Inferno: Canto Xvii
INFERNO: CANTO XVII
"Behold the monster with the pointed tail,
Who cleaves the hills, and breaks walls and weapons,
Behold him who infects all the world."
My Guide began to say,
And called to him to come to shore,
Near to the broken marble bank;
And that unclean image of deceit
Came and thrust up its head and chest,
But it did not drag its tail out of the water.
The face was the fair face of a just man,
Outwardly, it looked so benign,
But it had the body of a serpent.
It had two paws, hairy unto the armpits;
The back, and breast, and on both sides it had
Tattoos of nooses and of shields.
Never were there so many colors, in thread or broidery
In cloth of Tartars nor Turks,
Nor were such tissues by Arachne laid, than on this creature.
As sometimes fishing boats lie upon the shore,
Where part are in the water, part on land;
And as among drunken men laying there,
And as the beaver plants himself to wage his war;
So that vile monster lay upon the shore,
Which is of stone, and keeps out the sand.
His tail was completely covered in spikes,
Holding up the venomous fork,
Like that of a scorpion armed at its point.
The Guide said: "Now we must turn aside
Our way a little, because of that beast
That lies in wait for us."
We therefore descended on the right,
And made ten steps on the outer edge,
Trying to avoid the sand and the flame;
And after we came up to him, I saw
A little farther off upon the sand
People sitting near the edge of the abyss.
Then the Master said to me: "So that you have the full
Experience of this round to take with you,
Go and see what has brought them to this place.
With them, be concise in your conversation;
Until you return, I will speak with the creature,
So that he will carry us on his stalwart shoulders."
Thus farther along the outermost
Edge of that seventh circle
I went all alone to where the melancholy folk sat.
Their woe gushed from their eyes;
Their hands brushed this way and that way,
First from the flames and then from the hot soil.
As in summer the dogs scratch,
First with the foot, then with the muzzle, when
They are bitten by fleas, or flies, or gadflies.
When I looked into their faces,
On whom the merciless fire is falling,
I did not recognize any of them; but I saw
That from the neck of each of them, there hung a pouch,
Which had a specific color, and a coat of arms;
And it was there that their eyes were fixed.
And as I gazed around me and came among them,
Upon a yellow pouch I saw one
That had the face and body of a blue lion.
Proceeding then, I continued to look around,
And I saw another of them, a pouch red as blood,
Displaying a goose more white than butter.
And one, who with a blue pig engraved
In his little pouch of white,
Said to me: "What are you doing in this moat?
Get out of here; and since you are still alive,
Know that a neighbor of mine, Vitaliano,
Will have his seat here on my left-hand side.
I am the only Paduan among these Florentines;
Many times they scream in my ears,
Exclaiming, 'Send down the sovereign knight,
He will bring the satchel with three goats;'"
Then he twisted his mouth, and he thrust forth
His tongue, like to an ox that licks its nose.
And fearing that my staying longer might upset
He who had warned me not to stay long,
I turned away from those weary souls.
I found my Guide, who had already mounted
The back of that wild animal,
And he said to me: "Now be both strong and bold.
We descend by a different kind of stairway;
You mount in front, for I will be here in the middle,
So that the tail will not be able to harm you."
As someone who is near his time in quarantine
Such that his nails are blue already,
And he trembles all over just looking at a shady spot;
That is how I became when I heard those words;
But his stare brought shame into my heart,
Which made me want to look strong before my good master.
I seated myself upon those monstrous shoulders;
I wanted to say, and could not speak
What I thought, "Please hold on to me."
But he, who had at other times rescued me
In other peril, as soon as I had mounted,
He encircled and restrained me with his arms,
And said: "Now, Geryon, get moving;
The circle is large, and the descent will be small;
Think of the novel burden which you now carry."
Even as the little vessel shoves from shore,
Backward, still backward, so he withdrew;
And when he felt himself afloat in the air,
There where his breast had been he turned his tail,
And with that extended like an eel he moved,
And using his paws he drew himself into the air.
I do not think there was a greater fear
Even the time when Phaeton abandoned the reins,
And scorched the heavens;
Nor when the wretched Icarus
Felt his flanks stripped of feathers by the melting wax,
His father crying, "You are going the wrong way!"
So was my own fear, when I perceived myself
On all sides in the air, and could see nothing but
The monster I was riding.
Onward he went, swimming slowly, soaring easily;
Wheeling and descending, but I only perceived it
By the wind on my face and the open air below me.
I heard on the right of the whirlpool, something
Making a horrible crashing under us;
So I thrust out my head with eyes cast downward.
Then I was even more fearful of the abyss;
Because I saw fires, and heard laments,
Trembling, I clung all the closer.
I saw then, as I had not seen before,
The great horrors that, by turning and descending,
Were closing in on all sides.
As a falcon who has long been on the wing,
Who, without seeing either lure or bird,
Makes the falconer say, "Why is he stopping?"
Descends weary, though he started swiftly,
Through a hundred circles, and dives
Far from his master, sullen and disdainful;
This is how Geryon placed us on the bottom,
Close to the base of the rough-hewn rock,
And once relieved of his load,
He sped away as an arrow from a string.