The Divine Comedy by Dante: The Vision of Hell, Or The Inferno: Canto XXXII

Could I command rough rhimes and hoarse, to suit     That hole of sorrow, o'er which ev'ry rock     His firm abutment rears, then might the vein     Of fancy rise full springing: but not mine     Such measures, and with falt'ring awe I touch     The mighty theme; for to describe the depth     Of all the universe, is no emprize     To jest with, and demands a tongue not us'd     To infant babbling. But let them assist     My song, the tuneful maidens, by whose aid     Amphion wall'd in Thebes, so with the truth     My speech shall best accord. Oh ill-starr'd folk,     Beyond all others wretched! who abide     In such a mansion, as scarce thought finds words     To speak of, better had ye here on earth     Been flocks or mountain goats. As down we stood     In the dark pit beneath the giants' feet,     But lower far than they, and I did gaze     Still on the lofty battlement, a voice     Bespoke me thus: "Look how thou walkest. Take     Good heed, thy soles do tread not on the heads     Of thy poor brethren." Thereupon I turn'd,     And saw before and underneath my feet     A lake, whose frozen surface liker seem'd     To glass than water. Not so thick a veil     In winter e'er hath Austrian Danube spread     O'er his still course, nor Tanais far remote     Under the chilling sky. Roll'd o'er that mass     Had Tabernich or Pietrapana fall'n,     Not e'en its rim had creak'd. As peeps the frog     Croaking above the wave, what time in dreams     The village gleaner oft pursues her toil,     So, to where modest shame appears, thus low     Blue pinch'd and shrin'd in ice the spirits stood,     Moving their teeth in shrill note like the stork.     His face each downward held; their mouth the cold,     Their eyes express'd the dolour of their heart.     A space I look'd around, then at my feet     Saw two so strictly join'd, that of their head     The very hairs were mingled. "Tell me ye,     Whose bosoms thus together press," said I,     "Who are ye?" At that sound their necks they bent,     And when their looks were lifted up to me,     Straightway their eyes, before all moist within,     Distill'd upon their lips, and the frost bound     The tears betwixt those orbs and held them there.     Plank unto plank hath never cramp clos'd up     So stoutly. Whence like two enraged goats     They clash'd together; them such fury seiz'd.     And one, from whom the cold both ears had reft,     Exclaim'd, still looking downward: "Why on us     Dost speculate so long? If thou wouldst know     Who are these two, the valley, whence his wave     Bisenzio slopes, did for its master own     Their sire Alberto, and next him themselves.     They from one body issued; and throughout     Caina thou mayst search, nor find a shade     More worthy in congealment to be fix'd,     Not him, whose breast and shadow Arthur's land     At that one blow dissever'd, not Focaccia,     No not this spirit, whose o'erjutting head     Obstructs my onward view: he bore the name     Of Mascheroni: Tuscan if thou be,     Well knowest who he was: and to cut short     All further question, in my form behold     What once was Camiccione. I await     Carlino here my kinsman, whose deep guilt     Shall wash out mine." A thousand visages     Then mark'd I, which the keen and eager cold     Had shap'd into a doggish grin; whence creeps     A shiv'ring horror o'er me, at the thought     Of those frore shallows. While we journey'd on     Toward the middle, at whose point unites     All heavy substance, and I trembling went     Through that eternal chillness, I know not     If will it were or destiny, or chance,     But, passing 'midst the heads, my foot did strike     With violent blow against the face of one.     "Wherefore dost bruise me?" weeping, he exclaim'd,     "Unless thy errand be some fresh revenge     For Montaperto, wherefore troublest me?"     I thus: "Instructor, now await me here,     That I through him may rid me of my doubt.     Thenceforth what haste thou wilt." The teacher paus'd,     And to that shade I spake, who bitterly     Still curs'd me in his wrath. "What art thou, speak,     That railest thus on others?" He replied:     "Now who art thou, that smiting others' cheeks     Through Antenora roamest, with such force     As were past suff'rance, wert thou living still?"     "And I am living, to thy joy perchance,"     Was my reply, "if fame be dear to thee,     That with the rest I may thy name enrol."     "The contrary of what I covet most,"     Said he, "thou tender'st: hence; nor vex me more.     Ill knowest thou to flatter in this vale."     Then seizing on his hinder scalp, I cried:     "Name thee, or not a hair shall tarry here."     "Rend all away," he answer'd, "yet for that     I will not tell nor show thee who I am,     Though at my head thou pluck a thousand times."     Now I had grasp'd his tresses, and stript off     More than one tuft, he barking, with his eyes     Drawn in and downward, when another cried,     "What ails thee, Bocca? Sound not loud enough     Thy chatt'ring teeth, but thou must bark outright?     What devil wrings thee?"--"Now," said I, "be dumb,     Accursed traitor! to thy shame of thee     True tidings will I bear."--"Off," he replied,     "Tell what thou list; but as thou escape from hence     To speak of him whose tongue hath been so glib,     Forget not: here he wails the Frenchman's gold.     'Him of Duera,' thou canst say, 'I mark'd,     Where the starv'd sinners pine.' If thou be ask'd     What other shade was with them, at thy side     Is Beccaria, whose red gorge distain'd     The biting axe of Florence. Farther on,     If I misdeem not, Soldanieri bides,     With Ganellon, and Tribaldello, him     Who op'd Faenza when the people slept."     We now had left him, passing on our way,     When I beheld two spirits by the ice     Pent in one hollow, that the head of one     Was cowl unto the other; and as bread     Is raven'd up through hunger, th' uppermost     Did so apply his fangs to th' other's brain,     Where the spine joins it. Not more furiously     On Menalippus' temples Tydeus gnaw'd,     Than on that skull and on its garbage he.     "O thou who show'st so beastly sign of hate     'Gainst him thou prey'st on, let me hear," said I     "The cause, on such condition, that if right     Warrant thy grievance, knowing who ye are,     And what the colour of his sinning was,     I may repay thee in the world above,     If that, wherewith I speak be moist so long."