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twg_000000039100 | there the passage was. In all the rest which I have shown to thee Since we have entered in within the gate Whose threshold unto no one is denied, Nothing has been discovered by thine eyes So notable as is the present river, Which all the little flames above it quenches. These words were of my Leader; whence I prayed | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039101 | him That he would give me largess of the food, For which he had given me largess of desire. In the mid-sea there sits a wasted land, Said he thereafterward, whose name is Crete, Under whose king the world of old was chaste. There is a mountain there, that once was glad With waters and with leaves, which was called | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039102 | Ida; Now tis deserted, as a thing worn out. Rhea once chose it for the faithful cradle Of her own son; and to conceal him better, Wheneer he cried, she there had clamours made. A grand old man stands in the mount erect, Who holds his shoulders turned towrds Damietta, And looks at Rome as if it were his mirror. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039103 | His head is fashioned of refined gold, And of pure silver are the arms and breast; Then he is brass as far down as the fork. From that point downward all is chosen iron, Save that the right foot is of kiln-baked clay, And more he stands on that than on the other. Each part, except the gold, is by | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039104 | a fissure Asunder cleft, that dripping is with tears, Which gathered together perforate that cavern. From rock to rock they fall into this valley; Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon they form; Then downward go along this narrow sluice Unto that point where is no more descending. They form Cocytus; what that pool may be Thou shalt behold, so here tis not | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039105 | narrated. And I to him: If so the present runnel Doth take its rise in this way from our world, Why only on this verge appears it to us? And he to me: Thou knowest the place is round, And notwithstanding thou hast journeyed far, Still to the left descending to the bottom, Thou hast not yet through all the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039106 | circle turned. Therefore if something new appear to us, It should not bring amazement to thy face. And I again: Master, where shall be found Lethe and Phlegethon, for of one thourt silent, And sayest the other of this rain is made? In all thy questions truly thou dost please me, Replied he; but the boiling of the red Water | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039107 | might well solve one of them thou makest. Thou shalt see Lethe, but outside this moat, There where the souls repair to lave themselves, When sin repented of has been removed. Then said he: It is time now to abandon The wood; take heed that thou come after me; A way the margins make that are not burning, And over | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039108 | them all vapours are extinguished. Inferno: Canto XV Now bears us onward one of the hard margins, And so the brooklets mist oershadows it, From fire it saves the water and the dikes. Even as the Flemings, twixt Cadsand and Bruges, Fearing the flood that towrds them hurls itself, Their bulwarks build to put the sea to flight; And as | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039109 | the Paduans along the Brenta, To guard their villas and their villages, Or ever Chiarentana feel the heat; In such similitude had those been made, Albeit not so lofty nor so thick, Whoever he might be, the master made them. Now were we from the forest so remote, I could not have discovered where it was, Even if backward I | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039110 | had turned myself, When we a company of souls encountered, Who came beside the dike, and every one Gazed at us, as at evening we are wont To eye each other under a new moon, And so towards us sharpened they their brows As an old tailor at the needles eye. Thus scrutinised by such a family, By some one | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039111 | I was recognised, who seized My garments hem, and cried out, What a marvel! And I, when he stretched forth his arm to me, On his baked aspect fastened so mine eyes, That the scorched countenance prevented not His recognition by my intellect; And bowing down my face unto his own, I made reply, Are you here, Ser Brunetto? And | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039112 | he: Mayt not displease thee, O my son, If a brief space with thee Brunetto Latini Backward return and let the trail go on. I said to him: With all my power I ask it; And if you wish me to sit down with you, I will, if he please, for I go with him. O son, he said, whoever | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039113 | of this herd A moment stops, lies then a hundred years, Nor fans himself when smiteth him the fire. Therefore go on; I at thy skirts will come, And afterward will I rejoin my band, Which goes lamenting its eternal doom. I did not dare to go down from the road Level to walk with him; but my head bowed | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039114 | I held as one who goeth reverently. And he began: What fortune or what fate Before the last day leadeth thee down here? And who is this that showeth thee the way? Up there above us in the life serene, I answered him, I lost me in a valley, Or ever yet my age had been completed. But yestermorn I | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039115 | turned my back upon it; This one appeared to me, returning thither, And homeward leadeth me along this road. And he to me: If thou thy star do follow, Thou canst not fail thee of a glorious port, If well I judged in the life beautiful. And if I had not died so prematurely, Seeing Heaven thus benignant unto thee, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039116 | I would have given thee comfort in the work. But that ungrateful and malignant people, Which of old time from Fesole descended, And smacks still of the mountain and the granite, Will make itself, for thy good deeds, thy foe; And it is right; for among crabbed sorbs It ill befits the sweet fig to bear fruit. Old rumour in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039117 | the world proclaims them blind; A people avaricious, envious, proud; Take heed that of their customs thou do cleanse thee. Thy fortune so much honour doth reserve thee, One party and the other shall be hungry For thee; but far from goat shall be the grass. Their litter let the beasts of Fesole Make of themselves, nor let them touch | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039118 | the plant, If any still upon their dunghill rise, In which may yet revive the consecrated Seed of those Romans, who remained there when The nest of such great malice it became. If my entreaty wholly were fulfilled, Replied I to him, not yet would you be In banishment from human nature placed; For in my mind is fixed, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039119 | touches now My heart the dear and good paternal image Of you, when in the world from hour to hour You taught me how a man becomes eternal; And how much I am grateful, while I live Behoves that in my language be discerned. What you narrate of my career I write, And keep it to be glossed with other | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039120 | text By a Lady who can do it, if I reach her. This much will I have manifest to you; Provided that my conscience do not chide me, For whatsoever Fortune I am ready. Such handsel is not new unto mine ears; Therefore let Fortune turn her wheel around As it may please her, and the churl his mattock. My | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039121 | Master thereupon on his right cheek Did backward turn himself, and looked at me; Then said: He listeneth well who noteth it. Nor speaking less on that account, I go With Ser Brunetto, and I ask who are His most known and most eminent companions. And he to me: To know of some is well; Of others it were laudable | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039122 | to be silent, For short would be the time for so much speech. Know them in sum, that all of them were clerks, And men of letters great and of great fame, In the world tainted with the selfsame sin. Priscian goes yonder with that wretched crowd, And Francis of Accorso; and thou hadst seen there If thou hadst had | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039123 | a hankering for such scurf, That one, who by the Servant of the Servants From Arno was transferred to Bacchiglione, Where he has left his sin-excited nerves. More would I say, but coming and discoursing Can be no longer; for that I behold New smoke uprising yonder from the sand. A people comes with whom I may not be; Commended | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039124 | unto thee be my Tesoro, In which I still live, and no more I ask. Then he turned round, and seemed to be of those Who at Verona run for the Green Mantle Across the plain; and seemed to be among them The one who wins, and not the one who loses. Inferno: Canto XVI Now was I where was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039125 | heard the reverberation Of water falling into the next round, Like to that humming which the beehives make, When shadows three together started forth, Running, from out a company that passed Beneath the rain of the sharp martyrdom. Towards us came they, and each one cried out: Stop, thou; for by thy garb to us thou seemest To be some | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039126 | one of our depraved city. Ah me! what wounds I saw upon their limbs, Recent and ancient by the flames burnt in! It pains me still but to remember it. Unto their cries my Teacher paused attentive; He turned his face towards me, and Now wait, He said; to these we should be courteous. And if it were not for | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039127 | the fire that darts The nature of this region, I should say That haste were more becoming thee than them. As soon as we stood still, they recommenced The old refrain, and when they overtook us, Formed of themselves a wheel, all three of them. As champions stripped and oiled are wont to do, Watching for their advantage and their | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039128 | hold, Before they come to blows and thrusts between them, Thus, wheeling round, did every one his visage Direct to me, so that in opposite wise His neck and feet continual journey made. And, If the misery of this soft place Bring in disdain ourselves and our entreaties, Began one, and our aspect black and blistered, Let the renown of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039129 | us thy mind incline To tell us who thou art, who thus securely Thy living feet dost move along through Hell. He in whose footprints thou dost see me treading, Naked and skinless though he now may go, Was of a greater rank than thou dost think; He was the grandson of the good Gualdrada; His name was Guidoguerra, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039130 | in life Much did he with his wisdom and his sword. The other, who close by me treads the sand, Tegghiaio Aldobrandi is, whose fame Above there in the world should welcome be. And I, who with them on the cross am placed, Jacopo Rusticucci was; and truly My savage wife, more than aught else, doth harm me. Could I | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039131 | have been protected from the fire, Below I should have thrown myself among them, And think the Teacher would have suffered it; But as I should have burned and baked myself, My terror overmastered my good will, Which made me greedy of embracing them. Then I began: Sorrow and not disdain Did your condition fix within me so, That tardily | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039132 | it wholly is stripped off, As soon as this my Lord said unto me Words, on account of which I thought within me That people such as you are were approaching. I of your city am; and evermore Your labours and your honourable names I with affection have retraced and heard. I leave the gall, and go for the sweet | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039133 | fruits Promised to me by the veracious Leader; But to the centre first I needs must plunge. So may the soul for a long while conduct Those limbs of thine, did he make answer then, And so may thy renown shine after thee, Valour and courtesy, say if they dwell Within our city, as they used to do, Or if | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039134 | they wholly have gone out of it; For Guglielmo Borsier, who is in torment With us of late, and goes there with his comrades, Doth greatly mortify us with his words. The new inhabitants and the sudden gains, Pride and extravagance have in thee engendered, Florence, so that thou weepst thereat already! In this wise I exclaimed with face uplifted; | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039135 | And the three, taking that for my reply, Looked at each other, as one looks at truth. If other times so little it doth cost thee, Replied they all, to satisfy another, Happy art thou, thus speaking at thy will! Therefore, if thou escape from these dark places, And come to rebehold the beauteous stars, When it shall pleasure thee | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039136 | to say, I was, See that thou speak of us unto the people. Then they broke up the wheel, and in their flight It seemed as if their agile legs were wings. Not an Amen could possibly be said So rapidly as they had disappeared; Wherefore the Master deemed best to depart. I followed him, and little had we gone, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039137 | Before the sound of water was so near us, That speaking we should hardly have been heard. Even as that stream which holdeth its own course The first from Monte Veso towrds the East, Upon the left-hand slope of Apennine, Which is above called Acquacheta, ere It down descendeth into its low bed, And at Forli is vacant of that | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039138 | name, Reverberates there above San Benedetto From Alps, by falling at a single leap, Where for a thousand there were room enough; Thus downward from a bank precipitate, We found resounding that dark-tinted water, So that it soon the ear would have offended. I had a cord around about me girt, And therewithal I whilom had designed To take the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039139 | panther with the painted skin. After I this had all from me unloosed, As my Conductor had commanded me, I reached it to him, gathered up and coiled, Whereat he turned himself to the right side, And at a little distance from the verge, He cast it down into that deep abyss. It must needs be some novelty respond, I | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039140 | said within myself, to the new signal The Master with his eye is following so. Ah me! how very cautious men should be With those who not alone behold the act, But with their wisdom look into the thoughts! He said to me: Soon there will upward come What I await; and what thy thought is dreaming Must soon reveal | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039141 | itself unto thy sight. Aye to that truth which has the face of falsehood, A man should close his lips as far as may be, Because without his fault it causes shame; But here I cannot; and, Reader, by the notes Of this my Comedy to thee I swear, So may they not be void of lasting favour, Athwart that | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039142 | dense and darksome atmosphere I saw a figure swimming upward come, Marvellous unto every steadfast heart, Even as he returns who goeth down Sometimes to clear an anchor, which has grappled Reef, or aught else that in the sea is hidden, Who upward stretches, and draws in his feet. Inferno: Canto XVII Behold the monster with the pointed tail, Who | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039143 | cleaves the hills, and breaketh walls and weapons, Behold him who infecteth all the world. Thus unto me my Guide began to say, And beckoned him that he should come to shore, Near to the confine of the trodden marble; And that uncleanly image of deceit Came up and thrust ashore its head and bust, But on the border did | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039144 | not drag its tail. The face was as the face of a just man, Its semblance outwardly was so benign, And of a serpent all the trunk beside. Two paws it had, hairy unto the armpits; The back, and breast, and both the sides it had Depicted oer with nooses and with shields. With colours more, groundwork or broidery Never | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039145 | in cloth did Tartars make nor Turks, Nor were such tissues by Arachne laid. As sometimes wherries lie upon the shore, That part are in the water, part on land; And as among the guzzling Germans there, The beaver plants himself to wage his war; So that vile monster lay upon the border, Which is of stone, and shutteth in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039146 | the sand. His tail was wholly quivering in the void, Contorting upwards the envenomed fork, That in the guise of scorpion armed its point. The Guide said: Now perforce must turn aside Our way a little, even to that beast Malevolent, that yonder coucheth him. We therefore on the right side descended, And made ten steps upon the outer verge, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039147 | Completely to avoid the sand and flame; And after we are come to him, I see A little farther off upon the sand A people sitting near the hollow place. Then said to me the Master: So that full Experience of this round thou bear away, Now go and see what their condition is. There let thy conversation be concise; | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039148 | Till thou returnest I will speak with him, That he concede to us his stalwart shoulders. Thus farther still upon the outermost Head of that seventh circle all alone I went, where sat the melancholy folk. Out of their eyes was gushing forth their woe; This way, that way, they helped them with their hands Now from the flames and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039149 | now from the hot soil. Not otherwise in summer do the dogs, Now with the foot, now with the muzzle, when By fleas, or flies, or gadflies, they are bitten. When I had turned mine eyes upon the faces Of some, on whom the dolorous fire is falling, Not one of them I knew; but I perceived That from the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039150 | neck of each there hung a pouch, Which certain colour had, and certain blazon; And thereupon it seems their eyes are feeding. And as I gazing round me come among them, Upon a yellow pouch I azure saw That had the face and posture of a lion. Proceeding then the current of my sight, Another of them saw I, red | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039151 | as blood, Display a goose more white than butter is. And one, who with an azure sow and gravid Emblazoned had his little pouch of white, Said unto me: What dost thou in this moat? Now get thee gone; and since thourt still alive, Know that a neighbour of mine, Vitaliano, Will have his seat here on my left-hand side. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039152 | A Paduan am I with these Florentines; Full many a time they thunder in mine ears, Exclaiming, Come the sovereign cavalier, He who shall bring the satchel with three goats; Then twisted he his mouth, and forth he thrust His tongue, like to an ox that licks its nose. And fearing lest my longer stay might vex Him who had | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039153 | warned me not to tarry long, Backward I turned me from those weary souls. I found my Guide, who had already mounted Upon the back of that wild animal, And said to me: Now be both strong and bold. Now we descend by stairways such as these; Mount thou in front, for I will be midway, So that the tail | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039154 | may have no power to harm thee. Such as he is who has so near the ague Of quartan that his nails are blue already, And trembles all, but looking at the shade; Even such became I at those proffered words; But shame in me his menaces produced, Which maketh servant strong before good master. I seated me upon those | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039155 | monstrous shoulders; I wished to say, and yet the voice came not As I believed, Take heed that thou embrace me. But he, who other times had rescued me In other peril, soon as I had mounted, Within his arms encircled and sustained me, And said: Now, Geryon, bestir thyself; The circles large, and the descent be little; Think of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039156 | the novel burden which thou hast. Even as the little vessel shoves from shore, Backward, still backward, so he thence withdrew; And when he wholly felt himself afloat, There where his breast had been he turned his tail, And that extended like an eel he moved, And with his paws drew to himself the air. A greater fear I do | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039157 | not think there was What time abandoned Phaeton the reins, Whereby the heavens, as still appears, were scorched; Nor when the wretched Icarus his flanks Felt stripped of feathers by the melting wax, His father crying, An ill way thou takest! Than was my own, when I perceived myself On all sides in the air, and saw extinguished The sight | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039158 | of everything but of the monster. Onward he goeth, swimming slowly, slowly; Wheels and descends, but I perceive it only By wind upon my face and from below. I heard already on the right the whirlpool Making a horrible crashing under us; Whence I thrust out my head with eyes cast downward. Then was I still more fearful of the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039159 | abyss; Because I fires beheld, and heard laments, Whereat I, trembling, all the closer cling. I saw then, for before I had not seen it, The turning and descending, by great horrors That were approaching upon divers sides. As falcon who has long been on the wing, Who, without seeing either lure or bird, Maketh the falconer say, Ah me, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039160 | thou stoopest, Descendeth weary, whence he started swiftly, Thorough a hundred circles, and alights Far from his master, sullen and disdainful; Even thus did Geryon place us on the bottom, Close to the bases of the rough-hewn rock, And being disencumbered of our persons, He sped away as arrow from the string. Inferno: Canto XVIII There is a place in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039161 | Hell called Malebolge, Wholly of stone and of an iron colour, As is the circle that around it turns. Right in the middle of the field malign There yawns a well exceeding wide and deep, Of which its place the structure will recount. Round, then, is that enclosure which remains Between the well and foot of the high, hard bank, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039162 | And has distinct in valleys ten its bottom. As where for the protection of the walls Many and many moats surround the castles, The part in which they are a figure forms, Just such an image those presented there; And as about such strongholds from their gates Unto the outer bank are little bridges, So from the precipices base did | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039163 | crags Project, which intersected dikes and moats, Unto the well that truncates and collects them. 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. Upon my right hand I beheld new anguish, New torments, and new wielders of the lash, Wherewith the foremost Bolgia | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039164 | was replete. Down at the bottom were the sinners naked; This side the middle came they facing us, Beyond it, with us, but with greater steps; Even as the Romans, for the mighty host, The year of Jubilee, upon the bridge, Have chosen a mode to pass the people over; For all upon one side towards the Castle Their faces | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039165 | have, and go unto St. Peters; On the other side they go towards the Mountain. This side and that, along the livid stone Beheld I horned demons with great scourges, Who cruelly were beating them behind. Ah me! how they did make them lift their legs At the first blows! and sooth not any one The second waited for, nor | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039166 | for the third. 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. 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; And he, the scourged one, thought | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039167 | to hide himself, Lowering his face, but little it availed him; For said I: Thou that castest down thine eyes, If false are not the features which thou bearest, Thou art Venedico Caccianimico; But what doth bring thee to such pungent sauces? And he to me: Unwillingly I tell it; But forces me thine utterance distinct, Which makes me recollect | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039168 | the ancient world. I was the one who the fair Ghisola Induced to grant the wishes of the Marquis, Howeer the shameless story may be told. 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 Twixt Reno and Savena to say sipa; And | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039169 | if thereof thou wishest pledge or proof, Bring to thy mind our avaricious heart. 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. I joined myself again unto mine Escort; Thereafterward with footsteps few we came To where a crag projected from the bank. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039170 | This very easily did we ascend, And turning to the right along its ridge, From those eternal circles we departed. 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 The vision of those others evil-born, Of whom thou hast not yet beheld | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039171 | the faces, Because together with us they have gone. From the old bridge we looked upon the train Which towrds us came upon the other border, And which the scourges in like manner smite. 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039172 | tear; Still what a royal aspect he retains! That Jason is, who by his heart and cunning The Colchians of the Ram made destitute. He by the isle of Lemnos passed along After the daring women pitiless Had unto death devoted all their males. There with his tokens and with ornate words Did he deceive Hypsipyle, the maiden Who first, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039173 | herself, had all the rest deceived. There did he leave her pregnant and forlorn; Such sin unto such punishment condemns him, And also for Medea is vengeance done. 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. We were already where the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039174 | narrow path Crosses athwart the second dike, and forms Of that a buttress for another arch. Thence we heard people, who are making moan In the next Bolgia, snorting with their muzzles, And with their palms beating upon themselves The margins were incrusted with a mould By exhalation from below, that sticks there, And with the eyes and nostrils wages | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039175 | war. The bottom is so deep, no place suffices To give us sight of it, without ascending The archs back, where most the crag impends. 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; And whilst below there with mine eye I search, I | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039176 | saw one with his head so foul with ordure, It was not clear if he were clerk or layman. 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, I have already seen thee with dry hair, And thourt Alessio Interminei of Lucca; | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039177 | Therefore I eye thee more than all the others. And he thereon, belabouring his pumpkin: The flatteries have submerged me here below, Wherewith my tongue was never surfeited. 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 Of that uncleanly and dishevelled drab, Who | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039178 | there doth scratch herself with filthy nails, And crouches now, and now on foot is standing. Thais the harlot is it, who replied Unto her paramour, when he said, Have I Great gratitude from thee?Nay, marvellous; And herewith let our sight be satisfied. Inferno: Canto XIX O Simon Magus, O forlorn disciples, Ye who the things of God, which ought | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039179 | to be The brides of holiness, rapaciously For silver and for gold do prostitute, Now it behoves for you the trumpet sound, Because in this third Bolgia ye abide. We had already on the following tomb Ascended to that portion of the crag Which oer the middle of the moat hangs plumb. Wisdom supreme, O how great art thou showest | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039180 | In heaven, in earth, and in the evil world, And with what justice doth thy power distribute! I saw upon the sides and on the bottom The livid stone with perforations filled, All of one size, and every one was round. To me less ample seemed they not, nor greater Than those that in my beautiful Saint John Are fashioned | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039181 | for the place of the baptisers, And one of which, not many years ago, I broke for some one, who was drowning in it; Be this a seal all men to undeceive. Out of the mouth of each one there protruded The feet of a transgressor, and the legs Up to the calf, the rest within remained. In all of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039182 | them the soles were both on fire; Wherefore the joints so violently quivered, They would have snapped asunder withes and bands. Even as the flame of unctuous things is wont To move upon the outer surface only, So likewise was it there from heel to point. Master, who is that one who writhes himself, More than his other comrades quivering, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039183 | I said, and whom a redder flame is sucking? And he to me: If thou wilt have me bear thee Down there along that bank which lowest lies, From him thoult know his errors and himself. And I: What pleases thee, to me is pleasing; Thou art my Lord, and knowest that I depart not From thy desire, and knowest | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039184 | what is not spoken. Straightway upon the fourth dike we arrived; We turned, and on the left-hand side descended Down to the bottom full of holes and narrow. And the good Master yet from off his haunch Deposed me not, till to the hole he brought me Of him who so lamented with his shanks. Whoeer thou art, that standest | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039185 | upside down, O doleful soul, implanted like a stake, To say began I, if thou canst, speak out. I stood even as the friar who is confessing The false assassin, who, when he is fixed, Recalls him, so that death may be delayed. And he cried out: Dost thou stand there already, Dost thou stand there already, Boniface? By many | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039186 | years the record lied to me. Art thou so early satiate with that wealth, For which thou didst not fear to take by fraud The beautiful Lady, and then work her woe? Such I became, as people are who stand, Not comprehending what is answered them, As if bemocked, and know not how to answer. Then said Virgilius: Say to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039187 | him straightway, I am not he, I am not he thou thinkest. And I replied as was imposed on me. Whereat the spirit writhed with both his feet, Then, sighing, with a voice of lamentation Said to me: Then what wantest thou of me? If who I am thou carest so much to know, That thou on that account hast | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039188 | crossed the bank, Know that I vested was with the great mantle; And truly was I son of the She-bear, So eager to advance the cubs, that wealth Above, and here myself, I pocketed. Beneath my head the others are dragged down Who have preceded me in simony, Flattened along the fissure of the rock. Below there I shall likewise | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039189 | fall, whenever That one shall come who I believed thou wast, What time the sudden question I proposed. But longer I my feet already toast, And here have been in this way upside down, Than he will planted stay with reddened feet; For after him shall come of fouler deed From towrds the west a Pastor without law, Such as | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039190 | befits to cover him and me. New Jason will he be, of whom we read In Maccabees; and as his king was pliant, So he who governs France shall be to this one. I do not know if I were here too bold, That him I answered only in this metre: I pray thee tell me now how great a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039191 | treasure Our Lord demanded of Saint Peter first, Before he put the keys into his keeping? Truly he nothing asked but Follow me. Nor Peter nor the rest asked of Matthias Silver or gold, when he by lot was chosen Unto the place the guilty soul had lost. Therefore stay here, for thou art justly punished, And keep safe guard | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039192 | oer the ill-gotten money, Which caused thee to be valiant against Charles. And were it not that still forbids it me The reverence for the keys superlative Thou hadst in keeping in the gladsome life, I would make use of words more grievous still; Because your avarice afflicts the world, Trampling the good and lifting the depraved. The Evangelist you | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039193 | Pastors had in mind, When she who sitteth upon many waters To fornicate with kings by him was seen; The same who with the seven heads was born, And power and strength from the ten horns received, So long as virtue to her spouse was pleasing. Ye have made yourselves a god of gold and silver; And from the idolater | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039194 | how differ ye, Save that he one, and ye a hundred worship? Ah, Constantine! of how much ill was mother, Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower Which the first wealthy Father took from thee! And while I sang to him such notes as these, Either that anger or that conscience stung him, He struggled violently with both his feet. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039195 | I think in sooth that it my Leader pleased, With such contented lip he listened ever Unto the sound of the true words expressed. Therefore with both his arms he took me up, And when he had me all upon his breast, Remounted by the way where he descended. Nor did he tire to have me clasped to him; But | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039196 | bore me to the summit of the arch Which from the fourth dike to the fifth is passage. There tenderly he laid his burden down, Tenderly on the crag uneven and steep, That would have been hard passage for the goats: Thence was unveiled to me another valley. Inferno: Canto XX Of a new pain behoves me to make verses | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039197 | And give material to the twentieth canto Of the first song, which is of the submerged. I was already thoroughly disposed To peer down into the uncovered depth, Which bathed itself with tears of agony; And people saw I through the circular valley, Silent and weeping, coming at the pace Which in this world the Litanies assume. As lower down | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039198 | my sight descended on them, Wondrously each one seemed to be distorted From chin to the beginning of the chest; For towrds the reins the countenance was turned, And backward it behoved them to advance, As to look forward had been taken from them. Perchance indeed by violence of palsy Some one has been thus wholly turned awry; But I | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000039199 | neer saw it, nor believe it can be. As God may let thee, Reader, gather fruit From this thy reading, think now for thyself How I could ever keep my face unmoistened, When our own image near me I beheld Distorted so, the weeping of the eyes Along the fissure bathed the hinder parts. Truly I wept, leaning upon a | 60 | gutenberg |
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