The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 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 XVII

• “Behold the wild beast with the pointed tail,
• which, crossing mountains, breaks through walls and armor;
• behold who sickens all the world with stench!”

• My Leader thus began to speak to me,
• and signalled to it to approach the edge,
• near where the marble we had traversed ended.
• And that foul image of deceit came on,
• and landed on the bank its head and chest;
• but o’er the edge it drew not up its tail.

• Its face was as the face of a just man,
• so pleasing outwardly was its complexion;
• the body of a serpent all the rest.
• Two paws it had, all hairy to the arm-pits;
• its back and breast, as well as both its sides,
• were painted o’er with snares and wheel-like shields.
• Ne’er with more colors in its woof and warp
• did Turks or Tartars manufacture cloth,
• nor by Arachnne were such webs designed.

• As flat-boats sometimes lie upon the shore,
• in water partly, partly on the land;
• and as among the greedy Germans yonder,

• the beaver seats himself to wage his war;
• so lay that worst of beasts upon the edge
• which closes in the sandy plain with stone.
• All of its tail was quivering in the void,
• and twisting upward its envenomed fork,
• which like a scorpion’s weapon armed its tip.

• “Our path must turn aside a little now,”
• my Leader said to me, “until we reach
• that wicked beast reclining over there.”

• Around our right breast, therefore, we went down,
• and took ten paces on the very edge,
• thus surely to avoid both sand and fire;
• and after we had come to it, I saw,
• upon the sand a little further on,
• some people sitting near the precipice.

• My Teacher then: “That thou mayst take with thee
• a full experience of this ring, go on,
• and see the nature of the life they lead.
• There be thy conversation brief; meanwhile,
• till thou return, I ’ll talk with this wild beast,
• that its strong shoulders may be yielded us.”

• Thus further on, along the outer edge
• of that seventh circle, all alone I went,
• to where the melancholy people sat.
• Out of their eyes their woe was bursting forth;
• first here, then there, they helped them with their hands,
• now from the flames, now from the heated soil.

• Not otherwise do dogs in summer-time,
• now with their paws, and with their muzzles now,
• whene’er by flees, or flies, or gadflies bitten.

• When on the face of some I set mine eyes,
• on whom the woeful fire is falling there,
• I knew not one of them; but I perceived
• that from the neck of each there hung a pouch,
• which had a certain color and design,
• wherewith their eyes appeared to feed themselves.
• And as I, looking, came into their midst,
• azure upon a yellow pouch I saw,
• which had the form and semblance of a lion.
• Then, as my gaze continued on its course,
• another I beheld, as red as blood,
• exhibiting a goose more white than butter.

• And one of them, who had his small white pouch
• emblazoned with an azure pregnant sow,
• said to me: “What dost thou in this our ditch?
• Now go thy way; and since thou livest still,
• know that my fellow townsman, Vitaliano,
• will sit beside me here upon my left.
• I, with these Florentines, a Paduan am,
• and very frequently they stun my ears
• by shouting: “Let the sovereign knight arrive,
• who ’ll bring with him the pocket with three beaks!”’
• Herewith his mouth he twisted, sticking out
• his tongue, as doth an ox that licks its nose.

• And I, afraid lest any longer stay
• might anger him who warned me to be brief,
• turned from those weary spirits back again.

• I found my Leader, who had climbed already
• upon the back of that fierce animal,
• and said to me: “Now be thou strong and bold!
• By stairs like these shall we descend hereafter;
• climb thou in front, for midst I wish to be,
• so that the tail may do no injury.”

• Like one with quartan-fever’s chill so near,
• that pale already are his finger nails,
• and that, but looking at the shade, he shudders;
• such at the words he uttered I became;
• but that shame made its threats to me, which renders
• a servant strong when in a good lord’s presence.
• As on those horrid shoulders I sat down,
• I wished to tell him: “See that thou embrace me!”
• my voice, however, came not as I thought.

• But he, who succoured me at other times
• and other straights, as soon as I was up,
• encircled and sustained me with his arms;
• and then he said: “Now, Geryon, move thou on!
• Wide be thy wheels, and gradual thy descent;
• bethink thee of the unwonted load thou hast.”

• As from its mooring place a little boat
• backs slowly out, even so did he withdraw;
• and when he wholly felt himself in play,

• to where his breast had been, he turned his tail,
• and moved the latter, stretched out like an eel,
• while with his paws he gathered in the air.

• I do not think that there was greater fear
• when Phaëthon let go his horses’ reins,
• whereby, as still appears, the sky was burned;
• nor yet when wretched Icarus perceived
• his back unfeathering through the melting wax,
• while, calling him, his father cried: “Thou hold’st
• an evil course!” than mine was, when I saw
• that I was in the air on every side,
• and gone the sight of all things save the beast.

• The latter, swimming, slowly wends his way,
• wheels and descends, but I perceive it not,
• save by the wind below and in my face.
• The waterfall I now heard on the right,
• making a horrid roar beneath us; hence,
• I outward thrust my head with eyes turned down.
• More fearful of the abyss I then became,
• for fires I now beheld, and wailings heard;
• hence, trembling, I clung closer with my thighs.
• And then, for I perceived it not before,
• by the great torments which on divers sides
• drew near, I saw our wheeling and descent.

• Even as a falcon long upon the wing,
• which, without seeing lure or game-bird, makes
• the falconer say: “Alas, thou comest down!”

• descendeth weary, through a hundred rings,
• whence he had swiftly started, and alights
• far from his lord in angry sullenness;
• so likewise Geryon set us down below,
• close to the bottom of the rough-hewn rock;
• and, of our persons rid, as fast as flies
• an arrow from a bowstring, sped away.