The Online Library of Liberty

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• Ave Dante
• Preface
• Inferno I
• Inferno Ii
• Inferno Iii
• Inferno Iv
• Inferno V
• Inferno Vi
• Inferno Vii
• Inferno Viii
• Inferno Ix
• Inferno X
• Inferno Xi
• Inferno Xii
• Inferno Xiii
• Inferno Xiv
• Inferno Xv
• Inferno Xvi
• Inferno Xvii
• Inferno Xviii
• Inferno Xix
• Inferno Xx
• Inferno Xxi
• Inferno Xxii
• Inferno Xxiii
• Inferno Xxiv
• Inferno Xxv
• Inferno Xxvi
• Inferno Xxvii
• Inferno Xxviii
• Inferno Xxix
• Inferno Xxx
• Inferno Xxxi
• Inferno Xxxii
• Inferno Xxxiii
• Inferno Xxxiv

INFERNO XII

• The place, where to descend the bank we came,
• was Alp-like, and, through what was also there,
• such that all eyes would be repelled by it.

• As is that downfall on the hither side
• of Trent, which sidewise smote the Àdige,
• through earthquake or through failure of support;
• since from the mountain’s summit, whence it moved
• down to the plain, the rock is shattered so,
• that it would yield a path for one above;
• even such was the descent of that ravine;
• and on the border of the broken bank
• was stretched at length the Infamy of Crete,
• who in the seeming heifer was conceived;
• and when he saw us there he bit himself,
• like one whom inward anger overcomes.

• In his direction then my Sage cried out:
• “Dost thou, perhaps, think Athens’ duke is here,
• who gave thee death when in the world above?
• Begone, thou beast! for this man cometh not
• taught by thy sister, but is going by,
• in order to behold your punishments.”

• As doth a bull, who from his leash breaks free
• the moment he receives the mortal blow,
• and cannot walk, but plunges here and there;
• so doing I beheld the Minotaur;
• and he, aware, cried out: “Run to the pass!
• ’t is well that, while he rages, thou descend.”

• Thereat we made our way adown that heap
• of fallen rocks, which often ’neath my feet
• were moved, because of their unwonted load.

• I went along in thought; and he: “Perchance
• thou thinkest of this landslide, which is guarded
• by that beast’s anger which I quenched just now.
• Now I would have thee know that, when down here
• to nether Hell I came, that other time,
• this mass of rock had not yet fallen down.
• But certainly, if I remember well,
• not long ere He arrived, who carried off
• from Dis the highest circle’s mighty prey,
• on every side the deep and foul abyss
• so trembled that I thought the universe
• had felt the love, whereby, as some believe,
• the world to Chaos hath been oft reduced;
• and at that moment this old mass of rock
• was thus, both here and elsewhere, overthrown.
• But turn thine eyes down yonder now; for lo,
• the stream of blood is drawing near to us,
• wherein boils who by violence harms others.”

• O blind cupidity, O foolish wrath,
• that so dost in our short life goad us on,
• and after, in the eternal, steep us thus!

• I saw a wide moat curving in an arc,
• and such that it embraces all the plain,
• according as my Escort had informed me;
• and in a file, between it and the bank,
• Centaurs were running by, with arrows armed,
• as in the world it was their wont to hunt.
• On seeing us descend, they all stopped short,
• and three of them detached them from the troop,
• with bows and arrows they had chosen first.

• And one cried from afar: “Ye that descend
• the slope, to what pain are ye coming?
• Tell it from there, or else I draw my bow.”

• My Teacher said: “Our answer will we give
• to Chiron yonder, when we reach his side;
• thus ever to thy harm was thy will rash.”

• He touched me then, and said: “That one is Nessus,
• who died for lovely Dejanira’s sake,
• and who himself wrought vengeance for himself;
• the middle one, who gazes at his breast,
• is that great Chiron who brought up Achilles;
• the other, Pholus, who so wrathful was.
• They go by thousands round about the moat,
• shooting each soul that from the blood emerges
• further than its own sin allotted it.”

• To those swift-footed beasts we then drew near;
• Chiron an arrow took, and with its notch
• backward upon his jaws he pushed his beard.
• When he had thus uncovered his great mouth,
• he said unto his mates: “Are ye aware
• that he who comes behind moves what he touches?
• Yet dead men’s feet are not thus wont to do.”

• And my good Leader, who now reached his breast,
• where the two natures are together joined,
• replied: “He lives indeed, and thus alone
• must I needs show to him the dark abyss;
• necessity is leading him, not pleasure.
• One who withdrew from singing praise to God,
• gave me this new commission; he is not
• a highwayman, nor I a robber’s soul.
• But by the Power, through whom I move my steps
• along so wild a road, bestow on us
• one of thy troop, at whose side we may be,
• and who may show us where one fords, and carry
• this man upon his back, for he is not
• a spirit who can travel through the air.”

• Upon his right breast Chiron turned, and said
• to Nessus: “Turn around, and guide them thus,
• and if another troop should meet you, cause it
• to stand aside.” Then we with this safe escort
• skirted the edge of that red, boiling stream,
• wherein the boiled were crying out aloud.

• I saw some people in it to their brows.
• “These tyrants are,” the mighty Centaur said,
• “who took to bloodshed and to plundering.
• Here tears are shed because of heartless wrongs;
• here Alexander is, and who for years
• grieved Sicily, fierce Dionysius.
• The brow which hath so black a head of hair,
• is Azzolino; the other which is blond,
• Obizzo of Este, who in truth was quenched
• up in the world by his un-natural son.”
• I turned then toward the Poet, but he said:
• “Be he now first to thee, and second I.”

• A little further on the Centaur stopped
• over some people who, it seemed, emerged
• out of that boiling river from their necks.
• On one side there a lonely shade he showed us,
• and said: “He yonder in God’s bosom pierced
• the heart, which still is honored on the Thames.”

• Then people I beheld who from the stream
• held out their heads, and even all their chest;
• and many did I recognize of these.
• Thus shallower and shallower became
• that blood, until it only cooked their feet;
• here was the place for us to ford the ditch.

• “Even as thou seest that the boiling stream
• grows shallow more and more on this side here,”
• the Centaur said, “I wish thee to believe

• that on this other side its bottom sinks
• increasingly, until it joins the place
• where it behooveth tyranny to groan.
• Justice Divine is over here tormenting
• that Attila who was a scourge on earth,
• Pyrrhus, and Sextus; and forever milks
• the tears, which with the boiling it unlocks,
• from Rinier da Corneto and Rinier Pazzo,
• who on the highroads waged so great a war.”

• He then turned back, and crossed the ford again.