not only how to take on monstrous shapes, but emerges from Hell, and, having wrought havoc, goes blithely away, - whither, it is hard to tell. The dragon is ferocious in pursuit,1 like Dante's enemies the Adimari, L'oltracotata schiatta, che s' indraca The insolent race, that like a dragon follows - LONGFELLOW. homines nefandos, cuius mysterium in pluribus locis Scripturæ invenitur.' Cf. Du Cange (2), 'Effigies draconis, quæ cum vexillis in Ecclesiasticis processionibus deferri solet, qua vel diabolus ipse, vel hæresis designantur, de quibus triumphat Ecclesia.' Dragons occur often on medieval cathedrals. Cf., e.g., H. W. SCHULTZ, Denkmäler, plates XXXIII, XXXV, XXXVI, XXXVII. 1 So are fiery meteors, conceived by many medievals to be demons. Cf. ALBERTUS MAGNUS, loc. cit., and A. D. White, Warfare of Science with Theology, 1, 336-350. 2 Parad. XVI, 115-117. CHAPTER LVII THE SNAIL-LA LUMACCIA THERE are land-snails and sea-snails of a thousand varieties, all of which have something in common. Το make travel easier, these slow-goers exude a glistening road of slime. Some of them, when not on a journey, can hide away within their shells. Others have only a patch to protect what is most vulnerable. Others still, which we call slugs, are naked. Nearly all wear horns on their faceless heads, and these horns seem at times to give their owner an almost intelligent air. By the lumaccia (nowadays lumaca) Italians mean the common slug, and slug is probably what Dante means; yet lumaccia is more safely rendered by 'snail.' In order to make clear a certain point in the transformation of a man into a serpent, and of the serpent into a man, Dante chooses to use the image of a snail: Quel che giacea, il muso innanzi caccia, E gli orecchi ritira per la testa, Come face le corna la lumaccia. Meanwhile the prostrate thing puts forth its nose, Contracts into its head those human ears. - PARSONS. 1 Inf. XXV, 130-132. Giovanni Villani, IX, cix, 4, E dicono che i Lombardi hanno paura della lumaccia, cioè lumaca.' Jacopo della Lana, Qui fa comparazione come la lumaca overo chi [o]cciola di sè medesima fa corna,' etc. CHAPTER LVIII SERPENTS CHIEFLY from Lucan, Statius, Ovid, Virgil, the early Encyclopedists, and the Bible, Dante gathered much fantastic lore as to various serpents, their looks and the effects of their poison. These various monsters, whose absence from any well-furnished hell would be surprising,1 found their place in the Inferno, where they do such wonders as were never imagined by another poet. Serpents are lavishly supplied by Dante. The Furies are 'girt with greenest hydras,' and have small, horned serpents for hair.2 Cacus, the Centaur, bears on his back a mass of snakes; more of them, Dante be 1 Deuteronomy xxxii, 24, 'I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.' Cf. VIRGIL, Æn. VI, passim. In the Anglo-Saxon 'Satan,' 'hwilum nacode men vinnað ymbe vyrmas,' vs. 136. In Tundal's Vision, the lost souls, on reaching a certain lake, became pregnant with serpents that used their burning heads, sharp iron beaks, and barbed tails to break out of their victims. Cf. what is said about the Viper, p. 332. See Scelta di Curios. Lett. vol. 128, pp. 53-54. 2 Inf. IX, 40-42. Cf. STATIUS, Theb. I, 103 ff. ALBERTUS MAGNUS, De Animalibus, lib. XXV, tract. unicus, makes the hydra a Nile serpent that slips down the throat of the sleeping crocodile, then tears its way out. Cf. HUGO OF ST. VICTOR, De Bestiis, II, cap. 7. Of the cerastes, Albertus Magnus says that it is of dusty hue, hides in the dust, and poisons birds that alight on its horns. Albertus denies that the horns of the cerastes are used at the tables of nobles to betray, by sweating, the presence of poison. lieves, than would be found in the Marsh (Maremma).1 These are merely decorative in their way. Others are actively engaged in torturing the damned. Noi discendemmo il ponte dalla testa, Dove s' aggiunge coll' ottava ripa, E vidivi entro terribile stipa Di serpenti, e di sì diversa mena, Che la memoria il sangue ancor mi scipa. Chè, se chelidri, iaculi e faree Mostrò giammai con tutta l' Etiopia E il capo, ed eran dinanzi agroppate.* 'We descended the bridge at its head, where it joins on with the eighth bank, and then the pit was apparent to me. And I saw therewithin a terrible heap of serpents, and of such hideous look that the memory still curdles my blood. Let Libya with her sand vaunt herself no more; for though she brings forth chelydri, jaculi, and phareæ, and cenchri with amphisbona, she 1 Inf. XXV, 19-21. In Virgil, Cerberus is covered with bristling snakes. See Æn. VI, 419. 2 Cf. LUCAN, Phars. IX, 706-721. * That is, the Bible tells nothing so dreadful. never, with all Ethiopia, nor with the land that lies on the Red Sea, showed either so many plagues or so evil. 'Amid this cruel and most dismal store were running people naked and in terror, without hope of hole or heliotrope. They had their hands tied behind with serpents, which fixed through the reins their tail and their head, and were knotted up in front.' - NORTON. Libya was popularly called Barbaria in Dante's time. Hence, almost with the first word, we have a show of erudition. These uncouth reptiles need a commentary, and the horror is not greater when one discovers that Dante saw monsters even stranger than the amphisbona, with a head on each end, the smoking chelydrus, and the iaculi that fling themselves, like missiles, from trees.2 Bitten by one of these monsters, a sinner burns to ashes, then regains his old form, but suffers as if dragged down by a demon, and sighs.3 Another blasphemes, and is wound so tightly by two serpents that he cannot budge or speak; and these serpents are demo 4 1 According to H. F. Tozer's comment, Solinus, Orosius, and the Hereford map mean by Libya the Roman province of Africa to westward of Egypt. 2 See ISIDOR, Etymol. XII, iv, 20; ALBERTUS MAGNUS, De Animal. lib. XXV, tract. unicus. Inf. XXIV, 97–118. He may have been bitten by the dipsas. Cf. Alex. Neckam, Wright's ed. p. 195. Cf. also Albertus Magnus, lib. XXV, tract. unicus, 'De natura et diversitate veneni et malitiæ eius in serpentibus.' One poison, says he, is 'oppilans vias hanelitus,' etc. Cf. vs. 114. 4 * Inf. XXV, 1-9. Dante says (vs. 4), ‘Da indi in qua mi fur le serpi amiche.' Cf. OVID, Met. IV, 373, 'vota suos habuere deos.' |