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

And now the verse proceeds to torments new,     Fit argument of this the twentieth strain     Of the first song, whose awful theme records     The spirits whelm'd in woe. Earnest I look'd     Into the depth, that open'd to my view,     Moisten'd with tears of anguish, and beheld     A tribe, that came along the hollow vale,     In silence weeping: such their step as walk     Quires chanting solemn litanies on earth.     As on them more direct mine eye descends,     Each wondrously seem'd to be revers'd     At the neck-bone, so that the countenance     Was from the reins averted: and because     None might before him look, they were compell'd     To' advance with backward gait. Thus one perhaps     Hath been by force of palsy clean transpos'd,     But I ne'er saw it nor believe it so.     Now, reader! think within thyself, so God     Fruit of thy reading give thee! how I long     Could keep my visage dry, when I beheld     Near me our form distorted in such guise,     That on the hinder parts fall'n from the face     The tears down-streaming roll'd. Against a rock     I leant and wept, so that my guide exclaim'd:     "What, and art thou too witless as the rest?     Here pity most doth show herself alive,     When she is dead. What guilt exceedeth his,     Who with Heaven's judgment in his passion strives?     Raise up thy head, raise up, and see the man,     Before whose eyes earth gap'd in Thebes, when all     Cried out, 'Amphiaraus, whither rushest?     'Why leavest thou the war?' He not the less     Fell ruining far as to Minos down,     Whose grapple none eludes. Lo! how he makes     The breast his shoulders, and who once too far     Before him wish'd to see, now backward looks,     And treads reverse his path. Tiresias note,     Who semblance chang'd, when woman he became     Of male, through every limb transform'd, and then     Once more behov'd him with his rod to strike     The two entwining serpents, ere the plumes,     That mark'd the better sex, might shoot again.     "Aruns, with more his belly facing, comes.     On Luni's mountains 'midst the marbles white,     Where delves Carrara's hind, who wons beneath,     A cavern was his dwelling, whence the stars     And main-sea wide in boundless view he held.     "The next, whose loosen'd tresses overspread     Her bosom, which thou seest not (for each hair     On that side grows) was Manto, she who search'd     Through many regions, and at length her seat     Fix'd in my native land, whence a short space     My words detain thy audience. When her sire     From life departed, and in servitude     The city dedicate to Bacchus mourn'd,     Long time she went a wand'rer through the world.     Aloft in Italy's delightful land     A lake there lies, at foot of that proud Alp,     That o'er the Tyrol locks Germania in,     Its name Benacus, which a thousand rills,     Methinks, and more, water between the vale     Camonica and Garda and the height     Of Apennine remote. There is a spot     At midway of that lake, where he who bears     Of Trento's flock the past'ral staff, with him     Of Brescia, and the Veronese, might each     Passing that way his benediction give.     A garrison of goodly site and strong     Peschiera stands, to awe with front oppos'd     The Bergamese and Brescian, whence the shore     More slope each way descends. There, whatsoev'er     Benacus' bosom holds not, tumbling o'er     Down falls, and winds a river flood beneath     Through the green pastures. Soon as in his course     The steam makes head, Benacus then no more     They call the name, but Mincius, till at last     Reaching Governo into Po he falls.     Not far his course hath run, when a wide flat     It finds, which overstretchmg as a marsh     It covers, pestilent in summer oft.     Hence journeying, the savage maiden saw     'Midst of the fen a territory waste     And naked of inhabitants. To shun     All human converse, here she with her slaves     Plying her arts remain'd, and liv'd, and left     Her body tenantless. Thenceforth the tribes,     Who round were scatter'd, gath'ring to that place     Assembled; for its strength was great, enclos'd     On all parts by the fen. On those dead bones     They rear'd themselves a city, for her sake,     Calling it Mantua, who first chose the spot,     Nor ask'd another omen for the name,     Wherein more numerous the people dwelt,     Ere Casalodi's madness by deceit     Was wrong'd of Pinamonte. If thou hear     Henceforth another origin assign'd     Of that my country, I forewarn thee now,     That falsehood none beguile thee of the truth."     I answer'd: "Teacher, I conclude thy words     So certain, that all else shall be to me     As embers lacking life. But now of these,     Who here proceed, instruct me, if thou see     Any that merit more especial note.     For thereon is my mind alone intent."     He straight replied: "That spirit, from whose cheek     The beard sweeps o'er his shoulders brown, what time     Graecia was emptied of her males, that scarce     The cradles were supplied, the seer was he     In Aulis, who with Calchas gave the sign     When first to cut the cable. Him they nam'd     Eurypilus: so sings my tragic strain,     In which majestic measure well thou know'st,     Who know'st it all. That other, round the loins     So slender of his shape, was Michael Scot,     Practis'd in ev'ry slight of magic wile.     "Guido Bonatti see: Asdente mark,     Who now were willing, he had tended still     The thread and cordwain; and too late repents.     "See next the wretches, who the needle left,     The shuttle and the spindle, and became     Diviners: baneful witcheries they wrought     With images and herbs. But onward now:     For now doth Cain with fork of thorns confine     On either hemisphere, touching the wave     Beneath the towers of Seville. Yesternight     The moon was round. Thou mayst remember well:     For she good service did thee in the gloom     Of the deep wood." This said, both onward mov'd.