s: Nature in herself, and in her follower, since upon other thing he


s: the Fishes are gliding on the horizon, and the Wain lies quite


s: over Corus, and far yonder is the way down the cliff."


s: The time indicated is about 4, or from 4 to 5 A.M. Corus, the


s: name of the north-west wind, here stands for that quarter of the


s: CANTO XII. First round of the Seventh Circle; those who do


s: violence to others; Tyrants and Homicides.--The Minotaur.--The


s: The place where we came to descend the bank was rugged, and,


s: because of what was there besides, such that every eye would be


s: As is that ruin which, on this side of Trent, struck the Adige on


s: from the top of the mountain whence it moved, to the plain, the


s: cliff has so fallen down that it might give a path to one who was


s: conceived in the false cow. And when he saw us he bit himself


s: even as one whom wrath rends inwardly. My Sage cried out toward


s: him, "Perchance thou believest that here is the Duke of Athens


s: who up in the world brought death to thee? Get thee gone, beast,


s: for this one comes not instructed by thy sister, but he goes to


s: As a bull that breaks away at the instant he has now received his


s: And that wary one cried out, "Run to the pass; while he is raging


s: discharge of those stones, which often moved under my feet


s: I was going along thinking, and he said, "Thou thinkest perhaps


s: on this ruin which is guarded by that bestial with which I just


s: now quenched. Now would I have thee know that the other time when


s: fallen. But in truth, if I discern clearly, a little ere He came,


s: all its parts the deep foul valley trembled so that I thought the


s: the world has been converted into chaos: and, at that moment,


s: this ancient cliff here and elsewhere made this downfall. But fix


s: Empedocles taught, as Dante may have learned from Aristotle,


s: that Love and Hate were the forces by which the elements of which


s: Love was to draw all things into a simple perfect sphere, by


s: which the common order of the world would be brought to chaos.


s: Oh blind cupidity, both guilty and mad, that so spurs us in the


s: brief life, and then, in the eternal, steeps us so ill!


s: I saw a broad ditch, bent in an arc, like one that embraces all


s: the plain; according as my Guide had said. And between the foot


s: of the bank and it, in a file were running Centaurs armed with


s: arrows, as they were wont in the world to go to the chase. Seeing


s: themselves, with bows and arrows first selected. And one shouted


s: from afar, "To what torment are ye coming, ye who descend the


s: slope? Tell it from there; if not, I draw the bow." My Master


s: said, "We will make answer unto Chiron near you there: ill was it


s: Then he touched me, and said, "That is Nessus, who died for the


s: beautiful Dejanira, and he himself wrought vengeance for himself;


s: great Chiron who nurtured Achilles. That other is Pholus, who was


s: shooting with their arrows what soul lifts itself from the blood


s: We drew near to those fleet wild beasts. Chiron took a shaft, and


s: uncovered his great mouth he said to his companions, "Are ye


s: aware that the one behind moves what he touches? so are not wont


s: to do the feet of the dead." And my good Leader, who was now at


s: his breast, where the two natures are conjoined, replied, "Truly


s: he is alive, and thus all alone it behoves me to show him the


s: dark valley: necessity brings him hither and not delight. One


s: withdrew from singing alleluiah who committed unto me this new


s: office; he is no robber, nor I a thievish spirit. But, by that


s: power through which I move my steps along so savage a road, give


s: to us one of thine, to whom we may be close, that he may show us


s: where the ford is, and may carry this one on his back, for he is


s: not a spirit who can go through the air."


s: Chiron turned upon his right breast, and said to Nessus, "Turn,


s: and guide them thus, and if another troop encounter you, make it


s: We moved on with the trusty escort along the edge of the crimson


s: boiling, in which the boiled were making loud shrieks. I saw folk


s: tyrants who gave themselves to blood and pillage. Here they weep


s: their pitiless offenses: here is Alexander, and cruel Dionysius


s: who caused Sicily to have woeful years. And that front which hath


s: Opizzo of Esti, who in truth was slain by his stepson up there in


s: Then I turned me to the Poet, and he said, "Let him now be


s: first, and I second." A little further on the Centaur stopped


s: above some folk who far as the throat were seen to issue from


s: that boiling stream. He showed to us at one side a solitary


s: shade, and said, "He cleft, in the bosom of God, the heart that


s: still is honored on the Thames." Then I saw folk, who out of


s: the stream held their head, and even all their chest; and of


s: these I recognized many. Thus ever more and more shallow became


s: that blood, until it cooked only the feet: and here was our


s: stabbed during the mass, in a church at Viterbo, by Guy of


s: Montfort, to avenge the death of his father, Simon, Earl of


s: Leicester, in 1261. The heart of the young Prince was placed in a


s: "Even as on this side, thou seest that the boiling stream ever


s: diminishes," said the Centaur, "I would have thee believe that on


s: again where it behoves that tyranny should groan. The divine


s: justice here pierces that Attila who was a scourge on earth, and


s: Pyrrhus and Sextus; and forever milks the tears that with the


s: boiling it unlocks from Rinier of Corneto, and from Rinier Pazzo,


s: Then he turned back and repassed the ford.


s: CANTO XIII. Second round of the Seventh Circle: of those who have


s: Self-murderers.--The Harpies.--Pier delle Vigne.--Lano of Siena


s: Nessus had not yet reached the yonder bank when we set forward


s: through a wood which was marked by no path. Not green leaves but


s: of a dusky color, not smooth boughs but knotty and gnarled, not


s: fruits were there but thorns with poison. Those savage beasts


s: that hold in hate the tilled places between Cecina and Corneto


s: Here the foul Harpies make their nests, who chased the Trojans


s: from the Strophades with dismal announcement of future calamity.


s: They have broad wings, and human necks and faces, feet with


s: claws, and a great feathered belly. They make lament upon the


s: And the good Master, "Before thou enter farther know that thou


s: art in the second round," he began to say to me, "and wilt be,


s: till thou shalt come unto the horrible sand. Therefore look well


s: around, and so thou shalt see things that would take credence


s: Things which if told would seem incredible.


s: I heard wailings uttered on every side, and I saw no one who


s: might make them, wherefore, I, all bewildered, stopped. I believe


s: amid those stumps from people who because of us had hidden


s: Therefore said the Master, "If thou break off a twig from one of


s: these plants, the thoughts thou hast will all be cut short." Then


s: me?" When it had become dark with blood it began again to cry,


s: "Why dost thou tear me? hast thou not any spirit of pity? Men we


s: were, and now we are become stocks; truly thy hand ought to be


s: more pitiful had we been the souls of serpents."


s: As from a green log that is burning at one of its ends, and from


s: the other drips, and hisses with the air that is escaping, so


s: from that broken splinter came out words and blood together;


s: whereon I let the tip fall, and stood like a man who is afraid.


s: "If he had been able to believe before," replied my Sage, "O


s: wounded soul, what he has seen only in my verse, he would not


s: upon thee have stretched his hand. But the incredible thing made


s: me prompt him to an act which grieves my very self. But tell him


s: who thou wast, so that, by way of some amends, he may refresh thy


s: In the story of Polydorus, in the third book of the Aeneid.


s: And the trunk, "So with sweet speech dost thou allure me, that I


s: cannot be silent, and may it not displease you, that I am enticed


s: that from his confidence I kept almost every one. Fidelity so


s: great I bore to the glorious office, that I lost slumber and


s: strength thereby. The harlot, that never from the abode of


s: Caear turned her strumpet eyes,--the common death and vice of


s: courts,--inflamed all minds against me, and they, inflamed, did


s: so inflame Augustus that my glad honors turned to dismal sorrows.


s: made me unjust toward my just self. By the strange roots of this


s: tree I swear to you, that I never broke faith unto my lord who


s: was so worthy of honor. And if one of you returneth to the world,


s: The spirit who speaks is Pier delle Vigne, the Chancellor of


s: Frederick II.; of low birth, he rose to the first place in the


s: state; he was one of the earliest writers of Italian verse. Dante


s: Out of the house of Cesar, thus saith Daunte.


s: A while he paused, and then, "Since he is silent," said the Poet


s: to me, "lose not the hour, but speak and ask of him, if more


s: pleaseth thee." Whereon I to him, "Do thou ask him further of


s: what thou thinkest may satisfy me, for I cannot, such pity fills


s: Therefore he began again, "So may this man do for thee freely


s: what thy speech prays, spirit incarcerate, still be pleased to


s: tell us how the soul is bound within these knots, and tell us, if


s: Then the trunk puffed strongly, and soon that wind was changed


s: into this voice: "Briefly shall ye be answered. When the


s: ferocious soul departeth from the body wherefrom itself hath torn


s: wood, and no part is chosen for it, but where fortune flings it,


s: there it takes root like a grain of spelt; it springs up in a


s: shoot and to a wild plant. The Harpies, feeding then upon its


s: leaves, give pain, and to the pain a window. Like the rest


s: we shall go for our spoils, but not, forsooth, that any one


s: may revest himself with them, for it is not just to have that of


s: which one deprives himself. Hither shall we drag them, and


s: through the melancholy wood shall our bodies be suspended, each


s: on the thorn-tree of his molested shade."


s: The tearing of the leaves gives an outlet to the woe.


s: We were still attentive to the trunk, believing that it might


s: wish to say more to us, when we were surprised by an uproar, as


s: one who perceives the wild boar and the chase coming toward his


s: stand and hears the Feasts and the branches crashing. And behold


s: two on the left hand, naked and scratched, flying so violently


s: that they broke all the limbs of the wood. The one in front was


s: shouting, "Now, help, help, Death!" and the other, who seemed to


s: himself too slow, "Lano, thy legs were not so nimble at the


s: jousts of the Toppo:" and when perhaps his breath was


s: failing, of himself and of a bush he made a group. Behind them


s: greyhounds that have been unleashed. On him that had squatted


s: they set their teeth and tore him to pieces, bit by bit, then


s: Lano was slain in flight at the defeat of the Sienese by the


s: Aretines, near the Pieve del Toppo, in 1280. He and Jacomo were


s: My Guide then took me by the hand, and led me to the bush, which


s: was weeping through its bleeding breaks in vain. "O Jacomo of


s: Sant' Andrea," it was saying, "what hath it vantaged thee to make


s: Master had stopped beside it, he said, "Who wast thou, who


s: through so many wounds blowest forth with blood thy woeful


s: speech?" And he to us, "O souls who art arrived to see the


s: shameful ravage that hath thus disjoined my leaves from me,


s: collect them at the foot of the wretched bush. I was of the city


s: which for the Baptist changed her first patron; wherefore will


s: he always make her sorrowful with his art. And were it not that


s: at the passage of the Arno some semblance of him yet remains,


s: those citizens who afterwards rebuilt it upon the ashes that were


s: The first patron of florence was Mars; a fragment of a statue


s: of whom stood till 1333 on the Ponte Vecchio.


s: It was not Attila, but Totila, who in 542 besieged Florence,


s: and, according to false popular tradition, burned it. The names


s: and personages were frequently confounded in the Dark Ages.


s: CANTO XIV. Third round of the Seventh Circle of those who have


s: done violence to God.--The Burning Sand.--Capaneus.--Figure of


s: Because the charity of my native place constrained me, I gathered


s: Then we came to the confine, where the second round is divided


s: from the third, and where is seen a horrible mode of justice.


s: To make clearly manifest the new things, I say that we had


s: reached a plain which from its bed removeth every plant. The


s: woeful wood is a garland round about it, even as the dismal foss


s: to that. Here, on the very edge, we stayed our steps. The floor


s: was a dry and dense sand, not made in other fashion than that


s: which of old was trodden by the feet of Cato.


s: O vengeance of God, how much thou oughtest to be feared by every


s: one who readeth that which was manifest unto mine eyes!


s: Of naked souls I saw many flocks, that were all weeping very


s: miserably, and diverse law seemed imposed upon them. Some folk


s: were lying supine on the ground, some were seated all crouched


s: up, and others were going about continually. Those who were going


s: Over all the sand, with a slow falling, were raining down dilated


s: which Alexander in those hot parts of India saw falling upon his


s: host, solid to the ground, wherefore he took care to trample the


s: soil by his troops, because the vapor was better extinguished


s: while it was single; so was descending the eternal glow whereby


s: the sand was kindled, like tinder beneath the steel, for doubling


s: hands, now there, now here, brushing from them the fresh burning.


s: I began, "Master, thou that overcomest everything, except the


s: obdurate demons, who at the entrance of the gate came out against


s: lies scornful and contorted, so that the rain seems not to ripen


s: him?" And that same one who had perceived that I was asking my


s: Leader about him, cried out, "Such as I was alive, such am I


s: dead. Though Jove weary his smith, from whom in wrath he took the


s: though he weary the others, turn by turn, in Mongibello at the


s: black forge, crying, 'Good Vulcan, help, help!' even as he did at


s: thereby he should not have glad vengeance."


s: Then my Leader spoke with force so great that I had not heard him


s: Then he turned round to me with better look, saying, "He was one


s: of the Seven Kings that besieged Thebes, and he held, and it


s: appears that he holds God in disdain, and little it appears that


s: he prizes Him; but as I said to him, his own despites are very


s: due adornments for his breast. Now come on behind me, and take


s: heed withal, not to set thy feet upon the burning sand, but keep


s: Silent we came to where spirts forth from the wood a little


s: streamlet, the redness of which still makes me shudder. As from


s: the Bulicame issues a brooklet, which then the sinful women share


s: and both its sloping banks were made of stone, and the margins on


s: The Bulicame, a hot spring near Viterbo, much frequented as a


s: bath, the use of a portion of which was assigned to "sinful


s: The crossing of the breadth of the round of burning sand, on


s: "Among all else that I have shown to thee, since we entered


s: through the gate whose threshold is barred to no one, nothing has


s: which deadens all the flamelets upon it." These words were of my


s: Leader, wherefore I prayed him, that he should give me largess of


s: "In mid sea sits a wasted land," said he then, "which is named


s: Crete, under whose king the world of old was chaste. A mountain


s: is there that of old was glad with waters and with leaves, which


s: is called Ida; now it is desert, like a thing outworn. Rhea chose


s: mountain stands erect a great old man, who holds his shoulders


s: turned towards Damietta, and looks at Rome as if his mirror. His


s: head is formed of fine gold, and pure silver are his arms and


s: breast; then he is of brass far as to the fork. From there


s: downward he is all of chosen iron, save that his right foot is of


s: other. Every part except the gold is cleft with a fissure that


s: trickles tears, which collected perforate that cavern. Their


s: course falls from rock to rock into this valley; they form


s: Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon; then it goes down through this


s: narrow channel far as where there is no more descending. They


s: form Cocytus, and what that pool is, thou shalt see; therefore


s: This image is taken directly from the dream of Nebuchadnezzar


s: (Daniel ii. 31-33). It is the type of the ages of tradition and


s: history, with its back to the past, its face toward Rome,--the


s: seat of the Empire and of the Church. The tears of the sin and


s: suffering of the generations of man form the rivers of Hell.


s: And I to him, "If the present rill floweth down thus from our


s: world, why doth it appear to us only at this rim?"


s: And he to me, "Thou knowest that the place is round, and though


s: thou art come far, ever to the left descending toward the bottom,


s: And I again, "Master, where are Phlegethon and Lethe found, for


s: of the one thou art silent, and of the other thou sayest that it


s: "In all thy questions surely thou pleasest me," he answered, "but


s: askest. Lethe thou shalt see, but outside of this ditch, there


s: where souls go to lave themselves when sin repented of is taken


s: away." Then he said, "Now it is time to depart from the wood;


s: take heed that thou come behind me; the margins afford way, for


s: they are not burning, and above them all the vapor is


s: CANTO XV. Third round of the Seventh Circle: of those who have


s: done violence to Nature.--Brunetto Latini.--Prophecies of


s: Now one of the hard margins bears us on, and the fume of the


s: brook overshadows so that it saves the water and the banks from


s: the fire. As the Flemings, between Wissant and Bruges, fearing


s: sea is routed; and as the Paduans along the Brenta, in order to


s: defend their towns and castles, ere Chiarentana feel the


s: heat,--in such like were these made, though neither so high nor


s: so thick had the master, whoever he was, made them.


s: The mountain range north of the Brenta, by the floods from


s: which the river is swollen in the spring.


s: We were now so remote from the wood that I could not have seen


s: where it was though I had turned me round to look, when we


s: encountered a troop of souls which was coming along by the bank,


s: and each of them was looking at us, as at eve one is wont to look


s: toward us as the old tailor does on the needle's eye.


s: Thus gazed at by that company, I was recognized by one who took


s: me by the hem, and cried out, "What a marvel!" And when he


s: stretched out his arm to me, I fixed my eyes on his baked aspect


s: so that his scorched visage prevented not my mind from


s: recognizing him; and bending down my own to his face, I answered,


s: displease thee if Brunetto Latini turn a little back with thee,


s: and let the train go on." I said to him, "With all my power I


s: pray this of you, and if you will that I seat myself with you I


s: will do so, if it pleaseth this one, for I go with him." "O son,"


s: hundred years without fanning himself when the fire smites him;


s: therefore go onward, I will come at thy skirts, and then I will


s: rejoin my band which goeth weeping its eternal sufferings."


s: Brunetto Latini, one of the most learned and able Florentines


s: of the thirteenth century. He was banished with the other chiefs


s: of the Guelph party, after the battle of Montaperti, in 1260, and


s: master of Dante and Guido Cavalcanti. His principal literary work


s: compend of the omne scibile. He died in 1290. Dante uses the


s: plural "you" in addressing him, as a sign of respect.


s: I dared not descend from the road to go level with him, but I


s: held my head bowed like one who goes reverently. He began, "What


s: fortune, or destiny, ere the last day, brings thee down here? and


s: "There above, in the clear life," I answered him, "I lost myself


s: in a valley, before my time was full. Only yester morn I turned


s: my back on it; this one appeared to me as I was returning to


s: it, and he is leading me homeward along this path."


s: Dante never speaks Virgil's name in Hell.


s: And he to me: "If thou follow thy star, thou canst not miss the


s: glorious port, if, in the beautiful life, I discerned aright. And


s: thee I would have given cheer unto thy work. But that ungrateful


s: populace malign which descended from Fiesole of old, and


s: smacks yet of the mountain and the rock, will hate thee because


s: of thy good deeds; and this is right, for among the bitter sorb


s: trees it is not fitting the sweet fig should bear fruit. Old


s: report in the world calls them blind; it is a people avaricious,


s: envious, and proud; from their customs take heed that thou keep


s: thyself clean. Thy fortune reserves such honor for thee that one


s: party and the other shall hunger for thee; but far from the goat


s: shall be the grass. Let the Fiesolan beasts make litter of


s: themselves, and touch not the plant, if any spring still upon


s: their dungheap, in which may live again the holy seed of those


s: Romans who remained there when it became the nest of so much


s: After his flight from Rome Catiline betook himself to


s: Faesulae (Fiesole), and here for a time held out against the


s: Roman forces. The popular tradition ran that, after his defeat,


s: Faesulae was destroyed, and its people, together with a colony


s: from Rome, made a settlement on the banks of the Arno, below the


s: mountain on which Faesulae had stood. The new town was named


s: Fiora, siccome fosse in fiore edificata, "as though built among


s: flowers," but afterwards was called Fiorenza, or Florence. See G.


s: "If all my entreaty were fulfilled," replied I to him, "you would


s: of you, when in the world hour by hour you taught me how man


s: makes himself eternal and in what gratitude I hold it, so long as


s: which you tell me of my course I write, and reserve it to be


s: glossed with other text, by a Lady, who will know how, if I


s: attain to her. Thus much would I have manifest to you: if only


s: that my conscience chide me not, for Fortune, as she will, I am


s: ready. Such earnest is not strange unto my ears; therefore let


s: Fortune turn her wheel as pleases her, and the churl his


s: The prophecy by Ciacco of the fall of Dante's party, Canto


s: vi., and that by Farinata of Dante's exile, Canto x., which


s: Virgil had told should be made clear to him by Beatrice.


s: My Master then upon his right side turned himself back, and


s: looked at me; then said, "He listens well who notes it."


s: Not the less for this do I go on speaking with Sir Brunetto, and


s: I ask, who are his most known and most eminent companions. And he


s: laudable for us, for the time would be short for so much speech.


s: In brief, know that all were clerks, and great men of letters,


s: and of great fame, defiled in the world with one same sin.


s: Priscian goes along with that disconsolate crowd, and Francesco


s: of Accorso; and thou mightest also have seen, hadst thou had


s: desire of such scurf, him who by the Servant of Servants was


s: translated from Arno to Bacchiglione, where he left his


s: ill-strained nerves. Of more would I tell, but the going on


s: and the speech cannot be longer, for I see yonder a new cloud


s: rising from the sand. Folk come with whom I must not be. Let my


s: Tesoro be commended to thee, in which I still am living, and more


s: Priscian, the famous grammarian of the sixth century; Francis


s: of Accorso, a jurist of great repute, who taught at Oxford and at


s: Andrea de Mozzi, bishop of Florence, translated by Boniface


s: Then he turned back, and seemed of those who run at Verona for


s: the green cloth across the plain, and of these he seemed the


s: The prize in the annual races at Verona.


s: CANTO XVI. Third round of the Seventh Circle: of those who have


s: done violence to Nature.--Guido Guerra, Tegghiaio Aldobrandi and


s: Now was I in a place where the resounding of the water that was


s: falling into the next circle was heard, like that hum which the


s: beehives make, when three shades together separated themselves,


s: running, from a troop that was passing under the rain of the


s: bitter torment. They came toward us, and each cried out, "Stop


s: thou, that by thy garb seemest to us to be one from our wicked


s: Ah me! what wounds I saw upon their limbs, recent and old, burnt


s: in by the flames. Still it grieves me for them but to remember


s: To their cries my Teacher gave heed; he turned his face toward


s: me, and "Now wait," he said; "to these one should be courteous,


s: and were it not for the fire that the nature of the place shoots


s: out, I should say that haste better befitted thee than them."


s: They began again, when we stopped, the old verse, and when they


s: had reached us they made a wheel of themselves all three. As


s: champions naked and oiled are wont to do, watching their hold and


s: wheeling, each directed his face on me, so that his neck in


s: contrary direction to his feet was making continuous journey.


s: "Ah! if the misery of this shifting sand bring us and our prayers


s: aspect, let our fame incline thy mind to tell us who thou art,


s: that so securely plantest thy living feet in Hell. He whose


s: tracks thou seest me trample, though he go naked and singed, was


s: of greater state than thou thinkest. Grandson he was of the good


s: Gualdrada; his name was Guidoguerra, and in his life he did much


s: with counsel, and with the sword. The other who treads the sand


s: behind me is Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, whose fame should be welcome


s: in the world above. And I, who am set with them on the cross, was


s: Concerning Tegghiaio and Rusticucci Dante had enquired of


s: Ciacco, Canto vi. They and Guido Guerra were illustrious citizens


s: by Villani and Ricordano Malespini. The good Gualdrada, famed for


s: Bellincione Berti, referred to in Cantos w. and wi. of Paradise


s: as one of the early worthies of the city. See O. Villani,


s: If I could have been sheltered from the fire I would have cast


s: myself below among them, and I think that the Teacher would have


s: permitted it; but because I should have been scorched and baked,


s: fear overcame my good will that made me greedy to embrace them.


s: Then I began: "Not contempt, but grief, did your condition fix


s: within me, so that slowly will it be all divested, soon as this


s: my Lord said words to me by which I understood that such folk as


s: ye are might be coming. Of your city I am; and always your deeds


s: and honored names have I retraced and heard with affection. I


s: leave the gall and go for the sweet fruits promised me by my


s: veracious Leader; but far as the centre needs must I first


s: "So may thy soul long direct thy limbs," replied he then, "and so


s: short while, and goes yonder with our companions, afflicts us


s: Nothing is known from contemporary record of Borsiere, but


s: Boccaccio tells a story of him in the Decameron, giorn. i. nov.


s: "The new people and the sudden gains  have generated pride and


s: excess, Florence, in thee, so that already thou weepest thereat."


s: that for answer, looked one at the other, as men look at hearing


s: Florence had grown rapidly in population and in wealth during


s: the last years of the thirteenth century.


s: "If other times it costeth thee so little," replied they all, "to


s: Therefore, if thou escapest from these dark places, and returnest


s: say, 'I have been,' mind thou speak of us unto the people." Then


s: they broke the wheel, and in flying their swift legs seemed


s: Not an amen could have been said so quickly as they had


s: disappeared; wherefore it seemed good to my Master to depart. I


s: followed him, and we had gone little way before the sound of the


s: water was so near to us, that had we spoken we scarce had heard.


s: As that river on the left slope of the Apennine, which, the first


s: low bed, and at Forli no longer has that name, --reverberates


s: from the alp in falling with a single leap there above San


s: Benedetto, where there ought to be shelter for a thousand;


s: thus down from a precipitous bank we found that dark-tinted water


s: At Forli the river is called the Montone; it was the first of


s: the rivers on the left of the Apennines that had its course to


s: the sea; the others before it being tributaries of the Po, which


s: These last words are obscure, and none of the commentators


s: I had a cord girt around me, and with it I had once thought to


s: take the leopard of the dappled skin. After I had loosed it


s: wholly from me, even as my Leader had commanded me, I reached it


s: to him wound up and coiled. Whereon he turned toward the right,


s: and somewhat far from the edge threw it down into that deep


s: abyss. "And surely some strange thing must needs respond," said I


s: The leopard of the dappled skin, which had often turned


s: back Dante from the Mountain to the Dark Wood (see Canto i.); the


s: asceticism, of which the poet no longer has need. The meaning of


s: Ah! how cautious men ought to be near those who see not only the


s: act, but with their wisdom look within the thoughts. He said to


s: me: "Soon will come up that which I await, and what thy thought


s: is dreaming must soon discover itself unto thy sight."


s: To that truth which has the aspect of falsehood ought one always


s: to close his lips so far as he can, because without fault it


s: causes shame; but here I cannot be silent, and by the notes of


s: this comedy, Reader, I swear to thee,--so may they not be void of


s: shape come swimming upwards marvelous to every steadfast heart;


s: like as he returns who goes down sometimes to loose an anchor


s: that grapples either a rock or other thing that in the sea is


s: hid, who stretches upward, and draws in his feet.


s: Because the narrator is falsely taxed with falsehood.


s: CANTO XVII. Third round of the Seventh Circle: of those who have


s: done violence to Art.--Geryon.--The Usurers.--Descent to the


s: "Behold the wild beast with the pointed tail, that passes


s: mountains, and breaks walls and weapons; behold him that infects


s: all the world." Thus began my Leader to speak to me; and he


s: beckoned to him that he should come to shore near the end of the


s: trodden marbles. And that loathsome image of fraud came


s: onward, and landed his head and his body, but drew not his tail


s: upon the bank. His face was the face of a just man (so benignant


s: was its skin outwardly), and of a serpent all the trunk beside;


s: he had two paws, hairy to the armpits; his back and breast and


s: both his sides were painted with nooses and circles. With more


s: colors of woof and warp Tartars or Turks never made cloth, nor


s: Dante makes Geryon the type and image of Fraud, thus


s: allegorizing the triple form (forma tricorperis umbrae: Aeneid


s: vi. 289; tergemini Geryonae; Id. viii. 292) ascribed to him by


s: The stony margin of Phlegethon, on which Virgil and Dante


s: As sometimes boats lie on the shore, so that they are partly in


s: water and partly on the ground, and as yonder, among the


s: gluttonous Germans, the beaver settles himself to make his


s: war, so lay that worst of beasts upon the rim that closes in


s: the sand with stone. In the void all his tail was quivering,


s: twisting upwards its venomous fork, which like a scorpion's armed


s: With his tail in the water to catch his prey, as was


s: The Leader said: "Now needs must our way bend a little toward


s: that wicked beast that is couching there." Therefore we descended


s: avoid the sand and flame. And when we had come to it, I see, a


s: little farther on, people sitting upon the sand near to the void


s: These people are the third class of sinners punished in this


s: round of the Seventh Circle, those who have done violence to Art,


s: Here the Master said to me: "In order that thou mayst bear away


s: complete experience of this round, now go and see their


s: condition. Let thy discourse there be brief. Till thou returnest


s: I will speak with this one, that he may concede to us his strong


s: Thus, still up by the extreme head of that seventh circle, all


s: alone, I went where the sad people were sitting. Through the eyes


s: their hands, sometimes against the vapors, and sometimes


s: against the hot soil. Not otherwise do the dogs in summer, now


s: with muzzle, now with paw, when they are bitten either by fleas,


s: or flies, or gadflies. When I set my eyes on the face of some on


s: whom the woeful fire falls, not one of them I recognized; but


s: I perceived that from the neck of each was hanging a pouch, that


s: had a certain color and a certain device, and thereupon it


s: seems their eyes feed. And as I looking come among them, I saw


s: upon a yellow purse azure that had the face and bearing of a


s: lion. Then as the current of my look proceeded I saw another,


s: red as blood, display a goose whiter than butter. And one, who


s: had his little white bag marked with an azure and pregnant


s: sow, said to me, "What art thou doing in this ditch? Now get


s: thee gone, and since thou art still alive, know that my neighbor,


s: am I, a Paduan; often they stun my ears shouting, "Let the


s: sovereign cavalier come who will bring the pouch with the three


s: goats." Then he twisted his mouth, and stuck out his tongue,


s: Dante thus indicates that they were not worthy to be known.


s: The blazon of their arms, by which Dante learns who they are.


s: This was the device of the Gianfigliazzi, a Guelph family of


s: Florence; the next was that of the Ubriachi, Ghibellines, also of


s: One Giovanni Buiamonte of Florence, "who surpassed all others


s: of the time in usury," says Benvenuto da Imola.


s: And I, fearing lest longer stay might vex him who had admonished


s: me to stay but little, turned back from these weary souls. I


s: found my Leader, who had already mounted upon the croup of the


s: fierce animal, and he said to me, "Now be strong and courageous;


s: henceforth the descent is by such stairs;  mount thou in


s: front, for I wish to be between, so that the tail cannot do thee


s: Not by foot, nor by boat as heretofore, but carried by living


s: As is he who hath the shivering fit of the quartan so near that


s: his nails are already pallid, and he is all of a tremble only


s: looking at the shade, such I became at these words uttered. But


s: his reproaches wrought shame in me, which in presence of a good


s: I seated myself on those huge shoulders. I wished to speak thus,


s: "Take heed that thou embrace me," but the voice came not as I had


s: soon as I mounted, clasped and sustained me with his arms: and he


s: descending slow; consider the strange burden that thou hast."


s: As a little vessel goeth from its place, backward, backward, so


s: he thence withdrew; and when he felt himself quite at play, he


s: turned his tail to where his breast had been, and moved it,


s: stretched out like an eel, and with his paws gathered the air to


s: himself. Greater fear I do not think there was when Phaethon


s: abandoned the reins, whereby heaven, as is still apparent, was


s: scorched; nor when the wretched Icarus felt his flanks


s: unfeathering through the melting of the wax, his father shouting


s: to him, "Ill way thou holdest," than mine was, when I saw that I


s: was in the air on every side, and saw every sight vanished,


s: except that of the beast. He goes along swimming very slowly,


s: wheels and descends, but I perceive it not, save by the wind upon


s: I heard now on the right hand the gorge making beneath us a


s: horrible roar; wherefore I stretch out my head, with my eyes


s: downward. Then I became more afraid to lean over, because I saw


s: fires and heard laments; whereat I, trembling, wholly cowered


s: back. And I saw then, what I had not seen before, the descending


s: and the wheeling, by the great evils that were drawing near on


s: As the falcon which has been long on wing, that, without sight of


s: descends weary, there whence he had set forth swiftly, through a


s: hundred circles, and lights far from his master, disdainful and


s: sullen; so Geryon set us at the bottom, at the very foot of the


s: scarped rock, and, disburdened of our persons, darted away as


s: There is a place in Hell called Malebolge, all of stone of the


s: color of iron, as is the encircling wall that surrounds it. Right


s: and deep, the structure of which I will tell of in its place.


s: That belt, therefore, which remains between the abyss and the


s: foot of the high bank is circular, and it has its ground divided


s: into ten valleys. Such an aspect as where, for guard of the


s: walls, many moats encircle castles, the place where they are


s: presents, such image did these make here. And as in such


s: strongholds from their thresholds to the outer bank are little


s: bridges, so from the base of the precipitous wall started crags


s: In this place, shaken off from the back of Geryon, we found


s: ourselves; and the Poet held to the left, and I moved on behind.


s: On the right hand I saw new sorrow, new torments, and new


s: scourgers, with which the first pit  was replete. At its


s: bottom were the sinners naked. This side the middle they came


s: facing us; on the farther side with us, but with swifter pace. As


s: have taken means upon the bridge for the passage of the people,


s: who on one side all have their front toward the Castle, and go


s: to Saint Peter's, and on the other toward the Mount.


s: Bolgia, literally, budget, purse, sack, here used for


s: The year 1299-1300, from Christmas to Easter.


s: Along the gloomy rock, on this side and on that, I saw horned


s: demons with great scourges, who were beating them cruelly from


s: behind. Ah! how they made them lift their heels at the first


s: blows; truly not one waited for the second, or the third.


s: While I was going on, my eyes encountered one, and I said


s: straightway, "Ere now for sight of him I have not fasted;"


s: wherefore to shape him out I stayed my feet, and the sweet Leader


s: that scourged one thought to conceal himself by lowering his


s: face, but little it availed him, for I said: "O thou that castest


s: not false, thou art Venedico Caccianimico; but what brings thee


s: And he to me, "Unwillingly I tell it, but thy clear speech


s: compels me, which makes me recollect the olden world. I was he


s: who brought the beautiful Ghisola to do the will of the


s: Marquis, how ever the shameful tale may be reported. And not the


s: only Bolognese do I weep here, nay, this place is so full of


s: them, that so many tongues are not now taught between Savena and


s: the Reno to say sipa;  and if of this thou wishest pledge or


s: testimony, bring to mind our avaricious heart." As he spoke thus


s: a demon struck him with his scourge and said, "Begone, pandar,


s: His own sister; the unseemly tale is known only through Dante


s: and his fourteenth-century commentators, and the latter, while


s: agreeing that the Marquis was one of the Esti of Ferrara, do not


s: Bologna lies between the Savena and the Reno; sipa is the


s: I rejoined my Escort; then with few steps we came to where a crag


s: turning to the right upon its ridge, from those eternal


s: Forming a bridge, thrown like an arch across the pit.


s: The course of the Poets, which has mostly been to the left


s: through the upper Circles, is now generally to proceed straight


s: across the lower Circles where Fraud is punished. They had been


s: going to the left at the foot of the precipice, and consequently


s: turn to the right to ascend the bridge. The allegorical intention


s: When we were there where it opens below to give passage to the


s: scourged, the Leader said, "Stop, and let the sight strike on


s: thee of these other miscreants, of whom thou hast not yet seen


s: the face, because they have gone along in the same direction with


s: From the ancient bridge we looked at the train that was coining


s: toward us from the other side, and which the whip in like manner


s: drives on. The good Master, without my asking, said to me, "Look


s: at that great one who is coming, and seems not to shed a tear for


s: courage and by wit despoiled the Colchians of their ram. He


s: passed by the isle of Lemnos, after the undaunted women pitiless


s: had given all their males to death. There with tokens and with


s: ornate words he deceived Hypsipyle, the maiden, who first had


s: deceived all the rest. There he left her pregnant, and alone;


s: such sin condemns him to such torment; and also for Medea is


s: vengeance done. With him goes whoso in such wise deceives. And


s: let this suffice to know of the first valley, and of those that


s: and makes of it shoulders for another arch. Here we heard people


s: moaning in the next pit, and snorting with their muzzles, and


s: with their palms beating themselves. The banks were encrusted


s: with a mould because of the breath from below that sticks on


s: them, and was making quarrel with the eyes and with the nose. The


s: it, without mounting on the crest of the arch where the crag


s: rises highest. Hither we came, and thence, down in the ditch, I


s: saw people plunged in an excrement that seemed as if it proceeded


s: And while I am searching down there with my eye, I saw one with


s: his head so foul with ordure that it was not apparent whether he


s: were layman or clerk. He shouted to me, "Why art so greedy to


s: look more at me than at the other filthy ones?" And I to him,


s: "Because, if I remember rightly, ere now I have seen thee with


s: dry hair, and thou art Alessio Interminei of Lucca; therefore


s: I eye thee more than all the rest." And he then, beating his


s: pate, "Down here those flatteries wherewith my tongue was never


s: Of him nothing is known but what these words tell.


s: Hereupon my Leader, "Mind thou push thy sight a little farther


s: forward so that with thine eyes thou mayest quite reach the face


s: of that dirty and disheveled creature, who is scratching herself


s: there with her nasty nails, and now is crouching down and now


s: standing on foot. She is Thais the prostitute, who answered her


s: paramour when he said, 'Have I great thanks from thee?'--'Nay,


s: marvelous.'"  And herewith let our sight be satisfied.


s: These words are derived from Terence, Eunuchus, act iii. sc.


s: CANTO XIX. Eighth Circle third pit: simonists.--Pope Nicholas


s: Oh Simon Magus! Oh ye his wretched followers, who, rapacious, do


s: prostitute for gold and silver the things of God that ought to be


s: Already were we come to the next tomb, mounted on that part of


s: the crag which just above the middle of the ditch hangs plumb. Oh


s: Heaven, on Earth, and in the Evil World! and how justly doth Thy


s: I saw along the sides, and over the bottom, the livid stone full


s: of holes all of one size, and each was circular. They seemed to


s: me not less wide nor larger than those that in my beautiful Saint


s: many years ago, I broke for sake of one who was stifling in it;


s: and be this the seal to undeceive all men. Forth from the mouth


s: of each protruded the feet of a sinner, and his legs up to the


s: calf, and the rest was within. The soles of all were both on


s: fire, wherefore their joints quivered so violently that they


s: would have snapped withes and bands. As the flaming of things


s: oiled is wont to move only on the outer surface, so was it there


s: "My beautiful Saint John" is the Baptistery at Florence. In


s: Dante's time the infants, born during the year, were all here


s: baptized by immersion, mostly on the day of St. John Baptist, the


s: the church, and around it in its marble wall were four


s: cylindrical standing-places for the priests, closed by doors, to


s: protect them from the pressure of the crowd.


s: "Who is he, Master, that writhes, quivering more than the others


s: his consorts," said I, "and whom a ruddier flame is sucking?" And


s: of his wrongs." And I, "Whatever pleaseth thee even so is good to


s: will, and thou knowest that which is unspoken."


s: The whole of the Eighth circle slopes toward the centre, so


s: that the inner wall of each bolgia is lower, and is less sharply


s: left hand, down to the bottom pierced with holes, and narrow. And


s: brought me to the cleft of him who was thus lamenting with his


s: "O whoe'er thou art, that keepest upside down, sad soul, planted


s: like a stake," I began to say, "speak, if thou canst." I was


s: standing like the friar who confesses the perfidious assassin,


s: who, after he is fixed, recalls him, in order to delay his death.


s: Such criminals were not infrequently punished by being set,


s: head downwards, in a hole in which they were buried alive.


s: And he cried out, "Art thou already standing there? Art thoh


s: already standing there, Boniface? By several years the record


s: lied to me. Art thou so quickly sated with that having, for which


s: This is Nicholas III., pope from 1277 to 1280; he takes Dante


s: to be Boniface VIII., but Boniface was not to die till 1303.


s: Compare what Nicholas says of "the record" with Farinata's


s: statement, in Canto X, concerning the foresight of the damned.


s: The Church, to which Boniface did outrage in many forms;


s: Such I became as those that, not comprehending that which is


s: replied to them, stand as if mocked, and know not what to answer.


s: Then Virgil said, "Tell him quickly, I am not he, I am not he


s: thou thinkest." And I answered as was enjoined on me; whereat the


s: tearful voice, he said to me, "Then what dost thou require of me?


s: crossed the bank therefor, know that I was vested with the Great


s: Mantle; and verily I was a son of the She-Bear, so eager to


s: advance the cubs, that up there I put wealth, and here myself,


s: into the purse. Beneath my head are stretched the others that


s: preceded me in simony, flattened through the fissures of the


s: rock. There below shall I likewise sink, when he shall come whom


s: I believed thou wert, then when I put to thee the sudden


s: question; but already the time is longer that I have cooked my


s: feet, and that I have been thus upside down, than he will stay


s: planted with red feet; for after him will come, of uglier deed,


s: from westward, a shepherd without law, such as must cover him


s: and me again. A new Jason will he be, of whom it is read in


s: Maccabees; and as to that one his king was compliant, so unto


s: Clement V., who will come from Avignon, and in a little more


s: than ten years after the death of Boniface. Nicholas had already


s: "cooked his feet" for twenty years. The prophecy of the death of


s: Clement after a shorter time affords an indication that this


s: canto was not written until after 1314, the year of his death.


s: The story of Jason, "that ungodly wretch and no high-priest"


s: Maccabees iv. Its application to the Pope was plain.


s: "He who rules France" was Philip the Fair.


s: I know not if here I was too audacious that I only answered him


s: in this strain, "Pray now tell me how much treasure our Lord


s: desired of Saint Peter before he placed the keys in his keeping?


s: Surely he required nothing save 'Follow me.' Nor did Peter or the


s: the place which the guilty soul had lost. Therefore stay thou,


s: for thou art rightly punished, and guard well the ill-gotten


s: money that against Charles made thee to be bold. And were it


s: not that reverence for the Supreme Keys that thou heldest in the


s: glad life still forbiddeth me, I would use words still more


s: grave; for your avarice saddens the world, trampling down the


s: good and exalting the bad. Of you shepherds the Evangelist was


s: aware, when she that sitteth upon the waters was seen by him to


s: fornicate with kings: that woman that was born with the seven


s: heads, and from the ten horns had evidence, so long as virtue


s: pleased her spouse. Ye have made you a god of gold and silver:


s: and what difference is there between you and the idolater save


s: that he worships one and ye a hundred? Ah Constantine! of how


s: much ill was mother, not thy conversion, but that dowry which the


s: Charles of Anjou, of whom Nicholas III, was the enemy. He was


s: charged with having been bribed to support the attempt to expel


s: the French from Sicily, which began with the Sicilian Vespers in


s: Dante deals freely with the figures of the Apocalypse:


s: Revelation vii. The woman here stands for the Church; her seven


s: heads may be interpreted as the Seven Sacraments, and her ten


s: horns as the Commandments; her spouse is the Pope.


s: The reference is to the so-called Donation of Constantine,


s: the reality of which was generally accepted till long after


s: And, while I was singing these notes to him, whether anger or


s: conscience stung him, he violently quivered with both feet. I


s: believe, forsooth, that it had pleased my Leader, with so


s: contented look be listened ever to the sound of the true words


s: uttered. Thereupon with both his arms he took me, and when he had


s: descended. Nor did he tire of holding me clasped till he had


s: borne me up to the summit of the arch which is the passage from


s: burden, softly because of the ragged and steep crag, that would


s: be a difficult pass for goats. Thence another great valley was


s: CANTO XX. Eighth Circle: fourth pit: diviners, soothsayers, and


s: Of a new punishment needs must I make verses, and give matetial


s: to the twentieth canto of the first lay, which is of the


s: I was now wholly set on looking into the disclosed depth that was


s: weeping, through the circular valley, at the pace at which


s: lltanies go in this world. As my sight descended deeper among


s: them, each appeared marvelously distorted from the chin to the


s: beginning of the chest; for toward their reins their face was


s: turned, and they must needs go backwards, because they were


s: deprived of looking forward. Perchance sometimes by force of


s: palsy one has been thus completely twisted, but I never saw it,


s: So may God let thee, Reader, gather fruit from thy reading, now


s: think for thyself how I could keep my face dry, when near by I


s: saw our image so contorted that the weeping of the eyes bathed


s: the buttocks along the cleft. Truly I wept, leaning on one of the


s: also one of the fools? Here pity liveth when it is quite dead.


s: Who is more wicked than he who feels compassion at the Divine


s: Judgment? Lift up thy head, lift up, and see him  for whom the


s: earth opened before the eyes of the Thebans, whereon they shouted


s: the war?' And he stopped not from falling headlong down far as


s: Minos, who seizes hold of every one. Look, how he has made a


s: breast of his shoulders! Because he wished to see too far before


s: him, he looks behind and makes a backward path.


s: It is impossible to give the full significance of Dante's


s: words in a literal translation, owing to the double meaning of


s: pieta in the original. Qui viva la pieta quando e ben morta.


s: That is: "Here liveth piety when pity is quite dead."


s: One of the seven kings who besieged Thebes, augur and


s: prophet. Dante found his story in Statius, Thebais, viii. 84.


s: "See Tiresias, who changed his semblance, when from a male he


s: became a female, his members all of them being transformed; and


s: afterwards was obliged to strike once more the two entwined


s: serpents with his rod, ere he could regain his masculine plumage.


s: mountains of Luni (where grubs the Carrarese who dwells beneath),


s: at the stars and the sea his view was not cut off.


s: The Theban soothsayer. Dante had learned of him from Ovid.,


s: Metam., iii. 320 sqq., as well as from Statius.


s: An Etruscan haruspex of whom Lucan tells,--Arens incoluit


s: "And she who with her loose tresses covers her breasts, which


s: thou dost not see, and has on that side all her hairy skin, was


s: Manto, who sought through many lands, then settled there where


s: I was born; whereof it pleases me that thou listen a little to


s: me. After her father had departed from life, and the city of


s: Bacchus had become enslaved, long while she wandered through the


s: world. Up in fair Italy lies a lake, at foot of the alp that


s: shuts in Germany above Tyrol, and it is called Benaco. Through


s: a thousand founts, I think, and more, between Garda and Val


s: Camonica, the Apennine is bathed by the water which settles in


s: that lake. Midway is a place where the Trentine Pastor and he of


s: Brescia and the Veronese might each give his blessing if he took


s: that road. Peschiera, fortress fair and strong, sits to


s: confront the Brescians and Bergamasques, where the shore round


s: about is lowest. Thither needs must fall all that which in the


s: lap of Benaco cannot stay, and it becomes a river down through


s: the verdant pastures. Soon as the water gathers head to run, no


s: longer is it called Benaco, but Mincio, far as Governo, where it


s: falls into the Po. No long course it hath before it finds a


s: plain, on which it spreads, and makes a marsh, and is wont in


s: summer sometimes to be noisome. Passing that way, the cruel


s: virgin saw a land in the middle of the fen without culture and


s: bare of inhabitants. There, to avoid all human fellowship, she


s: stayed with her servants to practice her arts, and lived, and


s: left there her empty body. Afterward the men who were scattered


s: round about gathered to that place, which was strong because of


s: the fen which surrounded it. They built the city over those dead


s: hones, and for her, who first had chosen the place, they called


s: it Mantua, without other augury. Of old its people were more


s: thick within it, before the stupidity of Casalodi had been


s: tricked by Pinamonte. Therefore I warn thee, that if thou ever


s: hearest otherwise the origin of my town, no falsehood may defraud


s: The daughter of Tiresias, of whom Statius, Ovid, and Virgil


s: The Count of Casalodi, being lord of Mantua about 1276,


s: gave ear to the treacherous counsels of Messer Pinamonte de


s: Buonacorsi, and was driven, with his friends, from the city.


s: And I, "Master, thy discourses are so certain to me, and so lay


s: hold on my faith, that the others would be to me as dead embers.


s: But tell me of the people who are passing, if thou seest any one


s: of them worthy of note; for only unto that my mind reverts."


s: Then he said to me, "That one, who from his cheek stretches his


s: beard upon his dusky shoulders, was an augur when Greece was so


s: emptied of males that they scarce remained for the cradles, and


s: with Calchas at Aulis he gave the moment for cutting the first


s: cable. Eurypylus was his name, and thus my lofty Tragedy sings


s: him in some place; well knowest thou this, who knowest the


s: whole of it. That other who is so small in the flanks was Michael


s: Guido Bonatti, see Asdente, who now would wish he had


s: attended to his leather and his thread, but late repents. See the


s: and became fortune-tellers; they wrought spells with herb and


s: Suspensi Eurypylum scitantem oracula Phoebi


s: A famous astrologer of Forli, in the thirteenth century.


s: Dante, in the Canvito, trattato iv. c. 16, says that if


s: NOBLE meant being widely known, then "Asdente, the shoemaker of


s: Parma, would be more noble than any of his fellow-citizens."


s: "But come on now, for already Cain with his thorns  holds the


s: confines of both the hemispheres, and touches the wave below


s: Seville. And already yesternight was the moon round; well


s: shouldst thou remember it, for it did thee no harm sometimes in


s: the deep wood." Thus he spoke to me, and we went on the while.


s: The Man in the Moon, according to an old popular legend.


s: CANTO XXI. Eighth Circle: fifth pit: barrators.--A magistrate of


s: Lucca.--The Malebranche.--Parley with them.


s: So from bridge to bridge we went, speaking other things, which my


s: lamentations; and I saw it wonderfully dark.


s: As in the Arsenal of the Venetians, in winter, the sticky pitch


s: for smearing their unsound vessels is boiling, because they


s: cannot go to sea, and, instead thereof, one builds him a new


s: bark, and one caulks the sides of that which hath made many a


s: voyage; one hammers at the prow, and one at the stern; another


s: makes oars, and another twists the cordage; and one the foresail


s: and the mainsail patches,--so, not by fire, but by divine art, a


s: thick pitch was boiling there below, which belimed the bank on


s: every side. I saw it, but saw not in it aught but the bubbles


s: which the boiling raised, and all of it swelling up and again


s: While I was gazing down there fixedly, my Leader, saying, "Take


s: heed! take heed!" drew me to himself from the place where I was


s: standing. Then I turned as one who is slow to see what it behoves


s: depart in order to see. And I saw behind us a black devil come


s: running up along the crag. Ah! how fell he was in aspect, and how


s: his feet! His shoulder, which was sharp and high, was laden by a


s: sinner with both haunches, the sinew of whose feet he held


s: clutched. "O Malebranche of our bridge," he said, "lo, one of


s: the Ancients of Saint Zita put him under, for I return again


s: to that city, which I have furnished well with them; every man


s: there is a barrator, except Bonturo: there, for money, of


s: No they make Ay." He hurled him down, and along the hard crag he


s: turned, and never mastiff loosed was in such haste to follow a


s: One of the chief magistrates of Lucca, whose special


s: A corrupt official, selling justice or office for bribes; in


s: That one sank under, and came up back uppermost, but the demons


s: that had shelter of the bridge cried out, "Here the Holy Face


s: avails not; here one swims otherwise than in the Serchio;


s: therefore, if thou dost not want our grapples, make no show above


s: thou mayst swindle secretly." Not otherwise cooks make their


s: scullions plunge the meat with their hooks into the middle of the


s: An image of Christ upon the cross, ascribed to Nicodemus,


s: The good Master said to me, "In order that it be not apparent


s: that thou art here, crouch down behind a splinter, that may


s: afford some screen to thee, and at any offense that may be done


s: to me be not afraid, for I have knowledge of these things,


s: because another time I was at such a fray."


s: Then he passed on beyond the head of the bridge, and when he


s: arrived upon the sixth bank, he had need of a steadfast front.


s: With such fury and with such storm, as dogs run out upon the poor


s: But he cried out, "Be no one of you savage; ere your hook take


s: hold of me, let one of you come forward that he may hear me, and


s: then take counsel as to grappling me." All cried out, "Let


s: Malacoda go!" Whereon one moved, and the rest stood still; and


s: he came toward him, saying, "What doth this avail him?"


s: "Thinkest thou, Malacoda, to see me come here," said my Master,


s: "safe hitherto from all your hindrances, except by Will Divine


s: and fate propitious? Let us go on, for in Heaven it is willed


s: that I show another this savage road." Then was his arrogance so


s: fallen that he let the hook drop at his feet, and said to the


s: And my Leader to me, "O thou that sittest cowering among the


s: splinters of the bridge, securely now return to me." Whereat I


s: moved and came swiftly to him. And the devils all pressed


s: forward, so that I feared they would not keep their compact. And


s: thus I once saw the foot-soldiers afraid, who came out under


s: pledge from Caprona, seeing themselves among so many enemies.


s: I drew with my whole body alongside my Leader, and turned not


s: mine eyes from their look, which was not good. They lowered their


s: But that demon who was holding speech with my Leader turned very


s: quickly and said, "Stay, stay, Scarmiglione!"


s: In August, 1290, the town of Caprona, on the Arno,


s: surrendered to the Florentine troops, with whom Dante was


s: Then he said to us, "Further advance along this crag there cannot


s: if to go forward still is your pleasure, go on along this rocky


s: bank; near by is another crag that affords a way. Yesterday, five


s: sixty-six years were complete since the way was broken here. I


s: am sending thitherward some of these of mine, to see if any one


s: is airing himself; go ye with them, for they will not be wicked.


s: Come forward, Alichino and Calcabrina," began he to say, "and


s: thou, Cagnazzo; and do thou, Barbariccia, guide the ten. Let


s: Libicocco come also, and Draghignazzo, tusked Ciriatto, and


s: Graffiacane, and Farfarello, and mad Rubicante. Search round


s: about the boiling pitch; let these be safe far as the next crag,


s: that all unbroken goes over these dens."


s: By the earthquake at the death of the Saviour.


s: "O me! Master, what is it that I see?" said I; "pray let us go


s: alone without escort, if thou knowest the way, for I desire it


s: not for myself. If thou art as wary as thou art wont to be, dost


s: thou not see that they show their teeth, and threaten harm to us


s: with their brows?" And he to me, "I would not have thee afraid.


s: Let them grin on at their will, for they are doing it at the


s: Upon the left bank they wheeled round, but first each had pressed


s: CANTO XXII. Eighth Circle: fifth pit: barrators.--Ciampolo of


s: I have seen of old horsemen moving camp, and beginning an


s: assault, and making their muster, and sometimes setting forth on


s: their escape; I have seen runners through your land, O Aretines,


s: and I have seen freebooters starting, tournaments struck and


s: jousts run, at times with trumpets, and at times with bells, with


s: and foreign,--but never with so strange a pipe did I see horsemen


s: We went along with the ten demons. Ah, the fell company! but in


s: the church with saints, and in the tavern with gluttons. Ever on


s: the pitch was I intent, to see every aspect of the pit, and of


s: As dolphins, when, by the arching of their back, they give a sign


s: so, now and then, to alleviate his pain, one of the sinners


s: showed his back and hid in less time than it lightens. And as at


s: the edge of the water of a ditch the frogs stand with only their


s: muzzle out, so that they conceal their feet and the rest of their


s: approached so did they draw back beneath the boiling. I saw, and


s: still my heart shudders at it, one waiting, just as it happens


s: that one frog stays and another jumps. And Graffiacane, who was


s: nearest over against him, hooked him by his pitchy locks, and


s: drew him up so that he seemed to me an otter. I knew now the name


s: and when they had called each other I had listened how. "O


s: Rubicante, see thou set thy claws upon him so thou flay him,"


s: And I, "My Master, see, if thou canst, that thou find out who is


s: the luckless one come into the hands of his adversaries." My


s: Leader drew up to his side, asked him whence he was, and he


s: replied, "I was born in the kingdom of Navarre; my mother placed


s: me in service of a lord, for she had borne me to a ribald,


s: destroyer of himself and of his substance. Afterward I was of the


s: practice barratry, for which I pay reckoning in this heat."


s: Probably Thibault II., the brother-in-law of St Louis, who


s: accompanied him on his last disastrous crusade, and died on his


s: And Ciriatto, from whose mouth protruded on either side a tusk,


s: as in a boar, made him feel how one of them rips. Among evil cats


s: said, "Stand off, while I enfork him," and to my Master turned


s: his face. "Ask," said he, "if thou desirest to know more from


s: him, before some other undo him." The Leader, "Now, then, tell of


s: Italian?" And he, "I parted short while since from one who was a


s: neighbor to it; would that with him I still were covered so that


s: I might not fear claw or hook." And Libicocco said, "We have


s: borne too much," and seized his arm with his grapple so that,


s: tearing, he carried off a sinew of it. Draghignazzo, also, he


s: wished to give him a clutch down at his legs, whereat their


s: decurion turned round about with evil look.


s: When they were a little appeased, my Leader, without delay, asked


s: "It was Brother Gomita, he of Gallura, vessel of all fraud,


s: who held the enemies of his lord in hand, and dealt so with them


s: that they all praise him for it. Money he took, and let them


s: smoothly off, so he says; and in other offices besides he was no


s: little barrator, but sovereign. With him frequents Don Michael


s: Zanche of Logodoro, and in talking of Sardinia their tongues


s: feel not weary. O me! see ye that other who is grinning: I would


s: say more, but I fear lest he is making ready to scratch my itch."


s: Gallura, one of the four divisions of Sardinia, called


s: judicatures, made by the Pisans, after their conquest of the


s: island. The lord of Gomita was the gentle Judge Nino, whom Dante


s: meets in Purgatory. Gomita was hung for his frauds.


s: Logodoro was another of the judicatures of Sardinia. Don


s: Michael Zanche was a noted man, but of his special sins little or


s: "If you wish to see or to hear Tuscans or Lombards," thereon


s: began again the frightened one, "I will make them come; but let


s: the Malebranche stand a little withdrawn, so that they may not be


s: this speech raised his muzzle, shaking his head, and said, "Hear


s: the knavery he has devised for throwing himself under!" Whereon


s: he who had snares in great plenty answered, "Too knavish am I,


s: when I procure for mine own companions greater sorrow." Alichino


s: held not in, and, in opposition to the others, said to him, "If


s: thou dive, I will not come behind thee at a gallop, but I will


s: beat my wings above the pitch; let the ridge be left, and be the


s: bank a shield, to see if thou alone availest more than we."


s: O thou that readest! thou shalt hear new sport. Each turned his


s: eyes to the other side, he first who had been most averse to


s: doing it. The Navarrese chose well his time, planted his feet


s: firmly on the ground, and in an instant leaped, and from their


s: purpose freed himself. At this, each of them was pricked with


s: shame, but he most who was the cause of the loss; wherefore he


s: started and cried out, "Thou art caught." But little it availed,


s: for wings could not outstrip fear. The one went under, and the


s: other, flying, turned his breast upward. Not otherwise the wild


s: duck on a sudden dives when the falcon comes close, and he


s: returns up vexed and baffled. Calcabrina, enraged at the flout,


s: kept flying behind him, desirous that the sinner should escape,


s: that he might have a scuffle; and when the barrator had


s: disappeared he turned his talons upon his companion, and grappled


s: full grown to gripe him well, and both fell into the midst of the


s: there was no rising from it, they had their wings so glued.


s: Barbariccia, grieving with the rest of his troop, made four of


s: them fly to the other side with all their forks, and very


s: quickly, this side and that, they descended to their post. They


s: stretched out their hooks toward the belimed ones, who were


s: already baked within the crust: and we left them thus embroiled.


s: CANTO XXIII. Eighth Circle. Escape from the fifth pit.--The sixth


s: Silent, alone, and without company, we went on, one before, the


s: other behind, as the Minor friars go along the way. My thought


s: was turned by the present brawl upon the fable of Aesop, in which


s: not more alike than the one is to the other, if beginning and end


s: bursts out from another, so from that then sprang another which


s: made my first fear double. I reflected in this wise: These


s: through us have been flouted, and with such harm and mock as I


s: believe must vex them greatly; if anger to ill-will be added,


s: they will come after us more merciless than the dog upon the


s: "Sed dices forsan, lector," says Benvenuto da Imola, "nescio


s: per me videre quomodo istae duae fictiones habeant inter se


s: tantam convenientam. Ad quod respondeo, quod passus vere est


s: fortis." The point seems to be that, the frog having deceitfully


s: brought the mole to trouble and death, the mole declares, "me


s: vindicabit major," and the eagle swoops down and devours the frog


s: Already I was feeling my hair all bristling with fear, and was


s: backwards intent, when I said, "Master, if thou concealest not


s: thyself and me speedily, I am afraid of the Malebranche; we have


s: them already behind us, and I so imagine them that I already feel


s: thine outward image more quickly to me than thine inward I


s: receive. Even now came thy thoughts among mine, with similar


s: action and with similar look, so that of both one sole design I


s: made. If it be that the right bank lieth so that we can descend


s: into the next pit, we shall escape the imagined chase."


s: Not yet had he finished reporting this design, when I saw them


s: coming with spread wings, not very far off, with will to take us.


s: noise, and near her sees the kindled flames, who takes her son


s: and flies, and, having more care of him than of herself, stays


s: not so long as only to put on a shift. And down from the ridge of


s: closes one of the sides of the next pit. Never ran water so


s: swiftly through a duct, to turn the wheel of a land-mill, when it


s: border, bearing me along upon his breast, as his own son, and not


s: depth below, when they were on the ridge right over us; but here


s: there was no fear, for the high Providence that willed to set


s: them as ministers of the fifth ditch deprived them all of power


s: There below we found a painted people who were going around with


s: very slow steps, weeping, and in their semblance weary and


s: vanquished. They had cloaks, with hoods lowered before their


s: eyes, made of the same cut as those of the monks in Cluny.


s: Outwardly they are gilded, so that it dazzles, but within all


s: lead, and so heavy that Frederick put them on of straw. Oh


s: The leaden cloaks which the Emperor Frederick II. caused to


s: be put on criminals, who were then burned to death, were light as


s: We turned, still ever to the left hand, along with them, intent


s: on their sad plaint. But because of the weight that tired folk


s: came so slowly that we had fresh company at every movement of the


s: who may be known by deed or name, and so in going move thy eyes


s: around." And one who understood the Tuscan speech cried out


s: behind us, "Stay your feet, ye who run thus through the dusky


s: air; perchance thou shalt have from me that which thou askest."


s: Whereon the Leader turned and said, "Await, and then according to


s: great haste of mind to be with me, but their load delayed them,


s: When they had come up, somewhile, with eye askance, they gazed


s: at me without a word; then they turned to each other, and said


s: one to the other, "This one seems alive by the action of his


s: throat; and if they are dead, by what privilege do they go


s: uncovered by the heavy stole?" Then they said to me, "O Tuscan,


s: who to the college of the wretched hypocrites art come, disdain


s: not to tell who thou art." And I to them, "I was born and grew up


s: body that I have always had. But ye, who are ye, in whom such woe


s: you that so sparkles?" And one of them replied to me, "The orange


s: scales to creak. Jovial Friars were we, and Bolognese; I


s: Catalano, and he Loderingo named, and together taken by thy city,


s: peace; and we were such as still is apparent round about the


s: Gardingo." I began, "O Friars, your evil"--but more I said not,


s: for there struck mine eyes one crucified with three stakes on the


s: beard with sighs: and the Friar Catalano, who observed it, said


s: to me, "That transfixed one, whom thou lookest at, counseled the


s: Pharisees that it was expedient to put one man to torture for the


s: fashion his father-in-law is stretched in this ditch, and the


s: Then I saw Virgil marvelling over him that was extended on a


s: cross so vilely in eternal exile. Thereafter he addressed this


s: speech to the Friar, "May it not displease thee, so it be allowed


s: come to deliver us from this deep." He answered then, "Nearer


s: than thou hopest is a rock that from the great encircling wall


s: proceeds and crosses all the savage valleys, save that at this


s: one it is broken, and does not cover it. Ye can mount up over the


s: Leader stood a little while with bowed head, then said, "Ill he


s: reported the matter, he who hooks the sinners yonder."  And


s: the Friar, "I once heard tell at Bologna vices enough of the


s: devil, among which I heard that he is false, and the father of


s: lies." Then the Leader with great steps went on, disturbed a


s: little with anger in his look; whereon I departed from the


s: heavily burdened ones, following the prints of the beloved feet.


s: They could not raise their heads for a straight look.


s: Brothers of the order of Santa Maria, established in 1261,


s: with knightly vows and high intent. From their free life the


s: name of "Jovial Friars" was given to the members of the order.


s: After the battle of Montaperti (1260) the Ghibellines held the


s: upper hand in Florence for more than five years. The defeat and


s: death of Manfred early in 1266, at the battle of Benevento, shook


s: Ghibelline, Loderingo degli Andalo, both from Bologna. They were


s: believed to have joined hands for their own gain, and to have


s: favored the reviving power of the Guelphs. In the troubles of the


s: Annas "was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high


s: priest that same year. Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to


s: Malacoda had told him that he would find a bridge not far off


s: CANTO XXIV. Eighth Circle. The poets climb from the sixth pit.--


s: Seventh pit, filled with serpents, by which thieves are


s: tormented.--Vanni Fucci.--Prophecy of calamity to Dante.


s: In that part of the young year when the sun tempers his locks


s: beneath Aquarius, and now the nights decrease toward half the


s: day, when the hoar frost copies on the ground the image of her


s: white sister, but the point of her pen lasts little while, the


s: rustic, whose provision fails "gets up up and sees the plain all


s: whitened o'er, whereat he strikes his thigh, returns indoors, and


s: to do; again goes out and picks up hope again, seeing the world


s: to have changed face in short while, and takes his crook and


s: manner speedily arrived the plaster for the hurt. For when we


s: came to the ruined bridge, the Leader turned to me with that


s: sweet look which I first saw at the foot of the mount. He


s: opened his arms, after some counsel taken with himself, looking


s: first well at the ruin, and laid hold of me. And as one who acts


s: and considers, who seems always to be ready beforehand, so


s: lifting me up toward the top of a great rock, he took note of


s: another splinter, saying, "Seize hold next on that, but try first


s: clothed in a cloak, for we with difficulty, he light and I pushed


s: know about him, but I should have been completely overcome. But


s: because all Malebolge slopes toward the opening of the lowest


s: abyss, the site of each valley is such that one side rises and


s: the other sinks. We came, however, at length, up to the point


s: where the last stone is broken off. The breath was so milked from


s: The frost copies the look of the snow, but her pen soon loses


s: its cut, that is, the white frost soon vanishes.


s: The hill of the first Canto, at the foot of which Virgil had


s: The level of the whole circle slopes toward the central deep,


s: so that the inner side of each pit is of less height than the


s: "Now it behoves thee thus to put off sloth," said the Master,


s: "for, sitting upon down or under quilt, one attains not fame,


s: without which he who consumes his life leaves of himself such


s: trace on earth as smoke in air, or in water the foam. And


s: therefore rise up, conquer the exhaustion with the spirit that


s: conquers every battle, if by its heavy body it be not dragged


s: down. A longer stairway needs must be ascended; it is not enough


s: from these to have departed; if thou understandest me, now act so


s: better with breath than I felt, and said, "Go on, for I am strong


s: Up along the crag we took the way, which was rugged, narrow, and


s: difficult, and far steeper than the one before. I was going along


s: what it said, though I was already upon the back of the arch that


s: had turned downwards, but living eyes could not go to the bottom,


s: thou go on to the next girth, and let us descend the wall, for as


s: doing, for an honest request ought to be followed by the deed in


s: We descended the bridge at its head, where it joins on with the


s: eighth bank, and then the pit was apparent to me. And I saw


s: therewithin a terrible heap of serpents, and of such hideous look


s: vaunt herself no more; for though she brings forth chelydri,


s: jaculi, and phareae, and cenchri with amphisboena, she never,


s: with all Ethiopia, nor with the land that lies on the Red Sea,


s: showed either so many plagues or so evil.


s: Amid this cruel and most dismal store were running people naked


s: and in terror, without hope of hole or heliotrope. They had


s: their hands tied behind with serpents, which fixed through the


s: reins their tail and their head, and were knotted up in front.


s: A precious stone, of green color, spotted with red, supposed


s: And lo! at one, who was on our side, darted a serpent that


s: transfixed him there where the neck is knotted to the shoulders.


s: Nor _O_ nor _I_ was ever so quickly written as he took fire and


s: burned, and all ashes it behoved him to become in falling. And


s: when upon the ground he lay thus destroyed, the dust drew


s: together of itself, and into that same one instantly returned.


s: Thus by the great sages it is affirmed that the Phoenix dies, and


s: nigh. Nor herb nor grain she feeds on in her life, but only on


s: tears of incense and on balsam, and nard and myrrh are her last


s: And as he who falls and knows not how, by force of demon that


s: drags him to ground, or of other attack that seizeth the man;


s: when he arises and around him gazes, all bewildered by the great


s: anguish that he has suffered, and in looking sighs, such was that


s: that showerest down such blows for vengeance!


s: The Leader asked him then who he was; whereon he answered, "I


s: rained from Tuscany short time ago into this fell gullet. Bestial


s: Vanni Fucci, beast, and Pistoia was my fitting den." And I to my


s: Leader, "Tell him not to budge, and ask what sin thrust him down


s: here, for I have seen him a man of blood and rages." And the


s: sinner who heard dissembled not, but directed toward me his mind


s: and his face, and was painted with dismal shame. Then he said,


s: "More it grieves me, that thou hast caught me in the misery where


s: cannot refuse that which thou demandest. I am put so far down


s: because I was robber of the sacristy with the fair furnishings,


s: and falsely hitherto has it been ascribed to another. But that


s: thou enjoy not this sight, if ever thou shalt be forth of these


s: dark places, open thine ears to my announcement and hear.


s: Pistoia first strips itself of the Black, then Florence renovates


s: wrapped in turbid clouds, and with impetuous and bitter storm


s: shall it be opposed upon Campo Piceno, where it shall suddenly


s: rend the mist, so that every White shall thereby be smitten. And


s: this have I said because it must grieve thee."


s: Vanni Fucci robbed the rich sacristy of the Church of St.


s: James, the cathedral of Pistoia. Suspicion of the crime fell upon


s: The following verses refer under their dark imagery to the


s: two parties, the Black and the White, introduced from Pistoia, by


s: century, and to their fightings. The prophecy is dismal to Dante,


s: foretells, that his own fortunes were linked.


s: CANTO XXV. Eighth Circle: seventh pit: fraudulent thieves.


s: --Cacus. --Agnel Brunelleschi and others.


s: At the end of his words the thief raised his hands with both the


s: figs, crying, "Take that, God! for at thee I square them."


s: Thenceforth the serpents were my friends, for then one coiled


s: around his neck, as if it said, "I will not that thou say more,"


s: and another round his arms and bound them up anew, clinching


s: itself so in front that he could not give a shake with them. Ah


s: Pistoia! Pistoia! why dost thou not decree to make ashes of


s: thyself, so that thou mayest last no longer, since in evil-doing


s: thou surpassest thine own seed? Through all the dark


s: circles of Hell I saw no spirit against God so proud, not he who


s: fell at Thebes down from the walls. He fled away and spake no


s: A vulgar mode of contemptuous defiance, thrusting out the


s: fist with the thumb between the first and middle finger.


s: According to tradition, Pistoia was settled by the followers


s: of Catiline who escaped after his defeat.


s: And I saw a Centaur full of rage come crying out, "Where is,


s: where is that obdurate one?" I do not think Maremma has so many


s: snakes as he had upon his croup up to where our semblance begins.


s: lying upon him, and it sets on fire whomsoever it encounters. My


s: Master said, "This is Cacus, who beneath the rock of Mount


s: Aventine made oftentimes a lake of blood. He goes not on one road


s: hundred blows with it, and he felt not ten."


s: While he was so speaking, and that one had run by, lo! three


s: spirits came below us, of whom neither I nor my Leader


s: was aware till when they cried out, "Who are ye?" whereon our


s: story stopped, and we then attended only unto them. I did not


s: recognize them, but it happened, as it is wont to happen by


s: chance, that one must needs name the other, saying, "Cianfa,


s: where can he have stayed?" Whereupon I, in order that the Leader


s: should attend, put my finger upward from my chin to my nose.


s: If thou art now, Reader, slow to credit that which I shall tell,


s: it will not be a marvel, for I who saw it hardly admit it to


s: myself. As I was holding my brow raised upon them, lo! a serpent


s: with six feet darts in front of one, and grapples close to him.


s: With his middle feet he clasped his paunch, and with his forward


s: took his arms, then struck his fangs in one and the other cheek.


s: His hinder feet he stretched upon the thighs, and put his tail


s: between the two, and behind bent it up along the reins. Ivy was


s: never so bearded to a tree, as the horrible beast through the


s: other's limbs entwined his own. Then they stuck together as if


s: they had been of hot wax, and mingled their color; nor one nor


s: the other seemed now that which it was; even as before the flame,


s: and the white dies away. The other two were looking on, and each


s: cried, "O me! Agnello, how thou changest! Lo, now thou art


s: neither two nor one! Now were the two heads become one, when


s: there appeared to us two countenances mixed in one face wherein


s: the two were lost. Of four  strips the two arms were made; the


s: thighs with the legs, the belly and the chest became members that


s: The two fore feet of the dragon and the two arms of the man


s: As the lizard under the great scourge of the dog days, changing


s: from hedge to hedge, seems a flash, if it crosses the way, so


s: seemed, coming toward the belly of the two others, a little fiery


s: whereby our nourishment is first taken it transfixed in one of


s: them, then fell down stretched out before him. The transfixed one


s: yawned even as if sleep or fever had assailed him. He


s: looked at the serpent, and that at him; one through his wound,


s: the other through his mouth, smoked violently, and their smoke


s: met. Let Lucan henceforth be silent, where he tells of the


s: wretched Sabellus, and of Nasidius, and wait to hear that which


s: now is uttered. Let Ovid be silent concerning Cadmus and


s: Arethusa, for if, poetizing, he converts him into a serpent and


s: her into a fountain, I envy him not; for two natures front to


s: front never did he transmute, so that both the forms were prompt


s: to exchange their matter. To one another they responded by such


s: rules, that the serpent made his tail into a fork, and the


s: wounded one drew together his feet. The legs and the very thighs


s: with them so stuck together, that in short while the juncture


s: made no sign that was apparent. The cleft tail took on the shape


s: that was lost there, and its skin became soft, and that of the


s: other hard. I saw the arms draw in through the armpits, and the


s: two feet of the beast which were short lengthen out in proportion


s: became the member that man conceals, and the wretched one from


s: While the smoke is veiling both with a new color, and generates


s: hair on the one, and from the other strips it, one rose up, and


s: the other fell down, not however turning aside their pitiless


s: lights, beneath which each was changing his visage. He who was


s: erect drew his in toward the temples, and, from the excess of


s: material that came in there, issued the ears on the smooth


s: cheeks; that which did not run backwards but was retained, of its


s: far as was needful. He who was lying down drives his muzzle


s: forward, and draws in his ears through his skull, as the snail


s: doth his horns. And his tongue, which erst was united and fit for


s: up; and the smoke stops. The soul that had become a brute fled


s: hissing along the valley, and behind him the other speaking


s: spits. Then he turned upon him his new shoulders, and said to the


s: The third of the three spirits, the only one unchanged.


s: Thus I saw the seventh ballast change and rechange, and here


s: let the novelty be my excuse, if my pen straggle a little. And


s: although my eyes were somewhat confused, and my mind bewildered,


s: those could not flee away so covertly but that I clearly


s: distinguished Puccio Sciancato, and he it was who alone, of the


s: three companions that had first come, was not changed; the


s: other was he whom thou, Gaville, weepest.


s: The ballast,--the sinners in the seventh bolgia.


s: One Francesco Guerelo de' Cavalcanti, who was slain by men of


s: the little Florentine town of Gaville, and for whose death cruel


s: vengeance was taken. The three who had first come were the three


s: Florentine thieves, Agnello, Buoso, and Puccio. Cianfa Donati had


s: incorporated with Agnello. Lastly came Guercio Cavalcanti as a


s: little snake, and changed form with Buoso.


s: CANTO XXVI. Eighth Circle: eighth pit fraudulent counselors.--


s: Rejoice, Florence, since thou art so great that over sea


s: and land thou beatest thy wings, and thy name is spread through


s: Hell. Among the thieves I found five such, thy citizens, whereat


s: shame comes to me, and thou unto great honor risest not thereby.


s: But, if near the morning one dreams the truth, thou shalt feel


s: within little time what Prato, as well as others, craves for


s: thee. And if now it were, it would not be too soon. Would that


s: it were so! since surely it must be; for the more it will weigh


s: If that which I foresee is not a vain dream, the calamities


s: which thine enemies crave for thee will soon be felt.


s: We departed thence, and up along the stairs that the bourns


s: had made for our descent before, my Leader remounted and dragged


s: me. And pursuing the solitary way mid the splinters and rocks of


s: the crag, the foot without the hand sped not. Then I grieved, and


s: curb my genius more than I am wont, that it may not run unless


s: virtue guide it; so that if a good star, or better thing, has


s: given me of good, I may not grudge it to myself.


s: As the rustic who rests him on the bill in the season when he


s: that brightens the world keepeth his face least hidden from us,


s: what time the fly yieldeth to the gnat, sees many fireflies


s: down in the valley, perhaps there where he makes his vintage and


s: ploughs,--with as many flames all the eighth pit was resplendent,


s: apparent. And as he who was avenged by the bears saw the


s: chariot of Elijah at its departure, when the horses rose erect to


s: save the flame alone, even as a little cloud, mounting upward:


s: thus each was moving through the gulley of the ditch, for not


s: one shows its theft, and every flame steals away a sinner.


s: That is, in the summer twilight. Elisha.


s: Within each flame a sinner was concealed.


s: I was standing on the bridge, risen up to look, so that if I had


s: not taken hold of a rock I should have fallen below without being


s: these fires are the spirits; each is swathed by that wherewith he


s: wished to say to thee, Who is in that fire that cometh so divided


s: was put with his brother?"  He answered me, "There within are


s: tormented Ulysses and Diomed, and thus together they go in


s: punishment, as of old in wrath. And within their flame they


s: groan for the ambush of the horse that made the gate, whence the


s: gentle seed of the Romans issued forth. Within it they lament for


s: speak within those sparkles," said I, "Master, much I pray thee,


s: and repray that the prayer avail a thousand, that thou


s: make not to me denial of waiting till the horned flame come


s: hither; thou seest that with desire I bend me toward it." And he


s: to me, "Thy prayer is worthy of much praise, and therefore I


s: accept it, but take heed that thy tongue restrain itself. Leave


s: speech to me, for I have conceived what thou wishest, for,


s: because they are Greeks, they would be shy, perchance, of thy


s: Eteocles and Polynices, sons of Oedipus and Jocaste, who,


s: contending at the siege of Thebes, slew each other. Such was


s: their mutual hate that, when their bodies were burned on the same


s: Alternosque apices abrupta luce coruscant.


s: Against the Trojans. It was through the stratagem of the


s: wooden horse that Troy was destroyed, and Aeneas thus compelled


s: to lead forth his followers who became the seed of the Romans.


s: Deidamia was the wife of Achilles, who slew herself for grief at


s: his desertion and departure for Troy, which had been brought


s: about by the deceit of Ulysses and Diomed. The Palladium was the


s: statue of Athena, on which the safety of Troy depended, stolen by


s: The ancient heroes might be averse to talking with a man of


s: When the flame had come there where it seemed to my Leader time


s: and place, in this form I heard him speak to it: "O ye who are


s: two within one fire, if I deserved of you while I lived, if I


s: deserved of you much or little, when in the world I wrote the


s: lofty verses, move not, but let one of you tell us, where, having


s: ancient flame began to waver, murmuring, even as a flame that the


s: been the tongue that would speak, it cast forth a voice, and


s: "When I departed from Circe, who had retained me more than a year


s: fondness for my son, nor piety for my old father, nor the due


s: love that should have made Penelope glad, could overcome within


s: me the ardor that I had to gain experience of the world, and of


s: the vices of men, and of their valor. But I put forth on the


s: deep, open sea, with one vessel only, and with that little


s: company by which I had not been deserted. One shore and the


s: other I saw as far as Spain, far as Morocco and the island of


s: Sardinia, and the rest which that sea bathes round about. I and


s: my companions were old and slow when we came to that narrow


s: strait where Hercules set up his bounds, to the end that man may


s: not put out beyond. On the right hand I left Seville, on the


s: other already I had left Ceuta. 'O brothers,' said I, 'who


s: through a hundred thousand perils have reached the West, to this


s: so little vigil of your senses that remains be ye unwilling to


s: deny, the experience, following the sun, of the world that hath


s: no people. Consider ye your origin; ye were not made to live as


s: brutes, but for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.' With this


s: little speech I made my companions so eager for the road that


s: hardly afterwards could I have held them back. And turning our


s: stern to the morning, with our oars we made wings for the mad


s: flight, always gaining on the left hand side. The night saw now


s: all the stars of the other pole, and ours so low that it rose not


s: quenched was the light beneath the moon, since we had entered on


s: the deep pass, when there appeared to us a mountain dim through


s: the distance, and it appeared to me so high as I had not seen


s: any. We rejoiced thereat, and soon it turned to lamentation, for


s: from the strange land a whirlwind rose, and struck the fore part


s: of the vessel. Three times it made her whirl with all the waters,


s: pleased Another, till the sea had closed over us."


s: Piu oltre non; the famous Ne plus ultra, adopted as his motto


s: CANTO XXVII. Eighth Circle: eighth pit fraudulent


s: Now was the flame erect and quiet, through not speaking more, and


s: when another that was coming behind it made us turn our eyes to


s: its tip, by a confused sound that issued forth therefrom. As the


s: Sicilian bull --that bellowed first with the plaint of him


s: (and that was right) who had shaped it with his file--was wont to


s: of brass, yet it appeared transfixed with pain, thus, through not


s: words were converted into its language. But when they had taken


s: their course up through the point, giving it that vibration which


s: whom I direct my voice, thou that wast just speaking Lombard,


s: saying, 'Now go thy way, no more I urge thee,' although I may


s: have arrived perchance somewhat late, let it not irk thee to stop


s: thou but now into this blind world art fallen from that sweet


s: Italian land whence I bring all my sin, tell me if the Romagnuoli


s: Urbino and the chain from which Tiber is unlocked."


s: The brazen bull of Phalaris, tyrant of Agrigentum, made to


s: hold criminals to be burned within it. Perillus, its inventor,


s: was the first to suffer. So these sinners are wrapped in the


s: flames which their fraudulent counsels had prepared for them.


s: Lombard, because the words were those of Virgil, whose


s: "parents were Lombards," and in speaking he had used a form


s: It is the spirit of the Ghibelline count, Guido da


s: Montefeltro, a famous freebooting captain, who speaks.


s: I was still downward attent and leaning over when my Leader


s: touched me on the side, saying, "Speak thou, this is an Italian."


s: speak, "O soul, that art hidden there below, thy Romagna is not,


s: and never was, without war in the hearts of her tyrants, but open


s: many years; the eagle of Polenta is brooding there, so that he


s: covers Cervia with his wings. The city that made erewhile the


s: long struggle, and of the French a bloody heap, finds itself


s: again beneath the green paws. And the old mastiff and the new of


s: Verrucchio, who made the ill disposal of Montagna, make an


s: anger of their teeth there where they are wont. The little lion


s: of the white lair governs the city of Lamone and of Santerno,


s: and changes side from summer to winter. And she whose flank


s: the Savio bathes, even as she sits between the plain and the


s: mountain, lives between tyranny and a free state. Now who thou


s: art, I pray thee that thou tell us; be not harder than another


s: hath been, so may thy name in the world hold front."


s: Guido Novello da Polenta had been lord of Ravenna since 1275.


s: He was father of Francesca da Rimini, and a friend of Dante. His


s: shield bore an eagle, gules, on a field, or. Cervia is a small


s: town on the coast, not far from Ravenna.


s: Forli, where in 1282 Guido da Montefeltro had defeated, with


s: great slaughter, a troop, largely of French soldiers, sent


s: against him by Pope Martin III. It was now ruled by the


s: Ordelaffi, whose shield, party per fess, bore on its upper half,


s: Malatesta, father and son, rulers of Rimini; father and


s: brother of the husband and of the lover of Francesca da Rimim.


s: They had cruelly put to death Montagna di Parcitade, the head of


s: the Ghibellines of Rimini; and they ruled as tyrants, sucking


s: This is Maghinardo da Susinana, who bore a lion azure on a


s: Refuse not to answer me as I have answered thee.


s: After the fire had somewhat roared according to its fashion, the


s: sharp point moved this way and that, and then gave forth this


s: breath: "If I could believe that my answer might be to a person


s: who should ever return unto the world, this flame would stand


s: without more quiverings; but inasmuch as, if I hear truth, never


s: from this depth did any living man return, without fear of infamy


s: "I was a man of arms, and then became a cordelier, trusting, thus


s: for the Great Priest, whom may ill betide! who set me back


s: into my first sins; and how and wherefore, I will that thou hear


s: from me. While I was that form of bone and flesh that my mother


s: gave me, my works were not leonine, but of the fox. The wily


s: practices, and the covert ways, I knew them all, and I so plied


s: their art that to the earth's end the sound went forth. When I


s: saw me arrived at that part of my age where every one ought to


s: strike the sails and to coil up the ropes, what erst was pleasing


s: confessed. Alas me wretched! and it would have availed. The