But a new class of sinners came not long ago,
And what to do with them I swear I don’t know;
I saw them, quite recently, stemming the Styx,
Sent here, I suppose, for their dastardly tricks:
(For of all who arrive here by night or by day,
There are none but the meanest who come by that way,)
Each floated down stream, at his ease, toward the lake,
A species of monster, half man and half snake;
Their heads crowned with copper, their bodies with scales,
Like scorpions they carried their stings in their tails;