Inferno Canto 31
Canto XXXI
Argument
The Poets, following the sound of a loud horn, are led by it to the ninth circle, in which there are four rounds, one enclosed within the other, and containing as many sorts of traitors; but the present Canto shows only that the circle is encompassed with Giants, one of whom. Antaeus, takes them both in his arms and places them at the bottom of the circle.
The very tongue, whose keen reproof before Had wounded me, that either cheek was stain'd, Now minister'd my cure. So have I heard, Achilles' and his father's javelin caused Pain first, and then the boon of health restored.
Turning our back upon the vale of woe, We cross'd the encircled mound in silence. There Was less than day and less than night, that far Mine eye advanced not: but I heard a horn Sounded so loud, the peal it rang had made The thunder feeble. Following its course The adverse way, my strained eyes were bent On that one spot. So terrible a blast Orlando blew not, when that dismal rout O'er threw the host of Charlemain, and quench'd His saintly warfare. Thitherward not long My head was raised, when many a lofty tower Methought I spied. "Master," said I, "what land Is this?" He answer'd straight: "Too long a space Of intervening darkness has thine eye To traverse: thou hast therefore widely err'd In thy imagining. Thither arrived
[1: When Charlemain with all his peerage fell at Fontarabia." Milton, Paradis Lost, b. i. 586. See Warton's Hist. of Eng. Poetry, vol. i. sect. iii.
p. 132. "This is the horn which Orlando won from the giant Jatmund, and which, as Turpin and the Islandic bards report, was endued with magical power, and might be heard at the distance of twenty miles." See the Paradise, Canto xviii.]
Thou well shalt see, how distance can delude The sense. A little therefore urge thee on."
Then tenderly he caught me by the hand;
"Yet know," said he, "ere farther we advance, That it less strange may seem, these are not towers, But giants. In the pit they stand immersed, Each from his navel downward, round the bank."
As when a fog disperseth gradually, Our vision traces what the mist involves Condensed in air; so piercing through the gross And gloomy atmosphere, as more and more We near'd toward the brink, mine error fled And fear came o'er me. As with circling round Of turrets, Montereggion crowns his walls;
E'en thus the shore, encompassing the abyss, Was turreted with giants, half their length Uprearing, horrible, whom Jove from Heaven Yet threatens, when his muttering thunder rolls.
[2: A castle near Siena.]
Of one already I descried the face, Shoulders and breast, and of the belly huge Great part, and both arms down along his ribs.
All - teeming Nature, when her plastic hand Left framing of these monsters, did display Past doubt her wisdom, taking from mad War Such slaves to do his bidding; and if she Repent her not of the elephant and whale, Who ponders well confesses her therein Wiser and more discreet; for when brute force And evil will are back'd with subtlety, Resistance none avails. His visage seem'd In length and bulk, as doth the pine that tops Saint Peter's Roman fane; and the other bones Of like proportion, so that from above The bank, which girdled him below, such height Arose his stature, that three Friezelanders
[3: "The pine. The large pine of bronze, which once ornamented the top of the mole of Adrian, afterwards decorated the top of the belfry of St.
Peter; and having (according to Buti) been thrown down by lightning, it was transferred to the place where it now is, in the Pope's garden, by the side of the great corridor of Belvedere. In the time of our Poet, the pine was then either on the belfry or on the steps of St. Peter's."]
Had striven in vain to reach but to his hair.
Full thirty ample palms was he exposed Downward from whence a man his garment loops.
"Raphel bai ameth, sabi almi:"
So shouted his fierce lips, which sweeter hymns Became not; and my guide address'd him thus:
"O senseless spirit! let thy horn for thee Interpret: therewith vent thy rage, if rage Or other passion wring thee. Search thy neck, There shalt thou find the belt that binds it on.
Spirit confused! lo, on thy mighty breast Where hangs the baldrick!" Then to me he spake:
"He doth accuse himself. Nimrod is this, Through whose ill counsel in the world no more One tongue prevails. But pass we on, nor waste Our words; for so each language is to him, As his to others, understood by none."
[4: Unmeaning sounds, meant, it is supposed, to express the confusion at the building of Babel.]
Then to the leftward turning sped we forth, And at a sling's throw found another shade Far fiercer and more huge. I cannot say What master hand had girt him; but he held Behind the right arm fetter'd, and before, The other, with a chain, that fasten'd him From the neck down; and five times round his form Apparent met the wreathed links. "This proud one Would of his strength against almighty Jove Make trial," said my guide: "whence he is thus Requited: Ephialtes his they call.
Great was his prowess, when the giants brought Fear on the gods: those arms, which then he plied, Now moves he never." Forthwith I return'd:
"Fain would I, if't were possible, mine eyes, Of Briareus immeasurable, gain'd Experience next." He answered: "Thou shalt see Not far from hence Antaeus, who both speaks And is unfetter'd, who shall place us there Where guilt is at its depth. Far onward stands Whom thou wouldst fain behold, in chains, and made
Like to this spirit, save that in his looks More fell he seems." By violent earthquake rock'd Ne'er shook a tower, so reeling to its base, As Ephialtes. More than ever then I dreaded death; nor than the terror more Had needed, if I had not seen the cords That held him fast. We, straightway journeying on, Came to Antaeus, who, five ells complete Without the head, forth issued from the cave.
"O thou, who in the fortunate vale, that made Great Scipio heir of glory, when his sword Drove back the troop of Hannibal in flight, Who thence of old didst carry for thy spoil An hundred lions; and if thou hadst fought In the high conflict on thy brethren's side, Seems as men yet believed, that through thine arm The sons of earth had conquer'd; now vouchsafe To place us down beneath, where numbing cold Locks up Cocytus. Force not that we crave Or Tityus' help or Typhon's. Here is one Can give what in this realm ye covet. Stoop Therefore, nor scornfully distort thy lip.
He in the upper world can yet bestow Renown on thee; for he doth live, and looks For life yet longer, if before the time Grace call him not unto herself." Thus spake The teacher. He in haste forth stretch'd his hands, And caught my guide. Alcides whilom felt That grapple, straiten'd sore. Soon as my guide Had felt it, he bespake me thus: "This way, That I may clasp thee;" then so caught me up, That we were both one burden. As appears The tower of Carisenda, from beneath Where it doth lean, if chance a passing cloud So sail across, that opposite it hangs;
Such then Antaeus seem'd, as at mine ease I mark'd him stooping. I were fain at times
[5: The country near Carthage.]
[6: The combat between Hercules (Alcides) and Antaeus is adduced by the poet in his treatise "De Monarchia," lib. ii., as proof of God's judgment displayed in the duel, according to the singular superstition of those times.]
[7: The leaning tower at Bologna.]
To have past another way. Yet in the abyss, That Lucifer with Judas low ingulfs, Lightly he placed us; nor, there leaning, stay'd;
But rose, as in a bark the stately mast.
Argument
The Poets, following the sound of a loud horn, are led by it to the ninth circle, in which there are four rounds, one enclosed within the other, and containing as many sorts of traitors; but the present Canto shows only that the circle is encompassed with Giants, one of whom. Antaeus, takes them both in his arms and places them at the bottom of the circle.
The very tongue, whose keen reproof before Had wounded me, that either cheek was stain'd, Now minister'd my cure. So have I heard, Achilles' and his father's javelin caused Pain first, and then the boon of health restored.
Turning our back upon the vale of woe, We cross'd the encircled mound in silence. There Was less than day and less than night, that far Mine eye advanced not: but I heard a horn Sounded so loud, the peal it rang had made The thunder feeble. Following its course The adverse way, my strained eyes were bent On that one spot. So terrible a blast Orlando blew not, when that dismal rout O'er threw the host of Charlemain, and quench'd His saintly warfare. Thitherward not long My head was raised, when many a lofty tower Methought I spied. "Master," said I, "what land Is this?" He answer'd straight: "Too long a space Of intervening darkness has thine eye To traverse: thou hast therefore widely err'd In thy imagining. Thither arrived
[1: When Charlemain with all his peerage fell at Fontarabia." Milton, Paradis Lost, b. i. 586. See Warton's Hist. of Eng. Poetry, vol. i. sect. iii.
p. 132. "This is the horn which Orlando won from the giant Jatmund, and which, as Turpin and the Islandic bards report, was endued with magical power, and might be heard at the distance of twenty miles." See the Paradise, Canto xviii.]
Thou well shalt see, how distance can delude The sense. A little therefore urge thee on."
Then tenderly he caught me by the hand;
"Yet know," said he, "ere farther we advance, That it less strange may seem, these are not towers, But giants. In the pit they stand immersed, Each from his navel downward, round the bank."
As when a fog disperseth gradually, Our vision traces what the mist involves Condensed in air; so piercing through the gross And gloomy atmosphere, as more and more We near'd toward the brink, mine error fled And fear came o'er me. As with circling round Of turrets, Montereggion crowns his walls;
E'en thus the shore, encompassing the abyss, Was turreted with giants, half their length Uprearing, horrible, whom Jove from Heaven Yet threatens, when his muttering thunder rolls.
[2: A castle near Siena.]
Of one already I descried the face, Shoulders and breast, and of the belly huge Great part, and both arms down along his ribs.
All - teeming Nature, when her plastic hand Left framing of these monsters, did display Past doubt her wisdom, taking from mad War Such slaves to do his bidding; and if she Repent her not of the elephant and whale, Who ponders well confesses her therein Wiser and more discreet; for when brute force And evil will are back'd with subtlety, Resistance none avails. His visage seem'd In length and bulk, as doth the pine that tops Saint Peter's Roman fane; and the other bones Of like proportion, so that from above The bank, which girdled him below, such height Arose his stature, that three Friezelanders
[3: "The pine. The large pine of bronze, which once ornamented the top of the mole of Adrian, afterwards decorated the top of the belfry of St.
Peter; and having (according to Buti) been thrown down by lightning, it was transferred to the place where it now is, in the Pope's garden, by the side of the great corridor of Belvedere. In the time of our Poet, the pine was then either on the belfry or on the steps of St. Peter's."]
Had striven in vain to reach but to his hair.
Full thirty ample palms was he exposed Downward from whence a man his garment loops.
"Raphel bai ameth, sabi almi:"
So shouted his fierce lips, which sweeter hymns Became not; and my guide address'd him thus:
"O senseless spirit! let thy horn for thee Interpret: therewith vent thy rage, if rage Or other passion wring thee. Search thy neck, There shalt thou find the belt that binds it on.
Spirit confused! lo, on thy mighty breast Where hangs the baldrick!" Then to me he spake:
"He doth accuse himself. Nimrod is this, Through whose ill counsel in the world no more One tongue prevails. But pass we on, nor waste Our words; for so each language is to him, As his to others, understood by none."
[4: Unmeaning sounds, meant, it is supposed, to express the confusion at the building of Babel.]
Then to the leftward turning sped we forth, And at a sling's throw found another shade Far fiercer and more huge. I cannot say What master hand had girt him; but he held Behind the right arm fetter'd, and before, The other, with a chain, that fasten'd him From the neck down; and five times round his form Apparent met the wreathed links. "This proud one Would of his strength against almighty Jove Make trial," said my guide: "whence he is thus Requited: Ephialtes his they call.
Great was his prowess, when the giants brought Fear on the gods: those arms, which then he plied, Now moves he never." Forthwith I return'd:
"Fain would I, if't were possible, mine eyes, Of Briareus immeasurable, gain'd Experience next." He answered: "Thou shalt see Not far from hence Antaeus, who both speaks And is unfetter'd, who shall place us there Where guilt is at its depth. Far onward stands Whom thou wouldst fain behold, in chains, and made
Like to this spirit, save that in his looks More fell he seems." By violent earthquake rock'd Ne'er shook a tower, so reeling to its base, As Ephialtes. More than ever then I dreaded death; nor than the terror more Had needed, if I had not seen the cords That held him fast. We, straightway journeying on, Came to Antaeus, who, five ells complete Without the head, forth issued from the cave.
"O thou, who in the fortunate vale, that made Great Scipio heir of glory, when his sword Drove back the troop of Hannibal in flight, Who thence of old didst carry for thy spoil An hundred lions; and if thou hadst fought In the high conflict on thy brethren's side, Seems as men yet believed, that through thine arm The sons of earth had conquer'd; now vouchsafe To place us down beneath, where numbing cold Locks up Cocytus. Force not that we crave Or Tityus' help or Typhon's. Here is one Can give what in this realm ye covet. Stoop Therefore, nor scornfully distort thy lip.
He in the upper world can yet bestow Renown on thee; for he doth live, and looks For life yet longer, if before the time Grace call him not unto herself." Thus spake The teacher. He in haste forth stretch'd his hands, And caught my guide. Alcides whilom felt That grapple, straiten'd sore. Soon as my guide Had felt it, he bespake me thus: "This way, That I may clasp thee;" then so caught me up, That we were both one burden. As appears The tower of Carisenda, from beneath Where it doth lean, if chance a passing cloud So sail across, that opposite it hangs;
Such then Antaeus seem'd, as at mine ease I mark'd him stooping. I were fain at times
[5: The country near Carthage.]
[6: The combat between Hercules (Alcides) and Antaeus is adduced by the poet in his treatise "De Monarchia," lib. ii., as proof of God's judgment displayed in the duel, according to the singular superstition of those times.]
[7: The leaning tower at Bologna.]
To have past another way. Yet in the abyss, That Lucifer with Judas low ingulfs, Lightly he placed us; nor, there leaning, stay'd;
But rose, as in a bark the stately mast.
