V 
 
 X
 
 THE HELL OF DANTE
 
 OF 
 
 DANTE ALIGHIERI 
 
 EDITED WITH TRANSLATION AND NOTES 
 
 ARTHUR JOHN BUTLER 
 
 LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE 
 
 m TrwTror! riva r]StKij(Tav KO.I offoi/s tKcaroi, iiirip aTrdvT 
 SiKqv Bidwickvai Iv i 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO, 
 
 AND LONDON 
 1894 
 
 Ail rights reserved
 
 f 
 
 . 4 
 4
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THE editor who has begun elsewhere than at the beginning 
 of the work which he undertakes to edit, however good 
 his motives for taking that course may at the time have 
 appeared, has reason to regret it when in the progress of 
 events he is carried back to the beginning. Unless he wishes 
 to have his book incomplete, the moment must ultimately 
 come when he has to do for the whole work what he has 
 done for its parts, viz. write a preface. Then he finds 
 that he has already used up on the parts a great deal of 
 material which would have been equally useful as an intro- 
 duction to the whole, and perhaps more in place ; while in 
 some cases it is pretty sure to happen that he has appended 
 to the later portions remarks which are out of date when 
 what should be the earlier portion appears. On the other 
 hand, it is to be said that the preface to the complete work 
 is likely to involve the most labour ; and of this he may, by 
 a judicious postponement, very possibly succeed in getting a 
 good deal taken off his hands by other people. 
 
 On the whole, the present editor may congratulate him- 
 self (and his readers) that by dealing last with the first 
 portion of Dante's great poem he has gained more under the 
 latter head than he has lost under the former. Since his 
 Purgatory was published full eleven years have passed ; and 
 in the course of those years an immense quantity of most
 
 Vl PREFACE 
 
 valuable work has been done. Indeed, it is hardly too 
 much to say that the study of Dante has been placed on 
 quite a different footing. Nearly all the usually-accepted 
 statements with regard to Dante's own history, passed on 
 without criticism from one commentator to another, have 
 been sifted and tested, with the result that much which has 
 long passed muster as solid fact has had to fall back into 
 the class of amiable conjecture. Readings and interpreta- 
 tions, unquestioned perhaps for four hundred years, have 
 been shown to be devoid of authority. In some cases, it 
 may be, the process has been carried a little too far. Scep- 
 ticism is all very well ; but it must confine itself to its proper 
 domain, and not extend its borders till it includes negative 
 dogmatism. Nevertheless, the study of such works as Pro- 
 fessor Bartoli's volume on Dante in his History of Italian 
 Literature, or Dr. Scartazzini's Prolegomeni, can but have a 
 bracing effect on the mind of the student. 
 
 When we pass to matters more immediately concerning 
 the interpretation of the poem, we are still more struck with 
 the activity of the last decade. It would be hard to say 
 how many translations have appeared, either of the whole or 
 of portions. Those by the late Dean of Wells and Mr. 
 F. K. H. Haselfoot will be familiar to all who care to keep 
 abreast of the subject. Dr. Plumptre belonged perhaps 
 rather to the school which is just now out of favour : that 
 which was inclined to allow its ' affection to bind its under- 
 standing ' and believe with regard to Dante all that seemed 
 pleasant to believe so long as it was not demonstrably untrue. 
 But he was an indefatigable student, with a wide knowledge 
 of other literature, which has not always been possessed by 
 interpreters of Dante. 
 
 Dr. Moore's Textual Criticism, unfortunately as yet 
 incomplete for the second and third Cantiche, is a piece of
 
 PREFACE Vll 
 
 work of which it is hard to overrate the importance. Those 
 who differ from Dr. Moore on a matter of reading or inter- 
 pretation had better (as Hermann said of Lachmann) think 
 twice whether he and not they be in fault ; and even if they 
 finally decide to agree with themselves and not with him, 
 they will pretty certainly have learnt more from him than 
 they ever knew before. Nor must his two smaller works, 
 'chips from the workshop,' The Time References of the 
 Divina Commedia and Dante and his Biographers, be over- 
 looked by any one who wishes his ideas on those points 
 cleared. 
 
 Mention too must be made of some books which show 
 that the importance of Dante's other works, not only to the 
 proper understanding of the Commedia, but as specimens of 
 medieval thought in literature, politics, morals, science, is 
 beginning to be recognised. Ten years ago the de Mon- 
 archia and the Vita Nuova alone of his prose writings had 
 been rendered into English. Now we have two translations 
 (neither, it must be said, ideal, but showing at least a proper 
 spirit) of the Con-vita, and one, very creditable, of the de 
 Vulgari Eloquentia. 
 
 The truth is that Dante fills the stream of human history 
 from side to side. There have been greater poets, one or 
 two ; there have been greater thinkers, greater men of 
 affairs ; but of no other poet can it be said that he was the 
 greatest political thinker of his age ; of no other philosopher 
 or theologian that he was its greatest poet. Nor have poets 
 as a rule taken a very high place in science or philosophers 
 in scholarship ; yet in these subjects Dante was among the 
 first men of his age. His acquaintance with all accessible 
 literature and his grasp of all attainable scientific knowledge 
 were equally complete. Herein lie at once the attraction 
 which he exercises over his would-be students and the
 
 viii PREFACE 
 
 despair to which he reduces them. You never know into 
 what branch of investigation he may lead you ; but you are 
 sure that in a very large proportion of cases you will be (if 
 the word may be pardoned) ' pounded ' before you reach the 
 end of it. In fact, no really adequate edition of Dante will 
 ever be put forth until a number of students will bind them- 
 selves to read (among them) everything that Dante can have 
 read, and to have made themselves as familiar as he with the 
 events, small and great, of his age. All commentators save 
 the earliest all, at any rate, who wrote between 1400 and 
 1800 they may safely eschew. From the days of Ben- 
 venuto Rambaldi of Imola 1 till those of Carl Witte of 
 Halle, 2 it is hard to point to any editor or commentator 
 (with perhaps the exception of our own Gary) who has thrown 
 any really fresh light on the difficulties of the Commedia. 
 Landino, undoubtedly a man of much learning, and in his 
 way an admirer of Dante, was not really capable of under- 
 standing him as a Humanist and a Platonist his literary 
 and intellectual sympathies were not in the direction of 
 thirteenth-century Aristotelianism. 3 Nor could it be ex- 
 pected that a Medicean and Borgian age would be capable 
 of estimating Dante, though he would have estimated it ; 
 
 1 Among the helps to students which the last ten years have brought 
 forth, and of which some have been enumerated, none can compare with 
 the edition of Benvenuto's complete commentary, due to Mr. Yernon 
 and Sir James Lacaita. The most genial, intelligent, and shrewd of all 
 the fourteenth -century commentators on Dante is now accessible to 
 every one ; and for those who do not feel the ' call ' to read him. as he 
 well deserves, from end to end, there are Mr. Yemen's ' Readings,' of 
 which the Purgatory (Macmillan 1889) is published, while the fft.il, it is 
 hoped, will shortly appear. These give the more valuable parts of 
 Benvenuto. 
 
 - Ur. Witte died March 1883. 
 
 3 See Gary's remarks in the Life of Dante prefixed to his translation, 
 3rd ed. p. xlviii.
 
 PREFACE ix 
 
 and one almost regrets that he did not come into the world 
 late enough to do so. In that case, however, the sentence 
 ' igne comburatur sic quod moriatur ' would probably not 
 have remained a mere caution. The worthy Cruscan 
 Academicians did their best. They gave the Commedia the 
 rank of a ' Testo di lingua,' and endeavoured, with moderate 
 success, to establish an accurate text. Then came the age 
 which admired Marino ; it could hardly be expected to read 
 Dante. Three editions (or possibly four), and those mere 
 texts, and bad texts, are all that Italy produced during the 120 
 years ending with 1716. Occasionally some eccentric person 
 betrays a knowledge of the poem. Tommaso Campanella 
 was no doubt full of it ; but he, again, belonged to a school 
 of philosophy as wide as the poles from that which inspired 
 Dante. Our own Milton, a kindred genius so far as was 
 possible when the Renaissance and the Reformation lay 
 between the two, had, it is pretty clear, saturated himself 
 with Dante. Beside the passages, and they are not many, 
 which he avowedly quotes, we find at every turn touches and 
 phrases in which we can hardly fail to recognise the Floren- 
 tine's influence. But these are exceptions. For a hundred 
 and fifty years Dante practically passed out of European 
 literature ; and even when the praiseworthy, if inadequate, 
 efforts of such men as Volpi, Venturi, and Lombardi had 
 done something to recall the attention of Italians to their 
 greatest man, it was still many years before his fame spread 
 much further. Then, however, a great stride was made. 
 Gary's translation, with notes, of which portions were pub- 
 lished in 1805 and the following year, and the whole in 
 1814, attracted the attention of Coleridge and doubtless of 
 others, and brought Dante for the first time within the field 
 of view of educated English people. It has been frequently 
 reprinted, and remains, in text and commentary, unques-
 
 X PREFACE 
 
 tionably the best book to which the study of Dante in 
 England has ever given birth. It is astonishing how con- 
 stantly it occurs that when one has hunted up, or fortuitously 
 come across, some passage to illustrate Dante rather out of 
 the ordinary run of literature, one finds that Gary has got 
 it already. He had read the Schoolmen, Brunetto, Villani, 
 and the like ; and came to the task with a better equip- 
 ment than any commentator for many centuries. Then 
 came various cultivated Italians, Foscolo and others, driven 
 from their own country for reasons not unlike those for 
 which Dante had to leave Florence and ' ogni cosa diletta 
 piu caramente,' who wrote and talked about him ; and the 
 average Englishman learned at least that Dante was a 
 ' world poet,' and not merely a foreign celebrity. We need 
 not despair of seeing him one day take his place beside (but 
 not instead 6f) Homer and Virgil in the curriculum of our 
 schools and universities. 
 
 It will perhaps not be out of place here to say a word 
 with regard to the importance of the Divine Comedy as 
 a subject of study at all, over and above its purely aesthetic 
 merits. It is not too much to say that there is no one work 
 of human genius which can equal it as an instrument of 
 education, intellectual and moral. As to the former, it is 
 only needful to realise that it is the summary of all the 
 thought and speculation, the record of all the action of the 
 thirteenth century : the age which of all whose memory 
 remains to us produced the greatest number of great men. 
 This was the age of Frederick II., Lewis IX., Simon of 
 Montfort, Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon ; the age which 
 saw the revival of painting in Cimabue and Giotto, of sculp- 
 ture in Nicholas ; while Amiens and Westminster, the Old 
 Palace of Florence and the Holy Field of Pisa are living 
 evidence of what it could do in the noblest of all the arts.
 
 PREFACE xi 
 
 It was to such an age as this that Dante's poem first gave a 
 voice ; and he who would appreciate the poem, must first 
 have made himself in some degree familiar with the age. 
 
 In estimating the moral value of the Divine Comedy, I 
 cannot do better than quote the eloquent words of the late 
 Dean of St. Paul's, whose admirable essay ought to be in 
 the hands of every reader of Dante : " Those who know it 
 best will best know how hard it is to be the interpreter of 
 such a mind, but they will sympathise with the wish to call 
 attention to it. They know and would wish others to know, 
 not by hearsay, but by experience, the power of that wonder- 
 ful poem. They know its austere yet subduing beauty ; 
 they know what force there is in its free and earnest yet 
 solemn verse, to strengthen, to tranquillise, to console. It 
 is a small thing that it has the secret of Nature and Man ; 
 that a few keen words have opened their eyes to new sights 
 in earth and sea and sky ; have taught them new mysteries 
 of sound ; have made them recognise, in distinct image or 
 thought, fugitive feelings, or their unheeded expression by 
 look or gesture or motion ; that it has enriched the public 
 and collective memory of society with new instances, never 
 to be lost, of human feelings and fortune ; has charmed ear 
 and mind by the music of its stately march, and the variety 
 and completeness of its plan. But, besides this, they know 
 how often its seriousness has put to shame their trifling, its 
 magnanimity their faintheartedness, its living energy their 
 indolence, its stern and sad grandeur rebuked low thoughts, 
 its thrilling tenderness overcome sullenness and assuaged 
 distress, its strong faith quelled despair and soothed per- 
 plexity, its vast grasp imparted harmony to the view of 
 clashing truths." 
 
 To go back for a moment to our starting : point, it may 
 be observed that the recent increase in the aids to the
 
 Xli PREFACE 
 
 study of Dante has coincided with a gratifying development 
 in the study itself. We hear on all hands of lectures and 
 classes, where it is to be hoped that solid work is done. 
 There is therefore the less necessity to give here advice which 
 students will get elsewhere from more competent advisers. 
 I may perhaps be allowed to point out that before entering 
 on the study of the first Cantica, the sixth book of Virgil's 
 Aencid should be carefully read, in the original if possible : 
 but good ' cribs ' are available in prose and verse. The 
 Tesprettc of Erunetto Latini, at any rate its opening, is also 
 worth looking at. Aquinas is of less importance here than 
 he becomes later : but the Ethics of Aristotle were constantly 
 in Dame's mind as he wrote. Dr. Carlyle's of course 
 remains the standard prose translation : nor should I have 
 thought it necessary to produce another had not the law of 
 copyright prevented me from using his. His few slips could 
 easily have been corrected without interfering with his admir- 
 able language. Mr. Eliot Norton's recent version I hrve 
 but seen : his reputation as a scholar, however, is a sufficient 
 guarantee of its oualitv. 
 
 Besides the friends mentioned in my other prefaces. 1 
 may be allowed here to thank the Ely Professor of Divinity 
 for iookini: over and correcting mv statement of the doctrine 
 of Grace in the note to Canto i; : and -'in justice to c class 
 not a:\vr\-? appreciated according to its merits/ Messrs. 
 Clark's reader, for saving me from r. great ma:\v sma'.. 
 blunders, anc one or two large. 
 
 A few words of explanation as to abbreviations, etc.. wil; 
 suffice. The numerals, i. 2. 3. 4. 5 denote respectively the 
 editions of I oligno. lesi. Mantua. Naples i Francesco del 
 Tupp: ,. and Naples 11477). Trie readings of the last arc 
 taker, fron: the late Dr. liariow's S^i:cn:i Lczim;. putilishec 
 ir. ih". I hrvt used the letters Gc.. its pressmark, to
 
 PREFACE xiil 
 
 indicate a MS. belonging to the University of Cambridge, 
 Dr. Moore's ' Q.' This I collated myself for Purgatory and 
 Paradise : in the present volume I have taken its readings 
 on Dr. Moore's authority. Diez's Grammar of the Romance 
 Languages is quoted by volume and page from the French 
 translation of MM. Brachet, Morel-Fatio, and Gaston 
 Paris. (Paris: Franck. 1874-76.) References to Villani 
 are according to the chapters as they are numbered in the 
 edition in two volumes published at Milan, without date., 
 edited by Dr. A. Racheli. Besides these, there are, I 
 believe, no references or abbreviations which will not 
 explain themselves. 
 
 November 1891.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CANTO I ... i 
 
 CANTO II ... .15 
 
 CANTO III . 28 
 
 CANTO IV ... 39 
 
 CANTO V 52 
 
 CANTO VI . . 65 
 
 CANTO VII .... .76 
 
 CANTO VIII . S8 
 
 CANTO IX .. 99 
 
 CANTO X ... in 
 
 CANTO XI .. 123 
 
 CANTO XII . . 133 
 
 CANTO XIII . 146 
 
 CANTO XIV . 159 
 
 CANTO XV .. i?i 
 
 CANTO XVI . 184 
 
 CANTO XVII . . 197 
 
 CANTO XVIII 209 
 
 CANTO XIX . 221 
 
 CANTO XX . 234 
 
 CANTO XXI ... .246
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CANTO XXII .... 
 
 2 5 8 
 
 CANTO XXIII 
 
 27O 
 
 CANTO XXIV 
 
 282 
 
 CANTO XXV .... 
 
 295 
 
 CANTO XXVI 
 
 . 308 
 
 CANTO XXVII 
 
 320 
 
 CANTO XXVIII .... 
 
 333 
 
 CANTO XXIX 
 
 346 
 
 CANTO XXX .... 
 
 358 
 
 CANTO XXXI 
 
 370 
 
 CANTO XXXII 
 
 . 382 
 
 CANTO XXXIII 
 
 395 
 
 CANTO XXXIV 
 
 409 
 
 GLOSSARY .... 
 
 421
 
 PRELIMINARY NOTE 
 
 IN the year 1300 after Christ the city of Florence was at 
 the height of her power and fortune. 1 At that time one of 
 her citizens, Dante Alighieri, being then thirty-five years of 
 age, was shown as in a vision the state of those who had 
 left this world, being led through the three regions of Hell, 
 Purgatory, and Paradise. 
 
 Hell is represented as a conical hollow reaching to the 
 centre of the earth, its axis being exactly beneath Jerusalem. 
 It is divided into three main parts : that outside the river 
 of Acheron, where are the souls of those who through 
 weakness did neither good nor evil ; that between Acheron 
 and the walls of the City of Dis, where those are punished 
 who have sinned by all kinds of fleshly lust ; and lastly the 
 City of Dis itself, within which are those who have done 
 despite to God or their neighbours, these being divided 
 into sinners by violence and sinners by fraud. There is 
 also, just within Acheron, a li minis or border, where those 
 are who have died without knowledge of God, and these are 
 not punished, but abide without hope. At the lowest point 
 of Hell, and at the centre of the earth, is Lucifer. The 
 journey begins on the evening of Maundy Thursday, and 
 ends (in the other hemisphere) on Easter morning. 
 
 1 See Yillani viii. 39.
 
 ERRATA 
 
 Canto IV. line 42, for ' posci ' read ' poscia. ' 
 Canto V. line z^,fot 'clontate' read ' dotate. ' 
 Canto VI. line 23, for ' ci ' read ' d'.' 
 Canto VII. line iOO,for 'quando' read 'quanto. 
 Canto VIII. line 28, for ' clietro ' read ' dentro. ' 
 Canto XXII. line 47, for ' fuo ' read ' furo.' 
 Page 335, line 2, for ' proved : read ' moved.'
 
 HELL 
 
 CANTO I 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 The author finds himself in a wood. On issuing from it he is met by 
 three beasts and is rescued from them by one who declares himself 
 to be Virgil, and prophesies of the future of Italy ; afterwards 
 undertaking to guide the author through the world of spirits. 
 
 HALFWAY upon the road of our life, I came to myself amid 
 a dark wood where the straight path was confused. And as 
 it is a hard thing to tell of what sort was this wood, savage 
 
 NEL mezzo del cammin di nostra vita 
 
 Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, 
 
 Che la diritta via era smarrita. 
 E quanto a dir qual era e cosa dura a 
 
 Questa selva selvaggia ed aspra e forte 
 
 a Ha Gg. ; Ah 3 ; 5 ; Eh W. 
 
 1 I.e. at the age of thirty-five (cf. Conv. iv. 23). This fixes the 
 date of the action of the poem to 1300. In the same year, a few months 
 later, Dante served the office of Prior, and as such formed for two 
 months a part of the governing body of Florence ; being at that time a 
 member of the Guelf party. 
 
 - ritrovai. The prefix appears to be emphatic. See 1. 10. selva : 
 worldly cares, as the thorns in the parable of the Sower. 
 
 3 Che, as frequently in Dante, is a kind of general relative. See 
 Diez iii. 311, and note to I'urg. i. 3. 
 
 4 sqq- It will be seen that I have ventured to adopt a new rendering 
 
 B
 
 2 HELL CANTO 
 
 and rough and strong, which in the thought renews my fear, 
 even so is it bitter ; so that death is not much more ; but 
 to treat of the good which I there found, I will tell of the 
 other things which there I marked. 
 
 I cannot well relate how I there entered ; so full was I 
 of drowsiness at that moment when I left the way of truth. 
 
 Che nel pensier rinnuova la paura, 
 Tanto e amara, che poco e piu morte : 
 
 Ma per trattar del ben ch' i' vi trovai, 
 
 Dirb dell' altre cose, ch' io v' ho scorte. 
 I' non so ben ridir com' io v' entrai ; io 
 
 Tant' era pien di sonno in su quel punto, 
 
 Che la verace via abbandonai. 
 
 of this passage. Usually 11. 4-6 are taken as interjectional, ' ornamento 
 rethorico el quale chiamano exclamatione,' as Landino has it ; and 
 tanto in 1. 7 as the direct antecedent to che. This involves the altera- 
 tion of e or et, which is the reading of nearly all the MSS. and early 
 edcl., into eh, ah, or ahi. (Gg. has Ha, which, if I am not much mis- 
 taken, has been altered from an earlier Ma JTt into fa. I know of no 
 other instance of this reading.) Benv. boldly calls e corrupt, and says, 
 ' nullo modo stare potest, quia . . . illud E non haberet quid copularet. ' 
 But this difficulty is obviated by shifting the stop from the end of 1. 6 to 
 that of 1. 7 ; and with it all perplexity as to the agreement of amara, 
 which Benv., followed by others, refers to selva. Some, in order to 
 sustain this construction, have even gone so far as to change c into era. 
 By avoiding the interjection and treating quanto tanto as relative and 
 antecedent, it seems to me that the passage gains in dignity, and the 
 allusion to Jer. ii. 19, 'vide quia malum et amarum est reliqui.sse te 
 Dominum Deum tuum,' is better brought out. che piu will then 
 refer to both dura and amara. It may be added that while the words 
 ahi quanto occur live times elsewhere in the poem, there is in no oilier 
 case a suggestion of a v. 1. et. 
 
 8. y, 10 Xote the threefold repetition of io vi. 
 
 11 Scart. refers to Rom. xiii. II. Cf. also Kph. v. 14. 
 
 l - la verace via. Not merely 'the right way.' Cf. Par. vii. 39.
 
 I HELL 3 
 
 But after I was come to the foot of a hill at the place where 
 that vale came to an end which had pierced my heart with 
 fear, I looked on high, and beheld its shoulders clad already 
 with the rays of the planet which leads any man straight 
 through every pathway. Then was my fear a little quieted, 
 which had endured in the pool of my heart for the night 
 which I passed with so great pitifulness. And as the man 
 who with panting breath having issued forth from the deep 
 
 Ma poi che fui al pie d' un colle giunto, 
 La dove terminava quella valle, 
 Che m' avea di paura il cor compunto, 
 
 Guardai in alto, e vidi le sue spalle 
 Vestite gia dei raggi del pianeta, 
 Che mena dritto altrui per ogni calle. 
 
 Allor fu la paura un poco queta, 
 
 Che nel lago del cor m' era durata 20 
 
 La notte, ch' i' passai con tanta pieta. 
 
 E come quei, che con lena affannata 
 Uscito fuor del pelago alia riva, 
 
 13 ' 14 It should be unnecessary to remind English readers of the hill 
 Difficulty and the valley of Humiliation. We can scarcely suppose that 
 Bunyan had ever heard of Dante ; but several striking coincidences may 
 be found between the opening of the Commedia and the earlier parts of 
 the Pilgrim's Progress. Here the hill would seem more immediately to 
 denote, as Benvenuto says, ' virtutem, quae alta ducit hominem ad 
 caelum' ; with special reference to Ps. xxxv. 7 (Vulg. ) : Justitia tua sicut 
 monies Dei ; and cxx. i : Levavi oculos meos in monies, unde venit 
 auxilium mihi. Bocc. understands rather the teaching of the Apostles 
 (cf. Par. xxv. 38), but this seems to narrow the meaning too much at 
 this stage of the allegory. 
 
 17 pianeta : the sun. In connexion with the next line, it may be 
 noted that throughout his journey Dante's course follows that of the 
 sun. Through Hell, which is in the northern hemisphere, he goes 
 with, through Purgatory, in the southern, against, the ' hands of the 
 watch ' ; while through Paradise he proceeds over the earth from east 
 to west.
 
 4 HELL CANTO 
 
 upon the shore turns him round to the perilous water and 
 gazes, so my mind, which still was fleeing, turned back to 
 look at the pass which never yet let a person go alive. 
 
 After that my weary body being a little rested I took 
 again my way over the desert slope, so that the halted foot 
 
 Si volge all' acqua perigliosa, e guata ; 
 Cosi 1' animo mio, che ancor fuggiva, 
 
 Si volse indietro a rimirar lo passo, 
 
 Che non lascio giammai persona viva. 
 Poiche, posato un poco il corpo lasso, b 
 
 Ripresi via per la piaggia diserta, 
 
 Si che il pie fermo sempre era il piu basso, 30 
 
 b ebbi riposato imp. Gg. (alt.) ; ei possato Cass. ; Como io posato 2; ebbi 
 riposato il c. 3 ; ei posato Aid. W. ; E riposato un p. 14. 
 
 - 7 The words may also mean ' which no living person ever yet left ' ; 
 but the rendering I have adopted seems to give better the force of 
 lascio, laxavit. In either case the meaning is obscure. Even if we 
 take it as referring to the road to Hell, Dante would seem to forget 
 St. Paul and Aeneas whom he afterwards specifies as having passed 
 that way. On the whole, it seems best to understand it of the soul 
 'dead in trespasses and sins.' He would say that no man who had 
 been so far entangled in the deceits of the world as he had ever been 
 brought back to true life. Cf. I'urg. xxx. 136, Par. xx. 106. But the 
 symbolism of this Canto alone would need a volume to investigate it 
 thoroughly. 
 
 - s As to the various readings, see Moore, Text. Crit. p. 257. I do 
 not follow him in reading ei = ebbi, as that form, though no doubt used 
 by Dante's contemporaries, seems to have been avoided by him ; and it 
 is not required here for the construction. The use of c as a kind of 
 demonstrative adverb of time (almost = Germ, so) is quite recognised 
 (see Diez iii. 317) and not unknown in Dante. Cf. xxv. 34, 50. 
 
 30 There is some difference of opinion as to the meaning of this line. 
 Benvenuto's explanation, ' quando homo ascendit montem, pes inferior 
 est ille super quo funditur et firmatur totum corpus salientis,' has been 
 accepted by most commentators ; but more recent critics, observing, no 
 doubt quite correctly, that in strict accuracy the moving foot during an 
 ascent is as often below as above the stationary one, have thought it
 
 I HELL 5 
 
 was ever the lower, behold, almost at the beginning of the 
 steep, an ounce, light and very nimble, which was covered 
 with spotted hair. And it would not depart from before my 
 face ; nay, it so blocked my road that I had more than once 
 
 Ed ecco, quasi al cominciar dell' erta, 
 Una lonza leggiera e presta molto, 
 Che di pel maculate era coperta. 
 
 E non mi si partia dinanzi al volto ; 
 Anzi impediva tanto il mio cammino, 
 Ch' io fui per ritornar piu volte volto. 
 
 necessary to seek a new interpretation. Thus Bianchi points out that 
 the required conditions are strictly fulfilled only in walking on level 
 ground, and understands Dante to mean that he still had some of the 
 plain to cross. (Piaggia, it may be noted, does not absolutely exclude 
 this rendering, though it usually implies a slope. ) But there seems no 
 need for this rather pedantic accuracy, and the older interpretation agrees 
 much better with one's ordinary impression. The motion of the moving 
 foot is not perceived till it has passed the other, and become the higher. 
 
 si! sqq. These three allegorical beasts, as Witte and Scartazzini point 
 out, are evidently suggested by Jer. v. 6 : Idcirco percussit eos leo de 
 silva, lupus ad vesperam vastavit eos, pardus vigilans super civitates 
 eorum. Symbolically they have been from the earliest times under- 
 stood as denoting : the panther, lust ; the lion, pride ; the wolf, avarice 
 the sins affecting youth, maturity, and old age. We know by his 
 own admissions (see notes to Purg. xiii. 136, and xxvii. 49) that Dante 
 was conscious of having yielded to the two former ; and we may sup- 
 pose that he deemed it possible that in time the third also might beset 
 him. Later interpreters have found also a political meaning. Accord- 
 ing to this, the spotted pard ('pantera e una bestia taccata di piccole 
 tacche bianche e nere,' says the old Italian version of Brunette's 
 Tresor) indicates Florence with her ' Black ' and ' White ' parties, 
 the object of his early love, and afterwards his enemy ; the lion is 
 the power of France (Par. vi. 108) ; and the wolf is the Guelf party 
 (see note to Purg. xx. io). That some meaning of this kind is hidden 
 in the allegory can hardly be doubted ; see xvi, 106. It should be 
 added that some commentators, e.g. Bianchi, prefer to take the lonza 
 as symbolising envy ; in which case the three vices indicated are those 
 which Brunetto in Canto xv. 68 specially attributes to Florence. 
 
 ' M Observe the bisticdo or jingle of volte volto.
 
 6 HELL CANTO 
 
 turned to go back. The time was at the first of the morn ; 
 and the Sun was mounting aloft with those stars which 
 were with him when the Love divine first set in motion 
 those fair things ; so that to hope well of that beast with 
 the gay hide, the hour of the clock and the sweet season 
 were an occasion to me /but not so much that the sight of 
 a lion which appeared to me did not give me fear. This 
 seemed to come against me with its head high and with a 
 raging hunger, so that it seemed as the air were in fear of 
 it ; and a she-wolf, that with all ravenings looked fraught 
 
 Tempo era dal principio del mattino ; 
 E il sol montava su con quelle stelle 
 Ch' eran con lui, quando 1' amor divino 
 
 Mosse da prima quelle cose belle ; 40 
 
 Si che a bene sperar m' era cagione 
 Di quella fera alia gaietta pelle, c 
 
 L' ora del tempo, e la dolce stagione : 
 Ma non si, che paura non mi desse 
 La vista, che mi apparve, d' un leone. 
 
 Questi parea, che contra me venesse 
 Con la test' alta e con rabbiosa fame, 
 Si che parea che 1' aer ne temesse : d 
 
 Ed una lupa, che di tutte brame 
 
 Sembiava carca nella sua magrezza, 50 
 
 c la gaietta Gg. Cass. 12345 Aid. 
 d tremisse Gg. ; tremasse alias ne temesse Cass. \ ; tremesse 4. 
 
 38 " 40 In early times it was held that the creation of the world took 
 place at the beginning of spring, or when the sun was entering the 
 Ram ; and Dante thus indicates the time of year at which his vision 
 befell him. amor ; S. T. i. Q. 37. A. 3 : Amor est proprium nomen 
 Spiritus sancti. See note to Par. x. i. 
 
 4 - Dr. Moore's reasons for preferring alia seem conclusive.
 
 I HELL 7 
 
 in its leanness, and has already made much people to live 
 wretched, f This one furnished me so much of heaviness 
 with the terror that issued from her aspect, that I lost my 
 hope of the height. And as is he who willingly acquires, 
 and the time comes which makes him lose, that in all his 
 thoughts he laments and is made sad ; such did the implac- 
 able beast make me, which coming against me, by little and 
 little pushed me back to the place where the Sun is dumb. 
 /Whilst I was rushing to the low ground, before my eyes 
 was brought one who by long silence appeared faint. When 
 
 E molte genti fe gia viver grame. 
 
 Questa mi porse tanto di gravezza 
 Con la paura, che uscia di sua vista, 
 Ch' io perdei la speranza dell' altezza. 
 
 E quale e quei, che volontieri acquista, 
 E giugne il tempo, che perder lo face, 
 Che in tutt' i suoi pensier piange e s' attrista : 
 
 Tal mi fece la bestia senza pace, 
 
 Che venendomi incontro, a poco a poco 
 Mi ripingeva la, dove il Sol tace. 60 
 
 / Mentre ch' io rovinava in basso loco, 6 
 Dinanzi agli occhi mi si fu offerto 
 Chi per lungo silenzio parea fioco. 
 
 e rimirava 4. 
 
 ss-57 The simile is no doubt intended to recall the symbolical mean- 
 ing of the wolf, viz. avarice. 
 
 60 tace : Witte observes that Dante frequently interchanges terms 
 applying to sight and hearing, comparing v. 28. Similar idioms are 
 common in Greek, and not unknown in English. 
 
 63 The objection to the ordinary rendering, ' who appeared to have 
 become hoarse through long disuse of his voice,' seems to have occurred 
 first to Blanc, who asks how Dante could know that the other was 
 hoarse before he had spoken. He takes the line to mean, ' I thought,
 
 8 HELL CANTO 
 
 I beheld him in the great desert, ' Have mercy on me,' I 
 cried to him, 'whoever thou be, whether a shade, or of a 
 certainty a man.' He answered me : ' Not a man : I was 
 a man once, and my parents were Lombards, and both 
 Mantuans by their country. I was born sub Julio, albeit it 
 
 Quand' io vidi costui nel gran diserto, 
 Miserere di me, gridai a lui, 
 Qual che tu sii, od ombra, od uomo certo. 
 
 Risposemi : Non uomo, uomo gia fui, 
 E li parenti miei furon Lombard!, 
 Mantovani per patria ambo e dui. 
 
 Nacqui sub Ju/to, ancorche fosse tardi, 70 
 
 by his saying no word to help me, that he must be weak/ In favour of 
 this is also the fact that fioco appears to mean rather ' faint ' than 
 ' hoarse ' ; indeed, in no other passage where it occurs is the latter 
 meaning required (see Gloss. Par. s. v. ) On the whole, therefore, I 
 have preferred to follow Blanc, though supported only, so far as I know, 
 by Scartazzini. The symbolism will then be, ' it was so long since I 
 had heard the voice of my reason, that it seemed to me to be grown 
 feeble. ' The old view that there is an allusion to the neglect of classical 
 study, and particularly that of Virgil, in the previous ages, is in any 
 case very jejune. 
 
 70 As Benvenuto saw, this line contains two apparent errors of fact. 
 Virgil was born B.C. 69, in the consulate of Pompey and Crassus, at 
 which time Julius Caesar was very far from being the chief man in the 
 state, and had lived little more than half his life. The commentator's 
 loyalty to his author will not allow him to admit the simplest explana- 
 tion, which, as he says, some gave, ' quod autor pro certo erravit.' He 
 thinks that Dante must have known what all boys know. But it must be 
 remembered that the knowledge of antiquity had made a great advance 
 in the fifty years since Dante's death, and that his historical attainments 
 were probably more on a level with Villani than with Benvenuto. How 
 confused Villani's notions about the times of Caesar were, may be seen 
 from his first book. To Dante Caesar was merely the first of the 
 divinely ordained emperors of Rome. Tardi may perhaps mean that 
 Virgil was born too late to distinguish himself under Caesar.
 
 i HELL 9 
 
 was late, and I lived at Rome under the good Augustus, at 
 the time of the false and lying gods. A poet I was, and I 
 sang of that just son of Anchises, who came from Troy, 
 after that the proud Ilion was burned. But thou, why 
 returnest thou to so great bane ? Why ascendest not the 
 mount of delight, which is the beginning and cause of all 
 joy ? ' ' Oh, art thou that Virgil, and that fount which 
 spreads forth so broad a stream of speech ? ' I answered 
 him with shamefast brow. 'O honour and light of all 
 poets, let the long study and the great love avail me, which 
 have made me search thy volume. Thou art my master 
 and my authority ; thou only art he from whom I took the 
 fair style which has done me honour. Behold the beast, 
 
 E vissi a Roma, sotto il buono Augusto, 
 Al tempo degli Dei falsi e bugiardi. 
 
 Poeta fui, e cantai di quel giusto 
 
 Figliuol d' Anchise, che venne da Troia, 
 Poiche il superbo Ilion fu combusto. 
 
 Ma tu perche ritorni a tanta noia ? 
 Perche non sali il dilettoso monte, 
 Ch' e principio e cagion di tutta gioia? 
 
 Or sei tu quel Virgilio, e quella fonte, 
 
 Che spande di parlar si largo flume ? 80 
 
 Risposi lui con vergognosa fronte. 
 
 O degli altri poeti onore e lume, 
 
 Vagliami il lungo studio e il grande amore, 
 Che m' ha fatto cercar lo tuo volume. 
 
 Tu sei lo mio maestro e il mio autore : 
 Tu sei solo colui, da cui io tolsi 
 Lo bello stile, che m' ha fatto onore. 
 
 72 Cf. Par. viii. i sqq. 
 
 87 This can hardly refer, as Witte supposes, to the De Monarchia ; 
 for even if it were certain, instead of highly improbable, that that
 
 io HELL CANTO 
 
 by reason of which I turned round ; help me from her, 
 renowned sage, for she makes my veins and my pulses to 
 tremble.' 'Thee it behoves to keep another road,' he 
 answered, since he saw me weep, ' if thou wouldst escape 
 from this savage place ; because this beast, for the which 
 thou criest out, lets not any pass by her way, but hinders 
 him in such wise that she slays him. And she has a nature 
 so evil and guilty that she never fulfils her greedy will, and 
 after her repast has more hunger than before. Many are 
 the animals with which she pairs ; and more will be yet, 
 
 Vedi la bestia, per cui io mi volsi : 
 Aiutami da lei, famoso saggio, 
 Ch' ella mi fa tremar le vene e i polsi. 90 
 
 A te convien tenere altro viaggio, 
 Rispose, poi che lagrimar mi vide, 
 Se vuoi campar d' esto loco selvaggio : 
 
 Che questa bestia, per la qual tu gride, 
 Non lascia altrui passar per la sua via, 
 Ma tanto Io impedisce, che 1' uccide : 
 
 Ed ha natura si malvagia e ria, 
 
 Che mai non empie la bramosa voglia, 
 E dopo il pasto ha pin fame che pria. 
 
 Molti son gli animali, a cui s' ammoglia, 100 
 
 E piu saranno ancora, infin che il veltro 
 
 treatise had been written before 1300, Dante would surely not compli- 
 ment Virgil by attributing his prose style to the influence of the poet. 
 No doubt, like other scholars, he had written plenty of Latin verses in 
 his time, and had gained a reputation thereby. We know, indeed, that 
 he wrote them after this, and had even purposed so to write the Corn- 
 media. 
 
 1)9 Cf. Purg. xx. 12. 
 
 100 Alluding to the many intrigues of the Papal party, both with 
 Italian and with foreign powers. 
 
 101 sqq. The question as to the identity of the ' Veltro ' has from the
 
 i HELL 1 1 
 
 until the Hound shall come, who will make her die of woe. 
 This one shall not feed on land or dross, but on wisdom 
 
 Verra, che la fara morir con doglia. 
 Questi non cibera terra ne peltro, 
 
 first been more debated, and with less result, than any other in the 
 whole poem. Volumes have been written on the subject, the usual 
 effect of which on the reader's mind is to convince him that whatever is 
 intended, it is not what the writer supposes. The main difficulty is to 
 find a solution which will fit both 1. 105, which seems to indicate a 
 human champion, and 1. 1 10, which ascribes to him divine powers. The 
 diction is obviously taken from the Messianic prophecies, so that it is no 
 wonder if many of the older commentators, P. di Dante, Benvenuto, the 
 later Cassinese, and Landino understand it as a prophecy of Christ's 
 second coming, fixing their attention more on 1. no; and take feltro 
 as meaning cielo ; the first named, by a wild piece of metaphor, suggest- 
 ing as an alternative 'erit naturalis et de vili natione.' Boccaccio, who 
 says, ' I confess that I do not understand it,' rejects this view, and on the 
 whole inclines to that which holds some leader of humble origin to be 
 foretold. The Cassinese ' Chiose sincrone ' leave it alone. The inter- 
 pretation which sees a prophecy of Can Grande does not seem to have 
 arisen before the middle of the I5th century, when Bargigi appears to 
 hint at it. Vellutello is the first who distinctly formulates it. Then 
 the Feltros are taken to be the modern Feltre, in the Trevisan, and 
 Montefeltro in Romagna. This has been the favourite interpretation in 
 modern times, adopted by Witte, Philalethes, Bianchi, etc. Villani's 
 account (v. 29) of the election of Genghis Khan as sovereign of the 
 Tartars, contains two or three expressions which form a curious coinci- 
 dence, worthy of consideration by those who hold this view : feciono 
 . . . signore uno fabbro di povero stato, il quale avea nome Cangius, il 
 quale in su un povero feltro fu levato imperadore, e come fu fatto 
 signore, fu chiamato il soprannome Cane. Boccaccio, not referring to 
 this passage, says that some, by an explanation 'assai pellegrina,' saw a 
 prophecy of a reform to begin in Tartary ; telling a curious story of a 
 Tartar custom, whereby, when a king is dying, a piece of felt, to be 
 afterwards used as his shroud, is carried round the country on a spear. 
 Probably Dante meant us to see here, as in the DXV of Purg. xxxiii. 43, 
 a general prophecy of a reformed and united Italy, under such a ruler as 
 he has drawn in the De Monarchia ; and while not having any particular 
 person definitely in his mind, may have been not unwilling to hint 
 indirectly at Can Grande.
 
 1 2 HELL CANTO 
 
 and love and valour, and his birthplace shall be between 
 Feltro and Feltro. Of that lowland of Italy shall he be the 
 salvation, for which died Camilla the maiden, Euryalus, 
 and Turnus and Nisus of their wounds. This one shall 
 chase her through every town, until he shall have put her 
 back into Hell, the place whence envy first sent her forth. 
 
 'Wherefore I for thy bettering think and decide that 
 thou follow me ; and I will be thy guide, and will draw thee 
 from here through an eternal place, where thou shalt hear 
 
 Ma sapienza e amore e virtute, 
 
 E sua nazion sara tra Feltro e Feltro. 
 
 Di quell' umile Italia fia salute, 
 
 Per cui mori la vergine Cammilla, 
 Eurialo, e Turno, e Niso di ferute : 
 
 Questi la caccera per ogni villa, 
 
 Fin che 1' avra rimessa nello inferno. no 
 
 La onde invidia prima dipartilla. 
 
 Ond' io per lo tuo me' penso e discerno, 
 Che tu mi segui, ed io sarb tua guida, 
 E trarrotti di qui per loco eterno, 
 
 104 Cf. Par. xvii. 105. 
 
 106 umile : probably an epithcton ornans, borrowed from Aeneid 
 iii. 522. 
 
 in-. 108 ec Aen. ix. xi. xii. 
 
 111 Here the wolf becomes clearly the sin of covetousness in its widest 
 sense, which Dante, as will often appear, regarded as the root of all the 
 evils of the time. He would include under it public ambition, no less than 
 private avarice ; and it is of course in the former aspect that it can be said 
 to be caused by envy. Benvenuto thinks that the allusion is to the murder 
 of Abel : ' Chaim motus invidia, stimulante avaritia divitiarum, mactavit 
 Abel.' Witte, following P. di Dante, sees a reference to Wisdom ii. 24. 
 More to the purpose is the remark of Aquinas : Amatorcs honoris sunt 
 magis invidi. S. T. ii. 2. O. 36. A. i.
 
 I HELL 13 
 
 the shrieks of despair, shalt see the ancient spirits in woe, 
 who each cry upon the second death ; and thou shalt see 
 those who are content in the fire, because they have hope of 
 coming whensoever it may be to the blessed folk ; to whom 
 afterward if thou wouldst rise there will be a soul more meet 
 for this than I ; with her I will leave thee in my departure. 
 
 Ove udirai le disperate strida, 
 
 Vedrai gli antichi spiriti dolenti/ 
 Che la seconda morte ciascun grida : g 
 
 E poi vedrai color, che son contenti 
 Nel fuoco, perche speran di venire, 
 Quando che sia, alle beate genti : 120 
 
 Alle quai poi se tu vorrai salire, 
 Anima fia a cio di me piu degna ; 
 Con lei ti lascerb nel mio partire : 
 
 f Di qiielli ant. eckl. 1484, 1491. 
 g CA' alia Cass. 2 Aid. 
 
 117 It seems impossible to take la seconda morte in any other sense 
 than that which it has in Rev. ii. n, xx. 14, etc., and in which it was 
 understood by St. Augustine, e.g. Civ. Dei xiii. 8, viz. as meaning the 
 state of the damned after the final end of temporal things. Nevertheless 
 almost all the commentators, ancient and modern, perhaps thinking 
 of xiii. 118, understand by it total annihilation. Benvenuto specially 
 charges us against understanding the day of judgement, ' nam damnati 
 talem mortem non vocant nee optant sibi.' But where in Dante 
 does he find gi-idare in this sense of ' to call for ' ? In the few 
 places where it is transitive, as here, it always means 'to proclaim,' 
 ' shout forth. ' Further, if this interpretation were correct, we should 
 surely not have la but ^lna ; or no article at all, but per or some 
 such word. The true meaning can only be that which P. di Dante 
 (whom Benv. in his remark quoted above is clearly glancing at) gives 
 though he is very undecided when he says (after quoting Aug. de Civ. 
 D. xxi. 3, ' secunda mors animam nolentem tenet in corpore ') : idest 
 conqueruntur de secunda morte quam habent aeternam et spiritualem. 
 
 Lubin's idea of taking che as = c// che, and ciascun as ' everyone on 
 earth,' can hardly be accepted.
 
 14 HELL CANTO i 
 
 For that Emperor who reigns there on high, seeing that I 
 was in rebellion to His law, wills not that through me entry 
 should be had into His city. He governs in all parts, and 
 reigns there ; there is His city and His high seat ; O happy 
 the man whom He chooses for that place ! ' And I to him : 
 ' Poet, I beseech thee by that God whom thou knewest not, 
 in order that I may escape this ill and worse, that thou lead 
 me there where thou hast just said, so that I may see the gate 
 of Saint Peter, and those whom thou makest out so sad.' 
 Then he started, and I held after him. 
 
 Che quello imperador, che lassu regna, 
 Perch' io fui ribellante alia sua legge, 
 Non vuol che in sua citta per me si vegna. 
 
 In tutte parti impera, e quivi regge, 
 Quivi e la sua citta e 1' alto seggio : 
 O felice colui, cu' ivi elegge ! 
 
 Ed io a lui : Poeta, io ti richieggio 130 
 
 Per quello Dio, che tu non conoscesti, 
 Acciocch' io fugga questo male e peggio, 
 
 Che tu mi nieni la dov' or dicesti, 
 
 Si ch' io vegga la porta di san Pietro, 
 E color, cui tu fai cotanto mesti. 
 
 Allor si mosse, ed io li tenni retro.
 
 CANTO II 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 Uante is in fear lest his strength should not be sufficient for the journey. 
 Virgil bids him take courage, for that three Ladies from heaven 
 have a care of him. 
 
 THE day was departing, and the dun air was taking the 
 living creatures that are upon the earth from their labours ; 
 and I, one only, was making me ready to endure the strife 
 alike of the journey and of the pity, which my mind that 
 errs not will portray. O Muses, O lofty wit, here aid me ; 
 
 Lo giorno se n' andava, e 1' aer bruno 
 Toglieva gli animai che sono in terra, 
 Dalle fatiche loro ; ed io sol uno 
 
 M' apparecchiava a sostener la guerra 
 Si del cammino e si della pietate, 
 Che ritrarra la mente, che non erra. 
 
 O Muse, o alto ingegno, or m' aiutate : 
 
 a " :! Scart. compares Aen. viii. 26, 27. The day has been occupied 
 in the flight from the beasts, and the subsequent discourse with Virgil. 
 It may be here noted that Dante enters Hell at sunset, Purgatory at 
 sunrise, Paradise at noon, sol uno : i.e. the one living being. 
 
 7 Muse. Cf. Purg. i. 8, and see note Par. i. 16. Eenv. takes 
 occasion from this line to give an account of Dante's mental and physical 
 characteristics.
 
 16 HELL CANTO 
 
 O mind that wrotest what I saw, here shall appear thy 
 nobleness. 
 
 I began : ' Poet who guidest me, consider my virtue, if 
 it is potent, before that thou entrust me to the high passage. 
 Thou sayest that the father of Silvius, being yet corruptible, 
 went to an immortal world, and was there with his senses. 
 Wherefore, if the adversary of every evil was gracious to 
 him, thinking on the mighty result that was to issue from 
 him, and the who, and the what it appears not to a man 
 of understanding unmeet ; for he was in the empyrean 
 heaven chosen for father of Rome our parent and of her 
 empire, both which (if one would say the truth) were estab- 
 
 O mente, che scrivesti cib ch' io vidi, 
 
 Qui si parra la tua nobilitate. 
 Io cominciai : Poeta che mi guidi, io 
 
 Guarda la mia virtu, s' ella e possente, 
 
 Prima che all' alto passo tu mi fidi. 
 Tu dici, che di Silvio Io parente, 
 
 Corruttibile ancora, ad immortale 
 
 Secolo ando, e fu sensibilmente. 
 Perb se 1' avversario d' ogni male 
 
 Cortese i fu, pensando 1' alto effetto, 
 
 Che uscir dovea di lui, e il chi, e il quale, 
 Non pare indegno ad uomo d' intelletto : 
 
 Ch' ei fu delP alma Roma e di suo impero 20 
 
 Nell' empireo ciel per padre eletto : 
 La quale, e il quale (a voler dir Io vero) 
 
 <J Note si pleonastic. Die/, iii. 1 76. 
 J - alto passo: cf. Par. xxii. 123. 
 
 l:i I.e. Aeneas, whose youngest son was named Silvius. Aen. 
 vi. 760. 
 
 17 i for gli. So xxii. 73. effetto : the Empire. 
 
 18 chi quale : the Emperor, considered in himself and in his quality.
 
 II HELL 17 
 
 lished for the holy place where sits the successor of the 
 sovereign Peter. Throughout this journey, whereof thou 
 givest him glory, he heard things which were the cause of 
 his victory, and of the papal robe. Afterward went there 
 the chosen vessel, to get thence a confirmation for that 
 faith, which is the outset to the way of salvation. But I 
 why come thither? or who grants it? Not Aeneas, not 
 Paul am I ; nor I nor other deems me worthy for this. 
 Wherefore, if I resign myself in respect of coming, I fear 
 lest the coming should be mad : thou art wise, and under- 
 standest better than I speak.' 
 
 Fur stabiliti per lo loco santo, 
 
 U' siede il successor del maggior Piero. 
 
 Per questa andata, onde gli dai tu vanto, 
 Intese cose, che furon cagione 
 Di sua vittoria e del papale ammanto. 
 
 Andovvi poi lo Vas d' elezione, 
 
 Per recarne conforto a quella fede, 
 
 Ch' e principio alia via di salvazione. 30 
 
 Ma io perche venirvi ? o chi '1 concede ? 
 lo non Enea, io non Paolo sono : 
 Me degno a cib ne io ne altri '1 crede. 
 
 Perche se del venire io m' abbandono, 
 Temo che la venuta non sia folle : 
 Sei savio, intendi me' ch' io non ragiono. 
 
 26 I.e. the prophecies of the Roman Empire (of which, in Dante's 
 political scheme, the Papacy was only another aspect) in the Sixth 
 Aeneid. See De Mon. ii. 7, and elsewhere. 
 28 2 Cor. xii. 2 sqq. 
 
 31 io venirvi. For this ' independent infinitive ' see Diez iii. 203. 
 !1 " ;;3 Contrast this with the confidence of Aeneas. Aen. vi. 122 : 
 
 Quid Thesea, magnum 
 
 Quid memorem Alciden ? et mi genus ah Jove summo. 
 84 del venire. The use of the genitive is curious. See Diez iii. 151. 
 C
 
 1 8 HELL CANTO 
 
 And as is he who ceases to will that he willed, and by 
 reason of new thoughts changes purpose, so that he with- 
 draws himself wholly from his beginning, so became I on 
 that dark hillside ; so that in my thought I made an end of 
 the enterprise which in its commencement had been so 
 hasty. 
 
 ' If I have well understood thy word,' replied that shade 
 of the high-souled one, ' thy soul is hindered by cowardice, 
 which oftentimes so encumbers the man that it turns him 
 back from honourable enterprise, as wrong-seeing does a 
 beast when it shies. To the end that thou mayest loose 
 thyself from this fear I will tell thee wherefore I came, and 
 
 E quale e quei, che disvuol cib che voile, 
 E per nuovi pensier cangia proposta, 
 Si che dal cominciar tutto si tolle ; 
 
 Tal mi fee' io in quella oscura costa : 40 
 
 Perche, pensando, consumai la irnpresa, 
 Che fu nel cominciar cotanto tosta. 
 
 Se io ho ben la tua parola intesa, 
 
 Rispose del magnanimo quell' ombra, 
 L' anima tua e da viltate offesa : 
 
 La qual molte fiate 1' uomo ingombra, 
 Si che d' onrata impresa Io rivolve, 
 Come falso veder bestia, quand' ombra. 
 
 Da questa tema acciocche tu ti solve, 
 
 Dirotti, perch' io venni, e quel che intesi 50 
 
 **' offesa. Here, as frequently in Dante, offcnderc has its primitive 
 sense of 'cause to stumble.' See note Purg. xxxi. 12. 
 
 48 ombra. From the idea of ' shadow ' comes easily that of anything 
 suspicious ; though the transfer of the verb from the meaning ' cast a 
 shadow ' or ' be in shadow,' to that of ' see shadows ' is curious. Benv. 
 ' sicut equus juvenis umbrosus.' Cf. our term 'to take umbrage.' The 
 converse change is seen in aduggiare. (See Gloss. Purg. s. v. )
 
 II HELL 19 
 
 what I heard at the first moment when it grieved me for 
 thee. I was among those who are in suspense, and a lady, 
 blessed and fair, called me one such that I besought her 
 to give command. Her eyes beamed more than star ; and 
 she began to say to me sweet and clear, with voice of an 
 angel, in her speech : O courteous Mantuan soul, whose 
 fame yet lasteth in the world, and shall last long as the 
 world goes onward, my friend, and not the friend of fortune, 
 in the desert tract is so hampered on his road that he has 
 
 Nel primo punto che di te mi dolve. 
 
 lo era tra color che son sospesi, 
 E donna mi chiamb beata e bella, 
 Tal che di comandare io la richiesi. 
 
 Lucevan gli occhi suoi piu che la Stella : 
 E cominciomrni a dir soave e piana, 
 Con angelica voce, in sua favella : 
 
 O anima cortese Mantovana 
 
 Di cui la fama ancor nel mondo dura, 
 
 E durera quanto il mondo lontana : a 60 
 
 L' amico mio, e non della ventura, 
 Nella diserta piaggia e impedito 
 
 a moto lout. Gg. (?) i Aid. W. 
 
 52 sospesi : cf. iv. 45. 
 
 55 la stella, as in V. N. 23 (Canzone), Conv. iii. 9, and elsewhere, 
 must be understood of the abstract star, not any one in particular. The 
 locution is easier to parallel in English than in Italian ; ' ruddier than 
 the cherry ' will suggest itself. It seems to have puzzled copyists and 
 editors, who have occasionally substituted una for la. 
 
 60 As to the readings, see Moore, Text. Crit. I have followed the 
 weight of authority, including (which I think more important than 
 ordinary MS. authority) that of the earliest commentators. With all 
 respect to Foscolo, I cannot see that Virgil's ' mobilitate viget ' is at all 
 to the point here. That fame is not one which Virgil is likely to hear 
 attributed to himself with any satisfaction. 
 
 6 - diserta piaggia : cf. i. 29.
 
 20 HELL CANTO 
 
 turned back for fear ; and I fear lest he be already so per- 
 plexed that I have risen to his succour too late, by what I 
 have heard of him in heaven. Now set out, and with thy 
 well-graced word, and with that which needs for his deliver- 
 ance, aid him in such wise that I may be consoled thereof. 
 I am Beatrice who make thee to go : I come from a place 
 whither I am fain to return ; love moved me, which causes 
 me to speak. When I shall be before my Lord I will often- 
 times speak good of thee to Him. Then she held her peace, 
 and afterward I began : O lady of virtue, through whom alone 
 
 Si nel cammin, che volto e per paura : 
 
 E temo che non sia gia si smarrito, 
 Ch' io mi sia tardi al soccorso levata, 
 Per quel ch' io ho di lui nel Cielo udito. 
 
 Or muovi, e con la tua parola ornata, 
 
 E con cio ch' e mestieri al suo campare, 
 L' aiuta si, ch' io ne sia consolata. 
 
 Io son Beatrice, che ti faccio andare : 70 
 
 Vegno di loco, ove tornar disio : 
 Amor mi mosse, che mi fa parlare. 
 
 Quando sarb dinanzi al Signer mio, 
 Di te mi loderb sovente a lui. 
 Tacette allora, e poi comincia' io : 
 
 O donna di virtu, sola per cui 
 
 R ~ muovi: intrans. See Dicz iii. 177. 
 
 74 mi Ioder6 : so Fr. se loner de 'to express oneself as pleased with.' 
 The formation is somewhat curious ; but all the Romance languages 
 show a tendency to these quasi-reflexive forms. Diez iii. 175. 
 
 7fi virtu. It may be as well to say here that I have usually rendered 
 this word simply by virtue. Of course it must be understood that it is 
 often used in the same sense as that which it has retained in the phrase 
 ' by virtue of,' but which has otherwise pretty much disappeared from
 
 II HELL 21 
 
 the human species exceeds all content of that heaven which 
 has its circles least, so much does thy commandment do me 
 pleasure that to obey, if it had already come to pass, is late 
 to me : no further needest thou to open to me thy will. But 
 tell me the reason why thou dost not reck of descending hither 
 into this centre from the wide space whither thou burnest 
 to return. Since thou wouldest know so far into the matter, 
 
 L' umana spezie eccede ogni contento 
 Da quel ciel, che ha minor li cerchi sui : 
 
 Tanto m' aggrada il tuo comandamento, 
 
 Che 1' ubbidir, se gia fosse, m' e tardi ; 80 
 
 Piu non t' e uopo aprirmi il tuo talento. b 
 
 Ma dimmi la cagion, che non ti guardi 
 
 Dello scender quaggiuso in questo centre 
 Dall' ampio loco, ove tornar tu ardi. 
 
 Da che tu vuoi saper cotanto addentro, 
 
 b uopo che apr. Gg. 
 
 modern English. For a further discussion of its meaning, see note at 
 end of Purg. iv. 
 
 In order to understand the full force of these lines, it is necessary to 
 bear in mind that as the Purgatory and the Paradise respectively embody 
 the teaching of the De Anima and Metaphysics of Aristotle, so this 
 Cantica is based on the Ethics. The terms in which Virgil is made to 
 address Beatrice contain an obvious allusion to the tenth book of that 
 treatise. Beatrice, as must never be forgotten, denotes allegorically the 
 contemplative life, the Ofupia which Aristotle identifies with happiness, 
 informed by the Christian revelation. TUJV 5' a\\wv fauv, says the 
 philosopher (Eth. Nic. x. 8. 1178 b) ov5tv ev5a.ifj.ovei, firel oii5a.jj.fj 
 KOivwvel deupla.'s. In this sense then it may be said that through 
 Beatrice the human race is superior to all else within the circle of the 
 moon (cf. vii. 64) that is, upon the earth. Further, ev5a.ifj.ovLa. being 
 tvtpyeia. /car' dperrjv, she is rightly called donna di virfrh. 
 
 80 I.e. if I had already fulfilled your commands, I should seem to be 
 late in doing so. The construction is somewhat mixed ; but the present 
 e where we should expect era gives vividness. Perhaps more simply : 
 If I was ever in haste to obey, I am now.
 
 22 HELL CANTO 
 
 I will tell thee briefly, she answered me, why I fear not to 
 come in hither. There need be fear only of those things 
 which have power to do one harm : of the others none, 
 for they are not fearful. I am made by God, of His grace, 
 such that your misery touches me not, nor does a flame of 
 this burning assail me. There is a noble dame in Heaven 
 who has such compassion of this hindrance whereto I send 
 thee, that she breaks down stern judgement there on high. 
 She bade Lucy to her behest, and said : Now has thy 
 faithful one need of thee, and I recommend him to thee. 
 
 Dirotti brevemente, mi rispose, 
 
 Perch' io non temo di venir qua entro. 
 Temer si dee di sole quelle cose 
 
 Ch' hanno potenza di fare altrui male : 
 
 Dell' altre no, che non son paurose. 90 
 
 Io son fatta da Dio, sua merce, tale, 
 
 Che la vostra miseria non mi tange, 
 
 Ne fiamma d' esto incendio non m' assale. 
 Donna e gentil nel ciel, che si compiange 
 
 Di questo impedimenta, ov' io ti mando, 
 
 Si che duro giudizio lassu frange. 
 Questa chiese Lucia in suo dimando, 
 
 E disse : Or ha bisogno il tuo fedele 
 
 Di te, ed io a te Io raccomando. 
 
 89 altrui as in i. 18, Purg. iv. 54. 
 
 91 sua merce. Corticelli regards this as an instance of a dropped 
 preposition, and Littre s. v. nierci takes the same view ; in which case 
 we must render 'through His grace.' But is it not rather that the verb 
 is omitted, 'thanks be His'? Cf. Purg. vi. 129, Par. xv. 53, where the 
 (derived) meaning of 'thanks' can hardly be mistaken. But the ideas 
 of ' by favour of and ' thanks to ' arc closely connected. 
 
 94 Donna gentil : the Virgin Mary. For the symbolism of this pas- 
 sage see note at end of the Canto.
 
 II HELL 23 
 
 Lucy, enemy of every cruel wight, set forth and came to the 
 place at which I was, where I was sitting with the ancient 
 Rachel. She said : Beatrice, very praise of God, why 
 succourest thou not him who loved thee so greatly that for 
 thee he issued forth from the common multitude ? Hearest 
 thou not the pity of his weeping ? Seest thou not the death 
 that is battling with him upon the river wherein the sea has 
 
 Lucia, nimica di ciascun crudele, 100 
 
 Si mosse, e venne al loco dov' io era, 
 Che mi sedea con 1' antica Rachele. 
 
 Disse : Beatrice, loda di Dio vera, 
 
 Che non soccorri quei che t' amo tanto, 
 Che uscio per te della volgare schiera ? 
 
 Non odi tu la pieta del suo pianto, 
 
 Non vedi tu la morte che il combatte 
 Su la fiumana, ove il mar non ha vanto ? 
 
 102 Cf. Par. xxxii. 9. 
 
 108 The commentators seem agreed that the ' river ' intended is that 
 which flows through Hell ; of which we shall hear much more. As to 
 the reason why the sea cannot boast of (or over) it, they are less decided ; 
 some thinking that it is because it does not flow into the sea ; others, 
 that it is more dangerous than any sea. Neither of these explanations 
 is wholly satisfactory ; and it seems better to take ove il mar non ha 
 vanto as meaning merely ' not belonging to this earth ' ; all the waters 
 of which, as Dante holds, depend for their origin ultimately on the sea. 
 De Aq. et Ter. 6 : cum mare sit principium omnium aquarum, ut 
 patet per philosophum in Meteoris suis. The passage referred to is no 
 doubt Meteor, ii. 2 ; but Aristotle, though at the beginning of the chap- 
 ter he seems inclined to this view, and gives a correct statement of the 
 processes of evaporation and condensation, sums up with reXevr?? fj,a\\ov 
 #5aTos rj dpxri earLv 77 ddXarra. It may be noticed that in this chapter 
 Ar. criticises Plato's theory (Phaedo Ix. Ixi. ill -113 c) according to 
 which the rivers of the earth have their origin in the nether world. In 
 Dante's scheme, on the contrary, the rivers of Hell have their source on 
 the earth's surface ; but not as other rivers. See xiv. 94 sqq.
 
 24 HELL CANTO 
 
 no boast ? Never were persons in the world quick to work 
 their own good and to fly their own hurt, as did I, after such 
 words spoken, come down here from my seat in bliss, putting 
 my trust in thy honourable speech, which does honour to 
 thee and to those that have heard it. After that she had 
 made this discourse to me, she turned her beaming eyes 
 tearfully, so that she made me more brisk of coming. And 
 I came to thee in such wise as she would ; I raised thee up 
 before the face of that beast which had taken from thee the 
 short road to the fair mount. Now then, what is it ? why, why 
 dost thou stay ? why makest for such cowardice a bed in thy 
 heart ? Why hast not daring and a free spirit, since ladies 
 three so blessed have a care of thee in the court of heaven, 
 and my speech makes promise to thee of so great good ? ' 
 
 Al mondo non fur mai persone ratte 
 
 A far lor pro, ne a fuggir lor danno, no 
 
 Com' io, dopo cotai parole fatte, 
 Venni quaggiu dal mio beato scanno, 
 
 Fidandomi del tuo parlare onesto, 
 
 Che onora te e quei che udito 1' hanno. 
 Poscia che m' ebbe ragionato questo, 
 
 Gli occhi lucenti lagrimando volse ; 
 
 Perche mi fece del venir piu presto : 
 E venni a te cosi, com' ella volse ; 
 
 Dinanzi a quella fiera ti levai, 
 
 Che del bel monte il corto andar ti tolse. 120 
 Dunque che e ? perche, perche ristai ? 
 
 Perche tanta vilta nel core allette ? 
 
 Perche ardire e franchezza non hai ? 
 Poscia che tai tre donne benedette 
 
 Curan di te nella corte del cielo, 
 
 E il mio parlar tanto ben t' impromette ?
 
 ii HELL 25 
 
 As the flowers, bent down and closed by the frost of 
 night, after that the Sun dawns upon them erect themselves 
 all open on their stalks, so became I with my flagging 
 power ; and so good a daring sped to my heart that I began, 
 as a person set free : ' O pitiful she who succoured me ! and 
 courteous thou who obeyedst in haste the words of truth 
 which she set forth to thee ! Thou hast with desire so dis- 
 posed my heart toward coming, with thy words, that I am 
 returned again to my first purpose. Now on, for one sole 
 will is in both of us ; thou leader, thou lord, and thou 
 master.' 
 
 So spake I to him, and when he had started, I entered 
 by the deep forest path. 
 
 Quali i fioretti dal notturno gelo 
 
 Chinati e chiusi, poi che il Sol gl' imbianca, 
 Si drizzan tutti aperti in loro stelo ; 
 
 Tal mi fee' io, di mia virtute stanca : 130 
 
 E tanto buono ardire al cor mi corse, 
 Ch' io cominciai come persona franca : 
 
 O pietosa colei che mi soccorse, 
 E tu cortese, che ubbidisti tosto 
 Alle vere parole che ti porse ! 
 
 Tu m' hai con desiderio il cor disposto 
 Si al venir, con le parole tue, 
 Ch' io son tomato nel prime proposto. 
 
 Or va, che un sol volere e d' ambo e due ; 
 
 Tu duca, tu signore e tu maestro : 140 
 
 Cos! gli dissi ; e poiche mosso fue, 
 
 Entrai per Io cammino alto e silvestro. 
 
 NOTE TO LINES 94 SQQ. 
 
 The symbolism of all this part is extremely involved and obscure, 
 and more especially that embodied in the three heavenly ladies, the
 
 26 HELL CANTO 
 
 'Donna gentil,' St. Lucy, and Beatrice, who interest themselves in 
 Dante's salvation. The first of these is not expressly named, but it is 
 clear that she cannot be a mere abstraction ; and as a ' Donna ' in 
 Heaven with authority to command other saints to do her bidding can 
 only be ' Our Lady,' she must be intended. This is also probable from 
 other considerations ; see Purg. Appendix A. The regular interpreta- 
 tion, from P. di Dante downwards, is that the two first denote respect- 
 ively the two main aspects which belong to each of the several modes 
 of division of grace that may be adopted. These modes of division are 
 represented in the following table : 
 
 gratum faciens j 
 
 opcrans 
 
 preveniens 
 
 S.T.ii.i 
 f Q-" 1 
 
 gratis data 
 
 cooperans 
 
 subsequens 
 
 a (i) relates to the good pleasure of God, owing to which, from pure 
 love, He justifies man ; a (2) to grace imparted to and manifested in 
 man ; b (i) and (2) good thought or good action, according as they refer 
 to the mind or the will, operans being where God moves either of these, 
 cooperans where it also moves the man ; preveniens and subseqtiens are 
 correlative, as cause and effect, though even the effects of grace 
 (healing of the soul, a right will, right action, perseverance, attain- 
 ment of glory) follow a certain order, so that the grace which is pre- 
 venient in regard to any one is subsequent in regard to its predecessor. 
 (See also note to Par. xiv. 37.) In each division it will be seen that 
 (i) regards solely the Divine source, and is thus fitly typified by the 
 Virgin, whose goodness ' liberamente al climandar precorre ' (Par. xxxiii. 
 18), while (2) involves also the free will of man. Beatrice of course is 
 I'catitudo, the ultimate end of man, Aristotle's evdaifiovia, the special 
 attribute of God (in the lode di Dio vera of line 103 we can hardly fail to 
 see an allusion to the (fiopriKos Ziraivos, onerosa laus, of Eth. x. 1178 b), 
 which is coextensive with deuipia which, again, must have been, if not 
 by Aristotle himself, certainly by his Christian followers, derived from 
 Ofbv bpav. Here then we may perhaps look for what P. di Dante, fol- 
 lowing his father, calls the ' anagogic ' or spiritual interpretation. But 
 this clearly does not exhaust the symbolism. For one thing, it gives no 
 account of the term applied to Lucia, ' nimica di ctascnn crudele? P. 
 di Dante's ' idest crudi et grossi intellectus ' will hardly do. At the 
 same time we may feel sure (in spite of Boccaccio's warning not to look 
 too minutely for allegory) that a phrase so marked as this must have a
 
 n HELL 27 
 
 meaning. Now according to Aquinas (S. T. ii. 2. QQ. 157, 159) 'cru- 
 delitas excedit modum in puniendo,' whence, by a comparison of Eth. iv. 
 II (1126 a), we find that it is equivalent to Aristotle's xa\ew6r?7s, the 
 contrary to which is Trpadrrjs, mansuetudo. Again, in commenting on 
 this passage of the Ethics, he says : ' Cum dicitur aliquis mansuetus, 
 signatur quod non sit punitivus, sed magis remittat et condonet 
 poenas.' While he makes dementia the direct opposite of crudelitas, 
 and refines between this and mansuetudo, he allows (Q. 157. 
 A. I.) that though not 'penitus idem,' yet ' concurrunt in eundem 
 effectum ' ; mansuetudo being that virtue which restrains the passion 
 resulting in the action which dementia moderates. Then from 
 Art. 4 we learn that ' mansuetudo praeparat hominem ad Dei cogni- 
 tionem, removendo impedimentum.' Now this is exactly the function 
 fulfilled here by Lucia. (Cf. also Ps. xxiv. 9 : Diriget mansuetos in 
 judicio. The whole Psalm bears on these two Cantos.) Boccaccio 
 suggests that Lucia is ' la clemenza divina ' ; but grotesquely enough 
 makes the Donna gentil denote Dante's prayer for help ! Why St. Lucy 
 should be selected to typify meekness is not quite clear ; but it may be 
 noted that in the service/or her festival not only is Ps. xliv. (Eructavit 
 cor meum) recited, as forming part of the office common to all virgin 
 saints, but (as for St. Agatha, with whom she is connected) the verse 
 ' propter veritatem, mansuetudinem, et justitiam ' is specially repeated. 
 Further, a homily of St. Gregory is read, in which occur the words 
 ' maligni autem spiritus iter nostrum quasi quiclam latrunculi obsident.' 
 -As the old commentators are fond of saying ' Alia per te vide.'
 
 CANTO III 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They enter through a door, over which are certain words inscribed, 
 and pass a crowd of the souls of such as were unworthy to enter 
 Hell. Then they come to the river Acheron, and Charon the 
 ferryman. 
 
 THROUGH ME is THE WAY INTO THE WOEFUL CITY ; THROUGH 
 ME IS THE WAY TO THE ETERNAL WOE ; THROUGH ME IS THE 
 WAY AMONG THE LOST FOLK. JUSTICE MOVED MY HIGH 
 MAKER ; MY MAKER WAS THE POWER OF GOD, THE SUPREME 
 WISDOM, AND THE PRIMAL LOVE. BEFORE ME WERE NO 
 
 ' PER me si va nella citta dolente, 
 Per me si va nell' eterno dolore, 
 Per me si va tra la perduta gente. 
 
 Giustizia mosse il mio alto fattore : 
 Fecemi la divina potestate, 
 La somma sapienza e il primo amore. 
 
 Dinanzi a me non fur cose create, 
 
 ''< (i By potestate, sapienza, amore are indicated the Persons of the 
 Trinity. See note Par. x. i. 
 
 7 - 8 Looking to Par. xxix. 22 sqq. it would appear that the cose eterne 
 are form and matter. A theory as to the means by which Hell was 
 brought into existence is suggested in xxxiv. 121 sqq.
 
 CANTO III HELL 29 
 
 THINGS CREATED SAVE THINGS ETERNAL, AND ETERNAL I 
 ABIDE ; LEAVE EVERY HOPE, O YE THAT ENTER. 
 
 These words, of a gloomy colour, did I see written above 
 a gate ; wherefore I : ' Master, their sense is hard to me.' 
 And he to me, as a person who takes heed : ' Here it behoves 
 to lay aside every suspicion ; every cowardice behoves that it 
 here be dead. We are come to the place where I have told 
 thee that thou shalt see the woeful folk, who have lost the 
 good of the understanding.' And after he had laid his hand 
 
 Se non eterne, ed io eterno duro : a 
 Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch' entrate ! ' 
 
 Queste parole di colore oscuro io 
 
 Vid' io scritte al sommo d' una porta : 
 Perch' io : Maestro, il senso lor m' e duro. 
 
 Ed egli a me, come persona accorta : 
 Qui si convien lasciare ogni sospetto ; 
 Ogni vilta convien che qui sia morta. 
 
 Noi siam venuti al loco ov' io t' ho detto, 
 Che tu vedrai le genti dolorose, 
 Ch' hanno perduto il ben dello intelletto. 
 
 E poiche la sua mano alia mia pose, 
 
 a eterna 23 IV. 
 
 8 eterno should be taken as in ' aeternumque seclebit infelix Theseus, 7 
 i.e. almost as an advb., though there is no need, even were it an adj., 
 for the fern. 
 
 18 il ben dello intelletto : explained by Conv. ii. 14 : la Verita . . . ch' e 
 ultima perfezione nostra, siccome dice il Filosofo nel sesto dell' Etica, 
 quando dice che il vero e il bene dello intelletto. Per queste, con 
 altre similitudini molte, si puo la Scienza Cielo chiamare. The passage 
 referred to is Eth. vi. 2 (1139 a) : r^s OeupTjTiKr/s Siavcta-; . . . TO e5 
 . . . raXijdes ecm. (See also S. T. ii. 2. O. 20. A. i.) Remembering 
 that Beatrice is dewpia, we may compare such passages as Par. x. 37 sqq.
 
 30 HELL CANTO 
 
 upon mine, with cheerful mien, whereof I took courage, he 
 brought me within, to the hidden things. 
 
 There sighs, lamentations, and loud wailings were re- 
 sounding through the starless air ; wherefore I at the begin- 
 ning wept for them. Divers languages, horrible speech, 
 words of woe, accents of rage, voices loud and faint, and 
 sounds of hands with them, made a tumult, which ever in 
 that air eternally tinted circles as the sand when it is blow- 
 ing up for a whirlwind. And I, who had my head girt 
 about with a shudder, said : ' Master, what is that which 
 I hear? And what folk is it that seems so overcome 
 
 Con lieto volto, ond' io mi confortai, 2 o 
 
 Mi mise dentro alle segrete cose. 
 Quivi sospiri, pianti ed alti guai 
 
 Risonavan per 1' aer senza stelle, 
 
 Perch' io al cominciar ne lagrimai. 
 Diverse lingue, orribili favelle, 
 
 Parole di dolore, accenti d' ira, 
 
 Voci alte e fioche, e suon di man con elle, 
 Facevano un tumulto, il qual s' aggira 
 
 Sempre in quell' aria senza tempo tinta, 
 
 Come la rena quando a turbo spira. b 30 
 
 Ed io, ch' avea d' error la testa cinta, c 
 
 Dissi : Maestro, che e quel ch' i' odo ? 
 
 E che gent' e, che par nel duol si vinta ? 
 
 b il turbo Gg. Cass. ; quando t. 3. 
 c la t. dorror Gg. ; error al. dorror Cass.; error 14 Aid. 
 
 -"' Diverse : perhaps better 'uncouth,' as in vi. 13, xxii. io. 
 
 30 spira. If, with some, we take arena as the subject, it would 
 seem as if Dante connected spirare with spira, ' a coil,' ' eddy.' 
 
 31 There is little doubt but that error is the correct reading here ; 
 error having been introduced by some early scribe who did not recognise 
 the use of error in its original Latin sense of 'shuddering.' Scart. 
 points out that there is obviously a reminiscence of Aen. ii. 559.
 
 in HELL 31 
 
 in its woe ? ' And he to me : ' This wretched fashion 
 keep the sorry souls of those who lived without infamy 
 and without praise. They are mingled with that caitiff 
 band of the angels who were not rebel, nor were faithful 
 to God, but were for themselves. Heaven chased them, 
 that it should not be less fair, nor does the deep hell 
 receive them, since the damned would have some boasting 
 
 Ed egli a me : Questo misero modo 
 Tengon 1' anime triste di coloro, 
 Che visser senza infamia e senza lodo. d 
 
 Mischiate sono a quel cattivo coro 
 Degli angeli, che non furon ribelli, 
 Ne fur fedeli a Dio, ma per se foro. 
 
 Caccianli i Ciel per non esser men belli : 40 
 
 Ne lo profondo inferno gli riceve, 
 Che alcuna gloria i rei avrebber d' elli. 
 
 d senza fama Gg. Cass. 12345 Aid. 
 
 36 Here again is a famous v. 1. arising from the mistaken criticism of 
 early editors, who could not see why people who had lived senza 
 infamia should be damned. Even Benvenuto here and in 1. 31 adopts 
 the less probable reading. 
 
 38 angeli. This notion of a class of neutral angels seems to be 
 Dante's own. It may have been suggested by a phrase in De Civ. Dei 
 xi. II, where St. Augustine is discussing whether the angels who fell 
 ever had perfect beatitude. They must, he argues, have either foreseen 
 or not foreseen what was going to befall them. ' Si autem,' he con- 
 tinues, ' utrum sempiternum, an quandoque finem habiturum esset 
 bonum suum, in neutrain parteni firma assensione ferrentur,' this in 
 itself was inconsistent with perfection. Is it possible that Dante mis- 
 understood the words in italics ? 
 
 42 Bianchi understands this as referring to the angels only : ' those 
 who had fought would have occasion to boast when they saw that those 
 who were neutral had no better fate than themselves.' But this is 
 hardly consistent with the scorn which is expressed all through this 
 passage for the character which avoids sin only through pusillanimity. 
 It clearly means that their presence in the lower Hell would provide
 
 32 HELL CANTO 
 
 of them.' And I : ' Master, what grief have they so great 
 as to make them so mightily lament ? ' He answered, ' I 
 will tell it thee very briefly. These have no hope of death, 
 and their blind life is so base that they are envious of every 
 other lot. Fame of them the world suffers not to exist ; 
 mercy and justice disdain them : let us not talk of them, but 
 look thou and pass on.' 
 
 And I, who looked, beheld an ensign which was running 
 in circles so quickly that it seemed to me indignant of any 
 halt ; and behind it came so long a trail of folk that I had 
 never deemed that death had undone so many. After that I 
 
 Ed io : Maestro, che e tanto greve 
 A lor, che lamentar gli fa si forte ? 
 Rispose : Dicerolti molto breve. 
 
 Questi non hanno speranza di morte, 
 E la lor cieca vita e tanto bassa, 
 Che invidiosi son d' ogni altra sorte. 
 
 Fama di loro il mondo esser non lassa, 
 
 Misericordia e giustizia gli sdegna : 50 
 
 Non ragioniam di lor, ma guarda e passa. 
 
 Ed io, che riguardai, vidi una insegna, 
 Che girando correva tanto ratta, 
 Che d' ogni posa mi pareva indegna : 
 
 E dietro le venia si lunga tratta 
 
 Di gente, ch' i' non avrei mai creduto, 
 Che morte tanta n' avesse disfatta. 
 
 the greater sinners with a kind of foil. It may be as well to point out 
 here that neither in Hell nor in Purgatory are the sufferings arranged in 
 any gradation of severity. See Purg. xix. 117. 
 
 r>1 indegna: so 'disdained' is used actively, i Hen. IV. A. i. Sc. 3, 
 1. 183.
 
 in HELL 33 
 
 had recognised some there, I beheld and knew the shade of 
 him who through cowardice made the great renunciation. 
 Forthwith I understood and was aware that this was the sect 
 of the caitiffs displeasing to God and to His enemies. 
 These wretches, who never were alive, were naked, and sore 
 stung of gadflies and of wasps that were there. These were 
 
 Poscia ch' io v' ebbi alcun riconosciuto, 
 Vidi e conobbi 1' ombra di colui e 
 Che fece per viltate il gran rifiuto. 60 
 
 Incontanente intesi, e certo fui, 
 Che quest' era la setta dei cattivi, 
 A Dio spiacenti ed ai nemici sui. 
 
 Questi sciaurati, che mai non fur vivi, 
 Erano ignudi e stimolati molto 
 Da mosconi e da vespe ch' erano ivi. 
 
 e Guarded e vidi Aid. (and all subsequent edd. of sixteenth century 
 except Vettutello 1544). 
 
 59, o jr rom very early times the most common opinion has been 
 that the allusion here is to Pietro Morrone, who was taken from 
 his hermitage at the age of 80 and elected Pope 1294. He took 
 the name of Celestine V., reigned for five months only, and abdicated. 
 Boniface VIII., to whom Dante ascribes much of the evil of his time, 
 succeeded, which may account for the severe judgement passed here upon 
 the poor old hermit. The incident produced a good deal of astonish- 
 ment at the time. Villani tells the story at length (viii. 5), and it is 
 mentioned even in the almost contemporary Icelandic saga of Bishop 
 Laurence. It should be said that Benv. rejects this interpretation, 
 though admitting it was common in his time, and prefers to see an 
 allusion to Esau. P. di Dante, however, seems to have little doubt, 
 and Boccaccio in his commentary on Canto ix. mentions that in his 
 time 600 persons had been burnt as heretics for holding that since 
 Celestine there had never been a legal pope. Fazio degli Ubcrti, 
 writing before 1360, alluding to the passage, names Celestine (Ditt. 
 iv. 21). 
 
 D
 
 34 HELL CANTO 
 
 bathing their visages with blood, which mingled with tears 
 at their feet was gathered by loathsome worms. 
 
 And when I had set myself to look beyond, I saw folk 
 on the bank of a great river ; wherefore I said : ' Master, 
 now grant me to know who they are, and what fashion 
 makes them seem so fain of crossing, as I perceive through 
 the dim light.' And he to me : ' Things will be clear to 
 thee when we stay our steps on the sad shore of Acheron.' 
 Then with eyes shamefast and cast down, fearing lest my 
 speech had been irksome to him, as far as the river I with- 
 drew myself from talking. 
 
 And behold came towards us in a boat an old man 
 
 Elle rigavan lor di sangue il volto, 
 
 Che, mischiato di lagrime, ai lor piedi 
 Da fastidiosi vermi era ricolto. 
 
 E poi che a riguardare oltre mi diedi, 70 
 
 Vidi gente alia riva d' un gran flume : 
 Perch' io dissi : Maestro, or mi concedi 
 
 Ch' io sappia quali sono, e qual costume 
 Le fa di trapassar parer si pronte, 
 Com' io discerno per Io fioco lume. 
 
 Ed egli a me : Le cose ti fien conte, 
 Quando noi fermerem li nostri passi 
 Sulla trista riviera d' Acheronte. 
 
 Allor con gli occhi vergognosi e bassi, 
 
 Temendo no '1 mio dir gli fusse grave, So 
 
 Infino al flume di parlar mi trassi. 
 
 Ed ecco verso noi venir per nave 
 
 '- One of the few instances in which the sentence continues without 
 any stop whatever from one tercet to the next. 
 
 82 The introduction of Charon is of course suggested directly by 
 Aen. vi. 298 sqq. But it will be found throughout that Dante makes
 
 in HELL 35 
 
 white by reason of ancient hair, crying, ' Woe to you, per- 
 verse souls ! Hope not again to see the sky ; I come to 
 bring you to the other bank, among the eternal gloom, to 
 heat and to cold. And thou who art there, a living soul, 
 depart thee from these who are dead.' But when he saw- 
 that I did not depart, he said : ' By other ways, by other 
 ferries shalt thou come to the shore, not here : in order to 
 pass, it behoves that a bark more buoyant carry thee.' And 
 the Leader to him: 'Charon, vex not thyself; thus is it 
 willed in that place where what is willed can be ; and ask no 
 more.' Then were at rest the shaggy jaws of the pilot 
 
 Un vecchio bianco per antico pelo, 
 Gridando : Guai a voi anime prave : 
 
 Non isperate mai veder lo cielo ! 
 I' vegno per menarvi all' altra riva, 
 Nelle tenebre eterne, in caldo e in gelo. 
 
 E tu che sei costi, anima viva, 
 Partiti da cotesti che son morti. 
 Ma poi ch' ei vide, ch' io non mi partiva, 90 
 
 Disse : Per altra via, per altri porti 
 
 Verrai a piaggia, non qui ; per passare 
 Piu lieve legno convien che ti porti. 
 
 E il duca a lui : Caron non ti crucciare ; 
 Vuolsi cosi cola, dove si puote 
 Cio che si vuole, e piu non dimandare. 
 
 Quinci fur quete le lanose gote 
 Al nocchier della livida palude, 
 
 use of many personages of classical mythology to serve as officials of the 
 Christian plan of punishment ; some of them being, so far as appears, 
 entirely of his own selection. 
 
 B7-99 i anose gote ocelli di fiamme : the canities inculta and stant 
 lutnina Jlamma of Aen. vi. 300. livida palude: the vada livida of 
 1. 320.
 
 36 HELL CANTO 
 
 of the livid swamp, who had wheels of flame around 
 his eyes. But those souls, who were weary and naked, 
 changed colour and gnashed their teeth, so soon as they 
 heard the cruel words. They fell to blaspheming God and 
 their parents, the human kind, the place, the time, and the 
 seed of their begetting and of their birth. Then they dragged 
 them all together, wailing loud, to the baleful bank, which 
 awaits every man that fears not God. Fiend Charon, with 
 eyes red-hot, beckoning to them assembles them all ; he beats 
 with his oar whoso delays. As in autumn the leaves come 
 off one after the other until the branch sees on the earth 
 
 Che intorno agli occhi avea di fiamme rote. 
 Ma quell' anime ch' eran lasse e nude, 100 
 
 Cangiar colore e dibattero i denti, 
 
 Ratto che inteser le parole crude. 
 Bestemmiavano Iddio e lor parenti, 
 
 L' umana specie, il luogo, il tempo e il seme 
 
 Di lor semenza e di lor nascimenti. 
 Poi si ritrasser tutte quante insieme, 
 
 Forte piangendo, alia riva malvagia 
 
 Che attende ciascun uom che Dio non teme. 
 Caron dimonio con occhi di bragia 
 
 Loro accennando tutte le raccoglie ; no 
 
 Batte col remo qualunque s' adagia. 
 Come d' autunno si levan le foglie 
 
 L' una appresso dell' altra, infin che il ramo 
 
 Vede alia terra tutte le sue spoglie, f 
 
 f Kcndc 145. 
 
 1113 Contrast this with the blessed praying for their parents in 1'ar. 
 xiv. 64. 
 
 112 S qq. Acn. vi. 309 : 
 
 Quam multa in silvis auctumni frigore primo 
 Lapsa caclunt folia.
 
 in HELL 37 
 
 all its spoils, in like manner the evil seed of Adam throw 
 themselves from that shore one by one by reason of his 
 signs, as does a bird for its recall. Thus they go their way 
 over the brown wave, and before they are disembarked on 
 that side, yet a new troop is assembled on this. 
 
 'My son,' said the courteous Master, 'those who die in 
 the wrath of God all come together here from every land ; 
 and they are fain to pass the stream, for the justice of God 
 so spurs them that their fears turn to desire. Here never 
 passes a good soul ; and therefore if Charon frets him 
 because of thee, well mayest thou now know what his tale 
 means.' 
 
 This ended, the gloomy champaign trembled so mightily 
 
 Similemente il mal seme d' Adamo 
 Gittansi di quel lito ad una ad una, 
 Per cenni, come augel per suo richiamo. 
 
 Cos! sen vanno su per 1'onda bruna, 
 Ed avanti che sian di la discese, 
 Anche di qua nuova schiera s' aduna. 120 
 
 Figliuol mio, disse il Maestro cortese, 
 Quelli che muoion nelP ira di Dio 
 Tutti convegnon qui d' ogni paese : 
 1 E pronti sono a trapassar lo rio, 
 Che la divina giustizia gli sprona 
 Si che la tema si volge in disio. 
 
 Quinci non passa mai anima buona ; 
 E pero se Caron di te si lagna, 
 Ben puoi saper omai che il suo dir suona. 
 
 Finite questo, la buia campagna 130 
 
 117 The first of the many similes from falconry which will be found 
 in the D. C. 
 
 125 Cf. Purg. xxi. 64. 
 
 130 sqq. Compare with this the manner in which, at the end of Plato's
 
 38 HELL CANTO in 
 
 that the remembrance of the terror yet bathes me with 
 sweat. The tear -soaked earth gave forth a wind which 
 flashed a ruddy lightning, the which overcame in me every 
 feeling ; and I fell, as the man whom slumber seizes. 
 
 Tremb si forte, che dello spavento 
 La mente di sudore ancor mi bagna. 
 
 La terra lagrimosa diede vento, 
 Che balenb una luce vermiglia, 
 La qual mi vinse ciascun sentimento : 
 
 E caddi, come 1' uom cui sonno piglia. 
 
 Republic, the souls waiting to be reborn are brought to the upper 
 world with thunder and earthquake. Why Dante should employ a 
 similar artifice here is not apparent ; but it will be observed that his 
 actual entry into each of the divisions of the future world is made un- 
 consciously. Cf. Purg. ix. 49-60 ; Par. i. 7'75-
 
 CANTO IV 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They reach the Limbo or border of Hell, where they find the spirits of 
 those who have died unbaptized not having committed grievous 
 sin. Among them are Homer and other poets, who receive 
 the author into their number. He sees Aristotle and other great 
 scholars of old time. 
 
 THE deep sleep within my head a heavy thunder broke, so 
 that I roused myself like a person who is waked perforce, and 
 moved my rested eye around, having risen upright, and 
 gazed fixedly to have knowledge of the place where I was. 
 True it is that I found myself on the brink of the woeful 
 valley of the pit, which collects a thunder of endless wails. 
 Gloomy, deep it was, and so murky that for all fastening 
 
 RUPPEMI 1' alto sonno nella testa 
 
 Un greve tuono, si ch' io mi riscossi, 
 Come persona che per forza e desta : 
 
 E 1' occhio riposato intorno mossi, 
 Dritto levato, e fiso riguardai 
 Per conoscer lo loco dov' io fossi. 
 
 Vero e che in su la proda mi trovai 
 Delia valle d' abisso dolorosa, 
 Che tuono accoglie d' infiniti guai. 
 
 Oscura, profond' era e nebulosa, io
 
 4O HELL CANTO 
 
 my gaze on the depth, I there discerned no thing 
 soever. 
 
 ' Now descend we down into the sightless world,' began 
 the Poet, all amort; 'I will be first, and thou shalt be second.' 
 And I, who took note of his hue, said : ' How shall I come 
 if thou art afraid, who art wont to be a support to my 
 doubting?' And he to me: 'The anguish of those folk 
 who are below there paints on my face that pity which thou 
 dost hold for fear. Let us go, for the long road urges us 
 on.' Thus he set himself and thus he caused me to enter 
 upon the first circle that rings the pit. Here, so far as 
 
 Tanto che, per ficcar lo viso al fondo, 
 lo non vi discerneva alcuna cosa. 
 
 Or discendiam quaggiu nel cieco mondo, 
 Comincio il poeta tutto smorto : 
 lo sarb primo, e tu sarai secondo. 
 
 Ed io, che del color mi fui accorto, 
 Dissi : Come verrb, se tu paventi, 
 Che suoli al mio dubbiare esser conforto ? 
 
 Ed egli a me : L' angoscia delle genti 
 
 Che son quaggiu, nel viso mi dipigne 20 
 
 Quella pieta che tu per tema senti. 
 
 Andiam, che la via lunga ne sospigne : 
 Cosi si mise, e cosi me fe entrare 
 Nel primo cerchio che 1' abisso cigne. 
 
 Quivi, secondo che per ascoltare, 
 
 11 per ficcar : so per parlar xvi. 93, per narrar xxviii. 3. This 
 use of per explains the 'concessive' use of perchc, as in Furg. v. 58, 
 where see note. It is of course per ' pro,' not/t'r ' per.' 
 
 16 color : cf. ix. i. 
 
 - 5 secondo che without a finite verb is an unusual construction, and 
 two or three variants exist ; probably invented in order to avoid it. 
 There may be a confusion between ' secondo 1' ascoltare ' and ' secondo 
 che era per asc. ' ; but the construction is not without analogies.
 
 iv HELL 41 
 
 listening went, lamentation was not, save of sighs which 
 made the everlasting mist tremble. And this befel of woe 
 without torments which the crowds had, that were many and 
 great, both of infants and of women and of men. The good 
 Master to me : ' Thou demandest not what spirits these are 
 whom thou seest ? Now will I that thou know ere thou go 
 further, that they did not sin ; and if they have deserts, it 
 suffices not ; because they had not baptism, which is a 
 part of the faith which thou believest. And if they were 
 
 Non avea pianto, ma che di sospiri, 
 Che 1' aura eterna facevan tremare : 
 
 Cib avvenia di duol senza martiri, 
 
 Ch' avean le turbe, ch' eran molte e grandi, 
 D' infanti e di femmine e di viri. 30 
 
 Lo buon Maestro a me : Tu non dimandi 
 Che spiriti son questi che tu vedi ? 
 Or vo' che sappi, innanzi che piu andi, 
 
 Ch' ei non peccaro : e s' elli hanno mercedi 
 Non basta, perche non ebber battesmo, 
 Ch' e parte della fede che tu credi : 
 
 E se furon dinanzi al Cristianesmo, 
 
 26 ma has here, as elsewhere, in the combination ma che, its original 
 meaning of magis. 
 
 27 aura. See note Purg. i. 15. 
 
 32 The doctrine of a region on the confines of Hell, set apart for the 
 souls of those who, from whatever cause, have died without baptism 
 seems to have been first formulated by the Schoolmen, by inference 
 from such passages as Job xvii. 16, the parable of Dives and Lazarus, 
 etc. It was divided into limbus patruni ('supremus et minus tenebrosus 
 locus,' S. T. Suppl. Q. 69. A. 5), where the souls of the patriarchs 
 awaited Christ's coming, which, of course, ceased to exist after their 
 liberation ; and limbus puerorum, occupied primarily by unbaptized 
 children, but assigned in Dante's scheme (though not apparently in 
 that of strict theology) to the virtuous heathen also.
 
 42 HELL CANTO 
 
 before Christianity, they adored not God duly ; and of this 
 sort am I myself. For such defects, not for other crime, we 
 are lost ; and we are harmed only in so far as we live with- 
 out hope in longing.' 
 
 Great woe seized me in my heart when I heard it, 
 because I was aware that folk of much worth were in sus- 
 pense within that border. ' Tell me, my Master, tell me, 
 Sir,' I began, through a will to be assured with that faith 
 which overcomes every error, ' has any ever issued thence, 
 either through his own merit, or through that of another, so 
 that thereafter he was in bliss?' And he, who understood 
 my shrouded speech, answered : ' I was new in this state 
 when I saw come here a Mighty one, crowned with a sign 
 
 Non adorar debitamente Dio : 
 E di questi cotai son io medesmo. 
 
 Per tai difetti, non per altro rio, 40 
 
 Semo perduti, e sol di tanto offesi, 
 Che senza speme vivemo in disio. 
 
 Gran duol mi prese al cor quando lo intesi, 
 Perocche gente di molto valore 
 Conobbi che in quel limbo eran sospesi. 
 
 Dimmi, Maestro mio, dimmi, Signore, 
 Comincia' io, per voler esser certo 
 Di quella fede che vince ogni errore : 
 
 Uscicci mai alcuno, o per suo merto, 
 
 O per altrui, che poi fosse beato ? 50 
 
 E quei, che intese il mio parlar coperto, 
 
 Rispose : Io era nuovo in questo stato, 
 Quando ci vidi venire un possente 
 Con segno di vittoria coronato. 
 
 4 - 12 Cf. ix. 1 8, Purg. iii. 41.
 
 iv HELL 43 
 
 of victory. He drew from us the shade of the first parent, 
 of Abel his son, that of Noah, of Moses the lawgiver, the 
 obedient ; patriarch Abraham and King David ; Israel with 
 his father and with his sons, and with Rachel for whom he 
 wrought so much, and many others, and made them blessed; 
 and I would have thee to know that before these no human 
 spirits were saved.' 
 
 We left not our going, for that he talked, but were pass- 
 ing the forest all the time, the forest I mean of crowded 
 spirits. Not far was yet our way on the hither side of my 
 
 Trasseci 1' ombra del primo parente, 
 
 D' Abel suo figlio, e quella di Noe, 
 
 Di Moise legista e ubbidiente ; 
 Abraam patriarca, e David re, 
 
 Israel con lo padre, e coi suoi nati, 
 
 E con Rachele, per cui tanto fe, 60 
 
 Ed altri molti ; e fecegli beati : 
 
 E vo' che sappi che, dinanzi ad essi, 
 
 Spiriti umani non eran salvati. 
 Non lasciavam 1' andar, perch' ei dicessi, 
 
 Ma passavam la selva tuttavia, 
 
 La selva dico di spiriti spessi. 
 Non era lunga ancor la nostra via 
 
 Di qua dal sonno ; quando vidi un foco, a 
 
 a sonuno 134. 
 
 68 di qua dal sonno. This seems to be undoubtedly the right read- 
 ing, though Benv. prefers sono ; with reference to the ' thundering ' of 
 1. 2. Sonimo, which Bianchi and some other modern edd. adopt, on 
 the authority of a few MSS., is clearly wrong. Dante is very careful to 
 use di qua and di la with reference to the place or time in which he is 
 speaking. Here he is addressing the reader, and consequently is speak- 
 ing in this world, and after his return. He is therefore on the ' opposite 
 side of the summit,' i.e. the mouth of Hell ; though in regard to his
 
 44 HELL CANTO 
 
 slumber when I saw a fire which overcame a hemisphere of 
 darkness. We were still distant from it a little, but not so 
 that I failed to discern in part how honourable a folk pos- 
 sessed that place. ' O thou, who dost honour to know- 
 ledge and art, who are these that have so great honouring 
 that it divides them from the fashion of the others ? ' And 
 
 Ch' emisperio di tenebre vincia. 
 
 Di lungi v' eravamo ancora un poco, 70 
 
 Ma non si ch' io non discernessi in parte 
 Che orrevol gente possedea quel loco. 
 
 O tu, che onori scienzia ed arte, b 
 
 Questi chi son, ch' hanno cotanta onranza, 
 Che dal modo degli altri li diparte ? 
 
 b Onde io con ogni scientia Gg. ; on. ogni sc. eel. 1484; Aid. etc. 
 
 slumber, he is of course on the same side of it as when the events 
 described were happening. 
 
 69 This is taken to refer merely to the fact that a fire burning on the 
 ground can naturally send its light through a hemisphere only. It is 
 seldom, however, that Dante introduces an image of this kind without 
 intending his readers to look further ; and there is evidently a symbolism 
 here. The people whom he is approaching are the wise and good 
 of pre-Christian times, who, as Virgil elsewhere says (Purg. vii. 35), fol- 
 lowed blamelessly the moral virtues which they knew. In Conv. iii. 15 
 moral goodness is the outward manifestation of the beauty of ' philo- 
 sophy,' and the righteous will, which is the offspring of a delight in the 
 teachings of morality, is compared to ' flames of fire ' which proceed 
 therefrom. But as the moral virtues only compose one-half of man's 
 duty, so their light illuminates a hemisphere only. 
 
 72 sqq. Notice the constant repetition, in one form or another, of 
 onore. 
 
 73 The ordinary reading ogni scicnza has little or no support from 
 MSS. or edd. before 1480. On the other hand, Witte's onori e scienza 
 will not scan. There is plenty of analogy for treating scieiizia as four 
 syllables. 
 
 74 - 75 I.e. who are allowed to be in the light while the rest are in 
 darkness.
 
 iv HELL 45 
 
 he to me : ' The honoured reputation which of them is heard 
 above in thy life gains grace in Heaven which thus promotes 
 them.' Therewithal a voice was heard by me : ' Honour the 
 most high poet ; his shade returns which had departed.' 
 After that the voice was at rest and was quiet, I saw four 
 mighty shades come to us : a mien they had neither sad nor 
 joyous. The good Master began to say to me : ' Look at 
 him with that sword in hand, who comes in front of the 
 three in manner as a lord. He is Homer, poet supreme, 
 
 E quegli a me : L' onrata nominanza, 
 Che di lor suona su nella tua vita, 
 Grazia acquista nel ciel che si gli avanza. 
 
 Intanto voce fu per me udita : 
 
 Onorate 1' altissimo poeta ; 80 
 
 L' ombra sua torna, ch' era dipartita. 
 
 Poiche la voce fu restata e queta, 
 
 Vidi quattro grand' ombre a noi venire ; 
 Sembianza avevan ne trista ne lieta. 
 
 Lo buon Maestro comincio a dire : 
 Mira colui con quella spada in mano, 
 Che vien dinanzi ai tre si come sire. 
 
 Quegli e Omero poeta sovrano, 
 
 77 nella tua vita : i.e. in the world where you live. For vita cf. 
 Purg. xxiii. 118. 
 
 79 There is nothing here, as in the somewhat similar passages, Purg. 
 xxx. 10, Par. xxiii. 103, to indicate who the speaker is. The commen- 
 tators do not speculate ; only Benv. surmises that it was either Ovid or 
 Horace. Bianchi can hardly be right in supposing that all four spoke ; 
 taking sola in 1. 92 as equivalent to 'unita.' 
 
 ss-90 Benvenuto has one of his dry sarcasms on other expounders 
 here. ' Some,' he says, 'go about to explain this too subtly, saying 
 that by the four poets are denoted the four cardinal virtues,' and so 
 forth ; ' verumtamen, licet ista expositio videatur pulcra, tamen judicio 
 meo nihil facit ad propositum.' It is pleasant to meet with so much 
 common sense.
 
 46 HELL CANTO 
 
 the next is Horace the satirist who comes, Ovid is the third, 
 and the last is Lucan. Because that each shares with me 
 in the name which the solitary voice sounded, they do me 
 honour, and therein they do well.' 
 
 Thus saw I unite the fair school of those lords of the 
 most lofty strain which soars like an eagle above the others. 
 
 After they had conversed together awhile they turned 
 toward me with a sign of salutation ; and my Master smiled 
 thereat. And yet far more of honour did they do me, for 
 
 L' altro e Orazio satiro, che viene, 
 
 Ovidio fe il terzo, e 1' ultimo Lucano. 90 
 
 Perocche ciascun meco si conviene 
 Nel nome, che sonb la voce sola, 
 Fannomi onore, e di cio fanno bene. 
 
 Cosi vidi adunar la bella scuola 
 
 Di quei signer dell' altissimo canto, 
 Che sopra gli altri com' aquila vola. 
 
 Da ch' ebber ragionato insieme alquanto, 
 Volsersi a me con salutevol cenno : 
 Perche il Maestro sorrise di tanto : 
 
 E piu d' onore ancora assai mi fenno, 100 
 
 c di quei signer 124 Aid. ; sigtiori Gg. 3. 
 
 ''"' quei with either signer or signori is the reading of more than 
 three-fourths of the MSS. If so, we must (as the forms ,//<r;'//, altri, 
 etc., do not appear to be used in the singular except when they stand 
 alone) understand the words as referring to the whole five, not as often 
 taken, e.g. by Philalethes and Bianchi, to Homer alone. In that case 
 che in 1. 96 will refer to canto. Thus Boccaccio : Come 1' aquila vola 
 sopra ogni altro uccello, cosl il canto poetico, e massimamente quello di 
 quest! poeti, vola sopra ogni altro canto. The same view is adopted by 
 Witte and Scartaz/.ini.
 
 iv HELL 47 
 
 they made me of their band, so that I was the sixth among 
 so great wisdom. 
 
 Thus we went even to the light, talking of things whereof 
 it is seemly to say nought, as it was to talk of them in that 
 place where I was. 
 
 We came to the foot of a noble castle, seven times 
 circled with lofty walls, fenced round with a fair moat. 
 
 Ch' esser mi fecer della loro schiera, 
 Si ch' io fui sesto tra cotanto senno. 
 
 Cos! n' andammo infino alia lumiera, 
 Parlando cose, che il tacere e bello, 
 Si com' era il parlar cola dov' era. 
 
 Venimmo al pie d' un nobile castello, 
 Sette volte cerchiato d' alte mura, 
 Difeso intorno d' un bel fiumicello. 
 
 104, 105 The commentators have troubled themselves over these lines 
 less than might have been expected. Bocc. indeed says that there were 
 some who laboured to divine the subjects of this conversation ; adding 
 judiciously ' il che mi par fatica superflua. ' In this opinion most seem 
 to have acquiesced. Benv. thinks that there might be many subjects 
 which could properly be discussed with pagan philosophers and poets, 
 but were not for a Christian public ; even as a doctor of divinity may 
 discuss with philosophers and masters of arts metaphysical questions of 
 which he would keep clear in the pulpit. 
 
 106 sqq. The ( noble castle ' is generally understood as symbolising 
 philosophy. About its sevenfold walls there is more diversity of 
 opinion. Benv. and Comm. Cass. take these to denote the seven 
 'Liberal Arts,' Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Music, Arithmetic, Geo- 
 metry, Astronomy. Landino prefers to see in them the 'virtu liberali,' 
 i.e. apparently the four cardinal virtues, with the addition of wisdom, 
 knowledge, and understanding. These do not, however, seem to have 
 much significance here. On the other hand, he seems to be undoubtedly 
 right in interpreting the stream as eloquence, which is a defence and aid 
 to learning, but in which the wise man does not allow himself to be 
 submerged.
 
 48 HELL CANTO 
 
 This we passed as it had been hard land ; through seven 
 gates I entered with these sages ; we came into a meadow 
 of fresh greenery. Folk were there with slow and serious 
 eyes, of great authority in their visages ; they talked seldom, 
 with gentle voices. With that we drew ourselves from one 
 of the corners into an open place, well-lit and lofty, so that 
 they could be seen every one. Right there, upon the green 
 enamel, were shown to me the mighty spirits, whom for 
 having seen I inwardly magnify myself. I saw Electra 
 
 Questo passammo, come terra dura ; 
 
 Per sette porte intrai con questi savi ; no 
 
 Giugnemmo in prato di fresca verdura. 
 Genti v' eran con occhi tardi e gravi, 
 
 Di grande autorita nei lor sembianti ; 
 
 Parlavan rado, con voci soavi. 
 Traemmoci cosi dall' un dei canti 
 
 In loco aperto luminoso ed alto, 
 
 Si che veder poteansi tutti e quanti. 
 Cola diritto, sopra il verde smalto, 
 
 Mi fur mostrati gli spiriti magni, 
 
 Che del vederli in me stesso n' esalto. 120 
 
 lo vidi Elettra con molti compagni, 
 
 111 Cf. Acn. vi. 638 : Devenere locos laetos et amoena vireta ; which 
 again is perhaps suggested by the ' asphodel meadow ' of Odyssey xi. 
 Dante, with whom all is symbolical, no doubt intends us to see in the 
 green the emblem of ever- flourishing fame ; cf. 1'urg. xi. 92. 
 
 118 smalto. Mr. Ruskin in a well-known passage (M. P. Part iv. 
 ch. 14) enlarges upon Dante's use of this word to characterise the grass 
 of Hell : 'that it is not any more fresh or living grass, but a smooth 
 silent lifeless bed of eternal green.' He has apparently overlooked the 
 fresca verdura of 1. in, and also the fact that in Purg. viii. 114 the 
 same word is used of the Earthly Paradise. 
 
 1J1 Looking to the fact that she is accompanied by heroes and 
 heroines of Troy and Rome, and to the mention of her in De Mon. ii. 3,
 
 iv HELL 49 
 
 with many companions, among whom I was aware of Hector 
 and Aeneas ; Caesar in arms with eyes as of a hawk. I saw 
 Camilla and Penthesilea on the other side ; and I saw the 
 king Latinus, who was sitting with Lavinia his daughter. I 
 saw that Brutus who chased Tarquin ; Lucretia, Julia, 
 Marcia and Cornelia ; and alone, aside, I saw Saladin. 
 After I had raised my eyes a little more, I saw the Master of 
 them that know sitting among a philosophic household. All 
 
 Tra' quai conobbi Ettore ed Enea, 
 
 Cesare armato con gli occhi grifagni. 
 Vidi Cammilla e la Pentesilea 
 
 Ball' altra parte, e vidi il re Latino, 
 
 Che con Lavinia sua figlia sedea. 
 Vidi quel Bruto che caccio Tarquino, 
 
 Lucrezia, Julia, Marzia e Corniglia, 
 
 E solo in parte vidi il Saladino. 
 Poi che innalzai un poco piu le ciglia, 130 
 
 Vidi il Maestro di color che sanno, 
 
 Seder tra filosofica famiglia. 
 
 the commentators are probably right in taking this Electra to be the 
 daughter of Atlas and mother of Dardanus (Aen. viii. 134 sqq.) Villani 
 (i. 7) makes her to be the wife of Atlas, who was himself the founder of 
 Fiesole. It is curious that while Dante gives a place among the great 
 ones of old time to Camilla, the opponent of Aeneas in Italy, he allows 
 none of the Greek heroes who fought before Troy to appear here. It 
 will of course be remembered that he regards Aeneas as the virtual 
 founder of the Empire. See De Mon. loc, cit. 
 
 124 The introduction of Penthesilea is probably due to the mention of 
 her in connexion with Camilla, Aen. xi. 662. 
 
 - 1 - 8 Marzia; the wife of Cato. See Purg. i. 79. 
 
 li9 Saladin, like Henry III. in Purg. vii. 131, is apart from the rest 
 of this group, as being unconnected with the Empire. 
 
 131 Aristotle ; called in Conv. iv. 6, ' dignissimo di fede e d' obbe- 
 dienza,' 'II maestro e duca della umana ragione.' Of him and the 
 others named an account will be found in any history of Greek philo- 
 sophy. 
 
 E
 
 50 HELL CANTO 
 
 gaze on him, all do him honour ; there saw I both Socrates 
 and Plato, who in front of the others stand nearer him. 
 Democritus, who reposed the world on chance, Diogenes, 
 Anaxagoras, and Thales, Empedocles, Heraclitus and Zeno ; 
 and the good assembler of qualities I saw, I mean Diosco- 
 rides ; and I saw Orpheus, Tully, and Linus, and Seneca 
 the moralist ; Euclid the geometer and Ptolemy, Hippo- 
 
 Tutti lo miran, tutti onor gli fanno. 
 
 Quivi vid' io Socrate e Platone, 
 
 Che innanzi agli altri piu presso gli stanno. 
 Democrito, che il mondo a caso pone, 
 
 Diogenes, Anassagora e Tale, 
 
 Empedocles, Eraclito e Zenone : 
 E vidi il buono accoglitor del quale, 
 
 Dioscoride dico : e vidi Orfeo, 140 
 
 Tullio e Lino e Seneca morale : 
 Euclide geometra e Tolommeo, 
 
 139, HO Dioscorides. There were several more or less eminent 
 physicians of this name towards the end of the first century. The one 
 referred to here was of Anazarba in Cilicia, and wrote a great treatise, 
 irepi C\T;S laTpiKfjs (de materia medica), treating of plants and their 
 medicinal qualities. This enjoyed a great reputation, and was translated 
 into Arabic. 
 
 141 Lino. The great majority of the MSS. read A lino ; but there 
 can be little doubt that Linus is meant. He is frequently coupled with 
 Orpheus, e.g. Eel. iv. 55'57- 
 
 J4 - Tolommeo : Claudius Ptolemy, astronomer, geographer, and 
 mathematician of Alexandria, lived in the second century of our era. I lis 
 great work on Astronomy, known from the Arabic corruption of its 
 Greek name as 'Almagest,' was the established authority on the science 
 for nearly 1500 years. In Geography he was the first to indicate with 
 any approach to accuracy the conformation of the earth's surface as 
 known to the ancients, and to fix the latitudes and longitudes. The 
 47th proposition of the first book of Euclid is also due to him. Ben- 
 venuto gives a minute description of his personal appearance and habits, 
 the authority for which does not appear.
 
 iv HELL 51 
 
 crates, Avicenna, and Galen ; Averroes, who made the 
 great comment. I cannot make record of all in full, seeing 
 that my long theme drives me on, so that oftentimes speech 
 comes short of the fact. The sixfold company dwindles to 
 two : through another way my wise Guide leads me, forth 
 from the quiet into the mist which trembles ; and I come 
 into a region where there is nought to give light. 
 
 Ippocrate, Avicenna e Galieno, 
 Averrois, che il gran comento feo. 
 
 lo non posso ritrar di tutti appieno ; 
 Perocche si mi caccia il lungo tema, 
 Che molte volte al fatto il dir vien meno. 
 
 La sesta compagnia in due si scema : 
 Per altra via mi mena il savio duca, 
 Fuor della queta, nell' aura che trema ; 150 
 
 E vengo in parte, ove non e che luca. 
 
 143 Hippocrates, the greatest of early physicians, was born at Cos, 
 B.C. 460. Plato speaks of him more than once ; see Phaedr. 270 c, Pro- 
 tagoras 31 1 B. He is again alluded to Purg. xxix. 137 ; and see Par. xi. 4. 
 
 Avicenna (Ibn Sina), physician and philosopher, of Ispahan, was 
 born in Bokhara, A.D. 980. Like Averroes, he was one of the great 
 Mussulman thinkers who carried on the succession of the Aristotelian 
 philosophy and prepared the way for the Schoolmen. 
 
 Galieno: Claudius Galenus, of Pergamus, was born A.D. 130. He 
 studied at Alexandria, and was body-physician to several emperors. His 
 writings were most voluminous ; and he is still to some extent an authority. 
 
 144 Averroes (Ibn Roschd), of Cordova (A.D. 1126-1198), was the 
 last and greatest of the Arab philosophers of the West. He also was a 
 physician ; and a lawyer as well. He followed Aristotle very closely, 
 and commented on nearly the whole of his works, which he knew 
 through Arabic translations. The place which Dante assigns him shows 
 that he was not yet regarded as the typical opponent of Christian doc- 
 trine ; the character in which later Italian art recognised him. Boccaccio, 
 indeed, thinks that but for him Aristotle might have remained unknown. 
 
 148 The use of sesta in this sense is curious. Perhaps it is due to 
 the fact that Latin possessed no word for 'sixfold,' so that the ordinal 
 has to supply its place. ]5 Cf. 1. 27.
 
 CANTO V 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They enter the second circle of Hell, where they find the souls of 
 carnal sinners driven about in a great tempest. Dante speaks 
 with Francesca of Rimini. 
 
 THUS I descended from the first circle down into the 
 second, which girds a less space, and so much the more 
 woe, which stings to groaning. There stands Minos in 
 horrible wise, and snarls ; he examines their sins at their 
 
 Cosi discesi del cerchio primaio 
 
 Giii nel secondo, che men loco cinghia, 
 E tanto piu dolor che pugne a guaio. 
 
 Stavvi Minos orribilmente e ringhia : 
 Esamina le colpe nell' entrata, 
 
 13 The second circle, being the first of Hell properly so called, in 
 which the unchaste are punished. It is worthy of note that while this 
 sin is treated, when mortal, with most leniency, it requires the most 
 severe purgatorial discipline ; and further, that the regions assigned to 
 its punishment and purgation are so situated, that every soul is com- 
 pelled to pass through one or the other. Aquinas quotes Augustine, 
 ' quod inter omnia Christianorum certamina, duriora sunt praelia 
 castitatis, ubi est quotidiana pugna et rara victoria ' ; and Isidore, 
 ' quod magis per carnis luxuriam genus humanum subditur diabolo, 
 quam per aliquod aliud.' 
 
 4 Minos is of course borrowed from Aen. vi. 432.
 
 CANTO v HELL 53 
 
 incoming, judges and makes order according as he wraps 
 himself. I mean that when the soul born to ill .comes 
 before him, it confesses itself wholly; and that appraiser 
 of the sins sees what place of hell is meet for it ; he 
 girds himself with his tail so many times as the degrees he 
 will that it be sent down. Ever before him are standing 
 many of them ; they come in turn each to the judgement ; 
 they say, and hear, and then are turned downward. 
 
 'O thou, who comest to the woeful hostelry,' cried 
 Minos to me, when he beheld me, leaving the discharge 
 of so great an office, ' look how thou enterest, and in whom 
 thou trustest ; let not the width of the entry deceive thee.' 
 
 Giudica e manda, secondo che avvinghia. 
 Dico, che quando 1' anima mal nata 
 
 Li vien dinanzi, tutta si confessa ; 
 
 E quel conoscitor delle peccata 
 Vede qual loco d' inferno e da essa : 10 
 
 Cignesi colla coda tante volte, 
 
 Quantunque gradi vuol che giu sia messa. 
 Sempre dinanzi a lui ne stanno molte : 
 
 Vanno a vicenda ciascuna al giudizio ; 
 
 Dicono e odono, e poi son giu volte. 
 O tu, che vieni al doloroso ospizio, 
 
 Disse Minos a me, quando mi vide, 
 
 Lasciando 1' atto di cotanto ufizio, 
 Guarda com' entri, e di cui tu ti fide : 
 
 Xon t' inganni 1' ampiezza dell' entrare ! 20 
 
 6 avvinghia. This use of a transitive verb without a pronoun in a 
 reflexive sense is common to all modern languages, but especially fre- 
 quent in Italian. Diez (iii. 177. 8) gives several examples. 
 
 11 For an instance of this operation see xxvii. 124 sqq.
 
 54 HELL CANTO 
 
 And my Leader to him : ' Wherefore criest thou ? Hinder 
 not his destined going : thus is it willed in that place where 
 that which is willed is possible ; and ask no more.' 
 
 Now begin the notes of woe to make themselves heard 
 by me ; now am I come there where much wailing strikes 
 me. I came into a place of every light mute, which roars 
 as does the sea in time of tempest, if it is beaten about by 
 contrary winds. The whirlwind of hell, which never rests, 
 draws the spirits with its clutch, vexes them with whirling 
 and beating. When they come in front of its rush, there 
 
 E il duca mio a lui : Perche pur gride ? 
 
 Non impedir lo suo fatale andare : 
 Vuolsi cosi cola, dove si puote 
 Cio che si vuole, e piu non dimandare. 
 
 Ora incomincian le dolenti note 
 A farmisi sentire : or son venuto 
 La dove molto pianto mi percote. 
 
 lo venni in loco d' ogni luce muto, 
 
 Che mugghia, come fa mar per tempesta, 
 
 Se da contrari vend e combattuto. 30 
 
 La bufera infernal, che mai non resta, 
 Mena gli spirti con la sua rapina. 
 Voltando e percotendo li molesta. 
 
 Quando giungon davanti alia ruina, 
 
 23, 24 Repeated from iii. 95, 96, after the fashion of Homer or Virgil, 
 rather than of Dante himself. 
 
 25 Witte observes that the punishments of Hell begin at this point ; 
 the sciagurati of Canto iii., though punished enough, not being strictly 
 in Hell. 
 
 28 di luce muto. Cf. i. 60. 
 
 34 ruina. This is variously explained. Some take the word as in 
 xii. 4, or Purg. iii. 50 (if it be the right reading there) ; some (e.g. Dan., 
 \Vittc, Bianchi, Philal.) understanding it to be the precipice leading
 
 v HELL 55 
 
 are the cries, the complaining and the lamentation ; they 
 blaspheme there the power of God. I was aware that to a 
 torment thus fashioned are condemned the carnal sinners 
 who made their reason subject to their inclination. And as 
 their wings bear away the starlings in the cold season, in a 
 broad and thick flock, so did that blast the evil spirits. On 
 this side, on that, up and down it sways them ; no hope 
 ever comforts them, I say not of rest, but of a lesser penalty. 
 
 Quivi le strida, il compianto e il lamento, 
 Bestemmian quivi la virtu divina. 
 
 Intesi, che a cosi fatto tormento 
 Enno dannati i peccator carnali, 
 Che la ragion sommettono al talento. 
 
 E come gli stornei ne portan 1' ali, 40 
 
 Nel freddo tempo, a schiera larga e piena, 
 Cosi quel fiato gli spiriti mali. 
 
 Di qua, di la, di giu, di su gli mena : 
 Nulla speranza gli conforta mai, 
 Non che di posa, ma di minor pena. 
 
 down to the next circle, over which the souls are afraid of being blown ; 
 Blanc thinks it is the rocky entrance to the circle. Benv. and Land. 
 speak merely of what they suppose it to symbolise. Boccaccio, whom 
 Vellutello follows, seems right in taking it to be the blast of the storm 
 (cf. Aen. i. 85). The spirits would naturally break out into lamenta- 
 tions on first becoming aware of the nature of their punishment. 
 
 36 Cf. Rev. xvi. 9, n. It maybe noted that odium Dei is specified 
 by St. Thomas as one of the effects (jiliae} of luxiiria. 
 
 39 Cf. Eth. vii. 6 (1149 b) 6 TOV OV/J.QV aKparys TOV \6yov TTWS 
 -riTTdrai, 6 5e rrjs fTn.dvfj.las /ecu ov TOV \6yov. Many other similar 
 passages will occur to readers of this book. St. Thomas, S. T. ii. 2. 
 Q. 53- A. 6, renders : Incontinens irae audit quidem rationem sed non 
 perfecte ; incontinens autem concupiscentiae totaliter earn non audit. 
 talento : see note Purg. xxi. 64.
 
 56 HELL CANTO 
 
 And as the cranes go chanting their lays, making a long row 
 of themselves in air, so saw I come with long-drawn wails 
 shades carried by the aforesaid tumult ; wherefore I said : 
 ' Master, who are these folk, whom the black air so chas- 
 tises?' 'The first of those of whom thou wouldst know 
 news,' he said to me then, 'was empress of many tongues. 
 With vice of luxury was she so corrupt, that lustful she 
 made lawful in her decree, to take away the ill-fame into 
 which she had been brought. She is Semiramis, of whom 
 we read that she succeeded to Ninus and was his wife. She 
 
 E come i gru van cantando lor lai, 
 
 Facendo in aer di se lunga riga ; 
 
 Cosi vid' io venir, traendo guai, 
 Ombre portate dalla delta briga : 
 
 Perch' io dissi : Maestro, chi son quelle 50 
 
 Genti, che 1' aura nera si gastiga ? 
 La prima di color, di cui novelle 
 
 Tu vuoi saper, mi disse quegli allotta, 
 
 Fu imperatrice di molte favelle. 
 A vizio di lussuria fu si rotta, 
 
 Che libito fe licito in sua legge, 
 
 Per torre il biasmo, in che era condotta. 
 Ell' e Semiramis, di cui si legge, 
 
 Che succedette a Nino, e fu sua sposa : 
 
 46 The simile of the cranes is again introduced Purg. xxvi. 43, and 
 with reference to the same class of sinners. 
 
 86 ' His lustes were all lawe in his decree,' Chaucer, Monk's Tale, 
 3667. ' Abusive dicit . . . cum dicat Philosophus : voluntas legis- 
 latoris est ut facial homines bonos.' P. di D. 
 
 59 The reading sugger dette, which seems to have been first brought 
 into notice in a sermon of the fifteenth century, in spite of its having 
 practically no MS. authority (it is found as an original reading in two 
 only), has of late years met with some defenders. Bianchi first, I
 
 v HELL 57 
 
 held the land which the Sultan rules. The other is she 
 who slew herself, full of love, and broke faith with the ashes 
 of Sichaeus; next is luxurious Cleopatra. See Helen for 
 whose sake so long a time of guilt rolled on, and see the 
 great Achilles who on love's side fought to the end. See 
 
 Tenne la terra che il Soldan corregge. 60 
 
 L' altra e colei, che s' ancise amorosa, 
 
 E ruppe fede al cener di Sicheo ; 
 
 Poi e Cleopatras lussuriosa. 
 Elena vedi, per cui tanto reo a 
 
 Tempo si volse, e vedi il grande Achille, 
 
 Che con amore al fine combatteo. 
 
 a vidi Gg. 23 Aid. IV. 
 
 believe, among editors admitted it, though with hesitation, into the 
 text of his fourth ed. of 1854, and Lubin has followed his example ; 
 while Prof. Scarabelli and the late Dr. Barlow have supported it 
 warmly. Witte (Dante Forschungen, i. 190 sqq.) spent almost more 
 pains than it was worth in demonstrating its futility. It is quite 
 sufficient to observe that nothing of the kind is to be ' read ' in Orosius, 
 whose version of the story (Hist. bk. i. chap. 4) Dante here follows 
 almost word for word. The seno dette of some French edd. has no 
 value whatever, and is said to be not Italian. 
 
 61 Dido. See Aen. iii. iv. 
 
 64 The reading vedi is so unquestionably superior in dramatic force 
 to vidi that I have adopted it ; though the latter appears to have rather 
 more authority. See Moore ad loc., and Scart., who while retaining 
 vidi treats it as the imperative. But in such a case as this MS. authority 
 is not of much weight ; the difference between e and i being often hardly 
 perceptible. 
 
 lili The account of the death of Achilles as Dante had it was that he 
 was inveigled into the temple of Apollo Thymbraeus in Troy by the 
 promise of a meeting with Polyxena. Paris was there lying in wait for 
 him, and stabbed him with a dagger or slew him with an arrow aimed 
 at his vulnerable heel. This version of the story seems to have been 
 unknown to Ovid, who describes the death of Achilles in Metam. xii., 
 but it appears in the works ascribed to Dictys Cretensis and Dares 
 Phrygius, which were the great authority in medieval times for
 
 58 HELL CANTO 
 
 Paris, Tristan -' and more than a thousand shades he 
 showed me, and in pointing named to me how love departed 
 them from our life. 
 
 After that I had heard my Teacher name the dames of 
 yore and the cavaliers, pity overcame me, and I was as it 
 were at my wits' end. I began : ' O poet, willingly would 
 I speak to those two who go together, and seem to be so 
 light on the wind.' And he to me : ' Thou shalt see when 
 they are nearer to us, and then do thou pray them by 
 
 Vedi Paris, Tristano ; e piu di mille 
 
 Ombre mostrommi e nominommi a dito, 
 Che amor di nostra vita dipartille. 
 
 Poscia ch' io ebbi il mio dottore udito 70 
 
 Nomar le donne antiche e i cavalieri, 
 Pieta mi giunse, e fui quasi smarrito. 
 
 Io cominciai : Poeta, volentieri 
 
 Parlerei a quei due, che insieme vanno, 
 E paion si al vento esser leggieri. 
 
 Ed egli a me : Vedrai, quando saranno 
 Piu presso a noi ; e tu allor li prega 
 
 the Trojan history. ' Dolo me atque insidiis,' says Achilles, ' Dei- 
 phobus atque Alexander Polyxenae gratia circumvenere. ' Diet. Cret. 
 iv. The popular work on the subject, written by Guido dalle Colonne 
 of Messina, was finished in 1287, but Dante seems to have gone to the 
 original authorities, as they were then held, for himself. The story of 
 Tristan and Isolde is well known to readers of modern poetry. Dante 
 probably knew it from the Fr. version by Christian of Troyes ( W. ) 
 
 (is nominommi appears to have the preponderating authority, while 
 nominolle is very likely to be due to supposed needs of euphony, or to 
 the influence of the -He in the neighbouring lines. 
 
 ti!l Che dipartille. Diez (iii. 58) gives this as an instance of 
 the pleonastic use of the pronoun, such as is pretty common in Italian 
 (cf. vii. 64, 65, ' di queste anime . . . fame ') and universal in relative 
 clauses in Spanish ; but it seems simpler to take che as the general 
 ' link-word ' between two sentences in this case implying narration.
 
 v HELL 59 
 
 that love which sways them, and they will come.' So soon 
 as the wind swings them toward us I raised my voice : ' O 
 toilworn souls, come to speak to us, if Another denies it 
 not.' As doves summoned by their longing, with their 
 wings upraised and steady, fly to their sweet nest, borne 
 through the air by their own will, so they issued from the 
 troop where Dido is, coming to us through the air malign ; 
 so strong was the cry of my affection. ' O living creature, 
 
 Per quell' amor che i mena ; e quei verranno. 
 Si tosto come il vento a noi li piega, 
 
 Mossi la voce : O anime affannate, 80 
 
 Venite a noi parlar, s' altri nol niega. 
 Quali colombe dal disio chiamate, 
 
 Con 1' ali alzate e ferme, al dolce nido 
 
 Volan per 1' aer dal voler portate : 
 Cotali uscir della schiera ov' e Dido, 
 
 A noi venendo per 1' aer maligno, 
 
 Si forte fu 1' affettuoso grido. 
 O animal grazioso e benigno, 
 
 81 altri. It is to be noted that God is never named by the lost 
 spirits (save once, in defiance, by the brigand Vanni Fucci, xxv. 3), nor 
 by Dante in speaking to them. For altri cf. xxvi. 141, Purg. i. 133. 
 
 -84 Imitated from Aen. v. 213 sqq. : 
 
 Qualis spelunca subito commota columba, 
 Cui domus et dukes latebroso in pumice nidi 
 mox acre lapsa quieto 
 Radit iter liquidum celeres neque conimovet alas. 
 
 84 Scart. , reading vengon, puts a colon after that word, and a comma 
 at portate ; because animals do not possess will ! 
 
 M animal, of men, is frequent in Dante; e.g. Purg. xxix. 139. So 
 Vulg. El. i. 5, ' nobilissimum animal ' ; 9, ' instabilissimum et variabilis- 
 simum a.' Bianchi quotes ii. 10, 'homo rationale animal est, et sensi- 
 bilis anima et corpus est animal.'
 
 60 HELL CANTO 
 
 gracious and kindly, who goest visiting through the dark 
 gray air us who stained the world with blood -red, if the 
 King of the universe were a friend we would pray Him for 
 thy peace, since thou hast pity of our wayward ill. Of that 
 whereof it pleases thee to hear and speak will we hear and 
 speak to you, so long as the wind, as now, is hushed for us. 
 The land where I was born lies on the sea-shore where the 
 Po comes down, to have rest with his tributaries. Love, who 
 
 Che visitando vai per 1' aer perso 
 
 Noi che tignemmo il mondo di sanguigno : 90 
 
 Se fosse amico il re dell' universe, 
 
 Noi pregheremmo lui per la tua pace, 
 Poich<i hai pieta del nostro mal perverso. 
 
 Di quel che udire e che parlar ti piace 
 Noi udiremo e parleremo a vui, 
 Mentreche il vento, come fa, ci tace. b 
 
 Siede la terra, dove nata fui, 
 
 Sulla marina dove il Po discende 
 Per aver pace coi seguaci sui. 
 
 b si face 2 IV. 
 
 89 perso. See note, Purg. ix. 97. Probably it is not more than a 
 coincidence that the colours named in this and the following line should 
 be those named in the line of Chaucer quoted in that note. At the 
 same time there is very probably some suggestion intended by their 
 juxtaposition. 
 
 93 perverso : because they were relations, says Benvenuto ; in which 
 case mal must be taken as ' sin. ' 
 
 97 terra : Ravenna. The speaker is Francesca, daughter of Guido 
 da Polenta and aunt to Dante's friend and patron of that name. She 
 was betrothed for political reasons to Giovanni, known as Gianciotto 
 (Lame John), heir of the rival house of Malatesta at Rimini. His 
 younger brother Paul came as his proxy for the betrothal, and 1 icing 
 both in character and personal appearance much the more attractive, 
 won the love of Francesca. Ultimately both were slain by the. husband.
 
 V HELL 6 1 
 
 soon teaches himself to the noble heart, seized this one for the 
 fair form which was reft from me and the manner is still 
 my undoing. Love, who excuses no loved one from loving, 
 seized me for his joy in me so mightily that, as thou seest, 
 it leaves me not yet. Love led us to one death ; Cain is 
 awaiting him who quenched our life.' These words from 
 them were borne to us. 
 
 Amor, che al cor gentil ratto s' apprende, 100 
 
 Prese costui della bella persona 
 Che mi fu tolta, e il modo ancor m' offende. 
 
 Amor, che a nullo amato amar perdona, 
 Mi prese del costui piacer si forte, 
 Che, come vedi, ancor non mi abbandona. 
 
 Amor condusse noi ad una morte-: 
 Cain attende chi vita ci spense. 
 Queste parole da lor ci fur porte. 
 
 The story is told at some length by Boccaccio, who must have known 
 the facts from the report of contemporaries. 
 
 100 Taken from a line of Guido Guinicelli : Foco d'amore in gentil 
 cor s'apprende. 
 
 102 Through failure to understand the force of offende some have 
 preferred to read mondo for modo here. The two words are of course 
 practically indistinguishable in most MSS. The reading was supported 
 by the late Dr. Barlow in a pamphlet (Francesco, da Rimini) of which 
 the upshot was, that though Dante, in compliance with popular report, 
 placed her in Hell, he believed her to be innocent of all actual guilt ! 
 It would be better, and not unlike Dante's style, to read Che mi fu 
 tolta al mondo, e ancor m' offende. The commentator in V. da Spira's 
 ed. (PJacopo della Lana) has some suggestion of this, though he is con- 
 fused. His note is : La quale persona li fu tolta al mondo, cioe che 
 mori di glaclio ; e dice che ancora il mondo gli offende, cioe la nomi- 
 nanza e la fama. But the ordinary reading gives a perfectly good sense. 
 'The manner of my death,' i.e. that I was slain in the commission of 
 sin, 'is what injures me, causes my trouble,' of course an euphemism. 
 For offende, cf. vii. 71, Par. viii. 78. Cf. Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 
 1536 : And, as I trowe, with love offended most. 
 
 107 Cain seems better than Caina. See Dr. Moore's note (Textual
 
 62 HELL CANTO 
 
 When I heard those storm-tossed souls, I bowed my face, 
 and held it down so long till the Poet said to me, ' What 
 art thou musing ? ' When I answered, I began : ' Alas ! what 
 number of sweet thoughts, how great desire brought these 
 to their woeful pass ! ' Then turned I back to them, and 
 spoke, and began : ' Francesca, thy torments make me ready to 
 weep in grief and pity. But tell me, in the time of the sweet 
 sighs, to what point and in what fashion did Love grant thee 
 to become aware of thy unexpressed desires ? ' And she 
 to me : ' No greater woe is there than to call to mind the 
 
 Da che io intesi quelle anime offense, 
 
 Chinai il viso, e tanto il tenni basso, no 
 
 Finche il poeta mi disse : Che pense ? 
 Quando risposi, cominciai : O lasso, 
 
 Quanti dolci pensier, quanto disio 
 
 Menb costoro al doloroso passo ! 
 Poi mi rivolsi a loro, e parla' io 
 
 E cominciai : Francesca, i tuoi martiri 
 
 A lagrimar mi fanno tristo e pio. 
 Ma dimmi : al tempo dei dolci sospiri, 
 
 A che e come concedette amore, 
 
 Che conoscesti i dubbiosi desiri ? 120 
 
 Ed ella a me : Nessun maggior dolore, 
 
 Che ricordarsi del tempo felice 
 
 Criticism, pp. 38, 39), where there is an apt reference to Isaiah xiv. 
 9 sqq. In either case the allusion is explained by Canto xxxii. 
 
 109 offense: see note Purg. xxxi. 12. 
 
 117 fanno a lagrimar seems to be the causal form corresponding to 
 such a phrase as sto a lagr. Diez iii. 218. 
 
 1 - dubbiosi : ; perciocche quantunque per mold appaia che 1'uno 
 ami 1'altro, e 1'altro 1'uno, tuttavia suspicano non sia cosi come a lor 
 pare, insino a tanto che del tutto discoperti e conosciuti sono,' Bocc.
 
 v HELL 63 
 
 happy time in your misery, and that thy Teacher knows. 
 But if thou hast so great desire to know the first root of our 
 love, I will tell as one who weeps and tells. We were read- 
 ing one day, for delight, of Lancelot, how Love constrained 
 him ; alone were we, and without any suspicion. Many 
 times did that reading impel our eyes, and change the hue 
 of our visages ; but one point only was it that overcame us. 
 When we read that the wished-for smile was kissed by such 
 
 Nella miseria ; e cio sa il tuo dottore. 
 
 Ma se a conoscer la prima radice 
 
 Del nostro amor tu hai cotanto affetto, 
 Dirb come colui che piange e dice. 
 
 Noi leggevamo un giorno per diletto 
 Di Lancilotto, come amor lo strinse : 
 Soli eravamo e senza alcun sospetto. 
 
 Per piu fiate gli occhi ci sospinse 130 
 
 Quella lettura, e scolorocci il viso : 
 Ma solo un punto fu quel che ci vinse. 
 
 Quando leggemmo il disiato riso 
 Esser baciato da cotanto amante, 
 
 c Faro 12 Aid. W. 
 
 123 tuo dottore. Bocc. and Benv. both understand this to be 
 Virgil, though the former quotes the passage from Boethius. Blanc is 
 convinced that the words allude to no saying, but to some real experi- 
 ence of the person intended. (How then are they appropriate to 
 Virgil ?) Still, in spite of the objection raised by Blanc that Dante else- 
 where calls no one but Virgil his doltore, it can hardly be doubted that 
 the allusion is to Boethius, Bk. ii. Pr. 4 : In omni adversitate fortunae 
 infelicissimum genus est infortunii, fuisse felicem. It is probably only 
 a coincidence that Peter Damian (see Par. xxi. 106) has in his poem on 
 the joys of Paradise the line, ' Praesens malum auget boni perditi 
 memoriam.' Trench, Sacr. Lat. Poetry, p. 296. 
 
 123 The passage from the romance of Lancelot which is here referred 
 to is given in full by Scartazzini.
 
 64 HELL CANTO v 
 
 a lover, this one who never from me shall be parted kissed 
 me on the mouth all trembling. A Gallehault was the book, 
 and he who wrote it. That day we read no further in it.' 
 
 While the one spirit said this, the other was wailing so, 
 that for pity I fainted, as a man who were dead ; and I fell 
 as a dead body falls. 
 
 Questi, che mai da me non fia diviso, 
 
 La bocca mi bacib tutto tremante : 
 Galeotto fu il libro e chi lo scrisse : 
 Quel giorno piu non vi leggemmo avante. 
 
 Mentre che 1' uno spirto questo disse, 
 
 L' altro piangeva si, che di pietade 140 
 
 lo venni meno si com' io morisse ; 
 
 E caddi, come corpo morto cade. 
 
 137 Sir Gallehault (by no means to be confused with Sir Galahad) 
 was the knight by whose pleading, according to the story, Guinivere 
 was persuaded to give the first kiss to Lancelot. In the middle ages 
 his reputation was on a level with that of ' Sir Pandarus of Troy.' See 
 note Par. xvi. 15. 
 
 141 Io venni meno. Curiously enough the very same phrase occurs 
 in the story : hebbe si grande angoscia che manco poco che non si ven- 
 isse meno.
 
 CANTO VI 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They enter the third circle, passing Cerberus who guards it, and find 
 the souls of gluttons lying in the mire under perpetual rain. 
 Dante talks with one of Florence, who foretells the future to him. 
 
 AT the returning of my mind, which had closed itself in 
 presence of the piteous case of the two kinsfolk, which wholly 
 confounded me with grief, new torments and new sufferers 
 I see around me, whereas I move, and turn, and whereas I 
 set my gaze. I am at the third circle, of the rain eternal, 
 accursed, chill and heavy ; measure and quality never has 
 it new. Coarse hail, and sleet, and snow are poured out 
 
 AL tornar della mente, che si chiuse 
 Dinanzi alia pieta dei due cognati, 
 Che di tristizia tutto mi confuse, 
 
 Nuovi tormenti e nuovi tormentati 
 
 Mi veggio intorno, come ch' io mi mova, 
 E ch' io mi volga, e come ch' io mi guati. 
 
 Io sono al terzo cerchio della piova 
 Eterna, maledetta, fredda e greve : 
 Regola e qualita mai non 1' e nuova. 
 
 Grandine grossa, e acqua tinta, e neve io 
 
 u I.e. it is always heavy and cold, not like rain on earth, which 
 varies in these respects. 
 
 111 Bern*, in a curious and somewhat disgusting passage explains 
 F
 
 66 HELL CANTO 
 
 through the gloomy air ; the earth stinks which receives it. 
 Cerberus, beast cruel and uncouth, with three throats 
 barks in dog-wise over the folk that there is submerged. 
 Scarlet eyes has he, and his beard greasy and black, and his 
 belly large, and his paws armed with nails. He claws the 
 spirits, mouths them and tears them up. The rain makes 
 
 Per 1' aer tenebroso si riversa : 
 
 Pute la terra che questo riceve. 
 Cerbero, fiera crudele e diversa, 
 
 Con tre gole caninamente latra 
 
 Sopra la gente che quivi e sommersa. 
 Gli occhi ha vermigli, la barba unta ed atra, 
 
 E il ventre largo, e unghiate le mani ; 
 
 Graffia gli spiriti, ingoia, ed isquatra. a 
 
 a e in giiglia 2 ingoia 4 ; scitoia If'. 
 
 these various forms of downfall as symbolical of the ailments incurred on 
 earth by gluttons. acqua tinta, says Bianchi, is a local name in Tus- 
 cany for ' a cold rain, almost frozen.' Itocc. seems to support this, his 
 words being : queste tre cose causate da' vapori caldi ed umidi, e da 
 acre freddo, nell' acre si generano ; which he would hardly have said if 
 he had with later commentators, e.g. Landino, taken the meaning to be 
 ' dirty water.' 
 
 13 Cerberus, of course, is here in virtue of the place he holds in Aen. 
 vi. 417 sqq. It will be observed that he is treated with much less con- 
 sideration by Virgil than by the Sibyl. diversa, as in xxii. 10. The 
 idea is, no doubt, ' different from what we know,' and so exactly equiva- 
 lent to 'uncouth.' 
 
 18 ingoia. So, in one form or another, the great majority of MSS., 
 and apparently every edition and commentary till the Cruscan of 1595. 
 Modern edd. with one accord have scuoia ; why, it is not easy to see, 
 for Scartazzini's objection that Dante does not explain how, if Cerberus 
 swallowed them, they reappeared, applies with equal force to isquatra ; 
 since we are not told how after ' quartering ' they came together again. 
 Moreover, there is no need to suppose an actual swallowing. Cerberus 
 mumbles them, as a dog a bone ; but flaying is not an operation for 
 which a dog's blunt claws would naturally be suited.
 
 vi HELL 67 
 
 them howl like dogs ; with one of their sides they make a 
 shelter for the other ; often the wretched outcasts turn them- 
 selves over. 
 
 When Cerberus, the great worm, was aware of us, he 
 opened his mouths and showed us his tusks ; he had no 
 limb which remained still. And my Leader, both his hands 
 spread wide, took the soil, and with his fists full threw it 
 within the greedy pipes. As is that dog who baying yearns 
 for his food, and is quiet again after he bites it, for only to 
 devour it he strains and fights, such grew those foul faces of 
 the demon Cerberus, who thunders so at the souls that they 
 would fain be deaf. 
 
 Urlar gli fa la pioggia come cani : 
 
 DelF un dei lati fanno all' altro schermo ; 20 
 Volgonsi spesso i miseri profani. 
 
 Quando ci scorse Cerbero, il gran vermo, 
 Le bocche aperse, e mostrocci le sanne : 
 Non avea membro che tenesse fermo. 
 
 E il duca mio distese le sue spanne ; 
 Prese la terra, e con piene le pugna 
 La gitto dentro alle bramose canne. 
 
 Qual e quel cane che abbaiando agugna, 
 E si racqueta poi che il pasto morde, 
 Che solo a divorarlo intende e pugna ; 30 
 
 Cotai si fecer quelle facce lorde 
 
 Dello demonio Cerbero che introna 
 L' anime si, ch' esser vorrebber sorde. 
 
 " l profani. 'Profano,' says Boccaccio, ' propriamente si chiama 
 quello luogo il quale alcuna volta fu sacro, poi e riclotto ad uso comune 
 d' ogni uomo . . . cosi si puo dire degli spiriti dannati . . . partita da 
 loro la grazia dello Spirito Santo, sono rimasi profani.' Scart. refers 
 appositely to Heb. xii. 16. 
 
 22 vermo: so of Lucifer, xxxiv. 108.
 
 68 HELL CANTO 
 
 We passed over the shades whom the heavy rain quells, 
 and kept putting our feet on their emptiness which seems a 
 form. They were lying on the ground, all of them, save 
 one which raised itself to sit, soon as it saw us pass in 
 front. ' O thou, who art brought through this Hell,' it said 
 to me, ' remember me, if thou canst ; thou wast made ere I 
 was unmade.' And I to it : 'The anguish that thou hast, 
 perchance, takes thee out of my mind so that it seems not 
 that I ever saw thee. But tell me who thou art, that art set 
 
 Noi passavam su per 1' ombre che adona 
 La greve pioggia, e ponevam le piante 
 Sopra lor vanita che par persona. 
 
 Elle giacean per terra tutte e quante, 
 Fuor ch' una che a seder si levo, ratto 
 Ch' ella ci vide passarsi davante. 
 
 O tu, che sei per questo inferno tratto, 40 
 
 Mi disse, riconoscimi, se sai : 
 Tu fosti, prima ch' io disfatto, fatto. 
 
 Ed io a lei : L' angoscia che tu hai b 
 Forse ti tira fuor della mia mente, 
 Si che non par, ch' io ti vedessi mai. 
 
 Ma dimmi chi tu sei, che in si dolente 
 
 b a liti 4. 
 
 3R vanita: cf. Furg. xxi. 135. Does Dante mean to imply that 
 they felt no resistance to their feet from the bodies of the spirits? If 
 so, how did he get any hold of Bocca degli Abati's hair, in Canto xxxii. ? 
 See note Purg. xxi. 132. 
 
 37 elle : fern, in agreement with ombre. So lei in I. 43, messa, 1. 47. 
 
 *- disfatto, fatto : as in Purg. v. 134. 
 
 4:i ' 45 Notice that here, as in Purgatory (Purg. xxiii. 43), the only 
 acquaintance whom Dante fails to recognise at once is one who is 
 suffering for the sin of gluttony. ' Xota quod autor ideo hoc fmgit quia 
 istud vicium gulae saepe ita transformat hominem in brevi, quod non 
 videtur ille qui prius erat. ' Benv.
 
 vi HELL 69 
 
 in so woeful a place, and to a penalty so fashioned that if 
 any other is greater, none is so displeasing.' And he to 
 me : ' Thy city which is so full of envy that already the 
 sack is running over, held me with it in the life of light. 
 You citizens called me Ciacco : for the ruinous fault of 
 
 Loco sei messa, ed a si fatta pena, 
 
 Che s' altra e maggio, nulla e si spiacente. 
 Ed egli a me : La tua citta, ch' e piena 
 
 D' invidia si, che gia trabocca il sacco, 50 
 
 Seco mi tenne in la vita serena. 
 Voi cittadini mi chiamaste Ciacco : 
 
 Per la dannosa colpa della gola, 
 
 50 invidia. From this, the first mention of Florence in the poem, 
 to the last (Par. xxxi. 39), it will be seen that envy, by which he means 
 want of due subordination, or as we now should say ' the principle of 
 equality ' (Conv. i. 4), is regarded by Dante as the special sin of his own 
 countrymen. ' Avvenne che per le invidie si cominciarono trai cittadini 
 le sette.' Villani viii. 39. In Dante's scheme this sin is closely akin to 
 'cupidigia,' and with it forms the direct antithesis to 'giustizia,' the 
 allowing willingly to every man his own, whether in honours, power, 
 or wealth. See note, Purg. xx. 10 ; and cf. Par. ix. 129. 
 
 M Ciacco seems to have been the name, or nickname, of a celebrated 
 ' diner out ' in Dante's younger days. He died in 1286, i.e. when Dante 
 was 21, so they would doubtless have met. In the Decameron, Day 
 ix. Nov. 8, will be found a story of a practical joke (somewhat element- 
 ary in its humour) played off by him on another personage of the same 
 kind. Longfellow gives a translation of the story. From this it would 
 seem that Ciacco, though open to an invitation anywhere, was more 
 especially a parasite of Corso Donati. Boccaccio says he was ' dato del 
 tutto al vizio della gola . . . senzache fuor di questo egli era costumato 
 uomo . . . ed eloquente ed affabile e di buon sentimento.' Ciacco 
 ('Jimmy') seems, according to Buti (who, writing about 1385, states it 
 with ' alquanti dicono ') and subsequent commentators, to have been a 
 pet name for a pig in Tuscany ; though, as the earlier writers make no 
 allusion to this, it is quite as likely that the animal got the name from 
 the man as the converse. It must be remembered that medicevr 1 
 Florence was a small and quick-witted community, where all men and 
 their ways were known.
 
 70 HELL CANTO 
 
 gluttony, as thou seest, I flag under the rain. And I, 
 sorry soul, am not alone, for all these stand in a like penalty 
 for a like fault : ' and further he said no word. I answered 
 him : ' Ciacco, thy distress weighs on me so that it summons 
 me to weep ; but tell me if thou knowest, to what will come 
 the citizens of the divided city ; if any there is righteous ; 
 and tell me the cause wherefore so great discord has assailed 
 it.' And he to me : 'After long strain they will come to 
 
 Come tu vedi, alia pioggia mi fiacco ; 
 
 Ed io anima trista non son sola, 
 
 Che tutte queste a simil pena stanno 
 Per simil colpa : e piu non fe parola. 
 
 Io gli risposi : Ciacco, il tuo affanno 
 Mi pesa si, che a lagrimar m' invita : 
 Ma dimmi, se tu sai, a che verranno 60 
 
 Li cittadin della citta partita ; 
 
 S' alcun v' e giusto ; e dimmi la cagione, 
 Perche 1' ha tanta discordia assalita. 
 
 Ed egli a me : Dopo lunga tenzone 
 
 Verranno al sangue, e la parte selvaggia 
 
 51 fiacco : so vii. 14 : and see Gloss. Purg. 
 
 =8, .39 j t w jii b e O b ser ved that this is almost a repetition of the terms 
 in which he addressed Francesca, v. 116, 117, but slightly less sympa- 
 thetic. 
 
 6i sqq. With all this passage compare Par. xvii. 46 sqq., and see 
 notes. 
 
 6:> al sangue. The first blood seems to have been drawn about a 
 month later than this, on 1st May, when a young gentleman of the Cerchi 
 got his nose cut off. Vill. viii. 39. selvaggia. This epithet seems to 
 have been applied to the White party, and their leaders, the Cerchi, in 
 the sense of' rustics.' As appears from Par. xvi. 65, the Cerchi were 
 newcomers in Florence, and from various sources we learn that their 
 manners were not approved by the more polished citizens. Thus 
 Villani viii. 38 : uomini erano salvatichi ed ingrati, siccome genti venuti 
 di piccolo tempo in grande stato e podere. (All this chapter, and those 
 before and after it, should be read.)
 
 vi HELL 71 
 
 blood, and the woodland party shall chase the other with 
 overthrow of many. After that it is ordained that this 
 shall fall within three years, and that the other shall arise 
 with the might of a certain one who just now is coasting. 
 On high shall it a long time hold its head, keeping the other 
 
 Caccera 1' altra con molta offensione. 
 
 Poi appresso convien, che questa caggia 
 Infra tre soli, e che 1' altra sormonti 
 Con la forza di tal che teste piaggia. 
 
 Alte terra lungo tempo le fronti, 70 
 
 (i6 offensione : so in Par. xvii. 52, the Whites, fallen in their turn, 
 become 'la parte offensa.' 
 
 69 There is some difference of opinion as to the person indicated in 
 this line, depending to some extent upon the interpretation given to 
 piaggia. Bocc. says : Dicesi appo i Fiorentini colui piaggiare, il quale 
 mostra di voler quello che egli non vuole. (If this be so, our slang term 
 'kidding' would most nearly represent the force of the word here.) 
 He understands the reference to be to Boniface VIII., who at this time 
 was apparently trying to mediate, but really favouring the Black or ultra- 
 Guelf party. Buti takes the same view. None of the succeeding com- 
 mentators however, until Witte, has ventured to adopt it. Most 
 understand piaggia to mean ' stays still, like a ship on shore,' and see 
 in the words an allusion to Charles of Valois, who at this moment was 
 warring in Flanders, quite unconscious, so far as appears, of the scheme 
 which was to be developed a few months later. A few others, e.g. 
 P. di Dante and the Cassinese postillator, somewhat absurdly think it is 
 the course of the heavens which is waiting (the latter rendering piaggia 
 by ploret); while the comm. in Vind. da Spira's eel. (? J. di Lana) says 
 ' colla forza di Dio che ora sta cheta.' Perhaps the weakest of all is 
 Lombardi, who thinks it is Charles, ' che tra poco verra in qualita di 
 paciere,' taking the present 'per enallage ' for the future, and misinter- 
 preting Buti's 'star in mezzo' as if it meant 'mediate.' The best 
 recognised meaning of piaggiare seems, however, to be 'to coast,' 
 'andare tra la terra e 1' alto mare,' as Buti puts it, and this of course 
 applies excellently to Boniface's conduct at the time of speaking ; while 
 against the consensus of comm. during the 1 5th and i6th centuries must 
 be set the fact that people were becoming cautious in their remarks 
 concerning Popes. Villani (vii. 69) uses the word as=' takes sides.'
 
 72 HELL CANTO 
 
 under heavy loads, howsoever it may lament for this and 
 have shame thereof. Just men are there two, but they are 
 not regarded there ; pride, envy, and avarice are the three 
 sparks that have set men's hearts on fire.' Here he put an 
 end to his doleful words. 
 
 And I to him : ' Yet would I that thou inform me, and 
 that thou make me a gift of further talking. Farinata and 
 Tegghiaio who were so worthy, James Rusticucci, Arrigo, 
 
 Tenendo 1' altra sotto gravi pesi, 
 
 Come che di cib pianga, e che ne adonti. 
 
 Giusti son due, ma non vi sono intesi : 
 Superbia, invidia ed avarizia sono 
 Le tre faville che hanno i cori accesi. 
 
 Qui pose fine al lagrimabil suono. 
 
 Ed io a lui : Ancor vo' che m' insegni, 
 E che di piu parlar mi facci dono. 
 
 Farinata e il Tegghiaio, che fur si degni, 
 
 Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo e il Mosca, 80 
 
 73 It seems useless to inquire who the two just men were, as Bocc., 
 with his usual good sense, sees. Benv. more boldly assumes that Dante 
 himself and his friend Guido Cavalcanti (x. 63) are meant ; the former 
 on the ground that ' de se nullus sapiens dubitat ' ; and he has been 
 followed by most succeeding commentators. Vellutello ' holds it for 
 certain ' that Dante refers to two good men, Giovanni da Vespignano 
 and Barduccio, whose death, and the miracles wrought at their tombs, 
 Villani (x. 179) records under the date 1331. It is hardly likely that 
 their reputation would be so great thirty years earlier. 
 
 74 Cf. Villani viii. 39 (where he is speaking of Donati and Cerchi) : 
 per la conversazione della loro invidia colla bizzarra salvatichezza, 
 nacque il superbo isdegno tra loro. 
 
 ?y, so ^y e s h a ii meet with Farinata in Canto x., Tegghiaio and 
 Rusticucci in xvi., and Mosca in xxviii. Arrigo does not appear, nor is it 
 certain who is the person meant. Some suppose him to be the Oderigo dei 
 Fifanti, who took part in the murder of Buondelmonte (note, Par. xvi. 
 J33); but Dante would hardly put one name for another; and Bocc.
 
 vi HELL 73 
 
 and Mosca, and the others who set their wits on doing good, 
 tell me where they are, and make me have knowledge of 
 them ; for a great desire urges me of knowing if heaven 
 gives them its sweets or hell its poison.' And that one : 
 ' They are among the blackest souls ; divers sin weighs 
 them down toward the bottom ; if thou goest down so 
 far, thou wilt be able to see them. But when thou art in 
 the sweet world, I pray thee that thou bring me to others' 
 mind; more I tell thee not, and more I answer thee not.' His 
 forthright gaze he turned then to blinking ; he looked at me 
 a little, and afterward bowed his head ; he dropped with it 
 to a level with the other blind. And my Leader said to me, 
 
 E gli altri che a ben far poser gl' ingegni, 
 
 Dimmi ove sono, e fa ch' io li conosca ; 
 Che gran desio mi stringe di sapere, 
 Se il ciel gli addolcia o lo inferno gli attosca. 
 
 E quegli : Ei son tra le anime piu nere ; 
 Diversa colpa giu li grava al fondo : c 
 Se tanto scendi, li potrai vedere. 
 
 Ma quando tu sarai nel dolce mondo, 
 Pregoti che alia mente altrui mi rechi : 
 Piu non ti dico e piu non ti rispondo. 90 
 
 Gli diritti occhi torse allora in biechi : 
 
 Guardommi un poco, e poi chino la testa : 
 Cadde con essa a par degli altri ciechi. 
 
 E il duca disse a me : Piu non si desta 
 
 c Diverse colpe Gg. Cass. 12345 Aid.; qui li gr. 2 ; aggr. Aid. 
 
 supplies the family name as Giandonati, but says no more. The Gian- 
 donati also had a feud with the Buondelmonti (Vill. viii. i), and finally 
 divided among themselves, the more part going with the white Guelfs. 
 
 Sii diversa, merely, I think, ' different from that which is punished 
 here.' It is curious that most MSS. and early edd. read diverse colpe. 
 
 1)1 biechi : the demeanour of one falling into stupor. See Gloss. Par.
 
 74 HELL CANTO 
 
 ' He rises up no more on this side the sound of the angelic 
 trump. When the power that is their foe shall come, each 
 will find again his sorry tomb, will take again his flesh and 
 his own shape, will hear that which thunders to eternity.' 
 
 So crossed we over the foul mixture of the shades and of 
 the rain, with slow paces, touching a little upon the future 
 life ; wherefore I said : ' Master, these torments, will they 
 increase after the great sentence, or become less, or be as 
 scorching ? ' And he to me : ' Return to thy science, which 
 
 Di qua dal suon dell' angelica tromba ; 
 Quando verra la nimica podesta, 
 
 Ciascun ritrovera la trista tomba, 
 Ripigliera sua carne e sua figura, 
 Udira quel che in eterno rimbomba. 
 
 Si trapassammo per sozza mistura 100 
 
 Dell' ombre e della pioggia, a passi lenti, 
 Toccando un poco la vita futura : 
 
 Perch' io dissi : Maestro, esti tormenti 
 Cresceranno ei dopo la gran sentenza, 
 O fien minori, o saran si cocenti ? 
 
 Ed egli a me : Ritorna a tua scienza, 
 
 99 I.e. the last sentence. 
 
 38 He probably has in his mind such passages as Ar. Eth. x. 4 
 (1174 b) : Kara Traaav atff&ijfflv tanv r^Sovrj, 6/uoi'ws Se /ecu didvoiav /ecu 
 deupiav, ^Siarri 5' 17 reXetorctTT; ; or, ib. 7 (ll/7 b), 17 reXei'a ei'Sat- 
 fj.ovia avTt] av etT? avdpuTTOv, Xa/3o?<ra /J.TJKOS j3iov re\fiov ' ovdev yap dreXe's 
 ecm rrjs evSaifj.ovia?. The idea of the bad being able to attain a kind 
 of perfection in their own way may be derived from Met. 5 16 (1021 b). 
 It will be observed that with Aristotle reXetos is capable of different 
 interpretations, as indeed he shows in the passage last referred to that 
 he is well aware. In the hands of his Christian followers these became 
 extended, until we find the vita pcrfetta developed from the jStos rAetos. 
 Cf. Par. xiv. 46.
 
 vi HELL 75 
 
 holds, in proportion as the thing is more perfect, it is more 
 conscious of the good, and so of suffering. Albeit this 
 accursed folk may never go on to true perfection, it 
 expects to be more on the further than on the hither side/ 
 
 We wound around that road, talking far more than I 
 repeat ; we came to the place where it passes downward : 
 there we found Pluto, the great enemy. 
 
 Che vuol, quanto la cosa e piu perfetta, 
 Piit senta il bene, e cosi la doglienza. 
 
 Tuttoche questa gente maledetta 
 
 In vera perfezion giammai non vada, no 
 
 Di la piii che di qua essere aspetta. 
 
 Noi aggirammo a tondo quella strada, 
 Parlando piu assai ch' io non ridico : 
 Venimmo al punto dove si digrada : 
 
 Quivi trovammo Pluto il gran nemico. 
 
 10 Pluto. There is some doubt as to whether Pluto or Plutus is in- 
 tended. Bocc., Benv., P. di Dante, and the earlier people generally take 
 the former view some tracing the connexion with riches through his 
 other name of Dis, while the moderns hold for Plutus. Probably Dante 
 did not very clearly distinguish the two, if indeed he had ever heard of 
 Plutus (Blanc) ; but it is obvious that Pluto would most fitly come in 
 the same order with Minos, Cerberus, etc. At the same time his position 
 as guardian of those who have sinned in the use of money shows affin- 
 ities with Plutus. As to the form of the word, of course Pluto for 
 Plutone is on a par with Plato (Purg. iii. 43).
 
 CANTO VII 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 At the entrance of the fourth circle they find Pluto ; passing whom 
 they come to the souls of those who on earth have misused riches. 
 These roll heavy stones to and fro, and have no features whereby 
 they may be recognised. Virgil discourses of Fortune. They 
 come to the shore of a marsh called Styx, in which lie the souls 
 of the wrathful and sullen, and pass along to a tower. 
 
 ' PAPE SATAN pape Satan ahppe? began Pluto with his 
 clucking voice. And that noble Sage who knew all, said, to 
 sustain me : ' Let not thy fear do thee a mischief ; for power 
 
 PAPE Satan pape Satan aleppe, 
 
 Comincib Pluto colla voce chioccia. 
 E quel Savio gentil, che tutto seppe, 
 
 Disse per confortarmi : Non ti noccia 
 La tua paura, che, poter ch' egli abbia, 
 
 1 This piece of jargon has called forth, as might be expected, com- 
 mentary enough to fill a very large volume. The earlier people inform 
 us that papae is an exclamation of surprise, and aleph the first letter of 
 the Hebrew alphabet, and deduce from this that Pluto is calling Satan 
 to see what is going on. Rossetti, on the other hand, read Pap* e Satan, 
 thus gaining valuable support for his theory of the Commedia. Cellini's 
 whimsical story of the judge in the Law Courts at Paris, ' vero aspetto 
 di Plutone,' who shouted to some disturbers of order, Paix,paix, Satan, 
 allez, paix, is well known ; and his notion that Dante, when he was in 
 Paris, had heard the same, and made use of it, is no better nor worse 
 than any of the rest. 
 
 5 poter ch' egli abbia. The construction is somewhat uncommon.
 
 CANTO vii HELL 77 
 
 though he have, he will not take from thee thy descent of 
 this rock.' Then he turned round to that swollen lip, and 
 said: 'Be silent, cursed wolf ; consume thee inwardly with 
 thine own rage. Our journey to the depth is not without 
 cause ; it is willed on high, there where Michael wrought 
 the vengeance on the proud ravisher.' As in the wind the 
 puffed sails fall in a tangled heap when the mast snaps, so 
 fell to earth the cruel monster. 
 
 Thus we descended into the fourth hollow, taking more 
 
 Non ti torra lo scender questa roccia. 
 
 Poi si rivolse a quell' enfiata labbia, 
 E disse : Taci, maledetto lupo : 
 Consuma dentro te con la tua rabbia. 
 
 Non e senza cagion 1' andare al cupo : 
 Vuolsi nell' alto la dove Michele 
 Fe la vendetta del superbo strupo. 
 
 Quali dal vento le gonfiate vele 
 
 Caggiono avvolte, poiche 1' alber fiacca 
 Tal cadde a terra la fiera crudele. 
 
 Cosi scendemmo nella quarta lacca, 
 
 We should have expected a few MSS. even give -per, as in Furg. xxv. 
 1 6, ' per 1' anclar che fosse ratto. ' It may be a compressed way of saying, 
 ' Let him have what power he may,' abbia doing duty, as it were, twice 
 over. 
 
 7 ' Labia appellatur habilitas faciei apud Florentines. ' Benv. 
 
 8 maledetto lupo. Cf. Purg. xx. 10. 
 
 12 ' chiamato strupo, quasi violatore col suo superbo pensiero della 
 divina potenza. ' Bocc. Cf. Psalm Ixxiii. (Ixxii. Vulg. ) 27. vendetta 
 may be followed by the genitive of either the offence or the offender. 
 
 13 The position of the words shows that dal vento is intended to apply 
 to both clauses ; the wind both swells the sail and snaps the mast. 
 
 14-16 The rhymes suggest a contrast with Purg. vii. 70 sqq.
 
 78 HELL CANTO 
 
 of the woeful slope, which enwraps all the ill of the uni- 
 verse. Ah justice of God ! who crowds all the new labours 
 and pains that I saw ? and wherefore does our sin so bring 
 us low ? As does the surge there over Charybdis, which 
 breaks itself with that against which it dashes itself, so 
 behoves it that here the folk dance. Here saw I folk more 
 thick than elsewhere, both on one side and on the other, 
 
 Pigliando piu della dolente ripa, a 
 Che il mal dell' universe tutto insacca. 
 
 Ahi giustizia di Dio, tante chi stipa 
 
 Nuove travaglie e pene, quante io viddi ? 20 
 E perche nostra colpa si ne scipa ? 
 
 Come fa 1' onda la sovra Cariddi, 
 
 Che si frange con quella in cui s' intoppa, 
 Cosi convien che qui la gente riddi. 
 
 Qui vid' io gente piu che altrove troppa, 
 E d' una parte e d' altra, con grand' urli, 
 
 a Prendendo Aid. W. 
 
 17 Pigliando. So frendere, not uncommonly, e.g. Purg. i. 108, 
 xxviii. 5. But nearly all the authority is for pigliando here ; and the form 
 of expression is exactly similar to that of Purg. xi. 109. If the rendering 
 there given is correct, the meaning here must be ' hastening our pace 
 over the slope.' 
 
 -'-' Benvenuto quotes the famous ' Incidit in Scillam cupiens vitare 
 Charybdim ' (from the Alexandreis of Gualtier de Lille) ; and it is very 
 probable that the line was in Dante's mind when he selected this image 
 to introduce the description of the sinners who have avoided one form 
 of sin to fall into another as deadly. 
 
 - 5 piu che altrove troppa. Cf. Purg. xx. n. 
 
 - 6 Those who have misused their possessions by undue eagerness to 
 acquire or insufficient care to retain are here, as in Purgatory (xxii. 
 50), punished similarly. Dante's estimate of the harm done by prodi- 
 gality would seem to be more severe than that of either Aristotle (Eth. 
 iv. i ) or Aquinas, who both consider that the man who spends too freely
 
 vii HELL 79 
 
 with loud howls rolling weights by push of breast. They 
 kept striking against each other, and then on the spot 
 each turned round, rolling back, crying: 'Why holdest?' 
 and ' Why squanderest ? ' Thus would they turn through 
 the foul circle, from every quarter to the opposite joust, 
 crying ever in their shameful measure. Then each would 
 turn round when he was come through his half-circle to the 
 other joust. And I, who had my heart as it were pierced 
 through, said : ' My Master, now show me what folk this is, 
 and if they all were clerks, these tonsured ones on our left 
 hand.' And he to me : ' Each and all were so bleared in 
 
 Voltando pesi per forza di poppa : 
 Percotevansi incontro, e poscia pur li 
 
 Si rivolgea ciascun, voltando a retro, 
 
 Gridando : Perche tieni, e : Perche burli ? 30 
 Cos! tornavan per lo cerchio tetro, 
 
 Da ogni mano all' opposite punto, 
 
 Gridandosi anche loro ontoso metro : 
 Poi si volgea ciascun, quando era giunto 
 
 Per lo suo mezzo cerchio all' altra giostra. 
 
 Ed io che avea lo cor quasi compunto, 
 Dissi : Maestro mio, or mi dimostra 
 
 Che gente e questa, e se tutti fur cherci 
 
 Questi chercuti alia sinistra nostra. 
 Ed egli a me : Tutti e quanti fur guerci 40 
 
 is nearer to the virtuous mean of liberality than he who is greedy of gain. 
 Probably, however, he felt strongly the mischief which unbridled luxury 
 had done to the society of his own time. 
 
 - 8 Each division occupies half the circle. When they meet, they 
 turn back and meet again at the other end of the diameter. 
 
 30 tieni burli. Are these technical terms of any game ?
 
 So HELL CANTO 
 
 their mind in the former life, that they made no spending 
 with moderation. Clearly enough their voice bays it forth, 
 when they come to the two points of the circle, where a 
 contrary fault unmates them. These were clerks, who have 
 no covering of hair on their head, and popes and cardinals, 
 in whom avarice uses its mastery.' And I : ' Master, among 
 these of this kind I ought surely to recognise some, who 
 were defiled with these evils.' And he to me : ' Thou 
 puttest a vain thought together ; the unrecognising life, 
 
 Si della mente in la vita primaia, 
 Che con misura nullo spendio ferci. 
 
 Assai la voce lor chiaro 1' abbaia, 
 
 Quando vengono ai due punti del cerchio, 
 Ove colpa contraria li dispaia. 
 
 Questi fur cherci, che non han coperchio 
 Piloso al capo, e Papi e Cardinali, 
 In cui usa avarizia il suo soperchio. 
 
 Ed io : Maestro, tra questi cotali 
 
 Dovre' io ben riconoscere alcuni, 50 
 
 Che furo immondi di cotesti mali. 
 
 Ed egli a me : Vano pensiero aduni : 
 La sconoscente vita, che i fe sozzi, 
 
 46 sqq. The avarice of the clergy is, of course, a favourite subject of 
 reproach with Dante, e.g. xix. 3, 4, Par. xxvii. 55, etc. ; but here there 
 seems to be some confusion of ideas. From 1. 46 it would appear that 
 those who are tonsured, or shorn, were the clerics only ; but in 1. 57 
 and in Purg. xxii. 46 it seems to be implied that this mark was common 
 to all those who are punished for avarice. Philalethes, indeed, thinks 
 that 1. 46 refers to tonsure only, and 1. 57 to total absence of hair, and 
 doubtless the clergy would fall rather into the class ' with closed hst ' : 
 but it is curious, if so, that Dante should not have guarded against mis- 
 understanding. 
 
 53 sconoscente : quia in vita nesciverunt uti temporalibus. Benv. 
 But none of the early commentators seems to have been struck by this
 
 vii HELL 8 1 
 
 that made them filthy, now makes them dim to every recog- 
 nition. For ever will they come to the two shocks ; these 
 shall arise from the tomb with the fist shut, and these 
 with the hair cut short. Ill -giving and ill -keeping have 
 taken from them the world of beauty, and placed them in 
 this scuffle ; of what sort that is, I here use no fine words. 
 Now canst thou, my son, see the short game of the goods 
 which are entrusted to Fortune, for which the human race 
 buffet each other. For all the gold that is beneath the 
 moon and that ever was, of these wearied souls could never 
 make one of them rest.' 
 
 Ad ogni conoscenza or li fa bruni ; 
 
 In eterno verranno alii due cozzi ; 
 Questi risurgeranno del sepulcro 
 Col pugno chiuso, e questi coi crin mozzi. 
 
 Mai dare e mal tener lo mondo pulcro 
 Ha tolto loro, e posti a questa zuffa : 
 Qual ella sia, parole non ci appulcro. 60 
 
 Or puoi, figliuol, veder la corta buffa 
 
 Dei ben, che son commessi alia Fortuna, 
 Perche 1' umana gente si rabbuffa. 
 
 Che tutto 1' oro, ch' e sotto la luna, 
 
 E che gia fu, di queste anime stanche b 
 Non poterebbe fame posar una. 
 
 b O che 2 Aid. IV. 
 
 tremendous conception, which appears to be entirely Dante's own : the 
 obliteration of all outward marks of individuality by persistence in a 
 sordid disregard of the true use of wealth. 
 
 59 Notice the construction of this line, in which loro does duty first 
 as a dative, then as an accusative. 
 
 6fi fame. For ne pleonastic see Diez iii. 58. With this line cf. 
 Conv. iv. Ode: 'Che, quantunque collette, non posson quietar, ' and 
 chap. II. 
 
 G
 
 82 HELL CANTO 
 
 ' Master,' said I to him, ' now tell me also ; this Fortune, 
 on which thou dost touch to me, what is she, that has the 
 goods of the world so within her claws ? ' And he to me : 
 ' O foolish creatures, how great ignorance is that which makes 
 you trip ! Now will I that thou swallow my opinion thereof. 
 
 Maestro, diss' io lui, or mi di' anche : 
 
 Questa Fortuna, di che tu mi tocche, 
 
 Che e, che i ben del mondo ha si tra branche ? 
 E quegli a me : O creature sciocche, 70 
 
 Quanta ignoranza e quella che vi offende ! 
 
 Or vo' che tu mia sentenza ne imbocche : 
 
 70 This outburst appears, say the more recent commentators, to be 
 due to Dante's having used the disrespectful word branche in referring 
 to Fortune. But this seems rather a poor conceit ; and it is better to 
 follow Bocc. , who regards it as an apostrophe to mankind in general 
 for their folly in supposing that Fortune is anything but a minister of 
 God in the distribution of wealth. To place her on a level with the 
 ' intelligences ' that move the heavens of the planets would seem to be 
 an original and daring conception of Dante's own. It looks almost as 
 if, with a view of saving the theory of heavenly influences enunciated 
 in Par. viii. 102, Conv. ii. 5, and elsewhere, he had enrolled 'Fortune,' 
 who is practically much the same as the dvdyKtj or TrAacw/^cT; 
 atria of Timaeus xvii., among the heavenly motors, and assigned to her 
 the special charge of the region below the sphere of the moon, and, as 
 a consequence, of the distribution of worldly wealth. (Cf. Juvenal's 
 Nos te, nos facimus, Fortuna, deam, caeloque locamus.) There is a hint 
 of the doctrine in Conv. ii. 5 : Altri furono, siccome Plato, uomo eccel- 
 lentissimo, che puosono non solamente tante Intelligenze quanti sono Ii 
 movimenti del cielo, ma eziandio quante sono le spezie delle cose . . . 
 siccome una spezie tutti gli uomini, e tin altra tutto foro, e mi* altra 
 tutte le larghezze (al. le richezze, al. 1' argento), e cosi di tutto ; e vollero 
 che siccome le intelligenze dei cieli sono generatrici di quelli, ciascuna 
 del suo, cosi queste fossero generatrici dell' altre cose . . . e chiamate 
 Plato idee, che e tanto a dire quanto forme e nature univcrsali. Li 
 Gentili le chiamavano Dei e Dee. In Conv. iv. 1 1 he enlarges further 
 on the distribution of wealth by fortune, but has not yet arrived at 
 personifying (or rather deifying) her. See further Par. viii. 97 sqq. 
 Boethius de Cons. Phil. Book ii. may also be referred to.
 
 vii HELL 83 
 
 He, whose knowledge transcends all, made the heavens, and 
 gave them their guide, so that every part shines on every 
 part, distributing equally their light. Similarly to the 
 splendours of the world He ordained a general minister and 
 leader, to change in due season the vain goods from people 
 to people and from one to another race, beyond the guard- 
 ing of human wisdom. Wherefore one folk has the 
 mastery and another dwindles, following the decree of her 
 who is hidden, as the snake in grass. Your knowledge has 
 
 Colui, lo cui saper tutto trascende, 
 Fece li cieli, e die lor chi conduce, 
 Si che ogni parte ad ogni parte splende, 
 
 Distribuendo ugualmente la luce : 
 Similemente agli splendor mondani 
 Ordinb general ministra e duce, 
 
 Che permutasse a tempo li ben vani 
 
 Di gente in gente e d' uno in altro sangue, 80 
 Oltre la difension dei senni umani : 
 
 Perche una gente impera, e 1' altra langue, 
 Seguendo lo giudizio di costei, 
 Che e occulto, come in erba 1' angue. 
 
 Vostro saper non ha contrasto a lei ; 
 
 85 Here again he slightly modifies the doctrine of Conv. iv. 1 1 ; 
 where riches, etc., are held to come in some cases from fortune aided by 
 or aiding reason. For the doctrine here expressed, Dante is severely 
 rated by his contemporary Cecco d' Ascoli, in the curious treatise called 
 " L'Acerba.' He says (Book ii. sP. 3) : 
 
 In cio peccasti, Fiorentin poeta, 
 Ponendo chegli ben de la fortuna 
 Necessitati sieno con lor meta. 
 Non e fortuna che ragion non vinca ; 
 
 and a good deal more to the same effect.
 
 84 HELL CANTO 
 
 no means to withstand her ; she foresees, judges, and 
 pursues her reign, as the other gods do theirs. Her shiftings 
 have no respite ; necessity makes her to be swift ; so quickly 
 comes he who follows up a change. This is she who is so 
 crucified by the very men who ought to give her praise, 
 giving her blame amiss, and an ill report. But she is in 
 bliss, and hears not that ; with the other prime created 
 things in joy she rolls her sphere, and enjoys her, being 
 blessed. 
 
 Questa prowed^, giudica e persegue c 
 
 Suo regno, come il loro gli altri Dei. 
 Le sue permutazion non hanno triegue : 
 
 Necessita la fa esser veloce, 
 
 Si spesso vien chi vicenda consegue. 90 
 
 Quest' e colei, ch' e tanto posta in croce 
 
 Pur da color che le dovrian dar lode, 
 
 Dandole biasmo a torto e mala voce. 
 Ma ella s' e beata, e cio non ode : 
 
 Con 1' altre prime creature lieta 
 
 Volve sua spera, e beata si gode. 
 
 c Ella 2 .-//,/. IV. 
 
 87 Dei. Cf. Par. xxviii. 121. 
 
 ! ' Cf. Boeth. ii. Pr. I : Hi semper ejus mores sunt ; ista natura. 
 Servavit circa te propriain potius in ipsa sui mutabilitate constantiam. 
 
 91 So Lactantius Div. Inst. iii. 28 : Non dissimili crrore creclunt esse 
 fortunam (|uasi deam quandam res humanas variis casibus illudentem 
 . . . Jam quicunque aliquos consolati sunt ol> intcritum amissio- 
 nemque carorum fortunae nomen acerrimis accusationibus prosciderunt. 
 
 9:! 5i6 KO.I tyica.\eiTCU TTJ rvxy, K.T.\. Eth. iv. (II2O b). 
 
 '"' prime creature: used of angels in Purs;. .\x\i. 77. 
 
 y ' ; spera. The wheel of Fortune (' Rotam volubili orbe versamus,' 
 she says in Cons. Phil. ii. Pr. 2) becomes, in this conception of her, the 
 ' sphere ' which she governs.
 
 vii HELL 85 
 
 ' Now let us next descend to a greater pity. By this time 
 every star is setting, which was rising when I set forth, and 
 too long staying is forbidden.' 
 
 We cut off the circle to the other bank, past a fount which 
 boils, and pours out through a trench which leads from it. 
 The water was very far darker than perse; and we in 
 company with the dingy waves entered downward by a 
 strange road It makes a marsh which has to name Styx, 
 this sorry brook, when it has descended to the foot of the 
 
 Or discendiamo omai a maggior pieta : 
 Gia ogni stella cade, che saliva 
 Quando mi mossi, e il troppo star si vieta. 
 
 Noi ricidemmo il cerchio all' altra riva 100 
 
 Sopra una fonte, che bolle e riversa 
 Per un fossato che da lei deriva. 
 
 L' acqua era buia assai vie piu che persa : 
 E noi, in compagnia dell' onde bige, 
 Entrammo giu per una via diversa. 
 
 Una palude fa, che ha nome Stige, 
 
 Questo tristo ruscel, quando e disceso 
 Al pie delle maligne piaggie grige. 
 
 97 I.e. to the worse torments of the inner Hell. 
 
 98,99 j_ e _ ever y s t ar which was then between the horizon and the 
 meridian has now passed its 'southing.' Dante does not appear to 
 take account here of ' circumpolar ' stars. As Virgil had started (ii. 
 141) in the evening, this would make the actual time just after midnight. 
 Cf. the Sibyl's injunction : Nox ruit, Aenea, in Aen. vi. 539. 
 
 103 persa : see v. 89. 
 
 106 Stige. Whether Dante knew that the name ZTI!> implied hatred, 
 or, as Boccaccio puts it, tristizia, sullenness, we cannot say. It will 
 be observed, however, that those who are immersed in it are such as 
 lived without love for their neighbours or the world around them ; 
 treating the former with ill-temper, and the latter with sullen indiffer- 
 ence.
 
 86 HELL CANTO 
 
 malign gray slopes. And I, who was standing intent to 
 gaze, saw folk miry in that slough, all naked and with mien 
 of one tripped up. These were beating each other, not only 
 with hand, but with the head and with the breast and with 
 the feet, maiming each other with their teeth piecemeal. 
 The good Master said : ' My son, now seest thou the souls 
 of them whom wrath overcame ; and, moreover, I will that 
 thou believe for sure that under the water are folk which 
 sigh, and make this water to bubble at the surface, as the 
 eye tells thee wherever it roams. Fixed in the mud they 
 say : " Grievous were we in the sweet air which is gladdened 
 by the sun, carrying within us a sullen smoke ; now are we 
 
 Ed io, che di mirar mi stava inteso, 
 
 Vidi genti fangose in quel pantano, no 
 
 Ignude tutte e con sembiante offeso. 
 
 Questi si percotean, non pur con mano, 
 Ma con la testa, col petto e coi piedi, 
 Troncandosi coi denti a brano a brano. 
 
 Lo buon Maestro disse : Figlio, or vedi 
 L' anime di color cui vinse 1' ira : 
 Ed anche vo' che tu per certo crecli, 
 
 Che sotto 1' acqua ha gente che sospira, 
 E fanno pullular quest' acqua al summo, 
 Come 1' occhio ti dice, u' che s' aggira. 120 
 
 Fitti nel limo dicon : Tristi fummo 
 Nell' aer dolce che dal sol s' allegra, 
 Portando dentro accidioso fummo : 
 
 "- si percotean: not, I think, 'smote themselves.' 1'nth here and 
 in troncandosi, two lines lower, si mu>t have the same force ns in Mich 
 words as batt<-rti. They could not have struck //<vw.*v/rv.r with lircast 
 and head ; though in the next canto we shall find Filinpo Ar^enti biting 
 himself. 
 
 1 - :l It is hardly necessary, with Daniello (followed by I'hilalethes). to 
 confine this to tlie sullen or sluirinsh form of an ire r. lie argues, not
 
 vii HELL 87 
 
 grieving in the black slush." This chant they gurgle in their 
 throat, for they cannot say it with speech complete.' 
 
 Thus we turned round a great arc of the foul pond, 
 between the dry bank and the swamp, with our eyes turned 
 on whoso is swallowing of the mire. We came to the foot 
 of a tower at the last. 
 
 Or ci attristiam nella belletta negra. 
 
 Quest' inno si gorgoglian nella strozza, 
 Che dir nol posson con parola integra. 
 
 Cos! girammo della lorda pozza 
 
 Grand' arco tra la ripa secca e il mezzo, 
 Con gli occhi volti a chi del fango ingozza : 
 
 Venimmo appie d' una torre al dassezzo. d 130 
 
 d al pie delta ripa i. 
 
 indeed without some weight, if rather too dogmatically, against all his 
 predecessors (who have understood the sin of ' Accidia ' to be implied 
 in the words), that in this division of Hell only sins of incontinence 
 are punished ; and that the ' Accidiosi ' are to be found, if anywhere, 
 among the ' sciaurati che mai non far vivi ' of the outer Hell. But it is 
 hardly likely that Dante would have relegated to that region one of the 
 recognised deadly sins, or have used here a technical theological term 
 like accidioso in a general sense ; and, moreover, Hugh of St. Victor, 
 according to Scartazzini, distinctly places accidia in a comparative list 
 of vices, as the opposite extreme to rixa. Dante's contemporary, 
 Cecco d' Ascoli, too, in his ' Acerba,' when giving a list of sins, couples 
 ira with accidia. This sin, which is discussed S. T. ii. 2. Q. 35, it 
 should be remembered, is a great deal more than merely sloth. The 
 name accidia (from aKr/dia, originally equivalent to the Latin indolentia) 
 denotes, in the words of St. Thomas, a tristitia de spirituali bono 
 (against which he quotes Ecclus. vi. 26, where the Vulgate has ' ne 
 acedieris vinculis ejus ') ; and a taedium operandi, which he illustrates 
 by the words of the Psalm : ' Their soul abhorred all manner of meat.' 
 It is a form of tristitia ; and the tristis is equal to the XWTJ/SOS of Aristotle ; 
 in our colloquial phrase 'anuisance to himself and his neighbours.' iMalitia 
 and rancor are its offspring ; and not only these, but also evagatio circa 
 illidta. The man who has ceased to take delight in spiritual and intel- 
 lectual goods seeks after carnal pleasures ; and thus Danielle's objection 
 appears to be met. (See also Purgatory, Appendix A.)
 
 CANTO VIII 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They cross the marsh of Styx in a ferry-boat, and as they go Dante 
 sees the spirit of one Philip, u Florentine. On the further side is 
 a city with walls of iron ; entrance whereinto is hindered by the 
 demons who guard it. 
 
 I SAY continuing that long before we were at the foot of 
 the lofty tower, our eyes went up to the summit thereof, by 
 
 lo dico seguitando, ch' assai prima 
 
 Che noi fussimo al pie dell' alta torre, 
 Gli occhi nostri n' andar suso alia cima, 
 
 1 lo dico seguitando. Boccaccio tells us that the preceding cantos 
 were written before Dante's exile ; that some five or six years later, 
 when things had somewhat quieted down, those who had claims 
 against any of the exiles began to bring them against those who had 
 succeeded to the confiscated property ; that Dante's wife was advised 
 that she might thus recover her dowry ; and that she asked a friend, a 
 nephew of Dante's, to search for certain necessary documents in a chest 
 which had at the time of the exile been got to a place of security. In 
 the search he came upon a good deal of MS., including these seven 
 cantos. Being struck with them, he took them to Dino Frescobaldi, a 
 well-known man of letters, who sent them to the Marquis Malaspina, 
 with whom Dante then was, begging him to induce the poet to proceed 
 with the work ; and so the Divine Comedy was completed. Curiously 
 enough, this story was told to Boccaccio by two persons, each of whom 
 claimed to have been the finder ; but it is of course not impossible that 
 both may have been present. The strongest point against the story, as 
 Boccaccio sees, is that it requires the prophecy of Ciacco (vi. 04-72) to
 
 CANTO vin HELL 89 
 
 reason of two flamelets which we saw set out there, and 
 another from afar send back the sign, from so far that 
 hardly could the eye take it up. And I turned round to 
 the ocean of all wisdom ; I said : ' What says this ? and what 
 does that other fire answer ? and who are they that make 
 it ? ' And he to me : ' Over the slimy waves now canst thou 
 
 Per due fiammette che i' vedemmo porre, 
 E un' altra da lungi render cenno 
 Tanto, ch' a pena il potea 1' occhio torre. 
 
 Ed io mi volsi al mar di tutto il senno ; 
 Dissi : Questo che dice ? e che risponde 
 Quell' altro foco ? e chi son quei che il fenno ? 
 
 Ed egli a me : Su per le sucide onde io 
 
 have been written while some of the events foretold were still really in 
 the future. He will not allow that the passage can have been inserted 
 later ; because Dino Frescobaldi had distributed copies at once, and 
 some of these would still be in existence. But it will be observed that 
 this prophecy is somewhat vague, or at any rate allows a large margin. 
 It may well have been apparent to any student of public affairs in 
 Florence during 1301 that the supremacy of the \Yhite Guelfs would not 
 last out the three years which Ciacco gives as its outside limit. As a 
 matter of fact, it lasted barely two years. Benvenuto tells the story 
 briefly, as would appear, independently, and without the slightest doubt 
 of its truth. Landino quotes it as from Boccaccio ; but thinks that as 
 it makes no difference to the interpretation of the text, it is of no 
 particular interest. Daniello does not refer to it. Dr. Scartazzini seems 
 to think it is merely an ' opinion ' of Boccaccio, and informs us, on the 
 authority of his own forthcoming volume (published in 1890), that it is 
 erroneous. Most readers will probably be inclined to stretch their faith 
 a little in favour of it. 
 
 4 due : probably, as Witte says, to indicate the number of the new- 
 comers. 
 
 5 altra : fiamma says Bocc. ; torre says Benv. The question is not 
 very important ; but on the whole it would rather seem to be the place 
 where the beacon is lit than the beacon itself that gives the sign. 
 
 9 chi son quei ? A question to which no answer ever appears, so far 
 as regards the beacon on the hither side.
 
 90 HELL CANTO 
 
 perceive that which is awaited, if the fog from the marsh 
 hides it not from thee.' Never did bowstring drive an 
 arrow from it to speed away through the air so quick as I 
 saw a little bark come through the water toward us mean- 
 while, under the guidance of a single boatman, who w r as 
 crying: 'So! art come, caitiff soul ?' ' Phlegyas, Phlegyas, 
 thou art crying in vain,' said my Lord, 'for this time; thou 
 wilt have us no longer than but crossing the mud.' Like 
 him who listens to a great deceit that has been wrought for 
 him, and then is vexed thereat, such became Phlegyas in his 
 
 Gia puoi scorgere quello che s' aspetta, 
 Se il fummo del pantan nol ti nasconde. 
 
 Corda non pinse mai da se saetta, 
 Che si corresse via per 1' acre snella, 
 Com' io vidi una nave piccioletta 
 
 Yenir per 1' acqua verso noi in quella, 
 Sotto il governo d' un sol galeoto, 
 Che gridava : Or sei giunta, anima fella ? 
 
 Flegias, Flegias, tu gridi a voto, 
 
 Disse lo mio signore, a questa volta : 20 
 
 Piu non ci avrai, che sol passando il loto. 
 
 Quale colui, che grande inganno ascolta 
 Che gli sia fatto, e poi se ne rammarca, 
 Fecesi Flemas nell' ira accolta. 
 
 1(i in quella : so xii. 22. Understand prol>al)ly ora. 
 
 111 Phlegyas seems to owe his position here, as Khipcus (Par. x.\. 68) 
 his in heaven, to a couple of lines in the Aeneid. He is mentioned 
 (Aen. vi. 618) in terms which make him the type of all those, who 
 infringe the laws which should govern the dealings of man \\ith other 
 men, or with (iod: ' Discite justitiam moniti, et non tetnnere divo.s.' 
 Hence lie is appropriately put to guard the access to the inner division 
 of Hell, where sins of these classes are punished. 
 
 :l You will only have us in your power while the passage lasts.
 
 viii HELL 91 
 
 gathered wrath. My Leader went down into the boat, and 
 then made me enter after him ; and only when I was in, did 
 it seem laden. 
 
 Soon as my Leader and I were in the vessel, the ancient 
 prow goes on its way cutting more of the water than it is 
 wont with others. 
 
 While we were speeding over the dead channel, one 
 covered with mire put himself in front of me and said : 
 'Who art thou that comest before thy time?' And I to 
 him : ' If I come, I do not stay. But who art thou that art 
 become thus loathly ? ' He answered : ' Thou seest that I 
 am one who lament.' And I to him : ' With lamenting and 
 
 Lo duca mio discese nella barca, 
 E poi mi fece entrare appresso lui, 
 E sol quand' io fui dentro parve carca. 
 
 Tosto che il duca ed io nel legno fui, 
 Secando se ne va 1' antica prora 
 Dell' acqua piu che non suol con altrui. 30 
 
 Mentre noi corravam la morta gora, 
 Dinanzi mi si fece un pien di fango, 
 E disse : Chi sei tu che vieni anzi ora ? 
 
 Ed io a lui : S' io vegno, non rimango ; 
 Ma tu chi sei, che sei si fatto brutto ? 
 Rispose : Vedi che son un che piango. 
 
 Ed io a lui : Con piangere e con lutto, 
 
 32 As we shall presently learn, this is one Filippo tie' Cavicciuli, of 
 the clan of the Adimari (see Par. xvi. 115), known from his lavish 
 display of wealth as Filippo Argenti. lie is one of the personages in 
 Boccaccio's story (already referred to ; note vi. 52) in which Ciacco 
 plays a part. Benvenuto here recites it in full. 
 
 37 It is curious to observe that Dante's demeanour towards the lost 
 spirits whom he meets changes from this point. Except to some extent 
 in the case of Brunetto Latini, there is, even where he shows respect,
 
 92 HELL CANTO 
 
 with sorrow, accursed spirit, remain ; for I know thee, all 
 filthy though thou be.' Then he stretched forth both his 
 hands to the vessel ; wherefore the Master being aware 
 pushed him away, saying : ' Be off there, with the other 
 dogs.' Then girt he my neck with his arms, he kissed my 
 face, and said : ' 1 >isdainful soul, blessed is she that bare 
 thee. This man was in the world a person full of arrogance ; 
 there is no goodness which adorns his memory ; thus is his 
 shade here furious. How many now hold themselves great 
 kings up there who shall stand here like swine in the slush, 
 leaving horrible dispraise of themselves ! ' And I : ' Master, 
 
 Spirito maledetto, ti rimani : 
 
 Ch' io ti conosco, ancor sia lordo tutto. 
 
 Allora stese al legno ambo le mani : 4 o 
 
 Perche il Maestro accorto lo sospinse, 
 Dicendo : Via costa con gli altri cani. 
 
 Lo collo poi con le braccia mi cinse, 
 
 Baciommi il volto, e disse : Alma sdegnosa, 
 Benedetta colei che in te s' incinse. 
 
 Quei fu al mondo persona orgogliosa ; 
 Bonta non e che sua memoria fregi : 
 Cosi s' e 1' ombra sua qui furiosa. 
 
 Quanti si tengon or lassii gran regi, 
 
 Che qui staranno come porci in brago, 50 
 
 Di se lasciando orribili dispregi ! 
 
 none of the sympathy which he has hitherto expressed ; and here we 
 rind him behaving towards Filippo exactly as Filippo in life had behaved 
 towards him and others. He would doubtless justify himself by Aris- 
 totle's description of the fj.fya\6^vxs (Kth. iv. 3) as (jia^epo^icror, and ov 
 Ka.Ko\6yos ft /J.TI OL' i'^pic. 
 
 45 in te s' incinse. So Dec. iii. 9: La donna ingravido in due 
 figliuoli maschi. (I. hire's explanation of enceinte from in,-iiii/a, as 
 though = ' ungirt,' can hardly be correct.)
 
 vin HELL 93 
 
 I should be very fain to see him stifled in this stew, before 
 that we have issued from the lake.' And he to me : ' Before 
 that the bank lets itself be seen by thee thou shalt be satisfied; 
 of such a desire it is meet that thou have enjoyment.' A 
 little thereafter I saw the miry folk make of him that 
 rending, that I still praise God thereof and give Him thanks. 
 They all began to cry : ' At Philip Argenti ! ' And the wrath- 
 ful spirit from Florence turned upon himself with his own 
 teeth. 
 
 There we left him, for I relate no more of him ; but a 
 woe smote me in the ears ; wherefore I give my eye freedom 
 to fix on the front. The good Master said : ' Now, my son, 
 
 Ed io : Maestro, molto sarei vago 
 Di vederlo attuffare in questa broda, 
 Prima che noi uscissimo del lago. 
 
 Ed egli a me : Avanti che la proda 
 Ti si lasci veder, tu sarai sazio : 
 Di tal disio converra che tu goda. 
 
 Dopo cib poco vidi quello strazio 
 Far di costui alle fangose genti, 
 Che Dio ancor ne lodo e ne ringrazio. 60 
 
 Tutti gridavano : A Filippo Argenti : 
 E il Fiorentino spirito bizzarro 
 In se medesmo si volgea coi denti. 
 
 Quivi il lasciammo, che piu non ne narro : 
 Ma negli orecchi mi percosse un duolo, 
 Perch' io avanti 1' occhio intento sbarro : 
 
 Lo buon Maestro disse : Omai, figliuolo,
 
 94 HELL CANTO 
 
 is getting near the city which has Dis to name, with its 
 burthened citizens, with its great array.' And I : ' Master, 
 its minarets already I clearly discern there within the valley, 
 scarlet as though they had come out of fire.' And he said 
 to me: 'The eternal fire, which fires them inwardly, shows 
 them ruddy as thou seest in this nether Hell.' 
 
 We came right into the deep moats which fence that 
 disconsolate land ; it seemed to me that the walls were 
 
 S' aj)pressa la citta che ha nome Dite, 
 Coi gravi cittadin, col grande stuolo. 
 
 Ed io : Maestro, gia le sue meschite 70 
 
 La entro certo nella valle cerno 
 Vermiglie, come se di foco uscite 
 
 Fossero. Ed ei mi disse : II foco eterno, 
 Ch' entro 1' affoca, le dimostra rosse, 
 Come tu vedi in questo basso inferno. 
 
 Noi pur giugnemmo dentro all' alte fosse, a 
 Che vallan quella terra sconsolata : 
 Le mura mi parean che ferro fosse. 
 
 ''' gravi cittadini. I have followed the usual interpretation, accord- 
 ing to which the ' citizens ' arc the lost souls, heavy with the burthen of 
 their sins; hut there is a good deal to be said in favour of 1'onta's 
 suggestion which Uianchi quotes, that the citizens of the city of Hell are 
 the devils, in which case gravi will mean ' odious ' or ' fearful.' 'YYhich- 
 cver way we take it, there is no doubt an irony intended in this use of 
 the word, winch may be called the regular complimentary epithet of 
 ' citizens. ' 
 
 ~" meschite: the same word which we have made into mosque, 
 This form is nearer to the Indian mitsjiJ. 
 
 78 Notice fosse sing., following the number of the nearer noun. 
 Diez iii. 277. For the description generally cf. Aen. vi. 548 .-qq. : 
 
 subito et sub rupe sinistra 
 Moenia lata videt, triplici circumdata muro,
 
 viii HELL 95 
 
 iron. Not without first making a great circuit we came to a 
 place where the boatman cried loud to us, ' Go forth ; here 
 is the entry.' I saw more than a thousand above the gates, 
 fallen from heaven, who angrily said : ' Who is this that 
 without death goes through the realm of the dead folk?' 
 And my sage Master made sign of wishing to speak with 
 them secretly. Then they put a close somewhat to their 
 great disdain and said : ' Come thou alone, and let this one 
 go his way, who has come so boldly through this realm ; let 
 him return alone over his foolish road ; let him try if he 
 
 Non senza prima far grande aggirata, 
 
 Venimmo in parte, dove il nocchier, forte, 80 
 Uscite, ci grido, qui e 1' entrata. 
 
 lo vidi piu di mille in sulle porte 
 Da ciel piovuti, che stizzosamente b 
 Dicean : Chi e costui, che senza morte 
 
 Va per lo regno della morta gente ? 
 E il savio mio Maestro fece segno 
 Di voler lor parlar segretamente. 
 
 Allor chiusero un poco il gran disdegno, 
 E disser : Vien tu solo, e quei sen vada, 
 Che si ardito entro per questo regno. 90 
 
 Sol si ritorni per la folle strada : 
 
 b Dal del Gg. 23 ; Da ciel IV. 
 Quae rapidus flammis ambit torrentibus amnis. 
 
 Porta adversa ingens . . . 
 
 Vis ut nulla virum, non ipsi exscindere bello 
 
 Caelicolae valeant ; stat ferrea turris ad auras. 
 
 32 Devils appear here for the first time ; and here, as Witte points 
 out, for the first time we find an attempt at resistance to the Divine 
 decree, in virtue of which Dante is passing through.
 
 96 HELL CANTO 
 
 knows it ; for thou shall remain here who hast escorted him 
 through so dark a country.' Think, reader, if I was in dis- 
 comfort at the sound of their accursed words ; for I deemed 
 that I never should return hither. 
 
 'O, dear my Leader, who more than seven times hast 
 restored security to me, and drawn me from depth of 
 danger which stood against me, leave me not,' I said, 'thus 
 undone ; and if to go further is denied to us, let us quickly 
 find our tracks again together.' And that Lord who had 
 led me there said to me : ' Fear not, for none can take from 
 us our passage ; by such an One is it granted. But await 
 me here ; and thy weary spirit comfort and feed with a good 
 
 Provi se sa ; che tu qui rimarrai, 
 Che gli hai scorta si buia contrada. 
 
 Pensa, Lettor, se io mi sconfortai 
 Nel suon delle parole maledette : 
 Ch' io non credetti ritornarci mai. 
 
 O caro duca mio, che piu di sette 
 
 A 7 olte m' hai sicurta renduta, e tratto 
 D' alto periglio che incontra mi stette, 
 
 Non mi lasciar, diss' io, cosi disfatto : 100 
 
 E se il passar piu oltre c' e negate, 
 Ritroviam 1' orme nostre insieme ratto. 
 
 E quel signer, che li m' avea menato, 
 
 Mi disse : Non temer, che il nostro passo 
 Non ci pub torre alcun : da tal n' e dato. 
 
 Ma qui m' attencli ; e Io spirito lasso 
 Conforta e ciba di speranza buona, 
 
 ys Observe that mi represents the dative in the first clause (m' hai 
 renduta) and the accusative in the second (m' hai tratto). Cf. for 
 another '/eugina/ if so it may he called, vii. 59.
 
 vin HELL 97 
 
 hope, for I will not desert thee in the world below.' Thus 
 goes his way, and abandons me there my sweet father ; and 
 I remain in doubt, for yes and no hold contention in my 
 head. 
 
 I could not hear what he held forth to them ; but he 
 had not stayed there with them long when each one vied in 
 running back within. Those our adversaries shut the gates 
 in front of my Lord, who remained without, and turned 
 back to me with slow paces. He had his eyes earthward, 
 and his brows shorn of all boldness, and was saying with 
 sighs : ' Who has forbidden me the abodes of woe ? ' And 
 to me he said : ' Thou, because I am wroth, be not cast 
 down ; for I will win the trial, whatever be rolled up within 
 
 Ch' io non ti lascero nel mondo basso. 
 
 Cos! sen va, e quivi m' abbandona 
 
 Lo dolce padre, ed io rimango in forse ; no 
 Che il si e il no nel capo mi tenzona. 
 
 Udir non potei quel ch' a lor si porse : 
 Ma ei non stette la con essi guari, 
 Che ciascun dentro a prova si ricorse. 
 
 Chiuser le porte quei nostri avversari 
 
 Nel petto al mio signer, che fuor rimase, 
 E rivolsesi a me con passi rari. 
 
 Gli occhi alia terra, e le ciglia avea rase 
 D' ogni baldanza, e dicea nei sospiri : 
 Chi m' ha negate le dolenti case ? 120 
 
 Ed a me disse : Tu, perch' io m' adiri, 
 Non sbigottir, ch' io vincero la prova, 
 Qual ch' alia difension dentro s' aggiri. 
 
 10 forse: cf. xvii. 95. For this use (frequent in Dante) of an adverb 
 
 as a subst. see Diez iii. 289. 
 
 123 aggiri : probably with a suggestion of the various engines used 
 in those days in the defence of a fortified place. 
 
 H
 
 98 HELL CANTO vm 
 
 for their defence. This their overweening is not new, for 
 they practised it once at a less secret gate, the which is still 
 found without bolt. Over it thou sawest the dead writing ; 
 and already on this side of it is one descending the steep, 
 passing through the circles without escort, such that by him 
 will the earth be opened to us.' 
 
 Questa lor tracotanza non e nuova, 
 Chi' gia 1' usaro a men secreta porta, 
 La qual senza serrame ancor si trova. 
 
 Sopr' essa vedestu la scritta morta : 
 E gia di qua da lei discende 1' erta, 
 Passando per li cerchi senza scorta, 
 
 Tal che per lui ne fia la terra aperta. 130 
 
 c a me in sec. 134 ; in me sec. 2. 
 
 Kr> I.e. at the main gate of Hell, when Christ descended, to ' preach 
 to the spirits in prison ' and to bring away the saints of the old dis- 
 pensation.
 
 CANTO IX 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 While they are staying outside the gate, the Furies appear on the tower, 
 and threaten to bring the Gorgon Medusa. Virgil covers Dante's 
 eyes. Presently there appears a heavenly messenger moving over 
 the marsh, at whose command the gate opens, and they enter a 
 place full of tombs, wherein lie the heretics. 
 
 THAT colour which cowardice painted me outwardly, seeing 
 my Leader turn to retreat, the sooner restrained within him 
 his unwonted hue. He stopped, intent as one who listens ; 
 for the eye could not bring him far through the black air 
 and through the packed mist. ' Nay, it will behove us to 
 
 QUEL color che vilta di fuor mi pinse, 
 Veggendo il duca mio tornare in volta, 
 Piii tosto dentro il suo nuovo ristrinse. 
 
 Attento si fermo com' uom che ascolta ; 
 Che 1' occhio nol potea menare a lunga 
 Per 1' aer nero e per la nebbia folta. 
 
 Pure a noi converra vincer la punga, 
 
 1 " :i I.e. seeing that Dante was alarmed, Virgil allowed his own 
 countenance to recover its natural hue. 
 
 7 The train of thought connecting these broken exclamations seems 
 to be : ' In spite of this check we must win, unless we are deserted by 
 the powers of heaven ; and after the aid promised us that is scarcely 
 possible ; yet the delay is long. ' As will be seen, the theme of the first 
 part of this canto is despair ; and these words of Virgil are obviously 
 intended to lead up to it. Benvenuto, with reason, considers the
 
 100 HELL CANTO 
 
 win the fight,' began he ; ' unless . . . such aid was offered 
 us ; O how long it is to me ere another come hither ! ' 
 
 I saw clearly how he overlaid his beginning with the 
 other that came after, which was words diverse from the 
 first ; but none the less his speech gave me fear, because 
 I turned the curtailed word perchance to a worse purport 
 than he held. 
 
 ' Into this depth of the shell of sorrow does any ever 
 descend from the first level which for penalty has only hope 
 cut off? ' This question I made. And he : ' Rarely comes 
 
 Comincib ei : se non . . . tal ne s' offerse. 
 
 Oh quanto tarda a me ch' altri qui giunga ! 
 lo vidi ben, si com' ei ricoperse 10 
 
 Lo cominciar con 1' altro che poi venne, 
 
 Che fur parole alle prime diverse. 
 Ma nondimen paura il suo dir dienne, 
 
 Perch' io traeva la parola tronca 
 
 Forse a peggior sentenza ch' ei non tenne. 
 In questo fondo della trista conca 
 
 Discende mai alcun del prime grado, 
 
 Che sol per pena ha la speranza cioncn ? 
 Questa question fee' io ; e quei : Di rado 
 
 passage ' difficillima et intricatissima,' and bids us take it thus : 'fur a 
 me (sic) coii-'cii (sic) vincer la pitgna, idest istam probani. Kt debet It-gi 
 voce aha ad inodum irati, se non, debet legi voce subniissa et debet 
 suppleri : et si non poterimus vincere pugnani, tal nc .r'c/Av-.c,-, idest tails 
 obtulit se nobis ad succursum, quod ejus auxilio bene intrabimus, et 
 dimittit verbuni suspension. . . . Poles, etiam ponere literam magis 
 aperte ut dicas : tal se n' ojfcrsc,' etc. Hoccaccio appears to take se 
 non as unconnected and almost random words, but oilers no general 
 explanation. 
 
 "' conca. The image is of course from the spiral shells, such as 
 Tritons in pictures blow; which fairly represent the shape of Hellas 
 Dante imagines it. 
 
 1S Cf. iv. 42.
 
 ix HELL 101 
 
 it to pass,' he answered me, ' that any of us makes the 
 journey upon which I go. It is true that another time I was 
 conjured down here by that cruel Erichtho, who would call 
 the shades back to their bodies. A little while had my 
 flesh been bare of me, when she made me enter within 
 that wall, to draw thence a spirit of the circle of Judas. 
 That is the lowest place and the darkest, and the farthest 
 from the heaven which turns the whole. I know the way 
 well ; therefore assure thyself. This marsh that breathes 
 
 Incontra, mi rispose, che di nui 20 
 
 Faccia il cammino alcun per quale io vado. 
 
 Ver' e ch' altra fiata quaggiu fui 
 
 Congiurato da quella Eriton cruda, 
 Che richiamava 1' ombre ai corpi sui. 
 
 Di poco era di me la carne nuda, 
 
 Ch' ella mi fece entrar dentro a quel muro, 
 Per trarne un spirto del cerchio di Giuda. 
 
 Quell' e il piu basso loco e il piii oscuro, 
 E il piu lontan dal ciel che tutto gira : 
 Ben so il cammin : pero ti fa sicuro. 30 
 
 Questa palude, che il gran puzzo spira, 
 
 22 S qq. Erichtho was the witch employed by Sextus Pompey on the 
 night before the battle of Pharsalia (Luc. Phars. vi.) to resuscitate one 
 of his soldiers, that he might learn what was to be the issue of the cam- 
 paign. Of her subsequent dealings with the shade of Virgil no record 
 appears to remain ; though we can hardly suppose with Benvenuto that 
 it is simply an invention of Dante's for the present occasion. This would 
 be quite unlike Dante's usual method ; and it is far more probable that 
 he found the germ of the story in some of the many legends about Virgil 
 which were current in the middle ages. In Lucan's description there is 
 no suggestion that another spirit was sent in order to fetch the one 
 required ; and with regard to this, it is expressly stated that ' primo 
 pallentis hiatu Haeret adhuc Orci.' Moreover, at the time of the 
 incantation narrated by Lucan, Virgil had still many years to live.
 
 102 HELL CANTO 
 
 forth the great stench girds round the city of woe, where 
 we cannot now enter without a quarrel.' And else he said, 
 but I have it not in mind, seeing that my eye had drawn 
 me wholly towards the high tower with the ruddy top, 
 where in one moment had suddenly reared up three furies 
 of hell the hue of blood, who had limbs and fashion of 
 
 Cinge d' intorno la citta dolente, 
 
 U' non potemo entrare omai senz' ira. 
 
 Ed altro disse, ma non 1' ho a mente ; 
 Perocche 1' occhio m' avea tutto tratto 
 Ver 1' alta torre alia cima rovente, 
 
 Dove in un punto furon dritte ratto 
 Tre furie infernal di sangue tinte, 
 Che membra femminili aveano ed atto ; 
 
 38 qq. f^e allegory of all this passage seems to have perplexed the 
 commentators a good deal. Some take it as referring to sensual 
 pleasure, others to theological doubt, and so on. This uncertainty 
 appears due chiefly to the fact that they set to work to expound Dante 
 without referring to the sources whence he drew his system of theology. 
 Dante himself seems from his expression in 11. 61-63 to have anticipated 
 that this would be so. Yet the mystery docs not seem very hr.nl to 
 unravel. A critical point in the journey has been reached, and for the 
 first time we are brought into contact with beings over whom the mere 
 recital of God's command has no power. These are roolved to use 
 any means to hinder Dante's progress ; that is, the advance of the soul 
 towards true penitence. One of the most effectual means to this end is 
 to call up the recollection of past sins (the Furies), and cause the soul to 
 persist in sin (Bocc.) by urging to despair of God's mercy, indicated 
 here by the ( lorgon, who turns men to st<>ne. 'Desperado,' .-ays St. 
 Thomas (S.T. ii. 2. O. 2O. A. 3), ' provenit ex hoc quod homo non sperat 
 se bonitatem Dei participate '; and lie quotes Isidore: ' 1'crpetrare 
 flagitium aliquod mors est ; sed desperare est descendere in infurnum.' 
 Again: ' Quod damnati non sperant . . . est pars damnationis eorum.' 
 Further, he tells us that dcfpcratio springs from ln.\nria and acedia ; 
 and in O. 14. A. 2 he identities it with the sin against the Holy Gho>t, 
 a sin which is committed by every one ' qui veritatem contemnit nut 
 circa fratres inalignus est, aut circa Deum ingratus.' This, as will be
 
 ix HELL 103 
 
 women ; and with greenest water-snakes were they girt ; 
 small serpents and horned snakes had they for hair, where- 
 with their savage temples were bound. And he, who well 
 recognised the menials of the queen of the eternal wailing, 
 said to me : ' Look at the fierce Erinnyes. This is Megaera 
 on the left side ; she who wails on the right is Alecto ; Tisi- 
 phone is in the middle.' And with that he was silent. 
 With her claws each was rending her breast ; they were 
 beating themselves with their palms, and were crying so 
 loud that I clung close to the Poet through dread. ' Let 
 Medusa come, so will we make him of enamel,' they all 
 began to cry, looking downward ; ' ill did we fail to avenge 
 
 E con idre verdissime eran cinte : 40 
 
 Serpentelli e ceraste avean per crine, 
 Onde le fiere tempie eran avvinte. 
 
 E quei, che ben ccnobbe le meschine 
 Delia regina dell' eterno pianto : 
 Guarda, mi disse, le feroci Erine. 
 
 Questa e Megera dal sinistro canto : 
 
 Quella, che piange dal destro, e Aletto : 
 Tesifone e nel mezzo : e tacque a tanto. 
 
 Con 1' unghie si fendea ciascuna il petto ; 
 
 Batteansi a palme e gridavan si alto, 50 
 
 Ch' io mi strinsi al poeta per sospetto. 
 
 Venga Medusa : si '1 farem di smalto, 
 Dicevan tutte riguardando in giuso : 
 
 seen, exactly summarises the classes of sinners within the fortress of 
 Dis ; and the position of the Furies and the Gorgon is thus accounted 
 for. See also note Purg. viii. 19. The whole picture is suggested by 
 Aen. vi. 554. 
 
 5 - It will be remembered that the visit of Ulysses to the shades was 
 brought to an end by fear ' lest Persephone should send me the head of 
 the Gorgon, terrible monster.' Od. A 634.
 
 104 HELL CANTO 
 
 upon Theseus his assault.' 'Turn thee round backwards, 
 and keep thy face shut in ; for if the Gorgon shows herself, 
 and thou behold her, nought would there ever be of the 
 return upwards.' Thus said the Master; and I myself 
 turned me round, and he did not stay at my own hands, 
 but shut me in with his as well. O ye who have your 
 understandings sound, look at the teaching which is hidden 
 under the veil of my strange verses. 
 
 And by this was coming over the turbid waves a clatter 
 
 Mai non vengiannno in Teseo 1' assalto. 3 
 Volgiti indietro, e tien lo viso chiuso ; 
 
 Che se il Gorgon si mostra, e tu il vedessi, 
 
 Nulla sarebbe del tornar mai suso. 
 Cos! disse il Maestro ; ed egli stessi 
 
 Mi volse, e non si tenne alle mie mani. 
 
 Che con le sue ancor non mi chiudessi. 60 
 
 O voi, che avete gl' intelletti sani, 
 
 Mirate la dottrina che s' asconde 
 
 Sotto il velame degli versi strani. 
 E gia venia-su per le torbid' onde 
 
 54 mal, as in xii. 66, Purg. iv. 72, Par. xix. 141. ' Istucl cst vul- 
 garc tuscum non lombardum,' says Benvenuto. r rhe descent of 
 Theseus and Pirithous with the intention of carrying off Proserpine is 
 frequently alluded to by classical authors, and various versions of it 
 seem to have prevailed. Virgil of course in a famous line tells us that 
 Theseus will never be set free; but Dante seems to have followed 
 Apollodorus, according to whom he remained in Hades till set free by 
 Hercules. 
 
 r,:i. o jj t '(H<1 not stay at my hands, so as not to close.' We have 
 in this turn of phrase the origin of non che in the sense of ' much more,' 
 e.g. Purg. xxxii. 1 14. 
 
 '' Human reason can resist for a while the temptation to despair by 
 refusing to contemplate it.
 
 IX HELL 105 
 
 of a sound full of affright, through which both the banks 
 trembled ; not otherwise in fashion than as of a wind 
 impetuous by reason of the heats that it encounters ; which 
 smites the wood, and without any holding back shivers the 
 branches, beats them down, and bears them abroad ; dust- 
 clad in front it goes proudly, and makes the beasts and the 
 shepherds fly. He set my eyes free, and said : ' Now direct 
 the nerve of thy sight over that ancient scum, by the direc- 
 tion where that smoke is most bitter.' As the frogs before 
 
 Un fracasso d' un suon pien di spavento, 
 Per cui tremavano ambo e due le sponde ; 
 
 Non altrimenti fatto che d' un vento 
 Impetuoso per gli avversi ardori, 
 Che fier la selva, e senza alcun rattento 
 
 Li rami schianta, abbatte, e porta fuori ; b 70 
 
 Dinanzi polveroso va superbo, 
 E fa fuggir le fiere e li pastori. 
 
 Gli occhi mi sciolse, e disse : Or drizza il nerbo 
 Del viso su per quella schiuma antica, 
 Per indi ove quel fummo piu acerbo. 
 
 b porta i fwri Aid.; p.fiori W. 
 c Per indi iinde Cass. 2 ; Provide ove 5. 
 
 " s awersi ardori : probably with allusion to the fact of which 
 Aristotle, though his phraseology is obscure, seems to have been aware, 
 that wind, being caused by the air rushing to fill up a heated space, 
 blows from the colder to the hotter region. See Meteor, ii. 4, 5 ; iii. i. 
 
 70 The reading fuori has the great preponderance of authority, and 
 is perfectly satisfactory. No one who has watched the effect of a storm 
 on a forest would hesitate to accept the whirling away of branches as a 
 feature. Flowers, moreover, do not as a rule grow on forest-trees, in 
 Europe at all events ; and without going so far as Bianchi, who says of 
 the supporters of the reading fiori, ' Dio perdoni loro il mal gusto,' we 
 may safely set it aside. (See Moore, Textual Criticism.)
 
 106 HELL CANTO 
 
 their foe the snake all melt away through the water, until 
 each is huddled on the dry ground, thus saw I more than a 
 thousand ruined souls fly in front of one who at a foot's-pace 
 was passing Styx with his soles dry. From his face he was 
 removing that thick air, bringing his left hand often in 
 
 Come le rane innanzi alia nimica 
 
 Biscia per 1' acqua si dileguan tutte, 
 Fin che alia terra ciascuna s' abbica ; 
 
 Vid' io piu di mille anime distrutte 
 
 Fuggir cosi dinanzi ad un, che al passo 80 
 
 Passava Stige colle piante asciutte. 
 
 Dal volto rimovea quell' aer grasso, 
 Menando la sinistra innan/i spesso ; 
 
 76 The image of the frogs is appropriate to the spirits lying in the 
 marsh. 
 
 80 There is a good deal of difference in the opinions of commentators 
 as to the personage here introduced. Boccaccio, indeed, takes the simple, 
 and one would say obvious view that he is an angel ; but P. di Dante 
 and Benvenuto seem to treat it as a matter of course that Mercury is 
 intended (and have a good deal to say about the power of eloquence !) ; 
 Daniello thinks that it is an angel in the form of Mercury. Finally the 
 late Duke of Sermoneta wrote at some length to prove that the mes- 
 senger was no other than Aeneas. Any heathen, whether god or man, 
 would seem, as Lubin points out, to be excluded by the words del ciel 
 messo (though it must be said that the reading dal del, which might 
 mean ' l>y heaven,' has some authority), while the similarity of 1. 87 
 to Purg. ii. 28, 29 allows hardly any doubt that a being of the same 
 kind is intended in both places. At the same time, some part of the 
 passage is evidently suggested by the opening lines of Stat. Theb. ii., 
 where the descent of Mercury is described, which may account for Ben- 
 venuto's theory. 
 
 Undique pigrae 
 
 I iv vetant nubes, et turbidus implicat aer. 
 Nee Xephyri rapuere gradum ; sed foeda silentis 
 Aura pnli, Styx inde novem circuniflua campis, 
 Ilinc objecta vias torrentum incendia cludunt.
 
 ix HELL 107 
 
 front ; and only with that toil he seemed weary. Well per- 
 ceived I that he was sent from heaven ; and I turned to 
 the Master, and he made a sign that I should stand still, 
 and bow myself to that one. Ah, how full of disdain 
 appeared he to me ! He reached the gate, and with a wand 
 he opened it, for no bar was there. 'O ye chased from 
 heaven, folk despised,' he began, upon the horrible threshold, 
 'whence does this overweening make its abode in you? 
 Wherefore kick ye at that will whose end can never be cut 
 short, and which many times has increased woe upon you ? 
 What boots it to make head against the fates? Your 
 Cerberus, if ye well call to mind, bears yet his chin and 
 
 E sol di quell' angoscia parea lasso. 
 
 Ben m' accors' io ch' egli era del ciel messo, 
 E volsimi al Maestro : ed ei fe segno, 
 Ch' io stessi cheto, ed inchinassi ad esso. 
 
 Ahi quanto mi parea pien di disdegno ! 
 Venne alia porta, e con una verghetta 
 L' aperse, che non ebbe alcun ritegno. 90 
 
 O cacciati del ciel, gente dispetta, 
 Comincio egli in su 1' orribil soglia, 
 Ond' esta oltracotanza in voi s' alletta ? 
 
 Perche ricalcitrate a quella voglia, 
 
 A cui non puote il fin mai esser mozzo, 
 E che piu volte v' ha cresciuta doglia ? 
 
 Che giova nelle fata dar di cozzo ? 
 Cerbero vostro, se ben vi ricorda, 
 Ne porta ancor pelato il mento e il gozzo. 
 
 97 dar di cozzo. This curious construction, frequent in Dante, seems 
 to have been overlooked by Diez. The force of di is intermediate 
 apparently between partitive and instrumental. For other examples 
 see note, Purg. xvi. II. 
 
 98, 99 Hercules descended into the infernal regions at the bidding of
 
 io8 HELL CANTO 
 
 his throat peeled therefrom.' Then he turned back to the 
 filthy road, and said no word to us, but made semblance of 
 one whom a care constrains and pricks other than of the 
 man who is before him. And we moved our feet to the 
 land, secure after the holy words. 
 
 We entered in there without any conflict ; and I, who 
 had a desire to behold the condition which such a fortress 
 enlocks, so soon as I was within, send my eye around ; and 
 I see on every hand a great champaign filled with woe and 
 with torment of sin. As at Aries, where the Rhone makes 
 
 Poi si rivolse per la strada lorda, 100 
 
 E non fe motto a noi : ma fe sembiante 
 1)' uomo, cui altra cura stringa e morda, 
 
 Che quella di colui che gli e davante. 
 E noi movemmo i piedi in ver la terra, 
 Sicuri appresso le parole sante. 
 
 Dentro v' entrammo senza alcuna guerra : 
 Ed io, ch' avea di riguardar disio 
 La condizion che tal fortezza serra, 
 
 Com' io fui dentro, 1' occhio intorno invio ; 
 
 E veggio ad ogni man grande campagna no 
 Piena di duolo e di tonnento rio. 
 
 Si come ad Arli, ove Rodano stagna, 
 
 Eurysthcus to bring up Cerberus, as his last ' labour ' (Odyssey A 623). 
 On the same occasion he released Theseus, or, according to one version, 
 Pirithous. See 1. 54- The words of Apollodorus are: Kparuiv tK rov 
 rpax'n^ v Ko.1 &yx uv T Oypiov eireicrf. Just before this he has met 
 Meleager and Medusa, and when about to draw his sword on the 
 latter, lias been told by Hermes that she is an empty shade. (C'f. Aen. 
 vi. 290-294.) 
 
 IS I have taken fortezza in the generally accepted meaning, as in 
 xviii. 14 : but it will not give a bad sense if we take it, as in \x.\iv. 21, 
 to mean ' fortitude' ; ' that which was so strongly defended against our 
 entrance.' 
 
 in;, m E vcr y traveller on the line to Marseilles knows the ancient
 
 ix HELL 109 
 
 a swamp, as at Pola, hard by the Quarnero which shuts 
 Italy in and bathes its confines, the sepulchres make all the 
 place uneven, so did they there on every side, save that 
 there the fashion was harsher ; for among the tombs flames 
 were scattered, by the which they were so wholly heated 
 that no craft soever demands iron more so. All their lids 
 were ajar, and forth of them issued lamentations so grievous, 
 that they were well seen to come from wretches and over- 
 thrown. And I : ' Master, who are these folk that, buried 
 within these chests, make themselves perceived with their 
 woeful sighs ? ' And he to me : ' Here are the heresiarchs 
 
 Si com' a Pola presso del Quarnaro, 
 Che Italia chiude e suoi termini bagna, 
 
 Fanno i sepolcri tutto il loco varo : 
 Cosi facevan quivi d' ogni parte, 
 Salvo che il modo v' era piu amaro ; 
 
 Che tra gli avelli fiamme erano sparte, 
 Per le quali eran si del tutto accesi, 
 Che ferro piu non chiede verun' arte. 120 
 
 Tutti gli lor coperchi eran sospesi, 
 E fuor n' uscivan si duri lamenti, 
 Che ben parean di miseri e d' offesi. 
 
 Ed io : Maestro, quai son quelle genti, 
 Che seppellite dentro da quell' arche 
 Si fan sentir con gli sospir dolenti ? 
 
 Ed egli a me : Qui son gli eresiarche 
 
 cemetery or Aliscamps (Elysios campos} at Aries, with its great sarco- 
 phagus tombs, close to which the railway now passes. The legend of 
 the time, of which Boccaccio Benvenuto following him speaks with 
 some scepticism, was that they contained the bodies of those who had 
 fallen in a great battle between Christians and Saracens ; but they are 
 not improbably older. The tombs at Pola in Istria are less well known. 
 Quamaro : the gulf separating Istria from Dalmatia ; no longer the 
 frontier of Italy.
 
 no HELL CANTO ix 
 
 with their followers of every sect, and much more than thou 
 deemest are the tombs charged. Like with like is here 
 buried, and the monuments are hotter and less hot.' 
 
 And after he had turned to the right hand, we passed 
 between the tortures and the high battlements. 
 
 Coi lor seguaci d' ogni setta, e molto 
 
 Piu che non credi, son le tombe carche. 
 Simile qui con simile e sepolto, 130 
 
 E i monimenti son piu, e men caldi. 
 
 E poi ch' alia r^an destra si fu volto, 
 Passammo tra i martiri e gli alti spaldi. d 
 
 (1 altri Gg. (orig.) Cass. 1234. 
 
 130 J5 env . holds that each sect has one tomb and no more to hold all 
 its adherents, but this hardly agrees with the description at the beginning 
 of the next canto, where it seems to be implied that the ' Epicureans ' 
 alone fill a considerable space. 
 
 1:i - The general direction of the route throughout is always with 
 the sun. This would mean in Hell, a turn towards the left when- 
 ever a new circle is reached. The reason of the exception in this case 
 is not very clear. It is merely a digression from the regular line, as we 
 see at the end of the next canto ; and possibly may have some allusion 
 to the heretic leaving the direct rule of faith. (See note, xvii. 32.)
 
 CANTO X 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They pass among the tombs where the souls of those lie who had denied 
 the life to come. Dante talks with Farinata, who foretells his 
 exile in dark words ; and with Cavalcanti the elder. 
 
 Now along a hidden path between the wall of the land and 
 the torments my Master goes his way, and I behind his 
 shoulders. ' O highest virtue that through the sinful circles 
 dost turn me,' I began, 'at thy will speak to me, and give 
 me satisfaction to my desires. The folk that lies among the 
 tombs, could they be seen ? already all the covers are lifted, 
 and none keeps guard.' And he to me : ' All will be locked, 
 
 ORA sen va per un secreto calle 
 
 Tra il muro della terra e li martiri 
 Lo mio Maestro, ed io dopo le spalle. 
 
 O virtu somma, che per gli empi giri 
 Mi volvi, cominciai, com' a te piace 
 Parlami, e satisfammi ai miei desiri. 
 
 La gente, che per li sepolcri giace, 
 Potrebbesi veder ? gia son levati 
 Tutti i coperchi, e nessun guardia face. 
 
 Ed egli a me : Tutti saran serrati, io 
 
 2 terra : the ' city of Dis,' within which they now are, is regarded as 
 a separate territory from that outside the wall.
 
 112 HELL CANTO 
 
 when from Jehoshaphat they shall return hither with the 
 bodies which they have left above. In this part have their 
 burial-place with Epicurus all his followers, who make the 
 soul dead with the body. Wherefore to the demand that 
 thou makest to me shalt thou shortly have satisfaction within 
 this place, and also to the desire which thou speakest not to 
 me.' And I : ' Good Leader, I do not keep concealed from 
 
 Quando di Josaffat qui torneranno 
 Coi corpi che lassu hanno lasciati. 
 
 Suo cimitero da qi'esta parte hanno 
 Con Epicuro tutti i suoi seguaci, 
 Che 1' anima col corpo morta fanno. 
 
 Perb alia dimanda che mi faci 
 
 Quinc' entro satisfatto sarai tosto, 
 Ed al disio ancor che tu mi taci. 
 
 Ed io : Buon Duca, non tegno riposte 
 
 11 The ' valley of Jehoshaphat ' near Jerusalem is the traditional 
 scene appointed for the last judgement, on the authority of Joel iii. 2, 12. 
 See S. T. Suppl. Q. 84. A. 4; a curious and characteristic piece of 
 argument to show that Joel's words may be and are to be taken literally 
 of an actual spot. (Jehoshaphat = ' the Lord is judge.') 
 
 15 ' Dico, che intra tutte le bestialitadi quella e stoltissima vilissima 
 e dannosissima, che crede dopo questa vita altra vita non essere. ' 
 Conv. ii. 9. Since writing that passage Dante would seem to have 
 extended his study of Epicurus, for he makes no reference to him there ; 
 and later on (ib. iv. 22), when referring to his tenets, he makes no men- 
 tion of this particular dogma. The use of the word bcstialitadi should 
 be noticed, as serving to justify the placing of heretics within the city of 
 Dis. Cf. xi. 83. 
 
 18 Dante does not indicate of what nature the desire was of which he 
 did not speak. Possibly, as Benv. seems to think, the allusion may be 
 to the wish which he has expressed (vi. 79) to see some of the more 
 famous men of his city. It will be found that his unspoken wishes are 
 constantly divined by Virgil and Beatrice ; e.g. xxiii. 21. 
 
 1U '-' Dante appears to regard Virgil's last words as a reproach, and 
 defends himself by reference to Virgil's own admonitions to he brief. No
 
 x HELL 1 13 
 
 thee my heart, save in order to say little ; and thou hast not 
 now only disposed me to this.' 
 
 ' O Tuscan, that alive through the city of the fire goest thy 
 way thus speaking in so honourable wise, may it please thee 
 to halt in this place. Thy manner of speech makes thee 
 manifest as a native of that renowned fatherland to which I 
 was haply too harmful.' Suddenly this sound issued from 
 one of the arks, wherefore I drew in fear a little more to my 
 Leader's side. And he said to me : ' Turn thee ; what doest 
 
 A te mio cor, se non per dicer poco ; 20 
 
 E tu m' hai non pur mo a cio disposto. 
 
 O Tosco, che per la citta del foco 
 Vivo ten vai, cosi parlando onesto, 
 Piacciati di restare in questo loco. 
 
 La tua loquela ti fa manifesto 
 Di quella nobil patria natio, 
 Alia qual forse fui troppo molesto. a 
 
 Subitamente questo suono uscio 
 
 D' una dell' arche : perb m' accostai, 
 Temendo, un poco piu al duca mio. 30 
 
 Ed ei mi disse : Volgiti : che fai ? 
 
 a forse fit io Gg. ; forsi fui 2 ; f. to fui IV. 
 
 instance of these has yet occurred (for in iii. 79, to which Scartazzini refers, 
 there is nothing to show that Dante's fears were warranted), but we 
 shall find such cases : e.g. Purg. xiii. 78. It is worth noticing that what 
 may be called the relations between Dante and Virgil are much less easy 
 during this part of their journey than they afterwards become. Dante is 
 constantly in fear of Virgil's reproof, which he occasionally feels ; in 
 some cases, as xxx. 131, pretty severely. 
 
 " Dante is several times addressed as ' Tosco,' but usually by per- 
 sons belonging to other parts. In this case, some think that his use of 
 the word mo (for nwdo) betrayed him here. Virgil, however, elsewhere 
 uses the same word, so it would not seem to be specially Tuscan. It 
 probably is merely through his general intonation that he is detected, 
 as xxiii. 91, or Purg. xvi. 137. 
 
 I
 
 1 14 HELL CANTO 
 
 thou ? See there Farinata who has reared himself ; all from 
 the waist upwards wilt thou see him.' I had already fixed 
 my ga/e on his ; and he was erecting himself with his breast 
 and with his front, as though he had Hell in great despite. 
 And the hands of my Leader bold and ready urged me 
 between the sepulchres to him, saying : 'Let thy words be 
 ordered.' As soon as I was at the foot of his tomb he gazed 
 at me a little, and then as though in disdain asked me : 
 
 Vedi la Farinata che s' e dritto : 
 Dalla cintola in su tutto il vedrai. 
 
 I' avea gia il mio viso nel suo fitto ; 
 Ed ei s' ergea col petto e colla fronte, 
 Come avesse lo inferno in gran dispitto : 
 
 E 1' animose man del duca e pronte 
 Mi pinser tra le sepolture a lui, 
 Dicendo : Le parole tue sien conte. 
 
 Com' io al pie della sua tomba fui, 40 
 
 Guardommi un poco, e poi quasi sdegnoso 
 
 32 Farinata degli Uberti was, at the time of Dante's birth, a man of 
 very great influence among the Florentine Ghibelines (' capo di parte 
 in Firenze e quasi in tutta Toscana, ' says Boccaccio). After the battle 
 of Montaperti (Vill. vi. 78) in 1260, between the Guelfs and the 
 banished Ghibelines, aided by a detachment of Manfred's Germans 
 under Count Giordano, in which the latter gained a complete success, 
 the victors marched upon Florence. At a council held at F.mpoli, 
 Giordano suggested that the city should be completely ra/.ed. but Fari- 
 nata refused to hear of this, and declared that if he was left alone, he 
 would resist the proposal, sword in hand, a-^ lung as life remained in him 
 (Yill. ib. Si). The other prudently gave in, and the city was saved. 
 
 ''conte: 'cioe composte e ordinate,' l!occ. ; 'familiariterclare,' ]!env. : 
 ' klar, deutlich,' Blanc. The meanings of the word are various, and 
 seem to comprise nearly everything that can be expressed by either 
 cognitus 01 comptns. See Glossary, and note to 1'urg. ii. 56. Here it 
 would appear that Virgil is cautioning Dante to address the old Floren- 
 tine hero with due heed to his words.
 
 x HELL 115 
 
 ' Who were thy forefathers ? ' I, who was desirous to obey, 
 concealed it not from him, but opened it all to him ; where- 
 fore he lifted up his brows a little ; then he said : ' Fiercely 
 were they adverse to me and to my forerunners and to my 
 party, so that at two times I scattered them.' ' If they were 
 driven out, they returned from every quarter,' I answered 
 him, ' both the one and the other time ; but your side have 
 not well learned that art.' Then arose to sight a shade, 
 uncovered, alongside of this one, as far as the chin ; I think 
 
 Mi dimando : Chi fur li maggior tui ? 
 lo, ch' era d' ubbidir desideroso, 
 
 Non gliel celai, ma tutti gliel' apersi : 
 
 Ond' ei levo le ciglia un poco in soso ; 
 Poi disse : Fieramente furo avversi 
 
 A me ed ai miei primi ed a mia parte, 
 
 Si che per due fiate gli dispersi. 
 S' ei fur cacciati, ei tornar d' ogni parte, 
 
 Rispos' io lui, 1' una e 1' altra fiata ; 50 
 
 Ma i vostri non appreser ben quell' arte. 
 Allor surse alia vista scoperchiata 
 
 Un' ombra lungo questa infino al mento : 
 
 48 First in 1248, in the days of Frederick II. : shortly before whose 
 death in 1250 the Guelfs regained the upper hand (Vill. vi. 33, 38). 
 The second time was after the battle of Montaperti already mentioned. 
 This time the Ghibelines had a longer turn of power, for they were not 
 expelled till Martinmas in 1266 ; mainly as a result of Manfred's defeat 
 by Charles of Anjou in the previous year. See the most graphic account 
 given by Villani, vii. 14, 15. 
 
 81 Cf. the closing words of Villani, vii. 15 : e parve che fosse giu- 
 dicio di Dio, che mai poi non tornarono in istato. It must not be for- 
 gotten that Dante was a Guelf by birth, and at this time (1300) an 
 avowed member of the party, though leaning to the ' White ' side, which 
 afterwards became associated in exile with the Ghibelines. 
 
 5a This is Cavalcante, father of Dante's friend Guiclo de' Cavalcanti. 
 Guido had married Farinata's daughter, during a short effort that was
 
 ii6 HELL CANTO 
 
 that it had lifted itself on its knees. It looked all around 
 me, as though it had an impulse to see if any other was with 
 me. But after that his suspicion was wholly extinguished, 
 weeping he said : ' If through this blind prison thou goest 
 for loftiness of wit, where is my son ? why is he not with 
 thee ? ' And I to him : ' I go not of my own self; he who 
 is waiting there, brings me through here, whom haply your 
 Guido had in disdain.' His words and the fashion of his 
 punishment had already read me the name of this one : 
 therefore was my answer thus full. Suddenly rearing up he 
 cried : ' How saidst thou he /tad"? lives he not still? strikes 
 
 Credo che s' era in ginocchie levata. 
 D' intorno mi guardb, come talento 
 
 Avesse di veder s' altri era meco ; 
 
 Ma poi che il suspicar fu tutto spento, 
 Piangendo disse : Se per questo cieco 
 
 Carcere vai per altezza d' ingegno, 
 
 Mio figlio ov' e, e perche non e teco ? 60 
 
 Ed io a lui : Da me stesso non vegno : 
 
 Colui, che attende la, per qui mi mena, 
 
 Forse cui Guido vostro ebbe a disdegno. 
 Le sue parole e il modo della pena 
 
 M' avevan di costui gia letto il nome : b 
 
 Perb fu la risposta cosi piena. 
 Di subito drizzato gridb : Come 
 
 Dicesti : egli ebbe ? non viv' ecrli ancora ? 
 
 made to reconcile the two parties by means of such domestic alliances 
 (Vill. 1. c.)- Judging by the temper which Farinata displays here 
 (" 73'75< we can hardly be surprised that little came of it. 
 
 ' per altezza d' ingegno ; cf. ii. 7. 
 
 63 ' I'erciocche la lilosofia gli pareva, siccome ella e, da molt<> piii 
 che la poesia, ebbe a sdegno Yirgilio e gli altri poeti.' Uocc.
 
 x HELL 117 
 
 not the sweet light upon his eyes ? ' When he was aware of 
 some delay which I made before my answer, he fell back- 
 ward, and appeared no more outside. But that other high- 
 souled one, at whose order I had halted, changed not visage, 
 nor moved neck, nor bent his side. ' And if/ said he, con- 
 tinuing the former speech, ' they have ill learned that art, that 
 torments me more than this couch. But not fifty times shall 
 be rekindled the face of the dame who rules here, that thou 
 shalt know how great the weight of that art is. And, so 
 mayest thou yet return to the sweet world, tell me wherefore 
 
 Non fiere gli occhi suoi lo dolce lome ? 
 
 Quando s' accorse d' alcuna dimora 70 
 
 Ch' io faceva dinanzi alia risposta, 
 Supin ricadde, e piu non parve fuora. 
 
 Ma quell' altro magnanimo, a cui posta 
 Restate in' era, non mutb aspetto, 
 Ne mosse collo, ne piego sua costa. 
 
 E se, continuando al primo detto, 
 
 S' egli han quell' arte, disse, male appresa, 
 Cio mi tormenta piu che questo letto. 
 
 Ma non cinquanta volte fia raccesa 
 
 La faccia della donna che qui regge, 80 
 
 Che tu saprai quanto quell' arte pesa. 
 
 E se tu mai nel dolce mondo regge, 
 
 79 Fifty moons from April 1300 bring us to the spring of 1304; at 
 which time the banished White Guelfs and Ghibelines were engaged in 
 endeavouring, with the aid of the new Pope, Benedict XI., to procure 
 a reversal of the decrees in force against them. In June these efforts 
 finally failed, and in July a part of the exiles attempted to return by 
 force, but were beaten. Vill. viii. 69, 72. 
 
 8U la donna : not, of course, Proserpine, but Hecate ' caeloque 
 Ereboque potens ' ; identified with Luna by mythology. 
 
 *- regge = ricde = riedi.
 
 u8 HELL CANTO 
 
 that people is so pitiless against mine in its every law?' 
 Wherefore I to him : ' The slaughter and the great example 
 which made the Arbia dyed in red, caused such prayer to be 
 made in our temple.' 
 
 After he had with a sigh shaken his head, ' Thereat was 
 I not alone,' he said, ' nor certes without cause should I 
 have set out with the others ; but I alone was, in the place 
 where leave was given by every man to take Florence away, 
 
 Dimmi, perchk quel popolo e si empio 
 Incontro ai miei in ciascuna sua legge ? 
 
 Ond' io a lui : Lo strazio e il grande scempio, 
 Che fece 1' Arbia colorata in rosso, 
 Tale orazion fa far nel nostro tempio. 
 
 Poi ch' ebbe sospirando il capo scosso, 
 A cib non fui io sol, disse, ne certo 
 Senza cagion con gli altri sarei mosso : 90 
 
 Ma fu' io sol cola, dove sofferto 
 
 Fu per ciascun di torre via Fiorenza, 
 
 84 The Uberti were always cxcepted in any decree made at Florence 
 in favour of the banished Ghibelines. 
 
 85 The battle of Montaperti already mentioned. Benvenuto says 
 that 4000 men were slain there. lie reads, curiously enough, Io strazio 
 grande e scempio : explaining ' idest fatuum et immane facinus,' as though 
 scempio had here the same meaning as in 1'ar. xvii. 62. A good and 
 clear account of the battle and the events which led to it may be found 
 in Witte's note. 
 
 S(i colorata in : the use of /;/ is curious ; but the English ' painted 
 in red ' is similar. See Diez iii. 158. 
 
 87 Benvenuto says that councils were held at Florence in a chapel 
 adjoining the palace of the Priors, which had once belonged to the L'berti, 
 and in which they were buried ; hence the special force of tempio ; but 
 the Florentine commentators do not seem to know anything of this. 
 Landino says that tempio is only used as a sequence to orazione. 
 Bianchi, however, mentions a story that a special petition for the benefit 
 of the Uberti was actually added to the litanies.
 
 x HELL 119 
 
 the one who defended her with open face.' ' Pray you, so 
 may your seed ever have rest,' I besought him, 'loose for me 
 that knot which here has entwined my opinion. It appears 
 that ye see, if I hear aright, beforehand that which time is 
 bringing with it, but in the present ye hold another fashion.' 
 'We see, like him who has a bad light,' said he, 'the 
 things which are afar from us ; so much yet the supreme 
 Leader beams upon us. When they draw near, or exist, 
 vain is all our understanding ; and if another make not his 
 way to us, nought know we of your human state. Where- 
 
 Colui che la difesi a viso aperto. 
 
 Deh, se riposi mai vostra semenza, 
 Prega' io lui, solvetemi quel nodo, 
 Che qui ha inviluppata mia sentenza. 
 
 Ei par che voi veggiate, se ben odo, 
 
 Dinanzi quel che il tempo seco adduce, 
 E nel presente tenete altro modo. 
 
 Noi veggiam, come quei ch' ha mala luce, 100 
 
 Le cose, disse, che ne son lontano ; 
 Cotanto ancor ne splende il sommo Duce : 
 
 Quando s' appressano, o son, tutto e vano 
 Nostro intelletto ; e s' altri non ci apporta, 
 Nulla sapem di vostro stato umano. 
 
 1)4 se riposi : so se regge in 1. 82, and many other instances. It is 
 the sic with subj. of Latin. 
 
 w It has appeared from Cavalcante's remark, 1. 68, that he is not 
 aware of what is actually taking place on earth ; while at the same time 
 Ciacco and Farinata have been able to foretell the future. 
 
 104 apporta : for the intrans. form (from portus cf. approdare} see 
 Diet. Cruse. "Witte, as if it were from fortarc, with no necessity, and 
 not much authority, reads no! ci.
 
 120 HELL CANTO 
 
 fore thou canst understand that wholly dead will our know- 
 ledge be from that moment when the door of the future 
 shall be shut.' Then, as though in compunction for my 
 fault, I said : ' Now you will tell then to that one who fell 
 that his son is yet joined to the living. And if I before was 
 dumb at my answer, make him to know that I did it because 
 I was already in thought, under the error from which you 
 have set me free.' 
 
 And already my Master was calling me back ; wherefore 
 I besought the spirit in more haste that he would tell me 
 who was stationed with him. He said to me : ' Here with 
 more than a thousand I lie ; within here is the second 
 
 Pero comprender puoi, che tutta morta 
 Fia nostra conoscenza da quel punto 
 Che del future fia chiusa la porta. 
 
 Allor, come di mia colpa compunto, 
 
 Dissi : Or direte dunque a quel caduto no 
 
 Che il suo nato e coi vivi ancor congiunto. 
 
 E s' io fui innanzi alia risposta muto, 
 Fat' ei saper che il fei, perche pensava 
 Gia nell' error che m' avete soluto. 
 
 E gia il Maestro mio mi richiamava : 
 Perch' io pregai lo spirto piu avaccio 
 Che mi dicesse chi con lui si stava. 
 
 Dissemi : Qui con piu di mille giaccio : 
 Qua entro e lo secondo Fedcrico, 
 
 1(18 After the judgement, when time will no longer exist, rind there 
 will consequently he no future. The idea that the damned, while they 
 can to some extent foresee the future, have no knowledge of what is 
 actually taking place on earth, appears to he an invention of Dante's 
 own ; or at any rate, not due to Aquinas. 
 
 11!l Qua entro : probably with an allusion to the epitaph on Fred- 
 crick's tomb :
 
 x HELL 121 
 
 Frederick, and the Cardinal ; and of the others I say nought.' 
 Then he hid himself; and toward the ancient poet I turned 
 my steps, thinking over again on that speech which had 
 seemed hostile to me. He passed on, and then going thus 
 he said to me : ' Why art thou so perplexed ? ' and I gave 
 him satisfaction to his question. ' Let thy mind keep what 
 thou hast heard against thyself/ that Sage commanded me, 
 ' and now give heed here ' and he held up his finger. 
 ' When thou shalt be in presence of her sweet ray, whose 
 
 E il Cardinale, e degli altri mi taccio. 120 
 
 Indi s' ascose : ed io in ver 1' antico 
 
 Poeta volsi i passi, ripensando 
 
 A quel parlar che mi parea nimico. 
 Egli si mosse ; e poi cosi andando, 
 
 Mi disse : Perche sei tu si smarrito ? 
 
 Ed io li satisfeci al suo dimando. 
 La mente tua conservi quel ch' udito 
 
 Hai contra te, mi comando quel Saggio, 
 
 Ed ora attendi qui : e drizzb il dito. 
 Quando sarai dinanzi al dolce raggio 130 
 
 Di quella, il cui bell' occhio tutto vede, 
 
 Si probitas, sensus, virtutum gratia, census, 
 
 Nobilitas orti, possent resisterc morti, 
 
 Non foret extinctus Fredcricus qui jacct intits. 
 
 (Villani vi. 41.) 
 
 120 il Cardinale : Ottaviano degli Ubaldini, of whom it is recorded 
 that he said ' If I have a soul, I have lost it for the Ghibelines.' Vil- 
 lani (vi. 80) tells how he alone of the Sacred College rejoiced at the 
 news of the battle of Montaperti ; and how a cardinal Bianco, 'grande 
 astrolago e maestro di nigromanzia,' foretold the speedy return of the 
 Guelfs. Philalethes gives reasons for doubting whether the story which 
 describes him as a strong Ghibeline is correct.
 
 122 HELL CANTO X 
 
 fair eye sees all, from her shall thou know the journey of 
 thy life.' 
 
 Next he turned his foot to the left hand ; we left the 
 wall and went toward the centre by a path which strikes 
 down to a valley, which even up to there made its ill savour 
 to be displeasing. 
 
 Da lei saprai di tua vita il viaggio. 
 
 Appresso volse a man sinistra il piede : 
 
 Lasciammo il muro, e gimmo in ver lo mezzo 
 Per un sentier ch 1 ad una valle fiede, 
 
 Che infin lassii facea spiacer suo lez/o. 
 
 ?> - As a matter of fact, it is from Cacciaguida rather than from 
 Beatrice that Dante is to learn the destiny that awaits him. 
 
 i;io, 136 Hitherto, it will be observed, there has been very little actual 
 descent. From the first to the second circle (v. i) and from the third to 
 the fourth (vi. 114) a change of level is mentioned, but not as the im- 
 portant feature which it presently becomes. Now, however, they have 
 come to the brink of the real pit of Hell, and begin to perceive the 
 stench which arises from it.
 
 CANTO XI 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They halt on the brink of a steep descent, to inure themselves to the 
 stench rising from it. Virgil expounds to Dante the ordering of 
 the punishments of Hell, and the reason thereof. 
 
 UPON the far edge of a lofty bank, which great broken 
 rocks in a circle made, we came above a more cruel 
 stowage ; and there by reason of the horrible excess of the 
 stench which the deep abyss throws up, we took refuge 
 behind a cover belonging to a great tomb, where I saw 
 a writing that said : / hold Pope Anastasius, the which 
 
 IN su 1' estremita d' un' alta ripa, 
 
 Che facevan gran pietre rotte in cerchio, 
 Venimmo sopra piu crudele stipa : 
 
 E quivi, per 1' orribile soperchio 
 
 Del puzzo, che il profondo abisso gitta, 
 Ci raccostammo dietro ad un coperchio 
 
 D' un grande avello, ov' io vidi una scritta 
 Che diceva : Anastasio papa guardo, 
 
 3 stipa. Boccaccio thinks the term is used as applied to the pack- 
 ing of a ship's cargo ; Benv. says it was used for ' cage.' The former 
 gives the better image, and recalls ix. 129. 
 
 8 The history of Anastasius II. (496-498) appears to be this : In 482 
 the emperor Zeno had put forth his ' Henotikon,' designed to calm the 
 dissensions which had prevailed ever since the Council of Chalcedon in 
 451. The Roman pontiffs did not approve this, and excommunicated
 
 124 HELL CANTO 
 
 Photinus drew from tJu right way. ' It behoves that our 
 descent be slow, so that our sense may first get used a 
 little to the sorry exhalation ; and then will it be of no 
 account.' Thus the Master ; and I said to him : ' Some 
 compensation find, that the time pass not and be lost.' 
 And he : 'See how I think on that.' 
 
 ' My son, within these rocks,' he began then to say, ' are 
 three small circles from step to step, like those which thou 
 art leaving. All are full of spirits accursed ; but in order 
 
 Lo qual trasse Fotin della via dritta. 
 
 Lo nostro scender conviene esser tardo, 10 
 
 Si che s' ausi un poco prima il senso 
 Al tristo fiato, e poi non fia riguardo. 
 
 Cos! il Maestro ; ed io : Alcun compenso, 
 Dissi lui, trova, che il tempo non passi 
 Perduto ; ed egli : Vedi che a cib penso. 
 
 Figliuol mio, dentro da cotesti sassi, 
 Comincib poi a dir, son tre cerchietti 
 l)i grado in grado, come quei che lassi. 
 
 Tutti son pien di spirti maledetti : 
 
 the Byzantine patriarchs who supported it, including Acacius (f 488). 
 In the pontificate of Anastasius, his namesake the emperor was 
 desirous of restoring the name of Acacius to the ' diptych ' or roll 
 of patriarchs deceased in the orthodox faith ; and Photinus, a deacon of 
 Thessalonica, was sent to treat with Pope Anastasius on the subject, 
 and persuaded him to allow it. (It is not improbable that Photinus was 
 in later times confused with Photius, whom the Latins held responsible 
 for the schism of the Churches.) Ultimately the belief grew up that 
 Anastasius had been tainted with the Xestorian heresy. Gratian 
 (Par. x. 104) seems to have been the authority for this misrepresenta- 
 tion. 
 
 J - poi non fia, etc. Literally, 'then will there be no account ' [of 
 it]. ' Ouia assuetis non fit passio,' says Bocc.
 
 xi HELL 125 
 
 that hereafter the sight alone may suffice to thee, under- 
 stand how and wherefore they are in bonds. Of every 
 badness which earns hatred in heaven, injury is the end ; 
 and every such end either by force or by fraud causes grief 
 to another. But because fraud is an ill peculiar to man, 
 it more displeases God ; and for this cause the fraudulent 
 have their station below, and woe assails them more. To the 
 violent belongs all the first circle ; but whereas force may be 
 
 Ma perche poi ti basti pur la vista, 20 
 
 Intendi come, e perche son costretti. 
 
 D' ogni malizia, ch' odio in cielo acquista, 
 Ingiuria e il fine, ed ogni fin cotale 
 O con forza o con frode altrui contrista. 
 
 Ma perche frode e dell' uom proprio male, 
 Piu spiace a Dio ; e perb stan di sutto 
 Gli frodolenti, e piu dolor gli assale. 
 
 Dei violent! il primo cerchio e tutto : 
 Ma perche si fa forza a tre persone, 
 
 20 Philalethes points out that henceforth Dante does not (as in v. 50 
 or vii. 38) inquire the general character of the sin punished in any part 
 of Hell ; but only asks for information about individuals. 
 
 - l costretti. Generally taken as referring to spirti ; and this seems 
 quite satisfactory. Blanc, however, finds the subject of the sentence in 
 cerchietti, and understands 'how and why the circles are arranged.' 
 There seems no need for this, which, as he himself points out, would 
 involve a somewhat unusual use of a common word on Dante's part. 
 
 '- The following classification of the sins punished in the lower part 
 of Hell is so clear that comment on it is hardly necessary, ch' odio in 
 cielo acquista: i.e. spiritual, not physical 'badness.' So Boccaccio, 
 evidently thinking of the distinction made in Eth. iii. 5 between ai r^s 
 /'I'X??* and at rou crayiaros Kcudai. 
 
 2a d5t/a'a 6X17 /ca/a'a, Eth. v. i. 
 
 24 con forza con frode : /3tcua Xaflpcua, ib. 2. 
 
 -' While violence is common to man and the beasts, and hence is a 
 form of bestialita.
 
 126 HELL CANTO 
 
 wrought upon three persons, it is divided and arranged in 
 three rings. On God, on a man's self, on his neighbour 
 can force be wrought ; I mean in themselves and in the 
 things that are theirs, as thou shalt hear with evident reason- 
 ing. By force are inflicted on one's neighbour death and 
 painful hurts, and on his possessions destruction, fires, and 
 ruinous levies ; whence homicides and whoso smites wrong- 
 fully, pillagers and plunderers, the first ring in divers groups 
 torments them all. A man can lay a violent hand on 
 
 In tre gironi e d'stinto e costrutto. a 30 
 
 A Dio, a se, al prossimo si puone 
 
 Far forza, dico in loro ed in lor cose, 
 
 Come udirai con aperta ragione. 
 Morte per forza e ferute dogliose 
 
 Nel prossimo si danno, e nel suo avere 
 
 Ruine, incendi e toilette dannose : 
 Onde omicide e ciascun che mal fiere, b 
 
 Guastatori e predon, tutti tormenta 
 
 Lo giron primo per diverse schiere. 
 Puote uomo avere in se man violenta 40 
 
 n trc giorni 1 5 ; gioni 4. 
 b Odii homicidii Gg. first six cdd. ; / Tutti ; ? Ogni Ben-'. 
 
 S(i toilette. There seems little authority for the reading collettc 
 which some adopt. It must, however, be said that c and t are very 
 much alike in MSS. Whether the word here refers to plunder generally, 
 or to quasi-legal extortion, as by feudal superiors, e.g. in the tax known 
 as the male toltc, is not certain. Against the latter view is the fact that 
 in the next terzina, where the classes guilty of the crimes specified are 
 named, this is matched only by predoni. It will be seen, however, 
 in the next Canto that Dante drew no distinction between public and 
 private conduct, and put Eccelino ami Alexander in the same category 
 as highway robbers. 
 
 "~ The reading odii homicidii has considerable support, and is per- 
 haps even better than that in the text. Have we here a variant due to 
 the author himself?
 
 xi HELL 127 
 
 himself and on his goods ; and therefore in the second ring 
 it behoves that he bootlessly repent whosoever strips himself 
 of your world, gambles and melts away his resources, and 
 weeps where he ought to be joyous. Force can be wrought 
 upon the Godhead, by denying with the heart and blas- 
 pheming It, and by misprising nature and her goodness ; 
 and therefore the smallest circle stamps with its seal Sodom 
 and Cahors, and whoso speaks with his own heart, mis- 
 prising God. The fraud, wherewith every conscience is 
 pricked, man can practise towards the one who trusts 
 
 E nei suoi beni : e pero nel secondo 
 Giron convien che senza pro si penta 
 
 Qualunque priva se del vostro mondo, 
 Biscazza e fonde la sua facultade, 
 E piange la dove esser dee giocondo. 
 
 Puossi far forza nella Deitade, 
 
 Col cor negando e bestemmiando quella, 
 E spregiando natura e sua bontade : 
 
 E pero lo minor giron suggella 
 
 Del segno suo e Sodoma e Caorsa, 50 
 
 E chi, spregiando Dio, col cor favella. 
 
 La frode, ond' ogni coscienza e morsa, 
 
 Pub 1' uomo usare in colui che in lui fida, 
 
 4:i Suicides. 
 
 45 Because he might have used his means wisely, and been happy. 
 It cannot have any reference to the spiritual sin of tristilia, which has 
 already been dealt with. 
 
 5U Cahors, in Languedoc, seems to have been at this time the special 
 home of money-lenders. ' Civitas in Gallia, in qua quasi omnes sum 
 foenerantes,' says Benvenuto. See Ashley, Economic History, i. p. 196. 
 Boccaccio says that even the servant-maids there used to lend the money 
 they received as wages. 
 
 51 col cor : with allusion to Psalms xiii. I and liv. I : ' Dixit insipiens 
 in corde suo.' He means, doubtless, also to draw a distinction between 
 careless profanity and convinced unbelief.
 
 128 HELL CANTO 
 
 him, and towards him who has no confidence in store. 
 This latter mode seems to destroy only the bond of love 
 that nature makes ; whence in the second circle have their 
 nests hypocrisy, flatteries, and whoso uses arts ; forgery, 
 robbery, and simony ; pandars, jobbers, and suchlike 
 filth. By the second mode is forgotten that love which 
 nature makes, and that which later is added, from which 
 special trust comes to pass ; wherefore in the smallest 
 circle, where is the centre of the Universe, upon which Dis 
 has his seat, whosoever betrays is consumed to eternity.' 
 And I : ' Master, clearly enough proceeds thy argu- 
 
 Ed in quel che fidanza non imborsa. 
 Questo modo di retro par che uccida 
 
 Pur lo vinco d' amor che fa natura ; 
 
 Onde nel cerchio secondo s' annida 
 Ipocrisia, lusinghe e chi affattura, 
 
 Falsita, ladroneccio e simonia, 
 
 Ruffian, baratti e simile lordura. 60 
 
 Per 1' altro modo quell' amor s' obblia 
 
 Che fa natura, e quel ch' e poi aggiunto, 
 
 Di che la fede spezial si cria : 
 Onde nel cerchio minore, ov' e il punto 
 
 Dell' universe, in su che Dite siede, 
 
 Qualunque trade in eterno e consunto. 
 Ed io : Maestro, assai chiaro precede c 
 
 c chiara Gg. Cass. 1234. 
 
 56 che fa natura : i.e. which exists between man and man. 
 
 r ' 8 affattura : id est malefici qui afiacturant et faciunt malias et in- 
 cantationes. Benv. Fact urn : sortilegium, malericium, Italis l-'actura 
 incantatio (Ducange). There is perhaps a confusion with fatuariiis. 
 
 6:! I.e. the special bond of relationship, fellow-citizenship, or friend- 
 ship. For the distinction between/iz and cria cf. Far. iii. 7. 
 
 M, in \Vittc contrasts this with the point (Par. xxviii. 41, 42) ' from 
 which Heaven and all nature depend.'
 
 xi HELL 129 
 
 ment ; and well enough it distinguishes this gulf and the 
 people that possess it. But tell me ; those of the thick 
 marsh, whom the wind carries, and whom the rain beats, 
 and who meet each other with so rough tongues, why are 
 not they punished within the red-hot city, if God holds them 
 in anger ? and if he holds them not so, why are they in 
 such case ? ' And he said to me : ' Why does thy wit go 
 so far astray from what it is wont ? or is thy mind looking 
 otherwhither ? Hast thou no memory of those words, with 
 which thy Ethics handle the three dispositions which 
 
 La tua ragione, ed assai ben distingue 
 Questo baratro e il popol che il possiede. 
 
 Ma dimmi : Quei della palude pingue, 70 
 
 Che mena il vento, e che batte la pioggia, 
 E che s' incontran con si aspre lingue, 
 
 Perche non dentro dalla citta roggia 
 Son ei puniti, se Dio gli ha in ira ? 
 E se non gli ha, perche sono a tal foggia ? 
 
 Ed egli a me : Perche tanto delira, 
 
 Disse, lo ingegno tuo da quel che suole ? 
 ' Ovver la mente dove altrove mira ? 
 
 Non ti rimembra di quelle parole, 
 
 Colle quai la tua Etica pertratta So 
 
 Le tre disposizion che il ciel non vuole : 
 
 so sq. TI^ reference is to the opening words of Eth. vii. : Mera 5t 
 ravra XeKreov, aXXtjif TroiTjcra/x^poi/s a.p~xr\v, STL TUV Trepc rd 1j0r) (pevKruv 
 rpia (crrlv fidij, KaKia, a/cpacn'a, dripior-rj^. \\itte considers that Dante 
 does not follow this threefold division, but ignores 0-ript.bT-qs ; and that 
 the only point of the reference here is to show why the sins of incontin- 
 ence are outside the city of Dis. But it seems better to see, with 
 Philalethes, the representatives of drjpibrris in the sins of the 7th circle, 
 some of which indeed are expressly mentioned by Aristotle (vii. 5) as 
 illustrations of his use of the term. Ik-sides these we have heresy, to 
 which the word is actually applied by Dante (see note x. 15), which 
 
 K
 
 130 HELL CANTO 
 
 Heaven brooks not, incontinence, malice, and mad beastli- 
 ness? and how incontinence less offends God and earns 
 less blame? If thou well regard this opinion, and bring 
 to thy mind who these are, who above undergo penance 
 outside, thou wilt clearly see why they are separated from 
 these wretches, and why less wrathfully the vengeance of God 
 crushes them.' 'O Sun that healest every troubled sight, 
 so dost thou content me when thou solvest, that doubting 
 gives me no less pleasure than knowing. Turn thee yet a 
 
 Incontinenza, malizia e la matta 
 Bestialitade ? e come incontinen/a 
 Men Dio offende e men biasimo accatta ? 
 
 Se tu riguardi ben questa sentenza, 
 E rechiti alia mente, chi son queili, 
 Che su di fuor sostengon penitenza, 
 
 Tu vedrai ben, perche da questi felli 
 Sien dipartiti, e perche men crucciata 
 La divina vendetta gli martelli. d 90 
 
 ( ) Sol che sani ogni vista turbata, 
 Tu mi content! s'i, quando tu solvi, 
 Che, non men che saper, dubbiar m' aggrata. 
 
 (1 gitistizia most ca\i. after 1480 ( Veil, rcnd.^ 
 
 occupies as it were a middle station between it and incontinence. So 
 we shall later on find usury forming the link between tf^piorTjs and 
 Ka/<ia. See notes 1. 25 and xvii. 45. 
 
 s:;, 84 }.j] h v ii_ 6 : "ftTL TCUS <f>r<riKaIs ^aXXoy cri'yyi'ijj/j.'rj a.KO\ov6eiv 
 up^eaiv, and below : eri. d5tMi>repot oi fTri/SorXorepoi. In the same 
 chapter : eXarror de OrjpioTrjs Ka/a'as, \\hich again sujiports the view 
 taken in the last note, in so far as their relative positions in Hell are 
 concerned. 
 
 ^' su di fuor : above where they now are. and outside the city of 
 Dis.
 
 xi HELL 131 
 
 little backward,' I said, ' to that point where thou sayest 
 that usury offends the divine goodness ; and unloose the 
 tangle.' ' Philosophy,' he said to me, ' to whoso looks nar- 
 rowly on her, notes not in one place only, how nature takes 
 her course from the understanding of God, and from His 
 workmanship ; and if thou well observe thy Physics, thou 
 wilt find, after not many pages, that your workmanship, so 
 far as it can, follows her, as the learner does the master, so 
 that your workmanship is as it were second in descent from 
 God. From these two, if thou bring to thy mind Genesis, 
 
 Ancora un poco indietro ti rivolvi, 
 
 Diss' io, la dove di' che usura offende 
 La divina bontade, e il groppo solvi. 
 
 Filosofia, mi disse, a chi la intende, 
 Nota non pure in una sola parte, 
 Come natura lo suo corso prende 
 
 Dal divino intelletto e da sua arte ; 100 
 
 E se tu ben la tua Fisica note, 
 Tu troverai non dopo molte carte, 
 
 Che 1' arte vostra quella, quanto puote, 
 Segue, come il maestro fa il discente, 
 Si che vostr' arte a Dio quasi e nipote. 
 
 Da queste due, se tu ti rechi a mente e 
 
 iisi, Juo Dante, as the words imply, docs not seem to have any particular 
 passage in view. That God is the author of Nature is directly deducible 
 from the language of the Timaeus, from Ar. Met. A, and many other 
 places. 
 
 11 The reference appears to be to Ar. Phys. ii. 2 (194 a) : el Se '; 
 Tf^vri fj.i/j.eiTai Trjv fyvaiv. 
 
 104 God, nature, human workmanship, is the order of descent. 
 
 11)0 Genesis i. 28 : Crescite et multiplicamini ; and iii. 19 : in sudore 
 vultus tui vesceris pane. The first refers to the natural increase of the
 
 132 HELL CANTO xi 
 
 towards the beginning, it behoves folk to take their life, and 
 to prosper. And because the usurer holds another course, 
 he despises Nature both for herself and for her follower ; 
 because he places his hope in another thing. But now follow 
 me, for going pleases me ; for the Fishes are flickering 
 above the horizons, and all the Wain lies over Caurus ; and 
 the ledge descends a good deal further on.' 
 
 Lo Genesi dal principio, conviene 
 Prender sua vita ed avanzar la gente. 
 
 E perche 1' usuriere altra via tiene, 
 
 Per se natura, e per la sua seguace no 
 
 Dispregia, poiche in altro pon la spene. 
 
 Ma seguimi oramai, che il gir mi piace : 
 Che; i Pesci guizzan su per 1' orizzonta. 
 E il Carro tutto sopra il Coro giace, 
 
 E il balzo via la oltra si dismonta. 
 
 race ; the second to the increase of wealth by labour. It is the latter 
 law which the usurer violates. It is not therefore strictly correct to 
 speak of him as a sinner against nature; rather against the divinely- 
 appointed order of production. (Boccaccio, it may be noted, under- 
 stands the clauses of 1. 108 inversely : ' get their livelihood, and increase.') 
 Aquinas discusses the question, S.T. ii. 2. O. 78, and conies to the conclu- 
 sion of the time, that all usury, by which he means any lending of money 
 on interest, is sinful. At the same time it is pretty clear that his own 
 argument did not convince him. 
 
 lly Again we have an imitation of Aen. vi. 539. The Sun being in 
 the Ram, the Fish are the last sign to rise before him. The meaning 
 therefore is that it is close upon sunrise in the upper world. At this 
 season the Great Bear would at the same hour be in the North-West, 
 indicated by the name of the N.\V. wind, Caurus. They have 
 almost completed one night in Hell, and it is the morning of Good 
 Friday.
 
 CANTO XII 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They descend a steep rocky slope, passing the Minotaur, and reach the 
 first ring of the seventh circle, where those who have done wrong 
 by violence to their neighbours lie in a river of seething blood. 
 They meet a troop of Centaurs, one of whom, by name Nessus, 
 helps them on their way, and shows them many renowned con- 
 querors and other robbers and murderers. 
 
 THE place whither we came to descend the bank was moun- 
 tainous, and by reason of that which, moreover, was there, 
 such that every view would have been shy of it. Such as 
 is that downfall which hitherward of Trent smote the Adige 
 
 ERA lo loco, ove a scender la riva 
 
 Venimmo, alpestro e, per quel ch' ivi er' anco, 
 Tal, ch' ogni vista ne sarebbe schiva. 
 
 Qual e quella ruina, che nel fianco 
 Di qua da Trento 1' Adice percosse 
 
 4 The early commentators (except Boccaccio, who reads di la, and 
 is vague as to the spot) see an allusion to a great landslip known as the 
 Slavino di Marco, opposite Mori. This fell in the gth century, and 
 deflected the Adige considerably. According to Benvenuto it is men- 
 tioned by Albertus Magnus. Scartazzini has found in G. della Corte's 
 ' Storia di Verona ' a record of another great landslip which took place 
 near Verona in 1309. But setting aside the testimony of P. di Dante 
 ('in contrata quaclam quae dicitur Marco modo ') and others, it is not 
 likely that Dante would have indicated a spot close to Verona by its 
 position in regard to Trent.
 
 134 HELL CANTO 
 
 in the side, whether through earthquake or through lack of 
 support ; for from the top of the mountain whence it 
 started, to the plain, the rock is so shattered that it would 
 afford some way to one that was above such was the 
 descent of that ravine; and just at the point where the 
 cistern was broken the infamy of Crete was outstretched 
 which was conceived in the counterfeit cow : and when it 
 saw us, it bit itself, like one whom anger inwardly is bursting. 
 My Sage cried towards it : ' Haply thou deemest that the 
 Duke of Athens is here, who dispensed death to thee in the 
 
 O per tremuoto o per sostegno manco : 
 
 Che da cima del monte, onde si mosse, 
 Al piano e si la roccia discoscesa, 
 Ch' alcuna via darebbe a chi su fosse : 
 
 Cotal di quel burrato era la scesa : 10 
 
 E in su la punta della rotta lacca 
 L' infamia di Creti era distesa, 
 
 Che fu concetta nella falsa vacca : 
 E quando vide noi, se stesso morse 
 Si come quei, cui 1' ira dentro fiacca. 
 
 Lo savio mio inver lui grido : Forse a 
 Tu credi che qui sia il duca d' Atene, 
 Che su nel mondo la morte ti porse ? 
 a Lo s. ni. Virgilio gr. Aid. 
 
 11 lacca. Used vii. 16, and (of the Valley of Princes) Purg. vii. 71. 
 Properly the word would seem to mean a shallow well or cistern : 
 though Bocc., Eenv., and others render it by ripa. See Glossary. 
 
 rj The Minotaur, offspring of her 'che s' imbestio nell' imbestiate 
 schegge,' is fitly put as the sentinel over those who are punished for 
 OypioTTjs, 'la matta bestialitate.' 
 
 Note the form Creti, perhaps from Gr. Kp^r??. So (\x. 47^ Luni 
 for Luna, doubtless owing to the plural Lunae, which seems to have 
 been used as well as the singular for the city of that name. 
 
 17 The title ' Duke of Athens ' would be familiar enough to Dante's 
 readers.
 
 xii HELL 135 
 
 world above. Off with thee, beast, for this man comes not 
 schooled by thy sister, but is going on his way to see your 
 punishments.' As is that bull who breaks his leash at the 
 moment when he has already received the death -stroke, 
 that he cannot go, but reels hither and thither, in such wise 
 saw I the Minotaur behave. And he perceiving cried : 
 ' Run to the passage ; while he is in a fury, it is good that 
 thou go down.' So we took the way down by the discharge 
 of those stones, which often moved under my feet by reason 
 of their unwonted burthen. 
 
 I was going in thought ; and he said : ' Thou art thinking 
 perchance on this ruin, which is guarded by that bestial 
 wrath which I just quenched. Now I will thou know, that 
 the other time when I came down here into the nether 
 
 Partiti, bestia, che questi non viene 
 
 Ammaestrato dalla tua sorella, 20 
 
 Ma vassi per veder le vostre pene. 
 
 Qual e quel toro che si slaccia in quella 
 Che ha ricevuto gia il colpo mortale, 
 Che gir non sa, ma qua e la saltella, 
 
 Vid' io lo Minotauro far cotale. 
 
 E quegli accorto grido : Corri al varco ; 
 Mentre ch' e in furia, e buon che tu ti cale. 
 
 Cosi prendemmo via giu per lo scarce 
 Di quelle pietre, che spesso moviensi 
 Sotto i miei piedi per lo nuovo carco. 30 
 
 Io gia pensando ; e quei disse : Tu pensi 
 Forse a questa rovina, ch' e guardata 
 Da quell' ira bestial ch' io ora spensi. 
 
 Or vo' che sappi, che 1' altra fiata 
 
 Ch' io discesi quaggiu nel basso inferno, 
 
 J0 sorella. Ariadne. 34 1* altra fiata : see ix. 22.
 
 136 HELL CANTO 
 
 Hell, this rock had not yet tumbled. But certainly a little 
 time, if I discern aright, before He came who carried off 
 from Dis the great booty of the uppermost circle, on all 
 sides the deep foul vale trembled so that I thought the 
 Universe felt love (through the which there is who deems 
 that the world has more than once been turned to chaos) ; 
 and in that instant this old rock here and elsewhere made 
 
 Questa roccia non era ancor cascata. 
 Ma certo poco pria, se ben discerno, 
 
 Che venisse Colui, che la gran preda 
 
 Levo a Dite del cerchio superno, 
 Da tutte parti 1' alta valle feda 40 
 
 Tremo si, ch' io pensai che 1' universe 
 
 Sentisse amor, per lo quale e chi creda 
 Piu volte il mondo in Caos converse : 
 
 Ed in quel punto questa vecchia roccia 
 
 Qui ed altrove tal fece riverso. 
 
 37 poco pria : i.e. at the moment of our Lord's death, when ' the 
 earth did quake, and the rocks rent.' We shall find further results of 
 this earthquake lower down. Benvenuto considers the symbolism to be- 
 that a blow was then given to violence and cruelty. 
 
 42> ** The allusion is to Empedocles, whose theory that the alter- 
 nate supremacy of hate and love was the cause of periodic destruction 
 and construction in the scheme of the universe is criticised by Aristotle, 
 Metaph. /3. 4 (1000 a, b). Dante, however, appears to have taken a 
 remark made by Aristotle in controverting the theory as part of 
 Empedocles's own doctrine : O,UCH'WJ 5' ovS' j] (fji\6rr)s rov flvai [amov] ' 
 avvayovaa. yap et's rb ?y (pdeipei r5.\\a. See also 1'hys. viii. I (144 a). 
 Or he may be thinking of the consequence of the theory, thai at the 
 close of a period during which love predominated, individual existences 
 would have disappeared, and all things be merged in a homogeneous 
 whole. But the word chaos hardly applies so well to this state as to 
 the confusion which hate produces. L. 43 seems lo be a syllable short. 
 Ought we not to read in mi caos ; or, transposing the words, il inondo 
 in caos p. z>. c. ; or (with some MSS.) caosse (cf. Na".arc_ttc, Par. i\. 
 137)?
 
 xii HELL 137 
 
 such an overturn. But fix thine eyes downwards, for there 
 draws near the river of blood, in the which boils whoso 
 offends by violence towards another.' 
 
 O blind covetousness ! O foolish wrath ! that dost so 
 spur us in our short life, and afterward in the life eternal 
 dost in such evil wise steep us ! I saw a wide foss bent 
 into an arc, as that which embraces the whole plain, 
 according as my Escort had said ; and between the foot of 
 
 Ma ficca gli occhi a valle ; che s' approccia 
 La riviera del sangue, in la qual bolle 
 Qual che per violenza in altrui noccia. 
 
 O cieca cupidigia, o ira folle, b 
 
 Che si ci sproni nella vita corta, 50 
 
 E nelP eterna poi si mal c' immolle ! 
 
 To vidi un' ampia fossa in arco torta, 
 
 Come quella che tutto il piano abbraccia, 
 Secondo ch' avea detto la mia scorta : 
 
 E tra il pie della ripa ed essa, in traccia 
 
 b ria e folle Gg. 1345 ; e ria ef. 2 W. 
 
 49 The reading I have adopted has the support of Cass., Benv., and 
 most edd. after 1480. It is certainly the more effective, and is almost 
 required ; anger being as frequent a cause as covetousness of the crimes 
 here punished. 
 
 51 immollare, to soften by steeping ; doubtless contrasted with 
 sproni. 
 
 52 They reach the first ring of the seventh circle. 
 5i See xi. 39. 
 
 )0 Benvenuto sees in the Centaurs a lively image of the ' stipendiarii ' 
 or mercenaries (famous in later times as condottierf], by whom Italy 
 was beginning to be infested. 'In haec tempera,' he exclaims, 'in- 
 felicitas mea me dcduxit, ut viderem hodie miseram Italiam plenam 
 barbaris socialibus omnium nationum. Hie enim sunt Anglici san- 
 guinei, Alemanni furiosi, Britones bruti, Vascones rapaces, Ilungari 
 immundi.'
 
 1 3 s HELL CANTO 
 
 the bank and it, in file were trotting Centaurs armed with 
 arrows, as they were wont in the world to go a-hunting. 
 Seeing us come down each one halted, and from the troop 
 three broke off with bows and darts already selected. And 
 one cried from afar : ' To what torment are ye coming, who 
 descend the hillside ? Tell it from where you are ; if not, 
 
 Correan Centauri armati di saette, 
 
 Come solean nel mondo andare a caccia. 
 Vedendoci calar ciascun ristette, 
 
 E della schiera tre si dipartiro 
 
 Con archi ed asticciuole prima elette : 60 
 
 E 1' un grido da lungi : A qual martiro 
 
 Venite voi, che scendete la costa ? 
 
 Ditel costinci, se non, 1' arco tiro. 
 
 56 For Dante the Centaurs, with their half-bestial form, typify, like 
 the Minotaur, the sins falling under #17/316x775, bestialita. 
 
 )9 The three, as will appear presently, are Chiron, Nessus, and 
 Pholus. The two former were sufficiently renowned ; though Chiron 
 appears more frequently in Greek poetry than in Latin. The story of 
 Nessus is recorded at length in Ov. Met. ix. 101 ; but Pholus is only 
 named, with other Centaurs, twice by Virgil, once by Ovid, and (in 
 close association with Nessus and Chiron) by Lucan, Phars. vi. 391. 
 It is somewhat strange that Dante should apply the epithet pien d' ira 
 to him especially. As a matter of fact, from the accounts of him that we 
 have, he appears to have been a particularly gentle and kindly Centaur ; 
 the counterpart among the Arcadian Centaurs of Chiron among the 
 Thessalian. The story of his hospitality to Hercules, and the trouble 
 that befell therefrom, is told by Apollodorus (Biblioth. ii. 5) ; but his 
 narrative is confused, if the text be not defective. Boccaccio knows 
 nothing of Pholus, save that ' he was the son of Ixion and a cloud, like 
 the other Centaurs ' ; an unlucky guess, since he was the son of Silenus 
 and Melia (the ash), as Chiron of Saturn and Philyra (the linden). It 
 is also not clear why the Centaurs, unlike the other warders of the 
 damned, make no opposition to Dante and Virgil, but rather help them 
 on their way.
 
 xii HELL 139 
 
 I draw the bow.' My Master said: 'The answer will we 
 make to Chiron there close at hand ; thy will was always 
 to its hurt so hasty.' Then he touched me, and said : 
 ' That is Nessus, who died for the fair Deianira, and himself 
 wreaked vengeance for himself. And that one in the 
 middle who looks at his own breast is the great Chiron who 
 brought up Achilles ; that other is Pholus who was so full 
 of wrath.' About the foss they go by thousands shooting 
 at whatsoever soul plucks itself away from the blood more 
 than its crime has allotted to it. We drew near to those 
 swift beasts. Chiron took a shaft, and with the notch put 
 his beard back about his jaws. When he had uncovered 
 his great mouth, he said to his companions : ' Do ye observe 
 that the hindmost one moves what he touches ? So are not 
 
 Lo mio Maestro disse : La risposta 
 Farem noi a Chiron costa di presso : 
 Mai fu la voglia tua sempre si tosta. 
 
 Poi mi tento, e disse : Quegli e Nesso, 
 Che mori per la bella Ueianira, 
 E fe di se la vendetta egli stesso : 
 
 E quel di mezzo, che al petto si mira, 70 
 
 E il gran Chirone, il qual nudri Achille : 
 Quell' altro e Folo, che fu si pien d' ira. 
 
 D' intorno al fosso vanno a mille a mille, 
 Saettando quale anima si svelle 
 Del sangue piii, che sua colpa sortille. 
 
 Noi ci appressammo a quelle fiere snelle : 
 Chiron prese uno strale, e con la cocca 
 Fece la barba indietro alle mascelle. 
 
 Quando s' ebbe scoperta la gran bocca, 
 
 Disse ai compagni : Siete voi accorti, 80 
 
 Che quel di retro move cio ch' ei tocca ?
 
 140 HELL CANTO 
 
 the feet of the dead wont to do.' And my good Leader 
 who by this was at his breast, where the two natures are in 
 company, answered : ' He surely is alive, and to him thus 
 alone is it meet that I show the gloomy vale ; necessity 
 leads us on, and not enjoyment. Such an one separated 
 herself from singing Alleluia, that committed this new duty 
 to me ; he is no thief, and I no runagate soul. But by that 
 virtue through which I move my steps over so savage a 
 road, give us one of thy band, to whom we may keep near, 
 to show us the place where the ford is, and to carry this 
 man on his croup, for he is no spirit to go through the air.' 
 
 Cosi non soglion fare i pie dei morti. 
 
 E il mio buon Duca, che gia gli era al petto 
 
 Dove le duo nature son consorti, 
 Rispose : Ben e vivo, e si soletto 
 
 Mostrarli mi convien la valle buia : 
 
 Necessita c' induce, e non diletto. c 
 Tal si parti da cantare alleluia, 
 
 Che mi commise quest' uficio nuovo ; 
 
 Non e ladron, ne io anima fuia. 90 
 
 Ma per quella virtu, per cui io movo 
 
 Li passi miei per si selvaggia strada, 
 
 Danne un dei tuoi, a cui noi siamo a pruovo, 
 Che ne dimostri la dove si guada, 
 
 E che porti costui in su la groppa ; 
 
 Che non e spirto che per 1' aer vada. 
 
 113 a pruovo : 'cioe allato,' Bocc. ; ' idest propc,' Benv., and tlii.-, 
 no doubt is right ; for Buti's ' a probazionc ' gives no good sense. See 
 Glossary.
 
 xii HELL 141 
 
 Chiron turned himself over the right breast and said to 
 Nessus : ' Go back, and guide them so ; and if another 
 troop falls in with you, make them give way.' 
 
 We set out with our trusty escort along the shore of the 
 crimson brew, where the boiled ones were uttering loud 
 shrieks. I saw folk beneath it up to the brow, and the 
 great Centaur said : ' They are tyrants, who clutched at 
 blood and possessions. Here they bewail their ruthless 
 mischiefs ; here is Alexander, and fierce Dionysius who 
 made Sicily to have woeful years ; and that forehead that 
 
 Chiron si volse in sulla destra poppa, 
 E disse a Nesso : Torna, e si li guida, 
 E fa cansar, s' altra schiera v' intoppa. 
 
 Noi ci movemmo colla scorta fida ico 
 
 Lungo la proda del bollor vermiglio, 
 Ove i bolliti facean alte strida. 
 
 lo vidi gente sotto infino al ciglio ; 
 
 E il gran Centauro disse : Ei son tiranni, 
 Che dier nel sangue e nell' aver di piglio. 
 
 Quivi si piangon li spietati danni : 
 Quivi e Alessandro, e Dionisio fero, 
 Che fe Sicilia aver dolorosi anni : 
 
 107 Alessandro. All the early commentators understand Alexander 
 the Great ; though Benvenuto refers, but only to flout it, to an ' opinio 
 vulgi,' which held that some one else was intended. Bargigi appears 
 to be the first who mentions (though he does not adopt) the suggestion 
 that the person meant is Alexander, tyrant of Pherae (368-359 B.C.) ; 
 Yellutello, the first to defend the claims of that tyrant, ' de la cui in- 
 giustitie e tirannie scrive Giustino.' This rather lowers the value of his 
 opinion, because, as Lombard! quite truly points out, Justin writes 
 nothing of the kind. However, Alexander of Pherae and Dionysius 
 are coupled by Cicero, De Off. ii. 7, and, which is more to the purpose, 
 by Yal. Max. ix. 13 ; in neither case, however, as examples of tyranny. 
 Modern editors have almost invariably followed Yellutello, Lombardi
 
 142 HELL CANTO 
 
 has its hair so black is Ezzelin ; and that other who. is fair 
 is Obizzo of Este, who of a truth was extinguished by his 
 
 E quella fronte ch' ha il pel cosi nero 
 
 E Azzolino; e quell' altro ch' e biondo no 
 
 E Obizzo da Esti, il qual per vero 
 
 (whose note is extremely sensible) and Blanc alone holding with the 
 older people. Philalethes is loath to go against their authority ; Lubin 
 and Bianchi doubt ; but Biagioli, I'oggiali, Volpi, \Vitte, Scartazzini, 
 all support the claims of the Pheraean. One of their arguments is that 
 in Conv. iv. u, Dante speaks of ihe ' reali beneficii ' of Alexander the 
 Great. But in the same list of men renowned for munificence he in- 
 cludes Bertrand de Born, whom he has condemned to a yet lower depth 
 of Hell. On the other side, it is to be observed that two of his chief 
 authorities in this portion of the poem, Lucan and Orosius, treat Alex- 
 ander the Great as one of the great spoilers of the world. The former 
 (Fhars. x. ad init.) calls him ' proles vesana Philippi, felix praedo,' 
 ' terrarum fatale malum . . . sidus iniquum gentibus ' ; while the latter 
 (Hist. iii. 18) says of him: humani sanguinis insatiabilis, sive hostium 
 sive etiam sociorum, recentem semper sitiebat cruorem. 
 
 It is probable also that the two are brought in here, not so much on 
 the score of cruelty for Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, li.C. 405-367. 
 was not specially notorious on this account as for lust of power and 
 concjuest. Nor, on Dante's own principle (Par. xvii. 138), is he likely 
 to have selected the comparatively obscure tyrant of Pherae in prefer- 
 ence to his great namesake of Macedonia. 
 
 1111 Eccelino da Romano (1194-1260), called by the Tuscans Azzolino, 
 was one of Frederick II. 's stoutest champions in Lombardy ; and by 
 marriage with his natural daughter Selvaggia, his son-in-law. lie lie- 
 came lord of the Trevisan March, of Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Brescia, 
 and other towns ; and was finally conquered and slain by the 
 Cremonese Ghibelines themselves, under the Marquis Palavicino (Vill. 
 vi. 74). lie left behind him a reputation for savagery and cruelty 
 which seems to have impressed even his contemporaries. See Kington- 
 Oliphant, Frederick the Second, vol. ii. pp. 310-312. Cf. also Par. i.\. 
 25 sqq. 
 
 111 Obizzo II. of Este, lord of Ferrara, and later of Reggio and 
 Modena (Philal.), came of a house which had stoutly withstood Frederick 
 and Eccelino ; he himself was born, according to Benver.uto, when his 
 father Rinaldo, son of Azzo II., was in an Apulian prison as hostage.
 
 xii HELL 143 
 
 stepson in the world above.' Then I turned to the Poet, 
 and he said : ' Let this one for the present be first with 
 thee, and me second.' A little further on the Centaur 
 stopped above a folk who as far as the throat seemed to 
 issue from that seething. He showed us a shade on one 
 side alone, saying : ' That one clove in the lap of God the 
 
 Fu spento dal figliastro su nel mondo. 
 Allor mi volsi al Poeta, e quei disse : 
 Questi ti sia or primo, ed io secondo. 
 
 Poco piu oltre il Centauro s' affisse 
 Sopra una gente che infino alia gola 
 Parea che di quel bulicame uscisse. 
 
 Mostrocci un' ombra dalP un canto sola, 
 Dicendo : Colui fesse in grembo a Dio 
 
 There seems no special reason for his selection as a typical tyrant. The 
 story of his muider by his son Azzo III. (' quel d' Esti ' of Purg. v. 77), 
 Benvenuto says, was taken by Dante from Riccobaldo, a Ferrarese 
 chronicler of the time. He died 1293. 
 
 n - figliastro : either to note the unnaturalness of the crime (Benv. ), 
 or to hint that the son's mother had been unfaithful (Bocc. ). 
 
 318 Guy of Montfort, son of Sir Simon, who, in vengeance for the 
 death of his father, stabbed his cousin Henry, son of Richard of Corn- 
 wall, at the moment of the elevation of the Host, in the Cathedral of 
 Viterbo, towards the end of 1270. Guy, who was at the time holding 
 the office of Vicar in Tuscany for Charles of Anjou, appears to have 
 been in some measure shielded by him. The outrage aroused very 
 strong reprobation in Italy. ' Istud fuit nimis excessivum homicidium,' 
 says Benvenuto. Villani, in narrating it (vii. 40), takes occasion to 
 quote lines 119, 120, one of the few instances in which he actually 
 quotes Dante by name ; if indeed any of the quotations which appear 
 in the first edition, but are omitted by modern editors, be not a later 
 insertion. Henry's heart was brought to England in a gold casket, 
 which, according to the early commentators, who probably misunder- 
 stood Dante's words, was placed on a pillar over London Bridge. 
 sola: probably because Guy, as an Englishman, was nationally outside 
 of the Empire. See note iv. 129.
 
 144 HELL CANTO 
 
 heart which yet is honoured on the Thames.' Next I saw 
 folk who were holding out of the stream the head and also 
 the whole of the chest, and of these I recognised full many. 
 Thus by more and more sank that blood, so that it cooked 
 only the feet ; and here was our passage of the foss. ' As 
 thou on this hand seest how the seething stuff ever dwindles,' 
 said the Centaur, ' so I would have thee believe that on this 
 other by more and more it lowers its bed, until it comes 
 back to where it behoves that tyranny groan. The justice 
 of God on this side stings that Attila who was a scourge on 
 
 Lo cor che in sul Tamigi ancor si cola. 120 
 
 Poi vidi gente, che di fuor del rio 
 
 Tenea la testa ed ancor tutto il casso : 
 
 E di costoro assai riconobb' io. 
 Cosi a piu a piu si facea basso 
 
 Quel sangue si, che cocea pur li piedi : cl 
 
 E quivi fu del fosso il nostro passo. 
 Si come tu da questa parte vedi 
 
 Lo bulicame che sempre si scema, 
 
 Disse il Centauro, voglio che tu credi, 
 Che da quest' altra piu a piu giu prema 130 
 
 Lo fondo suo, infin ch' ei si raggiunge 
 
 Ove la tirannia convien che gema. 
 La divina giustizia di qua punge 
 
 Quell' Attila che fu flagello in terra, 
 
 1;u Attila was a hero of legend in the .Middle Ages. Among other 
 achievements lie was credited with burning Florence and attacking 
 Rome. Ho is confused with Totila, as by Villani at the beginning of 
 his second book ; and perhaps with Alaric.
 
 xii HELL 145 
 
 earth, and Pyrrhus, and Sextus ; and to eternity draws out 
 the tears which with the boiling it unlocks from Rinier of 
 Corneto, from Rinier Pazzo, who caused upon the highway 
 so much strife.' Then he turned round, and passed him 
 back over the ford. 
 
 E Pirro, e Sesto ; ed in eterno munge 
 
 Le lagrime, che col bollor disserra 
 
 A Rinier da Corneto, a Rinier Pazzo, 
 Che fecero alle strade tanta guerra : 
 
 Poi si rivolse, e ripassossi il guazzo. 
 
 135 Py rr hus, probably the king of Epirus ; though the son of 
 Achilles has from early times had supporters. Sextus Pompey. 
 
 137 Two robber nobles. Rinieri Pazzo, of Arezzo, is said to have 
 specially plundered churchmen. 
 
 NOTE TO LINES 4, 5. 
 
 Otto of Freisingen (vii, 15) writing of events about 1 120 says : Circa 
 idem tempus terremotus horribilis oppida templa villas montesque pluri- 
 mos, sicut usque hodie in valle Tridentina apparet, subvertit. This 
 seems even better to suit the event to which Dante alludes.
 
 CANTO XIII 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They come into a wood, the trees of which are of strange fashion and 
 contain the souls of such as had done violence to their own lives. 
 Dante talks with Petrus de Vineis, and sees the punishment of 
 certain Florentines who in life had squandered their substance. 
 
 NESSUS had not yet reached the bank on the other side 
 when we betook ourselves through a wood, whicli was 
 marked by no path. Not green leafage, but of a brown 
 hue, not smooth branches, but knotty and entangled, not 
 apples were there, but thorns with poison. So rough stems 
 nor so thick inhabit not those wild woodland beasts whicli 
 
 NON era ancor di la Nesso arrivato, 
 
 Quando noi ci mettemmo per un bosco, 
 Che da nessun sentiero era segnato. 
 
 Non fronda verde, ma di color fosco, a 
 Non rami schietti, ma nodosi e involti, 
 Non pomi v' eran, ma stecchi con tosco. 
 
 Non han si aspri sterpi ne si folti 
 
 Quelle fiere selvagge, che in odio hanno 
 
 1 di la : on the side whence they had come, now the farther side as 
 regards them.
 
 CANTO xin HELL 147 
 
 hold in enmity the tilled ground between Cecina and 
 Corneto. Here the foul Harpies make their nests, which 
 chased the Trojans from the Strophades with sad presage of 
 mischief to come. Wide wings they have, and necks and 
 faces of men, feet with talons, and their great bellies 
 feathered ; they make upon the trees uncouth lamentations. 
 And the good Master : ' Before thou enterest further, 
 know that thou art in the second ring,' began he to say 
 to me ; ' and shalt be, so long as thou art coming to the 
 horrible sand. Therefore look well, and so shalt thou see 
 things which would take away credence from my speech.' 
 
 Tra Cecina e Corneto i luoghi colti. 
 
 Quivi le brutte Arpie lor nidi fanno, 10 
 
 Che cacciar delle Strofade i Troiani 
 Con tristo annunzio di futuro danno. 
 
 Ale hanno late, e colli e visi umani, 
 
 Pie con artigli, e pennuto il gran ventre : 
 Fanno lamenti in su gli alberi strani. 
 
 E il buon Maestro : Prima che piu entre, 
 Sappi che sei nel secondo girone, 
 Mi comincib a dire, e sarai, mentre 
 
 Che tu verrai nell' orribil sabbione. 
 
 Pero riguarda bene, e si vedrai 20 
 
 Cose, che torrien fede al mio sermone. 
 
 !l The Cecina and the Marta (on which stands the town of Corneto) 
 flow into the sea a little south of Leghorn and north of Civitavecchia 
 respectively, and mark approximately the northern and southern limits 
 of the wild coast-land, or Maremma, of Tuscany. 
 
 11 Aen. iii. 209 sqq. 
 
 17 In the second division of the seventh circle. 
 
 - 1 I.e. if I were to mention them. Benv. in the previous line reads 
 guarda bew se vedrai ; which might mean, ' see if you can see anything 
 not confirming what I have said.'
 
 148 HELL CANTO 
 
 I heard on all sides wailings long-drawn, and saw no person 
 to make them ; wherefore all bewildered I stopped. 
 
 I believe that he believed that I believed that voices in 
 such number were issuing, among those stocks, from folk 
 who by reason of us were hiding themselves. ' Therefore,' 
 said the Master, ' if thou break off any twig of one of these 
 plants, the thoughts that thou hadst shall be all brought to 
 nought.' Then I reached my hand a little forward, and 
 plucked a small bough from a great sloe ; and its trunk 
 cried : ' Why rendest thou me ? ' When it had become 
 thereafter brown with blood, it began again to cry : ' Why 
 pluckest thou me ? Hast thou no spirit of pity whatever ? 
 Men we were ; and now are we turned to stems. Thy 
 
 lo sentia da ogni parte traer guai, 
 E non vedea persona che il facesse ; 
 Perch' io tutto smarrito m' arrestai. 
 
 lo credo ch' ei credette ch' io credesse, 
 Che tante voci uscisser tra quei bronchi 
 Da gente che per noi si nascondesse. 
 
 Perb, disse il Maestro, se tu tronchi 
 
 Qualche fraschetta d' una d' este piante, 
 
 Li pensier ch' hai si faran tutti monchi. 30 
 
 Allor porsi la mano un poco avante, 
 E colsi un ramicel da un gran pruno : 
 E il tronco suo grido : Perche mi schiante ? 
 
 Da che fatto fu poi di sangue bruno, 
 
 Ricomincio a gridar : Perche mi scerpi ? 
 Non hai tu spirto di pietate alcuno ? 
 
 Uomini fummo, ed or sem fatti sterpi :
 
 xni HELL 149 
 
 hand ought surely to have been more pitiful if we had been 
 souls of serpents.' As in a green log which is being burnt 
 at one of its ends, that at the other it drips, and squeaks by 
 reason of wind which is escaping, so from that splinter 
 issued at the same time words and blood ; wherefore I let 
 the end fall, and stood like the man who is in fear. ' If he 
 had been able to believe sooner,' replied my Sage, ' O injured 
 soul, that which he has seen, through my verse only, he 
 would not have stretched forth his hand upon thee ; but 
 the incredibleness of the thing made me persuade him to 
 the act, which weighs on myself. But tell him who thou 
 art, so that in place of some amends he may refresh thy 
 
 Ben dovrebb' esser la tua man piu pia, 
 
 Se state fossim' anime di serpi. 
 Come d' un stizzo verde, che arso sia 40 
 
 DalF un dei capi, che dall' altro geme, 
 
 E cigola per vento che va via ; 
 Cos! di quella scheggia usciva insieme 
 
 Parole e sangue : ond' io lasciai la cima 
 
 Cadere, e stetti come 1' uom che teme. 
 S' egli avesse potuto creder prima, 
 
 Rispose il Savio mio, anima lesa, 
 
 Cio ch' ha veduto pur con la mia rima, 
 Non averebbe in te la man distesa ; 
 
 Ma la cosa incredibile mi fece 50 
 
 Indurlo ad opra, che a me stesso pesa. 
 Ma dilli chi tu fosti, si che, in vece 
 
 D' alcuna ammenda, tua fama rinfreschi 
 
 4 " Cf. Chaucer, Knight's Tale, II. 1479-82 : 
 
 ' And as it quenched, it made a whisteling, 
 As doth a wete brand in his burning. 
 And at the brandes end outran anon, 
 As it were bloody dropes many one.'
 
 150 HELL CANTO 
 
 fame in the world above, whither it is permitted him to 
 return.' 
 
 And the trunk : ' So dost thou entice me with thy 
 pleasant speech, that I cannot be silent ; and let it not vex 
 you because to converse a little ensnares me. I am he that 
 
 Nel mondo su, dove tornar gli lece. 
 
 E il tronco : Si con dolce dir m' adeschi, 
 Ch' io non posso tacere ; e voi non gravi 
 Perch' io un poco a ragionar m' inveschi. 
 
 Io son colui, che tenni ambo le chiavi 
 
 68 sqq. p e trus de Vineis (Pier dalle Vigne) was born at Capua of ex- 
 tremely poor parents, about the end of the twelfth century. He contrived 
 to study at Bologna, living on charity ; and having attracted the notice 
 of the Archbishop of Palermo, was by him recommended to Frederick 
 II. By 1225 he was a judge ; and he rose rapidly till he became the 
 emperor's private secretary and most intimate adviser. (Oddly enough, 
 the title of Chancellor, which nearly all commentators give him, seems 
 to be about the only one which he did not hold. ) He was sent on 
 many important missions ; on one occasion visiting England, to arrange 
 for Frederick's marriage with Isabella, sister of Henry III. Like his 
 master, he was a poet, and wrote the first sonnet in the Italian language, 
 beginning 
 
 ' Perocche amore no se po vedere. ' 
 
 Suddenly, in 1249, he fell into disgrace. There is much obscurity as to 
 the cause ; but the version most widely believed is that he was charged 
 with having intrigued with the Pope, and endeavoured at his instigation 
 to poison Frederick. He was blinded, and paraded through Tuscany 
 as a traitor ; and committed suicide, according to the picturesque ver- 
 sion of Boccaccio, by dashing his head against the wall of a church in 
 Pisa. Even as to this there seems to be some doubt. Yillani, who like 
 Dante considers that the charges brought against him were only based 
 on his rivals' envy, says ' per dolore si lascio tosto niorire in pregione, e 
 chi disse ch' egli medesimo si tolse la vita' (vi. 22). ambo le chiavi : 
 doubtless an allusion to the frequent parallels which in the time of his 
 prosperity his flatterers drew between his position and tha: of his name- 
 sake the Apostle. For examples, see Oliphant's ' Frederick the Second,' 
 ii. p. 480.
 
 xin HELL 151 
 
 held both the keys of Frederick's heart, and that turned 
 them locking and unlocking so gently, that from his secrets 
 I removed almost every man ; faith I bore to my glorious 
 office, so much that I lost therefrom my slumbers and my 
 heartbeats. The harlot, who never from the abode of Caesar 
 has turned her vile eyes, deadly to all men, and a plague 
 of courts, inflamed all minds against me ; and they being 
 
 Del cor di Federico, e che le volsi 
 
 Serrando e disserrando si soavi, 60 
 
 Che dal secreto suo quasi ogni uom tolsi : 
 Fede portai al glorioso offizio, 
 Tanto ch' io ne perdei i sonni e i polsi. b 
 
 La meretrice, che mai dall' ospizio 
 Di Cesare non torse gli occhi putti, 
 Morte comune, e delle corti vizio, 
 
 Infiammb contra me gli animi tutti, 
 
 b le vene e i p. Gg. Benv. (?) 145, Aid. W.; i sensi 3. 
 
 63 There can be little doubt that sonni, which has the great pre- 
 ponderance of MS. authority, is the correct reading ; though vene has 
 considerable support, and is found very early. But, as Dr. Moore 
 points out, while perfectly appropriate in i. 90, it is not the word here. 
 (It seems just possible, however, that even if vene were the word origin- 
 ally selected by Dante himself, he might have meant the same as by 
 the afterthought sonni. Cf. Ov. Met. xii. 316-17, where the text until 
 emended by Heinsius had ' cunctis sine fine jacebat Sopitus venis.' 
 Aristotle, de Somno, makes the veins play an important part in the 
 physiology of sleep.) polsi : ' i polsi son quelle parti nel corpo nostro, 
 nelle quali si comprendono le qualita de' movimenti del cuore, e in 
 questi piii o men correnti si dimostrano le virtu morali.' Bocc. But, 
 looking to Arist. de Respiratione, afyv&i /j.a\\ov TOLS veurtpoiS rwv 
 Trpeo-jSi'Tepwc, it may mean merely, I grew old. 
 
 tu Quoted by Chaucer ; Legend of Good Women (Prologue) : 
 
 ' Envy is lavander of the court alway ; 
 For she ne parteth neither night nor day 
 Out of the house of Caesar, thus saith Dant. '
 
 152 HELL CANTO 
 
 inflamed so inflamed Augustus that my glad honours turned 
 to sorry grief. My mind, through taste of disdain, thinking 
 to fly disdain with dying, made me unrighteous against my 
 righteous self. By the new roots of this tree I swear to you 
 that never did I break faith to my Lord, who was so 
 worthy of honour. And if either of you returns to the 
 world, let him stablish my memory, which is prostrate yet 
 from the stroke which envy dealt it.' 
 
 He waited a little, and then : ' Seeing he is silent,' said 
 the Poet to me, ' lose not the moment, but speak and inquire 
 of him if it lists thee more.' Wherefore I to him : ' Ask 
 thou further of whatsoever thou deemest will satisfy me ; for 
 I could not ; so great pity pricks my heart.' Therefore he 
 
 E gl' infiammati infiammar si Augusto, 
 Che i lieti onor tornaro in tristi lutti. 
 
 L' animo mio per disdegnoso gusto, 70 
 
 Credendo col morir fuggir disdegno, 
 Ingiusto fece me contra me giusto. 
 
 Per le nuove radici d' esto legno 
 
 Vi giuro che giammai non ruppi fede 
 Al mio signor, che fu d' onor si degno. 
 
 E se di voi alcun nel mondo riede, 
 Conforti la memoria mia, che giace 
 Ancor del colpo che invidia le diede. 
 
 Un poco attese, e poi : Da ch' ei si tace, 
 
 Disse il Poeta a me, non perder 1' ora ; So 
 
 Ma parla, e chiedi a lui se piu ti place. 
 
 Ond' io a lui : Domandal tu ancora 
 
 Di quel che credi che a me satisfaccia ; 
 Ch' io non potrei : tanta pieta m' accora. 
 
 s " ora is here an adverb; and the construction is like (onlcnli al 
 i/uia, I'urg. iii. 37.
 
 xin HELL 153 
 
 began again : ' So may this man do for thee freely that 
 wherefore thy word prays him, O spirit imprisoned, let it 
 yet please thee to tell us how the soul is bound in these 
 gnarls ; and tell us, if thou canst, if any is ever unwrapped 
 from such limbs ? ' Then blew the trunk mightily, and 
 afterward that wind was turned into such voice as this : 
 'Briefly shall answer be made to you. When the fierce 
 soul parts from the body whence it has torn itself away, 
 Minos sends it to the seventh entry. It falls in the wood, 
 and no part is selected for it ; but in the place where 
 fortune shoots it, there it sprouts like a grain of spelt. It 
 rises to a sapling, and to a woodland plant ; the Harpies, 
 feeding thereafter from its leaves, cause woe, and make for 
 
 Percio ricomincio : Se 1' uom ti faccia 
 
 Liberamente cib che il tuo dir prega, 
 
 Spirito incarcerato, ancor ti piaccia 
 Di dime come 1' anima si lega 
 
 In questi nocchi ; e dinne, se tu puoi, 
 
 S' alcuna mai da tai membra si spiega. 90 
 
 Allor soffio lo tronco forte, e poi 
 
 Si convert! quel vento in cotal voce : 
 
 Brevemente sara risposto a vol. 
 Quando si parte 1' anima feroce 
 
 Dal corpo, ond' ella stessa s' e disvelta, 
 
 Minos la manda alia settima foce. 
 Cade in la selva, e non 1' e parte scelta ; 
 
 Ma la dove fortuna la balestra, 
 
 Qtiivi germoglia come gran di spelta ; 
 Surge in vermena, ed in pianta silvestra : TOO 
 
 L' Arpie, pascendo poi delle sue foglie, 
 
 Fanno dolore, ed al dolor finestra.
 
 1 54 HELL CANTO 
 
 the woe an outlet. Like the others, we shall come for our 
 spoils, but not to the end that any may again be clad there- 
 with ; for it is not just that a man have that which he takes 
 from himself. Here shall we drag them, and throughout 
 the sad wood will our bodies be hung, each on the thorn- 
 bush of its baneful shade.' 
 
 We were still giving heed to the trunk, deeming that 
 it would say else to us, when we were surprised by an 
 uproar in manner like to him, who at his post is aware of 
 the boar and the chase coming, when he hears the beasts 
 and the twigs crash. And lo ! two on our left side, naked 
 
 Come 1' altre, verrem per nostre spoglie, 
 Ma non pero ch' alcuna sen rivesta : 
 Che non e giusto aver cib ch' uom si toglie. 
 
 Qui le strascineremo, e per la mesta 
 Selva saranno i nostri corpi appesi, 
 Ciascuno al prun dell' ombra sua molesta. 
 
 Noi eravamo ancora al tronco attesi, 
 
 Credendo ch' altro ne volesse dire, no 
 
 Quando noi fummo d' un romor sorpresi, 
 
 Similemente a colui, che venire 
 
 Sente il porco e la caccia alia sua posta, 
 Ch' ode le bestie e la fraschc stormire. 
 
 Ed ecco duo dalla sinistra costa, 
 
 103 spoglie : our earthly bodies. See S. T. Suppl. Q. 79. Accord- 
 ing to Ucnvenuto, some people appear to have been a little scandalised 
 by Dante's modification, in the case of suicides, of the strict orthodox 
 doctrine respecting the connexion of soul and body after the resurrec- 
 tion. 
 
 108 molesta : because, through the fault of the soul, it has come to this 
 pass. 
 
 113 These are sinners who have ' wasted their substance in riotous 
 living.' They belong to the class of &CTUTOI who spend as & fJ.rj 
 5e?, ' prodigals ' in our sense of the word ; to be distinguished from the
 
 xin HELL 155 
 
 and scratched, flying so hard that they were breaking every 
 switch of the wood. The one in front was crying : ' Now 
 hasten, hasten hither, death ' ; and the other, who appeared 
 to be over -hurried : ' Lano, not thus were thy legs smart 
 at the jousts of II Topo.' And since perchance his breath 
 failed him, of himself and of a bush he made a group. 
 
 Behind them the wood was full of black hounds eager 
 
 Nudi e graffiati, fuggendo si forte, 
 Che della selva rompieno ogni rosta. 
 
 Quel dinanzi : Ora accorri, accorri, morte. 
 E 1' altro, a cui pareva tardar troppo, 
 Gridava : Lano, si non furo accorte 120 
 
 Le gambe tue alle giostre del Toppo. 
 E poiche forse gli fallia la lena, 
 Di se e d' un cespuglio fece un groppo. 
 
 Diretro a loro era la selva piena 
 
 Di nere cagne, bramose e correnti, 
 
 ' prodigals ' of the fourth circle, whose sin is rather that they 
 ' boasted themselves in the multitude of their riches,' and spent 6'cra 
 (j.r) 5e?. Eth. Nic. iv. 2 (1120 b). 
 
 119 Lit. 'for whom there seemed to be too great delay.' a cui 
 depends on tardar (impersonal, as ix. 9, xxi. 25), not on pareva. 
 Bocc. renders 'cioe esser troppo lento,' etc., as if he read chi pareva. 
 
 120 Boccaccio tells us that Lano was a young man of Siena, a 
 member of the so-called 'Spendthrift Brigade' (see xxix. 130). In 
 1288 a force of Sienese was cut to pieces by the Aretines under 
 Buonconte of Montefeltro, at a spot near Arezzo called the ford of 
 Pieve del Toppo (Villani vii. 120) ; and it appears that Lano, being 
 ruined and desperate, chose to fight and be killed, rather than to run 
 away when he might. accorte, much like scoria in Purg. xix. 12. 
 Possibly the use here of the compound, which is less usual in this sense, 
 may be meant to suggest a kind of mocking echo of Lano's accorri. 
 
 l - 5 P. di Dante and Bargigi consider that the hounds suggest the 
 creditors who pursue the spendthrift. Benvenuto, who, with a care- 
 lessness unusual in him, represents the souls as pursued by hunters as
 
 1 56 HELL CANTO 
 
 and running, like greyhounds that have issued from the 
 leash. In the one who was crouching they set their teeth 
 and tore him up piece by piece ; then they carried away 
 those woeful limbs. 
 
 Then my Escort took me by the hand, and brought me 
 to the bush which was wailing in vain through its bloody 
 rents. ' O James,' it was saying, ' of Sant' Andrea, what has 
 it helped thee to make a screen of me ? What blame have 
 I for thy guilty life ? ' When the Master had stood still 
 over it, he said : ' Who wast thou, that through so many 
 pricks breathest out with thy blood a woeful speech ? ' And 
 
 Come veltri che uscisser di catena. 
 In quel, che s' appiatto, miser li denti, 
 
 E quel dilaceraro a brano a brano ; 
 
 Poi sen portar quelle membra dolenti. 
 Presemi allor la mia scorta per mano, 130 
 
 E menommi al cespuglio che piangea 
 
 Per le rotture sanguinenti invano. 
 O Jacomo, dicea, da sant' Andrea, 
 
 Che t' e giovato di me fare schermo ? 
 
 Che colpa ho io della tua vita rea ? 
 Ouando il Maestro fu sopr' esso fermo, 
 
 Disse : Chi fusti, che per tante punte 
 
 Soffi con sangue doloroso scrmo ? 
 
 well as dogs, sees the creditors in the former : the dogs being t he- 
 various ' incommoda' to which a bankrupt is subjected. 
 
 1:::! James ' of the Chapel of St. Andrew ' was a young 1'aduan 
 noble of the house of Monselice, whose eccentric fashions of wasting 
 his money seem to have kept his memory alive for several generations 
 after his own death, which, according to \\itte, took place in 1239. 
 when he was killed by order of Eccelino. His chief peculiarity would 
 appear to have been a mania for arson, which he gratitk-d at the cost 
 of his own and his tenants' houses.
 
 xin HELL 157 
 
 he to us : ' O souls that are come to see the unseemly 
 rending which has thus detached my leaves from me, 
 collect them again at the foot of the sorry tussock. I 
 belonged to the city which into the Baptist changed its 
 first patron ; wherefore he for this cause will ever make it 
 sorry through his craft. And if it were not that above the 
 
 Ed egli a noi : O anime che giunte 
 
 Siete a veder lo strazio disonesto, 140 
 
 Ch' ha le mie fronde si da me disgiunte, 
 
 Raccoglietele al pie del tristo cesto : 
 lo fui della citta che nel Batista 
 Muto il primo patrono : ond' ei per questo 
 
 Sempre con 1' arte sua la fara trista : 
 
 E se non fosse che in sul passo d' Arno 
 
 143 According to the current history, Florence was originally under 
 the special patronage of Mars, to whom a great temple had been erected 
 in the time of Augustus, soon after the first foundation of the city, to 
 commemorate the victory of the Romans over the Fiesolans (Villani 
 i. 42). Then when the Florentines became Christian, they converted 
 the temple into a church dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and put the 
 statue of Mars in a tower near the Arno (ib. 60, ii. i). Afterwards, 
 when Attila (who is confused with Totila) destroyed the city, all except 
 the temple, which was built under such a combination of stars as to be 
 indestructible, the tower and image fell into the river. The image 
 remained there until the city was rebuilt by Charles the Great, when 
 it was fished out in a mutilated state (Boccaccio ; Vill. iii. i), and set up 
 on a pillar at the head of the Ponte Vecchio (see Par. xvi. 47), where it 
 remained till it was carried away by a flood in 1333 (Villani xi. i). 
 
 Benvenuto, who will not allow that Dante, as a good Christian, 
 could attribute to a heathen god the power, which this passage seems 
 to imply, of plaguing a city in revenge for its conversion to Christianity, 
 holds that the words have a hidden meaning, and refer to the abandon- 
 ment by the Florentines of their old soldierly simplicity, and their 
 devotion to money-making; the Baptist being, as in Par. xviii. 134, 
 taken to suggest the florin stamped with his effigy. This suggestion 
 seems ingenious.
 
 158 HELL CANTO xin 
 
 passage of Arno there remains yet some sight of him, those 
 citizens who set it up again afterwards upon the ashes 
 which remained from Attila would have had the work 
 done fruitlessly. I made a gibbet for myself of my own 
 house.' 
 
 Rimane ancor di lui alcuna vista ; 
 Quei cittadin, che poi la rifondarno 
 Sopra il cener che d' Attila rimase, 
 Avrebber fatto lavorare indarno. 150 
 
 lo fei giubbetto a me delle mie case. 
 
 151 It is not known who the speaker is. Benv. says that many 
 Florentines hanged themselves about this time, notably one Rocco clei 
 Mozzi, and a jurist, Lotto degli Agli.
 
 CANTO XIV 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They issue from the wood upon a plain of sand where fire is ever 
 falling ; and pass along the margin of the river of blood. Here 
 some are lying still, some going onwards, being those who had 
 been violent against God and against natural laws. Virgil re- 
 lates the origin of the rivers which flow through Hell. 
 
 BECAUSE the love of my birthplace constrained me, I 
 gathered again the scattered leaves, and gave them back to 
 him, who by this time was faint of speech. Then we came 
 to the boundary where the second ring is divided from the 
 third, and where is seen a gruesome device of justice. 
 
 Rightly to explain the new things I say that we arrived 
 
 POICHE la carita del natio loco 
 
 Mi strinse, raunai le fronde sparte, 
 E rendei le a colui ch' era gia fioco. 
 
 Indi venimmo al fine, ove si parte 
 Lo secondo giron dal terzo, e dove 
 Si vede di giustizia orribil arte. 
 
 A ben manifestar le cose nuove, 
 
 1 Because the sinner was a fellow-citizen of his own. It is hard to 
 say whether the words are ironical. They may be compared, or con- 
 trasted, with the opening lines of Canto xxvi. 
 
 s fioco : it would seem that the power of speech in these animate 
 shrubs only lasted while the wound was recent, and the sap flowing. 
 Cf. xiii. So.
 
 160 HELL CANTO 
 
 at a land which from its bed rejects every plant. The 
 woeful wood is a fringe to it round about, as to that is the 
 foss of sorrow : here we stayed our feet upon the very edge. 
 The space was one sand, dry and dense, made not in other 
 fashion than that which once was trodden by the feet of Cato. 
 O vengeance of God, how oughtest thou to be feared by 
 each one who reads that which was manifested to my eyes ! 
 Many troops of naked souls I saw, which all were wailing 
 right piteously ; and divers law seemed to be laid upon 
 them. Some folk were lying supine on the ground, some 
 were sitting all gathered up, and others were continually 
 
 Dico che arrivammo ad una landa, 
 Che dal suo letto ogni pianta rimove. 
 
 La dolorosa selva 1' e ghirlanda 10 
 
 Intorno, come il fosso tristo ad essa : 
 Quivi fermammo i passi a randa a randa. 
 
 Lo spazzo era un' arena arida e spessa. 
 Non d' altra foggia fatta che colei, 
 Che fu dai pie di Caton gia soppressa. 
 
 O vendetta di Dio, quanto tu dei 
 Esser temuta da ciascun che legge 
 Cib che fu manifesto agli occhi miei ! 
 
 D' anime nude vidi molte gregge, 
 
 Che piangean tutte assai miseramente, 20 
 
 E parea posta lor diversa legge. 
 
 Supin giaceva in terra alcuna gente ; 
 Alcuna si sedea tutta raccolta, 
 Ed altra andava continuamente. 
 
 15 With allusion to the description in Lucan I'hars. ix. 411, sqq. of 
 Cato's march through the Libyan desert (where, by the way, the famous 
 anecdote of Sir Philip Sidney and the cup of water is anticipated). 
 
 "'~' 24 Nota quod autor pulcerrime fingit blasphemes jacere, quia sunt 
 fuhninati et prostrati ad terrain [perhaps rather, as Scart. says, to denote
 
 xiv HELL 161 
 
 going. They that were going round were more in 
 number, and less those who were lying in the torment, 
 but to their woe they had their tongues more loosed. All 
 over the sand with a slow fall were showering broad flakes 
 of fire, as of snow upon a windless alp. As Alexander, 
 in those hot parts of India, saw falling upon his host flames 
 
 Quella che giva intorno era piii molta, 
 E quella men, che giaceva al tormento, 
 Ma piu al duolo avea la lingua sciolta. 
 
 Sopra tutto il sabbion d' un cader lento 
 Piovean di foco dilatate falde, 
 Come di neve in alpe senza vento. 30 
 
 Quali Alessandro in quelle parti calde 
 D' India vide sopra lo suo stuolo 
 
 the impotence of man when he sets himself up against God] ; sodom- 
 itas fingit currere, quia currunt quo ardor concupiscentiae trahit eos 
 [cf. the carnal sinners of Canto v.] ; usurarios vero fingit sedere, quia . . . 
 magnam partem vitae expendunt sedendo ad banchum in calculando 
 rationes et numerando pecunias. Benv. 
 
 31 This story occurs in the apocryphal letter of Alexander to 
 Aristotle 'concerning the Marvels of India,' which was very popular 
 in the Middle Ages. As they were going through the deserts (at the 
 head of the Persian Gulf, as it would seem), about the time of the 
 equinox, first snow fell heavily, which Alexander ordered his soldiers 
 to trample down ; then followed rain : and then ' visae sunt nubes 
 ardentes de caelo tanquam faces (al. falces) descendere . . . Jussi itaque 
 milites scissas vestes opponere ignibus.' A later version, which 
 Dante probably never saw, since it seems doubtful whether it existed 
 before the I4th century, but which became very popular under the 
 title ' Ilistoria Alexandri de preliis,' and was frequently printed before 
 1500, gives the same story, but in somewhat different, and varying, 
 words. Dante, it will be seen, has confused the treatment applied to the 
 fire and the snow. For information as to the medieval Alexander legends, 
 see a letter by Mr. Paget Toynbee in the 'Academy' for February 2, 
 1889. Zacher's ' Pseudo-Callisthenes ' (Halle 1867) may also be con- 
 sulted ; and Prof. Skeat's prefaces to Nos. i. and xxxi. Early English 
 Text Society's ' Extra Series.' 
 
 M
 
 162 HELL CANTO 
 
 unbroken even to the ground, wherefore he had the fore- 
 sight to trample down the soil with his troops, to the end 
 that the vapour might better be extinguished while it was 
 isolated ; so came down the eternal heat, whereby the sand 
 was set on fire like kindling under a hearth, to double their 
 woe. Without rest for ever was the dance of their wretched 
 hands, now from this side, now from that beating off from 
 themselves the fresh burning. 
 
 I began : ' Master, thou that overcomest all things save 
 the stubborn Demons who issued out against us at the 
 entering of the gate, who is that mighty one who seems not 
 
 Fiamme cadere infino a terra salde ; 
 Perch' ei provvide a scalpitar lo suolo 
 
 Con le sue schiere, acciocche il vapore 
 
 Me' si stingeva mentre ch' era solo : 
 Tale scendeva 1' eternale ardore ; 
 
 Onde 1' arena s' accendea, com' esca 
 
 Sotto focile, a doppiar lo dolore. 
 Senza riposo mai era la tresca 40 
 
 Delle misere mani, or quindi or quinci 
 
 Iscotendo da se 1' arsura fresca. 
 lo cominciai : Maestro, tu che vinci 
 
 Tutte le cose, fuor che i Demon duri, 
 
 Che all' entrar della porta incontro uscinci, 
 Chi e quel grande, che non par che curi 
 
 40 tresca : Nota, ut bene videas si autor venatus fuit ubique quic- 
 quid faciebat ad suum propositum, quod tresca est quaedam dancia, 
 sive genus tripudii, quod fit Neapoli artificialiter valde. . . . Slant 
 enim plures sibi invicem oppositi, et unus elevabit manum ad unam 
 partem, et subito alii intenti facient idem ; deinde movebit manum ad 
 aliam partem, ita facient ceteri ; aliquando ambas manus simul . . . 
 unde est mirabile videre tantam dimicationem manuum et omnium 
 membrorum. Benv. Boccaccio to the same effect, but less fully.
 
 xiv HELL 163 
 
 to care for the burning, and lies despiteful and turned so 
 that the rain seems not to be ripening him ? ' And that 
 same one, who was aware that I was asking my Leader of 
 him, cried : ' As I was living such am I dead. If Jove 
 were to weary out his smith from whom in his wrath he 
 
 L' incendio, e giace dispettoso e torto 
 Si che la pioggia non par che il maturi ? a 
 
 E quel medesmo, che si fue accorto 
 
 Ch' io domandava il mio duca di lui, 50 
 
 Grido : Qual io fui vivo, tal son morto. 
 
 Se Giove stanchi il suo fabbro, da cui 
 
 :l marturi Cass. 2 ; macturi 4. 
 
 47 torto, i.e. facie ad caelum (Benv.) ; but more probably 'turned 
 half round,' as the usual position was 'supine' (1. 22). 
 
 48 maturi is the reading with far the most authority ; and the truly 
 Dantesque irony of it, comparing the sinners under the roasting heat to 
 ripening fruit, makes it in every way preferable to the tamer marturi. 
 Cf. xxxii. 117. 
 
 49 This is Capaneus, one of the seven chiefs who assaulted Thebes. 
 His position here is accounted for by his language in the description of 
 his end in Stat. Theb. iii. 66 1 : Primus in orbe deos fecit timor, etc. 
 See too x. 897 sqq. He challenges the gods to come to the aid of the 
 city, taunting Jupiter especially. 
 
 Tu potius venias, quis enim concurrere nobis 
 Dignior ? en cineres Semeleaque busta tenentur. 
 Nunc age, nunc totis in me connitere flammis, 
 Juppiter . . . 
 
 Jupiter is at last aroused, and saying 
 
 Quaenam spes hominum tumidae post praelia Phlegrae ? 
 Tune etiam feriendus ? 
 
 calls for a thunderbolt, and strikes Capaneus, who refuses to fall, and dies 
 upright, supported by the walls of the city against which he leans 
 
 paulum si tardius artus 
 Cessissent, poterat fulmen meruisse secundum. 
 
 To this doubtless is the allusion in 11. 52 sqq.
 
 1 64 HELL CANTO 
 
 took the keen thunderbolt wherewith on my last day I was 
 struck ; or if he were to weary out the others turn by turn 
 in Etna at the black smithy, crying, Good Vulcan, help, 
 help ; just as he did at the fight of Phlegra, and were to 
 shoot at me with all his might, he would not be able to 
 have thereby a glad revenge.' Then my Leader spoke with 
 vehemence, in so much that I had not heard him so 
 vehement : ' O Capaneus, in that thy pride is not mortified, 
 art thou more punished ; no torment would be beside 
 thy rage to thy madness woe complete.' Then turned he 
 to me with a better countenance, saying : ' That was one 
 of the seven kings who besieged Thebes ; and he held, and 
 it seems that he holds God in disdain, and little seems it 
 
 Crucciato prese la folgore acuta, 
 Onde 1' ultimo di percosso fui ; 
 
 O s' egli stanchi gli altri a muta a muta 
 In Mongibello alia fucina negra, 
 Chiamando : Buon Vulcano, aiuta aiuta, 
 
 Si com' ei fece alia pugna di Flegra, 
 E me saetti di tutta sua forza, 
 Non ne potrebbe aver vendetta allegra. 60 
 
 Allora il Duca mio parlb di forza 
 
 Tanto, ch' io non 1' avea si forte udito : 
 O Capaneo, in cib che non s' ammorza 
 
 La ttia stiperbia, sei tu piu punito : 
 
 Nullo martirio, fuor che la tua rabbia, 
 Sarebbe al tuo furor dolor compito. 
 
 Poi si rivolse a me con miglior labbia, 
 Dicendo : Quel fu 1' un dei sette regi 
 Ch' assiser Tebe ; ed ebbe, e par ch' egli abbia 
 
 Dio in disdegno, e poco par che il pregi : 70
 
 xiv HELL 165 
 
 that he prizes Him ; but as I said to him, his own despite 
 is to his heart adornment meet enough. Now come behind 
 me, and see that thou put not thy feet hereafter on the 
 scorched sand but keep them ever close to the wood.' 
 
 In silence we came to the place where gushes forth of 
 the wood a little brook, the redness whereof yet makes me 
 shudder. As from Bulicame the streamlet issues, which the 
 sinful women then divide among them, so did that go its 
 way downward through the sand. Its bottom and both its 
 banks are made of stone, and the borders at the side ; 
 
 Ma, come io dissi a lui, li suoi dispetti 
 Sono al suo petto assai debiti fregi. 
 
 Or mi vien dietro, e guarda che non metti 
 Ancor li piedi nell' arena arsiccia : 
 Ma sempre al bosco li ritieni stretti. 
 
 Tacendo divenimmo la ove spiccia 
 
 Fuor della selva un picciol fiumicello, 
 Lo cui rossore ancor mi raccapriccia. 
 
 Quale del Bulicame esce un ruscello, 
 
 Che parton poi tra lor le peccatrici, 80 
 
 Tal per 1' arena giu sen giva quello. 
 
 Lo fondo suo ed ambo le pendici 
 
 Fatt' eran pietra, e i margini da lato : 
 
 7!) Bulicame: the 'Boiler' (as xii. 117). As a proper name it 
 denotes a hot sulphureous spring near Viterbo, hot enough, says Fazio 
 degli Uberti (Dittam. iii. io), to cook a sheep while a man walked a 
 cjuarter of a mile, and sovereign against the stone. Like similar estab- 
 lishments in all times, it was the resort of loose women ; who being 
 compelled to reside in a special quarter, had their own special supply of 
 water from the source, distributed by pipes to their houses. 
 
 This, as appears from 11. 134, 135, is Phlegethon, the third of the 
 rivers of Hell. It may be supposed to be an extension of it, such as we 
 have found in the case of the two former rivers Acheron and Styx, 
 which forms the ' foss ' of Canto xii.
 
 166 HELL CANTO 
 
 whereupon I took note that the passage was there. ' Among 
 all the rest that I have shown thee since we entered by the 
 gate, the threshold whereof is refused to none, nothing has 
 been perceived by thine eyes of note as is this present stream, 
 which above itself deadens all flames.' These words were 
 my Leader's ; wherefore I prayed him to impart to me the 
 repast, the desire whereof he had imparted to me. 
 
 ' In mid-sea lies a waste country,' said he then, 'which is 
 
 Perch' io m' accorsi che il passo era lici. 
 Tra tutto 1' altro ch' io t' ho dimostrato, 
 
 Posciache noi entrammo per la porta, 
 
 Lo cui sogliare a nessuno e negato, 
 Cosa non fu dagli tuoi occhi scorta 
 
 Notabil, come Io presente rio, 
 
 Che sopra se tutte fiammelle ammorta : 90 
 
 Queste parole fur del Duca mio : 
 
 Perche il pregai, che mi largisse il pasto 
 
 Di cui largito m' aveva il disio. 
 In mezzo mar siede un paese guasto. 
 
 84 I.e. the passage across the plain of burning sand. 
 
 87 Land, refers to Aen. vi. 127. It is of course contrasted herewith 
 the inner gate, alluded to in 1. 45. 
 
 ! "' I.e. by the steam (xv. 2) rising from it (not, of course, with its 
 water, which would be no protection to those on its banks). There is no 
 doubt some reason of symbolism for the introduction of this line ; but it 
 is obscure, and the commentators mostly have nothing to say. Landino 
 indeed interprets that the contemplation of vice under the guidance of 
 reason is a safeguard against the assaults of passion. Not less far- 
 fetched, though much less in accordance with the facts of human nature, 
 is Lubin's suggestion that the career of tyrants is incompatible with 
 indulgence in carnal sins. 
 
 94 s <i'i- The general notion of a composite image as described in these 
 lines is obviously suggested by Daniel ii. ; but the symbolism is quite 
 different. Here the image undoubtedly typifies the history of the human 
 race. It is placed in Crete on Mount Ida no doubt in conformity with
 
 xiv HELL 167 
 
 called Crete, under whose king the world once was sinless. 
 There is a mountain, which erst was glad with waters and 
 with leaves, which was called Ida ; now is it desert, like a 
 decayed thing. Rhea chose it on a time for a trusty cradle 
 to her son, and to hide him better, when he wailed, she let 
 the cries be made there. Within the mountain stands erect 
 
 Diss' egli allora, che s' appella Greta, 
 Sotto il cui rege fu gia il mondo casto. 
 
 Una montagna v' e, che gia fu lieta 
 
 D' acqua e di fronde, che si chiamo Ida ; 
 Ora e diserta come cosa vieta. 
 
 Rea la scelse gia per cuna fida 100 
 
 Del suo figliuolo, e, per celarlo meglio, b 
 Quando piangea, vi facea far le grida. 
 
 Dentro dal monte sta dritto un gran veglio, 
 
 b >' un suo W. 
 
 Aen. iii. 105: Mons Idaeus ubi et gentis cunabula nostrae (i.e. of the 
 Trojans, and hence of the Romans) ; but that island is otherwise 
 specially appropriate from its position at the point where the boundaries 
 of Europe, Asia, and Africa meet. The division into metals of course 
 follows the commonplace of all poets ; Dante may have followed Ovid 
 as much as Daniel. He varies, as will be seen, from the prophet (or at 
 least from the version of the Vulgate) by making the brass terminate with 
 the trunk. This, no doubt, is to indicate the dual organisation of Church 
 and Empire on which rests his whole political theory ; and Benvenuto 
 is probably right in seeing in the leg which terminated in the foot of 
 ' baked earth ' the symbol of the ecclesiastical power, which, he says, 
 had ever since Constantine's time been the stronger (cf. Purg. xvi. 109). 
 Lubin's view that the two legs are the eastern and western empires can 
 hardly be accepted ; if only for the reason that, as the figure is placed, 
 the right leg clearly ought to denote, not the Roman, but the Byzantine 
 monarchy. 
 
 y(i Saturn. 
 
 10 - With allusion to the cries of the Corybantes.
 
 1 68 HELL CANTO 
 
 a great elder, who holds his shoulders turned toward 
 Damietta, and gazes at Rome as his mirror. His head is 
 fashioned of fine gold ; and pure silver are his arms and 
 breast ; then is he of brass even to the fork ; from thence 
 downward is he all choice iron, save that his right foot is 
 baked earth, and upon the first more than upon the other 
 he stands upright. Every part beside the gold is burst with 
 a cleft which drips tears, the which, collected, pierce this 
 cavern. Their course into this vale is from rock to rock ; 
 they make Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon, afterwards they 
 go their way down through this narrow conduit, even to the 
 place where there is no more descending : they make Cocy- 
 tus ; and of what sort is that pool, thou wilt see ; therefore 
 
 Che tien volte le spalle inver Damiata, 
 
 E Roma guata si come suo speglio. 
 La sua testa e di fin' oro formata, 
 
 E puro argento son le braccia e il petto, 
 
 Poi e di rame infino alia forcata : 
 Da indi in giuso e tutto ferro eletto, 
 
 Salvo che il destro piede e terra cotta, i TO 
 
 E sta in su quel, piu che in sull' altro, eretto. 
 Ciascuna parte, fuor che 1' oro, e rotta 
 
 D' una fessura che lagrime goccia, 
 
 Le quali accolte foran quella grotta. 
 Lor corso in questa valle si diroccia : 
 
 Fanno Acheronte, Stige e Flegetonta ; 
 
 Poi sen va giu per questa stretta doccia 
 Infin la dove piu non si dismonta : 
 
 Fanno Cocito ; e qual sia quello stagno,
 
 xiv HELL 169 
 
 it is not related here.' And I to him.: ' If the watercourse 
 before us thus flows down from our world, why does it 
 appear to us at this rim only ? ' And he to me : ' Thou 
 knowest that the place is round, and albeit thou hast come 
 far indeed to the left in descending towards the bottom, 
 thou hast not yet turned through the whole circle ; where- 
 fore if a new thing appears to us, it ought not to bring 
 wonder to thy countenance.' And I again : ' Master, where 
 are found Phlegethon and Lethe, for of the one thou speakest 
 not, and the other thou sayest that it is formed of this fall ? ' 
 ' In all thy questions thou surely pleasest me,' he answered ; 
 
 Tu il vederai : pero qui non si conta. 120 
 
 Ed io a lui : Se il presente rigagno 
 Si deriva cosi dal nostro mondo, 
 Perche ci appar pure a questo vivagno ? 
 
 Ed egli a me : Tu sai che il luogo e tondo 
 E tutto che tu sii venuto molto 
 Pur a sinistra giu calando al fondo, c 
 
 Non sei ancor per tutto il cerchio volto ; 
 Perche, se cosa n' apparisce nuova, 
 Non dee addur maraviglia al tuo volto. 
 
 Ed io ancor : Maestro, ove si trova 130 
 
 Flegetonta e Lete, che dell' un taci, 
 E 1' altro di' che si fa d' esta piova ? 
 
 In tutte tue question certo mi piaci, 
 
 c Piu as. Cass. 1234 W. 
 
 VXt Pur a sinistra : see note ix. 132. There they were not descend- 
 ing but going on a level during their temporary change of direction. 
 
 u>8 It would seem that Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon follow 
 various courses down the sides of Hell, and hat their waters combined 
 at the bottom form Cocytus.
 
 170 I] ELL CANTO xiv 
 
 ' but the boiling of the red water ought well to have solved 
 one that thou makest. Lethe thou shalt see, but outside of 
 this foss, in the place where the souls go to wash themselves 
 when their fault has been repented and put away.' Then he 
 said : ' Now it is time to go aside from the wood ; see that 
 thou come behind me ; the borders make a way, for they 
 are not heated, and over them all vapour is dispersed.' 
 
 Rispose ; ma il bollor dell' acqua rossa 
 Dovea ben solver 1' una che tu faci. 
 
 Lete vedrai, ma fuor di questa fossa, 
 La dove vanno 1' anime a lavarsi, 
 Quando la colpa pentuta e rimossa. 
 
 Poi disse : Omai e tempo da scostarsi 
 
 Dal bosco : fa che diretro a me vegne : 140 
 
 Li margini fan via, che non sqn arsi, 
 
 E sopra loro ogni vapor si spegne. 
 
 134 You might guess by the boiling that this is Phlegethon.
 
 CANTO XV 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 Dante talks as they go with Master Brunette Latini, and hears from 
 him a prophecy concerning that which is to befall him. He sees 
 the spirits of other learned men. 
 
 Now one of the hard borders bears us on our way, and the 
 steam of the brook shadows overhead so that it saves from 
 the fire the water and the embankment. As the Flemings 
 between Wissant and Bruges, fearing the flood that is 
 
 ORA cen porta 1' un dei duri margini, 
 E il fummo del ruscel di sopra aduggia 
 Si, che dal foco salva 1' acqua e gli argini. 
 
 Quale i Fiamminghi tra Guizzante e Bruggia, 
 
 4 Guizzante. Most modern commentators, German and English, 
 understand Cadsand, at the mouth of the Scheldt, to the north-east of 
 Bruges, relying apparently on a statement by Ludovico Guicciardini, 
 who resided in the Low Countries, in the service of Charles V., during 
 the latter half of the sixteenth century, and wrote a description of them. 
 ' Questo,' he says, ' e quel medesimo luogo del quale il nostro gran Poeta 
 Dante fa menzione nel quinto decimo capitolo dell' Inferno, chiamandolo 
 scorrettamente Guizzante.' An objection to this is that Cadsand is not 
 and never has been within the boundaries of Flanders. Also, where 
 it is mentioned by Italian writers (e.g. Villani xi. 72), it is called 
 Gaggiante. On the other hand, Guizzante in contemporary writings is 
 Wissant, between Calais and Cape Grisnez, sacked by Edward III. 
 after Crecy (Villani xii. 68). This would do fairly well to denote the 
 western limit of the coast of Flanders, as known to Dante ; Bruges 
 indicating the east of it. There seems to be no doubt of the reading.
 
 172 HELL CANTO 
 
 blown their way, make their screen, to the end that the sea 
 may keep back ; and as the Paduans along the Brenta, to 
 defend their villages and their castles, before that Chiaren- 
 tana feels the heat ; after such fashion were those made, 
 albeit that neither so high nor so thick did the master, who- 
 ever he was, make them. 
 
 Temendo il fiotto che ver lor s' avventa, 
 P'anno lo schermo, perche il mar si fuggia ; 
 
 E quale i Padovan lungo la Brenta, 
 Per difender lor ville e lor castelli, 
 Anzi che Chiarentana il caldo senta ; 
 
 A tale imagine eran fatti quelli, 10 
 
 Tutto che ne si alti ne si grossi, 
 Qual che si fosse, lo maestro felli. 
 
 5 For Dante's knowledge of the tides, see note Par. xvi. 82. It 
 may be added that Fazio degli Uberti (v. 16) is exceedingly vague on 
 the subject ; while Boccaccio, to this passage, gives a very intelligent 
 description, and specially remarks on the title at Venice. This line of 
 course indicates the effect of a flood-tide with the wind behind it. 
 
 :) Chiarentana can hardly be anything else than Carantania, Carinthia. 
 The word has no other meaning in the language of the time, e.g. Dit- 
 tamondo iii. 2; Benvenuto seems to have no doubt as to \\hat is 
 intended, though he makes the mistake (if it be one) of supposing that 
 the Brenta rises in Carinthia. No doubt that is not the case according 
 to present political divisions ; but it may be observed that in the early 
 Middle Ages the duchy of Carinthia embraced both Val Sugana, where 
 the head-waters of the river are, and also the city of Padua. Of this 
 last, indeed, the Dukes claimed the lordship down to 1322 and later (see 
 Villani ix. 192). But probably Dante meant no more than to name an 
 Alpine district in the neighbourhood of north-east Italy. The idea 
 ( which Witte suggests, and Scartazzini dogmatically adopts) that an 
 obscure mountain-group near Trent is intended does not commend itseli. 
 
 11 This touch has often been noticed, as showing Dante's vivid 
 realisation of his scenes, and his freedom from any idea ot impressing by 
 vairue exaggeration.
 
 xv HELL 173 
 
 We were already remote from the wood, so far that I 
 had not seen where it was, for all I had turned me back, 
 when we met a troop of souls which was coming along the 
 embankment, and each was looking at us, as one man is 
 wont to look at the other at evening under a new moon ; 
 and they pointed their eyelashes towards us, in such wise as 
 an old tailor does at his needle's eye. Thus eyed by such 
 a tribe, I was recognised by one who took me by the hem, 
 and cried : ' What a marvel ! ' And I, when he stretched 
 his arm to me, fixed my eyes on his baked countenance, so 
 
 Gia eravam dalla selva rimossi 
 
 Tanto, ch' io non avrei visto dov' era, 
 Perch' io indietro rivolto mi fossi, 
 
 Quando incontrammo d' anime una schiera, 
 Che venia lungo 1' argine, e ciascuna 
 Ci riguardava, come suol da sera 
 
 Guardar 1' un 1' altro sotto nuova luna ; 
 
 E si ver noi aguzzavan le ciglia, 20 
 
 Come il vecchio sartor fa nella cruna. 
 
 Cosi adocchiato da cotal famiglia, 
 Fui conosciuto da un, che mi prese 
 Per Io lembo, e gridb : Qual maraviglia ? 
 
 Ed io, quando il suo braccio a me distese, 
 Ficcai gli occhi per Io cotto aspetto 
 
 15 Perche. For this use see Diez iii. 32 ; and cf. Purg. v. 58 ; vi. 
 38, etc. There is a good instance, Vill. vii. 14 : 'perche il popolo fosse 
 armato . . . erano piii per paura che per offendere al conte.' 
 
 - 1 For the use of fa to avoid (like our ' does ') the repetition of a 
 foregoing verb, see Diez iii. 383, and cf. the well-known passage of 
 Thucydides (ii. 49) TroXXo: TOVTO edpaaav (i.e. threw themselves) e's 
 (ppeara. So Purg. iv. 131; xxvi. 70, etc. 
 
 -- famiglia : cf. Par. \. 49.
 
 174 HELL CANTO 
 
 that the scorched visage did not keep the recognition of 
 him from my understanding ; and stooping my hand to his 
 face I answered : ' Are you here, Master Brunetto ? ' And 
 
 Si, che il viso abbruciato non difese 
 La conoscenza sua al mio intelletto ; 
 E chinando la mano alia sua faccia, n 
 Risposi : Siete voi qui, ser Brunetto ? 30 
 
 :l chin, la mia ed. 1484 ; alia mia f. Aid. 
 
 - u mano has the great preponderance of authority, and the support 
 of the early illustrations almost without exception. The gesture implied 
 is a very natural one, of either surprise, or deprecation, or merely rever- 
 ence. Scartazzini's objection to mia is, however, singularly unfortun- 
 ate, for Dante does presently go with his head bowed to Brunette's. 
 Of course a need not imply that he stooped till he was on a level with 
 his interlocutor. 
 
 ' M Of Brunetto, son of Bonaccorso Latini (or Latino), we know 
 besides what may be gathered from this Canto, from some scattered 
 notices in documents, and from a few lines in the Tesoretto little more 
 than Villani tells us (vi. 73, 79 ; viii. 10), viz. that he was 'dittatore' or 
 secretary to the Republic, that he went on the mission sent by the 
 Florentines in 1260 to Alfonso of Arragon, to bespeak his aid for the 
 Guelf party ; that with the rest of the Guelfs he was banished (probably 
 before he had returned from his mission) in the latter part of the same 
 year, after their defeat at Montaperti, and returned with them after the 
 death of Manfred ; that he was the first to introduce the systematic 
 study of oratory and political science in Florence, and was generally 
 a great philosopher, and wrote the books called Tesoro and Tesoretto, 
 but was ' mondano uomo ' ; and that he died in 1294. From this, and 
 some of Dante's expressions, a myth has grown up that he was in some 
 special way Dante's tutor or instructor, for which there is no evidence. 
 The relations between them were probably only such as might be ex- 
 pected to exist between a youth and an old man (Brunetto seems to 
 have been about fifty when Dante was born) possibly a family friend 
 with a reputation for learning and statesmanship. For his writings 
 see below, 1. 119. His portrait is said on the strength of a statement of 
 Yasari's to be one of those associated with Dante's in the Bargello.
 
 xv HELL 175 
 
 he : ' O my son, let it not displease thee, if Brunetto Latini 
 turns back a little way with thee, and lets the line go.' I 
 said to him : ' With all my power I pray you for that ; and 
 if you will that I sit me down with you, I will do so, if it 
 pleases this man, for I am going with him.' 'O son,' said 
 he, ' whoever of this flock halts for a moment, lies after- 
 wards a hundred years without fanning himself when the 
 fire strikes him. Therefore go forward : I will come at thy 
 skirts, and then I will rejoin my company, that go weeping 
 their eternal loss.' I dared not descend from the path to 
 go level with him ; but I held my head bowed, as a man 
 who goes reverently. 
 
 E quegli : O figliuol mio, non ti dispiaccia, 
 Se Brunetto Latini un poco teco b 
 Ritorna indietro, e lascia andar la traccia. 
 
 lo dissi a lui : Quanto posso ven preco ; 
 E se volete che con voi m' asseggia, 
 Farol, se piace a costui, che vo seco. 
 
 O figliuol, disse, qual di questa greggia 
 S' arresta punto, giace poi cent' anni 
 Senza arrostarsi quando il fuoco il feggia. c 
 
 Pero va oltre ; io ti verro ai panni, 4 o 
 
 E poi rigiugnero la mia masnada, 
 Che va piangendo i suoi eterni danni. 
 
 Io non osava scender della strada 
 
 Per andar par di lui : ma il capo chino 
 Tenea, come uom che reverente vada. 
 
 b Ser Gg. 12345 ; Latino Cass. 35. 
 c Senza restarsi Gg. (alt. ) Cass. 23 ; frcgia 3. 
 
 :JIJ feggia : pres. subj. homfedire ( =fiedere, ferire]. For the form, 
 cf. regge from redire ( = riedere), x. 82.
 
 176 HELL CANTO 
 
 He began : ' What fortune or what destiny brings thee 
 down here before thy last day ? and who is this that is 
 showing thee the road ? ' ' Up there, in the bright life/ I 
 answered him, ' I went astray in a valley before my age was 
 at the full. Only yesterday morning did I turn my back on 
 it ; this one appeared to me, as I was returning to it ; and 
 he is leading me homeward again by this pathway.' And he 
 to me : 'If thou follow thy star, thou canst not fail of a 
 
 Ei comincib : Qual fortuna o destino 
 
 Anzi 1' ultimo dl quaggiu ti menu ? 
 
 E chi questi che mostra il cammino ? 
 La su di sopra in la vita serena, 
 
 Rispos' io lui, mi smarri' in una valle, 50 
 
 Avanti che 1' eta mia fosse piena. 
 Pure ier mattina le volsi le spalle : 
 
 Questi m' apparve, tornand' io in quella, 
 
 E riducemi a ca per questo calle. 
 Ed egli a me : Se tu segui tua Stella, 
 
 47 Cf. Purg. i. 58. 
 
 51 Probably only 'before the measure of my days was fulfilled.' 
 There seems no need to refer, as in the first line of the poem, to Conv. 
 iv. 23, with its comparison of the life of man to an arch, and sup- 
 pose the meaning to be 'before I had reached my thirty-fifth year.' If 
 for no other reason, eta piena would hardly be the appropriate word to 
 express what Dante elsewhere calls mezzo del cannniii. 
 
 53 Observe that Dante makes no other reply to Brunette's question, 
 who his companion is ; and cf. \. 62. As Scartazzini notes, Virgil 
 comes under the rule which Dante observes, of never mentioning any 
 sacred personage by name so long as he is in Hell. 
 
 5u ' 5 ' It is quite unnecessary to infer, as some have done, from these 
 lines that Brunetto was a student of astrology, and had cast Dante's 
 horoscope. From what he says in his own works, and perhaps still 
 more from what he does not say, we may gather on the contrary that he 
 had no faith in divination by the stars. See, e.g., Tesorctto x. 23-27. 
 Benv., with his usual shrewdness, after mentioning this view, adds ' vel
 
 xv HELL 177 
 
 glorious port, if I well observed in the fair life. And if I 
 had not died so betimes, seeing the heaven thus kind to 
 thee, I should have given thee strengthening in thy task. 
 But that thankless and malign commons that came down 
 from Fiesole ab antique and still partakes of the mountain 
 
 Non puoi fallire al glorioso porto, 
 Se ben m' accorsi nella vita bella : 
 
 E s' io non fossi si per tempo morto, 
 Veggendo il cielo a te cosi benigno, 
 Dato t' avrei all' opera conforto. 60 
 
 Ma quell' ingrato popolo maligno, 
 Che discese di Fiesole ab antico, 
 
 melius credo quod judicat secundum bonam physionomiam . . . quia 
 consideravit saepe bonam indolem istius pueri.' 
 
 58 This expression is curious, as Brunetto died at a good old age, and 
 when Dante was of sufficiently mature years, it might be supposed, to 
 stand in no need of 'conforto.' Is it possible that some definite plans 
 were now on foot for forming a third party free from the vulgar partisan- 
 ship of Guelfs or Ghibelines, which a man like Brunetto might have 
 been expected to join ? 
 
 B1 Note that Villani, who always adhered to the Guelf side, uses 
 just the same language of the commons of Florence. Thus after the 
 defeat of Montaperti, he says (vi. 78) : ' Cosi s' adono la rabbia dell' 
 ingrato e superbo popolo di Firenze. ' In xii. 44 again he speaks of the 
 treatment suffered by such men as ' Messer Farinata degli Uberti che 
 guarenti Firenze che non fosse disfatta . . . e messer Vieri de' Cerchi, 
 e Dante Alighieri, e altri cari cittadini e guelfi, caporali e sostenitori di 
 questo popolo.' Then he goes on, in words borrowed from Dante, to 
 speak of ' i danni fatti loro per lo ingrato popolo maligno che discese de' 
 Romani e de' Fiesolani ab antique*.' 
 
 '- The prevalent view seems to have been that the nobles of Florence 
 were originally of Roman blood, the commons immigrants from Fiesole, 
 who came to live there when their town was destroyed by the Floren- 
 tines (Vill. iv. 6). These, he tells us, ' sempre si tennono co' Goti, 
 e poi co' Lombardi e con tutti i ribelli e nemici dello 'mperio di Roma 
 e di Santa Chiesa ' (ii. 21). See also iii. I, where he expresses the view, 
 which he afterwards repeats more than once (e. g. iv. 7), that this mix- 
 
 N
 
 178 HELL CANTO 
 
 and of the quarry, shall, for thy good deeds, become thy 
 enemy. And reason it is ; for among the harsh sorbs it is 
 unmeet that the sweet fig should bear fruit. An old fame 
 in the world calls them blind ; a folk it is greedy, envious, and 
 proud ; from their habits see that thou cleanse thyself. Thy 
 fortune reserves such honour for thee that the one side and 
 the other will hunger for thee ; but far will be the fodder 
 from the muzzle. Let the beasts from Fiesole make litter 
 of their own selves, and let them not touch the plant, if any 
 
 E tiene ancor del monte e del macigno, 
 Ti si fara, per tuo ben far, nimico : 
 
 Ed e ragion ; che tra li lazzi sorbi 
 
 Si disconvien fruttare al dolce fico. 
 Vecchia fama nel mondo li chiama orbi, 
 
 Gent' e avara, invidiosa e superba : 
 
 Dai lor costumi fa che tu ti forbi. 
 La tua fortuna tanto onor ti serba, 70 
 
 Che 1' una parte e 1' altra avranno fame 
 
 Ui te : ma lungi fia dal becco 1' erba. 
 Faccian le bestie Fiesolane strame 
 
 Di lor medesme, e non tocchin la pianta, 
 
 ture of races was the source of all the troubles of Florence. Cf. too 
 Par. xvi. 67. 
 
 6:J macigno. Witte remarks that the town of Florence is mainly 
 built of stone from the quarries of Fiesole. 
 
 64 per tuo ben far, i.e. for the opposition to the entry of Charles of 
 Yalois. which was one of the ostensible grounds of Dante's banishment. 
 With all this compare Cacciaguida's prophecy, Par. xvii. 46 sqq. 
 
 67 orbi. Bocc. and Benv. say that the Florentines owed this nick- 
 name to a trick played on them by the Pisans in 1117, over a division 
 of the plunder taken by the latter from Majorca. Yillani, though he 
 mentions this story (iv. 31), ascribes the name to another cause. Ac- 
 cording to him, it was the blindness of the Florentines in admitting 
 ' Totila ' within their gates which earned it (Vill. ii. I, 68). Cf. vi. 74.
 
 xv HELL 179 
 
 yet springs in their dungheap, in which revives the holy seed 
 of those Romans, who remained there when was made the 
 nest of such wickedness.' 'If all my desire had been ful- 
 filled,' I answered him, ' you would not yet be put in banish- 
 ment from humankind ; for in my mind is fixed, and now 
 goes to my heart the dear and good fatherly image of you, 
 when in the world from time to time you taught me how the 
 man becomes eternal ; and how much I hold it in gratitude, 
 while I live it is meet that in my speech it be discerned. 
 That which you relate of my course I write, and keep it for 
 
 S' alcuna surge ancor nel lor letame, d 
 
 In cui riviva la semente santa 
 
 Di quei Roman, che vi rimaser, quando 
 Fu fatto il nido di malizia tanta. 
 
 Se fosse tutto pieno il mio dimando, 
 
 Risposi lui, voi non sareste ancora so 
 
 Dell' umana natura posto in bando : 
 
 Che in la mente m' e fitta, ed or mi accora 
 La cara e buona imagine paterna 
 Di voi, quando nel mondo ad ora ad ora 
 
 M' insegnavate come 1' uom s' eterna : 
 
 E quant' io 1' abbia in grado, mentre io vivo 
 Convien che nella mia lingua si scerna. 
 
 Cib che narrate di mio corso scrivo, 
 
 11 in lor Cass. W. 
 
 77 I.e. at the (legendary) rebuilding of Florence under Charles the 
 (jreat. Mil. iii. I, 2. 
 
 85 s' eterna. No doubt with allusion to the e'0' oaov evdexerai dda- 
 vaTifriv of Eth. x. 7 (1177 b). Brunetto was a student and expounder 
 of the Ethics, of which he gives a paraphrase in his Tresor.
 
 180 HELL. CANTO 
 
 commenting with another text, for a lady who will know it, 
 if I attain to her. Thus much would I have to be manifest 
 to you, so only that my conscience chide me not, that I am 
 ready for fortune, as she wills. Such earnest is not new to 
 my ears ; wherefore let fortune turn her wheel as pleases her, 
 and the churl his mattock.' 
 
 My Master then turned back, on the side of the right 
 cheek, and looked at me ; then he said : ' Well listens he 
 who marks it.' Nor by so much the less do I go on, talking 
 with Master Brunetto ; and I ask who are his companions 
 best known and of highest rank. And he to me : ' To know 
 
 E serbolo a chiosar con altro testo 
 
 A donna che sapra, se a lei arrive. 90 
 
 Tanto vogl' io che vi sia manifesto, 
 Pur che mi a coscien/a non mi garra. 
 Che alia fortuna, come vuol, son presto. 
 
 Non e nuova agli orecchi miei tale arra : 
 Pero giri fortuna la sua rota, 
 Come le piace, e il villan la sua inarm. 
 
 Lo mio Maestro allora in sulla gota 
 
 Destra si volse inclietro, e riguardommi : 
 Poi disse : Bene ascolta chi la notn. 
 
 Ne per tanto di men parlando vommi 10 o 
 
 Con ser Brunetto, e domando chi sono 
 Li suoi compagni piu noti e piu sommi. 
 
 Ed egli a me : Saper d' alcuno e buono : 
 
 S!l I.e. with what he has heard from Ciacco and Farinata (Cantos vi. 
 and x.) as to his future ; 'quorum uterque fecit textum obscurum satis,' 
 says Benvenuto. 
 
 Uli villan : with allusion to the admixture of families from the country 
 districts with the true burghers of Florence, to which the growth of 
 party quarrels is ascribed, as in Par. xvi. 67, 135, etc.
 
 xv HELL 181 
 
 of some is good ; of the others it will be praiseworthy to be 
 silent, for the time would be short for so much talk. Know 
 in sum, that all were clerks, and great men of letters and 
 of great fame, by one and the same sin denied in the world. 
 Priscian goes his way with that grim crowd, and Francis of 
 Accorso ; and thou canst also see there, if thou hadst had a 
 desire of such scurf, him who by the servant of servants was 
 
 Degli altri fia laudabile tacerci, 
 
 Che il tempo saria corto a tanto suono. 
 
 In somma sappi, che tutti fur cherci, 
 E letterati grandi, e di gran fama, 
 D' un peccato medesmo al mondo lerci. 
 
 Priscian sen va con quella turba grama, 
 
 E Francesco d' Accorso; anco vedervi, no 
 
 S' avessi avuto di tal tigna brama, 
 
 Colui potei che dal servo dei servi 
 
 J9 Priscian is of course the famous grammarian, who lived in the 
 sixth century. There is no evidence of his having been guilty of the sin 
 here punished ; and he is probably chosen as a representative of teachers 
 of youth. It has been suggested that Dante confused him, as indeed 
 Benvenuto, who says ' monachus fuit et apostatavit,' appears to do, with 
 Priscillian, a Spanish heretic of the fourth century, for whom see Gibbon, 
 chap, xxvii. But the reference here is evidently to a 'letterato.' 
 
 110 Francesco, son of Accorso or Accursius, the famous jurist, and 
 himself a lawyer of great fame, was brought from Bologna to England 
 by Edward I., and professed at Oxford. His fellow-citizens, to mark 
 their sense of his value, confiscated his goods, which, however, were 
 restored on his return. He died 1294. Benvenuto gives a terrible 
 account of the prevalence of this sin at Bologna, when he himself was 
 lecturing on Dante there in 1375, and says that he incurred some danger 
 for having denounced it to the papal legate. 
 
 111 Servus sct-i'oruin Dei is the style used by all Popes since 
 (Iregory I., says Boccaccio. In this case the Pope referred to is Boni- 
 face VIII. : and it is characteristic that the first reference to him in the 
 poem should represent him as condoning gross vice. 
 
 H - The commentators all agree that the person spoken of is Andrea
 
 1 82 HELL CANTO 
 
 translated from Arno to Bacchiglione, where he left his nerves 
 stretched to sin. More would I say ; but my going and my 
 discourse cannot be longer, because I see there a new smoke 
 arise from the sand. A folk is coming with whom I must not 
 be. Let my Treasure be recommended to thee, wherein I still 
 
 Fu trasmutato d' Arno in Bacchiglione, 
 
 Dove lascib li mal protesi nervi. 
 Di piu direi ; ma il venir e il sermone 
 
 Piu lungo esser non pub, perb ch' io veggio 
 
 La surger nuovo fummo del sabbione. 
 Gente vien con la quale esser non deggio ; 
 
 Siati raccomandato il mio Tesoro 
 
 tie' Mozzi, who was translated about 1295 from the see of Florence to 
 that of Vicenza ; Bocc. says, at the request of his brother, who wished 
 to free Florence from the scandal of his conduct. Benv. adds that he 
 was ' vir simplex et fatuus,' and gives several instances of his grotesque 
 naivete in preaching. The family of the Mozzi were White Guelfs. See 
 Philalethes for a fuller account. 
 
 114 Those who care to dwell on the subject may consult the old com- 
 mentators as to the savage satire implied in this line. 
 
 118 Vellutello is doubtless right in his explanation : Perciocche es- 
 sendo della schiera de' contemplativi, non dovea andar con quella degli 
 attivi. 
 
 1111 Brunette's great work ' Li Tresors ' was written during his stay in 
 France at the time of the Ghibeline predominance in Florence. (There 
 is not much evidence for the statement that he was banished on a charge, 
 true or false, of forgery. We know that he left Florence on an honour- 
 able service, and that he must have returned thither, for Dante to have 
 known him.) It is written in French, as being 'more delightful and 
 more generally known than other languages' ; but was soon translated 
 into Italian. Of the Italian version early editions exist ; but the original 
 was not printed till our own time. It is a concise Encyclopedia of 
 history, natural science, ethics, rhetoric, and politics. 1 1 is smaller 
 work, II Tesoretto, is a kind of popular version of the other. It is 
 written in heptasyllabic couplets, and in Italian. The favourite machin- 
 ery of an allegorical journey is employed ; and it cannot be doubted
 
 xv HELL 183 
 
 live; and more I ask not.' Then he turned round, and 
 seemed of these who at Verona run the green cloth course 
 over the country ; and of those he seemed the one who is 
 winning and not the one who loses. 
 
 Nel quale io vivo ancora ; e piu non cheggio. 120 
 
 Poi si rivolse, e parve di coloro 
 
 Che corrono a Verona il drappo verde 
 Per la campagna ; e parve di costoro 
 
 Quegli che vince e non colui che perde. 
 
 that in respect both of framework and of incidents Dante was indebted 
 to it for many suggestions. It is quite worth reading. Other works 
 ascribed to Brunetto are certainly apocryphal. 
 
 120 v j vo ancora . Qn this text Boccaccio launches forth into a long 
 eulogy of the literary, and more especially the poetic life. One passage 
 is worth quoting. After an encomium of ' mio maestro e padre Fran- 
 cesco Petrarca,' he proceeds: 'Non il presente nostro autore, la luce 
 del cui valore per alquanto tempo [e] stata nascosa sotto la caligine del 
 volgar materno, e cominciato da grandissimi letterati ad essere desiderate 
 e ad aver caro ? ' These words must have been written (or spoken) in 
 1375; and it would appear from them that Dante's fame had under- 
 gone a temporary diminution after Villani's famous chapter (ix. 136) was 
 written. 
 
 122 All that seems to be known is that on the first Sunday in Lent it 
 was the custom at Verona for a footrace to be run outside the city by 
 naked men ; the prize being a piece of green cloth. In later times the 
 competitors appear to have been women. See Comm. Cass. 
 
 124 Observe the use of colui, properly the oblique case, as exactly 
 equivalent to the nom. quegli.
 
 CANTO XVI 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 Dante talks with certain Florentines, who in the world had been men 
 of renown. Afterwards they come to a brink, where the water 
 falls over. They cast down a cord for signal, and a shape comes 
 up. 
 
 I WAS already in a place where was heard the booming of 
 the water which was falling into the next circle, like to that 
 humming which the beehives make ; when three shades 
 together separated as they ran from a troop which was 
 passing under the rain of the bitter torment. They came 
 toward us, and each was crying : ' Stay thee, thou who by 
 thy garb seemest to us to be one of our perverted land.' 
 
 GIA era in loco ove s' udia il rimbombo 
 Dell' acqua che cadea nell' altro giro, 
 Simile a quel che 1' arnie fanno rombo ; 
 
 Quando tre ombre insieme si partiro, 
 Correndo, d' una torma che passava 
 Sotto la pioggia dell' aspro martiro. 
 
 Venian ver noi, e ciascuna gridava : 
 Sostati tu, che all' abito ne sembri 
 Essere alcun di nostra terra prava. 
 
 !l Puossi in queste parole comprendere che quasi ciascuna citta 
 aveva un suo singular modo di vestire . . . perciocche ancora non 
 eravani divenuti inghilesi ne tcdeschi, come oggi agli abiti siamo. 
 Bocc. Benvenuto has a similar lamentation.
 
 CANTO xvi HELL 185 
 
 Ah me ! what wounds saw I on their limbs, fresh and old, 
 burnt in by the flames ; still does it grieve me thereof, only 
 to remember them. To their cries my Teacher gave heed : 
 he turned his face toward me, and ' Wait now ' said he ; 
 ' to these one would be courteous. And were there not the 
 fire which the nature of the place darts, I would say that 
 haste suited better to thee than to them.' They began 
 again, when we halted, their former stave ; and when they 
 were come up to us, all three made a wheel of themselves. 
 As the champions, naked and oiled, are wont to do, looking 
 out for their grip and their advantage, before they beat and 
 punch each other ; so in wheeling each directed his visage 
 
 Aime, che piaghe vidi nei lor membri 10 
 
 Recenti e vecchie dalle fiamme incese ! 
 Ancor men duol, pur ch' io me ne rimembri. 
 
 Alle lor grida il mio Dottor s' attese, 
 Volse il viso ver me, ed : Ora aspetta, 
 Disse ; a costor si vuole esser cortese : 
 
 E se non fosse il foco che saetta 
 La natura del loco, io dicerei, 
 Che meglio stesse a te, che a lor, la fretta. 
 
 Ricominciar, come noi ristemmo, ei 
 
 L' antico verso ; e quando a noi fur giunti, 20 
 Fenno una rota di se tutti e trei. 
 
 Qual soleano i campion far nudi ed unti, 
 Avvisando lor presa e lor vantaggio, 
 Priina che sien tra lor battuti e punti : 
 
 Cosi, rotando, ciascuno il visaggio 
 
 ls It would better become you to hasten to meet persons of their 
 quality, than to let them come to you. 
 
 1:1 ei : Benvenuto, Bargigi, Landino, and several of the early edd. 
 read hei. The former explains ' idest hcu, adverbium dolentis.' This
 
 186 HELL CANTO 
 
 toward me so that the neck made a continual journey in 
 opposite wise to the feet. And, ' If wretchedness of this 
 unstable place brings us and our prayers into contempt,' 
 one began, 'and our aspect stained and stripped, let our 
 renown bend thy mind to tell us who thou art, who thus 
 secure draggest thy living feet through Hell. This one 
 whose footprints thou seest me trample, albeit he go naked 
 and flayed, was of greater degree than thou deemest. He 
 was grandson of the good Gualdrada ; Guidoguerra had he 
 
 Drizzava a me, si che in contrario il collo 
 
 Faceva ai pie continue viaggio. 
 E, Se miseria d' esto loco sollo a 
 
 Rende in dispetto noi e nostri preghi, 
 
 Comincib 1' uno, e il tinto aspetto e brollo ; 30 
 La fama nostra il tuo animo pieghi 
 
 A dirne chi tu sei, che i vivi piedi 
 
 Cosi sicuro per lo inferno freghi. 
 Questi, 1' orme di cui pestar mi vedi, 
 
 Tutto che nudo e dipelato vada, 
 
 Fu di grado maggior che tu non credi. 
 Nepote fu della buona Gualdrada : 
 
 Guido Guerra ebbe nome, ed in sua vita 
 
 does not seem very probable ; but those who prefer it may compare 
 I'urg. v. 27. 
 
 :;;; freghi: lit. ' rubbest,' i.e. on the ground. The feet of the shades 
 would of course, as is elsewhere noticed, make no mark. The orme of 
 the next line cannot therefore be taken literally. 
 
 1)8 Guido Guerra belonged to the powerful family known as the 
 Conti Guidi, whom we shall lind frequently referred to in the poem (e.g. 
 1'ar. xvi. 98, 99). See the note of Philalethes, and the family tree 
 there given. He led the Florentine Guelfs at the battle of Grandella ; 
 his cousin Guido Novello, the head of the family, being at the same 
 time Vicar-General of Tuscany for Manfred. Their grandfather Guido
 
 xvi HELL 187 
 
 for name, and in his life he did much with his wisdom and 
 with his sword. The other who after me treads the sand is 
 Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, the voice of whom ought to have been 
 accepted in the world above. And I, who am placed upon 
 
 Fece col senno assai e con la spada. 
 
 L' altro che appresso me 1' arena trita, 40 
 
 fe Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, la cui voce 
 Nel mondo su dovria esser gradita. 
 
 Ed io, che posto son con loro in croce, 
 
 (called II Vecchio +1213) married Inghirdrucla, or Gualdrada, the 
 daughter of Bellincione Berti (see Par. xv. 112). The story went that 
 the Emperor Otto IV. being in Florence, was struck with the beauty of 
 the girl, and asked who she was. Bellincione replied, ' The daughter 
 of a man who will be proud to let you kiss her.' 'No man alive shall 
 kiss me, but he who is to be my husband,' said the young lady. The 
 emperor was so delighted with her spirit, that he urged Guido, who 
 was nothing loth, to ask her in marriage, and dowered them with 
 lands in the Casentino (Vill. v. 37, Bocc., Benv.) German criticism 
 has found difficulties of chronology to stand in the way of accepting this 
 pretty story. 
 
 41 Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, of the Adimari, appears in Villani vi. 77 
 as the spokesman of the Guelf nobles, at whose head was Guido Guerra, 
 and who, knowing more of the conditions of war, tried to dissuade the 
 people from undertaking against the banished Ghibelines and their 
 Sienese allies, aided as they were by a body of German mercenaries, 
 the expedition which ended so disastrously at Montaperti. Yillanrs 
 comments on this incident (here and ch. 81) are worth reading as 
 showing that the Guelfs as a party were in no sense the democratic 
 party, but contained aristocrats as much inclined (and in this case with 
 reason) to despise the ' popolani ' as any Ghibeline noble. Dante was, 
 as appears from 11. 46 sqq. below, at any rate when he wrote this, in 
 full social and intellectual sympathy with such men as these, however 
 he might condemn them morally. Later on, when he wrote of 
 Tegghiaio's family in the words of Par. xvi. 115, he had perhaps had 
 personal reason to dwell on their pride rather than on their sagacity in 
 counsel. 
 
 !-', -u The older commentators merely understand ' whose fame 
 ought to be well received.' But there would be nothing specially
 
 1 88 HELL CANTO 
 
 the torture with them, was James Rusticucci ; and of a 
 truth my proud wife more than aught else is my bane.' 
 
 If I had been covered from the fire, I should have 
 thrown me down among them ; and I believe that the 
 Teacher would have suffered it ; but for that I should have 
 been burned and roasted, fear overcame my good will, 
 which had made me greedy of embracing them. Then I 
 began : ' Not contempt, but grief did your condition fix 
 within me in such measure that slowly is it all shaken off, 
 
 Jacopo Rusticucci fui : e certo 
 
 La fiera moglie piii ch' altro mi nuoce. 
 
 S' io fussi stato dal foco coperto, 
 Gittato mi sarei tra lor disotto, 
 E credo che il Dottor 1' avria sofferto. 
 
 Ma perch' io mi sarei bruciato e cotto, 
 
 A 7 inse paura la mia buona voglia, 50 
 
 Che di loro abbracciar mi facea ghiotto. 
 
 Poi cominciai : Non dispetto, ma doglia 
 La vostra condizion dentro mi fisse 
 Tanto, che tardi tutta si dispoglia, 
 
 appropriate to Tegghiaio in this ; and therefore I have, in spite of some 
 grammatical difficulty (for we should have rather expected dordte, cf. 
 Gr. &<pe\f), followed Philalcthes, Witte, and Scartazzini. 
 
 44 Of Jacopo Rusticucci nothing seems to be known, except that he 
 did not belong to the nobles. It will be observed that in Canto vi., 
 where Dante is inquiring of Ciacco as to the fate of certain Florentines, 
 this Jacopo is the only one whose surname is given ; which would 
 seem to imply that he was not specially distinguished. Lubin indeed 
 says that he was of the Cavalcanti, but gives no authority. 
 
 45 Here Boccaccio translates several pages from Theophrastus : 
 Benvenuto more tersely observes: Yere acerbior poena inferni est 
 suavis respectu malae mulieris ; per diem non habes bonum, per noctem 
 pejus. 
 
 54 dispoglia: for this use of the present cf. 1'urg. vii. 96, xiv. 66.
 
 xvi HELL 189 
 
 so soon as this my Lord said to me words through the 
 which I thought to myself that such folk as ye are was 
 coming. Of your land I am ; and ever yet the work and 
 the honoured names of you have I with affection recounted 
 and heard. I am leaving the gall, and going after sweet 
 fruits promised to me by my truthful Leader ; but to the 
 very centre it is meet that I first go down.' 
 
 ' So may thy soul yet long guide thy limbs,' answered 
 he, ' and so may thy fame shine after thee, say if courtesy 
 and worth dwell in our city as they are wont, or if they are 
 wholly gone forth thereof? For William Borsiere, who has 
 
 Tosto che questo mio Signer mi disse 
 
 Parole, per le quali io mi pensai, 
 
 Che qual voi siete, tal gente venisse. 
 Di vostra terra sono ; e sempre mai 
 
 L' opre di voi e gli onorati nomi 
 
 Con affezion ritrassi ed ascoltai. 60 
 
 Lascio lo fele, e vo per dolci pomi 
 
 Promessi a me per lo verace Duca ; 
 
 Ma fino al centre pria convien ch' io tomi. 
 Se lungamente 1' anima conduca 
 
 Le membra tue, rispose quegli, ancora, 
 
 E se la fama tua dopo te luca, 
 Cortesia e valor, di', se dimora 
 
 Nella nostra citta, si come suole, 
 
 O se del tutto se n' e gita fuora ? 
 Che Guglielmo Borsiere, il qual si duole 70 
 
 61 fele : the bitterness of a sinful life ; cf. i. 7. 
 
 67 cortesia e valor may be said to cover the whole duty of man. 
 Cf. I'urg. xvi. 1 1 6. 
 
 70 Guglielmo Borsiere is the hero of a story in the Decameron (Day 
 I, Nov. 8) which Benvenuto repeats at length. lie further mentions 
 that Guglielmo was originally a manufacturer of purses ; but afterwards
 
 190 HELL CANTO 
 
 been in woe with us since lately, and goes yonder with 
 his companions, grieves us full sore with his words.' 'The 
 new folk and the sudden gains have begotten pride and 
 excess in thee, Florence, so that already thou art wailing 
 therefore.' Thus I cried with my face uplifted; and the 
 three who heard that for answer looked one at another, as 
 one gazes at [hearing] the truth. ' If the other times it 
 costs thee as little,' answered they all, ' to satisfy another, 
 happy thou, if thou speak so at thy desire. Therefore, if 
 thou escapest from these gloomy places, and returnest to see 
 
 Con noi per poco, e va la coi compagni, 
 Assai ne cruccia con le sue parole. 
 
 La gente nuova, e i subiti guadagni, 
 Orgoglio e dismisura han generata, 
 Fiorenza, in te, si che tu gia ten piagni, 
 
 Cosi gridai colla faccia levata : 
 
 E i tre, che cib inteser per risposta, 
 Guardar 1' un 1' altro, come al ver si guata. b 
 
 Se 1' altre volte si poco ti costa, 
 
 Risposer tutti, il satisfare altrui, So 
 
 Felice te, se si parli a tua posta. 
 
 Perb se campi d' esti lochi bui, 
 
 b Guatar IV. 
 
 left his trade and became 'homo curialis,' travelling about and making 
 the acquaintance of distinguished people : Boccaccio says too, doing 
 social services. 
 
 71 per poco: Benv. 'per parvum tempus,' which is undoubtedly 
 right, lie is mentioned as having brought the latest news. 
 
 ' 3 Cf. again Cacciaguida's denunciations, esp. Par. xv. 100 sqq., 
 xvi. 67 sqq. 
 
 74 Pride is opposed to valor, true worth ; lack of moderation to 
 cortesia, TO eViei/v-ej or modestia (Philippians iv. 5). 
 
 "H-81 j t w j]j | )e wc jj f or vou jf y [nl can a i wa y S) i n answering a question, 
 speak your mind with as little fear of hurt to yourself.
 
 xvi HELL 191 
 
 again the fair stars ; when it shall please thee to say : I 
 have been ; see that them talk of us to the people.' Then 
 they broke their wheel, and at flying their legs seemed wings 
 in swiftness. 
 
 An amen could not have been said so quickly as they 
 disappeared ; wherefore to the Master it seemed good to 
 depart. 
 
 I followed him, and little way had we gone, when the 
 sound of the water was so close to us that for speaking 
 should we scarce have been heard. As that river which 
 from Monte Viso eastward first has a course of its own on 
 
 E torni a riveder le belle stelle, 
 
 Quando ti giovera dicere : lo fui, 
 Fa che di noi alia gente favelle. 
 
 Indi rupper la rota, ed a fuggirsi 
 
 Ali sembiar le gambe loro snelle. 
 Un ammen non saria potuto dirsi 
 
 Tosto cosi, com' ei furo spariti : 
 
 Perche al Maestro parve di partirsi. go 
 
 lo lo seguiva, e poco eravam iti, 
 
 Che il suon dell' acqua n' era si vicino, 
 
 Che, per parlar, saremmo appena uditi. 
 Come quel flume, ch' ha proprio cammino 
 
 Prima da monte Veso in ver levante 
 
 93 per parlar: this use of per explains that of perch2= 'although.' 
 as in Purg. v. 58, where see note. 
 
 95 I.e. is the first which, rising on the north side of the Apennines, 
 does not flow into the To. This would now be the Lamone : but in 
 Dante's time that river ended in the swamps about the mouths of the 
 Po (Witte). lie means the Montone, which rising near San Casciano, 
 flows through Forli, and into the sea just south of Ravenna.
 
 192 HELL CANTO 
 
 the left flank of Apennino, which is called Acquacheta above, 
 before that it goes valewards down to its low bed, and at 
 Forli is emptied of that name, booms there above San 
 Benedetto from its alp, through falling at a descent where 
 it ought to be received by a thousand ; so shaken downward 
 
 Dalla sinistra costa d' Apennino, 
 Che si chiama Acquaqueta suso, avante 
 Che si divalli giu nel basso letto, 
 Ed a Forli di qutl nome e vacante, 
 Rimbomba la sopra san Benedetto 
 Dell' alpe, per cadere ad una scesa, 
 Ove dovea per mille esser ricetto ; 
 Cosi, giu d' una ripa discoscesa, 
 
 99 Because it loses its name of the Stillwater, and becomes the Ram 
 (from its violence after its fall, say the commentators). Cf. Purg. 
 v. 97. 
 
 100 ;\\. ar t] le monastery of St. Benedict on the frontier of Tuscany 
 and Romagna the river makes a great fall from the high ground to the 
 plain. 
 
 10 - ' I was long in doubt,' says Boccaccio, ' what the author meant 
 here ; till once finding myself in the monastery of St. Benedict I was 
 told by the abbot that the counts (Guidi) who are the lords of that 
 mountain-land had it in mind to build a castle at that spot, and enclose 
 within it many of the neighbouring homesteads occupied by their 
 vassals' ; for whom, it may be supposed, this river would have served 
 as water-supply. Afterwards, he says, the count principally interested 
 died, and the scheme fell through. If, as 1'hilalethes suggests, the 
 count in question was Roger of Dovadola, great nephew of Guido 
 Guerra, who was living in 1322 (Vill. ix. 183), the scheme must still 
 have been afoot when Dante wrote. According to another view, Dante 
 means to imply that the monastery ought to have had a larger number 
 of occupants than the luxury of its abbots cared to see there. Thus the 
 Latin version of D'Aquino : ' Sacri rarescunt ubi vasta in mole sodales.' 
 See also Daniello.
 
 xvi HELL 193 
 
 from a bank we found that stained water resounding, so that 
 in short while it would have numbed the ear. 
 
 I had a cord girt about, and with it I thought at one 
 
 Trovammo risonar quell' acqua tinta, 
 Si che in poc' ora avria 1' orecchia offesa. 
 lo aveva una corda intorno cinta, 
 E con essa pensai alcuna volta 
 
 106 p er haps the most perplexing piece of symbolism in the whole 
 poem. The oldest commentators, from P. di Dante onward (with the 
 exception of Boccaccio, who, alas ! puts the point off for consideration 
 with the allegory of Geryon generally), have, with a grotesque confusion 
 between a sin itself and the material of it, taken the catching of the 
 leopard (i.e. the sin of unchastity) to mean the seduction of women. 
 Buti (towards the end of the fourteenth century) produced a statement 
 that Dante had in his youth joined the Franciscan order, but had never 
 got beyond the novitiate. Landino mentions this, but rejects it ; but 
 it has been adopted by most modern commentators from Lombard! 
 onward, though it rests on nothing but Buti's assertion, while, if it were 
 true, one would expect to find mention of it earlier. It seems on the 
 whole best, whether the Franciscan story be correct or not, to refer to 
 Isaiah xi. 5 : Evit justitia cingulum lumborum ejus, et fides cinctorium 
 renum ejus. To object with Scartazzini that Dante was not likely to 
 strip himself of a virtue just when he was going to the depths of Hell 
 seems to be an over-insistence on allegorical consistency. Nor was he 
 likely, another objector of similar spirit might add, to take off any part 
 of his clothing when he was going to walk on the ice of Cocytus. Some- 
 thing is wanted to throw, in order to attract Geryon. ' I have this 
 cord, the cord of righteousness,' says Dante. 'Once I thought to cap- 
 ture Florence (which, it will be remembered, is also signified by the 
 pard) with it, and put an end to faction ; let us throw that down it is of 
 no further use to me and see if the unwonted sight will bring Geryon.' 
 Observe that Isaiah continues, v. 6 : Habitabit lupus cum agno ; et 
 pardus cum hoedo accubabit ; vitulus et leo et ovis simul morabuntur, 
 etc. Another objection of Scartazzini's, that you cannot throw a meta- 
 phorical cord, is rather comic ; though it is a testimony to Dante's power 
 of impressing his readers with a sense of reality. But the bun-ato is no 
 doubt as metaphorical, or rather allegorical, as the corda, or as Geryon 
 himself. 
 
 O
 
 194 HELL CANTO 
 
 time to catch the ounce with the painted skin. After I 
 had wholly loosed it from me, in such wise as my Leader 
 had commanded me, I reached it to him knotted and 
 wrapped together. Whereupon he turned him toward the 
 right side, and to some little distance from the edge he 
 threw it down into that deep ravine. It is meet indeed that 
 a new thing should answer, said I within myself, to the new 
 signs which the Master is following so with his eye. Ah, 
 how cautious should men be near to those who see not 
 
 Prender la lonza alia pelle dipinta. 
 
 Poscia che 1' ebbi tutta da me sciolta, 
 
 Si come il Duca m' avea comandato, 1 10 
 
 Porsila a lui aggroppata e ravvolta. 
 
 Ond' ei si volse inver lo destro lato, 
 Ed alquanto di lungi dalla sponda 
 La gitto giuso in quell' alto burrato. 
 
 E' pur convien che novita risponda, 
 
 Dicea fra me medesmo, al nuovo cenno 
 Che il Maestro con 1' occhio si scconda. 
 
 Ahi quanto cauti gli uomini esser denno 
 Presso a color, che non veggon pur 1' opra, 
 
 n - No doubt going a little way along the edge of the pit, to he clear 
 of the falling water. But there is probably some symbolism in every 
 word here. See next Canto, 1. 31. 
 
 iis-i:;" The reflections contained in these lines, and in 124-126, seem 
 intended to attune the reader's mind to what is coming. Henceforth 
 Dante is going to deal with sins opposed to that good faith between 
 man and man on which the whole fabric of society rests. lie gives 
 here two maxims of caution against relying too fully on that good faith. 
 Man is not perfect ; it is therefore advisable in our intercourse even 
 with good men not to reveal our minds too fully, and not to try their 
 confidence in us too severely. One seems to see almost the germs of 
 the statecraft which in later days attained such perfection in Italy.
 
 xvi HELL 195 
 
 only the act, but look within the thoughts by their wisdom ! 
 He said to me : ' Soon will come up that which I await ; 
 and what thy thought is brooding must needs be shortly 
 discovered in thy visage.' Ever to that truth which has 
 the face of falsehood should the man close his lips so far as 
 he can, because it brings shame without a fault ; but here I 
 cannot keep it silent ; and by the strains of this Comedy, 
 reader, I swear to thee, so may they not be void of long- 
 enduring grace, that I saw through that gross and gloomy 
 air a figure come swimming upwards, wondrous to every 
 heart at ease ; just as he returns who goes down at times to 
 free the anchor, which is grappling either a rock or something 
 
 Ma per entro i pensier miran col senno ! 120 
 
 Ei disse a me : Tosto verra di sopra 
 
 Cio ch' io attendo, e che il tuo pensier sogna 
 
 Tosto convien ch' al tuo viso si scopra. 
 Sempre a quel ver ch' ha faccia di menzogna 
 
 De' 1' uom chiuder le labbra finch' ei puote, 
 
 Perb che senza colpa fa vergogna ; 
 Ma qui tacer nol posso : e per le note 
 
 Di questa commedia, letter, ti giuro, 
 
 S' elle non sien di lunga grazia vote, 
 Ch' io vidi per quell' aer grosso e scuro 130 
 
 Venir notando una figura in suso, 
 
 Maravigliosa ad ogni cor sicuro, 
 Si come torna colui che va giuso 
 
 Talora a solver 1' ancora, ch' aggrappa 
 
 - 1 - 3 al tuo viso : most understand ' to thy sight ' ; but the rendering 
 I have given seems to accord better with the preceding terzina. 
 
 V1 ~ note. Others, e.g. Land, and Veil., understand merely 'words' ; 
 Benv., ' i.e. literas.' 
 
 132 Cf. xxviii. 113-115.
 
 196 HELL CANTO xvi 
 
 else that is hidden in the sea, when he stretches himself 
 upward, and draws himself up at foot. 
 
 O scoglio od altro che nel mare e chiuso, 
 Che in su si stende, e da pie si rattrappa. 
 
 130 Bcnvenuto oddly takes this as of a man climbing up a rope, 
 though it seems certainly intended of a swimmer. Is it possible that 
 he conceived of Geryon as climbing up the cord ?
 
 CANTO XVII 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 A monster appears and stays at the brink. While Virgil is parleying 
 with it, Dante speaks with certain that are sitting a little way oft", 
 who are those that have practised usury. They mount on the 
 back of the monster, which Virgil addresses as Geryon ; and it 
 bears them downwards ; whereat Dante is in fear. 
 
 ' BEHOLD the beast with the pointed tail that passes the 
 mountains and breaks walls and weapons ; behold that 
 which makes all the world to stink ! ' So did my Leader 
 
 Ecco la fiera con la coda aguzza, 
 
 Che passa i rnonti, e rompe muri ed armi ; 
 Ecco colei che tutto il mondo appuzza : 
 
 Si comincib lo mio Duca a parlarmi, 
 
 i sqq. The figure which now appears is presently addressed by Virgil, 
 and spoken of, as Geryon. The story of the mythological Geryon 
 slain by Hercules is well known, but there is nothing in it, as told by 
 the usual authorities, to account for his selection for his present office. 
 His methods indeed seem rather to have been those of violence. He is 
 coupled with Tityus by Horace (Odes, ii. 14. 8), and by Virgil with 
 Centaurs, Gorgons, and Harpies (if he be denoted by the ' forma tricor- 
 poris umbrae ' of Aen. vi. 289), and the other forms which haunt the 
 entrance of the infernal regions. Possibly the description of him as 
 threefold (which Dante appears to have misunderstood, or to have modi- 
 fied to suit his purpose) may have seemed to make him an appropriate 
 symbol of fraud. The representation of him as a kind of serpent or 
 dragon is parallel to the treatment of Minos and Cerberus ('il gran 
 vermo ') ; perhaps with some suggestions from the monsters of Rev. ix. 
 The symbolism of the various details is pretty evident.
 
 198 HELL CANTO 
 
 begin to speak to me ; and beckoned it to come to shore, 
 near to the bound of the marble we had crossed. And that 
 filthy image of fraud came on, and brought its head and 
 body to bank, but on to the bank it did not draw its tail. 
 Its face was the face of a righteous man, so benign the skin 
 it had outside ; and of a serpent all the rest of its trunk. 
 Two arms it had, hairy to the armpits ; it had its back and 
 breast and both its sides painted with knots and little rings. 
 With more colours, groundwork or design, did never Turks 
 and Tartars make their cloths, nor were such webs set on 
 
 Ed accennolle che venisse a proda, 
 Vicino al fin dei passeggiati marmi : 
 
 E quella sozza imagine di froda 
 
 Sen venne, ed arrivb la testa e il busto : 
 Ma in sulla riva non trasse la coda. 
 
 La faccia sua era faccia d' uom giusto ; 10 
 
 Tanto benigna avea di fuor la pelle, 
 E d' un serpente tutto 1' altro fusto. 
 
 Due branche avea pilose infin 1' ascelle : 
 
 Lo dosso e il petto ed ambo e due le coste 
 Dipinte avea di nodi e di rotelle. 
 
 Con piu color sommesse e soprapposte 
 Non fer ma' i drappi Tartar! ne Turchi," 
 
 a fcr inai drappo 1234 IT. : in drappo Aid. 
 
 * N.B. arrivo transitive. See Die/, iii. 104. 
 
 11 rotelle : ' maculis, ' Ilenv. ; i.e. the rings of chain-mail. 
 
 is, 17 The construction of these lines is rather awkward, and several 
 of the early edd. have got over the difficulty by inserting an /;/ in the 
 second, for which there seems little or no authority. Jiucc. and lienv. 
 both read drappi, which has much support from MSS. ; and I have 
 ventured to assume that inai contains the definite article, which seems
 
 xvn HELL 199 
 
 by Arachne. As at times the shallops stand on the shore, 
 when they are part in the water and part on the land ; and 
 as out there among the German gluttons the beaver squats 
 to wage his warfare, so did the vilest beast stand on the 
 edge which, made of stone, encloses the sand. All in the 
 
 Ne fur tai tele per Aragne imposte. 
 Come tal volta stanno a riva i burchi, 
 
 Che parte sono in acqua e parte in terra, 20 
 
 E come la tra li Tedeschi lurchi 
 Lo bevero s' assetta a far sua guerra ; 
 
 Cos! la fiera pessima si stava 
 
 Sull' orlo che, di pietra, il sabbion serra. 
 
 to be wanted. We must, I think, take sommesse and soprapposte as 
 nouns, and in a kind of apposition with color! ; for Blanc's theory that 
 they are adjectives in agreement with it, the final i being e for the 
 rhyme, will hardly hold water. 
 
 At this point we part company with Boccaccio, whose commentary 
 ends abruptly doubtless by reason of his death in December 1375 in 
 the middle of the explanation of these lines. No doubt his faithful and 
 admiring disciple, Benvenuto, has preserved a good deal of the informa- 
 tion which he would have given ; and no doubt he is prolix and garru- 
 lous, and never forgets that he is a reformed character, and has a 
 reputation to maintain as such ; but he is a scholar and a man of the 
 world, and we feel that to have the rest of his less than half-told story 
 we would willingly surrender a wilderness of 15th-century pedantry. 
 
 22 The beaver's habit of sitting with his tail in the water (see his 
 portrait in Bewick's Natural History) seems to have been regarded as 
 an artifice for catching fish. P. di Dante informs us that oily particles 
 exude from the tail, by which the fish are attracted. Benv. merely 
 says, ' caudam tenet sub aqua et parat insidias piscibus.' He also men- 
 tions that beavers are found near Ferrara. It is curious that none of 
 the older authorities on natural history, such as Aristotle or Pliny, say 
 anything of this supposed habit ; nor do Dante's contemporaries, Bru- 
 netto and Cecco d'Ascoli. As a matter of fact, the beaver is a vege- 
 table feeder.
 
 20O HELL CANTO 
 
 void it was twitching its tail, twisting up the venomous 
 fork, which armed the point in fashion of a scorpion. 
 
 My Leader said : ' Now it is meet that our way turn a 
 little so far as that evil beast which is couching yonder.' 
 Therefore we descended towards the right pap, and ten 
 paces we made upon the edge, to bring quite to an end the 
 sand and the flame ; and when we are come to it, a little 
 further I see folk sitting on the sand near to the place 
 
 Nel vano tutta sua coda guizzava, 
 Torcendo in su la venenosa forca 
 Che, a guisa di scorpion, la punta armava. 
 
 Lo Duca disse : Or convien che si torca 
 La nostra via un poco infino a quella 
 Bestia malvagia che cola si corca. 30 
 
 Pero scendemmo alia destra mammella, 
 E dieci passi femmo in sullo stremo, 
 Per ben cessar la rena e la fiammella : ll 
 
 E quando noi a lei venuti semo, 
 Poco piu oltre veggio in sulla rena 
 Gente seder propinqua al loco scemo. 
 
 b cansar Bcnv. Veil. 
 
 " (i His tail is forked to indicate the two kinds of fraud referred to in 
 xi. 5 2- 54- So Bargigi, whom Scartazzini follows. Benv. finds the 
 same symbolism in the two anus of Geryon. 
 
 3 - Once before they have gone a few paces in the contrary direction 
 to their usual course ; see ix. 132. It is true, as \Yitte points out, that 
 the slight digression to the right is made necessary here by Geryon's 
 position ; but Dante need not have put him into that position, unless 
 he had wished to lead up to this movement. Probably in both cases 
 the intention is to suggest a formal act of adhesion to goodne>s at the 
 moment of entering on a fresh division of sin and its punishment. The 
 'ten paces' may well allude to God's commandments, and the whole 
 will be illustrated by such passages as Ps. cxix. (Vulg. cxviii.) 2Q, 30, 32.
 
 xvn HELL 201 
 
 where it is cut off. Here the Master : ' To the end that 
 thou mayest bear all full experience of this circle,' said he 
 to me, 'go and behold their demeanour. Let thy con- 
 verse there be brief; until thou returnest will I parley with 
 this thing, that it may grant us its strong shoulders.' Thus 
 further over the uttermost headland of that seventh circle 
 all alone I went, where the sorrowful folk were sitting. 
 Through their eyes their woe was bursting forth ; on this 
 side and on that they sheltered with their hands now against 
 the exhalations and now against the hot soil. Not otherwise 
 
 Quivi il Maestro : Acciocche tutta piena 
 Esperienza d' esto giron porti, 
 Mi disse, va, e vedi la lor mena. c 
 
 Li tuoi ragionamenti sian la corti : 40 
 
 Mentre che torni parlerb con questa, 
 Che ne conceda i suoi omeri forti. 
 
 Cos! ancor su per la strema testa 
 Di quel settimo cerchio, tutto solo 
 Andai, ove sedea la gente mesta. 
 
 Per gli occhi fuori scoppiava lor duolo : 
 Di qua, di la soccorrien con le mani, 
 Quando ai vapori, e quando al caldo suolo. 
 
 c or va Aid. IV. 
 
 41 Note that whereas hitherto Virgil has adopted a tone of authority, 
 sometimes of defiance, with the guardians of the various circles, he has 
 henceforth to use persuasion. 
 
 43-45 The usurers, as Bcnvenuto points out, form a link between the 
 sins of violence and those of deceit. In the abstract, as has been 
 explained, usury does violence to natural laws ; but in practice, and as 
 between man and man, it is often attended by fraud. Scart. remarks 
 upon the fact that their position is out of Dante's direct road, and that 
 in order to see them he has to make a digression, unaccompanied by 
 Virgil.
 
 202 HELL CANTO 
 
 do the dogs in summer, now with their snout, now with 
 their paws, when they are bitten by fleas or by gnats or by 
 gadflies. 
 
 After I had directed my gaze toward the countenance of 
 certain upon which the woeful fire is streaming, I recognised 
 not any of them, but I was aware that from the neck of 
 each hung a purse which had a certain colour and certain 
 design, and therewith it seems that their eye is fed. And 
 as I came among them gazing, on one yellow pouch I saw 
 blue, which had face and outline of a lion. Thereafter pro- 
 ceeding the course of my gaze, I saw that another of them 
 
 Non altrimenti fan di state i cani, 
 
 Or col ceffo or coi pie, quando son morsi 50 
 O da pulci o da mosche o da tafani. 
 
 Poi che nel viso a certi gli occhi porsi, 
 Nei quali il doloroso foco casca, 
 Non ne conobbi alcun ; ma io m' accorsi 
 
 Che dal collo a ciascun pendea una tasca, 
 Che avea certo colore e certo segno, 
 E quindi par che il loro occhio si pasca. 
 
 E com' io riguardando tra lor vegno, 
 In una borsa gialla vidi azzurro, 
 Che d' un leone avea faccia e contegno. 60 
 
 Poi procedendo di rnio sguardo il curro 
 Vidine un' altra come sangue rossa 
 
 54 As with the avaricious, perhaps because usury involved avarice, 
 their very features are obliterated, and they are only recognisable by the 
 arms on their money-bags ; which in a kind of bitter mockery they are 
 permitted to have with them. All seem to be of good family. 
 
 en, >i i These are the arms of the Gianligliazxi, a family belonging to 
 the Black Guelfs ; Yill. viii. 39. 
 
 ''- 1>J The Ubriachi, a Ghibeline house, heads of the party in 
 Oltrarno, banished with the rest in 1258 ; Yill. vi. 65.
 
 xvn HELL 203 
 
 as red as blood showed a goose more white than butter. 
 And one who had his white satchel marked with a sow blue 
 and lusty, said to me : ' What doest thou in this foss ? Go 
 now thy way ; and since thou art still alive, know that my 
 neighbour Vitaliano will sit here on my left flank. With 
 these Florentines am I a Paduan ; oftentimes do they 
 thunder in my ears, crying, " Let the supreme cavalier 
 come who will bring the purse with three he -goats." ' 
 Then he distorted his mouth, and drew out his tongue, like 
 
 Mostrare un' oca bianca piu che burro. 
 
 Ed un, che d' una scrofa azzurra e grossa 
 Segnato avea lo suo sacchetto bianco, 
 Mi disse : Che fai tu in questa fossa ? 
 
 Or te ne va ; e perche sei vivo anco, 
 Sappi che il mio vicin Vitaliano 
 Sedera qui dal mio sinistro fiance. 
 
 Con questi Fiorentin son Padovano ; 70 
 
 Spesse fiate m' intronan gli orecchi, 
 Gridando : Vegna il cavalier soprano, 
 
 Che rechera la tasca con tre becchi : 
 Qui distorse la bocca, e di fuor trasse d 
 
 d la faccia Gg. Cass. 1234. 
 
 114 The commentators say that this is one Rinaldo cle' Scrovegni of 
 Padua. He is said to have been father of the man who was just now 
 building the ' Arena ' Chapel, where people go to see Giotto's frescoes. 
 
 68 Vitaliano : del Dente, say the older commentators ; but recent 
 investigations have discovered that an early Paduan chronicler identifies 
 him with a Yit. cle' Yitaliani, whose house, as a matter of fact, was near 
 that of the Scrovegni. See Scart. ad loc. Bargigi curiously refuses to 
 name any of the others, out of regard for the feelings of their families, 
 and this more than a hundred years later. 
 
 7:J becchi : or 'beaks.' The person alluded to is said to be Messer 
 Giovanni Buiamonte de' Bicci of Florence. Nothing else seems to be 
 known about him.
 
 2O4 HELL CANTO 
 
 an ox licking its nose. And I, fearing lest my longer stay 
 should anger him who warned me to stay little, turned me 
 back from the weary souls. 
 
 I found my Leader who had mounted already on the 
 croup of the fierce animal, and said to me : ' Now be strong 
 and bold. Now is the descent by stairs thus-fashioned ; 
 get up in front, for I wish to be between, so that the tail 
 may be unable to do harm.' Like him who is taken in the 
 shivering-fit of the quartan, that has his nails already pallid, 
 and trembles all over only looking at the shade, such became 
 I at the proffered words ; but his menaces wrought shame 
 in me, which in the presence of a good lord makes the slave 
 
 La lingua, come bue che il naso lecchi. c 
 
 Ed io, temendo nol piu star crucciasse 
 Lui che di poco star m' avea monito, 
 Tornai mi indietro dall' anime lasse. 
 
 Trovai lo Duca mio ch' era salito 
 
 Gia in sulla groppa del fiero animale, 80 
 
 E disse a me : Or sii forte ed ardito. 
 
 Omai si scende per si fatte scale : 
 
 Monta dinanzi, ch' io voglio esser mezzo, 
 Si che la coda non possa far male. 
 
 Qual e colui, ch' ha si presso il riprezzo 
 
 Delia quarlana, ch' ha gia 1' unghie smorte, 
 E trema tutto, pur guardando il rezzo, 
 
 Tal divenn' io alle parole porte ; 
 
 Ma vergogna mi fer le sue minacce, 
 
 Che innanzi a buon signer fa servo forte. 90 
 
 e come il bite 14 II'. 
 
 8I) minacce must be taken in the wider sense of 'fear of his dis- 
 pleasure,' for Virgil has uttered no threat. Benv. puts an imaginary 
 harangue into his mouth, and illustrates by a story of Julius Caesar !
 
 xvn HELL 205 
 
 strong. I seated myself on those broad shoulders ; so would 
 I have said but the voice came not as I deemed ' See 
 that thou embrace me.' But he, who other time helped me 
 at other perplexity, as soon as I was up, bound me and 
 sustained me with his arms ; and said : ' Geryon, now set 
 forth ; let thy wheels be wide and thy descent slow ; think 
 on the new burthen which thou hast.' As the little bark 
 goes out of its place backing, backing ; so did he take him- 
 self thence ; and when he felt himself wholly in play, he 
 turned his tail round where his breast had been, and moved 
 it tense, like an eel, and with his arms drew in the air to 
 
 lo m' assettai in su quelle spallacce : 
 Si volli dir (ma la voce non venne 
 Com' io credetti) : Fa, che tu m' abbracce. 
 
 Ma esso che altra volta mi sovvenne 
 Ad altro forse, tosto ch' io montai/ 
 Con le braccia m' avvinse e mi sostenne : 
 
 E disse : Gerion, moviti omai : 
 
 Le rote larghe, e lo scender sia poco : 
 Pensa la nuova soma che tu hai. 
 
 Come la navicella esce del loco 100 
 
 In dietro, in dietro, si quindi si tolse ; 
 E poi ch' al tutto si sent! a giuoco, 
 
 La ov' era il petto, la coda rivolse, 
 E quella tesa, come anguilla, mosse, 
 E con le branche 1' aria a se raccolse. 
 
 f Ad alto Gg. 5 ; alto forte Cass. Aid. ; alto tosto forte 3 ; alii forte 124. 
 
 102 a giuoco : we say 'had free play.' It is curious that here and 
 elsewhere Benvenuto speaks as if he imagined Geryon to be really 
 swimming in water.
 
 2O6 HELL CANTO 
 
 himself. Greater fear I do not think there was when 
 Phacthon let go the reins, whereby the heaven, as is still 
 seen, was scorched ; nor when Icarus unhappy felt his back 
 lose its wings through the melted wax, his father crying to 
 him : ' Thou takest an ill path ' ; than was mine when I saw 
 that I was in the air on all sides, and saw every view gone 
 except of the monster. It goes its way, swimming slowly, 
 slowly ; it wheels and descends, but I take no note thereof, 
 
 Maggior paura non credo che fosse, 
 Quando Fetbn abbandonb li freni, 
 Per che il ciel, come pare ancor, si cosse : 
 
 Ne quando Icaro misero le reni 
 
 Sent! spennar per la scaldata cera, no 
 
 Gridando il padre a lui : Mala via tieni, 
 
 Che fu la mia, quando vidi ch' i' era 
 Nell' aer d' ogni parte, e vidi spenta 
 Ogni veduta, fuor che della fiera. 
 
 Ella sen va nuotando lenta lenta ; 
 
 Rota e discende, ma non me n' accorgo, 
 
 107, ios An Meteor, i. 8 (345 a) : Twv Ka\ov/j,(vii3v llvOayopeiuv cftacrl 
 Tives odbv elvai ravrriv, ol fj.tv TWI> tKireffdvTuv TIVOS &ffrptav, Kara T^V 
 \eyo/j.evr]v fTrl $>a.{0oi>Tos <j)dopav. Conv. ii. 15: Li Pittagorici dissero 
 che '1 sole alcana fiata erro nella sua via ; e passando per altre parti non 
 convcnicnti al suo fervore, arse il luogo per lo quale passo, e rimasevi 
 quell' apparenza dell' arsura. Cf. Par. xiv. 97 sqcj. This is the first of 
 Dante's many allusions to the fable of Phaelhon, which seems to have 
 had a special attraction for him. 
 
 luu-m o\-. Met. viii. 223 sqq., especially 
 
 Allius egit iter ; rapid! vicinia Solis 
 Mollit odoratas, pennarum vincula, ccras. 
 
 At pater infelix, nee jam pater, ' Icare ' dixit, 
 ' Icare' dixit ' ubi es? qua te regione requiram, 
 Icare? '
 
 xvn HELL 207 
 
 save that the wind blows in my face and from below. I 
 heard already on the right hand the torrent make beneath 
 us a horrible splashing ; wherefore I crane my head with 
 downturned eyes. Then was I more fearful in regard to 
 the alighting ; because I saw fires and heard wailings ; 
 whereat all trembling I crouch me down again. And then 
 I saw, for I had not seen it before, the descent and the 
 
 Se non ch' al viso e disotto mi venta. 
 lo sentia gia dalla man destra il gorgo 
 
 Far sotto noi un orribile stroscio ; 
 
 Per che con gli occhi in giii la testa sporgo. 120 
 Allor fu' io piu timido allo scoscio : 
 
 Perocch' io vidi fochi, e sentii pianti ; 
 
 Ond' io tremando tutto mi raccoscio. 
 E vidi poi, che nol vedea davanti, 
 
 Lo scendere e il girar, per li gran mali 
 
 118 That is, they had, as Philalethes points out, made half a circuit ; 
 not the whole, as Witte puts it, which of course would bring the fall on 
 their left hand again. We must imagine Geryon as descending in large 
 circles, but always remaining on the side of the pit whence they had set 
 out. It would hardly be possible to hear the sound of the fall from the 
 other side, since we know by comparison of xxix. 9 and xxx. 86 (where 
 see the note of Philalethes) that Malebolge must have been some 35 
 miles wide. 
 
 We hear no more of Phlegethon ; and Philalethes supposes that it 
 must be conceived as passing through a subterranean channel (if the 
 term be allowed) to join Cocytus in the ninth circle. 
 
 rjl scoscio : a word of very uncertain meaning. Benv. ' idest ad 
 motum, ad movendum me.' Land., Yell., Dan. take it to be the fall of 
 the water. Others of the Italian commentators, and Philalethes, think 
 it is 'the precipice,' or rather the 'drop' below. Witte, ' Anprall.' I 
 am inclined to take it as ' the shock of alighting ' : see Glossary. 
 
 123 raccoscio. Benv. and Lomb. think this means ' grip with the 
 thigh, 'as in riding; but it seems better to understand 'cower.' Cf. 
 xviii. 132.
 
 208 HELL CANTO XVII 
 
 circling, by the great evils that were approaching on divers 
 sides. As the falcon that has stayed enough on the wing, 
 that without seeing lure or bird makes the falconer say : 
 ' Alack, thou stoopest ' ; it descends wearily whence it starts 
 swiftly through a hundred wheels, and alights at a distance 
 from its master, disdainful and surly ; so did Geryon set us 
 down at the bottom on foot at the foot of the splintered 
 rock, and, our bodies discharged, vanished as arrow from 
 bowstring. 
 
 Che s' appressavan da diversi canti. 
 Come il falcon ch' e stato assai sull' ali, 
 
 Che senza veder logoro o uccello, 
 
 Fa dire al falconiere : Oime tu cali : 
 Discende lasso, onde si move snello, 130 
 
 Per cento rote, e da lungi si pone 
 
 Dal suo maestro, disdegnoso e fello : 
 Cos! ne pose al fondo Gerione 
 
 A pie, a pie della stagliata rocca, 
 
 E, discarcate le nostre persone, 
 Si dilegub, come da corda cocca. 
 
 127 Dante's delight in similes from falconry has often been remarked 
 upon. We have seen one in iii. 117. Here he supposes the falcon to 
 descend, without any lawful cause, being tired or sulky. A more cheer- 
 ful image might perhaps be too complimentary to Geryon, whom Dante 
 seems to hold in more loathing than any other denizen of hell. 
 
 lis logoro : the object roughly resembling a bird, which the falcon 
 was taught to associate with her feeding-time, so that she might be 
 recalled by the sight of it.
 
 CANTO XVIII 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They dismount in a place called Malebolge, the form of which is 
 described. Here they come among folk whom fiends are scourg- 
 ing as they go, and learn that they are pandars. Next they 
 come to some who are covered with filth ; these are the flatterers. 
 
 THERE is a place in Hell, called Malebolge, all of stone and 
 of an iron colour, like the circle which compasses it around. 
 Right in the middle of the malign plain sinks a pit fairly 
 
 LUOGO e in inferno, detto Malebolge, 
 Tutto di pietra e di color ferrigno, 
 Come la cerchia che d' intorno il volge. 
 
 Nel dritto mezzo del campo maligno 
 
 1 The eighth circle in which are punished the first division of the 
 deceivers those who have sinned against no special natural ties is 
 imagined as a plain sloping not very steeply on all sides towards the 
 centre (xxiv. 38), and intersected with ten concentric ravines, over 
 which a number of rock ribs, running from the circumference to the 
 central orifice, make a series of bridges. Each of these is called a bolgia, 
 originally ' wallet ' or ' pouch ' ; Denvenuto says that it was a regular 
 Florentine term for a hollow valley. Each is occupied by some par- 
 ticular class of sinners, fraud being of many kinds. The following list 
 shows the order. Pandars and seducers of women, Flatterers, Simoniacs, 
 Diviners, Jobbers of public offices, Hypocrites, Thieves, Evil coun- 
 sellors, Schismatics and other makers of strife, Alchemists and coiners. 
 
 2 Cf. Purg. xiii. 9. 
 
 3 N.B. volge with ace. in the sense of ' turns round it.' 
 
 P
 
 210 HELL CANTO 
 
 wide and deep, whereof in its place I will tell the arrange- 
 ment. That belt which remains then is round, between the 
 pit and the foot of the hard high bank, and it has its bed 
 divided into ten trendies. Such figure as, when for defence 
 of the walls more and more fosses gird the castles, the part 
 where they are displays, such an appearance did those there 
 make. And as in such fortresses from their thresholds to 
 the outermost bank are little bridges, so from the bottom of 
 
 Vaneggia un pozzo assai largo e profondo, 
 
 Di cui suo loco dicero 1' ordigno. a 
 Quel cinghio che rimane adunque e tondo, 
 
 Tra il pozzo e il pie dell' alta ripa dura. 
 
 Ed ha distinto in dieci valli il fondo. 
 Quale, dove per guardia delle mura, 10 
 
 Piu e piu fossi cingon li castelli, 
 
 La parte dov' ei son rende figura : b 
 Tale imagine quivi facean quelli : 
 
 E come a tai fortezze dai lor sogli 
 
 Alia ripa di fuor son ponticelli. 
 
 a dicera Gg. 1234 ; con f era Aid. 
 b rendonfig, Gg. ; rende signra Cass. : dov' I- il sol Aid. 
 
 "' vaneggia : here from vano in the sense which it has in xvii. 25, or 
 Purg. \. 22, the only sense which has passed into our 'vanish.' 
 
 t; suo loco must, I think, be taken as Latin, like coram fatrc, Par. 
 \i. 62, or sine causa, ib. xxxii. 59. Bianchi, taking it as Italian, com- 
 pares the Fr. qiiehjue fart, but there seems no example of this omission 
 of the prep, in Italian. \Yitte, without much authority, inserts /';/. 
 Others read dicera, making loco the subject. Benv., reading both in 
 and dicera, takes ordigno in the sense of 'the course of my story,' as 
 the subject to the latter. 
 
 11 li castelli : castles in general. So i fallout, Purg. vii. 66. 
 
 : - A large number of M.S. copyists, puzzled by a sentence which is, 
 as Benvenuto says, ' valde intricata,' give here rende or rcnJon figura. 
 See Moore, Text. Crit., for a full discussion.
 
 xvin HELL 211 
 
 the cliff rocks went, which cut across the embankments and 
 the fosses up to the pit, which cuts them short and brings 
 them together. 
 
 In this place, when dropped from the back of Geryon, 
 we found ourselves ; and the Poet held to the left, and I 
 started after him. On the right I saw new grief, new tor- 
 ments, and new slashers, of which the first pit was full. At 
 the bottom were the sinners naked ; on this side the middle 
 they were coming with their face towards us ; on the other 
 side with us, but with longer steps ; as the Romans, by 
 reason of the great host, in the year of the Jubilee took 
 
 Cosi da imo della roccia scogli 
 
 Movien, che recidean gli argini e fossi 
 Infino al pozzo, che i tronca e raccogli. 
 
 In questo loco, dalla schiena scossi 
 
 Di Gerion, trovammoci : e il Poeta 20 
 
 Tenne a sinistra, ed io dietro mi mossi. 
 
 Alia man destra vidi nuova pieta ; 
 Nuovi tormenti e nuovi frustatori, 
 Di che la prima bolgia era repleta. 
 
 Nel fondo erano ignudi i peccatori : 
 
 Dal mezzo in qua ci venian verso il volto, 
 Di la con noi, ma con passi maggiori : 
 
 Come i Roman, per 1' esercito molto, 
 L' anno del Giubbileo, su per lo ponte 
 
 1(HS It seems clear from this description that Dante conceived several 
 ribs radiating from the centre, and forming systems of bridges. Indeed 
 farther on, in Canto x>;iii., \ve shall find that they pass from one line of 
 bridges to another. It would seem impossible, if it had not been done, 
 to hold the opposite view that there was only one line. 
 
 -'' For some account of the Jubilee, ordered by Boniface VIII. in 
 1300, see Villani viii. 36 ; where we learn incidentally that it was the 
 reflection on the history of Rome, induced by the sight of the mighty
 
 2 1 2 PI ELL CANTO 
 
 measures for the passing of the folk over the bridge, that on 
 one side all have their front toward the castle, and go to 
 St. Peter's, on the other rim they go toward the mount. 
 On this side, on that, over the dingy stone I saw horned 
 demons with great whips who were beating them cruelly in 
 rear. Ah ! how they made them stir their stumps at the first 
 strokes ; and none awaited longer the second or the third. 
 
 Hanno a passar la gente modo colto : 30 
 
 Che dall' un lato tutti hanno la fronte 
 
 Verso il castello, e vanno a santo Pietro ; 
 
 DalF altra sponda vanno verso il monte. 
 Di qua, di la, su per lo sasso tetro 
 
 Vidi Demon cornuti con gran ferze, 
 
 Che li battean crudelmente di retro. 
 Ahi come facean lor levar le berze 
 
 Alle prime percosse ! e gia nessuno 
 
 Le seconde aspettava ne le terze. 
 
 concourse, that gave the historian the first idea of compiling that of his 
 own city. Whether Dante was there or not we do not know. This 
 description seems like that of an eyewitness, and he alludes to the 
 Jubilee more than once (see Par. xxxi. 35) ; but it was the year in which 
 he was Prior, and taking a prominent part in public affairs, which must 
 just then have been very absorbing, at Florence. 
 
 :! " passar may be transitive, as we use ' to pass '; but I should prefer 
 to take the construction like 'a salir persona ' in Purg. xi. 51. 
 
 ;i - il castello : that of Sant' Angelo ; once the mole of Hadrian. 
 
 "' :! il monte : San Pietro in Montorio, the old ' Janiculum,' which, 
 though on the same side of the river as the castle, is, owing to a bend, 
 almost exactly in face of any one coming away from it. Monte 
 Giordano, which some take to be meant, is an artificial mound, possibly 
 of medieval formation. 
 
 35 The first appearance of fiends as regular officials of hell. The 
 special mention of horns in this case is doubtless intended to have a 
 significance which our forefathers would have well understood.
 
 xvni HELL 213 
 
 While I was going my eyes were arrested upon one, and I 
 quickly said thus : ' Of seeing this one ere now have I had 
 my fill.' Therefore I stayed my feet to make him out ; and 
 the kind Leader halted with me, and gave leave for me to 
 go back somewhat. And that slashed one thought to con- 
 ceal himself by lowering his face, but it availed him little ; 
 for I said : ' Thou that castest thine eye to earth, if the 
 fashion that thou bearest is not false, Venedico Caccianimico 
 
 Mentr' io andava, gli occhi miei in uno 40 
 
 Furo scontrati ; ed io si tosto dissi : 
 Di gia veder costui non son digiuno. c 
 
 Percib a figurarlo i piedi affissi : 
 E il dolce Duca meco si ristette, 
 Ed assent! ch' alquanto indietro gissi : 
 
 E quel frustato celar si credette 
 
 Bassando il viso, ma poco gli valse : 
 
 Ch' io dissi : Tu che 1' occhio a terra gette, 
 
 Se le fazion che porti non son false, 
 
 Venedico sei tu Caccianimico ; 50 
 
 c Gia di 2 Aid. 
 
 4 " digiuno : cf. xxviii. 87. Benv. hints at some personal quarrel 
 between Venedico and Dante. 
 
 48 Observe that henceforth Dante has no more words of love or 
 honour or even respect for those to whom he speaks, even in the cases 
 (e.g. that of Ulysses) where he inspires a kinder feeling in his readers. 
 
 )0 Venedico Caccianimico appears to have been a gentleman of 
 Bologna, who is said to have acted as intermediary in an intrigue 
 between his own sister and Azzo VIII. (according to Benvenuto's 
 reckoning, III.) of Este. There is some difficulty about the story, as 
 Azzo was at the time at war with Bologna. On the other hand, it is 
 said that Ghisola was married to one of the Aldighieri of Ferrara (Par. 
 xv - !37)> so that the affair may have been transacted there, where the 
 Esti were powerful.
 
 214 HELL CANTO 
 
 thou art ; but what brings thee to so stinging Salsc ? ' And 
 he to me : ' Unwillingly do I tell it ; but thy clear words 
 compel me, which make me remember the ancient world. 
 I was the one that brought the fair Ghisola to do the will of 
 the Marquis, however the unseemly tale be told. And not 
 only I wail here from Bologna ; rather is this place so full 
 of us that not so many tongues are now learned to say sipa 
 betw-een Savena and the Reno ; and if of this thou wishest 
 
 Ma che ti mena a si pungenti salse ? 
 
 Ed egli a me : Mai volentier lo dico : 
 Ma sforzami la tua chiara favella, 
 Che mi fa sovvenir del mondo antico 
 
 lo fui colui, che la Ghisola bella 
 
 Condussi a far la voglia del Marchese, 
 Come che suoni la sconcia novella. 
 
 E non pur io qui piango Bolognese : 
 Anzi n' e questo loco tanto pieno, 
 Che tante lingue non son ora apprese 60 
 
 A dicer sipa tra Savena e il Reno : d 
 E se di cio vuoi fede o testimonio. 
 
 '' The Salse was a ravine near Bologna, where the bodies of 
 criminals were thrown ; but there is an obvious play on salsa, 'sauce.' 
 or ' pickle.' 
 
 at, GO Benvenuto, who lived in Bologna, and liked the place and 
 people, does not think this estimate at all extraordinary, and says that 
 any place ('not to mention Paris') would easily furnish hell with more 
 of this class than would equal the existing population of Bologna. 
 
 (il sipa : Bolognese provincialism for sia. So Benv.. who must have 
 known. Blanc refers to Tassoni, Seech. Rap. xii. st. 5 : hna c h e 1'uno 
 Sipa vittorios, e 1'altro niora. In Yulg. El. i. 15 Dante speaks favour- 
 ably of the Bolognese dialect. 
 
 Savena and Reno are two rivers which How past Bologna at adi.stance 
 of about two miles on the east and west respectively.
 
 xvin HELL 215 
 
 proof or testimony, bring to thy mind our money-loving 
 breast.' As he thus talked a demon smote him with his 
 scourge, and said : ' Get on, pimp ; here are no women on 
 hire.' I joined myself again with my escort ; afterwards 
 with few paces we came where a rock jutted from the bank. 
 Easily enough we mounted that, and turning to the right 
 along the spur of it we departed from these eternal 
 circlings. 
 
 Recati a mente il nostro avaro seno. 
 
 Cos! parlando il percosse un demonio 
 Delia sua scuriada, e disse : Via, 
 Ruffian, qui non son feminine da conio. 
 
 lo mi raggiunsi con la scorta mia : 
 Poscia con pochi passi divenimmo, 
 La dove un scoglio della ripa uscia. 
 
 Assai leggieramente quel salimmo, 70 
 
 E volti a destra su per la sua scheggia, 
 Da quelle cerchie eterne ci partimmo. 
 
 GS Not that they were miserly, but they wanted money for their 
 pleasures, and were not scrupulous as to the way in which they earned 
 it. Fazio degli Uberti (Dittam. iii. 5) gives a picture of life in Bologna : 
 
 Intra Savena e Ren citta si vede, 
 Si vaga e piena di tutti i diletti, 
 Che tal vi va a caval che torna a piedc. 
 
 Quivi son donnc di Icggiadri aspetti, 
 K il nome della terra segue il fatto, 
 Buona ne' studi e sottil d' intelletti. 
 
 Benv. suggests that Dante knew all about it when he was' a student 
 there. 
 
 71 scheggia : the reefs of rock which form the lines of bridges are 
 regarded as split off from the main mass which walls the pit. 
 
 7 ' 2 cerchie, from cerchiare, as e.g. cerca, Par. xvi. 63, from cercarc. 
 This seems much the simplest explanation. Dante had been walking 
 a little way with Veneclico ; now he crosses the line of march.
 
 216 HELL CANTO 
 
 When we were at the place where it is hollow below to 
 give a passage to the flogged ones, the Leader said : ' Wait, 
 and let the sight of these other misbegotten strike on thee, 
 of whom thou hast not yet viewed the face, seeing that they 
 have been going together with us.' From the old bridge 
 we looked at the train which was coming toward us on the 
 other border, and which the lash in like manner chases. 
 The good Master, without my asking, said to me : ' Look 
 at that great one who is coming, and for woe seems to shed 
 
 Quando noi fummo la, dov' ei vaneggia 
 Di sotto, per dar passo agli sferzati, 
 Lo Duca disse : Attienti, e fa che feggia 
 
 Lo viso in te di questi altri mal nati, 
 Ai quali ancor non vedesti la faccia, 
 Peroeche son con noi insieme andati. 
 
 Dal vecchio ponte guardavam la traccia, 
 
 Che venia verso noi dall' altra banda, 80 
 
 E che la ferza similmente scaccia. 
 
 II buon Maestro, senza mia domanda, 
 
 Mi disse : Guarda quel grande che vicne, 
 E per dolor non par lagrima spanda : 
 
 73 vaneggia, as in 1. 5. Here it refers to the opening of the arch. 
 
 " G These are the seducers and betrayers of women. Why they go in 
 the usual direction while the others go counter to it is not clear ; unless 
 it be to indicate that their sin, being in the first instance prompted by 
 natural passion, is less contrary to the ordinary instincts of human 
 nature. 
 
 79 vecchio : ' qui [Pquia] est veterior quam pons vetus Arni de Flor- 
 entia. ' Eenv. 
 
 S4 per dolor. Blanc is probably right in taking per here =prae. His 
 suffering is too great to let him weep. Cf. xxxiii. 49. Wittu's 'Was 
 er auch leide,' ' for all his grief,' would require rather /v;- doler, for 
 which there seems no authority.
 
 xvin HELL 217 
 
 no tear ; what a kingly aspect does he yet retain ! That is 
 Jason, who through courage and through wisdom made the 
 Colchians bereaved of their sheep. He passed by the isle 
 of Lemnos, after that the bold women ruthless gave all 
 their males to death. There with tokens and with words 
 tricked-out he cheated Hypsipyle, the girl who already had 
 cheated all the others. He left her there great with child 
 and lonely ; such fault condemns him to such torment ; and 
 also for Medea is vengeance wrought. With him goes along 
 
 Quanto aspetto reale ancor ritiene ! 
 
 Quelli e Jason, che per core e per senno 
 Li Colchi del monton privati fene. 
 
 Egli passb per 1' isola di Lenno, 
 Poi che le ardite femmine spietate 
 Tutti li maschi loro a morte dienno. 90 
 
 Ivi con segni e con parole ornate e 
 Isifile ingannb. la giovinetta, 
 Che prima avea tutte 1' altre ingannate. 
 
 Lasciolla quivi gravida e soletta : 
 
 Tal colpa a tal martiro lui condanna ; 
 Ed anco di Medea si fa vendetta. 
 
 e con senno Cass. 
 
 86 sqq. fhc murder by the Lemnian women of their husbands, and 
 the subsequent desertion of Hypsipyle by Jason, is told at length in 
 Stat. Theb. v. 404-485. Apollodoms, Bibl. i. 17, relates the stories 
 briefly. Dante, however, was doubtless most familiar with Ovid's ver- 
 sion, in the cases of both Hypsipyle and Medea. Heroides, vi. and xii. 
 
 91 The reading senno is, as Dr. Moore points out (Text. Crit. 
 p. 321 sqq.), decidedly preferable from a literary point of view; but 
 segni has the great weight of authority, and gives a sufficiently good 
 sense. 
 
 13 When she contrived to save her father from the general massacre 
 of males.
 
 2l8 HELL CANTO 
 
 whoso cheats in such a matter ; and let this suffice to know 
 concerning the first vale, and concerning those whom it 
 holds in its fangs.' 
 
 By this we were at the point where the narrow path 
 forms a cross with the second embankment and makes of 
 that abutments to a second arch. Thence we heard folk 
 whimpering in the second trench, and grouting with the 
 muzzle, and beating themselves with their palms. The 
 banks were caked with a mould by reason of the exhalation 
 from below which sticks there, so that it made strife with 
 the eyes and with the nose. The bottom is so hollow that 
 space suffices not to see without mounting on the crown 
 
 Con lui sen va chi da tal parte inganna : 
 E questo basti della prima valle 
 Sapere, e di color che in se assanna. 
 
 Gia eravam la Ve lo stretto calle 100 
 
 Con 1' argine secondo s' incrocicchia, 
 E fa di quello ad un altro arco spalle. 
 
 Quindi sentimmo gente che si nicchia 
 
 Nell' altra bolgia, e che col muso scuffa/ 
 E se medesma con le palme picchia. 
 
 Le ripe eran grommate d' una muff a 
 Per 1' alito di giu che vi si appasta, 
 Che con gli occhi e col naso facea zuffa. 
 
 Lo fondo e cupo si, che non ci basta 
 
 Loco a veder senza montare al dosso no 
 
 117 da tal parte : lit. on that side. 
 
 Ju:! The flatterers, and those who entice others with smooth words. 
 
 "' cupo: not so much deep as hollowed at the sides. In the 
 former case there would be no particular advantage in the view from 
 the crown of the bridge.
 
 xvin HELL 219 
 
 of the arch, where the rock stands highest. There we came, 
 and from thence I saw down in the foss folk immersed in 
 a dungheap that seemed brought from the privies of man- 
 kind. And while I was searching down there with my eye, 
 I saw a head so foul with dung that it was not apparent 
 whether it was lay or cleric. He cried out to me : ' Why 
 art thou so greedy to look at me more than at the other 
 brutes ? ' And I to him : ' Because, if I remember right, I 
 have seen thee ere now with thy hair dry, and thou art 
 Alessio Interminei of Lucca ; therefore I eye thee more 
 than all the rest.' And he then, beating his pate: 'My 
 flatteries have submerged me down here, whereof I never 
 
 Dell' arco, ove lo scoglio piu soprasta. 
 Quivi venimmo, e quindi giu nel fosso 
 
 Vidi gente attuffata in uno stereo, 
 
 Che dagli uman privati parea mosso : 
 E mentre ch' io la giu con 1' occhio cerco, 
 
 Vidi un col capo si di merda lordo, 
 
 Che non parea s' era laico o cherco. 
 Quei mi sgrido : Perche sei tu si ingordo 
 
 Di riguardar piu me, che gli altri brutti ? 
 
 Ed io a lui : Perche, se ben ricordo, 120 
 
 Gia t' ho veduto coi capelli asciutti, 
 
 E sei Alessio Interminei da Lucca : 
 
 Perb t' adocchio piu che gli altri tutti. 
 Ed cgli allor, battendosi la zucca : 
 
 Quaggiu m' hanno sommerso le lusinghe, 
 
 122 The Interminelli were a house at Lucca, prominent in the faction 
 of the time, wherein they took the ' White ' side. The famous partisan 
 leader Castruccio Castracane was sprung from them ; on the mother's 
 side, says Eenvenuto, but he seems to have borne their name. Nothing 
 further is known of this Alessio.
 
 HELL CANTO XVIII 
 
 had my tongue cloyed.' After that my Leader said to me : 
 'See thou urge thy glance a little onward, so that thou 
 mayest with thine eyes duly reach the face of that unclean 
 dishevelled wench, who is scratching herself there with her 
 nails befouled, and now squats down, now is standing on 
 her feet. Thais it is, the harlot, who answered her para- 
 mour, when he said, Have I great thanks u>ith tliee ? Nay, 
 marvellous. And herewith let our sight have had enough.' 
 
 Ond' io non ebbi mai la lingua stucca. 
 Appresso cib lo Duca : Fa che pinghc, 
 
 Mi disse, il viso un poco piu avante, 
 
 Si che la faccia ben con gli occhi attinghe 
 Di quella sozza e scapigliata fante, 130 
 
 Che la si graffia con 1' unghie merdose, 
 
 Ed or s' accoscia, ed ora e in piede stante. 
 Taide e la puttana, che rispose 
 
 Al drudo suo, quando disse : Ho io grazie 
 
 Grandi appo te ? Anzi meravigliose. 
 E quinci sien le nostre viste sazie. 
 
 130 sqq. Benv. observes that some people were scandalised at the 
 coarse and low terms employed by Dante in this passage ; but holds 
 that language should be adapted to the matter. Cf. xxv. 144. 
 
 134. i:ij -phg a ll us ion is to the opening words of the third act of 
 Terence's ' Eunuchus.' As a matter of fact, the word ' ingemes ' is 
 that of the parasite who brings the message from Thais to her suitor. 
 The introduction by Dante of a person who is merely a character in a 
 play is very curious, and suggests that he probably only knew the pas- 
 sage as a quotation, and assigned it to the historical Thais : or, like 
 Benvenuto, confused the real and the fictitious persons of that name.
 
 CANTO XIX 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They reach the next pit, and find therein folk thrust head downwards 
 into holes, with their feet on fire, who are the simoniacs. The 
 author speaks with Pope Nicolas, and upbraids the ill-doing of 
 certain Bishops of Rome. 
 
 O SIMON MAGUS ! O unhappy followers ! because the things 
 of God, which of goodness ought to be spouses, and ye in 
 
 O SIMON niago, o miseri seguaci, 
 Che le cose di Dio, che di bontate 
 Deono essere spose, e voi rapaci a 
 
 a spose voi Cass. 13 Aid. W. 
 
 1 Simony, so called from Simon the sorcerer (Acts viii. ), is the sin 
 of trafficking in spiritual things : see S. T. ii. 2. Q. 100. It is to 
 sacrilege what theft is to violent robbery ; and stands in opposition to 
 religion, which is a branch of justice. 
 
 " e voi. On the whole it seems better to retain e. MS. authority 
 is almost exactly divided ; but its value is reduced by the fact of the 
 previous word ending in e. With either reading the sentence is an 
 ' anacoluthon,' for che though in order to make the sentence intel- 
 ligible I ha\ r e rendered it 'because' can hardly be anything but the 
 relative, and in that case it is a subject without a verb, while cose is an 
 object with nothing to govern it. Dr. Moore's suggestion that e is ' a 
 sort of interjection' hardly helps. E no doubt has often a kind of 
 demonstrative or intensive force in the apodosis of a conditional sen- 
 tence, to which class all his instances belong (see also note, i. 28) ; but 
 there is nothing of that sort here. Dante, I imagine, intended to write
 
 222 HI-'.LL CANTO 
 
 your greed make to commit whoredom for gold and for 
 silver now it is meet that for you the trumpet sound, 
 seeing that in the third pit ye are stationed. We were now 
 at the next-ensuing tomb, having mounted on that part of 
 the rock which plumbs exact above the middle of the foss. 
 O highest Wisdom, how great is the skill that thou showest in 
 heaven, in earth, and in the evil world, and how great justice 
 does thy power distribute ! I saw over the sides and over 
 the bottom the livid stone full of holes, all of one size, and 
 each was round. They seemed not to me less wide nor 
 larger than those which in my fair Saint John's are made 
 
 Per oro e per argento adulterate ; 
 
 Or convien che per voi suoni la tromba. 
 Perocche nella terza bolgia state. 
 
 Gia eravamo alia seguente tomba, 
 
 Montati dello scoglio in qtiella parte, 
 Che appunto sopra mezzo il fosso piomba. 
 
 O somma Sapienza, quanta e 1' arte 10 
 
 Che mostri in cielo, in terra e nel inal mondo, 
 E quanto giusto tua virtu comparte ! 
 
 lo vidi per le coste e per lo fondo 
 Piena la pietra livida di fori 
 D' un largo tutti, e ciascuno era tondo. 
 
 Non mi parean meno ampi ne maggiori, 
 
 Che quei chc son nel mio bel San Giovanni 
 
 something like this: ' AY ho have misused the things of (lod which 
 ought to lie ... and (or but) which you have . . .,' and then, either 
 forgetting, on account of the double relative, to finish the sentence, or 
 judging that an aposiopcsis would be more effective, left out the main 
 verb. The omission of e does not make matters better, for ' che voi,' 
 which the Hermans can glibly render by ' die ihr,' is not an Italian idiom. 
 
 '-' quanto giusto: I have followed Benvenuto's rendering. 
 
 17 San Giovanni : the Baptistery, originally the Cathedral of 
 Florence.
 
 xix HELL 223 
 
 for a place of the baptizers ; one of which, it is not many 
 years since, I broke for the sake of one who was suffocating 
 therein ; and let this be a sign to undeceive every man. 
 Out from the mouth of each was projecting of a sinner the 
 feet, and of the legs up to the thick part, and all the rest 
 stood within. The soles of all were on fire, both of them ; 
 whereby they twitched their joints so hard that they would 
 have burst asunder twisted ropes and withes. As the flaming 
 
 Fatti per loco dei battezzatori ; 
 
 L' un delli quali, ancor non e molt' anni, 
 
 Rupp' io per un che dentro vi annegava : 20 
 E questo sia suggel ch' ogni uomo sganni. b 
 
 Fuor della bocca a ciascun soperchia-va 
 D' un peccator li piedi, e delle gambe 
 Infino al grosso, e 1' altro dentro stava. 
 
 Le piante erano a tutti accese intrambe ; 
 Per che si forte guizzavan le giunte, 
 Che spezzate averian ritorte e strambe. 
 
 b fia W. 
 
 18 The old font (removed in 1576) had in the thickness of its outer 
 wall circular holes, such as may still be seen in that at Pisa, in which 
 the officiating priest stood, to escape the pressure of the crowd. During 
 Dante's Priorate. says Benvenuto, he happened to find a boy who had 
 got stuck presumably head downwards in one of these holes, and 
 was forced to break the marble to free him. 
 
 19 e anni. For the constr. see Diez iii. 180. 
 
 -' annegava, intrans., as in Purg. vi. 15. The word (from Lat. ad 
 necem} need not imply death by drowning only. So Fr. noyer in early 
 times seems to have been used for any form of slaying ; but especially 
 by fatigue or suffocation. 
 
 - 1 sganni : lest they should think it an act of wanton mischief on 
 my part.
 
 224 HELL CANTO 
 
 of oiled things is wont to move only on the outermost skin, 
 so was it there from the heels to the points. 
 
 ' Who is that, Master, that is wrathful, twitching more than 
 the others his consorts,' said I, ' and whom a ruddier flame 
 licks ? ' And he to me : ' If thou wilt that I carry thee 
 down there by that bank which lies lowest, from him shalt 
 thou know of himself and of his errors.' And I : 'All is 
 good to me that pleases thee ; thou art lord, and thou 
 knowest that I depart not from thy will, and thou knowest 
 that which is not said.' Then we came upon the fourth 
 embankment ; we turned and descended to the left hand, 
 
 Qual suole il fiammeggiar delle cose unte 
 Moversi pur su per 1' estrema buccia ; 
 Tal era li dai calcagni alle punte. 30 
 
 Chi e colui, Maestro, che si cruccia, 
 
 Guizzando piii che gli altri suoi consorti, 
 Diss' io, e cui piu rozza flam ma succia ? 
 
 Ed egli a me : Se tu vuoi ch' io ti porti 
 Laggiu per quella ripa che piu giace, 
 Da lui saprai di se e dei suoi torti. 
 
 Ed io : Tanto m' e bel, quanto a te piacc : 
 Tu sei signore, e sai ch' io non mi parto 
 Dal tuo volere, e sai quel che si tace. 
 
 Allor venimmo sulP argine quarto ; 40 
 
 Volgemrno, e discendemmo a mano stanca 
 
 -'' estrema buccia : the same words in a rather different sense will 
 be found in Purg. xxiii. 25. 
 
 35 As the general level of Malebolge descends towards the centre, 
 while the floor of each pit is horizontal, the wall on the side towards 
 the centre will be lower than the other. There is here no question, as 
 some commentators hold, of a difference in slope, such as, in xxiii. 31, 
 giacerc does seem to imply.
 
 xix HELL 225 
 
 down into the bottom, pitted and narrow. The good 
 Master set me not yet down from his haunch, so he brought 
 me to the breach where he was who was bewailing himself 
 with his shank. ' Oh, whoso thou art, who holdest thy 
 upper part downward, sorry soul, like a stake in place,' I be- 
 gan to say, ' if thou canst, speak.' I was standing like the friar 
 
 Laggiu nel fondo foracchiato ed arto. 
 
 Lo buon Maestro ancor della sua anca 
 Non mi dipose, si mi giunse al rotto 
 Di quel che si piangeva con la zanca. 
 
 O qual che sei, che il di su tien di sotto, 
 Anima trista, come pal commessa, 
 Comincia' io a dir, se puoi, fa motto. 
 
 lo stava come il frate che confessa 
 
 44 There seems no need to read sin here, or to suppose that si is 
 used in the sense of it. The use is like that in Purg. xxi. 12. 
 
 45 si piangeva, almost in the original sense of \plangere, ' to beat ' 
 (Lomb.). Benv. appears to read pingeva ; but his comment is am- 
 biguous : qui ita agitabat crura percutiens ilia invicem. The person is 
 John Guatani (Vill. vii. 54), of the Orsini family, who as Nicolas III. 
 held the Papal see from November 1277 to August 1281. His personal 
 character seems to have been good, and as an Italian in a series of 
 French popes, Dante might have been expected to favour him, especi- 
 ally as he offered some opposition to Charles of Anjou. But even 
 Villani, who was no scandalmonger, supports the charge of simony, 
 telling us that he made James Colonna a cardinal in order to get the 
 support of that powerful house. This would bring him under the 
 description of simony formulated by Aquinas, S. T. ii. 2. Q. 100. A. 
 5 : Sicut contrahitur simonia accipiendo pecnniam . . . ita etiam con- 
 trahitur per munus in lingua vel ab obsequio. Probably his real offence 
 in Dante's eyes was the transaction by which he obtained from Rudolf 
 the lordship of Romagna, as a kind of penalty for neglect to go on 
 crusade. It may be noted here that in the opinion of some a Pope 
 could not commit simony. See S. T. ii. 2. Q. 100. A. i. St. Thomas 
 rejects this view, and considers that, on the contiary, it is a graver sin 
 in a Pope than in any other man. 
 
 O
 
 226 HELL CANTO 
 
 who confesses the treacherous assassin that after he is fixed 
 calls him back, whereby he delays his death. And he cried : 
 ' Art thou already upright here, art thou already upright 
 here, Boniface ? by several years did the writing lie to me. 
 Art thou so soon sated of that possession, for the which 
 
 Lo perfido assassin, che poi ch' e fitto, 50 
 
 Richiama lui, per che la mortc cessa : 
 Ed ei gridb : Sei tu gia. cost! ritto, 
 
 Sei tu gia cost! ritto, Bonifazio ? 
 
 Di parecchi anni mi menti lo scritto. 
 Sei tu si tosto di quell' aver sazio, 
 
 50 Burying alive with the head downwards appears to have been a 
 recognised punishment in the Middle Ages for aggravated murder. 
 
 53 Boniface VIII., Pope from December 1294 to October 1303. 
 His name was Benedict Guatani (or Gaetani), and he was therefore 
 probably a kinsman of Nicolas. He procured the abdication of the 
 incapable Celestin V. (iii. 60), and having gained the support of 
 Charles II. (of Anjou and Naples) by promising to co-operate with 
 him which would be an act of simony of the converse kind to that 
 with which Nicolas is charged secured by his aid the votes of both 
 Orsini and Colonna cardinals (including the James Colonna mentioned 
 above), and thereby his own election. See Villani viii. 5, 6 ; and for 
 his end and a sUidy of his character, chaps. 63, 64 ; or the summary of 
 Villani's account given by Benvenuto. lie may be called the last of 
 the great Popes ; a man whom even Dante, who hated him, felt to be 
 an antagonist worth fighting. Allusions to him will be found through- 
 out the poem see more especially xxvii. 70; Purg. xx. 87; Par. xvii. 
 49 ; and xxx. 148 so that no more need be said here ; but an excellent 
 sketch of his career is given by Philalethes in a note to this Canto. 
 Some of the early commentators, notably Landino, are much struck by 
 the ingenuity of the artifice employed to bring a still living man under 
 the lash. But, as will be seen later, this does not exhaust Dante's 
 resources. 
 
 54 scritto, like volume in Par. xv. 50, is generally taken to mean 
 merely the knowledge of the future which all the spirits possess ; but 
 there may well be an allusion to some well-known prophecy, such as 
 that of Abbot Joachim, Par. xii. 140.
 
 xix HELL 227 
 
 thou fearedst not to carry off by deceit the fair Lady, and 
 afterward to make havoc of her ? ' I became such as are 
 those who stand, through not comprehending that which is 
 answered to them, as it were baffled, and know not how to 
 answer. Then Virgil said : ' Tell him quickly, I am not he, 
 I am not he that thou deemest ' ; and I answered as it was 
 enjoined to me. Wherefore the spirit writhed his feet all 
 over; then sighing, and with voice of weeping he said to 
 me : ' Then what askest thou of me ? If thou carest so 
 much to know who I am that thou hast for this run down 
 the bank, know that I was clad with the great mantle ; and 
 
 Per lo qual non temesti torre a inganno 
 La bella Donna, e poi di fame strazio ? 
 
 Tal mi fee' io, quai son color che stanno, 
 Per non intender cio ch' e lor risposto, 
 Quasi scornati, e risponder non sanno. 60 
 
 Allor Virgilio disse : Digli tosto, 
 
 Non son colui, non son colui che credi : 
 Ed io risposi come a me fu imposto. 
 
 Per che lo spirto tutti storse i piedi : c 
 Poi sospirando, e con voce di pianto, 
 Mi disse : Dunque che a me richiedi ? 
 
 Se di saper chi io sia ti cal cotanto, 
 Che tu abbi pero la ripa corsa, 
 Sappi ch' io fui vestito del gran manto : 
 
 c tut to 2 IV. 
 
 r ' 7 la bella Donna : the Church. 
 
 64 Some, not understanding the use of tutti, and thinking that the 
 word was incorrectly applied to two feet, have wished to read tiitto 
 (adv.) Even lilanc, in his Diet., seems to take this reading ; though in 
 his Erklarungen he defends tutti, comparing xxxi. 15. Cf. Fr. a toittcs 
 janibes. 
 
 li!) il gran manto : cf. Purg. xix. 104.
 
 228 HELL CANTO 
 
 verily I was a child of the bear ; so eager to advance the 
 whelps, that above I pocketed wealth, and here myself. 
 Below my head have the others been drawn, who went 
 before me in committing simony, flattened out through the 
 cracks of the rock. Down there shall I drop in turn, when 
 he shall come who I deemed that thou wast, when I made my 
 sudden inquiry. But more is the time that I have already 
 roasted my feet, and that I have stood thus upside down, 
 than he shall stand planted with his feet red ; for after him 
 
 E veramente fui figliuol dell' orsa, 70 
 
 Cupido si, per avanzar gli orsatti, 
 Che su 1' avere, e qui me misi in borsa. 
 
 Di sotto al capo mio son gli altri tratti 
 Che precedetter me simoneggiando, 
 Per le fessure della pietra piatti. 
 
 Laggiii caschero io altresi, quando 
 
 Verra colui ch' io credea che tu fossi, 
 Allor ch' io feci il subito domando. 
 
 Ma piu e il tempo gia che i pic mi cossi, 
 
 E ch' io son stato cosi sottosopra, 80 
 
 Ch' ei non stara piantato coi pie ros.si : 
 
 70 orsa : with allusion of course to his house. 
 
 71 See Villani vii. 54 : Tolse alia Chiesa castello Santangiolo, e 
 diello a messer Orso suo nipote . . . Incontanente che ebbe privilegio 
 di Romagna, si ne fece conte messer Bertoldo degli Orsini suo nipote 
 . . . e con lui per legato messer frate Latino di Roma cardinale 
 ostiense suo nipote. See also chap. 58. 
 
 "'' piu tempo : because Nicolas had to wait more than twenty years 
 for Boniface to take his place ; but Boniface only eleven fur Clement, 
 who died in 1314 (Vill. ix. 59), not, as Philalethes (misled by the old 
 legend which made his death follow immediately on Philip's, according 
 to the prophecy of the dying Grand Master of the Temple) says, in 
 
 I37- 
 
 B1 pie rossi : perhaps with allusion to the red shoes \\vrn by Popes 
 in life.
 
 xix HELL 229 
 
 shall come, of fouler works, from the westward a lawless 
 pastor, such as is meet should cover up him and me. A 
 new Jason shall he be, whereof we read in the Maccabees ; 
 and as to that one his king was easy, so shall be to him he 
 who rules France.' 
 
 I know not if I was here too foolhardy, that I answered 
 him only in this strain : ' Tell me now, I pray, how much 
 
 Che dopo lui verra, di piu laid' opra, 
 Di ver ponente un pastor senza legge, 
 Tal che convien che lui e me ricopra. 
 
 Nuovo lason sara, di cui si legge 
 
 Nei Maccabei : e come a quel fu molle 
 Suo re, cosi fia a lui chi Francia regge. 
 
 lo non so s' io mi fui qui troppo folle, 
 Ch' io pur risposi lui a questo metro : 
 Deh or mi di', quanto tesoro voile 9 o 
 
 e:i sqq. This refers to Bertrancl (called by Villani ' Ramonclo ') de 
 Goth, Archbishop of Bordeaux, who by the intrigues of Philip the Fair 
 with the French party among the cardinals, got elected Pope on the 
 death of Benedict XI. in 1305. By him the Papal see was removed to 
 Avignon. See Par. xvii. 82 ; xxvii. 58 ; and Villani viii. 90, 91. 
 
 83 The dealings of Jason with Antiochus Epiphanes, when, as our 
 version has it, he 'laboured underhand to be high priest,' recorded in 
 2 Mace, iv., form a curious parallel to what the contemporary historians 
 tell us of Clement's with Philip. According to what Villani tells of 
 Clement's character, there seem to have been other points of resem- 
 blance between him and Jason. The historian relates at the same 
 time a story, which may be noticed here, that Clement, wishing to 
 know the fate of a nephew of his, procured by magic arts that one of 
 his chaplains should visit Hell ; and that the chaplain was there shown 
 a palace, and in it a fiery bed on which lay the soul of the nephew, and 
 was told that he was thus punished for simony ; his informant adding 
 that a similar place was being prepared for Clement himself. The 
 Pope on hearing this became melancholy and died soon after ; and 
 while his body was lying in state, a fire broke out in the church, and 
 consumed it from the waist downwards.
 
 230 HELL CANTO 
 
 treasure craved our Lord at first from Saint Peter, that He 
 should give him the keys in his stewardship ? Surely He asked 
 nought but Follow me. Nor did Peter nor the others ask 
 of Matthias gold or silver, when he was chosen by lot to the 
 place which the guilty soul lost. Therefore stay, for thou 
 art rightly punished ; and be sure thou keep the ill-raised 
 money which made thee daring against Charles. And were 
 it not that still forbids it to me my reverence for the supreme 
 keys which thou heldest in the glad life, I would use words 
 yet more grievous ; for your avarice makes the world sad, 
 
 Nostro Signore in prima da san Pietro, 
 Che ponesse le chiavi in sua balia ? d 
 Certo non chiese se non : Viemmi retro. 
 
 Ne Pier ne gli altri chiesero a Mattia 
 Oro od argento, quando fu sortito 
 Al loco che perde 1' anima ria. 
 
 Perb ti sta, che tu sei ben punito ; 
 E guarda ben la mal tolta moneta, 
 Ch' esser ti fece contra Carlo ardito. 
 
 E se non fosse, che ancor lo mi vieta 100 
 
 La riverenza delle somme chiavi, 
 Che tu tenesti nella vita lieta, 
 
 I' userei parole ancor piu gravi ; 
 
 Che la vostra avarizia il mondo attrista, 
 
 d Che H ponesse . . in sua b. Cass. 1234; che ponesse Aid.; in balia IV. 
 
 ail Nicolas, it appears, had wished to ally himself with Charles of 
 Anjou by marrying his niece to Charles's nephew. Charles returned a 
 scornful answer, implying that scarlet shoes did not make noble blood ; 
 and from that time the Pope was his enemy. lie deprived him of the 
 honours which he had conferred on him, and favoured the intrigue of 
 John of Procida, which led up to the ' Sicilian Vespers,' and the loss of 
 Sicily to the house of Anjou. It was said that he received money from 
 the Eastern Emperor in aid of this scheme.
 
 xix HELL 231 
 
 trampling the good and exalting the wicked. Of you pastors 
 was the Evangelist aware, when she who sits above the 
 waters was seen of him to commit whoredom with the 
 kings ; she that was born with the seven heads, and had 
 equipment from the ten horns so long as virtue was pleasing 
 
 Calcando i buoni e sollevando i pravi. 
 
 Di voi pastor s' accorse il Vangelista, 
 Quando colei, che siede sopra 1' acque, 
 Puttaneggiar coi regi a lui fu vista : 
 
 Quella che con le sette teste nacque, 
 
 E dalle dieci corna ebbe argomento, no 
 
 Fin che virtute al suo marito piacque. 
 
 106 sqq- This was another of the passages which was required by the 
 Spanish Inquisition in its flourishing days to be cancelled, before the 
 poem could be introduced into Spanish territory. Fortunately for 
 modern readers and collectors, the Holy Office was less able to make 
 its power felt elsewhere. The passage is probably the earliest instance 
 in literature of the identification, which has since become so popular, of 
 the ' scarlet woman ' of Rev. xvii. with the Papal power. The com- 
 mentators have charged Dante with inaccuracy in attributing the seven 
 heads and ten horns to the woman herself; but this need not follow 
 from his words. Con le sette teste nacque need not mean more than 
 'came into existence at the same time with the seven heads,' i.e. with 
 the beginning of the Empire the heads denoting, as in the original 
 (see vv. 9, 10), 'kings,' i.e. according to the most plausible interpreta- 
 tion, the early emperors. It must be said, however, that Dante's treat- 
 ment of the prophecy is confused, for in 1. in he seems to conceive a 
 time when the ' harlot ' had not fallen from virtue, of which there is no 
 suggestion in the Apocalypse. Is it possible that he understood by the 
 ' horns ' the ten persecutions, as they are generally reckoned ? The 
 mention of Constantine, with whose conversion persecutions came to an 
 end (cf. Brunetto, Tresor, i. 87 : quant 1'empereres dona si grant 
 honor a Silvestre et as pastors di sainte Eglise, toutes persecutions 
 furent definees), rather suggests this. In that case argomento must 
 mean 'proof or 'trial.'
 
 232 HELL CANTO 
 
 to her husband. Ye have made a god of gold and silver, 
 and what else is there between you and the idolater save 
 that he worships one, and you a hundred. Ah, Constan- 
 tine, of how great ill was mother, not thy conversion, but 
 that dowry which the first rich pope got from thee ! ' And 
 whiles that I was chanting him such notes, whether it were 
 anger or conscience that pricked him, he kicked hard with 
 both feet. I deem well that it pleased my Leader, with mien 
 so content did he attend all the time to the sound of the 
 true words uttered. Therefore he took me with both his 
 arms, and after that he had got me up wholly on his breast, 
 
 Fatto v' avete Dio d' oro e d' argento : 
 E che altro e da voi all' idolatre, 
 Se non ch' egli uno, e voi n' orate cento ? 
 
 Ahi, Constantin, di quanto mal fu matre, 
 Non la tua conversion, ma quella dote 
 Che da te prese il primo ricco patre ! 
 
 E mentre io gli cantava cotai note, 
 O ira o coscienza che il mordesse, 
 Forte spingava con ambo le piote. 120 
 
 Io credo ben che al mio Duca piacesse, 
 Con si contenta labbia sempre attese 
 Lo suon delle parole vere espresso. 
 
 Perb con ambo le braccia mi prese, 
 
 E poi che tutto su mi s' ebbe al petto, 
 
 '-' llosea viii. 4 : argent urn suum et aurum suum fecerunt sil)i 
 idola. 
 
 iifi jr or tj le history of the fictitious donation of the ' State* of the 
 Church ' by Constantine to Pope Silvester, see (Jibbon, chap. xlv. notes 
 6S-~6. Cf. also xxvii. 94 ; Purg. xxxii. 128 : and De Mon. iii. io. 
 Milton, ' Of Reformation in England,' quotes these lines, but seems to 
 have no doubt about the genuineness of the donation. 
 111 For the con>truction, see Diez iii. 335.
 
 xix HELL 233 
 
 he mounted again by the way whence he came down ; nor 
 did he weary of holding me clasped to him, till so carried 
 he me on to the crown of the arch which is the passage from 
 the fourth to the fifth embankment. Here gently he laid 
 down the burden, gently by reason of the untrimmed and 
 steep reef, which would be a hard track for the goats. 
 Thence another valley was disclosed to me. 
 
 Rimontb per la via onde discese ; 
 
 Ne si stance d' avermi a se distretto, 
 Si mi portb sopra il colmo dell' arco, 
 Che dal quarto al quinto argine e tragetto. 
 
 Quivi soavemente spose il carco, 130 
 
 Soave per lo scoglio sconcio ed erto, 
 Che sarebbe alle capre duro varco : 
 
 Indi un altro vallon mi fu scoperto. 
 
 l - 8 si, as in 1. 44. 
 
 131 soave : the commentators who notice this use of the word are 
 almost unanimous in regarding it as a repetition of the adverb, and not 
 as an adj. agreeing with carco. It may easily be a survival from the 
 time when the termination mente was recognised (as it still is to some 
 degree in Spanish) as an independent word. Land. Veil, and Dan. 
 pass it without notice.
 
 CANTO XX 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 In the third pit they find soothsayers and diviners who go with their 
 faces turned backwards. Virgil points out Tiresias, Manto, and 
 others, and tells of the founding of his own city. 
 
 OF a new penalty it behoves me to make verses, and to 
 give matter for the twentieth chant of my first canticle, 
 which is of the sunken ones. I was already wholly in 
 position to gaze into the uncovered depth, which was bathed 
 with tears of anguish ; and I saw folk, throughout the 
 circular valley, come silent and weeping, at the pace which 
 the litany-processions make in this world. As my sight went 
 
 Di nuova pena mi convien far versi, 
 E dar materia al ventesimo canto 
 Delia prima canzon, ch' e dei sommersi. 
 
 lo era gia disposto tutto e quanto 
 A riguardar nello scoperto fondo, 
 Che si bagnava d' angoscioso pianto : 
 
 E vidi gente per lo vallon tondo 
 
 Venir tacendo e lagrimando, al passo 
 Che fan le letanie in questo mondo. 
 
 4 I.e. he was on the highest point of the bridge, cf. xviii. iio. 
 
 5 scoperto : because in the last pits the sinners had been more or 
 less concealed, in one case by filth, in the other by the holes in which 
 they were planted. Benv. 
 
 7 gente : soothsayers and diviners.
 
 CANTO xx HELL 235 
 
 lower down among them, strangely did each one appear 
 twisted round between the chin and the beginning of the 
 chest ; for the face was turned on the side of the reins, and 
 it behoved them to go backward, because seeing forward 
 was taken from them. Haply ere now by force of palsy has 
 some one been thus twisted right round, but I never saw it, 
 nor do I believe that it is so. So may God grant thee, 
 reader, to take profit of thy reading, think now for thyself 
 how I could keep my visage dry when I saw close at hand 
 our form so turned round, that the weeping of the eyes 
 
 Come il viso mi scese in lor piu basso, 10 
 
 Mirabilmente apparve esser travolto 
 Ciascun tral mento e '1 principio del casso : a 
 
 Che dalle reni era tomato il volto, 
 Ed indietro venir gli convenia, 
 Perche il veder dinanzi era lor tolto. 
 
 Forse per forza gia di parlasia 
 Si travolse cosi alcun del tutto ; 
 Ma io nol vidi, ne credo che sia. 
 
 Se Dio ti lasci, Lettor, prender frutto 
 
 Di tua lezione, or pensa per te stesso, 20 
 
 Com' io potea tener lo viso asciutto, 
 
 Quando la nostra imagine da presso 
 Vidi si torta, che il pianto degli occhi 
 
 a dal mento al pr. Aid. 
 
 1 - Modern edcl. mostly read dal mento al prin. The meaning would 
 be the same, but the reading in the text has the most MS. authority. On 
 the other hand it must be said that da a is slightly lectio difficilior. 
 
 19 Benvenuto has some observations here on the futility of astrology, 
 summing up with ' Certe fateor quod astra non mentiuntur, sed astro- 
 logi bene mentiuntur de astris.' 
 
 '-'- nostra imagine : the human figure.
 
 236 HELL CANTO 
 
 bathed the buttocks by their division. Of a truth I began 
 to weep leaning against one of the rocks of the hard cliff, 
 so that my Escort said to me : ' Art thou yet among the 
 other foolish ones ? Here pity lives when it is right dead. 
 Who is more wicked than he who brings passion to the 
 
 La natiche bagnava per lo fesso. 
 Certo i' piangea, poggiato ad un dei rocchi 
 
 Del duro scoglio, si che la mia scorta 
 
 Mi disse : Ancor sei tu degli altri sciocchi ? 
 Qui vive la pieta quando e ben morta. 
 
 Chi piu scellerato che colui 
 
 Che al giudizio divin passion comporta ? b 30 
 
 *> compassion porta Gg. (alf.) Benv. W.; passion porta Aid. 
 
 - 8 Cf. xxxiii. 150. Here there is a further play on the two meanings 
 of pieta, ' piety ' and ' pity. ' 
 
 30 Of the various readings which are found here, the one in the text 
 has, according to Dr. Moore's collations, much more MS. authority than 
 the others put together, besides being that of all edd. before 1480 ; 
 passion porta (for which it is hard to understand his preference) the 
 least. The meaning obviously is 'who allows himself to be influenced 
 by feeling when considering God's judgements,' ' imports feeling into his 
 view of them '; and either porta or comporta will bear this signification, 
 though the latter word, in the few places where Dante uses it, seems to 
 mean rather 'bear with' or 'endure.' It was, however, quite possible 
 for Dante to go back to the original meaning of the word. Still his 
 use of it is sufficiently uncommon to account for the very early change 
 to compassion porta, which fits in with certain expressions used by St. 
 Augustine and St. Thomas (e.g. S. T. ii. I. QQ. 19. 39) ; and is 
 adopted by Benvenuto among others. Dr. Moore's suggestion that 
 if passione porta were written as one word, the e might be mistaken for 
 an abbreviated coin will hardly commend itself to paleographers ; the 
 only abbreviation for com, so far as I know, being 9, for which c is as 
 unlikely to be mistaken as any letter well could be. It may be added 
 that, though not without parallel, passion as a trisyllable would be un- 
 usual. Why Dante should be so affected by the sight of the punishment 
 of this class of sinners as to require a caution of the kind here, and here 
 only, it is hard to see.
 
 xx HELL 237 
 
 judgement of God? Lift, lift thy head, and see him for 
 whom the earth opened in the sight of the Thebans, whereby 
 they all cried : Whither rushest thou, Amphiaraus ; why 
 leavest the war ? And he stayed not from dashing down- 
 ward even to Minos, who fetters each one. Look how he 
 has made a breast of his shoulders ; because he wished to 
 see too far in front, he looks behind and goes a backward 
 road. See Teiresias, who changed semblance when from 
 
 Drizza la testa, drizza, e vedi a cui 
 
 S' aperse agli occhi dei Teban la terra, 
 Per ch' ei gridavan tutti : Dove rui, 
 
 Anfiarao ? perche lasci la guerra ? 
 E non resto di ruinare a valle 
 Fino a Minos, che ciascheduno afferra. 
 
 Mira, che ha fatto petto delle spalle : 
 Perche voile veder troppo davante, 
 Diretro guarda, e fa retroso calle. 
 
 Vedi Tiresia, che mutb sembiante, 40 
 
 31 The story of Amphiaraus the seer, how he was swallowed up by 
 the earth in the midst of the battle, will be found in Stat. Theb. vii. 
 ad fin. 
 
 y.;, 3i There is not a word in Statins of any mocking cries on the 
 part of the Thebans towards Amphiaraus ; but the remark made by 
 Pluto as he enters the lower world is something like that in the text, 
 especially if we may suppose that Dante read it cursorily, and took 
 ' Manes ' for a verb : 
 
 At tibi quos, inquit, Manes, qui limite praeceps 
 Non licito per inane ruis ? . . . 
 
 3li Minos is specially mentioned, Theb. viii. 27, 103 ; but curiously 
 enough as tempering by merciful counsels the too great severity of 
 Pluto. 
 
 40 Tiresins was the Theban augur, as Amphiaraus the besiegers'. 
 The story here referred to is in Ov. Met. iii. 318 sq.
 
 238 HELL CANTO 
 
 male he became female, shifting all his members ; and 
 afterwards he needed again to strike with his rod the two 
 entwined serpents, before he regained his manly plumes. 
 Aruns is he who turns his back to this one's belly ; who in 
 the mountains of Luni, where hoes the man of Carrara who 
 dwells below, had among white marbles the cave for his 
 lodging ; whence to gaze on the stars and the sea his view 
 was not shortened. And she who covers her breasts, which 
 thou seest not, with her unbound tresses, and has on the 
 further side all skin which bears hair, was Manto, who sought 
 
 Quando di maschio femmina divenne, 
 
 Cangiandosi le membra tutte quante ; 
 E prima poi ribatter gli convenne 
 
 Li due serpenti avvolti con la verga, 
 
 Che riavesse le maschili penne. 
 Aronta e quel che al ventre gli s' atterga, 
 
 Che nei monti di Luni, dove ronca 
 
 Lo Carrarese che di sotto alberga, 
 Ebbe tra bianchi marmi la spelonca 
 
 Per sua dimora ; onde a guardar le stelle 50 
 
 E il mar non gli era la veduta tronca. 
 E quella che ricopre le niammelle, 
 
 Che tu non vedi, con le trecce sciolte, 
 
 E ha di la ogni pilosa pelle, 
 
 4(3 Aruns, a soothsayer of later times, consulted by the authorities, 
 according to Lucan, before the outbreak of the civil war. See 1'liars. 
 i. 586: ' incoluit desertae moenia Lunae.' Dittamondo iii. 6: 
 
 E il monte ancora e la spelonca propia 
 La dove stava lo indovin di Aronta. 
 
 Dante seems to have confused him with his colleague Figulus, for it 
 was he, ' quern non stellarum Aegyptia Memphis aequarat visu ' ; while 
 the business of Aruns lay more in the inspection of entrails.
 
 xx HELL 239 
 
 through many lands ; afterward she settled in the place 
 where I was born ; wherefore it is my pleasure that thou 
 hear me a little. After that her father issued from life, and 
 the city of Bacchus came to servitude, she went a long time 
 about the world. Above in fair Italy lies a lake at the foot 
 of the Alp which over Tirol locks Germany, and it has 
 
 Manto fu, che cercb per terre molte, 
 
 Poscia si pose la dove nacqu' io ; 
 
 Onde un poco mi piace che m' ascolte. 
 Poscia che il padre suo di vita uscio, 
 
 E venne serva la citta di Baco, 
 
 Questa gran tempo per lo mondo gio. 60 
 
 Suso in Italia bella giace un laco 
 
 Appie delF alpe, che serra Lamagna 
 
 Sopra Tiralli, ch' ha nome Benaco. 
 
 55 Manto, daughter of Tiresias, appears frequently in the ' Thebais ' 
 (see especially iv. 463 sqq), but there is no hint there of her wanderings 
 after the death of her father ; which indeed did not take place till ten 
 years after the action of the poem ends, that is, at the capture of Thebes 
 by the Epigoni (Apollod. Bibl. iii. 7). It must be to this, and not 
 to any servitude under Theseus or Creon, that 1. 59 refers. Dante has 
 probably taken the idea of her travels about the world merely from 
 Virgil's statement, Aen. x. 199, that she was the mother of Ocnus, the 
 founder of Mantua if indeed that be not, as some commentators hold, 
 another Manto altogether. It will be seen, however, that he departs 
 from his authority, and ignores Ocnus ; the latter part of the legend 
 being, it would seem, entirely of his own invention. The reference to 
 Benacus and the Mincio is obviously suggested by Virgil's mention of 
 them in the same passage. 
 
 (i:f Tiralli : ' unus comitatus in introitu Alemanniae ubi regnant 
 hodie quidam comites theutonici, qui vocantur Turones,' says Benv. 
 writing very soon after the transfer of the province from the old line of 
 Counts to the Hapsburgs. ('Turon'is found with ' Tirol ' in a grant 
 dated 1242, probably meaning Diirrenstein, a village near Schloss Tirol, 
 of which the Counts were lords. )
 
 240 HELL CANTO 
 
 name Benacus. Through a thousand springs, I think, and 
 more the Pennine is washed, between Garda and Val 
 Camonica, by the water which lies in the aforesaid lake. 
 
 Per mille fonti, credo, e piti si bagna, 
 Tra Garda e Val Camonica, Pennine c 
 Dell' acqua che nel detto lago stagna. 
 
 c Vale, c Apennino Cass,; e V. e Ap. 35 ; Apcnnino Gg. 124 Aid, W. 
 
 w ~ l!(l The difficulty of these lines is the word Apennino or Pennine. 
 The first has the great weight of authority ; but the fact of the previous 
 word ending in a makes MS. authority of less importance than it usually 
 is. Neither one nor the other name, however, belongs to the district 
 which is here referred to. It is true that Herr Witte, who had rather a 
 gift for discovering mountains where he wanted them (see e.g. his note 
 to xv. 9), found a mountain called Apennino to the north of Gargnano, 
 on the west coast of the lake ; but this, if it exists, is far too obscure to 
 be introduced at the outset of such a grand piece of topography, and too 
 small to be washed ' per mille fonti e piu. ' Benvenuto reads e Pennine, 
 but seems (for his note is obscure probably the text is corrupt) to under- 
 stand the Apennine. Bargigi sees the difficulty, but turns it by assuming 
 that Dante said Apennine when he meant Alp, as in xvi. 101 he- 
 has used alpc for a part of the Apennine. Vellutello reads I'aldi- 
 inonica under some misunderstanding as to the position of Yal 
 Camonica, but accepts Pennine without difficulty. Cass. has c Apen- 
 nino, and the annotator takes the three names as indicating the provinces 
 of Verona, Brescia, and Trent. The second c is clearly wrong, as 
 it involves taking laco as subject to si bagna. On the whole, I am 
 inclined to think that Dante took Paulino in a wide sense, as applying to 
 any part of the central Alps, and (possibly) did not clearly distinguish it 
 from Apennino. No doubt the Pennine Alps, according ID modern 
 usage, do not come within 120 miles of Yal Camonica ; but the term 
 seems to have been very loosely used. Josias Simler, writing in 1574, 
 tells us (de Alpibus Commentarius) that according to one system 
 of nomenclature, the name was given to the mountains at the head of 
 the Yinstgau, or valley of the Adige. The district here referred to is 
 that drained by the Sarca, which is fed by the glaciers and snows of the 
 Adamello and Brenta groups. Garda is of course the place of that name 
 on the east shore of the lake.
 
 xx HELL 241 
 
 There is a place in the middle there where the pastor of 
 Trent, and he of Brescia, and the Veronese, might give their 
 blessing, if they made that journey. Peschiera sits, a fair 
 and mighty armament, to make head against Brescians and 
 Bergamasks, where the surrounding shore comes lowest. 
 There it behoves that all that pour forth which cannot stay 
 in the bosom of Benacus, and it becomes a river down 
 through green pastures. As soon as the water starts to 
 flow, no longer Benacus but Mincio it is called, even to 
 Governo where it falls into Po. It has no long course when 
 it finds a hollow into which it spreads itself, and turns it to 
 
 Loco e nel mezzo la, dove il Trentino 
 Pastore, e quel di Brescia, e il Veronese 
 Segnar potria, se fesse quel cammino. d 
 
 Siede Peschiera, bello e forte arnese 70 
 
 Da fronteggiar Bresciani e Bergamaschi, 
 Ove la riva intorno piu discese. 
 
 Ivi convien che tutto quanto caschi 
 
 Gib che in grembo a Benaco star non pub, 
 E fassi fiume giii per verdi paschi. 
 
 Tosto che 1' acqua a correr mette co, 
 Non piu Benaco, ma Mincio si chiama 
 Fino a Governo, dove cade in Po. 
 
 Non molto ha corso, che trova una lama, 
 
 Nella qual si distende e la impaluda, 80 
 
 d fusse a quel Cass.; sel fusse 2 ; fosse 1345. 
 
 67 The point on the lake, towards the north end, where the dioceses 
 of the three bishops meet. 
 
 76 C0 = cafo as in xxi. 64, Par. iii. 96 (where it means 'the comple- 
 tion' instead of as here 'the beginning.' Either may of course be 
 regarded as the ' head '). 
 
 78 Governo : now called Governolo. 
 
 79-si Any one who has been at Mantua in summer will recognise the 
 truth of this. 
 
 R
 
 242 HELL CANTO 
 
 a marsh, and it is wont in summer at times to be hurtful. 
 Passing thence the savage maid saw land in the midst of 
 the swamp, without cultivation and bare of dwellers. There 
 to escape all society of men she abode with her servants to 
 work her arts, and lived, and left there her empty corpse. 
 
 ' Afterward the men who were scattered around assembled 
 themselves to that place, for it was strong by reason of the 
 swamp which it had on all sides ; they made their city above 
 those dead bones ; and for her sake who first chose out the 
 spot they called it Mantua, without further lot. Its folk 
 within were once thicker than now, before the folly of Casalodi 
 
 E suol di state talora esser grama. 
 Quindi passando la vergine cruda 
 
 Vide terra nel mezzo del pantano, 
 
 Senza cultura, e d' abitanti nuda. 
 Li, per fuggire ogni consorzio umano, 
 
 Ristette coi suoi servi a far sue arti, 
 
 E visse, e vi lascio suo corpo vano. 
 Gli uomini poi, che intorno erano sparti, 
 
 S' accolsero a quel loco, ch' era forte 
 
 Per lo pantan che avea da tutte parti. 90 
 
 Fer la citta sopra quell' ossa morte ; 
 
 E per colei, che il loco prima elesse, 
 
 Mantova 1' appellar senz' altra sorte. 
 Gia fur le genti sue dentro piu spesse, 
 
 Prima che la mattia di Casalodi 
 
 ! ' ;t senz' altra sorte : without casting lots or taking auguries. 
 
 113 A little before Dante's time Pinamonte cle' Buonaccorsi, wishing 
 to get the government of Mantua into his hands, had got rid, by playing 
 them off one against the other, of all the other leading houses except 
 the Casalodi, a Brescian family, lie then took himself the popular 
 side, and after persuading Alberto da Casalodi, under pretext oi pacify- 
 ing the people, to consent to the temporary banishment of any of the
 
 xx HELL 243 
 
 received fraud from Pinamonte. Therefore I do thee to 
 wit that if thou ever hear that my land had origin otherwise, 
 no lie may cheat the truth.' And I : ' Master, thy reason- 
 ings are to me so certain, and hold so my belief, that the 
 others will be to me extinct coals. But tell me of the folk 
 that goes onward, if thou seest of them any worthy of note, 
 for only on that does my mind strike.' Then he said to 
 me : ' He who from his cheek spreads his beard over his 
 brown shoulders was, when Greece was so void of males 
 that hardly were any left for the cradles, an augur ; and 
 gave with Calchas the moment for cutting the first cable in 
 
 Da Pinamonte inganno ricevesse. 
 Perb t' assenno, che se tu mai odi 
 
 Originar la mia terra altrimenti, 
 
 La verita nulla menzogna frodi. 
 Ed io : Maestro, i tuoi ragionamenti 100 
 
 Mi son si certi, e prendon si mia fede, 
 
 Che gli altri mi sarian carboni spend. 
 Ma dimmi della gente che precede, 
 
 Se tu ne vedi alcun degno di nota ; 
 
 Che solo a cio la mia mente rifiede. 
 Allor mi disse : Quel, che dalla gota 
 
 Porge la barba in sulle spalle brune, 
 
 Fu, quando Grecia fu di maschi vota 
 Si che appena rimaser per le cune, 
 
 Augure, e diede il punto con Calcanta no 
 
 In Aulide a tagliar la prima fune. 
 
 remaining nobles who showed any energy, finally raised the people 
 against those who were left, including the Casalodi, and got rid of them, 
 banishing some and slaughtering others. 
 
 !l< It is curious, as the commentators point out, that Dante should 
 make Virgil contradict with so much energy his own account of the 
 origin of Mantua.
 
 244 HELL CANTO 
 
 Aulis. Eurypylus had he name, and thus does my lofty 
 Tragedy chant it in a certain place ; well knowest thou it, 
 for thou knowest that throughout. That other who is so 
 scant in the flanks was Michael Scot, who of a truth knew 
 the game of the magic frauds. Behold Guido Bonatti, 
 
 Euripilo ebbe nome, e cosi il canta 
 L' alta mia Tragedia in alcun loco : 
 Ben lo sai tu, che la sai tutta quanta. 
 
 Quell' altro che nei fianchi e cosi poco, 
 Michele Scotto fu, che veramente 
 Delle magiche frode seppe il gioco. 
 
 Vedi Guido Bonatti, vedi Asdente, 
 
 113 Aen. ii. 114. 
 
 116 Michael Scot of Balwearie is known to every reader of ' The 
 Lay of the Last Minstrel.' As a matter of fact, he lived almost entirely 
 in Italy, at the court of Frederick II. Honorius III. wished to make him 
 Archbishop of Cashel ; and Gregory IX. favoured him ; but some of his 
 more learned contemporaries seem to have thought him an impostor. 
 He translated from Averroes and Avicenna, and commented on Aris- 
 totle. The prophecies ascribed to him enjoyed a great reputation for a 
 long time ; Villani in his later books quotes several. (See Oliphant, 
 Frederick II. vol. i. 449.) He is mentioned, Dittamondo ii. 27, as 
 ' che per sua arte Sapeva Simon mago contraffare ' ; probably with 
 allusion to the legend current about both of them, that they could dis- 
 pose as they pleased of their shadows. Other stories are told of him 
 which seem in later times to have been transferred to Dr. Faustus. 
 
 lls Guido Bonatti of Forli, a roofer by trade, seems to have acted 
 as domestic prophet to Guido da Montefeltro (Vill. vii. Si). Ben- 
 venuto tells with reference to him the pleasant story of the rustic, who 
 by noticing the movements of his donkey was able to foretell the weather 
 with more accuracy than the regular prophet. 
 
 Asdente, a shoemaker of Parma, was a famous character about the 
 middle of the I3th century. Fra Salimbene takes him very seriously, 
 and believes in his prophetic gifts. In Conv. iv. 16 he is mentioned, 
 but only as a type of the man of low birth who had made himself 
 notorious.
 
 xx HELL 245 
 
 behold Asdente, who now would wish to have given heed 
 to his leather and to his thread, but repents too late. 
 Behold the sorry ones who left the needle, the shuttle, and 
 the distaff, and became diviners ; they wrought charms with 
 herbs and with an image. 
 
 ' But come away now, for already Cain and his thorns 
 hold the boundary of both the hemispheres, and touch the 
 waves beyond Seville. And even yesternight was the moon 
 full ; well oughtest thou to remember it, for it did thee no 
 harm on a time amid the deep wood.' So he talked to me, 
 and we were going the while. 
 
 Che avere inteso al cuoio ed allo spago 
 
 Ora vorebbe, ma tardi si pente. 120 
 
 Vedi le triste che lasciaron 1' ago, 
 
 La spuola e il fuso, e fecersi indivine ; 
 
 Fecer malie con erbe e con imago. 
 Ma vienne omai, che gia tiene il confine 
 
 D' amendue gli emisperi, e tocca 1'onda 
 
 Sotto Sibilia, Caino e le spine. 
 E gia iernotte fu la luna tonda : e 
 
 Ben ten dee ricordar, che non ti nocque 
 
 Alcuna volta per la selva fonda. 
 Si mi parlava, ed andavamo introcque. 130 
 
 e Epur?, IV. 
 
 124 sqq- j -C- if j s a little after sunrise, or about 6 A.M. on Easter Eve. 
 iernotte means, of course, the night before the one which has just 
 ended, i.e. the night which preceded Dante's meeting with Virgil. 
 
 126 Caino : cf. Par. ii. 51. 
 
 180 introcque : a Florentine word, which Benv. says was obsolete in 
 his time, cf. Vulg. El. i. 13.
 
 CANTO XXI 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 In the fourth pit they find pitch seething, wherein are plunged those 
 who have traded in public offices. They fall in with a troop of 
 demons ; and they learn that the next bridge is broken down. 
 The captain of the troop assigns ten to them as an escort. 
 
 THUS from bridge to bridge, talking of else than my Comedy 
 cares to chant, did we come ; and we were holding the sum- 
 mit when we stayed to see the next fissure of Malebolge, 
 and the next idle lamentations ; and I beheld it wondrously 
 dark. As in the Arsenal of the Venetians boils in winter the 
 sticky pitch, to pay afresh their unsound craft, for they cannot 
 sail ; and in place of that one makes his new craft, and one 
 
 Cosi, di ponte in ponte, altro parlando 
 Che la mia commedia cantar non cura, 
 Venimmo, e tenevamo il colmo, quando 
 
 Ristemmo per veder 1' altra fessura 
 Di Malebolge, e gli altri pianti vani ; 
 E vidila mirabilmente oscura. 
 
 Quale nell' Arzana dei Viniziani 
 Bolle 1' inverno la tenace pece 
 A rimpalmar li legni lor non sani, 
 
 Che navicar non ponno, e in quella vece 10 
 
 Chi fa suo legno nuovo, e chi ristoppa 
 
 111 in quella vece : instead of sailing. So Purg. xvi. 36.
 
 CANTO xxi HELL 247 
 
 recaulks the sides of that which has made many voyages ; 
 one hammers forward and one aft ; another makes oars and 
 another twists cordage; one patches mizzen and mainsail. 
 So, not by fire, but by divine craft, was boiling there below 
 a thick pitch, which slimed the bank on every side. I saw 
 it, but I saw nought in it save the bubbles which the boiling 
 
 Le coste a quel che piu viaggi fece ; 
 Chi ribatte da proda e chi da poppa ; 
 
 Altri fa remi, ed altri volge sarte ; 
 
 Chi terzeruolo ed artimon rintoppa : 
 Tal, non per foco, ma per divina arte 
 
 Bollia laggiuso una pegola spessa 
 
 Che inviscava la ripa da ogni parte. 
 lo vedea lei, ma non vedeva in essa 
 
 Ma che le bolle che il bollor levava, 20 
 
 13 One is much tempted to read ribade, 'rivets,' as in xxv. 8 ; but 
 there seems no trace of it in MSS. 
 
 17 Benvenuto thinks that the boiling pitch is specially appropriate 
 to the punishment of bar at aria or jobbery, as we should now call it. 
 He quotes Solomon on the effect of touching pitch, and adds, ' So 
 contagious is this jobbery that if a saint entered public office about the 
 court, he would fall into it, as I have in fact seen in many cases.' The 
 whole description of the operation of the arsenal he thinks to be typical, 
 down to the smallest detail, of the baratarius and his procedure ! (It may 
 be as well to mention here that the word ' barratry ' has a special legal 
 sense in English, quite different from what is intended here, and there- 
 fore I have avoided its use. The sin here punished is to secular offices 
 exactly what simony is to sacred, and has the same kind of ramifications. 
 Thus Villani (vii. 148) speaks of the baratteria of some officers, who 
 received pay for a certain force, and maintained a smaller ; no doubt 
 pocketing the difference. It is somewhat curious that Aquinas nowhere 
 deals with it specifically. He assumes in one place, as a matter of course, 
 that a judge must not take money for giving judgement or a witness for 
 his evidence ; but he never mentions this sin under any special name, 
 nor gives any regular discussion to it.)
 
 248 HELL CANTO 
 
 raised, and the whole swelling, and settling again, pressed 
 together. 
 
 While I was gazing down fixedly, my Leader saying : 
 ' Look, look,' drew me to him from the place where I was 
 standing. Then I turned like the man who is in a hurry to 
 see that which it behoves him to flee, and whom sudden 
 fear makes void of mirth, so that he delays not his departure 
 for seeing ; and I beheld behind us a black devil running 
 to come up on to the rock. Ah, how fierce was he in his 
 aspect ! and how cruel he seemed to me in his demeanour, 
 with his wings spread and light upon his feet ! His shoulder, 
 which was sharp and high, a sinner freighted with both 
 
 E gonfiar tutta, e riseder compressa. 
 Mentr' io laggiu fisamente mirava, 
 
 Lo Duca mio, dicendo : Guarda, guarda, 
 
 Mi trasse a se del loco dov' io stava. 
 Allor mi volsi come 1' uom cui tarda 
 
 Di veder quel che gli convien fuggire, 
 
 E cui paura subita sgagliarda, 
 Che, per veder, non indugia il partirc : 
 
 E vidi dietro a noi un diavol nero 
 
 Correndo su per Io scoglio venire. 30 
 
 Ahi quanto egli era nell' aspetto fiero ! 
 
 E quanto mi parea nell' atto acerbo, 
 
 Con 1' ale aperte, e sopra il pie leggiero ! 
 L' omero suo, ch' era acuto e superbo, 
 
 Carcava un peccator con am bo 1' anche, 
 
 25 cui tarda : as in xiii. 119. To read chi tarda as some, including 
 apparently Benvenuto, do, exactly reverses the meaning. 
 
 34 superbo appears to = supoinis in its primary meaning, almost 
 lost in classical Latin. Lombardi compares Plautus Ainph. i. I. 201 ; 
 we may perhaps add Virg. Geor. ii. 461.
 
 xxi HELL 249 
 
 haunches, and he was holding the sinew of the feet gripped. 
 From our bridge he said : ' O Malebranche, here is one of 
 the Elders of Santa Zita ; put him under, since I am return- 
 ing for more to that land which is well furnished with them ; 
 every man there is a barrator, except Bonturo ; No becomes 
 
 E quei tenea dei pie ghermito il nerbo. 
 Del nostro ponte, disse, o Malebranche, 
 
 Ecco un degli anzian di santa Zita : 
 
 Mettetel sotto, ch' io torno per anche 
 A quella terra che n' e ben fornita : a 40 
 
 Ognun v' e barattier, fuor che Bonturo : 
 
 a chio ben Cass. 3 ; cK ;?' ho W. 
 
 38 I.e. of Lucca. Santa Zita is said to have been a woman of 
 humble origin, who for her good deeds and religious life was canonised 
 by Nicolas III. Her body is still shown on her festival, in the Church 
 of San Frediano at Lucca. The Anziani of that city held the same 
 kind of position as the Priors at Florence. This particular one is said 
 by Buti and other early commentators to have been one Martin Bottaio, 
 who was in office in 1300, and died during his term. 
 
 39 anche : used somewhat like the Fr. davantage. See Dieziii. 137. 
 
 40 The v. 1. ch' io ii ho is very possibly an original variant ; at least 
 it is hard to see why either reading should have been substituted by a 
 copyist for the other. 
 
 41 Bonturo Dati seems to have been, as Benvenuto says, the ' arch- 
 barrator ' of Lucca, and to have carried on his operations on so large a 
 scale that nearly all the officials of the commune owed their appoint- 
 ments to him. Once when he was on a mission to Boniface, the Pope 
 in playful anger at some piece of unscrupulousness, shook him by the 
 arm ; whereon Bonturo remarked, ' Holy Father, do you know that you 
 have shaken half Lucca ? ' The irony of the words which Dante puts 
 into the demon's mouth maybe compared with xxix. 125. It is curious 
 that the Lucchese commentators, Vellutello and Danielle, pass over 
 these attacks on their city in silence ; though the former is usually ready 
 enough to protest. See also Purg. xxiv. 44.
 
 250 HELL CANTO 
 
 Yes there for the paying.' Down he shot him, and turned 
 round over the hard rock ; and never was mastiff unloosed 
 with such speed to follow the thief. That one dipped in, 
 and came up again turned round ; but the demons who had 
 cover of the bridge cried : ' Here the holy Face has no 
 place ; here it is other sort of swimming than in the 
 Serchio, therefore if thou dost not want any of our hooks, 
 do not make any uprising above the pitch.' Then they 
 nicked him with more than a hundred prongs ; they said : 
 
 Del no, per li denar, vi si fa itn. 
 
 Laggiii il butto, e per lo scoglio duro 
 Si volse, e mai non fu mastino sciolto 
 Con tanta fretta a seguitar lo furo. 
 
 Quei s' attuffb, e torno su convolto ; b 
 
 Ma i demon, che del ponte avean coperchio, 
 Gridar : Qui non ha loco il santo volto ; 
 
 Qui si nuota altrimenti che nel Serchio ; 
 
 Perb, se tu non vuoi dei nostri graffi, 50 
 
 Non far sopra la pegola soperchio. 
 
 Poi 1' addentar con piu di cento raffi ; 
 
 b col volto Gg. Cass. fienv, 
 
 40 convolto: as a man coming up after a 'header.' Others take it 
 as ' twisted together,' or ' writhing.' Lombardi thinks it means ' bowed,' 
 head and feet down ; but if his head was under the demons would hardly 
 think it worth while to mock him. Diet. Cruse, takes it as ' rolled in 
 the pitch,' ' befouled.' The word no doubt can bear this meaning, but 
 it is rather feeble here. The reading col rolto, which the majority of 
 MSS. have, though it gives the sense well enough, is barred by the 
 inadmissibility of Tolto twice in rhyme with the same meaning. 
 
 48 The Holy Face of Lucca is a crucifix of great antiquity and 
 especial sanctity, carved, as its legend relates, by Nicodemus. It was 
 usual for people of Lucca to invoke it when in trouble ; and its renown 
 is proved by the fact that our king William II. was wont to swear by it. 
 
 4!l Serchio : the river which flows by Lucca.
 
 xxi HELL 251 
 
 ' Here it behoves that thou dance under cover, so that, if 
 thou canst, thou mayest do thy grabbing secretly.' Not 
 otherwise do the cooks make their underlings dip the meat 
 into the middle of the caldron with their hooks, so that it 
 may not float. 
 
 The good Master said to me : ' To the end that it appear 
 not that thou art here, squat thee down behind a splinter, 
 that thou mayest have some screen to thee ; and fear thou 
 not for any rebuff that may be wrought to me, since I have 
 knowledge of the matter, seeing that aforetime I have been 
 at such traffic.' Then he passed beyond the head of the 
 
 Disser : Coperto convien che qui balli, 
 Si che, se puoi, nascosamente accaffi. 
 
 Non altrimenti i cuochi ai lor vassalli 
 Fanno attuffare in mezzo la caldaia 
 La carne cogli uncin, perche non galli. 
 
 Lo buon Maestro : Acciocche non si paia 
 Che tu ci sii, mi disse, giii t' acquatta 
 Dopo uno scheggio, che alcun schermo t' haia ; 60 
 
 E per nulla offension che mi sia fatta, 
 Non temer tu, ch' io ho le cose conte, 
 Perche altra volta fui a tal baratta. 
 
 Poscia passb di la dal co del ponte, 
 
 ej conte : see note x. 39. Here the sense of cognitus seems to pre- 
 dominate ; but there is an idea of ' order ' involved. ' I know the 
 proper course to take in the circumstances,' Virgil would say. 
 
 63 baratta : he uses the word in its ordinary meaning (cf. Bratti 
 Ferravecchi in ' Romola '), but of course with a special allusion. The 
 occasion referred to is no doubt that mentioned in ix. 26, 27. Ben- 
 venuto, who for some reason, possibly as having suffered at the hands 
 of corrupt officials, which indeed he tells us he did, is exceedingly alert 
 throughout all this part, thinks that there must be a further allusion to 
 the trouble which Virgil doubtless had with court-officials, when seeking 
 to get back his confiscated lands from Augustus.
 
 252 HELL CANTO 
 
 bridge, and when he came upon the sixth bank, need was 
 for him to have a fearless front. With that madness and 
 that storm wherewith dogs come out upon the poor man, 
 who suddenly begs where he stops, issued those beneath the 
 little bridge, and turned towards him all their bills ; but he 
 cried : ' Let none of you be savage. Before your hook takes 
 hold of me, let one of you draw forward to hear me, and 
 then counsel may be taken about clawing me.' All cried 
 out : ' Let Malacoda come ' ; wherefore one moved, while the 
 rest stood still, and came to him, saying ' What brings 
 them ? ' ' Deemest thou, Malacoda, that thou seest me 
 
 E com' ei giunse in su la ripa sesta, 
 
 Mestier gli fu d' aver sicura fronte. 
 Con quel furor e con quella tempesta 
 
 Ch' escono i cani addosso al poverello, 
 
 Che di subito chiede ove s' arresta ; 
 Usciron quei di sotto al ponticcllo, 70 
 
 E volser contra lui tutti i roncigli ; 
 
 Ma ei gridb : Nessun di voi sia fello. 
 Innanzi che 1' uncin vostro mi pigli, 
 
 Traggasi avanti alcun di voi che m' oda, 
 
 E poi d' arroncigliarmi si consigli. 
 Tutti gridaron : Vada Malacoda ; 
 
 Perche un si mosse, e gli altri stetter fermi ; 
 
 E venne a lui dicendo : Che gli approda ? 
 Credi tu, Malacoda, qui vedermi 
 
 78 approda transitive, as an-ivb in xvii. 8. Benv. and others, taking 
 it as from prodcsse, interpret, 'What good will parleying do them?' 
 But Malacoda knows that he will have to give way, though he does 
 what "he can to hinder them. On the other hand, the muttered grumble 
 ' What brings them here ? ' is very dramatic.
 
 xxi HELL 253 
 
 come hither,' said my Master, ' safe already from all your 
 obstacles, without will divine and propitious fate ? Let me 
 go, for in heaven it is willed that I show to another this 
 wild road.' Then was his pride so brought down that he let 
 his hook drop at his feet, and said to the rest : ' Now let 
 him not be struck.' And my Leader to me : ' O thou who 
 art sitting all squatted down among the splinters of the bridge, 
 return now securely to me.' Wherefore I moved, and came 
 quickly to him ; and the devils all put themselves in front, so 
 that I feared they would not keep compact. And thus saw 
 
 Esser venuto, disse il mio Maestro, 80 
 
 Sicuro gia da tutti vostri schermi, 
 
 Senza voler divino e fato destro ? 
 
 Lasciane andar, che nel cielo e voluto 
 
 Ch' io mostri altrui questo cammin silvestro. 
 
 Allor gli fu 1' orgoglio si caduto, 
 
 Che si lascib cascar 1' uncino ai piedi, 
 E disse agli altri : Omai non sia feruto. 
 
 E il Duca mio a me : O tu, che siedi 
 
 Tra gli scheggion del ponte quatto quatto, 
 Sicuramente omai a me tu riedi. 90 
 
 Perch' io mi mossi, ed a lui venni ratto : 
 E i diavoli si fecer tutti avanti, 
 Si ch' io temetti ch' ei tenesser patto. c 
 
 c temetti che non t. Cass. ; temetti non t. W. 
 
 1)3 The reading non tenesser is clearly wrong. It could only mean 
 ' I feared that they would keep.' See, for example, ii. 35 ; iii. 80. 
 This seems to be the only example of the converse construction in the 
 D.C., and many editors and copyists have been puzzled by it, and have 
 substituted the more familiar non.
 
 254 HELL CANTO 
 
 I on a time the footmen fear, who were coming under compact 
 out of Caprona, when they saw themselves among so many 
 foes. I drew up with my whole frame to my Leader's side, 
 and turned not my eyes from their countenances, which 
 were not good. They began to lower their prongs, and 
 'Wilt thou, that I touch him,' one was saying to the next, 
 ' over the rump ? ' And they answered : ' Yes, see that thou 
 notch it for him.' But that demon who was holding discourse 
 
 E cosi vid' io gia temer li fanti 
 
 Ch' uscivan patteggiati di Caprona, 
 
 Veggendo se tra nimici cotanti. 
 Io m' accostai con tutta la persona 
 
 Lungo il mio Duca, e non torceva gli occhi 
 
 Dalla sembianza lor ch' era non buona. 
 Ei chinavan gli raffi, e, Vuoi che il tocchi, 100 
 
 Diceva 1' un con 1' altro, in sul groppone ? 
 
 E rispondean : Si, fa che gliele accocchi. 
 Ma quel demonio che tenea sermone 
 
 113 In August 1289 the Lucchese, with some help from Florence, 
 invaded the territory of Pisa, and captured various forts, among them 
 that of Caprona (Vill. vii. 137). The usual view is that Dante refers 
 here to the departure of the Pisan garrison. Buti, however, who 
 lectured at Pisa, avers that the place was soon afterwards recaptured by 
 the Pisans under Guy of Montefeltro, and that as the Lucchese troops 
 marched out, cries were raised of ' Hang them ! hang them ! ' It is no 
 doubt probable that an invading force in a hostile country would go 
 more in fear of their lives than the original native garrison would have 
 done ; but, on the other hand, Yillani and other historians make no 
 mention of the recapture, nor is it likely that any Florentine Guelf would 
 have been present unless he had formed part of the occupying force ; 
 which we can hardly suppose that Dante did. 
 
 Ul - I do not feel at all sure that we ought not to read E rispoinicasi, 
 Fa, etc. It is a sort of 'aside' between two of the demons, and the plural 
 is a little awkward. ' The answer would come ' is certainly neater. 
 In MSS. of course there would be little difference.
 
 xxi HELL 255 
 
 with my Leader, turned round quite sharply, and said : 
 ' Quiet, quiet, Scarmiglione.' Then he said to us : ' To go 
 further by this rock will not be possible, seeing that the 
 sixth arch lies all in pieces at the bottom ; and if it still is 
 your pleasure to go forward, go your way over this ridge ; 
 hard by is another rock which makes a way. Yesterday, five 
 hours later than this, completed one thousand two hundred 
 
 Col Duca mio, si volse tutto presto 
 E disse : Posa, posa, Scarmiglione. 
 
 Poi disse a noi : Piu oltre andar per questo 
 Scoglio non si pub, perocche giace 
 Tutto spezzato al fondo 1' arco sesto : 
 
 E se 1' andare avanti pur vi piace, 
 
 Andatevene su per questa grotta; no 
 
 Presso e un altro scoglio che via face. 
 
 ler, piu oltre cinqu' ore che quest' otta, 
 Mille dugento con sessanta sei 
 
 111 This, as will presently appear, is a lie ; and, so far as can be 
 seen, a perfectly useless one. There is a touch about Malacoda of the 
 plausible official who prophesies smooth things. 
 
 112-114 pj e re f ers th e destruction of the bridges to the earthquake 
 which took place at our Lord's death, and fixes the moment of speak- 
 ing to 10 A.M. on the morning of Easter Eve (cf. xii. 37 sqq. ; Conv. 
 iv. 23. In this latter passage I assume ora quasi sesta to mean ' in the 
 period of three hours beginning with the sixth hour.' It is impossible 
 that Dante can have supposed St. Luke's words (xxiii. 44) to mean that 
 the sixth hour was the actual moment of our Lord's death, in the face of 
 the statement of the other Evangelists that it was the ninth hour. And 
 in any case the reference here is to the earthquake]. There has been a 
 good deal of controversy over the lines, and the exact date indicated. 
 We know, however, on many other grounds that Dante intends us to 
 suppose his journey to be taking place at Easter 1300 -that is, at the 
 end of the year 1299 and beginning of 1300, according to the Floren- 
 tine (and pretty general) method of reckoning 25th March as New 
 Year's Day. The date of our Lord's death similarly would be the end 
 of 33 or beginning of 34. There seems no need to go into refinements
 
 256 HELL CANTO 
 
 and sixty-six years since the way here was broken. I am 
 sending in that direction some of my lot here to see if 
 any one is emerging; go with them, for they will not be 
 wicked. Come forward thou Alichino, and Calcabrina,' he 
 began to say, ' and thou Cagnazzo ; and let Barbariccia lead 
 the ten. Let Libicocco come besides, and Draghignazzo, 
 Ciriatto with the tusks, and Graffiacane, and Farfarello, and 
 mad Rubicante. Search around the boiling bird-lime ; let 
 
 Anni compie, che qui la via fu rotta. d 
 lo mando verso la. di questi miei 
 
 A riguardar s' alcun se ne sciorina : 
 
 Gite con lor, ch' ei non saranno rei. 
 Tratti avanti, Alichino e Calcabrina, 
 
 Comincib egli a dire, e tu, Cagnazzo, 
 
 E Barbariccia guidi la decina. 120 
 
 Libicocco vegna oltre, e Draghignazzo, 
 
 Ciriatto sannuto, e Graffiacane, 
 
 E Farfarello, e Rubicante pazzo. 
 Cercate intorno alle boglienti pane ; 
 
 d compicr Cass. Aid. 
 
 as to the exact day of the month, or the date of the real Easter in 1300 
 A.I). Dante clearly neglects facts of the calendar, and adapts every- 
 thing to an imaginary date of his own, lying close to the spring equinox. 
 Just as in Purgatory he makes Venus a morning-star at a time when 
 she was really behind the sun, so here he fixes his own Easter and his 
 own moon. Those who care to see the point fully discussed may read 
 Moore, 'Time References of the D. C.'and Philalethes' note. 
 
 114 If we read compi&, the subject to it must be ieri. The reading 
 compier gives a better sense, whether we make ore the subject (it being 
 the hours, rather than the ' yesterday,' which completed the years) or, 
 better, take it as intransitive with anni. But it lacks authority. 
 
 us sqq. The German renderings of the devils' names given by Phila- 
 lethes are most ingenious.
 
 xxi HELL 257 
 
 these be safe so far as the next splinter which goes all un- 
 broken over the dens.' ' Ah me ! Master, what is that I 
 see ? ' said I ; ' prithee, go we alone without escort, if thou 
 knowest the course, for I crave it not for myself. If thou 
 art as heedful as thou art wont, seest thou not how they are 
 grinding their teeth, and with their brows are threatening 
 woe to us ? ' And he to me : 'I will not that thou be afraid ; 
 let them grind just as they list, for they do that for the sake 
 of the woeful ones who are stewing.' Along the left embank- 
 ment they made a turn ; but first each had pressed his tongue 
 with his teeth towards their leader as a sign ; and he had 
 made a trumpet of his rear. 
 
 Costor sien salvi insino all' altro scheggio 
 Che tutto intero va sopra le tane. 
 
 O me ! Maestro, che e quel che io veggio ? 
 Diss' io : deh ! senza scorta andiamci soli, 
 Se tu sai ir, ch' io per me non la chieggio. 
 
 Se tu sei si accorto come suoli, 130 
 
 Non vedi tu ch' ei digrignan li denti, 
 E colle ciglia ne minaccian duoli ? 
 
 Ed egli a me : Non vo che tu paventi : 
 Lasciali digrignar pure a lor senno, 
 Ch' ei fanno cio per li lessi dolenti. 
 
 Per 1' argine sinistro volta dienno ; 
 
 Ma prima avea ciascun la lingua stretta 
 Coi denti verso lor duca per cenno, 
 
 Ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta. 
 
 137 The same offensive gesture is made by the usurer in xvii. 74.
 
 CANTO XXII 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They set out with the demons, and witness a strange sport. One of 
 the sinners is drawn out, and answers their questions ; after which 
 the demons fall to quarrelling among themselves, and two are 
 themselves trapped in the pitch. 
 
 I HAVE seen ere now horsemen strike camp, and begin a 
 charge, and make their display, and at times depart for their 
 retreat ; I have seen scouts about your land, men of Arezzo, 
 and I have seen raids ridden, tournaments stricken, and 
 jousts run, now with trumpets, now with bells ; with drums 
 
 Io vidi gia cavalier mover campo, 
 
 E cominciare stormo, e far lor mostra, 
 E talvolta partir per loro scampo : 
 
 Corridor vidi per la terra vostra, 
 O Aretini, e vidi gir gualdane, 
 Ferir torneamenti, e correr giostra, 
 
 Quando con trombe, e quando con campane, 
 
 4 ' 5 There is no need to take this as referring particularly to the battle 
 of Certomondo or Campaldino, at which some of his later biographers 
 say that Dante was present. Hostilities between Florence and Arezzo 
 were pretty persistent after the expulsion of the Guelfs from the latter 
 city in June 1287 (Vill. vii. 115, and the rest of the book). 
 
 7 con: 'started to the sound of.' campane: Philalethes cites as 
 an example the ' Martinella ' of Florence, which went on the carroccio 
 of that city. Benvenuto thinks rather of the ringing of the bells in 
 times of civil commotion.
 
 CANTO xxn HELL 259 
 
 and with castle-signals, and with things of our own land and 
 with foreign things ; but never yet with so uncouth a shawm 
 did I see horsemen start, or footmen ; nor ship by the mark 
 of land or of star. 
 
 We were going with the ten demons ah, fierce com- 
 pany ! but in church with the saints and in tavern with the 
 gluttons. Ever on the pitch was my attention, to see every 
 aspect of the pit, and of the folk that was burning there- 
 within. As the dolphins, when they give a sign to the 
 sailors with the arch of their backs, so that they set to work 
 
 Con tamburi e con cenni di castella, 
 E con cose nostrali e con istrane ; 
 
 Ne gia con si diversa cennamella 10 
 
 Cavalier vidi mover, ne pedoni, 
 Ne nave a segno di terra o di Stella. 
 
 Noi andavam con li dieci dimoni : 
 
 Ahi fiera compagnia ! ma nella chiesa 
 Coi santi, ed in taverna coi ghiottoni. 
 
 Pure alia pegola era la mia intesa, 
 
 Per veder della bolgia ogni contegno, 
 E della gente ch' entro v' era incesa. 
 
 Come i delfini, quando fanno segno 
 
 Ai marinar con 1' arco della schiena, 20 
 
 8 cenni di castella : fire-signals, or flags. 
 
 17 contegno: 'the contents,' say some of the older commentators; 
 and this also gives a good sense, if we take it in the second clause in 
 the sense of ' individual members.' But it seems better to understand 
 it as in xvii. 60. Eng. ' countenance ' has the same force. 
 
 lii-.'i -phe Italian version of the ' Tresor ' says of the dolphins : Cog- 
 noscono lo mal tempo, quando dee essere, e vanno contro alia fortuna 
 che dee essere. (This last statement, which is not in the original 
 French, is the opposite of Pliny's view. lie says, Nat. Hist, xviii. 87 : 
 praesagiunt . . . delphini . . . flatum, ex qua veniunt parte. ) Et quando 
 li marinari veggiono cio, si si antiveggiono de la fortuna.
 
 260 HELL CANTO 
 
 to save their vessel, thus at times, to alleviate the pain, some 
 one of the sinners would show his back, and hide it in less 
 time than it lightens. And as at the edge of the water of a 
 ditch the frogs stand with just the snout outside, so that 
 they conceal their feet and the rest of their bulk, so were the 
 sinners standing on every hand ; but as Barbariccia came 
 near, so they would draw back beneath the boiling. I saw, 
 and my heart still shudders at it, one wait in such wise as it 
 happens when one frog remains and the other springs. And 
 Graffiacane, who was most over against him, hooked his 
 pitch-smeared locks, and drew him up, that he seemed to 
 
 Che s' argomentin di campar lor legno ; 
 
 Talor cosi ad alleggiar la pena 
 
 Mostrava alcun dei peccatori il dosso, 
 E nascondeva in men che non balena. 
 
 E come all' orlo dell' acqua d' un fosso 
 Stanno i ranocchi pur col muso fuori, 
 Si che celano i piedi e 1' altro grosso ; 
 
 Si stavan d' ogni parte i peccatori : 
 Ma come s' appressava Barbariccia, 
 Cosi si ritraean sotto i bollori. 30 
 
 lo vidi, ed anco il cor me n' accapriccia, 
 Uno aspettar cosi, com' egli incontra 
 Che una rana rimane, ed altra spiccia. 
 
 E Graffiacan, che gli era piu d' incontra, 
 Gli arronciglio le impegolate chiome, 
 E trassel su, che mi parve una lontra. 
 
 - 4 che non balena : a good instance of the negative in the second 
 clause of a comparative sentence, which all the Romance languages 
 atTect. Diez iii. 395. 
 
 3a egli, with impersonal verb. Diez iii. 279. Cf. Par. xiii. 118.
 
 xxn HELL 261 
 
 me an otter. I knew by this time the names of all, so did 
 I mark them, when they were chosen, and after, when they 
 called each other, I listened how. ' O Rubicante, do thou put 
 thy claws on to the back of him, so as to flay him,' began all 
 the accursed to cry at once. And I : ' My Master, study if 
 thou canst to know who is that ill-starred one come into the 
 hand of his adversaries.' My Leader then came close 
 beside him, asked him whence he was ; and he replied : ' I was 
 of the kingdom of Navarre by birth. My mother put me to 
 serve a lord ; for she had borne me of a scamp, a spend- 
 thrift of himself and of his chattels. Afterwards I was a 
 domestic of the good king Tybalt ; there I set myself to 
 
 lo sapea gia di tutti e quanti il nome, 
 
 Si li notai, quando furono eletti, 
 
 E poi che si chiamaro, attesi come. 
 O Rubicante, fa che tu gli metti 4 o 
 
 Gli unghioni addosso si che tu lo scuoi, 
 
 Gridavan tutti insieme i maledetti. 
 Ed io : Maestro mio, fa, se tu puoi, 
 
 Che tu sappi chi e lo sciagurato 
 
 Venuto a man degli avversari suoi. 
 Lo Duca mio gli s' accostb allato, 
 
 Domandollo ond' ei fosse, e quei rispose : 
 
 Io fui del regno di Navarra nato. 
 Mia madre a servo d' un signer mi pose, 
 
 Che m' avea generato d' un ribaldo 50 
 
 Distruggitor di se e di sue cose. 
 Poi fui famiglia del buon re Tebaldo ; a 
 
 a famiglio 3 W. 
 
 4S The commentators call this person ' Ciampolo ' (not a very 
 Spanish-looking name), but add nothing else to what Dante tells us. 
 '- The reading famiglia has the less authority ; but it is far more
 
 262 HELL CANTO 
 
 work jobbery, whereof I give account in this heat.' And 
 Ciriatto, from whose mouth issued on either side a tusk as 
 of a pig, let him feel how one of them ripped. Among 
 ill cats was the mouse come ; but Barbariccia enclosed him 
 in his arms, and said : ' Keep away, while I bestride him.' 
 And he turned his face to my Master ; ' Ask him,' said he, 
 ' further, if thou desirest to know more of him, before 
 
 Quivi mi misi a far baratteria, 
 
 l)i che io rendo ragione in questo caldo. 
 
 E Ciriatto, a cui di bocca uscia 
 
 D' ogni parte una sanna come a porco, 
 Gli fe sentir come 1' una sdrucia. 
 
 Tra male gatte era venuto il sorco ; 
 
 Ma Barbariccia il chiuse con le braccia, 
 
 E disse : State in la, mentr' io lo inforco. 60 
 
 Ed al Maestro mio volse la faccia : 
 Domanda, disse, ancor se piu desii 
 Saper da lui, prima ch' altri il disfaccia. 
 
 likely to have been altered lofamiglio than vice versa. The feminine 
 form need give no trouble. We may compare such words as scoria, 
 gitiifa, or >-i/a, Purg. vii. 118, or giianlia, ib. xxxii. 95. Tebaldo : no 
 doubt the second of that name, who went on crusade with Saint Lewis 
 in 1270. 
 
 54 rendo ragione : doubtless intended to recall the words of the 
 parable of the Unjust Steward, ' redde rationem villicationis tuae.' 
 
 60 mentr' io lo inforco. This might mean ' till / fork him ' ; the 
 leader claiming the right of priority. Hut it seems best to take inforco 
 in the sense in which it is used elsewhere by Dante, e.g. 1'urg. vi. 99. 
 (Here the ' bestriding ' is done with the arms.) Also it is a little doubt- 
 ful whether incut re ever means simply 'until,' when the action awaited 
 is momentary. 
 
 ll:! It is tempting to take disfaccia in the sense of ' deface,' 'spoil 
 his looks'; but the subjunctive is necessary after prima chc (Diez iii. 
 320), so the word must be from Jitj'arc, 'unmake,' 'pull to pieces.'
 
 xxn HELL 263 
 
 another spoil him.' My Leader: 'Then tell now of the 
 other criminals ; knowest thou any that is a Latin beneath 
 the pitch ? ' And he : 'I parted not long ago from one, 
 who was on the other side a neighbour ; so would I were 
 still with him covered up, for I should not fear claw nor 
 flesh-hook.' And Libicocco : 'Too much have we endured,' 
 said he ; and seized his arm with his hook, so that, tearing, 
 he carried away a muscle of it. Draghignazzo too wished 
 to give him a grip down in the legs ; wherefore their decurion 
 turned him round about with evil mien. When they were a 
 little pacified again, of him who was still gazing at his wound 
 my Leader asked without delay : ' Who was that from whom 
 
 Lo Duca : Dunque or di' degli altri rii : 
 Conosci tu alcun che sia Latino 
 Sotto la pece ? E quegli : lo mi partii 
 
 Poco e da un, che fu di la vicino ; 
 Cos! foss' io ancor con lui coperto, 
 Che io non temerei unghia, ne uncino. 
 
 E Libicocco : Troppo avem sofferto, 70 
 
 Disse, e presegli il braccio col ronciglio, 
 Si che, stracciando, ne porto un lacerto. 
 
 Draghignazzo anco i voile dar di piglio 
 Giuso alle gambe ; onde il decurio loro 
 Si volse intorno intorno con mal piglio. 
 
 Quand' elli un poco rappaciati foro, 
 A lui che ancor mirava sua ferita, 
 Domando il Duca mio senza dimoro : 
 
 65 Latino : the name which would suit both Virgil and Dante. 
 
 67 di la : on earth ; the person referred to having, as will appear, 
 lived in Sardinia, and so been a neighbour of the ' Latins.' ' Sardos 
 . . . qui non Latini sunt, sed Latinis associandi videntur.' Vulg. 
 El. i. ii.
 
 264 HELL CANTO 
 
 thou sayest that thou madest an ill parting to come to shore?' 
 And he answered : ' It was friar Gomita, he of Gallura, a 
 vessel of every fraud ; who had the enemies of his lord in 
 hand, and dealt so with them, that each one has a good 
 word for it ; money he took, and left them on smooth 
 ground, as he says ; and in the other offices too he was no 
 small trafficker, but supreme. With him consorts Lord 
 
 Chi fu colui, da cui mala partita 
 
 Di' che facesti per venire a proda ? 80 
 
 Ed ei rispose : Fu frate Gomita, 
 
 Quel di Gallura, vasel d' ogni froda, 
 
 Ch' ebbe i nimici di suo donno in mano, 
 E fe si lor, che ciascun se ne loda : 
 
 Denar si tolse, e lasciolli di piano, 
 
 Si come dice : e negli altri offizi anche 
 Barattier fu non picciol, ma soprano. 
 
 Usa con esso donno Michel Zanche 
 
 s - Gallura was one of the four districts into which Sardinia was 
 divided by the Pisans. The governors of them were called judges, 
 and for the most part were great Pisan nobles, who lived at home, 
 taking part in the turbulent political life of the mother-city, and leaving 
 their provinces to be managed by deputies. This Friar Gomita is said 
 to have been lieutenant to Nino de' Visconti (Purg. viii. 53) ; and 
 ultimately to have been hanged by him for malversation. Of the transac- 
 tion here alluded to nothing further seems to be known. 
 
 83 The word donno comes naturally from the lips of the half-Spanish 
 Navarrese. It may, as the commentators say, be also a Sardinian 
 word, but that would hardly be a reason for its use. Similarly di piano, 
 in 1. 85, may be regarded as a native idiom of his own put into the 
 mouth of the other. 
 
 84 se ne loda : so ii. 74. 
 
 58 The commentators are confused about Michael Zanche. lie was 
 steward of Logodoro (another Sardinian judgeship) under King Enzio, 
 son of Frederick II. ; who came into possession of Sardinia by his 
 marriage with Adelasia, widow of Ubaldo Visconti, Judge of Gallura.
 
 xxn HELL 265 
 
 Michael Zanche of Logodoro ; and to tell of Sardinia their 
 tongues do not feel weary. O me ! see the other who is 
 grinding his teeth ; I would say more, but I fear that he is 
 making ready to scratch my scurf for me.' And the great 
 provost, turning to Farfarello, who was rolling his eyes for a 
 blow, said: 'Keep on this side, bird of mischief!' ' If ye 
 wish to see or hear,' began again the frightened man there- 
 after, 'Tuscans or Lombards, I will make some of them 
 
 Di Logodoro : ed a dir di Sardigna 
 
 Le lingue lor non si sentono stanche. 90 
 
 O me ! vedete 1' altro che digrigna : 
 lo direi anco ; ma io temo ch' ello 
 Non s' apparecchi a grattarmi la tigna. 
 
 E il gran proposto, volto a Farfarello 
 Che stralunava gli occhi per ferire, 
 Disse : Fatti in costa, malvagio uccello. 
 
 Se voi volete vedere o udire, 
 
 Ricomincio lo spaurato appresso, 
 Toschi o Lombardi, io ne faro venire. 
 
 After the death of Enzio, Michael is said to have married her. J. della 
 Lana and Benv., however, followed by Land, and Veil., say that it was 
 Enzio's mother whom he married (but they at least do not, like the 
 commentators referred to, though not named, by Scartazzini, confuse 
 her with Bianca Lancia, the mother of Manfred). This is a very- 
 unlikely story, as Enzio's mother was probably a German, and in any 
 case had nothing to do with Sardinia. If he married Adelasia, it could 
 not have been by her that he had, as P. di Dante asserts, the daughter 
 who married Branca d' Oria ; for Enzio only died, aged over fifty, in 
 1271, and his own murder by Branca d' Oria (xxxiii. 137), who is said 
 to have been his son-in-law, took place in 1275. 
 
 1):! grattarmi la tigna : the low and vulgar expression is in keeping 
 with the behaviour of this class of sinners, and the fiends who look after 
 them.
 
 266 HELL CANTO 
 
 come. But let the Evilclaws stand a little aloof, so that 
 they may not fear their vengeance, and I sitting in this very 
 place, for one that I am will make seven of them come when 
 I whistle, as our way is to do when any one gets outside.' 
 Cagnazzo at such speech raised his snout, wagging his head, 
 and said : ' Hear a trick that he has devised to throw him- 
 self down.' Wherefore he, who had artifices in great plenty, 
 answered : ' Too tricky am I, when I am earning greater 
 sorrow for my friends.' Alichino did not contain himself, 
 and in the teeth of the others said to him : ' If thou drop, I 
 shall not come after thee at a gallop, but I shall flap my 
 wings over the pitch ; let us leave the top and let the bank 
 
 Ma stien le male branche un poco in cesso, 100 
 Si ch' ei non teman delle lor vendette ; b 
 Ed io, sedendo in questo loco stesso, 
 
 Per un ch' io son, ne faro venir sette, 
 Quand' io sufolero, com' e nostr' uso 
 Di fare allor che fuori alcun si mette. 
 
 Cagnazzo a cotal motto levo il muso, 
 Crollando il capo, e disse : Odi malizia 
 Ch' egli ha pensata per gittarsi giuso. 
 
 Ond' ei ch' avea lacciuoli a gran divizia, 
 
 Rispose : Malizioso son io troppo, no 
 
 Quand' io procuro ai miei maggior tristizia. 
 
 Alichin non si tenne, e di rintoppo 
 Agli altri, disse a lui : Se tu ti cali, 
 Io non ti verro dietro di galoppo, 
 
 Ma battero sopra la pece 1' ali : 
 
 Lascisi il colle, e sia la ripa scudo 
 
 b che lion tenii Cass. ; io non tana 23. 
 c a me Cass. ; a mi a 3 A1J.
 
 xxii HELL 267 
 
 be a screen, to see if thou alone availest more than we.' O 
 thou that readest, thou shalt hear a new sport. Each one 
 turned his eyes toward the other side ; he first who had 
 been most unready to do that. The Navarrese chose his 
 time well; he steadied his feet on the ground, and in a 
 moment leaped, and freed himself from their design. 
 Whereof each one was on the instant grieved, but he most 
 who had been cause of the blunder ; therefore he started up 
 and cried : ' Thou art caught ! ' But little it availed him, for 
 his wings could not overtake terror ; that one went under, and 
 he as he flew turned his breast upward. Not otherwise the 
 
 A veder se tu sol piu di noi vali. 
 O tu che leggi, udirai nuovo ludo ; 
 
 Ciascun dalP altra costa gli occhi volse ; 
 
 Quei prima, ch' a cio fare era piu crudo. 120 
 Lo Navarrese ben suo tempo colse, 
 
 Fermb le piante a terra, ed in un punto 
 
 Salto, e dal proposto lor si sciolse. 
 Di che ciascun di colpa fu compunto, 
 
 Ma quei piu, che cagion fu del difetto ; 
 
 Pero si mosse, e gridb : Tu sei giunto. 
 Ma poco i valse : che 1' ali al sospetto 
 
 Non potero avanzar : quegli ando sotto, 
 
 E quei drizzb, volando, suso il petto : 
 Non altrimenti 1' anitra di botto, 130 
 
 -" No doubt Cagnazzo. crudo, as in Par. ix. 48. 
 
 123 proposto. Blanc, in his Erklarungen (but not in his Diet.), 
 follows Benv. in taking this as in 1. 94. But Barbariccia, who had been 
 holding the sinner, would of course have retired with the rest ; not to 
 mention the improbability of his allowing anything that he had gripped 
 to escape him. 
 
 125 Alichino, whose counsel (11. 116, 117) had persuaded the others.
 
 268 HELL CANTO 
 
 duck of a sudden when the falcon comes near dips down ; 
 and he returns up cross and routed. Calcabrina, angered by 
 the jape, held after him in flight, longing that that one might 
 get off, so as to have his quarrel. And when the trafficker 
 was out of sight, right so he turned his claws on his mate, 
 and was at grips with him over the foss. But the other was 
 a well-grown sparrow-hawk indeed to claw him well, and 
 both fell into the midst of- the boiling swamp. The heat 
 was quickly an ungrappler ; but for all that there was no 
 way to get up, so had they limed their wings. Barbariccia, 
 with his other fellows in distress, made four fly off on the 
 
 Quando il falcon s' appressa, giii s' attuffa, 
 Ed ei ritorna su crucciato e rotto. 
 
 Irato Calcabrina della buffa, 
 
 Volando dietro gli tenne, invaghito 
 Che quei campasse, per aver la zuffa. 
 
 E come il barattier fu disparito, 
 
 Cosi volse gli artigli al suo compagno, 
 E fu con lui sopra il fosso ghermito. 
 
 Ma 1' altro fu bene sparvier grifagno 
 
 Ad artigliar ben lui, ed ambo e due 140 
 
 Cadder nel mezzo del bogliente stagno. 
 
 O o 
 
 Lo caldo sghermitor subito fue : <l 
 
 Ma pero di levarsi era niente, 
 
 Si aveano inviscate 1' ali sue. 
 Barbariccia, con gli altri suoi dolente, 
 
 Quattro ne fe volar dall' altra costa 
 
 d schermitor (or -dor} Gg. Cass. 1234 A hi. 
 
 132 crucciato is not derived from crux ; but our word renders it 
 well. 
 
 139 J3 C nv. says that the sparrow-hawk is called 'grifagno' in his 
 third year.
 
 xxn HELL 269 
 
 other side, with hooks and all, and smartly enough they 
 descended on either hand to their post ; they stretched 
 their hooks out toward those in the bird-lime, who were 
 already baked within the crust ; and we left them thus 
 entangled. 
 
 Con tutti i raffi, ed assai prestamente 
 
 Di qua, di la discesero alia posta : 
 Porser gli uncini verso gl' impaniati, 
 Ch' eran gia cotti dentro dalla crosta : 150 
 
 E noi lasciammo lor cosi impacciati. 
 
 149 impaniati: cf. xxi. 124. Pania is bird-lime; the derivation 
 seems to be unknown, but it may have been originally a paste made 
 from bread.
 
 CANTO XXIII 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They leave the demons, and escape by descending into the fifth pit, 
 where they meet folk clad in leaden cloaks, gilt outwardly. 
 These are the hypocrites. Dante speaks with two who had 
 borne office in his own city. 
 
 SILENT, lonely, without company, we went our way, one in 
 front and the other behind, as Friars Minor go along a 
 road. My thought through the strife before me had turned 
 upon the fable of Aesop, where he spoke of the frog and of 
 
 TACITI, soli, senza compagnia, 
 
 N' andavam 1' un dinanzi e 1' altro dopo, 
 Come frati minor vanno per via. 
 
 Volto era in sulla favola d' Isopo 
 
 Lo mio pensier per la presente rissa, 
 Dov' ei parlb della rana e del topo : 
 
 1 soli : the demons having remained behind, and the sinners being 
 all concealed under the pitch (Heart.) It may be added that this soli- 
 tude is a new experience. Hitherto, except in passing from one circle 
 to another, they have always been in sight of some person or persons. 
 
 4 The fable not in the original Aesop (Gary) is that of the frog 
 who invited a mouse to go into the water with him, attached for safety 
 to his leg. The mouse was drowned, and in course of time his body, 
 floating or lying on the shore, with the frog still tethered to it, attracted 
 the notice of a bird of prey, which swallowed both the friends. So say 
 the modern commentators, but the parallel with the recent scene does 
 not seem very close.
 
 CANTO xxi 1 1 HELL 271 
 
 the mouse ; for now and this minute are not more matched 
 than is the one with the other, if one rightly couples beginning 
 and end with the mind attentive. And as the one thought 
 bursts out from the other, so from that another afterward 
 had birth, which made my first fear double. I was thinking 
 thus : ' These by our means have been befooled, and with 
 loss and with derision of such fashion that much I ween it 
 annoys them. If wrath is woven upon their ill-will, they 
 will come after us more cruel than a dog upon the hare 
 which he seizes.' Already was I feeling my hairs stand all 
 on end with the fear, and was stayed to watch to rearward, 
 when I said : ' Master, if thou hidest not thyself and me 
 quickly, I have fear of the Evilclaws ; we have them now 
 
 Che piu non si pareggia mo ed issa, 
 
 Che 1' un con 1' altro fa, se ben s' accoppia 
 Principio e fine con la mente fissa : 
 
 E come 1' un pensier dell' altro scoppia, 10 
 
 Cos! nacque di quello un altro poi, 
 Che la prima paura mi fe doppia. 
 
 lo pensava cosi : Questi per noi 
 
 Sono scherniti, e con danno e con beffa 
 Si fatta, ch' assai credo che lor noi. 
 
 Se 1' ira sopra il mal voler s' aggueffa, 
 Ei ne verranno dietro piu crudeli 
 Che il cane a quella levre ch' egli acceffa. 
 
 Gia mi sentia tutti arricciar li peli 
 
 Delia paura, e stava indietro intento, 20 
 
 Quando io dissi : Maestro, se non celi 
 
 Te e me tostamente, i' ho pavento 
 
 Di Malebranche : noi gli avem gia dietro : 
 
 7 mo (inodo], used frequently by Dante, e.g. in line 28, is Tuscan ; 
 for issa (ipsa, sc. hora), see xxvii. 21.
 
 272 HELL CANTO 
 
 in rear ; I imagine them so that already I feel them.' And 
 he : ' If I were of leaded glass, I should not draw thy 
 outward image more quickly to me than I obtain the one 
 within. But now thy thoughts were coming among mine, 
 with like behaviour and with like mien, so that of both I 
 made one single counsel. If it be that the slope on our 
 right lies so that we may be able to descend into the next 
 pit, we shall escape thy imagined chase.' 
 
 He had not yet made an end of rendering such counsel, 
 when I saw them coming with wings outstretched, not very 
 far off, with will to seize us. My Leader of a sudden seized 
 
 lo gl' immagino si, che gia gli sento. 
 
 E quei : S' io fossi d' impiombato vetro, 
 L' imagine di fuor tua non trarrei 
 Piii tosto a me, che quella d' entro impetro. 
 
 Pur mo venian li tuoi pensier tra i miei 
 Con simile atto e con simile faccia, 
 Si che d' intrambi un sol consiglio fei. 30 
 
 S' egli e che si la destra costa giaccia, 
 
 Che noi possiam nell' altra bolgia scendere, 
 Noi fuggirem 1' immaginata caccia. 
 
 Gia non compie di tal consiglio rendere, 
 Ch' io gli vidi venir con 1' ali tese, 
 Non molto lungi, per volerne prendere. 
 
 Lo Duca mio di subito mi prese, 
 
 - a impiombato vetro : ' come specchio, che e vetro terminate con 
 piombi ' (Conv. iii. 9). 
 
 ;;1 giaccia: or perhaps more definitely, ' slopes gently,' as in Purg. 
 iii. 76. Virgil is not improbably expecting to find as before a way down 
 by the ' geroll ' which the shattering of the rocks, spoken of in xii. io, 
 45 ; and xxi. io6sqq., will have left. destra; because, as they turned 
 to the left (xxi. 136) with the demons, the next (sixth) bolgia will be on 
 their riiiht.
 
 xxiii HELL 273 
 
 me, as a mother who is aroused at the uproar and sees close 
 to her the flames alight, when she seizes her boy and flies 
 and stays not, caring more for him than for herself, insomuch 
 that she puts on only a smock. And down from the ridge of 
 the hard bank he committed himself supine to the slanting 
 rock which blocks one of the sides of the next pit. Never so 
 fast did water run through a leat to turn the wheel of an over- 
 shot mill when it approaches nearest to the paddles, as did 
 
 Come la madre ch' al romore e desta, 
 E vede presso a se le fiamme accese, 
 
 Che prende il figlio e fugge e non s' arresta, 40 
 Avendo piu di luj che di se cura, 
 Tanto che solo una camicia vesta : 
 
 E giu dal collo della ripa dura a 
 
 Supin si diede alia pendente roccia, 
 Che 1' un dei lati all' altra bolgia tura. 
 
 Non corse mai si tosto acqua per doccia 
 A volger rota di mulin terragno, 
 Quand' ella piu verso le pale approccia, 
 
 a colle G?. IV. 
 
 45 Benvenuto's reading is curious : ' ch' e 1' un dei lati all" altra 
 bolgiatura. ' Turare, which is an ct7ra Xeyo/j-evov here, so far as D.C. 
 is concerned, is certainly unusual in this sense, meaning generally rather 
 ' to stop a hole.' 
 
 47 mulin terragno : a ' mill on land,' turned, as one may often see 
 in mountain countries, by a small shoot, bringing the water from the 
 hillside ; as opposed to the mills which are seen in great rivers (like the 
 i'o, says Benvenuto), where the stream flows below the wheel. Virgil 
 seems to make a kind of glissade down the slope, lying on his back, and 
 to let himself, with Dante, shoot over the drop (which we must suppose 
 a low one) to the bottom. 
 
 T
 
 274 HELL CANTO 
 
 my Master over that rim, carrying me off upon his breast, 
 like his son and not like a companion. 
 
 Hardly had his feet reached the bed of the bottom below 
 when they arrived upon the ridge right over us ; but there 
 was no fear of them, for the Providence on high that willed 
 to place them as ministers of the fifth foss, took away power 
 from all of separating themselves from it. 
 
 Below these did we find a painted folk, who were going 
 round with paces slow enough, weeping and in their sem- 
 blance weary and beaten. They had cowls with hoods 
 down in front of their eyes, shaped of the cut which is made 
 for the monks in Cologne. Outwardly they are gilded so 
 
 Come il Maestro mio per quel vivagno, 
 
 Portandosene me sopra il suo petto, 50 
 
 Come suo figlio, e non come compagno. 
 
 Appena fur li pie suoi giunti al letto 
 
 Del fondo giu, ch' ei furono in sul colle 
 Sopresso noi : ma non gli era sospetto ; 
 
 Che 1' alta provvidenza, che lor voile 
 Porre ministri della fossa quinta, 
 Poder di partirs' indi a tutti tolle. 
 
 Laggiu trovammo una gente dipinta, 
 Che giva intorno assai con lenti passi 
 Piangendo, e nel sembiante stanca e vinta. 60 
 
 Egli avean cappe con cappucci bassi 
 Dinanzi agli occhi, fatti della taglia 
 Che in Cologna per li monaci fassi. b 
 
 b Cologni Gg. 14; Colognin Cass. ; per li in. in Col. Aid.; Cingin \V. 
 
 58 The hypocrites. Aquinas, it may be noted, considers that hypocrisy, 
 as not being opposed to charity, is not among the gravest sins. S. T. 
 ii. 2. Q ill. 
 
 w Cologna. So all, or nearly all of the older commentators. 
 Witte and 1'hilalethes, perhaps on patriotic grounds, prefer the reading
 
 xxin HELL 275 
 
 that it dazzles ; but within all are lead and so heavy that 
 what Frederick put on were of straw. O mantle to eternity 
 wearisome ! We turned again ever to the left hand along with 
 them, intent on their sad wailing ; but through the weight 
 that weary folk were coming so slowly that we were new in 
 company at every movement of the leg. Therefore I to my 
 Leader : ' See that thou find some one who is known by deed 
 
 Di fuor dorate son, si ch' egli abbaglia ; 
 Ma dentro tutte piombo, e gravi tanto, 
 Che Federico le mettea di paglia. 
 
 O in eterno faticoso manto ! 
 
 Noi ci volgemmo ancor pure a man manca 
 Con loro insieme, intenti al tristo pianto : 
 
 Ma per lo peso quella gente stanca 70 
 
 Venia si pian, che noi eravam nuovi 
 Di compagnia ad ogni mover d' anca. 
 
 Perch' io al Duca mio : Fa che tu trovi 
 Alcun, ch' al fatto o al nome si conosca, 
 
 Clugnl) which has less authority. Benv. and others mention that the 
 hoods worn by the monks of Cologne were noted for the badness of 
 their fit. Landino adds a story (told by Buti) that this was owing to 
 special instructions from Rome, in consequence of the presumption of a 
 certain abbot, who had asked that his monks might wear scarlet cowls, 
 and other fineries. However this may be, it seems very likely that 
 Dante, who more than once (e.g. xvii. 21) has a fling at the Germans, 
 intends some sarcastic allusion here. 
 
 64 di fuor dorate. P. di Dante derives hypocrisis from ' epi quod est 
 supra, et crisis aurum ' (!) So Comm. Cass. 
 
 66 One of the ' lingering and humorous ' punishments invented by 
 Frederick II., especially for persons guilty of treason, was the investing 
 of the criminal in a leaden tunic or cope ; which ' weighed them down 
 until death came to the rescue' (Oliphant, Hist. Fred. II. vol. i. p. 475). 
 Others say that the tunic and the criminal were put into a great vessel, 
 and melted together.
 
 276 HELL CANTO 
 
 or by name, and as thou goest thus, move thine eyes around.' 
 And one who paid heed to my Tuscan speech cried behind 
 us : ' Stay your feet, ye who speed so through the murky air ; 
 maybe that thou wilt have by me him whom thou seekest.' 
 Wherefore my Leader turned, and said : ' Wait ; and then 
 go on according to his pace.' I stopped, and saw two dis- 
 play great haste, of the mind, with their visages, to be with 
 me ; but their burthen and the narrow way delayed them. 
 When they were come up, with their dim eyes they gazed 
 their fill at me without uttering a word ; then they turned to 
 each other, and said with themselves : ' This one seems 
 alive by the action of his throat ; and if they are dead, by 
 
 E gli occhi si andando intorno movi. 
 
 Ed un, che intese la parola Tosca, 
 Diretro a noi gridb : Tenete i piedi, 
 Voi, che correte si per 1' aura fosca : 
 
 Forse ch' avrai da me quel che tu chiedi. 
 
 Onde il Duca si volse, e disse : Aspetta, So 
 
 E poi secondo il suo passo procedi. 
 
 Ristetti, e vidi due mostrar gran fretta 
 Dell' animo, col viso, d' esser meco ; 
 Ma tardavagli il carco e la via stretta. 
 
 Quando fur giunti, assai con 1' occhio bieco 
 Mi rimiraron senza far parola : 
 Poi si volsero in se, e dicean seco : 
 
 Costui par vivo all' atto della gola : 
 
 "'* It must have been Dante's accent that attracted notice, for there 
 seems to be no specially Tuscan idiom in his words. 
 
 88 Blanc observes that though the spirits in Hell do not breathe 
 (which is a special sign of life, says Philalethes ; but from xiii. 122 they 
 would appear to be able to fanf), they are yet palpable e.g. xxxii. 97. 
 In Purgatory, however, they are impalpable. See notes Purg. vi. 75 ; 
 vii. 54.
 
 xxui HELL 277 
 
 what immunity do they go uncovered with the heavy robe ? ' 
 Then they said to me : ' O Tuscan, who to the college of 
 the sorry hypocrites art come, hold it not in despite to say 
 who thou art.' And I to them : ' I was born and bred up 
 upon the fair stream of Arno at the great town, and I am 
 with the body which I have always had. But who are ye, 
 in whom grief, so great as I see, drips down over the cheeks, 
 and what penalty is it that so sparkles on you ? ' And one of 
 them answered me : ' The orange copes are so gross with 
 lead that the weights make their scales creak thus. We 
 were Joyous Friars, and of Bologna, I Catalan and this man 
 
 E s' ei son morti, per qual privilegio 
 
 Vanno scoperti della grave stola ? 90 
 
 Poi disser me : O Tosco, ch' al collegio 
 Degl' ipocriti tristi sei venuto, 
 Dir chi tu sei non avere in dispregio. 
 
 Ed io a loro : lo fui nato e cresciuto 
 
 Sopra il bel flume d' Arno alia gran villa, 
 E son col corpo ch' i' ho sempre avuto. 
 
 Ma voi chi siete, a cui tanto distilla, 
 
 Quant' io veggio, dolor giu per le guance, 
 E che pena e in voi che si sfavilla ? 
 
 E 1' un rispose a me : Le cappe ranee 100 
 
 Son di piombo si grosse, che li pesi 
 Fan cosi cigolar le lor bilance. 
 
 Frati Godenti fummo, e Bolognesi, 
 Io Catalano, e questi Loderingo 
 
 112 tristi : perhaps with allusion to Matt. vi. 16. 
 
 102 The wearers are the scales, their weeping the creaking. 
 
 103 These personages were famous in Florentine history. In 1266, 
 after the defeat of Manfred by Benevento, the commons of Florence, who
 
 278 HELL CANTO 
 
 Lorrainer by name ; and taken together by thy land, as a 
 solitary man is wont to be brought, to keep its peace, and 
 of such sort we were as still may be seen about the Gar- 
 
 Nomati, e da tua terra insieme presi, 
 Come suole esser tolto un uom solingo 
 Per conservar sua pace, e fummo tali, 
 Ch' ancor si pare intorno dal Gardingo. 
 
 were mainly Guelf, began to be turbulent. The governing Ghibelines, 
 seeing the need of making some kind of terms, agreed to send to Bologna 
 for two members of the body known as Frati Godenti, Catalano de' Cata- 
 lani and Loderingo degli Andalo (their surnames are variously given 
 Villani, for example, calls the former ' de' Malavolti ' and the latter 
 ' Roderigo (sic) de Landolo '), who belonged the one to the Guelf the other 
 to the Ghibeline party, that they might hold the office of podcsta jointly. 
 Being installed, says Villani, ' under cover of false hypocrisy they acted 
 in harmony, more for their own gain than for that of the commonwealth.' 
 Nothing that he tells us of their doings, however, points to anything but 
 an honest attempt to keep the peace. They set up the ' Council of 
 Thirty-six,' selected from both parties and both classes ; but before long 
 the demands of Guido Novello and his condottieri became intolerable, 
 the Ghibelines were forced by popular pressure to leave the city, a Guelf 
 podestcl was established by Charles of Anjou, and the ' Frati ' disappeared 
 (Vill. vii. 14-16). 
 
 Frati Godenti were a military order. They were authorised by 
 Urban IV., under the name of Knights of Our Lady, the Loderingo 
 mentioned here being one of the founders. Their vows were not very 
 strict, whence the nickname of 'Jolly Friars ' which they soon acquired. 
 ' It was not long,' says Villani, ' before they brought their conduct into 
 agreement with the name.' In later times the history of the name 
 seems to have been forgotten, and we find Erasmus talking of friars ' qui 
 dicuntur Gaudentes,' meaning merely those who were lax in their 
 lives. 
 
 104 lie is no doubt jesting on the fact that both their Christian names 
 were national names as well. (See note Par. xi. 43, as to ' Fran- 
 cesco.') 
 
 lwi solingo : because it was usual to have one fodestA only. ' Et 
 non exponas solingo idest solitarius, sicut aliqui exponunt.' Benv. 
 
 los Gardingo : the part of Florence in which stood the palace of the
 
 xxin HELL 279 
 
 dingo.' I began : ' O friars, your ills ' but more I said 
 
 not ; for to my eyes sped one, crucified to earth with three 
 stakes. When he saw me he writhed all over, blowing in 
 his beard with his sighs. And friar Catalan, who noted this, 
 said to me : ' That impaled one, at whom thou art looking, 
 gave counsel to the Pharisees that it was expedient to put 
 one man to the torments for the people. He is stretched 
 across naked in the way, as thou seest ; and it is necessary 
 that he first feel how every passer-by weighs ; and in such 
 wise his father-in-law is stretched in this foss, and the others 
 of the council, which was an ill seed for the Jews.' Then 
 
 lo cominciai : O frati, i vostri mali . . . 
 
 Ma piii non dissi : ch' all' occhio mi corse no 
 Un crocifisso in terra con tre pali. 
 
 Quando mi vide, tutto si distorse, 
 Soffiando nella barba coi sospiri : 
 E il frate Catalan, ch' a cib s' accorse, 
 
 Mi disse : Quel confitto, che tu miri, 
 Consiglio i Farisei, che convenia 
 Porre un uom per lo popolo ai martin. 
 
 Attraversato e nudo e nella via, 
 
 Come tu vedi, ed e mestier ch' ei senta 
 Qualunque passa com' ei pesa pria : 120 
 
 Ed a tal modo il suocero si stenta 
 
 In questa fossa, e gli altri del concilio 
 Che fu per li Giudei mala sementa. 
 
 Uberti, which after the expulsion of the Ghibelines was wrecked by the 
 people. So Benvenuto and P. di Dante. Villani says nothing of this. 
 lu9 There is nothing to show what was to follow. The commen- 
 tators supply ' are the due reward of your deeds,' or words to that 
 effect. 
 
 116. 117 J ohn xi- 50 .
 
 280 HELL CANTO 
 
 saw I Virgil marvel over him who was distended in a cross, 
 so vilely in the eternal banishment. Afterwards he addressed 
 to the friar these words : ' Let it not displease you, if it be 
 permitted you, to tell us if to the right hand any entry lies, 
 whereby we two can issue without constraint of the black 
 angels that they come to get us away from this bottom.' He 
 answered then : ' Nearer than thou art hoping comes a rock 
 which starts from the great circle, and crosses all the 
 wild valleys, except that at this one it is broken, and covers 
 it not. You will be able to climb up by its ruin, for it lies 
 
 Allor vid' io maravigliar Virgilio 
 
 Sopra colui ch' era disteso in croce 
 Tanto vilmente nell' eterno esilio. 
 
 Poscia drizzo al frate cotal voce : 
 Non vi dispiaccia, se vi lece, dirci 
 Se alia man destra giace alcuna foce, 
 
 Onde noi ambo e due possiamo uscirci 130 
 
 Senza costringer degli angeli neri, 
 Che vegnan d'esto fondo a dipartirci. 
 
 Rispose adunque : Piu che tu non speri 
 
 S' appressa un sasso, che dalla gran ccrchia 
 Si move, e varca tutti i vallon fcri, 
 
 Salvo ch' a questo e rotto, e nol coperchia : l 
 Montar potrete su per la ruina, 
 
 c che questo Cass. Gg. 1234 Aid. 
 
 1L>4 Because Virgil would naturally be unfamiliar with the Gospel 
 history. 
 
 136 It is nowhere explained why the bridges over this particular 
 division of Malcbolge should have specially felt the shock of the Cruci- 
 fixion ; nor does any commentator until Landino appear to notice the 
 point. lie says: Intendendo per questo, che in quel tempo fu disgregata 
 la sinagoga de i Giudei, e la fraude de la hipocrisia de i sacerdoti. 
 Vellutello follows him ; and looking to the presence of Annas and Caia- 
 phas in this bolgia, their interpretation may be correct.
 
 xxin HELL 281 
 
 low on the side and rises up in the bottom.' My Leader 
 stood awhile with head bowed ; then he said : ' 111 did he 
 recount the business who hooks the sinners on the other 
 side.' And the friar : ' I have heard tell ere now at 
 Bologna faults enough of the devil, among which I heard 
 that he is a liar and father of falsehood.' After that my 
 Leader went on with great steps, troubled a little with anger 
 in his countenance : wherefore I parted from the burthened 
 ones after the prints of his dear feet. 
 
 Che giace in costa, e nel fondo soperchia. 
 Lo Duca stette un poco a testa china, 
 
 Poi disse : Mai contava la bisogna 140 
 
 Colui, che i peccator di la uncina. 
 E il frate : lo udi' gia dire a Bologna 
 
 Del Diavol vizii assai, tra i quali udi' 
 
 Ch' egli e bugiardo, e padre di menzogna. 
 Appresso il Duca a gran passi sen gi, 
 
 Turbato un poco d' ira nel sembiante : 
 
 Ond' io dagl' incarcati mi parti' 
 Dietro alle poste delle care piante. 
 
 10 When he told them (xxi. 1 1 1) that only the one bridge was broken, 
 and that they would find a sound one to cross by.
 
 CANTO XXIV 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They climb the side of the pit, and come to the next, wherein are the 
 thieves, who are tormented in divers ways by serpents. Dante 
 talks with one of Pistoia, who foretells evils to come upon his party. 
 
 IN that part of the youthful year, when the Sun is tempering 
 his locks under the Waterman, and the nights are already 
 
 IN quella parte del giovinetto anno, 
 
 Che il sole i crin sotto 1' Aquario tempra, 
 E gia le notti al mezzo di sen vanno : 
 
 i sqq. Th e time indicated is the latter half of January or beginning of 
 February. The sun enters Aquarius on Jan. 20 ; which in Dante's time 
 would have been called the loth. 
 
 3 It is curious that scarcely any commentator has taken this line in 
 what is clearly its proper meaning. With only one exception, so far as I 
 have seen, they render it ' the nights are getting to equal the day,' or ' are 
 getting towards half the day ' (sc. of 24 hours). But this ignores the 
 meaning of sen vanno ('are going away''}; the time indicated is still 
 many weeks from the equinox ; and it may be doubted if il mezzo ifi ever 
 means 'half the day.' What it does constantly mean (e.g. if an 
 example is needed Conv. iii. 5) is 'the south.' Nottc is frequently 
 used by Dante (e.g. Purg. ii. 4) for the point in the heavens opposite to 
 the sun, which of course at this time of year is getting further and further 
 towards the south, as the sun comes to the north. It has been doing 
 so ever since the solstice, but one does not begin to be very conscious of 
 the fact, particularly in the morning, much before the end of January. 
 Possibly the plural notti, which, however, need give no trouble (cf.
 
 CANTO xxiv HELL 283 
 
 passing away to the south ; when the rime on the ground 
 portrays the likeness of her white sister, but short while does 
 temper endure in her pen ; the churl, to whom substance 
 is lacking, gets up and looks, and sees the countryside all 
 white, wherefore he smites on his thigh ; he returns to his 
 house, and grumbles here and there, like the poor wretch who 
 knows not what is to be done ; then he comes back, and 
 again stores up hope seeing the world to have changed coun- 
 tenance in little while ; and takes his crook, and drives 
 forth his flock to pasture. Thus did my Master make me 
 
 Quando la brina in sulla terra assempra 
 L' imagine di sua sorella bianca, 
 Ma poco dura alia sua penna tempra ; 
 
 Lo villanello, a cui la roba manca, 
 
 Si leva e guarda, e vede la campagna 
 Biancheggiar tutta, ond' ei si batte 1' anca : 
 
 Ritorna in casa, e qua e la si lagna, 10 
 
 Come il tapin che non sa che si faccia ; 
 Poi riede, e la speranza ringavagna, 
 
 Veggendo il mondo aver cangiata faccia 
 In poco d' ora, e prende suo vincastro, 
 E fuor le pecorelle a pascer caccia : 
 
 Cos! mi fece sbigottir lo Mastro, 
 
 Georg. ii. 481, 482, where nodes is opposed to soles), was the cause of 
 the mistake, and this once made was as usual adopted without criticism 
 by the early interpreters and copied from them by the moderns. The 
 only place where I found what I believe to be the true interpretation is 
 the Ottinio Comento : Perocche la notte, ch' e opposita del sole, cade 
 in quello tempo verso la parte di mezzo giorno. Ashburnham MS. L 832, 
 (Dr. Moore's L), in which this is copied, reads ' la parte di meridie. ' 
 
 6 Having used the word assempra, 'draws' (cf. V. N. i, where 
 also we find v. I. eseinpla, or -pro), he continues the metaphor by ascrib- 
 ing to the rime the use of a pen, doubtless the reed pen of those days. 
 
 11 non sa, etc., sc. whether to turn his sheep out or not. Benv.
 
 284 HELL CANTO 
 
 to be out of countenance, when I saw his brow so troubled ; 
 and thus quickly did the salve come to the hurt. For as we 
 came to the ruined bridge, my Leader turned him to me 
 with that sweet mien which I saw at first at the foot of the 
 mount. He opened his arms, after certain counsel adopted 
 with himself, first looking well at the fallen mass, and took 
 hold of me. And as the man who is working and reckoning, 
 in that he always seems to be making provision ahead, so 
 while lifting me up to the top of one crag, he was taking 
 note of another splinter, saying : ' Hook thyself next on to 
 that one ; but try first if it is of such sort as to bear thee.' 
 It was not a road for one clad in a cope ; for we with diffi- 
 
 Quand' io gli vidi si turbar la fronte, 
 E cosi tosto al mal giunse lo impiastro : 
 
 Che come noi venimmo al guasto ponte, 
 
 Lo Duca a me si volse con quel piglio 20 
 
 Dolce, ch' io vidi prima a pie del monte. 
 
 Le braccia aperse, dopo alcun consiglio 
 Eletto seco, riguardando prima 
 Ben la ruina, e diedemi di piglio. 
 
 E come quei che adopera ed estima, 
 
 Che sempre par che innanzi si proveggia ; 
 ' Cosi, levando me su ver la cima 
 
 D' un ronchion, avvisava un' altra scheggia, 
 Dicendo : Sopra quella poi t' aggrappa ; 
 Ma tenta pria s' e tal ch' ella ti reggia. 30 
 
 Non era via da vestito di cappa, 
 
 "' 2:! prima : note the different uses of the word. In 1. 21 it means 
 ' for the first time,' in 1. 23 ' beforehand,' Our ' first ' renders both. 
 
 27-30 Mr. Freshfield (Alpine Journal, vol. x. p. 404) has called atten- 
 tion to the mountaineering experience which this description reveals. 
 
 31 With allusion to the leaden copes of the hypocrites.
 
 xxiv HELL 285 
 
 culty, he light, and I pushed forward, were able to climb up 
 from ledge to ledge. And if it had not been that towards 
 that circumference the hill was shorter than towards the 
 other, I do not know about him, but I should certainly have 
 been beaten. But whereas Malebolge all slopes toward the 
 opening of the lowest pit, the position of each valley brings 
 about that one side is high and the other low ; we at any 
 rate came at last above the point whence the last stone is 
 rent away. 
 
 The breath was so drawn from my lungs when I was up, 
 that I could go no further, nay, I sate me down at my first 
 
 Che noi a pena, ei lieve, ed io sospinto, 
 Potevam su montar di chiappa in chiappa. 
 
 E se non fosse, che da quel precinto 
 Piu che dall' altro era la costa corta, 
 Non so di lui, ma io sarei ben vinto. 
 
 Ma perche Malebolge in ver la porta 
 Del bassissimo pozzo tutta pende, 
 Lo sito di ciascuna valle porta 
 
 Che 1' una costa surge e 1' altra scende : 40 
 
 Noi pur venimmo alfine in sulla punta 
 Onde 1' ultima pietra si scoscende. 
 
 La lena m' era del polmon si munta 
 
 Quando fui su, ch' io non potea piu oltre, 
 Anzi mi assisi nella prima giunta. 
 
 3 ' 2 One does not quite see why Virgil should have had any difficulty. 
 But Dante seems to conceive his spirits as retaining a part of such phy- 
 sical properties as gravity, though in a reduced measure. Cf. xxxiv. 78. 
 
 34 quel precinto : the inner circumference of the bolgia, where, as 
 we have already seen (xix. 35), the depth, for the reason explained in the 
 following lines, is less at its lower rim. Benv. supposes that each bolgia 
 is in itself shallower than the last, all their floors being on the same level ; 
 but there is no need to assume this. .See Scartazzini's diagram. I read 
 precinto, not procinto, as Dante probably followed the Latin use.
 
 286 HELL CANTO 
 
 coming. ' Henceforward it behoves that thou brace thyself 
 thus,' said the Master ; ' for not by sitting on feathers does 
 one come into fame, nor under quilts ; without the which 
 whoso consumes his life leaves such trace on earth of him- 
 self as smoke in air or its froth on water. And therefore 
 lift up, conquer the task with the mind that wins every battle, 
 if with its heavy body it throw not itself down. A longer 
 stair has need to be ascended ; it is not enough to have got 
 away from those. If thou understandest me, now see that 
 it avail thee.' 
 
 Omai convien che tu cosi ti spoltre, 
 
 Disse il Maestro, che, sedendo in piuma 
 In fama non si vien, ne sotto coltre, 
 
 Senza la qual chi sua vita consuma, 
 
 Cotal vestigio in terra di se lascia, 50 
 
 Qual fummo in aer ed in acqua la schiuma : 
 
 E perb leva su, vinci 1' ambascia 
 
 Con 1' animo che vince ogni battaglia, 
 Se col suo grave corpo non s' accascia. 
 
 Piu lunga scala convien che si saglia : 
 Non basta da costoro esser partito : 
 Se tu m' intendi, or fa si che ti vaglia. 
 
 47 ' 51 It seems almost superfluous to refer to Lyciclas : 
 
 Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise 
 
 To scorn delights and live laborious days. 
 
 51 la schiuma : the article is required because the foam is a part of, 
 or belongs to, the water ; fumo is no part of the air. 
 
 53 vince ogni battaglia : so la ptigna, i.\. 7 ; tutto, Purg. xvi. 78. 
 
 55 Either the climb from the centre back to the surface of the Earth, 
 or (more probably) that of the purgatorial mountain. 
 
 5fl It is not enough to abandon sins ; there must be a striving after 
 positive goodness.
 
 xxiv HELL 287 
 
 I lifted myself then, making myself seem better fur- 
 nished with breath than I felt; and said, 'Go, for I am 
 strong and bold.' We took our way over the rock, which 
 was craggy, narrow, and ill to compass, and far steeper than 
 the foregoing. I was talking as I went, so as not to appear 
 feeble ; whereat a voice issued from the next foss, ill-suited 
 to form words. I know not what it said, albeit I was already 
 upon the crown of the arch which crosses there ; but he who 
 was talking appeared moved to wrath. I had turned down- 
 ward; but my living eyes could not reach the bottom 
 through the gloom, wherefore I : ' Master, see that thou 
 
 Leva' mi allor, mostrandomi fornito 
 
 Meglio di lena ch' io non mi sentia ; 
 
 E dissi : Va, ch' io son forte ed ardito. 60 
 
 Su per Io scoglio prendemmo la via, 
 
 Ch' era ronchioso, stretto e malagevole, 
 
 Ed erto piii assai che quel di pria. 
 Parlando andava per non parer fievole, 
 
 Onde una voce uscio dall' altro fosso, a 
 
 A parole formar disconvenevole. 
 Non so che disse, ancor che sopra il dosso 
 
 Fossi dell' arco gia che varca quivi ; 
 
 Ma chi parlava ad ira parea mosso. 
 Io era volto in giu ; ma gli occhi vivi 70 
 
 Non potean ire al fondo per 1' oscuro : 
 
 Perch' io : Maestro, fa che tu arrivi 
 
 a Ed una v. IV. 
 
 l!1 scoglio : the rib of rock forming the bridge over the seventh bolgia, 
 
 64 A human touch. Few climbers have not done the same. 
 
 65 onde : here, as elsewhere, the sound of his voice sets a spirit talking. 
 
 66 Benv. appears to take disconvenevole as plural, agreeing with 
 parole, and interprets ' idest inhonesta. ' But Dante has not heard the 
 words.
 
 288 HELL CANTO 
 
 arrive at the next ring, and let us go down the wall ; for as 
 I hear where I am, and do not comprehend, so I look down, 
 and make out nothing.' ' Other answer,' said he, ' I return 
 thee not, save to do it ; for a fair demand ought to be fol- 
 lowed with silent action.' We descended the bridge on the 
 side of the head, where it is joined with the eighth bank ; 
 and then was the pit manifest to me, and there I saw within 
 a terrible pack of serpents, and of so uncouth kind that the 
 memory yet thins my blood. Let Libya with her sand boast 
 
 Dall' altro cinghio, e dismontiam lo muro ; 
 
 Che com' i' odo quinci e non intendo, 
 
 Cos! giu veggio, e niente affiguro. 
 Altra risposta, disse, non ti renclo, 
 
 Se non lo far : chfe la domanda onesta 
 
 Si dee seguir coll' opera tacendo. 
 Noi discendemmo il ponte dalla testa 
 
 Dove s' aggiunge coll' ottava ripa, 80 
 
 E poi mi fu la bolgia manifesta : 
 E vidivi entro terribile stipa 
 
 Di serpenti, e di si diversa mena, 
 
 Che la memoria il sangue ancor mi scipa. 
 Piii non si vanti Libia con sua rena ; 
 
 7y Though he does not expressly state it, it would appear from xxvi. 
 13-15 that they descended not only the bridge, but also the rocks form- 
 ing the inner side of the seventh bolgia ; stopping, however, as is indi- 
 cated in xxv. 35, before they reached the bottom. It must be remem- 
 bered that each bolgia, with its encircling wall of rock, has a breadth of 
 about a mile and three-quarters. How this is divided appears in xxx. 
 87, from which we find that half a mile is allotted to the bolgia 
 itself, so that the passage of the bridge would be a work of some labour. 
 Philalethes thinks that each bridge is steeper than the last. 
 
 s - stipa : so xi. 3.
 
 xxiv HELL 289 
 
 her no more ; for if she produces watersnakes, whipsnakes, 
 and asps, and diamond-snakes with amphisbaena, plagues so 
 many and so cruel never yet did she display, with all 
 Ethiopia, nor with that which is above the Red Sea. 
 Among this savage and most joyless swarm folk were run- 
 ning, naked and terrified, without hope of hiding-hole or 
 heliotrope. With serpents they had their hands tied behind ; 
 these fixed through the loins their tail and head, and were 
 
 Che, se chelidri, iaculi e faree b 
 Produce, e cencri con amfisibena, 
 
 Ne tante pestilenzie ne si ree 
 
 Mostro giammai con tutta 1' Etiopia, 
 
 Ne con cib che di sopra il mar rosso ee. 90 
 
 Tra questa cruda e tristissima copia 
 Correvan genti nude e spaventate, 
 Senza sperar pertugio o elitropia. 
 
 Con serpi le man dietro avean legate : 
 Quelle ficcavan per le ren la coda 
 E il capo, ed eran dinanzi aggroppate. 
 
 b Che si Cass. ; che se lidri 14 ; cherse chel 3. 
 
 so, s? These names of serpents are all taken from Lucan Phars. ix. 
 711, 712 ; 719-721. 
 
 9 " genti : thieves ; not the violent robbers who were lying in the 
 boiling blood higher up, but stealthy plunderers. 
 
 9:3 elitropia. The stone called heliotrope had the property of making 
 its wearer invisible, when rubbed with the juice of the plant of the same 
 name ; which, according to P. di Dante, seems to been a sort of endive, 
 not the flower to which we now give that appellation. Fazio degli 
 Uberti says of it (Dittam. v. 18) : Util si crede a colui che fura ; whence 
 no doubt the allusion here. A pleasant story, turning more or less on 
 the supposed virtues of the stone, will be found in the Decameron, Day 
 viii. Xov. 3. 
 
 911 Benv. reads di retro agg>'- as if the serpent had tied himself in a 
 knot behind the man. He is aware of the usual reading ; according to 
 
 U
 
 290 HELL CANTO 
 
 bunched in front. And lo, to one who was toward our bank, 
 a serpent came up, which transfixed him in the place where 
 the neck is knotted to the shoulders. And never was O or 
 I so quickly written, as he took fire and burned, and falling 
 down must needs become all ashes ; and after that he had 
 thus been destroyed to the ground, the ash gathered together 
 of itself, and returned of a sudden into that same man. 
 Thus by the great sages it is professed that the Phoenix dies 
 and then is born again, when she draws near to her five- 
 hundredth year. In her life she feeds not on herb nor corn, 
 
 Ed ecco ad un, ch' era da nostra proda, 
 S' avventb un serpente, che il trafisse 
 La dove il collo alle spalle s' annoda. 
 
 Ne O si tosto mai ne I si scrisse, 100 
 
 Com' ei s' accese ed arse, e cener tutto 
 Convenne che cascando divenisse : 
 
 E poi che fu a terra si distrutto, 
 
 La polver si raccolse per se stessa, 
 E in quel medesmo ritornb di butto : 
 
 Cosi per li gran savi si confessa, 
 Che la Fenice more e poi rinasce, 
 Quando al cinquecentesimo anno appressa. 
 
 Erba ne biado in sua vita non pasce, 
 
 which we must suppose the body of the serpent twisted and knotted in 
 front of the man, a coil thrown round his arms, and the head and tail 
 pinned into the loins. This property of piercing is ascribed by Lucan 
 to the snake he calls Jaculus. 
 
 i9 ST! . Qv. Met. xv. 393, 394: 
 
 non fruge neque herbis 
 
 Sed turis lacrimis et suco vivit amomi ; 
 and 398-400 : 
 
 Ouo simul ac casias et nardi lenis aristas 
 
 Ouassaque cum fulva substravit cinnama myrrha. 
 
 Se superimponit, finitque in odoribus aevum.
 
 xxiv HELL 291 
 
 but only on tears of incense and of amomum ; and nard and 
 myrrh are her last winding-sheet. And as is he who falls, 
 and does not know how, by force of a demon which drags 
 him to earth, or of other obstruction which binds the man, 
 when he rises and looks around him, all bewildered with the 
 great anguish which he has undergone, and as he gazes, 
 sighs ; so had that sinner risen thereafter. Oh ! power of 
 God how stern it is, when it lashes such strokes for ven- 
 
 Ma sol d' incenso lagrime ed amomo ; no 
 
 E nardo e mirra son 1' ultime fasce. 
 
 E qual e quei che cade, e non sa como, 
 Per forza di demon ch' a terra il tira, 
 O d' altra oppilazion che lega 1' uorno, 
 
 Quando si leva, che intorno si mira 
 Tutto smarrito dalla grande angoscia 
 Ch' egli ha sofferta, e guardando sospira ; 
 
 Tal era il peccator levato poscia. 
 
 O potenzia di Dio quant' e severa, c 
 
 Che cotai colpi per vendetta croscia. 120 
 
 lu oppilazion : the regular term for an obstruction in any internal 
 organ. 
 
 ly potenzia seems to have much more authority than ghistizia, and 
 it suits the sense equally well. This cannot, however, be said of tilt- 
 reading which Witte prefers, quanta sc vcra. In the first place it is 
 hard to see how the nature of the punishment can be any evidence of 
 the \truth of the power which inflicts it, though it is of its severity. 
 Then, though croscia might possibly be the second person, the form 
 is extremely rare. It need hardly be said that as between se* vcra and 
 severa, MS. authority goes for nothing ; and whichever was understood 
 by the scribe would decide the form of the previous word. On the 
 other hand Dante only uses scvero once elsewhere in D. C.
 
 292 HELL CANTO 
 
 geance ! My Leader then asked him who he was ; wherefore 
 he answered : ' I dropped from Tuscany little while ago, into 
 this wild gully. A beast's life pleased me, and not a man's, 
 like a mule that I was ; I am Vanni Fucci, a beast, and 
 Pistoia was a fit den for me.' And I to my Leader : ' Tell 
 him not to run away, and ask him what fault drove him 
 down here, for I saw him a man of blood and quarrels.' 
 And the sinner, who heard, made no feigning, but directed 
 his mind and his face towards me, and took on him the hue 
 of sad shame ; then he said : ' It is more woe to me that 
 thou hast caught me in the wretchedness wherein thou seest 
 
 Lo Duca il domandb poi chi cgli era : 
 Perch' ei rispose : lo piovvi di Toscana, 
 Poco tempo e, in questa gola fera. 
 
 Vita bestial mi piacque, e non umana, 
 
 Si come a mul ch' io fui : son Vanni Fucci 
 Bestia, e Pistoia mi fu degna tana. 
 
 Ed io al Duca : Digli che non mucci, 
 
 E domanda qual colpa quaggiii il pinse : 
 Ch' io il vidi un uomo di sangue e di crucci. 
 
 E il peccator, che intese, non s' infinse, 130 
 
 Ma drizzb verso me 1' animo e il volto, 
 E di trista vergogna si dipinse ; 
 
 Poi disse : Piu mi duol che tti m' hai colto 
 Nella miseria, dove tu mi vedi, 
 
 125 Vanni Fucci was a natural son of one of the Lazzari of Pistoia, 
 and a turbulent partisan "on the 'Black' side. In 1295 he plundered 
 the treasury of the Church of St. James, and contrived to get another 
 man hanged for the crime. Benv. and Land, give the story at length, 
 and Philalethes adds some further particulars. 
 
 l - ti Pistoia seems to have had a reputation for lawlessness and savagery. 
 It will he remembered that the factions of Whites and Blacks sprang out 
 of a family quarrel there. See note .\\.\ii. 63. 
 
 1 - 7 mucci : a Lombard colloquialism, according to Benvenuto.
 
 xxiv HELL 293 
 
 me, than when I was taken from the other life. I cannot 
 refuse that which thou askest ; I have been sent down thus 
 far, because at the sacristy I was a thief of the fair orna- 
 ments, and falsely was it once laid upon another. But to the 
 end that thou mayest not rejoice at such sight, if thou art 
 ever forth of the places of darkness, open thine ears to 
 my announcement and hear. First Pistoia thins herself of 
 
 Che quando fui dell' altra vita tolto. 
 
 lo non posso negar quel che tu chiedi ; 
 In giu son messo tanto, perch' io fui 
 Ladro alia sacrestia dei belli arredi ; 
 
 E falsamente gia fu apposto altrui. 
 
 Ma perche di tal vista tu non godi, 140 
 
 Se mai sarai di fuor dei lochi bui, 
 
 Apri gli orecchi al mio annunzio, ed odi : 
 Pistoia in pria di Neri si dimagra, 
 
 d in prim a di ner s.d. Cass. ; in pria di nigri 2 ; Negri Aid. W. 
 
 143 S qq. j n ^[ a y J^QI the Whites of Pistoia, with the aid of the same 
 party, who were then in power, at Florence, banished the Blacks (Vil- 
 lani viii. 45). In November of the same year Charles of Valois entered 
 Florence, and drove out the Whites (ib. 48). For some years after this 
 Pistoia remained the only stronghold in Tuscany of the White-Ghibeline 
 party, and as such was an object of special hostility to the Florentines, 
 who attacked it more than once, in conjunction with the Lucchese (ib. 
 52, 65), and finally captured it and destroyed its fortifications in 1306 
 (ib. 82). The particular battle here foretold appears to have been an 
 incident in the attack of 1302, when the combined Florentines and 
 Lucchese took the stronghold of Serravalle. The ' mist from Valdimagra' 
 is Moroello Malaspina, lord of the Lunigiana (see note Purg. viii. 118), 
 who was at that time in command of the attacking force ; a fact of which 
 Villani, who curiously ignores the Malaspina family, makes no mention, 
 nor does he record this engagement. Dante, on the other hand, who 
 received much kindness from the family during the latter part of his life, 
 loses no opportunity of an allusion to them. See on the subject of the
 
 294 HELL CANTO xxiv 
 
 the Blacks ; then Florence renews folk and fashions. Mars 
 draws a mist from Val di Magra, which is wrapt in turbid 
 clouds, and with a tempest violent and bitter is the battle 
 fought upon the Picene plain ; whence he will suddenly rend 
 in pieces the cloud, so that every White shall be smitten 
 therewith. And I have told it thee to the end that thou 
 mayest need to grieve therefore.' 
 
 Poi Fiorenza rinnuova genti e modi. 
 
 Tragge Marte vapor di val di Magra 
 Ch' e di torbidi nuvoli involute, 
 E con tempesta impetuosa ed agra 
 
 Sopra campo Picen fia combattuto : 
 Ond' ei repente spezzera la nebbia. 
 Si ch' ogni Bianco ne sara feruto : 150 
 
 E detto 1' ho, perche doler ti debbia. 
 
 family, the Appendix to the sixth volume of Prof. Hartoli's ' Storia della 
 Letteratura Italiana.' Campo Piceno appears to mean the country 
 near Serravalle. Why it had this name (see also Villani i. 32, where 
 it is Campo a Piceno) does not clearly appear. It is at some distance 
 from the ancient Picenum. In Sallust's account of the defeat of 
 Catiline \ve read that when Metellus Celer, who was commanding 
 'in a^ro Piceno,' heard of Catiline's move 'in agrum Pistoriensem,' 
 he succeeded by rapid marches in blocking the mountain route from 
 Pistoia into 'Gaul,' as it would appear, on the north of the mountains. 
 Some misunderstanding of this passage may have led medieval writers 
 to imagine that the subsequent battle with Petreius was fought on 
 Picene territory. Thus John of Serravalle : Ille campus qui est prope 
 Pistorium in quo devictus fuit Cathellina vocatur Picenus a Sallustio. 
 It is a little curious that his Serravalle, near Rimini, is only just out- 
 side of the old Picenum.
 
 CANTO XXV 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They continue by the same folk, and see new and horrible torments 
 inflicted by the serpents. Dante recognises five persons of his own 
 city. 
 
 AT the end of his speech the robber raised his hands with 
 both their figs, crying, ' Take them, God, for at thee I show 
 them.' From that time to this have the serpents been my 
 friends, seeing that one wound itself then about his neck, as 
 though it said : ' I will not that thou say more ' ; and another 
 about his arms, and bound him, clenching itself so in front 
 that he could not give a quiver with them. 
 
 AL fine delle sue parole il ladro 
 
 Le mani alzo con ambedue le fiche, 
 Gridando : Togli, Iddio, che a te le squadro. 
 
 Da indi in qua mi fur le serpi amiche, 
 Perch' una gli s' avvolse allora al collo, 
 Come dicesse : lo non vo' che piu diche : 
 
 Ed un' altra alle braccia, e rilegollo, 
 Ribadendo se stessa si dinanzi, a 
 Che non potea con esse dare un crollo. 
 :l Ribatendo Gg. ; Rebattcndo Cass. ; Ribattendo 2 Aid. 
 
 - le fiche : the coarse gesture is well known. It is attributed with 
 special propriety to a sinner from Pistoia, because a century before the 
 Pistoiese had displayed it in two marble hands on their fortress of 
 Carmignano, in mockery of Florence. See Yillani vi. 5.
 
 296 HELL CANTO 
 
 Ah, Pistoia, Pistoia, why dost thou not determine to 
 make thyself ashes, so that thou endure no more, since thou 
 dost surpass thy begetting in ill deeds? Through all the 
 murky circles of Hell I saw not a spirit so proud toward 
 God, not he who fell at Thebes down from the walls. He 
 fled, so that he spake no word more ; and I saw a Centaur 
 full of rage come crying : ' Where is he, where is the savage ?' 
 I do not believe that Maremma holds as many snakes as he 
 had up over his croup, to the point where our face begins. 
 
 Ahi Pistoia, Pistoia, che non stanzi TO 
 
 D' incenerarti, si che piu non duri, 
 Poi che in mal far lo seme tuo avanzi. 
 
 Per tutti i cerchi dell' inferno oscuri 
 Non vidi spirto in Dio tanto superbo, 
 Non quel che cadde a Tebe giu dai muri. 
 
 Ei si fuggi, che non parlo piu verbo : 
 Ed io vidi un Centauro pien di rabbia 
 Yenir chiamando : Ov' e, ov' e 1' acerbo ? 
 
 Maremma non cred ; io che tante n' abbia, 
 
 Quante bisce egli avea su per la groppa, 20 
 
 Infin dove comincia nostra labbia. 
 
 lu Compare the apostrophe to Pisa in xxxiii. 79 sqq. It is worth 
 notice, as bearing on Dante's political views, that these two cities, 
 which he treats with such, almost savage, indignation, were two of the 
 stoutest supporters of the Ghibeline cause. Faction was hateful to 
 him, on one side no less than on the other. 
 
 11 incenerarti : as had just befallen the citizen of Pistoia. 
 
 l - Probably an allusion to the story that Pistoia was founded by the 
 Catilinarians who survived their defeat at the hands of Petreius (Yill. 
 
 i- 32). 
 
 1:< Capaneus, whom we saw in Canto xiv. 
 
 "' Maremma : the same district as is referred to in xiii. 7-9. 
 
 - 1 labbia : as in xix. 122, Purg. xxiii. 47. Most modern commen- 
 tators take this as meaning the human part generally ; but this seems a
 
 xxv HELL 297 
 
 Above his shoulders behind the nape a dragon with open 
 wings was lying on him and that sets fire to whosoever 
 comes in his way. My Master said : ' He is Cacus, that 
 beneath the rock of Mount Aventine made oftentimes a 
 lake of blood. He goes not upon one road with his 
 brethren, for the theft which he treacherously wrought of the 
 great herd, that he had to his neighbour ; wherefore his 
 stealthy dealings ceased under the club of Hercules, who 
 gave him haply a hundred, and did not feel ten.' While he 
 
 Sopra le spalle, dietro dalla coppa, 
 Con 1' ale aperte gli giacea un draco, 
 E quello affoca qualunque s' intoppa. 
 
 Lo mio Maestro disse : Quegli e Caco, 
 Che sotto il sasso di monte Aventino 
 Di sangue fece spesse volte laco. 
 
 Non va coi suoi fratei per un cam mi no, 
 Per lo furto che frodolente fece b 
 Del grande armento, ch' egli ebbe a vicino : 30 
 
 Onde cessar le sue opere biece 
 
 Sotto la mazza d' Ercole, che forse 
 Gliene die cento, e non sent! le diece. 
 
 very wide extension of the sense of the word, and the next line shows 
 that he had them up to his neck. 
 
 -'3 Yor Cacus, see Aen. viii. 190 sqq. Of course he was not a 
 Centaur, only a fire-breathing monster ; but Dante seems to have been 
 misled by the epithet ' semihominis ' which Virgil applies to him. 
 
 Semperque recent! 
 Caede tepebat humus.
 
 298 HELL CANTO 
 
 was speaking thus, so he ran by ; and three spirits came 
 beneath us, of whom neither I nor my Leader took note, 
 save when they cried : ' Who are ye ? ' wherefore our story 
 was stayed, and then we gave heed only to them. I did 
 not know them, but it followed, as is wont to follow in 
 certain cases, that one had occasion to name another, 
 saying: 'Where will Cianfa have stayed?' Wherefore I, in 
 order that my Leader might stand attentive, laid my finger 
 from the chin up to the nose. If thou art now, reader, slow 
 
 Mentre che si parlava, ed ei trascorse, 
 E tre spiriti venner sotto noi, 
 Dei quai ne io ne il Duca mio s' accorse, 
 
 Se non quando gridar : Chi siete voi ? 
 Per che nostra novella si ristette, 
 Ed intendemmo pure ad essi poi. 
 
 Io non gli conoscea ; ma ei seguette, 40 
 
 Come suol seguitar per alcun caso, 
 Che 1' un nomare un altro convenette, 
 
 Dicendo : Cianfa dove fia rimaso ? 
 
 Perch' io, acciocche il Duca stesse attento, 
 Mi posi il dito su dal mento al naso. 
 
 Se tu sei or, Lettore, a creder lento 
 
 he was dead. But it seems better both in grammar and sense to under- 
 stand it of Hercules : ' he gave ten blows for one that he got.' In Virgil, 
 Hercules strangles Cacus. 
 
 :i4 ed : see note i. 28 ; and cf. 1. 50. 
 
 "' sotto noi : from which it appears that in this case they did not 
 descend to the bottom of the pit. 
 
 4 " ei seguette: so egli incontra Par. xiii. iiS. See note Purg. 
 xxviii. 37. Danielle to this passage gives several good examples of the 
 idiom. 
 
 42 Lit. ' the other had occasion to name the one. ' 
 
 4:1 Cianfa de' Donati, say the commentators ; but nothing more.
 
 xxv HELL 299 
 
 to believe that which I am going to say, it will be no marvel, 
 for I who saw it hardly allow it to myself. As I was holding 
 my eyelids lifted toward them, lo a serpent with six feet 
 launches itself in front of one, and clings to him all over. 
 With its middle feet it bound his paunch, and with its fore- 
 feet seized his arms, then it bit him on one and the other 
 cheek ; its hind feet it spread out upon his thighs, and put 
 its tail between the two of them, and stretched up over his 
 loins behind. Ivy was never yet so clasped to a tree, as 
 the horrible beast entwined over the other's limbs its own. 
 
 Cio ch' io dirb, non sara maraviglia, 
 
 Che io, che il vidi, appena il mi consento. 
 Com' io tenea levate in lor le ciglia, 
 
 Ed un serpente con sei pie si lancia 50 
 
 Dinanzi all' uno, e tutto a lui s' appiglia. 
 Coi pie di mezzo gli avvinse la pancia, 
 
 E con gli anterior le braccia prese ; 
 
 Poi gli addento e 1' una e 1' altra guancia. 
 Gli diretani alle cosce distese, 
 
 E miseli la coda tr' ambe e due, 
 
 E dietro per le ren su la ritese. 
 Ellera abbarbicata mai non fue 
 
 Ad arbor si, come 1' orribil fiera 
 
 Per 1' altrui membra avviticchio le sue : 60 
 
 411 levate le ciglia : so x. 45 ; but here it merely denotes a steady 
 gaxe. 
 
 511 The descriptions which follow are more or less based on those in 
 Lucan Phars. ix. of what befell Cato's soldiers in the Libyan desert ; but 
 Dante undoubtedly surpasses his master in fertility of horrible invention. 
 serpente. The commentators say that this is the missing Cianfa in 
 serpent form ; but there is no evidence in the text for this view. 
 
 r ' ( ' li must be omitted in modern English. Our forefathers might 
 have said ' put him its tail between,' etc.
 
 3oo HELL CANTO 
 
 Then they stuck together, as if they had been of hot wax, 
 and mingled their hues, nor did the one nor the other appear 
 any more what he had been ; like as in front of the burning 
 proceeds a brown colour upward over the paper, which yet 
 is not black, and the white fades. The two others looked 
 on, and each cried : ' O me, Agnello, how thou dost change ! 
 see how already thou art neither two nor one.' Already 
 
 Poi s' appiccar, come di calda cera 
 
 Fossero stati, e mischiar lor colore ; 
 
 Ne 1' un ne 1' altro gia parea qucl ch' era : 
 Come precede innanzi dall' ardore 
 
 Per lo papiro suso un color bruno. 
 
 Che non e nero ancora, c il bianco more. 
 Gli altri due riguardavano, e ciascuno 
 
 Gridava : O me, Agnel, come ti muti ! 
 
 Vedi che gia non sei ne due ne uno. 
 
 64-06 Q ne wou i(] have supposed that the description of a piece of 
 paper burning was too obvious to be doubted ; but some commentators, 
 noticing that carta is the usual Italian word for paper, and that papyrus 
 pith was used for the wicks of lamps, have rather perversely supposed 
 this to be intended, in the face of the fact that a wick usually burns 
 down and not up. Landino takes this view, and in more recent times 
 Lombardi adopts it ; adducing a passage (which Scart. quotes after him 
 without acknowledgement) on the papyrus from Dante's contemporary 
 Peter Crescentius, a writer on fanning (or rather from Sansovino's 
 translation of him) in support of it. But if he had read a little further 
 he would have seen that Crescentius proceeds, ' Se ne fanno anche 
 carte, nelle quale si scrive ' ; in the original Latin, ' cle papirio etiam 
 sunt cartae in quibus scribitur.' J. della Lana takes it as meaning paper : 
 so Diet. Cruse. Daniello calls it a Gallicism. Benv. is undecided ; 
 candelae, vel intellige de carta bombicinea alba (showing that the 
 meaning had extended from paper made of papyrus], nam . . . papyrus 
 habet ista diversa signiticata. 
 
 (is Agnel de' Brunelleschi, the commentators tell us.
 
 xxv HELL 301 
 
 had the two heads become one, when there appeared to us 
 two figures mixed in one face, where two were lost. From 
 four bands their arms became two ; the thighs with the legs, 
 the belly and the chest turned to members which have never 
 been seen. Every original feature was there undone ; two 
 and none the distorted image appeared ; and so he went his 
 way with slow pace. 
 
 As the lizard, under the mighty lash of the dog-days 
 
 Gia eran li due capi un divenuti, 70 
 
 Quando n' apparver due figure miste 
 In una faccia, ov' eran due perduti. 
 
 Fersi le braccia due di quattro liste ; 
 
 Le cosce con le gambe, il ventre e il casso 
 Divenner membra che non fur mai viste. 
 
 Ogni primaio aspetto ivi era casso : 
 Due e nessun 1' imagine perversa 
 Parea, e tal sen gia con lento passo. 
 
 Come il ramarro, sotto la gran fersa 
 
 79 sqq. j w ill be observed that there are three distinct froms of 
 punishment by means of the serpents. Vanni Fucci is burnt up by the 
 bite of a serpent, and comes to his own shape again ; Agnello blends 
 with a serpent ; and now we shall find man and serpent exchanging 
 shapes. There is no doubt some reason for these variations, and the 
 commentators speculate much on their symbolism ; but in the absence 
 of any knowledge as to the persons introduced, it is impossible that 
 such speculations can be profitable. fersa is variously explained ; the 
 most usual, though not very satisfactory, view being that it is merely/tv-ctf, 
 altered for the rhyme. 'La ferza del sole' is, however, a phrase used 
 by contemporary writers. Others connect it \viihferveo, but it is not 
 easy to see how it can be derived from this. Daniello says the word 
 means ' a lace ' as of bed-curtains or sails, and is used here for the sun's 
 path above the horizon, which is greater in the summer. No trace of 
 this meaning is to be found in Diet. Cruse. No one seems to have 
 suggested that the word is merely the German fei'sc, though this would 
 not give a bad sense.
 
 302 HELL CANTO 
 
 changing hedges, seems a flash of lightning if it crosses the 
 road, so seemed as it came towards the paunches of the 
 other two a serpent inflamed, livid and black as a pepper- 
 corn. And that part whence first is drawn our nourishment, 
 it transfixed in one of them ; then it fell down in front of 
 him stretched out. The one transfixed gazed at it but said 
 nought ; rather with halted feet he began to yawn, just as if 
 drowsiness or fever were attacking him. He kept looking 
 at the serpent and it at him ; the one through the wound 
 and the other through its mouth began to smoke abundantly, 
 and the smoke met. Now let Lucan hold his peace, where 
 he touches on the wretched Sabellus and on Nasidius, and 
 
 Dei di canicular cangiando siepe, 80 
 
 Folgore par, se la via attraversa : 
 Cosi parea, venendo verso 1' epe 
 
 Degli altri due, un serpentello acceso, 
 
 Livido e nero come gran di pepe. 
 E quella parte, donde prima e preso 
 
 Nostro alimento, all' un di lor trafissc ; 
 
 Poi cadde giuso innanzi lui disteso. 
 Lo trafitto il miro, ma nulla disse : 
 
 Anzi coi pie fermati sbadigliava, 
 
 Pur come sonno o febbre 1' assalisse. 90 
 
 Egli il serpente, e quei lui riguardava : 
 
 L' un per la piaga, e 1' altro per la bocca 
 
 Fumavan forte, e il fummo si scontrava. 
 Taccia Lucano omai, la dove tocca 
 
 Del misero Sabello e di Nassidio, 
 
 v< quella parte : the navel. Cf. note Purg. vii. 15. 
 114 tocca di : so vii. 68. 
 
 ' The end of Sabellus and Nasidius is described I'hars. lib. cit. 
 762-804. The former is bitten by a seps and becomes, to borrow a
 
 xxv HELL 303 
 
 let him give heed to hear what is now coming forth. Let Ovid 
 hold his peace about Cadmus and about Arethusa ; for if 
 he turns him into a serpent and her into a fountain in his 
 poem, I do not grudge it him ; for never two natures front 
 to front did he transmute, in such wise that both the forms 
 should be prompt to exchange their matter. At the same 
 time they corresponded with each other after such order 
 that the serpent split its tail into a fork, and the stricken 
 man drew his feet together. The legs with the thighs of 
 
 Ed attenda ad udir quel ch' or si scocca. 
 
 Taccia di Cadmo e d' Aretusa Ovidio : 
 
 Che se quello in serpente, e quella in fonte 
 Converte poetando, io non 1' invidio : 
 
 Che due nature mai a fronte a fronte IOD 
 
 Non trasmuto, si ch' ambo e due le forme 
 A cambiar lor materia fosser pronte. 
 
 Insieme si risposero a tai norme, 
 
 Che il serpente la coda in forca fesse, 
 E il feruto ristrinse insieme 1' orme. 
 
 Le gambe con le cosce seco stesse 
 
 phrase from Poe, ' a mass of loathsome putrescence ' ; the latter, struck 
 by a prester, swells up till his corslet bursts, and dies miserably. 
 
 97 The change of Cadmus and Harmonia into snakes (from which 
 Dante has borrowed several touches in the following description) is 
 related Ov. Met. iv. 576-603. The tale of Arethusa is in the following 
 book, 632 sqq. Here the ' form ' = almost the personal identity; the 
 ' matter ' is the body in which it resides. Cf. Purg. xxv. 88 sqq. S. T. 
 i. ( ). 66. A. 2 : Materia, secundum id quod est, est in potentia ad 
 for mam ; oportet ergo quod materia secundum se considerata sit in 
 potentia ad formam omnium illorum quorum est materia communis. 
 Per imam autem formam non fit in actu, nisi quantum ad illam formam ; 
 remanet ergo in potentia quantum ad onmes alias formas. 
 
 IDS, ion The first insieme is of time, the second of place. orme : lit. 
 footprints. 
 
 106 stesse: when the feet had been brought together, the fusion of 
 the legs followed automatically.
 
 304 HELL CANTO 
 
 themselves stuck so to each other, that shortly the joining 
 made no mark that could be seen. The split tail took the 
 shape which was lost in the other, and its skin grew soft and 
 the other's hard. I saw the arms draw in at the armpits, and 
 the two feet of the beast that were short lengthen out in 
 proportion as those shortened. Afterwards the hind feet, 
 twisted together, became the member which man conceals, 
 and the wretch from his had two such produced. While 
 the smoke was veiling the one and the other with a new 
 tint, and causing the hair to grow upward over the one 
 part, and stripping it off from the other, the one lifted him- 
 self and the other fell down, not therefore distorting the 
 
 S' appiccar si, che in poco la giuntura 
 Non facea segno alcun che si paresse. 
 
 Togliea la coda fessa la figura 
 
 Che si perdeva la, e la sua pelle no 
 
 Si facea molle, e quella di la dura. 
 
 lo vidi entrar le braccia per 1' ascelle, 
 E i due pie della fiera, ch' eran corti, 
 Tanto allungar, quanto accorciavan quelle. 
 
 Poscia li pie di retro, insieme attorti, 
 
 Diventaron lo membro che 1' uom cela, 
 E il misero del suo n' avea due porti. 
 
 Mentre che il fummo 1' uno e 1' altro vela 
 Di color nuovo, e genera il pel suso 
 Per 1' una parte, e dall' altra il dipela, c 120 
 
 I / un si levo, e 1' altro cadde giuso, 
 
 c e per I altra Cg. ; fartc da /' altra Cass.; partc c i 1 altro 2. 
 
 117 ne : i.e. lei^s. 
 lls Mentre with indie, like Lat. duin.
 
 xxv HELL 305 
 
 evil lamps, below which each was exchanging snouts. He 
 that was upright drew his up towards the temples, and of 
 the excess of material which came into that part, issued the 
 ears from the smooth cheeks ; that which did not run to the 
 back, but stayed, of that surplus made a nose to the face, 
 and thickened the lips so much as was fitting. He that 
 was prostrate shoots his snout forward, and draws in his ears 
 by his head, as the snail does its horns ; and his tongue 
 which he had before united and quick to speak, is split ; and 
 the forked one in the other is closed ; and the smoke is 
 stayed. The soul which was become a beast flies hissing 
 through the vale, and the other after him in his talk sputters. 
 
 Non torcendo pero le lucerne empie, 
 Sotto le quai ciascun cambiava muso. 
 
 Quel ch' era dritto, il trasse ver le tempie, 
 E di troppa materia che in la venne, 
 Uscir gli orecchi delle gote scempie : 
 
 Gib che non corse in dietro e si ritenne, 
 Di quel soperchio fe naso alia faccia, 
 E le labbra ingrosso quanto convenne. 
 
 Quel che giacea il muso innanzi caccia, 130 
 
 E gli orecchi ritira per la testa, 
 Come face le corna la lumaccia : 
 
 E la lingua, che avea unita e presta 
 Prima a parlar, si fende, e la forcuta 
 Nell' altro si richiude, e il fummo resta. 
 
 L' anima, ch' era fiera divenuta, 
 Si fuggi sufolando per la valle, 
 E 1' altro dietro a lui parlando sputa. 
 
 '- The eyes are the only feature which remains unaltered. torcendo : 
 so vi. 91. 
 
 ] - 4 il : sc. nniso, i.e. the nose and mouth, or part below the eyes. 
 :is sputa: not, I think, as Witte renders, 'spits after him,' but 
 X
 
 306 HELL CANTO 
 
 Afterwards he turned on him his newly-made shoulders, 
 and said to the other : ' I will that Buoso run, as I did, 
 groveling along this path.' 
 
 Thus did I see the seventh ballasting change and shift ; 
 and here let the strangeness be my excuse if my pen strays a 
 little. And albeit that my eyes were confused somewhat, 
 and my mind dismayed, those could not escape so hidden 
 
 Poscia gli volse le novelle spalle, 
 
 E disse all' altro : lo vo' che Buoso corra, 140 
 Com' ho fatt' io, carpon, per questo calle. 
 
 Cos! vid' io la settima zavorra 
 
 Mutare e trasmutare ; e qui mi scusi 
 La novita, se fior la penna abborra. d 
 
 Ed avvegnache gli occhi miei confusi 
 Fossero alquanto, e 1' ammo smagato, 
 Non poter quei fuggirsi tanto chiusi, 
 
 d la vita all. 2 ; la lingua Aid. 
 
 merely to indicate that he has not yet got the full use of his human 
 mouth. Benv. appears to take it as an imperative ; as though he were 
 mockingly challenging his metamorphosed companion to perform an act 
 only possible to a man. 
 
 140 Buoso degli Abati (P. di Dante) or de' Donati (Benv. ). Whichever 
 he may have been, nothing further is known of him. 
 
 u - zavorra, Lat. suburra, coarse sand or gravel used for ballast. 
 The use of the word is probably suggested by the fact that Dante evi- 
 dently imagines the floor of this bolgia to be gravelly, like the Libyan 
 desert, which he has had in his mind throughout. The term thus occurs 
 to him as a good one to denote the worthless occupants of the place. 
 
 144 There is some little uncertainty as to the exact meaning of fior 
 and abborra ; but it seems best to take the former as in .\\.\iv. 26 ; it 
 would seem a recognised use ; ami regard the latter as the Lat. obcrrat. 
 The abborre of Par. xxvi. 73 (though the context is somewhat similar, 
 so far as the following lines go) must be considered a different word 
 altogether, from abliorrcrc. Dante is apologising possibly for certain 
 supposed crudities of expression not only in this Canto, but elsewhere.
 
 xxv HELL 307 
 
 that I did not mark Puccio Sciancato well ; and he it was 
 who alone of the three companions that came first, was not 
 changed ; the other one was he whom thou, Gaville, be- 
 wailest. 
 
 Ch' io non scorgessi ben Puccio Sciancato : 
 Ed era quei che sol, dei tre compagni 
 Che venner prima, non era mutato : 150 
 
 L' altro era quel che tu, Gaville, piagni. 
 
 148 Puccio Sciancato (the Lame) cle' Galigai. 
 
 149, 150 Agnello having been blended with a serpent, and Buoso 
 metamorphosed into one. 
 
 151 This is said to be one Francesco Guercio (the Squinter) de 
 Cavalcanti. He was killed by some people of Gaville near Florence, 
 and in revenge his family made a raid upon the place and slew many. 
 For the form of expression cf. Purg. vii. 136.
 
 CANTO XXVI 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They come to the next pit, and find flames moved therein, in which 
 are enwrapped those who had given evil counsel. They speak 
 with the spirit of Ulysses, who recounts to them the manner of 
 his end. 
 
 REJOICE, Florence, since them art so great that over sea 
 and over earth thou beatest thy wings, and through Hell is 
 thy name spread. Among the robbers found I five such, 
 thy citizens, whence to me comes shame, and thou dost not 
 thence rise to great honour. But if close upon the morn one 
 
 GODI, Fiorenza, poi che sei si grande, 
 Che per mare e per terra batti 1' ali, 
 E per 1' inferno il tuo nome si spande. 
 
 Tra li ladron trovai cinque cotali 
 
 Tuoi cittadini, onde mi vien vergogna, 
 E tu in grande onranza non ne sali. 
 
 Ma se presso al mattin del ver si sogna, 
 
 4 cinque : Cianfa, Agnello, Buoso, Puccio, Francesco ; all belong- 
 ing to families of distinction, and of various parties. 
 
 7 The belief that morning dreams are true is too well known to 
 require much illustration. Perhaps the most familiar allusion to it is 
 Horace's ' Post mediam noctem visus, cum somnia vera ' (i -Sat. x. 33). 
 Aristotle, though in the Parva Naturalia he discusses the question of 
 divination by dreams, says nothing on this point. An explanation of 
 the phenomenon is indicated Purg. ix. 16-18. Here of course the 
 point of its introduction is merely to give force to the words which 
 follow : ' my forecast is as certain as a morning dream.'
 
 CANTO xxvi HELL 309 
 
 dreams of the truth, thou wilt be aware within a little while 
 of that which Prato, not to name others, is wishing thee. 
 And if it were already, it would not be betimes ; so might 
 it be, since verily it has to be ! for it will be more grievous 
 to me, the more I wait. 
 
 We departed, and up over the stairs which the slabs had 
 before made for us to descend, my Master mounted again, 
 
 Tu sentirai di qua da picciol tempo 
 
 Di quel che Prato, non ch' altri, t' agogna. 
 E se gia fosse, non saria per tempo. 10 
 
 Cos! foss' ei, da che pure esser dee ; 
 
 Che piu mi gravera, com' piu m' attempo. 
 Noi ci partimmo, e su per le scalee, 
 
 Che n' avean fatte i borni a scender pria, a 
 
 a fatti i borni Gg. Cass. 12345; fatto borni Land.; Che il biiior 
 n aveaf. sc. Barg. 
 
 8 di qua da picciol tempo : lit. 'on this side of a little time.' 
 
 9 The allusion is not very clear. The little city of Prato, between 
 Florence and Pistoia, seems to have been, save for a short quarrel over 
 an extradition question in 1293, generally in sympathy with its powerful 
 neighbour. Dante may mean ' even Prato, generally your friend, is 
 now desiring your hurt.' This appears to be P. di Dante's interpreta- 
 tion. Many commentators, ancient and modern, think that by the 
 name of his native town the Cardinal Nicolas of Prato is indicated. 
 He was the right-hand man of Benedict XL, and was sent by him in 
 1304 to reconcile the factions in Tuscany; but he was known to have 
 Ghibeline sympathies, and his efforts were defeated by the intrigues of 
 the Black Guelfs, who stirred up tumults against him in various places, 
 and especially in his own city of Prato. After three months' futile 
 endeavours, he laid Florence under an interdict and departed. Various 
 disasters which followed, such as the fall of the Ponte alia Carraja, a 
 great fire, etc., were regarded as the effect of the Church's censure. See 
 Villani viii. 69-71. 
 
 14 borni : it is curious that many of the early commentators, including 
 Benv., read u' avea fatti borni, and take the word as ' dim-sighted ' =
 
 310 HELL CANTO 
 
 and drew me. And pursuing our solitary way among the 
 splinters and among the rocks of the crag, the foot without 
 the hand could not clear itself. Then I grieved, and now I 
 grieve afresh when I divert any thought to that which I saw, 
 and I bridle my wit more than I am wont so that it run not 
 where virtue does not guide it ; so that if a lucky star or 
 aught better have given me the good, I may not grudge it 
 to myself. In such numbers as the countryman who is 
 
 Rimontb il mio Maestro, e trasse mee. b 
 E proseguendo la solinga via 
 
 Tra le schegge e trai rocchi dello scoglio, 
 
 Lo pie senza la man non si spedia. 
 Allor mi dolsi, ed ora mi ridoglio, 
 
 Quand' io drizzo la mente a cio ch' io vidi ; 20 
 
 E piu Io ingegno affreno ch' io non soglio, 
 Perche non corra, che virtu nol guidi ; 
 
 Si che se Stella buona, o miglior cosa 
 
 M' ha dato il ben, ch' io stesso nol m' invidi. 
 Quante il villan, ch' al poggio si riposa, c 
 
 b // Dnca mio Aid. IV. 
 c Qiiaiuiel v. Gg. (?) Cass. 2. 
 
 Fr. borgne. Its real meaning may be gathered from the modern Fr. 
 borne, ' a stone placed at the angle of a piece of land, or at a street 
 corner.' Mountaineers nowadays use the German Flatten to denote 
 rocks of this kind. 
 
 "'-' che may be the general relative here (see i. 3) ; but perhaps it is 
 better to understand 'may not run so as not to be guided by virtue.' It 
 is not easy to see why this aspiration is made specially here ; but it will 
 be observed that in the division which they are about reaching, those 
 who are suffering are not, like most of the tenants of Malebolge, sinners 
 of a sordid and mean type, but men of great talents and high renown in 
 the world, who had abused their gifts of intellect. 
 
 - 4 Here che appears to be ' pleonastic.'
 
 xxvi HELL 311 
 
 resting on the hillside, at the season when he who illumines 
 the world keeps his face hidden from us the least, when 
 the fly gives place to the gnat, sees fireflies below through- 
 out the valley, perhaps in the place where he gathers his 
 grapes and ploughs : with so many flames was all the eighth 
 pit shining according as I perceived so soon as I was at the 
 point where the bottom came into view. And as he who 
 avenged himself by means of the bears saw the chariot of 
 Elijah at its departing when the horses erect toward heaven 
 lifted themselves for he could not so follow it with his 
 eyes, as to see aught else but the flame alone rising on high 
 like a cloud, so was each moving through the gully of the 
 
 Nel tempo che colui che il mondo schiara 
 
 La faccia sua a noi tien meno ascosa, 
 Come la mosca cede alia zenzara, 
 
 Vede lucciole giu per la vallea, 
 
 Forse cola dove vendemmia ed ara : 30 
 
 Di tante fiamme tutta risplendea 
 
 L' ottava bolgia, si com' io m' accorsi, 
 
 Tosto ch' io fui la 've il fondo parea. 
 E qual colui che si vengio con gli orsi, 
 
 Vide il carro d' Elia al dipartire, 
 
 Quando i cavalli al ciclo erti levorsi ; 
 Che nol potea si con gli occhi seguire, 
 
 Ch' ei vedesse altro che la fiamma sola, 
 
 Si come nuvoletta, in su salire : 
 Tal si movea ciascuna per la gola 40 
 
 -8, '27 \vhen the days are longest. 
 
 4 " tal. Note the two relatives to the one antecedent, qual in I. 34 
 and che in 1. 41 ; and cf. i. 4, 7 (where see note).
 
 312 HELL CANTO 
 
 foss, that none displays its theft, and every flame steals away 
 a sinner. I was standing upon the bridge, having risen up 
 to look, so that, if I had not taken hold of a crag, I should 
 have fallen down without being pushed. And the Leader 
 who saw me thus intent said : ' Within the fires are the 
 spirits; each is swathed of that wherewith he is kindled.' 
 ' My Master,' I answered, ' through hearing thee I am more 
 sure ; but already I was advised that so it was, and already 
 I was meaning to say to thee, who is in that fire, which 
 comes so divided at the top that it seems to rise from the 
 pyre where Eteocles was placed with his brother ? ' He 
 answered me : ' Therewithin are tormented Ulysses and 
 
 Del fosso, che nessuna mostra il furto, 
 
 Ed ogni fiamma un peccatore invola. 
 lo stava sopra il ponte a veder surto, 
 
 Si che, s' io non avessi un ronchion preso, 
 
 Caduto sarei giii senza esser urto. 
 E il Duca, che mi vide tanto atteso, 
 
 Disse : Dentro dai fochi son gli spirti : 
 
 Ciascun si fascia di quel ch' egli e inceso. 
 Maestro mio, rispos' io, per udirti 
 
 Son io piu certo ; ma gia. m' era avviso 50 
 
 Che cosi fusse, e gia voleva dirti : 
 Chi e in quel foco, che vien si diviso 
 
 Di sopra, che par surger della pira, 
 
 Ov' Etebcle col fratel fu miso ? 
 Risposemi : La entro si martira 
 
 48 inceso : perhaps with allusion to James iii. 6 : Lingua ignis est ; 
 these ' evil counsellors ' having sinned with the tongue. 
 
 54 Stat. Theb. xii. 431, 432: 
 
 exundant diviso vcrtice flammae 
 Alternosque apices abrupta luce coruscant. 
 
 55 martira : a good instance of an idiom frequent in early Italian,
 
 xxvi HELL 313 
 
 Diomede, and thus do they go together in their punishment 
 as in their wrath ; and within their flame is lamented the 
 ambush of the horse which made the breach whence issued 
 the noble seed of the Romans. Within there is bewailed 
 the art through which dead Deidamia yet has woe for 
 Achilles, and there is punishment borne for the Palladium.' 
 
 Ulisse e Diomede, e cosi insieme 
 Alia vendetta vanno come all' ira : 
 
 E dentro dalla lor fiamma si geme 
 L' aguato del caval, che fe la porta 
 Ond' usci dei Romani il gentil seme. 60 
 
 Piangevisi entro 1' arte, per che morta 
 Deidamia ancor si duol d' Achille, 
 E del Palladio pena vi si porta. 
 
 and not unknown in other Romance languages ; two nouns (even in rare 
 cases, as here, proper names) coupled by e and followed by a verb in the 
 singular. Conversely, nouns coupled by con will often be found to take 
 the plural verb. See Diez iii. 273, 274. 
 
 60 Aeneas and his followers. Virgil does not say that they issued 
 from the breach by which the horse entered ; indeed from Aen. ii. 716 
 it would appear that they left the city by various ways. All that is 
 meant here is that the entry of the horse was the cause of their 
 departure. 
 
 62 Deidamia, daughter of Lycomedes, king of Scyros, with whom 
 Achilles, disguised in woman's clothes, was left by his mother, that he 
 might not go to Troy. The craft of Ulysses penetrated the disguise, 
 and his persuasions induced Achilles to join the other chiefs. See 
 Statins' Achilleis. 
 
 63 Aen. ii. 165 : Impius ex quo 
 
 Tydides sed enim, scelerumque inventor Ulixes, 
 Fatale aggressi sacrato avellere templo 
 Palladium, etc. 
 
 The intrigue of Ulysses and Diomede with Antcnor in regard to the 
 Palladium (for which the last gives his name to a division of the lowest 
 circle of Hell) is told at great length by Guido dalle Colonne ; from
 
 314 HELL CANTO 
 
 ' If they are able to speak within those flashes,' said I, 
 ' Master, I pray thee much, and I pray again that the prayer 
 have the strength of a thousand, that thou make me not 
 refusal of waiting until the horned flame come here ; thou 
 seest how of my desire I lean toward it.' And he to me : 
 ' Thy prayer is worthy of much praise, and I therefore 
 accept it ; but see that thy tongue hold itself back. Leave 
 talking to me, for I have conceived that which thou dost 
 wish ; since they would be shy perchance, seeing that they 
 were Greeks, of thy speech.' After the flame was come 
 
 S' ei posson dentro da quelle faville 
 
 Parlar, diss' io, Maestro, assai ten prego 
 E riprego, che il prego vaglia mille, 
 
 Che non mi facci dell' attender nego, 
 Finche la fiamma cornuta qua vegna : 
 Vedi che del disio ver lei mi piego. 
 
 Ed egli a me : La tua preghiera e degna 70 
 
 Di molta lode, ed io pero 1' accetto ; 
 Ma fa che la tua lingua si sostegna. 
 
 Lascia parlare a me : ch' io ho concetto 
 Cio che tu vuoi : ch' ei sarebbero schivi, 
 Perch' ei fur Greci, forse del tuo detto. 
 
 Poiche la fiamma fu venuta quivi, 
 
 whose account (or that of his authority, Dictys Cretensis), rather than 
 from Virgil's, Dante would seem to have formed his idea of the heroes of 
 the Trojan war. 
 
 74, 75 \yijy should they object to being addressed by the Tuscan 
 Dante more than by the Lombard Virgil ? asks Benvenuto ; and decides 
 that it was because Virgil knew Greek though he does not appear to 
 have spoken it in this case and had written of Greek heroes. It will 
 be noticed that this is the only occasion on which they hold any converse 
 with a person belonging to a period earlier than the establishment of 
 the Roman Empire, unless we reckon the Centaurs of Canto xii.
 
 xxvi HELL 315 
 
 there where it seemed to my Leader time and place, I 
 heard him speak in this fashion : ' O ye who are two within 
 one fire, if I merited of you while I lived, if I merited of 
 you much or little, when in the world I wrote my lofty 
 verses, do not move, but let one of you say where, having 
 lost himself, he came to die.' The greater horn of the 
 ancient flame began to shake and murmur, just like one which 
 a wind is disturbing. Then working its top to and fro, as 
 it were a tongue to speak, it cast a voice abroad and said : 
 
 Dove parve al mio Duca tempo e loco, 
 In questa forma lui parlare audivi : 
 
 O voi, che siete due dentro ad un foco, 
 
 S' io meritai di voi mentre ch' io vissi, 80 
 
 S' io meritai di voi assai o poco, 
 
 Quando nel mondo gli alti versi scrissi, 
 Non vi movete ; ma 1' un di voi dica 
 Dove per lui perduto a morir gissi. 
 
 Lo maggior corno della fiamma antica 
 Comincib a crollarsi mormorando, 
 Pur come quella cui vento affatica. 
 
 Indi la cima qua e la menando, 
 
 Come fosse la lingua che parlasse, 
 
 Gitto voce di fuori, e disse : Quando 90 
 
 84 Literally, ' where it was by him, when lost, gone to death. ' 
 
 85 Io maggior corno. Guido dalle Colonne gives, after Dares, a full 
 account of the personal appearance of the Greek chiefs ; but of these 
 two it is Diomede whose stature he insists upon. 
 
 ' Whence Dante derived the idea of Ulysses' end which he has 
 expanded into the magnificent passage which follows remains obscure. 
 The regular medieval authorities on the subject give the story, to which 
 Horace alludes, of his meeting his death at the hands of his own son 
 Telegonus. Benvenuto concludes that he invented it, as a picture of 
 what a brave man's end should be. To us it is interesting as having
 
 3!6 HELL CANTO 
 
 'When I departed from Circe, who had drawn me away 
 more than a year there hard by Gaeta, before that Aeneas 
 named it so, neither the sweetness of my son, nor my affec- 
 tion for my old father, nor the due love which ought to have 
 made Penelope happy, could conquer within me the ardour 
 which I had to become experienced in the world, and in the 
 vices of men and in their goodness ; but I set me forth upon 
 
 Mi diparti' da Circe, che sottrasse 
 
 Me piu d' un anno la presso a Gaeta, 
 
 Prima che si Enea la nominasse ; 
 Ne dolcezza di figlio, ne la pieta 
 
 Del vecchio padre, ne il debito am ore, 
 
 Lo qual dovea Penelope far lieta, 
 Vincer poter dentro da me 1' ardore 
 
 Ch' i' ebbi a divenir del mondo esperto, 
 
 E degli vizii umani e del valore : 
 Ma misi me per 1' alto mare aperto 100 
 
 suggested a theme to Lord Tennyson. The germ of it may perhaps be 
 looked for in the well-known passage of the Odyssey xi. 134, in which 
 Tiresias prophesies for Ulysses 'a death from the sea.' A M.S. note of 
 about 1600 in my copy of the Sessa edn. of 1578 takes a similar view, 
 defending Dante from the charge of speaking ' tanto a sproposito come 
 veggasi a molti.' The writer also refers to Tac. Germ. ch. I, as show- 
 ing a widespread belief in Ulysses' later journey. Though Dante knew 
 little or no Greek, there were clearly old translations, now lost, of Greek 
 works, to which he had access ; and the Odyssey was undoubtedly very 
 widely known in the I3th century, for we find evidence of its study 
 in early Irish literature no less than in the ' Thousand and One Nights.' 
 
 91 If this is to be taken literally, it would imply that Ulysses never 
 went home at all. But he may mean that the desire of wandering took 
 him then, and that he gratified it in later years. It would seem from 
 1. 106 that a long period is supposed to pass between his leaving Circe 
 and his last voyage. 
 
 93 See Aen. vii. I sqq.
 
 xxvi HELL 317 
 
 the open deep sea lonely with one bark, and with that little 
 company, by the which I was not deserted. The one coast 
 and the other I saw as far as Spain, even to Morocco, and 
 the isle of the Sards, and the others which that sea washes 
 round about. I and my companions were old and slow 
 when we came to that narrow passage where Hercules 
 marked his backward looks, to the end that man should not 
 set himself further ; on the right hand I left Seville, on the 
 other I had already left Ceuta. O brothers, I said, who 
 through a hundred thousand perils are come to the West, to 
 this waking-time of our senses so little as it is which our 
 
 Sol con un legno e con quella compagna 
 
 Picciola, dalla qual non fui deserto. 
 U un lito e 1' altro vidi infin la Spagna, 
 
 Fin nel Morrocco, e 1' isola dei Sardi, 
 
 E 1' altre che quel mare intorno bagna. 
 lo e i compagni eravam vecchi e tardi, 
 
 Quando venimmo a quella foce stretta, 
 
 Ov' Ercole segno li suoi riguardi, 
 Acciocche 1' uom piu oltre non si metta : 
 
 Dalla man destra mi lasciai Sibilia, no 
 
 Dall' altra gia m' avea lasciata Setta. 
 O frati, dissi, che per cento milia 
 
 Perigli siete giunti all' occidente, 
 
 A questa tanto picciola vigilia 
 Dei nostri sensi, ch' e del rimanente, d 
 
 d vostri Aid. W. 
 
 108 Others take riguardi as 'things to call attention,' i.e. that here 
 was the limit of the habitable world. Others say that the word is used 
 in Romagna for ' boundaries.' 
 
 1:1 ch' e del rimanente : lit. ' which belongs to your remnant. '
 
 3i8 HELL CANTO 
 
 remaining life possesses, desire not to deny the experience, 
 in wake of the sun, of the unpeopled world. Consider your 
 begetting ; ye were not made to live as brutes, but to 
 follow virtue and knowledge. I made my fellows with this 
 short speech so keen for the journey, that hardly thereafter 
 should I have held them back. And, our poop turned 
 toward the sunrise, we made of our oars wings to our mad 
 flight, ever bearing to the left side. All the stars of the 
 other pole did the night already see, and our own so low 
 that it did not rise forth of the ocean floor. Five times 
 kindled, and as often put out had been the light below the 
 
 Non vogliate negar 1' esperienza, 
 Diretro al sol, del mondo senza gente. 
 
 Considerate la vostra semenza : 
 
 Fatti non foste a viver come bruti, 
 
 Ma per seguir virtute e conoscenza. 120 
 
 Li miei compagni fee' io si acuti, 
 
 Con questa orazion picciola, al cammino, 
 Che appena poscia gli avrei ritenuti. 
 
 E, volta nostra poppa nel mattino, 
 Dei remi facemmo ali al folle volo, 
 Sempre acquistando dal lato mancino. 
 
 Tutte le stelle gia dell' altro polo 
 
 Vedea la notte, e il nostro tanto basso, 
 Che non surgeva fuor del marin suolo. 
 
 Cinque volte racceso, e tante casso 130 
 
 l " 5 folle volo : so varco folle, Par. xxvii. 82, 83. 
 
 130 p*i vc months had passed. From the Pillars of Hercules to the 
 Mountain of Purgatory (if, as most commentators hold, we must under- 
 stand it to be that which Ulysses sighted) would represent one-fourth of 
 the circumference of the earth, or, according to Dante's reckoning, some- 
 thing less than 5000 miles. This would make their daily course about 
 33 miles.
 
 xxvi HELL 319 
 
 moon since we entered upon the passage of the deep, when 
 there appeared to us a mountain, dun through its distance, 
 and it seemed to me high in such measure as none had 
 been seen by us. We were blithe, but soon it turned to 
 wailing, for from the new land a whirlwind had birth, and 
 smote the foremost angle of our vessel. Three times it 
 caused it to whirl round with all the waves, at the fourth it 
 made the poop lift on high, and the prow go downward, as 
 it pleased Another, even till the sea had closed again 
 over us.' 
 
 Lo lume era di sotto dalla luna, 
 Poi ch' entrati eravam nell' alto passo, 
 Quando n' apparve una montagna bruna 
 Per la distanza, e parvemi alta tanto, 
 Quanto veduta non n'aveva alcuna. 
 Noi ci allegrammo, e tosto torno in pianto ; 
 Che dalla nuova terra un turbo nacque, 
 E percosse del legno il primo canto. 
 Tre volte il fe' girar con tutte 1' acque, 
 
 Alia quarta levar la poppa in suso, 140 
 
 E la prora ire in giu, com' altrui piacque, 
 Infin che il mar fu sopra noi richiuso. 
 
 131 Or possibly ' on the lower side of the moon,' the side toward the 
 earth. 
 
 1;):i The notion of a great mountain in the Ocean, west of Gibraltar, 
 is very ancient, probably based on early reports of Tenerifte. See the 
 description of 'Atlas' in Pliny, Hist. Nat. v. I. 
 
 141 com' altrui piacque : so Purg. i. 133. As has been elsewhere 
 remarked, the name of God is never uttered in Hell, save in blasphemy.
 
 CANTO XXVII 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 Another spirit accosts them out of its flame, and enquires for news of 
 Romagna. The author replies, and the spirit reveals himself for 
 the Count of Montefeltro, and relates how he had been brought to 
 that pass. 
 
 ALREADY was the flame erect on high and at rest for saying 
 no more, and already was going its way from us, with the 
 leave of the sweet Poet ; when another which was coming 
 behind it made us turn our eyes towards its top by reason 
 of a confused sound which issued forth from it. As the 
 Sicilian bull that bellowed first with the plaint of him (and 
 
 GIA era dritta in su la fiamma e queta, 
 Per non dir piii, e gia da noi sen gia 
 Con la licenza del dolce Poeta ; 
 
 Quando un' altra, che dietro a lei venia, 
 Ne fece volger gli occhi alia sua cima, 
 Per un confuso suon che fuor n' uscia. 
 
 Come il bue Cicilian che mugghio prima 
 Col pianto di colui (e cio fu dritto) 
 
 y con la licenza : the actual words are given presently. 
 
 7 The story of the brazen bull which Perillus made for Phalaris, 
 tyrant of Syracuse, to roast criminals in, and which was first tested on 
 the person of the artificer himself, is a commonplace of classical anti- 
 quity.
 
 CANTO xxvii HELL 321 
 
 that was just) who had moulded it with his file, used to 
 bellow with the voice of the tormented one, so that albeit it 
 was of brass it still appeared pierced through with the pain 
 so through not having at the first a way nor opening, the 
 grim words were turned in the fire into its language. But 
 after that they had taken their course up through the point, 
 giving to it in their passage that vibration which a tongue 
 had given, we heard say : ' O thou to whom I address my 
 voice, and who but now spakest Lombard, saying, Now go 
 
 Che 1' avea temperate con sua lima, 
 Mugghiava con la voce dell' afflitto, 10 
 
 Si che, con tutto ch' ei fosse di rame, 
 
 Pure e' pareva dal dolor trafitto : 
 Cosi per non aver via ne forame 
 
 Dal principio, nel fuoco in suo linguaggio a 
 
 Si convertivan le parole grame. 
 Ma poscia ch' ebber colto lor viaggio 
 
 Su per la punta, dandole qucl guizzo 
 
 Che dato avea la lingua in lor passaggio, 
 Udimmo dire : O tu, a cui io drizzo 
 
 La voce, e che parlavi mo Lombardo, 20 
 
 a delfoco Gg. Cass. 2 Aid. 
 
 14 dal principio nel fuoco : Witte renders ' from their origin in the 
 fire.' But it seems best to follow Benvenuto's ' idest intra flarnmam 
 praedictam,' connecting fuoco closely with suo linguaggio, i.e. the 
 roaring of the flame. It is, however, very doubtful whether the right 
 reading be not del fuoco. This has, if anything, superior MS. authority, 
 and is adopted by many (though not, as Scartazzini says, 'quasi tutti ') 
 of the early commentators and editors, being also perhaps ' lectio 
 difficilior. ' If that reading be taken, we must understand principio as 
 in Par. ii. 71, 'the formative principle.' The words while they were 
 passing through the fire were subject to the operation of the ' form ' of 
 tire, and only perceptible as its language. 
 
 V
 
 322 HELL CANTO 
 
 thy way, I urge thee no more though I be come haply 
 somewhat late, let it not irk thee to stay to talk with me ; 
 thou seest that it irks not me, and I am on fire. If thou 
 but now hast fallen into this blind world from that sweet 
 Latin land whence I bring all my sin, tell me if the men of 
 Romagna have peace or war ; for I was of the hill-country 
 
 Dicendo : Issa ten va, piu non t' adizzo : b 
 Perch' io sia giunto forse alquanto tardo, 
 Non t' incresoi restare a parlar meco : 
 Vedi che non incresce a me, ed ardo. 
 Se tu pur mo in questo mondo cieco 
 Caduto sei di quella dolce terra 
 Latina, ond' io mia colpa tutta reco, 
 Dimmi se i Romagnuoli han pace, o guerra ; 
 Ch' io fui del monti la intra Urbino 
 
 b Istra Gg. 1 24 ; Ista Cass. 3 Aid. 
 
 21 These are the words of Virgil dismissing Ulysses, and are appro- 
 priately couched, if we may believe the commentators, in the Lombard 
 dialect. But the readings are uncertain. The great majority of MSS. 
 have istra, which I venture to think Dr. Moore is somewhat hasty in 
 dismissing as 'a word without any meaning at all.' Is it certain that 
 the Teutonic invaders of North Italy, when they began to talk Latin, 
 did not confuse extra and ultra ? On the other hand, it is by no 
 means sure that issa is peculiarly Lombardic. In xxiii. 7 Dante uses it 
 apparently as a word familiar to all readers ; and in Purg. xxiv. 55 it 
 is put into the mouth of a man of Lucca. It may be added that adizzo 
 is undoubtedly of Teutonic origin. Mo is said to be in use in Romagna. 
 It is thrice put into the mouth of the present speaker (11. 20, 25, 109), 
 and once (xxxiii. 136) into that of another Romagnole ; and it may be 
 noted that Dante himself uses it oftener in the Paradise, written during 
 and after his stay in Romagna and the adjacent tract of Tuscany, than 
 in all the rest of the poem. In Inf. and Purg. it is generally, though 
 not always, found in the combination///;- /no. 
 
 " J The speaker is Guy, Count of Montefeltro, the hill-country about 
 the part where Tuscany, Romagna, and the Marches meet, so called
 
 xxvii HELL 323 
 
 there between Urbino and the ridge from which Tiber is 
 E il giogo di che il Tever si disserra. 30 
 
 from Mons Feretrus, the ancient name of the present San Leo, which 
 is still preserved in the affix ' Feltria ' which the names of some of the 
 towns bear. He is mentioned with praise (for his social qualities) in 
 Conv. iv. 28. The politics of Romagna, in which he took a prominent 
 part in the latter half of the I3th century, are terribly involved, 
 and Villani does not give us much help. This arises, doubtless, in the 
 first place, from the fact that no city of that province held a commanding 
 position like that of Florence in Tuscany. Witte thinks, too, that the 
 comparative weakness of the commons in the cities left matters more in 
 the hands of the great nobles ; who for their part did not scruple to 
 change sides on the main question as suited their interests at the 
 moment. Then again the Popes laid claims to an authority in Romagna 
 of a much more immediate kind than any which they ventured to assert 
 in Tuscany, thus estranging their own supporters, and weakening the 
 Guelf principle, which had quite as much to do with a desire for local 
 autonomy as with any enthusiasm in the cause of the Church. Dante 
 recurs to the subject again in Purg. xiv. .An account, as clear as is 
 consistent with compression, will be found in the Historical Sketch given 
 by Philalethes at the end of the present Canto. The chief facts in 
 Guide's history, as Villani gives them, are as follows. In 1274 he was 
 summoned by the Lambertazzi, or Ghibelines of Bologna, who had just 
 been expelled, to take command of them (vii. 44). In 1282 he held 
 Forli against the Papal party, defeating Martin IV.'s nominee the 
 Count of Romagna, a Frenchman whom Villani calls Gianni de Pa, 
 others John of Appia ; only to be turned out in the following year by 
 the inhabitants, who seem to have been bought over by the other 
 side (ib. 80-82). In 1286 he submitted to Honorius IV., and was 
 banished to Piedmont (ib. 108) ; and about three years later returned 
 from exile (for which he was excommunicated) at the summons of the 
 Ghibelines of Pisa, where his arrival was followed by the murder of 
 Count Ugolino, of which we shall hear more (ib. 128). Under his 
 leadership the Pisans gained some successes against the Florentines, 
 but on peace being made between the cities in 1293 he was dismissed 
 (viii. 2). Some time between this date and 1298 he joined the Fran- 
 ciscan order, and in the latter year he gave the counsel to Boniface 
 which is referred to below. He must have died soon after. His son 
 Buonconte was killed at the battle of Campaldino, June 1289, when 
 fighting on the Ghibeline side (Purg. v. ). 
 30 Called gran giogo, Purg. v. 116.
 
 324 HELL CANTO 
 
 unlocked.' I was still listening and bent downward, when 
 my Leader touched me on the side, saying : ' Speak thou, 
 this one is Latin.' And I, who had already my answer at 
 hand, without delay began to speak : ' O soul that art hidden 
 down there, thy Romagna is not and never was without war 
 in the hearts of its tyrants, but now I left none there declared. 
 Ravenna stands as she has stood many years ; the eagle of 
 Polenta so broods there that it covers Cervia with its 
 pinions. The land which made erewhile the long trial, and 
 
 lo era ingiuso ancora attento e chino, 
 Quando il mio Duca mi tentb di costa, 
 Dicendo : Parla tu, questi e Latino. 
 
 Ed io ch' avea gia pronta la risposta, 
 Senza indugio a parlare incominciai : 
 O anima, che sei laggiu nascosta, 
 
 Romagna tua non e, e non fu mai, 
 
 Senza guerra nei cor dei suoi tiranni ; 
 Ma in palese nessuna or vi lasciai. 
 
 Ravenna sta, come stata e mold anni : 40 
 
 L' aquila da Polenta la si cova, 
 Si che Cervia ricopre co' suoi vanni. 
 
 La terra che fe gia la lunga prova, 
 
 41 The Polenta (see note, v. 97) had been lords of Ravenna for 
 many years, and long remained so. The head of the house at the pre- 
 sent time was Guido Novello, Dante's future patron. They were on 
 the Guelf side. Their arms an eagle, silver and blue on a red and gold 
 field (Philal.) 
 
 4 - Cervia, a small town on the coast, about 15 miles from Ravenna. 
 It seems to have been more or less the key to the more important 
 Forll. 
 
 43-45 Fori'^ from which Guido repelled the Papal (French) forces in 
 1282. A green lion on a gold field was the banner of the Ordelaffi. A 
 member of this family led the Whites and Ghibelines on the occasion of
 
 xxvn HELL 325 
 
 of the French a bloody heap, finds itself beneath the green 
 claws. And the old Mastiff and the young one of 
 Verrucchio who took the ill order with Montagna, there as 
 they are wont make of their teeth a wimble. The cities of 
 Lamone and of Santerno the lion-cub from the white nest 
 governs, who changes side between summer and winter. 
 
 E dei Franceschi sanguinoso mucchio, 
 
 Sotto le branche verdi si ritrova. 
 E il Mastin vecchio e il nuovo da Verrucchio, 
 
 Che fecer di Montagna il mal governo, 
 
 La dove soglion, fan dei denti succhio. 
 Le citta di Lamone e di Santerno 
 
 Conduce il leoncel dal nido bianco, 50 
 
 Che muta parte dalla state al verno ; 
 
 tKeir unlucky attempt to force their way back to Florence in 1302. The 
 actual ruler of Forli at this time was Sinibaldo. A generation later, his 
 son was lord of Forll. 
 
 46-48 The house o f Malatesta is here meant. They came originally, 
 according to Benvenuto, from Pennabilli, in Montefeltro, and received 
 the fief of Verrucchio as a reward for services rendered to the common- 
 wealth of Rimini. Gradually they acquired the lordship of the place, 
 after conflicts with the Count of Montefeltro and other Ghibeline chiefs. 
 The last of these, Montagna de' Parcitati, was captured by them in 
 1295 by means of a truly medieval artifice, and murdered in prison. 
 See also note, v. 97. 
 
 19 Faenza and Imola, respectively on the rivers named, were under 
 the lordship of Maghinardo I'agani : see note, Purg. xiv. 118. He 
 took the former place in 1290, the latter in 1296. 
 
 51 state and verno are taken by all the early commentators, doubt- 
 less , correctly, to mean the south and the north. Serravalle says, 
 ' tenebat in alpibus (i.e. the mountain country) partem gebbellinam, et 
 in romandiola gelfam ' ; the opposite of the fact, but showing how he 
 took the words.
 
 326 HELL CANTO 
 
 And she whose flank the Savio bathes, in like manner as 
 she stands between the plain and the mountain, passes her 
 life between tyranny and a free state. Now I pray thee 
 that thou recount to us who thou art ; be not more hard 
 than another has been ; so may thy name make head in the 
 world.' 
 
 After that the fire had roared somewhat according to its 
 fashion, the sharp point moved on this side, on that, and 
 then gave forth breath on this wise : ' If I believed that my 
 reply was to a person who should ever return to the world, 
 this flame would stand without more shaking. But seeing 
 
 E quella cui il Savio bagna il fianco, 
 
 Cosi com' ella sie' tra il piano e il monte, 
 Tra tirannia si vive e stato franco. 
 
 Ora chi sei ti prego che ne conte : 
 
 Non esser duro piu ch' altri sia stato, 
 Se il nome tuo ncl mondo tegna fronte. 
 
 Poscia che il foco alquanto ebbe rugghiato 
 Al modo suo, 1' acuta punta mosse 
 Di qua, di la, e poi die cotal fiato : 60 
 
 S' io credessi che mia risposta fosse 
 A persona che mai tornasse al mondo, 
 Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse : 
 
 c quella a cui 2 IV. 
 
 5 - The city of Cesena, on the Savio, just at the foot of the hills, on 
 which its suburb of Murata stands. 
 
 54 Benv. reads in stato franco ; but the comparison of the previous 
 line shows that the usual reading is correct. As a matter of fact, it 
 would seem to have been constantly changing hands between the houses 
 of Malatesta and Montefeltro. It may be noted that in this part of the 
 world the Guelfs seem to have represented the power of the local 
 tyrants, the Ghibelines to have been the party of popular rights ; the 
 converse of what obtained in Tuscany.
 
 xxvn HELL 327 
 
 that from this gulf none has returned alive, if I hear the 
 truth, I answer thee without fear of infamy. I was a man of 
 arms, and then was a cordelier, deeming that thus girded I 
 made amends ; and of a surety my deeming had come to 
 pass wholly, if there had not been the great Priest, whom ill 
 befall, that set me back in my former sins ; and how and 
 wherefore I will that thou understand me. While that I 
 was a shape of bones and flesh which my mother gave me, 
 my works were not lion-like, but of a fox. Cunning things 
 and hidden ways I knew them all ; and so I wielded the 
 arts of them that the sound went forth to the end of the 
 earth. When I saw myself come to that part of my age at 
 
 Ma perocche giammai di questo fondo d 
 Non torno vivo alcun, s' i' odo il vero, 
 Senza tema d' infamia ti rispondo. 
 
 lo fui uom d' arme, e poi fui cordelliero, 
 Credendomi, si cinto, fare ammenda : 
 E certo il creder mio veniva intero, 
 
 Se non fosse il gran Prete, a cui mal prenda, 70 
 Che mi rimise nelle prime colpe ; 
 E come, e quare voglio che m' intenda. 
 
 Mentre ch' io forma fui d' ossa e di polpe, 
 Che la madre mi die, 1' opere mie 
 Non furon leonine, ma di volpe. 
 
 Gli accorgimenti e le coperte vie 
 Io seppi tutte ; e si menai lor arte, 
 Ch' al fine della terra il suono uscie. 
 
 Quando mi vidi giunto in quella parte 
 
 d fcrdocchc Aid. IV. 
 
 75 Villani calls him ' savio e sottile ingegno di guerra piu che niuno 
 che fosse al suo tempo.'
 
 328 HELL CANTO 
 
 which every man ought to strike his sails and coil up his 
 ropes, that which formerly pleased me was then irksome to 
 me, and penitent and confessed I surrendered myself, alas 
 miserable ! and it should have been my help. The Prince 
 of the new Pharisees having a war hard by Lateran and 
 not with Saracens nor with Jews, for every foe of his was 
 
 Di mia etade, ove ciascun dovrebbe 80 
 
 Calar le vele e raccoglier le sarte, 
 
 Cib che pria mi piaceva, allor m' increbbe, 
 E pentuto e confesso mi rendei ; 
 Ahi miser lasso ! e giovato sarebbe. 
 
 Lo Principe dei nuovi Farisei, 
 
 Avendo guerra presso a Laterano, 
 E non con Saracin, ne con Giudei ; 
 
 Che ciascun suo nimico era Cristiano, 
 
 81 Dante uses precisely the same metaphor in Conv. iv. 28, when 
 speaking of Guido. 
 
 84 giovato sarebbe : this curious use of the auxiliary esscre where 
 we should expect avcre is passed over without much notice by the 
 grammarians. We may compare eran piacinte, Purg. xx. 28. 
 
 8ti Alluding to the feud between Boniface VIII. and the house of 
 Colonna, which existed throughout his reign, but came to a head in 
 1297. In that year they left Rome and defied him from their strong- 
 holds of Palestrina and Nepi, and he actually proclaimed a crusade 
 against them. Nepi was taken, but I'alestrina held out, and then the 
 Pope, after failing to induce the Count of Montefeltro to take command 
 of his forces, received from him the advice here quoted. The Colonnesi 
 capitulated, on promise of a complete amnesty ; and the Pope, having 
 got Palestrina into his hands, razed it, and gave them nothing but 
 absolution, revoking even this before long, and practically banishing 
 the family for the remainder of his reign. They had their revenge 
 when Sciarra Colonna, acting for Philip the Fair, captured him at 
 Anagni (see Purg. xx. 86). Villani (viii. 21, 23) gives the story much 
 as Dante does ; indeed, so similar is his account, that one is a little 
 inclined to doubt its independence.
 
 xxvii HELL 329 
 
 Christian, and none had been to conquer Acre, nor a trader 
 in the land of the Soldan heeded neither his supreme 
 office nor holy orders in himself, nor in me that halter 
 which was wont to make those girt with it more lean ; but 
 as Constantine sought Silvester within Soracte to heal him 
 of his leprosy, so did this man seek me for a master to heal 
 him of his fever of pride. He asked advice of me, and I 
 held my peace because his words seemed drunken. And 
 
 E nessuno era stato a vincer Acri, 
 
 Ne mercatante in terra di Soldano : 90 
 
 Ne sommo offizio, ne ordini sacri 
 
 Guardb in se, ne in me quel capestro 
 Che solea far li suoi cinti piu macri. 
 
 Ma come Constantin chiese Silvestro 
 Dentro Siratti a guarir della lebbre, 
 Cos! mi chiese questi per maestro 
 
 A guarir della sua superba febbre : 
 
 Domandommi consiglio, ed io tacetti, 
 Perche le sue parole parver ebbre. 
 
 89 The capture of Acre by the Saracens in 1291 was the last blow 
 in the struggle for the Holy Land. After the final expulsion of the 
 Christians, the Pope forbade all men, under pain of excommunication, 
 to trade with Alexandria or Egypt, then the headquarters of the Mussul- 
 man power. See Villani vii. 145. It is curious that the chief regret of 
 the historian in the loss of Acre seems to be the closing to the West of 
 a valuable trade route. 
 
 92 capestro : cf. Par. xi. 87. 
 
 94 The medieval legend ran that Constantine, smitten with leprosy 
 for his persecution of the Christians, recalled Pope Silvester, who had 
 taken refuge in the caverns of Soracte, and obtained from him remission 
 and healing, making the 'Donations' as recompense. See xix. 115: 
 De Mon. iii. io. Dante probably took the story from Brunette, Tresor, 
 Bk. i. Pt. 2, Ch. 87 : Or avint chose que Silvestrcs o grant compaignie 
 de crestiens s' en estoient foi' sos une haute montaigne por eschuer les 
 persecutions ; et Constantius li empereres, qui estoit malades d'une 
 leprc, 1'envoia guerre, etc.
 
 33O HELL CANTO 
 
 then he said to me, Let not thy heart suspect ; I absolve 
 thee from this moment, and do thou teach me to act so that 
 I may hurl Palestrina to earth. I have power to lock and 
 unlock Heaven, as thou knowest ; since two are the keys 
 which my forerunner held not dear. Then did his weighty 
 arguments urge me to that point where silence was to my 
 thinking the worst, and I said, Father, since thou dost wash 
 me from that sin wherein I have now to fall, long promise 
 with short keeping shall make thee triumph on thy high 
 throne. Francis came afterward, when I was dead, for me ; 
 but one of the black Cherubim said to him : Take not ; do 
 
 E poi mi disse : Tuo cor non sospetti : 100 
 
 Finor t' assolvo, e tu m' insegna fare 
 Si come Penestrino in terra getti. 
 
 Lo ciel poss' io serrare e disserrare, 
 Come tu sai ; perb son due le chiavi, 
 Che il mio antecessor non ebbe care. 
 
 Allor mi pinser gli argomenti gravi 
 La 've il tacer mi fu avviso il peggio, 
 E dissi : Padre, da che tu mi lavi 
 
 Di quel peccato, ov' io mo cader deggio, 
 
 Lunga promessa con 1' attender corto no 
 
 Ti fara trionfar nell' alto seggio. 
 
 Francesco venne poi, com' io fui morto, 
 Per me ; ma un dei neri Cherubini 
 Gli disse : Non portar ; non mi far torto. e 
 
 c nol portar JT. 
 
 105 See note iii. 60. 
 
 107 mi fu awiso : cf. Fr. inest avis. 
 
 113 Cherubini : Philalethes observes that as the Cherubim were 
 specially connected (see note Par. xxviii. 98) with the eighth heaven, so 
 the fallen members of that order are fitly put in charge of the eighth 
 circle of Hell. There may be also an allusion to the fact that the 
 Cherubim excel in knowledge (Par. xi. 37).
 
 xxvii HELL 331 
 
 me no wrong. He has got to come along down among my 
 wretches, because he gave the counsel of fraud, since which 
 till now I have been at his hair ; for absolved he cannot be, 
 who does not repent ; nor is it possible to repent and to will 
 at the same time, by reason of the contradiction which 
 agrees not in it. O woeful me ! what an awaking had I when 
 he seized me, saying to me : Perhaps thou didst not think 
 that I was a logician. To Minos he carried me ; and he 
 twisted his tail eight times about his hard back, and after he 
 had bitten it through great rage, he said : This man is of 
 the criminals of the thievish fire ; wherefore I am lost where 
 thou seest, and as I go thus clad, I grieve.' 
 
 When he had thus completed his say, the flame in woe 
 departed, twisting and lashing its pointed horn. We passed 
 
 Venir se ne dee giu trai miei meschini, 
 Perche diede il consiglio frodolente, 
 Dal quale in qua stato gli sono ai crini ; 
 
 Ch' assolver non si puo, chi non si pente, 
 Ne pentere e volere insieme puossi, 
 Per la contradizion che nol consente. 120 
 
 O me dolente ! come mi riscossi, 
 
 Quando mi prese, dicendomi : Forse 
 Tu non pensavi ch' io loico fossi ! 
 
 A Minos mi porto : e quegli attorse 
 Otto volte la coda al dosso duro, 
 E, poi che per gran rabbia la si morse, 
 
 Disse : Questi e dei rei del foco furo : 
 Perch' io la dove vedi son perduto, 
 E si vestito andando mi rancuro. 
 
 Quand' egli ebbe il suo dir cosi compiuto, 130 
 
 La fiamma dolorando si partio, 
 Torcendo e dibattendo il corno acuto.
 
 332 HELL CANTO xxvn 
 
 further, both I and my Leader, over the crag until the next 
 arch, which covers the foss wherein is paid the fee of those 
 who gain a burthen by putting asunder. 
 
 Noi passammo oltre, ed io c il Duca mio, 
 Su per lo scoglio infino in sull' altr' arco 
 Che copre il fosso, in che si paga il fio 
 
 A quei che scommettendo acquistan carco. 
 
 ise Philalethes thinks that there is a kind of play on words. 
 Ordinarily, a burden is rendered lighter by division ; in this case it is 
 made heavier.
 
 CANTO XXVIII 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 In the ninth pit are those who on earth caused strifes and dissensions. 
 These as they pass along are cruelly mangled by a fiend. Ma- 
 hommed speaks to them, and prophesies ; also Peter of Medicina. 
 They see Caius Curio, Mosca, and Bertrand of Born. 
 
 WHO would ever be able even in unfettered words to tell in 
 full of the blood and of the wounds which I now saw, by 
 dint of recounting many times ? Every tongue for certain 
 would fail, by reason of our speech and of his mind, which 
 have too little room to embrace so much. If all the folk 
 were yet again assembled who once upon the fortune-tossed 
 land of Apulia were grieving for their own blood by reason 
 
 CHI poria mai pur con parole sciolte 
 
 Dicer del sangue e delle piaghe appieno, 
 Ch' i' ora vidi, per narrar piu volte ? 
 
 Ogni lingua per certo verria meno 
 
 Per lo nostro sermone e per la mente, 
 Ch' hanno a tanto comprender poco seno. 
 
 S' ci s' adunasse ancor tutta la gente, 
 Che gia in sulla fortunata terra 
 Di Puglia fu del suo sangue dolente 
 
 s fortunata : doubtless from far/ana in a sense like its technical one 
 of ' a tempest/
 
 334 HELL CANTO 
 
 of the Trojans and by reason of the long war which of the 
 rings made such high-heaped booty, as Livy writes who goes 
 not astray ; with that which felt smart of wounds through 
 resistance to Robert Guiscard ; and the other whose bones 
 are still gathered up at Ceperano, where a traitor was each 
 
 Per li Troiani, e per la lunga guerra a 10 
 
 Che dell' anella fe si alte spoglie, 
 Come Livio scrive, che non erra : 
 
 Con quella che sent! di colpi doglie, 
 Per contrastare a Roberto Guiscardo, 
 E 1' altra, il cui ossame ancor s' accoglie 
 
 A Ceperan, la dove fu bugiardo 
 
 a Romani Cass. ; Alisserini (1629), and many modern edd. 
 
 10 Troiani : this is the only reading of any authority. It may be 
 explained either by taking ' Trojans ' as equivalent to ' Romans,' Dante, 
 as we know, following Virgil in tracing the descent of the latter from 
 the former (cf. xxvi. 60) ; or, perhaps better, that Dante gave a some- 
 what extended meaning to 'Apulia,' including in it not only the 
 'kingdom,' but generally the country south of Rome. P. di Dante 
 sees no difficulty, but says ' in ilia parte Apuliae quae dicitur Laurentia.' 
 So Jacopo della Lana : fa mentione di cinque grandi tagliate di uomini 
 le quali furono tutte nello territorio di ytalia nella provincia di puglia. 
 Neither Ceperano nor Tagliacozzo, it will be observed, is within the 
 limits of Apulia in the strictest sense. 
 
 11 The battle of Cannae ; Livy xxii. 47. 
 
 l '~ Notice that Livio has its full three syllables ; the final a, which in 
 similar words is usually merged in the preceding vowel, being, as in 
 Latin, affected by the scr of the following word. 
 
 14 Robert Guiscard and his brother Humphrey obtained Apulia as a 
 fief from Pope Leo IX., after defeating him in battle at Civitella in 1053. 
 Humphrey died soon afterwards ; but it took Robert a quarter of a 
 century of continual fighting to get rid of the Lombards and Greeks, 
 and secure undisputed authority over Southern Italy. 
 
 1(1 When Charles of Anjou was marching to meet Manfred at Bene- 
 vento, the latter sent a force under his kinsman Count Giordano and 
 the Count of Caserta to oppose the entry of the French into the king- 
 dom at the point called the bridge of Ceperano, where the road crosses
 
 xxvin HELL 335 
 
 Apulian ; and there by Tagliacozzo where without arms the 
 old Alardo conquered ; and one should show his limb 
 pierced, and one cut off, there would be nought to match 
 the foul fashion of the ninth pit. Never yet was a cask, 
 through losing middle-piece or stave, so opened as I saw 
 one, split from his chin even to the place where the wind 
 comes out. Between his legs were hanging the entrails ; 
 
 Ciascun Pugliese, e la da Tagliacozzo 
 Ove senz' arme vinse il vecchio Alardo : 
 
 E qual forato suo membro, e qual mozzo 
 
 Mostrasse, da equar sarebbe nulla b 20 
 
 Al modo della nona bolgia sozzo. 
 
 Gia veggia per mezzul perdere o lulla, 
 Com' io vidi un, cosi non si pertugia, 
 Rotto dal mento infin dove si trulla : 
 
 Tra le gambe pendevan le minugia ; 
 
 b d'agguagliar Cruse, and most modern edd. 
 
 the Liris, at that part the frontier. On the approach of the enemy, 
 the Count of Caserta first suggested to Giordano that some of them 
 should be allowed to cross, so that they might be crushed in detail. 
 When this had happened, he refused to attack, and withdrew with his 
 Apulians, forcing Giordano and the Germans to retire also. It was 
 supposed that his action was prompted by a private quarrel with 
 Manfred (Vill. vii. 5). As a matter of fact, no lives were lost at 
 Ceperano, and Dante has probably confused what happened there with 
 the action at San Germano a few days later. 
 
 17 The battle of Tagliacozzo (1268) was won mainly through the 
 steadiness with which Charles, acting upon the advice of Alard cle 
 Yalery, kept his reserves in hand until Conradin's German and Spanish 
 troops, who at the first onset had routed their opponents, were dis- 
 ordered by pursuit. On Charles showing his fresh troops, Conradin 
 and the leaders fled almost without striking a blow (Vill. vii. 27). 
 
 " mezzul : the middle of the three pieces of which a cask-head is 
 usually made. lulla (liinnla) is one of the side-pieces, according to 
 most commentators. Bargigi, however, takes it as ' doga alcuna,' and 
 this gives a much better and more appropriate image.
 
 336 HELL CANTO 
 
 the pluck appeared, and the sorry pouch, which makes dung 
 of whatsoever is swallowed. While I was wholly fixed on 
 seeing him he looked at me, and with his hands opened his 
 breast, saying : ' Now look how I split myself, look how 
 Mahommed has been mangled. In front of me Ali 
 goes his way weeping, cloven in the face from the chin 
 to the forelock. And all the others whom thou seest 
 here were sowers of scandal and of schism in their 
 life, and therefore are cloven thus. A devil is here 
 behind who arranges us so cruelly, putting to the edge of 
 
 La corata pareva, e il tristo sacco 
 Che merda fa di quel che si trangugia. 
 
 Mentre che tutto in lui veder m' attacco, 
 
 Guardommi, e con le man s' aperse il petto, 
 Dicendo : Or vedi come io mi dilacco : 30 
 
 Vedi come storpiato e Maometto. c 
 Dinanzi a me sen va piangendo Ali 
 Fesso nel volto dal mento al ciuffetto : 
 
 E tutti gli altri, che tu vedi qui, 
 Seminator di scandalo e di scisma 
 Fur vivi ; e perb son fessi cosi. 
 
 Un diavolo e qua dietro che n' accisma 
 Si crudelmente, al taglio della spada 
 
 scoppiato Land. 
 
 33 As a matter of fact, Ali himself seems to have abstained from 
 creating a schism, and allowed three caliphs to reign before claiming 
 the succession to his father-in-law ; but as the object of the special 
 veneration of the schismatic Shiites he is regarded as their founder. 
 The older commentators make him the teacher of Mahommed. Phila- 
 lethes points out that he is less severely mangled than the founder of 
 Islam, as having only caused a schism within a schism. 
 
 37 Compare the punishment of the pandars in Canto xviii.
 
 xxvni HELL 337 
 
 the sword again each one of this pack, when we have 
 turned the woeful road ; because the wounds are closed 
 again before any one comes back in front of him. But who 
 art thou that art musing upon the crag, perhaps through 
 delaying to go to the punishment which has been adjudged 
 upon thy crimes ? ' 
 
 ' Death has not reached him yet, nor does fault bring 
 him,' answered my Master, ' to torment him ; but, to give 
 him a full experience, me who am dead it behoves to 
 bring him through Hell down here, from round to round, 
 and this is true in such wise as I speak to thee.' More 
 than a hundred were they who when they heard it stopped 
 in the foss to look at me, through wonder forgetting the 
 torture. ' Now say then to Fra Dolcino that he equip him- 
 
 Rimettendo ciascun di questa risma, 
 Quando avem volta la dolente strada ; 40 
 
 Perocche le ferite son richiuse 
 
 Prima ch' altri dinanzi gli rivada. 
 Ma tu chi sei che in sullo scoglio muse, 
 
 Forse per indugiar d' ire alia pena, 
 
 Ch' e giudicata in sulle tue accuse ? 
 Ne morte il giunse ancor, ne colpa il mena, 
 
 Rispose il mio Maestro, a tormentarlo ; 
 
 Ma per dar lui esperienza plena, 
 A me, che morto son, convien menarlo 
 
 Per lo inferno quaggiu di giro in giro : 50 
 
 E questo e ver cosi com' io ti parlo. 
 Piu fur di cento che, quando 1' udiro, 
 
 S' arrestaron nel fosso a riguardarmi, 
 
 Per maraviglia obbliando il martiro. 
 Or di' a Fra Dolcin dunque che s' armi, 
 
 " ' Fra ' Dolcino, so called because he was connected with a body 
 Z
 
 338 HELL CANTO 
 
 self, thou who perhaps wilt see the sun shortly, if he wishes 
 not quickly to follow me hither, with provisions in such 
 wise that strait of snow may not give the victory to him of 
 Novara ; for otherwise to gain it would not be easy.' After 
 he had lifted one foot to go on his way Mahommed said 
 this word to me ; then he laid it flat on the ground to 
 depart. 
 
 Another who had his throat pierced, and his nose cut 
 
 Tu che forse vedrai lo sole in breve, 
 
 S' egli non vuol qui tosto seguitarmi, 
 Si di vivanda, che stretta di neve 
 
 Non rechi la vittoria al Noarese, 
 
 Ch' altrimenti acquistar non saria lieve. 60 
 
 Poi che 1' un pie per girsene sospese, 
 
 Maometto mi disse esta parola, 
 
 Indi a partirsi in terra lo distesc. 
 Un altro, che forata avea la gola 
 
 known as the Apostolic Brothers, was born near Romagnano in Yal 
 Sesia. lie was one of the half-sincere, half-lawless fanatics who arose 
 frequently in the Middle Ages. He became famous about 1305 (though 
 his views as to the need of ecclesiastical reform had drawn the attention 
 of the clergy to him long before), when, at the head of some thousands 
 of followers, he occupied a strong position between Novara and Yer- 
 celli, and defied for a year all the efforts of the Church authorities of 
 those towns, aided by ' crusaders ' from all parts, to dislodge him. 
 Finally he and his garrison were starved out, ' per difetta di vivanda, e 
 per le nevi che v' erano,' as Villani, copying Dante's words, puts it ; 
 and he was put to death with every refinement of cruelty. ' Poterat 
 martyr dici, si poena faceret martyrium, et non voluntas,' says Benvenuto ; 
 who, it may be added, having had special opportunities of getting 
 information, and not being in any marked way a clerical sympathiser, 
 confirms the reports as to the profligacy of Uolcino's teaching. Phil- 
 alethes suggested that Mahommed's interest in him may be due to certain 
 points of similarity in their doctrines, particularly with regard to 
 women.
 
 xxvni HELL 339 
 
 off even to beneath his brows, and had not more than one 
 ear only, having stayed to look, for wonder, with the others, 
 before the others opened his windpipe, which outwardly 
 was in every part crimson, and said : ' O thou, whom fault 
 condemns not, and whom I have seen up above on Latin 
 land, if much resemblance cheats me not, remember 
 thee of Peter of Medicina, if ever thou returnest to see the 
 sweet plain which slopes from Vercelli to Mercabb. And 
 do to wit the two best men of Fano, Messer Guido and 
 
 E tronco il naso infin sotto le ciglia, 
 E non avea ma ch' un' orecchia sola, 
 
 Restate a riguardar per maraviglia 
 
 Con gli altri, innanzi agli altri apri la canna 
 Ch' era di fuor d' ogni parte vermiglia ; 
 
 E disse : Tu cui colpa non condanna, 70 
 
 E cui io vidi su in terra Latina, 
 Se troppa simiglianza non m' inganna, 
 
 Rimembriti di Pier da Medicina, 
 
 Se mai torni a veder lo dolce piano, 
 Che da Vercelli a Marcabo dichina. 
 
 E fa saper ai due miglior di Fano, 
 
 <>9 Perhaps CK avea d. f. cgni, i.e. had its inside out. 
 
 73 This Peter belonged to Medicina, a small town near Bologna, and 
 seems to have devoted his talents to keeping alive the strife between the 
 houses of Polenta and Malatesta, by means of stealthy insinuations to 
 each of mischief intended by the other. He belonged to the Cattani, 
 the chief family of the place ; by whom, says Benvenuto, Dante had 
 once been hospitably entertained, which accounts for Peter's knowledge 
 of him. 
 
 73 Mercabo was a castle, built by the Venetians at the mouth of the Po, 
 to hold the people of Ravenna in check, and was destroyed by the latter, 
 after the victory of the Ferrarese over the former, in 1309. It marked 
 the eastern, as Yercelli the western extremity of the Lombard plain. 
 
 7(. sqq. G u i c i del Cassero and Angiolello da Carignano, two noble- 
 men of Fano, were invited by the younger Malatesta to a conference at
 
 34 HELL CANTO 
 
 also Angiolello, that if foresight here is not vain, they will 
 be cast forth out of their vessel, and sunk near the Cattolica 
 through treachery of a fell tyrant. Between the isle of 
 Cyprus and Majorca never has Neptune seen so great a sin, 
 not at the hand of pirates, not of Greek folk. That traitor 
 who sees only with one eye, and holds the land whereof 
 
 A messer Guido ed anco ad Angiolello, 
 Che, se 1' antiveder qui non e vano, 
 
 Gittati saran fuor di lor vasello, 
 
 E mazzerati presso alia Cattolica, 80 
 
 Per tradimento d' un tiranno fello. 
 
 Tra 1' isola di Cipri e di Maiolica d 
 Non vide mai si gran fallo Nettuno, 
 Non da pirati, non da gente Argolica. 
 
 Quel traditor che vede pur con 1' uno, 
 E tien la terra, che tal e qui meco, 
 
 d Cipro IV. 
 
 La Cattolica (a small town on the coast, where Romagna and the 
 Marches meet, said to have been the refuge of the Catholic bishops who 
 seceded from the Arian council of Rimini, A.D. 360), and by his orders 
 drowned at sea off the promontory of Focara, as they were on their way 
 to meet him. 
 
 *- From one end of the Mediterranean to the other. 
 
 84 gente Argolica : Benv. seems to see a special allusion to the 
 Argonauts. 
 
 83 This Malatesta had lost an eye. lie was half-brother to Gian- 
 ciotto, the husband of Francesca, and to Paul, her lover. 
 
 8 " tal. As will presently appear, this is Curio, who when Caesar 
 was at Ariminum, after crossing the Rubicon, urged him to go on with 
 his enterprise, as recorded in the first book of the I'harsalia. lie 
 'wishes that he had never seen Rimini,' because it was there that he 
 committed the sin for which he is punished. It is somewhat strange 
 that Dante, while regarding Caesar as the divinely appointed chief of 
 the Empire, should nevertheless treat as a crime the civil war which put
 
 xxvin HELL 341 
 
 one is here with me would wish to be fasting from the 
 sight, will make them come to a parley with him ; then will 
 he so do, that for the wind of Focara vow or prayer will 
 not serve their turn.' And I to him : ' Show forth to me 
 and declare, if thou wilt that I carry up news of thee, who 
 is he to whom the sight was bitter.' Then laid he his hand 
 upon the jaw of one his companion, and opened his mouth, 
 crying : ' This is the very one, and he does not talk. This 
 one, being banished, suppressed the doubt in Caesar, 
 assuring him that the man who was prepared ever with 
 harm endured delay.' O how abashed seemed to me, with 
 
 Vorrebbe di vedere esser digiuno, 
 
 Fara venirli a parlamento seco ; 
 
 Poi fara si, che al vento di Focara 
 
 Non fara lor mestier voto ne preco. 90 
 
 Ed io a lui : Dimostrami e dichiara, 
 ' Se vuoi ch' io porti su di te novella, 
 Chi e colui dalla veduta amara, 
 
 Allor pose la mano alia mascella 
 
 D' un suo compagno, e la bocca gli aperse 
 Gridando : Questi e desso, e non favella : 
 
 Questi, scacciato, il dubitar sommerse 
 In Cesare, affermando che il fornito 
 Sempre con danno 1' attender sofferse. 
 
 O quanto mi pareva sbigottito 100 
 
 him in that position, and the incitement to it. Perhaps the fact that 
 Curio had changed sides (' momentumque fuit mutatus Curio rerum ') 
 may have affected Dante's judgement of him. 
 
 l!) The squalls which came from the headland of Focara were 
 thought especially dangerous. Benvenuto says that there was a pro- 
 verb, ' Deus custodial te a vento Focariensi ! ' 
 
 " " Semper nocuit differre paratis. Phars. i. 281.
 
 342 HELL CANTO 
 
 his tongue cut off in his throat, Curio who was so bold to 
 speak ! And one who had the one and the other hand 
 mutilated, lifting the stumps through the dim air, so that 
 the blood made his face foul, cried : ' Thou shalt recall too 
 Mosca, who said, alas ! A thing done has an end ; which 
 was a seed of woe for the Tuscan folk.' And I added 
 thereto : ' And death of thy stock ' ; wherefore he, heaping 
 woe on woe, went his way like a person sad and mad. But 
 I remained to look at the band, and saw a thing which I 
 
 Con la lingua tagliata nella stroz/.a, 
 Curio, ch' a dire fu cosi ardito ! 
 
 Ed un ch' avea 1' una e 1' altra man mozza, 
 Levando i moncherin per 1' aura fosca, 
 Si che il sangue facea la faccia sozza, 
 
 Gridb : Ricordera' ti anche del Mosca, 
 Che dissi, lasso ! Capo ha cosa fatta, 
 Che fu mal seme per la gente tosca. 
 
 Ed io gli aggiunsi : E morte di tua schiatta ; 
 
 Perch' egli accumulando duol con duolo, no 
 Sen gio come persona trista e matta. 
 
 Ma io rimasi a riguardar lo stuolo, 
 E vidi cosa ch' io avrei paura, 
 
 101 Perhaps with special allusion to Lucan's line : Audax venali 
 comitatur Curio lingua. 
 
 10(i Mosca de' Lamberti ; see note Par. xvi. 133. 'Cosa fatta capo 
 ha ' was the phrase which he used when suggesting the murder of Buon- 
 delmonte. With reference to the form of his punishment, it will be 
 remembered that a similar mutilation inflicted by one member of the 
 Cancellieri of Pistoia upon another, in the year 1300, was the immediate 
 cause which brought about the schism of the 'Black' and 'White' 
 parties. (Villani viii. 38.) 
 
 lou The family of Lamberti seems to have become extinct before the 
 end of the I3th century. 
 
 113, iu eke i a Here che is clearly the relative, and la pleonastic. 
 See note v. 69.
 
 xxvin HELL 343 
 
 should be afraid, without more proof, only to recount ; if it 
 were not that conscience secures me, the good consort 
 which enfranchises a man, under the hauberk of the know- 
 ledge that it is pure. I saw of a certainty, and still it seems 
 that I see it, a body without a head go as the rest of the 
 sorry herd were going. And it held its head cut off, by the 
 locks with its hand, dangling in the fashion of a lanthorn ; 
 and that was looking at us, and saying : ' O me ! ' Of 
 itself it made a lamp to itself; and they were two in one 
 and one in two ; how it can be, He knows who so orders. 
 When he was right at foot of the bridge, he lifted his arm 
 
 Senza piu prova, di contarla solo ; 
 Se non che coscienza mi assicura, 
 
 La buona compagnia che 1' uom francheggia 
 
 Sotto 1' osbergo del sentirsi pura. 
 lo vidi certo, ed ancor par ch' io il veggia, 
 
 Un busto senza capo andar, si come 
 
 Andavan gli altri della trista greggia. 120 
 
 E il capo tronco tenea per le chiome, 
 
 Pesol con mano a guisa di lanterna, 
 
 E quel mirava noi, e dicea : O me ! 
 Di se faceva a se stesso lucerna, 
 
 Ed eran due in uno, ed uno in due ; 
 
 Com' esser pub, quei sa che si governa. 
 Quando diritto al pie del ponte fue, 
 
 116 With compagnia for compagno, cf. condotto for conduttore, Purg. 
 iv. 29, and words like magistratits in Latin, justice in English. 
 
 117 Mr. Harrison, 'Oliver Cromwell,' p. 61, quotes from "White- 
 locke a passage which is a curious parallel to this. Speaking of Crom- 
 well's men, he says : ' Thus being well armed within by the satisfaction 
 of their own consciences . . . they would as one man stand firmly and 
 charge desperately. '
 
 344 HELL CANTO 
 
 on high, head and all, to bring his words near us, which 
 were : ' Now see my baneful punishment, thou who breath- 
 ing goest beholding the dead ; see if any is great as this. 
 And to the end that thou mayest bear news of me, know 
 that I am Bertrand de Born, that man who gave the evil 
 
 Levb il braccio alto con tutta la testa 
 Per appressarne le parole sue, 
 
 Che furo : Or vedi la pena molesta 130 
 
 Tu che, spirando, vai veggendo i morti : 
 Vedi se alcuna e grande come questa ; 
 
 E perche tu di me novella porti, 
 
 Sappi ch' io son Beltran dal Bornio, quelli 
 Che diedi al re giovane i mai conforti. 6 
 
 Giovanni Gg. Cass. 12345 Aid. IV. 
 
 134 Bertrand de Born, lord of Ilautefort in the Limousin, and one 
 of the earliest troubadours, was born of a good family about 1 140. 
 His verse, which is remarkable for vigour and melody, deals mostly 
 with political and martial subjects (cf. Vulg. El. ii. 2). He is praised 
 in Conv. iv. n. The charge that he stirred up the 'Young King,' 
 Henry son of Henry II., Duke of Aquitaine and King of England, 
 to rise against his father, is not borne out to any great extent 
 by his poems. Indeed, none of the poems which we have seems 
 to refer to the principal struggle between the father and the son 
 (1172-1175); and though he celebrates the outbreak of 1183, it 
 is against Richard rather than against their father that his fiercest 
 attacks are directed. After the death of the younger Henry in the 
 same year, it was from the father that he obtained redress for injuries 
 done him by Richard. He seems to have lived for the future on fairly 
 good terms with both, though his love, not so much of fighting as of 
 cheering others on to fight, led him to exult in every prospect of a war, 
 whether between Richard and Henry, or between the latter and Philip 
 Augustus. He ended his days as a Cistercian monk, some time before 
 1215. (See ' Poesies Completes de B. de 1).' ed. A. Thomas.) 
 
 135 The MSS. in the proportion of about ten to one, and all the 
 earlier edd. and comm. read Gioranni, and Yillani (v. 4) also makes 
 Giovanni the name of Henry's elder son, some of them, e.g. Benvenuto,
 
 xxvin HELL 345 
 
 support to the young king. I set the father and the son at 
 war together; Ahithophel did no more for Absalom and 
 David with his wicked incitements. Because I parted per- 
 sons thus united I carry my brain, alas ! parted from its 
 origin, which is in this trunk. So is observed in me the 
 retaliation.' 
 
 lo feci il padre e il figlio in se ribelli : 
 
 Achitofel non fe piu d' Ansalone 
 
 E di David coi malvagi pungelli. 
 Perch' io partii cosi giunte persone, 
 
 Partito porto il mio cerebro, lasso ! 140 
 
 Dal suo principio ch' e in questo troncone. 
 Cosi s' osserva in me lo contrapasso. 
 
 adding words to the effect tiiakjokn was called 'the young king.' Dr. 
 Moore has discussed the point very fully in his ' Textual Criticism, ' and 
 I so far agree with him as to think it probable that both readings may 
 have existed in the autographs. But I feel pretty sure that if it was so, 
 Dante wrote originally Giovanni, and later (perhaps as a result of reading 
 Bertrand's poems) got the name right. There is no reason to think that 
 his knowledge of the history of the I2th century was any better than 
 Villani's, nor have we any evidence that he had read Bertrand's poems 
 till long after this Canto was written. I have, however, given him the 
 benefit of the doubt. 
 
 141 principio : the heart, which is the origin of all other organs. Cf. 
 Purg. xxv. 59, 60. 
 
 14 ' J I.e. ' in me is illustrated the law of TO avrnreTrovOos.' Ar. Eth. v. 5. 
 S. T. ii. 2. Q. 61. A. 4 : hoc quod dicittir contrapassum, importat 
 aequalem recompensationem passionis ad actionem praecedentem.
 
 CANTO XXIX 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They come to the last of the pits, wherein are folk labouring under 
 grievous and foul disorders. Dante speaks with two from Tus- 
 cany, who on earth were noted alchemists. 
 
 THE multitude of folk and their divers wounds had made 
 my eyes so dizzy, that they were fain of staying to weep. 
 But Virgil said to me : ' What still dost watch ? Why is thy 
 view stayed only down there among the sorry mutilated 
 shades ? Thou didst not do so at the other pits. Consider, 
 if thou thinkest to count them, that the valley goes twenty- 
 
 LA molta gente e le diverse piaghe 
 Avean le luci mie si inebriate, 
 Che dello stare a piangere eran vaghe ; 
 
 Ma Virgilio mi disse : Che pur guate ? 
 Perche la vista tua pur si soffolge 
 Laggiu tra 1' ombre triste smozzicate ? 
 
 Tu non hai fatto si all' altre bolge : 
 Pensa, se tu annoverar le credi, 
 Che miglia ventidue la valle volge ; 
 
 9 For the first time Dante gives us a precise measurement. The 
 number 22 is no doubt selected in order to bring the diameter to an 
 exact number of miles, 22 : 7 being the accepted ratio between circum- 
 ference and diameter. In the Tresor, Brunette puts it at about 3:1, 
 but the Italian translation, which was made not long after the appear- 
 ance of the work itself, states it more precisely at ' six times the radius
 
 CANTO xxix HELL 347 
 
 two miles round, and by this the moon is beneath our feet. 
 The time is little which henceforth is allowed to us. and 
 there is else to see than thou seest.' ' If thou hadst,' 
 answered I straightway, ' given heed to the reason for which 
 I was gazing, perhaps thou wouldest yet have excused my 
 stay.' My Leader meanwhile was going on, and I was 
 going behind him already as I was making my answer, and 
 subjoining : ' Within that hollow where I was keeping my 
 
 E gia la luna e sotto i nostri piedi : 10 
 
 Lo tempo e poco omai che IT e concesso, 
 Ed altro e da veder che tu non vedi. 
 
 Se tu avessi, rispos' io appresso, 
 
 Atteso alia cagion perch' io guardava, 
 Forse m' avresti ancor Io star dimesso. 
 
 Parte sen gia, ed io retro gli andava, 
 Lo Duca, gia facendo la risposta, 
 E soggiungendo : Dentro a quella cava, 
 
 Dov' io teneva or gli occhi si a posta, 
 
 + one -seventh of the diameter.' Dante's contemporary, Cecco d' 
 Ascoli, also gives this proportion in his Treatise on the Sphere, so it 
 was evidently well known. Philalethes, in a note to 1. 87 of the next 
 Canto, takes the highly probable view that the whole of Malebolge is 
 to be reckoned on the same scale, which would give us a total of 35 
 miles for its width. (He adds something for the pit of the ninth circle, 
 but we may consider that as bored out of the ' core ' of the last bolgia. ) 
 The only objection to this is, that a bolgia being, as we gather from 
 xxx. 87, half a mile wide, the intervening walls would have a thickness 
 of if miles, giving a more appreciable distance than anything in the 
 text (except perhaps 1. 37 below) seems to indicate between one bolgia 
 and the next. It adds, however, considerably to the interest of the 
 scene at the beginning of Canto xxiii. if we suppose them to have had 
 some distance of rough ground to cross before they were out of the 
 demons' power. 
 
 111 That is, it is about 1 5 hours past noon ; the moon being two days 
 past the full. 
 
 1(i parte : see 1'urg. xxi. 19.
 
 348 HELL 
 
 eyes so on guard, I believe that a spirit of my race is weeping 
 the sin which down here is so costly.' Then said the 
 Master : ' Let not thy thought henceforth break on him ; 
 give heed to somewhat else, and let him remain there. For 
 I saw him at the foot of the bridge point thee out, and 
 menace greatly with his finger, and I heard name him Geri, 
 son of Bello. Thou wast then so wholly fettered upon him 
 who once held Hautefort, that thou didst not look that way; 
 so he was gone.' ' O Leader mine, the violent death which 
 is not yet avenged for him,' said I, ' by any one who is a 
 partner in the disgrace, made him disdainful ; wherefore he 
 
 Credo che un spirto del mio sangue pianga 20 
 La colpa che laggiu cotanto costa. 
 
 Allor disse il Maestro : Non si franga 
 
 Lo tuo pensier da qui innanzi sopr' ello : 
 Attendi ad altro, ed ei la si rimanga ; 
 
 Ch' io vidi lui a pie del ponticello 
 
 Mostrarti, e minacciar forte col dito, 
 Ed udi '1 nominar Geri del Bello. 
 
 Tu eri allor si del tutto impedito 
 Sopra colui che gia tenne Altaforte, 
 Che non guardasti in la ; si fu partite. 30 
 
 O Duca mio, la violenta morte 
 
 Che non gli e vendicata ancor, diss' io, 
 Per alcun che dell' onta sia consorte, 
 
 Fece lui disdegnoso ; ond' ei sen gio 
 
 -- non si franga : idest, non fatigetur. Benv. 
 
 - 7 Geri, son of Bello degli Alighieri, was first cousin to Dante's 
 grandfather. He is said to have been a quarrelsome and turbulent per- 
 son, and to have been slain by one of the Sacchetti, rather less than 
 thirty years before this date. The vengeance was taken soon after this 
 by his nephew. 
 
 a sia : the subjunctive, because there is a causal connection between 
 relationship and the duty of vengeance.
 
 xxix HELL 349 
 
 went his way without speaking to me, as I judge ; and 
 therein has he made me more pitiful towards him.' Thus 
 talked we as far as the first place which from the crag shows 
 the next valley, if there had been more light, all to the 
 bottom. When we were above the last cloister of Male- 
 bolge so that its brethren could appear to our view, divers 
 laments smote me as arrows which had their shafts tipped 
 with pity ; wherefore I covered my ears with my hands. 
 Such woe as would be if of the spitals of Valdichiana 
 
 Senza parlarmi, si com' io stimo ; 
 
 Ed in cib m' ha e' fatto a se piu pio. 
 Cos! parlammo infino al loco primo 
 
 Che dello scoglio 1' altra valle mostra, 
 
 Se piii lume vi fosse, tutto ad imo. 
 Quando noi fummo in sull' ultima chiostra 40 
 
 Di Malebolge, si che i suoi conversi 
 
 Potean parere alia veduta nostra, 
 Lamenti saettaron me diversi, a 
 
 Che di pieta ferrati avean gli strali : b 
 
 Ond' io gli orecchi colle man copersi. 
 Qual dolor fora, se degli spedali c 
 
 a La mente Gg. (2) ; me lor versi Gg, (2) Benv, 
 
 b di pietra Cass. : fernti 2. 
 c Qual d. essefitor Gg. Benv. 
 
 40 chiostra: cf. Purg. vii. 21. 
 
 41 conversi : lay -brethren. (The monks, Philalethes suggests, 
 would be represented by the devils.) In this last bolgia are punished 
 all kinds of falsifiers, such as coiners, impostors, alchemists, false- 
 witnesses, etc. 
 
 43 Benvenuto has a curious variant : la mente saettaron me lor versi 
 versi being taken much as in xvi. 20. The text of ' Gg. ,' to which, as 
 I have mentioned elsewhere, a later hand has appended copious ex- 
 tracts from his commentary, has been altered to agree with his reading. 
 
 46 sqq. T ne Chiana (Par. xiii. 23) flows southward from near Arezzo,
 
 350 HELL CANTO 
 
 from July to September, and of Maremma and of Sardinia, 
 the sick were in one foss all together such was it there ; 
 and such a stench issued therefrom as is wont to come from 
 their withered limbs. We descended upon the last bank 
 from the long crag, ever to the left hand ; and then was my 
 view quicker downward toward the bottom, where the 
 handmaid of the Lord on high, justice that cannot err, 
 punishes the counterfeiters whom here it registers. 
 
 I do not believe that it was greater sadness to behold in 
 
 Di Valdichiana tra luglio e il settembre, 
 E di Maremma e di Sardigna i mali 
 
 Fossero in una fossa tutti insembre ; 
 
 Tal era quivi, e tal puzzo n' usciva, 50 
 
 Qual suol venir delle marcite membre. 
 
 Noi discendemmo in sull' ultima riva 
 Del lungo scoglio, pur da man sinistra, 
 Ed allor fu la mia vista piii viva 
 
 Giu ver lo fondo, la Ve la ministra 
 Dell' alto Sire, infallibil giustizia, 
 Punisce i falsator che qui registra. 
 
 Non credo che a veder maggior tristizia 
 
 and joins the Tiber, or rather its tributary the Paglia, a little north of 
 Orvicto. Witte says, on what authority does not appear, that it com- 
 municated at one time also with the Arno. In any case, the silting up 
 of its bed rendered the whole valley swampy, and a byword for un- 
 healthiness, till it was drained by a Grand Duke of Tuscany in the 
 present century. Since then it has been remarkable for its fertility. 
 There was a great hospital for fever patients at Altopasso. 
 
 48 The Maremma, or coast-land of Tuscany, and the lowlands of 
 Sardinia have still a bad reputation for malaria. 
 
 58, 5a i n strict syntax, popol must be the subject to fosse ; tristizia 
 being predicate. ' The sick folk was not a greater sadness (i.e. a sadder 
 thing) to behold.' The implied adjective in tristizia would properly 
 take a; as care a vcder (Purg. x. 99), miralrile a vcdcr (Par. xxii. 96).
 
 xxix HELL 351 
 
 Aegina the people all ailing, when the air was so full of 
 mischief that the animals, down to the small worm, all fell 
 dead, and afterward the ancient folk, according as the poets 
 hold for certain, were restored from seed of ants, than it 
 was to behold throughout that gloomy vale the spirits 
 languishing by divers heaps. One on his belly, and one on 
 the shoulders of another they were lying ; and one would 
 shift himself groveling along the sorry path. Step by step 
 we went on, without converse, looking at and listening to 
 
 Fosse in Egina il popol tutto infermo, 
 
 Quando fu 1' aer si pien di malizia, 60 
 
 Che gli animali infino al picciol vermo 
 Cascaron tutti, e poi le genti antiche, 
 Secondo che i poeti hanno per fermo, 
 
 Si ristorar di seme di formiche ; 
 
 Ch' era a voder per quella oscura valle 
 Languir gli spirti per diverse biche. 
 
 Qual sopra il ventre, e qual sopra le spalle 
 L' un dell' altro giacea, e qual carpone 
 Si trasmutava per lo tristo calle. 
 
 Passo passo andavam senza sermone, 70 
 
 Guardando ed ascoltando gli ammalati, 
 
 You the story of the devastation of Aegina by a plague, and its subse- 
 quent repeopling by the metamorphosis of ants into men (afterwards 
 called Myrmidons), see Ov. Met. vii. 523 sqq. 
 
 6S We should rather expect giacean. The singular is no doubt 
 common enough after two nouns connected by e ; but the verb must be 
 taken here to refer to the spirits generally, the qual qual only intro- 
 ducing specimens of their attitudes. None of Dr. Moore's MSS., how- 
 ever, appears to show any variant. Some of the commentators rather 
 whimsically see an allusion in this description to the ailments brought 
 by the inhalation of poisonous fumes to which alchemists would be 
 specially liable ; but there is nothing to show that these only are 
 intended, or that the various kinds oi fahatori are kept apart from 
 each other.
 
 352 HELL CANTO 
 
 the afflicted ones, who were not able to lift up their frames. 
 I saw two sit propped on each other, as tile is propped on 
 tile to burn, from the head to the feet flecked with scabs ; 
 and never saw I a currycomb wielded by a lad awaited of his 
 master, nor by one who against his will is staying awake, in 
 such wise as each was incessantly wielding the scrape of his 
 nails over himself, by reason of the great rage of the itching 
 which has no other refuge. And so the nails were drawing 
 down the scurf as a knife does the scales of a bream, or of 
 'any fish which has them broadest. 
 
 Che non potean levar le lor persone. 
 
 lo vidi due sedere a se poggiati, 
 
 Come a scaldar si poggia tegghia a tegghia, 
 Dal capo al pie di schianze maculati : 
 
 E non vidi giammai menare stregghia 
 Da ragazzo aspettato dal signorso, 
 Ne da colui che mal volentier vegghia ; 
 
 Come ciascun menava spesso il morso 
 
 Dell' unghie sopra se per la gran rabbia 80 
 
 Del pizzicor, che non ha piu soccorso. 
 
 E si traevan giu 1' unghie la scabbia, 
 Come coltel di scardova le scaglie, 
 O d' altro pesce che piu larghe 1' abbia. 
 
 r-i-83 ]\ T t e the constant repetition of the sound sc in these ten lines. 
 
 77 signorso. For this enclitic form of the possessive pronoun, 
 peculiar to Italian, see Diez ii. Si. So we find in Sacchetti tiiogliata. 
 
 78 I.e. who is in a hurry to get to bed. So the usual interpreta- 
 tion ; but may not Dante, forgetting that the actual subject of his 
 simile is the use of the currycomb, be thinking of the irritation which is 
 apt to accompany sleeplessness ? 
 
 83 scardova : I have followed Longfellow and Philalethcs. Cres- 
 centius mentions scantoiri with barbi (barbel) as good fish to put into 
 fish-ponds.
 
 xxix HELL 353 
 
 'O thou who with thy fingers are dismailing thyself,' 
 began my Leader to one of them, ' and who makest of them 
 at whiles pincers, tell us if any Latin is among those who 
 are here within ; so may thy nails suffice eternally to this 
 task.' ' Latin are we whom thou seest thus despoiled here, 
 both of us,' answered the one, weeping ; ' but who art thou 
 that inquirest of us ? ' And the Leader said : ' I am one 
 who descend with this living man down from gallery to 
 gallery, and I purpose to show Hell to him.' Then did 
 their mutual support break, and trembling each turned him 
 toward me, with others who overheard it by repetition. The 
 good Master gathered himself wholly to me, saying : ' Say 
 
 tu che colle dita ti dismaglie, 
 Comincio il Duca mio all' un di loro, 
 E che fai d' esse tal volta tanaglie, 
 
 1 )inne s' alcun Latino e tra costoro 
 
 Che son quinc' entro, se 1' unghia ti basti 
 Eternalmente a cotesto lavoro. 90 
 
 Latin sem noi, che tu vedi si guasti 
 
 Qui ambo e due, rispose 1' un piangendo : 
 Ma tu chi sei, che di noi domandasti ? 
 
 E il Duca disse : lo son un che discendo 
 Con questo vivo giii di balzo in balzo, 
 E di mostrar 1' inferno a lui intendo. 
 
 Allor si ruppe lo comun rincalzo ; 
 E tremando ciascuno a me si volse 
 Con altri che 1' udiron di rimbalzo. 
 
 Lo buon Maestro a me tutto s' accolse, 100 
 
 ssi, 90 A horribly comic touch which is truly Dantesque. 
 117 I.e. they started apart, having been leaning against each other, 
 1. 74 
 
 99 udiron di rimbalzo : lit. 'heard it on the rebound.' 
 )0 The use of accogliersi , of one person only, is curious. The idea, 
 2 A
 
 354 HELL CANTO 
 
 to them what thou wilt.' And I began, since he was 
 willing : ' So may memory of you not be stolen away in the 
 former world from the minds of men, but may it live under 
 many suns, tell me who you are, and of what folk ; let not 
 your unseemly and loathsome punishment frighten you from 
 making you known to me.' ' I was of Arezzo, and Albero 
 of Siena,' replied one, ' had me put to the fire ; but that for 
 which I died brings me not here. True is it that I said to 
 him, talking in jest, I should know how to raise myself in 
 the air in flight ; and he who had desire and little sense, 
 would that I should show him the art ; and only because I 
 
 Dicendo : I)i' a lor cib che tu vuoli. 
 
 Ed io incominciai, poscia ch' ei volse : 
 Se la vostra memoria non s' imboli 
 
 Nel primo mondo dall' umane menti, 
 
 Ma s' ella viva sotto mold soli, 
 Ditemi chi voi siete e di che genti : 
 
 La vostra sconcia e fastidiosa pena 
 
 Di palesarvi a me non vi spavend. 
 Io fui d' Arezzo, ed Albero da Siena, 
 
 Rispose 1' un, mi fe mettere al foco ; no 
 
 Ma quel perch' io mori' qui non mi mena. 
 Ver e ch' io dissi a lui, parlando a gioco, 
 
 Io mi saprei levar per 1' acre a volo : 
 
 E quei che avea vaghezza e senno poco, 
 Voile ch' io di mostrassi 1' arte ; e solo 
 
 no doubt, is 'concentrated all his attention' or 'faculties.' (Cf. Purg. 
 iv. I sqq.) 
 
 109 This is said to be one Grifolino, who, having promised to teach 
 Albero, son of the Bishop of Siena, to fly, and failing to do so, was 
 burnt by the bishop on a charge of heresj, or magic.
 
 xxix HELL 355 
 
 did it not, a Daedalus, he made one who held him for son 
 burn me. But to the last pit of the ten, for alchemy which 
 I practised in the world, Minos condemned me, to whom it 
 is not permitted to err.' And I said to the Poet : ' Now 
 was ever a folk so vain as the Sienese ? Certainly not so 
 the French by far.' Wherefore the other leprous one, who 
 heard me, answered to my speech : ' Except me Stricca, who 
 knew how to make his expenses moderate ; and Nicholas, 
 
 Perch' io nol feci Dedalo, mi fece 
 Ardere a tal, che 1' avea per figliuolo. 
 
 Ma nell' ultima bolgia delle diece 
 
 Me per alchimia che nel mondo usai, 
 
 Danno Minos, a cui fallar non lece. 120 
 
 Ed io dissi al Poeta : Or fu giammai 
 Gente si vana come la sanese ? 
 Certo non la francesca si d' assai. 
 
 Onde 1' altro lebbroso che m' intese, 
 
 Rispose al detto mio : Trammene Stricca, 
 Che seppe far le temperate spese ; 
 
 E Niccolo, che la costuma ricca 
 
 V1 - vana has a wider sense than our 'vain'; ' empty-headed' or 
 ' futile.' For its application to the Sienese cf. Purg. xiii. 151. 
 
 1 - 3 Benvenuto has a little fling on his own account here at the habits 
 and language of the French, and those in Italy who imitated them. He 
 adds that there can hardly be any confusion, as some have thought, 
 between Siena (Sena Julia) and Sinigaglia (Sena Gallica). 
 
 - :) A touch of irony, like the exception of Bonturo in xxi. 41. Of 
 Stricca nothing further appears to be known. Bianchi hears that he 
 belonged to the Marescotti family ; others otherwise. 
 
 120 le temperate spese : for the order of the words cf. il bnon 
 mondo, Purg. xvi. 106. 
 
 1 " >7 Xiccolo de' Bonsignori is said to have roasted birds over a"" fire 
 made of cloves.
 
 356 HELL CANTO 
 
 who first discovered the rich fashion of the clove in the 
 garden where such seed takes root ; and except the gang in 
 which Caccia of Asciano wasted his vineyard and his great 
 wood, and Abbagliato set forth his own wisdom. But that 
 thou mayest know who so backs thee against the Sienese, 
 make thy eye keen toward me, so that my face may well 
 make answer to thee ; so wilt thou see that I am the shade 
 of Capocchio, who falsified the metals by alchemy ; and 
 
 Del garofano prima discoperse 
 Nell' orto, dove tal seme s' appicca ; 
 
 E tranne la brigata, in che disperse 130 
 
 Caccia d' Ascian la vigna e la gran fronda, 
 E 1' Abbagliato il suo senno proferse. 
 
 Ma perche sappi chi si ti seconda 
 
 Contra i Sanesi, aguzza ver me 1' occhio 
 Si, che la faccia mia ben ti risponda ; 
 
 Si vedrai ch' io son 1' ombra di Capocchio, 
 Che falsai li metalli con alchimia, 
 
 1;i la brigata sc. spendereccia. See note xiii. 120. They were, says 
 Benv. , a set of twelve young men, who managed to get through 216,000 
 florins in twenty months in fast living of all kinds. Two pleasant songs, 
 he adds, were composed, relating their first and last state. 
 
 1;! - Abbagliato is generally taken as a nickname, the bearer of which 
 is said to be one of the Folcachieri ; or by others, the well-known poet 
 Folgore da San Geminiano. Many MSS. and commentators, however, 
 among the latter Benvenuto omitting il, treat abbagliato as an 
 adjective, rendering 'and displayed his own muddled wits,' which 
 seems almost preferable. 
 
 13<i Capocchio was a Florentine artist who, according to some 
 authorities, was burnt at Siena as an alchemist. Scartazzini gives 
 documentary evidence, placing the date in 1293. Benvenuto relates 
 that one Good Friday he depicted the story of the Passion on his finger- 
 nails, and then licked it off again ; for which waste of his talents he was 
 much reproved by Dante. 
 
 137 For the sin of alchemy, P. di Dante gives a reference to
 
 xxix HELL 357 
 
 thou oughtest to remember, if I eye thee aright, how I was 
 a good ape of nature.' 
 
 E ti dei ricordar, se ben t' adocchio, 
 Com' io fui di natura buona scimia. 
 
 Aquinas, which is not to be found. As a matter of fact, St. Thomas 
 holds (ii. 2. Q. 77. A. 2.) that there is no harm in dealing in gold pro- 
 duced by alchemy, if it be genuine.
 
 CANTO XXX 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They find that the pit contains all manner of counterfeiters ; namely, 
 such as have for wicked ends feigned to be other than themselves 
 false coiners, perjurers, and such like ; who are punished with 
 madness and sundry loathsome diseases. They speak with 
 Master Adam ; and the author, being intent on watching a 
 quarrel, is reproved by Virgil. 
 
 IN the time when Juno was wroth for Semele's sake against 
 the Theban race, as she made manifest one and another 
 time, Athamas became so mad that, seeing his wife with her 
 two sons go, burthened on either hand, he cried : ' Let us 
 stretch the nets, so that I may take the lioness and the lion- 
 
 NEL tempo che Giunone era crucciata 
 
 Per Semele contra il sangue tebano, 
 
 Come mostro una ed altra fiata, 
 Atamante divenne tanto insano, 
 
 Che veggendo la moglie con due figli 
 
 Andar carcata da ciascuna mano, 
 Grido : Tendiam le reti, si ch' io pigli 
 
 1 SC M- The story will be found in Ov. Met. iv. 420 sqq. Ino, sister 
 of Semele, and wife of Athamas, brought up her nephew Bacchus, and 
 thus incurred the anger of Juno. 
 
 3 As when she caused Agave to murder her son Pentheus. See 
 Met. iii. ad fin. 
 
 7 Ov. Met. iv. 513 sqq. : 
 
 Clamat, Io comites, his retia tendite silvis ; 
 
 Hie modo cum gemina visa est mihi prole leacna.
 
 CANTO xxx HELL 359 
 
 cubs in their passage ; ' and then stretched forth his pitiless 
 claws, seizing one who had the name Learchus, and swung 
 him and dashed him on a rock ; and she drowned herself 
 with her other burthen. And when fortune turned to abase- 
 ment the haughtiness of the Trojans, which dared all things, 
 so that together with his kingdom their king was brought 
 to nought, Hecuba, sad, wretched, and captive, after that 
 she had seen Polyxena dead, and of her Polydorus on the 
 seashore was aware, the woeful one, being out of her wits, 
 barked like a dog ; so did her woe set her mind awry. But 
 
 La leonessa e i leoncini al varco : 
 
 E poi distese i dispietati artigli, 
 Prendendo 1' un che avea nome Learco, 10 
 
 E rotollo, e percosselo ad un sasso ; 
 
 E quella s' annego con 1' altro carco. 
 E quando la fortuna volse in basso 
 
 L' altezza dei Troian che tutto ardiva, 
 
 Si che insieme col regno il re fu casso ; 
 Ecuba trista misera e cattiva, 
 
 Poscia che vide Polissena morta, 
 
 E del suo Polidoro in sulla riva 
 Del mar si fu la dolorosa accorta, 
 
 Forsennata latrb si come cane ; 20 
 
 Tanto il dolor le fe la mente torta. 
 
 Utque ferae sequitur vestigia conjugis amens ; 
 Deque sinu matris ridentem et parva Lcarchum 
 Bracchia tendentem rapit, et bis terque per auras 
 More rotat fundae, etc. 
 
 Then Ino leaps into the sea with her other son Melicerta. 
 
 is S qq. See Ov. Met. xiii. 403-570. Several phrases are copied : 
 e.g. 1. 403 : Troja simul Priamusque cadunt ; 1. 407 : Ilion ardebat 
 (did Dante connect ardirc and ardereT}', 1. 535 : Polydori in litore 
 corpus.
 
 360 HELL CANTO 
 
 furies neither of Thebes nor of Troy were ever seen so cruel 
 in any, not to wound beasts, let alone human members, 
 as I beheld in two shades, pallid and naked, who were 
 running, biting in such manner as the boar when he is let 
 out from the stye. One came to Capocchio and gored him 
 upon the nape of the neck, so that, dragging, he made him 
 scrape his belly on the hard ground. And the Aretine, who 
 remained trembling, said to me : ' That mad imp is Gianni 
 Schicchi, and he goes in his rage trimming others in such 
 
 Ma ne di Tebe furie ne Troiane 
 
 Si vider mai in alcun tanto crude, 
 
 Non punger bestie, non che membra umane, 
 Quant' io vidi in due ombre smorte e nude, 
 
 Che mordendo correvan di quel modo 
 
 Che il porco quando del porcil si schiude. 
 L' una giunse a Capocchio, ed in sul nodo 
 
 Del collo 1' assannb si che, tirando, 
 
 Grattar gli fece il ventre al fondo sodo. 30 
 
 E 1' Aretin, che rimase tremando, 
 
 Mi disse : Quel folletto e Gianni Schicchi, 
 
 E va rabbioso altrui cosi conciando. 
 
 24 non punger: idest, ad pungendinn. Benv. So Witte, Scartaz- 
 zini, and Fhilalethes understand si vider to be repeated : ' never were 
 seen beasts so wounded,' etc. 
 
 32 Gianni Schicchi, of the Cavalcante family, had a remarkable gift 
 of mimicry. He used this on one occasion, at the instance of one 
 Simone, nephew of Buoso de' Donati (whom we have already met in 
 Canto xxv. among the thieves), in order to secure to him Buoso's inherit- 
 ance, there being reason to fear that he would leave his money to 
 charitable institutions. As P. di Dante tells the tale, they first 
 smothered Buoso, then Gianni took his place in the bed, and dictated 
 such a will as Simone desired to the attendant notary, bequeathing to 
 himself, as his commission on the transaction, a favourite mare (or, 
 according to some authorities, she -mule) of Buoso's, famous for her 
 beauty.
 
 xxx HELL 361 
 
 wise.' ' O,' said I to him, 'so may the other not fix his 
 teeth on thy back, be it no weariness to thee to say who it 
 is, before it flits from here.' And he to me : ' That is the 
 ancient soul of Myrrha, accursed, who became dear to her 
 father beyond lawful love. Thus came she to sin with him, 
 dissembling herself in another's likeness ; just as the other 
 who goes his way yonder dared, in order to gain the lady of 
 the stud, in his own person to simulate Buoso Donati, 
 making a will, and giving to the will due form.' And after 
 the two rabid ones were gone by, upon whom I had my 
 
 O, diss' io lui, se 1' altro non ti ficchi 
 Li denti addosso, non ti sia fatica 
 A dir chi e, pria che di qui si spicchi. 
 
 Ed egli a me : Quell' e 1' anima antica 
 Di Mirra scellerata, che divenne 
 Al padre, fuor del dritto amore, arnica. 
 
 Questa a peccar con esso cosi venne, 40 
 
 Falsificando se in altrui forma, 
 Come 1' altro, che la sen va, sostenne, 
 
 Per guadagnar la donna della torma, 
 Falsificare in se Buoso Donati, 
 Testando, e dando al testamento norma. 
 
 E poi che i due rabbiosi fur passati, 
 Sopra cu' io avea 1' occhio tenuto, 
 
 " 7 The story of Myrrha (not a pleasant one) is told in Ov. Met. x. 
 Dante refers to it again in the Letter to Henry of Luxemburg, 7, 
 where he uses it to illustrate his opinion of Florence. 
 
 41 44 The apparent antithesis in these lines is hardly borne out by 
 the sense ; for both Myrrha and Gianni Schicchi counterfeited another 
 person. Nor does Scartazzini's suggestion that while he pretended to 
 be a particular person, she merely feigned to be not herself, make the 
 case much better.
 
 362 HELL CANTO 
 
 eye fixed, I turned it back to watch the others born to ill. 
 I saw one fashioned in shape of a lute, had he only had the 
 groin cut away in the quarter which man has forked. The 
 grievous dropsy which so unmates the limbs with the 
 humour which turns to bane, that the face does not corre- 
 spond to the paunch, made him hold his lips open as the 
 hectic does, that through thirst the one is turned towards 
 the chin, and the other upward. 
 
 ' O ye, who without any penalty are (and I know not 
 wherefore) in the grim world,' said he to us, ' look and give 
 heed to the wretchedness of Master Adam. Living, I had 
 
 Rivolsilo a guardar gli altri mal nati. 
 
 lo vidi un, fatto a guisa di liuto, 
 
 Pur ch' egli avesse avuta 1' anguinaia 50 
 
 Tronca dal lato, che 1' uomo ha forcuto. 
 
 La grave idropisi, che si dispaia 
 
 Le membra con 1' umor che mal convcrte, 
 Che il viso non risponde alia ventraia, 
 
 Faceva a lui tener le labbra aperte, 
 Come 1' etico fa, che per la sete 
 L' un verso il mento e 1' altro in su riverte. 
 
 O voi, che senza alcuna pena siete 
 
 (E non so io perche) nel mondo gramo, 
 
 Diss' egli a noi, guardate ed attendete 60 
 
 Alia miseria del maestro Adamo : 
 
 (il Adam of Brescia, a famous moneyer, was employed by the 
 commonwealth of Florence to coin their gold florins. (Doubtless he 
 was introduced by his fellow-townsman Filippo degli Ugoni, who was 
 Poclesta in 1252, when the gold florin was first struck. Vill. v. 52.) 
 The Counts of Romena, of the family of the Conti (aiidi, induced him 
 to manufacture coin containing one-eighth of alloy ; and when he was 
 detected, in 1281, the Florentines, jealous of the purity of their coinage, 
 which had become a standard for the whole world, burnt him on the 
 road to the Casentino, where the crime had been committed. St.
 
 xxx HELL 363 
 
 enough of that which I would, and now, alas ! I crave a 
 drop of water. The little brooks which from the green hills 
 of the Casentino come down into Arno, making their 
 channels cool and soft, ever stand before me, and not in 
 vain ; for their image parches me far more than the trouble 
 by reason of which I am fleshless in the face. The un- 
 bending justice which goads me, draws occasion from the 
 place where I sinned, to set my sighs flying the more. 
 There is Romena, the place where I falsified the currency 
 stamped with the Baptist, wherefore I left my body above 
 
 lo ebbi, vivo, assai di quel ch' io volli, 
 Ed ora, lasso ! un gocciol d' acqua bramo. 
 
 Li ruscelletti, che dei verdi colli 
 
 Del Casentin discendon giuso in Arno, 
 Facendo i lor canali freddi e molli, 
 
 Sempre mi stanno innanzi, e non indarno ; 
 Che 1' imagine lor vie piu m' asciuga, 
 Che il male ond' io nel volto mi discarno. 
 
 La rigida giustizia, che mi fruga, 70 
 
 Tragge cagion del loco ov' io peccai, 
 A metter piii li miei sospiri in fuga. 
 
 Ivi e Romena, la dov' io falsai 
 La lega suggellata del Batista, 
 Perch' io il corpo su arso lasciai. 
 
 Thomas appears only to mention the crime of coining in order to illus- 
 trate the lawfulness of putting heretics to death. ' Multo gravius,' he 
 says (ii. 2. Q. u. A. 3.), ' est corrumpere ficlem, quam falsare 
 pecuniam. ' 
 
 ~ A Romena : a castle in the Casentino, or upper Vale of Arno, on 
 the road from Pratovecchio to Florence. 
 
 74 lega : here in its original sense of lawful coin. "\Yhen the addi- 
 tion of a certain proportion of inferior metal was found necessary, and 
 fixed by law, it got the meaning of 'alloy,' as Par. ii. 139. il Batista : 
 cf. Par. xviii. 134.
 
 364 HELL CANTO 
 
 burned. But if I might see here the sorry soul of Guy, or 
 of Alexander, or of their brother, I would not give the sight 
 for Branda spring. Within here is one already, if the raging 
 shades that go about speak true ; but what profits it me, 
 who have my limbs bound ? If I were yet only nimble so 
 far that I could in a hundred years go an inch, I would ere 
 this have set out along the road, seeking him among this 
 
 Ma s' io vedessi qui 1' anima trista 
 
 Di Guido, o d' Alessandro, o di lor frate, 
 Per fonte Branda non darei la vista. 
 
 Dentro c' e 1' una gia, se 1' arrabbiate 
 
 Ombre che van dintorno dicon vero : 80 
 
 Ma che mi val, ch' ho le membra legate ? 
 
 S' io fossi pur di tanto ancor leggiero, 
 
 Ch' io potessi in cent' anni andare un' oncia, 
 Io sarei messo gia per Io sentiero, 
 
 Cercando lui tra questa gente sconcia, 
 
 77 The third brother was named Aghinolfo. They were great- 
 grandsons of the original Guido, who married the 'good Gualdrada,' 
 and their father was first cousin to Guido Guerra (xvi. 38). 
 
 78 Fonte Branda is generally taken to mean the celebrated spring of 
 that name at Siena. It seems, however, that another spring of the 
 same name formerly existed near Romena, and it is possible that 
 Bianchi and Scartazzini are right in supposing the allusion to be to 
 this. 
 
 79 1' una. It is unknown which of the brothers is here intended. 
 Aghinolfo, it appears, is known to have died early in 1300 (but would 
 not this, in any case, be after the date of Dante's journey, according to 
 the old calendar ?), while Alessandro seems to have lived till later. 
 But there is much uncertainty as to all of them. The curious point 
 is that Dante was on friendly terms during his exile with the Counts of 
 Romena. We have, however, plenty of instances in which private 
 friendship does not hinder him from branding misdeeds. 
 
 83 oncia. Uncia Florentiae appellatur latitudo digiti grossi. Benv. 
 Our ' inch ' is of course the same word.
 
 xxx HELL 365 
 
 deformed folk, albeit that it goes eleven miles about, and 
 has not here less than half a mile of cross-measure. Through 
 them I am among a household of such fashion ; they led 
 me on to strike the florins which had three carats of dross.' 
 And I to him : ' Who are the two lying low, who smoke 
 like wetted hands in winter, lying hard by thy right-hand 
 boundary ? ' 'I found them here, and since have they not 
 turned,' he answered, ' when I dropped into this pot ; and I 
 do not think they will turn to all eternity. One is the liar 
 who accused Joseph, the other is the lying Greek Sinon 
 
 Con tutto ch' ella volge undici miglia, 
 E men d' un mezzo di traverse non ci ha. 
 
 lo son per lor tra si fatta famiglia : 
 Ei m' indussero a battere i fiorini, 
 Che avean tre carati di mondiglia. 90 
 
 Ed io a lui : Chi son li due tapini, 
 
 Che fuman come man bagnate il verno, 
 Giacendo stretti ai tuoi destri confini ? 
 
 Qui li trovai, e poi volta non dierno, 
 
 Rispose, quand' io piovvi in questo greppo, 
 E non credo che dieno in sempiterno. 
 
 L' una e la falsa che accuso Joseppo ; 
 L' altro e il falso Sinon greco da Troia : 
 
 861 87 See note xxix. 9. 
 
 90 mondiglia : strictly that which cleaning removes. Cf. Gr. 
 K(i6ap/J.a. 
 
 05 greppo : according to Benvenuto, a Florentine word for a 
 damaged earthenware vessel, such as fowls might feed from. So Yellu- 
 tello. Others say the side of a ditch. 
 
 97 Potiphar's wife ; introduced as a typical false-witness. 
 
 9S Sinon belongs rather to the same class as Gianni Schicchi. He 
 did not actually feign to be another person, but he described his 
 position falsely. See Aen. ii. 57 sqq.
 
 366 HELL CANTO 
 
 from Troy ; through sharp fever they cast such a reek.' 
 And the one of them who took in ill part, perhaps, to be so 
 darkly named, with his fist smote him on the leathery 
 paunch, that sounded as it had been a drum ; and Master 
 Adam smote him on the face with his arm, which seemed 
 not less hard, saying to him : ' Even if I be deprived of my 
 movement through my limbs, for they are heavy, I have an 
 arm free for such office.' Wherefore he answered: 'When 
 thou wast going to the fire, thou hadst it not so ready ; but 
 so and more thou hadst it when thou wast coining.' And 
 the dropsical : ' Thou sayest true of this ; but thou wast not 
 so true evidence where thou wast asked of the truth at 
 
 Per febbre acuta gittan tanto leppo. 
 
 E P un di lor, che si recb a noia 100 
 
 Forse d' esser nomato si oscuro, 
 Col pugno gli percosse P epa croia : 
 
 Qu< lla sonb, come fosse un tamburo : 
 E mastro Adamo gli percosse il volto 
 Col braccio suo che non parve men duro, 
 
 Dicendo a lui : Ancor che mi sia tolto 
 Lo mover per le membra, che son gravi, 
 Ho io il braccio a tal mestiere sciolto. 
 
 Ond' ei nspose : Quando tu andavi 
 
 Al foco, non P avei tu cosi presto ; no 
 
 Ma si e piu P avei quan.do coniavi. 
 
 E P idropico : Tu di' ver di questo ; 
 Ma tu non fosti si ver testimonio, 
 La Ve del ver a Troia fosti richiesto. 
 
 102 croia : see Glossary. 
 
 lur Wittc puts the comma at muover ; but in that case we should 
 surely require che siait, of which no trace appears in MSS.
 
 xxx HELL 367 
 
 Troy.' ' If I said false, so didst thou make false the coin,' 
 said Sinon, 'and I am here for one fault, and thou for 
 more than any other fiend.' ' Bethink thee, perjurer, of the 
 horse,' answered he who had his paunch inflated, 'and be 
 it thy bane that all the world knows it.' ' And thy bane be 
 the thirst wherewith cracks thy tongue,' said the Greek ; ' and 
 the putrid water which thus makes thy belly a fence before 
 thine eyes.' Then the moneyer : ' Thus gapes thy mouth 
 to thy own ill as it is wont ; for if I have thirst, and an 
 humour bloats me out, thou hast thy burning, and thy head 
 which pains thee ; and to lap Narcissus his mirror, thou 
 wouldest not wish many words of invitation.' To listen to 
 
 S' io dissi '1 falso, e tu falsasti il conio, a 
 Disse Sinone, e son qui per un fallo, 
 E tu per piu che alcun altro demonic. 
 
 Ricorditi, spergiuro, del cavallo, 
 
 Rispose quel ch' avea enfiata 1' epa ; 
 
 E siati reo, che tutto il mondo sallo. 120 
 
 E te sia rea la sete onde ti crepa, 
 
 Uisse il Greco, la lingua, e 1' acqua marcia 
 Che il ventre innanzi a gli occhi si t' assiepa. 
 
 Allora il monetier : Cos! si squarcia 
 
 La bocca tua per suo mal come suole ; 
 Che s' i' ho sete, ed umor mi rinfarcia, 
 
 Tu hai 1' arsura, e il capo che ti duole, 
 E per leccar lo specchio di Narcisso, 
 Non vorresti a invitar molte parole. 
 
 a om. e W. 
 
 115 e : much as in xxv. 34, etc. 
 
 l - s specchio di Narcisso : merely ' running water.' See Ov. Met. 
 iii. 351 sqq.
 
 368 HELL CANTO 
 
 them I was wholly fixed, when the Master said to me : ' Now 
 only see, for it lacks but little that I quarrel with thee.' 
 When I heard him speak to me with anger, I turned me 
 toward him with such shame, that it still revolves in my 
 memory. And as is he who dreams his own hurt, that in 
 his dream he longs to be dreaming, so yearns he for that 
 which is as though it were not ; such became I, not having 
 power to speak, that I longed to excuse myself, and was 
 excusing myself all the time, and deemed not I did it. 
 ' Less shame washes a greater fault,' said the Master, 'than 
 
 Ad ascoltarli er' io del tutto fisso, 130 
 
 Quando il Maestro mi disse : Or pur mira, 
 Che per poco e che teco non mi risso. 
 
 Quand' io il send' a me parlar con ira, 
 Volsimi verso lui con tal vergogna, 
 Ch' ancor per la memoria mi si gira. 
 
 E quale e quei che suo dannaggio sogna, 
 Che sognando desidera sognare, 
 Si che quel ch' e, come non fosse, agogna : 
 
 Tal mi fee' io, non potendo parlare, 
 
 Che desiava scusarmi, e scusava 140 
 
 Me tuttavia, e nol mi credea fare. 
 
 Maggior difetto men vergogna lava, 
 
 Disse il Maestro, che il tuo non e stato : 
 
 131 or pur mira: Benv. and others, e.g. Bianchi, understand the 
 words to mean, ' Now just go on staring/ in irony. The former, by 
 the way, is inclined to excuse Dante. ' Yere delectabile est,' he says, 
 ' audire duos falsarios, lenones, baratarios, tanquam meretrices inter se 
 contendentes ' ; a cynical view which Virgil could hardly be expected to 
 endorse. 
 
 132 per poco : see Diez ii. 442. The use is like, though not identical 
 with, that in xvi. 71, where it refers to time. 
 
 140, 141 Because the very fact of his being unable to express his 
 shame showed its sincerity.
 
 xxx HELL 369 
 
 thine has been ; therefore unload thyself of all sadness ; and 
 make account that I am ever beside thee if it happens again 
 that fortune bring thee in company where folk are in a like 
 pleading ; for to wish to hear that is a base will.' 
 
 Perb d' ogni tristizia ti disgrava : 
 E fa ragion ch' io ti sia sempre allato, 
 Se piu avvien che fortuna t' accoglia, 
 Ove sia gente in simigliante piato ; 
 Che voler cio udire e bassa vosrlia. 
 
 2 B
 
 CANTO XXXI 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 Guided by the sound of a great horn, they reach the brink of the last 
 descent, and find it guarded by giants. One of these, Antaeus by 
 name, sets them down in the last circle of Hell. 
 
 ONE self-same tongue first wounded me, so that it tinged my 
 one and the other cheek, and afterwards held out again the 
 remedy to me. So do I hear that the spear of Achilles and 
 
 UNA medesma lingua pria mi morse, 
 Si che mi tinse 1' una e 1' altra guancia, 
 E poi la medicina mi riporse. 
 
 Cosi od' io, che soleva la lancia 
 
 4 > 5 Telephus, son of Hercules, and King of Mysia, was wounded by 
 Achilles at the first landing of the Greeks. As his wound did not heal, 
 he sought the oracle, and was told that only the wounder could cure 
 him. Achilles accordingly applied his spear to the wound, and healed 
 it. Ovid alludes to the story frequently. The particular passage which 
 Dante had in mind was probably Rein. Am. 47 : 
 
 Vulnus in Ilerculeo quae quondam fecerat hoste 
 Vulneris auxilium Pelias hasta tulit. 
 
 Dictys Cretensis, though he has a good deal about Telephus, and says 
 that he was cured by Machaon and Podalirius with the help of Achilles, 
 does not mention the actual method. Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxv. 19, 
 rationalises the story.
 
 CANTO xxxi HELL 371 
 
 of his father was wont to be an occasion first of a sorry 
 largess and then of a good. 
 
 We turned our backs to the vale of misery, up over the 
 bank which girdles it around, passing across without any 
 converse. Here it was less than night and less than day, 
 so that my sight went but little forward ; but I heard sound 
 a loud horn, such that it would have made every thunder 
 feeble ; so that as I followed its course against itself it 
 directed my eyes wholly to one place. After the woeful 
 rout when Charles the Great lost the holy enterprise, not so 
 
 D' Achille e del suo padre esser cagione 
 Prima di trista e poi di buona mancia. 
 
 Noi denimo il dosso al misero vallone 
 Su per la ripa che il cinge dintorno, 
 Attraversando senza alcun sermone. 
 
 Quivi era men che notte e men che giorno, 10 
 
 Si che il viso m' andava innanzi poco : 
 Ma io send' sonare un alto corno, 
 
 Tanto ch' avrebbe ogni tuon fatto fioco, 
 Che, contra se la sua via seguitando, 
 Dirizzo gli occhi miei tutti ad un loco : 
 
 Dopo la dolorosa rotta, quando 
 
 Carlo Magno perde la santa gesta, 
 
 8 cinge dintorno : rather a curious way of indicating the inner bank. 
 
 14 In the opposite direction to the sound. 
 
 lr> gli occhi tutti : so tutti i piedi, xix. 64. 
 
 i(> sqq. English readers need hardly be reminded of ' the blast of that 
 dread horn, On Fontarabian echoes borne.' The story (from the 
 Chronicle of Turpin) of the defeat of Charlemagne's rearguard by the 
 Saracens at Roncesvalles appears to be purely legendary ; but the 
 allusion to it here, brought about as it was by the treachery of Ganelon, 
 serves well to usher in the description of the lowest circle, in which 
 traitors are punished.
 
 372 HELL CANTO 
 
 terribly did Roland blow. A little while I bore my head 
 turned that way when I seemed to myself to see many lofty 
 towers ; wherefore I : ' Master, say, what land is this ? ' 
 And he to me : ' Because thou speedest across through the 
 gloom from too far off, it befalls that thou afterward goest 
 astray in thy imagining. Thou wilt see well if thou drawest 
 near that place how much the sense is deceived at a distance ; 
 therefore prick thyself on somewhat more.' Then in loving 
 wise he took me by the hand, and said : ' Before that we are 
 further forward, in order that the fact may seem less strange 
 to thee, know that they are not towers, but giants, and they 
 are in the gulf, around the bank, from the navel downward 
 all and each.' As when the cloud is dissipated the gaze 
 
 Non sonb si terribilmente Orlando. 
 
 Poco portai in la volta la testa, 
 
 Che mi parve veder molte alte torri ; 20 
 
 Ond' io : Maestro, di', che terra e questa ? 
 
 Ed egli a me : Perb che tu trascorri 
 Per le tenebre troppo dalla lungi, 
 Avvien che poi nel 'maginare aborri. 
 
 Tu vedrai ben, se tu la ti congiungi, 
 Quanto il senso s' inganna di lontano : 
 Perb alquanto piu te stesso pungi. 
 
 Poi caramente mi prese per mano, 
 
 E disse : Pria che noi siam piu avanti, 
 Acciocche il fatto men ti paia strano, 30 
 
 Sappi che non son torri, ma giganti, 
 E son nel pozzo intorno dalla ripa 
 Dall' umbilico in giuso tutti e quanti. 
 
 Come, quando la nebbia si dissipa, 
 
 - l terra is often used in the sense of ' a town.' 
 - G Cf. Purg. xxix. 47.
 
 xxxi HELL 373 
 
 little by little figures out whatsoever the vapour which packs 
 the air is concealing ; so piercing the gross and dim mist, 
 approaching more and more to the brink, error fled from me 
 and fear grew upon me. Because like, as upon its round 
 enclosure Montereggion is crowned with towers, so the bank 
 which surrounds the pit were turreting, by half their frames, 
 the horrible giants, whom Jove yet menaces from heaven when 
 he thunders. And I began to perceive already of a certain 
 one the face, the shoulders and the breast, and of the belly 
 
 Lo sguardo a poco a poco raffigura 
 Cib che cela il vapor che 1' acre stipa : 
 
 Cosi forando 1' aura grossa e scura, 
 
 Piu e piu appressando in ver la sponda, 
 Fuggiemi errore, e cresceami paura. 
 
 Perocche come in sulla cerchia tonda 40 
 
 Montereggion di torri si corona ; 
 Cosi la proda, che il pozzo circonda, 
 
 Torreggiavan di mezza la persona 
 Gli orribili giganti, cui minaccia 
 Giove del cielo ancora, quando tuona. 
 
 Ed io scorgeva gia d' alcun la faccia, 
 
 Le spalle e il petto, e del ventre gran parte, 
 
 40 cerchia : as in Par. xv. 97. 
 
 41 The castle of Monte Reggione stands a few miles north-west of 
 Siena. 
 
 44 Nothing in Virgil seems to have suggested the introduction of the 
 Giants among the warders of Hell. They appear, however, with the 
 Furies, Centaurs, etc., in the account of Scipio's visit to the infernal 
 regions, Silius Italicus, Punica xiii. 590. (Silius is generally supposed 
 to have been ' lost,' and first rediscovered by Poggio at St. Gallen in 
 the fifteenth century, nor does Dante, I believe, anywhere mention him ; 
 but there are in the passage referred to several points of resemblance to 
 Dante's employment of classical legend almost too close to be mere 
 coincidences ; and MSS. of course were in existence somewhere.)
 
 374 HELL CANTO 
 
 great part, and both the arms down by the sides. Nature 
 surely did right well when she left the trick of animals so 
 fashioned, to take away such ministers from Mars. And if 
 of elephants and whales she does not repent her, whoso 
 looks subtilly holds her therefore more just and more dis- 
 creet ; for where the equipment of the mind is joined to ill- 
 will and to power, folk can make no rampart against it. 
 His face appeared to me long and big as the pine-cone of 
 
 E per le coste giu ambo le braccia. 
 Natura certo, quando lascib 1' arte 
 
 Di si fatti animali, assai fe bene, 50 
 
 Per torre tali esecutori a Marte : 
 E s' ella d' elefanti e di balene a 
 
 Non si pente, chi guarda sottilmente, 
 
 Piu giusta e piu discreta la ne dene : 
 Che dove 1' argomento della mente 
 
 S' aggiunge al mal volere ed alia possa, b 
 
 Nessun riparo vi puo far la gente. 
 La faccia sua mi parea lunga e grossa, 
 
 Come la pina di san Pietro a Roma ; 
 
 a lionfanti Gg.; lifanti Cass. 
 b ha la possa 2. 
 
 54 Because elephants and whales, not possessing intelligence, are not 
 such a danger to mankind. 
 
 55 P. di Dante refers to Arist. Pol. i. 2 (1253 a): uairep yap KCU 
 
 T(\fii}0V (3e\TlffTOV TU1V 'f(j)UV dvtfpUTTOS tffTLV, OVTii} KCti -)(^UpLffdeV f6fJ.OV KO.I 
 
 diKijs -xfipLffTOV iravruv. XaXeTrairdr^ yap addict %-)(pvffa. 6'7rXa. argo- 
 mento : as in xix. no; Purg. ii. 31. But the meaning 'reason' is 
 also suggested. See note Par. xv. 79. 
 
 6a The gilt pine-cone, once on the Mausoleum of Hadrian, was put 
 by Pope Symmachus in front of St. Peter's, where it stood in Dante's 
 time. It is now in the Vatican. Philalethes gives its height at 10 
 palms = about "]\ English feet ; and gives elaborate calculations as to the 
 height of the giants. It will be sufficient to say that Dante must have 
 imagined them to be about 70 English feet in stature.
 
 xxxi HELL 375 
 
 St. Peter at Rome, and in proportion to it were the other 
 bones ; so that the bank which was a skirt from the middle 
 downward, showed of him full so much above that to reach 
 to his hair three Frisians would ill have boasted themselves, 
 seeing that I saw of him thirty great spans down from the place 
 where a man buckles his cloak. Rafel mai amech zabi almi 
 
 Ed a sua prop'orzione eran 1' altr' ossa : 60 
 
 Si che la ripa, ch' era perizoma 
 
 Dal mezzo in giu, ne mostrava ben tanto 
 Di sopra, che di giungere alia chioma 
 
 Tre Frison s' averian dato mal vanto : 
 Perocch' io ne vedea trenta gran palmi 
 Dal loco in giu, dov' uomo affibbia il manto. 
 
 Rafel mai amech zabi almi, 
 
 B4 If we put the Frisians at 6 ft. 6 in. each, and allow 2 ft. for the 
 reach of the topmost, this will give 21^ ft. to the ends of the giant's hair, 
 which may be conceived as reaching to the same point as that indicated 
 in 1. 66, viz. the lower end of the neck. Allowing a few feet for his 
 neck, we shall thus get 35 ft. for the half-giant. 
 
 67 The labour which has been devoted to making sense of this jargon 
 might have been spared if the would-be interpreters had taken the 
 trouble to look a little further; for 1. 81 clearly shows that Dante meant 
 them to have no sense. If they can be twisted into a resemblance to 
 any Arabic words (a question which, if I mistake not, the late Prof. 
 E. H. Palmer answered with a decided negative), it is a mere coincidence. 
 Dr. Scartazzini expends more space, and much more temper, than was 
 at all necessary in reviewing and dismissing the various suggestions 
 which have been made from Landino downwards, and which, with his 
 comments, occupy seven closely-printed pages of small type. From 
 these the reader turns with relief to the common-sense of Benvenuto : 
 Ad cujus intelligentiam est hie notandum quod ista verba non sunt 
 significativa, et posito quod in se aliquid significarent, sicut aliqui inter- 
 pretari conantur, adhuc nihil significarent hie, nisi quod ponuntur ad 
 significandum quod idioma istius non erat intelligibile alicui . . . Et 
 haec est intentio autoris quam expresse ponit in litera. And so (in spite 
 of his ' aliqui ') all the commentators that we possess, till the end of the 
 fifteenth century.
 
 376 - HELL CANTO 
 
 began the fierce mouth to cry, to which sweeter psalms were 
 not convenient. And my Leader toward him : ' Silly soul, 
 content thee with thy horn, and with that discharge thyself 
 when anger or other passion touches thee. Search at thy 
 neck, and thou shalt find the leash which holds it tied, O 
 soul perplexed, and see it, how it hoops thy great breast.' 
 Then said he to me : ' He accuses himself; this is Nimrod, 
 through whose ill -weening only the world uses not one 
 language. Let us leave him to stand, and not talk in vain, 
 for so is each language to him as his to others, that it is 
 
 Comincib a gridar la fiera bocca, 
 Cui non si convenian piu dolci salmi. 
 
 E il Duca mio ver lui : Anima sciocca, 70 
 
 Tienti col corno, e con quel ti disfoga, 
 Quand' ira o altra passion ti tocca. 
 
 Cercati al collo, e troverai la soga 
 Che il tien legato, o anima confusa, 
 E vedi lui che il gran petto ti doga. 
 
 Poi disse a me : Egli stesso s' accusa ; 
 Questi e Nembrotto, per lo cui mal coto 
 Pure un linguaggio nel mondo non s' usa. 
 
 Lasciamlo stare, e non parliamo a voto : 
 
 Che cosi e a lui ciascun linguaggio, 80 
 
 Come il suo ad altrui ch' a nullo e noto. 
 
 77 There is of course nothing in the Bible to suggest that Nimrod 
 (Gen. x. 8, 9) was bigger than other people, and not much to connect 
 him with the building of the tower. The giants indeed were extinct 
 before the Flood ; but in spite of this both Orosius (ii. 6) and St. 
 Augustine (Civ. D. xvi. 3, 4) make Ximrocl a giant ; the latter (whom 
 Dante doubtless followed) reading, for the 'potens in terra' of the Vul- 
 gate, ' gigas super terram ' ; and in the next verse, ' gigas venator ' for 
 ' robustus.' He also ascribes the building of Babel to him. Cf. 
 Purg. xii. 34 ; Par. xxvi. 125, 126.
 
 xxxi HELL 377 
 
 known to none.' We made then a longer journey, turned 
 to the left ; and at a crossbow's shot we found the next, far 
 more fierce and larger. Who had been the master to bind 
 him I cannot say ; but he held the other arm bowed down 
 in front and the right arm behind by a chain which he wore 
 girt from the neck downward, so that on his uncovered part 
 it was wound round even to the fifth coil. ' He in his pride 
 would make trial of his strength against the most high Jove,' 
 said my Leader, 'wherefore he has such recompense. 
 Ephialtes he has to name, and he made his great trial when 
 the giants caused fear to the gods ; the arms which he 
 wielded he moves nevermore.' And I to him : ' If it can 
 
 Facemmo adunque piu lungo viaggio 
 
 Volti a sinistra ; ed al trar d' un balestro 
 Trovammo 1' altro assai piu fiero e maggio. 
 
 A cinger lui, qual che fosse il maestro 
 Non so io dir, ma ei tenea succinto 
 Dinanzi 1' altro, e dietro il braccio destro 
 
 D' una catena, che il teneva avvinto 
 
 Dal collo in giu, si che in sullo scoperto 
 
 Si ravvolgeva infino al giro quinto. 90 
 
 Questo superbo voll' esser esperto 
 
 Di sua potenza contra il sommo Giove, 
 Disse il mio Duca, ond' egli ha cotal merto. 
 
 Fialte ha nome ; e fece le gran prove, 
 Quando i giganti fer paura ai Dei : 
 Le braccia ch' ei meno, giammai non move. 
 
 Ed io a lui : S' esser puote, io vorrei 
 
 94 It is not very clear whence Dante obtained the name of Ephialtes. 
 The only mention of him by name in Latin literature is Claudian Bell. 
 Get. 75 5 anc l it is doubtful if Dante knew Claudian. We must here, as 
 in other instances, suppose that he had access to translations, now lost, 
 of Greek authors, Homer or Apollodorus. See Odyssey A 308.
 
 378 HELL CANTO 
 
 be, I would that of Briareus the enormous my eyes might 
 have experience.' Wherefore he replied: 'Thou shall see 
 Antaeus hard by here, how he speaks and is unbound, that 
 shall place us at the bottom of all sin. He whom thou 
 wishest to see is much further beyond, and he is tied and 
 fashioned like this one, save that he appears in his counten- 
 ance more fierce.' Never was an earthquake so violent to 
 shake a tower thus mightily, as Ephialtes was quick to shake 
 himself. Then I feared more than ever my death ; and for 
 it no more than the fear was needed, if I had not seen his 
 bonds. 
 
 Che dello smisurato Briareo 
 
 Esperienza avesser gli occhi miei. 
 Ond' ei rispose : Tu vedrai Anteo 100 
 
 Presso di qui, che parla, ed e disciolto, 
 
 Che ne porra nel fondo d' ogni reo. 
 Quel che tu vuoi veder, piu la e molto, 
 
 Ed e legato e fatto come questo, 
 
 Salvo che piu feroce par nel volto. 
 Non fu tremoto gia tanto rubesto, 
 
 Che scotesse una torre cosi forte. 
 
 Come Fialte a scotersi fu presto. 
 Allor temett' io piii che mai la morte, 
 
 E non v' era mestier piu che la dotta, no 
 
 S' io non avessi viste le ritorte. 
 
 113 smisurato : the epithet is probably taken from the ' immensus 
 Briareus ' of Stat. Theb. ii. 596. 
 
 10 * 2 As Benvenuto remarks, Antaeus among the giants plays the same 
 part as Chiron among the Centaurs, in helping them on their way : but 
 it is less easy to see why he should be selected for it. 
 
 10 dotta strictly = ' uoubt.' For the extension of meaning cf. Fr. 
 redouter.
 
 xxxi HELL 379 
 
 We proceeded then further in advance, and came to 
 Antaeus, who issued full five ells without the head from out 
 the rock. ' O thou who in the fortunate vale, which made 
 Scipio an heir of glory when Hannibal with his men turned 
 their backs, didst erewhile take a thousand lions for booty, 
 and who if thou hadst been in thy brethren's war on high, me- 
 thinks it still is deemed that the sons of the earth had won, 
 set us down (and let no shyness thereof come to thee) where 
 the cold locks up Cocytus. Make us not go to Tityus nor 
 
 Noi procedemmo piii avanti allotta, 
 
 E venimmo ad Anteo, che ben cinqu' alle, 
 Senza la testa, uscia fuor della grotta. 
 
 O tu, che nella fortunata valle, 
 Che fece Scipion di gloria reda, 
 Quando Annibal coi suoi diede le spalle, 
 
 Recasti gia mille leon per preda, 
 E che, se fossi stato all' alta guerra 
 Dei tuoi fratelli, ancor par ch' e' si creda, 120 
 
 Che avrebber vinto i figli della terra ; 
 Mettine giu (e non ten venga schifo) 
 Dove Cocito la freddura serra. 
 
 Non ci far ire a Tizio, ne a Tifo : 
 
 iio sqq. The fight between Antaeus and Hercules is related by Lucan, 
 Phars. iv. 593-660. To him also seems to be due the identification of 
 the scene of the fight with the neighbourhood of Carthage. (It may be 
 noted that it was in this same district, near Utica, that St. Augustine, 
 as he records, Civ. D. xv. 9, saw the great molar tooth which he says 
 would have cut up into a hundred such as we now have.) fortunata : 
 cf. xxviii. 8. Here too it may mean ' fortune-vexed. ' 
 19 sqq Suggested no doubt by Luc <! s 
 
 Nee tarn justa fuit terrarum gloria Typhon 
 
 Aut Tityus Briareusque ferox ; caeloque pepercit (sc. Tellus) 
 
 Quod non Phlegraeis Antaeum sustulit arvis. 
 
 It will be noticed that the three other giants named here are all referred 
 to in the present passage.
 
 380 HELL CANTO 
 
 to Typhoeus ; this man can give thee of that which here is 
 craved ; therefore bend thyself, and writhe not thy muzzle. 
 He can yet render thee fame in the world ; for he lives and 
 awaits long life yet, if grace calls him not to itself before the 
 time.' Thus said the Master; and that one in haste 
 stretched forth his hands, and took my Leader, the hands 
 whence Hercules once felt a mighty constraint. Virgil, 
 when he felt himself seized, said to me : ' Put thyself this 
 way, that I may hold thee ' ; then did he so that he and 
 I were one bundle. As appears the Carisenda to behold 
 below its slant when a cloud goes over it in such wise that 
 
 Questi puo dar di quel che qui si brama : 
 Pero ti china, e non torcer lo grifo. 
 
 Ancor ti pub nel mondo render fama ; 
 Ch' ei vive, e lunga vita ancor aspetta, 
 Se innanzi tempo grazia a se nol chiama. 
 
 Cos! disse il Maestro : e quegli in fretta 130 
 
 Le man distese, e prese il Duca mio, 
 Ond' Ercole senti gia grande stretta. 
 
 Virgilio, quando prender si sentio, 
 
 Disse a me : Fatti in qua, si ch' io ti prenda : 
 Poi fece si, che un fascio er' egli ed io. 
 
 Qual pare a riguardar la Carisenda 
 
 Sotto il chinato, quando un nuvol vada 
 
 123 quel che qui si brama. As elsewhere, Dante's power of confer- 
 ring fame in the world above is held out as the inducement to help him. 
 Philalethes observes that this is the last instance in which it is used with 
 any effect. See xxxii. 94. 
 
 i:!li Carisenda : the lesser of the two famous leaning towers at 
 Bologna. It was built in the twelfth century by some members of the 
 Carisendi family. It is now 130 feet high, and leans 8 feet out of the 
 perpendicular ; but hc-nv. avers that in Dante's time it was higher, a 
 great part of it having been thrown down by Giovanni da Oleggio during 
 his 'tyranny' (1355-1360).
 
 xxxi HELL 381 
 
 it is hanging in the contrary way, such appeared Antaeus to 
 me who was standing at gaze to see him stoop ; and there 
 was a moment when I had wished to go by another road. 
 But lightly on the bottom, which swallows Lucifer with 
 Judas, he set us down ; nor so stooping did he make a 
 pause there, but raised him like a mast in a ship. 
 
 Sopr' essa si, che ella incontro penda ; 
 Tal parve Anteo a me che stava a bada 
 
 Di vederlo chinare, e fu tal ora 140 
 
 Ch' io avrei voluto ir per altra strada : 
 Ma lievemente al fondo, che divora 
 
 Lucifero con Giuda, ci sposo ; 
 
 Ne si chinato li fece dimora, 
 E come albero in nave si levo.
 
 CANTO XXXII 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 They find themselves on a great plain of ice, wherein are immersed 
 such as had dealt treacherously with those who trusted them. Of 
 this there are four divisions ; and first Caina, where those are who 
 have betrayed their kinsfolk. The next is Antenora, where are 
 the traitors to their city or land. Dante sees many of his own 
 country ; and at last two, of whom one is gnawing the other's 
 head. 
 
 IF I had my rimes both rough and hoarse, as would be 
 suitable to the sorry crevice over which all the other rocks 
 thrust, I would express the sap of my conception more fully ; 
 but since I have them not, not without fear do I bring my- 
 self to speak. For it is not an enterprise to take up in jest, 
 to describe a bottom to all the universe ; nor for a tongue 
 that utters childish prattle. But let those Dames aid my 
 
 S' 10 avessi le rime ed aspre e chiocce, 
 Come si converrebbe al tristo buco, 
 Sopra 11 qual pontan tutte 1' altre rocce, 
 
 lo premerei di mio concetto il suco 
 
 Piu pienamente ; ma perch' io non 1' abbo, 
 Non senza tema a dicer mi conduce. 
 
 Che non e impresa da pigliare a gabbo, 
 I)i scriver fondo a tutto 1' universe, 
 Ne da lingua che chiami mamma e babbo. 
 
 Ma quelle Donne aiutino il mio verso, io 
 
 10 Donne : the Muses. Compare with this the invocation before the
 
 CANTO XXXII HELL 383 
 
 verse who aided Amphion to enclose Thebes, so that the 
 telling may not be diverse from the fact. 
 
 O rabble, created to ill above all, that stand in the place 
 whereof to talk is hard, better had ye been here sheep or 
 goats ! When we were down in the gloomy pit, below the 
 feet of the giant, far lower, and I was still gazing at the lofty 
 wall, I heard say to me : ' Watch how thou pacest, go so 
 that thou kick not with thy feet the heads of thy poor weary 
 brethren.' Wherefore I turned me, and saw before me and 
 
 Ch' aiutaro Amfion a chiuder Tebe, 
 Si che dal fatto il dir non sia diverse. 
 
 O sopra tutte mal creata plebe, 
 
 Che stai nel loco, onde il parlare e duro, 
 Me' foste state qui pecore o zebe. 
 
 Come noi fummo giu nel pozzo scuro 
 Sotto i pie del gigante, assai piu bassi, 
 Ed io mirava ancora all' alto muro, 
 
 Dicere udimmi : Guarda, come passi ; 
 
 Va si, che tu non calchi con le piante a 20 
 
 Le teste dei fratei miseri lassi. 
 
 Perch' io mi volsi, e vidimi davante 
 
 a Fa si Aid. W. 
 
 closing scenes of Purgatory (Purg. xxix. 37 sqq. ) The story of Amphion 
 is of course a classical commonplace ; though it is net easy to see any 
 special propriety in the allusion to it here. The comparison of the last 
 circle of Hell to a walled fortress (xxxi. 43) may have suggested it. 
 
 14 duro : cf. i. 4. 
 
 14 ' 15 stai foste: note the change of number. One or two MSS. 
 seem to read fossi, but there is not enough authority to warrant us in 
 adopting it. 
 
 17 Philalethes is doubtless right in supposing that the floor slopes 
 downwards. One is tempted to wonder if Dante ever stood at the foot 
 of the rock wall above some steep glacier. 
 
 - 1 miseri lassi : the epithets are coupled again in Purg. x. 121.
 
 384 HELL CANTO 
 
 beneath my feet a lake, which by reason of frost had sem- 
 blance of glass and not of water. No such thick veil to its 
 stream makes in winter the Danube in Austria, nor the Don 
 there under its cold sky, as was there ; which if Tabernicch 
 had fallen thereon, or Pietrapana, would not even by the 
 rim have given a crack. And as the frog stands to croak 
 with its snout out of the water, what time the peasant-woman 
 
 E sotto i piedi un lago, che per gelo 
 
 Avea di vetro e non d' acqua sembiante. 
 Non fece al corso suo si grosso velo 
 
 D' inverno la Danoia in Ostericchi, b 
 
 Ne Tanai la sotto il freddo cielo, 
 Com' era quivi : che, se Tabernicchi 
 
 Vi fosse su caduto, o Pietrapana, 
 
 Non avria pur dall' orlo fatto cricchi. 30 
 
 E come a gracidar si sta la rana 
 
 Col muso fuor dell' acqua, quando sogna 
 
 Di spigolar sovente la villana : 
 
 b Osterlicchi Cass. 124; Isterl. Gg.; Austerricchi Aid. 
 
 - :i lago. The word lacus is used more than once in the Vulgate, 
 where our version has ' pit ' ; e.g. Psalm Ixxx. 5, 7 (in lacu inferiori, in 
 tenebrosis, et in umbra mortis) ; Isai. xiv. 1 5. The notion may also 
 have been suggested by the infernal lake of Plato, Phaedo 113. 
 
 '-'> fece : a kind of ' aorist ' use ; which must be rendered in English 
 by the present, unless we insert ' ever.' 
 
 ^ Tabernicchi has not been identified. There is a place called 
 Tavornik, not far from the Danube, at the east of the Austrian province 
 of Slavonia (of course far from anything that Dante would have known 
 as Austria), with hills near it ; and a mountain Tovarnica in Bosnia. 
 The first part of the word is frequent in one form or another throughout 
 the eastern Alps (it is probably identical with ' Tauern '), and -nik is a 
 not uncommon termination of mountain names in Slavonic districts. 
 
 -' Pietrapana is said to be a summit in the Carrara mountains. 
 The true name seems to be Pietra Apuana doubtless from the Ligurian 
 tribe Apuani who formerly inhabited that part.
 
 xxxn HELL 385 
 
 at whiles dreams of gleaning, livid, so far as the place where 
 shame appears, were the shades woeful in the ice, setting 
 their teeth to a stork's note. Every one was holding his 
 face turned downward ; by the mouth their chill, and by the 
 eyes their sad heart provides testimony among them to itself. 
 When I had looked round a little, I turned toward my feet, 
 and saw two so close that they had the hair of their heads 
 mingled together. ' Tell me, ye who hold your breasts so 
 close,' said I, 'who you are.' And they bent their necks, 
 and when they had turned up their faces toward me, their 
 eyes which before were melted only inwardly, gushed over 
 their lips, and the frost bound the tears between them and 
 
 Livide insin la dove appar vergogna, 
 Eran 1' ombre dolenti nella ghiaccia, 
 Mettendo i denti in nota di cicogna. 
 
 Ognuna in giu tenea volta la faccia : 
 
 Da bocca il freddo, e dagli occhi il cor tristo 
 Tra lor testimonianza si procaccia. 
 
 Quand' io ebbi d' intorno alquanto visto, 40 
 
 Volsimi ai piedi, e vidi due si stretti, 
 Che il pel del capo avieno insieme misto. 
 
 Ditemi voi, che si stringete i petti, 
 
 Diss' io, chi siete. E quei piegaro i colli ; 
 E poi ch' ebber li visi a me eretti, 
 
 Gli occhi lor, ch' eran pria pur dentro molli, 
 Gocciar su per le labbra, e il gielo strinse c 
 
 c gin per 1245 ; super le braccia Cass. 
 
 34 la dove, etc., i.e. the face. 
 
 :ili Chattering as a stork with its bill. 
 
 47 There seems no reason either (with a minority of MSS. and com- 
 mentators) to read giu, or (with the most modern interpreters) to sup- 
 pose that labbra is used in the uncommon, if not unexampled, sense of 
 
 2 C
 
 386 HELL CANTO 
 
 locked them together again. I ,og with log never did clamp 
 tie so hard ; wherefore they, like two he-goats, butted to- 
 gether, such wrath overcame them. And one who had lost 
 both his ears through the cold, ever with his face downward, 
 said : ' Why dost mirror thyself so much on us ? If thou 
 wouldst know who are these two, the vale from which Bisen- 
 
 Le lagrime tra essi, e riserrolli : 
 Con legno legno spranga mai non cinse 
 
 Forte cosi, ond' ei, come due becchi, 50 
 
 Cozzaro insieme : tant' ira li vinse. 
 Ed un, ch' avea perduti ambo gli orecchi 
 Per la freddura, pur col viso in giue 
 Disse : Perche cotanto in noi ti speech! ? d 
 Se vuoi saper chi son cotesti due, 
 La valle, onde Bisenzio si dichina, 
 
 d Mi disse perchZ tanto II'. 
 
 ' eyelids.' Su per no doubt is equivalent, as in viii. 10, to Latin super, 
 so that the objection that the tears flowed down and not up is futile. But 
 su alone is used to mean ' from above ' ; e.g. 1'etr. Son. in Morte M. L. 
 liv. : Spirto . . . c' hor su dal ciel tante dolcezze stille. 
 
 18 essi : doubtless their eyes, as indeed riserrolli shows. Their 
 eyes had been opened for a moment by the change of attitude, but were 
 closed again by the tears which froze as soon as they began to flow. 
 The simile in the next line, however, affords some justification for the 
 view which some have held that it was the face part of the sinners them- 
 selves which was locked, each to each. But in that case they could 
 hardly have butted each other : though they might have pressed their 
 foreheads hard together, to break the bond which joined the lower part 
 of their faces. 
 
 "'' ira : Scartazzini ingeniously suggests that the momentary sight 
 which they had caught of each other would renew their rage. 
 
 "'- The speaker names himself presently, 1. 68. 
 
 54 As though lie were looking at his own reflection in the ice. 
 
 56 sqq. fl^. Bisenzio is a small river which (lows past 1'rato and joins 
 the Arno near Signa. In its valley stood the castle of Mangona, belong- 
 ing to the Counts Alberti. The two here mentioned are said to be
 
 xxxii HELL 387 
 
 zio slopes down belonged to their father Albert and to them. 
 From one body came they forth ; and all Caina thou 
 mightest search, and thou wilt not find a shade more worthy of 
 being fixed in jelly; not he who had his breast and his shadow 
 torn with one self-same blow by the hand of Arthur ; not 
 Focaccia ; not this one who encumbers me so with his head 
 
 Del padre loro Alberto e di lor fue. 
 
 D' un corpo usciro : e tutta la Caina 
 Potrai cercare, e non troverai ombra 
 Degna piii d' esser fitta in gelatina : 60 
 
 Non quelli, a cui fu rotto il petto e 1' ombra 
 Con esso un colpo, per la man d' Artu : 
 Xon Focaccia : non questi, che m' ingombra 
 
 Alessandro and Napoleone, sons of a Count Alberto. The castle seems 
 to have belonged by right to Alessandro, the younger, and to have been 
 unjustly seized by Napoleone. The Florentines, whose ward Alessandro 
 was, in 1259 expelled Napoleone by force of arms, and eight years later 
 reinstated the younger brother. Villani, who tells this (vi. 68), records 
 nothing about any continuance of the feud between the brothers, but 
 Benvenuto says that they killed each other. Soon after Dante's death, 
 in 1325, Alberto, son of Alessandro, was murdered by two of his 
 nephews. 
 
 m gelatina : our word having no longer any suggestion of cold, it is 
 difficult to keep the full point of the bitter jest ; which, in spite of the 
 silence of the early commentators, who for the most part seem to think 
 only ice is meant, we can hardly doubt that Dante intended to put into 
 the speaker's mouth. 
 
 01 quelli : Mordred. In the French romance it is related that 
 Arthur thrust him through with so mighty a blow that the daylight 
 could be seen through his body. The more sober Malory only says 
 'more than a fathom.' Notice ombra repeated in rhyme in a very 
 slightly altered sense. 
 
 63 As Benvenuto tells the story, Focaccia's father was one of three 
 brothers belonging to the Cancellieri family at Pistoia. He had occa- 
 sion one day to chastise one of his nephews for assaulting another boy 
 with a snowball. The nephew struck his uncle, and was duly sent by 
 his father to apologise. The uncle laughed the matter off, but Focaccia,
 
 388 HELL CANTO 
 
 that I see no further, and was named Sassol Mascheroni ; if 
 thou art a Tuscan, well knowest thou now who he was. 
 And to the end that thou set me not on further talk, know 
 that I was Camicion of the Pazzi, and I await Carlino to 
 excuse me.' 
 
 Afterward I saw a thousand faces grown dog-like with 
 cold ; whence a shudder comes to me and ever will come, 
 of the frozen shallows. And while we were going toward 
 
 Col capo si, ch' io non veggio oltre piu, 
 E fu nomato Sassol Mascheroni : 
 Se Tosco sei, ben sai omai chi fu. 
 
 E perche non mi metti in piu sermoni, 
 Sappi ch' io fui il Camicion dei Pazzi, 
 Ed aspetto Carlin che mi scagioni. 
 
 Poscia vid' io mille visi, cagnazzi 70 
 
 Fatti per freddo : onde mi vien riprezzo, 
 E verra sempre, dei gelati guazzi. 
 
 E mentre che andavamo in ver Io mezzo, 
 
 catching his young cousin as he left the house, dragged him into the 
 stable, and cut off his hand on the manger. Afterwards he murdered 
 the boy's father, his own uncle. Hence arose the feud of ' Blacks ' and 
 'Whites' (see note xxiv. 143). Focaccia belonged to the latter party. 
 
 65 Sassolo Mascheroni belonged to the Toschi, a Ghibeline family 
 of Florence. He murdered his nephew in order to get his inheritance ; 
 and was rolled through the streets in a cask full of nails, and then 
 beheaded. 
 
 88, ii ^u tnat seems t o be known of Uberto Camicione, one of the 
 Pazzi of Yaldarno, is that he treacherously killed a cousin named Uher- 
 tino. Of his kinsman Carlino, Villani (viii. 53) records, that in 1302, 
 being engaged with other ' Whites ' and Ghibelines in defending the 
 Pistoiese fortress of Piantrevigne against a force of Florentine Guelfs 
 (see xxiv. 143 sqq. ), he treacherously opened the gates to the enemy ; 
 whereby many of the best of the Florentine exiles (including, says 
 Benvenuto, two relatives of his own) were captured or slain. mi 
 scagioni : may make my guilt seem light in comparison with his. 
 
 70 cagnazzi : probably 'showing their teeth,' with the cold.
 
 xxxii HELL 389 
 
 the centre, to which all gravity is collected, and I was shiver- 
 ing in the everlasting chill, whether it was will, or destiny, 
 or chance I know not ; but as I passed among the heads, I 
 struck my foot hard upon the face of one. Wailing he cried 
 out to me : ' Why dost thou batter me ? If thou comest not 
 to increase the vengeance of Monte Aperti, why dost molest 
 me ? ' And I : ' My Master, now wait here for me ; so that 
 I may come out of a doubt by this one's means ; after shalt 
 thou make as much haste for me as thou wilt.' The Leader 
 
 Al quale ogni gravezza si raduna, 
 Ed io tremava nell' eterno rezzo : 
 
 Se voler fu o destine o fortuna, 
 
 Non so : ma passeggiando tra le teste, 
 Forte percossi il pie nel viso ad una. 
 
 Piangendo mi sgrido : Perche mi peste ? 
 
 Se tu non vieni a crescer la vendetta So 
 
 Di Mont' Aperti, perche mi moleste ? 
 
 Ed io : Maestro mio, or qui m' aspetta, 
 Si ch' io esca d' un dubbio per costui : 
 Poi mi farai, quantunque vorrai, fretta. 
 
 76 We must not, with Scartazzini, understand voler to mean the will of 
 God ; though at first sight that interpretation seems tempting. But from 
 the language of Aquinas (e.g. S. T. i. Q. 23) it would seem that destiny 
 is only a particular case, so to speak, of the operation of the divine will ; 
 hence they could not be alternative to each other. More probably 
 Dante was thinking of the atria of Eth. Nic. iii. 3 (1112 a), among 
 which are avdyKr} and rtixn, as well as vovs. He means merely ' I can- 
 not now say whether I did it on purpose, or (if not) whether I was fore- 
 ordained to do it, or constrained by some influence.' 
 
 83 dubbio : perhaps because the mention of Montaperti made him 
 suspect who the speaker was ; but more probably because he expected 
 the reply to settle an undecided point as to the identity of the traitor in 
 that battle. The name of the sinner whom he is addressing is given in 
 1. 1 06.
 
 390 HELL CANTO 
 
 stood ; and I said to him who was still blaspheming stoutly : 
 ' Of what sort art thou, that thus chidcst another ? ' ' Now 
 who art thou, that goest through the Antenora,' said he, 
 ' striking others' cheeks so that if thou wert alive, it would 
 be too much?' 'Alive am I, and precious can it be to 
 thee,' was my reply, ' if thou askest fame, that I put thy 
 name among my other notes.' And he to me : ' Of the 
 contrary have I a craving ; take thyself hence, and give me 
 no more annoyance, for ill knowest thou how to entice in 
 this hollow.' Then I took him by the scalp, and said : ' It 
 
 Lo Duca stette ; ed io dissi a colui 
 Che bestemmiava duramente ancora : 
 Qual sei tu, che cosi rampogni altrui ? 
 
 Or tu chi sei, che vai per 1' Antenora 
 Percotendo, rispose, altrui le goto 
 Si, che se fossi vivo, troppo fora ? 90 
 
 Vivo son io, e caro esser ti puote, 
 Fu mia risposta, se domandi fama, 
 Ch' io metta il nome tuo tra 1' altre note. 
 
 Ed egli a me : Del contrario ho io brama : 
 Levati quinci, e non mi dar piu lagna : 
 Che mal sai lusingar per questa lama. 
 
 Allor Io presi per la cuticagna, 
 
 88 The version of the Trojan story which makes the final capture of 
 the city due to an act of treachery on the part of Anterior (whence the 
 name given to this division of the lowest circle) was evidently unknown 
 to Virgil. The so-called Dictys and Dares give it in somewhat varying 
 forms ; but both implicating Aeneas no less than Antenor. This of 
 course Dante was obliged to suppress. Both these writers make Antenor 
 remain at Troy as king after the final departure of the Greeks; but 
 Guido dalle Colonne says that he too departed and no more was heard 
 of him. Virgil's version (Aen. i. 242 sqq.) is of course quite different.
 
 HELL 391 
 
 will behove that thou name thyself, or that no hair on here 
 remain to thee.' Wherefore he to me : 'Though thou make 
 me hairless, I will neither tell thee who I am nor show it to 
 thee, if a thousand times thou tumble over my head.' I 
 had already his locks twisted in my hand, and had drawn 
 from them more than one shock, he howling with his eyes 
 steadied downwards, when another cried : ' What ails thee, 
 Bocca ? Is it not enough for thee to sound with thy jaws 
 without howling ? What devil is touching thee ? ' ' After 
 this,' said I, ' I will not that thou talk, foul traitor, for to thy 
 shame will I bear true news of thee.' 'Go away,' he an- 
 swered, ' and recount what thou wilt ; but be not silent, if 
 
 E dissi : Ei converra che tu ti nomi, 
 O che capel qui su non ti rimagna. 
 
 Ond' egli a me : Perche tu mi dischiomi, 100 
 
 Ne ti dirb ch' io sia, ne mostrerolti, 
 Se mille fiate in sul capo mi tomi. 
 
 Io avea gia i capelli in mano avvolti, 
 E tratti glien' avea piu d' una ciocca, 
 Latrando lui con gli occhi in giu raccolti : 
 
 Quando un altro gridb : Che hai tu, Bocca ? 
 Non ti basta sonar con le mascelle, 
 Se tu non latri ? qual diavol ti tocca ? 
 
 Omai, diss' io, non vo' che tu favelle, 
 
 Malvagio traditor, che alia tua onta no 
 
 Io porterb di te vere novelle. 
 
 Ya via, rispose, e cib che tu vuoi, conta ; 
 
 10G At the battle of Montaperti (see note x. 32), when the Florentine 
 Guelfs were being hard pressed by the German cavalry, Bocca degli 
 Abati, one of the Ghibelines who had remained in Florence, and was 
 ostensibly on that side, treacherously cut off the hand of the standard- 
 bearer ; and the host, seeing the standard fall, took to flight (Vill. vi. 
 7 S).
 
 392 HELL CANTO 
 
 thou issue from within this place, concerning him who now 
 had his tongue so ready. He bewails here the silver of the 
 French ; I saw (thou mayest say) him from Duera, in the 
 place where the sinners stand cool. If thou art asked of 
 another who was there, thou hast beside thee him of Beccheria, 
 whose gorget Florence slit. Gianni of the Soldanieri, I think, 
 
 Ma non tacer, se tu di qua cntr' eschi, 
 I)i quei ch' ebbe or cosi la lingua pronta. 
 
 Ei piange qui 1' argento dei Franceschi : 
 lo vidi, potrai dir, quel da Duera 
 La dove i peccatori stanno freschi. 
 
 Se fossi domandato, altri chi v' era, 
 Tu hai da lato quel di Beccheria, 
 Di cui segb Fiorenza la gorgiera. 120 
 
 Gianni dei Soldanier credo che sia 
 
 116 At the time of the entry of Charles of Anjou into Italy, when a 
 force of Cremonese and others under the Marquis Pallavicino was pre- 
 pared to block the advance of Guy of Montfort's division of the French 
 army upon Parma, the way was opened by some piece of treachery, not 
 clearly specified, on the part of Buoso da Duera, one of the Cremonese 
 leaders, who was believed to have been bribed by Charles's wife (Vill. 
 vii. 4). 
 
 119 The Abbot of Vallombrosa, Tesauro de' Beccheria of Pavia, was 
 beheaded in 1258 by the Florentines, on a charge of intriguing with the 
 exiled Ghibelines ; 'no regard being had to his dignity, nor to Holy 
 Orders' (Vill. vi. 65). In spite of his confession, extracted by torture, 
 many believed him to be innocent ; and the good historian considers 
 that the defeat of Montaperti was a judgement for the sacrilegious crime. 
 The commentators point out that though by birth of Pavia, he was a 
 Florentine by domicile ; so that Dante is justified in putting him among 
 traitors to their country. 
 
 11!1 At the time of the expulsion of Guido Xovello and the Ghibeline 
 leaders in 1266 (see note xxiii. 103) Gianni de' Soldanieri, though 
 belonging to a Ghibeline house (see note Par. xvi. 88). put himself at the 
 head of the popular party. Yillani, though he hints (vii. 14) that 
 Gianni was moved by personal ambition, names him elsewhere (xii. 44)
 
 xxxii HELL 393 
 
 is further on, with Ganelon, and Tribaldello, who opened 
 Faenza when men slept.' 
 
 We had already departed from him, when I saw two 
 frozen in one hole, so that the head of one was hood to the 
 other. And as bread is chewed for hunger, so did the upper 
 one fix his teeth on the other in the place where the brain 
 is joined with the nape. Not otherwise did Tydeus gnaw 
 the temples of Menalippus for despite, than he was doing 
 
 Piu la con Ganellone, e Tribaldello, 
 Ch' apri Faenza quando si dormia. 
 
 Noi eravam partiti gia da ello, 
 
 Ch' io vidi due ghiacciati in una buca 
 Si, che 1' un capo all' altro era cappello : 
 
 E come il pan per fame si manduca, 
 Cosi il sopran li denti all' altro pose 
 La 've il cervel s'aggiunge colla nuca. 
 
 Non altrimenti Tideo si rose 130 
 
 Le tempie a Menalippo per disdegno, 
 
 among those who had done good service to the state, and been treated 
 with ingratitude. 
 
 122 Ganelon of Mainz being sent by Charlemagne on an embassy to 
 certain Moorish kings, took a bribe of them to destroy the Christian 
 host. By his false counsel Charles was induced to retire across the 
 Pyrenees, leaving only a small force under the command of Roland ; 
 which the infidels then attacked and destroyed at Roncesvalles. Sec- 
 note xxxi. 1 6. 
 
 Tribaldello de' Zambrasi (de' Manfredi Vill.) in 1282 opened the 
 gates at Faenza to the Papal forces under John of Appia (Villani's 
 Gianni de Pa), the Count of Romagna (Vill. vii. Si). According to 
 another version he sent an impression of the key to the Geremei, the 
 leaders of the Bologna Guelfs, in revenge for an injury done him by the 
 opposite party, the Lambertacci. He was killed at the capture of Forli 
 by Guy of Montefeltro (see xxvii. 43). 
 
 130, i:ti The allusion is to the scene at the end of Stat. Theb. viii., 
 where Tydeus, dying from the wound inflicted by Menalippus. gets
 
 394 HELL CANTO xxxn 
 
 the skull and the rest. ' O them who showest by so bestial 
 a sign hatred over him whom thou eatest, tell me the where- 
 fore,' said I, 'on this condition, that if thou with reason 
 complainest of him, knowing who you are, and his crime, 
 in the world above I yet give thee requital therefore, if that 
 with which I speak wither not.' 
 
 Che quei faceva il teschio e 1' altre cose. 
 
 O tu che mostri per si bestial segno 
 Odio sopra colui che tu ti mangi, 
 Dimmi il perche, diss' io, per tal convegno, 
 
 Che se tu a ragion cli lui ti piangi, e 
 
 Sappiendo chi voi siete, e la sua pecca, 
 Nel mondo suso ancor io te ne cangi, 
 
 Se quella con ch' io parlo non si secca. 
 
 ai ration Cass. 124. 
 
 possession of his slain enemy's head. Minerva, coming to bear him to 
 heaven, finds him so engaged : 
 
 Atque ilium effracti perfusum tabe cercbri 
 Adspicit et vivo scelerantem sanguine fauces. 
 
 si rose : a very curious instance of the quasi-reflexive form.
 
 CANTO XXXIII 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 The sinner who gnaws the other bids them know that he is the Count 
 Ugolino of Pisa, and tells how he came by his end. The next 
 division is called Tolommea, in which are the souls of those who 
 have betrayed their friends and companions. But their bodies are 
 often still on earth, and a fiend dwells in them. 
 
 His mouth from the savage meal that sinner uplifted, 
 wiping it on the hair of the head that he had ravaged in its 
 rear part. Then he began : ' Thou wilt that I renew a 
 hopeless woe which burthens my heart, already only in 
 thinking, before I converse thereof. But if my words are to 
 
 LA bocca sollevo dal fiero pasto 
 
 Quel peccator, forbendola ai capelli 
 Del capo, ch' egli avea diretro guasto. 
 
 Poi comincio : Tu vuoi ch' io rinnovelli 
 Disperato dolor che il cor mi preme, 
 Gia pur pensando, pria ch' io nc favelli. 
 
 Ma se le mie parole esscr den seme, 
 
 4 sqq. Observe how the lines of this last great episode in the present 
 division of the poem run parallel with those of the first, the story of 
 Francesca. Each purports to contain a statement of details which can 
 only have been known to the speaker, in a matter of which the general 
 outlines were notorious. Even the phrases are constantly similar. We 
 may compare this with v. 121-123. The actual words are of course here 
 borrowed from Aen. ii. T..
 
 396 II ELI. 
 
 be a seed to bear fruit of infamy to the traitor whom I 
 gnaw, thou shalt see me speak and weep at once. I know 
 not who thou art, nor in what manner thou art come down 
 here ; but a Florentine thou seemest to me in truth when 
 I hear thee. Thou must know that I was Count Ugolino, 
 
 Che frutti infamia al traditor ch' io rodo, 
 Parlare e lagrimar vedrai insieme. 
 
 I' non so chi tu sei, ne per che modo io 
 
 Venuto sei quaggiu ; ma Fiorentino 
 Mi sembri veramente, quand' io t' odo. 
 
 Tu dei saper ch' io fui Conte Ugolino, 
 
 9 Cf. v. 126. 
 
 12 Blanc notes convegno, sappiendo, and the frequent reflexive forms, 
 ti ntangt, etc. , as Florentine peculiarities. 
 
 33 fui : an example of the general rule (to which there are very few 
 exceptions) that the spirits use the present when they indicate themselves 
 by their names only, the past when they give their titles. Cf. Par. vi. io. 
 (Blanc, Erklarungen.) 
 
 is S qq. At the time when the Guelf party, with the aid of Charles of 
 Anjou, had got the 'upper hand in Tuscany, Pisa was almost the last 
 city in which the Ghibelines had any hold. Even here, however, there 
 was a powerful Guelf section, at the head of which (though belonging to 
 a Ghibeline family, the Counts of Donoratico), from about 1280, was 
 Ugolino dei Gherardeschi. He must have been advanced in years, for 
 we find his sister's son, Nino dei Visconti, the Judge of Gallura (Purg. 
 viii. 53), already an important personage. After the great defeat of Pisa 
 by Genoa at Meloria, in 1284, to which he was strongly suspected of 
 having, by untimely retreat, contributed, he contrived to get rid for a 
 time of the Ghibelines, under pressure from a league formed by Genoa, 
 Lucca, and Florence ; but by a successful intrigue he detached Florence 
 from her allies, and saved the city from destruction. At the same time 
 he seems to have allowed the Lucchese to take possession of several out- 
 lying castles. By 1288 the Ghibelines were again strong, and the 
 Guelfs divided, Ugolino leading one group, Nino the other. In July of 
 that year Ugolino intrigued with the Ghibelines, at whose head was the 
 Archbishop, Roger of the Ubaldini (see note Purg. xxiv. 29), and expelled 
 Nino and his party. Then, having weakened the Guelfs, the Arch- 
 bishop turned upon his accomplice, and, after some hard fighting, got
 
 HELL 397 
 
 and this one is the Archbishop Roger ; now will I tell thee 
 why I am such a neighbour. How by the effect of his evil 
 thoughts, trusting myself to him, I was taken and afterward 
 slain there is no need to say. But that which thou canst 
 not have heard, that is how cruel my death was, thou shalt 
 hear, and shalt know if he was my stumbling-block. 
 
 ' A scant opening in the mew which from me has the 
 title " of hunger," and in which it yet behoves that another 
 
 E questi e 1' Arcivescovo Ruggieri : 
 Or ti dirb perch' io son tal vicino. 
 
 Che per 1' effetto dei suoi ma' pensieri, 
 Fidandomi di lui, io fossi preso 
 E poscia morto, dir non e mestieri. 
 
 Pero quel che non puoi avere inteso, 
 
 Cio e come la morte mia fu cruda, 20 
 
 Udirai, e saprai se m' ha offeso. 
 
 Breve pertugio dentro dalla muda, 
 
 La qual per me ha il titol della fame, 
 
 E in che conviene ancor ch' altri si chiuda, 
 
 him imprisoned, with two sons and two grandsons. ' E cosi fu il tradi- 
 tore dal traditore tradito,' says Villani (vii. 121). In the following 
 March the Pisans called in Guy of Montefeltro to command their armies ; 
 and, feeling perhaps that they could afford to despise public opinion, 
 threw the keys of Ugolino's prison into the Arno, and left the old plotter 
 and his descendants to starve. The incident created, Villani tells us, a 
 widespread feeling of reprobation, and the Pisans were a good deal 
 blamed. The historian does not ascribe the suggestion of the crime to 
 any particular leader ; but the Archbishop had private reasons for 
 revenge. See Witte's note to this passage, and the Historical Sketch 
 of Philalethes. 
 
 - 1 offeso : cf. v. 1 02. 
 
 -- muda : Ugolino's prison was a tower belonging to the Gualandi, 
 then called, according to Benv. , Aurea Muda. It exists no longer 
 (though its site is known) ; but was long famous as Torre della Fame. 
 
 24 This appears to be only a general prophecy ; at all events Ben- 
 venuto says, ' I never heard if any one else was shut up there.'
 
 398 HELL CANTO 
 
 be shut, had shown me through its orifice many moons 
 already, when I had the evil dream which tore apart for me 
 the veil of the future. This man appeared to me master 
 and lord, chasing the wolf and its cubs on the mountain, 
 by reason of which the Pisans cannot see Lucca. With 
 bitches lean, eager, and trained, Gualandi with Sismondi 
 and with Lanfranchi he had put forward in front of himself. 
 In a short course weary appeared to me the father and the 
 sons, and with the keen fangs meseemed I saw their flanks 
 
 M' avea mostrato per lo suo forame 
 
 Piu lune gia, quand' io feci il mal sonno, a 
 Che del futuro mi squarcib il velame. 
 
 Questi pareva a me maestro e donno, 
 Cacciando il lupo e i lupicini al monte, 
 Per che i Pisan veder Lucca non ponno. 30 
 
 Con cagne magre, studiose e conte, 
 
 Gualandi con Sismondi e con Lanfranchi 
 S' avea messi dinanzi dalla fronte. 
 
 In picciol corso mi pareano stanchi 
 
 Lo padre e i figli, e con 1' acute scane 
 Mi parea lor veder fender li fianchi. 
 
 -*' As to the v. 11. see Moore, Textual Criticism, to which little can 
 he added, except to note that Benvenuto's statement that Ugolino was 
 only a few days in prison is in direct opposition to Villalii, who is his 
 regular historical authority, and from whom his account of the previous 
 events is transcribed almost verbatim. There can be little doubt that 
 lune, though found in little more than a fourth of the MSS., is the 
 correct reading. AYe may compare x. 79, So. 
 
 - :) monte : called M. San tliuliano. 1'isa and Lucca are only some 
 ten miles apart. 
 
 ; - Three of the lending Ghibeline families of 1'isa.
 
 xxxiii HELL 399 
 
 rent. When I was awake before the dawn, I heard my sons 
 weeping in their sleep, who were with me, and demanding 
 some bread. Right cruel art thou, if thou grievest thee not 
 already, considering that which my heart was announcing to 
 itself; and if thou weepest not, for what art thou wont to 
 weep ? Already they were awake, and the hour was drawing 
 on when our food was wont to be brought to us, and each 
 one was in doubt by reason of his dream ; and I heard one 
 nail up the lower door of the horrible tower ; wherefore I 
 looked in the face of my sons without saying a word. I 
 was not weeping ; so stony was I become within ; they 
 began to weep, and my boy Anselm said : " Thou lookest so, 
 
 Ouando fui desto innanzi la dimane, 
 
 Pianger senti' fra il sonno i miei figliuoli, 
 
 o o J 
 
 Ch' eran con meco, e domandar del pane. 
 Ben sei crudel, se tu gia non ti duoli, 40 
 
 Pensando cib ch' il mio cor s' annunziava : 
 
 E se non piangi, di che pianger suoli ? 
 Gia eran desti, e 1' ora s' appressava 
 
 Che il cibo ne soleva essere addotto. 
 
 E per suo sogno ciascun dubitava : 
 Ed io sentii chiavar 1' uscio di sotto 
 
 All' orribile torre ; ond' io guardai 
 
 Nel viso ai miei figliuoi sen/a far motto. 
 Io non piangeva ; si dentro impietrai : 
 
 Piangevan elli ; ed Anselmuccio mio 50 
 
 45 We must suppose that all had had a similar dream. 
 
 ""' chiavare : though the chroniclers say nothing about nailing, it 
 seems best, with Benv. and most modern commentators, to take the 
 word in its usual sense, rather than as if from chiavc. The sound of 
 locking would hardly strike them as strange or specially significant. 
 
 r '" Anselm was a grandson, probably brother to Xino called Brigata 
 (see 1. 89). His father was Guelfn, eldest son to Ugolino, and hi^
 
 4OO HELL CANTO 
 
 father ; what ails thee ? " I shed no tear for that, nor did I 
 answer all that day, nor the night after, until the next sun 
 came forth upon the world. When a little ray had made 
 its way into the woeful prison, and I noted in four faces 
 my very aspect, I gnawed both my hands for woe. And 
 they, thinking that I did it through desire of eating, lifted 
 themselves on a sudden, and said : "Father, far less woe to us 
 will it be if thou eat of us ; thou hast clad us with this wretched 
 flesh, and do thou strip it off." I quieted me then, not to make 
 them more sad ; that day and the next we all stayed mute ; 
 ah ! hard earth, why openest thou not thyself? After that 
 
 Disse : Tu guardi si, padre : che hai ? 
 
 Per cib non lagrimai, ne rispos' io b 
 
 Tutto quel giorno, ne la notte appresso, 
 Infin che 1' altro sol nel mondo uscio. 
 
 Come un poco di raggio si fu messo 
 Nel doloroso carcere, ed io scorsi 
 Per quattro visi il mio aspetto stesso ; 
 
 Ambo le man per Io dolor mi morsi. 
 
 Ed ei, pensando ch' io il fessi per voglia 
 
 Di manicar, di subito levorsi, 60 
 
 E disser : Padre, assai ci fia men doglia, 
 Se tu mangi di noi : tu ne vestisti 
 Queste misere carni, e tu le spoglia. 
 
 Queta' mi allor per non farli piu tristi : 
 Lo di e 1' altro stemmo tutti muti : 
 Ahi dura terra, perche non t' apristi ? 
 
 b rerb Aid. IV. 
 
 mother, according to Philalethes (who gives no authority, nor can I find 
 any elsewhere^, a daughter of King Enzo, natural son of Frederick II.
 
 xxxni HELL 401 
 
 we were come to the fourth day, Gaddo threw himself out- 
 stretched at my feet saying : " My father, why aidest thou 
 me not ? " There he died, and as thou seest me, I saw the 
 three fall one by one, between the fifth day and the sixth ; 
 wherefore I betook myself, already blind, to grope over each 
 one, and two days I called on them after they were dead ; 
 then my fasting was more potent than my woe.' When he 
 
 Posciache fummo al quarto di venuti, 
 Gaddo mi si gitto disteso ai piedi, 
 Dicendo : Padre mio, che non m' aiuti ? 
 
 Quivi mori : e come tu mi vedi, 7 o 
 
 Vid' io cascar li tre ad uno ad uno 
 Tra il quinto di e il sesto : ond' io mi diedi 
 
 Gia cieco a brancolar sopra ciascuno, 
 
 E due di li chiamai poi che fur morti : c 
 Poscia, piii che il dolor, pote il digiuno. 
 
 <= tre dl Aid. 
 
 63 Gaddo and Uguccione (1. 89) were sons. Some relate that a third 
 grandson was of the party. 
 
 '- " 4 For the curious v. 11. (quarto, quinto, tre) which a few MSS. 
 give, see Moore, Text. Crit. 
 
 70 With the reticence of this line cf. v. 138. The meaning probably 
 is ' hunger did what grief could not do, killed me ' ; or perhaps, as 
 Landino seems to think, referring to a well-known physiological pheno- 
 menon, ' the natural end could no longer be delayed by the intensity of 
 my emotion.' At the same time few readers will say with Scartazzini 
 that the verse is quite clear ; or treat as wholly inadmissible the inter- 
 pretation which some have suggested, and even stoutly defended, that 
 Ugolino at last, in the pangs of starvation, obeyed the request made by 
 his sons while still alive. To say, at all events, that this, or any other 
 conception, is too horrible for Dante is obviously absurd, as the occupa- 
 tion which he assigns to Ugolino in Hell (and which gives some colour 
 to the theory in question) might show. But the real arguments against 
 it are that (as Blanc points out) neither Villani nor the Pisan Buti says 
 anything about what, if it had happened, must have been well known to 
 
 2 D
 
 402 HELL CANTO 
 
 had said this, with his eyes turned aside he took the 
 wretched skull again with his teeth, which were strong as a 
 dog's on the bone. 
 
 Ah ! Pisa, reproach of the peoples of the fair land 
 where the si is spoken, since thy neighbours are slow to 
 punish thee, may Capraia and Gorgona be removed and 
 make a barrier to Arno at its mouth, so that it may drown 
 in thee every person. For if the Count Ugolino had 
 
 Quand' ebbe detto cio, con gli occhi torti 
 Riprese il teschio misero coi denti, 
 Che furo all' osso, come d' un can, forti. 
 
 Ahi Pisa, vituperio delle genti 
 
 Del bel paese la, dove il si suona ; 80 
 
 Poi che i vicini a te punir son lenti, 
 
 Movasi la Caprara e la Gorgona, 
 
 E faccian siepe ad Arno in sulla foce, 
 Si ch' egli anneghi in te ogni persona. 
 
 Che se il Conte Ugolino aveva voce 
 
 every one in Florence and Pisa ; and that since, according to Buti, they 
 were all dead when on the eighth day the doors were opened, it is clear 
 that Ugolino could not on that day have employed this means of sustain- 
 ing life. 
 
 79 Cf. with this the apostrophe to Pistoia, xxv. 10. No cities did 
 more than these two to keep Tuscany in the state of faction and turbu- 
 lence which prevailed throughout Dante's lifetime, and hindered the 
 union of the Italian states which he desired to see. 
 
 s " dove il si suona : cf. Vulg. Kl. i. 8, where languages are classified 
 according to their particles of affirmation. ' Alii oc, alii oil, alii si 
 affirmando loquuntur ; ut puta Ilispani [i.e. no doubt Languedoc], Franci 
 et Latini.' 
 
 8 " Capraia and Gorgona are two small islands lying between the 
 mouth of the Arno and Sardinia. The former gave the title of count to 
 a nephew of Ugolino's, whom he was currently believed to have 
 poisoned (Vill. vii. 121).
 
 xxxni HELL 403 
 
 report to have betrayed thee of thy castles, thou oughtest 
 not to have put the sons to such torment. Their young 
 age made innocent, thou new Thebes, Uguccione and Bri- 
 gata, and the other two whom my song names above. 
 
 We passed beyond, there where the ice swathes urgently 
 another folk ; not turned downward but all reverted. Their 
 very weeping lets them not weep, and the woe that finds a 
 
 D' aver tradita te delle castella, 
 
 Non dovei tu i figliuoi porre a tal croce. 
 
 Innocenti facea 1' eta novella, 
 
 Novella Tebe, Uguccione e il Brigata, 
 
 E gli altri due che il canto suso appella. 90 
 
 Noi passamm' oltre, la Ve la gelata 
 Ruvidamente un' altra gente fascia, 
 Non volta in giu, ma tutta riversata. 
 
 Lo pianto stesso li pianger non lascia, 
 
 E il duol, che trova in sugli occhi rintoppo, 
 
 86 See note 1. 13. Benvenuto considers the allusion to be to the gift 
 by Ugolino of two Pisan castles as a dowry with his daughters to the 
 Counts of Battifolle and Santafiore, by which the castles passed into the 
 possession, or lordship, respectively of Lucca and Florence. Villani, 
 however, mentions (ix. 78) a number of castles which Uguccione 
 della Faggiuola in 1315 won back from the Lucchese, having been held 
 by them ' from the time of Count Ugolino ' ; and probably Dante refers 
 to these. 
 
 88 As a matter of fact they were all grown men, even the grandsons 
 (according to Troya, not a very trustworthy authority) being married. 
 Nino il Erigata was at any rate old enough to have murdered one of the 
 Visconti faction a short time before this. 
 
 8!) Tebe : the ' Thebaid ' contains horrors and bloodshed sufficient to 
 justify the comparison. There may be a suggestion that Pisa was to 
 Florence as Thebes to Athens. 
 
 90 Between this and the next line occurs in a very few MSS. an in- 
 terpolation of eighteen lines, evidently inserted at a pretty early date, 
 and as evidently quite spurious. See for a full account Moore, Text. 
 Crit. , Appendix III.
 
 404 HELL CANTO 
 
 barrier over the eyes is turned inward to make their trouble 
 increase, for the first tears form a lump, and like a visor of 
 crystal, fill all the hollow beneath the eyebrow. And albeit 
 that, as in a hardened skin, all feeling had, by reason of the 
 cold, ceased its abode in my face, already I seemed to feel some 
 wind ; wherefore I : ' Master mine, who sets this in motion ? 
 Is not all vapour down here come to an end ? ' Wherefore 
 he to me : ' Speedily shalt thou be where the eye shall make 
 thee thy answer to this, when thou seest the cause that 
 pours down the blast.' And one of the sorrowful ones of 
 the cold crust cried to us : ' O souls so cruel that the 
 
 Si volve in entro a far crescer 1' ambascia : 
 Che le lagrime prime fanno groppo, 
 
 E, si come visiere di cristallo, 
 
 Riempion sotto il ciglio tutto il coppo. 
 Ed avvegna che, si come d' un callo, 100 
 
 Per la freddura ciascun sentimento 
 
 Cessato avesse del mio viso stallo, 
 Gia mi parea sentire alquanto vento ; 
 
 Perch' io : Maestro mio, questo chi move ? 
 
 Non e quaggiu ogni vapore spento ? 
 Ond' egli a me : Avaccio sarai, dove 
 
 Di cib ti fara 1' occhio la risposta, 
 
 Veggendo la cagion che il fiato piove. 
 Ed un dei tristi della fredda crosta 
 
 Grido a noi : O anime crudeli no 
 
 97-99 The description in these lines is clearly meant to suggest an 
 aggravation of the torment ; and is thus an argument against the render- 
 ing of labbra as ' eyelids ' in xxxif. 47. 
 
 105 Aristotle (Meteor, ii. 4) regards winds as the result of exhala- 
 tions from the earth. 
 
 110, in jj e SU pposes that they are spirits condemned to the last 
 division, or Giudecca.
 
 xxxin HELL 405 
 
 furthest place has been given to you, lift from my visage the 
 hard veils, so that I may discharge a little the woe which 
 impregnates my heart, before the tears are frozen up again.' 
 Wherefore I to him : ' If thou wilt that I come to thy aid, 
 tell me who thou art ; and if I do not set thee at rest, may 
 it be my lot to go to the bottom of the ice.' He answered 
 therefore : ' I am Friar Alberigo, I am the man of the fruits 
 
 Tanto, che data v' e 1' ultima posta, 
 
 Levatemi dal viso i duri veli, 
 
 Si ch' io sfoghi il duol che il cor m' impregna, d 
 Un poco, pria che il pianto si raggeli. 
 
 Perch' io a lui : Se vuoi ch' io ti sovvegna, 
 Dimmi chi sei, e s' io non ti disbrigo, 
 Al fondo della ghiaccia ir mi convegna. 
 
 Rispose adunque : Io son Frate Alberigo, 
 Io son quel dalle frutta del mal orto, e 
 
 d il dolor W. ; i sfogi 7 dolor Aid. 
 e dellef. W. 
 
 117 Where he is going in any case. 
 
 118 Frate Alberigo, of the order called Frati Godenti (seexxiii. 103), 
 was a member of the powerful house of the Manfredi (to which the 
 Tribaldello of xxxii. 122 also belonged) at Faenza. Having quarrelled 
 with one of his kinsfolk, Manfredi of the same house, on account of a 
 blow received from him, he dissembled his anger for a time, and then 
 invited Manfredi, together with his young son, to dinner. At the end 
 of the meal he called ' Bring in the fruit,' whereupon armed men rushed 
 in and killed both the father and the son. This took place about 
 1286. When Frate Alberigo died seems not to be known. Villani 
 (x. 27) alludes to the story, when relating the murder of a brother of 
 Alberigo's by his nephew in 1327. ' Le male frutta di Frate Alberigo ' 
 became proverbial. 
 
 119 Benv. and others reading delle make ' the garden ' mean Faenza ; 
 but he would hardly call himself a fruit, the context being what it is 
 quel dalle fnttta = exactly Fr. Fhomme aitx fruits, 'the fruit-man.'
 
 406 HELL CANTO 
 
 of the evil garden, that here get back a date for a fig.' 
 ' Oh,' said I to him, ' now art thou already dead ? ' And he 
 to me : ' How my body stands in the world above I receive 
 no tidings. Such privilege has this Tolomea, that often- 
 times the soul falls here before that Atropos gives it 
 movement. And to the end that thou mayest more will- 
 ingly brush the glazed tears from my face, know that so 
 soon as the soul betrays, as did I, its body is taken by a 
 demon, who afterward orders it until its time be fully come 
 
 Che qui riprendo dattero per figo. 120 
 
 O, diss' io lui : Or sei tu ancor morto ? 
 Ed egli a me : Come il mio corpo stea 
 Nel mondo su, nulla scienza porto. 
 
 Cotal vantaggio ha questa Tolomea, 
 Che spesse volte 1' anima ci cade 
 Innanzi ch' Atropos mossa le dea. 
 
 E perche tu piu volentier mi rade 
 Le invetriate lagrime dal volto, 
 Sappi che tosto che 1' anima trade, 
 
 Come fee' io, il corpo suo P e tolto 130 
 
 Da un demonic, che poscia il governa 
 Mentre che il tempo suo tutto sia volto. 
 
 12l) Benvenuto mentions a v. 1. ripendo ('pay back'), which is good 
 in itself, but seems not to occur in any of Dr. Moore's codices. ' Dates 
 for figs,' the former being at that time much more costly in Italy 
 (Witte). 
 
 r -' 4 Tolomea, the division in which those are punished who have 
 murdered or betrayed under the mask of friendship and hospitality, is 
 named from Ptolemeus, son of Abubus, the captain of Jericho, who 
 slew Simon the Maccabee and his sons at a banquet he had made for 
 them (i Mace. xvi. II sqq.) The ' privilege ' assigned to it is one of 
 Dante's most original and terrible conceptions. P. di Dante seems 
 to think that it may have been suggested by Ps. liv. 16 : descendant in 
 infernum viventes.
 
 xxxni HELL 407 
 
 round. The soul rushes down into a receptacle of this 
 fashion; and haply the body yet appears above of the 
 shade which is wintering behind me on this side. Thou 
 shouldest know him, if thou art but now come down here ; 
 he is Master Branca d' Oria, and many years have passed 
 since he has been thus shut up.' 'I think,' said I to him, 
 ' that thou deceivest me ; for Branca d' Oria has never yet 
 died, but eats and drinks and sleeps and wears clothes.' 
 'Into the foss above,' said he, 'of Malebranche, where the 
 sticky pitch is boiling, Michael Zanche had not yet 
 
 Ella ruina in si fatta cisterna ; 
 
 E forse pare ancor lo corpo suso 
 
 Dell' ombra che di qua dietro mi verna. 
 
 Tu il dei saper, se tu vien pur mo giuso : 
 Egli e Ser Branca d' Oria, e son piu anni 
 Poscia passati, ch' ei fu si racchiuso. 
 
 lo credo, dissi lui, che tu m' inganni ; 
 
 Che Branca d' Oria non mori unquanche, 140 
 E mangia e bee e dorme e veste panni. 
 
 Nel fosso su, diss' ei, di Malebranche, 
 La dove bolle la tenace pece, 
 Non era giunto ancora Michel Zanche, 
 
 137 Branca d' Oria, of the famous Ghibeline house of that name at 
 Genoa, with the aid of his nephew, murdered at a feast his father-in- 
 law, Michael Zanche (xxii. 88). He appears to have been still living 
 when Henry VII. went to Genoa in 1311 ; on the strength of which, 
 and of an expression used by a Genoese chronicler, Troya invented 
 and others have repeated a legend that Dante, going there with Henry, 
 had a decidedly unfriendly reception from Branca and his associates. 
 Of this story it is enough to say that none of the early commenta- 
 tors gives any hint of it. ' That is the way in which Dante's life is 
 written,' remarks Professor Bartoli (Vita di D. Cap. xvi. )
 
 408 HELL CANTO xxxm 
 
 arrived, when this man left a devil in his stead within his 
 body, and that of one his kinsman who wrought the 
 treachery together with him. But now stretch forth hither 
 thy hand ; open me my eyes.' And I opened him them 
 not ; and a courtesy it was to be a churl to him. Ah ! 
 Genoese, men uncouth of every custom, and full of every 
 blemish, why are ye not scattered from the world ? For 
 with the worst spirit of Romagna I found one of you such 
 that for his work already in soul he is steeped in Cocytus, 
 and in body appears yet living above. 
 
 Che questi lascio un diavolo in sua vece 
 Nel corpo suo, e d' un suo prossimano 
 Che il tradimento insieme con lui fece. 
 
 Ma distendi oramai in qua la mano, 
 
 Aprimi gli occhi : ed io non gliele apersi, 
 
 E cortesia fu, in lui esser villano. 150 
 
 Ahi Genovesi, uomini diversi 
 
 D' ogni costume, e pien d' ogni magagna, 
 Perche non siete voi del mondo spersi ? 
 
 Che col peggiore spirto di Romagna 
 Trovai un tal di voi, che per sua opra 
 In anima in Cocito gia si bagna, 
 
 Ed in corpo par vivo ancor di sopra. 
 
 149 Note e = almost 'but.' Cf. Par. xvi. 124. 
 
 i5i, 152 diversi d' ogni costume may also be taken as ' strange to all 
 good manners.' The Tuscans would naturally regard the Genoese as 
 little better than barbarians ; as was evidently Dante's view with re- 
 gard to their dialect. See Vulg. El. i. 13. Here the invective is 
 probably due to the same cause as that on Pisa above. It must be said, 
 however, that they received Henry of Luxemburg well. 
 
 154 col peggiore spirto : i.e. with Friar Alberico.
 
 CANTO XXXIV 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 The fourth and last division, called Giudecca, contains those who have 
 betrayed their benefactors. These are wholly sunk in the ice. 
 At the centre is Lucifer, who has three heads, and with every 
 mouth gnaws a sinner. Having seen this, they return to earth by 
 a strange road. 
 
 ' VEXILLA Regis prodeunt Inferni towards us; therefore look 
 forward,' said my Master, 'if thou discern him.' As when a 
 thick mist is exhaling, or when our hemisphere is growing 
 dusk, appears afar off a mill which the wind is turning, such 
 a structure it then seemed to me that I saw. Then by 
 
 VEXILLA Regis prodeunt info mi 
 Verso di noi : perb dinanzi mira, 
 Disse il Maestro mio, se tu il discerni. 
 
 Come quando una grossa nebbia spira, 
 O quando 1' emisperio nostro annotta, 
 Par da lungi un molin che il vento gira ; 
 
 Veder mi parve un tal dificio allotta : 
 
 1 ' The banners of the king of Hell go forth. ' The words are 
 modelled on the opening of the celebrated hymn written by Venan- 
 lius Fortunatus (born near Treviso, 530 ; died Bishop of Poitiers, 609), 
 and sung from Passion Sunday to Good Friday : Vexilla regis prodeunt, 
 Fulget crucis mysterium. The time being now about sunset on Good 
 Friday, the allusion is specially appropriate.
 
 4io HELL CANTO 
 
 reason of the wind I shrank back to my Leader, for there 
 was no rock else. Already was I (and with fear I put it 
 into verse) in the place where the shades were wholly 
 covered, and showed through like a mote in glass. Some 
 have their station lying down ; some stand erect, one with 
 the head and one with the soles ; another like a bow turns 
 its face inward toward its feet. When we had brought our- 
 selves so far onward that it pleased my Master to show me 
 the creature which had the fair countenance, he took him- 
 self in front of me, and made me halt, saying : ' Lo ! Dis, 
 and lo ! the place where it is meet that thou arm thyself 
 
 Poi per lo vento mi ristrinsi retro 
 
 Al Duca mio ; che non 11 era altra grotta. 
 
 Gia era (e con paura il metto in metro) 10 
 
 La, dove 1' ombre eran tutte coperte, 
 E trasparean come festuca in vetro. 
 
 Altre sono a giacere, altre stanno erte, 
 Quella col capo, e quella con le piante ; 
 Altra, com' arco, il volto ai piedi inverte. 
 
 Quando noi fummo fatti tanto avante, 
 
 Ch' al mio Maestro piacque di mostrarmi 
 La creatura ch' ebbe il bel sembiante, 
 
 Dinanxi mi si tolse, e fe restarmi, 
 
 Ecco Dite, dicendo, ed ecco il loco, 20 
 
 Ove convien che di fortez/.a t' armi. 
 
 y grotta : perhaps suggested by Isai. xxxii. 2 : Erit vir sicut qui 
 absconditur a vento . . . et umbra petrae prominentis in terra deserta. 
 
 11 It is not specified to what class of traitors these sinners belong, 
 as, for obvious reasons, Dante is unable to have speech of any ; but 
 they are generally considered to be those in whom treachery was com- 
 bined with ingratitude or disloyalty. 
 
 13 Cf. Purg. xii. 25.
 
 HELL 411 
 
 with fortitude.' How I then became frozen and weak, do 
 not ask, reader, for I do not write it, seeing that every 
 speech would be too little. I did not die and did not 
 remain alive ; think now for thyself, if thou hast a grain of 
 wit, what I became, being deprived of one and the other. 
 
 The Emperor of the realm of woe issued by half the 
 breast forth out of the ice ; and I compare more nearly 
 with a giant than do giants with his arms ; see now how 
 great must be that whole which is conformed to a part of 
 such fashion. If he was as fair as he is now foul, and 
 raised his brows against his Maker, rightly should all sorrow 
 
 Com' io divenni allor gelato e fioco, 
 
 Nol domandar, Letter, ch' io non lo scrivo, 
 Pero ch' ogni parlar sarebbe poco. 
 
 Io non morii, e non rimasi vivo : 
 
 Pensa oramai per te, s' hai nor d' ingegno, 
 Qual io divenni, d' uno e d' altro privo. 
 
 Lo imperador del doloroso regno 
 
 Da mezzo il petto uscia fuor della ghiaccia ; 
 
 E piu con un gigante io mi convegno, 30 
 
 Che i giganti non fan con le sue braccia : 
 Vedi oramai quant' esser dee quel tutto 
 Ch' a cosi fatta parte si confaccia. 
 
 S' ei fu si bel com' egli e ora brutto, 
 E contra il suo Fattore alzo le ciglia, 
 Ben dee da lui procedere ogni lutto. 
 
 - fioco : perdidi vigorem et vocem. Bcnv. But it seems needless 
 to confine it to the voice. See Gloss. Par. s. v. 
 
 - 7 d' uno e d' altro : of death and of life, implied in the verbs of 
 I- 25- 
 
 J4 "' ;(i S. T. i. Q. 63. A. 8 : Quia supremus angelus majorem habuit 
 naturalem virtutem quam inferiores, intension motu in peccatum pro- 
 lapsus est. Et ideo factus est etiam in malitia major.
 
 412 HELL CANTO 
 
 come forth from him. O, how great a marvel appeared to 
 me when I saw three faces to his head ; one in front, and 
 that was crimson. The other were two, which were joined to 
 this right over the middle of either shoulder, and met at the 
 place of the crest ; and the right seemed between white 
 and yellow ; the left was such to look upon as come from 
 
 O quanto parve a me gran maraviglin, 
 Quando vidi tre facce alia sua testa ! 
 L' una dinanzi, e quella era vermiglia ; 
 
 L' altre eran due, che s' aggiungieno a questa 40 
 Sopr' esso il mezzo di ciascuna spalla, 
 E si giungicno al loco della cresta ; 
 
 E la destra parea tra bianca e gialla ; 
 La sinistra a vedere era tal, quali 
 
 38 The symbolism of these three faces has been a good deal discussed. 
 They are clearly intended as a kind of infernal counterpart to the God- 
 head in Trinity ; and the early commentators are therefore probably 
 correct when they see in them an image of the qualities antithetical to 
 the divine attributes of power, wisdom, and love (see notes iii. 5> 
 Par. x. l). These will be impotence, ignorance, and hatred ; denoted 
 respectively by the sickly yellow tint, the black, and the red. The first 
 two explain themselves ; of the third it may be noted that red, which is 
 rightly the colour of love, may stand for love turned to hate, as green, 
 the colour of hope, serves equally (if my interpretation be right) in ix. 40 
 to symbolise despair. Note further that venniglio is the word used to 
 express the colour to which the Florentine lily was changed by party 
 hatred, in Par. xvi. 154. This suggests that here, as elsewhere, there 
 may be a political symbolism. The black face may be the ' Black ' 
 party ; that ' between white and yellow ' intended to call to mind the 
 degradation of the original white lily of Florence by contact with the 
 ' gigli gialli ' (Par. vi. 100) of France. Another interpretation is sug- 
 gested by S. T. ii. 2. QQ. 34, 35, 36, where three vices are opposed to 
 charitas : viz. odium, acedia, invidia. It is possible to work out a 
 fairly satisfactory result on this basis ; but on the whole the older view 
 seems the best. The view that the three divisions of the earth, as then 
 known, are indicated, has not much to be said for it.
 
 xxxiv HELL 413 
 
 the place where the Nile flows down. Beneath each came 
 out two great wings of such size as befitted so great a bird ; 
 sails at sea never saw I of such kind. They had not 
 feathers, but their fashion was of a bat ; and these he was 
 flapping so that three winds set out from him. Hence 
 Cocytus was all frozen. With six eyes he was weeping, and 
 over three chins his tears and bloodstained slaver were 
 dripping. At every mouth he was rending with his teeth a 
 sinner, in fashion of a heckle, so that he was making three 
 of them thus woeful. To the one in front the biting was 
 nothing beside the clawing, whereby at whiles the back 
 
 Vengon di la, onde il Nilo s' avvalla. 
 Sotto ciascuna uscivan due grandi ali, 
 
 Quanto si convenia a tanto uccello ; 
 
 Vele di mar non vid' io mai cotali. 
 Non avean penne, ma di vipistrello 
 
 Era lor modo ; e quelle svolazzava, 50 
 
 Si che tre venti si movean da ello. 
 Quindi Cocito tutto s' aggelava : 
 
 Con sei occhi piangeva, e per tre menti 
 
 Gocciava il pianto e sanguinosa bava. 
 Da ogni bocca dirompea coi denti 
 
 Un peccatore, a guisa di maciulla, 
 
 Si che tre ne facea cosi dolenti. 
 A quel dinanzi il mordere era nulla, 
 
 Verso il graffiar, che tal volta la schiena 
 
 43 I.e. Ethiopia. 
 
 43 ' Vespertilio est animal ignobile,' says an early MS. Natural His- 
 tory in the University Library of Cambridge. 
 
 A Bargigi takes the three winds to be pride, luxury, and avarice. 
 If this be correct, it would suitably link the end of this Cantica with the 
 besrinnine.
 
 414 HELL CANTO 
 
 remained all stripped of the skin. 'That soul up there 
 which has the greatest punishment,' said the Master, 'is 
 Judas Iscariot, who has his head inside and without is 
 working his legs. Of the other two that have the head 
 downwards, he who hangs from the black snout is Brutus ; 
 see how he writhes, and says not a word. The other is 
 Cassius, that seems so large of limb. But the night is 
 rising again, and by this it is time to be gone, for we have 
 seen all.' 
 
 As it pleased him, I clasped his neck ; and he took 
 choice of time and place, and when the wings were enough 
 opened, he clutched him to the shaggy sides ; from tuft to 
 
 Rimanea della pelle tutta brulla. 60 
 
 Quell' anima lassu che ha maggior pena, 
 Disse il Maestro, e Giuda Scariotto, 
 Che il capo ha dentro, e fuor le gambe mena. 
 
 Degli altri due ch' hanno il capo di sotto, 
 Quel che pende dal nero ceffo e Bruto : 
 Vedi come si storce, e non fa motto : 
 
 E 1' altro e Cassio, che par si membruto. 
 Ma la notte risurge ; ed oramai 
 E da partir, che tutto avem veduto. 
 
 Com' a lui piacque, il collo gli avvinghiai ; 70 
 
 Ed ei prese di tempo e loco poste : 
 E, quando 1' ali furo aperte assai, 
 
 Appiglio se alle vellutc coste : 
 
 115 Benvenuto rather oddly inclines to think that Decimus Brutus is 
 meant. 
 
 '" membruto : Shakespeare, more in accordance with the facts so far 
 as they are known, makes Cassius have 'a lean and hungry look.' 
 Philalethes thinks that Dante misunderstood Cicero's reference to ' L. 
 Cassii adipem' in the third Catilinarian Oration ( 16). 
 
 (i8 la notte risurge : i.e. the sun has again set ; the first time having 
 been that recorded in ii. I. For notte see note xxiv. 3, and Purg. ii. 4.
 
 xxxiv HELL 415 
 
 tuft he afterwards went down between the matted hair and 
 the icy crusts. When we were at the place where the thigh 
 turns exactly upon the thick of the haunches, my Leader 
 with labour and with straining turned his head where he 
 had had his legs, and grappled himself to the hair like one 
 who climbs, so that I deemed we were returning again to 
 Hell. ' Hold thyself on well, for by such stairs,' said the 
 Master, panting as one weary, ' it behoves to set oneself free 
 from so great evil.' Then he issued forth through the hole 
 of a rock, and placed me on the edge to sit ; afterwards he 
 
 Di vello in vello giu discese poscia 
 Tra il folto pelo e le gelate croste. 
 
 Quando noi fummo la dove la coscia 
 
 Si volge appunto in sul grosso dell' anche, 
 Lo Duca con fatica e con angoscia 
 
 Volse la testa ov' egli avea le zanche, 
 
 Ed aggrappossi al pel come uom che sale, 80 
 Si che in inferno io credea tornar anche. 
 
 Attienti ben, che per cotali scale, a 
 
 Disse il Maestro, ansando com' uom lasso, 
 Conviensi dipartir da tanto male. 
 
 Poi usci fuor per lo foro d' un sasso, 
 E pose me in sull' orlo a sedere : 
 
 * per si fatte sc. Cass. II'. 
 
 78 Blanc calls attention to Dante's oversight of the fact that at the 
 centre the action of gravity would be nil ; and that therefore no effort 
 would be needed to change direction, or rather position. But, as may 
 be seen from De Aq. et Ter. xvi. , Dante evidently followed Aristotle 
 in looking upon gravity as a kind of force exerted by the centre speci- 
 ally, and not by the mass. Otherwise, as Dr. Whewell (Inductive 
 Sciences, Bk. iv. Ch. I, 9) has pointed out, the general conception of 
 this passage is more accurate than might have been expected. 
 
 86 Note again an accurate bit of mountaineering practice. Virgil,
 
 4i 6 HELL CANTO 
 
 reached toward me his cautious step. I raised my eyes, and 
 thought to see Lucifer as I had left him, and saw him hold 
 his legs upwards. And if I then became perplexed, let the 
 dull folk consider it, who see not what is that point which 
 I had passed. 'Lift thee up,' said my Master, 'on foot; 
 the way is long and the road is bad, and already is the sun 
 returning to mid tierce.' No chimney of a palace was it 
 
 Appresso porse a me 1' accorto passo. 
 lo levai gli occhi, e credetti vedere 
 
 Lucifero com' io 1' avea lasciato, 
 
 E vidili le gambe in su tenere. 90 
 
 E s' io divenni allora travagliato, 
 
 La gente grossa il pensi, che non vede 
 
 Qual e quel punto ch' io avea passato. 
 Levati su, disse il Maestro, in piede : 
 
 La via e lunga, e il cammino e malvagio, 
 
 E gia il sole a mezza terza riede. 
 Non era camminata di palagio 
 
 like a careful guide, gets his traveller safely on to a ledge, and then 
 follows. 
 
 ! ' 3 See below, 11. no, in. 
 
 96 mezza terza : half way from the beginning of the day (6 A.M.) to 
 the third hour (9 A.M.), as appears from Convito iii. 15, iv. 23. It was 
 just after sunset before they reached the centre ; they are now in the 
 other hemisphere, and it is morning. See Moore, Time References, 
 pp. 5!) 55- I^ r - Moore is obviously right in holding that we must con- 
 sider the time to have gone back twelve hours, and Easter Eve to be 
 beginning for the southern hemisphere. The word riede points to this ; 
 and Dante would never have supposed himself to spend Easter Day in 
 climbing through the bowels of the earth. Note that this is the first 
 instance in which time has been indicated by the sun since they entered 
 Hell. 
 
 '' 7 camminata. Although no commentator seems to recognise the 
 meaning, and Du Cange, s.v. ca/ninata, speaks only of 'a room with a 
 hearth in it,' I can hardly doubt that Dante is using the word in the 
 sense of the French c/ien'n/e, a sense which it must have possessed, the
 
 xxxiv HELL 417 
 
 there where we were, but a natural cranny, which had bad 
 ground and of light small store. ' Before I pluck myself 
 away from the abyss, my Master,' said I, when I was 
 upright, 'talk with me a little to draw me from error. 
 Where is the ice ? and how is this one fixed so upside- 
 down ? and how in so little time has the sun made a passage 
 from evening to morning ? ' And he to me : ' Thou fanciest 
 yet that thou art on that side of the centre, where I took 
 hold on the hair of the worm of sin that pierces the world. 
 On that side thou wast so long as I descended; when I 
 turned, thou didst pass the point to the which from every 
 part the weights are drawn ; and thou art now come to the 
 
 La V eravam, ma natural burella 
 Ch' avea mal suolo, e di lume disagio. 
 
 Prima ch' io dell' abisso mi divella, 100 
 
 Maestro mio, diss' io quando fui dritto, 
 A trarmi d' erro un poco mi favella. 
 
 Ov' e la ghiaccia ? e questi com' e fitto 
 Si sottosopra ? e come in si poc' ora 
 Da sera a mane ha fatto il sol tragitto ? 
 
 Id egli a me : Tu immagini ancora 
 
 D' esser di la dal centre, ov' io mi presi 
 Al pel del vermo reo che il mondo fora. 
 
 Di la fosti cotanto, quant' io scesi : 
 
 Quando mi volsi, tu passasti il punto no 
 
 Al qual si traggon d' ogni parte i pesi : 
 
 Fr. word being found as early as the 1310 century. The meaning 
 usually given, 'a hall,' is altogether out of place here. Every Alpine 
 climber knows what a ' Kamin ' is. Benvenuto, it may be noted, takes 
 it to be from canimino, 'a road.' 
 
 - erro : said to be a Tuscanism. 
 
 no, 111 ^ r< ( j e c ae i Oj ij_ j^ exaffrov -yap TUV fj.opiwi' [sc. rrjs 7775] 
 pos TO p.effov. 
 
 2 E
 
 418 HELL CANTO 
 
 bottom of the hemisphere which is opposite to that which 
 the great dry land covers, and beneath whose zenith was put 
 to an end the Man who was born and lived without sin ; 
 thou hast thy feet upon a little sphere which the other face 
 of the Giudecca forms. Here it is at morning when it is 
 evening there ; and this one who made a ladder for us with 
 his hair is still fixed as he was at first. On this side he fell 
 
 E sei or sotto 1' emisperio giunto 
 
 Ch' e contrapposto a quel che la gran secca 
 Coperchia, e sotto il cui colmo consunto 
 
 Fu 1' uom che nacque e visse senza pecca : 
 Tu hai li piedi in su picciola spera 
 Che 1' altra faccia fa della Giudecca. 
 
 Qui e da man, quando di la e sera : 
 E questi che ne fee scala col pelo, 
 Fitto e ancora, si come prim' era. 120 
 
 Da questa parte cadde giii dal cielo : 
 
 113 secca : because the geography of that time imagined the in- 
 habited hemisphere, beneath which Hell lies, to contain all the dry land 
 of the globe, except (in Dante's view) the mountain of Purgatory. 
 
 114, us Jerusalem being regarded (doubtless, as Philalethes points out, 
 on the authority of Ezekiel v. 5) as the central point of the inhabited 
 hemisphere, its zenith (or perhaps rather, meridian) is the culminating 
 point (or line) for the earth generally. 
 
 UK, 117 The ice on one side, and the ' stone ' of 1. 85 on the other, 
 make a small internal sphere, the diameter of which is somewhat less 
 than the length of Lucifer. 
 
 118 da man : so dal principle del tiiattino, i. 37. But it is hard to 
 resist the opinion that the true reading is Di qua c man. 
 
 121 sqq. it does not appear whence Dante got this theory of the crea- 
 tion of Hell. At first sight it seems inconsistent with iii. 7, but from 
 Par. xxix. 49-51 we gather that the fall of Satan and the creation of the 
 earth took place simultaneously. It may be noted that Aquinas, while 
 holding (Suppl. O. 97. A. 7) that 'conveniens locus tristitiae damna- 
 torum est intimum terrae,' declines to commit himself to a definite
 
 xxxiv HELL 419 
 
 down from Heaven ; and the earth which formerly was 
 spread on this side, for fear of him made of the sea a veil, 
 and came to our hemisphere ; and haply to fly from him 
 that which is seen on this side left its place here void, and 
 fled upward.' 
 
 A place there is below, so far removed from Beelzebub 
 as the tomb extends ; which is not known by sight, but by 
 the sound of a brook, which there descends through the 
 cavity of a rock which it has gnawed by reason of the course 
 
 E la terra che pria di qua si sporse, 
 
 Per paura di lui fee del mar velo, 
 E venne all' emisperio nostro ; e forse 
 
 Per fuggir lui lascib qui il loco voto 
 
 Quella che appar di qua, e su ricorse. 
 Loco e laggiu da Belzebu remoto 
 
 Tanto, quanto la tomba si distende, 
 
 Che non per vista, ma per suono e noto 
 D' un ruscelletto che quivi discende 130 
 
 Per la buca d' un sasso, ch' egli ha roso 
 
 statement on the point ; alleging St. Augustine's statement, Civ. 
 Dei xx. 1 6 : ignis aeternus in qua mundi vel rerum parte futurus sit, 
 hominem scire arbitror neminem. 
 
 126 di qua : i.e. the opening through which they were going to 
 ascend. su : to make the Mount of Purgatory, the only dry land, as 
 has been said, in that hemisphere. 
 
 128 I.e. equal to the depth of Hell. 
 
 129 non per vista : because it is dark. 
 
 130 The brook is generally held to be the outflow of Lethe, which 
 rises at the summit of the Mountain of Purification. The small inclina- 
 tion of its course must be due to its flowing spirally through the earth, 
 for of course all straight lines to the centre would be equally steep. The 
 account given by Philalethes of all this is difficult to follow. He seems 
 to take tomba as the actual hole occupied by Lucifer ; and to imagine a 
 kind of great vault or dungeon on the other side, into which the stream 
 enters through a fissure.
 
 420 HELL CANTO xxxiv 
 
 wherein it winds, and it slopes little. Through that 
 hidden road my Leader and I entered to return into the 
 bright world ; and without having a care of any rest we 
 mounted up, he first and I second, so far that I had sight 
 of the fair objects which the Heaven bears, through a round 
 opening ; and thence we issued to see again the stars. 
 
 Col corso ch' egli avvolge, e poco pende. 
 
 Lo Duca ed io per quel cammino ascoso 
 Entrammo a ritornar nel chiaro mondo : 
 E senza cura aver d' alcun riposo 
 
 Salimmo suso, ei primo ed io secondo, 
 Tanto ch' io vidi delle cose belle 
 Che porta il ciel, per un pertugio tondo, 
 
 E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle. 
 
 139 stelle : as has often been noticed, each division of the poem ends 
 with this word.
 
 GLOSSARY 
 
 ABBREVIATIONS : v. sub, ' see under ' ; s. v. ' under the word ' ; cf. 
 ' compare ' ; O. E. ' Old English ' ; M. E. ' Middle English ' ; 
 O. Fr. 'Old French'; O. G. 'Old German.' The rest explain 
 themselves. 
 
 Accaffare, xxi. 54; 'to snap up,' ' pilfer.' From caffo, which means 
 originally ' uneven ' of numbers ; whence ' giuocare a pari e caffo,' ' to 
 play odd and even.' Lat. ' micare ' ; a game requiring quickness, and 
 offering great facilities for cheating. Cf. Cic. de Off. iii. 77. Der. of 
 caffo is obscure. It is generally referred to capiit, and to this there is 
 no phonetic objection; but evidence is lacking of any use of caput in 
 this sense. However, the head being the one member which is con- 
 spicuously unpaired, the metaphor v~> prima facie a very natural one. 
 
 Accapricciare, xxii. 31; 'to cause shuddering.' From capriccio. 
 This must almost certainly be from capo and riccio ; the latter word 
 being from Lat. ericitis, 'a hedgehog,' Fr. herisson, our Ttrchin. The 
 usual deriv. of capriccio from caper, 'a goat,' will no doubt suit the 
 
 1 This Glossary does not profess to be exhaustive. I have given only such words 
 as seemed interesting either from their ohscure derivation, or from some peculiarity 
 in their use, or else as being specially illustrative of some principle of Romance ety- 
 mology. Still less is it final. I have neither the reading necessary to verify the 
 rather crude conjectures occasionally put forth in it, nor leisure to supply this defi- 
 ciency. At most, I can hope to stimulate other students. The term ' late Latin ' is 
 used in the case of such words as, though not in use in classical Latin, are to be 
 found in Forcellinus. ' A Latin ' implies that the word, though not found, might have 
 existed. ' Vigfiisson ' is used to denote Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icelandic Dictionary. 
 It must not, of course, be supposed that any Italian words are derived from the Old 
 Norse or Icelandic ; but Gothic, which has supplied many words to Italian, is a 
 closely -allied language, and we can in many cases use Icelandic to reconstruct forms 
 which the Gothic probably possessed, but of which, through the scantiness of its 
 remaining literature, all trace is now lost.
 
 422 GLOSSARY 
 
 meaning 'caprice,' but will not account for that of 'shudder,' which 
 both the original word, and still more its derivatives, express. Riccio 
 has also the meaning of ' curly ' as applied to hair. It is curious 
 that ericius, Gr. xV appears to contain the same root as horreo 
 (Skeat). 
 
 Accismare, xxviii. 37; 'to arrange,' 'set in order.' Probably not 
 connected with cisma schisma. The Gr. crx^/ua does not appear to 
 have passed into Lat. in its primary sense. It is better to connect the 
 word with Prov. aces/uar, ' to make ready,' 'put in place,' used e.g. of 
 soldiers in battle. This is from adaestiniare ; the original notion being 
 'to judge' or 'calculate,' and then 'to execute.' From aestimare come 
 O. Fr. esmer, Eng. aim ; the transition between calculation and execu- 
 tion being well seen in the English word. 
 
 Adizzare, xxvii. 21 ; 'to urge,' 'excite.' Said to be properly used 
 of setting dogs to fight. From Germ, hetzen. Also found in the form 
 aizzare (which some read here). 
 
 Adonare, vi. 34; 'to beat down,' 'subdue.' From donare, the 
 original sense, as in the reflexive form (Purg. xi. 19), being 'to sur- 
 render.' For the change of meaning Diez compares Sp. rendir, which 
 means 'to subdue,' as well as 'to give up.' Possibly domare affected 
 the sense. 
 
 Adontare, vi. 72 ; 'to shame.' From onta, Fr. honte. This from 
 a vb. onire, Fr. honnir, from O. G. hSnen, Germ, liolinen, 'to 
 mock. ' 
 
 Aggueffare, xxiii. 16; 'to add to,' 'lay upon.' Germ, iveben, 'to 
 weave,' #7ra \ey6fjLfOf. [Blanc, however, appears to read it xxxi. 56.] 
 
 Agognare, vi. 28, etc. ; 'to desire eagerly.' Through late Lat. 
 agonia, from Gr. ayuv, 'a contest.' 
 
 Allettare, ii. 122 ; ix. 93. Probably in these instances from letto ; 
 as it is hard to see what sense can be got if the usual meaning ' entice ' 
 (from allectare] be given to the word. 
 
 Anca. xix. 43, etc. ; ' haunch J 'hip.' From O. G. ancha or encha. 
 So Lat. angulus, ancus, aduncus, low Lat. ankilus, ' knee-joint,' Gr. 
 dyKwv, Eng. ankle, etc., the root being almost universal in the sense of 
 ' bending. ' 
 
 Appiccare, xxv. 61, 107; xxix. 129; 'to stick together,' ' cause to 
 take hold.' Uiez derives from pix,picis, 'pitch,' and though the vowel- 
 change is somewhat unusual (and has probably been affected by a sup- 
 posed connection with the root found in picco, peak, etc.), this seems on 
 the whole most probable. The word no doubt is often used of attack- 
 ing by means of something pointed ; but a converse change is found in 
 our stick, sticky, where a word which (as its cognates show) was
 
 GLOSSARY 423 
 
 originally proper only to the nail, has been transferred to the 
 glue. 
 
 Arnia. xvi. 3 ; ' a beehive. ' Of unknown origin ; possibly, as the 
 word is also found in Spanish, from Arabic. 
 
 Arrostare, xv. 39 ; 'to fan.' See Rosta. 
 
 Attuffare, viii. 53 ; xviii. 113, etc. ; 'to submerge.' From Germ. 
 tanfen, ' to dip. ' 
 
 Baratta, xxi. 63; 'traffic'; barattiere, ib. 41, etc.; 'a trafficker' 
 or ' jobber.' Words of obscure origin, which have found their way into 
 all the chief Romance languages, and in the form barter into modern 
 English. {Barratry also exists, but as a technical term, taken it would 
 seem directly from law-French. ) There is also an older word barrat, ob- 
 solete apparently since 1500, in the sense both of 'fraud' and of 'quarrel' 
 or ' fighting.' The latter meaning is given by many interpreters, includ- 
 ing Diet. Cruse., to baratta ; but in two of the instances, other than this, 
 quoted in the Diet., it clearly means something which is not fighting; 
 while in the other two, from the ' Dittamondo,' it looks very much as 
 if P'azio had misunderstood Dante. Benvenuto evidently takes it here 
 in the same sense as is found in its derivatives. It must, however, be 
 said that there is an Icel. baratta (probably an imported word), meaning 
 ' a fight, ' and the English use of both barrat and baratour (see Murray) 
 shows that the idea of ' contending ' was conveyed by the word in other 
 languages, if not in Italian. No doubt this idea is involved in that of 
 buying and selling (especially as the process is conducted in the south 
 of Europe), no less than in that of actual fighting or brawling. Diez 
 suggests Gr. irpdrreiv, which is quite satisfactory phonetically, if any 
 historical evidence were forthcoming. If so, the sense of ' dealing ' 
 would be the original one ; and thence would easily come that of dealing 
 or bandying blows. Fr. t>araffer='to churn butter,' the idea being no 
 doubt of throwing to and fro. In Dittam. iii. 13, barattarsi, of the sea. 
 
 Belletta, vii. 124; 'mire.' According to Benv. a Florentine local 
 term, denoting properly mud caused by rain or deposited by a swollen 
 stream. He says that the forms melma and melmetta are also used. No 
 doubt a jocose use of belletto, low Lat. bellettim, 'paint for the cheeks,' 
 ' cosmetic,' from belhis. 
 
 Berza, xviii. 37 ; ' heel ' or ' leg.' Blanc's suggestion of Germ. 
 ferse is open to the objection that initial/ before a vowel does not seem 
 to give b. Menage seems more likely to be right in the view, quoted 
 by Diez, that it is a slang word, a.nd = versa, ' cabbage,' hence ' cabbage- 
 stalk ' or 'stalk' in general. Cf. ' gambale,' from ' ganiba. ' Vcrza is 
 from viriJaria, ' greens. '
 
 424 GLOSSARY 
 
 Bica, xxix. 66; 'a heap'; and abbicare, ix. 78; 'to heap' or 
 'hunch up.' Said to be originally 'a sheaf,' from an O. G. bfga in the 
 same sense: cf. mod. (South Germ.) beige, ' a woodstack,' bei'gen, 'to 
 pile wood.' This appears to be connected with bengen, 'to bend,' and 
 Grimm gives also beigen, ' to crook,' which brings us very near 
 to the meaning required for abbicare. [The word, curiously 
 like the Northern English bike, 'a crowd,' originally 'nest' or 
 'swarm of bees.' The meaning of 'montar sulla bica,' 'to get 
 in a rage,' would fit the English word well. The origin of bike 
 is unknown ; so that a possible connection with bica need not be 
 rejected.] 
 
 Biscazzare, xi. 44 ; 'to squander,' 'gamble away.' From bisca, 'a 
 gaming-house.' Origin of this unknown ; but it would seem to be akin 
 to Fr. bisque, meaning 'odds given by one player to another at tennis.' 
 [One would be inclined to see bis in the first syllable of this, as if the 
 player should score twice for the same stroke. If so, the notion of 
 'odds' might be the original. But Littre gives no example of bisqiie 
 before the i6th cent.] 
 
 Bizzarro, viii. 62; 'wrathful,' 'furious.' This appears to be the 
 only sense which the word had before 1400. Villani (viii. 39) speaks of 
 the ' bizzarra salvatichezza ' of the Black Guelfs ; Boccaccio, probably 
 borrowing from Dante, uses it of Filippo Argenti. Later on it acquired 
 the meaning of ' eccentric,' 'far-fetched'; with which it appears (but 
 not till the i6th cent.) in Fr., and which alone it possesses in Fr. and 
 Eng. (the latter not till lyth cent.) In Spanish it means 'brave,' 
 ' high-spirited.' The sb. bizarri occurs in Basque with the same signi- 
 fication, and seems to be derived from bizar, ' beard,' which again may 
 contain the same root as guizon, 'man.' If the passage of the word 
 from West to East can be traced, this would give a satisfactory deriva- 
 tion, especially when the tendency of words towards deterioration in 
 meaning is remembered. 
 
 Bolgia, xviii. 24, and. passim', 'a bag,' 'pit.' O. Fr. boiige (the 
 mod. word signifies only ' a closet ' or ' mean dwelling '), Eng. budget. 
 From bitlga, found as early as Lucilius, and said to be Gaulish. There 
 is a Gaelic builg. 
 
 Borno or -io, xxvi. 14; 'a boimifary stone,' 'slab.' (This meaning 
 is not recognised by Cruse., but there can hardly be any doubt of it 
 here.) From Fr. borne, O. Fr. bodnc, low Lat. bodina. This is found 
 as early as the yth cent. Its origin is unknown. [May not Germ. 
 boJen, our bottom, have originally meant merely ' end ' or ' limit ' ? 
 Wharton (Etyma Graeca), s. v. irvO fj.rjv , connects this with Celtic bonn, 
 from which the Fr. word has (though probably incorrectly) been de-
 
 GLOSSARY ' 425 
 
 rived. If this suggestion be tenable, we ought probably to see the same 
 root in Fr. bout, our butt and abut.} 
 
 Bragia, iii. 109 ; ' a hot coal.' Fr. braise. Said to be from Norse 
 brasa, ' to harden metal ' or ' solder.' This word seems rather doubtful. 
 No example of it is given by Vigfiisson. Littre mentions O. G. bras, 
 ' fire,' brasen, ' to burn ' (mod. braten, ' to roast '). Eng. brazier is from 
 the Fr. Skeat connects brass, but this seems doubtful. 
 
 Brago, viii. 50; 'mud.' O. Fr. braz, mod. Fr. =only 'tar' (in 
 which sense bray is found in Eng. i6th cent.) Diez and Littre, regard- 
 ing this as the original sense, derive from ' Scandinavian br&k ' un- 
 known to Vigfusson. 
 
 Bronco, xiii. 26; 'a stump.' Sp. bronco, 'rough,' 'unpolished.' 
 Probably from O. G. brechan, part, gibrochan, ' to break ' ; ' something 
 broken off.' Hence too Fr. broncher. [Cf. Eng. stumble and stump.~\ 
 For the inserted n see Diez i. 283. It is, of course, common 
 enough. 
 
 Buca, xxxii. 125. See Gloss. Purg. 
 
 Buccia, xix. 29. See Gloss. Purg. 
 
 Buco, xxxii. 2. See Gloss. Purg. 
 
 Burchio, xvii. 19; 'a small boat.' From low Lat. burclns, the 
 origin of which is unknown. Du Cange appears to connect it with low 
 Lat. bucia, Fr. buse, Eng. buss. 
 
 Burella, xxxiv. 98; 'a hole in the earth,' 'cavern.' Fr. bure, 'a 
 shaft' (e.g. in a mine). According to Diez connected with buio 
 (q. v. in Gloss. Purg.) But is it not rather from Germ, bohren, 
 our bore! 
 
 Burrato, xii. 10 ; xvi. 114; i, 'a ravine,' 2, ' a precipice.' There is 
 another form burrone, also borro ; these last having, it would seem, 
 always the sense of 'a hollow place.' Muratori refers them to Gr. 
 /360pos, and Diez appears to agree ; though he does not account for the 
 presence of the word in Italy. 
 
 Calare, xxvii. 81 ; 'to let down,' 'lower,' e.g. a sail; hence 'to 
 fall.' From Lat. chalare, found in Vitruvius (x. 13) ; this from Gr. 
 X.a\ai>. 
 
 Cennamella, xxii. 10; 'a shawm.'' From O. Fr. chalemel, mod. 
 chalumeau. Lat. calamus, 'a reed.' Bargigi has the form ciala- 
 viclla. 
 
 Cespuglio, xiii. 123, 131 ; 'a tuft of grass,' or (according to Bargigi) 
 'a shrub throwing up shoots from the ground.' Through cespo, from 
 Lat, caespes, ' turf.' The termination is somewhat hard to account for ; 
 but cf. miscuFlio,
 
 426 GLOSSARY 
 
 Chiappa, xxiv. 33 ; 'a rocky ledge.' Benv. gives us a clue to the 
 derivation. ' Chiappa,' he says, 'est pars tegulae culmae [Pculminis] 
 qua teguntur tecta domorum.' He is, however, probably wrong in 
 thinking that Dante means to say that he was like a man going on a 
 roof. Chiappa evidently='a shingle,' and the slabs of rock, by the 
 edges of which they climb down, are compared to inverted shingles on 
 a roof. The word will be the same as clap in ' c/a/board ' or ' clap\)o\t.' 
 Germ. ' klapp\\Q\z, ' 'split oak.' 'From stem of klappen = clap in some 
 one of its various senses,' Murray (probably that of 'fold' or 'lay 
 together '). But may it not rather be corrupted from some form of O. G. 
 chlioban, ' cleave ' ? 
 
 Cima, viii. 3, etc. ; 'a summit,' properly of a tree, in which sense 
 it appears as early as I2th cent, in Fr. rime. From Lat. cyma 
 (Pliny), in the sense of 'the first shoot of a plant,' especially a cabbage. 
 This from Gr. KVJJ.O., which, however, does not seem to be found in this 
 sense in literature, though its derivation from KVW makes it certain that 
 the meaning of ' wave ' must have originally been metaphorical. 
 
 Ciocca, xxxii. 104 ; 'a tuft of hair.' From the same root as ciocco, 
 'a log,' in Par. xviii. 100. Also Eng. chock, 'a lump,' shock (of corn 
 or of hair), shock ('a concussion'), Germ, schock, 'a heap' or 'bundle' 
 (usually of sixty), Icel. skokkr, 'a trunk, chest,' Fr. choc, and probably 
 souche, ' trunk of a tree. ' The original meaning seems to be ' stump ' 
 or 'bundle,' whence the idea, common in Rom. languages (cf. 
 bronco and intoppo, Gloss. Purg. ) of knocking against such an 
 object. 
 
 Cionco, ix. 18 ; 'cut off,' for cioncato. Probably a variant of the 
 same root as in the last word (cf. Eng. chock and chunk], modified by 
 Ironcare. For the'meaning, cf. ' truncus ' and 'truncare,' 'stump, 'and 
 Germ. ' verstiimmeln. ' Bocc. says that in this sense the word is Lom- 
 bard ; cioncare in Tuscan meaning ' to drink copiously.' 
 
 Ciuffetto, xxviii. 33; 'forelock.' Dim. of cinffo. This, according 
 to Diez, from Germ, sclwpf; but O. G. zoph, mod. zoff, Eng. top, tuft, 
 Fr. touffe seems more likely. Schopf looks more like a formation back 
 from cinffo. Cf. zuffa. 
 
 Cocca, xii. 77; 'the notch of an arrow'; hence, xvii. 136, 'the 
 arrow itself.' Fr. cache. The connection with Eng. cock (of a gun) 
 seems uncertain. May it not have originally denoted the catch of the 
 crossbow? We find in Fr. ' mettre un quarrel en coche,'as the earliest 
 (i3th cent.) use of the word (Littre). Thence it would be transferred to 
 the end of the arrow nearest the catch, or, in a longbow, nearest the 
 string. If this was the earliest meaning, the word ought probably to 
 be referred to low Lat. cocha, ' a block ' ; O. Fr. choquc. V. s. ciocca.
 
 GLOSSARY 427 
 
 It must be said, however, that the meaning ' notch ' appears very early, 
 e.g. Bocc. v. 2, where it can be nothing else. 
 
 Conciare, xxx. 33; 'to trim,' 'arrange.' See Gloss. Par. s. v. 
 acconciare. 
 
 Coppa, xxv. 22; 'the head,' especially 'the back of the head.' 
 Lit. 'a cup, ' from Lat. cnpa. [Hence Germ. kopf. Cf. Fr. 'tete,' 
 from 'testa,' 'a potsherd'; the real words ' haupt ' and 'chef having 
 acquired figurative meanings.] 
 
 Corata, xxviii. 26 ; 'intestines,' according to Buti, heart, lungs, and 
 liver. O. Fr. coree, from cor, 'heart.' Prov. coralha means 'belly' as 
 well as 'heart.' [Not to be confused with Fr. 'curee, ' originally 
 'cuiree,' Eng. 'quarry'; the portion wrapped in the hide ('corium') 
 and given to the hounds. See Littre, s. v. curee, and Skeat, quarry 
 in Appendix.] 
 
 Cozzare, xxxii. 51; 'to butt'; and sb. cozzo, vii. 55; ix. 97. 
 From coictarc, freq. of coicere (Diez). Etymologically there seems 
 no objection ; cf. ' dirizzare,' from ' directus. ' But is there any evidence 
 for the existence of coicere ? 
 
 Croio, xxx. 102 ; 'leathery' (perhaps 'stiff'). I think from aioio, 
 Lat. corium, with the r replaced in the wrong position. Diez takes it 
 from crudins, a derivation of cnidus ; but apart from the doubt whether 
 such a form could exist, it is hard to get the meaning from it. The 
 ' sounding like a drum ' makes it pretty clear what notion Dante con- 
 nected with the word ; though other uses of it would no doubt fit with 
 cnidus. 
 
 Crollare, xxii. 107, etc.; 'to shake.' From corotulare. O. Fr. 
 croller, mod. crouler. Lit. ' to keep rolling. ' 
 
 Crosciare, xxiv. 120; 'to let fall with a crash.' Usually intrans. 
 Goth, krht-stan, 'to gnash the teeth.' Sp. cruxir, 'to crackle,' 
 Eng. crush, crunch, Gr. /cporos are doubtless akin. 
 
 Dilaccare, xxviii. 30 ; 'to split open. ' From lacca in the sense of 
 ' the hollow of the thigh,' hence ' to tear limb from limb.' Diet. Cruse. 
 But this seems hardly likely. Lacca, in the sense (e.g. Purg. vii. 71) of 
 a hollow, may easily be transferred to the hollow of the body ; and the 
 meaning will be ' to open a hollow place ' ; possibly modified by dila- 
 cero. V. sub lacca. 
 
 Dogare, xxxi. 75 ; 'to enclose,' like the hoop of a cask, doga, q. v. 
 Gloss. Purg. 
 
 Dotta, xxxi. no; 'fear.' Lit. ''doubt.' Sb. from ob. dot/are, 
 Lat. ditbitare (cf. 'rotta,' from ' rupta '). For the meaning, cf. Fr. 
 redouter.
 
 428 GLOSSARY 
 
 Epa, xxv. 82, etc.; 'a paunch.' Said to be from Gr. tfirap, 'the 
 liver,' through Latin; but? 
 
 Fio, xxvii. 135 ; 'payment,' 'fee.' Goth, faihit, O. G. fihu, mod. 
 vieh, Lat. peais, etc., 'cattle,' and hence 'chattels.' Goods (land and 
 property) held by service to an over-lord ; and ultimately the payment 
 made in lieu of service, hence any repayment. 
 
 Gemere, xiii. 41 ; 'to drip.' See Gloss. Purg. 
 
 Ghermire, xxi. 36; xxii. 138; 'to seize with claws.' Tuscan form 
 (?) of gremire. This from same stem as O. G. krimman, Icel. kremja 
 ('to squeeze'), Eng. crumb from the same root ('anything torn to 
 pieces,' Skeat) ; perhaps also crimp. 
 
 Gora, viii. 31 ; 'a channel,' properly 'a mill-leat.' From M. G. 
 wuore, luur, in the same sense ; probably connected with wehren, ' to 
 guard ' ; the original meaning being 'the dam.' For the transfer from 
 that which keeps in the water to the water itself, cf. 'pond' 
 ( = ' pound'). The form ivier is found in Tyrol. Eng. weir, M. E. 
 wore (' weary so water in wore ') is no doubt akin. 
 
 Greppo, xxx. 95 ; ' a broken pot ' (Ottimo Comento and Benvenuto). 
 Others, ' rough ' or ' craggy ground ' ; e.g. Fazio degli Uberti in Dittam. 
 i. 2. Probably a dialectic equivalent of crepato, 'cracked,' 'split.' 
 Cf. Romanisch crap, 'a rock.' In S. Tyrol crep means 'a narrow 
 gorge.' (Schneller, Tirol. Namenforschungen.) 
 
 Gualdana, xxii. 5; 'a raid.' Probably from low Lat. guahlus, 
 Germ. tvald, 'a wood.' Hence originally 'beating for game.' Du Cange. 
 
 Guercio, vii. 40; ' squinting,' or ' blear-eyed.' From Germ, quer, 
 ' across' (Eng. queer). [This seems better than to derive it, with Diez, 
 from M. G. dwerch, G. zwerch, 'thwart.'] The meaning may here be 
 simply ' awry,' with no allusion to sight. 
 
 Lacca, vii. 16 ; xii. ii; 'a hollow' or 'ravine.' The word is 
 generally derived from O. G. lakha ; G. lacke, Eng. lake, leak (leak 
 pron. lakc=- ' a drain ' or ' gully ' in the West of England), also probably 
 lack, ' to want ' and ' to pierce/ Lat. lacus, lacuna. The common idea 
 in all these is evidently ' a breach ' or 'opening.' Schneller (Tirolische 
 Namenforschungen) mentions a narrow chasm called la Slacca near 
 Lizzana, in Yal d'Adige, and close to the ' Slavini di Marco,' to which 
 Dante alludes in the same passage in Canto xii., where the word Jacca 
 occurs. The coincidence is curious, even if the existence of the com- 
 pound dilafco (among other things) prevents us from agreeing with him 
 that slacca (which, he says, means locally 'a rut,' and proposes to de-
 
 GLOSSARY 429 
 
 rive from O. G. sloe, G. schlag) is the original word from which Dante 
 formed his lacca. 
 
 Leppo, xxx. 99. According to Buti, the smoke arising from burning 
 grease. The form of the word points to Lat. lippns, which in literature 
 usually means nothing but 'blear-eyed.' It is, however, undoubtedly 
 connected with Gr. \iirapos, 'fat, 'and may be explained as 'greasy,' 
 'sticky.' Martial (vii. 20) uses the word of an over-ripe fig, probably 
 to denote its oily look and feel. No doubt in the spoken language the 
 sense of ' grease ' was preserved. 
 
 Lercio, xv. 108 ; ' foul.' There appears to be a longer form (if it be 
 the same word), gnalercio ; which, apparently by a confusion with 
 'guercio,' also means 'squinting.' (Diez gives the latter meaning also 
 to lercio ; but Diet. Cruse, knows nothing of it. There is said, how- 
 ever, to be a Sardinian lerzti, 'distorted,' and there is a M. G. 'lerz' 
 = ' lefthand ' ; but what is the connection between these and ' filthy ' ?) 
 The verb, however, seems to occur earlier than the adj. Diefenbach 
 gives, from a low Dutch glossary of 1420, lerire, ' ontreynen ' ('to 
 defile '). I am unable to trace the word any further back. 
 
 Logoro, xvii. 128; 'a lure' (for falcons). I do not feel quite sure 
 that this word has been thoroughly made out. The forms are low 
 Latin lorra, ' bait ' (for fish) ; also, in a Spanish document of 1300-1350, 
 logres (in the same sense). O. Fr. loerre, loirre, ' bait ' and ' lure ' (by 
 1250), mod. lenrre. Prov. loirar, lojar, 'to attract' (i2th cent.) Sp. 
 lura, ' lure ' ; but apparently not the regular word, and probably in- 
 troduced from French. Eng. lure (second half of I4th cent.) M. G. 
 lnoder, mod. hider, 'bait'; also 'carrion'; also 'dissoluteness.' The 
 usual view is that the Germ, is the original of the others ; but it must be 
 noted that the word appears in Proven9al, in Bertrand de Born, almost 
 as early as in German. Then the form logres is singularly like Sp. 
 ' logro ' from 'lucrum,' while (unless it came directly from Italian) it is 
 hard to see how it arose from lorra. Prov. loirar corresponds to 
 litcrare, as ' oisor ' to ' uxor. ' From ' gain ' to ' temptation ' is an easy 
 step. On the whole, I am inclined to think that we have two lines of 
 words from different roots. [' Logoro,' adj. ' worn out,' ' decayed ' (also 
 ' dissolute '), is probably a different word = G. ' locker ' ; the resemblance 
 of which to 'locken,' 'entice,' is curious.] 
 
 Lonza, i. 32; xvi. 108 ; 'a leopard,' 'ounce.' Fr. once, Sp. onza. 
 The old derivation was from lynx (for y to o, cf. ' borso, ' from ' byrsa '). 
 But it is far more probable that the article has adhered in the Italian 
 form than that an initial has been dropped in all the others ; and the 
 word is now considered to be from the Persian yitz, 'a panther.' See 
 Littre and Skeat.
 
 430 GLOSSARY 
 
 Lordo, vi. 31, etc.; 'filthy.' From Lat. luridus ; perhaps to some 
 extent affected, especially in the sb. lorJura, by onto, Fr. orde, from 
 horridns. The meaning, however, begins to appear in Hor. 4 Od. xiii. 
 10. Fr. lotird, Sp. lento, are from the same, but in a different direction. 
 See Liltre, s. v. lourd. The Epinal Glossary gives luntus, ' laempehalt ' 
 (I presume the ' lemphealt,' which, according to Professor Skeat, s. v. 
 limp, 'wants confirmation') ; and liiriitam, 'luto pollutam.' 
 
 Mastino, xxi. 44; xxvii. 46; 'a mastiff.' For masnattiro, 'a 
 house-dog,' from masnada, 'a household.' This from low Latin man- 
 sionata. See Gloss. Purg. s. v. masnada. 
 
 Menare, i. 18, etc. ; ' to lead.' Fr. metier. From late Latin minare 
 (Apuleius and Ausonius ; perhaps much older in the colloquial language), 
 'to drive.' Cognate with niinari, ' to threaten.' The original sense is 
 perhaps ' to press ' (Wharton, Etyma Latina). From mener come 
 demean, demeanour (as 'conduct,' from 'ducere'). 
 
 Meschino, ix. 43; 'a servant'; xxvii. 115, 'a wretch.' Found 
 in all western Romance languages, having probably spread from 
 Spain. From Arabic tneskin, 'poor.' This is the original sense of 
 the word, and the only one which it has in Spanish. ' Servant ' is 
 later. 
 
 Mezzo, vii. 128; 'moist,' 'soft.' With sharp e and hard zz. Not 
 to be confused (as here by Benvenuto) with ' mezzo ' from ' medius. ' 
 According to Diez, from Lat. mitis. But in order to obtain it, he has to 
 assume a form mitius, of which there is no evidence ; and also the pas- 
 sage, contrary to all rule, of Latin I into e. [In his Grammar (the 
 French translation) mitis is written, perhaps by a printer's error.] On 
 the other hand, tonic a does occasionally become e, so that it would 
 seem better to take it from madidus. The original meaning would 
 seem, as in this passage, to be ' wet ' ; and the other meanings are 
 easily reached from this. Latin madidus actually occurs in the sense of 
 'soft,' and from this the sense of 'over-ripe' (especially of pears or 
 medlars) follows directly. 
 
 Mucchio, xxvii. 44 ; ' a heap. ' Perhaps from same root as Icel. 
 moka, 'a shovel,' which again is connected with myki, our muck. The 
 Gothic cognate seems to be maihstits, Germ, mist ; but the root evidently 
 contains a k sound. 
 
 Mucciare, xxiv. 127; 'to move away.' Earlier it seems to have 
 been used transitively, ' fly from.' Benv. calls it ' vulgare lombardorum ' ; 
 but it is used by Jacopone da Todi. [It also has the meaning ' to 
 mock' ; but is not this another word Fr. 'moquer,' etc. ?] The de- 
 rivation is obscure ; but it may be from some frequentative of imitare
 
 GLOSSARY 431 
 
 (itself probably a frequentative of moveo). Mutitare actually exists, but 
 apparently only in the sense of ' to go out to dinner.' 
 
 Muda, xxxiii. 22; 'a cage,' 'mew.' Lit. 'a place for hawks to 
 moult. ' Fr. mue. From Latin mutare, ' to change ' ; cf. mutare in 
 this sense Purg. ii. 36. 
 
 Musare, xxviii. 43; 'to muse.' Lit. 'to stand with the muzzle 
 (mnso) open.' Muso, low Latin mtisum, from morsum (as 'giuso' 
 from ' deorsum '), Diez. This derivation (given also in Diet. Cruse. ) 
 seems to hold water perfectly ; and therefore, as Professor Skeat says, 
 there is no need to look any further, whether to Germ, musse, 'leisure,' 
 or elsewhere. 
 
 Nuca, xxxii. 129; 'the nape of the neck.' Low Latin nucha. 
 Perhaps from mix (cf. ' duca ' from ' dux ') ; but more probably con- 
 nected with Germ, knochel, Eng. knuckle ; in the sense of the projecting 
 bone at the base of the neck. In this case it will be akin to neck. 
 
 Otta, xxi. 112; 'an hour.' More frequent in the form aUotta 
 = 'allora.' Diez connects it with Goth, uht- (in comp. ), 'early,' 
 'seasonable,' O. G. uohta, Icel. otta, 'the hours before dawn.' If 
 so, its meaning will stand to that of ' ora ' much as Gr. Kaipos to 
 Xpovos. But it is curious to remark the tendency in Italian to substi- 
 tute for certain words similar (though unconnected) words containing 
 the sound ot. Thus ' piota' for 'pianta,' ' gota ' for 'guancia.' 
 
 Peltro, i. 103 ; 'pewter.' Fr. peautre (now only = a cosmetic). 
 Original form probably spelter (Eng.), now used as a name for zinc in 
 commerce. Skeat would connect this with spell, originally speld, ' a 
 splinter ' ; akin to Germ, spall, Eng. split. 
 
 Perso, v. 89 ; vii. 103 ; ' perse ,' 'of a dark colour.' The colour of 
 a peach, ' l>crsicuiii malum.' See note, Purg. ix. 97. 
 
 Piaggiare, vi. 69 ; 'to coast.' Piaggia, Fr. plage, 'coast' ; also, as 
 in i. 29, etc., 'hillside.' (Cf. Fr. 'cote' in both senses.) From low 
 Latin plagia, formed from plaga, 'a tract of country.' [An ingenious 
 suggestion is that in this passage the word is from Gr. TrXdyios, 
 ' crooked ' ; but as the phrase ' andar piaggia piaggia ' is recognised, 
 there seems no need to look further. Villani, viii. 69, uses ' piaggiare 
 col ' in the sense of ' to be in the same boat with.'] 
 
 Piato, xxx. 147; 'a dispute,' 'quarrel.' From Latin placitum, 
 originally 'a decision,' then 'legal proceedings.' Fr. plaid, Eng. plea. 
 The sense of ' quarrel ' or ' complaint ' is found as early as the Strassburg 
 Oath (842) : ' et ab Ludher nul plaid nunquam prindrai.' 
 
 Piota, xix. 120; 'sole of the foot.' From old Latin (or Oscan)
 
 432 GLOSSARY 
 
 plaittus, plains, 'y?a/-footed.' Akin to Gr. irXartfs, Lat. planta. [Hence 
 Germ, ffote, Eng. paw, etc.] 
 
 Pozza, vii. 127; 'a pond.' From putea, a bye-form of pttteus, 'a 
 well,' whence also O. G. phnzza (' well'), mod. pfiitze (fern.), ' pool' or 
 ' puddle.' Schneller (op. cit. p. 130) quotes from a Trentine document 
 of 1214 : omnes putee que . . . aperte sunt in episcopatu. Perhaps the 
 gender may have been affected by ' cavea. ' An ingeniously suggested 
 derivation from putida is barred by the fact that it hardly ever becomes 
 o. Also the meaning, though appropriate here, would not suit other 
 passages where the word occurs. Whether our ' puddle,' M. E. 
 ' podel,' is connected seems doubtful. 
 
 Pruovo, xii. 93 ; ' near,' in phr. a pruovo. That the word is merely 
 Latin prope is shown by the Prov. a prop, O. Fr. a pruef (Diez ii. 435). 
 The change of c final into o need give no trouble. Cf. ' tristo.' 
 
 Raccapricciare, xiv. 78 ; v. sub accapricciare. 
 
 Ramarro, xxv. 79; 'a lizard.' According to Diez, from rame 
 (aeramen), 'brass.' But it is said to be a green lizard. Also -arro is 
 not a very common termination in Italian. The origin of the word 
 must, I suspect, be sought abroad. 
 
 Randa. xiv. 12; 'an edge,' 'border.' Only in phrase a randa, 
 which came to mean 'hardly,' 'barely.' Sp. randa, 'trimming of a 
 dress.' From Germ, rand in the same sense, especially 'the rim of a 
 shield.' Icel. rond. See Skeat, s. v. random. 
 
 Rezzo, xvii. 87 ; xxxii. 75 ; ' shade,' ' coolness.' From a Latin 
 auritium. See Gloss. Purg. s. v. aura. [Benv. in the former place 
 reads reggio, and derives it from rigidiim (sc. frigus).] 
 
 Ribadire, xxv. 8 ; ' to rivet,'' 'clench.' Fr. river, Icel. ;-//<z='to 
 tack together.' Germ, rcif, ' a hoop,' especially of a barrel, may con- 
 tain the same root [? also reef (in a sail)]. This only accounts for the 
 first three letters of the Italian word. It is almost impossible to doubt 
 that its form has been affected by a supposed connection with ribattere ; 
 which occurs as a pretty frequent v. 1. here. Xor does Diet. Cruse, 
 give any other instance of its early use. 
 
 Ribrezzo, xvii. 85 ; xxxii. 71 ; 'a shiver.' From brczza, 'a breeze? 
 Fr. brise. There seems some doubt as to which language first shows 
 the word. Diez is inclined to regard them all as starting from rezzo 
 (q. v.), starting from brczzo as a strengthened form of that word. But 
 this seems very doubtful. 
 
 Riddare, vii. 24; 'to dance in a ring.' From O. G. ridan, 'to 
 turn.' Fng. -writhe. 
 
 Ringavagnare, xxiv. 12 ; 'to recover,' ' store up again.' ' Cavagna
 
 GLOSSARY 433 
 
 est cista rusticana,' Benv. This seems quite satisfactory. Diez's pro- 
 posal to derive it from O. Fr. regaagner (v. sub giiadagno, Gloss. Purg. ) 
 is open to the objection that it does not account for in. Cavagna doubt- 
 less from cavus, 
 
 Risma. xxviii. 39 ; ' a pack.' Sp. resma, Fr. rame, Eng. ream, 'a 
 bundle of paper ' (480 sheets). From Arabic rizmat, 'a bundle.' In- 
 troduced by the Moors into Spain. 
 
 Rosta, xiii. 117; 'a switch' or '.twig'; hence 'a fan,' in vb. 
 arrostarsi, xv. 39. Others take rosta as ' a fence ' or ' railing.' Thus 
 Benvenuto : ' rostae solent fieri ad defensionem, et iste non potest 
 facere sibi rostam de manibus,' etc. But the early examples given in 
 Diet. Cruse, make it impossible to reject the meaning ' fan.' Diez con- 
 nects with Germ, rost, ' a gridiron ' (whence our roast) ; and as the first 
 gridirons were no doubt made of twigs, this brings both meanings 
 together. [May not roost be the same, in the sense of a twig on which 
 a bird perches?] Rosta, 'a twig,' may possibly be connected with 
 Germ, rauschen and Eng. rustle. 
 
 Sbigottire, viii. 122, etc. ; 'to frighten,' 'baffle' ; also intr. Prob- 
 ably 'to frighten by fierce looks.' Sp. bigote, 'moustache,' hombre de 
 bigote, ' man of warlike demeanour.' The derivation of this is obscure. 
 Qy. connected with bizzarro, q. v. [Bigot is probably a different word ; 
 but even this is not certain.] 
 
 Scana, xxxiii. 35; 'tooth.' Apparently fi7ra \ey6fj.evoi>. Perhaps 
 from Germ, sa/iu, in which case the insertion of the c would seem to be 
 the converse of the process by which zanca (q. v.) has been formed. 
 Another reading is sana, from Latin sanna. 
 
 Sciancato, xxv. 148; 'lame,' ' hip-shotten.' From ex-ancatus. 
 V. sub anca. 
 
 Scimia, xxix. 139; 'an ape.' From eximia, a medieval corruption 
 of simia. [For a similar attempt to give an obvious meaning, cf. ' lion- 
 fante,' from ' elephantem.'] 
 
 Sciorinare, xxi. 116 ; 'to emerge.' From ex-urinari, lit. 'to dive 
 out.' This from urina, 'water.' 
 
 Scoscio, xvii. 121 ; 'a shock,' 'jolt.' From sitccitssns, Fr. secoitsse ; 
 the sci being probably due to succussio. (Seneca's definition of this, 
 given by Forcellinus, s. v. , suits the present passage well : succussio est 
 quum terra quatitur, et sursum et deorsum movetur.) Scoscio occurs in 
 Bocc. Fiain. vi. in the sense of ' shock ' figuratively. 
 
 Scuffare, xviii. 104; ' to grout ' (like pigs). Doubtless from O. G. 
 skiuj 'an, mod. schieben, ' to shove ' ; whence sc/iaufel, ' shorel. ' 
 
 Soga, xxxi. 73 ; ' a thong.' Sp. soga, 'a grass or hempen rope, 
 2 F
 
 434 GLOSSARY 
 
 while the Italian word is said (on Buti's authority apparently) to mean 
 one of leather. It is also used, like our 'chain,' to mean a ' measure of 
 land.' Soca appears as early as Justinian; and there is a late Gr. 
 ffUKaptov. Probably of Celtic origin. 
 
 Sollo, xvi. 28; 'loose,' 'unbound.' From a Latin solutulus 
 (Diez). 
 
 Sovente. ii. 74, etc. ; 'no wand then,' 'often.' Fr. souvent. From 
 Latin subinde. (Hor. 2 Sat. v. 103, is a good instance of its use.) 
 
 Spiccare, xxx. 36 ; v. sub appiccare. 
 
 Squadrare. xxv. 3; 'to show.' Originally 'to measure with a 
 square? then ' to inspect ' ; and hence 'show for inspection.' Or per- 
 haps merely ' shape. ' 
 
 Strozza, vii. 125 ; xxviii. 101 ; ' throat. ' From O. G. drozza, mod. 
 drossel. That there was originally an initial s is shown by Dutch strot, 
 See Skeat, s. v. throat. 
 
 Stucco, xviii. 126; 'sated,' 'cloyed,' generally with a notion of 
 ' disgust. ' Perhaps only ' hardened ' ; cf. stucco, ' plaster ' ; from O. G. 
 stucchi, ' a crust,' said to be modern stuck. One is, however, tempted 
 to ask if Gr. o-rvyeiv ever got into Italian. Benv. explains ' idest . . . 
 stuffam.' 
 
 Succhio, xxvii. 48 ; ' a boring instrument.' Lit. 'a steeper,' from 
 the way in which the gimblet appears to suck out the shavings. Diez. 
 This seems satisfactory enough. 
 
 Terzeruolo, xxi. 15 ; ' the smallest sail in a ship' (Buti). Now it 
 means ' the foresail ' ; but in Dante's time it must have been the mizzen. 
 ' Mezzana ' seems to have undergone the converse change. So 
 ' artimone,' once the largest sail, is also now the mizzen. From tertius, 
 being the third in size. 
 
 Tomare, xvi. 63 ; xxxii. 102 ; ' to fall.' From O. Fr. turner, mod. 
 tomber, Prov. tombar. These from O. G. tiimSn, mod. taumeln, ' to 
 reel.' Identical with Eng. stumble. [Sp. 'tomar,' 'to take,' is quite 
 unconnected. ] 
 
 Vincastro, xxiv. 14 ; 'a rod,' ' shepherd's crook.' Probably merely 
 ' a large switch, ' from vinco, ' a withy. ' Diez regards this as from a 
 supposed vincum, the parent of vinculum ; but is it not rather formed 
 in some way from vimen ? 
 
 Zanca, xix. 45; xxxiv. 79; 'leg.' From an O. G. scantho (in- 
 ferred from A. S. scanca\ mod. schenkel, Eng. shank. The change of 
 sc to z is unusual, but not unparalleled. Shank is akin to shake (Skeat).
 
 GLOSSARY 435 
 
 Zeba, xxxii. 15 ; 'a goat.' Perhaps from Germ, zibbe, a local word 
 for ' ewe ' or ' lamb. ' But why should it not be from schops, the usual 
 dialectic form in the Alps of schaf ? 
 
 Zuffa. vii. 59, etc.; 'a quarrel.' From Germ, zupfen, 'to pull, 
 according to Diez ; but this word does not appear to be old, and pf is 
 always suspicious. It would seem better to connect it with the root that 
 appears in Eng. ' scuffle? Icel. skyfa, 'to shove? O. Dutch schuffelan 
 In this case it will be a doublet of scuffu, q. v. 
 
 THE END 
 
 Pi-intcd iy K. ^ K. CLARK.

 
 
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