"If the Sicilian bull (that bellowed first Toth the lament of him, and that was right, Unt t, notwithstanding it was made of brass, Of mist from out the fire, to its own language That rough the point, giving it that vibration Where ce, and who but now wast speaking Lombard, After tl Now go thy way, no more I urge thee,' "O ye, whoome perchance a little late, If I des and speak with me let it not irk thee; If I descest it irks not me, and I am burning. When in the ately into this blind world Do not fen down from that sweet Latian land, Whither, m I bring the whole of my transgression, Then of the amagnuols have peace or war, Murmuris from the mountains there between Moving a Conductor touched me on the side, From Circe had beforehand my reply More than s, forthwith began to speak: Or ever yet at down below there art concealed, Nor fondness fois not and never has been For my old in the bosom of its tyrants, I had to be & Polenta there is brooding, Both of the shores it Mastiff and the new, Far as Morocch bad disposal of Montagna, I and my company ie and Santerno When at that noncel of the white lair, Where Herculesles 'twixt summer-time and winter; And that of which the Savio bathes the flank, Now I entreat thee tell us who thou art; Be not more stubborn than the rest have been, After the fire a little more had roared In its own fashion, the sharp point it moved "If I believed that my reply were made To one who to the world would e'er return, This flame without more flickering would stand still; But inasmuch as never from this depth Did any one return, if I hear true, Believing thus begirt to make amends; While I was still the form of bone and pulp The machinations and the covert ways I knew them all, and practised so their craft, When now unto that portion of mine age I saw myself arrived, when each one ought That which before had pleased me then displeased me ; The Leader of the modern Pharisees Having a war near unto Lateran, 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 And not with Saracens nor with the Jews, For each one of his enemies was Christian, And none of them had been to conquer Acre, Nor merchandising in the Sultan's land, 90 Nor the high office, nor the sacred orders, In him regarded, nor in me that cord Which used to make those girt with it more meagre ; But even as Constantine sought out Sylvester So this one sought me out as an adept 95 To cure him of the fever of his pride. Counsel he asked of me, and I was silent, Henceforth I thee absolve; and thou instruct me As thou dost know; therefore the keys are two, There, where my silence was the worst advice; The promise long with the fulfilment short For me; but one of the black Cherubim He must come down among my servitors, Because he gave the fraudulent advice For who repents not cannot be absolved, Nor can one both repent and will at once, O miserable me! how I did shudder When he seized on me, saying: 'Peradventure Eight times his tail about his stubborn back, Wherefore, here where thou seest, am I lost, The flame departed uttering lamentations, Which the moat covers, where is paid the fee CANTO XXVIII. WHO ever could, e'en with untrammelled words, That have small room to comprehend so much. If were again assembled all the people Which formerly upon the fateful land That of the rings made such illustrious spoils, With those who felt the agony of blows By making counterstand to Robert Guiscard, At Ceperano, where a renegade Was each Apulian, and at Tagliacozzo, Should show, it would be nothing to compare A cask by losing centre-piece or cant Was never shattered so, as I saw one Rent from the chin to where one breaketh wind. Between his legs were hanging down his entrails; While I was all absorbed in seeing him, He looked at me, and opened with his hands How mutilated, see, is Mahomet ; In front of me doth Ali weeping go, When we have gone around the doleful road; But who art thou, that musest on the crag, Perchance to postpone going to the pain "Nor death hath reached him yet, nor guilt doth bring him,” My Master made reply, "to be tormented; But to procure him full experience, Me, who am dead, behoves it to conduct him Down here through Hell, from circle unto circle ; More than a hundred were there when they heard him, "Now say to Fra Dolcino, then, to arm him, So with provisions, that no stress of snow May give the victory to the Novarese, After one foot to go away he lifted, This word did Mahomet say unto me, Then to depart upon the ground he stretched it. Another one, who had his throat pierced through, And nose cut off close underneath the brows, And had no longer but a single ear, Staying to look in wonder with the others, Before the others did his gullet open, And said: "O thou, whom guilt doth not condemn, Call to remembrance Pier da Medicina, If e'er thou see again the lovely plain To Messer Guido and Angiolello likewise, 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 |