s: From race to race, from one blood to another,


s: Therefore one people triumphs, and another


s: Languishes, in pursuance of her judgment,


s: Which hidden is, as in the grass a serpent.


s: Your knowledge has no counterstand against her;


s: She makes provision, judges, and pursues


s: Her governance, as theirs the other gods.


s: Even by those who ought to give her praise,


s: But she is blissful, and she hears it not;


s: Among the other primal creatures gladsome


s: She turns her sphere, and blissful she rejoices.


s: Already sinks each star that was ascending


s: When I set out, and loitering is forbidden."


s: We crossed the circle to the other bank,


s: Near to a fount that boils, and pours itself


s: The water was more sombre far than perse;


s: And we, in company with the dusky waves,


s: Made entrance downward by a path uncouth.


s: A marsh it makes, which has the name of Styx,


s: This tristful brooklet, when it has descended


s: Down to the foot of the malign gray shores.


s: They smote each other not alone with hands,


s: But with the head and with the breast and feet,


s: Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth.


s: Said the good Master: "Son, thou now beholdest


s: And likewise I would have thee know for certain


s: And make this water bubble at the surface,


s: As the eye tells thee wheresoe'er it turns.


s: Fixed in the mire they say, 'We sullen were


s: In the sweet air, which by the sun is gladdened,


s: Bearing within ourselves the sluggish reek;


s: This hymn do they keep gurgling in their throats,


s: For with unbroken words they cannot say it."


s: Thus we went circling round the filthy fen


s: A great arc 'twixt the dry bank and the swamp,


s: With eyes turned unto those who gorge the mire;


s: Unto the foot of a tower we came at last.


s: We to the foot of that high tower had come,


s: Our eyes went upward to the summit of it,


s: By reason of two flamelets we saw placed there,


s: So far, that hardly could the eye attain it.


s: And, to the sea of all discernment turned,


s: I said: "What sayeth this, and what respondeth


s: That other fire? and who are they that made it?"


s: What is expected thou canst now discern,


s: That sped away athwart the air so swift,


s: Come o'er the water tow'rds us at that moment,


s: Who shouted, "Now art thou arrived, fell soul?"


s: "Phlegyas, Phlegyas, thou criest out in vain


s: For this once," said my Lord; "thou shalt not have us


s: Longer than in the passing of the slough."


s: That has been done to him, and then resents it,


s: Such became Phlegyas, in his gathered wrath.


s: And only when I entered seemed it laden.


s: Soon as the Guide and I were in the boat,


s: The antique prow goes on its way, dividing


s: More of the water than 'tis wont with others.


s: While we were running through the dead canal,


s: And said, "Who 'rt thou that comest ere the hour?"


s: And I to him: "Although I come, I stay not;


s: But who art thou that hast become so squalid?"


s: "Thou seest that I am one who weeps," he answered.


s: And I to him: "With weeping and with wailing,


s: For thee I know, though thou art all defiled."


s: Then stretched he both his hands unto the boat;


s: Saying, "Away there with the other dogs!"


s: Thereafter with his arms he clasped my neck;


s: He kissed my face, and said: "Disdainful soul,


s: Blessed be she who bore thee in her bosom.


s: That was an arrogant person in the world;


s: Goodness is none, that decks his memory;


s: How many are esteemed great kings up there,


s: Who here shall be like unto swine in mire,


s: Leaving behind them horrible dispraises!"


s: And I: "My Master, much should I be pleased,


s: If I could see him soused into this broth,


s: Such a desire 'tis meet thou shouldst enjoy."


s: That still I praise and thank my God for it.


s: They all were shouting, "At Philippo Argenti!"


s: Turned round upon himself with his own teeth.


s: We left him there, and more of him I tell not;


s: But on mine ears there smote a lamentation,


s: Whence forward I intent unbar mine eyes.


s: And the good Master said: "Even now, my Son,


s: The city draweth near whose name is Dis,


s: With the grave citizens, with the great throng."


s: And I: "Its mosques already, Master, clearly


s: They were."  And he to me: "The fire eternal


s: That kindles them within makes them look red,


s: Then we arrived within the moats profound,


s: That circumvallate that disconsolate city;


s: Not without making first a circuit wide,


s: We came unto a place where loud the pilot


s: Cried out to us, "Debark, here is the entrance."


s: Out of the Heavens rained down, who angrily


s: Were saying, "Who is this that without death


s: Goes through the kingdom of the people dead?"


s: A little then they quelled their great disdain,


s: And said: "Come thou alone, and he begone


s: Who has so boldly entered these dominions.


s: Try, if he can; for thou shalt here remain,


s: Who hast escorted him through such dark regions."


s: "O my dear Guide, who more than seven times


s: From imminent peril that before me stood,


s: Do not desert me," said I, "thus undone;


s: Let us retrace our steps together swiftly."


s: And that Lord, who had led me thitherward,


s: Said unto me: "Fear not; because our passage


s: None can take from us, it by Such is given.


s: For in this nether world I will not leave thee."


s: I could not hear what he proposed to them;


s: But with them there he did not linger long,


s: They closed the portals, those our adversaries,


s: On my Lord's breast, who had remained without


s: And turned to me with footsteps far between.


s: His eyes cast down, his forehead shorn had he


s: Of all its boldness, and he said, with sighs,


s: "Who has denied to me the dolesome houses?"


s: Fear not, for I will conquer in the trial,


s: This arrogance of theirs is nothing new;


s: For once they used it at less secret gate,


s: Which finds itself without a fastening still.


s: O'er it didst thou behold the dead inscription;


s: And now this side of it descends the steep,


s: Passing across the circles without escort,


s: One by whose means the city shall be opened."


s: That hue which cowardice brought out on me,


s: Sooner repressed within him his new colour.


s: He stopped attentive, like a man who listens,


s: Because the eye could not conduct him far


s: Through the black air, and through the heavy fog.


s: "Still it behoveth us to win the fight,"


s: Began he; "Else. . .Such offered us herself. . .


s: O how I long that some one here arrive!"


s: Well I perceived, as soon as the beginning


s: That they were words quite different from the first;


s: But none the less his saying gave me fear,


s: Because I carried out the broken phrase,


s: Doth any e'er descend from the first grade,


s: Which for its pain has only hope cut off?"


s: This question put I; and he answered me:


s: Who summoned back the shades unto their bodies.


s: Naked of me short while the flesh had been,


s: Before within that wall she made me enter,


s: To bring a spirit from the circle of Judas;


s: That is the lowest region and the darkest,


s: And farthest from the heaven which circles all.


s: Well know I the way; therefore be reassured.


s: This fen, which a prodigious stench exhales,


s: Where now we cannot enter without anger."


s: And more he said, but not in mind I have it;


s: Because mine eye had altogether drawn me


s: Tow'rds the high tower with the red-flaming summit,


s: The three infernal Furies stained with blood,


s: Who had the limbs of women and their mien,


s: And with the greenest hydras were begirt;


s: Small serpents and cerastes were their tresses,


s: Wherewith their horrid temples were entwined.


s: And he who well the handmaids of the Queen


s: Said unto me: "Behold the fierce Erinnys.


s: She who is weeping on the right, Alecto;


s: Tisiphone is between;" and then was silent.


s: Each one her breast was rending with her nails;


s: They beat them with their palms, and cried so loud,


s: That I for dread pressed close unto the Poet.


s: "Medusa come, so we to stone will change him!"


s: "Turn thyself round, and keep thine eyes close shut,


s: For if the Gorgon appear, and thou shouldst see it,


s: No more returning upward would there be."


s: Thus said the Master; and he turned me round


s: Observe the doctrine that conceals itself


s: Beneath the veil of the mysterious verses!


s: And now there came across the turbid waves


s: The clangour of a sound with terror fraught,


s: Because of which both of the margins trembled;


s: That smites the forest, and, without restraint,


s: The branches rends, beats down, and bears away;


s: Right onward, laden with dust, it goes superb,


s: And puts to flight the wild beasts and the shepherds.


s: Mine eyes he loosed, and said: "Direct the nerve


s: There yonder where that smoke is most intense."


s: Even as the frogs before the hostile serpent


s: More than a thousand ruined souls I saw,


s: Thus fleeing from before one who on foot


s: Was passing o'er the Styx with soles unwet.


s: From off his face he fanned that unctuous air,


s: Waving his left hand oft in front of him,


s: And only with that anguish seemed he weary.


s: Well I perceived one sent from Heaven was he,


s: And to the Master turned; and he made sign


s: That I should quiet stand, and bow before him.


s: He reached the gate, and with a little rod


s: He opened it, for there was no resistance.


s: "O banished out of Heaven, people despised!"


s: Thus he began upon the horrid threshold;


s: "Whence is this arrogance within you couched?


s: Wherefore recalcitrate against that will,


s: From which the end can never be cut off,


s: And which has many times increased your pain?


s: What helpeth it to butt against the fates?


s: For that still bears his chin and gullet peeled."


s: And spake no word to us, but had the look


s: Of one whom other care constrains and goads


s: Than that of him who in his presence is;


s: And we our feet directed tow'rds the city,


s: What the condition such a fortress holds,


s: Soon as I was within, cast round mine eye,


s: Even as at Arles, where stagnant grows the Rhone,


s: That shuts in Italy and bathes its borders,


s: The sepulchres make all the place uneven;


s: So likewise did they there on every side,


s: Saving that there the manner was more bitter;


s: For flames between the sepulchres were scattered,


s: And from them issued forth such dire laments,


s: Sooth seemed they of the wretched and tormented.


s: And I: "My Master, what are all those people


s: Who, having sepulture within those tombs,


s: Make themselves audible by doleful sighs?"


s: With their disciples of all sects, and much


s: More than thou thinkest laden are the tombs.


s: Here like together with its like is buried;


s: And more and less the monuments are heated."


s: And when he to the right had turned, we passed


s: "O power supreme, that through these impious circles


s: The people who are lying in these tombs,


s: Might they be seen? already are uplifted


s: The covers all, and no one keepeth guard."


s: And he to me: "They all will be closed up


s: Here with the bodies they have left above.


s: But in the question thou dost put to me,


s: Within here shalt thou soon be satisfied,


s: And likewise in the wish thou keepest silent."


s: And I: "Good Leader, I but keep concealed


s: From thee my heart, that I may speak the less,


s: Nor only now hast thou thereto disposed me."


s: "O Tuscan, thou who through the city of fire


s: Be pleased to stay thy footsteps in this place.


s: Thy mode of speaking makes thee manifest


s: From out one of the tombs; wherefore I pressed,


s: And unto me he said: "Turn thee; what dost thou?


s: From the waist upwards wholly shalt thou see him."


s: And he uprose erect with breast and front


s: E'en as if Hell he had in great despite.


s: And with courageous hands and prompt my Leader


s: Thrust me between the sepulchres towards him,


s: Exclaiming, "Let thy words explicit be."


s: As soon as I was at the foot of his tomb


s: Somewhat he eyed me, and, as if disdainful,


s: Then asked of me, "Who were thine ancestors?"


s: Concealed it not, but all revealed to him;


s: Whereat he raised his brows a little upward.


s: Then said he: "Fiercely adverse have they been


s: So that two several times I scattered them."


s: "If they were banished, they returned on all sides,"


s: I answered him, "the first time and the second;


s: But yours have not acquired that art aright."


s: Then there uprose upon the sight, uncovered


s: He had to see if some one else were with me,


s: Weeping, he said to me: "If through this blind


s: Prison thou goest by loftiness of genius,


s: Where is my son? and why is he not with thee?"


s: Whom in disdain perhaps your Guido had."


s: Up starting suddenly, he cried out: "How


s: Saidst thou,--he had?  Is he not still alive?


s: Does not the sweet light strike upon his eyes?"


s: He fell again, and forth appeared no more.


s: But the other, magnanimous, at whose desire


s: I had remained, did not his aspect change,


s: Neither his neck he moved, nor bent his side.


s: "And if," continuing his first discourse,


s: "They have that art," he said, "not learned aright,


s: That more tormenteth me, than doth this bed.


s: The countenance of the Lady who reigns here,


s: Ere thou shalt know how heavy is that art;


s: And as thou wouldst to the sweet world return,


s: Against my race in each one of its laws?"


s: Whence I to him: "The slaughter and great carnage


s: Which have with crimson stained the Arbia, cause


s: After his head he with a sigh had shaken,


s: "There I was not alone," he said, "nor surely


s: Without a cause had with the others moved.


s: Consented to the laying waste of Florence,


s: "Ah! so hereafter may your seed repose,"


s: I him entreated, "solve for me that knot,


s: Which has entangled my conceptions here.


s: It seems that you can see, if I hear rightly,


s: Beforehand whatsoe'er time brings with it,


s: "We see, like those who have imperfect sight,


s: The things," he said, "that distant are from us;


s: So much still shines on us the Sovereign Ruler.


s: When they draw near, or are, is wholly vain


s: Our intellect, and if none brings it to us,


s: Not anything know we of your human state.


s: Hence thou canst understand, that wholly dead


s: Will be our knowledge from the moment when


s: The portal of the future shall be closed."


s: Then I, as if compunctious for my fault,


s: Said: "Now, then, you will tell that fallen one,


s: That still his son is with the living joined.


s: Tell him I did it because I was thinking


s: Already of the error you have solved me."


s: Wherefore more eagerly I prayed the spirit


s: That he would tell me who was with him there.


s: He said: "With more than a thousand here I lie;


s: And the Cardinal, and of the rest I speak not."


s: The ancient poet turned my steps, reflecting


s: Upon that saying, which seemed hostile to me.


s: He moved along; and afterward thus going,


s: He said to me, "Why art thou so bewildered?"


s: "Let memory preserve what thou hast heard


s: Against thyself," that Sage commanded me,


s: "And now attend here;" and he raised his finger.


s: "When thou shalt be before the radiance sweet


s: Of her whose beauteous eyes all things behold,


s: From her thou'lt know the journey of thy life."


s: Unto the left hand then he turned his feet;


s: We left the wall, and went towards the middle,


s: Along a path that strikes into a valley,


s: Which even up there unpleasant made its stench.


s: Which great rocks broken in a circle made,


s: Excess of stench the deep abyss throws out,


s: We drew ourselves aside behind the cover


s: Of a great tomb, whereon I saw a writing,


s: Whom out of the right way Photinus drew."


s: So that the sense be first a little used


s: To the sad blast, and then we shall not heed it."


s: "Some compensation find, that the time pass not


s: Idly;" and he: "Thou seest I think of that.


s: My son, upon the inside of these rocks,"


s: Began he then to say, "are three small circles,


s: From grade to grade, like those which thou art leaving.


s: But that hereafter sight alone suffice thee,


s: Hear how and wherefore they are in constraint.


s: Of every malice that wins hate in Heaven,


s: Either by force or fraud afflicteth others.


s: But because fraud is man's peculiar vice,


s: More it displeases God; and so stand lowest


s: The fraudulent, and greater dole assails them.


s: But since force may be used against three persons,


s: In three rounds 'tis divided and constructed.


s: To God, to ourselves, and to our neighbour can we


s: Use force; I say on them and on their things,


s: As thou shalt hear with reason manifest.


s: A death by violence, and painful wounds,


s: Are to our neighbour given; and in his substance


s: Whence homicides, and he who smites unjustly,


s: Marauders, and freebooters, the first round


s: And his own goods; and therefore in the second


s: Round must perforce without avail repent


s: And weepeth there, where he should jocund be.


s: And by disdaining Nature and her bounty.


s: And for this reason doth the smallest round


s: And who, disdaining God, speaks from the heart.


s: Fraud, wherewithal is every conscience stung,


s: This latter mode, it would appear, dissevers


s: Only the bond of love which Nature makes;


s: Wherefore within the second circle nestle


s: Hypocrisy, flattery, and who deals in magic,


s: Panders, and barrators, and the like filth.


s: By the other mode, forgotten is that love


s: Which Nature makes, and what is after added,


s: From which there is a special faith engendered.


s: Hence in the smallest circle, where the point is


s: Of the Universe, upon which Dis is seated,


s: And I: "My Master, clear enough proceeds


s: Thy reasoning, and full well distinguishes


s: This cavern and the people who possess it.


s: But tell me, those within the fat lagoon,


s: Whom the wind drives, and whom the rain doth beat,


s: And who encounter with such bitter tongues,


s: Wherefore are they inside of the red city


s: Not punished, if God has them in his wrath,


s: And if he has not, wherefore in such fashion?"


s: Thine intellect from that which it is wont?


s: Or, sooth, thy mind where is it elsewhere looking?


s: Hast thou no recollection of those words


s: With which thine Ethics thoroughly discusses


s: The dispositions three, that Heaven abides not,--


s: Less God offendeth, and less blame attracts?


s: Clearly wilt thou perceive why from these felons


s: Justice divine doth smite them with its hammer."


s: "O Sun, that healest all distempered vision,


s: Thou dost content me so, when thou resolvest,


s: That doubting pleases me no less than knowing!


s: Once more a little backward turn thee," said I,


s: "There where thou sayest that usury offends


s: Goodness divine, and disengage the knot."


s: "Philosophy," he said, "to him who heeds it,


s: After what manner Nature takes her course


s: From Intellect Divine, and from its art;


s: And if thy Physics carefully thou notest,


s: Follows, as the disciple doth the master;


s: So that your art is, as it were, God's grandchild.


s: From these two, if thou bringest to thy mind


s: Mankind to gain their life and to advance;


s: Disdains he, for elsewhere he puts his hope.


s: For quivering are the Fishes on the horizon,


s: And far beyond there we descend the crag."


s: The place where to descend the bank we came


s: Was alpine, and from what was there, moreover,


s: Of such a kind that every eye would shun it.


s: Smote, on this side of Trent, the Adige,


s: Either by earthquake or by failing stay,


s: For from the mountain's top, from which it moved,


s: Unto the plain the cliff is shattered so,


s: Some path 'twould give to him who was above;


s: Even such was the descent of that ravine,


s: The infamy of Crete was stretched along,


s: Who was conceived in the fictitious cow;


s: My Sage towards him shouted: "Peradventure


s: Thou think'st that here may be the Duke of Athens,


s: Who in the world above brought death to thee?


s: Get thee gone, beast, for this one cometh not


s: As is that bull who breaks loose at the moment


s: In which he has received the mortal blow,


s: Who cannot walk, but staggers here and there,


s: And he, the wary, cried: "Run to the passage;


s: While he wroth, 'tis well thou shouldst descend."


s: Thus down we took our way o'er that discharge


s: Of stones, which oftentimes did move themselves


s: Beneath my feet, from the unwonted burden.


s: Thoughtful I went; and he said: "Thou art thinking


s: Perhaps upon this ruin, which is guarded


s: By that brute anger which just now I quenched.


s: Now will I have thee know, the other time


s: Bore off from Dis, in the supernal circle,


s: Upon all sides the deep and loathsome valley


s: Trembled so, that I thought the Universe


s: Was thrilled with love, by which there are who think


s: The world ofttimes converted into chaos;


s: Both here and elsewhere made such overthrow.


s: But fix thine eyes below; for draweth near


s: The river of blood, within which boiling is


s: Whoe'er by violence doth injure others."


s: That spurs us onward so in our short life,


s: And in the eternal then so badly steeps us!


s: And between this and the embankment's foot


s: Centaurs in file were running, armed with arrows,


s: As in the world they used the chase to follow.


s: Beholding us descend, each one stood still,


s: And from the squadron three detached themselves,


s: With bows and arrows in advance selected;


s: And from afar one cried: "Unto what torment


s: Come ye, who down the hillside are descending?


s: Tell us from there; if not, I draw the bow."


s: My Master said: "Our answer will we make


s: To Chiron, near you there; in evil hour,


s: That will of thine was evermore so hasty."


s: Then touched he me, and said: "This one is Nessus,


s: And for himself, himself did vengeance take.


s: And he in the midst, who at his breast is gazing,


s: Is the great Chiron, who brought up Achilles;


s: That other Pholus is, who was so wrathful.


s: Thousands and thousands go about the moat


s: Shooting with shafts whatever soul emerges


s: Out of the blood, more than his crime allots."


s: Near we approached unto those monsters fleet;


s: Chiron an arrow took, and with the notch


s: Backward upon his jaws he put his beard.


s: He said to his companions: "Are you ware


s: That he behind moveth whate'er he touches?


s: Thus are not wont to do the feet of dead men."


s: And my good Guide, who now was at his breast,


s: Where the two natures are together joined,


s: Replied: "Indeed he lives, and thus alone


s: Me it behoves to show him the dark valley;


s: Some one withdrew from singing Halleluja,


s: No thief is he, nor I a thievish spirit.


s: But by that virtue through which I am moving


s: My steps along this savage thoroughfare,


s: Give us some one of thine, to be with us,


s: And who may show us where to pass the ford,


s: For 'tis no spirit that can walk the air."


s: Upon his right breast Chiron wheeled about,


s: And said to Nessus: "Turn and do thou guide them,


s: And warn aside, if other band may meet you."


s: We with our faithful escort onward moved


s: Along the brink of the vermilion boiling,


s: Wherein the boiled were uttering loud laments.


s: And the great Centaur said: "Tyrants are these,


s: Who dealt in bloodshed and in pillaging.


s: Here they lament their pitiless mischiefs; here


s: That forehead there which has the hair so black


s: Up in the world was by his stepson slain."


s: "Now he be first to thee, and second I."


s: Above a folk, who far down as the throat


s: Seemed from that boiling stream to issue forth.


s: Saying: "He cleft asunder in God's bosom


s: The heart that still upon the Thames is honoured."


s: Then people saw I, who from out the river


s: Lifted their heads and also all the chest;


s: That blood, so that the feet alone it covered;


s: And there across the moat our passage was.


s: "Even as thou here upon this side beholdest


s: The boiling stream, that aye diminishes,"


s: The Centaur said, "I wish thee to believe


s: That on this other more and more declines


s: Justice divine, upon this side, is goading


s: That Attila, who was a scourge on earth,


s: And Pyrrhus, and Sextus; and for ever milks


s: The tears which with the boiling it unseals


s: Who made upon the highways so much war."


s: Then back he turned, and passed again the ford.


s: Not yet had Nessus reached the other side,


s: When we had put ourselves within a wood,


s: That was not marked by any path whatever.


s: Not foliage green, but of a dusky colour,


s: Not branches smooth, but gnarled and intertangled,


s: Not apple-trees were there, but thorns with poison.


s: Such tangled thickets have not, nor so dense,


s: Those savage wild beasts, that in hatred hold


s: 'Twixt Cecina and Corneto the tilled places.


s: There do the hideous Harpies make their nests,


s: Who chased the Trojans from the Strophades,


s: With sad announcement of impending doom;


s: Broad wings have they, and necks and faces human,


s: And feet with claws, and their great bellies fledged;


s: They make laments upon the wondrous trees.


s: And the good Master: "Ere thou enter farther,


s: Know that thou art within the second round,"


s: Thus he began to say, "and shalt be, till


s: Therefore look well around, and thou shalt see


s: Things that will credence give unto my speech."


s: I heard on all sides lamentations uttered,


s: And person none beheld I who might make them,


s: Whence, utterly bewildered, I stood still.


s: I think he thought that I perhaps might think


s: So many voices issued through those trunks


s: From people who concealed themselves from us;


s: Therefore the Master said: "If thou break off


s: Some little spray from any of these trees,


s: The thoughts thou hast will wholly be made vain."


s: Then stretched I forth my hand a little forward,


s: And plucked a branchlet off from a great thorn;


s: And the trunk cried, "Why dost thou mangle me?"


s: After it had become embrowned with blood,


s: It recommenced its cry: "Why dost thou rend me?


s: Men once we were, and now are changed to trees;


s: Indeed, thy hand should be more pitiful,


s: Even if the souls of serpents we had been."


s: As out of a green brand, that is on fire


s: At one of the ends, and from the other drips


s: And hisses with the wind that is escaping;


s: So from that splinter issued forth together


s: Both words and blood; whereat I let the tip


s: Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid.


s: My Sage made answer, "O thou wounded soul,


s: Not upon thee had he stretched forth his hand;


s: Whereas the thing incredible has caused me


s: But tell him who thou wast, so that by way


s: Up in the world, to which he can return."


s: And the trunk said: "So thy sweet words allure me,


s: I cannot silent be; and you be vexed not,


s: That I a little to discourse am tempted.


s: I am the one who both keys had in keeping


s: Of Frederick's heart, and turned them to and fro


s: That from his secrets most men I withheld;


s: So great, I lost thereby my sleep and pulses.


s: The courtesan who never from the dwelling


s: Of Caesar turned aside her strumpet eyes,


s: Inflamed against me all the other minds,


s: And they, inflamed, did so inflame Augustus,


s: That my glad honours turned to dismal mournings.


s: Made me unjust against myself, the just.


s: Do swear to you that never broke I faith


s: Unto my lord, who was so worthy of honour;


s: Let him my memory comfort, which is lying


s: Still prostrate from the blow that envy dealt it."


s: Waited awhile, and then: "Since he is silent,"


s: The Poet said to me, "lose not the time,


s: But speak, and question him, if more may please thee."


s: Concerning what thou thinks't will satisfy me;


s: For I cannot, such pity is in my heart."


s: Therefore he recommenced: "So may the man


s: Do for thee freely what thy speech implores,


s: To tell us in what way the soul is bound


s: Within these knots; and tell us, if thou canst,


s: If any from such members e'er is freed."


s: Then blew the trunk amain, and afterward


s: The wind was into such a voice converted:


s: Is chosen for it; but where Fortune hurls it,


s: There like a grain of spelt it germinates.


s: It springs a sapling, and a forest tree;


s: The Harpies, feeding then upon its leaves,


s: Do pain create, and for the pain an outlet.


s: Like others for our spoils shall we return;


s: For 'tis not just to have what one casts off.


s: Here we shall drag them, and along the dismal


s: Each to the thorn of his molested shade."


s: Thinking that more it yet might wish to tell us,


s: The boar and chase approaching to his stand,


s: Who hears the crashing of the beasts and branches;


s: And two behold! upon our left-hand side,


s: Naked and scratched, fleeing so furiously,


s: That of the forest, every fan they broke.


s: He who was in advance: "Now help, Death, help!"


s: And the other one, who seemed to lag too much,


s: Those legs of thine at joustings of the Toppo!"


s: And then, perchance because his breath was failing,


s: He grouped himself together with a bush.


s: Behind them was the forest full of black


s: She-mastiffs, ravenous, and swift of foot


s: As greyhounds, who are issuing from the chain.


s: On him who had crouched down they set their teeth,


s: Thereafter bore away those aching members.


s: And led me to the bush, that all in vain


s: Was weeping from its bloody lacerations.


s: What helped it thee of me to make a screen?


s: What blame have I in thy nefarious life?"


s: When near him had the Master stayed his steps,


s: He said: "Who wast thou, that through wounds so many


s: Art blowing out with blood thy dolorous speech?"


s: And he to us: "O souls, that hither come


s: That has so rent away from me my leaves,


s: Changed its first patron, wherefore he for this


s: And were it not that on the pass of Arno


s: Some glimpses of him are remaining still,


s: Those citizens, who afterwards rebuilt it


s: In vain had caused their labour to be done.


s: Of my own house I made myself a gibbet."


s: Constrained me, gathered I the scattered leaves,


s: And gave them back to him, who now was hoarse.


s: Then came we to the confine, where disparted


s: The second round is from the third, and where


s: Which from its bed rejecteth every plant;


s: All round about, as the sad moat to that;


s: There close upon the edge we stayed our feet.


s: Which by the feet of Cato once was pressed.


s: Vengeance of God, O how much oughtest thou


s: By each one to be dreaded, who doth read


s: Supine upon the ground some folk were lying;


s: And some were sitting all drawn up together,


s: Those who were going round were far the more,


s: And those were less who lay down to their torment,


s: But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation.


s: O'er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall,


s: Were raining down dilated flakes of fire,


s: Flames fall unbroken till they reached the ground.


s: To trample down the soil, because the vapour


s: Better extinguished was while it was single;


s: Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinder


s: Beneath the steel, for doubling of the dole.


s: Of miserable hands, now there, now here,


s: Shaking away from off them the fresh gleeds.


s: All things except the demons dire, that issued


s: Who is that mighty one who seems to heed not


s: The fire, and lieth lowering and disdainful,


s: So that the rain seems not to ripen him?"


s: That I was questioning my Guide about him,


s: Cried: "Such as I was living, am I, dead.


s: If Jove should weary out his smith, from whom


s: He seized in anger the sharp thunderbolt,


s: Wherewith upon the last day I was smitten,


s: And if he wearied out by turns the others


s: Vociferating, 'Help, good Vulcan, help!'


s: Even as he did there at the fight of Phlegra,


s: And shot his bolts at me with all his might,


s: He would not have thereby a joyous vengeance."


s: Then did my Leader speak with such great force,


s: That I had never heard him speak so loud:


s: "O Capaneus, in that is not extinguished


s: Thine arrogance, thou punished art the more;


s: Then he turned round to me with better lip,


s: Who Thebes besieged, and held, and seems to hold


s: God in disdain, and little seems to prize him;


s: Are for his breast the fittest ornaments.


s: Now follow me, and mind thou do not place


s: But always keep them close unto the wood."


s: Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes


s: Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end.


s: As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet,


s: The sinful women later share among them,


s: So downward through the sand it went its way.


s: The bottom of it, and both sloping banks,


s: Were made of stone, and the margins at the side;


s: Whence I perceived that there the passage was.


s: "In all the rest which I have shown to thee


s: Since we have entered in within the gate


s: Nothing has been discovered by thine eyes


s: Which all the little flames above it quenches."


s: These words were of my Leader; whence I prayed him


s: That he would give me largess of the food,


s: For which he had given me largess of desire.


s: "In the mid-sea there sits a wasted land,"


s: Said he thereafterward, "whose name is Crete,


s: Under whose king the world of old was chaste.


s: There is a mountain there, that once was glad


s: With waters and with leaves, which was called Ida;


s: Rhea once chose it for the faithful cradle


s: Of her own son; and to conceal him better,


s: Whene'er he cried, she there had clamours made.


s: A grand old man stands in the mount erect,


s: Who holds his shoulders turned tow'rds Damietta,


s: And looks at Rome as if it were his mirror.


s: And of pure silver are the arms and breast;


s: Then he is brass as far down as the fork.


s: From that point downward all is chosen iron,


s: Save that the right foot is of kiln-baked clay,


s: And more he stands on that than on the other.


s: Each part, except the gold, is by a fissure


s: Asunder cleft, that dripping is with tears,


s: Which gathered together perforate that cavern.


s: From rock to rock they fall into this valley;


s: Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon they form;


s: Then downward go along this narrow sluice


s: Unto that point where is no more descending.


s: They form Cocytus; what that pool may be


s: Thou shalt behold, so here 'tis not narrated."


s: Doth take its rise in this way from our world,


s: Why only on this verge appears it to us?"


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


s: And notwithstanding thou hast journeyed far,


s: Still to the left descending to the bottom,


s: Thou hast not yet through all the circle turned.


s: Therefore if something new appear to us,


s: It should not bring amazement to thy face."


s: And I again: "Master, where shall be found


s: Lethe and Phlegethon, for of one thou'rt silent,


s: And sayest the other of this rain is made?"


s: "In all thy questions truly thou dost please me,"


s: Water might well solve one of them thou makest.


s: Thou shalt see Lethe, but outside this moat,


s: There where the souls repair to lave themselves,


s: Then said he: "It is time now to abandon


s: The wood; take heed that thou come after me;


s: A way the margins make that are not burning,


s: And over them all vapours are extinguished."


s: Now bears us onward one of the hard margins,


s: And so the brooklet's mist o'ershadows it,


s: From fire it saves the water and the dikes.


s: Even as the Flemings, 'twixt Cadsand and Bruges,


s: Fearing the flood that tow'rds them hurls itself,


s: Their bulwarks build to put the sea to flight;


s: To guard their villas and their villages,


s: Whoever he might be, the master made them.


s: I could not have discovered where it was,


s: And so towards us sharpened they their brows


s: By some one I was recognised, who seized


s: My garment's hem, and cried out, "What a marvel!"


s: And I, when he stretched forth his arm to me,


s: On his baked aspect fastened so mine eyes,


s: That the scorched countenance prevented not


s: I made reply, "Are you here, Ser Brunetto?"


s: And he: "May't not displease thee, O my son,


s: If a brief space with thee Brunetto Latini


s: Backward return and let the trail go on."


s: I said to him: "With all my power I ask it;


s: And if you wish me to sit down with you,


s: I will, if he please, for I go with him."


s: A moment stops, lies then a hundred years,


s: Nor fans himself when smiteth him the fire.


s: Therefore go on; I at thy skirts will come,


s: Level to walk with him; but my head bowed


s: And he began: "What fortune or what fate


s: Before the last day leadeth thee down here?


s: And who is this that showeth thee the way?"


s: But yestermorn I turned my back upon it;


s: This one appeared to me, returning thither,


s: And homeward leadeth me along this road."


s: And he to me: "If thou thy star do follow,


s: Thou canst not fail thee of a glorious port,


s: I would have given thee comfort in the work.


s: But that ungrateful and malignant people,


s: Which of old time from Fesole descended,


s: And smacks still of the mountain and the granite,


s: Will make itself, for thy good deeds, thy foe;


s: And it is right; for among crabbed sorbs


s: It ill befits the sweet fig to bear fruit.


s: Old rumour in the world proclaims them blind;


s: Take heed that of their customs thou do cleanse thee.


s: Thy fortune so much honour doth reserve thee,


s: For thee; but far from goat shall be the grass.


s: Make of themselves, nor let them touch the plant,


s: Seed of those Romans, who remained there when


s: The nest of such great malice it became."


s: For in my mind is fixed, and touches now


s: My heart the dear and good paternal image


s: Of you, when in the world from hour to hour


s: You taught me how a man becomes eternal;


s: And how much I am grateful, while I live


s: Behoves that in my language be discerned.


s: And keep it to be glossed with other text


s: By a Lady who can do it, if I reach her.


s: Provided that my conscience do not chide me,


s: Therefore let Fortune turn her wheel around


s: As it may please her, and the churl his mattock."


s: Did backward turn himself, and looked at me;


s: Then said: "He listeneth well who noteth it."


s: His most known and most eminent companions.


s: Of others it were laudable to be silent,


s: For short would be the time for so much speech.


s: Know them in sum, that all of them were clerks,


s: And men of letters great and of great fame,


s: In the world tainted with the selfsame sin.


s: Priscian goes yonder with that wretched crowd,


s: And Francis of Accorso; and thou hadst seen there


s: If thou hadst had a hankering for such scurf,


s: That one, who by the Servant of the Servants


s: From Arno was transferred to Bacchiglione,


s: Where he has left his sin-excited nerves.


s: More would I say, but coming and discoursing


s: New smoke uprising yonder from the sand.


s: In which I still live, and no more I ask."


s: Then he turned round, and seemed to be of those


s: Across the plain; and seemed to be among them


s: The one who wins, and not the one who loses.


s: Now was I where was heard the reverberation


s: Like to that humming which the beehives make,


s: When shadows three together started forth,


s: Beneath the rain of the sharp martyrdom.


s: Towards us came they, and each one cried out:


s: "Stop, thou; for by thy garb to us thou seemest


s: Ah me! what wounds I saw upon their limbs,


s: Recent and ancient by the flames burnt in!


s: Unto their cries my Teacher paused attentive;


s: He turned his face towards me, and "Now wait,"


s: He said; "to these we should be courteous.


s: And if it were not for the fire that darts


s: That haste were more becoming thee than them."


s: As soon as we stood still, they recommenced


s: The old refrain, and when they overtook us,


s: Formed of themselves a wheel, all three of them.


s: As champions stripped and oiled are wont to do,


s: Watching for their advantage and their hold,


s: Before they come to blows and thrusts between them,


s: Thus, wheeling round, did every one his visage


s: His neck and feet continual journey made.


s: Bring in disdain ourselves and our entreaties,"


s: Began one, "and our aspect black and blistered,


s: To tell us who thou art, who thus securely


s: Thy living feet dost move along through Hell.


s: He in whose footprints thou dost see me treading,


s: Naked and skinless though he now may go,


s: Was of a greater rank than thou dost think;


s: He was the grandson of the good Gualdrada;


s: Much did he with his wisdom and his sword.


s: The other, who close by me treads the sand,


s: Above there in the world should welcome be.


s: And I, who with them on the cross am placed,


s: My savage wife, more than aught else, doth harm me."


s: Could I have been protected from the fire,


s: Below I should have thrown myself among them,


s: And think the Teacher would have suffered it;


s: But as I should have burned and baked myself,


s: Words, on account of which I thought within me


s: That people such as you are were approaching.


s: I with affection have retraced and heard.


s: I leave the gall, and go for the sweet fruits


s: But to the centre first I needs must plunge."


s: "So may the soul for a long while conduct


s: Those limbs of thine," did he make answer then,


s: "And so may thy renown shine after thee,


s: For Guglielmo Borsier, who is in torment


s: With us of late, and goes there with his comrades,


s: Doth greatly mortify us with his words."


s: "The new inhabitants and the sudden gains,


s: Pride and extravagance have in thee engendered,


s: Florence, so that thou weep'st thereat already!"


s: In this wise I exclaimed with face uplifted;


s: And the three, taking that for my reply,


s: Looked at each other, as one looks at truth.


s: "If other times so little it doth cost thee,"


s: Happy art thou, thus speaking at thy will!


s: Therefore, if thou escape from these dark places,


s: And come to rebehold the beauteous stars,


s: When it shall pleasure thee to say, 'I was,'


s: See that thou speak of us unto the people."


s: Then they broke up the wheel, and in their flight


s: It seemed as if their agile legs were wings.


s: Wherefore the Master deemed best to depart.


s: Before the sound of water was so near us,


s: That speaking we should hardly have been heard.


s: Even as that stream which holdeth its own course


s: The first from Monte Veso tow'rds the East,


s: Where for a thousand there were room enough;


s: We found resounding that dark-tinted water,


s: So that it soon the ear would have offended.


s: To take the panther with the painted skin.


s: I reached it to him, gathered up and coiled,


s: Whereat he turned himself to the right side,


s: And at a little distance from the verge,


s: "It must needs be some novelty respond,"


s: I said within myself, "to the new signal


s: The Master with his eye is following so."


s: With those who not alone behold the act,


s: But with their wisdom look into the thoughts!


s: He said to me: "Soon there will upward come


s: What I await; and what thy thought is dreaming


s: Must soon reveal itself unto thy sight."


s: Aye to that truth which has the face of falsehood,


s: A man should close his lips as far as may be,


s: Because without his fault it causes shame;


s: But here I cannot; and, Reader, by the notes


s: So may they not be void of lasting favour,


s: Athwart that dense and darksome atmosphere


s: Sometimes to clear an anchor, which has grappled


s: Reef, or aught else that in the sea is hidden,


s: Who upward stretches, and draws in his feet.


s: "Behold the monster with the pointed tail,


s: Who cleaves the hills, and breaketh walls and weapons,


s: Behold him who infecteth all the world."


s: And beckoned him that he should come to shore,


s: Near to the confine of the trodden marble;


s: Came up and thrust ashore its head and bust,


s: But on the border did not drag its tail.


s: Two paws it had, hairy unto the armpits;


s: The back, and breast, and both the sides it had


s: Depicted o'er with nooses and with shields.


s: With colours more, groundwork or broidery


s: Never in cloth did Tartars make nor Turks,


s: As sometimes wherries lie upon the shore,


s: That part are in the water, part on land;


s: And as among the guzzling Germans there,


s: The beaver plants himself to wage his war;


s: So that vile monster lay upon the border,


s: Which is of stone, and shutteth in the sand.


s: His tail was wholly quivering in the void,


s: That in the guise of scorpion armed its point.


s: The Guide said: "Now perforce must turn aside


s: We therefore on the right side descended,


s: And made ten steps upon the outer verge,


s: Then said to me the Master: "So that full


s: Experience of this round thou bear away,


s: Till thou returnest I will speak with him,


s: That he concede to us his stalwart shoulders."


s: Out of their eyes was gushing forth their woe;


s: This way, that way, they helped them with their hands


s: Now from the flames and now from the hot soil.


s: Now with the foot, now with the muzzle, when


s: By fleas, or flies, or gadflies, they are bitten.


s: When I had turned mine eyes upon the faces


s: Of some, on whom the dolorous fire is falling,


s: That from the neck of each there hung a pouch,


s: Which certain colour had, and certain blazon;


s: And thereupon it seems their eyes are feeding.


s: And as I gazing round me come among them,


s: That had the face and posture of a lion.


s: Proceeding then the current of my sight,


s: Display a goose more white than butter is.


s: And one, who with an azure sow and gravid


s: Emblazoned had his little pouch of white,


s: Said unto me: "What dost thou in this moat?


s: Now get thee gone; and since thou'rt still alive,


s: Know that a neighbour of mine, Vitaliano,


s: Will have his seat here on my left-hand side.


s: Full many a time they thunder in mine ears,


s: Exclaiming, 'Come the sovereign cavalier,


s: He who shall bring the satchel with three goats;'"


s: Then twisted he his mouth, and forth he thrust


s: His tongue, like to an ox that licks its nose.


s: And fearing lest my longer stay might vex


s: Him who had warned me not to tarry long,


s: Backward I turned me from those weary souls.


s: I found my Guide, who had already mounted


s: And said to me: "Now be both strong and bold.


s: Now we descend by stairways such as these;


s: Mount thou in front, for I will be midway,


s: So that the tail may have no power to harm thee."


s: Of quartan that his nails are blue already,


s: And trembles all, but looking at the shade;


s: Even such became I at those proffered words;


s: Which maketh servant strong before good master.


s: I seated me upon those monstrous shoulders;


s: I wished to say, and yet the voice came not


s: As I believed, "Take heed that thou embrace me."


s: Within his arms encircled and sustained me,


s: The circles large, and the descent be little;


s: Think of the novel burden which thou hast."


s: Even as the little vessel shoves from shore,


s: Backward, still backward, so he thence withdrew;


s: There where his breast had been he turned his tail,


s: And with his paws drew to himself the air.


s: Whereby the heavens, as still appears, were scorched;


s: Felt stripped of feathers by the melting wax,


s: His father crying, "An ill way thou takest!"


s: Than was my own, when I perceived myself


s: On all sides in the air, and saw extinguished


s: The sight of everything but of the monster.


s: Onward he goeth, swimming slowly, slowly;


s: Wheels and descends, but I perceive it only


s: I heard already on the right the whirlpool


s: Whence I thrust out my head with eyes cast downward.


s: Then was I still more fearful of the abyss;


s: Because I fires beheld, and heard laments,


s: Whereat I, trembling, all the closer cling.


s: I saw then, for before I had not seen it,


s: The turning and descending, by great horrors


s: That were approaching upon divers sides.


s: As falcon who has long been on the wing,


s: Who, without seeing either lure or bird,


s: Maketh the falconer say, "Ah me, thou stoopest,"


s: Descendeth weary, whence he started swiftly,


s: Far from his master, sullen and disdainful;


s: Even thus did Geryon place us on the bottom,


s: Close to the bases of the rough-hewn rock,


s: There is a place in Hell called Malebolge,


s: There yawns a well exceeding wide and deep,


s: Of which its place the structure will recount.


s: Round, then, is that enclosure which remains


s: Between the well and foot of the high, hard bank,


s: And has distinct in valleys ten its bottom.


s: As where for the protection of the walls


s: Many and many moats surround the castles,


s: The part in which they are a figure forms,


s: Just such an image those presented there;


s: And as about such strongholds from their gates


s: Project, which intersected dikes and moats,


s: Unto the well that truncates and collects them.


s: Within this place, down shaken from the back


s: Held to the left, and I moved on behind.


s: Upon my right hand I beheld new anguish,


s: New torments, and new wielders of the lash,


s: Wherewith the foremost Bolgia was replete.


s: Down at the bottom were the sinners naked;


s: This side the middle came they facing us,


s: Beyond it, with us, but with greater steps;


s: Even as the Romans, for the mighty host,


s: Have chosen a mode to pass the people over;


s: For all upon one side towards the Castle


s: Their faces have, and go unto St. Peter's;


s: On the other side they go towards the Mountain.


s: This side and that, along the livid stone


s: Beheld I horned demons with great scourges,


s: Ah me! how they did make them lift their legs


s: At the first blows! and sooth not any one


s: The second waited for, nor for the third.


s: Encountered were; and straight I said: "Already


s: Therefore I stayed my feet to make him out,


s: And with me the sweet Guide came to a stand,


s: And he, the scourged one, thought to hide himself,


s: Lowering his face, but little it availed him;


s: For said I: "Thou that castest down thine eyes,


s: If false are not the features which thou bearest,


s: But what doth bring thee to such pungent sauces?"


s: Which makes me recollect the ancient world.


s: Induced to grant the wishes of the Marquis,


s: Howe'er the shameless story may be told.


s: Not the sole Bolognese am I who weeps here;


s: Nay, rather is this place so full of them,


s: That not so many tongues to-day are taught


s: And if thereof thou wishest pledge or proof,


s: Bring to thy mind our avaricious heart."


s: While speaking in this manner, with his scourge


s: A demon smote him, and said: "Get thee gone


s: Pander, there are no women here for coin."


s: Thereafterward with footsteps few we came


s: To where a crag projected from the bank.


s: And turning to the right along its ridge,


s: When we were there, where it is hollowed out


s: Beneath, to give a passage to the scourged,


s: The Guide said: "Wait, and see that on thee strike


s: Of whom thou hast not yet beheld the faces,


s: Because together with us they have gone."


s: From the old bridge we looked upon the train


s: Which tow'rds us came upon the other border,


s: And which the scourges in like manner smite.


s: And the good Master, without my inquiring,


s: Said to me: "See that tall one who is coming,


s: And for his pain seems not to shed a tear;


s: That Jason is, who by his heart and cunning


s: The Colchians of the Ram made destitute.


s: There with his tokens and with ornate words


s: Who first, herself, had all the rest deceived.


s: There did he leave her pregnant and forlorn;


s: Such sin unto such punishment condemns him,


s: With him go those who in such wise deceive;


s: And this sufficient be of the first valley


s: To know, and those that in its jaws it holds."


s: Crosses athwart the second dike, and forms


s: Thence we heard people, who are making moan


s: In the next Bolgia, snorting with their muzzles,


s: And with their palms beating upon themselves


s: By exhalation from below, that sticks there,


s: And with the eyes and nostrils wages war.


s: The bottom is so deep, no place suffices


s: To give us sight of it, without ascending


s: The arch's back, where most the crag impends.


s: Thither we came, and thence down in the moat


s: That out of human privies seemed to flow;


s: And whilst below there with mine eye I search,


s: I saw one with his head so foul with ordure,


s: It was not clear if he were clerk or layman.


s: He screamed to me: "Wherefore art thou so eager


s: To look at me more than the other foul ones?"


s: And thou'rt Alessio Interminei of Lucca;


s: Therefore I eye thee more than all the others."


s: And he thereon, belabouring his pumpkin:


s: "The flatteries have submerged me here below,


s: Wherewith my tongue was never surfeited."


s: Then said to me the Guide: "See that thou thrust


s: That with thine eyes thou well the face attain


s: Who there doth scratch herself with filthy nails,


s: And crouches now, and now on foot is standing.


s: Unto her paramour, when he said, 'Have I


s: Great gratitude from thee?'--'Nay, marvellous;'


s: And herewith let our sight be satisfied."


s: Ye who the things of God, which ought to be


s: Now it behoves for you the trumpet sound,


s: Which o'er the middle of the moat hangs plumb.


s: Wisdom supreme, O how great art thou showest


s: In heaven, in earth, and in the evil world,


s: And with what justice doth thy power distribute!


s: The livid stone with perforations filled,


s: All of one size, and every one was round.


s: To me less ample seemed they not, nor greater


s: Than those that in my beautiful Saint John


s: Are fashioned for the place of the baptisers,


s: I broke for some one, who was drowning in it;


s: Out of the mouth of each one there protruded


s: The feet of a transgressor, and the legs


s: Up to the calf, the rest within remained.


s: In all of them the soles were both on fire;


s: Wherefore the joints so violently quivered,


s: They would have snapped asunder withes and bands.


s: Even as the flame of unctuous things is wont


s: So likewise was it there from heel to point.


s: "Master, who is that one who writhes himself,


s: More than his other comrades quivering,"


s: I said, "and whom a redder flame is sucking?"


s: And he to me: "If thou wilt have me bear thee


s: Down there along that bank which lowest lies,


s: From him thou'lt know his errors and himself."


s: And I: "What pleases thee, to me is pleasing;


s: Thou art my Lord, and knowest that I depart not


s: From thy desire, and knowest what is not spoken."


s: Straightway upon the fourth dike we arrived;


s: We turned, and on the left-hand side descended


s: Down to the bottom full of holes and narrow.


s: And the good Master yet from off his haunch


s: Deposed me not, till to the hole he brought me


s: "Whoe'er thou art, that standest upside down,


s: O doleful soul, implanted like a stake,"


s: To say began I, "if thou canst, speak out."


s: I stood even as the friar who is confessing


s: The false assassin, who, when he is fixed,


s: Recalls him, so that death may be delayed.


s: And he cried out: "Dost thou stand there already,


s: Dost thou stand there already, Boniface?


s: Art thou so early satiate with that wealth,


s: For which thou didst not fear to take by fraud


s: The beautiful Lady, and then work her woe?"


s: Not comprehending what is answered them,


s: As if bemocked, and know not how to answer.


s: Then said Virgilius: "Say to him straightway,


s: 'I am not he, I am not he thou thinkest.'"


s: Whereat the spirit writhed with both his feet,


s: Then, sighing, with a voice of lamentation


s: Said to me: "Then what wantest thou of me?


s: If who I am thou carest so much to know,


s: That thou on that account hast crossed the bank,


s: Know that I vested was with the great mantle;


s: So eager to advance the cubs, that wealth


s: Beneath my head the others are dragged down


s: Flattened along the fissure of the rock.


s: Below there I shall likewise fall, whenever


s: That one shall come who I believed thou wast,


s: What time the sudden question I proposed.


s: And here have been in this way upside down,


s: Than he will planted stay with reddened feet;


s: From tow'rds the west a Pastor without law,


s: In Maccabees; and as his king was pliant,


s: So he who governs France shall be to this one."


s: "I pray thee tell me now how great a treasure


s: Before he put the keys into his keeping?


s: Nor Peter nor the rest asked of Matthias


s: Silver or gold, when he by lot was chosen


s: Unto the place the guilty soul had lost.


s: Therefore stay here, for thou art justly punished,


s: And keep safe guard o'er the ill-gotten money,


s: Which caused thee to be valiant against Charles.


s: And were it not that still forbids it me


s: Thou hadst in keeping in the gladsome life,


s: I would make use of words more grievous still;


s: Because your avarice afflicts the world,


s: Trampling the good and lifting the depraved.


s: To fornicate with kings by him was seen;


s: The same who with the seven heads was born,


s: And power and strength from the ten horns received,


s: So long as virtue to her spouse was pleasing.


s: Ye have made yourselves a god of gold and silver;


s: Save that he one, and ye a hundred worship?


s: Ah, Constantine! of how much ill was mother,


s: Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower


s: Which the first wealthy Father took from thee!"


s: And while I sang to him such notes as these,


s: Either that anger or that conscience stung him,


s: He struggled violently with both his feet.


s: I think in sooth that it my Leader pleased,


s: With such contented lip he listened ever


s: Unto the sound of the true words expressed.


s: Therefore with both his arms he took me up,


s: Remounted by the way where he descended.


s: Nor did he tire to have me clasped to him;


s: Which from the fourth dike to the fifth is passage.


s: That would have been hard passage for the goats:


s: Thence was unveiled to me another valley.


s: And give material to the twentieth canto


s: Of the first song, which is of the submerged.


s: Which bathed itself with tears of agony;


s: And people saw I through the circular valley,


s: Which in this world the Litanies assume.


s: As lower down my sight descended on them,


s: Wondrously each one seemed to be distorted


s: From chin to the beginning of the chest;


s: For tow'rds the reins the countenance was turned,


s: And backward it behoved them to advance,


s: As to look forward had been taken from them.


s: Some one has been thus wholly turned awry;


s: But I ne'er saw it, nor believe it can be.


s: As God may let thee, Reader, gather fruit


s: From this thy reading, think now for thyself


s: How I could ever keep my face unmoistened,


s: Along the fissure bathed the hinder parts.


s: Of the hard crag, so that my Escort said


s: To me: "Art thou, too, of the other fools?


s: Who feels compassion at the doom divine?


s: Lift up, lift up thy head, and see for whom


s: Opened the earth before the Thebans' eyes;


s: Wherefore they all cried: 'Whither rushest thou,


s: And downward ceased he not to fall amain


s: See, he has made a bosom of his shoulders!


s: Because he wished to see too far before him


s: Behind he looks, and backward goes his way:


s: Behold Tiresias, who his semblance changed,


s: His members being all of them transformed;


s: And afterwards was forced to strike once more


s: The two entangled serpents with his rod,


s: Ere he could have again his manly plumes.


s: That Aruns is, who backs the other's belly,


s: Who in the hills of Luni, there where grubs


s: For his abode; whence to behold the stars


s: And sea, the view was not cut off from him.


s: And she there, who is covering up her breasts,


s: Which thou beholdest not, with loosened tresses,


s: And on that side has all the hairy skin,


s: Was Manto, who made quest through many lands,


s: Afterwards tarried there where I was born;


s: Whereof I would thou list to me a little.


s: After her father had from life departed,


s: And the city of Bacchus had become enslaved,


s: She a long season wandered through the world.


s: By a thousand springs, I think, and more, is bathed,


s: With water that grows stagnant in that lake.


s: Midway a place is where the Trentine Pastor,


s: Might give his blessing, if he passed that way.


s: Sitteth Peschiera, fortress fair and strong,


s: To front the Brescians and the Bergamasks,


s: Where round about the bank descendeth lowest.


s: And grows a river down through verdant pastures.


s: No more Benaco is it called, but Mincio,


s: In which it spreads itself, and makes it marshy,


s: And oft 'tis wont in summer to be sickly.


s: She with her servants stayed, her arts to practise


s: And lived, and left her empty body there.


s: The men, thereafter, who were scattered round,


s: Collected in that place, which was made strong


s: They built their city over those dead bones,


s: And, after her who first the place selected,


s: Its people once within more crowded were,


s: Therefore I caution thee, if e'er thou hearest


s: That unto me the rest would be spent coals.


s: But tell me of the people who are passing,


s: Then said he to me: "He who from the cheek


s: Thrusts out his beard upon his swarthy shoulders


s: Was, at the time when Greece was void of males,


s: So that there scarce remained one in the cradle,


s: An augur, and with Calchas gave the moment,


s: In Aulis, when to sever the first cable.


s: That knowest thou well, who knowest the whole of it.


s: The next, who is so slender in the flanks,


s: Would fain have stuck, but he too late repents.


s: Behold the wretched ones, who left the needle,


s: The spool and rock, and made them fortune-tellers;


s: They wrought their magic spells with herb and image.


s: But come now, for already holds the confines


s: Of both the hemispheres, and under Seville


s: Touches the ocean-wave, Cain and the thorns,


s: And yesternight the moon was round already;


s: Thou shouldst remember well it did not harm thee


s: From time to time within the forest deep."


s: Thus spake he to me, and we walked the while.


s: From bridge to bridge thus, speaking other things


s: We came along, and held the summit, when


s: To smear their unsound vessels o'er again,


s: For sail they cannot; and instead thereof


s: One makes his vessel new, and one recaulks


s: The ribs of that which many a voyage has made;


s: One hammers at the prow, one at the stern,


s: This one makes oars, and that one cordage twists,


s: Another mends the mainsail and the mizzen;


s: Thus, not by fire, but by the art divine,


s: Was boiling down below there a dense pitch


s: Aught but the bubbles that the boiling raised,


s: And all swell up and resubside compressed.


s: My Leader, crying out: "Beware, beware!"


s: Drew me unto himself from where I stood.


s: Then I turned round, as one who is impatient


s: Who, while he looks, delays not his departure;


s: And how he seemed to me in action ruthless,


s: With open wings and light upon his feet!


s: His shoulders, which sharp-pointed were and high,


s: A sinner did encumber with both haunches,


s: And he held clutched the sinews of the feet.


s: From off our bridge, he said: "O Malebranche,


s: Plunge him beneath, for I return for others


s: Unto that town, which is well furnished with them.


s: All there are barrators, except Bonturo;


s: No into Yes for money there is changed."


s: He hurled him down, and over the hard crag


s: Turned round, and never was a mastiff loosened


s: The other sank, and rose again face downward;


s: But the demons, under cover of the bridge,


s: Cried: "Here the Santo Volto has no place!


s: Here swims one otherwise than in the Serchio;


s: Therefore, if for our gaffs thou wishest not,


s: They seized him then with more than a hundred rakes;


s: They said: "It here behoves thee to dance covered,


s: That, if thou canst, thou secretly mayest pilfer."


s: Not otherwise the cooks their scullions make


s: The meat with hooks, so that it may not float.


s: Said the good Master to me: "That it be not


s: Apparent thou art here, crouch thyself down


s: Behind a jag, that thou mayest have some screen;


s: Be thou afraid, because these things I know,


s: For once before was I in such a scuffle."


s: Then he passed on beyond the bridge's head,


s: Need was for him to have a steadfast front.


s: With the same fury, and the same uproar,


s: Who on a sudden begs, where'er he stops,


s: They issued from beneath the little bridge,


s: And turned against him all their grappling-irons;


s: But he cried out: "Be none of you malignant!


s: Before those hooks of yours lay hold of me,


s: Let one of you step forward, who may hear me,


s: And then take counsel as to grappling me."


s: Whereat one started, and the rest stood still,


s: And he came to him, saying: "What avails it?"


s: Advanced into this place," my Master said,


s: "Safe hitherto from all your skill of fence,


s: Without the will divine, and fate auspicious?


s: Let me go on, for it in Heaven is willed


s: Then was his arrogance so humbled in him,


s: That he let fall his grapnel at his feet,


s: And to the others said: "Now strike him not."


s: And unto me my Guide: "O thou, who sittest


s: Among the splinters of the bridge crouched down,


s: Wherefore I started and came swiftly to him;


s: And all the devils forward thrust themselves,


s: So that I feared they would not keep their compact.


s: And thus beheld I once afraid the soldiers


s: Who issued under safeguard from Caprona,


s: Close did I press myself with all my person


s: Beside my Leader, and turned not mine eyes


s: From off their countenance, which was not good.


s: They lowered their rakes, and "Wilt thou have me hit him,"


s: They said to one another, "on the rump?"


s: And answered: "Yes; see that thou nick him with it."


s: But the same demon who was holding parley


s: With my Conductor turned him very quickly,


s: And said: "Be quiet, be quiet, Scarmiglione;"


s: Forward upon this crag, because is lying


s: All shattered, at the bottom, the sixth arch.


s: And if it still doth please you to go onward,


s: Near is another crag that yields a path.


s: Yesterday, five hours later than this hour,


s: Years were complete, that here the way was broken.


s: Go ye with them; for they will not be vicious.


s: Began he to cry out, "and thou, Cagnazzo;


s: Come forward, Libicocco and Draghignazzo,


s: Search ye all round about the boiling pitch;


s: Let these be safe as far as the next crag,


s: That all unbroken passes o'er the dens."


s: Pray let us go," I said, "without an escort,


s: If thou knowest how, since for myself I ask none.


s: If thou art as observant as thy wont is,


s: Dost thou not see that they do gnash their teeth,


s: And with their brows are threatening woe to us?"


s: And he to me: "I will not have thee fear;


s: Let them gnash on, according to their fancy,


s: Because they do it for those boiling wretches."


s: Along the left-hand dike they wheeled about;


s: But first had each one thrust his tongue between


s: His teeth towards their leader for a signal;


s: I have erewhile seen horsemen moving camp,


s: Begin the storming, and their muster make,


s: And sometimes starting off for their escape;


s: Vaunt-couriers have I seen upon your land,


s: Tournaments stricken, and the joustings run,


s: Sometimes with trumpets and sometimes with bells,


s: With kettle-drums, and signals of the castles,


s: And with our own, and with outlandish things,


s: We went upon our way with the ten demons;


s: With saints, and in the tavern with the gluttons!


s: To see the whole condition of that Bolgia,


s: And of the people who therein were burned.


s: Even as the dolphins, when they make a sign


s: That they should counsel take to save their vessel,


s: One of the sinners would display his back,


s: And in less time conceal it than it lightens.


s: The frogs stand only with their muzzles out,


s: So that they hide their feet and other bulk,


s: Thus underneath the boiling they withdrew.


s: I saw, and still my heart doth shudder at it,


s: One waiting thus, even as it comes to pass


s: One frog remains, and down another dives;


s: And Graffiacan, who most confronted him,


s: Grappled him by his tresses smeared with pitch,


s: And drew him up, so that he seemed an otter.


s: I knew, before, the names of all of them,


s: So had I noted them when they were chosen,


s: And when they called each other, listened how.


s: Thy claws upon him, so that thou mayst flay him,"


s: And I: "My Master, see to it, if thou canst,


s: That thou mayst know who is the luckless wight,


s: Asked of him whence he was; and he replied:


s: Then I domestic was of good King Thibault;


s: For which I pay the reckoning in this heat."


s: And Ciriatto, from whose mouth projected,


s: Caused him to feel how one of them could rip.


s: Among malicious cats the mouse had come;


s: But Barbariccia clasped him in his arms,


s: And said: "Stand ye aside, while I enfork him."


s: And to my Master he turned round his head;


s: "Ask him again," he said, "if more thou wish


s: To know from him, before some one destroy him."


s: The Guide: "Now tell then of the other culprits;


s: Lately from one who was a neighbour to it;


s: Would that I still were covered up with him,


s: For I should fear not either claw nor hook!"


s: And Libicocco: "We have borne too much;"


s: And with his grapnel seized him by the arm,


s: So that, by rending, he tore off a tendon.


s: Eke Draghignazzo wished to pounce upon him


s: Turned round and round about with evil look.


s: Of him, who still was looking at his wound,


s: "Who was that one, from whom a luckless parting


s: Thou sayest thou hast made, to come ashore?"


s: And he replied: "It was the Friar Gomita,


s: Who had the enemies of his Lord in hand,


s: And dealt so with them each exults thereat;


s: Money he took, and let them smoothly off,


s: A barrator was he, not mean but sovereign.


s: Foregathers with him one Don Michael Zanche


s: To gossip never do their tongues feel tired.


s: O me! see that one, how he grinds his teeth;


s: Still farther would I speak, but am afraid


s: Lest he to scratch my itch be making ready."


s: And the grand Provost, turned to Farfarello,


s: Who rolled his eyes about as if to strike,


s: Said: "Stand aside there, thou malicious bird."


s: The terror-stricken recommenced thereon,


s: "Tuscans or Lombards, I will make them come.


s: So that these may not their revenges fear,


s: Cagnazzo at these words his muzzle lifted,


s: Shaking his head, and said: "Just hear the trick


s: Which he has thought of, down to throw himself!"


s: Whence he, who snares in great abundance had,


s: When I procure for mine a greater sadness."


s: Alichin held not in, but running counter


s: Unto the rest, said to him: "If thou dive,


s: But I will beat my wings above the pitch;


s: The height be left, and be the bank a shield


s: To see if thou alone dost countervail us."


s: O thou who readest, thou shalt hear new sport!


s: Each to the other side his eyes averted;


s: He first, who most reluctant was to do it.


s: Planted his feet on land, and in a moment


s: Leaped, and released himself from their design.


s: Whereat each one was suddenly stung with shame,


s: But he most who was cause of the defeat;


s: Therefore he moved, and cried: "Thou art o'ertakern."


s: But little it availed, for wings could not


s: Outstrip the fear; the other one went under,


s: And, flying, upward he his breast directed;


s: Dives under, when the falcon is approaching,


s: And upward he returneth cross and weary.


s: Flying behind him followed close, desirous


s: The other should escape, to have a quarrel.


s: He turned his talons upon his companion,


s: And grappled with him right above the moat.


s: But sooth the other was a doughty sparhawk


s: To clapperclaw him well; and both of them


s: But ne'ertheless of rising there was naught,


s: To such degree they had their wings belimed.


s: This side and that they to their posts descended;


s: They stretched their hooks towards the pitch-ensnared,


s: Who were already baked within the crust,


s: And in this manner busied did we leave them.


s: We went, the one in front, the other after,


s: My thought, by reason of the present quarrel,


s: Where he has spoken of the frog and mouse;


s: Than this one is to that, if well we couple


s: End and beginning with a steadfast mind.


s: And even as one thought from another springs,


s: So afterward from that was born another,


s: Which the first fear within me double made.


s: Thus did I ponder: "These on our account


s: Are laughed to scorn, with injury and scoff


s: So great, that much I think it must annoy them.


s: Than dog upon the leveret which he seizes,"


s: With terror, and stood backwardly intent,


s: When said I: "Master, if thou hidest not


s: Thyself and me forthwith, of Malebranche


s: I am in dread; we have them now behind us;


s: I so imagine them, I already feel them."


s: And he: "If I were made of leaded glass,


s: Thine outward image I should not attract


s: Just now thy thoughts came in among my own,


s: So that of both one counsel sole I made.


s: We shall escape from the imagined chase."


s: Not yet he finished rendering such opinion,


s: When I beheld them come with outstretched wings,


s: Not far remote, with will to seize upon us.


s: Even as a mother who by noise is wakened,


s: And close beside her sees the enkindled flames,


s: Who takes her son, and flies, and does not stop,


s: Having more care of him than of herself,


s: So that she clothes her only with a shift;


s: And downward from the top of the hard bank


s: That one side of the other Bolgia walls.


s: Ne'er ran so swiftly water through a sluice


s: To turn the wheel of any land-built mill,


s: When nearest to the paddles it approaches,


s: As did my Master down along that border,


s: His feet had reached, ere they had reached the hill


s: For the high Providence, which had ordained


s: To place them ministers of the fifth moat,


s: The power of thence departing took from all.


s: Who went about with footsteps very slow,


s: Weeping and in their semblance tired and vanquished.


s: They had on mantles with the hoods low down


s: Before their eyes, and fashioned of the cut


s: That in Cologne they for the monks are made.


s: Without, they gilded are so that it dazzles;


s: That Frederick used to put them on of straw.


s: Again we turned us, still to the left hand


s: Along with them, intent on their sad plaint;


s: But owing to the weight, that weary folk


s: In company at each motion of the haunch.


s: Some one who may by deed or name be known,


s: And thus in going move thine eye about."


s: And one, who understood the Tuscan speech,


s: Cried to us from behind: "Stay ye your feet,


s: Perhaps thou'lt have from me what thou demandest."


s: Whereat the Leader turned him, and said: "Wait,


s: And then according to his pace proceed."


s: I stopped, and two beheld I show great haste


s: Of spirit, in their faces, to be with me;


s: But the burden and the narrow way delayed them.


s: When they came up, long with an eye askance


s: They scanned me without uttering a word.


s: Then to each other turned, and said together:


s: "He by the action of his throat seems living;


s: Then said to me: "Tuscan, who to the college


s: Do not disdain to tell us who thou art."


s: In the great town on the fair river of Arno,


s: But who are ye, in whom there trickles down


s: Along your cheeks such grief as I behold?


s: And what pain is upon you, that so sparkles?"


s: And one replied to me: "These orange cloaks


s: Are made of lead so heavy, that the weights


s: Cause in this way their balances to creak.


s: For maintenance of its peace; and we were such


s: That still it is apparent round Gardingo."


s: "O Friars," began I, "your iniquitous. . ."


s: But said no more; for to mine eyes there rushed


s: One crucified with three stakes on the ground.


s: When me he saw, he writhed himself all over,


s: Blowing into his beard with suspirations;


s: And the Friar Catalan, who noticed this,


s: Said to me: "This transfixed one, whom thou seest,


s: Counselled the Pharisees that it was meet


s: To put one man to torture for the people.


s: As thou perceivest; and he needs must feel,


s: Whoever passes, first how much he weighs;


s: And in like mode his father-in-law is punished


s: Within this moat, and the others of the council,


s: Then he directed to the Friar this voice:


s: "Be not displeased, if granted thee, to tell us


s: If to the right hand any pass slope down


s: By which we two may issue forth from here,


s: Without constraining some of the black angels


s: To come and extricate us from this deep."


s: Then he made answer: "Nearer than thou hopest


s: There is a rock, that forth from the great circle


s: Proceeds, and crosses all the cruel valleys,


s: Save that at this 'tis broken, and does not bridge it;


s: That sidelong slopes and at the bottom rises."


s: The Leader stood awhile with head bowed down;


s: Then said: "The business badly he recounted


s: Who grapples with his hook the sinners yonder."


s: And the Friar: "Many of the Devil's vices


s: Once heard I at Bologna, and among them,


s: That he's a liar and the father of lies."


s: Thereat my Leader with great strides went on,


s: Somewhat disturbed with anger in his looks;


s: In that part of the youthful year wherein


s: The Sun his locks beneath Aquarius tempers,


s: And now the nights draw near to half the day,


s: What time the hoar-frost copies on the ground


s: The outward semblance of her sister white,


s: The husbandman, whose forage faileth him,


s: Rises, and looks, and seeth the champaign


s: All gleaming white, whereat he beats his flank,


s: Returns in doors, and up and down laments,


s: Like a poor wretch, who knows not what to do;


s: Seeing the world has changed its countenance


s: In little time, and takes his shepherd's crook,


s: And forth the little lambs to pasture drives.


s: When I beheld his forehead so disturbed,


s: And to the ailment came as soon the plaster.


s: The Leader turned to me with that sweet look


s: Which at the mountain's foot I first beheld.


s: His arms he opened, after some advisement


s: For aye it seems that he provides beforehand,


s: Of a huge rock, he scanned another crag,


s: Saying: "To that one grapple afterwards,


s: But try first if 'tis such that it will hold thee."


s: This was no way for one clothed with a cloak;


s: For hardly we, he light, and I pushed upward,


s: And had it not been, that upon that precinct


s: Shorter was the ascent than on the other,


s: He I know not, but I had been dead beat.


s: Of the profoundest well is all inclining,


s: The structure of each valley doth import


s: That one bank rises and the other sinks.


s: Still we arrived at length upon the point


s: Wherefrom the last stone breaks itself asunder.


s: The breath was from my lungs so milked away,


s: When I was up, that I could go no farther,


s: "Now it behoves thee thus to put off sloth,"


s: Such vestige leaveth of himself on earth,


s: And therefore raise thee up, o'ercome the anguish


s: With spirit that o'ercometh every battle,


s: A longer stairway it behoves thee mount;


s: 'Tis not enough from these to have departed;


s: Let it avail thee, if thou understand me."


s: Better with breath than I did feel myself,


s: And said: "Go on, for I am strong and bold."


s: Which jagged was, and narrow, and difficult,


s: And more precipitous far than that before.


s: Speaking I went, not to appear exhausted;


s: Whereat a voice from the next moat came forth,


s: I know not what it said, though o'er the back


s: I now was of the arch that passes there;


s: But he seemed moved to anger who was speaking.


s: Could not attain the bottom, for the dark;


s: Wherefore I: "Master, see that thou arrive


s: At the next round, and let us descend the wall;


s: For as from hence I hear and understand not,


s: So I look down and nothing I distinguish."


s: "Other response," he said, "I make thee not,


s: Ought to be followed by the deed in silence."


s: We from the bridge descended at its head,


s: Where it connects itself with the eighth bank,


s: Of serpents, and of such a monstrous kind,


s: That the remembrance still congeals my blood


s: Let Libya boast no longer with her sand;


s: She breeds, with Cenchri and with Amphisbaena,


s: Neither so many plagues nor so malignant


s: People were running naked and affrighted.


s: They had their hands with serpents bound behind them;


s: And head, and were in front of them entwined.


s: There darted forth a serpent, which transfixed him


s: There where the neck is knotted to the shoulders.


s: Nor 'O' so quickly e'er, nor 'I' was written,


s: As he took fire, and burned; and ashes wholly


s: And when he on the ground was thus destroyed,


s: The ashes drew together, and of themselves


s: Even thus by the great sages 'tis confessed


s: The phoenix dies, and then is born again,


s: When it approaches its five-hundredth year;


s: On herb or grain it feeds not in its life,


s: But only on tears of incense and amomum,


s: And nard and myrrh are its last winding-sheet.


s: And as he is who falls, and knows not how,


s: By force of demons who to earth down drag him,


s: Which he has suffered, and in looking sighs;


s: Such was that sinner after he had risen.


s: That blows like these in vengeance poureth down!


s: The Guide thereafter asked him who he was;


s: Whence he replied: "I rained from Tuscany


s: A short time since into this cruel gorge.


s: A bestial life, and not a human, pleased me,


s: Even as the mule I was; I'm Vanni Fucci,


s: And I unto the Guide: "Tell him to stir not,


s: And ask what crime has thrust him here below,


s: For once a man of blood and wrath I saw him."


s: And the sinner, who had heard, dissembled not,


s: And with a melancholy shame was painted.


s: Then said: "It pains me more that thou hast caught me


s: Than when I from the other life was taken.


s: And falsely once 'twas laid upon another;


s: But that thou mayst not such a sight enjoy,


s: If thou shalt e'er be out of the dark places,


s: Thine ears to my announcement ope and hear:


s: Then Florence doth renew her men and manners;


s: Mars draws a vapour up from Val di Magra,


s: Which is with turbid clouds enveloped round,


s: When it shall suddenly rend the mist asunder,


s: So that each Bianco shall thereby be smitten.


s: And this I've said that it may give thee pain."


s: At the conclusion of his words, the thief


s: Lifted his hands aloft with both the figs,


s: Crying: "Take that, God, for at thee I aim them."


s: From that time forth the serpents were my friends;


s: As if it said: "I will not thou speak more;"


s: And round his arms another, and rebound him,


s: That with them he could not a motion make.


s: Since in ill-doing thou thy seed excellest?


s: Through all the sombre circles of this Hell,


s: Not he who fell at Thebes down from the walls!


s: He fled away, and spake no further word;


s: Come crying out: "Where is, where is the scoffer?"


s: Upon the shoulders, just behind the nape,


s: With wings wide open was a dragon lying,


s: And he sets fire to all that he encounters.


s: He goes not on the same road with his brothers,


s: By reason of the fraudulent theft he made


s: Of the great herd, which he had near to him;


s: Whereat his tortuous actions ceased beneath


s: Gave him a hundred, and he felt not ten."


s: While he was speaking thus, he had passed by,


s: And spirits three had underneath us come,


s: Of which nor I aware was, nor my Leader,


s: Until what time they shouted: "Who are you?"


s: I did not know them; but it came to pass,


s: That one to name the other was compelled,


s: Exclaiming: "Where can Cianfa have remained?"


s: Whence I, so that the Leader might attend,


s: Upward from chin to nose my finger laid.


s: If thou art, Reader, slow now to believe


s: As I was holding raised on them my brows,


s: Behold! a serpent with six feet darts forth


s: In front of one, and fastens wholly on him.


s: With middle feet it bound him round the paunch,


s: And with the forward ones his arms it seized;


s: Then thrust its teeth through one cheek and the other;


s: The hindermost it stretched upon his thighs,


s: And put its tail through in between the two,


s: And up behind along the reins outspread it.


s: Unto a tree so, as this horrible reptile


s: Upon the other's limbs entwined its own.


s: Then they stuck close, as if of heated wax


s: They had been made, and intermixed their colour;


s: Nor one nor other seemed now what he was;


s: Which is not black as yet, and the white dies.


s: The other two looked on, and each of them


s: Cried out: "O me, Agnello, how thou changest!


s: Behold, thou now art neither two nor one."


s: When there appeared to us two figures mingled


s: Into one face, wherein the two were lost.


s: Of the four lists were fashioned the two arms,


s: The thighs and legs, the belly and the chest


s: Members became that never yet were seen.


s: Every original aspect there was cancelled;


s: Two and yet none did the perverted image


s: Appear, and such departed with slow pace.


s: Even as a lizard, under the great scourge


s: Lightning appeareth if the road it cross;


s: Thus did appear, coming towards the bellies


s: Of the two others, a small fiery serpent,


s: And in that part whereat is first received


s: Then downward fell in front of him extended.


s: The one transfixed looked at it, but said naught;


s: Nay, rather with feet motionless he yawned,


s: Just as if sleep or fever had assailed him.


s: One through the wound, the other through the mouth


s: Smoked violently, and the smoke commingled.


s: Henceforth be silent Lucan, where he mentions


s: And wait to hear what now shall be shot forth.


s: Converts he fabling, that I grudge him not;


s: Because two natures never front to front


s: Has he transmuted, so that both the forms


s: That to a fork the serpent cleft his tail,


s: And eke the wounded drew his feet together.


s: The legs together with the thighs themselves


s: Adhered so, that in little time the juncture


s: No sign whatever made that was apparent.


s: He with the cloven tail assumed the figure


s: I saw the arms draw inward at the armpits,


s: And both feet of the reptile, that were short,


s: Lengthen as much as those contracted were.


s: Thereafter the hind feet, together twisted,


s: And of his own the wretch had two created.


s: Though turning not away their impious lamps,


s: Underneath which each one his muzzle changed.


s: He who was standing drew it tow'rds the temples,


s: And from excess of matter, which came thither,


s: Issued the ears from out the hollow cheeks;


s: What did not backward run and was retained


s: And the lips thickened far as was befitting.


s: He who lay prostrate thrusts his muzzle forward,


s: And backward draws the ears into his head,


s: In the same manner as the snail its horns;


s: And so the tongue, which was entire and apt


s: For speech before, is cleft, and the bi-forked


s: In the other closes up, and the smoke ceases.


s: The soul, which to a reptile had been changed,


s: Along the valley hissing takes to flight,


s: And after him the other speaking sputters.


s: Then did he turn upon him his new shoulders,


s: And said to the other: "I'll have Buoso run,


s: Crawling as I have done, along this road."


s: In this way I beheld the seventh ballast


s: Shift and reshift, and here be my excuse


s: The novelty, if aught my pen transgress.


s: And notwithstanding that mine eyes might be


s: Somewhat bewildered, and my mind dismayed,


s: But that I plainly saw Puccio Sciancato;


s: And he it was who sole of three companions,


s: Which came in the beginning, was not changed;


s: The other was he whom thou, Gaville, weepest.


s: Rejoice, O Florence, since thou art so great,


s: That over sea and land thou beatest thy wings,


s: And throughout Hell thy name is spread abroad!


s: Among the thieves five citizens of thine


s: Like these I found, whence shame comes unto me,


s: And thou thereby to no great honour risest.


s: But if when morn is near our dreams are true,


s: Feel shalt thou in a little time from now


s: What Prato, if none other, craves for thee.


s: And if it now were, it were not too soon;


s: Would that it were, seeing it needs must be,


s: For 'twill aggrieve me more the more I age.


s: We went our way, and up along the stairs


s: The bourns had made us to descend before,


s: The foot without the hand sped not at all.


s: That it may run not unless virtue guide it;


s: So that if some good star, or better thing,


s: Have given me good, I may myself not grudge it.


s: Rests at the time when he who lights the world


s: His countenance keeps least concealed from us,


s: While as the fly gives place unto the gnat)


s: Seeth the glow-worms down along the valley,


s: Perchance there where he ploughs and makes his vintage;


s: As soon as I was where the depth appeared.


s: And such as he who with the bears avenged him


s: What time the steeds to heaven erect uprose,


s: So as to see aught else than flame alone,


s: Even as a little cloud ascending upward,


s: Thus each along the gorge of the intrenchment


s: Was moving; for not one reveals the theft,


s: And the Leader, who beheld me so attent,


s: Exclaimed: "Within the fires the spirits are;


s: Each swathes himself with that wherewith he burns."


s: "My Master," I replied, "by hearing thee


s: It might be so, and already wished to ask thee


s: Who is within that fire, which comes so cleft


s: Where was Eteocles with his brother placed."


s: He answered me: "Within there are tormented


s: And there within their flame do they lament


s: The ambush of the horse, which made the door


s: Whence issued forth the Romans' gentle seed;


s: Therein is wept the craft, for which being dead


s: And pain for the Palladium there is borne."


s: "If they within those sparks possess the power


s: To speak," I said, "thee, Master, much I pray,


s: And re-pray, that the prayer be worth a thousand,


s: Until the horned flame shall hither come;


s: Thou seest that with desire I lean towards it."


s: Of much applause, and therefore I accept it;


s: But take heed that thy tongue restrain itself.


s: Leave me to speak, because I have conceived


s: That which thou wishest; for they might disdain


s: Perchance, since they were Greeks, discourse of thine."


s: When now the flame had come unto that point,


s: Where to my Leader it seemed time and place,


s: After this fashion did I hear him speak:


s: If I deserved of you, while I was living,


s: When in the world I wrote the lofty verses,


s: Whither, being lost, he went away to die."


s: Then of the antique flame the greater horn,


s: Even as a flame doth which the wind fatigues.


s: Moving as if it were the tongue that spake,


s: It uttered forth a voice, and said: "When I


s: From Circe had departed, who concealed me


s: For my old father, nor the due affection


s: With one sole ship, and that small company


s: Both of the shores I saw as far as Spain,


s: And the others which that sea bathes round about.


s: Where Hercules his landmarks set as signals,


s: That man no farther onward should adventure.


s: On the right hand behind me left I Seville,


s: And on the other already had left Ceuta.


s: 'O brothers, who amid a hundred thousand


s: Perils,' I said, 'have come unto the West,


s: Following the sun, of the unpeopled world.


s: Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang;


s: Ye were not made to live like unto brutes,


s: But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.'


s: With this brief exhortation, for the voyage,


s: That then I hardly could have held them back.


s: And having turned our stern unto the morning,


s: We of the oars made wings for our mad flight,


s: Five times rekindled and as many quenched


s: Had been the splendour underneath the moon,


s: Since we had entered into the deep pass,


s: When there appeared to us a mountain, dim


s: From distance, and it seemed to me so high


s: Joyful were we, and soon it turned to weeping;


s: For out of the new land a whirlwind rose,


s: And smote upon the fore part of the ship.


s: Three times it made her whirl with all the waters,


s: At the fourth time it made the stern uplift,


s: And the prow downward go, as pleased Another,


s: To speak no more, and now departed from us


s: By a confused sound that issued from it.


s: As the Sicilian bull (that bellowed first


s: With the lament of him, and that was right,


s: Bellowed so with the voice of the afflicted,


s: That, notwithstanding it was made of brass,


s: Still it appeared with agony transfixed;


s: At first from out the fire, to its own language


s: But afterwards, when they had gathered way


s: Up through the point, giving it that vibration


s: The tongue had given them in their passage out,


s: We heard it said: "O thou, at whom I aim


s: My voice, and who but now wast speaking Lombard,


s: Saying, 'Now go thy way, no more I urge thee,'


s: To stay and speak with me let it not irk thee;


s: Thou seest it irks not me, and I am burning.


s: If thou but lately into this blind world


s: Hast fallen down from that sweet Latian land,


s: Wherefrom I bring the whole of my transgression,


s: Say, if the Romagnuols have peace or war,


s: For I was from the mountains there between


s: Urbino and the yoke whence Tiber bursts."


s: I still was downward bent and listening,


s: When my Conductor touched me on the side,


s: Saying: "Speak thou: this one a Latian is."


s: "O soul, that down below there art concealed,


s: Without war in the bosom of its tyrants;


s: But open war I none have left there now.


s: Ravenna stands as it long years has stood;


s: So that she covers Cervia with her vans.


s: The city which once made the long resistance,


s: Beneath the Green Paws finds itself again;


s: Verrucchio's ancient Mastiff and the new,


s: Where they are wont make wimbles of their teeth.


s: Who changes sides 'twixt summer-time and winter;


s: And that of which the Savio bathes the flank,


s: Even as it lies between the plain and mountain,


s: Now I entreat thee tell us who thou art;


s: Be not more stubborn than the rest have been,


s: So may thy name hold front there in the world."


s: In its own fashion, the sharp point it moved


s: This way and that, and then gave forth such breath:


s: To one who to the world would e'er return,


s: This flame without more flickering would stand still;


s: But for the High Priest, whom may ill betide,


s: And how and wherefore I will have thee hear.


s: While I was still the form of bone and pulp


s: I knew them all, and practised so their craft,


s: That to the ends of earth the sound went forth.


s: I saw myself arrived, when each one ought


s: To lower the sails, and coil away the ropes,


s: That which before had pleased me then displeased me;


s: And penitent and confessing I surrendered,


s: Ah woe is me! and it would have bestead me;


s: For each one of his enemies was Christian,


s: And none of them had been to conquer Acre,


s: Nor the high office, nor the sacred orders,


s: Which used to make those girt with it more meagre;


s: But even as Constantine sought out Sylvester


s: Counsel he asked of me, and I was silent,


s: And then he said: 'Be not thy heart afraid;


s: Henceforth I thee absolve; and thou instruct me


s: Heaven have I power to lock and to unlock,


s: As thou dost know; therefore the keys are two,


s: The which my predecessor held not dear.'


s: There, where my silence was the worst advice;


s: And said I: 'Father, since thou washest me


s: The promise long with the fulfilment short


s: Will make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.'


s: Francis came afterward, when I was dead,


s: Said to him: 'Take him not; do me no wrong;


s: From which time forth I have been at his hair;


s: Nor can one both repent and will at once,


s: Because of the contradiction which consents not.'


s: When he seized on me, saying: 'Peradventure


s: Thou didst not think that I was a logician!'


s: Eight times his tail about his stubborn back,


s: And after he had bitten it in great rage,


s: Said: 'Of the thievish fire a culprit this;'


s: Wherefore, here where thou seest, am I lost,


s: The flame departed uttering lamentations,


s: Writhing and flapping its sharp-pointed horn.


s: Onward we passed, both I and my Conductor,


s: Which the moat covers, where is paid the fee


s: By those who, sowing discord, win their burden.


s: Who ever could, e'en with untrammelled words,


s: Tell of the blood and of the wounds in full


s: Which now I saw, by many times narrating?


s: Each tongue would for a certainty fall short


s: That have small room to comprehend so much.


s: Of Puglia were lamenting for their blood


s: Shed by the Romans and the lingering war


s: That of the rings made such illustrious spoils,


s: By making counterstand to Robert Guiscard,


s: And all the rest, whose bones are gathered still


s: Where without arms the old Alardo conquered,


s: And one his limb transpierced, and one lopped off,


s: Should show, it would be nothing to compare


s: With the disgusting mode of the ninth Bolgia.


s: Rent from the chin to where one breaketh wind.


s: Between his legs were hanging down his entrails;


s: His heart was visible, and the dismal sack


s: He looked at me, and opened with his hands


s: His bosom, saying: "See now how I rend me;


s: Cleft in the face from forelock unto chin;


s: And all the others whom thou here beholdest,