Inferno: Canto XXXI

The very tongue, whose sharp rebuke had dyed
My either cheek with shame of crimson hue.
Itself, unask'd, a remedy supplied

Thus have I heard Achilles' lance possest
A charmed power, as erst his father's too,
Inflicting wounds it presently redrest.

Turning our backs upon the vale of woe.
Then mounted we the rock which circles it;
Nor, as we pass'd, did aught of speech bestow.

Here less than day, and less than night we found.
So that not far could I extend my sight;
But through the gloom I heard a horn resound,-

Such as would make the loudest thunder hoarse:
Wherefore I turn'd mine eyes to whence it came.
Pursuing eagerly its awful course.

Not — that destructive day of carnage past.
When Charlemagne had lost his sacred aim —
Sounded Orlando such a fearful blast.

Then towards the place I somewhat raised my head;
And many a lofty tower I seem'd to ken:
"O master, what new land is this?" I said.

"Athwart the dusky air so long the way,
Thine eye," quoth he, "a sight can scarce obtain;
And hence imagination leads astray.

But thou wilt see, if there thou should arrive,
How much deceived by distance is the sense;
Wherefore to gain a nearer prospect strive."

Then tenderly he took me by the hand.
And said: "Ere we pursue our journey hence —
That this delusion thou may'st understand.

Know — that not towers are these, but giants, who,
Circling the bank, stand one and all immersed
Down from the middle in the pit below.

As when a mist dispersing — melts away,
The eye by slow degrees takes in what erst
Conceal'd within the lurid vapour lay;

Thus, piercing through the gross and murky air,
While slowly I approach'd the brink profound,
My error fled, but soon was chang'd to fear: —

For, as above its wide-extended space.
With lofty towers is Montereggion crown'd.
So is the shore, which doth this gulf embrace.

By dreadful giants turretted throughout;
Whose persons, half exposed, the fiery dart
Of thundering Jove still menaces with rout.

Of one already I the face descried.
The shoulders, breast, and of the paunch great part;
The arms too hanging down on either side.

Nature forsooth her counsels wisely planned,
What time she ceased these monsters to create,
Depriving Mars of such abettors; — and

If she repent not that the earth yet teems
With elephants and whales — still more discreet
In this to a discerning judge she seems:

For when the noble faculty of mind
To power is added, and to ill design,
No remedy can man against them find.

His face as long, and e'en as wide methought,
As at St. Peter's is the brazen pine;
And in proportion all his limbs were wrought.

And thus the bank, which, from the waist below,
Girdled him round, so much above left seen.
That vainly would three Friezlanders bestow

Their pains to reach his hair: such was his size.
That thirty measured palms at least, I ween,
Appeared below where man his mantle ties.

Forth issued from his savage lips a shout:
"Raphegi mai amech izabi almi;"
For more harmonious sounds became him not.

To him my guide; "Insensate spirit — rest;
Keep to thy horn; and let its sounds supply
A vent to angry passions in thy breast:

Look on thy neck; and thou the band wilt find
Which holds it fast, O thou distracted one!
Lo! round thy mighty breast it is entwined."

To me he said: "Himself he hath accused; —
Nimrod is this, through whose proud thoughts alone
One language is on earth no longer used.

There let him rest, nor speak to him in vain;
For e'en as he none else can understand.
So others from his tongue no sense can gain."

Then bearing to the left we onward passed.
And found another still more fierce and grand.
About the distance that a sling could cast.

Who had the strength this giant huge to bind,
I know not; — but enchain'd upon his breast
The left arm lay; — the right arm was behind.

Girt with the chain, by which his breast was bound
Down from the neck: five times above his waist
Apparent ran the circling fetters round,

"In conflict with dread Jove, the sovereign lord,
Wish'd this presumptuous one to try his might,"
Exclaim'd my guide, "and this is his reward: —

His name Phialtes: — when the giants made
The gods to tremble, great was he in fight:
No more he moves the arms which then he sway'd."

"Much could I wish, O master," I exclaim,
"If it be possible, that I might see
Briareus' huge immeasurable frame."

He answer'd me: "Thou shalt behold full soon
Antaeus, who is loose, and speaketh; — he
To guilt's profoundest depth shall bear us down.

Far distant is the one thou would'st survey,
With fetters bound; — like him thou see'st withal.
Though more ferocity his looks betray.

Never was earthquake so tremendous, when
It shakes some castle, tottering to its fall.
As was the struggle of Phialtes: — then

Came o'er my soul a dread of death, that ne'er
Till now I felt; and had I not survey'd
The chains that bound him, life had fail'd through fear.

We then proceeded on; and presently
We reach'd Antaeus, who, besides his head.
Five ells at least tower'd o'er the cavity.

"O thou, who in that memorable field
Where valiant Scipio won a deathless name.
And Hannibal's proud host was forced to yield,

A thousand lions bore — thy prize — away;
And by whose aid, if we may trust to fame,
Hadst thou thy brethren join'd in the affray.

The sons of Earth had gain'd the victory, —
Bear us below, where icy bonds congeal
Cocytus' stream; nor our request deny,

Lest we to Tityon or to Tiseus go:
See here is one, with power to do thy will;
Wherefore disdain us not, but bend thee low:

On earth he still may renovate thy fame;
For yet he lives, and life hath yet in store.
Unless his spirit grace should sooner claim."

My master thus: — him seized without delay
The giant in his mighty hands, of yore
By Hercules experienced with dismay.

When Virgil felt his grasp, to me he said:
"So place thyself that I may take thee:" — then
One group both of himself and me he made.

As Carisenda, view'd by one below.
What time a cloud flies over it — seems to lean
In opposite direction; — even so

To me appear'd Antaeus, as I stood
In wonder; — and so fearful was his guise,
I gladly would have gone some other road.

But in the abyss he lightly set us down.
Where Lucifer with traitor Judas lies:
Nor long remain'd inclining thus; — but soon

Rose, as the mast from deck is seen to rise.