I know not what it said, though o'er the back But he seemed moved to anger who was speaking. I was bent downward, but my living eyes Could not attain the bottom, for the dark; At the next round, and let us descend the wall; Where it connects itself with the eighth bank, And I beheld therein a terrible throng Of serpents, and of such a monstrous kind, 70 75 80 That the remembrance still congeals my blood. 85 Let Lybia boast no longer with her sand; For if Chelydri, Jaculi, and Phareæ She breeds, with Cenchri and with Amphisbæna, Neither so many plagues nor so malignant E'er showed she with all Ethiopia, Nor with whatever on the Red Sea is! 90 Among this cruel and most dismal throng People were running naked and affrighted, They had their hands with serpents bound behind them; And head, and were in front of them entwined. And lo! at one who was upon our side There darted forth a serpent, which transfixed him Nor O so quickly e'er, nor I was written, As he took fire, and burned; and ashes wholly And when he on the ground was thus destroyed, Even thus by the great sages 't is confessed The phoenix dies, and then is born again, On herb or grain it feeds not in its life, But only on tears of incense and amomum, And nard and myrrh are its last winding-sheet. And as he is who falls, and knows not how, By force of demons who to earth down drag him, 95 100 105 110 When he arises and around him looks, Wholly bewildered by the mighty anguish Which he has suffered, and in looking sighs; Such was that sinner after he had risen. Justice of God! O how severe it is, 115 That blows like these in vengeance poureth down! 120 The Guide thereafter asked him who he was; Whence he replied: "I rained from Tuscany A short time since into this cruel gorge. A bestial life, and not a human, pleased me, Even as the mule I was; I'm Vanni Fucci, Beast, and Pistoia was my worthy den." And I unto the Guide: "Tell him to stir not, And ask what crime has thrust him here below, And the sinner, who had heard, dissembled not, But unto me directed mind and face, And with a melancholy shame was painted. Than when I from the other life was taken. What thou demandest I cannot deny ; So low am I put down because I robbed The sacristy of the fair ornaments, 125 130 135 And falsely once 't was laid upon another; But that thou mayst not such a sight enjoy, If thou shalt e'er be out of the dark places, Thine ears to my announcement ope and hear: Pistoia first of Neri groweth meagre; Then Florence doth renew her men and manners; Mars draws a vapor up from Val di Magra, Which is with turbid clouds enveloped round, When it shall suddenly rend the mist asunder, 140 145 150 CANTO XXV. T the conclusion of his words, the thief AT Lifted his hands aloft with both the figs, Crying: "Take that, God, for at thee I aim them."” From that time forth the serpents were my friends; For one entwined itself about his neck As if it said: "I will not thou speak more"; And round his arms another, and rebound him, Clinching itself together so in front, That with them he could not a motion make. Pistoia, ah, Pistoia! why resolve not To burn thyself to ashes and so perish, Since in ill-doing thou thy seed excellest? Through all the sombre circles of this Hell, Spirit I saw not against God so proud, Not he who fell at Thebes down from the walls! He fled away, and spake no further word; 5 10 15 Come crying out: "Where is, where is the scoffer?" |