Inferno: Canto XXVIII

Who, e'en in language unconstrained by rhyme,
Of all the blood and wounds I saw could speak.
Though he described their horrors many a time?

No tongue forsooth but in the attempt must fail —
Our mind too finite, and our speech too weak
To comprehend the woes I would detail.

If in Apulia's memorable land
Were all the grieving nations gathered round.
Who met destruction by the Roman's hand, —

Or suffer'd by the sword in that long war.
When erst with golden rings the spoils were crown'd.
As Livy writes, whose history doth not err; —

Those nations also, who were doom'd to feel
The grievous blows of Robert Guiscard bold; —
Those others too, whose bones are gather'd still

At Ceperan, that saw th' Apulians fly —
False to their lord; and where Alardo old
Near Tagliacozzo won the victory; —

And all could show their suffering limbs, pierced through.
Or lop't away; — nought were they to compare
With what this ninth compartment gave to view.

A cask, split down the middle or the end.
Gapes not so wide as one I witnessed there.
Ripped from the chin to where the haunches bend.

Between his legs. the entrails hung; meanwhile
The midriff, and the opening paunch expands, —
Receptacle of what is foul and vile.

With stedfast gaze I viewed his sad estate.
When eying me, he tore him with his hands.
And said: "Lo, how my side I lacerate.

Behold how Mahomet is rent in twain!
Before me, mangled upwards from the chin
E'en to the brow, walks Ali, rack'd with pain.

And all the others, whom thou seest forlorn.
On earth sow'd seeds of scandal, and the sin
Of schism incurr'd, and therefore thus are torn.

A devil is behind us, who bestows
These cruel wounds with sword of sharpest steel.
And as we pass, inflicts on each fresh blows.

Oft as we traverse this accursed strand;
For, ever and anon our gashes heal.
Ere we again in his dread presence stand.

But who art thou, whom on the rock I find
Thus musing? — haply wishing to delay
The pangs by heaven to thy misdeeds assigned?"

"Death hath not struck him yet; nor is he led
By crime to punishment; but — that he may
Obtain experience fall, I, who am dead,"

Replied the bard, "must his conductor be
Through the deep gulf of Hell from round to round:
This is as true as that I speak to thee.

More than a hundred, when they heard the news.
Paused to behold me from the trench profound; —
In wonderment forgetting all their woes.

"Thou who perhaps the sun wilt shortly see,
Exhort Friar Dolcin, that with store of food
(Unless he wish full soon to follow me,)

He arm himself; lest, strait'ned by the snow,
A triumph to Novara be allow'd
O'er him whom else he could not overthrow."

These words spake Mahomet to me — his foot
Upraised — as if in action to proceed.
Which, now departing, to the ground he put.

Another shade (who had his throat laid bare,
And nose lopp'd off, e'en from the brows; and had
Remaining but one solitary ear.

And with the rest in wonder lost had stood
At gaze — ) advancing foremost, now displayed
His windpipe open'd and distain'd with blood.

"O thou whom guilt condemneth not," he cried,
"And whom in Latium I have erst surveyed,
(Unless too much the likeness hath belied)

On Pier da Medicina thought bestow,
If thou once more that lovely plain behold.
Which from Vercelli slopes to Mercabo.

And be these words to Fano's worthy twain.
To Guido, and to Angiolello told; —
That, if all foresight here is not in vain.

They near Cattolica shall overboard
Be cast, and sunk in ocean, by the guile
And wicked treachery of a tyrant lord.

So great a crime did never Neptune view.
Betwixt Majorca and the Cyprian isle.
By pirates wrought, or by an Argive crew.

That traitor vile with but a single eye,
(Who owns the fatal land a spirit here
Would wish, I deem he never had been nigh)

Them to a parley with him shall invite;
And so contrive, that neither vow nor prayer
Shall they require against Focara's might."

Then I: "Point out, and let the soul be seen,
(If upon earth you bid me speak of you)
Who to that land would fain he ne'er had been."

Raising his hand, he seized his comrade's cheek.
And opening wide his jaws, said: "Take a view
Of him you mention; lo! he cannot speak.

From Caesar's mind this outcast took away
The doubt he felt, when he affirm'd forsooth,
'To men prepared 'tis fatal to delay!' "

Oh! how cast down was Curio, and dismay'd,
(His tongue uprooted from within his mouth)
Who erst so boldly this assertion made!

And one, who was deprived of either hand, —
Lifting the bleeding stumps amid the dun
Dense air, so that the gore his visage stain'd, —

Cried: "In thy mind let Mosca bear a place.
Who said, — (alas the day!) 'What's done is done;'
Words fraught with misery to the Tuscan race:" —

"And of thy house the ruin, let me add."
Quoth I; whereat, redoubling moan on moan,
He sped, like one by sorrow struck, and mad.

I stood, still gazing on the band aloof.
And saw a thing I should have fear, alone
Thus to record, with want of other proof.

Unless my conscience made me feel secure —
That good companion, which makes bold the man
Whose breastplate is — to know his thoughts are pure.

I saw indeed, and still I seem to see
A trunk without its head, which onward ran.
Like others of this mournful company.

E'en by the hair he held the sever'd head,
Like to a lantern dangling in his hand;
While viewing us intent, "Ah me!" he said:

And thus unto himself a light was he;
And two in one and one in two I scann'd;
God only knows how such a thing could be.

When to the bridge's foot we had drawn near,
He raised his arm, and with it rear'd the head.
Its words thus bringing closer to our ear.

"Behold the agony in which I pine.
Thou, who still breathing visitest the dead:
Behold if any pangs can equal mine:

And that of me some tidings thou may'st take, —
Bertram de Bornio, be it known, am I,
Who urged King John rebellious war to make.

Father and son at enmity I set;
Nor did Achitophel with arts more sly
David and Absalom's resentment whet.

Because the bonds, by nature form'd, I burst,
My brain, alas! is sever'd from its source.
Which lies within this wretched trunk accurst:

Thus retribution doth pursue its course."