Inferno: Canto Xviii
INFERNO: CANTO XVIII
There is a place in Hell called Malebolge,
Made completely of stone and it has an iron color,
As do the walls that encircle it.
Right in the middle of the horrible field
There is a huge well exceedingly wide and deep,
I will tell you now how the place is structured.
The enclosure which remains
Between the well and foot of the high, hard bank,
Is round and has ten distinct valleys in its bottom.
As if for the protection of the walls
Many, many moats surround the castles,
Together, they form an odd figure,
And that is the image presented there;
Stretching out from the gates of each of the strongholds
Across to the outer bank are little bridges,
At the precipice of each base there are crags in the
Project, with intersecting dikes and moats,
Until reaching the well that truncates and collects them.
We found ourselves within this place,
When we descended off the back off Geryon; and the Poet
Held to the left, and I followed behind him.
On my right, I saw new anguish,
New torments, and new wielders of the lash,
Which crowded the first circle.
Down at the bottom, the sinners were naked;
On this side of the middle, they faced us,
Beyond it, they faced away from us, but with greater steps;
As the Romans, when they played the mighty host,
Upon the bridge, the year of Jubilee,
Had to build a way for the people to pass;
So all on one side moved towards the Castle
All facing the same direction, and go to St. Peter's;
On the other side they go towards the Mountain.
This side and that, along the horrid stone
I saw horned demons with the great masses,
Who cruelly were beating them from behind.
Ah me! How they made them lift their legs
At the first blows! And not any one paused
To wait for the second blow, nor for the third.
While I was going on, my eyes
Fell upon one of them; and I said:
"I think I know that one."
Therefore I stopped to make him out,
And with me the Guide came to stand,
And waited to see if I would go back;
And he, the scourged one, tried to hide himself,
Lowering his face, but little did it help him;
For I said: "You who cast down your eyes,
Unless you look exactly like someone else,
You are Venedico Caccianimico;
But what brought you to such pungent waters?"
And he said to me: "I would rather not say;
But your words have forced me to,
For they make me remember the ancient world.
I was the one who the fair Ghisola
Induced to grant the wishes of the Marquis,
However the shameless story may be told.
But I am not the only Bolognese who weeps here;
No, this place is so full of them,
That there are not so many ways taught today
To say 'sipa' between Reno and Savena;
And if you want a pledge or proof,
You have only to remember that we have avaricious hearts."
While he was speaking to me, a demon hit him with his whip, And said: "Get away from here
You pimp, there are no women here for sell."
I collected myself together and joined my Escort;
After a short distance, we came
To where a crag projected from the bank.
Thus very easily we ascended,
And turning to the right along its ridge,
We departed from those eternal circles.
When we reached to point where it is hollowed out
Beneath, to give passage to the scourged,
The Guide said: "Stop and look and you will see
The vision of those others who were evil-born,
Of whom you have not yet seen,
Because they left when we did."
From the old bridge we looked upon the train
Which came towards us from the other border,
And whom the whips struck a like manner.
And the good Master, without my asking,
Said to me: "See that tall one who is coming,
And seems not to shed a tear though he is in pain;
Still what a royal posture he retains!
That is Jason, who by his heart and cunning
Took the ram of Colchians.
He passed by the isle of Lemnos
After the daring and pitiless women
Had all of their males put to death.
There with his gifts and with ornate words
He deceived Hypsipyle, the maiden
Who first, herself, had deceived all the rest.
There he left her pregnant and forlorn;
Such sin is why this punishment condemns him,
And also for Medea the vengeance is done.
Those who are with him also deceived in the same way;
And this is sufficient to fill the first valley,
And those are the ones it holds in its jaws."
We came to where the narrow path
Crosses the second dike, and forms
Yet another arch.
Then we heard people, who are moaning
In the next circle, snorting with their noses,
And beating themselves with their hands.
The edges were incrusted with a mold
Made from the hot stench from below, which sticks there,
And wages war with your eyes and nostrils.
The bottom is so deep, there is no place
That you can see, without ascending
The arch's back, and looking down.
There we came, and down in the moat
I saw people smothered in a filth
That seemed to flow out of human privates;
And while I was looking at those below,
I saw one with his head so foul with feces,
It was not clear if he was a clergyman or a layman.
He screamed to me: "Why are you so eager
To look at me more than the other foul ones?"
And I said to him: "Because, if I remember,
I have already seen you with dry hair,
And you are Alessio Interminei of Lucca;
That is why I see you more than I see the others."
And then he wiped his hand across his slimy head:
"Those types of flatteries have put me down here,
Especially when they came from my own tongue."
Then my Guide said to me:
"See that you look further ahead,
So that you will recognize another
Of that unclean and disheveled drab,
The one there that scratches herself with filthy nails,
And crouches and then stands again.
It is Thais the harlot, who replied
To her lover, when he asked, 'Am I worthy of your thanks?'
And she replied 'Again and again;'
And let that satisfy you for now."