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INFERNO CANTO 33
Mandelbaum Tr. and Longfellow Tr.		 NotesAnn.

	That sinner raised his mouth from his fierce meal,
then used the head that he had ripped apart
in back: he wiped his lips upon its hair.

	HIS mouth uplifted from his grim repast,
That sinner, wiping it upon the hair
Of the same head that he behind had wasted






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	Then he began: "You want me to renew
despairing pain that presses at my heart
even as I think back, before I speak.

	Then he began: "Thou wilt that I renew
The desperate grief, which wrings my heart already  
To think of only, ere I speak of it;








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	But if my words are seed from which the fruit
is infamy for this betrayer whom
I gnaw, you'll see me speak and weep at once.

	But if my words be seed that may bear fruit
Of infamy to the traitor whom I gnaw,
Speaking and weeping shalt thou see together.








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	I don't know who you are or in what way
you've come down here; and yet you surely seem-
from what I hear-to be a Florentine.

	I know not who thou art, nor by what mode
Thou hast come down here; but a Florentine
Thou seemest to me truly, when I hear thee.








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	You are to know I was Count Ugolino,
and this one here, Archbishop Ruggieri;
and now I'll tell you why I am his neighbor.

	Thou hast to know I was Count Ugolino,
And this one was Ruggieri the Archbishop;
Now I will tell thee why I am such a neighbour.






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	There is no need to tell you that, because
of his malicious tricks, I first was taken
and then was killed-since I had trusted him;

	That, by effect of his malicious thoughts
Trusting in him I was made prisoner,
And after put to death, I need not say;








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	however, that which you cannot have heard-
that is, the cruel death devised for me-
you now shall hear and know if he has wronged me.

	 But ne'ertheless what thou canst not have heard,
That is to say, how cruel was my death,
Hear shalt thou, and shalt know if he has wronged me.








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	A narrow window in the Eagles' Tower,
which now, through me, is called the Hunger Tower,
a cage in which still others will be locked,

	A narrow perforation in the mew,
Which bears because of me the title of Famine,
And in which others still must be locked up,






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	had, through its opening, already showed me
several moons, when I dreamed that bad dream
which rent the curtain of the future for me.

	Had shown me through its opening many moons
Already, when I dreamed the evil dream
Which of the future rent for me the veil.








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	This man appeared to me as lord and master;
he hunted down the wolf and its young whelps
upon the mountain that prevents the Pisans

	This one appeared to me as lord and master,
Hunting the wolf and whelps upon the mountain
For which the Pisans cannot Lucca see.








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	from seeing Lucca; and with lean and keen
and practiced hounds, he'd sent up front, before him,
Gualandi and Sismondi and Lanfranchi. 

	With sleuth-hounds gaunt, and eager, and well trained,
Gualandi with Sismondi and Lanfianchi
He had sent out before him to the front.






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	But after a brief course, it seemed to me
that both the father and the sons were weary;
I seemed to see their flanks torn by sharp fangs.

	After brief course seemed unto me forespent
The father and the sons, and with sharp tushes
It seemed to me I saw their flanks ripped open.








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	When I awoke at daybreak, I could hear
my sons, who were together with me there,
weeping within their sleep, asking for bread.

	When I before the morrow was awake,
Moaning amid their sleep I heard my sons
Who with me were, and asking after bread.








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	You would be cruel indeed if, thinking what
my heart foresaw, you don't already grieve;
and if you don't weep now, when would you weep?

	Cruel indeed art thou, if yet thou grieve not,
Thinking of what my heart foreboded me,
And weep'st thou not, what art thou wont to weep at ?








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	They were awake by now; the hour drew near
at which our food was usually brought,
and each, because of what he'd dreamed, was anxious;

	They were awake now, and the hour drew nigh
At which our food used to be brought to us,
And through his dream was each one apprehensive; 








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	below, I heard them nailing up the door
of that appalling tower; without a word,
I looked into the faces of my sons.

	And I heard locking up the under door
Of the horrible tower; whereat without a word
I gazed into the faces of my sons.






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	I did not weep; within, I turned to stone.
They wept; and my poor little Anselm said:
'Father, you look so . . . What is wrong with you?'

	I wept not, I within so turned to stone;
They wept; and darling little Anselm mine
Said: ' Thou dost gaze so, father, what doth ail thee ?'








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	At that I shed no tears and-all day long
and through the night that followed-did not answer
until another sun had touched the world.

	Still not a tear I shed, nor answer made
All of that day, nor yet the night thereafter,
Until another sun rose on the world.








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	As soon as a thin ray had made its way
into that sorry prison, and I saw,
reflected in four faces, my own gaze,

	As now a little glimmer made its way
Into the dolorous prison, and I saw
Upon four faces my own very aspect,








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	out of my grief, I bit at both my hands;
and they, who thought I'd done that out of hunger,
immediately rose and told me: 'Father,

	Both of my hands in agony I bit,
And, thinking that I did it from desire
Of eating, on a sudden they uprose,








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	it would be far less painful for us if
you ate of us; for you clothed us in this
sad flesh-it is for you to strip it off.'

	And said they: ' Father, much less pain 'twill give us
If thou do eat of us; thyself didst clothe us
With this poor flesh, and do thou strip it off.'








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	Then I grew calm, to keep them from more sadness;
through that day and the next, we all were silent;
O hard earth, why did you not open up?

	I calmed me then, not to make them more sad.
That day we all were silent, and the next.
Ah ! obdurate earth, wherefore didst thou not open i








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	But after we had reached the fourth day, Gaddo,
throwing himself, outstretched, down at my feet,
implored me: 'Father, why do you not help me?'

	When we had come unto the fourth day, Gaddo
Threw himself down outstretched before my feet,
Saying, ' My father, why dost thou not help me ? '








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	And there he died; and just as you see me,
I saw the other three fall one by one
between the fifth day and the sixth; at which,

	And there he died; and, as thou seest me,
I saw the three fall, one by one, between
The fifth day and the sixth; whence I betook me,








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	now blind, I started groping over each;
and after they were dead, I called them for
two days; then fasting had more force than grief."

	Already blind, to groping over each,
And three days called them after they were dead;
Then hunger did what sorrow could not do."








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	When he had spoken this, with eyes awry,
again he gripped the sad skull in his teeth,
which, like a dog's, were strong down to the bone.

	When he had said this, with his eyes distorted,
The wretched skull resumed he with his teeth,
Which, as a dog's, upon the bone were strong.








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	Ah, Pisa, you the scandal of the peoples
of that fair land where si is heard, because
your neighbors are so slow to punish you,

	Ah ! Pisa, thou opprobrium of the people
Of the fair land there where the Si doth sound,
Since slow to punish thee thy neighbours are,







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	may, then, Caprara and Gorgona move
and build a hedge across the Arno's mouth,
so that it may drown every soul in you!

	Let the Capraia and Gorgona move,
And make a hedge across the mouth of Arno
That every person in thee it may drown !






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	For if Count Ugolino was reputed
to have betrayed your fortresses, there was
no need to have his sons endure such torment.

	For if Count Ugolino had the fame
Of having in thy castles thee betrayed,
Thou shouldst not on such cross have put his sons.







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	O Thebes renewed, their years were innocent
and young-Brigata, Uguiccione, and
the other two my song has named above!

	Guiltless of any crime, thou modern Thebes !
Their youth made Uguccione and Brigata,
And the other two my song doth name above !








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	We passed beyond, where frozen water wraps-
a rugged covering-still other sinners,
who were not bent, but flat upon their backs.

	We passed still farther onward, where the ice
Another people ruggedly enswathes,
Not downward turned, but all of them reversed.








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	Their very weeping there won't let them weep,
and grief that finds a barrier in their eyes
turns inward to increase their agony;

	Weeping itself there does not let them weep,
And grief that finds a barrier in the eyes
Turns itself inward to increase the anguish;








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	because their first tears freeze into a cluster,
and, like a crystal visor, fill up all
the hollow that is underneath the eyebrow.

	Because the earliest tears a cluster form,
And, in the manner of a crystal visor,
Fill all the cup beneath the eyebrow full.








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	And though, because of cold, my every sense
had left its dwelling in my face, just as
a callus has no feeling, nonetheless,

	And notwithstanding that, as in a callus,
Because of cold all sensibility
Its station had abandoned in my face,








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	I seemed to feel some wind now, and I said:
"My master, who has set this gust in motion?
For isn't every vapor quenched down here?"

	Still it appeared to me I felt some wind;
Whence I: "My Master, who sets this in motion ?
Is not below here every vapour quenched ?"








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	And he to me: "You soon shall be where your
own eye will answer that, when you shall see
the reason why this wind blasts from above."

	Whence he to me: "Full soon shalt thou be where
Thine eye shall answer make to thee of this,
Seeing the cause which raineth down the blast."








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	And one of those sad sinners in the cold
crust, cried to us: "O souls who are so cruel
that this last place has been assigned to you,

	And one of the wretches of the frozen crust
Cried out to us: "O souls so merciless 
That the last post is given unto you,








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	take off the hard veils from my face so that
I can release the suffering that fills
my heart before lament freezes again."

	Lift from mine eyes the rigid veils, that I
May vent the sorrow which impregns my heart
A little, e'er the weeping recongeal."








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	To which I answered: "If you'd have me help you,
then tell me who you are; if I don't free you,
may I go to the bottom of the ice."

	Whence I to him: "If thou wouldst have me help thee  
Say who thou wast; and if I free thee not,
May I go to the bottom of the ice."








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	He answered then: "I am Fra Alberigo,
the one who tended fruits in a bad garden,
and here my figs have been repaid with dates."

	Then he replied: "I am Friar Alberigo;
He am I of the fruit of the bad garden,
Who here a date am getting for my fig."






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	"But then," I said, "are you already dead?"
And he to me: "I have no knowledge of
my body's fate within the world above.

	"O," said I to him, "now art thou, too, dead?"
And he to me: "How may my body fare
Up in the world, no knowledge I possess.








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	For Ptolomea has this privilege:
quite frequently the soul falls here before
it has been thrust away by Atropos.

	Such an advantage has this Ptolomaea,
That oftentimes the soul descendeth here
Sooner than Atropos in motion sets it.






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	And that you may with much more willingness
scrape these glazed tears from off my face, know this:
as soon as any soul becomes a traitor,

	And, that thou mayest more willingly remove
From off my countenance these glassy tears,
Know that as soon as any soul betrays








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	as I was, then a demon takes its body
away- and keeps that body in his power
until its years have run their course completely.

	As I have done, his body by a demon
Is taken from him, who thereafter rules it,
Until his time has wholly been revolved.








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	The soul falls headlong, down into this cistern;
and up above, perhaps, there still appears
the body of the shade that winters here

	Itself down rushes into such a cistern;
And still perchance above appears the body
Of yonder shade, that winters here behind me.








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	behind me; you must know him, if you've just
come down; he is Ser Branca Doria;
for many years he has been thus pent up."

	This thou shouldst know, if thou hast just come down;
It is Ser Branca d' Oria, and many years
Have passed away since he was thus locked up."







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	I said to him: "I think that you deceive me,
for Branca Doria is not yet dead;
he eats and drinks and sleeps and puts on clothes."

	"I think," said I to him, "thou dost deceive me;
For Branca d' Oria is not dead as yet,   
And eats, and drinks, and sleeps, and puts on clothes."








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	"There in the Malebranche's ditch above,
where sticky pitch boils up, Michele Zanche
had still not come," he said to me, "when this one-

	"In moat above," said he, "of Malebranche,
There where is boiling the tenacious pitch,
As yet had Michel Zanche not arrived,








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	together with a kinsman, who had done
the treachery together with him-left
a devil in his stead inside his body.

	When this one left a devil in his stead
In his own body and one near of kin,
Who made together with him the betrayal.








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	But now reach out your hand; open my eyes."
And yet I did not open them for him;
and it was courtesy to show him rudeness.

	But hitherward stretch out thy hand forthwith,
Open mine eyes ;" -- and open them I did not,
And to be rude to him was courtesy.








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	Ah, Genoese, a people strange to every
constraint of custom, full of all corruption,
why have you not been driven from the world?

	Ah, Genoese ! ye men at variance
With every virtue, full of every vice
Wherefore are ye not scattered from the world






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	For with the foulest spirit of Romagna,
I found one of you such that, for his acts,
in soul he bathes already in Cocytus

	For with the vilest spirit of Romagna
I found of you one such, who for his deeds 
In soul already in Cocytus bathes,






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	and up above appears alive, in body.

	And still above in body seems alive !




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