Inferno; or, The vision of Hell;

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THE TIULOGY;

OR

DANTE'S THREE VISIONS.

I N P E B, N O,

OR

THE VISION OF HELL:

TKANSLATED INTO ENGLISH,
IN THE METllE AND TRIPLE BlIYJIE OP THE ORIGINAL;

WITU
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

THE REV. JOHN WESLEY THOMAS.

LONDON:

HENRY G. EOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
1859.

" 0 Muse, 0 alto ingegno, or m' aiutate :
O Mente, che scrivesti ciò eh' io vidi,
Qui si parrà la tua nobilitate."— Infekko, ii. 7 — 9.

TEINTKD BY J. E. ADI-ART, B AUTnOLOMEW CLOSB, T, C.

TO THOSE

WHO^ FROM ADMIRATION OF DANTE,

OR

DESIRE TO STUDY

HIS IMMORTAL POEM,

HATE ENCOURAGED THE PRESENT PUBLICATION.

THIS VERSION OF THE

I N E E E, N O

IS RESPECTFULLY
AND GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED BY

THE TRANSLATOR.

DAHTE, WITH THZE AKD VIEGIL, 3V0T rOELOX?f,
I entee'd on the daek add DANGEBOVS BOAD;

WITH THEE SECUEE THE ETEENAL CIECLES TEOD,
WHEBE SHINES NO BAY OT HOPE, NO LIGHT OE IIOBI» :

DEEP — DEEPEE STILL — THBOUGH DTTEB DAEK5ESS BOENK,
AN1> HOLDING CONVEESE WITH THE SPIRITS BOW'D
BX THE FLEECE EAIN ; WITH TYBANTS BATHED IN BLOOD;
THE PIEEY-TOMB'D, AND THOSE BY DEMONS TORN :

I've WEPT EEANCESCA'S and HEE LOVEE'S DOOM;
HAVE GELEVED EOE UGOLINO's CHILDBEN SLAIN;
SEEN, SHUDDEEING, PTOLOMEA'S LIVING GAIN;

AND PLL'NGED INTO COCYTUS' FEOZEN GLOOM ;

THEN IN THY TEACK POBSOOK THE EEALM OP PAIN,
O'EBJOY'D TO SEE THE BADIANT STABS AGAIN.

PEEFACE.

The Translation of Dante now published was
commenced several years ago, before its author had
seen any other. And as his ardent admiration of
the Divina Commedia first prompted the undertaking,
so the increasing pleasure which he felt as he pro-
ceeded induced him to continue it, though often at
wide intervals and with manifold interruptions.
After he had made considerable progress, and
published some portions of the work in a local
journal, he met with Gary's version, to whose valuable
notes he acknowledges himself to be much indebted.
This was the only one to which he had access, till
after he had completed his translation of the Inferno.
His aim has been, —

1st. To give the sense correctly. But as this,
however important, is only part of a translator's
duty, it has also been his endeavour, —

2d. To unite with a version almost literal the
form, the beauty, and the spirit of the original ; and
thus to do justice to the great Florentine Poet, by
affording to English readers an opportunity of
appreciating and enjoying his immortal work. In

VI PREFACE.

examining the translations of Dante whicli have
come Avithin his reach, he finds that the ground he
had taken has not been preoccupied ; the plan he
worked on has not been anticipated; and the idea
which he has attempted to realise has not hitherto
been appropriated. Boyd's translation is a loose
and rambling paraphrase, the very opposite in style
to the terse and energetic lines of Dante ; and is
now seldom seen, or heard of. Pollock's costly and
splendid volume, so richly ornamented by the
engraver's art, is, like Gary's, in blank verse, Avhich
can give the reader no idea of Dante's music.
Wright's, though rhymed, has not the same kind of
rhyme as the original, — that continuous and inter-
changing harmony which must appear so suitable to
Dante's great theme, — like a chime on the bells of
eternity. Carlyle's is avowedly a mere prose version,
accompanying the Italian text. Dayman's, Brooks-
bank's, and Cayley's, as they are the latest, so they
are the only ones we have met with, in which the
triple rhyme of the original has been adopted, and
unquestionably they have their separate excellencies,
as well as faults. Yet notwithstanding the competing
claims of these widely differing translations, the
author of the present version found that his own had
so little in common with any other, that he deems
himself justified in presenting it to the public. How
far he has been successful in accomplishing what he
originally proposed, it is now for others to decide.

Another feature of the present publication is the
attempted illustration of the Divina Commedia by
copious Notes, the result of many years' reading,
observation, and reflection. These notes, indeed, are

PREFACE. VII

seldom exegetical, nothing having been left for
explanation in them "svhicli could be made clear in
the translation : but as the genius of Dante found
materials for his great poem in the learning, philo-
sophy, religion, policy, and popular traditions of his
time, a reference to these for the elucidation of the
text may be regarded as desirable and important.
Hence, besides original remarks and criticisms, the
notes contain such passages of the Classics, the
Scriptures, and the Christian Fathers, as are alluded
to by Dante ; quotations from the Mediaeval writers
of all classes ; and many specimens of the Popular
Mythology, so long prevalent in Europe, and not
yet wholly extinct. For want of such illustration,
many parts of Dante have hitherto remained obscure.
Next to the great writers of Hebrew, Greek, and
Roman antiquity, there is perhaps no author, beyond
the limits of our own literature, who has a higher
claim to our attention and admiration than Dante.
Born in the thirteenth century, and reaching the prime
of life when Florence, his native city, was foremost
in civilization, commerce, arts, and freedom, he
made his poem the mirror of his life, and mind, and
times. He is one of the few master-spii-its who
have created the national Poetry of their country.
Endowed with transcendent genius, he also possessed
an extraordinary command of language, and the rare
talent of uniting brevity of expression with fulness
of meaning. In the variety of the characters and
scenes which he has delineated, some remarkable for
their beauty and pathos, and others for their terrible
grandeur and sublimity, Dante has not often been
surpassed ; but in the art of completing his pictures

vili PREFACE.

by a few bold touches^ he has never been equalled.
Like Chaucer, whom he preceded, he painted to the
life the manners of his countrymen in the age in
which he lived : and like ]\Iilton, he boldly plunged
into the dark, infernal abyss ; and then uprose, as
on the wings of Seraphim, with reverential awe, to
gaze on the splendours of the eternal Throne. His
mind, like that of ^Milton, found its congenial element
in the profoundest and sublimest mysteries of the
spiritual world; and yet, like Milton, he was one
of the sternest and most active politicians of his
country, at a most important and eventful era. The
result was nearly the same to both : each of these
divinely gifted men, on the overthrow of the party
to which his conscientious opinions and his patriotism
had attached him, shared in its ruin ; and Dante
solaced his exile and dependence, as Milton did his
obscurity and poverty, by the composition of his
immortal work.

It would be curious and interesting to trace the
extent to which the literature of subsequent times
has been influenced by the writings of Daxte : but
it Avill be sufficient here to remark, that while in our
ovra country both Chaucer and Milton regarded him
with admiration, they have occasionally borrowed
his thoughts, and sometimes formally quoted his
expressions. Instances of their obligation to him
will occur as we proceed, and will be pointed out in
the course of the Notes. Nor should it ever be
forgotten by those who enjoy the inestimable
blessings of Scriptural Truth, and of Civil and
Ueligious Liberty, that Dante, though trained in
the Church of^Rome, and preceding Wicklif by a

PREFACE.

few years and Luther by tvro centuries^ was a
determined enemy to the corruptions of the Papacy,
so far as the light -which he possessed enabled hitn
to discern them. The \ices of particular Popes,
Cardinals, and other Ecclesiastical Dignitaries, he
lashed with great severity ; and exposed their avarice,
cruelty, sensuality, and other enormities, with un-
sparing hand. And if to a great extent his theolo-
gical opinions coincided with the doctrines of the
Church in which he was brought up, yet in many
of his sentiments he approximates to a purer
standard of belief. It is not surprising therefore
that one of his less popular and celebrated pro-
ductions, " De Monarchia." should have been placed
by the Inquisition in the Catalogue of Heretical and
Forbidden books ; the wonder is, that the Divina
Commedia escaped a similar doom. Its piiblication,
however, had taken place at a time when Rome,
" inflated by a thousand years of power, '^ and
" fearless of change,^^ would not, in her elevation and
splendour, deign to waste a thought on the poetical
effusions of an exile. When her alarm was at length
awakened, and her dream of self-complacent con-
fidence disturbed, by the rude shock of opinions
hostile to her supremacy, her attention was for a
long time occupied by these more open and direct
attacks : and when she had invented her Index
Librorum Prohibitorum} and established throughout
her dominions the bondage of the Pen and Press,

^ We leave it in tlie Latin of its original : for as its i/oke would
never suit the necks of our Island-population, so its burden is one
which our old, free, vernacular, Saxox-English would scorn to
bear!

X PREFACE.

Daxte's Great Poem had become so generally known,
and had taken so strong a hold of the public mind
in Italy, as to preclude the possibility of its sup-
pression. As a poet of the highest order, Dante
has always been read and admired by his country-
men, Avho glory in the lustre of that genius which
has brought such renown to the land which it
illumined. But he is equally worthy the high
esteem and reverential study of British Protestants,
as an illustrious Precursor of the Reformation.

Penrith; April, 1859.

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XVll

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ON THE

TITLE OF THIS TRANSLATION.

Although Dante calls his poem a Comedy {Commedia), and
Virgil's J^neid a Tragedy, he does not use these terms in the
sense we attach to them. The general title prefixed to the Infer7io,
Purgatorio^ and Paradiso has varied ; and in some editions they
have been without any. Tiie first edition with the title of Bivina
Commedia is said to have been the one printed at Venice in 1516.
It had been felt that the word Commedia was of ilself insufficient
and unsuitable, and that, whatever might have been its meaning
in Dante's time, it had acquired a sense which rendered it a most
improper and untrue designation of his poem ; and hence, for
about three centuries, it has usually been designated La Divina
Commedia, a title which Dante himself never used or sanctioned.

Among the ancient Greeks the word kìó\io^ meant a Bacchanalian
revel, an after-supper frolic in the streets, with singing and
dancing ; kuikijSòs, one of a party so engaged ; and Kwfiti)Sia
(Comedy) a comic poem, a song of the kw/ioc; then, a satirical
and mocking drama, like that of Aristoplianes ; and lastly, a
dramatic and humorous representation of middle or low life, as in
the later Greek comedies not now extant, which Plautus and
Terence have copied or imitated. The modern Comedy did not
exist in Dante's time, and was unknown in Italy for more than
two centuries afterwards. It was invented in France by the
society of Clercs de la Bazoche (Clerks of the Revels), and its first
representation on the stage was in 14S0. This was more than a
century before the rise of the Spanish and Italian theatre. In
Italy the word Commedia has been further degraded, and even
brutalized ; for it is there applied to the gambols of monkeys and
the clumsy antics of dancing bears. In the Apennines it is cus-
tomary for the male inhabitants to leave their native mountains
for a time, and exhibit these feats of animal agility in the streets

XX TITLE OF THE TKANSLATION.

and fairs of Italian or foreign cities, towns, and villages. If you
ask the wives and children of such persons, "Where is your
husband?" or "What is become of your father?"' the answer
will almost invariably be, " E pel mondo con la Commedia." " He
is wandering about the world with the Comedy." With us the
word Comic always conveys the idea of something ludicrous or
laughable. Dante's poem, like the Trilogy of ^schylus, has
nothing comic about it, but much that is tragic and terrible. In
his time the stately Latin was the language of literature ; wliile
he composed his poem in Italian, which was hardly thought fit for
any literary purpose. And as he called the jSneid a Tragedy
(" Tragedia" Inferno, xx. 113), when he wished to exalt the style
of Virgil, so, through that modesty by which the most elevated
minds are ever characterised, he designates his own work a
Comedy, because it was written in a more humble and popular
style, and in the vulgar tongue ; and because, contrary to the
custom of Tragedy, it begins with sorrow and ends with joy.

Among the Greeks, the word TpiXoyla (Trilogy) signified a
threefold literary composition ; a Triple Drama, or three dramatic
poems connected by the unity of their subject. Thus the three
dramas of J^schylus, entitled Prometheus Fire-brinc/i?ig, Prometheus
hound, and Prometheus unbound, of which the second only has been
preserved, were called a Trilogy ; and offer the nearest parallel
that we are acquainted with to the Inferno., Purgatorio, and
Paradiso of Dante, which, although composed in the form of a
narrative, are largely interspersed with action and dialogue. For
these reasons, as well as to distinguish our translation from its
predecessors, we have entitled it The Trilogy. If it be objected,
that this title can only be given with propriety to a work strictly
dramatic, the same objection will apply with equal or greater force
to the word Comedy. In all other respects, our title appears to
be much the most suitable, and the nearest approach that can be
made in a single word to the proper meaning of the original title,
and to a true description of the poem.

EXPLANATION OF THE FRONTISPIECE.

Many passages of tlie Trilogy will be better understood by a
reference to our pictorial design in the Frontispiece, which pre-
sents to the eye, as far as orbs or spheres can be represented
on a plane surface, the ancient system of the Universe, together
with the three divisions of the Invisible World, as adapted thereto
by Dante. The ancient theory, of which Ptolemy was the most
able expounder (see Inferno, iv. 142, and note), — that theory
which in the seventeenth century the Inquisition vainly en-
deavoured to defend against the New Philosophy, the Telescope,
and " the Starry Galileo," ' regarded the Earth as fixed immoveably
in the centre of the universe, its habitable part confined to one
temperate zone in the northern hemisphere, the dry laud an oblong
surface, four hundred days' journey in length aud two hundred in
breadth, encompassed by the ocean aud covered with the solid
crystal of the firmament.

According to Dante, Jerusalem, indicated by the Red Cross,
was in the middle of the great dry land {Ezek. v. 5), wjiich was
not supposed to extend far beyond the equator, while almost the
whole of the southern hemisphere was covered with water. The

^ Galileo, having in the early part of the seventeenth century,
published his demonstration of the Earth's diurnal and annual
motions, accordiug to the Copernican theory, was twice brought
before the Inquisition, aud imprisoned by its authority, threatened
with the penalties of a relapsed heretic, and only escaped the
stake and flames by renouncing on his knees before the Father
Inquisitors a doctrine which he could not cease to hold, and which
is now universally received. The lloman Index of 1704 contains
a sweeping condemnation of all books which teach that doctrine ;
but in that of 1835 it is omitted. Thus Truth is mightier than
even Papal Infallibility, whose claims have been sadly disturbed
by the light of Modern Astronomy, as " the stars in their courses
fought against Sisera."

XXll EXPLANATION OF

obverse was at that time as miicli unknown as that of the moon is
to us at present. Immediately below the dry land is Dante's
Inferno, the dark valley {calle buia), Hell. It is represented by
our poet as a circular cavern, in shape like an inverted cone, the
broadest part nearest the surface, and tapering as it goes deeper,
with its apex at the centre of the earth ; — a pit immense, obscure,
the sides of which are hollowed out into nine successive circles,
or circular galleries, divided from each other by steep descents,
and more and more contracted the lower they are placed, like the
rows of an amphitheatre. The three lowest circles are again sub-
divided into three, ten, and four chasms or circlets respectively ;
the darkness and misery which the successive circles and circlets
■ include increasing in proportion to their depth, so as to correspond
with the dilferent degrees of guilt and depravity of which their
inmates have been convicted : and the central point is occupied
by the Arch-apostate Satan.

At the antipodes of Jerusalem, and surrounded by the ocean, is
Dante's Mount o? Purgatori/. Beyond, and in immediate contact
with the Earth is the Atmosphere, surrounded by ten concentric
orbs or heavens, represented in our diagram by ten circles. The
first is that of the Moon, the nearest and smallest {Itif. ii. 7S) ;
the ?>&Qo\\à, Mercuri/ ; the third, Venus ; the fourth, i\\^Sun, which
in the Ptolemaic system was considered as one of the planet re-
volving round the stable and central Earth {Inf. i. 17) ; fifth,
Mars; sixih, Jupiter ; ?,e\Q\\\.h, Saturn ; eighth, i\\Q Fi.red Stars ;
ninth, the Prinium Mobile, so called because it was supposed to
move all the eight orbs which it included, so as to give them (we
do not exactly comprehend hoic) their diurnal motion round the
Earth. It is also called the Crystalline, because it was suppo.sed
to be perfectly transparent: but this could be no distinction; for
if the inferior orbs or heavens were not equally transparent, how
could the fixed stars be seen through seven of them by the in-
habitants of our Earth ? Tenth, and beyond all the others, the
Umpyrean, or Empyreal heaven, so called from the Greek tv, in, or
with, and -Kvp, fire ; as if one should say, "The heaven of flame,"
or " luminous heaven ;" because, as flame ascends and purifies, it
was conceived to be the highest and the purest of the heavens.
It was also supposed to be immoveable, and the peculiar seat of
the Divine Majesty.

These ten heavens are the scenes of Dante's Paradise.

Although Milton lived when tlie system of the Universe was
better understood than in Dante's time, and had himself con-
versed with Galileo in Italy, then " a prisoner to the Inquisition ;" '

* He says, " There it was that I found and visited the famous

THE FRONTISPIECE. XXUl

and though evidently iuclined to prefer the Copernicau system, he
has avoided committiug himself to its truth (see Paradise Lost,
viii. 15 — 178). Of the comparative merits of the two systems
he speaks doubtfully, and in such a way as not to ofiend the ad-
vocates of the Ptolemaic theory, from which he has often borrowed
ideas and expressions. Thus he says of God ; — •

"Now had the Almighty Father from above.

From the pure empyrean where he sits

High throned above all height bent down his eye."

Paradise Lost, iii. 56.
Of the Messiah he speaks thus ; —

" He on the wings of cherub rode sublime
On the crystalline sky, in sapphire throned
Illustrious far and wide." — vi. 771.

" Under his burning wheels
The steadfast empyrean shook throughout,
All but the throne itself of God."— 832.

After the Messiah's return, and welcome by the angelic host,
e has the following; —

" So sung they, and the empyrean rung
With halleluias." — vii. 633.

Of the visible universe he sings ; —

" Witness this new-made world, another heaven,
From heaven gate not far, founded in view
On the clear hyaline, the glassy sea ;
Of amplitude almost immense, with stars
Numerous, and every star perhaps a world
Of destined habitation." — vii. 617.

And in his invocation he thus apostrophises Urania ; —

" Upled by thee
Into the heaven of heavens I have presumed.
An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air.
Thy tempering ; with like safety guided down,
Return me to my native element ....
Within the visible diurnal sphere,
Standing on earth, not rapt above the pole." — vii. 12.

Galileo, grown old, a prisoner to the Inquisition."— Milton's
Areopagitica, 48. Prose JForks, p. 112. Ed. 1833. Has this
interview ever engaged the artist's attention ? What a subject
for a picture — The Meeting of Milton and Galileo !

A SKETCH

LIFE AND TIMES OF DANTE.

The condition of Italy in the age of Dante was lamentable in
the extreme. Its Christianity liad been corrupted and debased
by en'or and superstition ; tJie Papal supremacy had been esta-
blished, and exerted a withering influence on public and private
virtue and happiness ; tradition and human inventions were sub-
stituted for the authority of the Kew Testament ; and vice and
crime were fostered and encouraged by the system of priestly
absolution, and by the sale of indulgences, first invented in the
eleventh century by Urban II. as a recompense for those who in
person engaged in the meritorious enterprise of conquering the
Holy Land. Hence resulted a state of morals more gross and
depraved than can well be conceived in our happier and more en-
lightened age and country. These evils were augmented by the
violence of party spirit. The factions of the Pope and Emperor,
under the name of Guelfs and Ghibelines, carried on an embittered
contest throughout the numerous towns and cities of Italy, and
the states into which it was divided. The Guelfs, at one time
the friends of liberty and opponents of imperial despotism, had
surrendered themselves as the blind instruments of the Papacy ;
and while fighting, as they supposed, the battles of freedom, were
unconsciously preparijig for themselves the yoke of a degrading
bondage. The court of Rome was not sufficiently strong to unite
Italy under one government, yet it was too powerful for submis-
sion to the German emperors. The Popes therefore maintained
their political ascendancy by encouraging the antipathies and ani-
mosities of the two factions ; and when their cause appeared to
decline, they sought foreign support : hence Italy became the
theatre of bloody and desolating wars, and her interests were
sacrificed in promoting the selfish designs of avarice and ambition.

LIFE AND TIMES OF DAXTE. XXV

Yet in (hat age of darkness and degeneracy, the influence of
the Christian religion, though counteracted, was not extinguished ;
Conscience, thougli often perverted, was not wholly dormant ; and
the love of truth, although discountenanced by authority, was not
wholly suppressed. Many good and patriotic men arose, who
mourned the degeneracy of the times, and endeavoured to stem
the torrent of corruption. Among these there is no one who
holds a more distinguished place than Dante Alighieri.

Dante was born at Florence, a.d. 1265. His baptismal name,
lU.e the name imposed on some Hebrew patriarch at his birth,
?eemed prophetic of his destiny. Durante — afterwards shortened
to that by which he is more generally known — signifies enduring :
it was an augury of his woes, and of his immortality. A much-
enduring man while he lived, his name survives, after the lapse of
more than five centuries ; and will doubtless endure to the latest
ages. His great-grandfather, Cacciaguida Elisei, married a lady
of the Aldigliieri or Alighieri family, of Ferrara, whose children
assumed the arms and name of their mother. Cacciaguida accom-
panied the Emperor Conrad III. in his crusade to the Holy
Land, was made a knight, and died in battle, a.d. 114:7. In the
Paradiso, xv. xvi. xvii., Cacciaguida relates to Dante his adven-
tures, witii an interesting account of the state of Florence and
the primitive manners of its citizens in his time, before the
breaking out of the great feud between the Guelfs and Ghibelines.
It was about the year 1200, or a little later, that these famous
names were adopted by the two leading parties which divided the
cities of Lombardy, the Guelfs adhering to the Papal side, the
Ghibelines to that of the Emperor. These names were derived
from Germany, where they had been the rallying words of faction
for more than half a century before they were transferred to the
more genial soil of Italy. The Guelfs took their name from a
very ancient family, that of Welf or Guelph, several of whom in
the tenth and eleventh centuries had been Dukes of Bavaria. The
name of Ghibeline is derived from Waibligen or Wibelung, a vil-
lage in Franconia, belonging to the Emperor Conrad IL, surnamed
the Salic.^ from whom through females the Suabian emperors de-
rived their descent. At the election of the Emperor Lothaire in
1125, the Suabian family was disappointed of the imperial crown,
which they had regarded as almost their hereditary right ; and this
occasioned hostility between that family and the house of Guelf,
•which was nearly related to Lothaire. About the end of the
twelfth century, the Marquises of Este, belonging to the younger
branch of the Guelfs, began to be considered the heads of the
Church party in their neighbourhood. The protracted struggle
between the Cnurch and the Empire, by which Western Europe
was distracted, came to its crisis during the reign of tlie celebrated
Emperor Frederick II. After liis death the distinctions of Guelf

XXVI SKETCH OF TUE LIFE

and Ghibeline became destitute of all rational meaning. The
most odious crimes were perpetrated, and the utmost miseries
endured, for an eclio and a sliade that mocked the deluded enthu-
siasts of faction. For no Guelf objected to the nominal but un-
defined sovereignty of the Emj)ire ; and beyond a name the
Ghibelines were little disposed to carry it. But the virulent-
hatreds which had been excited by these words grew continually
more and more implacable; and to the indulgence of their vin-
dictive passions the Republics of Italy sacrificed not only their
material prosperity, but their civil and political welfare ; sur-
rendering their liberty to native tyrants and foreign invaders, thus
preparing tiie way for ages of ignominy and servitude.

Yet these Italian states had been the birth-place and the cradle
of European science, arts, laws, literature, and civilization. At
the present time, few are aware how much we are indebted to
their influence and example. At a time when throughout the rest
of Europe little was to be found but poverty and barbarism, the
general aspect of Italy was one of marvellous j)rosperity. The
Contado, or open country appertaining to each city, was cultivated
by an active and industrious race of peasants, enriched by their
labour, and not fearing to display their wealth in their dress,
cattle, and instruments of husbandry. The proprietors, inhabitants
of to^A^ns, advanced them capital, shared the harvest, and alone paid
the land-tax. They undertook the immense labour, from which
the Italian soil has derived so much fertility, of constructing em-
bankments to preserve the plains from the inundation of rivers
(see Inferno, xv. 7 — 9). The Naviglio Grande of Milan, which
spreads the clear waters 'of the Ticino over the finest part of Lom-
bardy, was begun in 1179, resumed in 1257, and comf)leted a few
years afterwards. Men who meditated, and applied the fruits of thier
study to the arts, already practised in Lombardy and Tuscany
that scientific agriculture which became a model to other nations.
Even at this day, after the lapse of five centuries, the districts
formerly free and always cultivated with intelligence, may be
easily distinguished from those half-wild parts of the country
which had remained in subjection to feudal lords.

At a time when the iidiabitants of Loudon and Paris could not
stir out of their houses without plunging deep into the mud, the
cities of Italy, surrounded with thick walls, terraced, and guarded
by towers, were for the most part paved with broad flag- stones.
Over the rivers were thrown stone bridges of a bold and elegant
architecture. The palaces of the magistracy united strength with
grandeur. The most admirable of those in Florence, the Palazzo
Vecchio (Old Palace), was built in 1298. The Loggia, in the
same city, the Church of Santa Croce, that of Santa Maria Fiore,
•with its dome, so admired by Michael Angelo, were all begun by
Arnolfo before a.d. 1300. The prodigies of lliis first-boru of

A\D TIMES OF DANTE. XXVU

(he fine arts were quickly multiplied. While kings and princes
in England, Prance, and Germany, in the construction of their
castles, appeared only to think of shelter and defenc^ the public
monuments of Italy were characterized by pure taste, grandeur of
conception, and boldness of execution, which finally reached even
private dwellings. It was natural that sculpture should follow.
In 1300, the year of Dante's vision, Andrea di Pisa cast the
admirable brass gates of the Baptistry belonging to the Duomo at
Florence, which Michael Angelo pronounced " worthy to be the
gates of Heaven." Dante's attachment to this building is evident
from his calling it " il mio bel San Giovanni" (" my beautiful St.
John") ! In the sanie age, and about the same time, the art of
painting was revived by Cimabue and his greater disciple Giotto,
and that of music by Casella : the study of history, philosophy,
and morals, received increased attention ; and Italy, ennobled by
freedom, enlightened nations till then sunk in darkness. But it
was in Florence that the love of liberty was the most pervading
and persistent, and her judicial institutions were the first in Italy
that effectually guarded the welfare of the citizens : it was here that
the cultivation of the mind was carried furthest, and here that
its enlightenment soonest appeared in the improvement of legis-
lation.

But to return to Dante : while he was yet a child, his father
Aldighiero Alighieri died. But his mother, being left in afiluence,
and entertaining the highest hopes of her son, chose for his in-
structors the ablest and most celebrated men of Florence. One
of these was Brunetto Latini, an eminent scholar, who had done
more than any of his contemporaries towards the production of a
native literature. The early indications of Dante's genius ap-
peared in a noble and contemplative disposition ; and the first
years of his youth were characterized by that enthusiasm for
study which distinguished him in every subsequent jieriod of his
eventful life. He became intimate with Guido Cavalcanti, a
young scholar of great reputation, excellent manners, poetic and
literary ability, and an inquisitive and philosophical turn of mind.
From the writings of Dante it is evident that he had read exten-
sively and deeply, and was imbued with all the learning of his
time. Among his intimate associates were Casella the distin-
guished musician, and Giotto the painter, by whose pencil the
grave and interesting features of our poet have been transmitted
to posterity. It was in the ninth year of his age that he became
the subject of a romantic passion for a young lady a few months
older than himself. We all know that early attachments are often
the purest, and the most lasting in their influence. The boyish
passion of Dante for Beatrice Portarini was an event which left
an indelible impression on his mind and character, and with his

XXVni SKETCH OF THE LIFE

own he has linked her name in the immortality of his great poem.
At a festival given on the first of May 1274, according to annual
custom, to the young people of the city, by her father, Tolco
Portarini, a man of great wealth and beneficence, Dante first
beheld this queen of love and beauty ; and the vision which then
took possession of his mind never departed. Under its influence
he composed the earliest of his known i)roductions. La Vita Nuova,
a series of short poems, intermixed with prose, in which, with a
delicacy equal to that of Petrarch, he celebrated the object of his
early love, who, after several years of declining health, died at the
age of twenty-five ; perhaps without being aware of that admiration
with which she had inspired the youthful poet, and which was to
exalt her name to the stars. Had she become his wife, the world
would probably not have known the angelic Beatrice of the poet's
imagination, his guide through Paradise ; nor is it likely that such
an alliance would have been suSicient to avert from him the effects
of his country's injustice — that exile which, though it could not
crush his spirit, embittered his feelings and consumed so large a
portion of his life.

It is believed that in pursuit of learning Dante visited both
Oxford and Paris, as well as the celebrated Italian universities,
Padua and Bologna. Giovanni Villani, his contemporary, the
Latin poems of Boccaccio, and the express declarations of
Serravalle, bishop of Fermo, are the authorities appealed to for
this opinion. Previous to entering on the duties of active life,
and in conformity with a custom of the republic which required
it of all who aspired to the honours of magistracy, Dante enrolled
himself in one of the companies into which the whole body of the
citizens were divided — the company devoted to medicine and
surgery. The party of the Guelfs, to which Dante was attached,
was at that time predominant, having some years before, with the
assistance of the Pope and Charles of Anjou, driven away tlie
Ghibelines from Florence. But in the neighbouring city of
Arezzo just the contrary process had occurred, and the Ghibelines,
with the Bishop at their head, being tiie stronger party, had
driven the Guelfs out of that city. The names of Guelf and
Ghibeline had by this time lost much of their original significance ;
but the parties distinguished by them were not the less ready
to fight in every part of Italy, not for the supremacy of Pope
or Emperor, but for their own. And such was the lust of
dominion which animated the wealthier families, that after either
of these parties had expelled its rival, the leaders of the party
that remained in possession began to quarrel among themselves,
and not unfrequently some of them courted the aid of the expelled
and rival faction against their colleagues. The usual fate of the
losing party was exile and confiscation ; and in case of opposition

AND TIMES OP DANTE. XXIX

to tiiis decree, torture and death : and the houses of the offenders
were sometimes set on fire, or razed to the ground. The Guelfa
of Arezzo having been, as just stated, expelled from their city,
applied to the Guell's of Florence for assistance. This led to a
war, in which the Ghibelines of Arezzo were defeated, and their
bishop slain, at Campoldino, June 12S9. In this action Dante
was himself engaged [Inferno, xxii. 5), and iu the victory gained
by his countrymen distinguished himself by his bravery. Soon
after his return to Florence he married Gemma Donati, of a
powerful Guelf family, and became a candidate for civic honours
and offices. Accordingly, in 1300, and the thirty-second year of
his age, he was elected chief magistrate, or first of the Priori of
Florence.

But how precarious is all earthly felicity, even when we seem
to have attained the summit of our hopes ! In this very year, the
year in which Dante's Vision of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise,
is dated, an outrage iu Pistoia {Inferno^ xxiv. 143, note) gave rise
to the two factions of the Bianchi and Keri (Whites and Blacks)
in the Guelf party, when the Bianca party having expelled the
Neri, the latter betook themselves to Florence for aid, and the
former also endeavoured to secure partizans there. This was
the origin of these two opposing factions in Florence, the two
principal families taking opposite sides — the Donati, with whom
Dante was allied by marriage, taking part with the Neri, and
their rivals, the Cerchi, with the Bianchi. With the latter Dante
appears to have united himself, induced by personal friendship
and the claims of justice, the Bianchi having from the first
shown themselves less overbearing than their antagonists, and
being, in fact, the injured party. Dante, iu his new office, finding
the two factions irreconcilcable, and mutually betaking themselves
to arms, and that the danger of general anarchy was imminent,
counselled his co-magistrates to call in the multitude to their
protection and assistance, and the chiefs of both factions were
Danished for a time. Some of the Bianchi, however, soon after
returned to Florence, and Dante was accused of having con-
nived at it, chiefly out of friendship for Guido Cavalcanti, who
had suffered from the unwholesome climate of his place of exile,
and died soon after his return. The Neri represented to
Boniface VIII. that the Bianchi kept up a correspondence with
the Ghibelines of Arezzo, Pisa, and other places, and that if they
obtained the ascendancy in Florence they would make common
cause with the Colonnas, the pope's personal enemies. Through
these representations, aided by bribes at the Roman court,
Boniface was induced to give his support to the Neri, and he
sent Charles de Valois, brother of Philip le Bel, under the
plausible title of "peace-maker." Charles entered Florence in

XXX SKETCH OF THE LIFE

September 1301, with 1200 armed men. Affecting impartiality
at first, he let all the Neri return to Florence, followed by their
armed peasantry. New magistrates (priori) were appointed, all
favourable to the Neri, and the Bianchi were openly attacked in
the streets. A general proscription of their party took place,
with the connivance of the peace-maker. The Bianchi were mur-
dered in the streets, otiiers tortured in the hope of extorting
money from them, and their houses were plundered and burnt.
Dante's house was plundered. He himself was at Kome, whither
he had been sent by the Bianchi to counteract, if possible, the
suggestions of their adversaries. On hearing of the proscription,
he hastily left Home, and joined his fugitive friends at Arezzo.
In January 1302, a sentence was passed condemning him to two
years' exile and a fine of 8000 florins ; in case of non-payment his
property to be sequestrated. By a second sentence, dated March
of the same year, he and others were condemned as barrattieri
(that is, guilty of malversation, peculation, and usury,) to be burnt
alive 1 The sentence was grounded merely on " publica fama,"
which in this case meant the report of his enemies. In the last
century this curious document was found in the Florentine
archives, and has been transcribed by Tiraboschi, Storia della
Letteratura, toni. v. part 2, cap. 2.

Dante now commenced his wanderings, intent on exciting the
Ghibeliues of Italy against his enemies and the oppressors of his
country. He repaired first to Verona, which was then ruled by
the powerful family of La Scala, leaders of the Ghibelines. But
he soon after returned to Tuscany, where the Bianchi and
Ghibelines, now united, were gathering their strength in the
neighbourhood of Arezzo. The deatli of Boniface VIII. in
September, 1303, inspired them with fresh hopes. Benedict XL,
the new pope, a man of mild and conciliatory temper, sent
Cardinal di Prato to endeavour to restore peace in Tuscany, but
the cardinal was opposed by the ruling faction in Florence, who
frightened him out of the city, which he left a prey to anarchy,
during which, in June 1304, a fire broke out and destroyed 1900
houses. The Bianchi and Ghibelines endeavoured to avail them-
selves of the confusion by surprising the town, and some of them
actually entered one of the gates; but they were not well sup-
ported by their companions M'ithout, and the attempt entirely
failed.

Dante also endeavoured to obtain a revocation of his sentence,
by writing to his countrymen a very pathetic letter, beginning
wiUi the words, "Popule mi, quid feci tibi?" ("My people, what
have I done to tliee ?") but all was to no purpose. The family
of Adimari, who had obtained possession of his estate, opposed
with all their influence an actof justice which would have deprived

AND TIMES OP DANTE. XXXI

them of their newly won spoil. Dante describes them as "the
over-insolent race who play the dragon after him who flees, but
are gentle as a lamb to him who shows his teeth, or purse." —
Paradiso, xvi. 135. How the illustrious exile yearned for a
return to his native country will further appear from the fol-
lowing passage in his Convito. Excusing himself for some harsh-
ness and obscurity in the style of that work, he exclaims : —
"Ah ! would that it had pleased the Dispenser of all things, that
this excuse had never been needed ; that neither others had done
me wrong, nor myself undergone undeservedly the penalty of
exile and poverty, for it pleased the citizens of the fairest and
most renowned daughter of Rome — Florence — to cast me out of
her most sweet bosom, where I was born and bred, and passed
half of the life of man; and in wiiich, with her good leave, I still
desire with all my heart to finish the days allotted to me, and
repose my weary spirit ; and so I have wandered in almost every
place to which our language extends, a stranger, almost a beggar,
exposing, against my will, the wounds given me by fortune, too
often imputed unjustly to the sufferer's fault. Truly, I have been
a ship without sail and without rudder, driven about towards dif-
ferent ports and shores by the harsh wind that springs out of
dolorous poverty ; and hence I have appeared vile in the eyes of
many, who perhaps by some better report would have conceived a
better opinion of me ; and in whose sight not only has my person
become thus debased, but an unworthy opinion created of every-
thing I did, or which I had to do."

In 1306 Da>*te took up his abode at Padua, and the year fol-
lowing was hospitably entertained at Sinigiana by the xMarqois
Morello Malaspina. He thence went to Gubbio, and staid some
time with Busone, for whom he had a strong attachment. After
leaving his friend Busone, he returned to Verona, attracted by
the amiable and enlightened character of its princes, Can I'rancisco
and Alboino Scagligeri, who jointly exercised the sovereign au-
thority. The former had the title of // Grande (The Great), on
account of his exploits in a war against thePaduans; but both he
and his brother were celebrated throughout Italy for the splendour
of their court, their patronage of literature, and their hospitality
to the necessitous and the deserving. But although with men of
their character Dante was sure to meet with all the attention
and respect which his virtues and talents deserved, it appears
that he was either too reserved in his manners, or too satirical in
his remarks, to be long on good terms with some of the nobles of
their court. One day, when Can Grande was amusing himself
by listening to the court fool, or jester, he asked his guest why it
was that so mauy of the nobles had a much greater regard for the
fool than for him ? To which Dante replied, " Because they are

XXXll SKETCH OF THE LIFE

by nature much more like him than me, and therefore they natu-
rally prefer his society to mine."

While at Verona doubtless he read or showed his poem, in part
at least, to liis friend and benefactor, to •whom he liad previously
mentioned it in iiis epistolary correspondence. There is a letter
of his to Can Grande still extant, in which he alludes to and de-
scribes it. It is also probable that the substance of it had become
generally known in that neighbourhood. The people of Verona,
it is said, when they saw him in the streets would sometimes
whisper to each other, "Ecco vi V uom che e staio alV Inferno V^
(" See there the man who has been in Hell ! ")

The emperor Albert dying in May, 1308, the candidates for the
imperial crown were Charles of Anjou and Henry prince of
Luxembourg. Dante was roused by a gleam of hope which now
shone on his path. Should the former be elected, the ruin of the
Bianchi and their adherents would be decided beyond reversal ;
but should Henry succeed, they might fairly expect the most
favourable change in their condition. Dante tlierefore now re-
peated, with tenfold force, his appeals to the people of Florence,
to various princes, and to the court of Rome, asking their con-
sideration of his unjust persecution, and urging the claims of the
Duke of Luxembourg to the imperial crown with marvellous
vigour and courage. He also wrote to Henry himself, exhorting
him to persevere in his pursuit, and assuring him of the loyal
affection with which he expected his elevation to the imperial
throne. To be ready at the earliest summons of the new emperor,
he took up his abode at the little town of Toscauella, and from
thence dispatched another letter to the same august personage.
To his great joy the accession of Henry was at length proclaimed,
and the imperial army was shortly after on its way to Florence.
But " put not your trust in princes, neither in any son of man."
The emperor took little interest in the success of the expedition,
and displayed less energy in its prosecution. Learning that the
city was better defended than he had expected, he halted before
he got within sight of the walls, and then drew oif his army, to
pursue measures more in accordance with his plan of policy. The
last glimmer of hope was now fast expiring, and in the following
year, 1313, was totally extinguished by Henry's untimely death.
None had been more sanguine than Dante in the expectation of
better times, or done so much to hasten their advent. To en-
courage the partizans of Henry and make converts to his cause,
besides the letters alluded to, he had written his famous treatise
Be monarchici. His disappointment, therefore, on the death of
that emperor was great in proportion.

Leaving Verona the same year, he took refuge at Ravenna, the
lordship of Guido Novella da Polenta, a nobleman of singular

AND TIMES OF DANTE. XXXlll

liberality, the father of the unfortunate Francesca di Rimini,
wliose story is the most pathetic in tlie whole of the Divina
Commedia. Tlie fame of Dante was already widely spread ; the
share he had taken in public affairs recommended him to many,
his long exile acquired him the sympathy of more, and the noble
talents which he had exhibited had procured for him the admira-
tion of all, except his implacable fellow-citizens. The generous
and accomplished Guido felt himself honoured by the presence of
such a guest, his love of literature made him rejoice in such a
companion, and the intimacy thus formed and cemented was ad-
vantageous to both. Guido enjoyed the society of the greatest
man that Italy had produced in modem times, and Dante, after
a life of wandering and anxiety, like a tempest-beaten vessel that
has reached the haven, was happy enough to realise at length a
season of repose.

It is said that about the year 1316 he had still a chance of
restoration. It was suggested to him by a friend, who was
probably a clerjyman, that he might return, provided he acknow-
ledged his guilt and asked for absolution. His answer was cha-
racteristic of his mind : "No, father, it is not this way that shall
lead me back to my country. But 1 shall return with hasty steps,
if you or any other can open to me a way that shall not derogate
from the fame and honour of Dantb : but if by no such way
Florence can be entered, then to Florence I never shall return.
Shall not I everywhere enjoy the sight of the sun and stars?
May I not seek and contemplate truth anywhere under heaven,
without rendering myself inglorious, nay infamous to the people
and commonwealth of Florence ? Bread, I hope, will not fail me."'
It is impossible to withhold our admiration from such nobility of
mind. He refused to demean himself, even to escape the bitter-
ness of dependence on strangers, and the anguish of irrevocable
exile. The memory of his wrongs had infused into his mind an
enduring bitterness against Florence ; yet amidst all his eloquent
and indignant appeals and denunciations, we recognise throughout
his life-long struggle a deep and ardent love to his ungrateful
country which refused to turn itself to hatred.

But the public career of Dante had not yet terminated. His
friend and patron was at war with Venice, and the contest was
likely to prove inimical to the interests of his people and govern-
ment. He therefore determined to open negotiations with the
Venetian state, and if possible to procure peace. No one could
be better qualified either by talents or experience for conducting
such a business, than his guest ; and Dante was accordingly sent
to Venice. But his efforts were fruitless ; for such was the oppo-
sition of the Venetians to an accommodation, that they refused
even to admit the ambassador to an audience. The feelings of

"XXXIV SKETCH OF THE LIFE

Dante were deeply wounded by this failure, and all the en-
deavours of his kind and affectionate benefactor to remove every
painful impression from his mind proved unavailing. From this
period an unconquerable sadness oppressed his spirits, and his
weak frame gave way under its pressure. He died at Ravenna,
in September 1321, at the age of fifty-seven, and was buried
there, with every mark of distinction and honour, in the church of
the Franciscans, under a plain tomb. In the following century a
noble monument was raised over his remains by Bernardo Bembo,
father of the cardinal, a Venetian senator, and podestà of Ravenna,
which has several times been repaired or reconstructed.

" Ungrateful Florence ! Dante sleeps afar ;
Like Scipio buried by the upbraiding shore.
Thy factions in their worse than civil war,
Proscribed the bard whose name for evermore
Their children's children would in vain adore

Witli the remorse of ages

Happier Ravenna ! on thy hoary shore,
Fortress of falling empire, honour'd sleeps
The immortal exile."

The family of Dante consisted of five sons, and a daughter
named Beatrice, after the object of his early and undying attach-
ment. Three of his sons died young ; the other two inherited a
portion of their father's talents, and it is to their filial piety that
the world is indebted for the preservation of his great poem in its
original integrity. One of them, Jacopo, wrote the earliest com-
ment on it, which extended, however, no further than tiie Inferno;
the other, Pietro, a few years after, produced aiiother, on the
whole of the Commedia. About forty years after the sentence of
confiscation which deprived the poet of his property, it was re-
stored to his family by the chiefs of the Florentine republic. Nor
was this the only act of tardy justice which sprang from their
late remorse for the reproach and suffering which he had been
compelled to endure. Like the Hebrew scribes and rulers, who
killed the prophets, and then built and adorned their sepulchres,
they eagerly desired to bring home the remains of their illustrious
countryman, and proposed to erect a splendid mausoleum to re-
ceive them. But the people of Ravenna resisted all tiieir suppli-
cations: and Michael Angelo, wliose frescos in the Sistine Chapel
represent to the eye some of the scenes which Dante had por-
trayed with the pen,^ was in vain employed by the Pope, some
centuries later, to renew the entreaty for their transfer.

^ Tiie following is a sonnet of Michael Angelo, almost literally
translated : —

AND TIMES OF DANTE. XXXV

The Florentines, liowever, though disappointed in these at-
tempts, determined, as far as possible, to redeem their credit by
doing honour to the memory of Dante, whose poems, long before
the invention of printing, liad become widely dispersed, and whose
name had become illustrious throughout Italy and the civilised
world. In August, 1373, they established a public lectureship,
with an annual salary of 100 gold florins, increased in 1457 to 300,
for the exposition and illustration of his great poem. The first
lecturer appointed was Boccaccio, wiio fulfilled the office till his
death, which occurred about two years after. His comment con-
tains the substance of his lectures, and goes no further than the
17th line of Canto xvii. The chair was successively occupied by
the most learned men of Florence, and the example was followed
by the institution and endowment of other lectureships for the
same object in most of the great cities of Italy.

As the productions of Dante's genius Avere so greatly influenced
by the early poetry of France, a brief account thereof may here be
necessary. The birth of the Romance language in Gaul preceded
that of Italy, and was divided into two dialects — the Komance
Provenpal of the south, and the Romance Wallon, spoken by the
people who settled north of the Loire, and with wliich the old
Norman French is nearly identical. The Provenyal, which was
the earliest of the European dialects that sprung from the decay
of the Latin, was the language of the Troubadours. These were
the instructors of Europe in the rules of modern versification.
Rhyme, which they had borrowed from the Arabians, was copied
from them by the other nations of the West. They visited every
court ; their language was adopted by nobles and kings ; and all
the historians of Italy have recognised their powerful influence on

" On Dante.

"From earth he to the abysses dark went down.
Both hells he saw, then mounted to the skies,
By the great living thought inspired to rise.
Whence the true light he to our world made known.

Star of sublimest worth, whose rays have shown
The eternal mysteries to our dim eyes.
And had at last for his reward the prize
The worthiest oft receive — an ill world's frown.

That city's ingrate people were so blind
To Dante's works and to his high design.
The just alone could there no safety ilnd.

Yet were I such as he, and his fate mine !
For his harsh exile, with his virtue joiu'd,
The happiest lot on earth would I resign 1"

XXXVl SKETCH OF THE LIFE

the literature of that country. At the beginning of the twelfth
century it was not believed that Italian was capable of becoming
a polished language. Sordello of Mantua was the first who wrote
ballads ; but, though a Lombard, he adopted in his compositions
the Proveufal language, and was followed therein by his country-
men. The first lispings of the Italian muse, in the writings of
Guitoiie of Arezzo, and Guido de' Cavalcanti, were but liumble
imitations of Provenpal lyrics ; and it was from the midst of these,
renowned in their day, that Dante arose ; to hide their ineffectual
beams by the superior splendour of his genius, as the stars of the
night wax pale at the dawn, and vanish when the sun has risen
on the earth.

But besides the songs of the Troubadours, the tales of the
Trouveres,^ whose genius was epic, and who recited in the Eomance
Wallon dialect, the exploits of Arthur and Charlemagne, were
equally popular in Italy. With them originated the ])oems and
romances of chivalry, and the poetical narration of allegorical
visions. Many French knights had assisted the Spaniards in their
wars against the Moors, and these brought back with them, on
the conquest of Toledo, in 10S5, ten years before the preaching of
the crusade, that spirit of chivalry which had originated among
the Spaniards from their intercourse with the Arabians. So great
a hold had these tales of chivalry taken of the popular feeling in
Italy, that in the thirteenth century, every Florentine believed
Charlemagne to be, beyond question or doubt, the second founder
of Florence, after it had been, as tradition reported, laid waste by
Atilla when he had invaded Italy. Of the allegorical poems
which the Trouveres bequeathed to posterity, the most celebrated,
and probably the most ancient, is the liomauce of t/ie Rose, imitated
by Chaucer, and of which Guillaume de Lorris, who invented that
style of composition, was the author. Not only has Dante alluded
to the Komances of Chivalry, {Inferno, Canto v. 128, &c.) for
which the Trouveres were so famous, but their spirit, (as remarked
by Sismondi), may be recognised in the majestic allegories of the
great poet, who, although he has infinitely surpassed it, has yet
taken the Romance of the Rose for his model.

The Divina Commedia is one of the very, very few great works
which have appeared at such rare intervals in the history of man-
kind, which have stood the test of ages, and are secure of immor-
tality. It is unique in its character — a narrative largely
interspersed with dialogue, description, and discussion — a vision

^ Both names have the same meaning: Troubadour in Provenpal
and Trouvere in Wallon (the Lanque d'oc and Lanque d'oui)
signify Finders or^ Inventors.

AND TIMES OF DANTE. XXXVll

of Hades, or the intermediate state of human souls between death
and the resurrection. Its beauties are scattered with a lavish
hand, while scenes of exquisite pathos, and others of the highest
sublimity, are pi-esented to the mind, as we walk or soar with the
poet amidst the terrors and the splendours of eternity. For
sublimity he is only surpassed by the Hebrew Prophets, by Homer,
and by our own Milton ; yet even his tremendous descriptions of
Infernal misery are varied ever aud anon with images of beauty
and calm delight, which take us by surprise, and are the more
welcome and pleasing from the very contrast with the scenes of
suffering, the timeless gloom, and tlie air for ever shaken, from
which we have just escaped and into which we again must pass,
with so dread a feeling of reality. It is as if we trod "over the
burning marie," and then suddenly entered the shelter of some
sylvan glade, and listened to the murmur of the brook that
wandered past its verge. As instances, we may refer to the Limbo
of the Unbaptized (inferno, iv. 106 — 120) with its enamelled
meadow of bright verdure ; and to Master Adamo's recollection,
amidst his thirst, of the brooks of Casentino, aud their fresh green
banks. {Inferno^ xxx. 60, &c.)

But while the Trilogy abounds with vivid painting and apt
similitude, it chiefly excels in describing the deep workings of the
human heart. This mastery over the passions is shown alike in
the despair which petrifies Ugolino, as the wretched parent sees
one by one his offspring droop and die with famine ; in the self-
devotion of Francesa, and her love, unquenched by misery and
death ; in the melting influence of the evening bell, swinging in
the distant tower ; in the despair of the lost on the shore of
Acheron, who curse their country, their parents, aud their birth ;
in the milder sorrows of the repentant in Purgatory, through toil and
torture, from darkness up to light ; and in the Poet's communion
with Beatrice, with whom he ascends to the realm of blessedness.
But the Trilogy has another merit, besides that which belongs to
it as a magnificent production of genius; it affords us the means
of realising, in the most vivid and satisfactory manner, the character
of the age in which it was produced. Dante was in a very
remarkable degree the Poet of his time : he has pourtrayed its
creed, its philosophy, and its superstition. The faint and fading
forms derived from old tradition, and which linger still in the
popular mind, furnished him with materials for his work. He
heard, read, saw, and availed himself of the thoughts of others,
his predecessors and contemporaries. But he had the genius
which reveals to the popular mind its own grandeur, which it
knew not before. For the form of his poem, there were suggestions
and precedents, classical, popular, and monastic. The descent of
Ulysses into Hell is described by Homer, and that of J5neas by

XXXVm SKETCH OF THE LIFE

Virgil. Many visions of the other world had been related by the
monkish writers before the time of Dante, some of which will be
referred to in our notes. A very singular instance of the manner
in which it was attempted to impress the popular mind with the
scenes to which they related, occurred at Florence about two
years after Dante's exile. On the occasion of a public festival,
under the auspices of the clergy, to celebrate the entrance of the
papal legate, a dramatic representation of infernal torments, ia
the true spirit of the old Mysteries, was exhibited in the bed of
the Arno, which was converted into the gulf of perdition, where
all the horrors invented by the prolific imagination of the monks
were concentrated. But in the midst of the proceedings the
bridge gave way beneath the congregated multitude of spectators;
and the shrieks and groans of fictitious suiferers, were suddenly
superseded by those of real ones. This catastrophe, though it
could hardly have been witnessed by Dante in person, must,
when reported to him, have made a deep impression on his mind.
The Triloqi/di&ovdi?, also an illustrious example of self-portraiture.
Like a polished mirror it reflects the mind, and character, and
life of its author. If no other memorial of him existed, the
impression left by its perusal would present him before us, in all
the dignity and melancholy of his dispositiori, and temper, and
aspect. We should know how much he had been wronged, and
how much he had felt : we should learn that, as a lover and a
patriot, he bad never been surpassed in the strength and tenderness
of his devotion, and that in both cliaracters, and in the very flower
of his age, he had sustained the blight of his early hopes. For
with all the fire and sublimity of his genius, his personal experience
and feelings form the ground-work of his poem, and furnish its
most glowing materials. There is nothing in it that can properly
be considered akin to wit or humour. He never appeals to the
feeling of ridicule, unless we may except the names of the Male-
branche, and an incident or two in connexion with them. The
Poet was too much in earnest for jocularity, and he made his poem
serious as the grave, and the world beyond it. But his power of
sarcasm and invective was wonderful — terrible. Witness his
imprecation against Pisa for its heartless cruelty to the innocent
children of Count Ugolino ; his reproof of the Emperor Albert in
Purgatory, for having permitted the continuance of Italian
anarchy ; and the reproach with which he thunderstrikes Pope
Nicholas IV. and the Simonists, in Hell. He was a man of strict
integrity, and of pure morals ; a sincere and religious man. His
anti-papal spirit is the more remarkable, considering the age in
which he lived. The whole of western Europe was in communion
with the Church of Home, and implicitly received lier dogmas ;
the only known e^tceptions being a few obscure and persecuted

AND TIMES OF DANTE. XXXIX

peasants and others in Italy and the south of France, against
wliom a crusade had been proclaimed with seeming success, and
for whose extirpation the Inquisition had been permanently
established. Yet even then, Dante dared to expose the moral
and political corruption of the Papacy and its rulers, comparing
them to Her who sitteth upon many waters, committing whoredom
with the kings of the earth, as told by John in the Apocalypse.
{Inferno, xix. 106—111.)

That some parts of tlie Trilogy are to be understood in a
figurative sense, he himself has told us. Thus also Milton has
introduced into his poem the allegory of Death and Sin : but as
we do not on that account regard Paradise Lost as an allegory, no
more can we think that the whole of the Trilogy is an allegory,
the sense of which is esoteric ; or a political mystification, like
the jocular narratives of Rabelais. Dante was too bold and
plain spoken, to have recourse to such a stratagem against what-
ever adversaries he wished to attack. It is indeed probable that
in the opening of his poem, the panther, the lion, and the wolf,
are intended as emblems of the Neri of Florence and their allies :
but he soon drops all metaphor, inveighing against them in the
plainest and most bitter terms, in open and undisguised warfare.

Daijte's Convito is a learned comment on three of his own Can-
zoni, His treatise De Monarchia ^diS written to prove the inde-
pendence of the Civil Power. It is worthy of perusal for the
strength and freedom of its arguments. Perhaps for this reason,
and as the only mode of refutation in his power. Pope John
XXII. had it publicly burnt a few years after the death of Dante.
The last production to be noticed, is his work De Vulgari Elo-
quentid, in which he examines the nature of language in general,
and of the Italian language in particular, which had so recently
sprung into existence amidst the confusion of the times. In this
treatise, which he did not live to complete, he reckons up fourteen
or fifteen dialects, which were spoken in different parts of Italy,
all of which were debased by impure modes of expression. But
the " noble principal and courtly idiom was that which belonged
to every city and yet seemed to belong to none." Dante was
the true father of modern European poetry ; his name is the
foremost in the literature of the middle ages ; and he wrote in
the infancy of that language which he assisted to create. We
cannot better conclude this brief sketch than with an extract from
Hallam's Middle Ages. —

" The great characteristic of Dante is elevation of sentiment,
to which his compressed diction, and the emphatic cadences of
his measure, admirably correspond. We read him, not as an
amusing poet, but as a master of moral wisdom, with reverence
and awe. Fresh from the deep and serious, though somewhat

Xl LIFE AND TIMES OF DANTE.

barren studies of philosophy, and schooled in the severer discipline
of experience, he has made of his poem a mirror of his mind and
life, and the register of his solicitudes and sorrows, and of the
speculations in which he sought to escape their recollection.
The banished magistrate of Florence, the disciple of Brunetto
Latini, the statesman accustomed to trace the ever-varying
fluctuations of Italian faction, is ever before our eyes. For this
reason, even the prodigal display of erudition, which in an epic
poem would be entirely misplaced, increases the respect we feel
for the poet, though it does not tend to the reader's gratification.
Except Milton, he is mucli the most learned of all the great poets,
and relatively to his age, far more learned than Milton. In one
so highly endowed by nature, and so consummate by instruction,
we may well sympathise with a resentment which exile and poverty
rendered perpetually fresh. The heart of Dante was naturally
sensible, and even tender ; his poetry is full of comparisons from
rural life, and the sincerity of his early passion for Beatrice pierces
through the veil of allegory which surrounds her. But the
memory of his injuries pursues him into the immensity of eternal
light, and in the company of saints and angels his unforgiving
spirit darkens at the name of Florence.

" This great poem was received in Italy with that enthusiastic
admiration which attaches itself to works of genius only in ages
too rude to listen to the envy of competitors, or the fastidiousness
of critics. Almost every library in Italy contains manuscript
copies of the Divvm Commedia, and an account of those who have
abridged or commented on it would fill a volume. Its appearance
made an epoch in the intellectual history of modern nations, and
banished the discouraging suspicion, which long ages of lethargy
bad tended to excite, that nature had exhausted her fertility in
the great poets of Greece and Rome."

What mighty wrongs, what griefs, great bard, could turn
Thy love of Florence to indignant ire,
Whicli, long pent up within thy breast like fire,
At last fiash'd forth to make the guilty mourn ;

And in thy verse through distant ages burn?
The pangs of hope deferr'd, the vain desire
Of lingering exile, tuned the poet's lyre.
While for his native soil his bowels yearn.

0 ingrate people ! thy subliniest sou
Thy malice doom'd iu misery to pine.
Too late shalt thou repent what thou hast done ;

For he who enter'd, by the Power Divine,
The gates of Paradise like banish'd John,
Was not permitted to re-enter thine.

ON THE

RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF DANTE.

The Anti-papal spirit -which breathes and burns in the writings
of Dante is a remarkable and very significant fact in iiis liistory.
It was a symptom and a result of that reaction aijainst Rome
whicii followed her usurpation of supreme power, and her triumph
over the rights of conscience and the liberties of mankind. Scarcely
had she congratulated herself on her hard-won victory, and begun
to dream of universal empire, when a strong opposition against her
claims was commenced, which w^as carried on through the whole
period of the middle ages, until it resulted in the Reformation.
Those doctrines of the Gospel which she had gradually discarded,
and then branded as heretical, were never wholly lost sight of,
even when, to a casual observer, they seemed to have died out of
the world's memory. The light of Divine truth had never been
wholly quenched, although it was long shrouded in obscurity.
The Paulicians of the East, in the seventh, eighth, and ninth cen-
turies, adhered to the religion of the New Testament,^ rejected

' To justify the horrid cruelties inflicted on them, tlieir enemies
described them as Maniciieans, though Photius, Patriarch of
Constantinople, who wrote in the ninth century, tells us, that
they "expressed the utmost abhorrence of Manes and his
doctrine." (Mosheim, Hec. Hist., cent- ix. ch. v.) But their
attachment to the New Testament is itself inconsistent with the
truth of such an accusation. It is one which the self-styled
orthodox, during the middle ages, frequently brought against
those who differed from them ; and, in general, with equal
injustice. Exceptional instances of individual extravagance may
have served to give it plausibility. A volume has just been
published by " a Cambridge Master of Arts," which represents it

xlli RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF DANTE.

the worship of images, the veaeratioa of relics, and the invocation
of saints (practices which had begun to prevail), and recognised
only the One Mediator between God and man. They are said to
have derived their distinctive appellation from St. Paul, in
consequence of their attachment to, and admiration of his writings;
though some ascribe it to a less ancient leader of the name, but
with less probability. In Italy the supremacy of the Bishop of
Rome was resisted, even after it had been submitted to by most
of the Churches throughout the West. The church of Milan,
and the diocese belonging to it, long remained independent of
Rome, and practised the Ambrosian liturgy, which was much
more simple and primitive than the Roman ritnal. It was not
till the eleventh century that the Pope succeeded in estabUshing
his authority at Milan, and inducing the bishops of that see to
accept the archiepiscopal pallium from Rome. When first
proposed, it excited the liveliest indignation, and was resisted as
a " papal aggression ;" the Milanese and their clergy maintaining
that the Ambrosian Church, according to the most ancient customs
and constitutions, was free and independent ; and that it could
not without ignominy submit to a foreign yoke, by admitting the
novel claim of the Papal supremacy. In the early part of the
ninth century, Claudius, bishop of Turin, a bold iconoclast, and
zealous advocate of the truth, withstood the spread of idolatry,
and checked its progress. It has been admitted by papal writers
that in the valleys of Piedmont, which belonged to his diocese,
his opinions were long preserved. He was an admirer of St.
Augustiu's writings ; and to the boasted merit of pilgrimages and
other monkish observances, which were then called Good Works,
he opposed the doctrine of Divine Grace. The Waldenses from
an early period, and for many ages, maintained the faith of Christ
in the Alpine valleys, from which their name was taken; and
though 'few, in comparison of their numerous enemies, defended
their liberties in their mountain fastnesses, often victorious and
never desponding, notwithstanding the dreadful persecutions
which were carried on against them from age to age, by the
agents and abettors of the papal tyranny.

In the south of France, although the spirit of poetry which had
been there awakened was, for the most part, worldly, light, and
frivolous, it was not entirely so. In that part of the country

as "infinitely more likely that the devil has existed from eternity
as an evil spirit, than that having been once good he fell from
heaven." The very essence of Manicheism tiiis ; yet surely it
would be unjust on this account to impugn the theological ortho-
doxy of the whole^university.

RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF DANTE. xliii

there dwelt a people wlio in the purity of their faith and morals
resembled the Waldenses, with whom they were sometimes iden-
tified hy their enemies. Their creed, and conduct, and sufferings
for the truth, have been hymned by more than one Proven9al harp.
A remarkable poem in the Proveufal tongue has come down to us,
and is entitled La Nobla Leyczon (" The Noble Lesson") ; it con-
tains what may be called their confession of faitii, which affords
proof how much they have been calumniated. Its date is thus
given in tlie course of the poem, " Eleven hundred years are
passed since it was written thus, 'For we are in the last time.'"
From this poem it appears that these poor people were already
exposed to obloquy and persecution, because their simple faith
and inoffensive manners were a standing protest against the error,
superstition, and immorality around them. The following is au
extract, hterally rendered: "If there is any one who loves God
and reverences Jesus Christ, who will not curse, nor swear, nor
lie, nor cheat, nor steal, nor commit adultery, nor take revenge on
his enemies, they call him a Vaudois, and exclaim. Let him be
punished !" or, according to some copies, " Let him be put to
death !" ' And when at length, in the beginning of the thirteenth
century, a Crusade against the Albigenses was published by
Innocent III., and pardons and paradise (besides plunder) were
promised to all the faithful who should assist in tiieir extermi-
nation ; — when three hundred thousand warriors appeared in arms
at the summons, to prosecute this Holy War, and cities were taken
and razed, the country wasted with fire and sword, and whole
hecatombs of human beings offered as a burnt sacrifice to the
grim idol of Papal authority f — the expiring muse of the Provenpal

' See Huston's Israel of the Alps, vol. i. p. 28, note.

- On the 22d of July 1209, Beziers was taken by assault; and
fifteen thousand inhabitants, according to the narrative which the
Abbot of tlie Cistercians transmitted to the Pope, or sixty thousand,
according to other contemporary writers, were put to the sword.
An old Provenpal historian says, " They murdered more people
than was ever known in the world. For they spared neither
young nor old, nor infants at the breast. They killed and mur-
dered all of them ; which being seen by the said people of the
city, they that were able retreated into the great church of
St. Nazarius, both men and women. The chaplains thereof, when
they retreated, caused the bells to ring, until every body was dead.
One only escaped, for all the rest were slain ; and wiien the city
had been pillaged it was set on fire. No living thing was left,
which was a cruel vengeance, seeing that the said Viscount was
neither a heretic, nor of their sect." — Sism.o'sai, Lit. S.Europe,
oh. vi. Arnold, the abbot above mentioned, when asked, before

Xliv RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OP DANTE.

Troubadours, while the cry of blood went up to heaven, hurled
her indi£,'iiant defiance against the cruel and persecuting power
which had thus accomplished the ruin of a nation, a literature,
and a language. " Immoral, unfaithful city, Rome," exclaims
Guillen Figueiras, " thy seat is fixed in the depths of hell and per-
dition. Without reason, thou hast destroyed a whole people.
Thou despisest God and the saints — falsehood and infamy dwell
in thy bosom." And then, addressing the Pope himself, he says,
"Outwardly thou art a lamb, but inwardly a devouring wolf, and
a crowned serpent. Go, Sirvente,' and tell the false priest, that
whoever submits to his dominion is dead'' ^

In Italy there were, in the eleveutii and twelfth centuries, con-
siderable numbers of a sect very nearly allied to, if not identical
with, the Vaudois or Waldenses of Piedmont, and the Albigenses
of the south of France. They were sometimes called Fatarmi^ (a
word of doubtful origin,) at other times Cathari (Puritans), or
Gazzari, probably from their practising a stricter morality than
their neighbours. They appear to have been, generally, persons
in the lower walks of life. " They were a plain, unassuming,
industrious race of Christians," Milner says, " condemning by
their doctrine and manners the whole apparatus of the reigning
idolatry and superstition, placing their religion in the faith and
love of Christ, and retaining a supreme regard for the Divine
word." — Church Hist. Cent. xii. ch. iii. Throughout the whole of
the twelfth century they continued to be the objects of the most
violent persecution. The people, who in their ignorance and
fanaticism were but too ready to molest and destroy them, were
often stirred up to madness against them by the extiortations of
the clergy. Galdinus Bishop of Milan, who during tlie eight or
nine years of his episcopacy had publicly inveighed against them,
died in 1173 of an illness brought on by the excess of his vehement
zeal in preaching against tiiem. — lb. It is asserted that the
Vaudois of the Alpine valleys had not only their pastors, but their
missionaries who " traversed all Italy, where they had fixed sta-
tions at different points and, in almost all the towns, adherents."
{Israel of the Alps, ch. i.) This seems to imply a community of
religious intercourse, feeling, and sentiment among the early op-

ihe city was taken, how he could separate the heretics from the
Catholics, replied, "Kill them all; God will know who belong to
him" — lb., Roscoe's Note.

' Sirvente, a war song, a warlike, political, or satirical poem, as
distinguished from the chanzo (chanson), love-song of Provenfal
poetry.

' MiLLOT, Hist. Lilt, des Troubadours.

RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF DANTE. xlv

ponents of the Church of Rome, beyond what is generally sup-
posed.

But besides the sects whose doctrines lay under the ban of the
Papacy, and who were tliemselves the objects of its relentless
persecutiou, there were many among the leading minds of Italy,
who, although continuing in outward communion with the Churcli
of Rome, had received some tincture of evangelical truth ; while
the awakened spirit of inquiry, and the impulse given to thought
by the revival of classical learning, had tended to open their eyes
to the corruptions of the Church and the daring usurpations of
its chief. Dante stood in the foremost rank of these. He held,
indeed, many erroneous opinions in common with the Church in
whicii he had been bred ; he had little or no sympathy with the
sects which were the objects of her vengeance ;^ and he places in
Paradise among the souls of the elect, some of their bitterest
persecutors.^ Yet on many important points his opinions and sen-
timents very nearly coincided with theirs. His condition of mind
somewhat resembled that of Luther, before his open rupture with
the Papacy, and when at an early stage of his career be visited
Rome, and there saw the full not of that grand corruption of
Christianity of which it was the seat and centre. Like Luther at
that time, lie still acknowledged the spiritual supremacy of the
Pope, yet like Luther he had also heard the terrific murmur, " If
there is a hell, Rome is built over it ; it is an abyss whence issues
every kind of sin." And to him, as to Luther, the Voice Divine
had whispered, "The just shall live by faitii." In him that faith
had awakened a new life. The Holy Spirit, as he tells us, had
impressed the Evangelic Bodriite on his mind : and this principle
of heavenly faitli had brightened in his soul from a spark to a
flame, till it shone there like a star in the clear depths of the
firmament. Hence we find him paying reverential attention to the
Old and New Testament. He speaks with awe of the Man who
was born and lived without sin, and was crucified at Jerusalem ;
at whose death trembling seized hell, the universe thrilled with
love, and the way to hell was broken and impeded {Inferno, xii,
40, xxi. 113, xxxiv. 115, &c.) ; he frequently dwells on the
importance of faith in Christ, as the true principle of Religion,
without which it is impossible to please God, or secure admittance
into his heavenly kingdom. In the twenty-fourth Canto of
Paradiso, St. Peter catechizes Dante concerning "the faith by
which he himself had walked on the sea." The dialogue which takes

^ See Inferno^ xxviii. 55 — 60, and note.
' Polco Bishop of Toulouse. — Paradiso, ix. 90, and St. Dominic.
— lù. X. xi. xii.

xlvi RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF DANTE.

place between tliem clearly proves that the poet held the great
doctrine of the Reformation, Salvation through faith in Christ.
He is told, " the citizens of this (the heavenly) kingdom are made
such by true faith." lu reply to the question, " What is faith ?"
he answers in the words of St. Paul, " Faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the proof of things not appearing." St. Peter
then says, " This precious jewel, on which every virtue is founded,
whence comes it to thee?" Dante replies, "The copious rain of
the Holy Spirit, which is poured out on the Old and Kew
Testament, and an argument which ^o conclusively convinces me
that every other proof seems obtuse in comparison of it." When,
asked, wliy he concluded the old and the new revelation to be the
voice of heaven, he replies to St. Peter, " The proof which
discovers to me their truth is, the works which followed, for which
nature never heated the iron nor smote the anvil " {i. e., the
miracles w^rought by the inspired prophets and apostles were
supernatural). And when asked for the evidence that these
miraculous works were in reality wrought, he answers, " If the
world had been converted to Christianity without miracles, this
would itself have been such a miracle, that all the rest would not
have been a hundredth part so great. For thou enteredst poor
and fasting into the field, to sow the goodly plant which was
formerly a vine, and now is become a bramble." Thus Dante
expresses his conviction of how much the Christian religion had
been deteriorated by the traditions of the Church ! He then
repeats his Credo, but without any of the additions which had
made the vine a bramble. " I believe in one God, sole and
eternal, who, unmoved himself, moves all heaven wilh love and
desire. And for such belief I have not only physical and meta-
physical proof, but also the truth which is showered down from
heaven bestows it on me, through Moses, the prophets, the
Psalms, the Gospel, and through you M'ho wrote when the burning
spirit made you sublime. And I believe in three eternal Persons,
and these I believe in essence one, so one and so trine that they
admit conjointly of are and is. Of this profound and divine con-
dition, which now I merely touch, the Evangelic Doctrine (/'^cffw-
ffelica dottrina) hath often sealed the impress on my mind. This
is the principle, this is the spark, which afterwards is kindled
into a vivid flame, and shines in me like a star in heaven." —
Paradiso, xxiv. 38 — 147.

In the Inferno, Dante says that St. Paul, the " vessel of
election," was taken to Paradise " to bring confirmation to that
faith which is the beginning. of the way of salvation." — Inferno, ii,
28—31.

In the Purgatorio, he speaks of one who had "lost heaven for
no other guilt tjian for not having faith." — Purg. vii. 7, 8. He

RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF DANTE. xlvii

also says that " faith is that without which good works are not
sufficient." — Tiirg. xxii. GO. And he makes the Infernal
Adversary complain that one tear of repentance had robbed him of
a soul." — Furg. v. 107.

He makes the shade of Manfred, wlio died under the Papal
excommunication, speak thus: — "When I had received two
mortal wounds, I gave myself up weeping to Him who freely
forgives. My sins were horrible, but Infinite Goodness hath such
wide arms that it embraces all who turn thereto. If the shepherd
of Cosenza whom Clement had let loose to hunt me down, had
then duly considered this attribute of God, my bones would yet
have lain at the head of the bridge of Benevento, protected by the
ponderous tumulus. Now the rain bathes my corse and the wind
drives it out of the kingdom, as far as the river Verde, whither
he transported them with torches quenched. Yet by their curse
we are not so lost but that the Eternal Love can return wliile
hope retains the least blossom." — Vurg. iii. 118 — 135.

In his treatise Be Monarchia, Dante says ; " Other foundation
can no man lay tlian that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
He himself is the rock on which the Church is built." — Lib.'m.
And in his Convito ; — " Christ is the way, the truth, and the light ;
the way, because by him we proceed witiiout obstacle to immortal
happiness; the truth, because he admits not of any error; the
light, because he dissipates in us the darkness of worldly ignorance."
— Convito, Trat. ii. cap. 9.

Such were the Religious opinions of Dante. "We admire their
simplicity and sublimity, and recognise in them the ancient Faith,
preserved in the midst of ignorance, error, and superstition, to
reappear and triumph at the Keformation.

THE TIME OF DANTE'S VISION.

The year fixed on by Dante as the date of his vision, was the
year of the Jubilee, 1300 ; the season, Spring, when tlie Sun is
in Aries : but in determining the time with complete precision,
such difficulties have occurred as are not easily surmounted. It
lias generally been supposed by the conunentators, that Good
Friday was the day of tlie Poet's descent. We venture to differ
from this opinion ; without, however, claiming infallibility for our
own.

Dante states, that on the night when he found himself
" within a wood obscure astray" (Inferno, i. 2), the moon was
full (xx. 127 — 129) : now, according to the eminent astronomer,
Mr. Hind, by whom the calculation has been carefully made (see
AthencEum, Nov. 28, 1857, p. 14-87), the exact time of the Paschal
full-moon of 1300, was on Wednesday, April 6th, at 2 a.m.,
Greenwich time. Consequently, it could not have been later than
the following night that Dante was in the " selva oscura ;" and it
must therefore have been on Thursday, April 7th, a.d. 1300, that
with Virgil for his companion, he " enter'd on that pathway deep
and wild," which led them to the infernal portal. That day he
regarded as the anniversary of the Crucifixion (xxi. 112 — 114),
and the third day after as that of the liesurrection. In coming
to this decision he appears to have been guided by the following
reasons. —

1. The Jews began their months at the time of the new moon,
which they determined, not by astronomical calculation, in which
they were little skilled, but by actual observation. Confidential
persons were stationed on the neighbouring hills to watch its first
appearance, and to give notice of the fact ; on which the authori-
ties caused the New Moon to be proclaimed by the sound of
trumpets. In the first month of their sacred year, which was
always at the time of the Vernal equinox, and on the evening
following the fourteenth day of the month (or what we should ceJI

TIME OF DANIELS VISION. xlix

the evening of that day), which was always the time of the full
moon, the Jewish Passover was eaten, and the solemnities of tliat
season commenced. The fifteenth day of the niontli, including
that evejiing, was reckoned the lirst day of the Paschal week : for
the Jews reckoned their days from sunset to sunset, as the
Italians do stiU ; and we ourselves have a remnant of the custom ;
for the Eve of every Church fast or festival is always the evening
which precedes tJie day.

2. At that time of the year, Christ ate the Paschal supper with
his twelve apostles ; namely, on the eve of (tliat is, the evening
preceding) ì\ìq fifteenth day of tlie month Abib. On that day, the
fifteenth, at noon, he was crucified ; and at the ninth hour, or
about three o'clock in the afternoon, he expired.

3. The Asiatic Christians in commemorating tlie death of
Christ, observed its anniversary, — without regarding on what day
of the week it might fall, — at the same time of the year as that
on which the Jews kept their Passover, and in which our Saviour
also had celebrated it ; and they commemorated the resurrection
the third day after, inclusive : that is, with an interval of one whole
day. And they affirmed that they had derived this custom from
the Apostles John and Philip. The Western Churches observed
a different method ; and so arranged their calendar that the annual
celebration of the Crucifixion might always be on a Priday, and
that of the Resurrection on the Lord's day. And they pleaded
the authority of St. Peter and St. Paul for so doing. In the
second century it was amicably agreed between Polycarp of
Ephesus and Anicetus, Bishop of Rome, that both parties should
continue the custom they had already followed. But at a some-
what later period, Victor, who presided in the see of Rome, wrote
a letter to the Eastern Churches, demanding their conformity to
the Roman custom ; and, on their refusal, proclaimed them ex-
conmiunicated : on which account he was severely reproved by
St. Irenseus, Bishop of Lyons, in Gaul, and others, who exhorted
him to pursue a course more calculared to promote peace, unity,
and love among the churches. — Eusebius, Ecc. Hist. B. v. ch. 2é.
Dante appears to have sympathised with the Asiatic churches in
regarding Thursday 1300, rather than Good Priday, as the day of
our Saviour's crucifixion; an instance of his anti-papal spirit,
which may be added to those more obvious and palpable ones that
have been so frequently adduced.

Dante emerged at the Antipodes, and " saw the stars again,"
at a period corresponding with Saturday, April the 9th, the day
which he regarded as that of Christ's resurrection. His passage
through Purgatory was a more tedious affair, occupying liim
nearly four days. Plis visit to Paradise takes him about twenty-
four hours. So that, including the night he spent in the wood,

d

1 TIME OF DAXTE^S VISION.

before lie set out ou liis jouruey, tlie whole vision lasts just a
week, from the uight immediately following Wednesday to the
corresponding time in the next week ; or, to express it ac-
cording to the Italian method of reckoning, from the eve of
Thursday the 7th to that of Thursday the 14th. The passages in
the Trilogy which determine the time are numerous, and will be
more fuUy explained in the notes as they occur; but we here
subjoin a Calendar for the Inferno.

FiKST Day of the Vision : Night spent in the Wood, on the Eve
of Thursday April 7th, 1300 ; Canto i. 1—12. Moon Full ;
XX. 127. Sunrise; i. 37. Spring; Sun in Aries; i. 38.
Anniversary of the Crucifixion; xii. 38 — 45.

Second Day ; Friday, April Sth (Italian method of reckoning) :
Evening; ii. 1 — 3. Midnight; vii. 98. Two hours before
Sunrise ; xi. 113.

An hour after Sunrise ; xx. 124 — 126.

Four hours after Sunrise ; xxi. 112, 113.

Mid-day ; xxix. 10.

Thikd Day ; Saturday, April 9th (Italian reckoning) -. Night ;
xxxiv. 68. Half-past seven p.m., on the meridian of
Jerusalem ; but an hour and half after Sunrise (or 7"30 a.m.)
on the opposite meridian, the poets having passed the centre
of the Earth ; 93 — 115. Morning — Noou ; on the meridian
of Jerusalem : Night — Midnight, at the Antipodes, which
the poets had now reached, and where, ou emerging, they
see the Stars. Anniversary of the Resurrection.

NOTICE TO THE READER.

In quoting from the Classics, for the sake of making our notes
intelligible to all, we have generally preferred giving a literal
version of each passage ; the quotation being in all cases accom-
panied by a reference, which will enable the learned reader to turn
to the original.

In the pronunciation of Italian names, the following notice will
be of service to the English reader : —

A, long, is pronounced as in the English word Jather.

AE (when not joined together in a single character, ae) as two
syllables : thus, Fa-enza.

C, before e or i, as ch in child.

Cc, in the same situation, as tch ; thus, Facci, Rusticucci, as
Futchy, Rusticutchy.

Ch and cch, as k or ck ; thus, ScJdcchi, as Skicky.

E, long, as ay. The final e is always sounded.

Ei, as a diphthong, ey.

G, before a, o, or u, hard as in gay ; before e or i, soft as in gem.

Gh, as g hard.

Gia, asja; thus Gianni, as Janny.

Gli, as I'ye coalescing in one syllable, or as in the Anglicised
word seraglio.

Gn, as in bagnio, poignant ; thus, Agnello, as if written Ahn-
yellow.

I, long, as ee.

la, as ya ; Bianca, in two syllables, as B'yan-ca.

le, as yea ; thus Fiesole, as Fy' eh-so-ley .

Sc, followed by e or i, as sh.

U, as 00.

Ua, as wa ; thus Ouadralda, as Gwadralda.

Ui, as ioe ; thus Guido., as Gweedo.

Uo, as 0 in note ; thus Buoso, as Bo-so.

Z, and zz, in most cases as iz, in a lew as dz.

The Translator would here express his acknowledgments to
several gentlemen, for their kind communications on some in-
teresting and difficult points ; and particularly to the Rev. Samuel
Coley, tlie Rev. Father Gavazzi, the Right Hon. Lord Brougham,
and H. C. Bai'low, Esq., M.D. : and his only regret is, that it has
not been his privilege earlier and more extensively to avaU himself
of their accurate and intimate acquaintance with Dante.

THE THILOGY, &c.
I N E E E N O.

CANTO I.

THE ARGUMENT.

Dante, having lost his way in a gloomy wood, wanders on till
sunrise, when seeing a mountain before him, he attempts
to ascend it, but is hindered by tlu-ee fierce beasts. Virgil
comes to his assistance, and promises to conduct him through
Hell and Purgatory, and that then a more worthy spirit
would show him the bliss of Paradise. Dante Millingly
agrees to follow the Roman poet.

Ix my mid journey on life's road/ I found
Myself within a wood obscure," astray ;
Of path dii'ect no trace appeared around.

Ah ! 'tis indeed no easy task to say

' Dante has fixed the date of his Vision a.d. 1300, at which
time he was thirty-five years of age. In his 'Convito,' com-
paring human life to an arch, he considers this age to be its
middle or highest point, in those of sound and vigorous consti-
tution. This answers to the Psalmist's " three-score years and
ten," just half of which are thirty-five, or Dante's " mezzo del
cammin di nostra vita."

* Virgil makes both Orpheus and ^neas, when approaching

1

2 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO I.

How savage, rough, and liorrid was that wood.
The thought of which yet fills me Avith dismay,

And seems the bitterness of death^ renew' d.

Of other things I'll speak, which there I found,
To show more clearly the resulting good.

I scarce know how I enter 'd on that ground ; 10
For when I quitted the true path, I fell
At once into a slumber so profound !

But when I reach'd the mountain's foot whose swell
Closed up the valley, which with such a load
Of anguish and of fear my heart could quell ;

I look'd on high, and saw its shoulders broad

Clothed with the rays which day's bright planet^

cast.
Which leads mankind ai'ight through every road.

Then was the terror somewhat still' d at last,

Which did within my cavern'd heart remain, 20
The night which I in such distress had pass'd.

tiie iuferncd regions, pass through a gloomy wood. — Geor. iv.
468 ; ^Mid. vi. 268.

' " Surely the bitterness of death is past." — 1 Sam. xv. 32.

^ According to the ancient system of astronomy, which made
the earth the centre of the universe, Dante regards the su)i as
one of the planets revolving round it. See Cauto ii. line 78,
note.

" He who beholds the sun at noou-day shining,
Will find in the cloudless ether no bright star more splendid."
PlXDAK, Olj/mp. Carm. i. lines 7 — 10.

CANTO I.] INFERNO. 3

And as the sliipwreckM seaman, who doth gain,
Though with exhausted strength, the welcome

shore,
Turns round and gazes on the dangerous main ;

Even so my soul, its flight not giving o'er,
Turn'd back that pass of peril to survey,
Which never living person left before.^

To rest my wearied frame awhile I lay;

Then through the desert place fresh haste I make,
With firm foot ever lowest," on my way. 30

And when the ascent 1 had begun to take,
Behold a panther, graceful, swift, and light.
Whose skin with spots was coverM,made me quake.

Nor did she vanish from before my sight ;
So much indeed obstructed she my way,
That many times I turn'd again for flight.

The time was at the early dawn of day.

With that same constellation rose the suu"

' " None that go unto lier return again, neither take tliey
hold of the paths of life." — Prov. ii. 19.

" Biagioli conjectures that il pie fermo may mean " the ric/ht
foot," and that Dante mounted the hill transversely, or in a
slanting direction, with its summit on his left, and the right
foot always towards the base, and lowest. But, without leaving
anything to conjecture, while in walking both feet are frequently
on the ground at once, in running, the firm foot is always lowest,
one being always raised. That is, Dante was in the greatest
haste to leave the valley, until he was confronted by the leopard.

^ It was spring, when the sun is iu Aries. Virgil gives voice

4 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO I.

As when creating love to their array

Gave motion, and when first their glories shone. 40
The hour of dawn, the spring-time of the year,
And that wild beast's gay spotted skin had won

To cheerful hope my heart :^ yet still my fear-
Found a new object, for that instant gleam'd
A form that did a lion huge appear.

About to rush upon me, as I deem'd.

Rampant and furious in his hungry mood.
So that the very air affrighted seem'd.

A she- wolf then, so lean that for all food

With ravenous craving she appeared engrossM, 50
And many a realm to sorrow had subdued r

to the tradition that the world was created at tliat season of
tlie year.

" For that was the season of spring, a spring that pervaded the

universe,
And eastern winds repressed their wintry breathing,
And cattle first drank in the light, and the race of man, hard as

iron,
Its head first lifted out of the stony quarry.
And wild beasts peopled the woods, and the stars bedecked the

heavens." — Georg, lib. ii. 1. 338.

' "And to the heart inspires

Vernal delight and joy, able to drive
All sadness but despair."— Parz-afi^wé Lost, B. iv. 1. 154.

* The leopard, lion, and wolf are associated, Jeremiah v. 6.
The lion and leopard are mentioned, Ban. v. 4, 6 ; and the
wolf, Matt. vii. 15, and elsewhere, in a metaphorical sense,
as here. The commentators explain the leopai-d or panther of
Dante to signify licentious pleasure; the lion, pride or arabi-

CANTO I.] INFEKNO. 5

What misery tliis wolf my bosom cost^

Even from the terror which her looks inspire.
To reach the monntain-top all hope I lost :

And like to hira who eager to acquire

Beholds the hour when he is stripped of all.
Then all his thoughts with grief and woe conspire;

So did this restless beast my heart appal.
Who thus opposing drove me gradually
To where the silent sunbeams never fall.^ 60

While towards the vale retreating rapidly.
Before my eyes one present I descried.
Who from long silence weak-voiced seemM to be.^

When I beheld him in this desert wide,

'^ Whate'er thy name, take pity on me thou ;
Whether a shade or living man ;" I cried.

tiou; and the wolf, avarice. Rosetti and others interpret the
leopard to be Florence ; the lion, the king of France ; and the
wolf, the court of Rome. Daniel sajs, " These great beasts are
four kings which shall arise:" and Gildas thus apostrophises the
tyrant of the Demetians, (Cardigan, Pembroke, and Carmarthen),
" Thou, also, who, like the spotted leopard, art diverse in man-
ners and in mischief." — Works, sect. 31.

' La dove 7 sol tace, " Where the sun is silent ;" that is, the
wood, where the light of the sun did not penetrate. So in
Joshua X. 13, literally rendered, " And the sun was silent, and
the moon stayed." See Canto v. 1. 28, and note.

^ From the length of time during which the classic authors
had been concealed or neglected, and almost forgotten, the
language of Virgil seemed strange, " flocco," hoarse, or weak.
Dante was one of the revivers of classical learning.

6 THE TRILOGY. [CAXTO I.

He saidj " I once "was man, though not so now ;
Of Lombard parents, who by country were
Both Mantuans, I was born, ere yet his brow

Julius to Rome^s imperial height could rear.^ 70
I under good Augustus lived at Rome,"
While false and lying gods were worshipped there.

I, as a poet, bade my song relume

Anchises' pious son who came from Troy,
After proud Ilion felt her fiery doom.^

^ Publius Yirgilius Maro, the prince of Latin poets, was born
at Andes, a village near Mantua, b.c. 70. Julius Caesar's first
consulship was ten years later, B.c. 60. From Pharsalia he
returned, like a ruling angel

" Victorious from some world-o'erthrowing fight,"

and assumed the dictatorship, b.c. 48, or twenty-two years after
the birth of Virgil. This determines the sense of the poet's
" Nacqui sub Julio ancor che fosse tardi" to be, not " I was born
in Julius's reign, though late," which would not be true, but
" I was born in the time of Caesar, though he had not then
reached the supreme authority which he attained at a later
period." He was killed in the senate-house, b.c. 44.

^ Virgil was trained and educated at Cremona. The lands in
that vicinity having been distributed among the soldiers of
Augustus, after the battle of Philippi, he had to swim across a
river for his life, to escape the resentment of the new proprietor,
with whom he had disputed the possession of his fields. Repair-
ing to Rome, he became acquainted with Mecsenas, and through
the favour of Augustus his lands were restored. His first
Bucolic was written to express his gratitude, and to prove that
the emperor's regard had not been misplaced. He died in his
fifty-first year, at Bruudusium, B.C. 19.

* " After it had'^leased the gods to subvert the power of Asia

CANTO I.] INFERNO. 7

But why return' st thou to so much aunoy ?

Why climb not rather yonder blissful mount,

Which is the cause and fountain of all joy V^
" O art thou then that Virgil, and that fount

From which so broad a stream of eloquence 80

Is pour'd ?" I answered him, with bashful front.
" O glory of all poets, light intense,

Let it avail me that with study long

Thy volume I have search' d with love immense.
My master and my author, from thy song

Alone the beauty which brings fame I took ;

To thee my style and honour both belong."
At that fierce beast from which I turn'd me, look !

Assist me, sage renown' d, against her ire ;

For she my very veins and pulses shook." 90
'' To hold a different course it will require,"

And Priam's guiltless people, when proud Ilion had fallen,
And when all sea-defended Troy upon the ground lay smok-
ing."— Virgil, JUtieid. lib. iii. 1. 1,
^ " But why return to the wood — that obscure and intricate
course which thou hast so recently left ? Why not enter on that
path, upward and difficult though it be, which conducts to fame
and the rewards of virtue ? "

- In this eulogy Dante shows at once his own modesty, and
his high estimate of Virgil. Preferring him to all otlier authors,
he ascribes to the study of his writings whatever excellence he
himself had attained in Latin composition: for at that time
Latin was deemed the only language worthy to be employed in
literature.

8 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO I,

He answer'dj when he saw me weep for woe,
" If from this savage place thou would'st retire.

For this rude beast, through whom thou criest, so
Impedes the pass near which she's known to dwell,
That all she slays who by that way would go :

Her nature too so evil and so fell.
Her craving appetite finds no relief,
But all she eats her hunger cannot quell.

With many an animal in marriage brief 100

She joins, and will with more, till comes, indeed.
That greyhound^ who shall make her die with grief.

He not on earth or metals base will feed.
But live on wisdom, love, and virtue tried •}
Between two Feltros will his line succeed.^

Fair Italy to safety he shall guide.

For which Camilla virgin, in the fight,
Nisus, Euryalus, and Turnus died.*

This greyhound having put the beast to flight.

' Can Grande della Scala, Lord of Verona, a prince of a liberal
disposition, the best soldier and ablest captain of his tirae, the
first politician in Italy, and the most generous of Dante's bene-
factors.

' "He will not indulge his appetite with tlie acquisition of
many lands, or by hoarding treasures ; but with wisdom, charity,
and the purest virtue."

' Verona, the country of Delia Scala, is between Feltro, a city
of Trevigiana, and Monte Feltro, a city in the March of Ancona.

^ When jEneas lauded in Italy, Turnus, king of the Rutuli,

CANTO I,] INFERNO. 9

Through every town shall chase her back to

hell, 110

Whence first, by envy loosed, she sprung to light .^

I now decide, thy interest pondering well.
To be thy guide, if thou wilt follow me,
And lead thee through eternal realms, where dwell

The grieving souls of old, whom thou shalt see,
And hear their loud-voiced cries of deep despair,
Where each the second death wails endlessly."

Thou shalt see those too who contented are
In fire, because they have a hope that they
Shall in due season, to the blest repair.^ 120

was assisted in opposing him by Camilla, queen of the Yolsci.
Nisus and Euryalus came with ^neas. In the night they entered
the enemy's camp together. When returning victorious, they
were discovered by the Rutuliaas, who attacked Euryalus. Nisus
in endeavouring to rescue his friend, perished with him. Their
friendship, like that of Pylades and Orestes, and that of Theseus
and Pirithous, has become proverbial. — Jineicl. ix. 17G, &c.; xi.
S31; xii. 952.

^ " The beast that thou sawest was, and is not ; and shall
ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition." —
Eev. xvii, 8.

- Not " a second death," as the passage has been rendered, as
if those souls were invoking annihilation. In "la seconda morte"
the allusion is to Rev. xx. 15, " And death and hades were cast
into the lake of fire : this is the Second Deaths

^ The souls in purgatory are here intended. There is classical,
if not scriptural authority for this doctrine, which in its origin is
certainly more Fagan than either Jewish or Christian. The proof
of this assertion we shall postpone until, with Dante, we have

10 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO I.

That realm of peace if thou wouhlst then survey,
A soul shall guide thee worthier far than I.^
With her I'll leave thee when I go away.

For that Imperial Chief who reigns on high,
Since I was rebel to his law, ordains
None reach through me his palace in the sky."

He every where commands, and there he reigns :^
There is his citadel and his high seat :*
O happy he who there admission gains !"*

And I to him : " Thee, poet, I intreat, 130

"escaped the Stygian pool," and have entered on the second
part of the Dicina Commedia, where we shall find both time and
place more suitable for the discussion of Purgatori/.

^ Beatrice, the glorified spirit of Folco Portarini's daughter.
See Sketch of Dante's Life and Times, prefixed to this translation.

' " None ever obtain salvation through heathen lore." It does
not therefore follow that no heathen was ever saved : for the
benefits of redemption are more extensive than the knowledge of
it ; and " the Gentiles who have not the law" on tables of stone,
yet " show the work of the law written in their hearts." — Rom.
ii. 14, 15. And "in every nation he that feareth God, and
worketh righteousness, is accepted of him." — Acts x. 35.

' " The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his
kingdom ruleth over all." — Fs. ciii. 19.

* "This our high place, our sanctuary, our hill." — Paradise
Lost, V. 732.

* Literally, " who is elected there." On this phrase the words
of St. Peter may throw light : " Give diligence that ye may make
your calling and election sure ; for if ye do these things ye shall
never fall : for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you
abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviou
Jesus Christ."— 2 Pet. i. 10, 11.

CANTO I.] INFERNO. 11

By Him to thee unknown — that God so dread.
So from this ill and worse I shall retreat,

That now thou lead me whither thou hast said,
To see the portal by Saint Peter kept ;^
And those o'er whom such gloom thy tale hath
shed."

Then he moved on, and I behind him stept.

* Some have supposed that by " St. Peter's Gate" is here
meaut the gate of Purgatory, which Dante describes as kept by
an angel who is deputed by St. Peter. — Purgatorio, ix. 127. But,
besides that the poet cannot be supposed to have known this
beforehand, it is evident that he here anticipates his introduction
to the " worthier guide" (Beatrice) with whom, he had been told,
Virgil would leave him; and refers to tliat gate vp to which Virgil
undertakes to conduct him, but beyond which he cannot accom-
pany him. We agree with Biagioli, that by St. Peter's gate is
meant the gate of heaven. See Matt. xvi. 19, and Faradiso,
X. 35.

12 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO IT.

CANTO II.

THE AKGUMENT.

As tliey go on their way, Dante, distrustful of liis strength, and
fearing that he is unwortliy of the high enterprise on which
he is entering, is reassured and comforted by Virgil, who
relates how he had been sent by Beatrice. — Dante takes
courage; and the two poets proceed together on their
journey.

The evening shadows, now the day was done,
EmbrownM the air and brought repose to all
With labour wearied -^ I the only one

Prepared to combat Avith what might befall

Through pity, or the pathway through that shade,
Which my unerring memory shall recall.

O Muses, help ! O lofty genius, aid !
O Mind, recording all that I espied,
Here be thy true nobility displayM.^

' " T'was night, and on the ground their placid slumber taking,
Lay the o'erwearied ; and the woods and the angry ocean
Were quiet," &.c.—^neid. iv. 522.
Ariosto has imitated the commencement of this canto ;
Orlando Furioso, c. viii. st. 79.

- Chaucer has imitated this apostrophe to mind and thouglit. —
The House of Fame, ii. 15—20.

CANTO li.] INFERNO. 13

" Poet/^ I thus began, "who art my guide^ 10

Mark Avell my virtue ; of its strength inquire ;
Ere thou to me this high emprize confide.

Thou hast the story told how Sylvius' sire^
An entrance found ere from corruption freed,
And sensibly was with the immortal quu'e.

The foe of every ill might well concede

This grace to him ; i-iewing the high effect —
The race and deeds that should from him proceed —

'Twill not seem strange, even to our intellect.

He in the empyrean heaven was made 20

Of mild imperial Rome the sire elect ;

Whose empire and herself, if truth be said.
Were thus establish'd Tor the holy place,

Where sits great Peter's heir in state array'd :

* .
He from this journey, paid by thee with praise,

Learn'd things by which his a ictory first he gain'd,"

Whence now the papal robe itself displays.

Then he admission also there obtain'd

Whom we the ' vessel of election' call,^

' Jiiieas. — See JEneid. vi. 637, &c.

* "Then the wars he would thenceforth have to wage, he

show'd him ;
Informed him of the Latiu people and the Latin city ;
And how he might, either avoid or undertake every labour."

JEfieid. vi. 180.

* St. Paul. He is called, in the Latin Vulgate, " vas eledionis"

14 THE TE-xLOGY. [CAXTO II.

The faith by which salvation is attain'd 30

Confirming. Not ^Eneas I nor Paul ;

"\^^ly should I come there ? Who concedes it

me ?
Deem'd by myself unworthy, and by all.

If then this journey I commence, ^twill be
A vain attempt^ I fear : thou who art wise.
My meaning better than I speak wilt see.^'

Thus, like a man who what he wish'd for flies.
When his firm purpose by new thoughts is cross' d,
All vanished his intended enterprise ;

Such I became upon that gloomy coast : 40

And that to which at first I had address'd
Myself in haste, was in mere thinking lost.

" If aught I see by what thou hast express'd,'"
To me thus answer'd that magnanimous shade,
" Thy mind is yet by dastard fear oppressa ;

AMiich oft is to a man such hindrance made,
He tm'ns from honourable toil to flee.
As doth a beast when by a phantom fray'd.^

That from this terror thou thyself may'st free,

"a vessel of election:" in the English authorised version, "a
chosen vessel." — Acts ix. 15.

^ It is popularly beUeved that when a horse starts, especiallv
in the dusk of the evening or by night, without any cause visible
to the human eye, he sees a phantom or apparition. May not
this be traced to Numbers xxii. 22 — 27 ?

CANTO II.] INFERNO. 15

1^11 tell thee why I came, and what I learn^l, 50
When I indulg'd my earliest grief for thee.

Among the spirits in suspense I mouru'd ;^
A lady calFd me/ she was bless'd and fair^
So that for her commands I asVd and yearn^l.

Her eyes shone brighter than the morning star;
And she began a sweet and soft discourse —
Tuned with angelic voice her accents were.

' Soul of the courteous ]Mautuan, whom the course
Of ages hath not stripped of fame, for thee
That fame shall flourish while theworld endures. 60

The friend far less of fortune than of me/

' The spirits in limòo, the first or superior circle of hell, de-
scribed in Canto iv. as being de{)rived of happiness, but without
suffering positive misery.

' Celestial Wisdom is here supposed to be personified by
Beatrice; Enlightening Grace (jMiltou's Urania), by Lucia; and
the Divine Mercy, by the Gentle Dame, line 94. But Beatrice
being a real person (Canto i. 1. 122, and note) as well as an
allegorical one, Lucia and the Gentle Dame are probably such
likewise. Lombardi sup!)Oses the one to be St. Lucia, tlie
martyr : may not the other be the Virgin Mary ?

* It may mean, A disinterested ftieud, or A friend who is un-
fortunate, or My friend from choice, not chance. The first seems
the most probable. " Se non fortuuse sed hominibus solere esse
amicum." — Coen. Nepos, in Attici vita, cap. ix. In Geoffry of
Monmouth's Chronicle, to which Shakspeare was indebted, Lear
says of his ungrateful daughters, " While I had any thing to give,
they valued me, being friends, not to me but to my gilts ; they
loved me then, but they loved ray gifts much more." — Brit. Hist.
b. ii. c. 12.

16 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO II.

In the loDe hill is hinderM on his way,
And has turn'd backward through timidity.

Indeed I fear he's now so far astray.

Judging from what in heaven I have been told.
That succoui* will be late through my delay.

Haste, then, and let thy eloquence unfold
Whatever he may for his safety need;
And aid him, so that I may be consoled.

I, who have on this errand bid thee speed, 70

Am Beatrice ; to that place whence I came
Desire springs back : Love prompts me thus to plead.

With praise I often shall repeat thy name

When I'm again before my Sovereign's throne.'
She ceased ; and thus I answered that fair dame :

' Lady, of virtue rare, through whom alone
Mankind surpasses all contain'd within
The heaven that calls the lesser orbs its own,^

So much thy orders my acceptance win.

That, if fulfilled, obedience would seem late : 80
Ko further need'st thou speak thy wish therein.

But wherefore durst thou leave, I pray relate.
And with such ardent longing to return,
For this low central realm, thy blest estate V '

' The orbit or Leaveu of the Moon. — See Frontispiece and
Explanation.

* "Dall' ampio loco;" "From the ample region," the Empy-
rean, the outermost and most spacious of the ten heavens. — Ibid.

CANTO II.] INFERNO. 17

' Of what thou wouldst so thoroughly discern
I'll briefly tell thee •' thus to me she said ;
' Why fearless I come hither thou slialt learn.

Those things alone should we regard with dread
Which have the power to hurt in various ways ;
By nothing else need fear in us be bred. 90

For God hath framed me so, be his the praise,
Your misery hath no power of touching me,
Nor flame of that fierce fire on me can seize.

In heaven there is a gentle dame, and she

So mourns his hindrance whereto thee I send,
That there stern justice yields to clemency.

With prayer did she her call on Lucia blend.
And said, ' Thy faithful votary below
Now needs thy aid : him I to thee commend.'

Then Lucia, of all cruelty the foe, 100

With speed came to the place where I abode.
Seated by Rachel, mourn'd so long ago, ^

' Jacob's grief for the loss of Rachel was in proportion to the
intensity of his affection for her. Of no other female's death
and bnrial is so much said in the Sacred History, as of hers.
Jacob, even on his death-bed, thus touchingly refers to it. " And
as for me, when I came from Padau, Rachel died by me in the
land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way
to come unto Ephrath." — Gen. xlviii. 7. His thoughts ever
lingered near the grave where he had laid her, and there he set
up a pillar Sacred to the Memoiiy of Rachel. The son of
^^r sorrow, Benoni, was the son of Ms right hand, Benjamin,

18 THE TRILOGY. [CAMO II.

And said, ' O Beatrice, true praise of God,^
Wilt thou not succour one that so loves thee,
That for thy sake he quits the vulgar crowd ?

Dost thou not hear him groaning piteously ?
Nor see the death with which he has to fight,
Upon a whirlpool furious as the sea V ^

Ne'er in this world could any speed their flight
To gain some good, or from some hurt to fly, 110
As I, so much these words of hers excite.

Down hither from my blessed seat came I,
Confiding in thy noble Avords alone.
Which thee, and those who hear them, dignify.'

\Mien this discourse of hers to me was done.
Her bright and weeping eyes she turu'd away.
Which made me still more zealous to be gone.

As she enjoin 'd, I came without delay.

And aided thee against that furious beast.

Who by the mountain fair stopp'd thy near

way.

120

the darling of his age. Even her nurse's grave was marked by
" The Oak of "Weeping." — Gen. xxxv. 8.

» Tlie literal meaning of the name Beatrice, has furnished the
allusion — " She who blesses."

2 " The waves of death compassed me." — 2 Sam. xxii. 5.
" Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts ; all
thy waves and tliy billows are gone over me." — Ps. xlii. 7. " Who
hatli delivered us from so great a death, aud doth deliver." —
2 Cor. i. 10.

CANTO II.] INFERNO. 19

What ails thee, then ? Why have thy efforts ceased ?
Why should vile fear within thy bosom dwell ?
Why doth not courage — boldness fill thy breast

When three such blessed ladies, to repel

All ill from thee, in heaven their councils hold,
And so much good to thee my words foretell ? ''

As flowers bow'd down and closed by midnight
cold,
Soon as the early sunbeams on them shine.
Rise on their stem and all their leaves uufold,^

So ceased my weary ■\drtue to recline ;" 130

And I as one undaunted thus began.
Such frank and ardent boldness now was mine.

" What grace was hers who to my rescue ran !
And thou, so courteous, who without delay
FulfiPdst of her true words the purposed plan.

Thou hast disposed my heart unto that way

With such desire, by what thy words have sho\A'n,
That I to my first aim, whence I did stray,

^ A beautiful figure, wliicli Boccaccio and Chaucer appear lo
have copied : but it is one which, without any borrowing, might
easily have occurred to any lover of nature.

" " Or have ye chosen this place

After the toil of battle to repose
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find
To slumber here, as in the vales of heaven ? " — Paradine
Lost, i. 31S.

20 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO II.

R-eturu ; and since the will of both is one,

Be thou my guide, my lord, my master mild." 140
Thus I address'd him ; and when he moved on.

I enter'd on that pathway deep and wild.

CANTO III.] INFERNO. 21

CANTO III.

THE AKGUMENT.

The two poets arrive at the gate of Hell — Uante reads the terrible
inscription over it. — They enter, and in the outskirts of
damnation survey those who, having lived iudiiFerent to good
or evil, are assigned a place with the neutral angels. — On

__ reaching the river Acheron, they see the shades of the wicked
ferried across by Charon in his boat. — An earthquake, accom-
panied by a blast of lightning, so terrifies Dante that he falls
insensible to the ground.

" Through me men reach the city of deploring/
Through me the path to endless woe they prove,
Through me they join the lost beyond restoring,

Justice did my Supreme Creator move ;
I am the work of Power Divine, designed
By Sovereign "Wisdom and Primeval Love."

' The two preceding Cantos are introductory. The abrupt
opening of the third Canto with the inscription over the gate of
hell, has a very peculiar and striking effect.

' As the future punishments of the wicked are decreed by
infinite Wisdom and Justice, they cannot be inconsistent with
real Benevolence. A regard to the general welfare must induce
a wise and beneficent government to provide the sanction of
rewards and penalties, and to enforce obedience to law by suitable
examples. Impunity to crime would be the destruction of law,

22 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO III.

Before me nothing save immortal mind
Was made/ and I eternally endure.

0 ye ^vho enter leave all hope behind." "

These ■words tremendous, writ in hues obscure, 10

1 on the summit of a portal spied.

'^ Ah ! Sir," said I, " to me their meaning, sure,
Is hard V Then he, as one informed, replied,

'' Here trembling diffidence must lose its hold ;

Here must all cowardice be laid aside.^
We've reach'd the place of which vou have been
told,

aud the greatest cruelty to society. Dante feels that there cannot
be love, wisdom, or power, without justice.

' That is to say. Hell, as the place of punishment "prepared
for the devil and his angels," Matt. xxv. 41, was created in that
immeasurable interval of time between the creation of angels and
that of terrestrial beings, who alone, as far as we know, are sub-
ject to mortality.

* The tremendous line " Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch'entrate,"
may have been suggested by a passage in Plautus, and has been
imitated by Milton :

"Pandite atque aperite properèyarKwa»» hancOrci obsecro.
Nam equidem baud aliter esse duco, quippe quo nemo advenit,
Xisi quern spes reliquere omnes." — PlaL'T. Bacchides, iii. 1.

" Hope never comes

That comes to all." — Paradise Lost, b. i, 1. 66.

* In the Eumenides of jEschylus, Apollo gives a similar caution
to Orestes in his encounter with the Furies — "Be not faint-
hearted ; . . . . Remember ; let not fear overcome thee." —
1. 77, SS.

CANTO III.] INFERNO. 23

Where those lamenting souls from whom is fled
Their intellectual good/ you will behold/'

Taking my hand in his, while this he said,

His cheerful looks consoled me, as below 20

Within that secret world my steps he led.

There sighs, and plaints, and voices of deep woe
Resounded through the starless atmosphere.
For which at once my tears began to flow.

Strange tongues and horrid cries assail me there.
Voices high raised, and accents hoarse resoimd
In giief and wrath, hands smitten in despair.

Such were the sounds tumultuous whirling round
For ever through that aii' of timeless gloom.
Even as the sand when whirlwinds sweep the
gi'oimd." 30

And I, whose head was wrapp'd in error's fume,'
Said, What is that I hear? and what are these

' "There is no intellectual good of a rational creature by which
he can be happy, but God." — Are. De Ck. Dei, xii. 1 .

* Mr. Buckingham has vividly described a sand-storm which he
experienced in the desert of Suez. During the chaos of mid-day
darkness, which obliterated sun, earth, and sky, Alexander's
journey to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, and the destruction of
the Persian army of Cambyses rose to his recollection, with new
impressions from the horror of the scene. And Addison's admi-
rable lines, " Lo, where our wide Numidiau wastes extend," kc.
appeared to possess as much truth as beauty.

^ Literally, "With head begirt by error;" or, according to
some copies, "by horror." But we have adopted the reading

24 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO III.

Who seem so vanquisVd by their grievous doom ?
And he to me, " This wretched scene displays

What those endure who have their life passM
through,

If without infamy yet without praise ;
And here they mingle with that caitiff crew

Of angels who, though not rebellious, were

Through neutral selfishness to God untrue.^

which we believe to be tlie most correct, and have rendered it as
we think Dante would have expressed himself had he written in
English.

^ Dante's notion of an intermediate or neutral class of angels
is not a fanciful invention of the poet, as some have deemed
it, but, like many other parts of the Divina Commedia, was
adopted from the popular mythology of his time. The elves,
dwarfs, and fairies of mediaeval Europe were for the most part
regarded in popular belief, as fallen angels of an intermediate
class, too good for exile to hell, and too evil for re-admittance to
heaven; condemned, therefore, to wander till doomsday in certain
assigned abodes, on or near the surface of the earth, with con-
siderable power over nature. They are not to be confounded
with ghosts and damned sprites, but must be regarded as beings
of another sort; and when in some instances they have been
mistaken for devils, they have treated the imputation with scorn !
— See Keightley's Fairi/ Mythology. In Tales and Stories of
the Irish Peasajitry (p. 72, " The Rival Kerapers"), when speaking
of the fairies, Mr. Carlton says, " The general opinion, at least in
Ireland, is, that during the war of Lucifer in heaven, the angels
were divided into three classes. The first consisted of those
faithful spirits who at once and without hesitation adhered to the
Omnipotent : the next consisted of those who openly rebelled,
and followed the great apostate : the third and last consisted of
those who, during the mighty clash and uproar of the contending

CANTO III.] INFERNO. 25

The heavens expell'd them, not to be less fair, 40
And yet they sunk not to the depths of hell,

liosts, stood tiiddly aloof and refused io join either power. These,
says the tradition, were hurled out of heaven, some upon earth, and
some into the waters of the earth, where they are to remain, igno-
rant of their fate until the day of judgment."

To show the origin and extent of this opinion, we may further
observe, that the Jews, Arabs, Persians, and Greeks believed in
the existence of an intermediate class of beings between angels
and mankind. Plato describes the dsemons as of an intermediate
nature between the gods and men. Hesiod says, " The souls of
those who lived in the golden age became gods, the inhabitants
of heaven, and guardians of mortal men. The second, or silver
age, produced those who for their impiety were overwhelmed in
the divine anger. The third, or brazen race, were warlike, un-
feeling, and overcome hy themselves they descended inglorious into
hades, though awful shadows, yet the prey of death, deprived of
the sun." — Works and Bays, i. lOS — 154. It is remarkable
enough that an opinion so little known at present should have
existed in times and places so distant from each other ; a fact for
which Jerome of Palestine in the fourth century, Dante of
Florence in the fourteenth. De Sales of Switzerland in the six-
teenth, and Leibnitz of Germany in the seventeenth, may be
appealed to as authorities ; as well as Plato, Hesiod, and the
fairy tales of mediseval Europe, stiU cherished in Ireland and
elsewhere. Schlegel says that the opinion was held by St. Jerome,
St. Francis de Sales, and Leibnitz, " that in the revolt of the
rebellious spirits, while those who remained in their state of
innocence, and in their allegiance, rallied only the closer round
their Creator, a considerable number, fearful and undecided, vacilla-
ting between good and evil, remained neutral in the conflict, and
thereby lost their original place in the hierarchy of the heavenly
host, without, however, being counted among the utterly lost.^' —
Philosophy of Life, lect. vi. p. 136 (Bolm).

26 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO III.

Else would the damnM have claim'd some glory
there.'' i
" Master/' I said, " What grievous pains compel

These to complain with such loud clamorous
breath ?"

And he replied, " The cause of this I'll tell
In briefest space : These have no hope of death/

And envy every other lot ; so base

Is the blind life they suffer here beneath,
While for their fame the world allows no place.

Mercy and Justice hold them in disdain : 50

Of them we'll talk no more, but look and pass."
And then I saw a flag whirl'd round amain,^

^ Either, the bolder transgressors would have gloried over the
more timid and cowardly ; or, more probably, the rebel angels
would have deemed themselves less guilty than they are, if those
who were neutral, and only negatively bad, had been doomed to
share their abode and punishment. Milton has imitated the turn
of this passage : —

" Tor neither do the spirits damn'd
Lose all their virtue, lest bad men should boast
Their specious deeds on earth." — Tar. Lost, ii. 482.
2 " For to die is not the greatest of evils, but for a man
To wish for death and not be able to obtain it."

Sophocles, Eledra, 1. ]013.

" Which long for death and it cometh not." — Job, iii. 21.

" And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it,

and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them." — Rev. ix. 6.

' The Florentines had twenty banners in the city, and seventy-

CANTO III.] INFERNO. 27

"Which, as I look'cl, so rapidly did run,

It seem'd to scorn all pause.^ And then a train

So long came after it, that I, for one,
A multitude like that which I surveyed ^
Could scarcely think death ever had undone.

Some I had recognised, when, lo ! the shade
Of him appear'd before me who of late
Through cowardice the grand refusal made.^ 60

six in the country, under which al) the youth were inscribed, and
were obliged to appear in arms whenever summoned. And as a
rallying point in battle, they had a standard of white and red
elevated on a chariot. When Clement IV, in 1265, invited into
Italy Charles of Anjou to depose Manfred, the Guelf exiles at
Bologna offered their aid, which the Pope accepted, and sent
them his own standard ; and it was used by the Guelfs of Flo-
rence whenever they made war, down to the time of Machiavelli.
— Eist Fior. ii.

' Biagioli says that all the commentators have spoUed the
beauty of this conception by rendering indegna in the sense of
" unworthy ;" whereas it is an abbreviation of indegnata, dis-
dainful, indignant.

- " There was so large a multitude, that it seemed to surpass
the population of the whole world." — St. Patrick's Purgatory :
Roger of Wendover, Rist.

^ The common and most probable opinion is that Dante here
alludes to Pope Celestine V. See Canto xxvii, 1.105. Nicholas IV .
dying in 1292, the holy see was vacant two years and a quarter.
A.t length, in 1294, a famous hermit, Piero di Murrone, so called
from the mountain where he lived in solitude, was raised against
his will to the pontificate, at the age of seventy-three, and took
the name of Celestine V. But the austerity of his manners, and
his efforts to reform the church, HI suited the luxury of the
cardinals and the corruption of the Roman court. His talents

28 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO III.

Immediately I kne^v, past all debate^

That they the band of abject wretches Tvere
Whom God and godless men alike must hate.

These drones^ who never truly lived, quite bare
Against their puny foes, were stung full sore
By hornets and by wasps all swarming there.

Their faces bathing while the blood ran o'er,

Which mingling with their tears fell to their feet,
Gather'd by loathsome worms that prey on gore.^

for government were probably small, and amidst the cares and
splendour of greatness, for which his age, taste, and habits un-
fitted him, he sighed at the remembrance of his former obscurity,
and was easily pei'suaded by the cardinals, especially by the
crafty and ambitious Benedict Cajetan, to lay down the papacy.
The only difficulty in admitting this application is, that Dante
should have consigned to hell a pope of Celestine's character»
whose virtues both papal and protestaut writers concur iu prais-
ing ; and for such an act, the abdication of supreme power ; an
act which in Sylla, Charles V, and Washington, has been deemed
heroic and sublime. But believing that Celestine possessed the
inclination and intention, as well as the power, to reform the
church, Dante had been disappointed that the opportunity of
doing so should, through weakness of character and infirmity of
purpose, have been thrown away. This appears to liave con-
stituted the essence of the offence which he condemned as " il
gran rifiuto," and the result of cowardice. Some late commen-
tators, in trying to find a substitute for Celestine, have searched,
but without much success, for some one iu Florence who, from
want of sympathy with the ruling party, or a reluctance to incur
the toil and perils of war, declined accepting the chief magistracy
in that city : and a certain Torrigiano dei Cerchi has been men-
tioned in one account ; but we know not on what authority.
* " Their worm' shall not die, neither shall their fire be

CANTO III.] INFERNO. 29

When I look'd onward other scenes to meet, 70
On a great river's bank vast crowds I saw.
" Master/' I said, "now grant me, I entreat,

To understand what these are, and what law
Makes them so eager to pass over there
Where I, through this dim light, perceive them
draw ? "

And he to me : " These things will all appear.
When we the river Acheron have gain'd,^
And stay our footsteps on its margin drear.''

With shamed and downcast eyes I then remain' d,
Eearing he had been grieved with my discourse, 80
So to the river I from speech abstain'd :

And in a vessel towards us steer'd his course
An old man, hoar with age, who did accost
The crowd, and cried, " Woe to ye, souls perverse :

Hope never more to see the heavens : I've cross'd

quenclied." — Isaiaà, Ixvi. 2é. "The surface of the place
abouuded with a multitude of worms, in the same way as the
court-yard of houses abound with rushes ; with a dreadful gaping
of their jaws they lacerated the crowds of wretched beings with a
voracity not to be escaped from." — Vision of a Monk of Evesham,
A.D. 1196. RoG. Wendov. ii. 158.

^ A river of Epirus, which, after emerging from the Acherusiau
marsh, disappears under ground, whence it again emerges, and
pursues its course to the Ionian Sea. Hence it is represented
by Homer as one of the rivers of hell. According to the poets,
its waters were muddy and bitter, and it was the stream over
which the souls of the departed were first conveyed.

30 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO III.

This flood to waft ye to the other shore,

To dwell in endless night with file and frost,^

And thou who stand^st there, li^dng auditor,
Begone from these who are already dead." '
But when he saw I stay'd there, as before, 90

" By other means, through other ports," he said,
" Thou to that shore wilt pass ; not by this way,
But in a lighter boat must thou be sped."

" Charon," my leader said, " thine anger stay ;

' Tliis thoiiglit may have originated in Job, xxiv. 19, which the
Vulgate reads — " Ad uiniium calorem transeat ab aquis uivium,
et usque ad inferos peecatum illius." Hesiod has — "The ample
region of cold hell." — Works and Days, lib. i. 152. The monkish
visions describe the punishment of the wicked as an alternation
between fire and frost. — Bede. Ecc. Hist. p. 254. RoG. Wexd.
ii. 155. The passages in Shakspeare and ^Milton to the same
effect are too well known to need quotation.

' " Then the journey begun, they move onward, approaching the
river;
And now from the Stygian wave the surly ferryman spied

them,
As they came from the silent wood, and their course to the

shore were directing ;
Then thus he addressed tliem in words and with accents

reproachful :
' Whoever thou art who thus arm'd art approaching our river,
Go to ! Say, why comest thou ? Move not thence a step

further ;
For this is the region of shadows, of sleep, of night, and of

slumbers ;
To convey living bodies in the Stygian boat is not lawful.' "
A ^neid. vi. 384.

CANTO III.] INFERNO. 31

Thus it is will'd where power exists to do
Whatever is wilFd : have thou no more to say.^'

The woolly cheeks thenceforward quiet grew
Of him^ the pilot of the livid lake/
Whose eyes had flaming wheels that round them
flew.

But they^ the souls who faint and naked quake, 100
Changed colour, and with gnashing teeth broke

forth,
Soon as they heard the cruel words he spake,

In blasphemies against both heaven and earth,
Their kin and kind, the place, the time and stock
Alike of their begetting and their birth.

Then gathering close, they all together flock,
Loudly lamenting, to that evil shore
Which each must pass who fears not God our Rock.

With eyes of burning coal the demon hoar,

Charon, collects them thither, beckoning all; 110
Beating whoever lingers, vrith his oar.^

' Dante's expression is " livida palude ;" Yirgil's, " vada
livida."— /ó?'^. 320.

* " Charon, the tremendous ferryman, horribly squalid,

Guards these waters and rivers ; from whose chin descendeth

A lonsf white beard uncomb'd, his eyes like fires are flaming ;

From his shoulders, tied in a knot, a greasy cloak is hanging.

With a pole he impels the bark, and with sails assists its motion ;

And in the dusky boat wafts over the shades of dead bodies.

Ancient he seems, but old age in a god remains lively and
vic;orous.

32 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO III.

As when the withered leaves in autumn fall/
They one by one from every branch are freed,
Till their last spoils strew earth as mth a pall ;

So, signall'd one by one, the evil seed

Of Adam from that bank themselves throw àowa ;
Even as the bird which at its call will speed.

Thus they depart across the waters bi'own,
And ere they land upon the further side.
New multitudes the shore on this side crown. 120

Hitherward rush'd the whole crowd, spread out on the banks

of the river ;
Mothers and husbands were there, and boys and unmarried

virgins,
And youths placed on the funeral pile before the eyes of their

parents ;
And, lately departed from life, the shades of magnanimous

heroes.
As thick as the leaves that have fallen in the early frosts of

the autumn,
Bestrowing the woods ; or as birds to the laud from the

ocean
Flock together numberless, as soon as the winter compels

them
To pass over the sea, and migrate to countries more sunny :
So stood they praying that they might be first in taking the

voyage.
And stretch'd out their suppliant hands, for the opposite

shore greatly longing. — Ibid. 298.
' Virgil's " lapsa cadunt folia" of the preceding note, and this
passage in Dante, have been imitated in Paradise Lost, i. 302.

" Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks

In Yaiombrosa, where the Etrurian shades

High ove?-arch'd imbower." — Par. Lost, i. 302 — 4.

CANTO III.] INFERNO. 33

" My son," thus spake to me my courteous guide,
" All those who in the wrath of God expire
Assemble here, from every land supplied ;

To pass the river promptly they require.

Justice Divine so spurs them that their fear,
When they arrive, is turn'd to strong desire.^

No good man's spirit ever passes here :
Therefore if Charon did of thee complain.
What his speech meant must now to thee be clear."

When he had spoken thus, the dark champagne 130
So violently trembled that my frame
In thinking of that fright is bathed again

With sweat. The woeful earth a blast of flame
Shot upwards, a vermilion light it blazed :
That sight at once my senses overcame.

And down I fell, as one with slumber seiz'd.

' " The monstrous sight

Struck them with liorror backward, but far worse
Urged them behind : headlong themselves they threw
Down from the verge of heaven." — Par. Lost, vi. 862.

34 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO IV,

CANTO IV.

THE ARGUMENT.

Dante, roused by a peal of thunder from the stupor into which
he had fallen, and following his guide onwards, descends into
the first Circle of Hell, which is the Limbo of the unbap-
tized. There he beholds the great poets, philosophers,
heroes, and heroines of heathen antiquity, together with all
who have died without Cliristian baptism. From hence,
accompanied by Virgil, he proceeds towards the descent
which leads to the second or next inferior circle.

Upon tlie deep sleep in my brain there broke
A crash of thunder ; so that at the sound
I, like one shaken by main force^ awoke.

And glancing now my rested eyes around,
I gazed intently, as upright I rose,
To view the place where now myself I found.

Yes, on that shore I trod which doth enclose
The valley of the dolorous abyss,^
The thunder gathering of unbounded woes.

Obscure, profound, and so beclouded this, 10

^ He had been conveyed thither during his condition of un-
consciousness ; but kow he had passed the river Acheron was a
mystery.

CANTO IV.] INFERNO. 35

That when I doAvnward look'd its depth to see.
All objects of perception there I miss.

" Now then, the bard all pallid said to me,
" Let us descend to that blind world below :
I will go first, and thou my follower be."

I who that change of hue could not but know.
Said, " How shall I hold on if thou dost quake,
Who in my fear couldst comfort once bestow V

" The sufferings of the under-nations make

My face," he answer'd " of the hue it is, 20

Through pity, which thou dost for fear mistake.

Let us proceed : the long way urges this."
Thus he moved on, and I his entrance share
To the first circle that surrounds the abyss :

While, as I listenM I perceived that there
No plaint was made excepting that of sighs.
Which moved to trembling the eternal air;

And these for grief, and not for torment, rise
From the vast multitudes who share that woe,
Men, women, children — every age, sex, size. 30

Then the good master said, " Wouldst thou not know
What are these shades thou seest ? I deem it best
Now to inform thee, ere thou further go,

That these sinnM not ; if merit they possessed,
'Twas not enough, since they no baptism knew,^

^ The doctrine ■n-hich consigns to hell all who happen to die

36 THE TRILOGY. [CAXTO IV.

The portal of that Faith, by thee profess'd.^
They lived before Christ came ; yet worship due
From them, even then, to God they did not give :
With such am I myself partaker too.

unbaptised, must be considered as iuconsisfeut with the Divine
perfections, and opposed to the letter and spirit of the New
Testament. Yet this revolting doctrine was sanctioned by the
general opinion of Christendom in the time of Dante, and long
after, and is still the doctrine taught by the Church of Rome,
as a concomitant of that which ascribes regenerating and justi-
fying grace to the opus operatum of baptism. In the Pylgremage
of the Sowle, written in Erench, about a.d. 1330, translated into
English in 1113, and printed by W. Caxton in 14S3, the pilgrim
is shown by an angel the place in hell, marvellously black and
dark, where those infants are confined who have died without
baptism, fle naturally asks what ends of wisdom or justice
can be answered by such an arrangement ? The angel replies,
" As Seynt John recordeth, he seith, that an innocent deying
without baptym is dampued withouted ende." A very incorrect
quotation. Yet this single passage was supposed to justify the
conclusion which doomed the most innocent, if unbaptised, to the
penalty of eternal darkness and the privation of all joy. In the
Visio7i of Piers Ploughman, written about a.d. 13G2, this proof
is adduced with an air of the greatest triumph. " Ae barne with-
outen bapteme may noght be saved. Nisi quis renatus fuerit.
Loke ye lettred men, Whether I lie or do noght." — 1. 6737 — 43.
The Council of Trent says of infants, " They, unless they be re-
generated unto God through the grace of baptism, whether their
parents be Christian or infidel, are born to eternal misery and
perdition." — Catechism, part i, c. ii, q. 20. Regarding this as the
doctrine of the church, from which he dared not swerve, the
good sense and humanity of the poet, aided by his genius, con-
trived for the unbaptised a kind of paradise in hell !

* Porta della fede, is the reading here adopted, in preference
to parte della fede. The Council of Florence, a.d. 1439, says,

CANTO IV.] INFERNO. 37

For these defects, and for no positive 40

OjBFence, we're lost, and have this only smart,
That still desiring without hope we live."

At hearing this, great sorrow seized my heart.
Because a people of great worth I knew.
Suspended in that Limbo^ had their part.

" Tell me, my master, tell me, teacher true/'
I answered, wishing further ascertained
That faith which every error can subdue,

"Has any e'er by his own merit gain'd,

Or other's, egress hence in bliss to be ?"^ 50

Knowing the covert sense my words convey'd,

" Hither I saw a mighty one,'' said he,

"Arrive — when I in this estate was new —
Crown'd with the sign of recent victory.^

"Holy baptism holds the first place among the sacraments,
because it is the gate {janua) of spiritual life." — Laebe Concilia^
torn. xiii. Decret. Eug. iv. Ad Armen.

* Limbo, from Lat. Limbus, a border.

2 A covert question, its object being to ascertain what benefit
his guide and others had reaped from our Saviour's advent.

^ This refers to our Saviour's descent into Hell, a word which
formerly, like the Latin Iiiferi, the Greek Hades, and the Hebrew
Sheòlt signified the condition and abode of the departed ; where,
it was believed, there were two separate regions, appropriated to
the two great divisions of mankind. In Virgil's description of
this common receptacle of the dead, the Sybil says to JJlneas, —

" This is the place where the way into two is divided ;

The right is the path which conducts to the palace of Pluto ;

38 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO IV,

Forth uitli him our first parent's shade he drew ;

Abel his son's ; and Noah's did he bring ;

Moses the lawgiver; the patriarch too,
Obedient Abraham ; David the good king ;

By tliis we proceed to Elysium : but tlie left one still tendeth
To Tartarus dire, and conducts to the pains of the wicked."

JSneid. vi. 540.
In the Old Testament Jacob says, " I shall go down mourning
to my son to Sheol. And Josephus says that the soul of Samuel
came up (t? ^oow) out of hades. The Jews who believed in the
immortality of the soul, he says, thought that the just are re-
warded and the wicked punished (ùtto xQovo^ tinder the earth, or
{kuQ' ^òov) in hades. Most of the ancient fathers held the same
opinion. It was in this sense that the soul of our divine
Redeemer "descended into hell." — See Pearson on the Creed,
Art. V.

But in the age of Dante the prevalent opinion was that our
Saviour actually visited the place of torment, and released from
thence the souls of the patriarchs and saints. This opinion may
be traced back to the third or fourth century. In the spurious
Gospel ascribed to Nicodenms, a forgery of that age, two of those
who rose at the time of the crucifixion are made to say, " We
were placed with our fathers in the depths of hell, iu the black-
ness of darkness. On a sudden there appeared the colour of the
sun like gold, and a substantial purple-coloured light enlightening
the place. Adam and all the patriarchs rejoiced and said, ' That
is the author of everlasting light, who hath promised to translate
us thither.' Then Isaiah said, 'This is the light of the Father,
the Son of God, according to my prophecy.' " Other speeches
are made by Simeon and John the Baptist. " Then the mighty
Lord appeared and enlightened those places tliat had before been
in darkness, and broke asunder those fetters which before could
not be broken. Death and the devils were in great horror at his
coming. Christ then trampled on death, seized the prince of
hell, and amidst great confusion among the powers of darkness.

CANTO IV,] INFERNO. 39

Israel with sire and sons^ and her he loved/
Rachel^ for him of so much toil the spring. 60

And many more he hence to bliss removed.
I'd have thee know too that ere these, of all
Mankind, no soul salvation ever proved."

While thus conversing we walk'd on withal,

But still within the wood our path Ave find; —
The loood — such I the crowd of spirits call.

Ere yet far from the top our path declined
Within, I saw a fire, which in that place
O'er the whole hemisphere of darkness shined.

took Adam by the hand, and couducted him forth. All the other
saints followed and ascended with Christ to Paradise."

From this apocryphal source, painters, poets, and theologians
have subsequently borrowed. Compare the above with Piers
Ploughman'' s Vision, 1. 3471 — 89. The Trent Catechism says,
" Christ the Lord descended into hell,' that having seized the
spoils of the devil, he might conduct into heaven those holy
fathers, and the other just souls liberated from prison." " Until
he died and rose again, heaven was closed against every child of
Adam." The benefits of Christ's death, however, were shared
by the faithful from the time of the original promise : hence he
is called " the Lamb slaiu from the foundation of the world." And
that the saints and patriarchs were not detained from bliss, and
shut up in darkness, until his actual crucifixion, is proved by
Enoch and Elijah carried up to heaven, Moses and Elias appearing
in glory, and Lazarus carried by the angels into Abraham's
bosom.

' " And Jacob served seven yeare for Rachel ; and they seemed
unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her." — Gen.
sxix. 20.

10 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO IV,

We yet were distant from it some small space, 70
Yet not so far but I could see in part.
Abiding there an honourable race.

" O thou who boldest in honour every art

And science, who are these that have such fame.
Thus from all other shades to dwell apart ?"

And he to me replied ; " Each honom''d name
AVhich echoes through the world of living men.
Hath in high heaven acquired for them the claim

To this advanced degree.-" A voice I then

Heard thus exclaim : " Honour the bard sub-
lime ! 80
His shade which had gone hence returns again."^

The voice was silent, and I saw meantime

Four mighty shades approach, whose looks afford
No note that could with grief or gladness chime.

" Mark him who carries in his hand a sword,"
Said my good Master, towards us as they pass'd,
" The other three precedes he like their lord.

Homer, supreme of poets, there thou hast ;

^ Virgil, having been sent by Beatrice to tlie aid of Dante,
now returns, and is hailed by " four mighty shades," his associates.
The honour given him shows the high esteem in which he was
held by Dante. Of all the Greek poets Homer alone is men-
tioned. He carries in his hand a sword, because his genius
delighted in the description of battles. Longinus likens him in
the Iliad to the sun in the meridian, and in the Odyssey to the
same sun when setting.— On the Sublime, part i. sect. 9.

CANTO IV.] INFERNO. 41

Next Horace^ known in satire to excel ;

Ovdd the third ; and Lucan is the last. 90

The name which with united voice they swell
To sound as mine^ to each of them is due :

They do me honour and therein do well."

Thus that bright school I saw in union true.
Of him the lord of the sublimest song,

Who o^er the others like an eagle flew.

When they had talk'd awhile themselves among.
They turn'd to me with a saluting nod,

A smile then play'd ray master^s face along ;

And so much honour they on me bestowed, 100
That they admit me of their company.

Thus with such wisdom rank'd the sixth I stood.

Then onward to the beacon-light walk'd we.
Talking of things which now I may not name.

Though uttered then with strict propriety.

Now to a noble castle's foot we came.
Seven times with lofty walls encompass'd round ;

And round it also flowed a pleasant stream.

O'er which we passed, as if upon firm ground : [110
Through seven gates entering with the sages there,

We reach'd a meadow with fresh verdure crowned.

W^ith grave slow eyes, the crowds assembled were
In their appearance of great majesty;

And as they talk'd, their words were sweet and rare.

42 THE TRILOGY. [CAXTO IV.

Thus to one side retiring enter'd we
An open place, light, lofty, and serene ;

So that all there Avere visible to me.

There just above, upon the enamell'd green,^
The mighty spirits I could recognise.

Whom I esteem it honour to have seen. 120

Electra,^ lo ! and her companions rise !
^Mongst whom I Hector and iEneas knew ;

And armed Csesar -oith the falcon eyes;^

' Enamels are vitrified substances, -which may be variously
coloured, spread on plates of gold or copper : the face of a watch
is the most familiar example. Enamelling was practised by the
Egyptians, Greeks, and Komans. The art of painting on enamel
is a comparatively modern discovery. By adding to the usual
materials the oxide of copper, green enamel (" verde smalto") is
produced. The figurative use of the term by Dante has been
imitated by Fairfax and Milton : —

"And with his beams enamelled every greene." — ^1^5*0, i. 35.
" O'er the smooth enameli'd green." — Arcades, 2.
'■' One of the Pleiades, or seven daughters of Atlas, king of
Mauritania, so called from Pleione, their mother, one of the
Oceanidae.

" Dardanus, of the Trojan city, the first father and founder,
Sprung, as the Greeks tell us, from Atlas through Electra,
Was driven among the Trojans: — great Atlas, whose shoulder
Sustains the etherial orbs, was the father of Electra."

Virgil, J^neid. viii. ]34.
' Augustus Csesar wished to be thought the son of Apollo.
His eyes were clear and piercing, and his flatterers ascribed to
them a divine irradiation. He was pleased if the person on
whom he fixed his look held his face down, as if dazzled with the
effulgence. " A terrible eye" is ascribed to the Caliph Yathek,

CANTO IV.] INFERNO. 43

Camilla and Penthesilea too •}
The other side old king Latiniis graced/
Whom, with his child Lavinia sat, I \dew.

and au overpowering glance to the late Emperor of Russia,
Nicholas. But it is not wonderful that a strong will, joined with
the consciousness of irresponsible power on the one side, and
abject submission on the other, should produce these effects.
Virgil thus flatters his powerful patron : —

" Hence Augustus Cfesar, leading the Italians to battle,
With senate and people of Rome, and the gods both the house-
hold and greater.
As he stood on the lofty stern, twin flames from his beautiful

temples
Dart forth, aud over his head appears the star paternal."

jEneid. viii. 678.
^ Camilla, queen of the Volsci, daughter of Metabus. In her
infancy her father fled with her from Privernum, fed her with
mare's milk, and brought her up a huntress. She assisted Turnus
against the Trojans, and was treacherously slain by Aruns. —
Mneid. vii. 803, xi. 432. Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons,
eame to assist Priam after the death of Hector. —

"Penthesilea raging leads the host Amazonian,

Armed with crescent shields, and burns for the fight midst a

thousand ;
Under her naked breasts a golden belt having fastened,
Which in warlike fashion appear'd and the virgin with men

dares the combat." — Mneid. i. 490.
- He had promised his daughter and only surviving child,
Lavinia, to Turnus, king of the Rutuli : but the oracles declared
she must marry a foreign prince. On the arrival of iEneas her
father ofi'ered him her hand. Turnus took arms in support of
his own claim, and the contest was decided by the victory of
^neas over his rival, in single combat. Soon after the marriage,
Latinus died, and bequeathed him his kingdom. — Mneid. vii. &c.

44 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO IV.

Lucretia^ Brutus who tlie Tarquin chased^

Cornelia, Julia, Marcia there I see ;^
Saladin, -whom alone apart I traced.^
T\Tien I had raised mine eyes more loftily, 130

I saw the master there of those who know,
Sit midst the philosophic family.^
Him all admire, to him due reverence show.

' The violence offered to Lucretia by Tarquin occasioned Lis
expulsion from Rome, and the abolition of royalty. Cornelia, wife
of T. Gracchus the elder, was the daughter of Scipio Afrieanus,
and preferred being the wife of a Roman citizen to sharing the
throne of Egypt with Ptolemy. Julia, daughter of Julius Csesar
by another Cornelia, was famous for her beauty. Marcia was the
daughter of Cato of Utica. These four women were remarkable
among the Romans for their virtues.

- Salah e' deen Joosef Ebn Eyoob, founder of the Eyoob
dynasty, that ruled Egypt from a.d. 1171 to 1250, is renowned
in the East for his valour, piety, and humanity. He was of Kurd
origin : his uncle had been sent with an army by Noureddin of
Aleppo, to assist the Eatemite Caliph of Egypt against his
domestic foes ; and having overcome them, was made general of
all the Caliph's forces. Saladiu succeeded him in this office, and
on the Caliph's death, seated himself on the throne of Egypt.
He conquered Asia Minor, Tripoli, and Tunis, and put an end to
the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, after it had subsisted
ninety-one years. He made his triumphant entry into the Holy
City, A.D. 1187, and died a.d. 1211. — D'Hekbelot.

^ Ai'istotle, born at Stagyra. Plato was his tutor, and
Alexander the Great, his pupil. During the middle ages, his
writings acquired an immense ascendency, and in the schools of
learning were considered an authority from which there was no
appeal. Melancthon, a great admirer of Aristotle, complains
that his Ethics were read in the churches, instead of the Gospels.

CANTO n.] INFERNO. 45

At Socrates and Plato^ then I glance.

Who next him stand before all others ; lo,
Democritus Avho gave the world to chance;^

Diogenes^ and Anaxagoras"^ stood !

Thales/ Empedocles® we saw advance,

' Petrarch gives Plato the first place among the wise. — Trionfo
della Fama, 3.

- Born at Abdera, b.c. 460 ; he followed Leucippus, and pre-
ceded Epicurus, as an expounder of the atomic philosophy.
Arguing that out of nothing notliing could arise, and that what-
ever exists cannot be annihilated, he contended for the eternity
of the material universe. His system was necessitarian and
atheistic. Among his fellow-citizens he was called VtKaaivoq, " the
Derider," and is known to us as " The Laughing Philosopher."

' The cynic philosopher, son of Hicceus, a money-changer of
Sinope. He practised and inculcated the most rigid abstinence,
the severest self-control, frugality, temperance, and an entire
contempt of pleasure.

* A philosopher of the Ionic school, born at Clazomenae,
B.C. 500, and taught at Athens the existence of a " disposing
Mind, the Cause of all things." He accounted for eclipses, and
asserted the moon to be an opaque body enlightened by the sun,
on which account he was accused of impiety, and condemned
to death. Among his disciples were Socrates, Euripides, and
Pericles : by the influence of the latter, his sentence was with
difficulty changed to that of banishment.

* Born at Miletus, one of the seven wise men of Greece,
founder of the Ionic sect ; was eminent for mathematical and
astronomical science, and for moral and political wisdom.

* A philosopher, poet, and historian of Agrigentum, b.c. 444.
He held the doctrine of transmigration, and was famous for his
learning, humanity, and social virtues. The story of his leaping
into Etna (Hoe. Ars. Foet. 1. 4C5) is rejected by Strabo.

46 THE THILOGY. [CANTO IV.

With Heraclitus/ Zeno/ and the good
Collector;^ Orpheus/ TuUy, Livy there, 140

And Seneca with moral truth imbued :
Euclid^ and Ptolemy^ together were,

^ "The "Weeping Philosopher," born at Ephesus, flourished
about B.C. 503, and founded the Italic School of Philosophy, a
branch of the Pythagorean sect.

" Pounder of the sect of the Stoics — Men of tlie Porch, so
called from the Pcecile, or " painted porch," which being the most
famous portico in Athens, was called by way of distinction,
'H ^Toa, " The Porch." Here Zeno taught. He practised and
inculcated plainness of dress, frugality of living, and a strict
morality.

' Dioscorides, a native of Anazarbus in Cilicia, flourished in the
reign of Nero. He travelled through Greece, Italy, Asia Minor,
and Gaul, collecting plants, and studying their medicinal proper-
ties. He is the great Botanist of Antiquity, and his work " On
the Materia Medica" was regarded for sixteen centuries as the
highest authority on that subject.

* "Orpheus, of the gods the sacred priest and interpreter.
First deterred men from savage slaughters and filthy diet.
On this account reported to have tamed tigers and lions."

HOR. Ars. Poet. 391.

Little is known of him but what is traditional or fabulous,
except that he was an ancient poet of Thrace. — See Vikgil,
Ec. iii. 1. 46, Georg, lib. iv. 454, ^aeid. vi. 119.

' A celebrated mathematician of Alexandria, B.c. 280, pro-
fessor of mathematics under Ptolemy Lagus.

* Claudius Ptolemy, of Alexandria, in the reigns of Hadrian
and Antoninus. He was the prince of ancient astronomers, the
expounder and defender of the system which regarded the earth
as the centre of the celestial motions, and the great geographer
of antiquity.

I

CANTO IV.] INFERNO. 47

Hippocrates,^ Galenus/ Avicen/
Averroès^ the commentator rare.
The full survey of all I cannot pen.

^ A celebrated physician of Cos. He received from the
Athenians a golden crown and the privileges of citizenship, for
his able and successful efforts in mitigating the horrors of a pesti-
lence, in the beginning of tlie Peloponessian war.

^ Claudius Galenus, or Galen, one of the most renowned and
valuable of the ancient medical writers, was born at Pergamos,
A.D. 131. He practised at Rome ; and his authority long re-
mained absolute, and his reputation unbounded, both with Euro-
peans and Arabians. He is said to have been converted from
atheism to the belief of a Divine Creator, by studying the anatomy
of the human frame.

^ Avicenna, in Arabic, Ebn Sina, an Arabian pliilosoplier,
was born in the vicinity of Bokhara, a.u. 992, and died at
Hamadan in 1050. His philosophical, mathematical, and medical
works are very numerous ; but his great work was entitled The
Canon, or Rule of Medicine. Except Aristotle and Galen, his
authority as a philosopher and physician has been longer acknow-
ledged than any other.

■* Ebn Koshd, or Abou-1-Walid ben Ahmed ben Koshd, an
Arabian physician and philosopher of great celebrity, born at
Cordova, a.d. 1149. He made the last and best known of the
Arabian translations of Aristotle, from an older version by
Alsheigi. His translation, and the Latin version made from it,
were long the only medium through which the writings of the
Stagyrite were known. Averroes accompanied the text with
ample commentaries, of which St. Thomas Aquinas and other
schoolmen did not scruple to avail themselves. His system
brought him into coUision with the Mahomedan ecclesiastical
authorities, by whom he was condemned to death, which he only
escaped by an inglorious exile to Morocco, where he died
A.D. 1198.

48 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO IV.

So urged by that long theme I've undertaken,
That words oft fail for what befel me then.
Our company decreased, by four forsaken,

And my sage guide led me another way

From that calm air to one for ever shaken, 150
And to a place I came where shines no ray.

GANTO v.] INFERNO. 49

CANTO V.

THE ARGUMENT.

The poets arrive in the second circle. — At its entrance they find
iliuos, the infernal judge, who cautious Dante on his entering
those regions. — Here he sees the punishment of carnal trans-
gressors, who are perpetually tossed about by whirlwinds
in the dark and troubled air. — Among them he is shown
Semiramis, Helen, Dido, Cleopatra, Paris, Tristan, and
others. — He stays awhile to converse with Francesca di
Rimini, and, through pity at her sad story, falls faiut and
senseless to the ground.

Thus from the highest circle I descended
Even to the second, girdling a less space,
Where much more frequent grief ^svith wail is
blended.

There Minos grinning stands with ghastly face ; '

' Minos, King of Crete, son of Jupiter and Europa, is famed for
liis wisdom, equity, and moderation. Although he reigned con-
siderably more than a thousand years before ihe Christian era, his
laws remained in force till Plato's time, who puts the following
apologue respecting him into the mouth of Socrates. " The wrong
judgments formed of men's characters on earth having been com-
plained of, Jupiter ordained that they should not come on their
trial till after death, and that then they should come unbodied
before a purely spiritual judge. 'With this design,' he said,
' I have appointed my sons, Minos and Rhadamanthus, born in

4

50 THE TRILOGY, [CANTO V.

To scrutinise and judge the faults of men
On entering, and to fix each culprit's place

According as he girds himself. Thus when
The ill-starr'd spirit is before him come.
She all confesses : that stern doomsman then.

To mark what place in hell her sins become, 10
As many times his tail himself winds round
As the degrees down which he wills her doom.

Before him always many souls are found,

And these in turn, as they for judgment go.
Speak, listen, and are hurl'd to that profound.

" O thou that comest to this house of woe,"
To me said Minos, whom with care he eyed.
As for a time he did his task forego,

"Heed how thou com'st — in whom thou dost confide :

Asia, and J^acus, wlio is a native of Europe, to be judges. These
after death shall liold their court in a certain meadow, from which
there is one road leading to Tartarus, the other to the Islands of
the Blessed.' " Virgil says : —

" Nor are those seats without a lot, without a judge appointed ;
Minos the inquisitor shakes his urn, and the crowd of shadows

all silent.
He calleth upon them, their lives and their crimes discerning."

JEneid. vi. 431.

But the theologians, in the ages preceding Dante, had changed
gods into demons, and heroes into monsters. The poet, there-
fore, yielding to the influence of popular opinion, abandoning
Virgil's guidance, has taken his cue from them; depriving "the
just lawgiver" of his urn, and substituting a tail iustead.

CANTO v.] INFERNO. 51

Let not the entrance broad tliy steps betray," ^ 20
"Wherefore this clamonr T' then exclaim'cl my
guide :

" Hinder him not upon his destined "«"ay.

Thus it is will'd where that which will and can
Be done are one : ^ have thou no more to say."

Now notes of lamentation loud began

To make themselves perceived : now I am come
Where wailing strikes me, such as might unman.

A place I came to where all light was dumb/
Which roar'd as when a storm the sea infests,
While warring winds howl their preludium. 30

The infernal tempest here, which never rests,"^
Urging the shades with its fierce rushing leap,

* " Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadetli to destruc-
tion, and many there be which go iu thereat." — Matt. vii. 13.

" Easy enough is the descent to Avernus,
Night and day stand open the gates of the hall of Pluto :
But to retrace one's footsteps, and escape to the upper breezes,
This, this is the task, the toil." — JEmid. vi. 12G.
^ " He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and
among the inhabitants of the earth : none can stay his hand, or
say unto him, What doest thou ? " — Ban. iv. 35.

^ From which light and its influence were excluded. A
Hebraism : thus, " The heavens declare tlie glory of God." — Fs.
xix, 1. "Sun, be dumb (Ql^) in Gibeon, and thou Moon in
the valley of Ajalon." Eng. version, " Stand thou still." Margin,
"Be silent." — Joshua x. 12.

* "A violent tempest from the north swept them away, and the
Knight with them, weeping and lamenting." — St. Patrick's Pur-
gatory., A.D. 1153. RoG. Wendov. i. p. 516.

52 THE TRILOGY. [CAXTO V.

And Avhirling, dashing, grievously molests.

"When they arrive before that ruinous sweep,

There loudly they blaspheme the Power Divine,
With cries and groans, and lamentations deep.

To undergo such punishment malign,

Carnal transgressors, as I learnt, were doom'd,
Who to their appetite the soul resign.

And as the starlings when for winter plumed, 40
In large full troop on wing are seen to move,
So in that blast the evil spirits loom'd.

As they were driven, here, there, below, above.
No cheering gleam of hope they ever know.
That pause or mitigation they shall prove.

As cranes their lays lugubrious chanting go,"

In their long line when towards the horizon verging,
Even thus I saw the shades bewail their woe,

' Towards winter, starlings niigrate in vast numbers to low
and warm countries, or from the uplands to the sea-shore. The
plumage of the starling is black, with rich and varying reflections,
from golden green to deep purple, sprinkled with small triangular
spots like stars. Plinj says (x. 24), " Starlings are accustomed
to fly in flocks, and to wheel round in a kind of globe, all tending
to the centre."

^ A peculiar kind of turn or doubling in the trachea of the
crane gives extraordinary force to its vocal efforts. Cranes fre-
quent marshy places, and are found in Europe, Asia, and America.
Their migrations in spring and autumn (the regularity of which is
alluded to, Jer. viii. 7), are performed high in the air ; yet even
when out of sight, the progress of the flock may be traced by
their loud cries. '

CAXTO v.] INFERNO. 53

Whom furiously the hurricane was urging.

I therefore said, " My teacher, who may he 50
Those peoplewhomthehlack air thus is scourging?"

" The first of those," my guide then answer'd me,
" Concerning whom some tidings thou hast hoped,
An empress reign'd o'er many tongues ; and she

Was by the vice of luxury so corrupt,

That lust was licens'd by the law she made

To clear the blame to which herself had stoop'd.

This is Semiramis, who, as we read.

Gave suck to Ninus, yet his wife became : ^

* Ninus is generally reckoned the first A.ssyrian monarch,
though some ascribe that honour to Belus. Ninus dying, his
wife, Semiramis, took the reins of government, and transmitted
her authority to her sou. She is represented as a woman of great
talents, enterprise, and beauty. " Justin says, that at last, having
indulged a guilty passion for her sou, she was by him put to death.
Some say that she took him for her husband, and, to cover her
infamy, enacted a law, that every one should be at liberty to do
the like." — Landino.

So little certainty is there in the history of Semiramis, that
even as to the date of her reign, authors differ to no less an extent
than 1464 years. Dante, however, has embodied the current
tradition respecting her. He had stated that she made a law to
sanction the licentiousness with which she herself was stained.
What law ? and what instance of licentiousness ? Instead of
telling us, the old reading substitutes a fact entirely irrelevant —
" che succedette Nino" ! a platitude which Dante could scarcely
have penned. "We have therefore ventured, on the authority of
Padre Paolo, Piorentino,in the fourteenth century, and of two MSS.
(Nos. 10,317 and 932) out of nine Codices of the Divina Commedia

54 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO V.

She held the land nOAv by the Soldan^ s^^•ay'd. 60
The next is she, self-slain, whom love o'ercame,

ui the library of the British Museum, to adopt a reading which
differs from that of the printed editions. I am indebted for the
information to H. C. Barlow, Esq., M.D., of Newington Butts,
whose argument, I think, is conclusive in favour of the proposed
reading. Virgil had promised to inform his disciple of that which
to him would be " news" {novelle) respecting the lady indicated ;
but Dante did not want to be informed tiiat Semiramis succeeded
Niuus. " But put the words ' sugger dette,' or their equivalent,
in the place of ' succedette' (which might easily have been substi-
tuted for them), and the unity of the passage is preserved, its
signification explained, confirmed, and strengthened ; the lustful
empress stands forth in alto-relievo, worthy of the hand of the
mighty Florentine, and Dante is rescued from tameness and
tautology."

* The title Soldan, or Soudan, is a corruption of the Arabic
word Sùltàa, which signifies Lord, King, Master. Dante's
reference is to the Memlook Sultan of -Egypt, whose capital was
near the site of the iloman Babylon — the modern Cairo. The
early crusades took place while the Fatemite Caliphs reigned in
Egypt. This dynasty was, in 1171, supplanted by Saladin the
Great (see note. Canto iv, 1. 129), who founded that of the
Eyoobites. This in turn gave place, in 1250, to the Baharite
^lemlooks, who also took possession of Syria. About 1262,
Baybers, also a Memlook, dethroned and slew his master, con-
quered Damascus, defeated the Tartars, put an end to the
Caliphate of Asia, and extended his conquests to the furthest
limits of Armenia. His descendants reigned tiU 1382, and re-
tained possession of Syria as far as the Euphrates, giving great
encouragement to arts and agriculture. The year of Dante's
'Vision,' 1300, was that in which Othman, the founder of the
■Turkish empire, began his reign. Five years after the poet's
decease, that empire only occupied part of Asia Minor, and had
not yet reached the Bosphorus.

CANTO v.] INFERNO. 55

Who to Sichseus' ashes proved untrue •}
Then Cleopatra^ that luxurious dame."
Helen I saw, through whom so evil grew
The times : ^ and I the great Achilles spied,
Whom to his end Love his co-champion drew. ^

^ Dido, or Elissa, daughter of Belus, king of Tyre, and wife
of Sichseus, priest of Hercules. Pygmalion, successor of Belus,
murdered Sicbseus for the sake of his immense wealth. Dido,
and a number of Tyrians, escaped from the tyrant. Driven by a
storm on the African coast, she and her people built first a citadel
and then a city. Among many suitors, larbas, king of Mauritania,
was favoured by her subjects, and threatened war if his wooing
were unsuccessful. To avoid both alternatives of marriage and
war, she built a funeral pile, as if to appease the manes of Sichseus,
to whom she had vowed eternal fidelity. When all was prepared,
she ascended the funeral pile, and stabbed herself in the presence
of her people. By a convenient fiction, Virgil makes her false to
the memory of Sichseus for the sake of iEneas, and the hero of the
^neid equally false to her. The fiction is evident from the
anachronism, Dido having left Phoenicia 247 years after the Trojan
war and the age of iEneas. Ariosto and Petrarch have been more
just to her memory. — Ori. Fur. xxxv. 28 ; Petrarca, Trionfo
della Castità.

^ Whose beauty occasioned all the miseries of the Trojan war,
and the overthrow of the Trojan state.

2 " Che con amore al fine combatteo." Achilles fought wit/i
love — not against, but on the same side ; and thus lost his life.
Having become enamoured with Polyxena, the daughter of Priam,
he offered to become his ally, on condition of receiving her hand
in marriage. Priam consented; but at the nuptial ceremony
Paris, who had concealed himself, treacherously slew Achilles, by
wounding him with an arrow in the heel.

56 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO V.

Paris ^ I saw, and Tristan ; " and beside.

More than a thousand shades he show'd and

namM,
Of those Avho had through Love's betrayal died.

When thus my guide had my attention claim' d, 70
Naming each antique dame and cavalier,
I seem'd quite lost, my heart compassion tamed,

And I exclaim'd, " O poet, svith yon pair
I fain would speak, who close together fly.
And in the blast so delicate appear."

Then he to me : " Thou'lt see them by and by.
Nearer to us ; then by their mutual love
Do thou entreat them, and they will comply."

^ His treacherous abduction of Helen from the court of her
husband, Menelaus, the Spartan king, where he had been hos»
pitablj entertained, was the cause of the Trojan war and the
destruction of his country.

^ Sou of King Meliadas, of Leouois or Lyonesse, a tract
between the Lizard and Land's End, in Cornwall, but long ago
submerged by the sea. His name (like Rachel's Benoni — Son of
my sorrow!) was given him by his mother, when she found her-
self dying in child-birth. He was one of the most famous knights
of King Arthur's Round Table ; but proving false to his uncle,
Marco, King of Cornwall, whose bride, Isotta, he was employed
to bring over from Leland, he was killed with his oAvn lance by
the injured king; whereon Isotta fell on the dead body, and im-
mediately expired. The earliest of the Norman-French romances
of chivalry was that of Tristan de I^onois, written in prose
A.D. 1190, by an anonymous trouveur.

CANTO v.] INFERNO. 57

Soon as upon the eddying wind they move

Toward us, I thus exclaimM : '^ O troubled

shades^ 80

Approach and speak, if none the attempt reprove."

Like doves air-borne that fly where fondness leads,
On wings outspread and firm, to their sweet nest,^
So these, from where the troop of Dido speeds,

Approach'd us, wafted through the air unblest ; ^
Of such avail my gentle speech I found.
"O gracious one," thus they their thoughts expressM^

" Benignant soul, who to this dark profound
Art come, though living, through the lurid air.
To visit us whose blood hath tinged the ground. 90

If nature's King with us in friendship were.
Him w^ould we for thy welfare supplicate.
Since thou hast pitied the dire ills we bear.

What thou shalt please to hear or to relate.
That will we hear or tell thee readily,
While thus the tempest doth its rage abate.

The land where I was bom beside the sea
Is seated, on that shore where Po descends
To dwell with all his followers peacefully.

' Ariosto has copied this comparison, Orland. Fur. c. xlvi.
St. 111.

" " Per 1' aere maligno." Thus Virgil and Ausonius : —
"Sub luce maligna." — Mieid. vi. 270; Ausox. Idyll, vi. 5.

58 THE TKILOGY. [cANTO V.

Love, wliicli the gentle heart soon apprehends/ 100
Enthralled him with my beauty, -svhich from me
Was taken, and even yet the mode offends.^

Love, who insists that love shall mutual be.

Linked me to iiim with charm strong as our fates ;
Even now it leaves me not, as thou dost see.

Love led us to one death : Caina waits^

Him who £0 rudely dealt the mortal blow.^'
In these sad accents she her tale relates.

When these offended souls I heard, so low

I bent, and downward held so long my face, 110

^ The word " gentle" is here used in its ancient sense — noble ;
and as in gentiluomo, gentleman. The sentiment is repeated by
Dante, in his Vita Nuova : —

" Love and a gentle heart are but one thing."

- Some codices read " mondo" instead of " modo," but this
is not sufficient to outweigh the still greater number by which
the usual reading is supported. Besides, the sense would be ren-
dered obscure. " The teorici offends me." What can this mean?
The meaning suggested by certain commentators makes it refer
to her fame and character — of which, indeed, she says nothing :
but she says that her beauty was taken from her in a manner
which yet she could not think of without pain. This seems more
natural than the construction which makes her complain so enig-
matically of the world's censure ; of which, by the bye, she could
know nothing. (See Canto x. 105.) Next to her love, that which
was uppermost in her mind, from first to last, was the ruthless
and sudden slaughter of which she had been the victim.

* That region of hell which Dante has appropriated to the
punishment of those who, after the example of the first murderer,
Cain, have betrayed their own relatives to death. — Inferno, xxxii.

CANTO V.J INFERNO. 59

That Virgil ask'd me, " Why so pensive now ? ■"

To whom I answering said, " Alas ! alas !

That such sweet thoughts, with love that overflow.
Should e'er have brought them to this "^vretched
pass ! "

Then turning once more towards them, sad and slow,
I said, "Francesca, in my pitying eyes
Your sufiPerings have compelFd these tears of woe.

But tell me, in the time of those sweet sighs.
By what and how you were empowered by Love
Your dubious passion first to recognise ?" 120

Then she to me : " The task will painful prove ;
No grief is greater, as your teacher knows,^
Than when in misery our thoughts will rove

Back to the happy time.^ But whence arose
Our hapless love, even from its earliest root.
If thou wouldst know, I will the tale disclose.

As one who speaking weeps the bitter fruit.

' In allusion to tlie commencement of ^neas's narrative to
Dido :—
" Infandum, Regina, jubes reuovare dolorem," &c. — JEneid. ii. 3.

^ " Baptisia. To have been liappy, madam.
Adds to calamity."

Beaumont & Fletchek, lair Maid of the Inn, act i.

"In every reverse of fortune the greatest unhappiness is, to
have been formerly happy and not to be so now. — BoEiHirs,
Be Coiisol. Phil. lib. ii. pr. 4.

"Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy life-time
receivedst thy good things," &.c.—Luke xvi. 25.

60 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO V.

One day we read for pastime^ in romance,

How Lancelot was enthralFd by Love's pursuit ; ^

We were alone, suspecting no mischance; 130

That reading rais'd our eyes once and again,
And made our colour change at every glance.

But one sole moment overcame us, when

That smiling look of beauty, love, and youth,
Is kiss'd by such a lover ; he, too, then —

May we ne'er part — all trembling kiss'd my mouth.
The book, and he who wrote it, both were vile.^

^ Son of King Ban, of Brittany, and one of the knights of
Arthur's Round Table. Trained by the beautiful Vivian, Lady of
the Lake, he was entitled Lancelot of the Lake. The romance
of Lancelot du Lac was written soon after that of Tristan, de
Leonois, and these, together with that of the Saint Greaal, of the
same period, furnished models for all subsequent writers of that
class. Lancelot du Lac was commenced by Christian de Troyes,
but continued, after his death, by Godfrey de Ligny. Its source
may be found in the Romance of Brutus, by Gasse, written ia
1155, who versified therein every rumour and tradition that was
afloat at the time. — Sismondi, Hist. Lit.

■ " Galeotto fu il libro e chi lo scrisse." Galeotto signifies
a galley-slave ; and such persons being usually convicts and
criminals, it may be taken to signify a vile or wicked person, a
wretch. There is also a double meaning here in the employment
of the term ; an allusion to the name of Sir Gallehault, Lord of
Surluse, and one of the knights of the Round Table, who enter-
tained Queen Guenever and Lancelot at his castle during a seven
days' tournament, and, on romantic authority, is accused of having
countenanced their passion. It is obviously absurd to take the
word merely as a proper name; for how could the booli: be a
Gallehault?

CANTO v.] INFERNO. 61

That day we read no farther on, in sooth."
So spake one shade, the other wept meanwhile,^
Whence grief and pity did my senses quell, 1 40

' Francesca was the daughter of Guido di Polenta, Lord of
Ravenna, between whom and the Malatestas, Lords of Rimini,
there had been a long and deadly feud. By the mediation of
some neighbouring princes peace was at length made; and, to
cement the alliance, it was agreed that Malatesta's eldest son
should marry Trancesca. This was Lanciotto, deformed in person
and of disagreeable aspect ; the marriage, tlierefore, was to be by
proxy, as it was thought the lady, who was as high-spirited as she
was liigh-boru and beautiful, would refuse Lanciotto should siie
see him before the celebration of the nuptials. Accordingly,
Paulo, the brother of Lanciotto, came to Ravenna as the ostensible
suitor. He was good-looking, and of attractive manners ; and, as
he crossed the courts of the palace with his retinue, he was pointed
out to Francesca as her future husband. Under the influence of
this foolish and cruel deception, the marriage contract was made.
She travelled to Rimini under the fatal mistake that he who
accompanied her was her spouse, nor was she undeceived till too
late. The imposition was the converse of that practised upon
Jacob, when Leah was substituted for Rachel. The morning
light revealed to the astonished bride Lanciotto instead of Paulo !
The unavoidable conflict which arose in her mind between indig-
nation, grief, and love, she endeavoured to repress, or to conceal ;
and it does not appear that her husband had any suspicion of her
aversion. In her story, as given by Dante, we have the result, in
a simple but affecting and highly-wrought picture of guilty and
unhappy love. Her love was strong as death ; and she declares
that )ier attachment had not ceased, even in hell. With woman-
like tenderness she seeks to relieve her companion from the blame
of any ill design. It was the reading of a love-story that smoothed
their path to ruin. In her narrative there is not a shade of im-
piety or indelicacy. She is woman still, notwithstanding the
greatness of her fall, and the severity of her doom. She curses

62 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO V.

And, gi'owing faiut, as if Avitli mortal toil,
Like a dead body to the ground I fell.

the book and the author tliat occasioned the mischief. A single
line completes the tale and her confusion : —

" Quel giorno più non vi legemmo avaute."

Thus, with downcast looks, she concludes her story ; while her
companion remains at her side in silence and tears. Dante, with-
out daring to ask the manner of her death, overwhelmed with
grief and pity, falls down faint and insensible. The hiatus thus
left, Boccaccio's comment fills up. Lanciotto, iuformed of his
wife's misconduct, but unwilling to believe it, pretending a
journey, privately returns, and is concealed near her chamber,
into which he soon sees Paulo enter by a secret door. Leaving
his ambuscade, he hastens to the chamber door, intending to break
it open ; and Paulo, alarmed by the noise, had time to leave the
chamber by the way he had entered : but the skirt of his garment
was caught by the closing door, or a nail, till Francesca, not aware
of the accident, had admitted her husband. The detection was
instantaneous, and Paido was quickly dragged back into the room,
where Francesca, endeavouring to save him as Lanciotto struck
at him with his dagger, herself received the fatal blow, undesigned,
it is said, by her husband, who, incensed almost to frenzy by this
new disaster, sacrificed Paulo to his resentment by repeated
wounds. Dante had known Francesca when a girl, blooming in
beauty and innocence, under her father's roof. Well might he
feel, therefore, the sympathy which he has described. In his
lingering exile he had found a constant asylum in the very house
where she was born; and there he penned the canto which con-
tains her story — the most deeply pathetic and beautiful in the
whole of the Inferno.

CANTO VI.1 INFERNO. 63

CANTO VI.

THE ARGUMENT.

Ou recovering from the stupor into whicli he had fallen, Dante
finds himself in the tliird circle, where the gluttonous are
punished, lying in the mire beneath an unceasing storm of
rain, hail, and snow, exposed to the fangs of Cerberus, and
stunned by his barking. The poet sees Ciacco, a Florentine,
with whom he converses respecting the factious which dis-
tract their native city. VirgD. and Dante journey on in
converse, till they reach the stairs descending into the next
circle.

My sense returning, whicli had been astounded
With grief and pity for that kindred pair,
Through which my mind was totally confounded.

New torments and new sufferers, wheresoe'er
I move, or turn me, or my vision strain,
On every side before ray eyes appear.

In the tliird circle now I am, of rain

Eternal, cursed, grievous, cold ; — and so
Its mode and quality unchanged remain.

Great hail, discolour'd water, driving snow,^ 10

' " And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt ; and the
rain was poured upon the earth — very grievous — and the hail

64 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO VI.

For ever pouring through the darken'd air.

The land smells putrid from this overflow.^
Here strange, fierce, cruel Cerberus hath his lair •?

From his three throats his dog-like bark is heard

Over the multitudes that flounder there.
Red are his eyes, and greasy black his beard.

His belly large, claws arm his fingers foul ;

He scratches, flays, and tears the ghostly herd.
By the dire shower compelPd, like dogs they
howl;

To shield by turns with either side their form, 20

The wretched impious often turn and roll.
When we were seen by Cerberus, that great

smote all that was iu the field, both mau and beast." — Exod.
ix. 23 — 25.

" On. the opposite promontory of the same hill was such an
intense cold, caused by snow, hail, and raging storms, that I
thought I had never seen anything more torturing than the cold
of that place." — Vision, in Roger of Wendovek, p. 155.

1 " And the land stank." — Exod. viii. 14.

- A dog with three heads, the offspring of Typhonand Echidna,
and, according to the poets, porter of hell. The Egyptians, from
whom the Greeks derived this fable, iu their astronomical tables,
instead of the Greater Bear, had the figui'e of the Hippopotamus,
or " Dog of Typhon," which they also placed before the dwelling
of the Supreme Judge presiding in Amentki (Hell). The name of
Cerberus is from Kptag, Jlesk, and €opa,/ood, or /odder: quasi
Kpta€opog, carnivorous, " the flesh-devourcr."

* The word " worm" is used as synonymous with serpent,

CANTO VI.] INFERNO. 65

With open mouth his tusks he held in view ;
At which no trembling limb of mine held firm.

Stretching his hands, my guide together drew

Some earth, and what with both his fists he seized
He into those voracious gullets threw. ^

As when a greedy dog barks unappeased,

E ut stops when he has seized the morsel thrown,
To swallow which alone he strives Avell-pleased, 30

or dragon (See Canto xxxiv. 108, and note), and is applied to
Cerberus, as the fruit of Echidna's incestuous union with Typhou
her son. The allegory of Death and Sin, in Paradise Lost,
(ii. 650), is an adaptation of the fable of Echidna. Cerberus is
described by Apollodorus as having three heads, a dragon's
tail, and serpents instead of hair. Herodotus relates (iv. 9) as a
Greek fable, that the Scythian monarchs descended from Scythia,
a son of Hercules by the daughter of King Colaxais, who, inha-
biting a cave, resembled in other respects a woman, but her
lower parts were like a serpent.

' " Through these realms vast Cerberus is heard with his bark
three-throated,
There, in an immense cavern opposite, was he lying :
Whose neck, with snakes now bristling, the Sybil observing.
Threw him a cake soporific prepared with fruits and with

honey.
He, rabid with hunger and furious, his three throats wide

opening,
Snatch'd the thrown morsel, and his unwieldy body relaxing,
Eell prostrate on the ground, and through all the vast cavern
extended." — Mieid. vi. 483.
Thus also when Orpheus descended to the Shades to bring back
Eurydice, charmed by his music the Furies listen,

" And gapiug Cerberus holds fast his three mouths."

Geòrgie, iv. 483.
5

66 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO VI.

So from these filthy throats now ceased the tone
With which the demon Cerberus stuns the ear^
So that the souls wish'd they could deaf have
grown.

Kow trampling on the shades laid prostrate there
By that o'erwhelming shower, we onward stray
O'er empty shapes which substances appear.

They all along the earth extended lay,
Excepting one who had risen up to sit.
As soon as he beheld us pass that way.

" Thou who art led through this infernal pit, 40
Me, if thou canst," he said, " now recognise ;
For ere my members perish'd thine were knit."

I answer' d, '' Thy great anguish might suffice,
Perhaps, to chase remembrance ; hence thy face
Seems never to have been before my eyes.

Say, who thou art that in such doleful place
Art suffering, from this elemental strife,
A doom than which, if greater, none's more base."

And he to me ; " Thy city, where so rife

Is envy that the measure fill'druns o'er, 50

Held me her child in that serener life.

Among you Ciacco was the name I bore ■}

' Tliis countryman of Dante was nick-named " Ciacco," which
signifies hog, on account of the extravagant epicurism which liad
reduced him to penury. He was, however, a great wit and a

CAXTO VI.] INFERNO. 67

For my injurious fault of gluttony,

Me, as thou seest, this rain hath wearied sore :

And I am not alone in misery ;

Since a like punishment endure all these,
For a like fault." No further word spake he.

" Ciacco," I then replied, " thy suffering weighs
My spirit so, it makes me weep to hear.
But tell me, if thou know'st, in future days 60

"What fate the parted city's tribes will bear •}

brilliant diner-out ; and continued to be received in the best
Florentine society, for the sake of his facetious and agreeable
conversation. Eiondello, an acquaintance of his, equally fond of
good living, was in dress and manners an exquisite of the first
water. One morning in Lent he -n-as at the fish-market buying
two large lampreys ; Ciacco asked him for whom they were ?
Biondello replied that, having purchased, the evening before,
three much finer ones and a sturgeon for Ser Corso Donati, they
were found not enough, as that gentleman expected company to
dine with him : he had therefore been commissioned to buy two
more, and asked Ciacco if he did not mean to be among the
guests? Ciacco answered, "Yes;" and in due time went: but
though asked to stay and dine, he found that no company was
expected, and that the dinner merely consisted of pulse and dried
fish. Perceiving that a hoax had been played off on him, he
resolved to be even with its author. Meeting Biondello a few
days after, who had already had many a laugh at his expense, he
was asked, how he liked the lampreys ? " Very well," answered
Ciacco, " and iu less than eight days I hope to make you a
suitable return." For the conclusion of the story, see note to
Canto viii. 1. 61.

' Florence. An outrage committed at Pistoia in 1300, the
date of Dante's vision, divided the inhabitants into two factions.

68 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO VI.

Is one there just ; and wherefore may it be
That such fierce discord hath assaulted her V

" After long combat/' then said he to me,

"They ^11 come to bloodshed, and the forest faction^
"Will chase the other with much injury.^

Within three solar years -will come reaction —
This party fall, the other rise again, .
By aid of him now coasting on to action.^

With brows held high long time will it remain, 70
Making the other great oppression bear.
Which they will take with grief and with disdain.*

Biatichi and Neri (Whites and Blacks), and these extending to
Elorence, created there one of the most virulent political schisms
with which that republic was ever afflicted. See note on Canto
xxiv. 1. 143. The history of Elorence, and of the Italian republics
generally, strikingly illustrates tiie fatal consequences of party-
spirit when carried to excess : according to the saying of our
Saviour : " Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to
desolation ; and every city or house divided against itself sbaU
not stand." — Matt. xii. 25.

^ The head of the Bianchi was Yeri de' Cerchi, whose ancient
and opulent family had lately come to Elorence from Acone and
the woody region of the Val di Nievole. Hence Dante calls the
Bianchi " la parte selvaggia."

^ The Neri, at the head of which was Corso Donati, who, though
not wealthy, was of an illustrious family. — See Purgatori/, xxiv. 82.

' Charles of Valois, Count of Provence, and King of Naples,
whom Pope Boniface VIIL, at the solicitation of the Neri, sent, in
1302, to Elorence ; the result of which was the restoration of the
Neri, and the exile of the Bianchi party, including Dante himself.

•• " The most deadly hatred is that which men, exasperated by

CANTO VI.] INFERNO. 69

The just are, two, but both unheeded there.^

Three sparks — pride, em^y, avarice — are, in short.
Those which within all hearts enkindled glare." "

Here ended his deplorable report.

And I to him ; " For my instruction tell

Yet more ; thy further converse would I court.

TegghiaiO; Farinata, who excel ;

Jacopo Rusticùcci,^ Arrigo/ 80

Mosca/ and others, bent on doing well ;

Tell me, where are they ? Pr'ythee, let me know :
For much I long to learn if now they share
Heaven's blissful sweetness, or hell's poisonous
woe."

And he ; " Among the blackest souls they are.
Low plunged for various faults in misery :

proscription and forfeiture, bear to their country." — Hallam,
Middle Ages, vol. i. p. 39.

' Some suppose that Dante and his friend Guido Cavalcanti
are intended : others refer the panegyric to Barduccio and
Giovanni Yespignano, who died in Florence in 1331, and are
eulogized by G. Villani, lib. x, c. 179.

- " Four gledes han we, which I shal devise ;

Avaunting, lying, anger, and covetise.
These fourè sparkès longing unto eld."

Chaucer, Reeves Prologue.
Glede is a Saxon word, signifying a spark, a burning coal.
^ Of these three see Canto x. 1. 36 ; xvi. 41, 41, and the notes.

* Of the noble family of the Fifanti.

* Of Mosca degli liberti, or Lamberti, see Canto xxviii. 106,
and note.

70 THE TRILOGY. [ÓANTO VI.

Them wilt thou see^ if thou descend so far.
But shouldst thou the sweet world revisit, — me
Do thou, I pray thee, there commemorate well.^
I say no more, nor further answer thee.^^ 90

His eyes took then a squint most horrible ;
Awhile he gazed at me, then bow'd his head.
And down among his blind companions fell.
'' No more will he awake," my teacher said,

" Till sounds the archangel's trump, that final

wonder :^
"When comes the hostile Power to judge the dead.
His mournful tomb will each find rent asunder ;
Again resumes her flesh and form the soul.
And hears the eternal doom for ever thunder."
So passed we onward through that mixture foul 100
Of shadows and of showers, with footsteps slow.
Touching though slightly on their future dole.
I said, " Instructer, will their torments grow.
After the last great sentence pass'd on all.
Or be made less, or be severe as now ?"
Then he ; " That scientific truth recall,

' Milton also represents the fallen spirits in the bottomless pit
haunted with an eager though vain desire for renown. — Far. Lost,
vi, 378.

2 " The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised."
— 1 Cor. XV. 52. " The voice of the archangel and the trump of
God."— 1 Thess. iv. 16.

CANTO VI.] INFERNO. 71

That each more perfect grown perceives the more^
Whatever of joy or suffering may befall.

Although this race, to curses given o'er.

To true perfection never may attain, 110

More afterwards awaits it than before. ^^^

We through a winding road our journey sped,
Talking a great deal more than I repeat :
And as we reached a stair that downward led,

There Pluto our arch-enemy we meet.^

' Human nature is less perfect wliile body and soul are sepa-
rated, than it will be after tliey are united at the resurrection, to
be separated no more. Then, according to St. Augustine, the
happiness of the good and the torment of the wicked will be
increased.

^ Sometimes called Dis, presiding over death, funerals, and the
infernal regions. He had no temples ; and only black victims,
especially bulls, were offered in sacrifice to him, their blood being
permitted to sink into the ground. The early Christian fathers,
who conceived that the gods of the lieatheu were devils, natu-
rally regarded " inexorable Pluto king of Shades," as synonymous
with the Great Enemy.

72 THE TRILOGY. [CAXTO VII.

CANTO VII.

TnE AEGUMENT.

At the descent into the fourth circle, Pluto loudly exclaims
against their entrance, but is silenced by Virgil. Here the
Avaricious and the Prodigal are doomed to perpetual conflict
by rolling vast weights at each other, accompanied with
mutual upbraidings. Among these are many popes and
cardinals ; hence Virgil takes occasion to expound the insta-
bility of human greatness, and the power of fortune in the
affairs of men. On descending to the fifth circle, Dante
sees the Wrathful plunged in the miry lake of Styx, and tear-
ing each other in pieces : he also learus that at the bottom
of it the Gloomy and Discontented are punished. Having
walked round a great part of it, the poets arrive at the foot
of a lofty tower.

" Pape Satàn^ Satan, aleppe, heu !"^

^ Strange words and untranslatable, uttered by Pluto in his
amazement at the appearance of a living person. Yet they are
not without a glimpse of meaning, and even of a double meaning.
Papa is a Latin word signifying "Oh! strange!" The com-
mencement of Canto xxxiv. also is taken from a Latin hymn.
And as the present canto brings to view great numbers of clergy
— popes and cardinals — grandees of the Church, we recognise in
Pape Satan, a note of wonder, and at the same time a covert and
punning satire aimed at the Alejph {aleppe) or chief of the Papacy.
See Canto xix. 106.

It is asserted by Benvenuto Celini, a Florentine artist who

CANTO VII.] IKFERXO. 73

Pluto^ exclaimM in accents hoarse and dread.

And that benignant sage who all foreknew.
To reinforce my confidence, thus said ;

" Let not fear harm thee, for no power he hath,"

Which down this rock shall thy descent impede."
Then turning to that swollen lip, he saith,

^' Silence, accursed wolf, thy fury prey

Within, and be thou choked by thy own wrath.
Not causeless through the deep he takes his way. 10

It is so will'd on high, where Michael's sword

died in 1570, that this exclamation was suggested to Dante in a
court of justice in Paris, where he himself heard it in the Great
hall of the Palace. Two gentlemen, who wanted to hear the trial
then going on, were trying to force an entrance at the door, and
the porter was endeavouring to keep them out ; when the judge,
annoyed by the disturbance, exclaimed, "Paix, paix, Satan, allez,
paix!" " Peace, peace, Satan, begone, peace !" Dante may have
heard such an exclamation, if, as it is asserted, he visited Paris
with his friend Giotto. But Biagioli treats this explanation with
contempt.

^ The myth of Pluto probably originated in a mining district ;
and the name was given to him who was the earliest or most
successful in raising the precious metals. The Greek name,
nXowrwv, from ttXovtoq, wealth, and his Latin name of Bis, have
the same siguiiication, and are equivalent to rich. Superintending
the labours of those who dug in the bowels of the earth, he also
came to be regarded as king of the lower world. Dante appro-
priately places the souls of misers and prodigals under his juris-
diction.

^ " Behold I give you power to tread on serpents and scor-
pions, and over all the power of the enemy : and nothing shall by
any means hurt you." — Luke x. 19.

74 THE TRILOGY. [CAXTO VII.

For that abduction proud held vengeful sway."^
As from the Aviud the swelling sails expand.

But fall collapsed when breaks the mast unsound.

So fell that cruel beast prone on the land.
Descending thus within the fourth steep mound,

We still advance along that woeful shore

Which doth the ill of the whole world surround.
Justice of God ! alas ! that hast in store

Such torments new, such plagues as then I
viewed 1^ • 20

And wherefore brings our fault this anguish sore ?^
Even as the wave above Charybdis' flood,*

* The " abduction proud" (" superbo strupo") is generally sup-
posed to be the seduction of the angels by Lucifer, through pride.
But as Pluto takes the allusion so much amiss, may not the rape
of Proserpine also be here glanced at ? All the goddesses having
refused Pluto as a husband, on account of the gloomy character
of his abode, he determined ou obtaining a wife by force, and
accordingly carried off Proserpine, who was exquisitely beautiful,
from the Plain of Enna, in Sicily, where, with her female attend-
ants, she was gathering flowers. — Claudi^m, De Rapiti Proser-
pina. Again, after David had carried off the wife of Uriah, Satan
stirred him up to number the people, for which offence a pesti-
lence was sent. "And David lifted up his eyes and saw the
angel of the Lord having a drawn sword iu his hand stretched out
over Jerusalem." — 1 Chron. xxi. 16.

^ "Who considereth the power of thine anger, and thy wrath
in proportion as it is terrible." — Psalm xc. 11.

* " Piighteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee : yet
let me talk with thee of thy judgments." — Jer. xii. 1.

* A place on the coast of Sicily, opposite another called Scylla

CANTO VII.] INFERNO. 75

Which breaks against the -wave that meets it

there ;
In such a dance whirl'd round^ the wretched

cro^vd^
Whom here I saw more numerous than elsewhere.
They roll'd from side to side, with mighty

howling.
Vast weights by force of breast and effort rare.^

on the coast of Italy, both which often proved fatal to mariners.
They are only dangerous when the current and winds are in oppo-
sition, so that vessels are impelled towards the rocks. — ■
" On the right hand Scylla, on the left insatiate Charybdis,
Lies waiting, and thrice in the deep gulf of the whirlpool
Sucks down the headlong waves, and again in turn ejects them
Lite the air aloft, and strikes the stars with water."

^neid. iii. 420.
But the Scylla and Charybdis of Homer were not in the Straits
of Messina, for the poet says that the ship Argo alone had escaped
them. They were "the blue Symplegades" in the Eosphorus,
near the entrance of the Euxiue, which in that early age were the
terror of navigators.

^ Riddi, wheeled round so as to meet again, as in the dance
called ridda, perhaps from riedere, to return.

" " Some roll a mighty stone." — M7ieid. vi. 616. "And the
unconquerable rock." — Georg, iii. 39. The brevity of the allusion
in Virgil is owing to the subject having been more fully described
by Homer. —

" And truly I saw Sisyphus enduring his grievous punishment,
With both his hands extended a monstrous rock sustaining,
With his hands, indeed, and also with his feet he endeavoured
To urge the stone up to the top, and yet whensoever
At the summit it arrived, from thence it strongly rebounded ;
And again to the ground the vast stone downward came rolling.

76 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO VII.

Struck by tlie encounter, and thence backward
rolling.
Both parties loudly and by turns complain,
" Why hold so fast ?" " Why send it caracol-
ling V 30

Through the dark circle, till they met again.

They on each side pursued their ceaseless round.
Still chaunting loudly their opprobrious strain.

And when they reached the semicircle's bound.
Again they turnM in mutual strife to meet.
And I, whose heart was pierced with grief pro-
found.

Said, " Now, instructer, tell me, I entreat.

What crowd is this ? Were these all clergymen
Who on the left with shaven crowns^ we greet ?"

And he to me ; "They knew no medium when 40
Alive, in spending; so distorted all
AVithout exception in their mental ken.

This their own voice proclaims them as th.ej
brawl.
The two points of the circle reach'd, where they
Through their opposing faults to conflict fall.

But he again urged it up with huge toil, until tlie sweat flowing
Bathed all his limbs, and high o'er his head the dust ascended."

OJyss. xi. 592.
' The clerical tonsure.

CANTO VII.] INFERNO. 11

These once were clergymen^ whose heads display
No covering hair, and popes and cardinals/
In whom unbounded avarice once held sway."

I said, '^ Among this host of criminals,

Some I should recognise with ease, I trow, 50
Who of such vices foul became the thralls."

And he to me ; " Vain thought indulgest thou ;
The sordid life which fouled them heretofore.
Dark to all recognition makes them now.

The two will come to blows for evermore.

' " And Pride slial be pope,

Pryuce of holy chirche,
Coveitise and unkyndenesse
Cardinals hym to lede."

P. PloitghmarCs Vision, 1. 13400.

' St. Bernard in the twelfth century complains — "I wish a
limit were put to our superfluities ! I wish we did not covet,
immeasurably ! " — Be Vit. S. Malachia:. " Even olBces of eccle-
siastical dignity pass into filthy gain, and the work of darkness :
nor in these is the salvation of souls but the extravagance of
wealth sought." " For bishopricks and archdeaconries at this
day they impudently contend, that they may dissipate the revenues
in superfluity and vanity." — In Psalmam Qui habitat. Matthew
Paris, a monk of St. Alban's, in the thirteenth century, says,
" And it is known and learned by multiplied experience that the
pope was ambitious and proud above all mortals, insatiably thirsty
of money, and to all wickedness easy and indulgent for gifts or
promises of reward." — Hist. Major. The same history contains
" An Epistle of the whole of England on the Court of Rome,"
Hen. III., A.D. 1245 ; " The grievances of the Realm of England,"
I2i6 ; and various other testimonies.

78 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO VII.

These from the tomb will rise with fist fast

clencliM,
And those reft of the very hair they wore.

Ill-spending and ill-keeping from them wrench'd
The blissful world, and in this feud arrays,
Which yet no words can paint. How soon is
quench' d, 60

Now mayst thou see, my son, the transient blaze
Of worldly fortune^ and her every boon,
For which mankind at large such turmoU raise.

Kot all the gold that is below the moon,
Or ever has been, could obtain repose
For one of these worn spirits, late or soon."

" Master," I said, " now, pray, to me disclose
What is this Fortune, touch'd on in thy speech,
Whose clutches firm all worldly goods enclose ?"

Then he exclaimM, "O creatures of small reach ! 70
What ignorance your onward path attends !
Now somewhat of her let my maxims teach.

' lu tlie account given of the ceremonies attendant on the con-
secration of Pope Leo X., it is stated that he went to the high altar
of St. Peter's, "preceded by the master of the ceremonies, with a
reed in each hand, to the summit of which was attached a lighted
candle, and to the other a bunch of tow. This oflSccr, kaeeling
before the pope, set fire to the tow, at the same time repeating
the words, Pater sa/icte, sic transit gloria mundi" ["Holy
father, so passeth away the glory of the world."]— Roscoe's I^q
the Tenth, ch. iij.

CANTO VII.] INFERNO. 79

He whose omniscient wisdom all transcends,

Prepared the heavens and gave them those who

guide.
So that each part with each its radiance blends,

Fairly distributing the light supplied.
Thus He ordain'd a general Minister,^
O'er worldly splendours also to preside.

Changing in time the transient blessings there,
Transferred from realm to realm, from race to
race, 80

Beyond prevention of man's wisest care.

One nation rules, and one declines apace,

Following the course marked out by her decrees,
Who like the snake in grass holds occult place.

Compared with hers your wisdom nothing sees.
'Tis hers, providing, judging, to maintain
Her kingdom, like the other deities.

Her changes without pause run on amain.
Necessity compels her to make speed ;
Of those who change require so throngM the
train. 90

And this is she so much rcAaled, indeed,

' Chaucer has copied this passage : —

" The Destinee, Ministre general,

That executeth in the world over al

The purveiance, that God hath sen beforne," &c.

The Ktiiffhles Tale.

80 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO VII,

By those wlio owe her praise^ "withheld amiss ;
Unjust reproach and calumny her meed.

But she is blessed^ and she heeds not this :
Among the other primal creatures blithe
She rolls her orb, exulting in her bliss."^

We'll now descend where greater sufferers writhe :
Each star declines that at our outset rose,
And too long stay denied bids us be lithe.

We crossed the circle to its brink, which shows 100
A bubbling fountain ; down the rocky steep,
By a small self-worn channel thence it floM-s.

Darker than Persian dye" the waters leap,

^ The Greeks and Romans built altars to Fortune. Dante
supposes that each of the celestial spheres is presided over by an
Angelic Intelligence ; or that the nine moveable heavens, accord-
ing to the Ptolemaic and Scholastic systems of philosophy, have
been given in charge to the nine orders of angels, to guide and
control them in their courses; and that, in like manner, this
Earthly Ball has been subjected to the government of an Intelli-
gence, to whom he gives the name of Fortune. A fine poetical
idea; but, strictly speaking, there can be no such thing as fortune or
chance. " Those causes which are called fortuitous, whence also
Fortune receives her name, we do not assert to be non-existent,
but latent ; and we attribute them either to the true God, or to
the will of any spirits whatever : even those which are natural
we do not disjoin from the will of him who is the Author and
Founder of nature."— ^«^. de Civ. Dei, lib. v. cap. ix.

^ Dante speaks of the liquid Persian dye. In his Convito he
says, " Perso is a colour compounded of purple and black, but
the black predominates." In the Prologue to Canterbury Tales,
Chaucer says of the Doctour of Phisike,

" In sajiguin and iu perse he clad was alle."

CANTO VII.] INFERNO. 81

And with the ashy wave we downward came,
And enter'd by an uncouth way the deep.

This dismal rivulet a marsh became.

The bottom reached, expanding at the base
Of the gray baleful hills, and Styx its name.^

I stopp'd, attentively to view the place.

And in that marsh, foul'd with its sediment, 1 10
I saw a crowd all naked, with flushed face.

To fight, not only with their hands, they bent.
But with their head and breast and feet beside ;
And with their teeth each other piecemeal rent.

" Now see, my son," the good instructer, cried,
" The souls of those who were overcome with ire.^
Of this too be thou fully certified.

That crowds beneath the water there suspire.
And make those bubbles on the top appear.
Where'er thou turn'st thine eyes. Fix'd in the
mire, 120

^ A river of Nonacris, in Arcadia, whose waters were unwhole-
some, and, like our Mole, disappeared in the earth at a small
distance from its fountain-head : hence said to be a river of hell. —

"The fates oppose, and the marsh with its hateful billow
Confines, and Styx nine times interfused coerces."
"Thou see'st the deep marsh of Cocytus'Und the Stygian river
By which even the Godhead fears to swear and to deceive."

^neid. vi. 323, 438.

^ " Is not this a cursed vice ? Yes, certes, alas! it benimeth

6

82 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO VII.

They cry, 'We once were sad in the sweet air
Which the bright sun makes gladsome with his

beams,
Carrying the sluggish smoke within us there •}

Now are we vex'd in these black muddy streams.'
This hymn they gurgle in their throat, and spurt ;
One word entire to escape unable seems/'

Thus, that foul pit as with wide sweep we girt,
'Twixt the dry bank and reeking fen^ we pass'd.
Turning our eyes on those who gorged the dirt ;'^

The foot of a high tower we reach'd at last. 130

fro man bis witte and reson, and all bis debonaire lif spirituel,
tliat sliuld kepe bis soule." — Chaucer. Personnes Tale. De Ira.

^ "Accidioso fummo." " After the sinue of wratb, now wol I
speke of the sinne of accidie, or sloutb : for envie blindetb the
herte of a man, and ire troubleth a man, and accidie maketh him
hevy, thoughtful, and wrawe (froward or perverse). Envie and
ire maken bitternesse in herte, which bitterncsse is mother of
accidia, and beuimith (taketh from) him the love of all goodnesse.
Then cometh the sinne that men clepen (call) iarditas, as when a
man is latered, or taryed or (ere) be wol tourue to God : and certes
tliat is a grete folie. He is like him that falleth in the diche, and
wol not arise." — lb. Be Accidia.

^ Mezzo (when pronounced maitso, as distinguished from mezzo,
middle) signifies dead-ripe, and is applied to apples or other
fruit when beginning to rot.

^ Tacitus [De moribus Germ. c. xii), when speaking of the
different punishments inflicted by the ancient Germans, for diffe-
rent offences, says, " The idle, and cowardly, and effeminate are
plunged beneath a hurdle into mire and bog."

CANTO Vili.] INFERNO. 83

CANTO Vili.

THE ARGUMENT.

Two beacon lights, which shine from the tower, are answered by
another from a great distance, and Flegyas arrives with his
boat, into which the poets enter, and are ferried across the
Stygian lake. They are accosted by Filippo Argenti, whose
rage and punishment are described. They arrive at the city
of Dis, which is defended by a deep ditch and walls of glowing
iron : at its gate Virgil confers with the guard of demons,
who retire and shut the gates upon him : he forteUs the
swift approach of one who would forcibly open them.

My tale continuing, I relate_, that ere

We reach' d the basement of the lofty tower.
Our eyes we towards its distant summit rear.

Whence two small flames their sudden brilliance
pour :
Far oS" another signal answering burn'd ;
So far, the eye to see it scarce had power.

And I, to that deep sea of wisdom turn'd,

Ask'd, " What says this ? and what has that

replied ?
Who lights the signal-fires by us discern'd t"^

' In the Agamemnon of Jilscliylus, the watchman who for ten

84 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO VIII.

And tlius he said^ " Now on the filthy tide 10

Thou may^st see that which is expected here,
Unless from thee the marshy vapom's hide

Its prospect.^' Never yet the cord through air
Impell'd the arrow with so swift a flight,
As a light skiff which cleft the water there.

Approaching us, that moment came in sight.
Whose course a solitary pilot steer'd ;
Who cried, "Art thou come hither, felon spright?^'

*' O Flegyas, Flegyas !"^ thus my guide I heard

years had been posted on the roof of the palace at Argos, at
length perceives the signal that proclaims the fall of Troy.
Clytemuestra says, " A fire sending its lucid beam from Ida, one
beacon answering to another, conveyed the tidings hither." She
mentions the intervening stations of the watch-tires — the heights
of Lemnos, Athos, EubcEa, Boeotia, Cithserou, and Arachnseus in
Argohs, which last was in sight of Argos. "Erora thence the
light which derives its birth from the fires on Mount Ida, streams
down on the palaee of the Atridae. Thus according to the commands
they have received, walchmen with beacon-fires on the interven-
ing mountains inform one another, the tidings running from the
first to the last : this, then, is the appointed signal of what I
relate to you, which my lord has announced to me from Troy." —
L 291.

We pen this note within view of an ancient " Beacon,"
which stands on the summit of a hill north-east of Penrith. In
Walkek's History of Penrith, it is stated, that " the beacon was
last lighted in December, 174:5, when the Highlanders were re-
treating through Westmoreland."

^ Phlegyas, king of the Lapithse in Thessaly, son of Mars,
and father of Ixion and Coronis. In revenge for an insult offered
to his daughter* by Apollo, he conducted an army to Delphi, and

CANTO VITI.] INFERNO. 85

Exclaim^ " this time thou criest out in vain : 20

No longer shalt thou have us when we've near'd
Yon shore across the mire/' — As one with pain

Listens, who has been duped by some grand
sleight.

Such anger Flegyas seem'd to entertain.
My guide went down into the bark, whose freight

burued the temple ; for which outrage Apollo slew and placed
him in hell, with a huge stone over his head, for ever threateuiug
to faU.—

" The most wretched Phlegyas solemnly cautions all,
And througli the shades with loud voice bears witness ;
By me admonished, learn to act justly, and do not contemn
the gods." — JEneid. vi. G18.

With due deference to the two poets and their patron, we must
remark, that the evidence in re Phlegyas is ex-parte ; for we have
only that of the prosecutor, who, on his own showing, does
not come into court with clean hands. The testimony of the
prisoner, if construed into a confession, must go for nothing, as
it was given under durance and extorted by pain, yet is quite
general. The admitted provocation, if it does not justify, con-
siderably mitigates the offence. The evidence of the Far-Shooter
must be received with caution, especially in his own cause, for in
poetic and other oracles, as well as in hunting, he was in the
habit of using the long-bow. Whether the case was ever tried
in any court but Ais own, does not clearly appear. If not, this is
another hardship on the accused — and condemned : but if it was,
the decision reflects no credit on the court, whether that of Mars,
the prisoner's father ; of Minos ; or of some ancient Lynch. In
deference to the claims of Poetic Justice, we feel bound to offer
these remarks.

86 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO Vili.

When he had bid me follow^ and my foot
Had stepped within, then only seemM complete.
Soon as my guide and I on board had got.

The antique prow moved off; more deep than

e'er
It had been wont, her keel the waters cut.^ 30
As o'er the stagnant channel we career.
One rose all cover'd with the miry stain,
And cried, " Who art thou, ere thine hour
come here ?"
And I to him, " I come not to remain ;

But thou, thus foul become, thy name impart."
He said, '' Thou seest I'm one who mourn my
pain."
And I to him, " With sorrow and with smart.
Accursed spirit, be it thine to stay :
I know thee well, all filthy as thou art."
He stretched both hands, them on our bark to
lay; 40

My wary master therefore thrust him down.
And said, " There, with the other dogs away !"
And then his arms about mv neck were thrown :

" — It received in ifs hollow

The vast JEneas, with whose weight the boat so fragile
Groau'd, aud through chinks admitted the marsh's water."

^rieid. vi. 412.

CANTO Vili.] INFERNO. 87

He kiss'd my clieek and said, " Indignant soul.
How blest is she once great with such a son.^

He in tlie world had pride beyond control.
But bounty none his memory to adorn :
Hence fury here his shade possesses Avhole.

How many deemM great kings on earth — forlorn
Ere long shall wallow here like hogs in mire/ 50
Leaving their names the prey of horrid scorn.

" Master/^ I said, " it would be joy entire
To see him in this hell-broth^ plunging o'er,
Ere we ourselves shall from the lake retire/'

And he to me ; " Before the infernal shore
Appears in sight thou shalt be gratified :
Such mirth is fitly for thy wish in store.''

Soon after, such rough mockery* I spied

^ An Orieutalism, but not unknown to the classic writers,
" Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou
hast sucked." — Luke xi. 27.

"Blessed are iliey from whom thou hadst thy birth,

And the nurse who gave thee her breasts." — Ovid, Metani, iv.
322.

" " Deeth cam dryvynge after, And al to dust passhed
Kyngès and knyghtès, kaysers and popes."

P. Ploughman's Vision, I. 14124.

" The sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." —
2 Pet. ii. 22.

^ "Broda," broth, and theuce mud, quagmire. Here we have
Sliakspeare's "hell-broth" anticipated. — 2Iacbeth, act iv. sc. 1.

* Strazzio may signify eitlier violent injury, or contemptuous
treatment. Both are evidently here intended.

88 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO VIII.

Made of this fellow by that miry rout,
That God I thank who such a sight supplied. 60
" At Filippo Argenti V all cried out.^

* A Florentine of the Cavieciuli, a branch of the Adimari, a
family of the highest rank. He was a man of violent temper,
and foremost in opposing Dante's recall from exile. To illustrate
his character, we give the conclusion of the story relating to
" Ciacco. See note. Canto vi. 52.

Ciacco, on parting with Biondello, hired a porter, and giving
him a bottle, conducted him to the mansion of the Cavieciuli,
and there pointed out to him Sir Pliilip Argenti, tall, muscular,
strong, proud, irritable, and eccentric beyond most others. Ciacco
said to the porter, " Go to that gentleman with this flask, and say,
' Sir, Biondello has sent me to you, entreating that you will be
pleased to redden this flask with your best claret, as he wishes to
enjoy himself with his cronies.' And be sure to keep out of
his reach, else you will come to harm, and my project fail." The
porter delivered his message, and Argenti, who could ill bear to
be jested ^vith, immediately construed it into an insult. In his
rage he would have seized the porter, who being on his guard
escaped, and having related all to Ciacco was well paid and dis-
missed. Ciacco having found Biondello, asked if he had lately
been at the palace of the Cavieciuli, where, he told him. Sir
Philip was making earnest inquiry after him. Upon this Biondello
set off in that direction, followed by Ciacco at some distance,
watching the event.

Argenti, boiling with indignation, was meditating revenge,
when the unfortunate Biondello accosting him requested to know
his commands ; and the answer he received was a blow in the face.
In vain he demanded the meaning of this outrage. Argenti's
only answer was a second blow ; and having knocked off his cap,
he seized him by the hair, and dragged him along the ground,
exclaiming, " Traitor, thou shalt know what I mean. Dost thou
talk of reddening to me ? Dost thou send about thy crouies to
mc ? Am I a child, that thou thoughtest fit to jest on me ? "

CANTO Vili.] INFERNO. 89

The eccentric Florentine, in spirit sore,

Turn'd on himself his teeth while thus they
shout.
Then him we left, of him I say no more.

Now smote mine ears a lamentation loud ;

Hence with wide opening eyes I gazed before.
And my good guide said, as the waves we ploughed,

" Now to the city named of Dis we come,^

"With its grieved citizens, a mighty crowd.
"Master," I said, "its towers" already loom, 70

There, certes, in the vale I see them well.

While saying tliis, he showered blows which seemed of irou,
smashed his face, rolled him iu the mire, tore his clothes from his
back, and stripped his hair from his head : nor could Bioudello
say one word, nor ask why he did it. A crowd gathering, they
were with difficulty separated ; and after a great many exclamations
and oaths, an explanation was obtained from Sir Philip. The
crowd having heard the message he had received, threw the
blame on the victim, telling him that he ought to have known
that Sir Philip was not a man to be trifled with. In vain did
Biondello declare he had sent no such message : his excuse was
not credited ; and sad and sorrowful he reached his home, to
which he was long obliged to confine himself. He readily guessed
that the author of his misfortune was Ciacco, who on his going
abroad, met him and asked him how he liked the claret of Sir
Philip.? "As well," replied he, "as you liked the lampreys of
Sir Corso." " Remember then," said Ciacco, " that such a
dinner as you procured me, will always be repaid by such wine as
I obtained for you.' " — Decani, ix. 8. As an instance of Sir
Philip's " eccentric " vanity, it is said, that he had his horse
shod with silver, whence his name of Argenti.

^ See Virgil's description. — JEneid. 548 — 572.

' " Meschite :" literally, «tos^aes — the Mohammedan mosques
having minarets like towers, from which, instead of a bell, the

90 THE TRTLOGV, [CANTO VII I.

Yermiliou — as if issuing through the gloom
All fire/' Then on mine ear his answer fell ;

" The eternal fire within makes them appear

All red, as thou behold'st, in this low hell/'
Moated around was that sad region there,

And we arrived within its fosses deep.

The walls, it seemed to me, of iron were ;
Not without making first an ample sweep.

We reach'd a place at which our boatman strong 80

Cried, " Here's the entrance ; from the galley
leap."^
Above the gate more than a thousand throng,

E,ain'd down from heaven, who in fierce anger
said,

" Pray, who is he that dares to walk along
Peathless within the kingdom of the dead ?"^

muezzin calls the people to prayer. Dante compares the towers
of Dis to these minarets. lie places ilohammed and Ali much
lower {Canto xxviii. 31, 32).

' " At length across the river he landed in safety
Both the sybil and poet on the filthy mud and the green
rushes." — Mneid. vi. 415.
' " But come, tell me in turn, what cliances have brought
thee hither
Living? Dost thou come driven by wanderings on the

ocean ?
Or by admonition of the gods ? Or what fortune hath

troubled thee
To visit these sunless realms, and their mansions of misery ?"

Ibid. 531.
" A terrible apparition of ugly demons in derision addressed

CANTO Vili.] INFERNO. 91

And vaj sage master by a sign reveal'd
The wish for private parie within him bred.

Then somewhat they their mighty rage conceaFd,
And said ; " Come thou alone, let him be gone,
Who came with bosom by such daring steeled. 90

Let him retrace his foolish path alone :

Try if he knows ; for thou shalt here remain,
Who him hast through so dark a country shown."

Think, reader, what was then my mental pain.
At what those cursed words to me conveyed.
I thought we never should return again.

" Dear guide, whose more than seven-times-granted
aid
Hath brought me sure defence, and drawn me back
From deepest peril in my path array'd.

Me thus undone," said I " do not forsake : 100

And if our journey onward is denied.
Our backward path with speed we both will take."

And that kind master who had been my guide.
Then said, " Fear not ; for none our passage fit
Can hinder, with such sanction fortified.

the knight : ' Other men,' said they, ' who serve us are content
to wait till they are dead, before they come : but you honour
this company of your masters so much, that you come to us soul
and body whilst you are alive. Are you come to receive punish-
ment for your sins ? " — SL Patrick's Purgatori/ : Roger of
Wendover, a.d. 1153.

92 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO VIII.

Here wait me^ and thy weary spirit knit

With vigour neW;, and feed it with good hope;
For 1^11 not leave thee in the infernal pit."

Thus the kind father left me there to mope_,

And went his way ; while I remain in doubt, 110
As " No " and " Yes " within my fancy cope.

I heard not what he talk\l to them about :

But parleying with them he remained not long,
When back within they rusli'd with headlong
rout.

Closed were the gates too by that hostile throng,
Against my master, who without remaiuM,
And back to me moved with slow steps along.

His eyes were to the earth, his brow maintain^
No more its boldness, and he spoke in sighs.
" Who hath my step from sorrow's home re-
strained ?" 120

And then to me, " Though my resentments
rise.
Despond not thou, for I shall gain the war.
Whatever defence they may within devise.

Not new is this their insolence, by far -^

' This I'efers to our Saviour's descent into hell ; see note on
Canto iv. 1. 53. Adirgli states that these demons displayed on
that occasion, at the outer gate, over which was seen the fatal
inscription, the same insolent resistance which they were display-
ing now. The foUawing is a description of tlie ^unrinsp^ scene,

CANTO Vili.] INFERNO. 93

Once sliown at a less secret gate, thrown "wide ;

And Avhich even yet is found without a bar.
O^er it the fatal writing you espied :

Within, already down the steep, at hand.

Crossing the circles, comes without a guide
One who shall make this place an open land/^ 130

from Piers FhughnarC s Vision, Dr. Whitaker's Edu. 1813. p. 354 ;

which copies the the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus.

'''' Attolite portas priiicipes vestras, elavamini portae eternales,

&c.,
A voys loude in that light to Lucifer seide
Princes of this palys uu do the gates.
For here cometh with coroiiue the kynge of alle glorie.
Then syhede Satan, and seide ;
Ac rys up Ragamoffvn, and reche me alle the barres
Ar we tliorw bryghtnesse be blent : barre we the gates,
Clieke we and clieyne we, and eche chync stoppe,
And thow Astrot hot out, and have oute knaves,
Coltyng and al hus kynne, our catel to save
Brynstou boilauut brenning, out casteth hit
Al hot in here hevedes, that entren in ny the walles
Setteth bowes of brake, a brasene gonnes

And shetteth out shot e ynowh

What lord ert thu quath Lucifer ? a voys a loud seyde,
The lord of myght and of man, that made alle thynges,
Duke of this dymme place, a non undo the gates
That Crist now comen in, the kynges sone of heaven,
And with that breth hell brake, with alle Beliales barres
Tor eny wye other warde, wyde openede ze gates."

94 THE TRILOGY. [CAXTO IX.

CANTO IX.

THE ARGUMENT.

Daute, alarmed by Yirgil's hesitating speech on his return, is
reassured by liis guide, who informs him that he well knows
that road, having travelled it before. — The three Furies ap-
pear on the blazing tower, invoking Medusa to petrify the
poet with her Gorgon look. — Preceded by a whirlwind, an
angel from lieaven arrives, and the gates fly open at his
touch. — The poets enter the city of Dis, and find it full of
burning sepulchres, in which are punished the Heresiarchs
and their followers. — The poets pass onward between the
tombs and the city walls.

That hue Avliich terror on my cheek pourtray'd,
^Vheu backward I beheld my guide return^
Check'd that new fear which his own face display'd.

He stood as one who would by listening learn :
Because to no great distance could our sight
Through the thick fog and darkened air discern.

He then began : " We're sure to win the fight ;
If not — so great a one his aid has profier'd :
How slow seems time till he shall here alight ! "

And I could pla^inly see that thus he cover'd 10

CANTO IX.] INFERNO. 95

"With something else what his heginning meant ;
These last^ so different from the Avords first offer'd.

Yet they no less to fear occasion lent.
For noAv the mutilated words I groupe,
With meaning worse^ perhaps^ than their intent.

" Do any to this bottom ever stoop

In the sad hollow, from the first degree

Of those whose doom is hut a ruin'd hope V

I ask^d this question ; and thus answerM he :

" Rarely do any of us undergo 20

The toilsome journey now commenced by me.

'Tis true, I formerly was here below ;

Compell'd by dire Erictho's magic spell/
Vv^ho made the shades back to their bodies go.

' Virgil, observing Dante's pallor, breaks off the sentence he
had commenced, and restrains the expression of his own fear.
The sentence completed may be supposed, " If not, why was the
journey proposed, and aid promised us by Beatrice ? " Dante's
anxiety is increased by the seeming attempt to withhold from him
a knowledge of the true state of affairs.

^ Erictho was a sorceress of Thessaly, to whom Sextus, the
son of Pompey, came (according to Lucan, who has described her
incantations), to know the event of the impending battle, and his
own fate. — Pharsalia, vi. 507. She takes a yet warm corpse
from the field of battle, evokes a spirit from the shades, with
which she reanimates it. The description reminds us of Saul's
visit to the Witch of Endor, 1 Sam. xxviii. 7- Erictho may have
survived the battle of Pharsalia long enougli to have employed
magical incantations at Virgil's death, twenty-nine years after.
A poetical probability is all that was here necessary.

96 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO IX.

When I in flesh not long had ceased to dwell.
My entrance through yon wall did she procure.
To draw a shade from Judas' round of hell —

The deepest circle and the most obscure,

And furthest from the heaven which circles all :
That I well know the road, rest thou secure. 30

This marsh, which breathes a stench thus prodigal.
Girds round about the city fill'd with mourning;
Nor can we enter without strife its wall.*'

More yet he said, but it has fled ; for turning
Mine eyes they drew me suddenly away
Up to the lofty tower with top all burning.

Where three infernal furies I survey ;

Uprisen at once, and stain' d with blood they

frowTi'd :
In limbs and action feminine were they ;

Their waists with hydras green were girdled
round : 40

Small serpents and cerastes dire were seen,
For hair, about their savage temples bound.

And he, who knew these handmaids of the queen
Of endless lamentation, said to me,
" Mark there the Erinnys, fierce in mind and mien ■}

^ EpivvvQ, contr. from Epivweg, pi. answering to the Latin
Furia, furies : perhaps from tpivwio, to he angry, or tpic, con-
tention. Sophocles lias the following colloquy respecting them
between CEdipu^ and a citizen of Colouos : —

CANTO IX.] INFERNO. 97

This is Megara on the left ; and see

On the right side Alecto stand confest ;
While in the midst appears Tisiphone/'

He ceased; and with her nails each tore her breast,
Smote with her hands, and cried so loud that I, 50
Through apprehension, to the poet pressed.

" Medusa come, so him we'll petrify ! " ^

They shout, as they look down from where they

hover :
" Not ill-avenged for his assault we were

On Theseus!"" — "Turn thee back, thy face well
cover :

Citizen. " In that place the dreadful goddesses.

Daughters of Earth and Night, have their abode.

(Ediptis. What awful name shall I invoke them by ?

Citizen. This people call them the Eumenides,

The all-beholding powers." — (Edipus Col. I. 39.

They are personifications of accusing Conscience and retributive
Justice, employed in punishing the guilty on earth and in Hades. —
See ^SCHYLUS, Eumenides. Virgil has,

" And the livid Eumenides, whose hairs are twisted serpents." —
Georg, iv. 482. And of certain criminals in the infernal regions
he says, that "near them the chief of the Furies shakes her torch
and lifts her voice." — uEneid. vi. 605.

' Of the three Gorgons, only Medusa was mortal. She could
kill or petrify with her looks. Perseus cut off her head and placed
it on Minerva's shield, by the aid of which he had been victorious.
With it he turned into rock the sea-monster to whom Andromeda
had been exposed, and Phineus who opposed his marriage with
her.— LucAN, Phars. ix. 625, 670; Ovid, Met. v. 216.

* Theseus, with his friend Pirithous, descended to the infernal

7

98 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO IX,

If Gorgon show herself, and her thou see,

All hope of thy return above were over." ^
And Avhen my master thus had spoken, he

Tum'd me himself, lest mine own hands should
fail:

Hence Avith his own he also cover'd me. 60

Ye of soimd intellect, beneath a veil

Consider well what your attention craves, —

The doctrine which these mystic strains conceal.
And now there came upon the troubled waves

A loud resounding crash, so full of dread,

regions to carry off Proserpine. Pluto caused them to be seized.
Pirithoiis was placed on bis father Ixion's wheel, and Theseus was
fastened to a huge stone, on which he had sat down to rest himself.
Virgil represents him as suffering eternal punishment in Tartarus.
— JEneid. vi. 617.

Instead of " Mai non vengiammo," some copies read, " Mai
noi" &c. "Badly did we avenge the assault of Theseus."
But this reading scarcely agrees with the " Sedet, (sternumque
sedebit infelix Theseus ;" for surely that may be considered suf-
ficient vengeance. It is not a complaint, but a boast and menace
that the Puries utter in Dante's hearing. According to some
authors, Hercules, when in his twelfth labour he dragged Cerberus
by a chain to upper earth, tore Theseus away from the stone, but
with such violence as to leave a portion of his skin behind ; and
both he and Pirithoiis returned to earth, but not without suffering
the most excruciating torments.

1 " But pallid fear seized me,

Lest far-famed Proserpine from Orcus shouhl send to me
The Gorgonian head of the terrible monster."

y, xi. 632.

CANTO IX.] INFERNO. 99

That both shores trembled which that deluge laves.

Not different from the fiercest whirlwind bred
From the conflicting heats of summer sky,
Which through the forest raging, overhead

Tears off the boughs, beats down, and sweeping
by, 70

Bears them careering forth in dusty pride.
Making the wild beasts and the shepherds fly.

Mine eyes then lea\ing free, thus spake my guide ;
" Now let thy visual nerve direction take
Along that ancient foam, and where abide

The densest fogs." Before the hostile snake
As frogs all hurrying through the water ply.
Till they in mud their crouching ambush make :

Thus of lost souls more than a thousand I

Saw chased by one, Avho at a bound pass'd
through 80

The Stygian river, and with footsteps dry.

The turbid air he from his visage threw.

By his left hand, oft waved before him, riven -^

' " Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may
darkness over all the land of Egypt, even darkness that may
felt."— £ro^. X. 21.

" And through the palpable obscure find out
His uncouth way." — Paradise Lost, ii. 406.

It is sometimes hyperbolically said of a London /off, that you
may " cut it with a knife."

100 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO IX.

That labour seem'd the sole fatigue he knew :

'Twas plain he was a messenger from heaven.
That I should silent stand, and to him bow.
My guide inform'd me by a signal given.

Ah, me ! what noble scorn sat on his brow ! ^
He reaeh'd the gate, which with a slender wand
He open'd, leaving there no hindrance now. 90

" Outcasts of heaven ! '' he said, as he his stand
Sublimely took upon that horrid sill,
" Whence this presumption ? despicable band !

"Wherefore still kick ye thus against His will
Whose faithful purpose none can ever mar.
And which has oft increased your penal ill ?

Ah ! what avails it with the fates to Avar ?

Remember how for this your Cerberus mourn'd,"
While his peel'd throat and maw yet show the
scar."

Then through the filthy road he back returned; 100
To us he spake not, but seem'd inly stirr'd,
As one with urgent far-off charge concerned,

^ " 0 what a deal of scorn looks beautiful ! " — Shakspeare.

- The last of the twelve labours of Hercules, performed at the
command of Eurystheus, was to drag from hell the three-headed
monster Cerberus. He descended by a cave in Mount Tsenarus,
and was permitted by Pluto to release Theseus and Pirithoiis, and
to cari-y off Cerberus, on condition of employing for that purpose
nothing but his own strength. After presenting Cerberus to
Eurystheus, he car/ied him back to his former station in hell.

CANTO IX.] INFERNO. 101

Careless of what before his eyes occurr'd.

And we moved towards the region thus disclosed ;
Secure^ since we those holy words had heard.

We enter'd there, by war no more opposed.
And I, through strong desire within me bred
To view the state by such firm walls inclosed,

When enter'd look'd about, and saw outspread
A spacious plain around me and before, 110

The scene of anguish deep and torments dread.

At Aries, where seems the Rhone to move no more,^
And Pola near Quamaro, whose fair bay
Bounds Italy, and bathes her utmost shore,^

The tombs lie scatter'd o'er the rugged clay ; ^

^ lu Archbishop Turpiii's History of Charlemag/ie and Orlando,
it is related that above 10,000 warriors who fell in the battles of
Ronceval and Garzira were " buried in the plain of Aries."
Ariosto has copied this passage of Dante — Ori. Fur. c. xxsix.
st. 72. This legend is no longer accepted as history; but, as an
illustration of Dante, it is not obsolete.

* An ancient city of Istria, near the Gulf of Quarnaro, or
Carnaro, to which it gives name. It was made the eastern
boundary of Italy by Augustus ; and such it has continued down
to nearly our own times.

^ Ancient burying-places were extra-mural. The law of the
Twelve Tables at Home decreed, "The dead shall neither be
buried nor burned within the city." The usual places of burial
were the fields and suburbs, especially near the highways. Burying
in churches and churchyards, which arose out of the excessive
veneration for the relics of saints and martyrs, did not become
general till about the beginning of the sixth century. After this
it was left to the discretion of the ecclesiastical authorities, and

102 THE TRILOGY, [CAXTO IX.

So here tliey had in every part been made,
Save that far greater horrors these display :
For flames among the sepulchres were spread/
By which all burning, as it seemM, they were,
Like iron in the workman's furnace laid. 120

in many places the practice of extra-mural sepulture continued.
. The aucieut cemetery of the Campus Elysius, -n-ithout the walls of
Aries, exists at present. One part of it is still called Eliscamp,
fiontamiug several tombs ; those of pagans being distinguished by
D. M. {Biis Manibus), and those of Christians by a cross. In this
canto of Dante, however, the infernal burying-place is described
as intra-mural !

1 The northern nations believed that the tombs of their heroes
emitted a kind of lambent flame, which was always visible at night,
and served to guai'd the ashes of the dead, and the arms and
armour, or other treasures, often buried with them. Odin was
supposed to kindle these sacred and wandering fires. In the
Hertarar Saga, one of the northern medieval romances, Tirfing,
the charmed sword which had been forged by the dwarfs, is buried
with Angantyr, whose only daughter, Hervor, determines to ob-
tain it. "Nothing in northern poetry," says Mr. Keightley,
" equals in interest and sublimity the description of her landing
alone in the evening on the island of Sams, where her father and
uncle lay in their sepulchral mounds, and at night ascending to
the tomlis that were enveloped in flame, aud by force of entreaty
obtaining from the reluctant Angantyr the formidable Tyrfing." —
Fahy Mythology, p. 73 ; Mallet's Northern, A>itiquUies, pp. 214,
395, Bohn, 1847.

We find other traces of the above superstition in the tradition
of ever-burning lamps in ancient sepulchres (see Scott's Lay of
the Last 'Sllnstrel, ii. IS, and note) ; and in the Canhywllan Cyrth,
corpse-caudles, or corpse-lights, of Wales, which are supposed to
presage death, and sometimes to precede the corpse to the place
of sepulture.

CANTO IX.] INFERNO. 103

Theii' covers were above them hung iu air ;

And from them issued forth such doleful cries,
'Twas plain the wretched and the lost were there.

I said, as to my guide I turn'd mine eyes ;
" Who, bui'ied here in their sarcophagi,
Reveal their presence by those mournful sighs ? "

" Here," he replied, " the great Heresiarchs lie,^
With all the sects that have their followers been :
More than thou would'st believe these graves
supply.

The tombs with more or less of heat are seen ; 130
And laid within them like with like are classed."
Our path now turning to the right, between

The sufferers and the high battlements we passed.

^ And whom does Dante intend by the great Heresiarchs who
are placed here ? Biagioli, as if intending a special plea on behalf
of the Papacy, answers, "Anus, Pelagius, Luther, and their
followers ! " Dante certainly proved himself to be before his age
in attainments ; not by placing Luther in heU two centuries before
he existed, but by anticipating much of what that great Reformer
more clearly saw, and more effectively taught ! The only names
mentioned by the poet are those of Epicurus, Farinata, the
Umperor Frederidc II., and Pope Anastasius ; besides whom he has
designated Cavalcanti, and CardinalXPaA^ixvix. It is most evident,
therefore, that by the Heresiarchs {gli eresiarchi) and their
followers of every sect, he intended the sects of Infidel Philosophy
and their leaders ; whether purely heathen, or nominally Christian.

104 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO X.

CANTO X.

THE ARGTJMENT.

In continuing their journey amidst the tombs of the Heretics,
Virgil explains to Dante the nature of the punishments there
inflicted. Farinata degli Uberti addresses Dante from one
of the sepulchres. Their conversation is interrupted by
Cavalcante, who anxiously inquires for his son Guido, the
intimate friend of Dante. Farinata predicts the poet's exile,
who is consoled by Virgil's assurance, that^ Beatrice will
hereafter make known to him his course of life.

Now journeying onward througli a narrow track
Between the sufferers and the walls that led.
My master went, and I just at his back.

" O sovereign virtue \" thus to him I said,

"T\Tio at thy will these impious rounds among
Dost lead me ; speak, and on my spirit shed

That light for which so ardently I long.
The people in yon sepulchres who lie,
Can they be seen ? The covers all are hung

Above them now, and yet no guard is nigh.'^ 10
" When from Jehoshaphat again they come,^

' The valley of the Kidron, east of Jerusalem, is called the
valley of Jehoshaphat, Joel iii. 2, 12, which contains a prediction

CANTO X.] INFERNO. 105

Clothed with the bodies they have left on high,
Them," said my master, ''shall these vaults entomb.

With lids all fastened down. This burial plain

Yields Epicurus and his tribe their doom.
By whom the soul is with the body slain.^

Thy question then, and wish, though unreveal'd.

Here from within contentment soon shall gain." "
" Good guide," I answer'd, " I have not conceal'd

From thee my heart, save that my words are
few : 20

This fruit in me thy frequent counsels yield."
" O Tuscan, who alive art passing through

The fiery city, fair in thine address,

of judgment'oii the heathen and the restoration of Israel. The
name signifies " the judgment of the Lord." The opinion which
regards this valley as the scene of the Last Judgment, has ex-
tensively prevailed among Jews, Mohamedans, and Christians, and
was the received opinion in Dante's time. It is expressed in
Piers Ploiighmaris Vision, 1. 12821. The valley was anciently a
burial place, and is still resorted to by devout Hebrews, to die
and lay their bones there.

1 The philosojihy of Epicurus asserted the casual formation and
government of the universe, and the materiality and mortality of
the soul. The allusion may also be to the fatal tendency of this
doctrine on the morals and future condition of mankind. Since
Dante mentions Epicurus and his followers first among those who
occupy the sixth circle, or burying place of hell, this affords
additional proof, that by the Heresiarchs and their followers he
intends disbelievers, infidels, of every age and country.

- Dante asked to see, but secretly wished to converse with,
some of those confined in the sepulchres.

106 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO X.

Here (wilt tliou ?) rest awhile "within my view.

Thou art — for thy soft accents prove no less —
A native of that land of noble fame
Which I perhaps did once too sorely press."

Such were the sounds which on a sudden came
From one of those sarcophagi,^ and I
Press'd near my guide, for fear my heart over-
came. 30

But he exclaimed, " Return ; why dost thou fly?
See Farinata there who now is risen :"~
Him upwards from the waist thou may^st descry."

My eye met his already, while we listen.
As he arose with breast and solemn brow.
Holding in high disdain the infernal prison :^

My leader's prompt and daring hands had now

^ " A lamentable groan was heard from within the sepulchre,
And a voice emitted was borne to mine ears." — JE7ieid. iii. 39.

2 Farinata degli liberti, a noble Florentine, leader of the
Ghibelines when they obtained a signal victory over the Guelfs at
Montaperto, near the river Ai'bia.

^ And well he might, for it was hardly fair
That he, the patriot hero, should be shut
In that obscure and fiery dungeon where,

As Dante says, the blackest souls are put !
Did party-spirit help to send him there ?
A great-soul'd man was Farinata ; but
The poet was a Guelf ; and so, of course,
He damn'd the Ghibelines without remorse.
When the Guelfs split into the two factions of Neri and

CANTO X.] INFERNO. 107

Push'd me among the tombs to him there laid,

And said, " In words compactly clear speak thou/*
As soon as at his coffin's foot I staid, 40

Gazing upon me, with an aspect stern,

" Who, pr'ythee, were thine ancestors ?" he said :
And I related all he wisFd to learn.

Without concealment, eager to obey :

Whereat I saw his eyebrows upward turn.
" Fiercely opposed to me," he» said, " were they.

Foes of my sires and friends, in act and heart ;

Them, therefore, twice o'ercome, I chased away."^
^'If they Avere chased, yet they from every part 50

ReturnM," I said, " each time, despite their foes.

But your allies have not learnt well that art."
Then to our sight a shade beside him rose.

Bianchi, Dante joined the latter, who in some eases coalesced
with the Ghibelines.

"I cannot forgive Dante," says !Mr. Hallam, "for placing this
patriot ' tra l'anime più nere' (Canto vi. 85) in one of the worst
regions of his Inferno. The conversation of the poet with
Tariuata is very fine, and illustrative of Moreutiue history." —
Middle Ayes, vol. i, p. 893, note.

In Dante's defence it has been said, that Farinata denied the
immortality of the soul, and belonged to the philosophical sect of
the Epicureans. No doubt, this is what the poet intended to be
understood : but Tarinata's infidelity must have been veri/ secret
indeed, since Dante himself, when with Ciacco, had no suspicion
of it !— Canto vi. 79.

^ In 124:8, when they were driven out by the aid of Erederick II.,
and in 1260, at Moutaperto.

108 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO X.

Discover'd but as low as to the chiù •}

Upon his knees he rested, I suppose.
He, looking round me, eager seem'd to win

Intelligence if some one else was near ;

But when all quench'd his hope, did thus begin.
Weeping the while ; " If through this dungeon drear

Thou dost through loftiness of genius go.

Where is my son,^ and why is he not here ?" 60
I said, " Not of myself I come below ;

He who there waits conducts me through this
place.

Him haply did your Guido rate but low."
His words and mode of punishment soon chase

My ignorance, and this man^s name supplied :

The fuller answer did my speech embrace.
All suddenly he rose and loudly cried :

" What hast thou said, 'He did ?' lÌA-es he not now?

Is the sweet light then to his eyes denied ?"

^ The soul of Cavalcante Cavalcanti, a uoble rioreutiue of tlie
Guelf party. He is said to have entertained the opinions of
Epicurus, but more secretly than even Farinata ! — Biagioli.

" Guido Cavalcanti, son of Cavalcante, and son-in-law of
Farinata, was an intimate friend of Dante (Fiia Nuova). He
was of a philosophical and elegant turn of mind. " His poems,"
Hailam says, " in the diction and turn of thought, are sometimes
not unworthy of Petrarch." — Middle Ages. He died, either in
exile at Serrazaua, or soon after his return to Florence, December,
1300.

CANTO X.] INFERNO. 109

When he perceived a pause, remarking how 70

Before my answer somewhat I delay 'dj
Supine he fell, nor show'd again his brow.

But that magnanimous foremention'd shade

Changed not his hue, nor stoop'd his side, or head.
While I before his place of suffering stayed.

"And if they had not learnM that art," he said.
The theme continuing of our first discourse,
" That more torments me now than even this bed ;

But how much that same art is worth, perforce
Thou too shalt know, ere fifty times the queen 80
Who governs here^ resumes her brilliant course.

And mayst thou see again the world serene.

As thou shalt say what hath such harshness bred.
As to my race in all your laws is seen,"^

^ The moon : mythologically called Diva iriformis, daughter of
Jupiter and Ceres, distinguished as Luna in Heaven, Diana on
Earth, and Hecate or Proserpine in Hell. Thither Pluto carried
her, in spite of her cries for help. Her mother demanded his
punishment and her release ; but as Proserpine had plucked and
eaten a pomegranate while walking in the Elysian fields (a tradi-
tion of Eve and the forbidden fruit !) Jupiter could only grant
that she should remain but half the year in hell, and spend the
other half with her mother on earth. The astronomical applica-
tion of this myth is obvious; and Earinata's assertion may be
paraphrased, "Not fifty mouths will have passed, before thou
shalt learn by sad experience, the difficulty of returning from exile
to thy native city."

^ Erom every amnesty the liberti had been excepted, and the
bones of the family had been dug up and thrown into the Arno.

110 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO X.

Then I to liim ; " The slaughter thou didst spread
Which tinged the Arbia with a crimson dye/
To such decrees hath in our councils^ led."

He shook his head and answer'd with a sigh ;
" I was not sole, nor moved in that affair
With others without cause to justify : 90

But sole I was amidst that council where

Florence was doomed, while none her fate oppose ;
Yet then her cause I holdly champion'd there."^

^ The Gliibelines, aided by rrederick II., established their
supremacy in Florence. Afterwards, finding their authority
decline through the popularity of the Guelfs, they called in
Manfred king of Naples ; but the attempt being discovered, they
■were driven out, and obliged to take refuge in Siena. Manfred's
forces arriving, under the command of Farinata, they defeated
the Guelfs at the river Arbia with such slaughter that they gave
up the city for lost, and fled to Lucca. — Machiavelli, Hist.
Fiorent. lib. ii.

- Literally, " temple." The Councils were held in the churches
at Florence till the year 1281. — Machiav. Hist. Fior. ii. The
coincidence or analogy between this custom and that of our own
Parliament meeting in St. Stephen's Chapel, cannot but strike
every one.

^ After the victory at Montaperto on the river Arbia, the
Ghibelines, under the command of the Count Giordano, advanced
to Florence and reduced it to obedience. A council of the
Ghibeline cities was convened at Empoli, in which, to secure the
preponderance of the Ghibelines in Tuscany, it was urgently
demanded that Florence should be razed to the ground, and its
people dispersed among the neighbouring towns. When this
resolution was about to be adopted, Farinata rose and indignantly
denounced such an abuse of the victory which he had just gained.
He protested that he loved his country better than his party, and

CANTO X.] INFERNO. Ill

Him then I pray'd ; " As thou would' st wish repose

To thy posterity^ the enigma clear

"Which T^raps my mind, in what thou dost disclose.
Now it appears, if I correctly hear.

That while the future is before you spread,

Things present never in your view appear."
" Like him who is by faulty "sdsion led,^ 100

had incurred so many difficulties and dangers only in the hope of
being restored to it : and he declared his resolution to join the
friends of his country to fight in its defence against its enemies,
rather than consent to its destrucfeion. He was a man of great
courage {Jiuomo di grande animo) says Machiavelli ; and the con-
sideration of his authority put an end to that resolution, and
brought them to concur with him in taking new measures for the
preservation of the city. — Ih. and Sismondi, Ital. Rep. ch. iv,

' " Cli'ha mala luce " "who has a bad light." The expression
being general, it is difficult to decide what particular case the
poet had in view in this comparison. The versions of this passage
differ, but we have not seen any attempt at explanation. The
allusion apparently is to defective sight, arising from the decreased
convexity of the eye through age, which by increasing its focal
distance, obliges us to hold further from us any object in order to
our distinctly seeing it.

But it is not impossible that the allusion may have been to one
of the following cases : — 1. Night, which conceals what is on
earth, but reveals to us the heavenly bodies, at immeasurable
distances. 2. Twilight, or what in Scotland is called gloamiiig,
which is not only deceptive to the sight, but by which, to a dis-
tempered fancy, common objects may be transformed into ghosts
and monsters. 3. A magical illusion, giving a false appearance
to persons or things. Chaucer in his Frankeleines Tale, taken
from Boccaccio, has related an instance. " This species of de-
ception is well known in Scotland as the glamour (deceptio visus),

112 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO X.

We see," he said, " the things that are afar ;

So much of light is still upon us shed
By the Supreme ; but when their shadowy car

Approaches, or an'ives, our knowledge flies :

Unknown to us all human interests are
If new, save what each new report supplies.

Hence thou mayst comprehend, that from the time
Which shuts the future's door our wisdom dies/'-^
Then, as repentant of my heedless crime,

I said, " Pray tell that fallen one, his son 1 10

Doth yet with nature's living chorus chime.
Tell him, though mute before, I did not shun

and was supposed to be a special attribute of the gipsies." — Sir
W. Scott's Lemonology, &e. iv. 4. Or lastly, Dante may have
referred, like Milton, to the Ignis-fatuus or Will-o-th'-wisp.

"A wandering fire,

Which oft, they say, some evil spirit attends.
Hovering and blazing with delusive light.
Misleads the amazed night-wanderer from his way.
To bogs and mire." — Paradise Lost, ix. 634.

We have adopted, but not without hesitation, what seems to
us the preferable interpretation, leaving the reader to choose :
and if we have erred, we are not wilhng to incur the risk of
going further astray by following up the subject ; warned by the
example of the Italian translator of Manfred., who turned " the
wisp on the morass " into "a bundle of straw !"

1 Thus in tlie Odyssey (lib. xi.), Ulysses descends to Hades to
consult Tiresias respecting the future : at the same time, the
Shades of Agamemnon and AchiUes desire to know of Ulysses
the condition of< their surviving sons.

CANTO X.] INFERNO. 113

To answer, but was influenced by the thought
Whose error now thou hast thrown light upon."

My guide recall'd me then, so I besought •
That shade that he would quickly let me know
Who dwelt with him. And I this answer caught :

" More than a thousand here with me lie low :
Here lies the second Frederick inurn'd,^

' The emperor Frederick II., sou of Henry VI., and grandson
of Barbarossa. By his mother Constantia, daughter of William
the Good, king of Sicily, who though a professed nun, had been
obliged to marry the emperor Henry, Frederick was carefully
educated. He possessed extraordinary learning, and understood
all the languages spoken in his dominions — Greek, Latin, German,
Italian, French, and Arabic. Next to Charlemagne, he was the
most distinguished priuce of the middle ages. Though opposed
by rival kings, a turbulent aristocracy, a powerful democracy, an
arrogant hierarchy, and the terrors of excommunication and in-
terdict, he reigned forty years, and held the sceptre to tlie last.
He married lolante, daughter of John of Brienne, king of Jeru-
salem ; and in 1224 founded a university at Naples. He set out
on the Crusade, but the pestilence which raged in his army pre-
vented its prosecution ; and on his return he was excommunicated,
and his kingdom laid under interdict, by Gregory IX. Yet not-
withstanding the death of his wife in child-birth, he set out again
in 122S, and by a treaty with Kamal, sultan of Egypt, acquired
possession of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, with a ten years'
truce, so that this was the most successful of all the Crusades
against the infidels. The Pope, to thwart him, had advised the
patriarcli of Jerusaleui and the three orders of knights to oppose
him in everything; had betrayed his counsels to the sultan, who
gave liira the first notice of the treachery by showing him the
papal correspondence ; had caused his hereditary estates to be
invaded, and placed liis kingdom of Jerusalem under interdict.
Frederick made his public entry into the city, and placed the

8

114 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO X.

The Cardinal/ and — more I may not show." 120

crown on his own head, as no priest would say mass. Ou Palm-
Sunday, 1239, Gregory again thundered against him the sentence
of excommunication, and the next year Frederick entered the
Papal States, and might easily have taken Rome, but was re-
strained by religious considerations. Accused of heresy, he iu
vain submitted his faith to examination ; and Innocent IV. pro-
nounced on him the dreadful anathema, absolving his subjects
i'rom their oaths, and including in the same sentence all who
should dare to obey him. But Frederick shoM'ed that he was still
an emperor : he justified himself to the princes of Europe, and
met in the field of battle the enemies thus incited to attack Jiim.
But his dearest friends and most trusted councillors betrayed
him: his son, like Absalom, rebelled against him; and, like
I)avid, he mourned his death, and desired to die in peace. But
Innocent rejected the most reasonable terms of reconciliation :
again Frederick was victorious, and he would probably have
humbled Innocent, as he had humbled Gregory ; but death termi-
nated his career at Fiorentino, December 13th, 1250, in the
fifty-sixth year of his age, and forty-first of his reign.

He has been represented as a fierce persecutor of tlie Church, a
heretic, and an infidel. We doubt the justice of these charges.
The book ascribed to him, "Of the three impostors," has been
proved by Mosheim and others to be a clumsy forgery, of a date
long subsequent to his time. Matthew Paris, though a monk,
evidently disbelieved most of the stories by which his enemies
endeavoured to blacken his character, and has not only spoken
highly of liim, but asserted that he died remarkably contrite and
humble, after having received absolution. We are far from re-
garding hira as a faultless character ; and our sympathies are more
with the Guelfs than the GhibeJines of those times : but that
Dante should have placed him with the lieresiarchs in hell, only
proves that the great poet was either misinformed of the facts, or
biassed by party spirit ; and that he did not wholly escape the
taint of superstition, so prevalent in his age.

^ Ottaviano Ubaldini, a Florentine, archdeacon and procurator

CANTO X.] INFERNO. 115

He disappear'd ; and I my footsteps turu'd

Towards him, the ancient poet, pondering o'er

That speech from which my adverse fate I learn'd.
My guide moved.on and walking spake once more,

" Why art thou with such new amazement seized?"

And I related Farinata's lore.
" Lay up within thy memory what he phrased,

To thee so adverse/' then that sage did say ;

" And now attend ;" — and he his finger raised —
" When thou shalt be before the gentle ray 130

Of her whose bright and beaming eye sees all,

Then wilt thou know thy life's appointed way.''
Now to the left he turn'd ; and from the wall

We towards the middle of that region went ;

Our sloping path did towards a valley fall.
While even thus high its noisome stench was sent.

of the cluircla of Bologna, made cardinal in 1245, by Innocent IV.,
and died in 1273. He was called, by way of distinction and pre-
eminence, " T/ie Cardinal," on account of his great influence.
Trusted in the most important affairs, he employed his whole au-
thority on behalf of the Ghibeline party. He is reported to have
said, " If there is such a thing as a soul, I have lost mine for the
Ghibeliues." This brings to mind the story of the Cardinal
de la Roche Guyon, a celebrated epicure, and his confessor.
When taken ill, the cardinal exclaimed, " AA, mon ami ! je sens
les tourmens de Venfer ! " (" Ah, my friend ! I feel the torments
of hell! ") To which the confessor's reply was, " Qiioi! déjà/"'
("What 1 already ? ") The anecdote has also been related of the
Cardinal de Retz and his physician.

116 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XI.

C A N T O X I.

THE AKGUMENT.

Dante, Laving reached the verge of a rocky precipice overlooking
the seventh circle, is annoyed by the stench exhaled from
below. Hetreating for shelter behind a lofty tomb, he reads
thereon the epitaph of Pope Anastasius. The poets pausing
to inure themselves to the foul atmosphere, Virgil takes the
opportunity of explaining to Dante the divisions and
arrangements of the remaining circles. The poet having
mentioned some doubts, they are cleared up by his guide ;
after which the two proceed in company to the top of the
path which leads down to the seventh circle.

Upon the utmost verge of a high shore

Which girds the deep with craggy rocks hung

over,
We came where fiercer torments are in store ;

And there such horrible excess discover

Of stench which that profound abyss up-threw/
Backward we turnM, retreating to the cover

' The stench arising from the next or seventh circle, where
murderers are steeped in blood.

" 0, my offence is rank ; it smells to heaven ;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,
A brother's murder ! " — Hamlet, iii. 3.

CANTO XI.] INFERNO. 117

Of a high tomb, where I a writing view,

Which said ; " Pope Anastasius here I keep,^
And him Photinus from the right way drew.^'"

" ^Tis fit we pause ere we descend the steep ; 10

' Dante has been accused of confounding this pope with the
emperor of that name, so as to relieve the secular potentate at the
expense of the pontiff. We do not believe him to have been
capable of such injustice. It is true, the Greek Emperor Anastasius,
who reigned from a.d. 492 to 518, a period comprehending the
pontificate of Anastasius II., lias been accused of Mauicheism ;
but this may have been a calumny of his enemies, on account of
his not acceding to the terms on which a union of the Eastern
and Western Churches was proposed. (See Du Pin, Church
Histori/, cent, vi., eh. iii.) Pope Anastasius II., on the other
hand, laboured to terminate tlie separation between the two
churches. He was a native of Rome, elected pope in 496. He
wrote a congratulatory letter to Clovis on his conversion to
Christianity, prohibited the combats with wild beasts in the pubHc
shows, and died in 498. The grounds of the charge here made
against him do not appear; and both Baronius and Bellarmine
deny its justice. It therefore seems that, by placing him in hell,
Dante would intimate his hostility to the office itself, and his
opinion that by the end of the fifth century the corruptions of
the Papacy had entitled its head, thus drawn from the right way,
to be entombed magnificently with the great heresiarchs in hell.

2 Photinus was a native of Cappadocia, and Bishop of Sirmich.
He had been a disciple of Marcellus, who was accused of
Sabellianism. Photinus denied that the Word is a distinct person
from the Father, and that the term Son of God is applicable to
Christ before his human birth. This error was condemned by the
Eastern Bishops in a Council at Antioch, a.d. 345, and by those
of the West in the Council of Milan, in 346. Photinus was
banished under the Emperor Julian, and again under Valentinian.
He died in Galatia, a.d. 376. — Du Pin, Hist, of Church, cent,
iv. eh. iii. ; cent. v. ch. vi.

118 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XI.

Then first our sense^ to this dire breath imired
Somewhat, will hear it with disgust less deep/^

So spake my guide ; and I, " Be it secured
By some amends^ that time shall not be lost."
And he, " Por that I care, be thou assured.

My son, Avithin these rocks which we almost

Have touched,'^ he then began, "are circlets three,
Descending by degrees, like those we've crossed;

All with accursed spirits fill'd; but thee

That the mere sight hereafter may suffice, 20
List how and wherefore they in durance be.

Of every vice which makes heaven's anger rise.
The end is injury ; such end, 'tis shown.
By force or fraud another's bane supplies.

But fraud, an ill peculiarly man's own.

Displeases God the most, hence loAver fall
The fraudful, and with deeper anguish groan. ^

And. first the violent have this circle — all :

But since force may be done to persons three.
Three rounds divide it, each with severing wall. 30

To God, himself, his neighbour — man may be
Unjust through force, — to them or theirs, I say;

^ " That wliicli is true, simple, and sincere, is best adapted to
human nature." "Since injury may be done in two ways, by
fraud or violence, fraud seems as if it were fox-like, violence the
property of a lion : but fraud is the most hateful." — Cic, De
Officiis^ lib. i., cap^ 13 and 23.

CANTO XI.] INFERNO. 119

As you shall hear me prove convincingly.

By violence, or treacherous wounds, men slay
Their neighbour ; or his property destroy
By wasting, arson, or injurious prey :

Hence homicides, and he who smites to annoy.
Spoilers and robbers all in different bands.
The first round holds, its torments to employ.

A man may on himself lay violent hands, 40

And on his goods ; hence in the second round ;
Fitly with fruitless penitence he stands.

Those who deprive themselves of life, confound
Their goods by waste or gambling, or lament
When they have cause for joy, in this are found.

Force to the Deity may man present

With heart profane, or blasphemies express.
Despising nature and her bounty sent :

Thus doth the lower round its seal impress

On Sodom and Cahors,^ and all who speak 50
Of God with inward scorn and wilfulness.

Fraud, which its bite will on each conscience wreak,

^ These two cities are mentioned as examples and types of their
respective sins. Cahors, a city of Guieune, had long been re-
garded as infamous for usury. In the thirteenth century the
money-lenders of England were called Cahorsians, because the
first who carried on that business here were from Cahors. Matthew
Paris complains most grievously of their extortion and rapacity. —
Eist. Major, a.d. 1235. Boccaccio says that in Florence the word
Caorsino was used synonymously with usuario, usurer.

120 THE TRILOGY, [CANTO XI.

A man on those may practice who confide^
And those whose confidence he does not seek.

This last-named method seems but to divide
The single band of love which nature plights :
Hence in the circle next to this reside

Hypocrisy, and flattery, magic rites,
Falsehood and robbery, simony unjust.
Procurers, cozeners, and such filthy sprights. 60

But by the other mode that love is lost

"W'hich nature makes, and what may after be
Therewith conjoined, creating special trust :

Whence in the lesser circle, where thou'lt see
O^er the world's ceutre gloomy Dis resides,
Each traitor is consumed eternally.

Then said I, " Master, thy discourse provides
Clear information, and distinctly shows
This dungeon and the people whom it hides.

But tell me; those whom the rank marsh o'erflows,70
Swept by the wind, beat by the showers that fall,
And those who meet with rasping tongue as foes ;

Wherefore within the city's red-hot wall

Are they not punish'd, if God's wrath they bear ?
If not, why are 'they in such plight at all?"

And thus he answer'd ; " Wherefore wanders there
So far beyond its wont thy mind withal ?
Or at what meaning aimèst thou elsewhere ?

CANTO XI.] INFERNO. 121

Dost tliou forget thine ' Ethics ' ?^ Pray recall
How those three dispositions thou hast had 80
Therein explain' d^ which heaven forbids to all ;

Incontinence, and malice, and the mad
Brutality ; and how incontinence
Offends God less, nor brings reproach so sad.

If thou this judgment weigh with thy good sense.
Remembering who they are without the Avails,
Condemned above to useless penitence,

Thou'lt clearly see why from these felon thralls
Justice Divine has sever'd them, and why
Less provocation for less vengeance calls." 90

" O Sun, that healest every troubled eye.

Such joy I feel when thou my doubts dost solve,
That they not less than knowledge gratify.

Yet backward for a while," I said, " revolve
What thou hast said, how usury offends
Celestial bounty, and that doubt resolve."

He said, " Philosophy, when one attends.
Points out, not merely in a single part.
How Nature takes her course and shapes her ends

From Intellect Divine, and from its art. 100

'' The Eihics of Aristotle. The passage referred to is, " Respect-
ing morals, there are three sorts of tilings to be avoided, malice,
incontinence, and brutishness." — Ethic. Nichomach, lib. vii. c. 1.

123 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO XI.

If thou thy ' Physics ' read attentively/
This truth, ere many a page, it Avill impart.
That Art, far as it hath ability,

But follows Nature Avith a pupil's pace;
Thus must your Art, as 't were, God's grandchild
be.

. By these two, if thou Genesis retrace,"

From the beginning it was meet for man,
To guard his life and benefit his race.

But since the usurer takes another plan,

Nature herself and Nature's followers, lo, 110
He scorns ; of other hope the partizan.^

' The Flvjsics of Aristotle, lib. ii. cap. 2. " Art imitates
Nature."

^ "And God blessed tliera, and God said unto them, Be fruitful
and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it : and have
dominion over the fish of the sea, an.d over the fowl of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." — Gen.
i. 28. "And the Lord God took the man and put him into the
Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." — ii. 15. "In the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the
ground." — iii. 19.

2 The sin of " usury," so severely denounced in sacred Scripture,
is that of the unfeeling and inhuman creditor, and of him win.
takes unfair advantage of other people's necessities. Where
lawful interest for the use of money is intended, the word is also
employed. " Thou oughtest to have put my money to the ex-
changers, that at my coming I might receive mine own with
nsury." Dante's political economy, like his astronomy, may be
considered somewhat obsolete ; but no discoveries in science, no

CANTO XI.] INFERNO. 123

But follow me, for now I Avisli to go ;

The Fishes mounting o'er the horizon glide,
O'er the north-west the Northern Wain sinks low/

And there our path descends the rocky side."

improvement in the commercial systems of nations, can supersede
the principles of equity and justice, which are eternal in their
obligation and unchangeable in their importance.

* The constellation Pisces and Ursa Major are on opposite
meridians : and as the sun was in Aries at tlie time of the vision,
it follows that when Pisces was rising, and Ursa Major (" the
Northern Wain"), which never sets, was over the north-west, it
was within two hours of sunrise.

124 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO XII.

CANTO XI I.

TUE AEGU3IENT.

On the brink of the precipice lies the Minotaur, whom Yirgil
rouses by sarcasm and paralyses with rage, enabling Dante
meanwhile to gain the descent, over which by a rugged path-
way they enter the seventh circle. In its first round, those
who have injured their fellow-creatures by violence stand, at
different levels according to the degree of their guilt, in a
river of boiling blood. On the bank the Centaurs run to
and fro, transfixing with arrows any who emerge too far.
They oppose the progress of the poets, but Chiron, their
chief, appeased by Virgil, sends Nessus to show them the
ford and carry Dante over it. Nessus points out several
tyrants and robbers who are suffering there.

The place ^ras wild and sucli the object there,
Where o'er the steep the pathway downward bent,
To which we came, in every aspect drear.

As is that ruin on this side of Trent/

Which struck in flank the Adige from above,
By earthquake, or for want of buttress, rent,

' The side of Trent nearest Italy. The hill of Monte Barco,
between Treves and Trent, having been shaken by an earthquake,
or undermined by the river Adige, parted in the middle, and, one
part falling across the river, turned it for a time from its usual
channel.

CANTO X.II.] INFERNO. 125

When from the mountain-top ^tvras seen to move.
The shiver'd rock so heap'd the plain that day,
That one above thereby some path might prove.

Such our descent of that deep rocky way ; 10

And o'er the brink of the disrupted road
The infamy of Crete extended lay/

The simulated heifer's monstrous brood.
Himself he bit on seeing us advance,
Like one who feels of inward rage the goad.

Then my sage leader cried to him, '' Perchance
Thou think'st the Duke of Athens now is here,
"Whose arm on earth quell'd thy exorbitance.^

Away, thou brate, this man doth not appear

Conducted hither by thy sister's arts, 20

But to behold your penalties severe.^'

Like to a bull that desperately darts.

When he hath just received the mortal blow,^

' The Minotaur, half man, half bull : described by Virgil,
uFjneid. vi. 24, 30.

^ Theseus, the son of JEgeus king of Athens, rescued his
country from the ignominious tribute of seven noble youths and
seven virgins, exacted annually by the Cretan monarch, for the
murder of his son Androgens by the Athenians, and given to be
devoured by the Minotaur. Ariadne, the king's daughter, ad-
miring the manly beauty of Theseus, gave him a clue which guided
him through the labyrinth, where, after having killed the monster,
it brought him safely back. — Plutakch, Theseus ; Ovid. 2Te(am.
viii. 130.

^ " As when a strong young man, the sharp axe wielding.

126 THE TRILOGY. [CAMO XII.

That cannot walk^ but this and that way starts ;

The Minotaur I now saw plunging so.

That sage exclaim'd/'Run to the passage straight;
And while he rages thus, descend below.'^

So by those broken rocks we from that height
Now downward made our way : beneath my tread
They often shook, with that unusual weight. 30

I musing went : " Perhaps thy thoughts," he said,
Are of this ruin'd steep, thus guarded by
The brutal anger now by me struck dead.

Now therefore know, that formerly when I
Descended hither to the lower hell.
This rock had not yet fallen from on high.

Not long before (if I distinguish well)

He came who carried ofiP the mighty prey

Of Dis from that first round; the deep foul dell

Through all its confines trembled so that day, 40
The universe, as I conjecture, yearn'd
In loving sympathy ;^ whereby, some say,

Smitetli beliiud the ears a bullock of the pasture,
Through skin aud muscle cleaving; he leaping forward
falletk." — Homer, Iliad, xvii. 522.
' See Canto iv. 1. 54, note. " Xow from the sixth hour there

was darkness over all the laud unto the ninth hour And the

veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom,
and the earth did quake, aud the rocks rent, aud the graves were
opened." — Matt, xxvli. 45, 51, 52. In the valley of the Arno
this event is still, traditionally referred to, to account for the

CANTO Xll,] INFERNO. 127

The Avorld has oft Ì3een into Chaos turn'd.^

And in that moment here, and more elsewhere,
This old precipitous rock was overturn'd.

But fix thine eyes upon yon valley, where

The river of blood approacheth us, which hath
All who by force hurt others, boiling there.^

0 blind cupidity ! O foolish wrath !

By which in this life we are goaded so, 50

And then for ever plunged in such dire bath.

1 saw an ample foss curved like a bow,

As that whole plain it stretch'd out to embrace.
For so my courteous guide had let me know.
And there between it and the steep rock^s base,
Centaurs in file and armM with arroAvs hied.
As they on earth were won I, to urge the chase. ^

fissures of the rocks. Addison saw " at Cajeta the rock of marble
said to have been cleft by an earthquake at our Saviour's death.
There is written over the chapel door that leads into the crack,
' Ecce terrse motus factus est magnus.' " In the Holy Land we
find the same tradition.

' A singular anticipation of Cuvier's Theory of the Earth ; said
to have been the opinion of Eaipedocles.

- A similar punishment is assigned to homicides in the Vision
of Albericus, sect. 7.

' Some derive the name from kivtZv rav^ovg, goading hulls;
because the Clentaurs hunted wild bulls, &c. Homer says nothing
of tlieir equine form, which must therefore be considered a myth
of later invention. Lucian describes a picture by Zeuxis, who
flourislied about b.c. 468, of a female Centaur suckling her twins,
one held in her arms at the breast, the other sucking like a colt !

128 THE TRILOGY. [cAXTO XII.

Each made a halt^ when our descent they spied ;

She appears with the body and limbs of a beautiful Thessalian
mare, unbroken and unused to the saddle ; the upper part that of
a woman of exquisite beauty, except that the ears are those of a
Satyr. The uniou is so managed that you scarcely perceive where
one animal form blends into the other. The male Centaur looks
down from a rock, but is only half visible, his aspect formidable,
his hair tossed in wild confusion ; and he appears rough, shaggy,
and savage, though smiling — an untamed child of the desert.

Egypt has always been famed for her horses. When the first
Egyptians who colonized Greece had lauded in Thessaly, they ap-
peared on horseback, and the terrified inhabitants fled, imagining
that they were about to be attacked by monsters half man half
horse. It is said, that on the discovery of America by the
Spaniards, many of the natives made a similar mistake. It is
natural to ascribe the fable of the Centaurs to some such origin.
But a second explanation is offered. The Thessalians were the
first Greeks who employed cavalry, in a couutry where the horse
was comparatively unknown; and their subjugation of this noble
animal was so complete as to excite amazement, and gave birth to
metaphor and allegory, like that of Shakspeare, who makes the
King, in Hamlet, say of Lamord,

" He grew unto his seat ;
And to such wondrous doing brought his horse.
As he had been incorpsed and demi-naturcd
With the brave beast." — Hamlet, act iv. sc. 7.
Virgil thus alludes to these fabulous creatures : —

" Bacchus gave occasion for the offence : and he subdued
In death tlie famous Centaurs, Bhcetus and Pholus
x\nd great Hylaeus — threatening over the bowl the Lapithte."

Geòrgie, ii. 455.
Of the entrance into Hell, among other monstrous forms, he says,

" The Centaurs stable at the doors." — Jineid. vi. 486.
And in JEneicl. vii. 674, in allusion to tlie myth of their having
sprung from Ixion's embrace of the cloud instead of Juno, he
calls them nuhigenee^ "cloud-born."

CANTO XII.] INFERNO. 129

And from the troop three issued forth, withboAvs

And arrows first selected; then one cried 60

Thus, from afar addressing us ; " What "noes

Come ye to suffer who descend this coast ?

Speak — thence; or from this bow the arrow goes."
My master said to him, " We will accost

With our fit answer Chiron, there at hand.^

Quick was thy temper always to thy cost."
Then whispering me, ''See Nessus foremost stand,"

AVho for the lovely Dejanira died.

But had the vengeance he himself had plann'd.
The midmost, whose own breast by him is eyed, 70

Is the great Chiron who Achilles train'd ;

* A Centaur famous for Lis knowledge of music, medicine, and
archery. He instructed Achilles, iEsculapius, Hercules, &c.
Euripides describes him as a most pious man {Iph. in Aulid. 926).
He was accidentally wounded in the knee with a poisoned arrow,
by Hercules, when in pursuit of the Centaurs. Hercules flew to
his assistance, but the wound was incurable. He was placed by
Jupiter among the constellations, under the name of Sagittarius.

^ He offered violence to Dejanira, whom Hercules had entrusted
to his care, with orders to carry her across the river Evenus.
Hercules saw from the opposite shore the distress of his wife, and
let fly a poisoned arrow, which pierced the Centaur to the heart.
Nessus, as he expired, gave the tunic which he wore to Dejanira,
assuring her that from the poisoned blood which had stained it, it
had received the power of recovering the affections of a strayed
husband. Of this she afterwards made a present to Hercules, to
whom, on his putting it on, it proved fatal. — Sophocles, Trach.
464; Ovid. 2l/f^. ix. 1.

9

130 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XII.

Pholus the next, so full of angry pride.^
Around tlie foss move thousands unrestraint,

Shooting each soul that from the blood in view

Leaps higher than is for its fault ordain'd."
"We to those savage swift ones nearer drew,

And Chiron took a shaft, and put his beard

Back ivith the notch, and o'er his cheek-bone
threw.
And he, Avhen thus he his great mouth had bared,

Said to his mates ; " Know you that he whose
tread 80

Is hindmost moves what his feet touch ? So fared
Never before the footsteps of the dead."^

* He hospitably entertained Hercules in his expedition against
the Erimanthean boar, but refused him wine, since thatiwhich he
had belonged to the other Centaurs. Hercules immediately set
the cask abroach and drank the wine. On the Centaurs en-
deavouring to force an entrance into the house, Hercules killed
the greater part of them. Pholus, in paying their funeral rites,
was mortally wounded by one of the poisoned arrows, as he drew
it from the body of a Centaur. Hercules, unable to cure him,
buried him when dead, and called the mountain which contained
his tomb Pholse.

2 "Meanwhile Hermod was proceeding on his mission. For
the space of nine days and as many nights, he rode through deep
glens so dark that he could not discern anything, until he arrived
at the river Gjoll, which he passed over on a bridge covered with
glittering gold. Madgudur, the maiden who kept the bridge,
asked him his name and lineage, telling him that the day before
five bands of dead persons had ridden over the bridge, and did
not shake it so much as he alone. 'Eut,' she added, 'thou hast

CANTO XII.] INFERNO. 131

And my good guide, who had by this time gone
Close to his breast where the two natiu'es wed.

Replied ; " Indeed he lives ; by me alone,
Not for delight, but through necessity.
Thus must the gloomy vale to him be shown. ^

She who consign'd this office new to me
Celestial halleluias left above.
No felon spirit I, no robber he. 90

But by that virtue in whose might I move
My feet along such savage pathway, spare
One of thy train who to the ford will prove

A faithful guide, and on his back will bear
My comrade o'er it ; for he is no spright.
And cannot fly across it through the air.''

Chiron bent o'er his shoulder to the right.

And said to Nessus ; " Turn and be their guide : ^

not death's hue ou tliee ; wliy, then, ridest thou here on thy way
to Eel?'

" ' I ride to Hel,' answered Hermod, ' to seek Baldur.' " — The
Prose Edda : MalleWs Northern Antiquities, p. 448. Bohn, 1847.
^ See Canto viii. ]. 85, note.

" But the commands of the gods, which compel me now

to travel
Through these shades, these regions horrid, filthy, and this
night profound,
. Their mandate required." — J^neid, vi. 461.

' Dante assigns to Nessus the office of carrying him across the
ford, on the authority of Sophocles and Ovid : —
" He who across the deep river Eveuus

132 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XII.

Should any stop them, put that troop to flight/'
Now, with our trusty escort, on we stride 100

Along the shore of the red hubbling flood,
"Where the boiFd culprits with loud clamours cried.
One band up to the eyebrows plunged I view'd •}
And the great Centaursaid; "They're tyrants these.
Who spent their lives in robbery and blood :
Here they lament their cruel injuries.
Here's Alexander, Dionysius there,"
Who Sicily fiird so long with miseries.

Carried passengers iu bis liauds for hire, neither using
The nimble oar to row with, nor the sail-wafted vessel."

Soph. Track. 568.

" Nessus was there, both powerful of limbs, and iu the fords
experienced." — Metani, ix. 108.

' " Human beings of both sexes, aud of all ranks and ages ; some
wholly immersed, some up to their eyes, others to their lips and
necks, others to their breasts, and others again only to their knees
ajid legs." — The knight On-en's Vision of St. Patrick's Purgatory.
KoG. Wenb. vol. i. 516.

2 Not Alexander the Great, so celebrated by our poet iu his
Convito, but Alexander, tyrant of Pherae, in Thessaly, whose
atrocities are recorded by Plutarch and others. He treacherously
imprisoned Pelopidas, but was at length killed by his own wife
aud her brothers, whom he had outraged : B.c. 357. The tyrant
of Syracuse, Dionysius, had risen from the condition of a private
citizen. The cruelty of his government rendered him hateful to
his subjects : hence he became so suspicious that he would not
admit his wife or children into his private apartments without
their being first searched ; and never trusted a barber to shave
him, but always Jburnt his beard.

CANTO XII.] INFERNO. 133

That forehead duster'd o'er with such black hair
Is Ezzelin/ Obizzo" by his side, 110

' Eccelino Romano, lord of Bassano aud Piedmout, got himself
elected Captain of the people by the republics of Verona, Vicenza,
Padua, Feltre, aud Belluno. The authority thus derived from the
people he soon changed iuto a frightful tyranny : suspecting all
who were distinguished or eminent among their fellow-citizens..
he cast them into prison, and there souglit by the most excru-
ciating tortures to wring from them what might justify his
suspicions; and then registered such names as might escape their
lips in the agony of torture, to supply fresh victims of his tyranny.
The executioner M'as kept constantly at work; yet eight prisons
in Padua were always full. Alexander IV. proclaimed a crusade
against him, in which the Marquis D'Este, and the troops of
Bologna, Mantua, and Ferrara, with other nobles and cities,
engaged. Padua was taken by the crusaders, with the legate at
their head, and barbarously pillaged for seven days. Prom each
of the two largest prisons 300 captives were liberated, and six
others were found crowded with miserable objects of both sexes
and every age, mutilated or deprived of sight. Eccelino, on
hearing that Padua was taken, disarmed and imprisoned 11,000
Paduans of his own army, of whom all but 200 perished by hunger,
thirst, cold, or on the scaffold. His courage, skill, and military
talents, together with his intriguing abilities, protracted the war
three years, and would probably have brought him successfully
through it, but for the complicated treachery by which he dis-
gusted his Ghibeline associates, who united in an alliance with
the Guelfs for his destruction. At length hunted down, abandoned
by his troops, wounded and taken prisoner, he refused all surgical
assistance, tore the bandages from his bleeding limbs, and thus
desperately expired. — Sisìiondi, Hist. Hal. Rep.

' Obizzo, Marquis of Ancona and Ferrara, of the noble family
of Este, by every species of tyranny and oppression had accumu-
lated a vast fortune ; and, in 1293, is said to have been smothered
with a pillow by his own son, who for this unnatural act is called
by Dante his step-son.

134 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XII.

Of Este, "witli tlie flaxen ringlets fair :

On eartli indeed lie by his step-son died."
Then to the bard I turnM, and thus he said,
'^I Avill be second now, let him be guide."

A little fui'ther on the Centaur stayed

Over a crowd that from the throat had left
That fountain. On one side a lonely shade

He show'd us, and spoke thus ; " The heart he cleft
Even in God's bosom, Avhich upon the Thames
Of its due honour yet is uubereft."^ 120

Then others from the river, of their frames

1 Guy, son of Simon de Montfort, and grandson of that earl
•who headed the crusade apjaiust the Albigeuses. Simon stood so
high in favour with our Henry III. that he married the king's
sister, and was created Earl of Leicester in 1239. He led the
barons in the war against the king, and was defeated and slain at
Evesham, a.d. 1266. Five years afterwards, a conclave of fifteen
cardinals was sitting at Viterbo, in Italy, for the purpose of
electing a Pope. The interest of the election had drawn together
several royal personages, among whom was the English prince
Henry d'Almagne, son of Richard earl of Cornwall, and nephew
of Henry III. This young prince, wliile kneeling at divine service,
was murdered before the high altar by Guy of Montfort and his
brother, in revenge for the death of their father in battle, and at
the very time when he was labouring to make their peace witli
the king. The murderers escaped by taking refuge in the churcli
of the Franciscans. — HniiE, Hist. Eng. xii. ; Holinshed, Chron.
A.D. 1272; Blacow's Baroni Wars., p. 331. Villaui says, "The
heart of Henry was placed in a golden cup, and set on a pillar at
London-bridge over the Thames, for a memorial of the outrage
to the English."

CANTO SII.] INFERNO. 135

Held up in sight the head and all the chest :
Here many a face my recognition claims.

Thus more and more the blood in depth decreased
Until the feet alone it cover'd o'er :
And here we had to cross it. "As thou seest

The boiling waves diminish more and more

On this side/' said the Centaur; "be thou sure.
On that in like proportion sinks their floor^

Until it reaches to that depth secure 130

Where it is fit that tyranny should groan.
Eternal Justice here, their pangs to endure.

That Atilla, the scourge of earth/ has thrown,

^ Attila, in German Etzel, king of the Huns. At first lie shared
the supreme authority with his brother Bleda. The victorious
hordes of Huns, from the East, had spread from the Volga to the
Danube. Under Attila they twice compelled Theodosius to pur-
chase an ignominious peace. The bravest and most skilful of
military leaders, by the Huns he was believed to possess the sword
of their God of War, which conferred a title to universal empire.
He pretended a divine command for the murder of his brother,
which he celebrated as a victory. He styled himself " Tlie Scourge
of God for the chastisement of the human race." The Eastern
and Western empires paid him tribute ; the Ostro-Goths, Vandals,
Gepidae, and part of the Eranks, united under his banners;
Germany, Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece, submitted to his arms.
On crossing the E,hine to make war on Theodoric king of the
Ostro-Goths, he was defeated with great slaughter, 300,000 having
fallen on both sides. He next invaded Italy, spreading his ravages
through Lombardy. His death was appropriate and singular.
On the night of his marriage with Ildico, a beautiful young lady,
he expired by suffocation from the rupture of a bloodvessel.

136 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XII.

Pyrrlius^ and Sextus : " and extorts for aye
Tears by the boiling flood unlock'd alone.

From Rinier Pazzo and Corneto ; they

On peaceful travellers unslieath'd the sword,
And carried war into each public way." ^

Back then tui'n'd Nessus aud recross'd the ford.

A.D. 453. A coffin of gold, inclosed in one of silver and an outer
one of iron, contained his body ; and, to keep the place of his
interment a secret, the slaves who dug the grave were strangled.

^ Pyrrhus, king oi' Epirus, b.c. 280, invited by the Tareutines,
i)ivaded Italy. In his first battle he defeated the Romans ; in his
second both sides claimed the victory. He left Italy to assist the
Sicilians against the Carthaginians, whom he twice defeated, and
took most of their towns. But his conduct growing tyrannical,
the Sicilians were glad when he departed for Italy, where, with an
army of 80,000, he was defeated by 20,000 Romans under Manius
Curius. Leaving Italy for Epirus, b.c. 274-, he attacked Antigouus
of Macedonia ; but in a combat at Argos was killed by a tile which
a woman threw from the top of a house, as he was fighting with
lier son and just going to run him through. His head was pre-
sented to Antigonus, who gave his remains a magnificent funeral,
aud presented his ashes to his son Helenus, b.c. 272. — Plutarch ;
Livr, xiii. 14 ; Hon. Od. 3, 6.

* Sextus, the son of Tarquin,'and ravisher of Lucretia. See
Canto iv. 1. 128, and Livy, i. 57, &c. Some suppose that the
allusion is to Sextus Pompeius, who spared the life of Octavius
when in his power, and was afterwards defeated by him in a naval
engagement, and his fleet of 350 sliips nearly destroyed.

^ Riuier da Corneto and Riuier Pazzo, two noblemen, the latter
of the Pazzi family in Florence, took the opportunity wliich the
party contentions of their country afforded them, to indulge their
natural ferocity and avarice ; making the public roads of Italy the
scenes of frequent robberies aud murders.

CANTO XIII.] INFERNO. 137

CANTO XIII.

THE ARGUMENT.

Arrived in the second round of the seventh circle, Dante finds
himself in a dense and savage wood. Here those who have
committed violence on themselves are changed into knotted
and stunted trees, which are preyed on by the harpies.
Among them Piero della Vigne tells his own sad story, and
explains the transformation of the Suicides and their final
doom. Here also are punished the wasters of their own
substance, two of whom, Lano and Jacopo da St. Andrea,
are seen chased by hell-dogs, and the hindmost torn in pieces.
A Florentine who had hung himself, expounds the cause of
his country's calamities.

Ts Essus had not yet reacli'd the other side
When on a ^vood ^ve enter'd, where we view
No path, nor any track of steps descried ;

No green leaves had it, but of dusky hue ;

No goodly boughs, but gnarl'd, involved, and rude;
No fruits were there, but thorns envenom'd grew.^

^ " Thence I came into another valley, far more terrible, full of
very slender trees, like spears, of sixty cubits length, the heads
of which were all sharp and thorny, like stakes." — Vision of
Alberic. sect. 4.

138 THE TRILOGY. [CAXTO XIII.

Not sucli rough tangled branches has that wood
Of savage beasts who hate the cultured field.
Betwixt Corneto and Cecina^s flood.^

Place for the filthy harpies' nests they yield, 10
Who chased the Trojans from the Strophades,
While boding sad of future harm they peal'd.^

Broad wings with human neck and face have these,
Claw'd feet, and theii* great bellies feather'd ; they
Make lamentation on these mystic trees.

^ Corneto is a small town ou the river Marta, teu miles north
of Civita Vecchia. Cecina is a river emptying itself into the
Mediterranean, twenty miles south of Leghorn. Between these
is a wild, woody, and mountainous tract of country, abounding in
deer, goats, and wild boars.

- " The isles which the Greeks call Strophades,

Situate in the Ionian main, where dire Celseno
And the other harpies dwell, since the house of Phineus
Was shut against them, and they left for fear their former

tables.
No monster more hateful than they, no pest more cruel,
Or judgment of the Gods, e'er rose from the Stygian abyss.
The face of these birds is that of virgins, and most foul their

ordure ;
Their hands arm'd with claws, and their countenances

always
Pallid with hunger." — JSneid. iii. 210.
The repast of J3neas and his companions is disturbed by the
descent and noise of these harpies, who snatch their victuals, and
pollute everything they touch. The Trojans attack tliem in vain,
for they are invulnerable and impassable as the yielding air.
When the rest have taken flight, one remains — bifclix Celano, the
messenger of fate, who foretells the calamities impending over
them.

CANTO XIII.] INFERNO. 139

And my kind master now began to say

To me, " Before thou enterest further, know
Thou^rt in the second round, and here wilt stay

Till to the horrid sandy plain thou go.

Then look attentively, and thou shalt see 20

Things which the truth of my discourse will show."

From all sides now came cries of misery,

Yet we of none who made them could see aught;
Whereat I stood lost in uncertainty.

My master, I believe, supposed I thought
Those voices issued from among the trees.
From some who shunning us concealment sought.

He therefore said, " If thou should'st lop of these
One little twig from any single tree, 30

The thoughts thou hast will be dispelled with ease."

I then put forth my hand, and presently
Did a great thorn-tree of one twig divest ;
At which its trunk exclaim^l, " Why tear'st thou
meV

As the dark blood flow'd down, the tree express'd
Again these words; "What may thy rending mean?
Is there no soul of pity in thy breast ?

Once we were men, though plants we now are seen :
More mercy at thy hand was surely due.
Even if the souls of serpents we had been.^^^

' In the Argonautics of Apollouius E-hodius, Phineus explains

140 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XIII.

As a green fire-brand -when it burns anew 40

At its one end, will at the otlier weep,
And hisses with the wind there rushing through/

So from this broken branch together leap
Both words and blood : I let fall instantly
The twig, and stood like one in terror deep.

" Had he before believed my verse and me/

to the heroes of the expedition that the poverty of Peroebius was
a penalty for his father's crime : —

" For one time cutting trees
Alone among the hills, he spuru'd the prayer
Of the Haniadryas Kymph, who weeping sore,
AVith earnest words besought him not to cut
The trunk of an old oak-tree, which with herself
Coeval had endured for many a year.
But in the pride of youth he foolishly
Cut it ; and to him and his race the Nymph
Gave evermore a portion profitless."
^ Ariosto has imitated this simile. — Ori. Fur. c. vi. st. 27, 28.
^ " By chance a tumulus was near on whose top were rods of
cornel.
And myrtle-trees bristling with branches all spear-like :
I approach'd it and endeavour'd to pull up a sapling.
That I with leafy branches might cover the altars.
I then saw a portent, horrible to tell and wonderful :
For the first tree I pluck'd from the ground, its roots being

broken.
From its fibres the dark drops of blood were distilling.
And staining the earth with gore. Cold horror seized me ;
My limbs shook, and the chilling blood at my heart was

gather'd.
Another pliant rod again to pluck I attempted,
Aud the hidden causes of what I had seen to discover ;

CANTO XIII.] INFERNO. 141

0 injured soul/^ my leader sage replied^

" He would not have put forth his hand on thee ;
Proof of my word is now before his eyes.

That he a thing incredible might learn, GO

1 urged what now a weight upon me lies.
But tell him who thou wert, that in his turn,

As some amends he may thy fame renew

And the dark sanguine stream from the bark of the tree

again follow'd.
Thinking of many things, the Nymphs of the wood I tlieu

reverenced ;
And father Mars, who presides over the fields of the

Tliracians,
That they would render the sight propitious, and give a

better omen.
After that, with a still greater effort, I approach'd a branch

the third time.
And down on my knees with the adverse earth I struo-o-led.
Shall I speak, or be silent ? A lamentable groan from

within
The tumulus was heard, and a voice issued forth with these

accents,
' Why dost thou, J]]neas, thus tear me ? Spare me, already

buried :
Forbear to pollute thy pious hands ; to thee I am no stranger.
Troy bore me : this blood flows not from a tree insensible.
0 fly from these cruel regions ; fly this shore avaricious ;
Por I am Polydore : the shower of iron that whelm'd me
Fix'd here has grown up a thicket of sharp javelins.'
Then indeed I was astonish'd, oppress'd with doubtful

terror ;
My hair in horror stood up, and my effort to speak was

useless." — Jjiieid. iii. 22.

142 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XIII.

Above on earth to which he must return."
The trunk replied ; " So sweetly lured by you,
I can't be mute ; let not my words displease.
If thus ensnared, I somewhat linger too.
I then am he who once held both the keys

Of Frederick's heart, and who in that high post.
Opening and shutting, turn'd them with such
ease, 60

None else his secret confidence could boast ;
And in that glorious office kept such faith,
That by it I my sleep and vigour lost.^

^ Piero della Vigne, a Capuan, who, from a humble rank, by
his knowledge and eloquence rose to be the cliancellor of Fre-
derick II. It is asserted that, yielding to the counsels of the
monks, he promised to poison his master. Some affirm that the
Pope had, by presents and promises, induced him to attempt this
crime. Others contend that the courtiers, envious of his influ-
ence and honours, by forged letters from Pope Innocent IV.
brought on him the suspicion of the emperor, and thus occasioned
his fall. By the emperor's order he was imprisoned and deprived
of sight; and in 1215 committed suicide by dashing his head
against a stone wall. It is difficult to decide on the guilt or
innocence of this minister. On the one hand, the excommuni-
cated emperor was in constant danger of being abandoned and
betrayed. And on the other, Frederick, thus beset with danger,
became suspicious and cruel : his distrust fell on his most faithful
friends; and the executions which he ordered — like Jedburgh
justice — at times preceded the proofs of guilt. Raumer, in his
' History of the House of Hohenstaufen,' considers the attempt
to poison doubtful, though he does not believe that Pier was
entirely innocent. Dante evidently regarded him as falsely
accused; but tl^e poet appears to have been prejudiced against

CANTO XIII.] INFERNO. 143

The harlot "wlio in Csesar's^ household hath
Her canton eyes for ever watchful, rose —
That fatal vice of courts" — and with her breath

Inflamed all minds against me, and my foes
Inflamed Augustus, and so shook his trust,
That my glad honours changed to hitter woes.

My soul, through indignation and disgust, 70

By death expecting to escape disdain.
Just as I was, grew to myself unjust.

By the new roots which now this trunk sustain,
I swear to you, my faith I never broke
To my liege lord, whose honour had no stain.

Your aid to clear my memory I invoke.
If either of you to the world return.
Where yet it prostrate lies through envy^s stroke."

Pausing awhile, to me the bard in turn

Said, '^ Since he's silent now, some question
start ; 80

Frederick. — See Sismokdi, Hist. Ital. Rep. cb. iii. ; Matt. Pams,
Hist. Maj. ii. 306.

1 Frederick is liere called Csesar, because the German emperors
affected to be the legitimate heirs of the Pioman "Western empire ;
hence the emperor elect was entitled " King of the Komaus."

- Chaucer expressly quotes this passage, in his Prologue to the
Legende of Goode Women.

" Envie is lavender of the court alway,
For she ne parteth neither night ne day,
Out of the bouse of Cesar, thus saitb Daut."

144 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XIII.

Speak ; lose no time ; ask^ if tliou more would^st
learn."
Then I to him ; " Enquire thou on my part ;

If aught thou seest that I should be assured.

I cannot ask, such pity fills my heart."
Whereon he recommenced ; " Spirit immured !

As thou -^ouldst have my comrade freely do

What thou hast pray'd should be for thee procured.
So may it please thee to inform us too,

How in these gnarled stumps the souls are bound ;

And if aught ever will the tie undo ?" 90

Thereat the trunk breathed hard, and then a sound

Articulate like this the wind became :

" Briefly an answer shall for you be found.
When the fierce spirit quits her mortal frame.

Whence she by her own act was torn away,^

This seventh gulf Minos as her doom doth name :
Into the wood she falls when on her Avay,

No part selected, but where flung by chance

There like a grain of spelt she sprouts, a spray

' " Then the next places those grieving souls occupy

Who slain by their own hand though innocent, and tlie light

hating,
Were prodigal of life. Of the upper air how wishful
Now, to bear even poverty and toils the most difficult !
But fate forbids, and the hateful marsh with sad billow
Binds them, and Styx nine times interfused coerces."

jEneid, vi. 434.

CANTO Xiri.] INFERNO. 145

To rise, then to a savage tree advance. 100

The harpies feeding on her leaves give pain,
And for that pain the means of utterance.

Like others we shall come our spoils to obtain.
But not to be again in them array'd ;
What he rejects a man should not regain.

Them "\ve shall hither drag ; this gloomy glade
Will then throughout, our bodies hold suspended.
Each to the wild thorn of his troubled shade."

While to the speaking trunk we still attended.
Expecting further still to hear its voice, J 10

All suddenly therewith a tumult blended :

Like him who at his post can recognize

The wild boar and the chase when towards him

rushing,
Who of the beasts and branches hears the noise.

And lo, two forms which at our left hand brushing.
Naked and torn were flying, out of breath.
And every leafy branch before them crushing :

The foremost cried, " Now haste, haste hither.
Death !" ^
The other, who more slowly made his way,^

* It is very affecting to find the soul of the suicide here calling,
in vain, for Death to save him from being lacerated by the hell-
hounds who hold him in chase. See Canto iii. 1. 46, and note.

^ Both were running swiftly, but not with equal speed ; and
Jacopo's pace appeared slow in comparison of Lauo's.

10

146 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XIII.

Cried, " Lano, not so prudent, by my faith, 120

At Toppo's jousts were thy two legs that day !"^
Then he, perhaps from failing breath, was fain
Within a bush, well grouped therewith, to stay.

Behind them fill'd the wood a numerous train
Of swift black bitches, eager for the prey.
Like greyhounds that have lately slipp'd the chain.

They fix'd their fangs on him who crouching lay,
And piecemeal having torn him, on they hied,
And with them bore those wretched limbs away.

Then, as he took me by the hand, my guide 130
Me to the bush within the thicket led,
AVhich through its bleeding fractures vainly sigh'd.

*^ O Jacopo da Sant' Andrea," it said,"

" What boots it thee that I^m thy shelter made ?
What fault of mine thy wicked life e'er sped ?"

And when the master over it had stay'd,

'' Say who thou wast that breathest through,"
cried he,

^ Lano, a Sienese, had spent his patrimony in a course of
prodigal dissipation. Being sent by his countrymen on a military
expedition, to assist the Florentines against the Aretini, and finding
the battle lost, he rushed into the thickest of the fight and was
killed. His companion taunts him, not with cowardice, as Mr.
Wright supposes, but with want of prudence, at the fight of
Toppo.

^ Jacopo da St. Andrea had spent his property with a kind of
mad profusion. Reduced to poverty at last, he killed himself in a
fit of desjiair. '

CANTO XIII.] INFERNO. 147

" So many pores a speech by grief o'erlaid V

" O souls who have arrived in time to see/^

To us he saidj " that ignominious crushj 140

Which has divided thus my leaves from me ;

Collect them at the foot of the sad bush.

My native city for the Baptist's love [brush

Changed her first patron/ whence with many a

Of warlike art he'll always hostile prove :
And did there not o'er Arno's pass remain
His image yet, her citizens, above

The ashes left by Atilla, in vain

Had rear'd the walls, or those foundations laid.
O'er which at length the city rose again. 150

My house a gibbet for myself I made."''

' Florence was built ou the Campus l^Iartius of tlie older town
of Fiesole, and a temple of Mars occupied tlie site where the
church of St. John the Baptist now stands. According to a com-
mon custom, on their conversion to Christianity, the Florentines
exchanged their tutelar deity for a patron saint ; and the statue
of the god was removed and placed on the bank of the Arno. It
is said to have fallen into the river on the supposed taking of the
city by Atilla, and to Lave been recovered previous to the re-
building of the city by Charlemagne, the planet Mars being then
in a favourable aspect. What remained of it continued to be
superstitiously regarded as a kind of palladium on which the
welfare of the city depended. The statue is said to have been
visible till 1337, when the bridge was destroyed by a flood.

- Rocco de' Mozzi ; or, according to others, Lotto degli Agli.

148 THE THILOGY. [CANTO XIV,

CANTO XIV.

THE AEGUMENT.

The poets arrive in ILe third round of the seventh circle : it is a
plain of scorching sand, on which flakes of fire are showered
eternally. — Here are punished the violent against God, against
nature, and against art ; the first class only are described in
this canto, and amongst them Capaneus is seen, and his
blasphemies are heard. — Journeying for protection along the
edge of the wood, they arrive at a place where a crimson
brook issues from it and traverses the sandy plain, quenching
the vapours above it. — Virgil describes an ancient image in
Crete, from which flows a stream that supplies this and the
other three infernal rivers.

The love of native country -with sweet force
Constrained me, and I gather'd up the leaves.
And gave them back to him already hoarse :

From thence Ave reached the boundary which cleaves
The second and third round, where its display
Justice Divine tremendously receives.

What those new things were, I proceed to say;
How to a plain our path we now pursued.
From whose dry soil each plant had pass'd away.

A garland reund it waves the dolorous wood, 10

CANTO XIV,] INFERNO. 149

As did the sad foss round the wood expand :
There pausing just upon its verge we stood.

A space it was of thick and arid sand,

Not much unlike that Lybian desert sear'd,
Once trod by Cato and his little band.^

Vengeance of God, Oh ! how shouldst thou be fear'd
By every one who shall the story read.
Of that sad scene which to my eyes appeared !

I saw vast flocks of naked souls outspread ;

All these were weeping very woefully, 20

To diverse laws appearing subjected.

Supine lay on the earth one company/
Some huddled in a heap were sitting low.
And others paced about continually.

The band was largest that walk'd to and fro,

And that the least which lay with suffering spent.
But these with looser tongue proclaim'd their woe.

And hovering o'er the sand, with slow descent.
Broad flakes of fire were falling all around.
Like Alpine snows through the calm element. 30

^ After a marcii of seven days through the burning sands of
Lybia, Cato arrived in the neighbourhood of Utica with ] 0,000
men, the remains of Pompey's army. — Plutarch, Cato ; Lucan,
Phars. lib. xix.

2 "Wiiereas in the former place they had their bellies to the
ground, all here were lying on their backs." — ^S"^. Patrick's Purg.
RoG. Wend. ii. 515.

150 THE TRILOGY, [CANTO XIV-

As Alexander, -uhere the heats abound
Of India, with his army, overhead
Saw solid flames descending to the ground,

Hence he bethought him on the soil to tread
With all his host, and thus each vapoury spire
Was quench'd with ease ere with new sunbeams
fed ■}

Even so descended the eternal fire.

From which the sand, like tinder from the steel,
Was kindled up, doubling the anguish dire.

Without repose for ever was the wheel 40

Of wretched hands, now turning here, now there,
To shake from them the fresh-fallen fire they feel.

Then said I, " Master, who couldst subjugate
All but the demons fierce who through the dim
Gate at the eutrance issuing did appear ;

Who is that mighty one, morose and grim,^

^ Albertus Magnus (De Mirabilibus Mundi) says tliat in India
the sun extracts the terrestrial vapours, and kindling them in the
air, sends them down in showers of fire ; and that Alexander to
prevent this caused the ground to be turned up. Dante makes
Alexander tread out the flames, before the sun arose to kindle the
vapours with new heat. " But such a sun, thank heaven (says
Bishop Ilcber), never glared on England as this day rained its
lightnings upon Cliunar."^ — Narrative of Journet/ through Upper
Provinces of India, vol. i. p. 173.

' " But how shall I describe how Capaneus was raging ?
Bearing a long ladder he advanced, and this he loudly boasted.
That not tlfe awful fire of Jove should hinder him from takinsr

CANTO XIV ] INFERNO. 151

Who careless of the burning seems to lie,
So that the fire-shower cannot soften him ? "

And he, as to my leader I apply,

Perceiviug 'twas of him I thus enquire, 50

Cried, " What I was alive, such dead am I.

If incensed Jupiter,^ his workman tire,

Tlie city's highest towers ; then with a storm of stones around

him.
He mounted the steps of the ladder, beneath his shield col-
lected :
Just as he reach'd the battlements, Jove smote him with his

thunder;
The earth resounded so that all trembled, and from the ladder
The torn limbs were hurl'd as from an engine.
His hair flew towards Olympus, but his blood fell on the

ground,
His hands and feet whirl'd round like the wheel of Ixion,
While his dead body fell flaming to the earth."

EuiiiPiDES, Phocnissm, 1. 1179.
This scene has been paralleled in modern times and actual life.
Mr. MolTat, the father-in-law of Livingstone, in his Missionary
Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa, says, "During tremendous
thunder-storms, which prevail in that quarter, and which, it might
be supposed, would speak to mankind with an awful voice, I have
known the natives of Namaqualand shoot their poisoned arrows
at the lightning, iu order to arrest the destructive fluid. I knew
a man who, though warned by myself and others of this daring
practice, persisted, and was struck dead by the lightning." See
also The Seven against Thebes of JUschylus, 125 ; and the Thebais
of Statius, lib. X, xi.

1 Jupiter, alarmed at the conspiracy of the giants to dethrone
hhn, iu vain called all the gods to his assistance^; for the giants,
employing rocks, oaks, and burning woods, as their weapons, piled
Ossa on Peiion to enable them to scale the celestial abodes. The

152 THE TKILOGY. [CANTO XIV.

From whom he snatch'd the thunderbolts that day
Which was my last, and struck me in his ire ;"

If he — the rest all spent by turns while they
The sledge in Mongibello's black forge wield — ^
Cry, ' Help, good Vulcan, help !^ as in the fray

lie cried of old on the Phlegrsean field,^

And launch his bolts at me with all his might,
A joyful vengeance it shall never yield." 60

My guide then spoke aloud, in accents quite
Above whate'er had been his previous strains ;
" O Capaneus, more woful is thy plight,

In that thy pride unhumbled yet remains.

gods fled in dismay to Egypt, aud concealed themselves, by as-
suming the shapes of dififerent animals, to which, therefore,
veneration was afterwards paid. Jupiter, however, having dis-
covered that the giants might be vanquished, if he called a mortal
to his aid, by the advice of Pallas armed Hercules in his cause ;
by whose assistance the giants were soon defeated and put to
flight.

* Or Montegibello, from the Arabic gibel, a mountain; a name
giveu to ^tna on account of its magnitude : reminding us of the
conquest of Sicily by the Saracens; as Gibraltar of those in Spain.
See Virgil's description of Vulcan's assistants and their smithy. —
Mneid. viii. 416.

" Phlegra, or Phlegrceus campus, afterwards called Pallene, the
scene of the giants' war. The same name was given, and the
same tradition attached, to a district near Cumse in Italy, con-
taining Mount Vesuvius, the grotto of the Sybil, and the lakes
Avernus and Acheron. These objects first terrified the early Greek
navigators, and were afterwards embellished aud exaggerated by
the imagination of ^heir poets.

CANTO XIV.] INFERNO. 153

No torture, save Avhat thy own rage affords,
Couild for thy madness yield proportioned pains."

Then, turn'd to me, he said, with softer words,
" Of the seven kings he's one, whose shields were

borne
At leaguer'd Thebes, where they unsheath'd their
swords ;

And then, as now, it seems, had God in scorn, 70
Unprized ; but, as I told him, his fierce mood
Inflicts fit wounds his bosom to adorn.

Now follow me, nor let thy feet obtrude

On the scorch'd sand henceforth, but let thy route
Be always kept exactly at the wood."

Holding our peace we came where rushes out

A small stream from the wood, whose redness yet
With creeping horror thrills my frame throughout.

From Bulicame as the rivulet

Comes welling forth, which sinful women share,^ 80
So through the sand ran down that brook beset

By craggy rocks, which formed its bottom there.
Both sloping banks, and margin on each side.
On these our path lay, I w^as thence aware.

" Amongst all other things," then said my guide,

' A natural pool of hot water near Viterbo, fed by a mineral
spring. A constant stream flows from it, upon which houses of
dissolute resort are said to have formerly stood.

154 TUE TRILOGY, [CAN'TO XIV.

" That I have shown thee, since the gates we pass'd
Whose threshold's entrance is to none denied,

Nothing so Avorthy thy regard thou hast
Had present to thine eyes as is this brook,
^Tiich all the flames by which 'tis overcast 90

Quenches." These were the words my leader spoke.
I pray'd he'd give me of that food to taste.
For which the hunger he himself awoke.

" In the mid-sea a ruin'd isle is placed,"

My guide then answer'd me, " whose name is

Crete,
Under whose king the world long since was
chaste.

A mount is there call'd Ida/ once the seat

Of joy, with verdure crown' d, whence water flows :
Now 'tis deserted, as a thing effete.

This for her son's sure cradle Hhea chose, 100

Whom better to conceal, by her commands.
Whene'er he wept, the attendants' clamour rose.

Within the mount a huge old image stands,^

^ " I believe that chastity dwelt ou earth under king Saturn."

JUVKNAL, Sat. vi. 1, 2.

^ The highest mountain in Crete, where Jupiter in infancy is
said to have been concealed from his father Saturn by his mother,
and educated by the Corybautes.

^ The- transfer hither of Nebucliadnezzar's visionary image of
empire (See Daniel ii.) is a huge poetic licence. Here it repre-
sents Time, with^his back turned on the ancient seats of empire,

CANTO XIV.] INFERNO. 155

His back on Damietta turned ; liis glass

Rome seems to be^ towards whicli his look expands.

His bead is form'd of finest gold ; a mass
Of purest silver are bis arms and breast ;
Thence even to the thighs he is of brass ;

And downwards, temper'd steel is all the rest ;
Save that the right foot is of baken clay/ 110
Which by his weight, as its chief prop, is press'd.

All parts except the gold some rents display,
And through each fissure tears are falling slow.
Which gathering pierce the grot ; then find their
AT ay

Into this vale, as down the rocks they flow.
And Acheron, Styx, Phlegethon they make : "

and his face towards the Christian powers of the West. The
mirror of the Babylonian image is not the Mohammedan city, but
Rome ! Hesiod and Ovid also have described the successive ages
of the world as the golden, silver, brazen, and iron periods. In
addition to this adumbration of human degeneracy, Dante de-
scribes the growing vices and miseries of his age, under the idea
of four infernal rivers, formed by the tears of Time for the dege-
neracy of his offspring.

^ " The ninth age has now arrived, even worse than the age of
iron.
And one for whose wickedness no name has been invented,
Nature has formed no metal that will suitably represent it."

JuNENAL, Sat. xiii. 28 — 30.

^ The common etymology of Acheron is a^^" pkdìv, " the river

of sadness." Fourmont makes it an Egyptian word — Achon

C>4(/ro«, " the Marsh of Charon." See Canto iii. 1. 77, note. The

usual derivation of Styx is from 2ri;7£w, I hate, abhor, am hor-

156 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XIV.

Then tlirougli this narrow trench descend below,

Till there whence they no lower course can take
They form Cocytus ; ^ what that pond h, here —
Since thou wilt see it soon — I need not speak." 120

Then I replied : " If thus the streamlet near
Hither descend from upper earthly ground.
Why should it first at this low verge appear ? ''

And he to me, " Thou know'st the place is round.
And though thou now hast travcll'd o^er much

space,
Descending to the left the gulf profound.

Thou hast not circled yet all this round place :
Therefore if in it anything seems new.
It need not bring such wonder to thy face."

I ask'd him ; '' Phlegethon where may we view, 130
And Lethe ? thou of one hast nought express'd.
And say'st, the other to this shower is due."

He said ; " With all thy questions yet address'd,
Certes, I'm pleased ; but the red boiling wave
Might have resolved thy present question best.^

rified. Canto vii. 1. 108. Phlegethon, "tlie burning river," from
^\eyu), I burn. Canto viii. 68.

^ Cocytus, a river of Tiiesprotia in Dalmatia, from kokvuv, to
weep and lament. Hence the poets made it one of the iufernal
rivers.

• Certainly the proof was flagrant : what river could this be but
Phlegethon?

CANTO XIV.] INfERNO. 157

The siglit of Lethe thou far hence wilt have/
Where^ when repented sin is wash'd away,
The pardon'd souls proceed themselves to lave.

Now it is time that from the wood we stray :

See that thou follow me from this precinct ; Ì 40
The unburnt margins will afford us way,

And over them each vapour is extinct."

1 Lethe (Xi)9ri) siguiiies forgetfuluess, oblivion. On the four
infernal rivers, consult Plato's Fhcedo-, sections 139 to 142. The
etymology of their names is finely made use of in Paradise Lost,
B. ii. 1.577 :—

" Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate ;

Sad Acheron, of sorrow black and deep ;

Cocytus, named of lamentation loud

Heard on the rueful stream ; fierce Phlegethon,

Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.

Tar off from these, a slow and silent stream,

Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls

Her watry labyrinth ; whereof who drinks.

Forthwith his former state and being forgets,

Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain."

158 TUE TRILOGY. [CANTO XV.

CANTO XV.

THE ARGUMENT.

Continuing their journey in the third round, and leaving the con-
fines of the wood, tlie poets proceed along one of the liigh
rocky margins of tlie brook. They meet a troop of spirits
who are walking along the sand, the souls of those who have
done violence to nature : among them Dante recognizes his
former preceptor, Brunetto Latini, towards whom he expresses
his gratitude and esteem. Brunetto censures the Florentines
and intimates the evils which Dante might expect from them,
and the honour that awaited his memory. Having named
Priscian, Francis d'Accorso, and the Bishop of Bacchiglione
as among the chief of his fellow sufiferers, he leaves Dante
and turns back to rejoin them.

One of the solid margins bore us now,

And o'er the brook the mist that spread around
Screened banks and water from the fiery glow.

And as the Flemings build the lofty mound
From Cadsand unto Bruges^ 'gainst the tide,

' Guzzante, or Cadsand, is five leagues from Bruges, and on
the coast. It is a fortified place — or was so at the time of the
Walchereeu expedition. In the age of Dante, Bruges was the
emporium of the Hanseatic League, a great confederacy of
the northern Eur«pcan states. Thither the merchants of Venice

CANTO XV.] INFERNO. ]59

Fearing its flood, and thus have safety found ;

And as the Paduans theirs on Brenta's side/
Their seats and castles to protect, have laid,
Ere summer heat melts Chiarantana's^ pride :

On such plan were the mounds we now survey'd, 10
Though not so lofty nor so vast, whoe'er
The master was by whom they had been made.^

and Genoa resorted, and, in return for the productions of Italy
and the East, brought back the manufactures and otlier commo-
dities of the North, including gold and silver from the mines of
Germany, then the most productive in Europe. In the year 130J,
Joanna of Navarre, consort of Philip le Bel, of France, visited
Bruges, and was so struck with the wealth and grandeur of the
city that she exclaimed, not without some degree of envy and
mortification, "I thought I had been the only queen here, but I
find there are many hundreds more" (Guicciardini). The
Netherlands owe their safety, and almost their existence, to those
immense embankments, which the Dutch call Dykes, raised along
the coast, and on the banks of rivers. The dyke alluded to by
Dante is said to be still kept up. It was probably one of the
earliest.

^ As soon as the Alpine snows begin to melt, the Brenta rises ;
and as the country round Padua is flat and low, the erection of
dykes and mounds to confine the river to its channel was at an
early period found necessary. Ariosto alludes to these embank-
ments. Ori. Fur. xviii. 153.

- The name of one of the Alps near Trent; or the Caruic Alps
generally, which separate Italy from Carinthia.

' The infernal mounds are not here described as greater than
those with which they are compared, as Mr. Brooksbank's version
makes them, but less. We were at first inclined to adopt the
view which he has given of them, because Virgil's rule is the
usual one in poetical comparison : — " Sic parvis componere magna

360 TUE TRILOGY. [CANTO XV.

So far already from the wood we were

That not a glimpse thereof I now might get
Though backward I had turn'd to seek it there,

solebam." But a little reflection convinced us that the com])arison
here is of tlie less with the greater. Dante, who iu passing
through the infernal world is always directing his thoughts to the
world above, here glorifies the labours of man, as God himself has
often done. (Job vii. 17; Tsalm viii, 5, 6.) It must be remem-
bered : — 1st. That these infernal mounds were intended merely to
confine a brook ("uu picciol fiumicello," xiv. 77, "rigaguo," 121,
" ruscello," xv. 2), which flowed through a narrow channel
(stretta doccia, xiv. 117). For this purpose no such vast and
lofty embankments were needed as those which the Tlemings re-
quired to keep back the ocean-tide ; or the Paduans, to confine
the river Brenta to its channel. 2d. As Dante walked with his
guide along the top of one of these infernal mounds, Brunetto
Latini, walking on the sand at the bottom, lays hold of the border
of his garment. This is decisive, and completely overthrows the
argini si alii e si grossi which Mr. Brooksbank had erected for so
small a purpose. 3d. Although Dante speaks doubtfully as to the
master who constructed these embankments, yet iu a similar case,
when describing the cable with which the giant Ephialtes was
bound, he speaks in the same manner (" qual che fosse il maestro
non so io dir," xxxi. 85, 86). For aught we know, the Great
Architect may have employed in hell, as well as on earth,
subordinate agents to accomplish his work. Milton has adopted
this idea, and made greater use of it than even Dante. He makes
Beelzebub anticipate such toil : —

" That so we may sufiSce his vengeful ire.

Or do him mightier service as his thralls

By right of war, whate'er his business be,

Here in the heart of hell to work in fire." — Par. Lost, i. 148.
He makes one of the fallen angels " Master of the "Works" for
the erection of

" Pandemoni-um, the high capital of Satan and his peers."

CANTO XV.] INFERNO. 161

"When presently a band of souls we met
Who on the sand along the margin hie ;
And, as their eyes men on each other set

At evening under the new moon, they pry ;

Sharpening their eye-brows on us fixedly, 20

Like an old taylor at a needle's eye.

Thus I, gazed on by such a family,

Was recognized by one of them, who caught
My skirt, and cried, " AVhat wonder do I see \"

And when his arm he thus to me stretcVd out,
I gazed on his baked aspect stedfastly.
So that the scorchM up visage hinder'd not

But that I recognized him easily.

With hand held out, I, toward him bending down.
Said, " Ser Brunetto, are you here V^ — And he 30

This was Mammon — with an alias, Mulciber :

" Nor alight avaOs him now

To have built in heaven high towers ; nor did he 'scape

By all his engines, but was headlong sent

With his industrious crew to build in hell." — lb. 748.

^ Brunetto Latini, a famous Professor of Rhetoric and Philo-
sophy ill Florence, Chancellor of the City, and a poet of con-
siderable talent. His poem, // Tesoretto, may have suggested to
Dante the idea of his exordium. He loses his way, and wanders
in a wood, where Nature appears to him, and discloses the secrets
of her operations. Under her auspices he reaches a plain where
many emperors, kings, and sages are assembled. In this poem,
as in the Inferno, usury is branded as a sin against God and
nature. The sin also for which Brunetto is here condemned by

11

162 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO XV.

Thus answer^dj ^' Be not an^y, O my son,
If Brunetto Latini some small way
With thee return, and let his troop go on."

I said, " For that with all my might I pray,
And we^U sit down, so please you, on this rock.
If he who is my guide permit my stay/'

He said, " Whoe'er a moment of this flock
Pauses, a century prostrate must consume,^
Nor fence against the fire's intensest shock."

But go thou on ; I at thy skirts ^vill come, 40

And afterwards rejoin my kindred crowd
Who go lamenting their eternal doom.'''

I would not venture down from that high-road
To join him, but as one who reverently
Attends while walking, so my head I bow'd.

And he began ; " What chance or destiny.
Before thy end, brings thee to this obscure?
And he that shows thy patliAvay, who is he ?"

" I, in yon life above serenely pure,''

I answer 'd, " in a valley went astray, 50

liis pupil Daute, is mentioued -n-itli great horror. Brunetto died
in 1295.

' If any of the gods violated an oath by the Styx, they were
made to drink of its poisonous waters, and deprived of nectar and
the privileges of divinity for a hundred years. — IIesiod. in Theog.

^ The punishment here assigned to this class of transgressors
as their " eternal doom," appears borrowed from Genesis xix. 24,
and Jude 7.

CANTO XV.] INFERNO. 163

Before I had arrived at age mature -^

But left it on the morn of yesterday ;

And then, returning towards it, saw appear,
Him who now leads me homeward by this way.

" A glorious port thou canst not miss, thy star
So thou hut follow ;" he to me replied,
" If well I judged thee in the life more fair.

And had I not so prematurely died.

Seeing that heaven to thee is thus benign,

I for that work some aid might have supplied. 60

But that ungrateful people so malign

Who claim descent from ancient Fiesole,^
Nor do the mountain lime-stone yet resign.

Will be for thy good deeds thine enemy.

' Dante was iu tbe summer of life, the full ripe autumn had
not yet commenced.

' The Roman colony of Fa3sulse was established by Sylla.
Eorty years after, Augustus allotted part of its territory to a
colony of Roman soldiers whom he sent into the neighbourhood.
This was the origin of Florence. Fiesole being situated on the
top of a mountain, a place between the foot of the mountain and
the river Arno, was fixed on for the convenience of holding
markets. When the Roman conquests and renown had rendered
Italy safe from foreign aggression and invasion, the temporary
accommodation for fairs and markets gave place to permanent
habitations and an influx of inhabitants ; and thus the city of
Florence had its birth. — Machiavel. Hisf. Fior. lib. ii. The
hill of Fiesole, covered with gardens and country-houses, is north-
west of Florence, and almost reaches to its walls. The town of
Fiesole is much decayed, and now contains hardly 3000 inha-
bitants.

164 THE TIIILOGV. [CANTO XV.

No wonder the sweet fig-tree should not find.

Midst the sour crabs, place for her fruit to be.^
Old fame in yonder Avorld proclaims them blind f

A greedy tribe, envious and proud they are.

From these their customs be thy soul refined. [70
Thee such great honour waits through Fortune's care,

The parties twain shall hunger both for thee •?

But be the fresh grass from the goat's tooth far.
The Fiesolan cattle their own litter be.

Nor with their touch the generous plant molest.

If such their dunghill springing yet should see,

' Daute compares the disposition of the Tlorentiues to the Iiard
and rugged lime-stone, hewn out of the mountain of Fiesole, of
which their city was built, and to the sour crabs growing wild on
the mountain sides ; while, by the sweet fig-tree, he is supposed
to claim descent from tlie old Roman colonists of Tlorence.

' The Florentines, having assisted the Pisaus to conquer
Majorca, were offered in return their choice of two beautiful gates
of bronze, or two porphyry pillars : they chose the pillars, but
afterwards found that they had been injured by fire; and, to con-
ceal this defect, had been artfully coloured by the Pisans. This
was in 1117. Hence the proverb that represents the Florentines
as blind. — See Giov. Villani, lib. iv. cap. 30.

•'' A remarkable anticipation of posthumous renown, similar to
that of Milton. After the death and burial of Dante at Ravenna,
the Florentines, having frequently endeavoured, but in vain, to
recover the body of their illustrious exile, crowned his image,
struck medals, and raised statues to him. Fifty-one years after
his death, a professional chair was endowed by them for the
exposition of his works, and Boccaccio was the first professor
appointed.

CANTO XV.] INFERNO. 165

In wliicli revives the holy seed confessed

Of those old Romans^ who remain'd there still
When 'twas of so much malice made the nest."^

" Had heaven been pleased my wishes to fulfil/'
I answer'd him, " you would not thus apart, 80
From human nature exiled, mourn this ill ;

For in my memory fix'd, now grieves my heart
The dear and good paternal image known
Of you on earth, where with a master's art

You taught me how eternity is won.

How dear I hold the lesson, while I live
'Tis fit should by my eloquence be shown.

I note the account which of my course you give,
And keep it, with one text besides,^ till bared
By a lady's comment, who will all perceive, 90

If I her presence reach. Be this declared

To thee, that if my conscience does not chide.
Do Fortune what she will, I stand prepared :

Not new such warning to mine ear supplied.
Let Fortune as she pleases whirl her wheel f

* "Let these rough descendants of the Piesolan mouutaineers
long for thee still, and long in vain ; and while they trample down
and prey upon each other, let not a people tainted with such
sordid and filthy customs touch those — if any such should spring
up among them — who are descended from, and possess the noble
spirit of, those Romans who first colonized their city."

- The prediction of Farinata; Canto x. 80, 130.

^ Brunetto had used more than one proverbial saying, and

166 THE TRILOGY. [CAXTO XV.

And by tlie rustic be his pickaxe plied."

Then my instructer^ turning on his heel,

Look'd back, presenting to me his right cheek,
And said, " He listens well who notes with zeal/'

I not the less for that go on to speak 100

"With Ser Brunetto, asking who among
His comrades were of note, and chief to seek.

" Of some 'tis good to know, but of the throng,"
He said, " 'tis fitter silence to maintain.
Since time so short forbids a tale so long.

In sum, know they were clergy — that whole train,
Men of great learning and great fame no doubt j
On earth of one foul sin they bore the stain.

Priscian is wandering with that wretched rout,^

here Dante pays him back in the same coin. This proverb ex-
presses resignation to the inevitable, and the satisfaction of having
done one's duty, wliatever may liappen.

' Prisciauus, a celebrated grammarian of Cappadocia, who
taught grammar and rhetoric at Constantinople, a.d. 525. If, as
the commentators assert, there is no reason to believe that he was
stained with the vice here imputed to him, an injustice has beeu
done him far worse than " breaking Priscian's head." It has
been said, that the individual is here put for the class ; but this
only makes the matter worse; for, to libel a whole class of men,
is a greater injustice than to libel an individual. Besides, how
can Priscian be supposed to represent those who vieve present with
him ? for it is said of his conipauions, " all these were clerks," &c. ;
and how can one of stainless character be said to represent the
foulest and the worst ?

Priscian composed several works, of which his treatise I)e Arte

CANTO XV.] INFERNO. 167

Francis d'Accorso/ and, if tliou could' st e'er 110
Such nuisance wish, thou might'st have thereabout

Seen him who by the Servants' Servant's care
From Arno's flood Bacchigliene took ;^
Who left his ill-strain'd nerves exhausted there.

Of more I'd speak, but must no longer brook
Journey or speech with thee, because I see
New smoke risen from the sand the way I look :

A party comes with whom I must not be.
In your kind care my ' Treasure ' ^ I repose,

Grammatica was first published at Venice by Aldus, iu 1476, from
a MS. found in France, and went through five editions in about
twenty years. It is the most complete treatise on the Latin
language that has come down to us from antiquity, and has sup-
plied materials for most subsequent ones. It is particularly valu-
able for the number of its quotations from works no longer extant.

' The son of a celebrated Florentine civilian, who expounded
Roman law at Bologna, of great authority in his profession. The
father died in 1229, at the age of seventy-eight : of the son here
mentioned little is known. Over their tomb at Bologna is this
brief epitaph :

" Sepulchrum Accursii Glossatoris et Francisii ejus Filius."
^ Servus Servorum Dei, " Servant of the Servants of God," is one
of the titles which the popes have assumed. Andrea de Mozzi,
Bishop of Florence (on the Arno), was translated, either by
Nicholas III. or Boniface Vili., to Vicenza (on the Bacchiglioue),
as a less frequented place, that his scandalous life might be less
exposed to observation. Did the character and interests of the
Church demand from the Servant of Servants no severer disci-
pline than this, on suck an offender?

' Brunetto's great work was his Tresor, which contains a course
of philosophical lectures, in four books. 1. Cosmogony and

168 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XV.

"VMiere yet I live; I ask no more of tliee/^ 120
Then turnings he appeared as one of those
Who at Verona o^er the champagne run^
For the green mantle ; not of those who lose^
But likest him hy whom the prize is won.

Theology, 2. A translation of Aristotle's Ethics. 3. On Virtues
and Vices. 4. Ou Rhetoric. It is written in the French of St.
Louis's reign.

^ A cloak, or piece of cloth, was the usual prize at the foot-
races of tlie time. At Verona it was customary that a robe or
mantle of green cloth should be run for on foot, the first Sunday
in every Lent.

CANTO XVI.] INFERNO. 169

CANTO XVI.

THE ARGUMENT.

Having almost reached tlie end of the pier and tlie termination
of the third round, the poets hear the noise of the stream
descending into the eiglith circle. They meet another troop
of similar sinners, from which three military nobles, who
recognise Dante as their countryman, advance to converse
with him. They inform him who they are, and inquire the
state of things in Florence, to which he replies. On their
departure Dante strips himself of his Tranciscan girdle, and
gives it to Virgil, who throws it down the abyss. At that
signal they behold a horrible figure come swimming up to
them through the air.

Now came I where was heard the noise rebounding
Of water hurl'd from that round to a lower ;
Like hum of hives with swarming bees resounding :

When lo^ three shades together starting scour
Across the champagne, from a passing band
That bore the heavy torment of that shower.

And as they towards us came, along the sand.
Each cried, " Stay thou, whose habit seems to be
Proof that thou comèst from our wicked land."

Alas ! what wounds I on their limbs did see, 10

170 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XVI,

Recent and old, wliicli the fierce flames had made !
My grief revives even from tlieir memory.

And at their cry awhile my leader stay'd.

And straightway towards me as he turned his face^
He said, " To these must courtesy be paid.

And were it not the nature of the place
To shoot those fiery arrows, I should say,
'Twere best to meet them, and not wait their
chase."

They, as we paused, resumed their ancient lay, [20
And when arrived where avc o^erlook'd the soil,
Form'd in a ring all three themselves display.

As champions naked and besmear'd with oil

Watch where their hold the advantage may expect,
Before with blows and strokes in strife they toil,

Thus wheeling round, their faces they direct
To me, so that of each one as he wheel'd.
The neck and feet opposed proceed uncheck'd.^

'' And if the woe on this loose ground reveal'd
Should make thee scorn us and our prayers as well,"

^ The next circle being so near, they could not turn back with
Dante, as Brunetto did ; and they are deterred by the penalty
which he mentions (Canto xv. 37 — 39) from standing still.
Without interrupting their journey, therefore, they kept running
round in a circle, all the while looking at Dante ; so that when in
that part of the circle which led from him, their necks turned
round, so as to bring their faces in a direction contrary to that in
which their feet were going.

CANTO XVI.] INFERNO. 171

Commenced the oue, " and our dyed aspects
peel'd, 30

Yet let our fame incline thee now to tell

Us who thou art, whose living feet thus tread
Securely through the dreary vaults of hell.

He in whose footsteps thou behold^st me led.

Though bare and flay'd he walks along this waste.
Of higher grade than thou mayst think was bred :

The grandson of the good Gualdrada chaste/
Call'd Guidoguerra, and his life if scann'd.
Both head and sword with equal splendour graced.

This other shade who next me treads the sand 40
Is Tegghiai' Aldobrandi/ who the wide

' Alas ! we liave here another instance in proof that virtue is
not always hereditary. Gualdrada was the daughter of Bellincioni
Berti {Paradiso, Cantos xv. xvi.) of the Kavignaui family, a
branch of the Adimari. The emperor Otho IV. at a festival iu
Florence, being as mucli pleased with her modesty and resolute
virtue as he had beau struck with her beauty, calling to him
Guido, one of his barons, gave her to him in marriage, bestowing
on him the rank of Count, and on her the whole of Casentino and
part of Romagna as her portion. Of her two sous, Guglielmo
and Ruggieri, the latter was father of Guidoguerra, a man of great
military skill and prowess, who, at the head of 400 riorentine
Guelfs, was mainly instrumental iu giving Charles of Aujou the
victory over Manfred king of Naples, at Benevento, iu 1265.

' Of the noble family of Adimari, much esteemed for his mili-
tary talents. The rejection of his counsel by the Florentines,
against attacking the Sienese, was the occasion of their memorable
defeat at Monlaperto, and the banishment of the Guelfs from
Florence.

172 THE TRILOGY, [CANTO XVI.

"World's approbation should above command.

And I, placed thus in torment by their side^
Jacopo Rusticucci was/ and me
Sure my fierce wife hurt more than aught beside."

Could I but from the fire have still been free,
Down I had cast me among those below.
And from the bard, I think, had liberty.

But since it would have scorcVd and bumM me so.
Fear overcame good- will, and did allay 50

My eagerness for their embrace to go.

" Not scorn, but grief," I then began to say,
" Must your condition in my heart awake;
A pang that will but slowly pass away

Seized me, as soon as my instructer spake

Those words which first induced me to suspect
That such as you their way would near us take.

Yes, I am of your land ; in high respect

Your deeds I hold; your honour'd names commend.
And with affection hear and recollect. 60

I leave the gall and for the sweet fruit wend.
To me fore-promised by a leader true.
But to the centre first I must descend."

" So may thy soul conduct thy members through

' An opulent and generous Florentine, ■whose domestic un-
happiness drove him to licentious courses ; which makes him here
attribute his perdition to his wife's ill temper.

CANTO XVI.] INI'EllNO. 173

A lengthened future," lie to me replied,

" And after thee thy fame shine brightly too.

As thou shalt say, if still as wont reside
Courtesy and valour in our urban state ;
Or if thrust forth by all they wander wide ?

For Guiglielm' Borsieri,^ who of late 70

Joined us in grief, and with yon company
Wanders, did by his words much pain create."

" The new race and the sudden gains in thee,
O Florence, have produced excess and pride,"
For which even now thou weepest wofully."

When with my face uplifted thus I cried.

Those three, who deemed it the reply they sought,
As men who hear the truth, each other eyed.

" If thou so easily canst answer aught,"

They all replied, "in every other case, 80

Happy art thou who so canst speak thy thought.

Wherefore if thou, escaping this dark place.
Return to see the lovely stars again,

' A libsral and well-bred nobleman of Florence, the peacemaker
among bis acquaintance. On visiting Genoa he was consulted by
an avaricious noblemau of great wealth, Ermino de' Grimaldi, what
rare ornament he should procure to adorn his new saloon ? To
whom Borsieri replied, "Liberality." The hint was taken, and
the churl, in this instance, became bountiful. — Decameron, i. 8.

' " There is not any town iu all Italy more extravagant in their
expenses, in their carnivals, and feasts of St. John, than Tlorence."
— ÌIachiavelli.

174 THE TRILOGY, [CANTO XVI.

When thou with pleasure shalt the past retrace,
With gentle words commemorate us then."

Then they their circle broke, and fled away ;

Wings their swift legs seem'd, so that an "Amen"
In such short time a person could not say,

As that in which these shades had disappear'd.

Wherefore my master straight pursued his way,
I followed, and when we not far had fared, [90

A sound of water now our ear perceives

So near, each other's voice we scarcely heard.
Even as that river its first pathway cleaves,

From Monte Veso as its waters move.

Eastward where Apennine's left side it leaves.
And then is Acquacheta call'd above,

Ere to a lower bed its billows glide.

At Forli doom'd no more that name to prove ;^
There o'er St. Benedict^ resounds its tide, 100

^ The river, while exhibiting in the early part of its course —
" The torrent's smoothness ere it dash below,"
is named Acquacheta, "Quiet water." At Forli (the ancient
Forum Livii), after precipitating itself with great noise over a
ledge of rocks, near the rich abbey of St. Benedict, it takes the
name of Montone, " Ram." The descent of the river Phlegethon
is here compared to this cascade.

" The religious order of St. Benedict was established a.d. 529.
Its founder, a native of Nursia in Umbria, a man of piety and
character, gave new form to the monastic life. After he had long
lived a hermit, he founded a convent at Monte Cassino in Cam-
pania. Here he introduced a new system of rules, which mitigated

CANTO XVI.] INFER-VO. 175

As from an Alpine precipice descending^
A shelter where a thousand might abide :

Thus o'er a rock precipitous impending

Rush'dthe dark roaring wave which here we found;
"Which soon had stunn'd us, withits noise offending.

I had a cord with which I girt me round :
And formerly I thought it might conduce
To lead the pard with painted skin fast bound.^

the extreme rigour of eastern Monachism, prescribed a variety of
suitable employments, but especially distinguished his institution
by exacting from all who entered it a promise never to quit the
monastery again, and strictly to observe its rules. Tliis system
soon spread in Italy, Greece, and Spain, and in the ninth century
had absorbed all the other religious societies. Instead of the
former diversity of monasteries, uniformity was now established :
and thus arose the first Monastic Order, or association of many
monasteries living under the same rule. About the middle of the
sixth century the Benedictines, already accustomed to a well-
regulated activity, adopted literary pursuits, after the example set
them by Cassiodorus, who had made the first attempt of this kind
in the convent built by liim near Squillaci in Bruttia. They also
reclaimed waste lands, promoted education, handed down to pos-
terity the history of their times in Chronicles, and preserved, by
their copyists, the writings of antiquity. Having acquired im-
mense wealth from the devout liberality of the rich, the
Benedictines gave way to the temptations of luxury, sloth, and
worldly ambition, multiplying the ceremonies of religion as a sub-
stitute for their departed virtue, and claiming especial merit by
their endeavours to enlarge the power and authority of the Roman
Pontiff. Almost all the English abbots who held baronies and sat
in Parliament were Benedictines.

* The thirteenth century gave rise to the Mendicant Orders, or
Begging friars, of which the two principal were the Dominicans

176 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XVI.

"When I had made it from myself quite loose,

and Franciscans. The founder of the Franciscans was born at
Assissi in Umbria, the sou of a wealthy merchant, and afterwards
canonized as St. Francis. When a young man he was of dissolute
habits, but a fit of sickness threw him into the opposite course of
religious extravagance ; to cure him of which his father sent him
to prison, but in vain. At his father's instance, he renounced all
claim to his paternal inheritance, in addition to wliich he stripped
himself to his shirt. On hearing the Gospel read at church,
" Provide neither gold nor silver," &c., he conceived that tlie
essence of the Gospel consists in a voluntary and absolute poverty,
which he adojited, and persuaded others to adopt, as the rule of
life. For the religious order thus originated he drew up an in-
stitute, approved by Innocent III. in 1210, and by the Lateran
Council in 1215. Instead of the usual term Fra t res (Brothers or
Friars), he called his monks Zz-atorw//, "little brethren;" hence
they are called Fraticelli by tlie Italians, Frcres Miueurs by the
French, and Friars Minor by the English. Their habit was a
grey gown reaching to their heels. They were also, by the rules
of their founder, senza calzone — satis culottes! The name of
Capuchin was first given in jest by tlie boys in the streets, to that
branch of their order, instituted in 152S, which accepted the name
as their proper designation. It was provoked by the peaked
hood {cappuccio) which they wore. The Franciscans, when they
went abroad, wore a cloak, went barefoot, and girt themselves
with a cord : hence they were called Cordeliers. Their first house
in England, about 1224, was in Canterbury; their second in
London. Their success was prodigious. Their profession of
poverty, contrasted with the grasping spirit of the clergy and the
older monastic orders, produced a powerful effect. Matthew
Paris, in the middle of the thirteenth century, complains that
nobody confessed except to these new-fashioned monks-errant,
and that the parish churches were deserted. Their communilies,
however, not only acquired the advowsons of livings, made over
to them by their admirers, but also extensive estates and ample
revenues. They treated the other religious orders with great

CANTO XVI.] INFERNO. 177

Because my teacher had commanded this, 110
Coil'd up I reach'd it forth to him for use.

Then turning on the right hand towards the abyss,
Few paces distant from the shore he stood.
And flung it down o'er that rough precipice.

To such new signal, with keen eye pursued
By my instructor, I said inwardly,
'' Some novelty should in reply be view'd."

Ah me ! how cautious it were wise to be

haughtiness, reviling all except their own. Before they had been
twenty years in England a great and scandalous controversy arose
between them and the rival order of St. Dominic — the Black or
Preaching Friars — as to precedence, and the respective merits of
their two orders. Having been furnished by the Holy See with
extensive powers of confession and indulgence, the Franciscans
became in return the most grasping agents of the Papacy.
Matthew Paris gives examples of their avarice, impudence, and
hypocrisy.

Probably Dante had in early life adopted the Franciscan " cord"
and rule, as a kind of novitiate, for the purpose of mortifying and
subduing his carnal appetites; but having found the experiment
a failure, he exchanged the cord of St. Francis for a different kind
of tie, and the rule of a more ancient institute : — he married !
The covert satire conveyed in this Canto is scarcely less severe
than that in the Crede of Piers Ploughman, where the Franciscan
order, which had been so popular, and still continued so powerful,
is described as " The ymage of ypocricie ymped upon fendes,"
1. 607. Dante having, at the instance of Virgil, stripped off the
" cord," the Latin poet employs it as a baii for Geryon ; while
Dante looks on, wondering what " strange fish" it would bring up.
Soon " the fell monster with the sharpened sting" ascends from
the abyss (see Eev. xi. 7), in the seeming expectation of meeting
a Franciscan ready to make the descent with him.

12

178 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XVi.

Near men Avhose mind beyond the action pries
Into one's thoughts with keen sagacity ! 120

Then he to me ; " Soon wilt thou see arise
"What I await, thy fancy's waking dream_,
To be ere long display'd before thine eyes."

Well may that truth continued silence claim
Whose face the semblance of a lie begrimes.
Because without a fault it causeth shame.^

But I must speak, and, reader, by the rhymes
Of this my Comedy, to thee I swear,
So may they miss no favour through all times,

I saw then, through that gross and gloomy air, 130
A shape come swimming upwards, which to see
The stoutest heart had quell'd with wonder there.

So he returns who goes below to free

The anchor, grappling with its iron claws
The rock, or aught beside hid in the sea,

Who springing upward thence his feet withdraws.

' Ariosto makes a like reflection, in imitation of Dante. —
" I saw it, I know it ; yet I am not sure
In speaking of it to others, tliat so great a wonder
"Will not appear more like falsehood than truth."

Ori. Fur. ii. 54.

CANTO XVII.] INFERNO. 179

CANTO XVI I.

THE ARGUMENT.

A description of the monster Geryon, the living symbol of Fraud. —
While A'irgil is conversing with him, Dante proceeds a little
further, along the edge of the abyss, to observe the condition
of the usurers who suffer there : they are identified by their
armorial bearings, embroidered on purses hanging from their
necks. — The two poets descend into the eighth circle on the
back of Geryon.

" Lo the fierce reptile with the sharpenM sting
AVho passeth mountains, breaking walls and spears.
And doth o'er all the world his ordure fling.''

Thus fell my leader's accents on mine ears :

Who made a sign that he should come to shore
Near to the marble causeway's utmost piers.

He who of fraud the loathsome image wore
Emerging laid on shore his head and bust.
But on the bank to lift his tail forbore.

His face was human and proclaim'd him just, 10
Its outward aspect so benignly fair.
And of a serpent all the trunk robust :

Two paws were, to the armpits, rough with hair;

180 TOE TKILOGY. [CANTO XVII,

Backj breast^ and both sides variegated prove^
With knots and circles painted on them there.

With colours dyed beneath and laid above.

Their cloth ne'er Turks nor Tartars varied more -^
Nor such adorn'd the web Arachne wove.^

As oft the vessel rests upon the shore_,

Part on the water and a part on land, 20

And as where dwells the greedy German boor.

The beaver to make war sits on the strand ; ^

^ The art of dyeing lias been practised in the East from the
earliest times. The Turks and Tartars, like other Oriental
nations, have always been characterised by a taste for gaudy and
variegated colours.

- Arachne, daughter of Idmo, a dyer of Colophon in Ionia,
whose myth represents her as having been so skilful in needle-work,
that she challenged Minerva; by whom however she was
vanquished, and then hung herself in despair, but was changed by
the goddess into a spider. Her name is the Greek word for a
sjyider.

^ The position indicated is, with its body on the shore, and its
tail in the water. This is noi a suitable position for catching fish
or watching them ; the occupation in which nearly all the trans-
lators represent the animal to be engaged, — as if his tail were
both bait and hook ! The "guerra," "war," which the beaver wages,
is with plants, among which it makes fearful havock. It is of
the order rodentia, has no canine teeth, is amphibious, timid, and
shy, invariably carrying on its labours, in the construction of huts
and dams, by night. It is related of a tamed and domesticated
beaver, that he liked to dip his tail in the watery but was not fond
of plunging the whole body. If his tail was kept moist, he never
cared to drink; but if it was kept dry, he appeared to be
distressed, and would drink a good deal. The earliest notice of
the beaver is in^erodotus, iv. 109, who describes it as being

CANTO XVII.] INFERNO. 181

So did this wild and worst of pests remain,
On the rock margin that enclosed the sand.

Glancing about in that void space amain

His tail ; its venomM fork, which upwards twined,
Was arm'd with sting, as is the scorpion's train.

" Now,'' said ray guide, " our way must be inclined
Sideways a little space, to where in sight
That savage beast is on yon brink reclined." 30

We thereupon descended to the right ;
Ten paces on the utmost verge went we,
To shun the sand and flames which there alight.

And when to him we had advanced, we see,
A little further on upon the sand.
Another tribe near the declivity.

Then said my guide, " That thou may'st understand.
And of this round complete experience bear,
Now go, and well be their condition scann'd :

Short be thy conversation with them there. 40

Till thy return I will with this one talk.
That we the aid of his strong back may share."

Thus then upon the verge extreme I Avalk

Of that seventh circle, and without my chief;
Where sat that mournful tribe alone I stalk.

found among the Budai, a people who lived on the river Tanais
or Don. It still lives and burrows on the banks of the Rhine,
Danube, Weser, and other European rivers ; but in the British
Isles, where it formerly existed, it has become extinct.

183 THE TRILOGY. [CAXTO XVII,

Througli their sad eyes burst forth their inward grief;
Against the vapour and hot soil they try,
With hands moved here and there, to find relief.

Not otherwise the dogs in summer ply

Their jaws and feet when bitten by the flies, 50
Or fleas, or brizes that around them fly.

When on some faces I had fixM mine eyes.
Of those beneath that dolorous fiery shower.
Not any of them could I recognize ;

But saw that from the neck of each hung lower
A pouch which certain marks and colours bore,^
And these their eyes seemM eager to devour.

When come among them, gazing to explore,

' Armorial bearings have been in use immemorially. The
devices and mottoes emblazoned on the shields of the Seven Chiefs
who besieged Thebes, are described by ^schylus. But the
general introduction of such bearings as hereditary distinctions,
can be traced no higher than to about the commencement of the
13th century, and originated partly in the devices borne by the
armed knights in the tournaments of chivalry ; and partly from
those employed by the Crusaders of different nations, to
distinguish the banners of their respective chiefs. The earliest
heraldic document extant is of the reign of Edward I. It is in
old Norman-Frencl), and rehearses the names and armorial
bearings of the barons, knights, &c. veho attended him at the
siege of Caerlaverock castle, a.d. 1300, the year of Dante's Vision.
Heraldry was at that time a pictorial language, far more necessary
than at present. But these distinctions had even then become food
for the gratification of personal vanity and family pride. This
Dante ridicules by adorning with such embhizoury the purses of
usurers.

CANTO XVII.] INFERNO. 183

One yellow purse I saw with azure wrouglit.
The which a lion's face and figure bore.^ 60

Proceeding thus in my survey I caught
The sight of one of blood-red colour now,
"Which showed a goose more white than milk/
methought ;

And one that bore a fat and azure sow
Pictured on his white satchel/ I descried,
Who said to me, " What in this deep dost thou ?

Away, and since thou dost in life abide.

Know thou that here, my neighbour once, by name
Vitalian,^ is to sit at my right side.

I with these Florentines a Paduan came; 70

And oft they stun mine ears with their loud cry :
' The sovereign cavalier with pouch, we claim.

The three goats bearing / let him hither hie ! ' "
Thereon he writhed his mouth and thrust his

tongue
Out like an ox that licks his nose : ^ and I,

* The arms of tlie Gian Tigliazzi of Florence.

•^ The arms of the Ubriacchi, another noble family there.

^ The arms of the Scrovigui, a noble family of Padua.

"^ Vitaliano del Dento, a noble Paduan, much given to usury.

^ The arms of the Buiamonti. The reference is to Giovana
Buiamonte, a Florentine usurer, the most infamous of his time.

^ A sign of derisive contempt among the ancient Romans —
"Nee linguse, quantum sitiat Canis Appula, tantum." — Persius,
Sat. i. 60 ; and still employed among the lower classes in Italy.

184 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XVII.

Eeaiing that if I should my stay prolong, [speedy,
^Twould grieve him who had warnM me to be
Turii'd backward from that wearied spirits' throng.

Upon the back of that fierce brute already

I found that Virgil his ascent had made. 80

He said to me, '' Now be thou bold and steady,

Such are the stairs which our descent must aid.
Mount thou before, I'll in the middle sit ;
Thou needst not then be of the tail afraid."

As he who hath so near a shivering fit
Of quartan ague that his nails are pale.
And the shade shakes him even to look at it ;

Such I became to hear my teacher's tale : [me,

But shame now smote and threaten'd to disgrace
Which makes, before his lord, the servant hale. 90

I on those shoulders huge did therefore place me.
I would have said (but that my words a stop
Experienced^), "Look that firmly thou embrace

But he who oft before had been my prop, [me."
Soon as I mount, his arms around me cast ;
And lifting high he firmly held me up.

" Now, Geryon,^ move thou on," he cried at last ;

'' Be large thy circuits, thy descent with ease ;

Think of the unusual burden which thou hast.'*

^ Voxfaucibushcesit. "The word stuck in my throat." JEnei^.
^ An ancient king in Spain, who was overcome and slain by
Hercules. jEneid. vii. 662.

CA.VTO XVII.] INFERNO. 185

As tlie small vessel backward by degrees 100

The land forsakes, thus be withdrew his trail,
And feeling 't was '' all right/' himself he frees ;

There where the breast had been he turn'd his tail ;
Thus like an eel outstretch' d his length he steers.
And towards him with his talons fann'd the gale.

Not Phaeton methinks caused greater fears,^
When he the reins abandon'd in despair,
Because the sky Avas burn'd, as yet appears •? —

Nor when the wretched Icarus in air

Felt the plumes loosen'd by the scalded wax,^ 110

' Piiaetou, son of Apollo and Clymene, one of the Oceanidse.
On being reproached with not being the son of Apollo, he, at the
instance of his mother, begged his father to give proof of his
paternity. After Phoebus had sworn by Styx to give him what-
ever he required, Phaeton demanded leave to drive his cliariot one
day. Phoebus expostulated, but in vain ; and as his oath was
inviolable, he instructed his son how to proceed. But no sooner
had Phaéton received the reins than his incapacity appeared ; the
flying horses took advantage of it, and departing from their usual
track, a universal conflagration seemed imminent : which Jupiter
perceiving, struck the charioteer with a thunderbolt, and hurled
him from his seat into the river Eridanus. — Metani, ii.

^ When Phaeton, unable to keep the line of the sun's course
along the ecliptic, missed his way, he came so near the earth as
to dry up all the countries under it, and burned a great part of the
heavens, " which the philosophers call via lactea, and the Sciolists
St. James's way; although the very loftiest poets affirm it to be
the place where Juno's milk fell when she suckled Jupiter." —
Rabelais.

' Icarus, son of Daedalus, who with his father, to avoid the
resentment of Minos, is said to have fled from Crete on artificia

186 THK TKILOGY, [CANTO XVII.

While cried his sire^ " Thou hold^st the -wrong
May there ! " —
Than mine when, as his path the monster tracks,

I saw mysc4f iu air all round ; and lo !

Save that fierce beast my sight all prospect lacks.
Himself he launch'd, and downward floated slow,

Wheeling and sinking imperceptibly,

Save that my face is fann'd as from below ;
And on my right a Avhirlpool seems to be.

Which underneath us made a horrible crash.

Whence I with head stretch'd forth look'd down
to see, 120

But shrunk back timid at what seem'd so rash.

To attempt from such a height the scene to
explore :

Wailings I heard, and saw of fires the flash.
Thence I all trembling stoopM. Now — not before —

Perceived I the descent and circular swoop.

So near all round appear'd those torments sore.
Like as the falcon when his pinions droop,^

Long poised in air, nor lure nor bird could see,

wings. But his flight being too liigh, tlie sun melted the wax
which fastened them, and he fell into that part of the ^geau
wliich from him is called the Icarian Sea. — Ovid. Metani. 183.

^ Falconry or hawking, unknown to the Greeks and Romans,
is believed to have been practised in the East, and among the
barbarous nations of the north, from a very early period. It is

CANTO XVII.] INFERNO. 187

Which makes the falconer cry, "Ah dost thou
stoop !"
Descends fatigued ; then swiftly gliding, he 130

By a hundred wheels,^ and with disdain conceived.

Far from his master perches gloomily :
Thus Geryon stoop'd ; on foot the ground received

Us at the furrow'd rock's deep base below ;

And of our persons being thus relieved,
He went off like an arrow ù'om the bow.^

still a favorite sport in central and northern India. Falconry was
introduced into the provinces of the Roman empire by the bar-
barians who overran and eventually subdued them. The laws of
Italy in the 9th century regard the sword and the hawk as of
equal dignity and importance in the hand of a Lombard nobleman.
On the Bayeaux Tapestry, Harold, on his visit to William of
Normandy, is represented with a hawk on his fist. In our own
country, from the Heptarchy down to the time of Charles II.
Falconry was the principal amusement of the nobility and gentry;
and although it is no longer recognized among the sports of
civilized Europe, we have many mementos of its former prevalence,
in our Surnames, our Heraldry, our Proverbs, and our Literature.

Hawks intended for training were taken young; and great
skill, patience, and perseverance were necessary in reclaiming
these fierce birds. Well-trained hawks were highly valued, and
often sold at enormous prices. The allusions to falconry are fre-
quent in the writings of Dante, Ariosto, Boccaccio, Chaucer, &c.

^ "Throws his steep flight in many an airy wheel." — Paradise
Lost, iii. 7il.

^ Geryon, having been disappointed of an expected prey, goes
off displeased, like the baffled and moody falcon.

188 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XVIII.

CANTO XYIII.

THE ARGUMENT.

A description of Malebolge, or the eighth circle divided into ten
concentric gulfs or valleys, for the punishment of ten different
kinds of fraud.- — In this Canto the poets only traverse two of
them, crossing each by a rocky bridge, whence they look
down and survey the transgressors and their torments. — In
the first valley panders and seducers are scourged by demons :
Dante recognizes and converses with Caccianimico, and sees
Jason. — In the second valley flatterers and harlots are im-
mersed in filth : Alesio and Thais are discovered there.

There is a place in hell call'd Malebolge/

All rocky and of dark ferruginous stain ;

Like tiie surrounding steep of wliicli I told ye.
Riglit in the middle of that direful plain

Wide yawns a gulf, how vast, and how profound !

Whereof due time the structure will explain.

' Malebolgè, "the evil enclosures." Dante describes it as a
huge labyrinth, consisting of ten circular concentric valleys, divided
from each other by rocky mounds, with a gradual descent from
the outer to the innermost circle. Across these mounds are
bridges leading from the surrounding rock to the central chasm.
To the left, between the rock which they had just descended and
the first of the ten valleys, the poets proceed, surveying on their
risrht the sinners engulfed below.

CANTO XVIII.] INPERNO. 189

That girdlc therefore which remains is round,
Between the gulf and bank so high and hard :
Ten separate valleys occupy the ground.

As where with many a foss the walls to guard 10
Men gird about some castellated town.
And thus the space within from danger ward.

On the same plan those fashion'd here were shown :
And as such fortresses, even from their foot
To the outer bank opposed, have bridges thrown ;

So here, proceeding from the rock's low root,
The flinty paths across each rock and mound.
Even to the gulf which gathering ends them, shoot.

Such was the place in which ourselves we found
From Geryon's back dislodged : and now my
guide 20

Moves to the left, while after him I bound.

On the right hand new misery I spied ;

New pangs and flagellators there had place.
With which the first chasm fully was supplied.

Below were naked sinners : us they face

Who walkM this side the middle ; those we view'd
On that, walkM with us, but with quicker pace.'

^ The crowds were moving in opposite directions on the two
sides of the foss beneath, so that tliose nearest the poets faced
them, and tliose furthest off were walking in the same direction
with them, towards the bridge. The direction which the poets
had taken on their arrival in Malebolge, as in every other circle,

190 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XVIII.

Even as the Romans, tliat the multitude

At Jubilee/ -whose numbers none can count,
May pass the bridge, this method have pursued: 30

All those on one side towards the castle front.
And so approach St. Peter's ; all who flock
The other side move onwards to the mount."

was to the left ; they had the foss, therefore, at tlieir right hand.
Hence it is clear that each sufferer took that side of the foss
which was at his right, and had those at his left who were walking
in the opposite direction. When Dante and liis companion arrived
at the bridge which crossed the foss, and, having reached its top,
looked down on those who were about to pass under its arch,
they would face those who had before been walking in the same
direction with themselves.

' In imitation of the Secular Games of the ancient Romans,
which were celebrated at the end of every 110 years, Bouiface VIII.
instituted the Jubilee, which was first observed a.d. 1300, and
decreed its observance at the conclusion of every century. At
this first Jubilee such vast numbers resorted to Rome, that, as
G. Villani, who was present, informs us, to obviate the incon-
venience arising from their throng, his Holiness caused the bridge
of St. Angelo to be divided lengthways by a partition, and ordered
that all going to St. Peter's should keep on one side, and those
returning, on the other. From Dante's comparison we learn,
that the rule established on this occasion was the same as is now
observed in our own towns and cities, as well as in those of Italy,
&c. ; namely, the custom of taking the right side of the road and
giving the left, in walking.

^ " The bridge," mentioned by Dante, is in a line with the castle
of St. Angelo, which faces one end of it. " The mount" is the
Janiculum, and more especially that part on which the church of
St. Pietro in Montorio stands. We may fairly suspect a deep
sarcasm, in the comparison of those who crowded to the Jubilee,
with the sinners in Malebolgè.

CANTO XVIII.] INFEJIXO. 191

On eitlier side along the sable rock

I saw horn'd demons, who with mighty blows
Them on their backs unmercifully struck.

Ah ! how the first stripe from those demon foes
Made them spring forward; for a second none
Waits, nor a third, before his speed he shows.

Meanwhile, as on I walkM, my eyes met one 40
Whom soon as I beheld I said, " This man
Seems to my sight already not unknown.-'^

Therefore I stay'd my feet his form to scan :
My guide paused with me too, and let me go
Backward some steps to view that face so wan :

And then that scourged one bent his visage low
Himself to hide, but vainly, for said I,
" Thou who to earth dost bend thine eyelids so.

If thee thy featui'es do not much belie,

Venedico Caccianimico^ art. 50

A^Tiat brings thee here such poignant sauce to try?''

And he ; " To tell it thee I've not much heart :
But thy clear language hath remembrance bred
Of the old world in which I had my part ;

And that compels me. I am he who led
Fair Ghisola to do the ISIarquis' will ;

^ A. Bolognese of a uoble family, who betrayed the virtue of his
own sister Ghisola to Obizzo d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara, men-
tioned Canto xii.

192 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XVIII.

However Fame the shameful tale may spread.

Nor I the only Bolognese who spill

My tear-drops here, so throng'd with us the place.
Between Sevena and the Beno^ still 60

So many tongues know not in our quaint phrase
To answer Sipa :" and if proof more strong
Thou ask, our avarice of heart retrace."

Him, speaking thus, a demon Avith his thong
Struck, and exclaim'd, " Away, procm'er, for
Here are no girls for sale ; so get along !"

My escort then I overtook once more;
And, a few paces on, our way we find
To where a rock projected from the shore;

And up its side with ease our footsteps wend : 70
Then on its crag, turn'd to the right we go.
And those eternal circles leave hehind.^

When we arrived where yawns the arch below.
To let the flagellated souls pass through.
My leader said, " Pause here and let the woe

' These two rivers rise iu the Apennines, and flow past Bologna ;
the Sevena east, and the Reno west of the city.

* Now Sipo, a Bolognese provincialism for Si, Yes. Dante
thus distinguishes Bologna by its dialect, as well as by its topo-
graphical position.

^ Turning to the right, they mount one of the rocky bridges
that cross the first chasm of the eighth circle ; in doing which
they necessarily turn their backs on the seven circles which they
had previously passed through.

CANTO XVIII.] INFERNO. ]93

Of these unfortunates now meet thy view,
Whose faces have not been to thee clisplayM,
Since they have walked beside us hitherto/^

From the old bridge we now the crowd surveyed
Who toward us came upon the other side, 80
And whom the lash had in like manner flay'd.

Then thus, without my asking, spake my guide ;
" Mark thou yon great one who doth hither wend ;
From whom no grieving tear is seen to glide.

How regal is the look by him retain'd !

'Tis Jason, who by heart and skill erewhile
The ram from Colchis and its people gainM.

As he pass'd thither through the Lemnian isle.
When those bold cruel women all their males
Had rudely slaughter'd ; there did he beguile, 90

With tokens and Avith soft persuasive tales,
Hypsipyle the young f who had deceived

^ A celebrated hero of lolclios, in Thessaly, leader of the expe-
dition from the Pegasean gulf, in the Argo, to Colchis, where, by
the assistance of Medea, he obtained the golden fleece. He after-
wards proved false to }iei\ for which she took a terrible revenge,
by destroying their children in his presence.

- When the Lemnian women put to death all their male relatives,
Hypsipyle alone spared the life of her father Thoas. Not long
after this, the Argonauts landed at Lemnos, in their expedition to
Colchis. During their stay in the island they became attached
to the Lemnian women, and Jason at his departure vowed eternal
fidelity to Hypsipyle ; a vow no better kept than his subsequent

engagements to Medea.

13

194' THE TRILOGY, [CANTO XVIII.

Still earlier all the others : with spread sails
Her he abandoned, pregnant and bereaved.

For this was he condemned to this keen smart;

Medea's vengeance too hath he received.
With him are those who practised the same art.

Of the first vale this knowledge may suffice.

And of the souls who in its pangs have part."
Now came we where our narrow pathway lies 100

Across the second mound, whose shoulders there

To bring us to another arch arise.
Hence in the second chasm the crowd we hear,

Who deeply groan and with spread nostrils puff;

And blows, with their own palms inflicted, bear.
The crusted banks with mouldy scum were rough ;

For the foul steam reekM up and there it cleaved.

Giving both sight and smell a rude rebuff.
So deep the bottom that we nought perceived

From any part, until we mounted up 110

On that high arch whose crag above it heaved :
Thither we came, and looking from the top,

A crowd in ordure plunged, which seem'd to flow

From common-sewers, I saw : and as I stop.
And search with prying eye the depth below,

I noticed one, so grimed with filth his head.

That whether clerk or layman few could know.
He chid me^thus ; " Why would thine eyes be fed

CANTO XVIII.] INFERNO. 195

So greedily with looks at me, before

Those other sordid ones ?" "Because/' I said, 120

^' Thee I remember having seen of yore.
With thy locks dry. Thou art Alessio^
Interminei of Lucca : therefore more

Than all the rest I scan thee." Beating now
His head he said ; " The flatteries with which
My tongue I ne'er could glut sunk me thus low."

Immediately my leader said ; " Just stretch
A, little further forward now thy face,
If that thine eyes may peradventure reach

The \-isage of that harlot foul and base, 130

Whose filthy nails her form so lacerate j
Now crouching and now standing on the place :

Thai's that harlot is, who when her mate

Fondly enquired, ' Have I great thanks from thee?'
Responded, ' Yes, and wonderfully great.' ^

Well may our view from hence now satiate be."

^ Of an ancient and considerable family in Lucca, the Literminei.

' A celebrated courtezan of Athens, who accompanied Alexander
in his Asiatic expedition, and gained such an ascendency over him
that she induced him to burn the royal palace of Persepolis. After
his death she married Ptolemy king of Egypt. Menander cele-
brated her beauty ; and Terence, who copied Menander, introduces
her in a dialogue between Thraso and his messenger, thus ; —
" Thraso. Well, but did Thais give her thanks to me? Gnatho.
Vast thanks." — 'Eunuchus, act iii. so. 1. Tha'is herself does not
appear in the scene, as Dante seems to have supposed. The pas-
sage is quoted by Cicero, De Amicitid, 9S, where Dante may have
seen it, which accounts for his mistake.

196 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XIX.

CANTO XIX.

THE AKGTJMENT.

Tlie poets reach the third valley of Malebolge, where the followers
of Simon Magus are punished. These are fixed in circular
holes, with their heads downward, while only their legs
appear, with flames playing on the soles of their feet. Dante
is borne by his guide to the bottom of the valley, where he
finds Pope Nicholas III., who mistakes him for Boniface VIII.
his successor, whose coming, as well as that of Clement V.,
he foretells. Dante sternly and severely reproves their
covetousness and evil deeds. "Virgil then carries him again to
the top of the bridge, along which they pass to the next valley.

O Simon Magus/ O ye -vvTetclies -who

His footsteps follow, and the things of God,
To goodness plighted, so rapacious you

Por gold and silver prostitute !^ aloud

' The history of Simon Magus is in Acts viii. 5 — 24. Ireneeus
relates, that he afterwards applied himself to magic more than
ever, travelling through various provinces, for the purpose of
withstanding the Apostles, and opposing Christianity. Much
more is related of him which appears conjectural and fabulous. The
trafile in ecclesiastical preferments has from him been called Simony.

- Matthew Paris thus describes the state of things in the thirteenth
century. " Simony was now practised without a blush. Illiterate
persons of the lowest class, armed with the bulls of the Roman

CANTO XIX.] INFERNO. 197

For you the awful trumpet now must sound,
Because in the third chasm is your abode.

Mready we had climhM the rocky mound

Of the next vault ; the huge cliff in that part
Hung o'er the middle of the foss profound.

Wisdom Supreme ! how is thy wondrous art 10
In heaven, earth, and this evil world made clear !
How just the meed thou dost to all impart.

Throughout the sides and at the bottom there
The livid stone all full of holes I see.
Of equal size, and each was circular.

They neither less nor larger seem'd to me
Than those that are within my fair St. John
Made for the priests who serve the Baptistry.^

Church, daily presumed to plunder the revenues left by pious
men for the maintenance of the clergy, for the support of the poor,
and the hospitable entertainment of pilgrims. And if any of the
injured appealed or pleaded privilege, they were suspended or
excommunicated, on the warrant of an authority from the Pope."
—Eist. Major, a.d. 1237.

^ The vast and magnificent cathedral, or Duomo, at Tlorence,
dedicated to St. John, ranks among the first ecclesiastical
buildings of Europe. The fine double cupola was the earliest,
and the model of succeeding ones, and of that by which alone it
has been surpassed, the Dome of St. Peter's. This cathedral was
begun in 1296 by Arnolpho di Lapo, a scholar of Cimabue the
painter. Here, as at Pisa and many other places, the Baptistery
is a separate edifice : it stands in the middle of the great square
ia front of the cathedral. It is an octagon, with a low dome
supported by many granite pillars. Its interior walls are faced,

198 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XIX.

To save a drowning cliild, few years are gone [20
Since one of these I broke : the cause explain' d,
Be this the seal to undeceive each one.

Forth from its mouth each hole this chasm contain'd
A sinner's feet and legs display'd ahove^
Even to the calf, all else within remain' d.

And on both soles the flames enkindled move.
Therefore with such vehemence play'd each joint.
Enough to break both cords and ropes 'twould
prove.

As on the ground which unctuous things anoint.
The flame just licks the surface on its way,
So glided here the flames fi'om heel to point. 30

" Pray, who is he so tortured, master, say.

With feet more nimble than his comrades' are;"
I ask'd ; " on Avhom a redder flame doth prey ?"

And he to me ; " If thou but let me bear
Thee down below by yon bank's easiest fall,.

aad the pavement laid, with marble. The concave of the dome
is covered with mosaic, the work of Andrea Tafi, one of Ciraabue's
pupils. All the children born in Florence and the suburbs used
to be christened here ; and as the population in the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries was great, the baptismal fonts must often have
been crowded. Dante's comparison of the holes in the rock of
Malebolge to these, appears rather sinister, but was, no doubt, as
imiocently intended, as the fracture of one of them — condemned
as a sacrilege by the superstitious, but justified by the occasion,
in the eyes of all who think human life more precious than the
richest marble, and more sacred than the costliest shrine.

CANTO XIX.] INFEEXO. 199

He shall to thee himself and crimes declare."

I said, " What pleases thee is best of all ;

Thou art my lord, and by thy will I'm bound,
Who know'st my thought in each mute interval."

Then on the fourth pier come, and turning round, 40
Upon the left hand we descend below
To that confined and perforated ground.

Nor yet would my kind master let me go
Down from his arms, till by the hole at last
Of him whose legs betray'd his torment so.

" Whoe'er thou art with head below misplaced,
Sad spirit, like a stake driven in the soil,"
Thus I commenced, "speak, if the power thou
hast."

I stood like friar that shrives the assassin vile, [50
Who even when fix'd^ where he his doom must bear.
Calls him again, postponing death awhile.

And he^ cried out, " Already stand'st thou there ?

* In Dante's time, assassins were " put into a deep hole iu tlie
ground with their heads downward, and buried alive."

' John Cajetan, a Roman of the noble family of Orsini, was
elected pope November 23d, 1277, and took the name of
Nicholas III. His attachment to the Ghibelines was hereditary,
and he favoured them everywhere, obtaining their recall in all the
Guelf repubhcs. Charles of Anjou having scornfully rejected his
proposed alliance between their families, Nicholas intended to
transfer the kingdom of Sicily from him to Peter of Aragon, to
promote which object, the Sicilians rose on Easter-day 1282, and
slew all the Preuch in that island. This was the famed Sicilian

200 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XIX.

Already ! — and erect ! — O Boniface ?^
The Avriting told me false by many a year.

Didst thou so surfeit of that wealth apace

For -which thou fear'dst not that fair dame to take
By fraud, and then afflict with outrage base ?""

Not comprehending what the sufferer spake,
I felt like one to ridicule exposed,
And paused, not knowing what reply to make. 60

" Say quickly, thou art not whom he supposed,"

Vespers. — Du Pin, vol. iii. p. 192; Sismondi, ch. iv. p. 101.
Machiavelli describes Nicholas as a daring, ambitious man, who
first openly set the example of nepotism to succeeding popes,
designing to carve out kingdoms for his family ; but before he
could accomplish this he died, a.d. 1280. — Hist. Fior. i.

^ Cardinal Benedict Cajetau was raised to the Pontificate a.d.
1294, by the name of Boniface YIU. See Canto iii. note. He
took for his motto Ecce duo gladii, and aimed at making himself
master of all kingdoms. He forbade all princes exacting anything
from ecclesiastical revenues, and sent legates to Prance to collect
money. In his bull, In unam sandam, he claimed dominion in
spirituals and temporals. The first resistance to papal aggression
was offered on this occasion by the king and people of Prance.
Boniface was even arrested by Philip's agent, and though
liberated from durance by the people of Agnania, where he was,
he died of rage and grief at Borne, October ]2th, 1303. — Du Pin,
cent. xiv. ; Eanke, Rist. of Fopes, i. i. 4. Nicholas, thinking
that the person he addressed was Boniface, expresses wonder that
he had arrived so soon, and that he stood erect, instead of taking
his place in the hole with head inverted.

' By fraudulent means obtaining the supreme dominion of the
Church, and then by the abuse of that authority inflicting on her
the greatest injury.

CANTO XIX.] INFERNO. 201

Said Virgil then, " tell him thou art not he."
And I made answer as my guide proposed :

Whereat the spirit writhed vehemently

His feet j then sighing and lamenting sore,
He thus replied, " What askest thou of me ?

If, who I am, thou art so keen to explore.

That thou for this the bank descended^st there.
Know then that I the mighty mantle wore,^

And was indeed a son of the she-bear :" 70

So eager to advance the cubs, that I
On earth to store away my wealth took care.

And here myself. Under my head there lie
Others dragg'd thi'ough a fissure in the rock.
Who have before me practised simony.

I too, when he arrives whom I mistook

Thee for, and did with sudden question greet.
Low down shall fall. Since I began to cook

My soles, and thus have borne reverse complete.
More time hath pass'd already, than his doom 80
'Tis to be planted here with ruddy feet.^

• The robe of Supreme Pontiff.

' In allusion to his family name of Orsini.

' He had already waited longer for Boniface than the latter
would have to wait for Clement. He had been dead about twenty
years. Boniface had reigned five, and continued to reign three
years longer ; from whose death to that of Clement V. ten years
elapsed.

202 THE TUILOGY. [CANTO XIX.

For after Mm^ of deeds more foul^ will come
One from the "vrest, a lawless pastor he/
Who shall above both him and me find room.

Like him we read of, a new Jason see.

In Maccabees ; to whom his king was kind ;*
Even so to him the King of France will be."

I know not if too rashly I my mind

Express' d, but my reply this biu'den bore ;

" Alas ! now tell me, when our Lord inclined 90

^ A reign of eleveu months, that of Benedict XI., followed that
of Boniface, after whose death the Holy See was vacant thirteen
months, the conclave at Perusa not being able to agree in an
election. At length it was agreed that the Italian cardinals
should nominate three candidates not Italians, ont of which the
French cardinals were to choose one. One of the three was
Bertrand de Got, Archbishop of Bourdeaux. On hearing this the
King of France sent for him, and having agreed with him on
certain conditions, wrote to the French cardinals to elect him ;
which they did June 5tb, 1307. By the name of Clement V. he
was crowned at Lyons, revoked the bulls of Boniface and reversed
his judgments. Following through his whole reign the directions
of Philip the Fair, he called a Council at Vienne in 1311 for the
purpose of condemning the rich and powerful order of the
Templars, whose ruin had been agreed on, for the sake of their
wealth, which the king so greatly needed. Clement's ordinary
abode was in France ; and thus commenced the residence of the
popes at Avignon. He died in May, 1314.

* Jason, the brother of Onias III., offered Antiochus Epiphanes
•iiO talents of silver to depose Onias, and appoint him to the
high-priesthood in his stead. In this office he did all in his
power to substitute Grecian customs for the laws of iloses. —
2 Mace. iv. 7, ^c.

CANTO XIX.] INFERNO. 203

To put the keys into St. Peter^s power.

What treasures did lie first of him demand ?
None : — ' Follow me/ he said, and ask^d no more.

Peter and th' others, of Matthias^ hand

Nor gold nor silver took, when lots they cast
For one in Judas' forfeit place to stand.

Then stay where thy just punishment thou hast:
And look that well thou guard that wealth ill-
gain' d,
Whence thou against King Charles^ embolden'd
wast.

And if it were not that I am restrained 100

By reverence for the keys which once did fill
Thy grasp, while cheerful light to thee remained.

The words I speak would be severer still ;

Because your avarice the whole world hath
grieved,^

^ Charles of Anjou, king of the two Sicilies. See note, 1. 52.

* " The Roman Court, now in the time of our new pope
Innocent IV., laying aside all sense of shame, continued by daily
decrees impudently to extort revenues. The king, therefore,
auaoyed by the manifold avarice of the Romans, wrote to the
Pope, — " To the most holy father in Christ, and Lord Innocent,
by the grace of God, Henry king of England, &c. health and kisses
to his blessed feet. In some of your decrees granted to the clerks
of Euglaud and other countries, we find ourselves oppressed in
no slight degree," &c. — Matt. Pahis, a.d. 1244.

"The king at the same time instituted a diligent inquiry
throughout all the counties as to the amount of revenues received
by Romans, and as to the number of Italians whom the Court of

204 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO XIX.

Trampling the good and raising up the ill.
You shepherds the Evangelist perceived,

When her "who on the -waters sits he saw.

And who with kings in filthy whoredom lived :
Her who with seven heads born could also draw

From the ten horns conclusive argument, 110

While yet she pleased her spouse with ^drtue'slaw.^
What could the idolater do more who bent

To gold and silver, which you make your god ?

But worship to a hundred ye present,
For one ! Ah, Constantine ! Avhat ills have flow'd,

Rome had fraudulently and by force enriclied in England. These
revenues were found to amount to 60,000 marks annually; a
sum more than equal to the annual revenue of the whole of
England. Wherefore the king was struck with abhorrence at the
insatiable cupidity of the Roman Court," &c. " Wherefore a
letter was prepared by the community of the kingdom, which set
forth the execrable extortions of the Pope, and the manifold
exactions of his legates and certain clerks invested with unheard
of powers." — Ih. 1245. The letter is given by the historian.
" The Pope, with great anger at the complaint, replied in the nega-
tive; and issued a decree that the property of clerks dying
intestate should devolve to him, appointing the Minorites (Pran-
ciscans) to carry it into effect." — lb. These are only a few
instances from one historian, in proof of the charge here brought
by Dante.

' If by " her spouse" the Pope is meant, it must be as a
rtVe-husband, certainly, since the true Bridcgi'oom and Spouse of
the Church is Christ. Some explain the seven heads and ten
horns to mean the seven sacraments and ten commandments.
Prom these, Dante says, she derived the evidence of her relation
to iiim, so long -as she pleased him by her obedience. BiagioU

CANTO XIX.] INFERNO. 205

Though not from thy conversion, from the dower,
"Which to thy gift the fii'st rich father owed." ^
And while into his ears these notes I pour,

He, whether wrath or conscience pierced his breast,
Brandished both soles aloft with all his power, 120

explains the line, " So long as the pontiffs, who are the husbands
of the Church, were moral, holy, and lovers of faith." But it is
observable that the poet speaks of her husband (" suo marito")
not of a plurality.

^ In a sumptuous chapel close to the Lateran, is to be seen
the baptistery, or font, in which Constantine is said to have been
baptized by Sylvester. The chapel is also adorned with paintings
representing the ceremony. The baptismal fee which Constan-
tine is reported to have bestowed on Sylvester was rather large ;
it consisted of the city of Rome and all Italy. This gift was
popularly and religiously believed in for ages, like Artluu-'s Round
Table, which may still be seen in Winchester Castle. Yet it was
long suspected, and is now generally admitted, that this donation
of Constantine, after all, was but the pious fraud of a subsequent
age. The proofs (not of its piety, but of its fictitious character)
are these : — I. Twelve copies of the grant, all extant, differ from
each other. 2. In the spring of 324, Constantine was not at
Rome, but at Thessalonica, as appears from two constitutions of
his in the Tlieodosian code. 3. Neither Eusebius, though giving
a most minute and particular account of Constantine, nor any
contemporary writer, has even hinted at a thing so memorable.
4. Theodoret, Sozomen, Socrates, Photius, Jerome, and the
Council of Rimini, affirm, and all the ancient Greek and Latin
writers agree, that Constantine was baptized, not at Rome, but
at Nicomedia, when he lay at the point of death. — Bowyek,
Lives of the Popes; Mosheim, Ecc. Hist. In his treatise De
Monarchia, iii. Dante seems to speak doubtfully of this gift of
Constantine ; and Ariosto treats it as mere moonshine. — Ori. Fur.
xxxiv. SO.

206 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XIX.

My leader's joy, methouglit, his smiles attest.
Regarding always with so pleased a look,
The sound of those true words by me express'd :

Me therefore now in both his arms he took.
And to his bosom lifting, that same way
He came remounted, and that vale forsook :

Nor tiring, clasp'd me whom he did convey,
Till on the summit of the arch he stood :
For here our passage from the fom'th pier lay

Unto the fifth ; so, gently he his load 1 30

Laid down on the rough rock so steep and high.
Which to the goat had proved a tiresome road -}

From thence another valley I descry.

^ It would have been diflScult and tiresome even to the goat,
an animal remarkably surefooted, and fond of climbing rocks and
clambering among precipices.

CANTO XX.] INFBRNO. 207

CANTO XX.

THE ARGUMENT.

In the fourth valley of the eighth circle the pretended prophets
and soothsayers are punished. Having endeavoured to pry
into futurity, their heads are turned, and their faces thus
reversed are made to look behind them, so tliat in walking
they find it necessary to marcii backward, and advance by
retreating ! Among these Virgil points out Amphiaratis,
Tiresias, Aruns, and Manto, from whom he takes occasion to
relate the origin of Mantua, his native city. They also dis-
cover Eurypilus, Michael Scot, Bonati, and Asdente, and
then pursue their journey.

Now must I versify new scenes of woe,

And matter to the twentieth canto give —
Of my first lay, and those immersed below.

I now stood gazing, eager to perceive

The suffering souls in the uncoverM deep,
Bathed in the tears of anguish as they grieve.

Advancing there a tribe all silent weep

Along the circling vale ; such solemn pace
Choirs chanting litanies in this world keep :

When lower down I look'd the scene to trace, 10

208 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO XX.

Each wondrously reversed appear'd to be/
While just above the chest and neck the face

Was from the reins averted^ so that he

Advanced by Avalking backward, just because
Not one among them could before him see.'^

Some one, perhaps, whom force of palsy draws
May thus have been entirely turn'd about ; —
But I ne'er saw it, nor believe it was.

So God permit thee, reader, to have fruit

Of this thy reading, think, in my surprise 20
Could a dry visage with my feelings suit,

When I beheld our image in such guise

Distorted,^ that the tears of these distress^
Bathed the hind parts down streaming from their
eyes ?

Certes, I wept as I reclining pressed

^ In Notes from the Diary of a Late Physician, No. 14, we have
the story of " The Turned Head ;" the hypochondriac patient,
believing that the back of his head was in front, and his face
looking backward, insists on liaving his clothes put on front
behind. When advised not to look at the dark side of things,
he replies that he is compelled to look at the back side of them :
and when urged to look forward to better days, he exclaims,
" Nonsense ! Impossible ! My life will henceforth be spent in
wretched retrospections."

- A severe satire on the professors of divination and magic,
and all those pretenders to superior illumination who endeavour
to promote their selfish purposes by deceiving and misleading
mankind.

^ Compare this passage with Milton, Paradise Lost, xi. 494, &c.

CANTO XX.] INFERNO. 209

A cliflf of the hard rock^ so that my guide
Exclaim'dj " Art thou too simple as the rest ?

Here pity best survives when mortified.

AVhat greater crime than "when with daring brow
By mortal man Heaven's justice is defied ? 30

Lift up, lift up thy head, and see him now [call.
For whom at Thebes earth yawn'd ; whereat they
' Whither Amphiaraus rushest thou ?^

Why leavest thou the war V Yet did he fall
In ruin down the gulf with direful scath,^
Even to jNIinos whose firm grasp holds all.

Lo, how his shoulders for a breast he hath ;
And, since he wish'd to gaze too far before.
Behind him looks and treads a backward path !^

' Amphiaraus, the son of Oicleus and Hypermnestra, was at
the Calydouian boar-hunt, and in the Argonautic expedition. He
married Eriphyle, sister of Adrastus, king of Argos. When his
brother-in-law, at the request of Polynices, declared war against
Thebes, he foresaw its fatal issue and concealed himself, but was
betrayed by his wife, and obliged to accompany Adrastus. —
^SCH. 7 against Thebes, 570. The Argives being defeated,
Amphiaraus, in retiring from the battle, was swallowed up with
his chariot by the earth ; Jupiter thus interposing to save him
the disgrace of being killed by the enemy. — Pindak, Ne)7i. ix. 57.
Homer and Euripides give him tlie highest character. — Od. xv.
24é; Phcenis. HI 6.

' " With hideous ruin and combustion down."

Paradise Lost, i. 40.
" Heaven ruining from heaven." — Ibid. vi. 868.

A literal adaptation of Dante's " di ruinare."

^ " That frustrateth the tokens of the liars {divinorum. Vulg.),

14

210 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XX.

Tii'esias note, -^vho changed the form he bore, 40
When from a male to feminine he tum'd/
So that each limb an alter'd aspect -wore :

And then to sever first, it him concerned.
The two entwining serpents "with his rod ;
Thus to regain the virile plumes he learn'd.
. To him see Aruns' back turned in like mode :
"Where Luni's hills the Car arese invite
To toil, who at their foot hath his abode ;

He in a cave among the marbles white

His lodging found, whence of the stars and sea 50
He had without impediment the sight.^

And she whose bosom, which thou canst not see.

Is with her loosen'd tresses overspread,^

and maketli diviners (ariolos) mad; that tumeth wise men back-
ward (retrorsum)," &c. — Isaiah xliv, 25.

1 Said to have struck two serpents with a stick in Mount
Cyllene to separate them, and found liimself suddenly changed
into a girl; and by a similar act seven years after, to have
recovered his original sex. He was deprived of sight by Juno,
but compensated by Jupiter with the gift of prophecy. Homer
makes Ulysses descend into Hades for the purpose of consulting
him about his own return to Ithaca.— Odj/ss. x. 492. Pindar,
Ifem. i. 93.

2 Aruns was a Tuscan soothsayer of Luna, a maritime town on
the river Macra, famous for the marble quarries iu its neighbour-
hood. The inhabitants were much addicted to tlie practice of
augury. — Lucan, Phars. i. 586. The city was destroyed in the
middle of the ninth century by a band of Norman sea-rovers. —
Mallet's Northern Ant.

' " Bravoes by^profession, and villains of every kind, used to

CANTO XX.] INFERNO. 211

While all her scalp the further side hath she,
Was Manto/ who erewhile Tilth wandering tread

Search'd many lands, then dwelt where I was born;

So hear what briefly shall by me be said.
After her father's death, and when forlorn

The city of Bacchus was the conqueror's prize,^

Long through the world she wander' d, travel-worn.
High in fair Italy a lake there lies, [60

Benacus named,^ at the Alps' foot which keep

wear a long lock of hair, which they drew over the face like a
visor oil meeting any one, when the occasion rendered disguise
necessary, and the undertaking required both force and circum-
spection."— / Promessi Sposi, di A. Manzoni.

' From Tiresias, her fatlier, she inherited the gift of jirophecy,
At the taking of Thebes she was made prisoner and sent to
Delphi, wbere sha became priestess. She afterwards visited
Italy, and married Tiberiuus, king of Alba. Her son, Ocnus,
built a town in the neighbourhood, which, in honour of his
mother, he called Mantua. Her sorrow for her country's calamities
is said to have changed her into a fountain. Her legend illus-
trates the progress of the popular mythology. The Fatidica
Mantus of Virgil {Mieid. x. 199) has become the Maga Manto of
Dante, and the Fata (fairy) Manto of Ariosto. — Ori. Fur. xliii.
97, 98.

^ Thebes, founded by Cadmus, whose daughter Semele was the
mother of Bacchus. His rites were first observed at Thebes.
Pentheus, its king, attempting to suppress them, was torn in
pieces by the females engaged in their celebration.

^ An Italian lake, now Lago di Garda, whence the Mincio
flows into the Po. It is the largest of the Italian lakes ; about
twenty-eight miles in length and eleven in breadth. A steamer
now plies on it from Desenzano to Riva.

212 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XX.

Germania shut and o'er the Tyrol rise.

From thousand spi'iugs and more, the waters sleep
Within that lake, twixt Garda and the vale
Camonica^ which bathes the Pennine steep.^

Midway thereon close by a place we sail

Where the Trent shepherd, and the Brescian, and
The A'eronese might, passing that way, hail."

Fair Peschiera's bulwarks firmly stand, 70

To aAve the Brescian and the Bergamese,
Where lowest, all around it, sinks the strand ;

There o'er the bank the loud cascade conveys
Whatever Benacus' bosom cannot hold,
Which then through pastures green a river strays.

No more Benacus named ; what Ave behold
Is Mincio, from the time its waves commence
Their course, till to Governo they have roll'd,

Then fall into the Po. Xot far from whence

1 Pennino, a mountain of the Alps, between Garda on tlie
Benacus, and the Val Camonica, a great valley in Bresciano.
While the Alps derive their name from their snou-y whiteness,
the name Pennino, or Apennino, seems to indicate height, as it
contains the Celtic word Pen, a head, promontory, or high
mountain. It is employed to designate — 1. The spur of the
Alps westward of Benacus, and here alluded to. 2. The highest
portion of the Alpine range, including Monts Blanc, Rosa, and
Cervin, the three highest peaks in Europe. 3. The whole
mountain range of Italy south of the Alps.

^ The boundary between the provinces of Brescia and Verona
extends tlirough the lake lengthwise from north to south ; and

CANTO XX.] INFERNO. 213

It rises is a plain^ o'er which outspread, 80

Marshlike its waters oft bring pestilence,
In summer. Passing thence the cruel^ maid.

Beheld a land surrounded hy a fen.

Uncultured, uninhabited, decay'd.
Here, to avoid all intercourse with men.

Resting, her arts she with her servants plied ;

Here liv^ed, and left her body lifeless. Then
The tribes that round the place were scattered wide.

Since it was strong, their forces thither drew.

By that broad fen cut off from all beside. 90

And soon above her bones a city grew,

To which, from her who chose the spot, belong'd

The Mantuan name — no omen else they knew.^

that whicli separates them from tlie territory of Trent in the
Tyrol, crosses it from east to west. There are several small
islands, in one of wliich, midway, it is said, the bishops of Trent,
Brescia, and Verona have equal jurisdiction.

' Cnida, so called from the bloody rites of conjuration which
she practised. Statius, Theb. iv. 463. It is tiie same epithet
as the poet had given to the witch Erictho; Canto, ix. 23. The
other significations of the word are inapplicable to Manto, who,
as the reader will see from Dante's account of her, was neither
immature nor inexperienced.

" Mantua, supposed to have been founded by the Etruscans,
B.C. 600, was an ancient city in the time of Virgil, who ascribes
to it an Etruscan origin. Jineid. x. 198. Pliny regarded it as
the only relic of that people beyond the Po. Hist. iii. 19. It
is an island five miles in circumference, in the middle of a lagoon
formed by the Mincio, and is joined to the mainland by cause-
ways, the shortest of which is one thousand feet long.

214 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XX.

Once with more people was the city throng'd,
Ere Casalodi's foohshness was there

By the deceit of Pinamonte wrong'd.^
If e'er then of my country thou should'st hear

Another origin^ I counsel thee.

Of truth let no feign'd tale beguile thine ear.''
"Master," I said, "thy reasonings are to me 100

So certain, and my faith so firmly lead.

That like quench'd coals all other things will be.
But if thou seest of those who here proceed

One who deserves remark, I pray thee speak :

For that is now the only thing I heed."
Then he replied, " That person from Avhose cheek

The beard above his shoulders brown flows wide.

Was, when of old the country of the Greek
Lack'd males, and scarce the cradles were supplied.

An augur, and with Calchas gave the sign 110

In Aulis the first cable to divide.
Eurypylus the tragic strain of mine

Has somewhere named him in majestic song -^

^ Alberto da Cassalodi, the first sovereign prince of Mantua,
was persuaded by Pinamonte to banish to their castles all the
unpopular nobles, for the purpose of ingratiating himself with the
people. But Pinamonte, by divulging his counsels, raised the
populace against him, and having by their means driven him out,
seized the sovereign power. — A'^illani.

^ A noble Augur, who, with forty ships, assisted the Greek
expedition to Troyy^ Iliad, ii. 734; and was there slain with the

CANTO XX.] INFERNO. 215

As well thou know'st, who hast the whole made
thine.

That other, who hath sides so lean and long,
"Was Michael Scot/ a man indeed who knew
All tricks that to the magic art belong.

Guido Bonatti^ see; Asdente'^ too,

Repenting late that he did not confine

To thread and leather his ambitious view. 120

See those vile hags who did the loom resign.
And spindle, needle, all for sorcery gave;

Cetei who accompanied him. — Odi/ss. xi. 519. He was sent by
the Greeks, on that occasion, to consult the oracle of Apollo at
Delphi. — Mneid. ii. 114.

' Sir Michael Scot, of Balwirie, flourished during the thirteenth
century, and was a man of great learning. Frederick II. invited
him to his court, and employed him to translate the works of
Aristotle and his best commentators, and to compose a volumi-
nous work on astrology. Boccaccio speaks of him as a great
master of necromancy, who lived not long before in Morence.
After Frederick's death, in 1250, he returned to Scotland, and is
said to have been one of the ambassadors sent to bring the Maid
of Norway to Scotland on the death of Alexander III.

* An astrologer of Porli, who flourished about A.ax 1283, on
whose skill Guido, Lord of Montefeltro, placed such reliance,
that he is said never to have engaged in battle but at the hour
declared fortunate by Bonatti. He was the author of a work
published at Venice, entitled Theories Planetamm et Astrologia
judiciaria.

^ A professor of divination of such notoriety that our poet
says, in his Convito, p. 79, " If those who are best known were
accounted the most noble. Asdente, the shoemaker of Parma,
would be more noble than any one in that city."

216 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XX.

With herb and image -working deeds malign.

But come : Cain and the thorns^ already have
The confines of both hemispheres now found,
Touching, beneath fair Seville's towers, the wave.^

And yesternight the moon was full and round ;^
Thou should'st remember well, for oft she proved
To thee not hurtful in that wood profound."

Thus he address'd me, and we onward moved. 130

' Here put for the moon. Grimm, iu bis Deutsche Mythologies
p. 412, says there are three traditions respecting the Man in the
Moon : 1 . That he is Isaa» carrying a bundle of sticks for his own
sacrifice. 2. That he is Cain with the thorns, the most -wretched
])roduction of the ground, of wliich his offering consisted. 3.
That he is the sabbath-breaker mentioned in the book oi Numbers.
The last is the most current in England, and is alluded to by
Chaucer. That the second was also known to our ancestors,
as well as in Italy, seems probable.

^ The moon had reached the western horizon and was about to
set : consequently, being about fifty-three hours past full it was
an hour after sunrise. Seville, with respect to Italy, lies west-
ward.

3 The Italians reckon their days from sunset to sunset ; hence
" yesternight" signifies the night before yesterday, this being the
second day of the journey. Dante was assisted, not hindered, by
the moon, when wandering in the wood. Canto i. 1 — 12.

CANTO XXI.] INFERNO. 217

CANTO XXI.

THE AKGUMENT.

From the rocky bridge that crosses the fifth chasm of Alalebolge
the poets gaze on a river of boiling pitch below, and are sud-
denly startled by the arrival of a demon who flings into it a
sinner whom he had brought thither. Here are punished
those guilty of peculation and embezzlement, watched by a
troop of demons, and torn by their hooks whenever they
appear above the pitch. Leaving Dante concealed, Virgil
passes the bridge, and the demons jirepare to assail him, but
on Virgil's remonstrance their leader prevents them, and
sends a party to escort and guide the poets along the sixth
pier.

Thus on from bridge to bridge Avitli other talk,
Which this my Canto cares not to renew,
We went, and at the summit stay'd our walk.

Which had of Malebolge brought to view

Another chasm, and the vain weeping there ;
And o'er it wondrous darkness brooded too.

As in the Arsenal at Venice,^ where

' The old arsenal at Venice was begun in 1304 ; two others
were afterwards added ; the whole, three miles in circumference,
occupying the eastern extremity of the city, is surrounded by a
high wall. Formerly 16,000 men were employed in it, under the

218 ^ THE TRILOGY. [CAXTO XXI.

Boils through the winter the tenacious pitch,
Wherewith each damaged vessel they repair, —

For now they cannot sail, instead of which 10

Some build the bark, and some the ribs will stop
Of that which hath made many a voyage rich;

One hammers well the prow and one the poop ;
Some shape the oars, and some the cables twine ;
The mizen and the mainsail some sew np : —

So, not by fire but by the art divine.

There boil'd below a thick and pitchy mass,^
Daubing in every part the steep decline.

The pitch I saw, but not what therein was.

Except the bubbles by the boiling raised, 20

Heaving and sinking all. It came to pass

That while with look intent below I gazed.

My guide exclaimed aloud, " See ! see V and drew
Me towards him from where I myself had placed.

I turn'd as one who still delays to view

That which beheld he will have need to shun,
AVhom sudden fear debilitates, and who

Will not for looking hesitate to run.
Behind us I beheld a demon black,

direction of an admiral. It is now the dockyard of the Austrian,
navy, and employs but 1000 men, of whom half are convicts.

1 In the Visions of Charles le Gros, of St. Patrick's Purgatory -,
and of the Evesham Monk, mention is made of boiling pilch as a
punishment of lo«t souls.

CANTO XXI.] INFERNO. 219

And running up the rock that evil one 30

Advanced : how fell in aspect he ! Alack !

How fierce he seemed in gesture ! Drawing nigh
With wings outspread and feet of lightest track^

His shoulder was acute and proudly high.
Where he a sinner with both haunches bore,
Grasping the sinewM foot he held him by.

" Ye of our bridge keen-faug'd," I heard him roar,
" One of Saint Zita's elders here behold.^
Send him below while I return for more.

Unto that land where many such there be. 40

All men are knavish barterers there except
Bonturo :~ there 'No' turns to ' Yes' for gold."

^ One of the chief magistrates of Lucca, supposed to be
Martin Botaio. St. Zita was the patron saint of Lucca. Born
in 1212, at a village near Lucca, she was piously brought up
by her mother, and at the age of twelve was put to service in
the family of a citizen of Lucca, where she behaved with exem-
plary diligence, faithfulness, and modesty : she was also self-
denying and charitable, and died at the age of sixty. The city of
Lucca pays a singular veneration to her memory. But although
thus canonized by local tradition and in Dante's verse, it was not
until 1696 that she was raised by a papal decree to the saintly
order, one hundred and fifty miracles having been duly sworn to,
in proof of her title ! Her name appears in the Calendar,
April 27th, the supposed anniversary of her birth. — Butlek's
Lives of Saints.

* This exception is a graceful irouy, Bonturo di Dati having
been regarded as the worst peculator and most corrupt magis-
trate of his time.

220 THE TRILOGY, [CANTO XXI.

He dash'd him down ; and then returning leapt
O'er the hard rock : ne'er with a thief in chase
The hound let loose the ground so swiftly swept.^

That other sunk ; then writhing rose apace ;
Those demons who the bridge for shelter have,
Cried, " Here the hallow'd visage hath no place •}

^ Remarkable for its exquisite scent and unweai'ied perse-
verance, the bloodliound has been trained to the pursuit of game,
and also to the chase of man. For a vivid poetical description of
the bloodhounds' chase of a felon, see Somerville's Chase, i. 316.

^ The Santo Vollo, a relic preserved at Lucca, and invoked bj
the inhabitants wiien exposed to danger, is the supposed impres-
sion of our Saviour's face. Two similar ones are exhibited at
Rome on tvro different handkerchiefs; one in St. Sylvester's
chapel, said to have been sent by Christ as a present to Abgarus,
prince of Edessa, M^ho by his letter had requested a picture of
him : the other, -which is exhibited in St. Peter's on Holy
Thursday, to the wondering multitude, is said to have been given
by him at the time of his crucifixion to St. Veronica, who had
lent him the handkerchief to wipe his face, on his way to Calvary.
Eusebius tells us that at Cesarea Philippi he saw, sculptured in
brass, the figures of Christ with outstretched hands, and the
woman cured of the issue of blood bending before him at the
door. — Bcc. Hist. vii. 18. The apocryphal Gospel of Nicodeinus
gives this woman the name of Veronica, v. 26. ^Matthew Paris
mentions the impression of Christ's face done for St.Verouica " that
his memory might be cherished here on earth." — Hist. a.d. 1249.
" By the holy face of Lucca," was a favourite oath of William the
Conqueror. The eflSgy of Christ, an ancient and miraculous crucifix
in the cathedral of Lucca, was also much celebrated. "By the
Rode of Lukes !" (rood, or crucifix of Lucca) occurs in the Vision
of Piers Ploughman, 1. 3995. The saint is probably as fictitious,
and factitious, as the miracle. Mabillon, a Roman Catholic writer,
in his Iter Italicitm, pp. 88, 89, after giving some particulars of

CANTO XXI. j INFERNO. 221

Here men their limbs not as in Serchio lave •} [50
And therefore, if thou dost not want our crooks.
Raise not thy head above the pitchy wave/'

Then grappled him above a hundred hooks.^ [him ;
" Here cover 'd must thou dance/' they cried to
" So rob in secret, if thou canst." — The cooks

Make their assistants mid the cauldron's brim.
Thus with their flesh-hooks plunge the meat below,
So that it may not on the surface swim.^

the origin and progress of the legend, adds, " Hence it will be
seen that the name Veronica, according to its derivation, signifies
an image, not a woman, and is formed by contracting those two
syllables, vera icon, into one word."

' The city of Lucca (Luca) is situated on the river Sercliio, in
a delightful plain surrounded by mountains, twelve miles from the
sea, and about ten miles north-east of Pisa. It was taken from
the Ligurians by the Etruscans, and afterwards became a Roman
colony. The cathedral, dedicated to St. Martin, belongs to the
eleventh century. Li the Middle Ages tke Lucchese had but an
indifferent character among their neighbours : nor has this been
quite forgotten. To this day, a man of Lucca, if asked from
whence he comes, always replies, " Yi sono de' buoni e de' cattivi
d' appertutto — sono Lucchese per servirla." " There are good and
bad people everywhere — I am a Lucchese at your service."

2 "The demons kindled a large fire, and seizing the knight by
his arms and legs, threw liim into the midst of it, dragging him
with iron hooks, backwai'd and forward through the fire." — Vision
of St. Patrick's Purgatori/ by the knight Owen, a.d. 1153. EoG.
Wend.

^ "I saw a great river proceeding from hell, burning and
pitchy. Into this river they plunge, rising and falling by turns,
they were tormented therein, so that they were boiled like flesh
that is being cooked." — The Vision ofAlberic, 1 7.

222 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO XXI.

Then said my master^ " That they may not know
That thou art Avith me, go and shelter thee
Behind some craggy rock, and there bend low ; CO

And whatever insult may be offer'd me,

Fear not, for I have counted well the cost,
Since in such strife ^twas mine ere now to be."

Then passing thence the bridge's head he cross'd,
And when he had arrived on the sixth pier,
'Twas then a dauntless brow he needed most.

With such tempestuous fury dogs appear,

"When they rush forth on some unhappy wight,
AVho suddenly asks alms while waiting near :

So rush'd they from beneath the arch to sight, 70
And all at him their weapons turned and shook.^
But he exclaim'd, " Restrain your felon spite :

Before you seize upon me with your hook.
Let one of you step forth to hear, and then
Consult if I those iron fangs must brook."

Then all cried out, " Go, Malacoda !" — when

* "The demons, seeing the knight walk so freely across the
bridge, shook the air with horrid cries which alarmed the knight :
others of his enemies under the bridge threw red-hot hooks of iron
at him, but they could not touch him, and thus he crossed the
bridge in safety." — SL Patrick's Ttirgalory. RoG. Wend.

" Some of the blackest devils flew to me with fiery hooks, and
would have seized me with their hooks and cast me into those pits
of sulpliur ; but my guide," &c. — Vision of Charles le Gros,
A.D. 882. lb.

CANTO XXI.] INFERNO. 2.23

One of the troop advanced, the others stayM :
And he came growling on^ " What can he gain ?"

" Believ'st thou^ Malacoda/' Virgil said,

" That thou behold'st me hither come so late, 80
From all your arms secure and undismayed,

"Without the will divine and favouring fate ?^

Make "svay, for I must show — ■'tis wilFd in

heaven —
This desert-path to one on whom I wait.

Then fell his pride so, at the answer given.
That at his feet he let the weapon fall ;
And told the others^ " He must not be riven !"

" O thou that sittest," such my leader's call,
" Bent low, among the bridge's crags to hide,
Now hasten back to me, secure from all." 90

Then I arose, and to my teacher hied;

And all those fiends advanced, so that I fear'd
That by the compact they would not abide.

Thus formerly I saw the warriors scared.
That by capitulation issued from
Caprona, for so close their foes appear'd.^

* " For -ffitliout the gods, I think, you had not undertaken
Over such rivers as these and the Stygian lake to voyage."

Mieid. vi. 368.

- A castle in the vicinity of Pisa, at the surrender of which to

he combined forces of Florence and Lucca, in 1290, Dante was

224 THE TKILOGY. [CA.VTO XXI.

And to my leader's side when I was come,
With all my might I clung, and eager watch
Kept on their aspect which appeared so grum.

Then they theii' hooks presenting, '' Shall I touch
Him,'' one said to the other, " on the breech ?"
Who answer'd "Yes; and give him there a notch."

But then that demon who had holden speech
With my conductor, turning quickly round,
Said, " Hold, Scarmiglione V then to each

Of us he said, " Upon this rock the ground
Forbids your further progress, for indeed
All shatter'd lying the sixth arch is found

Even to its base ; but if you will proceed,

Along this cavern's brink you hence may pass ; 110
Then o'er a neighbouring rock your path will lead.

Last night, just five hours after this, it was.

Twelve hundred sixty-six years reach'd their end,^

present. TVTien the garrison saw themselves in the midst of
numerous enemies, crying, " Hang them ! kill them ! " they were
afraid that the capitulation would be violated.

^ This passage fixes the date of the vision, the time of the year,
and the hour of the day. Add thirty-four, the supposed age of our
Lord, to the number here mentioned, and it will give the date of
A.D. 1300. The time of the earthquake at our Lord's death was
the ninth hour, from which deducting five hours, it was now the
fourth hour after sunrise on the day of the crucifixion. Biagioli
sees here (owing, no doubt, to the " wondrous darkness" of the
place,) a difficulty which does not exist. It was an hour after
sunrise when the poets were on the bridge across the fourth chasm,

CANTO XXI.] INFERNO. 225

Since here the road was broken to this mass.
Part of my troop I thitherward will send.

To see if some uncoverM may be spied.

They are not savage, so with them you'll wend
Your way, Come Alichino forth," he cried ;

" Yourselves Cagnazzo, Calcabrina, show ;

And Barbariccia, thou the ten shalt guide. 120
Come Libicocco, Draghignazzo now;

Ciriatto fang'd, mad Rubicant that raves ;

And Graffican ; and Farfarello thou.
Search ye around the pitch's bubbling waves :

These to the other cliff unharm'd bring ye.

Which stretches all unbroken o'er the caves.'^^
I said, " O master, what is that I see ?

Ah ! without escort let us go alone.

If thou know^st where ; no guide I ask but thee.
Since thou art prudent, as in seasons gone, 130

Dost thou not see how horribly they grin.

And scowling threaten how they'll make us groan?"
Then thus he charged, me, " Do not now begin

To fear ; even let them grin as they^re inclined :

aud they were now on that across the fifth. That they took three
hours in going " from bridge to bridge, with other talk" tlian that
related, and too multifarious for description, must surely be con-
sidered more probable than the proposed alternatives — that they
accomplished it " in no time ;" or that time stood still meanwhile !
^ That the next rock bridge stretched all unbroken over the
chasms, the poets found to be a misrepresentation of Malacoda's.

15

226 THE TRILOGY, [CANTO XSI,

It is at those who seethe in \roe for sin/'
To leftward o'er the pier their way they wind :
But first with tongue between his teeth each pass'd^
A sisrnal to their chief: which from behind
He answered loud as with a trumpet blast.^

* The demons turn towards Malacoda for the signal to march,
having each his tongue pressed between his teeth, to intimate a
secret understanding of their master's falsehood, and in slj ridicule
of their charge, only worthy of such vulgar fiends.

^ "Ed egli avea del cui fatto trombetta." This was the con-
firming token in reply to theirs, as well as the signal for their
departure. Like master like men. The corporal was worthy
of his troop. A literal translation of the line has not been ven-
tured on in any of the versions. Biagioli apologizes for its
coarseness, and deprecates the wrath of the delicate critic who
turns up his nose at its ill scent. In the Clouds of Aristophanes
the disciple of Socrates is made to say, that in his master's opinion,
the humming of water-gnats is produced by an impulse of the air
through a narrow tube from behind. On which Strepsides ex-
claims with admiration, "So then the breech of gnats is a
trumpet !" — Act i. sc. ii. 1. 165.

The names of the demons in this Canto are probably intended
for grimly familiar and humorous nicknames. Pulci has employed
several of them. See Morgante Maggiore, ii. 31. The following
may, perhaps, be accepted as their English equivalents. Malacoda,
Ecil-tail ; "Eor with their tails they do hurt." — Rev: ix. 19.
hXidimo, Droop-mng ; Barbariccia, C«r/y-^é'«;-fi?; Grafficane, Tear-
dog; Libicocco, Blackberrt/ ; Cagnazzo, Log fiend ; Farfarello,
FoaVs-foot ; Scarmiglione, i2z^i?r; Rubicante, i2<?f/-//o/ ; Ciriatto
(Xotpo-i^/jc), Boais-imp ; Draghignazzo, Dragonfiend ; Calcabrina,
Tread-mist. Some see in these names the passions and arts of
peculators : others regard the Malebranche as types of the Italian
sbirri. These names and the scene described, remind us of the exe-
crable jests whicl^are perpetrated by the fiends ia Paradise Lost.

CANTO XXir.] INFERNO. 227

CANTO XXII.

THE AKGUMEXT.

As the poets proceed, accompanied by their escort, they see other
peculators immersed in the boiling pitch. One of these,
Ciampolo of Navarre, a demon seizes with his hook and
brings to shore. In compliance with a request of the poets,
lie gives an account of himself and his companions. By a
clever stratagem he deceives his captors and escapes from
their hands. Two of them, enraged at the trick put upon
them, come to mutual blows, and while fighting fall into the
pitch. Dante and Virgil hurry from the scene, leaving the
demons to extricate their comrades as they best may.

I HATE seen horsemen shift their camp, and I
Have seen them join in fight, and at review,
And sometimes quit the battle-field and fly :

Pve seen the light-arm'd squadrons riding through
Thy plains Arezzo, and the troopers fleet ;^
And where in jousts and tournaments there flew

The sparks from clashing swords, and coursers' feet ;
"While trumpets, bells, and drums give notes of war,"

^ In the battle of Campaldino the Florentines defeated the
Aretines, June 11th, 12S9. Dante was present in this battle.

^ Trumpets and bells were in use among the Israelites, from
the time of Moses. .E'.ro!/. sxviii. 33, 31 ; Z^i*. xxv. 9. The Jewish

228 THE TRILOGY, [CAXTO XXII.

And signal- sounds from castles men repeat ;

Our own, or brought from foreign lands afar. 10
But horse or foot by such strange pipe I ne^er
Saw move, nor ship with sign from land or star.

With the ten demons on our way we were

(Fell escort !) but "with saints for company-^
At church, with gluttons at the tavern fare.^'

Now on the pitch I turnM my gaze to see

All that the chasm contain'd, and who consort
Within its bounds — that sad community !

As when the dolphins in their ocean sport, [20

To seamen, with arch'd back the storm forebode.
Whence warned the pilot steers for some nigh port,'

trumpets were much like our own, as appears from the repre-
sentation of them on the arch of Titus. Bells were first used in
churches in the early part of the fifth century. The Hebrew Toph
was a drum, tabor, tabret, or timbrel. The drum was adopted
from the Sai-acens, and introduced by the crusaders into Europe.
To the sound of the great bell, " 3irartiuella," the Florentines
used to march, in Dante's boyhood.

^ In passing through life we cannot always choose our company,
but may occasionally be exposed to that which is low, disagreeable,
and even detestable. The worst will sometimes intrude their
society on the best. "AVTien the sons of God came to present
themselves before the Lord, Satan also was among them." —
Job i. G. But —

" The mind is its own place, and of itself
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven." — Tar. Lost.
- Delphiiii tranquillo mari lascivienies fiatum prcesagiunt.
Pliny, xviii. 35. i' Dolphins in fair and calm weather pursuing

CANTO XXII.] INFERNO. 229

So to relieve his pain some sinner showM
His backj but dived witliin tlie pitchy tide.
Swift as tlie lightning flashes from the cloud.

And as the croaking frogs the brink beside
Of some full moat with jaws exposed remain.
While yet their feet and bulkier part they hide.

So stay'd the sinners on each side : but when
Fierce Barbariccia now approach'd them, they
Beneath the bubbling swiftly hide again, 30

I saw — even yet it strikes with deep dismay

My heart — one lingering, so it chanced there, as
A frog that stays when rush the rest aAvay:

And Graffican who nearest to him was.

Grappled his pitchy locks and upwards drew
Him who, I thought, might for an otter pass.^

one another as one of their Tvaterish pastimes, foreshows wind,
and from tlie part wlieuce they fetch their frisks." — Brand's
Pojndar Aritiq. In Falconer's Shipwreck, the tempest is preceded
by the sport of dolphins. — ii. 70.

^ The otter is predatory and amphibious, feeding on fish, which
it pursues by night with the greatest agility and speed, at any
depth. Its burrow, generally sunk far below the ground on the
bank of some river or lake, opens near the water's edge. Here,
concealed among the tangled herbage, it lurks by day. Its form
is admirably adapted to its aquatic habits, long, flexible, and ter-
minated by a stout and tapering tail, which serves it as a rudder.
The limbs are short but strong and somewhat muscular, the feet,
five-toed, are webbed ; the eyes large, ears short, and lips furnished
with strong mustachios. It has an under-coat of close, short,
water-proof wool, and an outer one of long, coarse, glossy hair.

230 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXII.

For them already by their names I knew ;
So mark'd I them Avheu chosen ; and heside
How since they call'd each other. Then that crew

Accursed, all of them together cried, 40

" O Rubicant look that thy claws be laid
So on his back that thou strip off his hide.*'

" My master, if thou canst, find out," I said,
" What is this wretched soul whom we espy
A prisoner by his adversaries made."

My leader, to his side approaching nigh.
And asking what he was, this answer drew,
" Born in the kingdom of Navarre was I j^

My mother placed me in the retinue

Of a great lord : a losel was my sire, 50

A waster of himself and substance too.

In good king Thibaidt^s court" I next acquire

"When assailed it usually betakes itself to the water. Otter-
hunting was a favorite sport in the middle ages.

' Ciampolo, or Gian Polo, was of good family, but his father
having dissipated his fortune by his extravagance, his mother
placed him as a page with a baron of the court of Navarre, who
gave kim so good an education, that he rose to the first honours
of the state ; in which, however, he incurred the greatest disgrace
by his corrupt practices.

" His father was a lewd and spendthrift ribald,
And he a venal judge of good king Tibbald."

- Theobald, or Thibault, Count of Champagne, to whom the
kingdom of Navarre came by marriage, was a musician, a poet,
and a great encourager of the liberal arts. Two of his songs.

CANTO XXH.] INFERNO. 231

A post, and there my hands in knavery dip,
For which the account I render in this fire "

Then Ciriato, who from out his lip,

Boar-like, on either side a tusk had got,
Gave him with one of these a dreadful rip.

Among ill cats had fallen the mouse's lot !^
But Barbariccia clasp'd him round and cried,
" Stand by, while I transfix him on the spot." 60

Then turning said, as he my master eyed, [know,
'^ Ask, if thou more from him would'st wish to
Ere others mangle him." Then said my guide,

" Now somewhat of thy guilty comrades show :
Know'st thou of any sprung from Latium there
Beneath the pitch ?" Then he, " Not long ago

With one I parted who thereto lived near.
O that with him I under cover lay ;
Nor nail nor hook should I have cause to fear."

Then Libicocco cried, " Too long we stay !" 70

And with a prong him by his arm he took.
So that he tore and bore the flesh away.

with what were probably the original melodies, of his own com-
position, are still extant. From him descended the Bourbon
family of France.

* Ariosto says of the magician Atlantes, that he treated his
prisoners " As the sly cat is seen to play with a mouse, for some
time gently, then she begins to torment him, then gives him a
bite, and at last kills him." — Od. Fur. iv. 22.

232 THE TKILOGY. [CANTO XXII,

Him Dragliignazzo also witli his hook [chief

Would by the thighs have seized ; ■nhereat their
Turn'd him ou all sides round "with angry look. ■

Thus overawed they yield a short relief

To him_, ^ho on his wounds intently pried.
Meanwhile ruy leader askM him thus in brief.

" But who was he thou speakest of, wbose side
Thou left'st in e\'il hour to come abroad ?" 80
" It was the friar Gomita/^ he replied^

" He of Gallura^ vessel of all fraud.^
His master's enemies in hand had he^
Yet used them so that him they all applaud :

He took their cash, 'tis said, and set them free.
In each charge else no paltry rogue, he soar'd
Even to the highest pitch of knavery.

Him Michael Zanche, Logodoro's lord,'

^ After the downfall of the Pioniau empire, Sardinia was taken
by the Saracens, from whom the Pisaus, during the period of their
naval power in the Mediterranean, conquered it. They divided it
into four prefectures — Logodoro, Callari (no\y Cagliari), Gallura,
and Alborea — and sent governors from the principal Pisan families,
and these afterwards became sovereign lords of the territories
they had in charge. The friar Gomita was a Sardinian, whom
Nino di Gallura dei Visconti, a nobleman of Pisa, entrusted with
the government of Gallura. His venality, long unknown to his
master, was brought to light when, having some prisoners in his
custody, he took a bribe for their escape.

* About the middle of the thirteenth century, Frederick II. re-
united Sardinia to the German empire, and made his natural soa
Enzo king, whom he caused to marry Adelesia, heiress of Logodoro

CANTO XXII.] INfEllNO. 233

Accompanies, and Avhen they once begin

To talk about Sardinia, 'twill afford 90

Their tongues no rest.^ — Ah, see that horrid grin !
I would say more ; but fear that hideous fellow
Will lay his hands upon my tingling skin.

Their chief then cast a look on Farfarello,

Who roH'd his great broad eyes and aim'd a blow.
" Off, cursed bird, avaunt !" Thus he did bellow.

Then recommenced that frighted one, " If you
Desire to see or hear, I will constrain
Tuscan or Lombard hither from below ;

But at some distance those ill claws restrain, 100
So that my mates their vengeance may not fear.
And while I still in this same place remain.

For one as I am, I'll make seven appear :
When I shall whistle, as Ave're wont to do
To inform each other when the coast is clear."

The seneschal or president of Logodoro under Enzo, was Michael
Zanche, who iu that office amassed a princely fortune, chiefly by
the acceptance of bribes. He is said to have poisoned his lord,
whose mother (to whom, after her sou's death, Frederick had
given the sovereignty), or, as others say, the widow of Enzo, and
heiress of Logodoro, he prevailed on to accept him as her husband ;
and to have been himself poisoned at an entertainment by his son-
in-law, Branca d'Oria, to whom he had destined his immense
wealth. See Canto xxxiii. 1. 137.

" Those whom I knew to have been the judges of others, or
prelates in this life, were tormented with an increased degree of
severity." — Monk of Ecesham : — Kogee Wendoy. ii. 155.

234 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO XXII.

Cagnazzo at that word began to screw

His muzzle up^ and wagg'd his head, and said,
*' Hear his malicious scheme for slipping through

Our hands and plungiag down." Whereat he made
This answer, for of wiles he had great store : 110
*'Yes, too malicious, I must really plead.

Am I, to make my comrades suffer more."
Then Alichin who could no more be mute.
The rest opposing spake ; " If from the shore

Thou leap, I'll after thee, not run on foot,
But beat my wings above yon pitch accurst.
Leave we the hill; for shield the bank Avill suit,

To see if thou alone our troop can worst."

Xow, reader, for new sport : to th' other coast
Each turnM his eyes, the most obdurate first. 120

The Navarese, by whom no time was lost,
FixM on the ground his feet, and at a bound
Escaping, their late proposition cross'd.

Stung to the quick was each when this they found ;
But he the most who let the captive fly : [ground.
Crying, " I'll have thee yet," he spurn'd the

But match'd Avith fear, in vain his pinions ply;
The terror-sped plunged, and Avas seen no more •}

^ Ciampolo bad pretended a project for deceiving and drawing
forth his companions, by giving the accustomed signal that the
Malebranche their tormentors were absent ; who in the meantime

CANTO XXII.] INFERNO. 235

The other flying raised his breast on high.

When the duck spies the falcon hovering o'er 130
Her head, 'tis thus she on the instant dives •}
And he remounts, enraged and baffled sore.

The trick to fury Calcabrina drives,

were to retire out of sight. Cagnazzo suspects the real motive,
but Alichiuo, deceived by his eagerness in the prospect of more
victims, consents ; and the demons retire beyond the ridge of the
hill, so as not to be visible from the pitch. Ciampolo, profiting
by the opportunity of cheating them, slips away, and escapes to
his companions, instead of calling them forth. The poet could
scarcely have given a more striking instance of the craft of pecu-
lators, and of the small comfort which they must ultimately reap
even from their success, than by Ciampolo's cheating the devil,
or, more properly speaking, a troop of devils, only to leap into
the boiling pitch.

There is no ground for believing that " the devil and his angels"
are to be the official punishers of sin in the future world. Wicked
men will be associated with them in misery, not punished by them
{Matt. XXV. 41) ; although, in various ways, the evil may be mutual
plagues to each other, in the world to come, as in this. But it is
by the Holi/ Angels that the finally impenitent are to be arrested
and delivered over to punishment {Matt. xiii. 41, 42).

^ Prom the frequent mention of rivers in connexion with
falconry, we may infer that herons and other water-fowl afforded
the best diversion. When a river frequented by game ran between
high banks, or was overlooked by hills, it was usual for a sports-
man, with dogs well- trained for the purpose, to go along by the
water's edge, while the rest of the party on horseback, each with
his hawk on his fist, cantered over the high ground above, pre-
pared to cast it off. When a wild duck or any smaller water-fowl
was sprung, the hawk descended and grappled it at once ; or, as
a falconer would say, "bound" it, without needing "the mount,"
or upward flight.

236 THE TRILOGY. [CAXTO XXII.

Who him pursuing for his safety yearn'd,
Because new ground for strife he thence derives.

And when the barterer had escaped^ he turn'd
His claws on his companion ; so pell-mell
Above the foss they grappled : but he learn'd

The other was a falcon fierce^ that well

Could rend him with his talons, and into 140
The middle of the boiling lake both fell.

The heat at once forbade them to renew

The strife : of power to rise they were bereaved ;
So firmly did the pitch their pinions glue.

But Barbariccia with the rest being grieved^
To four gave charge that from the other coast
They fly Avith all their arms. The word received.

On both sides they descended to their post;

Their hooks reach'd forth to those within the snare.
Who from the pitch had got a thorough roast; 150

And so we left them while entangled there.

CANTO XXIII.] INFERNO.

237

CANTO XXIII.

TUE ARGUMENT.

Dante's terror at being pursued bj the demons. Virgil carries
him down the slope to the sixth chasm, where they are safe
from further pursuit. Here hypocrites are punished by wear-
ing caps and vests of lead externally gilt, under the heavy
pressure of which they slowly and wearily pursue their
destined and eternal journey. Catalino and Loderingo of
Bologna make themselves known, Annas and Caiaphas lie
in the foss, the latter aflBxed to a cross. Catalino directs the
poets how they may reach the next mound.

Now silent and companionless we strode.
One foremost and the other close behind ;
Like friars minor^ journeying on the road.

Old ^sop^s fable came into my mind : "

^ Tranciscans, the monks-errant of the middle ages, who for the
most part subsisted on daily and casual charity ; while the other
orders had lands and revenues, and were confined to their several
monasteries and respective localities. — See Canto xvi. 108, note.

" The mouse, thirsty and just escaped from the cat, came to the
lake to drink, and was enticed by the frog to mount his back for
a voyage. When half way across, the frog, scared by the ap-
pearance of a water-serpent, suddenly dived and left the mouse to
drown. — Hoìiek's Bactrachomachia, 1. 9. But it is probably to

238 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO XXIII.

That of the frog and mouse ; the recent row
Suggesting it : not more alike we find

The meaning of at present and of now}

Than — if their cause and sequel we compare
Attentively — the twain we must allow.

As from one thought another springs, thus here 10
Another from that earliest then was born,
Which added greatly to my previous fear.

For thus I reason'd ! Since they suffer scorn
Through us, with harm and ridicule so keen,
Their breasts will doubtless be with anguish torn.

If anger then be added to their spleen.

They'll follow us more cruel than the hound,
That with the hare betwixt his jaws is seen.

Already all my hair on end I found

With terror, and look'd backward eagerly. 20
" Master, my fears of those claw'd fiends abound.

Unless thou quickly hide thyself and me,"

I said ; " even now they're close behind, alas !
Strong fancy makes me feel them so to be."

He answer'd, " Were I form'd of leaded glass,^

the following variation of the story, not JEsop's however, that
Dante alludes. The frog offered to carry the mouse across a
ditch, with the intentiou of drowning hira, when both were carried
off by a kite.

1 " Mo" (Latin modo) is still used in Lombardy, and " issa"
(Jiac ipsa hora) in Tuscany. Both mean " now."

- Metal mirrorg are mentioned by Job and Moses. Glass

CANTO XXIII.] INFERNO. 239

Not sooner would thy outward form be shown
Than that within I trace : it came to pass

This moment that thy thoughts among mine own
Enter' dj so like in their effect and face,
That from them both my counsel is but one. 30

If the right bank doth so itself abase

That we may to the other chasm descend,
We may escape from this imagined chase."

He had not spoke this counsel to the end
When with expanded wings, not far off, I
Saw them approach, ourselves to apprehend.

On me my guide took hold all suddenly/
Even as a mother whom the noise awakes.
To see the kindled flames already nigh.

Seizing her child at once her flight she takes, 40
Less for herself than him such care she shows.
So that a night-dress her sole vest she makes.

mirrors can only be traced to the thirteenth century : in the
fourteenth century they were extremely scarce, and metal ones
continued in use. The mirror of Anne of Bretagne, consort of
Louis XII. was of metal. — Beckìian's i/w^. of Liventions, vol. ii.
p. 195. Dante mentions " leaded glass" as a thing well known ;
but in that age Italy was almost the only country where the arts
flourished.

^ "One of those hellish ministers, all rough, horrid, and tall of
stature, hastily advancing endeavoured to drive me, and by all
means do me hurt : when lo, the apostle running more swiftly,
suddenly snatched me up and threw me forward into a place of
glorious vision." — Vision o/Alberic, 15.

240 THE TllILOGY. [CANTO XXIII.

Do^n from the ridge of that liard bank he throws
Himself supine on that steep rock hung low,
Which one side of the other chasm doth close.

Less swift the waters through the channel flow.
To turn the huge wheel of a mill terrene,
Even when they to the ladles nearest go -^

Then gliding o'er that edge my guide was seen,
Bearing me on his breast, as if his son, 50

And not his mere companion, I had been.

Scarcely his feet the lowest bed had Avon
Of that profound beneath, when on the hill
Above us they arrived : but Ave had none

To fear ; for that high Providence whose will
Of the fifth foss made each a minister.
Denies them all the power to quit it still.

Below we found a painted tribe, who there

Pace with slow steps around, and Aveeping groan;
Faint and o'ercome Avith toil did they appear. 60

* Water-mills were known in Asia in the time of Mithridates.
Rome had water-mills iu the time of Augustus. Public water-
mills appear for the first time under Honorius and Arcadius ; and
the oldest laws which mention them show clearly that they were
then (about a.d. 396) a new establishment, which it was necessary
to secure by the support of government. As there were floating
mills on the Tiber, the Venetian lagoons, and elsewhere, Dante
distinguishes the one he mentions as a land-mill (niuliii terragno).
See Eeckmas's Eist. Inventions; i. 151. 4:lh Ed. Bohn. The
"ladles" are the receptacles of the millwheel, into which the
water falling turns it.

CANTO XXIII.] INFERNO. 2il

Cloaks had they on with cowls that hung low down
Before their eyes, like those with which bedight
The monks are seen who walk about Cologne.^

Without they were of gold and dazzling bright,
But all within was lead." Such weight they had
Frederick's with them compared, as straws were

Oh ! in eternal tiresome raiment clad ! [light.'

' The Cartlmsian order was instituted about a.d. lOSO, by-
Bruno, a native of Cologne, who retiring with six companions to
a wild named Chartreux, or Cartusia, near Grenoble (whence the
name of the order), adopted the rule of St. Benedict, supplemented
with a number of severe and rigorous precepts, to which his suc-
cessors added others. Hence the order surpassed all others in
the extravagant austerity of its discipline. Hair-cloth next the
skin, entire abstinence from flesh, and almost perpetual silence,
were enjoined upon its members. The order had an establish-
ment in Cologne at an early period, and its monks are doubtless
those alluded to by Dante. The conical hood of tlie Carthusians
is large, the cloak ample, and the colour of both white. The
ancient Carthusian convent may still be seen among the public
buildings which adorn Cologne. The comparison is another stroke
of satire, at the expense of these monks, whose larger and coarser
cowls were meant to indicate their pre-eminent holiness ; as the
Pharisees " made broad their phylacteries, and enlarged the
borders of their garments." — Matt, xxiii. 5.

'^ Their punishment presents a resemblance to their fault —
hypocrisy ; the glorious outward show, but without the inward
grace ; the pretence of superior piety to adorn concealed stupidity
and vice.

' The emperor Frederick II. caused those who were guilty of
high treason to be wrapped in lead and thrown into a heated
furnace, where, as the lead melted, the criminal was destroyed. —
Villani, vi.

16

242 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXIII.

Turn'd to tlie left^ our walk we now repeat,
Intent upon their lamentation sad.

But those overwearied people, through the weight, 70
Came on so slowly that our company
AVas changed at every motion of our feet.

So to my guide I said, " Search if there be

Some one who by his deeds or name is known ;
"While thou art Avalking, turn thine eyes and see."

Then, at my Tuscan speech, behind us one

Who understood it cried, " Restrain your speed,
Ye who through this dark air so swiftly run.

Perchance through me thy search will best succeed.^^
Wherefore my leader then turn'd round and said
" Wait, and with them at their own pace proceed."

I paused, and then saw two whose look displayed
Great eagerness my steps to overtake.
But them their load and the strait path delavM.

They Avhen arrived their observation make

On me, with eye askaunt, but nought express'd,
Then to each other turn'd, and thus they spake :

" One lives, for see the heaving of his chest !

If they are dead what charter can allow [90

That thus they walk without the cumbrous vest ?"

And then to me they said, " O Tuscan, thou
Who com'st the abode of hypocrites to view.
To tell us who thou art refuse not now."

CANTO XXIIl.] INFERNO. 243

And thus I answer' d, " I was born and grew
By Arno's lovely stream in that great town,
And am embodied as on earth : but who

Are ye from whom such mighty grief flows down
Your cheeks as now I see? What penance weighs
Upon you by the sparkling vesture shown ?" [100

And one replied, " Well may such weights as these,
The tawny cloaks of lead we wear so great.
Produce this creaking of the balances.^

We jovial friars and Bolognese of late,^
I Catalano, he Loderingo, were
Elected jointly by thy native state,

To guard its peace, although more usual there
A single umpire :^ what we then were found,

' The cloaks are called " weights," and the wearers are " the
balances;" while, to keep up the metaphor, their sighs and groans
are the " creaking" occasioned by the weights being so heavy.

* The military order of the Frati di Santa Maria, instituted by
Urban IV. was nicknamed " Frati Godenti" (Jovial, or Joyous
Friars), answering to the "Ordre de bel Eyse" (Order of Easy
Living), in France, of whom the ancient satirist says, that though
they were drunk every day, it was not for excess, but merely for
company and good fellowship.

' " The Ghibeline rulers in Florence, perceiving the popular
discontent, and fearing a rebellion, to satisfy the ))eople, made
choice of two knights. Frati Godenti of Bologna, on whom they
conferred the chief power, M. Catalano dei Malavoiti, and M.
Loderingo di Liandolo ; one an adherent of the Guelfs, the other
of the Ghibeliues. The Frati Godenti were called knights of
St. Mary, and became knights on taking the habit ; their robes

244 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXIII.

Around Gardigno yet will best appear." ^

" O friars," I said, " your ills " — no further sound
I made : for I of one a glimpse received 110
Fix'd to a cross, witli three stakes on the ground.

AYhen he saw me, he all distorted heaved,

Ruflfliug his beard with sighs. And thus to me
The friar Catalan who this perceived.

Said, " That transfix'd one, whom thou now dost see,
Counselled the Pharisees 'twas fit that day
That one should for the rest a martyr be.^

He lies transfix'd and naked in the way.

As thou behold' st, so that he first must taste [1 20
How much each one that passeth him doth weigh.

•were white, the mantle sable, and the arms a Avliite field aud red
cross witli two stars ; their ofiQce was to defend widows and
orphans, and to act as mediators : they had, like other religious
bodies, internal regulations. The above-named M. Loderingo was
the founder of that order. But ere long the knights too well
deserved the appellation given them, their chief object being to
enjoy themselves. These two friars were called in by the Floren-
tines, and lodged in a palace over against the abbey. Such was
the dependence placed on the character of their order, that it was
expected they would be impartial and economical ; instead of
which, though of opposite parties, they concurred in promoting
their own advantage rather than the public good." — Villani,
vii. 13. This was in 12GG.

1 A street or quarter of the city in which stood the houses of
the liberti, a noble family at the head of the Ghibelines, burnt
aud destroyed by these two Jovial Friars, or by the Guelfs who
bribed them to allow it.

2 John xi. 49, oO.

CANTO XXIII.] INFERNO. 215

His father-in-law too in this foss lies placed ;^

And those who with them in that Council went/
An evil seed Avhich did the Jews lay wasts.

Then I saw Virgil marvel, as intent

He gazed on him extended on the cross
So vilely, in eternal banishment.

Then to the friar he said, as at a loss,
" Tell us, if 'tis permitted you, we pray.
If to the right there leads out of this foss

An opening for us two through which we may 130
Go forth, and the dark angels not constrain
To come and lead us from its depth away ?"

Then he replied, " There doth a rock remain
Which o'er each valley nearer than you hope,
From the great circle leads, a pathway plain;

Save that 'tis broken here, and has no cope :^

* John xviii. 13.

^ Dante sublimely imagines that the earthquake at our Saviour's
crucifixinu overthrew the infernal ramparts, and obstructed the
way to hell : but the shock was most felt in the circles of the
Violent (Canto xii. 44, 45) and of the Hypocrites (Canto xxi.
104 — 114), of those who crucified the Holy One and the Just.
The rocky bridges which cross the ten fosses of Malebolge, from
the outer circle to the ninth (Canto xviii. 16 — 18) or central one,
were here broken and the communication interrupted. The ruins
of one of them afford the poets a means of ascending to the next
mound, without the necessity of troubling their fierce and de-
ceitful escort, the Malebranche, and where they would be beyond
their jurisdiction and power.

246 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXUI.

And by the ruin you may climb the ascent^ [^P'"
Which sideway slants and from the depth rnoimts

!My guide who stood awhile with his head bent,
Said, "He described the matter fraudfully, 140
Who yonder with his hook the sinners rent."^

Then said the friar, " Once at Bologna I

Heard of the devil's faults, and mongst the res
That he's a liar and father of a lie.""

Then with huge strides my leader onwards press'd
A little anger in his aspect glow'd,
I therefore left those burden'd souls unbless'd.

And took the path which his loved footsteps show'd.

^ The misrepresentation complained of was twofold ; 1st, tliat
the next rock-bridge ■was not broken (Canto xxi. Ill, 126) ; and
2d, that the Malebranche would not be savage (Canto xxi. 117).

" " Ye are of your father the devil, 5:c., for he is a liar and the
father of it." — Johi viii. 44. Catalano was himself a Bolognese,
and had heard this text, as Dante himself perhaps had also heard
it, from one of the pulpits of Bologna, whose university was even
then celebrated for the study of the canon-law ; and where, it
seems, the vices of the devil were both described and copied.
How low it stood in Dante's estimation we may gather from Canto
xviii. 58 — 63.

CANTO XXIV.] INFERNO. 247

CANTO XXIV.

THE ARGUMENT.

With great difBculty the poets emerge from the sixth chasm, aud
on reaching the rock by which the seventh is bridged over,
they behold therein the punishments inflicted on robbers,
who are tormented by poisonous serpents. Vanni Fucci, of
Pistoia, being accosted by Yirgil, describes the sacrilege for
which he suffers, aud predicts the injuries about to be in-
flicted by tlie contests of the Bianchi and Neri, and the
overthrow of tlie former party, to which Daute himself
belonged.

In the year's early childhood, when the sun
Beneath Aquarius tempers his bright hairs,
And back towards half the day the nights now run,

When the white frost upon the earth appears.
Her snowy sister's image chaste and hoar.
But changes in brief time the plume she wears,^

* In tlie early part of the year, when the sun {Crinitus Apollo,
Mmid. ix. 638) is in Aquarius, and the vernal equinox is at hand,
the nights have decreased in length to little more than half the
twenty-four hours. In Italy the day is reckoned from sunset to
sunset, so that mezzo di (mid-day) is not noon, but half way be-
tween these two periods, or twelve hours after sunset. At this
season, too, the hoar-frosts in the morning appear like snow, but

248 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXIV.

The husbandman, when fails his little store.

Rising and looking round, his thigh will smite,^
"UTien he beholds the plain all whiten'd o'er.

He to his cot return'd, a wretched wight, 10

Mourns up and down, unknowing what to do.
Then comes he forth, and hope again grows bright ;

For lo ! the world around has changed its hue

In that brief time, and with his sheep-hook arm'd.
Forth to the fields he drives his flock anew.

So me my guide with anxious fear alarm'd.
While I stood gazing on his troubled brow;
And with like speed the malady he charmM,

For at the fallen bridge arriving now.

My leader turn'd to me with that sweet look 20
He first on me did by the mount bestow.

Surveying well the ruin first, he took

Some counsel with himself, then opening wide
His arms, he seized me, and that vale forsook.

As one who while he works computes beside.

And always seems with foresight blest, so raising

Me towards the summit of one rock, my guide

are soon melted by the rising sun. The last line, literally rendered,
would be, " But a short time endures the temper of her pen."
By a singular metaphor, the hoar-frost is compared to a writer,
the poini or iemper of whose pen will not last, so that he is unable
to continue his work of copying.

* Smiting on the thigh, as a sign of grief, is mentioned /er.
■xxxi. 19 ; Exei. xxi. 12 ; and Iliad, xii. 162.

CANTO XXIV.] INFERNO. 249

On the next cliff above appear'd still gazing,

And said, " Lay hold on that, but take thou care
It will sustain thy weight, ere firmly seizing." 30

No path for those the leaden cloaks who wear
Was this, when he so light, and I push'd on
From cliff to cliff, could scarce mount upward there.

And were that coast not lower than the one
Preceding, how he had succeeded I
Know not, but I should have been quite undone.

But where the mouth of the abyss is nigh
Thither all downward Malebolge slopes :
Its valleys hence have each this property,

That one side rises and the other droops. 40

Now had we reach'd at length that point above
Where of the rock the last loose fragment stoops.

Of breath my lungs did so exhausted prove.
When at the top arrived, I sat me down,
Because at first I could no further move.

'' Now thus must indolence be from thee thrown,"^
My master said, " for not on downy plumes,
In canopied indulgence, fame is Mon •}

' "Thus by tins hard and toilsome journey thou art required to
shake off all sloth and poltronry." Spolire, spdirare, sj^olirire ;
quasi dis-poltrire ; from dis, negative, and poltrire, to be idle, or
inert. Hence also, poltrone, poltroon, a do-nothing, an idler, one
who skulks away from duty.

' " There is nothing truly valuable that can be obtained without

250 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXIV.

And without that whoe'er his life consumes,

Will leave such vestige of himself as foam 50
On water, or in air the smoky fumes.

And therefore rise ; this weakness overcome,
With that fixM mind which every battle gains.
Unless she with the body's weight succumb.^

A longer ladder yet to climb remains,

Even when we leave the fiends and their stronghold ;
Now understand and profit by my strains, '^

Then I arose, affecting (self-controll'd)

More strength of lungs than I in truth possess'd :
And said, "Come on, for I am strong and bold."

So to our journey we ourselves address'd, [60

Scaling the rock, rough, rugged, strait, and still
More steep than that before. As on we press'd

I went on talking to appear not ill :

When from the other foss a voice I heard.
For verbal utterance quite unsuitable.

pains and labour," &e. See The Choice of Hercules, an apologue by
Prodicus, recommended and embellislied by Socrates. — Taller, 97.
^ "For the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the
earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon
many things." — Liber Sapienlia, ix. 15. Assuming that this book
was written by Philo-Juda^us, according to the general opinion
(see Horne's Inlroduction, vol. iv. p. 245, ed. 1S21), the author
must have been indebted for the preceding passas;e to Horace : —
" Besides this, the body, overloaded with the debauch of yesterday,
depresses the mind along with it, and fixes to the earth that
particle of breath divine." — Sat. ii. lib. ii. 78.

CANTO XXIV.] INFERNO. 251

Of what he said I did not know one word,

Though on the arch that crosses there was I :
But he who spake appear'd to anger stirr'd.

I stoop'd to gaze below, hut living eye 70

The depth could never pierce through that black pall.
Then said I, " Master, do thou onward hie

To the other round, and let's descend the wall.
For hence I hear, but do not understand;
And looking down distinguish nought at all.''

He said, " I've no reply to thy demand.
Save to comply : when fit request is made.
The deed should answer, from the silent hand.""

The bridge we now descended at its head, [road; 80
Where joining the eighth mound it form'd our
And then the chasm was to our view display'd.

Within it I beheld a terrible crowd

Of serpents, in their kind so strange to see.
Even yet their very memory chills my blood.^

No more let Libya boast her sands, though she
Chelyder, Jaculus, Pareas, own ;
Though Cenchris too, and Amphisboena be

Her brood ; so many plagues she ne'er hath known.

* In more than one passage of Albericus' Vision, the infliction
of punishment by horrid and loathsome serpents is described.
The 7iames of the serpents here introduced by Dante are taken
from Lucan's Fharsalia, x. 710 — 721.

252 THE TRILOGV. [CANTO XXIV.

Even with all Ethiopia^ — nor so bad ;

Nor are there such above the Red sea strown. 90

Mid this abundance, cruel and most sad,
Their feet a scared and naked people plied.
Nor hope of heliotrope^ or outlet had.

"With serpents were their hands about them tied.
Which through the reins infix'd their tail and head,
And coil'd in folds before. Near our bank-side

One of the doom'd we saw, and as he stray'd

A serpent met and pierced him through just where
The neck and shoulders have their junction made.

Ne*er "O" nor " 1" so swiftly written were, 100
As he took fire and burn'd with that fierce flame,
Till on the ground he fell all ashes there.

Yet where he lay dissolved the ashes came
Again together — with new life self-bred —
And presently rose up in shape the same.

Thus by great bards and sages, it is said.
The Phoenix dies, and then reborn it grows.
When the five hundredth year is nearly fled :

Nor herb nor blade through life its pasture knows,

' The gem heliotrope is of a dull green colour veined or spotted
witli red, and when favorably placed changes the sunbeams to red
by reflection ; whence its name. The pretenders to magic say,
that mixed with the plant of the same name, and consecrated with
certain rites, it has the power of rendering the bearer of it invisible.
— Pliny, xxx.vii..lO; Solinus, Tolyhid. x; Decameron, vili. 3.

CANTO XXIV.] INFERNO. 253

But tears of frankincense and araommn, 110

While nard and myi-rh its funeral couch compose.^

As he who to some demon doth succumb,

Falling he knows not how, to earth dragged down.
Or else by epilepsy overcome;

Who when he rises up again looks round,
Bewilder'd all Avith that fierce agony
He has endured, and stares with sighs profound:

Wheii rose the sinner, so aghast was he.
Justice of God ! Oh, how severe, whose ire
In vengeance showers such blows tempestuously !

And who he was my leader did inquire. [120

" Not long since I rain'd down," he answer'd then,
" From Tuscany into this gullet dire.

I chose a brutish life, not that of men ;

]\Iule that I was, and Vanni Fucci named. ^

' Dante has here abridged Ovid's description of this fabulous
bird. It is remarkable enougii, that Clemens Romanus (1 Ad
Corinth, xxv.) appears to have borrowed this tale from Ovid's
Metamorphoses (xv. 392), and has made it a type of the resur-
rection. The latter is so unlike what we should have expected
from a companion of St. Paul {TUl. iv. 3.), that the genuineuess
of the epistle has ou that account been doubted. It has, however,
been sufiBciently attested by Eusebius, Irenseus, and others \ yet
we cannot but observe a striking contrast, when we compare tliis
epistle with the writings of the inspired Evangelists and A-postles.

* An illegitimate offspring of the Lazari family in Pistoia.
Having, in 1293, robbed the sacristy of St. James's Church in that
city, he secreted the goods in the house of an acquaintance, probably

254 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXIV.

Ah, beast ! — Pistoia was my worthy den."

Then to my guide I said, " His stay be claim'd.
And ask what fault hath put him here, whom I
Once knew, a man of blood with rage inflamed."

The sinner heard, nor feign'd in his reply; 130

But right towards me his mind and visage turn'd,
Portray'd in which sad shame I could espy.

" That thou hast caught me I am more concern'd.
And that thou seest me in this misery dipp'd.
Than even the loss of earthly life I mourn'd.

Of what thou ask'st I cannot be close-lipp'd.
I'm placed thus low, because the sacristry
By theft of its fair ornaments I stripp'd.

Whose blame another sufFer'd wrongfully.

For joy to see it thou hast little cause, 140

If thou from these dark regions e'er be free.

Open thine ears to what my speech foreshows.
First in Pistoia shall the Neri fail,^

without liis knowledge. Several persons were tortured on suspicion ;
at length, a friend of Vanui's being sentenced to the rack, the latter,
to save him, sent anonymous information where the spoils might
be found ; which proving true, the master of the house. Vanni
della Nona, was convicted and executed, while the actual criminal
escaped.

' A period of great prosperity in Florence was interrupted by
a dispute which originated in Pistoia. Among its chief families
was that of the Cancellieri. Two boys of this family, Leri tlie
sou of Guglielmo and Geri the son of Bertaccio, quarrelled while
at play, and, co;iniug to blows, Geri received a slight wound.

CANTO XXIV.] INFERNO. 255

Then Florence change her citizens and laws.

But lo, a vapour drawn from Magra's vale,
With turbid mists involved by Mars's frown,
With fierce impetuous tempest shall assail:

On Picen's field the wreck of war is thrown,

Whence suddenly the lowering cloud shall break.
So that each Bianco shall be stricken down.^ 150

And that it may alEHict thee, this I speak."

Grieved at this, Guglielmo sent his son to the house of Geri's father
to ask his pardon for the offence. But Bertaccio, instead of accept-
ing this apology for a boyish fault, inhumanly ordered his servants
to seize the youth, and having taken him into the stable (for the
greater indignity), to chop off his hand on the manger. Leri,
thus mutilated, was then sent back to his father with a message,
"That wounds are not so properly cured by words as by ampu-
tation." £iu-aged at this cruelty, Guglielmo and his friends took
arms to avenge it, while Bertaccio and his friends did the same to
defend themselves ; and thus the whole of Pistoia became involved
in the quarrel. An ancestor of these Cancellieri had two wives,
one called Bianca and the otlier Nera, names which these two
factions adopted. After many lives were lost and houses de-
stroyed, the quarrel extended to Florence, the Donati taking part
with the Neri, and the Cerchi with the Bianchi ; and very soon
the whole city and country were divided between these two
factions. — Machiavelli, Hist. Fior. ii. In May 1301, the Bianchi
party in Pistoia, with the assistance of the same party who ruled
in Plorence, drove out the Neri from the former place, destroying
their houses, palaces, and farms. — Gio. Villani, viii. 4é.

1 In 1302 the Pope sent Charles of Valois, brother of the French
king, to Florence ; the Neri, under Corso Donati, returned and
took the reins of government ; the Bianchi were expelled. And
in 1304, Morello Malespina, from the Yal di Magra, utterly
defeated the Bianchi on Campo Piceno near Pistoia.

256 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXV.

CANTO XXV.

THE AKGUMENT.

Vanni Fucci's blaspliemy, puuishmeiit, and flight. Cacus the
centaur tormented by serpents and a dragon. Dante meets
with tive of his countrymen, four of whom are the subjects
of strange and horrible transformations. Agnello loses the
human form and becomes blended with a six-clawed serpent,
and that serpent is Cianfa. Buoso is pierced by a fiery
viper, and gradually exchanges the human form for that of
a serpent, while the viper simultaneously assumes an erect
position and tiie likeness of a man, and proves to be Guercio
Cavalcanti. Of the five, only Sciancate remains unaltered.

This speecli the robber having encled_, he

Forming the figs both hands in scorn extends,^
And criedj " Accept them, God^ I give them thee."

' To " make the fig," or some equivalent expression, signifies
to thrust out the thumb between the forefinger and second finger
of the fist ; said to have been a mode of insult extensively and for
many ages employed among the nations of Europe. — Douce's
Illustrations qfShakspeare. A vestige of this we have still in such
expressions as, " A fig for his resentment." Shakspeare makes
the travelled Pistol employ the Spanish word, as having a more
militari/ air : thus,

"Pistol. Die and bo damu'd; audy?^o for thy friendship !

Fluellin. It is well.

CANTO XXV.] INFERNO. 257

From that time have the serpents been my friends.^
For one entwined itself his neck around,
As though it said, " Lo, here thy prating ends."

And gliding up his arms another bound
And firmly riveted itself before,
So that no power of moving them he found.

Pistoia ! ah, Pistoia ! pause no more, 10

Ere thou to ashes turn thee, since thou dost
In evil act surpass thy sires of yore.^

I saw through hell's dark circles, mid the lost.
No spirit against God that showed such pride: —
Not he at Thebes, struck down for his vain boast. ^

He fled : nor utter'd he one word beside.
Next him a Centaur full of fury ran :
And "Where is he? where is the brute?" he cried.

Fist. The fig of Spain !

Flu. Very good." — Henri/ V. act iii. sc. 6.

The Spanish higo (anciently _/?yo, now obsolete), the Italian ^co,
and the Latin ficus, not only signify a fig, but also a disease — the
piles, or hemorrhoids. There is probably an allusion in the text
that does not at fii'st sight appear. Vanni Fucci's townsmen (in
1228) had "a tower seventy cubits high, on the rock of Carmignano ;
and at the top of it were two arms of marble with hands that made
the figs at Florence." — Malesp. 116 ; Villani, vi. 5.

^ " Sempre solca le serpi favorire." — AiuosTO, Ori. Fur. xliii. l'i.

' The dissolute soldiers of Catiline, who, after the battle ìh
which their leader fell, took refuge in Pistoia (the ancient
Pistoria) and its neighbourhood.

^ Capaneus. — See Canto xiv. 1. 46, and note.

17

258 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO XXV.

Maremma^s marsh^ had not more serpents than
Were seen on him upon the croup thick set, 20
To that part where the human form began.

Upon his shoulders lay a dragonet,^

With wings outspread, and just behind the head,
Breathing out fire on whomsoe'er he met.

" Cacus^ is this :" to me my master said,
" Who underneath the rock of Aventine
Oft made a lake of blood. Here must he tread

A difierent way to what the fates assign
His brethren, for his fraudful action when
From the great herd he filch'd the neighboring
kine. 30

His felon deeds were put an end to then.
Beneath the mace of Hercules, who may

' An extensive tract of marshy ground in Tuscany, near tlie
sea-shore, abounding in reptiles.

- " Fiery dragons were sitting on some of them and gnawing
them with iron teeth: others were the victims of fiery serpents,
which coiling round their necks, arms, and bodies, fixed iron fangs
into their hearts." — St. Patrick'' s Purgatory.

^ A robber-monster of Italy. "Wlien Hercules returned from
the conquest of Geryon (Canto xvii. 97, and note), Cacus stole
some of his cows, and to avoid being discovered by their track,
dragged them backward into his cave. But their lowing in reply
to that of the herd without, betrayed the theft, for which Hercules
attacked and slew him. — jEneid. viii. 193. Some of the translators
render affuoca in 1. 24, " sets on fire." The word is capable of
either sense, but Virgil's descri])tion of Cacus, as o^-a vomens
ignei (199), fixes the meaning here.

CANTO XXV.] INFERNO. 259

Have given a hundred blows unfelt save ten.^'^

While thus he spake^ the Centaur sped away,
And three souls came beneath us ; unaware
Was I, and eke my guide, of them till they

Exclaim'd aloud, "Pray tell us who ye are/'
This brought oui' converse to a termination:
Henceforth intent on these alone we were.

I did not know them, but on this occasion, 40

As oft it happens^ it befel that they
Each other had to name in conversation.

One saying, " In what place doth Cianfa stay ?^'"
Then that my leader might attention give,
Upon my lips did I my finger lay.

If thou art backward, reader, to receive
What I shall say, no marvel it is so ;
Since I who saw it scarce myself believe.

For while mine eyes were fix'd upon them, lo!

A serpent with six feet sprung forth on one, 50
To whom it facing clung and seemed to grow;

The middle feet around the paunch were thrown,
And with the foremost were the arms confined :
Then Avith its teeth each cheek it fasten'd on :

The hinder feet the thighs overspread and bind,

• The first ten blows depriving him of all feeling.
- Said to be of the Donati family. Suddenly transformed into
a serpent, his three companions miss him, and ask where he stays.

260 THE TRILOGY, [CANTO XXV.

Betwixt both which the tail a passage found,
And upwards turn'd upon the reins behind.

Never did ivy clasp so firmly round

The oak, as now that hideous beast obscene
His own about another's members wound. 60

Then, as if burning wax they both had been,
With mingling hues each in the other blends.
And that which either was no more is seen.

Thus a brown tint the fire to paper^ lends
Held o'er it, scorch'd ere kindled to a flame.
Not yet turnM black, although its whiteness ends.

The other two looked on and both exclaim,

" How art thou changed ! Alas, Agnello^ see !
Not double, yet not single, is thy frame !"

Already the two heads had come to be 70

But one, and the two figures seem'd to fade,

^ The art of making paper from fibrous materials, reduced to a
pulp iu water, appears to have been first discovered by the
Ciiinese. The Arabians in the seventh century made paper from
cotton, and having brouglit the art into Spain, made paper from
linen and hemp. The first paper made from linen in Italy was at
Trevigi, in the fourteenth century, by Pier da Fabiano. The first
paper-mill known to have existed in England was at Hertford,
early in the sixteenth century. Even in the middle of the
seventeenth century. Fuller complains of the little encouragement
paper-making received, " considering the vast sums of money
spent in our laud for paper out of Italy, France, and Germany."
By lo papiro some understand the wick of a candle, made of
papyrus.

^ Of the ]3rui;elleschi family, belonging to the Neri party.

CANTO XXV.] INFERNO. 261

Lost in one form of strictest unity .^
Of the four separate bands two arms were made ;

The thighs, the legs, the belly, and the chest,

Became such limbs as eye hath ne'er survey'd :
All trace of former aspect was erased :

Both and yet neither seem'd that form perverse.

And such with lingering steps it onward pass'd.
As in the dog days Avhen the heat is fierce.

Like sudden lightning gleams the lizard's train, 80

Crossing the path from hedge to hedge transverse,
So, towards the bellies of the other twain

Speeding, appear'd an adder all on fire ;

Livid and black even as a pepper-grain.
In that part one he pierced whence we acquire

Our earliest nourishment -^ then drawing back.

Before him fell stretched out that reptile dire.
On it the pierced one gazed, yet nothing spake.

Then stagger'd he with hesitating feet.

As one whom sleep or fever doth attack. 90

* Probably suggested by Virgil's description of the punishment
inflicted by the tyrant Mezentius : — "He tied dead bodies to
living ones, hand to hand and face to face, and thus (O dire
punishment !) with gore and corruption flowing in a loathed em-
brace, inflicted a lingering death." — Mneid. viii. 485. Servius,
in his comment on the passage, remarks that the gore [sanies) of
the dead produced putrefaction {(ahum) in the living.

^ The navel. The "poison of conscious theft makes the man
a serpent."

262 THE TRILOGY. [CAXTO XXV.

He vieAv'd the serpent, and their glances meet.
One from his mouth the other from his wound.
Breathed a thick smoke whose curling vapours greet.

Let Lucan rest in mute repose profound.
Nor tell Sabellus^ nor Nasidius' fate -^
But listen to the tale which I propound.

Of Cadmus now no more let Ovid state^ —
And Arethuse — how to a serpent he,
She to a fountain changed f though he relate

In verse their tale, not envio^^s shall I be. 100

Two natures ne'er sung he, that face to face
Their form and substance changed thus readily.

So corresponded they in what took place,
The serpent's tail into a fork was cleft.
While closed the smitten one his feet apace.

The legs and thighs, of separate life bereft,
Were join'd together, and so closely stuck.
Of the least seam no visible sign was left.

' Two of Gate's army, the one stung by a slender serpent called
seps, the other by that called presfer, in the Lybian desert. The
description of the effects produced, as given by Lucan, may have
suggested that here given by Dante. — See Pharsalia, ix. 763 — 804.

- Cadmus and Herinione having retired into lUyricum, infirm
with age, and overcome with grief at the calamities of their
children, entreated the gods to release them from the ills of life, and
were immediately changed into serpents. — Ovid. Metam. iv. 562.

^ A nymph of Elis, attendant on Diana, whose aid she implored
when flying from the river-god Alpheus, and was by her changed
into a fountaiu.-^/6ic/. v. 409.

CANTO XXV.] INFERNO. 263

The cloven tail meanwhile the figure took [110

Which they had lost^ quite soft became its skin ;
While his acquired an indurated look.

I at each armhole saw the arms drawn in^

And the fierce beast's two shorter legs now grew,
And what in length the other's lose, they win.

The hinder feet entwined together drew,

Becoming then the part which man conceals ;
From his, of these the sufierer put forth two :

And while a smoke the one and the other veils
With a ncAv colour, as it forms on one
The skin, which yet it from the other peels. 120

The one arose, the other low fell down,

Nor shifted yet the eyes with baleful light,
'Neath which the muzzle had its change begun.

Then towards the temples, he who stood upright.
Drew his : the surplus matter that came there.
Prom the smooth cheeks, as ears grew up in sight :

While that which drew not backward, of its share
Abundant, added to the face a nose.
And made the lips of their due size appear.

He who lay prostrate then his muzzle throws^ 130
Forward, and draws the ears down to his head,
Even as a snail his slender horns withdraws.

The tongue which whole and apt for speech was made

1 Milton has imitated this passage : — Parodi;^. Lost, x. 511.

264 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXV.

At first, now cloven was ; and the fork'd tongue
Of the other closed : and then the smoke was laid.

Away the soul changed to a reptile sprung,
Hissing along the vale ; and after him
The other sputtering talk'd, and walk'd along.

Then, as he plied each renovated limb.

He said to the other, " Buoso,^ swiftly thou 140
Crawling, as I have done, this pathway skim.'^

The ballast thus of the seventh hold below.
Shift and re-shift I saw. And here, if I
Err aught, the strangeness may excuse me now.

And though in some degree confused the eye
That saw it, and the mind bewilder'd too.
Yet could they not escape so covertly.

But Puccio Sciancato well I knew :"

Of the three comrades whom I did perceive

At first, he only without change withdrew. 150

The other still dost thou Gavillè grieve.^

' Of the Donati family, or, as others say, that of the Abbati in
Florence.

' A noted robber, of the Galigai family of Florence. — See
Paradiso, xvi. 96.

^ Francesco Guercio Cavalcante, M'ho -n-as slain at Gavillè, a
town in the Val d'Arno. His death was cruelly avenged by his
party, who killed many of the inhabitants and wasted the district.

With a little attention it will be perceived, that the six-legged
serpent was Cianfa ; the three companions, Agnello, Buoso, and
Puccio Sciancato ; and the black adder, F. Guercio Cavalcante ; the
Jive Florentine robbers whom, in the next Canto, Dante says he saw.

CANTO XXVI.] INFEllNO. 265

CANTO XXVI.

THE ARGUMENT.

Au apostroplie to Ploreuce, occasioned by Dante's recognition
of the five robbers. The poets climb the same rock they
had descended ; and having reached the bridge that crosses
the eighth gulf of Malebolge, they see below innumerable
flames gliding hither and thitlier, each of which contains the
spirit of an evil councillor. One flame cleft at the top
conceals Diomede and Ulysses, the latter of whom relates
his last voyage and the manner of his death.

Florence exult ! thy greatness who can tell;
O'er sea and land thy rushing wings resound :
Meantime thy name hath spread itself through hell.

Five such among the plunderers there I found
Thy citizens/ whence shame befalleth me,
And to thyself no glory can redound.

But if our dreams near dawn may claim to he
The truth/ much time will not elapse ere thou

^ The five robbers described in Canto xxv.
* " For about the dawn of day when the lamp was just expiring,
(At which time dreams are wont to appear true)," &c.

Ovid. Ej>. Heroid. xix. 195.

266 TUE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXVI.

Feel what, not Prato^ only, wislietli thee ;
And ^twould not be untimely if ^twere now : 10

Would that it were so, since it must take place;

^ Twill grieve me more the more with age I bow.
We now set out, and on the rock's rough face.

Which first had served for steps our downward tread,

My guide remounting drew me : thus we trace
Upward our solitary way, which led

Mid crags and rocky cliffs, the top to gain.

Nor without hand should we with feet have sped.
I grieved, and even now I grieve again, [20

When my thoughts turn to what I then descried ;

Even more than usual I my fancy rein,
Lest I shoidd run where Virtue doth not guide.

And that I envy not myself the boon

Which my good star, or better still, supplied."
As when the summer sun uprising soon

^ A city in the Deighbourliood of Florence. The misfortunes
to Florence here poetically prognosticated, are, — 1. The fall of
the bridge Carraia, then of wood, on which a multitude of persons
were assembled, May, 1304, to witness a represeutaLiou of Hell
and its torments, which were exhibited in the bed of the Arno.
2. A conflagration, the following month, in which 1700 houses
were destroyed. 3. The civil discord between the Bianchi and
Neri.

- " When I reflect on what I then saw, I am more than ever
anxious to avoid the sin there punished, so as not to abuse to
my own injury the genius given me by my natal star, or to speak
more properly, by Providence." *

CANTO XXVI.] INFERNO. 267

And setting late, least hides his aspect bright.
Reclining on a rock some country loon,

When flies give place to gnats, the fire-flies' light
Sees through the vale below,^ perchance where he
To vine or plough applies his daily might : 30

Through the eighth chasm thus shone resplendently
Innumerable flames which I perceived.
Soon as its bottom was disclosed to me.

As he whose vengeance was by bears achieved,"
At its departure saw Elijah's car,^ [upheaved, —
When wing'd for heaven the steeds their flight

To follow them his eyes miable are —

Nought could he see except the flame alone,
Upsoaring like a misty spark afar :

So moved along the fosse's gorge each one ; 40

And every flame a sinner's form wrapp'd round,*
So close that of the theft^ no trace was shown.

^ With us tlie female glow-worm ijampyris) is luminous, but
without wings; the winged male not possessing light in any
perceptible degree. But in Italy there is another species of
lampyris — the luccioli of Dante — of which both sexes are at the
same time winged and luminous. — Edwards' Manual of Zoology,
\ 529.

' 2 Kings ii. 24. Ihid. 11, 12.

•» Luke xvi. 24.

* By " the theft" is meant that which was concealed or secreted
within. The appearance, named in Wales corpse-lights, or corpse-
candles, may have suggested the idea to Dante. See Canto ix.
lis, note.

268 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXVI.

I stood to look, and bending o'er the mound,
Grasp'd hard a rocky mass ^rith either hand.
Else I had fallen into the gulf profound.

My guide who saw me thus attentive stand,
Said, " There are spirits in those fires below,
Each swathed therewith as with a fiery band."

" Master," I said, "thy Mord assures me ; though
Beforehand my opinion was that they 50

Were such, and I desired of thee to know

Who is in yonder fire that comes this way,
Parted at top as if sprung from the pyre
Whereon of old the Theban brothers lay."^

He answer'd me, " Ulysses in that fire
And Diomede together bear their doom,
Hastening to torture as of old to ire.

And still they grieve, within their flaming tomb.
The ambush of the horse that oped the door [60
Whence came the seed that sow'd imperial Rome.'

' Eteocles and Polynices, who killed each other in their war for
the Theban sovereignty. The Greek tragedians liave given them
separate funerals ; but the allusion of Dante is to the following : —
Statius says, " Behold again the brothers; as the devouring fire
touches the first limbs, the funeral pile trembles, and a strange
impression is made on the corpses : the flames burst forth with a
divided summit, and the tops alternately flash with an abrupt
light. "—neb. xii. 429. Thus also Lucan ; " The flame is divided
in two parts, and rises with a double top, like the Theban funeral
pile." — Phars. i. 550.

^ The ambush jai the principal Greek warriors in the wooden

CANTO XXYI.] INFERNO. 269

There for that fraudful act they suffer yet.

Which grieves De-id-a-mia, even though dead,
For her Achilles :^ and they expiate

There the Palladian theft. '^- " If they/' I said,
"Have power within those sparks to speak, O guide,
Hear me, as if a thousand times I pray'd,

T^or let my wish to tarry be denied.

Till here the horned flame arrive. See how
I bend Avith longing towards it.'' He replied,

horse, led to the destruction of Troy ; and that (according to
Virgil) to ^neas's voyage into Italy, where his descendants
founded the Roman empire.

* Thetis, to prevent her son Achilles joining the expedition
against Troy, sent him, disguised in female attire, to the court of
Lycomedes, king of Scyron. Here he became enamoured with
Deidamia, the king's daughter. But as Chalcas had predicted
that Troy would not be taken without him, Ulysses came to the
island in the disguise of a travelling merchant, for the purpose of
discovering him. He offered for sale to the family of the king
several articles of feminine attire, and mingled with them some
pieces of armour. On a sudden blast being given with a trumpet,
Achilles instantly seized on the armour»aud was thus discovered. —
Statius, Achilledon, ii. 201. The young warrior then, abandon-
ing Deidamia, joined the army against Troy. But Homer makes
him proceed from the court of his father direct to the siege of
Troy. (//. ix. 439.)

^ The Palladium, as its name imports, was a statue of Pallas,
or Minerva, said to have fallen down from heaven, near the tent
of Ilus, as he was building the citadel of Ilium. Ou its preserva-
tion the safety of Troy was supposed to depend. Ulysses and
Diomede were commissioned by the Greeks to steal it from the
Trojan citadel, which, creeping through subterranean passages
and sewers, they effected.— .-^/'^f/t/. ii. 1G3.

270 TUE TRILOGY. [cANTO XXVI.

" Thy wish is worthy of much praise, and now 70
I do accept it, but Mould recommend
Thy tongue be not employ'd ; to me leave thou

The task of speaking, for I comprehend

Thy wish, and they perchance to thy discourse.
For they were Greeks, might no attention lend."

"When that the flame was come where consonance
Of time and place seem'd fittest to my guide,
I heard him thus in speaking make advance : —

" O ye two souls tliat in one fire abide.

If living I of you did merit aught, 80

Howe'er upon its measure you decide,

^Yhen in the world my lofty strains I wrote,
Move not from hence till one of you relate
When him befel at last the death he sought."

The greater horn of that old flame then straight

Began to vibrate with a murmuring roar.

As if the wind that flame did agitate.

Then, like a tongue that speaks, the summit wore

A quivering look, and forth these sounds did throw :

" When I escaped from where a year and more, 90

I was detained by Circe my fair foe,

Who near Gaeta did her spells employ.

Before ^neas yet had named it so •}

I Gaeta, so named by ^neas, from his nurse Caieta, who was
buried tbere. Virgil says that Circe dwelt in its vicinity. —
jEiieid. vii. 1. .-

CANTO XXVI.] INFERNO. 271

Neither my longing to behold my hoy,
Nor filial reverence for my aged sire,
Nor love deserved, that should have fill'd -with joy

Penelope, could conquer my desire

The knowledge of the Avorld at large to gain.
Of human vices and of valour's fire :

I sail'd along the deep and boundless main, 100
With one sole bark and with that company,
Faithful though small, that yet composed my train.

As far as Spain I either coast did see.
Par as ^Morocco and Sardinia's isle.
And th' others bath'd on all sides by that sea.

I and my peers grew old and slow meanwhile,
But we arrived at that famed strait at last,
"Where Hercules inscribed on either pile,

' Beyond these bounds let no man bend his mast.'
On the right hand fair Seville's vralls I left, 110
Already Ceuta on the other pass'd.

' Brethren,' I said, ' who have the billows cleft.
And through unnumber'd perils reach'd the west,
To this short watch remaining, ere bereft

Of all activity our senses rest ;

Beyond the setting sun pursue your course.
Nor of the unpeopled world refuse this test.

Consider well your elevated source :

Ye were not made to live like brutes I ween.

27.2 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXVI.

But virtue and knoìvledge to pursue.' The force
Of this short speech by its effect was seen. [120

!My comrades now I scarce could have restrain'd ;

Their longing for the voyage was so keen.
Then, turning towards the dawn our stern, we strain'd

For our mad flight, while wing-like swept each oar,

And constantly upon the left we gained.
Each star of the other pole, as on we bore,

The night beheld, and ours had sunk so low.

That now it rose not on the ocean-floor.^

^ After passing the straits of Gibraltar, they sailed westward
constantly bearing to the left or south. Thus Juvenal, " A. fleet
will venture wherever the hope of gain invites ; not the Car-
pathian and Lybian seas only will it pass through, but leaving
Calpe (Gibraltar) far behind, will hear in the western ocean the
noise of the setting sun."— Sat. xiv. 277. The imaginary voyage
of Ulysses into the Atlantic may have been suggested by the
opinion, arising from the accidental coincidence of names, that
Lisbon was founded by him. Olyssipo, or Ulyssipo (whence
Lisboa, Lisbon), was the only municipium of Roman citizens in
the province of Lusitauia, and was probably of Homan origin. —
Pliny, iv. 22. The mariner's compass was discovered a.d. 1302 ;
but nearly half a century elapsed before its effects were marked
and decided, in iuducing navigators to venture into distant parts
of the ocean. Dante may be said to have anticipated the voyages
of the Portuguese and Spaniards of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries. After many unsuccessful attempts, it was in 14S4
that from the city of which Ulysses was the supposed founder,
a powerful fleet sailed 1500 miles beyond the line, and the Portu-
guese for the first time beheld a new heaven, and observed
the stars of another hemisphere. — Robertson's America, i. It
is more surprising that Dante should have prognosticated such

CANTO XXVI.] INFERNO. 273

Five times rekindled was the lunar ^low, 130

And then as often was that light consumed,
Since that high path we enter'd on, when, lo !

A mountain dim that in the distance loomed.
And seem'd to me so high that none beside
Had in my sight such aspect e'er assumed.^

Our joy was great, but when the land we spied
'Twas turn'd to mourning : thence a whirlwind
And struck the vessel on the foremost side : [sprung,

Thrice whirl'd around with all the waves she swung;
The fourth time lifted (so heaven's will disposed)
The stern ; the prow sank down the waves among.

Till o'er our heads the roaring ocean closed/'

attempts, tbau that he should liave been unable to anticipate
their success. For after the brilliant discoveries of the Portu-
guese in the East, the project of Columbus was deemed visionary,
even by those whom the sovereigns of Spain selected as the best
qualified to judge on such a subject.

The particulars which Dante has related respecting the voyage
of Ulysses and its unhappy termination, may have been suggested
by the following : 1st. A hint in the Odyssey, where Tiresias thus
vaticinates to Ulysses : " But if thou hurt them, then I foretell
destruction both to the ship and thy companions," &c. — xi. 111.
2d. An Arabian tale, of which we have the substance in the sixth
voyage of Sinbad. 3d. It is not unlikely that Dante had heard
of some early and adventurous navigators, who having set out on
a voyage of discovery in the Atlantic, had never returned.
Columbus had very nearly perished by a storm after his discovery
of America. — Robertson's America^ ii.

* Some have identified this mountain with TeuerifTe, and others
explain it as denoting purgatory.

18

274 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXVI I.

CANTO XXVII.

THE ARGUMENT.

In another flame is punished Guido da Montefeltro, who asls
information respecting the state of Romagna. Dante de-
scribes its condition, and in return inquires who and what he
is. Guido relates that he had been a Franciscan, but was
drawn by the deceitful representations of Boniface VIII.
from his retirement, and induced by tlie promise of absolu-
tion to give him that counsel for which, at his death, wheii
claimed by St. Francis, he was borne off by a demon, and
adjudged to his present suffering.

Now upward rose the flame erect and still.
No more to speak, and now it passM away,
"With license granted at the poet's will :

Another had behind it come that way,

Whence issued forth a sound confused and dull.
Which toward its top compelled our eyes to stray.

When roar'd at first the famed Sicilian bull
With doleful cries of him (a just decree !)
lATio to construct it had employed his tool.

It bellow'd with the sufferer's voice, while he 10
Within was tortured ; hence what was all brass

CANTO XXVII.] INFERNO. 275

Appear'd to be transfix'd with agony.'

Thus while the words of grief no way to pass
Could find, no opening from their source ; into
The flame's own language they were changed^ alas !

But having won themselves an avenue

Up through the point, they gave it that slight shake
Thetonguehadgivento them ere theypass'd through.

" Thou whom I now address/' 'twas thus he spake,
" Who lately did'st in Lombard phrase exclaim, 20
' Depart, no more to thee appeal I make ;'

With me — though tardily perchance I came —

* Perillus, an Athenian artist, having made a brazen bull, in
which a man could be enclosed, so that when fire was applied his
cries would resemble the roar of a living bull, presented it to
Dyonisius, tyrant of Agrigentum, in Sicily, who ordered hira to
be made the first victim by way of experiment. — Pliny, xxxiv. 8.
It is often alluded to by the poets ; thus : —
" Would they not rather groan in the brazen Sicilian bullock ?"

Persius, SaL iii. 39.
" And if in a cause obscure and doubtful at any time you're cited
As a witness, and Phalaris with his brazen bull be present,
Commanding you to be false, and dictating the perjury;
Be not so profligate as to prefer safety to honour,
Nor lose for the love of life what alone is worth living for."

JuvENAi,, Sai. viii. 80.
" And Phalaris roasted the body of Perillus
In the roaring bull ; his work the wretched artist handsell'd.
Both the one and the other was just ; nor is any law more

equitable,
Than that by their own art the artificers of death should perish."

Ovid. Art. Amor, i, 653.

276 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXVII.

To star for converse let it irk not thee,
For me it irks not, yet within this flame

I bm'n. If into this blind world thou be
New fallen from that pleasant Latian land
From whence my total guilt accrues to me,

Tell me if peace prevails, or if the brand
Of war among Romagna's people gleams ?
For of the hills which 'twixt Urbino stand, 30

And the high peak whence Tiber sends his streams,^
I sprung." Attentive, bending down, was I ;
My leader touched my side, and said, " It seems

This is a Latin ; speak." And my reply.
Which waited, I commenced without delay :
" O soul that hidden here below dost sigh.

Not without war is thy Romagna — nay.

War ever was in her proud tyrants^ breasts :
But she ostensibly hath none to day.

Ravenna, as for many a year, still rests ; 40

The eagle of Polenta there is brooding.
So that beneath his broad wings Cervia nests.'^

^ Of Montefeltro, between Urbino aud that part of the Apen-
nines whence the Tiber springs.

' Cervia is a small sea-port, fifteen miles south of Ravenna.
Polenta, a castle near Brettinoro. Guido Novella, the son of
Ostasio da Polenta, was the last aud most munificent patron of
Dante. He took Ravenna in 1265. In 1322 he was deprived of
the sovereignty, and died at Bologna the year following. He was
a Ghibelline, and father of the unfortunate iVancesca di Rimini.

CANTO XXVII.] INFERNO. 277

The land ■which long vtsls proof 'gainst foes intruding,
And the French host in bloody fight o'erthrew,^
The green paws grasp, each rival thence excluding.^

The mastiffs of Yerucchio, old and new/

That rent Montagna* there (no custom strange).
With auger fangs, as wont, their prey pursue.

Tlie arms of the Polenta family were Per pale on a field azure and
or, an eagle displayed argent and gules.

' The territory of Porli, which had gone over to the Ghibelline
party. In 1282 the city was besieged by a French army, imported
by Pope Martin IV., a Frenchman, and reduced to the utmost
extremity. By a singular stratagem the governor, Guido Monte-
feltro, relieved it, and defeated the French army with great
slaughter. He agreed to admit a party of the besiegers at a
postern, on a preconcerted signal, on the sole condition of sparing
the lives of the garrison. The French, at the appointed hour,
sent a detachment of cavalry, forced the gate, and immediately
began to plunder. Count Guido, in the mean time, had sallied
out at another gate Tvith a select party, and coming in a circuit-
ous direction on the French army, cut them in pieces ; then
returning to the city, he found the French still plundering ; and
the inhabitants having secreted their saddles and bridles, they
attempted to fight on foot, and were all exterminated. —
G. Villani, vii. SI.

^ The poet informs Guido, the former master of Forli, that it is
now in possession of Siubaldo OrdolaiS, whom he designates by
liis coat of arms — A lion vert, with a field the upper part or, the
lower half with three lists vert and three or.

' Malatesta and Malatestino, father and son, lords of Rimini,
called mastiffs for their ferocity and tyranny. Malatestino is sup-
posed to have been the husband of Francesca. Verruchio, in the
territory of Rimini, was their estate ; where, the poet says, they
still pursue their usual oppressive practices.

* Montagna de' Parcisati, a knight of Rimini, and head of

278 TUE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXVII,

Lamone's and Santerno's cities^ range

Under the wbite-lair'd lion's Avhelp^ and he 50
When summer passeth will his party change."

For her "whose flank the Savio bathes,^ as she
^Twixt plain and mountain sitteth, so her state
Halts between despotism and liberty.

Now then, who thou art, pray, to us relate :*
Be not more stern than others here have been ;

the Ghibelline party iu that city, was cruelly murdered by the
Malateste.

^ The cities of Faenza and Imola are here indicated by the
names of the two rivers on which they are respectively seated.

^ Machinardo, or Mainardo Pagani, whose arms were a lion
azure on a field argent. He ruled in Faenza, and changed his
party as often as it suited his interest. He was called, for his
treachery, the Demon; — Purgatorio, xiv. IIS.

' Cesina, situated at the foot of a mountain, and washed by
the Savio, which often descends with a swollen and rapid stream
from the Apennines.

* Dante, without knowing whom he is addressing, having in
compliance with his request informed him of the state of Romagna
generally, and then of each particular district in it, wishes
to be informed in return who his auditor is. Guido da
Montefeltro had acquired a splendid reputation by his exploit at
Forli just mentioned, but he soon tarnished it by his open violation
of the most solemn engagements. In a fit of sickness he with-
drew from the world and took the Franciscan habit, but afterwards
broke his vow in the manner described by Dante and Villani. See
line 86, and note ; thus verifying, if liis conduct did not originate,
the proverb ; — Passato il pericolo, gabbato il santo.

" When the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be ;
When the devil was well, the devil a monk was he."

CANTO XXVII.] INFERNO. 279

So may tliy name on earth yet walk elate/'

Then when the fire awhile had roar'd, was seen,
In its own mode, the sharpened point to move
From side to side, while breathed these words

'' If I believed that in the world above [between, 60
Thou with my answer ever conldst be found,
This flame no more should shake, nor vocal prove.

But since, if truth be told, from this profound
None can return to earth, I need not fear
To speak, lest infamy my name should wound.

I was a soldier, then a cordelier;

Thinking, so cinctured, that amends I made.
And I had follow'd up this hope sincere,

Had the great priest himself not me betrayed 70
(Him evil catch !) to my first faults afresh :
And how and why, shall be by me display'd.

While yet I had that form of bones and flesh
My mother gave me, my exploits bespake
The fox and not the lion •} every mesh

^ " Fraud seems like a wolfish property, force like that of the
lion," — Cic. Be Officiis, i. 23. ilachiavelli describes the Emperor
Severus " fierce as a lion, subtle as a fox, feared and reverenced
by every one." — Del Principe, xix. And in that most Machiavellian
chap, xviii, entitled " In what manner princes ought to keep faith,"
he says, " Therefore since it is necessary for a prince to assume
the nature of some beast, he ought to take those of the lion and
the fox ; for the lion is in danger of snares, and the fox of wolves :
hence he should be a fox to discern the snare, and a lion to drive

280 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXVII.

That subtlety could weave, all arts that take
A tortuous course, I knew, and so contrived
That my renown through all the world they make.

When to that age I found myself arrived.

When in life's voyage each his sails should lower.
And gather in the lines -^ of youth deprived, [80

What pleased me once no more possess\l the power.
In penitence my thoughts were now engaged :
Ah wretch ! how had it help'd in trial's hour !

The prince of the ncAv Pharisees enraged,
Was making war hard by the Lateran,^
Which not with Saracens nor Jews he waged,

away the wolf. They who keep wholly to the lion have no true
understanding of the matter. A prudent prince therefore cannot,
and ought not to keep his engagement, when the keeping it is
to his prejudice, and the occasion for which he promised exists no
longer."

^ " As it hath been said by Cicero, in his treatise De Senedute,
Natural death is like a port or haven for us after a long voyage ;
and even as the good mariner, when he draws near the port,
lowers his sails, and enters it softly, with a gentle and cautious
notion, so ought we to lower the sails of our worldly operations,
and to return to God with all our understanding and heart, to the
end we may reach the haven with all quietness and peace." —
Dante, Convito, p. 209.

* On the election of Cardinal Cajetan to the Popedom, under
the name of Boniface VIII., after the abdication of Celestine V.
by his advice, the two Cardinals Colonna objected both to the
abdication and election as uncanonical, and published a manifesto
to that effect. Boniface, the most vindictive of men, cited them
to appear before him, and on their refusal excommunicated them.

CAXTO XXVII.] INFERNO. 281

For of his foes each was a Christian man ;
And none had taken part in Acre's fall ;
None to the Soldan^s land for traffic ran. 90

Not for his office high and sacred call

Cared he ; nor for the cord my waist that tied,
Wont to attenuate those it girt withal.^

As in Soracte Constantino applied
To Sylvester to cure his leprosy/
Even so to cure the fever of his pride,

and instigated ibe Orsini, tlieir old rivals, to make war on them;
then, joining his arms with theirs, he published a crusade against
the whole family. Unable to wit hstand so powerful a confederacy,
the Colonnas were stripped of their fortresses one after another,
and shut tliemselves up in Penestrino (Prseneste) as their last
refuge; which, however, was deemed impregnable. Boniface,
who had already destroyed their house near the Laterau, wishing
to take their last stronghold, enticed Guido from his monastery,
for the sake of obtaining his counsel, offering him absolution for
his past sins, and for that which he was tempting him to commit.
Guido's advice was that he should be liberal of promises, without
regard to their performance. In pursuance of this advice, Boniface
proposed a reconcihation, on which the Colonnas opened their
gates : but he immediately broke his engagement, razed Penestrino
to the ground, confiscated their estates, and drove them into
exile. — G. Villani, viii. 23.

* See notes on Canto xvi. 1. 108.

' Dante, in his treatise Be Monarchia says, " Certain persons,
moreover, say, that the emperor Constantine, cleansed from
leprosy by the intercession of Sylvester, then supreme pontiff,
gave to the church the seat of the empire, namely. Home, with
many other imperial dignities." The fiction was, that Constantine
called Sylvester, then shut up in a cave on mount Soracte, still
called mount Saint Sylvester, to cure him of the leprosv ; and

282 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXVII'

This raaiij though my superior, ask'd of me.
He claim'd my counsel, and I held my peace.
Because his words as drunken seem'd to be.

And then he said, ' Thy heart from doubt release ;
I now absolve thee : teach me how I may [100
Cause Penestrino from the earth to cease.

Heaven, as thou know'st, is subject to my sway.
To shut or open ; hence the keys are twain,
In which no charm for my precursor lay.' ^

These weighty arguments my will constrain.
For silence seem'd least suited to the time.
' Father, since thou dost wash me from the stain,'

I said, ' of what is now a needful crime.

Large promises, performed but scantily,' 110

Shall make thee triumph in thy seat sublime.'

that Constantine, having been baptized by the said saint, was cured.
This is an improvement on the original fiction, referred to in the
note on Canto xix. 117.

' Celestine V. See Canto iii. 60, and note. It was on
December 12th, four mouths after his election, that the unfor-
tunate Celestine abdicated the papacy ; and on the 24th of the
same month, his adviser, the wily Cajetau, was chosen, and took
the name of Boniface YIII. Jealous of his predecessor, he caused
liim to be seized and imprisoned in the castle of Fumone, where
he died iu 1296, four years only before the date of Dante's vision.
His death was not without some suspicion of foul play. He
founded the order of Celestines, and was canonized by Clement V.
— Du Pin, Mosheim, Butler, &c.

^ " Few promises are best, and fair performance."

The Island Princess, act i. Beaumont & Fletchee.

CANTO XXVIl.] INFERNO. 283

When I was dead St. Francis came for me ;

But thus cried one of the black cherubim ;

' Bear him not hence ; treat me not wrongfully.
He must below to join my suiferers grim ;

Because he gave that counsel fraudulent.

Since which till now I have attended him.
None can absolve those who do not repent :

Now, to repent and will at once can't be,

By contradiction which forbids assent.' 120

O sorrow ! how 1 trembled when that he [find

Seized me and said, ' Thou scarcely thought'st to

Me a logician.' Then he carried me
To Minos, who his tail eight times entwined,

— Of the two maxims the English proverb is certainly " best."
This will appear not only from a comparison of English and Italian
liistory, but even from the particular instance in which the Italian
maxim was acted upon with such success. Eor there were other
consequences, which though not very remote, were not anticipated
by his Holiness, nor by the wordly wisdom and sagacity of his
astute monastic adviser. Provoked by the cruelty and perfidy of
Boniface, the Colonnas joined the king of France in his quarrel
against him ; without which lie might, at least, have escaped
captivity. And when the pontiff was made prisoner at Agnani,
Nogaret, the agent of Philip, as a foreign adversary, would have
treated him with some deference ; but by the exasperated Roman,
Sciarra Colonna, he was insulted both with words and blows,
and for three days compelled to endure hardships which threatened
his life. After his rescue from their hands, his imperious soul,
smarting as from an immedicable wound, could not brook the in-
dignities to which he had been subjected, and he expired at Rome
in a frenzy of rage and revenge. — See note on Canto xix. 53, and
Gibbon, Bee. and Fall, Ixix.

284 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXYII.

Which he ^vith fury gna-n'd, round his hard sides,
And said, ' Be this transgressor's doom assign'd

There where the furtive fire the guilty hides.'
Hence, where thou seest, my sad lot is cast ;
And wandering thus array'd my grief abides."

When of his words we thus had heard the last, 130
The twisted flame its dolorous exit made,
Shaking its pointed horn. We onward pass'd

Up o'er the rock, until we saw display'd

From the other arch the fosse o'er which 'tis thrown,
In which the penalty by those is paid

Who load them with the guilt of discord sown.

CANTO xxviii.] ini'ì':r?co. 285

CANTO XXVIII.

THE AKGUMENT,

The poets arrive in tbe uiutli cliasm, where the authors of
scandal, scliism, and discord, are seen with their hmbs and
bodies torn and mutilated. Among these are Mahomet,
Ali, Piero da Medicina, Curio, Mosca, and Bertran de
Bome.

Who, even in words least fetter'd/ could report
The wounds and blood I saw, in full detail ?
No tongue but must in such attempt come short.

Although repeating many times the tale.
For certainly, to comprehend a theme
So vast, both speech and thought alike would fail.

If now there stood in multitude extreme
All those who on Apulia's fertile soil
Have sadly pour'd their blood in copious stream.

By Romans slain,'^ and in that warlike toil 10

' Free from the restraints of rhyme and metre.

' " Trojani" was the reading of the old editions, in allusion to
the war waged by J^ueas and his companions. — jEneid. vii. &c.
But some MSS. have " Romani," which Lombardi has admitted
into the text. It is now generally considered the correct reading,
as agreeing best with the facts both of history and geography.

286 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXVIIT.

Described by Lhy, who no error sliows,
When of the rings was piled that lofty spoil/
With all who felt those lamentable blows

In fight with Robert Guiscard -f and those same
Whose bones yet heap'd, at Ceperano' rose,

* Mago, Hannibal's brother, havinj^ described in tlie Carthaginian
senate the victory at Cannae, " to confirm tlie joyful tidings,
ordered his attendants to pour out in the vestibule of the court
the golden rings taken from the slain, and only worn by knights
of the first rank : they made a heap so great that being measured
they filled, according to some, a modius, and according to others,
above a modius and a half." — Livy, xxiii. 12. A modius is some-
what more than a peck English.

- While the heirs of Charlemagne were contending with each
other, a new enemy, the Northmen, invaded France, and took
possession of the province from them called Normandy. Some of
them went into Italy, and finding it infested by the Huns and
Saracens, took possession of certain lands in Romagna, where they
maintained themselves with great courage. Taucred, one of these
Norman princes, had several sons, among whom were William and
Robert surnamed Guiscard (i. e. the cunning^ or the thief!). They
and their successors conquered Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, and
founded the kingdom of Naples. Robert Guiscard having
in a dispute with bis nephews, obtained the good offices of
Pope Nicholas II., in return for these, and at the instance of
Gregory YIL, obliged the emperor Henry to leave Rome, and
quelled a sedition of the Roman people. He died a.d. 1110. —
Machiavelli, Risi. Fior. i. ; G. Villani, iv. IS.

' In 1265, at the instance of the Papal court, Charles of Anjou
invaded Italy with a French army, to oppose the growing power
of Manfred, king of the Two Sicilies. In February, 1266, the
two armies met in the plain of Gradella, near Benevento. Tiie
battle was bloody : the Germans and Saracens were true to their
ancient valour, but Manfred lost the battle and his life through

CANTO XXVIII.] INFERNO. 287

Where perfidy disgraced the Apulian name ;
And those too, hard by Tagliacozzo/ where
The old Alardo without arms o'ercame : [appear,

Should some of these with limbs pierced through
Some with limbs lopp'd, yet small proportion they
To the foul sight of the ninth chasm would bear. [20

A hogshead with its mid-piece torn away.

Or cantle,^ yawns not like the wretch I saw,

the cowardice or treachery of the Apuh'ans. Such numbers fell
in tliis battle that the bones are still heaped together at Ceperano.
— SiSMONDi, Hist. Hal. Rep. iv. pp. 94 — 96 ; G. Villa.ni, vii. 9.

* A castle of the Abruzzo, near which was fought the battle
which cost Conradin, son of Conrad, and nephew of Manfred, his
crown and life. At sixteen years of age he arrived at Verona
witli 10,000 German cavalry. All the Ghibelliues hastened to
join him. The republics of Pisa and Sienna made immense
sacrifices for him. The Romans opened their gates, and promised
him aid. He entered the kingdom of his fathers by the Abruzzo,
and met Charles of Anjou in the plain of Tagliacozzo, August 23d,
1268. A desperate battle ensued, and victory long remained
doubtful. It is said, that by the advice of Alardo, a captain in
Charles's army, Henry de Cozance, in the dress of Anjou, was
sent with the van across a ford. They were quickly defeated and
their leader slain. Two divisions of Charles's army were already
destroyed, and the Germans, who deemed themselves victors,
were dispersed in pursuit of the enemy, when Charles, who till
then had not appeared in the field, fell on them with his body of
reserve, and completely routed them. Conradin, when just about
to embark for Sicily, was arrested, and Charles, without pity for
his youth, esteem for his courage, or respect for his just rights,
caused him to be beheaded in the market-place at Naples,
October 26th, 1268.— Sismoxdi, iv. 97; Villani, vii.

^ Mezzul is the middle, or centre-piece, in which the tap is fi^ed.

288 THE TKILOGY. [CANTO XXVIII.

Rent from the chin to "where the wind finds way.

Between the legs, push'd through the gaping flaw.
An entrail hung ; the midriff lay all bare
And that sad passage leading from the maw.

And he, as I intently view'd him there.

Eyed me, and with his hands unclosed his breast,
Saying, " Bear witness how myself I tear : 30

See now Mohammed maim'd ! — Ali^ distress'd
Before me walks, from chin to forelock cleft.'
Sowers of schism and scandal were the rest,

the barrel being laid on its side : Lulla, perhaps from lunella, be-
cause it is in the shape of a half-moon, the canile, or piece on each
side the niezzul.

' Ali Ben Abou Taleb, surnamed by the Arabs, Asad AJlah, and
by the Persians Shir-i-Klioda, the Lion of God, was tiie cousiu-
german, protegee, earliest disciple, and son-in-law of Mohammed,
having married Fatima, the prophet's daughter. He became
Caliph, A.D. 655, twenty-three years after Mohammed's death.
A controversy concerning the rights of Abou Bekr, Omar, and
Othmau, who preceded him, and those of Ali and his descendants
respectively, gave rise to the schism of the Sunnites and the
Shiites, which still divides the Mohammedan world. Ali died
A.D. 660. — D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Orierd.

2 The amusement of the heroes of Northern Mythology, when
they are not drinking in Valhalla — the hall of Odin — is thus de-
scribed by Har iu the Prose Edda : — " Every day, as soon as they
have di'cssed themselves, they ride out into the court (or field),
and there fight uutil they cut each other iu pieces. This is their
pastime; but, when meal-time approaches, they remount their
steeds, aud return to drink in Valhalla." — Mallet's Northern
Aiitiq. p. 432. Eohn. This pastime of a heathenish heaven was
transferred to " another place" before Dante's time ; for in the

CANTO XXVIII.] INFERNO. 289

Yea, all you see here, in the world they^'e left :
Hence cloven thus. There is a demon who
Stands here behind us, grasping by the heft

A sword with which he severs us in two :
Thus cruelly doth he its edge distain,
And of this crowd the pangs of each renew,

When we have travell'd round the path of pain ; 40
Because our wounds heal ever and anon.
Ere we appear before the fiend again.

But who art thou that standest musing on

The rock, perchance delaying ere begin [done ?"
The pains, adjudged for crimes which thou hast

" Nor death hath seized him yet, nor aught of sin
Leads him to torment :" thus my chief replied :
"But that he here might fidi experience win,

I who am dead must be to him a guide, [50

From orb to orb, throughout the infernal bounds :
My words are true, in them thou may^st confide."

More than a hundred, when they heard those sounds.
Stood still within the fosse to gaze on me;
Through wonder even forgetful of their wounds.

" Thou who perchance the sun may'st shortly see.

Monk of Evesham's Vision the author says, "In a very short
space of time I saw those wretched beings destroyed by a hundred
different kinds of torture, aud soon afterwards restored again, and
again reduced almost to nothing, and then again renewed." —
Roger Wendov. ii. 158.

19

290 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO XXVIII,

To friar Dolcin^ then this warning bear.
If here he would not soon my follower be,

That corn be stored, lest snovr besiege him there,
And victory to the Novarese convey ;
Which else for them no light achievement were."

When, with one foot just raised to go away, [60
These words Mohammed spake, then on the ground
Forth stretch'd it and passM on without delay.

Another with his throat one ghastly wound,

^ Triar Dolcino, or Dolcinus, was one of those wlio in Italy, and
before the time of Wiclif, rose up against the corruptions of
the Papacy. In ] 305 he was followed by great numbers of people,
some of whom were noble and wealthy, to whom he inveighed
against the Pope, cardinals, and other prelates, for not observing
their duty and leading a Christian life. Being attacked by Renier,
bishop of Vercelli, and the Inquisition, he, with about 3000
followers, betook himself to Monte Sebello, near Novara, in
Piedmont, where they defended themselves with great resolution
for more than two years ; and were only taken at last when their
supplies were cut off by a snow-storm, in 1307. He and "Sister
Llargaret," after being torn with red-hot pincers, were, with
many others of his followers, committed to the flames. He is
charged with presumption, error, and immorality. Of course : —
but "who drew the lion vanquish'd ?" The only accounts of him
which have come down to us are contained in the writings of those
who belonged to the church that persecuted and destroyed him.
Yet Laudino describes him as a man of talent and learning, pos-
sessed of singular eloquence ; and says, that both he and Margarita
endured their fate with a firmness worthy of a better cause.
Muratori calls him and his followers Gazzari, that is Cathari, or
" Puritans." We cannot help suspecting that, like many others
to whom that name was applied, theii" doctrine and practice have
both b3en misrepjesented.

CANTO XXVIII.] INFERNO. 291

And nose cut oflf even from the brows, I view'd ;
While on his head one ear alone was found.

Gazing in wonder with the rest he stood :

Then forth he stepp'd before them and laid bare
His windpipe, outwardly all dyed with blood.

He said, " O thou from damning trespass clear, 70
Thee once did I above in Latium know,
If not deceived by likeness all too near :

Remember Pier of Medicina^s woe/
When thou revisitest the lovely plain
That from Vercelli slopes to Marcabó :

And there make thou to Fano^s worthiest twain.
To Guido and to Angiolello known,
That if our foresight here is not all vain.

Out of the vessel they will both be thrown.

And by a felon tyrant's treacherous hand ; 80
Them near Cattolica the waves will drown.^

Between Majorca and the Cyprian strand.
Never hath Neptune seen a deed so stain'd

' Piero de Mediciua, in the territory of Bologna, had sown dis-
sention between the families of Fano and Malatesta of Rimini
(Lanciotto, the spouse of Francesca), in the course of which two
most vij'tuous citizens of Fano, Guido del Cassero and Angiolello
da Caguano, were invited by Malatesta to an entertainment, on
pretence of reconciliation, and by his orders were di'owned on their
passage from Fano to Rimini.

^ It is here said that tliey will be mazzarati, tied hand and foot,
put into a sack with a heavy stone, and thrown into the sea.

292 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXVIII.

With guilt; by pirates^ or the Argive band.

That traitor who but one eye hath retain' d^

And holds the land, of which there's one with me
Who from the sight would Avish he had refrain'd :

With him to parley he will treacherously

Ask them, contriving that their vow or prayer
Needless against Focara's wind shall be."^ 90

And I to him, "Now show me, and declare,
If to report thee thou my aid would'st seek,
AYho from that sight hath reap'd such bitter care?"

Forthwith he laid his hand upon the cheek
Of one just by, and opening did display
The mouth, saying, " This is he, but cannot speak :

The exile this who quell'd the doubt that day
In Cffisar, saying that to those prepared
Misfortune ever waited on delay." ^

O then to me how terrified appear'd 100

' Focara is a mountain of Romagna, from which the gusts of
wind that sometimes blow are especially dangerous to navigators
off that coast. It seems to have been peculiar to that locality ;
like the " Helm-wind" from Cross-Fell and the ridge to which it
belongs, north-east of Penrith.

^ Curio Scribonius, a tribune of the people, and intimate friend
of Caesar. He is charged with venality by Plutarch and Lucan.
Ariminium {Rimini) is the land which he had better never have
seen; for it was there that he gave to Cajsar, when hesitating
wliat course to take, the counsel which determined him to
prosecute the civil war. " Renounce delays : to wait always
injures those wh» are prepared." {Phars. i. 281).

CANTO XXVIU.] INFERNO. 293

Curio, who did that daring counsel try ; [shared.
And Avhose rash tongue had from his throat been

And one with hands cut off, so held on high

Through the brown air the stumps, that all his face
With blood was render^ foul ; and this his cry ;

" Remember Mosca and his counsel trace,

* The deed accomplished has an end ;' that day
The seed of mischief to the Tuscan race."^

' The first division tliat arose in Florence was occasioned by
his advice, a.d. 1215. Tiie Buondelmonte and Uberti were
among the most powerful of its families ; and next to these the
Amidei and Donati. A rich widow lady of the Donati had a
daughter of great beauty, whom she had resolved to marry (o
Messer Buondelmoiite, a young cavalier, the head of the family.
This design she had delayed to mention, when she was much
mortified at hearing that he was to marry a young lady of the
Amidei family. But hoping to be able, with her daughter's beauty,
to break this engagement, as she saw him one day come towards
her house, she went down with her daughter to meet him ; and
opening the gate as he was passing, said, she could not indeed
but congratulate him on his intended marriage, but that she had
hoped that her daughter, whom she now presented to him, would
have been the bride. The rare beauty of the damsel, her rank,
and her fortune, which was not inferior to that of the person he
had chosen, shook his resolution, and induced him to violate his
engagement ; and without more ado he married her. When this
was known, the Amidei and Uberti, who were nearly allied, being
with their friends assembled in great indignation, it was concluded
that the injury could only be expiated by the death of the offender.
Some, indeed, objected on account of the evils which might follow ;
but Mosca Lamberti replied, that he who considered things too
nicely never determined anything; and quoted the well-known
maxim (Cosa fatta, Capo ha), " The thing accomplished is done

294 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXVIII.

I answer'd, " Tliy own tribe too did it slay."

Whence lie, accumulating dole on dole, 110

As one distressed and madden'd went his way.

But I remainM, that I might see the whole

Of that same troop, and saw what I might fear
Without more proof to make relation sole ;

Did not the mind her inward -witness bear.
That good companion who the man sets free.
Under the breastplate of a conscience clear.

I surely saw, and yet I seem to see,

A headless trunk which on its way did go.

As did the rest of that sad company : 120

And by the hair the severed head hung low,
Held by the hand it dangled lantern-wise.^

with." Upon this the perpetration of the murder was entrusted
to liim and certain others. On Easter morniug thev concealed
themselves in the house of one of tlie Amidei between the Old
Bridge and St. Stephen's. Their victim was presently seen passing
the river on a white horse, and at the foot of the 'bridge, under
the statue of Mars, was attacked by them and slain. This murder
divided the whole city, part siding with the Buondehnonti and
part with the U berti. — Machiavel. Hist. Fior. ii.

* The punishment of Bertran was probably suggested by the
fiction, which Dante must have heard, if he visited Paris, respect-
ing the martyrdom of St. Denis, who, after !iis head was cut oif,
carried it under his arm, like a hat ; and thus walked from Paris
to his grave ! However the legend may have originated, its
popular prevalence may be illustrated by an anecdote, related by
Lord Brougham in connexion with the lleigu of Terror. Camilla
Desmoulius might have escaped the proscription which involved

CANTO XXVIII.] IxVFERNO. 295

It gazed on us, exclaiming, "Ah, me ! woe !"^

Himself a lamp unto himself supplies ;
And two he was in one, and one in two :
But how, He knows whose judgments thus chastise !

Close to the bridge's foot he straightway drew.
And with his outstretch'd arm rear'd high the head.
That nearer to us might his words be too.

" See now this grievous punishment," he said ; 130
" See if so great as this aught else can be :
Thou who yet breathing visitest the dead.

And that thou may'st some tidings bear of me,
Bertran de Borne am I, let it be known.
Who counsell'd the young king injuriously.^

Danton and his party, had he not offended St. Just. " But a
sarcastic expression in wliich he indulged, at the expense of that
vain and remorseless fanatic, sealed his doom. St. Just was
always puffed up with his consciousness of self-importance, and
showed this so plainly in his demeanour that Carnille said, he
' carried his head like the holy sacrament {le saint sacremenf)^
On the jest, which has the merit of being a very picturesque de-
scription of the subject, being reported to him, ' And I,' said
St. Just, ' will make him carry his head {a, la St. Denis) like
St. Denis.'" — Works of Lord Brougham, vol. v. pp. 77, 78.

' In the Arabian tale of " The Grecian king and the physician
Douban," the severed head of the physician converses with the
king, answers his questions, and reproaches him with his tyranny.

* Bertran de Born, Viscompte de Hautfort in Guienne, was
distinguished both as a troubadour and a warrior. He was one
of the most able, accomplished, and unprincipled men of his time.
He stirred up the sons of Henry II. of England to rebel against
their kind and indulgent father : but as often as they made war

296 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXVIII.

I put rebellion 'twixt tlie sire and son :

on him, he conquered and forgave them. During one of these
revolts, prince Henry was taken ill, and soon expired, expressing
in his dying moments the deepest contrition for his undutiful
conduct. In tiie prosecution of the war by the injured and in-
censed father, Bertran de Born, the soul of the conspiracy, and
the seducer of his children, fell into liis hands. Never had enemy
been more persevering, insidious, or dangerous : never had vassal
so outraged his liege lord, or in such a variety of ways ; for being
a poet as well as knight, he had mercilessly satirized Henry in
productions that were popular wherever the Langue d'Oc was
understood. All men concluded that he must die ; and Henry
himself said so. Bertran was brought into his presence to hear
his doom. The king taunted liim with having boasted that he had
so much wit in reserve as never to have occasion to use one half
of it ; and told him that he was now in a plight in which the whole
of his wit would not serve him. The troubadour acknowledged
that he had made the boast, and that not without truth and reason.
"And I," said the king, "I think thou hast lost thy wits."
'' Yes, sire," Bertran answered mournfully, " I lost them that day
the valiant young king died : — then indeed I lost my wits, my
senses, and all wisdom." At this allusion to his son the king
burst into tears, and nearly swooned. When he came to himself
his vengeance had departed from him. " Sir Bertran !" said he,
" Sir Bertran ! thou mightest well lose thy wits because of my
son, for he loved thee more than any other man on earth ; and I,
for love of him, give thee thy life, thy property, thy castle."
Bertran at length assumed the habit of a Cistercian monk, and
retired to a monastery, where he died. But this could not save
him from the terrible retribution inflicted by tlie poet on his name
and memory, for stirring up the son to unnatural war against the
sire. — Pici. Hist. Eng. i. iii. 1 ; Sismondi, iv. Henry, eldest son
of Henry II., was crowned in his father's lifetime, on his marriage
with Margaret of Erance, in 11 73 ; and was usually called " the
young king," although he died before his father in 1183. In old
charters, &c., Henry I. is called Rex Henricus veins ; Henry II.

CANTO XXVIII.] INFERNO. 297

Achitopliel not more maliciously

Spvirr'd Absalom against King David on.^

For parting thus the ties of family,

I bear my brain divided from its source 140

That in this trunk inhabits : thus in me

The law of retribution has its course.""

is called Rex Henricus senior ; and his eldest sou Rex Henricus
junior. — Pollock.

^ 2 Sam. xvii. 1 — 4.

- Exod. xxi. 24, 25. Lex talionis : 2d of tlie Roman xii. tables.
The evil councillor who separated the family from its head, is
doomed, by a just retribution, to walk with his own head severed
from his body.

298 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO XXIX.

CANTO XXIX.

THE ARGUIIEXT.

Passing by Geri del Bello, a relative of Dante, the poets leave the
ninth gulf and proceed to the bridge which overlooks the
last chasm of Malebolge, where the groans and lamentations
of the forgers and alchemists reach them from below. They
descend into the chasm, and then see them tortured with
various and horrible diseases and plagues. Among them
Dante observes and converses with Grifoliuo and Capocchio.

With the vast crowd and varied forms of pain
Which I had seen, mine eyes inebriate were :
And there still weeping wish'd they to remain,

But " Wherefore dost thou/' Yirgil cried, " so stare?
Why is thy downward look protracted so
Among the mournful spectres mangled there ?

At the other chasms thou hast not done so : know,
If thou would'st count them, twenty miles complete
And two besides, the valley winds below.

Already is the moon beneath our feet.^ 10

' Hence, as the moon was then at full, the sun must have been
on the meridian, consequently it was noonday.

CANTO XXIX.l INFERNO. 299

The time gro^vs sliort that is allowM us/ and

jMore than thou seest remains thine eyes to greet."
I said, " Hadst thou but minded why I scanna

The wretched whom the gulfs infernal swallow.

Me thou hadst yet perhaps allowM to stand."
jNIy leader lingering went ; behind I follow ;

He listening yet, while I this answer made ;

And I subjoined, " Within this mighty hollow
On which I so intently gaze, is laid

A spirit, I believe, to me allied, 20

Wailing below the crime so dearly paid.
" Trouble no more," my master thus replied,

" Thy thoughts for him : attend where they are
claim'd

For other things ; and let him there abide ;
For at the bridge's foot with face inflamed

And finger raised, I saw him threaten thee :

Geri del Bello too I heard him named."
But thou wert busied then so totally [sway,^

With him who once o'er Hautfort's towers held

* They had entered about thirty hours before, and were to
leave in twelve hours from that time. See Introductory Essay,
On the Time of Dante's Vision.

- He was the son of Bello, the brother of Belliucione {Paradiso,
XV. 112), Daute's grandfather. He is described as ill-conditioned
and mischievous ; and it is as a stirrer up of strife that he is
placed here. He was killed in a dispute with one of the Sachetti.

3 Bertrau de Born. See Canto xxviii. 135, and note.

300 THE TRILOGY. [CAXTO XXIX,

That him thou saw'st not there^ and therefore he

Departed/' " O mv guide," then did I say, [30
" His violent death, yet unavenged^ by those
Who shared the shame, has made him go away

In high disdain, as his behaviour shows.

To me not speaking ; so at least I thought :
Hence I the more compassionate his woes."

Thus on we talk'd, till from the rock we caught
Of the next valley the first glance, which would.
Were more light there, its depths to view have
brought.

When we right over the last cloister stood 40

Of Malebolgè, so that thence the freres^
Thereto belonging might by us be viewM,

The varied lamentations pierced like spears, [steep'd;
Whose barb'd and thrilling points compassion
At which I cover'd with both hands mine ears.

Were there from each Valdichian pest-house^ reapM

' Thirty years after the murder, it was retaliated upon the
Sachet ti by the nephews of Geri del Bello.

* Having called the place a cloister, he carries on the allusion
by calling its inhabitants Conversi, lay-brethren of a monastery.
No great compliment, we fancy, to the monastic establishments of
that age.

^ The marshes of Chiana {Clusiné), the valley of the Chiana
{Clanis), a remarkably sluggish river. Formerly the autumn
heats rendered its waters unwholesome : but by a canal which
now passes through it, and a system of drainage established by
Leopold II. A.D. 1791, this evil has been remedied. The drai -

CANTO XXIX.] INFERNO. 301

Their dolours from July even to September,
And with Maremma's^ and Sardinia's heaped

Together in one fosse, such I remember

The scene was here, and so its vapour stank, 50
As from the reek of many a rotten member.^

We now descended on the further bank
Of the long rock, below at the left hand :
And there our downward prospect of the rank

Foul deep was better, where with high command
The minister of the Almighty Sire,
Unerring Justice, punishes the band

Of forgers here enroll' d. Not pain more dire
Was in iEgina seen when all infirm
The people grew ; and ready to expire, 60

From the fell air, even to the little worm.

All creatures droop'd. And then the antique race
(For this is what the poets all affirm)

Restored, might their descent from emmets trace.^

age of the Maremma was also undertaken about thirty years
since by the Tuscan governmeutj and that district rendered
healthy and productive.

* See Canto xxv. 19, note.

* Compare this description with Milton's Par. Lost, xi. ^11 —
493.

^ A pestilence having dispeopled the isle of ^Egina, it is fabled
that the ants inhabiting au ancient oak were changed into a race
of men called Myrmidons: — Myrmidones, à nvput]^, formica.—
Ovid. Metani, vii. 523 — 655.

302 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXIX.

Thus, througli that gloomy vale, to us were shown

The languid spirits heap'd along the place :
Athwart each other, on his belly one,

And one supine, they lay; some creeping there

With painful effort thus their pathway won.
Looking and listening to the sick we were, 70

And moving step by step, all converse stopp'd ;

They their own persons had no power to rear.
I saw two sit, by mutual effort proppM,

As pan props pan, when warm^l they are to be.

With spotted scabs from head to foot bedropp'd
Were they : and curry-comb I ne^er did see

Plied by a groom for whom his lord was waiting,

Nor by one watching late unwillingly,
So quick as each of these with sharpest gi'ating,

Through pruriency of itch himself assails, 80

Which yet with all their pains knew no abating :
As from the bream the knife strips off the scales,

Or other fish with mail of larger size.

So each of these was torn with his own nails.
To one of them then thus my leader, cries :

" O thou that with thy fingers dost unmail thee.
Whose hand its task as if with pincers j)lies ;
Tell me, as thou would^st have their toil avail thee.
Is any Latin 'mongst you there within ?

So may thy nails suffice and never fail thee.'^ 90

CANTO XXIX.] INFERNO. 303

" We both are Latins, tortured thus for sin,

Whom here thou seest,^' that one -weeping sigh'd :
" But -who art thou that would'st an answer win

From us ?" — "I come with one," the bard replied,
" Still living, downward o'er each rocky mound ;
To show him hell's abyss, I am his guide."

Their mutual prop was broken, as the sound

They heard, and each one trembling turu'd to me ;
With others on whose ears the words rebound.

And my good guide address^ me cordially, 100

And said, "Nowtellthem all that thou would'st say."
" That nothing e'er may steal your memory,"

I thus began, when he had turn'd away,

" From human minds on earth, but that it there
May bloom while many a summer sheds its ray,

Inform me who, and of what place ye are :
Nor let your foul and loathsome punishment
Deter you, but your history now declare."

One answer'd, " I was of Arezzo,^ sent

' Griffolino of Arezzo, a professor of Alchemy, the craft wliich
Chaucer in the Chanones Temannes Tale, and Ben Jonson in
The Alchemist, have so humorously exposed and ridiculed.
Griffolino says that it was in jest that he promised to instruct in
the art of flying Albero, a natural son of the Bishop of Siena,
from whom he had received large sums. But though he might
trifle, and laugh in his sleeve at the simplicity of his pupil, he
found the consequences no joke. Unable to perform his promise,
he was accused to the bishop as a necromancer, and on conviction

301) THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXIX.

By Albero of Siena's order to 110

The fire ; but that for Avhich I underwent

Such death brought me not here. To him^ 'tis true,
I said in jest I through the air could fly :
And he, who much desired and little knew,

Wish'd me to teach him, and because that I
Made him no Dsedalus, on the burning pile
By his reputed sire he made me die.

But in the last chasm of the ten meanwhile,
For that I practised alchemy on earth,
Minos condemned me ; him no arts beguile." 120

I to the bard ; " Had ever nation birth
That like Siena to be vain was prone ?
Sure not even France herself with all her mirth."

Then answer'd me that other leprous one,

'' Stricca except from them, his worth compute
By whom economy so well Avas known ;

And Nicolo who of the spicy fruit.

The clove's rich custom was the first to hit,
AVithin that garden where such seed takes root :

Also tliat band in which, a comrade fit, 130

Caccia d'Ascian his vines and forest spent.
And Abbagliato so displayed his wit.^

delivered to the Secular arm, by the tender mercies of a Churcli
which never sheds blood !

^ The exceptiou is ironical : these four persons belonged to a
society of rich and prodigal young men in Siena, called// brigata

CANTO XXIX.] INFERNO. 305

Wouldst know who against the Sienese hath lent
Thee thus his aid ? turn thy keen eye on me ;
So from this face an answer will be sent.

That I'm Capocchio's shade thou then wilt see,
Who metals falsified with art alchymic :
Thou'lt call to mind, if I deem right of thee.

That I was Nature's most accomplished mimic." ^

godereccia, " the joyous brigade." They sold their estates, built
a palace, and made it their paradise : they shod their horses vrith
silver, and forbade their servants picking up a shoe if it dropped
off; and thus they expended 200,000 florins in twenty months.
" La costuma ricca," a costly process of roasting pheasants and
capons at fires fed with cloves, was invented by Nicolo. Tlie
Ottimo, a commentary by several writers, some of whom lived in
the age of Dante, and one of whom, at least, was a Plorentine,
says that Abbagliato " was poor," but the charm of his wit was
such that it was accepted as a sufficient contribution for his
share of the expenses. The result was what might have been
foreseen : they were all brought to extreme and unpitied poverty.
^ Capocchio of Siena, said to have been at one time a companion
and fellow-student of Dante in natural philosophy, and after-
wards to have been an adept in the occult sciences. He was
burnt at Siena for alchemy;

20

306 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXX.

CANTO XXX.

THE ARGUMENT.

In the same gulf three other kinds of impostors are punished with
horrible diseases ; those who have personated others, debasers
of the current coin, and those who have abused the gift of
speech by employing it to deceive. The first are represented
by Gianni Schicchi, the second by Adamo of Brescia, and the
third by Potiphar's wife and the Greek Sinou. Gianni Schicchi
seizes on the alchemist Capocchio. The Aretine, Griffoliuo,
in dread of ^lyrrha, describes his fellow-sufferers to the two
poets : they converse with Adamo, who quarrels with Sinon ;
and Dante is rebuked by Virgil for pausing to listen to their
mutual abuse,'

"When Juno's breast with fierce resentment glowM
Against the Theban blood for Semel è/
As formerly from time to time she show'd,

Then Athamas became so mad that he

^ One of tlie daughters of Cadmus and Hermione (Canto xxv.
97, note) beloved by Jupiter. Juno, borrowing Ate's girdle,
assumed the form of Beroe, the nurse of Semelè, whom she
persuaded to make a request which proved fatal. Jupiter having
sworn by Styx, to grant whatever she might ask, and unable to
persuade her to retract the rash request, came to her with the
same majesty with which he approached Juno; and Semelè
perished through the splendour which her mortal nature could not
endure. a

CANTO XXX.] INFERNO. 307

Who his two infant sons and wife descried,
As on each hand conducting them walkM she/

" Spread we the nets that I may take/' he cried,
"The lioness and whelps here at the pass;"^
And stretching his remorseless talons wide,

Seized one, Learchus named, and him, alas ! 10

WhirFd round and round, then dashM against a
And with that other son of Athamas [stone :

She plunged into the wave. When Troy, o'erthrown
From her high place by adverse fortune, burn'd.
So that both king and kingdom were undone.

Sad Hecuba, a wretched captive, mourn'd :
But when o'er dead Polyxena she hung.
And when the sorrowing mother saw unurn'd

Her Polydore, on the rude sea-beach flung,

' Athamas king of Thebes, a son of Jllolus, married Ino a
daughter of Cadmus (Canto xxv. 97, note), by whom he had two
sons, Learchus and Melicerta. Juno sent the fury Tisiphone to
the house of Athamas, who, seized with sudden madness, mistook
Ino for a lioness, and her two children for whelps ; and snatching
Learchus from her, killed him by dashing him against a wall.
Ino fled, and, with Melicerta in her arms, leaped from a high rock
into the sea, and became a sea-goddess ; after which Athamas
recovered his senses. — Ovid. Metani, iv. 467 ; Fast. vi. 4S9.

* " At once the son of Jilolus, in the midst of the palace raging,
' Heigho, comrades,' exclaim'd, ' stretch out the nets in these

woodlands.
Here now appear'd a lioness, with her two young ones,' " &c.

Ovid. Metam. iv. 511.

308 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXX.

Bereft of sense she bark'd as barks the liound^ 20
So much the force of grief her mind had wrung.^

But never furies "vvere so cruel found

In any, nor of Thebes, nor those of Troy,^
Brute beasts, much less the limbs of men to wound.

As those in two pale naked shades whom I
Saw gnashing run, as doth a hog escape,
When he is just excluded from the sty.

One overtook Capocchio, on the nape

Of the neck bit him, and then dragging made
Along the rugged ground his belly scrape. 30

Then cried the Aretine^ who trembling stay'd,
" That goblin is Gian^ Schicchi,^ on his track
In havock thus his fury is displayed."

" So may that other shade not rend thy back,

' Hecuba, liuving revenged ou Polymnestor the murder of her
son Polydore (Cauto xiii. 46, note), beiug pursued by some of his
Thracian attendants, attempted to speak, but could only bark.
Hence the promontory of the Thracian Chersouesus, where she
was buried, was called Cynossema (Dog's tomb), which became a
sea-mark. — Euripides, Hecuba; Ovid. Metani, xiii. 399.

- Those which impelled Athamas at Thebes, and Hecuba of Troy.

^ Griffolino of Arezzo : Canto xxix. 109.

■• Gianni Schicchi, of the Cavalcanti family, was of cadaverous
aspect, and a ready mimic. Buoso Donati was taken ill and died
in the house of a relative, Simon, who, concealing his death (which
some accuse him of having caused), had the body removed, and
employed Schicchi to personate the deceased, and sign a will
making Simon his heir. Schicchi was rewarded with a beautiful and
valuable mare, hefe called "La donna della torma."— Landino.

CANTO XXX.] INFERNO. 309

As thou grudge not to say whose it may be/'
To him I said, " ere yet from hence it pack."

" That is the antique soixl/' he answer'd me,
" Of Avicked Myrrha/ who her sire's became
Beyond the bounds of rightful love, and she.

Feigning herself another, so did frame 40

Her purpose that his bed she foully shared.
So he who there departs, an equal blame,

To gain the lady of the horse-troop, dared :
Buoso Donati's counterfeit was he.
And sign'd and seal'd the fraudful will prepared."

When that wild pair Avhom I so eagerly

Gazed at had pass'd away, I turn'd mine eyes
The rest of those unfortunates to see.

And one I saw shaped like a lute in guise,"

Had but the groin been sever'd at that end 50
Where in the human form it joins the thighs.

The grievous dropsy, which did so distend

^ Daughter of Cinyras king of Cyprus, and mother of Adonis.
Her story is told by Ovid, Metam. x. 298, and has been dramatized
by Alfieri. According to the former, the myrrh-tree of Arabia,
into which she was changed, and which bears her name, still
weeps fragrant tears for her crime and fate.

2 We are not aware of any earlier notice of the lute than this.
It is a stringed instrument of music, with frets or lines across the
neck at proper distances, eight in number, answering to the letters
ia the table, or tablature of notes. It formed one of the varieties
of the Cithara, and was in general use till the end of the
seventeenth century.

310 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXX.

That all proportion face and paunch defy, —
Nor with his limbs wouldthat ill-moisture blend, —

Forced him to hold his lips apart all dry,

Even like the hectic wretch Avho gasps for thirst.
One towards the chin, the other curFd on high.

"0 ye who even in this world accurst,
I know not wherefore, no affliction have,"
He thus began, " Behold, and hear rehearsed GO

What Ser Adamo suiFers in this cave.^
Alive I had enough of all at will.
And now, alas ! one drop of water crave.

The brooks which downward o'er each verdant hill
Of Casentino to the Arno flow,^
Making their channels fresh and soft, are still

Always before mine eyes, nor vainly so :

For more their image dries me up than this
Disease which in my unflesVd cheeks I show.

Now from the place in which I did amiss 70

Derives avenging Justice a supply
Of means to augment my sighs in hell's abyss.

^ A native of Brescia of great skill in metallurgy. He was em-
ployed by the brothers Guido, Alessandro, and Aghiuolfo, lords
of Romena, to debase and falsify the coin called " Lega de Batista,"
"The Baptist's mark," from its having the head of John the
Baptist stamped upon it.

" Casentino is the upper valley of the Arno, above Arezzo, re-
Diarkable for its delightful scenery and variegated beauty.

CANTO XXX.] INFERNO. 311

There, in Homena^ did I falsify

The coin that bears the Baptist on its front,
For which I left my body burnt on high.

But could I see tormented here the Count
Guido, or Alessandro/ or their brother,
I would not change the sight for Branda's fount."

One is already here within, I gather, [80

If the mad spectres Avandering round speak true.
What boots it me, with limbs bound by this tether ?

AYere I but just so light as to pass through
An inch in every hundred years, my wrath
In search of him already midst this crew

Had urged me to set forward on the path ;

Although eleven miles winding through the waste,

' Counts Agliinolfo and Alessandro de' Guidi. See next note.

^ It is nov/ generally known that the fountain here alluded to
is not that which gives name to tiie Porta Branda at Siena, but
the Fonte Branda just under the Castle of Bomeua, now dis-
mantled, but formerly the stronghold of the Conti Guidi, to whom
belonged the surrounding territory of K-omena. The lords of that
castle and territory had prompted Adamo to commit the offence
for which his body was burned to ashes, amidst the scene of beauty,'
and in view of the fountain which he describes. The fountain
has been dried up, the supply of water having been cut off by an
earthquake, as if to typify the coiner's fate; but with such a
fountain, full and flowing in the time of Dante on the very site of
the tragedy, the introduction of another, forty or fifty miles from
the scene, is quite superfluous and improbable. See an interesting
article on the subject in the Atheneeum, No. 1001, p. 19, by
H. C. Barlow, Esq., M.D., of Newington Butts.

312 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXX.

Nor less than half a mile of breadth it hath.

By them have I among this tribe been placed ;
By them induced I stamp'd the florin fair,^
But with three carats of alloy debased.^^ ' 90

I answer'd^ " Who are that unhappy pair

Who smoke like a wet hand in winter's chill,
Lying so close against thy right side there V

" I found them here, and since that hour of ill
That rain'd me down/' he said, ''this depth extreme.
They have not tum'd, and I believe, ne'er will.

JosepVs calumniatress one would seem ;

* The golden florin of Florence, whence it kad its name. The
year 1252, remembered by the rioreiitiues as a period of great
success, vras named "The year of victories." About this time
they first coined the golden florin of twenty-four carats, in weight
a drachm, bearing the impression of John the Baptist th«ir patron,
and a lily, the device of their city (see note p. 310). It was
considered the finest coin in Europe. Their most valuable coinage
previously was of silver. — Villani, vi. 54. The florin was known
in England in Chaueer*s time : — " For that the floreius ben so
faire and bright." — Verdonnera Tale, 450. The English noble of
Edward III., a.d. 1344, corresponded with it in value, namely,
6«. U.—Fid. Hid. Ing. i. 837.

' Ktpag, a horn ; its diminutive Kipanov signifies the fruit of
the ic£par£ia, carob-tree, which is corniculated, and in Syria the
common food of swine. Hence Karat, Carat, a small weight, the
twenty -fourth part of the mare or \ lb. in France ; used for gold
and jewels ; but it varied greatly in difl'erent countries. It now
merely signifies the twenty-fourth part of gold or gold alloy. If
such a weight be all gold, it is said to be twenty-four carats fine;
if one third only be gold, it is eight carats fine.

CANTO XXX.] INFERNO. 313

The other Sinon, that false Greek from Troy.^
Sharp fever makes them reek so dense a steam."

And one of them so much these words annoy 100
They prompt him — haply for his tamish'd name —
His fist in hlows on that hard paunch to employ :

From thence a sound as from a drum there came.
With arm that not less hard appear'd to be
Adamo struck his face, and with the same

Exclaim' d, "Although the power is gone from me
To move these limbs, whose weight is now so vast,
I have an arm for such employment free."

" Not ready thus was that strong arm thou hast,"
He answer'd, "when thou wentest to the fire; 110
But readier still when thou a coiner wast."

Th' hydropic said ; " In this thou art no liar :
But not so true the witness thou didst bear
At Troy, to those who did the truth require."

" If I spake falsely, thou," he said, " ^tis clear,
Didst falsely coin : one fault was mine : for more
Than any other demon thou art here."

^ He induced the Trojans to admit the wooden horse. Sec
Canto xxvi. 1. 60, note ; and ^neid. ii. 195. —

"With sucli devices and perjured subtlety of Sinon,

The thing was credited ; and by frauds deceived and tears

overcome
Were they, whom neither Diomede, nor Achilles of Larissa,
Nor ten years of war, nor a thousand ships could conquer."

31-1> THE TllILOGY. [CANTO XXX.

" Remember^ perjured one, the horse that bore/'
He of the swell'd paunch said, "the troop accurst;
And for thy grief His known the whole world o'er/*

" Thy torment be," the Greek replied, "that thirst
That cracks thy tongue, the paunch before thy view
In which thou hast the fetid Avaters nursed.'*

The coiner said, " As it was wont to do.

Thy mouth gapes wide to let thy slander pass.
Yet if I thirst, I'm fill'd with water too :

But thou art parch'd, pain racks thy head, alas !
And of entreaty thou few words would' st need,
To make thee lick Narcissus' looking glass. '•'^

I stood intent to hear, as they proceed : 130

When thus my leader said ; " A little more.
And I shall quarrel with thee ; so take heed.'*

I towards him, when I caught his angry lore,

Turn'd with such shame that through my memory
Its whirling sweep even yet aSicts me sore.

As one who dreams of his own injury,

1 " Ugly as thou art, thy parching thirst would induce thee
without reluctance to apply thy tongue to the clear mirror-fountaiu
of Narcissus." Narcissus, a beautiful youth, son of Cephisus and
Liriopc, born at Tliespis in Boeotia, became enamoured of his own
shy shadowy image, reflected iu a fountain, supposing it to be the
nymph of the place, for whose voice he mistook the echo of his
own. Disappointed iu his passion, he pined away and died, and
■was changed into the flower that bears his name. — Ovid. Jletam.
iii. 3é6.

CANTO XXX.] INFERNO. 315

Aud "wishes it "vrere but a. dream confused.
Desires that "what ah*eady is "would be,

Even thus "O'as I; my tongue all speech refused.
I "nish^d to excuse myself, yet all the "nhile, 140
Although I knew it not, I stood excused.

" Thee "would less shame than thine has been assoil
From greater fault j" my teacher then replied ;
'^ Discharge all grief then, -which thy peace "would

And think that I am always at thy side, [spoil ;
Thyself should' st thou in future ever find
Where neighbours in such -wrangling strife divide;

The "wish to listen shows a vulgar mind."^

^ Addison blames the description given in Fnradise Lost of the
grotesque humours of the fiends — of Satan's " derision" and
Belial's "gamesome mood"— as they "stood scoffing" at their
opponents. — Spectator, No. 279. Lord Brougham remarks,
" The dialogue of mutual sarcasm between xidamo and Sinon in
the Inferno would have given the same offence to the critic ; and
the poet seems as if conscious of the offence he was offering to
squeamish persons, when he makes Virgil chide him for listening
to such ribaldry." — Works, vol. v. p. S], and note.

316 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXXI.

CANTO XXXI.

THE ARGUMENT.

The poets, following the sound of a loud born, approach the ninth
circle, which from a distance appears to be surrounded with
lofty towers : but Virgil informs his companion that these arc
giants. Having surveyed Nimrod and Ephialtes, they reach
Antaeus, who at the request of Virgil takes the two poets in
his arms, and stooping, places them in the bottom of the
ninth circle, where traitors receive their punishment.

The very tongue tliat first had made the wound^
So that each cheek of mine was crimson'd o'er,
The medicine offer'd now to make me sound;

The lance Achilles and his father hore

Could in like manner, I have heard, bestow
Pain first, and afterwards to health restore.^

We turn'd our backs upon the vale of woe,

^ Telephus, king of Mysia, was wounded severely by Achilles,
and was informed by the oracle, that he alone who had inflicted
the wound could cure it. Achilles was applied to, and the rust
which he scraped from the point of his spear gave immediate
relief. According to another account, the cure was effected by
applying the herb Linozostis or Parthenion, discovered by Achilles
as a remedy for wounds, and theuce called Achilleos. — Pliny,
.XXV. 5 ; Ovid. Ee^. Amor. 47.

CANTO XXXI.] INFERNO. 317

Up o'er the bank Tvhich it encircled round,
Nor spake one word as we across it go : [10

There less than night and less than day we found,
Hence on^vard stretch'd my view but little space:
But from a horn I heard so dread a sound

That thunder seem'd but tame. I sought to trace
Backward the pathway whence that sound was
Straining my eyes intently to one place, [borne.

So terrible a blast Orlando's horn

Blew not at that sad rout when Charlemagne
From his high saintly enterprise was tom.^

' In the Northern mythology, the giant Heimdall is the warder
of the gods, and has a horn called the Giallar-horn, which is heard
throughout the universe. — Mallet's North. A)it. p. 421. Orlando
is said to have won this horn from the giant Jotmund. — Warton's
Hist. Enff. Poet. i. iii. 132. In Boiardo's Orlando Inamorato, and
the romance poem of Aspramoiite, Orlando is said to have taken
it from the giant Almontes, together with his armour, horse and
sword.

Turpin, in describing the battle of Uoncesvalles, in which
Orlando was sorely wounded, and all the Christians near him were
slain, says : — "He now blew a loud blast with his horn, to summon
any Christian concealed in the adjacent woods to his assistance,
or to recall his friends beyond the pass. This horn was endowed
with such power that all other liorns were split by its sound ; and
it is said, that Orlando at that time blew it witli such vehemence
that he burst the veins and nerves of his neck. The sound reached
the ears of the king, who lay encamped in the valley still called
by his name, about eight miles from Ronceval, towards Gascony.
Charlemagne would have flown to his succour, had he not been
prevented by Ganalon." — Hist, xxi — xxxi.

318 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXXI.

Not long with head turn'd that war I remain,
Ere I, methought, saw many lofty towers. 20
"Master,"^ I said; '^ what land this is explain."

And he to me ; " Because the gloom that lowers,
Thy sight cannot through such a distance rive,
It leads astray imagination's powers.

Thou'lt clearly see, when thither we arrive.
How much deception sense afar must brook ;
Therefore to reach a little further strive.''

Then tenderly me by the hand he took,
And said, "Before we further onward go,
That the reality less strange may look, 30

That yonder are not towers but giants, know.
And in the pit around the bank they are.
Up to the navel, hiding all below."

As when around the fog begins to clear,

We by degrees — our sight no more misled —
Trace what the mist had hid condensed in air.

Piercing the thick dark breeze my error fled.

While nearing now the shore ourselves we found ;
And then pale fear came o'er me in its stead.

As Montereggion with a circling round 40

Of turrets crown'd, at distance we descry,^
Even so the shore whicli those black depths
surround

^ The ruins of^Montereggion and its towers are still visible.

CANTO XXXI.] INFERNO, 319

The liorrible giants tower'd above on bigh/
Witli Iialf length figure each, -whom Jupiter
Still threatens when he thunders from the sky.

And then I saw the face of some one there,

Shoulders, and breast, and of the groin great part.
And both arms hanging down the sides appear.

Nature, indeed, when she declined the art

Of forming such as these, did what was meet, 50
Taking from War these vassals grim and swart.

And if the elephant and whale so great
Repent her not, who ponders as he ought
Holds her herein more just and more discreet :

For where there are intelligence and thought,
Join'd to malevolence and equal might,
Thereto resistance will avail us nought.

To me his visage seemM in breadth and height
As doth St. Peter's pine at Rome appear,^
And all the other parts as massive quite, 60

1 The tradition of giants is common to the Scandinavian and
Grecian mytliologies, to the Mohammedans, and the Jews. Our
version of Ge)i. vi. 4. follows the LXX. and Vulgate, " There were
giants in the earth in those days." But the Hebrew word
NepJiilim, from Naphal, to fall, may signify Apostates.

2 "The large pine of bronze which once adorned the top of
Adrian's mole was afterwards employed to decorate the top of St.
Peter's belfry, and having (according to Buti) been thrown down
by lightning, it was, after lying some time on the steps of the
palace, transferred to the place where it now is, in the Pope's

320 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXXI.

So that the bank they as a girdle wear

Down from the middle, yet so much above
Was shown, that only to have reach'd his hair.

Three Frieslanders at once in vain had strove.
Thus view'd I of him thii'ty ample palms, [prove.
Downwards from where men's cloaks their fastening

" Raphel mai amech izabi alams,"

The mouth which look'd so fierce began to howl,
For which had been unfitting sweeter psalms.

And thus my guide reproach'd him, " Silly soul, 70
Keep to thy horn, and with it ease thy breast
When ii'e disturbs, or other passions foul.

The thong that binds it to thee doth invest

Thy neck ; thou'lt find it there ; O soul confused.^
See too where now it girds thy brawny chest."

Then me addressing, " By himself accused.
This is that Nimrod by whose counsel proud,
One language in the world no more is used.

Out let us leave him : be no speech bestowM

On emptiness, for such to him each tongue, 80

garden, by tlie side of the great corridor of Belvedere. In
Dante's time the pine was either ou the belfry or the steps of
St. Peter." — Lombardi.

' Nimrod is thus denominated, in allusion to the unmeaning
sounds he had just uttered (I. 67), and his being the supposed
author of the confusion of tongues at Babel. Confuii sunt, quoniam
Deus spretit eos.-rFsalm lii. 7 ; see also Gen. xi. 9.

CANTO XXXI.] INFERNO. 321

As his on others, by none understood.

Then on our journey we proceed along,

Tum'd to the left ; and there another find

A bow-shot thence, more fierce and huge and strong.

I cannot say whose was the master mind

That girt him, but he held the left hand bound
Ecfore him, and the right was chain'd behind.

And from his neck below, the chain around

Was seen to load with wreathed links his frame ;
Five times complete it was about him wound. 90

Opposed to Jove supreme, this proud one^s aim
Was of his strength to let the proof appear ;^^
Thus spake my guide ; " hence to this doom his

And when the giants put the gods in fear, [claim ;
He, Ephialtes named, the great proof made :
The arms then used, now never moves he here.^'^

" I wish, if possible,^^ to him I said,

" What of the immense Briareus" can be.

^ Homer describes him and his brother Otus as giants in.
stature, the sons of Neptune by Iphimedia, the wife of Aloeus, a
son of Titan and Terra, who bred them up : hence they were
called Alo'ides. At nine years old they made war against the
gods, piling Ossa on Olympus, and Pelion with all its woods on
Ossa, that they might reach heaven, and dethrone Jupiter. But
they were slain by Apollo, and hurled into the abyss. — Odps. ii-
304; ^neid. vi. 580; Ovid. Fasti, v. 35.

- A giant sou of Coelus and Terra, who had a hundred hands
and fifty heads. When Juno, Neptune, and Pallas conspired to

31

322 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXXI.

May "be. the next before my eyes display 'd."
Then he replied, " Antseus^ thou shalt see TOO

At handj who speaks and is unbound ; he'll bear

Us to the depth of all iniquity.
He whom thou wouldst behold far onward there,

And fetter'd stands : just like this one is he,

But more defiant in his look and air."
Ne'er yet did earthquake so tremendously

Shake to its deep foundation some strong tower,

As Ephialtes then shook suddenly.
Death never seem'd so dread as at that hour,

dethrone Jupiter, Briareus ascended Olympus and seated himself
beside the Thunderer, which so terrified the conspirators that they
desisted from their enterprise. — Iliad-, i. 396. He assisted the
giants in their war against the gods, and having thus neutralized
the merit of his former exploit, was thrown under Mount jEtna. —
Hesiod. Theoff. 1. 147; jEneid. vi. 287; x. 565.

' A giant of Lybia, son of Neptune and Terra, celebrated as a
wrestler. He boasted that he could raise a temple to his father
with tlie skulls of those he had vanquished. Machiavelli in dis-
cussing the question, whether when threatened with war it is
better to anticipate invasion or to wait for it, mentions as one of
the arguments m favour of the latter, the story of Antaeus king
of Lybia, " who, being invaded by Hercules the Egyptian, was
invincible while he kept himself within his own borders, but being
drawn from them by the subtlety of Hercules, he lost both his
kingdom and life. Upon which occasion was raised the fable of
Antgeus, that being born of the earth he received new strength
from his mother, as often as he touched the ground; which
Hercules perceiving lifted him up in tlie air, and thus was enabled
to kill liim." — On the first Decade of Lie)/, ii. 12. See Lucan,
Phars. iv, 590; S^iat. Theb. vi. 893; im.Sat. iii. 89.

CANTO XXSI.] INFERNO. 323

Nor need of other stroke than fear had I^ 110
But that I saw what chains controll'd his power.

Then further on our path again we hie,
And reach Antseus, who besides the head,
Rose upward from the grot five ells on high,

" O thou who, in the fortunate vale that made
Great Scipio immortal glory's heir,
When Hannibal with his whole army fled,^

Didst for thy prey a thousand lions bear :^
If thou hadst present been in that high war
Waged by thy brethren, such belief men share, 120

The sons of earth had conquer'd.^ We thus far
Arrived would have thee bear us (do not flout)
Low down where biting frosts Cocytus bar.

To Tityus drive us not, nor Typhon stout.

This man can give what here is wish'd, a name ;
Wherefore stoop low, nor twist in scorn thy snout :

For in the world he yet can give thee fame.
Because he lives, and for long life may look.
If grace should him before the time not claim."

1 The vale of Utica, in the Carthao^inian territorj. It was near
the town of Nadagra on the river Bagrada (Wadi ^lajerda), that
Scipio defeated Hannibal. — Lity, xxx, 29 ; Lucan, P/iars. iv. 585.

' " Latuisse sub alta

Rupe ferunt, epulas raptos habuisse leones." — Phars. iv. 601.

' Lucan hints that it was fortunate for the gods that Antaeus
was not born at the time of the giants' war. — Phars. iv. 593 — 597.

324 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXXI.

Thus said the master ; and Antseus took 130

In haste my guide up with that hand outspread
Which Hercules in its rude grasp once shook.

When Virgil felt thus seized, to me he said.
Come hither now that I may clasp thee tight ;
Then took me and of both one bundle made.

As from below to him who lifts his sight.

Where it doth stoop, seems Carisenda's tower,^
When clouds pass o'er with motion opposite;^

Such seemM Antseus as I stood that hour

To see him stoop ; and I would then have fain 140
Gone by another way, had I the power.

Yet lightly, in the abyss which doth contain
Both Lucifer and Judas, he at last
Set us down safe, nor stooping did remain.

But rose again as doth a ship^s tall mast.

* One of the leaning towers in Bologna, named after the
Garisendi family, by whom it was built. The other, the Asinelli
tower, is higher, but does not lean so much.

* The motion of the clouds in the opposite direction, makes the
tower seem to bend with visible motion. In this case, according
to a familiar optical illusion, the tower appears to move, and not
the cloud. It is said to have been much liigher in Dante's time.

CANTO XXXII.] INFERNO. 325

CANTO XXXII.

THE AKGUMENT.

In the first round, called Caina, of the ninth or frozen circle, the
betrayers of their own relatives are plunged in a lake of ice
formed by the stagnant waters of Cocytus. Here Dante
finds Camiccione de' Pazzi, who tells him of others who are
there tormented. In the second rouud, called Antenora,
he sees Bocca degli Abati, and hears from him an account
of his fellow-sufferers.

Could I command at will rough rhymes and hoarse,
Such as would suit that gulf of all distress
O'er which the other rocks in awful force

Their bastions firm project, I might express

The juice of my ripe thoughts more largely here :
But since I have them not, I now address

Myself to my great theme, not without fear.
To hymn the depth of all the universe.
Is no emprise for laughter-moving jeer.

Nor for a baby stammerer. Aid my verse, 10

Ye dames who helpM Amphion Thebes to wall,^

* The nine Muses. Amphion, a poet and musician, succeeded
in persuading a rude people to unite in building a city, as a de-

326 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO XXXII.

So that my theme and song be not diverse.

0 people ill-condition'd above all,

Whose dwelling to describe I scarce endure.
Better be flocks or herds than hither fall.
Now deep we stood within that pit obscure.
Beneath the giants' feet, but lower far/
And gazing still where those high walls immure,

1 heard a voice cry, " Of your steps beware.

And let your soles not trample as you pass 20
The heads of your poor brethren worn with care."

I turn'd and saw before me a morass —
A lake of ice beneath my very feet,"
With less the look of water than of glass.

Not Austrian Danube o'er her waters fleet.
Nor wintry Tanais, throws a veil so great,^
Beneath yon sky when fill'd with cold and sleet.

As here was seen; where, from their snowy height
If Tabernich or Pietrapana fell,^

fence against their enemies. Hence he is said to have moved
stones, and raised the walls of Thebes, by the sound of his lyre.

* This last circle slopes, like Malebolge, towards the centre.

* See Canto iii. 1. 87, and note.

^ That part of the Danube which flows through the Austrian
territory, the most northern part of its course, is most liable to
be frozen, and to a greater depth. Tanais, or Don, is a Russian
river, and in a still more rigorous climate.

"Hyperboreas glacies, Tana'imque nivalem." — Georg, iv. 517.

* Tabernich, the loftiest portion of the mountain chain which

CANTO XXXII.] INFERNO. 327

The rim would not have creak'd beneath such
weight. 30

And as a frog its croaking cry to swell

Peeps from the stream, while resting from her work
The village maid in dreams oft gleaneth well/

So, far as where the modest blushes lurk/
Lind in ice the grieving shadows shook,
Gnashing their teeth with notes as of the stork.^

Each turn'd his face away with downward look :
The cold from every mouth, and the sad heart.
From those dimmed eyes their testimonials took.

When I a hasty glance around could dart 40

I saw two at my feet with heads close press' d.
So that the hair had mix'd on either part.

" Tell me,-" I said, " ye who thus breast to breast
Are strain' d. Who are ye V And their necks
they bent

traverses Sclavoaia, 2800 feet above the level of tlie Danube.
Pietrapana, a lofty summit of the Apennines in the Carrara district.

* Here the eternal winter is contrasted with the warm Italian
summer nights, when in harvest the village gleaner dreams of her
day-work.

^ As high as the face. They were up to their necks in ice.

^ The intense cold made their teeth chatter with a sound like
that which the stork frequently makes witli its beak. Thus
Boccaccio describes the enamoured student, waiting nearly all
night in the open air for his mocking mistress, while the snow lay
on the ground, " The wretched scholar became like a stork, so
loudly did he gnash with his teeth." — Decam. viii. 7.

328 THE TRILOGY, [CANTO XXXII.

And raised their faces towards me^ thus address'd.

The moisture which had in their eyes heen pent
Fell on their lips^ and these the sharp frost glued,
As thus the tears between their fastening lent.

Dovetail'd before was never wood with wood

Thus firmly join'd; hence like two goats robust 50
Each butts at each, by mutual rage subdued.

Another then who by the cold had lost

Both ears, exclaimed, even with his face tum'd down,
*' Why gaze on us thus rudely ? If thou dost

Desire that these two should to thee be known,
The valley whence Bisenzio's waters wind.
Their father Albert and these two did own,

The offspring of one sire •} you would not find.
Should you search all Caina through, a shade
Worthier in icy bonds to be confined. 60

Not he, whose breast and shadow pierced were made
To part by that one stroke of Arthur's hand ;^

' Alessandro and Napoleone, sons of Alberti degli Alberti, lord
of the valley of Felterona in Tuscany, where the Bisenzio rises, a
branch of the Arno which joins it about six miles below Florence.
Being left co-heirs of their father's property, they disagreed about
it, and so fell in mutual combat. — Landino.

' U ombra may mean either the shadow, or the soul severed from
the body by the stroke which pierced the breast. Arthur, it is said,
having discovered the treason of liis nephew Modred, pursued
him till they met, and pierced him through with his lance at a
stroke, so that the sunbeam passed through the wound. " Et dit
rhistoire qu'apres l'ouverture de la lance passa parmi la plaie ung

CANTO XXXII.] INFERNO. 329

No, not Focaccia -^ nor this one whose head

So hinders that no prospect I command :

Who Mascheroni^ was, thou canst not choose.
If thou art Tuscan, well to understand.

And that more words thou mayst not make me use.
That I'm Camicion de' Pazzi know,'
And Carlin wait, whose guilt will mine excuse."*

A thousand faces doglike, then I saw, 70

From cold ; whence o'er me comes, and ever will.
From those broad frozen lakes a shuddering awe.

While towards the centre we were journeying still.

Where all things heavy would unite if thrown,

ray de soleil," &c. — Romance of Lancelot du Lac, iii. 197, Paris,
1513. To ''make the sun shine through" a person, as explained
by the Tatter's Court of Honour, is to " whip him through the
lungs;" that is, run him through the body. — Tatter, 256.

' Focaccia de' Cancellieri of Pistoia, identified by commen-
tators with Bertaccio (see Canto xxiv. 1. 143, note). He is also
said to have slain his uncle.

^ Sassol Mascheroni, or da Toschi, a Florentine, who for the
sake of his inheritance murdered his brother's only son, of whom
he was the guardian ; for which he was justly beheaded.

* Alberto Camicione de' Pazzi of Valdarno, by whom his kins-
man Ubertino was treacherously put to death.

^ Carlino de' Pazzi, a Florentine, betrayed the Bianca faction
by ceding to the Florentines for a bribe the Castel di Piano
Travigne, in Valdarno, after the Bianco and Ghibeline refugees
had for twenty-nine days defended it against the besiegers, in the
summer of 1302. — G. Villani, viii. 52. This is a later date than
that of the Vision, but Camicion says, he waits the coming of
Carlin, as of one whose greater treachery will by comparison make
his own appear less.

330 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXXII.

I tremLled in that shade's eternal chill;
If it was will/ or fate, or chance alone,

I know not, but in passing heedlessly

Among the heads, my foot the face of one
Severely struck. " Wherefore," he weeping cried,

" Tramples t thou me ? com^st thou my doom to
increase 80

For Montaperti ?" Else why trouble me V
" Master," I said, " let me the occasion seize.

To solve one doubt this man may much avail:

Wait here — then haste me with what speed thou
please."

^ Design, as opposed to unintelligent fate, or chance : not his
own will, but the will and appointment of Divine Providence.

- The Ghibeline exiles at Siena received aid from Manfred,
whose reinforcements, bj the conduct and diligence of Farinata,
reached Siena from the borders of Romagna in a single night.
Next morning a spy, in the Franciscan habit, brought a forged
letter, as from the Guelfs of Siena, to the magistrates at Florence,
promising to open the gate if the Florentines would send a. body
of troops at an appointed hour. The magistrates, ignorant of
Farinata's night-march, despatched the flower of their militia to
aid the supposed revolt. But as these troops were marching
along in full security, they were suddenly attacked by Farinata at
the head of Manfred's forces. An obstinate and bloody combat
ensued; but in the heat of the conflict. Bocca degli Abati, who
had previously been bribed by the Ghibeliues, cut off the hand of
Giacopo del Vacca de' Pazzi, the Florentine ensign; and the prin-
cipal standard having thus fallen, the Florentines were thrown into
confusion, and defeated with great slaughter. This was at Mouta-
perte on the Arbia, a.d. 1260. See Canto x. 11. 32, 86, 93, notes.

CANTO XXXII.] INFERNO. 331

My leader staid ; and I with words assail

Him who continued bitterly to curse :

" What art thou who dost thus on others rail V
"Now what art thou," he answer'd, " who far worse,

Roam'st Antenora^ smiting others' cheeks ; [90

AVhich, wert thou living still, were too perverse ?"
" And I am living : art thou one who seeks

For fame?" I answer'd, "thee I can requite.

Putting thy name with those of whom she speaks."
And he to me, " I wish the opposite.

Take thyself hence, and give me no more pain ;

For here thy skill in flattery is but slight."
Then seized I on his hinder scalp amain.

And said, " To me thou shalt thy name declare ;

Or else no hair shall on this head remain."
Then he to me; " Though thou strip off my hair, 100

I'll neither tell thee who I am, nor show ;

No, though a thousand times my head thou tear."
His locks I had already grasp'd, and lo !

More than one handful I had pluck'd away,

' The second round of the ninth circle, so named from Antenor,
who, according to Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius, betrayed
his country, Troy. He is said to have held secret correspondence
with the Greeks, and to have counselled and assisted them in
their designs. He is also fabled to have conducted a colony of
Heneti, a people of Paplilagonia, into Italy, where expelling the
Euganei from their possessions, he occupied them, and founded
Petavium, or Padua.

332 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXXII.

He barking, witli liis eyes still fixM below.
Another cried, " "What ails thee, Bocca, say ?

Is 't not enough thy noisy jaws to shake.

Unless thou bark ? What devil spurs thee, pray ?"
" Now,^' I exclaimM, " I would not thou shouldst

Accursed traitor ! to thy lasting shame, [speak.

Of thee a true report I'll surely make."
" Begone," he cried, '^ and what thou list proclaim :

But do, if thou go hence, thy peace not hold

Of him whose tongue so glib just now became.
Here he laments in vain the Frenchman's gold.

' Him of Duera,^ thou canst say, ' I spied,^

There where the sinners bide the piercing cold.^
If thou be askM, what shades were there beside ;

At thy right hand Beccaria ruminates,

' The Guelfs, who from the field of Montaperte fled first to
Lucca aud then to Bologna, were invited by those of Parma to
join them against the Ghibelines, in a battle against whom their
valour turned the scale. Meanwhile the Pope calling in the aid of
Charles of Aujou against Manfred, their services were offered and
accepted, and the Pope sent them a consecrated banner. Charles,
eluding Manfred's fleet, arrived at Ostia, and was joyfully received
by the Romans. Manfred had a large detachment under Buoso
daDuera at Parmegiano, between Piedmont and Parma, guarding
a defile which the French had to pass. But Duera had been
bribed by Guy de Montfort, the French general, to leave it un-
defended, which he did, a.d. 1265 j at which the people of Cremona,
his native place, were so enraged that they extirpated his whole
family ; although he himself escaped with his ill-got wealth, but
at length died in poverty and exile.

CANTO XXXII.] INFERNO. 333

Whose gorge the biting axe of Florence dyed.^ 1 20
Soldanier^s further on/ and for his mates
Are Ganellon/ I think, and Tribaldello

' Tesauro Beccaria, of Pavia, abbot of Valombrosa, and legate
of Pope Alexander IV. at Florence ; where, presuming on his
sacred character, he intrigued in favour of the Ghibeliues. But
his practices being discovered, no " benefit of clergy" was allowed
him : he was publicly beheaded in 1258, for which daring act the
city was excommunicated.

* After the battle of Montaperte the Ghibelines, headed by
Guido di Novella, held the sovereignty in Florence. But in 1266
the people chose Giovanni Soldauieri, himself a Gliibeline, to head
them in an insurrection, the result of which was the overthrow
6f his party and his own ruin. For this Dante has placed him in
Antenora. — G. Villani, vii. 14; Machiav. Hist. Fior. ii.

* With the mediaeval writers, Ganellon of France is the standing
type of treason and dissimulation. Chaucer alludes to him in the
Shipmanes, Monkes, and Nonnes Priestes Tales. According to
Turpin, " when Charlemagne had recovered Spain from the
Saracens, he encamped near Pampeluna, and sent Ganellon to the
Saracen kings in Saragossa, requiring them to be baptized and
pay tribute. They feigned compliance, but corrupted Ganellon,
who agreed to betray the king's army into their hands for twenty
horseloads of gold and silver. Charles, confiding in Ganellon,
began his march, giving the command of the rear to Orlando,
count of Mans and lord of Guienne, and to Oliver, count of
Auvergne, ordering them to keep Ronceval with 30,000 men,
while he passed it with the rest of his army. In the morning they
were attacked by the Saracens, whom they defeated ; but being
assailed by another Moorish army which, through Ganellon's
advice, had been placed in ambush, faint and exhausted with pre-
vious fighting, they were in turn overcome. The sound of
Orlando's horn readied the king's ears (see Canto xxxi. 18, note),
and Charles would have flown to his succour, but for Ganellon,
who, though aware of Orlando's condition, insinuated that he was

334 THE TllILOGY, [canto XXXII.

Who open'dj -n-hile she slept, Faenza's gates."'
When these we left behind^ all grim and yellow,
Two frozen in one hole appear\l in sight,
So that one head a cap was for its fellow.
And as keen hunger at a loaf will bite,

The top one thus its teeth together brings.
Just where the other's brain and spine unite.
As Tydeus for disdain, the poet sings, 130

Did Menalippus' temples gnawing clutch,^

in the habit of soundinj;' his horn on li^rht occasions. ' He is,
perhaps,' said he, ' pursuing some wild beast, and tlie sound
echoes through the woods ; it will be fruitless, therefore, to seek
him.' 0 wicked traitor ! Deceitful Judas ! "What dost thou
merit ! " — Hist. xxi. — xxiii.

^ Tribaldello de' Manfredi, a Ghibeliue of Faenza, whose gates
he opened, A.n. 1282, to the French under the command of
M. Jean d'Appia, by whom he had been bribed. Pope Martin
had brought them to suppress the Ghibeline party of tliat place.
Tribaldello was that same year slain with them at Forli. — Canto
xxvii. 44; G. Villani, vii. SO, SI.

- An accidental homicide compelled Tydeus, a son of (Eueus
king of Caljdon, to take refuge in the court of Argos, where he
married the daughter of king Adrastus. At the siege of Thebes,
after many exploits, he was wounded by Menalippus, whom in
turn his javelin pierced. At his request the dead body of his foe
was brought to him, and, after the head had been severed, he
began to tear out the brains with his teeth ; hasteniug his own
death by tlius yielding to the fury of his revenge. — Statius,
Theb. viii. 717.

"Ore tenens hostile caput, dulcique nefandus
Inimoritur tabo." — lb. ix. 18.

The terrible repast which has been depicted by the imagination

CANTO XXXII.] INFERNO. 335

So did this man tlie skull and other things.

" O thou_, by brutal sign, who show'st how much
He whom thou feed'st on doth thine hatred move.
Tell me the cause ;" I said; — "our compact such

That if but just thy plaint against him prove,
Knowing you both, and his offences, I
Will yet repay thee in the world above.

If that with which I speak should not be dry."

of tlie ])oet lias been paralleled, not only among the savages of
ancient and modern times, but among the senators of Imperial
Rome, and the Tlorentiues of the fourteenth century. Thus
" Regulus as soon as Galba was despatched, gave a purse of
money to the rufBan that murdered Piso, and, throwing himself
on the dead body, gnawed the head with his teeth." — Tacitus,
Hist. iv. 42. Tluis also in Florence, a.d. 1343, when the Duke of
Athens was besieged in his palace, having by his tyranny made
enemies of all parties, the people refused every overture, until two
of the duke's ministers and advisers, and the son of one of them,
were delivered into their hands ; to which at last the duke was
obliged to consent. The son of Guglielmo da Scesi was a young
gentleman scarcely eighteen years of age ; but neither his youth,
comeliness, nor innocence could preserve him from the rage of
the multitude ; not satisfied to strike him when alive, and hack
iiim with their swords when dead, they also tore him with their
teeth, so that not only their other senses but their very taste
might be regaled by their revenge.— Machiav. Hist. Fior. ii.

336 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO XXXllI.

CANTO XXXIII.

THE ARGUMENT.

The story of Count Ugolino, famished to death with his children
in the tower at Pisa, through the cruelty of the Archbishop
Ruggieri. The third round called Ptoloraea, where those
are punished who have betrayed their friends. Here the
souls of the friar Alberigo, Ser Branca d'Oria, and others
are punislied, while their bodies are in the world at)0ve,
apparently alive, but each under the government of a demon.

The mouth its fierce repast gave over tasting,
That sinner wiped it on the hairs which grew
Upon the head he had behind been wasting ;

Then thus commenced : " Thou wouldst that I rene^f
A desperate grief which doth my bosom tear,
Even thereon thinking, ere I speak to you.

But if my words like seed the fruit should bear
Of infamy to th' traitor whom I flay,
To see me speak and weep at once, prepare.

I know not who thou art, nor in what way 10

Thou'rt hither come ; but since the words which flow
Forth from thy lips the Florentine betray.

CAN'TO XXXIII.] INFERNO. 337

]Me for Count Ugolino thou shouldst kno»r -^
And here the archbishop Ruggieri see.
Why I^m so much his neighbour now I'll show.

That through the effect of his vile policy,
Trusting to him^ I first was apprehended
And after murder'd, I need not tell thee :

But by wbat cruelty my life was ended^ [20

Thou couldst not know; then hear it and mark well
If I with him have cause to be offended.

There was a little window in that cell

A^Tiich is ' the tower of famine ' call'd from me,

^ The Pisans waged a most, unsuccessful and calamitous •war
with Genoa, from 1282 to 1290, towards the conclusion of which
period tiiey were also distracted with domestic feuds. The GucU"
exiles had invited the Florentines, and both attacked the city by
land. The Pisans in their distress appointed as their captain-
general for ten years Count Ugolino de' Gherardeschi, a Gliibeline
baron, but allied by marriage to the Guelfs. He abused his power,
and, to strengthen it, favoured alternately both parties, while he
proscribed their more independent leaders. He was opposed by
the archbishop Ruggieri de^li Ubaldini, a staunch Gliibeline, who
in 1288 accused him of having betrayed Pisa by giving up its castles
to the Guelfs of Lucca and Plorence. An insurrection, headed
by the archbishop, was raised against him, and Ugolino, being
overpowered, was confined with two of his sons and two of his
grandsons in a tower near the Arno, the keys of which being en-
trusted to the archbishop, he threw them into the river, and left
his prisoners to die of starvation. The Torre del Fame, where
they perished, now forms part of the Palazzo dell' Orologio, on the
Piazza Dei Cavalieri. — See G. Villani, vii. 120, &c. The arch-
bishop was summoned to Rome to answer for Ugoliuo's death, with
what result is not known.

22

338 THE TRILOGY. [cANTO XXXI II,

In Avhicli unhappy captives yet may dwell ;

Its opening had already let me see

Some moons pass^ when that evil sleep took place
Which tore the veil from my futurity.^

This -wretch appeared the master of the chase,
Hunting the wolf and whelps unto the mount
Which from the Pisan hifles fair Lucca^s face.^ 30

AVith dogs lean, eager, and of good account,

The Gualands, and the Sismonds, and Lanfrancs,
Were placed in sporting order in the front.

After short course, methought, before their ranks
The sire and sons seemM wearied as they fled;
Methought I saw the sharp tusk gore their flanks.

Allien I awoke, ere dawn its light had shed,
I heard my little sons amid their sleep
(For they were with me) cry, and ask for bread.

night cruel art thou if thou noAv canst keep 40

From grief at what my heart did prophesy :
And if thou weep not, what can make thee weep ?

Kow had they waken' d, and the hour drew nigh

^ Ilecuba thus relates her prophetic dream : " I saw a dappled
fawn taken by force from my embrace, and miserably slaughtered
by the wolf's bloody paw. And tliis portent appeared, Achilles
on the summit of his tomb, demanding some luckless Trojan dame
.IS an offering. Ye gods, I pray, from mine, yea from my daughter,
avert the evil." — Eurip. Hecuba., 90.

- ]\Iount St. Julian, between Pisa and Lucca, intercepts from
eacli other the view of those two cities.

CANTO XXXIII.] INFERNO, 339

When usually our daily food appear'd,

Each doubting what his dream should signify.

And at the outer gate below I heard

The horrible tower lock'd up : I thereon eyed
The aspect of my sons, nor spake one word.

I did not weep — within so petrified !

They wept, and then ray little Anselm said, 50
" Why, father, how thou look'st! — What can be-
Yet then I answer'd not : — no tear I shed, [tide V
Thus all that day and the next night were done.
Till from another sun the darkness fled.

And when a feeble ray of light had shone
Into our mournful cell, and I could see
The look, in their four faces^ of my own,

I gnaw'd my hands through grieving agony.
And they, who thought I did it for that fain
I would have eaten, rose up suddenly, 60

And said, ' ^Twould give us, father, much less pain,
If thou wouldst eat of us. Us thou didst drape
With this poor flesh ; now strip it off again.'

I calmM me then that they more grief might scape.
We that day and the next all mutely pine.
Unfeeling earth, ah ! why didst thou not gape ?

When the fourth morning had begun to shine,
Gaddo fell prostrate at my feet, and he
Cried, * Why dost thou not help me, father mine V

340 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXXIII.

And then lie died. Plain as thou now secst me, 70
I saw the rest as one by one they fell,
Between the fifth and the sixth day, the three ;

Till blind, o^er each T groped within my cell ;
And two days^ call'd them after they were dead :
Then could my grief no more my hunger quell. '^

He, with distorted eyes, this having said.
Like a fierce mastiff, in his teeth again
Seized, piercing to the bone, the wretched head.

Ah, Pisa ! shame of all who appertain

To that fair land with language of soft sound,^ 80
To punish thee, since neighbours yet abstain,

Capraia and Gorgona from the ground

Rise, and a mole o'er Arno's entrance throw,
Till with her waters all in thee be drown'd.

^ " Three days," is the reading preferred bj many ; whicli, with
the preceding six (1. 72), would make the wliole nine : but Buti,
who explained the Divina Commedia at Pisa in 13S5, and left a
long commentary, says that "after eight days the tower was
opened, and they were all found dead." Hence Lombardi and
others prefer the reading which we have adopted.

- Litei'ally, " where si is spoken." In the middle ages the
principal European languages were denominated from the affirina-
tive word in each, answering to our Yes. Thus the Provenpal
tongue (used also at the court of Castile) was called Langue d'Oc,
the Wallon or Northern French, Langue d'Oil, or d'Oui, the
German took its denomination in like manner, from Ya, and the
Italian from Si. — Sisuondi, Lil. S. Europe, vol. i. vii. 189. Dante,
in his treatise De Vulgari Eloquentid, speaks of Italy as " the
country where they use the word Si." — i. 8.

CANTO XXXIII.] INFERNO. 341

Tliat he thy castles had betrayM, although
Count Ugolino was accused by fame,
His children thou shouldst not have tortured so.

The shield of innocence which youth may claim
(New Thebes !) Uguccion and Brigata share,
And those two others hymn'd above by name. 90

Now pass'd we to another crowd whom there
Those icy bonds in savage durance keep,
No face turn'd down, but all supine they were.

Weeping itself allows them not to weep ;^

And grief which finds a hindrance at their eyes,
Returns within for anguish yet more deep :

For the first tears congealing as they rise.

There cluster, and like masks of crystal seem.
Filling the bowl beneath each brow that lies.

Though in my face, which I might callous deem, 100
The sense of feeling I had found not slow
To quit its mansion, through the cold extreme.

Yet now I seemed to feel a slight wind blow :
I therefore said, " My guide whence can it be ?
Is not all vapour^ quite extinct thus low ? "

' "Think how this want of grief discredits you,
And you will weep because you cannot weep."

Beaumont & Fliìtcher, A Kwg and no King, ii.
- Evaporation caused by the sun's ray?, which also produce
wind. He supposes that the sun's influence would here be.
entirely excluded, and therefore cannot account for the wind.

343 THi: TRILOGV. [canto XXXIII,

Then he replied, " Thou shalt be speedily

Where thy own eyes "will answer, for they must
Of the fierce blast which showers the occasion see.

Then one cried out who mourn'd in that chill crust;
"O souls whose cruelty could so avail 110

That you are to this lowest region thrust ;

Lift from my visage this hard-frozen veil,^

That I may vent my heart's o'erwhelmins: grief
A moment, ere my tears again congeal."

Then I to him ; " If thou wouldst have relief,
Say who thou art, thee then I'll extricate.
Or may I sink beneath yon icy reef/'

" Friar Alberigo am I, who of late

The fruit of that ill garden pluck'd," he said,"

' On this passage it is well observed by Boyd, " The crimes
•which arose from sympathy suppressed, are liere fitly punished by
a vaiu efFort to recover it ; aud the eyes that never overflowed
vs-ith compassiou are exposed to the torture of freezing tears —
the grief arising from present suffering and the memory of inhuman
deeds."

2 Alberigo de' Manfredi, one of the Frati Godenti (Canto xxiii.
103, note) ; of a Guelf family, who were lords of Faenza — the
" ill-garden." Having received an affront from a young relative,
Manfred, he at length pretended reconciliation, and Manfred
begged pardon for his youthful passion. Alberigo then invited
Manfred and his son to a splendid entertainment, but had the hall
beset with ruffians in the dress of attendants. At the conclusion
of the banquet he called for tJie fruit. This was the signal for the
assassins to rush jn and despatch their victims. Hence a stab is
proverbially called "Friar Alberigo's fruit." Pulci says that

CANTO XXXIII.] INFERNO. 343

"And here am for my fig repaid a date."^ 1.20
'' Oh !" I exclaim'd, " art thou ah-eady dead ?"

And he replied, " How in the Avorld above

My body fares, I knoAv not : for so dread
Advantage doth our Ptolomea prove/

That oft the soul sinks down into this place,

Ere Atropos compels her to remove.
And that the glassy tear-drops from this face

May by thy hand more willingly be rased.

Know that the instant when a soul betrays,^

Orlando waited at Roncesvalles for the tribute promised by the
Saracen king, which proved, however, to be " The hitler fruits
of Friar Alberigo." — Morg. ^lag. xxv. 72.

* A proverbial expressiou implying complete retribution.

* The third round of the ninth circle has its name either from
Ptolemy king of Egypt, the betrayer of Pompey, or from Ptolemy
the son of Abubus, by whom Simon and his sons were murdered
at a great banquet which he had made for them. — 1 Maccab. xvi. 16.

^ The entrance of Satan into Judas Iscariot after he had
received the sop, may have furnished the poet with a hint. But
besides tiiis it was a favorite theory of the Norsemen, that when
the soul departed from the body its absence was occasionally sup-
plied by a wicked demon, who took the opportunity to enter and
occupy its late habitation. A terrific instance of this kind, from
the Northern mythology, is given by Sir Walter Scott in the
fourth of his Letters on Demonolog^ and Witchcraft. Allied to
this superstition, doubtless, is that of the Vampyre, a corpse ani-
mated by a mischievous goule or fiend, and of which the stories
are frequent in Hungary, Greece, and the Turkish provinces.
Another phase of the matter is that whiclx resolves it into hypo-
chondria. In a recent series of tales, one of them relates to a
woman who seriously told her physician that she was dead, and

344 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXX 1 1 1.

As I have done, the body straight is seized 130

By a demon, who henceforward rules it there.
Till its full time is ended. Thus amazed

She rushing falls into this cistern drear;
Perhaps above a body yet appears
Of one Avhose shade here winters at my rear :

Scr Branca d'Oria is the name he bears ;^

Thou, if but just come down shouldst know him best :
Thus has he been shut up these many years.

" I think/' said I to him, " you do but jest ;

For Branca d'Oria never yet has died : 140

He eats, drinks, sleeps, and is as usual dress'd."

" AYhere boils the pitch tenacious," he replied,
" The fosse of the keen-fang'd far overhead.
With Michael Zanche was not yet supplied.

When D'Oria left a demon in his stead.
In his own body, for that treachery.
And in his kinsman's, by whose aid it sped.

Now reach thine hand, unclose these eyes for me."

had been so for many years. Ou his attempting to rally her on
her comforts, notwithstanding, she replied, " It was Satan that
had entered into her body the moment her own soul had left it,
and plagued her with eating, drinking, talking, and living, without
any of the pleasure and relish of true life." — Notes from the Biartj
of a late Phi/sician, vol. i. p. 207. xiv.

* Of the illustrious family of Doria, Ghibellines of Genoa. In
conjunction with his nephew, he invited to a banquet, and then
treacherously murdfered, his father-in-law, Michael Zanche (see

CANTO XXXIII.] INl'EKXO. 345

Yet I unclosed tliem not, but left them cased,^

Since courtesy to liim were villany.^ 150

Ah, Genoese ! ye men perverse, defaced.

In all your Avays, in whom all faults abound ;

Why have ye not yet from the world been chased !
I with Romagna's foulest spirit found,^

DoomM for his deeds, one such of your compeers,^

In soul already in Cocytus drown'd
Whose body yet on earth alive appears.

Canto xxii. S8, note), for the purpose of getting immediate ]ios-
scssion of tiie immense wealth which Zanche had intended to
leave him.

^ This we much regret on tlie poet's account. But the respect
in which we hold his memory must not blind us to his faults.
Had he forgotten the promise which just before he had volunteered,
a»d sanctioned with a dreadful imprecation? see lines 115 — 117.
Did he hold the opinion that an oath made to a profligate is not
binding? Such a principle, we scarcely need observe, is not only
of IJie most dangerous tendency to the interests of society, but,
as opposed to truth, must be highly oifensive to the God of Truth.

■ In Ariosto, Sacripant, king of Circassia, in a transport of
rage, says to Rodomont, almost in the words of Dante,

" Gli è teco cortesia l'esser villano." — Ori. Fur. xxvii. 77.
The sentiment is incorrect, and is more nearly allied to the s))irit
of Mohammedanism than to that of the Christian religion. Civility
and courtesy to the vilest with whom we may have anything to do,
cannot be degrading or improper. Charity "doth not behave it-
self unbecomingly." There was nothing rude in the language or
conduct of Abraham even to Dives in torment — Luke xvi. 25, &c. ;
nor in that of Michael the archangel in a dispute with the devil
himself! — Jude, 9.

^ Friar Alberigo. * Branca D'0;ia.

346 TUE TK.ILOOY. [CAXTO XXXIV.

CANTO XXXIV.

The poets reach the fourth and last round of the uiuth circle,
where are punished those who have betrayed their bene-
factors. In the midst is Lucifer, surrounded with ice, in
the lowest depth of hell. Here Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and
Cassius are tormented. Virgil and Dante pass the centre
of the earth over the back of Lucifer, and ascending by a
secret path to the opposite hemisphere, they emerge, and
again behold tlie stars.

"The banuers of the King of Hell come forth^

^ This Canto in the original commences witli a Latin line,
" Vexilla regis prodeuiU Inferni:" a parody of the first line of an
ancient hymn in praise of the Cross, usually sung on Good Triday,
in the Roman Catholic worship. —

Vexilla regis prodeunt,
Fulget Crucis mysterium.
Quo Carne caruis conditor,
Suspensus est patibulo.

In Dante's parody of the above line, which some have considered
profane, others have perceived a stinging satire. The ancient
Iconoclasts, Claudius, bishop of Turin, and probably Dante him-
self, were of opinion tliat the adoration of the cross was the in-
vention of Antichrist. By the banners of the king of Hell, tlie
poet means, the wings of Lucifer, subsequently described as re-
sembling the sails of a windmill, which always have the form of
a cross. "

The banners of the king come forth.
The Cross's mystery shines ;

And there the builder of tlie earth
His sacred breath resigns.

CANTO XXXIV.] INFERNO. 347

Towards us; now onward look/^ exclaim'd my guide,
"If thou wouldst see bim/^ As when o'er the earth

A thick damp fog is breathing far and wide.
Or when the night obscures our hemisphere,
A mill turn'd by the wind from far is eyed -^

Such edifice did then, methought, appear.
Glad from the wind for shelter to withdraw
Behind my guide was I, none else was near.

I came (but rhyme with fear what now I saw) 10
To where the shades were all immersed, yet could
Be seen, as in transparent glass a straw :

Some lay extended, others upright stood ;
This on his head, and that upon his feet ;
Some like an arch, with face to feet, I view'd.

When we were come so far, that it seem'd meet
To my instructer that I should survey
Him who had once in beauty shone complete,^

' Windmills can only be traced as far hack as the beginning of
the twelfth century. — Beckman, HisL Inventions, i. 250. Don
Quixote's mistaking the windmills for giants may have been sug-
gested to Cervantes by this passage. Dante says that the
arms of Lucifer were as much greater than the giants, as the
giants were greater than the poet : and in answer to Sanclio's
question, " What giants ?" Don Quixote replies, " Those thou
seest yonder with their vast arms, and some of them there are
that reach two leagues." — i. 8. .Both Dante and Cervantes men-
tion a rising wind.

2 " Thou sealest np the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in
beauty." — Ezek. xxviii. 12.

318 THE TRILOGY. [CAXTO XXXIV.

He from before me stept^ and bade me stay ; [20
Then thus exclaim'dj " Lo^ Dis ; and lo^ the place
Where fortitude should in thy heart hold sway."

How frozen then and faint I grew apace,
Ask not, for no description can I give.
Since words were feeble to pourtray my case.

I was not dead, and yet I did not live !^

Think now, ye who of genius have the flower,
AVTiat I became when both were fugitive.

He who the grief-realm sways with sovereign power
Stood forth far as the mid-breast from the ice.
More like a giant I in stature tower 30

Than are the giants like his arms : with nice
Discrimination calculate the whole.
To which such limbs proportion hold precise.

If once he was as fair as now he's foul,

And against his Maker his proud eye-brows rear'd,
Well may he be the fountain of all dole.

How great the marvel then to me appear'd,
When I three faces saw upon his head !^

' " These, therefore, are ueither dead nor alive, but are in a
doubtful condition." — Herji.ì:, Pastor, lib. iii. ix. 21. " Who-
soever shaD appear before his Lord on llie day of judgment;,
polluted with crimes, hell shall be his reward : he shall not die
therein, neither shall he live." — Alcora?!, xx.

' According to Vellutello, the red signifies anger; tlie pale and
yellow, envy ; and the black, melancholy or despair. But is tliere
not in the " three faces on his bead" a veiled satire on the triple

CANTO XXXIV,] INFEllNO. 849

The oue before seem'd with vermilion smear'd ;

Above the middle of each shoulder spread, 40

The other two did v>\i\\ the first unite.
And at the crest was its full junction made.

Between a pale and yellow seemM the right ;

The left, like those Avho come from where his springs
Old Nile descending leaves, appear'd in sight.

From under each he spread forth two great wings,
As large as suited such a bird of prey:
Such sail above the wave no vessel flings.

After the fashion of a bat's were they.

And had no feathers : as they flapp'd tlie air, 50
Their motion swift three rapid winds obey,^

By which Cocytus' depths all frozen were.

The six eyes wept, the tears which then ran o'er
With bloody foam fell down the three chins there.

crowu ? and on tlie papal claim of sovereignty over the ruddy
European, the yellow Asiatic, and the sable African ? Rosetti
says, " Vermilion was the colour of the papal party. The badge
of the Prench party was the lily, a mixture of white and yellow.
Black was the colour of the Neri faction, by whom Dante was
banished and his friends condemned to death." — Lisquiaitious,
vol. i. vi. p. 82.

1 " ' Tell me,' said Gangler, ' whence comes the wind ?' ' I
can tell thee all about it,' answered Har. 'Thou must know that
at the northern extremity of the heavens sits a giant called
Tlrsesvelgur, clad with eagles' plumes. When he spreads out his
wings for flight, the winds arise from under them.' " — The Prose
Edda: Mallet's North. Ant. p. 415.

350 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXXIV.

The teetli at every mouth a sinner tore,

As if the jaAvs had been some ponderous mill :
Hence three at once endured this torment sore.

To him in front the bite seem'd scarce an ill
MatcVd with the clawing which oft scarifies,
And leaves his back of skin all naked still. 60

"That shade above, whose pain all else outvies,
Judas Iscariot is," my teacher said ;
" His head within, his feet without he plies.

Of those two others, each with downward head,
Brutus is he who hangs from the black snout ;^
See how he twists him round ; but speech is dead.

The other Cassius who seems limb'd so stout.
But the night reascends, 'tis time to part :
We' ve seen whate'er this place can show throughout. "

As he desired, I clasp'd his neck athwart ; 70

And he for time and place the occasion bides :
Then when those pinions were enough apart,

' Of the conduct of Brutus, different, and extremely opposite
opinions, have been held. Cowley and Akenside extol it, as the
very perfection of moral grandeur. S.Wesley, brother to Charles
and John, Master of Tiverton School, and a correspondent of
Pope, ap;reeing with Dante, designates him "Assassin Brutus,
the smiling murderer," {Ode to the Earl of Oxford ;) aud "False
Brutus, cringing while he stabs his friend." — On Mr. Hobbs.
It is said that Porsou, at school, received the question as a
theme, — "Caesare occiso, an Brutus benefecit aut malefecit?"
He cut the knot by replying, " Nee bene^ecii nee maMQcii sed
iuterfecit." '

CANTO XXXIV.] INFERNO. 351

Ile seized aud fasten'd on the shaggy sides :
From tuft to tuft descending by and by,
^Twixt the thick hair and frozen crust he glides.

When we had come exactly where the thigh
Is turn'd the fulness of the hip-joint o'er.
My guide, with much fatigue and agony.

His head turn'd where his legs had been before. [80
He grasp'd the hair as one who mounts sublime,
I thought we turn'd to enter hell once more.

" Hold fast ; for by such stairs as these to climb,"
Said then my master, panting like one spent,
" Must we now leave this world of woe and crime."

Then through the rocky hole thence forth he went.
And on the brink above he seated me ;
Then to my side his cautious footsteps bent.

I lifted up my eyes and thought to see
Satan as I had left him just before :
His legs alone held up reversed had he. 90

No marvel then that I was troubled sore.

The common sort may guess it, although they
Know not what was that point I had pass'd o'er.

" Rise on thy feet, for long indeed the way,"
My master said, " and Avretched is the road :
'Tis now half- tierce, the sun has brought back day ."^

' "Mezza terza, or half tierce, is midway between prime and
tierce ; that is, an hour and half later than prime. Prime is

352 THE TKILOGY. [CANTO XXXIV.

'Twas not a palace-walk where tlien we stood.
But broken ground and insufficient light,
A- kind of natural-prison-like abode.

''Master/'' I said, when I had risen upright, 100
" Ere from the abyss I part, speak, for thou hast
Power with few words to speed my error's flight.

Where is the ice ? and how is he made fast
Thus upside down ? and how could it betide
The sun so soon from even to morn is pass'd ?"

" Thou fanciest thou art yet," he then replied,
" Beyond the centre where my grasp I gain'd
On that vile worm that bores the world / that side

twelve hours after sunset, and therefore at llie vernal equinox
must coincide with sunrise, or 6 a.m. : hence the time indicated
is half-past seven a.m. But this refers to the sun as seen in the
southern licmisphere (line 105), where, at the antipodes of
Jerusalem, the poets, having y>assed tlirough the centre of the
earth (line J 10), are about to emerge. In the northern hemi-
sphere it would, therefore, be evening, and on the meridian of
Jerusalem 7^ P-"i- (I'-^e 113) ; and as their way from the centre
upwards was long, and not a macadamized road (lines 9-1, 95),
they cannot be supposed to have reached the surface in less time
than would bring daylight on Saturday, April 9 Lb, which was
Easter day on that meridian, (see Introd. Essay, on the time of
Dante's Vision), and consequently night on the opposite meri-
dian. This is what the poet seems to have intended : hence when
he and his companion emerge at the antipodes, they see the
stars.

' The word worm was anciently, and still is provincially, used
for serpent or dragon. The notion of the serpent boring the
•world — and a tremendous hore it has been — may be traced in

CANTO XXXI v.] INFERNO. 353

Thou wert, while I continued to descend : [110

But when I turn'd, that point then passed' st thou
Towards which all heavy things from all parts tend.^

Under that hemisphere thou standest now

various directions. Thus : " In that day the Lord with his great
and strong sword shall punish leviathan that piercing (Vulgate
" vecteni," wedge-like) serpent, even leviathan that crooked ser-
pent ; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." — Isaiah.
xxvii. 1. " Though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of tho
sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them."
— Amos, ix. 3. Socrates said, " One of the chasms of the earth is
exceedingly large, and perforated through the entire earth, and
is that which Homer speaks of, ' very far, where is the most
profound abyss beneath the earth,' which elsewhere he and many
other poets have called Tartarus." — Plato's Phmlo, 139.
Among our northern ancestors, even when heathen, the serpent
was an object of abhorrence ; not, as with oriental pagans, of
worship. In the Prose Edda it is said, " All-father threw the
Midgard serpent from heaven into that deep ocean which
engirdles the earth. But the monster has grown to such an
enormous size that, holding his tail in his mouth, he encircles
the whole earth." Thor went to fish for this leviathan, who
took the bait, and was drawn up to the side of the boat ; but
Thor had to pull so hard that his feet went tlirough the boat to
the bottom of the sea. A tremendous contest ensued, when
Thor's assistant, in his fright, cut the line and liberated the
serpent, for which in return he felt upon his own head the weight
of Thor's hammer. — See Mallet's Northern Antiq. pp. 423 — 445.
Is there not here an allusion to the curse of the serpent. Gen. iii.
15, " He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel?"

^ The doctrine of gravitation was known to pliilosophers in
Dante's time. Newton's discovery on the subject was the exten-
sion of this doctrine to all bodies in the universe — the reciprocal
attraction of all matter whether atoms or masses, in proportion
to their quantities, and in the inverse ratio of the squares of
their distances.

23

354 THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXXIV.

Opposed to that the great dry land hath claim'd/
Beneath whose canopy in death did bow

The man born sinless, and in life unblamed.^
Thou hast thy feet upon a little sphere
Whose other aspect is Judecca named :'"

Here it is morning when 'tis evening there.
And he whose hair we scaled on leaving hell,
Remains yet fix'd as he did first appear : 1 20

He lighted here when down from heaven he fell.
The land which here extended formerly,
For fear of him has made the sea her veil,*

^ Virgil iuforms bini that he is in tlie liemisphere opposite to
that which is occupied by " the great dryland." Dante seems
to have believed that the southern liemisphere is nearly covered
with water, and that the principal part of the land is in the
northern hemisphere — a remarkable approximation to truth.

^ In allusion to an opinion, then commonly entertained, that
Jerusalem is situated in the middle of the earth. " Ista est
Jerusalem: in medio Gentium 'posui earn." — Ezek. v. 5.

^ The innermost, and consequently smallest sphere of the
terrestrial globe, considered as consisting of several concentric
ones. The half of this small sphere, opposite to that on which
the poets were standing, was the fourth and last round of the
ninth circle, called Judecca, from Judas Iscariot.

^ The poet here describes the land of the southern hemisphere
as slirinking with terror at the approach of Satan, and becoming
submerged and covered by the ocean, and rising in the same
proportion in the northern hemisphere. This nearly coincides
with the tradition concerning the land called Atlantis, which
according to Plato and others, was supposed to have existed at
a very early period, and to have sunk in the Atlantic ocean by
violent earthquakes. Marcellus says that it was sacred to Pro-

CANTO XXXIV.] INFERNO. 355

And reach'd our hemisphere : so, it may be,
What on this side appears left this void place
And gather'd overhead, from him to flee.^

Yon hemisphere contains as great a space

Remote from Satan as helFs tomb extends ;"
Which not by sight but sound itself betrays,

That of a little brook which here descends, 130

By a rocky channel it has worn away,
As gently on its tortuous course it wends/'

serpine. — Plato, Timneus, 24. A remarkable geological coin-
cidence may be pointed out. Lyell says, " If we are asked
where the continent was placed, from the ruius of which the
Wealden strata were derived; we are almost tempted to speculate
on the former existence of the Atlantis of Plato, which may be
true in geology, although fabulous as a historical event. We
know that the present European lauds have come into existence
almost entirely since the deposition of the chalk, and the same
period may have sufficed for the disappearance of a continent of
equal magnitude situated further west." — Principles of Geology,
vol. iii. p. 330. In Dante's time, the existence of the American
continent was unknown ; and the learned generally denied the
existence of Antipodes, believing that beyond Europe and Africa
the west was all ocean.

' " Perhaps also tliis hollow cave was, at the same time, and
from the same cause, left vacant by the land retreating in the
opposite direction, and becoming heaped together, so as to form
the island in which we shall presently emerge." This island
Gary calls " The mountain of Purgatory."

^ The distance from Satan at the centre to the surface of that
oppo.site hemisphere, was as great as that through which they
had passed before they reached him. " La tomba," " the tomb,"
is the phrase here employed to signify hell.

356

THE TRILOGY. [CANTO XXXIV.

My guide and I by this dim cover'd way
Enter'd, the -world of light agaia to find ;
And without caring for repose to stay.

We climb' d up through, he first and I behind :
Some of heaven's brilliant lights beheld I then,
Which through a round and rocky opening shined,

Whence issuing forth we saw the stars again.

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