Inferno: Canto Xxvii
INFERNO: CANTO XXVII
The flame was now straight and quiet,
It no longer spoke, and left us
With the permission of the gentle Poet;
Then another flame came up behind it,
Which made us look up at its top
Because of a strange sound coming from it.
Like the Sicilian bull
(That first bellowed
With the cries of the man who made it)
This flame bellowed with the sound of its sinner,
Granted, it was not made of brass,
But still it appeared transfixed with agony;
So, since it had no other way to express itself,
The sinner used the voice of the flames, and the sound
Was converted into his melancholy words.
When all of the words had gathered
Up at the top of the flame, it started to move
Similar to a tongue, and thus the sound was made,
We heard it say: "You, who can now hear the sound of
My voice, and who was speaking Lombard just now,
Saying to the other flame, 'Now you can go your way'
Even though I came a little late,
If you don't mind, will you stay and speak with me;
You see that it won't bother me, and I am burning.
If you have just arrived into this blind world
And have fallen down from that sweet Italian land,
Where I brought all of my transgressions,
Tell me if the Romagnols have peace or war,
Because I was from the mountains there between
Urbino and where the Tiber bursts through."
I was still bending downward to listen,
When my Conductor touched me on the side,
And said: "You should speak: this one is Italian."
I had already formed my reply
And so I began to speak:
"O soul, that is concealed below this flame,
Romagna is not and never has been
Free from war in the hearts of its tyrants;
But there was no open warfare when I left just now.
Ravenna stands as it has stood for many long years;
The Eagle of Polenta is brooding there,
Covering all of Cervia with her wings.
The city which was long known for its resistance,
And left the French in a bloody heap,
Now finds itself beneath the Green Claws once again;
Verrucchio's ancient Mastiff as well as the new one,
Who made such horrible leaders of Montagna,
Now sink their teeth into the people.
The cities of Lamone and Santerno
Are Governed by the Lion of the white lair,
Who changes sides more often than the seasons change;
And of the city which is bathed by the Savio,
Just as it lies between the plain and mountain,
It also lives between tyranny and a free state.
Now I ask you to tell us who you are;
Do not be more stubborn than the rest have been,
So that your name will be known in the world."
After the fire had roared a little more,
The sharp point moved this way and that
And then gave out a breath:
"If I thought that my answer was being made
To someone who would return to the world,
This flame would stop flickering and would stand still;
But since no one has ever returned from this depth,
If what I have heard in the past is true,
Then I will answer without fear,
I was a man of arms, then a friar,
Believing that by wearing the cord, I would repent;
And really, my belief would have been fulfilled
Except for the High Priest, who is probably burning down here,
Who put me back into my former sins;
I will tell you that happened.
While I was still alive on the Earth
The deeds I did where not those of a lion,
But rather, they were those of a fox.
I knew all of the actions and the covert ways,
And I practiced them so well,
That I was known far and wide to the ends of earth.
As I got older, and finally reached the age
When you should lower your sails
And coil away the ropes,
Those things that had pleased me then, now displeased me;
I was penitent and confessed my sins,
And became a friar! and it would have saved me;
But then, the Leader of the modern Pharisees
Decided to wage war on the Lateran,
Instead of the Saracens or the Jews,
For each one of his enemies was Christian,
Not the ones who fought for the church,
Nor those who were merchants in the Sultan's land,
He had no regard for his high office,
Nor his sacred vows, nor in the rope of a Friar
Which we wore to show our devotion;
But even as Constantine had looked for Sylvester
To cure his leprosy, within Soracte,
So this one sought me out as his doctor
To cure him of the fever of his pride.
He asked me for advice, and I was silent,
Because his words sounded like drunken speech.
And then he said: 'Don't be afraid; After you are done,
I will absolve you of your sins; now tell me
How to raze Palestrina to the ground.
I have the power to lock and to unlock Heaven,
As you know; I have both keys,
The ones which my predecessor did not hold.'
Then he urged me on with his arguments,
And when silence became worse than speaking;
I said: 'Father, since you have washed away
The sins that I am about to commit,
Such a long promise, fulfilled in so short a time
Will make you triumph in you high seat.'
Saint Francis came for me after I was dead,
But one of the black Cherubim said to him:
'Do not take him; He is mine;
He must come down with my other servants,
Because he gave fraudulent advice
And I have been waiting for his head;
Someone cannot be absolved if they do not repent,
Nor can someone both sin and repent at the same time,
Because one will cancel out the other.'
Oh how I shuddered when he grabbed me
And I cried out: 'Wait, did you think
That I was a looking at the logic of my actions?'
He took me to Minos, who wrapped his tail
Eight times around his stubborn back,
And after that, he bit it in great rage,
And said: 'He goes to burn with the thieves;'
Therefore, I am lost right here where you see me,
Wrapped in flame and carrying resentment and regret."
When the flame had finished speaking,
It moved on, still uttering its lamentations,
Writhing and flapping its sharp-pointed tip.
So we moved on, both me and my Conductor,
Up over the bridge and on to another arch,
Which covers the circle, where penalties are paid by those
Who have sown discord and have thus earned their punishment.