Inferno: Canto XII

The place to which we came, in order to descend the bank, was alpine, and such, from what was there besides, that every eye would shun it.

As is the ruin, which struck the Adige in its flank, on this side Trent, caused by earthquake or by defective prop,—

for from the summit of the mountain, whence it moved, to the plain, the rock is shattered so, that it might give some passage to one that were above:

such of that rocky steep was the descent; and on the top of the broken cleft lay spread the infamy of Crete,

which was conceived in the false cow; and when he saw us he gnawed himself, like one whom anger inwardly consumes.

My Sage cried towards him: “Perhaps thou thinkest the Duke of Athens may be here, who, in the world above, gave thee thy death?

Get thee gone, Monster! for this one comes not, instructed by thy sister; but passes on to see your punishments.”

As a bull, that breaks loose, in the moment when he has received the fatal stroke, and cannot go, but plunges hither and thither:

so I saw the Minotaur do. And my wary Guide cried: “Run to the passage; whilst he is in fury, it is good that thou descend.”

Thus we took our way downwards on the ruin of those stones, which often moved beneath my feet, from the unusual weight.

I went musing, and he said: “Perhaps thou art thinking of this fallen mass, guarded by that bestial rage, which I quelled just now.

I would have thee know, that, when I went the other time, down here to the deep Hell, this rock had not yet fallen.

But certainly, if I distinguish rightly, short while before He came, who took from Dis the great prey of the upmost circle,

on all sides the deep loathsome valley trembled so, that I thought the universe felt love, whereby, as some believe,

the world has oft-times been converted into chaos; and in that moment, here, and elsewhere, this ancient rock made such downfall.

But fix thy eyes upon the valley: for the river of blood draws nigh, in which boils every one who by violence injures others.”

O blind cupidity [both wicked and foolish], which so incites us in the short life, and then, in the eternal, steeps us so bitterly!

I saw a wide fosse bent arc wise, as embracing all the plain, according to what my Guide had told me;

and between it and the foot of the bank were Centaurs, running one behind the other, armed with arrows, as they were wont on earth to go in hunting.

Perceiving us descend, they all stood still; and from the band three came forth with bows and javelins chosen first.

And one of them cried from far: “To what torment come ye, ye that descend the coast? Tell from thence; if not, I draw the bow.”

My Master said: “Our answer we will make to Chiron, there near at hand; unhappily thy will was always thus rash.”

Then he touched me and said: “That is Nessus, who died for the fair Dejanira, and of himself took vengeance for himself;

he in the middle, who is looking down upon his breast, is the great Chiron, he who nursed Achilles; that other is Pholus, who was so full of rage.

Around the fosse they go by thousands, piercing with their arrows whatever spirit wrenches itself out of the blood farther than its guilt has allotted for it.”

We drew near those rapid beasts; Chiron took an arrow, and with the notch put back his beard upon his jaws.

When he had uncovered his great mouth, he said to his companions: “Have ye perceived that the one behind moves what he touches?

The feet of the dead are not wont to do so.” And my good Guide, who was already at the breast of him, where the two natures are consorted,

replied: “Indeed he is alive, and solitary thus have I to shew him the dark valley; necessity brings him to it, and not sport.

From singing Alleluiah, came She who gave me this new office; he is no robber, nor I a thievish spirit.

But by that virtue through which I move my steps on such a wild way, give us some one of thine whom we may follow,

that he may shew us where the ford is, and carry over him upon his back, for he is not a spirit to go through the air.”

Chiron bent round on his right breast, and said to Nessus: “Turn, and guide them then; and if another troop encounter you, keep it off.”

We moved onwards with our trusty guide, along the border of the purple boiling, wherein the boiled were making loud shrieks.

I saw people down in it even to the eyebrows; and the great Centaur said: “These are tyrants who took to blood and plunder.

Here they lament their merciless offences; here is Alexander; and fierce Dionysius, who made Sicily have years of woe;

and that brow which has the hair so black is Azzolino; and that other, who is blonde, is Obizzo of Este, who in verity was quenched by his step-son up in the world.”

Then I turned me to the Poet, and he said: “Let him be chief guide to thee now, and me second.”

A little farther on, the Centaur paused beside a people which, as far as the throat, seemed to issue from that boiling stream.

He shewed us a spirit by itself apart, saying: “That one, in God’s bosom, pierced the heart against which still is venerated on the Thames.”

Then some I saw, who kept the head and likewise all the chest out of the river; and of these I recognised many.

Thus more and more that blood grew shallow, until it [cooked] the feet only; and here was our passage through the fosse.

“As thou seest the boiling stream, on this side, continually diminish,” said the Centaur, “so I would have thee to believe

that, on this other, it lowers its bottom more and more, till it comes again to where tyranny is doomed to mourn.

Divine Justice here torments that Attila, who was a scourge on earth; and Pyrrhus and Sextus; and to eternity milks tears, which by the boiling it unlocks, from

Rinier of Corneto, from Rinier Pazzo, who on men the highways made so much war.” Then he turned back, and repassed the ford.