INFERNO.

CANTO XXIII.

ARGUMENT.

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

INFERNO.

CANTO XXIII.

SILENT and slow our lonely path we trod,
The one before, the other close behind,

Like minor friars proceeding on their road.
On Æsop's fable were my thoughts employ'd,—
How (this encounter brought it to my mind,)
The frog and mouse were by the kite destroy'd.
For 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 fill'd my

heart.

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For I consider'd:-Mock'd and taunted thus

And we the cause;-full surely they have ground
To feel annoy, and will be wroth with us.
If to ill-will be added rage, I fear

They will pursue, more vengeful than the hound
Who gripes within his teeth some timid hare.
E'en now my locks stood bristling with affright,
As I intently listen'd in the rear ;

"O master," I exclaim'd: " the demon's 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 th' expression which they give,
That I from both have form'd the same design.

If on the right, the bank is so inclined,

That to the chasm adjoining we may hie,

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.

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