The Divine Comedy Of Dante Alighieri Part 21

'So may thy soul thy members long endue With vital power,' the other made reply, 'And after thee thy fame[486] its light renew; As thou shalt tell if worth and courtesy Within our city as of yore remain, Or from it have been wholly forced to fly.

For William Borsier,[487] one of yonder train, 70 And but of late joined with us in this woe, Causeth us with his words exceeding pain.'

'Upstarts, and fortunes suddenly that grow, Have bred in thee pride and extravagance,[488]

Whence tears, O Florence! thou art shedding now.'

Thus cried I with uplifted countenance.

The three, accepting it for a reply, Glanced each at each as hearing truth men glance.

And all: 'If others thou shalt satisfy As well at other times[489] at no more cost, 80 Happy thus at thine ease the truth to cry!

Therefore if thou escap'st these regions lost, Returning to behold the starlight fair, Then when "There was I,"[490] thou shalt make thy boast, Something of us do thou 'mong men declare.'

Then broken was the wheel, and as they fled Their nimble legs like pinions beat the air.

So much as one _Amen!_ had scarce been said Quicker than what they vanished from our view.

On this once more the way my Master led. 90 I followed, and ere long so near we drew To where the water fell, that for its roar Speech scarcely had been heard between us two.

And as the stream which of all those which pour East (from Mount Viso counting) by its own Course falls the first from Apennine to sh.o.r.e-- As Acquacheta[491] in the uplands known By name, ere plunging to its bed profound; Name lost ere by Forl its waters run-- Above St. Benedict with one long bound, 100 Where for a thousand[492] would be ample room, Falls from the mountain to the lower ground; Down the steep cliff that water dyed in gloom We found to fall echoing from side to side, Stunning the ear with its tremendous boom.

There was a cord about my middle tied, With which I once had thought that I might hold Secure the leopard with the painted hide.

When this from round me I had quite unrolled To him I handed it, all coiled and tight; 110 As by my Leader I had first been told.

Himself then bending somewhat toward the right,[493]

He just beyond the edge of the abyss Threw down the cord,[494] which disappeared from sight.

'That some strange thing will follow upon this Unwonted signal which my Master's eye Thus follows,' so I thought, 'can hardly miss.'

Ah, what great caution need we standing by Those who behold not only what is done, But who have wit our hidden thoughts to spy! 120 He said to me: 'There shall emerge, and soon, What I await; and quickly to thy view That which thou dream'st of shall be clearly known.'[495]

From utterance of truth which seems untrue A man, whene'er he can, should guard his tongue; Lest he win blame to no transgression due.

Yet now I must speak out, and by the song Of this my Comedy, Reader, I swear-- So in good liking may it last full long!-- I saw a shape swim upward through that air. 130 All indistinct with gross obscurity, Enough to fill the stoutest heart with fear: Like one who rises having dived to free An anchor grappled on a jagged stone, Or something else deep hidden in the sea; With feet drawn in and arms all open thrown.

FOOTNOTES:

[479] _The next circle_: The Eighth.

[480] _Thy garb_: 'Almost every city,' says Boccaccio, 'had in those times its peculiar fas.h.i.+on of dress distinct from that of neighboring cities.'

[481] _As he wheeled round_: Virgil and Dante have come to a halt upon the embankment. The three shades, to whom it is forbidden to be at rest for a moment, clasping one another as in a dance, keep wheeling round in circle upon the sand.

[482] _Guidoguerra_: A descendant of the Counts Guidi of Modigliana.

Gualdrada was the daughter of Bellincion Berti de' Ravignani, praised for his simple habits in the _Paradiso_, xv. 112. Guidoguerra was a Guelf leader, and after the defeat of Montaperti acted as Captain of his party, in this capacity lending valuable aid to Charles of Anjou at the battle of Benevento, 1266, when Manfred was overthrown. He had no children, and left the Commonwealth of Florence his heir.

[483] _Tegghiaio_: Son of Aldobrando of the Adimari. His name should be dear in Florence, because he did all he could to dissuade the citizens from the campaign which ended so disastrously at Montaperti.

[484] _James Rusticucci_: An accomplished cavalier of humble birth, said to have been a retainer of Dante's friends the Cavalcanti. The commentators have little to tell of him except that he made an unhappy marriage, which is evident from the text. Of the sins of him and his companions there is nothing known beyond what is to be inferred from the poet's words, and nothing to say, except that when Dante consigned men of their stamp, frank and amiable, to the Infernal Circles, we may be sure that he only executed a verdict already accepted as just by the whole of Florence. And when we find him impartially d.a.m.ning Guelf and Ghibeline we may be equally sure that he looked for the aid of neither party, and of no family however powerful in the State, to bring his banishment to a close. He would even seem to be careful to stop any hole by which he might creep back to Florence. When he did return, it was to be in the train of the Emperor, so he hoped, and as one who gives rather than seeks forgiveness.

[485] _Of your city, etc._: At line 32 Rusticucci begs Dante to tell who he is. He tells that he is of their city, which they have already gathered from his _berretta_ and the fas.h.i.+on of his gown; but he tells nothing, almost, of himself. Unless to Farinata, indeed, he never makes an open breast to any one met in Inferno. But here he does all that courtesy requires.

[486] _Thy fame_: Dante has implied in his answer that he is gifted with oratorical powers and is the object of a special Divine care; and the ill.u.s.trious Florentine, frankly acknowledging the claim he makes, adjures him by the fame which is his in store to appease an eager curiosity about the Florence which even in Inferno is the first thought of every not ign.o.ble Florentine.

[487] _William Borsiere_: A Florentine, witty and well bred, according to Boccaccio. Being once at Genoa he was shown a fine new palace by its miserly owner, and was asked to suggest a subject for a painting with which to adorn the hall. The subject was to be something that n.o.body had ever seen. Borsiere proposed liberality as something that the miser at any rate had never yet got a good sight of; an answer of which it is not easy to detect either the wit or the courtesy, but which is said to have converted the churl to liberal ways (_Decam._ i. 8). He is here introduced as an authority on the n.o.ble style of manners.

[488] _Pride and extravagance_: In place of the n.o.bility of mind that leads to great actions, and the gentle manners that prevail in a society where there is a due subordination of rank to rank and well-defined duties for every man. This, the aristocratic in a n.o.ble sense, was Dante's ideal of a social state; for all his instincts were those of a Florentine aristocrat, corrected though they were by his good sense and his thirst for a reign of perfect justice. During his own time he had seen Florence grow more and more democratic; and he was irritated--unreasonably, considering that it was only a sign of the general prosperity--at the spectacle of the amazing growth of wealth in the hands of low-born traders, who every year were coming more to the front and monopolising influence at home and abroad at the cost of their neighbours and rivals with longer pedigrees and shorter purses. In _Paradiso_ xvi. Dante dwells at length on the degeneracy of the Florentines.

[489] _At other times_: It is hinted that his outspokenness will not in the future always give equal satisfaction to those who hear.

[490] _There was I, etc._: _Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit._--_aen._ i. 203.

[491] _Acquacheta_: The fall of the water of the brook over the lofty cliff that sinks from the Seventh to the Eighth Circle is compared to the waterfall upon the Montone at the monastery of St. Benedict, in the mountains above Forl. The Po rises in Monte Viso. Dante here travels in imagination from Monte Viso down through Italy, and finds that all the rivers which rise on the left hand, that is, on the north-east of the Apennine, fall into the Po, till the Montone is reached, that river falling into the Adriatic by a course of its own. Above Forl it was called Acquacheta. The Lamone, north of the Montone, now follows an independent course to the sea, having cut a new bed for itself since Dante's time.

[492] _Where for a thousand, etc._: In the monastery there was room for many more monks, say most of the commentators; or something to the like effect. Mr. Longfellow's interpretation seems better: Where the height of the fall is so great that it would divide into a thousand falls.

[493] _Toward the right_: The att.i.tude of one about to throw.

[494] _The cord_: The services of Geryon are wanted to convey them down the next reach of the pit; and as no voice could be heard for the noise of the waterfall, and no signal be made to catch the eye amid the gloom, Virgil is obliged to call the attention of the monster by casting some object into the depth where he lies concealed. But, since they are surrounded by solid masonry and slack sand, one or other of them must supply something fit to throw down; and the cord worn by Dante is fixed on as what can best be done without. There may be a reference to the cord of Saint Francis, which Dante, according to one of his commentators, wore when he was a young man, following in this a fas.h.i.+on common enough among pious laymen who had no thought of ever becoming friars. But the simile of the cord, as representing sobriety and virtuous purpose, is not strange to Dante. In _Purg._ vii. 114 he describes Pedro of Arragon as being girt with the cord of every virtue; and Pedro was no Franciscan. Dante's cord may therefore be taken as standing for vigilance or self-control. With it he had hoped to get the better of the leopard (_Inf._ i. 32), and may have trusted in it for support as against the terrors of Inferno. But although he has been girt with it ever since he entered by the gate, it has not saved him from a single fear, far less from a single danger; and now it is cast away as useless. Henceforth, more than ever, he is to confide wholly in Virgil and have no confidence in himself. Nor is he to be girt again till he reaches the coast of Purgatory, and then it is to be with a reed, the emblem of humility.--But, however explained, the incident will always be somewhat of a puzzle.

[495] Dante attributes to Virgil full knowledge of all that is in his own mind. He thus heightens our conception of his dependence on his guide, with whose will his will is blent, and whose thoughts are always found to be antic.i.p.ating his own. Few readers will care to be constantly recalling to mind that Virgil represents enlightened human reason. But even if we confine ourselves to the easiest sense of the narrative, the study of the relations between him and Dante will be found one of the most interesting suggested by the poem--perhaps only less so than that of Dante's moods of wonder, anger, and pity.

CANTO XVII.

'Behold the monster[496] with the pointed tail, Who pa.s.ses mountains[497] and can entrance make Through arms and walls! who makes the whole world ail, Corrupted by him!' Thus my Leader spake, And beckoned him that he should land hard by, Where short the pathways built of marble break.

And that foul image of dishonesty Moving approached us with his head and chest, But to the bank[498] drew not his tail on high.

His face a human righteousness expressed, 10 'Twas so benignant to the outward view; A serpent was he as to all the rest.

On both his arms hair to the arm-pits grew: On back and chest and either flank were knot[499]

And rounded s.h.i.+eld portrayed in various hue; No Turk or Tartar weaver ever brought To ground or pattern a more varied dye;[500]

Nor by Arachne[501] was such broidery wrought.

As sometimes by the sh.o.r.e the barges lie Partly in water, partly on dry land; 20 And as afar in gluttonous Germany,[502]

Watching their prey, alert the beavers stand; So did this worst of brutes his foreparts fling Upon the stony rim which hems the sand.

All of his tail in s.p.a.ce was quivering, Its poisoned fork erecting in the air, Which scorpion-like was armed with a sting.

My Leader said: 'Now we aside must fare A little distance, so shall we attain Unto the beast malignant crouching there.' 30 So we stepped down upon the right,[503] and then A half score steps[504] to the outer edge did pace, Thus clearing well the sand and fiery rain.

And when we were hard by him I could trace Upon the sand a little further on Some people sitting near to the abyss.

'That what this belt containeth may be known Completely by thee,' then the Master said; 'To see their case do thou advance alone.

Let thy inquiries be succinctly made. 40 While thou art absent I will ask of him, With his strong shoulders to afford us aid.'

Then, all alone, I on the outmost rim Of that Seventh Circle still advancing trod, Where sat a woful folk.[505] Full to the brim Their eyes with anguish were, and overflowed; Their hands moved here and there to win some ease, Now from the flames, now from the soil which glowed.

No otherwise in summer-time one sees, Working its muzzle and its paws, the hound 50 When bit by gnats or plagued with flies or fleas.

And I, on scanning some who sat around Of those on whom the dolorous flames alight, Could recognise[506] not one. I only found A purse hung from the throat of every wight, Each with its emblem and its special hue; And every eye seemed feasting on the sight.

As I, beholding them, among them drew, I saw what seemed a lion's face and mien Upon a yellow purse designed in blue. 60 Still moving on mine eyes athwart the scene I saw another scrip, blood-red, display A goose more white than b.u.t.ter could have been.

And one, on whose white wallet blazoned lay A pregnant sow[507] in azure, to me said: 'What dost thou in this pit? Do thou straightway Begone; and, seeing thou art not yet dead, Know that Vitalian,[508] neighbour once of mine, Shall on my left flank one day find his bed.

A Paduan I: all these are Florentine; 70 And oft they stun me, bellowing in my ear: "Come, Pink of Chivalry,[509] for whom we pine, Whose is the purse on which three beaks appear:"'

Then he from mouth awry his tongue thrust out[510]

Like ox that licks its nose; and I, in fear Lest more delay should stir in him some doubt Who gave command I should not linger long, Me from those wearied spirits turned about.

I found my Guide, who had already sprung Upon the back of that fierce animal: 80 He said to me: 'Now be thou brave and strong.

By stairs like this[511] we henceforth down must fall.

Mount thou in front, for I between would sit So thee the tail shall harm not nor appal.'

Like one so close upon the s.h.i.+vering fit Of quartan ague that his nails grow blue, And seeing shade he trembles every whit, I at the hearing of that order grew; But his threats shamed me, as before the face Of a brave lord his man grows valorous too. 90 On the great shoulders then I took my place, And wished to say, but could not move my tongue As I expected: 'Do thou me embrace!'

But he, who other times had helped me 'mong My other perils, when ascent I made Sustained me, and strong arms around me flung, And, 'Geryon, set thee now in motion!' said; 'Wheel widely; let thy downward flight be slow; Think of the novel burden on thee laid.'

As from the sh.o.r.e a boat begins to go 100 Backward at first, so now he backward pressed, And when he found that all was clear below, He turned his tail where earlier was his breast; And, stretching it, he moved it like an eel, While with his paws he drew air toward his chest.

More terror Phaethon could hardly feel What time he let the reins abandoned fall, Whence Heaven was fired,[512] as still its tracts reveal; Nor wretched Icarus, on finding all His plumage moulting as the wax grew hot, 110 While, 'The wrong road!' his father loud did call; Than what I felt on finding I was brought Where nothing was but air and emptiness; For save the brute I could distinguish nought.

He slowly, slowly swims; to the abyss Wheeling he makes descent, as I surmise From wind felt 'neath my feet and in my face.

Already on the right I heard arise From out the caldron a terrific roar,[513]

Whereon I stretch my head with down-turned eyes. 120 Terror of falling now oppressed me sore; Hearing laments, and seeing fires that burned, My thighs I tightened, trembling more and more.

Earlier I had not by the eye discerned That we swept downward; scenes of torment now Seemed drawing nearer wheresoe'er we turned.

And as a falcon (which long time doth go Upon the wing, not finding lure[514] or prey), While 'Ha!' the falconer cries, 'descending so!'

Comes wearied back whence swift it soared away; 130 Wheeling a hundred times upon the road, Then, from its master far, sulks angrily: So we, by Geryon in the deep bestowed, Were 'neath the sheer-hewn precipice set down: He, suddenly delivered from our load, Like arrow from the string was swiftly gone.