The other, who close by me treads the sand, Above there in the world should welcome be. 40 My savage wife, more than aught else, doth harm me." 45 Could I 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, As soon as this my Lord said unto me Words, on account of which I thought within me 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 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, Valour and courtesy, say if they dwell Within our city, as they used to do, With us of late, and goes there with his comrades, "The new inhabitants and the sudden gains, 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, And come to rebehold the beauteous stars, 55 60 65 70 70 15 75 80 See that thou speak of us unto the people." Then they broke up the wheel, and in their flight Not an Amen could possibly be said So rapidly as they had disappeared; I followed him, and little had we gone, Before the sound of water was so near us, It down descendeth into its low bed, From Alps, by falling at a single leap, We found resounding that dark-tinted water, I had a cord around about me girt, And therewithal I whilom had designed As my Conductor had commanded me, I said within myself, "to the new signal With those who not alone behold the act, Athwart that dense and darksome atmosphere Even as he returns who goeth down Sometimes to clear an anchor, which has grappled Who upward stretches, and draws in his feet. 130 135 CANTO XVII. "BEHOLD the monster with the pointed tail, Who cleaves the hills, and breaketh walls and weapons, Thus unto me my Guide began to say, And beckoned him that he should come to shore, And that uncleanly image of deceit Came up and thrust ashore its head and bust, The face was as the face of a just man, Its semblance outwardly was so benign, Two paws it had, hairy unto the armpits ; The back, and breast, and both the sides it had Never in cloth did Tartars make nor Turks, That part are in the water, part on land; So that vile monster lay upon the border, Contorting upwards the envenomed fork, And made ten steps upon the outer verge, 5. TC 15 20 25 30 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 ; 35 40 Till thou returnest I will speak with him, Thus farther still upon the outermost Head of that seventh circle all alone I went, where sat the melancholy folk. 45 Out of their eyes was gushing forth their woe; This way, that way, they helped them with their hands Now from the flames and 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 neck of each there hung a pouch, Which certain colour had, and certain blazon; Upon a yellow pouch I azure saw Another of them saw I, red as blood, Know that a neighbour of mine, Vitaliano, 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 And fearing lest my longer stay might vex Him who had warned me not to tarry long, I found my Guide, who had already mounted And said to me: "Now be both strong and bold. Mount thou in front, for I will be midway, So that the tail 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, But shame in me his menaces produced, But he, who other times had rescued me In other peril, soon as I had mounted, The circles large, and the descent be little ; Even as the little vessel shoves from shore, Backward, still backward, so he thence withdrew; There where his breast had been he turned his tail, A greater fear I do 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 Wheels and descends, but I perceive it only 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 abyss; Because I fires beheld, and heard laments, Whereat I, trembling, all the closer cling. |