INFERNO XVII
INFERNO XVII
‘Behold the beast with pointed tail, that leaps →
past mountains, shatters walls and weapons!
3 Behold the one whose stench afflicts the world!’
was how my guide began.
Then he signaled to the beast to come ashore
6 close to the border of our stony pathway.
And that foul effigy of fraud came forward,
beached its head and chest
9 but did not draw its tail up on the bank.
It had the features of a righteous man, →
benevolent in countenance,
12 but all the rest of it was serpent.
It had forepaws, hairy to the armpits,
and back and chest and both its flanks →
15 were painted and inscribed with rings and curlicues.
So many vivid colors Turk or Tartar never wove
in warp and woof or in embroidery on top,
18 nor were such colors patterned on Arachne’s loom.
As sometimes barges lie ashore, →
partly in water, partly on the land,
21 and as among the guzzling Germans
the beaver sets itself to catch its prey,
so lay this worst of brutes upon the stony rim
24 that makes a boundary for the sandy soil.
Its length of tail lashed in the void,
twisting up its forked, envenomed tip,
27 armed like a scorpion’s tail.
My leader said: ‘Now we must change →
direction for a moment till we reach
30 that evil beast stretched out down there.’
We descended, therefore, to our right,
and took ten steps along the edge to keep
33 our distance from the sand and flames.
And, when we reached the beast,
I see some people sitting on the sand
36 a short way off, near where it falls away.
Then the master said to me: ‘So that nothing →
in this circle escape your understanding,
39 go over and examine their condition.
‘Let your talk be brief.
While you are gone, I’ll ask the beast
42 to lend us its strong shoulders.’
Thus, on the seventh circle’s edge,
still farther out, I went alone
45 to where the downcast souls were seated. →
Their grief came bursting from their eyes.
With restless hands they sought relief,
48 now from the flame and now from burning sand.
Not otherwise do dogs in summer gnaw and scratch,
now with muzzle, now with paw,
51 when flies or fleas or horseflies bite them.
Although I searched some of the faces
of those on whom the painful fire descends,
54 I knew not one, but I could see
the pouches hanging from their necks →
were different in color, each with its coat of arms.
57 On these they seemed to feast their eyes.
And when I came among them and looked closer,
on a yellow purse I could make out →
60 a lion’s countenance and form in blue.
Then, farther on, my wandering gaze
made out another crest, blood-red, →
63 marked by a goose more white than butter.
And one, who had a pregnant sow, in azure, →
embossed on his white wallet, said to me:
66 ‘What are you doing down here in this ditch?
‘Now go—but wait, since you’re still alive, →
know that my neighbor Vitaliano
69 shall soon be seated to my left.
‘Among these Florentines, I come from Padua.
Many a time they deafen me with shouting:
72 “May the sovereign knight come soon, →
‘ “who brings the pouch with three goats on it!” ’
Then he twisted his mouth and stuck out his tongue →
75 like an ox that licks its nose.
And I, fearing my delay might anger him
who had warned me to make my stay brief,
78 turned back and left those weary souls.
I found my leader mounted
on the shoulders of the savage beast.
81 He said to me: ‘Now be strong and resolute.
‘From here on we descend such stairs as these. →
You mount in front and I will take the middle
84 so that the tail may do no harm.’
As a man in a shivering-fit of quartan fever,
so ill his nails have lost all color,
87 trembles all over at the sight of shade,
so was I stricken at his words.
Rebuked by shame, which, in the presence
90 of a worthy master, makes a servant bold,
I mounted on those huge and ugly shoulders.
I wanted to say—though my voice did not come out
93 as I intended—‘Make sure you hold me fast!’
But he who had helped me many times before,
in other perils, clasped me in his arms
96 and steadied me as soon as I was mounted,
then said: ‘Geryon, move on now. Let your circles →
be wide and your descending slow.
99 Keep in mind your unaccustomed burden.’
As a bark backs slowly from its mooring,
so the beast backed off the ledge,
102 and when it felt itself adrift,
turned its tail to where its chest had been and,
extending it, made it wriggle like an eel’s,
105 while with its paws it gathered in the air.
Phaeton, I think, felt no greater fear →
when he released the reins and the whole sky
108 was scorched, as we still see,
nor wretched Icarus when he felt the melting wax →
unfeathering the wings along his back
111 and heard his father shout: ‘Not that way!’
than was my terror when I saw
air everywhere around
114 and all things gone from sight except the beast.
On it goes, swimming slowly, slowly →
wheeling, descending, but I feel only
117 the wind in my face and blowing from below.
Now on our right I heard the torrent’s hideous roar
below us, so that I thrust my head forward
120 and dared to look down the abyss.
Then I was even more afraid of being dropped,
for I saw fire and heard wailing,
123 and so, trembling, I hold on tighter with my legs.
And for the first time I became aware
of our descent and wheeling when I saw
126 the torments drawing closer all around me.
As the falcon that has long been on the wing— →
and, without sight of lure or bird
129 makes the falconer cry out: ‘Oh, you’re coming down!’—
descends, weary, with many a wheeling,
to where it set out swiftly, and alights,
132 angry and sullen, far from its master,
so Geryon set us down at the bottom,
at the very foot of the jagged cliff,
and, disburdened of our persons,
136 vanished like an arrow from the string.