br /> + Unto the clawing, for sometimes the spine<br /> + Utterly stripped of all the skin remained. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“That soul up there which has the greatest pain,”<br /> + The Master said, “is Judas Iscariot;<br /> + With head inside, he plies his legs without. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of the two others, who head downward are,<br /> + The one who hangs from the black jowl is Brutus;<br /> + See how he writhes himself, and speaks no word. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And the other, who so stalwart seems, is Cassius.<br /> + But night is reascending, and ’tis time<br /> + That we depart, for we have seen the whole.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +As seemed him good, I clasped him round the neck,<br /> + And he the vantage seized of time and place,<br /> + And when the wings were opened wide apart, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +He laid fast hold upon the shaggy sides;<br /> + From fell to fell descended downward then<br /> + Between the thick hair and the frozen crust. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +When we were come to where the thigh revolves<br /> + Exactly on the thickness of the haunch,<br /> + The Guide, with labour and with hard-drawn breath, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Turned round his head where he had had his legs,<br /> + And grappled to the hair, as one who mounts,<br /> + So that to Hell I thought we were returning. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Keep fast thy hold, for by such stairs as these,”<br /> + The Master said, panting as one fatigued,<br /> + “Must we perforce depart from so much evil.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Then through the opening of a rock he issued,<br /> + And down upon the margin seated me;<br /> + Then tow’rds me he outstretched his wary step. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I lifted up mine eyes and thought to see<br /> + Lucifer in the same way I had left him;<br /> + And I beheld him upward hold his legs. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And if I then became disquieted,<br /> + Let stolid people think who do not see<br /> + What the point is beyond which I had passed. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Rise up,” the Master said, “upon thy feet;<br /> + The way is long, and difficult the road,<br /> + And now the sun to middle-tierce returns.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +It was not any palace corridor<br /> + There where we were, but dungeon natural,<br /> + With floor uneven and unease of light. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Ere from the abyss I tear myself away,<br /> + My Master,” said I when I had arisen,<br /> + “To draw me from an error speak a little; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Where is the ice? and how is this one fixed<br /> + Thus upside down? and how in such short time<br /> + From eve to morn has the sun made his transit?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And he to me: “Thou still imaginest<br /> + Thou art beyond the centre, where I grasped<br /> + The hair of the fell worm, who mines the world. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +That side thou wast, so long as I descended;<br /> + When round I turned me, thou didst pass the point<br /> + To which things heavy draw from every side, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And now beneath the hemisphere art come<br /> + Opposite that which overhangs the vast<br /> + Dry-land, and ’neath whose cope was put to death +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Man who without sin was born and lived.<br /> + Thou hast thy feet upon the little sphere<br /> + Which makes the other face of the Judecca. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Here it is morn when it is evening there;<br /> + And he who with his hair a stairway made us<br /> + Still fixed remaineth as he was before. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Upon this side he fell down out of heaven;<br /> + And all the land, that whilom here emerged,<br /> + For fear of him made of the sea a veil, +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And came to our hemisphere; and peradventure<br /> + To flee from him, what on this side appears<br /> + Left the place vacant here, and back recoiled.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +A place there is below, from Beelzebub<br /> + As far receding as the tomb extends,<br /> + Which not by sight is known, but by the sound +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Of a small rivulet, that there descendeth<br /> + Through chasm within the stone, which it has gnawed<br /> + With course that winds about and slightly falls. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Guide and I into that hidden road<br /> + Now entered, to return to the bright world;<br /> + And without care of having any rest +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +We mounted up, he first and I the second,<br /> + Till I beheld through a round aperture<br /> + Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear; +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block;margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DIVINE COMEDY ***</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This file should be named 1001-h.htm or 1001-h.zip</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/0/1001/</div> +<div style='display:block; 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Hell + +Author: Dante Alighieri + +Translator: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow + +Posting Date: April 12, 2009 [EBook #1001] +Release Date: August, 1997 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DIVINE COMEDY *** + + + + +Produced by Dennis McCarthy + + + + + + + + + +THE DIVINE COMEDY + +OF DANTE ALIGHIERI +(1265-1321) + + +TRANSLATED BY +HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW +(1807-1882) + + + + +CANTICLE I: INFERNO + + + + +CREDITS + + +The base text for this edition has been provided by Digital Dante, a +project sponsored by Columbia University's Institute for Learning +Technologies. Specific thanks goes to Jennifer Hogan (Project +Editor/Director), Tanya Larkin (Assistant to Editor), Robert W. Cole +(Proofreader/Assistant Editor), and Jennifer Cook (Proofreader). + +The Digital Dante Project is a digital 'study space' for Dante studies and +scholarship. The project is multi-faceted and fluid by nature of the Web. +Digital Dante attempts to organize the information most significant for +students first engaging with Dante and scholars researching Dante. The +digital of Digital Dante incurs a new challenge to the student, the +scholar, and teacher, perusing the Web: to become proficient in the new +tools, e.g., Search, the Discussion Group, well enough to look beyond the +technology and delve into the content. For more information and access to +the project, please visit its web site at: +http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/projects/dante/ + +For this Project Gutenberg edition the e-text was rechecked. The editor +greatly thanks Dian McCarthy for her assistance in proofreading the +Paradiso. Also deserving praise are Herbert Fann for programming the text +editor "Desktop Tools/Edit" and the late August Dvorak for designing his +keyboard layout. Please refer to Project Gutenberg's e-text listings for +other editions or translations of 'The Divine Comedy.' For this three part +edition of 'The Divine Comedy' please refer to the end of the Paradiso for +supplemental materials. + +Dennis McCarthy, July 1997 +imprimatur@juno.com + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Inferno + + I. The Dark Forest. The Hill of Difficulty. The Panther, + the Lion, and the Wolf. Virgil. + II. The Descent. Dante's Protest and Virgil's Appeal. + The Intercession of the Three Ladies Benedight. + III. The Gate of Hell. The Inefficient or Indifferent. + Pope Celestine V. The Shores of Acheron. Charon. + The Earthquake and the Swoon. + IV. The First Circle, Limbo: Virtuous Pagans and the Unbaptized. + The Four Poets, Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. The Noble + Castle of Philosophy. + V. The Second Circle: The Wanton. Minos. The Infernal Hurricane. + Francesca da Rimini. + VI. The Third Circle: The Gluttonous. Cerberus. The Eternal Rain. + Ciacco. Florence. + VII. The Fourth Circle: The Avaricious and the Prodigal. + Plutus. Fortune and her Wheel. The Fifth Circle: + The Irascible and the Sullen. Styx. + VIII. Phlegyas. Philippo Argenti. The Gate of the City of Dis. + IX. The Furies and Medusa. The Angel. The City of Dis. + The Sixth Circle: Heresiarchs. + X. Farinata and Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti. Discourse on the + Knowledge of the Damned. + XI. The Broken Rocks. Pope Anastasius. General Description of + the Inferno and its Divisions. + XII. The Minotaur. The Seventh Circle: The Violent. + The River Phlegethon. The Violent against their Neighbours. + The Centaurs. Tyrants. + XIII. The Wood of Thorns. The Harpies. The Violent + against themselves. Suicides. Pier della Vigna. + Lano and Jacopo da Sant' Andrea. + XIV. The Sand Waste and the Rain of Fire. The Violent against God. + Capaneus. The Statue of Time, and the Four Infernal Rivers. + XV. The Violent against Nature. Brunetto Latini. + XVI. Guidoguerra, Aldobrandi, and Rusticucci. Cataract of + the River of Blood. + XVII. Geryon. The Violent against Art. Usurers. Descent into + the Abyss of Malebolge. + XVIII. The Eighth Circle, Malebolge: The Fraudulent and + the Malicious. The First Bolgia: Seducers and Panders. + Venedico Caccianimico. Jason. The Second Bolgia: + Flatterers. Allessio Interminelli. Thais. + XIX. The Third Bolgia: Simoniacs. Pope Nicholas III. + Dante's Reproof of corrupt Prelates. + XX. The Fourth Bolgia: Soothsayers. Amphiaraus, Tiresias, Aruns, + Manto, Eryphylus, Michael Scott, Guido Bonatti, and Asdente. + Virgil reproaches Dante's Pity. Mantua's Foundation. + XXI. The Fifth Bolgia: Peculators. The Elder of Santa Zita. + Malacoda and other Devils. + XXII. Ciampolo, Friar Gomita, and Michael Zanche. + The Malabranche quarrel. + XXIII. Escape from the Malabranche. The Sixth Bolgia: Hypocrites. + Catalano and Loderingo. Caiaphas. + XXIV. The Seventh Bolgia: Thieves. Vanni Fucci. Serpents. + XXV. Vanni Fucci's Punishment. Agnello Brunelleschi, + Buoso degli Abati, Puccio Sciancato, Cianfa de' Donati, + and Guercio Cavalcanti. + XXVI. The Eighth Bolgia: Evil Counsellors. Ulysses and Diomed. + Ulysses' Last Voyage. + XXVII. Guido da Montefeltro. His deception by Pope Boniface VIII. +XXVIII. The Ninth Bolgia: Schismatics. Mahomet and Ali. + Pier da Medicina, Curio, Mosca, and Bertrand de Born. + XXIX. Geri del Bello. The Tenth Bolgia: Alchemists. + Griffolino d' Arezzo and Capocchino. + XXX. Other Falsifiers or Forgers. Gianni Schicchi, Myrrha, + Adam of Brescia, Potiphar's Wife, and Sinon of Troy. + XXXI. The Giants, Nimrod, Ephialtes, and Antaeus. + Descent to Cocytus. + XXXII. The Ninth Circle: Traitors. The Frozen Lake of Cocytus. + First Division, Caina: Traitors to their Kindred. + Camicion de' Pazzi. Second Division, Antenora: + Traitors to their Country. Dante questions + Bocca degli Abati. Buoso da Duera. +XXXIII. Count Ugolino and the Archbishop Ruggieri. The Death + of Count Ugolino's Sons. Third Division of the Ninth Circle, + Ptolomaea: Traitors to their Friends. Friar Alberigo, + Branco d' Oria. + XXXIV. Fourth Division of the Ninth Circle, the Judecca: + Traitors to their Lords and Benefactors. Lucifer, + Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius. The Chasm of Lethe. + The Ascent. + + + + +Incipit Comoedia Dantis Alagherii, +Florentini natione, non moribus. + + +The Divine Comedy +translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow +(e-text courtesy ILT's Digital Dante Project) + +INFERNO + + + +Inferno: Canto I + + +Midway upon the journey of our life + I found myself within a forest dark, + For the straightforward pathway had been lost. + +Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say + What was this forest savage, rough, and stern, + Which in the very thought renews the fear. + +So bitter is it, death is little more; + But of the good to treat, which there I found, + Speak will I of the other things I saw there. + +I cannot well repeat how there I entered, + So full was I of slumber at the moment + In which I had abandoned the true way. + +But after I had reached a mountain's foot, + At that point where the valley terminated, + Which had with consternation pierced my heart, + +Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders, + Vested already with that planet's rays + Which leadeth others right by every road. + +Then was the fear a little quieted + That in my heart's lake had endured throughout + The night, which I had passed so piteously. + +And even as he, who, with distressful breath, + Forth issued from the sea upon the shore, + Turns to the water perilous and gazes; + +So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward, + Turn itself back to re-behold the pass + Which never yet a living person left. + +After my weary body I had rested, + The way resumed I on the desert slope, + So that the firm foot ever was the lower. + +And lo! almost where the ascent began, + A panther light and swift exceedingly, + Which with a spotted skin was covered o'er! + +And never moved she from before my face, + Nay, rather did impede so much my way, + That many times I to return had turned. + +The time was the beginning of the morning, + And up the sun was mounting with those stars + That with him were, what time the Love Divine + +At first in motion set those beauteous things; + So were to me occasion of good hope, + The variegated skin of that wild beast, + +The hour of time, and the delicious season; + But not so much, that did not give me fear + A lion's aspect which appeared to me. + +He seemed as if against me he were coming + With head uplifted, and with ravenous hunger, + So that it seemed the air was afraid of him; + +And a she-wolf, that with all hungerings + Seemed to be laden in her meagreness, + And many folk has caused to live forlorn! + +She brought upon me so much heaviness, + With the affright that from her aspect came, + That I the hope relinquished of the height. + +And as he is who willingly acquires, + And the time comes that causes him to lose, + Who weeps in all his thoughts and is despondent, + +E'en such made me that beast withouten peace, + Which, coming on against me by degrees + Thrust me back thither where the sun is silent. + +While I was rushing downward to the lowland, + Before mine eyes did one present himself, + Who seemed from long-continued silence hoarse. + +When I beheld him in the desert vast, + "Have pity on me," unto him I cried, + "Whiche'er thou art, or shade or real man!" + +He answered me: "Not man; man once I was, + And both my parents were of Lombardy, + And Mantuans by country both of them. + +'Sub Julio' was I born, though it was late, + And lived at Rome under the good Augustus, + During the time of false and lying gods. + +A poet was I, and I sang that just + Son of Anchises, who came forth from Troy, + After that Ilion the superb was burned. + +But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance? + Why climb'st thou not the Mount Delectable, + Which is the source and cause of every joy?" + +"Now, art thou that Virgilius and that fountain + Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech?" + I made response to him with bashful forehead. + +"O, of the other poets honour and light, + Avail me the long study and great love + That have impelled me to explore thy volume! + +Thou art my master, and my author thou, + Thou art alone the one from whom I took + The beautiful style that has done honour to me. + +Behold the beast, for which I have turned back; + Do thou protect me from her, famous Sage, + For she doth make my veins and pulses tremble." + +"Thee it behoves to take another road," + Responded he, when he beheld me weeping, + "If from this savage place thou wouldst escape; + +Because this beast, at which thou criest out, + Suffers not any one to pass her way, + But so doth harass him, that she destroys him; + +And has a nature so malign and ruthless, + That never doth she glut her greedy will, + And after food is hungrier than before. + +Many the animals with whom she weds, + And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound + Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain. + +He shall not feed on either earth or pelf, + But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue; + 'Twixt Feltro and Feltro shall his nation be; + +Of that low Italy shall he be the saviour, + On whose account the maid Camilla died, + Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds; + +Through every city shall he hunt her down, + Until he shall have driven her back to Hell, + There from whence envy first did let her loose. + +Therefore I think and judge it for thy best + Thou follow me, and I will be thy guide, + And lead thee hence through the eternal place, + +Where thou shalt hear the desperate lamentations, + Shalt see the ancient spirits disconsolate, + Who cry out each one for the second death; + +And thou shalt see those who contented are + Within the fire, because they hope to come, + Whene'er it may be, to the blessed people; + +To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend, + A soul shall be for that than I more worthy; + With her at my departure I will leave thee; + +Because that Emperor, who reigns above, + In that I was rebellious to his law, + Wills that through me none come into his city. + +He governs everywhere, and there he reigns; + There is his city and his lofty throne; + O happy he whom thereto he elects!" + +And I to him: "Poet, I thee entreat, + By that same God whom thou didst never know, + So that I may escape this woe and worse, + +Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said, + That I may see the portal of Saint Peter, + And those thou makest so disconsolate." + +Then he moved on, and I behind him followed. + + + +Inferno: Canto II + + +Day was departing, and the embrowned air + Released the animals that are on earth + From their fatigues; and I the only one + +Made myself ready to sustain the war, + Both of the way and likewise of the woe, + Which memory that errs not shall retrace. + +O Muses, O high genius, now assist me! + O memory, that didst write down what I saw, + Here thy nobility shall be manifest! + +And I began: "Poet, who guidest me, + Regard my manhood, if it be sufficient, + Ere to the arduous pass thou dost confide me. + +Thou sayest, that of Silvius the parent, + While yet corruptible, unto the world + Immortal went, and was there bodily. + +But if the adversary of all evil + Was courteous, thinking of the high effect + That issue would from him, and who, and what, + +To men of intellect unmeet it seems not; + For he was of great Rome, and of her empire + In the empyreal heaven as father chosen; + +The which and what, wishing to speak the truth, + Were stablished as the holy place, wherein + Sits the successor of the greatest Peter. + +Upon this journey, whence thou givest him vaunt, + Things did he hear, which the occasion were + Both of his victory and the papal mantle. + +Thither went afterwards the Chosen Vessel, + To bring back comfort thence unto that Faith, + Which of salvation's way is the beginning. + +But I, why thither come, or who concedes it? + I not Aeneas am, I am not Paul, + Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it. + +Therefore, if I resign myself to come, + I fear the coming may be ill-advised; + Thou'rt wise, and knowest better than I speak." + +And as he is, who unwills what he willed, + And by new thoughts doth his intention change, + So that from his design he quite withdraws, + +Such I became, upon that dark hillside, + Because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise, + Which was so very prompt in the beginning. + +"If I have well thy language understood," + Replied that shade of the Magnanimous, + "Thy soul attainted is with cowardice, + +Which many times a man encumbers so, + It turns him back from honoured enterprise, + As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy. + +That thou mayst free thee from this apprehension, + I'll tell thee why I came, and what I heard + At the first moment when I grieved for thee. + +Among those was I who are in suspense, + And a fair, saintly Lady called to me + In such wise, I besought her to command me. + +Her eyes where shining brighter than the Star; + And she began to say, gentle and low, + With voice angelical, in her own language: + +'O spirit courteous of Mantua, + Of whom the fame still in the world endures, + And shall endure, long-lasting as the world; + +A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune, + Upon the desert slope is so impeded + Upon his way, that he has turned through terror, + +And may, I fear, already be so lost, + That I too late have risen to his succour, + From that which I have heard of him in Heaven. + +Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate, + And with what needful is for his release, + Assist him so, that I may be consoled. + +Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go; + I come from there, where I would fain return; + Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak. + +When I shall be in presence of my Lord, + Full often will I praise thee unto him.' + Then paused she, and thereafter I began: + +'O Lady of virtue, thou alone through whom + The human race exceedeth all contained + Within the heaven that has the lesser circles, + +So grateful unto me is thy commandment, + To obey, if 'twere already done, were late; + No farther need'st thou ope to me thy wish. + +But the cause tell me why thou dost not shun + The here descending down into this centre, + From the vast place thou burnest to return to.' + +'Since thou wouldst fain so inwardly discern, + Briefly will I relate,' she answered me, + 'Why I am not afraid to enter here. + +Of those things only should one be afraid + Which have the power of doing others harm; + Of the rest, no; because they are not fearful. + +God in his mercy such created me + That misery of yours attains me not, + Nor any flame assails me of this burning. + +A gentle Lady is in Heaven, who grieves + At this impediment, to which I send thee, + So that stern judgment there above is broken. + +In her entreaty she besought Lucia, + And said, "Thy faithful one now stands in need + Of thee, and unto thee I recommend him." + +Lucia, foe of all that cruel is, + Hastened away, and came unto the place + Where I was sitting with the ancient Rachel. + +"Beatrice" said she, "the true praise of God, + Why succourest thou not him, who loved thee so, + For thee he issued from the vulgar herd? + +Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint? + Dost thou not see the death that combats him + Beside that flood, where ocean has no vaunt?" + +Never were persons in the world so swift + To work their weal and to escape their woe, + As I, after such words as these were uttered, + +Came hither downward from my blessed seat, + Confiding in thy dignified discourse, + Which honours thee, and those who've listened to it.' + +After she thus had spoken unto me, + Weeping, her shining eyes she turned away; + Whereby she made me swifter in my coming; + +And unto thee I came, as she desired; + I have delivered thee from that wild beast, + Which barred the beautiful mountain's short ascent. + +What is it, then? Why, why dost thou delay? + Why is such baseness bedded in thy heart? + Daring and hardihood why hast thou not, + +Seeing that three such Ladies benedight + Are caring for thee in the court of Heaven, + And so much good my speech doth promise thee?" + +Even as the flowerets, by nocturnal chill, + Bowed down and closed, when the sun whitens them, + Uplift themselves all open on their stems; + +Such I became with my exhausted strength, + And such good courage to my heart there coursed, + That I began, like an intrepid person: + +"O she compassionate, who succoured me, + And courteous thou, who hast obeyed so soon + The words of truth which she addressed to thee! + +Thou hast my heart so with desire disposed + To the adventure, with these words of thine, + That to my first intent I have returned. + +Now go, for one sole will is in us both, + Thou Leader, and thou Lord, and Master thou." + Thus said I to him; and when he had moved, + +I entered on the deep and savage way. + + + +Inferno: Canto III + + +"Through me the way is to the city dolent; + Through me the way is to eternal dole; + Through me the way among the people lost. + +Justice incited my sublime Creator; + Created me divine Omnipotence, + The highest Wisdom and the primal Love. + +Before me there were no created things, + Only eterne, and I eternal last. + All hope abandon, ye who enter in!" + +These words in sombre colour I beheld + Written upon the summit of a gate; + Whence I: "Their sense is, Master, hard to me!" + +And he to me, as one experienced: + "Here all suspicion needs must be abandoned, + All cowardice must needs be here extinct. + +We to the place have come, where I have told thee + Thou shalt behold the people dolorous + Who have foregone the good of intellect." + +And after he had laid his hand on mine + With joyful mien, whence I was comforted, + He led me in among the secret things. + +There sighs, complaints, and ululations loud + Resounded through the air without a star, + Whence I, at the beginning, wept thereat. + +Languages diverse, horrible dialects, + Accents of anger, words of agony, + And voices high and hoarse, with sound of hands, + +Made up a tumult that goes whirling on + For ever in that air for ever black, + Even as the sand doth, when the whirlwind breathes. + +And I, who had my head with horror bound, + Said: "Master, what is this which now I hear? + What folk is this, which seems by pain so vanquished?" + +And he to me: "This miserable mode + Maintain the melancholy souls of those + Who lived withouten infamy or praise. + +Commingled are they with that caitiff choir + Of Angels, who have not rebellious been, + Nor faithful were to God, but were for self. + +The heavens expelled them, not to be less fair; + Nor them the nethermore abyss receives, + For glory none the damned would have from them." + +And I: "O Master, what so grievous is + To these, that maketh them lament so sore?" + He answered: "I will tell thee very briefly. + +These have no longer any hope of death; + And this blind life of theirs is so debased, + They envious are of every other fate. + +No fame of them the world permits to be; + Misericord and Justice both disdain them. + Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass." + +And I, who looked again, beheld a banner, + Which, whirling round, ran on so rapidly, + That of all pause it seemed to me indignant; + +And after it there came so long a train + Of people, that I ne'er would have believed + That ever Death so many had undone. + +When some among them I had recognised, + I looked, and I beheld the shade of him + Who made through cowardice the great refusal. + +Forthwith I comprehended, and was certain, + That this the sect was of the caitiff wretches + Hateful to God and to his enemies. + +These miscreants, who never were alive, + Were naked, and were stung exceedingly + By gadflies and by hornets that were there. + +These did their faces irrigate with blood, + Which, with their tears commingled, at their feet + By the disgusting worms was gathered up. + +And when to gazing farther I betook me. + People I saw on a great river's bank; + Whence said I: "Master, now vouchsafe to me, + +That I may know who these are, and what law + Makes them appear so ready to pass over, + As I discern athwart the dusky light." + +And he to me: "These things shall all be known + To thee, as soon as we our footsteps stay + Upon the dismal shore of Acheron." + +Then with mine eyes ashamed and downward cast, + Fearing my words might irksome be to him, + From speech refrained I till we reached the river. + +And lo! towards us coming in a boat + An old man, hoary with the hair of eld, + Crying: "Woe unto you, ye souls depraved! + +Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens; + I come to lead you to the other shore, + To the eternal shades in heat and frost. + +And thou, that yonder standest, living soul, + Withdraw thee from these people, who are dead!" + But when he saw that I did not withdraw, + +He said: "By other ways, by other ports + Thou to the shore shalt come, not here, for passage; + A lighter vessel needs must carry thee." + +And unto him the Guide: "Vex thee not, Charon; + It is so willed there where is power to do + That which is willed; and farther question not." + +Thereat were quieted the fleecy cheeks + Of him the ferryman of the livid fen, + Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame. + +But all those souls who weary were and naked + Their colour changed and gnashed their teeth together, + As soon as they had heard those cruel words. + +God they blasphemed and their progenitors, + The human race, the place, the time, the seed + Of their engendering and of their birth! + +Thereafter all together they drew back, + Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore, + Which waiteth every man who fears not God. + +Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede, + Beckoning to them, collects them all together, + Beats with his oar whoever lags behind. + +As in the autumn-time the leaves fall off, + First one and then another, till the branch + Unto the earth surrenders all its spoils; + +In similar wise the evil seed of Adam + Throw themselves from that margin one by one, + At signals, as a bird unto its lure. + +So they depart across the dusky wave, + And ere upon the other side they land, + Again on this side a new troop assembles. + +"My son," the courteous Master said to me, + "All those who perish in the wrath of God + Here meet together out of every land; + +And ready are they to pass o'er the river, + Because celestial Justice spurs them on, + So that their fear is turned into desire. + +This way there never passes a good soul; + And hence if Charon doth complain of thee, + Well mayst thou know now what his speech imports." + +This being finished, all the dusk champaign + Trembled so violently, that of that terror + The recollection bathes me still with sweat. + +The land of tears gave forth a blast of wind, + And fulminated a vermilion light, + Which overmastered in me every sense, + +And as a man whom sleep hath seized I fell. + + + +Inferno: Canto IV + + +Broke the deep lethargy within my head + A heavy thunder, so that I upstarted, + Like to a person who by force is wakened; + +And round about I moved my rested eyes, + Uprisen erect, and steadfastly I gazed, + To recognise the place wherein I was. + +True is it, that upon the verge I found me + Of the abysmal valley dolorous, + That gathers thunder of infinite ululations. + +Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous, + So that by fixing on its depths my sight + Nothing whatever I discerned therein. + +"Let us descend now into the blind world," + Began the Poet, pallid utterly; + "I will be first, and thou shalt second be." + +And I, who of his colour was aware, + Said: "How shall I come, if thou art afraid, + Who'rt wont to be a comfort to my fears?" + +And he to me: "The anguish of the people + Who are below here in my face depicts + That pity which for terror thou hast taken. + +Let us go on, for the long way impels us." + Thus he went in, and thus he made me enter + The foremost circle that surrounds the abyss. + +There, as it seemed to me from listening, + Were lamentations none, but only sighs, + That tremble made the everlasting air. + +And this arose from sorrow without torment, + Which the crowds had, that many were and great, + Of infants and of women and of men. + +To me the Master good: "Thou dost not ask + What spirits these, which thou beholdest, are? + Now will I have thee know, ere thou go farther, + +That they sinned not; and if they merit had, + 'Tis not enough, because they had not baptism + Which is the portal of the Faith thou holdest; + +And if they were before Christianity, + In the right manner they adored not God; + And among such as these am I myself. + +For such defects, and not for other guilt, + Lost are we and are only so far punished, + That without hope we live on in desire." + +Great grief seized on my heart when this I heard, + Because some people of much worthiness + I knew, who in that Limbo were suspended. + +"Tell me, my Master, tell me, thou my Lord," + Began I, with desire of being certain + Of that Faith which o'ercometh every error, + +"Came any one by his own merit hence, + Or by another's, who was blessed thereafter?" + And he, who understood my covert speech, + +Replied: "I was a novice in this state, + When I saw hither come a Mighty One, + With sign of victory incoronate. + +Hence he drew forth the shade of the First Parent, + And that of his son Abel, and of Noah, + Of Moses the lawgiver, and the obedient + +Abraham, patriarch, and David, king, + Israel with his father and his children, + And Rachel, for whose sake he did so much, + +And others many, and he made them blessed; + And thou must know, that earlier than these + Never were any human spirits saved." + +We ceased not to advance because he spake, + But still were passing onward through the forest, + The forest, say I, of thick-crowded ghosts. + +Not very far as yet our way had gone + This side the summit, when I saw a fire + That overcame a hemisphere of darkness. + +We were a little distant from it still, + But not so far that I in part discerned not + That honourable people held that place. + +"O thou who honourest every art and science, + Who may these be, which such great honour have, + That from the fashion of the rest it parts them?" + +And he to me: "The honourable name, + That sounds of them above there in thy life, + Wins grace in Heaven, that so advances them." + +In the mean time a voice was heard by me: + "All honour be to the pre-eminent Poet; + His shade returns again, that was departed." + +After the voice had ceased and quiet was, + Four mighty shades I saw approaching us; + Semblance had they nor sorrowful nor glad. + +To say to me began my gracious Master: + "Him with that falchion in his hand behold, + Who comes before the three, even as their lord. + +That one is Homer, Poet sovereign; + He who comes next is Horace, the satirist; + The third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan. + +Because to each of these with me applies + The name that solitary voice proclaimed, + They do me honour, and in that do well." + +Thus I beheld assemble the fair school + Of that lord of the song pre-eminent, + Who o'er the others like an eagle soars. + +When they together had discoursed somewhat, + They turned to me with signs of salutation, + And on beholding this, my Master smiled; + +And more of honour still, much more, they did me, + In that they made me one of their own band; + So that the sixth was I, 'mid so much wit. + +Thus we went on as far as to the light, + Things saying 'tis becoming to keep silent, + As was the saying of them where I was. + +We came unto a noble castle's foot, + Seven times encompassed with lofty walls, + Defended round by a fair rivulet; + +This we passed over even as firm ground; + Through portals seven I entered with these Sages; + We came into a meadow of fresh verdure. + +People were there with solemn eyes and slow, + Of great authority in their countenance; + They spake but seldom, and with gentle voices. + +Thus we withdrew ourselves upon one side + Into an opening luminous and lofty, + So that they all of them were visible. + +There opposite, upon the green enamel, + Were pointed out to me the mighty spirits, + Whom to have seen I feel myself exalted. + +I saw Electra with companions many, + 'Mongst whom I knew both Hector and Aeneas, + Caesar in armour with gerfalcon eyes; + +I saw Camilla and Penthesilea + On the other side, and saw the King Latinus, + Who with Lavinia his daughter sat; + +I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin forth, + Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia, + And saw alone, apart, the Saladin. + +When I had lifted up my brows a little, + The Master I beheld of those who know, + Sit with his philosophic family. + +All gaze upon him, and all do him honour. + There I beheld both Socrates and Plato, + Who nearer him before the others stand; + +Democritus, who puts the world on chance, + Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales, + Zeno, Empedocles, and Heraclitus; + +Of qualities I saw the good collector, + Hight Dioscorides; and Orpheus saw I, + Tully and Livy, and moral Seneca, + +Euclid, geometrician, and Ptolemy, + Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicenna, + Averroes, who the great Comment made. + +I cannot all of them pourtray in full, + Because so drives me onward the long theme, + That many times the word comes short of fact. + +The sixfold company in two divides; + Another way my sapient Guide conducts me + Forth from the quiet to the air that trembles; + +And to a place I come where nothing shines. + + + +Inferno: Canto V + + +Thus I descended out of the first circle + Down to the second, that less space begirds, + And so much greater dole, that goads to wailing. + +There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls; + Examines the transgressions at the entrance; + Judges, and sends according as he girds him. + +I say, that when the spirit evil-born + Cometh before him, wholly it confesses; + And this discriminator of transgressions + +Seeth what place in Hell is meet for it; + Girds himself with his tail as many times + As grades he wishes it should be thrust down. + +Always before him many of them stand; + They go by turns each one unto the judgment; + They speak, and hear, and then are downward hurled. + +"O thou, that to this dolorous hostelry + Comest," said Minos to me, when he saw me, + Leaving the practice of so great an office, + +"Look how thou enterest, and in whom thou trustest; + Let not the portal's amplitude deceive thee." + And unto him my Guide: "Why criest thou too? + +Do not impede his journey fate-ordained; + It is so willed there where is power to do + That which is willed; and ask no further question." + +And now begin the dolesome notes to grow + Audible unto me; now am I come + There where much lamentation strikes upon me. + +I came into a place mute of all light, + Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest, + If by opposing winds 't is combated. + +The infernal hurricane that never rests + Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine; + Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. + +When they arrive before the precipice, + There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments, + There they blaspheme the puissance divine. + +I understood that unto such a torment + The carnal malefactors were condemned, + Who reason subjugate to appetite. + +And as the wings of starlings bear them on + In the cold season in large band and full, + So doth that blast the spirits maledict; + +It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them; + No hope doth comfort them for evermore, + Not of repose, but even of lesser pain. + +And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays, + Making in air a long line of themselves, + So saw I coming, uttering lamentations, + +Shadows borne onward by the aforesaid stress. + Whereupon said I: "Master, who are those + People, whom the black air so castigates?" + +"The first of those, of whom intelligence + Thou fain wouldst have," then said he unto me, + "The empress was of many languages. + +To sensual vices she was so abandoned, + That lustful she made licit in her law, + To remove the blame to which she had been led. + +She is Semiramis, of whom we read + That she succeeded Ninus, and was his spouse; + She held the land which now the Sultan rules. + +The next is she who killed herself for love, + And broke faith with the ashes of Sichaeus; + Then Cleopatra the voluptuous." + +Helen I saw, for whom so many ruthless + Seasons revolved; and saw the great Achilles, + Who at the last hour combated with Love. + +Paris I saw, Tristan; and more than a thousand + Shades did he name and point out with his finger, + Whom Love had separated from our life. + +After that I had listened to my Teacher, + Naming the dames of eld and cavaliers, + Pity prevailed, and I was nigh bewildered. + +And I began: "O Poet, willingly + Speak would I to those two, who go together, + And seem upon the wind to be so light." + +And, he to me: "Thou'lt mark, when they shall be + Nearer to us; and then do thou implore them + By love which leadeth them, and they will come." + +Soon as the wind in our direction sways them, + My voice uplift I: "O ye weary souls! + Come speak to us, if no one interdicts it." + +As turtle-doves, called onward by desire, + With open and steady wings to the sweet nest + Fly through the air by their volition borne, + +So came they from the band where Dido is, + Approaching us athwart the air malign, + So strong was the affectionate appeal. + +"O living creature gracious and benignant, + Who visiting goest through the purple air + Us, who have stained the world incarnadine, + +If were the King of the Universe our friend, + We would pray unto him to give thee peace, + Since thou hast pity on our woe perverse. + +Of what it pleases thee to hear and speak, + That will we hear, and we will speak to you, + While silent is the wind, as it is now. + +Sitteth the city, wherein I was born, + Upon the sea-shore where the Po descends + To rest in peace with all his retinue. + +Love, that on gentle heart doth swiftly seize, + Seized this man for the person beautiful + That was ta'en from me, and still the mode offends me. + +Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving, + Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly, + That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me; + +Love has conducted us unto one death; + Caina waiteth him who quenched our life!" + These words were borne along from them to us. + +As soon as I had heard those souls tormented, + I bowed my face, and so long held it down + Until the Poet said to me: "What thinkest?" + +When I made answer, I began: "Alas! + How many pleasant thoughts, how much desire, + Conducted these unto the dolorous pass!" + +Then unto them I turned me, and I spake, + And I began: "Thine agonies, Francesca, + Sad and compassionate to weeping make me. + +But tell me, at the time of those sweet sighs, + By what and in what manner Love conceded, + That you should know your dubious desires?" + +And she to me: "There is no greater sorrow + Than to be mindful of the happy time + In misery, and that thy Teacher knows. + +But, if to recognise the earliest root + Of love in us thou hast so great desire, + I will do even as he who weeps and speaks. + +One day we reading were for our delight + Of Launcelot, how Love did him enthral. + Alone we were and without any fear. + +Full many a time our eyes together drew + That reading, and drove the colour from our faces; + But one point only was it that o'ercame us. + +When as we read of the much-longed-for smile + Being by such a noble lover kissed, + This one, who ne'er from me shall be divided, + +Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating. + Galeotto was the book and he who wrote it. + That day no farther did we read therein." + +And all the while one spirit uttered this, + The other one did weep so, that, for pity, + I swooned away as if I had been dying, + +And fell, even as a dead body falls. + + + +Inferno: Canto VI + + +At the return of consciousness, that closed + Before the pity of those two relations, + Which utterly with sadness had confused me, + +New torments I behold, and new tormented + Around me, whichsoever way I move, + And whichsoever way I turn, and gaze. + +In the third circle am I of the rain + Eternal, maledict, and cold, and heavy; + Its law and quality are never new. + +Huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow, + Athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain; + Noisome the earth is, that receiveth this. + +Cerberus, monster cruel and uncouth, + With his three gullets like a dog is barking + Over the people that are there submerged. + +Red eyes he has, and unctuous beard and black, + And belly large, and armed with claws his hands; + He rends the spirits, flays, and quarters them. + +Howl the rain maketh them like unto dogs; + One side they make a shelter for the other; + Oft turn themselves the wretched reprobates. + +When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm! + His mouths he opened, and displayed his tusks; + Not a limb had he that was motionless. + +And my Conductor, with his spans extended, + Took of the earth, and with his fists well filled, + He threw it into those rapacious gullets. + +Such as that dog is, who by barking craves, + And quiet grows soon as his food he gnaws, + For to devour it he but thinks and struggles, + +The like became those muzzles filth-begrimed + Of Cerberus the demon, who so thunders + Over the souls that they would fain be deaf. + +We passed across the shadows, which subdues + The heavy rain-storm, and we placed our feet + Upon their vanity that person seems. + +They all were lying prone upon the earth, + Excepting one, who sat upright as soon + As he beheld us passing on before him. + +"O thou that art conducted through this Hell," + He said to me, "recall me, if thou canst; + Thyself wast made before I was unmade." + +And I to him: "The anguish which thou hast + Perhaps doth draw thee out of my remembrance, + So that it seems not I have ever seen thee. + +But tell me who thou art, that in so doleful + A place art put, and in such punishment, + If some are greater, none is so displeasing." + +And he to me: "Thy city, which is full + Of envy so that now the sack runs over, + Held me within it in the life serene. + +You citizens were wont to call me Ciacco; + For the pernicious sin of gluttony + I, as thou seest, am battered by this rain. + +And I, sad soul, am not the only one, + For all these suffer the like penalty + For the like sin;" and word no more spake he. + +I answered him: "Ciacco, thy wretchedness + Weighs on me so that it to weep invites me; + But tell me, if thou knowest, to what shall come + +The citizens of the divided city; + If any there be just; and the occasion + Tell me why so much discord has assailed it." + +And he to me: "They, after long contention, + Will come to bloodshed; and the rustic party + Will drive the other out with much offence. + +Then afterwards behoves it this one fall + Within three suns, and rise again the other + By force of him who now is on the coast. + +High will it hold its forehead a long while, + Keeping the other under heavy burdens, + Howe'er it weeps thereat and is indignant. + +The just are two, and are not understood there; + Envy and Arrogance and Avarice + Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled." + +Here ended he his tearful utterance; + And I to him: "I wish thee still to teach me, + And make a gift to me of further speech. + +Farinata and Tegghiaio, once so worthy, + Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca, + And others who on good deeds set their thoughts, + +Say where they are, and cause that I may know them; + For great desire constraineth me to learn + If Heaven doth sweeten them, or Hell envenom." + +And he: "They are among the blacker souls; + A different sin downweighs them to the bottom; + If thou so far descendest, thou canst see them. + +But when thou art again in the sweet world, + I pray thee to the mind of others bring me; + No more I tell thee and no more I answer." + +Then his straightforward eyes he turned askance, + Eyed me a little, and then bowed his head; + He fell therewith prone like the other blind. + +And the Guide said to me: "He wakes no more + This side the sound of the angelic trumpet; + When shall approach the hostile Potentate, + +Each one shall find again his dismal tomb, + Shall reassume his flesh and his own figure, + Shall hear what through eternity re-echoes." + +So we passed onward o'er the filthy mixture + Of shadows and of rain with footsteps slow, + Touching a little on the future life. + +Wherefore I said: "Master, these torments here, + Will they increase after the mighty sentence, + Or lesser be, or will they be as burning?" + +And he to me: "Return unto thy science, + Which wills, that as the thing more perfect is, + The more it feels of pleasure and of pain. + +Albeit that this people maledict + To true perfection never can attain, + Hereafter more than now they look to be." + +Round in a circle by that road we went, + Speaking much more, which I do not repeat; + We came unto the point where the descent is; + +There we found Plutus the great enemy. + + + +Inferno: Canto VII + + +"Pape Satan, Pape Satan, Aleppe!" + Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began; + And that benignant Sage, who all things knew, + +Said, to encourage me: "Let not thy fear + Harm thee; for any power that he may have + Shall not prevent thy going down this crag." + +Then he turned round unto that bloated lip, + And said: "Be silent, thou accursed wolf; + Consume within thyself with thine own rage. + +Not causeless is this journey to the abyss; + Thus is it willed on high, where Michael wrought + Vengeance upon the proud adultery." + +Even as the sails inflated by the wind + Involved together fall when snaps the mast, + So fell the cruel monster to the earth. + +Thus we descended into the fourth chasm, + Gaining still farther on the dolesome shore + Which all the woe of the universe insacks. + +Justice of God, ah! who heaps up so many + New toils and sufferings as I beheld? + And why doth our transgression waste us so? + +As doth the billow there upon Charybdis, + That breaks itself on that which it encounters, + So here the folk must dance their roundelay. + +Here saw I people, more than elsewhere, many, + On one side and the other, with great howls, + Rolling weights forward by main force of chest. + +They clashed together, and then at that point + Each one turned backward, rolling retrograde, + Crying, "Why keepest?" and, "Why squanderest thou?" + +Thus they returned along the lurid circle + On either hand unto the opposite point, + Shouting their shameful metre evermore. + +Then each, when he arrived there, wheeled about + Through his half-circle to another joust; + And I, who had my heart pierced as it were, + +Exclaimed: "My Master, now declare to me + What people these are, and if all were clerks, + These shaven crowns upon the left of us." + +And he to me: "All of them were asquint + In intellect in the first life, so much + That there with measure they no spending made. + +Clearly enough their voices bark it forth, + Whene'er they reach the two points of the circle, + Where sunders them the opposite defect. + +Clerks those were who no hairy covering + Have on the head, and Popes and Cardinals, + In whom doth Avarice practise its excess." + +And I: "My Master, among such as these + I ought forsooth to recognise some few, + Who were infected with these maladies." + +And he to me: "Vain thought thou entertainest; + The undiscerning life which made them sordid + Now makes them unto all discernment dim. + +Forever shall they come to these two buttings; + These from the sepulchre shall rise again + With the fist closed, and these with tresses shorn. + +Ill giving and ill keeping the fair world + Have ta'en from them, and placed them in this scuffle; + Whate'er it be, no words adorn I for it. + +Now canst thou, Son, behold the transient farce + Of goods that are committed unto Fortune, + For which the human race each other buffet; + +For all the gold that is beneath the moon, + Or ever has been, of these weary souls + Could never make a single one repose." + +"Master," I said to him, "now tell me also + What is this Fortune which thou speakest of, + That has the world's goods so within its clutches?" + +And he to me: "O creatures imbecile, + What ignorance is this which doth beset you? + Now will I have thee learn my judgment of her. + +He whose omniscience everything transcends + The heavens created, and gave who should guide them, + That every part to every part may shine, + +Distributing the light in equal measure; + He in like manner to the mundane splendours + Ordained a general ministress and guide, + +That she might change at times the empty treasures + From race to race, from one blood to another, + Beyond resistance of all human wisdom. + +Therefore one people triumphs, and another + Languishes, in pursuance of her judgment, + Which hidden is, as in the grass a serpent. + +Your knowledge has no counterstand against her; + She makes provision, judges, and pursues + Her governance, as theirs the other gods. + +Her permutations have not any truce; + Necessity makes her precipitate, + So often cometh who his turn obtains. + +And this is she who is so crucified + Even by those who ought to give her praise, + Giving her blame amiss, and bad repute. + +But she is blissful, and she hears it not; + Among the other primal creatures gladsome + She turns her sphere, and blissful she rejoices. + +Let us descend now unto greater woe; + Already sinks each star that was ascending + When I set out, and loitering is forbidden." + +We crossed the circle to the other bank, + Near to a fount that boils, and pours itself + Along a gully that runs out of it. + +The water was more sombre far than perse; + And we, in company with the dusky waves, + Made entrance downward by a path uncouth. + +A marsh it makes, which has the name of Styx, + This tristful brooklet, when it has descended + Down to the foot of the malign gray shores. + +And I, who stood intent upon beholding, + Saw people mud-besprent in that lagoon, + All of them naked and with angry look. + +They smote each other not alone with hands, + But with the head and with the breast and feet, + Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth. + +Said the good Master: "Son, thou now beholdest + The souls of those whom anger overcame; + And likewise I would have thee know for certain + +Beneath the water people are who sigh + And make this water bubble at the surface, + As the eye tells thee wheresoe'er it turns. + +Fixed in the mire they say, 'We sullen were + In the sweet air, which by the sun is gladdened, + Bearing within ourselves the sluggish reek; + +Now we are sullen in this sable mire.' + This hymn do they keep gurgling in their throats, + For with unbroken words they cannot say it." + +Thus we went circling round the filthy fen + A great arc 'twixt the dry bank and the swamp, + With eyes turned unto those who gorge the mire; + +Unto the foot of a tower we came at last. + + + +Inferno: Canto VIII + + +I say, continuing, that long before + We to the foot of that high tower had come, + Our eyes went upward to the summit of it, + +By reason of two flamelets we saw placed there, + And from afar another answer them, + So far, that hardly could the eye attain it. + +And, to the sea of all discernment turned, + I said: "What sayeth this, and what respondeth + That other fire? and who are they that made it?" + +And he to me: "Across the turbid waves + What is expected thou canst now discern, + If reek of the morass conceal it not." + +Cord never shot an arrow from itself + That sped away athwart the air so swift, + As I beheld a very little boat + +Come o'er the water tow'rds us at that moment, + Under the guidance of a single pilot, + Who shouted, "Now art thou arrived, fell soul?" + +"Phlegyas, Phlegyas, thou criest out in vain + For this once," said my Lord; "thou shalt not have us + Longer than in the passing of the slough." + +As he who listens to some great deceit + That has been done to him, and then resents it, + Such became Phlegyas, in his gathered wrath. + +My Guide descended down into the boat, + And then he made me enter after him, + And only when I entered seemed it laden. + +Soon as the Guide and I were in the boat, + The antique prow goes on its way, dividing + More of the water than 'tis wont with others. + +While we were running through the dead canal, + Uprose in front of me one full of mire, + And said, "Who 'rt thou that comest ere the hour?" + +And I to him: "Although I come, I stay not; + But who art thou that hast become so squalid?" + "Thou seest that I am one who weeps," he answered. + +And I to him: "With weeping and with wailing, + Thou spirit maledict, do thou remain; + For thee I know, though thou art all defiled." + +Then stretched he both his hands unto the boat; + Whereat my wary Master thrust him back, + Saying, "Away there with the other dogs!" + +Thereafter with his arms he clasped my neck; + He kissed my face, and said: "Disdainful soul, + Blessed be she who bore thee in her bosom. + +That was an arrogant person in the world; + Goodness is none, that decks his memory; + So likewise here his shade is furious. + +How many are esteemed great kings up there, + Who here shall be like unto swine in mire, + Leaving behind them horrible dispraises!" + +And I: "My Master, much should I be pleased, + If I could see him soused into this broth, + Before we issue forth out of the lake." + +And he to me: "Ere unto thee the shore + Reveal itself, thou shalt be satisfied; + Such a desire 'tis meet thou shouldst enjoy." + +A little after that, I saw such havoc + Made of him by the people of the mire, + That still I praise and thank my God for it. + +They all were shouting, "At Philippo Argenti!" + And that exasperate spirit Florentine + Turned round upon himself with his own teeth. + +We left him there, and more of him I tell not; + But on mine ears there smote a lamentation, + Whence forward I intent unbar mine eyes. + +And the good Master said: "Even now, my Son, + The city draweth near whose name is Dis, + With the grave citizens, with the great throng." + +And I: "Its mosques already, Master, clearly + Within there in the valley I discern + Vermilion, as if issuing from the fire + +They were." And he to me: "The fire eternal + That kindles them within makes them look red, + As thou beholdest in this nether Hell." + +Then we arrived within the moats profound, + That circumvallate that disconsolate city; + The walls appeared to me to be of iron. + +Not without making first a circuit wide, + We came unto a place where loud the pilot + Cried out to us, "Debark, here is the entrance." + +More than a thousand at the gates I saw + Out of the Heavens rained down, who angrily + Were saying, "Who is this that without death + +Goes through the kingdom of the people dead?" + And my sagacious Master made a sign + Of wishing secretly to speak with them. + +A little then they quelled their great disdain, + And said: "Come thou alone, and he begone + Who has so boldly entered these dominions. + +Let him return alone by his mad road; + Try, if he can; for thou shalt here remain, + Who hast escorted him through such dark regions." + +Think, Reader, if I was discomforted + At utterance of the accursed words; + For never to return here I believed. + +"O my dear Guide, who more than seven times + Hast rendered me security, and drawn me + From imminent peril that before me stood, + +Do not desert me," said I, "thus undone; + And if the going farther be denied us, + Let us retrace our steps together swiftly." + +And that Lord, who had led me thitherward, + Said unto me: "Fear not; because our passage + None can take from us, it by Such is given. + +But here await me, and thy weary spirit + Comfort and nourish with a better hope; + For in this nether world I will not leave thee." + +So onward goes and there abandons me + My Father sweet, and I remain in doubt, + For No and Yes within my head contend. + +I could not hear what he proposed to them; + But with them there he did not linger long, + Ere each within in rivalry ran back. + +They closed the portals, those our adversaries, + On my Lord's breast, who had remained without + And turned to me with footsteps far between. + +His eyes cast down, his forehead shorn had he + Of all its boldness, and he said, with sighs, + "Who has denied to me the dolesome houses?" + +And unto me: "Thou, because I am angry, + Fear not, for I will conquer in the trial, + Whatever for defence within be planned. + +This arrogance of theirs is nothing new; + For once they used it at less secret gate, + Which finds itself without a fastening still. + +O'er it didst thou behold the dead inscription; + And now this side of it descends the steep, + Passing across the circles without escort, + +One by whose means the city shall be opened." + + + +Inferno: Canto IX + + +That hue which cowardice brought out on me, + Beholding my Conductor backward turn, + Sooner repressed within him his new colour. + +He stopped attentive, like a man who listens, + Because the eye could not conduct him far + Through the black air, and through the heavy fog. + +"Still it behoveth us to win the fight," + Began he; "Else. . .Such offered us herself. . . + O how I long that some one here arrive!" + +Well I perceived, as soon as the beginning + He covered up with what came afterward, + That they were words quite different from the first; + +But none the less his saying gave me fear, + Because I carried out the broken phrase, + Perhaps to a worse meaning than he had. + +"Into this bottom of the doleful conch + Doth any e'er descend from the first grade, + Which for its pain has only hope cut off?" + +This question put I; and he answered me: + "Seldom it comes to pass that one of us + Maketh the journey upon which I go. + +True is it, once before I here below + Was conjured by that pitiless Erictho, + Who summoned back the shades unto their bodies. + +Naked of me short while the flesh had been, + Before within that wall she made me enter, + To bring a spirit from the circle of Judas; + +That is the lowest region and the darkest, + And farthest from the heaven which circles all. + Well know I the way; therefore be reassured. + +This fen, which a prodigious stench exhales, + Encompasses about the city dolent, + Where now we cannot enter without anger." + +And more he said, but not in mind I have it; + Because mine eye had altogether drawn me + Tow'rds the high tower with the red-flaming summit, + +Where in a moment saw I swift uprisen + The three infernal Furies stained with blood, + Who had the limbs of women and their mien, + +And with the greenest hydras were begirt; + Small serpents and cerastes were their tresses, + Wherewith their horrid temples were entwined. + +And he who well the handmaids of the Queen + Of everlasting lamentation knew, + Said unto me: "Behold the fierce Erinnys. + +This is Megaera, on the left-hand side; + She who is weeping on the right, Alecto; + Tisiphone is between;" and then was silent. + +Each one her breast was rending with her nails; + They beat them with their palms, and cried so loud, + That I for dread pressed close unto the Poet. + +"Medusa come, so we to stone will change him!" + All shouted looking down; "in evil hour + Avenged we not on Theseus his assault!" + +"Turn thyself round, and keep thine eyes close shut, + For if the Gorgon appear, and thou shouldst see it, + No more returning upward would there be." + +Thus said the Master; and he turned me round + Himself, and trusted not unto my hands + So far as not to blind me with his own. + +O ye who have undistempered intellects, + Observe the doctrine that conceals itself + Beneath the veil of the mysterious verses! + +And now there came across the turbid waves + The clangour of a sound with terror fraught, + Because of which both of the margins trembled; + +Not otherwise it was than of a wind + Impetuous on account of adverse heats, + That smites the forest, and, without restraint, + +The branches rends, beats down, and bears away; + Right onward, laden with dust, it goes superb, + And puts to flight the wild beasts and the shepherds. + +Mine eyes he loosed, and said: "Direct the nerve + Of vision now along that ancient foam, + There yonder where that smoke is most intense." + +Even as the frogs before the hostile serpent + Across the water scatter all abroad, + Until each one is huddled in the earth. + +More than a thousand ruined souls I saw, + Thus fleeing from before one who on foot + Was passing o'er the Styx with soles unwet. + +From off his face he fanned that unctuous air, + Waving his left hand oft in front of him, + And only with that anguish seemed he weary. + +Well I perceived one sent from Heaven was he, + And to the Master turned; and he made sign + That I should quiet stand, and bow before him. + +Ah! how disdainful he appeared to me! + He reached the gate, and with a little rod + He opened it, for there was no resistance. + +"O banished out of Heaven, people despised!" + Thus he began upon the horrid threshold; + "Whence is this arrogance within you couched? + +Wherefore recalcitrate against that will, + From which the end can never be cut off, + And which has many times increased your pain? + +What helpeth it to butt against the fates? + Your Cerberus, if you remember well, + For that still bears his chin and gullet peeled." + +Then he returned along the miry road, + And spake no word to us, but had the look + Of one whom other care constrains and goads + +Than that of him who in his presence is; + And we our feet directed tow'rds the city, + After those holy words all confident. + +Within we entered without any contest; + And I, who inclination had to see + What the condition such a fortress holds, + +Soon as I was within, cast round mine eye, + And see on every hand an ample plain, + Full of distress and torment terrible. + +Even as at Arles, where stagnant grows the Rhone, + Even as at Pola near to the Quarnaro, + That shuts in Italy and bathes its borders, + +The sepulchres make all the place uneven; + So likewise did they there on every side, + Saving that there the manner was more bitter; + +For flames between the sepulchres were scattered, + By which they so intensely heated were, + That iron more so asks not any art. + +All of their coverings uplifted were, + And from them issued forth such dire laments, + Sooth seemed they of the wretched and tormented. + +And I: "My Master, what are all those people + Who, having sepulture within those tombs, + Make themselves audible by doleful sighs?" + +And he to me: "Here are the Heresiarchs, + With their disciples of all sects, and much + More than thou thinkest laden are the tombs. + +Here like together with its like is buried; + And more and less the monuments are heated." + And when he to the right had turned, we passed + +Between the torments and high parapets. + + + +Inferno: Canto X + + +Now onward goes, along a narrow path + Between the torments and the city wall, + My Master, and I follow at his back. + +"O power supreme, that through these impious circles + Turnest me," I began, "as pleases thee, + Speak to me, and my longings satisfy; + +The people who are lying in these tombs, + Might they be seen? already are uplifted + The covers all, and no one keepeth guard." + +And he to me: "They all will be closed up + When from Jehoshaphat they shall return + Here with the bodies they have left above. + +Their cemetery have upon this side + With Epicurus all his followers, + Who with the body mortal make the soul; + +But in the question thou dost put to me, + Within here shalt thou soon be satisfied, + And likewise in the wish thou keepest silent." + +And I: "Good Leader, I but keep concealed + From thee my heart, that I may speak the less, + Nor only now hast thou thereto disposed me." + +"O Tuscan, thou who through the city of fire + Goest alive, thus speaking modestly, + Be pleased to stay thy footsteps in this place. + +Thy mode of speaking makes thee manifest + A native of that noble fatherland, + To which perhaps I too molestful was." + +Upon a sudden issued forth this sound + From out one of the tombs; wherefore I pressed, + Fearing, a little nearer to my Leader. + +And unto me he said: "Turn thee; what dost thou? + Behold there Farinata who has risen; + From the waist upwards wholly shalt thou see him." + +I had already fixed mine eyes on his, + And he uprose erect with breast and front + E'en as if Hell he had in great despite. + +And with courageous hands and prompt my Leader + Thrust me between the sepulchres towards him, + Exclaiming, "Let thy words explicit be." + +As soon as I was at the foot of his tomb + Somewhat he eyed me, and, as if disdainful, + Then asked of me, "Who were thine ancestors?" + +I, who desirous of obeying was, + Concealed it not, but all revealed to him; + Whereat he raised his brows a little upward. + +Then said he: "Fiercely adverse have they been + To me, and to my fathers, and my party; + So that two several times I scattered them." + +"If they were banished, they returned on all sides," + I answered him, "the first time and the second; + But yours have not acquired that art aright." + +Then there uprose upon the sight, uncovered + Down to the chin, a shadow at his side; + I think that he had risen on his knees. + +Round me he gazed, as if solicitude + He had to see if some one else were with me, + But after his suspicion was all spent, + +Weeping, he said to me: "If through this blind + Prison thou goest by loftiness of genius, + Where is my son? and why is he not with thee?" + +And I to him: "I come not of myself; + He who is waiting yonder leads me here, + Whom in disdain perhaps your Guido had." + +His language and the mode of punishment + Already unto me had read his name; + On that account my answer was so full. + +Up starting suddenly, he cried out: "How + Saidst thou,--he had? Is he not still alive? + Does not the sweet light strike upon his eyes?" + +When he became aware of some delay, + Which I before my answer made, supine + He fell again, and forth appeared no more. + +But the other, magnanimous, at whose desire + I had remained, did not his aspect change, + Neither his neck he moved, nor bent his side. + +"And if," continuing his first discourse, + "They have that art," he said, "not learned aright, + That more tormenteth me, than doth this bed. + +But fifty times shall not rekindled be + The countenance of the Lady who reigns here, + Ere thou shalt know how heavy is that art; + +And as thou wouldst to the sweet world return, + Say why that people is so pitiless + Against my race in each one of its laws?" + +Whence I to him: "The slaughter and great carnage + Which have with crimson stained the Arbia, cause + Such orisons in our temple to be made." + +After his head he with a sigh had shaken, + "There I was not alone," he said, "nor surely + Without a cause had with the others moved. + +But there I was alone, where every one + Consented to the laying waste of Florence, + He who defended her with open face." + +"Ah! so hereafter may your seed repose," + I him entreated, "solve for me that knot, + Which has entangled my conceptions here. + +It seems that you can see, if I hear rightly, + Beforehand whatsoe'er time brings with it, + And in the present have another mode." + +"We see, like those who have imperfect sight, + The things," he said, "that distant are from us; + So much still shines on us the Sovereign Ruler. + +When they draw near, or are, is wholly vain + Our intellect, and if none brings it to us, + Not anything know we of your human state. + +Hence thou canst understand, that wholly dead + Will be our knowledge from the moment when + The portal of the future shall be closed." + +Then I, as if compunctious for my fault, + Said: "Now, then, you will tell that fallen one, + That still his son is with the living joined. + +And if just now, in answering, I was dumb, + Tell him I did it because I was thinking + Already of the error you have solved me." + +And now my Master was recalling me, + Wherefore more eagerly I prayed the spirit + That he would tell me who was with him there. + +He said: "With more than a thousand here I lie; + Within here is the second Frederick, + And the Cardinal, and of the rest I speak not." + +Thereon he hid himself; and I towards + The ancient poet turned my steps, reflecting + Upon that saying, which seemed hostile to me. + +He moved along; and afterward thus going, + He said to me, "Why art thou so bewildered?" + And I in his inquiry satisfied him. + +"Let memory preserve what thou hast heard + Against thyself," that Sage commanded me, + "And now attend here;" and he raised his finger. + +"When thou shalt be before the radiance sweet + Of her whose beauteous eyes all things behold, + From her thou'lt know the journey of thy life." + +Unto the left hand then he turned his feet; + We left the wall, and went towards the middle, + Along a path that strikes into a valley, + +Which even up there unpleasant made its stench. + + + +Inferno: Canto XI + + +Upon the margin of a lofty bank + Which great rocks broken in a circle made, + We came upon a still more cruel throng; + +And there, by reason of the horrible + Excess of stench the deep abyss throws out, + We drew ourselves aside behind the cover + +Of a great tomb, whereon I saw a writing, + Which said: "Pope Anastasius I hold, + Whom out of the right way Photinus drew." + +"Slow it behoveth our descent to be, + So that the sense be first a little used + To the sad blast, and then we shall not heed it." + +The Master thus; and unto him I said, + "Some compensation find, that the time pass not + Idly;" and he: "Thou seest I think of that. + +My son, upon the inside of these rocks," + Began he then to say, "are three small circles, + From grade to grade, like those which thou art leaving. + +They all are full of spirits maledict; + But that hereafter sight alone suffice thee, + Hear how and wherefore they are in constraint. + +Of every malice that wins hate in Heaven, + Injury is the end; and all such end + Either by force or fraud afflicteth others. + +But because fraud is man's peculiar vice, + More it displeases God; and so stand lowest + The fraudulent, and greater dole assails them. + +All the first circle of the Violent is; + But since force may be used against three persons, + In three rounds 'tis divided and constructed. + +To God, to ourselves, and to our neighbour can we + Use force; I say on them and on their things, + As thou shalt hear with reason manifest. + +A death by violence, and painful wounds, + Are to our neighbour given; and in his substance + Ruin, and arson, and injurious levies; + +Whence homicides, and he who smites unjustly, + Marauders, and freebooters, the first round + Tormenteth all in companies diverse. + +Man may lay violent hands upon himself + And his own goods; and therefore in the second + Round must perforce without avail repent + +Whoever of your world deprives himself, + Who games, and dissipates his property, + And weepeth there, where he should jocund be. + +Violence can be done the Deity, + In heart denying and blaspheming Him, + And by disdaining Nature and her bounty. + +And for this reason doth the smallest round + Seal with its signet Sodom and Cahors, + And who, disdaining God, speaks from the heart. + +Fraud, wherewithal is every conscience stung, + A man may practise upon him who trusts, + And him who doth no confidence imburse. + +This latter mode, it would appear, dissevers + Only the bond of love which Nature makes; + Wherefore within the second circle nestle + +Hypocrisy, flattery, and who deals in magic, + Falsification, theft, and simony, + Panders, and barrators, and the like filth. + +By the other mode, forgotten is that love + Which Nature makes, and what is after added, + From which there is a special faith engendered. + +Hence in the smallest circle, where the point is + Of the Universe, upon which Dis is seated, + Whoe'er betrays for ever is consumed." + +And I: "My Master, clear enough proceeds + Thy reasoning, and full well distinguishes + This cavern and the people who possess it. + +But tell me, those within the fat lagoon, + Whom the wind drives, and whom the rain doth beat, + And who encounter with such bitter tongues, + +Wherefore are they inside of the red city + Not punished, if God has them in his wrath, + And if he has not, wherefore in such fashion?" + +And unto me he said: "Why wanders so + Thine intellect from that which it is wont? + Or, sooth, thy mind where is it elsewhere looking? + +Hast thou no recollection of those words + With which thine Ethics thoroughly discusses + The dispositions three, that Heaven abides not,-- + +Incontinence, and Malice, and insane + Bestiality? and how Incontinence + Less God offendeth, and less blame attracts? + +If thou regardest this conclusion well, + And to thy mind recallest who they are + That up outside are undergoing penance, + +Clearly wilt thou perceive why from these felons + They separated are, and why less wroth + Justice divine doth smite them with its hammer." + +"O Sun, that healest all distempered vision, + Thou dost content me so, when thou resolvest, + That doubting pleases me no less than knowing! + +Once more a little backward turn thee," said I, + "There where thou sayest that usury offends + Goodness divine, and disengage the knot." + +"Philosophy," he said, "to him who heeds it, + Noteth, not only in one place alone, + After what manner Nature takes her course + +From Intellect Divine, and from its art; + And if thy Physics carefully thou notest, + After not many pages shalt thou find, + +That this your art as far as possible + Follows, as the disciple doth the master; + So that your art is, as it were, God's grandchild. + +From these two, if thou bringest to thy mind + Genesis at the beginning, it behoves + Mankind to gain their life and to advance; + +And since the usurer takes another way, + Nature herself and in her follower + Disdains he, for elsewhere he puts his hope. + +But follow, now, as I would fain go on, + For quivering are the Fishes on the horizon, + And the Wain wholly over Caurus lies, + +And far beyond there we descend the crag." + + + +Inferno: Canto XII + + +The place where to descend the bank we came + Was alpine, and from what was there, moreover, + Of such a kind that every eye would shun it. + +Such as that ruin is which in the flank + Smote, on this side of Trent, the Adige, + Either by earthquake or by failing stay, + +For from the mountain's top, from which it moved, + Unto the plain the cliff is shattered so, + Some path 'twould give to him who was above; + +Even such was the descent of that ravine, + And on the border of the broken chasm + The infamy of Crete was stretched along, + +Who was conceived in the fictitious cow; + And when he us beheld, he bit himself, + Even as one whom anger racks within. + +My Sage towards him shouted: "Peradventure + Thou think'st that here may be the Duke of Athens, + Who in the world above brought death to thee? + +Get thee gone, beast, for this one cometh not + Instructed by thy sister, but he comes + In order to behold your punishments." + +As is that bull who breaks loose at the moment + In which he has received the mortal blow, + Who cannot walk, but staggers here and there, + +The Minotaur beheld I do the like; + And he, the wary, cried: "Run to the passage; + While he wroth, 'tis well thou shouldst descend." + +Thus down we took our way o'er that discharge + Of stones, which oftentimes did move themselves + Beneath my feet, from the unwonted burden. + +Thoughtful I went; and he said: "Thou art thinking + Perhaps upon this ruin, which is guarded + By that brute anger which just now I quenched. + +Now will I have thee know, the other time + I here descended to the nether Hell, + This precipice had not yet fallen down. + +But truly, if I well discern, a little + Before His coming who the mighty spoil + Bore off from Dis, in the supernal circle, + +Upon all sides the deep and loathsome valley + Trembled so, that I thought the Universe + Was thrilled with love, by which there are who think + +The world ofttimes converted into chaos; + And at that moment this primeval crag + Both here and elsewhere made such overthrow. + +But fix thine eyes below; for draweth near + The river of blood, within which boiling is + Whoe'er by violence doth injure others." + +O blind cupidity, O wrath insane, + That spurs us onward so in our short life, + And in the eternal then so badly steeps us! + +I saw an ample moat bent like a bow, + As one which all the plain encompasses, + Conformable to what my Guide had said. + +And between this and the embankment's foot + Centaurs in file were running, armed with arrows, + As in the world they used the chase to follow. + +Beholding us descend, each one stood still, + And from the squadron three detached themselves, + With bows and arrows in advance selected; + +And from afar one cried: "Unto what torment + Come ye, who down the hillside are descending? + Tell us from there; if not, I draw the bow." + +My Master said: "Our answer will we make + To Chiron, near you there; in evil hour, + That will of thine was evermore so hasty." + +Then touched he me, and said: "This one is Nessus, + Who perished for the lovely Dejanira, + And for himself, himself did vengeance take. + +And he in the midst, who at his breast is gazing, + Is the great Chiron, who brought up Achilles; + That other Pholus is, who was so wrathful. + +Thousands and thousands go about the moat + Shooting with shafts whatever soul emerges + Out of the blood, more than his crime allots." + +Near we approached unto those monsters fleet; + Chiron an arrow took, and with the notch + Backward upon his jaws he put his beard. + +After he had uncovered his great mouth, + He said to his companions: "Are you ware + That he behind moveth whate'er he touches? + +Thus are not wont to do the feet of dead men." + And my good Guide, who now was at his breast, + Where the two natures are together joined, + +Replied: "Indeed he lives, and thus alone + Me it behoves to show him the dark valley; + Necessity, and not delight, impels us. + +Some one withdrew from singing Halleluja, + Who unto me committed this new office; + No thief is he, nor I a thievish spirit. + +But by that virtue through which I am moving + My steps along this savage thoroughfare, + Give us some one of thine, to be with us, + +And who may show us where to pass the ford, + And who may carry this one on his back; + For 'tis no spirit that can walk the air." + +Upon his right breast Chiron wheeled about, + And said to Nessus: "Turn and do thou guide them, + And warn aside, if other band may meet you." + +We with our faithful escort onward moved + Along the brink of the vermilion boiling, + Wherein the boiled were uttering loud laments. + +People I saw within up to the eyebrows, + And the great Centaur said: "Tyrants are these, + Who dealt in bloodshed and in pillaging. + +Here they lament their pitiless mischiefs; here + Is Alexander, and fierce Dionysius + Who upon Sicily brought dolorous years. + +That forehead there which has the hair so black + Is Azzolin; and the other who is blond, + Obizzo is of Esti, who, in truth, + +Up in the world was by his stepson slain." + Then turned I to the Poet; and he said, + "Now he be first to thee, and second I." + +A little farther on the Centaur stopped + Above a folk, who far down as the throat + Seemed from that boiling stream to issue forth. + +A shade he showed us on one side alone, + Saying: "He cleft asunder in God's bosom + The heart that still upon the Thames is honoured." + +Then people saw I, who from out the river + Lifted their heads and also all the chest; + And many among these I recognised. + +Thus ever more and more grew shallower + That blood, so that the feet alone it covered; + And there across the moat our passage was. + +"Even as thou here upon this side beholdest + The boiling stream, that aye diminishes," + The Centaur said, "I wish thee to believe + +That on this other more and more declines + Its bed, until it reunites itself + Where it behoveth tyranny to groan. + +Justice divine, upon this side, is goading + That Attila, who was a scourge on earth, + And Pyrrhus, and Sextus; and for ever milks + +The tears which with the boiling it unseals + In Rinier da Corneto and Rinier Pazzo, + Who made upon the highways so much war." + +Then back he turned, and passed again the ford. + + + +Inferno: Canto XIII + + +Not yet had Nessus reached the other side, + When we had put ourselves within a wood, + That was not marked by any path whatever. + +Not foliage green, but of a dusky colour, + Not branches smooth, but gnarled and intertangled, + Not apple-trees were there, but thorns with poison. + +Such tangled thickets have not, nor so dense, + Those savage wild beasts, that in hatred hold + 'Twixt Cecina and Corneto the tilled places. + +There do the hideous Harpies make their nests, + Who chased the Trojans from the Strophades, + With sad announcement of impending doom; + +Broad wings have they, and necks and faces human, + And feet with claws, and their great bellies fledged; + They make laments upon the wondrous trees. + +And the good Master: "Ere thou enter farther, + Know that thou art within the second round," + Thus he began to say, "and shalt be, till + +Thou comest out upon the horrible sand; + Therefore look well around, and thou shalt see + Things that will credence give unto my speech." + +I heard on all sides lamentations uttered, + And person none beheld I who might make them, + Whence, utterly bewildered, I stood still. + +I think he thought that I perhaps might think + So many voices issued through those trunks + From people who concealed themselves from us; + +Therefore the Master said: "If thou break off + Some little spray from any of these trees, + The thoughts thou hast will wholly be made vain." + +Then stretched I forth my hand a little forward, + And plucked a branchlet off from a great thorn; + And the trunk cried, "Why dost thou mangle me?" + +After it had become embrowned with blood, + It recommenced its cry: "Why dost thou rend me? + Hast thou no spirit of pity whatsoever? + +Men once we were, and now are changed to trees; + Indeed, thy hand should be more pitiful, + Even if the souls of serpents we had been." + +As out of a green brand, that is on fire + At one of the ends, and from the other drips + And hisses with the wind that is escaping; + +So from that splinter issued forth together + Both words and blood; whereat I let the tip + Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid. + +"Had he been able sooner to believe," + My Sage made answer, "O thou wounded soul, + What only in my verses he has seen, + +Not upon thee had he stretched forth his hand; + Whereas the thing incredible has caused me + To put him to an act which grieveth me. + +But tell him who thou wast, so that by way + Of some amends thy fame he may refresh + Up in the world, to which he can return." + +And the trunk said: "So thy sweet words allure me, + I cannot silent be; and you be vexed not, + That I a little to discourse am tempted. + +I am the one who both keys had in keeping + Of Frederick's heart, and turned them to and fro + So softly in unlocking and in locking, + +That from his secrets most men I withheld; + Fidelity I bore the glorious office + So great, I lost thereby my sleep and pulses. + +The courtesan who never from the dwelling + Of Caesar turned aside her strumpet eyes, + Death universal and the vice of courts, + +Inflamed against me all the other minds, + And they, inflamed, did so inflame Augustus, + That my glad honours turned to dismal mournings. + +My spirit, in disdainful exultation, + Thinking by dying to escape disdain, + Made me unjust against myself, the just. + +I, by the roots unwonted of this wood, + Do swear to you that never broke I faith + Unto my lord, who was so worthy of honour; + +And to the world if one of you return, + Let him my memory comfort, which is lying + Still prostrate from the blow that envy dealt it." + +Waited awhile, and then: "Since he is silent," + The Poet said to me, "lose not the time, + But speak, and question him, if more may please thee." + +Whence I to him: "Do thou again inquire + Concerning what thou thinks't will satisfy me; + For I cannot, such pity is in my heart." + +Therefore he recommenced: "So may the man + Do for thee freely what thy speech implores, + Spirit incarcerate, again be pleased + +To tell us in what way the soul is bound + Within these knots; and tell us, if thou canst, + If any from such members e'er is freed." + +Then blew the trunk amain, and afterward + The wind was into such a voice converted: + "With brevity shall be replied to you. + +When the exasperated soul abandons + The body whence it rent itself away, + Minos consigns it to the seventh abyss. + +It falls into the forest, and no part + Is chosen for it; but where Fortune hurls it, + There like a grain of spelt it germinates. + +It springs a sapling, and a forest tree; + The Harpies, feeding then upon its leaves, + Do pain create, and for the pain an outlet. + +Like others for our spoils shall we return; + But not that any one may them revest, + For 'tis not just to have what one casts off. + +Here we shall drag them, and along the dismal + Forest our bodies shall suspended be, + Each to the thorn of his molested shade." + +We were attentive still unto the trunk, + Thinking that more it yet might wish to tell us, + When by a tumult we were overtaken, + +In the same way as he is who perceives + The boar and chase approaching to his stand, + Who hears the crashing of the beasts and branches; + +And two behold! upon our left-hand side, + Naked and scratched, fleeing so furiously, + That of the forest, every fan they broke. + +He who was in advance: "Now help, Death, help!" + And the other one, who seemed to lag too much, + Was shouting: "Lano, were not so alert + +Those legs of thine at joustings of the Toppo!" + And then, perchance because his breath was failing, + He grouped himself together with a bush. + +Behind them was the forest full of black + She-mastiffs, ravenous, and swift of foot + As greyhounds, who are issuing from the chain. + +On him who had crouched down they set their teeth, + And him they lacerated piece by piece, + Thereafter bore away those aching members. + +Thereat my Escort took me by the hand, + And led me to the bush, that all in vain + Was weeping from its bloody lacerations. + +"O Jacopo," it said, "of Sant' Andrea, + What helped it thee of me to make a screen? + What blame have I in thy nefarious life?" + +When near him had the Master stayed his steps, + He said: "Who wast thou, that through wounds so many + Art blowing out with blood thy dolorous speech?" + +And he to us: "O souls, that hither come + To look upon the shameful massacre + That has so rent away from me my leaves, + +Gather them up beneath the dismal bush; + I of that city was which to the Baptist + Changed its first patron, wherefore he for this + +Forever with his art will make it sad. + And were it not that on the pass of Arno + Some glimpses of him are remaining still, + +Those citizens, who afterwards rebuilt it + Upon the ashes left by Attila, + In vain had caused their labour to be done. + +Of my own house I made myself a gibbet." + + + +Inferno: Canto XIV + + +Because the charity of my native place + Constrained me, gathered I the scattered leaves, + And gave them back to him, who now was hoarse. + +Then came we to the confine, where disparted + The second round is from the third, and where + A horrible form of Justice is beheld. + +Clearly to manifest these novel things, + I say that we arrived upon a plain, + Which from its bed rejecteth every plant; + +The dolorous forest is a garland to it + All round about, as the sad moat to that; + There close upon the edge we stayed our feet. + +The soil was of an arid and thick sand, + Not of another fashion made than that + Which by the feet of Cato once was pressed. + +Vengeance of God, O how much oughtest thou + By each one to be dreaded, who doth read + That which was manifest unto mine eyes! + +Of naked souls beheld I many herds, + Who all were weeping very miserably, + And over them seemed set a law diverse. + +Supine upon the ground some folk were lying; + And some were sitting all drawn up together, + And others went about continually. + +Those who were going round were far the more, + And those were less who lay down to their torment, + But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation. + +O'er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall, + Were raining down dilated flakes of fire, + As of the snow on Alp without a wind. + +As Alexander, in those torrid parts + Of India, beheld upon his host + Flames fall unbroken till they reached the ground. + +Whence he provided with his phalanxes + To trample down the soil, because the vapour + Better extinguished was while it was single; + +Thus was descending the eternal heat, + Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinder + Beneath the steel, for doubling of the dole. + +Without repose forever was the dance + Of miserable hands, now there, now here, + Shaking away from off them the fresh gleeds. + +"Master," began I, "thou who overcomest + All things except the demons dire, that issued + Against us at the entrance of the gate, + +Who is that mighty one who seems to heed not + The fire, and lieth lowering and disdainful, + So that the rain seems not to ripen him?" + +And he himself, who had become aware + That I was questioning my Guide about him, + Cried: "Such as I was living, am I, dead. + +If Jove should weary out his smith, from whom + He seized in anger the sharp thunderbolt, + Wherewith upon the last day I was smitten, + +And if he wearied out by turns the others + In Mongibello at the swarthy forge, + Vociferating, 'Help, good Vulcan, help!' + +Even as he did there at the fight of Phlegra, + And shot his bolts at me with all his might, + He would not have thereby a joyous vengeance." + +Then did my Leader speak with such great force, + That I had never heard him speak so loud: + "O Capaneus, in that is not extinguished + +Thine arrogance, thou punished art the more; + Not any torment, saving thine own rage, + Would be unto thy fury pain complete." + +Then he turned round to me with better lip, + Saying: "One of the Seven Kings was he + Who Thebes besieged, and held, and seems to hold + +God in disdain, and little seems to prize him; + But, as I said to him, his own despites + Are for his breast the fittest ornaments. + +Now follow me, and mind thou do not place + As yet thy feet upon the burning sand, + But always keep them close unto the wood." + +Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes + Forth from the wood a little rivulet, + Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end. + +As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet, + The sinful women later share among them, + So downward through the sand it went its way. + +The bottom of it, and both sloping banks, + Were made of stone, and the margins at the side; + Whence I perceived that there the passage was. + +"In all the rest which I have shown to thee + Since we have entered in within the gate + Whose threshold unto no one is denied, + +Nothing has been discovered by thine eyes + So notable as is the present river, + Which all the little flames above it quenches." + +These words were of my Leader; whence I prayed him + That he would give me largess of the food, + For which he had given me largess of desire. + +"In the mid-sea there sits a wasted land," + Said he thereafterward, "whose name is Crete, + Under whose king the world of old was chaste. + +There is a mountain there, that once was glad + With waters and with leaves, which was called Ida; + Now 'tis deserted, as a thing worn out. + +Rhea once chose it for the faithful cradle + Of her own son; and to conceal him better, + Whene'er he cried, she there had clamours made. + +A grand old man stands in the mount erect, + Who holds his shoulders turned tow'rds Damietta, + And looks at Rome as if it were his mirror. + +His head is fashioned of refined gold, + And of pure silver are the arms and breast; + Then he is brass as far down as the fork. + +From that point downward all is chosen iron, + Save that the right foot is of kiln-baked clay, + And more he stands on that than on the other. + +Each part, except the gold, is by a fissure + Asunder cleft, that dripping is with tears, + Which gathered together perforate that cavern. + +From rock to rock they fall into this valley; + Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon they form; + Then downward go along this narrow sluice + +Unto that point where is no more descending. + They form Cocytus; what that pool may be + Thou shalt behold, so here 'tis not narrated." + +And I to him: "If so the present runnel + Doth take its rise in this way from our world, + Why only on this verge appears it to us?" + +And he to me: "Thou knowest the place is round, + And notwithstanding thou hast journeyed far, + Still to the left descending to the bottom, + +Thou hast not yet through all the circle turned. + Therefore if something new appear to us, + It should not bring amazement to thy face." + +And I again: "Master, where shall be found + Lethe and Phlegethon, for of one thou'rt silent, + And sayest the other of this rain is made?" + +"In all thy questions truly thou dost please me," + Replied he; "but the boiling of the red + Water might well solve one of them thou makest. + +Thou shalt see Lethe, but outside this moat, + There where the souls repair to lave themselves, + When sin repented of has been removed." + +Then said he: "It is time now to abandon + The wood; take heed that thou come after me; + A way the margins make that are not burning, + +And over them all vapours are extinguished." + + + +Inferno: Canto XV + + +Now bears us onward one of the hard margins, + And so the brooklet's mist o'ershadows it, + From fire it saves the water and the dikes. + +Even as the Flemings, 'twixt Cadsand and Bruges, + Fearing the flood that tow'rds them hurls itself, + Their bulwarks build to put the sea to flight; + +And as the Paduans along the Brenta, + To guard their villas and their villages, + Or ever Chiarentana feel the heat; + +In such similitude had those been made, + Albeit not so lofty nor so thick, + Whoever he might be, the master made them. + +Now were we from the forest so remote, + I could not have discovered where it was, + Even if backward I had turned myself, + +When we a company of souls encountered, + Who came beside the dike, and every one + Gazed at us, as at evening we are wont + +To eye each other under a new moon, + And so towards us sharpened they their brows + As an old tailor at the needle's eye. + +Thus scrutinised by such a family, + By some one I was recognised, who seized + My garment's hem, and cried out, "What a marvel!" + +And I, when he stretched forth his arm to me, + On his baked aspect fastened so mine eyes, + That the scorched countenance prevented not + +His recognition by my intellect; + And bowing down my face unto his own, + I made reply, "Are you here, Ser Brunetto?" + +And he: "May't not displease thee, O my son, + If a brief space with thee Brunetto Latini + Backward return and let the trail go on." + +I said to him: "With all my power I ask it; + And if you wish me to sit down with you, + I will, if he please, for I go with him." + +"O son," he said, "whoever of this herd + A moment stops, lies then a hundred years, + Nor fans himself when smiteth him the fire. + +Therefore go on; I at thy skirts will come, + And afterward will I rejoin my band, + Which goes lamenting its eternal doom." + +I did not dare to go down from the road + Level to walk with him; but my head bowed + I held as one who goeth reverently. + +And he began: "What fortune or what fate + Before the last day leadeth thee down here? + And who is this that showeth thee the way?" + +"Up there above us in the life serene," + I answered him, "I lost me in a valley, + Or ever yet my age had been completed. + +But yestermorn I turned my back upon it; + This one appeared to me, returning thither, + And homeward leadeth me along this road." + +And he to me: "If thou thy star do follow, + Thou canst not fail thee of a glorious port, + If well I judged in the life beautiful. + +And if I had not died so prematurely, + Seeing Heaven thus benignant unto thee, + I would have given thee comfort in the work. + +But that ungrateful and malignant people, + Which of old time from Fesole descended, + And smacks still of the mountain and the granite, + +Will make itself, for thy good deeds, thy foe; + And it is right; for among crabbed sorbs + It ill befits the sweet fig to bear fruit. + +Old rumour in the world proclaims them blind; + A people avaricious, envious, proud; + Take heed that of their customs thou do cleanse thee. + +Thy fortune so much honour doth reserve thee, + One party and the other shall be hungry + For thee; but far from goat shall be the grass. + +Their litter let the beasts of Fesole + Make of themselves, nor let them touch the plant, + If any still upon their dunghill rise, + +In which may yet revive the consecrated + Seed of those Romans, who remained there when + The nest of such great malice it became." + +"If my entreaty wholly were fulfilled," + Replied I to him, "not yet would you be + In banishment from human nature placed; + +For in my mind is fixed, and touches now + My heart the dear and good paternal image + Of you, when in the world from hour to hour + +You taught me how a man becomes eternal; + And how much I am grateful, while I live + Behoves that in my language be discerned. + +What you narrate of my career I write, + And keep it to be glossed with other text + By a Lady who can do it, if I reach her. + +This much will I have manifest to you; + Provided that my conscience do not chide me, + For whatsoever Fortune I am ready. + +Such handsel is not new unto mine ears; + Therefore let Fortune turn her wheel around + As it may please her, and the churl his mattock." + +My Master thereupon on his right cheek + Did backward turn himself, and looked at me; + Then said: "He listeneth well who noteth it." + +Nor speaking less on that account, I go + With Ser Brunetto, and I ask who are + His most known and most eminent companions. + +And he to me: "To know of some is well; + Of others it were laudable to be silent, + For short would be the time for so much speech. + +Know them in sum, that all of them were clerks, + And men of letters great and of great fame, + In the world tainted with the selfsame sin. + +Priscian goes yonder with that wretched crowd, + And Francis of Accorso; and thou hadst seen there + If thou hadst had a hankering for such scurf, + +That one, who by the Servant of the Servants + From Arno was transferred to Bacchiglione, + Where he has left his sin-excited nerves. + +More would I say, but coming and discoursing + Can be no longer; for that I behold + New smoke uprising yonder from the sand. + +A people comes with whom I may not be; + Commended unto thee be my Tesoro, + In which I still live, and no more I ask." + +Then he turned round, and seemed to be of those + Who at Verona run for the Green Mantle + Across the plain; and seemed to be among them + +The one who wins, and not the one who loses. + + + +Inferno: Canto XVI + + +Now was I where was heard the reverberation + Of water falling into the next round, + Like to that humming which the beehives make, + +When shadows three together started forth, + Running, from out a company that passed + Beneath the rain of the sharp martyrdom. + +Towards us came they, and each one cried out: + "Stop, thou; for by thy garb to us thou seemest + To be some one of our depraved city." + +Ah me! what wounds I saw upon their limbs, + Recent and ancient by the flames burnt in! + It pains me still but to remember it. + +Unto their cries my Teacher paused attentive; + He turned his face towards me, and "Now wait," + He said; "to these we should be courteous. + +And if it were not for the fire that darts + The nature of this region, I should say + That haste were more becoming thee than them." + +As soon as we stood still, they recommenced + The old refrain, and when they overtook us, + Formed of themselves a wheel, all three of them. + +As champions stripped and oiled are wont to do, + Watching for their advantage and their hold, + Before they come to blows and thrusts between them, + +Thus, wheeling round, did every one his visage + Direct to me, so that in opposite wise + His neck and feet continual journey made. + +And, "If the misery of this soft place + Bring in disdain ourselves and our entreaties," + Began one, "and our aspect black and blistered, + +Let the renown of us thy mind incline + To tell us who thou art, who thus securely + Thy living feet dost move along through Hell. + +He in whose footprints thou dost see me treading, + Naked and skinless though he now may go, + Was of a greater rank than thou dost think; + +He was the grandson of the good Gualdrada; + His name was Guidoguerra, and in life + Much did he with his wisdom and his sword. + +The other, who close by me treads the sand, + Tegghiaio Aldobrandi is, whose fame + Above there in the world should welcome be. + +And I, who with them on the cross am placed, + Jacopo Rusticucci was; and truly + My savage wife, more than aught else, doth harm me." + +Could I have been protected from the fire, + Below I should have thrown myself among them, + And think the Teacher would have suffered it; + +But as I should have burned and baked myself, + My terror overmastered my good will, + Which made me greedy of embracing them. + +Then I began: "Sorrow and not disdain + Did your condition fix within me so, + That tardily it wholly is stripped off, + +As soon as this my Lord said unto me + Words, on account of which I thought within me + That people such as you are were approaching. + +I of your city am; and evermore + Your labours and your honourable names + I with affection have retraced and heard. + +I leave the gall, and go for the sweet fruits + Promised to me by the veracious Leader; + But to the centre first I needs must plunge." + +"So may the soul for a long while conduct + Those limbs of thine," did he make answer then, + "And so may thy renown shine after thee, + +Valour and courtesy, say if they dwell + Within our city, as they used to do, + Or if they wholly have gone out of it; + +For Guglielmo Borsier, who is in torment + With us of late, and goes there with his comrades, + Doth greatly mortify us with his words." + +"The new inhabitants and the sudden gains, + Pride and extravagance have in thee engendered, + Florence, so that thou weep'st thereat already!" + +In this wise I exclaimed with face uplifted; + And the three, taking that for my reply, + Looked at each other, as one looks at truth. + +"If other times so little it doth cost thee," + Replied they all, "to satisfy another, + Happy art thou, thus speaking at thy will! + +Therefore, if thou escape from these dark places, + And come to rebehold the beauteous stars, + When it shall pleasure thee to say, 'I was,' + +See that thou speak of us unto the people." + Then they broke up the wheel, and in their flight + It seemed as if their agile legs were wings. + +Not an Amen could possibly be said + So rapidly as they had disappeared; + Wherefore the Master deemed best to depart. + +I followed him, and little had we gone, + Before the sound of water was so near us, + That speaking we should hardly have been heard. + +Even as that stream which holdeth its own course + The first from Monte Veso tow'rds the East, + Upon the left-hand slope of Apennine, + +Which is above called Acquacheta, ere + It down descendeth into its low bed, + And at Forli is vacant of that name, + +Reverberates there above San Benedetto + From Alps, by falling at a single leap, + Where for a thousand there were room enough; + +Thus downward from a bank precipitate, + We found resounding that dark-tinted water, + So that it soon the ear would have offended. + +I had a cord around about me girt, + And therewithal I whilom had designed + To take the panther with the painted skin. + +After I this had all from me unloosed, + As my Conductor had commanded me, + I reached it to him, gathered up and coiled, + +Whereat he turned himself to the right side, + And at a little distance from the verge, + He cast it down into that deep abyss. + +"It must needs be some novelty respond," + I said within myself, "to the new signal + The Master with his eye is following so." + +Ah me! how very cautious men should be + With those who not alone behold the act, + But with their wisdom look into the thoughts! + +He said to me: "Soon there will upward come + What I await; and what thy thought is dreaming + Must soon reveal itself unto thy sight." + +Aye to that truth which has the face of falsehood, + A man should close his lips as far as may be, + Because without his fault it causes shame; + +But here I cannot; and, Reader, by the notes + Of this my Comedy to thee I swear, + So may they not be void of lasting favour, + +Athwart that dense and darksome atmosphere + I saw a figure swimming upward come, + Marvellous unto every steadfast heart, + +Even as he returns who goeth down + Sometimes to clear an anchor, which has grappled + Reef, or aught else that in the sea is hidden, + +Who upward stretches, and draws in his feet. + + + +Inferno: Canto XVII + + +"Behold the monster with the pointed tail, + Who cleaves the hills, and breaketh walls and weapons, + Behold him who infecteth all the world." + +Thus unto me my Guide began to say, + And beckoned him that he should come to shore, + Near to the confine of the trodden marble; + +And that uncleanly image of deceit + Came up and thrust ashore its head and bust, + But on the border did not drag its tail. + +The face was as the face of a just man, + Its semblance outwardly was so benign, + And of a serpent all the trunk beside. + +Two paws it had, hairy unto the armpits; + The back, and breast, and both the sides it had + Depicted o'er with nooses and with shields. + +With colours more, groundwork or broidery + Never in cloth did Tartars make nor Turks, + Nor were such tissues by Arachne laid. + +As sometimes wherries lie upon the shore, + That part are in the water, part on land; + And as among the guzzling Germans there, + +The beaver plants himself to wage his war; + So that vile monster lay upon the border, + Which is of stone, and shutteth in the sand. + +His tail was wholly quivering in the void, + Contorting upwards the envenomed fork, + That in the guise of scorpion armed its point. + +The Guide said: "Now perforce must turn aside + Our way a little, even to that beast + Malevolent, that yonder coucheth him." + +We therefore on the right side descended, + And made ten steps upon the outer verge, + Completely to avoid the sand and flame; + +And after we are come to him, I see + A little farther off upon the sand + A people sitting near the hollow place. + +Then said to me the Master: "So that full + Experience of this round thou bear away, + Now go and see what their condition is. + +There let thy conversation be concise; + Till thou returnest I will speak with him, + That he concede to us his stalwart shoulders." + +Thus farther still upon the outermost + Head of that seventh circle all alone + I went, where sat the melancholy folk. + +Out of their eyes was gushing forth their woe; + This way, that way, they helped them with their hands + Now from the flames and now from the hot soil. + +Not otherwise in summer do the dogs, + Now with the foot, now with the muzzle, when + By fleas, or flies, or gadflies, they are bitten. + +When I had turned mine eyes upon the faces + Of some, on whom the dolorous fire is falling, + Not one of them I knew; but I perceived + +That from the neck of each there hung a pouch, + Which certain colour had, and certain blazon; + And thereupon it seems their eyes are feeding. + +And as I gazing round me come among them, + Upon a yellow pouch I azure saw + That had the face and posture of a lion. + +Proceeding then the current of my sight, + Another of them saw I, red as blood, + Display a goose more white than butter is. + +And one, who with an azure sow and gravid + Emblazoned had his little pouch of white, + Said unto me: "What dost thou in this moat? + +Now get thee gone; and since thou'rt still alive, + Know that a neighbour of mine, Vitaliano, + Will have his seat here on my left-hand side. + +A Paduan am I with these Florentines; + Full many a time they thunder in mine ears, + Exclaiming, 'Come the sovereign cavalier, + +He who shall bring the satchel with three goats;'" + Then twisted he his mouth, and forth he thrust + His tongue, like to an ox that licks its nose. + +And fearing lest my longer stay might vex + Him who had warned me not to tarry long, + Backward I turned me from those weary souls. + +I found my Guide, who had already mounted + Upon the back of that wild animal, + And said to me: "Now be both strong and bold. + +Now we descend by stairways such as these; + Mount thou in front, for I will be midway, + So that the tail may have no power to harm thee." + +Such as he is who has so near the ague + Of quartan that his nails are blue already, + And trembles all, but looking at the shade; + +Even such became I at those proffered words; + But shame in me his menaces produced, + Which maketh servant strong before good master. + +I seated me upon those monstrous shoulders; + I wished to say, and yet the voice came not + As I believed, "Take heed that thou embrace me." + +But he, who other times had rescued me + In other peril, soon as I had mounted, + Within his arms encircled and sustained me, + +And said: "Now, Geryon, bestir thyself; + The circles large, and the descent be little; + Think of the novel burden which thou hast." + +Even as the little vessel shoves from shore, + Backward, still backward, so he thence withdrew; + And when he wholly felt himself afloat, + +There where his breast had been he turned his tail, + And that extended like an eel he moved, + And with his paws drew to himself the air. + +A greater fear I do not think there was + What time abandoned Phaeton the reins, + Whereby the heavens, as still appears, were scorched; + +Nor when the wretched Icarus his flanks + Felt stripped of feathers by the melting wax, + His father crying, "An ill way thou takest!" + +Than was my own, when I perceived myself + On all sides in the air, and saw extinguished + The sight of everything but of the monster. + +Onward he goeth, swimming slowly, slowly; + Wheels and descends, but I perceive it only + By wind upon my face and from below. + +I heard already on the right the whirlpool + Making a horrible crashing under us; + Whence I thrust out my head with eyes cast downward. + +Then was I still more fearful of the abyss; + Because I fires beheld, and heard laments, + Whereat I, trembling, all the closer cling. + +I saw then, for before I had not seen it, + The turning and descending, by great horrors + That were approaching upon divers sides. + +As falcon who has long been on the wing, + Who, without seeing either lure or bird, + Maketh the falconer say, "Ah me, thou stoopest," + +Descendeth weary, whence he started swiftly, + Thorough a hundred circles, and alights + Far from his master, sullen and disdainful; + +Even thus did Geryon place us on the bottom, + Close to the bases of the rough-hewn rock, + And being disencumbered of our persons, + +He sped away as arrow from the string. + + + +Inferno: Canto XVIII + + +There is a place in Hell called Malebolge, + Wholly of stone and of an iron colour, + As is the circle that around it turns. + +Right in the middle of the field malign + There yawns a well exceeding wide and deep, + Of which its place the structure will recount. + +Round, then, is that enclosure which remains + Between the well and foot of the high, hard bank, + And has distinct in valleys ten its bottom. + +As where for the protection of the walls + Many and many moats surround the castles, + The part in which they are a figure forms, + +Just such an image those presented there; + And as about such strongholds from their gates + Unto the outer bank are little bridges, + +So from the precipice's base did crags + Project, which intersected dikes and moats, + Unto the well that truncates and collects them. + +Within this place, down shaken from the back + Of Geryon, we found us; and the Poet + Held to the left, and I moved on behind. + +Upon my right hand I beheld new anguish, + New torments, and new wielders of the lash, + Wherewith the foremost Bolgia was replete. + +Down at the bottom were the sinners naked; + This side the middle came they facing us, + Beyond it, with us, but with greater steps; + +Even as the Romans, for the mighty host, + The year of Jubilee, upon the bridge, + Have chosen a mode to pass the people over; + +For all upon one side towards the Castle + Their faces have, and go unto St. Peter's; + On the other side they go towards the Mountain. + +This side and that, along the livid stone + Beheld I horned demons with great scourges, + Who cruelly were beating them behind. + +Ah me! how they did make them lift their legs + At the first blows! and sooth not any one + The second waited for, nor for the third. + +While I was going on, mine eyes by one + Encountered were; and straight I said: "Already + With sight of this one I am not unfed." + +Therefore I stayed my feet to make him out, + And with me the sweet Guide came to a stand, + And to my going somewhat back assented; + +And he, the scourged one, thought to hide himself, + Lowering his face, but little it availed him; + For said I: "Thou that castest down thine eyes, + +If false are not the features which thou bearest, + Thou art Venedico Caccianimico; + But what doth bring thee to such pungent sauces?" + +And he to me: "Unwillingly I tell it; + But forces me thine utterance distinct, + Which makes me recollect the ancient world. + +I was the one who the fair Ghisola + Induced to grant the wishes of the Marquis, + Howe'er the shameless story may be told. + +Not the sole Bolognese am I who weeps here; + Nay, rather is this place so full of them, + That not so many tongues to-day are taught + +'Twixt Reno and Savena to say 'sipa;' + And if thereof thou wishest pledge or proof, + Bring to thy mind our avaricious heart." + +While speaking in this manner, with his scourge + A demon smote him, and said: "Get thee gone + Pander, there are no women here for coin." + +I joined myself again unto mine Escort; + Thereafterward with footsteps few we came + To where a crag projected from the bank. + +This very easily did we ascend, + And turning to the right along its ridge, + From those eternal circles we departed. + +When we were there, where it is hollowed out + Beneath, to give a passage to the scourged, + The Guide said: "Wait, and see that on thee strike + +The vision of those others evil-born, + Of whom thou hast not yet beheld the faces, + Because together with us they have gone." + +From the old bridge we looked upon the train + Which tow'rds us came upon the other border, + And which the scourges in like manner smite. + +And the good Master, without my inquiring, + Said to me: "See that tall one who is coming, + And for his pain seems not to shed a tear; + +Still what a royal aspect he retains! + That Jason is, who by his heart and cunning + The Colchians of the Ram made destitute. + +He by the isle of Lemnos passed along + After the daring women pitiless + Had unto death devoted all their males. + +There with his tokens and with ornate words + Did he deceive Hypsipyle, the maiden + Who first, herself, had all the rest deceived. + +There did he leave her pregnant and forlorn; + Such sin unto such punishment condemns him, + And also for Medea is vengeance done. + +With him go those who in such wise deceive; + And this sufficient be of the first valley + To know, and those that in its jaws it holds." + +We were already where the narrow path + Crosses athwart the second dike, and forms + Of that a buttress for another arch. + +Thence we heard people, who are making moan + In the next Bolgia, snorting with their muzzles, + And with their palms beating upon themselves + +The margins were incrusted with a mould + By exhalation from below, that sticks there, + And with the eyes and nostrils wages war. + +The bottom is so deep, no place suffices + To give us sight of it, without ascending + The arch's back, where most the crag impends. + +Thither we came, and thence down in the moat + I saw a people smothered in a filth + That out of human privies seemed to flow; + +And whilst below there with mine eye I search, + I saw one with his head so foul with ordure, + It was not clear if he were clerk or layman. + +He screamed to me: "Wherefore art thou so eager + To look at me more than the other foul ones?" + And I to him: "Because, if I remember, + +I have already seen thee with dry hair, + And thou'rt Alessio Interminei of Lucca; + Therefore I eye thee more than all the others." + +And he thereon, belabouring his pumpkin: + "The flatteries have submerged me here below, + Wherewith my tongue was never surfeited." + +Then said to me the Guide: "See that thou thrust + Thy visage somewhat farther in advance, + That with thine eyes thou well the face attain + +Of that uncleanly and dishevelled drab, + Who there doth scratch herself with filthy nails, + And crouches now, and now on foot is standing. + +Thais the harlot is it, who replied + Unto her paramour, when he said, 'Have I + Great gratitude from thee?'--'Nay, marvellous;' + +And herewith let our sight be satisfied." + + + +Inferno: Canto XIX + + +O Simon Magus, O forlorn disciples, + Ye who the things of God, which ought to be + The brides of holiness, rapaciously + +For silver and for gold do prostitute, + Now it behoves for you the trumpet sound, + Because in this third Bolgia ye abide. + +We had already on the following tomb + Ascended to that portion of the crag + Which o'er the middle of the moat hangs plumb. + +Wisdom supreme, O how great art thou showest + In heaven, in earth, and in the evil world, + And with what justice doth thy power distribute! + +I saw upon the sides and on the bottom + The livid stone with perforations filled, + All of one size, and every one was round. + +To me less ample seemed they not, nor greater + Than those that in my beautiful Saint John + Are fashioned for the place of the baptisers, + +And one of which, not many years ago, + I broke for some one, who was drowning in it; + Be this a seal all men to undeceive. + +Out of the mouth of each one there protruded + The feet of a transgressor, and the legs + Up to the calf, the rest within remained. + +In all of them the soles were both on fire; + Wherefore the joints so violently quivered, + They would have snapped asunder withes and bands. + +Even as the flame of unctuous things is wont + To move upon the outer surface only, + So likewise was it there from heel to point. + +"Master, who is that one who writhes himself, + More than his other comrades quivering," + I said, "and whom a redder flame is sucking?" + +And he to me: "If thou wilt have me bear thee + Down there along that bank which lowest lies, + From him thou'lt know his errors and himself." + +And I: "What pleases thee, to me is pleasing; + Thou art my Lord, and knowest that I depart not + From thy desire, and knowest what is not spoken." + +Straightway upon the fourth dike we arrived; + We turned, and on the left-hand side descended + Down to the bottom full of holes and narrow. + +And the good Master yet from off his haunch + Deposed me not, till to the hole he brought me + Of him who so lamented with his shanks. + +"Whoe'er thou art, that standest upside down, + O doleful soul, implanted like a stake," + To say began I, "if thou canst, speak out." + +I stood even as the friar who is confessing + The false assassin, who, when he is fixed, + Recalls him, so that death may be delayed. + +And he cried out: "Dost thou stand there already, + Dost thou stand there already, Boniface? + By many years the record lied to me. + +Art thou so early satiate with that wealth, + For which thou didst not fear to take by fraud + The beautiful Lady, and then work her woe?" + +Such I became, as people are who stand, + Not comprehending what is answered them, + As if bemocked, and know not how to answer. + +Then said Virgilius: "Say to him straightway, + 'I am not he, I am not he thou thinkest.'" + And I replied as was imposed on me. + +Whereat the spirit writhed with both his feet, + Then, sighing, with a voice of lamentation + Said to me: "Then what wantest thou of me? + +If who I am thou carest so much to know, + That thou on that account hast crossed the bank, + Know that I vested was with the great mantle; + +And truly was I son of the She-bear, + So eager to advance the cubs, that wealth + Above, and here myself, I pocketed. + +Beneath my head the others are dragged down + Who have preceded me in simony, + Flattened along the fissure of the rock. + +Below there I shall likewise fall, whenever + That one shall come who I believed thou wast, + What time the sudden question I proposed. + +But longer I my feet already toast, + And here have been in this way upside down, + Than he will planted stay with reddened feet; + +For after him shall come of fouler deed + From tow'rds the west a Pastor without law, + Such as befits to cover him and me. + +New Jason will he be, of whom we read + In Maccabees; and as his king was pliant, + So he who governs France shall be to this one." + +I do not know if I were here too bold, + That him I answered only in this metre: + "I pray thee tell me now how great a treasure + +Our Lord demanded of Saint Peter first, + Before he put the keys into his keeping? + Truly he nothing asked but 'Follow me.' + +Nor Peter nor the rest asked of Matthias + Silver or gold, when he by lot was chosen + Unto the place the guilty soul had lost. + +Therefore stay here, for thou art justly punished, + And keep safe guard o'er the ill-gotten money, + Which caused thee to be valiant against Charles. + +And were it not that still forbids it me + The reverence for the keys superlative + Thou hadst in keeping in the gladsome life, + +I would make use of words more grievous still; + Because your avarice afflicts the world, + Trampling the good and lifting the depraved. + +The Evangelist you Pastors had in mind, + When she who sitteth upon many waters + To fornicate with kings by him was seen; + +The same who with the seven heads was born, + And power and strength from the ten horns received, + So long as virtue to her spouse was pleasing. + +Ye have made yourselves a god of gold and silver; + And from the idolater how differ ye, + Save that he one, and ye a hundred worship? + +Ah, Constantine! of how much ill was mother, + Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower + Which the first wealthy Father took from thee!" + +And while I sang to him such notes as these, + Either that anger or that conscience stung him, + He struggled violently with both his feet. + +I think in sooth that it my Leader pleased, + With such contented lip he listened ever + Unto the sound of the true words expressed. + +Therefore with both his arms he took me up, + And when he had me all upon his breast, + Remounted by the way where he descended. + +Nor did he tire to have me clasped to him; + But bore me to the summit of the arch + Which from the fourth dike to the fifth is passage. + +There tenderly he laid his burden down, + Tenderly on the crag uneven and steep, + That would have been hard passage for the goats: + +Thence was unveiled to me another valley. + + + +Inferno: Canto XX + + +Of a new pain behoves me to make verses + And give material to the twentieth canto + Of the first song, which is of the submerged. + +I was already thoroughly disposed + To peer down into the uncovered depth, + Which bathed itself with tears of agony; + +And people saw I through the circular valley, + Silent and weeping, coming at the pace + Which in this world the Litanies assume. + +As lower down my sight descended on them, + Wondrously each one seemed to be distorted + From chin to the beginning of the chest; + +For tow'rds the reins the countenance was turned, + And backward it behoved them to advance, + As to look forward had been taken from them. + +Perchance indeed by violence of palsy + Some one has been thus wholly turned awry; + But I ne'er saw it, nor believe it can be. + +As God may let thee, Reader, gather fruit + From this thy reading, think now for thyself + How I could ever keep my face unmoistened, + +When our own image near me I beheld + Distorted so, the weeping of the eyes + Along the fissure bathed the hinder parts. + +Truly I wept, leaning upon a peak + Of the hard crag, so that my Escort said + To me: "Art thou, too, of the other fools? + +Here pity lives when it is wholly dead; + Who is a greater reprobate than he + Who feels compassion at the doom divine? + +Lift up, lift up thy head, and see for whom + Opened the earth before the Thebans' eyes; + Wherefore they all cried: 'Whither rushest thou, + +Amphiaraus? Why dost leave the war?' + And downward ceased he not to fall amain + As far as Minos, who lays hold on all. + +See, he has made a bosom of his shoulders! + Because he wished to see too far before him + Behind he looks, and backward goes his way: + +Behold Tiresias, who his semblance changed, + When from a male a female he became, + His members being all of them transformed; + +And afterwards was forced to strike once more + The two entangled serpents with his rod, + Ere he could have again his manly plumes. + +That Aruns is, who backs the other's belly, + Who in the hills of Luni, there where grubs + The Carrarese who houses underneath, + +Among the marbles white a cavern had + For his abode; whence to behold the stars + And sea, the view was not cut off from him. + +And she there, who is covering up her breasts, + Which thou beholdest not, with loosened tresses, + And on that side has all the hairy skin, + +Was Manto, who made quest through many lands, + Afterwards tarried there where I was born; + Whereof I would thou list to me a little. + +After her father had from life departed, + And the city of Bacchus had become enslaved, + She a long season wandered through the world. + +Above in beauteous Italy lies a lake + At the Alp's foot that shuts in Germany + Over Tyrol, and has the name Benaco. + +By a thousand springs, I think, and more, is bathed, + 'Twixt Garda and Val Camonica, Pennino, + With water that grows stagnant in that lake. + +Midway a place is where the Trentine Pastor, + And he of Brescia, and the Veronese + Might give his blessing, if he passed that way. + +Sitteth Peschiera, fortress fair and strong, + To front the Brescians and the Bergamasks, + Where round about the bank descendeth lowest. + +There of necessity must fall whatever + In bosom of Benaco cannot stay, + And grows a river down through verdant pastures. + +Soon as the water doth begin to run, + No more Benaco is it called, but Mincio, + Far as Governo, where it falls in Po. + +Not far it runs before it finds a plain + In which it spreads itself, and makes it marshy, + And oft 'tis wont in summer to be sickly. + +Passing that way the virgin pitiless + Land in the middle of the fen descried, + Untilled and naked of inhabitants; + +There to escape all human intercourse, + She with her servants stayed, her arts to practise + And lived, and left her empty body there. + +The men, thereafter, who were scattered round, + Collected in that place, which was made strong + By the lagoon it had on every side; + +They built their city over those dead bones, + And, after her who first the place selected, + Mantua named it, without other omen. + +Its people once within more crowded were, + Ere the stupidity of Casalodi + From Pinamonte had received deceit. + +Therefore I caution thee, if e'er thou hearest + Originate my city otherwise, + No falsehood may the verity defraud." + +And I: "My Master, thy discourses are + To me so certain, and so take my faith, + That unto me the rest would be spent coals. + +But tell me of the people who are passing, + If any one note-worthy thou beholdest, + For only unto that my mind reverts." + +Then said he to me: "He who from the cheek + Thrusts out his beard upon his swarthy shoulders + Was, at the time when Greece was void of males, + +So that there scarce remained one in the cradle, + An augur, and with Calchas gave the moment, + In Aulis, when to sever the first cable. + +Eryphylus his name was, and so sings + My lofty Tragedy in some part or other; + That knowest thou well, who knowest the whole of it. + +The next, who is so slender in the flanks, + Was Michael Scott, who of a verity + Of magical illusions knew the game. + +Behold Guido Bonatti, behold Asdente, + Who now unto his leather and his thread + Would fain have stuck, but he too late repents. + +Behold the wretched ones, who left the needle, + The spool and rock, and made them fortune-tellers; + They wrought their magic spells with herb and image. + +But come now, for already holds the confines + Of both the hemispheres, and under Seville + Touches the ocean-wave, Cain and the thorns, + +And yesternight the moon was round already; + Thou shouldst remember well it did not harm thee + From time to time within the forest deep." + +Thus spake he to me, and we walked the while. + + + +Inferno: Canto XXI + + +From bridge to bridge thus, speaking other things + Of which my Comedy cares not to sing, + We came along, and held the summit, when + +We halted to behold another fissure + Of Malebolge and other vain laments; + And I beheld it marvellously dark. + +As in the Arsenal of the Venetians + Boils in the winter the tenacious pitch + To smear their unsound vessels o'er again, + +For sail they cannot; and instead thereof + One makes his vessel new, and one recaulks + The ribs of that which many a voyage has made; + +One hammers at the prow, one at the stern, + This one makes oars, and that one cordage twists, + Another mends the mainsail and the mizzen; + +Thus, not by fire, but by the art divine, + Was boiling down below there a dense pitch + Which upon every side the bank belimed. + +I saw it, but I did not see within it + Aught but the bubbles that the boiling raised, + And all swell up and resubside compressed. + +The while below there fixedly I gazed, + My Leader, crying out: "Beware, beware!" + Drew me unto himself from where I stood. + +Then I turned round, as one who is impatient + To see what it behoves him to escape, + And whom a sudden terror doth unman, + +Who, while he looks, delays not his departure; + And I beheld behind us a black devil, + Running along upon the crag, approach. + +Ah, how ferocious was he in his aspect! + And how he seemed to me in action ruthless, + With open wings and light upon his feet! + +His shoulders, which sharp-pointed were and high, + A sinner did encumber with both haunches, + And he held clutched the sinews of the feet. + +From off our bridge, he said: "O Malebranche, + Behold one of the elders of Saint Zita; + Plunge him beneath, for I return for others + +Unto that town, which is well furnished with them. + All there are barrators, except Bonturo; + No into Yes for money there is changed." + +He hurled him down, and over the hard crag + Turned round, and never was a mastiff loosened + In so much hurry to pursue a thief. + +The other sank, and rose again face downward; + But the demons, under cover of the bridge, + Cried: "Here the Santo Volto has no place! + +Here swims one otherwise than in the Serchio; + Therefore, if for our gaffs thou wishest not, + Do not uplift thyself above the pitch." + +They seized him then with more than a hundred rakes; + They said: "It here behoves thee to dance covered, + That, if thou canst, thou secretly mayest pilfer." + +Not otherwise the cooks their scullions make + Immerse into the middle of the caldron + The meat with hooks, so that it may not float. + +Said the good Master to me: "That it be not + Apparent thou art here, crouch thyself down + Behind a jag, that thou mayest have some screen; + +And for no outrage that is done to me + Be thou afraid, because these things I know, + For once before was I in such a scuffle." + +Then he passed on beyond the bridge's head, + And as upon the sixth bank he arrived, + Need was for him to have a steadfast front. + +With the same fury, and the same uproar, + As dogs leap out upon a mendicant, + Who on a sudden begs, where'er he stops, + +They issued from beneath the little bridge, + And turned against him all their grappling-irons; + But he cried out: "Be none of you malignant! + +Before those hooks of yours lay hold of me, + Let one of you step forward, who may hear me, + And then take counsel as to grappling me." + +They all cried out: "Let Malacoda go;" + Whereat one started, and the rest stood still, + And he came to him, saying: "What avails it?" + +"Thinkest thou, Malacoda, to behold me + Advanced into this place," my Master said, + "Safe hitherto from all your skill of fence, + +Without the will divine, and fate auspicious? + Let me go on, for it in Heaven is willed + That I another show this savage road." + +Then was his arrogance so humbled in him, + That he let fall his grapnel at his feet, + And to the others said: "Now strike him not." + +And unto me my Guide: "O thou, who sittest + Among the splinters of the bridge crouched down, + Securely now return to me again." + +Wherefore I started and came swiftly to him; + And all the devils forward thrust themselves, + So that I feared they would not keep their compact. + +And thus beheld I once afraid the soldiers + Who issued under safeguard from Caprona, + Seeing themselves among so many foes. + +Close did I press myself with all my person + Beside my Leader, and turned not mine eyes + From off their countenance, which was not good. + +They lowered their rakes, and "Wilt thou have me hit him," + They said to one another, "on the rump?" + And answered: "Yes; see that thou nick him with it." + +But the same demon who was holding parley + With my Conductor turned him very quickly, + And said: "Be quiet, be quiet, Scarmiglione;" + +Then said to us: "You can no farther go + Forward upon this crag, because is lying + All shattered, at the bottom, the sixth arch. + +And if it still doth please you to go onward, + Pursue your way along upon this rock; + Near is another crag that yields a path. + +Yesterday, five hours later than this hour, + One thousand and two hundred sixty-six + Years were complete, that here the way was broken. + +I send in that direction some of mine + To see if any one doth air himself; + Go ye with them; for they will not be vicious. + +Step forward, Alichino and Calcabrina," + Began he to cry out, "and thou, Cagnazzo; + And Barbariccia, do thou guide the ten. + +Come forward, Libicocco and Draghignazzo, + And tusked Ciriatto and Graffiacane, + And Farfarello and mad Rubicante; + +Search ye all round about the boiling pitch; + Let these be safe as far as the next crag, + That all unbroken passes o'er the dens." + +"O me! what is it, Master, that I see? + Pray let us go," I said, "without an escort, + If thou knowest how, since for myself I ask none. + +If thou art as observant as thy wont is, + Dost thou not see that they do gnash their teeth, + And with their brows are threatening woe to us?" + +And he to me: "I will not have thee fear; + Let them gnash on, according to their fancy, + Because they do it for those boiling wretches." + +Along the left-hand dike they wheeled about; + But first had each one thrust his tongue between + His teeth towards their leader for a signal; + +And he had made a trumpet of his rump. + + + +Inferno: Canto XXII + + +I have erewhile seen horsemen moving camp, + Begin the storming, and their muster make, + And sometimes starting off for their escape; + +Vaunt-couriers have I seen upon your land, + O Aretines, and foragers go forth, + Tournaments stricken, and the joustings run, + +Sometimes with trumpets and sometimes with bells, + With kettle-drums, and signals of the castles, + And with our own, and with outlandish things, + +But never yet with bagpipe so uncouth + Did I see horsemen move, nor infantry, + Nor ship by any sign of land or star. + +We went upon our way with the ten demons; + Ah, savage company! but in the church + With saints, and in the tavern with the gluttons! + +Ever upon the pitch was my intent, + To see the whole condition of that Bolgia, + And of the people who therein were burned. + +Even as the dolphins, when they make a sign + To mariners by arching of the back, + That they should counsel take to save their vessel, + +Thus sometimes, to alleviate his pain, + One of the sinners would display his back, + And in less time conceal it than it lightens. + +As on the brink of water in a ditch + The frogs stand only with their muzzles out, + So that they hide their feet and other bulk, + +So upon every side the sinners stood; + But ever as Barbariccia near them came, + Thus underneath the boiling they withdrew. + +I saw, and still my heart doth shudder at it, + One waiting thus, even as it comes to pass + One frog remains, and down another dives; + +And Graffiacan, who most confronted him, + Grappled him by his tresses smeared with pitch, + And drew him up, so that he seemed an otter. + +I knew, before, the names of all of them, + So had I noted them when they were chosen, + And when they called each other, listened how. + +"O Rubicante, see that thou do lay + Thy claws upon him, so that thou mayst flay him," + Cried all together the accursed ones. + +And I: "My Master, see to it, if thou canst, + That thou mayst know who is the luckless wight, + Thus come into his adversaries' hands." + +Near to the side of him my Leader drew, + Asked of him whence he was; and he replied: + "I in the kingdom of Navarre was born; + +My mother placed me servant to a lord, + For she had borne me to a ribald knave, + Destroyer of himself and of his things. + +Then I domestic was of good King Thibault; + I set me there to practise barratry, + For which I pay the reckoning in this heat." + +And Ciriatto, from whose mouth projected, + On either side, a tusk, as in a boar, + Caused him to feel how one of them could rip. + +Among malicious cats the mouse had come; + But Barbariccia clasped him in his arms, + And said: "Stand ye aside, while I enfork him." + +And to my Master he turned round his head; + "Ask him again," he said, "if more thou wish + To know from him, before some one destroy him." + +The Guide: "Now tell then of the other culprits; + Knowest thou any one who is a Latian, + Under the pitch?" And he: "I separated + +Lately from one who was a neighbour to it; + Would that I still were covered up with him, + For I should fear not either claw nor hook!" + +And Libicocco: "We have borne too much;" + And with his grapnel seized him by the arm, + So that, by rending, he tore off a tendon. + +Eke Draghignazzo wished to pounce upon him + Down at the legs; whence their Decurion + Turned round and round about with evil look. + +When they again somewhat were pacified, + Of him, who still was looking at his wound, + Demanded my Conductor without stay: + +"Who was that one, from whom a luckless parting + Thou sayest thou hast made, to come ashore?" + And he replied: "It was the Friar Gomita, + +He of Gallura, vessel of all fraud, + Who had the enemies of his Lord in hand, + And dealt so with them each exults thereat; + +Money he took, and let them smoothly off, + As he says; and in other offices + A barrator was he, not mean but sovereign. + +Foregathers with him one Don Michael Zanche + Of Logodoro; and of Sardinia + To gossip never do their tongues feel tired. + +O me! see that one, how he grinds his teeth; + Still farther would I speak, but am afraid + Lest he to scratch my itch be making ready." + +And the grand Provost, turned to Farfarello, + Who rolled his eyes about as if to strike, + Said: "Stand aside there, thou malicious bird." + +"If you desire either to see or hear," + The terror-stricken recommenced thereon, + "Tuscans or Lombards, I will make them come. + +But let the Malebranche cease a little, + So that these may not their revenges fear, + And I, down sitting in this very place, + +For one that I am will make seven come, + When I shall whistle, as our custom is + To do whenever one of us comes out." + +Cagnazzo at these words his muzzle lifted, + Shaking his head, and said: "Just hear the trick + Which he has thought of, down to throw himself!" + +Whence he, who snares in great abundance had, + Responded: "I by far too cunning am, + When I procure for mine a greater sadness." + +Alichin held not in, but running counter + Unto the rest, said to him: "If thou dive, + I will not follow thee upon the gallop, + +But I will beat my wings above the pitch; + The height be left, and be the bank a shield + To see if thou alone dost countervail us." + +O thou who readest, thou shalt hear new sport! + Each to the other side his eyes averted; + He first, who most reluctant was to do it. + +The Navarrese selected well his time; + Planted his feet on land, and in a moment + Leaped, and released himself from their design. + +Whereat each one was suddenly stung with shame, + But he most who was cause of the defeat; + Therefore he moved, and cried: "Thou art o'ertakern." + +But little it availed, for wings could not + Outstrip the fear; the other one went under, + And, flying, upward he his breast directed; + +Not otherwise the duck upon a sudden + Dives under, when the falcon is approaching, + And upward he returneth cross and weary. + +Infuriate at the mockery, Calcabrina + Flying behind him followed close, desirous + The other should escape, to have a quarrel. + +And when the barrator had disappeared, + He turned his talons upon his companion, + And grappled with him right above the moat. + +But sooth the other was a doughty sparhawk + To clapperclaw him well; and both of them + Fell in the middle of the boiling pond. + +A sudden intercessor was the heat; + But ne'ertheless of rising there was naught, + To such degree they had their wings belimed. + +Lamenting with the others, Barbariccia + Made four of them fly to the other side + With all their gaffs, and very speedily + +This side and that they to their posts descended; + They stretched their hooks towards the pitch-ensnared, + Who were already baked within the crust, + +And in this manner busied did we leave them. + + + +Inferno: Canto XXIII + + +Silent, alone, and without company + We went, the one in front, the other after, + As go the Minor Friars along their way. + +Upon the fable of Aesop was directed + My thought, by reason of the present quarrel, + Where he has spoken of the frog and mouse; + +For 'mo' and 'issa' are not more alike + Than this one is to that, if well we couple + End and beginning with a steadfast mind. + +And even as one thought from another springs, + So afterward from that was born another, + Which the first fear within me double made. + +Thus did I ponder: "These on our account + Are laughed to scorn, with injury and scoff + So great, that much I think it must annoy them. + +If anger be engrafted on ill-will, + They will come after us more merciless + Than dog upon the leveret which he seizes," + +I felt my hair stand all on end already + With terror, and stood backwardly intent, + When said I: "Master, if thou hidest not + +Thyself and me forthwith, of Malebranche + I am in dread; we have them now behind us; + I so imagine them, I already feel them." + +And he: "If I were made of leaded glass, + Thine outward image I should not attract + Sooner to me than I imprint the inner. + +Just now thy thoughts came in among my own, + With similar attitude and similar face, + So that of both one counsel sole I made. + +If peradventure the right bank so slope + That we to the next Bolgia can descend, + We shall escape from the imagined chase." + +Not yet he finished rendering such opinion, + When I beheld them come with outstretched wings, + Not far remote, with will to seize upon us. + +My Leader on a sudden seized me up, + Even as a mother who by noise is wakened, + And close beside her sees the enkindled flames, + +Who takes her son, and flies, and does not stop, + Having more care of him than of herself, + So that she clothes her only with a shift; + +And downward from the top of the hard bank + Supine he gave him to the pendent rock, + That one side of the other Bolgia walls. + +Ne'er ran so swiftly water through a sluice + To turn the wheel of any land-built mill, + When nearest to the paddles it approaches, + +As did my Master down along that border, + Bearing me with him on his breast away, + As his own son, and not as a companion. + +Hardly the bed of the ravine below + His feet had reached, ere they had reached the hill + Right over us; but he was not afraid; + +For the high Providence, which had ordained + To place them ministers of the fifth moat, + The power of thence departing took from all. + +A painted people there below we found, + Who went about with footsteps very slow, + Weeping and in their semblance tired and vanquished. + +They had on mantles with the hoods low down + Before their eyes, and fashioned of the cut + That in Cologne they for the monks are made. + +Without, they gilded are so that it dazzles; + But inwardly all leaden and so heavy + That Frederick used to put them on of straw. + +O everlastingly fatiguing mantle! + Again we turned us, still to the left hand + Along with them, intent on their sad plaint; + +But owing to the weight, that weary folk + Came on so tardily, that we were new + In company at each motion of the haunch. + +Whence I unto my Leader: "See thou find + Some one who may by deed or name be known, + And thus in going move thine eye about." + +And one, who understood the Tuscan speech, + Cried to us from behind: "Stay ye your feet, + Ye, who so run athwart the dusky air! + +Perhaps thou'lt have from me what thou demandest." + Whereat the Leader turned him, and said: "Wait, + And then according to his pace proceed." + +I stopped, and two beheld I show great haste + Of spirit, in their faces, to be with me; + But the burden and the narrow way delayed them. + +When they came up, long with an eye askance + They scanned me without uttering a word. + Then to each other turned, and said together: + +"He by the action of his throat seems living; + And if they dead are, by what privilege + Go they uncovered by the heavy stole?" + +Then said to me: "Tuscan, who to the college + Of miserable hypocrites art come, + Do not disdain to tell us who thou art." + +And I to them: "Born was I, and grew up + In the great town on the fair river of Arno, + And with the body am I've always had. + +But who are ye, in whom there trickles down + Along your cheeks such grief as I behold? + And what pain is upon you, that so sparkles?" + +And one replied to me: "These orange cloaks + Are made of lead so heavy, that the weights + Cause in this way their balances to creak. + +Frati Gaudenti were we, and Bolognese; + I Catalano, and he Loderingo + Named, and together taken by thy city, + +As the wont is to take one man alone, + For maintenance of its peace; and we were such + That still it is apparent round Gardingo." + +"O Friars," began I, "your iniquitous. . ." + But said no more; for to mine eyes there rushed + One crucified with three stakes on the ground. + +When me he saw, he writhed himself all over, + Blowing into his beard with suspirations; + And the Friar Catalan, who noticed this, + +Said to me: "This transfixed one, whom thou seest, + Counselled the Pharisees that it was meet + To put one man to torture for the people. + +Crosswise and naked is he on the path, + As thou perceivest; and he needs must feel, + Whoever passes, first how much he weighs; + +And in like mode his father-in-law is punished + Within this moat, and the others of the council, + Which for the Jews was a malignant seed." + +And thereupon I saw Virgilius marvel + O'er him who was extended on the cross + So vilely in eternal banishment. + +Then he directed to the Friar this voice: + "Be not displeased, if granted thee, to tell us + If to the right hand any pass slope down + +By which we two may issue forth from here, + Without constraining some of the black angels + To come and extricate us from this deep." + +Then he made answer: "Nearer than thou hopest + There is a rock, that forth from the great circle + Proceeds, and crosses all the cruel valleys, + +Save that at this 'tis broken, and does not bridge it; + You will be able to mount up the ruin, + That sidelong slopes and at the bottom rises." + +The Leader stood awhile with head bowed down; + Then said: "The business badly he recounted + Who grapples with his hook the sinners yonder." + +And the Friar: "Many of the Devil's vices + Once heard I at Bologna, and among them, + That he's a liar and the father of lies." + +Thereat my Leader with great strides went on, + Somewhat disturbed with anger in his looks; + Whence from the heavy-laden I departed + +After the prints of his beloved feet. + + + +Inferno: Canto XXIV + + +In that part of the youthful year wherein + The Sun his locks beneath Aquarius tempers, + And now the nights draw near to half the day, + +What time the hoar-frost copies on the ground + The outward semblance of her sister white, + But little lasts the temper of her pen, + +The husbandman, whose forage faileth him, + Rises, and looks, and seeth the champaign + All gleaming white, whereat he beats his flank, + +Returns in doors, and up and down laments, + Like a poor wretch, who knows not what to do; + Then he returns and hope revives again, + +Seeing the world has changed its countenance + In little time, and takes his shepherd's crook, + And forth the little lambs to pasture drives. + +Thus did the Master fill me with alarm, + When I beheld his forehead so disturbed, + And to the ailment came as soon the plaster. + +For as we came unto the ruined bridge, + The Leader turned to me with that sweet look + Which at the mountain's foot I first beheld. + +His arms he opened, after some advisement + Within himself elected, looking first + Well at the ruin, and laid hold of me. + +And even as he who acts and meditates, + For aye it seems that he provides beforehand, + So upward lifting me towards the summit + +Of a huge rock, he scanned another crag, + Saying: "To that one grapple afterwards, + But try first if 'tis such that it will hold thee." + +This was no way for one clothed with a cloak; + For hardly we, he light, and I pushed upward, + Were able to ascend from jag to jag. + +And had it not been, that upon that precinct + Shorter was the ascent than on the other, + He I know not, but I had been dead beat. + +But because Malebolge tow'rds the mouth + Of the profoundest well is all inclining, + The structure of each valley doth import + +That one bank rises and the other sinks. + Still we arrived at length upon the point + Wherefrom the last stone breaks itself asunder. + +The breath was from my lungs so milked away, + When I was up, that I could go no farther, + Nay, I sat down upon my first arrival. + +"Now it behoves thee thus to put off sloth," + My Master said; "for sitting upon down, + Or under quilt, one cometh not to fame, + +Withouten which whoso his life consumes + Such vestige leaveth of himself on earth, + As smoke in air or in the water foam. + +And therefore raise thee up, o'ercome the anguish + With spirit that o'ercometh every battle, + If with its heavy body it sink not. + +A longer stairway it behoves thee mount; + 'Tis not enough from these to have departed; + Let it avail thee, if thou understand me." + +Then I uprose, showing myself provided + Better with breath than I did feel myself, + And said: "Go on, for I am strong and bold." + +Upward we took our way along the crag, + Which jagged was, and narrow, and difficult, + And more precipitous far than that before. + +Speaking I went, not to appear exhausted; + Whereat a voice from the next moat came forth, + Not well adapted to articulate words. + +I know not what it said, though o'er the back + I now was of the arch that passes there; + But he seemed moved to anger who was speaking. + +I was bent downward, but my living eyes + Could not attain the bottom, for the dark; + Wherefore I: "Master, see that thou arrive + +At the next round, and let us descend the wall; + For as from hence I hear and understand not, + So I look down and nothing I distinguish." + +"Other response," he said, "I make thee not, + Except the doing; for the modest asking + Ought to be followed by the deed in silence." + +We from the bridge descended at its head, + Where it connects itself with the eighth bank, + And then was manifest to me the Bolgia; + +And I beheld therein a terrible throng + Of serpents, and of such a monstrous kind, + That the remembrance still congeals my blood + +Let Libya boast no longer with her sand; + For if Chelydri, Jaculi, and Phareae + She breeds, with Cenchri and with Amphisbaena, + +Neither so many plagues nor so malignant + E'er showed she with all Ethiopia, + Nor with whatever on the Red Sea is! + +Among this cruel and most dismal throng + People were running naked and affrighted. + Without the hope of hole or heliotrope. + +They had their hands with serpents bound behind them; + These riveted upon their reins the tail + And head, and were in front of them entwined. + +And lo! at one who was upon our side + There darted forth a serpent, which transfixed him + There where the neck is knotted to the shoulders. + +Nor 'O' so quickly e'er, nor 'I' was written, + As he took fire, and burned; and ashes wholly + Behoved it that in falling he became. + +And when he on the ground was thus destroyed, + The ashes drew together, and of themselves + Into himself they instantly returned. + +Even thus by the great sages 'tis confessed + The phoenix dies, and then is born again, + When it approaches its five-hundredth year; + +On herb or grain it feeds not in its life, + But only on tears of incense and amomum, + And nard and myrrh are its last winding-sheet. + +And as he is who falls, and knows not how, + By force of demons who to earth down drag him, + Or other oppilation that binds man, + +When he arises and around him looks, + Wholly bewildered by the mighty anguish + Which he has suffered, and in looking sighs; + +Such was that sinner after he had risen. + Justice of God! O how severe it is, + That blows like these in vengeance poureth down! + +The Guide thereafter asked him who he was; + Whence he replied: "I rained from Tuscany + A short time since into this cruel gorge. + +A bestial life, and not a human, pleased me, + Even as the mule I was; I'm Vanni Fucci, + Beast, and Pistoia was my worthy den." + +And I unto the Guide: "Tell him to stir not, + And ask what crime has thrust him here below, + For once a man of blood and wrath I saw him." + +And the sinner, who had heard, dissembled not, + But unto me directed mind and face, + And with a melancholy shame was painted. + +Then said: "It pains me more that thou hast caught me + Amid this misery where thou seest me, + Than when I from the other life was taken. + +What thou demandest I cannot deny; + So low am I put down because I robbed + The sacristy of the fair ornaments, + +And falsely once 'twas laid upon another; + But that thou mayst not such a sight enjoy, + If thou shalt e'er be out of the dark places, + +Thine ears to my announcement ope and hear: + Pistoia first of Neri groweth meagre; + Then Florence doth renew her men and manners; + +Mars draws a vapour up from Val di Magra, + Which is with turbid clouds enveloped round, + And with impetuous and bitter tempest + +Over Campo Picen shall be the battle; + When it shall suddenly rend the mist asunder, + So that each Bianco shall thereby be smitten. + +And this I've said that it may give thee pain." + + + +Inferno: Canto XXV + + +At the conclusion of his words, the thief + Lifted his hands aloft with both the figs, + Crying: "Take that, God, for at thee I aim them." + +From that time forth the serpents were my friends; + For one entwined itself about his neck + As if it said: "I will not thou speak more;" + +And round his arms another, and rebound him, + Clinching itself together so in front, + That with them he could not a motion make. + +Pistoia, ah, Pistoia! why resolve not + To burn thyself to ashes and so perish, + Since in ill-doing thou thy seed excellest? + +Through all the sombre circles of this Hell, + Spirit I saw not against God so proud, + Not he who fell at Thebes down from the walls! + +He fled away, and spake no further word; + And I beheld a Centaur full of rage + Come crying out: "Where is, where is the scoffer?" + +I do not think Maremma has so many + Serpents as he had all along his back, + As far as where our countenance begins. + +Upon the shoulders, just behind the nape, + With wings wide open was a dragon lying, + And he sets fire to all that he encounters. + +My Master said: "That one is Cacus, who + Beneath the rock upon Mount Aventine + Created oftentimes a lake of blood. + +He goes not on the same road with his brothers, + By reason of the fraudulent theft he made + Of the great herd, which he had near to him; + +Whereat his tortuous actions ceased beneath + The mace of Hercules, who peradventure + Gave him a hundred, and he felt not ten." + +While he was speaking thus, he had passed by, + And spirits three had underneath us come, + Of which nor I aware was, nor my Leader, + +Until what time they shouted: "Who are you?" + On which account our story made a halt, + And then we were intent on them alone. + +I did not know them; but it came to pass, + As it is wont to happen by some chance, + That one to name the other was compelled, + +Exclaiming: "Where can Cianfa have remained?" + Whence I, so that the Leader might attend, + Upward from chin to nose my finger laid. + +If thou art, Reader, slow now to believe + What I shall say, it will no marvel be, + For I who saw it hardly can admit it. + +As I was holding raised on them my brows, + Behold! a serpent with six feet darts forth + In front of one, and fastens wholly on him. + +With middle feet it bound him round the paunch, + And with the forward ones his arms it seized; + Then thrust its teeth through one cheek and the other; + +The hindermost it stretched upon his thighs, + And put its tail through in between the two, + And up behind along the reins outspread it. + +Ivy was never fastened by its barbs + Unto a tree so, as this horrible reptile + Upon the other's limbs entwined its own. + +Then they stuck close, as if of heated wax + They had been made, and intermixed their colour; + Nor one nor other seemed now what he was; + +E'en as proceedeth on before the flame + Upward along the paper a brown colour, + Which is not black as yet, and the white dies. + +The other two looked on, and each of them + Cried out: "O me, Agnello, how thou changest! + Behold, thou now art neither two nor one." + +Already the two heads had one become, + When there appeared to us two figures mingled + Into one face, wherein the two were lost. + +Of the four lists were fashioned the two arms, + The thighs and legs, the belly and the chest + Members became that never yet were seen. + +Every original aspect there was cancelled; + Two and yet none did the perverted image + Appear, and such departed with slow pace. + +Even as a lizard, under the great scourge + Of days canicular, exchanging hedge, + Lightning appeareth if the road it cross; + +Thus did appear, coming towards the bellies + Of the two others, a small fiery serpent, + Livid and black as is a peppercorn. + +And in that part whereat is first received + Our aliment, it one of them transfixed; + Then downward fell in front of him extended. + +The one transfixed looked at it, but said naught; + Nay, rather with feet motionless he yawned, + Just as if sleep or fever had assailed him. + +He at the serpent gazed, and it at him; + One through the wound, the other through the mouth + Smoked violently, and the smoke commingled. + +Henceforth be silent Lucan, where he mentions + Wretched Sabellus and Nassidius, + And wait to hear what now shall be shot forth. + +Be silent Ovid, of Cadmus and Arethusa; + For if him to a snake, her to fountain, + Converts he fabling, that I grudge him not; + +Because two natures never front to front + Has he transmuted, so that both the forms + To interchange their matter ready were. + +Together they responded in such wise, + That to a fork the serpent cleft his tail, + And eke the wounded drew his feet together. + +The legs together with the thighs themselves + Adhered so, that in little time the juncture + No sign whatever made that was apparent. + +He with the cloven tail assumed the figure + The other one was losing, and his skin + Became elastic, and the other's hard. + +I saw the arms draw inward at the armpits, + And both feet of the reptile, that were short, + Lengthen as much as those contracted were. + +Thereafter the hind feet, together twisted, + Became the member that a man conceals, + And of his own the wretch had two created. + +While both of them the exhalation veils + With a new colour, and engenders hair + On one of them and depilates the other, + +The one uprose and down the other fell, + Though turning not away their impious lamps, + Underneath which each one his muzzle changed. + +He who was standing drew it tow'rds the temples, + And from excess of matter, which came thither, + Issued the ears from out the hollow cheeks; + +What did not backward run and was retained + Of that excess made to the face a nose, + And the lips thickened far as was befitting. + +He who lay prostrate thrusts his muzzle forward, + And backward draws the ears into his head, + In the same manner as the snail its horns; + +And so the tongue, which was entire and apt + For speech before, is cleft, and the bi-forked + In the other closes up, and the smoke ceases. + +The soul, which to a reptile had been changed, + Along the valley hissing takes to flight, + And after him the other speaking sputters. + +Then did he turn upon him his new shoulders, + And said to the other: "I'll have Buoso run, + Crawling as I have done, along this road." + +In this way I beheld the seventh ballast + Shift and reshift, and here be my excuse + The novelty, if aught my pen transgress. + +And notwithstanding that mine eyes might be + Somewhat bewildered, and my mind dismayed, + They could not flee away so secretly + +But that I plainly saw Puccio Sciancato; + And he it was who sole of three companions, + Which came in the beginning, was not changed; + +The other was he whom thou, Gaville, weepest. + + + +Inferno: Canto XXVI + + +Rejoice, O Florence, since thou art so great, + That over sea and land thou beatest thy wings, + And throughout Hell thy name is spread abroad! + +Among the thieves five citizens of thine + Like these I found, whence shame comes unto me, + And thou thereby to no great honour risest. + +But if when morn is near our dreams are true, + Feel shalt thou in a little time from now + What Prato, if none other, craves for thee. + +And if it now were, it were not too soon; + Would that it were, seeing it needs must be, + For 'twill aggrieve me more the more I age. + +We went our way, and up along the stairs + The bourns had made us to descend before, + Remounted my Conductor and drew me. + +And following the solitary path + Among the rocks and ridges of the crag, + The foot without the hand sped not at all. + +Then sorrowed I, and sorrow now again, + When I direct my mind to what I saw, + And more my genius curb than I am wont, + +That it may run not unless virtue guide it; + So that if some good star, or better thing, + Have given me good, I may myself not grudge it. + +As many as the hind (who on the hill + Rests at the time when he who lights the world + His countenance keeps least concealed from us, + +While as the fly gives place unto the gnat) + Seeth the glow-worms down along the valley, + Perchance there where he ploughs and makes his vintage; + +With flames as manifold resplendent all + Was the eighth Bolgia, as I grew aware + As soon as I was where the depth appeared. + +And such as he who with the bears avenged him + Beheld Elijah's chariot at departing, + What time the steeds to heaven erect uprose, + +For with his eye he could not follow it + So as to see aught else than flame alone, + Even as a little cloud ascending upward, + +Thus each along the gorge of the intrenchment + Was moving; for not one reveals the theft, + And every flame a sinner steals away. + +I stood upon the bridge uprisen to see, + So that, if I had seized not on a rock, + Down had I fallen without being pushed. + +And the Leader, who beheld me so attent, + Exclaimed: "Within the fires the spirits are; + Each swathes himself with that wherewith he burns." + +"My Master," I replied, "by hearing thee + I am more sure; but I surmised already + It might be so, and already wished to ask thee + +Who is within that fire, which comes so cleft + At top, it seems uprising from the pyre + Where was Eteocles with his brother placed." + +He answered me: "Within there are tormented + Ulysses and Diomed, and thus together + They unto vengeance run as unto wrath. + +And there within their flame do they lament + The ambush of the horse, which made the door + Whence issued forth the Romans' gentle seed; + +Therein is wept the craft, for which being dead + Deidamia still deplores Achilles, + And pain for the Palladium there is borne." + +"If they within those sparks possess the power + To speak," I said, "thee, Master, much I pray, + And re-pray, that the prayer be worth a thousand, + +That thou make no denial of awaiting + Until the horned flame shall hither come; + Thou seest that with desire I lean towards it." + +And he to me: "Worthy is thy entreaty + Of much applause, and therefore I accept it; + But take heed that thy tongue restrain itself. + +Leave me to speak, because I have conceived + That which thou wishest; for they might disdain + Perchance, since they were Greeks, discourse of thine." + +When now the flame had come unto that point, + Where to my Leader it seemed time and place, + After this fashion did I hear him speak: + +"O ye, who are twofold within one fire, + If I deserved of you, while I was living, + If I deserved of you or much or little + +When in the world I wrote the lofty verses, + Do not move on, but one of you declare + Whither, being lost, he went away to die." + +Then of the antique flame the greater horn, + Murmuring, began to wave itself about + Even as a flame doth which the wind fatigues. + +Thereafterward, the summit to and fro + Moving as if it were the tongue that spake, + It uttered forth a voice, and said: "When I + +From Circe had departed, who concealed me + More than a year there near unto Gaeta, + Or ever yet Aeneas named it so, + +Nor fondness for my son, nor reverence + For my old father, nor the due affection + Which joyous should have made Penelope, + +Could overcome within me the desire + I had to be experienced of the world, + And of the vice and virtue of mankind; + +But I put forth on the high open sea + With one sole ship, and that small company + By which I never had deserted been. + +Both of the shores I saw as far as Spain, + Far as Morocco, and the isle of Sardes, + And the others which that sea bathes round about. + +I and my company were old and slow + When at that narrow passage we arrived + Where Hercules his landmarks set as signals, + +That man no farther onward should adventure. + On the right hand behind me left I Seville, + And on the other already had left Ceuta. + +'O brothers, who amid a hundred thousand + Perils,' I said, 'have come unto the West, + To this so inconsiderable vigil + +Which is remaining of your senses still + Be ye unwilling to deny the knowledge, + Following the sun, of the unpeopled world. + +Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang; + Ye were not made to live like unto brutes, + But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.' + +So eager did I render my companions, + With this brief exhortation, for the voyage, + That then I hardly could have held them back. + +And having turned our stern unto the morning, + We of the oars made wings for our mad flight, + Evermore gaining on the larboard side. + +Already all the stars of the other pole + The night beheld, and ours so very low + It did not rise above the ocean floor. + +Five times rekindled and as many quenched + Had been the splendour underneath the moon, + Since we had entered into the deep pass, + +When there appeared to us a mountain, dim + From distance, and it seemed to me so high + As I had never any one beheld. + +Joyful were we, and soon it turned to weeping; + For out of the new land a whirlwind rose, + And smote upon the fore part of the ship. + +Three times it made her whirl with all the waters, + At the fourth time it made the stern uplift, + And the prow downward go, as pleased Another, + +Until the sea above us closed again." + + + +Inferno: Canto XXVII + + +Already was the flame erect and quiet, + To speak no more, and now departed from us + With the permission of the gentle Poet; + +When yet another, which behind it came, + Caused us to turn our eyes upon its top + By a confused sound that issued from it. + +As the Sicilian bull (that bellowed first + With the lament of him, and that was right, + Who with his file had modulated it) + +Bellowed so with the voice of the afflicted, + That, notwithstanding it was made of brass, + Still it appeared with agony transfixed; + +Thus, by not having any way or issue + At first from out the fire, to its own language + Converted were the melancholy words. + +But afterwards, when they had gathered way + Up through the point, giving it that vibration + The tongue had given them in their passage out, + +We heard it said: "O thou, at whom I aim + My voice, and who but now wast speaking Lombard, + Saying, 'Now go thy way, no more I urge thee,' + +Because I come perchance a little late, + To stay and speak with me let it not irk thee; + Thou seest it irks not me, and I am burning. + +If thou but lately into this blind world + Hast fallen down from that sweet Latian land, + Wherefrom I bring the whole of my transgression, + +Say, if the Romagnuols have peace or war, + For I was from the mountains there between + Urbino and the yoke whence Tiber bursts." + +I still was downward bent and listening, + When my Conductor touched me on the side, + Saying: "Speak thou: this one a Latian is." + +And I, who had beforehand my reply + In readiness, forthwith began to speak: + "O soul, that down below there art concealed, + +Romagna thine is not and never has been + Without war in the bosom of its tyrants; + But open war I none have left there now. + +Ravenna stands as it long years has stood; + The Eagle of Polenta there is brooding, + So that she covers Cervia with her vans. + +The city which once made the long resistance, + And of the French a sanguinary heap, + Beneath the Green Paws finds itself again; + +Verrucchio's ancient Mastiff and the new, + Who made such bad disposal of Montagna, + Where they are wont make wimbles of their teeth. + +The cities of Lamone and Santerno + Governs the Lioncel of the white lair, + Who changes sides 'twixt summer-time and winter; + +And that of which the Savio bathes the flank, + Even as it lies between the plain and mountain, + Lives between tyranny and a free state. + +Now I entreat thee tell us who thou art; + Be not more stubborn than the rest have been, + So may thy name hold front there in the world." + +After the fire a little more had roared + In its own fashion, the sharp point it moved + This way and that, and then gave forth such breath: + +"If I believed that my reply were made + To one who to the world would e'er return, + This flame without more flickering would stand still; + +But inasmuch as never from this depth + Did any one return, if I hear true, + Without the fear of infamy I answer, + +I was a man of arms, then Cordelier, + Believing thus begirt to make amends; + And truly my belief had been fulfilled + +But for the High Priest, whom may ill betide, + Who put me back into my former sins; + And how and wherefore I will have thee hear. + +While I was still the form of bone and pulp + My mother gave to me, the deeds I did + Were not those of a lion, but a fox. + +The machinations and the covert ways + I knew them all, and practised so their craft, + That to the ends of earth the sound went forth. + +When now unto that portion of mine age + I saw myself arrived, when each one ought + To lower the sails, and coil away the ropes, + +That which before had pleased me then displeased me; + And penitent and confessing I surrendered, + Ah woe is me! and it would have bestead me; + +The Leader of the modern Pharisees + Having a war near unto Lateran, + And not with Saracens nor with the Jews, + +For each one of his enemies was Christian, + And none of them had been to conquer Acre, + Nor merchandising in the Sultan's land, + +Nor the high office, nor the sacred orders, + In him regarded, nor in me that cord + Which used to make those girt with it more meagre; + +But even as Constantine sought out Sylvester + To cure his leprosy, within Soracte, + So this one sought me out as an adept + +To cure him of the fever of his pride. + Counsel he asked of me, and I was silent, + Because his words appeared inebriate. + +And then he said: 'Be not thy heart afraid; + Henceforth I thee absolve; and thou instruct me + How to raze Palestrina to the ground. + +Heaven have I power to lock and to unlock, + As thou dost know; therefore the keys are two, + The which my predecessor held not dear.' + +Then urged me on his weighty arguments + There, where my silence was the worst advice; + And said I: 'Father, since thou washest me + +Of that sin into which I now must fall, + The promise long with the fulfilment short + Will make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.' + +Francis came afterward, when I was dead, + For me; but one of the black Cherubim + Said to him: 'Take him not; do me no wrong; + +He must come down among my servitors, + Because he gave the fraudulent advice + From which time forth I have been at his hair; + +For who repents not cannot be absolved, + Nor can one both repent and will at once, + Because of the contradiction which consents not.' + +O miserable me! how I did shudder + When he seized on me, saying: 'Peradventure + Thou didst not think that I was a logician!' + +He bore me unto Minos, who entwined + Eight times his tail about his stubborn back, + And after he had bitten it in great rage, + +Said: 'Of the thievish fire a culprit this;' + Wherefore, here where thou seest, am I lost, + And vested thus in going I bemoan me." + +When it had thus completed its recital, + The flame departed uttering lamentations, + Writhing and flapping its sharp-pointed horn. + +Onward we passed, both I and my Conductor, + Up o'er the crag above another arch, + Which the moat covers, where is paid the fee + +By those who, sowing discord, win their burden. + + + +Inferno: Canto XXVIII + + +Who ever could, e'en with untrammelled words, + Tell of the blood and of the wounds in full + Which now I saw, by many times narrating? + +Each tongue would for a certainty fall short + By reason of our speech and memory, + That have small room to comprehend so much. + +If were again assembled all the people + Which formerly upon the fateful land + Of Puglia were lamenting for their blood + +Shed by the Romans and the lingering war + That of the rings made such illustrious spoils, + As Livy has recorded, who errs not, + +With those who felt the agony of blows + By making counterstand to Robert Guiscard, + And all the rest, whose bones are gathered still + +At Ceperano, where a renegade + Was each Apulian, and at Tagliacozzo, + Where without arms the old Alardo conquered, + +And one his limb transpierced, and one lopped off, + Should show, it would be nothing to compare + With the disgusting mode of the ninth Bolgia. + +A cask by losing centre-piece or cant + Was never shattered so, as I saw one + Rent from the chin to where one breaketh wind. + +Between his legs were hanging down his entrails; + His heart was visible, and the dismal sack + That maketh excrement of what is eaten. + +While I was all absorbed in seeing him, + He looked at me, and opened with his hands + His bosom, saying: "See now how I rend me; + +How mutilated, see, is Mahomet; + In front of me doth Ali weeping go, + Cleft in the face from forelock unto chin; + +And all the others whom thou here beholdest, + Disseminators of scandal and of schism + While living were, and therefore are cleft thus. + +A devil is behind here, who doth cleave us + Thus cruelly, unto the falchion's edge + Putting again each one of all this ream, + +When we have gone around the doleful road; + By reason that our wounds are closed again + Ere any one in front of him repass. + +But who art thou, that musest on the crag, + Perchance to postpone going to the pain + That is adjudged upon thine accusations?" + +"Nor death hath reached him yet, nor guilt doth bring him," + My Master made reply, "to be tormented; + But to procure him full experience, + +Me, who am dead, behoves it to conduct him + Down here through Hell, from circle unto circle; + And this is true as that I speak to thee." + +More than a hundred were there when they heard him, + Who in the moat stood still to look at me, + Through wonderment oblivious of their torture. + +"Now say to Fra Dolcino, then, to arm him, + Thou, who perhaps wilt shortly see the sun, + If soon he wish not here to follow me, + +So with provisions, that no stress of snow + May give the victory to the Novarese, + Which otherwise to gain would not be easy." + +After one foot to go away he lifted, + This word did Mahomet say unto me, + Then to depart upon the ground he stretched it. + +Another one, who had his throat pierced through, + And nose cut off close underneath the brows, + And had no longer but a single ear, + +Staying to look in wonder with the others, + Before the others did his gullet open, + Which outwardly was red in every part, + +And said: "O thou, whom guilt doth not condemn, + And whom I once saw up in Latian land, + Unless too great similitude deceive me, + +Call to remembrance Pier da Medicina, + If e'er thou see again the lovely plain + That from Vercelli slopes to Marcabo, + +And make it known to the best two of Fano, + To Messer Guido and Angiolello likewise, + That if foreseeing here be not in vain, + +Cast over from their vessel shall they be, + And drowned near unto the Cattolica, + By the betrayal of a tyrant fell. + +Between the isles of Cyprus and Majorca + Neptune ne'er yet beheld so great a crime, + Neither of pirates nor Argolic people. + +That traitor, who sees only with one eye, + And holds the land, which some one here with me + Would fain be fasting from the vision of, + +Will make them come unto a parley with him; + Then will do so, that to Focara's wind + They will not stand in need of vow or prayer." + +And I to him: "Show to me and declare, + If thou wouldst have me bear up news of thee, + Who is this person of the bitter vision." + +Then did he lay his hand upon the jaw + Of one of his companions, and his mouth + Oped, crying: "This is he, and he speaks not. + +This one, being banished, every doubt submerged + In Caesar by affirming the forearmed + Always with detriment allowed delay." + +O how bewildered unto me appeared, + With tongue asunder in his windpipe slit, + Curio, who in speaking was so bold! + +And one, who both his hands dissevered had, + The stumps uplifting through the murky air, + So that the blood made horrible his face, + +Cried out: "Thou shalt remember Mosca also, + Who said, alas! 'A thing done has an end!' + Which was an ill seed for the Tuscan people." + +"And death unto thy race," thereto I added; + Whence he, accumulating woe on woe, + Departed, like a person sad and crazed. + +But I remained to look upon the crowd; + And saw a thing which I should be afraid, + Without some further proof, even to recount, + +If it were not that conscience reassures me, + That good companion which emboldens man + Beneath the hauberk of its feeling pure. + +I truly saw, and still I seem to see it, + A trunk without a head walk in like manner + As walked the others of the mournful herd. + +And by the hair it held the head dissevered, + Hung from the hand in fashion of a lantern, + And that upon us gazed and said: "O me!" + +It of itself made to itself a lamp, + And they were two in one, and one in two; + How that can be, He knows who so ordains it. + +When it was come close to the bridge's foot, + It lifted high its arm with all the head, + To bring more closely unto us its words, + +Which were: "Behold now the sore penalty, + Thou, who dost breathing go the dead beholding; + Behold if any be as great as this. + +And so that thou may carry news of me, + Know that Bertram de Born am I, the same + Who gave to the Young King the evil comfort. + +I made the father and the son rebellious; + Achitophel not more with Absalom + And David did with his accursed goadings. + +Because I parted persons so united, + Parted do I now bear my brain, alas! + From its beginning, which is in this trunk. + +Thus is observed in me the counterpoise." + + + +Inferno: Canto XXIX + + +The many people and the divers wounds + These eyes of mine had so inebriated, + That they were wishful to stand still and weep; + +But said Virgilius: "What dost thou still gaze at? + Why is thy sight still riveted down there + Among the mournful, mutilated shades? + +Thou hast not done so at the other Bolge; + Consider, if to count them thou believest, + That two-and-twenty miles the valley winds, + +And now the moon is underneath our feet; + Henceforth the time allotted us is brief, + And more is to be seen than what thou seest." + +"If thou hadst," I made answer thereupon, + "Attended to the cause for which I looked, + Perhaps a longer stay thou wouldst have pardoned." + +Meanwhile my Guide departed, and behind him + I went, already making my reply, + And superadding: "In that cavern where + +I held mine eyes with such attention fixed, + I think a spirit of my blood laments + The sin which down below there costs so much." + +Then said the Master: "Be no longer broken + Thy thought from this time forward upon him; + Attend elsewhere, and there let him remain; + +For him I saw below the little bridge, + Pointing at thee, and threatening with his finger + Fiercely, and heard him called Geri del Bello. + +So wholly at that time wast thou impeded + By him who formerly held Altaforte, + Thou didst not look that way; so he departed." + +"O my Conductor, his own violent death, + Which is not yet avenged for him," I said, + "By any who is sharer in the shame, + +Made him disdainful; whence he went away, + As I imagine, without speaking to me, + And thereby made me pity him the more." + +Thus did we speak as far as the first place + Upon the crag, which the next valley shows + Down to the bottom, if there were more light. + +When we were now right over the last cloister + Of Malebolge, so that its lay-brothers + Could manifest themselves unto our sight, + +Divers lamentings pierced me through and through, + Which with compassion had their arrows barbed, + Whereat mine ears I covered with my hands. + +What pain would be, if from the hospitals + Of Valdichiana, 'twixt July and September, + And of Maremma and Sardinia + +All the diseases in one moat were gathered, + Such was it here, and such a stench came from it + As from putrescent limbs is wont to issue. + +We had descended on the furthest bank + From the long crag, upon the left hand still, + And then more vivid was my power of sight + +Down tow'rds the bottom, where the ministress + Of the high Lord, Justice infallible, + Punishes forgers, which she here records. + +I do not think a sadder sight to see + Was in Aegina the whole people sick, + (When was the air so full of pestilence, + +The animals, down to the little worm, + All fell, and afterwards the ancient people, + According as the poets have affirmed, + +Were from the seed of ants restored again,) + Than was it to behold through that dark valley + The spirits languishing in divers heaps. + +This on the belly, that upon the back + One of the other lay, and others crawling + Shifted themselves along the dismal road. + +We step by step went onward without speech, + Gazing upon and listening to the sick + Who had not strength enough to lift their bodies. + +I saw two sitting leaned against each other, + As leans in heating platter against platter, + From head to foot bespotted o'er with scabs; + +And never saw I plied a currycomb + By stable-boy for whom his master waits, + Or him who keeps awake unwillingly, + +As every one was plying fast the bite + Of nails upon himself, for the great rage + Of itching which no other succour had. + +And the nails downward with them dragged the scab, + In fashion as a knife the scales of bream, + Or any other fish that has them largest. + +"O thou, that with thy fingers dost dismail thee," + Began my Leader unto one of them, + "And makest of them pincers now and then, + +Tell me if any Latian is with those + Who are herein; so may thy nails suffice thee + To all eternity unto this work." + +"Latians are we, whom thou so wasted seest, + Both of us here," one weeping made reply; + "But who art thou, that questionest about us?" + +And said the Guide: "One am I who descends + Down with this living man from cliff to cliff, + And I intend to show Hell unto him." + +Then broken was their mutual support, + And trembling each one turned himself to me, + With others who had heard him by rebound. + +Wholly to me did the good Master gather, + Saying: "Say unto them whate'er thou wishest." + And I began, since he would have it so: + +"So may your memory not steal away + In the first world from out the minds of men, + But so may it survive 'neath many suns, + +Say to me who ye are, and of what people; + Let not your foul and loathsome punishment + Make you afraid to show yourselves to me." + +"I of Arezzo was," one made reply, + "And Albert of Siena had me burned; + But what I died for does not bring me here. + +'Tis true I said to him, speaking in jest, + That I could rise by flight into the air, + And he who had conceit, but little wit, + +Would have me show to him the art; and only + Because no Daedalus I made him, made me + Be burned by one who held him as his son. + +But unto the last Bolgia of the ten, + For alchemy, which in the world I practised, + Minos, who cannot err, has me condemned." + +And to the Poet said I: "Now was ever + So vain a people as the Sienese? + Not for a certainty the French by far." + +Whereat the other leper, who had heard me, + Replied unto my speech: "Taking out Stricca, + Who knew the art of moderate expenses, + +And Niccolo, who the luxurious use + Of cloves discovered earliest of all + Within that garden where such seed takes root; + +And taking out the band, among whom squandered + Caccia d'Ascian his vineyards and vast woods, + And where his wit the Abbagliato proffered! + +But, that thou know who thus doth second thee + Against the Sienese, make sharp thine eye + Tow'rds me, so that my face well answer thee, + +And thou shalt see I am Capocchio's shade, + Who metals falsified by alchemy; + Thou must remember, if I well descry thee, + +How I a skilful ape of nature was." + + + +Inferno: Canto XXX + + +'Twas at the time when Juno was enraged, + For Semele, against the Theban blood, + As she already more than once had shown, + +So reft of reason Athamas became, + That, seeing his own wife with children twain + Walking encumbered upon either hand, + +He cried: "Spread out the nets, that I may take + The lioness and her whelps upon the passage;" + And then extended his unpitying claws, + +Seizing the first, who had the name Learchus, + And whirled him round, and dashed him on a rock; + And she, with the other burthen, drowned herself;-- + +And at the time when fortune downward hurled + The Trojan's arrogance, that all things dared, + So that the king was with his kingdom crushed, + +Hecuba sad, disconsolate, and captive, + When lifeless she beheld Polyxena, + And of her Polydorus on the shore + +Of ocean was the dolorous one aware, + Out of her senses like a dog she barked, + So much the anguish had her mind distorted; + +But not of Thebes the furies nor the Trojan + Were ever seen in any one so cruel + In goading beasts, and much more human members, + +As I beheld two shadows pale and naked, + Who, biting, in the manner ran along + That a boar does, when from the sty turned loose. + +One to Capocchio came, and by the nape + Seized with its teeth his neck, so that in dragging + It made his belly grate the solid bottom. + +And the Aretine, who trembling had remained, + Said to me: "That mad sprite is Gianni Schicchi, + And raving goes thus harrying other people." + +"O," said I to him, "so may not the other + Set teeth on thee, let it not weary thee + To tell us who it is, ere it dart hence." + +And he to me: "That is the ancient ghost + Of the nefarious Myrrha, who became + Beyond all rightful love her father's lover. + +She came to sin with him after this manner, + By counterfeiting of another's form; + As he who goeth yonder undertook, + +That he might gain the lady of the herd, + To counterfeit in himself Buoso Donati, + Making a will and giving it due form." + +And after the two maniacs had passed + On whom I held mine eye, I turned it back + To look upon the other evil-born. + +I saw one made in fashion of a lute, + If he had only had the groin cut off + Just at the point at which a man is forked. + +The heavy dropsy, that so disproportions + The limbs with humours, which it ill concocts, + That the face corresponds not to the belly, + +Compelled him so to hold his lips apart + As does the hectic, who because of thirst + One tow'rds the chin, the other upward turns. + +"O ye, who without any torment are, + And why I know not, in the world of woe," + He said to us, "behold, and be attentive + +Unto the misery of Master Adam; + I had while living much of what I wished, + And now, alas! a drop of water crave. + +The rivulets, that from the verdant hills + Of Cassentin descend down into Arno, + Making their channels to be cold and moist, + +Ever before me stand, and not in vain; + For far more doth their image dry me up + Than the disease which strips my face of flesh. + +The rigid justice that chastises me + Draweth occasion from the place in which + I sinned, to put the more my sighs in flight. + +There is Romena, where I counterfeited + The currency imprinted with the Baptist, + For which I left my body burned above. + +But if I here could see the tristful soul + Of Guido, or Alessandro, or their brother, + For Branda's fount I would not give the sight. + +One is within already, if the raving + Shades that are going round about speak truth; + But what avails it me, whose limbs are tied? + +If I were only still so light, that in + A hundred years I could advance one inch, + I had already started on the way, + +Seeking him out among this squalid folk, + Although the circuit be eleven miles, + And be not less than half a mile across. + +For them am I in such a family; + They did induce me into coining florins, + Which had three carats of impurity." + +And I to him: "Who are the two poor wretches + That smoke like unto a wet hand in winter, + Lying there close upon thy right-hand confines?" + +"I found them here," replied he, "when I rained + Into this chasm, and since they have not turned, + Nor do I think they will for evermore. + +One the false woman is who accused Joseph, + The other the false Sinon, Greek of Troy; + From acute fever they send forth such reek." + +And one of them, who felt himself annoyed + At being, peradventure, named so darkly, + Smote with the fist upon his hardened paunch. + +It gave a sound, as if it were a drum; + And Master Adam smote him in the face, + With arm that did not seem to be less hard, + +Saying to him: "Although be taken from me + All motion, for my limbs that heavy are, + I have an arm unfettered for such need." + +Whereat he answer made: "When thou didst go + Unto the fire, thou hadst it not so ready: + But hadst it so and more when thou wast coining." + +The dropsical: "Thou sayest true in that; + But thou wast not so true a witness there, + Where thou wast questioned of the truth at Troy." + +"If I spake false, thou falsifiedst the coin," + Said Sinon; "and for one fault I am here, + And thou for more than any other demon." + +"Remember, perjurer, about the horse," + He made reply who had the swollen belly, + "And rueful be it thee the whole world knows it." + +"Rueful to thee the thirst be wherewith cracks + Thy tongue," the Greek said, "and the putrid water + That hedges so thy paunch before thine eyes." + +Then the false-coiner: "So is gaping wide + Thy mouth for speaking evil, as 'tis wont; + Because if I have thirst, and humour stuff me + +Thou hast the burning and the head that aches, + And to lick up the mirror of Narcissus + Thou wouldst not want words many to invite thee." + +In listening to them was I wholly fixed, + When said the Master to me: "Now just look, + For little wants it that I quarrel with thee." + +When him I heard in anger speak to me, + I turned me round towards him with such shame + That still it eddies through my memory. + +And as he is who dreams of his own harm, + Who dreaming wishes it may be a dream, + So that he craves what is, as if it were not; + +Such I became, not having power to speak, + For to excuse myself I wished, and still + Excused myself, and did not think I did it. + +"Less shame doth wash away a greater fault," + The Master said, "than this of thine has been; + Therefore thyself disburden of all sadness, + +And make account that I am aye beside thee, + If e'er it come to pass that fortune bring thee + Where there are people in a like dispute; + +For a base wish it is to wish to hear it." + + + +Inferno: Canto XXXI + + +One and the selfsame tongue first wounded me, + So that it tinged the one cheek and the other, + And then held out to me the medicine; + +Thus do I hear that once Achilles' spear, + His and his father's, used to be the cause + First of a sad and then a gracious boon. + +We turned our backs upon the wretched valley, + Upon the bank that girds it round about, + Going across it without any speech. + +There it was less than night, and less than day, + So that my sight went little in advance; + But I could hear the blare of a loud horn, + +So loud it would have made each thunder faint, + Which, counter to it following its way, + Mine eyes directed wholly to one place. + +After the dolorous discomfiture + When Charlemagne the holy emprise lost, + So terribly Orlando sounded not. + +Short while my head turned thitherward I held + When many lofty towers I seemed to see, + Whereat I: "Master, say, what town is this?" + +And he to me: "Because thou peerest forth + Athwart the darkness at too great a distance, + It happens that thou errest in thy fancy. + +Well shalt thou see, if thou arrivest there, + How much the sense deceives itself by distance; + Therefore a little faster spur thee on." + +Then tenderly he took me by the hand, + And said: "Before we farther have advanced, + That the reality may seem to thee + +Less strange, know that these are not towers, but giants, + And they are in the well, around the bank, + From navel downward, one and all of them." + +As, when the fog is vanishing away, + Little by little doth the sight refigure + Whate'er the mist that crowds the air conceals, + +So, piercing through the dense and darksome air, + More and more near approaching tow'rd the verge, + My error fled, and fear came over me; + +Because as on its circular parapets + Montereggione crowns itself with towers, + E'en thus the margin which surrounds the well + +With one half of their bodies turreted + The horrible giants, whom Jove menaces + E'en now from out the heavens when he thunders. + +And I of one already saw the face, + Shoulders, and breast, and great part of the belly, + And down along his sides both of the arms. + +Certainly Nature, when she left the making + Of animals like these, did well indeed, + By taking such executors from Mars; + +And if of elephants and whales she doth not + Repent her, whosoever looketh subtly + More just and more discreet will hold her for it; + +For where the argument of intellect + Is added unto evil will and power, + No rampart can the people make against it. + +His face appeared to me as long and large + As is at Rome the pine-cone of Saint Peter's, + And in proportion were the other bones; + +So that the margin, which an apron was + Down from the middle, showed so much of him + Above it, that to reach up to his hair + +Three Frieslanders in vain had vaunted them; + For I beheld thirty great palms of him + Down from the place where man his mantle buckles. + +"Raphael mai amech izabi almi," + Began to clamour the ferocious mouth, + To which were not befitting sweeter psalms. + +And unto him my Guide: "Soul idiotic, + Keep to thy horn, and vent thyself with that, + When wrath or other passion touches thee. + +Search round thy neck, and thou wilt find the belt + Which keeps it fastened, O bewildered soul, + And see it, where it bars thy mighty breast." + +Then said to me: "He doth himself accuse; + This one is Nimrod, by whose evil thought + One language in the world is not still used. + +Here let us leave him and not speak in vain; + For even such to him is every language + As his to others, which to none is known." + +Therefore a longer journey did we make, + Turned to the left, and a crossbow-shot oft + We found another far more fierce and large. + +In binding him, who might the master be + I cannot say; but he had pinioned close + Behind the right arm, and in front the other, + +With chains, that held him so begirt about + From the neck down, that on the part uncovered + It wound itself as far as the fifth gyre. + +"This proud one wished to make experiment + Of his own power against the Supreme Jove," + My Leader said, "whence he has such a guerdon. + +Ephialtes is his name; he showed great prowess. + What time the giants terrified the gods; + The arms he wielded never more he moves." + +And I to him: "If possible, I should wish + That of the measureless Briareus + These eyes of mine might have experience." + +Whence he replied: "Thou shalt behold Antaeus + Close by here, who can speak and is unbound, + Who at the bottom of all crime shall place us. + +Much farther yon is he whom thou wouldst see, + And he is bound, and fashioned like to this one, + Save that he seems in aspect more ferocious." + +There never was an earthquake of such might + That it could shake a tower so violently, + As Ephialtes suddenly shook himself. + +Then was I more afraid of death than ever, + For nothing more was needful than the fear, + If I had not beheld the manacles. + +Then we proceeded farther in advance, + And to Antaeus came, who, full five ells + Without the head, forth issued from the cavern. + +"O thou, who in the valley fortunate, + Which Scipio the heir of glory made, + When Hannibal turned back with all his hosts, + +Once brought'st a thousand lions for thy prey, + And who, hadst thou been at the mighty war + Among thy brothers, some it seems still think + +The sons of Earth the victory would have gained: + Place us below, nor be disdainful of it, + There where the cold doth lock Cocytus up. + +Make us not go to Tityus nor Typhoeus; + This one can give of that which here is longed for; + Therefore stoop down, and do not curl thy lip. + +Still in the world can he restore thy fame; + Because he lives, and still expects long life, + If to itself Grace call him not untimely." + +So said the Master; and in haste the other + His hands extended and took up my Guide,-- + Hands whose great pressure Hercules once felt. + +Virgilius, when he felt himself embraced, + Said unto me: "Draw nigh, that I may take thee;" + Then of himself and me one bundle made. + +As seems the Carisenda, to behold + Beneath the leaning side, when goes a cloud + Above it so that opposite it hangs; + +Such did Antaeus seem to me, who stood + Watching to see him stoop, and then it was + I could have wished to go some other way. + +But lightly in the abyss, which swallows up + Judas with Lucifer, he put us down; + Nor thus bowed downward made he there delay, + +But, as a mast does in a ship, uprose. + + + +Inferno: Canto XXXII + + +If I had rhymes both rough and stridulous, + As were appropriate to the dismal hole + Down upon which thrust all the other rocks, + +I would press out the juice of my conception + More fully; but because I have them not, + Not without fear I bring myself to speak; + +For 'tis no enterprise to take in jest, + To sketch the bottom of all the universe, + Nor for a tongue that cries Mamma and Babbo. + +But may those Ladies help this verse of mine, + Who helped Amphion in enclosing Thebes, + That from the fact the word be not diverse. + +O rabble ill-begotten above all, + Who're in the place to speak of which is hard, + 'Twere better ye had here been sheep or goats! + +When we were down within the darksome well, + Beneath the giant's feet, but lower far, + And I was scanning still the lofty wall, + +I heard it said to me: "Look how thou steppest! + Take heed thou do not trample with thy feet + The heads of the tired, miserable brothers!" + +Whereat I turned me round, and saw before me + And underfoot a lake, that from the frost + The semblance had of glass, and not of water. + +So thick a veil ne'er made upon its current + In winter-time Danube in Austria, + Nor there beneath the frigid sky the Don, + +As there was here; so that if Tambernich + Had fallen upon it, or Pietrapana, + E'en at the edge 'twould not have given a creak. + +And as to croak the frog doth place himself + With muzzle out of water,--when is dreaming + Of gleaning oftentimes the peasant-girl,-- + +Livid, as far down as where shame appears, + Were the disconsolate shades within the ice, + Setting their teeth unto the note of storks. + +Each one his countenance held downward bent; + From mouth the cold, from eyes the doleful heart + Among them witness of itself procures. + +When round about me somewhat I had looked, + I downward turned me, and saw two so close, + The hair upon their heads together mingled. + +"Ye who so strain your breasts together, tell me," + I said, "who are you;" and they bent their necks, + And when to me their faces they had lifted, + +Their eyes, which first were only moist within, + Gushed o'er the eyelids, and the frost congealed + The tears between, and locked them up again. + +Clamp never bound together wood with wood + So strongly; whereat they, like two he-goats, + Butted together, so much wrath o'ercame them. + +And one, who had by reason of the cold + Lost both his ears, still with his visage downward, + Said: "Why dost thou so mirror thyself in us? + +If thou desire to know who these two are, + The valley whence Bisenzio descends + Belonged to them and to their father Albert. + +They from one body came, and all Caina + Thou shalt search through, and shalt not find a shade + More worthy to be fixed in gelatine; + +Not he in whom were broken breast and shadow + At one and the same blow by Arthur's hand; + Focaccia not; not he who me encumbers + +So with his head I see no farther forward, + And bore the name of Sassol Mascheroni; + Well knowest thou who he was, if thou art Tuscan. + +And that thou put me not to further speech, + Know that I Camicion de' Pazzi was, + And wait Carlino to exonerate me." + +Then I beheld a thousand faces, made + Purple with cold; whence o'er me comes a shudder, + And evermore will come, at frozen ponds. + +And while we were advancing tow'rds the middle, + Where everything of weight unites together, + And I was shivering in the eternal shade, + +Whether 'twere will, or destiny, or chance, + I know not; but in walking 'mong the heads + I struck my foot hard in the face of one. + +Weeping he growled: "Why dost thou trample me? + Unless thou comest to increase the vengeance + of Montaperti, why dost thou molest me?" + +And I: "My Master, now wait here for me, + That I through him may issue from a doubt; + Then thou mayst hurry me, as thou shalt wish." + +The Leader stopped; and to that one I said + Who was blaspheming vehemently still: + "Who art thou, that thus reprehendest others?" + +"Now who art thou, that goest through Antenora + Smiting," replied he, "other people's cheeks, + So that, if thou wert living, 'twere too much?" + +"Living I am, and dear to thee it may be," + Was my response, "if thou demandest fame, + That 'mid the other notes thy name I place." + +And he to me: "For the reverse I long; + Take thyself hence, and give me no more trouble; + For ill thou knowest to flatter in this hollow." + +Then by the scalp behind I seized upon him, + And said: "It must needs be thou name thyself, + Or not a hair remain upon thee here." + +Whence he to me: "Though thou strip off my hair, + I will not tell thee who I am, nor show thee, + If on my head a thousand times thou fall." + +I had his hair in hand already twisted, + And more than one shock of it had pulled out, + He barking, with his eyes held firmly down, + +When cried another: "What doth ail thee, Bocca? + Is't not enough to clatter with thy jaws, + But thou must bark? what devil touches thee?" + +"Now," said I, "I care not to have thee speak, + Accursed traitor; for unto thy shame + I will report of thee veracious news." + +"Begone," replied he, "and tell what thou wilt, + But be not silent, if thou issue hence, + Of him who had just now his tongue so prompt; + +He weepeth here the silver of the French; + 'I saw,' thus canst thou phrase it, 'him of Duera + There where the sinners stand out in the cold.' + +If thou shouldst questioned be who else was there, + Thou hast beside thee him of Beccaria, + Of whom the gorget Florence slit asunder; + +Gianni del Soldanier, I think, may be + Yonder with Ganellon, and Tebaldello + Who oped Faenza when the people slep." + +Already we had gone away from him, + When I beheld two frozen in one hole, + So that one head a hood was to the other; + +And even as bread through hunger is devoured, + The uppermost on the other set his teeth, + There where the brain is to the nape united. + +Not in another fashion Tydeus gnawed + The temples of Menalippus in disdain, + Than that one did the skull and the other things. + +"O thou, who showest by such bestial sign + Thy hatred against him whom thou art eating, + Tell me the wherefore," said I, "with this compact, + +That if thou rightfully of him complain, + In knowing who ye are, and his transgression, + I in the world above repay thee for it, + +If that wherewith I speak be not dried up." + + + +Inferno: Canto XXXIII + + +His mouth uplifted from his grim repast, + That sinner, wiping it upon the hair + Of the same head that he behind had wasted. + +Then he began: "Thou wilt that I renew + The desperate grief, which wrings my heart already + To think of only, ere I speak of it; + +But if my words be seed that may bear fruit + Of infamy to the traitor whom I gnaw, + Speaking and weeping shalt thou see together. + +I know not who thou art, nor by what mode + Thou hast come down here; but a Florentine + Thou seemest to me truly, when I hear thee. + +Thou hast to know I was Count Ugolino, + And this one was Ruggieri the Archbishop; + Now I will tell thee why I am such a neighbour. + +That, by effect of his malicious thoughts, + Trusting in him I was made prisoner, + And after put to death, I need not say; + + But ne'ertheless what thou canst not have heard, + That is to say, how cruel was my death, + Hear shalt thou, and shalt know if he has wronged me. + +A narrow perforation in the mew, + Which bears because of me the title of Famine, + And in which others still must be locked up, + +Had shown me through its opening many moons + Already, when I dreamed the evil dream + Which of the future rent for me the veil. + +This one appeared to me as lord and master, + Hunting the wolf and whelps upon the mountain + For which the Pisans cannot Lucca see. + +With sleuth-hounds gaunt, and eager, and well trained, + Gualandi with Sismondi and Lanfianchi + He had sent out before him to the front. + +After brief course seemed unto me forespent + The father and the sons, and with sharp tushes + It seemed to me I saw their flanks ripped open. + +When I before the morrow was awake, + Moaning amid their sleep I heard my sons + Who with me were, and asking after bread. + +Cruel indeed art thou, if yet thou grieve not, + Thinking of what my heart foreboded me, + And weep'st thou not, what art thou wont to weep at? + +They were awake now, and the hour drew nigh + At which our food used to be brought to us, + And through his dream was each one apprehensive; + +And I heard locking up the under door + Of the horrible tower; whereat without a word + I gazed into the faces of my sons. + +I wept not, I within so turned to stone; + They wept; and darling little Anselm mine + Said: 'Thou dost gaze so, father, what doth ail thee?' + +Still not a tear I shed, nor answer made + All of that day, nor yet the night thereafter, + Until another sun rose on the world. + +As now a little glimmer made its way + Into the dolorous prison, and I saw + Upon four faces my own very aspect, + +Both of my hands in agony I bit; + And, thinking that I did it from desire + Of eating, on a sudden they uprose, + +And said they: 'Father, much less pain 'twill give us + If thou do eat of us; thyself didst clothe us + With this poor flesh, and do thou strip it off.' + +I calmed me then, not to make them more sad. + That day we all were silent, and the next. + Ah! obdurate earth, wherefore didst thou not open? + +When we had come unto the fourth day, Gaddo + Threw himself down outstretched before my feet, + Saying, 'My father, why dost thou not help me?' + +And there he died; and, as thou seest me, + I saw the three fall, one by one, between + The fifth day and the sixth; whence I betook me, + +Already blind, to groping over each, + And three days called them after they were dead; + Then hunger did what sorrow could not do." + +When he had said this, with his eyes distorted, + The wretched skull resumed he with his teeth, + Which, as a dog's, upon the bone were strong. + +Ah! Pisa, thou opprobrium of the people + Of the fair land there where the 'Si' doth sound, + Since slow to punish thee thy neighbours are, + +Let the Capraia and Gorgona move, + And make a hedge across the mouth of Arno + That every person in thee it may drown! + +For if Count Ugolino had the fame + Of having in thy castles thee betrayed, + Thou shouldst not on such cross have put his sons. + +Guiltless of any crime, thou modern Thebes! + Their youth made Uguccione and Brigata, + And the other two my song doth name above! + +We passed still farther onward, where the ice + Another people ruggedly enswathes, + Not downward turned, but all of them reversed. + +Weeping itself there does not let them weep, + And grief that finds a barrier in the eyes + Turns itself inward to increase the anguish; + +Because the earliest tears a cluster form, + And, in the manner of a crystal visor, + Fill all the cup beneath the eyebrow full. + +And notwithstanding that, as in a callus, + Because of cold all sensibility + Its station had abandoned in my face, + +Still it appeared to me I felt some wind; + Whence I: "My Master, who sets this in motion? + Is not below here every vapour quenched?" + +Whence he to me: "Full soon shalt thou be where + Thine eye shall answer make to thee of this, + Seeing the cause which raineth down the blast." + +And one of the wretches of the frozen crust + Cried out to us: "O souls so merciless + That the last post is given unto you, + +Lift from mine eyes the rigid veils, that I + May vent the sorrow which impregns my heart + A little, e'er the weeping recongeal." + +Whence I to him: "If thou wouldst have me help thee + Say who thou wast; and if I free thee not, + May I go to the bottom of the ice." + +Then he replied: "I am Friar Alberigo; + He am I of the fruit of the bad garden, + Who here a date am getting for my fig." + +"O," said I to him, "now art thou, too, dead?" + And he to me: "How may my body fare + Up in the world, no knowledge I possess. + +Such an advantage has this Ptolomaea, + That oftentimes the soul descendeth here + Sooner than Atropos in motion sets it. + +And, that thou mayest more willingly remove + From off my countenance these glassy tears, + Know that as soon as any soul betrays + +As I have done, his body by a demon + Is taken from him, who thereafter rules it, + Until his time has wholly been revolved. + +Itself down rushes into such a cistern; + And still perchance above appears the body + Of yonder shade, that winters here behind me. + +This thou shouldst know, if thou hast just come down; + It is Ser Branca d' Oria, and many years + Have passed away since he was thus locked up." + +"I think," said I to him, "thou dost deceive me; + For Branca d' Oria is not dead as yet, + And eats, and drinks, and sleeps, and puts on clothes." + +"In moat above," said he, "of Malebranche, + There where is boiling the tenacious pitch, + As yet had Michel Zanche not arrived, + +When this one left a devil in his stead + In his own body and one near of kin, + Who made together with him the betrayal. + +But hitherward stretch out thy hand forthwith, + Open mine eyes;"--and open them I did not, + And to be rude to him was courtesy. + +Ah, Genoese! ye men at variance + With every virtue, full of every vice + Wherefore are ye not scattered from the world? + +For with the vilest spirit of Romagna + I found of you one such, who for his deeds + In soul already in Cocytus bathes, + +And still above in body seems alive! + + + +Inferno: Canto XXXIV + + +"'Vexilla Regis prodeunt Inferni' + Towards us; therefore look in front of thee," + My Master said, "if thou discernest him." + +As, when there breathes a heavy fog, or when + Our hemisphere is darkening into night, + Appears far off a mill the wind is turning, + +Methought that such a building then I saw; + And, for the wind, I drew myself behind + My Guide, because there was no other shelter. + +Now was I, and with fear in verse I put it, + There where the shades were wholly covered up, + And glimmered through like unto straws in glass. + +Some prone are lying, others stand erect, + This with the head, and that one with the soles; + Another, bow-like, face to feet inverts. + +When in advance so far we had proceeded, + That it my Master pleased to show to me + The creature who once had the beauteous semblance, + +He from before me moved and made me stop, + Saying: "Behold Dis, and behold the place + Where thou with fortitude must arm thyself." + +How frozen I became and powerless then, + Ask it not, Reader, for I write it not, + Because all language would be insufficient. + +I did not die, and I alive remained not; + Think for thyself now, hast thou aught of wit, + What I became, being of both deprived. + +The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous + From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice; + And better with a giant I compare + +Than do the giants with those arms of his; + Consider now how great must be that whole, + Which unto such a part conforms itself. + +Were he as fair once, as he now is foul, + And lifted up his brow against his Maker, + Well may proceed from him all tribulation. + +O, what a marvel it appeared to me, + When I beheld three faces on his head! + The one in front, and that vermilion was; + +Two were the others, that were joined with this + Above the middle part of either shoulder, + And they were joined together at the crest; + +And the right-hand one seemed 'twixt white and yellow; + The left was such to look upon as those + Who come from where the Nile falls valley-ward. + +Underneath each came forth two mighty wings, + Such as befitting were so great a bird; + Sails of the sea I never saw so large. + + No feathers had they, but as of a bat + Their fashion was; and he was waving them, + So that three winds proceeded forth therefrom. + +Thereby Cocytus wholly was congealed. + With six eyes did he weep, and down three chins + Trickled the tear-drops and the bloody drivel. + +At every mouth he with his teeth was crunching + A sinner, in the manner of a brake, + So that he three of them tormented thus. + +To him in front the biting was as naught + Unto the clawing, for sometimes the spine + Utterly stripped of all the skin remained. + +"That soul up there which has the greatest pain," + The Master said, "is Judas Iscariot; + With head inside, he plies his legs without. + +Of the two others, who head downward are, + The one who hangs from the black jowl is Brutus; + See how he writhes himself, and speaks no word. + +And the other, who so stalwart seems, is Cassius. + But night is reascending, and 'tis time + That we depart, for we have seen the whole." + +As seemed him good, I clasped him round the neck, + And he the vantage seized of time and place, + And when the wings were opened wide apart, + +He laid fast hold upon the shaggy sides; + From fell to fell descended downward then + Between the thick hair and the frozen crust. + +When we were come to where the thigh revolves + Exactly on the thickness of the haunch, + The Guide, with labour and with hard-drawn breath, + +Turned round his head where he had had his legs, + And grappled to the hair, as one who mounts, + So that to Hell I thought we were returning. + +"Keep fast thy hold, for by such stairs as these," + The Master said, panting as one fatigued, + "Must we perforce depart from so much evil." + +Then through the opening of a rock he issued, + And down upon the margin seated me; + Then tow'rds me he outstretched his wary step. + +I lifted up mine eyes and thought to see + Lucifer in the same way I had left him; + And I beheld him upward hold his legs. + +And if I then became disquieted, + Let stolid people think who do not see + What the point is beyond which I had passed. + +"Rise up," the Master said, "upon thy feet; + The way is long, and difficult the road, + And now the sun to middle-tierce returns." + +It was not any palace corridor + There where we were, but dungeon natural, + With floor uneven and unease of light. + +"Ere from the abyss I tear myself away, + My Master," said I when I had arisen, + "To draw me from an error speak a little; + +Where is the ice? and how is this one fixed + Thus upside down? and how in such short time + From eve to morn has the sun made his transit?" + +And he to me: "Thou still imaginest + Thou art beyond the centre, where I grasped + The hair of the fell worm, who mines the world. + +That side thou wast, so long as I descended; + When round I turned me, thou didst pass the point + To which things heavy draw from every side, + +And now beneath the hemisphere art come + Opposite that which overhangs the vast + Dry-land, and 'neath whose cope was put to death + +The Man who without sin was born and lived. + Thou hast thy feet upon the little sphere + Which makes the other face of the Judecca. + +Here it is morn when it is evening there; + And he who with his hair a stairway made us + Still fixed remaineth as he was before. + +Upon this side he fell down out of heaven; + And all the land, that whilom here emerged, + For fear of him made of the sea a veil, + +And came to our hemisphere; and peradventure + To flee from him, what on this side appears + Left the place vacant here, and back recoiled." + +A place there is below, from Beelzebub + As far receding as the tomb extends, + Which not by sight is known, but by the sound + +Of a small rivulet, that there descendeth + Through chasm within the stone, which it has gnawed + With course that winds about and slightly falls. + +The Guide and I into that hidden road + Now entered, to return to the bright world; + And without care of having any rest + +We mounted up, he first and I the second, + Till I beheld through a round aperture + Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear; + +Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Divine Comedy, Longfellow's +Translation, Hell, by Dante Alighieri + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DIVINE COMEDY *** + +***** This file should be named 1001.txt or 1001.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/0/1001/ + +Produced by Dennis McCarthy + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Dennis McCarthy, Atlanta, GA. + + + + + +THE DIVINE COMEDY + +OF DANTE ALIGHIERI +(1265-1321) + + +TRANSLATED BY +HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW +(1807-1882) + + + + +CANTICLE I: INFERNO + + + + +CREDITS + + +The base text for this edition has been provided by Digital Dante, a +project sponsored by Columbia University's Institute for Learning +Technologies. Specific thanks goes to Jennifer Hogan (Project +Editor/Director), Tanya Larkin (Assistant to Editor), Robert W. Cole +(Proofreader/Assistant Editor), and Jennifer Cook (Proofreader). + +The Digital Dante Project is a digital 'study space' for Dante studies and +scholarship. The project is multi-faceted and fluid by nature of the Web. +Digital Dante attempts to organize the information most significant for +students first engaging with Dante and scholars researching Dante. The +digital of Digital Dante incurs a new challenge to the student, the +scholar, and teacher, perusing the Web: to become proficient in the new +tools, e.g., Search, the Discussion Group, well enough to look beyond the +technology and delve into the content. For more information and access to +the project, please visit its web site at: +http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/projects/dante/ + +For this Project Gutenberg edition the e-text was rechecked. The editor +greatly thanks Dian McCarthy for her assistance in proofreading the +Paradiso. Also deserving praise are Herbert Fann for programming the text +editor "Desktop Tools/Edit" and the late August Dvorak for designing his +keyboard layout. Please refer to Project Gutenberg's e-text listings for +other editions or translations of 'The Divine Comedy.' For this three part +edition of 'The Divine Comedy' please refer to the end of the Paradiso for +supplemental materials. + +Dennis McCarthy, July 1997 +imprimatur@juno.com + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Inferno + + I. The Dark Forest. The Hill of Difficulty. The Panther, + the Lion, and the Wolf. Virgil. + II. The Descent. Dante's Protest and Virgil's Appeal. + The Intercession of the Three Ladies Benedight. + III. The Gate of Hell. The Inefficient or Indifferent. + Pope Celestine V. The Shores of Acheron. Charon. + The Earthquake and the Swoon. + IV. The First Circle, Limbo: Virtuous Pagans and the Unbaptized. + The Four Poets, Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. The Noble + Castle of Philosophy. + V. The Second Circle: The Wanton. Minos. The Infernal Hurricane. + Francesca da Rimini. + VI. The Third Circle: The Gluttonous. Cerberus. The Eternal Rain. + Ciacco. Florence. + VII. The Fourth Circle: The Avaricious and the Prodigal. + Plutus. Fortune and her Wheel. The Fifth Circle: + The Irascible and the Sullen. Styx. + VIII. Phlegyas. Philippo Argenti. The Gate of the City of Dis. + IX. The Furies and Medusa. The Angel. The City of Dis. + The Sixth Circle: Heresiarchs. + X. Farinata and Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti. Discourse on the + Knowledge of the Damned. + XI. The Broken Rocks. Pope Anastasius. General Description of + the Inferno and its Divisions. + XII. The Minotaur. The Seventh Circle: The Violent. + The River Phlegethon. The Violent against their Neighbours. + The Centaurs. Tyrants. + XIII. The Wood of Thorns. The Harpies. The Violent + against themselves. Suicides. Pier della Vigna. + Lano and Jacopo da Sant' Andrea. + XIV. The Sand Waste and the Rain of Fire. The Violent against God. + Capaneus. The Statue of Time, and the Four Infernal Rivers. + XV. The Violent against Nature. Brunetto Latini. + XVI. Guidoguerra, Aldobrandi, and Rusticucci. Cataract of + the River of Blood. + XVII. Geryon. The Violent against Art. Usurers. Descent into + the Abyss of Malebolge. + XVIII. The Eighth Circle, Malebolge: The Fraudulent and + the Malicious. The First Bolgia: Seducers and Panders. + Venedico Caccianimico. Jason. The Second Bolgia: + Flatterers. Allessio Interminelli. Thais. + XIX. The Third Bolgia: Simoniacs. Pope Nicholas III. + Dante's Reproof of corrupt Prelates. + XX. The Fourth Bolgia: Soothsayers. Amphiaraus, Tiresias, Aruns, + Manto, Eryphylus, Michael Scott, Guido Bonatti, and Asdente. + Virgil reproaches Dante's Pity. Mantua's Foundation. + XXI. The Fifth Bolgia: Peculators. The Elder of Santa Zita. + Malacoda and other Devils. + XXII. Ciampolo, Friar Gomita, and Michael Zanche. + The Malabranche quarrel. + XXIII. Escape from the Malabranche. The Sixth Bolgia: Hypocrites. + Catalano and Loderingo. Caiaphas. + XXIV. The Seventh Bolgia: Thieves. Vanni Fucci. Serpents. + XXV. Vanni Fucci's Punishment. Agnello Brunelleschi, + Buoso degli Abati, Puccio Sciancato, Cianfa de' Donati, + and Guercio Cavalcanti. + XXVI. The Eighth Bolgia: Evil Counsellors. Ulysses and Diomed. + Ulysses' Last Voyage. + XXVII. Guido da Montefeltro. His deception by Pope Boniface VIII. +XXVIII. The Ninth Bolgia: Schismatics. Mahomet and Ali. + Pier da Medicina, Curio, Mosca, and Bertrand de Born. + XXIX. Geri del Bello. The Tenth Bolgia: Alchemists. + Griffolino d' Arezzo and Capocchino. + XXX. Other Falsifiers or Forgers. Gianni Schicchi, Myrrha, + Adam of Brescia, Potiphar's Wife, and Sinon of Troy. + XXXI. The Giants, Nimrod, Ephialtes, and Antaeus. + Descent to Cocytus. + XXXII. The Ninth Circle: Traitors. The Frozen Lake of Cocytus. + First Division, Caina: Traitors to their Kindred. + Camicion de' Pazzi. Second Division, Antenora: + Traitors to their Country. Dante questions + Bocca degli Abati. Buoso da Duera. +XXXIII. Count Ugolino and the Archbishop Ruggieri. The Death + of Count Ugolino's Sons. Third Division of the Ninth Circle, + Ptolomaea: Traitors to their Friends. Friar Alberigo, + Branco d' Oria. + XXXIV. Fourth Division of the Ninth Circle, the Judecca: + Traitors to their Lords and Benefactors. Lucifer, + Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius. The Chasm of Lethe. + The Ascent. + + + + +Incipit Comoedia Dantis Alagherii, +Florentini natione, non moribus. + + +The Divine Comedy +translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow +(e-text courtesy ILT's Digital Dante Project) + +INFERNO + + + +Inferno: Canto I + + +Midway upon the journey of our life + I found myself within a forest dark, + For the straightforward pathway had been lost. + +Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say + What was this forest savage, rough, and stern, + Which in the very thought renews the fear. + +So bitter is it, death is little more; + But of the good to treat, which there I found, + Speak will I of the other things I saw there. + +I cannot well repeat how there I entered, + So full was I of slumber at the moment + In which I had abandoned the true way. + +But after I had reached a mountain's foot, + At that point where the valley terminated, + Which had with consternation pierced my heart, + +Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders, + Vested already with that planet's rays + Which leadeth others right by every road. + +Then was the fear a little quieted + That in my heart's lake had endured throughout + The night, which I had passed so piteously. + +And even as he, who, with distressful breath, + Forth issued from the sea upon the shore, + Turns to the water perilous and gazes; + +So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward, + Turn itself back to re-behold the pass + Which never yet a living person left. + +After my weary body I had rested, + The way resumed I on the desert slope, + So that the firm foot ever was the lower. + +And lo! almost where the ascent began, + A panther light and swift exceedingly, + Which with a spotted skin was covered o'er! + +And never moved she from before my face, + Nay, rather did impede so much my way, + That many times I to return had turned. + +The time was the beginning of the morning, + And up the sun was mounting with those stars + That with him were, what time the Love Divine + +At first in motion set those beauteous things; + So were to me occasion of good hope, + The variegated skin of that wild beast, + +The hour of time, and the delicious season; + But not so much, that did not give me fear + A lion's aspect which appeared to me. + +He seemed as if against me he were coming + With head uplifted, and with ravenous hunger, + So that it seemed the air was afraid of him; + +And a she-wolf, that with all hungerings + Seemed to be laden in her meagreness, + And many folk has caused to live forlorn! + +She brought upon me so much heaviness, + With the affright that from her aspect came, + That I the hope relinquished of the height. + +And as he is who willingly acquires, + And the time comes that causes him to lose, + Who weeps in all his thoughts and is despondent, + +E'en such made me that beast withouten peace, + Which, coming on against me by degrees + Thrust me back thither where the sun is silent. + +While I was rushing downward to the lowland, + Before mine eyes did one present himself, + Who seemed from long-continued silence hoarse. + +When I beheld him in the desert vast, + "Have pity on me," unto him I cried, + "Whiche'er thou art, or shade or real man!" + +He answered me: "Not man; man once I was, + And both my parents were of Lombardy, + And Mantuans by country both of them. + +'Sub Julio' was I born, though it was late, + And lived at Rome under the good Augustus, + During the time of false and lying gods. + +A poet was I, and I sang that just + Son of Anchises, who came forth from Troy, + After that Ilion the superb was burned. + +But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance? + Why climb'st thou not the Mount Delectable, + Which is the source and cause of every joy?" + +"Now, art thou that Virgilius and that fountain + Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech?" + I made response to him with bashful forehead. + +"O, of the other poets honour and light, + Avail me the long study and great love + That have impelled me to explore thy volume! + +Thou art my master, and my author thou, + Thou art alone the one from whom I took + The beautiful style that has done honour to me. + +Behold the beast, for which I have turned back; + Do thou protect me from her, famous Sage, + For she doth make my veins and pulses tremble." + +"Thee it behoves to take another road," + Responded he, when he beheld me weeping, + "If from this savage place thou wouldst escape; + +Because this beast, at which thou criest out, + Suffers not any one to pass her way, + But so doth harass him, that she destroys him; + +And has a nature so malign and ruthless, + That never doth she glut her greedy will, + And after food is hungrier than before. + +Many the animals with whom she weds, + And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound + Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain. + +He shall not feed on either earth or pelf, + But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue; + 'Twixt Feltro and Feltro shall his nation be; + +Of that low Italy shall he be the saviour, + On whose account the maid Camilla died, + Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds; + +Through every city shall he hunt her down, + Until he shall have driven her back to Hell, + There from whence envy first did let her loose. + +Therefore I think and judge it for thy best + Thou follow me, and I will be thy guide, + And lead thee hence through the eternal place, + +Where thou shalt hear the desperate lamentations, + Shalt see the ancient spirits disconsolate, + Who cry out each one for the second death; + +And thou shalt see those who contented are + Within the fire, because they hope to come, + Whene'er it may be, to the blessed people; + +To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend, + A soul shall be for that than I more worthy; + With her at my departure I will leave thee; + +Because that Emperor, who reigns above, + In that I was rebellious to his law, + Wills that through me none come into his city. + +He governs everywhere, and there he reigns; + There is his city and his lofty throne; + O happy he whom thereto he elects!" + +And I to him: "Poet, I thee entreat, + By that same God whom thou didst never know, + So that I may escape this woe and worse, + +Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said, + That I may see the portal of Saint Peter, + And those thou makest so disconsolate." + +Then he moved on, and I behind him followed. + + + +Inferno: Canto II + + +Day was departing, and the embrowned air + Released the animals that are on earth + From their fatigues; and I the only one + +Made myself ready to sustain the war, + Both of the way and likewise of the woe, + Which memory that errs not shall retrace. + +O Muses, O high genius, now assist me! + O memory, that didst write down what I saw, + Here thy nobility shall be manifest! + +And I began: "Poet, who guidest me, + Regard my manhood, if it be sufficient, + Ere to the arduous pass thou dost confide me. + +Thou sayest, that of Silvius the parent, + While yet corruptible, unto the world + Immortal went, and was there bodily. + +But if the adversary of all evil + Was courteous, thinking of the high effect + That issue would from him, and who, and what, + +To men of intellect unmeet it seems not; + For he was of great Rome, and of her empire + In the empyreal heaven as father chosen; + +The which and what, wishing to speak the truth, + Were stablished as the holy place, wherein + Sits the successor of the greatest Peter. + +Upon this journey, whence thou givest him vaunt, + Things did he hear, which the occasion were + Both of his victory and the papal mantle. + +Thither went afterwards the Chosen Vessel, + To bring back comfort thence unto that Faith, + Which of salvation's way is the beginning. + +But I, why thither come, or who concedes it? + I not Aeneas am, I am not Paul, + Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it. + +Therefore, if I resign myself to come, + I fear the coming may be ill-advised; + Thou'rt wise, and knowest better than I speak." + +And as he is, who unwills what he willed, + And by new thoughts doth his intention change, + So that from his design he quite withdraws, + +Such I became, upon that dark hillside, + Because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise, + Which was so very prompt in the beginning. + +"If I have well thy language understood," + Replied that shade of the Magnanimous, + "Thy soul attainted is with cowardice, + +Which many times a man encumbers so, + It turns him back from honoured enterprise, + As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy. + +That thou mayst free thee from this apprehension, + I'll tell thee why I came, and what I heard + At the first moment when I grieved for thee. + +Among those was I who are in suspense, + And a fair, saintly Lady called to me + In such wise, I besought her to command me. + +Her eyes where shining brighter than the Star; + And she began to say, gentle and low, + With voice angelical, in her own language: + +'O spirit courteous of Mantua, + Of whom the fame still in the world endures, + And shall endure, long-lasting as the world; + +A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune, + Upon the desert slope is so impeded + Upon his way, that he has turned through terror, + +And may, I fear, already be so lost, + That I too late have risen to his succour, + From that which I have heard of him in Heaven. + +Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate, + And with what needful is for his release, + Assist him so, that I may be consoled. + +Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go; + I come from there, where I would fain return; + Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak. + +When I shall be in presence of my Lord, + Full often will I praise thee unto him.' + Then paused she, and thereafter I began: + +'O Lady of virtue, thou alone through whom + The human race exceedeth all contained + Within the heaven that has the lesser circles, + +So grateful unto me is thy commandment, + To obey, if 'twere already done, were late; + No farther need'st thou ope to me thy wish. + +But the cause tell me why thou dost not shun + The here descending down into this centre, + From the vast place thou burnest to return to.' + +'Since thou wouldst fain so inwardly discern, + Briefly will I relate,' she answered me, + 'Why I am not afraid to enter here. + +Of those things only should one be afraid + Which have the power of doing others harm; + Of the rest, no; because they are not fearful. + +God in his mercy such created me + That misery of yours attains me not, + Nor any flame assails me of this burning. + +A gentle Lady is in Heaven, who grieves + At this impediment, to which I send thee, + So that stern judgment there above is broken. + +In her entreaty she besought Lucia, + And said, "Thy faithful one now stands in need + Of thee, and unto thee I recommend him." + +Lucia, foe of all that cruel is, + Hastened away, and came unto the place + Where I was sitting with the ancient Rachel. + +"Beatrice" said she, "the true praise of God, + Why succourest thou not him, who loved thee so, + For thee he issued from the vulgar herd? + +Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint? + Dost thou not see the death that combats him + Beside that flood, where ocean has no vaunt?" + +Never were persons in the world so swift + To work their weal and to escape their woe, + As I, after such words as these were uttered, + +Came hither downward from my blessed seat, + Confiding in thy dignified discourse, + Which honours thee, and those who've listened to it.' + +After she thus had spoken unto me, + Weeping, her shining eyes she turned away; + Whereby she made me swifter in my coming; + +And unto thee I came, as she desired; + I have delivered thee from that wild beast, + Which barred the beautiful mountain's short ascent. + +What is it, then? Why, why dost thou delay? + Why is such baseness bedded in thy heart? + Daring and hardihood why hast thou not, + +Seeing that three such Ladies benedight + Are caring for thee in the court of Heaven, + And so much good my speech doth promise thee?" + +Even as the flowerets, by nocturnal chill, + Bowed down and closed, when the sun whitens them, + Uplift themselves all open on their stems; + +Such I became with my exhausted strength, + And such good courage to my heart there coursed, + That I began, like an intrepid person: + +"O she compassionate, who succoured me, + And courteous thou, who hast obeyed so soon + The words of truth which she addressed to thee! + +Thou hast my heart so with desire disposed + To the adventure, with these words of thine, + That to my first intent I have returned. + +Now go, for one sole will is in us both, + Thou Leader, and thou Lord, and Master thou." + Thus said I to him; and when he had moved, + +I entered on the deep and savage way. + + + +Inferno: Canto III + + +"Through me the way is to the city dolent; + Through me the way is to eternal dole; + Through me the way among the people lost. + +Justice incited my sublime Creator; + Created me divine Omnipotence, + The highest Wisdom and the primal Love. + +Before me there were no created things, + Only eterne, and I eternal last. + All hope abandon, ye who enter in!" + +These words in sombre colour I beheld + Written upon the summit of a gate; + Whence I: "Their sense is, Master, hard to me!" + +And he to me, as one experienced: + "Here all suspicion needs must be abandoned, + All cowardice must needs be here extinct. + +We to the place have come, where I have told thee + Thou shalt behold the people dolorous + Who have foregone the good of intellect." + +And after he had laid his hand on mine + With joyful mien, whence I was comforted, + He led me in among the secret things. + +There sighs, complaints, and ululations loud + Resounded through the air without a star, + Whence I, at the beginning, wept thereat. + +Languages diverse, horrible dialects, + Accents of anger, words of agony, + And voices high and hoarse, with sound of hands, + +Made up a tumult that goes whirling on + For ever in that air for ever black, + Even as the sand doth, when the whirlwind breathes. + +And I, who had my head with horror bound, + Said: "Master, what is this which now I hear? + What folk is this, which seems by pain so vanquished?" + +And he to me: "This miserable mode + Maintain the melancholy souls of those + Who lived withouten infamy or praise. + +Commingled are they with that caitiff choir + Of Angels, who have not rebellious been, + Nor faithful were to God, but were for self. + +The heavens expelled them, not to be less fair; + Nor them the nethermore abyss receives, + For glory none the damned would have from them." + +And I: "O Master, what so grievous is + To these, that maketh them lament so sore?" + He answered: "I will tell thee very briefly. + +These have no longer any hope of death; + And this blind life of theirs is so debased, + They envious are of every other fate. + +No fame of them the world permits to be; + Misericord and Justice both disdain them. + Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass." + +And I, who looked again, beheld a banner, + Which, whirling round, ran on so rapidly, + That of all pause it seemed to me indignant; + +And after it there came so long a train + Of people, that I ne'er would have believed + That ever Death so many had undone. + +When some among them I had recognised, + I looked, and I beheld the shade of him + Who made through cowardice the great refusal. + +Forthwith I comprehended, and was certain, + That this the sect was of the caitiff wretches + Hateful to God and to his enemies. + +These miscreants, who never were alive, + Were naked, and were stung exceedingly + By gadflies and by hornets that were there. + +These did their faces irrigate with blood, + Which, with their tears commingled, at their feet + By the disgusting worms was gathered up. + +And when to gazing farther I betook me. + People I saw on a great river's bank; + Whence said I: "Master, now vouchsafe to me, + +That I may know who these are, and what law + Makes them appear so ready to pass over, + As I discern athwart the dusky light." + +And he to me: "These things shall all be known + To thee, as soon as we our footsteps stay + Upon the dismal shore of Acheron." + +Then with mine eyes ashamed and downward cast, + Fearing my words might irksome be to him, + From speech refrained I till we reached the river. + +And lo! towards us coming in a boat + An old man, hoary with the hair of eld, + Crying: "Woe unto you, ye souls depraved! + +Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens; + I come to lead you to the other shore, + To the eternal shades in heat and frost. + +And thou, that yonder standest, living soul, + Withdraw thee from these people, who are dead!" + But when he saw that I did not withdraw, + +He said: "By other ways, by other ports + Thou to the shore shalt come, not here, for passage; + A lighter vessel needs must carry thee." + +And unto him the Guide: "Vex thee not, Charon; + It is so willed there where is power to do + That which is willed; and farther question not." + +Thereat were quieted the fleecy cheeks + Of him the ferryman of the livid fen, + Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame. + +But all those souls who weary were and naked + Their colour changed and gnashed their teeth together, + As soon as they had heard those cruel words. + +God they blasphemed and their progenitors, + The human race, the place, the time, the seed + Of their engendering and of their birth! + +Thereafter all together they drew back, + Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore, + Which waiteth every man who fears not God. + +Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede, + Beckoning to them, collects them all together, + Beats with his oar whoever lags behind. + +As in the autumn-time the leaves fall off, + First one and then another, till the branch + Unto the earth surrenders all its spoils; + +In similar wise the evil seed of Adam + Throw themselves from that margin one by one, + At signals, as a bird unto its lure. + +So they depart across the dusky wave, + And ere upon the other side they land, + Again on this side a new troop assembles. + +"My son," the courteous Master said to me, + "All those who perish in the wrath of God + Here meet together out of every land; + +And ready are they to pass o'er the river, + Because celestial Justice spurs them on, + So that their fear is turned into desire. + +This way there never passes a good soul; + And hence if Charon doth complain of thee, + Well mayst thou know now what his speech imports." + +This being finished, all the dusk champaign + Trembled so violently, that of that terror + The recollection bathes me still with sweat. + +The land of tears gave forth a blast of wind, + And fulminated a vermilion light, + Which overmastered in me every sense, + +And as a man whom sleep hath seized I fell. + + + +Inferno: Canto IV + + +Broke the deep lethargy within my head + A heavy thunder, so that I upstarted, + Like to a person who by force is wakened; + +And round about I moved my rested eyes, + Uprisen erect, and steadfastly I gazed, + To recognise the place wherein I was. + +True is it, that upon the verge I found me + Of the abysmal valley dolorous, + That gathers thunder of infinite ululations. + +Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous, + So that by fixing on its depths my sight + Nothing whatever I discerned therein. + +"Let us descend now into the blind world," + Began the Poet, pallid utterly; + "I will be first, and thou shalt second be." + +And I, who of his colour was aware, + Said: "How shall I come, if thou art afraid, + Who'rt wont to be a comfort to my fears?" + +And he to me: "The anguish of the people + Who are below here in my face depicts + That pity which for terror thou hast taken. + +Let us go on, for the long way impels us." + Thus he went in, and thus he made me enter + The foremost circle that surrounds the abyss. + +There, as it seemed to me from listening, + Were lamentations none, but only sighs, + That tremble made the everlasting air. + +And this arose from sorrow without torment, + Which the crowds had, that many were and great, + Of infants and of women and of men. + +To me the Master good: "Thou dost not ask + What spirits these, which thou beholdest, are? + Now will I have thee know, ere thou go farther, + +That they sinned not; and if they merit had, + 'Tis not enough, because they had not baptism + Which is the portal of the Faith thou holdest; + +And if they were before Christianity, + In the right manner they adored not God; + And among such as these am I myself. + +For such defects, and not for other guilt, + Lost are we and are only so far punished, + That without hope we live on in desire." + +Great grief seized on my heart when this I heard, + Because some people of much worthiness + I knew, who in that Limbo were suspended. + +"Tell me, my Master, tell me, thou my Lord," + Began I, with desire of being certain + Of that Faith which o'ercometh every error, + +"Came any one by his own merit hence, + Or by another's, who was blessed thereafter?" + And he, who understood my covert speech, + +Replied: "I was a novice in this state, + When I saw hither come a Mighty One, + With sign of victory incoronate. + +Hence he drew forth the shade of the First Parent, + And that of his son Abel, and of Noah, + Of Moses the lawgiver, and the obedient + +Abraham, patriarch, and David, king, + Israel with his father and his children, + And Rachel, for whose sake he did so much, + +And others many, and he made them blessed; + And thou must know, that earlier than these + Never were any human spirits saved." + +We ceased not to advance because he spake, + But still were passing onward through the forest, + The forest, say I, of thick-crowded ghosts. + +Not very far as yet our way had gone + This side the summit, when I saw a fire + That overcame a hemisphere of darkness. + +We were a little distant from it still, + But not so far that I in part discerned not + That honourable people held that place. + +"O thou who honourest every art and science, + Who may these be, which such great honour have, + That from the fashion of the rest it parts them?" + +And he to me: "The honourable name, + That sounds of them above there in thy life, + Wins grace in Heaven, that so advances them." + +In the mean time a voice was heard by me: + "All honour be to the pre-eminent Poet; + His shade returns again, that was departed." + +After the voice had ceased and quiet was, + Four mighty shades I saw approaching us; + Semblance had they nor sorrowful nor glad. + +To say to me began my gracious Master: + "Him with that falchion in his hand behold, + Who comes before the three, even as their lord. + +That one is Homer, Poet sovereign; + He who comes next is Horace, the satirist; + The third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan. + +Because to each of these with me applies + The name that solitary voice proclaimed, + They do me honour, and in that do well." + +Thus I beheld assemble the fair school + Of that lord of the song pre-eminent, + Who o'er the others like an eagle soars. + +When they together had discoursed somewhat, + They turned to me with signs of salutation, + And on beholding this, my Master smiled; + +And more of honour still, much more, they did me, + In that they made me one of their own band; + So that the sixth was I, 'mid so much wit. + +Thus we went on as far as to the light, + Things saying 'tis becoming to keep silent, + As was the saying of them where I was. + +We came unto a noble castle's foot, + Seven times encompassed with lofty walls, + Defended round by a fair rivulet; + +This we passed over even as firm ground; + Through portals seven I entered with these Sages; + We came into a meadow of fresh verdure. + +People were there with solemn eyes and slow, + Of great authority in their countenance; + They spake but seldom, and with gentle voices. + +Thus we withdrew ourselves upon one side + Into an opening luminous and lofty, + So that they all of them were visible. + +There opposite, upon the green enamel, + Were pointed out to me the mighty spirits, + Whom to have seen I feel myself exalted. + +I saw Electra with companions many, + 'Mongst whom I knew both Hector and Aeneas, + Caesar in armour with gerfalcon eyes; + +I saw Camilla and Penthesilea + On the other side, and saw the King Latinus, + Who with Lavinia his daughter sat; + +I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin forth, + Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia, + And saw alone, apart, the Saladin. + +When I had lifted up my brows a little, + The Master I beheld of those who know, + Sit with his philosophic family. + +All gaze upon him, and all do him honour. + There I beheld both Socrates and Plato, + Who nearer him before the others stand; + +Democritus, who puts the world on chance, + Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales, + Zeno, Empedocles, and Heraclitus; + +Of qualities I saw the good collector, + Hight Dioscorides; and Orpheus saw I, + Tully and Livy, and moral Seneca, + +Euclid, geometrician, and Ptolemy, + Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicenna, + Averroes, who the great Comment made. + +I cannot all of them pourtray in full, + Because so drives me onward the long theme, + That many times the word comes short of fact. + +The sixfold company in two divides; + Another way my sapient Guide conducts me + Forth from the quiet to the air that trembles; + +And to a place I come where nothing shines. + + + +Inferno: Canto V + + +Thus I descended out of the first circle + Down to the second, that less space begirds, + And so much greater dole, that goads to wailing. + +There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls; + Examines the transgressions at the entrance; + Judges, and sends according as he girds him. + +I say, that when the spirit evil-born + Cometh before him, wholly it confesses; + And this discriminator of transgressions + +Seeth what place in Hell is meet for it; + Girds himself with his tail as many times + As grades he wishes it should be thrust down. + +Always before him many of them stand; + They go by turns each one unto the judgment; + They speak, and hear, and then are downward hurled. + +"O thou, that to this dolorous hostelry + Comest," said Minos to me, when he saw me, + Leaving the practice of so great an office, + +"Look how thou enterest, and in whom thou trustest; + Let not the portal's amplitude deceive thee." + And unto him my Guide: "Why criest thou too? + +Do not impede his journey fate-ordained; + It is so willed there where is power to do + That which is willed; and ask no further question." + +And now begin the dolesome notes to grow + Audible unto me; now am I come + There where much lamentation strikes upon me. + +I came into a place mute of all light, + Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest, + If by opposing winds 't is combated. + +The infernal hurricane that never rests + Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine; + Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. + +When they arrive before the precipice, + There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments, + There they blaspheme the puissance divine. + +I understood that unto such a torment + The carnal malefactors were condemned, + Who reason subjugate to appetite. + +And as the wings of starlings bear them on + In the cold season in large band and full, + So doth that blast the spirits maledict; + +It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them; + No hope doth comfort them for evermore, + Not of repose, but even of lesser pain. + +And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays, + Making in air a long line of themselves, + So saw I coming, uttering lamentations, + +Shadows borne onward by the aforesaid stress. + Whereupon said I: "Master, who are those + People, whom the black air so castigates?" + +"The first of those, of whom intelligence + Thou fain wouldst have," then said he unto me, + "The empress was of many languages. + +To sensual vices she was so abandoned, + That lustful she made licit in her law, + To remove the blame to which she had been led. + +She is Semiramis, of whom we read + That she succeeded Ninus, and was his spouse; + She held the land which now the Sultan rules. + +The next is she who killed herself for love, + And broke faith with the ashes of Sichaeus; + Then Cleopatra the voluptuous." + +Helen I saw, for whom so many ruthless + Seasons revolved; and saw the great Achilles, + Who at the last hour combated with Love. + +Paris I saw, Tristan; and more than a thousand + Shades did he name and point out with his finger, + Whom Love had separated from our life. + +After that I had listened to my Teacher, + Naming the dames of eld and cavaliers, + Pity prevailed, and I was nigh bewildered. + +And I began: "O Poet, willingly + Speak would I to those two, who go together, + And seem upon the wind to be so light." + +And, he to me: "Thou'lt mark, when they shall be + Nearer to us; and then do thou implore them + By love which leadeth them, and they will come." + +Soon as the wind in our direction sways them, + My voice uplift I: "O ye weary souls! + Come speak to us, if no one interdicts it." + +As turtle-doves, called onward by desire, + With open and steady wings to the sweet nest + Fly through the air by their volition borne, + +So came they from the band where Dido is, + Approaching us athwart the air malign, + So strong was the affectionate appeal. + +"O living creature gracious and benignant, + Who visiting goest through the purple air + Us, who have stained the world incarnadine, + +If were the King of the Universe our friend, + We would pray unto him to give thee peace, + Since thou hast pity on our woe perverse. + +Of what it pleases thee to hear and speak, + That will we hear, and we will speak to you, + While silent is the wind, as it is now. + +Sitteth the city, wherein I was born, + Upon the sea-shore where the Po descends + To rest in peace with all his retinue. + +Love, that on gentle heart doth swiftly seize, + Seized this man for the person beautiful + That was ta'en from me, and still the mode offends me. + +Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving, + Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly, + That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me; + +Love has conducted us unto one death; + Caina waiteth him who quenched our life!" + These words were borne along from them to us. + +As soon as I had heard those souls tormented, + I bowed my face, and so long held it down + Until the Poet said to me: "What thinkest?" + +When I made answer, I began: "Alas! + How many pleasant thoughts, how much desire, + Conducted these unto the dolorous pass!" + +Then unto them I turned me, and I spake, + And I began: "Thine agonies, Francesca, + Sad and compassionate to weeping make me. + +But tell me, at the time of those sweet sighs, + By what and in what manner Love conceded, + That you should know your dubious desires?" + +And she to me: "There is no greater sorrow + Than to be mindful of the happy time + In misery, and that thy Teacher knows. + +But, if to recognise the earliest root + Of love in us thou hast so great desire, + I will do even as he who weeps and speaks. + +One day we reading were for our delight + Of Launcelot, how Love did him enthral. + Alone we were and without any fear. + +Full many a time our eyes together drew + That reading, and drove the colour from our faces; + But one point only was it that o'ercame us. + +When as we read of the much-longed-for smile + Being by such a noble lover kissed, + This one, who ne'er from me shall be divided, + +Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating. + Galeotto was the book and he who wrote it. + That day no farther did we read therein." + +And all the while one spirit uttered this, + The other one did weep so, that, for pity, + I swooned away as if I had been dying, + +And fell, even as a dead body falls. + + + +Inferno: Canto VI + + +At the return of consciousness, that closed + Before the pity of those two relations, + Which utterly with sadness had confused me, + +New torments I behold, and new tormented + Around me, whichsoever way I move, + And whichsoever way I turn, and gaze. + +In the third circle am I of the rain + Eternal, maledict, and cold, and heavy; + Its law and quality are never new. + +Huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow, + Athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain; + Noisome the earth is, that receiveth this. + +Cerberus, monster cruel and uncouth, + With his three gullets like a dog is barking + Over the people that are there submerged. + +Red eyes he has, and unctuous beard and black, + And belly large, and armed with claws his hands; + He rends the spirits, flays, and quarters them. + +Howl the rain maketh them like unto dogs; + One side they make a shelter for the other; + Oft turn themselves the wretched reprobates. + +When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm! + His mouths he opened, and displayed his tusks; + Not a limb had he that was motionless. + +And my Conductor, with his spans extended, + Took of the earth, and with his fists well filled, + He threw it into those rapacious gullets. + +Such as that dog is, who by barking craves, + And quiet grows soon as his food he gnaws, + For to devour it he but thinks and struggles, + +The like became those muzzles filth-begrimed + Of Cerberus the demon, who so thunders + Over the souls that they would fain be deaf. + +We passed across the shadows, which subdues + The heavy rain-storm, and we placed our feet + Upon their vanity that person seems. + +They all were lying prone upon the earth, + Excepting one, who sat upright as soon + As he beheld us passing on before him. + +"O thou that art conducted through this Hell," + He said to me, "recall me, if thou canst; + Thyself wast made before I was unmade." + +And I to him: "The anguish which thou hast + Perhaps doth draw thee out of my remembrance, + So that it seems not I have ever seen thee. + +But tell me who thou art, that in so doleful + A place art put, and in such punishment, + If some are greater, none is so displeasing." + +And he to me: "Thy city, which is full + Of envy so that now the sack runs over, + Held me within it in the life serene. + +You citizens were wont to call me Ciacco; + For the pernicious sin of gluttony + I, as thou seest, am battered by this rain. + +And I, sad soul, am not the only one, + For all these suffer the like penalty + For the like sin;" and word no more spake he. + +I answered him: "Ciacco, thy wretchedness + Weighs on me so that it to weep invites me; + But tell me, if thou knowest, to what shall come + +The citizens of the divided city; + If any there be just; and the occasion + Tell me why so much discord has assailed it." + +And he to me: "They, after long contention, + Will come to bloodshed; and the rustic party + Will drive the other out with much offence. + +Then afterwards behoves it this one fall + Within three suns, and rise again the other + By force of him who now is on the coast. + +High will it hold its forehead a long while, + Keeping the other under heavy burdens, + Howe'er it weeps thereat and is indignant. + +The just are two, and are not understood there; + Envy and Arrogance and Avarice + Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled." + +Here ended he his tearful utterance; + And I to him: "I wish thee still to teach me, + And make a gift to me of further speech. + +Farinata and Tegghiaio, once so worthy, + Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca, + And others who on good deeds set their thoughts, + +Say where they are, and cause that I may know them; + For great desire constraineth me to learn + If Heaven doth sweeten them, or Hell envenom." + +And he: "They are among the blacker souls; + A different sin downweighs them to the bottom; + If thou so far descendest, thou canst see them. + +But when thou art again in the sweet world, + I pray thee to the mind of others bring me; + No more I tell thee and no more I answer." + +Then his straightforward eyes he turned askance, + Eyed me a little, and then bowed his head; + He fell therewith prone like the other blind. + +And the Guide said to me: "He wakes no more + This side the sound of the angelic trumpet; + When shall approach the hostile Potentate, + +Each one shall find again his dismal tomb, + Shall reassume his flesh and his own figure, + Shall hear what through eternity re-echoes." + +So we passed onward o'er the filthy mixture + Of shadows and of rain with footsteps slow, + Touching a little on the future life. + +Wherefore I said: "Master, these torments here, + Will they increase after the mighty sentence, + Or lesser be, or will they be as burning?" + +And he to me: "Return unto thy science, + Which wills, that as the thing more perfect is, + The more it feels of pleasure and of pain. + +Albeit that this people maledict + To true perfection never can attain, + Hereafter more than now they look to be." + +Round in a circle by that road we went, + Speaking much more, which I do not repeat; + We came unto the point where the descent is; + +There we found Plutus the great enemy. + + + +Inferno: Canto VII + + +"Pape Satan, Pape Satan, Aleppe!" + Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began; + And that benignant Sage, who all things knew, + +Said, to encourage me: "Let not thy fear + Harm thee; for any power that he may have + Shall not prevent thy going down this crag." + +Then he turned round unto that bloated lip, + And said: "Be silent, thou accursed wolf; + Consume within thyself with thine own rage. + +Not causeless is this journey to the abyss; + Thus is it willed on high, where Michael wrought + Vengeance upon the proud adultery." + +Even as the sails inflated by the wind + Involved together fall when snaps the mast, + So fell the cruel monster to the earth. + +Thus we descended into the fourth chasm, + Gaining still farther on the dolesome shore + Which all the woe of the universe insacks. + +Justice of God, ah! who heaps up so many + New toils and sufferings as I beheld? + And why doth our transgression waste us so? + +As doth the billow there upon Charybdis, + That breaks itself on that which it encounters, + So here the folk must dance their roundelay. + +Here saw I people, more than elsewhere, many, + On one side and the other, with great howls, + Rolling weights forward by main force of chest. + +They clashed together, and then at that point + Each one turned backward, rolling retrograde, + Crying, "Why keepest?" and, "Why squanderest thou?" + +Thus they returned along the lurid circle + On either hand unto the opposite point, + Shouting their shameful metre evermore. + +Then each, when he arrived there, wheeled about + Through his half-circle to another joust; + And I, who had my heart pierced as it were, + +Exclaimed: "My Master, now declare to me + What people these are, and if all were clerks, + These shaven crowns upon the left of us." + +And he to me: "All of them were asquint + In intellect in the first life, so much + That there with measure they no spending made. + +Clearly enough their voices bark it forth, + Whene'er they reach the two points of the circle, + Where sunders them the opposite defect. + +Clerks those were who no hairy covering + Have on the head, and Popes and Cardinals, + In whom doth Avarice practise its excess." + +And I: "My Master, among such as these + I ought forsooth to recognise some few, + Who were infected with these maladies." + +And he to me: "Vain thought thou entertainest; + The undiscerning life which made them sordid + Now makes them unto all discernment dim. + +Forever shall they come to these two buttings; + These from the sepulchre shall rise again + With the fist closed, and these with tresses shorn. + +Ill giving and ill keeping the fair world + Have ta'en from them, and placed them in this scuffle; + Whate'er it be, no words adorn I for it. + +Now canst thou, Son, behold the transient farce + Of goods that are committed unto Fortune, + For which the human race each other buffet; + +For all the gold that is beneath the moon, + Or ever has been, of these weary souls + Could never make a single one repose." + +"Master," I said to him, "now tell me also + What is this Fortune which thou speakest of, + That has the world's goods so within its clutches?" + +And he to me: "O creatures imbecile, + What ignorance is this which doth beset you? + Now will I have thee learn my judgment of her. + +He whose omniscience everything transcends + The heavens created, and gave who should guide them, + That every part to every part may shine, + +Distributing the light in equal measure; + He in like manner to the mundane splendours + Ordained a general ministress and guide, + +That she might change at times the empty treasures + From race to race, from one blood to another, + Beyond resistance of all human wisdom. + +Therefore one people triumphs, and another + Languishes, in pursuance of her judgment, + Which hidden is, as in the grass a serpent. + +Your knowledge has no counterstand against her; + She makes provision, judges, and pursues + Her governance, as theirs the other gods. + +Her permutations have not any truce; + Necessity makes her precipitate, + So often cometh who his turn obtains. + +And this is she who is so crucified + Even by those who ought to give her praise, + Giving her blame amiss, and bad repute. + +But she is blissful, and she hears it not; + Among the other primal creatures gladsome + She turns her sphere, and blissful she rejoices. + +Let us descend now unto greater woe; + Already sinks each star that was ascending + When I set out, and loitering is forbidden." + +We crossed the circle to the other bank, + Near to a fount that boils, and pours itself + Along a gully that runs out of it. + +The water was more sombre far than perse; + And we, in company with the dusky waves, + Made entrance downward by a path uncouth. + +A marsh it makes, which has the name of Styx, + This tristful brooklet, when it has descended + Down to the foot of the malign gray shores. + +And I, who stood intent upon beholding, + Saw people mud-besprent in that lagoon, + All of them naked and with angry look. + +They smote each other not alone with hands, + But with the head and with the breast and feet, + Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth. + +Said the good Master: "Son, thou now beholdest + The souls of those whom anger overcame; + And likewise I would have thee know for certain + +Beneath the water people are who sigh + And make this water bubble at the surface, + As the eye tells thee wheresoe'er it turns. + +Fixed in the mire they say, 'We sullen were + In the sweet air, which by the sun is gladdened, + Bearing within ourselves the sluggish reek; + +Now we are sullen in this sable mire.' + This hymn do they keep gurgling in their throats, + For with unbroken words they cannot say it." + +Thus we went circling round the filthy fen + A great arc 'twixt the dry bank and the swamp, + With eyes turned unto those who gorge the mire; + +Unto the foot of a tower we came at last. + + + +Inferno: Canto VIII + + +I say, continuing, that long before + We to the foot of that high tower had come, + Our eyes went upward to the summit of it, + +By reason of two flamelets we saw placed there, + And from afar another answer them, + So far, that hardly could the eye attain it. + +And, to the sea of all discernment turned, + I said: "What sayeth this, and what respondeth + That other fire? and who are they that made it?" + +And he to me: "Across the turbid waves + What is expected thou canst now discern, + If reek of the morass conceal it not." + +Cord never shot an arrow from itself + That sped away athwart the air so swift, + As I beheld a very little boat + +Come o'er the water tow'rds us at that moment, + Under the guidance of a single pilot, + Who shouted, "Now art thou arrived, fell soul?" + +"Phlegyas, Phlegyas, thou criest out in vain + For this once," said my Lord; "thou shalt not have us + Longer than in the passing of the slough." + +As he who listens to some great deceit + That has been done to him, and then resents it, + Such became Phlegyas, in his gathered wrath. + +My Guide descended down into the boat, + And then he made me enter after him, + And only when I entered seemed it laden. + +Soon as the Guide and I were in the boat, + The antique prow goes on its way, dividing + More of the water than 'tis wont with others. + +While we were running through the dead canal, + Uprose in front of me one full of mire, + And said, "Who 'rt thou that comest ere the hour?" + +And I to him: "Although I come, I stay not; + But who art thou that hast become so squalid?" + "Thou seest that I am one who weeps," he answered. + +And I to him: "With weeping and with wailing, + Thou spirit maledict, do thou remain; + For thee I know, though thou art all defiled." + +Then stretched he both his hands unto the boat; + Whereat my wary Master thrust him back, + Saying, "Away there with the other dogs!" + +Thereafter with his arms he clasped my neck; + He kissed my face, and said: "Disdainful soul, + Blessed be she who bore thee in her bosom. + +That was an arrogant person in the world; + Goodness is none, that decks his memory; + So likewise here his shade is furious. + +How many are esteemed great kings up there, + Who here shall be like unto swine in mire, + Leaving behind them horrible dispraises!" + +And I: "My Master, much should I be pleased, + If I could see him soused into this broth, + Before we issue forth out of the lake." + +And he to me: "Ere unto thee the shore + Reveal itself, thou shalt be satisfied; + Such a desire 'tis meet thou shouldst enjoy." + +A little after that, I saw such havoc + Made of him by the people of the mire, + That still I praise and thank my God for it. + +They all were shouting, "At Philippo Argenti!" + And that exasperate spirit Florentine + Turned round upon himself with his own teeth. + +We left him there, and more of him I tell not; + But on mine ears there smote a lamentation, + Whence forward I intent unbar mine eyes. + +And the good Master said: "Even now, my Son, + The city draweth near whose name is Dis, + With the grave citizens, with the great throng." + +And I: "Its mosques already, Master, clearly + Within there in the valley I discern + Vermilion, as if issuing from the fire + +They were." And he to me: "The fire eternal + That kindles them within makes them look red, + As thou beholdest in this nether Hell." + +Then we arrived within the moats profound, + That circumvallate that disconsolate city; + The walls appeared to me to be of iron. + +Not without making first a circuit wide, + We came unto a place where loud the pilot + Cried out to us, "Debark, here is the entrance." + +More than a thousand at the gates I saw + Out of the Heavens rained down, who angrily + Were saying, "Who is this that without death + +Goes through the kingdom of the people dead?" + And my sagacious Master made a sign + Of wishing secretly to speak with them. + +A little then they quelled their great disdain, + And said: "Come thou alone, and he begone + Who has so boldly entered these dominions. + +Let him return alone by his mad road; + Try, if he can; for thou shalt here remain, + Who hast escorted him through such dark regions." + +Think, Reader, if I was discomforted + At utterance of the accursed words; + For never to return here I believed. + +"O my dear Guide, who more than seven times + Hast rendered me security, and drawn me + From imminent peril that before me stood, + +Do not desert me," said I, "thus undone; + And if the going farther be denied us, + Let us retrace our steps together swiftly." + +And that Lord, who had led me thitherward, + Said unto me: "Fear not; because our passage + None can take from us, it by Such is given. + +But here await me, and thy weary spirit + Comfort and nourish with a better hope; + For in this nether world I will not leave thee." + +So onward goes and there abandons me + My Father sweet, and I remain in doubt, + For No and Yes within my head contend. + +I could not hear what he proposed to them; + But with them there he did not linger long, + Ere each within in rivalry ran back. + +They closed the portals, those our adversaries, + On my Lord's breast, who had remained without + And turned to me with footsteps far between. + +His eyes cast down, his forehead shorn had he + Of all its boldness, and he said, with sighs, + "Who has denied to me the dolesome houses?" + +And unto me: "Thou, because I am angry, + Fear not, for I will conquer in the trial, + Whatever for defence within be planned. + +This arrogance of theirs is nothing new; + For once they used it at less secret gate, + Which finds itself without a fastening still. + +O'er it didst thou behold the dead inscription; + And now this side of it descends the steep, + Passing across the circles without escort, + +One by whose means the city shall be opened." + + + +Inferno: Canto IX + + +That hue which cowardice brought out on me, + Beholding my Conductor backward turn, + Sooner repressed within him his new colour. + +He stopped attentive, like a man who listens, + Because the eye could not conduct him far + Through the black air, and through the heavy fog. + +"Still it behoveth us to win the fight," + Began he; "Else. . .Such offered us herself. . . + O how I long that some one here arrive!" + +Well I perceived, as soon as the beginning + He covered up with what came afterward, + That they were words quite different from the first; + +But none the less his saying gave me fear, + Because I carried out the broken phrase, + Perhaps to a worse meaning than he had. + +"Into this bottom of the doleful conch + Doth any e'er descend from the first grade, + Which for its pain has only hope cut off?" + +This question put I; and he answered me: + "Seldom it comes to pass that one of us + Maketh the journey upon which I go. + +True is it, once before I here below + Was conjured by that pitiless Erictho, + Who summoned back the shades unto their bodies. + +Naked of me short while the flesh had been, + Before within that wall she made me enter, + To bring a spirit from the circle of Judas; + +That is the lowest region and the darkest, + And farthest from the heaven which circles all. + Well know I the way; therefore be reassured. + +This fen, which a prodigious stench exhales, + Encompasses about the city dolent, + Where now we cannot enter without anger." + +And more he said, but not in mind I have it; + Because mine eye had altogether drawn me + Tow'rds the high tower with the red-flaming summit, + +Where in a moment saw I swift uprisen + The three infernal Furies stained with blood, + Who had the limbs of women and their mien, + +And with the greenest hydras were begirt; + Small serpents and cerastes were their tresses, + Wherewith their horrid temples were entwined. + +And he who well the handmaids of the Queen + Of everlasting lamentation knew, + Said unto me: "Behold the fierce Erinnys. + +This is Megaera, on the left-hand side; + She who is weeping on the right, Alecto; + Tisiphone is between;" and then was silent. + +Each one her breast was rending with her nails; + They beat them with their palms, and cried so loud, + That I for dread pressed close unto the Poet. + +"Medusa come, so we to stone will change him!" + All shouted looking down; "in evil hour + Avenged we not on Theseus his assault!" + +"Turn thyself round, and keep thine eyes close shut, + For if the Gorgon appear, and thou shouldst see it, + No more returning upward would there be." + +Thus said the Master; and he turned me round + Himself, and trusted not unto my hands + So far as not to blind me with his own. + +O ye who have undistempered intellects, + Observe the doctrine that conceals itself + Beneath the veil of the mysterious verses! + +And now there came across the turbid waves + The clangour of a sound with terror fraught, + Because of which both of the margins trembled; + +Not otherwise it was than of a wind + Impetuous on account of adverse heats, + That smites the forest, and, without restraint, + +The branches rends, beats down, and bears away; + Right onward, laden with dust, it goes superb, + And puts to flight the wild beasts and the shepherds. + +Mine eyes he loosed, and said: "Direct the nerve + Of vision now along that ancient foam, + There yonder where that smoke is most intense." + +Even as the frogs before the hostile serpent + Across the water scatter all abroad, + Until each one is huddled in the earth. + +More than a thousand ruined souls I saw, + Thus fleeing from before one who on foot + Was passing o'er the Styx with soles unwet. + +From off his face he fanned that unctuous air, + Waving his left hand oft in front of him, + And only with that anguish seemed he weary. + +Well I perceived one sent from Heaven was he, + And to the Master turned; and he made sign + That I should quiet stand, and bow before him. + +Ah! how disdainful he appeared to me! + He reached the gate, and with a little rod + He opened it, for there was no resistance. + +"O banished out of Heaven, people despised!" + Thus he began upon the horrid threshold; + "Whence is this arrogance within you couched? + +Wherefore recalcitrate against that will, + From which the end can never be cut off, + And which has many times increased your pain? + +What helpeth it to butt against the fates? + Your Cerberus, if you remember well, + For that still bears his chin and gullet peeled." + +Then he returned along the miry road, + And spake no word to us, but had the look + Of one whom other care constrains and goads + +Than that of him who in his presence is; + And we our feet directed tow'rds the city, + After those holy words all confident. + +Within we entered without any contest; + And I, who inclination had to see + What the condition such a fortress holds, + +Soon as I was within, cast round mine eye, + And see on every hand an ample plain, + Full of distress and torment terrible. + +Even as at Arles, where stagnant grows the Rhone, + Even as at Pola near to the Quarnaro, + That shuts in Italy and bathes its borders, + +The sepulchres make all the place uneven; + So likewise did they there on every side, + Saving that there the manner was more bitter; + +For flames between the sepulchres were scattered, + By which they so intensely heated were, + That iron more so asks not any art. + +All of their coverings uplifted were, + And from them issued forth such dire laments, + Sooth seemed they of the wretched and tormented. + +And I: "My Master, what are all those people + Who, having sepulture within those tombs, + Make themselves audible by doleful sighs?" + +And he to me: "Here are the Heresiarchs, + With their disciples of all sects, and much + More than thou thinkest laden are the tombs. + +Here like together with its like is buried; + And more and less the monuments are heated." + And when he to the right had turned, we passed + +Between the torments and high parapets. + + + +Inferno: Canto X + + +Now onward goes, along a narrow path + Between the torments and the city wall, + My Master, and I follow at his back. + +"O power supreme, that through these impious circles + Turnest me," I began, "as pleases thee, + Speak to me, and my longings satisfy; + +The people who are lying in these tombs, + Might they be seen? already are uplifted + The covers all, and no one keepeth guard." + +And he to me: "They all will be closed up + When from Jehoshaphat they shall return + Here with the bodies they have left above. + +Their cemetery have upon this side + With Epicurus all his followers, + Who with the body mortal make the soul; + +But in the question thou dost put to me, + Within here shalt thou soon be satisfied, + And likewise in the wish thou keepest silent." + +And I: "Good Leader, I but keep concealed + From thee my heart, that I may speak the less, + Nor only now hast thou thereto disposed me." + +"O Tuscan, thou who through the city of fire + Goest alive, thus speaking modestly, + Be pleased to stay thy footsteps in this place. + +Thy mode of speaking makes thee manifest + A native of that noble fatherland, + To which perhaps I too molestful was." + +Upon a sudden issued forth this sound + From out one of the tombs; wherefore I pressed, + Fearing, a little nearer to my Leader. + +And unto me he said: "Turn thee; what dost thou? + Behold there Farinata who has risen; + From the waist upwards wholly shalt thou see him." + +I had already fixed mine eyes on his, + And he uprose erect with breast and front + E'en as if Hell he had in great despite. + +And with courageous hands and prompt my Leader + Thrust me between the sepulchres towards him, + Exclaiming, "Let thy words explicit be." + +As soon as I was at the foot of his tomb + Somewhat he eyed me, and, as if disdainful, + Then asked of me, "Who were thine ancestors?" + +I, who desirous of obeying was, + Concealed it not, but all revealed to him; + Whereat he raised his brows a little upward. + +Then said he: "Fiercely adverse have they been + To me, and to my fathers, and my party; + So that two several times I scattered them." + +"If they were banished, they returned on all sides," + I answered him, "the first time and the second; + But yours have not acquired that art aright." + +Then there uprose upon the sight, uncovered + Down to the chin, a shadow at his side; + I think that he had risen on his knees. + +Round me he gazed, as if solicitude + He had to see if some one else were with me, + But after his suspicion was all spent, + +Weeping, he said to me: "If through this blind + Prison thou goest by loftiness of genius, + Where is my son? and why is he not with thee?" + +And I to him: "I come not of myself; + He who is waiting yonder leads me here, + Whom in disdain perhaps your Guido had." + +His language and the mode of punishment + Already unto me had read his name; + On that account my answer was so full. + +Up starting suddenly, he cried out: "How + Saidst thou,--he had? Is he not still alive? + Does not the sweet light strike upon his eyes?" + +When he became aware of some delay, + Which I before my answer made, supine + He fell again, and forth appeared no more. + +But the other, magnanimous, at whose desire + I had remained, did not his aspect change, + Neither his neck he moved, nor bent his side. + +"And if," continuing his first discourse, + "They have that art," he said, "not learned aright, + That more tormenteth me, than doth this bed. + +But fifty times shall not rekindled be + The countenance of the Lady who reigns here, + Ere thou shalt know how heavy is that art; + +And as thou wouldst to the sweet world return, + Say why that people is so pitiless + Against my race in each one of its laws?" + +Whence I to him: "The slaughter and great carnage + Which have with crimson stained the Arbia, cause + Such orisons in our temple to be made." + +After his head he with a sigh had shaken, + "There I was not alone," he said, "nor surely + Without a cause had with the others moved. + +But there I was alone, where every one + Consented to the laying waste of Florence, + He who defended her with open face." + +"Ah! so hereafter may your seed repose," + I him entreated, "solve for me that knot, + Which has entangled my conceptions here. + +It seems that you can see, if I hear rightly, + Beforehand whatsoe'er time brings with it, + And in the present have another mode." + +"We see, like those who have imperfect sight, + The things," he said, "that distant are from us; + So much still shines on us the Sovereign Ruler. + +When they draw near, or are, is wholly vain + Our intellect, and if none brings it to us, + Not anything know we of your human state. + +Hence thou canst understand, that wholly dead + Will be our knowledge from the moment when + The portal of the future shall be closed." + +Then I, as if compunctious for my fault, + Said: "Now, then, you will tell that fallen one, + That still his son is with the living joined. + +And if just now, in answering, I was dumb, + Tell him I did it because I was thinking + Already of the error you have solved me." + +And now my Master was recalling me, + Wherefore more eagerly I prayed the spirit + That he would tell me who was with him there. + +He said: "With more than a thousand here I lie; + Within here is the second Frederick, + And the Cardinal, and of the rest I speak not." + +Thereon he hid himself; and I towards + The ancient poet turned my steps, reflecting + Upon that saying, which seemed hostile to me. + +He moved along; and afterward thus going, + He said to me, "Why art thou so bewildered?" + And I in his inquiry satisfied him. + +"Let memory preserve what thou hast heard + Against thyself," that Sage commanded me, + "And now attend here;" and he raised his finger. + +"When thou shalt be before the radiance sweet + Of her whose beauteous eyes all things behold, + From her thou'lt know the journey of thy life." + +Unto the left hand then he turned his feet; + We left the wall, and went towards the middle, + Along a path that strikes into a valley, + +Which even up there unpleasant made its stench. + + + +Inferno: Canto XI + + +Upon the margin of a lofty bank + Which great rocks broken in a circle made, + We came upon a still more cruel throng; + +And there, by reason of the horrible + Excess of stench the deep abyss throws out, + We drew ourselves aside behind the cover + +Of a great tomb, whereon I saw a writing, + Which said: "Pope Anastasius I hold, + Whom out of the right way Photinus drew." + +"Slow it behoveth our descent to be, + So that the sense be first a little used + To the sad blast, and then we shall not heed it." + +The Master thus; and unto him I said, + "Some compensation find, that the time pass not + Idly;" and he: "Thou seest I think of that. + +My son, upon the inside of these rocks," + Began he then to say, "are three small circles, + From grade to grade, like those which thou art leaving. + +They all are full of spirits maledict; + But that hereafter sight alone suffice thee, + Hear how and wherefore they are in constraint. + +Of every malice that wins hate in Heaven, + Injury is the end; and all such end + Either by force or fraud afflicteth others. + +But because fraud is man's peculiar vice, + More it displeases God; and so stand lowest + The fraudulent, and greater dole assails them. + +All the first circle of the Violent is; + But since force may be used against three persons, + In three rounds 'tis divided and constructed. + +To God, to ourselves, and to our neighbour can we + Use force; I say on them and on their things, + As thou shalt hear with reason manifest. + +A death by violence, and painful wounds, + Are to our neighbour given; and in his substance + Ruin, and arson, and injurious levies; + +Whence homicides, and he who smites unjustly, + Marauders, and freebooters, the first round + Tormenteth all in companies diverse. + +Man may lay violent hands upon himself + And his own goods; and therefore in the second + Round must perforce without avail repent + +Whoever of your world deprives himself, + Who games, and dissipates his property, + And weepeth there, where he should jocund be. + +Violence can be done the Deity, + In heart denying and blaspheming Him, + And by disdaining Nature and her bounty. + +And for this reason doth the smallest round + Seal with its signet Sodom and Cahors, + And who, disdaining God, speaks from the heart. + +Fraud, wherewithal is every conscience stung, + A man may practise upon him who trusts, + And him who doth no confidence imburse. + +This latter mode, it would appear, dissevers + Only the bond of love which Nature makes; + Wherefore within the second circle nestle + +Hypocrisy, flattery, and who deals in magic, + Falsification, theft, and simony, + Panders, and barrators, and the like filth. + +By the other mode, forgotten is that love + Which Nature makes, and what is after added, + From which there is a special faith engendered. + +Hence in the smallest circle, where the point is + Of the Universe, upon which Dis is seated, + Whoe'er betrays for ever is consumed." + +And I: "My Master, clear enough proceeds + Thy reasoning, and full well distinguishes + This cavern and the people who possess it. + +But tell me, those within the fat lagoon, + Whom the wind drives, and whom the rain doth beat, + And who encounter with such bitter tongues, + +Wherefore are they inside of the red city + Not punished, if God has them in his wrath, + And if he has not, wherefore in such fashion?" + +And unto me he said: "Why wanders so + Thine intellect from that which it is wont? + Or, sooth, thy mind where is it elsewhere looking? + +Hast thou no recollection of those words + With which thine Ethics thoroughly discusses + The dispositions three, that Heaven abides not,-- + +Incontinence, and Malice, and insane + Bestiality? and how Incontinence + Less God offendeth, and less blame attracts? + +If thou regardest this conclusion well, + And to thy mind recallest who they are + That up outside are undergoing penance, + +Clearly wilt thou perceive why from these felons + They separated are, and why less wroth + Justice divine doth smite them with its hammer." + +"O Sun, that healest all distempered vision, + Thou dost content me so, when thou resolvest, + That doubting pleases me no less than knowing! + +Once more a little backward turn thee," said I, + "There where thou sayest that usury offends + Goodness divine, and disengage the knot." + +"Philosophy," he said, "to him who heeds it, + Noteth, not only in one place alone, + After what manner Nature takes her course + +From Intellect Divine, and from its art; + And if thy Physics carefully thou notest, + After not many pages shalt thou find, + +That this your art as far as possible + Follows, as the disciple doth the master; + So that your art is, as it were, God's grandchild. + +From these two, if thou bringest to thy mind + Genesis at the beginning, it behoves + Mankind to gain their life and to advance; + +And since the usurer takes another way, + Nature herself and in her follower + Disdains he, for elsewhere he puts his hope. + +But follow, now, as I would fain go on, + For quivering are the Fishes on the horizon, + And the Wain wholly over Caurus lies, + +And far beyond there we descend the crag." + + + +Inferno: Canto XII + + +The place where to descend the bank we came + Was alpine, and from what was there, moreover, + Of such a kind that every eye would shun it. + +Such as that ruin is which in the flank + Smote, on this side of Trent, the Adige, + Either by earthquake or by failing stay, + +For from the mountain's top, from which it moved, + Unto the plain the cliff is shattered so, + Some path 'twould give to him who was above; + +Even such was the descent of that ravine, + And on the border of the broken chasm + The infamy of Crete was stretched along, + +Who was conceived in the fictitious cow; + And when he us beheld, he bit himself, + Even as one whom anger racks within. + +My Sage towards him shouted: "Peradventure + Thou think'st that here may be the Duke of Athens, + Who in the world above brought death to thee? + +Get thee gone, beast, for this one cometh not + Instructed by thy sister, but he comes + In order to behold your punishments." + +As is that bull who breaks loose at the moment + In which he has received the mortal blow, + Who cannot walk, but staggers here and there, + +The Minotaur beheld I do the like; + And he, the wary, cried: "Run to the passage; + While he wroth, 'tis well thou shouldst descend." + +Thus down we took our way o'er that discharge + Of stones, which oftentimes did move themselves + Beneath my feet, from the unwonted burden. + +Thoughtful I went; and he said: "Thou art thinking + Perhaps upon this ruin, which is guarded + By that brute anger which just now I quenched. + +Now will I have thee know, the other time + I here descended to the nether Hell, + This precipice had not yet fallen down. + +But truly, if I well discern, a little + Before His coming who the mighty spoil + Bore off from Dis, in the supernal circle, + +Upon all sides the deep and loathsome valley + Trembled so, that I thought the Universe + Was thrilled with love, by which there are who think + +The world ofttimes converted into chaos; + And at that moment this primeval crag + Both here and elsewhere made such overthrow. + +But fix thine eyes below; for draweth near + The river of blood, within which boiling is + Whoe'er by violence doth injure others." + +O blind cupidity, O wrath insane, + That spurs us onward so in our short life, + And in the eternal then so badly steeps us! + +I saw an ample moat bent like a bow, + As one which all the plain encompasses, + Conformable to what my Guide had said. + +And between this and the embankment's foot + Centaurs in file were running, armed with arrows, + As in the world they used the chase to follow. + +Beholding us descend, each one stood still, + And from the squadron three detached themselves, + With bows and arrows in advance selected; + +And from afar one cried: "Unto what torment + Come ye, who down the hillside are descending? + Tell us from there; if not, I draw the bow." + +My Master said: "Our answer will we make + To Chiron, near you there; in evil hour, + That will of thine was evermore so hasty." + +Then touched he me, and said: "This one is Nessus, + Who perished for the lovely Dejanira, + And for himself, himself did vengeance take. + +And he in the midst, who at his breast is gazing, + Is the great Chiron, who brought up Achilles; + That other Pholus is, who was so wrathful. + +Thousands and thousands go about the moat + Shooting with shafts whatever soul emerges + Out of the blood, more than his crime allots." + +Near we approached unto those monsters fleet; + Chiron an arrow took, and with the notch + Backward upon his jaws he put his beard. + +After he had uncovered his great mouth, + He said to his companions: "Are you ware + That he behind moveth whate'er he touches? + +Thus are not wont to do the feet of dead men." + And my good Guide, who now was at his breast, + Where the two natures are together joined, + +Replied: "Indeed he lives, and thus alone + Me it behoves to show him the dark valley; + Necessity, and not delight, impels us. + +Some one withdrew from singing Halleluja, + Who unto me committed this new office; + No thief is he, nor I a thievish spirit. + +But by that virtue through which I am moving + My steps along this savage thoroughfare, + Give us some one of thine, to be with us, + +And who may show us where to pass the ford, + And who may carry this one on his back; + For 'tis no spirit that can walk the air." + +Upon his right breast Chiron wheeled about, + And said to Nessus: "Turn and do thou guide them, + And warn aside, if other band may meet you." + +We with our faithful escort onward moved + Along the brink of the vermilion boiling, + Wherein the boiled were uttering loud laments. + +People I saw within up to the eyebrows, + And the great Centaur said: "Tyrants are these, + Who dealt in bloodshed and in pillaging. + +Here they lament their pitiless mischiefs; here + Is Alexander, and fierce Dionysius + Who upon Sicily brought dolorous years. + +That forehead there which has the hair so black + Is Azzolin; and the other who is blond, + Obizzo is of Esti, who, in truth, + +Up in the world was by his stepson slain." + Then turned I to the Poet; and he said, + "Now he be first to thee, and second I." + +A little farther on the Centaur stopped + Above a folk, who far down as the throat + Seemed from that boiling stream to issue forth. + +A shade he showed us on one side alone, + Saying: "He cleft asunder in God's bosom + The heart that still upon the Thames is honoured." + +Then people saw I, who from out the river + Lifted their heads and also all the chest; + And many among these I recognised. + +Thus ever more and more grew shallower + That blood, so that the feet alone it covered; + And there across the moat our passage was. + +"Even as thou here upon this side beholdest + The boiling stream, that aye diminishes," + The Centaur said, "I wish thee to believe + +That on this other more and more declines + Its bed, until it reunites itself + Where it behoveth tyranny to groan. + +Justice divine, upon this side, is goading + That Attila, who was a scourge on earth, + And Pyrrhus, and Sextus; and for ever milks + +The tears which with the boiling it unseals + In Rinier da Corneto and Rinier Pazzo, + Who made upon the highways so much war." + +Then back he turned, and passed again the ford. + + + +Inferno: Canto XIII + + +Not yet had Nessus reached the other side, + When we had put ourselves within a wood, + That was not marked by any path whatever. + +Not foliage green, but of a dusky colour, + Not branches smooth, but gnarled and intertangled, + Not apple-trees were there, but thorns with poison. + +Such tangled thickets have not, nor so dense, + Those savage wild beasts, that in hatred hold + 'Twixt Cecina and Corneto the tilled places. + +There do the hideous Harpies make their nests, + Who chased the Trojans from the Strophades, + With sad announcement of impending doom; + +Broad wings have they, and necks and faces human, + And feet with claws, and their great bellies fledged; + They make laments upon the wondrous trees. + +And the good Master: "Ere thou enter farther, + Know that thou art within the second round," + Thus he began to say, "and shalt be, till + +Thou comest out upon the horrible sand; + Therefore look well around, and thou shalt see + Things that will credence give unto my speech." + +I heard on all sides lamentations uttered, + And person none beheld I who might make them, + Whence, utterly bewildered, I stood still. + +I think he thought that I perhaps might think + So many voices issued through those trunks + From people who concealed themselves from us; + +Therefore the Master said: "If thou break off + Some little spray from any of these trees, + The thoughts thou hast will wholly be made vain." + +Then stretched I forth my hand a little forward, + And plucked a branchlet off from a great thorn; + And the trunk cried, "Why dost thou mangle me?" + +After it had become embrowned with blood, + It recommenced its cry: "Why dost thou rend me? + Hast thou no spirit of pity whatsoever? + +Men once we were, and now are changed to trees; + Indeed, thy hand should be more pitiful, + Even if the souls of serpents we had been." + +As out of a green brand, that is on fire + At one of the ends, and from the other drips + And hisses with the wind that is escaping; + +So from that splinter issued forth together + Both words and blood; whereat I let the tip + Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid. + +"Had he been able sooner to believe," + My Sage made answer, "O thou wounded soul, + What only in my verses he has seen, + +Not upon thee had he stretched forth his hand; + Whereas the thing incredible has caused me + To put him to an act which grieveth me. + +But tell him who thou wast, so that by way + Of some amends thy fame he may refresh + Up in the world, to which he can return." + +And the trunk said: "So thy sweet words allure me, + I cannot silent be; and you be vexed not, + That I a little to discourse am tempted. + +I am the one who both keys had in keeping + Of Frederick's heart, and turned them to and fro + So softly in unlocking and in locking, + +That from his secrets most men I withheld; + Fidelity I bore the glorious office + So great, I lost thereby my sleep and pulses. + +The courtesan who never from the dwelling + Of Caesar turned aside her strumpet eyes, + Death universal and the vice of courts, + +Inflamed against me all the other minds, + And they, inflamed, did so inflame Augustus, + That my glad honours turned to dismal mournings. + +My spirit, in disdainful exultation, + Thinking by dying to escape disdain, + Made me unjust against myself, the just. + +I, by the roots unwonted of this wood, + Do swear to you that never broke I faith + Unto my lord, who was so worthy of honour; + +And to the world if one of you return, + Let him my memory comfort, which is lying + Still prostrate from the blow that envy dealt it." + +Waited awhile, and then: "Since he is silent," + The Poet said to me, "lose not the time, + But speak, and question him, if more may please thee." + +Whence I to him: "Do thou again inquire + Concerning what thou thinks't will satisfy me; + For I cannot, such pity is in my heart." + +Therefore he recommenced: "So may the man + Do for thee freely what thy speech implores, + Spirit incarcerate, again be pleased + +To tell us in what way the soul is bound + Within these knots; and tell us, if thou canst, + If any from such members e'er is freed." + +Then blew the trunk amain, and afterward + The wind was into such a voice converted: + "With brevity shall be replied to you. + +When the exasperated soul abandons + The body whence it rent itself away, + Minos consigns it to the seventh abyss. + +It falls into the forest, and no part + Is chosen for it; but where Fortune hurls it, + There like a grain of spelt it germinates. + +It springs a sapling, and a forest tree; + The Harpies, feeding then upon its leaves, + Do pain create, and for the pain an outlet. + +Like others for our spoils shall we return; + But not that any one may them revest, + For 'tis not just to have what one casts off. + +Here we shall drag them, and along the dismal + Forest our bodies shall suspended be, + Each to the thorn of his molested shade." + +We were attentive still unto the trunk, + Thinking that more it yet might wish to tell us, + When by a tumult we were overtaken, + +In the same way as he is who perceives + The boar and chase approaching to his stand, + Who hears the crashing of the beasts and branches; + +And two behold! upon our left-hand side, + Naked and scratched, fleeing so furiously, + That of the forest, every fan they broke. + +He who was in advance: "Now help, Death, help!" + And the other one, who seemed to lag too much, + Was shouting: "Lano, were not so alert + +Those legs of thine at joustings of the Toppo!" + And then, perchance because his breath was failing, + He grouped himself together with a bush. + +Behind them was the forest full of black + She-mastiffs, ravenous, and swift of foot + As greyhounds, who are issuing from the chain. + +On him who had crouched down they set their teeth, + And him they lacerated piece by piece, + Thereafter bore away those aching members. + +Thereat my Escort took me by the hand, + And led me to the bush, that all in vain + Was weeping from its bloody lacerations. + +"O Jacopo," it said, "of Sant' Andrea, + What helped it thee of me to make a screen? + What blame have I in thy nefarious life?" + +When near him had the Master stayed his steps, + He said: "Who wast thou, that through wounds so many + Art blowing out with blood thy dolorous speech?" + +And he to us: "O souls, that hither come + To look upon the shameful massacre + That has so rent away from me my leaves, + +Gather them up beneath the dismal bush; + I of that city was which to the Baptist + Changed its first patron, wherefore he for this + +Forever with his art will make it sad. + And were it not that on the pass of Arno + Some glimpses of him are remaining still, + +Those citizens, who afterwards rebuilt it + Upon the ashes left by Attila, + In vain had caused their labour to be done. + +Of my own house I made myself a gibbet." + + + +Inferno: Canto XIV + + +Because the charity of my native place + Constrained me, gathered I the scattered leaves, + And gave them back to him, who now was hoarse. + +Then came we to the confine, where disparted + The second round is from the third, and where + A horrible form of Justice is beheld. + +Clearly to manifest these novel things, + I say that we arrived upon a plain, + Which from its bed rejecteth every plant; + +The dolorous forest is a garland to it + All round about, as the sad moat to that; + There close upon the edge we stayed our feet. + +The soil was of an arid and thick sand, + Not of another fashion made than that + Which by the feet of Cato once was pressed. + +Vengeance of God, O how much oughtest thou + By each one to be dreaded, who doth read + That which was manifest unto mine eyes! + +Of naked souls beheld I many herds, + Who all were weeping very miserably, + And over them seemed set a law diverse. + +Supine upon the ground some folk were lying; + And some were sitting all drawn up together, + And others went about continually. + +Those who were going round were far the more, + And those were less who lay down to their torment, + But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation. + +O'er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall, + Were raining down dilated flakes of fire, + As of the snow on Alp without a wind. + +As Alexander, in those torrid parts + Of India, beheld upon his host + Flames fall unbroken till they reached the ground. + +Whence he provided with his phalanxes + To trample down the soil, because the vapour + Better extinguished was while it was single; + +Thus was descending the eternal heat, + Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinder + Beneath the steel, for doubling of the dole. + +Without repose forever was the dance + Of miserable hands, now there, now here, + Shaking away from off them the fresh gleeds. + +"Master," began I, "thou who overcomest + All things except the demons dire, that issued + Against us at the entrance of the gate, + +Who is that mighty one who seems to heed not + The fire, and lieth lowering and disdainful, + So that the rain seems not to ripen him?" + +And he himself, who had become aware + That I was questioning my Guide about him, + Cried: "Such as I was living, am I, dead. + +If Jove should weary out his smith, from whom + He seized in anger the sharp thunderbolt, + Wherewith upon the last day I was smitten, + +And if he wearied out by turns the others + In Mongibello at the swarthy forge, + Vociferating, 'Help, good Vulcan, help!' + +Even as he did there at the fight of Phlegra, + And shot his bolts at me with all his might, + He would not have thereby a joyous vengeance." + +Then did my Leader speak with such great force, + That I had never heard him speak so loud: + "O Capaneus, in that is not extinguished + +Thine arrogance, thou punished art the more; + Not any torment, saving thine own rage, + Would be unto thy fury pain complete." + +Then he turned round to me with better lip, + Saying: "One of the Seven Kings was he + Who Thebes besieged, and held, and seems to hold + +God in disdain, and little seems to prize him; + But, as I said to him, his own despites + Are for his breast the fittest ornaments. + +Now follow me, and mind thou do not place + As yet thy feet upon the burning sand, + But always keep them close unto the wood." + +Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes + Forth from the wood a little rivulet, + Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end. + +As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet, + The sinful women later share among them, + So downward through the sand it went its way. + +The bottom of it, and both sloping banks, + Were made of stone, and the margins at the side; + Whence I perceived that there the passage was. + +"In all the rest which I have shown to thee + Since we have entered in within the gate + Whose threshold unto no one is denied, + +Nothing has been discovered by thine eyes + So notable as is the present river, + Which all the little flames above it quenches." + +These words were of my Leader; whence I prayed him + That he would give me largess of the food, + For which he had given me largess of desire. + +"In the mid-sea there sits a wasted land," + Said he thereafterward, "whose name is Crete, + Under whose king the world of old was chaste. + +There is a mountain there, that once was glad + With waters and with leaves, which was called Ida; + Now 'tis deserted, as a thing worn out. + +Rhea once chose it for the faithful cradle + Of her own son; and to conceal him better, + Whene'er he cried, she there had clamours made. + +A grand old man stands in the mount erect, + Who holds his shoulders turned tow'rds Damietta, + And looks at Rome as if it were his mirror. + +His head is fashioned of refined gold, + And of pure silver are the arms and breast; + Then he is brass as far down as the fork. + +From that point downward all is chosen iron, + Save that the right foot is of kiln-baked clay, + And more he stands on that than on the other. + +Each part, except the gold, is by a fissure + Asunder cleft, that dripping is with tears, + Which gathered together perforate that cavern. + +From rock to rock they fall into this valley; + Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon they form; + Then downward go along this narrow sluice + +Unto that point where is no more descending. + They form Cocytus; what that pool may be + Thou shalt behold, so here 'tis not narrated." + +And I to him: "If so the present runnel + Doth take its rise in this way from our world, + Why only on this verge appears it to us?" + +And he to me: "Thou knowest the place is round, + And notwithstanding thou hast journeyed far, + Still to the left descending to the bottom, + +Thou hast not yet through all the circle turned. + Therefore if something new appear to us, + It should not bring amazement to thy face." + +And I again: "Master, where shall be found + Lethe and Phlegethon, for of one thou'rt silent, + And sayest the other of this rain is made?" + +"In all thy questions truly thou dost please me," + Replied he; "but the boiling of the red + Water might well solve one of them thou makest. + +Thou shalt see Lethe, but outside this moat, + There where the souls repair to lave themselves, + When sin repented of has been removed." + +Then said he: "It is time now to abandon + The wood; take heed that thou come after me; + A way the margins make that are not burning, + +And over them all vapours are extinguished." + + + +Inferno: Canto XV + + +Now bears us onward one of the hard margins, + And so the brooklet's mist o'ershadows it, + From fire it saves the water and the dikes. + +Even as the Flemings, 'twixt Cadsand and Bruges, + Fearing the flood that tow'rds them hurls itself, + Their bulwarks build to put the sea to flight; + +And as the Paduans along the Brenta, + To guard their villas and their villages, + Or ever Chiarentana feel the heat; + +In such similitude had those been made, + Albeit not so lofty nor so thick, + Whoever he might be, the master made them. + +Now were we from the forest so remote, + I could not have discovered where it was, + Even if backward I had turned myself, + +When we a company of souls encountered, + Who came beside the dike, and every one + Gazed at us, as at evening we are wont + +To eye each other under a new moon, + And so towards us sharpened they their brows + As an old tailor at the needle's eye. + +Thus scrutinised by such a family, + By some one I was recognised, who seized + My garment's hem, and cried out, "What a marvel!" + +And I, when he stretched forth his arm to me, + On his baked aspect fastened so mine eyes, + That the scorched countenance prevented not + +His recognition by my intellect; + And bowing down my face unto his own, + I made reply, "Are you here, Ser Brunetto?" + +And he: "May't not displease thee, O my son, + If a brief space with thee Brunetto Latini + Backward return and let the trail go on." + +I said to him: "With all my power I ask it; + And if you wish me to sit down with you, + I will, if he please, for I go with him." + +"O son," he said, "whoever of this herd + A moment stops, lies then a hundred years, + Nor fans himself when smiteth him the fire. + +Therefore go on; I at thy skirts will come, + And afterward will I rejoin my band, + Which goes lamenting its eternal doom." + +I did not dare to go down from the road + Level to walk with him; but my head bowed + I held as one who goeth reverently. + +And he began: "What fortune or what fate + Before the last day leadeth thee down here? + And who is this that showeth thee the way?" + +"Up there above us in the life serene," + I answered him, "I lost me in a valley, + Or ever yet my age had been completed. + +But yestermorn I turned my back upon it; + This one appeared to me, returning thither, + And homeward leadeth me along this road." + +And he to me: "If thou thy star do follow, + Thou canst not fail thee of a glorious port, + If well I judged in the life beautiful. + +And if I had not died so prematurely, + Seeing Heaven thus benignant unto thee, + I would have given thee comfort in the work. + +But that ungrateful and malignant people, + Which of old time from Fesole descended, + And smacks still of the mountain and the granite, + +Will make itself, for thy good deeds, thy foe; + And it is right; for among crabbed sorbs + It ill befits the sweet fig to bear fruit. + +Old rumour in the world proclaims them blind; + A people avaricious, envious, proud; + Take heed that of their customs thou do cleanse thee. + +Thy fortune so much honour doth reserve thee, + One party and the other shall be hungry + For thee; but far from goat shall be the grass. + +Their litter let the beasts of Fesole + Make of themselves, nor let them touch the plant, + If any still upon their dunghill rise, + +In which may yet revive the consecrated + Seed of those Romans, who remained there when + The nest of such great malice it became." + +"If my entreaty wholly were fulfilled," + Replied I to him, "not yet would you be + In banishment from human nature placed; + +For in my mind is fixed, and touches now + My heart the dear and good paternal image + Of you, when in the world from hour to hour + +You taught me how a man becomes eternal; + And how much I am grateful, while I live + Behoves that in my language be discerned. + +What you narrate of my career I write, + And keep it to be glossed with other text + By a Lady who can do it, if I reach her. + +This much will I have manifest to you; + Provided that my conscience do not chide me, + For whatsoever Fortune I am ready. + +Such handsel is not new unto mine ears; + Therefore let Fortune turn her wheel around + As it may please her, and the churl his mattock." + +My Master thereupon on his right cheek + Did backward turn himself, and looked at me; + Then said: "He listeneth well who noteth it." + +Nor speaking less on that account, I go + With Ser Brunetto, and I ask who are + His most known and most eminent companions. + +And he to me: "To know of some is well; + Of others it were laudable to be silent, + For short would be the time for so much speech. + +Know them in sum, that all of them were clerks, + And men of letters great and of great fame, + In the world tainted with the selfsame sin. + +Priscian goes yonder with that wretched crowd, + And Francis of Accorso; and thou hadst seen there + If thou hadst had a hankering for such scurf, + +That one, who by the Servant of the Servants + From Arno was transferred to Bacchiglione, + Where he has left his sin-excited nerves. + +More would I say, but coming and discoursing + Can be no longer; for that I behold + New smoke uprising yonder from the sand. + +A people comes with whom I may not be; + Commended unto thee be my Tesoro, + In which I still live, and no more I ask." + +Then he turned round, and seemed to be of those + Who at Verona run for the Green Mantle + Across the plain; and seemed to be among them + +The one who wins, and not the one who loses. + + + +Inferno: Canto XVI + + +Now was I where was heard the reverberation + Of water falling into the next round, + Like to that humming which the beehives make, + +When shadows three together started forth, + Running, from out a company that passed + Beneath the rain of the sharp martyrdom. + +Towards us came they, and each one cried out: + "Stop, thou; for by thy garb to us thou seemest + To be some one of our depraved city." + +Ah me! what wounds I saw upon their limbs, + Recent and ancient by the flames burnt in! + It pains me still but to remember it. + +Unto their cries my Teacher paused attentive; + He turned his face towards me, and "Now wait," + He said; "to these we should be courteous. + +And if it were not for the fire that darts + The nature of this region, I should say + That haste were more becoming thee than them." + +As soon as we stood still, they recommenced + The old refrain, and when they overtook us, + Formed of themselves a wheel, all three of them. + +As champions stripped and oiled are wont to do, + Watching for their advantage and their hold, + Before they come to blows and thrusts between them, + +Thus, wheeling round, did every one his visage + Direct to me, so that in opposite wise + His neck and feet continual journey made. + +And, "If the misery of this soft place + Bring in disdain ourselves and our entreaties," + Began one, "and our aspect black and blistered, + +Let the renown of us thy mind incline + To tell us who thou art, who thus securely + Thy living feet dost move along through Hell. + +He in whose footprints thou dost see me treading, + Naked and skinless though he now may go, + Was of a greater rank than thou dost think; + +He was the grandson of the good Gualdrada; + His name was Guidoguerra, and in life + Much did he with his wisdom and his sword. + +The other, who close by me treads the sand, + Tegghiaio Aldobrandi is, whose fame + Above there in the world should welcome be. + +And I, who with them on the cross am placed, + Jacopo Rusticucci was; and truly + My savage wife, more than aught else, doth harm me." + +Could I have been protected from the fire, + Below I should have thrown myself among them, + And think the Teacher would have suffered it; + +But as I should have burned and baked myself, + My terror overmastered my good will, + Which made me greedy of embracing them. + +Then I began: "Sorrow and not disdain + Did your condition fix within me so, + That tardily it wholly is stripped off, + +As soon as this my Lord said unto me + Words, on account of which I thought within me + That people such as you are were approaching. + +I of your city am; and evermore + Your labours and your honourable names + I with affection have retraced and heard. + +I leave the gall, and go for the sweet fruits + Promised to me by the veracious Leader; + But to the centre first I needs must plunge." + +"So may the soul for a long while conduct + Those limbs of thine," did he make answer then, + "And so may thy renown shine after thee, + +Valour and courtesy, say if they dwell + Within our city, as they used to do, + Or if they wholly have gone out of it; + +For Guglielmo Borsier, who is in torment + With us of late, and goes there with his comrades, + Doth greatly mortify us with his words." + +"The new inhabitants and the sudden gains, + Pride and extravagance have in thee engendered, + Florence, so that thou weep'st thereat already!" + +In this wise I exclaimed with face uplifted; + And the three, taking that for my reply, + Looked at each other, as one looks at truth. + +"If other times so little it doth cost thee," + Replied they all, "to satisfy another, + Happy art thou, thus speaking at thy will! + +Therefore, if thou escape from these dark places, + And come to rebehold the beauteous stars, + When it shall pleasure thee to say, 'I was,' + +See that thou speak of us unto the people." + Then they broke up the wheel, and in their flight + It seemed as if their agile legs were wings. + +Not an Amen could possibly be said + So rapidly as they had disappeared; + Wherefore the Master deemed best to depart. + +I followed him, and little had we gone, + Before the sound of water was so near us, + That speaking we should hardly have been heard. + +Even as that stream which holdeth its own course + The first from Monte Veso tow'rds the East, + Upon the left-hand slope of Apennine, + +Which is above called Acquacheta, ere + It down descendeth into its low bed, + And at Forli is vacant of that name, + +Reverberates there above San Benedetto + From Alps, by falling at a single leap, + Where for a thousand there were room enough; + +Thus downward from a bank precipitate, + We found resounding that dark-tinted water, + So that it soon the ear would have offended. + +I had a cord around about me girt, + And therewithal I whilom had designed + To take the panther with the painted skin. + +After I this had all from me unloosed, + As my Conductor had commanded me, + I reached it to him, gathered up and coiled, + +Whereat he turned himself to the right side, + And at a little distance from the verge, + He cast it down into that deep abyss. + +"It must needs be some novelty respond," + I said within myself, "to the new signal + The Master with his eye is following so." + +Ah me! how very cautious men should be + With those who not alone behold the act, + But with their wisdom look into the thoughts! + +He said to me: "Soon there will upward come + What I await; and what thy thought is dreaming + Must soon reveal itself unto thy sight." + +Aye to that truth which has the face of falsehood, + A man should close his lips as far as may be, + Because without his fault it causes shame; + +But here I cannot; and, Reader, by the notes + Of this my Comedy to thee I swear, + So may they not be void of lasting favour, + +Athwart that dense and darksome atmosphere + I saw a figure swimming upward come, + Marvellous unto every steadfast heart, + +Even as he returns who goeth down + Sometimes to clear an anchor, which has grappled + Reef, or aught else that in the sea is hidden, + +Who upward stretches, and draws in his feet. + + + +Inferno: Canto XVII + + +"Behold the monster with the pointed tail, + Who cleaves the hills, and breaketh walls and weapons, + Behold him who infecteth all the world." + +Thus unto me my Guide began to say, + And beckoned him that he should come to shore, + Near to the confine of the trodden marble; + +And that uncleanly image of deceit + Came up and thrust ashore its head and bust, + But on the border did not drag its tail. + +The face was as the face of a just man, + Its semblance outwardly was so benign, + And of a serpent all the trunk beside. + +Two paws it had, hairy unto the armpits; + The back, and breast, and both the sides it had + Depicted o'er with nooses and with shields. + +With colours more, groundwork or broidery + Never in cloth did Tartars make nor Turks, + Nor were such tissues by Arachne laid. + +As sometimes wherries lie upon the shore, + That part are in the water, part on land; + And as among the guzzling Germans there, + +The beaver plants himself to wage his war; + So that vile monster lay upon the border, + Which is of stone, and shutteth in the sand. + +His tail was wholly quivering in the void, + Contorting upwards the envenomed fork, + That in the guise of scorpion armed its point. + +The Guide said: "Now perforce must turn aside + Our way a little, even to that beast + Malevolent, that yonder coucheth him." + +We therefore on the right side descended, + And made ten steps upon the outer verge, + Completely to avoid the sand and flame; + +And after we are come to him, I see + A little farther off upon the sand + A people sitting near the hollow place. + +Then said to me the Master: "So that full + Experience of this round thou bear away, + Now go and see what their condition is. + +There let thy conversation be concise; + Till thou returnest I will speak with him, + That he concede to us his stalwart shoulders." + +Thus farther still upon the outermost + Head of that seventh circle all alone + I went, where sat the melancholy folk. + +Out of their eyes was gushing forth their woe; + This way, that way, they helped them with their hands + Now from the flames and now from the hot soil. + +Not otherwise in summer do the dogs, + Now with the foot, now with the muzzle, when + By fleas, or flies, or gadflies, they are bitten. + +When I had turned mine eyes upon the faces + Of some, on whom the dolorous fire is falling, + Not one of them I knew; but I perceived + +That from the neck of each there hung a pouch, + Which certain colour had, and certain blazon; + And thereupon it seems their eyes are feeding. + +And as I gazing round me come among them, + Upon a yellow pouch I azure saw + That had the face and posture of a lion. + +Proceeding then the current of my sight, + Another of them saw I, red as blood, + Display a goose more white than butter is. + +And one, who with an azure sow and gravid + Emblazoned had his little pouch of white, + Said unto me: "What dost thou in this moat? + +Now get thee gone; and since thou'rt still alive, + Know that a neighbour of mine, Vitaliano, + Will have his seat here on my left-hand side. + +A Paduan am I with these Florentines; + Full many a time they thunder in mine ears, + Exclaiming, 'Come the sovereign cavalier, + +He who shall bring the satchel with three goats;'" + Then twisted he his mouth, and forth he thrust + His tongue, like to an ox that licks its nose. + +And fearing lest my longer stay might vex + Him who had warned me not to tarry long, + Backward I turned me from those weary souls. + +I found my Guide, who had already mounted + Upon the back of that wild animal, + And said to me: "Now be both strong and bold. + +Now we descend by stairways such as these; + Mount thou in front, for I will be midway, + So that the tail may have no power to harm thee." + +Such as he is who has so near the ague + Of quartan that his nails are blue already, + And trembles all, but looking at the shade; + +Even such became I at those proffered words; + But shame in me his menaces produced, + Which maketh servant strong before good master. + +I seated me upon those monstrous shoulders; + I wished to say, and yet the voice came not + As I believed, "Take heed that thou embrace me." + +But he, who other times had rescued me + In other peril, soon as I had mounted, + Within his arms encircled and sustained me, + +And said: "Now, Geryon, bestir thyself; + The circles large, and the descent be little; + Think of the novel burden which thou hast." + +Even as the little vessel shoves from shore, + Backward, still backward, so he thence withdrew; + And when he wholly felt himself afloat, + +There where his breast had been he turned his tail, + And that extended like an eel he moved, + And with his paws drew to himself the air. + +A greater fear I do not think there was + What time abandoned Phaeton the reins, + Whereby the heavens, as still appears, were scorched; + +Nor when the wretched Icarus his flanks + Felt stripped of feathers by the melting wax, + His father crying, "An ill way thou takest!" + +Than was my own, when I perceived myself + On all sides in the air, and saw extinguished + The sight of everything but of the monster. + +Onward he goeth, swimming slowly, slowly; + Wheels and descends, but I perceive it only + By wind upon my face and from below. + +I heard already on the right the whirlpool + Making a horrible crashing under us; + Whence I thrust out my head with eyes cast downward. + +Then was I still more fearful of the abyss; + Because I fires beheld, and heard laments, + Whereat I, trembling, all the closer cling. + +I saw then, for before I had not seen it, + The turning and descending, by great horrors + That were approaching upon divers sides. + +As falcon who has long been on the wing, + Who, without seeing either lure or bird, + Maketh the falconer say, "Ah me, thou stoopest," + +Descendeth weary, whence he started swiftly, + Thorough a hundred circles, and alights + Far from his master, sullen and disdainful; + +Even thus did Geryon place us on the bottom, + Close to the bases of the rough-hewn rock, + And being disencumbered of our persons, + +He sped away as arrow from the string. + + + +Inferno: Canto XVIII + + +There is a place in Hell called Malebolge, + Wholly of stone and of an iron colour, + As is the circle that around it turns. + +Right in the middle of the field malign + There yawns a well exceeding wide and deep, + Of which its place the structure will recount. + +Round, then, is that enclosure which remains + Between the well and foot of the high, hard bank, + And has distinct in valleys ten its bottom. + +As where for the protection of the walls + Many and many moats surround the castles, + The part in which they are a figure forms, + +Just such an image those presented there; + And as about such strongholds from their gates + Unto the outer bank are little bridges, + +So from the precipice's base did crags + Project, which intersected dikes and moats, + Unto the well that truncates and collects them. + +Within this place, down shaken from the back + Of Geryon, we found us; and the Poet + Held to the left, and I moved on behind. + +Upon my right hand I beheld new anguish, + New torments, and new wielders of the lash, + Wherewith the foremost Bolgia was replete. + +Down at the bottom were the sinners naked; + This side the middle came they facing us, + Beyond it, with us, but with greater steps; + +Even as the Romans, for the mighty host, + The year of Jubilee, upon the bridge, + Have chosen a mode to pass the people over; + +For all upon one side towards the Castle + Their faces have, and go unto St. Peter's; + On the other side they go towards the Mountain. + +This side and that, along the livid stone + Beheld I horned demons with great scourges, + Who cruelly were beating them behind. + +Ah me! how they did make them lift their legs + At the first blows! and sooth not any one + The second waited for, nor for the third. + +While I was going on, mine eyes by one + Encountered were; and straight I said: "Already + With sight of this one I am not unfed." + +Therefore I stayed my feet to make him out, + And with me the sweet Guide came to a stand, + And to my going somewhat back assented; + +And he, the scourged one, thought to hide himself, + Lowering his face, but little it availed him; + For said I: "Thou that castest down thine eyes, + +If false are not the features which thou bearest, + Thou art Venedico Caccianimico; + But what doth bring thee to such pungent sauces?" + +And he to me: "Unwillingly I tell it; + But forces me thine utterance distinct, + Which makes me recollect the ancient world. + +I was the one who the fair Ghisola + Induced to grant the wishes of the Marquis, + Howe'er the shameless story may be told. + +Not the sole Bolognese am I who weeps here; + Nay, rather is this place so full of them, + That not so many tongues to-day are taught + +'Twixt Reno and Savena to say 'sipa;' + And if thereof thou wishest pledge or proof, + Bring to thy mind our avaricious heart." + +While speaking in this manner, with his scourge + A demon smote him, and said: "Get thee gone + Pander, there are no women here for coin." + +I joined myself again unto mine Escort; + Thereafterward with footsteps few we came + To where a crag projected from the bank. + +This very easily did we ascend, + And turning to the right along its ridge, + From those eternal circles we departed. + +When we were there, where it is hollowed out + Beneath, to give a passage to the scourged, + The Guide said: "Wait, and see that on thee strike + +The vision of those others evil-born, + Of whom thou hast not yet beheld the faces, + Because together with us they have gone." + +From the old bridge we looked upon the train + Which tow'rds us came upon the other border, + And which the scourges in like manner smite. + +And the good Master, without my inquiring, + Said to me: "See that tall one who is coming, + And for his pain seems not to shed a tear; + +Still what a royal aspect he retains! + That Jason is, who by his heart and cunning + The Colchians of the Ram made destitute. + +He by the isle of Lemnos passed along + After the daring women pitiless + Had unto death devoted all their males. + +There with his tokens and with ornate words + Did he deceive Hypsipyle, the maiden + Who first, herself, had all the rest deceived. + +There did he leave her pregnant and forlorn; + Such sin unto such punishment condemns him, + And also for Medea is vengeance done. + +With him go those who in such wise deceive; + And this sufficient be of the first valley + To know, and those that in its jaws it holds." + +We were already where the narrow path + Crosses athwart the second dike, and forms + Of that a buttress for another arch. + +Thence we heard people, who are making moan + In the next Bolgia, snorting with their muzzles, + And with their palms beating upon themselves + +The margins were incrusted with a mould + By exhalation from below, that sticks there, + And with the eyes and nostrils wages war. + +The bottom is so deep, no place suffices + To give us sight of it, without ascending + The arch's back, where most the crag impends. + +Thither we came, and thence down in the moat + I saw a people smothered in a filth + That out of human privies seemed to flow; + +And whilst below there with mine eye I search, + I saw one with his head so foul with ordure, + It was not clear if he were clerk or layman. + +He screamed to me: "Wherefore art thou so eager + To look at me more than the other foul ones?" + And I to him: "Because, if I remember, + +I have already seen thee with dry hair, + And thou'rt Alessio Interminei of Lucca; + Therefore I eye thee more than all the others." + +And he thereon, belabouring his pumpkin: + "The flatteries have submerged me here below, + Wherewith my tongue was never surfeited." + +Then said to me the Guide: "See that thou thrust + Thy visage somewhat farther in advance, + That with thine eyes thou well the face attain + +Of that uncleanly and dishevelled drab, + Who there doth scratch herself with filthy nails, + And crouches now, and now on foot is standing. + +Thais the harlot is it, who replied + Unto her paramour, when he said, 'Have I + Great gratitude from thee?'--'Nay, marvellous;' + +And herewith let our sight be satisfied." + + + +Inferno: Canto XIX + + +O Simon Magus, O forlorn disciples, + Ye who the things of God, which ought to be + The brides of holiness, rapaciously + +For silver and for gold do prostitute, + Now it behoves for you the trumpet sound, + Because in this third Bolgia ye abide. + +We had already on the following tomb + Ascended to that portion of the crag + Which o'er the middle of the moat hangs plumb. + +Wisdom supreme, O how great art thou showest + In heaven, in earth, and in the evil world, + And with what justice doth thy power distribute! + +I saw upon the sides and on the bottom + The livid stone with perforations filled, + All of one size, and every one was round. + +To me less ample seemed they not, nor greater + Than those that in my beautiful Saint John + Are fashioned for the place of the baptisers, + +And one of which, not many years ago, + I broke for some one, who was drowning in it; + Be this a seal all men to undeceive. + +Out of the mouth of each one there protruded + The feet of a transgressor, and the legs + Up to the calf, the rest within remained. + +In all of them the soles were both on fire; + Wherefore the joints so violently quivered, + They would have snapped asunder withes and bands. + +Even as the flame of unctuous things is wont + To move upon the outer surface only, + So likewise was it there from heel to point. + +"Master, who is that one who writhes himself, + More than his other comrades quivering," + I said, "and whom a redder flame is sucking?" + +And he to me: "If thou wilt have me bear thee + Down there along that bank which lowest lies, + From him thou'lt know his errors and himself." + +And I: "What pleases thee, to me is pleasing; + Thou art my Lord, and knowest that I depart not + From thy desire, and knowest what is not spoken." + +Straightway upon the fourth dike we arrived; + We turned, and on the left-hand side descended + Down to the bottom full of holes and narrow. + +And the good Master yet from off his haunch + Deposed me not, till to the hole he brought me + Of him who so lamented with his shanks. + +"Whoe'er thou art, that standest upside down, + O doleful soul, implanted like a stake," + To say began I, "if thou canst, speak out." + +I stood even as the friar who is confessing + The false assassin, who, when he is fixed, + Recalls him, so that death may be delayed. + +And he cried out: "Dost thou stand there already, + Dost thou stand there already, Boniface? + By many years the record lied to me. + +Art thou so early satiate with that wealth, + For which thou didst not fear to take by fraud + The beautiful Lady, and then work her woe?" + +Such I became, as people are who stand, + Not comprehending what is answered them, + As if bemocked, and know not how to answer. + +Then said Virgilius: "Say to him straightway, + 'I am not he, I am not he thou thinkest.'" + And I replied as was imposed on me. + +Whereat the spirit writhed with both his feet, + Then, sighing, with a voice of lamentation + Said to me: "Then what wantest thou of me? + +If who I am thou carest so much to know, + That thou on that account hast crossed the bank, + Know that I vested was with the great mantle; + +And truly was I son of the She-bear, + So eager to advance the cubs, that wealth + Above, and here myself, I pocketed. + +Beneath my head the others are dragged down + Who have preceded me in simony, + Flattened along the fissure of the rock. + +Below there I shall likewise fall, whenever + That one shall come who I believed thou wast, + What time the sudden question I proposed. + +But longer I my feet already toast, + And here have been in this way upside down, + Than he will planted stay with reddened feet; + +For after him shall come of fouler deed + From tow'rds the west a Pastor without law, + Such as befits to cover him and me. + +New Jason will he be, of whom we read + In Maccabees; and as his king was pliant, + So he who governs France shall be to this one." + +I do not know if I were here too bold, + That him I answered only in this metre: + "I pray thee tell me now how great a treasure + +Our Lord demanded of Saint Peter first, + Before he put the keys into his keeping? + Truly he nothing asked but 'Follow me.' + +Nor Peter nor the rest asked of Matthias + Silver or gold, when he by lot was chosen + Unto the place the guilty soul had lost. + +Therefore stay here, for thou art justly punished, + And keep safe guard o'er the ill-gotten money, + Which caused thee to be valiant against Charles. + +And were it not that still forbids it me + The reverence for the keys superlative + Thou hadst in keeping in the gladsome life, + +I would make use of words more grievous still; + Because your avarice afflicts the world, + Trampling the good and lifting the depraved. + +The Evangelist you Pastors had in mind, + When she who sitteth upon many waters + To fornicate with kings by him was seen; + +The same who with the seven heads was born, + And power and strength from the ten horns received, + So long as virtue to her spouse was pleasing. + +Ye have made yourselves a god of gold and silver; + And from the idolater how differ ye, + Save that he one, and ye a hundred worship? + +Ah, Constantine! of how much ill was mother, + Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower + Which the first wealthy Father took from thee!" + +And while I sang to him such notes as these, + Either that anger or that conscience stung him, + He struggled violently with both his feet. + +I think in sooth that it my Leader pleased, + With such contented lip he listened ever + Unto the sound of the true words expressed. + +Therefore with both his arms he took me up, + And when he had me all upon his breast, + Remounted by the way where he descended. + +Nor did he tire to have me clasped to him; + But bore me to the summit of the arch + Which from the fourth dike to the fifth is passage. + +There tenderly he laid his burden down, + Tenderly on the crag uneven and steep, + That would have been hard passage for the goats: + +Thence was unveiled to me another valley. + + + +Inferno: Canto XX + + +Of a new pain behoves me to make verses + And give material to the twentieth canto + Of the first song, which is of the submerged. + +I was already thoroughly disposed + To peer down into the uncovered depth, + Which bathed itself with tears of agony; + +And people saw I through the circular valley, + Silent and weeping, coming at the pace + Which in this world the Litanies assume. + +As lower down my sight descended on them, + Wondrously each one seemed to be distorted + From chin to the beginning of the chest; + +For tow'rds the reins the countenance was turned, + And backward it behoved them to advance, + As to look forward had been taken from them. + +Perchance indeed by violence of palsy + Some one has been thus wholly turned awry; + But I ne'er saw it, nor believe it can be. + +As God may let thee, Reader, gather fruit + From this thy reading, think now for thyself + How I could ever keep my face unmoistened, + +When our own image near me I beheld + Distorted so, the weeping of the eyes + Along the fissure bathed the hinder parts. + +Truly I wept, leaning upon a peak + Of the hard crag, so that my Escort said + To me: "Art thou, too, of the other fools? + +Here pity lives when it is wholly dead; + Who is a greater reprobate than he + Who feels compassion at the doom divine? + +Lift up, lift up thy head, and see for whom + Opened the earth before the Thebans' eyes; + Wherefore they all cried: 'Whither rushest thou, + +Amphiaraus? Why dost leave the war?' + And downward ceased he not to fall amain + As far as Minos, who lays hold on all. + +See, he has made a bosom of his shoulders! + Because he wished to see too far before him + Behind he looks, and backward goes his way: + +Behold Tiresias, who his semblance changed, + When from a male a female he became, + His members being all of them transformed; + +And afterwards was forced to strike once more + The two entangled serpents with his rod, + Ere he could have again his manly plumes. + +That Aruns is, who backs the other's belly, + Who in the hills of Luni, there where grubs + The Carrarese who houses underneath, + +Among the marbles white a cavern had + For his abode; whence to behold the stars + And sea, the view was not cut off from him. + +And she there, who is covering up her breasts, + Which thou beholdest not, with loosened tresses, + And on that side has all the hairy skin, + +Was Manto, who made quest through many lands, + Afterwards tarried there where I was born; + Whereof I would thou list to me a little. + +After her father had from life departed, + And the city of Bacchus had become enslaved, + She a long season wandered through the world. + +Above in beauteous Italy lies a lake + At the Alp's foot that shuts in Germany + Over Tyrol, and has the name Benaco. + +By a thousand springs, I think, and more, is bathed, + 'Twixt Garda and Val Camonica, Pennino, + With water that grows stagnant in that lake. + +Midway a place is where the Trentine Pastor, + And he of Brescia, and the Veronese + Might give his blessing, if he passed that way. + +Sitteth Peschiera, fortress fair and strong, + To front the Brescians and the Bergamasks, + Where round about the bank descendeth lowest. + +There of necessity must fall whatever + In bosom of Benaco cannot stay, + And grows a river down through verdant pastures. + +Soon as the water doth begin to run, + No more Benaco is it called, but Mincio, + Far as Governo, where it falls in Po. + +Not far it runs before it finds a plain + In which it spreads itself, and makes it marshy, + And oft 'tis wont in summer to be sickly. + +Passing that way the virgin pitiless + Land in the middle of the fen descried, + Untilled and naked of inhabitants; + +There to escape all human intercourse, + She with her servants stayed, her arts to practise + And lived, and left her empty body there. + +The men, thereafter, who were scattered round, + Collected in that place, which was made strong + By the lagoon it had on every side; + +They built their city over those dead bones, + And, after her who first the place selected, + Mantua named it, without other omen. + +Its people once within more crowded were, + Ere the stupidity of Casalodi + From Pinamonte had received deceit. + +Therefore I caution thee, if e'er thou hearest + Originate my city otherwise, + No falsehood may the verity defraud." + +And I: "My Master, thy discourses are + To me so certain, and so take my faith, + That unto me the rest would be spent coals. + +But tell me of the people who are passing, + If any one note-worthy thou beholdest, + For only unto that my mind reverts." + +Then said he to me: "He who from the cheek + Thrusts out his beard upon his swarthy shoulders + Was, at the time when Greece was void of males, + +So that there scarce remained one in the cradle, + An augur, and with Calchas gave the moment, + In Aulis, when to sever the first cable. + +Eryphylus his name was, and so sings + My lofty Tragedy in some part or other; + That knowest thou well, who knowest the whole of it. + +The next, who is so slender in the flanks, + Was Michael Scott, who of a verity + Of magical illusions knew the game. + +Behold Guido Bonatti, behold Asdente, + Who now unto his leather and his thread + Would fain have stuck, but he too late repents. + +Behold the wretched ones, who left the needle, + The spool and rock, and made them fortune-tellers; + They wrought their magic spells with herb and image. + +But come now, for already holds the confines + Of both the hemispheres, and under Seville + Touches the ocean-wave, Cain and the thorns, + +And yesternight the moon was round already; + Thou shouldst remember well it did not harm thee + From time to time within the forest deep." + +Thus spake he to me, and we walked the while. + + + +Inferno: Canto XXI + + +From bridge to bridge thus, speaking other things + Of which my Comedy cares not to sing, + We came along, and held the summit, when + +We halted to behold another fissure + Of Malebolge and other vain laments; + And I beheld it marvellously dark. + +As in the Arsenal of the Venetians + Boils in the winter the tenacious pitch + To smear their unsound vessels o'er again, + +For sail they cannot; and instead thereof + One makes his vessel new, and one recaulks + The ribs of that which many a voyage has made; + +One hammers at the prow, one at the stern, + This one makes oars, and that one cordage twists, + Another mends the mainsail and the mizzen; + +Thus, not by fire, but by the art divine, + Was boiling down below there a dense pitch + Which upon every side the bank belimed. + +I saw it, but I did not see within it + Aught but the bubbles that the boiling raised, + And all swell up and resubside compressed. + +The while below there fixedly I gazed, + My Leader, crying out: "Beware, beware!" + Drew me unto himself from where I stood. + +Then I turned round, as one who is impatient + To see what it behoves him to escape, + And whom a sudden terror doth unman, + +Who, while he looks, delays not his departure; + And I beheld behind us a black devil, + Running along upon the crag, approach. + +Ah, how ferocious was he in his aspect! + And how he seemed to me in action ruthless, + With open wings and light upon his feet! + +His shoulders, which sharp-pointed were and high, + A sinner did encumber with both haunches, + And he held clutched the sinews of the feet. + +From off our bridge, he said: "O Malebranche, + Behold one of the elders of Saint Zita; + Plunge him beneath, for I return for others + +Unto that town, which is well furnished with them. + All there are barrators, except Bonturo; + No into Yes for money there is changed." + +He hurled him down, and over the hard crag + Turned round, and never was a mastiff loosened + In so much hurry to pursue a thief. + +The other sank, and rose again face downward; + But the demons, under cover of the bridge, + Cried: "Here the Santo Volto has no place! + +Here swims one otherwise than in the Serchio; + Therefore, if for our gaffs thou wishest not, + Do not uplift thyself above the pitch." + +They seized him then with more than a hundred rakes; + They said: "It here behoves thee to dance covered, + That, if thou canst, thou secretly mayest pilfer." + +Not otherwise the cooks their scullions make + Immerse into the middle of the caldron + The meat with hooks, so that it may not float. + +Said the good Master to me: "That it be not + Apparent thou art here, crouch thyself down + Behind a jag, that thou mayest have some screen; + +And for no outrage that is done to me + Be thou afraid, because these things I know, + For once before was I in such a scuffle." + +Then he passed on beyond the bridge's head, + And as upon the sixth bank he arrived, + Need was for him to have a steadfast front. + +With the same fury, and the same uproar, + As dogs leap out upon a mendicant, + Who on a sudden begs, where'er he stops, + +They issued from beneath the little bridge, + And turned against him all their grappling-irons; + But he cried out: "Be none of you malignant! + +Before those hooks of yours lay hold of me, + Let one of you step forward, who may hear me, + And then take counsel as to grappling me." + +They all cried out: "Let Malacoda go;" + Whereat one started, and the rest stood still, + And he came to him, saying: "What avails it?" + +"Thinkest thou, Malacoda, to behold me + Advanced into this place," my Master said, + "Safe hitherto from all your skill of fence, + +Without the will divine, and fate auspicious? + Let me go on, for it in Heaven is willed + That I another show this savage road." + +Then was his arrogance so humbled in him, + That he let fall his grapnel at his feet, + And to the others said: "Now strike him not." + +And unto me my Guide: "O thou, who sittest + Among the splinters of the bridge crouched down, + Securely now return to me again." + +Wherefore I started and came swiftly to him; + And all the devils forward thrust themselves, + So that I feared they would not keep their compact. + +And thus beheld I once afraid the soldiers + Who issued under safeguard from Caprona, + Seeing themselves among so many foes. + +Close did I press myself with all my person + Beside my Leader, and turned not mine eyes + From off their countenance, which was not good. + +They lowered their rakes, and "Wilt thou have me hit him," + They said to one another, "on the rump?" + And answered: "Yes; see that thou nick him with it." + +But the same demon who was holding parley + With my Conductor turned him very quickly, + And said: "Be quiet, be quiet, Scarmiglione;" + +Then said to us: "You can no farther go + Forward upon this crag, because is lying + All shattered, at the bottom, the sixth arch. + +And if it still doth please you to go onward, + Pursue your way along upon this rock; + Near is another crag that yields a path. + +Yesterday, five hours later than this hour, + One thousand and two hundred sixty-six + Years were complete, that here the way was broken. + +I send in that direction some of mine + To see if any one doth air himself; + Go ye with them; for they will not be vicious. + +Step forward, Alichino and Calcabrina," + Began he to cry out, "and thou, Cagnazzo; + And Barbariccia, do thou guide the ten. + +Come forward, Libicocco and Draghignazzo, + And tusked Ciriatto and Graffiacane, + And Farfarello and mad Rubicante; + +Search ye all round about the boiling pitch; + Let these be safe as far as the next crag, + That all unbroken passes o'er the dens." + +"O me! what is it, Master, that I see? + Pray let us go," I said, "without an escort, + If thou knowest how, since for myself I ask none. + +If thou art as observant as thy wont is, + Dost thou not see that they do gnash their teeth, + And with their brows are threatening woe to us?" + +And he to me: "I will not have thee fear; + Let them gnash on, according to their fancy, + Because they do it for those boiling wretches." + +Along the left-hand dike they wheeled about; + But first had each one thrust his tongue between + His teeth towards their leader for a signal; + +And he had made a trumpet of his rump. + + + +Inferno: Canto XXII + + +I have erewhile seen horsemen moving camp, + Begin the storming, and their muster make, + And sometimes starting off for their escape; + +Vaunt-couriers have I seen upon your land, + O Aretines, and foragers go forth, + Tournaments stricken, and the joustings run, + +Sometimes with trumpets and sometimes with bells, + With kettle-drums, and signals of the castles, + And with our own, and with outlandish things, + +But never yet with bagpipe so uncouth + Did I see horsemen move, nor infantry, + Nor ship by any sign of land or star. + +We went upon our way with the ten demons; + Ah, savage company! but in the church + With saints, and in the tavern with the gluttons! + +Ever upon the pitch was my intent, + To see the whole condition of that Bolgia, + And of the people who therein were burned. + +Even as the dolphins, when they make a sign + To mariners by arching of the back, + That they should counsel take to save their vessel, + +Thus sometimes, to alleviate his pain, + One of the sinners would display his back, + And in less time conceal it than it lightens. + +As on the brink of water in a ditch + The frogs stand only with their muzzles out, + So that they hide their feet and other bulk, + +So upon every side the sinners stood; + But ever as Barbariccia near them came, + Thus underneath the boiling they withdrew. + +I saw, and still my heart doth shudder at it, + One waiting thus, even as it comes to pass + One frog remains, and down another dives; + +And Graffiacan, who most confronted him, + Grappled him by his tresses smeared with pitch, + And drew him up, so that he seemed an otter. + +I knew, before, the names of all of them, + So had I noted them when they were chosen, + And when they called each other, listened how. + +"O Rubicante, see that thou do lay + Thy claws upon him, so that thou mayst flay him," + Cried all together the accursed ones. + +And I: "My Master, see to it, if thou canst, + That thou mayst know who is the luckless wight, + Thus come into his adversaries' hands." + +Near to the side of him my Leader drew, + Asked of him whence he was; and he replied: + "I in the kingdom of Navarre was born; + +My mother placed me servant to a lord, + For she had borne me to a ribald knave, + Destroyer of himself and of his things. + +Then I domestic was of good King Thibault; + I set me there to practise barratry, + For which I pay the reckoning in this heat." + +And Ciriatto, from whose mouth projected, + On either side, a tusk, as in a boar, + Caused him to feel how one of them could rip. + +Among malicious cats the mouse had come; + But Barbariccia clasped him in his arms, + And said: "Stand ye aside, while I enfork him." + +And to my Master he turned round his head; + "Ask him again," he said, "if more thou wish + To know from him, before some one destroy him." + +The Guide: "Now tell then of the other culprits; + Knowest thou any one who is a Latian, + Under the pitch?" And he: "I separated + +Lately from one who was a neighbour to it; + Would that I still were covered up with him, + For I should fear not either claw nor hook!" + +And Libicocco: "We have borne too much;" + And with his grapnel seized him by the arm, + So that, by rending, he tore off a tendon. + +Eke Draghignazzo wished to pounce upon him + Down at the legs; whence their Decurion + Turned round and round about with evil look. + +When they again somewhat were pacified, + Of him, who still was looking at his wound, + Demanded my Conductor without stay: + +"Who was that one, from whom a luckless parting + Thou sayest thou hast made, to come ashore?" + And he replied: "It was the Friar Gomita, + +He of Gallura, vessel of all fraud, + Who had the enemies of his Lord in hand, + And dealt so with them each exults thereat; + +Money he took, and let them smoothly off, + As he says; and in other offices + A barrator was he, not mean but sovereign. + +Foregathers with him one Don Michael Zanche + Of Logodoro; and of Sardinia + To gossip never do their tongues feel tired. + +O me! see that one, how he grinds his teeth; + Still farther would I speak, but am afraid + Lest he to scratch my itch be making ready." + +And the grand Provost, turned to Farfarello, + Who rolled his eyes about as if to strike, + Said: "Stand aside there, thou malicious bird." + +"If you desire either to see or hear," + The terror-stricken recommenced thereon, + "Tuscans or Lombards, I will make them come. + +But let the Malebranche cease a little, + So that these may not their revenges fear, + And I, down sitting in this very place, + +For one that I am will make seven come, + When I shall whistle, as our custom is + To do whenever one of us comes out." + +Cagnazzo at these words his muzzle lifted, + Shaking his head, and said: "Just hear the trick + Which he has thought of, down to throw himself!" + +Whence he, who snares in great abundance had, + Responded: "I by far too cunning am, + When I procure for mine a greater sadness." + +Alichin held not in, but running counter + Unto the rest, said to him: "If thou dive, + I will not follow thee upon the gallop, + +But I will beat my wings above the pitch; + The height be left, and be the bank a shield + To see if thou alone dost countervail us." + +O thou who readest, thou shalt hear new sport! + Each to the other side his eyes averted; + He first, who most reluctant was to do it. + +The Navarrese selected well his time; + Planted his feet on land, and in a moment + Leaped, and released himself from their design. + +Whereat each one was suddenly stung with shame, + But he most who was cause of the defeat; + Therefore he moved, and cried: "Thou art o'ertakern." + +But little it availed, for wings could not + Outstrip the fear; the other one went under, + And, flying, upward he his breast directed; + +Not otherwise the duck upon a sudden + Dives under, when the falcon is approaching, + And upward he returneth cross and weary. + +Infuriate at the mockery, Calcabrina + Flying behind him followed close, desirous + The other should escape, to have a quarrel. + +And when the barrator had disappeared, + He turned his talons upon his companion, + And grappled with him right above the moat. + +But sooth the other was a doughty sparhawk + To clapperclaw him well; and both of them + Fell in the middle of the boiling pond. + +A sudden intercessor was the heat; + But ne'ertheless of rising there was naught, + To such degree they had their wings belimed. + +Lamenting with the others, Barbariccia + Made four of them fly to the other side + With all their gaffs, and very speedily + +This side and that they to their posts descended; + They stretched their hooks towards the pitch-ensnared, + Who were already baked within the crust, + +And in this manner busied did we leave them. + + + +Inferno: Canto XXIII + + +Silent, alone, and without company + We went, the one in front, the other after, + As go the Minor Friars along their way. + +Upon the fable of Aesop was directed + My thought, by reason of the present quarrel, + Where he has spoken of the frog and mouse; + +For 'mo' and 'issa' are not more alike + Than this one is to that, if well we couple + End and beginning with a steadfast mind. + +And even as one thought from another springs, + So afterward from that was born another, + Which the first fear within me double made. + +Thus did I ponder: "These on our account + Are laughed to scorn, with injury and scoff + So great, that much I think it must annoy them. + +If anger be engrafted on ill-will, + They will come after us more merciless + Than dog upon the leveret which he seizes," + +I felt my hair stand all on end already + With terror, and stood backwardly intent, + When said I: "Master, if thou hidest not + +Thyself and me forthwith, of Malebranche + I am in dread; we have them now behind us; + I so imagine them, I already feel them." + +And he: "If I were made of leaded glass, + Thine outward image I should not attract + Sooner to me than I imprint the inner. + +Just now thy thoughts came in among my own, + With similar attitude and similar face, + So that of both one counsel sole I made. + +If peradventure the right bank so slope + That we to the next Bolgia can descend, + We shall escape from the imagined chase." + +Not yet he finished rendering such opinion, + When I beheld them come with outstretched wings, + Not far remote, with will to seize upon us. + +My Leader on a sudden seized me up, + Even as a mother who by noise is wakened, + And close beside her sees the enkindled flames, + +Who takes her son, and flies, and does not stop, + Having more care of him than of herself, + So that she clothes her only with a shift; + +And downward from the top of the hard bank + Supine he gave him to the pendent rock, + That one side of the other Bolgia walls. + +Ne'er ran so swiftly water through a sluice + To turn the wheel of any land-built mill, + When nearest to the paddles it approaches, + +As did my Master down along that border, + Bearing me with him on his breast away, + As his own son, and not as a companion. + +Hardly the bed of the ravine below + His feet had reached, ere they had reached the hill + Right over us; but he was not afraid; + +For the high Providence, which had ordained + To place them ministers of the fifth moat, + The power of thence departing took from all. + +A painted people there below we found, + Who went about with footsteps very slow, + Weeping and in their semblance tired and vanquished. + +They had on mantles with the hoods low down + Before their eyes, and fashioned of the cut + That in Cologne they for the monks are made. + +Without, they gilded are so that it dazzles; + But inwardly all leaden and so heavy + That Frederick used to put them on of straw. + +O everlastingly fatiguing mantle! + Again we turned us, still to the left hand + Along with them, intent on their sad plaint; + +But owing to the weight, that weary folk + Came on so tardily, that we were new + In company at each motion of the haunch. + +Whence I unto my Leader: "See thou find + Some one who may by deed or name be known, + And thus in going move thine eye about." + +And one, who understood the Tuscan speech, + Cried to us from behind: "Stay ye your feet, + Ye, who so run athwart the dusky air! + +Perhaps thou'lt have from me what thou demandest." + Whereat the Leader turned him, and said: "Wait, + And then according to his pace proceed." + +I stopped, and two beheld I show great haste + Of spirit, in their faces, to be with me; + But the burden and the narrow way delayed them. + +When they came up, long with an eye askance + They scanned me without uttering a word. + Then to each other turned, and said together: + +"He by the action of his throat seems living; + And if they dead are, by what privilege + Go they uncovered by the heavy stole?" + +Then said to me: "Tuscan, who to the college + Of miserable hypocrites art come, + Do not disdain to tell us who thou art." + +And I to them: "Born was I, and grew up + In the great town on the fair river of Arno, + And with the body am I've always had. + +But who are ye, in whom there trickles down + Along your cheeks such grief as I behold? + And what pain is upon you, that so sparkles?" + +And one replied to me: "These orange cloaks + Are made of lead so heavy, that the weights + Cause in this way their balances to creak. + +Frati Gaudenti were we, and Bolognese; + I Catalano, and he Loderingo + Named, and together taken by thy city, + +As the wont is to take one man alone, + For maintenance of its peace; and we were such + That still it is apparent round Gardingo." + +"O Friars," began I, "your iniquitous. . ." + But said no more; for to mine eyes there rushed + One crucified with three stakes on the ground. + +When me he saw, he writhed himself all over, + Blowing into his beard with suspirations; + And the Friar Catalan, who noticed this, + +Said to me: "This transfixed one, whom thou seest, + Counselled the Pharisees that it was meet + To put one man to torture for the people. + +Crosswise and naked is he on the path, + As thou perceivest; and he needs must feel, + Whoever passes, first how much he weighs; + +And in like mode his father-in-law is punished + Within this moat, and the others of the council, + Which for the Jews was a malignant seed." + +And thereupon I saw Virgilius marvel + O'er him who was extended on the cross + So vilely in eternal banishment. + +Then he directed to the Friar this voice: + "Be not displeased, if granted thee, to tell us + If to the right hand any pass slope down + +By which we two may issue forth from here, + Without constraining some of the black angels + To come and extricate us from this deep." + +Then he made answer: "Nearer than thou hopest + There is a rock, that forth from the great circle + Proceeds, and crosses all the cruel valleys, + +Save that at this 'tis broken, and does not bridge it; + You will be able to mount up the ruin, + That sidelong slopes and at the bottom rises." + +The Leader stood awhile with head bowed down; + Then said: "The business badly he recounted + Who grapples with his hook the sinners yonder." + +And the Friar: "Many of the Devil's vices + Once heard I at Bologna, and among them, + That he's a liar and the father of lies." + +Thereat my Leader with great strides went on, + Somewhat disturbed with anger in his looks; + Whence from the heavy-laden I departed + +After the prints of his beloved feet. + + + +Inferno: Canto XXIV + + +In that part of the youthful year wherein + The Sun his locks beneath Aquarius tempers, + And now the nights draw near to half the day, + +What time the hoar-frost copies on the ground + The outward semblance of her sister white, + But little lasts the temper of her pen, + +The husbandman, whose forage faileth him, + Rises, and looks, and seeth the champaign + All gleaming white, whereat he beats his flank, + +Returns in doors, and up and down laments, + Like a poor wretch, who knows not what to do; + Then he returns and hope revives again, + +Seeing the world has changed its countenance + In little time, and takes his shepherd's crook, + And forth the little lambs to pasture drives. + +Thus did the Master fill me with alarm, + When I beheld his forehead so disturbed, + And to the ailment came as soon the plaster. + +For as we came unto the ruined bridge, + The Leader turned to me with that sweet look + Which at the mountain's foot I first beheld. + +His arms he opened, after some advisement + Within himself elected, looking first + Well at the ruin, and laid hold of me. + +And even as he who acts and meditates, + For aye it seems that he provides beforehand, + So upward lifting me towards the summit + +Of a huge rock, he scanned another crag, + Saying: "To that one grapple afterwards, + But try first if 'tis such that it will hold thee." + +This was no way for one clothed with a cloak; + For hardly we, he light, and I pushed upward, + Were able to ascend from jag to jag. + +And had it not been, that upon that precinct + Shorter was the ascent than on the other, + He I know not, but I had been dead beat. + +But because Malebolge tow'rds the mouth + Of the profoundest well is all inclining, + The structure of each valley doth import + +That one bank rises and the other sinks. + Still we arrived at length upon the point + Wherefrom the last stone breaks itself asunder. + +The breath was from my lungs so milked away, + When I was up, that I could go no farther, + Nay, I sat down upon my first arrival. + +"Now it behoves thee thus to put off sloth," + My Master said; "for sitting upon down, + Or under quilt, one cometh not to fame, + +Withouten which whoso his life consumes + Such vestige leaveth of himself on earth, + As smoke in air or in the water foam. + +And therefore raise thee up, o'ercome the anguish + With spirit that o'ercometh every battle, + If with its heavy body it sink not. + +A longer stairway it behoves thee mount; + 'Tis not enough from these to have departed; + Let it avail thee, if thou understand me." + +Then I uprose, showing myself provided + Better with breath than I did feel myself, + And said: "Go on, for I am strong and bold." + +Upward we took our way along the crag, + Which jagged was, and narrow, and difficult, + And more precipitous far than that before. + +Speaking I went, not to appear exhausted; + Whereat a voice from the next moat came forth, + Not well adapted to articulate words. + +I know not what it said, though o'er the back + I now was of the arch that passes there; + But he seemed moved to anger who was speaking. + +I was bent downward, but my living eyes + Could not attain the bottom, for the dark; + Wherefore I: "Master, see that thou arrive + +At the next round, and let us descend the wall; + For as from hence I hear and understand not, + So I look down and nothing I distinguish." + +"Other response," he said, "I make thee not, + Except the doing; for the modest asking + Ought to be followed by the deed in silence." + +We from the bridge descended at its head, + Where it connects itself with the eighth bank, + And then was manifest to me the Bolgia; + +And I beheld therein a terrible throng + Of serpents, and of such a monstrous kind, + That the remembrance still congeals my blood + +Let Libya boast no longer with her sand; + For if Chelydri, Jaculi, and Phareae + She breeds, with Cenchri and with Amphisbaena, + +Neither so many plagues nor so malignant + E'er showed she with all Ethiopia, + Nor with whatever on the Red Sea is! + +Among this cruel and most dismal throng + People were running naked and affrighted. + Without the hope of hole or heliotrope. + +They had their hands with serpents bound behind them; + These riveted upon their reins the tail + And head, and were in front of them entwined. + +And lo! at one who was upon our side + There darted forth a serpent, which transfixed him + There where the neck is knotted to the shoulders. + +Nor 'O' so quickly e'er, nor 'I' was written, + As he took fire, and burned; and ashes wholly + Behoved it that in falling he became. + +And when he on the ground was thus destroyed, + The ashes drew together, and of themselves + Into himself they instantly returned. + +Even thus by the great sages 'tis confessed + The phoenix dies, and then is born again, + When it approaches its five-hundredth year; + +On herb or grain it feeds not in its life, + But only on tears of incense and amomum, + And nard and myrrh are its last winding-sheet. + +And as he is who falls, and knows not how, + By force of demons who to earth down drag him, + Or other oppilation that binds man, + +When he arises and around him looks, + Wholly bewildered by the mighty anguish + Which he has suffered, and in looking sighs; + +Such was that sinner after he had risen. + Justice of God! O how severe it is, + That blows like these in vengeance poureth down! + +The Guide thereafter asked him who he was; + Whence he replied: "I rained from Tuscany + A short time since into this cruel gorge. + +A bestial life, and not a human, pleased me, + Even as the mule I was; I'm Vanni Fucci, + Beast, and Pistoia was my worthy den." + +And I unto the Guide: "Tell him to stir not, + And ask what crime has thrust him here below, + For once a man of blood and wrath I saw him." + +And the sinner, who had heard, dissembled not, + But unto me directed mind and face, + And with a melancholy shame was painted. + +Then said: "It pains me more that thou hast caught me + Amid this misery where thou seest me, + Than when I from the other life was taken. + +What thou demandest I cannot deny; + So low am I put down because I robbed + The sacristy of the fair ornaments, + +And falsely once 'twas laid upon another; + But that thou mayst not such a sight enjoy, + If thou shalt e'er be out of the dark places, + +Thine ears to my announcement ope and hear: + Pistoia first of Neri groweth meagre; + Then Florence doth renew her men and manners; + +Mars draws a vapour up from Val di Magra, + Which is with turbid clouds enveloped round, + And with impetuous and bitter tempest + +Over Campo Picen shall be the battle; + When it shall suddenly rend the mist asunder, + So that each Bianco shall thereby be smitten. + +And this I've said that it may give thee pain." + + + +Inferno: Canto XXV + + +At the conclusion of his words, the thief + Lifted his hands aloft with both the figs, + Crying: "Take that, God, for at thee I aim them." + +From that time forth the serpents were my friends; + For one entwined itself about his neck + As if it said: "I will not thou speak more;" + +And round his arms another, and rebound him, + Clinching itself together so in front, + That with them he could not a motion make. + +Pistoia, ah, Pistoia! why resolve not + To burn thyself to ashes and so perish, + Since in ill-doing thou thy seed excellest? + +Through all the sombre circles of this Hell, + Spirit I saw not against God so proud, + Not he who fell at Thebes down from the walls! + +He fled away, and spake no further word; + And I beheld a Centaur full of rage + Come crying out: "Where is, where is the scoffer?" + +I do not think Maremma has so many + Serpents as he had all along his back, + As far as where our countenance begins. + +Upon the shoulders, just behind the nape, + With wings wide open was a dragon lying, + And he sets fire to all that he encounters. + +My Master said: "That one is Cacus, who + Beneath the rock upon Mount Aventine + Created oftentimes a lake of blood. + +He goes not on the same road with his brothers, + By reason of the fraudulent theft he made + Of the great herd, which he had near to him; + +Whereat his tortuous actions ceased beneath + The mace of Hercules, who peradventure + Gave him a hundred, and he felt not ten." + +While he was speaking thus, he had passed by, + And spirits three had underneath us come, + Of which nor I aware was, nor my Leader, + +Until what time they shouted: "Who are you?" + On which account our story made a halt, + And then we were intent on them alone. + +I did not know them; but it came to pass, + As it is wont to happen by some chance, + That one to name the other was compelled, + +Exclaiming: "Where can Cianfa have remained?" + Whence I, so that the Leader might attend, + Upward from chin to nose my finger laid. + +If thou art, Reader, slow now to believe + What I shall say, it will no marvel be, + For I who saw it hardly can admit it. + +As I was holding raised on them my brows, + Behold! a serpent with six feet darts forth + In front of one, and fastens wholly on him. + +With middle feet it bound him round the paunch, + And with the forward ones his arms it seized; + Then thrust its teeth through one cheek and the other; + +The hindermost it stretched upon his thighs, + And put its tail through in between the two, + And up behind along the reins outspread it. + +Ivy was never fastened by its barbs + Unto a tree so, as this horrible reptile + Upon the other's limbs entwined its own. + +Then they stuck close, as if of heated wax + They had been made, and intermixed their colour; + Nor one nor other seemed now what he was; + +E'en as proceedeth on before the flame + Upward along the paper a brown colour, + Which is not black as yet, and the white dies. + +The other two looked on, and each of them + Cried out: "O me, Agnello, how thou changest! + Behold, thou now art neither two nor one." + +Already the two heads had one become, + When there appeared to us two figures mingled + Into one face, wherein the two were lost. + +Of the four lists were fashioned the two arms, + The thighs and legs, the belly and the chest + Members became that never yet were seen. + +Every original aspect there was cancelled; + Two and yet none did the perverted image + Appear, and such departed with slow pace. + +Even as a lizard, under the great scourge + Of days canicular, exchanging hedge, + Lightning appeareth if the road it cross; + +Thus did appear, coming towards the bellies + Of the two others, a small fiery serpent, + Livid and black as is a peppercorn. + +And in that part whereat is first received + Our aliment, it one of them transfixed; + Then downward fell in front of him extended. + +The one transfixed looked at it, but said naught; + Nay, rather with feet motionless he yawned, + Just as if sleep or fever had assailed him. + +He at the serpent gazed, and it at him; + One through the wound, the other through the mouth + Smoked violently, and the smoke commingled. + +Henceforth be silent Lucan, where he mentions + Wretched Sabellus and Nassidius, + And wait to hear what now shall be shot forth. + +Be silent Ovid, of Cadmus and Arethusa; + For if him to a snake, her to fountain, + Converts he fabling, that I grudge him not; + +Because two natures never front to front + Has he transmuted, so that both the forms + To interchange their matter ready were. + +Together they responded in such wise, + That to a fork the serpent cleft his tail, + And eke the wounded drew his feet together. + +The legs together with the thighs themselves + Adhered so, that in little time the juncture + No sign whatever made that was apparent. + +He with the cloven tail assumed the figure + The other one was losing, and his skin + Became elastic, and the other's hard. + +I saw the arms draw inward at the armpits, + And both feet of the reptile, that were short, + Lengthen as much as those contracted were. + +Thereafter the hind feet, together twisted, + Became the member that a man conceals, + And of his own the wretch had two created. + +While both of them the exhalation veils + With a new colour, and engenders hair + On one of them and depilates the other, + +The one uprose and down the other fell, + Though turning not away their impious lamps, + Underneath which each one his muzzle changed. + +He who was standing drew it tow'rds the temples, + And from excess of matter, which came thither, + Issued the ears from out the hollow cheeks; + +What did not backward run and was retained + Of that excess made to the face a nose, + And the lips thickened far as was befitting. + +He who lay prostrate thrusts his muzzle forward, + And backward draws the ears into his head, + In the same manner as the snail its horns; + +And so the tongue, which was entire and apt + For speech before, is cleft, and the bi-forked + In the other closes up, and the smoke ceases. + +The soul, which to a reptile had been changed, + Along the valley hissing takes to flight, + And after him the other speaking sputters. + +Then did he turn upon him his new shoulders, + And said to the other: "I'll have Buoso run, + Crawling as I have done, along this road." + +In this way I beheld the seventh ballast + Shift and reshift, and here be my excuse + The novelty, if aught my pen transgress. + +And notwithstanding that mine eyes might be + Somewhat bewildered, and my mind dismayed, + They could not flee away so secretly + +But that I plainly saw Puccio Sciancato; + And he it was who sole of three companions, + Which came in the beginning, was not changed; + +The other was he whom thou, Gaville, weepest. + + + +Inferno: Canto XXVI + + +Rejoice, O Florence, since thou art so great, + That over sea and land thou beatest thy wings, + And throughout Hell thy name is spread abroad! + +Among the thieves five citizens of thine + Like these I found, whence shame comes unto me, + And thou thereby to no great honour risest. + +But if when morn is near our dreams are true, + Feel shalt thou in a little time from now + What Prato, if none other, craves for thee. + +And if it now were, it were not too soon; + Would that it were, seeing it needs must be, + For 'twill aggrieve me more the more I age. + +We went our way, and up along the stairs + The bourns had made us to descend before, + Remounted my Conductor and drew me. + +And following the solitary path + Among the rocks and ridges of the crag, + The foot without the hand sped not at all. + +Then sorrowed I, and sorrow now again, + When I direct my mind to what I saw, + And more my genius curb than I am wont, + +That it may run not unless virtue guide it; + So that if some good star, or better thing, + Have given me good, I may myself not grudge it. + +As many as the hind (who on the hill + Rests at the time when he who lights the world + His countenance keeps least concealed from us, + +While as the fly gives place unto the gnat) + Seeth the glow-worms down along the valley, + Perchance there where he ploughs and makes his vintage; + +With flames as manifold resplendent all + Was the eighth Bolgia, as I grew aware + As soon as I was where the depth appeared. + +And such as he who with the bears avenged him + Beheld Elijah's chariot at departing, + What time the steeds to heaven erect uprose, + +For with his eye he could not follow it + So as to see aught else than flame alone, + Even as a little cloud ascending upward, + +Thus each along the gorge of the intrenchment + Was moving; for not one reveals the theft, + And every flame a sinner steals away. + +I stood upon the bridge uprisen to see, + So that, if I had seized not on a rock, + Down had I fallen without being pushed. + +And the Leader, who beheld me so attent, + Exclaimed: "Within the fires the spirits are; + Each swathes himself with that wherewith he burns." + +"My Master," I replied, "by hearing thee + I am more sure; but I surmised already + It might be so, and already wished to ask thee + +Who is within that fire, which comes so cleft + At top, it seems uprising from the pyre + Where was Eteocles with his brother placed." + +He answered me: "Within there are tormented + Ulysses and Diomed, and thus together + They unto vengeance run as unto wrath. + +And there within their flame do they lament + The ambush of the horse, which made the door + Whence issued forth the Romans' gentle seed; + +Therein is wept the craft, for which being dead + Deidamia still deplores Achilles, + And pain for the Palladium there is borne." + +"If they within those sparks possess the power + To speak," I said, "thee, Master, much I pray, + And re-pray, that the prayer be worth a thousand, + +That thou make no denial of awaiting + Until the horned flame shall hither come; + Thou seest that with desire I lean towards it." + +And he to me: "Worthy is thy entreaty + Of much applause, and therefore I accept it; + But take heed that thy tongue restrain itself. + +Leave me to speak, because I have conceived + That which thou wishest; for they might disdain + Perchance, since they were Greeks, discourse of thine." + +When now the flame had come unto that point, + Where to my Leader it seemed time and place, + After this fashion did I hear him speak: + +"O ye, who are twofold within one fire, + If I deserved of you, while I was living, + If I deserved of you or much or little + +When in the world I wrote the lofty verses, + Do not move on, but one of you declare + Whither, being lost, he went away to die." + +Then of the antique flame the greater horn, + Murmuring, began to wave itself about + Even as a flame doth which the wind fatigues. + +Thereafterward, the summit to and fro + Moving as if it were the tongue that spake, + It uttered forth a voice, and said: "When I + +From Circe had departed, who concealed me + More than a year there near unto Gaeta, + Or ever yet Aeneas named it so, + +Nor fondness for my son, nor reverence + For my old father, nor the due affection + Which joyous should have made Penelope, + +Could overcome within me the desire + I had to be experienced of the world, + And of the vice and virtue of mankind; + +But I put forth on the high open sea + With one sole ship, and that small company + By which I never had deserted been. + +Both of the shores I saw as far as Spain, + Far as Morocco, and the isle of Sardes, + And the others which that sea bathes round about. + +I and my company were old and slow + When at that narrow passage we arrived + Where Hercules his landmarks set as signals, + +That man no farther onward should adventure. + On the right hand behind me left I Seville, + And on the other already had left Ceuta. + +'O brothers, who amid a hundred thousand + Perils,' I said, 'have come unto the West, + To this so inconsiderable vigil + +Which is remaining of your senses still + Be ye unwilling to deny the knowledge, + Following the sun, of the unpeopled world. + +Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang; + Ye were not made to live like unto brutes, + But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.' + +So eager did I render my companions, + With this brief exhortation, for the voyage, + That then I hardly could have held them back. + +And having turned our stern unto the morning, + We of the oars made wings for our mad flight, + Evermore gaining on the larboard side. + +Already all the stars of the other pole + The night beheld, and ours so very low + It did not rise above the ocean floor. + +Five times rekindled and as many quenched + Had been the splendour underneath the moon, + Since we had entered into the deep pass, + +When there appeared to us a mountain, dim + From distance, and it seemed to me so high + As I had never any one beheld. + +Joyful were we, and soon it turned to weeping; + For out of the new land a whirlwind rose, + And smote upon the fore part of the ship. + +Three times it made her whirl with all the waters, + At the fourth time it made the stern uplift, + And the prow downward go, as pleased Another, + +Until the sea above us closed again." + + + +Inferno: Canto XXVII + + +Already was the flame erect and quiet, + To speak no more, and now departed from us + With the permission of the gentle Poet; + +When yet another, which behind it came, + Caused us to turn our eyes upon its top + By a confused sound that issued from it. + +As the Sicilian bull (that bellowed first + With the lament of him, and that was right, + Who with his file had modulated it) + +Bellowed so with the voice of the afflicted, + That, notwithstanding it was made of brass, + Still it appeared with agony transfixed; + +Thus, by not having any way or issue + At first from out the fire, to its own language + Converted were the melancholy words. + +But afterwards, when they had gathered way + Up through the point, giving it that vibration + The tongue had given them in their passage out, + +We heard it said: "O thou, at whom I aim + My voice, and who but now wast speaking Lombard, + Saying, 'Now go thy way, no more I urge thee,' + +Because I come perchance a little late, + To stay and speak with me let it not irk thee; + Thou seest it irks not me, and I am burning. + +If thou but lately into this blind world + Hast fallen down from that sweet Latian land, + Wherefrom I bring the whole of my transgression, + +Say, if the Romagnuols have peace or war, + For I was from the mountains there between + Urbino and the yoke whence Tiber bursts." + +I still was downward bent and listening, + When my Conductor touched me on the side, + Saying: "Speak thou: this one a Latian is." + +And I, who had beforehand my reply + In readiness, forthwith began to speak: + "O soul, that down below there art concealed, + +Romagna thine is not and never has been + Without war in the bosom of its tyrants; + But open war I none have left there now. + +Ravenna stands as it long years has stood; + The Eagle of Polenta there is brooding, + So that she covers Cervia with her vans. + +The city which once made the long resistance, + And of the French a sanguinary heap, + Beneath the Green Paws finds itself again; + +Verrucchio's ancient Mastiff and the new, + Who made such bad disposal of Montagna, + Where they are wont make wimbles of their teeth. + +The cities of Lamone and Santerno + Governs the Lioncel of the white lair, + Who changes sides 'twixt summer-time and winter; + +And that of which the Savio bathes the flank, + Even as it lies between the plain and mountain, + Lives between tyranny and a free state. + +Now I entreat thee tell us who thou art; + Be not more stubborn than the rest have been, + So may thy name hold front there in the world." + +After the fire a little more had roared + In its own fashion, the sharp point it moved + This way and that, and then gave forth such breath: + +"If I believed that my reply were made + To one who to the world would e'er return, + This flame without more flickering would stand still; + +But inasmuch as never from this depth + Did any one return, if I hear true, + Without the fear of infamy I answer, + +I was a man of arms, then Cordelier, + Believing thus begirt to make amends; + And truly my belief had been fulfilled + +But for the High Priest, whom may ill betide, + Who put me back into my former sins; + And how and wherefore I will have thee hear. + +While I was still the form of bone and pulp + My mother gave to me, the deeds I did + Were not those of a lion, but a fox. + +The machinations and the covert ways + I knew them all, and practised so their craft, + That to the ends of earth the sound went forth. + +When now unto that portion of mine age + I saw myself arrived, when each one ought + To lower the sails, and coil away the ropes, + +That which before had pleased me then displeased me; + And penitent and confessing I surrendered, + Ah woe is me! and it would have bestead me; + +The Leader of the modern Pharisees + Having a war near unto Lateran, + And not with Saracens nor with the Jews, + +For each one of his enemies was Christian, + And none of them had been to conquer Acre, + Nor merchandising in the Sultan's land, + +Nor the high office, nor the sacred orders, + In him regarded, nor in me that cord + Which used to make those girt with it more meagre; + +But even as Constantine sought out Sylvester + To cure his leprosy, within Soracte, + So this one sought me out as an adept + +To cure him of the fever of his pride. + Counsel he asked of me, and I was silent, + Because his words appeared inebriate. + +And then he said: 'Be not thy heart afraid; + Henceforth I thee absolve; and thou instruct me + How to raze Palestrina to the ground. + +Heaven have I power to lock and to unlock, + As thou dost know; therefore the keys are two, + The which my predecessor held not dear.' + +Then urged me on his weighty arguments + There, where my silence was the worst advice; + And said I: 'Father, since thou washest me + +Of that sin into which I now must fall, + The promise long with the fulfilment short + Will make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.' + +Francis came afterward, when I was dead, + For me; but one of the black Cherubim + Said to him: 'Take him not; do me no wrong; + +He must come down among my servitors, + Because he gave the fraudulent advice + From which time forth I have been at his hair; + +For who repents not cannot be absolved, + Nor can one both repent and will at once, + Because of the contradiction which consents not.' + +O miserable me! how I did shudder + When he seized on me, saying: 'Peradventure + Thou didst not think that I was a logician!' + +He bore me unto Minos, who entwined + Eight times his tail about his stubborn back, + And after he had bitten it in great rage, + +Said: 'Of the thievish fire a culprit this;' + Wherefore, here where thou seest, am I lost, + And vested thus in going I bemoan me." + +When it had thus completed its recital, + The flame departed uttering lamentations, + Writhing and flapping its sharp-pointed horn. + +Onward we passed, both I and my Conductor, + Up o'er the crag above another arch, + Which the moat covers, where is paid the fee + +By those who, sowing discord, win their burden. + + + +Inferno: Canto XXVIII + + +Who ever could, e'en with untrammelled words, + Tell of the blood and of the wounds in full + Which now I saw, by many times narrating? + +Each tongue would for a certainty fall short + By reason of our speech and memory, + That have small room to comprehend so much. + +If were again assembled all the people + Which formerly upon the fateful land + Of Puglia were lamenting for their blood + +Shed by the Romans and the lingering war + That of the rings made such illustrious spoils, + As Livy has recorded, who errs not, + +With those who felt the agony of blows + By making counterstand to Robert Guiscard, + And all the rest, whose bones are gathered still + +At Ceperano, where a renegade + Was each Apulian, and at Tagliacozzo, + Where without arms the old Alardo conquered, + +And one his limb transpierced, and one lopped off, + Should show, it would be nothing to compare + With the disgusting mode of the ninth Bolgia. + +A cask by losing centre-piece or cant + Was never shattered so, as I saw one + Rent from the chin to where one breaketh wind. + +Between his legs were hanging down his entrails; + His heart was visible, and the dismal sack + That maketh excrement of what is eaten. + +While I was all absorbed in seeing him, + He looked at me, and opened with his hands + His bosom, saying: "See now how I rend me; + +How mutilated, see, is Mahomet; + In front of me doth Ali weeping go, + Cleft in the face from forelock unto chin; + +And all the others whom thou here beholdest, + Disseminators of scandal and of schism + While living were, and therefore are cleft thus. + +A devil is behind here, who doth cleave us + Thus cruelly, unto the falchion's edge + Putting again each one of all this ream, + +When we have gone around the doleful road; + By reason that our wounds are closed again + Ere any one in front of him repass. + +But who art thou, that musest on the crag, + Perchance to postpone going to the pain + That is adjudged upon thine accusations?" + +"Nor death hath reached him yet, nor guilt doth bring him," + My Master made reply, "to be tormented; + But to procure him full experience, + +Me, who am dead, behoves it to conduct him + Down here through Hell, from circle unto circle; + And this is true as that I speak to thee." + +More than a hundred were there when they heard him, + Who in the moat stood still to look at me, + Through wonderment oblivious of their torture. + +"Now say to Fra Dolcino, then, to arm him, + Thou, who perhaps wilt shortly see the sun, + If soon he wish not here to follow me, + +So with provisions, that no stress of snow + May give the victory to the Novarese, + Which otherwise to gain would not be easy." + +After one foot to go away he lifted, + This word did Mahomet say unto me, + Then to depart upon the ground he stretched it. + +Another one, who had his throat pierced through, + And nose cut off close underneath the brows, + And had no longer but a single ear, + +Staying to look in wonder with the others, + Before the others did his gullet open, + Which outwardly was red in every part, + +And said: "O thou, whom guilt doth not condemn, + And whom I once saw up in Latian land, + Unless too great similitude deceive me, + +Call to remembrance Pier da Medicina, + If e'er thou see again the lovely plain + That from Vercelli slopes to Marcabo, + +And make it known to the best two of Fano, + To Messer Guido and Angiolello likewise, + That if foreseeing here be not in vain, + +Cast over from their vessel shall they be, + And drowned near unto the Cattolica, + By the betrayal of a tyrant fell. + +Between the isles of Cyprus and Majorca + Neptune ne'er yet beheld so great a crime, + Neither of pirates nor Argolic people. + +That traitor, who sees only with one eye, + And holds the land, which some one here with me + Would fain be fasting from the vision of, + +Will make them come unto a parley with him; + Then will do so, that to Focara's wind + They will not stand in need of vow or prayer." + +And I to him: "Show to me and declare, + If thou wouldst have me bear up news of thee, + Who is this person of the bitter vision." + +Then did he lay his hand upon the jaw + Of one of his companions, and his mouth + Oped, crying: "This is he, and he speaks not. + +This one, being banished, every doubt submerged + In Caesar by affirming the forearmed + Always with detriment allowed delay." + +O how bewildered unto me appeared, + With tongue asunder in his windpipe slit, + Curio, who in speaking was so bold! + +And one, who both his hands dissevered had, + The stumps uplifting through the murky air, + So that the blood made horrible his face, + +Cried out: "Thou shalt remember Mosca also, + Who said, alas! 'A thing done has an end!' + Which was an ill seed for the Tuscan people." + +"And death unto thy race," thereto I added; + Whence he, accumulating woe on woe, + Departed, like a person sad and crazed. + +But I remained to look upon the crowd; + And saw a thing which I should be afraid, + Without some further proof, even to recount, + +If it were not that conscience reassures me, + That good companion which emboldens man + Beneath the hauberk of its feeling pure. + +I truly saw, and still I seem to see it, + A trunk without a head walk in like manner + As walked the others of the mournful herd. + +And by the hair it held the head dissevered, + Hung from the hand in fashion of a lantern, + And that upon us gazed and said: "O me!" + +It of itself made to itself a lamp, + And they were two in one, and one in two; + How that can be, He knows who so ordains it. + +When it was come close to the bridge's foot, + It lifted high its arm with all the head, + To bring more closely unto us its words, + +Which were: "Behold now the sore penalty, + Thou, who dost breathing go the dead beholding; + Behold if any be as great as this. + +And so that thou may carry news of me, + Know that Bertram de Born am I, the same + Who gave to the Young King the evil comfort. + +I made the father and the son rebellious; + Achitophel not more with Absalom + And David did with his accursed goadings. + +Because I parted persons so united, + Parted do I now bear my brain, alas! + From its beginning, which is in this trunk. + +Thus is observed in me the counterpoise." + + + +Inferno: Canto XXIX + + +The many people and the divers wounds + These eyes of mine had so inebriated, + That they were wishful to stand still and weep; + +But said Virgilius: "What dost thou still gaze at? + Why is thy sight still riveted down there + Among the mournful, mutilated shades? + +Thou hast not done so at the other Bolge; + Consider, if to count them thou believest, + That two-and-twenty miles the valley winds, + +And now the moon is underneath our feet; + Henceforth the time allotted us is brief, + And more is to be seen than what thou seest." + +"If thou hadst," I made answer thereupon, + "Attended to the cause for which I looked, + Perhaps a longer stay thou wouldst have pardoned." + +Meanwhile my Guide departed, and behind him + I went, already making my reply, + And superadding: "In that cavern where + +I held mine eyes with such attention fixed, + I think a spirit of my blood laments + The sin which down below there costs so much." + +Then said the Master: "Be no longer broken + Thy thought from this time forward upon him; + Attend elsewhere, and there let him remain; + +For him I saw below the little bridge, + Pointing at thee, and threatening with his finger + Fiercely, and heard him called Geri del Bello. + +So wholly at that time wast thou impeded + By him who formerly held Altaforte, + Thou didst not look that way; so he departed." + +"O my Conductor, his own violent death, + Which is not yet avenged for him," I said, + "By any who is sharer in the shame, + +Made him disdainful; whence he went away, + As I imagine, without speaking to me, + And thereby made me pity him the more." + +Thus did we speak as far as the first place + Upon the crag, which the next valley shows + Down to the bottom, if there were more light. + +When we were now right over the last cloister + Of Malebolge, so that its lay-brothers + Could manifest themselves unto our sight, + +Divers lamentings pierced me through and through, + Which with compassion had their arrows barbed, + Whereat mine ears I covered with my hands. + +What pain would be, if from the hospitals + Of Valdichiana, 'twixt July and September, + And of Maremma and Sardinia + +All the diseases in one moat were gathered, + Such was it here, and such a stench came from it + As from putrescent limbs is wont to issue. + +We had descended on the furthest bank + From the long crag, upon the left hand still, + And then more vivid was my power of sight + +Down tow'rds the bottom, where the ministress + Of the high Lord, Justice infallible, + Punishes forgers, which she here records. + +I do not think a sadder sight to see + Was in Aegina the whole people sick, + (When was the air so full of pestilence, + +The animals, down to the little worm, + All fell, and afterwards the ancient people, + According as the poets have affirmed, + +Were from the seed of ants restored again,) + Than was it to behold through that dark valley + The spirits languishing in divers heaps. + +This on the belly, that upon the back + One of the other lay, and others crawling + Shifted themselves along the dismal road. + +We step by step went onward without speech, + Gazing upon and listening to the sick + Who had not strength enough to lift their bodies. + +I saw two sitting leaned against each other, + As leans in heating platter against platter, + From head to foot bespotted o'er with scabs; + +And never saw I plied a currycomb + By stable-boy for whom his master waits, + Or him who keeps awake unwillingly, + +As every one was plying fast the bite + Of nails upon himself, for the great rage + Of itching which no other succour had. + +And the nails downward with them dragged the scab, + In fashion as a knife the scales of bream, + Or any other fish that has them largest. + +"O thou, that with thy fingers dost dismail thee," + Began my Leader unto one of them, + "And makest of them pincers now and then, + +Tell me if any Latian is with those + Who are herein; so may thy nails suffice thee + To all eternity unto this work." + +"Latians are we, whom thou so wasted seest, + Both of us here," one weeping made reply; + "But who art thou, that questionest about us?" + +And said the Guide: "One am I who descends + Down with this living man from cliff to cliff, + And I intend to show Hell unto him." + +Then broken was their mutual support, + And trembling each one turned himself to me, + With others who had heard him by rebound. + +Wholly to me did the good Master gather, + Saying: "Say unto them whate'er thou wishest." + And I began, since he would have it so: + +"So may your memory not steal away + In the first world from out the minds of men, + But so may it survive 'neath many suns, + +Say to me who ye are, and of what people; + Let not your foul and loathsome punishment + Make you afraid to show yourselves to me." + +"I of Arezzo was," one made reply, + "And Albert of Siena had me burned; + But what I died for does not bring me here. + +'Tis true I said to him, speaking in jest, + That I could rise by flight into the air, + And he who had conceit, but little wit, + +Would have me show to him the art; and only + Because no Daedalus I made him, made me + Be burned by one who held him as his son. + +But unto the last Bolgia of the ten, + For alchemy, which in the world I practised, + Minos, who cannot err, has me condemned." + +And to the Poet said I: "Now was ever + So vain a people as the Sienese? + Not for a certainty the French by far." + +Whereat the other leper, who had heard me, + Replied unto my speech: "Taking out Stricca, + Who knew the art of moderate expenses, + +And Niccolo, who the luxurious use + Of cloves discovered earliest of all + Within that garden where such seed takes root; + +And taking out the band, among whom squandered + Caccia d'Ascian his vineyards and vast woods, + And where his wit the Abbagliato proffered! + +But, that thou know who thus doth second thee + Against the Sienese, make sharp thine eye + Tow'rds me, so that my face well answer thee, + +And thou shalt see I am Capocchio's shade, + Who metals falsified by alchemy; + Thou must remember, if I well descry thee, + +How I a skilful ape of nature was." + + + +Inferno: Canto XXX + + +'Twas at the time when Juno was enraged, + For Semele, against the Theban blood, + As she already more than once had shown, + +So reft of reason Athamas became, + That, seeing his own wife with children twain + Walking encumbered upon either hand, + +He cried: "Spread out the nets, that I may take + The lioness and her whelps upon the passage;" + And then extended his unpitying claws, + +Seizing the first, who had the name Learchus, + And whirled him round, and dashed him on a rock; + And she, with the other burthen, drowned herself;-- + +And at the time when fortune downward hurled + The Trojan's arrogance, that all things dared, + So that the king was with his kingdom crushed, + +Hecuba sad, disconsolate, and captive, + When lifeless she beheld Polyxena, + And of her Polydorus on the shore + +Of ocean was the dolorous one aware, + Out of her senses like a dog she barked, + So much the anguish had her mind distorted; + +But not of Thebes the furies nor the Trojan + Were ever seen in any one so cruel + In goading beasts, and much more human members, + +As I beheld two shadows pale and naked, + Who, biting, in the manner ran along + That a boar does, when from the sty turned loose. + +One to Capocchio came, and by the nape + Seized with its teeth his neck, so that in dragging + It made his belly grate the solid bottom. + +And the Aretine, who trembling had remained, + Said to me: "That mad sprite is Gianni Schicchi, + And raving goes thus harrying other people." + +"O," said I to him, "so may not the other + Set teeth on thee, let it not weary thee + To tell us who it is, ere it dart hence." + +And he to me: "That is the ancient ghost + Of the nefarious Myrrha, who became + Beyond all rightful love her father's lover. + +She came to sin with him after this manner, + By counterfeiting of another's form; + As he who goeth yonder undertook, + +That he might gain the lady of the herd, + To counterfeit in himself Buoso Donati, + Making a will and giving it due form." + +And after the two maniacs had passed + On whom I held mine eye, I turned it back + To look upon the other evil-born. + +I saw one made in fashion of a lute, + If he had only had the groin cut off + Just at the point at which a man is forked. + +The heavy dropsy, that so disproportions + The limbs with humours, which it ill concocts, + That the face corresponds not to the belly, + +Compelled him so to hold his lips apart + As does the hectic, who because of thirst + One tow'rds the chin, the other upward turns. + +"O ye, who without any torment are, + And why I know not, in the world of woe," + He said to us, "behold, and be attentive + +Unto the misery of Master Adam; + I had while living much of what I wished, + And now, alas! a drop of water crave. + +The rivulets, that from the verdant hills + Of Cassentin descend down into Arno, + Making their channels to be cold and moist, + +Ever before me stand, and not in vain; + For far more doth their image dry me up + Than the disease which strips my face of flesh. + +The rigid justice that chastises me + Draweth occasion from the place in which + I sinned, to put the more my sighs in flight. + +There is Romena, where I counterfeited + The currency imprinted with the Baptist, + For which I left my body burned above. + +But if I here could see the tristful soul + Of Guido, or Alessandro, or their brother, + For Branda's fount I would not give the sight. + +One is within already, if the raving + Shades that are going round about speak truth; + But what avails it me, whose limbs are tied? + +If I were only still so light, that in + A hundred years I could advance one inch, + I had already started on the way, + +Seeking him out among this squalid folk, + Although the circuit be eleven miles, + And be not less than half a mile across. + +For them am I in such a family; + They did induce me into coining florins, + Which had three carats of impurity." + +And I to him: "Who are the two poor wretches + That smoke like unto a wet hand in winter, + Lying there close upon thy right-hand confines?" + +"I found them here," replied he, "when I rained + Into this chasm, and since they have not turned, + Nor do I think they will for evermore. + +One the false woman is who accused Joseph, + The other the false Sinon, Greek of Troy; + From acute fever they send forth such reek." + +And one of them, who felt himself annoyed + At being, peradventure, named so darkly, + Smote with the fist upon his hardened paunch. + +It gave a sound, as if it were a drum; + And Master Adam smote him in the face, + With arm that did not seem to be less hard, + +Saying to him: "Although be taken from me + All motion, for my limbs that heavy are, + I have an arm unfettered for such need." + +Whereat he answer made: "When thou didst go + Unto the fire, thou hadst it not so ready: + But hadst it so and more when thou wast coining." + +The dropsical: "Thou sayest true in that; + But thou wast not so true a witness there, + Where thou wast questioned of the truth at Troy." + +"If I spake false, thou falsifiedst the coin," + Said Sinon; "and for one fault I am here, + And thou for more than any other demon." + +"Remember, perjurer, about the horse," + He made reply who had the swollen belly, + "And rueful be it thee the whole world knows it." + +"Rueful to thee the thirst be wherewith cracks + Thy tongue," the Greek said, "and the putrid water + That hedges so thy paunch before thine eyes." + +Then the false-coiner: "So is gaping wide + Thy mouth for speaking evil, as 'tis wont; + Because if I have thirst, and humour stuff me + +Thou hast the burning and the head that aches, + And to lick up the mirror of Narcissus + Thou wouldst not want words many to invite thee." + +In listening to them was I wholly fixed, + When said the Master to me: "Now just look, + For little wants it that I quarrel with thee." + +When him I heard in anger speak to me, + I turned me round towards him with such shame + That still it eddies through my memory. + +And as he is who dreams of his own harm, + Who dreaming wishes it may be a dream, + So that he craves what is, as if it were not; + +Such I became, not having power to speak, + For to excuse myself I wished, and still + Excused myself, and did not think I did it. + +"Less shame doth wash away a greater fault," + The Master said, "than this of thine has been; + Therefore thyself disburden of all sadness, + +And make account that I am aye beside thee, + If e'er it come to pass that fortune bring thee + Where there are people in a like dispute; + +For a base wish it is to wish to hear it." + + + +Inferno: Canto XXXI + + +One and the selfsame tongue first wounded me, + So that it tinged the one cheek and the other, + And then held out to me the medicine; + +Thus do I hear that once Achilles' spear, + His and his father's, used to be the cause + First of a sad and then a gracious boon. + +We turned our backs upon the wretched valley, + Upon the bank that girds it round about, + Going across it without any speech. + +There it was less than night, and less than day, + So that my sight went little in advance; + But I could hear the blare of a loud horn, + +So loud it would have made each thunder faint, + Which, counter to it following its way, + Mine eyes directed wholly to one place. + +After the dolorous discomfiture + When Charlemagne the holy emprise lost, + So terribly Orlando sounded not. + +Short while my head turned thitherward I held + When many lofty towers I seemed to see, + Whereat I: "Master, say, what town is this?" + +And he to me: "Because thou peerest forth + Athwart the darkness at too great a distance, + It happens that thou errest in thy fancy. + +Well shalt thou see, if thou arrivest there, + How much the sense deceives itself by distance; + Therefore a little faster spur thee on." + +Then tenderly he took me by the hand, + And said: "Before we farther have advanced, + That the reality may seem to thee + +Less strange, know that these are not towers, but giants, + And they are in the well, around the bank, + From navel downward, one and all of them." + +As, when the fog is vanishing away, + Little by little doth the sight refigure + Whate'er the mist that crowds the air conceals, + +So, piercing through the dense and darksome air, + More and more near approaching tow'rd the verge, + My error fled, and fear came over me; + +Because as on its circular parapets + Montereggione crowns itself with towers, + E'en thus the margin which surrounds the well + +With one half of their bodies turreted + The horrible giants, whom Jove menaces + E'en now from out the heavens when he thunders. + +And I of one already saw the face, + Shoulders, and breast, and great part of the belly, + And down along his sides both of the arms. + +Certainly Nature, when she left the making + Of animals like these, did well indeed, + By taking such executors from Mars; + +And if of elephants and whales she doth not + Repent her, whosoever looketh subtly + More just and more discreet will hold her for it; + +For where the argument of intellect + Is added unto evil will and power, + No rampart can the people make against it. + +His face appeared to me as long and large + As is at Rome the pine-cone of Saint Peter's, + And in proportion were the other bones; + +So that the margin, which an apron was + Down from the middle, showed so much of him + Above it, that to reach up to his hair + +Three Frieslanders in vain had vaunted them; + For I beheld thirty great palms of him + Down from the place where man his mantle buckles. + +"Raphael mai amech izabi almi," + Began to clamour the ferocious mouth, + To which were not befitting sweeter psalms. + +And unto him my Guide: "Soul idiotic, + Keep to thy horn, and vent thyself with that, + When wrath or other passion touches thee. + +Search round thy neck, and thou wilt find the belt + Which keeps it fastened, O bewildered soul, + And see it, where it bars thy mighty breast." + +Then said to me: "He doth himself accuse; + This one is Nimrod, by whose evil thought + One language in the world is not still used. + +Here let us leave him and not speak in vain; + For even such to him is every language + As his to others, which to none is known." + +Therefore a longer journey did we make, + Turned to the left, and a crossbow-shot oft + We found another far more fierce and large. + +In binding him, who might the master be + I cannot say; but he had pinioned close + Behind the right arm, and in front the other, + +With chains, that held him so begirt about + From the neck down, that on the part uncovered + It wound itself as far as the fifth gyre. + +"This proud one wished to make experiment + Of his own power against the Supreme Jove," + My Leader said, "whence he has such a guerdon. + +Ephialtes is his name; he showed great prowess. + What time the giants terrified the gods; + The arms he wielded never more he moves." + +And I to him: "If possible, I should wish + That of the measureless Briareus + These eyes of mine might have experience." + +Whence he replied: "Thou shalt behold Antaeus + Close by here, who can speak and is unbound, + Who at the bottom of all crime shall place us. + +Much farther yon is he whom thou wouldst see, + And he is bound, and fashioned like to this one, + Save that he seems in aspect more ferocious." + +There never was an earthquake of such might + That it could shake a tower so violently, + As Ephialtes suddenly shook himself. + +Then was I more afraid of death than ever, + For nothing more was needful than the fear, + If I had not beheld the manacles. + +Then we proceeded farther in advance, + And to Antaeus came, who, full five ells + Without the head, forth issued from the cavern. + +"O thou, who in the valley fortunate, + Which Scipio the heir of glory made, + When Hannibal turned back with all his hosts, + +Once brought'st a thousand lions for thy prey, + And who, hadst thou been at the mighty war + Among thy brothers, some it seems still think + +The sons of Earth the victory would have gained: + Place us below, nor be disdainful of it, + There where the cold doth lock Cocytus up. + +Make us not go to Tityus nor Typhoeus; + This one can give of that which here is longed for; + Therefore stoop down, and do not curl thy lip. + +Still in the world can he restore thy fame; + Because he lives, and still expects long life, + If to itself Grace call him not untimely." + +So said the Master; and in haste the other + His hands extended and took up my Guide,-- + Hands whose great pressure Hercules once felt. + +Virgilius, when he felt himself embraced, + Said unto me: "Draw nigh, that I may take thee;" + Then of himself and me one bundle made. + +As seems the Carisenda, to behold + Beneath the leaning side, when goes a cloud + Above it so that opposite it hangs; + +Such did Antaeus seem to me, who stood + Watching to see him stoop, and then it was + I could have wished to go some other way. + +But lightly in the abyss, which swallows up + Judas with Lucifer, he put us down; + Nor thus bowed downward made he there delay, + +But, as a mast does in a ship, uprose. + + + +Inferno: Canto XXXII + + +If I had rhymes both rough and stridulous, + As were appropriate to the dismal hole + Down upon which thrust all the other rocks, + +I would press out the juice of my conception + More fully; but because I have them not, + Not without fear I bring myself to speak; + +For 'tis no enterprise to take in jest, + To sketch the bottom of all the universe, + Nor for a tongue that cries Mamma and Babbo. + +But may those Ladies help this verse of mine, + Who helped Amphion in enclosing Thebes, + That from the fact the word be not diverse. + +O rabble ill-begotten above all, + Who're in the place to speak of which is hard, + 'Twere better ye had here been sheep or goats! + +When we were down within the darksome well, + Beneath the giant's feet, but lower far, + And I was scanning still the lofty wall, + +I heard it said to me: "Look how thou steppest! + Take heed thou do not trample with thy feet + The heads of the tired, miserable brothers!" + +Whereat I turned me round, and saw before me + And underfoot a lake, that from the frost + The semblance had of glass, and not of water. + +So thick a veil ne'er made upon its current + In winter-time Danube in Austria, + Nor there beneath the frigid sky the Don, + +As there was here; so that if Tambernich + Had fallen upon it, or Pietrapana, + E'en at the edge 'twould not have given a creak. + +And as to croak the frog doth place himself + With muzzle out of water,--when is dreaming + Of gleaning oftentimes the peasant-girl,-- + +Livid, as far down as where shame appears, + Were the disconsolate shades within the ice, + Setting their teeth unto the note of storks. + +Each one his countenance held downward bent; + From mouth the cold, from eyes the doleful heart + Among them witness of itself procures. + +When round about me somewhat I had looked, + I downward turned me, and saw two so close, + The hair upon their heads together mingled. + +"Ye who so strain your breasts together, tell me," + I said, "who are you;" and they bent their necks, + And when to me their faces they had lifted, + +Their eyes, which first were only moist within, + Gushed o'er the eyelids, and the frost congealed + The tears between, and locked them up again. + +Clamp never bound together wood with wood + So strongly; whereat they, like two he-goats, + Butted together, so much wrath o'ercame them. + +And one, who had by reason of the cold + Lost both his ears, still with his visage downward, + Said: "Why dost thou so mirror thyself in us? + +If thou desire to know who these two are, + The valley whence Bisenzio descends + Belonged to them and to their father Albert. + +They from one body came, and all Caina + Thou shalt search through, and shalt not find a shade + More worthy to be fixed in gelatine; + +Not he in whom were broken breast and shadow + At one and the same blow by Arthur's hand; + Focaccia not; not he who me encumbers + +So with his head I see no farther forward, + And bore the name of Sassol Mascheroni; + Well knowest thou who he was, if thou art Tuscan. + +And that thou put me not to further speech, + Know that I Camicion de' Pazzi was, + And wait Carlino to exonerate me." + +Then I beheld a thousand faces, made + Purple with cold; whence o'er me comes a shudder, + And evermore will come, at frozen ponds. + +And while we were advancing tow'rds the middle, + Where everything of weight unites together, + And I was shivering in the eternal shade, + +Whether 'twere will, or destiny, or chance, + I know not; but in walking 'mong the heads + I struck my foot hard in the face of one. + +Weeping he growled: "Why dost thou trample me? + Unless thou comest to increase the vengeance + of Montaperti, why dost thou molest me?" + +And I: "My Master, now wait here for me, + That I through him may issue from a doubt; + Then thou mayst hurry me, as thou shalt wish." + +The Leader stopped; and to that one I said + Who was blaspheming vehemently still: + "Who art thou, that thus reprehendest others?" + +"Now who art thou, that goest through Antenora + Smiting," replied he, "other people's cheeks, + So that, if thou wert living, 'twere too much?" + +"Living I am, and dear to thee it may be," + Was my response, "if thou demandest fame, + That 'mid the other notes thy name I place." + +And he to me: "For the reverse I long; + Take thyself hence, and give me no more trouble; + For ill thou knowest to flatter in this hollow." + +Then by the scalp behind I seized upon him, + And said: "It must needs be thou name thyself, + Or not a hair remain upon thee here." + +Whence he to me: "Though thou strip off my hair, + I will not tell thee who I am, nor show thee, + If on my head a thousand times thou fall." + +I had his hair in hand already twisted, + And more than one shock of it had pulled out, + He barking, with his eyes held firmly down, + +When cried another: "What doth ail thee, Bocca? + Is't not enough to clatter with thy jaws, + But thou must bark? what devil touches thee?" + +"Now," said I, "I care not to have thee speak, + Accursed traitor; for unto thy shame + I will report of thee veracious news." + +"Begone," replied he, "and tell what thou wilt, + But be not silent, if thou issue hence, + Of him who had just now his tongue so prompt; + +He weepeth here the silver of the French; + 'I saw,' thus canst thou phrase it, 'him of Duera + There where the sinners stand out in the cold.' + +If thou shouldst questioned be who else was there, + Thou hast beside thee him of Beccaria, + Of whom the gorget Florence slit asunder; + +Gianni del Soldanier, I think, may be + Yonder with Ganellon, and Tebaldello + Who oped Faenza when the people slep." + +Already we had gone away from him, + When I beheld two frozen in one hole, + So that one head a hood was to the other; + +And even as bread through hunger is devoured, + The uppermost on the other set his teeth, + There where the brain is to the nape united. + +Not in another fashion Tydeus gnawed + The temples of Menalippus in disdain, + Than that one did the skull and the other things. + +"O thou, who showest by such bestial sign + Thy hatred against him whom thou art eating, + Tell me the wherefore," said I, "with this compact, + +That if thou rightfully of him complain, + In knowing who ye are, and his transgression, + I in the world above repay thee for it, + +If that wherewith I speak be not dried up." + + + +Inferno: Canto XXXIII + + +His mouth uplifted from his grim repast, + That sinner, wiping it upon the hair + Of the same head that he behind had wasted. + +Then he began: "Thou wilt that I renew + The desperate grief, which wrings my heart already + To think of only, ere I speak of it; + +But if my words be seed that may bear fruit + Of infamy to the traitor whom I gnaw, + Speaking and weeping shalt thou see together. + +I know not who thou art, nor by what mode + Thou hast come down here; but a Florentine + Thou seemest to me truly, when I hear thee. + +Thou hast to know I was Count Ugolino, + And this one was Ruggieri the Archbishop; + Now I will tell thee why I am such a neighbour. + +That, by effect of his malicious thoughts, + Trusting in him I was made prisoner, + And after put to death, I need not say; + + But ne'ertheless what thou canst not have heard, + That is to say, how cruel was my death, + Hear shalt thou, and shalt know if he has wronged me. + +A narrow perforation in the mew, + Which bears because of me the title of Famine, + And in which others still must be locked up, + +Had shown me through its opening many moons + Already, when I dreamed the evil dream + Which of the future rent for me the veil. + +This one appeared to me as lord and master, + Hunting the wolf and whelps upon the mountain + For which the Pisans cannot Lucca see. + +With sleuth-hounds gaunt, and eager, and well trained, + Gualandi with Sismondi and Lanfianchi + He had sent out before him to the front. + +After brief course seemed unto me forespent + The father and the sons, and with sharp tushes + It seemed to me I saw their flanks ripped open. + +When I before the morrow was awake, + Moaning amid their sleep I heard my sons + Who with me were, and asking after bread. + +Cruel indeed art thou, if yet thou grieve not, + Thinking of what my heart foreboded me, + And weep'st thou not, what art thou wont to weep at? + +They were awake now, and the hour drew nigh + At which our food used to be brought to us, + And through his dream was each one apprehensive; + +And I heard locking up the under door + Of the horrible tower; whereat without a word + I gazed into the faces of my sons. + +I wept not, I within so turned to stone; + They wept; and darling little Anselm mine + Said: 'Thou dost gaze so, father, what doth ail thee?' + +Still not a tear I shed, nor answer made + All of that day, nor yet the night thereafter, + Until another sun rose on the world. + +As now a little glimmer made its way + Into the dolorous prison, and I saw + Upon four faces my own very aspect, + +Both of my hands in agony I bit; + And, thinking that I did it from desire + Of eating, on a sudden they uprose, + +And said they: 'Father, much less pain 'twill give us + If thou do eat of us; thyself didst clothe us + With this poor flesh, and do thou strip it off.' + +I calmed me then, not to make them more sad. + That day we all were silent, and the next. + Ah! obdurate earth, wherefore didst thou not open? + +When we had come unto the fourth day, Gaddo + Threw himself down outstretched before my feet, + Saying, 'My father, why dost thou not help me?' + +And there he died; and, as thou seest me, + I saw the three fall, one by one, between + The fifth day and the sixth; whence I betook me, + +Already blind, to groping over each, + And three days called them after they were dead; + Then hunger did what sorrow could not do." + +When he had said this, with his eyes distorted, + The wretched skull resumed he with his teeth, + Which, as a dog's, upon the bone were strong. + +Ah! Pisa, thou opprobrium of the people + Of the fair land there where the 'Si' doth sound, + Since slow to punish thee thy neighbours are, + +Let the Capraia and Gorgona move, + And make a hedge across the mouth of Arno + That every person in thee it may drown! + +For if Count Ugolino had the fame + Of having in thy castles thee betrayed, + Thou shouldst not on such cross have put his sons. + +Guiltless of any crime, thou modern Thebes! + Their youth made Uguccione and Brigata, + And the other two my song doth name above! + +We passed still farther onward, where the ice + Another people ruggedly enswathes, + Not downward turned, but all of them reversed. + +Weeping itself there does not let them weep, + And grief that finds a barrier in the eyes + Turns itself inward to increase the anguish; + +Because the earliest tears a cluster form, + And, in the manner of a crystal visor, + Fill all the cup beneath the eyebrow full. + +And notwithstanding that, as in a callus, + Because of cold all sensibility + Its station had abandoned in my face, + +Still it appeared to me I felt some wind; + Whence I: "My Master, who sets this in motion? + Is not below here every vapour quenched?" + +Whence he to me: "Full soon shalt thou be where + Thine eye shall answer make to thee of this, + Seeing the cause which raineth down the blast." + +And one of the wretches of the frozen crust + Cried out to us: "O souls so merciless + That the last post is given unto you, + +Lift from mine eyes the rigid veils, that I + May vent the sorrow which impregns my heart + A little, e'er the weeping recongeal." + +Whence I to him: "If thou wouldst have me help thee + Say who thou wast; and if I free thee not, + May I go to the bottom of the ice." + +Then he replied: "I am Friar Alberigo; + He am I of the fruit of the bad garden, + Who here a date am getting for my fig." + +"O," said I to him, "now art thou, too, dead?" + And he to me: "How may my body fare + Up in the world, no knowledge I possess. + +Such an advantage has this Ptolomaea, + That oftentimes the soul descendeth here + Sooner than Atropos in motion sets it. + +And, that thou mayest more willingly remove + From off my countenance these glassy tears, + Know that as soon as any soul betrays + +As I have done, his body by a demon + Is taken from him, who thereafter rules it, + Until his time has wholly been revolved. + +Itself down rushes into such a cistern; + And still perchance above appears the body + Of yonder shade, that winters here behind me. + +This thou shouldst know, if thou hast just come down; + It is Ser Branca d' Oria, and many years + Have passed away since he was thus locked up." + +"I think," said I to him, "thou dost deceive me; + For Branca d' Oria is not dead as yet, + And eats, and drinks, and sleeps, and puts on clothes." + +"In moat above," said he, "of Malebranche, + There where is boiling the tenacious pitch, + As yet had Michel Zanche not arrived, + +When this one left a devil in his stead + In his own body and one near of kin, + Who made together with him the betrayal. + +But hitherward stretch out thy hand forthwith, + Open mine eyes;"--and open them I did not, + And to be rude to him was courtesy. + +Ah, Genoese! ye men at variance + With every virtue, full of every vice + Wherefore are ye not scattered from the world? + +For with the vilest spirit of Romagna + I found of you one such, who for his deeds + In soul already in Cocytus bathes, + +And still above in body seems alive! + + + +Inferno: Canto XXXIV + + +"'Vexilla Regis prodeunt Inferni' + Towards us; therefore look in front of thee," + My Master said, "if thou discernest him." + +As, when there breathes a heavy fog, or when + Our hemisphere is darkening into night, + Appears far off a mill the wind is turning, + +Methought that such a building then I saw; + And, for the wind, I drew myself behind + My Guide, because there was no other shelter. + +Now was I, and with fear in verse I put it, + There where the shades were wholly covered up, + And glimmered through like unto straws in glass. + +Some prone are lying, others stand erect, + This with the head, and that one with the soles; + Another, bow-like, face to feet inverts. + +When in advance so far we had proceeded, + That it my Master pleased to show to me + The creature who once had the beauteous semblance, + +He from before me moved and made me stop, + Saying: "Behold Dis, and behold the place + Where thou with fortitude must arm thyself." + +How frozen I became and powerless then, + Ask it not, Reader, for I write it not, + Because all language would be insufficient. + +I did not die, and I alive remained not; + Think for thyself now, hast thou aught of wit, + What I became, being of both deprived. + +The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous + From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice; + And better with a giant I compare + +Than do the giants with those arms of his; + Consider now how great must be that whole, + Which unto such a part conforms itself. + +Were he as fair once, as he now is foul, + And lifted up his brow against his Maker, + Well may proceed from him all tribulation. + +O, what a marvel it appeared to me, + When I beheld three faces on his head! + The one in front, and that vermilion was; + +Two were the others, that were joined with this + Above the middle part of either shoulder, + And they were joined together at the crest; + +And the right-hand one seemed 'twixt white and yellow; + The left was such to look upon as those + Who come from where the Nile falls valley-ward. + +Underneath each came forth two mighty wings, + Such as befitting were so great a bird; + Sails of the sea I never saw so large. + + No feathers had they, but as of a bat + Their fashion was; and he was waving them, + So that three winds proceeded forth therefrom. + +Thereby Cocytus wholly was congealed. + With six eyes did he weep, and down three chins + Trickled the tear-drops and the bloody drivel. + +At every mouth he with his teeth was crunching + A sinner, in the manner of a brake, + So that he three of them tormented thus. + +To him in front the biting was as naught + Unto the clawing, for sometimes the spine + Utterly stripped of all the skin remained. + +"That soul up there which has the greatest pain," + The Master said, "is Judas Iscariot; + With head inside, he plies his legs without. + +Of the two others, who head downward are, + The one who hangs from the black jowl is Brutus; + See how he writhes himself, and speaks no word. + +And the other, who so stalwart seems, is Cassius. + But night is reascending, and 'tis time + That we depart, for we have seen the whole." + +As seemed him good, I clasped him round the neck, + And he the vantage seized of time and place, + And when the wings were opened wide apart, + +He laid fast hold upon the shaggy sides; + From fell to fell descended downward then + Between the thick hair and the frozen crust. + +When we were come to where the thigh revolves + Exactly on the thickness of the haunch, + The Guide, with labour and with hard-drawn breath, + +Turned round his head where he had had his legs, + And grappled to the hair, as one who mounts, + So that to Hell I thought we were returning. + +"Keep fast thy hold, for by such stairs as these," + The Master said, panting as one fatigued, + "Must we perforce depart from so much evil." + +Then through the opening of a rock he issued, + And down upon the margin seated me; + Then tow'rds me he outstretched his wary step. + +I lifted up mine eyes and thought to see + Lucifer in the same way I had left him; + And I beheld him upward hold his legs. + +And if I then became disquieted, + Let stolid people think who do not see + What the point is beyond which I had passed. + +"Rise up," the Master said, "upon thy feet; + The way is long, and difficult the road, + And now the sun to middle-tierce returns." + +It was not any palace corridor + There where we were, but dungeon natural, + With floor uneven and unease of light. + +"Ere from the abyss I tear myself away, + My Master," said I when I had arisen, + "To draw me from an error speak a little; + +Where is the ice? and how is this one fixed + Thus upside down? and how in such short time + From eve to morn has the sun made his transit?" + +And he to me: "Thou still imaginest + Thou art beyond the centre, where I grasped + The hair of the fell worm, who mines the world. + +That side thou wast, so long as I descended; + When round I turned me, thou didst pass the point + To which things heavy draw from every side, + +And now beneath the hemisphere art come + Opposite that which overhangs the vast + Dry-land, and 'neath whose cope was put to death + +The Man who without sin was born and lived. + Thou hast thy feet upon the little sphere + Which makes the other face of the Judecca. + +Here it is morn when it is evening there; + And he who with his hair a stairway made us + Still fixed remaineth as he was before. + +Upon this side he fell down out of heaven; + And all the land, that whilom here emerged, + For fear of him made of the sea a veil, + +And came to our hemisphere; and peradventure + To flee from him, what on this side appears + Left the place vacant here, and back recoiled." + +A place there is below, from Beelzebub + As far receding as the tomb extends, + Which not by sight is known, but by the sound + +Of a small rivulet, that there descendeth + Through chasm within the stone, which it has gnawed + With course that winds about and slightly falls. + +The Guide and I into that hidden road + Now entered, to return to the bright world; + And without care of having any rest + +We mounted up, he first and I the second, + Till I beheld through a round aperture + Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear; + +Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Dante's Inferno [Divine Comedy] +as translanted by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow + diff --git a/old/old/1ddcl10.zip b/old/old/1ddcl10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb52830 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/1ddcl10.zip diff --git a/old/old/1ddcl10h.htm b/old/old/1ddcl10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cbb9c92 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/1ddcl10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6925 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>Dante's Inferno</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- +body {margin:10%; text-align:justify} +blockquote {font-size:14pt} +P {font-size:14pt} +--> +</style> +</head> + + +<H1>The Project Gutenberg Etext of Dante's Inferno [Divine Comedy]</H1> +Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow + +<BLOCKQUOTE> +<A HREF="#Copyright">Copyright</A><BR> +<A HREF="#SmallPrint">Small Print</A><BR> +<A HREF="#Contents">Contents</A> +</BLOCKQUOTE> + +<A NAME="#Copyright"></A> +<P>Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +<P>Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* +<HR><P>This etext was prepared by Dennis McCarthy, Atlanta, GA.</p> + + + + + +<H1>THE DIVINE COMEDY</H1> + +<P>OF DANTE ALIGHIERI<BR> +(1265-1321) + + +<P>TRANSLATED BY<BR> +HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW<BR> +(1807-1882) + + + + +<H2>CANTICLE I: INFERNO</H2> + + + + +<H3>CREDITS</H3> + +<P>The base text for this edition has been provided by Digital Dante, a +project sponsored by Columbia University's Institute for Learning +Technologies. Specific thanks goes to Jennifer Hogan (Project +Editor/Director), Tanya Larkin (Assistant to Editor), Robert W. Cole +(Proofreader/Assistant Editor), and Jennifer Cook (Proofreader). + +<P>The Digital Dante Project is a digital 'study space' for Dante studies and +scholarship. The project is multi-faceted and fluid by nature of the Web. +Digital Dante attempts to organize the information most significant for +students first engaging with Dante and scholars researching Dante. The +digital of Digital Dante incurs a new challenge to the student, the +scholar, and teacher, perusing the Web: to become proficient in the new +tools, e.g., Search, the Discussion Group, well enough to look beyond the +technology and delve into the content. For more information and access to +the project, please visit its web site at: +<A HREF="http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/projects/dante/">http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/projects/dante/</A> + +<P>For this Project Gutenberg edition the e-text was rechecked. The editor +greatly thanks Dian McCarthy for her assistance in proofreading the +Paradiso. Also deserving praise are Herbert Fann for programming the text +editor "Desktop Tools/Edit" and the late August Dvorak for designing his +keyboard layout. Please refer to Project Gutenberg's e-text listings for +other editions or translations of 'The Divine Comedy.' For this three part +edition of 'The Divine Comedy' please refer to the end of the Paradiso for +supplemental materials. + +<P><A HREF="mailto:imprimatur@juno.com">Dennis McCarthy, July 1997</A> + + + + +<DIV ALIGN="center"><A NAME="Contents">CONTENTS</A></DIV> + + +Inferno +<OL TYPE="I"> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoI">The Dark Forest. The Hill of Difficulty. The Panther, the Lion, and the Wolf. Virgil.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoII">The Descent. Dante's Protest and Virgil's Appeal. + The Intercession of the Three Ladies Benedight.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoIII">The Gate of Hell. The Inefficient or Indifferent. + Pope Celestine V. The Shores of Acheron. Charon. + The Earthquake and the Swoon.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoIV">The First Circle, Limbo: Virtuous Pagans and the Unbaptized. + The Four Poets, Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. The Noble + Castle of Philosophy.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoV">The Second Circle: The Wanton. Minos. The Infernal Hurricane. + Francesca da Rimini.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoVI">The Third Circle: The Gluttonous. Cerberus. The Eternal Rain. + Ciacco. Florence.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoVII">The Fourth Circle: The Avaricious and the Prodigal. + Plutus. Fortune and her Wheel. The Fifth Circle: + The Irascible and the Sullen. Styx.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoVIII">Phlegyas. Philippo Argenti. The Gate of the City of Dis.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoIX">The Furies and Medusa. The Angel. The City of Dis. + The Sixth Circle: Heresiarchs.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoX">Farinata and Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti. Discourse on the + Knowledge of the Damned.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXI">The Broken Rocks. Pope Anastasius. General Description of + the Inferno and its Divisions.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXII">The Minotaur. The Seventh Circle: The Violent. + The River Phlegethon. The Violent against their Neighbours. + The Centaurs. Tyrants.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXIII">The Wood of Thorns. The Harpies. The Violent + against themselves. Suicides. Pier della Vigna. + Lano and Jacopo da Sant' Andrea.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXIV">The Sand Waste and the Rain of Fire. The Violent against God. + Capaneus. The Statue of Time, and the Four Infernal Rivers.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXV">The Violent against Nature. Brunetto Latini.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXVI">Guidoguerra, Aldobrandi, and Rusticucci. Cataract of + the River of Blood.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXVII">Geryon. The Violent against Art. Usurers. Descent into + the Abyss of Malebolge.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXVIII">The Eighth Circle, Malebolge: The Fraudulent and + the Malicious. The First Bolgia: Seducers and Panders. + Venedico Caccianimico. Jason. The Second Bolgia: + Flatterers. Allessio Interminelli. Thais.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXIX">The Third Bolgia: Simoniacs. Pope Nicholas III. + Dante's Reproof of corrupt Prelates.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXX">The Fourth Bolgia: Soothsayers. Amphiaraus, Tiresias, Aruns, + Manto, Eryphylus, Michael Scott, Guido Bonatti, and Asdente. + Virgil reproaches Dante's Pity. Mantua's Foundation.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXXI">The Fifth Bolgia: Peculators. The Elder of Santa Zita. + Malacoda and other Devils.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXXII">Ciampolo, Friar Gomita, and Michael Zanche. + The Malabranche quarrel.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXXIII">Escape from the Malabranche. The Sixth Bolgia: Hypocrites. + Catalano and Loderingo. Caiaphas.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXXIV">The Seventh Bolgia: Thieves. Vanni Fucci. Serpents.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXXV">Vanni Fucci's Punishment. Agnello Brunelleschi, + Buoso degli Abati, Puccio Sciancato, Cianfa de' Donati, + and Guercio Cavalcanti.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXXVI">The Eighth Bolgia: Evil Counsellors. Ulysses and Diomed. + Ulysses' Last Voyage.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXXVII">Guido da Montefeltro. His deception by Pope Boniface VIII.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXXVIII">The Ninth Bolgia: Schismatics. Mahomet and Ali. + Pier da Medicina, Curio, Mosca, and Bertrand de Born.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXXIX">Geri del Bello. The Tenth Bolgia: Alchemists. + Griffolino d' Arezzo and Capocchino.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXXX">Other Falsifiers or Forgers. Gianni Schicchi, Myrrha, + Adam of Brescia, Potiphar's Wife, and Sinon of Troy.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXXXI">The Giants, Nimrod, Ephialtes, and Antaeus. + Descent to Cocytus.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXXXII">The Ninth Circle: Traitors. The Frozen Lake of Cocytus. + First Division, Caina: Traitors to their Kindred. + Camicion de' Pazzi. Second Division, Antenora: + Traitors to their Country. Dante questions + Bocca degli Abati. Buoso da Duera.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXXXIII">Count Ugolino and the Archbishop Ruggieri. The Death + of Count Ugolino's Sons. Third Division of the Ninth Circle, + Ptolomaea: Traitors to their Friends. Friar Alberigo, + Branco d' Oria.</A> +<LI><A HREF="#CantoXXXIV">Fourth Division of the Ninth Circle, the Judecca: + Traitors to their Lords and Benefactors. Lucifer, + Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius. The Chasm of Lethe. + The Ascent.</A> +</OL> + +<PRE> + +Incipit Comoedia Dantis Alagherii, +Florentini natione, non moribus. + + +The Divine Comedy +translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow +(e-text courtesy ILT's Digital Dante Project) + +INFERNO + + + +<A NAME="#CantoI">Inferno: Canto I</A> + + +Midway upon the journey of our life + I found myself within a forest dark, + For the straightforward pathway had been lost. + +Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say + What was this forest savage, rough, and stern, + Which in the very thought renews the fear. + +So bitter is it, death is little more; + But of the good to treat, which there I found, + Speak will I of the other things I saw there. + +I cannot well repeat how there I entered, + So full was I of slumber at the moment + In which I had abandoned the true way. + +But after I had reached a mountain's foot, + At that point where the valley terminated, + Which had with consternation pierced my heart, + +Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders, + Vested already with that planet's rays + Which leadeth others right by every road. + +Then was the fear a little quieted + That in my heart's lake had endured throughout + The night, which I had passed so piteously. + +And even as he, who, with distressful breath, + Forth issued from the sea upon the shore, + Turns to the water perilous and gazes; + +So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward, + Turn itself back to re-behold the pass + Which never yet a living person left. + +After my weary body I had rested, + The way resumed I on the desert slope, + So that the firm foot ever was the lower. + +And lo! almost where the ascent began, + A panther light and swift exceedingly, + Which with a spotted skin was covered o'er! + +And never moved she from before my face, + Nay, rather did impede so much my way, + That many times I to return had turned. + +The time was the beginning of the morning, + And up the sun was mounting with those stars + That with him were, what time the Love Divine + +At first in motion set those beauteous things; + So were to me occasion of good hope, + The variegated skin of that wild beast, + +The hour of time, and the delicious season; + But not so much, that did not give me fear + A lion's aspect which appeared to me. + +He seemed as if against me he were coming + With head uplifted, and with ravenous hunger, + So that it seemed the air was afraid of him; + +And a she-wolf, that with all hungerings + Seemed to be laden in her meagreness, + And many folk has caused to live forlorn! + +She brought upon me so much heaviness, + With the affright that from her aspect came, + That I the hope relinquished of the height. + +And as he is who willingly acquires, + And the time comes that causes him to lose, + Who weeps in all his thoughts and is despondent, + +E'en such made me that beast withouten peace, + Which, coming on against me by degrees + Thrust me back thither where the sun is silent. + +While I was rushing downward to the lowland, + Before mine eyes did one present himself, + Who seemed from long-continued silence hoarse. + +When I beheld him in the desert vast, + "Have pity on me," unto him I cried, + "Whiche'er thou art, or shade or real man!" + +He answered me: "Not man; man once I was, + And both my parents were of Lombardy, + And Mantuans by country both of them. + +'Sub Julio' was I born, though it was late, + And lived at Rome under the good Augustus, + During the time of false and lying gods. + +A poet was I, and I sang that just + Son of Anchises, who came forth from Troy, + After that Ilion the superb was burned. + +But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance? + Why climb'st thou not the Mount Delectable, + Which is the source and cause of every joy?" + +"Now, art thou that Virgilius and that fountain + Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech?" + I made response to him with bashful forehead. + +"O, of the other poets honour and light, + Avail me the long study and great love + That have impelled me to explore thy volume! + +Thou art my master, and my author thou, + Thou art alone the one from whom I took + The beautiful style that has done honour to me. + +Behold the beast, for which I have turned back; + Do thou protect me from her, famous Sage, + For she doth make my veins and pulses tremble." + +"Thee it behoves to take another road," + Responded he, when he beheld me weeping, + "If from this savage place thou wouldst escape; + +Because this beast, at which thou criest out, + Suffers not any one to pass her way, + But so doth harass him, that she destroys him; + +And has a nature so malign and ruthless, + That never doth she glut her greedy will, + And after food is hungrier than before. + +Many the animals with whom she weds, + And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound + Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain. + +He shall not feed on either earth or pelf, + But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue; + 'Twixt Feltro and Feltro shall his nation be; + +Of that low Italy shall he be the saviour, + On whose account the maid Camilla died, + Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds; + +Through every city shall he hunt her down, + Until he shall have driven her back to Hell, + There from whence envy first did let her loose. + +Therefore I think and judge it for thy best + Thou follow me, and I will be thy guide, + And lead thee hence through the eternal place, + +Where thou shalt hear the desperate lamentations, + Shalt see the ancient spirits disconsolate, + Who cry out each one for the second death; + +And thou shalt see those who contented are + Within the fire, because they hope to come, + Whene'er it may be, to the blessed people; + +To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend, + A soul shall be for that than I more worthy; + With her at my departure I will leave thee; + +Because that Emperor, who reigns above, + In that I was rebellious to his law, + Wills that through me none come into his city. + +He governs everywhere, and there he reigns; + There is his city and his lofty throne; + O happy he whom thereto he elects!" + +And I to him: "Poet, I thee entreat, + By that same God whom thou didst never know, + So that I may escape this woe and worse, + +Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said, + That I may see the portal of Saint Peter, + And those thou makest so disconsolate." + +Then he moved on, and I behind him followed. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoII">Inferno: Canto II</A> + + +Day was departing, and the embrowned air + Released the animals that are on earth + From their fatigues; and I the only one + +Made myself ready to sustain the war, + Both of the way and likewise of the woe, + Which memory that errs not shall retrace. + +O Muses, O high genius, now assist me! + O memory, that didst write down what I saw, + Here thy nobility shall be manifest! + +And I began: "Poet, who guidest me, + Regard my manhood, if it be sufficient, + Ere to the arduous pass thou dost confide me. + +Thou sayest, that of Silvius the parent, + While yet corruptible, unto the world + Immortal went, and was there bodily. + +But if the adversary of all evil + Was courteous, thinking of the high effect + That issue would from him, and who, and what, + +To men of intellect unmeet it seems not; + For he was of great Rome, and of her empire + In the empyreal heaven as father chosen; + +The which and what, wishing to speak the truth, + Were stablished as the holy place, wherein + Sits the successor of the greatest Peter. + +Upon this journey, whence thou givest him vaunt, + Things did he hear, which the occasion were + Both of his victory and the papal mantle. + +Thither went afterwards the Chosen Vessel, + To bring back comfort thence unto that Faith, + Which of salvation's way is the beginning. + +But I, why thither come, or who concedes it? + I not Aeneas am, I am not Paul, + Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it. + +Therefore, if I resign myself to come, + I fear the coming may be ill-advised; + Thou'rt wise, and knowest better than I speak." + +And as he is, who unwills what he willed, + And by new thoughts doth his intention change, + So that from his design he quite withdraws, + +Such I became, upon that dark hillside, + Because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise, + Which was so very prompt in the beginning. + +"If I have well thy language understood," + Replied that shade of the Magnanimous, + "Thy soul attainted is with cowardice, + +Which many times a man encumbers so, + It turns him back from honoured enterprise, + As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy. + +That thou mayst free thee from this apprehension, + I'll tell thee why I came, and what I heard + At the first moment when I grieved for thee. + +Among those was I who are in suspense, + And a fair, saintly Lady called to me + In such wise, I besought her to command me. + +Her eyes where shining brighter than the Star; + And she began to say, gentle and low, + With voice angelical, in her own language: + +'O spirit courteous of Mantua, + Of whom the fame still in the world endures, + And shall endure, long-lasting as the world; + +A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune, + Upon the desert slope is so impeded + Upon his way, that he has turned through terror, + +And may, I fear, already be so lost, + That I too late have risen to his succour, + From that which I have heard of him in Heaven. + +Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate, + And with what needful is for his release, + Assist him so, that I may be consoled. + +Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go; + I come from there, where I would fain return; + Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak. + +When I shall be in presence of my Lord, + Full often will I praise thee unto him.' + Then paused she, and thereafter I began: + +'O Lady of virtue, thou alone through whom + The human race exceedeth all contained + Within the heaven that has the lesser circles, + +So grateful unto me is thy commandment, + To obey, if 'twere already done, were late; + No farther need'st thou ope to me thy wish. + +But the cause tell me why thou dost not shun + The here descending down into this centre, + From the vast place thou burnest to return to.' + +'Since thou wouldst fain so inwardly discern, + Briefly will I relate,' she answered me, + 'Why I am not afraid to enter here. + +Of those things only should one be afraid + Which have the power of doing others harm; + Of the rest, no; because they are not fearful. + +God in his mercy such created me + That misery of yours attains me not, + Nor any flame assails me of this burning. + +A gentle Lady is in Heaven, who grieves + At this impediment, to which I send thee, + So that stern judgment there above is broken. + +In her entreaty she besought Lucia, + And said, "Thy faithful one now stands in need + Of thee, and unto thee I recommend him." + +Lucia, foe of all that cruel is, + Hastened away, and came unto the place + Where I was sitting with the ancient Rachel. + +"Beatrice" said she, "the true praise of God, + Why succourest thou not him, who loved thee so, + For thee he issued from the vulgar herd? + +Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint? + Dost thou not see the death that combats him + Beside that flood, where ocean has no vaunt?" + +Never were persons in the world so swift + To work their weal and to escape their woe, + As I, after such words as these were uttered, + +Came hither downward from my blessed seat, + Confiding in thy dignified discourse, + Which honours thee, and those who've listened to it.' + +After she thus had spoken unto me, + Weeping, her shining eyes she turned away; + Whereby she made me swifter in my coming; + +And unto thee I came, as she desired; + I have delivered thee from that wild beast, + Which barred the beautiful mountain's short ascent. + +What is it, then? Why, why dost thou delay? + Why is such baseness bedded in thy heart? + Daring and hardihood why hast thou not, + +Seeing that three such Ladies benedight + Are caring for thee in the court of Heaven, + And so much good my speech doth promise thee?" + +Even as the flowerets, by nocturnal chill, + Bowed down and closed, when the sun whitens them, + Uplift themselves all open on their stems; + +Such I became with my exhausted strength, + And such good courage to my heart there coursed, + That I began, like an intrepid person: + +"O she compassionate, who succoured me, + And courteous thou, who hast obeyed so soon + The words of truth which she addressed to thee! + +Thou hast my heart so with desire disposed + To the adventure, with these words of thine, + That to my first intent I have returned. + +Now go, for one sole will is in us both, + Thou Leader, and thou Lord, and Master thou." + Thus said I to him; and when he had moved, + +I entered on the deep and savage way. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoIII">Inferno: Canto III</A> + + +"Through me the way is to the city dolent; + Through me the way is to eternal dole; + Through me the way among the people lost. + +Justice incited my sublime Creator; + Created me divine Omnipotence, + The highest Wisdom and the primal Love. + +Before me there were no created things, + Only eterne, and I eternal last. + All hope abandon, ye who enter in!" + +These words in sombre colour I beheld + Written upon the summit of a gate; + Whence I: "Their sense is, Master, hard to me!" + +And he to me, as one experienced: + "Here all suspicion needs must be abandoned, + All cowardice must needs be here extinct. + +We to the place have come, where I have told thee + Thou shalt behold the people dolorous + Who have foregone the good of intellect." + +And after he had laid his hand on mine + With joyful mien, whence I was comforted, + He led me in among the secret things. + +There sighs, complaints, and ululations loud + Resounded through the air without a star, + Whence I, at the beginning, wept thereat. + +Languages diverse, horrible dialects, + Accents of anger, words of agony, + And voices high and hoarse, with sound of hands, + +Made up a tumult that goes whirling on + For ever in that air for ever black, + Even as the sand doth, when the whirlwind breathes. + +And I, who had my head with horror bound, + Said: "Master, what is this which now I hear? + What folk is this, which seems by pain so vanquished?" + +And he to me: "This miserable mode + Maintain the melancholy souls of those + Who lived withouten infamy or praise. + +Commingled are they with that caitiff choir + Of Angels, who have not rebellious been, + Nor faithful were to God, but were for self. + +The heavens expelled them, not to be less fair; + Nor them the nethermore abyss receives, + For glory none the damned would have from them." + +And I: "O Master, what so grievous is + To these, that maketh them lament so sore?" + He answered: "I will tell thee very briefly. + +These have no longer any hope of death; + And this blind life of theirs is so debased, + They envious are of every other fate. + +No fame of them the world permits to be; + Misericord and Justice both disdain them. + Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass." + +And I, who looked again, beheld a banner, + Which, whirling round, ran on so rapidly, + That of all pause it seemed to me indignant; + +And after it there came so long a train + Of people, that I ne'er would have believed + That ever Death so many had undone. + +When some among them I had recognised, + I looked, and I beheld the shade of him + Who made through cowardice the great refusal. + +Forthwith I comprehended, and was certain, + That this the sect was of the caitiff wretches + Hateful to God and to his enemies. + +These miscreants, who never were alive, + Were naked, and were stung exceedingly + By gadflies and by hornets that were there. + +These did their faces irrigate with blood, + Which, with their tears commingled, at their feet + By the disgusting worms was gathered up. + +And when to gazing farther I betook me. + People I saw on a great river's bank; + Whence said I: "Master, now vouchsafe to me, + +That I may know who these are, and what law + Makes them appear so ready to pass over, + As I discern athwart the dusky light." + +And he to me: "These things shall all be known + To thee, as soon as we our footsteps stay + Upon the dismal shore of Acheron." + +Then with mine eyes ashamed and downward cast, + Fearing my words might irksome be to him, + From speech refrained I till we reached the river. + +And lo! towards us coming in a boat + An old man, hoary with the hair of eld, + Crying: "Woe unto you, ye souls depraved! + +Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens; + I come to lead you to the other shore, + To the eternal shades in heat and frost. + +And thou, that yonder standest, living soul, + Withdraw thee from these people, who are dead!" + But when he saw that I did not withdraw, + +He said: "By other ways, by other ports + Thou to the shore shalt come, not here, for passage; + A lighter vessel needs must carry thee." + +And unto him the Guide: "Vex thee not, Charon; + It is so willed there where is power to do + That which is willed; and farther question not." + +Thereat were quieted the fleecy cheeks + Of him the ferryman of the livid fen, + Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame. + +But all those souls who weary were and naked + Their colour changed and gnashed their teeth together, + As soon as they had heard those cruel words. + +God they blasphemed and their progenitors, + The human race, the place, the time, the seed + Of their engendering and of their birth! + +Thereafter all together they drew back, + Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore, + Which waiteth every man who fears not God. + +Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede, + Beckoning to them, collects them all together, + Beats with his oar whoever lags behind. + +As in the autumn-time the leaves fall off, + First one and then another, till the branch + Unto the earth surrenders all its spoils; + +In similar wise the evil seed of Adam + Throw themselves from that margin one by one, + At signals, as a bird unto its lure. + +So they depart across the dusky wave, + And ere upon the other side they land, + Again on this side a new troop assembles. + +"My son," the courteous Master said to me, + "All those who perish in the wrath of God + Here meet together out of every land; + +And ready are they to pass o'er the river, + Because celestial Justice spurs them on, + So that their fear is turned into desire. + +This way there never passes a good soul; + And hence if Charon doth complain of thee, + Well mayst thou know now what his speech imports." + +This being finished, all the dusk champaign + Trembled so violently, that of that terror + The recollection bathes me still with sweat. + +The land of tears gave forth a blast of wind, + And fulminated a vermilion light, + Which overmastered in me every sense, + +And as a man whom sleep hath seized I fell. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoIV">Inferno: Canto IV</A> + + +Broke the deep lethargy within my head + A heavy thunder, so that I upstarted, + Like to a person who by force is wakened; + +And round about I moved my rested eyes, + Uprisen erect, and steadfastly I gazed, + To recognise the place wherein I was. + +True is it, that upon the verge I found me + Of the abysmal valley dolorous, + That gathers thunder of infinite ululations. + +Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous, + So that by fixing on its depths my sight + Nothing whatever I discerned therein. + +"Let us descend now into the blind world," + Began the Poet, pallid utterly; + "I will be first, and thou shalt second be." + +And I, who of his colour was aware, + Said: "How shall I come, if thou art afraid, + Who'rt wont to be a comfort to my fears?" + +And he to me: "The anguish of the people + Who are below here in my face depicts + That pity which for terror thou hast taken. + +Let us go on, for the long way impels us." + Thus he went in, and thus he made me enter + The foremost circle that surrounds the abyss. + +There, as it seemed to me from listening, + Were lamentations none, but only sighs, + That tremble made the everlasting air. + +And this arose from sorrow without torment, + Which the crowds had, that many were and great, + Of infants and of women and of men. + +To me the Master good: "Thou dost not ask + What spirits these, which thou beholdest, are? + Now will I have thee know, ere thou go farther, + +That they sinned not; and if they merit had, + 'Tis not enough, because they had not baptism + Which is the portal of the Faith thou holdest; + +And if they were before Christianity, + In the right manner they adored not God; + And among such as these am I myself. + +For such defects, and not for other guilt, + Lost are we and are only so far punished, + That without hope we live on in desire." + +Great grief seized on my heart when this I heard, + Because some people of much worthiness + I knew, who in that Limbo were suspended. + +"Tell me, my Master, tell me, thou my Lord," + Began I, with desire of being certain + Of that Faith which o'ercometh every error, + +"Came any one by his own merit hence, + Or by another's, who was blessed thereafter?" + And he, who understood my covert speech, + +Replied: "I was a novice in this state, + When I saw hither come a Mighty One, + With sign of victory incoronate. + +Hence he drew forth the shade of the First Parent, + And that of his son Abel, and of Noah, + Of Moses the lawgiver, and the obedient + +Abraham, patriarch, and David, king, + Israel with his father and his children, + And Rachel, for whose sake he did so much, + +And others many, and he made them blessed; + And thou must know, that earlier than these + Never were any human spirits saved." + +We ceased not to advance because he spake, + But still were passing onward through the forest, + The forest, say I, of thick-crowded ghosts. + +Not very far as yet our way had gone + This side the summit, when I saw a fire + That overcame a hemisphere of darkness. + +We were a little distant from it still, + But not so far that I in part discerned not + That honourable people held that place. + +"O thou who honourest every art and science, + Who may these be, which such great honour have, + That from the fashion of the rest it parts them?" + +And he to me: "The honourable name, + That sounds of them above there in thy life, + Wins grace in Heaven, that so advances them." + +In the mean time a voice was heard by me: + "All honour be to the pre-eminent Poet; + His shade returns again, that was departed." + +After the voice had ceased and quiet was, + Four mighty shades I saw approaching us; + Semblance had they nor sorrowful nor glad. + +To say to me began my gracious Master: + "Him with that falchion in his hand behold, + Who comes before the three, even as their lord. + +That one is Homer, Poet sovereign; + He who comes next is Horace, the satirist; + The third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan. + +Because to each of these with me applies + The name that solitary voice proclaimed, + They do me honour, and in that do well." + +Thus I beheld assemble the fair school + Of that lord of the song pre-eminent, + Who o'er the others like an eagle soars. + +When they together had discoursed somewhat, + They turned to me with signs of salutation, + And on beholding this, my Master smiled; + +And more of honour still, much more, they did me, + In that they made me one of their own band; + So that the sixth was I, 'mid so much wit. + +Thus we went on as far as to the light, + Things saying 'tis becoming to keep silent, + As was the saying of them where I was. + +We came unto a noble castle's foot, + Seven times encompassed with lofty walls, + Defended round by a fair rivulet; + +This we passed over even as firm ground; + Through portals seven I entered with these Sages; + We came into a meadow of fresh verdure. + +People were there with solemn eyes and slow, + Of great authority in their countenance; + They spake but seldom, and with gentle voices. + +Thus we withdrew ourselves upon one side + Into an opening luminous and lofty, + So that they all of them were visible. + +There opposite, upon the green enamel, + Were pointed out to me the mighty spirits, + Whom to have seen I feel myself exalted. + +I saw Electra with companions many, + 'Mongst whom I knew both Hector and Aeneas, + Caesar in armour with gerfalcon eyes; + +I saw Camilla and Penthesilea + On the other side, and saw the King Latinus, + Who with Lavinia his daughter sat; + +I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin forth, + Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia, + And saw alone, apart, the Saladin. + +When I had lifted up my brows a little, + The Master I beheld of those who know, + Sit with his philosophic family. + +All gaze upon him, and all do him honour. + There I beheld both Socrates and Plato, + Who nearer him before the others stand; + +Democritus, who puts the world on chance, + Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales, + Zeno, Empedocles, and Heraclitus; + +Of qualities I saw the good collector, + Hight Dioscorides; and Orpheus saw I, + Tully and Livy, and moral Seneca, + +Euclid, geometrician, and Ptolemy, + Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicenna, + Averroes, who the great Comment made. + +I cannot all of them pourtray in full, + Because so drives me onward the long theme, + That many times the word comes short of fact. + +The sixfold company in two divides; + Another way my sapient Guide conducts me + Forth from the quiet to the air that trembles; + +And to a place I come where nothing shines. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoV">Inferno: Canto V</A> + + +Thus I descended out of the first circle + Down to the second, that less space begirds, + And so much greater dole, that goads to wailing. + +There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls; + Examines the transgressions at the entrance; + Judges, and sends according as he girds him. + +I say, that when the spirit evil-born + Cometh before him, wholly it confesses; + And this discriminator of transgressions + +Seeth what place in Hell is meet for it; + Girds himself with his tail as many times + As grades he wishes it should be thrust down. + +Always before him many of them stand; + They go by turns each one unto the judgment; + They speak, and hear, and then are downward hurled. + +"O thou, that to this dolorous hostelry + Comest," said Minos to me, when he saw me, + Leaving the practice of so great an office, + +"Look how thou enterest, and in whom thou trustest; + Let not the portal's amplitude deceive thee." + And unto him my Guide: "Why criest thou too? + +Do not impede his journey fate-ordained; + It is so willed there where is power to do + That which is willed; and ask no further question." + +And now begin the dolesome notes to grow + Audible unto me; now am I come + There where much lamentation strikes upon me. + +I came into a place mute of all light, + Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest, + If by opposing winds 't is combated. + +The infernal hurricane that never rests + Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine; + Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. + +When they arrive before the precipice, + There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments, + There they blaspheme the puissance divine. + +I understood that unto such a torment + The carnal malefactors were condemned, + Who reason subjugate to appetite. + +And as the wings of starlings bear them on + In the cold season in large band and full, + So doth that blast the spirits maledict; + +It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them; + No hope doth comfort them for evermore, + Not of repose, but even of lesser pain. + +And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays, + Making in air a long line of themselves, + So saw I coming, uttering lamentations, + +Shadows borne onward by the aforesaid stress. + Whereupon said I: "Master, who are those + People, whom the black air so castigates?" + +"The first of those, of whom intelligence + Thou fain wouldst have," then said he unto me, + "The empress was of many languages. + +To sensual vices she was so abandoned, + That lustful she made licit in her law, + To remove the blame to which she had been led. + +She is Semiramis, of whom we read + That she succeeded Ninus, and was his spouse; + She held the land which now the Sultan rules. + +The next is she who killed herself for love, + And broke faith with the ashes of Sichaeus; + Then Cleopatra the voluptuous." + +Helen I saw, for whom so many ruthless + Seasons revolved; and saw the great Achilles, + Who at the last hour combated with Love. + +Paris I saw, Tristan; and more than a thousand + Shades did he name and point out with his finger, + Whom Love had separated from our life. + +After that I had listened to my Teacher, + Naming the dames of eld and cavaliers, + Pity prevailed, and I was nigh bewildered. + +And I began: "O Poet, willingly + Speak would I to those two, who go together, + And seem upon the wind to be so light." + +And, he to me: "Thou'lt mark, when they shall be + Nearer to us; and then do thou implore them + By love which leadeth them, and they will come." + +Soon as the wind in our direction sways them, + My voice uplift I: "O ye weary souls! + Come speak to us, if no one interdicts it." + +As turtle-doves, called onward by desire, + With open and steady wings to the sweet nest + Fly through the air by their volition borne, + +So came they from the band where Dido is, + Approaching us athwart the air malign, + So strong was the affectionate appeal. + +"O living creature gracious and benignant, + Who visiting goest through the purple air + Us, who have stained the world incarnadine, + +If were the King of the Universe our friend, + We would pray unto him to give thee peace, + Since thou hast pity on our woe perverse. + +Of what it pleases thee to hear and speak, + That will we hear, and we will speak to you, + While silent is the wind, as it is now. + +Sitteth the city, wherein I was born, + Upon the sea-shore where the Po descends + To rest in peace with all his retinue. + +Love, that on gentle heart doth swiftly seize, + Seized this man for the person beautiful + That was ta'en from me, and still the mode offends me. + +Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving, + Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly, + That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me; + +Love has conducted us unto one death; + Caina waiteth him who quenched our life!" + These words were borne along from them to us. + +As soon as I had heard those souls tormented, + I bowed my face, and so long held it down + Until the Poet said to me: "What thinkest?" + +When I made answer, I began: "Alas! + How many pleasant thoughts, how much desire, + Conducted these unto the dolorous pass!" + +Then unto them I turned me, and I spake, + And I began: "Thine agonies, Francesca, + Sad and compassionate to weeping make me. + +But tell me, at the time of those sweet sighs, + By what and in what manner Love conceded, + That you should know your dubious desires?" + +And she to me: "There is no greater sorrow + Than to be mindful of the happy time + In misery, and that thy Teacher knows. + +But, if to recognise the earliest root + Of love in us thou hast so great desire, + I will do even as he who weeps and speaks. + +One day we reading were for our delight + Of Launcelot, how Love did him enthral. + Alone we were and without any fear. + +Full many a time our eyes together drew + That reading, and drove the colour from our faces; + But one point only was it that o'ercame us. + +When as we read of the much-longed-for smile + Being by such a noble lover kissed, + This one, who ne'er from me shall be divided, + +Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating. + Galeotto was the book and he who wrote it. + That day no farther did we read therein." + +And all the while one spirit uttered this, + The other one did weep so, that, for pity, + I swooned away as if I had been dying, + +And fell, even as a dead body falls. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoVI">Inferno: Canto VI</A> + + +At the return of consciousness, that closed + Before the pity of those two relations, + Which utterly with sadness had confused me, + +New torments I behold, and new tormented + Around me, whichsoever way I move, + And whichsoever way I turn, and gaze. + +In the third circle am I of the rain + Eternal, maledict, and cold, and heavy; + Its law and quality are never new. + +Huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow, + Athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain; + Noisome the earth is, that receiveth this. + +Cerberus, monster cruel and uncouth, + With his three gullets like a dog is barking + Over the people that are there submerged. + +Red eyes he has, and unctuous beard and black, + And belly large, and armed with claws his hands; + He rends the spirits, flays, and quarters them. + +Howl the rain maketh them like unto dogs; + One side they make a shelter for the other; + Oft turn themselves the wretched reprobates. + +When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm! + His mouths he opened, and displayed his tusks; + Not a limb had he that was motionless. + +And my Conductor, with his spans extended, + Took of the earth, and with his fists well filled, + He threw it into those rapacious gullets. + +Such as that dog is, who by barking craves, + And quiet grows soon as his food he gnaws, + For to devour it he but thinks and struggles, + +The like became those muzzles filth-begrimed + Of Cerberus the demon, who so thunders + Over the souls that they would fain be deaf. + +We passed across the shadows, which subdues + The heavy rain-storm, and we placed our feet + Upon their vanity that person seems. + +They all were lying prone upon the earth, + Excepting one, who sat upright as soon + As he beheld us passing on before him. + +"O thou that art conducted through this Hell," + He said to me, "recall me, if thou canst; + Thyself wast made before I was unmade." + +And I to him: "The anguish which thou hast + Perhaps doth draw thee out of my remembrance, + So that it seems not I have ever seen thee. + +But tell me who thou art, that in so doleful + A place art put, and in such punishment, + If some are greater, none is so displeasing." + +And he to me: "Thy city, which is full + Of envy so that now the sack runs over, + Held me within it in the life serene. + +You citizens were wont to call me Ciacco; + For the pernicious sin of gluttony + I, as thou seest, am battered by this rain. + +And I, sad soul, am not the only one, + For all these suffer the like penalty + For the like sin;" and word no more spake he. + +I answered him: "Ciacco, thy wretchedness + Weighs on me so that it to weep invites me; + But tell me, if thou knowest, to what shall come + +The citizens of the divided city; + If any there be just; and the occasion + Tell me why so much discord has assailed it." + +And he to me: "They, after long contention, + Will come to bloodshed; and the rustic party + Will drive the other out with much offence. + +Then afterwards behoves it this one fall + Within three suns, and rise again the other + By force of him who now is on the coast. + +High will it hold its forehead a long while, + Keeping the other under heavy burdens, + Howe'er it weeps thereat and is indignant. + +The just are two, and are not understood there; + Envy and Arrogance and Avarice + Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled." + +Here ended he his tearful utterance; + And I to him: "I wish thee still to teach me, + And make a gift to me of further speech. + +Farinata and Tegghiaio, once so worthy, + Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca, + And others who on good deeds set their thoughts, + +Say where they are, and cause that I may know them; + For great desire constraineth me to learn + If Heaven doth sweeten them, or Hell envenom." + +And he: "They are among the blacker souls; + A different sin downweighs them to the bottom; + If thou so far descendest, thou canst see them. + +But when thou art again in the sweet world, + I pray thee to the mind of others bring me; + No more I tell thee and no more I answer." + +Then his straightforward eyes he turned askance, + Eyed me a little, and then bowed his head; + He fell therewith prone like the other blind. + +And the Guide said to me: "He wakes no more + This side the sound of the angelic trumpet; + When shall approach the hostile Potentate, + +Each one shall find again his dismal tomb, + Shall reassume his flesh and his own figure, + Shall hear what through eternity re-echoes." + +So we passed onward o'er the filthy mixture + Of shadows and of rain with footsteps slow, + Touching a little on the future life. + +Wherefore I said: "Master, these torments here, + Will they increase after the mighty sentence, + Or lesser be, or will they be as burning?" + +And he to me: "Return unto thy science, + Which wills, that as the thing more perfect is, + The more it feels of pleasure and of pain. + +Albeit that this people maledict + To true perfection never can attain, + Hereafter more than now they look to be." + +Round in a circle by that road we went, + Speaking much more, which I do not repeat; + We came unto the point where the descent is; + +There we found Plutus the great enemy. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoVII">Inferno: Canto VII</A> + + +"Pape Satan, Pape Satan, Aleppe!" + Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began; + And that benignant Sage, who all things knew, + +Said, to encourage me: "Let not thy fear + Harm thee; for any power that he may have + Shall not prevent thy going down this crag." + +Then he turned round unto that bloated lip, + And said: "Be silent, thou accursed wolf; + Consume within thyself with thine own rage. + +Not causeless is this journey to the abyss; + Thus is it willed on high, where Michael wrought + Vengeance upon the proud adultery." + +Even as the sails inflated by the wind + Involved together fall when snaps the mast, + So fell the cruel monster to the earth. + +Thus we descended into the fourth chasm, + Gaining still farther on the dolesome shore + Which all the woe of the universe insacks. + +Justice of God, ah! who heaps up so many + New toils and sufferings as I beheld? + And why doth our transgression waste us so? + +As doth the billow there upon Charybdis, + That breaks itself on that which it encounters, + So here the folk must dance their roundelay. + +Here saw I people, more than elsewhere, many, + On one side and the other, with great howls, + Rolling weights forward by main force of chest. + +They clashed together, and then at that point + Each one turned backward, rolling retrograde, + Crying, "Why keepest?" and, "Why squanderest thou?" + +Thus they returned along the lurid circle + On either hand unto the opposite point, + Shouting their shameful metre evermore. + +Then each, when he arrived there, wheeled about + Through his half-circle to another joust; + And I, who had my heart pierced as it were, + +Exclaimed: "My Master, now declare to me + What people these are, and if all were clerks, + These shaven crowns upon the left of us." + +And he to me: "All of them were asquint + In intellect in the first life, so much + That there with measure they no spending made. + +Clearly enough their voices bark it forth, + Whene'er they reach the two points of the circle, + Where sunders them the opposite defect. + +Clerks those were who no hairy covering + Have on the head, and Popes and Cardinals, + In whom doth Avarice practise its excess." + +And I: "My Master, among such as these + I ought forsooth to recognise some few, + Who were infected with these maladies." + +And he to me: "Vain thought thou entertainest; + The undiscerning life which made them sordid + Now makes them unto all discernment dim. + +Forever shall they come to these two buttings; + These from the sepulchre shall rise again + With the fist closed, and these with tresses shorn. + +Ill giving and ill keeping the fair world + Have ta'en from them, and placed them in this scuffle; + Whate'er it be, no words adorn I for it. + +Now canst thou, Son, behold the transient farce + Of goods that are committed unto Fortune, + For which the human race each other buffet; + +For all the gold that is beneath the moon, + Or ever has been, of these weary souls + Could never make a single one repose." + +"Master," I said to him, "now tell me also + What is this Fortune which thou speakest of, + That has the world's goods so within its clutches?" + +And he to me: "O creatures imbecile, + What ignorance is this which doth beset you? + Now will I have thee learn my judgment of her. + +He whose omniscience everything transcends + The heavens created, and gave who should guide them, + That every part to every part may shine, + +Distributing the light in equal measure; + He in like manner to the mundane splendours + Ordained a general ministress and guide, + +That she might change at times the empty treasures + From race to race, from one blood to another, + Beyond resistance of all human wisdom. + +Therefore one people triumphs, and another + Languishes, in pursuance of her judgment, + Which hidden is, as in the grass a serpent. + +Your knowledge has no counterstand against her; + She makes provision, judges, and pursues + Her governance, as theirs the other gods. + +Her permutations have not any truce; + Necessity makes her precipitate, + So often cometh who his turn obtains. + +And this is she who is so crucified + Even by those who ought to give her praise, + Giving her blame amiss, and bad repute. + +But she is blissful, and she hears it not; + Among the other primal creatures gladsome + She turns her sphere, and blissful she rejoices. + +Let us descend now unto greater woe; + Already sinks each star that was ascending + When I set out, and loitering is forbidden." + +We crossed the circle to the other bank, + Near to a fount that boils, and pours itself + Along a gully that runs out of it. + +The water was more sombre far than perse; + And we, in company with the dusky waves, + Made entrance downward by a path uncouth. + +A marsh it makes, which has the name of Styx, + This tristful brooklet, when it has descended + Down to the foot of the malign gray shores. + +And I, who stood intent upon beholding, + Saw people mud-besprent in that lagoon, + All of them naked and with angry look. + +They smote each other not alone with hands, + But with the head and with the breast and feet, + Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth. + +Said the good Master: "Son, thou now beholdest + The souls of those whom anger overcame; + And likewise I would have thee know for certain + +Beneath the water people are who sigh + And make this water bubble at the surface, + As the eye tells thee wheresoe'er it turns. + +Fixed in the mire they say, 'We sullen were + In the sweet air, which by the sun is gladdened, + Bearing within ourselves the sluggish reek; + +Now we are sullen in this sable mire.' + This hymn do they keep gurgling in their throats, + For with unbroken words they cannot say it." + +Thus we went circling round the filthy fen + A great arc 'twixt the dry bank and the swamp, + With eyes turned unto those who gorge the mire; + +Unto the foot of a tower we came at last. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoVIII">Inferno: Canto VIII</A> + + +I say, continuing, that long before + We to the foot of that high tower had come, + Our eyes went upward to the summit of it, + +By reason of two flamelets we saw placed there, + And from afar another answer them, + So far, that hardly could the eye attain it. + +And, to the sea of all discernment turned, + I said: "What sayeth this, and what respondeth + That other fire? and who are they that made it?" + +And he to me: "Across the turbid waves + What is expected thou canst now discern, + If reek of the morass conceal it not." + +Cord never shot an arrow from itself + That sped away athwart the air so swift, + As I beheld a very little boat + +Come o'er the water tow'rds us at that moment, + Under the guidance of a single pilot, + Who shouted, "Now art thou arrived, fell soul?" + +"Phlegyas, Phlegyas, thou criest out in vain + For this once," said my Lord; "thou shalt not have us + Longer than in the passing of the slough." + +As he who listens to some great deceit + That has been done to him, and then resents it, + Such became Phlegyas, in his gathered wrath. + +My Guide descended down into the boat, + And then he made me enter after him, + And only when I entered seemed it laden. + +Soon as the Guide and I were in the boat, + The antique prow goes on its way, dividing + More of the water than 'tis wont with others. + +While we were running through the dead canal, + Uprose in front of me one full of mire, + And said, "Who 'rt thou that comest ere the hour?" + +And I to him: "Although I come, I stay not; + But who art thou that hast become so squalid?" + "Thou seest that I am one who weeps," he answered. + +And I to him: "With weeping and with wailing, + Thou spirit maledict, do thou remain; + For thee I know, though thou art all defiled." + +Then stretched he both his hands unto the boat; + Whereat my wary Master thrust him back, + Saying, "Away there with the other dogs!" + +Thereafter with his arms he clasped my neck; + He kissed my face, and said: "Disdainful soul, + Blessed be she who bore thee in her bosom. + +That was an arrogant person in the world; + Goodness is none, that decks his memory; + So likewise here his shade is furious. + +How many are esteemed great kings up there, + Who here shall be like unto swine in mire, + Leaving behind them horrible dispraises!" + +And I: "My Master, much should I be pleased, + If I could see him soused into this broth, + Before we issue forth out of the lake." + +And he to me: "Ere unto thee the shore + Reveal itself, thou shalt be satisfied; + Such a desire 'tis meet thou shouldst enjoy." + +A little after that, I saw such havoc + Made of him by the people of the mire, + That still I praise and thank my God for it. + +They all were shouting, "At Philippo Argenti!" + And that exasperate spirit Florentine + Turned round upon himself with his own teeth. + +We left him there, and more of him I tell not; + But on mine ears there smote a lamentation, + Whence forward I intent unbar mine eyes. + +And the good Master said: "Even now, my Son, + The city draweth near whose name is Dis, + With the grave citizens, with the great throng." + +And I: "Its mosques already, Master, clearly + Within there in the valley I discern + Vermilion, as if issuing from the fire + +They were." And he to me: "The fire eternal + That kindles them within makes them look red, + As thou beholdest in this nether Hell." + +Then we arrived within the moats profound, + That circumvallate that disconsolate city; + The walls appeared to me to be of iron. + +Not without making first a circuit wide, + We came unto a place where loud the pilot + Cried out to us, "Debark, here is the entrance." + +More than a thousand at the gates I saw + Out of the Heavens rained down, who angrily + Were saying, "Who is this that without death + +Goes through the kingdom of the people dead?" + And my sagacious Master made a sign + Of wishing secretly to speak with them. + +A little then they quelled their great disdain, + And said: "Come thou alone, and he begone + Who has so boldly entered these dominions. + +Let him return alone by his mad road; + Try, if he can; for thou shalt here remain, + Who hast escorted him through such dark regions." + +Think, Reader, if I was discomforted + At utterance of the accursed words; + For never to return here I believed. + +"O my dear Guide, who more than seven times + Hast rendered me security, and drawn me + From imminent peril that before me stood, + +Do not desert me," said I, "thus undone; + And if the going farther be denied us, + Let us retrace our steps together swiftly." + +And that Lord, who had led me thitherward, + Said unto me: "Fear not; because our passage + None can take from us, it by Such is given. + +But here await me, and thy weary spirit + Comfort and nourish with a better hope; + For in this nether world I will not leave thee." + +So onward goes and there abandons me + My Father sweet, and I remain in doubt, + For No and Yes within my head contend. + +I could not hear what he proposed to them; + But with them there he did not linger long, + Ere each within in rivalry ran back. + +They closed the portals, those our adversaries, + On my Lord's breast, who had remained without + And turned to me with footsteps far between. + +His eyes cast down, his forehead shorn had he + Of all its boldness, and he said, with sighs, + "Who has denied to me the dolesome houses?" + +And unto me: "Thou, because I am angry, + Fear not, for I will conquer in the trial, + Whatever for defence within be planned. + +This arrogance of theirs is nothing new; + For once they used it at less secret gate, + Which finds itself without a fastening still. + +O'er it didst thou behold the dead inscription; + And now this side of it descends the steep, + Passing across the circles without escort, + +One by whose means the city shall be opened." + + + +<A NAME="#CantoIX">Inferno: Canto IX</A> + + +That hue which cowardice brought out on me, + Beholding my Conductor backward turn, + Sooner repressed within him his new colour. + +He stopped attentive, like a man who listens, + Because the eye could not conduct him far + Through the black air, and through the heavy fog. + +"Still it behoveth us to win the fight," + Began he; "Else. . .Such offered us herself. . . + O how I long that some one here arrive!" + +Well I perceived, as soon as the beginning + He covered up with what came afterward, + That they were words quite different from the first; + +But none the less his saying gave me fear, + Because I carried out the broken phrase, + Perhaps to a worse meaning than he had. + +"Into this bottom of the doleful conch + Doth any e'er descend from the first grade, + Which for its pain has only hope cut off?" + +This question put I; and he answered me: + "Seldom it comes to pass that one of us + Maketh the journey upon which I go. + +True is it, once before I here below + Was conjured by that pitiless Erictho, + Who summoned back the shades unto their bodies. + +Naked of me short while the flesh had been, + Before within that wall she made me enter, + To bring a spirit from the circle of Judas; + +That is the lowest region and the darkest, + And farthest from the heaven which circles all. + Well know I the way; therefore be reassured. + +This fen, which a prodigious stench exhales, + Encompasses about the city dolent, + Where now we cannot enter without anger." + +And more he said, but not in mind I have it; + Because mine eye had altogether drawn me + Tow'rds the high tower with the red-flaming summit, + +Where in a moment saw I swift uprisen + The three infernal Furies stained with blood, + Who had the limbs of women and their mien, + +And with the greenest hydras were begirt; + Small serpents and cerastes were their tresses, + Wherewith their horrid temples were entwined. + +And he who well the handmaids of the Queen + Of everlasting lamentation knew, + Said unto me: "Behold the fierce Erinnys. + +This is Megaera, on the left-hand side; + She who is weeping on the right, Alecto; + Tisiphone is between;" and then was silent. + +Each one her breast was rending with her nails; + They beat them with their palms, and cried so loud, + That I for dread pressed close unto the Poet. + +"Medusa come, so we to stone will change him!" + All shouted looking down; "in evil hour + Avenged we not on Theseus his assault!" + +"Turn thyself round, and keep thine eyes close shut, + For if the Gorgon appear, and thou shouldst see it, + No more returning upward would there be." + +Thus said the Master; and he turned me round + Himself, and trusted not unto my hands + So far as not to blind me with his own. + +O ye who have undistempered intellects, + Observe the doctrine that conceals itself + Beneath the veil of the mysterious verses! + +And now there came across the turbid waves + The clangour of a sound with terror fraught, + Because of which both of the margins trembled; + +Not otherwise it was than of a wind + Impetuous on account of adverse heats, + That smites the forest, and, without restraint, + +The branches rends, beats down, and bears away; + Right onward, laden with dust, it goes superb, + And puts to flight the wild beasts and the shepherds. + +Mine eyes he loosed, and said: "Direct the nerve + Of vision now along that ancient foam, + There yonder where that smoke is most intense." + +Even as the frogs before the hostile serpent + Across the water scatter all abroad, + Until each one is huddled in the earth. + +More than a thousand ruined souls I saw, + Thus fleeing from before one who on foot + Was passing o'er the Styx with soles unwet. + +From off his face he fanned that unctuous air, + Waving his left hand oft in front of him, + And only with that anguish seemed he weary. + +Well I perceived one sent from Heaven was he, + And to the Master turned; and he made sign + That I should quiet stand, and bow before him. + +Ah! how disdainful he appeared to me! + He reached the gate, and with a little rod + He opened it, for there was no resistance. + +"O banished out of Heaven, people despised!" + Thus he began upon the horrid threshold; + "Whence is this arrogance within you couched? + +Wherefore recalcitrate against that will, + From which the end can never be cut off, + And which has many times increased your pain? + +What helpeth it to butt against the fates? + Your Cerberus, if you remember well, + For that still bears his chin and gullet peeled." + +Then he returned along the miry road, + And spake no word to us, but had the look + Of one whom other care constrains and goads + +Than that of him who in his presence is; + And we our feet directed tow'rds the city, + After those holy words all confident. + +Within we entered without any contest; + And I, who inclination had to see + What the condition such a fortress holds, + +Soon as I was within, cast round mine eye, + And see on every hand an ample plain, + Full of distress and torment terrible. + +Even as at Arles, where stagnant grows the Rhone, + Even as at Pola near to the Quarnaro, + That shuts in Italy and bathes its borders, + +The sepulchres make all the place uneven; + So likewise did they there on every side, + Saving that there the manner was more bitter; + +For flames between the sepulchres were scattered, + By which they so intensely heated were, + That iron more so asks not any art. + +All of their coverings uplifted were, + And from them issued forth such dire laments, + Sooth seemed they of the wretched and tormented. + +And I: "My Master, what are all those people + Who, having sepulture within those tombs, + Make themselves audible by doleful sighs?" + +And he to me: "Here are the Heresiarchs, + With their disciples of all sects, and much + More than thou thinkest laden are the tombs. + +Here like together with its like is buried; + And more and less the monuments are heated." + And when he to the right had turned, we passed + +Between the torments and high parapets. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoX">Inferno: Canto X</A> + + +Now onward goes, along a narrow path + Between the torments and the city wall, + My Master, and I follow at his back. + +"O power supreme, that through these impious circles + Turnest me," I began, "as pleases thee, + Speak to me, and my longings satisfy; + +The people who are lying in these tombs, + Might they be seen? already are uplifted + The covers all, and no one keepeth guard." + +And he to me: "They all will be closed up + When from Jehoshaphat they shall return + Here with the bodies they have left above. + +Their cemetery have upon this side + With Epicurus all his followers, + Who with the body mortal make the soul; + +But in the question thou dost put to me, + Within here shalt thou soon be satisfied, + And likewise in the wish thou keepest silent." + +And I: "Good Leader, I but keep concealed + From thee my heart, that I may speak the less, + Nor only now hast thou thereto disposed me." + +"O Tuscan, thou who through the city of fire + Goest alive, thus speaking modestly, + Be pleased to stay thy footsteps in this place. + +Thy mode of speaking makes thee manifest + A native of that noble fatherland, + To which perhaps I too molestful was." + +Upon a sudden issued forth this sound + From out one of the tombs; wherefore I pressed, + Fearing, a little nearer to my Leader. + +And unto me he said: "Turn thee; what dost thou? + Behold there Farinata who has risen; + From the waist upwards wholly shalt thou see him." + +I had already fixed mine eyes on his, + And he uprose erect with breast and front + E'en as if Hell he had in great despite. + +And with courageous hands and prompt my Leader + Thrust me between the sepulchres towards him, + Exclaiming, "Let thy words explicit be." + +As soon as I was at the foot of his tomb + Somewhat he eyed me, and, as if disdainful, + Then asked of me, "Who were thine ancestors?" + +I, who desirous of obeying was, + Concealed it not, but all revealed to him; + Whereat he raised his brows a little upward. + +Then said he: "Fiercely adverse have they been + To me, and to my fathers, and my party; + So that two several times I scattered them." + +"If they were banished, they returned on all sides," + I answered him, "the first time and the second; + But yours have not acquired that art aright." + +Then there uprose upon the sight, uncovered + Down to the chin, a shadow at his side; + I think that he had risen on his knees. + +Round me he gazed, as if solicitude + He had to see if some one else were with me, + But after his suspicion was all spent, + +Weeping, he said to me: "If through this blind + Prison thou goest by loftiness of genius, + Where is my son? and why is he not with thee?" + +And I to him: "I come not of myself; + He who is waiting yonder leads me here, + Whom in disdain perhaps your Guido had." + +His language and the mode of punishment + Already unto me had read his name; + On that account my answer was so full. + +Up starting suddenly, he cried out: "How + Saidst thou,--he had? Is he not still alive? + Does not the sweet light strike upon his eyes?" + +When he became aware of some delay, + Which I before my answer made, supine + He fell again, and forth appeared no more. + +But the other, magnanimous, at whose desire + I had remained, did not his aspect change, + Neither his neck he moved, nor bent his side. + +"And if," continuing his first discourse, + "They have that art," he said, "not learned aright, + That more tormenteth me, than doth this bed. + +But fifty times shall not rekindled be + The countenance of the Lady who reigns here, + Ere thou shalt know how heavy is that art; + +And as thou wouldst to the sweet world return, + Say why that people is so pitiless + Against my race in each one of its laws?" + +Whence I to him: "The slaughter and great carnage + Which have with crimson stained the Arbia, cause + Such orisons in our temple to be made." + +After his head he with a sigh had shaken, + "There I was not alone," he said, "nor surely + Without a cause had with the others moved. + +But there I was alone, where every one + Consented to the laying waste of Florence, + He who defended her with open face." + +"Ah! so hereafter may your seed repose," + I him entreated, "solve for me that knot, + Which has entangled my conceptions here. + +It seems that you can see, if I hear rightly, + Beforehand whatsoe'er time brings with it, + And in the present have another mode." + +"We see, like those who have imperfect sight, + The things," he said, "that distant are from us; + So much still shines on us the Sovereign Ruler. + +When they draw near, or are, is wholly vain + Our intellect, and if none brings it to us, + Not anything know we of your human state. + +Hence thou canst understand, that wholly dead + Will be our knowledge from the moment when + The portal of the future shall be closed." + +Then I, as if compunctious for my fault, + Said: "Now, then, you will tell that fallen one, + That still his son is with the living joined. + +And if just now, in answering, I was dumb, + Tell him I did it because I was thinking + Already of the error you have solved me." + +And now my Master was recalling me, + Wherefore more eagerly I prayed the spirit + That he would tell me who was with him there. + +He said: "With more than a thousand here I lie; + Within here is the second Frederick, + And the Cardinal, and of the rest I speak not." + +Thereon he hid himself; and I towards + The ancient poet turned my steps, reflecting + Upon that saying, which seemed hostile to me. + +He moved along; and afterward thus going, + He said to me, "Why art thou so bewildered?" + And I in his inquiry satisfied him. + +"Let memory preserve what thou hast heard + Against thyself," that Sage commanded me, + "And now attend here;" and he raised his finger. + +"When thou shalt be before the radiance sweet + Of her whose beauteous eyes all things behold, + From her thou'lt know the journey of thy life." + +Unto the left hand then he turned his feet; + We left the wall, and went towards the middle, + Along a path that strikes into a valley, + +Which even up there unpleasant made its stench. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXI">Inferno: Canto XI</A> + + +Upon the margin of a lofty bank + Which great rocks broken in a circle made, + We came upon a still more cruel throng; + +And there, by reason of the horrible + Excess of stench the deep abyss throws out, + We drew ourselves aside behind the cover + +Of a great tomb, whereon I saw a writing, + Which said: "Pope Anastasius I hold, + Whom out of the right way Photinus drew." + +"Slow it behoveth our descent to be, + So that the sense be first a little used + To the sad blast, and then we shall not heed it." + +The Master thus; and unto him I said, + "Some compensation find, that the time pass not + Idly;" and he: "Thou seest I think of that. + +My son, upon the inside of these rocks," + Began he then to say, "are three small circles, + From grade to grade, like those which thou art leaving. + +They all are full of spirits maledict; + But that hereafter sight alone suffice thee, + Hear how and wherefore they are in constraint. + +Of every malice that wins hate in Heaven, + Injury is the end; and all such end + Either by force or fraud afflicteth others. + +But because fraud is man's peculiar vice, + More it displeases God; and so stand lowest + The fraudulent, and greater dole assails them. + +All the first circle of the Violent is; + But since force may be used against three persons, + In three rounds 'tis divided and constructed. + +To God, to ourselves, and to our neighbour can we + Use force; I say on them and on their things, + As thou shalt hear with reason manifest. + +A death by violence, and painful wounds, + Are to our neighbour given; and in his substance + Ruin, and arson, and injurious levies; + +Whence homicides, and he who smites unjustly, + Marauders, and freebooters, the first round + Tormenteth all in companies diverse. + +Man may lay violent hands upon himself + And his own goods; and therefore in the second + Round must perforce without avail repent + +Whoever of your world deprives himself, + Who games, and dissipates his property, + And weepeth there, where he should jocund be. + +Violence can be done the Deity, + In heart denying and blaspheming Him, + And by disdaining Nature and her bounty. + +And for this reason doth the smallest round + Seal with its signet Sodom and Cahors, + And who, disdaining God, speaks from the heart. + +Fraud, wherewithal is every conscience stung, + A man may practise upon him who trusts, + And him who doth no confidence imburse. + +This latter mode, it would appear, dissevers + Only the bond of love which Nature makes; + Wherefore within the second circle nestle + +Hypocrisy, flattery, and who deals in magic, + Falsification, theft, and simony, + Panders, and barrators, and the like filth. + +By the other mode, forgotten is that love + Which Nature makes, and what is after added, + From which there is a special faith engendered. + +Hence in the smallest circle, where the point is + Of the Universe, upon which Dis is seated, + Whoe'er betrays for ever is consumed." + +And I: "My Master, clear enough proceeds + Thy reasoning, and full well distinguishes + This cavern and the people who possess it. + +But tell me, those within the fat lagoon, + Whom the wind drives, and whom the rain doth beat, + And who encounter with such bitter tongues, + +Wherefore are they inside of the red city + Not punished, if God has them in his wrath, + And if he has not, wherefore in such fashion?" + +And unto me he said: "Why wanders so + Thine intellect from that which it is wont? + Or, sooth, thy mind where is it elsewhere looking? + +Hast thou no recollection of those words + With which thine Ethics thoroughly discusses + The dispositions three, that Heaven abides not,-- + +Incontinence, and Malice, and insane + Bestiality? and how Incontinence + Less God offendeth, and less blame attracts? + +If thou regardest this conclusion well, + And to thy mind recallest who they are + That up outside are undergoing penance, + +Clearly wilt thou perceive why from these felons + They separated are, and why less wroth + Justice divine doth smite them with its hammer." + +"O Sun, that healest all distempered vision, + Thou dost content me so, when thou resolvest, + That doubting pleases me no less than knowing! + +Once more a little backward turn thee," said I, + "There where thou sayest that usury offends + Goodness divine, and disengage the knot." + +"Philosophy," he said, "to him who heeds it, + Noteth, not only in one place alone, + After what manner Nature takes her course + +From Intellect Divine, and from its art; + And if thy Physics carefully thou notest, + After not many pages shalt thou find, + +That this your art as far as possible + Follows, as the disciple doth the master; + So that your art is, as it were, God's grandchild. + +From these two, if thou bringest to thy mind + Genesis at the beginning, it behoves + Mankind to gain their life and to advance; + +And since the usurer takes another way, + Nature herself and in her follower + Disdains he, for elsewhere he puts his hope. + +But follow, now, as I would fain go on, + For quivering are the Fishes on the horizon, + And the Wain wholly over Caurus lies, + +And far beyond there we descend the crag." + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXII">Inferno: Canto XII</A> + + +The place where to descend the bank we came + Was alpine, and from what was there, moreover, + Of such a kind that every eye would shun it. + +Such as that ruin is which in the flank + Smote, on this side of Trent, the Adige, + Either by earthquake or by failing stay, + +For from the mountain's top, from which it moved, + Unto the plain the cliff is shattered so, + Some path 'twould give to him who was above; + +Even such was the descent of that ravine, + And on the border of the broken chasm + The infamy of Crete was stretched along, + +Who was conceived in the fictitious cow; + And when he us beheld, he bit himself, + Even as one whom anger racks within. + +My Sage towards him shouted: "Peradventure + Thou think'st that here may be the Duke of Athens, + Who in the world above brought death to thee? + +Get thee gone, beast, for this one cometh not + Instructed by thy sister, but he comes + In order to behold your punishments." + +As is that bull who breaks loose at the moment + In which he has received the mortal blow, + Who cannot walk, but staggers here and there, + +The Minotaur beheld I do the like; + And he, the wary, cried: "Run to the passage; + While he wroth, 'tis well thou shouldst descend." + +Thus down we took our way o'er that discharge + Of stones, which oftentimes did move themselves + Beneath my feet, from the unwonted burden. + +Thoughtful I went; and he said: "Thou art thinking + Perhaps upon this ruin, which is guarded + By that brute anger which just now I quenched. + +Now will I have thee know, the other time + I here descended to the nether Hell, + This precipice had not yet fallen down. + +But truly, if I well discern, a little + Before His coming who the mighty spoil + Bore off from Dis, in the supernal circle, + +Upon all sides the deep and loathsome valley + Trembled so, that I thought the Universe + Was thrilled with love, by which there are who think + +The world ofttimes converted into chaos; + And at that moment this primeval crag + Both here and elsewhere made such overthrow. + +But fix thine eyes below; for draweth near + The river of blood, within which boiling is + Whoe'er by violence doth injure others." + +O blind cupidity, O wrath insane, + That spurs us onward so in our short life, + And in the eternal then so badly steeps us! + +I saw an ample moat bent like a bow, + As one which all the plain encompasses, + Conformable to what my Guide had said. + +And between this and the embankment's foot + Centaurs in file were running, armed with arrows, + As in the world they used the chase to follow. + +Beholding us descend, each one stood still, + And from the squadron three detached themselves, + With bows and arrows in advance selected; + +And from afar one cried: "Unto what torment + Come ye, who down the hillside are descending? + Tell us from there; if not, I draw the bow." + +My Master said: "Our answer will we make + To Chiron, near you there; in evil hour, + That will of thine was evermore so hasty." + +Then touched he me, and said: "This one is Nessus, + Who perished for the lovely Dejanira, + And for himself, himself did vengeance take. + +And he in the midst, who at his breast is gazing, + Is the great Chiron, who brought up Achilles; + That other Pholus is, who was so wrathful. + +Thousands and thousands go about the moat + Shooting with shafts whatever soul emerges + Out of the blood, more than his crime allots." + +Near we approached unto those monsters fleet; + Chiron an arrow took, and with the notch + Backward upon his jaws he put his beard. + +After he had uncovered his great mouth, + He said to his companions: "Are you ware + That he behind moveth whate'er he touches? + +Thus are not wont to do the feet of dead men." + And my good Guide, who now was at his breast, + Where the two natures are together joined, + +Replied: "Indeed he lives, and thus alone + Me it behoves to show him the dark valley; + Necessity, and not delight, impels us. + +Some one withdrew from singing Halleluja, + Who unto me committed this new office; + No thief is he, nor I a thievish spirit. + +But by that virtue through which I am moving + My steps along this savage thoroughfare, + Give us some one of thine, to be with us, + +And who may show us where to pass the ford, + And who may carry this one on his back; + For 'tis no spirit that can walk the air." + +Upon his right breast Chiron wheeled about, + And said to Nessus: "Turn and do thou guide them, + And warn aside, if other band may meet you." + +We with our faithful escort onward moved + Along the brink of the vermilion boiling, + Wherein the boiled were uttering loud laments. + +People I saw within up to the eyebrows, + And the great Centaur said: "Tyrants are these, + Who dealt in bloodshed and in pillaging. + +Here they lament their pitiless mischiefs; here + Is Alexander, and fierce Dionysius + Who upon Sicily brought dolorous years. + +That forehead there which has the hair so black + Is Azzolin; and the other who is blond, + Obizzo is of Esti, who, in truth, + +Up in the world was by his stepson slain." + Then turned I to the Poet; and he said, + "Now he be first to thee, and second I." + +A little farther on the Centaur stopped + Above a folk, who far down as the throat + Seemed from that boiling stream to issue forth. + +A shade he showed us on one side alone, + Saying: "He cleft asunder in God's bosom + The heart that still upon the Thames is honoured." + +Then people saw I, who from out the river + Lifted their heads and also all the chest; + And many among these I recognised. + +Thus ever more and more grew shallower + That blood, so that the feet alone it covered; + And there across the moat our passage was. + +"Even as thou here upon this side beholdest + The boiling stream, that aye diminishes," + The Centaur said, "I wish thee to believe + +That on this other more and more declines + Its bed, until it reunites itself + Where it behoveth tyranny to groan. + +Justice divine, upon this side, is goading + That Attila, who was a scourge on earth, + And Pyrrhus, and Sextus; and for ever milks + +The tears which with the boiling it unseals + In Rinier da Corneto and Rinier Pazzo, + Who made upon the highways so much war." + +Then back he turned, and passed again the ford. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXIII">Inferno: Canto XIII</A> + + +Not yet had Nessus reached the other side, + When we had put ourselves within a wood, + That was not marked by any path whatever. + +Not foliage green, but of a dusky colour, + Not branches smooth, but gnarled and intertangled, + Not apple-trees were there, but thorns with poison. + +Such tangled thickets have not, nor so dense, + Those savage wild beasts, that in hatred hold + 'Twixt Cecina and Corneto the tilled places. + +There do the hideous Harpies make their nests, + Who chased the Trojans from the Strophades, + With sad announcement of impending doom; + +Broad wings have they, and necks and faces human, + And feet with claws, and their great bellies fledged; + They make laments upon the wondrous trees. + +And the good Master: "Ere thou enter farther, + Know that thou art within the second round," + Thus he began to say, "and shalt be, till + +Thou comest out upon the horrible sand; + Therefore look well around, and thou shalt see + Things that will credence give unto my speech." + +I heard on all sides lamentations uttered, + And person none beheld I who might make them, + Whence, utterly bewildered, I stood still. + +I think he thought that I perhaps might think + So many voices issued through those trunks + From people who concealed themselves from us; + +Therefore the Master said: "If thou break off + Some little spray from any of these trees, + The thoughts thou hast will wholly be made vain." + +Then stretched I forth my hand a little forward, + And plucked a branchlet off from a great thorn; + And the trunk cried, "Why dost thou mangle me?" + +After it had become embrowned with blood, + It recommenced its cry: "Why dost thou rend me? + Hast thou no spirit of pity whatsoever? + +Men once we were, and now are changed to trees; + Indeed, thy hand should be more pitiful, + Even if the souls of serpents we had been." + +As out of a green brand, that is on fire + At one of the ends, and from the other drips + And hisses with the wind that is escaping; + +So from that splinter issued forth together + Both words and blood; whereat I let the tip + Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid. + +"Had he been able sooner to believe," + My Sage made answer, "O thou wounded soul, + What only in my verses he has seen, + +Not upon thee had he stretched forth his hand; + Whereas the thing incredible has caused me + To put him to an act which grieveth me. + +But tell him who thou wast, so that by way + Of some amends thy fame he may refresh + Up in the world, to which he can return." + +And the trunk said: "So thy sweet words allure me, + I cannot silent be; and you be vexed not, + That I a little to discourse am tempted. + +I am the one who both keys had in keeping + Of Frederick's heart, and turned them to and fro + So softly in unlocking and in locking, + +That from his secrets most men I withheld; + Fidelity I bore the glorious office + So great, I lost thereby my sleep and pulses. + +The courtesan who never from the dwelling + Of Caesar turned aside her strumpet eyes, + Death universal and the vice of courts, + +Inflamed against me all the other minds, + And they, inflamed, did so inflame Augustus, + That my glad honours turned to dismal mournings. + +My spirit, in disdainful exultation, + Thinking by dying to escape disdain, + Made me unjust against myself, the just. + +I, by the roots unwonted of this wood, + Do swear to you that never broke I faith + Unto my lord, who was so worthy of honour; + +And to the world if one of you return, + Let him my memory comfort, which is lying + Still prostrate from the blow that envy dealt it." + +Waited awhile, and then: "Since he is silent," + The Poet said to me, "lose not the time, + But speak, and question him, if more may please thee." + +Whence I to him: "Do thou again inquire + Concerning what thou thinks't will satisfy me; + For I cannot, such pity is in my heart." + +Therefore he recommenced: "So may the man + Do for thee freely what thy speech implores, + Spirit incarcerate, again be pleased + +To tell us in what way the soul is bound + Within these knots; and tell us, if thou canst, + If any from such members e'er is freed." + +Then blew the trunk amain, and afterward + The wind was into such a voice converted: + "With brevity shall be replied to you. + +When the exasperated soul abandons + The body whence it rent itself away, + Minos consigns it to the seventh abyss. + +It falls into the forest, and no part + Is chosen for it; but where Fortune hurls it, + There like a grain of spelt it germinates. + +It springs a sapling, and a forest tree; + The Harpies, feeding then upon its leaves, + Do pain create, and for the pain an outlet. + +Like others for our spoils shall we return; + But not that any one may them revest, + For 'tis not just to have what one casts off. + +Here we shall drag them, and along the dismal + Forest our bodies shall suspended be, + Each to the thorn of his molested shade." + +We were attentive still unto the trunk, + Thinking that more it yet might wish to tell us, + When by a tumult we were overtaken, + +In the same way as he is who perceives + The boar and chase approaching to his stand, + Who hears the crashing of the beasts and branches; + +And two behold! upon our left-hand side, + Naked and scratched, fleeing so furiously, + That of the forest, every fan they broke. + +He who was in advance: "Now help, Death, help!" + And the other one, who seemed to lag too much, + Was shouting: "Lano, were not so alert + +Those legs of thine at joustings of the Toppo!" + And then, perchance because his breath was failing, + He grouped himself together with a bush. + +Behind them was the forest full of black + She-mastiffs, ravenous, and swift of foot + As greyhounds, who are issuing from the chain. + +On him who had crouched down they set their teeth, + And him they lacerated piece by piece, + Thereafter bore away those aching members. + +Thereat my Escort took me by the hand, + And led me to the bush, that all in vain + Was weeping from its bloody lacerations. + +"O Jacopo," it said, "of Sant' Andrea, + What helped it thee of me to make a screen? + What blame have I in thy nefarious life?" + +When near him had the Master stayed his steps, + He said: "Who wast thou, that through wounds so many + Art blowing out with blood thy dolorous speech?" + +And he to us: "O souls, that hither come + To look upon the shameful massacre + That has so rent away from me my leaves, + +Gather them up beneath the dismal bush; + I of that city was which to the Baptist + Changed its first patron, wherefore he for this + +Forever with his art will make it sad. + And were it not that on the pass of Arno + Some glimpses of him are remaining still, + +Those citizens, who afterwards rebuilt it + Upon the ashes left by Attila, + In vain had caused their labour to be done. + +Of my own house I made myself a gibbet." + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXIV">Inferno: Canto XIV</A> + + +Because the charity of my native place + Constrained me, gathered I the scattered leaves, + And gave them back to him, who now was hoarse. + +Then came we to the confine, where disparted + The second round is from the third, and where + A horrible form of Justice is beheld. + +Clearly to manifest these novel things, + I say that we arrived upon a plain, + Which from its bed rejecteth every plant; + +The dolorous forest is a garland to it + All round about, as the sad moat to that; + There close upon the edge we stayed our feet. + +The soil was of an arid and thick sand, + Not of another fashion made than that + Which by the feet of Cato once was pressed. + +Vengeance of God, O how much oughtest thou + By each one to be dreaded, who doth read + That which was manifest unto mine eyes! + +Of naked souls beheld I many herds, + Who all were weeping very miserably, + And over them seemed set a law diverse. + +Supine upon the ground some folk were lying; + And some were sitting all drawn up together, + And others went about continually. + +Those who were going round were far the more, + And those were less who lay down to their torment, + But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation. + +O'er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall, + Were raining down dilated flakes of fire, + As of the snow on Alp without a wind. + +As Alexander, in those torrid parts + Of India, beheld upon his host + Flames fall unbroken till they reached the ground. + +Whence he provided with his phalanxes + To trample down the soil, because the vapour + Better extinguished was while it was single; + +Thus was descending the eternal heat, + Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinder + Beneath the steel, for doubling of the dole. + +Without repose forever was the dance + Of miserable hands, now there, now here, + Shaking away from off them the fresh gleeds. + +"Master," began I, "thou who overcomest + All things except the demons dire, that issued + Against us at the entrance of the gate, + +Who is that mighty one who seems to heed not + The fire, and lieth lowering and disdainful, + So that the rain seems not to ripen him?" + +And he himself, who had become aware + That I was questioning my Guide about him, + Cried: "Such as I was living, am I, dead. + +If Jove should weary out his smith, from whom + He seized in anger the sharp thunderbolt, + Wherewith upon the last day I was smitten, + +And if he wearied out by turns the others + In Mongibello at the swarthy forge, + Vociferating, 'Help, good Vulcan, help!' + +Even as he did there at the fight of Phlegra, + And shot his bolts at me with all his might, + He would not have thereby a joyous vengeance." + +Then did my Leader speak with such great force, + That I had never heard him speak so loud: + "O Capaneus, in that is not extinguished + +Thine arrogance, thou punished art the more; + Not any torment, saving thine own rage, + Would be unto thy fury pain complete." + +Then he turned round to me with better lip, + Saying: "One of the Seven Kings was he + Who Thebes besieged, and held, and seems to hold + +God in disdain, and little seems to prize him; + But, as I said to him, his own despites + Are for his breast the fittest ornaments. + +Now follow me, and mind thou do not place + As yet thy feet upon the burning sand, + But always keep them close unto the wood." + +Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes + Forth from the wood a little rivulet, + Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end. + +As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet, + The sinful women later share among them, + So downward through the sand it went its way. + +The bottom of it, and both sloping banks, + Were made of stone, and the margins at the side; + Whence I perceived that there the passage was. + +"In all the rest which I have shown to thee + Since we have entered in within the gate + Whose threshold unto no one is denied, + +Nothing has been discovered by thine eyes + So notable as is the present river, + Which all the little flames above it quenches." + +These words were of my Leader; whence I prayed him + That he would give me largess of the food, + For which he had given me largess of desire. + +"In the mid-sea there sits a wasted land," + Said he thereafterward, "whose name is Crete, + Under whose king the world of old was chaste. + +There is a mountain there, that once was glad + With waters and with leaves, which was called Ida; + Now 'tis deserted, as a thing worn out. + +Rhea once chose it for the faithful cradle + Of her own son; and to conceal him better, + Whene'er he cried, she there had clamours made. + +A grand old man stands in the mount erect, + Who holds his shoulders turned tow'rds Damietta, + And looks at Rome as if it were his mirror. + +His head is fashioned of refined gold, + And of pure silver are the arms and breast; + Then he is brass as far down as the fork. + +From that point downward all is chosen iron, + Save that the right foot is of kiln-baked clay, + And more he stands on that than on the other. + +Each part, except the gold, is by a fissure + Asunder cleft, that dripping is with tears, + Which gathered together perforate that cavern. + +From rock to rock they fall into this valley; + Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon they form; + Then downward go along this narrow sluice + +Unto that point where is no more descending. + They form Cocytus; what that pool may be + Thou shalt behold, so here 'tis not narrated." + +And I to him: "If so the present runnel + Doth take its rise in this way from our world, + Why only on this verge appears it to us?" + +And he to me: "Thou knowest the place is round, + And notwithstanding thou hast journeyed far, + Still to the left descending to the bottom, + +Thou hast not yet through all the circle turned. + Therefore if something new appear to us, + It should not bring amazement to thy face." + +And I again: "Master, where shall be found + Lethe and Phlegethon, for of one thou'rt silent, + And sayest the other of this rain is made?" + +"In all thy questions truly thou dost please me," + Replied he; "but the boiling of the red + Water might well solve one of them thou makest. + +Thou shalt see Lethe, but outside this moat, + There where the souls repair to lave themselves, + When sin repented of has been removed." + +Then said he: "It is time now to abandon + The wood; take heed that thou come after me; + A way the margins make that are not burning, + +And over them all vapours are extinguished." + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXV">Inferno: Canto XV</A> + + +Now bears us onward one of the hard margins, + And so the brooklet's mist o'ershadows it, + From fire it saves the water and the dikes. + +Even as the Flemings, 'twixt Cadsand and Bruges, + Fearing the flood that tow'rds them hurls itself, + Their bulwarks build to put the sea to flight; + +And as the Paduans along the Brenta, + To guard their villas and their villages, + Or ever Chiarentana feel the heat; + +In such similitude had those been made, + Albeit not so lofty nor so thick, + Whoever he might be, the master made them. + +Now were we from the forest so remote, + I could not have discovered where it was, + Even if backward I had turned myself, + +When we a company of souls encountered, + Who came beside the dike, and every one + Gazed at us, as at evening we are wont + +To eye each other under a new moon, + And so towards us sharpened they their brows + As an old tailor at the needle's eye. + +Thus scrutinised by such a family, + By some one I was recognised, who seized + My garment's hem, and cried out, "What a marvel!" + +And I, when he stretched forth his arm to me, + On his baked aspect fastened so mine eyes, + That the scorched countenance prevented not + +His recognition by my intellect; + And bowing down my face unto his own, + I made reply, "Are you here, Ser Brunetto?" + +And he: "May't not displease thee, O my son, + If a brief space with thee Brunetto Latini + Backward return and let the trail go on." + +I said to him: "With all my power I ask it; + And if you wish me to sit down with you, + I will, if he please, for I go with him." + +"O son," he said, "whoever of this herd + A moment stops, lies then a hundred years, + Nor fans himself when smiteth him the fire. + +Therefore go on; I at thy skirts will come, + And afterward will I rejoin my band, + Which goes lamenting its eternal doom." + +I did not dare to go down from the road + Level to walk with him; but my head bowed + I held as one who goeth reverently. + +And he began: "What fortune or what fate + Before the last day leadeth thee down here? + And who is this that showeth thee the way?" + +"Up there above us in the life serene," + I answered him, "I lost me in a valley, + Or ever yet my age had been completed. + +But yestermorn I turned my back upon it; + This one appeared to me, returning thither, + And homeward leadeth me along this road." + +And he to me: "If thou thy star do follow, + Thou canst not fail thee of a glorious port, + If well I judged in the life beautiful. + +And if I had not died so prematurely, + Seeing Heaven thus benignant unto thee, + I would have given thee comfort in the work. + +But that ungrateful and malignant people, + Which of old time from Fesole descended, + And smacks still of the mountain and the granite, + +Will make itself, for thy good deeds, thy foe; + And it is right; for among crabbed sorbs + It ill befits the sweet fig to bear fruit. + +Old rumour in the world proclaims them blind; + A people avaricious, envious, proud; + Take heed that of their customs thou do cleanse thee. + +Thy fortune so much honour doth reserve thee, + One party and the other shall be hungry + For thee; but far from goat shall be the grass. + +Their litter let the beasts of Fesole + Make of themselves, nor let them touch the plant, + If any still upon their dunghill rise, + +In which may yet revive the consecrated + Seed of those Romans, who remained there when + The nest of such great malice it became." + +"If my entreaty wholly were fulfilled," + Replied I to him, "not yet would you be + In banishment from human nature placed; + +For in my mind is fixed, and touches now + My heart the dear and good paternal image + Of you, when in the world from hour to hour + +You taught me how a man becomes eternal; + And how much I am grateful, while I live + Behoves that in my language be discerned. + +What you narrate of my career I write, + And keep it to be glossed with other text + By a Lady who can do it, if I reach her. + +This much will I have manifest to you; + Provided that my conscience do not chide me, + For whatsoever Fortune I am ready. + +Such handsel is not new unto mine ears; + Therefore let Fortune turn her wheel around + As it may please her, and the churl his mattock." + +My Master thereupon on his right cheek + Did backward turn himself, and looked at me; + Then said: "He listeneth well who noteth it." + +Nor speaking less on that account, I go + With Ser Brunetto, and I ask who are + His most known and most eminent companions. + +And he to me: "To know of some is well; + Of others it were laudable to be silent, + For short would be the time for so much speech. + +Know them in sum, that all of them were clerks, + And men of letters great and of great fame, + In the world tainted with the selfsame sin. + +Priscian goes yonder with that wretched crowd, + And Francis of Accorso; and thou hadst seen there + If thou hadst had a hankering for such scurf, + +That one, who by the Servant of the Servants + From Arno was transferred to Bacchiglione, + Where he has left his sin-excited nerves. + +More would I say, but coming and discoursing + Can be no longer; for that I behold + New smoke uprising yonder from the sand. + +A people comes with whom I may not be; + Commended unto thee be my Tesoro, + In which I still live, and no more I ask." + +Then he turned round, and seemed to be of those + Who at Verona run for the Green Mantle + Across the plain; and seemed to be among them + +The one who wins, and not the one who loses. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXVI">Inferno: Canto XVI</A> + + +Now was I where was heard the reverberation + Of water falling into the next round, + Like to that humming which the beehives make, + +When shadows three together started forth, + Running, from out a company that passed + Beneath the rain of the sharp martyrdom. + +Towards us came they, and each one cried out: + "Stop, thou; for by thy garb to us thou seemest + To be some one of our depraved city." + +Ah me! what wounds I saw upon their limbs, + Recent and ancient by the flames burnt in! + It pains me still but to remember it. + +Unto their cries my Teacher paused attentive; + He turned his face towards me, and "Now wait," + He said; "to these we should be courteous. + +And if it were not for the fire that darts + The nature of this region, I should say + That haste were more becoming thee than them." + +As soon as we stood still, they recommenced + The old refrain, and when they overtook us, + Formed of themselves a wheel, all three of them. + +As champions stripped and oiled are wont to do, + Watching for their advantage and their hold, + Before they come to blows and thrusts between them, + +Thus, wheeling round, did every one his visage + Direct to me, so that in opposite wise + His neck and feet continual journey made. + +And, "If the misery of this soft place + Bring in disdain ourselves and our entreaties," + Began one, "and our aspect black and blistered, + +Let the renown of us thy mind incline + To tell us who thou art, who thus securely + Thy living feet dost move along through Hell. + +He in whose footprints thou dost see me treading, + Naked and skinless though he now may go, + Was of a greater rank than thou dost think; + +He was the grandson of the good Gualdrada; + His name was Guidoguerra, and in life + Much did he with his wisdom and his sword. + +The other, who close by me treads the sand, + Tegghiaio Aldobrandi is, whose fame + Above there in the world should welcome be. + +And I, who with them on the cross am placed, + Jacopo Rusticucci was; and truly + My savage wife, more than aught else, doth harm me." + +Could I have been protected from the fire, + Below I should have thrown myself among them, + And think the Teacher would have suffered it; + +But as I should have burned and baked myself, + My terror overmastered my good will, + Which made me greedy of embracing them. + +Then I began: "Sorrow and not disdain + Did your condition fix within me so, + That tardily it wholly is stripped off, + +As soon as this my Lord said unto me + Words, on account of which I thought within me + That people such as you are were approaching. + +I of your city am; and evermore + Your labours and your honourable names + I with affection have retraced and heard. + +I leave the gall, and go for the sweet fruits + Promised to me by the veracious Leader; + But to the centre first I needs must plunge." + +"So may the soul for a long while conduct + Those limbs of thine," did he make answer then, + "And so may thy renown shine after thee, + +Valour and courtesy, say if they dwell + Within our city, as they used to do, + Or if they wholly have gone out of it; + +For Guglielmo Borsier, who is in torment + With us of late, and goes there with his comrades, + Doth greatly mortify us with his words." + +"The new inhabitants and the sudden gains, + Pride and extravagance have in thee engendered, + Florence, so that thou weep'st thereat already!" + +In this wise I exclaimed with face uplifted; + And the three, taking that for my reply, + Looked at each other, as one looks at truth. + +"If other times so little it doth cost thee," + Replied they all, "to satisfy another, + Happy art thou, thus speaking at thy will! + +Therefore, if thou escape from these dark places, + And come to rebehold the beauteous stars, + When it shall pleasure thee to say, 'I was,' + +See that thou speak of us unto the people." + Then they broke up the wheel, and in their flight + It seemed as if their agile legs were wings. + +Not an Amen could possibly be said + So rapidly as they had disappeared; + Wherefore the Master deemed best to depart. + +I followed him, and little had we gone, + Before the sound of water was so near us, + That speaking we should hardly have been heard. + +Even as that stream which holdeth its own course + The first from Monte Veso tow'rds the East, + Upon the left-hand slope of Apennine, + +Which is above called Acquacheta, ere + It down descendeth into its low bed, + And at Forli is vacant of that name, + +Reverberates there above San Benedetto + From Alps, by falling at a single leap, + Where for a thousand there were room enough; + +Thus downward from a bank precipitate, + We found resounding that dark-tinted water, + So that it soon the ear would have offended. + +I had a cord around about me girt, + And therewithal I whilom had designed + To take the panther with the painted skin. + +After I this had all from me unloosed, + As my Conductor had commanded me, + I reached it to him, gathered up and coiled, + +Whereat he turned himself to the right side, + And at a little distance from the verge, + He cast it down into that deep abyss. + +"It must needs be some novelty respond," + I said within myself, "to the new signal + The Master with his eye is following so." + +Ah me! how very cautious men should be + With those who not alone behold the act, + But with their wisdom look into the thoughts! + +He said to me: "Soon there will upward come + What I await; and what thy thought is dreaming + Must soon reveal itself unto thy sight." + +Aye to that truth which has the face of falsehood, + A man should close his lips as far as may be, + Because without his fault it causes shame; + +But here I cannot; and, Reader, by the notes + Of this my Comedy to thee I swear, + So may they not be void of lasting favour, + +Athwart that dense and darksome atmosphere + I saw a figure swimming upward come, + Marvellous unto every steadfast heart, + +Even as he returns who goeth down + Sometimes to clear an anchor, which has grappled + Reef, or aught else that in the sea is hidden, + +Who upward stretches, and draws in his feet. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXVII">Inferno: Canto XVII</A> + + +"Behold the monster with the pointed tail, + Who cleaves the hills, and breaketh walls and weapons, + Behold him who infecteth all the world." + +Thus unto me my Guide began to say, + And beckoned him that he should come to shore, + Near to the confine of the trodden marble; + +And that uncleanly image of deceit + Came up and thrust ashore its head and bust, + But on the border did not drag its tail. + +The face was as the face of a just man, + Its semblance outwardly was so benign, + And of a serpent all the trunk beside. + +Two paws it had, hairy unto the armpits; + The back, and breast, and both the sides it had + Depicted o'er with nooses and with shields. + +With colours more, groundwork or broidery + Never in cloth did Tartars make nor Turks, + Nor were such tissues by Arachne laid. + +As sometimes wherries lie upon the shore, + That part are in the water, part on land; + And as among the guzzling Germans there, + +The beaver plants himself to wage his war; + So that vile monster lay upon the border, + Which is of stone, and shutteth in the sand. + +His tail was wholly quivering in the void, + Contorting upwards the envenomed fork, + That in the guise of scorpion armed its point. + +The Guide said: "Now perforce must turn aside + Our way a little, even to that beast + Malevolent, that yonder coucheth him." + +We therefore on the right side descended, + And made ten steps upon the outer verge, + Completely to avoid the sand and flame; + +And after we are come to him, I see + A little farther off upon the sand + A people sitting near the hollow place. + +Then said to me the Master: "So that full + Experience of this round thou bear away, + Now go and see what their condition is. + +There let thy conversation be concise; + Till thou returnest I will speak with him, + That he concede to us his stalwart shoulders." + +Thus farther still upon the outermost + Head of that seventh circle all alone + I went, where sat the melancholy folk. + +Out of their eyes was gushing forth their woe; + This way, that way, they helped them with their hands + Now from the flames and now from the hot soil. + +Not otherwise in summer do the dogs, + Now with the foot, now with the muzzle, when + By fleas, or flies, or gadflies, they are bitten. + +When I had turned mine eyes upon the faces + Of some, on whom the dolorous fire is falling, + Not one of them I knew; but I perceived + +That from the neck of each there hung a pouch, + Which certain colour had, and certain blazon; + And thereupon it seems their eyes are feeding. + +And as I gazing round me come among them, + Upon a yellow pouch I azure saw + That had the face and posture of a lion. + +Proceeding then the current of my sight, + Another of them saw I, red as blood, + Display a goose more white than butter is. + +And one, who with an azure sow and gravid + Emblazoned had his little pouch of white, + Said unto me: "What dost thou in this moat? + +Now get thee gone; and since thou'rt still alive, + Know that a neighbour of mine, Vitaliano, + Will have his seat here on my left-hand side. + +A Paduan am I with these Florentines; + Full many a time they thunder in mine ears, + Exclaiming, 'Come the sovereign cavalier, + +He who shall bring the satchel with three goats;'" + Then twisted he his mouth, and forth he thrust + His tongue, like to an ox that licks its nose. + +And fearing lest my longer stay might vex + Him who had warned me not to tarry long, + Backward I turned me from those weary souls. + +I found my Guide, who had already mounted + Upon the back of that wild animal, + And said to me: "Now be both strong and bold. + +Now we descend by stairways such as these; + Mount thou in front, for I will be midway, + So that the tail may have no power to harm thee." + +Such as he is who has so near the ague + Of quartan that his nails are blue already, + And trembles all, but looking at the shade; + +Even such became I at those proffered words; + But shame in me his menaces produced, + Which maketh servant strong before good master. + +I seated me upon those monstrous shoulders; + I wished to say, and yet the voice came not + As I believed, "Take heed that thou embrace me." + +But he, who other times had rescued me + In other peril, soon as I had mounted, + Within his arms encircled and sustained me, + +And said: "Now, Geryon, bestir thyself; + The circles large, and the descent be little; + Think of the novel burden which thou hast." + +Even as the little vessel shoves from shore, + Backward, still backward, so he thence withdrew; + And when he wholly felt himself afloat, + +There where his breast had been he turned his tail, + And that extended like an eel he moved, + And with his paws drew to himself the air. + +A greater fear I do not think there was + What time abandoned Phaeton the reins, + Whereby the heavens, as still appears, were scorched; + +Nor when the wretched Icarus his flanks + Felt stripped of feathers by the melting wax, + His father crying, "An ill way thou takest!" + +Than was my own, when I perceived myself + On all sides in the air, and saw extinguished + The sight of everything but of the monster. + +Onward he goeth, swimming slowly, slowly; + Wheels and descends, but I perceive it only + By wind upon my face and from below. + +I heard already on the right the whirlpool + Making a horrible crashing under us; + Whence I thrust out my head with eyes cast downward. + +Then was I still more fearful of the abyss; + Because I fires beheld, and heard laments, + Whereat I, trembling, all the closer cling. + +I saw then, for before I had not seen it, + The turning and descending, by great horrors + That were approaching upon divers sides. + +As falcon who has long been on the wing, + Who, without seeing either lure or bird, + Maketh the falconer say, "Ah me, thou stoopest," + +Descendeth weary, whence he started swiftly, + Thorough a hundred circles, and alights + Far from his master, sullen and disdainful; + +Even thus did Geryon place us on the bottom, + Close to the bases of the rough-hewn rock, + And being disencumbered of our persons, + +He sped away as arrow from the string. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXVIII">Inferno: Canto XVIII</A> + + +There is a place in Hell called Malebolge, + Wholly of stone and of an iron colour, + As is the circle that around it turns. + +Right in the middle of the field malign + There yawns a well exceeding wide and deep, + Of which its place the structure will recount. + +Round, then, is that enclosure which remains + Between the well and foot of the high, hard bank, + And has distinct in valleys ten its bottom. + +As where for the protection of the walls + Many and many moats surround the castles, + The part in which they are a figure forms, + +Just such an image those presented there; + And as about such strongholds from their gates + Unto the outer bank are little bridges, + +So from the precipice's base did crags + Project, which intersected dikes and moats, + Unto the well that truncates and collects them. + +Within this place, down shaken from the back + Of Geryon, we found us; and the Poet + Held to the left, and I moved on behind. + +Upon my right hand I beheld new anguish, + New torments, and new wielders of the lash, + Wherewith the foremost Bolgia was replete. + +Down at the bottom were the sinners naked; + This side the middle came they facing us, + Beyond it, with us, but with greater steps; + +Even as the Romans, for the mighty host, + The year of Jubilee, upon the bridge, + Have chosen a mode to pass the people over; + +For all upon one side towards the Castle + Their faces have, and go unto St. Peter's; + On the other side they go towards the Mountain. + +This side and that, along the livid stone + Beheld I horned demons with great scourges, + Who cruelly were beating them behind. + +Ah me! how they did make them lift their legs + At the first blows! and sooth not any one + The second waited for, nor for the third. + +While I was going on, mine eyes by one + Encountered were; and straight I said: "Already + With sight of this one I am not unfed." + +Therefore I stayed my feet to make him out, + And with me the sweet Guide came to a stand, + And to my going somewhat back assented; + +And he, the scourged one, thought to hide himself, + Lowering his face, but little it availed him; + For said I: "Thou that castest down thine eyes, + +If false are not the features which thou bearest, + Thou art Venedico Caccianimico; + But what doth bring thee to such pungent sauces?" + +And he to me: "Unwillingly I tell it; + But forces me thine utterance distinct, + Which makes me recollect the ancient world. + +I was the one who the fair Ghisola + Induced to grant the wishes of the Marquis, + Howe'er the shameless story may be told. + +Not the sole Bolognese am I who weeps here; + Nay, rather is this place so full of them, + That not so many tongues to-day are taught + +'Twixt Reno and Savena to say 'sipa;' + And if thereof thou wishest pledge or proof, + Bring to thy mind our avaricious heart." + +While speaking in this manner, with his scourge + A demon smote him, and said: "Get thee gone + Pander, there are no women here for coin." + +I joined myself again unto mine Escort; + Thereafterward with footsteps few we came + To where a crag projected from the bank. + +This very easily did we ascend, + And turning to the right along its ridge, + From those eternal circles we departed. + +When we were there, where it is hollowed out + Beneath, to give a passage to the scourged, + The Guide said: "Wait, and see that on thee strike + +The vision of those others evil-born, + Of whom thou hast not yet beheld the faces, + Because together with us they have gone." + +From the old bridge we looked upon the train + Which tow'rds us came upon the other border, + And which the scourges in like manner smite. + +And the good Master, without my inquiring, + Said to me: "See that tall one who is coming, + And for his pain seems not to shed a tear; + +Still what a royal aspect he retains! + That Jason is, who by his heart and cunning + The Colchians of the Ram made destitute. + +He by the isle of Lemnos passed along + After the daring women pitiless + Had unto death devoted all their males. + +There with his tokens and with ornate words + Did he deceive Hypsipyle, the maiden + Who first, herself, had all the rest deceived. + +There did he leave her pregnant and forlorn; + Such sin unto such punishment condemns him, + And also for Medea is vengeance done. + +With him go those who in such wise deceive; + And this sufficient be of the first valley + To know, and those that in its jaws it holds." + +We were already where the narrow path + Crosses athwart the second dike, and forms + Of that a buttress for another arch. + +Thence we heard people, who are making moan + In the next Bolgia, snorting with their muzzles, + And with their palms beating upon themselves + +The margins were incrusted with a mould + By exhalation from below, that sticks there, + And with the eyes and nostrils wages war. + +The bottom is so deep, no place suffices + To give us sight of it, without ascending + The arch's back, where most the crag impends. + +Thither we came, and thence down in the moat + I saw a people smothered in a filth + That out of human privies seemed to flow; + +And whilst below there with mine eye I search, + I saw one with his head so foul with ordure, + It was not clear if he were clerk or layman. + +He screamed to me: "Wherefore art thou so eager + To look at me more than the other foul ones?" + And I to him: "Because, if I remember, + +I have already seen thee with dry hair, + And thou'rt Alessio Interminei of Lucca; + Therefore I eye thee more than all the others." + +And he thereon, belabouring his pumpkin: + "The flatteries have submerged me here below, + Wherewith my tongue was never surfeited." + +Then said to me the Guide: "See that thou thrust + Thy visage somewhat farther in advance, + That with thine eyes thou well the face attain + +Of that uncleanly and dishevelled drab, + Who there doth scratch herself with filthy nails, + And crouches now, and now on foot is standing. + +Thais the harlot is it, who replied + Unto her paramour, when he said, 'Have I + Great gratitude from thee?'--'Nay, marvellous;' + +And herewith let our sight be satisfied." + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXIX">Inferno: Canto XIX</A> + + +O Simon Magus, O forlorn disciples, + Ye who the things of God, which ought to be + The brides of holiness, rapaciously + +For silver and for gold do prostitute, + Now it behoves for you the trumpet sound, + Because in this third Bolgia ye abide. + +We had already on the following tomb + Ascended to that portion of the crag + Which o'er the middle of the moat hangs plumb. + +Wisdom supreme, O how great art thou showest + In heaven, in earth, and in the evil world, + And with what justice doth thy power distribute! + +I saw upon the sides and on the bottom + The livid stone with perforations filled, + All of one size, and every one was round. + +To me less ample seemed they not, nor greater + Than those that in my beautiful Saint John + Are fashioned for the place of the baptisers, + +And one of which, not many years ago, + I broke for some one, who was drowning in it; + Be this a seal all men to undeceive. + +Out of the mouth of each one there protruded + The feet of a transgressor, and the legs + Up to the calf, the rest within remained. + +In all of them the soles were both on fire; + Wherefore the joints so violently quivered, + They would have snapped asunder withes and bands. + +Even as the flame of unctuous things is wont + To move upon the outer surface only, + So likewise was it there from heel to point. + +"Master, who is that one who writhes himself, + More than his other comrades quivering," + I said, "and whom a redder flame is sucking?" + +And he to me: "If thou wilt have me bear thee + Down there along that bank which lowest lies, + From him thou'lt know his errors and himself." + +And I: "What pleases thee, to me is pleasing; + Thou art my Lord, and knowest that I depart not + From thy desire, and knowest what is not spoken." + +Straightway upon the fourth dike we arrived; + We turned, and on the left-hand side descended + Down to the bottom full of holes and narrow. + +And the good Master yet from off his haunch + Deposed me not, till to the hole he brought me + Of him who so lamented with his shanks. + +"Whoe'er thou art, that standest upside down, + O doleful soul, implanted like a stake," + To say began I, "if thou canst, speak out." + +I stood even as the friar who is confessing + The false assassin, who, when he is fixed, + Recalls him, so that death may be delayed. + +And he cried out: "Dost thou stand there already, + Dost thou stand there already, Boniface? + By many years the record lied to me. + +Art thou so early satiate with that wealth, + For which thou didst not fear to take by fraud + The beautiful Lady, and then work her woe?" + +Such I became, as people are who stand, + Not comprehending what is answered them, + As if bemocked, and know not how to answer. + +Then said Virgilius: "Say to him straightway, + 'I am not he, I am not he thou thinkest.'" + And I replied as was imposed on me. + +Whereat the spirit writhed with both his feet, + Then, sighing, with a voice of lamentation + Said to me: "Then what wantest thou of me? + +If who I am thou carest so much to know, + That thou on that account hast crossed the bank, + Know that I vested was with the great mantle; + +And truly was I son of the She-bear, + So eager to advance the cubs, that wealth + Above, and here myself, I pocketed. + +Beneath my head the others are dragged down + Who have preceded me in simony, + Flattened along the fissure of the rock. + +Below there I shall likewise fall, whenever + That one shall come who I believed thou wast, + What time the sudden question I proposed. + +But longer I my feet already toast, + And here have been in this way upside down, + Than he will planted stay with reddened feet; + +For after him shall come of fouler deed + From tow'rds the west a Pastor without law, + Such as befits to cover him and me. + +New Jason will he be, of whom we read + In Maccabees; and as his king was pliant, + So he who governs France shall be to this one." + +I do not know if I were here too bold, + That him I answered only in this metre: + "I pray thee tell me now how great a treasure + +Our Lord demanded of Saint Peter first, + Before he put the keys into his keeping? + Truly he nothing asked but 'Follow me.' + +Nor Peter nor the rest asked of Matthias + Silver or gold, when he by lot was chosen + Unto the place the guilty soul had lost. + +Therefore stay here, for thou art justly punished, + And keep safe guard o'er the ill-gotten money, + Which caused thee to be valiant against Charles. + +And were it not that still forbids it me + The reverence for the keys superlative + Thou hadst in keeping in the gladsome life, + +I would make use of words more grievous still; + Because your avarice afflicts the world, + Trampling the good and lifting the depraved. + +The Evangelist you Pastors had in mind, + When she who sitteth upon many waters + To fornicate with kings by him was seen; + +The same who with the seven heads was born, + And power and strength from the ten horns received, + So long as virtue to her spouse was pleasing. + +Ye have made yourselves a god of gold and silver; + And from the idolater how differ ye, + Save that he one, and ye a hundred worship? + +Ah, Constantine! of how much ill was mother, + Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower + Which the first wealthy Father took from thee!" + +And while I sang to him such notes as these, + Either that anger or that conscience stung him, + He struggled violently with both his feet. + +I think in sooth that it my Leader pleased, + With such contented lip he listened ever + Unto the sound of the true words expressed. + +Therefore with both his arms he took me up, + And when he had me all upon his breast, + Remounted by the way where he descended. + +Nor did he tire to have me clasped to him; + But bore me to the summit of the arch + Which from the fourth dike to the fifth is passage. + +There tenderly he laid his burden down, + Tenderly on the crag uneven and steep, + That would have been hard passage for the goats: + +Thence was unveiled to me another valley. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXX">Inferno: Canto XX</A> + + +Of a new pain behoves me to make verses + And give material to the twentieth canto + Of the first song, which is of the submerged. + +I was already thoroughly disposed + To peer down into the uncovered depth, + Which bathed itself with tears of agony; + +And people saw I through the circular valley, + Silent and weeping, coming at the pace + Which in this world the Litanies assume. + +As lower down my sight descended on them, + Wondrously each one seemed to be distorted + From chin to the beginning of the chest; + +For tow'rds the reins the countenance was turned, + And backward it behoved them to advance, + As to look forward had been taken from them. + +Perchance indeed by violence of palsy + Some one has been thus wholly turned awry; + But I ne'er saw it, nor believe it can be. + +As God may let thee, Reader, gather fruit + From this thy reading, think now for thyself + How I could ever keep my face unmoistened, + +When our own image near me I beheld + Distorted so, the weeping of the eyes + Along the fissure bathed the hinder parts. + +Truly I wept, leaning upon a peak + Of the hard crag, so that my Escort said + To me: "Art thou, too, of the other fools? + +Here pity lives when it is wholly dead; + Who is a greater reprobate than he + Who feels compassion at the doom divine? + +Lift up, lift up thy head, and see for whom + Opened the earth before the Thebans' eyes; + Wherefore they all cried: 'Whither rushest thou, + +Amphiaraus? Why dost leave the war?' + And downward ceased he not to fall amain + As far as Minos, who lays hold on all. + +See, he has made a bosom of his shoulders! + Because he wished to see too far before him + Behind he looks, and backward goes his way: + +Behold Tiresias, who his semblance changed, + When from a male a female he became, + His members being all of them transformed; + +And afterwards was forced to strike once more + The two entangled serpents with his rod, + Ere he could have again his manly plumes. + +That Aruns is, who backs the other's belly, + Who in the hills of Luni, there where grubs + The Carrarese who houses underneath, + +Among the marbles white a cavern had + For his abode; whence to behold the stars + And sea, the view was not cut off from him. + +And she there, who is covering up her breasts, + Which thou beholdest not, with loosened tresses, + And on that side has all the hairy skin, + +Was Manto, who made quest through many lands, + Afterwards tarried there where I was born; + Whereof I would thou list to me a little. + +After her father had from life departed, + And the city of Bacchus had become enslaved, + She a long season wandered through the world. + +Above in beauteous Italy lies a lake + At the Alp's foot that shuts in Germany + Over Tyrol, and has the name Benaco. + +By a thousand springs, I think, and more, is bathed, + 'Twixt Garda and Val Camonica, Pennino, + With water that grows stagnant in that lake. + +Midway a place is where the Trentine Pastor, + And he of Brescia, and the Veronese + Might give his blessing, if he passed that way. + +Sitteth Peschiera, fortress fair and strong, + To front the Brescians and the Bergamasks, + Where round about the bank descendeth lowest. + +There of necessity must fall whatever + In bosom of Benaco cannot stay, + And grows a river down through verdant pastures. + +Soon as the water doth begin to run, + No more Benaco is it called, but Mincio, + Far as Governo, where it falls in Po. + +Not far it runs before it finds a plain + In which it spreads itself, and makes it marshy, + And oft 'tis wont in summer to be sickly. + +Passing that way the virgin pitiless + Land in the middle of the fen descried, + Untilled and naked of inhabitants; + +There to escape all human intercourse, + She with her servants stayed, her arts to practise + And lived, and left her empty body there. + +The men, thereafter, who were scattered round, + Collected in that place, which was made strong + By the lagoon it had on every side; + +They built their city over those dead bones, + And, after her who first the place selected, + Mantua named it, without other omen. + +Its people once within more crowded were, + Ere the stupidity of Casalodi + From Pinamonte had received deceit. + +Therefore I caution thee, if e'er thou hearest + Originate my city otherwise, + No falsehood may the verity defraud." + +And I: "My Master, thy discourses are + To me so certain, and so take my faith, + That unto me the rest would be spent coals. + +But tell me of the people who are passing, + If any one note-worthy thou beholdest, + For only unto that my mind reverts." + +Then said he to me: "He who from the cheek + Thrusts out his beard upon his swarthy shoulders + Was, at the time when Greece was void of males, + +So that there scarce remained one in the cradle, + An augur, and with Calchas gave the moment, + In Aulis, when to sever the first cable. + +Eryphylus his name was, and so sings + My lofty Tragedy in some part or other; + That knowest thou well, who knowest the whole of it. + +The next, who is so slender in the flanks, + Was Michael Scott, who of a verity + Of magical illusions knew the game. + +Behold Guido Bonatti, behold Asdente, + Who now unto his leather and his thread + Would fain have stuck, but he too late repents. + +Behold the wretched ones, who left the needle, + The spool and rock, and made them fortune-tellers; + They wrought their magic spells with herb and image. + +But come now, for already holds the confines + Of both the hemispheres, and under Seville + Touches the ocean-wave, Cain and the thorns, + +And yesternight the moon was round already; + Thou shouldst remember well it did not harm thee + From time to time within the forest deep." + +Thus spake he to me, and we walked the while. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXXI">Inferno: Canto XXI</A> + + +From bridge to bridge thus, speaking other things + Of which my Comedy cares not to sing, + We came along, and held the summit, when + +We halted to behold another fissure + Of Malebolge and other vain laments; + And I beheld it marvellously dark. + +As in the Arsenal of the Venetians + Boils in the winter the tenacious pitch + To smear their unsound vessels o'er again, + +For sail they cannot; and instead thereof + One makes his vessel new, and one recaulks + The ribs of that which many a voyage has made; + +One hammers at the prow, one at the stern, + This one makes oars, and that one cordage twists, + Another mends the mainsail and the mizzen; + +Thus, not by fire, but by the art divine, + Was boiling down below there a dense pitch + Which upon every side the bank belimed. + +I saw it, but I did not see within it + Aught but the bubbles that the boiling raised, + And all swell up and resubside compressed. + +The while below there fixedly I gazed, + My Leader, crying out: "Beware, beware!" + Drew me unto himself from where I stood. + +Then I turned round, as one who is impatient + To see what it behoves him to escape, + And whom a sudden terror doth unman, + +Who, while he looks, delays not his departure; + And I beheld behind us a black devil, + Running along upon the crag, approach. + +Ah, how ferocious was he in his aspect! + And how he seemed to me in action ruthless, + With open wings and light upon his feet! + +His shoulders, which sharp-pointed were and high, + A sinner did encumber with both haunches, + And he held clutched the sinews of the feet. + +From off our bridge, he said: "O Malebranche, + Behold one of the elders of Saint Zita; + Plunge him beneath, for I return for others + +Unto that town, which is well furnished with them. + All there are barrators, except Bonturo; + No into Yes for money there is changed." + +He hurled him down, and over the hard crag + Turned round, and never was a mastiff loosened + In so much hurry to pursue a thief. + +The other sank, and rose again face downward; + But the demons, under cover of the bridge, + Cried: "Here the Santo Volto has no place! + +Here swims one otherwise than in the Serchio; + Therefore, if for our gaffs thou wishest not, + Do not uplift thyself above the pitch." + +They seized him then with more than a hundred rakes; + They said: "It here behoves thee to dance covered, + That, if thou canst, thou secretly mayest pilfer." + +Not otherwise the cooks their scullions make + Immerse into the middle of the caldron + The meat with hooks, so that it may not float. + +Said the good Master to me: "That it be not + Apparent thou art here, crouch thyself down + Behind a jag, that thou mayest have some screen; + +And for no outrage that is done to me + Be thou afraid, because these things I know, + For once before was I in such a scuffle." + +Then he passed on beyond the bridge's head, + And as upon the sixth bank he arrived, + Need was for him to have a steadfast front. + +With the same fury, and the same uproar, + As dogs leap out upon a mendicant, + Who on a sudden begs, where'er he stops, + +They issued from beneath the little bridge, + And turned against him all their grappling-irons; + But he cried out: "Be none of you malignant! + +Before those hooks of yours lay hold of me, + Let one of you step forward, who may hear me, + And then take counsel as to grappling me." + +They all cried out: "Let Malacoda go;" + Whereat one started, and the rest stood still, + And he came to him, saying: "What avails it?" + +"Thinkest thou, Malacoda, to behold me + Advanced into this place," my Master said, + "Safe hitherto from all your skill of fence, + +Without the will divine, and fate auspicious? + Let me go on, for it in Heaven is willed + That I another show this savage road." + +Then was his arrogance so humbled in him, + That he let fall his grapnel at his feet, + And to the others said: "Now strike him not." + +And unto me my Guide: "O thou, who sittest + Among the splinters of the bridge crouched down, + Securely now return to me again." + +Wherefore I started and came swiftly to him; + And all the devils forward thrust themselves, + So that I feared they would not keep their compact. + +And thus beheld I once afraid the soldiers + Who issued under safeguard from Caprona, + Seeing themselves among so many foes. + +Close did I press myself with all my person + Beside my Leader, and turned not mine eyes + From off their countenance, which was not good. + +They lowered their rakes, and "Wilt thou have me hit him," + They said to one another, "on the rump?" + And answered: "Yes; see that thou nick him with it." + +But the same demon who was holding parley + With my Conductor turned him very quickly, + And said: "Be quiet, be quiet, Scarmiglione;" + +Then said to us: "You can no farther go + Forward upon this crag, because is lying + All shattered, at the bottom, the sixth arch. + +And if it still doth please you to go onward, + Pursue your way along upon this rock; + Near is another crag that yields a path. + +Yesterday, five hours later than this hour, + One thousand and two hundred sixty-six + Years were complete, that here the way was broken. + +I send in that direction some of mine + To see if any one doth air himself; + Go ye with them; for they will not be vicious. + +Step forward, Alichino and Calcabrina," + Began he to cry out, "and thou, Cagnazzo; + And Barbariccia, do thou guide the ten. + +Come forward, Libicocco and Draghignazzo, + And tusked Ciriatto and Graffiacane, + And Farfarello and mad Rubicante; + +Search ye all round about the boiling pitch; + Let these be safe as far as the next crag, + That all unbroken passes o'er the dens." + +"O me! what is it, Master, that I see? + Pray let us go," I said, "without an escort, + If thou knowest how, since for myself I ask none. + +If thou art as observant as thy wont is, + Dost thou not see that they do gnash their teeth, + And with their brows are threatening woe to us?" + +And he to me: "I will not have thee fear; + Let them gnash on, according to their fancy, + Because they do it for those boiling wretches." + +Along the left-hand dike they wheeled about; + But first had each one thrust his tongue between + His teeth towards their leader for a signal; + +And he had made a trumpet of his rump. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXXII">Inferno: Canto XXII</A> + + +I have erewhile seen horsemen moving camp, + Begin the storming, and their muster make, + And sometimes starting off for their escape; + +Vaunt-couriers have I seen upon your land, + O Aretines, and foragers go forth, + Tournaments stricken, and the joustings run, + +Sometimes with trumpets and sometimes with bells, + With kettle-drums, and signals of the castles, + And with our own, and with outlandish things, + +But never yet with bagpipe so uncouth + Did I see horsemen move, nor infantry, + Nor ship by any sign of land or star. + +We went upon our way with the ten demons; + Ah, savage company! but in the church + With saints, and in the tavern with the gluttons! + +Ever upon the pitch was my intent, + To see the whole condition of that Bolgia, + And of the people who therein were burned. + +Even as the dolphins, when they make a sign + To mariners by arching of the back, + That they should counsel take to save their vessel, + +Thus sometimes, to alleviate his pain, + One of the sinners would display his back, + And in less time conceal it than it lightens. + +As on the brink of water in a ditch + The frogs stand only with their muzzles out, + So that they hide their feet and other bulk, + +So upon every side the sinners stood; + But ever as Barbariccia near them came, + Thus underneath the boiling they withdrew. + +I saw, and still my heart doth shudder at it, + One waiting thus, even as it comes to pass + One frog remains, and down another dives; + +And Graffiacan, who most confronted him, + Grappled him by his tresses smeared with pitch, + And drew him up, so that he seemed an otter. + +I knew, before, the names of all of them, + So had I noted them when they were chosen, + And when they called each other, listened how. + +"O Rubicante, see that thou do lay + Thy claws upon him, so that thou mayst flay him," + Cried all together the accursed ones. + +And I: "My Master, see to it, if thou canst, + That thou mayst know who is the luckless wight, + Thus come into his adversaries' hands." + +Near to the side of him my Leader drew, + Asked of him whence he was; and he replied: + "I in the kingdom of Navarre was born; + +My mother placed me servant to a lord, + For she had borne me to a ribald knave, + Destroyer of himself and of his things. + +Then I domestic was of good King Thibault; + I set me there to practise barratry, + For which I pay the reckoning in this heat." + +And Ciriatto, from whose mouth projected, + On either side, a tusk, as in a boar, + Caused him to feel how one of them could rip. + +Among malicious cats the mouse had come; + But Barbariccia clasped him in his arms, + And said: "Stand ye aside, while I enfork him." + +And to my Master he turned round his head; + "Ask him again," he said, "if more thou wish + To know from him, before some one destroy him." + +The Guide: "Now tell then of the other culprits; + Knowest thou any one who is a Latian, + Under the pitch?" And he: "I separated + +Lately from one who was a neighbour to it; + Would that I still were covered up with him, + For I should fear not either claw nor hook!" + +And Libicocco: "We have borne too much;" + And with his grapnel seized him by the arm, + So that, by rending, he tore off a tendon. + +Eke Draghignazzo wished to pounce upon him + Down at the legs; whence their Decurion + Turned round and round about with evil look. + +When they again somewhat were pacified, + Of him, who still was looking at his wound, + Demanded my Conductor without stay: + +"Who was that one, from whom a luckless parting + Thou sayest thou hast made, to come ashore?" + And he replied: "It was the Friar Gomita, + +He of Gallura, vessel of all fraud, + Who had the enemies of his Lord in hand, + And dealt so with them each exults thereat; + +Money he took, and let them smoothly off, + As he says; and in other offices + A barrator was he, not mean but sovereign. + +Foregathers with him one Don Michael Zanche + Of Logodoro; and of Sardinia + To gossip never do their tongues feel tired. + +O me! see that one, how he grinds his teeth; + Still farther would I speak, but am afraid + Lest he to scratch my itch be making ready." + +And the grand Provost, turned to Farfarello, + Who rolled his eyes about as if to strike, + Said: "Stand aside there, thou malicious bird." + +"If you desire either to see or hear," + The terror-stricken recommenced thereon, + "Tuscans or Lombards, I will make them come. + +But let the Malebranche cease a little, + So that these may not their revenges fear, + And I, down sitting in this very place, + +For one that I am will make seven come, + When I shall whistle, as our custom is + To do whenever one of us comes out." + +Cagnazzo at these words his muzzle lifted, + Shaking his head, and said: "Just hear the trick + Which he has thought of, down to throw himself!" + +Whence he, who snares in great abundance had, + Responded: "I by far too cunning am, + When I procure for mine a greater sadness." + +Alichin held not in, but running counter + Unto the rest, said to him: "If thou dive, + I will not follow thee upon the gallop, + +But I will beat my wings above the pitch; + The height be left, and be the bank a shield + To see if thou alone dost countervail us." + +O thou who readest, thou shalt hear new sport! + Each to the other side his eyes averted; + He first, who most reluctant was to do it. + +The Navarrese selected well his time; + Planted his feet on land, and in a moment + Leaped, and released himself from their design. + +Whereat each one was suddenly stung with shame, + But he most who was cause of the defeat; + Therefore he moved, and cried: "Thou art o'ertakern." + +But little it availed, for wings could not + Outstrip the fear; the other one went under, + And, flying, upward he his breast directed; + +Not otherwise the duck upon a sudden + Dives under, when the falcon is approaching, + And upward he returneth cross and weary. + +Infuriate at the mockery, Calcabrina + Flying behind him followed close, desirous + The other should escape, to have a quarrel. + +And when the barrator had disappeared, + He turned his talons upon his companion, + And grappled with him right above the moat. + +But sooth the other was a doughty sparhawk + To clapperclaw him well; and both of them + Fell in the middle of the boiling pond. + +A sudden intercessor was the heat; + But ne'ertheless of rising there was naught, + To such degree they had their wings belimed. + +Lamenting with the others, Barbariccia + Made four of them fly to the other side + With all their gaffs, and very speedily + +This side and that they to their posts descended; + They stretched their hooks towards the pitch-ensnared, + Who were already baked within the crust, + +And in this manner busied did we leave them. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXXIII">Inferno: Canto XXIII</A> + + +Silent, alone, and without company + We went, the one in front, the other after, + As go the Minor Friars along their way. + +Upon the fable of Aesop was directed + My thought, by reason of the present quarrel, + Where he has spoken of the frog and mouse; + +For 'mo' and 'issa' are not more alike + Than this one is to that, if well we couple + End and beginning with a steadfast mind. + +And even as one thought from another springs, + So afterward from that was born another, + Which the first fear within me double made. + +Thus did I ponder: "These on our account + Are laughed to scorn, with injury and scoff + So great, that much I think it must annoy them. + +If anger be engrafted on ill-will, + They will come after us more merciless + Than dog upon the leveret which he seizes," + +I felt my hair stand all on end already + With terror, and stood backwardly intent, + When said I: "Master, if thou hidest not + +Thyself and me forthwith, of Malebranche + I am in dread; we have them now behind us; + I so imagine them, I already feel them." + +And he: "If I were made of leaded glass, + Thine outward image I should not attract + Sooner to me than I imprint the inner. + +Just now thy thoughts came in among my own, + With similar attitude and similar face, + So that of both one counsel sole I made. + +If peradventure the right bank so slope + That we to the next Bolgia can descend, + We shall escape from the imagined chase." + +Not yet he finished rendering such opinion, + When I beheld them come with outstretched wings, + Not far remote, with will to seize upon us. + +My Leader on a sudden seized me up, + Even as a mother who by noise is wakened, + And close beside her sees the enkindled flames, + +Who takes her son, and flies, and does not stop, + Having more care of him than of herself, + So that she clothes her only with a shift; + +And downward from the top of the hard bank + Supine he gave him to the pendent rock, + That one side of the other Bolgia walls. + +Ne'er ran so swiftly water through a sluice + To turn the wheel of any land-built mill, + When nearest to the paddles it approaches, + +As did my Master down along that border, + Bearing me with him on his breast away, + As his own son, and not as a companion. + +Hardly the bed of the ravine below + His feet had reached, ere they had reached the hill + Right over us; but he was not afraid; + +For the high Providence, which had ordained + To place them ministers of the fifth moat, + The power of thence departing took from all. + +A painted people there below we found, + Who went about with footsteps very slow, + Weeping and in their semblance tired and vanquished. + +They had on mantles with the hoods low down + Before their eyes, and fashioned of the cut + That in Cologne they for the monks are made. + +Without, they gilded are so that it dazzles; + But inwardly all leaden and so heavy + That Frederick used to put them on of straw. + +O everlastingly fatiguing mantle! + Again we turned us, still to the left hand + Along with them, intent on their sad plaint; + +But owing to the weight, that weary folk + Came on so tardily, that we were new + In company at each motion of the haunch. + +Whence I unto my Leader: "See thou find + Some one who may by deed or name be known, + And thus in going move thine eye about." + +And one, who understood the Tuscan speech, + Cried to us from behind: "Stay ye your feet, + Ye, who so run athwart the dusky air! + +Perhaps thou'lt have from me what thou demandest." + Whereat the Leader turned him, and said: "Wait, + And then according to his pace proceed." + +I stopped, and two beheld I show great haste + Of spirit, in their faces, to be with me; + But the burden and the narrow way delayed them. + +When they came up, long with an eye askance + They scanned me without uttering a word. + Then to each other turned, and said together: + +"He by the action of his throat seems living; + And if they dead are, by what privilege + Go they uncovered by the heavy stole?" + +Then said to me: "Tuscan, who to the college + Of miserable hypocrites art come, + Do not disdain to tell us who thou art." + +And I to them: "Born was I, and grew up + In the great town on the fair river of Arno, + And with the body am I've always had. + +But who are ye, in whom there trickles down + Along your cheeks such grief as I behold? + And what pain is upon you, that so sparkles?" + +And one replied to me: "These orange cloaks + Are made of lead so heavy, that the weights + Cause in this way their balances to creak. + +Frati Gaudenti were we, and Bolognese; + I Catalano, and he Loderingo + Named, and together taken by thy city, + +As the wont is to take one man alone, + For maintenance of its peace; and we were such + That still it is apparent round Gardingo." + +"O Friars," began I, "your iniquitous. . ." + But said no more; for to mine eyes there rushed + One crucified with three stakes on the ground. + +When me he saw, he writhed himself all over, + Blowing into his beard with suspirations; + And the Friar Catalan, who noticed this, + +Said to me: "This transfixed one, whom thou seest, + Counselled the Pharisees that it was meet + To put one man to torture for the people. + +Crosswise and naked is he on the path, + As thou perceivest; and he needs must feel, + Whoever passes, first how much he weighs; + +And in like mode his father-in-law is punished + Within this moat, and the others of the council, + Which for the Jews was a malignant seed." + +And thereupon I saw Virgilius marvel + O'er him who was extended on the cross + So vilely in eternal banishment. + +Then he directed to the Friar this voice: + "Be not displeased, if granted thee, to tell us + If to the right hand any pass slope down + +By which we two may issue forth from here, + Without constraining some of the black angels + To come and extricate us from this deep." + +Then he made answer: "Nearer than thou hopest + There is a rock, that forth from the great circle + Proceeds, and crosses all the cruel valleys, + +Save that at this 'tis broken, and does not bridge it; + You will be able to mount up the ruin, + That sidelong slopes and at the bottom rises." + +The Leader stood awhile with head bowed down; + Then said: "The business badly he recounted + Who grapples with his hook the sinners yonder." + +And the Friar: "Many of the Devil's vices + Once heard I at Bologna, and among them, + That he's a liar and the father of lies." + +Thereat my Leader with great strides went on, + Somewhat disturbed with anger in his looks; + Whence from the heavy-laden I departed + +After the prints of his beloved feet. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXXIV">Inferno: Canto XXIV</A> + + +In that part of the youthful year wherein + The Sun his locks beneath Aquarius tempers, + And now the nights draw near to half the day, + +What time the hoar-frost copies on the ground + The outward semblance of her sister white, + But little lasts the temper of her pen, + +The husbandman, whose forage faileth him, + Rises, and looks, and seeth the champaign + All gleaming white, whereat he beats his flank, + +Returns in doors, and up and down laments, + Like a poor wretch, who knows not what to do; + Then he returns and hope revives again, + +Seeing the world has changed its countenance + In little time, and takes his shepherd's crook, + And forth the little lambs to pasture drives. + +Thus did the Master fill me with alarm, + When I beheld his forehead so disturbed, + And to the ailment came as soon the plaster. + +For as we came unto the ruined bridge, + The Leader turned to me with that sweet look + Which at the mountain's foot I first beheld. + +His arms he opened, after some advisement + Within himself elected, looking first + Well at the ruin, and laid hold of me. + +And even as he who acts and meditates, + For aye it seems that he provides beforehand, + So upward lifting me towards the summit + +Of a huge rock, he scanned another crag, + Saying: "To that one grapple afterwards, + But try first if 'tis such that it will hold thee." + +This was no way for one clothed with a cloak; + For hardly we, he light, and I pushed upward, + Were able to ascend from jag to jag. + +And had it not been, that upon that precinct + Shorter was the ascent than on the other, + He I know not, but I had been dead beat. + +But because Malebolge tow'rds the mouth + Of the profoundest well is all inclining, + The structure of each valley doth import + +That one bank rises and the other sinks. + Still we arrived at length upon the point + Wherefrom the last stone breaks itself asunder. + +The breath was from my lungs so milked away, + When I was up, that I could go no farther, + Nay, I sat down upon my first arrival. + +"Now it behoves thee thus to put off sloth," + My Master said; "for sitting upon down, + Or under quilt, one cometh not to fame, + +Withouten which whoso his life consumes + Such vestige leaveth of himself on earth, + As smoke in air or in the water foam. + +And therefore raise thee up, o'ercome the anguish + With spirit that o'ercometh every battle, + If with its heavy body it sink not. + +A longer stairway it behoves thee mount; + 'Tis not enough from these to have departed; + Let it avail thee, if thou understand me." + +Then I uprose, showing myself provided + Better with breath than I did feel myself, + And said: "Go on, for I am strong and bold." + +Upward we took our way along the crag, + Which jagged was, and narrow, and difficult, + And more precipitous far than that before. + +Speaking I went, not to appear exhausted; + Whereat a voice from the next moat came forth, + Not well adapted to articulate words. + +I know not what it said, though o'er the back + I now was of the arch that passes there; + But he seemed moved to anger who was speaking. + +I was bent downward, but my living eyes + Could not attain the bottom, for the dark; + Wherefore I: "Master, see that thou arrive + +At the next round, and let us descend the wall; + For as from hence I hear and understand not, + So I look down and nothing I distinguish." + +"Other response," he said, "I make thee not, + Except the doing; for the modest asking + Ought to be followed by the deed in silence." + +We from the bridge descended at its head, + Where it connects itself with the eighth bank, + And then was manifest to me the Bolgia; + +And I beheld therein a terrible throng + Of serpents, and of such a monstrous kind, + That the remembrance still congeals my blood + +Let Libya boast no longer with her sand; + For if Chelydri, Jaculi, and Phareae + She breeds, with Cenchri and with Amphisbaena, + +Neither so many plagues nor so malignant + E'er showed she with all Ethiopia, + Nor with whatever on the Red Sea is! + +Among this cruel and most dismal throng + People were running naked and affrighted. + Without the hope of hole or heliotrope. + +They had their hands with serpents bound behind them; + These riveted upon their reins the tail + And head, and were in front of them entwined. + +And lo! at one who was upon our side + There darted forth a serpent, which transfixed him + There where the neck is knotted to the shoulders. + +Nor 'O' so quickly e'er, nor 'I' was written, + As he took fire, and burned; and ashes wholly + Behoved it that in falling he became. + +And when he on the ground was thus destroyed, + The ashes drew together, and of themselves + Into himself they instantly returned. + +Even thus by the great sages 'tis confessed + The phoenix dies, and then is born again, + When it approaches its five-hundredth year; + +On herb or grain it feeds not in its life, + But only on tears of incense and amomum, + And nard and myrrh are its last winding-sheet. + +And as he is who falls, and knows not how, + By force of demons who to earth down drag him, + Or other oppilation that binds man, + +When he arises and around him looks, + Wholly bewildered by the mighty anguish + Which he has suffered, and in looking sighs; + +Such was that sinner after he had risen. + Justice of God! O how severe it is, + That blows like these in vengeance poureth down! + +The Guide thereafter asked him who he was; + Whence he replied: "I rained from Tuscany + A short time since into this cruel gorge. + +A bestial life, and not a human, pleased me, + Even as the mule I was; I'm Vanni Fucci, + Beast, and Pistoia was my worthy den." + +And I unto the Guide: "Tell him to stir not, + And ask what crime has thrust him here below, + For once a man of blood and wrath I saw him." + +And the sinner, who had heard, dissembled not, + But unto me directed mind and face, + And with a melancholy shame was painted. + +Then said: "It pains me more that thou hast caught me + Amid this misery where thou seest me, + Than when I from the other life was taken. + +What thou demandest I cannot deny; + So low am I put down because I robbed + The sacristy of the fair ornaments, + +And falsely once 'twas laid upon another; + But that thou mayst not such a sight enjoy, + If thou shalt e'er be out of the dark places, + +Thine ears to my announcement ope and hear: + Pistoia first of Neri groweth meagre; + Then Florence doth renew her men and manners; + +Mars draws a vapour up from Val di Magra, + Which is with turbid clouds enveloped round, + And with impetuous and bitter tempest + +Over Campo Picen shall be the battle; + When it shall suddenly rend the mist asunder, + So that each Bianco shall thereby be smitten. + +And this I've said that it may give thee pain." + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXXV">Inferno: Canto XXV</A> + + +At the conclusion of his words, the thief + Lifted his hands aloft with both the figs, + Crying: "Take that, God, for at thee I aim them." + +From that time forth the serpents were my friends; + For one entwined itself about his neck + As if it said: "I will not thou speak more;" + +And round his arms another, and rebound him, + Clinching itself together so in front, + That with them he could not a motion make. + +Pistoia, ah, Pistoia! why resolve not + To burn thyself to ashes and so perish, + Since in ill-doing thou thy seed excellest? + +Through all the sombre circles of this Hell, + Spirit I saw not against God so proud, + Not he who fell at Thebes down from the walls! + +He fled away, and spake no further word; + And I beheld a Centaur full of rage + Come crying out: "Where is, where is the scoffer?" + +I do not think Maremma has so many + Serpents as he had all along his back, + As far as where our countenance begins. + +Upon the shoulders, just behind the nape, + With wings wide open was a dragon lying, + And he sets fire to all that he encounters. + +My Master said: "That one is Cacus, who + Beneath the rock upon Mount Aventine + Created oftentimes a lake of blood. + +He goes not on the same road with his brothers, + By reason of the fraudulent theft he made + Of the great herd, which he had near to him; + +Whereat his tortuous actions ceased beneath + The mace of Hercules, who peradventure + Gave him a hundred, and he felt not ten." + +While he was speaking thus, he had passed by, + And spirits three had underneath us come, + Of which nor I aware was, nor my Leader, + +Until what time they shouted: "Who are you?" + On which account our story made a halt, + And then we were intent on them alone. + +I did not know them; but it came to pass, + As it is wont to happen by some chance, + That one to name the other was compelled, + +Exclaiming: "Where can Cianfa have remained?" + Whence I, so that the Leader might attend, + Upward from chin to nose my finger laid. + +If thou art, Reader, slow now to believe + What I shall say, it will no marvel be, + For I who saw it hardly can admit it. + +As I was holding raised on them my brows, + Behold! a serpent with six feet darts forth + In front of one, and fastens wholly on him. + +With middle feet it bound him round the paunch, + And with the forward ones his arms it seized; + Then thrust its teeth through one cheek and the other; + +The hindermost it stretched upon his thighs, + And put its tail through in between the two, + And up behind along the reins outspread it. + +Ivy was never fastened by its barbs + Unto a tree so, as this horrible reptile + Upon the other's limbs entwined its own. + +Then they stuck close, as if of heated wax + They had been made, and intermixed their colour; + Nor one nor other seemed now what he was; + +E'en as proceedeth on before the flame + Upward along the paper a brown colour, + Which is not black as yet, and the white dies. + +The other two looked on, and each of them + Cried out: "O me, Agnello, how thou changest! + Behold, thou now art neither two nor one." + +Already the two heads had one become, + When there appeared to us two figures mingled + Into one face, wherein the two were lost. + +Of the four lists were fashioned the two arms, + The thighs and legs, the belly and the chest + Members became that never yet were seen. + +Every original aspect there was cancelled; + Two and yet none did the perverted image + Appear, and such departed with slow pace. + +Even as a lizard, under the great scourge + Of days canicular, exchanging hedge, + Lightning appeareth if the road it cross; + +Thus did appear, coming towards the bellies + Of the two others, a small fiery serpent, + Livid and black as is a peppercorn. + +And in that part whereat is first received + Our aliment, it one of them transfixed; + Then downward fell in front of him extended. + +The one transfixed looked at it, but said naught; + Nay, rather with feet motionless he yawned, + Just as if sleep or fever had assailed him. + +He at the serpent gazed, and it at him; + One through the wound, the other through the mouth + Smoked violently, and the smoke commingled. + +Henceforth be silent Lucan, where he mentions + Wretched Sabellus and Nassidius, + And wait to hear what now shall be shot forth. + +Be silent Ovid, of Cadmus and Arethusa; + For if him to a snake, her to fountain, + Converts he fabling, that I grudge him not; + +Because two natures never front to front + Has he transmuted, so that both the forms + To interchange their matter ready were. + +Together they responded in such wise, + That to a fork the serpent cleft his tail, + And eke the wounded drew his feet together. + +The legs together with the thighs themselves + Adhered so, that in little time the juncture + No sign whatever made that was apparent. + +He with the cloven tail assumed the figure + The other one was losing, and his skin + Became elastic, and the other's hard. + +I saw the arms draw inward at the armpits, + And both feet of the reptile, that were short, + Lengthen as much as those contracted were. + +Thereafter the hind feet, together twisted, + Became the member that a man conceals, + And of his own the wretch had two created. + +While both of them the exhalation veils + With a new colour, and engenders hair + On one of them and depilates the other, + +The one uprose and down the other fell, + Though turning not away their impious lamps, + Underneath which each one his muzzle changed. + +He who was standing drew it tow'rds the temples, + And from excess of matter, which came thither, + Issued the ears from out the hollow cheeks; + +What did not backward run and was retained + Of that excess made to the face a nose, + And the lips thickened far as was befitting. + +He who lay prostrate thrusts his muzzle forward, + And backward draws the ears into his head, + In the same manner as the snail its horns; + +And so the tongue, which was entire and apt + For speech before, is cleft, and the bi-forked + In the other closes up, and the smoke ceases. + +The soul, which to a reptile had been changed, + Along the valley hissing takes to flight, + And after him the other speaking sputters. + +Then did he turn upon him his new shoulders, + And said to the other: "I'll have Buoso run, + Crawling as I have done, along this road." + +In this way I beheld the seventh ballast + Shift and reshift, and here be my excuse + The novelty, if aught my pen transgress. + +And notwithstanding that mine eyes might be + Somewhat bewildered, and my mind dismayed, + They could not flee away so secretly + +But that I plainly saw Puccio Sciancato; + And he it was who sole of three companions, + Which came in the beginning, was not changed; + +The other was he whom thou, Gaville, weepest. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXXVI">Inferno: Canto XXVI</A> + + +Rejoice, O Florence, since thou art so great, + That over sea and land thou beatest thy wings, + And throughout Hell thy name is spread abroad! + +Among the thieves five citizens of thine + Like these I found, whence shame comes unto me, + And thou thereby to no great honour risest. + +But if when morn is near our dreams are true, + Feel shalt thou in a little time from now + What Prato, if none other, craves for thee. + +And if it now were, it were not too soon; + Would that it were, seeing it needs must be, + For 'twill aggrieve me more the more I age. + +We went our way, and up along the stairs + The bourns had made us to descend before, + Remounted my Conductor and drew me. + +And following the solitary path + Among the rocks and ridges of the crag, + The foot without the hand sped not at all. + +Then sorrowed I, and sorrow now again, + When I direct my mind to what I saw, + And more my genius curb than I am wont, + +That it may run not unless virtue guide it; + So that if some good star, or better thing, + Have given me good, I may myself not grudge it. + +As many as the hind (who on the hill + Rests at the time when he who lights the world + His countenance keeps least concealed from us, + +While as the fly gives place unto the gnat) + Seeth the glow-worms down along the valley, + Perchance there where he ploughs and makes his vintage; + +With flames as manifold resplendent all + Was the eighth Bolgia, as I grew aware + As soon as I was where the depth appeared. + +And such as he who with the bears avenged him + Beheld Elijah's chariot at departing, + What time the steeds to heaven erect uprose, + +For with his eye he could not follow it + So as to see aught else than flame alone, + Even as a little cloud ascending upward, + +Thus each along the gorge of the intrenchment + Was moving; for not one reveals the theft, + And every flame a sinner steals away. + +I stood upon the bridge uprisen to see, + So that, if I had seized not on a rock, + Down had I fallen without being pushed. + +And the Leader, who beheld me so attent, + Exclaimed: "Within the fires the spirits are; + Each swathes himself with that wherewith he burns." + +"My Master," I replied, "by hearing thee + I am more sure; but I surmised already + It might be so, and already wished to ask thee + +Who is within that fire, which comes so cleft + At top, it seems uprising from the pyre + Where was Eteocles with his brother placed." + +He answered me: "Within there are tormented + Ulysses and Diomed, and thus together + They unto vengeance run as unto wrath. + +And there within their flame do they lament + The ambush of the horse, which made the door + Whence issued forth the Romans' gentle seed; + +Therein is wept the craft, for which being dead + Deidamia still deplores Achilles, + And pain for the Palladium there is borne." + +"If they within those sparks possess the power + To speak," I said, "thee, Master, much I pray, + And re-pray, that the prayer be worth a thousand, + +That thou make no denial of awaiting + Until the horned flame shall hither come; + Thou seest that with desire I lean towards it." + +And he to me: "Worthy is thy entreaty + Of much applause, and therefore I accept it; + But take heed that thy tongue restrain itself. + +Leave me to speak, because I have conceived + That which thou wishest; for they might disdain + Perchance, since they were Greeks, discourse of thine." + +When now the flame had come unto that point, + Where to my Leader it seemed time and place, + After this fashion did I hear him speak: + +"O ye, who are twofold within one fire, + If I deserved of you, while I was living, + If I deserved of you or much or little + +When in the world I wrote the lofty verses, + Do not move on, but one of you declare + Whither, being lost, he went away to die." + +Then of the antique flame the greater horn, + Murmuring, began to wave itself about + Even as a flame doth which the wind fatigues. + +Thereafterward, the summit to and fro + Moving as if it were the tongue that spake, + It uttered forth a voice, and said: "When I + +From Circe had departed, who concealed me + More than a year there near unto Gaeta, + Or ever yet Aeneas named it so, + +Nor fondness for my son, nor reverence + For my old father, nor the due affection + Which joyous should have made Penelope, + +Could overcome within me the desire + I had to be experienced of the world, + And of the vice and virtue of mankind; + +But I put forth on the high open sea + With one sole ship, and that small company + By which I never had deserted been. + +Both of the shores I saw as far as Spain, + Far as Morocco, and the isle of Sardes, + And the others which that sea bathes round about. + +I and my company were old and slow + When at that narrow passage we arrived + Where Hercules his landmarks set as signals, + +That man no farther onward should adventure. + On the right hand behind me left I Seville, + And on the other already had left Ceuta. + +'O brothers, who amid a hundred thousand + Perils,' I said, 'have come unto the West, + To this so inconsiderable vigil + +Which is remaining of your senses still + Be ye unwilling to deny the knowledge, + Following the sun, of the unpeopled world. + +Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang; + Ye were not made to live like unto brutes, + But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.' + +So eager did I render my companions, + With this brief exhortation, for the voyage, + That then I hardly could have held them back. + +And having turned our stern unto the morning, + We of the oars made wings for our mad flight, + Evermore gaining on the larboard side. + +Already all the stars of the other pole + The night beheld, and ours so very low + It did not rise above the ocean floor. + +Five times rekindled and as many quenched + Had been the splendour underneath the moon, + Since we had entered into the deep pass, + +When there appeared to us a mountain, dim + From distance, and it seemed to me so high + As I had never any one beheld. + +Joyful were we, and soon it turned to weeping; + For out of the new land a whirlwind rose, + And smote upon the fore part of the ship. + +Three times it made her whirl with all the waters, + At the fourth time it made the stern uplift, + And the prow downward go, as pleased Another, + +Until the sea above us closed again." + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXXVII">Inferno: Canto XXVII</A> + + +Already was the flame erect and quiet, + To speak no more, and now departed from us + With the permission of the gentle Poet; + +When yet another, which behind it came, + Caused us to turn our eyes upon its top + By a confused sound that issued from it. + +As the Sicilian bull (that bellowed first + With the lament of him, and that was right, + Who with his file had modulated it) + +Bellowed so with the voice of the afflicted, + That, notwithstanding it was made of brass, + Still it appeared with agony transfixed; + +Thus, by not having any way or issue + At first from out the fire, to its own language + Converted were the melancholy words. + +But afterwards, when they had gathered way + Up through the point, giving it that vibration + The tongue had given them in their passage out, + +We heard it said: "O thou, at whom I aim + My voice, and who but now wast speaking Lombard, + Saying, 'Now go thy way, no more I urge thee,' + +Because I come perchance a little late, + To stay and speak with me let it not irk thee; + Thou seest it irks not me, and I am burning. + +If thou but lately into this blind world + Hast fallen down from that sweet Latian land, + Wherefrom I bring the whole of my transgression, + +Say, if the Romagnuols have peace or war, + For I was from the mountains there between + Urbino and the yoke whence Tiber bursts." + +I still was downward bent and listening, + When my Conductor touched me on the side, + Saying: "Speak thou: this one a Latian is." + +And I, who had beforehand my reply + In readiness, forthwith began to speak: + "O soul, that down below there art concealed, + +Romagna thine is not and never has been + Without war in the bosom of its tyrants; + But open war I none have left there now. + +Ravenna stands as it long years has stood; + The Eagle of Polenta there is brooding, + So that she covers Cervia with her vans. + +The city which once made the long resistance, + And of the French a sanguinary heap, + Beneath the Green Paws finds itself again; + +Verrucchio's ancient Mastiff and the new, + Who made such bad disposal of Montagna, + Where they are wont make wimbles of their teeth. + +The cities of Lamone and Santerno + Governs the Lioncel of the white lair, + Who changes sides 'twixt summer-time and winter; + +And that of which the Savio bathes the flank, + Even as it lies between the plain and mountain, + Lives between tyranny and a free state. + +Now I entreat thee tell us who thou art; + Be not more stubborn than the rest have been, + So may thy name hold front there in the world." + +After the fire a little more had roared + In its own fashion, the sharp point it moved + This way and that, and then gave forth such breath: + +"If I believed that my reply were made + To one who to the world would e'er return, + This flame without more flickering would stand still; + +But inasmuch as never from this depth + Did any one return, if I hear true, + Without the fear of infamy I answer, + +I was a man of arms, then Cordelier, + Believing thus begirt to make amends; + And truly my belief had been fulfilled + +But for the High Priest, whom may ill betide, + Who put me back into my former sins; + And how and wherefore I will have thee hear. + +While I was still the form of bone and pulp + My mother gave to me, the deeds I did + Were not those of a lion, but a fox. + +The machinations and the covert ways + I knew them all, and practised so their craft, + That to the ends of earth the sound went forth. + +When now unto that portion of mine age + I saw myself arrived, when each one ought + To lower the sails, and coil away the ropes, + +That which before had pleased me then displeased me; + And penitent and confessing I surrendered, + Ah woe is me! and it would have bestead me; + +The Leader of the modern Pharisees + Having a war near unto Lateran, + And not with Saracens nor with the Jews, + +For each one of his enemies was Christian, + And none of them had been to conquer Acre, + Nor merchandising in the Sultan's land, + +Nor the high office, nor the sacred orders, + In him regarded, nor in me that cord + Which used to make those girt with it more meagre; + +But even as Constantine sought out Sylvester + To cure his leprosy, within Soracte, + So this one sought me out as an adept + +To cure him of the fever of his pride. + Counsel he asked of me, and I was silent, + Because his words appeared inebriate. + +And then he said: 'Be not thy heart afraid; + Henceforth I thee absolve; and thou instruct me + How to raze Palestrina to the ground. + +Heaven have I power to lock and to unlock, + As thou dost know; therefore the keys are two, + The which my predecessor held not dear.' + +Then urged me on his weighty arguments + There, where my silence was the worst advice; + And said I: 'Father, since thou washest me + +Of that sin into which I now must fall, + The promise long with the fulfilment short + Will make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.' + +Francis came afterward, when I was dead, + For me; but one of the black Cherubim + Said to him: 'Take him not; do me no wrong; + +He must come down among my servitors, + Because he gave the fraudulent advice + From which time forth I have been at his hair; + +For who repents not cannot be absolved, + Nor can one both repent and will at once, + Because of the contradiction which consents not.' + +O miserable me! how I did shudder + When he seized on me, saying: 'Peradventure + Thou didst not think that I was a logician!' + +He bore me unto Minos, who entwined + Eight times his tail about his stubborn back, + And after he had bitten it in great rage, + +Said: 'Of the thievish fire a culprit this;' + Wherefore, here where thou seest, am I lost, + And vested thus in going I bemoan me." + +When it had thus completed its recital, + The flame departed uttering lamentations, + Writhing and flapping its sharp-pointed horn. + +Onward we passed, both I and my Conductor, + Up o'er the crag above another arch, + Which the moat covers, where is paid the fee + +By those who, sowing discord, win their burden. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXXVIII">Inferno: Canto XXVIII</A> + + +Who ever could, e'en with untrammelled words, + Tell of the blood and of the wounds in full + Which now I saw, by many times narrating? + +Each tongue would for a certainty fall short + By reason of our speech and memory, + That have small room to comprehend so much. + +If were again assembled all the people + Which formerly upon the fateful land + Of Puglia were lamenting for their blood + +Shed by the Romans and the lingering war + That of the rings made such illustrious spoils, + As Livy has recorded, who errs not, + +With those who felt the agony of blows + By making counterstand to Robert Guiscard, + And all the rest, whose bones are gathered still + +At Ceperano, where a renegade + Was each Apulian, and at Tagliacozzo, + Where without arms the old Alardo conquered, + +And one his limb transpierced, and one lopped off, + Should show, it would be nothing to compare + With the disgusting mode of the ninth Bolgia. + +A cask by losing centre-piece or cant + Was never shattered so, as I saw one + Rent from the chin to where one breaketh wind. + +Between his legs were hanging down his entrails; + His heart was visible, and the dismal sack + That maketh excrement of what is eaten. + +While I was all absorbed in seeing him, + He looked at me, and opened with his hands + His bosom, saying: "See now how I rend me; + +How mutilated, see, is Mahomet; + In front of me doth Ali weeping go, + Cleft in the face from forelock unto chin; + +And all the others whom thou here beholdest, + Disseminators of scandal and of schism + While living were, and therefore are cleft thus. + +A devil is behind here, who doth cleave us + Thus cruelly, unto the falchion's edge + Putting again each one of all this ream, + +When we have gone around the doleful road; + By reason that our wounds are closed again + Ere any one in front of him repass. + +But who art thou, that musest on the crag, + Perchance to postpone going to the pain + That is adjudged upon thine accusations?" + +"Nor death hath reached him yet, nor guilt doth bring him," + My Master made reply, "to be tormented; + But to procure him full experience, + +Me, who am dead, behoves it to conduct him + Down here through Hell, from circle unto circle; + And this is true as that I speak to thee." + +More than a hundred were there when they heard him, + Who in the moat stood still to look at me, + Through wonderment oblivious of their torture. + +"Now say to Fra Dolcino, then, to arm him, + Thou, who perhaps wilt shortly see the sun, + If soon he wish not here to follow me, + +So with provisions, that no stress of snow + May give the victory to the Novarese, + Which otherwise to gain would not be easy." + +After one foot to go away he lifted, + This word did Mahomet say unto me, + Then to depart upon the ground he stretched it. + +Another one, who had his throat pierced through, + And nose cut off close underneath the brows, + And had no longer but a single ear, + +Staying to look in wonder with the others, + Before the others did his gullet open, + Which outwardly was red in every part, + +And said: "O thou, whom guilt doth not condemn, + And whom I once saw up in Latian land, + Unless too great similitude deceive me, + +Call to remembrance Pier da Medicina, + If e'er thou see again the lovely plain + That from Vercelli slopes to Marcabo, + +And make it known to the best two of Fano, + To Messer Guido and Angiolello likewise, + That if foreseeing here be not in vain, + +Cast over from their vessel shall they be, + And drowned near unto the Cattolica, + By the betrayal of a tyrant fell. + +Between the isles of Cyprus and Majorca + Neptune ne'er yet beheld so great a crime, + Neither of pirates nor Argolic people. + +That traitor, who sees only with one eye, + And holds the land, which some one here with me + Would fain be fasting from the vision of, + +Will make them come unto a parley with him; + Then will do so, that to Focara's wind + They will not stand in need of vow or prayer." + +And I to him: "Show to me and declare, + If thou wouldst have me bear up news of thee, + Who is this person of the bitter vision." + +Then did he lay his hand upon the jaw + Of one of his companions, and his mouth + Oped, crying: "This is he, and he speaks not. + +This one, being banished, every doubt submerged + In Caesar by affirming the forearmed + Always with detriment allowed delay." + +O how bewildered unto me appeared, + With tongue asunder in his windpipe slit, + Curio, who in speaking was so bold! + +And one, who both his hands dissevered had, + The stumps uplifting through the murky air, + So that the blood made horrible his face, + +Cried out: "Thou shalt remember Mosca also, + Who said, alas! 'A thing done has an end!' + Which was an ill seed for the Tuscan people." + +"And death unto thy race," thereto I added; + Whence he, accumulating woe on woe, + Departed, like a person sad and crazed. + +But I remained to look upon the crowd; + And saw a thing which I should be afraid, + Without some further proof, even to recount, + +If it were not that conscience reassures me, + That good companion which emboldens man + Beneath the hauberk of its feeling pure. + +I truly saw, and still I seem to see it, + A trunk without a head walk in like manner + As walked the others of the mournful herd. + +And by the hair it held the head dissevered, + Hung from the hand in fashion of a lantern, + And that upon us gazed and said: "O me!" + +It of itself made to itself a lamp, + And they were two in one, and one in two; + How that can be, He knows who so ordains it. + +When it was come close to the bridge's foot, + It lifted high its arm with all the head, + To bring more closely unto us its words, + +Which were: "Behold now the sore penalty, + Thou, who dost breathing go the dead beholding; + Behold if any be as great as this. + +And so that thou may carry news of me, + Know that Bertram de Born am I, the same + Who gave to the Young King the evil comfort. + +I made the father and the son rebellious; + Achitophel not more with Absalom + And David did with his accursed goadings. + +Because I parted persons so united, + Parted do I now bear my brain, alas! + From its beginning, which is in this trunk. + +Thus is observed in me the counterpoise." + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXXIV">Inferno: Canto XXIV</A> + + +The many people and the divers wounds + These eyes of mine had so inebriated, + That they were wishful to stand still and weep; + +But said Virgilius: "What dost thou still gaze at? + Why is thy sight still riveted down there + Among the mournful, mutilated shades? + +Thou hast not done so at the other Bolge; + Consider, if to count them thou believest, + That two-and-twenty miles the valley winds, + +And now the moon is underneath our feet; + Henceforth the time allotted us is brief, + And more is to be seen than what thou seest." + +"If thou hadst," I made answer thereupon, + "Attended to the cause for which I looked, + Perhaps a longer stay thou wouldst have pardoned." + +Meanwhile my Guide departed, and behind him + I went, already making my reply, + And superadding: "In that cavern where + +I held mine eyes with such attention fixed, + I think a spirit of my blood laments + The sin which down below there costs so much." + +Then said the Master: "Be no longer broken + Thy thought from this time forward upon him; + Attend elsewhere, and there let him remain; + +For him I saw below the little bridge, + Pointing at thee, and threatening with his finger + Fiercely, and heard him called Geri del Bello. + +So wholly at that time wast thou impeded + By him who formerly held Altaforte, + Thou didst not look that way; so he departed." + +"O my Conductor, his own violent death, + Which is not yet avenged for him," I said, + "By any who is sharer in the shame, + +Made him disdainful; whence he went away, + As I imagine, without speaking to me, + And thereby made me pity him the more." + +Thus did we speak as far as the first place + Upon the crag, which the next valley shows + Down to the bottom, if there were more light. + +When we were now right over the last cloister + Of Malebolge, so that its lay-brothers + Could manifest themselves unto our sight, + +Divers lamentings pierced me through and through, + Which with compassion had their arrows barbed, + Whereat mine ears I covered with my hands. + +What pain would be, if from the hospitals + Of Valdichiana, 'twixt July and September, + And of Maremma and Sardinia + +All the diseases in one moat were gathered, + Such was it here, and such a stench came from it + As from putrescent limbs is wont to issue. + +We had descended on the furthest bank + From the long crag, upon the left hand still, + And then more vivid was my power of sight + +Down tow'rds the bottom, where the ministress + Of the high Lord, Justice infallible, + Punishes forgers, which she here records. + +I do not think a sadder sight to see + Was in Aegina the whole people sick, + (When was the air so full of pestilence, + +The animals, down to the little worm, + All fell, and afterwards the ancient people, + According as the poets have affirmed, + +Were from the seed of ants restored again,) + Than was it to behold through that dark valley + The spirits languishing in divers heaps. + +This on the belly, that upon the back + One of the other lay, and others crawling + Shifted themselves along the dismal road. + +We step by step went onward without speech, + Gazing upon and listening to the sick + Who had not strength enough to lift their bodies. + +I saw two sitting leaned against each other, + As leans in heating platter against platter, + From head to foot bespotted o'er with scabs; + +And never saw I plied a currycomb + By stable-boy for whom his master waits, + Or him who keeps awake unwillingly, + +As every one was plying fast the bite + Of nails upon himself, for the great rage + Of itching which no other succour had. + +And the nails downward with them dragged the scab, + In fashion as a knife the scales of bream, + Or any other fish that has them largest. + +"O thou, that with thy fingers dost dismail thee," + Began my Leader unto one of them, + "And makest of them pincers now and then, + +Tell me if any Latian is with those + Who are herein; so may thy nails suffice thee + To all eternity unto this work." + +"Latians are we, whom thou so wasted seest, + Both of us here," one weeping made reply; + "But who art thou, that questionest about us?" + +And said the Guide: "One am I who descends + Down with this living man from cliff to cliff, + And I intend to show Hell unto him." + +Then broken was their mutual support, + And trembling each one turned himself to me, + With others who had heard him by rebound. + +Wholly to me did the good Master gather, + Saying: "Say unto them whate'er thou wishest." + And I began, since he would have it so: + +"So may your memory not steal away + In the first world from out the minds of men, + But so may it survive 'neath many suns, + +Say to me who ye are, and of what people; + Let not your foul and loathsome punishment + Make you afraid to show yourselves to me." + +"I of Arezzo was," one made reply, + "And Albert of Siena had me burned; + But what I died for does not bring me here. + +'Tis true I said to him, speaking in jest, + That I could rise by flight into the air, + And he who had conceit, but little wit, + +Would have me show to him the art; and only + Because no Daedalus I made him, made me + Be burned by one who held him as his son. + +But unto the last Bolgia of the ten, + For alchemy, which in the world I practised, + Minos, who cannot err, has me condemned." + +And to the Poet said I: "Now was ever + So vain a people as the Sienese? + Not for a certainty the French by far." + +Whereat the other leper, who had heard me, + Replied unto my speech: "Taking out Stricca, + Who knew the art of moderate expenses, + +And Niccolo, who the luxurious use + Of cloves discovered earliest of all + Within that garden where such seed takes root; + +And taking out the band, among whom squandered + Caccia d'Ascian his vineyards and vast woods, + And where his wit the Abbagliato proffered! + +But, that thou know who thus doth second thee + Against the Sienese, make sharp thine eye + Tow'rds me, so that my face well answer thee, + +And thou shalt see I am Capocchio's shade, + Who metals falsified by alchemy; + Thou must remember, if I well descry thee, + +How I a skilful ape of nature was." + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXXX">Inferno: Canto XXX</A> + + +'Twas at the time when Juno was enraged, + For Semele, against the Theban blood, + As she already more than once had shown, + +So reft of reason Athamas became, + That, seeing his own wife with children twain + Walking encumbered upon either hand, + +He cried: "Spread out the nets, that I may take + The lioness and her whelps upon the passage;" + And then extended his unpitying claws, + +Seizing the first, who had the name Learchus, + And whirled him round, and dashed him on a rock; + And she, with the other burthen, drowned herself;-- + +And at the time when fortune downward hurled + The Trojan's arrogance, that all things dared, + So that the king was with his kingdom crushed, + +Hecuba sad, disconsolate, and captive, + When lifeless she beheld Polyxena, + And of her Polydorus on the shore + +Of ocean was the dolorous one aware, + Out of her senses like a dog she barked, + So much the anguish had her mind distorted; + +But not of Thebes the furies nor the Trojan + Were ever seen in any one so cruel + In goading beasts, and much more human members, + +As I beheld two shadows pale and naked, + Who, biting, in the manner ran along + That a boar does, when from the sty turned loose. + +One to Capocchio came, and by the nape + Seized with its teeth his neck, so that in dragging + It made his belly grate the solid bottom. + +And the Aretine, who trembling had remained, + Said to me: "That mad sprite is Gianni Schicchi, + And raving goes thus harrying other people." + +"O," said I to him, "so may not the other + Set teeth on thee, let it not weary thee + To tell us who it is, ere it dart hence." + +And he to me: "That is the ancient ghost + Of the nefarious Myrrha, who became + Beyond all rightful love her father's lover. + +She came to sin with him after this manner, + By counterfeiting of another's form; + As he who goeth yonder undertook, + +That he might gain the lady of the herd, + To counterfeit in himself Buoso Donati, + Making a will and giving it due form." + +And after the two maniacs had passed + On whom I held mine eye, I turned it back + To look upon the other evil-born. + +I saw one made in fashion of a lute, + If he had only had the groin cut off + Just at the point at which a man is forked. + +The heavy dropsy, that so disproportions + The limbs with humours, which it ill concocts, + That the face corresponds not to the belly, + +Compelled him so to hold his lips apart + As does the hectic, who because of thirst + One tow'rds the chin, the other upward turns. + +"O ye, who without any torment are, + And why I know not, in the world of woe," + He said to us, "behold, and be attentive + +Unto the misery of Master Adam; + I had while living much of what I wished, + And now, alas! a drop of water crave. + +The rivulets, that from the verdant hills + Of Cassentin descend down into Arno, + Making their channels to be cold and moist, + +Ever before me stand, and not in vain; + For far more doth their image dry me up + Than the disease which strips my face of flesh. + +The rigid justice that chastises me + Draweth occasion from the place in which + I sinned, to put the more my sighs in flight. + +There is Romena, where I counterfeited + The currency imprinted with the Baptist, + For which I left my body burned above. + +But if I here could see the tristful soul + Of Guido, or Alessandro, or their brother, + For Branda's fount I would not give the sight. + +One is within already, if the raving + Shades that are going round about speak truth; + But what avails it me, whose limbs are tied? + +If I were only still so light, that in + A hundred years I could advance one inch, + I had already started on the way, + +Seeking him out among this squalid folk, + Although the circuit be eleven miles, + And be not less than half a mile across. + +For them am I in such a family; + They did induce me into coining florins, + Which had three carats of impurity." + +And I to him: "Who are the two poor wretches + That smoke like unto a wet hand in winter, + Lying there close upon thy right-hand confines?" + +"I found them here," replied he, "when I rained + Into this chasm, and since they have not turned, + Nor do I think they will for evermore. + +One the false woman is who accused Joseph, + The other the false Sinon, Greek of Troy; + From acute fever they send forth such reek." + +And one of them, who felt himself annoyed + At being, peradventure, named so darkly, + Smote with the fist upon his hardened paunch. + +It gave a sound, as if it were a drum; + And Master Adam smote him in the face, + With arm that did not seem to be less hard, + +Saying to him: "Although be taken from me + All motion, for my limbs that heavy are, + I have an arm unfettered for such need." + +Whereat he answer made: "When thou didst go + Unto the fire, thou hadst it not so ready: + But hadst it so and more when thou wast coining." + +The dropsical: "Thou sayest true in that; + But thou wast not so true a witness there, + Where thou wast questioned of the truth at Troy." + +"If I spake false, thou falsifiedst the coin," + Said Sinon; "and for one fault I am here, + And thou for more than any other demon." + +"Remember, perjurer, about the horse," + He made reply who had the swollen belly, + "And rueful be it thee the whole world knows it." + +"Rueful to thee the thirst be wherewith cracks + Thy tongue," the Greek said, "and the putrid water + That hedges so thy paunch before thine eyes." + +Then the false-coiner: "So is gaping wide + Thy mouth for speaking evil, as 'tis wont; + Because if I have thirst, and humour stuff me + +Thou hast the burning and the head that aches, + And to lick up the mirror of Narcissus + Thou wouldst not want words many to invite thee." + +In listening to them was I wholly fixed, + When said the Master to me: "Now just look, + For little wants it that I quarrel with thee." + +When him I heard in anger speak to me, + I turned me round towards him with such shame + That still it eddies through my memory. + +And as he is who dreams of his own harm, + Who dreaming wishes it may be a dream, + So that he craves what is, as if it were not; + +Such I became, not having power to speak, + For to excuse myself I wished, and still + Excused myself, and did not think I did it. + +"Less shame doth wash away a greater fault," + The Master said, "than this of thine has been; + Therefore thyself disburden of all sadness, + +And make account that I am aye beside thee, + If e'er it come to pass that fortune bring thee + Where there are people in a like dispute; + +For a base wish it is to wish to hear it." + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXXXI">Inferno: Canto XXXI</A> + + +One and the selfsame tongue first wounded me, + So that it tinged the one cheek and the other, + And then held out to me the medicine; + +Thus do I hear that once Achilles' spear, + His and his father's, used to be the cause + First of a sad and then a gracious boon. + +We turned our backs upon the wretched valley, + Upon the bank that girds it round about, + Going across it without any speech. + +There it was less than night, and less than day, + So that my sight went little in advance; + But I could hear the blare of a loud horn, + +So loud it would have made each thunder faint, + Which, counter to it following its way, + Mine eyes directed wholly to one place. + +After the dolorous discomfiture + When Charlemagne the holy emprise lost, + So terribly Orlando sounded not. + +Short while my head turned thitherward I held + When many lofty towers I seemed to see, + Whereat I: "Master, say, what town is this?" + +And he to me: "Because thou peerest forth + Athwart the darkness at too great a distance, + It happens that thou errest in thy fancy. + +Well shalt thou see, if thou arrivest there, + How much the sense deceives itself by distance; + Therefore a little faster spur thee on." + +Then tenderly he took me by the hand, + And said: "Before we farther have advanced, + That the reality may seem to thee + +Less strange, know that these are not towers, but giants, + And they are in the well, around the bank, + From navel downward, one and all of them." + +As, when the fog is vanishing away, + Little by little doth the sight refigure + Whate'er the mist that crowds the air conceals, + +So, piercing through the dense and darksome air, + More and more near approaching tow'rd the verge, + My error fled, and fear came over me; + +Because as on its circular parapets + Montereggione crowns itself with towers, + E'en thus the margin which surrounds the well + +With one half of their bodies turreted + The horrible giants, whom Jove menaces + E'en now from out the heavens when he thunders. + +And I of one already saw the face, + Shoulders, and breast, and great part of the belly, + And down along his sides both of the arms. + +Certainly Nature, when she left the making + Of animals like these, did well indeed, + By taking such executors from Mars; + +And if of elephants and whales she doth not + Repent her, whosoever looketh subtly + More just and more discreet will hold her for it; + +For where the argument of intellect + Is added unto evil will and power, + No rampart can the people make against it. + +His face appeared to me as long and large + As is at Rome the pine-cone of Saint Peter's, + And in proportion were the other bones; + +So that the margin, which an apron was + Down from the middle, showed so much of him + Above it, that to reach up to his hair + +Three Frieslanders in vain had vaunted them; + For I beheld thirty great palms of him + Down from the place where man his mantle buckles. + +"Raphael mai amech izabi almi," + Began to clamour the ferocious mouth, + To which were not befitting sweeter psalms. + +And unto him my Guide: "Soul idiotic, + Keep to thy horn, and vent thyself with that, + When wrath or other passion touches thee. + +Search round thy neck, and thou wilt find the belt + Which keeps it fastened, O bewildered soul, + And see it, where it bars thy mighty breast." + +Then said to me: "He doth himself accuse; + This one is Nimrod, by whose evil thought + One language in the world is not still used. + +Here let us leave him and not speak in vain; + For even such to him is every language + As his to others, which to none is known." + +Therefore a longer journey did we make, + Turned to the left, and a crossbow-shot oft + We found another far more fierce and large. + +In binding him, who might the master be + I cannot say; but he had pinioned close + Behind the right arm, and in front the other, + +With chains, that held him so begirt about + From the neck down, that on the part uncovered + It wound itself as far as the fifth gyre. + +"This proud one wished to make experiment + Of his own power against the Supreme Jove," + My Leader said, "whence he has such a guerdon. + +Ephialtes is his name; he showed great prowess. + What time the giants terrified the gods; + The arms he wielded never more he moves." + +And I to him: "If possible, I should wish + That of the measureless Briareus + These eyes of mine might have experience." + +Whence he replied: "Thou shalt behold Antaeus + Close by here, who can speak and is unbound, + Who at the bottom of all crime shall place us. + +Much farther yon is he whom thou wouldst see, + And he is bound, and fashioned like to this one, + Save that he seems in aspect more ferocious." + +There never was an earthquake of such might + That it could shake a tower so violently, + As Ephialtes suddenly shook himself. + +Then was I more afraid of death than ever, + For nothing more was needful than the fear, + If I had not beheld the manacles. + +Then we proceeded farther in advance, + And to Antaeus came, who, full five ells + Without the head, forth issued from the cavern. + +"O thou, who in the valley fortunate, + Which Scipio the heir of glory made, + When Hannibal turned back with all his hosts, + +Once brought'st a thousand lions for thy prey, + And who, hadst thou been at the mighty war + Among thy brothers, some it seems still think + +The sons of Earth the victory would have gained: + Place us below, nor be disdainful of it, + There where the cold doth lock Cocytus up. + +Make us not go to Tityus nor Typhoeus; + This one can give of that which here is longed for; + Therefore stoop down, and do not curl thy lip. + +Still in the world can he restore thy fame; + Because he lives, and still expects long life, + If to itself Grace call him not untimely." + +So said the Master; and in haste the other + His hands extended and took up my Guide,-- + Hands whose great pressure Hercules once felt. + +Virgilius, when he felt himself embraced, + Said unto me: "Draw nigh, that I may take thee;" + Then of himself and me one bundle made. + +As seems the Carisenda, to behold + Beneath the leaning side, when goes a cloud + Above it so that opposite it hangs; + +Such did Antaeus seem to me, who stood + Watching to see him stoop, and then it was + I could have wished to go some other way. + +But lightly in the abyss, which swallows up + Judas with Lucifer, he put us down; + Nor thus bowed downward made he there delay, + +But, as a mast does in a ship, uprose. + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXXXII">Inferno: Canto XXXII</A> + + +If I had rhymes both rough and stridulous, + As were appropriate to the dismal hole + Down upon which thrust all the other rocks, + +I would press out the juice of my conception + More fully; but because I have them not, + Not without fear I bring myself to speak; + +For 'tis no enterprise to take in jest, + To sketch the bottom of all the universe, + Nor for a tongue that cries Mamma and Babbo. + +But may those Ladies help this verse of mine, + Who helped Amphion in enclosing Thebes, + That from the fact the word be not diverse. + +O rabble ill-begotten above all, + Who're in the place to speak of which is hard, + 'Twere better ye had here been sheep or goats! + +When we were down within the darksome well, + Beneath the giant's feet, but lower far, + And I was scanning still the lofty wall, + +I heard it said to me: "Look how thou steppest! + Take heed thou do not trample with thy feet + The heads of the tired, miserable brothers!" + +Whereat I turned me round, and saw before me + And underfoot a lake, that from the frost + The semblance had of glass, and not of water. + +So thick a veil ne'er made upon its current + In winter-time Danube in Austria, + Nor there beneath the frigid sky the Don, + +As there was here; so that if Tambernich + Had fallen upon it, or Pietrapana, + E'en at the edge 'twould not have given a creak. + +And as to croak the frog doth place himself + With muzzle out of water,--when is dreaming + Of gleaning oftentimes the peasant-girl,-- + +Livid, as far down as where shame appears, + Were the disconsolate shades within the ice, + Setting their teeth unto the note of storks. + +Each one his countenance held downward bent; + From mouth the cold, from eyes the doleful heart + Among them witness of itself procures. + +When round about me somewhat I had looked, + I downward turned me, and saw two so close, + The hair upon their heads together mingled. + +"Ye who so strain your breasts together, tell me," + I said, "who are you;" and they bent their necks, + And when to me their faces they had lifted, + +Their eyes, which first were only moist within, + Gushed o'er the eyelids, and the frost congealed + The tears between, and locked them up again. + +Clamp never bound together wood with wood + So strongly; whereat they, like two he-goats, + Butted together, so much wrath o'ercame them. + +And one, who had by reason of the cold + Lost both his ears, still with his visage downward, + Said: "Why dost thou so mirror thyself in us? + +If thou desire to know who these two are, + The valley whence Bisenzio descends + Belonged to them and to their father Albert. + +They from one body came, and all Caina + Thou shalt search through, and shalt not find a shade + More worthy to be fixed in gelatine; + +Not he in whom were broken breast and shadow + At one and the same blow by Arthur's hand; + Focaccia not; not he who me encumbers + +So with his head I see no farther forward, + And bore the name of Sassol Mascheroni; + Well knowest thou who he was, if thou art Tuscan. + +And that thou put me not to further speech, + Know that I Camicion de' Pazzi was, + And wait Carlino to exonerate me." + +Then I beheld a thousand faces, made + Purple with cold; whence o'er me comes a shudder, + And evermore will come, at frozen ponds. + +And while we were advancing tow'rds the middle, + Where everything of weight unites together, + And I was shivering in the eternal shade, + +Whether 'twere will, or destiny, or chance, + I know not; but in walking 'mong the heads + I struck my foot hard in the face of one. + +Weeping he growled: "Why dost thou trample me? + Unless thou comest to increase the vengeance + of Montaperti, why dost thou molest me?" + +And I: "My Master, now wait here for me, + That I through him may issue from a doubt; + Then thou mayst hurry me, as thou shalt wish." + +The Leader stopped; and to that one I said + Who was blaspheming vehemently still: + "Who art thou, that thus reprehendest others?" + +"Now who art thou, that goest through Antenora + Smiting," replied he, "other people's cheeks, + So that, if thou wert living, 'twere too much?" + +"Living I am, and dear to thee it may be," + Was my response, "if thou demandest fame, + That 'mid the other notes thy name I place." + +And he to me: "For the reverse I long; + Take thyself hence, and give me no more trouble; + For ill thou knowest to flatter in this hollow." + +Then by the scalp behind I seized upon him, + And said: "It must needs be thou name thyself, + Or not a hair remain upon thee here." + +Whence he to me: "Though thou strip off my hair, + I will not tell thee who I am, nor show thee, + If on my head a thousand times thou fall." + +I had his hair in hand already twisted, + And more than one shock of it had pulled out, + He barking, with his eyes held firmly down, + +When cried another: "What doth ail thee, Bocca? + Is't not enough to clatter with thy jaws, + But thou must bark? what devil touches thee?" + +"Now," said I, "I care not to have thee speak, + Accursed traitor; for unto thy shame + I will report of thee veracious news." + +"Begone," replied he, "and tell what thou wilt, + But be not silent, if thou issue hence, + Of him who had just now his tongue so prompt; + +He weepeth here the silver of the French; + 'I saw,' thus canst thou phrase it, 'him of Duera + There where the sinners stand out in the cold.' + +If thou shouldst questioned be who else was there, + Thou hast beside thee him of Beccaria, + Of whom the gorget Florence slit asunder; + +Gianni del Soldanier, I think, may be + Yonder with Ganellon, and Tebaldello + Who oped Faenza when the people slep." + +Already we had gone away from him, + When I beheld two frozen in one hole, + So that one head a hood was to the other; + +And even as bread through hunger is devoured, + The uppermost on the other set his teeth, + There where the brain is to the nape united. + +Not in another fashion Tydeus gnawed + The temples of Menalippus in disdain, + Than that one did the skull and the other things. + +"O thou, who showest by such bestial sign + Thy hatred against him whom thou art eating, + Tell me the wherefore," said I, "with this compact, + +That if thou rightfully of him complain, + In knowing who ye are, and his transgression, + I in the world above repay thee for it, + +If that wherewith I speak be not dried up." + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXXXIII">Inferno: Canto XXXIII</A> + + +His mouth uplifted from his grim repast, + That sinner, wiping it upon the hair + Of the same head that he behind had wasted. + +Then he began: "Thou wilt that I renew + The desperate grief, which wrings my heart already + To think of only, ere I speak of it; + +But if my words be seed that may bear fruit + Of infamy to the traitor whom I gnaw, + Speaking and weeping shalt thou see together. + +I know not who thou art, nor by what mode + Thou hast come down here; but a Florentine + Thou seemest to me truly, when I hear thee. + +Thou hast to know I was Count Ugolino, + And this one was Ruggieri the Archbishop; + Now I will tell thee why I am such a neighbour. + +That, by effect of his malicious thoughts, + Trusting in him I was made prisoner, + And after put to death, I need not say; + + But ne'ertheless what thou canst not have heard, + That is to say, how cruel was my death, + Hear shalt thou, and shalt know if he has wronged me. + +A narrow perforation in the mew, + Which bears because of me the title of Famine, + And in which others still must be locked up, + +Had shown me through its opening many moons + Already, when I dreamed the evil dream + Which of the future rent for me the veil. + +This one appeared to me as lord and master, + Hunting the wolf and whelps upon the mountain + For which the Pisans cannot Lucca see. + +With sleuth-hounds gaunt, and eager, and well trained, + Gualandi with Sismondi and Lanfianchi + He had sent out before him to the front. + +After brief course seemed unto me forespent + The father and the sons, and with sharp tushes + It seemed to me I saw their flanks ripped open. + +When I before the morrow was awake, + Moaning amid their sleep I heard my sons + Who with me were, and asking after bread. + +Cruel indeed art thou, if yet thou grieve not, + Thinking of what my heart foreboded me, + And weep'st thou not, what art thou wont to weep at? + +They were awake now, and the hour drew nigh + At which our food used to be brought to us, + And through his dream was each one apprehensive; + +And I heard locking up the under door + Of the horrible tower; whereat without a word + I gazed into the faces of my sons. + +I wept not, I within so turned to stone; + They wept; and darling little Anselm mine + Said: 'Thou dost gaze so, father, what doth ail thee?' + +Still not a tear I shed, nor answer made + All of that day, nor yet the night thereafter, + Until another sun rose on the world. + +As now a little glimmer made its way + Into the dolorous prison, and I saw + Upon four faces my own very aspect, + +Both of my hands in agony I bit; + And, thinking that I did it from desire + Of eating, on a sudden they uprose, + +And said they: 'Father, much less pain 'twill give us + If thou do eat of us; thyself didst clothe us + With this poor flesh, and do thou strip it off.' + +I calmed me then, not to make them more sad. + That day we all were silent, and the next. + Ah! obdurate earth, wherefore didst thou not open? + +When we had come unto the fourth day, Gaddo + Threw himself down outstretched before my feet, + Saying, 'My father, why dost thou not help me?' + +And there he died; and, as thou seest me, + I saw the three fall, one by one, between + The fifth day and the sixth; whence I betook me, + +Already blind, to groping over each, + And three days called them after they were dead; + Then hunger did what sorrow could not do." + +When he had said this, with his eyes distorted, + The wretched skull resumed he with his teeth, + Which, as a dog's, upon the bone were strong. + +Ah! Pisa, thou opprobrium of the people + Of the fair land there where the 'Si' doth sound, + Since slow to punish thee thy neighbours are, + +Let the Capraia and Gorgona move, + And make a hedge across the mouth of Arno + That every person in thee it may drown! + +For if Count Ugolino had the fame + Of having in thy castles thee betrayed, + Thou shouldst not on such cross have put his sons. + +Guiltless of any crime, thou modern Thebes! + Their youth made Uguccione and Brigata, + And the other two my song doth name above! + +We passed still farther onward, where the ice + Another people ruggedly enswathes, + Not downward turned, but all of them reversed. + +Weeping itself there does not let them weep, + And grief that finds a barrier in the eyes + Turns itself inward to increase the anguish; + +Because the earliest tears a cluster form, + And, in the manner of a crystal visor, + Fill all the cup beneath the eyebrow full. + +And notwithstanding that, as in a callus, + Because of cold all sensibility + Its station had abandoned in my face, + +Still it appeared to me I felt some wind; + Whence I: "My Master, who sets this in motion? + Is not below here every vapour quenched?" + +Whence he to me: "Full soon shalt thou be where + Thine eye shall answer make to thee of this, + Seeing the cause which raineth down the blast." + +And one of the wretches of the frozen crust + Cried out to us: "O souls so merciless + That the last post is given unto you, + +Lift from mine eyes the rigid veils, that I + May vent the sorrow which impregns my heart + A little, e'er the weeping recongeal." + +Whence I to him: "If thou wouldst have me help thee + Say who thou wast; and if I free thee not, + May I go to the bottom of the ice." + +Then he replied: "I am Friar Alberigo; + He am I of the fruit of the bad garden, + Who here a date am getting for my fig." + +"O," said I to him, "now art thou, too, dead?" + And he to me: "How may my body fare + Up in the world, no knowledge I possess. + +Such an advantage has this Ptolomaea, + That oftentimes the soul descendeth here + Sooner than Atropos in motion sets it. + +And, that thou mayest more willingly remove + From off my countenance these glassy tears, + Know that as soon as any soul betrays + +As I have done, his body by a demon + Is taken from him, who thereafter rules it, + Until his time has wholly been revolved. + +Itself down rushes into such a cistern; + And still perchance above appears the body + Of yonder shade, that winters here behind me. + +This thou shouldst know, if thou hast just come down; + It is Ser Branca d' Oria, and many years + Have passed away since he was thus locked up." + +"I think," said I to him, "thou dost deceive me; + For Branca d' Oria is not dead as yet, + And eats, and drinks, and sleeps, and puts on clothes." + +"In moat above," said he, "of Malebranche, + There where is boiling the tenacious pitch, + As yet had Michel Zanche not arrived, + +When this one left a devil in his stead + In his own body and one near of kin, + Who made together with him the betrayal. + +But hitherward stretch out thy hand forthwith, + Open mine eyes;"--and open them I did not, + And to be rude to him was courtesy. + +Ah, Genoese! ye men at variance + With every virtue, full of every vice + Wherefore are ye not scattered from the world? + +For with the vilest spirit of Romagna + I found of you one such, who for his deeds + In soul already in Cocytus bathes, + +And still above in body seems alive! + + + +<A NAME="#CantoXXXIV">Inferno: Canto XXXIV</A> + + +"'Vexilla Regis prodeunt Inferni' + Towards us; therefore look in front of thee," + My Master said, "if thou discernest him." + +As, when there breathes a heavy fog, or when + Our hemisphere is darkening into night, + Appears far off a mill the wind is turning, + +Methought that such a building then I saw; + And, for the wind, I drew myself behind + My Guide, because there was no other shelter. + +Now was I, and with fear in verse I put it, + There where the shades were wholly covered up, + And glimmered through like unto straws in glass. + +Some prone are lying, others stand erect, + This with the head, and that one with the soles; + Another, bow-like, face to feet inverts. + +When in advance so far we had proceeded, + That it my Master pleased to show to me + The creature who once had the beauteous semblance, + +He from before me moved and made me stop, + Saying: "Behold Dis, and behold the place + Where thou with fortitude must arm thyself." + +How frozen I became and powerless then, + Ask it not, Reader, for I write it not, + Because all language would be insufficient. + +I did not die, and I alive remained not; + Think for thyself now, hast thou aught of wit, + What I became, being of both deprived. + +The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous + From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice; + And better with a giant I compare + +Than do the giants with those arms of his; + Consider now how great must be that whole, + Which unto such a part conforms itself. + +Were he as fair once, as he now is foul, + And lifted up his brow against his Maker, + Well may proceed from him all tribulation. + +O, what a marvel it appeared to me, + When I beheld three faces on his head! + The one in front, and that vermilion was; + +Two were the others, that were joined with this + Above the middle part of either shoulder, + And they were joined together at the crest; + +And the right-hand one seemed 'twixt white and yellow; + The left was such to look upon as those + Who come from where the Nile falls valley-ward. + +Underneath each came forth two mighty wings, + Such as befitting were so great a bird; + Sails of the sea I never saw so large. + + No feathers had they, but as of a bat + Their fashion was; and he was waving them, + So that three winds proceeded forth therefrom. + +Thereby Cocytus wholly was congealed. + With six eyes did he weep, and down three chins + Trickled the tear-drops and the bloody drivel. + +At every mouth he with his teeth was crunching + A sinner, in the manner of a brake, + So that he three of them tormented thus. + +To him in front the biting was as naught + Unto the clawing, for sometimes the spine + Utterly stripped of all the skin remained. + +"That soul up there which has the greatest pain," + The Master said, "is Judas Iscariot; + With head inside, he plies his legs without. + +Of the two others, who head downward are, + The one who hangs from the black jowl is Brutus; + See how he writhes himself, and speaks no word. + +And the other, who so stalwart seems, is Cassius. + But night is reascending, and 'tis time + That we depart, for we have seen the whole." + +As seemed him good, I clasped him round the neck, + And he the vantage seized of time and place, + And when the wings were opened wide apart, + +He laid fast hold upon the shaggy sides; + From fell to fell descended downward then + Between the thick hair and the frozen crust. + +When we were come to where the thigh revolves + Exactly on the thickness of the haunch, + The Guide, with labour and with hard-drawn breath, + +Turned round his head where he had had his legs, + And grappled to the hair, as one who mounts, + So that to Hell I thought we were returning. + +"Keep fast thy hold, for by such stairs as these," + The Master said, panting as one fatigued, + "Must we perforce depart from so much evil." + +Then through the opening of a rock he issued, + And down upon the margin seated me; + Then tow'rds me he outstretched his wary step. + +I lifted up mine eyes and thought to see + Lucifer in the same way I had left him; + And I beheld him upward hold his legs. + +And if I then became disquieted, + Let stolid people think who do not see + What the point is beyond which I had passed. + +"Rise up," the Master said, "upon thy feet; + The way is long, and difficult the road, + And now the sun to middle-tierce returns." + +It was not any palace corridor + There where we were, but dungeon natural, + With floor uneven and unease of light. + +"Ere from the abyss I tear myself away, + My Master," said I when I had arisen, + "To draw me from an error speak a little; + +Where is the ice? and how is this one fixed + Thus upside down? and how in such short time + From eve to morn has the sun made his transit?" + +And he to me: "Thou still imaginest + Thou art beyond the centre, where I grasped + The hair of the fell worm, who mines the world. + +That side thou wast, so long as I descended; + When round I turned me, thou didst pass the point + To which things heavy draw from every side, + +And now beneath the hemisphere art come + Opposite that which overhangs the vast + Dry-land, and 'neath whose cope was put to death + +The Man who without sin was born and lived. + Thou hast thy feet upon the little sphere + Which makes the other face of the Judecca. + +Here it is morn when it is evening there; + And he who with his hair a stairway made us + Still fixed remaineth as he was before. + +Upon this side he fell down out of heaven; + And all the land, that whilom here emerged, + For fear of him made of the sea a veil, + +And came to our hemisphere; and peradventure + To flee from him, what on this side appears + Left the place vacant here, and back recoiled." + +A place there is below, from Beelzebub + As far receding as the tomb extends, + Which not by sight is known, but by the sound + +Of a small rivulet, that there descendeth + Through chasm within the stone, which it has gnawed + With course that winds about and slightly falls. + +The Guide and I into that hidden road + Now entered, to return to the bright world; + And without care of having any rest + +We mounted up, he first and I the second, + Till I beheld through a round aperture + Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear; + +Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Dante's Inferno [Divine Comedy] +as translanted by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow +</pre> + +</BODY></HTML> diff --git a/old/old/1ddcl10h.zip b/old/old/1ddcl10h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..47b792e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/1ddcl10h.zip diff --git a/old/old/dinfr09.txt b/old/old/dinfr09.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f250b10 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/dinfr09.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14398 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Etext of Dante's Inferno, by Dante Alighieri +Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow + + +These are currently tentative filenames, dates, and numbers. +They also need some serious proofreading! +I have fixed enough errors to know their are plenty more, +simples ones that could be caught with spellcheckers. + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri + +Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow + + + + +Volume 1 + +This is all of Longfellow's Dante translation of +Inferno minus the illustrations. It includes the arguments +prefixed to the Cantos by the Rev. Henry Frances Carey, M,.A., in +his well-known version, and also his chronological view of the +age of Dante under the title of What was happening in the World +while Dante Lived. If you find any correctable errors please notify +me. My email addresses for now are haradda@aol.com and +davidr@inconnect.com. + +David Reed + + +Editorial Note + +A lady who knew Italy and the Italian people well, some thirty +years ago, once remarked to the writer that Longfellow must have +lived in every city in that county for almost all the educated +Italians "talk as if they owned him." + +And they have certainly a right to a sense of possessing him, to +be proud of him, and to be grateful to him, for the work which he +did for the spread of the knowledge of Italian Literature in the +article in the tenth volume on Dante as a Translator. + + * * * * * + +The three volumes of "The Divine Comedy" were printed for private +purposes, as will be described later, in 1865-1866 and 1877, but +they were not actually given to the public until the year last +named. + +Naturally enough, ever since Longfellow's first visit to Europe +(1826-1829), and no doubt from an eariler date still, he had been +interested in Dante's great work, but though the period of the +incubation of his translation was a long one, the actual time +engaged in it, was as he himself informs us, exactly two years. +The basis of the work with its copious, information and +illuminating notes, expositions and illustrations was his courses +of Lecutre on Dante given in many places during many years; in +these Lecture it was his early custom to read in translation, the +whole or parts of the poem chosen for his subject, with his +notes, expositions and illustrations interspersed.__With what +infinite pains and conscientious care the work was done, and how +thoroughly he was penetrated with the thought and expression of +the poet, his Diaries, his Life and his Letters abundantlyu show, +and the work as it stands is a Masterpiece of scholarly and +sympathetic rendering, interpretation and exposition. + +When at last the task of translating, revising and re-revision, +weighin and re-weighting, criticising and re-criticising every +phrase, every possible interpretation, and every allusion was +done,--first in the seclusion of his own study, and then with the +sympathetic aid of his friends, Charles Eliot Norton, James +Russell Lowell and others, the work was sent tot he printer in +1864. Ten copies of "The Inferno" were privately printed in 1865 +in time for one of them to be sent to Florence for the +celebration of the six hundredth anniversary of Dante's birth. +The seconds volume was printed in the following year in like +manner and the third in the year after. In that year (1867), as +we have already said, the whole work was given to the public as +it is now presented in this edition and substantially as it +appeared in the privately printed copies. + +So thoroughly has Longfellow done the work of elucidating his +version of the text of Dante, that there is absolutely nothing +left for other commentators to do.--Every biblical and every +classical allusion is annotated and referenced, every side light +that can possibly be needed is thrown upon the work all through; +and his "footlights of the great comedy" as he himself called his +notes and illustrations are illuminating it for all time. + +We have however added to his notes the arguments prefixed to the +Cantos by the Rev. Henry Frances Carey, M,.A., in his well-known +version, and also his chronological view of the age of Dante +under the title of What was happening in the World while Dante +Lived. + + +Charles Welsh + + +Oft have I seen at some cathedral door +A laborer, pausing int he dust and heat, +Lay down his burden, and with reverent feet +Enter, and cross himself, and ont he floor +Kneel to repeat his paternoster o'ver; +Far off the noises of the world retreat; +The loud vociferations of the street +become an undistinguishable roar. +So, as I enter her from day to day, +And leave my burden at this minster gate, +Kneeling in prayer, and not ashamed to pray, +The tumult of the time disconsolate +To inarticulate murmurs dies away, +While the eternal ages watch and wait. 1 + + +1This and the following sonnets were originally +printed in the volume entitled "Voices of the Night." + + +How strange the sculptures that adorn these towers! +This crowd of statues, in whose folded sleeves +Birds build their nests; while canopied with leaves +Parvis and portal bloom like trellised bowers, +And the vast minster seems a cross of flowers! +But fiends and dragons on the gargoyled eaves +Watch the dead Christ between the living thieves, +And, underneath, the traitor Judas lowers! +Ah! from what agonies of heart and brain, +What exultations tramplin on despair, +What tenderness, what tears, what hate of wrong, +What passionate outcry of a soul in pain, +Uprose this poem of the earth and air, +Thsi mediaeval miracle of song! + + + + + +INFERNO + +CANTO 1 + +MIDWAY upon the journey of our life +I found myself within a forest dark, +For the straightforward pathway had been lost. + +Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say +What was this forest savage, rough, and stern, +Which in the very thought renews the fear. + +So bitter is it, death is little more; +But of the good to treat, which there I found, +Speak will I of the other things I saw there. + +I cannot well repeat how there I entered, +So full was I of slumber at the moment +In which I had abandoned the true way. + +But after I had reached a mountain's foot, +At that point where the valley terminated, +Which had with consternation pierced my heart, + +Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders +Vested already with that planet's rays +Which leadeth others right by every road. + +Then was the fear a little quieted +That in my heart's lake had endured throughout +The night, which I had passed so piteously + +And even as he, who, with distressful breath, +Forth issued from the sea upon the shore, +Turns to the water perilous and gazes; + +So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward, +Turn itself back to re-behold the pass +Which never yet a living person left. + +After my weary body I had rested, +The way resumed I on the desert slope, +So that the firm foot ever was the lower. + +And lo! almost where the ascent began, +A panther light and swift exceedingly, +Which with a spotted skin was covered o'er! + +And never moved she from before my face, +Nay, rather did impede so much my way, +That many times I to return had turned. + +The time was the beginning of the morning, +And up the sun was mounting with those stars +That with him were, what time the Love Divine + +At first in motion set those beauteous things; +So were to me occasion of good hope, +The variegaled skin of that wild beast, + +The hour of time, and the delicious season; +But not so much, that did not give me fear +A lion's aspect which appeared to me. + +He seemed as if against me he were coming +With head uplifted, and with ravenous hunger, +So that it seemed the air was afraid of him; + +And a she-wolf, that with all hungerings +Seemed to be laden in her meagreness, +And many folk has caused to live forlorn! + +She brought upon me so much heaviness, +With the affright that from her aspect came, +That I the hope relinquished of the height. + +And as he is who willingly acquires +And the time comes that causes him to lose, +Who weeps in all his thoughts and is despondent, + +E'en such made me that beast withouten peace, +Which, coming on against me by degrees +Thrust me back thither where the sun is silent + +While I was rushing downward to the lowland, +Before mine eyes did one present himself, +Who seemed from long-continued silence hoarse. + +When I beheld him in the desert vast, +"Have pity on me," unto him I cried, +"Whiche'er thou art, or shade or real man!" + +He answered me: "Not man; man once I was, +And both my parents were of Lombardy, +And Mantuans by country both of them. + +Sub Julio was I born, though it was late, +And lived at Rome under the good Augustus, +During the time of false and Iying gods. + +A poet was I, and I sang that just +Son of Anchises, who came forth from Troy, +After that Ilion the superb was burned + +But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance? +Why climb'st thou not the Mount Delectable +Which is the source and cause of every joy?" + +"Now, art thou that Virgilius and that fountain +Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech? +I made response to him with bashful forehead. + +"O, of the other poets honour and light, +Avail me the long study and great love +That have impelled me to explore thy volume! + +Thou art my master, and my author thou, +Thou art alone the one from whom I took +The beautiful style that has done honour to me. + +Behold the beast, for which I have turned back; +Do thou protect me from her, famous Sage, +For she doth make my veins and pulses tremble.' + +"Thee it behoves to take another road," +Responded he, when he beheld me weeping, +"If from this savage place thou wouldst escape; + +Because this beast, at which thou criest out, +Suffers not any one to pass her way, +But so doth harass him, that she destroys him; + +And has a nature so malign and ruthless, +That never doth she glut her greedy will, +And after food is hungrier than before. + +Many the animals with whom she weds, +And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound +Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain. + +He shall not feed on either earth or pelf, +But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue; +'Twixt Feltro and Feltro shall his nation be; + +Of that low Italy shall he be the saviour, +On whose account the maid Camilla died, +Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds; + +Through every city shall he hunt her down, +Until he shall have driven her back to Hell, +There from whence envy first did let her loose. + +Therefore I think and judge it for thy best +Thou follow me, and I will be thy guide, +And lead thee hence through the eternal place, + +Where thou shalt hear the desperate lamentations, +Shalt see the ancient spirits disconsolate, +Who cry out each one for the second death; + +And thou shalt see those who contented are +Within the fire, because they hope to come, +Whene'er it may be, to the blessed people; + +To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend, +A soul shall be for that than I more worthy; +With her at my departure I will leave thee; + +Because that Emperor, who reigns above, +In that I was rebellious to his law, +Wills that through me none come into his city. + +Governs evervwhere and there he reigns: +There is his city and his lofty throne; +O happy he whom thereto he elects!" + +And I to him: " Poet, I thee entreat, +By that same God whom thou didst never know, +So that I may escape this woe and worse, + +Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said, +That I may see the portal of Saint Peter, +And those thou makest so disconsolable." + +Then he moved on, and I behind him followed. + +CANTO 2 + +DAY was departing, and the embrowned air +Released the animals that are on earth +From their fatigues; and I the only one + +Made myself ready to sustain the war, +Both of the way and likewise of the woe, +Which memory shall retrace, that erreth not. + +O Muses, O high genius, now assist me! +O memory, that didst write dowll what I saw, +Here thy nobility shall be manifest! + +And I began: "Poet, who guidest me, +Regard my manhood, if it be sufficient. +Ere to the arduous pass thou dost confide me. + +Thou sayest, that of Silvius the parent, +While yet corruptible, unto the world +Immortal went, and was there bodily. + +But if the adversary of all evil +Was courteous, thinking of the high effect +That issue would from him, and who, and what, + +To men of intellect unmeet it seems not; +For he was of great Rome, and of her empire +In the empyreal heaven as father chosen; + +The which and what, wishing to speak the truth, +Were stablished as the ho]y place, wherein +Sits the successor of the greatest Peter. + +Upon this journey, whence thou givest him vaunt, +Things did he hear, which the occasion were +Both of his victory and the papal mantle. + +Thither went afterwards the Chosen Vessel, +To bring back comfort thence unto that Faith, +Which of salvation's way is the beginning. + +But I, why thither come, or who concedes it? +I not Aenas am, I am not Paul, +Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it. + +Therefore, if I resign myself to come, +I fear the coming may be ill-advised; +Thou'rt wise, and knowest better than I speak." + +And as he is, who unwills what he willed, +And by new thoughts doth his intention change, +So that from his design he quite withdraws, + +Such I became, upon that dark hillside, +Because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise, +Which was so very prompt in the beginning. + +"If I have well thy language understood," +Replied that shade of the Magnanimous, +"Thy soul attainted is with cowardice, + +Which many times a man encumbers so, +It turns him back from honoured enterprise, +As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy. + +That thou mayst free thee from this apprehension, +I'll tell thee why I came, and what I heard +At the first moment when I grieved for thee. + +Among those was I who are in suspense, +And a fair, saintly Lady called to me +In such wise, I besought her to command me. + +Her eyes where shining brighter than the Star; +And she began to say, gentle and low, +With voice angelical, in her own language + +'O spirit courteous of Mantua, +Of whom the fame still in the world endures, +And shall endure, long-lasting as the world; + +A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune, +Upon the desert slope is so impeded +Upon his way, that he has turned through terror, + + +And may, I fear, already be so lost, +That I too late have risen to his succour, +From that which I have heard of him in Heaven. + +Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate, +And with what needful is for his release, +Assist him so, that I may be consoled. + +Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go; +I come from there, where I would fain return; +Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak. + +When I shall be in presence of my Lord, +Full often will I praise thee unto him.' +Then paused she, and thereafter I began: + +'O Lady of virtue, thou alone through whom +The human race exceedeth all contained +Within the heaven that has the lesser circles, + +So grateful unto me is thy commandment, +To obey, if 'twere already done, were late; +No farther need'st thou ope to me thy wish. + +But the cause tell me why thou dost not shun +The here descending down into this centre, +From the vast place thou burnest to return to.' + +'Since thou wouldst fain so inwardly discern, +Briefly will I relate,'she answered me, +'Why I am not afraid to enter here. + +Of those things only should one be afraid +Which have the power of doing others harm; +Of the rest, no; because they are not fearful. + +God in his mercy such created me +That misery of yours attains me not, +Nor any flame assails me of this burning + +Gentle Lady is in Heaven, who grieves +At this impediment, to which I send thee, +So that stern judgment there above is broken. + +In her entreaty she besought Lucia, +And said, " Thy faithful one now stands in need +Of thee, and unto thee I recommend him." + +Lucia, a, foe of all that cruel is, +Hastened away, and came unto the place +Where I was sitting with the ancient Rachel. + +"Beatrice" said she, " the true praise of God, +Why succourest thou not him, who loved thee so, +For thee he issued from the vulgar herd? + +Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint? +Dost thou not see the death that combats him +Beside that flood, where ocean has no vaunt?" + +Never were persons in the world so swift +To work their weal and to escape their woe, +As I, after such words as these were uttered, + +Came hither downward from my blessed seat +Confiding in thy dignified discourse, +Which honours thee, and those who've listened to it.' + +After she thus had spoken unto me, +Weeping, her shining eyes she turned away; +Whereby she made me swifter in my coming; + +And unto thee I came, as she desired; +I have delivered thee from that wild beast, +Which barred the beautiful mountain's short ascent. + +What is it, then ? Why, why dost thou delay? +Why is such baseness bedded in thy heart? +Daring and hardihood why hast thou not, + +Seeing that three such Ladies benedight +Are caring for thee in the court of Heaven, +And so much good my speech doth promise thee ?" + +Even as the flowerets, by nocturnal chill, +Bowed down and closed, when the sun whitens them, +Uplift themselves all open on their stems; + +Such I became with my exhausted strength, +And such good courage to my heart there coursed, +That I began, like an intrepid person: + +"O she compassionate, who succoured me, +And courteous thou, who hast obeyed so soon +The words of truth which she addressed to thee! + +Thou hast my heart so with desire disposed +To the adventure, with these words of thine, +That to my first intent I have returned. + +Now go, for one sole will is in us both, +Thou Leader, and thou Lord, and Master thou." +Thus said I to him; and when he had moved, + +I entered on the deep and savage way. + + +CANTO 3 + +Through me the way is to the city dolent; +Through me the way is to eternal dole; +Through me the way among the people lost. + +Justice incited my sublime Creator; +Created me divine Omnipotence, +The highest Wisdom and the primal Love. + +Before me there were no created things, +Only eterne, and I eternal last. +All hope abandon, ye who enter in!" + +These words in sombre colour I beheld +Written upon the summit of a gate; +Whence I: "Their sense is, Master, hard to me!" + +And he to me, as one experienced: +"Here all suspicion needs must be abandoned, +All cowardice must needs be here extinct. + +We to the place have come, where I have told thee +Thou shalt behold the people dolorous +Who have foregone the good of intellect." + +And after he had laid his hand on mine +With joyful mien, whence I was comforted, +He led me in among the secret things. + +There sighs, complaints, and ululations loud +Resounded through the air without a star, +Whence I, at the beginning, wept thereat. + +Languages diverse, horrible dialects, +Accents of anger, words of agony, +And voices high and hoarse, with sound of hands, + +Made up a tumult that goes whirling on +For ever in that air for ever black, +Even as the sand doth, when the whirlwind breathes. +And I, who had my head with horror bound, +Said:"Master, what is this which now I hear? +What folk is this, which seems by pain so vanquished?" + +And he to me:"This miserable mode +Maintain the melancholy souls of those +Who lived withouten infamy or praise. + +Commingled are they with that caitiff choir +Of Angels, who have not rebellious been, +Nor faithful were to God, but were for self. + +The heavens expelled them, not to be less fair; +Nor them the nethermore abyss receives, +For glory none the damned would have from them." + +And I: "O Master, what so grievous is +To these, that maketh them lament so sore?" +He answered: " I will tell thee very briefly. + +These have no longer any hope of death; +And this blind life of theirs is so debased, +They envious are of every other fate. + +No fame of them the world permits to be; +Misericord and Justice both disdain them. +Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass." + +And I, who looked again, beheld a banner, +Which, whirling round, ran on so rapidly, +That of all pause it seemed to me indignant; + +And after it there came so long a train +Of people, that I ne'er would have believed +That ever Death so many had undone. + +When some among them I had recognised. +I looked, and I beheld the shade of him +Who made through cowardice the great refusal. + +Forthwith I comprehended, and was certain, +That this the sect was of the caitiff wretches +Hateful to God and to his enemies. + +These miscreants, who never were alive, +Were naked, and were stung exceedingly +By gadflies and by hornets that were there. + +These did their faces irrigate with blood, +Which, with their tears commingled, at their feet +By the disgusting worms was gathered up. + +And when to gazing farther I betook me. +People I saw on a great river's bank; +Whence said I: " Master, now vouchsafe to me, + +That I may know who these are, and what law +Makes them appear so ready to pass over, +As I discern athwart the dusky light." +And he to me: "These things shall all be known +To thee, as soon as we our footsteps stay +Upon the dismal shore of Acheron." + +Then with mine eyes ashamed and downward cast, +Fearing my words might irksome be to him, +From speech refrained I till we reached the river. + +And lo! towards us coming in a boat +An old man, hoary with the hair of eld, +Crying: " Woe unto you, ye souls depraved + +Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens; +I come to lead you to the other shore, +To the eternal shades in heat and frost. + +And thou, that yonder standest, living soul, +Withdraw thee from these people, who are dead- +But when he saw that I did not withdraw, + +He said:"By other ways, by other ports +Thou to the shore shalt come, not here, for,passage; +A lighter vessel needs must carry thee." + +And unto him the Guide:"Vex thee not, Charon; +It is so willed there where is power to do +That which is willed; and farther question not." + +There at were quieted the fleecy cheeks +Of him the ferryman of the livid fen, +Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame. +But all those souls who weary were and naked +Their colour changed and gnashed their teeth together, +As soon as they had heard those cruel words. + +God they blasphemed and their progenitors, +The human race, the place, the time, the seed +Of their engendering and of their birth! + +Thereafter all together they drew back, +Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore, +Which waiteth every man who fears not God. + +Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede, +Beckoning to them, collects them all together, +Beats with his oar whoever lags behind. + +As in the autumn-time the leaves fall off, +First one and then another, till the branch +Unto the earth surrenders all its spoils; + +In similar wise the evil seed of Adam +Throw themselves from that margin one by one, +At signals, as a bird unto its lure. + +So they depart across the dusky wave, +And ere upon the other side they land, +Again on this side a new troop assembles. + +"My son,"the courteous Master said to me, +"All those who perish in the wrath of God +Here meet together out of every land; + + +And ready are they to pass o'er the river, +Because celestial Justice spurs them on, +So that their fear is turned into desire. + +This way there never passes a good soul; +And hence if Charon doth complain of thee +Well mayst thou know now what his speech imports." + +This being finished, all the dusk champaign +Trembled so violently, that of that terror +The recollection bathes me still with sweat. + +The land of tears gave forth a blast of wind, +And fulminated a vermilion light, +'Which overmastered in me every sense, + +And as a man whom sleep hath seized I fell. + +CANTO 4 + +BROKEthe deep lethargy within my head +A heavy thunder, so that I upstarted, +Like to a person who by force is wakened; + +And round about I moved my rested eyes, +Uprisen erect, and steadfastly I gazed, +To recognise the place wherein I was. + +True is it, that upon the verge I found me +Of the abysmal valley dolorous, +That gathers thunder of infinite ululations. + +Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous, +So that by fixing on its depths my sight +Nothing whatever I discerned therein. + +"Let us descend now into the blind world," +Began the Poet, pallid utterly; +"I will be first, and thou shalt second be." + +And I, who of his colour was aware, +Said:"How shall I come, if thou art afraid, +Who'rt wont to be a comfort to my fears?" + +And he to me:"The anguish of the people +Who are below here in my face depicts +That pity which for terror thou hast taken. + +Let us go on, for the long way impels us." +Thus he went in, and thus he made me enter +The foremost circle that surrounds the abyss. + +There, as it seemed to me from listening, +Were lamentations none, but only sighs, +That tremble made the everlasting air. + +And this arose from sorrow without torment, +Which the crowds had, that many were and great +Of infants and of women and of men. + +To me the Master good: "Thou dost not ask +What spirits these, which thou beholdest, are? +Now will I have thee know, ere thou go farther, + +That they sinned not; and if they merit had, +'Tis not enough, because they had not baptism +Which is the portal of the Faith thou holdest; + +And if they were before Christianity, +In the right manner they adored not God; +And among such as these am I myself + +For such defects, and not for other guilt, +Lost are we and are only so far punished, +That without hope we live on in desire." + +Great grief seized on my heart when this I heard, +Because some people of much worthiness +I knew, who in that Limbo were suspended. + +"Tell me, my Master, tell me, thou my Lord," +Began I, with desire of being certain +Of that Faith which o'ercometh every error, + +"Came any one by his own merit hence, +Or by another s, who was blessed thereafter?" +And he, who understood my covert speech, + +Replied:"I was a novice in this state, +When I saw hither come a Mighty One, +With sign of victory incoronate. + +Hence he drew forth the shade of the First +And that of his son Abel, and of Noah, +Of Moses the lawgiver, and the obedient + +Abraham, patriarch, and David, king, +Israel with his father and his children, +And Rachel, for whose sake he did so much, + +And others many, and he made them blessed; +And thou must know, that earlier than these +Never were any human spirits saved." + +We ceased not to advance because he spake, +But still were passing onward through the forest +The forest, say I, of thick-crowded ghosts. + +Not very far as yet our way had gone +This side the summit, when I saw a fire +That overcame a hemisphere of darkness. + +We were a little distant from it still, +But not so far that I in part discerned not +That honourable people held that place. + +"O thou who honourest every art and science, +Who may these be, which such great honour have, +That from the fashion of the rest it parts them?" + +And he to me:"The honourable name, +That sounds of them above there in thy life, +Wins grace in Heaven, that so advances them." + +In the mean time a voice was heard by me: +"All honour be to the pre-eminent Poet; +His shade returns again, that was departed." + +After the voice had ceased and quiet was, +Four mighty shades I saw approaching us; +Semblance had they nor sorrowful nor glad. + +To say to me began my gracious Master: +"Him with that falchion in his hand behold, +Who comes before the three, even as their lord. + +That one is Homer, Poet sovereign; +He who comes next is Horace, the satirist; +The third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan. + +Because to each of these with me applies +The name that solitary voice proclaimed, +They do me honour, and in that do well." + +Thus I beheld assemble the fair school +Of that lord of the song pre-eminent, +Who o'er the others like an eagle soars. + +When they together had discoursed somewhat, +They turned to me with signs of salutation, +And on beholding this, my Master smiled; + +And more of honour still, much more, they did me, +In that they made me one of their own ban +So that the sixth was I, 'mid so much wit. + +Thus we went on as far as to the light, +Things saying 'tis becoming to keep silent, +As was the saying of them where I was. + +We came unto a noble castle's foot, +Seven times encompassed with lofty walls, +Defended round by a fair rivulet; + +This we passed over even as firm ground; +Through portals seven I entered with these +We came into a meadow of fresh verdure. + +People were there with solemn eyes and slow, +Of great authority in their countenance; +They spake but seldom, and with gentle voices. + +Thus we withdrew ourselves upon one side +Into an opening luminous and lofty, +So that they all of them were visible. + +There opposite, upon the green enamel, +Were pointed out to me the mighty spirits, +Whom to have seen I feel myself exalted. + +I saw Electra with companions many, +'Mongst whom I knew both Hector and Aenas, +Caesar in armour with gerfalcon eyes; + +I saw Camilla and Penthesilea +On the other side, and saw the King Latinus, +Who with Lavinia his daughter sat; + +I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin forth, +Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia, +And saw alone, apart, the Saladin. + +When I had lifted up my brows a little, +The Master I beheld of those who know, +Sit with his philosophic family. + +All gaze upon him, and all do him honour. +There I beheld both Socrates and Plato, +Who nearer him before the others stand; + +Democritus, who puts the world on chance, +Diogenes, Anaxagoros, and Thales, +Zeno, Empedocles, and Heraclitus; + +Of qualities I saw the good collector, +Hight Dioscorides; and Orpheus saw I, +Tully and Livy, and moral Seneca, + +Euclid, geometrician, and Ptolemy, +Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicenna, +Averroes, who the great Comment made. + +I cannot all of them pourtray in full, +Because so drives me onward the long theme, +That many times the word comes short of fact. + +The sixfold company in two divides; +Another way my sapient Guide conducts me +Forth from the quiet to the air that trembles; + +And to a place I come where nothing shines. + + +CANTO 5 + +Thus descended out of the first circle +Down to the second, that less space begirds, +And so much greater dole, that goads to wailing. + +There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls; +Examines the transgressions at the entrance; +Judges, and sends according as he girds him. + +I say, that when the spirit evil-born +Cometh before him, wholly it confesses; +And this discriminator of transgressions + +Seeth what place in Hell is meet for it; +Girds himself with his tail as many times +As grades he wishes it should be thrust down. + +Always before him many of them stand; +They go by turns each one unto the judgment; +They speak, and hear, and then are downward hurled. + +"O thou, that to this dolorous hostelry +Comest," said Minos to me, when he saw me, +Leaving the practice of so great an office, + +"Look how thou enterest, and in whom thou trustest; +Let not the portal's amplitude deceive thee." +And unto him my Guide: " Why criest thou too? + +Do not impede his journey fate-ordained; +It is so willed there where is power to oo +That which is willed; and ask no further question." + +And now begin the dolesome notes to grow +Audible unto me, now am I come +There where much lamentation strikes upon me. + +I came into a place mute of all light, +Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest, +If by opposing winds 't is combated. + +The infernal hurricane that never rests +Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine; +Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. + +When they arrive before the precipice, +There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments, +There they blaspheme the puissance divine. + +I understood that unto such a torment +The carnal malefactors were condemned, +Who reason subjugate to appetite. + +And as the wings of starlings bear them on +In the cold season in large band and full, +So doth that blast the spirits maledict; + +It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them; +No hope doth comfort them for evermore, +Not of repose, but even of lesser pain. + +And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays, +Making in air a long line of themselves, +So saw I coming, uttering lamentations, + +Shadows borne onward by the aforesaid stress. +Whereupon said I: "Master, who are those +People, whom the black air so castigates?" + +" The first of those, of whom intelligence +Thou fain wouldst have," then said he unto me, +"The empress was of many languages. + +To sensual vices she was so abandoned, +That lustful she made licit in her law, +To remove the blame to which she had been led. + +She is Semiramis of whom we read +That she succeeded Ninus, and was his spouse; +She held the land which now the Sultan rules. + +The next is she who killed herself for love, +And broke faith with the ashes of Sichcaeus; +Then Cleopatra the voluptuous." + +Helen I saw, for whom so many ruthless +Seasons revolved; and saw the great Achilles, +Who at the last hour combated with Love + +Paris I saw, Tristan; and more than a thousand +Shades did he name and point out with his finger, +Whom Love had separated from our life. + +After that I had listened to my Teacher, +Naming the dames of eld and cavaliers, +Pity prevailed, and I was nigh bewildered. + +And I began: "O Poet, willingly +Speak would I to those two, who go together, +And seem upon the wind to be so light." + +And, he to me: "Thou'lt mark, when they shall be +Nearer to us; and then do thou implore them +By love which leadeth them, and they will come." + +Soon as the wind in our direction sways them, +My voice uplift I: "O ye weary souls! +Come speak to us, if no one interdicts it." + +As turtle-doves, called onward by desire, +With open and steady wings to the sweet nest +Fly through the air by their volition borne, + +So came they from the band where Dido is, +Approaching us athwart the air malign, +So strong was the affectionate appeal. + +" O living creature gracious and benignant, +Who visiting goest through the purple air +Us, who have stained the world incarnadine, + +If were the King of the Universe our friend, +We would pray unto him to give thee peace, +Since thou hast pity on our woe perverse. + +Of what it pleases thee to hear and speak, +That will we hear, and we will speak to you, +While silent is the wind, as it is now. + +Sitteth the city, wherein I was born, +Upon the sea-shore where the Po descends +To rest in peace with all his retinue. + +Love, that on gentle heart doth swiftly seize, +Seized this man for the person beautiful +That was ta'en from me, and still the mode offends me. + +Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving, +Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly, +That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me; + +Love has conducted us unto one death; +Caina waiteth him who quenched our life!" +These words were borne along from them to us. + +As soon as I had heard those souls tormented, +I bowed my face, and so long held it down +Until the Poet said to me: "What thinkest?" + +When I made answer, I began: "Alas! +How many pleasant thoughts, how much desire, +Conducted these unto the dolorous pass!" + +Then unto them I turned me, and I spake, +And I began: "Thine agonies, Francesca, +Sad and compassionate to weeping make me. + +But tell me, at the time of those sweet sighs, +By what and in what manner Love conceded, +That you should know your dubious desires?" + +And she to me: "There is no greater sorrow +Than to be mindful of the happy time +In misery, and that thy Teacher knows. + +But, if to recognise the earliest root +Of love in us thou hast so great desire, +I will do even as he who weeps and speaks. + +One day we reading were for our delight +Of Launcelot, how Love did him enthral. +Alone we were and without any fear. + +Full many a time our eyes together drew +That reading, and drove the colour from our faces; +But one point only was it that o'ercame us. + +When as we read of the much-longed-for smile +Being by such a noble lover kissed, +This one, who ne'er from me shall be divided, + +Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating. +Galeotto was the book and he who wrote it. +That day no farther did we read therein." + +And all the while one spirit uttered this, +The other one did weep so, that, for pity, +I swooned away as if I had been dying, + +And fell, even as a dead body falls. + +CANTO 6 + +AT the return of consciousness, that closed +Before the pity of those two relations, +Which utterly with sadness had confused me, + +New torments I behold, and new tormented +Around me, whichsoever way I move, +And whichsoever way I turn, and gaze. + +In the third circle am I of the rain +Eternal, maledict, and cold, and heavy; +Its law and quality are never new. + +Huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow, +Athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain; +Noisome the earth is, that receiveth this. + +Cerberus, monster cruel and uncouth, +With his three gullets like a dog is barking +Over the people that are there submerged. + +Red eyes he has, and unctuous beard and black, +And belly large, and armed with claws his hands; +He rends the spirits, flays, and quarters them. + +Howl the rain maketh them like unto dogs; +One side they make a shelter for the other; +Oft turn themselves the wretched reprobates. + +When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm! +His mouths he opened, and displayed his tusks; +Not a limb had he that was motionless. + +And my Conductor, with his spans extended, +Took of the earth, and with his fists well filled, +He threw it into those rapacious gullets. + +Such as that dog is, who by barking craves, +And quiet grows soon as his food he gnaws, +For to devour it he but thinks and struggles, + +The like became those muzzles filth-begrimed +Of Cerberus the demon, who so thunders +Over the souls that they would fain be deaf + +We passed across the shadows, which subdues +The heavy rain-storm, and we placed our feet +Upon their vanity that person seems. + +They all were Iying prone upon the earth, +Excepting one, who sat upright as soon +As he beheld us passing on before him. + +"O thou that art conducted through this Hell," +He said to me. " recall me, if thou canst; +Thyself wast made before I was unmade." + +And I to him:"The anguish which thou hast +Perhaps doth draw thee out of my remembrance, +So that it seems not I have ever seen thee. + +But tell me who thou art, that in so doleful +A place art put, and in such punishment, +If some are greater, none is so displeasing." + +And he to me:"Thy city, which is full +Of envy so that now the sack runs over, +Held me within it in the life serene. + +You citizens were wont to call me Ciacco; +For the pernicious sin of gluttony +I as thou seest, am hattered bv this rain + +And I, sad soul, am not the only one, +For all these suffer the like penalty +For the like sin, " and word no more spake he. + +I answered him:"Ciacco, thy wretchedness +Weighs on me so that it to weep invites me; +But tell me, if thou knowest, to what shall come + +The citizens of the divided city; +If any there be just; and the occasion +Tell me why so much discord has assailed it." + +And he to me:"They, after long contention, +Will come to bloodshed; and the rustic party +Will drive the other out with much offence. + +Then afterwards behoves it this one fall +Within three suns, and rise again the other +By force of him who now is on the coast. + +High will it hold its forehead a long while, +Keeping the other under heavy burdens, +Howe'er it weeps thereat and is indignant. + +The just are two, and are not understood there; +Envy and Arrogance and Avarice +Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled." + +Here ended he his tearful utterance; +And I to him: " I wish thee still to teach me, +And make a gift to me of further speech. + +Farinata and Tegghiaio, once so worthy, +Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca, +And others who on good deeds set their thoughts, + +Say where they are, and cause that I may know them; +For great desire constraineth me to learn +If Heaven doth sweeten them, or Hell envenom." + +And he:"They are among the blacker souls; +A different sin downweighs them to the bottom; +If thou so far descendest, thou canst see them. + +But when thou art again in the sweet world, +I pray thee to the mind of others bring me; +No more I tell thee and no more I answer." + +Then his straightforward eyes he turned askance, +Eyed me a little, and then bowed his head; +He fell therewith prone like the other blind. + +And the Guide said to me:"He wakes no more +This side the sound of the angelic trumpet; +When shall approach the hostile Potentate, + +Each one shall find again his dismal tomb, +Shall reassume his flesh and his own figure, +Shall hear what through eternity re-echoes." + +So we passed onward o'er the filthy mixture +Of shadows and of rain with footsteps slow, +Touching a little on the future life. + +Wherefore I said:"Master, these torments here, +Will they increase after the mighty sentence, +Or lesser be, or will they be as burning?" + +And he to me:"Return unto thy science, +Which wills, that as the thing more perfect is, +The more it feels of pleasure and of pain. + +Albeit that this people maledict +To true perfection never can attain, +Hereafter more than now they look to be." + +Round in a circle by that road we went, +Speaking much more, which I do not repeat; +We came unto the point where the descent is; + +There we found Plutus the great enemy. + +CANTO 7 + +"PAPE. Satan, Pape Satan, Aleppe!" +Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began; +And that benignant Sage, who all things knew, + +Said, to encourage me:"Let not thy fear +Harm thee; for any power that he may have +Shall not prevent thy going down this crag " + +Then he turned round unto that bloated lip, +And said: "Be silent, thou accursed wolf; +Consume within thyself with thine own rage. + +Not causeless is this journey to the abyss; +Thus is it willed on high, where Michael wrought +Vengeance upon the proud adultery." + +Even as the sails inflated by the wind +Involved together fall when snaps the mast, +So fell the cruel monster to the earth. + +Thus we descended into the fourth chasm, +Gaining still farther on the dolesome shore +Which all the woe of the universe insacks. + +Justice of God, ah ! who heaps up so many +New toils and sufferings as I beheld? +And why doth our transgression waste us so ? + +As doth the billow there upon Charybdis, +That breaks itself on that which it encounters, +So here the folk must dance their roundelay. + +Here saw I people, more than elsewhere, many, +On one side and the other, with great howls, +Rolling weights forward by main force of chest. + +They clashed together, and then at that point +Each one turned backward, rolling retrograde, +Crying,"Why keepest?" and,"Why squanderest thou?" + +Thus they returned along the lurid circle +On either hand unto the opposite point, +Shouting their shameful metre evermore. + +Then each, when he arrived there, wheeled about +Through his half-circle to another joust; +And I, who had my heart pierced as it were, + +Exclaimed:"My Master, now declare to me +What people these are, and if all were clerks, +These shaven crowns upon the left of us." + +And he to me:"All of them were asquint +In intellect in the first life, so much +That there with measure they no spending made. + +Clearly enough their voices bark it forth, +Whene'er they reach the two points of the circle, +Where sunders them the opposite defect. + +Clerks those were who no hairy covering +Have on the head, and Popes and Cardinals, +In whom doth Avarice practise its excess." + +And I:"My Master, among such as these +I ought forsooth to recognise some few, +Who were infected with these maladies." + +And he to me:"Vain thought thou entertainest; +The undiscerning life which made them sordid +Now mal~es them unto all discernment dim. + +Forever shall they come to these two buttings; +These from the sepulchre shall rise again +With the fist closed, and these with tresses shorn. + +Ill giving and ill keeping the fair world +Have ta'en from them, and placed them in this scuffle; +Whate'er it be, no words adorn I for it. + +Now canst thou, Son, behold the transient farce +Of goods that are committed unto Fortune, +For which the human race each other buffet; + +For all the gold that is beneath the moon, +Or ever has been, of these weary souls +Could never make a single one repose." + +"Master," I said to him, " now tell me also +What is this Fortune which thou speakest of, +That has the world's goods so within its clutches?" + +And he to me:"O creatures imbecile, +What ignorance is this which doth beset you? +Now will I have thee learn my judgment of her. + +He whose omniscience everything transcends +The heavens created, and gave who should guide them, +That every part to every part may shine, + +Distributing the light in equal measure; +He in like manner to the mundane splendours +Ordained a general ministress and guide, + +That she might change at times the empty treasures +From race to race, from one blood to another, +Beyond resistance of all human wisdom. + +Therefore one people triumphs, and another +Languishes, in pursuance of her judgment, +Which hidden is, as in the grass a serpent. + +Your knowledge has no counterstand against her; +She makes provision, judges, and pursues +Her governance, as theirs the other gods. + +Her permutations have not any truce; +Necessity makes her precipitate, +So often cometh who his turn obtains. + +And this is she who is so crucified +Even by those who ought to give her praise, +Giving her blame amiss, and bad repute. + +But she is blissful, and she hears it not; +Among the other primal creatures gladsome +She turns her sphere, and blissful she rejoices. + +Let us descend now unto greater woe; +Already sinks each star that was ascending +When I set out, and loitering is forbidden." + +We crossed the circle to the other bank, +Near to a fount that boils, and pours itself +Along a gully that runs out of it. + +The water was more sombre far than perse; +And we, in company with the dusky waves, +Made entrance downward by a path uncouth. + +A marsh it makes, which has the name of Styx, +This tristful brooklet, when it has descended +Down to the foot of the malign gray shores. + +And I, who stood intent upon beholding, +Saw people mudbesprent in that lagoon, +All of them naked and with angry look. + +They smote each other not alone with hands, +But with the head and with the breast and feet, +Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth. + +Said the good Master:"Son, thou now beholdest +The souls of those whom anger overcame; +And likewise I would nave thee know for certain + +Beneath the water people are who sigh +And make this water bubble at the surface, +As the eye tells thee wheresoe'er it turns. + +Fixed in the mire they say,'We sullen were +In the sweet air, which by the sun is gladdened, +Bearing within ourselves the sluggish reek; + +Now we are sullen in this sable mire.' +This hymn do they keep gurgling in their throats, +For with unbroken words they cannot say it." + +Thus we went circling round the filthy fen +A great arc 'twixt the dry bank and the swamp, +With eyes turned unto those who gorge the mire; + +Unto the foot of a tower we came at last. + + +CANTO 8 + +I SAY, continuing, that long before +We to the foot of that high tower had come, +Our eyes went upward to the summit of it, + +By reason of two flamelets we saw placed there, +And from afar another answer them, +So far, that hardly could the eye attain it. + + +And, to the sea of all discernment turned, +I said: " What sayeth this, and what respondeth +That other fire ? and who are they that made it?" + +And he to me:"Across the turbid waves +What is expected thou canst now discern, +If reek of the morass conceal it not." + +Cord never shot an arrow from itself +That sped away athwart the air so swift, +As I beheld a very little boat + +Come o'er the water tow'rds us at that moment, +Under the guidance of a single pilot, +Who shouted,"Now art thou arrived, fell soul?" + +"Phlegyas, Phlegyas, thou criest out in vain +For this once," said my Lord; " thou shalt not have +Longer than in the passing of the slough." + +As he who listens to some great deceit +That has been done to him, and then resents it, +Such became Phlegyas, in his gathered wrath. + +My Guide descended down into the boat, +And then he made me enter after him, +And only when I entered seemed it laden. + +Soon as the Guide and I were in the boat, +The antique prow goes on its way, dividing +More of the water than 'tis wont with others. + +While we were running through the dead canal, +Uprose in front of me one full of mire, +And said, " Who 'rt thou that comest ere the hour?" + +And I to him:"Although I come, I stay not; +But who art thou that hast become so squalid?" +"Thou seest that I am one who weeps," he answered. + +And I to him:"With weeping and with wailing, +Thou spirit maledict, do thou remain; +For thee I know, though thou art all defiled." + +Then stretched he both his hands unto the boat; +Whereat my wary Master thrust him back, +Saying, " Away there with the other dogs!" + +Thereafter with his arms he clasped my neck; +He kissed my face, and said: " Disdainful soul, +Blessed be she who bore thee in her bosom. + +That was an arrogant person in the world; +Goodness is none, that decks his memory; +So likewise here his shade is furious. + +How many are esteemed great kings up there, +Who here shall be like unto swine in mire, +Leaving behind them horrible dispraises!" + +And I:"My Master, much should I be pleased, +If I could see him soused into this broth, +Before we issue forth out of the lake." + +And he to me:"Ere unto thee the shore +Reveal itself, thou shalt be satisfied; +Such a desire 'tis meet thou shouldst enjoy." + +A little after that, I saw such havoc +Made of him by the people of the mire, +That still I praise and thank my God for it. + +They all were shouting,"At Philippo Argenti!" +And that exasperate spirit Florentine +Turned round upon himself with his own teeth + +We left him there, and more of him I tell not; +But on mine ears there smote a lamentation, +Whence forward I intent unbar mine eyes. + +And the good Master said:"Even now, my Son, +The city draweth near whose name is Dis, +With the grave citizens, with the great throng." + +And I:"Its mosques already, Master, clearly +Within there in the valley I discern +Vermilion, as if issuing from the fire + +They were."And he to me:"The fire eternal +That kindles them within makes them look red, +As thou beholdest in this nether Hell." + +Then we arrived within the moats profound, +That circumvallate that disconsolate city; +The walls appeared to me to be of iron. + +Not without making first a circuit wide, +We came unto a place where loud the pilot +Cried out to us, " Debark, here is the entrance." + +More than a thousand at the gates I saw +Out of the Heavens rained down, who angrily +Were saying, " Who is this that without death + +Goes through the kingdom of the people dead?" +And my sagacious Master made a sign +Of wishing secretly to speak with them. + + +A little then they quelled their great disdain, +And said:"Come thou alone, and he begone +Who has so boldly entered these dominions. + +Let him return alone by his mad road; +Try, if he can; for thou shalt here remain, +Who hast escorted him through such dark regions." + +Think, Reader, if I was discomforted +At utterance of the accursed words; +For never to return here I believed. + +"O my dear Guide, who more than seven times +Hast rendered me security, and drawn me +From imminent peril that before me stood, + +Do not desert me,"said I,"thus undone; +And if the going farther be denied us, +Let us retrace our steps together swiftly." + +And that Lord, who had led me thitherward, +Said unto me: " Fear not; because our passage +None can take from us, it by Such is given. + +But here await me, and thy weary spirit +Comfort and nourish with a better hope; +For in this nether world I will not leave thee." + +So onward goes and there abandons me +My Father sweet, and I remain in doubt, +For No and Yes within my head contend. + +I could not hear what he proposed to them; +But with them there he did not linger long, +Ere each within in rivalry ran back. + +They closed the portals, those our adversaries, +On my Lord's breast, who had remained without +And turned to me with footsteps far between. + +His eyes cast down, his forehead shorn had he +Of all its boldness, and he said, with sighs, +"Who has denied to me the dolesome houses?" + +And unto me:"Thou, because I am angry, +Fear not, for I will conquer in the trial, +Whatever for defence within be planned. + +This arrogance of theirs is nothing new; +For once they used it at less secret gate, +Which finds itself without a fastening still. + +O'er it didst thou behold the dead inscription; +And now this side of it descends the steep, +Passing across the circles without escort, + +One by whose means the city shall be opened." + +CANTO 9 + +THAT hue which cowardice brought out on me, +Beholding my Conductor backward turn, +Sooner repressed within him his new colour. + +He stopped attentive, like a man who listens, +Because the eye could not conduct him far +Through the black air, and through the heavy fog. + +"Still it behoveth us to win the fight," +Began he; " Else . . . Such offered us herself . . . +O how I long that some one here arrive ! " + +Well I perceived, as soon as the beginning +He covered up with what came afterward, +That they were words quite different from the first; + +But none the less his saying gave me fear, +Because I carried out the broken phrase, +Perhaps to a worse meaning than he had. + +"Into this bottom of the doleful conch +Doth any e'er descend from the first grade, +Which for its pain has only hope cut off?" + +This question put I; and he answered me: +"Seldom it comes to pass that one of us +Maketh the journey upon which I go. + +True is it, once before I here below +Was conjured by that pitiless Erictho, +Who summoned back the shades unto their bodies. + +Naked of me short while the flesh had been, +Before within that wall she made me enter, +To bring a spirit from the circle of Judas; + +That is the lowest region and the darkest, +And farthest from the heaven which circles all. +Well know I the way; therefore be reassured. + +This fen, which a prodigious stench exhales, +Encompasses about the city dolent, +Where now we cannot enter without anger." + +And more he said, but not in mind I have it; +Because mine eye had altogether drawn me +Tow'rds the high tower with the red-flaming summit, + + +Where in a moment saw I swift uprisen +The three infernal Furies stained with blood, +Who had the limbs of women and their mien, + +And with the greenest hydras were begirt; +Small serpents and cerastes were their tresses, +Wherewith their horrid temples were entwined. + +And he who well the handmaids of the Queen +Of everlasting lamentation knew, +Said unto me: " Behold the fierce Erinnys. + +This is Megaera, on the left-hand side; +She who is weeping on the right, Alecto; +Tisiphone is between; " and then was silent. + +Each one her breast was rending with her nails; +They beat them with their palms, and cried so loud, +That I for dread pressed close unto the Poet. + +"Medusa come, so we to stone will change him!" +All shouted looking down; "in evil hour +Avenged we not on Theseus his assault!" + +"Turn thyself round, and keep thine eyes close shut, +For if the Gorgon appear, and thou shouldst see it, +No more returning upward would there be." + +Thus said the Master; and he turned me round +Himself, and trusted not unto my hands +So far as not to blind me with his own. + +O ye who have undistempered intellects, +Observe the doctrine that conceals itself +Beneath the veil of the mysterious verses! + +And now there came across the turbid waves +The clangour of a sound with terror fraught, +Because of which both of the margins trembled; + +Not otherwise it was than of a wind +Impetuous on account of adverse heats, +That smites the forest, and, without restraint, + +The branches rends, beats down, and bears away; +Right onward, laden with dust, it goes superb, +And puts to flight the wild beasts and the shepherds. + +Mine eyes he loosed, and said:"Direct the nerve +Of vision now along that ancient foam, +There yonder where that smoke is most intense." + +Even as the frogs before the hostile serpent +Across the water scatter all abroad, +Until each one is huddled in the earth. + +More than a thousand ruined souls I saw, +Thus fleeing from before one who on foot +Was passing o'er the Styx with soles unwet + +From off his face he fanned that unctuous air, +Waving his left hand oft in front of him, +And only with that anguish seemed he weary. + +Well I perceived one sent from Heaven was he, +And to the Master turned; and he made sign +That I should quiet stand, and bow before him. + +Ah I how disdainful he appeared to me! +He reached the gate, and with a little rod +He opened it, for there was no resistance. + + +" O banished out of Heaven, people despised!" +Thus he began upon the horrid threshold; +"Whence is this arrogance within you couched? + +Wherefore recalcitrate against that will, +From which the end can never be cut off, +And which has many times increased your pain? + +What helpeth it to butt against the fates? +Your Cerberus, if you remember well, +For that still bears his chin and gullet peeled." + +Then he returned along the miry road, +And spake no word to us, but had the look +Of one whom other care constrains and goads + +Than that of him who in his presence is; +And we our feet directed tow'rds the city, +After those holy words all confident. + +Within we entered without any contest; +And I, who inclination had to see +What the condition such a fortress holds, + +Soon as I was within, cast round mine eye, +And see on every hand an ample plain, +Full of distress and torment terrible. + +Even as at Arles, where stagnant grows the Rhone, +Even as at Pola near to the Quarnaro, +That shuts in Italy and bathes its borders, + +The sepulchres make all the place uneven; +So likewise did they there on every side, +Saving that there the manner was more bitter; + +For flames between the sepulchres were scattered, +By which they so intensely heated were, +That iron more so asks not any art. + +All of their coverings uplifted were, +And from them issued forth such dire laments, +Sooth seemed they of the wretched and tormented. + +And I:"My Master, what are all those people +Who, having sepulture within those tombs, +Make themselves audible by doleful sighs?" + +And he to me:"Here are the Heresiarchs, +With their disciples of all sects, and much +More than thou thinkest laden are the tombs. + +Here like together with its like is buried; +And more and less the monuments are heated." +And when he to the right had turned, we passed + +Between the torments and high parapets. + +CANTO 10 + +Now onward goes, along a narrow path +Between the torments and the city wall, +My Master, and I follow at his back. + +"O power supreme, that through these impious circles +Turnest me,"I began, "as pleases thee, +Speak to me, and my longings satisfy; + +The people who are Iying in these tombs, +Might they be seen? already are uplifted +The covers all, and no one keepeth guard." + +And he to me:"They all will be closed up +When from Jehoshaphat they shall return +Here with the bodies they have left above. + +Their cemetery have upon this side +With Epicurus all his followers, +Who with the body mortal make the soul; + +But in the question thou dost put to me, +Within here shalt thou soon be satisfied, +And likewise in the wish thou keepest silent." + +And I:"Good Leader,I but keep concealed +From thee my heart, that I may speak the less, +Nor only now hast thou thereto disposed me." + +"O Tuscan, thou who through the city of fire +Goest alive, thus speaking modestly, +Be pleased to stay thy footsteps in this place. + +Thy mode of speaking makes thee manifest +A native of that noble fatherland, +To which perhaps I too molestful was." + +Upon a sudden issued forth this sound +From out one of the tombs; wherefore I pressed, +Fearing, a little nearer to my Leader. + +And unto me he said:"Turn thee; what dost thou? +Behold there Farinata who has risen; +From the waist upwards wholly shalt thou see him." + +I had already fixed mine eyes on his, +And he uprose erect with breast and front +E'en as if Hell he had in great despite. + +And with courageous hands and prompt my Leader +Thrust me between the sepulchres towards him, +Exclaiming, " Let thy words explicit be." + +As soon as I was at the foot of his tomb +Somewhat he eyed me, and, as if disdainful, +Then asked of me, "Who were thine ancestors?" + +I, who desirous of obeying was, +Concealed it not, but all revealed to him; +Whereat he raised his brows a little upward. + +Then said he:"Fiercely adverse have they been +To me, and to my fathers, and my party; +So that two several times I scattered them." + +"If they were banished, they returned on all sides," +I answered him, " the first time and the second; +But yours have not acquired that art aright." + +Then there uprose upon the sight, uncovered +Down to the chin, a shadow at his side; +I think that he had risen on his knees. + + +Round me he gazed, as if solicitude +He had to see if some one else were with me, +But after his suspicion was all spent, + +Weeping, he said to me:"If through this blind +Prison thou goest by loftiness of genius, +Where is my son? and why is he not with thee?" + +And I to him:"I come not of myself; +He who is waiting yonder leads me here, +Whom in disdain perhaps your Guido had." + +His language and the mode of punishment +Already unto me had read his name; +On that account my answer was so full. + +Up starting suddenly, he cried out:"How +Saidst thou,--he had ? Is he not still alive? +Does not the sweet light strike upon his eyes ?" + +When he became aware of some delay, +Which I before my answer made, supine +He fell again, and forth appeared no more. + +But the other, magnanimous, at whose desire +I had remained, did not his aspect change, +Neither his neck he moved, nor bent his side. + +"And if,"continuing his first discourse, +"They have that art,"he said, "not learned aright, +That more tormenteth me, than doth this bed. + +But fifty times shall not rekindled be +The countenance of the Lady who reigns here +Ere thou shalt know how heavy is that art; + +And as thou wouldst to the sweet world return, +Say why that people is so pitiless +Against my race in each one of its laws?" + +Whence I to him:"The slaughter and great carnage +Which have with crimson stained the Arbia, cause +Such orisons in our temple to be made." + +After his head he with a sigh had shaken, +"There 1 was not alone," he said,"nor surely +Without a cause had with the others moved. + +But there I was alone, where every one +Consented to the laying waste of Florence, +He who defended her with open face." + +"Ah! so hereafter may your seed repose," +I him entreated, " solve for me that knot, +Which has entangled my conceptions here. + +It seems that you can see, if I hear rightly, +Beforehand whatsoe'er time brings with it, +And in the present have another mode." + +"We see, like those who have imperfect sight, +The things," he said, " that distant are from us; +So much still shines on us the Sovereign Ruler. + +When they draw near, or are, is wholly vain +Our intellect, and if none brings it to us, +Not anything know we of your human state. + +Hence thou canst understand, that wholly dead +Will be our knowledge from the moment when +The portal of the future shall be closed." + +Then I, as if compunctious for my fault, +Said: " Now, then, you will tell that fallen one, +That still his son is with the living joined. + +And if just now, in answering, I was dumb, +Tell him I did it because I was thinking +Already of the error you have solved me." + +And now my Master was recalling me, +Wherefore more eagerly I prayed the spirit +That he would tell me who was with him there. + +He said:"With more than a thousand here I lie; +Within here is the second Frederick, +And the Cardinal, and of the rest I speak not." + +Thereon he hid himself; and I towards +The ancient poet turned my steps, reflecting +Upon that saying, which seemed hostile to me. + +He moved along; and afterward thus going, +He said to me, " Why art thou so bewildered?" +And I in his inquiry satisfied him. + +"When thou shalt be before the radiance sweet +Of her whose beauteous eyes all things behold, +From her thou'lt know the journey of thy life." + +Unto the left hand then he turned his feet; +We left the wall, and went towards the middle, +Along a path that strikes into a valley, + +CANTO 11 + +UPON the margin of a lofty bank +Which great rocks broken in a circle made, +We came upon a still more cruel throng; + +And there, by reason of the horrible +Excess of stench the deep abyss throws out, +We drew ourselves aside behind the cover + +Of a great tomb, whereon I saw a writing, +Which said: " Pope Anastasius I hold, +Whom out of the right way Photinus drew." + +"Slow it behoveth our descent to be, +So that the sense be first a little used +To the sad blast, and then we shall not heed it." + +The Master thus; and unto him I said, +"Some compensation find, that the time pass not +Idly;"and he:"Thou seest I think of that. + +My son, upon the inside of these rocks," +Began he then to say, " are three small circles, +From grade to grade, like those which thou art leaving + +They all are full of spirits maledict; +But that hereafter sight alone suffice thee, +Hear how and wherefore they are in constraint. + +Of every malice that wins hate in Heaven, +Injury is the end; and all such end +Either by force or fraud afflicteth others. + +But because fraud is man's peculiar vice, +More it displeases God; and so stand lowest +The fraudulent, and greater dole assails them. + +All the first circle of the Violent is; +But since force may be used against three persons, +In three rounds 'tis divided and constructed. + +To God, to ourselves, and to our neighbour can we +Use force; I say on them and on their things, +As thou shalt hear with reason manifest. + +A death by violence, and painful wounds, +Are to our neighbour given; and in his substance +Ruin, and arson, and injurious levies; + +Whence homicides, and he who smites unjustly, +Marauders, and freebooters, the first round +Tormenteth all m companies diverse. + +Man may lay violent hands upon himself +And his own goods; and therefore in the second +Round must perforce without avail repent + + +Whoever of your world deprives himself, +Who games, and dissipates his property, +And weepeth there, where he should jocund be. + +Violence can be done the Deity, +In heart denying and blaspheming Him, +And by disdaining Nature and her bounty. + +And for this reason doth the smallest round +Seal with its signet Sodom and Cahors, +And who, disdaining God, speaks from the heart. + +Fraud, wherewithal is every conscience stung, +A man may practise upon him who trusts, +And him who doth no confidence imburse. + +This latter mode, it would appear, dissevers +Only the bond of love which Nature makes; +Wherefore within the second circle nestle + +Hypocrisy, flattery, and who deals in magic, +Falsification, theft, and simony, +Panders, and barrators, and the like-filth. + +By the other mode, forgotten is that love +Which Nature makes, and what is after added, +From which there is a special faith engendered. + +Hence in the smallest circle, where the point is +Of the Universe, upon which Dis is seated, +Whoe'er betrays for ever is consumed." + +And I:"My Master, clear enough proceeds +Thy reasoning, and full well distinguishes +This cavern and the people who possess it. + +But tell me, those within the fat lagoon, +Whom the wind drives, and whom the rain doth beat, +And who encounter with such bitter tongues, + +And unto me he said:"Why wanders so +Thine intellect from that which it is wont? +Or, sooth, thy mind where is it elsewhere looking? + +Hast thou no recollection of those words +With which thine Ethics thoroughly discusses +The dispositions three, that Heaven abides not,-- + +Incontinence, and Malice, and insane +Bestiality ? and how Incontinence +Less God offendeth, and less blame attracts? + +If thou regardest this conclusion well, +And to thy mind recallest who they are +That up outside are undergoing penance, + +Clearly wilt thou perceive why from these felons +They separated are, and why less wroth +Justice divine doth smite them with its hammer." + +"O Sun, that healest all distempered vision, +Thou dost content me so, when thou resolvest, +That doubting pleases me no less than knowing! + +Once more a little backward turn thee," said I, +"There where thou sayest that usury offends +Goodness divine, and disengage the knot." + +"Philosophy," he said, "to him who heeds it, +Noteth, not only in one place alone, +After what manner Nature takes her course + +From Intellect Divine, and from its art; +And if thy Physics carefully thou notest, +After not many pages shalt thou find, + +From these two, if thou bringest to thy mind +Genesis at the beginning, it behoves +Mankind to gain their life and to advance; + +And since the usurer takes another way, +Nature herself and in her follower +Disdains he, for elsewhere he puts his hope. + +But follow, now, as I would fain go on, +For quivering are the Fishes on the horizon, +And the Wain wholly over Caurus lies, + + +And far beyond there we descend the crag." + +CANTO 12 + +The place where to descend the bank we came +Was alpine, and from what was +there, moreover, Of such a kind that every eye would shun it. +Such as that ruin is which in the flank +Smote, on this side of Trent, the Adige, +Either by earthquake or by failing stay, + +For from the mountain's top, from which it moved, +Unto the plain the cliff is shattered so, +Some path 'twould give to him who was above; + +Even such was the descent of that ravine, +And on the border of the broken chasm +The infamy of Crete was stretched along, + +Who was conceived in the fictitious cow; +And when he us beheld, he bit himself, +Even as one whom anger racks within. + +My Sage towards him shouted-:"Peradventure +Thou think'st that here may be the Duke of Athens, +Who in the world above brought death to thee? + +Get thee gone, beast, for this one cometh not +Instructed by thy sister, but he comes +In order to behold your punishments." + +As is that bull who breaks loose at the moment +In which he has received the mortal blow, +Who cannot walk, but staggers here and there, + +Thus down we took our way o'er that discharge +Of stones, which oftentimes did move themselves +Beneath my feet, from the unwonted burden. + +Thoughtful I went and he said:"Thou art thinking +Perhaps upon this ruin, which is guarded +By that brute anger which just now I quenched. + +Now will I have thee know, the other time +I here descended to the nether Hell, +This precipice had not yet fallen down. + +But truly, if I well discern, a little +Before His coming who the mighty spoil +Bore off from Dis, in the supernal circle, + +Upon all sides the deep and loathsome valley +Trembled so, that I thought the Universe +Was thrilled with love, by which there are who think + +The world ofttimes converted into chaos; +And at that moment this primeval crag +Both here and elsewhere made such overthrow. + +But fix thine eyes below; for draweth near +The river of blood, within which boiling is +Whoe'er by violence doth injure others." + +O blind cupidity, O wrath insane, +That spurs us onward so in our short life, +And in the eternal then so badly steeps us! + +I saw an ample moat bent like a bow, +As one which a]l the plain encompasses, +Conformable to what my Guide had said. + +And between this and the embankment's foot +Centaurs in file were running, armed with arrows, +As in the world they used the chase to follow. + +Beholding us descend, each one stood still, +And from the squadron three detached themselves, +With bows and arrows in advance selected; + +And from afar one cried:"Unto what torment +Come ye, who down the hillside are descending? +Tell us from there; if not, I draw the bow." + + +My Master said:"Our answer will we make +To Chiron, near you there; in evil hour, +That will of thine was evermore so hasty." + +Then touched he me, and said:"This one is Nessus, +Who perished for the lovely Dejanira, +And for himself, himself did vengeance take. + +And he in the midst, who at his breast is gazing, +Is the great Chiron, who brought up Achilles; +That other Pholus is, who was so wrathful. + +Thousands and thousands go about the moat +Shooting with shafts whatever soul emerges +Out of the blood, more than his crime allots." + +Near we approached unto those monsters fleet; +Chiron an arrow took, and with the notch +Backward upon his jaws he put his beard. + +After he had uncovered his great mouth, +He said to his companions:"Are you ware +That he behind moveth whate'er he touches? + +Thus are not wont to do the feet of dead men." +And my good Guide, who now was at his breast, +Where the two natures are together joined, + +Replied:"Indeed he lives, and thus alone +Me it behoves to show him the dark valley; +Necessity, and not delight, impels us. + +Some one withdrew from singing Halleluja, +Who unto me committed this new office; +No thief is he, nor I a thievish spirit. + +But by that virtue through which I am moving +My steps along this savage thoroughfare, +Give us some one of thine, to be with us, + +And who may show us where to pass the ford, +And who may carry this one on his back; +For 'tis no spirit that can walk the air." + +Upon his right breast Chiron wheeled about, +And said to Nessus: " Turn and do thou guide them, +And warn aside, if other band may meet you." + +We with our faithful escort onward moved +Along the brink of the vermilion boiling, +Wherein the boiled were uttering loud laments. + +People I saw within up to the eyebrows, +And the great Centaur said:"Tyrants are these, +Who dealt in bloodshed and in pillaging. + +Here they lament their pitiless mischiefs; here +Is Alexander, and fierce Dionysius +Who upon Sicily brought dolorous years. + +That forehead there which has the hair so black +Is Azzolin; and the other who is blond, +Obizzo is of Esti, who, in truth, + +Up in the world was by his stepson slain." +Then turned I to the Poet; and he said, +"Now he be first to thee, and second I." + +A little farther on the Centaur stopped +Above a folk, who far down as the throat +Seemed from that boiling stream to issue forth. + +A shade' he showed us on one side alone, +Saying: " He cleft asunder in God's bosom +The heart that still upon the Thames is honoured." + +Then people saw I, who from out the river +Lifted their heads and also all the chest; +And many among these I recognised. + +Thus ever more and more grew shallower +That blood, so that the feet alone it covered; +And there across the moat our passage was. + +"Even as thou here upon this side beholdest +The boiling stream, that aye diminishes," +The Centaur said, "I wish thee to believe + +That on this other more and more declines +Its bed, until it reunites itself +Where it behoveth tyranny to groan. + +Justice divine, upon this side, is goading +That Attila, who was a scourge on earth, +And Pyrrhus, and Sextus; and for ever milks + +The tears which with the boiling it unseals +In Rinier da Corneto and Rinier Pazzo, +Who made upon the highways so much war." + +Then back he turned, and passed again the ford. + +CANTO 13 + +NOT yet had Nessus eached the other side, +When we had put ourselves within a wood, +That was not marked by any path whatever. + + +Not foliage green, but of a dusky colour, +Not branches smooth, but gnarled and intertangled, +Not apple-trees were there, but thorns with poison. + +Such tangled thickets have not, nor so dense, +Those savage wild beasts, that in hatred hold +'Twixt Cecina and Corneto the tilled places. + +There do the hideous Harpies make their nests, +Who chased the Trojans from the Strophades, +With sad announcement of impending doom; + +Broad wings have they, and necks and faces human, +And feet with claws, and their great bellies fledged; +They make laments upon the wondrous trees. + +And the good Master:"Ere thou enter farther, +Know that thou art within the second round," +Thus he began to say, " and shalt be, till + +Thou comest out upon the horrible sand; +Therefore look well around, and thou shalt see +Things that will credence give unto my speech." + +I heard on all sides lamentations uttered, +And person none beheld I who might make them, +Whence, utterly bewildered, I stood still. + +I think he thought that I perhaps might think +So many voices issued through those trunks +From people who concealed themselves from us; + +Therefore the Master said:"If thou break off +Some little spray from any of these trees, +The thoughts thou hast will wholly be made vain." + +Then stretched I forth my hand a little forward, +And plucked a branchlet off from a great thorn, +And the trunk cried, " Why dost thou mangle me?" + +After it had become embrowned with blood, +It recommenced its cry: " Why dost thou rend me +Hast thou no spirit of pity whatsoever ? + +Men once we were, and now are changed to trees; +Indeed, thy hand should be more pitiful, +Even if the souls of serpents we had been." + +As out of a green brand, that is on fire +At one of the ends, and from the other drips +And hisses with the wind that is escaping; + +So from that splinter issued forth together +Both words and blood; whereat I let the tip +Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid. + +':Had he been able sooner to believe," +My Sage made answer, " O thou wounded soul, +What only in my verses he has seen, + +Not upon thee had he stretched forth his hand; +Whereas the thing incredible has caused me +To put him to an act which grieveth me. + +But tell him who thou wast, so that by way +Of some amends thy fame he may refresh +Up in the world, to which he can return." + +And the trunk said:"So thy sweet words allure me, +I cannot silent be; and you be vexed not, +That I a little to discourse am tempted. + +I am the one who both keys had in keeping +Of Frederick's heart, and turned them to and fro +So softly in unlocking and in locking, + +That from his secrets most men I withheld; +Fidelity I bore the glorious office +So great, I lost thereby my sleep and pulses. + +The courtesan who never from the dwelling +Of Caesar turned aside her strumpet eyes, +Death universal and the vice of courts, + +Inflamed against me all the other minds, +And they, inflamed, did so inflame Augustus, +That my glad honours turned to dismal mournings. + +My spirit, in disdainful exultation, +Thinking by dying to escape disdain, +Made me unjust against myself, the just. + +I, by the roots unwonted of this wood, +Do swear to you that never broke I faith +Unto my lord, who was so worthy of honour; + +And to the world if one of you return, +Let him my memory comfort, which is lying +Still prostrate from the blow that envy dealt it." + +Waited awhile, and then: " Since he is silent," +The Poet said to me, " lose not the time, +But speak, and question him, if more may please thee." + +Whence I to him:"Do thou again inquire +Concerning what thou thinks't will satisfy me; +For I cannot, such pity is in my heart." + + +Therefore he recommenced:"So may the man +Do for thee freely what thy speech implores, +Spirit incarcerate, again be pleased + +To tell us in what way the soul is bound +Within these knots; and tell us, if thou canst +If any from such members e'er is freed." + +Then blew the trunk amain, and afterward +The wind was into such a voice converted: +"With brevity shall be replied to you. + +When the exasperated soul abandons +The body whence it rent itself away, +Minos consigns it to the seventh abyss. + +It falls into the forest, and no part +Is chosen for it; but where Fortune hurls it, +There like a grain of spelt it germinates. + +It springs a sapling, and a forest tree; +The Harpies, feeding then upon its leaves, +Do pain create, and for the pain an outlet. + +Like others for our spoils shall we return; +But not that any one may them revest, +For 'tis not just to have what one casts off. + +Here we shall drag them, and along the dismal +Forest our bodies shall suspended be, +Each to the thorn of his molested shade." + +We were attentive still unto the trunk, +Thinking that more it yet might wish to tell us, +When by a tumult we were overtaken, + +In the same way as he is who perceives +The boar and chase approaching to his stand, +Who hears the crashing of the beasts and branches; + +And two behold! upon our left-hand side, +Naked and scratched, fleeing so furiously, +That of the forest, every fan they broke. + +He who was in advance:"Now help, Death, help !" +And the other one, who seemed to lag too much, +Was shouting:"Lano, were not so alert + +Those legs of thine at joustings of the Toppo!" +And then, perchance because his breath was failing, +He grouped himself together with a bush. + +Behind them was the forest full of black +She-mastiffs, ravenous, and swift of foot +As greyhounds, who are issuing from the chain. + +On him who had crouched down they set their teeth, +And him they lacerated piece by piece, +Thereafter bore away those aching members. + +Thereat my Escort took me by the hand, +And led me to the bush, that all in vain +as weeping from its bloody lacerations. + +"O Jacopo," it said, "of Sant' Andrea, +What helped it thee of me to make a screen? +What blame have I in thy nefarious life ?" + +When near him had the Master stayed his steps, +He said:"Who wast thou, that through wounds so many +Art blowing out with blood thy dolorous speech?" + +And he to us:"O souls, that hither come +To look upon the shameful massacre +That has so rent away from me my leaves, + +Gather them up beneath the dismal bush; +I of that city was which to the Baptist +Changed its first patron, wherefore he for this + +Forever with his art will make it sad. +And were it not that on the pass of Arno +Some glimpses of him are remaining still, + +Those citizens, who afterwards rebuilt it +Upon the ashes left by Attila, +In vain had caused their labour to be done. + +Of my own house I made myself a gibbet." + +CANTO 14 + +BECAUSE he charity of my native place +Constrained me, gathered I the scattered leaves, +And gave them back to him, who now was hoarse. + +Then came we to the confine, where disparted +The second round is from the third, and where +A horrible form of Justice is beheld. + +Clearly to manifest these novel things, +I say that we arrived upon a plain, +Which from its bed rejecteth every plant; + +The dolorous forest is a garland to it +All round about, as the sad moat to that; +There close upon the edge we stayed our feet. + +The soil was of an arid and thick sand, +Not of another fashion made than that +Which by the feet of Cato once was pressed. + +Vengeance of God, O how much oughtest thou +By each one to be dreaded, who doth read +That which was manifest unto mine eyes! + +Of naked souls beheld I many herds, +Who all were weeping very miserably, +And over them seemed set a law diverse. + +Supine upon the ground some folk were lying; +And some were sitting all drawn up together, +And others went about continually. + +Those who were going round were far the more, +And those were less who lay down to their torment, +But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation. + +O'er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall, +Were raining down dilated flakes of fire, +As of the snow on Alp without a wind. + +As Alexander, in those torrid parts +Of India, beheld upon his host +Flames fall unbroken till they reached the ground, + +Whence he provided with his phalanxes +To trample down the soil, because the vapour +Better extinguished was while it was single; + +Thus was descending the eternal heat, +Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinder +Beneath the steel, for doubling of the dole. + +Without repose forever was the dance +Of miserable hands, now there, now here, +Shaking away from off them the fresh gleeds. + +" Master," began I, "thou who overcomest +All things except the demons dire, that issued +Against us at the entrance of the gate, + +Who is that mighty one who seems to heed not +The fire, and lieth lowering and disdainful, +So that the rain seems not to ripen him?" + +And he himself, who had become aware +That I was questioning my Guide about him, +Cried: " Such as I was living, am I, dead + +If Jove should weary out his smith, from whom +He seized in anger the sharp thunderbolt, +Wherewith upon the last day I was smitten, + +And if he wearied out by turns the others +In Mongibello at the swarthy forge, +Vociferating, 'Help, good Vulcan, help!' + +Even as he did there at the fight of Phlegra, +And shot his bolts at me with all his might, +He would not have thereby a joyous vengeance." + +Then did my Leader speak with such great force, +That I had never heard him speak so loud: +" O Capaneus, in that is not extinguished + +Thine arrogance, thou punished art the more; +Not any torment, saving thine own rage, +Would be unto thy fury pain complete." + +Then he turned round to me with better lip, +Saying: " One of the Seven Kings was he +Who Thebes besieged, and held, and seems to hold + +God in disdain, and little seems to prize him; +But, as I said to him, his own despites +Are for his breast the fittest ornaments. + +Now follow me, and mind thou do not place +As yet thy feet upon the burning sand, +But always keep them close unto the wood." + +Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes +Forth from the wood a little rivulet, +Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end. + +As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet, +The sinful women later share among them, +So downward through the sand it went its way. + +The bottom of it, and both sloping banks, +Were made of stone, and the margins at the side; +Whence I perceived that there the passage was. + +"In all the rest which I have shown to thee +Since we have entered in within the gate +Whose threshold unto no one is denied, + +Nothing has been discovered by thine eyes +So notable as is the present river, +Which all the little 'dames above it quenches." + +These words were of my Leader; whence I prayed him +That he would give me largess of the food, +For which he had given me largess of desire. + +" In the mid-sea there sits a wasted land," +Said he thereafterward, " whose name is Crete, +Under whose king the world of old was chaste. + +There is a mountain there, that once was glad +With waters and with leaves, which was called Ida; +Now 'tis deserted, as a thing worn out. + +Rhea once chose it for the faithful cradle +Of her own son; and to conceal him better, +Whene'er he cried, she there had clamours made. + +A grand old man stands in the mount erect, +Who holds his shoulders turned tow'rds Damietta, +And looks at Rome as if it were his mirror. + +His head is fashioned of refined gold, +And of pure silver are the arms and breast; +Then he is brass as far down as the fork. + +From that point downward all is chosen iron, +Save that the right foot is of kiln-baked clay, +And more he stands on that than on the other. + +Each part, except the gold, is by a fissure +Asunder cleft, that dripping is with tears, +Which gathered together perforate that cavern + +From rock to rock they fall into this valley; +Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon they form; +Then downward go along this narrow sluice + +Unto that point where is no more descending. +They form Cocytus; what that pool may be +Thou shalt behold, so here 'tis not narrated." + +And I to him:"If so the present runnel +Doth take its rise in this way from our world, +Why only on this verge appears it to us?" + +And he to me:"Thou knowest the place is round +And notwithstanding thou hast journeyed far, +Still to the left descending to the bottom, + +Thou hast not yet through all the circle turned. +Therefore if something new appear to us, +It should not bring amazement to thy face." + +And I again:"Master, where shall be found +Lethe and Phlegethon, for of one thou'rt silent, +And sayest the other of this rain is made?" + +"In all thy questions truly thou dost please me," +Replied he; " but the boiling of the red +Water might well solve one of them thou makest. + +Thou shalt see Lethe, but outside this moat, +There where the souls repair to lave themselves, +When sin repented of has been removed." + +Then said he:"It is time now to abandon +The wood; take heed that thou come after me; +A way the margins make that are not burning, + +And over them all vapours are extinguished." + +CANTO 15 + +Now bears us onward one of the hard margins, +And so the brooklet's mist o'ershadows it, +From fire it saves the water and the dikes. + +Even as the Flemings, 'twixt Cadsand and Bruges, +Fearing the flood that tow'rds them hurls itself, +Their bulwarks build to put the sea to flight; + +And as the Paduans along the Brenta, +To guard their villas and their villages, +Or ever Chiarentana feel the heat; + +In such similitude had those been made, +Albeit not so lofty nor so thick, +Whoever he might be, the master made them. + +Now were we from the forest so remote, +I could not have discovered where it was, +Even if backward I had turned myself, + +Then we a company of souls encountered, +Who came beside the dike, and every one +Gazed at us, as at evening we are wont + +To eye each other under a new moon, +And so towards us sharpened they their brows +As an old tailor at the needle's eye. + +Thus scrutinised by such a family, +By some one I was recognised, who seized +My garment's hem, and cried out,"What a marvel!" + +And I, when he stretched forth his arm-to me, +On his baked aspect fastened so mine eyes, +That the scorched countenance prevented not + +His recognition by my intellect; +And bowing down my face unto his own, +I made reply,"Are you here, Ser Brunetto?" + +And he:"May't not displease thee, O my son, +If a brief space with thee Brunetto Latini +Backward return and let the trail go on." + +I said to him: " With all my power I ask it; +And if you wish me to sit down with you, +I will, if he please, for I go with him." + +"O son,"he said,"whoever of this herd +A moment stops, lies then a hundred years, +Nor fans himself when smiteth him the fire. + +Therefore go on; I at thy skirts will come, +And afterward will I rejoin my band, +Which goes lamenting its eternal doom." + + +I did not dare to go down from the road +Level to walk with him; but my head bowed +I held as one who goeth reverently. + +And he began:"What fortune or what fate +Before the last day leadeth thee down here? +And who is this that showeth thee the way?" + +"Up there above us in the life serene," +I answered him,"I lost me in a valley, +Or ever yet my age had been completed. + +But yestermorn I turned my back upon it; +This one appeared to me, returning thither, +And homeward leadeth me along this road." + +And he to me:"If thou thy star do follow, +Thou canst not fail thee of a glorious port, +If well I judged in the life beautiful. + +And if I had not died so prematurely, +Seeing Heaven thus benignant unto thee, +I would have given thee comfort in the work. + +But that ungrateful and malignant people, +Which of old time from Fesole descended, +And smacks still of the mountain and the granite, + +Will make itself, for thy good deeds, thy foe; +And it is right; for among crabbed sorbs +It ill befits the sweet fig to bear fruit. + +Old rumour in the world proclaims them blind; +A People avaricious, envious, proud:, +Take heed that of their customs thou do cleanse thee. + +Thy fortune so much honour doth reserve thee, +One party and the other shall be hungry +For thee; but far from goat shall be the grass. + +Their litter let the beasts of Fesole +Make of themselves, nor let them touch the plant, +If any still upon their dunghill rise, + + +In which may yet revive the consecrated +Seed of those Romans, who remained there when +The nest of such great malice it became." + +"If my entreaty wholly were fulfilled," +Replied I to him, " not yet would you be +In banishment from human nature placed; + +For in my mind is fixed, and touches now +My heart the dear and good paternal image +Of you, when in the world from hour to hour + +You taught me how a man becomes eternal; +And how much I am grateful, while I live +Behoves that in my language be discerned. + +What you narrate of my career I write, +And keep it to be glossed with other text +By a Lady who can do it, if I reach her. + +This much will I have manifest to you; +Provided that my conscience do not chide me, +For whatsoever Fortune I am ready. + +Such handsel is not new unto mine ears; +Therefore let Fortune turn her wheel around +As it may please her, and the churl his mattock." + +My Master thereupon on his right cheek +Did backward turn himself, and looked at me; +Then said:"He listeneth well who noteth it." + +Nor speaking less on that account, I go +With Ser Brunetto, and I ask who are +His most known and most eminent companions. + +And he to me:"To know of some is well; +Of others it were laudable to be silent, +For short would be the time for so much speech. + +Know them in sum, that all of them were clerks, +And men of letters great and of great fame, +In the world tainted with the selfsame sin. + +Priscian goes yonder with that wretched crowd, +And Francis of Accorso; and thou hadst seen there +If thou hadst had a hankering for such scurf, + +That one, who by the Servant of the Servants +From Arno was transferred to Bacchiglione, +Where he has left his sin-excited nerves. + +More would I say, but coming and discoursing +Can be no longer; for that I behold +New smoke uprising yonder from the sand. + +A people comes with whom I may not be; +Commended unto thee be my Tesoro, +In which I still live, and no more I ask." + +Then he turned round, and seemed to be of those +Who at Verona run for the Green Mantle +Across the plain; and seemed to be among them + +The one who wins, and not the one who loses. + +CANTO 16 + +Now was I where was heard the reverberation +Of water falling into the next round, +Like to that humming which the beehives make, + +When shadows three together started forth, +Running, from out a company that passed +Beneath the rain of the sharp martyrdom. + +Towards us came they, and each one cried out: +"Stop, thou; for by thy garb to us thou seemest +To be some one of our depraved city." + +Ah me ! what wounds I saw upon their limbs, +Recent and ancient by the flames burnt in! +It pains me still but to remember it. + +Unto their cries my teacher paused attentive; +He turned his face towards me, and " Now wait, +He said; " to these we should be courteous. + +And if it were not for the fire that darts +The nature of this region, I should say +That haste were more becoming thee than them." + +As soon as we stood still, they recommenced +The old refrain, and when they overtook us, +Formed of themselves a wheel, all three of them. + +As champions stripped and oiled are wont to do, +Watching for their advantage and their hold, +Before they come to blows and thrusts between them, + +Thus, wheeling round, did every one his visage +Direct to me, so that in opposite wise +His neck and feet continual journey made. + +And,"If the misery of this soft place +Bring in disdain ourselves and our entreaties," +Began one, "and our aspect black and blistered. + +Let the renown of us thy mind incline +To tell us who thou art, who thus securely +Thy living feet dost move along through Hell. + +He in whose footprints thou dost see me treading, +Naked and skinless though he now may go, +Was of a greater rank than thou dost think; + +He was the grandson of the good Gualdrada; +His name was Guidoguerra, and in life +Much did he with his wisdom and his sword. + +The other, who close by me treads the sand, +Tegghiaio Aldobrandi is, whose fame +Above there in the world should welcome be. + +And I, who with them on the cross am placed, +Jacopo Rusticucci was; and truly +My savage wife, more than aught else, doth harm me." + +Could I have been protected from the fire, +Below I should have thrown myself among them, +And think the Teacher would have suffered it; + +But as I should have burned and baked myself, +My terror overmastered my good will, +Which made me greedy of embracing them. + +Then I began:"Sorrow and not disdain +Did your condition fix within me so, +That tardily it wholly is stripped off, + +As soon as this my Lord said unto me +Words, on account of which I thought within me +That people such as you are were approaching. + +I of your city am; and evermore +Your labours and your honourable names +I with affection have retraced and heard. + +I leave the gall, and go for the sweet fruits +Promised to me by the veracious Leader; +But to the centre first I needs must plunge." + +"So may the soul for a long while conduct +Those limbs of thine," did he make answer +"And so may thy renown shine after thee, + +Valour and courtesy, say if they dwell +Within our city, as they used to do, +Or if they wholly have gone out of it; + +For Guglielmo Borsier, who is in torment +With us of late, and goes there with his comrades, +Doth greatly mortify us with his words." + +"The new inhabitants and the sudden gains, +Pride and extravagance have in thee engendered, +Florence, so that thou weep'st thereat already!" + +In this wise I exclaimed with face uplifted; +And the three, taking that for my reply, +Looked at each other, as one looks at truth + +"If other times so little it doth cost thee," +Replied they all, " to satisfy another, +Happy art thou, thus speaking at thy will ! + +Therefore, if thou escape from these dark places, +And come to rebehold the beauteous stars, +When it shall pleasure thee to say, 'I was,' + +See that thou speak of us unto the people." +Then they broke up the wheel, and in their flight +It seemed as if their agile legs were wings. + +Not an Amen could possibly be said +So rapidly as they had disappeared; +Wherefore the Master deemed best to depart. + +I followed him, and little had we gone, +Before the sound of water was so near us, +That speaking we should hardly have been heard. + +Even as that stream which holdeth its own course +The first from Monte Veso tow'rds the East, +Upon the left-hand slope of Apennine, + +Which is above called Acquacheta, ere +It down descendeth into its low bed, +And at Forli is vacant of that name, + +Reverberates there above San Benedetto +From Alps, by falling at a single leap, +Where for a thousand there were room enough; + +Thus downward from a bank precipitate, +We found resounding that dark-tinted water, +So that it soon the ear would have offended. + +I had a cord around about me girt, +And therewithal I whilom had designed +To take the panther with the painted skin. + +After I this had all from me unloosed, +As my Conductor had commanded me, +I reached it to him, gathered up and coiled + +Whereat he turned himself to the right side, +And at a little distance from the verge, +He cast it down into that deep abyss. + +"It must needs be some novelty respond," +I said within myself, " to the new signal +The Master with his eye is following so." + +Ah me I how very cautious men should be +With those who not alone behold the act, +But with their wisdom look into the thoughts! + +He said to me:"Soon there will upward come +What I await; and what thy thought is dreaming +Must soon reveal itself unto thy sight." + +Aye to that truth which has the face of falsehood, +A man should close his lips as far as may be, +Because without his fault it causes shame; + +But here I cannot; and, Reader, by the notes +Of this my Comedy to thee I swear, +So may they not be void of lasting favour, + +Athwart that dense and darksome atmosphere +I saw a figure swimming upward come, +Marvellous unto every steadfast heart, + +Even as he returns who goeth down +Sometimes to clear an anchor, which has grappled +Reef,or aught else that in the sea is hidden, + +Who upward stretches, and draws in his feet. + +CANTO 17 + +"BEHOLD the monster with the pointed tail, +Who cleaves the hills, and breaketh walls and weapons, +Behold him who infecteth all the world." + +Thus unto me my Guide began to say, +And beckoned him that he should come to shore, +Near to the confine of the trodden marble; + +And that uncleanly image of deceit +Came up and thrust ashore its head and bust, +But on the border did not drag its tail. + +The face was as the face of a just man, +Its semblance outwardly was so benign, +And of a serpent all the trunk beside. + +Two paws it had, hairy unto the armpits; +The back, and breast, and both the sides it had +Depicted o'er with nooses and with shields. + +With colours more, groundwork or broidery +Never in cloth did Tartars make nor Turks, +Nor were such tissues by Arachne laid. + +As sometimes wherries lie upon the shore, +That part are in the water, part on land; +And as among the guzzling Germans there, + +The beaver plants himself to wage his war; +So that vile monster lay upon the border, +Which is of stone, and shutteth in the sand. + +His tail was wholly quivering in the void, +Contorting upwards the envenomed fork, +That in the guise of scorpion armed its point. + +The Guide said:"Now perforce must turn aside +Our way a little, even to that beast +Malevolent, that yonder coucheth him." + +We therefore on the right side descended, +And made ten steps upon the outer verge, +Completely to avoid the sand and flame; + +And after we are come to him, I see +A little farther off upon the sand +A people sitting near the hollow place. + +Then said to me the Master:"So that full +Experience of this round thou bear away, +Now go and see what their condition is. + +There let thy conversation be concise; +Till thou returnest I will speak with him, +That he concede to us his stalwart shoulders." + +Thus farther still upon the outermost +Head of that seventh circle all alone +I went, where sat the melancholy folk. + +Out of their eyes was gushing forth their woe; +This way, that way, they helped them with their hands +Now from the flames and now from the hot soil. + +Not otherwise in summer do the dogs, +Now with the foot, now with the muzzle, when so +By fleas, or flies, or gadflies, they are bitten. + +When I had turned mine eyes upon the faces +Of some, on whom the dolorous fire is falling, +Not one of them I knew; but I perceived + +That from the neck of each there hung a pouch, +Which certain colour had, and certain blazon; +And thereupon it seems their eyes are feeding. + +And as I gazing round me come among them, +Upon a yellow pouch I azure saw +That had the face and posture of a lion. + +Proceeding then the current of my sight, +Another of them saw I, red as blood, +Display a goose more white than butter is. + +And one, who with an azure sow and gravid +Emblazoned had his little pouch of white, +Said unto me:"What dost thou in this moat? + +Now get thee gone; and since thou'rt still alive, +Know that a neighbour of mine, Vitaliano, +Will have his seat here on my left-hand side. + +A Paduan am I with these Florentines; +Full many a time they thunder in mine ears, +Exclaiming, ' Come the sovereign cavalier, + +He who shall bring the satchel with three goats;"' +Then twisted he his mouth, and forth he thrust +His tongue, like to an ox that licks its nose. + +And fearing lest my longer stay might vex +Him who had warned me not to tarry long, +Backward I turned me from those weary souls. + +I found my Guide, who had already mounted +Upon the back of that wild animal, +And said to me: " Now be both strong and bold. + +Now we descend by stairways such as these; +Mount thou in front, for I will be midway, +So that the tail may have no power to harm thee." + +Such as he is who has so near the ague +Of quartan that his nails are blue already, +And trembles all, but looking at the shade; + +Even such became I at those proffered words; +But shame in me his menaces produced, +Which maketh servant strong before good master. + +I seated me upon those monstrous shoulders; +I wished to say, and yet the voice came not +As I believed, " Take heed that thou embrace me." + +But he, who other times had rescued me +In other peril, soon as I had mounted, +Within his arms encircled and sustained me, + +And said:"Now, Geryon, bestir thyself; +The circles large, and the descent be little; +Think of the novel burden which thou hast." + +Even as the little vessel shoves from shore, +Backward, still backward, so he thence withdrew; +And when he wholly felt himself afloat, + +There where his breast had been he turned his tail, +And that extended like an eel he moved, +And with his paws drew to himself the air. + +A greater fear I do not think there was +What time abandoned Phaeton the reins, +Whereby the heavens, as still appears, were scorched; + +Nor when the wretched Icarus his flanks +Felt stripped of feathers by the melting wax, +His father crying,"An ill way thou takest!" + +Than was my own, when I perceived myself +On all sides in the air, and saw extinguished +The sight of everything but of the monster. + +Onward he goeth, swimming slowly, slowly; +Wheels and descends, but I perceive it only +By wind upon my face and from below. + +I heard already on the right the whirlpool +Making a horrible crashing under us; +Whence I thrust out my head with eyes cast downward. + +Then was I still more fearful of the abyss; +Because I fires beheld, and heard laments, +Whereat I, trembling, all the closer cling. + +I saw then, for before I had not seen it, +The turning and descending, by great horrors +That were approaching upon divers sides. + +As falcon who has long been on the wing, +Who, without seeing either lure or bird, +Maketh the falconer say, " Ah me, thou stoopest," + +Descendeth weary, whence he started swiftly, +Thorough a hundred circles, and alights +Far from his master, sullen and disdainful; + +Even thus did Geryon place us on the bottom, +Close to the bases of the rough-hewn rock, +And being disencumbered of our persons, + +He sped away as arrow from the string. + +CANTO 18 + +THERE is a place in Hell called Malebolge, +Wholly of stone and of an iron colour, +As is the circle that around it turns. + +Right in the middle of the field malign +There yawns a well exceeding wide and deep, +Of which its place the structure will recount. + +Round, then, is that enclosure which remains +Between the well and foot of the high, hard bank, +And has distinct in valleys ten its bottom. + +As where for the protection of the walls +Many and many moats surround the castles, +The part in which they are a figure forms, + +Just such an image those presented there; +And as about such strongholds from their gates +Unto the outer bank are little bridges, + +So from the precipice's base did crags +Project, which intersected dikes and moats, +Unto the well that truncates and collects them. + +Within this place, down shaken from the back +Of Geryon, we found us; and the Poet +Held to the left, and I moved on behind. + +Upon my right hand I beheld new anguish, +New torments, and new wielders of the lash, +Wherewith the foremost Bolgia was replete. + +Down at the bottom were the sinners naked; +This side the middle came they facing us, +Beyond it, with us, but with greater steps; + +Even as the Romans, for the mighty host, +The year of Jubilee, upon the bridge, +Have chosen a mode to pass the people over; + +For all upon one side towards the Castle +Their faces have, and go unto St. Peter's; +On the other side they go towards the Mountain. + +This side and that, along the livid stone +Beheld I horned demons with great scourges, +Who cruelly were beating them behind. + +Ah me!how they did make them lift their legs +At the first blows ! and sooth not any one +The second waited for, nor for the third. + +While I was going on, mine eyes by one +Encountered were; and straight I said:"Already +With sight of this one I am not unfed." + +Therefore I stayed my feet to make him out, +And with me the sweet Guide came to a stand, +And to my going somewhat back assented; + +And he, the scourged one. thought to hide himself, +Lowering his face, but little it availed him; +For said I:"Thou that castest down thine eyes + +If false are not the features which thou bearest; +Thou art Venedico Caccianimico; +But what doth bring thee to such pungent sauces ? " + +And he to me:"Unwillingly I tell it; +But forces me thine utterance distinct, +Which makes me recollect the ancient world. + +I was the one who the fair Ghisola +Induced to grant the wishes of the Marquis, +Howe'er the shameless story may be told. + +Not the sole Bolognese am I who weeps here; +Nay, rather is this place so full of them, +That not so many tongues to-day are taught + +'Twixt Reno and Savena to say sipa; +And if thereof thou wishest pledge or proof, +Bring to thy mind our avaricious heart." + +While speaking in this manner, with his scourge +A demon smote him, and said:"Get thee +Pander, there are no women here for coin." + +I joined myself again unto mine Escort; +Thereafterward with footsteps few we came +To where a crag projected from the bank. + +This very easily did we ascend, +And turning to the right along its ridge, +From those eternal circles we departe. + +When we were there, where it is hollowed out +Beneath, to give a passage to the scourged, +The Guide said: " Wait, and see that on thee strike + +The vision of those others evil-born, +Of whom thou hast not yet beheld the faces, +Because together with us they have gone." + +From the old bridge we looked upon the train +Which tow'rds us came upon the other border, +And which the scourges in like manner smite. + +And the good Master, without my inquiring, +Said to me: " See that tall one who is coming, +And for his pain seems not to shed a tear; + +Still what a royal aspect he retains! +That Jason is, who by his heart and cunning +The Colchians of the Ram made destitute. + +He by the isle of Lemnos passed along +After the daring women pitiless +Had unto death devoted all their males. + +There with his tokens and with ornate words +Did he deceive Hypsipyle, the maiden +Who first, herself, had all the rest deceived. + +There did he leave her pregnant and forlorn; +Such sin unto such punishment condemns him, +And also for Medea is vengeance done. + +With him go those who in such wise deceive; +And this sufficient be of the first valley +To know, and those that in its jaws it holds." + +We were already where the narrow path +Crosses athwart the second dike, and forms +Of that a buttress for another arch. + +Thence we heard people, who are making moan +In the next Bolgia, snorting with their muzzles, +And with their palms beating upon themselves + +The margins were incrusted with a mould +By exhalation from below, that sticks there, +And with the eyes and nostrils wages war. + +The bottom is so deep, no place suffices +To give us sight of it, without ascending +The arch's back, where most the crag impends. + +Thither we came, and thence down in the moat +I saw a people smothered in a filth +That out of human privies seemed to flow + +And whilst below there with mine eve I search, +I saw one with his head so foul with ordure, +It was not clear if he were clerk or layman. + +He screamed to me:"Wherefore art thou so eager +To look at me more than the other foul ones?" +And I to him:"Because, if I remember, + +I have already seen thee with dry hair, +And thou'rt Alessio Interminei of Lucca; +Therefore I eye thee more than all the others." + +And he thereon, belabouring his pumpkin: +"The flatteries have submerged me here below, +Wherewith my tongue was never surfeited." + +Then said to me the Guide:"See that thou thrust +Thy visage somewhat farther in advance, +That with thine eyes thou well the face attain + +Of that uncleanly and dishevelled drab, +Who there doth scratch herself with filthy nails, +And crouches now, and now on foot is standing. + +Thais the harlot is it, who replied +Unto her paramour, when he said,'Have I +Great gratitude from thee ?'--' Nay, marvellous ; + +And herewith let our sight be satisfied." + +CANTO 19 + +O SIMON MAGUS, +O forlorn disciples, +Ye who the things of God, which ought to be +The brides of holiness, rapaciously + +For silver and for gold do prostitute, +Now it behoves for you the trumpet sound, +Because in this third Bolgia ye abide. + +We had already on the following tomb +Ascended to that portion of the crag +Which o er the middle of the moat hangs plumb. + +Wisdom supreme, O how great art thou showest +In heaven, in earth, and in the evil world, +And with what justice doth thy power distribute ! + +I saw upon the sides and on the bottom +The livid stone with perforations filled, +All of one size, and every one was round. + +To me less ample seemed they not, nor greater +Than those that in my beautiful Saint John +Are fashioned for the place of the baptisers, + +And one of which, not many years ago, +I broke for some one, who was drowning in it; +Be this a sea! all men to undeceive. + +Out of the mouth of each one there protruded +The feet of a transgressor, and the legs +Up to the calf, the rest within remained. + +In all of them the soles were both on fire; +Wherefore the joints so violently quivered, +They would have snapped asunder withes and bands. + +Even as the flame of unctuous things is wont +To move upon the outer surface only, +So likewise was it there from heel to point. + +"Master, who is that one who writhes himself, +More than his other comrades quivering," +I said. " and whom a redder flame is sucking?" + +And he to me:"If thou wilt have me bear thee +Down there along that bank which lowest lies, +From him thou'lt know his errors and himself." + +And I:"What pleases thee, to me is pleasing; +Thou art my Lord, and knowest that I depart not +From thy desire, and knowest what is not spoken." + +Straightway upon the fourth dike we arrived; +We turned, and on the left-hand side descended +Down to the bottom full of holes and narrow. + +And the good Master yet from off his haunch +Deposed me not, till to the hole he brought me +Of him who so lamented with his shanks. + +"Whoe'er thou art, that standest upside down, +O doleful soul, implanted like a stake," +To say began I, " if thou canst, speak out." + +I stood even as the friar who is confessing +The false assassin, who, when he is fixed, +Recalls him, so that death may be delayed. + +And he cried out:"Dost thou stand there already, +Dost thou stand there already, Boniface? +By many years the record lied to me. + +Art thou so early satiate with that wealth, +For which thou didst not fear to take by fraud +The beautiful Lady, and then work her woe?" + +Such I became, as people are who stand, +Not comprehending what is answered them, +As if bemocked, and know not how to answer. + +Then said Virgilius:"Say to him straightway, +'I am not he, I am not he thou thinkest." +And I replied as was imposed on me. + +Whereat the spirit writhed with both his feet, +Then, sighing, with a voice of lamentation +Said to me: " Then what wantest thou of me? + +If who I am thou carest so much to know, +That thou on that account hast crossed the bank, +now that I vested was with the great mantle; + +And truly was I son of the She-bear, +So eager to advance the cubs, that wealth +Above, and here myself,I pocketed. + +Beneath my head the others are dragged down +Who have preceded me in simony, +Flattened along the fissure of the rock. + +Below there I shall likewise fall, whenever +That one shall come who I believed thou wast, +What time the sudden question I proposed. + +But lon er I my feet already toast, +And here have been in this way upside down. +Than he will planted stay with reddened feet; + +For after him shall come of fouler deed +From tow'rds the west a Pastor without law, +Such as befits to cover him and me. + +New Jason will he be, of whom we read +In Maccabees j and as his king was pliant, +So he who governs France shall be to this one." + +I do not know if I were here too bold, +That him I answered only in this metre: +"I pray thee tell me now how great a treasure + +Our Lord demanded of Saint Peter first, +Before he put the keys into his keeping? +Truly he nothing asked but 'Follow me.' + +Nor Peter nor the rest asked of Matthias +Silver or gold, when he by lot was chosen +Unto the place the guilty soul had lost. + +Therefore stay here, for thou art justly punished, +And keep safe guard o'er the ill-gotten money, +Which caused thee to be valiant against Charles. + +And were it not that still forbids it me +The reverence for the keys superlative +Thou hadst in keeping in the gladsome life, + +I would make use of words more grievous still; +Because your avarice afflicts the world, +Trampling the good and lifting the depraved. + +The Evangelist you Pastors had in mind, +When she who sitteth upon many waters +To fornicate with kings by him was seen; + +The same who with the seven heads was born, +And power and strength from the ten horns received, +So long as virtue to her spouse was pleasing. + +Ye have made yourselves a god of gold and silver; +And from the idolater how differ ye, +Save that he one, and ye a hundred worship? + +Ah, Constantine ! of how much ill was mother, +Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower +Which the first wealthy Father took from thee!" + +And while I sang to him such notes as these. +Either that anger or that conscience stung him, +He struggled violently with both his feet. + +I think in sooth that it my Leader pleased, +With such contented lip he listened ever +Unto the sound of the true words expressed. + +Therefore with both his arms he took me up, +And when he had me all upon his breast, +Remounted by the way where he descended. + +Nor did he tire to have me clasped to him; +Rut bore me to the summit of the arch +Which from the fourth dike to the fifth is passage. + +There tenderly he laid his burden down, +Tenderly on the crag uneven and steep, +That would have been hard passage for the goats: + +Thence was unveiled to me another valley. + +CANTO 20 + +OF a new pain behoves me to make verses +And give material to the twentieth canto +Of the first song, which is of the submerged. + +I was already thoroughly disposed +To peer down into the uncovered depth, +Which bathed itself with tears of agony; + +And people saw I through the circular valley, +Silent and weeping, coming at the pace +Which in this world the Litanies assume. + +As lower down my sight descended on them, +Wondrously each one seemed to be distorted +From chin to the beginning of the chest; + +For tow'rds the reins the countenance was turned, +And backward it behoved them to advance, +As to look forward had been taken from them. + +Perchance indeed by violence of palsy +Some one has been thus wholly turned awry; +But I ne'er saw it. nor believe it can be. + +As God may let thee, Reader, gather fruit +From this thy reading,think now for thyself +How I could ever keep my face unmoistened, + +When our own image near me I beheld +Distorted so, the weeping of the eyes +Along the fissure bathed the hinder parts. + +Truly I wept, leaning upon a peak +Of the hard crag, so that my Escort said +To me:"Art thou, too, of the other fools? + +Here pity lives when it is wholly dead; +Who is a greater reprobate than he +Who feels compassion at the doom divine? + +Lift up,lift up thy head, and see for whom +opened the earth before the Thebans' eyes; +Wherefore they all cried: ' Whither rushest thou, + +Amphiaraus? Why dost leave the war?' +And downward ceased he not to fall amain +As far as Minos, who lays hold on all. + +See, he has made a bosom of his shoulders! +Because he wished to see too far before him +Behind he looks, and backward goes his way: + +Behold Tiresias, who his semblance changed, +When from a male a female he became, +His members being all of them transformed; + +And afterwards was forced to strike once more +The two entangled serpents with his rod, +Ere he could have again his manly plumes. + +That Aruns is, who backs the other's belly, +Who in the hills of Luni, there where grubs +The Carrarese who houses underneath, + +Among the marbles white a cavern had +For his abode; whence to behold the stars +And sea, the view was not cut off from him. + +And she there, who is covering up her breasts, +Which thou beholdest not, with loosened tresses, +And on that side has all the hairy skin, + +Was Manto, who made quest through many lands, +Afterwards tarried there where I was born; +Whereof I would thou list to me a little. + +After her father had from life departed, +And the city of Bacchus had become enslaved, +She a long season wandered through the world. + +Above in beauteous Italy lies a lake +At the Alp's foot that shuts in Germany +Over Tyrol, and has the name Benaco. + +By a thousand springs, I think, and more, is bathed, +'Twixt Garda and Val Camonica, Pennino, +With water that grows stagnant in that lake. + +Midway a place is where the Trentine Pastor, +And he of Brescia, and the Veronese +Might give his blessing, if he passed that way. + +Sitteth Peschiera, fortress fair and strong, +To front the Brescians and the Bergamasks, +Where round about the bank descendeth lowest. + +There of necessity must fall whatever +In bosom of Benaco cannot stay, +And grows a river down through verdant pastures. + +Soon as the water doth begin to run +No more Benaco is it called, but Mincio, +Far as Governo, where it falls in Po. + +Not far it runs before it finds a plain +In which it spreads itself, and makes it marshy, +And oft 'tis wont in summer to be sickly. + +Passing that way the virgin pitiless +Land in the middle of the fen descried, +Untilled and naked of inhabitants; + +There to escape all human intercourse, +She with her servants stayed, her arts to practise +And lived, and left her empty body there. + +The men, thereafter, who were scattered round, +Collected in that place, which was made strong +By the lagoon it had on every side; + +They built their city over those dead bones, +And, after her who first the place selected, +Mantua named it, without other omen. + +Its people once within more crowded were, +Ere the stupidity of Casalodi +From Pinamonte had received deceit. + +Therefore I caution thee, if e'er thou hearest +Originate my city otherwise, +No falsehood may the verity defraud." + +And I:"My Master, thy discourses are +To me so certain, and so take my faith, +That unto me the rest would be spent coals. + +But tell me of the people who are passing, +If any one note-worthy thou beholdest, +For only unto that my mind reverts." + +Then said he to me:"He who from the cheek +Thrusts out his beard upon his swarthy shoulders +Was, at the time when Greece was void of males, + +So that there scarce remained one in the cradle, +An augur, and with Calchas gave the moment, +In Aulis, when to sever the first cable. + +Eryphylus his name was, and so sings +My lofty Tragedy in some part or other; +That knowest thou well, who knowest the whole of it. + +The next, who is so slender in the flanks, +Was Michael Scott, who of a verity +Of magical illusions knew the game. + +Behold Guido Bonatti, behold Asdente +Who now unto his leather and his thread +Would fain have stuck, but he too late repents. + +Behold the wretched ones, who left the needle, +The spool and rock, and made them fortune-tellers; +They wrought their magic spells with herb and image. + +But come now, for already holds the confines +Of both the hemispheres, and under Seville +Touches the ocean-wave, Cain and the thorns, + +And yesternight the moon was round already; +Thou shouldst remember well it did not harm thee +From time to time within the forest deep." + +Thus spake he to me, and we walked the while. + +CANTO 21 + +FROM bridge to bridge thus, speaking other things +Of which my Comedy cares not to sing, +We came along, and held the summit, when + +We halted to behold another fissure +Of Malebolge and other vain laments; +And I beheld it marvellously dark. + +As in the Arsenal of the Venetians +Boils in the winter the tenacious pitch +To smear their unsound vessels o'er again, + +For sail they cannot; and instead thereof +One makes his vessel new, and one recaulks +The ribs of that which many a voyage has made; + +One hammers at the prow, one at the stern, +This one makes oars, and that one cordage twists, +Another mends the mainsail and the mizzen; + +Thus, not by fire, but by the art divine, +Was boiling down below there a dense pitch +Which upon every side the bank belimed. + +I saw it, but I did not see within it +Aught but the bubbles that the boiling raised, +And all swell up and resubside compressed. + +The while below there fixedly I gazed, +My Leader, crying out: " Beware, beware!" +Drew me unto himself from where I stood. + +Then I turned round, as one who is impatient +To see what it behoves him to escape, +And whom a sudden terror doth unman. + +Who, while he looks, delays not his departure; +And I beheld behind us a black devil, +Running along upon the crag, approach. + +Ah, how ferocious was he in his aspect! +And how he seemed to me in action ruthless, +With open wings and light upon his feet! + +His shoulders, which sharp-pointed were and high, +A sinner did encumber with both haunches, +And he held clutched the sinews of the feet. + +From off our bridge, he said: "O Malebranche, +Behold one of the elders of Saint Zita; +Plunge him beneath, for I return for others + +Unto that town, which is well furnished with them. +All there are barrators, except Bonturo; +No into Yes for money there is changed." + +He hurled him down, and over the hard crag +Turned round, and never was a mastiff loosened +In so much hurry to pursue a thief. + +The other sank, and rose again face downward; +But the demons, under cover of the bridge, +Cried:"Here the Santo Volto has no place! + +Here swims one otherwise than in the Serchio; +Therefore, if for our gaffs thou wishest not, +Do not uplift thyself above the pitch." + +They seized him then with more than a hundred rakes; +They said: " It here behoves thee to dance covered, +That, if thou canst, thou secretly mayest pilfer." + +Not otherwise the cooks their scullions make +Immerse into the middle of the caldron +The meat with hooks, so that it may not float. + +Said the good Master to me:"That it be not +Apparent thou art here, crouch thyself down +Behind a jag, that thou mayest have some screen; + +And for no outrage that is done to me +Be thou afraid, because these things I know, +For once before was I in such a scuffle." + +Then he passed on beyond the bridge's head, +And as upon the sixth bank he arrived, +Need was for him to have a steadfast front. + +With the same fury, and the same uproar, +As dogs leap out upon a mendicant, +Who on a sudden begs, where'er he stops, + +They issued from beneath the little bridge, +And turned against him all their grappling-irons; +But he cried out: " Be none of you malignant! + +Before those hooks of yours lay hold of me, +Let one of you step forward, who may hear me, +And then take counsel as to grappling me." + +They all cried out:"Let Malacoda go;" +Whereat one started, and the rest stood still, +And he came to him, saying: " What avails it?" + +"Thinkest thou, Malacoda, to behold me +Advanced into this place,"my Master said, +"Safe hitherto from all your skill of fence, + +Without the will divine, and fate auspicious? +Let me go on, for it in Heaven is willed +That I another show this savage road." + +Then was his arrogance so humbled in him, +That he let fall his grapnel at his feet, +And to the others said: " Now strike him not." + +And unto me my Guide:"O thou, who sittest +Among the splinters of the bridge crouched down, +Securely now return to me again." + +Wherefore I started and came swiftly to him; +And all the devils forward thrust themselves, +So that I feared they would not keep their compact. + +And thus beheld I once afraid the soldiers +Who issued under safeguard from Caprona, +Seeing themselves among so many foes. + +Close did I press myself with all my person +Beside my Leader, and turned not mine eyes +From off their countenance, which was not good. + +They lowered their rakes, and "Wilt thou have me hit him," They +said to one another, "on the rump?" +And answered:"Yes; see that thou nick him with it." + +But the same demon who was holding parley +With my Conductor turned him very quickly, +And said:"Be quiet, be quiet, Scarmiglione;" + +Then said to us:"You can no farther go +Forward upon this crag, because is Iying +All shattered, at the bottom, the sixth arch. + +And if it still doth please you to go onward, +Pursue your way along upon this rock; +Near is another crag that yields a path. + +Yesterday, five hours later than this hour, +One thousand and two hundred sixty-six +Years were complete, that here the way was broken. + +I send in that direction some of mine +To see if any one doth air himself; +Go ye with them; for they will not be vicious. + +Step forward, Alichino and Calcabrina," +Began he to cry out, " and thou, Cagnazzo; +And Barbariccia, do thou guide the ten. + +Come forward, Libicocco and Draghignazzo, +And tusked Ciriatto and Graffiacane, +And Farfarello and mad Rubicante; + +Search ye all round about the boiling pitch; +Let these be safe as far as the next crag, +That all unbroken passes o'er the dens." + +"O me! what is it, Master, that I see? +Pray let us go," I said, " without an escort, +If thou knowest how, since for myself I ask none. + +If thou art as observant as thy wont is, +Dost thou not see that they do gnash their teeth, +And with their brows are threatening woe to us?" + +And he to me:"I will not have thee fear; +Let them gnash on, according to their fancy, +Because they do it for those boiling wretches." + +Along the left-hand dike they wheeled about; +But first had each one thrust his tongue between +His teeth towards their leader for a signal; + +And he had made a trumpet of his rump. + +CANTO 22 + +I HAVE erewhile seen horsemen moving camp, +Begin the storming, and their muster make, +And sometimes starting off for their escape; + + +Vaunt-couriers have I seen upon your land, +O Aretines, and foragers go forth, +Tournaments stricken, and the joustings run, + +Sometimes with trumpets and sometimes with bells, +With kettle-drums, and signals of the castles, +And with our own, and with outlandish things, + +But never yet with bagpipe so uncouth +Did I see horsemen move, nor infantry, +Nor ship by any sign of land or star. + +We went upon our way with the ten demons: +Ah, savage company ! but in the church +With saints, and in the tavern with the gluttons! + +Ever upon the pitch was my intent, +To see the whole condition of that Bolgia, +And of the people who therein were burned. + +Even as the dolphins, when they make a sign +To mariners by arching of the back, +That they should counsel take to save their vessel, + +Thus sometimes, to alleviate his pain, +One of the sinners would display his back, +And in less time conceal it than it lightens. + +As on the brink of water in a ditch +The frogs stand only with their muzzles out, +So that they hide their feet and other bulk. + +So upon every side the sinners stood; +But ever as Barbariccia near them came, +Thus underneath the boiling they withdrew. + +I saw, and still my heart doth shudder at it, +One waiting thus, even as it comes to pass +One frog remains, and down another dives; + +And Graffiacan, who most confronted him, +Grappled him by his tresses smeared with pitch, +And drew him up, so that he seemed an otter. + +I knew, before, the names of all of them, +So had I noted them when they were chosen, +And when they called each other, listened how. + +"O Rubicante, see that thou do lay +Thy claws upon him, so that thou mayst flay him," +Cried all together the accursed ones. + +And I:"My Master, see to it, if thou canst, +That thou mayst know who is the luckless wight, +Thus come into his adversaries' hands." + +Near to the side of him my Leader drew, +Asked of him whence he was; and he replied: +"I in the kingdom of Navarre was born; + +My mother placed me servant to a lord, +For she had borne me to a ribald knave, +Destroyer of himself and of his things. + +Then I domestic was of good King Thibault; +I set me there to practise barratry, +For which I pay the reckoning in this heat." + +And Ciriatto, from whose mouth projected, +On either side, a tusk, as in a boar, +Caused him to feel how one of them could rip. + +Among malicious cats the mouse had come; +But Barbariccia clasped him in his arms, +And said: " Stand ye aside, while I enfork him." + +And to my Master he turned round his head; +"Ask him again," he said,"if more thou wish +To know from him, before some one destroy him." + +The Guide:"Now tell then of the other culprits; +Knowest thou any one who is a Latian, +Under the pitch ?" And he:"I separated + +Lately from one who was a neighbour to it; +Would that I still were covered up with him, +For I should fear not either claw nor hook!" + +And Libicocco:"We have borne too much;" +And with his grapnel seized him by the arm, +So that, by rending, he tore off a tendon. + +Eke Draghignazzo wished to pounce upon him +Down at the legs; whence their Decurion +Turned round and round about with evil look. + +When they again somewhat were pacified, +Of him, who still was looking at his wound, +Demanded my Conductor without stay: + +"Who was that one, from whom a luckless parting +Thou sayest thou hast made, to come ashore?" +And he replied " It was the Friar Gomita, + +He of Gallura, vessel of all fraud, +Who had the enemies of his Lord in hand, +And dealt so with them each exults thereat; + +Money he took, and let them smoothly off, +As he says; and in other offices +A barrator was he, not mean but sovereign. + +Foregathers with him one Don Michael Zanche +Of Logodoro; and of Sardinia +To gossip never do their tongues feel tired. + +O me ! see that one, how he grinds his teeth; +Still farther would I speak, but am afraid +Lest he to scratch my itch be making ready." + +And the grand Provost, turned to Farfarello, +Who rolled his eyes about as if to strike, +Said: " Stand aside there, thou malicious bird." + +"If you desire either to see or hear," +The terror-stricken recommenced thereon, +"Tuscans or Lombards. I will make them come. + +But let the Malebranche cease a little, +So that these may not their revenges fear, +And I, down sitting in this very place, + +For one that I am will make seven come, +When I shall whistle, as our custom is +To do whenever one of us comes out." + +Cagnazzo at these words his muzzle lifted, +Shaking his head, and said:"Just hear the trick +Which he has thought of, down to throw himself! + +Whence he, who snares in great abundance had, +Responded: " I by far too cunning am, +When I procure for mine a greater sadness." + +Alichin held not in, but running counter +Unto the rest, said to him:"If thou dive, +I will not follow thee upon the gallop, + +But I will beat my wings above the pitch; +The height be left, and be the bank a shield +To see if thou alone dost countervail us." + +O thou who readest, thou shalt hear new sport! +Each to the other side his eyes averted; +He first, who most reluctant was to do it. + +The Navarrese selected well his time; +Planted his feet on land, and in a moment +Leaped, and released himself from their design. + +Whereat each one was suddenly stung with shame, +But he most who was cause of the defeat; +Therefore he moved, and cried: " Thou art o'ertakern." + +But little it availed, for wings could not +Outstrip the fear; the other one went under, +And, flying, upward he his breast directed; + +Not otherwise the duck upon a sudden +Dives under, when the falcon is approaching, +And upward he returneth cross and weary. + +Infuriate at the mockery, Calcabrina +Flying behind him followed close, desirous +The other should escape, to have a quarrel. + +And when the barrator had disappeared, +He turned his talons upon his companion, +And grappled with him right above the moat. + +But sooth the other was a doughty sparhawk +To clapperclaw him well; and both of them +Fell in the middle of the boiling pond. + +A sudden intercessor was the heat; +But ne'ertheless of rising there was naught, +To such degree they had their wings belimed. + +Lamenting with the others, Barbariccia +Made four of them fly to the other side +With all their gaffs, and very speedily + +This side and that they to their posts descended; +They stretched their hooks towards the pitch-ensnared, +Who were already baked within the crust, + +And in this manner busied did we leave them. + +CANTO 23 + +SILENT, alone, and without company +We went, the one in front, the other after, +As go the Minor Friars along their way + +Upon the fable of Aesop was directed +My thought, by reason of the present quarrel, +Where he has spoken of the frog and mouse; + +For mo and issa are not more alike +Than this one is to that, if well we couple +End and beginning with a steadfast mind. + +And even as one thought from another springs, +So afterward from that was born another, +Which the first fear within me double made. + +Thus did I ponder:"These on our account +Are laughed to scorn, with injury and scoff +So great, that much I think it must annoy them. + +If anger be engrafted on ill-will, +They will come after us more merciless +Than dog upon the leveret which he seizes," + +I felt my hair stand all on end already +With terror, and stood backwardly intent, +When said I: " Master, if thou hidest not + +Thyself and me forthwith, of Malebranche +I am in dread; we have them now behind us; +I so. imagine them, I already feel them" + +And he:"If I were made of leaded glass +Thine outward image I should not attract +Sooner to me than I imprint the inner. + +Just now thy thoughts came in among my own, +With similar attitude and similar face, +So that of both one counsel sole I made. + +If peradventure the right bank so slope +That we to the next Bolgia can descend. +We shall escape from the imagined chase." + +Not yet he finished rendering such opinion. +When I beheld them come with outstretched wings, +Not far remote, with will to seize upon us. + +My Leader on a sudden seized me up, +Even as a mother who by noise is wakened, +And close beside her sees the enkindled flames, + +Who takes her son, and flies, and does not stop, +Having more care of him than of herself, +So that she clothes her only with a shift; + +And downward from the top of the hard bank +Supine he gave him to the pendent rock, +That one side of the other Bolgia walls. + +Ne'er ran so swiftly water through a sluice +To turn the water of any land-built mill, +When nearest to the paddles it approaches, + +As did my Master down along that border, +Bearing me with him on his breast away, +As his own son, and not as a companion. + +Hardly the bed of the ravine below +His feet had reached, ere they had reached the hill +Right over us; but he was not afraid; + +For the high Providence, which had ordained +To place them ministers of the fifth moat, +The power of thence departing took from all. + +A painted people there below we found, +Who went about with footsteps very slow, +Weeping and in their semblance tired and vanquished. + +They had on mantles with the hoods low down +Before their eyes, and fashioned of the cut +That in Cologne they for the monks arc made. + +Without, they gilded are so that it dazzles; +But inwardly all leaden and so heavy +That Frederick used to put them on of straw. + +O everlastingly fatiguing mantle! +Again we turned us, still to the left hand +Along with them, intent on their sad plaint; + +But owing to the weight, that weary folk +Came on so tardily, that we were new +In company at each motion of the haunch. + +Whence I unto my Leader:"See thou find +Some one who may by deed or name be known, +And thus in going move thine eye about." + +And one,who understood the Tuscan speech +Cried to us from behind:"Stay ye your feet +Ye, who so run athwart the dusky air + +Perhaps thou'lt have from me what thou demandest." +Whereat the Leader turned him, and said:"Wait, +And then according to his pace proceed." + +I stopped, and two beheld I show great haste +Of spirit, in their faces, to be with me; +But the burden and the narrow way delayed them. + +When they came up, long with an eye askance +They scanned me without uttering a word. +Then to each other turned, and said together: + +"He by the action of his throat seems living; +And if they dead are, by what privilege +Go they uncovered by the heavy stole?" + +Then said to me:"Tuscan, who to the college +Of miserable hypocrites art come, +Do not disdain to tell us who thou art." + +And I to them:"Born was I, and grew up +In the great town on the fair river of Arno, +And with the body am I've always had. + +But who are ye, in whom there trickles down +Along your cheeks such grief as I behold? +And what pain is upon you, that so sparkles?" + +And one replied to me:"These orange cloaks +Are made of lead so heavy, that the weights +Cause in this way their balances to creak. + +Frati Gaudenti were we, and Bolognese; +I Catalano, and he Loderingo +Named, and together taken by thy city, + +As the wont is to take one man alone, +For maintenance of its peace; and we were such +That still it is apparent round Gardingo." + +"O Friars,"began I,"your iniquitous ..." +But said no more; for to mine eyes there rushed +One crucified with three stakes on the ground. + +When me he saw, he writhed himself all over, +Blowing into his beard with suspirations; +And the Friar Catalan, who noticed this, + +Said to me:"This transfixed one, whom thou seest, +Counselled the Pharisees that it was meet +To put one man to torture for the people. + +Crosswise and naked is he on the path, +As thou perceivest; and he needs must feel, +Whoever passes, first how much he weighs; + +And in like mode his father-in-law is punished +Within this moat, and the others of the council, +Which for the Jews was a malignant seed." + +And thereupon I saw Virgilius marvel +O'er him who was extended on the cross +So vilely in eternal banishment. + +Then he directed to the Friar this voice: +"Be not displeased, if granted thee, to tell us +If to the right hand any pass slope down + +By which we two may issue forth from here, +Without constraining some of the black angels +To come and extricate us from this deep." + +Then he made answer:"Nearer than thou hopest +There is a rock, that forth from the great circle +Proceeds, and crosses all the cruel valleys, + +Save that at this 'tis broken, and does not bridge it; +You will be able to mount up the ruin, +That sidelong slopes and at the bottom rises." + +The Leader stood awhile with head bowed down; +Then said: " The business badly he recounted +Who grapples with his hook the sinners yonder." + +And the Friar:"Many of the Devil's vices +Once heard I at Bologna, and among them, +That he's a liar and the father of lies." + +Thereat my Leader with great strides went on, +Somewhat disturbed with anger in his looks; +Whence from the heavy-laden I departed + +After the prints of his beloved feet. + +CANTO 24 + +IN that part of the youthful year wherein +The Sun his locks beneath Aquarius tempers, +And now the nights draw near to half the day, + +What time the hoar-frost copies on the ground +The outward semblance of her sister white, +But little lasts the temper of her pen, + +The husbandman, whose forage faileth him, +Rises, and looks, and seeth the champaign +All gleaming white, whereat he beats his flank, + +Returns in doors, and up and down laments, +Like a poor wretch, who knows not what to do; +Then he returns and hope revives again, + +Seeing the world has changed its countenance +In little time, and takes his shepherd's crook, +And forth the little lambs to pasture drives. + +Thus did the Master fill me with alarm +When I beheld his forehead so disturbed, +And to the ailment came as soon the plaster. + +For as we came unto the ruined bridge +The Leader turned to me with that sweet look +Which at the mountain's foot I first beheld. + +His arms he opened, after some advisement +Within himself elected, looking first +Well at the ruin, and laid hold of me. + +And even as he who acts and meditates, +For aye it seems that he provides beforehand, +So upward lifting me towards the summit + +Of a huge rock, he scanned another crag, +Saying: " To that one grapple afterwards, +But try first if 'tis such that it will hold thee." + +This was no way for one clothed with a cloak; +For hardly we, he light, and I pushed upward, +Were able to ascend from jag to jag. + +And had it not been, that upon that precinct +Shorter was the ascent than on the other, +He I know not, but I had been dead beat. + +But because Malebolge tow'rds the mouth +Of the profoundest well is all inclining, +The structure of each valley doth import + +That one bank rises and the other sinks. +Still we arrived at length upon the point +Wherefrom the last stone breaks itself asunder. + +The breath was from my lungs so milked away, +When I was up, that I could go no farther, +Nay, I sat down upon my first arrival. + +"Now it behoves thee thus to put off sloth," +My Master said; " for sitting upon down, +Or under quilt, one cometh not to fame, + +Withouten which whoso his life consumes +Such vestige leaveth of himself on earth. +As smoke in air or in the water foam. + +And therefore raise thee up, o'ercome the anguish +With spirit that o'ercometh every battle, +If with its heavy body it sink not. + +A longer stairway it behoves thee mount; +'Tis not enough from these to have departed; +Let it avail thee, if thou understand me." + +Then I uprose,showing myself provided +Better with breath than I did feel myself, +And said: " Go on, for I am strong and bold." + +Upward we took our way along the crag, +Which jagged was, and narrow, and difficult, +And more precipitous far than that before. + +Speaking I went,not to appear exhausted; +Whereat a voice from the next moat came forth, +Not well adapted to articulate words. + +I know not what it said, though o'er the back +I now was of the arch that passes there; +But he seemed moved to anger who was speaking + +I was bent downward, but my living eyes +Could not attain the bottom, for the dark; +Wherefore I: " Master, see that thou arrive + +At the next round, and let us descend the wall; +For as from hence I hear and understand not, +So I look down and nothing I distinguish." + +"Other response,"he said,"I make thee not, +Except the doing; for the modest asking +Ought to be followed by the deed in silence." + +We from the bridge descended at its head, +Where it connects itself with the eighth bank, +And then was manifest to me the Bolgia; + +And I beheld therein a terrible throng +Of serpents, and of such a monstrous kind, +That the remembrance still congeals my blood + +Let Libya boast no longer with her sand; +For if Chelydri, Jaculi, and Pharae +She breeds, with Cenchri and with Ammhisbaena. + +Neither so many plagues nor so malignant +E'er showed she with all Ethiopia, +Nor with whatever on the Red Sea is! + +Among this cruel and most dismal throng +People were running naked and affrighted. +Without the hope of hole or heliotrope. + +They had their hands with serpents bound behind them; +These riveted upon their reins the tail +And head, and were in front of them entwined. + +And lo! at one who was upon our side +There darted forth a serpent, which transfixed him +There where the neck is knotted to the shoulders. + +Nor O so quickly e'er, nor I was written, +As he took fire, and burned; and ashes wholly +Behoved it that in falling he became. + +And when he on the ground was thus destroyed, +The ashes drew together, and of themselves +Into himself they instantly returned. + +Even thus by the great sages 'tis confessed +The phoenix dies, and then is born again, +When it approaches its five-hundredth year; + +On herb or grain it feeds not in its life, +But only on tears of incense and amomum, +And nard and myrrh are its last winding-sheet. + +And as he is who falls, and knows not how, +By force of demons who to earth down drag him, +Or other oppilation that binds man, + +When he arises and around him looks, +Wholly bewildered by the mighty anguish +Which he has suffered, and in looking sighs; + +Such was that sinner after he had risen. +Justice of God! O how severe it is, +That blows like these in vengeance poureth down! + +The Guide thereafter asked him who he was; +Whence he replied: " I rained from Tuscany +A short time since into this cruel gorge. + +A bestial life, and not a human, pleased me, +Even as the mule I was; I'm Vanni Fucci, +Beast, and Pistoia was my worthy den." + +And I unto the Guide:"Tell him to stir not, +And ask what crime has thrust him here below, +For once a man of blood and wrath I saw him." + +And the sinner, who had heard, dissembled not, +But unto me directed mind and face, +And with a melancholy shame was painted. + +Then said: " It pains me more that thou hast caught me +Amid this misery where thou seest me, +Than when I from the other life was taken. + +What thou demandest r cannot deny; +So low am I put down because I robbed +The sacristy of the fair ornaments, + +And falsely once 'twas laid upon another; +But that thou mayst not such a sight enjoy, +If thou shalt e'er be out of the dark places, + +Thine ears to my announcement ope and hear: +Pistoia first of Neri groweth meagre; +Then Florence doth renew her men and manners; + +Mars draws a vapour up from Val di Magra, +Which is with turbid clouds enveloped round, +And with impetuous and bitter tempest + +Over Campo Picen shall be the battle; +When it shall suddenly rend the mist asunder, +So that each Bianco shall thereby be smitten + +And this I've said that it may give thee pain." + +CANTO 25 + +At the conclusion of his words, the thief +Lifted his hands aloft with both the figs, +Crying : " Take that, God, for at thee I aim them." + +From that time forth the serpents were my friends; +For one entwined itself about his neck +As if it said: " I will not thou speak more; " + +And round his arms another, and rebound him, +Clinching itself together so in front, +That with them he could not a motion make, + +Pistoia, ah, Pistoia ! why resolve not +To burn thyself to ashes and so perish, +Since in ill-doing thou thy seed excellest? + +Through all the sombre circles of this Hell, +Spirit I saw not against God so proud, +Not he who fell at Thebes down from the walls! + +He fled away, and spake no further word; +And I beheld a Centaur full of rage +Come crying out: " Where is, where is the scoffer?" + +I do not think Maremma has so many +Serpents as he had all along his back, +As far as where our countenance begins. + +Upon the shoulders, just behind the nape, +With wings wide open was a dragon lying, +And he sets fire to all that he encounters. + +My Master said:"That one is Cacus, who +Beneath the rock upon Mount Aventine +Created oftentimes a lake of blood. + +He goes not on the same road with his brothers, +By reason of the fraudulent theft he made +Of the great herd, which he had near to him; + +Whereat his tortuous actions ceased beneath +The mace of Hercules, who peradventure +Gave him a hundred, and he felt not ten." + +While he was speaking thus, he had passed by, +And spirits three ha(l underneath us come, +Of which nor I aware was, nor my Leader + +Until what time they shouted: "Who are you?" +On which account our story made a halt +And then we were intent on them alone. + +I did not know them; but it came to pass, +As it is wont to happen by some chance, +That one to name the other was compelled, + +Exclaiming:"Where can Cianfa have remained?" +Whence I, so that the Leader might attend, +Upward from chin to nose my finger laid. + +If thou art,Reader, slow now to believe +What I shall say, it will no marvel be, +For I who saw it hardly can admit it. + +As I was holding raised on them my brows, +Behold ! a serpent with six feet darts forth +In front of one, and fastens wholly on him. + +With middle feet it bound him round the paunch, +And with the forward ones his arms it seized; +Then thrust its teeth through one cheek and the other; + +The hindermost it stretched upon his thighs, +And put its tail through in between the two, +And up behind along the reins outspread it. + +Ivy was never fastened by its barbs +Unto a tree so, as this horrible reptile +Upon the other's limbs entwined its own. + +Then they stuck close, as if of heated wax +They had been made, and intermixed their colour; +Nor one nor other seemed now what he was; + +E'en as proceedeth on before the flame +Upward along the paper a brown colour, +Which is not black as yet, and the white dies. + +The other two looked on, and each of them +Cried out: " O me, Agnello, how thou changest! +Behold, thou now art neither two nor one." + +Already the two heads had one become, +When there appeared to us two figures mingled +Into one face, wherein the two were lost. + +Of the four lists were fashioned the two arms, +The thighs and legs, the belly and the chest +Members became that never yet were seen. + +Every original aspect there was cancelled; +Two and yet none did the perverted image +Appear, and such departed with slow pace. + +Even as a lizard, under the great scourge +Of days canicular, exchanging hedge, +Lightning appeareth if the road it cross; + +Thus did appear, coming towards the bellies +Of the two others, a small fiery serpent, +Livid and black as is a peppercorn. + +And in that part whereat is first received +Our aliment, it one of them transfixed; +Then downward fell in front of him extended. + +The one transfixed looked at it, but said naught; +Nay, rather with feet motionless he yawned, +Just as if sleep or fever had assailed him. + +He at the serpent gazed, and it at him; +One through the wound, the other through the mouth +Smoked violently, and the smoke commingled. + +Henceforth be silent Lucan, where he mentions +Wretched Sabellus and Nassidius, +And wait to hear what now wil be shot forth. + +Be silent Ovid, of Cadmus and Arethusa; +For if him to a snake, her to a fountain, +Converts he fabling, that I grudge him not; + +Because two natures never front to front +Has he transmuted, so that both the forms +To interchange their matter ready were. + +Together they responded in such wise, +That to a fork the serpent cleft his tail, +And eke the wounded drew his feet together. + +The legs together with the thighs themselves +Adhered so, that in little time the juncture +No sign whatever made that was apparent. + +He with the cloven tail assumed the figure +The other one was losing, and his skin +Became elastic, and the other's hard. + +I saw the arms draw inward at the armpits, +And both feet of the reptile, that were short, +Lengthen as much as those contracted were. + +Thereafter the hind feet, together twisted, +Became the member that a man conceals, +And of his own the wretch had two created. + +While both of them the exhalation veils +With a new colour, and engenders hair +On one of them and depilates the other, + +The one uprose and down the other fell, +Though turning not away their impious lamps, +Underneath which each one his muzzle changed. + +He who was standing drew it tow'rds the temples, +And from excess of matter, which came thither, +Issued the ears from out the hollow cheeks; + +What did not backward run and was retained +Of that excess made to the face a nose, +And the lips thickened far as was befitting. + +He who lay prostrate thrusts his muzzle forward, +And backward draws the ears into his head, +In the same manner as the snail its horns + +And so the tongue, which was entire and apt +For speech before, is cleft, and the bi-forked +In the other closes up, and the smoke ceases. + +The soul,which to a reptile had been changed, +Along the valley hissing takes to flight, +And after him the other speaking sputters. + +Then did he turn upon him his new shoulders, +And said to the other: " I'll have Buoso run, +Crawling as I have done, along this road." + +In this way I beheld the seventh ballast +Shift and reshift, and here be my excuse +The novelty, if aught my pen transgress. + +And notwithstanding that mine eyes might be +Somewhat bewildered, and my mind dismayed, +They could not flee away so secretly + +But that I plainly saw Puccio Sciancato; +And he it was who sole of three companions, +Which came in the beginning, was not changed; + +The other was he whom thou, Gaville, weepest. + +CANTO 26 + +REJOICE, 0 Florence, since thou art so great, +That over sea and land thou beatest thy wings, +And throughout Hell thy name is spread abroad + +Among the thieves five citizens of thine +Like these I found, whence shame comes unto me, +And thou thereby to no great honour risest. + +But if when morn is near our dreams are true, +Feel shalt thou in a little time from now +What Prato, if none other, craves for thee. + +And if it now were, it were not too soon; +Would that it were, seeing it needs must be, +For 'twill aggrieve me more the more I age. + +We went our way, and up along the stairs +The bourns had made us to descend before, +Remounted my Conductor and drew me. + +And following the solitary path +Among the rocks and ridges of the crag, +The foot without the hand sped not at all. + +Then sorrowed I, and sorrow now again, +When I direct my mind to what I saw, +And more my genius curb than I am wont, + +That it may run not unless virtue guide it; +So that if some good star, or better thing, +Have given me good, I may myself not grudge it. + +As many as the hind (who on the hill +Rests at the time when he who lights the world +His countenance keeps least concealed from us, + +While as the fly gives place unto the gnat) +Seeth the glow-worms down along the valley, +Perchance there where he ploughs and makes his + +With flames as manifold resplendent all +Was the eighth Bolgia, as I grew aware +As soon as I was where the depth appeared. + +And such as he who with the bears avenged him +Beheld Elijah's chariot at departing, +What time the steeds to heaven erect uprose + +For with his eye he could not follow it +So as to see aught else than flame alone, +Even as a little cloud ascending upward, + +Thus each along the gorge of the intrenchment +Was moving; for not one reveals the theft, +And every flame a sinner steals away. + +I stood upon the bridge uprisen to see, +So that, if I had seized not on a rock, +Down had I fallen without being pushed. + +And the Leader, who beheld me so attent +Exclaimed:"Within the fires the spirits are; +Each swathes himself with that wherewith he burns." + +'My Master," I replied,"by hearing thee +I am more sure; but I surmised already +It might be so, and already wished to ask thee + +Who is within that fire, which comes so cleft +At top, it seems uprising from the pyre +Where was Eteocles with his brother placed." + +He answered me:"Within there are tormented +Ulysses and Diomed, and thus together +They unto vengeance run as unto wrath. + +And there within their flame do they lament +The ambush of the horse, which made the door +Whence issued forth the Romans' gentle seed; + +Therein is wept the craft, for which being dead +Deidamia still deplores Achilles, +And pain for the Palladium there is borne." + +"If they within those sparks possess the power +To speak," I said, " thee, Master, much I pray, +And re-pray, that the prayer be worth a thousand, + +That thou make no denial of awaiting +Until the horned flame shall hither come; +Thou seest that with desire I lean towards it." + +And he to me:"Worthy is thy entreaty +Of much applause, and therefore I accept it; +But take heed that thy tongue restrain itself. + +Leave me to speak,because I have conceived +That which thou wishest; for they might disdain +Perchance, since they were Greeks, discourse of thine." + +When now the flame had come unto that point, +Where to my Leader it seemed time and place, +After this fashion did I hear him speak: + +"O ye, who are twofold within one fire, +If I deserved of you, while I was living, +If I deserved of you or much or little + +When in the world I wrote the lofty verses, +Do not move on, but one of you declare +Whither, being lost, he went away to die." + +Then of the antique flame the greater horn, +Murmuring, began to wave itself about +Even as a flame doth which the wind fatigues. + +Thereafterward, the summit to and fro +Moving as if it were the tongue that spake +It uttered forth a voice, and said:"When I + +From Circe had departed, who concealed me +More than a year there near unto Gaeta, +Or ever yet Aenas named it so, + +Nor fondness for my son, nor reverence +For my old father, nor the due affection +Which joyous should have made Penelope, + +Could overcome within me the desire +I had to be experienced of the world, +And of the vice and virtue of mankind; + +But I put forth on the high open sea +With one sole ship, and that small company +By which I never had deserted been. + +Both of the shores I saw as far as Spain, +Far as Morocco. and the isle of Sardes, +And the others which that sea bathes round about. + +I and my company were old and slow +When at that narrow passage we arrived +Where Hercules his landmarks set as signals, + +That man no farther onward should adventure. +On the right hand behind me left I Seville, +And on the other already had left Ceuta. + +'O brothers, who amid a hundred thousand +Perils,' I said, ' have come unto the West, +To this so inconsiderable vigil + +Which is remaining of your senses still +Be ye unwilling to deny the knowledge, +Following the sun, of the unpeopled world. + +Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang; +Ye were not made to live like unto brutes, +But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.' + +So eager did I render my companions, +With this brief exhortation, for the voyage, +That then I hardly could have held them back. + +And having turned our stern unto the morning, +We of the oars made wings for our mad flight, +Evermore gaining on the larboard side. + +Already all the stars of the other pole +The night beheld, and ours so very low +It did not rise above the ocean floor. + +Five times rekindled and as many quenched +Had been the splendour underneath the moon, +Since we had entered into the deep pass, + +When there appeared to us a mountain, dim +From distance, and it seemed to me so high +As I had never any one beheld. + +Joyful were we, and soon it turned to weeping; +For out of the new land a whirlwind rose, +And smote upon the fore part of the ship. + +Three times it made her whirl with all the waters, +At the fourth time it made the stern uplift, +And the prow downward go, as pleased Another, + +Until the sea above us closed again." + +CANTO 27 + +Already was the flame erect and quiet, +To speak no more, and now departed from us +With the permission of the gentle Poet; + +When yet another, which behind it came, +Caused us to turn our eyes upon its top +By a confused sound that issued from it. + +As the Sicilian bull (that bellowed first +With the lament of him, and that was right, +Who with his file had modulated it) + +Bellowed so with the voice of the afflicted, +That, notwithstanding it was made of brass, +Still it appeared with agony transfixed; + +Thus, by not having any way or issue +At first from out the fire, to its own language +Converted were the melancholy words. + +But afterwards, when they had gathered way +Up through the point, giving it that vibration +The tongue had given them in their passage out, + +We heard it said:"O thou, at whom I aim +My voice, and who but now wast speaking Lombard, +Saying,'Now go thy way, no more I urge thee,' + +Because I come perchance a little late, +To stay and speak with me let it not irk thee; +Thou seest it irks not me, and I am burning. + +If thou but lately into this blind world +Hast fallen down from that sweet Latian land, +Wherefrom I bring the whole of my transgression, + +Say,if the Romagnuols have peace or war, +For I was from the mountains there between +Urbino and the yoke whence Tiber bursts." + +I still was downward bent and listening, +When my Conductor touched me on the side, +Saying: " Speak thou: this one a Latian is." + +And I, who had beforehand my reply +In readiness, forthwith began to speak: +"O soul, that down below there art concealed, + +Romagna thine is not and never has been +Without war in the bosom of its tyrants; +But open war I none have left there now. + +Ravenna stands as it long years has stood; +The Eagle of Polenta there is brooding, +So that she covers Cervia with her vans. + +The city which once made the long resistance, +And of the French a sanguinary heap, +Beneath the Green Paws finds itself again; + +Verrucchio's ancient Mastiff and the new, +Who made such bad disposal of Montagna, +Where they are wont make wimbles of their teeth. + +The cities of Lamone and Santerno +Governs the Lioncel of the white lair, +Who changes sides 'twixt summer-time and winter; + +And that of which the Savio bathes the flank, +Even as it lies between the plain and mountain, +Lives between tyranny and a free state. + +Now I entreat thee tell us who thou art; +Be not more stubborn than the rest have been, +So may thy name hold front there in the world." + +After the fire a little more had roared +In its own fashion, the sharp point it moved +This way and that, and then gave forth such breath: + +"If I believed that my reply were made +To one who to the world would e'er return, +This flame without more flickering would stand still; + +But inasmuch as never from this depth +Did any one return, if I hear true, +Without the fear of infamy I answer, + +I was a man of arms, then Cordelier, +Believing thus begirt to make amends; +And truly my belief had been fulfilled + +But for the High Priest, whom may ill betide, +Who put me back into my former sins; +And how and wherefore I will have thee hear. + +While I was still the form of bone and pulp +My mother gave to me, the deeds I did +Were not those of a lion, but a fox. + +The machinations and the covert ways +I knew them all, and practised so their craft, +That to the ends of earth the sound went forth. + +When now unto that portion of mine age +I saw myself arrived, when each one ought +To lower the sails, and coil away the ropes, + +That which before had pleased me then displeased me; +And penitent and confessing I surrendered, +Ah woe is me ! and it would have bestead me; + +The Leader of the modern Pharisees +Having a war near unto Lateran, +And not with Saracens nor with the Jews, + +For each one of his enemies was Christian, +And none of them had been to conquer Acre, +Nor merchandising in the Sultan's land, + +Nor the high office, nor the sacred orders, +In him regarded, nor in me that cord +Which used to make those girt with it more meagre; + +But even as Constantine sought out Sylvester +To cure his leprosy, within Soracte, +So this one sought me out as an adept + +To cure him of the fever of his pride. +Counsel he asked of me, and I was silent, +Because his words appeared inebriate. + +And then he said: 'Be not thy heart afraid; +Henceforth I thee absolve; and thou instruct me +How to raze Palestrina to the ground. + +Heaven have I power to lock and to unlock, +As thou dost know; therefore the keys are two, +The which my predecessor held not dear.' + +Then urged me on his weighty arguments +There, where my silence was the worst advice; +And said I:'Father, since thou washest me + +Of that sin into which I now must fall, +The promise long with the fulfilment short +Will make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.' + +Francis came afterward, when I was dead, +For me; but one of the black Cherubim +Said to him:'Take him not; do me no wrong; + +He must come down among my servitors, +Because he gave the fraudulent advice +From which time forth I have been at his hair; + +For who repents not cannot be absolved, +Nor can one both repent and will at once, +Because of the contradiction which consents not. + +O miserable me! how I did shudder +When he seized on me, saying: 'Peradventure +Thou didst not think that I was a logician !' + +He bore me unto Minos, who entwined +Eight times his tail about his stubborn back, +And after he had bitten it in great rage, + +Said: 'Of the thievish fire a culprit this;' +Wherefore, here where thou seest, am I lost, +And vested thus in going I bemoan me." + +When it had thus completed its recital, +The flame departed uttering lamentations, +Writhing and flapping its sharp-pointed horn. + +Onward we passed, both I and my Conductor, +Up o'er the crag above another arch, +Which the moat covers, where is paid the fee + +By those who, sowing discord, win their burden. + +CANTO 28 + +WHO ever could, e'en with untrammelled words, +Tell of the blood and of the wounds in full +Which now I saw, by many times narrating? + +Each tongue would for a certainty fall short +By reason of our speech and memory, +That have small room to comprehend so much + +If were again assembled all the people +Which formerly upon the fateful land +Of Puglia were lamenting for their blood + +Shed by the Romans and the lingering war +That of the rings made such illustrious spoils, +As Livy has recorded, who errs not, + +With those who felt the agony of blows +By making counterstand to Robert Guiscard, +And all the rest, whose bones are gathered still + +At Ceperano, where a renegade +Was each Apulian, and at Tagliacozzo, +Where without arms the old Alardo conquered, + +And one his limb transpierced, and one lopped off, +Should show, it would be nothing to compare +With the disgusting mode of the ninth Bolgia. + +A cask by losing centre-piece or cant +Was never shattered so, as I saw one +Rent from the chin to where one breaketh wind. + +Between his legs were hanging down his entrails; +His heart was visible, and the dismal sack +That maketh excrement of what is eaten. + +While I was all absorbed in seeing him, +He looked at me, and opened with his hands +His bosom, saying:"See now how I rend me; + +How mutilated, see, is Mahomet; +In front of me doth Ali weeping go, +Cleft in the face from forelock unto chin; + +And all the others whom thou here beholdest, +Disseminators of scandal and of schism +While living were, and therefore are cleft thus. + +A devil is behind here, who doth cleave us +Thus cruelly, unto the falchion's edge +Putting again each one of all this ream, + +When we have gone around the doleful road; +By reason that our wounds are closed again +Ere any one in front of him repass. + +But who art thou, that musest on the crag, +Perchance to postpone going to the pain +That is adjudged upon thine accusations ?" + +"Nor death hath reached him yet, nor guilt doth bring him," My +Master made reply, " to be tormented; +But to procure him full experience, + +Me, who am dead, behoves it to conduct him +Down here through Hell, from circle unto circle; +And this is true as that I speak to thee." + +More than a hundred were there when they heard him, +Who in the moat stood still to look at me, +Through wonderment oblivious of their torture. + +"Now say to Fra Dolcino, then, to arm him, +Thou, who perhaps wilt shortly see the sun, +If soon he wish not here to follow me, + +So with provisions,that no stress of snow +May give the victory to the Novarese, +Which otherwise to gain would not be easy." + +After one foot to go away he lifted, +This word did Mahomet say unto me, +Then to depart upon the ground he stretched it. + +Another one, who had his throat pierced through, +And nose cut off close underneath the brows, +And had no longer but a single ear, + +Staying to look in wonder with the others, +Before the others did his gullet open, +Which outwardly was red in every part, + +And said:"O thou, whom guilt doth not condemn, +And whom I once saw up in Latian land, +Unless too great similitude deceive me, + +Call to remembrance Pier da Medicina, +If e'er thou see again the lovely plain +That from Vercelli slopes to Marcabo, + +And make it known to the best two of Fano, +To Messer Guido and Angiolello likewise, +That if foreseeing here be not in vain, + +Cast over from their vessel shall they be, +And drowned near unto the Cattolica, +By the betrayal of a tyrant fell. + +Between the isles of Cyprus and Majorca +Neptune ne'er yet beheld so great a crime +Neither of pirates nor Argolic people. + +That traitor, who sees only with one eye, +And holds the land, which some one here with me +Would fain be fasting from the vision of, + +Will make them come unto a parley with him; +Then will do so, that to Focara's wind +They will not stand in need of vow or prayer." + +And I to him:"Show to me and declare, +If thou wouldst have me bear up news of thee, +Who is this person of the bitter vision." + +Then did he lay his hand upon the jaw +Of one of his companions, and his mouth +Oped, crying:"This is he, and he speaks not. + +This one, being banished, every doubt submerged +In Caesar by affirming the forearmed +Always with detriment allowed delay." + +O how bewildered unto me appeared, +With tongue asunder in his windpipe slit, +Curio, who in speaking was so bold ! + +And one, who both his hands dissevered had, +The stumps uplifting through the murky air, +So that the blood made horrible his face, + +Cried out:"Thou shalt remember Mosca also, +Who said, alas ! ' A thing done has an end!' +Which was an ill seed for the Tuscan people + +"And death unto thy race,"thereto I added; +Whence he, accumulating woe on woe, +Departed, like a person sad and crazed. + +But I remained to look upon the crowd; +And saw a thing which I should be afraid, +Without some further proof, even to recount, + +If it were not that conscience reassures me, +That good companion which emboldens man +Beneath the hauberk of its feeling pure. + +I truly saw, and still I seem to see it, +A trunk without a head walk in like manner +As walked the others of the mournful herd. + +And by the hair it held the head dissevered, +Hung from the hand in fashion of a lantern, +And that upon us gazed and said:"O me!" + +It of itself made to itself a lamp, +And they were two in one, and one in two; +How that can be, He knows who so ordains it. + +When it was come close to the bridge's foot, +It lifted high its arm with all the head, +To bring more closely unto us its words, + +Which were:"Behold now the sore penalty, +Thou, who dost breathing go the dead beholding; +Behold if any be as great as this. + +And so that thou may carry news of me, +Know that Bertram de Born am I, the same +Who gave to the Young King the evil comfort. + +I made the father and the son rebellious; +Achitophel not more with Absalom +And David did with his accursed goadings. + +Because I parted persons so united, +Parted do I now bear my brain, alas! +From its beginning, which is in this trunk. + +Thus is observed in me the counterpoise." + +CANTO 29 + +THE many people and the divers wounds +These eyes of mine had so inebriated, +That they were wishful to stand still and weep; + +But said Virgilius:"What dost thou still gaze at? +Why is thy sight still riveted down there +Among the mournful, mutilated shades ? + +Thou hast not done so at the other Bolge; +Consider, if to count them thou believest, +That two-and-twenty miles the valley winds, + +And now the moon is underneath our feet; +Henceforth the time allotted us is brief, +And more is to be seen than what thou seest." + +"If thou hadst," I made answer thereupon +"Attended to the cause for which I looked, +Perhaps a longer stay thou wouldst have pardoned." + +Meanwhile my Guide departed, and behind him +I went, already making my reply, +And superadding: " In that cavern where + +I held mine eyes with such attention fixed, +I think a spirit of my blood laments +The sin which down below there costs so much" + +Then said the Master:"Be no longer broken +Thy thought from this time forward upon him; +Attend elsewhere, and there let him remain; + +For him I saw below the little bridge, +Pointing at thee, and threatening with his finger +Fiercely, and heard him called Geri del Bello. + +So wholly at that time wast thou impeded +By him who formerly held Altaforte, +Thou didst not look that way; so he departed." + +"O my Conductor, his own violent death, +Which is not yet avenged for him,"I said, +"By any who is sharer in the shame, + +Made him disdainful; whence he went away, +As I imagine, without speaking to me, +And thereby made me pity him the more." + +Thus did we speak as far as the first place +Upon the crag, which the next valley shows +Down to the bottom, if there were more light. + +When we were now right over the last cloister +Of Malebolge, so that its lay-brothers +Could manifest themselves unto our sight, + +Divers lamentings pierced me through and through, +Which with compassion had their arrows barbed, +Whereat mine ears I covered with my hands. + +What pain would be, if from the hospitals +Of Valdichiana, 'twixt July and September, +And of Maremma and Sardinia + +All the diseases in one moat were gathered, +Such was it here, and such a stench came from it +As from putrescent limbs is wont to issue. + +We had descended on the furthest bank +From the long crag, upon the left hand still, +And then more vivid was my power of sight + +Down tow'rds the bottom, where the ministress +Of the high Lord, Justice infallible, +Punishes forgers, which she here records. + +I do not think a sadder sight to see +Was in Aegina the whole people sick, +(When was the air so full of pestilence, + +The animals, down to the little worm, +All fell, and afterwards the ancient people, +According as the poets have affirmed, + +Were from the seed of ants restored again,) +Than was it to behold through that dark +The spirits languishing in divers heaps. + +This on the belly, that upon the back +One of the other lay, and others crawling +Shifted themselves along the dismal road. + +We step by step went onward without speech, +Gazing upon and listening to the sick +Who had not strength enough to lift their bodies. + +I saw two sitting leaned against each other, +As leans in heating platter against platter, +From head to foot bespotted o'er with scabs; + +And never saw I plied a currycomb +By stable-boy for whom his master waits, +Or him who keeps awake unwillingly, + +As every one was plying fast the bite +Of nails upon himself, for the great rage +Of itching which no other succour had. + +And the nails downward with them dragged the scab, +In fashion as a knife the scales of bream, +Or any other fish that has them largest. + +"O thou, that with thy fingers dost dismail thee," +Began my Leader unto one of them, +"And makest of them pincers now and then, + +Tell me if any Latian is with those +Who are herein; so may thy nails suffice thee +To all eternity unto this work." + +"Latians are we, whom thou so wasted seest, +Both of us here," one weeping made reply; +"But who art thou, that questionest about us?" + +And said the Guide:"One am I who descends +Down with this living man from cliff to cliff, +And I intend to show Hell unto him." + +Then broken was their mutual support, +And trembling each one turned himself to me, +With others who had heard him by rebound. + +Wholly to me did the good Master gather, +Saying:"Say unto them whate'er thou wishest." +And I began, since he would have it so: + +"So may your memory not steal away +In the first world from out the minds of men, +But so may it survive 'neath many suns, + +Say to me who ye are, and of what people; +Let not your foul and loathsome punishment +Make you afraid to show yourselves to me." + +"I of Arezzo was," one made reply, +"And Albert of Siena had me burned; +But what I died for does not bring me here. + +'Tis true I said to him, speaking in jest, +That I could rise by flight into the air, +And he who had conceit, but little wit, + +Would have me show to him the art; and only +Because no Daedelus I made him, made me +Be burned by one who held him as his son. + +But unto the last Bolgia of the ten, +For alchemy, which in the world I practised, +Minos, who cannot err, has me condemned." + +And to the Poet said I:"Now was ever +So vain a people as the Sienese? +Not for a certainty the French by far." + +Whereat the other leper, who had heard me, +Replied unto my speech:"Taking out Stricca, +Who knew the art of moderate expenses, + +And Niccolo, who the luxurious use +Of cloves discovered earliest of all +Within that garden where such seed takes root; + +And taking out the band, among whom squandered +Caccia d'Ascian his vineyards and vast woods, +And where his wit the Abbagliato proffered! + +But,that thou know who thus doth second thee +Against the Sienese, make sharp thine eye +Tow'rds me, so that my face well answer thee, + +And thou shalt see I am Capocchio's shade, +Who metals falsified by alchemy; +Thou must remember, if I well descry thee, + +How I a skilful ape of nature was." + +CANTO 30 + +'TWAS at the time when Juno was enraged, +For Semele, against the Theban blood, +As she already more than once had shown, + +So reft of reason Arthamas became, +That, seeing his own wife with children twain +Walking encumbered upon either hand, + +He cried:"Spread out the nets, that I may take +The lioness and her whelps upon the passage;" +And then extended his unpitying claws, + +Seizing the first, who had the name Learchus, +And whirled him round, and dashed him on a rock; +And she, with the other burthen, drowned herself;-- + +And at the time when fortune downward hurled +The Trojan's arrogance, that all things dared, +So that the king was with his kingdom crushed, + +Hecuba sad, disconsolate, and captive, +When lifeless she beheld Polyxena, +And of her Polydorus on the shore + +Of ocean was the dolorous one aware, +Out of her senses like a dog she barked, +So much the anguish had her mind distorted; + +But not of Thebes the furies nor the Trojan +Were ever seen in any one so cruel +In goading beasts, and much more human members, + +As I beheld two shadows pale and naked, +Who, biting, in the manner ran along +That a boar does, when from the sty turned loose. + +One to Capocchio came, and by the nape +Seized with its teeth his neck, so that in dragging +It made his belly grate the solid bottom. + +And the Aretine, who trembling had remained, +Said to me: " That mad sprite is Gianni Schicchi, +And raving goes thus harrying other people." + +"O," said I to him, " so may not the other +Set teeth on thee, let it not weary thee +To tell us who it is, ere it dart hence." + +And he to me:"That is the ancient ghost +Of the nefarious Myrrha, who became +Beyond all rightful love her father's lover. + +She came to sir with him after this manner, +By counterfeiting of another's form; +As he who goeth yonder undertook, + +That he might gain the lady of the herd, +To counterfeit in himself Buoso Donati, +Making a will and giving it due form." + +And after the two maniacs had passed +On whom I held mine eye, I turned it back +To look upon the other evil-born. + +I saw one made in fashion of a lute, +If he had only had the groin cut off +Just at the point at which a man is forked. + +The heavy dropsy, that so disproportions +The limbs with humours, which it ill concocts, +That the face corresponds not to the belly, + +Compelled him so to hold his lips apart +As does the hectic, who because of thirst +One tow'rds the chin, the other upward turns. + +"O ye, who without any torment are, +And why I know not, in the world of woe," +He said to us, " behold, and be attentive + +Unto the misery of Master Adam; +I had while living much of what I wished, +And now, alas ! a drop of water crave. + +The rivulets, that from the verdant hills +Of Cassentin descend down into Arno, +Making their channels to be cold and moist, + +Ever before me stand, and not in vain; +For far more doth their image dry me up +Than the disease which strips my face of flesh. + +The rigid justice that chastises me +Draweth occasion from the place in which +I sinned, to put the more my sighs in flight. + +There is Romena, where I counterfeited +The currency imprinted with the Baptist, +For which I left my body burned above. + +But if I here could see the tristful soul +Of Guido, or Alessandro, or their brother, +For Branda's fount I would Dot give the sight. + +One is within already, if the raving +Shades that are going round about speak truth; +But what avails it me, whose limbs are tied ? + +If I were only still so light, that in +A hundred years I could advance one inch, +I had already started on the way, + +Seeking him out among this squalid folk, +Although the circuit be eleven miles, +And be not less than half a mile across. + +For them am I in. such a family; +They did induce me into coining florins, +Which had three carats of impurity." + +And I to him:"Who are the two poor wretches +That smoke like unto a wet hand in winter, +Lying there close upon thy right-hand confines?" + +"I found them here,"replied he, "when I rained +Into this chasm, and since they have not turned, +Nor do I think they will for evermore. + +One the false woman is who accused Joseph, +The other the false Sinon, Greek of Troy; +From acute fever they send forth such reek." + +And one of them, who felt himself annoyed +At being, peradventure, named so darkly, +Smote with the fist upon his hardened paunch. + +It gave a sound, as if it were a drum; +And Master Adam smote him in the face, +With arm that did not seem to be less hard, + +Saying to him:"Although be taken from me +All motion, for my limbs that heavy are, +I have an arm unfettered for such need." + +Whereat he answer made:"When thou didst go +Unto the fire, thou hadst it not so ready: +But hadst it so and more when thou wast coining." + +The dropsical:"Thou sayest true in that; +But thou wast not so true a witness there, +Where thou wast questioned of the truth at Troy." + +"If I spake false, thou falsifiedst the coin," +Said Sinon; " and for one fault I am here, +And thou for more than any other demon." + +"Remember,perjurer,about the horse," +He made reply who had the swollen belly, +"And rueful be it thee the whole world knows it." + +"Rueful to thee the thirst be wherewith cracks +Thy tongue," the Greek said, " and the putrid water +That hedges so thy paunch before thine eyes." + +Then the false-coiner:"So is gaping wide +Thy mouth for speaking evil, as 'tis wont; +Because if I have thirst, and humour stuff me + +Thou hast the burning and the head that aches, +And to lick up the mirror of Narcissus +Thou wouldst not want words many to invite thee." + +In listening to them was I wholly fixed, +When said the Master to me: " Now just look, +For little wants it that I quarrel with thee." + +When him I heard in anger speak to me, +I turned me round towards him with such shame +That still it eddies through my memory. + +And as he is who dreams of his own harm, +Who dreaming wishes it may be a dream, +So that he craves what is, as if it were not; + +Such I became, not having power to speak, +For to excuse myself I wished, and still +Excused myself, and did not think I did it. + +"Less shame doth wash away a greater fault," +The Master said, " than this of thine has been; +Therefore thyself disburden of all sadness, + +And make account that I am aye beside thee, +If e'er it come to pass that fortune bring thee +Where there are people in a like dispute; + +For a base wish it is to wish to hear it." + +CANTO 31 + +ONE and the selfsame tongue first wounded me, +So that it tinged the one cheek and the other, +And then held out to me the medicine; + +Thus do I hear that once Achilles' spear, +His and his father's, used to be the cause +First of a sad and then a gracious boon. + +We turned our backs upon the wretched valley, +Upon the bank that girds it round about, +Going across it without any speech. + +There it was less than night, and less than day, +So that my sight went little in advance; +But I could hear the blare of a loud horn, + +So loud it would have made each thunder faint, +Which, counter to it following its way, +Mine eyes directed wholly to one place. + +After the dolorous discomfiture +When Charlemagne the holy emprise lost, +So terribly Orlando sounded not. + +Short while my head turned thitherward I held +When many lofty towers I seemed to see, +Whereat I: " Master, say, what town is this? + +And he to me:"Because thou peerest forth +Athwart the darkness at too great a distance, +It happens that thou errest in thy fancy. + +Well shalt thou see, if thou arrivest there, +How much the sense deceives itself by distance; +Therefore a little faster spur thee on." + +Then tenderly he took me by the hand, +And said: " Before we farther have advanced, +That the reality may seem to thee + +Less strange, know that these are not towers, but giants, +And they are in the well, around the bank, +From navel downward, one and all of them." + +As, when the fog is vanishing away, +Little by little doth the sight refigure +Whate'er the mist that crowds the air conceals, + +So, piercing through the dense and darksome air, +More and more near approaching tow'rd the verge, +My error fled, and fear came over me; + +Because as on its circular parapets +Montereggione crowns itself with towers, +E'en thus the margin which surrounds the well + +With one half of their bodies turreted +The horrible giants, whom Jove menaces +E'en now from out the heavens when he thunders. + +And I of one already saw the face, +Shoulders, and breast, and great part of the belly, +And down along his sides both of the arms. + +Certainly Nature, when she left the making +Of animals like these, did well indeed, +By taking such executors from Mars; + +And if of elephants and whales she doth not +Repent her, whosoever looketh subtly +More just and more discreet will hold her for it; + +For where the argument of intellect +Is added unto evil will and power, +No rampart can the people make against it. + +His face appeared to me as long and large +As is at Rome the pine-cone of Saint Peter's, +And in proportion were the other bones; + +So that the margin, which an apron was +Down from the middle, showed so much of him +Above it, that to reach up to his hair + +Three Frieslanders in vain had vaunted them; +For I beheld thirty great palms of him +Down from the place where man his mantle buckles. + +"Raphael mai amech izabi almi," +Began to clamour the ferocious mouth, +To which were not befitting sweeter psalms. + +And unto him my Guide:"Soul idiotic, +Keep to thy horn, and vent thyself with that, +When wrath or other passion touches thee. + +Search round thy neck, and thou wilt find the belt +Which keeps it fastened,O bewildered soul +And see it, where it bars thy mighty breast." + +Then said to me:"He doth himself accuse; +This one is Nimrod, by whose evil thought +One language in the world is not still used. + +Here let us leave him and not speak in vain; +For even such to him is every language +As his to others, which to none is known." + +Therefore a longer journey did we make, +Turned to the left, and a crossbow-shot oft +We found another far more fierce and large. + +In binding him, who might the master be +I cannot say; but he had pinioned close +Behind the right arm, and in front the other, + +With chains, that held him so begirt about +From the neck down, that on the part uncovered +It wound itself as far as the fifth gyre. + +"This proud one wished to make experiment +Of his own power against the Supreme Jove," +My Leader said, " whence he has such a guerdon. + +Ephialtes is his name; he showed great prowess. +What time the giants terrified the gods; +The arms he wielded never more he moves." + +And I to him:"If possible, I should wish +That of the measureless Briareus +These eyes of mine might have experience." + +Whence he replied:"Thou shalt behold Antaeus +Close by here, who can speak and is unbound, +Who at the bottom of all crime shall place us. + +Much farther yon is he whom thou wouldst see, +And he is bound, and fashioned like to this one, +Save that he seems in aspect more ferocious." + +There never was an earthquake of such might +That it could shake a tower so violently, +As Ephialtes suddenly shook himself + +Then was I more afraid of death than ever, +For nothing more was needful than the fear, +If I had not beheld the manacles. + +Then we proceeded farther in advance, +And to Antaeus came, who, full five ells +Without the head, forth issued from the cavern. + +"O thou,who in the valley fortunate, +Which Scipio the heir of glory made, +When Hannibal turned back with all his hosts, + +Once brought'st a thousand lions for thy prey, +And who, hadst thou been at the mighty war +Among thy brothers, some it seems still think + +The sons of Earth the victory would have gained: +Place us below, nor be disdainful of it, +There where the cold doth lock Cocytus up. + +Make us not go to Tityus nor Typhoeus; +This one can give of that which here is longed for; +Therefore stoop down, and do not curl thy lip. + +Still in the world can he restore thy fame; +Because he lives, and still expects long life, +If to itself Grace call him not untimely." + +So said the Master; and in haste the other +His hands extended and took up my Guide,-- +Hands whose great pressure Hercules once felt. + +Virgilius, when he felt himself embraced, +Said unto me: " Draw nigh, that I may take thee; " +Then of himself and me one bundle made. + +As seems the Carisenda, to behold +Beneath the leaning side, when goes a cloud +Above it so that opposite it hangs; + +Such did Antaeus seem to me, who stood +Watching to see him stoop, and then it was +I could have wished to go some other way. + +But lightly in the abyss, which swallows up +Judas with Lucifer, he put us down; +Nor thus bowed downward made he there delay, + +But, as a mast does in a ship, uprose. + +CANTO 32 + +IF I had rhymes both rough and stridulous, +As were appropriate to the dismal hole +Down upon which thrust all the other rocks, + +I would press out the juice of my conception +More fully; but because I have them not, +Not without fear I bring myself to speak; + +For 'tis no enterprise to take in jest, +To sketch the bottom of all the universe, +Nor for a tongue that cries Mamma and Babbo. + +But may those Ladies help this verse of mine, +Who helped Amphion in enclosing Thebes, +That from the fact the word be not diverse. + +O rabble ill-begotten above all, +Who're in the place to speak of which is hard, +'Twere better ye had here been sheep or goats ! + +When we were down within the darksome well, +Beneath the giant's feet, but lower far, +And I was scanning still the lofty wall, + +heard it said to me:"Look how thou steppest! +Take heed thou do not trample with thy feet +The heads of the tired, miserable brothers!" + +Whereat I turned me round, and saw before me +And underfoot a lake, that from the frost +The semblance had of glass, and not of water. + +So thick a veil ne'er made upon its current +In winter-time Danube in Austria, +Nor there beneath the frigid sky the Don, + +As there was here; so that if Tambernich +Had fallen upon it, or Pietrapana, +E'en at the edge 'twould not have given a creak. + +And as to croak the frog doth place himself +With muzzle out of water,--when is dreaming +Of gleaning oftentimes the peasant-girl,-- + +Livid, as far down as where shame appears, +Were the disconsolate shades within the ice, +Setting their teeth unto the note of storks. + +Each one his countenance held downward bent: +From mouth the cold, from eyes the doeful heart +Among them witness of itself procures. + +When round about me somewhat I had looked, +I downward turned me, and saw two so close, +The hair upon their heads together mingled. + +"Ye who so strain your breasts together, tell me," +I said. "who are you;" and they bent their necks, +And when to me their faces they had lifted, + +Their eyes, which first were only moist within, +Gushed o'er the eyelids, and the frost congealed +The tears between, and locked them up again. + +Clamp never bound together wood with wood +So strongly; whereat they, like two he-goats, +Butted together, so much wrath o'ercame them. + +And one, who had by reason of the cold +Lost both his ears, still with his visage downward, +Said:"Why dost thou so mirror thyself in us? + +If thou desire to know who these two are, +The valley whence Bisenzio descends +Belonged to them and to their father Albert. + +They from one body came, and all Caina +Thou shalt search through, and shalt not find a shade +More worthy to be fixed in gelatine; + +Not he in whom were broken breast and shadow +At one and the same blow by Arthur's hand; +Focaccia not; not he who me encumbers + +So with his head I see no farther forward, +And bore the name of Sassol Mascheroni; +Well knowest thou who he was, if thou art Tuscan. + +And that thou put me not to further speech, +Know that I Camicion de' Pazzi was, +And wait Carlino to exonerate me." + +Then I beheld a thousand faces, made +Purple with cold; whence o'er me comes a shudder, +And evermore will come, at frozen ponds. + +And while we were advancing tow'rds the middle, +Where everything of weight unites together, +And I was shivering in the eternal shade, + +Whether 'twere will, or destiny, or chance, +I know not; but in walking 'mong the heads +I struck my foot hard in the face of one. + +Weeping he growled; "Why dost thou trample me? +Unless thou comest to increase the vengence +Of Montaperti, why does thou molest me?" + +And I:"My Master, now wait here for me, +That I through him may issue from a doubt; +Then thou mayst hurry me, as thou shalt wish." + +The Leader stopped; and to that one I said +Who was blaspheming vehemently still: +"Who art thou, that thus reprehendest others?" + +"Now who art thou, that goest through Antenora +Smiting," replied he, " other people's cheeks, +So that, if thou wert living, 'twere too much?" + +" Living I am, and dear to thee it may be," +Was my response, ' if thou demandest fame, +That 'mid the other notes thy name I place." + +And he to me: " For the reverse I long; +Take thyself hence, and give me no more trouble; +For ill thou knowest to flatter in this hollow." + +Then by the scalp behind I seized upon him, +And said: " It must needs be thou name thyself, +Or not a hair remain upon thee here." + +Whence he to me:"Though thou strip off my hair, +I will not tell thee who I am, nor show thee, +If on my head a thousand times thou fall." + +I had his hair in hand already twisted, +And more than one shock of it had pulled out, +He barking, with his eyes held firmly down, + +When cried another:"What doth ail thee, Bocca? +Is't not enough to clatter with thy jaws, +But thou must bark ? what devil touches thee?" + +"Now," said I,"I care not to have thee speak, +Accursed traitor; for unto thy shame +I will report of thee veracious news." + +"Begone," replied he,"and tell what thou wilt, +But be not silent, if thou issue hence, +Of him who had just now his tongue so prompt; + +He weepeth here the silver of the French; +'I saw,' thus canst thou phrase it, ' him of Duera +There where the sinners stand out in the cold.' + +If thou shouldst questioned be who else was there, +Thou hast beside thee him of Beccaria, +Of whom the gorget Florence slit asunder; + +Gianni del Soldanier, I think, may be +Yonder with Ganellon, and Tebaldello +Who oped Faenza when the people slep + +Already we had gone away from him, +When I beheld two frozen in one hole, +So that one head a hood was to the other; + +And even as bread through hunger is devoured, +The uppermost on the other set his teeth, +There where the brain is to the nape united. + +Not in another fashion Tydeus gnawed +The temples of Menalippus in disdain, +Than that one di-l the skull and the other things. + +"O thou, who showest by such bestial sign +Thy hatred against him whom thou art eating, +Tell me the wherefore," said I,"with this compact, us + +That if thou rightfully of him complain, +In knowing who ye are, and his transgression, +I in the world above repay thee for it, + +If that wherewith I speak be not dried up." + +CANTO 33 + +His mouth uplifted from his grim repast, +That sinner, wiping it upon the hair +Of the same head that he behind had wasted. + +Then he began:"Thou wilt that I renew +The desperate grief, which wrings my heart already +To think of only, ere I speak of it; + +But if my words be seed that may bear fruit +Of infamy to the traitor whom I gnaw, +Speaking and weeping shalt thou see together. + +I know not who thou art, nor by what mode +Thou hast come down here; but a Florentine +Thou seemest to me truly, when I hear thee. + +Thou hast to know I was Count Ugolino, +And this one was Ruggieri the Archbishop; +Now I will tell thee why I am such a neighbour. + +That, by effect of his malicious thoughts +Trusting in him I was made prisoner, +And after put to death, I need not say; + +But ne'ertheless what thou canst not have heard, +That is to say, how cruel was my death, +Hear shalt thou, and shalt know if he has wronged me. + +A narrow perforation in the mew, +Which bears because of me the title of Famine, +And in which others still must be locked up, + +Had shown me through its opening many moons +Already, when I dreamed the evil dream +Which of the future rent for me the veil. + +This one appeared to me as lord and master, +Hunting the wolf and whelps upon the mountain +For which the Pisans cannot Lucca see. + +With sleuth-hounds gaunt, and eager, and well trained, +Gualandi with Sismondi and Lanfranchi +He had sent out before him to the front + +After brief course seemed unto me forespent +The father and the sons, and with sharp tushes +It seemed to me I saw their flanks ripped open. + +When I before the morrow was awake, +Moaning amid their sleep I heard my sons +Who with me were, and asking after bread. + +Cruel indeed art thou, if yet thou grieve not, +Thinking of what my heart foreboded me, +And weep'st thou not, what art thou wont to weep at? + +They were awake now, and the hour drew nigh +At which our food used to be brought to us, +And through his dream was each one apprehensive; + +And I heard locking up the under door +Of the horrible tower; whereat without a word +I gazed into the faces of my sons. + +I wept not, I within so turned to stone; +They wept; and darling little Anselm mine +Said:'Thou dost gaze so, father, what doth ail thee?' + +Still not a tear I shed, nor answer made +All of that day, nor yet the night thereafter, +Until another sun rose on the world. + +As now a little glimmer made its way +Into the dolorous prison, and I saw +Upon four faces my own very aspect + +Both of my hands in agony I bit, +And, thinking that I did it from desire +Of eating, on a sudden they uprose, + +And said they:'Father, much less pain 'twill give us +If thou do eat of us; thyself didst clothe us +With this poor flesh, and do thou strip it off.' + +I calmed me then, not to make them more sad. +That day we all were silent, and the next. +Ah! obdurate earth, wherefore didst thou not open? + +When we had come unto the fourth day, Gaddo +Threw himself down outstretched before my feet, +Saying,'My father, why dost thou not help me?' + +And there he died; and, as thou seest me, +I saw the three fall, one by one, between +The fifth day and the sixth; whence I betook me, + +Already blind,to groping over each, +And three days called them after they were dead; +Then hunger did what sorrow could not do." + +When he had said this, with his eyes distorted, +The wretched skull resumed he with his teeth, +Which, as a dog's, upon the bone were strong. + +Ah! Pisa, thou opprobrium of the people +Of the fair land there where the Si doth sound, +Since slow to punish thee thy neighbours are, + +Let the Capraia and Gorgona move, +And make a hedge across the mouth of Arno +That every person in thee it may drown! + +For if Count Ugolino had the fame +Of having in thy castles thee betrayed, +Thou shouldst not on such cross have put his sons. + +Guiltless of any crime, thou modern Thebes! +Their youth made Uguccione and Brigata, +And the other two my song doth name above! + +We passed still farther onward, where the ice +Another people ruggedly enswathes, +Not downward turned, but all of them reversed. + +Weeping itself there does not let them weep, +An(l grief that finds a barrier in the eyes +Turns itself inward to increase the anguish; + +Because the earliest tears a cluster form, +And, in the manner of a crystal visor, +Fill all the cup beneath the eyebrow full. + +And notwithstanding that, as in a callus, +Because of cold all sensibility +Its station had abandoned in my face, + +Still it appeared to me I felt some wind; +Whence I:"My Master, who sets this in motion? +Is not below here every vapour quenched?" + +Whence he to me:"Full soon shalt thou be where +Thine eye shall answer make to thee of this, +Seeing the cause which raineth down the blast." + +And one of the wretches of the frozen crust +Cried out to us:"O souls so merciless +That the last post is given unto you, + +Lift from mine eyes the rigid veils, that I +May vent the sorrow which impregns my heart +A little, e'er the weeping recongeal." + +Whence I to him:"If thou wouldst have me help thee +Say who thou wast; and if I free thee not, +May I go to the bottom of the ice." + +Then he replied:"I am Friar Alberigo; +He am I of the fruit of the bad garden, +Who here a date am getting for my fig." + +"O,"said I to him, " now art thou, too, dead?" +And he to me: " How may my body fare +Up in the world, no knowledge I possess. + +Such an advantage has this Ptolomaea, +That oftentimes the soul descendeth here +Sooner than Atropos in motion sets it. + +And, that thou mayest more willingly remove +From off my countenance these glassy tears, +Know that as soon as any soul betrays + +As I have done, his body by a demon +Is taken from him, who thereafter rules it, +Until his time has wholly been revolved. + +Itself down rushes into such a cistern; +And still perchance above appears the body +Of yonder shade, that winters here behind me. + +This thou shouldst know, if thou hast just come down; +It is Ser Branca d' Oria, and many years +Have passed away since he was thus locked up." + +"I think," said I to him,"thou dost deceive me; +For Branca d' Oria is not dead as yet, +And eats, and drinks, and sleeps, and puts on clothes." + +"In moat above,"said he,"of Malebranche, +There where is boiling the tenacious pitch, +As yet had Michel Zanche not arrived, + +When this one left a devil in his stead +In his own body and one near of kin, +Who made together with him the betrayal. + +But hitherward stretch out thy hand forthwith, +Open mine eyes ;"--and open them I did not, +And to be rude to him was courtesy. + +Ah, Genoese ! ye men at variance +With every virtue, full of every vice +Wherefore are ye not scattered from the world + +For with the vilest spirit of Romagna +I found of you one such, who for his deeds +In soul already in Cocytus bathes, + +And still above in body seems alive! + +CANTO 34 + +Vexilla Regis prodeunt Inferni +Towards us; therefore look in front of thee," +My Master said,"if thou discernest him." +My Master said,"if thou discernest him." + +As, when there breathes a heavy fog, or when +Our hemisphere is darkening into night, +Appears far off a mill the wind is turning, + +Methought that such a building then I saw; +And, for the wind, I drew myself behind +My Guide, because there was no other shelter. + +Now was I, and with fear in verse I put it, +There where the shades were wholly covered up, +And glimmered through like unto straws in glass. + +Some prone are Iying, others stand erect, +This with the head, and that one with the soles; +Another, bow-like, face to feet inverts. + +When in advance so far we had proceeded, +That it my Master pleased to show to me +The creature who once had the beauteous semblance- + +He from before me moved and made me stop, +Saying:"Behold Dis, and behold the place +Where thou with fortitude must arm thyself" + +How frozen I became and powerless then, +Ask it not, Reader, for I write it not, +Because all language would be insufficient. + +I did not die, and I alive remained not; +Think for thyself now, hast thou aught of wit, +What I became, being of both deprived. + +The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous +From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice, +And better with a giant I compare + +Than do the giants with those arms of his; +Consider now how great must be that whole, +Which unto such a part conforms itself. + +Were he as fair once, as he now is foul, +And lifted up his brow against his Maker, +Well may proceed from him all tribulation. + +O, what a marvel it appeared to me, +When I beheld three faces on his head! +The one in front, and that vermilion was; + +Two were the others, that were joined with this +Above the middle part of either shoulder, +And they were joined together at the crest; + +And the right-hand one seemed 'twixt white and yellow +The left was such to look upon as those +Who come from where the Nile falls valley-ward. + +Underneath each came forth two mighty wings, +Such as befitting were so great a bird; +Sails of the sea I never saw so large. + +No feathers had they, but as of a bat +Their fashion was; and he was waving them, +So that three winds proceeded forth therefrom. + +Thereby Cocytus wholly was congealed. +With six eyes did he weep, and down three chins +Trickled the tear-drops and the bloody drivel. + +At every mouth he with his teeth was crunching +A sinner, in the manner of a brake, +So that he three of them tormented thus. + +To him in front the biting was as naught +Unto the clawing, for sometimes the spine +Utterly stripped of all the skin remained. + +"That soul up there which has the greatest pain," +The Master said, " is Judas Iscariot; +With head inside, he plies his legs without. + +Of the two others, who head downward are, +The one who hangs from the black jowl is Brutus; +See how he writhes himself, and speaks no word. + +And the other, who so stalwart seems, is Cassius. +But night is reascending, and 'tis time +That we depart, for we have seen the whole." + +As seemed him good, I clasped him round the neck, +And he the vantage seized of time and place, +And when the wings were opened wide apart, + +He laid fast hold upon the shaggy sides; +From fell to fell descended downward then +Between the thick hair and the frozen crust. + +When we were come to where the thigh revolves +Exactly on the thickness of the haunch, +The Guide. with labour and with hard-drawn breath. + +Turned round his head where he had had his legs, +And grappled to the hair, as one who mounts, +So that to Hell I thought we were returning. + +"Keep fast thy hold, for by such stairs as these," +The Master said, panting as one fatigued, +"Must we perforce depart from so much evil." + +Then through the opening of a rock he issued, +And down upon the margin seated me; +Then tow'rds me he outstretched his wary step. + +I lifted up mine eyes and thought to see +Lucifer in the same way I had left him; +And I beheld him upward hold his legs. + +And if I then became disquieted, +Let stolid people think who do not see +What the point is beyond which I had passed. + +"Rise up,"the Master said,"upon thy feet; +The way is long, and difficult the road, +And now the sun to middle-tierce returns." + +It was not any palace corridor +l here where we were, but dungeon natural, +With floor uneven and unease of light. + +"Ere from the abyss I tear myself away, +My Master," said I when I had arisen? +"To draw me from an error speak a little; + +Where is the ice ?"and how is this one fixed +Thus upside down? and how in such short time +From eve to morn has the sun made his transit?" + +And he to me:"Thou still imaginest +Thou art beyond the centre, where I grasped +The hair of the fell worm, who mines the world. + +That side thou wast, so long as I descended; +When round I turned me, thou didst pass the point +To which things heavy draw from every side, + +And now beneath the hemisphere art come +Opposite that which overhangs the vast +Dry-land, and 'neath whose cope was put to death + +The Man who without sin was born and lived. +Thou hast thy feet upon the little sphere +Which makes the other face of the Judecca + +Here it is morn when it is evening there; +And he who with his hair a stairway made us +Still fixed remaineth as he was before. + +Upon this side he fell down out of heaven; +And all the land, that whilom here emerged, +For fear of him made of the sea a veil, + +And came to our hemisphere; and peradventure +To flee from him, what on this side appears +Left the place vacant here, and back recoiled" + +A place there is below, from Beelzebub +As far receding as the tomb extends, +Which not by sight is known, but by the sound + +Of a small rivulet, that there descendeth +Through chasm within the stone, which it has gnawed +With course that winds about and slightly falls. + +The Guide and I into that hidden road +Now entered, to return to the bright world; +And without care of having any rest + +We mounted up, the first and I the second, +Till I beheld through a round aperture +Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear; + +Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars. + +TRANSLATOR'S NOTES + +The Divine Comedy.__The Vita Nuova of Dante closes with these +words: "After ths connet there appeared to me a wonderful vision, +in which I beheld things that made me propose to say no more of +this blessed one, until I shall be able to say no more of this +blessed one, until I shall be able to treat of her more worthily. +And to attain thereunto, truly I strive with all my power, as she +knoweth. So that if ti shall be the pleasure of Him, through +whom all things live, that my life continue somewhat longer, I +hope to say of her what never yet was said of any woman. And +then may it please Him, w3ho is the Sire of courtesy, that my +soul may depart to look upon the glory of its Lady, that is to +say, of the blessed Beatrice, who in glories gazes into the fave +of him, qui est per oimnia saecula benedictus." + +In these line we have the earliest glimpse of the Divine Comedy, +as it rose in the author's mind. + +Whoever has read the Vita Nuova will remember the stress which +Dante lays upon the mystic numbers Nine and Three; his first +meeting with Beatrice at the beginning of her ninth year, and the +end of his; his nine days' illness, and the thought of her death +which came to him on the ninth day; her death on the ninth day of +the ninth month,"computing by the Syrian method," and in that +year of our Lord "when the perfect number ten was nine times +completed in that century" which was the thirteenth. Moreover, he +says the number nine was friendly to her, because the nine +heavens were in conjunction at her birth; and that she was +herself the number nine, "that is, a miracle whose root is the +wonderful Trinity." + +Followin out this idea, we find the Divine Comedy written in +terza rima, or threefold rhyme, divided into three parts, and +each part again subdivided in its structure into three. The +whole number of cantos is one hundred, the perfect number ten +multiplied into itself; but if we count the first canto of the +Inferno as a Prelude, which it really is, each part will consist +of thirty-three cantos, making ninety-nine in all; and so the +favorite mystic numbers reappear. + +The three divisions of the Inferno are minutely described and +explained by Dante in Canto. They are separated from each other +by great spaces in the infernal abyss. The sin punished in them +are,--I. Incontinence. II. Malice. III. Bestiality. + +I. Incontinence: 1. The Wanton. 2. The Gluttonous. 3. The +Avaricious and Prodigal. 4. The Irascible and the Sullen. + +II. Malice: 1. The Vilent against their neighbor, in person or +property. 2. The Vi0lent against themselves, in person or +property. 3. The Violent against God, or against Nature, the +daughter of God, or against Art, the daughter of Nature. + +III. Bestiality: first subdivision: 1. Seducers. 2. Flatterers. +3. Simoniacs. 4. Soothsayers. 5. Barrators. 6. Hypocrites. 7. +Thieves. 8 Evil counsellors. 9. Schismatics. 10. Falsifiers. + +Second subdivison: 1. Traitors to their kindred. 2. Traitors to +their country. 3 Traitors to their friends. 4. Traitors to their +lords and benefactors. + +The Divine Comedy is not strictly an allegorical poem in the +sense in which the Faerie Queene is; and yet it is full of +allegorical symbols and figurative meanings. In a letter to Can +Grande Della Scala, Dante writes: "It is to be remarked, that the +sense of this work is not simple, but on the contrary one may say +manifold. For one sense is that which is derived fromm the +letter, and another is that which is derived from the things +signified by the letter. The first is called literal, the second +allegorical or moral. . . . The subject, then, of the whole work, +taken literally, is the conditions of souls after death, simply +considered. For on this and around this the whole action of the +work turns. But if the work be taken allegorically, the subject +is man, how by actions of merit or demerit, though freedom of the +will, be justly deserves reward or punishment." + +It may not be amiss here to refer to what are sometimes called +the sources of the Divine Comedy. Formost among them must be +placed the Eleventh Book of Odyssey, and the Sixth of the Aeneid; +and to the latter Dante seems to point significantly in choosing +Virgil for his Guide, his Master, his Author, from whom he took +"the beautiful style that did him honor." + +Next to these may be memtioned Cicero's Vision of Scipio, of +which Chaucer says.-- + + "Chapiters seven it had, of Heaven, and Hell, + And Earthe, and soules that therein do dwell." + +Then follow the popular legends which were current in Dante's +age; and age when the end of all things was thought to be near at +hand, and wonders of the invisible world had laid fast hold on +the imaginations of men. Prominent among these is the "Vision of +Frate Alberico," who calls himself "the humblest servant of the +servants of the Lord"; and who + + "Saw in dreame at point-devyse + Heaven, Earthe, hel and Paradyse." + +This vision was written in Latin in the latter half of the +twelfth century, and contains a description of hell, Purgatory, +and Paradise, with its Seven heavens. It is for the most part a +tedious talke, and bears evident marks of having been written by +a friar of some monastery, when the afternoon sum was shining +into his sleepy eyes. He seems, however, to have looked upon his +own work with a not unfavorable opinion; for he concludes the +Epistle Introductory with the words of St. John: "If amy man +shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues +that are written in this book; and if amy man shall take away +from these things, God shall take away his part from the good +things written in this book." + +It is not impossible that Dante may have taken a few hints also +from the Tesoretto of his teacher, Ser Brunetto Latini. See +Canto XV. Note 30. + +See upon this subject, Cancellieri, Osservasioni Sopra +l'Originalita di Dante;--Wright, St. Patrick's Purgatory, and +Essay on the Legens of Purgatory, Hell, and Paradise, current +during the Middle Ages;--Ozanam, Dante et la Philosophie +Catholique au Treizieme Siecle;--Labitte, La Divine Comedie avant +Dante, published as an Introduction to the translation of +Brizeux;-- and Delepierre, Le Livre des Visions, ou l'Enfer et le +Cie decrits par ceux qui les ont vus. Se also the Illustrations +at the end of volume ten. + +Canto 1 + +1. The action of the poem begins on Good Friday of the year 1300, +at which time Dante, who was born in 1265, had reached the middle +of the Scriptual threescore years and ten. It ends on the first +Sunday after Easter, making in all ten days. + +2. The dark forest of human life, with its passions, vices, and +perplexities of all kinds; politically the state of Florence with +its fractions Guelf and Ghibelline. Dante, Convito, IV. 25, says: +"Thus the adolescent, who enters into the erroneous forest of +this life, would not know how to keep the right way if he were +not guided by his elders." + +Brunetto Latini, Tesoretto, II. 75: + + "Pensando a capo chino + Perdei il gran cammino, + E tenni alla traversa + D'una selva diversa." + +Spenser, Faerie Queene, Iv. ii. 45: -- + + "Seeking adventures in the salvage wood." + +13. Bunyan, in his Pilrim's Progress, which is a kind of Divine +Comedy in prose, says: "I beheld then that they all went on till +they came to the foot of the hill Difficulty..... But the narrow +way lay right up the hill, and the name of the going up the side +of the hill is called Difficulty.... They went then till they +came to the Delectable Mountains, which mountains belong to the +Lord of that hill of which we have spoken before." + +14. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress: -- +"But now in this valley of Humiliation poor Christian was hard +put to it; for he had gone but a little way before he spied a +foul fiend coming over the field to meet him; his name is +Apollyon. Then did Christian begin to be afraid, and to cast in +his mind whether to go back or stand his ground. ...Now at the +end of this valley was another, called the valley of the Shadow +of Death; and Christian must needs go through it, because the way +to the Celestial City lay through the midst of it." + +17. The sun, with all its symbolical meanings. This is the +morning of Good Friday. + +In the Ptolemaic system the sun was one of the planets. + +20. The deep mountain tarn of his heart, dark with its own depth, +and the shadows hanging over it. + +27. Jeremiah ii. 6: "That led us through the wilderness, through a +land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of +the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, +and where no man dwelt." + +In his note upon this passage Mr. Wright quotes Spenser's lines, +Faerie Queene, I. v. 31, -- + + "there creature never passed + That back returned without heavenly grace." + +30. Climbing the hillside slowly, so that he rests longest on the +foot that is lowest. + +31. Jeremiah v. 6: "Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay +them, a wolf of the evening shall spoil them, a leopard shall +watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be +torn in pieces." + +32. Wordly Pleasure; and politically Florence, with its factions +of Bianchi and Neri. + +36. Piu volte volto. Dante delights in a play upon words as much +as Shakespeare. + +38. The stars of Aries. Some philosophers and fathers think the +world was created in Spring. + +45. Ambition; and politically the royal house of France. + +48. Some editions read temesse, others tremesse. + +49. Avarice; and politically the Court of Rome, or temporal power +of the Popes. + +60. Dante as a Ghibelline and Imperialist is in opposition to the +Guelfs, Pope Boniface VIII., and the King of France, Philip the +Fair, and is banished from Florence, out of the sunshine, and +into "the dry wind that blows from dolorous poverty." + +Cato speaks of the "silent moon" in De Re Rustica, XXIV., Evehito +luna silenti; and XL., Vites inseri luna silenti. Also Pliny, +XVI. 39, has Silens luna; and Milton, in Samson Agonistes, +"Silent as the moon." + +63. The long neglect of classic studies in Italy before Dante's +time. + +70. Born under Julius Caesar, but too late to grow up to manhood +during his Imperial reign. He florished later under Augustus. + +79. In this passage Dante but expresses the universal veneration +felt for Virgil during the Middle Ages, and especially in Italy. +Petrarch's copy of Virgil is still preserved in the Ambrosian +Library at Milan; and at the beginning of it he has recorded in a +Latin note the time of his first meeting with Laura, and the date +of her death, which, he says, "I write in this book, rather than +elsewhere, because it comes often under my eye." + +In the popular imagination Virgil became a mythical personage and +a mighty magician. See the story of Virgilius in Thom's Early +Prose Romances, II. Dante selects him for his guide, as +symbolizing human science or Philosophy. "I say and affirm," he +remarks, Convito, V. 16, "that the lady with whom I became +enamored after my first love was the most beautiful and modest +daughter of the Emperor of the Universe, to whom Pythagoras gave +the name of Philosophy." + +87. Dante seems to have been already conscious of the fame which +his Vita Nuova and Canzoni had given him. + +101. The greyhound is Can Grande della Scala, Lord of Verona, +Imperial Vicar, Ghibelline, and friend of Dante. Verona is +between Feltro in the Marca Trivigiana, and Montefeltro in +Romagna. Boccaccio, Decameron, I. 7, speaks of him as "one of the +most notable and magnificant lords that had been known in Italy, +since the Emperor Frederick the Second." To him Dante dedicated +the Paradiso. Some commentators think the Veltro is not Can +Grande, but Ugguccione della Faggiola. See Troya, Del Veltro +Allegorico di Dante. + +106. The plains of Italy, in contradistinction to the mountains; +the humilemque Italiam of Virgil, AEneid, III. 522: "And now +the stars being chased away, blushing Aurora appeared, when far +off we espy the hills obscure, and lowly Italy." + +116. I give preference to the reading, Vedrai gli antichi spiriti +dolenti. + +122. Beatrice. + + +Canto 2 + + +1. The evening of Good Friday. Dante, Convito III. 2, says: +"Man is called by philosophers the divine animal." Chaucer's +Assemble of Foules:-- + + The daie gan failen, and the darke night + That reveth bestes from hir businesse + Berafte me by boke for lacke of light." + +Mr. Ruskin, Modern Painters, III. 240, speaking of Dante's use of +the word " bruno," says:-- + +"In describing a simple twilight--not a Hades twilight, but an +ordinarily fair evening `brown' air took the animals away from +their fatigues;--the waves under Charon's boat are `brown' (Inf. +iii. 117); and Lethe, which is perfectly clear and yet dark, as +with oblivion, is `bruna-bruna', `brown, exceeding brown.' Now, +clearly in all these cases no warmth is meant to be mingled in +the color. Dante had never seen one of our bog-streams, with its +porter-colored foam; and there can be no doubt that, in calling +Lethe brown, he means tht it was dark slategray, inclining to +black; as, for instance, our clear Cumberland lakes, which, +looked straight down upon where they are deep, seem to be lakes +of ink. I am sure this is the color he means; because no clear +stream or lake on the Continent ever looks brown, but blue or +green, and Dante, by merely taking away the pleasant color, would +get at once to this idea of grave clear gray. So, when he was +talking of twilight, his eye for color was far too good to let +him call it brown in our sense. Twilight is not brown, but +purple, golden, or dark gray; and this last was what Dante meant. +Farther, I find that this negation color is always the means by +which Dante subdues his tones. Thus the fatal inscription on the +Hades gate is written in `obscure color', and the air which +torments the passionate spirts is `aer nero', black air (Inf. v. +51), called presently afterwards (line 81) malignant air, just as +the gray cliffs are called malignant cliffs." + +13. Aeneas, founder of the Roman Empire. Virgil, Aenid, B. VI. + +24. "That is," says Boccaccio, Comento, "St. Peter the Apostle, +called the greater on account of his papal dignity, and to +distinguish him from many other holy men of the same name." + +28. St. Paul. Acts, ix. 15: "He is a chosen vessel unto me." +Also, 2 Corinthians, xii. 3, 4: "And I knew such a man, whether +in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth; how +that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, +which it is not lawful for a man to utter." + +42. Shakespear, Macbeth, IV. i: + + "The flighty purpose never is o'ertook, + Unless the deed go with it." + +52. Suspended in Limbo; neither in pain nor in glory. + +55. Brighter than the star; than "that star which is brightest," +comments Boccaccio. Others say the Sun, and refer to Dante's +Canzone, beginning: + + "The star of beauty which doth measure time, + The lady seems, who has enamored me, + Placed in the heaven of Love." + +56. Shakespeare, King Lear, V. 3:-- + + "Her voice was ever soft, + Gentle, and low; an excellent thing in woman." + +67. This passage will recall Minerva transmitting the message of +Juno to Achilles, Iliad, II.: "Go thou forthwith to the army of +the Achaeans, and hesitate not, but restrain each man with thy +persuasive words, nor suffer them to drag to the sea their +double-oared ships. " + +70. Beatrice Portinari, Dante's first love, the inspiration of +his song and in his mind the symbol of the Divine. He says of her +in the Vita Nuova:-- + +"This most gentle lady, of whom there has been discourse in what +precedes, reached such favour among the people, that when she +passed along the way persons ran to see her, which gave me +wonderful delight. And when she was near any one, such modesty +took possession of his heart, that he did not dare to raise his +eyes or to return her salutation; and to this, should any one +doubt it, many, as having experienced it, could bear witness for +me. She, crowned and clothed with humility, took her way, +displaying no pride in that which she saw and heard. Many, when +she had passed said, `This is not a woman, rather is she one of +the most beautiful angels of heaven.' Others said, `She is a +miracle. Blessed be the Lord who can perform such a marvel.' I +say, that she showed herself so gentle and so full of all +beauties, that those who looked on her felt within themselves a +pure and sweet delight, such as they could not tell in +words."--C.E. Norton, The New Life, 51, 52. + +78. The heaven of the moon, which contains or encircles the +earth. + +84. The ampler circles of Paradise. + +94. Divine Mercy. + +97. St Lucia, emblem of enlightening Grace. + +102. Rachel, emblem of Divine Contemplation. See Par. XXXII. 9. +108. Beside that flood, where ocean has no vaunt; "That is," says +Boccacio, Comento, "the sea cannot boast of being more impetuous +or more dangerous than that." + +127. This simile has been imitated by Chaucer, Spenser, and many +more. Jeremy Taylor says:-- + +"So have I seen the sun kiss the frozen earth, which was bound up +with the images of death, and the colder breath of the north; and +then the waters break from their enclosures, and melt with joy, +and run in useful channels; and the flies do rise again from +their little graves in walls, and dance awhile in the air, to +tell that there is joy within, and that the great mother of +creatures will open the stock of her new refreshment, become +useful to mankind, and sing praises to her Redeemer." + +Rossetti, Spirito Antipapale del Secolo di Dante, translated by +Miss Ward, II. 216, makes this political application of the +lines: "The Florentines, called Sons of Flora, are compared to +flowers; and Dante calls the two parties who divided the city +white and black flowers, and himself white-flower,--the name by +which he was called by many. Now he makes use of a very abstruse +comparison, to express how he became, from a Guelph of Black, a +Ghibelline or White. He describes himself as a flower, first bent +and closed by the night frosts, and then blanched or whitened by +the sun (the symbol of reason), which opens its leaves; and what +produces the effect of the sun on him is a speech of Virgil's, +persuading him to follow his guidance." + + +Canto 3 + +1. This canto begins with a repetition of sounds like the tolling +of a funeral bell: dolente...dolore! Ruskin, Modern Painters, +III. 215, speaking of the Inferno, says:-- + +"Milton's effort, in all that he tells us of his Inferno, is to +make it indefinite; Dante's, to make it definite. Both, indeed, +describe it as entered through gates; but, within the gate, all +is wild and fenceless with Milton, having indeed its four rivers, +-- the last vestige of the mediaeval tradition,--but rivers +which flow through a waste of mountain and moorland, and by `many +a frozen, many a fiery Alp.' But Dante's Inferno is accurately +separated into circles drawn with well-pointed compasses; mapped +and properly surveyed in every direction, trenched in a +thoroughly good style of engineering from depth to depth, and +divided, in the ` accurate middle' (dritto mezzo) of its deeper +abyss, into a concentric series of ten moats and embankments, +like those about a castle, with bridges from each embankment to +the next; precisely in the manner of those bridges over Hiddekel +and Euphrates, which Mr. Macauley thinks so innocently designed, +apparently not aware that he is also laughing at Dante. These +larger fosses are of rock, and the bridges also; but as he goes +further into detail, Dante tells us a various minor fosses and +embankments, in which he anxiously points out to us not only the +formality, but the neatness and perfectness, of the stonework. +For instance, in describing the river Phlegethon, he tells us +that it was `paved with stone at the bottom, and at the sides, +and over the edges of the sides, ' just as the water is at the +baths of Bulicame; and for fear we should think this embankment +at all larger than it really was, Dante adds, carefully, that it +was made just like the embankments of Ghent or Bruges against the +sea, or those in Lombardy which bank the Brenta, only `not so +high, nor so wide,' as any of these. And besides the trenches, we +have two well-built castles; one like Ecbatana, with seven +circuits of wall (and surrounded by a fair stream), wherein the +great poets and sages of antiquity live; and another, a great +fortified city with walls of iron, red-hot, and a deep fosse +round it, and full of `grave citizens, '--the city of Dis. + +"Now, whether this be in what we moderns call `good taste,' or +not, I do not mean just now to inquire, -- Dante having nothing +to do with taste, but with the facts of what he had seen; only, +so far as the imaginative faculty of the two poets is concerned, +note that Milton's vagueness is not the sign of imagination, but +of its absence, so far as it is significative in the matter. For +it does not follow, because Milton did not map out his Inferno as +Dante did, that he could not have done so if he had chosen; only +it was the easier and less imaginative process to leave it vague +than to define it. Imagination is always the seeing and asserting +faculty; that which obscures or conceals may be judgment, or +feeling, but not invention. The invention, whether good or bad, +is in the accurate engineering, not in the fog and uncertainty." + +18 . Aristotle says: "The good of the intellect is the highest +beatitude"; and Dante in the Convito: "The True is the good of +the intellect. " In other words, the knowledge of God is +intellectual good. "It is a most just punishment," says St. +Augustine, "that man should lose that freedom which man could not +use, yet had power to keep, if he would, and that he who had +knowledge to do what was right, and did not do it, should be +deprived of the knowledge of what was right; and that he who +would not do righteously, when he had the power, should lose the +power to do it when he had the will. " + +22. The description given of the Mouth of Hell by Frate Alberico, +Visio, 9, is in the grotesque spirit of the Mediaeval Mysteries. +"After all these things, I was led to the Tartarean Regions, and +to the mouth of the Internal Pit, which seemed like unto a well; +regions full of horrid darkness, of fetid exhalations, of shrieks +and loud howlings. Near this Hell there was a Worm of immeasurable +size, bound with a huge chain, one end of which seemed to be +fastened in Hell. Before the mouth of this Hell there stood a great +multitude of souls, which he absorbed at once, as if they were +flies; so that, drawing in his breath, he swallowed them all together; +then, breathing, exhaled them all on fire, like sparks." + + +36 . The reader will here be reminded of Bunyan's town of +Fairspeech. "Christian. Pray who are you kindred there, if a man +may be so bold." "By-ends. Almost the whole town; and in +particular my Lord Turnabout, my Lord Timeserver, my Lord +Fairspeech, from whose ancestors that town first took its name; +also Mr. Smoothman, Mr. Facing- both-ways, Mr. Any-thing, +--and the parson of our parish, Mr. Two-tongues, was my +mother's own brother by father's side.... +"There Christian stepped a little aside to his fellow Hopeful, +saying, `It runs in my mind that this is one By- ends of Fair- +speech; and if it be he, we have as very a knave in our company +as dwelleth in all these parts.'" + +42 . Many commentators and translators interpret alcuna in its +usual signification of some: "For some glory the damned would +have from them." This would be a reason why these pusillanimous +ghosts should not be sent into the profounder abyss, but not reason +why they should not be received there. This is strengthened by what +comes afterwards, l. 63. These souls were "hateful to God, and to +his enemies." They were not good enough for Heaven, nor bad +enough for Hell. "So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither +cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth." Revelation iii. 16. +Macchiavelli represents this scorn of inefficient mediocrity +in an epigram on Peter Soderini:-- + + "The night that Peter Soderini died + He was at the mouth of Hell himself presented. + `What, you come into Hell? poor ghost demented, + Go to the Babies' Limbo!' Pluto cried." + +The same idea is intensified in the old ballad of Carle of Kelly- +Burn Brees, Cromek, p. 37:--She's nae fit for heaven, an' she'll +ruin a' hell." + +52 . This restless flag is an emblem of the shifting and unstable +minds of its followers. + +59 . Generally supposed to be Pope Celestine V. whose great +refusal, or abdication, of the papal office is thus described by +Boccaccio +in his Comento:-- Being a simple man of a holy life, living as a hermit +in the +mountains of Morrone in Abruzzo, above Selmona, he was elected +Pope in Perugia after the death of Pope Niccola d'Ascoli; and his +name being Peter, he was called Celestine. Considering his +simplicity, Cardinal Messer Benedetto Gatano, a very cunning man, +of great courage and desirous of being Pope, managing astutely, +began to show him that he held this high office much to the +prejudice of his own soul, inasmuch as he did not feel himself +competent for it; -- others pretend that he contrived with some +private servants of his to have voices heard in the chamber of +the aforesaid Pope, which, as if they were voices of angels sent +from heaven, said, `Resign, Celestine! Resign, Celestine!'--moved +by which, and being an idiotic man, he took counsel with Messer +Benedetto aforesaid, as to the best method of resigning." +Celestine having relinquished the papal office, this "Messer +Benedetto aforesaid" was elected Pope, under the title of +Boniface VIII. His greatest misfortune was that he had Dante for +an adversary. Gower gives this legend of Pope Celestine in his +Confessio Amantis, Book II., as an example of "the vice of +supplantacion." He says: -- + + "This clerk, when he hath herd the form, + How he the pope shuld enform, + Toke of the cardinal his leve + And goth him home, till it was eve. + And prively the trompe he hadde + Til that the pope was abedde. + And midnight when he knewe + The pope slepte, than he blewe + Within his trompe through the wall + And tolde in what manner he shall + His papacie leve, and take + His first estate." + +Milman, Hist. Latin Christianity, VI. 194, speaks thus upon the +subject:-- + +"The abdication of Celestine V. was an event unprecedented in the +annals of the Church, and jarred harshly against some of the +first principle of the Papal authority. It was a confession of +common humanity, of weakness below the ordinary standard of men +in him whom the Conclave, with more than usual certitude, as +guided by the special interposition of the Holy Ghost, had raised +to the spiritual throne of the world. The Conclave had been, as +it seemed, either under an illusion as to this declared +manifestation of the Holy Spirit, or had been permitted to +deceive itself. Nor was there less incongruity in a Pope, whose +office invested him in something at least approaching to +infallibility, acknowledging before the world his utter +incapacity, his undeniable fallibility. That idea, formed out of +many conflicting conceptions, yet forcibly harmonized by long, +traditionary reverence, of unerring wisdom, oracular truth, +authority which it was sinful to question or limit, strangely +disturbed and confused, not as before by too overweening +ambition, or even awful yet still unacknowledged crime, but by +avowed weakness, bordering on imbecility. His profound piety +hardly reconciled the confusion. A saint after all made but a bad +Pope. "It was viewed, in his own time, in a different light by +different minds. The monkish writers held it up as the most noble +example of monastic, of Christian perfection. Admirable as was +his election, his abdication was even more to be admired. It was +an example of humility stupendous to all, imitable by few. The +divine approval was said to be shown by a miracle which followed +directly on his resignation; but the scorn of man has been +expressed by the undying verse of Dante, who condemned him who +was guilty of the baseness of the `great refusal' to that circle +of hell where are those disdained alike by mercy and justice, on +whom the poet will not condescend to look. This sentence, so +accordant with the stirring and passionate soul of the great +Florentine, has been feebly counteracted, if counteracted, by the +praise of Petrarch in his declamation on the beauty of a solitary +life, for which the lyrist a somewhat hollow and poetic +admiration. Assuredly there was no magnanimity contemptuous of +the Papal greatness in the abdication of Celestine; it was the +weariness, the conscious inefficiency, the regret of a man +suddenly wrenched away from all his habits, pursuits, and +avocations, and unnaturally compelled or tempted to assume an +uncongenial dignity. It was the cry of passionate feebleness to +be released from an insupportable burden. Compassion is the +highest emotion of sympathy which it would have desired or could +deserve." + +75 . Spencer's "misty dampe of misconceyving night." + +82 . Virgil, Aeneid, VI., Davidson's translation:-- + +"A grim ferryman guards these floods and rivers, Charon, of +frightful slovenliness; on whose chin a load of gray hair +neglected lies; his eyes are flame: his vestments hang from his +shoulders by a knot, with filth overgrown. Himself thrusts on the +barge with a pole, and tends the sails, and wafts over the bodies +in his iron- colored boat, now in years: but the god is of fresh +and green old age. Hither the whole tribe in swarms come pouring +to the banks, matrons and men, the souls of magnanimous heroes +who had gone through life, boys and unmarried maids, and young +men who had been stretched on the funeral pile before the eyes of +their parents; as numerous as withered leaves fall in the woods +with the first cold of autumn, or as numerous as birds flock to +the land from deep ocean, when the chilling year drives them +beyond sea, and sends them to sunny climes. They stood praying to +cross the flood the first, and were stretching forth their hands +with fond desire to gain the further bank: but the sullen boatman +admits sometimes these, sometimes those; while others to a great +distance removed, he debars from the banks." +And Shakespeare, Richard III., I. 4: -- + + "I passed, methought, the melancholy flood + With that grim ferryman which poets write of, + Unto the kingdom of perpetual night." + +87 . Shakepeare, Measure for Measure, III. I:-- + +"This sensible warm motion to become A kneaded clod; and the +delighted spirit To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside In +thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice; To be imprisoned in the +viewless winds, And blown with restless violence round about The +pendent world; or to be worse than worst Of those that lawless +and incertain thoughts Imagine howling." + +89 . Virgil Aeneid, VI.:"This is the region of Ghosts, of sleep +and drowsy Night; to waft over the bodies of the living in my Stygian +boat is not permitted." + +93. The souls that were to be saved assembled at the mouth of the +Tiber, where they were received by the celestial pilot, or +ferryman, who transported them to the shores of Purgatory, as +described in Purg. II. + +94 . Many critics, and foremost among them Padre Pompeo Venturi, +blame Dante for mingling together things Pagan and Christian. But they +should remember how through all the Middle Ages human thought was +wrestling with the old traditions; how many Pagan observances +passed into Christianity in those early days; what reverence +Dante had for Virgil and the classics; and how many Christian +nations still preserve some traces of Paganism in the names of +the stars, the months, and the days. Padre Pompeo should not have +forgotten that he, though a Christian, bore a Pagan name, which +perhaps is as evident a brutto miscuglio in a learned Jesuit, as +any which he has pointed out in Dante. Upon him and other +commentators of the Divine Poem, a very amusing chapter +might be written. While the great Comedy is going on +upon the scene above, with all its pomp and music, these critics +in the pit keep up such a perpetual wrangling among themselves, as +seriously to disturb the performance. Biaglioli is the most +violent of all, particularly against Venturi, whom he calls an +"infamous dirty +dog," sozzo can vituperato, an epithet hardly permissible in the +most heated literary controversy. Whereupon in return Zani de' +Ferranti calls Biagioli "an inurbane grammarian," and a "most +ungrateful ingrate."--quel grammatico inurbano...ingrato +ingratissimo. Any one who is desirous of tracing out the +presence of Paganism in Christianity will find the subject amply +discussed by Middleton in his Letter from Rome. + +109. Dryden's Aene,is, B. VI.:-- + + "His eyes like hollow furnaces on fire." + +112 . Homer, Iliad, VI.:"As is the race of leaves, such is that +of men; some leaves the wind scatters upon the ground, and others the +budding wood produces, for they come again in the season of +Spring. So is the race of men, one springs up and the other +dies." +See also Note 82 of the canto. +Mr. Ruskin, Modern Painters, III. 160, says:-- + +When Dante describes the spirits falling from the bank of Acheron +`as dead leaves flutter from a bough,' he gives the most perfect +image possible of their utter lightness, feebleness, passiveness, +and scattering agony of despair, without, however, for an instant +losing his own clear perception that these are souls, and those +are leaves: he makes no confusion of one with the other." +Shelley in his Ode to the West Wind inverts this image, and +compares the dead leaves to ghosts:-- + +"O wild West Wind! thou breath of Autumn's being! +Thou from whose presence the leaves dead +Are driven like ghosts, from an enchanter fleeing, +Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, +Pestilence-stricken mulititudes." + +Canto 4 + +1. Dante is borne across the river Acheron in his sleep, he does +not tell us how, and awakes on the brink of "the dolorous valley of +the abyss." He now enters the First Circle of the Inferno; the +Limbo of the Unbaptized, the border land, as the name denotes. +Frate Alberico in {paragraph} 2 of his Vision says, that the +divine punishments are tempered to extreme youth and old age. +"Man is first a little child, then grows and reaches adolescence, +and attains to youthful vigor; and, little by little growing +weaker, declines into old age; and at every step of life the sum +of his sins increases. So likewise the little children are +punished least, and more and more the adolescents and the youths; +until, their sins decreasing with the long-continued torments, +punishment also begins to decrease, as if by a kind of old age +("veluti quadam senectute ")." + +10 . Frate Alberico, in {paragraph} 9: "The darkness was so +dense and impenetrable that it was impossible to see anything there." + +28 . Mental, not physical pain; what the French theologians call +" la peine du dam", the privation of the sight of God. + +30. Virgil, "Aeneid", VI.: "Forthwith are heard voices, loud +wailings, and weeping ghosts of infants, in the first opening of +the gate; whom, bereaved of sweet life out of the course of +nature, and snatched from the breast, a black day cut off, and +buried in an untimely grave." + +53. The descent of Christ into Limbo. Neither here nor elsewhere +in the Inferno does Dante mention the name of Christ. + +72. The reader will not fail to observe how Dante makes the word +"honor", in its various forms, ring and reverberate through these +lines, -- " orrevol, onori, orranza, onrata, onorata"! + +86. Dante puts the sword into the hand of Homer as a symbol of +his warlike epic, which is a Song of the Sword. + +93. Upon this line Boccaccio, "Comento", says: +"A proper thing it is to honor every man, but especially those +who are of one and the same profession, as these were with +Virgil. " + +100. Another assertion of Dante's consciousness of his own power +as a poet. + +106. This is the Noble Castle of human wit and learning, +encircled with its seven scholastic walls, the " Trivium", Logic, +Grammar, +Rhetoric, and the "Quadrivium ", Arithmetic, Astronomy, Geometry, +Music. The fair rivulet is Eloquence, which Dante does not seem +to consider a very profound matter, as he and Virgil pass over it +as if it were dry ground. + +118 . Of this word "enamel" Mr. Ruskin, "Modern Painters", III. +227, remarks: + +"The first instance I know of its right use, though very probably +it had been so employed before, is in Dante. The righteous +spirits of the pre-Christian ages are seen by him, though in the +Inferno, yet in a place open, luminous and high, walking upon the +`green enamel.' "I am very sure that Dante did not use this +phrase as we use it. He knew well what enamel was; and his +readers, in order to understand him thoroughly, must remember +what it is,--a vitreous paste, dissolved in water, mixed with +metallic oxides, to give it the opacity and the color required, +spread in a moist state on metal, and afterwards hardened by +fire, so as never to change. And Dante means, in using this +metaphor of the grass of the Inferno, to mark that it is laid as +a tempering and cooling substance over the dark, metallic, gloomy +ground; but yet so hardened by the fire, that it is not any more +fresh or living grass, but a smooth, silent, lifeless bed of +eternal green. And we know how " hard" Dante's idea of it was; +because afterwards, in what is perhaps the most awful passage of +the whole Inferno, when the three furies rise at the top of the +burning tower, and, catching sight of Dante, and not being able +to get at him, shriek wildly for the Gorgon to come up, too, that +they may turn him into stone, the word " stone" is not hard +enough for them. Stone might crumble away after it was made, or +something with life might grow upon it; no, it shall not be +stone; they will make enamel of him; nothing can grow out of +that; it is dead forever." + +And yet just before, line 111, Dante speaks of this meadow as a +"meadow of fresh verdure." +Compare Brunetto's "Tesoretto", XIII. + + "Ora va mastro Brunetto + Per lo cammino stretto, + Cercando di vedere, + E toccare, e sapere + Cio, che gli e destinato. + E non fui guari andato, + Ch' i' fui nella diserta, + Dov' i' non trovai certa + Ne strada, ne sentiero. + Deh che paese fero + Trovai in quelle parti! + Che s' io sapessi d'arti + Quivi mi bisognava, + Che quanto piu mirava, + Piu mi parea selvaggio. + Quivi non ha viaggio, + Quivi non ha persone, + Quivi non ha magione, + Non bestia, non uccello, + Non fiume, non ruscello, + Non formica, ne mosca, + Ne cosa, ch' i' conosca. + E io pensando forte, + Dottai ben della morte. + E non e maraviglia; + Che ben trecento miglia + Girava d'ogni lato + Quel paese snagiato. + Ma si m' assicurai + Quando mi ricordai + De sicuro segnale, + Che contra tutto malev + Mi da securamento: + E io presi ardimento, + Quasi per avventura + Per una valle scura, + Tanto, ch' al terzo giorno + I' mi trovai d'intorno + Un grande pian giocondo, + Lo piu gaio del mondo, + E lo piu dilettoso. + Ma ricontar non oso + Cio, ch'io trovai, e vidi, + Se Dio mi guardi, e guidi. + Io non sarei creduto + Di cio, ch' i' ho veduto; + Ch'i' vidi Imperadori, + E Re, e gran signori, + E mastri di scienze, + Che dittavan sentenze; + E vidi tante cose, + Che gia 'n rime, ne 'n prose + Non le poria ritrare. + + +128. In the "Convito", IV. 28, Dante makes Marcia, Cato's wife, a +symbol of the noble soul: " Per la quale Marzias' intende la +nobile anima. " + +129. The Saladin of the Crusades. See Gibbon, Chap. LIX. Dante +also makes mention of him, as worthy of affectionate remembrance, in +the " Convito", IV. 2. Mr. Cary quotes the following passage from +Knolle's " History of the Turks", page 57:-- + +"About this time (1193) died the great Sultan Saladin, the +greatest terror of the Christians, who, mindful of man's +fragility and the vanity of worldly honors, commanded at the time +of his death no solemnity to be used at his burial, but only his +shirt, in manner of an ensign, made fast unto the point of a +lance, to be carried before his dead body as an ensign, a plain +priest going before, and crying aloud unto the people in this +sort, `Saladin' Conqueror of the East, of all the greatness and +riches he had in his life, carrieth not with him anything more +than his shirt. ' A sight worthy so great a king, as wanted +nothing to his eternal commendation more than the true knowledge +of his salvation in Christ Jesus. He reigned about sixteen years +with great honor. " The following story of Saladin is from the +"Cento Novelle Antiche. " +Roscoe's "Italian Novelists", I. 18:-- + +"On another occasion the great Saladin, in the career of victory, +proclaimed a truce between the Christian armies and his own. +During this interval he visited the camp and the cities belonging +to his enemies, with the design, should he approve of the customs +and manners of the people, of embracing the Christian faith. He +observed their tables spread with the finest damask coverings +ready prepared for the feast, and he praised their magnificence. +On entering the tents of the king of France during a festival, he +was much pleased with the order and ceremony with which +everything was conducted, and the courteous manner in which he +feasted his nobles; but when he approached the residence of the +poorer class, and perceived them devouring their miserable +pittance upon the ground, he blamed the want of gratitude which +permitted so many faithful followers of their chief to fare so +much worse than the rest of their Christian brethren. +"Afterwards, several of the Christian leaders returned with the +Sultan to observe the manners of the Saracens. They appeared much +shocked on seeing all ranks of people take their meals sitting +upon the ground. The Sultan led them into a grand pavilion where +he feasted his court, surrounded with the most beautiful +tapestries, and rich foot-cloths, on which were wrought large +embroidered figures of the cross. The Christian chiefs trampled +them under their feet with the utmost indifference, and even +rubbed their boots, and spat upon them. "On perceiving this, +the Sultan turned towards them in the greatest anger, exclaiming: +`And do you who pretend to preach the cross treat it thus +ignominiously? Gentlemen, I am shocked at your conduct. +Am I to suppose from this that the worship of your Deity +consists only in words, not in actions? Neither your manners nor +your conduct please me.' And on this he dismissed them, +breaking off the truce and commencing hostilities more +warmly than before." + +143. Avicenna, an Arabian physician of Ispahan in the eleventh +century. Born 980, died 1036. + +144. Avverrhoes, an Arabian scholar of the twelfth century, who +translated the works of Aristotle, and wrote a commentary upon +them. He was born in Cordova in 1149, and died in Morocco, about +1200. He was the head of the Western School of philosophy, as +Avicenna was of the Eastern. + +Canto 5 + +1. In the Second Circle are found the souls of carnal sinners, +whose punishment + + "To be imprisoned in the viewless winds, + And blown with restless violence round about + The pendent world." + +2. The circles grow smaller and smaller as they descend. + +4. Minos, the king of Crete, so renowned for justice as to be +called the Favorite of the Gods, and after death made Supreme +Judge in the Infernal Regions. Dante furnishes him with a tail, +thus converting him, after the mediaeval fashion, into a +Christian demon. + +21. Thou, too, as well as Charon, to whom[*]Virgil has already +made the same reply, Canto 06. 022. + +28. In Canto 01. 060, the sun is silent; here the light is dumb. + +51. Gower, "Confession Amantis", VIII., gives a similar list "of +gentil folke that whilom were lovers," seen by him as he lay in a +swound and listened to the music Of bombarde and of clarionne +With cornemuse and shalmele." + +61. Queen Dido. + +65. Achilles, being in love with Polyxena, a daughter of Priam, +went unarmed to the temple of Apollo, where he was put to death by +Paris. Gower, "Confessio Amantis ", IV., says:-- + + "For I have herde tell also + Achilles left his armes so, + Both of himself and of his men, + At Troie for Polixenen + Upon her love when he felle, + That for no chaunce that befelle + Among the Grekes or up or down + He wolde nought ayen the town + Ben armed for the love of her." + +"I know not how," says Bacon in his Essay on Love, "but martial +men are given to love; I think it is but as they are given to +wine; for perils commonly ask to be paid in pleasure." + +67. Paris of Troy, of whom Spenser says, "Faerie Queene", III.ix. +34:-- + + "Most famous Worthy of the world, by whome + That warre waas kindled which did Troy inflame + And stately towres of Ilion whilome + Brought unto balefull ruine, was by name + Sir Paris, far renown'd through noble fame." + +Tristan is the Sir Tristram of the Romances of Chivalry. See his +adventures in the " Mort d'Arthure." Also Thomas of Ercildoune's +"Sir Tristram, a Metrical Romance. " His amours with Yseult of +Ysonde bring him to this circle of the Inferno. + +71 . Shakespeare, Sonnet CVI.:-- + + "When in the chronicle of wasted time + I see descriptions of the fairest wights + In praise of ladies dead and lovely knights." + +See also the "wives and daughters of chieftains" that appear to +Ulysses, in the " Odyssey", Book XI. Also Milton, "[*]Paradise +Regained", II. 357:-- + + "And ladies of the Hesperides, that seemed + Fairer than feigned of old, or fabled since + Of fairy damsels met in forest wide + By knights of Logres, or of Lyones, + Lancelot, or Palleas, or Pellenore." + +89. In the original, "l'aer perso", the perse air. Dante, " +Convito", IV. 20, defines perse as "a color mixed of purple +and black, but the black predominates." Chaucer's +"Doctour of Phisike" in the " Canterbury Tales", +Prologue 441, wore this color:-- + + "In sanguin and in perse he clad was alle, + Lined with taffata and with sendalle." + +The Glossary defines it, "skie colored, of a bluish gray." The +word is again used, VII. 103 and " Purg." 09. 097. + +97. The city of Ravenna."One reaches Ravenna," says Amp@ere, +"Voyage Dantesque ", p. 311, "by journeying along the borders of a pine +forest, which is seven leagues in length, and which seemed to me +an immense funereal wood, serving as an avenue to the common tomb +of those two great powers, Dante and the Roman Empire in the +West. There is hardly room for any other memories than theirs. +But other poetic names are attached to the Pine Woods of Ravenna. +Not long ago Lord Byron evoked there the fantastic tales borrowed +by Dryden from Boccaccio, and now he is himself a figure of the +past, wandering in this melancholy place. I thought, in +traversing it, that the singer of despair had ridden along this +melancholy shore, trodden before him by the graver and slower +footstep of the poet of the Inferno." + +99. Quoting this line, Ampere remarks, "Voyage Dantesque", p. +312: "We have only to cast our eyes upon the map to recognize the +topographical exactitude of this last expression. In fact, in all +the upper part of its course, the Po receives a multitude of +affluents, which converge towards its bed. They are the Tessino, +the Adda, the Olio, the Mincio, the Trebbia, the Bormida, the +Taro;--names which recur so often in the history of the wars of +the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries." + +103. Here the word "love" is repeated, as the word "honor " was +in Canto 04. 072. The verse murmurs with it, like the "moan of doves +in immemorial elms." St. Augustine says in his " Confessions", +III. 1: "I loved not yet, yet I loved to love.....I sought what I +might love, in love with loving." + +104. I think it is Coleridge who says: "The desire of man is for +the woman, but the desire of woman is for the desire of man." + +107. Caina is in the lowest circle of the Inferno, where +fratricides are punished. + +116. Francesca, daughter of Guido da Polenta, Lord of Ravenna, +and wife of Gianciotto Malatesta, son of the Lord of Rimini. The +lover, Paul Malatesta, was the brother of the husband, who, +discovering their amour, put them both to death with his own +hand. Carlyle, "Heroes and Hero Worship", Lect. III., says:-- +"Dante's painting is not graphic only, brief, true, and of a +vividness as of fire in dark night; taken on the wider scale, it +is every way noble, and the outcome of a great soul. Francesca +and her Lover, what qualities in that! A thing woven as out of +rainbows, on a ground of eternal black. A small flute-voice of +infinite wail speaks there, into our very heart of hearts. A +touch of womanhood in it too: "della bella persona", "che mi fu +tolta"; and how, even in the Pit of woe, it is a solace that " +he" will never part from her! Saddest tragedy in these " alti +guai." And the racking winds, in that "aer bruno ", whirl them +away again, to wail forever! -- Strange to think: Dante was the +friend of this poor Francesca's father; Francesca herself may +have sat upon the Poet's knee, as a bright, innocent little +child. Infinite pity, yet also infinite rigor of law: it is so +Nature is made; it is so Dante discerned that she was made." +Later commentators assert that Dante's friend Guido was not the +father of Francesca, but her nephew. Boccaccio's account, +translated from his Commentary by Leigh Hunt, " Stories from the +Italian Poets", Appendix II., is as follows:--"You must know that +this lady, Madonna Francesca, was daughter of Messer Guido the +Elder, lord of Ravenna and of Cervia, and that a long and +grievous war having been waged between him and the lords +Malatesta of Rimini, a treaty of peace by certain mediators was +at length concluded between them; the which, to the end that it +might be the more firmly established, it pleased both parties to +desire to fortify by relationship; and the matter of this +relationship was so discoursed, that the said Messer Guido agreed +to give his young and fair daughter in marriage to Gianciotto, +the son of Messer Malatesta. Now, this being made known to +certain of the friends of Messer Guido, one of them said to him: +`Take care what you do; for if you contrive not matters +discreetly, such relationship will beget scandal. You know what +manner of person your daughter is, and of how lofty a spirit; and +if she see Gianciotto before the bond is tied, neither you nor +any one else will have power to persuade her to marry him; +therefore, if it so please you, it seems to me that it would be +good to conduct the matter thus: namely, that Gianciotto should +not come hither himself to marry her, but that a brother of his +should come and espouse her in his name.' "Gianciotto was a man +of great spirit, and hoped, after his father's death, to become +lord of Rimini; in the contemplation of which event, albeit he +was rude in appearance and a cripple, Messer Guido desired him +for a son-in-law above any one of his brothers. Discerning, +therefore, the reasonableness of what his friend counselled, he +secretly disposed matters according to his device; and a day +being appointed, Polo, a brother of Gianciotto, came to Ravenna +with full authority to espouse Madonna Francesca. Polo was a +handsome man, very pleasant, and of a courteous breeding; and +passing with other gentlemen over the court-yard of the palace of +Messer Guido, a damsel who knew him pointed him out to Madonna +Francesca through an opening in the casement, saying, `That is he +that is to be your husband'; and so indeed the poor lady +believed, and incontinently placed in him her whole affection; +and the ceremony of the marriage having been thus brought about, +and the lady conveyed to Rimini, she became not aware of the +deceit till the morning ensuing the marriage, when she beheld +Gianciotto rise from her side; the which discovery moved her to +such disdain, that she became not a whit the less rooted in her +love for Polo. Nevertheless, that it grew to be unlawful I never +heard, except in what is written by this author (Dante), and +possibly it might so have become; albeit I take what he says to +have been an invention framed on the possibility, rather than +anything which he knew of his own knowledge. Be this as it may, +Polo and Madonna Francesca living in the same house, and +Gianciotto being gone into a certain neighboring district as +governor, they fell into great companionship with one another, +suspecting nothing; but a servant of Gianciotto's, noting it, +went to his master and told him how matters looked; with the +which Gianciotto being fiercely moved, secretly returned to +Rimini; and seeing Polo enter the room of Madonna Francesca the +while he himself was arriving, went straight to the door, and +finding it locked inside, called to his lady to come out; for, +Madonna Francesca and Polo having descried him, Polo thought to +escape suddenly through an opening in the wall, by means of which +there was a descent into another room; and therefore, thinking to +conceal his fault either wholly or in part, he threw himself into +the opening, telling the lady to go and open the door. But his +hope did not turn out as he expected; for the hem of a mantle +which he had on caught upon a nail, and the lady opening the door +meantime, in the belief that all would be well by reason of +Polo's not being there, Gianciotto caught sight of Polo as he was +detained by the hem of the mantle, and straightway ran with his +dagger in his hand to kill him; whereupon the lady, to prevent +it, ran between them; but Gianciotto having lifted the dagger, +and put the whole force of his arm into the blow, there came to +pass what he had not desired,--namely, that he struck the dagger +into the bosom of the lady before it could reach Polo; by which +accident, being as one who had loved the lady better than +himself, he withdrew the dagger and again struck at Polo, and +slew him; and so leaving them both dead, he hastily went his way +and betook him to his wonted affairs; and the next morning the +two lovers, with many tears, were buried together in the same +grave." + +121. This thought is from Boethius, "De Consolat. Philos")., Lib. +II. Prosa 4: "In omni adversitate fortunae, infelicissimum genus est +infortunii fuisse felicem et non esse. " In the "Convito", II. 16, +Dante speaks of Boethius and Tully as having directed him +"to the love, that is to the study, of this most gentle lady +Philosophy. +" From this Venturi and Biagioli infer that, by the Teacher, Boethius +is meant, not Virgil. This interpretation, however, can hardly be +accepted, as not in one place only, but throughout the Inferno and +the Purgatorio, Dante proclaims Virgil as his teacher, " il mio +Dottore. +" Lombardi thinks that Virgil had experience of this "greatest sorrow," + +finding himself also in "the infernal prison"; and that it is to this, +in +contrast with his happy life on earth, that Francesca alludes, and not +to +anything in his writings. + +128. The Romance of Launcelot of the Lake. See Delvan, +"Biblioteque Bleue ":-- + +"Chap. 39. Comment Launcelot et la Reine Genievre deviserent de +choses et d'autres, et surtout de choses amoureuses..... +"La Reine, voyant qu'il n'osait plus rien faire ni dire, le prit +par le menton et le baisa assez longuement en presence de +Gallehault. " +The Romance was to these two lovers, what Galeotto +(Gallehault or Sir Galahad) had been to Launcelot and Queen +Guenever. Leigh Hunt speaks of the episode of Francesca as +standing in the Inferno "like a lily in the mouth of Tartarus." + +142. Chaucer, "Knightes Tale":-- + + "The colde death, with mouth gaping upright." + +Canto 6 + +1. The sufferings of these two, and the pity it excited in him. +As in Shakespeare, " Othello", IV. 1: + + "But yet the pity of it, Iago! + -- O Iago, the pity of it, Iago!" + +7. In this third circle are punished the Gluttons. Instead of the +feasts of former days, the light, the warmth, the comfort, the +luxury, and "the frolic wine" of dinner tables, they have the +murk and the mire, and the "rain eternal, maledict, and cold, and +heavy"; and are barked at and bitten by the dog in the yard. Of +Gluttony, Chaucer says in "The Persones Tale", p. 239:-- +"He that is usant to this sinne of glotonie, he ne may no sinne +withstond, he must be in servage of all vices, for it is the +devils horde, ther he hideth him and resteth. This sinne hath +many spices. The first is dronkennesse, that is the horrible +sepulture of mannes reson: and therefore whan a man is dronke, he +hath lost his reson: and this is dedly sinne. But sothly, whan +that a man is not wont to strong drinkes, and peraventure ne +knoweth not the strength of the drinke, or hath feblenesse in his +hed, or hath travailled, thurgh which he drinketh the more, al be +he sodenly caught with drinke, it is no dedly sinne, but venial. +The second spice of glotonie is, that the spirit of a man wexeth +all trouble for dronkennesse, and bereveth a man the discretion +of his wit. The thridde spice of glotonie is, whan a man +devoureth his mete, and hath not rightful maner of eting. The +fourthe is, whan thurgh the gret abundance of his mete, the +humours in his body ben distempered. The fifthe is, +foryetfulnesse by to moche drinking, for which sometime a man +forgeteth by the morwe, what he did over eve." + +52. It is a question whether "Ciacco", Hog, is the real name of +this person, or a nickname. Boccaccio gives him no other. He speaks of +him, "Comento ", VI. , as a noted diner-out in Florence, "who +frequented the gentry and the rich, and particularly those who +ate and drank sumptuously and delicately; and when he was invited by +them +to dine, he went; and likewise when he was not invited by them, he +invited himself; and for this vice he was well known to all +Florentines; +though apart from this he was a well-bred man according to his +condition, eloquent, affable, and of good feeling; on account of which +he +was welcomed by every gentleman." +The following story from the "Decamerone", Gior. IX., Nov. viii., +translation of 1684, presents a lively picture of social life +in Florence in Dante's time, and is interesting for the glimpse +it gives, not only of Ciacco, but of Philippo Argenti, who is +spoken of hereafter, Canto VIII. 061. The Corso Donati here +mentioned is the Leader of the Neri. His violent death is +predicted, " Purg. " XXIV. 82:-- +"There dwelt somtime in Florence one that was generally called by +the name of Ciacco, a man being the greatest Gourmand and +grossest Feeder as ever was seen in any Countrey, all his means +and procurements meerly unable to maintain expences for filling +his belly. But otherwise he was of sufficient and commendable +carriage, fairly demeaned, and well discoursing on any Argument: +yet not as a curious and spruce Courtier, but rather a frequenter +of rich mens Tables, where choice of good chear is seldom +wanting, and such should have his Company, albeit not invited, he +had the Courage to bid himself welcome. "At the same time, and in +our City of Florence also, there was another man named Biondello, +very low of stature, yet comely formed, quick witted, more neat +and brisk than a Butterflie, always wearing a wrought silk Cap on +his head, and not a hair standing out of order, but the tuft +flourishing above the forehead, and he such another trencher flie +for the Table, as our forenamed Ciacco was. It so fell out on a +morning in the Lent time, that he went into the Fish-market, +where he bought two goodly Lampreys for Messer Viero de Cerchi, +and was espyed by Ciacco, who, coming to Biondello, said, `What +is the meaning of this cost, and for whom is it?' Whereto +Biondello thus answered, `Yesternight three other Lampreys, far +fairer than these, and a whole Sturgeon, were sent unto Messer +Corso Donati, and being not sufficient to feed divers Gentlemen, +whom he hath invited this day to dine with him, he caused me to +buy these two beside: Dost not thou intend to make one of them?' +`Yes, I warrant thee,' replyed Ciacco, `thou knowest I can invite +my self thither, without any other bidding.' +"So parting, about the hour of dinner time Ciacco went to the +house of Messer Corso, whom he found sitting and talking with +certain of his Neighbours, but dinner was not as yet ready, +neither were they come thither to dinner. Messer Corso demanded +of Ciacco, what news with him, and whether he went? `Why Sir,' +said Ciacco, `I come to dine with you, and your good Company.' +Whereto Messer Corso answered, That he was welcome: and his other +friends being gone, dinner was served in, none else thereat +present but Messer Corso and Ciacco: all the diet being a poor +dish of Pease, a little piece of Tunny, and a few small fishes +fryed, without any other dishes to follow after. Ciacco seeing no +better fare, but being disappointed of his expectation, as +longing to feed on the Lampreys and Sturgeon, and so to have made +a full dinner indeed, was of a quick apprehension, and apparently +perceived that Biondello had meerly gull'd him in a knavery, +which did not a little vex him, and made him vow to be revenged +on Biondello, as he could compass occasion afterward. +"Before many days were past, it was his fortune to meet with +Biondello, who having told his jest to divers of his friends, and +much good merryment made thereat: he saluted Ciacco in a kind +manner, saying, `How didst thou like the fat Lampreys and +Sturgeon which thou fed'st on at the house of Messer Corso?' +`Well, Sir,' answered Ciacco, `perhaps before Eight days pass +over my head, thou shalt meet with as pleasing a dinner as I +did.' So, parting away from Biondello, he met with a Porter, such +as are usually sent on Errands; and hyring him to do a message +for him, gave him a glass Bottle, and bringing him near to the +Hall-house of Cavicciuli, shewed him there a Knight, called +Signior Philippo Argenti, a man of huge stature, very cholerick, +and sooner moved to Anger than any other man. `To him thou must +go with this Bottle in thy hand, and say thus to him. Sir, +Biondello sent me to you, and courteously entreateth you, that +you would erubinate this glass Bottle with your best Claret Wine; +because he would make merry with a few friends of his. But beware +he lay no hand on thee, because he may be easily induced to +misuse thee, and so my business be disappointed.' `Well, Sir,' +said the Porter, `shall I say any thing else unto him?' `No,' +quoth Ciacco, `only go and deliver this message, and when thou +art returned, I'll pay thee for thy pains.' The Porter being gone +to the house, delivered his message to the Knight, who, being a +man of no great civil breeding, but very furious, presently +conceived that Biondello, whom he knew well enough, sent this +message in meer mockage of him, and, starting up with fierce +looks, said, `What erubination of Claret should I send him? and +what have I to do with him or his drunken friends? Let him and +thee go hang your selves together.' So he stept to catch hold on +the Porter, but he being nimble and escaping from him, returned +to Ciacco and told him the answer of Philippo. Ciacco, not a +little contented, payed the Porter, tarried in no place till he +met Biondello, to whom he said, `When wast thou at the Hall of +Cavicciuli?' `Not a long while,' answered Biondello; `but why +dost thou demand such a question?' `Because,' quoth Ciacco, +`Signior Philippo hath sought about for thee, yet know not I what +he would have with thee.' `Is it so,' replied Biondello, `then I +will walk thither presently, to understand his pleasure.' "When +Biondello was thus parted from him, Ciacco followed not far off +behind him, to behold the issue of this angry business; and +Signior Philippo, because he could not catch the Porter, +continued much distempered, fretting and fuming, because he could +not comprehend the meaning of the Porter's message, but only +surmised that Biondello, by the procurement of some body else, +had done this in scorn of him. While he remained thus deeply +discontented, he espyed Biondello coming towards him, and meeting +him by the way, he stept close to him and gave him a cruel blow +on the Face, Biondello, `wherefore do you strike me?' Signior +Philippo, catching him by the hair of the head, trampled his +Night Cap in the dirt, and his Cloak also, when, laying many +violent blows on him, he said, `Villanous Traitor as thou art, +I'll teach thee what it is to erubinate with Claret, either thy +self or any of thy cupping Companions. Am I a Child to be jested +withal?' +"Nor was he more furious in words than in stroaks also, beating +him about the Face, hardly leaving any hair on his head, and +dragging him along in the mire, spoiling all his Garments, and he +not able, from the first blow given, to speak a word in defence +of himself. In the end Signior Philippo having extreamly beaten +him, and many people gathering about them, to succour a man so +much misused, the matter was at large related, and manner of the +message sending. For which they all did greatly reprehend +Biondello, considering he knew what kind of man Philippo was, not +any way to be jested withal. Biondello in tears maintained that +he never sent any such message for Wine, or intended it in the +least degree; so, when the tempest was more mildly calmed, and +Biondello, thus cruelly beaten and durtied, had gotten home to +his own house, he could then remember that (questionless) this +was occasioned by Ciacco. "After some few days were passed over, +and the hurts in his face indifferently cured, Biondello +beginning to walk abroad again, chanced to meet with Ciacco, who, +laughing heartily at him, said, `Tell me, Biondello, how dost +thou like the erubinating Claret of Signior Philippo?' `As well,' +quoth Biondello, `as thou didst the Sturgeon and Lampreys at +Messer Corso Donaties.' `Why then, ' said Ciacco, `let these +tokens continue familiar between thee and me, when thou wouldest +bestow such another dinner on me, then will I erubinate thy Nose +with a Bottle of the same Claret.' But Biondello perceived to his +cost that he had met with the worser bargain, and Ciacco got +cheer without any blows; and therefore desired a peacefull +attonement, each of them always after abstaining from flouting +one another." +Ginguene, "Hist. Lit. de l'Italie", II. 53, takes Dante severely +to task for wasting his pity upon poor Ciacco, but probably the +poet had pleasant memories of him at Florentine banquets in the +olden time. Nor is it remarkable that he should be mentioned only +by his nickname. Mr. Forsyth calls Italy "the land of nicknames. +" He says in continuation, " Italy", p. 145:-- +"Italians have suppressed the surnames of their principal artists +under various designations. Many are known only by the names of +their birthplace, as Correggio, Bassano, etc. Some by those of +their masters, as Il Salviati, Sansovino, etc. Some by their +father's trade, as Andrea del Sarto, Tintoretto, etc. Some by +their bodily defects, as Guercino, Cagnacci, etc. Some by the +subjects in which they excelled, as M. Angelo delle battaglie, +Agostino delle perspettive. A few (I can recollect only four) are +known, each as the " prince" of his respective school, by their +Christian names alone: Michael Angelo, Raphael, Guido, Titian." + +65. The Bianchi are called the "Parte selvaggia", because its +leaders, the Cerchi, came from the forest lands of Val di Sieve. +The other party, the Neri, were led by the Donati. +The following account of these factions is from Giovanni +Fiorentino, a writer of the fourteenth century; " Il Pecorone", +Gior. XIII. Nov. i., in Roscoe's "Italian Novelists ", I. 327. +"In the city of Pistoia, at the time of its greatest splendor, +there flourished a noble family, called the Cancellieri, derived +from Messer Cancelliere, who had enriched himself with his +commercial transactions. He had numerous sons by two wives, and +they were all entitled by their wealth to assume the title of +Cavalieri, valiant and worthy men, and in all their actions +magnanimous and courteous. And so fast did the various branches +of this family spread, that in a short time they numbered a +hundred men at arms, and being superior to every other, both in +wealth and power, would have still increased, but that a cruel +division arose between them, from some rivalship in the +affections of a lovely and enchanting girl, and from angry words +they proceeded to more angry blows. Separating into two parties, +those descended from the first wife took the title of Cancellieri +Bianchi, and the others, who were the offspring of the second +marriage, were called Cancellieri Neri. +"Having at last come to action, the Neri were defeated, and +wishing to adjust the affair as well as they yet could, they sent +their relation, who had offended the opposite party, to entreat +forgiveness on the part of the Neri, expecting that such +submissive conduct would meet with the compassion it deserved. On +arriving in the presence of the Bianchi, who conceived themselves +the offended party, the young man, on bended knees, appealed to +their feelings for forgiveness, observing, that he had placed +himself in their power, that so they might inflict what +punishment they judged proper; when several of the younger +members of the offended party, seizing on him, dragged him into +an adjoining stable, and ordered that his right hand should be +severed from his body. In the utmost terror the youth, with tears +in his eyes, besought them to have mercy, and to take a greater +and nobler revenge, by pardoning one whom they had it in their +power thus deeply to injure. But heedless of his prayers, they +bound his hand by force upon the manger, and struck it off; a +deed which excited the utmost tumult throughout Pistoia, and such +indignation and reproaches from the injured party of the Neri, as +to implicate the whole city in a division of interests between +them and the Bianchi, which led to many desperate encounters. +"The citizens, fearful lest the faction might cause insurrections +throughout the whole territory, in conjunction with the Guelfs, +applied to the Florentines in order to reconcile them; on which +the Florentines took possession of the place, and sent the +partisans on both sides to the confines of Florence, whence it +happened that the Neri sought refuge in the house of the +Frescobaldi, and the Bianchi in that of the Cerchi nel Garbo, +owing to the relationship which existed between them. The seeds +of the same dissension being thus sown in Florence, the whole +city became divided, the Cerchi espousing the interests of the +Bianchi, and the Donati those of the Neri. +"So rapidly did this pestiferous spirit gain ground in Florence, +as frequently to excite the greatest tumult; and from a peaceable +and flourishing state, it speedily became a scene of rapine and +devastation. In this stage Pope Boniface VIII. was made +acquainted with the state of this ravaged and unhappy city, and +sent the Cardinal Acqua Sparta on a mission to reform and pacify +the enraged parties. But with his utmost efforts he was unable to +make any impression, and accordingly, after declaring the place +excommunicated, departed. Florence being thus exposed to the +greatest perils, and in a continued state of insurrection, Messer +Corso Donati, with the Spini, the Pazzi, the Tosinghi, the +Cavicciuli, and the populace attached to the Neri faction, +applied, with the consent of their leaders, to Pope Boniface. +They entreated that he would employ his interest with the court +of France to send a force to allay these feuds, and to quell the +party of the Bianchi. As soon as this was reported in the city, +Messer Donati was banished, and his property forfeited, and the +other heads of the sect were proportionally fined and sent into +exile. Messer Donati, arriving at Rome, so far prevailed with his +Holiness, that he sent an embassy to Charles de Valois, brother +to the king of France, declaring his wish that he should be made +Emperor, and King of the Romans; under which persuasion Charles +passed into Italy, reinstating Messer Donati and the Neri in the +city of Florence. From this there only resulted worse evils, +inasmuch as all the Bianchi, being the least powerful, were +universally oppressed and robbed, and Charles, becoming the enemy +of Pope Boniface, conspired his death, because the Pope had not +fulfilled his promise of presenting him with an imperial crown. +From which events it may be seen that this vile faction was the +cause of discord in the cities of Florence and Pistoia, and of +the other states of Tuscany; and no less to the same source was +to be attributed the death of Pope Boniface VIII." + +69. Charles de Valois, called Senzaterra, or Lackland, brother of +Philip the Fair, king of France. + +73. The names of these two remain unknown. Probably one of them +was Dante's friend Guido Cavalcanti. + +80. Of this Arrigo nothing whatever seems to be known, hardly +even his name; for some commentators call him Arrigo dei Fisanti, and +others Arrigo dei Fifanti. Of these other men of mark "who set +their hearts on doing good," Farinata is among the Heretics, +Canto X.; Tegghiaio and Rusticucci among the Sodomites, Canto +XVI.; and Mosca among the Schismatics, Canto XXVIII. + +106. The philosophy of Aristotle. The same doctrine is taught by +St. Augustine: "Cum fiet resurrectio carnis, et bonorum gaudia et +tormenta malorum majora erunt. " + +115. Plutus, the God of Riches, of which Lord Bacon says in his +"Essays ": -- +"I cannot call riches better than the baggage of virtue; the +Roman word is better, `impedimenta'; for as the baggage is to an +army, so is riches to virtue; it cannot be spared nor left +behind, but it hindereth the march; yea, and the care of it +sometimes loseth or disturbeth the victory; of great riches there +is no real use, except it be in the distribution; the rest is but +conceit. ... The personal fruition in any man cannot reach to +feel great riches: there is a custody of them; or a power of dole +and donative of them; or a fame of them; but no solid use to the +owner." + +Canto 7 + +1. In this Canto is described the punishment of the Avaricious +and the Prodigal, with Plutus as their jailer. His outcry of alarm is +differently interpreted by different commentators, and by none +very satisfactorily. The curious student, groping among them for +a meaning, is like Gower's young king, of whom he says, in his +Confessio Amantis:-- + + "Of deepe ymaginations + And strange interpretations, + Problems and demaundes eke + His wisdom was to finde and seke, + Whereof he wholde in sondry wise + Opposen hem, that weren wise; + But none of hem it mighte bere + Upon his word to give answere." + +But nearly all agree, I believe, in construing the strange words +into a cry of alarm or warning of Lucifer, that his realm is +invaded by some unusual apparition. +Of all the interpretations given, the most amusing is that of +Benvenuto Cellini, in his description of the Court of Justice in +Paris, Roscoe's Memoirs of Benvenuto Cellini, Chap, XXII.: -- "I +stooped down several times to observe what passed: the words +which I heard the judge utter, upon seeing two gentlemen who +wanted to hear the trial, and whom the porter was endeavoring to +keep out, were these: `Be quite, be quite, Satan, get hence, and +leave off disturbing us.' The terms were, Paix, paix, Satan, +allez, paix. As I had by this time thoroughly learnt the French +language, upon hearing these words, I recollected what Dante +said, when he with his master, Virgil, entered the gates of hell; +for Dante and Giotto the painter were together in France, and +visited Paris with particular attention, where the court of +justice may be considered as hell. Hence it is that Dante, who +was likewise perfect master of the French, made use of that +expression; and I have often been surprised, that it was never +understood in that sense; so that I cannot help thinking, that +the commentators on this author have often made him say things +which he never so much as dreamed of. " +Dante himself hardly seems to have understood the meaning of the +words, though he suggests that Virgil did. + +11. The overthrow of the Rebel Angels. St. Augustine says, + + "Idolatria et quaelibet noxia superstitio fornicatio est. " + +24. Must dance the Ridda, a round dance of the olden time. It was +a Roundelay, or singing and dancing together. Boccaccio's Monna +Belcolore "knew better than any one how to play the tambourine +and lead the Ridda." + +27. As the word honor resounds in Canto IV., and the word love in +Canto V., so here the words rolling and turning are the burden +of the song, as if to suggest the motion of Fortune's wheel, so +beautifully described a little later. + +39. Clerks, clerics, or clergy. Boccaccio, Comento, remarks upon +this passage: "Some maintain, that the clergy wear the tonsure in +remembrance and reverence of St. Peter, on whom, they say, it was +made by certain evil-minded men as a mark of madness; because not +comprehending and not wishing to comprehend his holy doctrine, +and seeming him feverently preaching before princes and people, +who held that doctrine in detestation, they thought he acted as +one out of his senses. Others maintain that the tonsure is worn +as a mark of dignity, as a sign that those who wear it are more +worthy than those who do not; and they call it corona, because, +all the rest of the head being shaven, a single circle of hair +should be left, which in form of a crown surrounds the whole +head." + +58. In like manner Chaucer, Persones Tale pp. 227, 337, reproves +ill-keeping and ill-giving. + +"Avarice, after the description of Seint Augustine, is a +likerousnesse in herte to have erthly things. Som other folk +sayn, that avarice is for to purchase many earthly things, and +nothing to yeve to hem that han nede. And understond wel, that +avarice standeth not only in land ne catel, but som time in +science and in glorie, and in every maner outrageous thing is +avarice..... +"But for as moche as som folk ben unmesurable, men oughten for to +avoid and eschue fool-large, the whiche men clepen waste. Certes, +he that is fool-large, he yeveth not his catel, but he leseth his +catel. Sothly, what thing that he yeveth for vaine-glory, as to +minstrals, and to folk that bere his renome in the world, he hath +do sinne thereof, and non almesse: certes, he leseth foule his +good, that ne seketh with the yefte of his good nothing but +sinne. He is like to an hors that seketh rather to drink drovy or +troubled water, than for to drink water of the clere well. And +for as moche as they yeven ther as they shuld nat yeven, to hem +apperteineth thilke malison, that Crist shal yeve at the day of +dome to hem that shul be dampned." + +68. The Wheel of Fortune was one of the favorite subjects of art +and song in the Middle Ages. On a large square of white marble set in +the pavement of the nave of the Cathedral at Siena, is the +representation of a revolving wheel. Three boys are climbing and +clinging at the sides and below; above is a dignified figure with +a stern countenance, holding the sceptre and ball. At the four +corners are inscriptions from Seneca, Euripides, Aristotle, and +Epictetus. The same symbol may be seen also in the +wheel-of-fortune windows of many churches; as, for example, that +of San Zeno at Verona. See Knight, Ecclesiastical Architecture, +II. plates v., vi. +In the following poem Guido Cavalcanti treats this subject in +very much the same way that Dante does; and it is curious to +observe how at particular times certain ideas seem to float in +the air, and to become the property of every one who chooses to +make use of them. From the similarity between this poem and the +lines of Dante, one might infer that the two friends had +discussed the matter in conversation, and afterwards that each +had written out their common thought. +Cavalcanti's Song of Fortune, as translated by Rossetti, Early +Italian Poets, p. 366, runs as follows:-- + + "Lo! I am she who makes the wheel to turn; + Lo! I am who gives and takes away; + Blamed idly, day by day, + In all mine acts by you, ye humankind. + For whoso smites his visage and doth mourn, + What time he renders back my gifts to me, + Learns then that I decree + No state which mine own arrows may not find. + Who clomb must fall:--this bear ye well in mind, + Nor say, because, he fell, I did him wrong. + Yet mine is a vain song: + For truly ye may find out wisdom when + King Arthur's resting-place is found of men. + + "Ye make great marvel and astonishment + What time ye see the sluggard lifted up + And the just man to drop, + And ye complain on God and on my sway. + O humankind, ye sin in your complaint: + For He, that Lord who made the world to live, + Lets me not take or give + By mine own act, but as he wills I may. + Yet is the mind of man so castaway, + That it discerns not the supreme behest. + Alas! ye wretchedest, + And chide ye at God also? Shall not He + Judge between good and evil righteously? + + "Ah! had ye knowlege how God evermore, + With agonies of soul and grievous heats, + As on an anvil beats + On them that in this earth hold hight estate,-- + Ye would choose little rather than more store, + And solitude than spacious palaces; + Such is the sore disease + Of anguish that on all their days doth wait. + Behold if they be not unfortunate, + When oft the father dares not trust the son! + O wealth, with thee is won + A worm to gnaw forever on his soul + Whose abject life is laid in thy control! + + "If also ye take note what piteous death + They oftimes make, whose hoards were manifold, + Who cities had and gold + And multitudes of men beneath their hand; + Then he among you that most angereth + Shall bless me saying, `Lo! I worship thee + That I was not as he + Whose death is thus accurst throughout the land.' + But now your living souls are held in band + Of avarice, shutting you from the true light + Which shows how sad and slight + Are this world's treasured riches and array + That still change hands a hundred times a day. + + "For me,--could envy enter in my sphere, + Which of all human taint is clean and quit,-- + I well might harbor it + When I behold the peasant at his toil. + Guiding his team, untroubled, free from fear, + He leaves his perfect furrow as he goes, + And gives his field repose + From thorns and tares and weeds that vex the soil: + Thereto he labors, and without turmoil + Entrusts his work to God, content if so + Such guerdon from it grow + That in that year his family shall live: + Nor care nor thought to other things will give. + + "But now ye may no more have speech of me, + For this mine office craves continual use: + Ye therefore deeply muse + Upon those things which ye have heard the while: + Yea, and even yet remember heedfully + How this my wheel a motion hath so fleet, + That in an eyelid's beat + Him whom it raised it maketh low and vile. + None was, nor is, nor shall be of such guile, + Who could, or can, or shall, I say, at length + Prevail against my strenght. + But still those men that are my questioners + In bitter torment own their hearts perverse. + + "Song, that wast made to carry high intent + Dissembled in the garb of humbleness,-- + With fair and open face + To Master Thomas let they course be bent. + Say that a great thing scarcely may be pent + In little room: yet always pray that he + Commend us, thee and me, + To them that are more apt in lofty speech: + For truly one must learn ere he can teach." + +74. This old Rabbinical tradition of the "Regents of the Planets" +has been painted by Raphael, in the Capella Chigiana of the Church of +Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. See Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and +Legendary Art, I. She says: "As a perfect example of grand and +poetical feeling I may cite the angels as `Regents of the +Planets' in the Capella Chigiana. The Cupola represents in a circle +the +creation of the solar system, according to the theological (or rather +astrological) notions which then prevailed,--a hundred years +before `the starry Gailileo and his woes.' In the centre is the +Creator; around, in eight compartments, we have, first, the angel +of the celestial sphere, who seems to be listening to the divine +mandate, `Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven'; then +follow, in their order, the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, +Jupiter, and Saturn. The name of each planet is expressed by its +mythlogical representative; the Sun by Apollo, the Moon by Diana; +and over each presides a grand, colossal winged spirit, seated or +reclining on a portion of the zodiac as on a throne." +The old tradition may be found in Stehelin, Rabbinical +Literature, I, 157. See Cabala, end of Vol III. + +98. Past midnight. + +103. |Perse, purple-black. See Canto V., Note 89. + +115. "Is not this a cursed vice?" says Chaucer in The Persones +Tale, p. 202, speaking of wrath."Yes, certes. Alas! it benimmeth fro +man his witte and his reson, and all his debonaire lif spirituel, +that shulde keepe his soule. Certes it benimmeth also Goddes due +lordship (and that is mannes soule) and the love of his +neighbours; it reveth him the quiet of his herte, and subverteth +his soule. " +And farther on he continues: "After the sinne of wrath, now wolle +I speke of the sinne of accidie, or slouth; for envie blindeth +the herte of a man, and ire troubleth a man, and accidie maketh +him hevy, thoughtful, and wrawe. Envie and ire maken bitterness +in herte, which bitternesse is mother of accidie, and benimmeth +him the love of alle goodnesse, than is accidie the anguish of a +trouble herte." +And Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, I. 3. i. 3, speaking of that +kind of melancholy which proceeds from "humors adust," says: "For +example, if it proceeds from flegm (which is seldom, and not so +frequent as the rest) it stirs up dull symptomes, and a kind of +stupidity, or impassionate hurt; they are sleepy, saith +Savanarola, dull, slow, cold, blockish, ass-like, asininam +melancholiam Melancthon calls it they are much given to weeping, +and delight in waters, ponds, pools, rivers, fishing, fowling, +&c. They are pale of color, slothful, apt to sleep, heavy, much +troubled with the head- ache, continual meditation and muttering +to themselves, they dream of waters, that they are in danger of +drowning, and fear such things." +See also Purg. 17. 085. + +Canto 8 + +1. Boccaccio and some other commentators think the words "I say, +continuing," are a confirmation of the theory that the first +seven cantos of the Inferno were written before Dante's +banishment from Florence. Others maintain that the words suggest +only the continuation of the subject of the last canto in this. + +4. These two signal fires announce the arrival of two persons to +be ferried over the wash, and the other in the distance is on the +watch-tower of the City of Dis, answering these. + +19. Phlegyas was the father of Ixion and Coronis. He was king of +the Lapithae, and burned the temple of Apollo at Delphi to avenge the +wrong done by the god to Coronis. His punishment in the infernal +regions was to stand beneath a huge impending rock, always about +to fall upon him. Virgil, Aeneid, VI., says of him: "Phlegyas, +most wretched, is a monitor to all and with loud voice proclaims +through the shades, `Being warned, learn righteousness, and not +to contemn the gods.'" + +27. Virgil, Aeneid, VI.:"The boat of sewn hide groaned under the +weight, and, being leaky, took in much water from the lake." + +49. Mr. Wright here quotes Spenser, Ruins of Time:-- + + "How many great ones may remembered be, + Who in their days most famously did flourish, + Of whom no word we have, nor sign now see, + But as things wiped out with a sponge do perish." + +51. Chaucer's "sclandre of his diffame." + +61. Of Philippo Argenti little is known, and nothing to his +credit. Dante seems to have an especial personal hatred of him, as if +in +memory of some disagreeable passage between them in the streets +of Florence. Boccaccio says of him in his Comento: "This Philippo +Argenti, as Coppo di Borghese Domenichi de' Cavicciuli was wont +to say, was a very rich gentleman, so rich that he had the horse +he used to ride shod with silver, and from this he had his +surname; he was in person large, swarthy, muscular, of marvellous +strength, and at the slightest provocation the most irascible of +men; nor are any more known of his qualities than these two, each +in itself very blameworthy." He was of the Adimari family, and of +the Neri faction; while Dante was of the Bianchi party, and in +banishment. Perhaps this fact may explain the bitterness of his +invective. +This is the same Philippo Argenti who figures in Boccaccio's +tale. See Inf. VI., note 52. The Ottimo Comento says of him: "He +was a man of great pomp, and great ostentation, and much +expenditure, and little virtue and worth; and therefore the +author says, `Goodness is none that decks his memory.'" And this +is all that is known of the "Fiorentino spirito bizzaro," +forgotten by history, and immortalized in song. "What a barbarous +strength and confusion of ideas," exclaims Leigh Hunt, Italian +Poets, p. 60, " is there in this whole passage about him! +Arrogance punished by arrogance, a Christian mother blessed for +the unchristian disdainfulness of her son, revenge boasted of and +enjoyed, passion arguing in a circle." + +70. The word "mosques" paints at once to the imagination the City +of Unbelief. + +78. Virgil, Aeneid, VI., Davidson's Translation:--Aeneas on a +sudden looks back, and under a rock on the left sees vast prisons +inclosed with a triple wall, which Tartarean Phlegethon's rapid +flood environs with torrents of flame, and whirls roaring rocks +along. Fronting is a huge gate, with columns of solid adamant, +that no strength of men, nor the gods themselves, can with steel +demolish. An iron tower rises aloft; and there wakeful +Tisiphone, with her bloody robe tucked up around her, sits to +watch the vestibule both night and day." + +124. This arrogance of theirs; tracotanza, oltracotanza ; +Brantome's outrecuidance; and Spenser's surquedrie. + +125. The gate of the Inferno. + +130. The coming of the Angel, whose approach is described in the +next canto, beginning at line 64. + +Canto 9 + +1. flush of anger passes from Virgil's cheek on seeing the +pallor of Dante's, and he tries to encourage him with assurances +of success; but betrays his own apprehensions in the broken +phrase, "If not, " which he immediately covers with words of +cheer. + +8. Such, or so great a one, is Beatrice, the "fair and saintly +Lady" of Canto II. 53. + +9. The Angel who will open the gates of the City of Dis. + +16. Dnte seems to think that he has already reached the bottom of +the infernal conch, with its many convolutions. + +52. Gower, Confessio Amantis, I.:-- + + "Cast nought thin eye upon Meduse + That thou be turned into stone." + +Hawthorne has beautifully told the story of "The Gorgon's Head, " +as well as many more of the classic fables, in his Wonder-Book. + +54. The attempt which Theseus and Pirithous made to rescue +Proserpine from the infernal regions. + +62. The hidden doctrine seems to be, that Negation or Unbelief is +the Gorgon's head which changes the heart to stone; after which there +is "no more returning upward." The Furies display it from the +walls of the City of Heretics. + +112. At Arles lie buried, according to old tradition, the Peers +of Charlemagne and their ten thousand men at arms. Archbishop +Turpin, in his famous History of Charles the Great, XXX., Rodd's +Translation, I. 52, says:-- +"After this the King and his army proceeded by the way of Gascony +and Thoulouse, and came to Arles, where we found the army of +Burgundy, which had left us in the hostile valley, bringing their +dead by the way of Morbihan and Thoulouse, to bury them in the +plain of Arles. Here we performed the rites of Estolfo, Count of +Champagne; of Solomon; Sampson, Duke of Burgundy; Arnold of +Berlanda; Alberic of Burgundy; Gumard, Esturinite, Hato, Juonius, +Berard, Berengaire, and Naaman, Duke of Bourbon, and of ten +thousand of their soldiers. " +Boccacio comments upon these tombs as follows:-- +"At Arles, somewhat out of the city, are many tombs of stone, +made of old for sepulchres, and some are large, and some are +small, and some are better sculptured, and some not so well, +peradventure according to the means of those who had them made; +and upon some of them appear inscriptions after the ancient +custom, I suppose in indication of those who are buried within. +The inhabitants of the country repeat a tradition of them, +affirming that in that place there was once a great battle +between William of Orange, or some other Christian prince, with +his forces on one side, and infidel barbarians for Africa [on the +other]; and that many Christians were slain in it; and that on +the following night, by divine miracle, those tombs were brought +there for the burial of the Christians, and so on the following +morning all the dead Christians were buried in them." + +113. Pola is a city in Istria. "Near Pola," says Benvenuto da +Imola, "are seen many tombs, about seven hundred, and of +various forms." Quarnaro is a gulf of the northern extremity +of the Adriatic. + +Canto 10 + +1. In this Canto is described the punishment of Heretics. +Brunetto Latini, Tesoretto, XIII.:-- + + "Or va mastro Brunetto + Per lo cammino stretto." + +14. Sir Thomas Browne, Urn Burial, Chap. IV., says:"They may sit +in the orchestra and noblest seats of heaven who have held up +shaking hands in the fire, and humanly contended for glory. +Meanwhile Epicurus lies deep in Dante's hell, wherein we meet +with tombs enclosing souls, which denied their immortalities. But +whether the virtuous heathen, who lived better than he spake, or, +erring in the principles of himself, yet lived above philosophers +of more specious maxims, lie so deep as he is placed, at least so +low as not to rise against Christians, who, believing or knowing +that truth, have lastingly denied it in their practice and +conversation, -- were a query too sad to insist on." +Also Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, Part II. Sec. 2. Mem. 6. +Subs. I, thus vindicates the memory of Epicurus: "A quiet mind is +that voluptas, or summum bonum of Epicurus; non dolere, curis +vacare, animo tranquillo esse, not to grieve, but to want cares, +and have a quiet soul, is the only pleasure of the world, as +Seneca truly recites his opinion, not that of eating and +drinking, which injurious Aristotle maliciously puts upon him, +and for which he is still mistaken, mala audit et vapulat, +slandered without a cause, and lashed by all posterity." + +32. Farinata degli Uberti was the most valiant and renowned +leader of the Ghibellines in Florence. Boccacio, Comento, says: "He was +of +the opinion of Epicurus, that the soul dies with the body, and +consequently maintained that human happiness consisted in +temporal pleasures; but he did not follow these in the way that +Epicurus did, that is by making long fasts to have afterwards +pleasure in eating dry bread; but was fond of good and delicate +viands, and ate them without waiting to be hungry; and for this +sin he is damned as a Heretic in this place." +Farinata led to Ghibellines at the famous battle of Monte Aperto +in 1260, where the Guelfs were routed, and driven out of +Florence. He died in 1264. + +46. The ancestors of Dante, and Dante himself, were Guelfs. He +did not become a Ghibelline till after his banishment. Boccaccio in +his Life of Dante makes the following remarks upon his party +spirit. I take the passage as given in Mrs. Bunbury's translation +of Balbo's Life and Times of Dante, II. 227. +"He was," says Boccaccio, "a most excellent man, and most +resolute in adversity. It was only on a one subject that he +showed himself, I do not know whether I ought to call it +impatient, or spirited, -- it was regarding anything relating to +Party; since in his exile he was more violent in this respect +than suited his circumstances, and more than he was willing that +others should believe. And in order that it may be seen for what +party he was thus violent and pertinacious, it appears to me I +must go further back in my story. I believe that it was the just +anger of God that permitted, it is a long time ago, almost all +Tuscany and Lombardy to be divided into two parties; I do not +know how they acquired those names, but one party was called +Guelf and the other party Ghibelline. And these two names were so +revered, and had such an effect on the folly of many minds, that, +for the sake of defending the side any one had chosen for his own +against the opposite party, it was not considered hard to lose +property, and even life, if it were necessary. And under these +names the Italian cities many times suffered serious grievences +and changes; and among the rest our city, which was sometimes at +the head of one party, and sometimes of the other, according to +the citizens in power; so much so that Dante's ancestors, being +Guelfs, were twice expelled by the Ghibellines from their home, +and he likewise under the title of Guelf held the reins of the +Florentine Republic, from which he was expelled, as we have +shown, not by the the Ghibellines, but by the Guelfs; and seeing +that he could not return, he so much altered his mind that there +never was a fiercer Ghibelline, or a bitterer enemy to the +Guelfs, than he was. And that which I feel most ashamed at for +the sake of his memory is, that it was a well-known thing in +Romagna, that if any boy or girl, talking to him on party +matters, condemned the Ghibelline side, he would become frantic, +so that if they did not be silent he would have been induced to +throw stones at them; and with this violence of party feeling he +lived until his death. I am certainly ashamed to tarnish with any +fault the fame of such a man; but the order of my subject in some +degree demands it, because if I were silent in those things in +which he was to blame, I should not be believed in those things I +have already related in his praise. Therefore I excuse myself to +himself, who perhaps looks down from heaven with a disdainful eye +on me writing." + +51. The following account of the Guelfs and Ghibellines is from +the Pecorone of Giovanni Fiorentino, a writer of the fourteenth +century. It forms the first Novella of the Eight Day, and will be +found in Roscoe's Italian Novelists, I. 322. +"There formerly resided in Germany two wealthy and well-born +individuals, whose names were Guelfo and Ghibellino, very near +neighbors, and greatly attached to each other. But returning +together one day from the chase, there unfortunately arose some +difference of opinion as to the merits of one of their hounds, +which was maintained on both sides so very warmly, that, from +being almost inseparable friends and companions, they became each +other's deadliest enemies. This unlucky division between them +still increasing, they on either side collected parties of their +followers, in order more effectually to annoy each other. Soon +extending its malignant influence among the neighboring lords and +barons of Germany, who divided, according to their motives, +either with the Guelf or the Ghibelline, it not only produced +many serious affrays, but several persons fell victims to its +rage. Ghibellino, finding himself hard pressed by his enemy, and +unable longer to keep the field against him, resolved to apply +for assistance to Frederick the First, the reigning Emperor. Upon +this, Guelfo, perceiving that his adversary sought the alliance +of this monarch, applied on his side to Pope Honorius II., who +being at variance with the former, and hearing how the affair +stood, immediately joined the cause of the Guelfs, the Emperor +having already embraced that of the Ghibellines. It is thus the +apostolic see became connected with the former, and the empire +with the latter faction; and it was thus that a vile hound became +the origin of a deadly hatred between the two noble families. Now +it happened that in the year of our dear Lord and Redeemer 1215, +the same pestiferous spirit spread itself into parts of Italy, in +the following manner. +Messer Guido Orlando being at that time chief magistrate of +Florence, there likewise resided in that city a noble and valiant +cavalier of the family of Buondelmonti, one of the most +distinguished houses in the state. Our young Buondelmonte having +already plighted his troth to a lady of the Amidei family, the +lovers were considered as betrothed, with all the solemnity +usually observed on such occasions. But this unfortunate young +man, chancing one day to pass by the house of the Donati, was +stopped and accosted by a lady of the name of Lapaccia, who moved +to him from her door as he went along, saying: `I am surprised +that a gentleman of your appearance, Signor, should think of +taking for his wife a woman scarcely worthy of handing him his +boots. There is a child of my own, whom, to speak sincerely, I +have long intended for you, and whom I wish you would just +venture to see.' And on this she called out for her daughter, +whose name was Ciulla, one of the prettiest and most enchanting +girls in all Florence. Introducing her to Messer Buondelmonte, +she whispered, `This is she whom I had reserved for you'; and the +young Florentine, suddenly becoming enamored of her, thus replied +to her mother, `I am quite ready, Madonna, to meet your wishes'; +and before stirring from the spot he placed a ring upon her +finger, and, wedding her, received her there as his wife. "The +Amidei, hearing that young Buondelmonte had thus espoused +another, immediately met together, and took counsel with other +friends and relations, how they might best avenge themselves for +such an insult offered to their house. There were present among +the rest Lambertuccio Amidei, Schiatta Ruberti, and Mosca +Lamberti, one of whom proposed to give him a box on the ear, +another to strike him in the face; yet they were none of them +able to agree about it among themselves. On observing this, Mosca +hastily rose, in a great passion, saying, `Cosa fatta capo ha,' +wishing it to be understood that a dead man will never strike +again. It was therefore decided that he should be put to death, a +sentence which they proceeded to execute in the following manner. +"M. Buondelmonte returning one Easter morning from a visit to the +Casa Bardi, beyond the Arno, mounted upon a snow white steed, and +dressed in a mantle of the same color, had just reached the foot +of the Ponte Vecchio, or old bridge, where formerly stood a +statue of Mars, whom the Florentines in their Pagan state were +accustomed to worship, when the whole party issued out upon him, +and, dragging him in the scuffle from his horse, in spite of the +gallant resistance he made, despatched him with a thousand +wounds. The tidings of this affair seemed to throw all Florence +into confusion; the chief prsonages and noblest families in the +place everywhere meeting, and dividing themselves into parties in +consequence; the one party embracing the cause of the +Buondelmonti, who placed themselves at the head of the Guelfs; +and the other taking part with the Amidei, who supported the +Ghibellines. +"In the same fatal manner, nearly all the seigniories and cities +of Italy were involved in the original quarrel between these two +German families: the Guelfs still supporting the interest of the +Holy Church, and the Ghibellines those of the Emperor. And thus I +have made you acquainted with the origin of the Germanic faction, +between two noble houses, for the sake of a vile cur, and have +shown how it afterwards disturbed the peace of Italy for the sake +of a beautiful woman." + +53. Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, father of Dante's friend, Guido +Cavalcanti. He was of the Guelf party; so that there are Guelf +and Ghibelline buried in the same tomb. + +60. This question recalls the scene in the Odyssey, where the +shade of Agamemnon appears to Ulysses and asks for Orestes. +Book XI. in Chapman's translation, line 603:-- + + "Doth my son yet survive + In Orchomen or Pylos? Or doth live + In Sparta with his uncle? Yet I see + Divine Orestes is not here with me." + +63. Guido Cavalcanti, whom Benvenuto da Imola calls "the other +eye of Florence,"-- alter oculus Florentiae tempore Dantis. It is this +Guido that Dante addresses the sonnet, which is like the breath of +Spring, +beginning:-- + + "Guido, I wish that Lapo, thou, and I + Could be by spells conveyed, as it were now, + Upon a barque, with all the winds that blow, + Across all seas at our good will to hie." + +He was a poet of decided mark, as may be seen by his "Song of +Fortune," quoted in Note 68, Canto VII., and the Sonnet to Dante, +Note 136, Purgatorio XXX. +But he seems not to have shared Dante's admiration for Virgil, +and to have been more given to the study of philosophy than of +poetry. Like Lucentio in "The Taming of the Shrew" he is + + "So devote to Aristotle's ethics + As Ovid be an outcast quite abjured." + +Boccaccio, Decameron, VI. 9, praises him for his learning and +other good qualities; "for over and beside his being one of the +best Logitians, as those times not yielded a better," so runs the +old translation, "he was also a most absolute Natural +Philosopher, a very friendly Gentleman, singularly well spoken, +and whatsoever else was commendable in any man was no way wanting +in him." In the same Novella he tells this anecdote of him:-- "It +chanced upon a day that Signior Guido, departing from the Church +of Saint Michael d'Horta, and passing along by the +Adamari, so far as to Saint John's Church, which evermore was his +customary walk: many goodly Marble Tombs were then about the said +Church, as now adays are at Saint Reparata, and divers more +beside. He entring among the Columns of Porphiry, and the other +Sepulchers being there, because the door of the Church was shut: +Signior Betto and his Company came riding from Saint Reparata, +and espying Signior Guido amont the Graves and Tombs, said, +`Come, let us go make some jests to anger him.' so putting the +Spurs to their Horses they rode apace towards him; and being upon +him before he perceived them, one of them said, `Guido, thou +refusest to be one of our society, and seekest for that which +never was: when thou hast found it, tell us, what wilt thou do +with it?' +"Guido seeing himself round engirt with them, suddenly thus +replyed: +`Gentlemen, you may use me in your own House as you please.' And +setting his hand upon one of the Tombs (which was somewhat great) +he took his rising, and leapt quite over it on the further side, +as being of an agile and springhtly body, and being thus freed +from them, he went away to his own lodging. +"They stood all like men amazed, strangely looking one upon +another, and began afterward to murmur among themselves: That +Guido was a man without any understanding, and the answer which +he had made unto them was to no purpose, neither savoured of any +discretion, but meerly came from an empty Brain, because they had +no more to do in the place where now they were, than any of the +other Citizens, and Signior Guido (himself) as little as any of +them; whereto Signior Betto thus replyed: `Alas, Gentlemen, it is +you your selves that are void of understanding: for, if you had +but observed the answer which he made unto us: he did honestly, +and (in very few words) not only notably express his own wisdom, +but also deservedly reprehend us. Because, if we observe things +as we ought to do, Graves and Tombs are the Houses of the dead, +ordained and prepared to be the latest dwellings. He told us +moreover that although we have here (in this life) our +habitations and abidings, yet these (or the like) must at last be +our Houses. To let us know, and all other foolish, indiscreet, +and unlearned men, that we are worse than dead men, in comparison +of him, and other men equal to him in skill and learning. And +therefore, while we are here among the Graves and Monuments, it +may be well said, that we ar not far from our own Houses, or how +soon we shall be possessors of them, in regard of the frailty +attending on us.'" +Napier, Florentine History, I. 368, speaks of Guido as "a bold, +melancholy man, who loved solitude and literature; but generous, +brave, and courteous, a poet and philosopher, and one that seems +to have had the respect and admiration of his age." He then adds +this singular picture of the times:-- +"Corso Donati, by whom he was feared and hated, would have had +him murdered while on a pilgrimage to Saint James of Galicia; on +his return this became known and gained him many supporters +amongst the Cerchi and other youth of Florence; he took no +regular measures of vengeance, but accidentally meeting Corso in +the street, rode violently towards him, casting his javelin at +the same time; it missed by the tripping of his horse and he +escaped with a slight wound from one of Donati's attendants." +Sacchetti, Nov. 68, tells a pleasant story of Guido's having his +cloak nailed to the bench by a roguish boy, while he was playing +chess in one of the streets of Florence, which is also a curious +picture of Italian life. + +75. Farinata pays no attention to this outburst of paternal +tenderness on the part of his Guelfic kinsman, but waits, in +stern indifference, till it is ended, and then calmly resumes his +discourse. + +80. The moon, called in the heavens Diana, on earth Luna, and in +the infernal regions Proserpina. + +86. In the great battle of Monte Aperto. The river Arbia is a few +miles south of Siena. The traveller crosses it on his way to +Rome. In this battle the banished Ghibellines of Florence, +joining the Sienese, gained a victory over the Guelfs, and retook +the city of Florence. Before the battle Buonaguida, Syndic of +Siena, presented the keys of the city to the Virgin Mary in the +Cathedral, and made a gift to her of the city and the neighboring +country. After the battle the standard of the vanquished +Florentines, together with their battle-bell, the Martinella, was +tied to the tail of a jackass and dragged in the dirt. See +Ampere, Voyage Dantesque, 254. + +94. After the battle of Monte Aperto a diet of the Ghibellines +was held at Empoli, in which the deputies from Siena and Pisa, +prompted no doubt by provincial hatred, urged the demolition of +Florence. Farinata vehemently opposed the project in a speech, +thus given in Napier, Florentine History, I. 257:-- +"`It would have been better,' he exclaimed, `to have died on the +Arbia, than survive only to hear such a proposition as that which +they were then discussing. There is no happiness in victory +itself, that must ever be sought for amongst the companions who +helped us to gain the day, and the injury we receive from an +enemy inflicts a far more trifling wound than the wrong that +comes from the hand of a friend. If I now complain, it is not +that I fear the destruction of my native city, for as long as I +have life to wield a sword Florence shall never be destroyed; but +I cannot suppress my indignation at the discourses I have just +been listening to: we are here assembled to discuss the wisest +means of maintaining our influence in Florence, not to debate on +its destruction, and my country would indeed be unfortunate, and +I and my companions miserable, mean-spirited creatures, if it +were true that the fate of our city depended on the fiat of the +present assembly. I did hope that all former hatred would have +been banished from such a meeting, and that our mutual +destruction would not have been treacherously aimed at from under +the false colors of general safety; I did hope that all here were +convinced that counsel dictated by jealousy could never be +advantageous to the general good! But to what does your hatred +attach itself? To the ground on which the city stands? To its +houses and insensible walls? To the fugitives who have abandoned +it? Or to ourselves that now possess it? Who is he that thus +advises? Who is the bold bad man that dare thus give voice to the +malice he hath engendered in his soul? It is meet then that all +your cities should exist unharmed, and ours alone be devoted to +destruction? That you should return in triumph to your hearths, +and we with whom you have conquered should have nothing in +exchange but exile and the ruin of our country? Is there on of +you who can believe that I could even hear such things with +patience? Are you indeed ignorant that if I have carried arms, if +I have persecuted my foes, I still have never ceased to love my +country, and that I never will allow what even our enemies have +respected to be violated by your hands, so that posterity may +call them the saviours, us the destroyers of our country? Here +then I declare, that, although I stand alone amongst the +Florentines, I will never permit my native city to be destroyed, +and if it be necessary for her sake to die a thousand deaths, I +am ready to meet them all in her defence. ' +"Farinata then rose, and with angry gestures quitted the +assembly; but left such an impression on the mind of his audience +that the project was instantly dropped, and the only question for +the moment was how to regain a chief of such talent and +influence." + +119. Frederick II., son of the Emperor Henry VI., surnamed the +Severe, and grandson of Barbarossa. He reigned from 1220 to 1250, not +only as Emperor of Germany, but also as King of Naples and +Sicily, where for the most part he held his court, one of the +most brilliant of the Middle Ages. Villani, Cronica, V. I, thus +sketches his character: "This Frederick reigned thirty years as +Emperor, and was a man of great mark and great worth, learned in +letter and of natural ability, universal in all things; he knew +the Latin language, the Italian, the German, French, Greek, and +Arabic; was copiously endowed with all virtues, liberal and +courteous in giving, valiant and skilled in arms, and was much +feared. And he was dissolute and voluptuous in many ways, and had +many concubines and mamelukes, after the Saracenic fashion; he +was addicted to all sensual delights, and led an Epicurean life, +taking no account of any other; and this was one principal reason +why he was an enemy to the clergy and the Holy Church." +Milman, Lat. Christ., B. X., Chap. iii., says of him: +"Frederick's predilection for his native kingdom, for the bright cities +reflected in the blue Mediterranean, over the dark barbaric towns +of Germany, of itself characterizes the man. The summer skies, +the more polished manners, the more elegant luxuries, the +knowledge, the arts, the poetry, the gayety, the beauty, the +romance of the South, were throughout his life more congenial to +his mind, than the heavier and more chilly climate the feudal +barbarism, the ruder pomp, the coarser habits of his German +liegemen..... And no doubt that delicious climate and lovely +land, so highly appreciated by the gay sovereign, was not without +influence on the state, and even the manners of his court, to +which other circumstances contributed to give a peculiar and +romantic character. It resembled probably (though its full +splendor was of a later period) Grenada in its glory, more than +any other in Europe, though more rich and picturesque from the +variety of races, of manners, usages, even dresses, which +prevailed within it." Gibbon also, Decline and Fall, Chap. lix., +gives this graphic picture:-- +"Frederick the Second, the grandson of Barbarossa, was +successively the pupil, the enemy, and the victim of the Church. +At the age of twenty-one years, and in obedience to his guardian +Innocent the Third, he assumed the cross; the same promise was +repeated at his royal and imperial coronations; and his marriage +with the heiress of Jerusalem forever bound him to defend the +kingdom of his son Conrad. But as Frederick advanced in age and +authority, he repented of the rash engagements of his youth: his +liberal sense and knowledge taught him to despise the phantoms of +superstition and the crowns of Asia: he no longer entertained the +same reverence for the successors of Innocent; and his ambition +was occupied by the restoration of the Italian monarchy, from +Sicily to the Alps. But the success of this project would have +reduced the Popes to their primitive simplicity; and, after the +delays and excuses of twelve years, they urged the Emperor, with +entreaties and threats, to fix the time and place of his +departure for Palestine. In the harbors of Sicily and Apulia he +prepared a fleet of one hundred galleys, and of one hundred +vessels, that were famed to transport and land two thousand five +hundred knights, with horses and attendants; his vassals of +Naples and Germany formed a powerful army; and the number of +English crusaders was magnified to sixty thousand by the report +of frame. But the inevitable, or affected, slowness of these +mighty preparations consumed the strength and provisions of the +more indigent pilgrims; the multitude was thinned by sickness and +desertion, and the sultry summer of Calabria anticipated the +mischiefs of a Syrian campaign. At length the Emperor hoisted +sail at Brundusium with a fleet and army of forty thousand men; +but he kept the sea no more than three days; and his hasty +retreat, which was ascribed by his friends to a grievous +indisposition, was accused by his enemies as a voluntary and +obstinate disobedience. For suspending his vow was Frederick +excommunicated by Gregory the Ninth; for presuming, the next +year, to accomplish his vow, he was again excommunicated by the +same Pope. While he served under the banner of the cross, a +crusade was preached against him in Italy; and after his return +he was compelled to ask pardon for the injuries which he had +suffered. The clergy and military orders of Palestine were +previously instructed to renounce his communion and dispute his +commands; and in his own kingdom the Emperor was forced to +consent that the orders of the camp should be issued in the name +of God and of the Christian republic. Frederick entered Jerusalem +in triumph; and with his own hands (for no priest would perform +the office) he took the crown from the alter of the holy +sepulchre." +Matthew Paris, A. D. 1239, gives a long letter of Pope Gregory +IX. in which he calls the Emperor some very hard names; "a beast, +full of the words of blasphemy," "a wolf in sheep's clothing, " +"a son lies," "a staff of the impious," and "hammer of the +earth"; and finally accuses him of being the author of a work De +Tribus Impostoribus, which, if it ever existed, is no longer to +be found. "There is one thing," he says in conclusion, "at which, +although we ought to mourn for a lost man, you ought to rejoice +greatly, and for which you ought to return thanks to God, namely, +that this man, who delights in being called a forerunner of +Antichrist, by God's will, no longer endures to be veiled in +darkness; not expecting that his trial and disgrace are near, he +with his own hands undermines the wall of his abominations, and, +by the said letters of his, brings his works of darkness to the +light, boldly setting forth in them, that he could not be +excommunicated by us, although the Vicar of Christ; thus +affirming that the Church had not the power of binding and +loosing, which was given by our Lord to St. Peter and his +successors.....But as it may not be easily believed by some +people that he has ensnared himself by the words of his own +mouth, proofs are ready, to the triumph of the faith; for this +king of pestilence openly asserts that the whole world was +deceived by three, namely Christ Jesus, Moses, and Mahomet; that, +two of them having died in glory, the said Jesus was suspended on +the cross; and he, moreover, presumes plainly to affirm (or +rather to lie), that all are foolish who believe that God, who +created nature, and could do all things, was born of the Virgin." + +120. This is Cardinal Ottaviano delgi Ubaldini, who is accused of +saying, "If there be any soul, I have lost mine for the +Ghibellines." Dante takes him at his word. + +Canto 11 + +8. Some critics and commentators accuse Dante of confounding Pope +Anastasius with the Emperor of that name. It is however highly +probable that Dante knew best whom he meant. Both were accused of +heresy, though the heresy of the Pope seems to have been of a +mild type. A few years previous to his time, namely, in the year +484, Pope Felix III. and Acacius, Bishop of Constantinople, +mutually excommunicated each other. When Anastasius II. became +Pope in 496, "he dared," says Milman, Hist. Lat. Christ., I. 349, +"to doubt the damnation of a bishop excommunicated by the See of +Rome: `Felix and Acacius are now both before a higher tribunal; +leave them to that unerring judgment.' He would have the name of +Acacius passed over in silence, quietly dropped, rather than +publicly expunged from the diptychs. This degenerate successor of +St. Peter is not admitted to the rank of a saint. The Pontifical +book (its authority on this point is indignantly repudiated) +accuses Anastasius of having communicated with a deacon of +Thessalonica, who had kept up communion with Acacius; and of +having entertained secret designs of restoring the name of +Acacius in the services of the Church." + +9. Photinus is the deacon of Thessalonica alluded to in the +preceding note. His heresy was, that the Holy Ghost did not +proceed from the Father, and that the Father was greater than the +Son. The writers who endeavor to rescue the Pope at the expense +of the Emperor say that Photinus died before the days of Pope +Anastasius. + +50. Cahors is the cathedral town of the Department of the Lot, in +the South of France, and the birthplace of the poet Clement Marot +and of the romance-writer Calprenede. In the Middle Ages it +seems to have been a nest of usurers. Matthew Paris, in his +Historia Major, under date of 1235, has a chapter entitled, Of +the Usury of the Caursines, which in the translation of Rev. J. +A. Giles runs as follows:-- +"In these days prevailed the horrible nuisance of the Caursines +to such a degree that there was hardly any one in all England, +especially among the bishops, who was not caught in their net. +Even the king himself was held indebted to them in an +uncalculable sum of money. For they circumvented the needy in +their necessities, cloaking their usury under the show of trade, +and pretending not to know that whatever is added to the +principal is usury, under whatever name it may be called. For it +is manifest that their loans lie not in the path of charity, +inasmuch as they do not hold out a helping hand to the poor to +relieve them, but to deceive them; not to aid others in their +starvation, but to gratify their own covetousness; seeing that +the motive stamps our every deed. " + +70. Those within the fat lagoon, the Irascible, Canto VII., VIII. + +71. Whom the wind drives, the Wanton, Canto V., and whom the rain +doth beat, the Gluttonous, Canto VI. + +72. And who encounter with such bitter tongues, the Prodigal and +Avaricious, Canto VIII. + +80. The Ethics of Aristotle, VII. i. "After these things, making +another beginning, it must be observed by us that there are three +species of things which are to be avoided in manners, viz. +Malice, Incontinence, and Bestiality." + +101. The Physics of Aristotle, Book II. + +107. Genesis, i. 28: "And God said unto them, Be fruitful, and +multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it." + +109. Gabrielle Rossetti, in the Comento Analitico of his edition +of the Divina Commedia, quotes here the lines of Florian:-- + + "Nous ne recevons l'existence + Qu'afin de travailler pour nous, ou pour autrui: + De ce devoir sacre quiconque se dispense + Est puni par la Providence, + Par le besoin, ou par l'ennui." + +110. The constellation Pisces precedes Aries, in which the sun +now is. This indicates the time to be a little before sunrise. It is +Saturday morning. + +114. The Wain is the constellation Charle's Wain, or Bo,otes; and +Caurus is the Northwest, indicated by the Latin name of the +northwest wind. + +Canto 12 + +1. With this Canto begins the Seventh Circle of the Inferno, in +which the Violent are punished. In the first Girone or round are +the Violent against their neighbors, plunged more or less deeply +in the river of boiling blood. + +2. Mr. Ruskin, Modern Painters, III. 242, has the following +remarks upon Dante's idea of rocks and mountains.-- +"At the top of the abyss of the seventh circle, appointed for the +`violent,' or souls who had done evil by force, we are told, +first, that the edge of it was composed of `great broken stones +in a circle'; then, that the place was `Alpine'; and, becoming +hereupon attentive, in order to hear what an Alpine place is +like, we find that it was `like the place beyond Trent, where the +rock, either by earthquake, or failure of support, has broken +down to the plain, so that it gives any one at the top some means +of getting down to the bottom.' This is not a very elevated or +enthusiastic description of an Alpine scene; and it is far from +mended by the following verses, in which we are told that Dante +`began to go down by this great unloading of stones,' and that +they moved often under his feet by reason of the new weight. The +fact is that Dante, by many expressions throughout the poem, +shows himself to have been a notably bad climber; and being fond +of sitting in the sun, looking at his fair Baptistery, or walking +in a dignified manner on flat pavement in a long robe, it puts +him seriously out of his way when he has to take to his hands and +knees, or look to his feet; so that the first strong impression +made upon him by any Alpine scene whatever is, clearly, that it +is bad walking. When he is in a fright and hurry, and has a very +steep place to go down, Virgil has to carry him altogether." + +5. Speaking of the region to which Dante here alludes, Eustace, +Classical Tour, I. 71, says:--"The descent becomes more rapid +between Roveredo and Ala; the river, which glided gently through +the valley of Trent, assumes the roughness of a torrent; the +defiles become narrower; and the mountains break into rocks and +precipices, which occasionally approach the road, sometimes rise +perpendicular from it, and now and then hand over it in terrible +majesty." +In a note he adds:-- +"Amid these wilds the traveller cannot fail to notice a vast +tract called the Slavini di Marco, covered with fragments of rock +torn from the sides of the neighboring mountains by an +earthquake, or perhaps by their own unsupported weight, and +hurled down into the plains below. They spread over the whole +valley, and in some places contract the road to a very narrow +space. A few firs and cypresses scattered in the intervals, or +sometimes rising out of the crevices of the rocks, cast a partial +and melancholy shade amid the surrounding nakedness and +desolation. This scene of ruin seems to have made a deep +impression upon the wild imagination of Dante, as he has +introduced it into the twelfth canto of the Inferno, in order to +give the reader an adequate idea of one of his infernal +ramparts." + +12. The Minotaur, half bull, half man. See the infamous story in +all the classical dictionaries. + +18. The Duke of Athens is Theseus. Chaucer gives him the same +title in The Knights Tale:-- + + "Whilom, as olde stories tellen us, + Ther was a duk that highte Theseus. + Of Athenes he was lord and governour, + That greter was ther non under the sonne. + Ful many a rich contree had he wonne. + What with his wisdom and his chevalrie, + He conquerd all the regne of Feminie, + That whilom was ycleped Scythia; + And wedded the freshe quene Ipolita, + And brought hire home with him to his contree + With mochel glorie and great solempnitee, + And eke hire yonge suster Emelie. + And thus with victorie and with melodie + Let I this worthy duk to Athenes ride, + And all his host, in armes him beside." + + +Shakespeare also, in the Midsummer Night's Dream, calls him the +Duke of Athens. + +20. Ariadne, who gave Theseus the silken thread to guide him back +through the Cretan labyrinth after slaying the Minotaur. +Hawthorne has beatifully told the old story in his Tanglewood +Tales."Ah, the bull-headed villain!" he says. "And O my good +little people, you will perhaps see, one of these days, as I do +now, that every human being who suffers anything evil to get into +his nature, or to remain there, is a kind of Minotaur, an enemy +of his fellow- creatures, and separated from all good +companionship, as this poor monster was." + +39. Christ's descent into Limbo, and the earthquake at the +Crucifixion. + +42. This is the doctrine of Empedocles and other old +philosophers. +See Ritter, History of Ancient Philosophy, Book V., Chap. vi. The +following passages are from Mr. Morrison's translation: -- +"Empedocles proceeded from the Eleatic principle of the oneness +of all truth. In its unity it resembles a ball; he calls it the sphere, + +wherein the ancients recognized the God of Empedoocles..... +"Into the unity of the sphere all elementary things are combined +by love, without difference or distinction: within it they lead a +happy life, replete with holiness, and remote from discord: + +They know no god of war nor the spirit of battles, Nor Zeus, the +sovereign, nor Cronos, nor yet Poseidon, But Cypris the +queen..... + +"The actual separation of the elements one from another is +produced by discord; for originally they were bound together in +the sphere, and therein continued perfectly unmovable. Now in +this Empedocles posits different periods and different conditions +of the world; for, according to the above position, originally +all is united in love, and then subsequently the elements and +living essences are separated. .... + +"His assertion of certain mundane periods was taken by the +ancients literally; for they tell us that, according to his +theory, All was originally one by love, but afterwards many and +at enmity with itself through discord." + +56. The Centaurs are set to guard this Circle, as symbolizing +violence, with some form of which the classic poets usually +associate them. + +68. Chaucer, The Monkes Tale:-- + + "A lemman had this noble champion, + That highte Deianire, as fresh as May; + And as thise clerkes maken mention, + She hath him sent a sherte fresh and gay: + Alas! this sherte, alas and wala wa! + Envenimed was sotilly withalle, + That or that he had wered it half a day, + It made his flesh all from his bones falle." + +Chiron was a son of Saturn; Pholus, of Silenus; and Nessus, of +Ixion and the Cloud. + +71. Homer, Iliad, XI. 832, "Whom Chiron instructed, the most just +of the Centaurs." Hawthorne gives a humorous turn to the fable of +Chiron, in the Tanglewod Tales, p. 273:-- +"I have sometimes suspected that Master Chiron was not really +very different from other people, but that, being a kind-hearted +and merry old fellow, he was in the habit of making believe that +he was a horse, and scrambling about the school-room on all +fours, and letting the little boys ride upon his back. And so, +when his scholars had grown up, and grown old, and were trotting +their grandchildren on their knees, they told them about the +sports of their school days; and these young folks took the idea +that their grandfathers had been taught their letters by a +Centaur, half man and half horse..... +"Be that as it may, it has always been told for a fact, (and +always will be told, as long as the world lasts,) that Chiron, +with the head of a schoolmaster, had the body and legs of a +horse. Just imagine the grave old gentleman clattering and +stamping into the school room on his four hoofs, perhaps treading +on some little fellow's toes, flourishing his switch tail instead +of a rod, and, now and them, trotting out of doors to eat a +mouthful of grass!" + +77. Mr. Ruskin refers to this line in confirmation of his theory +that "all great art represents something that it sees or believes in; +nothing unseen or uncredited." The passage is as follows, Modern +Painters, III. 83:-- +"And just because it is always something that it sees or believes +in, there is the peculiar character above noted, almost +unmistakable, in all high and true ideals, of having been as it +were studies from the life, and involving pieces of sudden +familiarity, and close specific painting which never would have +been admitted or even thought of, had not the painter drawn +either from the bodily life or from the life of faith. For +instance, Dante's Centaur, Chiron, dividing his beard with his +arrow before he can speak, is a thing that no mortal would ever +have thought of, if he had not actually seen the Centaur do it. +They might have composed handsome bodies of men and horses in all +possible ways, through a whole life of pseudo-idealism, and yet +never dreamed of any such thing. But the real living Centaur +actually trotted across Dante's brain, and he saw him do it." + +107. Alexander of Thessaly and Dionysius of Syracuse. 51 + +110. Azzolino, or Ezzolino di Romano, tyrant of Padua, nicknamed +the Son of the Devil. Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, III. 33, describes +him as + + "Fierce Ezelin, that most inhuman lord, + Who shall be deemed by men a child of hell." + +His story may be found in Sismondi's Histoire des Republiques +Italiennes, Chap. XIX. He so outraged the religious sense of the +people by his cruelties, that a crusade was preached against him, +and he died a prisoner in 1259, tearing the bandages from his +wounds, and fierce and defiant to the last. +"Ezzolino was small of stature," says Sismondi, "but the whole +aspect of his person, all his movements, indicated the soldier. +His language was bitter, his countenance proud; and by a single +look, he made the boldest tremble. His soul, so greedy of all +crimes, felt no attraction for sensual pleasures. Never had +Ezzolino loved women; and this perhaps is the reason why in his +punishments he was as pitiless against them as against men. He +was in his sixty- sixth year when he died; and his reign of blood +had lasted thirty- four years." Many glimpses of him are given in +the Cento Novelle Antiche, as if his memory long haunted the +minds of men. Here are two of them, from Novella 83. +"Once upon a time Messer Azzolino da Romano made proclamation, +through his own territories and elsewhere, that he wished to do a +great charity, and therefore that all the beggars, both men and +women, should assemble in his meadow, on a certain day, and to +each he would give a new gown, and abundance of food. The news +spread among the servants on all hands. When the day of +assembling came, his seneschals went among them with the gowns +and the food, and made them strip naked one by one, and then +clothed them with new clothes, and fed them. They asked for their +old rags, but it was all in vain; for he put them into a heap and +set fire to them. Afterwards he found there so much gold and +silver melted, that it more than paid the expense, and then he +dismissed them with his blessing..... +"To tell you how much he was feared, would be a long story, and +many people knew it. But I will recall how he, being one day with +the Emperor on horseback, with all their people, they laid a +wager as to which of them had the most beautiful sword. The +Emperor drew from its sheath his own, which was wonderfully +garnished with gold and precious stones. Then said Messer +Azzolino: `It is very beautiful; but mine, without any great +ornament, is far more beautiful'; -- and he drew it forth. Then +six hundred knights, who were with him, all drew theirs. When the +Emperor beheld this cloud of swords, he said: `Yours is the most +beautiful.'" + +111. Obizzo da Esti, Marquis of Ferrara. He was murdered by Azzo, +"whom he thought to be his son," says Boccaccio, "though he was +not. " The Ottimo Comento remarks: "Many call themselves sons, +and are step-sons." + +119. Guido di Monforte, who murdered Prince Henry of England "in +the bosom of God," that is, in the church, at Viterbo. The event is +thus narrated by Napier, Florentine History, I. 283:-- +"Another instance of this revengeful spirit occurred in the year +1271 at Viterbo, where the cardinals had assembled to elect a +successor to Clement the Fourth, about whom they had been long +disputing: Charles of Anjou and Philip of France, with Edward and +Henry, sons of Richard, Duke of Cornwall, had repaired there, the +two first to hasten the election, which they finally accomplished +by the elevation of Gregory the Tenth. During these proceedings +Prince Henry, while taking the sacrament in the church of San +Silvestro at Viterbo, was stabbed to the heart by his own cousin, +Guy de Montfort, in revenge for the Earl of Leicester's death, +although Henry was then endeavoring to procure his pardon. This +sacrilegious act threw Viterbo into confusion, but Montfort had +many supporters, one of whom asked him what he had done. `I have +taken my revenge,' said he. ` But your father's body was +trailed!' At this reproach, De Montfort instantly re-entered the +church, walked straight to the altar, and, seizing Henry's body +by the hair, dragged it through the aisle, and left it, still +bleeding, in the open street: he then retired unmolested to the +castle of his father-in-law, Count Rosso of the Maremma, and +there remained in security!" "The body of the Prince," says +Barlow, Study of Dante, p. 125, "was brought to England, and +interred at Hayles, in Gloucestershire, in the Abbey which his +father had there built for monks of the Cistercian order; but his +heart was put into a golden vase, and placed on the tomb of +Edward the Confessor, in Westminster Abbey; most probably, as +stated by some writers, in the hands of a statue. " + +123. Violence in all its forms was common enough in Florence in +the age of Dante. + +134. Attila, the Scourge of God. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, Chap. +39, describes him thus:-- +"Attila, the son of Mundzuk, deduced his noble, perhaps his +regal, descent from the ancient Huns, who had formerly contended +with the monarchs of China. His features, according to the +observation of a Gothic historian, bore the stamp of his national +origin; and the portrait of Attila exhibits the genuine deformity +of a modern Calmuk; a large head, a swarthy complexion, small, +deep-seated eyes, a flat nose, a few hairs in the place of a +beard, broad shoulders, and a short, square body, of nervous +strength, though of a disproportioned form. The haughty step and +demeanor of the King of the Huns expressed the consciousness of +his superiority above the rest of mankind; and he had a custom of +fiercely rolling his eyes, as if he wished to enjoy the terror +which he inspired. " + +135. Which Pyrrhus and which Sextus, the commentators cannot +determine; but incline to Pyrrhus of Epirus, and Sextus Pompey, +the corsair of the Mediterranean. + +137. Nothing more is known of these highwaymen than that the +first infested the Roman sea-shore, and that the second was of a noble +family of Florence. + +Canto 13 + +1. In this Canto is described the punishment of those who had +laid violent hands on themselves or their property. + +2. Chaucer, Knights Tale, 1977:-- + + "First on the wall was peinted a forest, + In which ther wonneth neyther man ne best, + With knotty knarry barrein trees old + Of stubbes sharpe and hidous to behold; + In which there ran a romble and a swough + As though a storme shuld bresten every bough." + +9. The Cecina is a small river running into the Mediterranean not +many miles south of Leghorn; Corneto, a village in the Papal +States, north of Civita Vecchia. The country is wild and thinly +peopled, and studded with thickets, the haunts of the deer and +the wild boar. This region is the fatal Maremma, thus described +by Forsyth, Italy, p. 156:-- +"Farther south is the Maremma, a region which, though now worse +than a desert, is supposed to have been anciently both fertile +and healthy. The Maremma certainly formed part of that Etruria +which was called from its harvests the annonaria. Old Roman +cisterns may still be traced, and the ruins of Populonium are +still visible in the worst part of this tract: yet both nature +and man seem to have conspired against it. +"Sylla threw this maritime part of Tuscany into enormous +latifundia for his disbanded soldiers. Similar distributions +continued to lessen its population during the Empire. In the +younger Pliny's time the climate was pestilential. The Lombards +gave it a new aspect of misery. Wherever they found culture they +built castles, and to each castle they allotted a `bandita' or +military fief. Hence baronial wars which have left so many +picturesque ruins on the hills, and such desolation round them. +Whenever a baron was conquered, his vassals escaped to the +cities, and the vacant fief was annexed to the victorious. Thus +stripped of men, the lands returned into a state of nature: some +were flooded by the rivers, others grew into horrible forests, +which enclose and concentrate the pestilence of the lakes and +marshes. +"In some parts the water is brackish, and lies lower than the +sea: in others it oozes full of tartar from beds oftravertine. At +the bottom or on the sides of hills are a multitude of hot +springs, which form pools, called Lagoni. +A few of these are said to produce borax: some, which are called +fumache, exhale sulphur; others, called bulicami, boil with a +mephitic gas. The very air above is only a pool of vapors, which +sometimes undulate, but seldom flow off. It draws corruption from +a rank, unshorn, rotting vegetation, from reptiles and fish both +living and dead. +"All nature conspires to drive man away from this fatal region; +but man will ever return to his bane, if it be well baited. The +Casentine peasants still migrate hither in the winter to feed +their cattle: and here they sow corn, make charcoal, saw wood, +cut hoops, and peel cork. When summer returns they decamp, but +often too late; for many leave their corpses on the road, or +bring home the Maremmian disease." + +11. Aeneid, III., Davidson's Tr.:-- +"The shores of the Strophades first receive me rescued from the +waves. The Strophades, so called by a Greek name, are islands +situated in the great Ionian Sea; which direful Celaeno and the +other Harpies inhabit, from what time Phineus' palace was closed +against them, and they were frightened from his table, which they +formerly haunted. No monster more fell than they, no plague and +scourge of the gods more cruel, ever issued from the Stygian +waves. They are fowls with virgin faces, most loathsome is their +bodily discharge, hands hooked, and looks ever pale with famine. +Hither conveyed, as soon as we entered the port, lo! we observe +joyous herds of cattle roving up and down the plains, and flocks +of goats along the meadows without a keeper. We rush upon them +with our swords, and invoke the gods and Jove himself to share +the booty. Then along the winding shore we raise the couches, and +feast on the rich repast. But suddenly, with direful swoop, the +Harpies are upon us from the mountains, shake their wings with +loud din, prey upon our banquet, and defile everything with their +touch: at the same time, together with a rank smell, hideous +screams arise." + +21. His words in the Aeneid, III., Davidson's Tr.:-- +"Near at hand there chanced to be a rising ground, on whose top +were young cornel-trees, and a myrtle rough with thick, spear- +like branches. I came up to it, and attempting to tear from the +earth the verdant wood, that I might cover the altars with the +leafy boughs, I observe a dreadful prodigy, and wondrous to +relate. For from that tree which first is torn from the soil, its +rooted fibres being burst asunder, drops of black blood distil, +and stain the ground with gore: cold terror shakes my limbs, and +my chill blood is congealed with fear. I again essay to tear off +a limber bough from another, and thoroughly explore the latent +cause: and from the rind of that other the purple blood descends. +Raising in my mind many an anxious thought, I with reverence +besought the rural nymphs, and father Mars, who presides over the +Thracian territories, kindly to prosper the vision and avert evil +from the omen. But when I attempted the boughs a third time with +a more vigorous effort, and on my knees struggled against the +opposing mould, (shall I speak, or shall I forbear?) a piteous +groan is heard from the bottom of the rising ground, and a voice +sent forth reaches my ears: `Aeneas, why dost thou tear an +unhappy wretch? Spare me, now that I am in my grave; forbear to +pollute with guilt thy pious hands: Troy brought me forth no +stranger to you; nor is it from the trunk this blood distils.'" + +40. Chaucer, Knightes Tale, 2339:-- + + "And as it queinte, it made a whisteling + As don these brondes wet in hir brenning, + And at the brondes ende outran anon + As it were blody dropes many on." + +See also Spenser, Faerie Queene, I. ii. 30. + +58. Pietro della Vigna, Chancellor of the Emperor Frederick II. +Napier's account of him is as follows, Florentine History, I. +197-- "The fate of his friend and minister, Piero delle Vigne of +Capua, if truly told, would nevertheless impress us with an +unfavorable idea of his mercy and magnanimity: Piero was sent +with Taddeo di Sessa as Frederick's advocate and representative +to the Council of Lyons, which was assembled by his friend +Innocent the Fourth, nominally to reform the Church, but really +to impart more force and solemnity to a fresh sentence of +excommunication and deposition. There Taddeo spoke with force and +boldness for his master; but Piero was silent; and hence he was +accused of being, like several others, bribed by the Pope, not +only to desert the Emperor, but to attempt his life; and whether +he were really culpable, or the victim of court intrigue, is +still doubtful. Frederick, on apparently good evidence, condemned +him to have his eyes burned out, and the sentence was executed at +San Miniato al Tedesco: being afterwards sent on horseback to +Pisa, where he was hated, as an object for popular derison, he +died, as is conjectured, from the effects of a fall while thus +cruelly exposed, and not by his own hand, as Dante believed and +sung." +Milman, Latin Christianity, V. 499, gives the story thus:-- +"Peter de Vine#a had been raised by the wise choice of Frederick +to the highest rank and influence. All the acts of Frederick were +attributed to his Chancellor. De Vine#a, like his master, was a +poet; he was one of the counsellors in his great scheme of +legislation. Some rumors spread abroad that at the Council of +Lyons, though Frederick had forbidden all his representatives +from holding private intercourse with the Pope, De Vine#a had +many secret conferences with Innocent, and was accused of +betraying his master's interests. Yet there was no seeming +diminution in the trust placed in De Vine#a. Still, to the end +the Emperor's letters concerning the disaster at Parma are by the +same hand. Over the cause of his disgrace and death, even in his +own day, there was deep doubt and obscurity. The popular rumor +ran that Frederick was ill; the physician of De Vine#a prescribed +for him; the Emperor having received some warning, addressed De +Vine#a: `My friend, in thee I have full trust; art thou sure that +this is medicine, not poison?' De Vine#a replied: `How often has +my physician ministered healthful medicines!--why are you now +afraid?' Frederick took the cup, sternly commanded the physician +to drink half of it. The physician threw himself at the King's +feet, and, he fell, overthrew the liquor. But what was left was +administered to some criminals, who died in agony. The Emperor +wrung his hands and wept bitterly: `Whom can I now trust, +betrayed by my own familiar friend? Never can I know security, +never can I know joy more.' By one account Peter de Vine#a was +led ignominiously on an ass through Pisa, and thrown into prison, +where he dashed his brains out against the wall. Dante's immortal +verse has saved the fame of De Vine#a: according to the poet he +was the victim of wicked and calumnious jealousy." +See also Giuseppe de Blasiis, Vita et Opere di Pietro della +Vigna. + +112. Iliad, XII. 146: "Like two wild boars, which catch the +coming tumult of men and dogs in the mountains, and, advancing +obliquely to the attack, break down the wood about them, cutting +it off at the roots." +Chaucer, Legende of Goode Women:-- + + Envie ys lavendere of the court alway; + For she ne parteth neither nyght ne day + Out of the house of Cesar, thus saith Daunte." + +120. "Lano," says Boccaccio, Comento, "was young gentleman of +Siena, who had a large patrimony, and associating himself with a +club of other young Sienese, called the Spendthrift Club, they also +being all rich, together with them, not spending but squandering, in +a short time he consumed all that he had and became very poor. " +Joining some Florentine troops sent out against the Aretines, he +was in a skirmish at the parish of Toppo, which Dante calls a +joust; "and notwithstanding he might have saved himself," +continues Boccaccio, "remembering his wretched condition, and it +seeming to him a grievous thing to bear poverty, as he had been +very rich, he rushed into the thick of the enemy and was slain, +as perhaps he desired to be." + +125. Some commentators interpret these dogs as poverty and +despair, still pursuing their victims. The Ottimo Comento calls +them "poor men who, to follow pleasure and the kitchens of other +people, abandoned their homes and families, and are therefore +transformed into hunting dogs, and pursue and devour their masters." + +133. Jacopo da St. Andrea was a Paduan of like character and life +as Lano. "Among his other squanderings," says the Ottimo Comento, +"it is said that, wishing to see a grand and beautiful fire, he had one +of his own villas burned." + +143. Florence was first under the protection of the god Mars; +afterwards under that of St. John the Baptist. But in Dante's +time the statue of Mars was still standing on a column at the +head of the Ponte Vecchio. It was over thrown by an inundation of +the Arno in 1333. See Canto XV. Note 62. + +149. Florence was destroyed by Totila in 450, and never by +Attila. In Dante's time the two seem to have been pretty generally +confounded. The Ottimo Comento remarks upon this point, "Some say +that Totila was one person and Attila another; and some say that +he was one and the same man." + +150. Dante does not mention the name of this suicide; Boccaccio +thinks, for one of two reasons; "either out of regard of his +surviving relatives, who peradventure are honorable men, and +therefore he did not wish to stain them with the infamy of so +dishonest a death, or else (as in those times, as if by a +malediction sent by God upon our city, many hanged themselves) +that each one might apply it to either he pleased of these many." + +Canto 14 + +1. In this third round of the seventh circle are punished the +Violent against God, + + "In heart denying and blaspheming him, + And by disdaining Nature and her bounty." + +15. When he retreated across the Libyan desert with the remnant +of Pompey's army after the battle of Pharsalia. Lucan, Pharsalia, +Book IX.:-- + + "Foremost, behold, I lead you to the toil, + My feet shall foremost print the dusty soil." + + +31. Boccaccio confesses that he does not know where Dante found +this tradition of Alexander. Benvenuto da Imola says it is a letter +which Alexander wrote to Aristotle. He quotes the passage as +follows: "In India ignited vapors fell from heaven like snow. I +commanded my soldiers to trample them under foot." +Dante perhaps took the incident from the old metrical Romance of +Alexander, which in some form or other was current in his time. +In the English version of it, published by the Roxburghe Club, we +find the rain of fire, and a fall of snow; but it is the snow, +and not the fire, and the soldiers trample down. So likewise in +the French version. The English runs as follows, line 4164: -- + + "Than fandis he furth as I finde five and twenti days, + Come to a velanus vale thare was a vile cheele, + Quare flaggis of the fell snawe fell fra the heven, + That was a brade, sais the buke, as battes ere of wolle. + Than bett he many brigt fire and lest it bin nold, + And made his folk with thaire feete as flores it to trede. + Than fell ther fra the firmament as it ware fell sparkes, + Ropand doune o rede fire, than any rayne thikir." + +45. Canto VIII. 83. + +56. Mount Etna, under which, with his Cyclops, Vulcan forged the +thunderbolts of Jove. + +63. Capaneus was one of the seven kings who besieged Thebes. +Euripides, Phoenissae, line 1188, thus describes his death:-- + + While o'er the battlements sprung Capaneus, + Jove struck him with his thunder, and the earth + Resounded with the crack; meanwhile mankind + Stood all aghast; from off the ladder's height + His limbs were far asunder hurled, his hair + Flew to'ards Olympus, to the ground his blood, + His hands and feet whirled like Ixion's wheel, + And to the earth his flaming body fell." + +Also Gower, Confes. Amant., I.:-- + + "As he the cite wolde assaile, + God toke him selfe the bataile + Ayen his pride, and fro the sky + A firy thonder sudeinly + He sende and him to pouder smote." + +72. Like Hawthorne's scarlet letter, at once an ornament and a +punishment. + +79. The Bulicame or Hot Springs of Viterbo. Villani, Cronica, +Book 1. Ch. 51, gives the following brief account of these springs, +and of the origin of the name of Viterbo:-- +The city of Viterbo was built by the Romans, and in old times was +called Vigezia, and the citizens Vigentians. And the Romans sent +the sick there on account of the baths which flow from the +Bulicame, and therefore it was called Vita Erbo, that is, life of +the sick, or city of life." + +80. "The building thus appropriated", says Mr. Barlow, +Contributions to the Study of the Divine Comedy, p. 129, "would +appear to have been the large ruined edifice known as the Bagno +di Ser Paolo Benigno, situated between the Bulicame and Viterbo. +About half a mile beyond the Porta di Faule, which leads to +Toscanella, we come to a way called Reillo, after which we arrive +at the said ruined edifice, which received the water from the +Bulicame by conduits, and has popularly been regarded as the +Bagno delle Meretrici alluded to by Dante; there is no other +building here found, which can dispute with it the claim to this +distinction." + +102. The shouts and cymbals of the Corybantes, drowning the cries +of the infant Jove, lest Saturn should find him and devour him. + +103. The statue of Time, turning its back upon the East and +looking towards Rome. Compare Daniel ii. 31. + +105. The Ages of Gold, Silver, Brass, and Iron. See Ovid, +Metamorph. I. See also Don Quixote's discourse to the goatherds, +inspired by the acorns they gave him, Book II. Chap. 3; and +Tasso's Ode to the Golden Age, in the Aminta. + +113. The Tears of Time, forming the infernal rivers that flow +into Cocytus. + +Milton, Parad. Lost, II. 577:-- + + "Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate; + Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep; + Cocytus, named of lamentation loud + Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegeton, + Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage. + Far off from these a slow and silent stream, + Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks + Forthwith his former state and being forgets, + Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain." + +136. See Purgatorio XXVIII. + +Canto 15 + +1. In this Canto is described the punishment of the Violent +against Nature;-- + + "And for this reason does the smallest round + Seal with its signet Sodom and Cahors." + +4. Guizzante is not Ghent, but Cadsand, an island opposite +L'Ecluse, where the great canal of Bruges enters the sea. A canal thus +flowing into the sea, the dikes on either margin uniting with the +sea-dikes, gives a perfect image of this part of the Inferno. +Lodovico Guicciardini in his Descrittione di tutti i Paesi Bassi +(1581), p. 416, speaking of Cadsand, says: "This is the very +place of which our great poet Dante makes mention in the +fifteenth chapter of the Inferno, calling it incorrectly, perhaps +by error of the press, Guizzante; where still at the present day +great repairs are continually made upon the dikes, because here, +and in the environs towards Bruges, the flood, or I should rather +say the tide, on account of the situation and lowness of the +land, has very great power, particularly during a northwest +wind." + +5. These lines recall Goldsmith's description in the Traveller:- - + + "Methinks her patient sons before me stand, + Where the broad ocean leans against the land, + And, sedulous to stop the coming tide, + Lift the tall rampire's artificial pride. + Onward, methinks, and diligently slow + The firm connected bulwark seems to grow; + Spreads its long arms amidst the watery roar, + Scoops out an empire and usurps the shore." + +9. That part of the Alps in which the Brenta rises. + +29. The reading la mia seems preferable to la mano, and is +justified by line 45. + +30. Brunetto Latini, Dante's friend and teacher. Villani thus +speaks of him, Cronica, VIII. 10: "In this year 1294 died in +Florence a worthy citizen, whose name was Ser Brunetto Latini, +who was a great philosopher and perfect master of rhetoric, both in +speaking and in writing. He commented the Rhetoric of Tully, and +made the good and useful book called the Tesoro, and the +Tesoretto, and the Keys of the Tesoro, and many other books of +philosophy, and of vices and of virtues, and he was Secretary of +our Commune. He was a worldly man, but we have made mention of +him because he was the first master in refining the Florentines, +and in teaching them how to speak correctly, and how to guide and +govern our Republic on political principles." +Boccaccio, Comento, speaks of him thus: "This Ser Brunetto Latini +was a Florentine, and a very able man in some of the liberal +arts, and in philosophy; but his principal calling was that of +Notary; and he held himself and his calling in such great esteem, +that, having made a mistake in a contract drawn up by him, and +having been in consequence accused of fraud, he preferred to be +condemned for it rather than to confess that he had made a +mistake; and afterwards he quitted Florence in disdain, and +leaving in memory of himself a book composed by him, called the +Tesoretto, he went to Paris and lived there a long time, and +composed a book there which is in French, and in which he treats +of many matters regarding the liberal arts, and moral and natural +philosophy, and metaphysics, which he called the Tesoro; and +finally, I believe, he died in Paris." +He also wrote a short poem, called the Favoletto, and perhaps the +Pataffio, a satirical poem in the Florentine dialect, "a jargon, +" says Nardini, "which cannot be understood even with a +commentary. " But his fame rests upon the Tesoretto and the +Tesoro, and more than all upon the fact that he was Dante's +teacher, and was put by him into a very disreputable place in the +Inferno. He died in Florence, not in Paris, as Boccaccio +supposes, and was buried in Santa Maria Novella, where his tomb +still exists. It is strange than Boccaccio should not have known +this, as it was in this church that the "seven young gentlewomen" +of his Decameron met "on a Tuesday morning," and resolved to go +together into the country, where they "might hear the birds sing, +and see the verdure of the hills and plains, and the fields full +of grain undulating like the sea. " +The poem of the Tesoretto, written in a jingling metre, which +reminds one of the Vision of Piers Ploughman, is itself a Vision, +with the customary allegorical personages of the Virtues and +Vices. Ser Brunetto, returning from an embassy to King Alphonso +of Spain, meets on the plain of Roncesvalles a student of +Bologna, riding on a day mule, who informs him that the Guelfs +have been banished from Florence. Whereupon Ser Brunetto, plunged +in meditation and sorrow, loses the highroad and wanders in a +wondrous forest. Here he discovers the august and gigantic figure +of Nature, who relates to him the creation of the world, and +gives him a banner to protect him on his pilgrimage through the +forest, in which he meets with no adventures, but with the +Virtues and Vices, Philosophy, Fortune, Ovid, and the God of +Love, and sundry other characters, which are sung at large +through eight or ten chapters. He then emerges from the forest, +and confesses himself to the monks of Montpellier; after which he +goes back into the forest again, and suddenly finds himself on +the summit of Olympus; and the poem abruptly leaves his +discoursing about the elements with Ptolemy, + + "Mastro di storlomia + E di filosofia." + +It has been supposed by some commentators that Dante was indebted +to the Tesoretto for the first idea of the Commedia. "If any one +is pleased to imagine this," says the Abbate Zannoni in the +Preface to his edition of the Tesoretto, (Florence, 1824,) "he +must confess that a slight and almost invisible spark served to +kindle a vast conflagration." The Tesoro, which is written in +French, is a much more ponderous and pretentious volume. Hitherto +it has been known only in manuscript, or in the Italian +translation of Giamboni, but at length appears as one of the +volumes of the Collection de Documents inedits sur l'Histoire de +France, under the title of Li Livres dou Tresor, edited by P. +Chabaille, Paris, 1863; a stately quarto of some seven hundred +pages, which it would assuage the fiery torment of Ser Brunetto +to look upon, and justify him in saying + + "Commended unto thee be my Tesoro, + In which I still live, and no more I ask." + +The work is quaint and curious, but mainly interesting as being +written by Dante's schoolmaster, and showing what he knew and +what he taught his pupil. I cannot better describe it than in the +author's own words, Book I. ch. I:-- +"The smallest part of this Treasure is like unto ready money, to +be expended daily in things needful; that is, it treats of the +beginning of time, of the antiquity of old histories, of the +creation of the world, and in fine of the nature of all +things..... +"The second part, which treats of the vices and virtues, is of +precious stones, which give unto man delight and virtue; that is +to say, what things a man should do, and what he should not, and +shows the reason why..... +"The third part of the Treasure is of fine gold; that is to say, +it teaches a man to speak according to the rules of rhetoric, and +how a ruler ought to govern those beneath him..... +"And I say not that this book is extracted from my own poor sense +and my own naked knowledge, but, on the contrary, it is like a +honeycomb gathered from diverse flowers; for this book is wholly +compiled from the wonderful sayings of the authors who before our +time have treated of philosophy, each one according to his +knowledge. .... +"And if any one should ask why this book is written in Romance, +according to the languages of the French, since we are Italian, I +should say it is for two reasons; one, because we are in France, +and the other, because this speech is more delectable, and more +common to all people." + +62. "Afterwards," says Brunetto Latini, Tresor, Book I. Pt. I. ch. 37, +"the Romans besieged Fiesole, till at last they conquered it +and brought it into subjection. Then they built upon the plain, +which is at the foot of the high rocks on which that city stood, +another city, that is now called Florence. And know that the spot +of ground where Florence stands was formerly called the House of +Mars, that is to say the House of War; for Mars, who is one of +the seven planets, is called the God of War, and as such was +worshipped of old. Therefore it is no wonder that the Florentines +are always in war and in discord, for that planet reigns over +them. Of this Master Brunez Latins ought to know the truth, for +he was born there, and was in exile on account of war with the +Florentines, when he composed this book." See also Villani, I. +38, who assigns a different reason for the Florentine dissensions. +"And observe, that if the Florentines are always in war and dissension +among themselves it is not to be wondered at, they being descended +from two nations so contrary and hostile and different in customs, +as were the noble and virtuous Romans and the rude and warlike +Fiesolans." +Again, IV. 7, he attributes the Florentine dissensions to both +the above-mentioned causes. + +67. Villani, IV. 31, tells the story of certain columns of +porphyry given by the Pisans to the Florentines for guarding their city +while the Pisan army had gone to the conquest of Majorca. The +columns were cracked by fire, but being covered with crimson +cloth, the Florentines did not perceive it. Boccaccio repeats the +story with variations, but does not think it a sufficient reason +for calling the Florentines blind, and confesses that he does not +know what reason there can be for so calling them. + +89. The "other text" is the prediction of his banishment, Canto X. +81, and the Lady is Beatrice. + +96. Boileau, Epitre, V.:-- + + "Qu'a son gre desormais la fortune me joue, + On me verra dormir au branle de sa roue." + +And Tennyson's Song of "Fortune and her Wheel":-- + + "Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel and lower the proud; + Turn thy wild wheel thro' sunshine, storm, and cloud; + Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor hate. + "Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel with smile or frown; + With that wild wheel we go not up or down; + Our hoard is little, but our hearts are great. + "Smile and we smile, the lords of many lands; + Frown and we smile, the lords of our own hands; + For man is man and master of his fate. + "Turn, turn thy wheel above the staring crowd; + Thy wheel and thou are shadows in the cloud; + Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor hate." + +109. Priscian, the grammarian of Constantinople in the sixth +century. + +110. Francesco d'Accorso, a distinguished jurist and Professor at +Bologna in the thirteenth century, celebrated for his Commentary +upon the Code Justinian. + +113. Andrea de' Mozzi, Bishop of Florence, transferred by the +Pope, the "Servant of Servants," to Vicenza; the two cities being here +designated by the rivers on which they are respectively situated. + +119. See Note 30. + +122. The Corsa del Pallio, or foot races, at Verona; in which a +green mantle, or Pallio, was the prize. Buttura says that these foot- +races are still continued (1823), and that he has seen them more +than once; but certainly not in the nude state in which Boccaccio +describes them, and which renders Dante's comparison more +complete and striking. + +Canto 16 + +1. In this Canto the subject of the preceding is continued. + +4. Guidoguerra, Tegghiajo Aldobrandi, and Jacopo Rusticucci. + +37. The good Gualdrada was a daughter of Bellincion Berti, the +simple citizen of Florence in the olden time, who used to walk the +streets "begirt with bone and leather," as mentioned in the +Paradiso, XV. 112. Villani, I. 37, reports a story of her with +all the brevity of a chronicler. Boccaccio tells the same story, +as if he were writing a page of the Decameron. In his version it +runs as follows. +"The Emperor Otho IV., being by chance in Florence and having +gone to the festival of St. John, to make it more gay with his +presence, it happened that to the church with the other city +dames, as our custom is, came the wife of Messer Berto, and +brought with her a daughter of hers called Gualdrada, who was +still unmarried. And as they sat there with the others, the +maiden being beautiful in face and figure, nearly all present +turned round to look at her, and among the rest the Emperor. And +having much commended her beauty and manners, he asked Messer +Berto, who was near him, who she was. To which Messer Berto +smiling answered: `She is the daughter of one who, I dare say, +would let you kiss her if you wished.' These words the young lady +heard, being near the speaker; and somewhat troubled by the +opinion her father seemed to have of her, that, if he wished it, +she would suffer herself to be kissed by any one in this free +way, rising, and looking a moment at her father, and blushing +with shame, said: `Father, do not make such courteous promises at +the expense of my modesty, for certainly, unless by violence, no +one shall ever kiss me, except him whom you shall give me as my +husband.' The Emperor, on hearing this, much commended the words +and the young lady..... And calling forward a noble youth named +Guido Beisangue, who was afterwards called Guido the Elder, who +as yet had no wife, he insisted upon his marrying her; and gave +him as her dowry a large territory in Cassentino and the Alps, +and made him Count thereof." Amp@ere says in his Voyage +Dantesque, page 242: "Near the battle-field of Campaldino stands +the little town of Poppi, whose castle was built in 1230 by the +father of the Arnolfo who built some years later the Palazzo +Vecchio of Florence. In this castle is still shown the bedroom of +the beautiful and modest Gualdrada." Francesco Sansovino, an +Italian novelist of the sixteenth century, has made Gualdrada the +heroine of one of his tales, but has strangely perverted the old +tradition. His story may be found in Roscoe's Italian Novelists, +III. p. 107. + +41. Tegghiajo Aldobrandi was a distinguished citizen of Florence, +and opposed what Malespini calls "the ill counsel of the people, " +that war should be declared against the Sienese, which war +resulted in the battle of Monte Aperto and the defeat of the +Florentines. + +44. Jacopo Rusticucci was a rich Florentine gentleman, whose +chief misfortune seems to have been an ill-assorted marriage. +Whereupon the amiable Boccaccio in his usual Decameron style +remarks: "Men ought not then to be over-hasty in getting married; +on the contrary, they should come to it with much precaution." +And then he indulges in five octavo pages against matrimony and +woman in general. + +45. See Macchiavelli's story of Belfagor, wherein Minos and +Rhadamanthus, and the rest of the infernal judges, are greatly +surprised to hear an infinite number of condemned souls "lament +nothing so bitterly as their folly in having taken wives, +attributing to them the whole of their misfortune." + +70. Boccaccio, in his Comento, speaks of Guglielmo Borsiere as "a +courteous gentleman of good breeding and excellent manners"; and +in the Decameron, Gior. I. Nov.8, tells of a sharp rebuke +administered by him to Messer Ermino de' Grimaldi, a miser of +Genoa. +"It came to pass, that whilst by spending nothing he went on +accumulating wealth, there came to Genoa a well-bred and witty +gentleman called Gulielmo Borsiere, one nothing like the +courtiers of the present day; who, to the great reproach of the +debauched dispositions of such as would now be reputed fine +gentlemen, should more properly style themselves asses, brought +up amidst the filthiness and sink of mankind, rather than in +courts..... +"This Gulielmo, whom I before mentioned, was much visited and +respected by the better sort of people at Genoa; when having made +some stay here, and hearing much talk of Ermino's sordidness, he +became desirous of seeing him. Now Ermino had been informed of +Gulielmo's worthy character, and having, however covetous he was, +some small sparks of gentility, he received him in a courteous +manner, and, entering into discourse together, he took him, and +some Genoese who came along with him, to see a fine house which +he had lately built: and when he had showed every part of it, he +said: `Pray, sir, can you, who have heard and seen so much, tell +me of something that was never yet seen, to have painted in my +hall?' To whom Gulielmo, hearing him speak so simply, replied: +`Sir, I can tell you of nothing which has never yet been seen, +that I know of; unless it be sneezing, or some thing of that +sort; but if you please, I can tell you of a thing which, I +believe, you never saw.' Said Ermino (little expecting such an +answer as he received), `I beg you would let me know what that +is.' Gulielmo immediately replied, `Paint Liberality.' When +Ermino heard this, such a sudden shame seized him, as quite +changed his temper from what it had hitherto been; and he said: +`Sir, I will have her painted in such a manner that neither you, +nor any one else, shall be able to say, hereafter, that I am +unacquainted with her.' And from that time such effect had +Gulielmo's words upon him, he became the most liberal and +courteous gentleman, and was the most respected, both by +strangers and his own citizens, of any in Genoa." + +95. Monte Veso is among the Alps, between Piedmont and Savoy, +where the Po takes its rise. From this point eastward to the Adriatic, +all the rivers on the left or northern slope of the Apennines are +tributaries to the Po, until we come to the Montone, which above +Forl@i is called Acquacheta. This is the first which flows +directly into the Adriatic, and not into the Po. At least it was +so in Dante's time. Now, by some change in its course, the +Lamone, farther north, has opened itself a new outlet, and is the +first to make its own way to the Adriatic. See Barlow, +Contributions to the Study of the Divine Comedy, p. 131. This +Comparison shows the delight which Dante took in the study of +physical geography. To reach the waterfall of Acquacheta he +traverses in thought the entire valley to the Po, stretching +across the whole of Northern Italy. + +102. Boccaccio's interpretation of this line, which has been +adopted by most of the commentators since his time, is as follows: +"I was for a long time in doubt concerning the author's meaning in +this line; but being by chance at this monastery of San Benedetto, +in company with the abbot, he told me that there had once been a +discussion among the Counts who owned the mountain, about +building a village near the waterfall, as a convenient place for +a settlement, and bringing into it their vassals scattered on +neighboring farms; but the leader of the project dying, it was +not carried into effect; and that is what the author says, Ove +dovea per mille, that is, for many, esser ricetto, that is home +and habitation." +Doubtless grammatically the words will bear this meaning. But +evidently the idea in the author's mind, and which he wished to +impress upon the reader's, was that of a waterfall plunging at a +single leap down a high precipice. To this idea, the suggestion +of buildings and inhabitants is wholly foreign, and adds neither +force nor clearness. Whereas, to say that the river plunged at +once bound over a precipice high enough for a thousand cascades, +presents at one a vivid picture to the imagination, and I have +interpreted the line accordingly, making the contrast between una +scesa and mille. It should not be forgotten that, while some +editions read dovea, others read dovria, and even potria. + +106. This cord has puzzled the commentators exceedingly. +Boccaccio, Volpi, and Venturi, do not explain it. The anonymous +author of the Ottimo, Benvenuto da Imola, Buti, Landino, Vellutello, +and Daniello, all think it means fraud, which Dante had used in the +pursuit of pleasure,-- +"the panther with the painted skin." Lombardi is of opinion that, +"by girding himself with the Franciscan cord, he had endeavored +to restrain his sensual appetites, indicated by the panther; and +still wearing the cord as a Tertiary of the Order, he makes it +serve here to deceive Geryon, and bring him up." Biagioli +understands by it "the humility with which a man should approach +Science, because it is she that humbles the proud." Fraticelli +thinks it means vigilance; Tommaseo, "the good faith with which +he hoped to win the Florentines, and now wishes to deal with +their fraud, so that it may not harm him"; and Gabrielli Rossetti +says, "Dante flattered himself, acting as a sincere Ghibelline, +that he should meet with good faith from his Guelf countrymen, +and met instead with horrible fraud." +Dante elsewhere speaks of the cord in a good sense. In +Purgatorio, VII.114, Peter of Aragon is "girt with the cord of +every virtue. " In Inferno, XXVII. 92, it is mortification, "the +cord that used to make those girt with it more meagre"; and in +Paradiso, XI. 87, it is humility, "that family which had already +girt the humble cord." +It will be remembered that St. Francis, the founder of the +Cordeliers (the wearers of the cord), used to call his body +asino, or ass, and to subdue it with the capestro, or halter. +Thus the cord is made to symbolize the subjugation of the animal +nature. This renders Lombardi's interpretation the most +intelligible and satisfactory, though Virgil seems to have thrown +the cord into the abyss simply because he had nothing else to +throw, and not with the design of deceiving. + +112. As a man does naturally in the act of throwing. + +131. That Geryon, seeing the cord, ascends, expecting to find +some moine defroque, and carry him down, as Lombardi suggests, is +hardly admissible; for that was not his office. The spirits were +hurled down to their appointed places, as soon as Minos doomed +them. Inferno, V.15. + +132. Even to a steadfast heart. + +Canto 17 + +1. In this Canto is described the punishment of Usurers, as +sinners against Nature and Art. See Inf. XI. 109:-- + + "And since the usurer takes another way, + Nature herself in her follower + Disdains he, for elsewhere he puts his hope." + +The Monster Geryon, here used as the symbol of Fraud, was born of +Chrysaor and Callirrhoe, and is generally represented by the +poets as having three bodies and three heads. He was in ancient +times King of Hesperia or Spain, living on Erytheia, the Red +Island of sunset, and was slain by Hercules, who drove away his +beautiful oxen. The nimble fancy of Hawthorne thus depicts him in +his Wonder- Book, p. 148:-- +"But it was really and truly an old man? Certainly at first sight +it looked very like one; but on closer inspection, it rather +seemed to be some kind of a creature that lived in the sea. For +on his legs and arms there were scales, such as fishes have; he +was web-footed and web-fingered, after the fashion of a duck; and +his long beard, being of a greenish tinge, had more the +appearance of a tuft of sea-weed than of an ordinary beard. Have +you never seen a stick of timber, that has been long tossed about +by the waves, and has got all overgrown with barnacles, and at +last, drifting ashore, seems to have been thrown up from the very +deepest bottom of the sea? Well, the old man would have put you +in mind of just such a wave-tost spar." +The three bodies and three heads, which old poetic fable has +given to the monster Geryon, are interpreted by modern prose as +meaning the three Balearic Islands, Majorca, Minorca, and Ivica, +over which he reigned. + +10. Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, XIV. 87, Rose's Tr., thus depicts +Fraud: -- + + "With pleasing mien, grave walk, and decent vest, + Fraud rolled her eyeballs humbly in her head; + And such benign and modest speech possest, + She might a Gabriel seem who Ave said. + Foul was she and deformed in all the rest; + But with a mantle, long and widely spread, + Concealed her hideous parts; and evermore + Beneath the stole a poisoned dagger wore." + +The Gabriel saying Ave is from Dante, Purgatory, X. 40:-- +"One would have sworn that he was saying Ave." + +17. Tartars nor Turks, "Who are most perfect masters therein," +says Boccaccio, "as we can clearly see in Tartarian cloths, which +truly are so skilfully woven, that no painter with his brush +could equal, much less surpass them. The Tartars are...." And +with this unfinished sentence close the Lectures upon Dante, +begun by Giovanni Boccaccio on Sunday, August 9, 1373, in the +church of San Stefano, in Florence. That there were some critics +among his audience is apparent from this sonnet, which he +addressed "to one who had censured his public Exposition of +Dante." See D. G. Rosetti, Early Italian Poets, p. 447:-- + + "If Dante mourns, there wheresoe'er he be, + That such high fancies of a soul so proud + Should be laid open to the vulgar crowd, + (As, touching my Discourse, I'm told by thee,) + This were my grevious pain; and certainly + My proper blame shoud not be disavowed; + Though hereof somewhat, I declare aloud, + Where due to others, not alone to me. + False hopes, true poverty, and therewithal + The blinded judgement of a host of friends, + And their enteaties, made that I did thus. + But of all this there is no gain at all + Unto the thankless souls with whose base ends + Nothing agrees that's great or generous." + +18. Ovid, Metamorph. VI.:-- + + + "One at the loom so excellently skilled + That to the Goddess she refused to yield." + +57. Their love of gold still haunting them in the other world. + +59. The arms of the Gianfigliacci of Florence. + +63. The arms of the Ubbriachi of Florence. + +64. The Scrovigni of Padua. + +68. Vitaliano del Dente of Padua. + +73. Giovanni Bujamonte, who seems to have had the ill-repute of +being the greatest usurer of his day, called here in irony the +"soverign cavalier." + +74. As the ass-driver did in the streets of Florence, when Dante +beat him for singing his verses amiss. See Sachetti, Nov. CXV. + +78. Dante makes as short work with these usurers, as if he had +been a curious traveller walking through the Ghetto of Rome, or the +Judengasse of Frankfort. + +107. Ovid, Metamorph. II., Addison's Tr.:-- + + "Half dead with sudden fear he dropt the reins; + The horses felt `em loose upon their manes, + And, flying out through all the plains above, + Ran uncontrolled where-er their fury drove; + Rushed on the stars, and through a pathless way + Of unknown regions hurried on the day. + And now above, and now below they flew, + And near the earth the burning chariot drew. + + At once from life and from the chariot driv'n, + Th' ambitious boy fell thunder-struck from heav'n. + The horses started with a sudden bound, + And flung the reins and chariot to the ground: + The studden harness from their necks they broke, + Here fell a wheel, and here a silver spoke, + Here were the beam and axle torn away; + + And, scatter'd o'er the earth, the shining fragments lay. The + breathless Phaeton, with flaming hair, + Shot from the chariot, like a falling star, + That in a summer's ev'ning from the top + Of heav'n drops down, or seems at least to drop; + Till on the Po his blasted corpse was hurled, + Far from his counry, in the Western World." + +108. The Milky Way. In Spanish El camino de Santiago; in the +Northern Mythology the pathway of the ghosts going to Valhalla. + +109. Ovid, Metamorph. VIII., Croxall's Tr.:-- + + "The soft'ning was, that felt a nearer sun, + Dissolv'd apace, and soon began to run. + The youth in vain his melting pinions shakes, + His feathers gone, no longer air he takes. + O father, father, as he strove to cry, + Down to the sea he tumbled from on high, + And found his fate; yet still subsists by fame, + Among those waters that retain his name. + The father, now no more a father, cries, + Ho, Icarus! where are you? as he flies: + Where shall I seek my boy? he cries again, + And saw his feathers scattered on the main." + +136. Lucan, Pharsal. I.:-- + + "To him the Balearic sling is slow, + And the shaft loiters from the Parthian bow." + +Canto 18 + +1. Here begins the third division of the Inferno, embracing the +Eight and Ninth Circles, in which the Fraudulent are punished. + + "But because fraud is man's peculiar vice + More it displeases God; and so stand lowest + The fraudulent, and greater dole assails them. " + +The Eighth Circle is called Malebolge, or Evil-budgets, and +consists of ten concentric ditches, or Bolge of stone, with dikes +between, and rough bridges running across them to the centre like +the spokes of a wheel. In the First Bolgia are punished Seducers, +and in the Second, Flatterers. + +2. Mr. Ruskin, Modern Painters, III. p. 237, says:-- +"Our slates and granites are often of very lovely colors; but the +Apennine limestone is so gray and toneless, that I know not any +mountain district so utterly melancholy as those which are +composed of this rock, when unwooded. Now, as far as I can +discover from the internal evidence in his poem, nearly all +Dante's mountain wanderings had been upon this ground. He had +journeyed once or twice among the Alps, indeed, but seems to have +been impressed chiefly by the road from Garda to Trent, and that +along the Cornice, both of which are either upon those +limestones, or a dark serpentine, which shows hardly any color +till it is polished. It is not ascertainable that he had ever +seen rock scenery of the finely colored kind, aided by the Alpine +mosses: I do not know the fall at Forli (Inferno, XVI. 99), but +every other scene to which he alludes is among these Apennine +limestones; and when he wishes to give the idea of enormous +mountain size, he names Tabernicch and Pietra- pana,--the one +clearly chosen only for the sake of the last syllable of its +name, in order to make a sound as of crackling ice, with the two +sequent rhymes of the stanza,-- +and the other is an Apennine near Lucca. +"His idea, therefore, of rock color, founded on these +experiences, is that of a dull or ashen gray, more or less +stained by the brown of iron ochre, precisely as the Apennine +limestones nearly always are; the gray being peculiarly cold and +disagreeable. As we go down the very hill which stretches out +from Pietra-pana towards Lucca, the stones laid by the road-side +to mend it are of this ashen gray, with efflorescences of +manganese and iron in the fissures. The whole of Malebolge is +made of this rock, `All wrought in stone of iron-colored grain.'" + +29. The year of Jubilee 1300. Mr. Norton, in his Notes of Travel +and Study in Italy, p. 255, thus describes it:-- +"The beginning of the new century brought many pilgrims to the +Papal city, and the Pope, seeing to what account the treasury of +indulgences possessed by the Church might now be turned, hit upon +the plan of promising plenary indulgence to all who, during the +year, should visit with fit dispositions the holy places of Rome. +He accordingly, in the most solemn manner, proclaimed a year of +Julilee, to date from the Christmas of 1299, and appointed a +similar celebration for each hundreth year thereafter. The report +of the marvellous promise spread rapidly through Europe; and as +the year advanced, pilgrims poured into Italy from remote as well +as from neighbouring lands. The roads leading to Rome were dusty +with bands of travellers pressing forward to gain the unwonted +indulgence. The Crusades had made travel familiar to men, and a +journey to Rome seemed easy to those who had dreamed of the +Farther East, of Constantinople, and Jerusalem. Giovanni Villani, +who was among the pilgrims from Florence, declares that there +were never less than two hundred thousand strangers at Rome +during the year; and Guglielmo Ventura, the chronicler of Asti, +reports the total number of pilgrims at not less than two +millions. The picture which he draws of Rome during the Jubilee +is a curious one. ` Mirandum est quod passim ibant viri et +mulieres, qui anno illo Romae fuerunt quo ego ibi fui et per +dies xv. steti. De pane, vino, carnibus, piscibus, et avena, +bonum mercatum ibi erat; foenum carissimum ibi fuit; hospitia +carissima; taliter quod lectus meus et equi mei super faeno et +avena constabat mihi tornesium unum grossum. Exiens de Roma in +vigilia Nativitatis Christi, vidi turbam magnam, quam dinumerare +nemo poterat; et fama erat inter Romanos, quod ibi fuerant +plusquam vigenti centum millia virorum et mulierum. Pluries ego +vidi ibi tam viros quam mulieres conculcatos sub pedibus aliorum; +et etiam egomet in eodem periculo plures vices evasi. Papa +innumerabilem pecuniam ab eisdem recepit, quia die ac nocte duo +clerici stabant ad altare Sancti Pauli tenentes in eorum manibus +rastellos, rastellantes pecuniam infinitam. ' To accommodate the +throng of pilgrims, and to protect them as far as possible from +the danger which Ventura feelingly describes, a barrier was +erected along the middle of the bridge under the castle of Sant' +Angelo, so that those goint to St. Peter's and those coming from +the church, passing on opposite sides, might not interfere with +each other. It seems not unlikely that Dante himself was one of +the crowd who thus crossed the old bridge, over whose arches, +during this year, a flood of men was flowing almost as constantly +as the river's flood ran through below." + +31. The castle is the Castle of St. Angelo, and the mountain +Monte Gianicolo. See Barlow, Study of Dante p. 126. Others say Monte +Giordano. + +50. "This Caccinimico," says Benvenuto da Imola, "was a +Bolognese; a liberal, noble, pleasant, and very powerful man." +Nevertheless he was so utterly corrupt as to sell his sister, +the fair Ghisola, to the Marquis of Este. + +51. In the original the word is salse. "In Bologna," says +Benvenuto da Imola, "the name of Salse is given to a certain valley +outside the city, and near to Santa Maria in Monte, into which the +mortal +remains of desperadoes, usurers, and other infamous persons are +wont to be thrown. Hence I have sometimes heard boys in Bologna +say to each other, by way of insult, `Your father was thrown into +the Salse.'" + +61. The two rivers between which Bologna is situated. In the +Bolognese dialect sipa is used for si. + +72. They cease going round the circles as heretofore, and now go +straight forward to the centre of the abyss. + +86. For the story of Jason, Medea, and the Golden Fleece, see +Ovid, Metamorph. VII. Also Chaucer, Legende of Goode Women :-- + + "Thou roote of fals loveres, duke Jason! + Thou slye devourer and confusyon + Of gentil wommen, gentil creatures!" + +92. When the women of Lemnos put to death all the male inhabitans +of the island, Hypsipyle concealed her father Thaos, and spared his +life. Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautics, II., Fawke's Tr.: -- + + "Hypsipyle alone, illustrious maid, + Spared her sire Thaos, who the sceptre swayed." + +122. "Allessio Interminelli," says Benvenuto da Imola, "a +soldier, a nobleman, and of gentle manners was of Lucca, and from his +descended that tyrant Castruccio who filled all Tuscany with +fear, and was lord of Pisa, Lucca, and Pistoja, of whom Dante +makes no mention, because he became illustrious after the +author's death. Alessio took such delight in flattery, that he +could not open his mouth without flattering. He besmeared +everybody, even the lowest menials. " +The Ottimo says, that in the dialect of Lucca the head "was +facetiously called a pumpkin." + +133. Thais, the famous courtesan of Athens. Terence, The Eunuch, +Act III, Sc. I:-- + + "Thraso. Did Tha,is really return me many thanks? + "Gnatho. Exceeding thanks. + "Thraso. Was she delighted, say you? + "Gnatho. Not so much, indeed, at the present itself, as because + it was given by you; really, in right earnest, she does exult at + that." + +136. "The filthiness of some passages," exclaims Landor, +Pentameron,p. 15, "would disgrace the drunkenest horse-dealer; +and the names of such criminals are recorded by the poet, as +would be forgotten by the hangman in six months." + +Canto 19 + +1. The Third Bolgia is devoted to the Simoniacs, so called from +Simon Magus, the Sorcerer mentioned in Acts viii. 9, 18. See Par. +XXX. Note 147. Brunetto Latini touches lightly upon them in the +Tesoretto, XXI. 259, on account of their high ecclesiastical +dignity. His pupil is less reverential in this particular. + + Altri per simonia + Si getta in mala via, + E Dio e' Santi offende + E vende le prebende, + E Sante Sagramente, + E mette `nfra la gente + Assempri di mal fare. + Ma questo lascio stare, + Che tocca a ta' persone, + Che non e mia ragione + Di dirne lungamente." + +Chaucer, Persones Tale, speaks thus of Simony:-- + + "Certes simonie is cleped of Simon Magus, that wold have bought + for temporel catel the yefte that God had yeven by the holy gost + to Seint Peter, and to the Apostles: and therefore understond ye, + that both he that selleth and he that byeth thinges spirituel ben + called Simoniakes, be it by catel, be it by prcuring, or by + fleshly praier of his frendes, fleshly frendes, or spirituel + frendes, fleshly in two maners, as by kinrede or other frendes: + sothly, if they pray for him that is not worthy and able, it is + simonie, if he take the benefice: and if he be worthy and able, + ther is non." + +5. Gower, Confes. Amant. I.:-- + + "A trompe with a sterne breth, + Which was cleped the trompe of deth. + He shall this dredfull trompe blowe + To-fore his gate and make it knowe, + How that the jugement is yive + Of deth, which shall nought be foryive." + +19. Lami, in his Deliciae Eruditorum, makes a strange blunder in +reference to this passage. He says: "Not long ago the baptismal +font, which stood in the middle of Saint John's at Florence, was +removed; and in the pavement may still be seen the octagonal +shape of its ample outline. Dante says, that, when a boy, he fell +into it and was near drowning; or rather he fell into one of the +circular basins of water, which surrounded the principal font." +Upon this Arrivabeni, Comento Storico, p. 588, where I find this +extract, remarks: "Not Dante, but Lami, staring at the moon, +fell into the hole. " + +20. Dante's enemies had accused him of committing this act +through impiety. He takes this occasion to vindicate himself. + +33. Probably an allusion to the red stockings worn by the Popes. + +50. Burying alive with the head downward and the feet in the air +was the inhuman punishment of hired assassins, "according to justice +and the municipal law in Florence," says the Ottimo. It was +called Propagginare, to plant in the manner of vine-stocks. +Dante stood bowed down like the confessor called back by the +criminal in order to delay the moment of his death. + +53. Benedetto Gaetani, Pope Boniface VIII. Gower, Conf. Amant. +II. , calls him + + "Thou Boneface, thou proude clerke, + Misleder of the papacie." + +This is the Boniface who frightened Celestine from the papacy, +and persecuted him to death after his resignation. "The lovely +Lady" is the Church. The fraud was his collusion with Charles II. +of Naples."He went to King Charles by night, secretly, and with +few attendants," says Villani, VIII. ch. 6, " and said to him: +`King, thy Pope Celestine had the will and the power to serve +thee in thy Sicilian wars, but did not know how: but if thou wilt +contrive with thy friends the cardinals to have me elected Pope, +I shall know how, and shall have the will and the power'; +promising upon his faith and oath to aid him with all the power +of the Church. " Farther on he continues: "He was very +magnanimous and lordly, and demanded great honor, and knew well +how to maintain and advance the cause of the Church, and on +account of his knowledge and power was much dreaded and feared. +He was avaricious exceedingly in order to aggrandize the Church +and his relations, not being over- scrupulous about gains, for he +said that all things were lawful which were of the Church." He +was chosen Pope in 1294. "The inauguration of Boniface," says +Milman Latin Christ., Book IX., ch. 7, "was the most magnificent +which Rome had ever beheld. In his procession to St. Peter's and +back to the Lateran palace, where he was entertained, he rode not +a humble ass, but a noble white horse, richly caparisoned: he had +a crown on his head; the King of Naples held the bridle on one +side, his son, the King of Hungary, on the other. The nobility of +Rome, the Orsinis, the Colonnas, the Savellis, the Stefaneschi, +the Annibaldi, who had not only welcomed him to Rome, but +conferred on him the Senatorial dignity, followed in a body: the +procession could hardly force its way through the masses of the +kneeling people. In the midst, a furious hurricane burst over the +city, and extinguished every lamp and torch in the church. A +darker omen followed: a riot broke out among the populace, in +which forty lives were lost. The day after, the Pope dined in +public in the Lateran; the two Kings waited behind his chair." +Dante indulges towards him a fierce Ghibelline hatred, and +assigns him his place of torment before he is dead. In Canto +XXVII. 85, he calls him "the Prince of the new Pharisees"; and, +after many other bitter allusions in various parts of the poem, +puts into the mouth of St. Peter, Par. XXVII.22, the terrible +invective that makes the whole heavens red with anger. + + "He who usurps upon the earth my place, + My place, my place, which vacant has become + Now in the presence of the Son of God, + Has of my cemetery made a sewer + Of blood and fetor, whereat the Perverse, + Who fell from here, below there is appeased." + +He died in 1303. See Note 87, Purg. XX. + +70. Nicholas III, of the Orsini (the Bears) of Rome, chosen Pope +in 1277. "He was the first Pope, or one of the first," says +Villani, VII. ch. 54, in whose court simony was openly practised." +On account of his many accomplishments he was surnamed +Il Compiuto. Milman, Lat. Christ., Book XI. ch. 4, says of him: +"At length the election fell on John Gaetano, of the noble +Roman house, the Orsini, a man of remarkable beauty of person +and demeanor. His name, `the Accomplished,' implied that in him +met all the graces of the handsomest clerks in the world, but he +was a man likewise of irreproachable morals, of vast ambition, +and of great ability." He died in 1280. + +83. The French Pope Clement V., elected in 1305, by the influence +of Philip the Fair of France, with sundry humiliating conditions. He +transferred the Papal See from Rome to Avignon, where it remained +for seventy-one years in what Italian writers call its "Babylonian +captivity." +He died in 1314, on his way to Bordeaux. "He had hardly crossed the +Rhone," says Milman, Lat. Christ., Book XII. ch. 5, "when he was +seized with mortal sickness at Roquemaure. The Papal treasure was +seized by his followers, especially his nephew; his remains were +treated +with such utter neglect, that the torches set fire to the catafalque +under +which he lay, not in a state. His body, covered only with a single +sheet, all that his rapacious retinue had left to shroud their +forgotten master, was half burned. ....before alarm was raised. +His ashes were borne back to Carpentras and solemnly interered." + +85. Jason, to whom Antiochus Epiphanes granted a "license to set +him up a place for exercise, and for the training up of youth in the +fashions of the heathen." +2 Maccabees iv. 13: "Now such was the height of Greek fashions, +and increase of the heathenish manners, through the exceeding +profaneness of Jason, that ungodly wretch and not high priest, +that the priests had no courage to serve any more at the alter, +but, despising the temple, and neglecting the sacrifices, +hastened to be partakers of the unlawful allowance in the place +of exercise, after the game of Discus called them forth." + +87. Philip the Fair of France. See Note 82."He was one of the +handsomest men in the world," says Villani IX. 66, "and one of +the largest in person, and well proportioned in every limb,--a +wise and good man for a layman." + +94. Matthew, chosen as an Apostle in the place of Judas. + +99. According to Villani, VII. 54, Pope Nicholas III. wished to +marry his niece to a nephew of Charles of Anjou, King of Sicily. To +this alliance the King would not consent, saying :"Although he +wears the red stockings, his lineage is not worthy to mingle with +ours, and his power is not hereditary." This made the Pope +indignant and, together with the bribes of John of Procida, led +him to encourage the rebellion in Sicily, which broke out a year +after the Pope's death in the "Sicilian Vespers," 1282. + +107. The Church of Rome under Nicholas, Boniface, and Clement. +Revelation xvii. 1-3:-- +"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven +vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will +show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon +many waters; with whom the kings of the earth have committed +fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made +drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in +the Spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a +scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven +heads and ten horns. " +The seven heads are interpreted to mean the Seven Virtues, and +the ten horns the Ten Commandments. + +110. |Revelation xvii. 12, 13:--And the ten horns which thou +sawest are ten kings,.....and shall give their power and strength unto +the beast." + +117. Gower, Confes. Amant., Prologus:-- + + "The patrimonie and the richesse + Which to Silvester in pure almesse + the firste Constantinus lefte." + +Upon this supposed donation of immense domains by Constantine to +the Pope, called the "Patrimony of St. Peter," Milman, Lat. +Christ., Book I. ch. 2, remarks:-- +"Silvester has become a kind of hero of religious fable. But it +was not so much the genuine mythical spirit which unconsciously +transmutes history into legend; it was rather deliberate +invention, with a specific aim and design, which, in direct +defiance of history, accelerated the baptism of Constantine, and +sanctified a porphyry vessel as appropriated to, or connected +with, that holy use: and at a later period produced the monstrous +fable of the Donation. "But that with which Constantine actualy +did invest the Church, the right of holding landed property, and +receiving it by bequest, was far more valuable to the Christian +hierarchy, and not least to the Bishop of Rome, than a premature +and prodigal endowment." + + +Canto 20 + +1. In the Fourth Bolgia are punished the Soothsayers:-- + + "Because they wished to see too far before them, + Backward they look, and backward make their way." + + +9. Processions chanting prayers and supplications. + +13. Ignaro in Spenser's Faerie Queene, I. viii. 31:-- + + "But very uncouth sight was to behold + How he did fashion his untoward pace; + For as he forward moved his footing old, + So backward still was turned his wrinkled face." + +34. Amphiaraus was one of the seven kings against Thebes. +Foreseeing his own fate, he concealed himself, to avoid going to +the war; but his wife Eriphyle, bribed by a diamond necklace +(as famous in ancient story as the Cardinal de Rohan's in modern), +revealed his hiding-place, and he went to his doom with the others. +Aeschylus, The Seven against Thebes: +"I will tell of the sixth, a man most prudent and in valor the +best, the seer, the mighty Amphiaraus.... And through his mouth +he gives utterance to this speech.... `I, for my part, in very +truth shall fatten this soil, seer as I am, buried beneath a +hostile earth.'" +Statius, Thebaid, VIII. 47, Lewis's Tr.:-- + + "Bought of my treacherous wife for cursed gold, + And in the list of Argive chiefs enrolled, + Resigned to fate I sought the Theban plain; + Whence flock the shades that scarce thy realm contain; + When, how my soul yet dreads! an earthquake came, + Big with destruction, and my trembling frame, + Rapt from the midst of gaping thousands, hurled + To night eternal in thy nether world." + +40. The Theban soothsayer. Ovid, Met., III., Addison's Tr.:-- + + "It happen'd once, within a shady wood, + Two twisted snakes he in conjunction view'd, + When with his staff their slimy folds he broke, + And lost his manhood at the fatal stroke. + But, after seven revolving years, he view'd + The self-same serpents in the self-same wood: + `And if,' says he, `such virtue in you lie, + That he who dares your slimy folds untie + Must change his kind, a second stroke I'll try.' + Again he struck the snakes, and stood again + New-sex'd, and straight recovered into man...... + + When Juno fired, + More than so trivial an affair required, + Deprived him, in her fury, of his sight, + And left him groping round in sudden night. + But Jove (for so it is in heav'n decreed + That no one god repeal another's deed) + Irradiates all his soul with inward light, + And with the prophet's art relieves the want of sight." + +45. His beard. The word "plumes" is used by old English writers +in this sense. Ford, Lady's Trial:-- + + "Now the down of + Of softness is exchanged for plumes of age." + +See also Purg. I. 42. + +46. An Etrurian soothsayer. Lucan, Pharsalia, I., Rowe's Tr.:-- + + "Of these the chief, for learning famed and age, + Aruns by name, a venerable sage, + At Luna lived." + +Ruskin, Modern Painters, III. p. 246, says:-- +"But in no part of the poem do we find allusion to mountains in +any other than a stern light; nor the slightest evidence that +Dante cared to look at them. From that hill of San Miniato, whose +steps he knew so well, the eye commands, at the farther extremity +of the Val d'Arno, the whole purple range of the mountains of +Carrara, peaked and mighty, seen always against the sunset light +in silent outline, the chief forms that rule the scene as +twilight fades away. By this vision Dante seems to have been +wholly unmoved, and, but for Lucan's mention of Aruns at Luna, +would seemingly not have spoken of the Carrara hills in the whole +course of his poem: when he does allude to them, he speaks of +their white marble, and their command of stars and sea, but has +evidently no regard for the hills themselves. There is not a +single phrase or syllable throughout the poem which indicates +such a regard. Ugolino, in his dream, seemed to himself to be in +the mountains, `by cause of which the Pisan cannot see Lucca'; +and it is impossible to look up from Pisa to that hoary slope +without remembering the awe that there is in the passage; +neverthelss it was as a hunting-ground only that he remembered +these hills. Adam of Brescia, tormented with eternal thirst, +remembers the hills of Romena, but only for the sake of their +sweet waters." + +55. Manto, daughter of Tiresias, who fled from Thebes, the "City +of Bacchus," when it became subject to the tyranny of Cleon. + +63. Lake Benacus is now called the Lago di Garda. It is +pleasantly alluded to by Claudian in his "Old Man of Verona," +who has seen "the grove grow old coeval with himself." + + "Verona seems + To him remoter than the swarthy Ind; + He deems the Lake Benacus as the shore + Of the Red Sea." + +65. The Pennine Alps, or Alpes Paenae, watered by the brooklets +flowing into the Sarca, which is the principal tributary of +Benaco. + +69. The place where the three dioceses of Trent, Brescia, and +Verona meet. + +70. At the outlet of the lake. + +77. Aeneid, X.:-- + + "Mincius crowned with sea-green reeds." + +Milton, Lycidas:-- + + "Smooth-sliding Mincius, crowned with vocal reeds." + +82. Manto. Benvenuto da Imola says: "Virgin should here be +rendered Virago." + +93. Aeneid, X.: "Ocnus,....son of the prophetic Manto, and of the +Tuscan river, who gave walls and the name of his mother to thee, +O Mantua!" + +95. Pinamonte dei Buonacossi, a bold, ambitious man, persuaded +Alberto, Count of Casalodi and Lord of Mantua, to banish to their +estates the chief nobles of the city, and then, stirring up a +popular tumult, fell upon the rest, laying waste their houses, +and sending them into exile or to prison, and thus greatly +depopulating the city. + +110. Iliad, I. 69: "And Calchas, the son of Thestor, arose, the +best of augurs, a man who knew the present, the future, and the past, +and who had guided the ships of the Achaeans to Ilium, by the +power of prophecy which Phoebus Apollo gave him." + +112. Aeneid, II. 114: "In suspense we send Eurypylus to consult +the oracle of Apollo, and he brings back from the shrine these +mournful words: `O Greeks, ye appeased the winds with blood and a +virgin slain, when first ye came to the Trojan shores; your +return is to be sought by blood, and atonement made by a Grecian +life.'" Dante calls Virgil's poem a Tragedy, to make its +sustained and lofty style, in contrast with that of his own +Comedy, of which he has already spoken once, Canto XVI. 138, and +speaks again, Canto XXI. 2; as if he wished the reader to bear in +mind that he is wearing the sock, and not the buskin. + +116. "Michael Scott, the Magician," says Benvuenuto da Imola, +"practised divination at the court of Frederick II., and +dedicated to him a book on natural history, which I have seen, +and in which among other things he treats of Astrology, then +deemed infallible... . It is said, moreover, that he foresaw his +own death, but could not escape it. He had prognosticated that he +should be killed by the falling of a small stone upon his head, +and always wore an iron skull-cap under his hood, to prevent this +disaster. But entering a church on the festival of Corpus Domini, +he lowered his hood in sign of veneration, not of Christ, in whom +he did not believe, but to deceive the common people, and a small +stone fell from aloft on his bare head." +The reader will recall the midnight scene of the monk of St. +Mary's and William of Deloraine in Scott's Law of the Last +Minstrel, Canto II.:-- + + "In these far climes it was my lot + To meet the wondrous Michael Scott; + A wizard of such dreaded fame + That when, in Salamanca's cave, + Him listed his magic wand to wave, + The bells would ring in Notre Dame! + Some of his skill he taught to me; + And, warrior, I could say to thee + The words that cleft Eildon hills in three, + And bridled the Tweed with a curb of stone; + But to speak them were a deadly sin; + and for having but thought them my heart within, + A treble penance must be done." + + And the opening of the tomb to recover the Magic Book:-- + + "Before their eyes the wizard lay, + As if he had not been dead a day. + His hoary beard in silver rolled, + He seemed some seventy winters old; + A palmer's amice wrapped him round, + With a wrought Spanish baldric bound, + Like a pilgrim from beyond the sea; + His left hand held his book of might; + A silver cross was in his right; + The lamp was placed beside his knee: + High and majestic was his look, + At which the fellest fiends had shook, + And all unruffled was his face:-- + They trusted his soul had gotten grace." + +See also Appendix to the Lay of the Last Minstrel. + +118. Guido Bonatti, a tiler and astrologer of Forli, who +accompanied Guido di Montefeltro when he marched out of +Forli to attack the French "under the great oak." Villani, VII. 81, +in a passage in which the he and him get a little entangled, says: +"It is said that the Count of Montefeltro was guided by divination +and the advice of Guido Bonatti (a tiler who had become an +astrologer), or some other strategy, and he gave the orders; +and in this enterprise he gave him the gonfalon and said, +`So long as a rag of it remains, wherever thou bearest it, thou +shalt be victorious'; but I rather think his victories were owing +to his own wits and his mastery in war." +Benvenuto da Imola reports the following anecdote of the same +personages. "As the Count was standing one day in the large and +beautiful square of Forli, there came a rustic mountaineer and +gave him a basket of pears. And when the Count said, `Stay and +sup with me,' the rustic answered, `My Lord, I wish to go home +before it rains; for infallibly there will be much rain today. ' +The Count, wondering at him, sent for Guido Bonatti, as a great +astrologer, and said to him, `Dost thou hear what this man says?' +Guido answered, `He does not know what he is saying; but wait a +little.' Guido went to his study, and, having taken his +astrolable, observed the aspect of the heavens. And on returning +he said that it was impossible it should rain that day. But the +rustic obstinately affirmed what he had said, Guido asked him, +`Howe dost thou know?' The rustic answered, `Because to-day my +ass, in coming out of the stable, shook his head and picked up +his ears, and whenever he does this, it is a certain sign that +the weather will soon change.' Then Guido replied, `Supposing +this to be so, how dost thou know there will be much rain"' +`Because,' said he, `my ass, with his eyes pricked up, turned his +head aside, and wheeled about more than usual.' Then, with the +Count's leave, the rustic departed in haste, much fearing the +rain, though the weather was very clear. And an hour afterwards, +lo, it began to thunder, and there was a great down-pouring of +waters, like a deluge. Then Guido began to cry out, with great +indignation and derision, `Who has deluded me? Who has put me to +shame?' And for a long time this was a great source of merriment +among the people." +Asdente, a cobbler of Parma. "I think he must have had acuteness +of mind, although illiterate; some having the gift of prophecy by +the inspiration of Heaven." Dante mentions him in the Convito, +IV. 16, where he says that, if nobility consisted in being known +and talked about, "Asdente the shoemaker of Parma would be more +noble than any of his fellow-citizens." + +126. The moon setting in the sea west of Seville. In the Italian +popular tradition to which Dante again alludes, Par. II. 51, the +Man in the Moon is Cain with his Thorns. This belief seems to +have been current too in England, Midsummer Night's Dream, III, +1: "Or else one must come in with a bush of thorns and a lantern, +and say he comes to disfigure, or to present, the person of +moon-shine. " And again, V. 1: "The man should be put into the +lantern. How is it else the man i' the moon?.....All that I have +to say is to tell you, that the lantern is the moon; I, the man +in the moon; this thorn-bush, my thorn-bush; and this dog, my +dog." +The time here indicated is an hour after sunrise on Saturday +morning. + +Canto 19 + +1. The Fifth Bolgia, and the punishment of Barrators, or "Judges +who take bribes for giving judgment." + +2. Having spoken in the preceding Canto of Virgil's "lofty +Tragedy, " Dante here speaks of his own Comedy, as if to +prepare the reader for the scenes which are to follow, and +for which he apologizes in Canto XXII. 14, by repeating +the proverb, + + "In the church + With saints, and in the tavern with carousers." + +7. Of the Arsenal of Venice Mr. Hillard thus speaks in his Six +Months in Italy, I. 63:-- +"No reader of Dante will fail to pay a visit to the Arsenal, from +which, in order to illustrate the terrors of his `Inferno', the +great poet drew one of these striking and picturesque images, +characteristic alike of the boldness and the power of his genius, +which never hesitated to look for its materials among the homely +details and familiar incidents of life. In his hands, the boiling +of pitch and the calking of seams ascend to the dignity of +poetry. Besides, it is the most impressive and characteristic +spot in Venice. The Ducal Palace and the Church of St. Mark's are +symbols of pride and power, but the strength of Venice resided +here. Her whole history, for six hundred years, was here +epitomized, and as she rose and sunk, the hum of labor here +swelled and subsided. Here was the index-hand which marked the +culmination and decline of her greatness. Built upon several +small islands, which are united by a wall of two miles in +circuit, its extent and completeness, decayed as it is, show what +the naval power of Venice once was, as the disused armor of a +giant enables us to measure his stature and strength. Near the +entrace are four marble lions, brought by Morosini from the +Peloponnesus in 1685, two of which are striking works of art. Of +these two, one is by far the oldest thing in Venice, being not +much younger than the battle of Marathon; and thus, from the +height of twenty-three centuries, entitled to look down upon St. +Mark's as the growth of yesterday. The other two are non- +descript animals, of the class commonly called heraldic, and can +be syled lions only by courtesy. In the armory are some very +interesting objects, and none more so than the great standard of +the Turkish admiral, made of crimson silk, taken at the battle of +Lepanto, and which Cervantes may have grasped with his unwounded +hand. A few fragments of some of the very galleys that were +engaged in that memorable fight are also preserved here." + +37. Malebranche, Evil-claws, a general name for the devils. + +38. Santa Zita, the Patron Saint of Lucca, where the magistrates +were called Elders, or Aldermen. In Florence they bore the name of +Priors. + +41. A Barrator, in Dante's use of the word, is to the State what a +Simoniac is to the Church; one who sells justice, office, or +employment. +Benvenuto says that Dante includes Bontura with the rest, +"because he is speaking ironically, as who should say, `Bontura +is the greatest barrator of all.' For Bontura was an arch- +barrator, who sagaciously led and managed the whole commune, and +gave offices to whom he wished. He likewise excluded whom he +wished." + +46. Bent down in the attitude of one in prayer; therefore the +demons mock him with the allusion to the Santo Volto. + +48. The Santo Volto, or Holy Face, is a crucifix still preserved +in the Cathedral of Lucca, and held in great veneration by the +people. The tradition is that it is the work of Nicodemus, who +sculptured it from memory. See also Sacchetti, Nov. 73, in which +a preacher mocks at the Santo Volto in the church of Santa Croce +at Florence. + +49. The Serchio flows near Lucca. Shelley, in a poem called The +Boat, on the Serchio, describes it as a "torrent fierce," + + "Which fervid from its mountain source, + Shallow, smooth, and strong, doth come; + Swift as fire, tempestuously + It sweeps into the affrighted sea. + In the morning's smile its eddies coil, + Its billows sparkle, toss, and boil, + Torturing all its quiet light + Into columns fierce and bright." + +63. Canto IX. 22:-- + + "True is it once before I here below + Was conjured by that pitiless Erictho, + Who summoned back the shades unto their bodies." + +95. A fortified town on the Arno in the Pisan territory. It was +besieged by the troops of Florence and Lucca in 1289, and +capitulated. As the garrison marched out under safe-guard, they +were terrified by the shouts of the crowd, crying: "Hang them! +hang them!" In this crowd was Dante, "a youth of twenty-five," +says Benvenuto da Imola. + +110. Along the circular dike that separates one Bolgia from +another. + +111. This is a falsehood, as all the bridges over the next Bolgia +are broken. See Canto XXIII. 140. + +112. At the close of the preceding Canto the time is indicated as +being an hour after sunrise. Five hours later would be noon, or +the scriptural sixth hour, the hour of the Crucifixion. Dante +understands St. Luke to say that Christ died at this hour. +Convito, IV. 23: "Luke says that it was about the sixth hour when +he died; that is, the culmination of the day." Add to the "one +thousand and two hundred sixty-six years," the thirty-four of +Christ's life on earth, and it gives the year 1300, the date of +the Infernal Pilgrimage. + +114. Broken by the earthquake at the time of the Crucifixion, as +the rock leading to the Circle of the Violent, Canto XII. 45:-- + + "And at that moment this primeval rock + Both here and elsewhere made such over-throw." + +As in the next Bolgia Hypocrites are punished, Dante couples them +with the Violent, by making the shock of the earthquake more felt +near them than elsewhere. + +125. The next crag or bridge, traversing the dikes and ditches. + +137. See Canto XVIII. 75. + +Canto 22 + +1. The subject of the preceding Canto is continued in this. + +5. Aretino, Vita di Dante, says, that Dante in his youth was +present at the "great and memorable battle, which befell at Campaldino, +fighting valiantly on horseback in the front rank." It was there +he saw the vaunt-couriers of the Aretines, who began the battle +with such a vigorous charge, that they routed the Florentine +cavalry, and drove them back upon the infantry. + +7. Napier, Florentine Hist., I. 214-217, gives this description +of the Carroccio and the Martinella of the Florentines:--"In order +to give more dignity to the national army and form a rallying +point for the troops, there had been established a great car, +called the Carroccio, drawn by two beautiful oxen, which, +carrying the Florentine standard, generally accompanied them into +the field. This car was painted vermilion, the bullocks were +covered with scarlet cloth, and the driver, a man o{f} some +consequence, was dressed in crimson, was exempt from taxation, +and served without pay; these oxen were maintained at the public +charge in a public hospital, and the white and red banner of the +city was spread above the car between two lofty spars. Those +taken at the battle of Monteaperto are still exhibited in Siena +Cathedral as trophies of that fatal day. +"Macchiavelli erroneously places the adoption of the Carroccio +by the Florentines at this epoch, but it was long before in use, +and probably was copied from the Milanese, as soon as Florence +became strong and independent enough to equip a national army. +Eribert, Archbishop of Milan, seems to have been its author, for +in the war between Conrad I. and that city, besides other +arrangements for military organization, he is said to have +finished by the invention of the Carroccio: it was a pious and +not impolitic imitation of the ark as it was carried before the +Israelites. This vehicle is described, and also represented in +ancient paintings, as a four-wheeled oblong car, drawn by two, +four, or six bullocks: the car was always red, and the bullocks, +even to their hoofs, covered as above described, but with red or +white according to the faction; the ensign staff was red, lofty, +and tapering, and surmounted by a cross or golden ball: on this, +between two white fringed veils, hung the national standard, and +half-way down the mast, a crucifix. A platform ran out in front +of the car, spacious enough for a few chosen men to defend it, +while behind, on a corresponding space, the musicians with their +military instruments gave spirit to the combat: mass was said on +the Carroccio ere it quitted the city, the surgeons were +stationed near it, and not unfrequently a chaplain also attended +it to the field. The loss of the Carroccio was a great disgrace, +and betokened utter discomfiture; it was given to the most +distinguished knight, who had a public salary and wore +conspicuous armor and a golden belt: the best troops were +stationed round it, and there was frequently the hottest of the +fight..... +"Besides the Carroccio, the Florentine army was accompanied by a +great bell, called Martinella, or Campana degli Asini, which, for +thirty days before hostilities began, tolled continually day and +night from the arch of Porta Santa Maria, as a public declaration +of war, and, as the ancient chronicle hath it, `for greatness of +mind, that the enemy might have full time to prepare himself. ' +At the same time also, the Carroccio was drawn from its place in +the offices of San Giovanni by the most distinguished knights and +noble vassals of the republic, and conducted in state to the +Mercato Nuovo, where it was placed upon the circular stone still +existing, and remained there until the army took the field. Then +also the Martinella was removed from its station to a wooden +tower placed on another car, and with the Carroccio served to +guide the troops by night and day. `And with these two pomps, of +the Carroccio and Campana,' says Malespini, `the pride of the old +citizens, our ancestors, was ruled.'" + +15. Equivalent to the proverb, "Do in Rome as the Romans do." + +48. Giampolo, or Ciampolo, say all the commentators; but nothing +more is known of him than his name, and what he tells us here of his +history. + +52. It is not very clear which King Thibault is here meant, but +it is probably King Thibault IV., the crusader and poet, born 1201, +died 1253. His poems have been published by Lev#eque de la +Ravalli@ ere, under the title of Les Poesies du Roi de Navarre; +and in one of his songs (Chanson 53) he makes a clerk address him +as the Bons rois Thiebaut. Dante cites him two or three times in +his Volg. Eloq., and may have taken this expression from his +song, as he does afterwards, Canto XXVIII. 135, lo Re joves, the +Re Giovane, or Young King, from the songs of Bertrand de Born. + +65. A Latian, that is to say, an Italian. + +82. This Frate Gomita was a Sardinian in the employ of Nino de' +Visconti, judge in the jurisdiction of Gallura, the "gentle Judge +Nino" of Purg. VIII. 53. +The frauds and peculations of the Friar brought him finally to +the gallows. Gallura is the northeastern jurisdiction of the +island. + +88. Don Michael Zanche was Seneschal of King Enzo of Sardinia, a +natural son of the Emperor Frederick II. Dante gives him the +title of Don, still used in Sardinia for Signore. After the death +of Enzo in prison at Bologna, in 1271, Don Michael won by fraud +and flattery his widow Adelasia, and became himself Lord of +Logodoro, the northwestern jurisdiction, adjoining that of +Gallura. +The gossip between the Friar and the Seneschal, which is here +described by Ciampolo, recalls the Vision of the Sardinian poet +Araolla, a dialogue between himself and Gavino Sambigucci, +written in the soft dialect of Logodoro, a mixture of Italian, +Spanish, and Latin, and beginning:-- + + "Dulche, amara memoria de giornadas + Fuggitivas cun doppia pena mia, + Qui quanto pius l'istringo sunt passada." + +See Valery, Voyages en Corse et en Sardaigne, II. 410. + +Canto 23 + +1. In this Sixth Bolgia the Hypocrites are punished. + +"A painted people there below we found, +Who went about with footsteps very slow, +Weeping and in their looks subdued and weary." + +Chaucer, Knightes Tale, 2780:-- + + "In his colde grave + Alone, withouten any compagnie." + +And Gower, Conf. Amant.:-- + + To muse in his philosophie + Sole withouten compaignie. + +4. The Fables of Aesop, by Sir Roger L'Estrang, IV.:"There fell +out a bloody quarrel once betwixt the Frogs and the Mice, about +the sovereignty of the Fenns; and whilst two of their champions +were disputing it at swords point, down comes a kite powdering +upon them in the interim, and gobbles up both together, to part +the fray." + +7. Both words signifying "now"; mo, from the Latin modo ; and +issa, from the Latin ipsa; meaning ipsa hora. "The Tuscans say mo," +remarks Benvenuto, "the Lombards issa." + +37. "When he is in a fright and hurry, and has a very steep place +to go down, Virgil, has to carry him altogether," says Mr. Ruskin. +See Canto XII., Note 2. + +63. Benvenuto speaks of the cloaks of the German monks as +"ill-fitting and shapeless." + +66. The leaden cloaks which Frederick put upon malefactors were +straw in comparison. The Emperor Frederick II. is said to have punished +traitors by wrapping them in lead, and throwing them into a +heated caldron. I can find no historic authority for this. It +rests only on tradition; and on the same authority the same +punishment is said to have been inflicted in Scotland, and is +thus described in the ballad of "Lord Soulis," Scott's +Ministrelsy of the Scottish Border, IV. 256:-- + + "On a circle of stones they placed the pot, + On a circle of stones but barely nine; + They heated it red and fiery hot, + Till the burnished brass did glimmer and shine. + + "They roll'd him up in a sheet of lead, + A sheet of lead for a funeral pall, + And plunged him into the caldron red, + And melted him,--lead, and bones, and all." + +We get also a glimpse of this punishment in Ducange, Glo. Capa +Plumbea, where he cites the case in which one man tells another: +"If our Holy Father the Pope knew the life you are leading, he +would have you put to death in a cloak of lead." + +67. Comedy of Errors, IV. 2:--"A devil in an everlasting garment +hath him." + +91. Bolgna was renowned for its University; and the speaker, who +was a Bolognese, is still mindful of his college. + +95. Florence, the bellissima e famosissima figlia di Roma, as +Dante calls it, Convito, I. 3. + +103. An order of knighthood, established by Pope Urban IV. in +1261, under the title of "Knights of Santa Maria." The name Frati +Gaudenti, or "Jovial Friars," was a nickname, because they lived +in their own homes and were not bound by strict monastic rules. +Napier, Flor. Hist. I. 269, says:-- +"A short time before this a new order of religious nighthood +under the name of Frati Gaudenti began in Italy: it was not bound +by vows of celibacy, or any very severe regulations, but took the +usual oaths to defend widows and orphans and make peace between +man and man: the founder was a Bolognese gentleman, called +Loderingo di Liandolo, who enjoyed a good reputation, and along +with a brother of the same order, named Catalano di Malavolti, +one a Guelph and the other a Ghibelline, was now invited to +Florence by Count Guido to execute conjointly the office of +Podest@a. It was intended by thus dividing the supreme authority +between two magistrates of different politics, that one should +correct the other, and justice be equally administered; more +especially as, in conjunction with the people, they were allowed +to elect a deliberative council of thirty-six citizens, belonging +to the principal trades without distinction of party." +Farther on he says that these two Frati Gaudenti "forfeited all +public confidence by their peculation and hypocrisy." And +Villani, VII. 13: "Although they were of different parties, under +cover of a false hypocrisy, they were of accord in seeking rather +their own private gains than the common good." + +108. A street in Florence, laid waste by the Guelfs. + +113. |Hamlet, I. 2:-- + + "Nor windy suspiration of forced breath." + +115. Caiaphas, the High-Priest, who thought "expediency" the best +thing. + +121. Annas, father-in-law of Caiaphas. + +134. The great outer circle surrounding this division of the +Inferno. + +142. He may have heard in the lectures of the University an +exposition of John viii. 44: + + "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye + will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in + the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a + lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of + it." + +Canto 24 + +1. The Seventh Bolgia, in which Thieves are punished. + +2. The sun enters Aquarius during the last half of January, when +the Equinox is near, and the hoar-frost in the morning looks like +snow on the fields, but soon evaporates. If Dante had been a monk +of Monte Casino, illuminating a manuscript, he could not have +made a more clerkly and scholastic flourish with his pen than +this, nor have painted a more beautiful picture than that which +follows. The mediaeval poets are full of lovely descriptions of +Spring, which seems to blossom and sing through all their verses; +but none is more beautiful or suggestive than this, though +serving only as an illustration. + +21. In Canto I. + +43. See what Mr. Ruskin says of Dante as "a notably bad climber," +Canto XII. Note 2. + +55. The ascent of the Mount of Purgatory. + +73. The next circular dike, dividing the fosses. + +86. This list of serpents is from Lucan, Phars. IX. 711, Rowe's +Tr. :-- + + "Slimy Chelyders the parched earth distain + And trace a reeking furrow on the plain. + The spotted Cenchris, rich in various dyes, + Shoots in a line, and forth directly flies. + + The Swimmer there the crystal stream pollutes, + And swift thro' air the flying Javelin shoots. + + The Amphisbaena doubly armed appears + At either end a threatening head she rears; + Raised on his active tail Pareas stands, + And as he passes, furrows up the sands." + +Milton, Parad. Lost, X. 521:-- + + "Dreadful was the din + Of hissing through the hall, thick-swarming now + With complicated monsters head and tail, + Scorpion, and asp, and amphisbaena dire, + Cerastes horned, hydrus, and elops drear, + And dipsas." + +Of the Phareas, Peter Comestor, Hist. Scholast., Gloss of Genesis +iii. 1, says: "And this he (Lucifer) did by means of the serpent; +for then it was erect like man; being afterwards made prostrate +by the curse; and it is said the Phareas walks erect even to this +day." +Of the Amphisbaena, Brunetto Latini, Tresor I. v. 140, says: +"The Amphimenie is a kind of serpent which has two heads; one in +its right place, and the other in the tail; and with each she can +bite; and she runs swiftly, and her eyes shine like candles." + +93. Without a hiding-place, or the heliotrope, a precious stone +of great virtue against poisons, and supposed to render the wearer +invisible. Upon this latter vulgar error is founded Boccaccio's +comical story of Calandrino and his friends Bruno and +Buffulmacco, Decam., Gior. VIII., Nov. 3. + +107. Brunetto Latini, Tresor I. v. 164, says of the Phoenix: "He +goeth to a good tree, savory and of good odor, and maketh a pile +thereof, to which he setteth fire, and entereth straightway into +it toward the rising of the sun." +And Milton, Samson Agonistes, 1697: + + "So Virtue, given for lost, + Depressed and overthrown, as seemed, + Like that self-begotten bird + In the Arabian woods embost, + That no second knows nor third, + And lay erewhile a holocaust, + From out her ashy womb now teemed, + Revives, reflourishes, then vigorous most + When most unactive deemed; + And, though her body die, her fame survives + A secular bird ages of lives." + +114. Any obstruction, "such as the epilepsy," says Benvenuto. +"Gouts and dropsies, catarrhs and oppilations," says Jeremy Taylor. + +125. Vanni Fucci, who calls himself a mule, was a bastard son of +Fuccio de' Lazzari. All the commentators paint him in the darkest +colors. Dante had known him as "a man of blood and wrath," and +seems to wonder he is here, and not in the circle of the Violent, +or of the Irascible. But his great crime was the robbery of a +sacristy. Benvenuto da Imola relates the story in detail. He +speaks of him as a man of depraved life, many of whose misdeeds +went unpunished, because he was of noble family. Being banished +from Pistoia for his crimes, he returned to the city one night of +the Carnival, and was in company with eighteen other revellers, +among whom was Vanni della Nona, a notary; when, not content with +their insipid diversions, he stole away with two companions to +the church of San Giacomo, and, finding its custodians absent, or +asleep with feasting and drinking, he entered the sacristy and +robbed it of all its precious jewels. These he secreted in the +house of the notary, which was close at hand, thinking that on +account of his honest repute no suspicion would fall upon him. A +certain Rampino was arrested for the theft, and put to the +torture; when Vanni Fucci, having escaped to Monte Carelli, +beyond the Florentine jurisdiction, sent a messenger to Rampino's +father, confessing all the circumstances of the crime. Hereupon +the notary was seized "on the first Monday in Lent, as he was +going to a sermon in the church of the Minorite Friars," and was +hanged for the theft, and Rampino set at liberty. No one has a +good word to say for Vanni Fucci, except the Canonico +Crescimbeni, who, in the Comentarj to the Istoria della Volg. +Poesia, II. ii., p. 99, counts him among the Italian Poets, and +speaks of him as a man of great courage and gallantry, and a +leader of the Neri party of Pistoia, in 1300. He smooths over +Dante's invectives by remarking that Dante "makes not too +honorable mention of him in the Comedy"; and quotes a sonnet of +his, which is pathetic from its utter despair and +self-reproach:-- + + "For I have lost the good I might have had + Through little wit, and not of mine own will." + +It is like the wail of a lost soul, and the same in tone as the +words which Dante here puts into his mouth. Dante may have heard +him utter similar self-accusations while living, and seen on his +face the blush of shame, which covers it here. + +143. The Neri were banished from Pistoia in 1301; the Bianchi, +from Florence in 1302. + +145. This vapor or lightning flash from Val di Magra is the +Marquis Malaspini, and the "turbid clouds" are the banished Neri of +Pistoia, whom he is to gather about him to defeat the Bianchi at +Campo Piceno, the old battle-field of Catiline. As Dante was of +the Bianchi party, this prophecy of impending disaster and +overthrow could only give him pain. See Canto VI. Note 65. + +Canto 25 + +1. The subject of the preceding Canto is continued in this. + +2. This vulgar gesture of contempt consists in thursting the +thumb between the first and middle fingers. It is the same as the ass- +driver made at Dante in the street; Sacchetti, Nov. CXV.: "When +he was a little way off, he turned around to Dante, and thrusting +out his tongue and making a fig at him with his hand, said, `Take +that.'" +Villani, VI. 5, says: "On the Rock of Carmignano there was a +tower seventy yards high, and upon it two marble arms, the hands +of which were making the figs at Florence." Others say these +hands were on a finger-post by the road-side. +In the Merry Wives of Windsor, I. 3, Pistol says:"Convey, the +wise it call; Steal! foh; a fico fo the phrase!" And Martino, in +Beaumont and Fletcher's Widow, V. 1:-- + + "The fig of everlasting obloquy + Go with him." + +10. Pistoia is supposed to have been founded by the soldiers of +Catiline. Brunetto Latini, Tresor, I. i. 37, says: "They found +Catiline at the foot of the mountains and he had his army and his +people in that place where is now the city of Pestoire. There was +Catiline conquered in battle, and he and his were slain; also a +great part of the Romans were killed. And on account of the +pestilence of that great slaughter the city was called Pestoire." +The Italian proverb says, Pistoia la ferrigna, iron Pistoia, or +Pistoia the pitiless. + +15. Capaneus, Canto XIV. 44. + +19. See Canto XIII. Note 9. + +25. Cacus was the classic Giant Despair, who had his cave in +Mount Aventine, and stole a part of the herd of Geryon, which Hercules +had brought to Italy. +Virgil, Aeneid, VIII., Dryden's Tr.:-- + + "See yon huge cavern, yawning wide around, + Where still the shattered mountain spreads the ground: + That spacious hold grim Cacus once posessed, + Tremendous find! half human, half a beast: + Deep, deep as hell, the dismal dungeon lay, + Dark and impervious to the beams of day. + With copious slaughter smoked the purple floor, + Pale heads hung horrid on the lofty door, + Dreadful to view! and dropped with crimson gore." + +28. Dante makes a Centaur of Cacus, and separates him from the +others because he was fraudulent as well as violent. Virgil calls him +only a monster, a half-man, Semihominis Caci facies. + +35. Agnello Brunelleschi, Buoso degli Abati, and Puccio +Sciancato. + +38. The story of Cacus, which Virgil was telling. + +43. Cianfa Donati, a Florentine nobleman. He appears immediately, +as a serpent with six feet, and fastens upon Agnello Brunelleschi. + +65. Some commentators contended that in this line papiro does not +mean paper, but a lamp-wick made of papyrus. This destroys the +beauty and aptness of the image, and rather degrades + + "The leaf of the reed, + Which has grown through the clefts in the ruins of ages." + +73. These four lists, or hands, are the fore feet of the serpent +and the arms of Agnello. + +76. Shakespeare, in the "Additional Poems to Chester's Love's +Martyrs, " Knight's Shakespeare, VII. 193, speaks of "Two +distincts, division none"; and continues:-- + + "Property was thus appalled + That the self was not the same, + Single nature's double name + Neither two nor one was called. + + "Reason, in itself confounded, + Saw division grow together; + To themselves yet either neither, + Simple were so well compounded." + +83. This black serpent is Guercio Cavalcanti, who changes form +with Buoso degli Abati. + +95. Lucan, Phars., IX., Rowe's Tr.:-- + + "But soon a fate more sad with new surprise + From the first object turns their wondering eyes. + Wretched Sabellus by a Seps was stung: + Fixed on his leg with deadly teeth it hung. + Sudden the soldier shook it from the wound, + Transfixed and nailed it to the barren ground. + Of all the dire, destructive serpent race, + None have so much of death, though none are less. + For straight around the part the skin withdrew, + The flesh and shrinking sinews backward flew, + And left the naked bones exposed to view. + The spreading poisons all the parts confound, + And the whole body stinks within the wound. + + Small relics of the mouldering mass were left, + At once of substance as of form bereft; + Dissolved, the whole in liquid poison ran, + And to a nauseous puddle shrunk the man. + + So snows dissolved by southern breezes run, + So melts the wax before the noonday sun. + Nor ends the wonder here; though flames are known + To waste the flesh, yet still they spare the bone: + Here none were left, no least remains were seen, + No marks to show that once the man had been. + + A fate of different kind Nasidius found,-- + A burning Prester gave the deadly wound, + And straight a sudden flame began to spread, + And paint his visage with a glowing red. + With swift expansion swells the bloated skin,-- + Naught but an undistinguished mass is seen, + While the fair human form lies lost within; + The puffy poison spreads and heaves around, + + Till all the man is the monster drowned. + No more the steely plate his breast can stay, + But yields, and gives the bursting poison way. + Not waters so, when fire the rage supplies, + Bubbling on heaps, in boiling caldrons rise; + Nor swells the stretching canvas half so fast, + When the sails gather all the driving blast, + Strain the tough yards, and bow the lofty mast. + The various parts no longer now are known, + One headless, formless heap remains alone." + +97. Ovid, Metamorph., IV., Eusden's Tr.:-- + + "`Come, my Harmonia, come, thy face recline + Down to my face: still touch what still is mine. + O let these hands, while hands, be gently pressed, + While yet the serpent has not all posessed.' + More he had spoke, but strove to speak in vain,-- + The forky tongue refused to tell his pain, + And learned in hissings only to complain. + "Then shrieked Harmonia, `Stay, my Cadmus, stay! + Glide not in such a monstrous shape away! + Destruction, like impetous waves, rolls on. + Where are thy feet, thy legs, thy shoulders, gone? + Changed is thy visage, changed is all thy frame,-- + Cadmus is only Cadmus now in name. + Ye Gods! my Cadmus to himself restore + Or me like him transform,--I ask no more.'" + +And V., Maynwaring's Tr.:-- + + "The God so near, a chilly sweat posessed + My fainting limbs, at every pore expressed; + My strength distilled in drops, my hair in dew, + My form was changed, and all my substance new: + Each motion was a stream, and my whole frame + Turned to a fount, which still preserves my name." + +See also Shelly's Arethusa:-- + + "Arethusa arose + From her couch of snows + In the Acroceraunian mountains,-- + From the cloud and from crag + With many a jag + Shepherding her bright fountains. + She leapt down the rocks, + With her rainbow locks + Streaming among the streams; + Her steps paved with green + The downward ravine + Which slopes to the western gleams; + And gliding and springing, + She went, ever singing, + In murmurs as soft as sleep. + The Earth seemed to love her, + And Heaven smiled above her, + As she lingered towards the deep." + +144. Some editions read la penna, the pen, instead of la lingua, +the tongue. + +151. Gaville was a village in the Valdarno, where Guercio +Cavalcanti was murdered. The family took vengeance upon the inhabitants +in +the old Italian style, thus causing Gaville to lament the murder. + +Canto 26 + +1. The Eighth Bolgia, in which Fraudulent Counsellors are +punished. + +4. Of these five Florentine nobles, Cianfa Donati, Agnello +Brunelleschi, Buoso degli Abati, Puccio Sciancato, and Guercio +Cavalcanti, nothing is known but what Dante tells us. Perhaps +that is enough. + +7. See Purg. IX. 13:-- + + "Just at the hour when her sad lay begins + The little swallow, near unto the morning, + Perchance in memory of her former woes + And when the mind of man, a wanderer + More from the flesh, and less by thought imprisoned, + Almost prophetic in its visions is." + +9. The disasters soon to befall Florence, and in which even the +neighboring town of Prato would rejoice, to mention no others. +These disasters were the fall of the wooden bridge of Carraia, +with a crowd upon it, witnessing a Miracle Play on the Arno; the +strife of the Bianchi and Neri; and the great fire of 1304. See +Villani, VIII. 70, 71. Napier, Florentine History, I. 394, gives +this account:-- +"Battles first began between the Cerchi and Giugni at their +houses in the Via del Garbo; they fought day and night, and with +the aid of the Cavalcanti and Antellesi the former subdued all +that quarter: a thousand rural adherents strengthened their +bands, and that day might have seen the Neri's destruction if an +unforseen disaster had not turned the scale. A certain dissolute +priest, called Neri Abati, prior of San Piero Scheraggio, false +to his family and in concert with the Black chiefs, consented to +set fire to the dwellings of his own kinsmen in Orto-san-Michele; +the flames, assisted by faction, spread rapidly over the richest +and most crowded part of Florence: shops, warehouses, towers, +private dwellings and palaces, from the old to the new market- +place, from Vacchereccia to Porta Santa Maria and the Ponte +Vecchio, all was one broad sheet of fire: more than nineteen +hundred houses were consumed; plunder and devastation revelled +unchecked amongst the flames, whole races were reduced in one +moment to beggary, and vast magazines of the richest merchandise +were destroyed. The Cavalcanti, one of the most opulent families +in Florence, beheld their whole property consumed, and lost all +courage; they made no attempt to save it, and, after almost +gaining possession of the city, were finally overcome by the +opposite faction." + +10. |Macbeth, I. 7:-- + + "If it were done when `t is done, then `t were well + It were done quickly." + +23. See Parad. XII. 112:-- + + "O glorius stars! O light impregnated + With mighty virtue, from which I acknowledge + All of my genius, whatso'er it be." + +24. I may not balk or deprive myself of this good. + +34. The Prophet Elisha, 2 Kings ii. 23:-- +"And he went up from thence unto Bethel; and as he was going up +by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and +mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou +bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed +them in the name of the Lord: and there came forth two she-bears +out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them." + +35. 2 Kings ii. II:--"And it came to pass, as they still went on +and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and +horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up +by a whirlwind into heaven." + +54. These two sons of Oedipus, Eteocles and Polynices, were so +hostile to each other, that, when after death their bodies were +burned on the same funeral pile, the flames swayed apart, and the +ashes separated. Statius, Thebaid, XII. 430, Lewis's Tr.:-- + + "Again behold the brothers! When the fire + Pervades their limbs in many a curling spire, + The vast hill trembles, and the intruder's corse + Is driven from the pile with sudden force. + The flames, dividing at the point, ascend, + And at each other adverse rays extend. + Thus when the ruler of the infernal state, + Pale-visaged Dis, commits to stern debate + The sister-fiends, their brands, held forth to fight, + Now clash, then part, and shed a transient light." + +56. The most cunning of the Greeks at the siege of Troy, now +united in their punishment, as before in warlike wrath. + +59. As Troy was overcome by the fraud of the wooden horse, it was +in a poetic sense the gateway by which Aeneas went forth to +establish the Roman empire in Italy. + +62. Deidamia was a daughter of Lycomedes of Sycros, at whose +court Ulysses found Achilles, disguised in woman's attire, and enticed +him away to the siege of Troy, telling him that, according to the +oracle, the city could not be taken without him, but not telling +him that, according to the same oracle, he would lose his life +there. + +63. Ulysses and Diomed together stole the Palladium, or statue of +Pallas, at Troy, the safeguard and protection of the city. + +75. The Greeks scorned all other nations as "outside barbarians." +Even Virgil, a Latian, has to plead with Ulysses the merit of +having praised him in the Aeneid. + +108. The Pillars of Hercules at the straits of Gibraltar; Abyla +on the African shore, and Gibraltar on the Spanish; in which the +popular +mind has lost its faith, except as symbolized in the columns on +the Spanish dollar, with the legend, Plus ultra. Brunetto Latini, +Tesor. IX. 119:-- + + "Appresso questo mare, + Vidi diritto stare + Gran colonne, le quali + Vi mise per segnali + Ercules il potente, + Per mostrare alla gente + Che loco sia finata + La terra e terminata." + +125. |Odyssey, XI. 155: "Well-fitted oars, which are also wings +to ships." + +127. Humboldt, Personal Narrative, II. 19, Miss Williams's Tr., +has this passage: "From the time we entered the torrid zone, we were +never wearied with admiring, every night, the beauty of the Southern +sky, which, as we advanced toward the south, opened new constellations +to our view. We feel an indescribable sensation, when, on +approaching the equator, and particularly on passing from on +hemisphere to the other, we see those stars, which we have +contemplated from our infancy, progressively sink, and finally +disappear. Nothing awakens in the traveller a livelier +remembrance of the immense distance by which he is separated from +his country, than the aspect of an unknown firmament. The +grouping of the stars of the first magnitude, some scattered +nebulae, rivalling in splendor the milky way, and tracks of +space remarkable for their extreme blackness, give a particular +physiognomy to the Southern sky. This sight fills with admiration +even those who, uninstructed in the branches of accurate science, +feel the same emotion of delight in the contemplation of the +heavenly vault, as in the view of a beautiful landscape, or a +majestic site. A traveller has no need of being a botanist, to +recognize the torrid zone on the mere aspect of its vegetation; +and without having acquired any notions of astronomy, without any +acquaintance with the celestial charts of Flamstead and De la +Caille, he feels he is not in Europe, when he sees the immense +constellation of the Ship, or the phosphorescent clouds of +Magellan, arise on the horizon." + +142. Compare Tennyson's Ulysses:-- + + "There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail: + There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners, + Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me,-- + That ever with a frolic welcome took + The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed + Free hearts, free foreheads,--you and I are old; + Old age hath yet his honor and his toil; + Death closes all: but something ere the end, + Some work of noble note, may yet be done, + Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods. + The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks: + The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep + Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, + `T is not too late to seek a newer world. + Push off, and, sitting well in order, smite + The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds + To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths + Of all the western stars, until I die. + It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: + It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, + And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. + Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' + We are not now that strength which in old days + Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; + One equal temper of heroic hearts, + Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will + To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." + +Canto 27 + +1. The subject of the preceding Canto is continued in this. + +7. The story of the Brazen Bull of Perillus is thus told in the +Gesta Romanorum, Tale 48, Swan's Tr.:-- +"Dionysius records, that when Perillus desired to become an +artificer of Phalaris, a cruel and tyrannical king who +depopulated the kingdom, and was guilty of many dreadful +excesses, he presented to him, already too well skilled in +cruelty, a brazen bull, which he has just constructed. In one of +its sides there was a secret door, by which those who were +sentenced should enter and be burnt to death. The idea was, that +the sounds produced by the agony of the sufferer confined within +should resemble the roaring of a bull; and thus, while nothing +human struck the ear, the mind should be unimpressed by a feeling +of mercy. The king highly applauded the invention, and said, +`Friend, the value of thy industry is yet untried: more cruel +even than the people account me, thou thyself shalt be the first +victim.'" +Also in Gower, Confes. Amant., VII.:-- + + "He had of counseil many one, + Among the whiche there was one, + By name which Berillus hight. + And he bethought him how he might + Unto the tirant do liking. + And of his own ymagining + Let forge and make a bulle of bras, + And on the side cast there was + A dore, where a man may inne, + Whan he his peine shall beginne + Through fire, which that men put under. + And all this did he for a wonder, + That when a man for peine cride, + The bull of bras, which gapeth wide, + It shulde seme, as though it were + A bellewing in a mannes ere + And nought the crieng of a man. + But he, which alle sleightes can, + The devil, that lith in helle fast, + Him that it cast hath overcast, + That for a trespas, which he dede, + He was put in the same stede. + And was himself the first of alle, + Which was into that peine falle + That he for other men ordeigneth." + +21. Virgil being a Lombard, Dante suggests that, in giving +Ulysses and Diomed license to depart, he had used the Lombard dialect, +saying, " Issa t' en va." See Canto XXIII. Note 7. + +28. The inhabitants of the province of Romagna, of which Ravenna +is the capital. + +29. It is the spirit of Guido da Montefeltro that speaks. The +city of Montefeltro lies between Urbino and that part of the Apennines +in +which the Tiber rises. Count Guido was a famous warrior, and one +of the great Ghibelline leaders. He tells his own story +sufficiently in detail in what follows. + +40. Lord Byron, Don Juan, III. 105, gives this description of +Ravenna, with an allusion to Boccaccio's Tale, versified by +Dryden under the title of Theodore and Honoria:-- + + "Sweet hour of twilight!--in the solitude + Of the pine forest, and the silent shore + Which bounds Ravenna's immemorial wood, + Rooted where once the Adrian wave flow'd o'er, + To where the last Caesarean fortress stood, + Ever-green forest! which Boccaccio's lore + And Dryden's lay made haunted ground to me, + How have I loved the twilight hour and thee! + + "The shrill cicalas, people of the pine, + Making their summer lives one ceaseless song + Were the sole echoes, save my steed's and mine, + And vesper-bell's that rose the boughs along; + The spectre huntsman o Onesti's line, + His hell-dogs, and their chase, and the fair throng, + Which learned from this example not to fly + From a true lover, showed my mind's eye," + + +Dryden's Theodore and Honoria begins with these words:-- + + Of all the cities in Romanian lands, + The chief, and most removed, Ravenna stands, + Adorned in ancient times with arms and arts, + And rich inhabitants, with generous hearts." + It was at Ravenna that Dante passed the last years of his life, + and there he died and was buried. + +41. The arms of Guido da Polenta, Lord of Ravenna, Dante's +friend, and father (or nephew) of Francesca da Rimini, were an eagle +half +white in a field of azure, and half red in a field of gold. +Cervia is a small town some twelve miles from Ravenna. + +43. The city of Forli, where Guido da Montefeltro defeated and +slaughtered the French in 1282. See Canto XX. Note 118. 45. A +Green lion was the coat of arms of the Ordelaffi, then Lords of +Forli. + +46. Malatesta, father and son, tyrants of Rimini, who murdered +Montagna, a Ghibelline leader. Verrucchio was their castle, near +the city. Of this family were the husband and lover of Francesca. +Dante calls them mastiffs, becaue of their fierceness, making +"wimbles of their teeth" in tearing and devouring. + +49. The cities of Faenza on the Lamone, and Imola on the +Santerno. They were ruled by Mainardo, surnamed "the Devil," +whose coat of arms was a lion azure in a white field. + +52. The city of Cesena. + +67. Milton, Parad. Lost, III. 479:-- + + "Dying put on the weeds of Dominic, + Or in Franciscan think to pass disguised." + +70. Boniface VIII., who in line 85 is called "the Prince of the +new Pharisees." + +81. Dante, Convito IV. 28, quoting Cicero, says: "Natural death +is as it were a haven and rest to us after long navigation. And the +noble soul is like a good mariner; for he, when he draws near the +port, lowers his sails, and enters it softly with feeble +steerage. " + +86. This Papal war, which was waged against Christians, and not +against pagan Saracens, nor unbelieving Jews, nor against the +renegades who had helped them at the siege of Acre, or given them +aid and comfort by traffic, is thus described by Mr. Norton, +Travel and Study in Italy, p. 263:-- +"This `war near the Lateran' was a war with the great family of +Colonna. Two of the house were Cardinals. They had been deceived +in the election, and were rebellious under the rule of Boniface. +The Cardinals of the great Ghibelline house took no pains to +conceal their ill-will toward the Guelf Pope. Boniface, indeed, +accused them of plotting with his enemies for his overthrow. The +Colonnas, finding Rome unsafe, had withdrawn to their strong town +of Palestrina, whence they could issue forth at will for plunder, +and where they could give shelter to those who shared in their +hostility toward the Pope. On the other hand, Boniface, not +trusting himself in Rome, withdrew to the secure height of +Orvieto, and thence, on the 14th of December, 1297, issued a +terrible bull for a crusade against them, granting plenary +indulgence to all, (such was the Christian temper of the times, +and so literally were the violent seizing upon the kingdom of +Heaven,) granting plenary indulgence to all who would take up +arms against these rebellious sons of the Church and march +against their chief stronghold, their ` alto seggio' of +Palestrina. They and their adherents had already been +excommunicated and put under the ban of the Church; they had been +stripped of all dignities and privileges; their property had been +confiscated; and they were now by this bull placed in the +position o enemies, not of the Pope alone, but of the Church +Universal. Troops gathered against them from all quarters of +Papal Italy. Their lands were ravaged, and they themselves shut +up within their stronghold; but for a long time they held out in +their ancient high-walled mountaintown. It was to gain Palestrina +that Boniface `had war near the Lateran.' The great church and +palace of the Lateran, standing on the summit of the Coelian +Hill, close to the city wall, overlooks the Campagna, which, in +broken levels of brown and green and purple fields, reaches to +the base of the encircling mountains. Twenty miles away, crowning +the top and clinging to the side of one of the last heights of +the Sabine range, are the gray walls and roofs of Palestrina. It +was a far more conspicuous place at the close of the thirteenth +century than it is now; for the great columns of the famous +temple of Fortune still rose above the town, and the ancient +citadel kept watch over it from its high rock. At length, in +September, 1298, the Colonnas, reduced to the hardest +extremities, became ready for peace. Boniface promised largely. +The two Cardinals presented themselves before him at Rieti, in +coarse brown dresses, and with ropes around their necks, in token +of their repentance and submission. The Pope gave them not only +pardon and absolution, but hope of being restored to their titles +and possessions. This was the ` lunga promessa con l'attender +corto'; for, while the Colonnas were retained near him, and these +deceptive hopes held out to them, Boniface sent the Bishop of +Orvieto to take possession of Palestrina, and to destroy it +utterly, leaving only the church to stand as a monument above its +ruins. The work was done thoroughly;--a plough was drawn across +the site of the unhappy town, and salt scattered in the furrow, +that the land might thenceforth be desolate. The inhabitants were +removed from the mountain to the plain, and there forced to build +new homes for themselves, which, in their turn, two years +afterwards, were thrown down and burned by order of the +implacable Pope. This last piece of malignity was accomplished in +1300, the year of the Jubilee, the year in which Dante was in +Rome and in which he saw Guy of Montefeltro, the counsellor of +Boniface in deceit, burning in Hell." + +94. The story of Sylvester and Constantine is one of the legends +of the Legenda Aurea. The part of it relating to the Emperor's +baptism is thus condensed by Mrs. Jameson in her Sacred and +Legendary Art, II. 313:-- +"Sylvester was born at Rome of virtuous parents; and at a time +when Constantine was still in the darkness of idolatry and +persecuted the Christians, Sylvester, who had been elected Bishop +of Rome, fled from the persecution, and dwelt for some time in a +cavern, near the summit of Monte Calvo. While he lay there +concealed, the Emperor was attacked by a horrible leprosy: and +having called to him the priests of his false gods, they advised +that he should bathe himself in a bath of children's blood, and +three thousand children were collected for this purpose. And as +he proceeded in his chariot to the place where the bath was to be +prepared, the mothers of these children threw themselves in his +way with dishevelled hair, weeping, and crying aloud for mercy. +Then Constantine was moved to tears, and he ordered his chariot +to stop, and he said to his nobles and to his attendants who were +around him, "Far better is it that I should die, than cause the +death of these innocents!' And then he commanded that the +children should be restored to their mothers with great gifts, in +recompense of what they had suffered; so they went away full of +joy and gratitude, and the Emperor returned to his palace. "On +that same night, as he lay asleep, St. Peter and St. Paul +appeared at his bedside: and they stretched their hands over him +and said, `Because thou hast feared to spill the innocent blood, +Jesus Christ has sent us to bring thee good counsel. Send to +Sylvester, who lies hidden amoung the mountains, and he shall +show thee the pool in which, having washed three times, thou +shalt be clean from thy leprosy; and henceforth thou shalt adore +the God of the Christians, and thou shalt cease to persecute and +to oppress them. ' Then Constantine, awaking from this vision, +sent his soldiers in search of Sylvester. And when they took +him, he supposed that it was to lead him to death; nevertheless +he went cheerfully: and when he appeared before the Emperor, +Constantine arose and saluted him, and said, `I would know of +thee who are those two gods who appeared to me in the visions of +the night?' And Sylvester replied, `They were not gods, but the +apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ.' Then Constantine desired that +he would show him the effigies of these two apostles; and +Sylvester sent for two pictures of St. Peter and St. Paul, which +were in the possession of certain pious Christians. Constantine, +having behald them, saw that they were the same who had appeared +to him in his dream. Then Sylvester baptized him, and he came out +of the font cured of his malady. " +Gower also, Confes. Amatis, II., tells the story at length: -- + + "And in the while it was begunne + A light, as though it were a sunne, + Fro heven into the place come + Where that he toke his christendome, + And ever amonge the holy tales + Lich as they weren fisches scales + They fellen from him now and efte, + Till that there was nothing belefte + OF all this grete maladie." + +96. Montefeltro was in the Franciscan monastery at Assisi. + +102. See Note 86 of this Canto. Dante calls the town Penestrino +from +its Latin name Praeneste. + +105. Pope Celestine V., who made "the great refusal," or +abdication of the papacy. See Canto III. Note 59. + +118. Gower, Confes. Amantis, II.:-- + + "For shrifte stant of no value + To him, that woll him nought vertue, + To leve of vice the folie, + For worde is wind, but the maistrie + Is, that a man himself defende + of thing whiche is nought to commende, + Whereof ben fewe now a day." + +Canto 28 + +1. The Ninth Bolgia, in which are punished the Schismatics, and +"where is paid the fee By those who sowing discord win their +burden"; a burden difficult to describe even with untrammelled +words, or in plain prose, free from the fetters of rhyme. + +9. Apulia, or La Puglia, is in the southeastern part of Italy, +"between the spur and the heel of the boot." + +10. The people slain in the conquest of Apulia by the Romans. Of +the battle of Maleventum, Livy, X. 15, says:-- +"Here likewise there was more of flight than of bloodshed. Two +thousand of the Apulians were slain, and Decius, +despising such an enemy, led his legions into Samnium." + +11. Hannibal's famous battle at Cannae, in the second Punic war. +According to Livy, XXII. 49, "The number of the slain is computed +at forty thousand foot, and two thousand seven hundred horse." +He continues, XXII. 51, Baker's Tr.:"On the day following, as +soon as light appeared, his troops applied themselves to the +collecting of the spoils, and viewing the carnage made, which was +such as shocked even enemies; so many thousand Romans, horsemen +and footmen, lay promiscuously on the field, as chance had thrown +them together, either in the battle, or flight. Some, whom their +wounds, being pinched by the morning cold, had roused from their +posture, were put to death by the enemy, as they were rising up, +all covered with blood, from the midst of the heaps of carcasses. +Some they found lying alive, with their thighs and hams cut, who, +stripping their necks and throats, desired them to spill what +remained of their blood. Some were found, with their heads buried +in the earth, in holes which it appeared they had made for +themselves, and covering their faces with earth thrown over them, +had thus been suffocated. The attention of all was particularly +attracted by a living Numidian with his nose and ears mangled, +stretched under a dead Roman, who lay over him, and who, when his +hands had been rendered unable to hold a weapon, his rage being +exasperated to madness, had expired in the act of tearing his +antagonist with his teeth." +When Mago, son of Hamilcar, carried the news of the victory to +Carthage, "in conformation of his joyful intelligence," says the +same historian, XXIII. 12, "he ordered the gold rings taken from +the Romans to be poured down in the porch of the senate-house, +and of these there was so great a heap that, according to some +writers, on being measured, they filled three pecks and a half; +but the more general account, and likewise the more probable is, +that they amounted to no more than one peck. He also explained to +them, in order to show the greater extent of the slaughter, that +none but those of equestrian rank, and of these only the +principal, wore this ornament." + +14. Robert Guiscard, the renowned Norman conqueror of southern +Italy. Dante places him in the Fifth Heaven of Paradise, in the planet +Mars. For an account of his character and achievements see +Gibbon, Ch. LVI. See also Parad. XVIII. Note 20. +Matthew Paris, Giles's Tr., I. 171, A.D. 1239, gives the +following account of the manner in which he captured the +monastery of Monte Cassino:-- +"In the same year, the monks of Monte Cassino (where St. Benedict +had planted a monastery), to the number of thirteen, came to the +Pope in old and torn garments, with dishevelled hair and unshorn +beards, and with tears in their eyes; and on being introduced to +the presence of his Holiness, they fell at his feet, and laid a +complaint that the Emperor had ejected them from their house at +Monte Cassino. This mountain was impregnable, and indeed +inaccessible to any one unless at the will of the monks and +others who dwelt on it; however R. Guiscard, by a device, +pretending that he was dead and being carried thither on a bier, +thus took possession of the monks' castle. When the Pope heard +this, he concealed his grief, and asked the reason; to which the +monks replied, `Because, in obedience to you, we excommunicated +the Emperor.' The Pope then said, `You obedience shall save you'; +on which the monks went away without receiving anything more from +the Pope." + +16. The battle of Ceperano, near Monte Cassino, was fought in +1265, between Charles of Anjou and Manfred, king of Apulia and Sicily. +The Apulians, seeing the battle going against them, deserted +their king and passed over to the enemy. + +17. The battle of Tagliacozzo in Abruzzo was fought in 1268, +between Charles of Anjou and Curradino or Conradin, nephew of Manfred. +Charles gained the victory by the strategy of Count Alardo di +Valleri, who, "weaponless himself, Made arms ridiculous." This +valiant but wary crusader persuaded the king to keep a third of +his forces in reserve; and when the soldiers of Curradino, +thinking they had won the day, were scattered over the field in +pursuit of plunder, Charles fell upon them, and routed them. +Alardo is mentioned in the Cento Novelle Antiche, Nov. LVII., as +"celebrated for his wonderful prowess even among the chief +nobles, and no less esteemed for his singular virtues than for +his courage." + +31. Gibbon, ch. L., says:"At the conclusion of the Life of +Mahomet, it may perhaps be expected that I should balance his +faults and virtues, that I should decide whether the title of +enthusiast or impostor more properly belongs to that extraordinary +man. Had I been intimately conversant with the son of Abdallah, +the task would still be difficult, and the success uncertain; at the +distance of twelve centuries, I darkly contemplate his shade through +a cloud of religious incense; and could I truly delineate the portrait +of +an hour, the fleeting resemblance would not equally apply to the +solitary of Mount Hera, to the preacher of Mecca, and to the +conqueror of Arabia..... From enthusiasm to imposture the step is +perilous and slippery; the daemon of Socrates affords a +memorable instance how a wise man may deceive himself, how a good +man may deceive others, how the conscience may slumber in a mixed +and middle state between self-illusion and voluntary fraud." Of +Ali, the son-in-law and faithful follower of Mahomet, he goes on +to say: "He united the qualifications of a poet, a soldier, and a +saint; his wisdom still breathes in a collection of moral and +religious sayings; and every antagonist, in the combats of the +tongue or of the sword, was subdued by his eloquence and valor. +From the first hour of his mission to the last rites of his +funeral, the apostle was never forsaken by a generous friend, +whom he delighted to name his brother, his vice-gerent, and the +faithful Aaron of a second Moses." + +55. Fra Dolcino was one of the early social and religious +reformers in the North of Italy. His sect bore the name of "Apostles," +and +its chief, if not only, heresy was a desire to bring back the +Church to the simplicity of the apostolic times. In 1305 he +withdrew with his followers to the mountains overlooking the Val +Sesia in Piedmont, where he was pursued and besieged by the +Church party, and, after various fortunes of victory and defeat, +being reduced by "stress of snow" and famine, was taken prisoner, +together with his companion, the beautiful Margaret of Trent. +Both were burned at Vercelli on the 1st of June, 1307. This "last +act of the tragedy" is thus described by Mr. Mariotti, Historical +Memoir of Fra Dolcino and his Times, p. 290:-- +"Margaret of Trent enjoyed the precedence due to her sex. She was +first led out into a spot near Vercelli, bearing the name of +`Arena Servi,' or more properly `Arena Cervi,' in the sands, that +is, of the torrent Cervo, which has its confluent with the Sesia +at about one mile above the city. A high stake had been erected +in a conspicuous part of the place. To this she was fastened, and +a pile of wood was reared at her feet. The eyes of the +inhabitants of town and country were upon her. On her also were +the eyes of Dolcino. She was burnt alive with slow fire. +"Next came the turn of Dolcino: he was seated high on a car drawn +by oxen, and thus paraded from street to street all over +Vercelli. His tormentors were all around him. Beside the car, +iron pots were carried, filled with burning charcoals; deep in +the charcoals were iron pincers, glowing at white heat. These +pincers were continually applied to the various parts of +Dolcino's naked body, all along his progress, till all his flesh +was torn piecemeal from his limbs: when every bone was bare and +the whole town was preambulated, they drove the still living +carcass back to the same arena, and threw it on the burning mass +in which Margaret had been consumed. " +Farther on he adds:-- +"Divested of all fables which ignorance, prejudice, or open +calumny involved it in, Dolcino's scheme amounted to nothing more +than a reformation, not of religion, but of the Church; his aim +was merely the destruction of the temporal power of the clergy, +and he died for his country no less than for his God. The wealth, +arrogance, and corruption of the Papal See appeared to him, as it +appeared to Dante, as it appeared to a thousand other patriots +before and after him, an eternal hindrance to the union, peace, +and welfare of Italy, as it was a perpetual check upon the +progress of the human race, and a source of infinite scandal to +the piety of earnest believers.....true throughout. If we bring +the light of even the clumsiest criticism to bear on his creed, +even such as it has been summed up by the ignorance of malignity +of men who never utter his name without an imprecation, we have +reason to be astonished at the little we find in it that may be +construed into a wilful deviation from the strictest orthodoxy. +Luther and Calvin would equally have repudiated him. He was +neither a Presbyterian nor an Episcopalian, but an +uncompromising, stanch Papist. His was, most eminently, the +heresy of those whom we have designated as `literal Christians.' +He would have the Gospel strictly -- perhaps blindly--adhered to. +Neither was that, in the abstract, an unpardonable offence in the +eys of the Romanism of those times -- witness St. Francis and his +early flock--provided he had limited himself to make Gospel-law +binding upon himself and his followers only. But Dolcino must +needs enforce it upon the whole Christian community, enforce it +especially on those who set up as teachers of the Gospel, on +those who laid claim to Apostolical succession. That was the +error that damned him." +Of Margaret he still farther says, referring to some old +manuscript as authority:-- +"She was known by the emphatic appellation of Margaret the +Beautiful. It is added, that she was an orphan, heiress of noble +parents, and had been placed for her education in a monastery of +St. Catherine in Trent; that there Dolcino --who had also been a +monk, or at least a novice, in a convent of the Order of the +Humiliati, in the same town, and had been expelled in consequence +either of his heretic tenets, or of immoral conduct--succeeded +nevertheless in becoming domesticated in the nunnery of St. +Catherine, as a steward or agent to the nuns, and there +accomplished the fascination and abduction of the wealthy +heiress." + +59. Val Sesia, among whose mountains Fra Dolcino was taken +prisoner, is in the diocese of Novara. + +73. A Bolognese, who stirred up dissensions among the citizens. + +74. The plain of Lombardy sloping down two hundred miles and +more, from Vercelli in Piedmont to Marcabo, a village near Ravenna. + +76. Guido del Cassero and Angiolello da Cagnano, two honorable +citizens of Fano, going to Rimini by invitation of Malatestino, +were by his order thrown into the sea and drowned, as here +prophesied or narrated, near the village of Cattolica on the +Adriatic. + +85. Malatestino had lost one eye. + +86. Rimini. + +89. Focara is a headland near Catolica, famous for dangerous +winds, to be preserved from which mariners offered up vows and prayers. +These men will not need to do it; they will not reach that cape. + +102. Curio, the banished Tribune, who, fleeing to Caesar's camp +on the Rubicon, urged him to advance upon Rome. Lucan, Pharsalia, +I., Rowe's Tr.:-- + + "To Caesar's camp the busy Curio fled; + Curio, a speaker turbulent and bold, + Of venal eloquence, that served for gold, + And principles that might be bought and sold. + + To Caesar thus, while thousand cares infest, + Revolving round the warrior's anxious breast, + His speech the ready orator addressed. + + `Haste, then, thy towering eagles on their way; + When fair occasion calls, `t is fatal to delay.'" + +106. Mosca degl'Uberti, or dei Lamberti, who, by advising the +murder of Buondelmonte, gave rise to the parties of Guelf and +Ghibelline, which so long divided Florence. See Canto X. Note 51. + +134. Bertrand de Born, the turbulent Troubadour of the last half +of the twelfth century, was alike skilful with his pen and his +sword, and passed his life in alternately singing and fighting, +and in stirring up dissension and strife among his neighbors. He +is the author of that spirited war-song, well known to all +readers of Troubadour verse, beginning + + "The beautiful spring delights me well, + When flowers and leaves are growing; + And it pleases my heart to hear the swell + Of the birds' sweet chorus flowing + In the echoing wood; + And I love to see, all scattered around, + Pavilions and tents on the martial ground; + And my spirit finds it good, + To see, on the level plains beyond + Gay knights and steeds caparison'd";-- + +and ending with a challenge to Richard Coeur de Lion, +telling his minstrel Papiol to go + + "And tell the Lord of `Yes and No' + That peace already too long has been." + +"Bertrand de Born," says the old Provenal biography, published by +Raynouard, Choix de Poesies Originales des Troubadours, V. 76, +"was a chatelain of the bishopric of Perigueux, Viscount of +Hautefort, a castle with nearly a thousand retainers. He had a +brother, and would have dispossessed him of his inheritance, had +it not been for the king of England. He was always at war with +all his neighbors, with the Count of Perigueux, and with the +Viscount of Limoges, and with his brother Constantine, and with +Richard, when he was count of Poitou. He was a good cavalier, and +a good warrior, and a good lover, and a good troubadour; and well +informed and well spoken; and knew well how to bear good and evil +fortune. Whenever he wished, he was master of King Henry of +England and of his son; but always desired that father and son +should be at war with each other, and one brother with the other. +And he always wished that the king of France and the king of +England should be at variance; and if there were either peace or +truce, straightway he sought and endeavored by his satires to +undo the peace, and to show how each was dishonored by it. And he +had great advantages and great misfortunes by thus exciting feuds +between them. He wrote many satires, but only two songs. The king +of Aragon called the songs of Giraud de Borneil the wives of +Bertrand de Born's satires. And he who sang for him bore the name +of Papiol. And he was handsome and courteous; and called the +Count of Britany, Rassa; and the king of England, Yes and No; and +his son, the young king, Marinier. And he set his whole heart on +fomenting war; and embroiled the father and son of England, until +the young king was killed by an arrow in a castle of Bertrand de +Born. +"And Bertrand used to boast that he had more wits than he needed. +And when the king took him prisoner, he asked him, `Have you all +your wits, for you will need them now?' And he answered, `I lost +them all when the young king died.' Then the king wept, and +pardoned him, and gave him robes, and lands, and honors. And he +lived long and became a Cistercian monk." +Fauriel, Histoire de la Poesie Provenale, Adler's Tr., p. 483, +quoting part of this passage, adds:-- +"In this notice the old biographer indicates the dominant trait +of Bertrand's character very distinctly; it was an unbridled +passion for war. He loved it not only as the occasion for +exhibiting proofs of valor, for acquiring power, and for winning +glory, but also, and even more on account of its hazards, on +account of the exaltation of courage and of life which it +produced, nay, even for the sake of the tumult, the disorders, +and the evils which are accustomed to follow in its train. +Bertrand de Born is the ideal of the undisciplined and +adventuresome warrior of the Middle Age, rather than that of the +chevalier in the proper sense of the term." +See also Millot, Hist. Litt. des Troubadours, I. 210, and Hist. +Litt. de la France par les Benedictins de St. Maur, +continuation, XVII. 425. Bertrand de Born, if not the best of the +Troubadours, is the most prominent and striking character among +them. His life is a drama full of romantic interest; beginning +with the old castle in Gascony, "the dames, the cavaliers, the +arms, the loves, the courtesy, the bold emprise"; and ending in a +Cistercian convent, among friars and fastings and penitence and +prayers. + +135. A vast majority of manuscripts and printed editions read in +this line, Re Giovanni, King John, instead of Re Giovane, the Young +King. Even Boccaccio's copy, which he wrote out with his own had +for Petrarca, has Re Giovanni. Out of seventy-nine Codici +examined by Barlow, he says, Study of the Divina Commedia, p. +153, "Only five were found with the correct reading--re +giovane..... The reading re giovane is not found in any of the +early editions, nor is it noticed by any of the early +commentators." Se also Ginguene, Hist. Litt. de l'Italie, II, +486, where the subject is elaborately discussed, and the note of +Biagioli, who takes the opposite side of the question. +Henry II. of England had four sons, all of whom were more or less +rebellious against him. They were, Henry, surnamed Curt-Mantle, +and called by the Troubadours and novelists of his time "The +Young King," because he was crowned during his father's life; +Richard Coeur-de-Lion, Count of Guienne and Poitou; Geoffroy, +Duke of Brittany; and John Lackland. Henry was the only one of +these who bore the title of king at the time in question. +Bertrand de Born was on terms of intimacy with him, and speaks of +him in his poems as lo Reys joves, sometimes lauding, and +sometimes reproving him. One of the best of these poems in his +Complainte, on the death of Henry, which took place in 1183, from +disease, say some accounts, from the bolt of a crossbow say +others. He complains that he has lost "the best king that was +ever born of mother"; and goes on to say, "King of the courteous, +and emperor of the valiant, you would have been Seigneur if you +had lived longer; for you bore the name of the Young King, and +were the chief and peer of youth. Ay! hauberk and sword, and +beautiful buckler, helmet and gonfalon, and purpoint and sark, +and joy and love, there is none to maintain them!" See Raynouard, +Choix de Poesies, IV. 49. In the Bible Guiot de Provins, +Barbazan, Fabliaux et Contes, II. 518, he is spoken of as "li +jones Rois, Li proux, li saiges, li cortois." In the Cento +Novelle Antiche, XVIII., XIX., XXXV., he is called il Re Giovane; +and in Roger de Wendover's Flowers of History, A. D. 1179--1183, +"Henry the Young King." +It was to him that Bertrand de Born "gave the evil counsels," +embroiling him with his father and his brothers. Therefore, when +the commentators challenge us as Pistol does Shallow, "Under +which king, Bezonian? speak or die!" I think we must answer as +Shallow does, "Under King Harry." + +137. See 2 Samuel xvii. I, 2:-- "Moreover, Ahithophel said unto +Absalom, let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will +arise and pursue after David this night. And I will come upon him +while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid; and +all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the +king only." +Dryden, in his poem of Absalom and Achitophel, gives this +portrait of the latter:-- + + "Of these the false Achitophel was first; + A name to all succeeding ages curst; + For close designs and crooked counsels fit; + Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit; + Restless, unfix'd in principles and place; + In power unpleas'd, impatient of disgrace: + A fiery soul, which, working out its way, + Fretted the pigmy body to decay, + And o'er inform'd the tenement of clay." + +Then he puts into the mouth of Archiophel the following + + "Auspicious prince, at whose nativity + Some royal planet rul'd the southern sky; + Thy longing country's darling and desire; + Their cloudy pillar and their guardian fire; + Their second Moses, whose extended wand + Divides the seas, and shows the promised land; + Whose dawning day, in every distant age, + Has exercised the sacred prophet's rage; + The people's prayer, the glad diviner's theme, + The young men's vision, and the old men's dream." + +Canto 29 + +1. The Tenth and last "cloister of Malebolge," where + + "Justice infallible + Punishes forgers," + + +and falsifiers of all kinds. This Canto is devoted to the +alchemists. + +27. Geri del Bello was a disreputable member of the Alighieri +family, and was murdered by one of the Sacchetti. His death was +afterwards avenged by his brother, who in turn slew one of the +Sacchetti at the door of his house. + +29. Bertrand de Born. + +35. Like the ghost of Ajax in the Odyssey, XI. "He answered me +not at all, but went to Erebus amongst the other souls of the dead. " + +36. Dante seems to share the feeling of the Italian vendetta, +which required retaliation from some member of the injured family. +"Among the Italians of this age," says Napier, Florentine Hist., +I. Ch. VII., "and for centuries after, private offence was never +forgotten until revenged, and generally involved a succession of +mutual injuries; vengeance was not only considered lawful and +just, but a positive duty, dishonorable to omit; and, as may be +learned from ancient private journals, it was sometimes allowed +to sleep for five-and-thirty years, and then suddently struck a +victim who perhaps had not yet seen the light when the original +injury was inflicted." + +46. The Val di Chiana, near Arezzo, was in Dante's time marshy +and pestilential. Now, by the effect of drainage, it is one of the +most beautiful and fruitful of the Tuscan valleys. The Maremma +was and is notoriously unhealthy; see Canto XIII. Note 9, and +Sardinia would seem to have shared its ill repute. + +57. Forgers or falsifiers in a general sense. The "false +semblaunt" of Gower, Confes. Amant., II.:-- + + "Of fals semblaunt if I shall telle, + Above all other it is the welle + Out of the which deceipte floweth." + They are registered here on earth to be punished hereafter. + +59. The plague of Aegina is described by Ovid, Metamorph. VII., +Stonestreet's Tr.:-- + + "Their black dry tongues are swelled, and scarce can move, + And short thick sighs from panting lungs are drove. + They gape for air, with flatt'ring hopes t'abate + Their raging flames, but that augments their heat. + No bed, no cov'ring can the wretches bear, + But on the ground, exposed to open air, + They lie, and hope to find a pleasing coolness there. + The suff'ring earth, with that oppression curst, + Returns the heat which they imparted first. + + Here one, with fainting steps, does slowly creep + O'er heaps of dead, and straight augments the heap; + Another, while his strength and tongue prevailed, + Bewails his friend, and falls himself bewailed; + This with imploring looks surveys the skies, + The last dear office of his closing eyes, + But finds the Heav'ns implacable, and dies." + +The birth of the Myrmidons, "who still retain the thrift of ants, +though now transformed to men," is thus given in the same book:-- + + "As many ants the num'rous branches bear, + The same their labor, and their frugal care; + The branches too alike commotion found, + And shook th' industrious creatures on the ground, + Who by degrees (what's scarce to be believed) + A nobler form and larger bulk received, + And on the earth walked an unusual pace, + With manly strides, and an erected face; + Their num'rous legs, and former color lost + The insects could a human figure boast." + +88. Latian, or Italian; any one of the Latin race. + +109. The speaker is a certain Griffolino, an alchemist of Arezzo, +who practised upon the credulity of Albert, a natural son of the +Bishop of Siena. For this he was burned; but was "condemned to +the last Bolgia of the ten for alchemy." + +116. The inventor of the Cretan labyrinth. Ovid, Metamorph. +VIII.: -- + + "Great Daedalus of Athens was the man + Who made the draught, and formed the wondrous plan." + Not being able to find his way out of the labyrinth, he made + wings for himself and his son Icarus, and escaped by flight. + +122. Speaking of the people of Siena, Forsyth, Italy, 532, says: +"Vain, flighty, fanciful, they want the judgment and penetration +of their Florentine neighbors; who, nationally severe, call a +nail without a head chiodo Sanese. The accomplished Signora +Rinieri told me, that her father, while Governor of Siena, was +once stopped in his carriage by a crowd at Florence, where the +mob, recognizing him, called out: `Lasciate passare il +Governatore de' matti.' A native of Siena is presently know at +Florence; for his very walk, being formed to a hilly town, +detects him on the plain." + +125. The persons here mentioned gain a kind of immortality from +Dante's verse. The Stricca, or Baldastricca, was a lawyer of +Siena; and Niccolo dei Salimbeni, or Bonsignori, introduced the +fashion of stuffing pheasants with cloves, or, as Benvenuto says, +of roasting them at a fire of cloves. Though Dante mentions them +apart, they seem, like the two others named afterwards, to have +been members of the Brigata Spendereccia, or Prodigal Club, of +Siena, whose extravagances are recorded by Benvenuto da Imola. +This club consisted of "twelve very rich young gentlemen, who +took it into their heads to do things that would make a great +part of the world wonder." Accordingly each contributed eighteen +thousand golden florins to a common fund, amounting in all to two +hundred and sixteen thousand florins. They built a palace, in +which each member had a splendid chamber, and they gave sumptuous +dinners and suppers; ending their banquets sometimes by throwing +all the dishes, table- ornaments, and knives of gold and silver +out of the window. "This silly institution," continues Benvenuto, +"lasted only ten months, the treasury being exhausted, and the +wretched members became the fable and laughing-stock of all the +world." In honor of this club, Folgore da San Geminiano, a clever +poet of the day (1260) , wrote a series of twelve convivial +sonnets, one for each month of the year, with Dedication and +Conclusion. A translation of these sonnets may be found in D. G. +Rossetti's Early Italian Poets. The Dedication runs as +follows:-- + + "Unto the blithe and lordly Fellowship, + (I know not where, but wheresoe'er, I know, + Lordly and blithe,) be greeting; and thereto, + Dogs, hawks, and a full purse wherein to dip; + Quails struck i' the flight; nags mettled to the whip; + Hart-hounds, hare-hounds, and blood-hounds even so; + And o'er that realm, a crown for Niccolo, + Whose praise in Siena springs from lip to lip. + Tingoccio, Atuin di Togno, and Ancaian, + Bartolo, and Mugaro, and Faenot, + Who well might pass for children of King Ban, + Courteous and valiant more than Lancelot, + To each, God speed! How worthy every man + To hold high tournament in Camelot." + +136. "This Capocchio," says the Ottimo, "was a very subtle +alchemist; and because he was burned for practising alchemy in Siena, +he +exhibits his hatred to the Sienese, and gives us to understand +that the author knew him." + +Canto 30 + +1. In this Canto the same Bolgia is continued, with different +kinds of Falsifiers. + +4. Athamas, king of Thebes and husband of Ino, daughter of +Cadmus. +His madness is thus described by Ovid, Metamorph. IV., Eusden's +Tr.:-- + + "Now Athamas cries out, his reason fled, + `Here, fellow-hunters, let the toils be spread. + I saw a lioness, in quest of food, + With her two young, run roaring in this wood.' + Again the fancied savages were seen, + As thro' his palace still he chased his queen; + Then tore Learchus from her breast: the child + Streched little arms, and on its father smiled,-- + A father now no more,--who now begun + Around his head to whirl his giddy son, + And, quite insensible to nature's call, + The helpless infant flung against the wall. + The same mad poison in the mother wrought; + Young Melicerta in her arms she caught, + And with disordered tresses, howling, flies, + `O Bacchus, Evoe, Bacchus!' loud she cries. + The name of Bacchus Juno laughed to hear, + And said, `Thy foster-god has cost thee dear.' + A rock there stood, whose side the beating waves + Had long consumed, and hollowed into caves. + The head shot forwards in a bending steep, + And cast a dreadful covert o'er the deep. + The wretched Ino, on destruction bent, + Climbed up the cliff,--such strength her fury lent: + Thence with her guiltless boy, who wept in vain, + At one bold spring she plunged into the main." + +16. Hecuba, wife of Priam of Troy, and mother of Polyxena and +Polydorus. Ovid, XIII., Stanyan's Tr.:-- + + "When on the banks her son in ghastly hue + Transfixed with Thracian arrows strikes her view, + The matrons shrieked; her big swoln grief surpassed + The power of utterance; she stood aghast; + She had nor speech, nor tears to give relief: + Excess of woe suppressed the rising grief. + Lifeless as stone, on earth she fix'd her eyes; + And then look'd up to Heav'n with wild surprise, + Now she contemplates o'er with sad delight + Her son's pale visage; then her aking sight + Dwells on his wounds: she varies thus by turns, + Till with collected rage at length she burns, + Wild as the mother-lion, when among + The haunts of prey she seeks her ravished young: + Swift flies the ravisher; she marks his trace, + And by the print directs her anxious chase. + So Hecuba with mingled grief and rage + Pursues the king, regardless of her age. + + Fastens her forky fingers in his eyes; + Tears out the rooted balls; her rage pursues, + And in the hollow orbs her hand imbrues. + "The Thracians, fired at this inhuman scene, + With darts and stones assail the frantic queen. + She snarls and growls, nor in an human tone; + Then bites impatient at the bounding stone; + Extends her jaws, as she her voice would raise + To keen invectives in her wonted phrase; + But barks, and thence the yelping brute betrays." + +31. Griffolino d'Arezzo, mentioned in Canto XXIX. 109. + +42. The same "mad sprite," Gianni Schicchi, mentioned in line 32. +"Buoso Donati of Florence," says Benvenuto, "although a nobleman +and of an illustrious house, was nevertheless like other noblemen +of his time, and by means of thefts had greatly increased his +patrimony. When the hour of death drew near, the sting of +conscience caused him to make a will in which he gave fat +legacies to many people; whereupon his son Simon, (the Ottimo +says his nephew,) thinking himself enormously aggrieved, suborned +Vanni Schicchi dei Cavalcanti, who got into Buoso's bed, and made +a will in opposition to the other. Gianni much resembled Buoso." +In this will Gianni Schicchi did not forget himself, while making +Simon heir; for, according to the Ottimo, he put this clause into +it: "To Gianni Schicchi I bequeath my mare." This was the "lady +of the herd," and Benvenuto adds, "none more beautiful was to be +found in Tuscany; and it was valued at a thousand florins." + +61. Messer Adamo, a false-coiner of Brescia, who at the +instigation of the Counts Guido, Alessandro, and Aghinolfo of Romena, +counterfeited the golden florin of Florence, which bore on one +side a lily, and on the other the figure of John the Baptist. + +64. Tasso, Gerusalemme, XIII. 60, Fairfax's Tr.:-- + + "He that the gliding rivers erst had seen + Adown their verdant channels gently rolled, + Or falling streams, which to the valleys green, + Distilled from tops of Alpine mountains cold, + Those he desired in vain, new torments been + Augumented thus with wish of comforts old; + Those waters cool he drank in vain conceit, + Which more increased his thirst, increased his heat." + +65. The upper valley of the Arno is in the province of +Cassentino. +Quoting these three lines, Ampere, Voyage Dantesque, 246, says: +"In these untranslatable verses, there is a feeling of humid +freshness, which almost makes one shudder. I owe it to truth to +say, that the Cassentine was a great deal less fresh and less +verdant in reality than in the poetry of Dante, and that in the +midst of the aridity which surrounded me, this poetry, by its +very perfection, made one feel something of the punishment of +Master Adam." + +73. Forsyth, Italy, 116, says: "The castle of Romena, mentioned +in these verses, now stands in ruins on a precipice about a mile +from our inn, and not far off is a spring which the peasants call +Fonte Branda. Might I presume to differ from his commentators, +Dante, in my opinion, does not mean the great fountain of Siena, +but rather this obscure spring; which, though less known to the world, +was an object more familiar to the poet himself, who took refuge +here from proscription, and an image more natural to the coiner who was +burnt on the spot. " +Ampere is of the same opinion, Voyage Dantesque, 246: "The Fonte +Branda, mentioned by Master Adam, is assuredly the fountain thus +named, which still flows not far from the tower of Romena, +between the place of the crime and that of its punishment." On +the other hand, Mr. Barlow, Contributions, remarks: "This little +fount was known only to so few, that Dante, who wrote for the +Italian people generally, can scarcely be thought to have meant +this, when the famous Fonte Branda at Siena was, at least by +name, familiar to them all, and formed an image more in character +with the insatiable thirst of Master Adam." +Poetically the question is of slight importance; for, as Fluellen +says, "There is a river in Macedon, and there is also moreover a +river at Monmount,.....and there is salmons in both." + +86. This line and line II of Canto XXIX. are cited by Gabrielle +Rossetti in confirmation of his theory of the "Principal Allegory +of the Inferno," that the city of Dis is Rome. He says, Spirito +Antipapale, I. 62, Miss Ward's Tr.:-- +"This well is surrounded by a high wall, and the wall by a vast +trench; the circuit of the trench is twenty-two miles, and that +of the wall eleven miles. Now the outward trench of the walls of +Rome (whether real or imaginary we say not) was reckoned by +Dante's contemporaries to be exactly twenty-two miles; and the +walls of the city were then, and still are, eleven miles round. +Hence it is clear, that the wicked time which looks into Rome, as +into a mirror, sees there the corrupt place which is the final +goal to its waters or people, that is, the figurative Rome, +`dread seat of Dis.'" +The trench here spoken of is the last trench of Malebolge. Dante +mentions no wall about the well; only giants standiing round it +like towers. + +97. Potiphar's wife. + +98. Virgil's "perjured Sinon," the Greek who persuaded the +Trojans to accept the wooden horse, telling them it was meant to +protect the city, in lieu of the statue of Pallas, stolen by Diomed and +Ulysses. +Chaucer, Nonnes Preestes Tale:-- + + "O false dissimilour, O Greek Sinon, + That broughtest Troye at utterly to sorwe." + +103. The disease of tympanites is so called "because the abdomen +is distended with wind, and sounds like a drum when struck." + +128. Ovid, Metamorph. III.:-- + + "A fountain in a darksome wood, + Nor stained with falling leaves nor rising mud." + +Canto 31 + +1. This Canto describes the Plain of the Giants, between +Malebolge and the mouth of the Infernal Pit. + +4. Iliad, XVI.: "A Pelion ash, which Chiron gave to his +(Achilles') father, cut from the top of Mount Pelion, to be the +death of heroes." +Chaucer, Squieres Tale:-- + + "And of Achilles for his queinte spere, + For he coude with it bothe hele and drere." + +And Shakespeare, in King Henry the Sixth, V. i.:-- + + "Whose smile and frown, like to Achilles' spear, + Is able with the change to kill and cure." + +16. The battle of Roncesvalles, + + "When Charlemain with all his peerage fell + By Fontarabia." + +18. Archbishop Turpin, Chronicle, XXIII., Rodd's Tr., thus +describes the blowing or Orlando's horn:-- +"He now blew a loud blast with his horn, to summon any Christian +concealed in the adjacent woods to his assistance, or to recall +his friends beyond the pass. This horn was endued with such +power, that all other horns were split by its sound; and it is +said that Orlando at that time blew it with such vehemence, that +he burst the veins and nerves of his neck. The sound reached the +king's ears, who lay encamped in the valley still called by his +name, about eight miles from Ronceval, towards Gascony, being +carried so far by supernatural power. Charles would have flown to +his succor, but was prevented by Ganalon, who, conscious of +Orlando's sufferings, insinuated it was usual with him to sound +his horn on light occasions. `He is, perhaps', said he, `pursuing +some wild beast, and the sound echoes through the woods; it will +be fruitless, therefore, to seek him.' O wicked traitor, +deceitful as Judas! What dost thou merit?" +Walter Scott in Marmion, VI. 33, makes allusion to Orlando's +horn: -- + + "O for a blast of that dread horn, + On Fontarabian echoes borne, + That to King Charles did come, + When Rowland brave, and Oliver, + And every paladin and peer, + On Roncesvalles died!" + +Orlando's horn is one of the favorite fictions of old romance, +and is surpassed in power only by that of Alexander, which took +sixty men to blow it and could be heard at a distance of sixty +miles! + +41. Montereggione is a picturesque old castle on an eminence near +Siena. Ampere, Vogage Dantesque, 251, remarks: "This fortress, +as the commentators say, was furnished with towers all round +about, and had none in the centre. In its present state it is +still very faithfully described by the verse, 'Montereggion de +torri si corona.'" + +59. This pine-cone of bronze, which is now in the gardens of the +Vatican, was found in the mausoleum of Hadrian, and is supposed +to have crowned its summit. "I have looked daily", says Mrs. +Kemble, Year of Consolation, 152, "over the lonely, sunny +gardens, open like the palace halls to me, where the widesweeping +orange-walks end in some distant view of the sad and noble +Campagna, where silver fountains call to each other through the +silent, over-arching cloisters of dark and fragrant green, and +where the huge bronze pine, by which Dante measured his great +giant, yet stands in the midst of graceful vases and bass-reliefs +wrought in former ages, and the more graceful blossoms blown +within the very hour." And Ampere, Voyage Dantesque, 277, +remarks: +"Here Dante takes as a point of comparison an object of +determinate size; the pigna is eleven feet high, the giant then +must be seventy; it performs, in the description, the office of +those figures which are placed near monuments to render it easier +for the eye to measure their height." +Mr. Norton, Travel and Study in Italy, 253, thus speaks of the +same object: +"This pine-cone, of bronze, was set originally upon the summit of +the Mausoleum of Hadrian. After this imperial sepulchre had +undergone many evil fates, and as its ornaments were stripped one +by one from it, the cone was in the sixth century taken down, and +carried off to adorn a fountain, which had been constructed for +the use of dusty and thirsty pilgrims, in a pillared enclosure, +called the Paradiso, in front of the old basilica of St. Peter. +Here it remained for centuries; and when the old church gave way +to the new, it was put where it now stands, useless and out of +place, in the trim and formal gardens of the Papal palace." And +adds in a note:-- +"At the present day it serves the bronze-workers of Rome as a +model for an inkstand, such as is seen in the shop windows every +winter, and is sold to travellers, few of whom know the history +and the poetry belonging to its original." + +67. "The gaping monotony of this jargon", says Leigh Hunt, "full +of the vowel a, is admirably suited to the mouth of the vast half- +stupid speaker. It is like a babble of the gigantic infancy of +the world." + +77. Nimrod, the "mighty hunter before the Lord", who built the +tower of Babel, which, according to the Italian popular tradition, was +so high that whoever mounted to the top of it could hear the +angels sing. +Cory, Ancient Fragments, 51, gives this extract from the +Sibylline Oracles:-- +"But when the judgments of the Almighty God Were ripe for +execution, when the Tower Rose to the skies upon Assyria's plain, +And all mankind one language only knew; A dread commission from +on high was given To the fell whirlwinds, which with dire alarms +Beat on the Tower, and to its lowest base Shook it convulsed. And +now all intercourse, By some occult and overruling power, Ceased +among men: by utterance they strove Perplexed and anxious to +disclose their mind; But their lip failed them, and in lieu of +words Produced a painful babbling sound: the place Was thence +called Babel; by th' apostate crew Named from the event. Then +severed far away They sped uncertain into realms unknown; Thus +kingdoms rose, and the glad world was filled." + +94. Odyssey, XI., Buckley's Tr.: +"God-like Otus and far-famed Ephialtes; whom the faithful earth +nourished, the tallest and far the most beautiful, at least after +illustrious Orion. For at nine years old they were also nine +cubits in width, and in height they were nine fathoms. Who even +threatened the immortals that they would set up a strife of +impetuous war in Olympus. They attempted to place Ossa upon +Olympus, and upon Ossa leafy Pelion, that heaven might be +accessible. And they would have accomplished it, if they had +reached the measure of youth; but the son of Jove, whom +fair-haired Latona bore, destroyed them both, before the down +flowered under their temples and thickened upon their cheeks with +a flowering beard." + +98. The giant with a hundred hands. Aeneid, X.: +"Aegaeon, who, they say, had a hundred arms and a hundred +hands, and flashed fire from fifty mouths and breasts; when +against the thunder-bolts of Jove he on so many equal bucklers +clashed; unsheathed so many swords." He is supposed to have been +a famous pirate, and the fable of the hundred hands arose from +the hundred sailors that manned his ship. + +100. The giant Antaeus is here unbound, because he had not been +at "the mighty war" against the gods. + +115. The valley of the Bagrada, one of whose branches flows by +Zama, the scene of Scipo's great victory over Hannibal, by which he +gained his greatest renown and his title of Africanus. +Among the neighboring hills, according to Lucan, Pharsalia, IV. , +the giant Antaeus had his cave. Speaking of Curio's voyage, he +says:-- + + "To Afric's coast he cuts the foamy way, + Where low the once victorious Carthage lay. + There landing, to the well-known camp he hies, + Where from afar the distant seas he spies; + Where Bagrada's dull waves the sands divide, + And slowly downward roll their sluggish tide. + From thence he seeks the highest renowned by fame, + And hallowed by the great Cornelian name: + The rocks and hills which long, traditions say, + Where held by huge Antaeus' horrid sway. + But greater deeds this rising mountain grace, + And Scipio's name ennobles much the place, + While, fixing here his famous camp, he calls + Fierce Hannibal from Rome's devoted walls. + As yet the mouldering works remain in view, + Where dreadful once the Latin eagles flew." + +124. |Aeneid, VI.: "Here too you might have seen Tityus, +the foster-child of all-bearing earth, whose body is extended +over nine whole acres; and a huge vulture, with her hooked +beak, pecking at his immortal liver." Also Odyssey, XI., in +similar words. +Typhoeus was a giant wih a hundred heads, like a dragon's who +made war upon the gods as soon as he was born. He was the father +of Geryon and Cerberus. + +132. The battle between Hercules and Antaeus is described by +Lucan, Pharsalia, IV.:-- + + "Bright in Olympic oil Alcides shone, + Antaeus with his mother's dust is strown, + And seeks her friendly force to aid his own." + +136. One of the leaning towers of Bologna, which Eustace, +Classical Tour, I. 167, thinks are "remarkable only for their unmeaning +elevation and dangerous deviation from the perpendicular." + +Canto 32 + +1. In this Canto begins the Ninth and last Circle of the Inferno, +where Traitors are punished. + + "Hence in the smallest circle, at the point + Of all the Universe, where Dis is seated, + Whoe'er betrays forever is consumed." + +3. The word thrust is here used in its architectural sense, as +the thrust of a bridge against its abutments, and the like. + +9. Still using the babble of childhood. + +11. The Muses; the poetic tradition being that Amphion built the +walls of Thebes by the sound of his lyre; and the prosaic +interpretation, that he did it by his persuasive eloquence. + +15. Matthew xxvi. 24: "Woe unto that man by whom the son of +man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been +born." + +28. Tambernich is a mountain of Sclavonia, and Pietrapana another +near Lucca. + +55. These two "miserable brothers" are Alessandro and Napoleone, +sons of Alberto degli Alberti, lord of Falterona in the valley of the +Bisenzio. After their father's death they quarrelled, and one +treacherously slew the other. + +58. Caina is the first of the four divisions of this Circle, and +takes its name from the first fratricide. + +62. Sir Mordred, son of King Arthur. See La Mort d'Arthure, III. +ch. 167: "And there King Arthur smote Sir Mordred under the shield +with a foine of his speare throughout the body more than a +fadom." +Nothing is said here of the sun's shining through the wound, so +as to break the shadow on the ground, but that incident is +mentioned in the Italian version of the Romance of Launcelot of +the Lake, L'illustre e famosa istoria di Lancillotto del Lago, +III. ch. 162: "Behind the opening made by the lance there passed +through the wound a ray of the sun so manifestly, that Girflet +saw it. " + +63. Focaccia was one of the Cancellieri Bianchi, of Pistoia, and +was engaged in the affair of cutting off the hand of his +half-brother. See Note 65, Canto VI. He is said also to have +killed his uncle. + +65. Sassol Mascheroni, according to Benvenuto, was one of the +Toschi family of Florence. He murdered his nephew in order to get +possession of his property; for which crime he was carried +through the streets of Florence nailed up in a cask, and then +beheaded. + +68. Camicion de' Pazzi of Valdarno, who murdered his kinsman +Ubertino. But his crime will seem small and excusable when +compared with that of another kinsman, Carlino de' Pazzi, who +treacherously surrendered the castle of Piano in Valdarno, +wherein many Florentine exiles were taken and put to death. + +81. The speaker is Bocca degli Abati, whose treason caused the +defeat of the Guelfs at the famous battle of Montaperti in 1260. See +Note 86, Canto X. "Messer Bocca degli Abati, the traitor," says +Malispini, Storia, ch. 171, "with his sword in hand, smote and cut off +the hand of Messer Jacopo de' Pazzi of Florence, who bore the +standard of the cavalry of the Commune of Florence. And the +knights and the people, seeing the standard down, and the treachery, +were put to rout." + +88. The second division of the Circle, called Antenora, from +Antenor, the Trojan prince, who betrayed his country by keeping up a +secret correspondence with the Greeks. Virgil, Aeneid, I. 242, +makes him founder of Padua. + +106. See Note 81 of this Canto. + +116. Buoso da Duera of Cremona, being bribed, suffered the French +cavalry under Guido da Monforte to pass through Lombardy on their +way to Apulia, without opposing them as he had been commanded. + +117. There is a double meaning in the Italian expression sta +fresco, which is well rendered by the vulgarism, left out in the cold, +so +familiar in American politics. + +119. Beccaria of Pavia, Abbot of Vallombrosa, and Papal Legate at +Florence, where he was beheaded in 1258 for plotting against the +Guelfs. + +121. Gianni de' Soldanieri, of Florence, a Ghibelline, who +betrayed his party. Villani, VII, 14, says: "Messer Gianni de' +Soldanieri +put himself at the head of the populace from motives of ambition, +regardless of consequences which were injurious to the Ghibelline +party, and to his own detriment, which seems always to have been +the case in Florence with those who became popular leaders." + +122. The traitor Ganellon, or Ganalon, who betrayed the Christian +cause at Roncesvalles, persuading Charlemagne not to go to the +assistance of Orlando. See Canto XXXI. Note 18. +Tebaldello de' Manfredi treacherously opened the gates of Faenza +to the French in the night. + +130. Tydeus, son of the king of Calydon, slew Menalippus at the +siege of Thebes and was himself mortally wounded. Statius, Thebaid, +VIII. , thus describes what followed:-- + + O'ercome with joy and anger, Tydeus tries + To raise himself, and meets with eager eyes + The deathful object, pleased as he surveyed + His own condition in his foe's portrayed. + The severed head impatient he demands, + And grasps with fever in his trembling hands, + While he remarks the restless balls of sight + That sought and shunned alternately the light. + Contented now, his wrath began to cease, + And the fierce warrior had expired in peace; + But the fell fiend a thought of vengeance bred, + Unworthy of himself and of the dead. + Meanwhile, her sire unmoved, Tritonia came, + To crown her hero with immortal fame; + But when she saw his jaws besprinkled o'er + With spattered brains, and tinged with living gore, + Whilst his imploring friends attempt in vain + To calm his fury, and his rage restrain, + Again, recoiling from the loathsome view, + The sculptur'd target o'er her face she threw." + + +Canto 33 + +1. In this Canto the subject of the preceding is continued. + +13. Count Ugolino della Ghererardesca was Podesta of Pisa. +"Raised to the highest offices of the republic for ten years," says +Napier, Florentine History, I. 318, "he would soon have become +absolute, had not his own nephew, Nino Visconte, Judge of +Gallura, contested this supremacy and forced himself into +conjoint and equal authority; this could not continue, and a sort +of compromise was for the moment effected, by which Visconte +retired to the absolute government of Sardinia. But Ugolino, +still dissatisfied, sent his son to disturb the island; a deadly +feud was the consequence, Guelph against Guelph, while the latent +spirit of Ghibellinism, which filled the breasts of the citizens +and was encouraged by priest and friar, felt its advantage; the +Archbishop Ruggiero Rubaldino was its real head, but he worked +with hidden caution as the apparent friend of either chieftain. +In 1287, after some sharp contests, both of them abdicated, for +the sake, as it was alleged, of public tranquillity; but, soon +perceiving their error, again united, and, scouring the streets +with all their followers, forcibly re-established their +authority. Ruggieri seemed to assent quietly to this new outrage, +even looked without emotion on the bloody corpse of his favorite +nephew, who had been stabbed by Ugolino; and so deep was his +dissimulation, that he not only refused to believe the murdered +body to be his kinsman's, but zealously assisted the Count to +establish himself alone in the government, and accomplish +Visconte's ruin. The design was successful; Nino was overcome and +driven from the town, and in 1288 Ugolino entered Pisa in triumph +from his villa, where he had retired to await the catastrophe. +The Archbishop had neglected nothing, and Ugolino found himself +associated with this prelate in the public government; events now +began to thicken; the Count could not brook a competitor, much +less a Ghibelline priest: in the month of July both parties flew +to arms, and the Archbishop was victorious. After a feeble +attempt to rally in the public palace, Count Ugolino, his two +sons, Uguccione and Gaddo, and two young grandsons, Anselmuccio +and Brigata, surrendered at discretion, and were immediately +imprisoned in a tower, afterwards called the Torre della fame, +and there perished by starvation. Count Ugolino della +Gherardesca, whose tragic story after five hundred years still +sounds in awful numbers from the lyre of Dante, was stained with +the ambition and darker vices of the age; like other potent +chiefs, he sought to enslave his country, and checked at nothing +in his impetuous career; he was accused of many crimes; of +poisoning his own nephew, of failing in war, making a disgraceful +peace, of flying shamefully, perhaps traitorously, at Meloria, +and of obstructing all negotiations with Genoa for the return of +his imprisoned countrymen. Like most others of his rank in those +frenzied times he belonged more to faction than his country, and +made the former subservient to his own ambition; but all these +accusations, even if well founded, would not draw him from the +general standard; they would only prove that he shared the +ambition, the cruelty, the ferocity, the recklessness of human +life and suffering, and the relentless pursuit of power in common +with other chieftains of his age and country. Ugolino was +overcome, and suffered a cruel death; his family was dispersed, +and his memory has perhaps been blackened with a darker coloring +to excuse the severity of his punishment; but his sons, who +naturally followed their parent's fortune, were scarcely +implicated in his crimes, although they shared his fate; and his +grandsons, though not children, were still less guilty, though +one of these was not unstained with blood. The Archbishop had +public and private wrongs to revenge, and had he fallen, his +sacred character alone would probably have procured for him a +milder destiny." +Villani, VII. 128, gives this account of the imprisonment: "The +Pisans, who had imprisoned Count Ugolino and his two sons and two +grandsons, children of Count Guelfo, as we have before mentioned, +in a tower on the Piazza degli Anziani, ordered the door of the +tower to be locked, and the keys to be thrown into the Arno, and +forbade any food should be given to the prisoners, who in a few +days died of hunger. And the five dead bodies, being taken +together out of the tower, were ignominiously buried; and from +that day forth the tower was called the Tower of Famine, and +shall be forever more, For this cruelty the Pisans were much +blamed through all the world where it was known; not so much for +the Count's sake, as on account of his crimes and treasons he +perhaps deserved such a death, but for the sake of his children +and grandchildren, who were young and innocent boys; and this +sin, committed by the Pisans, did not remain unpunished." +Chaucer's version of the story in the Monkes Tale is as follows: + + "Of the erl Hugelin of Pise the langour + There may no tonge tellen for pitee. + But litel out of Pise stant a tour, + In whiche tour in prison yput was he, + And with him ben his litel children three, + The eldest scarsely five yere was of age: + Alas! fortune, it was gret crueltee + Swiche briddes for to put in swiche a cage. + + Dampned was he to die in that prison, + For Roger, which that bishop of Pise, + Had on him made a false suggestion, + Thurgh which the peple gan upon him rise, + And put him in prison, in swiche a wise, + As ye han herd; and mete and drinke he had + So smale, that wel unnethe it may suffise, + And therwithal it was ful poure and bad. + + And on a day befell, that in that houre, + Whan that his mete wont was to be brought, + The gailer shette the dores of the toure; + He hered it wel, but he spake right nought. + And in his herte anon ther fell a thought, + That they for hunger wolden do him dien; + Alas! quod he, alas that I was wrought! + Therwith the teres fellen fro his eyen. + + His yonge sone, that three yere was of age, + Unto him said fader, why do ye wepe? + Whan will the gailer bringen our potage? + Is ther no morsel bred that ye do kepe? + I am so hungry, that I may not slepe. + Now wolde God that I might slepen ever, + Than shuld not hunger in my wombe crepe; + Ther n'is no thing, sauf bred, that mo were lever. + + Thus day by day this childe began to crie, + Till in his fadres barme adoun it lay, + And saide, farewel, fader, I mote die; + And kist his fader, and dide the same day. + And whan the woful fader did it sey, + For wo his armes two he gan to bite, + And saide, alas! fortune, and wala wa! + Thy false whele my wo all may I wite. + + His children wenden, that for hunger it was + That he his armes gnowe, and not for wo, + And sayden: fader, do not so, alas! + But rather ete the flesh upon us two. + Our flesh thou yaf us, take our flesh us fro, + And ete ynough: right thus they to him seide, + And after that, within a day or two, + They laide hem in his lappe adoun, and deide. + + Himself dispeired eke for hunger starf. + Thus ended in this mighty Erl of Pise: + From high estat fortune away him carf. + Of this tragedie it ought ynough suffice; + Who so wol here it in a longer wise, + Redeth the grete poete of Itaille, + That highte Dante, for he can it devise + Fro point to point, not o word wol he faille." + +Buti, Commento, says: "After eight days they were removed from +prison and carried wrapped in matting to the church of the Minor +Friars at San Francesco, and buried in the monument, which is on +the side of the steps leading into the church near the gate of +the cloister, with irons on their legs, which irons I myself saw +taken out of the monument." + +22. The remains of this tower," says Napier, Florentine History, I. +319, note, "still exist in the Piazza de' Cavalieri, on the right +of the archway as the spectator looks toward the clock." +According to Buti it was called the Mew, "because the eagles of +the Commune were kept there to moult." +Shelley thus sings of it, Poems, III. 91: + + "Amid the desolation of a city, + Which was the cradle, and is now the grave + Of an extinguished people, so that pity + Weeps o'er the shipwrecks of oblivion's wave, + There stands the Tower of Famine. It is built + Upon some prison-homes, whose dwellers rave + For bread, and gold, and blood: pain, linked to guilt, + Agitates the light flame of their hours, + Until its vital oil is spent or spilt; + There stands the pile, a tower amid the towers + And sacred domes; each marble-ribbed roof, + The brazen-gated temples, and the bowers + Of solitary wealth! The tempest-proof + Pavilions of the dark Italian air + Are by its presence dimmed,--they stand aloof, + And are withdrawn,--so that the world is bare, + As if a spectre, wrapt in shapeless terror, + Amid a company of ladies fair + Should glide and glow, till it became a mirror + Of all their beauty, and their hair and hue, + The life of their sweet eyes, with all its error, + Should be absorbed till they to marble grew." + +30. Monte San Giuliano, between Pisa and Lucca. Shelley, Poems, +III. 166: +"It was that hill whose intervening brow Screens Lucca from the +Pisan's envious eye, Which the circumfluous plain waving below, +Like a wide lake of green fertility, With streams and fields and +marshes bare, Divides from the far Apennine, which lie Islanded +in the immeasurable air." + +31. The hounds are the Pisan mob; the hunters, the Pisan noblemen +here mentioned; the wolf and whelps, Ugolino and his sons. + +46. It is a question whether in this line chiavar is to be +rendered nailed up or locked. Villani and Benvenuto say the tower was +locked, and the keys thrown into the Arno; and I believe most of +the commentators interpret the line in this way. But the locking +of a prison door, which must have been a daily occurrence, could +hardly have caused the dismay here portrayed, unless it can be +shown that the lower door of the tower was usually left unlocked. +"The thirty lines from Ed io senti' are unequalled," says Landor, +Pentameron, 40, by any other continuous thirty in the whole +dominions of poetry." + +80. Italy; it being an old custom to call countries by the +affirmative particle of the language. + +82. Capraia and Gorgona are two islands opposite the mouth of the +Arno. Ampere, Voyage Dantesque, 217, remarks: "This imagination +may appear grotesque and forced if one looks at the map, for the +isle of Gorgona is at some distance from the mouth of the Arno, +and I had always thought so, until the day when, having ascended +the tower of Pisa, I was struck with the aspect which the Gorgona +presented from that point. It seemed to shut up the Arno. I then +understood how Dante might naturally have had this idea, which +had seemed strange to me, and his imagination was justified in my +eyes. He had not seen the Gorgona from the Leaning Tower, which +did not exist in his time, but from some one of the numerous +towers which protected the ramparts of Pisa. This fact alone +would be sufficient to show what an excellent interpretation of a +poet travelling is." + +86. Napier, Florentine History, I. 313: "He without hesitation +surrendered Santa Maria a Monte Fuccechio, Santa Croce, and Monte +Calvole to Florence; exiled the most zealous Ghibellines from +Pisa, and reduced it to a purely Guelphic republic; he was +accused of treachery, and certainly his own objects were +admirably forwarded by the continued captivity of so many of his +countrymen, by the banishment of the adverse faction, and by the +friendship and support of Florence. " + +87. Thebes was renowned for its misfortunes and grim tragedies, +from the days of the sowing of the dragon's teeth by Cadmus, down to +the destruction of the city by Alexander, who commanded it to be +utterly demolished, excepting only the house in which the poet +Pindar was born. Moreover, the tradition runs that Pisa was +founded by Pelops, son of King Tantalus of Thebes, although it +derived its name from "the Olympic Pisa on the banks of the +Alpheus." + +118. Friar Alberigo, of the family of the Manfredi, Lords of +Faenza, was one of the Frati Gaudenti, or Jovial Friars, mentioned in +Canto XXIII. 103. The account which the Ottimo gives of his +treason is as follows: "Having made peace with certain hostile +fellow- citizens, he betrayed them in this wise. One evening he +invited them to supper, and had armed retainers in the chambers +round the supper-room. It was in summer-time, and he gave orders +to his servants that, when after the meats he should order the +fruit, the chambers should be opened, and the armed men should +come forth and should murder all the guests. And so it was done. +And he did the like the year before at Castello delle Mura at +Pistoia. These are the fruits of the Garden of Treason, of which +he speaks." Benvenuto says that his guests were his brother +Manfred and his (Manfred's) son. Other commentators say they were +certain members of the Order of Frati Gaudenti. In 1300, the date +of the poem, Alberigo was still living. + +120. A Rowland for an Oliver. + +124. This division of Cocytus, the Lake of Lamentation, is called +Ptolom aea from Ptolomeus, 1 Maccabees xvi. 11, where "the +captain of Jericho inviteth Simon and two of his sons into his +castle, and there treacherously murdereth them"; for "when simon +and his sons had drunk largely, Ptolomee and his men rose up, and +took their weapons, and came upon Simon into the +banqueting-place, and slew him, and his two sons, and certain of +his servants." +Or perhaps from Ptolemy, who murdered Pompey after the battle of +Pharsalia. + +126. Of the three Fates, Clotho held the distaff, Lachesis spun +the thread, and Atropos cut it. +Odyssey, XI.: + + "After him I perceived the might of Hercules, an image; for he + himself amongst the immortal gods is delighted with banquets, and + has the fair-legged Hebe, daughter of mighty Jove, and golden- + sandalled Juno." + +137. Ser Branco d'Oria was a Genoese, and a member of the +celebrated Doria family of that city. Nevertheless he murdered at table +his +father-in-law, Michel Zanche, who is mentioned Canto XXII. 88. + +151. This vituperation of the Genoese reminds one of the bitter +Tuscan proverb against them: "Sea without fish; mountains without +trees; +men without faith; and women without shame." + +154. Friar Alberigo. + +Canto 34 + +1. The fourth and last division of the Ninth Circle, the Judecca, -- + +"the smallest circle, at the point Of all the Universe, where +Dis is seated." +The first line, "The banners of the king of Hell come forth," is +a parody of the first line of a Latin hymn of the sixth century, +sung in the churches during Passion week, and written by +Fortunatus, an Italian by birth, but who died Bishop of Poitiers +in 600. The first stanza of this hymn is,-- + + "Vexilla regis prodeunt, + Fulget crucis mysterium, + Quo carne carnis conditor, + Suspensus est patibulo." + +See K,onigsfeld, Latenische Hymnen und Ges,ange aus dem +Mittelalter, 64. + +18. Milton, Parad. Lost, V. 708:-- + + "His countenance as the morning star, that guides + The starry flock." + +28. Compare Milton's descriptions of Satan, Parad. Lost, I. 192, +589, II. 636, IV. 985:-- + + "Thus Satan, talking to his nearest mate, + With head uplift above the wave, and eyes + That sparkling blazed; his other parts besides + Prone on the flood, extended long and large, + Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge + As whom the fables name of monstrous size, + Titanian, or Earth-born, that warred on Jove, + Briareus, or Typhon, whom the den + By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast + Leviathan, which God of all his works + Created hugest that swim the ocean stream: + Him, haply, slumbering on the Norway foam, + The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff, + Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell, + With fixed anchor in his scaly rind + Moors by his side under the lee, while night + Invests the sea, and wished morn delays. + So stretched out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay + Chained on the burning lake." + + "He, above the rest + In shape and gesture proudly eminent, + Stood like a tower: his form had yet not lost + All her original brightness, nor appeared + Less than archangel ruined, and the excess + Of glory obscured: as when the sun new-risen + Looks through the horizontal misty air, + Shorn of his beams; or from behind the moon, + In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds + On half the nations, and with fear of change + Perplexes monarchs: darkened so, yet shone + Above them all the Archangel." + + "As when far off at sea a fleet descried + Hangs in the clouds, by equinoctial winds + Close sailing from Bengala or the isles + Of Ternate and Tidore, whence merchants bring + Their spicy drugs: they on the trading flood + Through the wide AEthiopian to the Cape + Ply, stemming nightly toward the pole: so seemed + Far off the flying fiend." + + "On the other side, Satan, alarmed, + Collecting all his might, dilated stood, + Like Teneriff or Atlas, unremoved: + His stature reached the sky, and on his crest + Sat horror plumed; nor wanted in his grasp + What seemed both spear and shield." + +38. The Ottimo and Benvenuto both interpret the three faces as +symbolizing Ignorance, Hatred, and Impotence. Others interpret +them as signifying the three quarters of the then known world, +Europe, Asia, and Africa. + +45. Ethiopia; the region about the Cataracts of the Nile. + +48. Milton, Parad. Lost, II. 527:-- + + "At last his sail-broad vans + He spreads for flight, and in the surging smoke + Uplifted spurns the ground." + +55. Landor in his Pentameron, 527, makes Petrarca say: +"This is atrocious, not terrific nor grand. Alighieri is grand by +his lights, not by his shadows; by his human affections, not by +his infernal. As the minutest sands are the labors of some +profound sea, or the spoils of some vast mountain, in like manner +his horrid wastes and wearying minutenesses are the chafings of a +turbulent spirit, grasping the loftiest things, and penetrating +the deepest, and moving and moaning on the earth in loneliness +and sadness." + +62. Gabriele Rossetti, Spirito Antipapale, I. 75, Miss Ward's +Tr., says: + +"The three spirits, who hang from the mouths of his Satan, are +Judas, Brutus, and Cassius. The poet's reason for selecting those +names has never yet been satisfactorily accounted for; but we +have no hesitation in pronouncing it to have been this,--he +considered the Pope not only a betrayer and seller of +Christ,--`Where gainful merchandise is made of Christ throughout +the livelong day,' (Parad. 17,) and for that reason put Judas +into his centre mouth; but a traitor and rebel to Caesar, and +therefore placed Brutus and Cassius in the other two mouths; for +the Pope, who was originally no more than Caesar's vicar, +became his enemy, and usurped the capital of his empire, and the +supreme authority. His treason to Christ was not discovered by +the world in general; hence the face of Judas is hidden,--`He +that hath his head within, and plies the feet without' (Inf. 34); +his treason to Caesar was open and manifest, therefore Brutus +and Cassius show their faces. " +He adds in a note: "The situation of Judas is the same as that of +the Popes who were guilty of simony." + +68. The evening of Holy Saturday. + +77. Iliad, V. 305: "With this he struck the hip of AEneas, where +the thigh turns on the hip." + +95. The canonical day, from sunrise to sunset, was divided into +four equal parts, called in Italian Terza, Sesta, Nona, and Vespro, +and varying in length with the change of season. "These hours, " +says Dante, Convito, III. 6, "are short or long.....according as +day and night increase or diminish." Terza was the first division +after sunrise; and at the equinox would be from six till nine. +Consequently mezza terza, or middle tierce, would be half past seven. + +114. Jerusalem. + +125. The Mountain of Purgatory, rising out of the sea at a point +directly opposite Jerusalem, upon the other side of the globe. It +is an island in the South Pacific Ocean. + +130. This brooklet is Lethe, whose source is on the summit of the +Mountain of Purgatory, flowing down to mingle with Acheron, Styx, +and Phlegethon, and form Cocytus. See Canto XIV. 136. + +138. It will be observed that each of the three divisions of the +Divine Comedy ends with the word "Stars," suggesting and +symbolizing endless aspiration. At the end of the Inferno Dante +"re-beholds the stars"; at the end of the Purgatorio he is "ready +to ascend to the stars"; at the end of the Paradiso he feels the +power of "that Love which moves the sun and other stars." He is +now looking upon the morning stars of Easter Sunday. + + + +WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN THE WORLD WHILE DANTE LIVED + + +1265 May. + +Dante, son of Alighieri degli Alghieri and Bella, is born at Florence. +Of his own ancestory he speaks in Paradise, Canto XV. and XVI. +In the same year, Manfred, king of Naples and Sicily, is defeated and +slain by Charles of Anjou. H. XVII.13, and Purg. II. 110 +Guido Novello of Polenta obtains the sovereignty of Ravenna. H. XVII. 38. +Battle of Evesham. Simon de Montfort, leader of the barons, +defeated and slain. + + +1266 + +Two of the Frati Godenti chosen arbitrators of the differences of +Florence. H. XXIII. 104 +Gianni de' Soldanieri heads the populace in that City. H. XXXII. 118. +Roger Bacon sends a copy of his Opus Majus to Pope Clement IV. + + +1268 + +Charles of Anjou puts Conradine to death, and becomes king of Naples. +H. XXVIII. 16, and Purg. XX. 66. + + +1270 + +Louis IX of France dies before Tunis. His widow Beatrice, daughter of +Raymond Berenger, lived till 1295. Purg. VII. 126. Par. VI 135. + + +1272 + +Guy de Montfort murders Prince Henry, son of Richard, king of the +Romans, and nephew of Henry II of England, at Viterbo. H. XII. 119. +Richard dies, as is supposed of grief for this event. +Abulfeda, the Arabic writer is born. +Henry III of England is succeeded by Edward I. Purg. VII. 129 + + +1274 + +Our Poet first sees Beatrice, daughter of Folco Portinari. +Rodolph acknowledged emperor. +Phillip of France marries Mary of Brabant, who lived till 1321. +Purg.VI. 24. +Thomas Aquinas dies. Purg. XX.67, and Par. X. 96. +Buonaventura dies. Par. XII. 26. + + +1275 + +Pierre de la Brosse, secretary to Phillip III of France, executed. +Purg. VI. 23. + + +1276 + +Giotto, the painter, is born. Purg. XI. 95. +Pope Adrian V dies. Purg. XIX. 97. +Guido Guinicelli, the poet, dies. Purg. XI. 96, and XXVI. 83. + + +1277 + +Pope John XXI dies. Par. XII. 126. + + +1278 + +Ottocar, king of Bohemia, dies. Purg. VII. 97. +Robert of Gloucester is living at this time. + + +1279 + +Dionysius succeds to the throne of Portugal. Par. XIX. 136. + + +1280 + +Albertus Magnus dies. Par X. 95. +Our Poet's firend, Busone da Gubbio, is born about this time. +William of Ockham is born about this time. + +1281 + +Pope Nicholas III dies. H. XIX. 71. +Dante studies at the universities of Bologna and Padua. +About this time Ricordano Malaspina, the Florentine annalist, dies. + + +1282 + +The Sicilian vespers. Par. VII. 80. +The French defeated by the people of Forli. H. XXVII. 41. +Tribaldello de' Manfredi betrays the city of Faenza. H. XXII. 119. + + +1284 + +Prince Charles of Anjou is defeated and made prisoner by Rugier de +Lauria, admiral to Peter II of Arragon. Purg. XX. 78. +Charles i, King of Naples, dies. Purg. VII. 111. +Alonzo X of Castile dies. He cause the Bible to be translated into +Castillian, and all legal instruments to be drawn up in that language. +Sancho IV succeeds him. + + +1284 + +Phillip (next year IV of France) marries Jane, daughter of Henry of +Navarre. Purg. VII. 102. + + +1285 + +Pope Martin IV dies. Purg. XXIV. 23. +Philip III of France and Peter of Arragon die. Purg. VII. 101 and 110. +Henry II, king of Cyprus, comes to the Throne. Par. XIX. 144. +Simon Memi, the painter, celebrated by Petrarch, is born. + +1287 + +Guido dalle Colonne (mentioned by Dante in his De Vulgari Eloquio) +writes "The War of Troy." +Pope Honorius IV dies. + +1288 + +Haquin, king of Norway, makes war on Denmark. Par. XIX. 135. +Count Ugolino de' Gherardeschi dies of famine. H. XXXIII. 14. +The Scottish poet, Thomas Learmouth, commonly called Thomas the Phymer, +is living at this time. + + +1289 + +Dante is in the battle of Campaldino, where the Florentines defeat the +people of Arezzo, June 11. Purg. V. 90. + + +1290 + +Beatrice dies. Purg. XXII. 2. +He serves in the war waged by the Florentines upon the Pisans, and is +present at the surrender of Caprona in the autumn. H. XXI. 92. +Guido dalle Conne dies. +William, marquis of Montferrat, is made prisoner by his traitorous +subject, at Alessandria in Lombardy. Purg. VII. 133. +Michael Scott dies. H. XX. 115. + + +1291 + +Dante marries Gemma de' Donati, with whom he lives unhappily. +By this marriage he had five sons and a daughter. +Can Grade della Scala is born, March 9. H. I. 98. Purg. XX. 16 Par. +XVII. 75 and XXVII. 135. +The renegade Christians assist the Saracens to recover St. John D'Acre. +H. XXVII. 84. +The Emperor Rodolph dies. Purg. VI. 104, and VII. 91. +Alonzo III of Arragon dies, and is succeeded by James II. Purg. VII. +113, and Par. XIX. 133. +Eleanor, widow of Henry II, dies. Par. VI. 135. + + +1292 + +Pope Nicholas IV dies. +Roger Bacon dies. +John Baliol, king of Scotland, crowned. + + +1294 + +Clement V abdicated the papal chair. H. III. 56. +Dante writes his Vita Nuova. +Fra Guittone d'Arezzo, the poet, dies. Pirg. XXIV. 56. +Andrea Taffi, of Florence, the worker in Mossic, dies. + + +1295 + +Dante's preceptor, Brunetto Latini, dies. H. XV. 28. +Charles Martel, king of Hungry, visits Florence. Par. VIII. 57, +and dies the same year. +Frederick, son of Peter III of Arragon, becomes king of Sicily. +Purg. VII 117, and Par. XIX. 127. +Taddeo, the physician of Florence, called the Hippocratean, dies. +Par. XII. 77. +Marco Polo, the traveler, returns from the East to Venice. +Ferdinand IV of Castile comes to the throne. Par. XIX. 122. + + +1296 + +Forese, the companion of Dante, dies. Purg XXIII. 44. +Sadi, the most celebrated of the Persian writers, dies. +War between England and Scotland, which terminates in the submission +of the Scotts to Edward I; but int he following year, Sir William Wallace +attempts the deliverance of Scotland. Par. XIX. 121. + + +1298 + +The Emperor Adolphus falls in battle with his rival, Albert I, +who succeeds him in the Empire. Purg. VI. 98. +Jacopo da Varagine, archbishop of Genoa, +author of the Legenda Aurea, dies. + + +1300 + +The Bianca and Mera parties take their rise in Pistoia. H. XXXII. 60. +This is the year in which he supposes himself to see his Vision. H. I. +1. And XXI. 109. +He is chosen chief magistrate, or first of the Priors of Florence; and +continues in +the office from June 15 to August 15. +Guido Cavalcanti,ost beloved of our Poet's friends, dies. H. X. 59, and +Purg. XI. 96. +Cimabue, the painter, dies. Purg. XI. 96. + + +1301 + +The Bianca Party expels the Nera from Pistoia. H. XXIV. 142. + + +1302 + +January 27. +During his absence at Rome, Dante is mulcted by his fellow-citizens +in the come of 8,000 lire, and condemned to two years banishment. +March 10. He is sentencd, if taken, to be burned. +Fulcieri de' Calboli commits great atrocities on certain of the +Ghibelline party. Purg. XVI 61. +Carlino de' Pazzi betrays the castle di Piano Travigne, in Valdarno, to +the Florentines. He. XXXII. 67. +The French vanquished in the battle of Coufgfal. Purg. XX. 47 +James, King of Majorca and Minorea, dies. Par. XIX. 133. + +1303 + +Pope Boniface VIII dies. H. XIX. 55. Purg. XX. 86. ; XXXII. 146, and +Par. XXVII. +The other exiles appoint Dante one of a council of twelve, under +Alessandro da Romena. +He appears to have been much dissatisfied with his colleagues. Par. +XVII. 61. +Robert of Brunne translates into English verse the Manuel de Peches, +a treatise written in French by Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln. + + +1304 + +Dante joins with the exiles in an unsuccessful attack on the city of +Florence. +May. The bridge over the Arno breaks down during a representation of +the infernal torments exhibited on that river. H. XXVI. 9. +July 20. Petrarch,whose father had been banished two years before from +Florence, is born in Arezzo. + + +1305 + +Winceslaus II, king of Bohemia, dies. Purg. VII. 99 and Par. XIX. 123. +A conflagration happens at Florence. H. XXVI. 9. +Sir William Wallace is executed at London. + + +1306 +Dante visits Padua. + + +1307 +He is in Lunigians with the Marchese Marcello Malaspina. Purg. VII. +133; XIX. 140. +Dolcino, the fanatic,is burned. H. XXVIII. 53. +Edward II of England comes to the throne. + + +1308 + +The Emperor Albert I murdered. Purg. VI. 98, and Far. XIX. 114. +Corso Donati, Dante's political enemy, slain. Purg. XXIV. 81. +He seeks an asylum at Verona, under the roof of the Signori della +Scala, Par. XVII. 69. +He wanders, about this time. Over various parts of Italy. +See his Convito. He is at Paris a second time; and, according to one +of the early commentators, visits Oxford. +Robert, the patron of Petrarch, is crowned king of Sicily. Par. IX. 2. +Duns Scotus dies. He was born about the same time as Dante. + + +1309 + +Charles II, king of Naples, dies. Par. XIX. 125. +1310 The order of the Templars abolished. Pur. XX. 94. +{?}ean de Meun, the continuer of the Roman de la Rose, dies about this +time. + +Pier Crescensi of Bologna writes his book on agriculture, in Latin. + + +1311 + +Fra Giordan da Rivalta, of Pisa, a Dominican, the author of sermons +esteemed for the purity of the Tuscan language, dies. + + +1312 + +Robert, king of Sicily, opposes the coronation of the Emperor Henry +VII. Par. VIII. 59. +Ferdinand IV of Castile dies, and is succeded by Alonzo XI. +Dino Compagni, a distinguished Florentine, concluded his history of his +own time, written in elegant Italian. + + +1313 +The Emporor Henry of Luxemburgh, bu whom he had hoped +to be restored to Florence, dies. +Par. XVII. 80, and XXX. 133. +Henry is succeeded by Lewis of Bavaria. +Dante takes refuge at Ravenna, with Guido Novello da Polenta. +Giovanni Boccaccio is born. +Pope Clememnt V dies. H. XIX. 86, and Par. XXVII 53, and XXX. 141. + + +1314 + +Philip IV of France dies. Purg. VII. 108, and Par. XIX. 117. + + +1314 + +Louis X Succeeds. +Ferdinand IV of Spain dies. Par. XIX. 122. +Giacopo da Carrara defeated by Can Grande, +who makes himself master of Vicenza. Par. IX. 45. + + +1315 + +Louis X of France Marries Clemenza, sister to our Poet's friend, +Charles Martel, King of {?}Hungary. Par. IX. 2. + + +1316 + +Louis X of France dies, and is succeeded by Philip V. +John XXIV elected Pope. Par. XXVII. 53. +Joinville, tghe French Historian, dies about this time. + + +1320 + +About this time John Gower is born, +eight years before his friend Chaucer. + + +1321 July. + +Dante dies at Ravenna, of a complaint brought on by +disappointment at his failure in a negotiation which +he had been conducting witht he "Venetians, for his +patron Guido Novella da Polenta. +His obsequies are sumptuously performed at Ravenna by Guido, +who himself died in the ensuing year. + + + + +THE ARGUMENT + +(Or The Prose Story in Brief) of That Part of "The Divine Comedy" +Which is called "Hell" + +Canto 1. The writer, having lost his way in a gloomy forest, and +being hindered by certain wild beasts from ascending a mountain, +is met by Virgil, who promises to show him the punishments of +Hell, and afterward of Purgatory; and that he shall then be +conducted by Beatrice into Paradise. He follows the Roman poet. + +Canto 2 After the invocation, which poets are used to prefix to +their works, he shows that, on a consideration of his own strength, +he doubted whether it sufficed for the journey proposed to him, +but that, being comforted by Virgil, he at last took courage, and +followed him as his guide and master. + +Canto 3 Dante, following Virgil, comes to the gate of Hell; +where, after having read the dreadful words that are written +thereon, they both enter. Here, as he understands from Virgil, +those were punished who passed their time (for living it could +not be called in a state of apathy and indifference both to +good and evil. Then pursuing their way, they arrive at the +river Acheron; and there find the old ferryman Charon, who +takes the spirits over to the opposite shore; which as soon as +Dante reaches, he is seized with terror, and falls into a trance. + +Canto 4 The Poet, being roused by a clap of thunder and +following his guide, onward, descends into Limbo, which is the +first circle of Hell, where he finds the souls of those, who +although they have lived virtuously and have not to suffer for +great sins, nevertheless, through lack of baptism, merit not +the bliss of Paradise. Hence he is led on by Virgil to descend +into the second circle. + +Canto 5 Coming tot he seconds circle of Hell, Dante at the +entrance beholds Minos the Infernal Judge, by whom he is +admonished to beware how he enters those regions. Here he +witnesses the punishment of carnal sinners, who are tossed about +ceaselessly in the dark air by the most furious winds. Among +these, he meets with Fracesca of Rimini, through pity at whose +sad tale he falls fainting to the ground. + +Canto 6 On his recovery, the Poet finds himself in the third +circle, where the gluttonous are punished. Their torment is, to +lie in the mire, under a continual and heavy storm of hail, snow +and discolored water; Cerberus meanwhile barking over them +with his threefold throat, and rending them piecemeal. One of +these, who on earth was named Ciacco, foretells the division +with which Florence is about to be distracted. Dante proposes +a question to his guide, who solves it; and they proceed toward +the fourth circle. + +Canto 7 In the present Canto, Date described his descent into +the fourth circle, at the beginning of which he sees Plutus +stationed. Here one like doom awaits the prodigal and the +avaricious; which is, to meet in direful conflict, rolling great +weights against each other with mutual upbraiding. From +hence Virgil takes occasion to show how vail the goods that +are committed into the charge of Fortune; and this moves our +author to inquire what being that Fortune is, of whom he speaks; +hich question being resolved, they go down into the fifth circle, +where they find the wrathful and gloomy tormented in the +Stygian Lake. Having made a compass round a great part of +this lake, they come at last to the base of a lofty towner. + +Canto 8 A signal having been made from the tower, Phlegyas, +the ferryman of the lake, speedily crosses it, and conveys +Virgil and Dante to the other side. On their passage, they +meet with Filippe Argenti, whose fury and torment are described. +Then they arrive at the city of Dis, the entrance whereto is denied, +and the portals closed against them by many Demons. + +Canto 9 After some hindrances, and having seen the hellish +furies and other monsters, the Poet, by the help of an angle, +enters the city of Dis, wherein he discovers that heretics are +punished in tombs burning with intense fire; and he, together with +Virgil, passes onward between the sepulchers and walls of the city. + +Canto 10 Dante having obtained permission from his guide, holds +discourse with Farinata degli Uberti and Cavalcante Cavalcanti, +who lie in their fiery tombs that are yet open, and not to be closed +up till after the last judgement. Farinata predicts the Poet's exile +from +Florence; and shows him that the condemned have knowledge +of future things, but are ignorant of what is at present passing, +unless it be revealed by some new-comer from earth. + +Canto 11 Dante arrives at the verge of a rocky precipice which +incloses the seventh circle, where he sees the sepulcher of +Anastasius the Heretic; behind the lid of which, pausing a little, +to make himself capable by degrees of enduring the fetid smell +that steamed upward from the abyss, he is instructed by Virgil +concerning the manner in which the three following circles are +disposed, and what description of sinners is punished in each. +He then inquires the reason why the carnal, the gluttonous, the +avaricious and prodigal, the wrathful and gloomy, suffer not their +punishments within the city of Dis. He next asks how the crime +of usury is an offense against God; and at length the two Poets go +toward the place from whence a passage leads down to the seventh +circle. + +Canto 12 Descending by a very rugged way into the seventh +circle, where the violent are punished, Dante and his leader +find it guarded by the minotaur; whose fury being pacified +by Virgil, they step downward from crag to crag; till, drawing +near the bottom, they descry a river of blood, wherein are +tormented such as have committed violence against their +neighbor. At these, when they strive to emerge from the brook, +a troop of Centaurs, running along the side of the river, aim their +arrows; and three of their band opposing our travelers at the +foot of their band opposing our travelers at the foot of the steep, +Virgil prevails so far, that one consents to carry them both +across the stream; and on their passage Dante is informed by +him of the course of the river, and of those that are punished therein. + +Canto 13 Still in the seventh circle, Dante enters its second +compartment, which contains both those who have done +violence on their own persons and those who have violently +consumed their goods; the first changed into rough and knotted +trees whereon the harpies build their nests, the latter chased +and turn by black female mastiffs. Among the former, +Piero delle Vigne is one who tells him the cause of his having +committed suicide, and moreover in what manner the souls are +transformed into those trunks. Of the latter crew, he recognizes +Lano, a Siennese and Giacomo, a Paduan: and lastly, a Florentine, +who had hung himself from his own roof, speaks to him of the +calamities of his countrymen. + +Canto 14 They arrive at the beginning of the third of those +compartments into which this seventh circle is divided. +It is a plain of dry and hot sand, where three kinds of +violence are punished: namely, against God, against Nature, +and against Art; and those who have thus sinned are tormented +by flakes of fire, which are eternally showering down upon +them. Among the violent against God is found Capaneus +whose blasphemies they hear. Next, turning to the left +along the forest of self-slayers, and having journeyed a little +onward, they meed with a streamlet of blood that issue from +the forest and traverses the sandy plain. Here Virgil speaks to +our Poet a huge ancient statue that stands within Mount Ida +in Crete, from a fissure in which statue there is a dripping of +tears, from which the said streamlet, together with the tree +other infernal rivers are formed. + +Canto 15 Taking their way upon one of the mounds by which the +streamlet, spoken of in the last Canto, was embanked, and having +gone so far that they could no longer have discerned the forest if +they had turned round to look for it, they meet a troop +of spirits that come along the sand by the side of the pier. +These are they who have done violence by Nature; and +among them Dante distinguishes Brunetto Latini, who had +been formerly his master; with whom, turning a little +backward, he holds a discourse which occupies the reminder +of this Canto. + +Canto 16 Journeying along the pier, which crosses the sand, they +are now so near the end of it as to hear the noise of the stream +falling to the eighth circle, when they meet the spirits of three +military men; who judging Dante, from his dress, to be a +countryman of theirs, entreat him to stop. He complies, and +speaks with them. The two Poets then reach the place where +the water descends, being the termination of this third +compartment in the seventh circle; and here Virgil having +thrown down into the hollow a cord, wherewith Dante was girt, +they behold at that signal a monstrous and horrible figure +come swimming up to them. + +Canto 17 The monster Geryon is described; to whom while +Virgil is speaking in order that he may carry them both +down to the next circle, Dante, by permission, goes a +little further along the edge of the void, to descry the third +species of sinners contained in this compartment, namely, +those who have done violence to Art; and then returning to +his master they both descend, seated on the back of Geryon. + +Canto 18 The Poet describes the situation and form of the eighth +circle, divided into ten gulfs, which contain as many different +descriptions of fraudulent sinners; but in the present Canto he +treats only of two sorts; but in the present Canto he treats +only of two sorts: the first is of those who, either for their own +pleasure or for that of another, have seduced any woman from +her duty; and these are scourged of demons in the first gulf; +the other sort is of flatterers, who in the second gulf are condemned +to remain immersed in filth. + +Canto 19 They come to the third gulf, wherein are punished +those who have been guilty of simony. These are fixed with +the head downward in certain apertures, so that no more of +them than the legs appears without, and on the soles of their +feet are seen furling flames. Dante is taken down by his guide +into the bottom of the gulf; and there finds Pope Nicholas the +fifth, whose evil deeds, together with those of the other pontiffs, +are bitterly reprehended. Virgil then carries him up against to the +arch, which affords them a passage over the following gulf. + +Canto 20 The Poet relates the punishment of such as presumed, +while living, to predict future events. It is to have their faces +reversed and set contrary way on their limbs, so that, being +deprived of the power to see before them, they are constrained +ever to walk backward. Among these Virgil points out to him +Amphiaraus, Tiresias, Aruns, and Manto (from the mention of +whom he takes occasion to speak of the origin of Mantua), together +with several others, who had practiced the arts of divination and +astrology. + +Canto 21 Still in the eighth circle, which bears the name of +Malebolge, they look down from the bridge that passes over its +fifth gulf, upon the barterers or public peculators. These are +plunged in a lake of boiling pitch, and guarded by Demons, +to whom Virgil, leaving Dante apart, presents himself; +and license being obtained to pass onward, both pursue their way. + +Canto 22 Virgil and Dante proceed, accompanied by the +Demons, to see other sinners of the same description in the +same gulf. The device of Ciampolo, one of these to escape +from the Demons, who had laid hold on him. + +Canto 23 The enraged Demons pursue Dante, but he is preserved +from them by Virgil. On reaching the sixth gulf, he beholds +the punishment of the hypocrites; which is, to pace continually +round the gulf under the pressure of caps and bonds, that are gilt +on the outside, but leaden within. He is addressed by two of these, +Catalano and Loderingo, knights of Saint Mary, otherwise called +Joyous Friars of Bologna. Calaphas is seen fixed to a cross on the +ground and lies so stretched along the way, that all tread on him i +n passing. + +Canto 24 Under the escort of his faithful master, Dante not +without difficulty makes his way out of the sixth gulf; and +in the seventh, see the robbers tormented by venomous and +pestilent serpents. The soul of Vanni Fucci, who had pillaged +the sacristy of Saint James in Pistola, predicts some calamities +that impended over that city, and over the Florentines. + +Canto 25 The sacrilegious Fucci vents his fury in blasphemy, is +seized by serpents, and flying is pursued by Cacus in the form +of a Centaur, who is described with a swarm of serpents on his +haunch, and a dragon on his shoulders breathing forth fire. +Our Poet then meets with the spirits of three of his countrymen, +two of who undergo a marvelous transformation in his presence. + +Canto 26 Remounting by the steps, down which they had +descended to the seventh gulf, they go forward to the arch +that stretches over the eighth, and from thence behold +numberless flames wherein are punished evil counsellors, +each flame containing a sinner, save one, in which were +Diomede and Ulysses, the latter relates the manner of his death. + +Canto 27 The Poet, treating of the same punishment as in the +last Canto, relates that he turned toward a flame in which was +the Count Guido da Montefeltro, whose inquiries respecting +the state of Romagna he answers, and Guido is thereby +induced to declare who he is, and who condemned to that torment. + +Canto 28 They arrive in the ninth gulf, where the sowers of +scandal, schismatics, and heretics, are seen with their limbs +miserable maimed or divided in different ways. Among these +the Poet finds Mahomet, Piero da Medicina, Curio, Mosca, and +Bertrand de Born. + +Canto 29 Dante, at the desire of Virgil, proceeds onward to the +bridge that crosses the tenth gulf, from whence he hears the +cries of the alchemists and forgers, who are tormented therein; +but not being able to discern anything on account of the +darkness, they descend the rock, that bounds this the last of +the compartments in which the eighth circle is divided, and +then behold the spirits who are afflicted by divers plagues and +diseases. Two of them, namely, Grifolion of Arezzo and +Capocchio of Sienna, are introduced speaking. + +Canto 30 In the same gulf, other kinds of impostures, as those +who have counterfeited the persona of others, or debased +the current coin, or deceived by speech under false pretenses, +are described as suffering various diseases. Sinon of Troy, +and Adamo of Brescia, mutually reproach each other with their +various impostures. + +Canto 31 The poets, following the sound of a loud horn, are led +by it to the ninth circle, in which there are four rounds, one incised +within the other, and containing as many sorts of Traitors; but +the present Canto shows only that the circle is encompassed +with Giants, one of whom Antaeus, takes them both in his arms +and places them at the bottom of the circle. + +Canto 32 This Canto treats of the first, and, in part, of the +second of those rounds, into which the ninth and last, or frozen +circle, is divided. In the former, called Caina, Date finds +Camiccione de' Pazzi, who gives him an account of the sinners +who are there punished; and in the next, named Antenora, he +hears in like manner from Bocca degi Abbati who his +fellow-sufferers are. + +Canto 33 The Poet is told by Count Ugolino de' Cherardeschi of +the cruel manner in which he and his children were famished +in the tower at Pisa, by command of the Archbishop Ruggieri. +He next discourses of the third round, called Ptolomea, wherein +those are punished who have betrayed others under the semblance of +kindness; and among these he finds the Friar Alberigo de' Manfredi, +who tells him of one whose soul was already tormented in that +place, though his body appeared still to be alive upon the earth, being +yielded up to the governance of a fiend. + +Canto 34 In the fourth and last round of the ninth circle, those +who have betrayed their benefactors are wholly covered with ice. +And in the midst is Lucifer, at whose back Dante and Virgil ascend, +till by a secret path they reach the surface of the other hemisphere +of the earth, and once more obtain sight of the stars. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of Dante's Inferno, +by Dante Alighieri + +Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow + diff --git a/old/old/dinfr09.zip b/old/old/dinfr09.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f1451e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/dinfr09.zip |