Christ, carved in your cathedral, is

Christ, carved in your cathedral, is

Christ, carved in your cathedral, is

of no avail: here you swim

differently than in the Serchio: so,

unless you want to try our grapples,

do not emerge above the pitch.’

Then they struck at him with

more than a hundred prongs, and

said: ‘Here you must dance,

197

concealed, so that you steal in private, if you can.’ No different is

it, when the cooks make their

underlings push the meat down into

the depths of the cauldrons with

their hooks, to stop it floating.

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The good master said to me:

‘Cower down behind a rock, so that

you have a screen to protect

yourself, and so that it is not

obvious that you are here, and

whatever insult is offered to me,

have no fear, since I know these

matters, having been in a similar

danger before.’ Then he passed

beyond the bridgehead, and when he

arrived on the sixth bank, it was

198

199

necessary for him to present a bold front.

The demons rushed from below

the bridge, and turned their weapons

against him, with the storm and fury

with which a dog rushes at a poor

beggar, who suddenly seeks alms

when he stops. But Virgil cried:

‘None, of you, commit an outrage.

Before you touch me with your

forks, one of you come over here, to

listen, and then discuss whether you

will grapple me.’ They all cried:

‘You go, Malacoda’ at which one moved while the others stood still,

and came towards Virgil, saying:

‘What good will it do him?’

My Master said: ‘Malacoda, do

you think I have come here without

the Divine Will, and propitious fate,

safe from all your obstructions? Let

me go by, since it is willed, in

200

Heaven, that I show another this wild road.’ Then the demon’s pride

was so down, that he let the hook

drop at his feet, and said to the

others: ‘Now, do not hurt him!’ And

my guide to me: ‘O you, who are

sitting, crouching, crouching

amongst the bridge’s crags, return to

me safely, now!’ At which I moved,

and came to him quickly, and the

devils all pressed forward so that I

was afraid they would not hold to

their orders. So I once saw the infantry, marching out, under treaty

of surrender, from Caprona, afraid

at finding themselves surrounded by

so many enemies.

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201

I pressed my whole body close to my guide, and did not take my eyes

away from their aspect, which was

hostile. They lowered their hooks,

and kept saying, to one another:

‘Shall I touch him on the backside?’

and answering, ‘Yes, see that you

give him a nick.’

But that demon who was talking

to my guide, turned round quickly,

and said: ‘Be quiet, be quiet,

Scarmiglione.’ Then he said to us:

‘It will not be possible to go any

further along this causeway, since

the sixth arch is lying broken at the

base, and if you desire still to go

forward, go along this ridge, and

nearby is another cliff that forms a

causeway. Yesterday, five hours

later than this hour, twelve hundred and sixty-six years were completed,

since this path here was destroyed.

202

I am sending some of my

company here to see if anyone is out

for an airing: go with them, they

will not commit treachery.’ Then he

began speaking: ‘Advance, Alichino

and Calcabrina, and you, Cagnazzo:

let Barbariccia lead the ten. Let

Libicocco come as well, and

Draghignazzo, tusked

Ciriatto,

Grafficane, Farfarello, and

Rubicante the mad one. Search round the boiling glue: see these

two safe, as far as the other cliff that

crosses the chasms, completely,

without a break.’

I said: ‘O me! Master, what do I

see? Oh, let us go alone, without an

escort, if you know the way: as for

me, I would prefer not. If you are as

cautious as usual, do you not see

how they grind their teeth, and

darken their brows, threatening us

203

with mischief? And he to me: ‘I do not want you to be afraid: let them

grin away at their will: since they do

it for the boiled wretches.’

They turned by the left bank: but

first, each of them had stuck his

tongue out, between his teeth,

towards their leader, as a signal, and

he had made a trumpet of his arse.

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I have seen cavalry moving

camp, before now, starting a foray,

holding muster, and now and then

retiring to escape; I have seen war-

horses on your territory, O Aretines,

and seen the foraging parties, the

clash of tournaments, and repeated

jousts; now with trumpets, now with

204

bells, with drums and rampart

signals, with native and foreign

devices, but I never yet saw infantry

or cavalry, or ship at sight of shore

or star, move to such an obscene

trumpet.

We went with the ten demons:

ah, savage company! But, they say:

‘In church with the saints, and in the

inn with the drunkards.’ But my

mind was on the boiling pitch, to

see each feature of the chasm, and

the people who were burning in it.

Like dolphins, arching their backs,

telling the sailors to get ready to

save their ship, so, now and then, to

ease the punishment, some sinner

showed his back, and hid as quick

as lightning.

And as frogs squat, at the edge of

the ditchwater, with only mouths

showing, so that their feet and the

205

rest of them are hidden, so the sinners stood on every side: but they

instantly shot beneath the seething,

as Barbariccia approached.

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I saw, and my heart still shudders

at it, one linger, just as one frog

remains when the others scatter: and

Graffiacane, who was nearest him, hooked his pitchy hair, and hauled

him up, looking, to me, like an otter.

I already knew the names of every

demon, so I noted them well as they

were called, and when they shouted

to each other, listened out.

‘O Rubicante, see you get your clutches in him, and flay him,’ all

the accursed tribe cried together.

And I: ‘Master, make out if you can,

206

who that wretch is, who has fallen into the hands of his enemies.’ My

guide drew close to him, and asked

him where he came from, and he

answered: ‘I was born in the kingdom of Navarre. My mother

placed me as a servant to a lord,

since she had borne me to a

scurrilous waster of himself and his

possessions. Then I was of the

household of good King Thibaut,

and there I took to selling offices,

for which I serve my sentence in

this heat.’

And Ciriatto, from whose mouth a tusk, like a boar’s, projected on

each side, made him feel how one of

them could rip. The mouse had

come among the evil cats: but

Barbariccia caught him in his arms, and said: ‘Stand back, while I fork

him!’ And, turning to my Master, he

207

said: ‘Ask away, if you want to learn more from him, before

someone else gets at him.’

So my guide said: ‘Now say, do

you know any of the other sinners

under the boiling pitch that is a

Latian?’ And Ciampolo replied: ‘I separated, just now, from one who

was a neighbour of theirs over there,

and I wish I were still beneath him,

since I should not then fear claw or

hook!’ And Libicocco cried: ‘We have endured this too long!’ and

grappled Ciampolo’s arm with the

prong, and, mangling it, carried

away a chunk. Draghignazzo, too, wanted a swipe at the legs, below: at

which their leader twisted round and

round on them with an evil frown.

208

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When they had settled a little,

without waiting, my guide asked

Ciampolo, who was still gazing at his wound: ‘Who was he, from

whom you say you unluckily

separated, to come on land?’ He

replied: ‘It was Friar Gomita, he of Gallura, in Sardinia, the vessel of

every fraud, who held his master’s

prisoners in his hands, and treated

them so that they all praise him for

it, taking money for himself, and

letting them go, quietly: and in his

other roles, he was a high, and not a

low, barrator.

With him, Don Michel Zanche of

Logodoro, keeps company, and their

tongues never tire of speaking of

Sardinia. O me! See that other

209

demon grinning: I would speak

more, but I fear he is getting ready

to claw my skin.’ And their great

captain, turning to Farfarello, who was rolling his eyes to strike, said:

‘Away with you, cursed bird.’

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The scared sinner then resumed:

‘If you want to see or hear Tuscans

or Lombards, I will make them

come, but let the Malebranche hold

back a little, so that the others may

not feel their vengeance, and sitting

here, I, who am one, will make

seven appear, by whisthng, as we

do, when any of us gets out.’

Cagnazzo raised his snout, at these words, and, shaking his head, said:

210

‘Hear the wicked scheme he has

contrived to plunge back down.’ At

which Ciampolo, who had a great store of tricks, replied: ‘I would be

malicious indeed, if I contrived

greater sorrow for my companions.’

Alichino, could contain himself no longer, and contrary to the others

said to him: ‘If you run, I will not

charge after you, but beat my wings

above the boiling pitch: forget the

cliff, and let the bank be a course,

and see if you alone can beat us.’ O

you that read this, hear of this new

sport! They all glanced towards the

cliff side, he above all who had been

most unwilling for this. The

Navarrese picked his moment well,

planted his feet on the ground, and

in an instant plunged, and freed

himself from their intention.

211

212

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Each of the demons was stung

with guilt, but Alichino most who had caused the error: so he started

up and shouted: ‘You are caught!’

But it helped him little, since wings

could not outrun terror: the sinner

dived down: and Alichino, flying,

lifted his breast. The duck dives like

that when the falcon nears, and the

hawk flies back up, angry and

thwarted.

Calcabrina, furious at the trick, flew on after him, wanting the

sinner to escape, in order to quarrel.

And when the barrator had

vanished, he turned his claws on his

friend, and grappled with him above

the ditch. But the other was sparrow

213

hawk enough to claw him

thoroughly, and both dropped down,

into the centre of the boiling pond.

The heat, instantly, separated

them, but they could not rise, their

wings were so glued up.

Barbariccia, lamenting with the rest, made four fly over to the other

bank, with all their grappling irons,

and they dropped rapidly on both

sides to the shore. They stretched

their hooks out to the trapped pair,

who were already scaled by the

crust, and we left them, like that,

embroiled.

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Silent, alone, and free of

company, we went on, one in front,

and the other after, like minor friars

214

journeying on their way. My

thoughts were turned, by the recent

quarrel, to Aesop’s fable of the frog and mouse, since ‘Si’ and ‘Yes’ are

not better matched, than the one

case with the other, if the thoughtful

mind couples the beginning and

end.

And as one thought springs from

another, so another sprang from

that, redoubling my fear. I thought

of this: ‘Through us, these are

mocked, and with a kind of hurt and

ridicule, that I guess must annoy

them. If anger is added to their

malice, they will chase after us,

fiercer than snapping dogs that

chase a leveret.’ I felt my hair

already lifting in fright, and was

looking back intently, as I said:

‘Master, if you do not hide us both,

quickly, I am afraid of the

215

Malebranche: they are already

behind us: I imagine I can hear them

now.’

And he: ‘If I were made of

silvered glass, I could not take up

your image from outside more

rapidly than I fix that image from

within. Even now your thoughts

were entering mine, with similar

form and action, so that, from both,

I have made one decision. If the

right bank slopes enough, that we

can drop down, into the next chasm,

we will escape this imaginary

pursuit.’ he had not finished stating

this resolve, when I saw them, not

far off, coming with extended

wings, with desire to seize us.

My guide suddenly took me up

like a mother, wakened by a noise,

seeing flames burning in front of her

eyes, who takes her child and runs,

216

and caring more about him than

herself, does not even wait to look

around her. Down from the ridge of

the solid bank, he threw himself

forward on to the hanging cliff that

dams up the side of the next chasm.

Water never ran as fast through the

conduit, turning a mill-wheel on

land, when it reaches the paddles, as

my Master, down that bank,

carrying me, against his breast, like

a son, and not a companion.

His feet had hardly touched the

floor, of the depth below, before the

demons were on the heights above

us, but it gave him no fear, since the

high Providence, that willed them to

be the guardians of the fifth moat,

takes, from all of them, the power to

leave it.

217

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Down below we found a metal-

coated tribe, weeping, circling with

very slow steps, and weary and

defeated in their aspect. They had

cloaks, with deep hoods over the

eyes, in the shape they make for the

monks of Cologne. On the outside

they are gilded so it dazzles, but

inside all leaden, and so heavy, that

compared to them Frederick’s were made of straw.

O weary mantle for eternity! We

turned to the left again, beside them,

who were intent on their sad

weeping, but those people, tired by

their burden, came on so slowly that

our companions were new at every

step. At which, I said to my guide:

‘Make a search for someone known

218

219

to us, by name or action, and gaze around as we move by.’ And one of

them, who understood the Tuscan

language, called after us: ‘Rest your

feet, you who speed so fast through

the dark air, maybe you will get

from me what you request.’ At

which my guide turned round and

said: ‘Wait, and then go on, at his

pace.’

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I stood still, and saw two spirits,

who were eager in mind to join me,

but their burden and the narrow path

delayed them. When they arrived,

they eyed me askance, for a long

time, without speaking a word, then

they turned to one another and said:

‘This one seems alive, by the

220

movement of his throat, and if they are dead, by what grace are they

moving, free of the heavy cloaks?’

Then they said to me: ‘O Tuscan,

you have come to the college of sad

hypocrites: do not scorn to tell us

who you are.’ And I to them: ‘I was

born, and I grew up, by Arno’s

lovely river, in the great city: and I

am in the body I have always worn.

But you, who are you, from whom

such sadness is distilled, that I see,

coursing down your cheeks? And

what punishment is this, that glitters

so?’ And one of them replied: ‘Our

orange mantles are of such dense

lead, that weights made of it cause

the scales to creak.

We were Fraudi Gaudenti, of that

Bolognese order called the ‘Jovial

Friars’: I am Catalano, and he is

Loderingo, chosen by your city, as 221

usually only one is chosen, to keep the peace: and we wrought such as

still appears round your district of

Gardingo. ‘O Friars, your evil ....’ I

began, but said no more, because

one came in sight, crucified, on the

ground, with three stakes. When he

saw me he writhed all over, puffing

into his beard, and sighing, and

Friar Catalano, who saw this, said to

me: ‘That one you look at, who is

transfixed, is Caiaphas, the high priest, who counselled the

Pharisees, that it was right to martyr

one man for the sake of the people.

Crosswise and naked he lies in the

road, as you see, and feels the

weight of everyone who passes: and

his father-in-law Annas is racked, in this chasm, and the others of that

Council, that was a source of evil to

the Jews.’

222

Then I saw Virgil wonder at him, stretched out on the cross, so vilely,

in eternal exile.

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He addressed these words to the

Friars, afterwards: ‘If it is lawful for

you, may it not displease you, to tell

us if there is any gap on the right, by

which we might leave here, without

forcing any of the black angels to

come and extricate us from this

deep.’ He replied: ‘There is a

causeway that runs from the great

circular wall and crosses all the

cruel valleys, nearer at hand than

you think, except that it is broken

here and does not cover this one:

you will be able to climb up among

223

its ruins, that slope down the side, and form a mound at the base.’

Virgil stood, for a while, with

bowed head, then said: ‘Malacoda, who grapples sinners over there,

told us the way wrongly.’ And the

Friar said: ‘I once heard the Devil’s

vices related at Bologna, amongst

which I heard that he is a liar, and

the father of lies.’ Then my guide

went striding on, his face somewhat

disturbed by anger, at which I parted

from the burdened souls, following

the prints of his beloved feet.

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In that part of the new year,

when the sun cools his rays under

Aquarius, and the nights already

224

shorten towards the equinox; when the hoar-frost copies its white sister

the snow’s, image on the ground,

but the hardness of its tracery lasts

only a little time; the peasant, whose

fodder is exhausted, rises and looks

out, and sees the fields all white, at

which he strikes his thigh, goes back

into the house, and wanders to and

fro, lamenting, like a wretch who

does not know what to do; then

comes out again, and regains hope,

seeing how the world has changed

its aspect, in a moment; and takes

his crook, and chases his lambs out

to feed; so the Master made me

disheartened, when I saw his

forehead so troubled: but the plaster

arrived quickly for the wound.

For, when we reached the

shattered arch, my guide turned to

me with that sweet aspect, that I

225

first saw at the base of the

mountain. He opened his arms, after

having made some plan in his mind,

first looking carefully at the ruin,

and took hold of me. And like one

who prepares and calculates, always

seeming to provide in advance, so

he, lifting me up towards the

summit of one big block, searched

for another fragment, saying: ‘Now

clamber over that, but check first if

it will carry you.’

It was no route for one clothed in

a cloak of lead, since we could

hardly climb from rock to rock, he

weighing little, and I pushed from

behind. And if the ascent were not

shorter on that side than on the

other, I would truly have been

defeated, I do not know about him.

But as Malebolge all drops towards

the entrance to the lowest well, the

226

position of every valley implies that the one side rises, and the other

falls: at last, we came, however, to

the point at which the last boulder

ends.

The breath was so driven from

my lungs, when I was up, that I

could go no further: in fact, I sat

down when I arrived. The Master

said: ‘Now, you must free yourself

from sloth: men do not achieve

fame, sitting on down, or under

coverlets; fame, without which

whoever consumes his life leaves

only such trace of himself, on earth,

as smoke does in the air, or foam on

water: so rise, and overcome

weariness with spirit, that wins

every battle, if it does not lie down

with the gross body. A longer ladder

must be climbed: to have left these

behind is not enough: if you

227

understand me, act now so it may profit you.’

I rose then, showing myself to be

better filled with breath than I

thought, and said: ‘Go on, I am

strong again and ardent.’

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We made our way along the

causeway, which was rugged,

narrow, difficult, and much steeper

than before. I went, speaking, so

that I might not seem weak, at

which a voice came from the next

moat, inadequate for forming words.

I do not know what it said, though I

was already on the summit of the

bridge that crosses there, but he who

spoke seemed full of anger. I had

turned to look downwards, but my

228

229

living eyes could not see the floor, for the darkness, so that I said:

‘Master, make sure you get to the

other side, and let us climb down

the wall, since as I hear sounds from

below, but do not understand them,

so I see down there, and make out

nothing.’ He said: ‘I make you no

answer, but by action, since a fair

request should be followed, in

silence, by the work.’

We went down the bridge, at the

head of it, where it meets the eighth

bank, and then the seventh chasm

was open to me. I saw a fearful

mass of snakes inside, and of such

strange appearance, that even now

the memory freezes my blood. Let

Libya no longer vaunt its sands:

though it engenders chelydri, and jaculi; pareae; and cenchres with

amphisbaena; it never showed pests

230

so numerous or dreadful, nor did Ethiopia, nor Arabia, the land that

lies along the Red Sea. Amongst

this cruel and mournful swarm,

people were running, naked and

terrified, without hope of

concealment, or of that stone, the

heliotrope, that renders the wearer

invisible.

They had their hands tied behind

them, with serpents, that fixed their

head and tail between the loins, and

were coiled in knots in front.

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And see, a serpent struck at one

who was near our bank, and

transfixed him, there, where the

neck is joined to the shoulders.

Neither ‘R’ nor ‘L’ was ever written

231

as swiftly as he took fire, and burned, and dropped down,

transformed to ashes: and after he

was heaped on the ground, the

powder gathered itself together, and

immediately returned to its previous

shape. So, great sages say, the

phoenix dies, and then renews,

when it nears its five-hundredth

year. In its life it does not eat grass

or grain, but only tears of incense,

and amomum: and its last shroud is

nard and myrrh.

The sinner when he rose was like

one who falls, and does not know

how, through the power of a demon

that drags him down to the ground,

or through some other affliction that

binds men, and, when he rises,

gazes round himself, all dazed by

the great anguish he has suffered,

and as he gazes, sighs. O how heavy

232

the power of God, that showers

down such blows in vengeance!

The guide then asked him who

he was, at which he answered: ‘I

rained down from Tuscany into this

gully, a short while back. Brutish,

not human, life pleased me, mule

that I was: I am Vanni Fucci, the wild beast, and Pistoia was a fitting

den for me.’ And I to the guide:

‘Tell him not to move: and ask what

crime sank him down here, since I

knew him as a man of blood and

anger.

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And the sinner, who heard me,

did not pretend, but turned his face

and mind on me, and gave a look of

saddened shame. Then he said: ‘It

233

hurts me more for you to catch me, trapped, in the misery you see me

in, than the moment of my being

snatched from the other life. I

cannot deny you what you ask. I am

placed so deep down because I

robbed the sacristy of its fine

treasures, and it was once wrongly

attributed to others. But, so that you

might not take joy from this sight if

you ever escape the gloomy regions,

open your ears, and hear

what I declare:

Pistoia first is thinned of Blacks:

then Florence changes her people

and her laws. Mars brings a vapour,

from Valdimagra cloaked in turbid

cloud, and a battle will be fought on

the field of Piceno, in an angry and

eager tempest, that will suddenly

tear the mist open, so that every

234

White is wounded by it. And I have said this to give you pain.’

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At the end of his speech, the thief

raised his hands, both making the

fig, the obscene gesture, with thumb

between fingers, shouting: ‘Take

this, God, I aim it at you.’ From that

moment the snakes were my friends,

since one of them coiled itself round

his neck, as if hissing: ‘You will not

be able to speak again.’ Another,

round his arms, tied him again,

knotting itself so firmly in front, that

he could not even shake them.

Ah, Pistoia, Pistoia, why do you

not order yourself to be turned to

ash, so that you may remain no

longer, since you outdo your seed in

evil-doing? I saw no spirit so

235

arrogant towards God, through all the dark circles of the Inferno, not

even, Capaneus, he who fell from the wall at Thebes. Vanni Fucci

fled, saying not another word, and I

saw a Centaur, full of rage, come,

shouting: ‘Where is he, where is the

bitter one?’

I do not believe Maremma has as

many snakes, as he had on his

haunches, there, where the human

part begins. Over his shoulders,

behind the head, lay a dragon with

outstretched wings, and it scorches

every one he meets. My Master

said: ‘That is Cacus, who often made a lake of blood, below the

rocks of Mount Aventine. He does

not go with his brothers on the same

road, above, because of his cunning

theft from the great herd of oxen,

pastured near him: for which his

236

thieving actions ended, under the club of Hercules, who gave him a hundred blows perhaps with it, and

he did not feel a tenth.

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While he said this, the Centaur

ran past, and three spirits came by,

also, beneath us, whom neither I,

nor my guide, saw, until they cried:

‘Who are you?’ Our words ceased,

then, and we gave our attention to

them, alone.

I did not know them, but it

happened, as it usually does for

some reason, that one had to call the

other, saying: ‘Where has Cianfa

gone?’ At which I placed my finger

over my mouth, in order to make

my guide stop and wait.

237

Reader, if you are slow to credit, now, what I have to tell, it will be

no wonder, since I who saw it,

scarcely credit it myself. While I

kept looking at them, a six-footed

serpent darted in front of one of

them, and fastened itself on him,

completely. It clasped his belly with

it middle feet, seized his arms with

the front ones, and then fixed its

teeth in both his cheeks. The rear

feet it stretched along his thighs, and

put its tail between them, and curled

it upwards round his loins, behind.

Ivy was never rooted to a tree,

as the foul monster twined its limbs

around the other. Then they clung

together, as if they were melted

wax, and mixed their colours:

neither the one nor the other seemed

what it had at first: just as in front of

the flame on burning paper, a brown

238

239

colour appears, not yet black,

and the white is consumed.

The other two looked on, and

each cried: ‘Ah me, Agnello, how

you change! See, you are already

not two, not one!’ The two heads

had now become one, where two

forms seemed to us merged in one

face, and both were lost. Two limbs

were made of the four forearms, the

thighs, legs, belly and chest became

such members as were never seen

before. The former shape was all

extinguished in them: the perverse

image seemed both, and neither, and

like that it moved away with slow

steps.

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240

As the lizard, in the great heat of the Dog days, appears like a flash of

lightning, scurrying from hedge to

hedge, if it crosses the track, so

a little reptile came towards the bellies of the other two, burning

with rage, black and livid as

peppercorn. And it pierced that part,

in one of them, where we first

receive our nourishment from our

mothers: then fell down, stretched

out in front of him. The thief,

transfixed, gazed at it but said

nothing, but with motionless feet,

only yawned, as if sleep or fever

had overcome him. He looked at the

snake: it looked at him: the one gave

out smoke, violently, from his

wound, the other from its mouth,

and the smoke met.

Let Lucan now be silent, about

Sabellus and Nasidius, and wait to 241

hear that which I now tell. Let Ovid

be silent about Cadmus

and

Arethusa: if he in poetry changes one into a snake, and the other into a

fountain, I do not envy him, since he

never transmuted two natures, face

to face, so that both forms were

eager to exchange their substance.

They merged together in such a

way, that the serpent split its tail

into a fork, and the wounded spirit

brought his feet together. Along

with them, the legs and thighs, so

stuck to one another, that soon the

join left no visible mark. The cleft

tail took on the form lost in the

other, and its skin grew soft, the

other’s hard. I saw the arms enter

the armpits: and the two feet of the

beast that were short, lengthened

themselves by as much as the arms

were shortened. Then the two hind

242

feet twisted together, and became the organ that a man conceals, and

the wretch, from his, had two

pushed out.

While the smoke covers them

both with a new colour, and

generates hair on one part, and strips

it from another, the one rose up,

erect, and the other fell, prostrate:

not by that shifting their impious

gaze, beneath which they mutually

exchanged features. The erect one

drew his face towards the temples,

and from the excess of matter that

swelled there, ears came, out of the

smooth cheeks. That which did not

slip back, but remained, formed a

nose from the superfluous flesh, and

enlarged the lips to their right size.

He that lay prone, thrust his

sharpened visage forward, and drew

his ears back into his head, as the

243

snail does its horns into its shell, and his tongue, which was solid

before, and fit for speech, splits

itself. In the other the forked tongue

melds, and the smoke is still.

The soul that had become a

beast, sped, hissing, along the

valley, leaving the other, speaking

and spluttering, behind him. Then

the second turned his new-won

shoulders towards him, and called to

the other: ‘Buoso shall crawl, as I did, along this road.’ So I saw the

seventh chasm’s bodies mutate and

transmutate: and let the novelty of it

be the excuse, if my pen has gone

astray.

Though my sight was somewhat

confused, and my mind dismayed,

they could not flee so secretly, but

that I clearly saw Puccio Sciancato:

and it was he, alone, of the three

244

companions, who had first arrived, who was not changed. One of the

others, Francesco, was he who caused you, the people of Gaville, to

weep.

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Rejoice, Florence, that, since you

are so mighty, you beat your wings

over land and sea, and your name

spreads through Hell itself. So,

among the thieves, I found five of

your citizens: at which I am

ashamed, and you do not rise to

great honour by it either. But if the

truth is dreamed, as morning comes,

you will soon feel what Prato, and others, wish on you. And, if it were

come already, it would not be too

245

soon: would it were so, now, as indeed it must come, since it will

trouble me more, the older I am.

We left there, and my guide

remounted by the stairs that the

stones had made for us to descend,

and drew me up: and, following our

solitary way, among the crags and

splinters of the cliff, the foot made

no progress without the hand.

I was saddened then, and sadden

now, again, when I direct my mind

to what I saw, and rein in my

intellect more than I am used, so

that it does not run where virtue

would not guide it, and so that, if a

good star, or some truer power, has

granted me the talent, I may not

abuse the gift.

The eighth chasm was gleaming

with flames, as numerous as the

fireflies the peasant sees, as he rests

246

247

on the hill, when the sun, who

lights the world, hides his face least

from us, and the fly gives way to the

gnat down there, along the valley,

where he gathers grapes, perhaps,

and ploughs.

As soon as I came to where the

floor showed itself, I saw them, and,

as Elisha, the mockery of whom by children was avenged by bears, saw

Elijah’s chariot departing, when the horses rose straight to Heaven, and

could not follow it with his eyes,

except by the flame alone, like a

little cloud, ascending, so each of

those flames moved, along the

throat of the ditch, for none of them

show the theft, but every flame

steals a sinner.

248

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I stood on the bridge, having so

risen to look, that if I had not caught

hold of a rock I should have fallen

in without being pushed. And the

guide, who saw me so intent, said:

‘The spirits are inside those fires:

each veils himself in that which

burns him.’ I replied: ‘Master, I feel

more assured from hearing you, but

had already seen that it was so, and

already wished to say to you, who is

in that fire, that moves, divided at

the summit, as if it rose from the

pyre where Eteocles was cremated with his brother, Polynices?’

He answered me: ‘In there,

Ulysses

and

Diomede

are

tormented, and so they go, together

in punishment, as formerly in war:

249

and, in their fire, they groan at the ambush of the Trojan horse, that

made a doorway, by which Aeneas, the noble seed of the Romans issued

out. In there they lament the trick,

by which Deidamia, in death, still weeps for Achilles: and there, for the Palladium, they endure

punishment.’

I said: ‘Master, I beg you greatly,

and beg again so that my prayers

may be a thousand, if those inside

the fires can speak, do not refuse my

waiting until the horned flame

comes here: you see how I lean

towards it with desire.’ And he to

me: ‘Your request is worth much

praise, and so I accept it, but restrain

your tongue. Let me speak: since I

conceive what you wish, and

because they were Greeks they

might disdain your Trojan words.’

250

When the flame had come, where

the time and place seemed fitting, to

my guide, I heard him speak, so: ‘O

you, who are two in one fire, if I

was worthy of you when I lived, if I

was worthy of you, greatly or a

little, when on earth I wrote the high

verses, do not go, but let one of you

tell where he, being lost through his

own actions, went to die.’

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The greater horn of the ancient

flame started to shake itself,

murmuring, like a flame struggling

in the wind. Then moving the tip, as

if it were a tongue speaking, gave

out a voice, and said: ‘When I left

Circe, who held me for more than a year, near to Gaeta, before Aeneas

251

named it, not even my fondness for my son, Telemachus, my reverence for my aged father, Laërtes, nor the debt of love that should have made

Penelope happy, could restrain in me the desire I had, to gain

experience of the world, and of

human vice and worth.

I set out on the wide, deep ocean,

with only one ship, and that little

company, that had not abandoned

me. I saw both shores, as far as

Spain, as far as Morocco, and the

isle of Sardinia, and the other

islands that sea washes. I, and my

companions, were old, and slow,

when we came to that narrow strait,

where Hercules set up his pillars, to warn men from going further. I left

Seville to starboard: already Ceuta

was left behind on the other side.

252

I said: ‘O my brothers, who have reached the west, through a

thousand dangers, do not deny the

brief vigil, your senses have left to

them, experience of the unpopulated

world beyond the Sun. Consider

your origin: you were not made to

live like brutes, but to follow virtue

and knowledge.’ With this brief

speech I made my companions so

eager for the voyage, that I could

hardly have restrained them, and

turning the prow towards morning,

we made wings of our oars for that

foolish flight, always turning south.

Night already saw the southern

pole, with all its stars, and our

northern pole was so low, it did not

rise from the ocean bed. Five times

the light beneath the moon had been

quenched and relit, since we had

entered on the deep pathways, when

253

a mountain appeared to us, dim with distance, and it seemed to me the

highest I had ever seen. We

rejoiced, but soon our joy was

turned to grief, when a tempest rose

from the new land, and struck the

prow of our ship. Three times it

whirled her round, with all the

ocean: at the fourth, it made the

stern rise, and the prow sink, as it

pleased another, till the sea closed

over us.’

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The flame was now erect and

quiet, no longer speaking, and was

going away from us, with the

permission of the sweet poet, when

another, that came behind forced us

to turn our eyes towards its summit,

254

since a confused sound escaped

there.

As the Sicilian bull, that first

bellowed with the groans of

Perillus, who had smoothed it with his file (and that was right)

bellowed with the sufferer’s voice,

so that, although it was bronze, it

seemed pierced with agony, so here,

the dismal words, having, at their

source, no exit from the fire, were

changed into its language. But when

they had found a path out through

the tip, giving it the movement that

the tongue had given in making

them, we heard it say: ‘O you, at

whom I direct my voice, and who,

but now, was speaking Lombard,

saying: “Now go: no more, I beg

you”, let it not annoy you to stop

and speak with me, though perhaps I

255

have came a little late: you see it does not annoy me, and I burn.

If you are only now fallen into

this blind world, from that sweet

Latian land, from which I bring all

my guilt, tell me if Romagna has

peace or war, for I was of the

mountains there, between Urbino

and Monte Coronaro, the source

from which the Tiber springs.’

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I was still leaning downwards

eagerly, when my leader touched

me on the side, saying: ‘Speak, this

is a Latian.’ And I who had my

answer ready, began to speak then

without delay: ‘O spirit, hidden

there below, your Romagna is not,

and never has been, without war in

256

the hearts of her tyrants: but I left no open war there now.

Ravenna stands, as it has stood

for many years: Guido Vecchio da

Polenta’s eagle broods over it, so that it covers Cervia with its claws.

That city, Forlì, that withstood so

long a siege, and made a bloody pile

of Frenchmen, finds itself again

under the paws of Ordelaffi’s green lion.

Malatesta, the old mastiff of Verruchio, and the young one,

Malatestino, who made bad jailors for Montagna, sharpen their teeth, where they used to do. Faenza, on

the Lamone, and Imola on the

Santerno, those cities lead out

Pagano, the lion of the white lair, who changes sides when he goes

from south to north, and Cesena,

that city whose walls the Savio

257

bathes, where it lies between the mountain and the plain, likewise

lives between freedom and tyranny.

Now I beg you, tell us who you

are: do not be harder than others

have been to you, so that your name

may keep its lustre on earth.’

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When the flame had roared for a

while as usual, it flickered the sharp

point to and fro, and then gave out

this breath: ‘If I thought my answer

was given to one who could ever

return to the world, this flame would

flicker no more, but since, if what I

hear is true, no one ever returned,

alive, from this deep, I reply,

without fear of defamation.

258

I, Guido da Montefeltro, was a man of arms: and then became a

Cordelier of Saint Francis, hoping to make amends, so habited: and

indeed my hopes would have been

realised in full, but for the Great

Priest, Boniface, evil to him, who drew me back to my first sins: and

how and why, I want you to hear

from me.

While I was in the form of bones

and pulp, that my mother gave me,

my actions were not those of the

lion, but of the fox. I knew all the

tricks and coverts, and employed the

art of them so well, that the noise

went out to the ends of the earth.

When I found myself arrived at that

point of life, when everyone should

furl their sails, and gather in the

ropes, what had pleased me before,

now grieved me, and with

259

repentance and confession, I turned monk. Ah misery! Alas, it would

have served me well.

But the Prince of the Pharisees;

that Pope waging war near the

Lateran, and not with Saracens or

Jews, since all his enemies were

Christians, and none had been to

conquer Acre, or been a merchant in

the Sultan’s land; had no regard for

the highest office, nor holy orders,

nor my habit of Saint Francis, that

used to make those who wore it

leaner; but as the Emperor

Constantine sought out

Saint Sylvester, on Mount Soracte, to cure his leprosy, so this man

called me, as a doctor to cure his

feverish pride. He demanded

counsel of me, and I kept silent,

since his speech seemed drunken.

260

Then he said to me: ‘Do not be

doubtful, I absolve you beforehand:

and, you, teach me how to act, so

that I may raze the fortress of

Palestrina to the ground. I can open

and close Heaven as you know, with

the two keys, that my predecessor,

Celestine, did not prize.’ Then the weighty arguments forced me to

consider silence worse, and I said:

‘Father, since you absolve me of

that sin, into which I must now fall,

large promises to your enemies,

with little delivery of them, will

give you victory, from your high

throne.’

Afterwards, when I was dead,

Saint Francis came for me: but one

of the Black Cherubim said to him:

‘Do not take him: do not wrong me.

He must descend among my

servants, because he gave a counsel

261

of deceit, since when I have kept him fast by the hair: he who does

not repent, cannot be absolved: nor

can one repent a thing, and at the

same time will it, since the

contradiction is not allowed.’ O

miserable self! How I started, when

he seized me, saying to me:

‘Perhaps you did not think I was a

logician.’

He carried me to Minos, who coiled his tail eight times round his

fearful back, and then, biting it in

great rage, said: ‘This sinner is for

the thievish fire’, and so I am lost

here, as you see, and clothed like

this, go inwardly grieving.’

When he had ended his speech,

so, the flame went sorrowing,

writhing and flickering its sharp

horn. We passed on, my guide and I,

along the cliff, up to the other arch,

262

that covers the next ditch, in which the reward is paid to those who

collect guilt by sowing discord.

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Who could ever fully tell, even

with repeated unimprisoned words,

the blood and wounds I saw now?

Every tongue would certainly fail,

since our speech and memory have

too small a capacity to comprehend

so much. If all the people, too, were

gathered, who once grieved for their

blood, in the fateful land of Apulia,

by reason of the Samnite War of the

Romans, of Trojan seed; and those,

from that long Punic War, that, as

Livy writes, who does not err, yielded so great a wealth of rings,

263

from Cannae’s battlefield; and those who felt the pain of blows by

withstanding Robert Guiscard; and the rest, whose bones are still

heaped at Ceperano, where all the

Apulians turned traitor, for Charles

of Anjou; and there, at Tagliacozzo

where old Alardo’s advice to Charles conquered without

weapons: and some were to show

pierced limbs, and others severed

stumps; it would be nothing to equal

the hideous state of the ninth chasm.

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Even a wine-cask, that has lost a

stave in the middle or the end, does

not yawn as widely, as a spirit I

saw, cleft from the chin down to the

part that gives out the foulest sound:

264

the entrails hung between his legs: the organs appeared, and the

miserable gut that makes excrement

of what is swallowed.

While I stood looking wholly at

him, he gazed at me, and opened his

chest with his hands, saying: ‘See

how I tear myself: see how

Mahomet is ripped! In front of me,

Ali goes, weeping, his face split from chin to scalp, and all the others

you see here, were sowers of

scandal and schism in their

lifetimes: so they are cleft like this.

There is a devil behind who tears us

cruelly like this, reapplying his

sword blade to each of this crowd,

when they have wandered round the

sad road, since the wounds heal

before any reach him again.

But who are you, who muse

there on the cliff, maybe to delay

265

266

your path to punishment, in

sentence for your crimes?’

My Master replied: ‘Death has

not come to him yet, nor does guilt

lead him to torment, but it is

incumbent on me, who am dead, to

grant him full experience, and lead

him, through the Inferno, down

here, from circle to circle, and this is

truth, that I tell you.’ When they

heard him, more than a hundred

spirits, in the ditch, halted, to look at

me, forgetting their agony, in their

wonder.

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After lifting up one foot, to

leave, Mahomet said to me: ‘Well

now, you who will soon see the sun,

perhaps, tell Fra Dolcino of the 267

Apostolic Brothers, if he does not wish to follow me, quickly, down

here, to furnish himself with

supplies, so that the snow-falls may

not bring a victory for the Novarese,

that otherwise would be difficult to

achieve.’ Then, he strode forward to

depart.

Another, who had his throat slit,

and nose cut off to the eyebrows,

and had only a single ear, standing

to gaze in wonder with the rest,

opened his wind-pipe, that was red

outside, all over, and said: ‘You,

that no guilt condemns, and whom I

have seen above on Latian ground,

unless resemblance deceives me,

remember Pier della Medicina, if you ever return to see the gentle

plain, that slopes down from

Vercelli to Marcabò. And make

known to the worthiest two men in

268

Fano, Messer Guido, and

Angiolello, also, that unless our prophetic powers here are in vain,

they will be cast out of their boat,

and drowned near Cattolica, by

treachery. Neptune never saw a

greater crime, between the isles of

Cyprus and Majorca, not even

among those carried out by pirates,

or by Greeks. Malatestino, the treacherous one, who only sees with

one eye, and holds the land, that

one, who is here with me, wishes he

had never seen, will make them

come to parley with him, then act so

that they will have no need of vow

or prayer to counter Focara’s winds.

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269

And I said to him: ‘If you would have me carry news of you, above,

show me and explain who he is that

rues the sight of it.’ Then he placed

his hand on the jaw of one of his

companions, and opened the mouth,

saying: ‘ This is he: and he does not

speak. This outcast quelled Caesar’s doubts at the Rubicon, saying that

delay always harms men who are

ready.’ O how dejected, Curio

seemed to me, with his tongue slit in

his palate, who was so bold in

speech!

And one who had both hands

severed, lifting the stumps through

the dark air, so that their blood

stained his face, said: ‘You will

remember Mosca too, who said, alas, “A thing done, has an end”

which was seed of evil to the

Tuscan race.’ ‘And death to your

270

people,’ I added, at which he,

accumulating pain on pain, went

away like one sad and mad.

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But I remained behind to view

the crowd, and saw a thing, which,

without more proof, I would be

afraid to even tell, except that

conscience reassures me, the good

companion, that strengthens a man,

under the armour of his self-respect.

I saw it clearly, and still seem to

see, a headless trunk, that goes on

before, like the others, in that

miserable crew, and holds its

severed head, by the hair, swinging,

like a lantern, in its hand. It looked

at us, and said: ‘Ah me!’. It made a

lamp of itself, to light itself, and

271

272

there were two in one, and one in two: how that can be he knows, who

made it so.

When it was right at the foot of

our bridge, it lifted its arm high,

complete with the head, to bring its

words near to us, which were: ‘Now

you see the grievous punishment,

you, who go, alive and breathing, to

see the dead: look if any are as great

as this. And so that you may carry

news of me, know that I am

Bertrand de Born, he who gave evil counsel to the Young King. I made

the father and the son rebel against each other: Ahithophel did no more for Absalom and David, by his malicious stirrings.

Because I parted those who were

once joined, I carry my intellect,

alas, split from its origin in this

273

body. So, in me, is seen just

retribution.

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The multitude of people, and the

many wounds, had made my eyes so

tear-filled, that they longed to stop

and weep, but Virgil said to me:

‘Why are you still gazing? Why

does your sight still rest, down

there, on the sad, mutilated

shadows? You did not do so at the

other chasms. Think, if you wish to

number them, that the valley circles

twenty-two miles, and the

moon is already underneath our feet.

The time is short now, that is given

us, and there are other things to

view, than those you see.’

274

275

I replied, then: ‘Had you noticed the reason why I looked, perhaps

you might still have allowed me to

stay.’ Meanwhile, the guide was

moving on, and I went behind him,

making my reply, and adding, now:

‘In the hollow where I held my

gaze, I believe a spirit of my own

blood, laments the guilt that costs so

greatly here.’ Then the Master said:

‘Do not let your thoughts be

distracted by him: attend to

something else: let him stay there. I

saw him point to you, at the foot of

the little bridge, and threaten,

angrily, with his finger: and I heard

them call him Geri del Bello. You were so entangled, then, with him

who once held Altaforte, that you

did not look that way, so he

departed.’

276

I said: ‘Oh, my guide, his violent murder made him indignant, not yet

avenged on his behalf, by any that

shares his shame: therefore, I guess,

he went away, without speaking to

me: and, by that, has made me pity

him the more.

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So we talked, as far as the first

place on the causeway that would

have revealed the next valley, right

to its floor, if it had been lighter.

When we were above the last

cloister of Malebolge, so that its lay

brothers could be seen, many groans

pierced me, whose arrows were

barbed with pity, at which I covered

my ears with my hands. Such pain

there was, as there would be, if the

277

diseases in the hospitals of

Valdichiana, Maremma and

Sardinia, between July and

September, were all rife in one

ditch: a stench arose from it, such as

issues from putrid limbs.

We descended on the last bank of

the long causeway, again on the left,

and then my sight was clearer, down

to the depths, where infallible

Justice, the minister of the Lord on

high, punishes the falsifiers that it

accounts for here. I do not think it

would have been a greater sadness

to see the people of

plague-ridden Aegina, when the air was so malignant, that every animal,

even the smallest worm, was killed,

and afterwards, as Poets say, for certain, the ancient race was

restored from the seed of ants, than

it was to see the spirits languishing

278

in scattered heaps through that dim valley. This one lay on its belly,

that, on the shoulders of the other,

and some were crawhng along the

wretched path.

Step by step we went, without a

word, gazing at, and listening to, the

sick who could not lift their bodies.

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I saw two sitting, leaning on each

other, as one pan is leant to warm

against another: they were marked

with scabs from head to foot, and I

never saw a stable lad his master

waits for, or one who stays awake

unwillingly, use a currycomb as

fiercely, as each of these two clawed

himself with his nails, because of

279

the intensity of their itching, that has no other relief.

And so the nails dragged the

scurf off, as a knife does the scales

from bream, or other fish with larger

scales. My Guide began to speak:

‘O you, who strip your chain-mail

with your fingers, and often make

pincers of them, tell us if there is

any Latian among those here,

inside: and may your nails be

enough for that task for eternity.’

One of them replied, weeping: ‘We are both Latians, whom you see so

mutilated here, but who are you who

enquire of us? And the guide said: ‘I

am one, who with this living man,

descends from steep to steep, and

mean to show him Hell.’

Then the mutual prop broke, and

each one turned, trembling, towards

280

me, along with others that heard him, by the echo.

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The good Master addressed me

directly, saying: ‘Tell them what

you wish,’ and I began as he

desired: ‘So that your memory will

not fade, from human minds, in the

first world, but will live for many

suns, tell us who you are, and of

what race. Do not let your ugly and

revolting punishment make you

afraid to reveal yourselves to me.’

The one replied: ‘I was

Griffolino of Arezzo, and Albero of Siena had me burned: but what I

died for did not send me here. It is

true I said to him, jesting, “I could

lift myself into the air in flight,” and

281

he who had great desire and little brain, wished me to show him that

art: and only because I could not

make him Daedalus, he caused me to be burned, by one who looked on

him as a son.

But to the last chasm of the ten,

Minos, who cannot err, condemned me, for the alchemy I practised in

the world.’

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And I said to the poet: ‘Now was

there ever a people as vain as the

Sienese? Certainly not the French,

by far.’ At which the other leper,

hearing me, replied to my words:

‘What of Stricca, who contrived to spend so little: and Niccolo who first discovered the costly use of

282

cloves, in that garden, Siena, where such seed takes root: and that

company in which Caccia of Aciano threw away his vineyard, and his

vast forest, and the Abbagliato

showed his wit.

But so that you may know who

seconds you like this against the

Sienese, sharpen your eye on me, so

that my face may reply to you: so

you will see I am Capocchio’s shadow, who made false metals, by

alchemy, and you must remember, if

I know you rightly, how well I aped

nature.

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At the time when Juno was

angry, as she had shown more than

once, with the Theban race, because

283

of Jupiter’s affair with Semele, she so maddened King Athamas, that, seeing his wife, Ino, go by, carrying her two sons in her arms, he cried:

‘Spread the hunting nets, so that I

can take the lioness and her cubs, at

the pass,’ and then stretched out his

pitiless talons, snatching the one,

named Learchus, and, whirling him round, dashed him against the rock:

and Ino drowned herself, and her

other burden, Melicertes. And after fortune had brought down the high

Trojan pride, that dared all, so that

Priam the king, and his kingdom were destroyed, Queen Hecuba, a sad, wretched captive, having

witnessed the sacrifice of Polyxena, alone, on the sea-shore, when she

recognised the body of her

Polydorus, barked like a dog, driven 284

out of her senses, so greatly had her sorrow racked her mind.

But neither Theban nor Trojan

Furies were ever seen embodied so

cruelly, in stinging creatures, or

even less in human limbs, as I saw

displayed in two shades, pallid and

naked, that ran, biting, as a hungry

pig does, when he is driven out of

his sty. The one came to Capocchio, and fixed his tusks in his neck, so

that dragging him along, it made the

solid floor rasp his belly. And the

Aretine, Griffolino, who was left, said to me, trembling: ‘That goblin

is Gianni Schicci, and he goes, rabidly, mangling others like that.’ I

replied: ‘Oh, be pleased to tell us

who the other is, before it snatches

itself away, and may it not plant its

teeth in you.’

285

And he to me: ‘That is the

ancient spirit of incestuous Myrrha, who loved her father, Cinyras, with more than lawful love. She came to

him, and sinned, under cover of

another’s name, just as the one who

is vanishing there, undertook to

disguise himself as Buoso Donati,

so as to gain the mare, called the

Lady of the Herd, by forging a will,

and giving it legal form.’

When the furious pair, on whom

I had kept my eye, were gone, I

turned to look at the other spirits,

born to evil.

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I saw one, who would have been

shaped like a lute, if he had only had

his groin cut short, at the place

286

where a man is forked. The heavy dropsy, that swells the limbs, with

its badly transformed humours, so

that the face does not match the

belly, made him hold his lips apart,

as the fevered patient does who,

through thirst, curls one lip towards

the chin, and the other upwards.

He said to us: ‘O you, who are

exempt from punishment in this

grim world (and why, I do not

know), look and attend to the misery

of Master Adam. I had enough of what I wished, when I was alive,

and now, alas, I crave a drop of

water. The little streams that fall,

from the green hills of Casentino,

down to the Arno, making cool,

moist channels, are constantly in my

mind, and not in vain, since the

image of them parches me, far more

287

than the disease, that wears the flesh from my face.

The rigid justice, that examines

me, takes its opportunity from the

place where I sinned, to give my

sighs more rapid flight. That is

Romena, where I counterfeited the

coin of Florence, stamped with the

Baptist’s image: for that, on earth, I left my body, burned. But if I could

see the wretched soul of Guido here,

or Alessandro, or Aghinolfo, their brother, I would not exchange that

sight for Branda’s fountain. Guido

is down here already, if the crazed

spirits going round speak truly, but

what use is it to me, whose limbs

are tied?

If I were only light enough to

move, even an inch, every hundred

years, I would already have started

on the road, to find him among this

288

disfigured people, though it winds around eleven miles, and is no less

than half a mile across. Because of

them I am with such a crew: they

induced me to stamp those florins

that were adulterated, with three

carats alloy.’

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I said to him: ‘Who are those

abject two, lying close to your right

edge, and giving off smoke, like a

hand, bathed, in winter? He replied:

‘I found them here, when I rained

down into this pound, and they have

not turned since then, and may

never turn I believe.

One is the false wife who

accused Joseph. The other is lying

Sinon, the Greek from Troy. A 289

burning fever makes them stink so strongly.’ And Sinon, who perhaps

took offence at being named so

blackly, struck Adamo’s rigid belly with his fist, so that it resounded,

like a drum: and Master Adam

struck him in the face with his arm,

that seemed no softer, saying to

him: ‘I have an arm free for such a

situation, though I am kept from

moving by my heavy limbs.’ At

which Sinon answered: ‘You were

not so ready with it, going to the

fire, but as ready, and readier, when

you were coining.’ And he of the

dropsy: ‘You speak truth in that, but

you were not so truthful a witness,

there, when you were questioned

about the truth at Troy.’

‘If I spoke falsely, you falsified

the coin,’ Sinon said, ‘and I am here

for the one crime, but you for more

290

than any other devil.’ He who had the swollen belly answered: ‘Think

of the Wooden Horse, you liar, and

let it be a torment to you that all the

world knows of it.’ The Greek

replied: ‘Let the thirst that cracks

the tongue be your torture, and the

foul water make your stomach a

barrier in front of your eyes.’ Then

the coiner: ‘Your mouth gapes wide

as usual, to speak ill. If I have a

thirst, and moisture swells me, you

have the burning, and a head that

hurts you: and you would not need

many words of invitation, to lap at

the mirror of Narcissus.’

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I was standing, all intent on

hearing them, when the Master said

291

to me: ‘Now, keep gazing much

longer, and I will quarrel with you!’

When I heard him speak to me in

anger, I turned towards him, with

such a feeling of shame that it

comes over me again, as I only

think of it. And like someone who

dreams of something harmful to

them, and dreaming, wishes it were

a dream, so that they long for what

is, as if it were not; that I became,

who, lacking power to speak,

wished to make an excuse, and all

the while did so, not thinking I was

doing it.

My Master said: ‘Less

shamefacedness would wash away a

greater fault than yours, so

unburden yourself of sorrow, and

know that I am always with you,

should it happen that fate takes you,

where people are in similar conflict:

292

since the desire to hear it, is a vulgar desire.’

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One and the same tongue at first

wounded me, so that it painted both

my cheeks with blushes, and then

gave out the ointment for the

wound. So I have heard the spear of

Achilles, and his father Peleus, was the cause first of sadness, and then

of a healing gift.

We turned our back on the

wretched valley, crossing without a

word, up by the bank that circles

round it. Here was less darkness

than night and less light than day, so

that my vision showed only a little

in front: but I heard a high-pitched

horn sound, so loudly, that it would

293

have made thunder seem quiet: it directed my eyes, that followed its

passage back, straight to a single

point. Roland did not sound his horn so fiercely, after the sad rout, when

Charlemagne had lost the holy war, at Roncesvalles.

I had kept my head turned for a

while in that direction, when I

seemed to make out many high

towers, at which I said: ‘Master, tell

me what city this is?’ And he to me:

‘Because your eyes traverse the

darkness from too far away, it

follows that you imagine wrongly.

You will see, quite plainly, when

you reach there, how much the

sense is deceived by distance, so

press on more strongly.’ Then he

took me, lovingly, by the hand, and

said: ‘Before we go further, so that

the reality might seem less strange

294

to you, know that they are Giants, not towers, and are in the pit, from

the navel downwards, all of them,

around its bank.’

As the eye, when a mist is

disappearing, gradually recreates

what was hidden by the vapour

thickening the air, so, while

approaching closer and closer to the

brink, piercing through that gross,

dark atmosphere, error left me, and

my fear increased. As

Montereggione crowns its round wall with towers, so the terrible

giants, whom Jupiter still threatens

from the heavens, when he thunders,

turreted with half their bodies the

bank that circles the well.

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295

And I already saw the face of

one, the shoulders, chest, the greater

part of the belly, and the arms down

both sides. When nature abandoned

the art of making creatures like

these, she certainly did well by

removing such killers from warfare,

and if she does not repent of making

elephants and whales, whoever

looks at the issue subtly, considers

her more prudent and more right in

that, since where the instrument of

mind is joined to ill will and power,

men have no defence against it.

His face seemed to me as long

and large as the bronze pine-cone, in front of St Peter’s in Rome, and his

other features were in proportion, so

that the bank that covered him from

the middle onwards, revealed so

much of him above that three

Frieslanders would have boasted in

296

vain of reaching his hair, since I saw thirty large hand-spans of him down

from the place where a man pins his

cloak.

The savage mouth, for which no

sweeter hymns were fit, began to

rave: ‘5DIHO PDL DPHFK VDEL DOPL.’

And my guide turning to him, said:

‘Foolish spirit, stick to your

hunting-horn, and vent your breath

through that, when rage or some

other passion stirs you. Search

round your neck, O confused soul,

and you will find the belt where it is

slung, and see that which arcs across

your huge chest.’ Then he said to

me: ‘He declares himself. This is

Nimrod, through whose evil

thought, one language is not still

used, throughout the whole world.

Let us leave him standing here, and

not speak to him in vain: since every

297

language, to him, is like his to others, that no one understands.’

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So we went on, turning to the

left, and, a crossbow-shot away, we

found the next one, far larger and

fiercer. Who and what the power

might be that bound him, I cannot

say, but he had his right arm

pinioned behind, and the other in

front, by a chain that held him tight,

from the neck down, and, on the

visible part of him, reached its fifth

turn.

My guide said: ‘This proud spirit

had the will to try his strength

against high Jupiter, and so has this

reward. Ephialtes is his name, and he made the great attempt, when the

298

Giants made the gods fear, and the arms he shook then, now, he never

moves.’

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And I said to him: ‘If it were

possible, I would wish my eyes to

light on vast Briareus. ’ To which he replied: ‘You will see Antaeus, nearby, who speaks and is

unchained, and will set us down in

the deepest abyss of guilt. He whom

you wish to see is far beyond, and is

formed and bound like this one,

except he seems more savage in his

features.’ No huge earthquake ever

shook a tower, as violently as

Ephialtes promptly shook himself.

Then I feared death more than ever,

and the fear alone would have been

299

300

enough to cause it, had I not seen his chains.

We then went further on, and

reached Antaeus, who projected

twenty feet from the pit, not

including his head. The Master

spoke: ‘O you, who, of old, took a

thousand lions for your prey, in the

fateful valley, near Zama, that made

Scipio heir to glory, when Hannibal

retreated with his army; you,

through whom, it might still be

believed, the Giant sons of Earth

would have overcome the gods, if

you had been at the great war with

your brothers; set us down, and do

not be shy to do it, where the cold

imprisons the River Cocytus, in the

Ninth Circle.

Do not make us ask Tityos or

Typhon. Bend, and do not curl your lips in scorn: this man can give that

301

which is longed for, here: he can refresh your fame on earth, since he

is alive, and still expects long life, if

grace does not call him to her before

his time.’ So the Master spoke, and

Antaeus quickly stretched out both

hands, from which Hercules of old once felt the power, and seized my

guide. Virgil when he felt his grasp,

said to me: ‘Come here, so that I

may carry you.’ Then he made one

bundle of himself and me.

To me, who stood watching to

see Antaeus stoop, he seemed as the

leaning tower at Bologna, the

Carisenda, appears to the view,

under the leaning side, when a cloud

is passing over it, and it hangs in the

opposite direction. It was such a

terrible moment I would have

wished to have gone by another

route, but he set us down gently in

302

the deep, that swallowed Lucifer

and Judas, and did not linger there, bent, but straightened himself, like a

mast raised in a boat.

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If I had words, rough and hoarse

enough, to fit the dismal chasm, on

which all the other rocky cliffs

weigh, and converge, I would

squeeze out the juice of my

imagination more completely: but

since I have not, I bring myself, not

without fear, to describe the place:

to tell of the pit of the Universe is

not a task to be taken up in play, nor

in a language that has words like

‘mother’ and ‘father’. But may the

Muses, those Ladies, who helped 303

Amphion shut Thebes behind its walls, aid my speech, so that my

words may not vary from the truth.

O you people, created evil

beyond all others, in this place that

is hard to speak of, it were better if

you had been sheep or goats here on

earth! When we were down, inside

the dark well, beneath the Giants’

feet, and much lower, and I was still

staring at the steep cliff, I heard a

voice say to me: ‘Take care as you

pass, so that you do not tread, with

your feet, on the heads of the

wretched, weary brothers.’ At which

I turned, and saw a lake, in front of

me and underneath my feet, that,

because of the cold, appeared like

glass not water.

The Danube, in Austria, never

formed so thick a veil for its winter

course, nor the Don, far off under

304

the frozen sky, as was here: if Mount Tambernic in the east, or

Mount Pietrapana, had fallen on it,

it would not have even creaked at

the margin. And as frogs sit

croaking with their muzzles above

water, at the time when peasant

women often dream of gleaning, so

the sad shadows sat, in the ice, livid

to where the blush of shame

appears, chattering with their teeth,

like storks.

Each one held his face turned

down: the cold is witnessed,

amongst them, by their mouths: and

their sad hearts, by their eyes.

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305

When I had a looked around

awhile, turning to my feet, I saw

two, so compressed together, that

the hair of their heads was

intermingled. I said: ‘Tell me, you,

who press your bodies together so:

who are you?’ And they twisted

their necks up, and when they had

lifted their faces towards me, their

eyes, which were only moist,

inwardly, before, gushed at the lids,

and the frost iced fast the tears,

between them, and sealed them up

again. No vice ever clamped wood

to wood as firmly: so that they

butted one another like two he-

goats, overcome by such rage.

And one, who had lost both ears

to the cold, with his face still turned

down, said: ‘Why are you staring at

us, so fiercely? If you want to know

who these two are, they are the degh

306

Alberti, Allesandro and Napoleone: the valley where the Bisenzio runs

down, was theirs and their father

Alberto’s. They issued from one

body, and you can search the whole

Caïna, and will not find shades more worthy of being set in ice: not even

Mordred, whose chest and shadow, were pierced, at one blow, by his

father’s, King Arthur’s, lance: nor

Focaccia: nor this one, who obstructs my face with his head, so

that I cannot see further, who was

named Sassol Mascheroni. If you are a Tuscan, now, you know truly

what he was.

And so that you do not put me to

more speech, know that I am

Camicion de’ Pazzi, and am waiting for Carlino, my kinsman, to outdo me.’

307

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Afterwards I saw a thousand

faces, made doglike by the cold, at

which a trembling overcomes me,

and always will, when I think of the

frozen fords. And, whether it was

will, or fate or chance, I do not

know: but walking, among the

heads, I struck my foot violently

against one face. Weeping it cried

out to me: ‘Why do you trample on

me? If you do not come to increase

the revenge for Montaperti, why do

you trouble me?

And I: ‘My Master, wait here for

me, now, so that I can rid me of a

doubt concerning him, then you can

make as much haste as you please.’

The Master stood, and I said to that

shade which still reviled me bitterly:

308

‘Who are you, who reproach others in this way?’ ‘No, who are you,’ he

answered, ‘who go through the

Antenora striking the faces of others, in such a way, that if you

were alive, it would be an insult?’

I replied: ‘I am alive, and if you

long for fame, it might be a precious

thing to you, if I put your name

among the others.’ And he to me: ‘I

long for the opposite: take yourself

off, and annoy me no more: since

you little know how to flatter on this

icy slope.’ Then I seized him by the

back of the scalp, and said: ‘You

need to name yourself, before there

is not a hair left on your head!’ At

which he said to me: ‘Even if you

pluck me, I will not tell you who I

am, nor demonstrate it to you,

though you tear at my head, a

thousand times.’

309

I already had his hair coiled in my hand, and had pulled away more

than one tuft of it, while he barked,

and kept his eyes down, when

another spirit cried: ‘What is wrong

with you, Bocca, is it not enough that you chatter with your jaws, but

you have to bark too? What devil is

at you?’ I said: ‘Now, accursed

traitor, I do not want you to speak:

since I will carry true news of you,

to your shame.’ He answered: ‘Go,

and say what you please, but, if you

get out from here, do not be silent

about him, who had his tongue so

ready just now. Here he regrets

taking French silver. You can say,

“I saw Buoso de Duera, there, where the sinners stand caught in

the ice.”

If you are asked who else was

there, you have Tesauro de’

310

Beccheria, whose throat was slit by Florence. Gianni de’ Soldanier is further on, with Ganelon, and

Tribaldello, who unbarred the gate of Faenza while it slept.’

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We had already left him, when I

saw two spirits frozen in a hole, so

close together that the one head

capped the other, and the uppermost

set his teeth into the other, as bread

is chewed, out of hunger, there

where the back of the head joins the

nape. Tydeus gnawed the head of Menalippus, no differently, out of

rage, than this one the skull and

other parts.

I said: ‘O you, who, in such a

brutal way, inflict the mark of your

311

312

hatred, on him, whom you devour, tell me why: on condition that, if

you complain of him with reason, I,

knowing who you are, and his

offence, may repay you still in the

world above, if the tongue I speak

with is not withered.’

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That sinner raised his mouth

from the savage feast, wiping it on

the hair, of the head he had stripped

behind. Then he began: ‘You wish

me to renew desperate grief, that

wrings my heart at the very thought,

before I even tell of it. But if my

words are to be the seed, that bears

fruit, in the infamy, of the traitor

whom I gnaw, you will see me

speak and weep together. I do not

313

know who you are, nor by what

means you have come down here,

but when I hear you, you seem to

me, in truth, a Florentine.

You must know that I am Count

Ugolino, and this is the Archbishop

Ruggieri. Now I will tell you why I am a neighbour such as this to him.

It is not necessary to say that,

confiding in him, I was taken,

through the effects of his evil

schemes, and afterwards killed. But

what you cannot have learnt, how

cruel my death was, you will hear:

and know if he has injured me.

A narrow hole inside that tower,

which is called Famine, from my

death, and in which others must yet

be imprisoned, had already shown

me several moons through its

opening, when I slept an evil sleep

that tore the curtain of the future for

314

me. This man seemed to me the

lord, and master, chasing the wolf

and its whelps, on Monte di San

Guiliano, that blocks the view of

Lucca from the Pisans. He had the

Gualandi, Sismondi and Lanfranchi

running with him, with hounds,

slender, keen, and agile.

After a short chase the father and

his sons seemed weary to me, and I

thought I saw their flanks torn by

sharp teeth. When I woke, before

dawn, I heard my sons, who were

with me, crying in their sleep, and

asking for food. You are truly cruel

if you do not sorrow already at the

thought of what my heart presaged:

and if you do not weep, what do you

weep at?

They were awake now, and the

hour nearing, at which our food

used to be brought to us, and each of

315

us was anxious from dreaming,

when below I heard the door of the

terrible tower locked up: at which I

gazed into the faces of my sons,

without saying a word. I did not

weep: I grew like stone inside: they

wept: and my little Anselm said to me: ‘Father you stare so, what is

wrong?’ But I shed no tears, and did

not answer, all that day, or the next

night, till another sun rose over the

world. When a little ray of light was

sent into the mournful gaol, and I

saw in their four faces, the aspect of

my own, I bit my hands from grief.

And they, thinking that I did it from

hunger, suddenly stood, and said:

‘Father, it will give us less pain, if

you gnaw at us: you put this

miserable flesh on us, now strip it

off, again.’

316

Then I calmed myself, in order

not to make them more unhappy:

that day and the next we all were

silent. Ah, solid earth, why did you

not open? When we had come to the

fourth day, Gaddo threw himself down at my feet, saying: ‘My father,

why do you not help me?’ There he

died, and even as you see me, I saw

the three others fall one by one,

between the fifth and sixth days: at

which, already blind, I took to

groping over each of them, and

called out to them for three days,

when they were dead: then fasting,

at last, had power to overcome

grief.’

When he had spoken this, he

seized the wretched skull again with

his teeth, which were as strong as a

dog’s on the bone, his eyes

distorted. Ah Pisa, shame among the

317

people, of the lovely land where ‘VL’

is heard, let the isles of Caprara and

Gorgona shift and block the Arno at

its mouth, since your neighbours are

so slow to punish you, so that it may

drown every living soul. Since if

Count Ugolino had the infamy of

having betrayed your castles, you

ought not to have put his sons to the

torture. Their youth made

Uguccione and Brigata, and the other two my words above have

named, innocents, you modern

Thebes.

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We went further on, where the

rugged frost encases another people,

not bent down but reversed

completely. The very weeping there

318

prevents them weeping: and the

grief that makes an impediment to

their sight, turns inward to increase

their agony: since the first tears

form a knot, and like a crystal visor,

fill the cavities below their

eyebrows. And though all feeling

had left my face, through the cold,

as though from a callus, it seemed to

me now as if I felt a breeze, at

which I said: ‘Master, what causes

this? Is the heat not all quenched

here below?’ At which he said to

me: ‘Soon you will be where your

own eyes, will answer that, seeing

the source that generates the air.’

And one of the sad shadows, in

the icy crust, cried out to us: ‘O

spirits, so cruel that the last place of

all is reserved for you, remove the

solid veils from my face, that I

might vent the grief a little that

319

chokes my heart, before the tears freezes again.’ At which I said to

him: ‘If you would have my help,

tell me who you are: and if I do not

disburden you, may I have to

journey to the depths of the ice.’

He replied to that: ‘I am

Friar Alberigo, I am he of the fruits of the evil garden, who here receive

dates made of ice, to match my

figs.’ I said to him: ‘O, are you dead

already?’ And he to me: ‘How my

body stands in the world above, I do

not know, such is the power of this

Ptolomaea, that the soul often falls down here, before Atropos cuts the thread. And so that you may more

willingly clear the frozen tears from

your face, know that when the soul

betrays, as mine did, her body is

taken from her by a demon, there

and then, who rules it after that, till

320

its time is complete. She falls, plunging down to this well: and

perhaps the body of this other shade,

that winters here, behind me, is still

visible in the world above.

You must know it, if you have

only now come down here: it is Ser

Branca d’Oria, and many years have passed since he was imprisoned

here.’ I said to him: ‘I believe you

are lying to me: Branca d’Oria is not

dead, and eats and drinks, and

sleeps, and puts on his clothes.’ He

said: ‘Michel Zanche had not yet arrived, in the ditch of the

Malebranche above, there where the

tenacious pitch boils, when this man

left a devil in his place in his own

body, and one in the body of his

kinsman who did the treachery with

him. But reach your hand here: open

my eyes.’ And I did not open them

321

for him: and it was a courtesy to be rude to him.

Ah, Genoese, men divorced from

all morality, and filled with every

corruption, why are you not

dispersed from off the earth? I

found the worst spirit of Romagna

was one of you, who for his actions

even now bathes, as a soul, in

Cocytus, and still seems alive on earth, in his own body.

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the banners of the King of Hell

advance towards us: so look in front

of you to see if you discern him,’

said my Master. I seemed to see a

tall structure, as a mill, that the wind

turns, seems from a distance, when

322

a dense mist breathes, or when night falls in our hemisphere, and I shrank

back behind my guide, because of

the wind, since there was no other

shelter.

I had already come, and with fear

I put it into words, where the souls

were completely enclosed, and

shone through like straw in glass.

Some are lying down, some stand

upright, one on its head, another on

the soles of its feet, another bent

head to foot, like a bow.

When we had gone on far

enough, that my guide was able to

show me Lucifer, the monster who was once so fair, he removed

himself from me, and made me stop,

saying: ‘Behold Dis, and behold the place where you must arm yourself

with courage.’ Reader, do not ask

how chilled and hoarse I became,

323

then, since I do not write it, since all words would fail to tell it. I did not

die, yet I was not alive. Think,

yourself, now, if you have any grain

of imagination, what I became,

deprived of either state.

The emperor of the sorrowful

kingdom stood, waist upwards, from

the ice, and I am nearer to a giant in

size than the giants are to one of his

arms: think how great the whole is

that corresponds to such a part. If he

was once as fair, as he is now ugly,

and lifted up his forehead against

his Maker, well may all evil flow

from him. O how great a wonder it

seemed to me, when I saw three

faces on his head! The one in front

was fiery red: the other two were

joined to it, above the centre of each

324

shoulder, and linked at the top, and

the right hand one seemed whitish-

yellow: the left was black to look at,

like those who come from where the

Nile rises. Under each face sprang

two vast wings, of a size fit for such

a bird: I never saw ship’s sails as

325

wide. They had no feathers, but were like a bat’s in form and

texture, and he was flapping them,

so that three winds blew out away

from him, by which all Cocytus was

frozen. He wept from six eyes, and

tears and bloody spume gushed

down three chins.

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He chewed a sinner between his

teeth, with every mouth, like a

grinder, so, in that way, he kept

three of them in torment. To the one

in front, the biting was nothing

compared to the tearing, since, at

times, his back was left completely

stripped of skin.

The Master said: ‘That soul up

there that suffers the greatest

326

punishment, he who has his head inside, and flails his legs outside, is

Judas Iscariot. Of the other two who have their heads hanging

downwards, the one who hangs

from the face that is black is Brutus:

see how he writhes and does not

utter a word: and the other is

Cassius, who seems so long in limb.

But night is ascending, and now we must go, since we have seen it all.’

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I clasped his neck, as he wished,

and he seized the time and place,

and when the wings were wide

open, grasped Satan’s shaggy sides,

and then from tuft to tuft, climbed

down, between the matted hair and

frozen crust.

327

When we had come to where the

thigh joint turns, just at the swelling

of the haunch, my guide, with effort

and difficulty, reversed his head to

where his feet had been, and

grabbed the hair like a climber, so

that I thought we were dropping

back to Hell. ‘Hold tight,’ said my

guide, panting like a man exhausted,

‘since by these stairs, we must

depart from all this evil.’ Then he

clambered into an opening in the

rock, and set me down to sit on its

edge, then turned his cautious step

towards me.

I raised my eyes, thinking to see

Lucifer as I had left him, but saw him with his legs projecting

upwards, and let those denser

people, who do not see what point I

had passed, judge if I was confused

then, or not.

328

My Master said: ‘Get up, on your feet: the way is long, and difficult

the road, and the sun already

returns to mid-tierce.’ Where we stood was no palace hall, but a

natural cell with a rough floor, and

short of light. When I had risen, I

said: ‘My Master, before I leave the

abyss, speak to me a while, and lead

me out of error. Where is the ice?

And why is this monster fixed

upside down? And how has the sun

moved from evening to dawn in so

short a time?’

And he to me: ‘You imagine you

are still on the other side of the

earth’s centre, where I caught hold

of the Evil Worm’s hair, he who

pierces the world. You ZHUH on that

side of it, as long as I climbed

down, but when I reversed myself,

you passed the point to which

329

weight is drawn, from everywhere: and are now below the hemisphere

opposite that which covers the wide

dry land, and opposite that under

whose zenith the Man was crucified, who was born, and lived, without

sin. You have your feet on a little

sphere that forms the other side of

the Judecca.

Here it is morning, when it is

evening there: and he who made a

ladder for us of his hair is still as he

was before. He fell from Heaven on

this side of the earth, and the land

that projected here before, veiled

itself with the ocean for fear of him,

and entered our hemisphere: and

that which now projects on this side,

left an empty space here, and shot

outwards, maybe in order to escape

from him.’

330

Down there, is a space, as far

from Beelzebub as his cave extends, not known by sight, but by the

sound of a stream falling through it,

along the bed of rock it has

hollowed out, into a winding course,

and a slow incline. The guide and I

entered by that hidden path, to

return to the clear world: and, not

caring to rest, we climbed up, he

first, and I second, until, through a

round opening, I saw the beautiful

things that the sky holds: and we

issued out, from there, to see, again,

the stars.

331

7KH3XUJDWRULR

Canto I:1-27 Dante’s Invocation and the dawn sky...... 338

Canto I:28-84 The Poets meet Cato .............................339

Canto I:85-111 Cato tells Virgil to bathe Dante’s eyes 342

Canto I:112-136 Virgil obeys....................................... 344

Canto II:1-45 The Angel of God.................................. 346

Canto II:46-79 The Crowd of Souls.............................349

Canto II:79-114 Casella, the musician .........................351

Canto II:115-133 Cato exhorts the spirits to go on ...... 354

Canto III:1-45 Virgil stresses the limitations of

knowledge..................................................................... 355

Canto III:46-72 The Excommunicated.........................358

Canto III:73-102 They are troubled by Dante’s shadow

......................................................................................361

Canto III:103-145 Manfred..........................................362

Canto IV:1-18 The unity of the soul ............................365

Canto IV:19-51 The narrow path. ................................366

Canto IV:52-87 The sun’s arc south of the equator...... 368

Canto IV:88-139 Belacqua...........................................371

Canto V:1-63 The Late-Repentant ...............................375

Canto V:64-84 Jacopo del Cassero ..............................379

Canto V:85-129 Buonconte da Montefeltro.................380

Canto V:130-136 Pia da Tolomei................................. 384

Canto VI:1-24 The spirits crowd round .......................384

Canto VI 25-48 Virgil on the efficacy of prayer ..........386

Canto VI:49-75 Sordello..............................................388

332

Canto VI:76-151 Dante’s speech on the sad state of Italy

......................................................................................390

Canto VII:1-39 Virgil declares himself to Sordello ..... 394

Canto VII:40-63 Sordello explains the rules for ascent398

Canto VII:64-136 The Valley of the Negligent Rulers 399

Canto VIII:1-45 The Two Angels descend ..................404

Canto VIII:46-84 Nino de’ Visconti ............................407

Canto VIII:85-108 The Serpent.................................... 409

Canto VIII:109-139 Conrad Malaspina........................412

Canto IX:1-33 Dante dreams he is clasped by an Eagle

......................................................................................414

Canto IX:34-63 Virgil explains.................................... 417

Canto IX:64-105 The Angel at the Gate of Purgatory.. 419

Canto IX:106-145 The Angel opens the Gate ..............421

Canto X:1-45 The First Terrace: The Frieze: The

Annunciation................................................................. 424

Canto X:46-72 King David dancing before the Ark..... 427

Canto X:73-96 The Emperor Trajan ............................428

Canto X:97-139 The Proud and their Punishment........430

Canto XI:1-36 The Proud paraphrase the Lord’s Prayer

......................................................................................434

Canto XI:37-72 Omberto Aldobrandeschi ...................437

Canto XI:73-117 Oderisi of Gubbio: The Vanity of Fame

......................................................................................439

Canto XI:118-142 Provenzan Salvani..........................442

Canto XII:1-63 Many examples of Pride .....................444

Canto XII:64-99 The Angel of Humility......................449

Canto XII:100-136 The first letter 3 is now erased......451

333

Canto XIII:1-45 The Second Terrace: The voices in the

air ..................................................................................453

Canto XIII:46-84 The Envious and their Punishment.. 456

Canto XIII:85-154 Sapia de’ Saracini..........................459

Canto XIV:1-27 Guido del Duca and Rinieri da Calboli

......................................................................................464

Canto XIV:28-66 The Valley of the Arno....................465

Canto XIV:67-123 Guido’s diatribe against Romagna 468

Canto XIV:124-151 Examples of Envy .......................472

Canto XV:1-36 The Angel of Fraternal Love ..............474

Canto XV:37-81 The Second Beatitude: Dante’s doubts

......................................................................................476

Canto XV:82-145 The Third Terrace: Examples of

Gentleness..................................................................... 479

Canto XVI:1-24 The Wrathful and their Punishment... 484

Canto XVI:25-96 Marco Lombardo: Free Will............485

Canto XVI:97-145 The Error of the Church’s temporal

power ............................................................................491

Canto XVII:1-39 Examples of Anger ..........................494

Canto XVII:40-69 The Angel of Meekness: Third

Beatitude ....................................................................... 496

Canto XVII:70-139 Virgil explains the structure of

Purgatory....................................................................... 498

Canto XVIII:1-48 Virgil on the Nature of Love...........503

Canto XVIII:49-75 Virgil on Freewill .........................506

Canto XVIII:76-111 The Slothful and their Punishment

......................................................................................508

Canto XVIII:112-145 The Slothful: Examples of Sloth

......................................................................................511

334

Canto XIX:1-36 Dante’s Second Dream: The Siren .... 513

Canto XIX:37-69 The Angel of Zeal: The Fourth

Beatitude ....................................................................... 516

Canto XIX:70-114 The Avaricious: Pope Adrian V .... 519

Canto XIX:115-145 The Avaricious: Their Punishment

......................................................................................523

Canto XX:1-42 Examples of Poverty and Liberality ... 525

Canto XX:43-96 Hugh Capet and the Capetian Dynasty

......................................................................................528

Canto XX:97-151 Examples of Avarice: The Earthquake

......................................................................................531

Canto XXI:1-33 The Poets meet Statius ......................534

Canto XXI:34-75 The Cause of the Earthquake...........536

Canto XXI:76-136 Statius and Virgil...........................539

Canto XXII:1-24 The Angel of Liberality: The Fifth

Beatitude ....................................................................... 543

Canto XXII:25-54 Statius’s error was Prodigality not

Avarice..........................................................................545

Canto XXII:55-93 Statius’s Conversion to Christianity

......................................................................................547

Canto XXII:94-114 The Pagans in Limbo ...................549

Canto XXII:115-154 Examples of Temperance...........550

Canto XXIII:1-36 The Gluttonous and their Punishment

......................................................................................553

Canto XXIII:37-90 Forese Donati................................555

Canto XXIII:91-133 The Immodesty of the Florentine

Women..........................................................................559

Canto XXIV:1-33 The Gluttonous..............................562

Canto XXIV:34-99 Bonagiunta ................................... 565

335

Canto XXIV:100-154 Examples of Gluttony: The Angel

......................................................................................569

Canto XXV:1-79 Human Embryology and Consciousness

......................................................................................572

Canto XXV:80-108 The Soul after death: The Shadows

......................................................................................577

Canto XXV:109-139 The Lustful and their Punishment

......................................................................................579

Canto XXVI:1-66 The Lustful ..................................... 582

Canto XXVI:67-111 Guido Guinicelli, the poet ..........585

Canto XXVI:112-148 Arnaut Daniel, the poet.............588

Canto XXVII:1-45 The Angel of Chastity...................592

Canto XXVII:46-93 The Passage through the Fire ...... 595

Canto XXVII:94-114 Dante’s third dream...................598

Canto XXVII:115-142 Virgil’s last words to Dante..... 599

Canto XXVIII:1-51 Matilda gathering flowers............602

Canto XXVIII:52-138 The Garden’s winds, plants and

waters............................................................................605

Canto XXVIII:139-148 The Golden Age.....................610

Canto XXIX:1-36 The Divine Pageant ........................611

Canto XXIX:37-61 The Seven Branched Candlesticks613

Canto XXIX:61-81 The Seven Banners.......................614

CantoXXIX:82-105 The Elders: The Four Beasts ....... 617

Canto XXIX:106-132 The Chariot: The Grifon: The

Virtues...........................................................................618

Canto XXIX:133-154 Luke, Paul and others ...............620

Canto XXX:1-48 Beatrice............................................622

Canto XXX:49-81 Virgil has left: Dante is filled with

Shame ...........................................................................625

336

Canto XXX:82-145 Her Mission to help him ..............627

Canto XXXI:1-42 Dante confesses his guilt ................632

Canto XXXI:43-69 Beatrice rebukes him ....................634

Canto XXXI:70-90 Dante’s remorse............................636

Canto XXXI:91-145 Lethe: Beatrice unveiled.............637

Canto XXXII:1-36 The Pageant moves eastward ........642

Canto XXXII:37-63 The Mystic Tree..........................644

Canto XXXII:64-99 Dante sleeps: Beatrice guards the

chariot ...........................................................................646

Canto XXXII:100-160 The Church’s Past, Present and

Future............................................................................648

Canto XXXIII:1-57 Beatrice’s prophetic words ..........653

Canto XXXIII:58-102 The Tree of Empire..................656

Canto XXXIII:103-145 Dante and Statius drink from

Eunoë ............................................................................659

337

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The little boat of my intellect

now sets sail, to course through

gentler waters, leaving behind her a

sea so cruel. And I will speak of that

second region, where the human

spirit is purged, and becomes fit to

climb to Heaven. But, since I am

yours, O sacred Muses, here let dead Poetry rise again, and here let

Calliope

sound, a moment,

accompanying my words with that

mode, of which the Pierides felt the power, so that they despaired of

pardon.

The sweet colour of eastern

sapphire, that gathered on the skies

clear forehead, pure as far as the

first sphere, restored delight to my

eyes, as soon as I had issued from

338

the dead air, which constrained my eyes and heart. The lovely planet

that encourages us to love, was

making the whole east smile, veiling the Fishes that escorted her. I turned

to the right, and fixed my mind on

the southern pole, and saw

four stars, never seen, until now, except by the first peoples.

The sky seemed to be joyful at

their fires. O widowed northern

region, denied the sight of them!

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When I had left gazing at them,

and turned a little towards the other

pole, there, where Bootës had already vanished, I saw

a solitary old man, with a face worthy of such great reverence, that

339

no son owes his father more. He wore his beard long, flecked with

white, like his hair, of which a

double strand fell to his chest. The

rays, of the four sacred stars, filled

his face, with such brightness, that I

saw him as if the sun were in front

of him.

Stirring that noble plumage, he

said: ‘Who are you, who have fled

the eternal prison, against the dark

stream? Who has led you, or who

was a light to you, issuing out of

that profound night, that always

blackens the infernal valley? Are the

laws of the abyss shattered, or is

there some new counsel taken in

Heaven that you come to my

mountain, being damned?’

Then, my leader took hold of me,

and made me do reverence with my

knees and forehead, using his words

340

and hand.Then he replied: ‘I did not come of my own will. A Lady came

down from Heaven, and, because of

her prayers, I helped this man, with

my companionship. But since it is

your wish that more be told about

our true state, it cannot be my wish

to deny you. He has never witnessed

the last hour, but, because of his

folly, was so near it, that there was

little time left for him to alter. As I

said, I was sent to rescue him, and

there was no other path but this,

along which I have come.

I have shown him all the sinful

people, and now intend to show him

those spirits that purge themselves,

in your care. It would be a long tale

to tell, how I have brought him here:

virtue descends from above, that

helps me to guide him, to see and to

hear you. Now, let it please you to

341

grace his coming here: he seeks freedom, which is so dear to us, as

he knows, who gives his life for it.

You know: since death was not

bitter to you in Utica for its sake,

where you left the body that will

shine so bright, at the great day.

The eternal law is not violated by

us, since he lives, and Minos does not bind me: but I am of the circle

where the chaste eyes of your

Marcia are, who in her aspect begs you, O sacred one, to hold her as

your own: lean towards us, for love

of her. Allow us to go through your

seven regions: I will report, to her,

our gratitude to you, if you deign to

be mentioned there below.’

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342

He replied, then: ‘Marcia was so pleasing to my eyes while I was

over there, that I performed every

grace she asked of me. Now that she

is beyond the evil stream, she can

move me no longer, by the law that

was made when I issued out. But

there is no need for flattery, if a

heavenly lady moves and directs

you: let it be sufficient that you ask

me in her name.

Go, and see that you tie a smooth

rush round this man, and bathe his

face, so that all foulness is wiped

away, since it is not right to go in

front of the first minister of those

who are in Paradise, with eyes

darkened by any mist.

This little island nurtures rushes,

in the soft mud, all round it, from

deep to deep, where the wave beats

on it. No other plant that puts out

343

leaves, or stiffens, can live there, because it would not give way to the

buffeting. Then, do not return this

way: the sun, that is now rising, will show you where to climb the

mountain, in an easier ascent.’

So he left: and I rose without

speaking, and drew back towards

my leader, and fixed my eyes on

him.

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He began: ‘Son, follow my steps:

let us turn back, since the plain

slopes down, this way, to its low

shore.’ The dawn was vanquishing

the breath of morning, which fled

before her, so that, from afar, I

recognised the tremor of the sea.

344

We walked along the solitary

plain, like those, who turn again

towards a lost road, and seem to go

in vain, until they reach it. When we

came where the dew fights with the

sunlight, being in a place where it

disperses slowly in the cool air, my

Master gently placed both hands,

outspread, on the sweet grass: at

which, I who understood his

intention, raised my tear-stained

face towards him: there he made my

true colour visible, that Hell had

hidden.

Then we came onto the deserted

shore that never saw a man sail its

waters, who, could, afterwards,

experience his return. There he tied

the rush around me, as the other

wished: O marvellous: as he pulled

out the humble plant, so it was

suddenly replaced, where he tore it.

345

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The sun, had already reached the horizon, whose meridian circle, at the zenith,

covers Jerusalem: and night, that

circles opposite him, was rising, out

of Ganges, with the Scales, Libra,

that fall from night’s hand, when the

days shorten: so that, where I was,

the pale and rosy cheeks of beautiful

Aurora, through age, were turned deep orange.

We were still near the ocean, like

people who think about their

journey, who go on in spirit, but

remain in body; and behold, as Mars

reddens through the heavy vapours,

low in the west, over the waves, at

the coming of dawn, so a light

appeared, and may I see it yet,

346

coming over the sea, so quickly, that no flight equals its movement, and

when I had taken my eyes from it for

a moment to question my guide, I

saw it, once more, grown bigger and

brighter. Then something white

appeared on each side of it, and, little

by little, another whiteness emerged

from underneath it.

My Master still did not speak a

word, until the first whitenesses were

seen to be wings: then, when he

recognised the pilot clearly, he cried:

‘Kneel, bend your knees: behold the

Angel of God: clasp your hands:

from now on you will see such

ministers. See how he disdains all

human mechanism, not needing oars,

or any sails but his wings, between

such far shores. See how he has them

turned towards the sky, beating the

347

348

air, with eternal plumage, that does not moult like mortal feathers.’

Then as the divine bird

approached, nearer and nearer, to us,

it appeared much brighter, so that my

eyes could not sustain its closeness:

but I looked down, and it came

towards the shore, in a vessel so

quick and light that it skimmed the

waves. At the stern stood the

celestial steersman, so that

blessedness seemed written in his

features, and more than a hundred

souls sat inside.

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They all sang, together, with one

voice: ‘,Q H[LWX ,VUDHO GH $HJ\SWR:

When Israel went out of Egypt,’ and

the rest of the psalm that comes

349

after. Then he made the sign of the sacred cross towards them, at which

they all flung themselves on shore,

and, as quickly as he came, he

departed.

The crowd that were left seemed

unfamiliar with the place, looking

round like those who experience

something new. The sun, who had

chased Capricorn from the height of

heaven with his bright arrows, was

shooting out the light on every side,

when the new people raised their

faces towards us, saying: ‘If you

know it, show us the way to reach

the Mount.’ And Virgil answered:

‘You think, perhaps, we have

knowledge of this place, but we are

strangers, as you are. We came, just

now, a little while before you, by

another route so difficult and rough,

350

that the climbing now will seem like play to us.’

The spirits, who had noticed I

was still alive, by my breathing,

wondering, grew pale, and as the

crowd draws near the messenger,

who carries the olive-branch, and no

one is wary of trampling on others,

so those spirits, each one fortunate,

fixed their gaze on my face, almost

forgetting to go and make

themselves blessed.

I saw one of them move forward

to embrace me, with such great

affection, that he stirred me to do

the same.

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O vain shades, empty except in

aspect! My hands met three times

351

behind him, and returned, as often, empty, to my breast. I paled, with

wonder, I believe, at which the

shade smiled, and drew back, and I

hurried forward, following. It asked

me, gently, to pause: then I knew

who it was: and begged him to stop

a while, and speak to me. He

replied: ‘Just as I loved you in the

mortal body, so I love you, freed: so

I stay: but you, where are you

going?’

I said: ‘My Casella, I make this journey, in order to return here

again, where I am, but how have so

many hours been stolen from you?’

And he to me: ‘If he who carries

whom he pleases, when he pleases,

has denied me this crossing many

times, no wrong is done to me, since

his will is full of justice. In truth, for

three months past, since the

352

beginning of the Jubilee, he has taken, in all peace, those who wish

to enter. So I, who was on the shore

where Tiber’s stream becomes

saltwater, was accepted by him, in

kindness. He has set his winged

course to that river-mouth now,

because those who do not sink to

Acheron, are always gathering

there.’

And I: ‘If some new law has not

taken your memory, or your skill in

that song of love, that used to calm

all my desires, may it please you to

console my spirit a while, with it,

my spirit, that, coming here in its

own person, suffers so.’ He then

began to sing: ‘$PRU FKH QHOOD

PHQWHPLUDJLRQD: Love that, in my

mind, discourses with me,’ so

sweetly, that the sweetness of it

sounds, in me, yet.

353

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My Master and I, and the people

who were with him, seemed so

delighted, that they thought of

nothing else. We were all focused

and intent on his notes: when,

behold, the venerable old man,

cried: ‘What is this, tardy spirits?

What negligence, what idling is

this? Run to the mountain, and strip

the scales from your eyes, that

prevent God being revealed to you.’

As doves, gathering corn or

seeds, collected at their meal,

quietly, and without their usual

pride, stop pecking, straight away, if

anything appears they are afraid of,

since they are troubled by a more

important concern, so I saw that

354

new crowd leave the singing, and move towards the hillside, like those

who go, but do not know where they

will emerge: nor was our departure

slower.

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Although their sudden flight was

scattering them over the plain, I

drew close to my faithful

companion, turning to the mountain,

where reason examines us: and how

would I have fared without him?

Who would have brought me to the

Mount?

He seemed to me to be gnawed

by self-reproach. O clear and noble

conscience, how sharply a little fault

stings you! When his feet had

355

slowed from that pace that spoils the dignity of every action, my mind,

which was inwardly focused before,

widened its intent, as if in search,

and I set my face towards the

hillside that rises highest towards

heaven from the water.

The sunlight, that flamed red

behind us, was broken, in front of

me, in that shape in which I blocked

its rays. I turned aside from fear of

being abandoned, seeing the earth

darkened, only in front of me. But

my comforter began speaking to me,

turning straight round: ‘Why so

mistrustful? Do you think you are

not with me, or that I do not guide

you?

It is already evening, there,

where the body with which I cast a

shadow, lies buried: Naples has it,

and it was taken from Brindisi.

356

Now, if no shadow goes before me, do not wonder at that, any more

than at the heavenly spheres, where

one does not hide the light of any

other. That power, that does not will

that its workings should be revealed

to us, disposes bodies such as these

to suffer torments, fire and ice. He is

foolish who hopes that our reason

may journey on the infinite road,

that one substance in three persons

owns. Stay, content, human race,

with the ‘ZKDW’: since if you had

been able to understand it all, there

would have been no need for Mary

to give birth: and you have seen the

fruitless desire, granted to them as

an eternal sorrow, of those whose

desire would have been quenched, I

mean Aristotle, Plato, and many more.’ And here he bent his head,

357

and said nothing more: remaining troubled.

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Meanwhile we reached the

mountain’s foot: there we found the

cliff was so steep that even nimble

feet would be useless. The most

desolate, and the most solitary track,

between Lerici and Turbia, in

Liguria, is a free and easy stair

compared to that. My Master,

halting his feet, said: ‘Now, who

knows which way the cliff slopes,

so that he who goes without wings,

may climb?’ And while he kept his

eyes downwards, searching out the

way in his mind, and while I was

gazing up, across the rocks, a crowd

of spirits, appeared to me, on the

358

359

left, who moved their feet towards us, but did not seem to, they came

so slowly.

I said: ‘Master, raise your eyes,

behold one there who will give us

advice, if you cannot give it

yourself.’ He looked at them, and

with a joyful face, answered: ‘Let us

go there, since they come slowly,

and confirm your hopes, kind son.’

That crowd were still as far off,

after a thousand paces of ours I

mean, as a good thrower would

reach, with a stone, from the hand,

when they all pressed close to the

solid rock of the high cliff, and

stood, motionless together, as

people stop to look around, who

travel in fear.

360

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Virgil began: ‘O spirits, who

ended well, already chosen: by the

same peace that, I believe, is

awaited by you all, tell us where the

mountain slopes allow us to go

upwards, since lost time troubles

those most, who know most.’ As

sheep come out of their pen, in ones,

twos, and threes, and others stand

timidly, with eyes and nose towards

the ground, and what the first does,

the others also do, huddling to her if

she stands still, foolish and quiet,

and not knowing why, so I saw,

then, the head of that fortunate

flock, of modest aspect, and

dignified movement, make a move

to come forward.

361

When those in front saw the light on the hillside, broken, on my right,

by my shadow, falling from me as

far as the rock, they stopped, and

drew back, a little: and all the others

that came after them, did the same,

not understanding why. My Master

said: ‘Without your asking, I admit,

to you, that this is a human body

that you see, by which the sunlight

is broken on the ground. Do not

wonder, but believe, that he does

not try to climb this wall, without

the help of power that comes from

Heaven.’ And the worthy people

said: ‘Turn, then, and go in front of

us,’ making a gesture with the backs

of their hands.

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362

And one of them began to speak:

‘You, whoever you are, turn your

face, as we go, and think if you ever

saw me over there.’ I turned towards

him, and looked hard: he was blond

and handsome, and of noble aspect,

but a blow had split one of his

eyebrows.

When I had denied, humbly, ever

seeing him, he said: ‘Now look’,

and he showed me a wound at the

top of his chest. Then, smiling, he

said: ‘I am Manfred, grandson of the Empress Constance: and I beg you, when you return, go to my lovely

daughter, Costanza, mother of

James and Frederick, Sicily’s and Aragon’s pride, and tell her this

truth, if things are said differently

there. After my body had been

pierced, by two mortal wounds, I

rendered my spirit to him, who

363

pardons, willingly. My sins were terrible, but infinite goodness has

such a wide embrace it accepts all

those who turn to it. If the

Bishop of Cozenza, who was set on by Clement to hound me, had read that page of God’s rightly, the bones

of my corpse would still be at the

bridgehead, by Benevento, under

the guardianship of the heavy cairn.

Now, the rain bathes them, and

the wind moves them, beyond the

kingdom, along the River Verde,

where he carried them, D OXPH

VSHQWR, with quenched tapers. But

no one is so lost by the malediction,

of that excommunication, that

eternal love may not turn back to

him, as long as hope is green. It is

true that those who die, disobedient

to the Holy Church, even though

they repent at the end, must remain

364

outside this bank for thirty times the duration of their life of insolence,

unless such decree is shortened by

the prayers of the good.

See now, if you can give me

delight, by telling my good

Costanza how you saw me, and also

of my ban, since much benefit

arises, here, through the prayers of

those who are still over there.

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When the soul is wholly centred,

on one of our senses, because of

some pleasure or pain, that it

comprehends, it seems that it pays

no attention to its other powers, and

this contradicts Plato’s error, that has it, that one soul is kindled on

another, inside us. So, when

365

something is seen or heard, that holds the soul’s attention strongly

fixed, time vanishes and man is

unaware of it, since one power is

that which notices time, and another

that which occupies the entire soul:

the former is as if constrained, the

latter free.

I had a genuine experience of

this, while listening to that spirit and

marvelling, since the sun had climbed

fully fifty degrees, and I had not

noticed it, when we came to where

those souls, with a single voice,

cried out to us: ‘Here is what you

wanted.’

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When the grape is ripening, the

peasant often hedges up a larger

366

opening, with a little forkful of thorns, than the gap through which

my leader climbed, and I behind him,

two alone, after the group had parted

from us. You can walk at Sanleo,

near Urbino, and descend to Noli,

near Savone: you can climb Mount

Bismantova, south of Reggio, up to

the summit, on foot: but here a man

had to fly: I mean with the feathers

and swift wings of great desire,

behind that leader, who gave me

hope, and made himself a light.

We were climbing inside a rock

gully, and the cliff pressed against us

on either side, and the ground under

us needed hands as well as feet.

Once we were on the upper edge of

the high wall, out on the open

hillside, I said: ‘My Master, which

way should we go?’ And he to me:

‘Do not let your steps drift

367

downward, always win your way, up the mountain, behind me, until some

wise escort appears to us.’

The summit was so high it was

beyond my sight, and the slope far

steeper than the forty-five degrees a

line from mid-quadrant makes with

the circle’s radius. I felt weary, and

began to say: ‘O sweet father, turn

and see how I am left behind if you

do not stop.’ He said: ‘My son, make

yourself reach there,’ showing me a

terrace, a little higher up, that goes

round the whole mountain, on that

side. His words spurred me on,

greatly, and I forced myself on, so

far, creeping after him, that the ledge

was beneath my feet.

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368

There we both sat down, turning towards the east, from which we had

climbed: since it often cheers men

to look back. I first fixed my eyes

on the shore below, then raised them

to the sun, and wondered at the fact

that it struck us on the left side. The

poet saw clearly that I was totally

amazed at that chariot of light,

rising between us, and the north. At which he said to me: ‘If that mirror,

the sun, that reflects the light, from

above, downwards, were in

Castor and Pollux, the Gemini, you would see the Zodiac, glowing

round him, circle still closer to the

Bears, unless it wandered from its

ancient track.

If you wish the power to see that,

for yourself, imagine Mount Zion, at

Jerusalem, and this Mountain,

placed on the globe so that both

369

have the same horizon, but are in opposite hemispheres: by which you

can see, if your intellect understands

quite clearly, that the sun’s path,

that Phaëthon, sadly, did not know how to follow, has to pass to the

north here, when it passes Zion on

the south.’

I said: ‘Certainly, Master, I never

saw as clearly as I now discern,

there, where my mind seemed at

fault, that the median circle of the

heavenly motion, that is called the

Equator in one of the sciences, and

always lies between the summer and

the winter solstice, is as far north

here, for the reason you say, as the

Hebrews saw it, towards the hot

countries.

But if it please you, I would like

to know, willingly, how far we have

370

to go, since the hillside rises higher than my eyes can reach.’

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And he to me: ‘This mountain is

such, that it is always troublesome

at the start, below, but the more one

climbs up, the less it wearies. So,

you will feel at the end of this track,

when it will seem so pleasant to

you, that the ascent is as easy as

going downstream, in a boat. Hope

to rest your weariness there. I

answer you no more, and this I

know is true.’

And when he had his say, a voice

sounded nearby: ‘Perhaps, before

then, you may have need to sit.’ At

the sound of it, we each turned

round, and saw a great mass of rock

371

on the left, that neither he nor I had noticed before. We drew near it: and

there were people lounging in the

shade, behind the crag, just as one

settles oneself to rest, out of

laziness. And one of them, who

seemed weary to me, was sitting and

clasping his knees, holding his head

down low, between them.

I said: ‘O my sweet sire, set your

eyes on that one, who appears lazier

than if Sloth were his sister.’ Then

he turned to us, and listened, only

lifting his face above his thigh, and

said: ‘Now go on up, you who are

so steadfast.’ Then I knew who he

was, and that effort, which still

constrained my breath a little, did

not prevent me going up to him,

and, when I had reached him, he

hardly lifted his head, to say: ‘Have

you truly understood why the sun

372

drives his chariot to the left?’ His indolent actions and the brief words,

moved me to smile a little: then I

began: ‘Belacqua, I do not grieve for you now: but tell me why you

are sitting here? Are you waiting for

a guide, or have you merely

resumed your former habit?’

And he: ‘Brother, what use is it

to climb? God’s winged Angel, who

sits at the gate, will not let me pass

through to the torments. First the

sky must revolve, round me,

outside, for as long a time as it did

in my life: because I delayed my

sighs of healing repentance to the

end: unless, before then, some

prayer aids me, that might rise from

a heart that lives in grace: what is

the rest worth, that is not heard in

Heaven?’And the poet was already

climbing, in front of me, saying:

373

374

‘Come on, now, you see the sun, touches the zenith and night’s feet

have already run from the banks of

the Ganges to Morocco.’

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I had already parted from those

shadows, and was following my

leader’s footsteps, when someone,

behind me, pointing his finger,

called out: ‘See, the light does not

seem to shine, on the left of him,

below, and he seems to carry

himself like a living man.’ I turned

my eyes, at the sound of these

words, and saw them all gazing in

wonder, at me alone, at me alone

and at the broken sunlight.

My Master said: ‘Why is your

mind so ensnared that you slacken

375

pace? What does it matter to you what they whisper here? Follow me

close behind, and let the people talk:

stand like a steady tower, that never

shakes at the top, in the blasts of

wind: since the man, in whom

thought rises on thought, sets

himself back, because the force of

the one weakens the other.’ What

could I answer, except: ‘I come?’

This I said, blushing a little, with

that colour that often makes

someone worthy of being pardoned.

And, across the mountain slope,

meanwhile, a crowd, in front of us,

a little, came, chanting the 0LVHUHUH, alternately, verse by verse. When

they saw I allowed no passage to the

sun’s rays because of my body, they

changed their chant to a long, hoarse

‘Oh!’: and two of them ran to meet

us as messengers and demanded:

376

‘Make us wise to your state.’ And my Master said: ‘You can go back,

and tell those who sent you, that this

man’s body is truly flesh. If they

stopped at seeing his shadow, as I

think, that answer is enough: let

them honour him, and he may be

precious to them.’

I never saw burning mists at fall

of night, or August clouds at sunset

split the bright sky, so quickly, but

they in less time, returned, up the

slope, and arrived there while the

others wheeled round us, like a

troop of cavalry riding with

loosened reins. The poet said: ‘This

crowd that presses us is large, and

they come to beg you, but go

straight on, and listen while you go.’

They came, crying: ‘O spirit,

who goes to joy, with the limbs you

were born with, pause your steps a

377

while. Look and see if you ever knew one of us, so that you can bear

news of him, over there: oh, why are

you leaving?: oh, why do you not

stay? We were all killed by

violence, and were sinners till the

last hour: then light from Heaven

warned us, so that, repenting and

forgiving, we left life reconciled

with God, who fills us with desire to

see him.’

And I: ‘However much I gaze at

your faces, I recognise no one: but if

I can do anything to please you,

spirits born for happiness, speak,

and I will do it, for the sake of that

peace, which makes me chase after

it, from world to world, following

the steps of such a guide.’

378

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And one began to speak: ‘Each

of us trusts in your good offices,

without your oath, if only lack of

power does not thwart your will.

So, I, who merely speak before others do, beg you to be gracious to

me, in your prayers, at Fano, if ever

you see that country again, that lies

between Romagna, and Charles the Second’s Naples, so that the good

may be adored through me, and I

can purge myself of grave offence. I

sprang from there, but the deep

wounds from which the blood

flowed, that bathed my life, were

dealt me in the embrace of Paduans,

those Antenori, there, where I thought that I was safest.

Azzo of Este had it done, he who 379

held a greater anger against me, than justice merited.

Though, if I had fled towards La

Mira, when I was surprised at

Oriaco, I would still be over there,

where men breathe. I ran to the

marshes, and the reeds, and mire,

swamped me so that I fell, and there

I saw a pool grow on the ground,

from my veins.’

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Then another said: Oh, so the

desire might be satisfied, that draws

you up the high mountain, aid mine

with kind pity. I was of Montefeltro,

I am Buonconte: Giovanna has no care for me, nor the others, so I go

among these, with bowed head.’

And I to him: ‘What violence or

380

mischance made you wander so far from Campaldino, that your place of

burial was never known?’ He

replied: ‘Oh, at the foot of

Casentino, a stream crosses it, called

the Archiano, that rises in the

Apennines, above the Monastery of

Camoldoli. There, at Bibbiena,

where its name is lost in the Arno, I

arrived, pierced in the throat, fleeing

on foot, and bloodying the plain.

There I lost vision, and ended my

words on Mary’s name, and there I fell, and only my flesh was left. I

will speak truly, and do you repeat it

among the living: the Angel of God

took me and one from Hell cried:

“O you from Heaven, why do you

rob me? You may carry off the

eternal part of this man from here,

because of one little teardrop of

repentance, that snatches him from

381

382

me, but I will deal differently with the other part.”

You well know how damp

vapour collects in the air, which

turns to water again, when it rises

where the cold condenses it. He

joined that evil will, which only

seeks evil, with intelligence, and

stirred the wind, and fog, by the

power his nature gives him. Then,

when day was done, he covered the

valley, from Pratomagno to the

great Apennine chain, with mist,

and made the sky above it so heavy,

that the saturated air turned to

water: rain fell, and what the earth

did not absorb, came to the fosses:

and, as it merged into vast streams,

it ran with such speed, towards the

royal river, that nothing held it back.

The raging Archiano found my

body, near its mouth, and swept it

383

into the Arno, and loosed the cross that my arms made on my chest,

when pain overcame me. It rolled

me along its banks and through the

depths, then covered me, and closed

me in its spoil.’

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A third spirit, followed on the

second: ‘Ah, when you return to the

world, and are rested after your long

journey, remember me who am

La Pia: Siena made me: Maremma undid me: he knows, who having first pledged himself to me, wed me

with his ring.’

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384

When the gambling game breaks

up, the one who loses stays there

grieving, repeating the throws,

saddened by experience: the crowd

all follow the winner: some go in

front, some snatch at him from

behind, or, at his side, recall

themselves to his mind. He does not

stop, and attends to this one and that

one. Those, to whom he stretches

out his hand, cease pressing on him:

and so he saves himself from the

crush. Such was I in that dense

throng, turning my face towards

them, now here, now there, and

freeing myself from them by

promises.

There was Benincasa, the

Aretine, who met his death by

Ghin di Tacco’s ruthless weapons, and the other Aretine,

385

Guccio de’ Tarlati, who was drowned as he ran in pursuit at

Campaldino. Federigo Novello was there, praying with outstretched

hands, and Farinata Scornigiani, he of Pisa, whose father Marzucco

showed such fortitude on his behalf.

I saw Count Orso: and the spirit severed from its body through envy

and hatred, and not for any sin

committed, or so it said, Pierre de la

Brosse, I mean. And here let Lady

Mary of Brabant take note, while she is still on earth, so that she does

not end with the viler crowd, for it.

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When I was free of all those

shades, whose only prayer was that

others might pray, so that their path

386

to blessedness might be quickened, I began: ‘O, you who are a light to

me, it seems that you deny, in a

certain passage of your Aeneid, that prayer can alter Heaven’s decree:

and yet these people pray only for

this. Can it be they hope in vain? Or

is your meaning not clear to me?’

And he to me: ‘My writing is

clear, and, if you think about it

rationally, their hopes are not

deceptive, since the nobility of

justice is not lessened because a

moment of love’s fire discharges the

debt each one here owes, and in my

text, where I affirmed otherwise,

faults could not be rectified by

prayer, because prayer, then, was

divorced from God.

Truly, you must not suffer such

deep anxiety, unless she tells you

otherwise, she, who will be the

387

light, linking truth to intellect. I am not sure you understand: I speak of

Beatrice. You will see her, above, on this mountain’s summit, smiling,

blessed.

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And I said: ‘My lord, let us go

with greater speed, since I am

already less weary than before, and

look the hillside casts a shadow

now.’ He replied: ‘We will go

forward with this day, as far as we

still can: but the facts are other than

you think. Before you are on the

summit, you will see the sun return,

that is hidden now by the slope such

that you do not break his light.

But, there, see, a soul, set

solitary, alone, gazes at us: it will

388

show us the quickest way.’ We

reached him. O Lombard spirit, how

haughty and scornful, you were,

how majestic and considered in your

manner! He said nothing to us, but

allowed us to go by, only watching,

like a couchant lion. But Virgil drew

towards him, begging him to show

us the best ascent: though the spirit

did not answer his request, but

asked us about our country and our

life.

And the gentle guide began:

‘Mantua,’... and the spirit all pre-

occupied with self, surged towards

him from the place where it first

was, saying: ‘O Mantuan, I am

Sordello, of your city.’ And the one embraced the other.

389

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O Italy, you slave, you inn of

grief, ship without helmsman in a

might tempest, mistress, not of

provinces, but of a brothel! That

gentle spirit was quick, then, to

greet his fellow-citizen, at the mere

mention of the sweet name of his

city, yet, now, the living do not live

there without conflict, and, of those,

that one wall and one moat shuts in,

one rends the other.

Wretched country, search the

shores of your coasthne, and then

gaze into your heart, to see if any

part of you is at peace. What use is

it for Justinian to have renewed, the law, the bridle, if the saddle is

empty? The shame would be less if

390

it were not for that. Ah, race, that should be obedient, and let Caesar

occupy the saddle, if only you

understood what God has told you!

See how vicious this creature has

become, through not being corrected

by his spurs, since he has set his

hand to the bridle. O

Albert of Germany, you abandon her, she, who has become wild and

wanton, you, who should straddle

her saddle-bow: may just judgement

fall on your blood, from the stars,

and let it be strange and obvious, so

that your successor may learn to

fear it, since you and your father,

held back by greed, over there, have

allowed the garden of the Empire to

become a wasteland.

Careless man, come and look at

the Montagues and Capulets, the

Monaldi and Filippeschi: those who 391

are already saddened, and those who fear to be. Come, cruel one, come

and see the oppression of your

nobles, and tend their sores, and you

will see how secure Santafiora of

the Aldobrandeschi is. Come and see your Rome, who mourns,

widowed and alone, crying night

and day: ‘My Caesar, why do you

not keep me company?’ Come and

see how your people love each

other: and if pity for us does not stir

you, come, and be ashamed, for the

sake of your fame.

And, if it is allowed for me to

say, O highest Jupiter, who was crucified on earth for us, are your

just eyes turned elsewhere, or are

you preparing some new good, that

is completely hidden from our

sight? For the cities of Italy are full

of tyrants, and every peasant, that

392

comes to take sides, becomes a

Marcellus, against the Empire.

My Florence, you may well

rejoice at this digression, which

does not affect you, thanks to your

populace that reasons so clearly.

Many people have justice in their

hearts, but they let it fly slowly,

since it does not come to the bow

without much counsel: yet your

people have it always at their lips.

Many people refuse public office:

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