Inferno: Canto XXXI

The self-same tongue whose edge first made me feel
Each flushing cheek to glow with crimson o'er,
Then brought its ministering balm to heal:

So have I heard the spear Achilles bore.
His father's erst, the cause was wont to be
Of pain at first and then of bounty more.

We turned our back on that vale sad to see.
Upon the bank that girds it all around,
And, as we onward went, no word spake we.

There less than night and less than day we found,
So that my forward vision had short course;
But soon I heard a trump of shrillest sound,

It would have made all thunder-peals seem hoarse.
Which, as it tracked its pathway back again,
Drew my eyes' eager gaze to seek its source:"

After that dolorous rout when Charlemagne
His hopes of high emprise dispersed did see,
Not half so dread Orlando's loud refrain.

Awhile I turned my head there wistfully.
And seemed to look on many a lofty tower;
Then I: " Say, Master, what this land may be?"

And he to me: "Because thine eye doth scour
Through the thick dark at distance too remote.
It chances thou'rt misled by fancy's power.

Should'st thou arrive there, thou wilt clearly note
How much thy sense by distance is beguiled;
Wherefore ply thou the spur for speed more hot."

And then my hands he clasped, benignly mild.
And said, "Before our steps pass onward far,
That the true fact may seem less strangely wild,

Know thou those forms not towers, but giants are;
And in the pit, around the bank hard by.
From navel downwards one and all appear."

As when the morning mist doth melt and fly.
Little by little doth the sight discern"
What the dense fog doth hide from keenest eye.

So piercing through the thick air's gloom forlorn,
And winding ever nearer to the shore,
My error fled and terror took its turn;

For even as by ramparts, circling o'er
With lofty towers, is Montereggion crowned.
So there the rim which round the dark pit bore

Those fearful giants did, as towers, surround
With half their bodies: these Jove threatens yet
From his high heaven when his thunders sound.

My gaze the form of one already met,
Shoulders and breasts and of the belly part.
And both his arms a-down his sides were set.

Nature, in truth, when she forsook the art
Of making creatures such as these, did well
To bid such ministers from Mars depart;

And if for elephants and whales that dwell
On earth she grieves not, to the thoughtful she
Will seem to act with juster, subtler spell;

For where the mind's clear faculty to see
With evil will and vigour doth combine,
No bulwark can from them a people free.

His face as long and vast as is the pine
That bears at Rome St. Peter's name, appeared;
And other limbs were framed in fit design,

So that the bank which did as apron gird
His middle downwards, showed so much above,
That to reach up to either hair or beard,

Three Frisians would their vauntings idle prove.
For measured down I saw full thirty palm
From where a man to clasp his cloak doth love.

"Raphel, mai amech izabi d aim"
The haughty mouth began aloud to cry.
To which unmeet were any sweeter psalm.

"O witless spirit, still thy trumpet ply,"
Then said my guide, " and show thy mind, with that,
When wrath or other passion thee doth try;

Search round thy neck, and thou the band shalt find
Which keeps it fast, O blind soul and confused.
And see where it thy mighty breast doth bind."

Then said he, " By himself is he accused:
Nimrod is this, through whose intent of ill
One language in the world no more is used.

Let us leave him, nor speak all vainly still,
For every language to him, as his own
To others, is incomprehensible."

Then we in farther journey travelled on,
Turned to the left, and, bowshot's space within,
Another found, more fierce and overgrown.

Who to bind him such skill of art could win
I know not, but his right arm bound behind
He held, the other arm in front was seen;

The chains, which downward hung, his limbs confined,
So from the neck down all the part exposed
That five full spirals round him were entwined.

This haughty one to try his strength proposed,"
Then said my guide, " against almighty Jove,
And for requital he's in bonds enclosed;

His name is Ephialtes; he did prove
His might, when giants caused the gods to fear;
The arms then raised he never more may move."

Then I to him: "If possible it were,
I fain would wish Briareus, vast in size,
Before mine eyes might stand in vision clear."

He answered: " Lo! Antaeus meets thine eyes
Hard by, for he can speak and is set free,
To bear us where the abyss of evil lies;

Much farther on is he thou fain would'st see.
And he in manner like to this is bound,
Save that his looks show more ferocity."

Never was earthquake so tempestuous found
A tower with such great violence to shake,
As Ephialtes shook himself; more ground

Had I than ever, fearing death, to quake;
And nothing more was needed than this dread,"
Had I not seen how bonds his strength did break.

Then onward farther were our footsteps led,
And to Antaeus came, who full five ell
Rose from the pit, not counting in his head.

"O thou, who in the fateful vale didst dwell"
Which made of Scipio heir of glorious fame,
When Hannibal's great host before him fell.

And thousand lions as thy spoil didst claim.
And who, hadst thou been in the war of might
With those thy kin, some deem that through the same

Earth's sons had had the power to win the fight;
Take thou us down, nor grieve that task to ply,
Where, o'er Cocytus, cold asserts her right.

To Tityus, Typho bid us not to fly;
This man can give what here your longings seek; '
Stoop down, nor curl thy lip so haughtily.

He in the world can yet thy glory speak.
For he still lives, and hopes for length of days,
Unless God's grace his life shall sooner take."

So spake the Master. Nor made he delays,
But with the hand he did my Leader grasp
That once filled Hercules with sore amaze.

And Virgil, when he felt the giant's clasp.
Said to me, " Come thou near, that I take thee,"
And then himself and me in one did hasp.

And as to eyes that Carisenda see.
Beneath its sloping tower, when comes a cloud.
It seems to bend with motion contrary.

So did Antaeus seem to me, who, bowed
In eager gaze, did look to see him bend,
And half to go by other way had vowed.

But in the pit full swift our course did end
Which Lucifer with Judas doth devour;
Nor paused he, thus bowed down, to reascend,

But rose, as mast in gallant ship doth tower.