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| author | notori <188390306+n0tori@users.noreply.github.com> | 2025-08-02 18:41:23 +0100 |
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| committer | notori <188390306+n0tori@users.noreply.github.com> | 2025-08-02 18:41:23 +0100 |
| commit | 0416b7cfd8a4587247423de047afc52641db3fd5 (patch) | |
| tree | 982115d4ff95e2128e2d7d3bdf9827173372ba63 /longfellow.js | |
| parent | fc4af59aa052006710ce73b00fd34a3880cacd60 (diff) | |
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| -rw-r--r-- | longfellow.js | 4792 |
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diff --git a/longfellow.js b/longfellow.js new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e72ae4 --- /dev/null +++ b/longfellow.js @@ -0,0 +1,4792 @@ +var longfellowData = { + "1": [ + "Midway upon the journey of our life", + "I found myself within a forest dark,", + "For the straightforward pathway had been lost.", + "Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say", + "What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,", + "Which in the very thought renews the fear.", + "So bitter is it, death is little more;", + "But of the good to treat, which there I found,", + "Speak will I of the other things I saw there.", + "I cannot well repeat how there I entered,", + "So full was I of slumber at the moment", + "In which I had abandoned the true way.", + "But after I had reached a mountain’s foot,", + "At that point where the valley terminated,", + "Which had with consternation pierced my heart,", + "Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders,", + "Vested already with that planet’s rays", + "Which leadeth others right by every road.", + "Then was the fear a little quieted", + "That in my heart’s lake had endured throughout", + "The night, which I had passed so piteously.", + "And even as he, who, with distressful breath,", + "Forth issued from the sea upon the shore,", + "Turns to the water perilous and gazes;", + "So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward,", + "Turn itself back to re-behold the pass", + "Which never yet a living person left.", + "After my weary body I had rested,", + "The way resumed I on the desert slope,", + "So that the firm foot ever was the lower.", + "And lo! almost where the ascent began,", + "A panther light and swift exceedingly,", + "Which with a spotted skin was covered o’er!", + "And never moved she from before my face,", + "Nay, rather did impede so much my way,", + "That many times I to return had turned.", + "The time was the beginning of the morning,", + "And up the sun was mounting with those stars", + "That with him were, what time the Love Divine", + "At first in motion set those beauteous things;", + "So were to me occasion of good hope,", + "The variegated skin of that wild beast,", + "The hour of time, and the delicious season;", + "But not so much, that did not give me fear", + "A lion’s aspect which appeared to me.", + "He seemed as if against me he were coming", + "With head uplifted, and with ravenous hunger,", + "So that it seemed the air was afraid of him;", + "And a she-wolf, that with all hungerings", + "Seemed to be laden in her meagreness,", + "And many folk has caused to live forlorn!", + "She brought upon me so much heaviness,", + "With the affright that from her aspect came,", + "That I the hope relinquished of the height.", + "And as he is who willingly acquires,", + "And the time comes that causes him to lose,", + "Who weeps in all his thoughts and is despondent,", + "E’en such made me that beast withouten peace,", + "Which, coming on against me by degrees", + "Thrust me back thither where the sun is silent.", + "While I was rushing downward to the lowland,", + "Before mine eyes did one present himself,", + "Who seemed from long-continued silence hoarse.", + "When I beheld him in the desert vast,", + "“Have pity on me,” unto him I cried,", + "“Whiche’er thou art, or shade or real man!”", + "He answered me: “Not man; man once I was,", + "And both my parents were of Lombardy,", + "And Mantuans by country both of them.", + "‘Sub Julio’ was I born, though it was late,", + "And lived at Rome under the good Augustus,", + "During the time of false and lying gods.", + "A poet was I, and I sang that just", + "Son of Anchises, who came forth from Troy,", + "After that Ilion the superb was burned.", + "But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance?", + "Why climb’st thou not the Mount Delectable,", + "Which is the source and cause of every joy?”", + "“Now, art thou that Virgilius and that fountain", + "Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech?”", + "I made response to him with bashful forehead.", + "“O, of the other poets honour and light,", + "Avail me the long study and great love", + "That have impelled me to explore thy volume!", + "Thou art my master, and my author thou,", + "Thou art alone the one from whom I took", + "The beautiful style that has done honour to me.", + "Behold the beast, for which I have turned back;", + "Do thou protect me from her, famous Sage,", + "For she doth make my veins and pulses tremble.”", + "“Thee it behoves to take another road,”", + "Responded he, when he beheld me weeping,", + "“If from this savage place thou wouldst escape;", + "Because this beast, at which thou criest out,", + "Suffers not any one to pass her way,", + "But so doth harass him, that she destroys him;", + "And has a nature so malign and ruthless,", + "That never doth she glut her greedy will,", + "And after food is hungrier than before.", + "Many the animals with whom she weds,", + "And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound", + "Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain.", + "He shall not feed on either earth or pelf,", + "But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue;", + "’Twixt Feltro and Feltro shall his nation be;", + "Of that low Italy shall he be the saviour,", + "On whose account the maid Camilla died,", + "Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds;", + "Through every city shall he hunt her down,", + "Until he shall have driven her back to Hell,", + "There from whence envy first did let her loose.", + "Therefore I think and judge it for thy best", + "Thou follow me, and I will be thy guide,", + "And lead thee hence through the eternal place,", + "Where thou shalt hear the desperate lamentations,", + "Shalt see the ancient spirits disconsolate,", + "Who cry out each one for the second death;", + "And thou shalt see those who contented are", + "Within the fire, because they hope to come,", + "Whene’er it may be, to the blessed people;", + "To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend,", + "A soul shall be for that than I more worthy;", + "With her at my departure I will leave thee;", + "Because that Emperor, who reigns above,", + "In that I was rebellious to his law,", + "Wills that through me none come into his city.", + "He governs everywhere, and there he reigns;", + "There is his city and his lofty throne;", + "O happy he whom thereto he elects!”", + "And I to him: “Poet, I thee entreat,", + "By that same God whom thou didst never know,", + "So that I may escape this woe and worse,", + "Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said,", + "That I may see the portal of Saint Peter,", + "And those thou makest so disconsolate.”", + "Then he moved on, and I behind him followed." + + ], + "2": [ + "Day was departing, and the embrowned air", + "Released the animals that are on earth", + "From their fatigues; and I the only one", + "Made myself ready to sustain the war,", + "Both of the way and likewise of the woe,", + "Which memory that errs not shall retrace.", + "O Muses, O high genius, now assist me!", + "O memory, that didst write down what I saw,", + "Here thy nobility shall be manifest!", + "And I began: “Poet, who guidest me,", + "Regard my manhood, if it be sufficient,", + "Ere to the arduous pass thou dost confide me.", + "Thou sayest, that of Silvius the parent,", + "While yet corruptible, unto the world", + "Immortal went, and was there bodily.", + "But if the adversary of all evil", + "Was courteous, thinking of the high effect", + "That issue would from him, and who, and what,", + "To men of intellect unmeet it seems not;", + "For he was of great Rome, and of her empire", + "In the empyreal heaven as father chosen;", + "The which and what, wishing to speak the truth,", + "Were stablished as the holy place, wherein", + "Sits the successor of the greatest Peter.", + "Upon this journey, whence thou givest him vaunt,", + "Things did he hear, which the occasion were", + "Both of his victory and the papal mantle.", + "Thither went afterwards the Chosen Vessel,", + "To bring back comfort thence unto that Faith,", + "Which of salvation’s way is the beginning.", + "But I, why thither come, or who concedes it?", + "I not Aeneas am, I am not Paul,", + "Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it.", + "Therefore, if I resign myself to come,", + "I fear the coming may be ill-advised;", + "Thou’rt wise, and knowest better than I speak.”", + "And as he is, who unwills what he willed,", + "And by new thoughts doth his intention change,", + "So that from his design he quite withdraws,", + "Such I became, upon that dark hillside,", + "Because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise,", + "Which was so very prompt in the beginning.", + "“If I have well thy language understood,”", + "Replied that shade of the Magnanimous,", + "“Thy soul attainted is with cowardice,", + "Which many times a man encumbers so,", + "It turns him back from honoured enterprise,", + "As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy.", + "That thou mayst free thee from this apprehension,", + "I’ll tell thee why I came, and what I heard", + "At the first moment when I grieved for thee.", + "Among those was I who are in suspense,", + "And a fair, saintly Lady called to me", + "In such wise, I besought her to command me.", + "Her eyes where shining brighter than the Star;", + "And she began to say, gentle and low,", + "With voice angelical, in her own language:", + "‘O spirit courteous of Mantua,", + "Of whom the fame still in the world endures,", + "And shall endure, long-lasting as the world;", + "A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune,", + "Upon the desert slope is so impeded", + "Upon his way, that he has turned through terror,", + "And may, I fear, already be so lost,", + "That I too late have risen to his succour,", + "From that which I have heard of him in Heaven.", + "Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate,", + "And with what needful is for his release,", + "Assist him so, that I may be consoled.", + "Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go;", + "I come from there, where I would fain return;", + "Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak.", + "When I shall be in presence of my Lord,", + "Full often will I praise thee unto him.’", + "Then paused she, and thereafter I began:", + "‘O Lady of virtue, thou alone through whom", + "The human race exceedeth all contained", + "Within the heaven that has the lesser circles,", + "So grateful unto me is thy commandment,", + "To obey, if ’twere already done, were late;", + "No farther need’st thou ope to me thy wish.", + "But the cause tell me why thou dost not shun", + "The here descending down into this centre,", + "From the vast place thou burnest to return to.’", + "‘Since thou wouldst fain so inwardly discern,", + "Briefly will I relate,’ she answered me,", + "‘Why I am not afraid to enter here.", + "Of those things only should one be afraid", + "Which have the power of doing others harm;", + "Of the rest, no; because they are not fearful.", + "God in his mercy such created me", + "That misery of yours attains me not,", + "Nor any flame assails me of this burning.", + "A gentle Lady is in Heaven, who grieves", + "At this impediment, to which I send thee,", + "So that stern judgment there above is broken.", + "In her entreaty she besought Lucia,", + "And said, “Thy faithful one now stands in need", + "Of thee, and unto thee I recommend him.”", + "Lucia, foe of all that cruel is,", + "Hastened away, and came unto the place", + "Where I was sitting with the ancient Rachel.", + "“Beatrice” said she, “the true praise of God,", + "Why succourest thou not him, who loved thee so,", + "For thee he issued from the vulgar herd?", + "Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint?", + "Dost thou not see the death that combats him", + "Beside that flood, where ocean has no vaunt?”", + "Never were persons in the world so swift", + "To work their weal and to escape their woe,", + "As I, after such words as these were uttered,", + "Came hither downward from my blessed seat,", + "Confiding in thy dignified discourse,", + "Which honours thee, and those who’ve listened to it.’", + "After she thus had spoken unto me,", + "Weeping, her shining eyes she turned away;", + "Whereby she made me swifter in my coming;", + "And unto thee I came, as she desired;", + "I have delivered thee from that wild beast,", + "Which barred the beautiful mountain’s short ascent.", + "What is it, then? Why, why dost thou delay?", + "Why is such baseness bedded in thy heart?", + "Daring and hardihood why hast thou not,", + "Seeing that three such Ladies benedight", + "Are caring for thee in the court of Heaven,", + "And so much good my speech doth promise thee?”", + "Even as the flowerets, by nocturnal chill,", + "Bowed down and closed, when the sun whitens them,", + "Uplift themselves all open on their stems;", + "Such I became with my exhausted strength,", + "And such good courage to my heart there coursed,", + "That I began, like an intrepid person:", + "“O she compassionate, who succoured me,", + "And courteous thou, who hast obeyed so soon", + "The words of truth which she addressed to thee!", + "Thou hast my heart so with desire disposed", + "To the adventure, with these words of thine,", + "That to my first intent I have returned.", + "Now go, for one sole will is in us both,", + "Thou Leader, and thou Lord, and Master thou.”", + "Thus said I to him; and when he had moved,", + "I entered on the deep and savage way." + ], + "3": [ + "“Through me the way is to the city dolent;", + "Through me the way is to eternal dole;", + "Through me the way among the people lost.", + "Justice incited my sublime Creator;", + "Created me divine Omnipotence,", + "The highest Wisdom and the primal Love.", + "Before me there were no created things,", + "Only eterne, and I eternal last.", + "All hope abandon, ye who enter in!”", + "These words in sombre colour I beheld", + "Written upon the summit of a gate;", + "Whence I: “Their sense is, Master, hard to me!”", + "And he to me, as one experienced:", + "“Here all suspicion needs must be abandoned,", + "All cowardice must needs be here extinct.", + "We to the place have come, where I have told thee", + "Thou shalt behold the people dolorous", + "Who have foregone the good of intellect.”", + "And after he had laid his hand on mine", + "With joyful mien, whence I was comforted,", + "He led me in among the secret things.", + "There sighs, complaints, and ululations loud", + "Resounded through the air without a star,", + "Whence I, at the beginning, wept thereat.", + "Languages diverse, horrible dialects,", + "Accents of anger, words of agony,", + "And voices high and hoarse, with sound of hands,", + "Made up a tumult that goes whirling on", + "For ever in that air for ever black,", + "Even as the sand doth, when the whirlwind breathes.", + "And I, who had my head with horror bound,", + "Said: “Master, what is this which now I hear?", + "What folk is this, which seems by pain so vanquished?”", + "And he to me: “This miserable mode", + "Maintain the melancholy souls of those", + "Who lived withouten infamy or praise.", + "Commingled are they with that caitiff choir", + "Of Angels, who have not rebellious been,", + "Nor faithful were to God, but were for self.", + "The heavens expelled them, not to be less fair;", + "Nor them the nethermore abyss receives,", + "For glory none the damned would have from them.”", + "And I: “O Master, what so grievous is", + "To these, that maketh them lament so sore?”", + "He answered: “I will tell thee very briefly.", + "These have no longer any hope of death;", + "And this blind life of theirs is so debased,", + "They envious are of every other fate.", + "No fame of them the world permits to be;", + "Misericord and Justice both disdain them.", + "Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass.”", + "And I, who looked again, beheld a banner,", + "Which, whirling round, ran on so rapidly,", + "That of all pause it seemed to me indignant;", + "And after it there came so long a train", + "Of people, that I ne’er would have believed", + "That ever Death so many had undone.", + "When some among them I had recognised,", + "I looked, and I beheld the shade of him", + "Who made through cowardice the great refusal.", + "Forthwith I comprehended, and was certain,", + "That this the sect was of the caitiff wretches", + "Hateful to God and to his enemies.", + "These miscreants, who never were alive,", + "Were naked, and were stung exceedingly", + "By gadflies and by hornets that were there.", + "These did their faces irrigate with blood,", + "Which, with their tears commingled, at their feet", + "By the disgusting worms was gathered up.", + "And when to gazing farther I betook me.", + "People I saw on a great river’s bank;", + "Whence said I: “Master, now vouchsafe to me,", + "That I may know who these are, and what law", + "Makes them appear so ready to pass over,", + "As I discern athwart the dusky light.”", + "And he to me: “These things shall all be known", + "To thee, as soon as we our footsteps stay", + "Upon the dismal shore of Acheron.”", + "Then with mine eyes ashamed and downward cast,", + "Fearing my words might irksome be to him,", + "From speech refrained I till we reached the river.", + "And lo! towards us coming in a boat", + "An old man, hoary with the hair of eld,", + "Crying: “Woe unto you, ye souls depraved!", + "Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens;", + "I come to lead you to the other shore,", + "To the eternal shades in heat and frost.", + "And thou, that yonder standest, living soul,", + "Withdraw thee from these people, who are dead!”", + "But when he saw that I did not withdraw,", + "He said: “By other ways, by other ports", + "Thou to the shore shalt come, not here, for passage;", + "A lighter vessel needs must carry thee.”", + "And unto him the Guide: “Vex thee not, Charon;", + "It is so willed there where is power to do", + "That which is willed; and farther question not.”", + "Thereat were quieted the fleecy cheeks", + "Of him the ferryman of the livid fen,", + "Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame.", + "But all those souls who weary were and naked", + "Their colour changed and gnashed their teeth together,", + "As soon as they had heard those cruel words.", + "God they blasphemed and their progenitors,", + "The human race, the place, the time, the seed", + "Of their engendering and of their birth!", + "Thereafter all together they drew back,", + "Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore,", + "Which waiteth every man who fears not God.", + "Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede,", + "Beckoning to them, collects them all together,", + "Beats with his oar whoever lags behind.", + "As in the autumn-time the leaves fall off,", + "First one and then another, till the branch", + "Unto the earth surrenders all its spoils;", + "In similar wise the evil seed of Adam", + "Throw themselves from that margin one by one,", + "At signals, as a bird unto its lure.", + "So they depart across the dusky wave,", + "And ere upon the other side they land,", + "Again on this side a new troop assembles.", + "“My son,” the courteous Master said to me,", + "“All those who perish in the wrath of God", + "Here meet together out of every land;", + "And ready are they to pass o’er the river,", + "Because celestial Justice spurs them on,", + "So that their fear is turned into desire.", + "This way there never passes a good soul;", + "And hence if Charon doth complain of thee,", + "Well mayst thou know now what his speech imports.”", + "This being finished, all the dusk champaign", + "Trembled so violently, that of that terror", + "The recollection bathes me still with sweat.", + "The land of tears gave forth a blast of wind,", + "And fulminated a vermilion light,", + "Which overmastered in me every sense,", + "And as a man whom sleep hath seized I fell." + ], + "4": [ + "Broke the deep lethargy within my head", + "A heavy thunder, so that I upstarted,", + "Like to a person who by force is wakened;", + "And round about I moved my rested eyes,", + "Uprisen erect, and steadfastly I gazed,", + "To recognise the place wherein I was.", + "True is it, that upon the verge I found me", + "Of the abysmal valley dolorous,", + "That gathers thunder of infinite ululations.", + "Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous,", + "So that by fixing on its depths my sight", + "Nothing whatever I discerned therein.", + "“Let us descend now into the blind world,”", + "Began the Poet, pallid utterly;", + "“I will be first, and thou shalt second be.”", + "And I, who of his colour was aware,", + "Said: “How shall I come, if thou art afraid,", + "Who’rt wont to be a comfort to my fears?”", + "And he to me: “The anguish of the people", + "Who are below here in my face depicts", + "That pity which for terror thou hast taken.", + "Let us go on, for the long way impels us.”", + "Thus he went in, and thus he made me enter", + "The foremost circle that surrounds the abyss.", + "There, as it seemed to me from listening,", + "Were lamentations none, but only sighs,", + "That tremble made the everlasting air.", + "And this arose from sorrow without torment,", + "Which the crowds had, that many were and great,", + "Of infants and of women and of men.", + "To me the Master good: “Thou dost not ask", + "What spirits these, which thou beholdest, are?", + "Now will I have thee know, ere thou go farther,", + "That they sinned not; and if they merit had,", + "’Tis not enough, because they had not baptism", + "Which is the portal of the Faith thou holdest;", + "And if they were before Christianity,", + "In the right manner they adored not God;", + "And among such as these am I myself.", + "For such defects, and not for other guilt,", + "Lost are we and are only so far punished,", + "That without hope we live on in desire.”", + "Great grief seized on my heart when this I heard,", + "Because some people of much worthiness", + "I knew, who in that Limbo were suspended.", + "“Tell me, my Master, tell me, thou my Lord,”", + "Began I, with desire of being certain", + "Of that Faith which o’ercometh every error,", + "“Came any one by his own merit hence,", + "Or by another’s, who was blessed thereafter?”", + "And he, who understood my covert speech,", + "Replied: “I was a novice in this state,", + "When I saw hither come a Mighty One,", + "With sign of victory incoronate.", + "Hence he drew forth the shade of the First Parent,", + "And that of his son Abel, and of Noah,", + "Of Moses the lawgiver, and the obedient", + "Abraham, patriarch, and David, king,", + "Israel with his father and his children,", + "And Rachel, for whose sake he did so much,", + "And others many, and he made them blessed;", + "And thou must know, that earlier than these", + "Never were any human spirits saved.”", + "We ceased not to advance because he spake,", + "But still were passing onward through the forest,", + "The forest, say I, of thick-crowded ghosts.", + "Not very far as yet our way had gone", + "This side the summit, when I saw a fire", + "That overcame a hemisphere of darkness.", + "We were a little distant from it still,", + "But not so far that I in part discerned not", + "That honourable people held that place.", + "“O thou who honourest every art and science,", + "Who may these be, which such great honour have,", + "That from the fashion of the rest it parts them?”", + "And he to me: “The honourable name,", + "That sounds of them above there in thy life,", + "Wins grace in Heaven, that so advances them.”", + "In the mean time a voice was heard by me:", + "“All honour be to the pre-eminent Poet;", + "His shade returns again, that was departed.”", + "After the voice had ceased and quiet was,", + "Four mighty shades I saw approaching us;", + "Semblance had they nor sorrowful nor glad.", + "To say to me began my gracious Master:", + "“Him with that falchion in his hand behold,", + "Who comes before the three, even as their lord.", + "That one is Homer, Poet sovereign;", + "He who comes next is Horace, the satirist;", + "The third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan.", + "Because to each of these with me applies", + "The name that solitary voice proclaimed,", + "They do me honour, and in that do well.”", + "Thus I beheld assemble the fair school", + "Of that lord of the song pre-eminent,", + "Who o’er the others like an eagle soars.", + "When they together had discoursed somewhat,", + "They turned to me with signs of salutation,", + "And on beholding this, my Master smiled;", + "And more of honour still, much more, they did me,", + "In that they made me one of their own band;", + "So that the sixth was I, ’mid so much wit.", + "Thus we went on as far as to the light,", + "Things saying ’tis becoming to keep silent,", + "As was the saying of them where I was.", + "We came unto a noble castle’s foot,", + "Seven times encompassed with lofty walls,", + "Defended round by a fair rivulet;", + "This we passed over even as firm ground;", + "Through portals seven I entered with these Sages;", + "We came into a meadow of fresh verdure.", + "People were there with solemn eyes and slow,", + "Of great authority in their countenance;", + "They spake but seldom, and with gentle voices.", + "Thus we withdrew ourselves upon one side", + "Into an opening luminous and lofty,", + "So that they all of them were visible.", + "There opposite, upon the green enamel,", + "Were pointed out to me the mighty spirits,", + "Whom to have seen I feel myself exalted.", + "I saw Electra with companions many,", + "’Mongst whom I knew both Hector and Aeneas,", + "Caesar in armour with gerfalcon eyes;", + "I saw Camilla and Penthesilea", + "On the other side, and saw the King Latinus,", + "Who with Lavinia his daughter sat;", + "I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin forth,", + "Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia,", + "And saw alone, apart, the Saladin.", + "When I had lifted up my brows a little,", + "The Master I beheld of those who know,", + "Sit with his philosophic family.", + "All gaze upon him, and all do him honour.", + "There I beheld both Socrates and Plato,", + "Who nearer him before the others stand;", + "Democritus, who puts the world on chance,", + "Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales,", + "Zeno, Empedocles, and Heraclitus;", + "Of qualities I saw the good collector,", + "Hight Dioscorides; and Orpheus saw I,", + "Tully and Livy, and moral Seneca,", + "Euclid, geometrician, and Ptolemy,", + "Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicenna,", + "Averroes, who the great Comment made.", + "I cannot all of them pourtray in full,", + "Because so drives me onward the long theme,", + "That many times the word comes short of fact.", + "The sixfold company in two divides;", + "Another way my sapient Guide conducts me", + "Forth from the quiet to the air that trembles;", + "And to a place I come where nothing shines." + + ], + "5": [ + "Thus I descended out of the first circle", + "Down to the second, that less space begirds,", + "And so much greater dole, that goads to wailing.", + "There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls;", + "Examines the transgressions at the entrance;", + "Judges, and sends according as he girds him.", + "I say, that when the spirit evil-born", + "Cometh before him, wholly it confesses;", + "And this discriminator of transgressions", + "Seeth what place in Hell is meet for it;", + "Girds himself with his tail as many times", + "As grades he wishes it should be thrust down.", + "Always before him many of them stand;", + "They go by turns each one unto the judgment;", + "They speak, and hear, and then are downward hurled.", + "“O thou, that to this dolorous hostelry", + "Comest,” said Minos to me, when he saw me,", + "Leaving the practice of so great an office,", + "“Look how thou enterest, and in whom thou trustest;", + "Let not the portal’s amplitude deceive thee.”", + "And unto him my Guide: “Why criest thou too?", + "Do not impede his journey fate-ordained;", + "It is so willed there where is power to do", + "That which is willed; and ask no further question.”", + "And now begin the dolesome notes to grow", + "Audible unto me; now am I come", + "There where much lamentation strikes upon me.", + "I came into a place mute of all light,", + "Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest,", + "If by opposing winds ’t is combated.", + "The infernal hurricane that never rests", + "Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine;", + "Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them.", + "When they arrive before the precipice,", + "There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments,", + "There they blaspheme the puissance divine.", + "I understood that unto such a torment", + "The carnal malefactors were condemned,", + "Who reason subjugate to appetite.", + "And as the wings of starlings bear them on", + "In the cold season in large band and full,", + "So doth that blast the spirits maledict;", + "It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them;", + "No hope doth comfort them for evermore,", + "Not of repose, but even of lesser pain.", + "And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays,", + "Making in air a long line of themselves,", + "So saw I coming, uttering lamentations,", + "Shadows borne onward by the aforesaid stress.", + "Whereupon said I: “Master, who are those", + "People, whom the black air so castigates?”", + "“The first of those, of whom intelligence", + "Thou fain wouldst have,” then said he unto me,", + "“The empress was of many languages.", + "To sensual vices she was so abandoned,", + "That lustful she made licit in her law,", + "To remove the blame to which she had been led.", + "She is Semiramis, of whom we read", + "That she succeeded Ninus, and was his spouse;", + "She held the land which now the Sultan rules.", + "The next is she who killed herself for love,", + "And broke faith with the ashes of Sichaeus;", + "Then Cleopatra the voluptuous.”", + "Helen I saw, for whom so many ruthless", + "Seasons revolved; and saw the great Achilles,", + "Who at the last hour combated with Love.", + "Paris I saw, Tristan; and more than a thousand", + "Shades did he name and point out with his finger,", + "Whom Love had separated from our life.", + "After that I had listened to my Teacher,", + "Naming the dames of eld and cavaliers,", + "Pity prevailed, and I was nigh bewildered.", + "And I began: “O Poet, willingly", + "Speak would I to those two, who go together,", + "And seem upon the wind to be so light.”", + "And, he to me: “Thou’lt mark, when they shall be", + "Nearer to us; and then do thou implore them", + "By love which leadeth them, and they will come.”", + "Soon as the wind in our direction sways them,", + "My voice uplift I: “O ye weary souls!", + "Come speak to us, if no one interdicts it.”", + "As turtle-doves, called onward by desire,", + "With open and steady wings to the sweet nest", + "Fly through the air by their volition borne,", + "So came they from the band where Dido is,", + "Approaching us athwart the air malign,", + "So strong was the affectionate appeal.", + "“O living creature gracious and benignant,", + "Who visiting goest through the purple air", + "Us, who have stained the world incarnadine,", + "If were the King of the Universe our friend,", + "We would pray unto him to give thee peace,", + "Since thou hast pity on our woe perverse.", + "Of what it pleases thee to hear and speak,", + "That will we hear, and we will speak to you,", + "While silent is the wind, as it is now.", + "Sitteth the city, wherein I was born,", + "Upon the sea-shore where the Po descends", + "To rest in peace with all his retinue.", + "Love, that on gentle heart doth swiftly seize,", + "Seized this man for the person beautiful", + "That was ta’en from me, and still the mode offends me.", + "Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving,", + "Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly,", + "That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me;", + "Love has conducted us unto one death;", + "Caina waiteth him who quenched our life!”", + "These words were borne along from them to us.", + "As soon as I had heard those souls tormented,", + "I bowed my face, and so long held it down", + "Until the Poet said to me: “What thinkest?”", + "When I made answer, I began: “Alas!", + "How many pleasant thoughts, how much desire,", + "Conducted these unto the dolorous pass!”", + "Then unto them I turned me, and I spake,", + "And I began: “Thine agonies, Francesca,", + "Sad and compassionate to weeping make me.", + "But tell me, at the time of those sweet sighs,", + "By what and in what manner Love conceded,", + "That you should know your dubious desires?”", + "And she to me: “There is no greater sorrow", + "Than to be mindful of the happy time", + "In misery, and that thy Teacher knows.", + "But, if to recognise the earliest root", + "Of love in us thou hast so great desire,", + "I will do even as he who weeps and speaks.", + "One day we reading were for our delight", + "Of Launcelot, how Love did him enthral.", + "Alone we were and without any fear.", + "Full many a time our eyes together drew", + "That reading, and drove the colour from our faces;", + "But one point only was it that o’ercame us.", + "When as we read of the much-longed-for smile", + "Being by such a noble lover kissed,", + "This one, who ne’er from me shall be divided,", + "Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating.", + "Galeotto was the book and he who wrote it.", + "That day no farther did we read therein.”", + "And all the while one spirit uttered this,", + "The other one did weep so, that, for pity,", + "I swooned away as if I had been dying,", + "And fell, even as a dead body falls." + ], + "6": [ + "At the return of consciousness, that closed", + "Before the pity of those two relations,", + "Which utterly with sadness had confused me,", + "New torments I behold, and new tormented", + "Around me, whichsoever way I move,", + "And whichsoever way I turn, and gaze.", + "In the third circle am I of the rain", + "Eternal, maledict, and cold, and heavy;", + "Its law and quality are never new.", + "Huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow,", + "Athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain;", + "Noisome the earth is, that receiveth this.", + "Cerberus, monster cruel and uncouth,", + "With his three gullets like a dog is barking", + "Over the people that are there submerged.", + "Red eyes he has, and unctuous beard and black,", + "And belly large, and armed with claws his hands;", + "He rends the spirits, flays, and quarters them.", + "Howl the rain maketh them like unto dogs;", + "One side they make a shelter for the other;", + "Oft turn themselves the wretched reprobates.", + "When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm!", + "His mouths he opened, and displayed his tusks;", + "Not a limb had he that was motionless.", + "And my Conductor, with his spans extended,", + "Took of the earth, and with his fists well filled,", + "He threw it into those rapacious gullets.", + "Such as that dog is, who by barking craves,", + "And quiet grows soon as his food he gnaws,", + "For to devour it he but thinks and struggles,", + "The like became those muzzles filth-begrimed", + "Of Cerberus the demon, who so thunders", + "Over the souls that they would fain be deaf.", + "We passed across the shadows, which subdues", + "The heavy rain-storm, and we placed our feet", + "Upon their vanity that person seems.", + "They all were lying prone upon the earth,", + "Excepting one, who sat upright as soon", + "As he beheld us passing on before him.", + "“O thou that art conducted through this Hell,”", + "He said to me, “recall me, if thou canst;", + "Thyself wast made before I was unmade.”", + "And I to him: “The anguish which thou hast", + "Perhaps doth draw thee out of my remembrance,", + "So that it seems not I have ever seen thee.", + "But tell me who thou art, that in so doleful", + "A place art put, and in such punishment,", + "If some are greater, none is so displeasing.”", + "And he to me: “Thy city, which is full", + "Of envy so that now the sack runs over,", + "Held me within it in the life serene.", + "You citizens were wont to call me Ciacco;", + "For the pernicious sin of gluttony", + "I, as thou seest, am battered by this rain.", + "And I, sad soul, am not the only one,", + "For all these suffer the like penalty", + "For the like sin;” and word no more spake he.", + "I answered him: “Ciacco, thy wretchedness", + "Weighs on me so that it to weep invites me;", + "But tell me, if thou knowest, to what shall come", + "The citizens of the divided city;", + "If any there be just; and the occasion", + "Tell me why so much discord has assailed it.”", + "And he to me: “They, after long contention,", + "Will come to bloodshed; and the rustic party", + "Will drive the other out with much offence.", + "Then afterwards behoves it this one fall", + "Within three suns, and rise again the other", + "By force of him who now is on the coast.", + "High will it hold its forehead a long while,", + "Keeping the other under heavy burdens,", + "Howe’er it weeps thereat and is indignant.", + "The just are two, and are not understood there;", + "Envy and Arrogance and Avarice", + "Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled.”", + "Here ended he his tearful utterance;", + "And I to him: “I wish thee still to teach me,", + "And make a gift to me of further speech.", + "Farinata and Tegghiaio, once so worthy,", + "Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca,", + "And others who on good deeds set their thoughts,", + "Say where they are, and cause that I may know them;", + "For great desire constraineth me to learn", + "If Heaven doth sweeten them, or Hell envenom.”", + "And he: “They are among the blacker souls;", + "A different sin downweighs them to the bottom;", + "If thou so far descendest, thou canst see them.", + "But when thou art again in the sweet world,", + "I pray thee to the mind of others bring me;", + "No more I tell thee and no more I answer.”", + "Then his straightforward eyes he turned askance,", + "Eyed me a little, and then bowed his head;", + "He fell therewith prone like the other blind.", + "And the Guide said to me: “He wakes no more", + "This side the sound of the angelic trumpet;", + "When shall approach the hostile Potentate,", + "Each one shall find again his dismal tomb,", + "Shall reassume his flesh and his own figure,", + "Shall hear what through eternity re-echoes.”", + "So we passed onward o’er the filthy mixture", + "Of shadows and of rain with footsteps slow,", + "Touching a little on the future life.", + "Wherefore I said: “Master, these torments here,", + "Will they increase after the mighty sentence,", + "Or lesser be, or will they be as burning?”", + "And he to me: “Return unto thy science,", + "Which wills, that as the thing more perfect is,", + "The more it feels of pleasure and of pain.", + "Albeit that this people maledict", + "To true perfection never can attain,", + "Hereafter more than now they look to be.”", + "Round in a circle by that road we went,", + "Speaking much more, which I do not repeat;", + "We came unto the point where the descent is;", + "There we found Plutus the great enemy." + ], + "7": [ + "“Pape Satan, Pape Satan, Aleppe!”", + "Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began;", + "And that benignant Sage, who all things knew,", + "Said, to encourage me: “Let not thy fear", + "Harm thee; for any power that he may have", + "Shall not prevent thy going down this crag.”", + "Then he turned round unto that bloated lip,", + "And said: “Be silent, thou accursed wolf;", + "Consume within thyself with thine own rage.", + "Not causeless is this journey to the abyss;", + "Thus is it willed on high, where Michael wrought", + "Vengeance upon the proud adultery.”", + "Even as the sails inflated by the wind", + "Involved together fall when snaps the mast,", + "So fell the cruel monster to the earth.", + "Thus we descended into the fourth chasm,", + "Gaining still farther on the dolesome shore", + "Which all the woe of the universe insacks.", + "Justice of God, ah! who heaps up so many", + "New toils and sufferings as I beheld?", + "And why doth our transgression waste us so?", + "As doth the billow there upon Charybdis,", + "That breaks itself on that which it encounters,", + "So here the folk must dance their roundelay.", + "Here saw I people, more than elsewhere, many,", + "On one side and the other, with great howls,", + "Rolling weights forward by main force of chest.", + "They clashed together, and then at that point", + "Each one turned backward, rolling retrograde,", + "Crying, “Why keepest?” and, “Why squanderest thou?”", + "Thus they returned along the lurid circle", + "On either hand unto the opposite point,", + "Shouting their shameful metre evermore.", + "Then each, when he arrived there, wheeled about", + "Through his half-circle to another joust;", + "And I, who had my heart pierced as it were,", + "Exclaimed: “My Master, now declare to me", + "What people these are, and if all were clerks,", + "These shaven crowns upon the left of us.”", + "And he to me: “All of them were asquint", + "In intellect in the first life, so much", + "That there with measure they no spending made.", + "Clearly enough their voices bark it forth,", + "Whene’er they reach the two points of the circle,", + "Where sunders them the opposite defect.", + "Clerks those were who no hairy covering", + "Have on the head, and Popes and Cardinals,", + "In whom doth Avarice practise its excess.”", + "And I: “My Master, among such as these", + "I ought forsooth to recognise some few,", + "Who were infected with these maladies.”", + "And he to me: “Vain thought thou entertainest;", + "The undiscerning life which made them sordid", + "Now makes them unto all discernment dim.", + "Forever shall they come to these two buttings;", + "These from the sepulchre shall rise again", + "With the fist closed, and these with tresses shorn.", + "Ill giving and ill keeping the fair world", + "Have ta’en from them, and placed them in this scuffle;", + "Whate’er it be, no words adorn I for it.", + "Now canst thou, Son, behold the transient farce", + "Of goods that are committed unto Fortune,", + "For which the human race each other buffet;", + "For all the gold that is beneath the moon,", + "Or ever has been, of these weary souls", + "Could never make a single one repose.”", + "“Master,” I said to him, “now tell me also", + "What is this Fortune which thou speakest of,", + "That has the world’s goods so within its clutches?”", + "And he to me: “O creatures imbecile,", + "What ignorance is this which doth beset you?", + "Now will I have thee learn my judgment of her.", + "He whose omniscience everything transcends", + "The heavens created, and gave who should guide them,", + "That every part to every part may shine,", + "Distributing the light in equal measure;", + "He in like manner to the mundane splendours", + "Ordained a general ministress and guide,", + "That she might change at times the empty treasures", + "From race to race, from one blood to another,", + "Beyond resistance of all human wisdom.", + "Therefore one people triumphs, and another", + "Languishes, in pursuance of her judgment,", + "Which hidden is, as in the grass a serpent.", + "Your knowledge has no counterstand against her;", + "She makes provision, judges, and pursues", + "Her governance, as theirs the other gods.", + "Her permutations have not any truce;", + "Necessity makes her precipitate,", + "So often cometh who his turn obtains.", + "And this is she who is so crucified", + "Even by those who ought to give her praise,", + "Giving her blame amiss, and bad repute.", + "But she is blissful, and she hears it not;", + "Among the other primal creatures gladsome", + "She turns her sphere, and blissful she rejoices.", + "Let us descend now unto greater woe;", + "Already sinks each star that was ascending", + "When I set out, and loitering is forbidden.”", + "We crossed the circle to the other bank,", + "Near to a fount that boils, and pours itself", + "Along a gully that runs out of it.", + "The water was more sombre far than perse;", + "And we, in company with the dusky waves,", + "Made entrance downward by a path uncouth.", + "A marsh it makes, which has the name of Styx,", + "This tristful brooklet, when it has descended", + "Down to the foot of the malign gray shores.", + "And I, who stood intent upon beholding,", + "Saw people mud-besprent in that lagoon,", + "All of them naked and with angry look.", + "They smote each other not alone with hands,", + "But with the head and with the breast and feet,", + "Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth.", + "Said the good Master: “Son, thou now beholdest", + "The souls of those whom anger overcame;", + "And likewise I would have thee know for certain", + "Beneath the water people are who sigh", + "And make this water bubble at the surface,", + "As the eye tells thee wheresoe’er it turns.", + "Fixed in the mire they say, ‘We sullen were", + "In the sweet air, which by the sun is gladdened,", + "Bearing within ourselves the sluggish reek;", + "Now we are sullen in this sable mire.’", + "This hymn do they keep gurgling in their throats,", + "For with unbroken words they cannot say it.”", + "Thus we went circling round the filthy fen", + "A great arc ’twixt the dry bank and the swamp,", + "With eyes turned unto those who gorge the mire;", + "Unto the foot of a tower we came at last." + ], + "8": [ + "I say, continuing, that long before", + "We to the foot of that high tower had come,", + "Our eyes went upward to the summit of it,", + "By reason of two flamelets we saw placed there,", + "And from afar another answer them,", + "So far, that hardly could the eye attain it.", + "And, to the sea of all discernment turned,", + "I said: “What sayeth this, and what respondeth", + "That other fire? and who are they that made it?”", + "And he to me: “Across the turbid waves", + "What is expected thou canst now discern,", + "If reek of the morass conceal it not.”", + "Cord never shot an arrow from itself", + "That sped away athwart the air so swift,", + "As I beheld a very little boat", + "Come o’er the water tow’rds us at that moment,", + "Under the guidance of a single pilot,", + "Who shouted, “Now art thou arrived, fell soul?”", + "“Phlegyas, Phlegyas, thou criest out in vain", + "For this once,” said my Lord; “thou shalt not have us", + "Longer than in the passing of the slough.”", + "As he who listens to some great deceit", + "That has been done to him, and then resents it,", + "Such became Phlegyas, in his gathered wrath.", + "My Guide descended down into the boat,", + "And then he made me enter after him,", + "And only when I entered seemed it laden.", + "Soon as the Guide and I were in the boat,", + "The antique prow goes on its way, dividing", + "More of the water than ’tis wont with others.", + "While we were running through the dead canal,", + "Uprose in front of me one full of mire,", + "And said, “Who ’rt thou that comest ere the hour?”", + "And I to him: “Although I come, I stay not;", + "But who art thou that hast become so squalid?”", + "“Thou seest that I am one who weeps,” he answered.", + "And I to him: “With weeping and with wailing,", + "Thou spirit maledict, do thou remain;", + "For thee I know, though thou art all defiled.”", + "Then stretched he both his hands unto the boat;", + "Whereat my wary Master thrust him back,", + "Saying, “Away there with the other dogs!”", + "Thereafter with his arms he clasped my neck;", + "He kissed my face, and said: “Disdainful soul,", + "Blessed be she who bore thee in her bosom.", + "That was an arrogant person in the world;", + "Goodness is none, that decks his memory;", + "So likewise here his shade is furious.", + "How many are esteemed great kings up there,", + "Who here shall be like unto swine in mire,", + "Leaving behind them horrible dispraises!”", + "And I: “My Master, much should I be pleased,", + "If I could see him soused into this broth,", + "Before we issue forth out of the lake.”", + "And he to me: “Ere unto thee the shore", + "Reveal itself, thou shalt be satisfied;", + "Such a desire ’tis meet thou shouldst enjoy.”", + "A little after that, I saw such havoc", + "Made of him by the people of the mire,", + "That still I praise and thank my God for it.", + "They all were shouting, “At Philippo Argenti!”", + "And that exasperate spirit Florentine", + "Turned round upon himself with his own teeth.", + "We left him there, and more of him I tell not;", + "But on mine ears there smote a lamentation,", + "Whence forward I intent unbar mine eyes.", + "And the good Master said: “Even now, my Son,", + "The city draweth near whose name is Dis,", + "With the grave citizens, with the great throng.”", + "And I: “Its mosques already, Master, clearly", + "Within there in the valley I discern", + "Vermilion, as if issuing from the fire", + "They were.” And he to me: “The fire eternal", + "That kindles them within makes them look red,", + "As thou beholdest in this nether Hell.”", + "Then we arrived within the moats profound,", + "That circumvallate that disconsolate city;", + "The walls appeared to me to be of iron.", + "Not without making first a circuit wide,", + "We came unto a place where loud the pilot", + "Cried out to us, “Debark, here is the entrance.”", + "More than a thousand at the gates I saw", + "Out of the Heavens rained down, who angrily", + "Were saying, “Who is this that without death", + "Goes through the kingdom of the people dead?”", + "And my sagacious Master made a sign", + "Of wishing secretly to speak with them.", + "A little then they quelled their great disdain,", + "And said: “Come thou alone, and he begone", + "Who has so boldly entered these dominions.", + "Let him return alone by his mad road;", + "Try, if he can; for thou shalt here remain,", + "Who hast escorted him through such dark regions.”", + "Think, Reader, if I was discomforted", + "At utterance of the accursed words;", + "For never to return here I believed.", + "“O my dear Guide, who more than seven times", + "Hast rendered me security, and drawn me", + "From imminent peril that before me stood,", + "Do not desert me,” said I, “thus undone;", + "And if the going farther be denied us,", + "Let us retrace our steps together swiftly.”", + "And that Lord, who had led me thitherward,", + "Said unto me: “Fear not; because our passage", + "None can take from us, it by Such is given.", + "But here await me, and thy weary spirit", + "Comfort and nourish with a better hope;", + "For in this nether world I will not leave thee.”", + "So onward goes and there abandons me", + "My Father sweet, and I remain in doubt,", + "For No and Yes within my head contend.", + "I could not hear what he proposed to them;", + "But with them there he did not linger long,", + "Ere each within in rivalry ran back.", + "They closed the portals, those our adversaries,", + "On my Lord’s breast, who had remained without", + "And turned to me with footsteps far between.", + "His eyes cast down, his forehead shorn had he", + "Of all its boldness, and he said, with sighs,", + "“Who has denied to me the dolesome houses?”", + "And unto me: “Thou, because I am angry,", + "Fear not, for I will conquer in the trial,", + "Whatever for defence within be planned.", + "This arrogance of theirs is nothing new;", + "For once they used it at less secret gate,", + "Which finds itself without a fastening still.", + "O’er it didst thou behold the dead inscription;", + "And now this side of it descends the steep,", + "Passing across the circles without escort,", + "One by whose means the city shall be opened.”" + ], + "9": [ + "That hue which cowardice brought out on me,", + "Beholding my Conductor backward turn,", + "Sooner repressed within him his new colour.", + "He stopped attentive, like a man who listens,", + "Because the eye could not conduct him far", + "Through the black air, and through the heavy fog.", + "“Still it behoveth us to win the fight,”", + "Began he; “Else. . .Such offered us herself. . .", + "O how I long that some one here arrive!”", + "Well I perceived, as soon as the beginning", + "He covered up with what came afterward,", + "That they were words quite different from the first;", + "But none the less his saying gave me fear,", + "Because I carried out the broken phrase,", + "Perhaps to a worse meaning than he had.", + "“Into this bottom of the doleful conch", + "Doth any e’er descend from the first grade,", + "Which for its pain has only hope cut off?”", + "This question put I; and he answered me:", + "“Seldom it comes to pass that one of us", + "Maketh the journey upon which I go.", + "True is it, once before I here below", + "Was conjured by that pitiless Erictho,", + "Who summoned back the shades unto their bodies.", + "Naked of me short while the flesh had been,", + "Before within that wall she made me enter,", + "To bring a spirit from the circle of Judas;", + "That is the lowest region and the darkest,", + "And farthest from the heaven which circles all.", + "Well know I the way; therefore be reassured.", + "This fen, which a prodigious stench exhales,", + "Encompasses about the city dolent,", + "Where now we cannot enter without anger.”", + "And more he said, but not in mind I have it;", + "Because mine eye had altogether drawn me", + "Tow’rds the high tower with the red-flaming summit,", + "Where in a moment saw I swift uprisen", + "The three infernal Furies stained with blood,", + "Who had the limbs of women and their mien,", + "And with the greenest hydras were begirt;", + "Small serpents and cerastes were their tresses,", + "Wherewith their horrid temples were entwined.", + "And he who well the handmaids of the Queen", + "Of everlasting lamentation knew,", + "Said unto me: “Behold the fierce Erinnys.", + "This is Megaera, on the left-hand side;", + "She who is weeping on the right, Alecto;", + "Tisiphone is between;” and then was silent.", + "Each one her breast was rending with her nails;", + "They beat them with their palms, and cried so loud,", + "That I for dread pressed close unto the Poet.", + "“Medusa come, so we to stone will change him!”", + "All shouted looking down; “in evil hour", + "Avenged we not on Theseus his assault!”", + "“Turn thyself round, and keep thine eyes close shut,", + "For if the Gorgon appear, and thou shouldst see it,", + "No more returning upward would there be.”", + "Thus said the Master; and he turned me round", + "Himself, and trusted not unto my hands", + "So far as not to blind me with his own.", + "O ye who have undistempered intellects,", + "Observe the doctrine that conceals itself", + "Beneath the veil of the mysterious verses!", + "And now there came across the turbid waves", + "The clangour of a sound with terror fraught,", + "Because of which both of the margins trembled;", + "Not otherwise it was than of a wind", + "Impetuous on account of adverse heats,", + "That smites the forest, and, without restraint,", + "The branches rends, beats down, and bears away;", + "Right onward, laden with dust, it goes superb,", + "And puts to flight the wild beasts and the shepherds.", + "Mine eyes he loosed, and said: “Direct the nerve", + "Of vision now along that ancient foam,", + "There yonder where that smoke is most intense.”", + "Even as the frogs before the hostile serpent", + "Across the water scatter all abroad,", + "Until each one is huddled in the earth.", + "More than a thousand ruined souls I saw,", + "Thus fleeing from before one who on foot", + "Was passing o’er the Styx with soles unwet.", + "From off his face he fanned that unctuous air,", + "Waving his left hand oft in front of him,", + "And only with that anguish seemed he weary.", + "Well I perceived one sent from Heaven was he,", + "And to the Master turned; and he made sign", + "That I should quiet stand, and bow before him.", + "Ah! how disdainful he appeared to me!", + "He reached the gate, and with a little rod", + "He opened it, for there was no resistance.", + "“O banished out of Heaven, people despised!”", + "Thus he began upon the horrid threshold;", + "“Whence is this arrogance within you couched?", + "Wherefore recalcitrate against that will,", + "From which the end can never be cut off,", + "And which has many times increased your pain?", + "What helpeth it to butt against the fates?", + "Your Cerberus, if you remember well,", + "For that still bears his chin and gullet peeled.”", + "Then he returned along the miry road,", + "And spake no word to us, but had the look", + "Of one whom other care constrains and goads", + "Than that of him who in his presence is;", + "And we our feet directed tow’rds the city,", + "After those holy words all confident.", + "Within we entered without any contest;", + "And I, who inclination had to see", + "What the condition such a fortress holds,", + "Soon as I was within, cast round mine eye,", + "And see on every hand an ample plain,", + "Full of distress and torment terrible.", + "Even as at Arles, where stagnant grows the Rhone,", + "Even as at Pola near to the Quarnaro,", + "That shuts in Italy and bathes its borders,", + "The sepulchres make all the place uneven;", + "So likewise did they there on every side,", + "Saving that there the manner was more bitter;", + "For flames between the sepulchres were scattered,", + "By which they so intensely heated were,", + "That iron more so asks not any art.", + "All of their coverings uplifted were,", + "And from them issued forth such dire laments,", + "Sooth seemed they of the wretched and tormented.", + "And I: “My Master, what are all those people", + "Who, having sepulture within those tombs,", + "Make themselves audible by doleful sighs?”", + "And he to me: “Here are the Heresiarchs,", + "With their disciples of all sects, and much", + "More than thou thinkest laden are the tombs.", + "Here like together with its like is buried;", + "And more and less the monuments are heated.”", + "And when he to the right had turned, we passed", + "Between the torments and high parapets." + ], + "10": [ + "Now onward goes, along a narrow path", + "Between the torments and the city wall,", + "My Master, and I follow at his back.", + "“O power supreme, that through these impious circles", + "Turnest me,” I began, “as pleases thee,", + "Speak to me, and my longings satisfy;", + "The people who are lying in these tombs,", + "Might they be seen? already are uplifted", + "The covers all, and no one keepeth guard.”", + "And he to me: “They all will be closed up", + "When from Jehoshaphat they shall return", + "Here with the bodies they have left above.", + "Their cemetery have upon this side", + "With Epicurus all his followers,", + "Who with the body mortal make the soul;", + "But in the question thou dost put to me,", + "Within here shalt thou soon be satisfied,", + "And likewise in the wish thou keepest silent.”", + "And I: “Good Leader, I but keep concealed", + "From thee my heart, that I may speak the less,", + "Nor only now hast thou thereto disposed me.”", + "“O Tuscan, thou who through the city of fire", + "Goest alive, thus speaking modestly,", + "Be pleased to stay thy footsteps in this place.", + "Thy mode of speaking makes thee manifest", + "A native of that noble fatherland,", + "To which perhaps I too molestful was.”", + "Upon a sudden issued forth this sound", + "From out one of the tombs; wherefore I pressed,", + "Fearing, a little nearer to my Leader.", + "And unto me he said: “Turn thee; what dost thou?", + "Behold there Farinata who has risen;", + "From the waist upwards wholly shalt thou see him.”", + "I had already fixed mine eyes on his,", + "And he uprose erect with breast and front", + "E’en as if Hell he had in great despite.", + "And with courageous hands and prompt my Leader", + "Thrust me between the sepulchres towards him,", + "Exclaiming, “Let thy words explicit be.”", + "As soon as I was at the foot of his tomb", + "Somewhat he eyed me, and, as if disdainful,", + "Then asked of me, “Who were thine ancestors?”", + "I, who desirous of obeying was,", + "Concealed it not, but all revealed to him;", + "Whereat he raised his brows a little upward.", + "Then said he: “Fiercely adverse have they been", + "To me, and to my fathers, and my party;", + "So that two several times I scattered them.”", + "“If they were banished, they returned on all sides,”", + "I answered him, “the first time and the second;", + "But yours have not acquired that art aright.”", + "Then there uprose upon the sight, uncovered", + "Down to the chin, a shadow at his side;", + "I think that he had risen on his knees.", + "Round me he gazed, as if solicitude", + "He had to see if some one else were with me,", + "But after his suspicion was all spent,", + "Weeping, he said to me: “If through this blind", + "Prison thou goest by loftiness of genius,", + "Where is my son? and why is he not with thee?”", + "And I to him: “I come not of myself;", + "He who is waiting yonder leads me here,", + "Whom in disdain perhaps your Guido had.”", + "His language and the mode of punishment", + "Already unto me had read his name;", + "On that account my answer was so full.", + "Up starting suddenly, he cried out: “How", + "Saidst thou,—he had? Is he not still alive?", + "Does not the sweet light strike upon his eyes?”", + "When he became aware of some delay,", + "Which I before my answer made, supine", + "He fell again, and forth appeared no more.", + "But the other, magnanimous, at whose desire", + "I had remained, did not his aspect change,", + "Neither his neck he moved, nor bent his side.", + "“And if,” continuing his first discourse,", + "“They have that art,” he said, “not learned aright,", + "That more tormenteth me, than doth this bed.", + "But fifty times shall not rekindled be", + "The countenance of the Lady who reigns here,", + "Ere thou shalt know how heavy is that art;", + "And as thou wouldst to the sweet world return,", + "Say why that people is so pitiless", + "Against my race in each one of its laws?”", + "Whence I to him: “The slaughter and great carnage", + "Which have with crimson stained the Arbia, cause", + "Such orisons in our temple to be made.”", + "After his head he with a sigh had shaken,", + "“There I was not alone,” he said, “nor surely", + "Without a cause had with the others moved.", + "But there I was alone, where every one", + "Consented to the laying waste of Florence,", + "He who defended her with open face.”", + "“Ah! so hereafter may your seed repose,”", + "I him entreated, “solve for me that knot,", + "Which has entangled my conceptions here.", + "It seems that you can see, if I hear rightly,", + "Beforehand whatsoe’er time brings with it,", + "And in the present have another mode.”", + "“We see, like those who have imperfect sight,", + "The things,” he said, “that distant are from us;", + "So much still shines on us the Sovereign Ruler.", + "When they draw near, or are, is wholly vain", + "Our intellect, and if none brings it to us,", + "Not anything know we of your human state.", + "Hence thou canst understand, that wholly dead", + "Will be our knowledge from the moment when", + "The portal of the future shall be closed.”", + "Then I, as if compunctious for my fault,", + "Said: “Now, then, you will tell that fallen one,", + "That still his son is with the living joined.", + "And if just now, in answering, I was dumb,", + "Tell him I did it because I was thinking", + "Already of the error you have solved me.”", + "And now my Master was recalling me,", + "Wherefore more eagerly I prayed the spirit", + "That he would tell me who was with him there.", + "He said: “With more than a thousand here I lie;", + "Within here is the second Frederick,", + "And the Cardinal, and of the rest I speak not.”", + "Thereon he hid himself; and I towards", + "The ancient poet turned my steps, reflecting", + "Upon that saying, which seemed hostile to me.", + "He moved along; and afterward thus going,", + "He said to me, “Why art thou so bewildered?”", + "And I in his inquiry satisfied him.", + "“Let memory preserve what thou hast heard", + "Against thyself,” that Sage commanded me,", + "“And now attend here;” and he raised his finger.", + "“When thou shalt be before the radiance sweet", + "Of her whose beauteous eyes all things behold,", + "From her thou’lt know the journey of thy life.”", + "Unto the left hand then he turned his feet;", + "We left the wall, and went towards the middle,", + "Along a path that strikes into a valley,", + "Which even up there unpleasant made its stench." + ], + "11": [ + "Upon the margin of a lofty bank", + "Which great rocks broken in a circle made,", + "We came upon a still more cruel throng;", + "And there, by reason of the horrible", + "Excess of stench the deep abyss throws out,", + "We drew ourselves aside behind the cover", + "Of a great tomb, whereon I saw a writing,", + "Which said: “Pope Anastasius I hold,", + "Whom out of the right way Photinus drew.”", + "“Slow it behoveth our descent to be,", + "So that the sense be first a little used", + "To the sad blast, and then we shall not heed it.”", + "The Master thus; and unto him I said,", + "“Some compensation find, that the time pass not", + "Idly;” and he: “Thou seest I think of that.", + "My son, upon the inside of these rocks,”", + "Began he then to say, “are three small circles,", + "From grade to grade, like those which thou art leaving.", + "They all are full of spirits maledict;", + "But that hereafter sight alone suffice thee,", + "Hear how and wherefore they are in constraint.", + "Of every malice that wins hate in Heaven,", + "Injury is the end; and all such end", + "Either by force or fraud afflicteth others.", + "But because fraud is man’s peculiar vice,", + "More it displeases God; and so stand lowest", + "The fraudulent, and greater dole assails them.", + "All the first circle of the Violent is;", + "But since force may be used against three persons,", + "In three rounds ’tis divided and constructed.", + "To God, to ourselves, and to our neighbour can we", + "Use force; I say on them and on their things,", + "As thou shalt hear with reason manifest.", + "A death by violence, and painful wounds,", + "Are to our neighbour given; and in his substance", + "Ruin, and arson, and injurious levies;", + "Whence homicides, and he who smites unjustly,", + "Marauders, and freebooters, the first round", + "Tormenteth all in companies diverse.", + "Man may lay violent hands upon himself", + "And his own goods; and therefore in the second", + "Round must perforce without avail repent", + "Whoever of your world deprives himself,", + "Who games, and dissipates his property,", + "And weepeth there, where he should jocund be.", + "Violence can be done the Deity,", + "In heart denying and blaspheming Him,", + "And by disdaining Nature and her bounty.", + "And for this reason doth the smallest round", + "Seal with its signet Sodom and Cahors,", + "And who, disdaining God, speaks from the heart.", + "Fraud, wherewithal is every conscience stung,", + "A man may practise upon him who trusts,", + "And him who doth no confidence imburse.", + "This latter mode, it would appear, dissevers", + "Only the bond of love which Nature makes;", + "Wherefore within the second circle nestle", + "Hypocrisy, flattery, and who deals in magic,", + "Falsification, theft, and simony,", + "Panders, and barrators, and the like filth.", + "By the other mode, forgotten is that love", + "Which Nature makes, and what is after added,", + "From which there is a special faith engendered.", + "Hence in the smallest circle, where the point is", + "Of the Universe, upon which Dis is seated,", + "Whoe’er betrays for ever is consumed.”", + "And I: “My Master, clear enough proceeds", + "Thy reasoning, and full well distinguishes", + "This cavern and the people who possess it.", + "But tell me, those within the fat lagoon,", + "Whom the wind drives, and whom the rain doth beat,", + "And who encounter with such bitter tongues,", + "Wherefore are they inside of the red city", + "Not punished, if God has them in his wrath,", + "And if he has not, wherefore in such fashion?”", + "And unto me he said: “Why wanders so", + "Thine intellect from that which it is wont?", + "Or, sooth, thy mind where is it elsewhere looking?", + "Hast thou no recollection of those words", + "With which thine Ethics thoroughly discusses", + "The dispositions three, that Heaven abides not,—", + "Incontinence, and Malice, and insane", + "Bestiality? and how Incontinence", + "Less God offendeth, and less blame attracts?", + "If thou regardest this conclusion well,", + "And to thy mind recallest who they are", + "That up outside are undergoing penance,", + "Clearly wilt thou perceive why from these felons", + "They separated are, and why less wroth", + "Justice divine doth smite them with its hammer.”", + "“O Sun, that healest all distempered vision,", + "Thou dost content me so, when thou resolvest,", + "That doubting pleases me no less than knowing!", + "Once more a little backward turn thee,” said I,", + "“There where thou sayest that usury offends", + "Goodness divine, and disengage the knot.”", + "“Philosophy,” he said, “to him who heeds it,", + "Noteth, not only in one place alone,", + "After what manner Nature takes her course", + "From Intellect Divine, and from its art;", + "And if thy Physics carefully thou notest,", + "After not many pages shalt thou find,", + "That this your art as far as possible", + "Follows, as the disciple doth the master;", + "So that your art is, as it were, God’s grandchild.", + "From these two, if thou bringest to thy mind", + "Genesis at the beginning, it behoves", + "Mankind to gain their life and to advance;", + "And since the usurer takes another way,", + "Nature herself and in her follower", + "Disdains he, for elsewhere he puts his hope.", + "But follow, now, as I would fain go on,", + "For quivering are the Fishes on the horizon,", + "And the Wain wholly over Caurus lies,", + "And far beyond there we descend the crag.”" + ], + "12": [ + "The place where to descend the bank we came", + "Was alpine, and from what was there, moreover,", + "Of such a kind that every eye would shun it.", + "Such as that ruin is which in the flank", + "Smote, on this side of Trent, the Adige,", + "Either by earthquake or by failing stay,", + "For from the mountain’s top, from which it moved,", + "Unto the plain the cliff is shattered so,", + "Some path ’twould give to him who was above;", + "Even such was the descent of that ravine,", + "And on the border of the broken chasm", + "The infamy of Crete was stretched along,", + "Who was conceived in the fictitious cow;", + "And when he us beheld, he bit himself,", + "Even as one whom anger racks within.", + "My Sage towards him shouted: “Peradventure", + "Thou think’st that here may be the Duke of Athens,", + "Who in the world above brought death to thee?", + "Get thee gone, beast, for this one cometh not", + "Instructed by thy sister, but he comes", + "In order to behold your punishments.”", + "As is that bull who breaks loose at the moment", + "In which he has received the mortal blow,", + "Who cannot walk, but staggers here and there,", + "The Minotaur beheld I do the like;", + "And he, the wary, cried: “Run to the passage;", + "While he wroth, ’tis well thou shouldst descend.”", + "Thus down we took our way o’er that discharge", + "Of stones, which oftentimes did move themselves", + "Beneath my feet, from the unwonted burden.", + "Thoughtful I went; and he said: “Thou art thinking", + "Perhaps upon this ruin, which is guarded", + "By that brute anger which just now I quenched.", + "Now will I have thee know, the other time", + "I here descended to the nether Hell,", + "This precipice had not yet fallen down.", + "But truly, if I well discern, a little", + "Before His coming who the mighty spoil", + "Bore off from Dis, in the supernal circle,", + "Upon all sides the deep and loathsome valley", + "Trembled so, that I thought the Universe", + "Was thrilled with love, by which there are who think", + "The world ofttimes converted into chaos;", + "And at that moment this primeval crag", + "Both here and elsewhere made such overthrow.", + "But fix thine eyes below; for draweth near", + "The river of blood, within which boiling is", + "Whoe’er by violence doth injure others.”", + "O blind cupidity, O wrath insane,", + "That spurs us onward so in our short life,", + "And in the eternal then so badly steeps us!", + "I saw an ample moat bent like a bow,", + "As one which all the plain encompasses,", + "Conformable to what my Guide had said.", + "And between this and the embankment’s foot", + "Centaurs in file were running, armed with arrows,", + "As in the world they used the chase to follow.", + "Beholding us descend, each one stood still,", + "And from the squadron three detached themselves,", + "With bows and arrows in advance selected;", + "And from afar one cried: “Unto what torment", + "Come ye, who down the hillside are descending?", + "Tell us from there; if not, I draw the bow.”", + "My Master said: “Our answer will we make", + "To Chiron, near you there; in evil hour,", + "That will of thine was evermore so hasty.”", + "Then touched he me, and said: “This one is Nessus,", + "Who perished for the lovely Dejanira,", + "And for himself, himself did vengeance take.", + "And he in the midst, who at his breast is gazing,", + "Is the great Chiron, who brought up Achilles;", + "That other Pholus is, who was so wrathful.", + "Thousands and thousands go about the moat", + "Shooting with shafts whatever soul emerges", + "Out of the blood, more than his crime allots.”", + "Near we approached unto those monsters fleet;", + "Chiron an arrow took, and with the notch", + "Backward upon his jaws he put his beard.", + "After he had uncovered his great mouth,", + "He said to his companions: “Are you ware", + "That he behind moveth whate’er he touches?", + "Thus are not wont to do the feet of dead men.”", + "And my good Guide, who now was at his breast,", + "Where the two natures are together joined,", + "Replied: “Indeed he lives, and thus alone", + "Me it behoves to show him the dark valley;", + "Necessity, and not delight, impels us.", + "Some one withdrew from singing Halleluja,", + "Who unto me committed this new office;", + "No thief is he, nor I a thievish spirit.", + "But by that virtue through which I am moving", + "My steps along this savage thoroughfare,", + "Give us some one of thine, to be with us,", + "And who may show us where to pass the ford,", + "And who may carry this one on his back;", + "For ’tis no spirit that can walk the air.”", + "Upon his right breast Chiron wheeled about,", + "And said to Nessus: “Turn and do thou guide them,", + "And warn aside, if other band may meet you.”", + "We with our faithful escort onward moved", + "Along the brink of the vermilion boiling,", + "Wherein the boiled were uttering loud laments.", + "People I saw within up to the eyebrows,", + "And the great Centaur said: “Tyrants are these,", + "Who dealt in bloodshed and in pillaging.", + "Here they lament their pitiless mischiefs; here", + "Is Alexander, and fierce Dionysius", + "Who upon Sicily brought dolorous years.", + "That forehead there which has the hair so black", + "Is Azzolin; and the other who is blond,", + "Obizzo is of Esti, who, in truth,", + "Up in the world was by his stepson slain.”", + "Then turned I to the Poet; and he said,", + "“Now he be first to thee, and second I.”", + "A little farther on the Centaur stopped", + "Above a folk, who far down as the throat", + "Seemed from that boiling stream to issue forth.", + "A shade he showed us on one side alone,", + "Saying: “He cleft asunder in God’s bosom", + "The heart that still upon the Thames is honoured.”", + "Then people saw I, who from out the river", + "Lifted their heads and also all the chest;", + "And many among these I recognised.", + "Thus ever more and more grew shallower", + "That blood, so that the feet alone it covered;", + "And there across the moat our passage was.", + "“Even as thou here upon this side beholdest", + "The boiling stream, that aye diminishes,”", + "The Centaur said, “I wish thee to believe", + "That on this other more and more declines", + "Its bed, until it reunites itself", + "Where it behoveth tyranny to groan.", + "Justice divine, upon this side, is goading", + "That Attila, who was a scourge on earth,", + "And Pyrrhus, and Sextus; and for ever milks", + "The tears which with the boiling it unseals", + "In Rinier da Corneto and Rinier Pazzo,", + "Who made upon the highways so much war.”", + "Then back he turned, and passed again the ford." + ], + "13": [ + "Not yet had Nessus reached the other side,", + "When we had put ourselves within a wood,", + "That was not marked by any path whatever.", + "Not foliage green, but of a dusky colour,", + "Not branches smooth, but gnarled and intertangled,", + "Not apple-trees were there, but thorns with poison.", + "Such tangled thickets have not, nor so dense,", + "Those savage wild beasts, that in hatred hold", + "’Twixt Cecina and Corneto the tilled places.", + "There do the hideous Harpies make their nests,", + "Who chased the Trojans from the Strophades,", + "With sad announcement of impending doom;", + "Broad wings have they, and necks and faces human,", + "And feet with claws, and their great bellies fledged;", + "They make laments upon the wondrous trees.", + "And the good Master: “Ere thou enter farther,", + "Know that thou art within the second round,”", + "Thus he began to say, “and shalt be, till", + "Thou comest out upon the horrible sand;", + "Therefore look well around, and thou shalt see", + "Things that will credence give unto my speech.”", + "I heard on all sides lamentations uttered,", + "And person none beheld I who might make them,", + "Whence, utterly bewildered, I stood still.", + "I think he thought that I perhaps might think", + "So many voices issued through those trunks", + "From people who concealed themselves from us;", + "Therefore the Master said: “If thou break off", + "Some little spray from any of these trees,", + "The thoughts thou hast will wholly be made vain.”", + "Then stretched I forth my hand a little forward,", + "And plucked a branchlet off from a great thorn;", + "And the trunk cried, “Why dost thou mangle me?”", + "After it had become embrowned with blood,", + "It recommenced its cry: “Why dost thou rend me?", + "Hast thou no spirit of pity whatsoever?", + "Men once we were, and now are changed to trees;", + "Indeed, thy hand should be more pitiful,", + "Even if the souls of serpents we had been.”", + "As out of a green brand, that is on fire", + "At one of the ends, and from the other drips", + "And hisses with the wind that is escaping;", + "So from that splinter issued forth together", + "Both words and blood; whereat I let the tip", + "Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid.", + "“Had he been able sooner to believe,”", + "My Sage made answer, “O thou wounded soul,", + "What only in my verses he has seen,", + "Not upon thee had he stretched forth his hand;", + "Whereas the thing incredible has caused me", + "To put him to an act which grieveth me.", + "But tell him who thou wast, so that by way", + "Of some amends thy fame he may refresh", + "Up in the world, to which he can return.”", + "And the trunk said: “So thy sweet words allure me,", + "I cannot silent be; and you be vexed not,", + "That I a little to discourse am tempted.", + "I am the one who both keys had in keeping", + "Of Frederick’s heart, and turned them to and fro", + "So softly in unlocking and in locking,", + "That from his secrets most men I withheld;", + "Fidelity I bore the glorious office", + "So great, I lost thereby my sleep and pulses.", + "The courtesan who never from the dwelling", + "Of Caesar turned aside her strumpet eyes,", + "Death universal and the vice of courts,", + "Inflamed against me all the other minds,", + "And they, inflamed, did so inflame Augustus,", + "That my glad honours turned to dismal mournings.", + "My spirit, in disdainful exultation,", + "Thinking by dying to escape disdain,", + "Made me unjust against myself, the just.", + "I, by the roots unwonted of this wood,", + "Do swear to you that never broke I faith", + "Unto my lord, who was so worthy of honour;", + "And to the world if one of you return,", + "Let him my memory comfort, which is lying", + "Still prostrate from the blow that envy dealt it.”", + "Waited awhile, and then: “Since he is silent,”", + "The Poet said to me, “lose not the time,", + "But speak, and question him, if more may please thee.”", + "Whence I to him: “Do thou again inquire", + "Concerning what thou thinks’t will satisfy me;", + "For I cannot, such pity is in my heart.”", + "Therefore he recommenced: “So may the man", + "Do for thee freely what thy speech implores,", + "Spirit incarcerate, again be pleased", + "To tell us in what way the soul is bound", + "Within these knots; and tell us, if thou canst,", + "If any from such members e’er is freed.”", + "Then blew the trunk amain, and afterward", + "The wind was into such a voice converted:", + "“With brevity shall be replied to you.", + "When the exasperated soul abandons", + "The body whence it rent itself away,", + "Minos consigns it to the seventh abyss.", + "It falls into the forest, and no part", + "Is chosen for it; but where Fortune hurls it,", + "There like a grain of spelt it germinates.", + "It springs a sapling, and a forest tree;", + "The Harpies, feeding then upon its leaves,", + "Do pain create, and for the pain an outlet.", + "Like others for our spoils shall we return;", + "But not that any one may them revest,", + "For ’tis not just to have what one casts off.", + "Here we shall drag them, and along the dismal", + "Forest our bodies shall suspended be,", + "Each to the thorn of his molested shade.”", + "We were attentive still unto the trunk,", + "Thinking that more it yet might wish to tell us,", + "When by a tumult we were overtaken,", + "In the same way as he is who perceives", + "The boar and chase approaching to his stand,", + "Who hears the crashing of the beasts and branches;", + "And two behold! upon our left-hand side,", + "Naked and scratched, fleeing so furiously,", + "That of the forest, every fan they broke.", + "He who was in advance: “Now help, Death, help!”", + "And the other one, who seemed to lag too much,", + "Was shouting: “Lano, were not so alert", + "Those legs of thine at joustings of the Toppo!”", + "And then, perchance because his breath was failing,", + "He grouped himself together with a bush.", + "Behind them was the forest full of black", + "She-mastiffs, ravenous, and swift of foot", + "As greyhounds, who are issuing from the chain.", + "On him who had crouched down they set their teeth,", + "And him they lacerated piece by piece,", + "Thereafter bore away those aching members.", + "Thereat my Escort took me by the hand,", + "And led me to the bush, that all in vain", + "Was weeping from its bloody lacerations.", + "“O Jacopo,” it said, “of Sant’ Andrea,", + "What helped it thee of me to make a screen?", + "What blame have I in thy nefarious life?”", + "When near him had the Master stayed his steps,", + "He said: “Who wast thou, that through wounds so many", + "Art blowing out with blood thy dolorous speech?”", + "And he to us: “O souls, that hither come", + "To look upon the shameful massacre", + "That has so rent away from me my leaves,", + "Gather them up beneath the dismal bush;", + "I of that city was which to the Baptist", + "Changed its first patron, wherefore he for this", + "Forever with his art will make it sad.", + "And were it not that on the pass of Arno", + "Some glimpses of him are remaining still,", + "Those citizens, who afterwards rebuilt it", + "Upon the ashes left by Attila,", + "In vain had caused their labour to be done.", + "Of my own house I made myself a gibbet.”" + ], + "14": [ + "Because the charity of my native place", + "Constrained me, gathered I the scattered leaves,", + "And gave them back to him, who now was hoarse.", + "Then came we to the confine, where disparted", + "The second round is from the third, and where", + "A horrible form of Justice is beheld.", + "Clearly to manifest these novel things,", + "I say that we arrived upon a plain,", + "Which from its bed rejecteth every plant;", + "The dolorous forest is a garland to it", + "All round about, as the sad moat to that;", + "There close upon the edge we stayed our feet.", + "The soil was of an arid and thick sand,", + "Not of another fashion made than that", + "Which by the feet of Cato once was pressed.", + "Vengeance of God, O how much oughtest thou", + "By each one to be dreaded, who doth read", + "That which was manifest unto mine eyes!", + "Of naked souls beheld I many herds,", + "Who all were weeping very miserably,", + "And over them seemed set a law diverse.", + "Supine upon the ground some folk were lying;", + "And some were sitting all drawn up together,", + "And others went about continually.", + "Those who were going round were far the more,", + "And those were less who lay down to their torment,", + "But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation.", + "O’er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall,", + "Were raining down dilated flakes of fire,", + "As of the snow on Alp without a wind.", + "As Alexander, in those torrid parts", + "Of India, beheld upon his host", + "Flames fall unbroken till they reached the ground.", + "Whence he provided with his phalanxes", + "To trample down the soil, because the vapour", + "Better extinguished was while it was single;", + "Thus was descending the eternal heat,", + "Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinder", + "Beneath the steel, for doubling of the dole.", + "Without repose forever was the dance", + "Of miserable hands, now there, now here,", + "Shaking away from off them the fresh gleeds.", + "“Master,” began I, “thou who overcomest", + "All things except the demons dire, that issued", + "Against us at the entrance of the gate,", + "Who is that mighty one who seems to heed not", + "The fire, and lieth lowering and disdainful,", + "So that the rain seems not to ripen him?”", + "And he himself, who had become aware", + "That I was questioning my Guide about him,", + "Cried: “Such as I was living, am I, dead.", + "If Jove should weary out his smith, from whom", + "He seized in anger the sharp thunderbolt,", + "Wherewith upon the last day I was smitten,", + "And if he wearied out by turns the others", + "In Mongibello at the swarthy forge,", + "Vociferating, ‘Help, good Vulcan, help!’", + "Even as he did there at the fight of Phlegra,", + "And shot his bolts at me with all his might,", + "He would not have thereby a joyous vengeance.”", + "Then did my Leader speak with such great force,", + "That I had never heard him speak so loud:", + "“O Capaneus, in that is not extinguished", + "Thine arrogance, thou punished art the more;", + "Not any torment, saving thine own rage,", + "Would be unto thy fury pain complete.”", + "Then he turned round to me with better lip,", + "Saying: “One of the Seven Kings was he", + "Who Thebes besieged, and held, and seems to hold", + "God in disdain, and little seems to prize him;", + "But, as I said to him, his own despites", + "Are for his breast the fittest ornaments.", + "Now follow me, and mind thou do not place", + "As yet thy feet upon the burning sand,", + "But always keep them close unto the wood.”", + "Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes", + "Forth from the wood a little rivulet,", + "Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end.", + "As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet,", + "The sinful women later share among them,", + "So downward through the sand it went its way.", + "The bottom of it, and both sloping banks,", + "Were made of stone, and the margins at the side;", + "Whence I perceived that there the passage was.", + "“In all the rest which I have shown to thee", + "Since we have entered in within the gate", + "Whose threshold unto no one is denied,", + "Nothing has been discovered by thine eyes", + "So notable as is the present river,", + "Which all the little flames above it quenches.”", + "These words were of my Leader; whence I prayed him", + "That he would give me largess of the food,", + "For which he had given me largess of desire.", + "“In the mid-sea there sits a wasted land,”", + "Said he thereafterward, “whose name is Crete,", + "Under whose king the world of old was chaste.", + "There is a mountain there, that once was glad", + "With waters and with leaves, which was called Ida;", + "Now ’tis deserted, as a thing worn out.", + "Rhea once chose it for the faithful cradle", + "Of her own son; and to conceal him better,", + "Whene’er he cried, she there had clamours made.", + "A grand old man stands in the mount erect,", + "Who holds his shoulders turned tow’rds Damietta,", + "And looks at Rome as if it were his mirror.", + "His head is fashioned of refined gold,", + "And of pure silver are the arms and breast;", + "Then he is brass as far down as the fork.", + "From that point downward all is chosen iron,", + "Save that the right foot is of kiln-baked clay,", + "And more he stands on that than on the other.", + "Each part, except the gold, is by a fissure", + "Asunder cleft, that dripping is with tears,", + "Which gathered together perforate that cavern.", + "From rock to rock they fall into this valley;", + "Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon they form;", + "Then downward go along this narrow sluice", + "Unto that point where is no more descending.", + "They form Cocytus; what that pool may be", + "Thou shalt behold, so here ’tis not narrated.”", + "And I to him: “If so the present runnel", + "Doth take its rise in this way from our world,", + "Why only on this verge appears it to us?”", + "And he to me: “Thou knowest the place is round,", + "And notwithstanding thou hast journeyed far,", + "Still to the left descending to the bottom,", + "Thou hast not yet through all the circle turned.", + "Therefore if something new appear to us,", + "It should not bring amazement to thy face.”", + "And I again: “Master, where shall be found", + "Lethe and Phlegethon, for of one thou’rt silent,", + "And sayest the other of this rain is made?”", + "“In all thy questions truly thou dost please me,”", + "Replied he; “but the boiling of the red", + "Water might well solve one of them thou makest.", + "Thou shalt see Lethe, but outside this moat,", + "There where the souls repair to lave themselves,", + "When sin repented of has been removed.”", + "Then said he: “It is time now to abandon", + "The wood; take heed that thou come after me;", + "A way the margins make that are not burning,", + "And over them all vapours are extinguished.”" + ], + "15": [ + "Now bears us onward one of the hard margins,", + "And so the brooklet’s mist o’ershadows it,", + "From fire it saves the water and the dikes.", + "Even as the Flemings, ’twixt Cadsand and Bruges,", + "Fearing the flood that tow’rds them hurls itself,", + "Their bulwarks build to put the sea to flight;", + "And as the Paduans along the Brenta,", + "To guard their villas and their villages,", + "Or ever Chiarentana feel the heat;", + "In such similitude had those been made,", + "Albeit not so lofty nor so thick,", + "Whoever he might be, the master made them.", + "Now were we from the forest so remote,", + "I could not have discovered where it was,", + "Even if backward I had turned myself,", + "When we a company of souls encountered,", + "Who came beside the dike, and every one", + "Gazed at us, as at evening we are wont", + "To eye each other under a new moon,", + "And so towards us sharpened they their brows", + "As an old tailor at the needle’s eye.", + "Thus scrutinised by such a family,", + "By some one I was recognised, who seized", + "My garment’s hem, and cried out, “What a marvel!”", + "And I, when he stretched forth his arm to me,", + "On his baked aspect fastened so mine eyes,", + "That the scorched countenance prevented not", + "His recognition by my intellect;", + "And bowing down my face unto his own,", + "I made reply, “Are you here, Ser Brunetto?”", + "And he: “May’t not displease thee, O my son,", + "If a brief space with thee Brunetto Latini", + "Backward return and let the trail go on.”", + "I said to him: “With all my power I ask it;", + "And if you wish me to sit down with you,", + "I will, if he please, for I go with him.”", + "“O son,” he said, “whoever of this herd", + "A moment stops, lies then a hundred years,", + "Nor fans himself when smiteth him the fire.", + "Therefore go on; I at thy skirts will come,", + "And afterward will I rejoin my band,", + "Which goes lamenting its eternal doom.”", + "I did not dare to go down from the road", + "Level to walk with him; but my head bowed", + "I held as one who goeth reverently.", + "And he began: “What fortune or what fate", + "Before the last day leadeth thee down here?", + "And who is this that showeth thee the way?”", + "“Up there above us in the life serene,”", + "I answered him, “I lost me in a valley,", + "Or ever yet my age had been completed.", + "But yestermorn I turned my back upon it;", + "This one appeared to me, returning thither,", + "And homeward leadeth me along this road.”", + "And he to me: “If thou thy star do follow,", + "Thou canst not fail thee of a glorious port,", + "If well I judged in the life beautiful.", + "And if I had not died so prematurely,", + "Seeing Heaven thus benignant unto thee,", + "I would have given thee comfort in the work.", + "But that ungrateful and malignant people,", + "Which of old time from Fesole descended,", + "And smacks still of the mountain and the granite,", + "Will make itself, for thy good deeds, thy foe;", + "And it is right; for among crabbed sorbs", + "It ill befits the sweet fig to bear fruit.", + "Old rumour in the world proclaims them blind;", + "A people avaricious, envious, proud;", + "Take heed that of their customs thou do cleanse thee.", + "Thy fortune so much honour doth reserve thee,", + "One party and the other shall be hungry", + "For thee; but far from goat shall be the grass.", + "Their litter let the beasts of Fesole", + "Make of themselves, nor let them touch the plant,", + "If any still upon their dunghill rise,", + "In which may yet revive the consecrated", + "Seed of those Romans, who remained there when", + "The nest of such great malice it became.”", + "“If my entreaty wholly were fulfilled,”", + "Replied I to him, “not yet would you be", + "In banishment from human nature placed;", + "For in my mind is fixed, and touches now", + "My heart the dear and good paternal image", + "Of you, when in the world from hour to hour", + "You taught me how a man becomes eternal;", + "And how much I am grateful, while I live", + "Behoves that in my language be discerned.", + "What you narrate of my career I write,", + "And keep it to be glossed with other text", + "By a Lady who can do it, if I reach her.", + "This much will I have manifest to you;", + "Provided that my conscience do not chide me,", + "For whatsoever Fortune I am ready.", + "Such handsel is not new unto mine ears;", + "Therefore let Fortune turn her wheel around", + "As it may please her, and the churl his mattock.”", + "My Master thereupon on his right cheek", + "Did backward turn himself, and looked at me;", + "Then said: “He listeneth well who noteth it.”", + "Nor speaking less on that account, I go", + "With Ser Brunetto, and I ask who are", + "His most known and most eminent companions.", + "And he to me: “To know of some is well;", + "Of others it were laudable to be silent,", + "For short would be the time for so much speech.", + "Know them in sum, that all of them were clerks,", + "And men of letters great and of great fame,", + "In the world tainted with the selfsame sin.", + "Priscian goes yonder with that wretched crowd,", + "And Francis of Accorso; and thou hadst seen there", + "If thou hadst had a hankering for such scurf,", + "That one, who by the Servant of the Servants", + "From Arno was transferred to Bacchiglione,", + "Where he has left his sin-excited nerves.", + "More would I say, but coming and discoursing", + "Can be no longer; for that I behold", + "New smoke uprising yonder from the sand.", + "A people comes with whom I may not be;", + "Commended unto thee be my Tesoro,", + "In which I still live, and no more I ask.”", + "Then he turned round, and seemed to be of those", + "Who at Verona run for the Green Mantle", + "Across the plain; and seemed to be among them", + "The one who wins, and not the one who loses." + ], + "16": [ + "Now was I where was heard the reverberation", + "Of water falling into the next round,", + "Like to that humming which the beehives make,", + "When shadows three together started forth,", + "Running, from out a company that passed", + "Beneath the rain of the sharp martyrdom.", + "Towards us came they, and each one cried out:", + "“Stop, thou; for by thy garb to us thou seemest", + "To be some one of our depraved city.”", + "Ah me! what wounds I saw upon their limbs,", + "Recent and ancient by the flames burnt in!", + "It pains me still but to remember it.", + "Unto their cries my Teacher paused attentive;", + "He turned his face towards me, and “Now wait,”", + "He said; “to these we should be courteous.", + "And if it were not for the fire that darts", + "The nature of this region, I should say", + "That haste were more becoming thee than them.”", + "As soon as we stood still, they recommenced", + "The old refrain, and when they overtook us,", + "Formed of themselves a wheel, all three of them.", + "As champions stripped and oiled are wont to do,", + "Watching for their advantage and their hold,", + "Before they come to blows and thrusts between them,", + "Thus, wheeling round, did every one his visage", + "Direct to me, so that in opposite wise", + "His neck and feet continual journey made.", + "And, “If the misery of this soft place", + "Bring in disdain ourselves and our entreaties,”", + "Began one, “and our aspect black and blistered,", + "Let the renown of us thy mind incline", + "To tell us who thou art, who thus securely", + "Thy living feet dost move along through Hell.", + "He in whose footprints thou dost see me treading,", + "Naked and skinless though he now may go,", + "Was of a greater rank than thou dost think;", + "He was the grandson of the good Gualdrada;", + "His name was Guidoguerra, and in life", + "Much did he with his wisdom and his sword.", + "The other, who close by me treads the sand,", + "Tegghiaio Aldobrandi is, whose fame", + "Above there in the world should welcome be.", + "And I, who with them on the cross am placed,", + "Jacopo Rusticucci was; and truly", + "My savage wife, more than aught else, doth harm me.”", + "Could I have been protected from the fire,", + "Below I should have thrown myself among them,", + "And think the Teacher would have suffered it;", + "But as I should have burned and baked myself,", + "My terror overmastered my good will,", + "Which made me greedy of embracing them.", + "Then I began: “Sorrow and not disdain", + "Did your condition fix within me so,", + "That tardily it wholly is stripped off,", + "As soon as this my Lord said unto me", + "Words, on account of which I thought within me", + "That people such as you are were approaching.", + "I of your city am; and evermore", + "Your labours and your honourable names", + "I with affection have retraced and heard.", + "I leave the gall, and go for the sweet fruits", + "Promised to me by the veracious Leader;", + "But to the centre first I needs must plunge.”", + "“So may the soul for a long while conduct", + "Those limbs of thine,” did he make answer then,", + "“And so may thy renown shine after thee,", + "Valour and courtesy, say if they dwell", + "Within our city, as they used to do,", + "Or if they wholly have gone out of it;", + "For Guglielmo Borsier, who is in torment", + "With us of late, and goes there with his comrades,", + "Doth greatly mortify us with his words.”", + "“The new inhabitants and the sudden gains,", + "Pride and extravagance have in thee engendered,", + "Florence, so that thou weep’st thereat already!”", + "In this wise I exclaimed with face uplifted;", + "And the three, taking that for my reply,", + "Looked at each other, as one looks at truth.", + "“If other times so little it doth cost thee,”", + "Replied they all, “to satisfy another,", + "Happy art thou, thus speaking at thy will!", + "Therefore, if thou escape from these dark places,", + "And come to rebehold the beauteous stars,", + "When it shall pleasure thee to say, ‘I was,’", + "See that thou speak of us unto the people.”", + "Then they broke up the wheel, and in their flight", + "It seemed as if their agile legs were wings.", + "Not an Amen could possibly be said", + "So rapidly as they had disappeared;", + "Wherefore the Master deemed best to depart.", + "I followed him, and little had we gone,", + "Before the sound of water was so near us,", + "That speaking we should hardly have been heard.", + "Even as that stream which holdeth its own course", + "The first from Monte Veso tow’rds the East,", + "Upon the left-hand slope of Apennine,", + "Which is above called Acquacheta, ere", + "It down descendeth into its low bed,", + "And at Forli is vacant of that name,", + "Reverberates there above San Benedetto", + "From Alps, by falling at a single leap,", + "Where for a thousand there were room enough;", + "Thus downward from a bank precipitate,", + "We found resounding that dark-tinted water,", + "So that it soon the ear would have offended.", + "I had a cord around about me girt,", + "And therewithal I whilom had designed", + "To take the panther with the painted skin.", + "After I this had all from me unloosed,", + "As my Conductor had commanded me,", + "I reached it to him, gathered up and coiled,", + "Whereat he turned himself to the right side,", + "And at a little distance from the verge,", + "He cast it down into that deep abyss.", + "“It must needs be some novelty respond,”", + "I said within myself, “to the new signal", + "The Master with his eye is following so.”", + "Ah me! how very cautious men should be", + "With those who not alone behold the act,", + "But with their wisdom look into the thoughts!", + "He said to me: “Soon there will upward come", + "What I await; and what thy thought is dreaming", + "Must soon reveal itself unto thy sight.”", + "Aye to that truth which has the face of falsehood,", + "A man should close his lips as far as may be,", + "Because without his fault it causes shame;", + "But here I cannot; and, Reader, by the notes", + "Of this my Comedy to thee I swear,", + "So may they not be void of lasting favour,", + "Athwart that dense and darksome atmosphere", + "I saw a figure swimming upward come,", + "Marvellous unto every steadfast heart,", + "Even as he returns who goeth down", + "Sometimes to clear an anchor, which has grappled", + "Reef, or aught else that in the sea is hidden,", + "Who upward stretches, and draws in his feet." + ], + "17": [ + "“Behold the monster with the pointed tail,", + "Who cleaves the hills, and breaketh walls and weapons,", + "Behold him who infecteth all the world.”", + "Thus unto me my Guide began to say,", + "And beckoned him that he should come to shore,", + "Near to the confine of the trodden marble;", + "And that uncleanly image of deceit", + "Came up and thrust ashore its head and bust,", + "But on the border did not drag its tail.", + "The face was as the face of a just man,", + "Its semblance outwardly was so benign,", + "And of a serpent all the trunk beside.", + "Two paws it had, hairy unto the armpits;", + "The back, and breast, and both the sides it had", + "Depicted o’er with nooses and with shields.", + "With colours more, groundwork or broidery", + "Never in cloth did Tartars make nor Turks,", + "Nor were such tissues by Arachne laid.", + "As sometimes wherries lie upon the shore,", + "That part are in the water, part on land;", + "And as among the guzzling Germans there,", + "The beaver plants himself to wage his war;", + "So that vile monster lay upon the border,", + "Which is of stone, and shutteth in the sand.", + "His tail was wholly quivering in the void,", + "Contorting upwards the envenomed fork,", + "That in the guise of scorpion armed its point.", + "The Guide said: “Now perforce must turn aside", + "Our way a little, even to that beast", + "Malevolent, that yonder coucheth him.”", + "We therefore on the right side descended,", + "And made ten steps upon the outer verge,", + "Completely to avoid the sand and flame;", + "And after we are come to him, I see", + "A little farther off upon the sand", + "A people sitting near the hollow place.", + "Then said to me the Master: “So that full", + "Experience of this round thou bear away,", + "Now go and see what their condition is.", + "There let thy conversation be concise;", + "Till thou returnest I will speak with him,", + "That he concede to us his stalwart shoulders.”", + "Thus farther still upon the outermost", + "Head of that seventh circle all alone", + "I went, where sat the melancholy folk.", + "Out of their eyes was gushing forth their woe;", + "This way, that way, they helped them with their hands", + "Now from the flames and now from the hot soil.", + "Not otherwise in summer do the dogs,", + "Now with the foot, now with the muzzle, when", + "By fleas, or flies, or gadflies, they are bitten.", + "When I had turned mine eyes upon the faces", + "Of some, on whom the dolorous fire is falling,", + "Not one of them I knew; but I perceived", + "That from the neck of each there hung a pouch,", + "Which certain colour had, and certain blazon;", + "And thereupon it seems their eyes are feeding.", + "And as I gazing round me come among them,", + "Upon a yellow pouch I azure saw", + "That had the face and posture of a lion.", + "Proceeding then the current of my sight,", + "Another of them saw I, red as blood,", + "Display a goose more white than butter is.", + "And one, who with an azure sow and gravid", + "Emblazoned had his little pouch of white,", + "Said unto me: “What dost thou in this moat?", + "Now get thee gone; and since thou’rt still alive,", + "Know that a neighbour of mine, Vitaliano,", + "Will have his seat here on my left-hand side.", + "A Paduan am I with these Florentines;", + "Full many a time they thunder in mine ears,", + "Exclaiming, ‘Come the sovereign cavalier,", + "He who shall bring the satchel with three goats;’”", + "Then twisted he his mouth, and forth he thrust", + "His tongue, like to an ox that licks its nose.", + "And fearing lest my longer stay might vex", + "Him who had warned me not to tarry long,", + "Backward I turned me from those weary souls.", + "I found my Guide, who had already mounted", + "Upon the back of that wild animal,", + "And said to me: “Now be both strong and bold.", + "Now we descend by stairways such as these;", + "Mount thou in front, for I will be midway,", + "So that the tail may have no power to harm thee.”", + "Such as he is who has so near the ague", + "Of quartan that his nails are blue already,", + "And trembles all, but looking at the shade;", + "Even such became I at those proffered words;", + "But shame in me his menaces produced,", + "Which maketh servant strong before good master.", + "I seated me upon those monstrous shoulders;", + "I wished to say, and yet the voice came not", + "As I believed, “Take heed that thou embrace me.”", + "But he, who other times had rescued me", + "In other peril, soon as I had mounted,", + "Within his arms encircled and sustained me,", + "And said: “Now, Geryon, bestir thyself;", + "The circles large, and the descent be little;", + "Think of the novel burden which thou hast.”", + "Even as the little vessel shoves from shore,", + "Backward, still backward, so he thence withdrew;", + "And when he wholly felt himself afloat,", + "There where his breast had been he turned his tail,", + "And that extended like an eel he moved,", + "And with his paws drew to himself the air.", + "A greater fear I do not think there was", + "What time abandoned Phaeton the reins,", + "Whereby the heavens, as still appears, were scorched;", + "Nor when the wretched Icarus his flanks", + "Felt stripped of feathers by the melting wax,", + "His father crying, “An ill way thou takest!”", + "Than was my own, when I perceived myself", + "On all sides in the air, and saw extinguished", + "The sight of everything but of the monster.", + "Onward he goeth, swimming slowly, slowly;", + "Wheels and descends, but I perceive it only", + "By wind upon my face and from below.", + "I heard already on the right the whirlpool", + "Making a horrible crashing under us;", + "Whence I thrust out my head with eyes cast downward.", + "Then was I still more fearful of the abyss;", + "Because I fires beheld, and heard laments,", + "Whereat I, trembling, all the closer cling.", + "I saw then, for before I had not seen it,", + "The turning and descending, by great horrors", + "That were approaching upon divers sides.", + "As falcon who has long been on the wing,", + "Who, without seeing either lure or bird,", + "Maketh the falconer say, “Ah me, thou stoopest,”", + "Descendeth weary, whence he started swiftly,", + "Thorough a hundred circles, and alights", + "Far from his master, sullen and disdainful;", + "Even thus did Geryon place us on the bottom,", + "Close to the bases of the rough-hewn rock,", + "And being disencumbered of our persons,", + "He sped away as arrow from the string." + ], + "18": [ + "There is a place in Hell called Malebolge,", + "Wholly of stone and of an iron colour,", + "As is the circle that around it turns.", + "Right in the middle of the field malign", + "There yawns a well exceeding wide and deep,", + "Of which its place the structure will recount.", + "Round, then, is that enclosure which remains", + "Between the well and foot of the high, hard bank,", + "And has distinct in valleys ten its bottom.", + "As where for the protection of the walls", + "Many and many moats surround the castles,", + "The part in which they are a figure forms,", + "Just such an image those presented there;", + "And as about such strongholds from their gates", + "Unto the outer bank are little bridges,", + "So from the precipice’s base did crags", + "Project, which intersected dikes and moats,", + "Unto the well that truncates and collects them.", + "Within this place, down shaken from the back", + "Of Geryon, we found us; and the Poet", + "Held to the left, and I moved on behind.", + "Upon my right hand I beheld new anguish,", + "New torments, and new wielders of the lash,", + "Wherewith the foremost Bolgia was replete.", + "Down at the bottom were the sinners naked;", + "This side the middle came they facing us,", + "Beyond it, with us, but with greater steps;", + "Even as the Romans, for the mighty host,", + "The year of Jubilee, upon the bridge,", + "Have chosen a mode to pass the people over;", + "For all upon one side towards the Castle", + "Their faces have, and go unto St. Peter’s;", + "On the other side they go towards the Mountain.", + "This side and that, along the livid stone", + "Beheld I horned demons with great scourges,", + "Who cruelly were beating them behind.", + "Ah me! how they did make them lift their legs", + "At the first blows! and sooth not any one", + "The second waited for, nor for the third.", + "While I was going on, mine eyes by one", + "Encountered were; and straight I said: “Already", + "With sight of this one I am not unfed.”", + "Therefore I stayed my feet to make him out,", + "And with me the sweet Guide came to a stand,", + "And to my going somewhat back assented;", + "And he, the scourged one, thought to hide himself,", + "Lowering his face, but little it availed him;", + "For said I: “Thou that castest down thine eyes,", + "If false are not the features which thou bearest,", + "Thou art Venedico Caccianimico;", + "But what doth bring thee to such pungent sauces?”", + "And he to me: “Unwillingly I tell it;", + "But forces me thine utterance distinct,", + "Which makes me recollect the ancient world.", + "I was the one who the fair Ghisola", + "Induced to grant the wishes of the Marquis,", + "Howe’er the shameless story may be told.", + "Not the sole Bolognese am I who weeps here;", + "Nay, rather is this place so full of them,", + "That not so many tongues to-day are taught", + "’Twixt Reno and Savena to say ‘sipa;’", + "And if thereof thou wishest pledge or proof,", + "Bring to thy mind our avaricious heart.”", + "While speaking in this manner, with his scourge", + "A demon smote him, and said: “Get thee gone", + "Pander, there are no women here for coin.”", + "I joined myself again unto mine Escort;", + "Thereafterward with footsteps few we came", + "To where a crag projected from the bank.", + "This very easily did we ascend,", + "And turning to the right along its ridge,", + "From those eternal circles we departed.", + "When we were there, where it is hollowed out", + "Beneath, to give a passage to the scourged,", + "The Guide said: “Wait, and see that on thee strike", + "The vision of those others evil-born,", + "Of whom thou hast not yet beheld the faces,", + "Because together with us they have gone.”", + "From the old bridge we looked upon the train", + "Which tow’rds us came upon the other border,", + "And which the scourges in like manner smite.", + "And the good Master, without my inquiring,", + "Said to me: “See that tall one who is coming,", + "And for his pain seems not to shed a tear;", + "Still what a royal aspect he retains!", + "That Jason is, who by his heart and cunning", + "The Colchians of the Ram made destitute.", + "He by the isle of Lemnos passed along", + "After the daring women pitiless", + "Had unto death devoted all their males.", + "There with his tokens and with ornate words", + "Did he deceive Hypsipyle, the maiden", + "Who first, herself, had all the rest deceived.", + "There did he leave her pregnant and forlorn;", + "Such sin unto such punishment condemns him,", + "And also for Medea is vengeance done.", + "With him go those who in such wise deceive;", + "And this sufficient be of the first valley", + "To know, and those that in its jaws it holds.”", + "We were already where the narrow path", + "Crosses athwart the second dike, and forms", + "Of that a buttress for another arch.", + "Thence we heard people, who are making moan", + "In the next Bolgia, snorting with their muzzles,", + "And with their palms beating upon themselves", + "The margins were incrusted with a mould", + "By exhalation from below, that sticks there,", + "And with the eyes and nostrils wages war.", + "The bottom is so deep, no place suffices", + "To give us sight of it, without ascending", + "The arch’s back, where most the crag impends.", + "Thither we came, and thence down in the moat", + "I saw a people smothered in a filth", + "That out of human privies seemed to flow;", + "And whilst below there with mine eye I search,", + "I saw one with his head so foul with ordure,", + "It was not clear if he were clerk or layman.", + "He screamed to me: “Wherefore art thou so eager", + "To look at me more than the other foul ones?”", + "And I to him: “Because, if I remember,", + "I have already seen thee with dry hair,", + "And thou’rt Alessio Interminei of Lucca;", + "Therefore I eye thee more than all the others.”", + "And he thereon, belabouring his pumpkin:", + "“The flatteries have submerged me here below,", + "Wherewith my tongue was never surfeited.”", + "Then said to me the Guide: “See that thou thrust", + "Thy visage somewhat farther in advance,", + "That with thine eyes thou well the face attain", + "Of that uncleanly and dishevelled drab,", + "Who there doth scratch herself with filthy nails,", + "And crouches now, and now on foot is standing.", + "Thais the harlot is it, who replied", + "Unto her paramour, when he said, ‘Have I", + "Great gratitude from thee?’—‘Nay, marvellous;’", + "And herewith let our sight be satisfied.”" + ], + "19": [ + "O Simon Magus, O forlorn disciples,", + "Ye who the things of God, which ought to be", + "The brides of holiness, rapaciously", + "For silver and for gold do prostitute,", + "Now it behoves for you the trumpet sound,", + "Because in this third Bolgia ye abide.", + "We had already on the following tomb", + "Ascended to that portion of the crag", + "Which o’er the middle of the moat hangs plumb.", + "Wisdom supreme, O how great art thou showest", + "In heaven, in earth, and in the evil world,", + "And with what justice doth thy power distribute!", + "I saw upon the sides and on the bottom", + "The livid stone with perforations filled,", + "All of one size, and every one was round.", + "To me less ample seemed they not, nor greater", + "Than those that in my beautiful Saint John", + "Are fashioned for the place of the baptisers,", + "And one of which, not many years ago,", + "I broke for some one, who was drowning in it;", + "Be this a seal all men to undeceive.", + "Out of the mouth of each one there protruded", + "The feet of a transgressor, and the legs", + "Up to the calf, the rest within remained.", + "In all of them the soles were both on fire;", + "Wherefore the joints so violently quivered,", + "They would have snapped asunder withes and bands.", + "Even as the flame of unctuous things is wont", + "To move upon the outer surface only,", + "So likewise was it there from heel to point.", + "“Master, who is that one who writhes himself,", + "More than his other comrades quivering,”", + "I said, “and whom a redder flame is sucking?”", + "And he to me: “If thou wilt have me bear thee", + "Down there along that bank which lowest lies,", + "From him thou’lt know his errors and himself.”", + "And I: “What pleases thee, to me is pleasing;", + "Thou art my Lord, and knowest that I depart not", + "From thy desire, and knowest what is not spoken.”", + "Straightway upon the fourth dike we arrived;", + "We turned, and on the left-hand side descended", + "Down to the bottom full of holes and narrow.", + "And the good Master yet from off his haunch", + "Deposed me not, till to the hole he brought me", + "Of him who so lamented with his shanks.", + "“Whoe’er thou art, that standest upside down,", + "O doleful soul, implanted like a stake,”", + "To say began I, “if thou canst, speak out.”", + "I stood even as the friar who is confessing", + "The false assassin, who, when he is fixed,", + "Recalls him, so that death may be delayed.", + "And he cried out: “Dost thou stand there already,", + "Dost thou stand there already, Boniface?", + "By many years the record lied to me.", + "Art thou so early satiate with that wealth,", + "For which thou didst not fear to take by fraud", + "The beautiful Lady, and then work her woe?”", + "Such I became, as people are who stand,", + "Not comprehending what is answered them,", + "As if bemocked, and know not how to answer.", + "Then said Virgilius: “Say to him straightway,", + "‘I am not he, I am not he thou thinkest.’”", + "And I replied as was imposed on me.", + "Whereat the spirit writhed with both his feet,", + "Then, sighing, with a voice of lamentation", + "Said to me: “Then what wantest thou of me?", + "If who I am thou carest so much to know,", + "That thou on that account hast crossed the bank,", + "Know that I vested was with the great mantle;", + "And truly was I son of the She-bear,", + "So eager to advance the cubs, that wealth", + "Above, and here myself, I pocketed.", + "Beneath my head the others are dragged down", + "Who have preceded me in simony,", + "Flattened along the fissure of the rock.", + "Below there I shall likewise fall, whenever", + "That one shall come who I believed thou wast,", + "What time the sudden question I proposed.", + "But longer I my feet already toast,", + "And here have been in this way upside down,", + "Than he will planted stay with reddened feet;", + "For after him shall come of fouler deed", + "From tow’rds the west a Pastor without law,", + "Such as befits to cover him and me.", + "New Jason will he be, of whom we read", + "In Maccabees; and as his king was pliant,", + "So he who governs France shall be to this one.”", + "I do not know if I were here too bold,", + "That him I answered only in this metre:", + "“I pray thee tell me now how great a treasure", + "Our Lord demanded of Saint Peter first,", + "Before he put the keys into his keeping?", + "Truly he nothing asked but ‘Follow me.’", + "Nor Peter nor the rest asked of Matthias", + "Silver or gold, when he by lot was chosen", + "Unto the place the guilty soul had lost.", + "Therefore stay here, for thou art justly punished,", + "And keep safe guard o’er the ill-gotten money,", + "Which caused thee to be valiant against Charles.", + "And were it not that still forbids it me", + "The reverence for the keys superlative", + "Thou hadst in keeping in the gladsome life,", + "I would make use of words more grievous still;", + "Because your avarice afflicts the world,", + "Trampling the good and lifting the depraved.", + "The Evangelist you Pastors had in mind,", + "When she who sitteth upon many waters", + "To fornicate with kings by him was seen;", + "The same who with the seven heads was born,", + "And power and strength from the ten horns received,", + "So long as virtue to her spouse was pleasing.", + "Ye have made yourselves a god of gold and silver;", + "And from the idolater how differ ye,", + "Save that he one, and ye a hundred worship?", + "Ah, Constantine! of how much ill was mother,", + "Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower", + "Which the first wealthy Father took from thee!”", + "And while I sang to him such notes as these,", + "Either that anger or that conscience stung him,", + "He struggled violently with both his feet.", + "I think in sooth that it my Leader pleased,", + "With such contented lip he listened ever", + "Unto the sound of the true words expressed.", + "Therefore with both his arms he took me up,", + "And when he had me all upon his breast,", + "Remounted by the way where he descended.", + "Nor did he tire to have me clasped to him;", + "But bore me to the summit of the arch", + "Which from the fourth dike to the fifth is passage.", + "There tenderly he laid his burden down,", + "Tenderly on the crag uneven and steep,", + "That would have been hard passage for the goats:", + "Thence was unveiled to me another valley." + ], + "20": [ + "Of a new pain behoves me to make verses", + "And give material to the twentieth canto", + "Of the first song, which is of the submerged.", + "I was already thoroughly disposed", + "To peer down into the uncovered depth,", + "Which bathed itself with tears of agony;", + "And people saw I through the circular valley,", + "Silent and weeping, coming at the pace", + "Which in this world the Litanies assume.", + "As lower down my sight descended on them,", + "Wondrously each one seemed to be distorted", + "From chin to the beginning of the chest;", + "For tow’rds the reins the countenance was turned,", + "And backward it behoved them to advance,", + "As to look forward had been taken from them.", + "Perchance indeed by violence of palsy", + "Some one has been thus wholly turned awry;", + "But I ne’er saw it, nor believe it can be.", + "As God may let thee, Reader, gather fruit", + "From this thy reading, think now for thyself", + "How I could ever keep my face unmoistened,", + "When our own image near me I beheld", + "Distorted so, the weeping of the eyes", + "Along the fissure bathed the hinder parts.", + "Truly I wept, leaning upon a peak", + "Of the hard crag, so that my Escort said", + "To me: “Art thou, too, of the other fools?", + "Here pity lives when it is wholly dead;", + "Who is a greater reprobate than he", + "Who feels compassion at the doom divine?", + "Lift up, lift up thy head, and see for whom", + "Opened the earth before the Thebans’ eyes;", + "Wherefore they all cried: ‘Whither rushest thou,", + "Amphiaraus? Why dost leave the war?’", + "And downward ceased he not to fall amain", + "As far as Minos, who lays hold on all.", + "See, he has made a bosom of his shoulders!", + "Because he wished to see too far before him", + "Behind he looks, and backward goes his way:", + "Behold Tiresias, who his semblance changed,", + "When from a male a female he became,", + "His members being all of them transformed;", + "And afterwards was forced to strike once more", + "The two entangled serpents with his rod,", + "Ere he could have again his manly plumes.", + "That Aruns is, who backs the other’s belly,", + "Who in the hills of Luni, there where grubs", + "The Carrarese who houses underneath,", + "Among the marbles white a cavern had", + "For his abode; whence to behold the stars", + "And sea, the view was not cut off from him.", + "And she there, who is covering up her breasts,", + "Which thou beholdest not, with loosened tresses,", + "And on that side has all the hairy skin,", + "Was Manto, who made quest through many lands,", + "Afterwards tarried there where I was born;", + "Whereof I would thou list to me a little.", + "After her father had from life departed,", + "And the city of Bacchus had become enslaved,", + "She a long season wandered through the world.", + "Above in beauteous Italy lies a lake", + "At the Alp’s foot that shuts in Germany", + "Over Tyrol, and has the name Benaco.", + "By a thousand springs, I think, and more, is bathed,", + "’Twixt Garda and Val Camonica, Pennino,", + "With water that grows stagnant in that lake.", + "Midway a place is where the Trentine Pastor,", + "And he of Brescia, and the Veronese", + "Might give his blessing, if he passed that way.", + "Sitteth Peschiera, fortress fair and strong,", + "To front the Brescians and the Bergamasks,", + "Where round about the bank descendeth lowest.", + "There of necessity must fall whatever", + "In bosom of Benaco cannot stay,", + "And grows a river down through verdant pastures.", + "Soon as the water doth begin to run,", + "No more Benaco is it called, but Mincio,", + "Far as Governo, where it falls in Po.", + "Not far it runs before it finds a plain", + "In which it spreads itself, and makes it marshy,", + "And oft ’tis wont in summer to be sickly.", + "Passing that way the virgin pitiless", + "Land in the middle of the fen descried,", + "Untilled and naked of inhabitants;", + "There to escape all human intercourse,", + "She with her servants stayed, her arts to practise", + "And lived, and left her empty body there.", + "The men, thereafter, who were scattered round,", + "Collected in that place, which was made strong", + "By the lagoon it had on every side;", + "They built their city over those dead bones,", + "And, after her who first the place selected,", + "Mantua named it, without other omen.", + "Its people once within more crowded were,", + "Ere the stupidity of Casalodi", + "From Pinamonte had received deceit.", + "Therefore I caution thee, if e’er thou hearest", + "Originate my city otherwise,", + "No falsehood may the verity defraud.”", + "And I: “My Master, thy discourses are", + "To me so certain, and so take my faith,", + "That unto me the rest would be spent coals.", + "But tell me of the people who are passing,", + "If any one note-worthy thou beholdest,", + "For only unto that my mind reverts.”", + "Then said he to me: “He who from the cheek", + "Thrusts out his beard upon his swarthy shoulders", + "Was, at the time when Greece was void of males,", + "So that there scarce remained one in the cradle,", + "An augur, and with Calchas gave the moment,", + "In Aulis, when to sever the first cable.", + "Eryphylus his name was, and so sings", + "My lofty Tragedy in some part or other;", + "That knowest thou well, who knowest the whole of it.", + "The next, who is so slender in the flanks,", + "Was Michael Scott, who of a verity", + "Of magical illusions knew the game.", + "Behold Guido Bonatti, behold Asdente,", + "Who now unto his leather and his thread", + "Would fain have stuck, but he too late repents.", + "Behold the wretched ones, who left the needle,", + "The spool and rock, and made them fortune-tellers;", + "They wrought their magic spells with herb and image.", + "But come now, for already holds the confines", + "Of both the hemispheres, and under Seville", + "Touches the ocean-wave, Cain and the thorns,", + "And yesternight the moon was round already;", + "Thou shouldst remember well it did not harm thee", + "From time to time within the forest deep.”", + "Thus spake he to me, and we walked the while." + ], + "21": [ + "From bridge to bridge thus, speaking other things", + "Of which my Comedy cares not to sing,", + "We came along, and held the summit, when", + "We halted to behold another fissure", + "Of Malebolge and other vain laments;", + "And I beheld it marvellously dark.", + "As in the Arsenal of the Venetians", + "Boils in the winter the tenacious pitch", + "To smear their unsound vessels o’er again,", + "For sail they cannot; and instead thereof", + "One makes his vessel new, and one recaulks", + "The ribs of that which many a voyage has made;", + "One hammers at the prow, one at the stern,", + "This one makes oars, and that one cordage twists,", + "Another mends the mainsail and the mizzen;", + "Thus, not by fire, but by the art divine,", + "Was boiling down below there a dense pitch", + "Which upon every side the bank belimed.", + "I saw it, but I did not see within it", + "Aught but the bubbles that the boiling raised,", + "And all swell up and resubside compressed.", + "The while below there fixedly I gazed,", + "My Leader, crying out: “Beware, beware!”", + "Drew me unto himself from where I stood.", + "Then I turned round, as one who is impatient", + "To see what it behoves him to escape,", + "And whom a sudden terror doth unman,", + "Who, while he looks, delays not his departure;", + "And I beheld behind us a black devil,", + "Running along upon the crag, approach.", + "Ah, how ferocious was he in his aspect!", + "And how he seemed to me in action ruthless,", + "With open wings and light upon his feet!", + "His shoulders, which sharp-pointed were and high,", + "A sinner did encumber with both haunches,", + "And he held clutched the sinews of the feet.", + "From off our bridge, he said: “O Malebranche,", + "Behold one of the elders of Saint Zita;", + "Plunge him beneath, for I return for others", + "Unto that town, which is well furnished with them.", + "All there are barrators, except Bonturo;", + "No into Yes for money there is changed.”", + "He hurled him down, and over the hard crag", + "Turned round, and never was a mastiff loosened", + "In so much hurry to pursue a thief.", + "The other sank, and rose again face downward;", + "But the demons, under cover of the bridge,", + "Cried: “Here the Santo Volto has no place!", + "Here swims one otherwise than in the Serchio;", + "Therefore, if for our gaffs thou wishest not,", + "Do not uplift thyself above the pitch.”", + "They seized him then with more than a hundred rakes;", + "They said: “It here behoves thee to dance covered,", + "That, if thou canst, thou secretly mayest pilfer.”", + "Not otherwise the cooks their scullions make", + "Immerse into the middle of the caldron", + "The meat with hooks, so that it may not float.", + "Said the good Master to me: “That it be not", + "Apparent thou art here, crouch thyself down", + "Behind a jag, that thou mayest have some screen;", + "And for no outrage that is done to me", + "Be thou afraid, because these things I know,", + "For once before was I in such a scuffle.”", + "Then he passed on beyond the bridge’s head,", + "And as upon the sixth bank he arrived,", + "Need was for him to have a steadfast front.", + "With the same fury, and the same uproar,", + "As dogs leap out upon a mendicant,", + "Who on a sudden begs, where’er he stops,", + "They issued from beneath the little bridge,", + "And turned against him all their grappling-irons;", + "But he cried out: “Be none of you malignant!", + "Before those hooks of yours lay hold of me,", + "Let one of you step forward, who may hear me,", + "And then take counsel as to grappling me.”", + "They all cried out: “Let Malacoda go;”", + "Whereat one started, and the rest stood still,", + "And he came to him, saying: “What avails it?”", + "“Thinkest thou, Malacoda, to behold me", + "Advanced into this place,” my Master said,", + "“Safe hitherto from all your skill of fence,", + "Without the will divine, and fate auspicious?", + "Let me go on, for it in Heaven is willed", + "That I another show this savage road.”", + "Then was his arrogance so humbled in him,", + "That he let fall his grapnel at his feet,", + "And to the others said: “Now strike him not.”", + "And unto me my Guide: “O thou, who sittest", + "Among the splinters of the bridge crouched down,", + "Securely now return to me again.”", + "Wherefore I started and came swiftly to him;", + "And all the devils forward thrust themselves,", + "So that I feared they would not keep their compact.", + "And thus beheld I once afraid the soldiers", + "Who issued under safeguard from Caprona,", + "Seeing themselves among so many foes.", + "Close did I press myself with all my person", + "Beside my Leader, and turned not mine eyes", + "From off their countenance, which was not good.", + "They lowered their rakes, and “Wilt thou have me hit him,”", + "They said to one another, “on the rump?”", + "And answered: “Yes; see that thou nick him with it.”", + "But the same demon who was holding parley", + "With my Conductor turned him very quickly,", + "And said: “Be quiet, be quiet, Scarmiglione;”", + "Then said to us: “You can no farther go", + "Forward upon this crag, because is lying", + "All shattered, at the bottom, the sixth arch.", + "And if it still doth please you to go onward,", + "Pursue your way along upon this rock;", + "Near is another crag that yields a path.", + "Yesterday, five hours later than this hour,", + "One thousand and two hundred sixty-six", + "Years were complete, that here the way was broken.", + "I send in that direction some of mine", + "To see if any one doth air himself;", + "Go ye with them; for they will not be vicious.", + "Step forward, Alichino and Calcabrina,”", + "Began he to cry out, “and thou, Cagnazzo;", + "And Barbariccia, do thou guide the ten.", + "Come forward, Libicocco and Draghignazzo,", + "And tusked Ciriatto and Graffiacane,", + "And Farfarello and mad Rubicante;", + "Search ye all round about the boiling pitch;", + "Let these be safe as far as the next crag,", + "That all unbroken passes o’er the dens.”", + "“O me! what is it, Master, that I see?", + "Pray let us go,” I said, “without an escort,", + "If thou knowest how, since for myself I ask none.", + "If thou art as observant as thy wont is,", + "Dost thou not see that they do gnash their teeth,", + "And with their brows are threatening woe to us?”", + "And he to me: “I will not have thee fear;", + "Let them gnash on, according to their fancy,", + "Because they do it for those boiling wretches.”", + "Along the left-hand dike they wheeled about;", + "But first had each one thrust his tongue between", + "His teeth towards their leader for a signal;", + "And he had made a trumpet of his rump." + ], + "22": [ + "I have erewhile seen horsemen moving camp,", + "Begin the storming, and their muster make,", + "And sometimes starting off for their escape;", + "Vaunt-couriers have I seen upon your land,", + "O Aretines, and foragers go forth,", + "Tournaments stricken, and the joustings run,", + "Sometimes with trumpets and sometimes with bells,", + "With kettle-drums, and signals of the castles,", + "And with our own, and with outlandish things,", + "But never yet with bagpipe so uncouth", + "Did I see horsemen move, nor infantry,", + "Nor ship by any sign of land or star.", + "We went upon our way with the ten demons;", + "Ah, savage company! but in the church", + "With saints, and in the tavern with the gluttons!", + "Ever upon the pitch was my intent,", + "To see the whole condition of that Bolgia,", + "And of the people who therein were burned.", + "Even as the dolphins, when they make a sign", + "To mariners by arching of the back,", + "That they should counsel take to save their vessel,", + "Thus sometimes, to alleviate his pain,", + "One of the sinners would display his back,", + "And in less time conceal it than it lightens.", + "As on the brink of water in a ditch", + "The frogs stand only with their muzzles out,", + "So that they hide their feet and other bulk,", + "So upon every side the sinners stood;", + "But ever as Barbariccia near them came,", + "Thus underneath the boiling they withdrew.", + "I saw, and still my heart doth shudder at it,", + "One waiting thus, even as it comes to pass", + "One frog remains, and down another dives;", + "And Graffiacan, who most confronted him,", + "Grappled him by his tresses smeared with pitch,", + "And drew him up, so that he seemed an otter.", + "I knew, before, the names of all of them,", + "So had I noted them when they were chosen,", + "And when they called each other, listened how.", + "“O Rubicante, see that thou do lay", + "Thy claws upon him, so that thou mayst flay him,”", + "Cried all together the accursed ones.", + "And I: “My Master, see to it, if thou canst,", + "That thou mayst know who is the luckless wight,", + "Thus come into his adversaries’ hands.”", + "Near to the side of him my Leader drew,", + "Asked of him whence he was; and he replied:", + "“I in the kingdom of Navarre was born;", + "My mother placed me servant to a lord,", + "For she had borne me to a ribald knave,", + "Destroyer of himself and of his things.", + "Then I domestic was of good King Thibault;", + "I set me there to practise barratry,", + "For which I pay the reckoning in this heat.”", + "And Ciriatto, from whose mouth projected,", + "On either side, a tusk, as in a boar,", + "Caused him to feel how one of them could rip.", + "Among malicious cats the mouse had come;", + "But Barbariccia clasped him in his arms,", + "And said: “Stand ye aside, while I enfork him.”", + "And to my Master he turned round his head;", + "“Ask him again,” he said, “if more thou wish", + "To know from him, before some one destroy him.”", + "The Guide: “Now tell then of the other culprits;", + "Knowest thou any one who is a Latian,", + "Under the pitch?” And he: “I separated", + "Lately from one who was a neighbour to it;", + "Would that I still were covered up with him,", + "For I should fear not either claw nor hook!”", + "And Libicocco: “We have borne too much;”", + "And with his grapnel seized him by the arm,", + "So that, by rending, he tore off a tendon.", + "Eke Draghignazzo wished to pounce upon him", + "Down at the legs; whence their Decurion", + "Turned round and round about with evil look.", + "When they again somewhat were pacified,", + "Of him, who still was looking at his wound,", + "Demanded my Conductor without stay:", + "“Who was that one, from whom a luckless parting", + "Thou sayest thou hast made, to come ashore?”", + "And he replied: “It was the Friar Gomita,", + "He of Gallura, vessel of all fraud,", + "Who had the enemies of his Lord in hand,", + "And dealt so with them each exults thereat;", + "Money he took, and let them smoothly off,", + "As he says; and in other offices", + "A barrator was he, not mean but sovereign.", + "Foregathers with him one Don Michael Zanche", + "Of Logodoro; and of Sardinia", + "To gossip never do their tongues feel tired.", + "O me! see that one, how he grinds his teeth;", + "Still farther would I speak, but am afraid", + "Lest he to scratch my itch be making ready.”", + "And the grand Provost, turned to Farfarello,", + "Who rolled his eyes about as if to strike,", + "Said: “Stand aside there, thou malicious bird.”", + "“If you desire either to see or hear,”", + "The terror-stricken recommenced thereon,", + "“Tuscans or Lombards, I will make them come.", + "But let the Malebranche cease a little,", + "So that these may not their revenges fear,", + "And I, down sitting in this very place,", + "For one that I am will make seven come,", + "When I shall whistle, as our custom is", + "To do whenever one of us comes out.”", + "Cagnazzo at these words his muzzle lifted,", + "Shaking his head, and said: “Just hear the trick", + "Which he has thought of, down to throw himself!”", + "Whence he, who snares in great abundance had,", + "Responded: “I by far too cunning am,", + "When I procure for mine a greater sadness.”", + "Alichin held not in, but running counter", + "Unto the rest, said to him: “If thou dive,", + "I will not follow thee upon the gallop,", + "But I will beat my wings above the pitch;", + "The height be left, and be the bank a shield", + "To see if thou alone dost countervail us.”", + "O thou who readest, thou shalt hear new sport!", + "Each to the other side his eyes averted;", + "He first, who most reluctant was to do it.", + "The Navarrese selected well his time;", + "Planted his feet on land, and in a moment", + "Leaped, and released himself from their design.", + "Whereat each one was suddenly stung with shame,", + "But he most who was cause of the defeat;", + "Therefore he moved, and cried: “Thou art o’ertakern.”", + "But little it availed, for wings could not", + "Outstrip the fear; the other one went under,", + "And, flying, upward he his breast directed;", + "Not otherwise the duck upon a sudden", + "Dives under, when the falcon is approaching,", + "And upward he returneth cross and weary.", + "Infuriate at the mockery, Calcabrina", + "Flying behind him followed close, desirous", + "The other should escape, to have a quarrel.", + "And when the barrator had disappeared,", + "He turned his talons upon his companion,", + "And grappled with him right above the moat.", + "But sooth the other was a doughty sparhawk", + "To clapperclaw him well; and both of them", + "Fell in the middle of the boiling pond.", + "A sudden intercessor was the heat;", + "But ne’ertheless of rising there was naught,", + "To such degree they had their wings belimed.", + "Lamenting with the others, Barbariccia", + "Made four of them fly to the other side", + "With all their gaffs, and very speedily", + "This side and that they to their posts descended;", + "They stretched their hooks towards the pitch-ensnared,", + "Who were already baked within the crust,", + "And in this manner busied did we leave them." + ], + "23": [ + "Silent, alone, and without company", + "We went, the one in front, the other after,", + "As go the Minor Friars along their way.", + "Upon the fable of Aesop was directed", + "My thought, by reason of the present quarrel,", + "Where he has spoken of the frog and mouse;", + "For ‘mo’ and ‘issa’ are not more alike", + "Than this one is to that, if well we couple", + "End and beginning with a steadfast mind.", + "And even as one thought from another springs,", + "So afterward from that was born another,", + "Which the first fear within me double made.", + "Thus did I ponder: “These on our account", + "Are laughed to scorn, with injury and scoff", + "So great, that much I think it must annoy them.", + "If anger be engrafted on ill-will,", + "They will come after us more merciless", + "Than dog upon the leveret which he seizes,”", + "I felt my hair stand all on end already", + "With terror, and stood backwardly intent,", + "When said I: “Master, if thou hidest not", + "Thyself and me forthwith, of Malebranche", + "I am in dread; we have them now behind us;", + "I so imagine them, I already feel them.”", + "And he: “If I were made of leaded glass,", + "Thine outward image I should not attract", + "Sooner to me than I imprint the inner.", + "Just now thy thoughts came in among my own,", + "With similar attitude and similar face,", + "So that of both one counsel sole I made.", + "If peradventure the right bank so slope", + "That we to the next Bolgia can descend,", + "We shall escape from the imagined chase.”", + "Not yet he finished rendering such opinion,", + "When I beheld them come with outstretched wings,", + "Not far remote, with will to seize upon us.", + "My Leader on a sudden seized me up,", + "Even as a mother who by noise is wakened,", + "And close beside her sees the enkindled flames,", + "Who takes her son, and flies, and does not stop,", + "Having more care of him than of herself,", + "So that she clothes her only with a shift;", + "And downward from the top of the hard bank", + "Supine he gave him to the pendent rock,", + "That one side of the other Bolgia walls.", + "Ne’er ran so swiftly water through a sluice", + "To turn the wheel of any land-built mill,", + "When nearest to the paddles it approaches,", + "As did my Master down along that border,", + "Bearing me with him on his breast away,", + "As his own son, and not as a companion.", + "Hardly the bed of the ravine below", + "His feet had reached, ere they had reached the hill", + "Right over us; but he was not afraid;", + "For the high Providence, which had ordained", + "To place them ministers of the fifth moat,", + "The power of thence departing took from all.", + "A painted people there below we found,", + "Who went about with footsteps very slow,", + "Weeping and in their semblance tired and vanquished.", + "They had on mantles with the hoods low down", + "Before their eyes, and fashioned of the cut", + "That in Cologne they for the monks are made.", + "Without, they gilded are so that it dazzles;", + "But inwardly all leaden and so heavy", + "That Frederick used to put them on of straw.", + "O everlastingly fatiguing mantle!", + "Again we turned us, still to the left hand", + "Along with them, intent on their sad plaint;", + "But owing to the weight, that weary folk", + "Came on so tardily, that we were new", + "In company at each motion of the haunch.", + "Whence I unto my Leader: “See thou find", + "Some one who may by deed or name be known,", + "And thus in going move thine eye about.”", + "And one, who understood the Tuscan speech,", + "Cried to us from behind: “Stay ye your feet,", + "Ye, who so run athwart the dusky air!", + "Perhaps thou’lt have from me what thou demandest.”", + "Whereat the Leader turned him, and said: “Wait,", + "And then according to his pace proceed.”", + "I stopped, and two beheld I show great haste", + "Of spirit, in their faces, to be with me;", + "But the burden and the narrow way delayed them.", + "When they came up, long with an eye askance", + "They scanned me without uttering a word.", + "Then to each other turned, and said together:", + "“He by the action of his throat seems living;", + "And if they dead are, by what privilege", + "Go they uncovered by the heavy stole?”", + "Then said to me: “Tuscan, who to the college", + "Of miserable hypocrites art come,", + "Do not disdain to tell us who thou art.”", + "And I to them: “Born was I, and grew up", + "In the great town on the fair river of Arno,", + "And with the body am I’ve always had.", + "But who are ye, in whom there trickles down", + "Along your cheeks such grief as I behold?", + "And what pain is upon you, that so sparkles?”", + "And one replied to me: “These orange cloaks", + "Are made of lead so heavy, that the weights", + "Cause in this way their balances to creak.", + "Frati Gaudenti were we, and Bolognese;", + "I Catalano, and he Loderingo", + "Named, and together taken by thy city,", + "As the wont is to take one man alone,", + "For maintenance of its peace; and we were such", + "That still it is apparent round Gardingo.”", + "“O Friars,” began I, “your iniquitous. . .”", + "But said no more; for to mine eyes there rushed", + "One crucified with three stakes on the ground.", + "When me he saw, he writhed himself all over,", + "Blowing into his beard with suspirations;", + "And the Friar Catalan, who noticed this,", + "Said to me: “This transfixed one, whom thou seest,", + "Counselled the Pharisees that it was meet", + "To put one man to torture for the people.", + "Crosswise and naked is he on the path,", + "As thou perceivest; and he needs must feel,", + "Whoever passes, first how much he weighs;", + "And in like mode his father-in-law is punished", + "Within this moat, and the others of the council,", + "Which for the Jews was a malignant seed.”", + "And thereupon I saw Virgilius marvel", + "O’er him who was extended on the cross", + "So vilely in eternal banishment.", + "Then he directed to the Friar this voice:", + "“Be not displeased, if granted thee, to tell us", + "If to the right hand any pass slope down", + "By which we two may issue forth from here,", + "Without constraining some of the black angels", + "To come and extricate us from this deep.”", + "Then he made answer: “Nearer than thou hopest", + "There is a rock, that forth from the great circle", + "Proceeds, and crosses all the cruel valleys,", + "Save that at this ’tis broken, and does not bridge it;", + "You will be able to mount up the ruin,", + "That sidelong slopes and at the bottom rises.”", + "The Leader stood awhile with head bowed down;", + "Then said: “The business badly he recounted", + "Who grapples with his hook the sinners yonder.”", + "And the Friar: “Many of the Devil’s vices", + "Once heard I at Bologna, and among them,", + "That he’s a liar and the father of lies.”", + "Thereat my Leader with great strides went on,", + "Somewhat disturbed with anger in his looks;", + "Whence from the heavy-laden I departed", + "After the prints of his beloved feet." + ], + "24": [ + "In that part of the youthful year wherein", + "The Sun his locks beneath Aquarius tempers,", + "And now the nights draw near to half the day,", + "What time the hoar-frost copies on the ground", + "The outward semblance of her sister white,", + "But little lasts the temper of her pen,", + "The husbandman, whose forage faileth him,", + "Rises, and looks, and seeth the champaign", + "All gleaming white, whereat he beats his flank,", + "Returns in doors, and up and down laments,", + "Like a poor wretch, who knows not what to do;", + "Then he returns and hope revives again,", + "Seeing the world has changed its countenance", + "In little time, and takes his shepherd’s crook,", + "And forth the little lambs to pasture drives.", + "Thus did the Master fill me with alarm,", + "When I beheld his forehead so disturbed,", + "And to the ailment came as soon the plaster.", + "For as we came unto the ruined bridge,", + "The Leader turned to me with that sweet look", + "Which at the mountain’s foot I first beheld.", + "His arms he opened, after some advisement", + "Within himself elected, looking first", + "Well at the ruin, and laid hold of me.", + "And even as he who acts and meditates,", + "For aye it seems that he provides beforehand,", + "So upward lifting me towards the summit", + "Of a huge rock, he scanned another crag,", + "Saying: “To that one grapple afterwards,", + "But try first if ’tis such that it will hold thee.”", + "This was no way for one clothed with a cloak;", + "For hardly we, he light, and I pushed upward,", + "Were able to ascend from jag to jag.", + "And had it not been, that upon that precinct", + "Shorter was the ascent than on the other,", + "He I know not, but I had been dead beat.", + "But because Malebolge tow’rds the mouth", + "Of the profoundest well is all inclining,", + "The structure of each valley doth import", + "That one bank rises and the other sinks.", + "Still we arrived at length upon the point", + "Wherefrom the last stone breaks itself asunder.", + "The breath was from my lungs so milked away,", + "When I was up, that I could go no farther,", + "Nay, I sat down upon my first arrival.", + "“Now it behoves thee thus to put off sloth,”", + "My Master said; “for sitting upon down,", + "Or under quilt, one cometh not to fame,", + "Withouten which whoso his life consumes", + "Such vestige leaveth of himself on earth,", + "As smoke in air or in the water foam.", + "And therefore raise thee up, o’ercome the anguish", + "With spirit that o’ercometh every battle,", + "If with its heavy body it sink not.", + "A longer stairway it behoves thee mount;", + "’Tis not enough from these to have departed;", + "Let it avail thee, if thou understand me.”", + "Then I uprose, showing myself provided", + "Better with breath than I did feel myself,", + "And said: “Go on, for I am strong and bold.”", + "Upward we took our way along the crag,", + "Which jagged was, and narrow, and difficult,", + "And more precipitous far than that before.", + "Speaking I went, not to appear exhausted;", + "Whereat a voice from the next moat came forth,", + "Not well adapted to articulate words.", + "I know not what it said, though o’er the back", + "I now was of the arch that passes there;", + "But he seemed moved to anger who was speaking.", + "I was bent downward, but my living eyes", + "Could not attain the bottom, for the dark;", + "Wherefore I: “Master, see that thou arrive", + "At the next round, and let us descend the wall;", + "For as from hence I hear and understand not,", + "So I look down and nothing I distinguish.”", + "“Other response,” he said, “I make thee not,", + "Except the doing; for the modest asking", + "Ought to be followed by the deed in silence.”", + "We from the bridge descended at its head,", + "Where it connects itself with the eighth bank,", + "And then was manifest to me the Bolgia;", + "And I beheld therein a terrible throng", + "Of serpents, and of such a monstrous kind,", + "That the remembrance still congeals my blood", + "Let Libya boast no longer with her sand;", + "For if Chelydri, Jaculi, and Phareae", + "She breeds, with Cenchri and with Amphisbaena,", + "Neither so many plagues nor so malignant", + "E’er showed she with all Ethiopia,", + "Nor with whatever on the Red Sea is!", + "Among this cruel and most dismal throng", + "People were running naked and affrighted.", + "Without the hope of hole or heliotrope.", + "They had their hands with serpents bound behind them;", + "These riveted upon their reins the tail", + "And head, and were in front of them entwined.", + "And lo! at one who was upon our side", + "There darted forth a serpent, which transfixed him", + "There where the neck is knotted to the shoulders.", + "Nor ‘O’ so quickly e’er, nor ‘I’ was written,", + "As he took fire, and burned; and ashes wholly", + "Behoved it that in falling he became.", + "And when he on the ground was thus destroyed,", + "The ashes drew together, and of themselves", + "Into himself they instantly returned.", + "Even thus by the great sages ’tis confessed", + "The phoenix dies, and then is born again,", + "When it approaches its five-hundredth year;", + "On herb or grain it feeds not in its life,", + "But only on tears of incense and amomum,", + "And nard and myrrh are its last winding-sheet.", + "And as he is who falls, and knows not how,", + "By force of demons who to earth down drag him,", + "Or other oppilation that binds man,", + "When he arises and around him looks,", + "Wholly bewildered by the mighty anguish", + "Which he has suffered, and in looking sighs;", + "Such was that sinner after he had risen.", + "Justice of God! O how severe it is,", + "That blows like these in vengeance poureth down!", + "The Guide thereafter asked him who he was;", + "Whence he replied: “I rained from Tuscany", + "A short time since into this cruel gorge.", + "A bestial life, and not a human, pleased me,", + "Even as the mule I was; I’m Vanni Fucci,", + "Beast, and Pistoia was my worthy den.”", + "And I unto the Guide: “Tell him to stir not,", + "And ask what crime has thrust him here below,", + "For once a man of blood and wrath I saw him.”", + "And the sinner, who had heard, dissembled not,", + "But unto me directed mind and face,", + "And with a melancholy shame was painted.", + "Then said: “It pains me more that thou hast caught me", + "Amid this misery where thou seest me,", + "Than when I from the other life was taken.", + "What thou demandest I cannot deny;", + "So low am I put down because I robbed", + "The sacristy of the fair ornaments,", + "And falsely once ’twas laid upon another;", + "But that thou mayst not such a sight enjoy,", + "If thou shalt e’er be out of the dark places,", + "Thine ears to my announcement ope and hear:", + "Pistoia first of Neri groweth meagre;", + "Then Florence doth renew her men and manners;", + "Mars draws a vapour up from Val di Magra,", + "Which is with turbid clouds enveloped round,", + "And with impetuous and bitter tempest", + "Over Campo Picen shall be the battle;", + "When it shall suddenly rend the mist asunder,", + "So that each Bianco shall thereby be smitten.", + "And this I’ve said that it may give thee pain.”" + ], + "25": [ + "At the conclusion of his words, the thief", + "Lifted his hands aloft with both the figs,", + "Crying: “Take that, God, for at thee I aim them.”", + "From that time forth the serpents were my friends;", + "For one entwined itself about his neck", + "As if it said: “I will not thou speak more;”", + "And round his arms another, and rebound him,", + "Clinching itself together so in front,", + "That with them he could not a motion make.", + "Pistoia, ah, Pistoia! why resolve not", + "To burn thyself to ashes and so perish,", + "Since in ill-doing thou thy seed excellest?", + "Through all the sombre circles of this Hell,", + "Spirit I saw not against God so proud,", + "Not he who fell at Thebes down from the walls!", + "He fled away, and spake no further word;", + "And I beheld a Centaur full of rage", + "Come crying out: “Where is, where is the scoffer?”", + "I do not think Maremma has so many", + "Serpents as he had all along his back,", + "As far as where our countenance begins.", + "Upon the shoulders, just behind the nape,", + "With wings wide open was a dragon lying,", + "And he sets fire to all that he encounters.", + "My Master said: “That one is Cacus, who", + "Beneath the rock upon Mount Aventine", + "Created oftentimes a lake of blood.", + "He goes not on the same road with his brothers,", + "By reason of the fraudulent theft he made", + "Of the great herd, which he had near to him;", + "Whereat his tortuous actions ceased beneath", + "The mace of Hercules, who peradventure", + "Gave him a hundred, and he felt not ten.”", + "While he was speaking thus, he had passed by,", + "And spirits three had underneath us come,", + "Of which nor I aware was, nor my Leader,", + "Until what time they shouted: “Who are you?”", + "On which account our story made a halt,", + "And then we were intent on them alone.", + "I did not know them; but it came to pass,", + "As it is wont to happen by some chance,", + "That one to name the other was compelled,", + "Exclaiming: “Where can Cianfa have remained?”", + "Whence I, so that the Leader might attend,", + "Upward from chin to nose my finger laid.", + "If thou art, Reader, slow now to believe", + "What I shall say, it will no marvel be,", + "For I who saw it hardly can admit it.", + "As I was holding raised on them my brows,", + "Behold! a serpent with six feet darts forth", + "In front of one, and fastens wholly on him.", + "With middle feet it bound him round the paunch,", + "And with the forward ones his arms it seized;", + "Then thrust its teeth through one cheek and the other;", + "The hindermost it stretched upon his thighs,", + "And put its tail through in between the two,", + "And up behind along the reins outspread it.", + "Ivy was never fastened by its barbs", + "Unto a tree so, as this horrible reptile", + "Upon the other’s limbs entwined its own.", + "Then they stuck close, as if of heated wax", + "They had been made, and intermixed their colour;", + "Nor one nor other seemed now what he was;", + "E’en as proceedeth on before the flame", + "Upward along the paper a brown colour,", + "Which is not black as yet, and the white dies.", + "The other two looked on, and each of them", + "Cried out: “O me, Agnello, how thou changest!", + "Behold, thou now art neither two nor one.”", + "Already the two heads had one become,", + "When there appeared to us two figures mingled", + "Into one face, wherein the two were lost.", + "Of the four lists were fashioned the two arms,", + "The thighs and legs, the belly and the chest", + "Members became that never yet were seen.", + "Every original aspect there was cancelled;", + "Two and yet none did the perverted image", + "Appear, and such departed with slow pace.", + "Even as a lizard, under the great scourge", + "Of days canicular, exchanging hedge,", + "Lightning appeareth if the road it cross;", + "Thus did appear, coming towards the bellies", + "Of the two others, a small fiery serpent,", + "Livid and black as is a peppercorn.", + "And in that part whereat is first received", + "Our aliment, it one of them transfixed;", + "Then downward fell in front of him extended.", + "The one transfixed looked at it, but said naught;", + "Nay, rather with feet motionless he yawned,", + "Just as if sleep or fever had assailed him.", + "He at the serpent gazed, and it at him;", + "One through the wound, the other through the mouth", + "Smoked violently, and the smoke commingled.", + "Henceforth be silent Lucan, where he mentions", + "Wretched Sabellus and Nassidius,", + "And wait to hear what now shall be shot forth.", + "Be silent Ovid, of Cadmus and Arethusa;", + "For if him to a snake, her to fountain,", + "Converts he fabling, that I grudge him not;", + "Because two natures never front to front", + "Has he transmuted, so that both the forms", + "To interchange their matter ready were.", + "Together they responded in such wise,", + "That to a fork the serpent cleft his tail,", + "And eke the wounded drew his feet together.", + "The legs together with the thighs themselves", + "Adhered so, that in little time the juncture", + "No sign whatever made that was apparent.", + "He with the cloven tail assumed the figure", + "The other one was losing, and his skin", + "Became elastic, and the other’s hard.", + "I saw the arms draw inward at the armpits,", + "And both feet of the reptile, that were short,", + "Lengthen as much as those contracted were.", + "Thereafter the hind feet, together twisted,", + "Became the member that a man conceals,", + "And of his own the wretch had two created.", + "While both of them the exhalation veils", + "With a new colour, and engenders hair", + "On one of them and depilates the other,", + "The one uprose and down the other fell,", + "Though turning not away their impious lamps,", + "Underneath which each one his muzzle changed.", + "He who was standing drew it tow’rds the temples,", + "And from excess of matter, which came thither,", + "Issued the ears from out the hollow cheeks;", + "What did not backward run and was retained", + "Of that excess made to the face a nose,", + "And the lips thickened far as was befitting.", + "He who lay prostrate thrusts his muzzle forward,", + "And backward draws the ears into his head,", + "In the same manner as the snail its horns;", + "And so the tongue, which was entire and apt", + "For speech before, is cleft, and the bi-forked", + "In the other closes up, and the smoke ceases.", + "The soul, which to a reptile had been changed,", + "Along the valley hissing takes to flight,", + "And after him the other speaking sputters.", + "Then did he turn upon him his new shoulders,", + "And said to the other: “I’ll have Buoso run,", + "Crawling as I have done, along this road.”", + "In this way I beheld the seventh ballast", + "Shift and reshift, and here be my excuse", + "The novelty, if aught my pen transgress.", + "And notwithstanding that mine eyes might be", + "Somewhat bewildered, and my mind dismayed,", + "They could not flee away so secretly", + "But that I plainly saw Puccio Sciancato;", + "And he it was who sole of three companions,", + "Which came in the beginning, was not changed;", + "The other was he whom thou, Gaville, weepest." + ], + "26": [ + "Rejoice, O Florence, since thou art so great,", + "That over sea and land thou beatest thy wings,", + "And throughout Hell thy name is spread abroad!", + "Among the thieves five citizens of thine", + "Like these I found, whence shame comes unto me,", + "And thou thereby to no great honour risest.", + "But if when morn is near our dreams are true,", + "Feel shalt thou in a little time from now", + "What Prato, if none other, craves for thee.", + "And if it now were, it were not too soon;", + "Would that it were, seeing it needs must be,", + "For ’twill aggrieve me more the more I age.", + "We went our way, and up along the stairs", + "The bourns had made us to descend before,", + "Remounted my Conductor and drew me.", + "And following the solitary path", + "Among the rocks and ridges of the crag,", + "The foot without the hand sped not at all.", + "Then sorrowed I, and sorrow now again,", + "When I direct my mind to what I saw,", + "And more my genius curb than I am wont,", + "That it may run not unless virtue guide it;", + "So that if some good star, or better thing,", + "Have given me good, I may myself not grudge it.", + "As many as the hind (who on the hill", + "Rests at the time when he who lights the world", + "His countenance keeps least concealed from us,", + "While as the fly gives place unto the gnat)", + "Seeth the glow-worms down along the valley,", + "Perchance there where he ploughs and makes his vintage;", + "With flames as manifold resplendent all", + "Was the eighth Bolgia, as I grew aware", + "As soon as I was where the depth appeared.", + "And such as he who with the bears avenged him", + "Beheld Elijah’s chariot at departing,", + "What time the steeds to heaven erect uprose,", + "For with his eye he could not follow it", + "So as to see aught else than flame alone,", + "Even as a little cloud ascending upward,", + "Thus each along the gorge of the intrenchment", + "Was moving; for not one reveals the theft,", + "And every flame a sinner steals away.", + "I stood upon the bridge uprisen to see,", + "So that, if I had seized not on a rock,", + "Down had I fallen without being pushed.", + "And the Leader, who beheld me so attent,", + "Exclaimed: “Within the fires the spirits are;", + "Each swathes himself with that wherewith he burns.”", + "“My Master,” I replied, “by hearing thee", + "I am more sure; but I surmised already", + "It might be so, and already wished to ask thee", + "Who is within that fire, which comes so cleft", + "At top, it seems uprising from the pyre", + "Where was Eteocles with his brother placed.”", + "He answered me: “Within there are tormented", + "Ulysses and Diomed, and thus together", + "They unto vengeance run as unto wrath.", + "And there within their flame do they lament", + "The ambush of the horse, which made the door", + "Whence issued forth the Romans’ gentle seed;", + "Therein is wept the craft, for which being dead", + "Deidamia still deplores Achilles,", + "And pain for the Palladium there is borne.”", + "“If they within those sparks possess the power", + "To speak,” I said, “thee, Master, much I pray,", + "And re-pray, that the prayer be worth a thousand,", + "That thou make no denial of awaiting", + "Until the horned flame shall hither come;", + "Thou seest that with desire I lean towards it.”", + "And he to me: “Worthy is thy entreaty", + "Of much applause, and therefore I accept it;", + "But take heed that thy tongue restrain itself.", + "Leave me to speak, because I have conceived", + "That which thou wishest; for they might disdain", + "Perchance, since they were Greeks, discourse of thine.”", + "When now the flame had come unto that point,", + "Where to my Leader it seemed time and place,", + "After this fashion did I hear him speak:", + "“O ye, who are twofold within one fire,", + "If I deserved of you, while I was living,", + "If I deserved of you or much or little", + "When in the world I wrote the lofty verses,", + "Do not move on, but one of you declare", + "Whither, being lost, he went away to die.”", + "Then of the antique flame the greater horn,", + "Murmuring, began to wave itself about", + "Even as a flame doth which the wind fatigues.", + "Thereafterward, the summit to and fro", + "Moving as if it were the tongue that spake,", + "It uttered forth a voice, and said: “When I", + "From Circe had departed, who concealed me", + "More than a year there near unto Gaeta,", + "Or ever yet Aeneas named it so,", + "Nor fondness for my son, nor reverence", + "For my old father, nor the due affection", + "Which joyous should have made Penelope,", + "Could overcome within me the desire", + "I had to be experienced of the world,", + "And of the vice and virtue of mankind;", + "But I put forth on the high open sea", + "With one sole ship, and that small company", + "By which I never had deserted been.", + "Both of the shores I saw as far as Spain,", + "Far as Morocco, and the isle of Sardes,", + "And the others which that sea bathes round about.", + "I and my company were old and slow", + "When at that narrow passage we arrived", + "Where Hercules his landmarks set as signals,", + "That man no farther onward should adventure.", + "On the right hand behind me left I Seville,", + "And on the other already had left Ceuta.", + "‘O brothers, who amid a hundred thousand", + "Perils,’ I said, ‘have come unto the West,", + "To this so inconsiderable vigil", + "Which is remaining of your senses still", + "Be ye unwilling to deny the knowledge,", + "Following the sun, of the unpeopled world.", + "Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang;", + "Ye were not made to live like unto brutes,", + "But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.’", + "So eager did I render my companions,", + "With this brief exhortation, for the voyage,", + "That then I hardly could have held them back.", + "And having turned our stern unto the morning,", + "We of the oars made wings for our mad flight,", + "Evermore gaining on the larboard side.", + "Already all the stars of the other pole", + "The night beheld, and ours so very low", + "It did not rise above the ocean floor.", + "Five times rekindled and as many quenched", + "Had been the splendour underneath the moon,", + "Since we had entered into the deep pass,", + "When there appeared to us a mountain, dim", + "From distance, and it seemed to me so high", + "As I had never any one beheld.", + "Joyful were we, and soon it turned to weeping;", + "For out of the new land a whirlwind rose,", + "And smote upon the fore part of the ship.", + "Three times it made her whirl with all the waters,", + "At the fourth time it made the stern uplift,", + "And the prow downward go, as pleased Another,", + "Until the sea above us closed again.”" + ], + "27": [ + "Already was the flame erect and quiet,", + "To speak no more, and now departed from us", + "With the permission of the gentle Poet;", + "When yet another, which behind it came,", + "Caused us to turn our eyes upon its top", + "By a confused sound that issued from it.", + "As the Sicilian bull (that bellowed first", + "With the lament of him, and that was right,", + "Who with his file had modulated it)", + "Bellowed so with the voice of the afflicted,", + "That, notwithstanding it was made of brass,", + "Still it appeared with agony transfixed;", + "Thus, by not having any way or issue", + "At first from out the fire, to its own language", + "Converted were the melancholy words.", + "But afterwards, when they had gathered way", + "Up through the point, giving it that vibration", + "The tongue had given them in their passage out,", + "We heard it said: “O thou, at whom I aim", + "My voice, and who but now wast speaking Lombard,", + "Saying, ‘Now go thy way, no more I urge thee,’", + "Because I come perchance a little late,", + "To stay and speak with me let it not irk thee;", + "Thou seest it irks not me, and I am burning.", + "If thou but lately into this blind world", + "Hast fallen down from that sweet Latian land,", + "Wherefrom I bring the whole of my transgression,", + "Say, if the Romagnuols have peace or war,", + "For I was from the mountains there between", + "Urbino and the yoke whence Tiber bursts.”", + "I still was downward bent and listening,", + "When my Conductor touched me on the side,", + "Saying: “Speak thou: this one a Latian is.”", + "And I, who had beforehand my reply", + "In readiness, forthwith began to speak:", + "“O soul, that down below there art concealed,", + "Romagna thine is not and never has been", + "Without war in the bosom of its tyrants;", + "But open war I none have left there now.", + "Ravenna stands as it long years has stood;", + "The Eagle of Polenta there is brooding,", + "So that she covers Cervia with her vans.", + "The city which once made the long resistance,", + "And of the French a sanguinary heap,", + "Beneath the Green Paws finds itself again;", + "Verrucchio’s ancient Mastiff and the new,", + "Who made such bad disposal of Montagna,", + "Where they are wont make wimbles of their teeth.", + "The cities of Lamone and Santerno", + "Governs the Lioncel of the white lair,", + "Who changes sides ’twixt summer-time and winter;", + "And that of which the Savio bathes the flank,", + "Even as it lies between the plain and mountain,", + "Lives between tyranny and a free state.", + "Now I entreat thee tell us who thou art;", + "Be not more stubborn than the rest have been,", + "So may thy name hold front there in the world.”", + "After the fire a little more had roared", + "In its own fashion, the sharp point it moved", + "This way and that, and then gave forth such breath:", + "“If I believed that my reply were made", + "To one who to the world would e’er return,", + "This flame without more flickering would stand still;", + "But inasmuch as never from this depth", + "Did any one return, if I hear true,", + "Without the fear of infamy I answer,", + "I was a man of arms, then Cordelier,", + "Believing thus begirt to make amends;", + "And truly my belief had been fulfilled", + "But for the High Priest, whom may ill betide,", + "Who put me back into my former sins;", + "And how and wherefore I will have thee hear.", + "While I was still the form of bone and pulp", + "My mother gave to me, the deeds I did", + "Were not those of a lion, but a fox.", + "The machinations and the covert ways", + "I knew them all, and practised so their craft,", + "That to the ends of earth the sound went forth.", + "When now unto that portion of mine age", + "I saw myself arrived, when each one ought", + "To lower the sails, and coil away the ropes,", + "That which before had pleased me then displeased me;", + "And penitent and confessing I surrendered,", + "Ah woe is me! and it would have bestead me;", + "The Leader of the modern Pharisees", + "Having a war near unto Lateran,", + "And not with Saracens nor with the Jews,", + "For each one of his enemies was Christian,", + "And none of them had been to conquer Acre,", + "Nor merchandising in the Sultan’s land,", + "Nor the high office, nor the sacred orders,", + "In him regarded, nor in me that cord", + "Which used to make those girt with it more meagre;", + "But even as Constantine sought out Sylvester", + "To cure his leprosy, within Soracte,", + "So this one sought me out as an adept", + "To cure him of the fever of his pride.", + "Counsel he asked of me, and I was silent,", + "Because his words appeared inebriate.", + "And then he said: ‘Be not thy heart afraid;", + "Henceforth I thee absolve; and thou instruct me", + "How to raze Palestrina to the ground.", + "Heaven have I power to lock and to unlock,", + "As thou dost know; therefore the keys are two,", + "The which my predecessor held not dear.’", + "Then urged me on his weighty arguments", + "There, where my silence was the worst advice;", + "And said I: ‘Father, since thou washest me", + "Of that sin into which I now must fall,", + "The promise long with the fulfilment short", + "Will make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.’", + "Francis came afterward, when I was dead,", + "For me; but one of the black Cherubim", + "Said to him: ‘Take him not; do me no wrong;", + "He must come down among my servitors,", + "Because he gave the fraudulent advice", + "From which time forth I have been at his hair;", + "For who repents not cannot be absolved,", + "Nor can one both repent and will at once,", + "Because of the contradiction which consents not.’", + "O miserable me! how I did shudder", + "When he seized on me, saying: ‘Peradventure", + "Thou didst not think that I was a logician!’", + "He bore me unto Minos, who entwined", + "Eight times his tail about his stubborn back,", + "And after he had bitten it in great rage,", + "Said: ‘Of the thievish fire a culprit this;’", + "Wherefore, here where thou seest, am I lost,", + "And vested thus in going I bemoan me.”", + "When it had thus completed its recital,", + "The flame departed uttering lamentations,", + "Writhing and flapping its sharp-pointed horn.", + "Onward we passed, both I and my Conductor,", + "Up o’er the crag above another arch,", + "Which the moat covers, where is paid the fee", + "By those who, sowing discord, win their burden." + ], + "28": [ + "Who ever could, e’en with untrammelled words,", + "Tell of the blood and of the wounds in full", + "Which now I saw, by many times narrating?", + "Each tongue would for a certainty fall short", + "By reason of our speech and memory,", + "That have small room to comprehend so much.", + "If were again assembled all the people", + "Which formerly upon the fateful land", + "Of Puglia were lamenting for their blood", + "Shed by the Romans and the lingering war", + "That of the rings made such illustrious spoils,", + "As Livy has recorded, who errs not,", + "With those who felt the agony of blows", + "By making counterstand to Robert Guiscard,", + "And all the rest, whose bones are gathered still", + "At Ceperano, where a renegade", + "Was each Apulian, and at Tagliacozzo,", + "Where without arms the old Alardo conquered,", + "And one his limb transpierced, and one lopped off,", + "Should show, it would be nothing to compare", + "With the disgusting mode of the ninth Bolgia.", + "A cask by losing centre-piece or cant", + "Was never shattered so, as I saw one", + "Rent from the chin to where one breaketh wind.", + "Between his legs were hanging down his entrails;", + "His heart was visible, and the dismal sack", + "That maketh excrement of what is eaten.", + "While I was all absorbed in seeing him,", + "He looked at me, and opened with his hands", + "His bosom, saying: “See now how I rend me;", + "How mutilated, see, is Mahomet;", + "In front of me doth Ali weeping go,", + "Cleft in the face from forelock unto chin;", + "And all the others whom thou here beholdest,", + "Disseminators of scandal and of schism", + "While living were, and therefore are cleft thus.", + "A devil is behind here, who doth cleave us", + "Thus cruelly, unto the falchion’s edge", + "Putting again each one of all this ream,", + "When we have gone around the doleful road;", + "By reason that our wounds are closed again", + "Ere any one in front of him repass.", + "But who art thou, that musest on the crag,", + "Perchance to postpone going to the pain", + "That is adjudged upon thine accusations?”", + "“Nor death hath reached him yet, nor guilt doth bring him,”", + "My Master made reply, “to be tormented;", + "But to procure him full experience,", + "Me, who am dead, behoves it to conduct him", + "Down here through Hell, from circle unto circle;", + "And this is true as that I speak to thee.”", + "More than a hundred were there when they heard him,", + "Who in the moat stood still to look at me,", + "Through wonderment oblivious of their torture.", + "“Now say to Fra Dolcino, then, to arm him,", + "Thou, who perhaps wilt shortly see the sun,", + "If soon he wish not here to follow me,", + "So with provisions, that no stress of snow", + "May give the victory to the Novarese,", + "Which otherwise to gain would not be easy.”", + "After one foot to go away he lifted,", + "This word did Mahomet say unto me,", + "Then to depart upon the ground he stretched it.", + "Another one, who had his throat pierced through,", + "And nose cut off close underneath the brows,", + "And had no longer but a single ear,", + "Staying to look in wonder with the others,", + "Before the others did his gullet open,", + "Which outwardly was red in every part,", + "And said: “O thou, whom guilt doth not condemn,", + "And whom I once saw up in Latian land,", + "Unless too great similitude deceive me,", + "Call to remembrance Pier da Medicina,", + "If e’er thou see again the lovely plain", + "That from Vercelli slopes to Marcabo,", + "And make it known to the best two of Fano,", + "To Messer Guido and Angiolello likewise,", + "That if foreseeing here be not in vain,", + "Cast over from their vessel shall they be,", + "And drowned near unto the Cattolica,", + "By the betrayal of a tyrant fell.", + "Between the isles of Cyprus and Majorca", + "Neptune ne’er yet beheld so great a crime,", + "Neither of pirates nor Argolic people.", + "That traitor, who sees only with one eye,", + "And holds the land, which some one here with me", + "Would fain be fasting from the vision of,", + "Will make them come unto a parley with him;", + "Then will do so, that to Focara’s wind", + "They will not stand in need of vow or prayer.”", + "And I to him: “Show to me and declare,", + "If thou wouldst have me bear up news of thee,", + "Who is this person of the bitter vision.”", + "Then did he lay his hand upon the jaw", + "Of one of his companions, and his mouth", + "Oped, crying: “This is he, and he speaks not.", + "This one, being banished, every doubt submerged", + "In Caesar by affirming the forearmed", + "Always with detriment allowed delay.”", + "O how bewildered unto me appeared,", + "With tongue asunder in his windpipe slit,", + "Curio, who in speaking was so bold!", + "And one, who both his hands dissevered had,", + "The stumps uplifting through the murky air,", + "So that the blood made horrible his face,", + "Cried out: “Thou shalt remember Mosca also,", + "Who said, alas! ‘A thing done has an end!’", + "Which was an ill seed for the Tuscan people.”", + "“And death unto thy race,” thereto I added;", + "Whence he, accumulating woe on woe,", + "Departed, like a person sad and crazed.", + "But I remained to look upon the crowd;", + "And saw a thing which I should be afraid,", + "Without some further proof, even to recount,", + "If it were not that conscience reassures me,", + "That good companion which emboldens man", + "Beneath the hauberk of its feeling pure.", + "I truly saw, and still I seem to see it,", + "A trunk without a head walk in like manner", + "As walked the others of the mournful herd.", + "And by the hair it held the head dissevered,", + "Hung from the hand in fashion of a lantern,", + "And that upon us gazed and said: “O me!”", + "It of itself made to itself a lamp,", + "And they were two in one, and one in two;", + "How that can be, He knows who so ordains it.", + "When it was come close to the bridge’s foot,", + "It lifted high its arm with all the head,", + "To bring more closely unto us its words,", + "Which were: “Behold now the sore penalty,", + "Thou, who dost breathing go the dead beholding;", + "Behold if any be as great as this.", + "And so that thou may carry news of me,", + "Know that Bertram de Born am I, the same", + "Who gave to the Young King the evil comfort.", + "I made the father and the son rebellious;", + "Achitophel not more with Absalom", + "And David did with his accursed goadings.", + "Because I parted persons so united,", + "Parted do I now bear my brain, alas!", + "From its beginning, which is in this trunk.", + "Thus is observed in me the counterpoise.”" + ], + "29": [ + "The many people and the divers wounds", + "These eyes of mine had so inebriated,", + "That they were wishful to stand still and weep;", + "But said Virgilius: “What dost thou still gaze at?", + "Why is thy sight still riveted down there", + "Among the mournful, mutilated shades?", + "Thou hast not done so at the other Bolge;", + "Consider, if to count them thou believest,", + "That two-and-twenty miles the valley winds,", + "And now the moon is underneath our feet;", + "Henceforth the time allotted us is brief,", + "And more is to be seen than what thou seest.”", + "“If thou hadst,” I made answer thereupon,", + "“Attended to the cause for which I looked,", + "Perhaps a longer stay thou wouldst have pardoned.”", + "Meanwhile my Guide departed, and behind him", + "I went, already making my reply,", + "And superadding: “In that cavern where", + "I held mine eyes with such attention fixed,", + "I think a spirit of my blood laments", + "The sin which down below there costs so much.”", + "Then said the Master: “Be no longer broken", + "Thy thought from this time forward upon him;", + "Attend elsewhere, and there let him remain;", + "For him I saw below the little bridge,", + "Pointing at thee, and threatening with his finger", + "Fiercely, and heard him called Geri del Bello.", + "So wholly at that time wast thou impeded", + "By him who formerly held Altaforte,", + "Thou didst not look that way; so he departed.”", + "“O my Conductor, his own violent death,", + "Which is not yet avenged for him,” I said,", + "“By any who is sharer in the shame,", + "Made him disdainful; whence he went away,", + "As I imagine, without speaking to me,", + "And thereby made me pity him the more.”", + "Thus did we speak as far as the first place", + "Upon the crag, which the next valley shows", + "Down to the bottom, if there were more light.", + "When we were now right over the last cloister", + "Of Malebolge, so that its lay-brothers", + "Could manifest themselves unto our sight,", + "Divers lamentings pierced me through and through,", + "Which with compassion had their arrows barbed,", + "Whereat mine ears I covered with my hands.", + "What pain would be, if from the hospitals", + "Of Valdichiana, ’twixt July and September,", + "And of Maremma and Sardinia", + "All the diseases in one moat were gathered,", + "Such was it here, and such a stench came from it", + "As from putrescent limbs is wont to issue.", + "We had descended on the furthest bank", + "From the long crag, upon the left hand still,", + "And then more vivid was my power of sight", + "Down tow’rds the bottom, where the ministress", + "Of the high Lord, Justice infallible,", + "Punishes forgers, which she here records.", + "I do not think a sadder sight to see", + "Was in Aegina the whole people sick,", + "(When was the air so full of pestilence,", + "The animals, down to the little worm,", + "All fell, and afterwards the ancient people,", + "According as the poets have affirmed,", + "Were from the seed of ants restored again,)", + "Than was it to behold through that dark valley", + "The spirits languishing in divers heaps.", + "This on the belly, that upon the back", + "One of the other lay, and others crawling", + "Shifted themselves along the dismal road.", + "We step by step went onward without speech,", + "Gazing upon and listening to the sick", + "Who had not strength enough to lift their bodies.", + "I saw two sitting leaned against each other,", + "As leans in heating platter against platter,", + "From head to foot bespotted o’er with scabs;", + "And never saw I plied a currycomb", + "By stable-boy for whom his master waits,", + "Or him who keeps awake unwillingly,", + "As every one was plying fast the bite", + "Of nails upon himself, for the great rage", + "Of itching which no other succour had.", + "And the nails downward with them dragged the scab,", + "In fashion as a knife the scales of bream,", + "Or any other fish that has them largest.", + "“O thou, that with thy fingers dost dismail thee,”", + "Began my Leader unto one of them,", + "“And makest of them pincers now and then,", + "Tell me if any Latian is with those", + "Who are herein; so may thy nails suffice thee", + "To all eternity unto this work.”", + "“Latians are we, whom thou so wasted seest,", + "Both of us here,” one weeping made reply;", + "“But who art thou, that questionest about us?”", + "And said the Guide: “One am I who descends", + "Down with this living man from cliff to cliff,", + "And I intend to show Hell unto him.”", + "Then broken was their mutual support,", + "And trembling each one turned himself to me,", + "With others who had heard him by rebound.", + "Wholly to me did the good Master gather,", + "Saying: “Say unto them whate’er thou wishest.”", + "And I began, since he would have it so:", + "“So may your memory not steal away", + "In the first world from out the minds of men,", + "But so may it survive ’neath many suns,", + "Say to me who ye are, and of what people;", + "Let not your foul and loathsome punishment", + "Make you afraid to show yourselves to me.”", + "“I of Arezzo was,” one made reply,", + "“And Albert of Siena had me burned;", + "But what I died for does not bring me here.", + "’Tis true I said to him, speaking in jest,", + "That I could rise by flight into the air,", + "And he who had conceit, but little wit,", + "Would have me show to him the art; and only", + "Because no Daedalus I made him, made me", + "Be burned by one who held him as his son.", + "But unto the last Bolgia of the ten,", + "For alchemy, which in the world I practised,", + "Minos, who cannot err, has me condemned.”", + "And to the Poet said I: “Now was ever", + "So vain a people as the Sienese?", + "Not for a certainty the French by far.”", + "Whereat the other leper, who had heard me,", + "Replied unto my speech: “Taking out Stricca,", + "Who knew the art of moderate expenses,", + "And Niccolo, who the luxurious use", + "Of cloves discovered earliest of all", + "Within that garden where such seed takes root;", + "And taking out the band, among whom squandered", + "Caccia d’Ascian his vineyards and vast woods,", + "And where his wit the Abbagliato proffered!", + "But, that thou know who thus doth second thee", + "Against the Sienese, make sharp thine eye", + "Tow’rds me, so that my face well answer thee,", + "And thou shalt see I am Capocchio’s shade,", + "Who metals falsified by alchemy;", + "Thou must remember, if I well descry thee,", + "How I a skilful ape of nature was.”" + ], + "30": [ + "’Twas at the time when Juno was enraged,", + "For Semele, against the Theban blood,", + "As she already more than once had shown,", + "So reft of reason Athamas became,", + "That, seeing his own wife with children twain", + "Walking encumbered upon either hand,", + "He cried: “Spread out the nets, that I may take", + "The lioness and her whelps upon the passage;”", + "And then extended his unpitying claws,", + "Seizing the first, who had the name Learchus,", + "And whirled him round, and dashed him on a rock;", + "And she, with the other burthen, drowned herself;—", + "And at the time when fortune downward hurled", + "The Trojan’s arrogance, that all things dared,", + "So that the king was with his kingdom crushed,", + "Hecuba sad, disconsolate, and captive,", + "When lifeless she beheld Polyxena,", + "And of her Polydorus on the shore", + "Of ocean was the dolorous one aware,", + "Out of her senses like a dog she barked,", + "So much the anguish had her mind distorted;", + "But not of Thebes the furies nor the Trojan", + "Were ever seen in any one so cruel", + "In goading beasts, and much more human members,", + "As I beheld two shadows pale and naked,", + "Who, biting, in the manner ran along", + "That a boar does, when from the sty turned loose.", + "One to Capocchio came, and by the nape", + "Seized with its teeth his neck, so that in dragging", + "It made his belly grate the solid bottom.", + "And the Aretine, who trembling had remained,", + "Said to me: “That mad sprite is Gianni Schicchi,", + "And raving goes thus harrying other people.”", + "“O,” said I to him, “so may not the other", + "Set teeth on thee, let it not weary thee", + "To tell us who it is, ere it dart hence.”", + "And he to me: “That is the ancient ghost", + "Of the nefarious Myrrha, who became", + "Beyond all rightful love her father’s lover.", + "She came to sin with him after this manner,", + "By counterfeiting of another’s form;", + "As he who goeth yonder undertook,", + "That he might gain the lady of the herd,", + "To counterfeit in himself Buoso Donati,", + "Making a will and giving it due form.”", + "And after the two maniacs had passed", + "On whom I held mine eye, I turned it back", + "To look upon the other evil-born.", + "I saw one made in fashion of a lute,", + "If he had only had the groin cut off", + "Just at the point at which a man is forked.", + "The heavy dropsy, that so disproportions", + "The limbs with humours, which it ill concocts,", + "That the face corresponds not to the belly,", + "Compelled him so to hold his lips apart", + "As does the hectic, who because of thirst", + "One tow’rds the chin, the other upward turns.", + "“O ye, who without any torment are,", + "And why I know not, in the world of woe,”", + "He said to us, “behold, and be attentive", + "Unto the misery of Master Adam;", + "I had while living much of what I wished,", + "And now, alas! a drop of water crave.", + "The rivulets, that from the verdant hills", + "Of Cassentin descend down into Arno,", + "Making their channels to be cold and moist,", + "Ever before me stand, and not in vain;", + "For far more doth their image dry me up", + "Than the disease which strips my face of flesh.", + "The rigid justice that chastises me", + "Draweth occasion from the place in which", + "I sinned, to put the more my sighs in flight.", + "There is Romena, where I counterfeited", + "The currency imprinted with the Baptist,", + "For which I left my body burned above.", + "But if I here could see the tristful soul", + "Of Guido, or Alessandro, or their brother,", + "For Branda’s fount I would not give the sight.", + "One is within already, if the raving", + "Shades that are going round about speak truth;", + "But what avails it me, whose limbs are tied?", + "If I were only still so light, that in", + "A hundred years I could advance one inch,", + "I had already started on the way,", + "Seeking him out among this squalid folk,", + "Although the circuit be eleven miles,", + "And be not less than half a mile across.", + "For them am I in such a family;", + "They did induce me into coining florins,", + "Which had three carats of impurity.”", + "And I to him: “Who are the two poor wretches", + "That smoke like unto a wet hand in winter,", + "Lying there close upon thy right-hand confines?”", + "“I found them here,” replied he, “when I rained", + "Into this chasm, and since they have not turned,", + "Nor do I think they will for evermore.", + "One the false woman is who accused Joseph,", + "The other the false Sinon, Greek of Troy;", + "From acute fever they send forth such reek.”", + "And one of them, who felt himself annoyed", + "At being, peradventure, named so darkly,", + "Smote with the fist upon his hardened paunch.", + "It gave a sound, as if it were a drum;", + "And Master Adam smote him in the face,", + "With arm that did not seem to be less hard,", + "Saying to him: “Although be taken from me", + "All motion, for my limbs that heavy are,", + "I have an arm unfettered for such need.”", + "Whereat he answer made: “When thou didst go", + "Unto the fire, thou hadst it not so ready:", + "But hadst it so and more when thou wast coining.”", + "The dropsical: “Thou sayest true in that;", + "But thou wast not so true a witness there,", + "Where thou wast questioned of the truth at Troy.”", + "“If I spake false, thou falsifiedst the coin,”", + "Said Sinon; “and for one fault I am here,", + "And thou for more than any other demon.”", + "“Remember, perjurer, about the horse,”", + "He made reply who had the swollen belly,", + "“And rueful be it thee the whole world knows it.”", + "“Rueful to thee the thirst be wherewith cracks", + "Thy tongue,” the Greek said, “and the putrid water", + "That hedges so thy paunch before thine eyes.”", + "Then the false-coiner: “So is gaping wide", + "Thy mouth for speaking evil, as ’tis wont;", + "Because if I have thirst, and humour stuff me", + "Thou hast the burning and the head that aches,", + "And to lick up the mirror of Narcissus", + "Thou wouldst not want words many to invite thee.”", + "In listening to them was I wholly fixed,", + "When said the Master to me: “Now just look,", + "For little wants it that I quarrel with thee.”", + "When him I heard in anger speak to me,", + "I turned me round towards him with such shame", + "That still it eddies through my memory.", + "And as he is who dreams of his own harm,", + "Who dreaming wishes it may be a dream,", + "So that he craves what is, as if it were not;", + "Such I became, not having power to speak,", + "For to excuse myself I wished, and still", + "Excused myself, and did not think I did it.", + "“Less shame doth wash away a greater fault,”", + "The Master said, “than this of thine has been;", + "Therefore thyself disburden of all sadness,", + "And make account that I am aye beside thee,", + "If e’er it come to pass that fortune bring thee", + "Where there are people in a like dispute;", + "For a base wish it is to wish to hear it.”" + ], + "31": [ + "One and the selfsame tongue first wounded me,", + "So that it tinged the one cheek and the other,", + "And then held out to me the medicine;", + "Thus do I hear that once Achilles’ spear,", + "His and his father’s, used to be the cause", + "First of a sad and then a gracious boon.", + "We turned our backs upon the wretched valley,", + "Upon the bank that girds it round about,", + "Going across it without any speech.", + "There it was less than night, and less than day,", + "So that my sight went little in advance;", + "But I could hear the blare of a loud horn,", + "So loud it would have made each thunder faint,", + "Which, counter to it following its way,", + "Mine eyes directed wholly to one place.", + "After the dolorous discomfiture", + "When Charlemagne the holy emprise lost,", + "So terribly Orlando sounded not.", + "Short while my head turned thitherward I held", + "When many lofty towers I seemed to see,", + "Whereat I: “Master, say, what town is this?”", + "And he to me: “Because thou peerest forth", + "Athwart the darkness at too great a distance,", + "It happens that thou errest in thy fancy.", + "Well shalt thou see, if thou arrivest there,", + "How much the sense deceives itself by distance;", + "Therefore a little faster spur thee on.”", + "Then tenderly he took me by the hand,", + "And said: “Before we farther have advanced,", + "That the reality may seem to thee", + "Less strange, know that these are not towers, but giants,", + "And they are in the well, around the bank,", + "From navel downward, one and all of them.”", + "As, when the fog is vanishing away,", + "Little by little doth the sight refigure", + "Whate’er the mist that crowds the air conceals,", + "So, piercing through the dense and darksome air,", + "More and more near approaching tow’rd the verge,", + "My error fled, and fear came over me;", + "Because as on its circular parapets", + "Montereggione crowns itself with towers,", + "E’en thus the margin which surrounds the well", + "With one half of their bodies turreted", + "The horrible giants, whom Jove menaces", + "E’en now from out the heavens when he thunders.", + "And I of one already saw the face,", + "Shoulders, and breast, and great part of the belly,", + "And down along his sides both of the arms.", + "Certainly Nature, when she left the making", + "Of animals like these, did well indeed,", + "By taking such executors from Mars;", + "And if of elephants and whales she doth not", + "Repent her, whosoever looketh subtly", + "More just and more discreet will hold her for it;", + "For where the argument of intellect", + "Is added unto evil will and power,", + "No rampart can the people make against it.", + "His face appeared to me as long and large", + "As is at Rome the pine-cone of Saint Peter’s,", + "And in proportion were the other bones;", + "So that the margin, which an apron was", + "Down from the middle, showed so much of him", + "Above it, that to reach up to his hair", + "Three Frieslanders in vain had vaunted them;", + "For I beheld thirty great palms of him", + "Down from the place where man his mantle buckles.", + "“Raphael mai amech izabi almi,”", + "Began to clamour the ferocious mouth,", + "To which were not befitting sweeter psalms.", + "And unto him my Guide: “Soul idiotic,", + "Keep to thy horn, and vent thyself with that,", + "When wrath or other passion touches thee.", + "Search round thy neck, and thou wilt find the belt", + "Which keeps it fastened, O bewildered soul,", + "And see it, where it bars thy mighty breast.”", + "Then said to me: “He doth himself accuse;", + "This one is Nimrod, by whose evil thought", + "One language in the world is not still used.", + "Here let us leave him and not speak in vain;", + "For even such to him is every language", + "As his to others, which to none is known.”", + "Therefore a longer journey did we make,", + "Turned to the left, and a crossbow-shot oft", + "We found another far more fierce and large.", + "In binding him, who might the master be", + "I cannot say; but he had pinioned close", + "Behind the right arm, and in front the other,", + "With chains, that held him so begirt about", + "From the neck down, that on the part uncovered", + "It wound itself as far as the fifth gyre.", + "“This proud one wished to make experiment", + "Of his own power against the Supreme Jove,”", + "My Leader said, “whence he has such a guerdon.", + "Ephialtes is his name; he showed great prowess.", + "What time the giants terrified the gods;", + "The arms he wielded never more he moves.”", + "And I to him: “If possible, I should wish", + "That of the measureless Briareus", + "These eyes of mine might have experience.”", + "Whence he replied: “Thou shalt behold Antaeus", + "Close by here, who can speak and is unbound,", + "Who at the bottom of all crime shall place us.", + "Much farther yon is he whom thou wouldst see,", + "And he is bound, and fashioned like to this one,", + "Save that he seems in aspect more ferocious.”", + "There never was an earthquake of such might", + "That it could shake a tower so violently,", + "As Ephialtes suddenly shook himself.", + "Then was I more afraid of death than ever,", + "For nothing more was needful than the fear,", + "If I had not beheld the manacles.", + "Then we proceeded farther in advance,", + "And to Antaeus came, who, full five ells", + "Without the head, forth issued from the cavern.", + "“O thou, who in the valley fortunate,", + "Which Scipio the heir of glory made,", + "When Hannibal turned back with all his hosts,", + "Once brought’st a thousand lions for thy prey,", + "And who, hadst thou been at the mighty war", + "Among thy brothers, some it seems still think", + "The sons of Earth the victory would have gained:", + "Place us below, nor be disdainful of it,", + "There where the cold doth lock Cocytus up.", + "Make us not go to Tityus nor Typhoeus;", + "This one can give of that which here is longed for;", + "Therefore stoop down, and do not curl thy lip.", + "Still in the world can he restore thy fame;", + "Because he lives, and still expects long life,", + "If to itself Grace call him not untimely.”", + "So said the Master; and in haste the other", + "His hands extended and took up my Guide,—", + "Hands whose great pressure Hercules once felt.", + "Virgilius, when he felt himself embraced,", + "Said unto me: “Draw nigh, that I may take thee;”", + "Then of himself and me one bundle made.", + "As seems the Carisenda, to behold", + "Beneath the leaning side, when goes a cloud", + "Above it so that opposite it hangs;", + "Such did Antaeus seem to me, who stood", + "Watching to see him stoop, and then it was", + "I could have wished to go some other way.", + "But lightly in the abyss, which swallows up", + "Judas with Lucifer, he put us down;", + "Nor thus bowed downward made he there delay,", + "But, as a mast does in a ship, uprose." + ], + "32": [ + "If I had rhymes both rough and stridulous,", + "As were appropriate to the dismal hole", + "Down upon which thrust all the other rocks,", + "I would press out the juice of my conception", + "More fully; but because I have them not,", + "Not without fear I bring myself to speak;", + "For ’tis no enterprise to take in jest,", + "To sketch the bottom of all the universe,", + "Nor for a tongue that cries Mamma and Babbo.", + "But may those Ladies help this verse of mine,", + "Who helped Amphion in enclosing Thebes,", + "That from the fact the word be not diverse.", + "O rabble ill-begotten above all,", + "Who’re in the place to speak of which is hard,", + "’Twere better ye had here been sheep or goats!", + "When we were down within the darksome well,", + "Beneath the giant’s feet, but lower far,", + "And I was scanning still the lofty wall,", + "I heard it said to me: “Look how thou steppest!", + "Take heed thou do not trample with thy feet", + "The heads of the tired, miserable brothers!”", + "Whereat I turned me round, and saw before me", + "And underfoot a lake, that from the frost", + "The semblance had of glass, and not of water.", + "So thick a veil ne’er made upon its current", + "In winter-time Danube in Austria,", + "Nor there beneath the frigid sky the Don,", + "As there was here; so that if Tambernich", + "Had fallen upon it, or Pietrapana,", + "E’en at the edge ’twould not have given a creak.", + "And as to croak the frog doth place himself", + "With muzzle out of water,—when is dreaming", + "Of gleaning oftentimes the peasant-girl,—", + "Livid, as far down as where shame appears,", + "Were the disconsolate shades within the ice,", + "Setting their teeth unto the note of storks.", + "Each one his countenance held downward bent;", + "From mouth the cold, from eyes the doleful heart", + "Among them witness of itself procures.", + "When round about me somewhat I had looked,", + "I downward turned me, and saw two so close,", + "The hair upon their heads together mingled.", + "“Ye who so strain your breasts together, tell me,”", + "I said, “who are you;” and they bent their necks,", + "And when to me their faces they had lifted,", + "Their eyes, which first were only moist within,", + "Gushed o’er the eyelids, and the frost congealed", + "The tears between, and locked them up again.", + "Clamp never bound together wood with wood", + "So strongly; whereat they, like two he-goats,", + "Butted together, so much wrath o’ercame them.", + "And one, who had by reason of the cold", + "Lost both his ears, still with his visage downward,", + "Said: “Why dost thou so mirror thyself in us?", + "If thou desire to know who these two are,", + "The valley whence Bisenzio descends", + "Belonged to them and to their father Albert.", + "They from one body came, and all Caina", + "Thou shalt search through, and shalt not find a shade", + "More worthy to be fixed in gelatine;", + "Not he in whom were broken breast and shadow", + "At one and the same blow by Arthur’s hand;", + "Focaccia not; not he who me encumbers", + "So with his head I see no farther forward,", + "And bore the name of Sassol Mascheroni;", + "Well knowest thou who he was, if thou art Tuscan.", + "And that thou put me not to further speech,", + "Know that I Camicion de’ Pazzi was,", + "And wait Carlino to exonerate me.”", + "Then I beheld a thousand faces, made", + "Purple with cold; whence o’er me comes a shudder,", + "And evermore will come, at frozen ponds.", + "And while we were advancing tow’rds the middle,", + "Where everything of weight unites together,", + "And I was shivering in the eternal shade,", + "Whether ’twere will, or destiny, or chance,", + "I know not; but in walking ’mong the heads", + "I struck my foot hard in the face of one.", + "Weeping he growled: “Why dost thou trample me?", + "Unless thou comest to increase the vengeance", + "Of Montaperti, why dost thou molest me?”", + "And I: “My Master, now wait here for me,", + "That I through him may issue from a doubt;", + "Then thou mayst hurry me, as thou shalt wish.”", + "The Leader stopped; and to that one I said", + "Who was blaspheming vehemently still:", + "“Who art thou, that thus reprehendest others?”", + "“Now who art thou, that goest through Antenora", + "Smiting,” replied he, “other people’s cheeks,", + "So that, if thou wert living, ’twere too much?”", + "“Living I am, and dear to thee it may be,”", + "Was my response, “if thou demandest fame,", + "That ’mid the other notes thy name I place.”", + "And he to me: “For the reverse I long;", + "Take thyself hence, and give me no more trouble;", + "For ill thou knowest to flatter in this hollow.”", + "Then by the scalp behind I seized upon him,", + "And said: “It must needs be thou name thyself,", + "Or not a hair remain upon thee here.”", + "Whence he to me: “Though thou strip off my hair,", + "I will not tell thee who I am, nor show thee,", + "If on my head a thousand times thou fall.”", + "I had his hair in hand already twisted,", + "And more than one shock of it had pulled out,", + "He barking, with his eyes held firmly down,", + "When cried another: “What doth ail thee, Bocca?", + "Is’t not enough to clatter with thy jaws,", + "But thou must bark? what devil touches thee?”", + "“Now,” said I, “I care not to have thee speak,", + "Accursed traitor; for unto thy shame", + "I will report of thee veracious news.”", + "“Begone,” replied he, “and tell what thou wilt,", + "But be not silent, if thou issue hence,", + "Of him who had just now his tongue so prompt;", + "He weepeth here the silver of the French;", + "‘I saw,’ thus canst thou phrase it, ‘him of Duera", + "There where the sinners stand out in the cold.’", + "If thou shouldst questioned be who else was there,", + "Thou hast beside thee him of Beccaria,", + "Of whom the gorget Florence slit asunder;", + "Gianni del Soldanier, I think, may be", + "Yonder with Ganellon, and Tebaldello", + "Who oped Faenza when the people slep.”", + "Already we had gone away from him,", + "When I beheld two frozen in one hole,", + "So that one head a hood was to the other;", + "And even as bread through hunger is devoured,", + "The uppermost on the other set his teeth,", + "There where the brain is to the nape united.", + "Not in another fashion Tydeus gnawed", + "The temples of Menalippus in disdain,", + "Than that one did the skull and the other things.", + "“O thou, who showest by such bestial sign", + "Thy hatred against him whom thou art eating,", + "Tell me the wherefore,” said I, “with this compact,", + "That if thou rightfully of him complain,", + "In knowing who ye are, and his transgression,", + "I in the world above repay thee for it,", + "If that wherewith I speak be not dried up.”" + ], + "33": [ + "His mouth uplifted from his grim repast,", + "That sinner, wiping it upon the hair", + "Of the same head that he behind had wasted.", + "Then he began: “Thou wilt that I renew", + "The desperate grief, which wrings my heart already", + "To think of only, ere I speak of it;", + "But if my words be seed that may bear fruit", + "Of infamy to the traitor whom I gnaw,", + "Speaking and weeping shalt thou see together.", + "I know not who thou art, nor by what mode", + "Thou hast come down here; but a Florentine", + "Thou seemest to me truly, when I hear thee.", + "Thou hast to know I was Count Ugolino,", + "And this one was Ruggieri the Archbishop;", + "Now I will tell thee why I am such a neighbour.", + "That, by effect of his malicious thoughts,", + "Trusting in him I was made prisoner,", + "And after put to death, I need not say;", + "But ne’ertheless what thou canst not have heard,", + "That is to say, how cruel was my death,", + "Hear shalt thou, and shalt know if he has wronged me.", + "A narrow perforation in the mew,", + "Which bears because of me the title of Famine,", + "And in which others still must be locked up,", + "Had shown me through its opening many moons", + "Already, when I dreamed the evil dream", + "Which of the future rent for me the veil.", + "This one appeared to me as lord and master,", + "Hunting the wolf and whelps upon the mountain", + "For which the Pisans cannot Lucca see.", + "With sleuth-hounds gaunt, and eager, and well trained,", + "Gualandi with Sismondi and Lanfianchi", + "He had sent out before him to the front.", + "After brief course seemed unto me forespent", + "The father and the sons, and with sharp tushes", + "It seemed to me I saw their flanks ripped open.", + "When I before the morrow was awake,", + "Moaning amid their sleep I heard my sons", + "Who with me were, and asking after bread.", + "Cruel indeed art thou, if yet thou grieve not,", + "Thinking of what my heart foreboded me,", + "And weep’st thou not, what art thou wont to weep at?", + "They were awake now, and the hour drew nigh", + "At which our food used to be brought to us,", + "And through his dream was each one apprehensive;", + "And I heard locking up the under door", + "Of the horrible tower; whereat without a word", + "I gazed into the faces of my sons.", + "I wept not, I within so turned to stone;", + "They wept; and darling little Anselm mine", + "Said: ‘Thou dost gaze so, father, what doth ail thee?’", + "Still not a tear I shed, nor answer made", + "All of that day, nor yet the night thereafter,", + "Until another sun rose on the world.", + "As now a little glimmer made its way", + "Into the dolorous prison, and I saw", + "Upon four faces my own very aspect,", + "Both of my hands in agony I bit;", + "And, thinking that I did it from desire", + "Of eating, on a sudden they uprose,", + "And said they: ‘Father, much less pain ’twill give us", + "If thou do eat of us; thyself didst clothe us", + "With this poor flesh, and do thou strip it off.’", + "I calmed me then, not to make them more sad.", + "That day we all were silent, and the next.", + "Ah! obdurate earth, wherefore didst thou not open?", + "When we had come unto the fourth day, Gaddo", + "Threw himself down outstretched before my feet,", + "Saying, ‘My father, why dost thou not help me?’", + "And there he died; and, as thou seest me,", + "I saw the three fall, one by one, between", + "The fifth day and the sixth; whence I betook me,", + "Already blind, to groping over each,", + "HAnd three days called them after they were dead;", + "Then hunger did what sorrow could not do.”", + "When he had said this, with his eyes distorted,", + "The wretched skull resumed he with his teeth,", + "Which, as a dog’s, upon the bone were strong.", + "Ah! Pisa, thou opprobrium of the people", + "Of the fair land there where the ‘Si’ doth sound,", + "Since slow to punish thee thy neighbours are,", + "Let the Capraia and Gorgona move,", + "And make a hedge across the mouth of Arno", + "That every person in thee it may drown!", + "For if Count Ugolino had the fame", + "Of having in thy castles thee betrayed,", + "Thou shouldst not on such cross have put his sons.", + "Guiltless of any crime, thou modern Thebes!", + "Their youth made Uguccione and Brigata,", + "And the other two my song doth name above!", + "We passed still farther onward, where the ice", + "Another people ruggedly enswathes,", + "Not downward turned, but all of them reversed.", + "Weeping itself there does not let them weep,", + "And grief that finds a barrier in the eyes", + "Turns itself inward to increase the anguish;", + "Because the earliest tears a cluster form,", + "And, in the manner of a crystal visor,", + "Fill all the cup beneath the eyebrow full.", + "And notwithstanding that, as in a callus,", + "Because of cold all sensibility", + "Its station had abandoned in my face,", + "Still it appeared to me I felt some wind;", + "Whence I: “My Master, who sets this in motion?", + "Is not below here every vapour quenched?”", + "Whence he to me: “Full soon shalt thou be where", + "Thine eye shall answer make to thee of this,", + "Seeing the cause which raineth down the blast.”", + "And one of the wretches of the frozen crust", + "Cried out to us: “O souls so merciless", + "That the last post is given unto you,", + "Lift from mine eyes the rigid veils, that I", + "May vent the sorrow which impregns my heart", + "A little, e’er the weeping recongeal.”", + "Whence I to him: “If thou wouldst have me help thee", + "Say who thou wast; and if I free thee not,", + "May I go to the bottom of the ice.”", + "Then he replied: “I am Friar Alberigo;", + "He am I of the fruit of the bad garden,", + "Who here a date am getting for my fig.”", + "“O,” said I to him, “now art thou, too, dead?”", + "And he to me: “How may my body fare", + "Up in the world, no knowledge I possess.", + "Such an advantage has this Ptolomaea,", + "That oftentimes the soul descendeth here", + "Sooner than Atropos in motion sets it.", + "And, that thou mayest more willingly remove", + "From off my countenance these glassy tears,", + "Know that as soon as any soul betrays", + "As I have done, his body by a demon", + "Is taken from him, who thereafter rules it,", + "Until his time has wholly been revolved.", + "Itself down rushes into such a cistern;", + "And still perchance above appears the body", + "Of yonder shade, that winters here behind me.", + "This thou shouldst know, if thou hast just come down;", + "It is Ser Branca d’ Oria, and many years", + "Have passed away since he was thus locked up.”", + "“I think,” said I to him, “thou dost deceive me;", + "For Branca d’ Oria is not dead as yet,", + "And eats, and drinks, and sleeps, and puts on clothes.”", + "“In moat above,” said he, “of Malebranche,", + "There where is boiling the tenacious pitch,", + "As yet had Michel Zanche not arrived,", + "When this one left a devil in his stead", + "In his own body and one near of kin,", + "Who made together with him the betrayal.", + "But hitherward stretch out thy hand forthwith,", + "Open mine eyes;”—and open them I did not,", + "And to be rude to him was courtesy.", + "Ah, Genoese! ye men at variance", + "With every virtue, full of every vice", + "Wherefore are ye not scattered from the world?", + "For with the vilest spirit of Romagna", + "I found of you one such, who for his deeds", + "In soul already in Cocytus bathes,", + "And still above in body seems alive!" + ], + "34": [ + "‘Vexilla Regis prodeunt Inferni’", + "Towards us; therefore look in front of thee,”", + "My Master said, “if thou discernest him.”", + "As, when there breathes a heavy fog, or when", + "Our hemisphere is darkening into night,", + "Appears far off a mill the wind is turning,", + "Methought that such a building then I saw;", + "And, for the wind, I drew myself behind", + "My Guide, because there was no other shelter.", + "Now was I, and with fear in verse I put it,", + "There where the shades were wholly covered up,", + "And glimmered through like unto straws in glass.", + "Some prone are lying, others stand erect,", + "This with the head, and that one with the soles;", + "Another, bow-like, face to feet inverts.", + "When in advance so far we had proceeded,", + "That it my Master pleased to show to me", + "The creature who once had the beauteous semblance,", + "He from before me moved and made me stop,", + "Saying: “Behold Dis, and behold the place", + "Where thou with fortitude must arm thyself.”", + "How frozen I became and powerless then,", + "Ask it not, Reader, for I write it not,", + "Because all language would be insufficient.", + "I did not die, and I alive remained not;", + "Think for thyself now, hast thou aught of wit,", + "What I became, being of both deprived.", + "The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous", + "From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice;", + "And better with a giant I compare", + "Than do the giants with those arms of his;", + "Consider now how great must be that whole,", + "Which unto such a part conforms itself.", + "Were he as fair once, as he now is foul,", + "And lifted up his brow against his Maker,", + "Well may proceed from him all tribulation.", + "O, what a marvel it appeared to me,", + "When I beheld three faces on his head!", + "The one in front, and that vermilion was;", + "Two were the others, that were joined with this", + "Above the middle part of either shoulder,", + "And they were joined together at the crest;", + "And the right-hand one seemed ’twixt white and yellow;", + "The left was such to look upon as those", + "Who come from where the Nile falls valley-ward.", + "Underneath each came forth two mighty wings,", + "Such as befitting were so great a bird;", + "Sails of the sea I never saw so large.", + "No feathers had they, but as of a bat", + "Their fashion was; and he was waving them,", + "So that three winds proceeded forth therefrom.", + "Thereby Cocytus wholly was congealed.", + "With six eyes did he weep, and down three chins", + "Trickled the tear-drops and the bloody drivel.", + "At every mouth he with his teeth was crunching", + "A sinner, in the manner of a brake,", + "So that he three of them tormented thus.", + "To him in front the biting was as naught", + "Unto the clawing, for sometimes the spine", + "Utterly stripped of all the skin remained.", + "“That soul up there which has the greatest pain,”", + "The Master said, “is Judas Iscariot;", + "With head inside, he plies his legs without.", + "Of the two others, who head downward are,", + "The one who hangs from the black jowl is Brutus;", + "See how he writhes himself, and speaks no word.", + "And the other, who so stalwart seems, is Cassius.", + "But night is reascending, and ’tis time", + "That we depart, for we have seen the whole.”", + "As seemed him good, I clasped him round the neck,", + "And he the vantage seized of time and place,", + "And when the wings were opened wide apart,", + "He laid fast hold upon the shaggy sides;", + "From fell to fell descended downward then", + "Between the thick hair and the frozen crust.", + "When we were come to where the thigh revolves", + "Exactly on the thickness of the haunch,", + "The Guide, with labour and with hard-drawn breath,", + "Turned round his head where he had had his legs,", + "And grappled to the hair, as one who mounts,", + "So that to Hell I thought we were returning.", + "“Keep fast thy hold, for by such stairs as these,”", + "The Master said, panting as one fatigued,", + "“Must we perforce depart from so much evil.”", + "Then through the opening of a rock he issued,", + "And down upon the margin seated me;", + "Then tow’rds me he outstretched his wary step.", + "I lifted up mine eyes and thought to see", + "Lucifer in the same way I had left him;", + "And I beheld him upward hold his legs.", + "And if I then became disquieted,", + "Let stolid people think who do not see", + "What the point is beyond which I had passed.", + "“Rise up,” the Master said, “upon thy feet;", + "The way is long, and difficult the road,", + "And now the sun to middle-tierce returns.”", + "It was not any palace corridor", + "There where we were, but dungeon natural,", + "With floor uneven and unease of light.", + "“Ere from the abyss I tear myself away,", + "My Master,” said I when I had arisen,", + "“To draw me from an error speak a little;", + "Where is the ice? and how is this one fixed", + "Thus upside down? and how in such short time", + "From eve to morn has the sun made his transit?”", + "And he to me: “Thou still imaginest", + "Thou art beyond the centre, where I grasped", + "The hair of the fell worm, who mines the world.", + "That side thou wast, so long as I descended;", + "When round I turned me, thou didst pass the point", + "To which things heavy draw from every side,", + "And now beneath the hemisphere art come", + "Opposite that which overhangs the vast", + "Dry-land, and ’neath whose cope was put to death", + "The Man who without sin was born and lived.", + "Thou hast thy feet upon the little sphere", + "Which makes the other face of the Judecca.", + "Here it is morn when it is evening there;", + "And he who with his hair a stairway made us", + "Still fixed remaineth as he was before.", + "Upon this side he fell down out of heaven;", + "And all the land, that whilom here emerged,", + "For fear of him made of the sea a veil,", + "And came to our hemisphere; and peradventure", + "To flee from him, what on this side appears", + "Left the place vacant here, and back recoiled.”", + "A place there is below, from Beelzebub", + "As far receding as the tomb extends,", + "Which not by sight is known, but by the sound", + "Of a small rivulet, that there descendeth", + "Through chasm within the stone, which it has gnawed", + "With course that winds about and slightly falls.", + "The Guide and I into that hidden road", + "Now entered, to return to the bright world;", + "And without care of having any rest", + "We mounted up, he first and I the second,", + "Till I beheld through a round aperture", + "Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear;", + "Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars." + ] +};
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