Inferno: Canto XXXII

If I had rhymes as out of tune and harsh
As would be fitting for that drear abyss,
Which, as their centre, th' other rocks o'erarch.

To press thought's grape-juice I were not remiss
More fully. Since by me they're not possessed,
Not without fear I come to speak of this.

No theme it is for one to touch in jest,
To paint the abyss of all the universe,
Nor speech that "Mamma," "Babbo" shall suggest;

But may those Ladies now assist my verse,
Who helped, of yore, Amphion Thebes to rear,
That speech and fact may not be too diverse!

O race above all others cursed there.
Dwelling in clime whereof 'tis hard to tell,
Better on earth ye sheep or wild-goats were!

When we had reached the deep and darksome well.
Beneath the giant's feet, but far more low.
While still my gaze upon the high wall fell,

I heard a voice, "Take heed how thou dost go!
Look to it, lest beneath thy feet thou tread
The heads of brothers worn and spent with woe."

Turned I thereon, and saw before me spread.
And at my feet, a lake exceeding cold.
And glass, not water, seemed there in its bed.

Never did veil so thick the course enfold
In winter-time of Austrian Donau's track.
Nor doth so chilly clime the Tanais hold

As it was there; for should the Tambernach
Fall on it, or Pietra Pana's rock,
E'en on the edge it had not made a crack.

And as the frogs to croak are wont to flock,
With snout thrust forth from water, when in dream
The peasant maiden gleans from every shock,

Those hapless ghosts showed in that frozen stream,
Livid as far as part where shame is shown,
And gnashing teeth did like storks' clattering seem.

Of each the glance was ever downwards thrown.
From out their mouth the cold, and from the face
Their sorrowing heart, were all too plainly known.

When I around had gazed a little space,
I turned my glance towards my feet, and there
Saw two so close their locks did interlace.

"Tell me, O ye whose breasts are strained so near,"
Said I, "who are ye? " And their necks they bent.
And when to me their faces they did rear,

Their eyes, which erst within had tears deep pent.
Gushed downwards through the lids, and then the cold
Congealed the tears and stayed their free descent.

Never did rivet beam to beam so hold
Thus strongly; whereon they, like goats that fight,
Butted, so fierce a rage their hearts controlled;

And one, who had both ears lost through the might
Of that sharp frost, with visage downward bent,
Said, " Why on us dost mirror thus thy sight?

If thou to know these twain art so intent,"
The valley whence Bisenzio downward pours.
To them, as to their father Albert, went;

Both from one womb did issue, and the shores
Of all Caina thou may'st search, nor find
Spirit more worthy of these frozen floors;

Not he whose breast and shadow, as combined.
Were with one stroke transfixed by Arthur's hand.
Nor yet Focaccia, nor yet he behind

Whose head, that shuts out all my view, I stand,
And Sassol Mascheroni was his name;
Thou know'st his tale if thou'rt from Tuscan land;

And lest my over-prolix speech thou blame,
Camicion de' Pazzi in me know;
I wait Carlino, who shall clear my fame."

And then I saw a thousand faces low,""
Livid with cold, whence o'er me shudderings creep,
And ever will, from all pools frozen so.

And as we went toward the centre deep,
To which converges all we know of weight,
I shivered where the eternal shadows sleep.

Whether 'twere will, or fortune's chance, or fate,
I know not, but as o'er the heads I went.
My foot upon the face of one did grate.

Wailing he cried, "Why dost thou me torment?
Unless thou comest to increase the hate
Of Montaperti, why my pain augment?"

And I: " O Master, here, I pray thee, wait,
That I from out my doubt may find a way;
Then, as thou wilt, my haste shall not abate."

My Guide then stopped; and I to him did say,
Who still was raving fierce with blasphemy,
"Who art thou that at others rail'st away?"

"Nay, who art thou that thus," he made reply,
"Through Antendra, smiting cheeks, dost go?
Wert thou alive, 'twere done too heavily."

"Alive I am," I answered him, " and so
May it please thee, if thou to fame aspire.
That I thy name in other rhymes may show."

And he: " Full otherwise is my desire;
Take thy way hence, nor longer vex my soul;
In this dark vale thy flattery doth but tire."

Then I put forth my hand and seized his poll,
And said, Now thou thy name must needs confess,
Or not a single hair will I leave whole." p""

And he: "Though thou should'st pluck each single tress,
I will not show thee who I am, nor tell, press."
Though thousand times thy weight my head should

His locks already I had grasped full well,
And more than one good handful I had torn,
While he howled on, with eyes that downward fell;

When one, "What ails thee, Bocca?" cried in scorn;
"Is't not enough thy jaws our ears should tire,
But thou must howl? What devil makes thee mourn?"

"No words of thine," I said, " do I desire.
Thou caitiff traitor, for, to thy foul shame,
True news of thee shall men from me acquire."

"Away," he answered, " what thou wilt, proclaim;
But shroud not him, if thou return above,
Whose tongue was now too prompt to tell my name.

The silver of the French his tears doth move;"
'I saw him of Duera,' thou may'st say,
'Where guilty souls their icy torments prove.'

If thou art asked what others there did stay,
He of Beccaria standeth at thy side.
Whose gorget fine our Florence cut away;

Gianni del Soldanier doth abide
With Ganellon and Tebaldell', I trow,
Who, while Faenza slept, her gates oped wide."

Already we had left him, and withdrew,
When in one pit I saw two frozen thrust,
So that one head as hood to th' other grew;

And, as a famished man devours a crust,
So there the topmost one his teeth set fast.
Where skull with neck the juncture doth adjust;

Not otherwise did Tydeus make repast
Of Menalippus' skull in his disdain.
Than he on scalp and what it held broke fast.

"O thou whose hate in bestial sign is plain,
Thy hate for him whom thou dost thus devour,
Do thou, these terms agreed, the ' why ' explain;

That if of right thy rage on him doth pour,
I, knowing who ye are and what his sin,
May pay thee when I reach the world once more,

Unless my tongue lie stiff my lips within."