Inferno: Canto XXI

So on from bridge to bridge, discussing theme
Of which my Comedy cares not to tell,
We went; and when we gained the point extreme.

There did we pause to view another dell
Of Malebolge, and more wailings vain,'
And saw a wondrous darkness o'er it dwell.

As when Venetian ships in dock remain.
The clammy pitch boils up in winter-tide
To fit their unsound hulls for sea again;

They cannot put to set, so there abide;
One mends the timber, and one caulks anew
The ribs of ship that many a sea has tried.

There one the stem and one the stern drives through,
Some fashion oars and some the cordage twine,
The mainsail or the mizen some renew;"

So, not by fire, but by a skill divine,
Thick viscid pitch seethes ever there below,
Which as with birdlime all the bank did line.

I looked on it, but no more saw I so
Than bubbles which the boiling drove on high;
First swelling out, and then collapsing low.

While I, with downward gazing, turned mine eye,
My Guide, crying out to me, " Beware! beware!"
Drew me to him from where I stood hard by;

And then I turned, as one who longs to dare
To gaze on what behoveth him to flee.
Yet stands unmanned by terror unaware.

Who slacketh not his flight through wish to see;
And then behind I saw a demon black
Come running on the crag full speedily.

Ah me! how eager was he to attack!
How bitter seemed he to me in his deed!
With open wings, and on his feet not slack.

His shoulders, high and curved, were sharp indeed,
And bore a sinner with his legs astride,
And grasping both his feet did he proceed,

"Ho, Malebranche, of our bridge," he cried,
"Lo! here of Santa Zita's Ancients one;
Plunge him down there till I once more have hied

Back to that land, which with them is o'errun:
All, save Bonturo, are corrupters there,
And No is turned to Yes by base pence won."

He flung him down, and on the hard rock bare
He turned, and never mastiff unleashed sped
With steps so swift the hunted thief to tear."

The other sank, then rose with downward head,
And then the demons whom the bridge did hide
Cried, "Here no Holy Face is worshipped;

Far other swimming this than Serchio's tide;
Therefore, unless thou seek'st our hooks to taste,
Take heed thou rise not from the pitch outside."

Then him with more than hundred hooks they chased,
And said, " Here covered thou thy dance must take,
And, if thou canst, for secret pilfering haste."

Not otherwise do cooks their scullions make"
Thrust flesh half down the caldron with their prong.
Lest it should through the seething surface break.

"That thou appear not here," my Master's tongue
Spake to me, crouch thou here behind a rock.
That so its shadow o'er thee may be flung;"

And let no outrage offered to me shock
Or cause thee fear; all these things have I known:
Long time ago I met this scuffling flock."

Then passed he from the bridge's topmost stone.
And as towards the sixth bank he drew near,
'Twas meet his face should be as tranquil shown.

Then with the furious rage and madness sheer
With which upon a beggar dogs rush on.
Who on a sudden halts and asks alms there.

So from beneath the bridge they rushed each one,
And turned against him every grappling hook.
But he cried out, " Let ill-intent be none!

Before ye seize me with your torturing crook.
Let one among you forward come and hear;
Then let him, ere he seize, for counsel look."

"Let Malacoda," they all cried, " appear."
Then one came forward while the rest stood by.
And as he came he said, " What good is here?"

"What, Malacoda! thinkest thou that I
Thus far have ventured," then my Master said,
"Till now secure from all the tricks you try.

Without God's will, and fate propitious made?
Let me pass on; another, so wills Heaven,
By me must through this wildered way be led.''

Then to his haughty mood a shock was given,
So that his hook he let fall at his feet,
Then to the rest, " Now let him not be driven."

And then my Guide: " O thou who hast thy seat.
Squat, squat among the crags that bridge the pit.
Now may'st thou safely stir thee me to meet.""

And then I rose and quick to him did flit.
So fiercely then the devils rushed on me,
I feared they would some breach of faith commit.

Thus full of fear I once those troops did see
Who from Caprona issued, treaty-bound,
When all around they saw the enemy.

I to the spot then turned myself full round,
Where stood my Guide, nor did I lift mine eye
From off their face, which far from kind I found.

They lowered their hooks, and "Will ye that I try
To grab his hip? " one to the others cried.
"Yea, see thou nick him well," they made reply.

And then that demon who with my good Guide
Discourse had held, all suddenly turned round
And said, " Peace, peace, Scarmiglion, quiet bide;"

Then spake to us, " No further path is found
Here on this rock, for there the sixth arch lies.
All crushed and shattered in the depth profound.

But if to advance be pleasing in your eyes,
Upon this bank of stone pursue your way;"
Another rock is near which path supplies.

Five hours beyond this same hour yesterday,
Twelve hundred threescore years and six complete
Did make, since here the path in ruins lay.

I send in that direction comrades meet"
To see if any doth himself upraise;
Go on with them; they will not you maltreat.

Come Alichino, Calcabrina," says
He then to them, "and thou Cagnazzo too,
Let Barbariccia show the ten their ways;

Come, Draghinazzo, Libicocc', to view,
Ciriatto with his tusks, and Graffiacan,
Mad Rubicant and Farfarell, come you!

Upon the boiling pitch look well and scan;
Let these in safety to the next crag go,
Which all unbroken doth the deep dens span."

"Ah me! my Master," said I to him; " lo
What see I? Let us guideless go alone.
If thou know'st how; none for myself, I trow,

I ask, if still thy wonted skill is shown.
Dost thou not see them how their teeth they grind.
And with their eyebrows threaten us with woe?"

And he to me: " Be not of fearful mind;
Let them go on and gnash their teeth at will;
Their victims they among those boiled ones find.""

On the left dike they wheeled, but not until
Each had thrust out his tongue between his teeth,
And to their leader made their signal ill.

While trumpet notes from his back parts did breathe.