The Divine Comedy

CANTO XIX

WOE to thee, Simon Magus! woe to you,

His wretched followers! who the things of God,

Which should be wedded unto goodness, them,

Rapacious as ye are, do prostitute

For gold and silver in adultery!

Now must the trumpet sound for you, since yours

Is the third chasm. Upon the following vault

We now had mounted, where the rock impends

Directly o'er the centre of the foss.

Wisdom Supreme! how wonderful the art,

Which thou dost manifest in heaven, in earth,

And in the evil world, how just a meed

Allotting by thy virtue unto all!

I saw the livid stone, throughout the sides

And in its bottom full of apertures,

All equal in their width, and circular each,

Nor ample less nor larger they appear'd

Than in Saint John's fair dome of me belov'd

Those fram'd to hold the pure baptismal streams,

One of the which I brake, some few years past,

To save a whelming infant; and be this

A seal to undeceive whoever doubts

The motive of my deed. From out the mouth

Of every one, emerg'd a sinner's feet

And of the legs high upward as the calf

The rest beneath was hid. On either foot

The soles were burning, whence the flexile joints

Glanc'd with such violent motion, as had snapt

Asunder cords or twisted withs. As flame,

Feeding on unctuous matter, glides along

The surface, scarcely touching where it moves;

So here, from heel to point, glided the flames.

"Master! say who is he, than all the rest

Glancing in fiercer agony, on whom

A ruddier flame doth prey?" I thus inquir'd.

"If thou be willing," he replied, "that I

Carry thee down, where least the slope bank falls,

He of himself shall tell thee and his wrongs."

I then: "As pleases thee to me is best.

Thou art my lord; and know'st that ne'er I quit

Thy will: what silence hides that knowest thou."

Thereat on the fourth pier we came, we turn'd,

And on our left descended to the depth,

A narrow strait and perforated close.

Nor from his side my leader set me down,

Till to his orifice he brought, whose limb

Quiv'ring express'd his pang. "Whoe'er thou art,

Sad spirit! thus revers'd, and as a stake

Driv'n in the soil!" I in these words began,

"If thou be able, utter forth thy voice."

There stood I like the friar, that doth shrive

A wretch for murder doom'd, who e'en when fix'd,

Calleth him back, whence death awhile delays.

He shouted: "Ha! already standest there?

Already standest there, O Boniface!

By many a year the writing play'd me false.

So early dost thou surfeit with the wealth,

For which thou fearedst not in guile to take

The lovely lady, and then mangle her?"

I felt as those who, piercing not the drift

Of answer made them, stand as if expos'd

In mockery, nor know what to reply,

When Virgil thus admonish'd: "Tell him quick,

I am not he, not he, whom thou believ'st."

And I, as was enjoin'd me, straight replied.

That heard, the spirit all did wrench his feet,

And sighing next in woeful accent spake:

"What then of me requirest?" "If to know

So much imports thee, who I am, that thou

Hast therefore down the bank descended, learn

That in the mighty mantle I was rob'd,

And of a she-bear was indeed the son,

So eager to advance my whelps, that there

My having in my purse above I stow'd,

And here myself. Under my head are dragg'd

The rest, my predecessors in the guilt

Of simony. Stretch'd at their length they lie

Along an opening in the rock. 'Midst them

I also low shall fall, soon as he comes,

For whom I took thee, when so hastily

I question'd. But already longer time

Hath pass'd, since my souls kindled, and I thus

Upturn'd have stood, than is his doom to stand

Planted with fiery feet. For after him,

One yet of deeds more ugly shall arrive,

From forth the west, a shepherd without law,

Fated to cover both his form and mine.

He a new Jason shall be call'd, of whom

In Maccabees we read; and favour such

As to that priest his king indulgent show'd,

Shall be of France's monarch shown to him."

I know not if I here too far presum'd,

But in this strain I answer'd: "Tell me now,

What treasures from St. Peter at the first

Our Lord demanded, when he put the keys

Into his charge? Surely he ask'd no more

But, Follow me! Nor Peter nor the rest

Or gold or silver of Matthias took,

When lots were cast upon the forfeit place

Of the condemned soul. Abide thou then;

Thy punishment of right is merited:

And look thou well to that ill-gotten coin,

Which against Charles thy hardihood inspir'd.

If reverence of the keys restrain'd me not,

Which thou in happier time didst hold, I yet

Severer speech might use. Your avarice

O'ercasts the world with mourning, under foot

Treading the good, and raising bad men up.

Of shepherds, like to you, th' Evangelist

Was ware, when her, who sits upon the waves,

With kings in filthy whoredom he beheld,

She who with seven heads tower'd at her birth,

And from ten horns her proof of glory drew,

Long as her spouse in virtue took delight.

Of gold and silver ye have made your god,

Diff'ring wherein from the idolater,

But he that worships one, a hundred ye?

Ah, Constantine! to how much ill gave birth,

Not thy conversion, but that plenteous dower,

Which the first wealthy Father gain'd from thee!"

Meanwhile, as thus I sung, he, whether wrath

Or conscience smote him, violent upsprang

Spinning on either sole. I do believe

My teacher well was pleas'd, with so compos'd

A lip, he listen'd ever to the sound

Of the true words I utter'd. In both arms

He caught, and to his bosom lifting me

Upward retrac'd the way of his descent.

Nor weary of his weight he press'd me close,

Till to the summit of the rock we came,

Our passage from the fourth to the fifth pier.

His cherish'd burden there gently he plac'd

Upon the rugged rock and steep, a path

Not easy for the clamb'ring goat to mount.

Thence to my view another vale appear'd

CANTO XX

AND now the verse proceeds to torments new,

Fit argument of this the twentieth strain

Of the first song, whose awful theme records

The spirits whelm'd in woe. Earnest I look'd

Into the depth, that open'd to my view,

Moisten'd with tears of anguish, and beheld

A tribe, that came along the hollow vale,

In silence weeping: such their step as walk

Quires chanting solemn litanies on earth.

As on them more direct mine eye descends,

Each wondrously seem'd to be revers'd

At the neck-bone, so that the countenance

Was from the reins averted: and because

None might before him look, they were compell'd

To' advance with backward gait. Thus one perhaps

Hath been by force of palsy clean transpos'd,

But I ne'er saw it nor believe it so.

Now, reader! think within thyself, so God

Fruit of thy reading give thee! how I long

Could keep my visage dry, when I beheld

Near me our form distorted in such guise,

That on the hinder parts fall'n from the face

The tears down-streaming roll'd. Against a rock

I leant and wept, so that my guide exclaim'd:

"What, and art thou too witless as the rest?

Here pity most doth show herself alive,

When she is dead. What guilt exceedeth his,

Who with Heaven's judgment in his passion strives?

Raise up thy head, raise up, and see the man,

Before whose eyes earth gap'd in Thebes, when all

Cried out, 'Amphiaraus, whither rushest?

'Why leavest thou the war?' He not the less

Fell ruining far as to Minos down,

Whose grapple none eludes. Lo! how he makes

The breast his shoulders, and who once too far

Before him wish'd to see, now backward looks,

And treads reverse his path. Tiresias note,

Who semblance chang'd, when woman he became

Of male, through every limb transform'd, and then

Once more behov'd him with his rod to strike

The two entwining serpents, ere the plumes,

That mark'd the better sex, might shoot again.

"Aruns, with more his belly facing, comes.

On Luni's mountains 'midst the marbles white,

Where delves Carrara's hind, who wons beneath,

A cavern was his dwelling, whence the stars

And main-sea wide in boundless view he held.

"The next, whose loosen'd tresses overspread

Her bosom, which thou seest not (for each hair

On that side grows) was Manto, she who search'd

Through many regions, and at length her seat

Fix'd in my native land, whence a short space

My words detain thy audience. When her sire

From life departed, and in servitude

The city dedicate to Bacchus mourn'd,

Long time she went a wand'rer through the world.

Aloft in Italy's delightful land

A lake there lies, at foot of that proud Alp,

That o'er the Tyrol locks Germania in,

Its name Benacus, which a thousand rills,

Methinks, and more, water between the vale

Camonica and Garda and the height

Of Apennine remote. There is a spot

At midway of that lake, where he who bears

Of Trento's flock the past'ral staff, with him

Of Brescia, and the Veronese, might each

Passing that way his benediction give.

A garrison of goodly site and strong

Peschiera stands, to awe with front oppos'd

The Bergamese and Brescian, whence the shore

More slope each way descends. There, whatsoev'er

Benacus' bosom holds not, tumbling o'er

Down falls, and winds a river flood beneath

Through the green pastures. Soon as in his course

The steam makes head, Benacus then no more

They call the name, but Mincius, till at last

Reaching Governo into Po he falls.

Not far his course hath run, when a wide flat

It finds, which overstretchmg as a marsh

It covers, pestilent in summer oft.

Hence journeying, the savage maiden saw

'Midst of the fen a territory waste

And naked of inhabitants. To shun

All human converse, here she with her slaves

Plying her arts remain'd, and liv'd, and left

Her body tenantless. Thenceforth the tribes,

Who round were scatter'd, gath'ring to that place

Assembled; for its strength was great, enclos'd

On all parts by the fen. On those dead bones

They rear'd themselves a city, for her sake,

Calling it Mantua, who first chose the spot,

Nor ask'd another omen for the name,

Wherein more numerous the people dwelt,

Ere Casalodi's madness by deceit

Was wrong'd of Pinamonte. If thou hear

Henceforth another origin assign'd

Of that my country, I forewarn thee now,

That falsehood none beguile thee of the truth."

I answer'd: "Teacher, I conclude thy words

So certain, that all else shall be to me

As embers lacking life. But now of these,

Who here proceed, instruct me, if thou see

Any that merit more especial note.

For thereon is my mind alone intent."

He straight replied: "That spirit, from whose cheek

The beard sweeps o'er his shoulders brown, what time

Graecia was emptied of her males, that scarce

The cradles were supplied, the seer was he

In Aulis, who with Calchas gave the sign

When first to cut the cable. Him they nam'd

Eurypilus: so sings my tragic strain,

In which majestic measure well thou know'st,

Who know'st it all. That other, round the loins

So slender of his shape, was Michael Scot,

Practis'd in ev'ry slight of magic wile.

"Guido Bonatti see: Asdente mark,

Who now were willing, he had tended still

The thread and cordwain; and too late repents.

"See next the wretches, who the needle left,

The shuttle and the spindle, and became

Diviners: baneful witcheries they wrought

With images and herbs. But onward now:

For now doth Cain with fork of thorns confine

On either hemisphere, touching the wave

Beneath the towers of Seville. Yesternight

The moon was round. Thou mayst remember well:

For she good service did thee in the gloom

Of the deep wood." This said, both onward mov'd.

CANTO XXI

THUS we from bridge to bridge, with other talk,

The which my drama cares not to rehearse,

Pass'd on; and to the summit reaching, stood

To view another gap, within the round

Of Malebolge, other bootless pangs.

Marvelous darkness shadow'd o'er the place.

In the Venetians' arsenal as boils

Through wintry months tenacious pitch, to smear

Their unsound vessels; for th' inclement time

Sea-faring men restrains, and in that while

His bark one builds anew, another stops

The ribs of his, that hath made many a voyage;

One hammers at the prow, one at the poop;

This shapeth oars, that other cables twirls,

The mizen one repairs and main-sail rent

So not by force of fire but art divine

Boil'd here a glutinous thick mass, that round

Lim'd all the shore beneath. I that beheld,

But therein nought distinguish'd, save the surge,

Rais'd by the boiling, in one mighty swell

Heave, and by turns subsiding and fall. While there

I fix'd my ken below, "Mark! mark!" my guide

Exclaiming, drew me towards him from the place,

Wherein I stood. I turn'd myself as one,

Impatient to behold that which beheld

He needs must shun, whom sudden fear unmans,

That he his flight delays not for the view.

Behind me I discern'd a devil black,

That running, up advanc'd along the rock.

Ah! what fierce cruelty his look bespake!

In act how bitter did he seem, with wings

Buoyant outstretch'd and feet of nimblest tread!

His shoulder proudly eminent and sharp

Was with a sinner charg'd; by either haunch

He held him, the foot's sinew griping fast.

"Ye of our bridge!" he cried, "keen-talon'd fiends!

Lo! one of Santa Zita's elders! Him

Whelm ye beneath, while I return for more.

That land hath store of such. All men are there,

Except Bonturo, barterers: of 'no'

For lucre there an 'aye' is quickly made."

Him dashing down, o'er the rough rock he turn'd,

Nor ever after thief a mastiff loos'd

Sped with like eager haste. That other sank

And forthwith writhing to the surface rose.

But those dark demons, shrouded by the bridge,

Cried "Here the hallow'd visage saves not: here

Is other swimming than in Serchio's wave.

Wherefore if thou desire we rend thee not,

Take heed thou mount not o'er the pitch." This said,

They grappled him with more than hundred hooks,

And shouted: "Cover'd thou must sport thee here;

So, if thou canst, in secret mayst thou filch."

E'en thus the cook bestirs him, with his grooms,

To thrust the flesh into the caldron down

With flesh-hooks, that it float not on the top.

Me then my guide bespake: "Lest they descry,

That thou art here, behind a craggy rock

Bend low and screen thee; and whate'er of force

Be offer'd me, or insult, fear thou not:

For I am well advis'd, who have been erst

In the like fray." Beyond the bridge's head

Therewith he pass'd, and reaching the sixth pier,

Behov'd him then a forehead terror-proof.

With storm and fury, as when dogs rush forth

Upon the poor man's back, who suddenly

From whence he standeth makes his suit; so rush'd

Those from beneath the arch, and against him

Their weapons all they pointed. He aloud:

"Be none of you outrageous: ere your time

Dare seize me, come forth from amongst you one,

"Who having heard my words, decide he then

If he shall tear these limbs." They shouted loud,

"Go, Malacoda!" Whereat one advanc'd,

The others standing firm, and as he came,

"What may this turn avail him?" he exclaim'd.

"Believ'st thou, Malacoda! I had come

Thus far from all your skirmishing secure,"

My teacher answered, "without will divine

And destiny propitious? Pass we then

For so Heaven's pleasure is, that I should lead

Another through this savage wilderness."

Forthwith so fell his pride, that he let drop

The instrument of torture at his feet,

And to the rest exclaim'd: "We have no power

To strike him." Then to me my guide: "O thou!

Who on the bridge among the crags dost sit

Low crouching, safely now to me return."

I rose, and towards him moved with speed: the fiends

Meantime all forward drew: me terror seiz'd

Lest they should break the compact they had made.

Thus issuing from Caprona, once I saw

Th' infantry dreading, lest his covenant

The foe should break; so close he hemm'd them round.

I to my leader's side adher'd, mine eyes

With fixt and motionless observance bent

On their unkindly visage. They their hooks

Protruding, one the other thus bespake:

"Wilt thou I touch him on the hip?" To whom

Was answer'd: "Even so; nor miss thy aim."

But he, who was in conf'rence with my guide,

Turn'd rapid round, and thus the demon spake:

"Stay, stay thee, Scarmiglione!" Then to us

He added: "Further footing to your step

This rock affords not, shiver'd to the base

Of the sixth arch. But would you still proceed,

Up by this cavern go: not distant far,

Another rock will yield you passage safe.

Yesterday, later by five hours than now,

Twelve hundred threescore years and six had fill'd

The circuit of their course, since here the way

Was broken. Thitherward I straight dispatch

Certain of these my scouts, who shall espy

If any on the surface bask. With them

Go ye: for ye shall find them nothing fell.

Come Alichino forth," with that he cried,

"And Calcabrina, and Cagnazzo thou!

The troop of ten let Barbariccia lead.

With Libicocco Draghinazzo haste,

Fang'd Ciriatto, Grafflacane fierce,

And Farfarello, and mad Rubicant.

Search ye around the bubbling tar. For these,

In safety lead them, where the other crag

Uninterrupted traverses the dens."

I then: "O master! what a sight is there!

Ah! without escort, journey we alone,

Which, if thou know the way, I covet not.

Unless thy prudence fail thee, dost not mark

How they do gnarl upon us, and their scowl

Threatens us present tortures?" He replied:

"I charge thee fear not: let them, as they will,

Gnarl on: 't is but in token of their spite

Against the souls, who mourn in torment steep'd."

To leftward o'er the pier they turn'd; but each

Had first between his teeth prest close the tongue,

Toward their leader for a signal looking,

Which he with sound obscene triumphant gave.

CANTO XXII

IT hath been heretofore my chance to see

Horsemen with martial order shifting camp,

To onset sallying, or in muster rang'd,

Or in retreat sometimes outstretch'd for flight;

Light-armed squadrons and fleet foragers

Scouring thy plains, Arezzo! have I seen,

And clashing tournaments, and tilting jousts,

Now with the sound of trumpets, now of bells,

Tabors, or signals made from castled heights,

And with inventions multiform, our own,

Or introduc'd from foreign land; but ne'er

To such a strange recorder I beheld,

In evolution moving, horse nor foot,

Nor ship, that tack'd by sign from land or star.

With the ten demons on our way we went;

Ah fearful company! but in the church

With saints, with gluttons at the tavern's mess.

Still earnest on the pitch I gaz'd, to mark

All things whate'er the chasm contain'd, and those

Who burn'd within. As dolphins, that, in sign

To mariners, heave high their arched backs,

That thence forewarn'd they may advise to save

Their threaten'd vessels; so, at intervals,

To ease the pain his back some sinner show'd,

Then hid more nimbly than the lightning glance.

E'en as the frogs, that of a wat'ry moat

Stand at the brink, with the jaws only out,

Their feet and of the trunk all else concealed,

Thus on each part the sinners stood, but soon

As Barbariccia was at hand, so they

Drew back under the wave. I saw, and yet

My heart doth stagger, one, that waited thus,

As it befalls that oft one frog remains,

While the next springs away: and Graffiacan,

Who of the fiends was nearest, grappling seiz'd

His clotted locks, and dragg'd him sprawling up,

That he appear'd to me an otter. Each

Already by their names I knew, so well

When they were chosen, I observ'd, and mark'd

How one the other call'd. "O Rubicant!

See that his hide thou with thy talons flay,"

Shouted together all the cursed crew.

Then I: "Inform thee, master! if thou may,

What wretched soul is this, on whom their hand

His foes have laid." My leader to his side

Approach'd, and whence he came inquir'd, to whom

Was answer'd thus: "Born in Navarre's domain

My mother plac'd me in a lord's retinue,

For she had borne me to a losel vile,

A spendthrift of his substance and himself.

The good king Thibault after that I serv'd,

To peculating here my thoughts were turn'd,

Whereof I give account in this dire heat."

Straight Ciriatto, from whose mouth a tusk

Issued on either side, as from a boar,

Ript him with one of these. 'Twixt evil claws

The mouse had fall'n: but Barbariccia cried,

Seizing him with both arms: "Stand thou apart,

While I do fix him on my prong transpierc'd."

Then added, turning to my guide his face,

"Inquire of him, if more thou wish to learn,

Ere he again be rent." My leader thus:

"Then tell us of the partners in thy guilt;

Knowest thou any sprung of Latian land

Under the tar?"—"I parted," he replied,

"But now from one, who sojourn'd not far thence;

So were I under shelter now with him!

Nor hook nor talon then should scare me more."—.

"Too long we suffer," Libicocco cried,

Then, darting forth a prong, seiz'd on his arm,

And mangled bore away the sinewy part.

Him Draghinazzo by his thighs beneath

Would next have caught, whence angrily their chief,

Turning on all sides round, with threat'ning brow

Restrain'd them. When their strife a little ceas'd,

Of him, who yet was gazing on his wound,

My teacher thus without delay inquir'd:

"Who was the spirit, from whom by evil hap

Parting, as thou has told, thou cam'st to shore?"—

"It was the friar Gomita," he rejoin'd,

"He of Gallura, vessel of all guile,

Who had his master's enemies in hand,

And us'd them so that they commend him well.

Money he took, and them at large dismiss'd.

So he reports: and in each other charge

Committed to his keeping, play'd the part

Of barterer to the height: with him doth herd

The chief of Logodoro, Michel Zanche.

Sardinia is a theme, whereof their tongue

Is never weary. Out! alas! behold

That other, how he grins! More would I say,

But tremble lest he mean to maul me sore."

Their captain then to Farfarello turning,

Who roll'd his moony eyes in act to strike,

Rebuk'd him thus: "Off! cursed bird! Avaunt!"—

"If ye desire to see or hear," he thus

Quaking with dread resum'd, "or Tuscan spirits

Or Lombard, I will cause them to appear.

Meantime let these ill talons bate their fury,

So that no vengeance they may fear from them,

And I, remaining in this self-same place,

Will for myself but one, make sev'n appear,

When my shrill whistle shall be heard; for so

Our custom is to call each other up."

Cagnazzo at that word deriding grinn'd,

Then wagg'd the head and spake: "Hear his device,

Mischievous as he is, to plunge him down."

Whereto he thus, who fail'd not in rich store

Of nice-wove toils; "Mischief forsooth extreme,

Meant only to procure myself more woe!"

No longer Alichino then refrain'd,

But thus, the rest gainsaying, him bespake:

"If thou do cast thee down, I not on foot

Will chase thee, but above the pitch will beat

My plumes. Quit we the vantage ground, and let

The bank be as a shield, that we may see

If singly thou prevail against us all."

Now, reader, of new sport expect to hear!

They each one turn'd his eyes to the other shore,

He first, who was the hardest to persuade.

The spirit of Navarre chose well his time,

Planted his feet on land, and at one leap

Escaping disappointed their resolve.

Them quick resentment stung, but him the most,

Who was the cause of failure; in pursuit

He therefore sped, exclaiming: "Thou art caught."

But little it avail'd: terror outstripp'd

His following flight: the other plung'd beneath,

And he with upward pinion rais'd his breast:

E'en thus the water-fowl, when she perceives

The falcon near, dives instant down, while he

Enrag'd and spent retires. That mockery

In Calcabrina fury stirr'd, who flew

After him, with desire of strife inflam'd;

And, for the barterer had 'scap'd, so turn'd

His talons on his comrade. O'er the dyke

In grapple close they join'd; but the other prov'd

A goshawk able to rend well his foe;

And in the boiling lake both fell. The heat

Was umpire soon between them, but in vain

To lift themselves they strove, so fast were glued

Their pennons. Barbariccia, as the rest,

That chance lamenting, four in flight dispatch'd

From the other coast, with all their weapons arm'd.

They, to their post on each side speedily

Descending, stretch'd their hooks toward the fiends,

Who flounder'd, inly burning from their scars:

And we departing left them to that broil.