Canto XXI
¶ARGUMENT . — Still in the eighth circle, which bears the name of Malebolge, they look down from the bridge that passes over its fifth gulf, upon the bartcrers or public peculators. These are plunged in a lake of boiling pitch, and guarded by Demons, to whom Virgil, leaving Dante apart, presents himself; and license being obtained to pass onward, both pursue their way.
¶HUS we from bridge to bridge, with other talk,The which my drama cares not to rehearse,Pass'd on; and to the summit reaching, stoodTo view another gap, within the roundOf Malebolge, other bootless pangs.Marvellous darkness shadow'd o'er the place.In the Venetians' arsenal as boilsThrough wintry months tenacious pitch, to smearTheir unsound vessels; for the inclement timeSeafaring men restrains, and in that whileHis bark one builds anew, another stopsThe ribs of his that hath made many a voyage,One hammers at the prow, one at the poop,This shapeth oars, that other cables twirls,The mizzen one repairs, and main-sail rent;So, not by force of fire but art divine,Boil'd here a glutinous thick mass, that roundLimed all the shore beneath. I that beheld,But therein naught distinguished, save the bubblesRaised by the boiling, and one mighty swellHeave, and by turns subsiding fall. While thereI fix'd my ken below, "Mark! mark!" my guideExclaiming, drew me toward him from the placeWherein I stood. I turn'd myself, as oneImpatient to behold that which beheldHe needs must shun, whom sudden fear unmans,That he his flight delays not for the view.Behind me I discern'd a devil black,That running up advanced along the rock.Ah! what fierce cruelty his look bespake.In act how bitter did he seem, with wingsBuoyant outstretch'd and feet of nimblest tread.His shoulder, proudly eminent and sharp,[86]Was with a sinner charged; by either haunchHe held him, the foot's sinew griping fast."Ye of our bridge!" he cried, "keen-talon'd fiends!Lo! one of Santa Zita's elders. HimWhelm ye beneath, while I return for more.That land hath store of such. All men are there,Except Bonturo, barterers: of 'no'For lucre there an 'ay' is quickly made."Him dashing down, o'er the rough rock he turn'd;Nor ever after thief a mastiff loosedSped with like eager haste. That other sank,And forthwith writhing to the surface rose.But those dark demons, shrouded by the bridge,Cried, "Here the hallow'd visage saves not: hereIs other swimming than in Serchio's wave,Wherefore, if thou desire we rend thee not,Take heed thou mount not o'er the pitch." This said,They grappled him with more than hundred hooks,And shouted: "Cover'd thou must sport thee here;So, if thou canst, in secret mayst thou filch."E'en thus the cook bestirs him, with his grooms,To thrust the flesh into the caldron downWith flesh-hooks, that it float not on the top.Me then my guide bespake: "Lest they descryThat thou art here, behind a craggy rockBend low and screen thee: and whate'er of forceBe offer'd me, or insult, fear thou not;For I am well advised, who have been erstIn the like fray." Beyond the bridge's headTherewith he pass'd; and reaching the sixth pier,Behoved him then a forehead terror-proof.With storm and fury, as when dogs rush forthUpon the poor man's back, who suddenlyFrom whence he standeth makes his suit; so rush'dThose from beneath the arch, and against himTheir weapons all they pointed. He, aloud:"Be none of you outrageous: ere your tineDare seize me, come forth from amongst you one,Who having heard my words, decide he then[87]If he shall tear these limbs." They shouted loud,"Go, Malacoda!" Whereat one advanced,The others standing firm, and as he came,"What may this turn avail him?" he exclaim'd."Believest thou, Malacoda! I had comeThus far from all your skirmishing secure,"My teacher answer'd, "without will divineAnd destiny propitious? Pass we then;For so Heaven's pleasure is, that I should leadAnother through this savage wilderness."Forthwith so fell his pride, that he let dropThe instrument of torture at his feet,And to the rest exclaim'd: "We have no powerTo strike him." Then to me my guide: "O thou!Who on the bridge among the crags dost sitLow crouching, safely now to me return."I rose, and toward him moved with speed; the fiendsMeantime all forward drew: me terror seized,Lest they should break the compact they had made.Thus issuing from Caprona, 1 once I sawTh' infantry, dreading lest his covenantThe foe should break; so close he hemm'd them round.I to my leader's side adhered, mine eyesWith fixt and motionless observance bentOn their unkindly visage. They their hooksProtruding, one the other thus bespake:"Wilt thou I touch him on the hip?" To whomWas answer'd: "Even so; nor miss thy aim."But he, who was in conference with my guide,Turn'd rapid round; and thus the demon spake:"Stay, stay thee, Scarmiglione!" Then to usHe added: "Further footing to your stepThis rock affords not, shiver'd to the baseOf the sixth arch. But would ye still proceed,Up by this cavern go: not distant far,Another rock will yield you passage safe.
¶1 "From Caprona." The surrender of in safety, to which event Dante was a the castle of Caprona to the combined witness, took place in 1290. See G . forces of Florence and Lucca, on condi- Villani, Hist. lib. vii. c. cxxxvi.
¶tion that the garrison should march out
p. 88¶Yesterday, 2 later by five hours than now,Twelve hundred threescore years and six had fill'dThe circuit of their course, since here the wayWas broken. Thitherward I straight despatchCertain of these my scouts, who shall espyIf any on the surface bask. With themGo ye: for ye shall find them nothing fell.Come, Alichino, forth," with that he cried,"And Calcabrina, and Cagnazzo thou!The troop of ten let Barbariccia lead.With Libicocco, Draghinazzo haste,Fang'd Ciriatta, Graffiacane fierce,And Farfarello, and mad Rubicant.Search ye around the bubbling tar. For these,In safety lead them, where the other cragUninterrupted traverses the dens."I then: "O master! what a sight is there.Ah! without escort, journey we alone,Which, if thou know the way, I covet not.Unless thy prudence fail thee, dost not markHow they do gnarl upon us, and their scowlThreatens us present tortures?" He replied:"I charge thee, fear not: let them, as they will,Gnarl on: 'tis but in token of their spiteAgainst the souls who mourn in torment steep'd."To leftward o'er the pier they turn'd; but eachHad first between his teeth prest close the tongue,Toward their leader for a signal looking,Which he with sound obscene triumphant gave.
¶•"Yesterday." This passage fixes the I. The awful event alluded to, the Evanera of Dante's descent at Good Friday, gclists inform us, happened "at the ninth in the year 1300 (thirty-four years from hour," that is, our sixth, when "the rocks our blessed Lord's incarnation being were rent," and the convulsion, according added to 1266), and at the thirty-fifth to Dante, was felt even in the depths of year of our Poet's age. See Canto i. v. Hell. See Canto xii. v. 38.
Canto XXII
¶ARC U MEN T . — Virgil and Dante proceed, accompanied by the Demons, and see other sinners of the same description in the same gulf. The device of Ciampolo, one of these, to escape from the Demons, who had laid hold on him.
¶IT hath been heretofore my chance to seeHorsemen with martial order shifting camp,To onset sallying, or in muster ranged,Or in retreat sometimes outstretch'd for flight:Light-armed squadrons and fleet foragersScouring thy plains, Arezzo! have I seen,And clashing tournaments, and tilting jousts,Now with the sound of trumpets, now of bells,Tabors,1 or signals made from castled heights,And with inventions multiform, our own,Or introduced from foreign land; but ne'erTo such a strange recorder I beheld,In evolution moving, horse nor foot,Nor ship, that tack'd by sign from land or star.With the ten Demons on our way we went;Ah, fearful company! but in the churchWith saints, with gluttons at the tavern's mess.Still earnest on the pitch I gazed, to markAll things whate'er the chasm contain'd, and thoseWho burn'd within. As dolphins that, in signTo mariners, heave high their arched backs.That thence forewarn'd they may advise to saveTheir threaten'd vessel; so, at intervals,To case the pain, his back some sinner show'd,Then hid more nimbly than the lightning-glance.E'en as the frogs, that of a watery moatStand at the brink, with the jaws only out,Their feet and of the trunk all else conceal'd,Thus on each part the sinners stood; but soonAs Barbariccia was at hand, so theyDrew back under the wave. I saw, and yet[90]My heart doth stagger, one, that waited thus,As it befalls that oft one frog remains,While the next springs away: and Graffiacan,Who of the fiends was nearest, grappling seizedHis clotted locks, and dragg'd him sprawling up,That he appear'd to me an otter. EachAlready by their names I knew, so wellWhen they were chosen I observed, and mark'dHow one the other call'd. "O RubicantlSee that his hide thou with thy talons flay,"Shouted together all the cursed crew.Then I: "Inform thee, Master! if thou may,What wretched soul is this, on whom their handsHis foes have laid." My leader to his sideApproach'd, and whence he came inquired; to whomWas answer'd thus: "Born in Navarre's domain,1My mother placed me in a lord's retinue;For she had borne me to a losel vile,A spendthrift of his substance and himself.The good King Thibault2 after that I served:To peculating here my thoughts were turn'd,Whereof I give account in this dire heat."Straight Ciriatto, from whose mouth a tuskIssued on either side, as from a boar,Ripp'd him with one of these. 'Twixt evil clawsThe mouse had fallen: but Barbariccia cried,Seizing him with both arms: "Stand thou apartWhile I do fix him on my prong transpierced."Then added, turning to my guide his face,"Inquire of him, if more thou wish to learn,Ere he again be rent." My leader thus:"Then tell us of the partners in thy guilt;Knowest thou any sprung of Latin land[91]Under the tar?" "I parted," he replied,"But now from one, who sojourn'd not far thence;So were I under shelter now with him,Nor hook nor talon then should scare me more.""Too long we suffer," Libicocco cried;Then, darting forth a prong, seized on his arm,And mangled bore away the sinewy part.Him Draghinazzo by his thighs beneathWould next have caught; whence angrily their chief,Turning on all sides round, with threatening browRestrain'd them. When their strife a little ceased,Of him, who yet was gazing on his wound,My teacher thus without delay inquired:"Who was the spirit, from whom by evil hapParting, as thou hast told, thou earnest to shore?""It was the friar Gomita," 4 he rejoin'd,"He of Gallura, vessel of all guile,Who had his master's enemies in hand,And used them so that they commend him well.Money he took, and them at large dismiss'd;So he reports; and in each other chargeCommitted to his keeping play'd the partOf barterer to the height. With him doth herdThe chief of Logodoro, Michel Zanche. 5Sardinia is a theme whereof their tongueIs never weary. Out! alas! beholdThat other, how he grins. More would I say,But tremble lest he mean to maul me sore."Their captain then to Farfarello turning,Who roll'd his moony eyes in act to strike,Rebuked him thus: "Off, cursed bird! avaunt!""If ye desire to see or hear," he thusQuaking with dread resumed, "or Tuscan spiritsOr Lombard, I will cause them to appear.Meantime let these ill talons bate their fury,So that no vengeance they may fear from them,[92]And I, remaining in this self-same place,Will, for myself but one, make seven appear,When my shrill whistle shall be heard; for soOur custom is to call each other up."Cagnazzo at that word deriding grinn'd,Then wagg'd the head and spake: "Hear his device,Mischievous as he is, to plunge him down."Whereto he thus, who fail'd not in rich storeOf nice-wove toils: "Mischief, forsooth, extreme!Meant only to procure myself more woe."No longer Alichino then refrain'd,But thus, the rest gainsaying, him bespake:"If thou do cast thee down, I not on footWill chase thee, but above the pitch will beatMy plumes. Quit we the vantage ground, and letThe bank be as a shield; that we may see,If singly thou prevail against us all."Now, reader, of new sport expect to hear.They each one turn'd his eyes to the other shore,He first, who was the hardest to persuade.The spirit of Navarre chose well his time,Planted his feet on land, and at one leapEscaping, disappointed their resolve.Them quick resentment stung, but him the mostWho was the cause of failure: in pursuitHe therefore sped, exclaiming, "Thou art caught."But little it avail'd; terror outstripp'dHis following flight; the other plunged beneath,And he with upward pinion raised his breast:E'en thus the water-fowl, when she perceivesThe falcon near, dives instant down, while heEnraged and spent retires. That mockeryIn Calcabrina fury stirr'd, who flewAfter him, with desire of strife inflamed;And, for the barterer had 'scaped, so turn'dHis talons on his comrade. O'er the dykeIn grapple close they join'd; but the other provedA goshawk able to rend well his foe;And in the boiling lake both fell. The heatWas umpire soon between them; but in vain[93]To lift themselves they strove, so fast were gluedTheir pennons. Barbariccia, as the rest,That chance lamenting, four in flight despatch'dFrom the other coast, with all their weapons arm'd.They, to their post on each side speedilyDescending, stretch'd their hooks toward the fiends,Who flounder'd, inly burning from their scars:And we departing left them to that broil.
Canto XXIII
¶A R O U MEN T . — The enraged Demons pursue Dante, but he is preserved from them by Virgil. On reaching the sixth gulf, he beholds the punishment of the hypocrites; which is, to pace coi.tinually round the gulf under the pressure of caps and hoods, that are gilt on the outside, but leaden within. He is addressed by two of these, Catalano and I^oderingo, Knights of St. Mary, otherwise called Joyous Friars of Bologna. Caiaphas is seen fixed to a cross on the ground, and lies so stretched along the way, that all tread on him in passing.
¶IN silence and in solitude we went,One first, the other following his steps,As minor friars journeying on their road.The present fray had turn'd my thoughts to museUpon old /Esop's fable,1 where he toldWhat fate unto the mouse and frog befell;For language hath not sounds more like in sense,Than are these chances, if the originAnd end of each be heedfully compared.And as one thought bursts from another forth,So afterward from that another sprang,Which added doubly to my former fear.For thus I reason'd: "These through us have beenSo foil'd, with loss and mockery so complete,As needs must sting them sore. If anger thenBe to their evil will conjoin'd, more fellThey shall pursue us, than the savage houndSnatches the leveret panting 'twixt his jaws."Already I perceived my hair stand allOn end with terror, and look'd eager back.[94]"Teacher," I thus began, "if speedilyThyself and me thou hide not, much I dreadThose evil talons. Even now behindThey urge us: quick imagination worksSo forcibly, that I already feel them."He answer'd: "Were I form'd of leaded glass,I should not sooner draw unto myselfThy outward image, than I now imprintThat from within. This moment came thy thoughtsPresented before mine, with similar actAnd countenance similar, so that from bothI one design have framed. If the right coastIncline so much, that we may thence descendInto the other chasm, we shall escapeSecure from this imagined pursuit."He had not spoke his purpose to the end,When I from far beheld them with spread wingsApproach to take us. Suddenly my guideCaught me, even as a mother that from sleepIs by the noise aroused, and near her seesThe climbing fires, who snatches up her babeAnd flies ne'er pausing, careful more of himThan of herself, that but a single vestClings round her limbs. Down from the jutting beachSupine he cast him to that pendent rock,Which closes on one part the other chasm.Never ran water with such hurrying paceAdown the tube to turn a land-mill's wheel,When nearest it approaches to the spokes,As then along that edge my master ran,Carrying me in his bosom, as a child,Not a companion. Scarcely had his feetReach'd to the lowest of the bed beneath,When over us the steep they reach'd: but fearIn him was none; for that high Providence,Which placed them ministers of the fifth foss,Power of departing thence took from them all.There in the depth we saw a painted tribe,Who paced with tardy steps around, and wept,Faint in appearance and o'ercome with toil.[95]Caps had they on, with hoods, that fell low downBefore their eyes, in fashion like to thoseWorn by the monks in Cologne. 2 Their outsideWas overlaid with gold, dazzling to view,But leaden all within, and of such weight,That Frederick's 3 compared to these were straw.Oh, everlasting wearisome attire!We yet once more with them together turn'dTo leftward, on their dismal moan intent.But by the weight opprest, so slowly cameThe fainting people, that our companyWas changed, at every movement of the step.Whence I my guide address'd: "See that thou findSome spirit, whose name may by his deeds be known;And to that end look round thee as thou go'st."Then one, who understood the Tuscan voice,Cried after us aloud: "Hold in your feet,Ye who so swiftly speed through the dusk air.Perchance from me thou shalt obtain thy wish."Whereat my leader, turning, me bespake:"Pause, and then onward at their pace proceed."I staid, and saw two spirits in whose lookImpatient eagerness of mind was mark'dTo overtake me; but the load they bareAnd narrow path retarded their approach.Soon as arrived, they with an eye askancePerused me, but spake not: then turning, eachTo other thus conferring said: "This oneSeems, by the action of his throat, alive;And, be they dead, what privilege allowsThey walk unmantled by the cumbrous stole?"Then thus to me: "Tuscan, who visitestThe college of the mourning hypocrites,Disdain not to instruct us who thou art.""By Arno's pleasant stream," I thus replied,"In the great city I was bred and grew,And wear the body I have ever worn.
But who are ye, from whom such mighty grief,As now I witness, courseth down your cheeks?What torment breaks forth in this bitter woe?""Our bonnets gleaming bright with orange hue,"One of them answer'd, "are so leaden gross,That with their weight they make the balancesTo crack beneath them. Joyous friars 4 we were,
¶Bologna's natives; Catalano I,
He Loderingo named; and by thy landTogether taken, as men used to take
¶A single and indifferent arbiter,
To reconcile their strifes. How there we sped,Gardingo's vicinage 5 can best declare.""O friars!" I began, "your miseries—"But there brake off, for one had caught mine eye,Fix'd to a cross with three stakes on the ground:He, when he saw me, writhed himself, throughoutDistorted, ruffling with deep sighs his beard.And Catalano, who thereof was 'ware,Thus spake: "That pierced spirit, 6 whom intentThou view'st, was he who gave the PhariseesCounsel, that it were fitting for one man
¶4 "Joyous friars." "Those who ruled served the appellation given them, and the city of Florence on the part of the were found to be more bent on enjoying Ghibellines perceiving this discontent and themselves than on any other object. murmuring, which they were fearful These two friars were called in by the might produce a rebellion against them Florentines, and had a residence assigned selves, in order to satisfy the people, made them in the palace belonging to the choice of two knights, Frati Gaudenti people, over against the Abbey. Such was (joyous friars) of Bologna, on whom they the dependence placed on the character conferred the chief power in Florence; of their order, it was expected they would one named M . Catalano de' Malavolti, be impartial, and would save the comthe other M . Loderingo di Liandolo; one monwealth any unnecessary expense; inan adherent of the Guelf, the other of the stead of which, though inclined to opGbibclline party. It is to be remarked, posite parties, they sccredy and hypothat the Joyous Friars were called Knights critically concurred in promoting their of St. Mary, and became knights on tak own advantage rather than the public ing that habit: their robes were white, good."—G. Villani, b. vii. c. xiii. This the mantle sable, and the arms a white happened in 1266.
¶field and red cross with two stars: their 5 The name of that part of the city office was to defend widows and orphans, which was inhabited by the powerful they were to act as mediators; they had Ghibcllinc family of the Uberti, and deinternal regulations, like other religious stroyed under the partial and iniquitous bodies. The above-mentioned M . Loder idministration of Catalano and Loderingo. ingo was the founder of that order. But
¶it was not long before they too well de • "That pierced spirit," Ca'iaphas.
p. 97¶To suffer for the people. He doth lieTransverse; nor any passes, but him firstBehoves make feeling trial how each weighs.In straits like this along the foss are placedThe father of his consort,1 and the restPartakers in that council, seed of illAnd sorrow to the Jews." I noted then,How Virgil gazed with wonder upon him,Thus abjecdy extended on the crossIn banishment eternal. To the friarHe next his words address'd: "We pray ye tell,If so be lawful, whether on our rightLies any opening in the rock, wherebyWe both may issue hence, without constraintOn the dark angels, that compell'd they comeTo lead us from this depth." He thus replied:"Nearer than thou dost hope, there is a rockFrom the great circle moving, which o'erstepsEach vale of horror, save that here his copeIs shatter'd. By the ruin ye may mount:For on the side it slants, and most the heightRises below." With head bent down awhileMy leader stood; then spake: "He warn'd us ill,Who yonder hangs the sinners on his hook."To whom the friar: "At Bologna erstI many vices of the Devil heard;Among the rest was said, 'He is a liar,And the father of lies!'" When he had spoke,My leader with large strides proceeded on,Somewhat disturb'd with anger in his look.I therefore left the spirits heavy laden,And, following, his beloved footsteps mark'd.
Canto XXIV
¶ARGUMENT . — Under the escort of his faithful master, Dante not without difficulty makes his way out of the sixth gulf; and in the seventh, sees the robbers tormented by venomous and pestilent serpents. The soul of Vanni Fucci, who had pillaged the sacristy of St. James in Pistoia, predicts some calamities that impended over that city,
¶and over the Florentines. I Whenas the rime upon the earth puts on N the year's early nonage, Tempers his tresses in Aquarius' urn, And now toward equal day the nights recede;1 when the sunHer dazzling sister's image, but not longHer milder sway endures; then riseth upThe village hind, whom fails his wintry store,And looking out beholds the plain aroundAll whiten'd; whence impatiently he smitesHis thighs, and to his hut returning in,There paces to and fro, wailing his lot,As a discomfited and helpless man;Then comes he forth again, and feels new hopeSpring in his bosom, finding e'en thus soonThe world hath changed its countenance, grasps his crook,And forth to pasture drives his little flock:So me my guide dishearten'd, when I sawHis troubled forehead; and so speedilyThat ill was cured; for at the fallen bridgeArriving, toward me with a look as sweet,He turn'd him back, as that I first beheldAt the steep mountain's foot. Regarding wellThe ruin, and some counsel first maintain'dWith his own thought, he open'd wide his armAnd took me up. As one, who, while he works,Computes his labor's issue, that he seemsStill to foresee the effect; so lifting meUp to the summit of one peak, he fix'dHis eye upon another. "Grapple that,"Said he, "but first make proof, if it be suchAs will sustain thee." For one capt with lead[99]This were no journey. Scarcely he, though light,And I, though onward push'd from crag to crag,Could mount. And if the precinct of this coastWere not less ample than the last, for himI know not, but my strength had surely fail'd.But Malebolge all toward the mouthInclining of the nethermost abyss,The site of every valley hence requires,That one side upward slope, the other fall.At length the point from whence the utmost stoneJuts down, we reach'd; soon as to that arrived,So was the breath exhausted from my lungsI could no further, but did seat me there."Now needs thy best of man;" so spake my guide:"For not on downy plumes, nor under shadeOf canopy reposing, fame is won;Without which whosoe'r consumes his days,Leaveth such vestige of himself on earth,As smoke in air or foam upon the wave.Thou therefore rise: vanquish thy wearinessBy the mind's effort, in each struggle form'dTo vanquish, if she suffer not the weightOf her corporeal frame to crush her down.A longer ladder yet remains to scale.From these to have escaped sufficeth not,If well thou note me, profit by my words."I straightway rose, and show'd myself less spentThan I in truth did feel me. "On," I cried,"For I am stout and fearless." Up the rockOur way we held, more rugged than before,Narrower, and steeper far to climb. From talkI ceased not, as we journey'd, so to seemLeast faint; whereat a voice from the other fossDid issue forth, for utterance suited ill.Though on the arch that crosses there I stood,What were the words I knew not, but who spakeSeem'd moved in anger. Down I stoop'd to look;But my quick eye might reach not to the depthFor shrouding darkness; wherefore thus I spake:"To the next circle, teacher, bend thy steps,[100]And from the wall dismount we; for as henceI hear and understand not, so I seeBeneath, and naught discern." "I answer not,"Said he, "but by the deed. To fair requestSilent performance maketh best return."We from the bridge's head descended, whereTo the eighth mound it joins; and then, the chasmOpening to view, I saw a crowd withinOf serpents terrible, so strange of shapeAnd hideous, that remembrance in my veinsYet shrinks the vital current. Of her sandsLet Libya vaunt no more: if Jaculus,Pareas and Chelyder be her brood,Cenchris and Amphisbsena, plagues so direOr in such numbers swarming ne'er she show'd,Not with all Ethiopia, and whate'erAbove the Erythraean sea is spawn'd.Amid this dread exuberance of woeRan naked spirits wing'd with horrid fear,Nor hope had they of crevice where to hide,Or heliotrope to charm them out of view.With serpents were their hands behind them bound,Which through their reins infix'd the tail and head,Twisted in folds before. And lo! on oneNear to our side, darted an adder up,And, where the neck is on the shoulders tied,Transpierced him. Far more quickly than e'er penWrote O or I, he kindled, burn'd, and changedTo ashes all, pour'd out upon the earth.When there dissolved he lay, the dust againUproll'd spontaneous, and the self-same formInstant resumed. So mighty sages tell,The Arabian Phoenix, when five hundred yearsHave well-nigh circled, dies, and springs forthwithRenascent: blade nor herb throughout his lifeHe tastes, but tears of frankincense aloneAnd odorous amomum: swaths of nardAnd myrrh his funeral shroud. As one that falls,He knows not how, by force demoniac dragg'd[101]To earth, or through obstruction fettering upIn chains invisible the powers of man,Who, risen from his trance, gazcth around,Bewilder'd with the monstrous agonyHe hath endured, and wildly staring sighs;So stood aghast the sinner when he rose.Oh! how severe God's judgment, that deals outSuch blows in stormy vengeance. Who he was,My teacher next inquired; and thus in fewHe answer'd: "Vanni Fucci 2 am I call'd,Not long since rained down from TuscanyTo this dire gullet. Me the bestial lifeAnd not the human pleased, mule that I was,Who in Pistoia found my worthy den."I then to Virgil: "Bid him stir not hence;And ask what crime did thrust him thither: onceA man I knew him, choleric and bloody."The sinner heard and feign'd not, but toward meHis mind directing and his face, whereinWas dismal shame depictured, thus he spake:"It grieves me more to have been caught by theeIn this sad plight, which thou beholdest, thanWhen I was taken from the other life.I have no power permitted to denyWhat thou inquirest. I am doom'd thus lowTo dwell, for that the sacristy by meWas rifled of its goodly ornaments,And with the guilt another falsely charged.But that thou mayst not joy to see me thus,So as thou e'er shalt 'scape this darksome realm,Open thine ears and hear what I forebode.Reft of the Neri first Pistoia 3 pines;Then Florence 4 changeth citizens and laws;
From Valdimagra, 5 drawn by wrathful Mars,A vapor rises, wrapt in turbid mists,And sharp and eager driveth on the stormWith arrowy hurtling o'er Piceno's field,Whence suddenly the cloud shall burst, and strikeEach helpless Bianco prostrate to the ground.This have I told, that grief may rend thy heart."Canto XXV
¶ARGUMENT . — The sacrilegious Fucci vents his fury in blasphemy, is seized by serpents, and flying is pursued by Cacus in the form of a Centaur, who is described with a swarm of serpents on his haunch, and a dragon on his shoulders breathing forth fire. Our Poet then meets with the spirits of three of his countrymen, two of whom undergo a marvelous transformation in his presence.
¶HEN he had spoke, the sinner raised his hands' Pointed in mockery and cried: "Take them,
God!I level them at thee." From that day forthThe serpents were my friends; for round his neckOne of them rolling twisted, as it said,"Be silent, tongue!" Another, to his armsUpgliding, tied them, riveting itselfSo close, it took from them the power to move.Pistoia! ah, Pistoia! why dost doubtTo turn thee into ashes, cumbering earthNo longer, since in evil act so farThou hast outdone thy seed? I did not mark,Through all the gloomy circles of the abyss,Spirit, that swell'd so proudly 'gainst his God;
¶5 Alluding to the victory obtained by family on our Poet, at a subsequent period the Marquis Morello Malaspina of Valdi of his exile, in 1307.
¶magra, who put himself at the head of 1 "The practice of thrusting out the the Neri, and defeated their opponents the thumb between the first and second Bianchi, in the Campo Piccno near Pistoia, fingers, to express the feelings of insult soon after the occurrence related in the and contempt, has prevailed very generpreceding note on v. 142. Currado Ma ally among the nations of Europe, and laspina is introduced in the eighth Canto for many ages had been denominated of the Purgatory; where it appears, that 'making the fig,' or described at least by although on the present occasion they some equivalent expression."—Douce's espoused contrary sides, most important "Illustrations of Shakespeare," vol. i. p. favors were nevertheless conferred by that 492, cd. 1807.
p. 103¶Not him,' who headlong fell from Thebes. He fled,Nor utter'd more; and after him there cameA Centaur full of fury, shouting, "Where,Where is the caitiff?" On Maremma's marsh*Swarm not the serpent tribe, as on his haunchThey swarm'd, to where the human face begins.Behind his head, upon the shoulders, layWith open wings a dragon, breathing fireOn whomsoe'er he met. To me my guide:"Cacus is this, who underneath the rockOf Aventine spread oft a lake of blood.He, from his brethren parted, here must treadA different journey, for his fraudful theftOf the great herd that near him stall'd; whence foundHis felon deeds their end, beneath the maceOf stout Alcides, that perchance laid onA hundred blows, and not the tenth was felt."While yet he spake, the Centaur sped away:And under us three spirits came, of whomNor I nor he was ware, till they exclaim'd,"Say who are ye!" We then brake off discourse,Intent on these alone. I knew them not:But, as it chanceth oft, befell that oneHad need to name another. "Where," said he,"Doth Cianfa 4 lurk?" I, for a sign my guideShould stand attentive, placed against my lipsThe finger lifted. If, O reader! nowThou be not apt to credit what I tell,No marvel; for myself do scarce allowThe witness of mine eyes. But as I look'dToward them, lo! a serpent with six feetSprings forth on one, and fastens full upon him:His midmost grasp'd the belly, a forefootSeized on each arm (while deep in either cheekHe flesh'd his fangs); the hinder on the thighsWere spread, 'twixt which the tail inserted curl'dUpon the reins behind. Ivy ne'er clasp'dA dodder'd oak, as round the other's limbs
¶Capaneus. Canto xiv. 4 Said to have been of the family of Near the Tuscan shore. Donati at Florence.
p. 104¶The hideous monster intertwined his own.Then, as they both had been of burning wax,Each melted into other, mingling hues,That which was either now was seen no more.Thus up the shrinking paper, ere it burns,A brown tint glides, not turning yet to black,And the clean white expires. The other twoLook'd on exclaiming, "Ah! how dost thou change,Agnello!1 See! Thou art nor double now,Nor only one." The two heads now becameOne, and two figures blended in one formAppear'd, where both were lost. Of the four lengthsTwo arms were made: the belly and the chest,The thighs and legs, into such members changedAs never eye hath seen. Of former shapeAll trace was vanish'd. Two, yet neither, seem'dThat image miscreate, and so pass'd onWith tardy steps. As underneath the scourgeOf the fierce dog-star that lays bare the fields,Shifting from brake to brake the lizard seemsA flash of lightning, if he thwart the road;So toward the entrails of the other twoApproaching seem'd an adder all on fire,As the dark pepper-grain livid and swart.In that part, whence our life is nourish'd first,Once he transpierced; then down before him fellStretch'd out. The pierced spirit look'd on him,But spake not; yea, stood motionless and yawn'd,As if by sleep or feverous fit assail'd.He eyed the serpent, and the serpent him.One from the wound, the other from the mouthBreathed a thick smoke, whose vapory columns join'd.Lucan in mute attention now may hear,Nor thy disastrous fate, Sabellus, tell,Nor thine, Nasidius. Ovid now be mute.What if in warbling fiction he recordCadmus and Arethusa, to a snakeHim changed, and her into a fountain clear,I envy not; for never face to face[105]Two natures thus transmuted did he sing,Wherein both shapes were ready to assumeThe other's substance. They in mutual guiseSo answer'd that the serpent split his trainDivided to a fork, and the pierced spiritDrew close his steps together, legs and thighsCompacted, that no sign of juncture soonWas visible: the tail, disparted, tookThe figure which the spirit lost; its skinSoftening, his indurated to a rind.The shoulders next I mark'd, that entering join'dThe monster's arm-pits, whose two shorter feetSo lengthen'd, as the others dwindling shrunk.The feet behind then twisting up becameThat part that man conceals, which in the wretchWas cleft in twain. While both the shadowy smokeWith a new color veils, and generatesThe excrescent pile on one, peeling it offFrom the other body, lo! upon his feetOne upright rose, and prone the other fell.Nor yet their glaring and malignant lampsWere shifted, though each feature changed beneath.Of him who stood erect, the mounting faceRetreated toward the temples, and what thereSuperfluous matter came, shot out in earsFrom the smooth cheeks; the rest, not backward dragg'd,Of its excess did shape the nose; and swell'dInto due size protuberant the lips.He, on the earth who lay, meanwhile extendsHis sharpen'd visage, and draws down the earsInto the head, as doth the slug his horns.His tongue, continuous before and aptFor utterance, severs; and the other's forkClosing unites. That done, the smoke was laid.The soul, transform'd into the brute, glides off,Hissing along the vale, and after himThe other talking sputters; but soon turn'dHis new-grown shoulders on him, and in fewThus to another spake: "Along this pathCrawling, as I have done, speed Buoso now!"[106]So saw I fluctuate in successive changeThe unsteady ballast of the seventh hold:And here if aught my pen have swerved, eventsSo strange may be its warrant. O'er mine eyesConfusion hung, and on my thoughts amaze.Yet 'scaped they not so covertly, but wellI mark'd Sciancato: he alone it wasOf the three first that came, who changed not: tho1The other's fate, Gaville! still dost rue.
Canto XXVI
¶ARGUMENT . — Remounting by the steps, down which they have descended to the seventh gulf, they go forward to the arch that stretches over the eighth, and from thence behold numberless flames wherein are punished the evil counsellors, each flame containing a sinner, save one, in which were Diomede and Ulysses, the latter of whom relates the manner of his death.
¶FLORENCE, exult! for thou so mightilyHast thriven, that o'er land and sea thy wingsThou beatest, and thy name spreads over hell.Among the plunderers, such the three I foundThy citizens; whence shame to me thy son,And no proud honour to thyself redounds.But if our minds, when dreaming near the dawn,Are of the truth presageful, thou ere longShalt feel what Prato 1 (not to say the rest)Would fain might come upon thee; and that chanceWere in good time, if it befell thee now.Would so it were, since it must needs befall!For as time wears me, I shall grieve the more.We from the depth departed; and my guideRemounting scaled the flinty steps, which lateWe downward traced, and drew me up the steep.Pursuing thus our solitary way[107]Among the crags and splinters of the rock,Sped not our feet without the help of hands.Then sorrow seized me, which e'en now revives,As my thought turns again to what I saw,And, more than I am wont, I rein and curbThe powers of nature in me, lest they runWhere Virtue guides not; that, if aught of goodMy gentle star or something better gave me,I envy not myself the precious boon.As in that season, when the sun least veilsHis face that lightens all, what time the flyGives way to the shrill gnat, the peasant then,Upon some cliff reclined, beneath him seesFire-flies innumerous spangling o'er the vale,Vineyard or tilth, where his day-labor lies;With flames so numberless throughout its spaceShone the eighth chasm, apparent, when the depthWas to my view exposed. As he, whose wrongsThe bears avenged, as its departure sawElijah's chariot, when the steeds erectRaised their steep flight for heaven; his eyes meanwhile,Straining pursued them, till the flame alone,Upsoaring like a misty speck, he kenn'd:E'en thus along the gulf moves every flame,A sinner so enfolded close in each,That none exhibits token of the theft.Upon the bridge I forward bent to lookAnd grasp'd a flinty mass, or else had fallen,Though push'd not from the height. The guide, who mark'dHow I did gaze attentive, thus began:"Within these ardours are the spirits; eachSwathed in confining fire." "Master! thy word,"I answer'd, "hath assured me; yet I deem'dAlready of the truth, already wish'dTo ask thee who is in yon fire, that comesSo parted at the summit, as it seem'dAscending from that funeral pile1 where layThe Theban brothers." He replied: "Within,[108]Ulysses there and Diomede endureTheir penal tortures, thus to vengeance nowTogether hasting, as erewhile to wrathThese in the flame with ceaseless groans deploreThe ambush of the horse, 3 that open'd wideA portal for the goodly seed to pass,Which sow'd imperial Rome; nor less the guileLament they, whence, of her Achilles 'reft,Deidamia yet in death complains.And there is rued the stratagem that TroyOf her Palladium spoil'd."—"If they have powerOf utterance from within these sparks," said I,"O master! think my prayer a thousand-foldIn repetition urged, that thou vouchsafeTo pause till here the horned flame arrive.See, how toward it with desires I bend."He thus: "Thy prayer is worthy of much praise,And I accept it therefore; but do thouThy tongue refrain: to question them be mine;For I divine thy wish; and they perchance,For they were Greeks, 4 might shun discourse with thee."When there the flame had come, where time and placeSeem'd fitting to my guide, he thus began:"O ye, who dwell two spirits in one fire!If, living, I of you did merit aught,Whate'er the measure were of that desert,When in the world my lofty strain I pour'd,Move ye not on, till one of you unfoldIn what clime death o'ertook him self-destroy'd."Of the old flame forthwith the greater hornBegan to roll, murmuring, as a fireThat labors with the wind, then to and froWagging the top, as a tongue uttering sounds,Threw out its voice, and spake: "When I escapedFrom Circe, who beyond a circling yearHad held me near Caieta by her charms,Ere thus /Eneas yet had named the shore;Nor fondness for my son, nor reverence[109]Of my old father, nor return of love,That should have crown'd Penelope with joy,Could overcome in me the zeal I hadTo explore the world, and search the ways of life,Man's evil and his virtue. Forth I sail'dInto the deep illimitable main,With but one bark, and the small faithful bandThat yet cleaved to me. As Iberia far,Far as Marocco, either shore I saw,And the Sardinian and each isle besideWhich round that ocean bathes. Tardy with ageWere I and my companions, when we cameTo the strait pass, 5 where Hercules ordain'dThe boundaries not to be o'erstepp'd by man.The walls of Seville to my right I left,On the other hand already Ceuta past.'O brothers!' I began, 'who to the westThrough perils without number now have reach'd;To this the short remaining watch, that yetOur senses have to wake, refuse not proofOf the unpeopled world, following the trackOf Phoebus. Call to mind from whence ye sprang:Ye were not form'd to live the life of brutes,But virtue to pursue and knowledge high.'With these few words I sharpen'd for the voyageThe mind of my associates, that I thenCould scarcely have withheld them. To the dawnOur poop we turn'd, and for the witless flightMade our oars wings, still gaining on the left.Each star of the other pole night now beheld,And ours so low, that from the ocean floorIt rose not. Five times reillumed, as oftVanish'd the light from underneath the moon,Since the deep way we enter'd, when from farAppear'd a mountain dim,* loftiest methought
p. 109¶• The Strait of Gibraltar. the regions inhabited by men, and placed
¶• The mountain of Purgatory.—Among in the ocean, reaching as far as to the various opinions respecting the situation lunar circle, so that the waters of the of the terrestrial paradise. Pictro Lom- deluge did not reach it."—Sent lib. it. bardo relates, that "it was separated by dist. 17.
¶a long space, either of sea or land, from
p. 110¶Of all I e'er beheld. Joy seized us straight;But soon to mourning changed. From the new landA whirlwind sprung, and at her foremost sideDid strike the vessel. Thrice it whirl'd her roundWith all the waves; the fourth time lifted upThe poop, and sank the prow: so fate decreed:And over us the booming billow closed." 7
Canto XXVII
¶ARC U ME V T . — The Poet, treating of the same punishment as in the last Canto, relates that he turned toward a flame in which was the Count Guido da Montefcltro, whose inquiries respecting the state of Romagna he answers; and Guido is thereby induced to declare who he is, and why condemned to that torment.
¶NOW upward rose the flame, and still'd its lightTo speak no more, and now pass'd on with leaveFrom the mild poet gain'd; when following cameAnother, from whose top a sound confused,Forth issuing, drew our eyes that way to look.As the Sicilian bull, 1 that rightfullyHis cries first echoed who had shaped its mould,Did so rebellow, with the voice of himTormented, that the brazen monster seem'dPierced through with pain; thus, while no way they found,Nor avenue immediate through the flame,Into its language turn'd the dismal words:But soon as they had won their passage forth,Up from the point, which vibrating obey'dTheir motion at the tongue, these sounds were heard:"O thou! to whom I now direct my voice,That lately didst exclaim in Lombard phrase,'Depart thou; I solicit thee no more;'Though somewhat tardy I perchance arrive,Let it not irk thee here to pause awhile,
And with me parley: lol it irks not me,And yet I burn. If but e'en now thou fallInto this blind world, from that pleasant landOf Latium, whence I draw my sum of guilt,Tell me if those who in Romagna dwellHave peace or war. For of the mountains there'Was I, betwixt Urbino and the heightWhence Tiber first unlocks his mighty flood."Leaning I listen'd yet with heedful ear,When, as he touch'd my side, the leader thus:"Speak thou: he is a Latian." My replyWas ready, and I spake without delay:"O spirit! who art hidden here below,Never was thy Romagna without warIn her proud tyrants' bosoms, nor is now:But open war there left I none. The state,Ravenna hath maintain'd this many a year,Is stedfast. There Polenta's eagle 3 broods;And in his broad circumference of plumeO'ershadows Cervia. The green talons graspThe land, 4 that stood erewhile the proof so longAnd piled in bloody heap the host of France."The old mastiff of Verrucchio and the young, 5That tore Montagna 6 in their wrath, still make,Where they are wont, an augre of their fangs."Lamone's city, and Santerno's, 7 range
¶*Montefeltro. which it had been besieged. See G . Vil
¶* "Polenta's eagle." Guido Novello da lani, lib. vii. c. lxxxi. The Poet informs Polenta, who bore an eagle for his coat- Guido, its former ruler, that it is now of-arms. The name of Polenta was de in the possession of Sinibaldo Ordolaffi, rived from a castle so called in the whom he designates by his coat-of-arms, neighborhood of Brittonoro. Cervia is a a lion vert.
¶small maritime city, about fifteen miles 5 Malatesta and Malatestino his son, to the south of Ravenna. Guido was the lords of Rimini, called from their ferocson of Ostasio da Polenta, and made him ity, the mastiffs of Verrucchio, which self master of Ravenna in 1265. In 1322 was the name of their castle. Malateshe was deprived of his sovereignty, and tino was, perhaps, the husband of Frandied at Bologna in 1323. This last and cesca, daughter of Guido da Polenta. most munificent patron of Dante is enu Sec notes to Canto v. 1 1 3 .
¶merated among the poets of his time. 6 Montagna de' Parcitati, a noble and
p. 112¶Under the lion of the snowy lair,1Inconstant partisan, that changeth sides,Or ever summer yields to winter's frost.And she, whose flank is wash'd of Savio's wave,2As 'twixt the level and the steep she lies,Lives so 'twixt tyrant power and liberty."Now tell us, I entreat thee, who art thou:Be not more hard than others. In the world,So may thy name still rear its forehead high."Then roar'd awhile the fire, its sharpen'd pointOn either side waved, and thus breathed at last:"If I did think my answer were to oneWho ever could return unto the world,This flame should rest unshaken. But since ne'er,If true be told me, any from this depthHas found his upward way, I answer thee,Nor fear lest infamy record the words."A man of arms 10 at first, I clothed me thenIn good Saint Francis' girdle, hoping soTo have made amends. And certainly my hopeHad fail'd not, but that he, whom curses light on,The high priest, 11 again seduced me into sin.And how, and wherefore, listen while I tell.Long as this spirit moved the bones and pulpMy mother gave me, less my deeds bespakeThe nature of the lion than the fox.All ways of winding subtlety I knew,And with such art conducted, that the soundReach'd the world's limit. Soon as to that partOf life I found me come, and when each behovesTo lower sails and gather in the lines;That, which before had pleased me, then I rued,And to repentance and confession turn'd,Wretch that I was; and well it had bested me.[113]The chief of the new Pharisees 11 meantime,Waging his warfare near the Lateran,Not with the Saracens or Jews (his foesAH Christians were, nor against Acre oneHad fought, 13 nor trafficked in the Soldan's land),He, his great charge nor sacred ministry,In himself reverenced, nor in me that cordWhich used to mark with leanness whom it girded.As in Soracte, Constantine besought,To cure his leprosy, Sylvester's aid;So me, to cure the fever of his pride,This man besought: my counsel to that endHe ask'd; and I was silent; for his wordsSeem'd drunken: but forthwith he thus resumed:'From thy heart banish fear: of all offenceI hitherto absolve thee. In return,Teach me my purpose so to execute,That Penestrino cumber earth no more.Heaven, as thou knowest, I have power to shutAnd open: and the keys are therefore twain,The which my predecessor 14 meanly prized.'"Then, yielding to the forceful arguments,Of silence, as more perilous I deem'd,And answer'd: 'Father! since thou washest meClear of that guilt wherein I now must fall,Large promise with performance scant, be sure,Shall make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.'"When I was number'd with the dead, then cameSaint Francis for me; but a cherub darkHe met, who cried, 'Wrong me not; he is mine,And must below to join the wretched crew,[114]For the deceitful counsel which he gave.E'er since I watch'd him, hovering at his hair.No power can the impenitent absolve;Nor to repent, and will, at once consist,By contradiction absolute forbid.'Oh misery! how I shook myself, when heSeized me, and cried, 'Thou haply thought'st me notA disputant in logic so exact!'To Minos down he bore me; and the judgeTwined eight times round his callous back the tail,Which biting with excess of rage, he spake:'This is a guilty soul, that in the fireMust vanish.' Hence, perdition-doom'd, I roveA prey to rankling sorrow, in this garb."When he had thus fulfil I'd his words, the flameIn dolour parted, beating to and fro,And writhing its sharp horn. We onward went,I and my leader, up along the rock,Far as another arch, that overhangsThe foss, wherein the penalty is paidOf those who load them with committed sin.
Canto XXVIII
¶ARGUMENT . — They arrive in the ninth gulf, where the sowers of scandal, schismatics, and heretics, arc seen with their limbs maimed or divided in different ways. Among these the Poet finds Mohammed, Picro da Medicina, Curio, Mosca, and Demand
¶de Born. W So vast a theme could equal, speech and thought HO, e'en in words unfetter'd, might at full Though he repeated oft the talc? No tongueTell of the wounds and blood that now I saw,
¶Both impotent alike. If in one bandCollected, stood the people all, who e'erPour'd on Apulia's happy soil their blood,Slain by the Trojans, and in that long war,'When of the rings the measured booty madeA pile so high, as Rome's historian writesWho errs not; with the multitude, that feltThe griding force of Guiscard's Norman steel, 1[115]And those the rest, 3 whose bones are gather'd yetAt Ceperano, there where treacheryBranded the Apulian name, or where beyondThy walls, O Tagliacozzo, 4 without armsThe old Alardo conquer'd; and his limbsOne were to show transpierced, another hisClean lopt away; a spectacle like thisWere but a thing of naught, to the hideous sightOf the ninth chasm. A rundlet, that hath lostIts middle or side stave, gapes not so wideAs one I mark'd, torn from the chin throughoutDown to the hinder passage: 'twixt the legsDangling his entrails hung, the midriff layOpen to view, and wretched ventricle,That turns the englutted aliment to dross.Whilst eagerly I fix on him my gaze,He eyed me, with his hands laid his breast bare,And cried, "Now mark how I do rip me: lo!How is Mohammed mangled: before meWalks Ali s weeping, from the chin his faceCleft to the forelock; and the others all,Whom here thou seest, while they lived, did sowScandal and schism, and therefore thus are rent.A fiend is here behind, who with his swordHacks us thus cruelly, slivering againEach of this ream, when we have compast roundThe dismal way; for first our gashes closeEre we repass before him. But, say whoArt thou, that standest musing on the rock,Haply so lingering to delay the painSentenced upon thy crimes." "Him death not yet,"My guide rejoin'd, "hath overta'en, nor sinConducts to torment; but, that he may makeFull trial of your state, I who am deadMust through the depths of Hell, from orb to orb,Conduct him. Trust my words; for they are true."
p. 115¶•The army of Manfrcdi, which, victory which Charles gained over Con-through the treachery of the Apulian radino, by the sage advice of the Sieur troops, was overcome by Charles of Anjou de Valeri, in 1268.
¶in 1265. See the Purgatory, Canto iii. 5 The disciple of Mohammed.
More than a hundred spirits, when that they heard,Stood in the foss to mark me through amazeForgetful of their pangs. "Thou, who perchanceShalt shortly view the sun, this warning thouBear to Dolcino: 6 bid him, if he wish notHere soon to follow me, that with good storeOf food he arm him, lest imprisoning snowsYield him a victim to Novara's power;No easy conquest else": with foot upraisedFor stepping, spake Mohammed, on the groundThen fix'd it to depart. Another shade,Pierced in the throat, his nostrils mutilateE'en from beneath the eyebrows, and one earLopt off, who, with the rest, through wonder stoodGazing, before the rest advanced, and baredHis wind-pipe, that without was all o'ersmear'dWith crimson stain. "O thou!" said he, "whom sinCondemns not, and whom erst (unless too nearResemblance do deceive me) I aloftHave seen on Latian ground, call thou to mind
¶Piero of Medicina, 7 if again
Returning, thou behold'st the pleasant land*That from Vercelli slopes to Marcabo;And there instruct the twain, 9 whom Fano boastsHer worthiest sons, Guido and Angelo,
¶• " Dolcino . " In 1305, a friar, called ure of food and the severity of the snows, Dolcino, who belonged to no regular he was taken by the people of Novara, order, contrived to raise in Novara, in and burnt, with Margarita, his corn-Lombardy, a large company of the meaner panion, and many others, whom he had sort of people, declaring himself to be a seduced.
¶true apostle of Christ and promulgating 7 "Medicina." A place in the territory a community of property and of wives, of Bologna. Piero fomented dissensions with many other such heretical doctrines. among the inhabitants of that city, and He blamed the Pope, cardinals, and other among the leaders of the neighboring prelates of the holy Church, for not ob- states,
¶serving their duty, nor leading the angelic * Lombardy.
¶life, and affirmed that he ought to be ' "The twain." Guido del Cassero and pope. He was followed by more than Angiolello da Cagnano, two of the worth-three thousand men and women, who icst and most distinguished citizens of lived promiscuously on the mountains to- Fano, were invited by Malatestino da gether, like beasts, and, when they Rimini to an entertainment, on pretence wanted provisions, supplied themselves by that he had some important business to depredation and rapine. After two years, transact with them; and, according to in-many were struck with compunction at structions given by him, they were the dissolute life they led, and his sect drowned in their passage near Cattolica, was much diminished; and, through fail- between Rimini and Fano.
p. 117¶That if 'tis given us here to scan arightThe future, they out of life's tenementShall be cast forth, and whelm'd under the wavesNear to Cattolica, through perfidyOf a fell tyrant. 'Twixt the Cyprian isleAnd Balearic, ne'er hath Neptune seenAn injury so foul, by pirates done,Or Argive crew of old. That one-eyed traitor(Whose realm there is a spirit here were fainHis eye had still lack'd sight of) them shall bringTo conference with him, then so shape his end,That they shall need not 'gainst Focara's wind 10Offer up vow nor prayer." I answering thus:"Declare, as thou dost wish that I aboveMay carry tidings of thee, who is he,In whom that sight doth wake such sad remembrance."Forthwith he laid his hand on the cheek-boneOf one, his fellow-spirit, and his jawsExpanding, cried: "Lo! this is he I wot of:He speaks not for himself: the outcast this,Who overwhelm'd the doubt in Qesar's mind,"Affirming that delay to men preparedWas ever harmful." Oh! how terrifiedMethought was Curio, from whose throat was cutThe tongue, which spake that hardy word. Then one,Maim'd of each hand, uplifted in the gloomThe bleeding stumps, that they with gory spotsSullied his face, and cried: "Remember theeOf Mosca 12 too; I who, alas! exclaim'd,[118]'The deed once done, there is an end,' that provedA seed of sorrow to the Tuscan race."I added: "Ay, and death to thine own tribe."Whence, heaping woe on woe, he hurried off,As one grief-stung to madness. But I thereStill linger'd to behold the troop, and sawThing, such as I may fear without more proofTo tell of, but that conscience makes me firm,The boon companion, who her strong breastplateBuckles on him, that feels no guilt within,And bids him on and fear not. Without doubtI saw, and yet it seems to pass before me,A headless trunk, that even as the restOf the sad flock paced onward. By the hairIt bore the sever'd member, lantern-wisePendent in hand, which look'd at us, and said,"Woe's me!" The spirit lighted thus himself;And two there were in one, and one in two.How that may be, he knows who ordereth so.When at the bridge's foot direct he stood,His arm aloft he rear'd, thrusting the headFull in our view, that nearer we might hearThe words, which thus it utter'd: "Now beholdThis grievous torment, thou, who breathing go'stTo spy the dead: behold, if any elseBe terrible as this. And, that on earthThou mayst bear tidings of me, know that IAm Bertrand, 13 he of Born, who gave King JohnThe counsel mischievous. Father and sonI set at mutual war. For AbsalomAnd David more did not Ahitophel,Spurring them on maliciously to strife.For parting those so closely knit, my brainParted, alas! I carry from its source,That in this trunk inhabits. Thus the lawOf retribution fiercely works in me."
p. 118¶" " Bertrand . " Bertrand dc Born, against his father, Henry II of England. Vicomtc dc Hautcfort, near Pcrigueux Bertrand holds a distinguished place in Guienne, who incited John to rebel among the Provencal poets.
Canto XXIX
¶ARGUMENT . — Dante , at the desire of Virgil, proceeds onward to the bridge that crosses the tenth gulf, from whence he hears the cries of the alchemists and forgers, who are tormented therein; but not being able to discern anything on account of the darkness, they descend the rock, that bounds this, the last of the compartments in which the eighth circle is divided, and then behold the spirits who arc afflicted by divers plagues and diseases. Two of them, namely, Grifolino of Arezzo, and Capocchio of Siena, are introduced speaking.
¶O were mine eyes inebriate with the viewSOf the vast multitude, whom various woundsDisfigured, that they long'd to stay and weep.But Virgil roused me: "What yet gazest on?Wherefore doth fasten yet thy sight belowAmong the maim'd and miserable shades?Thou hast not shown in any chasm besideThis weakness. Know, if thou wouldst number them,That two and twenty miles the valley windsTts circuit, and already is the moonBeneath our feet: the time permitted nowIs short; and more, not seen, remains to see.""If thou," I straight replied, "hadst weigh'd the cause,For which I look'd, thou hadst perchance excusedThe tarrying still." My leader part pursuedHis way, the while I follow'd, answering him,And adding thus: "Within that cave I deem,Whereon so fixedly I held my ken,There is a spirit dwells, one of my blood,Wailing the crime that costs him now so dear."Then spake my master: "Let thy soul no moreAfflict itself for him. Direct elsewhereIts thought, and leave him. At the bridge's footI mark'd how he did point with menacing lookAt thee, and heard him by the others namedGeri of Bello.1 Thou so wholly thenWert busied with his spirit, who once ruledThe towers of Hautefort, that thou lookedst notThat way, ere he was gone." "O guide beloved![120]His violent death yet unavenged," said I,"By any, who are partners in his shame,Made him contemptuous; therefore, as I think,He pass'd me speechless by; and, doing so,Hath made me more compassionate his fate."So we discoursed to where the rock first show'dThe other valley, had more light been there,E'en to the lowest depth. Soon as we cameO'er the last cloister in the dismal roundsOf Malebolge, and the brotherhoodWere to our view exposed, then many a dartOf sore lament assail'd me, headed allWith points of thrilling pity, that I closedBoth ears against the volley with mine hands.As were the torment, if each lazar-houseOf Valdichiana, 2 in the sultry time'Twixt July and September, with the isleSardinia and Maremma's pestilent fen, 3Had heap'd their maladies all in one fossTogether; such was here the torment: direThe stench, as issuing streams from fester'd limbs.We on the utmost shore of the long rockDescended still to leftward. Then my sightWas livelier to explore the depth, whereinThe minister of the most mighty Lord,All-searching Justice, dooms to punishmentThe forgers noted on her dread record.More rueful was it not methinks to seeThe nation in /Egina 4 droop, what timeEach living thing, e'en to the little worm,All fell, so full of malice was the air(And afterward, as bards of yore have told,The ancient people were restored anewFrom seed of emmets), than was here to see
p. 120¶s The valley through which passes the tioned as a remarkably sluggish stream, river Chiana, bounded by Arezzo, Cor- in the Paradise, Canto xiii. 21.
¶tona, Montepulciano, and Chiusi. In the ' See note to Canto xxv, v. 18.
¶autumn it was formerly rendered un * "In jEgina." He alludes to the fable wholesome by the stagnation of the water, of the ants changed into Myrmidons.—but has since been drained by the Em Ovid, Met. lib. vii.
¶peror Leopold II. The Chiana is men
p. 121¶The spirits, that languish'd through the murky vale,Up-piled on many a stack. Confused they lay,One o'er the belly, o'er the shoulders oneRoll'd of another; sideling crawl'd a thirdAlong the dismal pathway. Step by stepWe journey'd on, in silence looking round,And listening those diseased, who strove in vainTo lift their forms. Then two I mark'd, that satPropt 'gainst each other, as two brazen pansSet to retain the heat. From head to foot,A tetter bark'd them round. Nor saw I e'erGroom currying so fast, for whom his lordImpatient waited, or himself perchanceTired with long watching, as of these each onePlied quickly his keen nails, through furiousnessOf ne'er abated pruriency. The crustCame drawn from underneath, in flakes, like scalesScraped from the bream, or fish of broader mail."O thou! who with thy fingers rendest offThy coat of proof," thus spake my guide to one,"And sometimes makest tearing pincers of them,Tell me if any born of Latian landBe among these within: so may thy nailsServe thee for everlasting to this toil.""Both are of Latium," weeping he replied,"Whom tortured thus thou seest: but who art thouThat hast inquired of us?" To whom my guide:"One that descend with this man, who yet lives,From rock to rock, and show him Hell's abyss."Then started they asunder, and each turn'dTrembling toward us, with the rest, whose earThose words redounding struck. To me my liegeAddress'd him: "Speak to them whate'er thou list."And I therewith began: "So may no timeFilch your remembrance from the thoughts of menIn the upper world, but after many sunsSurvive it, as ye tell me, who ye are,And of what race ye come. Your punishment,Unseemly and disgustful in its kind,Deter you not from opening thus much to me."[122]"Arezzo was my dwelling," 5 answer'd one,"And me Albero of Siena broughtTo die by fire: but that, for which I died,Leads me not here. True is, in sport I told him,That I had learn'd to wing my flight in air;And he, admiring much, as he was voidOf wisdom, will'd me to declare to himThe secret of mine art: and only hence,Because I made him not a Daedalus,Prevail'd on one supposed his sire to burn me.But Minos to this chasm, last of the ten,For that I practised alchemy on earth,Has doom'd me. Him no subterfuge eludes."Then to the bard I spake: "Was ever raceLight as Siena's? 6 Sure not France herselfCan show a tribe so frivolous and vain."The other leprous spirit heard my words,And thus return'd: "Be Stricca 7 from this chargeExempted, he who knew so temperatelyTo lay out fortune's gifts; and Niccolo,Who first the spice's cosdy luxuryDiscover'd in that garden, 8 where such seedRoots deepest in the soil; and be that troopExempted, with whom Caccia of AscianoLavish'd his vineyards and wide-spreading woods,And his rare wisdom Abbagliato show'dA spectacle for all. That thou mayst knowWho seconds thee against the SieneseThus gladly, bend this way thy sharpen'd sight,That well my face may answer to thy ken;So shalt thou see I am Capocchio's ghost, 9Who forged transmuted metals by the power[123]Of alchemy; and if I scan thee right,Thou needs must well remember how I apedCreative nature by my subtle art."
Canto XXX
¶ARGUMENT . — In the same gulf, other kinds of impostors, as those who have counterfeited the persons of others, or debased the current coin, or deceived by speech under false pretences, are described as suffering various diseases. Sinon of Troy and Adam o of Brescia mutually reproach each other with their several impostures.
¶HAT time resentment burn'd in Juno's breastWFrom Semele against the Theban blood,As more than once in dire mischance was rued;Such fatal frenzy seized on Athamas,That he his spouse beholding with a babeLaden on either arm, "Spread out," he cried,"The meshes, that I take the lionessAnd the young lions at the pass:" then forthStretch'd he his merciless talons, grasping one,One helpless innocent, Learchus named,Whom swinging down he dash'd upon a rock;And with her other burden, self-destroy'd,The hapless mother plunged. And when the prideOf all presuming Troy fell from its height,By fortune overwhclm'd, and the old kingWith his realm perish'd; then did Hecuba,A wretch forlorn and captive, when she sawPolyxena first slaughter'd, and her son,Her Polydorus, on the wild sea-beachNext met the mourner's view, then reft of senseDid she run barking even as a dog;Such mighty power had grief to wrench her soul.But ne'er the Furies, or of Thebes, or Troy,With such fell cruelty were seen, their goadsInfixing in the limbs of man or beast,As now two pale and naked ghosts I saw,That gnarling wildly scamper'd, like the swineExcluded from his stye. One reach'd Capocchio,And in the neck-joint sucking deep his fangs,[124]Dragg'd him, that, o'er the solid pavement rubb'dHis belly stretch'd out prone. The other shape,He of Arezzo, there left trembling, spake:"That sprite of air is Schicchi; I in like moodOf random mischief vents he still his spite."To whom I answering: "Oh I as thou dost hopeThe other may not flesh its jaws on thee.Be patient to inform us, who it is,Ere it speed hence."—"That is the ancient soulOf wretched Myrrha," he replied, "who burn'dWith most unholy flame for her own sire,And a false shape assuming, so perform'dThe deed of sin; e'en as the other there,That onward passes, dared to counterfeitDonati's features, to feign'd testamentThe seal affixing, that himself might gain,For his own share, the lady of the herd."When vanish'd the two furious shades, on whomMine eye was held, I turn'd it back to viewThe other cursed spirits. One I sawIn fashion like a lute, had but the groinBeen sever'd where it meets the forked part.Swoln dropsy, disproportioning the limbsWith ill-converted moisture, that the paunchSuits not the visage, open'd wide his lips,Gasping as in the hectic man for drought,One toward the chin, the other upward curl'd."O ye! who in this world of misery,Wherefore I know not, are exempt from pain,"Thus he began, "attentively regardAdamo's woe. 2 When living, full supplyNe'er lack'd me of what most I coveted;One drop of water now, alas! I crave.The rills, that glitter down the grassy slopes[125]Of Casentino, 3 making fresh and softThe banks whereby they glide to Arno's stream,Stand ever in my view; and not in vain;For more the pictured semblance dries me up,Much more than the disease, which makes the fleshDesert these shrivel'd cheeks. So from the place,Where I transgress'd, stern justice urging me,Takes means to quicken more my laboring sighs.There is Romena, where I falsifiedThe metal with the Baptist's form imprest,For which on earth I left my body burnt.But if I here might see the sorrowing soulOf Guido, Alessandro, or their brother,For Branda's limpid spring* I would not changeThe welcome sight. One is e'en now within,If truly the mad spirits tell, that roundAre wandering. But wherein besteads me that?My limbs are fetter'd. Were I but so light,That I each hundred years might move one inch,I had set forth already on this path,Seeking him out amidst the shapeless crew,Although eleven miles it wind, not lessThan half of one across. They brought me downAmong this tribe; induced by them, I stamp'dThe florens with three carats of alloy." 5"Who are that abject pair," I next inquired,"That closely bounding thee upon thy rightLie smoking, like a hand in winter steep'dIn the chill stream?"—"When to this gulf I dropp'd,"He answer'd, "here I found them; since that hourThey have not turn'd, nor ever shall, I ween,Till time hath run his course. One is that dame,The false accuser 6 of the Hebrew youth;Sinon the other, that false Greek from Troy.Sharp fever drains the reeky moistness out,In such a cloud upsteam'd." When that he heard,
p. 125¶'Romena, a part of Casentino. Florence in 1252, an era of great pros
p. 126¶One, gall'd perchance to be so darkly named,With clench'd hand smote him on the braced paunch,That like a drum resounded: but forthwithAdamo smote him on the face, the blowReturning with his arm, that seem'd as hard."Though my o'erweighty limbs have ta'en from meThe power to move," said he, "I have an armAt liberty for such employ." To whomWas answer'd: "When thou wentest to the fire,Thou hadst it not so ready at command;Then readier when it coin'd the impostor gold."And thus the dropsied: "Ay, now speak'st thou true:But there thou gavest not such true testimony,When thou wast question'd of the truth, at Troy.""If I spake false, thou falsely stamp'dst the coin,"Said Sinon; "I am here for but one fault,And thou for more than any imp beside.""Remember," he replied, "O perjured one!The horse remember, that did teem with death;And all the world be witness to thy guilt.""To thine," return'd the Greek, "witness the thirstWhence thy tongue cracks, witness the fluid moundRear'd by thy belly up before thine eyes,A mass corrupt." To whom the coiner thus:"Thy mouth gapes wide as ever to let passIts evil saying. Me if thirst assails,Yet I am stuft with moisture. Thou art parch'd:Pains rack thy head: no urging wouldst thou needTo make thee lap Narcissus' mirror up."I was all fix'd to listen, when my guideAdmonish'd: "Now beware. A little more,And I do quarrel with thee." I perceivedHow angrily he spake, and toward him turn'dWith shame so poignant, as remember'd yetConfounds me. As a man that dreams of harmBefallen him, dreaming wishes it a dream,And that which is, desires as if it were not;Such then was I, who, wanting power to speak,Wish'd to excuse myself, and all the whileExcused me, though unweeting that I did.[127]"More grievous fault than thine has been, less shame,"My master cried, "might expiate. Therefore castAll sorrow from thy soul; and if againChance bring thee, where like conference is held,Think I am ever at thy side. To hearSuch wrangling is a joy for vulgar minds."