Then afterwards behoves it this one fall Within three suns, and rise again the other By force of him who now is on the coast. High will it hold its forehead a long while, Keeping the other under heavy burdens, Howe'er it weeps thereat and is indignant. The just are two, and are not understood there; 70 Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled." 75 Here ended he his tearful utterance; And I to him: "I wish thee still to teach me, And make a gift to me of further speech. Farinata and Tegghiaio, once so worthy, Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca, And others who on good deeds set their thoughts, Say where they are, and cause that I may know them; For great desire constraineth me to learn If Heaven doth sweeten them, or Hell envenom.' And he: "They are among the blacker souls; A different sin downweighs them to the bottom; If thou so far descendest, thou canst see them. But when thou art again in the sweet world, I pray thee to the mind of others bring me; No more I tell thee and no more I answer." 80 85 90 Then his straightforward eyes he turned askance, Eyed me a little, and then bowed his head; He fell therewith prone like the other blind. And the Guide said to me: "He wakes no more This side the sound of the angelic trumpet; When shall approach the hostile Potentate, Each one shall find again his dismal tomb, Shall reassume his flesh and his own figure, Shall hear what through eternity re-echoes." So we passed onward o'er the filthy mixture Of shadows and of rain with footsteps slow, Which wills, that as the thing more perfect is, Albeit that this people maledict To true perfection never can attain, Round in a circle by that road we went, Speaking much more, which I do not repeat; We came unto the point where the descent is; There we found Plutus the great enemy. CANTO VII. “PAPË Satàn, Papë Satàn, Aleppë!” Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began; And that benignant Sage, who all things knew, Said, to encourage me: "Let not thy fear Harm thee; for any power that he may have Shall not prevent thy going down this crag." And said: "Be silent, thou accursed wolf; Not causeless is this journey to the abyss; Thus is it willed on high, where Michael wrought Even as the sails inflated by the wind the mast, So fell the cruel monster to the earth. Gaining still farther on the dolesome shore 5 IO 15 Justice of God, ah! who heaps up so many New toils and sufferings as I beheld ? That breaks itself on that which it encounters, On one side and the other, with great howls, They clashed together, and then at that point 20 25 29 Each one turned backward, rolling retrograde, Thus they returned along the lurid circle On either hand unto the opposite point, Then each, when he arrived there, wheeled about What people these are, and if all were clerks, [thou?" And he to me: "All of them were asquint 35 40 Clearly enough their voices bark it forth, Whene'er they reach the two points of the circle, 45 Where sunders them the opposite defect. Clerks those were who no hairy covering Have on the head, and Popes and Cardinals, In whom doth avarice practise its excess." I ought forsooth to recognize some few, With the fist closed, and these with tresses shorn. Ill giving and ill keeping the fair world Have ta'en from them, and placed them in this scuffle; Whate'er it be, no words adorn I for it. Now canst thou, Son, behold the transient farce Of goods that are committed unto Fortune, For all the gold that is beneath the moon, Or ever has been, of these weary souls 50 55 60 65 |