THE VISION

OF

HELL, PURGATORY, AND PARADISE

BY

DANTE ALIGHIERI

TRANSLATED BY

THE REV. H. F. CARY, M. A. 

HELL

OR THE INFERNO

Part 10

Cantos 32 - 34

CANTO XXXII

COULD I command rough rhimes and hoarse, to suitThat hole of sorrow, o'er which ev'ry rockHis firm abutment rears, then might the veinOf fancy rise full springing: but not mineSuch measures, and with falt'ring awe I touchThe mighty theme; for to describe the depthOf all the universe, is no emprizeTo jest with, and demands a tongue not us'dTo infant babbling. But let them assistMy song, the tuneful maidens, by whose aidAmphion wall'd in Thebes, so with the truthMy speech shall best accord. Oh ill-starr'd folk, Beyond all others wretched! who abideIn such a mansion, as scarce thought finds wordsTo speak of, better had ye here on earthBeen flocks or mountain goats. As down we stoodIn the dark pit beneath the giants' feet, But lower far than they, and I did gazeStill on the lofty battlement, a voiceBespoke me thus: "Look how thou walkest. TakeGood heed, thy soles do tread not on the headsOf thy poor brethren. " Thereupon I turn'd, And saw before and underneath my feetA lake, whose frozen surface liker seem'dTo glass than water. Not so thick a veilIn winter e'er hath Austrian Danube spreadO'er his still course, nor Tanais far remoteUnder the chilling sky. Roll'd o'er that massHad Tabernich or Pietrapana fall'n, Not e'en its rim had creak'd. As peeps the frogCroaking above the wave, what time in dreamsThe village gleaner oft pursues her toil, So, to where modest shame appears, thus lowBlue pinch'd and shrin'd in ice the spirits stood, Moving their teeth in shrill note like the stork. His face each downward held; their mouth the cold, Their eyes express'd the dolour of their heart. 

A space I look'd around, then at my feetSaw two so strictly join'd, that of their headThe very hairs were mingled. "Tell me ye, Whose bosoms thus together press, " said I, "Who are ye?" At that sound their necks they bent, And when their looks were lifted up to me, Straightway their eyes, before all moist within, Distill'd upon their lips, and the frost boundThe tears betwixt those orbs and held them there. Plank unto plank hath never cramp clos'd upSo stoutly. Whence like two enraged goatsThey clash'd together; them such fury seiz'd. 

And one, from whom the cold both ears had reft, Exclaim'd, still looking downward: "Why on usDost speculate so long? If thou wouldst knowWho are these two, the valley, whence his waveBisenzio slopes, did for its master ownTheir sire Alberto, and next him themselves. They from one body issued; and throughoutCaina thou mayst search, nor find a shadeMore worthy in congealment to be fix'd, Not him, whose breast and shadow Arthur's landAt that one blow dissever'd, not Focaccia, No not this spirit, whose o'erjutting headObstructs my onward view: he bore the nameOf Mascheroni: Tuscan if thou be, Well knowest who he was: and to cut shortAll further question, in my form beholdWhat once was Camiccione. I awaitCarlino here my kinsman, whose deep guiltShall wash out mine. " A thousand visagesThen mark'd I, which the keen and eager coldHad shap'd into a doggish grin; whence creepsA shiv'ring horror o'er me, at the thoughtOf those frore shallows. While we journey'd onToward the middle, at whose point unitesAll heavy substance, and I trembling wentThrough that eternal chillness, I know notIf will it were or destiny, or chance, But, passing 'midst the heads, my foot did strikeWith violent blow against the face of one. 

"Wherefore dost bruise me?" weeping, he exclaim'd, "Unless thy errand be some fresh revengeFor Montaperto, wherefore troublest me?"

I thus: "Instructor, now await me here, That I through him may rid me of my doubt. Thenceforth what haste thou wilt. " The teacher paus'd, And to that shade I spake, who bitterlyStill curs'd me in his wrath. "What art thou, speak, That railest thus on others?" He replied:"Now who art thou, that smiting others' cheeksThrough Antenora roamest, with such forceAs were past suff'rance, wert thou living still?"

"And I am living, to thy joy perchance, "Was my reply, "if fame be dear to thee, That with the rest I may thy name enrol. "

"The contrary of what I covet most, "Said he, "thou tender'st: hence; nor vex me more. Ill knowest thou to flatter in this vale. "

Then seizing on his hinder scalp, I cried:"Name thee, or not a hair shall tarry here. "

"Rend all away, " he answer'd, "yet for thatI will not tell nor show thee who I am, Though at my head thou pluck a thousand times. "

Now I had grasp'd his tresses, and stript offMore than one tuft, he barking, with his eyesDrawn in and downward, when another cried, "What ails thee, Bocca? Sound not loud enoughThy chatt'ring teeth, but thou must bark outright?What devil wrings thee?"--"Now, " said I, "be dumb, Accursed traitor! to thy shame of theeTrue tidings will I bear. "--"Off, " he replied, "Tell what thou list; but as thou escape from henceTo speak of him whose tongue hath been so glib, Forget not: here he wails the Frenchman's gold. 'Him of Duera, ' thou canst say, 'I mark'd, Where the starv'd sinners pine. ' If thou be ask'dWhat other shade was with them, at thy sideIs Beccaria, whose red gorge distain'dThe biting axe of Florence. Farther on, If I misdeem not, Soldanieri bides, With Ganellon, and Tribaldello, himWho op'd Faenza when the people slept. "

We now had left him, passing on our way, When I beheld two spirits by the icePent in one hollow, that the head of oneWas cowl unto the other; and as breadIs raven'd up through hunger, th' uppermostDid so apply his fangs to th' other's brain, Where the spine joins it. Not more furiouslyOn Menalippus' temples Tydeus gnaw'd, Than on that skull and on its garbage he. 

"O thou who show'st so beastly sign of hate'Gainst him thou prey'st on, let me hear, " said I"The cause, on such condition, that if rightWarrant thy grievance, knowing who ye are, And what the colour of his sinning was, I may repay thee in the world above, If that, wherewith I speak be moist so long. "

CANTO XXXIII

HIS jaws uplifting from their fell repast, That sinner wip'd them on the hairs o' th' head, Which he behind had mangled, then began:"Thy will obeying, I call up afreshSorrow past cure, which but to think of wringsMy heart, or ere I tell on't. But if words, That I may utter, shall prove seed to bearFruit of eternal infamy to him, The traitor whom I gnaw at, thou at onceShalt see me speak and weep. Who thou mayst beI know not, nor how here below art come:But Florentine thou seemest of a truth, When I do hear thee. Know I was on earthCount Ugolino, and th' Archbishop heRuggieri. Why I neighbour him so close, Now list. That through effect of his ill thoughtsIn him my trust reposing, I was ta'enAnd after murder'd, need is not I tell. What therefore thou canst not have heard, that is, How cruel was the murder, shalt thou hear, And know if he have wrong'd me. A small grateWithin that mew, which for my sake the nameOf famine bears, where others yet must pine, Already through its opening sev'ral moonsHad shown me, when I slept the evil sleep, That from the future tore the curtain off. This one, methought, as master of the sport, Rode forth to chase the gaunt wolf and his whelpsUnto the mountain, which forbids the sightOf Lucca to the Pisan. With lean brachsInquisitive and keen, before him rang'dLanfranchi with Sismondi and Gualandi. After short course the father and the sonsSeem'd tir'd and lagging, and methought I sawThe sharp tusks gore their sides. When I awokeBefore the dawn, amid their sleep I heardMy sons (for they were with me) weep and askFor bread. Right cruel art thou, if no pangThou feel at thinking what my heart foretold;And if not now, why use thy tears to flow?Now had they waken'd; and the hour drew nearWhen they were wont to bring us food; the mindOf each misgave him through his dream, and IHeard, at its outlet underneath lock'd upThe' horrible tower: whence uttering not a wordI look'd upon the visage of my sons. I wept not: so all stone I felt within. They wept: and one, my little Anslem, cried:"Thou lookest so! Father what ails thee?" YetI shed no tear, nor answer'd all that dayNor the next night, until another sunCame out upon the world. When a faint beamHad to our doleful prison made its way, And in four countenances I descry'dThe image of my own, on either handThrough agony I bit, and they who thoughtI did it through desire of feeding, roseO' th' sudden, and cried, 'Father, we should grieveFar less, if thou wouldst eat of us: thou gav'stThese weeds of miserable flesh we wear, 'And do thou strip them off from us again. 'Then, not to make them sadder, I kept downMy spirit in stillness. That day and the nextWe all were silent. Ah, obdurate earth!Why open'dst not upon us? When we cameTo the fourth day, then Geddo at my feetOutstretch'd did fling him, crying, 'Hast no helpFor me, my father!' There he died, and e'enPlainly as thou seest me, saw I the threeFall one by one 'twixt the fifth day and sixth:

"Whence I betook me now grown blind to gropeOver them all, and for three days aloudCall'd on them who were dead. Then fasting gotThe mastery of grief. " Thus having spoke, Once more upon the wretched skull his teethHe fasten'd, like a mastiff's 'gainst the boneFirm and unyielding. Oh thou Pisa! shameOf all the people, who their dwelling makeIn that fair region, where th' Italian voiceIs heard, since that thy neighbours are so slackTo punish, from their deep foundations riseCapraia and Gorgona, and dam upThe mouth of Arno, that each soul in theeMay perish in the waters! What if fameReported that thy castles were betray'dBy Ugolino, yet no right hadst thouTo stretch his children on the rack. For them, Brigata, Ugaccione, and the pairOf gentle ones, of whom my song hath told, Their tender years, thou modern Thebes! did makeUncapable of guilt. Onward we pass'd, Where others skarf'd in rugged folds of iceNot on their feet were turn'd, but each revers'd. 

There very weeping suffers not to weep;For at their eyes grief seeking passage findsImpediment, and rolling inward turnsFor increase of sharp anguish: the first tearsHang cluster'd, and like crystal vizors show, Under the socket brimming all the cup. 

Now though the cold had from my face dislodg'dEach feeling, as 't were callous, yet me seem'dSome breath of wind I felt. "Whence cometh this, "Said I, "my master? Is not here belowAll vapour quench'd?"--"'Thou shalt be speedily, "He answer'd, "where thine eye shall tell thee whenceThe cause descrying of this airy shower. "

Then cried out one in the chill crust who mourn'd:"O souls so cruel! that the farthest postHath been assign'd you, from this face removeThe harden'd veil, that I may vent the griefImpregnate at my heart, some little spaceEre it congeal again!" I thus replied:"Say who thou wast, if thou wouldst have mine aid;And if I extricate thee not, far downAs to the lowest ice may I descend!"

"The friar Alberigo, " answered he, "Am I, who from the evil garden pluck'dIts fruitage, and am here repaid, the dateMore luscious for my fig. "--"Hah!" I exclaim'd, "Art thou too dead!"--"How in the world aloftIt fareth with my body, " answer'd he, "I am right ignorant. Such privilegeHath Ptolomea, that ofttimes the soulDrops hither, ere by Atropos divorc'd. And that thou mayst wipe out more willinglyThe glazed tear-drops that o'erlay mine eyes, Know that the soul, that moment she betrays, As I did, yields her body to a fiendWho after moves and governs it at will, Till all its time be rounded; headlong sheFalls to this cistern. And perchance aboveDoth yet appear the body of a ghost, Who here behind me winters. Him thou know'st, If thou but newly art arriv'd below. The years are many that have pass'd away, Since to this fastness Branca Doria came. "

"Now, " answer'd I, "methinks thou mockest me, For Branca Doria never yet hath died, But doth all natural functions of a man, Eats, drinks, and sleeps, and putteth raiment on. "

He thus: "Not yet unto that upper fossBy th' evil talons guarded, where the pitchTenacious boils, had Michael Zanche reach'd, When this one left a demon in his steadIn his own body, and of one his kin, Who with him treachery wrought. But now put forthThy hand, and ope mine eyes. " I op'd them not. Ill manners were best courtesy to him. 

Ah Genoese! men perverse in every way, With every foulness stain'd, why from the earthAre ye not cancel'd? Such an one of yoursI with Romagna's darkest spirit found, As for his doings even now in soulIs in Cocytus plung'd, and yet doth seemIn body still alive upon the earth. 

CANTO XXXIV

"THE banners of Hell's Monarch do come forthTowards us; therefore look, " so spake my guide, "If thou discern him. " As, when breathes a cloudHeavy and dense, or when the shades of nightFall on our hemisphere, seems view'd from farA windmill, which the blast stirs briskly round, Such was the fabric then methought I saw, To shield me from the wind, forthwith I drewBehind my guide: no covert else was there. 

Now came I (and with fear I bid my strainRecord the marvel) where the souls were allWhelm'd underneath, transparent, as through glassPellucid the frail stem. Some prone were laid, Others stood upright, this upon the soles, That on his head, a third with face to feetArch'd like a bow. When to the point we came, Whereat my guide was pleas'd that I should seeThe creature eminent in beauty once, He from before me stepp'd and made me pause. 

"Lo!" he exclaim'd, "lo Dis! and lo the place, Where thou hast need to arm thy heart with strength. "

How frozen and how faint I then became, Ask me not, reader! for I write it not, Since words would fail to tell thee of my state. I was not dead nor living. Think thyselfIf quick conception work in thee at all, How I did feel. That emperor, who swaysThe realm of sorrow, at mid breast from th' iceStood forth; and I in stature am more likeA giant, than the giants are in his arms. Mark now how great that whole must be, which suitsWith such a part. If he were beautifulAs he is hideous now, and yet did dareTo scowl upon his Maker, well from himMay all our mis'ry flow. Oh what a sight!How passing strange it seem'd, when I did spyUpon his head three faces: one in frontOf hue vermilion, th' other two with thisMidway each shoulder join'd and at the crest;The right 'twixt wan and yellow seem'd: the leftTo look on, such as come from whence old NileStoops to the lowlands. Under each shot forthTwo mighty wings, enormous as becameA bird so vast. Sails never such I sawOutstretch'd on the wide sea. No plumes had they, But were in texture like a bat, and theseHe flapp'd i' th' air, that from him issued stillThree winds, wherewith Cocytus to its depthWas frozen. At six eyes he wept: the tearsAdown three chins distill'd with bloody foam. At every mouth his teeth a sinner champ'dBruis'd as with pond'rous engine, so that threeWere in this guise tormented. But far moreThan from that gnawing, was the foremost pang'dBy the fierce rending, whence ofttimes the backWas stript of all its skin. "That upper spirit, Who hath worse punishment, " so spake my guide, "Is Judas, he that hath his head withinAnd plies the feet without. Of th' other two, Whose heads are under, from the murky jawWho hangs, is Brutus: lo! how he doth writheAnd speaks not! Th' other Cassius, that appearsSo large of limb. But night now re-ascends, And it is time for parting. All is seen. "

I clipp'd him round the neck, for so he bade;And noting time and place, he, when the wingsEnough were op'd, caught fast the shaggy sides, And down from pile to pile descending stepp'dBetween the thick fell and the jagged ice. 

Soon as he reach'd the point, whereat the thighUpon the swelling of the haunches turns, My leader there with pain and struggling hardTurn'd round his head, where his feet stood before, And grappled at the fell, as one who mounts, That into hell methought we turn'd again. 

"Expect that by such stairs as these, " thus spakeThe teacher, panting like a man forespent, "We must depart from evil so extreme. "Then at a rocky opening issued forth, And plac'd me on a brink to sit, next join'dWith wary step my side. I rais'd mine eyes, Believing that I Lucifer should seeWhere he was lately left, but saw him nowWith legs held upward. Let the grosser sort, Who see not what the point was I had pass'd, Bethink them if sore toil oppress'd me then. 

"Arise, " my master cried, "upon thy feet. The way is long, and much uncouth the road;And now within one hour and half of noonThe sun returns. " It was no palace-hallLofty and luminous wherein we stood, But natural dungeon where ill footing wasAnd scant supply of light. "Ere from th' abyssI sep'rate, " thus when risen I began, "My guide! vouchsafe few words to set me freeFrom error's thralldom. Where is now the ice?How standeth he in posture thus revers'd?And how from eve to morn in space so briefHath the sun made his transit?" He in fewThus answering spake: "Thou deemest thou art stillOn th' other side the centre, where I grasp'dTh' abhorred worm, that boreth through the world. Thou wast on th' other side, so long as IDescended; when I turn'd, thou didst o'erpassThat point, to which from ev'ry part is dragg'dAll heavy substance. Thou art now arriv'dUnder the hemisphere opposed to that, Which the great continent doth overspread, And underneath whose canopy expir'dThe Man, that was born sinless, and so liv'd. Thy feet are planted on the smallest sphere, Whose other aspect is Judecca. MornHere rises, when there evening sets: and he, Whose shaggy pile was scal'd, yet standeth fix'd, As at the first. On this part he fell downFrom heav'n; and th' earth, here prominent before, Through fear of him did veil her with the sea, And to our hemisphere retir'd. PerchanceTo shun him was the vacant space left hereBy what of firm land on this side appears, That sprang aloof. " There is a place beneath, From Belzebub as distant, as extendsThe vaulted tomb, discover'd not by sight, But by the sound of brooklet, that descendsThis way along the hollow of a rock, Which, as it winds with no precipitous course, The wave hath eaten. By that hidden wayMy guide and I did enter, to returnTo the fair world: and heedless of reposeWe climbed, he first, I following his steps, Till on our view the beautiful lights of heav'nDawn'd through a circular opening in the cave:Thus issuing we again beheld the stars.