CANTO XII.

"I quitted one who lived that country near:
Could I rejoin him in yon sheltering flood,
Nor tenter-hook nor talon should I fear."
Quoth Libicocco: "Not so much delay:"
An arm then seizing in his pincers rude,
He mauled it, till he rent a part away.
And Draghignazzo, he too with a hook

Had clutched his feet; but lo, their chief forbade,
Turning around with angry threatening look.

When they were pacified-their clamour spent-
My guide without delay inquiry made

Of him who on his wound still gazed intent:
"Who was that other spirit, from whose side
Hither thou lately camest in evil hour?"
"It was the Friar Gomita," he replied,—
"He of Gallura, vessel of all fraud,

Who, when his master's foes were in his power,
So treated them, that all his name applaud:
A bribe he took, and set his prisoners free;
In each employ where he could use deceit
The very prince of barterers was he.
With him too Michael Zanché doth reside;
For them Sardinia is a subject sweet,

With which their tongues are never satisfied.

Ah me!-lo, how that other fiend doth grin!

More would I say; but fear my tongue hath bound,
Lest he prepare to lacerate my skin."

To Farfarello turned their savage lord,

Who rolled, in act to strike, his eyes around,
And said: "Go, get thee gone, ill bird abhorred."
"Tuscans or Lombards wouldest thou wish to see,"
Resumed the quaking sufferer, "let me hear;
And I will bid them quickly come to thee:
But let the demons for a while retreat,

That so my comrades may be free from fear;

75. Barbarriccia, captain of Ten. See line 94.

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81. The friar Go

received a bribe from his 88. Governor of Logo96. Barbariccia,

mita being entrusted with the government of Gallura, one of the four jurisdictions into which Sardinia was divided, master's enemies, and let them escape. doro, another of the four Sardinian jurisdictions. seeing Farfarello preparing to strike Dante, makes this exclamation, adapted to the wings he wore, and the form of his eyes.

And I, remaining in this very seat,

One that I am, will draw forth seven instead,

When I shall whistle, as our custom is,

To show our comrades they may raise the head." Turned up his snout Cagnazzo, and exclaimed, Shaking his head: "A cunning scheme is this, Which, to escape below, the knave hath framed." Whence he, who had of cunning tricks a store,

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109

115

Replied: "Well versed in malice sure am I,
To make my own companions smart the more!"
Then burst forth Alichin, inflamed with heat,
Thwarting the rest: "Plunge, if thou dare to try;—
I shall not follow thee with speed of feet,
But wings shall bear me o'er the boiling pitch:
Hie we behind the bank, and we shall see
If thou alone canst all of us o'erreach."
Now for fresh sport, O ye who read prepare!
Each from the bank his eyes withdrew;-first he
Who offered chief resistance to the snare.
Well chose his time the sinner of Navarre-

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Fixt firm his feet-leapt down-and in a trice
From the projected plot escaped afar.

Each demon instantly with rage was fraught,

He most, who had encouraged this device;

Wherefore he flew, exclaiming: "Thou art caught."

But futile his attempt, the speed of fear

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Een wings could not o'ertake:-one dived below,
Up came the other from his vain career.

Thus, when the falcon swoops his wings in air,

The duck dives instant, and eludes the blow;
Back turns the baffled falcon in despair.

Him Calcabrina followed, in despite

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Thus to be duped; yet still so fair a cause
Of quarrelling afforded vast delight;

And since no more the barterer there he viewed,
On his companions straight he turned his claws;
A mighty struggle o'er the trench ensued.

But Alichino was a hawk well tried,

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119. "According to the proposal of Alichin, the fiends retired, and for

a moment withdrew their eyes from the bank to give the sinner a chance." Venturi.

120. Cagnazzo.

125. Alichino. See line 112.

Nor inexpert in clawing:-fell the twain
Down to the iniddle of the boiling tide.

But all attempt to raise themselves was vain;

The heat soon parted them within the ditch,

Like birdlime glued their wings the adhesive pitch. Four of his host now Barbarriccia sent,

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For they were sorely vext, their drags to bear Over the lake.-At his command they went, Descending rapidly across the ditch.

They stretched their hooks to aid the entangled pair, Who now were burning in the glowing pitch; And we advancing, left them floundering there.

CANTO XXIII.

ARGUMENT.

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Dante is saved by Virgil from the demons who pursued them. In the sixth chasm are punished the Hypocrites, who are condemned to pace continually round the gulf under the pressure of cloaks which are gilt without, but lined inside with lead. Catalano, Loderingo, Caiaphas, Annas.

SILENT, apart, companionless we went,

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The one before, the other close behind,
Like minor friars upon their journey bent.

On Esop's fable were my thoughts employed,

(For this encounter brought it to my mind,)

How frog and mouse were by the kite destroyed.

Since greater likeness bear not Yes and Yea,
Than, if attentively compared they be,
From first to last these scenes of strife display.
As from one thought another oft will start,
So rose from this another presently,
Which with redoubled terror filled

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heart.

my

For I considered :-Mocked and injured thus—

And we the cause,-full surely they have ground

To feel annoy, and will be wroth with us.

If rage be added to the spite they bear,

They will pursue us, fiercer than the hound

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4. A frog offered to carry a mouse across ditch, with the intention of lrowning him, when both were borne off by a kite.

7. The original

words "mo" and "issa" signify “now.”

That gripes within his teeth some timid hare. E'en now my locks stood bristling with affright, As I intently listened in the rear.

"O master," I exclaimed, "the demons' spite Fills me with dread, unless thou canst conceal

Thyself and me; behold! they now are near; And I already seem their hooks to feel." "Were I a mirror, not thine outward face

Should I," he said, "more speedily receive,
Than doth my soul thy inward wish embrace.
Thy thought e'en now assimilates to mine,

And so alike the expression which they give,
That I from both have formed the same design.

If on the right the bank is so inclined
That to the pit adjoining we may hie,

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25

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This fancied chase we soon shall leave behind.”

Scarce had he time his counsel to suggest,

Ere I beheld the fiends approaching nigh, With wings outspread, our progress to arrest. In haste my leader caught me in his arm,

Like to a mother wakened from her rest, Who seeing flames around her-in alarm Seizes her son, and speeds with rapid flight,

By care for him more than herself possessed, Clad only in her garment of the night. Down from the summit of the rocky bank Supine he cast him to that sloping hill Which to the next partition formed a flank.

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So quickly never water urged its course
Through narrow conduit to impel a mill,

Where nearest to the spokes it rolls with force,

Than o'er that ridge my master hastened on,
Clasping me closely to his sheltering breast,

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Not as a comrade, but a darling son.

Scarce had his feet attained the rocky bed,

When on the height above, to sight confest,

The fiends appeared; but nought had we to dread;

For that supreme omniscient Providence,

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Which gave the fifth partition to their sway,

Forbade them ever to depart from thence.

Pacing around with weary steps and slow,

A painted tribe of souls I now survey,
Whose haggard looks express fatigue and woe.
Cloaks had they on, with hoods which downward fell
Before their eyes, and like to those in kind,
Worn by the monks who at Cologna dwell.
Outside with dazzling gold they glittered bright;
Inside-with ponderous lead were they so lined,

O cumbersome to all eternity!

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That Frederick's cloaks compared to them were light

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Still on the left with them we took our road,
Intent upon their hopeless misery;

But they so slowly did their way pursue,
Opprest beneath the insufferable load,

That at each step our company was new.
Wherefore I said; "O master, look around,

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And point out some one in this realm of pain, Whom I may know, by deed or name renowned." Then, of my Tuscan language one aware,

Behind us cried: "Your steps awhile restrain, O ye who hurry through the dusky air:-From me perhaps may ye obtain your need."

On which my master turned to me and cried; "Wait, and henceforward at his pace proceed." I waited; and saw two, whose visage showed Excessive eagerness to reach my side;

But the weight checked them, and the narrow road When they arrived, they eyed their stranger guest Askance, with look of wonder, silently;

Then turning, one the other thus addressed :"He by the action of his throat appears Alive; if dead-what privilege has he,

That as he walks no weighty stole he bears?" "O Tuscan, thou who comest," they exclaim, "To this sad college of hypocrisy,

Disdain not to inform us what thy name." I answered: "At that city was I born Laved by fair Arno as she floweth by; And this the body I have always worn.

But who are ye, whose grief adown your cheeks 59. The Hypocrites.

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66. Frederick the Second is said have punished those guilty of treason by burning them in leaden cloaks.