The Inferno
Page 15
102
that any other tale would seem spent embers.
‘But tell me, among these people who are passing,
if you see any worthy of my notice,
105
for my thoughts keep going back to them alone.’
Then he replied: ‘The one whose beard →
falls from his jowls onto his swarthy shoulders
108
was—when Greece was so deprived of males
‘that the only ones still there were in their cradles—
a soothsayer. At Aulis, along with Calchas,
111
he told the favoring time for setting sail.
‘Eurypylus was his name, and thus he is sung
in certain verses of my lofty tragedy,
114
as you know very well, who know it all.
‘That other, with the skinny shanks, →
was Michael Scot, who truly understood
117
the way to play the game of magic tricks.
’See Guido Bonatti. See Asdente, who now regrets → →
not having worked his leather and his thread—
120
but he repents too late.
‘See the wretched women who gave up needle, →
spool, and spindle to take up fortune-telling,
123
casting spells with images and herbs.
‘But come now, for Cain, with his thorns, →
already stands above the border of both hemispheres
126
and touches the waves below Seville.
‘and recall two nights ago →
the moon, already full, did you no harm,
at any time in the deep wood.’
130
These were his words while we were moving on. →
OUTLINE: INFERNO XXI
1–3
continuation of the conversation that ends Canto XX
4–6
weeping and darkness in the fifth bolgia
7–21
simile: the pitch and that in the arsenal at Venice
22–28
Virgil’s first warning to Dante and Dante’s reaction
29–36
a nameless devil laden with an anonymous sinner
37–42
the devil will return to Lucca for more like him
43–45
the devil departs
46–54
the new victim pronged by the sporting devils
55–57
simile: cooks prodding meat down in their cauldrons
58–63
Virgil’s second warning and claim of expertise
64–66
Virgil advances to meet the foe
67–71
simile: Virgil as beggar, devils as watchdogs
72–75
Virgil’s command to the “dogs”
76–78
Malacoda summoned and arriving
79–87
Virgil’s vaunt and Malacoda’s apparent servility
88–91
Virgil summons Dante from his hiding-place
92–96
simile: the truce at Caprona
97–99
these “troops” do not look peaceful to Dante
100–105
Malacoda restrains Scarmiglione
106–117
Malacoda lies about the condition of the bridges
118–123
Malacoda assembles his squad of ten
124–126
Malacoda lies about the purpose of their mission
127–132
Dante, terrified, longs for other guides than these
133–135
Virgil’s reassurance
136–139
the decuria readies itself; the diabolic signal
INFERNO XXI
Thus from one bridge to the next we came →
until we reached its highest point, speaking
3
of things my Comedy does not care to sing.
We stopped to look into the next crevasse
of Malebolge and heard more useless weeping.
6
All I could see was an astounding darkness.
As in the arsenal of the Venetians →
in wintertime they boil the viscous pitch
9
to caulk their unsound ships
because they cannot sail—one rebuilds
his ship, while still another plugs
12
the seams of his, weathered by many a voyage:
one hammers at the stem, another at the stern,
this one makes the oars, that one twists the ropes
15
for rigging, another patches jib and mainsail—
so, not with fire, but by the art of God,
a thick pitch boiled there,
18
sticking to the banks on either side.
I saw the pitch but still saw nothing in it
except the bubbles raised up by the boiling,
21
the whole mass swelling and then settling back.
While I stared fixedly upon the seething pitch,
my leader cried: ‘Look out, look out!’
24
and drew me to him, away from where I stood.
Then I turned like a man, intent
on making out what he must run from,
27
undone by sudden fear,
who does not slow his flight for all his looking back:
just so I caught a glimpse of some dark devil →
30
running toward us up the ledge.
Ah, how ferocious were his looks
and fierce his gesturing,
33
with wings spread wide and nimble feet!
One of his shoulders, which were high and pointed, →
was laden with the haunches of a sinner
36
he held hooked by the tendons of his heels.
From our bridge he said: ‘O Malebranche, →
here is one of Santa Zita’s Elders. →
39
Thrust him under, while I head back for more →
‘to that city, where there’s such a fine supply.
Every man there—except Bonturo—is a swindler. →
42
There money turns a No into a Yeah.’
He flung him down and turned back up
the stony ridge. Never did a mastiff
45
set loose to chase a thief make greater haste.
The sinner sank, then rose again, his face all pitch. →
The demons, under cover of the bridge, cried out:
48
‘This is no place for the Holy Visage!
‘Here you swim a different stroke than in the Serchio! →
Unless you’d like to feel our hooks,
51
don’t let yourself stick out above the pitch.’
Then, with a hundred hooks and more,
they ripped him, crying: ‘Here you must do your dance
54
in secret and pilfer—can you?—in the dark.’
In just the same way cooks command their scullions
to take their skewers and prod the meat down
57
in the cauldron, lest it float back up.
Then my good master said: ‘Squat down →
behind that rock and find some cover
60
so that they do not see that you are here.
‘As for any outrage they may do me,
have no fear. I know this place and had
63
exactly such a scuffle here before.’ →
After he had crossed the bridge
and reached the other bank,
66
he had to show how resolute he was:
With all the rage and uproar →
of dogs that rus
h upon a beggar—
69
who quickly starts to beg where he has stopped—
they swarmed on him from underneath the bridge
with threatening hooks. But he cried out:
72
‘Wait! Let none of you do harm!
‘Before you grapple at me with your hooks
let one of you come forth to hear me out.
75
Then take counsel, whether to use your claws.’
All cried: ‘Let Malacoda go.’ One moved— →
the rest stood still—and he came forward,
78
grumbling: ‘This won’t do him any good.’
‘Consider, Malacoda,’ said my master, →
‘whether you would see me come this far
81
unstopped by all your hindering
‘without the will of God and favoring fate?
Let us proceed, for it is willed in Heaven
84
that I guide another down this savage way.’
Then his pride was so abashed that he let drop →
the billhook to his feet, saying to the others:
87
‘Enough, let no one touch him.’
And my leader said to me: ‘You there, cowering →
among the broken boulders of the bridge,
90
now you may come back to me in safety.’
At that I stirred and hastened to him.
Then the devils all came surging forward
93
so that I feared they might not keep the truce.
Just so do I recall the troops
afraid to leave Caprona with safe-conduct, →
96
finding themselves among so many enemies.
I drew my body up against my leader
but kept my eyes fixed on their faces,
99
which were far from friendly.
They aimed their hooks, and one said to another: →
‘How about I nick him on the rump?’
102
And the other answered: ‘Sure, let him have one.’
But the demon who was speaking with my leader
turned round at once and said:
105
‘Easy does it, Scarmiglione!’
And then to us: ‘You can’t continue farther →
down this ridge, for the sixth arch
108
lies broken into pieces at the bottom.
‘If you desire to continue on,
then make your way along this rocky ledge.
111
Nearby’s another crag that yields a passage.
‘Yesterday, at a time five hours from now, →
it was a thousand two hundred sixty-six years
114
since the road down here was broken.
‘I’m sending some men of mine along that way →
to see if anyone is out to take the air.
117
Go with them—they won’t hurt you.’
‘Step forward, Alichino, Calcabrina,’ →
he continued, ’and you Cagnazzo,
120
and let Barbariccia lead the squad.
‘Let Libicocco come too, and Draghignazzo,
Cirïatto with his tusks, and Graffiacane,
123
Farfarello, and madcap Rubicante.
‘Have a good look around the boiling glue.
Keep these two safe as far as the next crag →
126
that runs all of a piece above the dens.’
‘Oh, master,’ I said, ‘I don’t like what I see. →
Please, let us find our way without an escort,
129
if you know how. As for me, I do not want one.
‘If you are as vigilant as ever,
don’t you see they grind their teeth
132
while with their furrowed brows they threaten harm?’
And he to me: ‘Don’t be afraid. →
Let them grind on to their hearts’ content—
135
they do it for the stewing wretches.’
Off they set along the left-hand bank, →
but first each pressed his tongue between his teeth
to blow a signal to their leader,
139
and he had made a trumpet of his asshole.
OUTLINE: INFERNO XXII
1–12
opening simile: the signal for a departure
13–18
the unlikely companions start their march
19–30
two similes: sinners as dolphins and as frogs
31–36
Graffiacane hooks a sinner
37–39
Dante explains how he came to know the devils’ names
40–42
the other devils urge Rubicante to flay the sinner
43–45
Dante asks Virgil to determine the sinner’s identity
46–48
Virgil asks him; the sinner says he is from Navarre
49–54
Ciampolo’s autobiography
55–63
Cirïatto gores Ciampolo; Barbariccia protects him
64–65
Virgil wants to know of any Italians in the pitch
66–69
Ciampolo mentions a Sardinian neighbor
70–73
Libicocco attacks; Draghignazzo threatens
74–75
Barbariccia again controls the situation
76–80
Virgil insists on having the information he seeks
81–90
Ciampolo’s “neighbors”: Fra Gomita and Michel Zanche
91–93
Ciampolo observes Farfarello’s evil intent
94–96
the “provost,” Barbariccia, restrains Farfarello
97–105
Ciampolo’s stratagem, asking space to summon others
106–117
dispute between Cagnazzo and Alichino
118
the fifth address to the reader in this cantica
119–132
Ciampolo’s escape, Alichino’s pursuit: simile of wild duck and falcon
133–144
Calcabrina and Alichino grapple, fall into the pitch
145–150
Barbariccia organizes his two rescue parties
151
Virgil and Dante make good their escape
INFERNO XXII
I have seen the cavalry break camp, →
prepare for an attack, make their muster
3
and at times fall back to save themselves.
I have seen outriders in your land,
O Aretines. I have seen raiding-parties,
6
tournaments of teams, hand-to-hand jousts
begun with bells, trumpets, or drums,
with signals from the castle,
9
with summons of our own and those from foreign lands,
but never to such outlandish fanfare
have I seen horsemen move, or infantry,
12
or ship set sail at sign from land or star.
On we went, escorted by ten demons. →
What savage company! But, as they say,
15
‘in church with saints, with guzzlers in the tavern.’
My attention was fixed upon the pitch
to note each detail of this gulch
18
and of the people poaching in it.
Like dolphins, when they arch their backs →
above the water, giving sailors warning
21
to prepare to save their ship,
so from time to time, to ease his pain,
one of the sinners would show his back
24
and, quick as lightning, hide it once again.
And just
as in a ditch at water’s edge
frogs squat with but their snouts in sight,
27
their bodies and their legs all hidden,
so were the sinners scattered everywhere.
But they, at the approach of Barbariccia,
30
withdrew back down beneath the boiling.
There I saw—and my heart still shudders at it—
one who lingered, as it can happen
33
that one frog stays while yet another plunges,
and Graffiacane, who was nearest him,
caught a billhook in his pitchy locks
36
and hauled him out, looking like an otter.
By now I knew their names, →
since I had noted these when they were chosen
39
and when they called to one another.
‘Set your claws to work, Rubicante,
see you rip his skin off,’
42
shouted all the accursèd crew together.
And I: ‘Master, if you can do it,
find out the name of this poor wretch
45
caught in the clutches of his enemies.’
My leader got up close beside him
and asked him where he came from. He replied:
48
‘I was born in the kingdom of Navarre. →
‘My mother, who had conceived me by a wastrel—
destroyer of himself and all his goods—
51
put me in service with a man of rank.
‘Then I joined the retinue of worthy Thibaut:
there first I set myself to taking bribes,
54
for which I pay the reckoning in this heat.’
And Ciriatto, from whose jaw curved up
on either side a tusk, like the wild boar’s,
57
made him feel how one of these could rip.
The mouse had fallen in with wicked cats.
But Barbariccia blocked them with his arms →