INFERNO CANTO 18
| Proper
Name Index |
| Illustrations |
Longfellow Tr. |
Notes | Ann. |
THERE is a place in Hell called Malebolge,
Wholly of stone and of an iron colour,
As is the circle that around it turns.
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Right in the middle of the field malign
There yawns a well exceeding wide and deep,
Of which its place the structure will recount.
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Round, then, is that enclosure which remains
Between the well and foot of the high, hard bank,
And has distinct in valleys ten its bottom.
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As where for the protection of the walls
Many and many moats surround the castles,
The part in which they are a figure forms,
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Just such an image those presented there;
And as about such strongholds from their gates
Unto the outer bank are little bridges,
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So from the precipice's base did crags
Project, which intersected dikes and moats,
Unto the well that truncates and collects them.
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Within this place, down shaken from the back
Of Geryon, we found us; and the Poet
Held to the left, and I moved on behind.
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Upon my right hand I beheld new anguish,
New torments, and new wielders of the lash,
Wherewith the foremost Bolgia was replete.
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Down at the bottom were the sinners naked;
This side the middle came they facing us,
Beyond it, with us, but with greater steps;
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Even as the Romans, for the mighty host,
The year of Jubilee, upon the bridge,
Have chosen a mode to pass the people over;
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For all upon one side towards the Castle
Their faces have, and go unto St. Peter's;
On the other side they go towards the Mountain.
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This side and that, along the livid stone
Beheld I horned demons with great scourges,
Who cruelly were beating them behind.
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Ah me ! how they did make them lift their legs
At the first blows ! and sooth not any one
The second waited for, nor for the third.
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While I was going on, mine eyes by one
Encountered were; and straight I said: "Already
With sight of this one I am not unfed."
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Therefore I stayed my feet to make him out,
And with me the sweet Guide came to a stand,
And to my going somewhat back assented;
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And he, the scourged one. thought to hide himself,
Lowering his face, but little it availed him;
For said I: "Thou that castest down thine eyes
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If false are not the features which thou bearest;
Thou art Venedico Caccianimico;
But what doth bring thee to such pungent sauces ?"
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And he to me: "Unwillingly I tell it;
But forces me thine utterance distinct,
Which makes me recollect the ancient world.
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I was the one who the fair Ghisola
Induced to grant the wishes of the Marquis,
Howe'er the shameless story may be told.
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Not the sole Bolognese am I who weeps here;
Nay, rather is this place so full of them,
That not so many tongues to-day are taught
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'Twixt Reno and Savena to say sipa;
And if thereof thou wishest pledge or proof,
Bring to thy mind our avaricious heart."
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While speaking in this manner, with his scourge
A demon smote him, and said: "Get thee gone
Pander, there are no women here for coin."
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I joined myself again unto mine Escort;
Thereafterward with footsteps few we came
To where a crag projected from the bank.
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This very easily did we ascend,
And turning to the right along its ridge,
From those eternal circles we departed.
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When we were there, where it is hollowed out
Beneath, to give a passage to the scourged,
The Guide said: "Wait, and see that on thee strike
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The vision of those others evil-born,
Of whom thou hast not yet beheld the faces,
Because together with us they have gone."
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From the old bridge we looked upon the train
Which tow'rds us came upon the other border,
And which the scourges in like manner smite.
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And the good Master, without my inquiring,
Said to me: "See that tall one who is coming,
And for his pain seems not to shed a tear;
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Still what a royal aspect he retains !
That Jason is, who by his heart and cunning
The Colchians of the Ram made destitute.
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He by the isle of Lemnos passed along
After the daring women pitiless
Had unto death devoted all their males.
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There with his tokens and with ornate words
Did he deceive Hypsipyle, the maiden
Who first, herself, had all the rest deceived.
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There did he leave her pregnant and forlorn;
Such sin unto such punishment condemns him,
And also for Medea is vengeance done.
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With him go those who in such wise deceive;
And this sufficient be of the first valley
To know, and those that in its jaws it holds."
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We were already where the narrow path
Crosses athwart the second dike, and forms
Of that a buttress for another arch.
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Thence we heard people, who are making moan
In the next Bolgia, snorting with their muzzles,
And with their palms beating upon themselves
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The margins were incrusted with a mould
By exhalation from below, that sticks there,
And with the eyes and nostrils wages war.
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The bottom is so deep, no place suffices
To give us sight of it, without ascending
The arch's back, where most the crag impends.
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Thither we came, and thence down in the moat
I saw a people smothered in a filth
That out of human privies seemed to flow
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And whilst below there with mine eye I search,
I saw one with his head so foul with ordure,
It was not clear if he were clerk or layman.
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He screamed to me: "Wherefore art thou so eager
To look at me more than the other foul ones ?"
And I to him: "Because, if I remember,
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I have already seen thee with dry hair,
And thou'rt Alessio Interminei of Lucca;
Therefore I eye thee more than all the others."
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And he thereon, belabouring his pumpkin:
"The flatteries have submerged me here below,
Wherewith my tongue was never surfeited."
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Then said to me the Guide: "See that thou thrust
Thy visage somewhat farther in advance,
That with thine eyes thou well the face attain
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Of that uncleanly and dishevelled drab,
Who there doth scratch herself with filthy nails,
And crouches now, and now on foot is standing.
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Thais the harlot is it, who replied
Unto her paramour, when he said, ' Have I
Great gratitude from thee ?' -- ' Nay, marvellous ;
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And herewith let our sight be satisfied."
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