INFERNO XXI
INFERNO XXI
Thus from one bridge to the next we came →
until we reached its highest point, speaking
3 of things my Comedy does not care to sing.
We stopped to look into the next crevasse
of Malebolge and heard more useless weeping.
6 All I could see was an astounding darkness.
As in the arsenal of the Venetians →
in wintertime they boil the viscous pitch
9 to caulk their unsound ships
because they cannot sail—one rebuilds
his ship, while still another plugs
12 the seams of his, weathered by many a voyage:
one hammers at the stem, another at the stern,
this one makes the oars, that one twists the ropes
15 for rigging, another patches jib and mainsail—
so, not with fire, but by the art of God,
a thick pitch boiled there,
18 sticking to the banks on either side.
I saw the pitch but still saw nothing in it
except the bubbles raised up by the boiling,
21 the whole mass swelling and then setthng back.
While I stared fixedly upon the seething pitch,
my leader cried: ‘Look out, look out!’
24 and drew me to him, away from where I stood.
Then I turned like a man, intent
on making out what he must run from,
27 undone by sudden fear,
who does not slow his flight for all his looking back:
just so I caught a glimpse of some dark devil →
30 running toward us up the ledge.
Ah, how ferocious were his looks
and fierce his gesturing,
33 with wings spread wide and nimble feet!
One of his shoulders, which were high and pointed, →
was laden with the haunches of a sinner
36 he held hooked by the tendons of his heels.
From our bridge he said: ‘O Malebranche, →
here is one of Santa Zita’s Elders. →
39 Thrust him under, while I head back for more →
‘to that city, where there’s such a fine supply.
Every man there—except Bonturo—is a swindler. →
42 There money turns a No into a Yeah.’
He flung him down and turned back up
the stony ridge. Never did a mastiff
45 set loose to chase a thief make greater haste.
The sinner sank, then rose again, his face all pitch. →
The demons, under cover of the bridge, cried out:
48 ‘This is no place for the Holy Visage!
‘Here you swim a different stroke than in the Serchio! →
Unless you’d like to feel our hooks,
51 don’t let yourself stick out above the pitch.’
Then, with a hundred hooks and more,
they ripped him, crying: ‘Here you must do your dance
54 in secret and pilfer—can you?—in the dark.’
In just the same way cooks command their scullions
to take their skewers and prod the meat down
57 in the cauldron, lest it float back up.
Then my good master said: ‘Squat down →
behind that rock and find some cover
60 so that they do not see that you are here.
‘As for any outrage they may do me,
have no fear. I know this place and had
63 exactly such a scuffle here before.’ →
After he had crossed the bridge
and reached the other bank,
66 he had to show how resolute he was:
With all the rage and uproar →
of dogs that rush upon a beggar—
69 who quickly starts to beg where he has stopped—
they swarmed on him from underneath the bridge
with threatening hooks. But he cried out:
72 ‘Wait! Let none of you do harm!
‘Before you grapple at me with your hooks
let one of you come forth to hear me out.
75 Then take counsel, whether to use your claws.’
All cried: ‘Let Malacoda go.’ One moved— →
the rest stood still—and he came forward,
78 grumbling: ‘This won’t do him any good.’
‘Consider, Malacoda,’ said my master, →
‘whether you would see me come this far
81 unstopped by all your hindering
‘without the will of God and favoring fate?
Let us proceed, for it is willed in Heaven
84 that I guide another down this savage way.’
Then his pride was so abashed that he let drop →
the billhook to his feet, saying to the others:
87 ‘Enough, let no one touch him.’
And my leader said to me: ‘You there, cowering →
among the broken boulders of the bridge,
90 now you may come back to me in safety.’
At that I stirred and hastened to him.
Then the devils all came surging forward
93 so that I feared they might not keep the truce.
Just so do I recall the troops
afraid to leave Caprona with safe-conduct, →
96 finding themselves among so many enemies.
I drew my body up against my leader
but kept my eyes fixed on their faces,
99 which were far from friendly.
They aimed their hooks, and one said to another: →
‘How about I nick him on the rump?’
102 And the other answered: ‘Sure, let him have one.’
But the demon who was speaking with my leader
turned round at once and said:
105 ‘Easy does it, Scarmiglione!’
And then to us: ‘You can’t continue farther →
down this ridge, for the sixth arch
108 lies broken into pieces at the bottom.
‘If you desire to continue on,
then make your way along this rocky ledge.
111 Nearby’s another crag that yields a passage.
‘Yesterday, at a time five hours from now, →
it was a thousand two hundred sixty-six years
114 since the road down here was broken.
‘I’m sending some men of mine along that way →
to see if anyone is out to take the air.
117 Go with them—they won’t hurt you.’
‘Step forward, Alichino, Calcabrina,’ →
he continued, ’and you Cagnazzo,
120 and let Barbariccia lead the squad.
‘Let Libicocco come too, and Draghignazzo,
Cirïatto with his tusks, and Graffiacane,
123 Farfarello, and madcap Rubicante.
‘Have a good look around the boiling glue.
Keep these two safe as far as the next crag →
126 that runs all of a piece above the dens.’
‘Oh, master,’ I said, ‘I don’t like what I see. →
Please, let us find our way without an escort,
129 if you know how. As for me, I do not want one.
‘If you are as vigilant as ever,
don’t you see they grind their teeth
132 while with their furrowed brows they threaten harm?’
And he to me: ‘Don’t be afraid. →
Let them grind on to their hearts’ content—
135 they do it for the stewing wretches.’
Off they set along the left-hand bank, →
but first each pressed his tongue between his teeth
to blow a signal to their leader,
139 and he had made a trumpet of his asshole.