Previous or Next Canto

 
INFERNO CANTO 29
Mandelbaum Tr. and Longfellow Tr.		 NotesAnn.

	So many souls and such outlandish wounds
had made my eyes inebriate-they longed
to stay and weep. But Virgil said to me:

	THE many people and the divers wounds 
These eyes of mine had so inebriated,
That they were wishful to stand still and weep;






29.001

29.003
 






	"Why are you staring so insistently?
Why does your vision linger there below
among the lost and mutilated shadows?

	But said Virgilius: "What dost thou still gaze at?
Why is thy sight still riveted down there
Among the mournful, mutilated shades ?








29.006
 






	You did not do so at the other moats.
If you would count them all, consider: twenty-
two miles make up the circuit of the valley.

	Thou hast not done so at the other Bolge;
Consider, if to count them thou believest,
That two-and-twenty miles the valley winds,








29.009
 






	The moon already is beneath our feet;
the time alloted to us now is short,
and there is more to see than you see here."

	And now the moon is underneath our feet;
Henceforth the time allotted us is brief,
And more is to be seen than what thou seest."








29.012
 






	"Had you," I answered him without a pause,
"been able to consider why I looked,
you might have granted me a longer stay."

	"If thou hadst," I made answer thereupon
"Attended to the cause for which I looked,
Perhaps a longer stay thou wouldst have pardoned." 








29.015
 






	Meanwhile my guide had moved ahead; I went
behind him, answering as I walked on,
and adding: "In that hollow upon which

	Meanwhile my Guide departed, and behind him
I went, already making my reply,
And superadding: "In that cavern where








29.018
 






	just now, I kept my eyes intent, I think
a spirit born of my own blood laments
the guilt which, down below, costs one so much."

	I held mine eyes with such attention fixed,
I think a spirit of my blood laments 
The sin which down below there costs so much"








29.021
 






	At this my master said: "Don't let your thoughts
about him interrupt you from here on:
attend to other things, let him stay there;

	Then said the Master: "Be no longer broken
Thy thought from this time forward upon him;
Attend elsewhere, and there let him remain;








29.024
 






	for I saw him below the little bridge,
his finger pointing at you, threatening,
and heard him called by name -Geri del Bello.

	For him I saw below the little bridge, 
Pointing at thee, and threatening with his finger
Fiercely, and heard him called Geri del Bello.








29.027
 






	But at that moment you were occupied
with him who once was lord of Hautefort;
you did not notice Geri-he moved off."

	So wholly at that time wast thou impeded
By him who formerly held Altaforte,
Thou didst not look that way; so he departed."







29.029
29.030
 






	"My guide, it was his death by violence,
for which he still is not avenged," I said,
"by anyone who shares his shame, that made

	"O my Conductor, his own violent death,
Which is not yet avenged for him," I said,
"By any who is sharer in the shame,








29.033
 






	him so disdainful now; and-I suppose-
for this he left without a word to me,
and this has made me pity him the more."

	Made him disdainful; whence he went away,
As I imagine, without speaking to me,
And thereby made me pity him the more."







29.035
29.036
 






	And so we talked until we found the first
point of the ridge that, if there were more light,
would show the other valley to the bottom.

	Thus did we speak as far as the first place
Upon the crag, which the next valley shows
Down to the bottom, if there were more light.








29.039
 






	When we had climbed above the final cloister
of Malebolge, so that its lay brothers
were able to appear before our eyes,

	When we were now right over the last cloister
Of Malebolge, so that its lay-brothers
Could manifest themselves unto our sight,








29.042
 






	I felt the force of strange laments, like arrows
whose shafts are barbed with pity; and at this,
I had to place my hands across my ears.

	Divers lamentings pierced me through and through,
Which with compassion had their arrows barbed,
Whereat mine ears I covered with my hands.








29.045
 






	Just like the sufferings that all the sick
of Val di Chiana's hospitals, Maremma's,
Sardina's, from July until September

	What pain would be, if from the hospitals
Of Valdichiana, 'twixt July and September,
And of Maremma and Sardinia






29.046

29.048
 






	would muster if assembled in one ditch-
so was it here, and such a stench rose up
as usually comes from festering limbs.

	All the diseases in one moat were gathered,
Such was it here, and such a stench came from it
As from putrescent limbs is wont to issue.








29.051
 






	And keeping always to the left, we climbed
down to the final bank of the long ridge,
and then my sight could see more vividly

	We had descended on the furthest bank
From the long crag, upon the left hand still,
And then more vivid was my power of sight








29.054
 






	into the bottom, where unerring Justice,
the minister of the High Lord, punishes
the falsifiers she had registered.

	Down tow'rds the bottom, where the ministress
Of the high Lord, Justice infallible,
Punishes forgers, which she here records.








29.057
 






	I do not think that there was greater grief
in seeing all Aegina's people sick
(then, when the air was so infected that

	I do not think a sadder sight to see
Was in Aegina the whole people sick,
(When was the air so full of pestilence,







29.059
29.060
 






	all animals, down to the little worm,
collapsed; and afterward, as poets hold
to be the certain truth, those ancient peoples

	The animals, down to the little worm,
All fell, and afterwards the ancient people,
According as the poets have affirmed,








29.063
 






	received their health again through seed of ants)
than I felt when I saw, in that dark valley,
the spirits languishing in scattered heaps.

	Were from the seed of ants restored again,)
Than was it to behold through that dark valley
The spirits languishing in divers heaps.








29.066
 






	Some lay upon their bellies, some upon
the shoulders of another spirit, some
crawled on all fours along that squalid road.

	This on the belly, that upon the back
One of the other lay, and others crawling
Shifted themselves along the dismal road.








29.069
 






	We journeyed step by step without a word,
watching and listening to those sick souls,
who had not strength enough to lift themselves.

	We step by step went onward without speech,
Gazing upon and listening to the sick
Who had not strength enough to lift their bodies.








29.072
 






	I saw two sitting propped against each other-
as pan is propped on pan to heat them up-
and each, from head to foot, spotted with scabs;

	I saw two sitting leaned against each other,
As leans in heating platter against platter,
From head to foot bespotted o'er with scabs;








29.075
 






	and I have never seen a stableboy
whose master waits for him, or one who stays
awake reluctantly, so ply a horse

	And never saw I plied a currycomb
By stable-boy for whom his master waits,
Or him who keeps awake unwillingly,








29.078
 






	with currycomb, as they assailed themselves
with clawing nails-their itching had such force
and fury, and there was no other help.

	As every one was plying fast the bite
Of nails upon himself, for the great rage
Of itching which no other succour had.








29.081
 






	And so their nails kept scraping off the scabs,
just as a knife scrapes off the scales of carp
or of another fish with scales more large.

	And the nails downward with them dragged the scab,
In fashion as a knife the scales of bream,
Or any other fish that has them largest.








29.084
 






	"O you who use your nails to strip yourself,"
my guide began to say to one of them,
"and sometimes have to turn them into pincers,

	"O thou, that with thy fingers dost dismail thee,"
Began my Leader unto one of them,
"And makest of them pincers now and then,








29.087
 






	tell us if there are some Italians
among the sinners in this moat-so may
your nails hold out, eternal, at their work."

	Tell me if any Latian is with those
Who are herein; so may thy nails suffice thee
To all eternity unto this work."






29.088

29.090
 






	"We two whom you see so disfigured here,
we are Italians," one said, in tears.
"But who are you who have inquired of us?"

	"Latians are we, whom thou so wasted seest,
Both of us here,"one weeping made reply;
"But who art thou, that questionest about us?"








29.093
 






	My guide replied: "From circle down to circle,
together with this living man, I am
one who descends; I mean to show him Hell."

	And said the Guide: "One am I who descends
Down with this living man from cliff to cliff, 
And I intend to show Hell unto him."








29.096
 






	At this their mutual support broke off;
and, quivering, each spirit turned toward me
with others who, by chance, had heard his words.

	Then broken was their mutual support,
And trembling each one turned himself to me,
With others who had heard him by rebound.








29.099
 






	Then my good master drew more close to me,
saying: "Now tell them what it is you want."
And I began to speak, just as he wished:

	Wholly to me did the good Master gather,
Saying: "Say unto them whate'er thou wishest."
And I began, since he would have it so:








29.102
 






	"So that your memory may never fade
within the first world from the minds of men,
but still live on-and under many suns-

	"So may your memory not steal away
In the first world from out the minds of men,
But so may it survive 'neath many suns,








29.105
 






	do tell me who you are and from what city,
and do not let your vile and filthy torment
make you afraid to let me know your names."

	Say to me who ye are, and of what people;
Let not your foul and loathsome punishment
Make you afraid to show yourselves to me."








29.108
 






	One answered me:"My city was Arezzo
and Albero of Siena had me burned;
but what I died for does not bring me here.

	"I of Arezzo was," one made reply,
"And Albert of Siena had me burned;
But what I died for does not bring me here.






29.109

29.111
 






	It's true that I had told him-jestingly-
'I'd know enough to fly through air'; and he,
with curiosity, but little sense,

	'Tis true I said to him, speaking in jest,
That I could rise by flight into the air,
And he who had conceit, but little wit,








29.114
 






	wished me to show that art to him and, just
because I had not made him Daedalus,
had one who held him as a son burn me.

	Would have me show to him the art; and only
Because no Daedalus I made him, made me
Be burned by one who held him as his son.







29.116
29.117
 






	But Minos, who cannot mistake, condemned
my spirit to the final pouch of ten
for alchemy I practiced in the world."

	But unto the last Bolgia of the ten,
For alchemy, which in the world I practised,
Minos, who cannot err, has me condemned."








29.120
 






	And then I asked the poet: "Was there ever
so vain a people as the Sienese?
Even the French can't match such vanity."

	And to the Poet said I: "Now was ever
So vain a people as the Sienese ?
Not for a certainty the French by far."







29.122
29.123
 






	At this, the other leper, who had heard me,
replied to what I'd said: "Except for Stricca,
for he knew how to spend most frugally;

	Whereat the other leper, who had heard me,
Replied unto my speech: "Taking out Stricca,
Who knew the art of moderate expenses,







29.125
29.126
 






	and Niccolo, the first to make men see
that cloves can serve as luxury (such seed,
in gardens where it suits, can take fast root);

	And Niccolò, who the luxurious use
Of cloves discovered earliest of all
Within that garden where such seed takes root;








29.129
 






	and, too, Caccia d'Asciano's company,
with whom he squandered vineyards and tilled fields,
while Abbagliato showed such subtlety.

	And taking out the band, among whom squandered
Caccia d'Ascian his vineyards and vast woods,
And where his wit the Abbagliato proffered !








29.132
 






	But if you want to know who joins you so
against the Sienese, look hard at me-
that way, my face can also answer rightly-

	But, that thou know who thus doth second thee
Against the Sienese, make sharp thine eye
Tow'rds me, so that my face well answer thee,








29.135
 






	and see that I'm the shade of that Capocchio
whose alchemy could counterfeit fine metals.
And you, if I correctly take your measure,

	And thou shalt see I am Capocchio's shade,
Who metals falsified by alchemy;
Thou must remember, if I well descry thee,






29.136

29.138
 






	recall how apt I was at aping nature."

	How I a skilful ape of nature was."




29.139

Previous or Next Canto