Of naked souls beheld I many herds, Who all were weeping very miserably, And over them seemed set a law diverse. Supine upon the ground some folk were lying; And some were sitting all drawn up together, Those who were going round were far the more, And those were less who lay down to their torment, But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation. O'er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall, Were raining down dilated flakes of fire, As of the snow on Alp without a wind. As Alexander, in those torrid parts Of India, beheld upon his host Flames fall unbroken till they reached the ground, Whence he provided with his phalanxes To trample down the soil, because the vapor Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinder Without repose forever was the dance Of miserable hands, now there, now here, 20 25 30 35 40 "Master," began I, " thou who overcomest That I was questioning my Guide about him, And if he wearied out by turns the others Not any torment, saving thine own rage, 45 50 55 65 Then he turned round to me with better lip, Saying: "One of the Seven Kings was he Who Thebes besieged, and held, and seems to hold God in disdain, and little seems to prize him; But, as I said to him, his own despites Are for his breast the fittest ornaments. Now follow me, and mind thou do not place As yet thy feet upon the burning sand, But always keep them close unto the wood.' Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes Forth from the wood a little rivulet, Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end. As from the Bulicamë springs the brooklet, The sinful women later share among them, So downward through the sand it went its way. Were made of stone, and the margins at the side; "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." 70 75 80 85 90 These words were of my Leader; whence I prayed him Said he thereafterward, "whose name is Crete, With waters and with leaves, which was called Ida; Now 't is deserted, as a thing worn out. Rhea once chose it for the faithful cradle Of her own son; and to conceal him better, A grand old man stands in the mount erect, Who holds his shoulders turned tow'rds Damietta, His head is fashioned of refined gold, And of pure silver are the arms and breast; Save that the right foot is of kiln-baked clay, Each part, except the gold, is by a fissure Asunder cleft, that dripping is with tears, 95 100 105 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 Doth take its rise in this way from our world, It should not bring amazement to thy face." Lethe and Phlegethon, for of one thou 'rt 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 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." 115 120 125 130 134 |