[511] By stairs like this: The descent from one circle to another grows more difficult the further down they come. They appear to have found no special obstacle in the nature of the ground till they reached the bank sloping down to the Fifth Circle, the pathway down which is described as terrible (Inf. vii. 105). The descent into the Seventh Circle is made practicable, and nothing more (Inf. xii. I).
[512] Heaven was fired: As still appears in the Milky Way. In the Convito, ii. 15, Dante discusses the various explanations of what causes the brightness of that part of the heavens.
[513] A terrific roar: Of the water falling to the ground. On beginning the descent they had left the waterfall on the left hand, but Geryon, after fetching one or more great circles, passes in front of it, and then they have it on the right. There is no further mention of the waters of Phlegethon till they are found frozen in Cocytus (Inf. xxxii. 23). Philalethes suggests that they flow under the Eighth Circle.
[514] Lure: An imitation bird used in training falcons. Dante describes the sulky, slow descent of a falcon which has either lost sight of its prey, or has failed to discover where the falconer has thrown the lure. Geryon has descended thus deliberately owing to the command of Virgil.
CANTO XVIII.
Of iron colour, and composed of stone,
A place called Malebolge[515] is in Hell,
Girt by a cliff of substance like its own.
In that malignant region yawns a well[516]
Right in the centre, ample and profound;
Of which I duly will the structure tell.
The zone[517] that lies between them, then, is round—
Between the well and precipice hard and high;
Into ten vales divided is the ground.
As is the figure offered to the eye,10
Where numerous moats a castle’s towers enclose
That they the walls may better fortify;
A like appearance was made here by those.
And as, again, from threshold of such place
Many a drawbridge to the outworks goes;
So ridges from the precipice’s base
Cutting athwart the moats and barriers run,
Till at the well join the extremities.[518]
From Geryon’s back when we were shaken down
’Twas here we stood, until the Poet’s feet20
Moved to the left, and I, behind, came on.
New torments on the right mine eyes did meet
With new tormentors, novel woe on woe;
With which the nearer Bolgia was replete.
Sinners, all naked, in the gulf below,
This side the middle met us; while they strode
On that side with us, but more swift did go.[519]
Even so the Romans, that the mighty crowd
Across the bridge, the year of Jubilee,
Might pass with ease, ordained a rule of road[520]—30
Facing the Castle, on that side should be
The multitude which to St. Peter’s hied;
So to the Mount on this was passage free.
On the grim rocky ground, on either side,
I saw horned devils[521] armed with heavy whip
Which on the sinners from behind they plied.
Ah, how they made the wretches nimbly skip
At the first lashes; no one ever yet
But sought from the second and the third to slip.
And as I onward went, mine eyes were set40
On one of them; whereon I called in haste:
‘This one already I have surely met!’
Therefore to know him, fixedly I gazed;
And my kind Leader willingly delayed,
While for a little I my course retraced.
On this the scourged one, thinking to evade
My search, his visage bent without avail,
For: ‘Thou that gazest on the ground,’ I said,
‘If these thy features tell trustworthy tale,
Venedico Caccianimico[522] thou!50
But what has brought thee to such sharp regale?’[523]
And he, ‘I tell it ’gainst my will, I trow,
But thy clear accents[524] to the old world bear
My memory, and make me all avow.
I was the man who Ghisola the fair
To serve the Marquis’ evil will led on,
Whatever[525] the uncomely tale declare.
Of Bolognese here weeping not alone
Am I; so full the place of them, to-day
’Tween Reno and Savena[526] are not known60
So many tongues that Sipa deftly say:
And if of this thou’dst know the reason why,
Think but how greedy were our hearts alway.’
To him thus speaking did a demon cry:
‘Pander, begone!’ and smote him with his thong;
‘Here are no women for thy coin to buy.’
Then, with my Escort joined, I moved along.
Few steps we made until we there had come,
Where from the bank a rib of rock was flung.
With ease enough up to its top we clomb,70
And, turning on the ridge, bore to the right;[527]
And those eternal circles[528] parted from.
When we had reached where underneath the height
A passage opes, yielding the scourged a way,
My Guide bade: ‘Tarry, so to hold in sight
Those other spirits born in evil day,
Whose faces until now from thee have been
Concealed, because with ours their progress lay.’
Then from the ancient bridge by us were seen
The troop which toward us on that circuit sped,80
Chased onward, likewise, by the scourges keen.
And my good Master, ere I asked him, said:
‘That lordly one now coming hither, see,
By whom, despite of pain, no tears are shed.
What mien he still retains of majesty!
’Tis Jason, who by courage and by guile
The Colchians of the ram deprived. ’Twas he
Who on his passage by the Lemnian isle,
Where all of womankind with daring hand
Upon their males had wrought a murder vile,90
With loving pledges and with speeches bland
The tender-yeared Hypsipyle betrayed,
Who had herself a fraud on others planned.
Forlorn he left her then, when pregnant made.
That is the crime condemns him to this pain;
And for Medea[529] too is vengeance paid.
Who in his manner cheat compose his train.
Of the first moat sufficient now is known,
And those who in its jaws engulfed remain.’
Already had we by the strait path gone100
To where ’tis with the second bank dovetailed—
The buttress whence a second arch is thrown.
Here heard we who in the next Bolgia wailed[530]
And puffed for breath; reverberations told
They with their open palms themselves assailed.
The sides were crusted over with a mould
Plastered upon them by foul mists that rise,
And both with eyes and nose a contest hold.
The bottom is so deep, in vain our eyes
Searched it till further up the bridge we went,110
To where the arch o’erhangs what under lies.
Ascended there, our eyes we downward bent,
And I saw people in such ordure drowned,
A very cesspool ’twas of excrement.
And while I from above am searching round,
One with a head so filth-smeared I picked out,
I knew not if ’twas lay, or tonsure-crowned.
‘Why then so eager,’ asked he with a shout,
‘To stare at me of all the filthy crew?’
And I to him: ‘Because I scarce can doubt120
That formerly thee dry of hair I knew,
Alessio Interminei[531] the Lucchese;
And therefore thee I chiefly hold in view.’
Smiting his head-piece, then, his words were these:
‘’Twas flattery steeped me here; for, using such,
My tongue itself enough could never please.’
‘Now stretch thou somewhat forward, but not much,’
Thereon my Leader bade me, ‘and thine eyes
Slowly advance till they her features touch
And the dishevelled baggage recognise,130
Clawing her yonder with her nails unclean,
Now standing up, now squatting on her thighs.
’Tis harlot Thais,[532] who, when she had been
Asked by her lover, “Am I generous
And worthy thanks?” said, “Greatly so, I ween.”
Enough[533] of this place has been seen by us.’