Inferno: Canto Xxix
INFERNO: CANTO XXIX
There were so many people, and their wounds were so
Different that I could not look away,
I could only stare at them and weep;
But Virgil said: "What are you looking at?
Why are your eyes still riveted down there
On those mournful and mutilated spirits?
You did not do that at the other circles;
Maybe you want to stand here and count them, but you should
Know that this circle is two-and-twenty miles around,
And the moon has already set;
Therefore the time that we have left is brief,
And there is more to be seen than what you are seeing now."
I answered him, "If you had known what I was looking for,
Perhaps you would allow a longer stay."
My Guide turned and left, and I followed behind him
Then I added: "In that cavern which held my attention too Intently, I think a spirit from my family cries there
Mourning the guilt that he earned when he was above."
Then the Master said:
"Do not spend any more time thinking of him;
Put your mind forward, and leave him behind;
I saw him below the little bridge,
Pointing at you, and waving fiercely with his finger.
I heard him being called Geri del Bello.
That was when you were completely absorbed
By the one who formerly ruled Altaforte,
You did not look his way; so he departed."
"My Conductor, his own violent death,
Which has not yet been avenged,"
I said, "By anyone who shares in his shame,
I imagine that it made him disdainful;
Then he went away without speaking to me,
And that has made me pity him all the more."
We continued to speak as we walked
Until we reached the bridge, over the next circle
Which seemed to have more light shining from below.
When we were standing over the last cloister
Of Malebolge, so that they were spread out
Revealing themselves to us,
Their cries pierced me through and through,
As though they were arrows whose tips where barbed,
So that I had to cover my ears with my hands.
If you gathered all of the pain from the hospitals
Of Valdichiana, Maremma and Sardinia,
From July to September,
You would still not find all of the diseases that were
Gathered In this one moat, and such a stench came from it
From the decaying flesh of the spirits.
We had descended to the furthest bank
From the long bridge, still staying to the left,
And I could suddenly see much clearer
Down to the bottom of the circle, where the servants
Of the high Lord punishes those who were forgers
When they were up on Earth.
I do not think that there was a sadder sight to see
Even in Aegina when the entire population was sick,
(When was the air full of pestilence,
And the animals, down to the little worm,
All fell, and afterwards the ancient people,
As the poets have confirmed,
Were restored again)
That was how it looked in that dark valley
With the spirits languishing in diverse heaps.
Some were on their bellies, and some laying on their backs
And others crawhng and shifting their bodies
Along the miserable road.
We walked on without speaking,
Gazing at and listening to the sick
Who did not have strength enough to lift their bodies.
I saw two spirits sitting and leaning against each other,
As two plates lean against each other when they are drying,
And they were covered scabs from their heads to their feet;
I have never seen a honeycomb scraped so roughly
By a stable-boy whose master is waiting,
Or who simply wants to finish quickly,
As these two were scraping themselves with tooth and nails,
For the savage itching of their skin
Which could never be relieved.
And they dragged their nails down along the scabs,
Like a knife scaling a fish,
Or something with tougher scales.
"You, who are scraping yourself"
Began my Leader to one of them,
"And pulling your skin with your fingers,
Tell me if there are any Italians down here;
Speak while your nails continue to scrape
For all eternity."
"We are Italians, who are sitting here before you,
Both of us," One replied while weeping;
"But who are you, that questions us?"
And the Guide said: "I am one who descends
Down with this living man from cliff to cliff,
And I intend to show him Hell."
Then their mutual support was broken,
And each one turned to me and trembled,
Along with others who had heard his words.
The good Master then said to me:
"Ask them whatever you wish."
And I began, since he had told me to:
"So that your memory does not vanish
From the minds of men, in the world above,
But so it may survive for many years,
Tell me who you are, and where you are from;
Do not let your foul and loathsome punishment
Make you afraid to show yourselves to me."
"I was from Arezzo," One of them said,
"And Albert of Siena had me burned;
But what I died for is not what brought me here.
It is true that I said to him, speaking in jest,
That I could fly into the air,
And anyone who had conceit, but little wit,
Would have had me show to him how; and only
Because I did not make him Daedalus,
He had me burned by the one who held him as his son.
But it is in this last circle of the ten,
Which Minos, who cannot error, has me condemned,
For alchemy, which I practiced in the world above"
And to the Poet I said:
"Were there ever a people as vain as the Sienese?
Certainty not the French by far."
Then the other leper, who had heard me, replied:
"Taking out Stricca,
Who knew the art of moderate expenses,
And Niccolo, who knew the luxurious use
Of cloves and discovered before anyone
That such seeds take root in the garden;
And not to mention the group, among whom
Caccia squandered his vineyards and vast woods,
And where the Abbagliato proffered his wit!
So that you know who is supporting you
Against the Sienese, look closely at me,
So that you can recognize my face,
And you will see I am Capocchio's spirit,
Who used alchemy to make false metals;
You must remember, if I know you well,
How skillful an ape of nature I was."