| Notes
12 The Minotaur, born of Pasiphae the queen
of Crete who used a wooden cow to seduce a bull, was half man and half bull. Theseus
(l.
17) slew him with the help of Ariadne, half-sister to the beast. The Minotaur appears here
as an example of violence in the seventh circle.
40 Again Christ's harrowing of hell is
alluded to. The crucifixion was marked by a great earthquake.
47 The river of blood is the Phlegethon.
56 The centaurs were half men and half horse;
their leader was Chiron. The centaur Nessus (l. 67) tried to rape Dejanira, but was killed
by her husband Hercules. Before dying, Nessus gave her a poisoned shirt for Hercules; it
destroyed him.
98 Nessus now carries Dante on his back
along the riverbank and across the boiling shallows to the other side (l. 126).
107 Alexander the Great or the tyrant
Alexander of Pherae (368-359 B. C.). Dionysius of Syracuse was a fifth-century tyrant.
110 Azzolino da Romano (1194-1259) and Opizzo
II d'Este (d. 1293) were two brutal Italian tyrants.
119 Guy de Montfort, to avenge his father's
death, murdered Henry, nephew of Henry III of England, in 1271.
134 Attila the Hun, who ruled from 433 to
453, was called the Scourge of God.
135 This Pyrrhus may be either the son of
Achilles, a fighter in the Trojan war, or the king of Epirus (318-272 B. C.) who battled
against the Romans. Sextus is probably the son of Pompey the Great; he became a pirate.
137 Rinier of Cometo and Rinier Pazzo were
two notorious highwaymen of Dante's day. |
|
- The
place where we had come to clamber down
- The
bank was mountainous, and what was there
- So
grim all eyes would turn away from it.
-
- Just
like that rockslide on this side of Trent
- 5
That struck the flank of the Adige River —
-
Either by an earthquake or erosion —
-
-
Where, from the mountaintop it started down
- To
the plain below, the boulders shattered so,
- For
anyone above they formed a path,
-
- 10
Such was the downward course of that ravine;
- And
at the brink over the broken chasm
- There
lay outspread the infamy of Crete
-
- That
was conceived within the bogus cow;
- And
when he saw us, he bit into himself,
- 15
Like someone whom wrath tears up from inside.
-
- My
clever guide cried out to him, "Perhaps
- You
believe that this is the Duke of Athens
- Who
in the upper world contrived your death?
-
-
"Go off, you beast! this man does not approach
- 20
Instructed by your sister but comes here
- In
order to observe your punishments."
-
- Just
as the bull breaks loose right at that moment
- When
he has been dealt the fatal blow
- And
cannot run but jumps this way and that,
-
- 25
So I saw the Minotaur react —
- And
my quick guide called out, "Run for the pass!
- While
he's raging is our chance to get down!"
-
- And
so we made our way down through the pile
- Of
rocks which often slid beneath my feet
- 30
Because they were not used to holding weight.
-
- I
pushed on, thinking, and he said, "You wonder,
-
Perhaps, about that wreckage which is guarded
- By
that bestial rage I just now quelled.
-
-
"Now you should know that the other time
- 35
I journeyed here below to lower hell,
- These
boulders as yet had not tumbled down:
-
-
"But for certain, if I recall correctly,
- It
was shortly before He came who took
- From
Dis the great spoils of the topmost circle
-
- 40
"That this deep loathsome valley on all sides
-
Trembled so, I thought the universe
- Felt
love, because of which, as some believe,
-
-
"The world has often been turned back to chaos.
- And
at that instant this ancient rock split up,
- 45
Scattering like this, here and elsewhere.
-
-
"But fasten your eyes below — down to the plain
- Where
we approach a river of blood boiling
- Those
who harm their neighbors by violence."
-
- O
blind cupidity and rabid anger
- 50
Which so spur us ahead in our short life
- Only
to steep us forever in such pain!
-
- I saw
a broad ditch bent into a bow,
- As
though holding the whole plain in its embrace,
- Just
as my guide had explained it to me.
-
- 55
Between the ditch and the foot of the bank
-
Centaurs came running single-file, armed
- With
arrows as they hunted in the world.
-
-
Seeing us descend, they all pulled up,
- And
from their ranks three of them moved forward
- 60
With bows and with their newly selected shafts.
-
- And
from afar one shouted, "To what tortures
- Do
you approach as you climb down the slope?
-
Answer from there, or else I draw my bow."
-
- My
master said, "We will make our response
- 65
To Chiron there who hovers at your side —
- To
your own harm, your will was always rash."
-
- Then
he nudged me, and said, "That is Nessus,
- Who
died for the lovely Dejanira
- By
taking his own revenge upon himself;
-
- 70
"And in the middle, staring at his chest,
- Is
mighty Chiron, who tutored Achilles;
- The
last is Pholus, who was so full of frenzy."
-
-
Thousands on thousands march around the ditch,
-
Shooting at any soul that rises up
- 75
Above the blood more than its guilt allows.
-
- When
we drew near to these fleet-footed beasts,
-
Chiron took an arrow and with its notch
-
Parted his shaggy beard back from his jaws,
-
- And
when he had uncovered his huge mouth,
- 80
Said to his companions, "Have you noticed
- How
that one there behind stirs what he touches?
-
-
"A dead man's feet would not cause that to happen!"
- And
my good guide, now standing at the chest
- Where
the two natures fuse together, answered,
-
- 85
"He is indeed alive, and so alone
- That
I must show him all the somber valley.
-
Necessity not pleasure brings him here.
-
-
"A spirit came from singing alleluia
- To
commission me with this new office:
- 90
He is no robber nor I a thieving soul.
-
-
"But by the power by which I move my steps
- Along
this roadway through the wilderness,
- Lend
us one of your band to keep by us
-
-
"To lead us where we two can ford across
- 95
And there to carry this man on his back,
- For
he is not a spirit who flies through air."
-
-
Chiron pivoted around on his right breast,
-
Saying to Nessus, "Go back and guide them — if
-
Another troop challenges, drive them away!"
-
- 100
So with this trusted escort we moved on
- Along
the bank of the bubbling crimson river
- Where
boiling souls raised their piercing cries.
-
- There
I saw people buried to their eyebrows,
- And
the strong centaur said, "These are tyrants
- 105
Who wallowed in bloodshed and plundering.
-
-
"Here they bewail their heartless crimes: here lie
- Both
Alexander and fierce Dionysius
- Who
brought long years of woe to Sicily;
-
-
"And there with his head of jet-black hair
- 110
Is Azzolino; and that other blond one
- Is
Opizzo d'Este, who in the world
-
-
"Actually was slain by his own stepson."
- With
that I turned to the poet, who said,
-
"Now let him be your first guide, I your second."
-
- 115
A little farther on, the centaur halted
- Above
some people who appeared to rise
-
Out of the boiling stream up to their throats.
-
- He
pointed to one shade off by himself,
- And
said, "In God's own bosom, this one stabbed
- 120
The heart that still drips blood upon the Thames."
-
- Then
I saw others too who held their heads
- And
even their whole chests out of the stream,
- And
many of them there I recognized.
-
- So
the blood eventually thinned out
- 125
Until it scalded only their feet in it;
- And
here we found a place to ford the ditch.
-
-
"Just as you see, this side, the boiling brook
- Grow
gradually shallower," the centaur said,
-
"So I would also have you understand
-
- 130
"That on the other side the riverbed
-
Slopes deeper down from here until it reaches
- Again
the spot where tyranny must grieve.
-
-
"Heavenly justice there strikes with its goads
- That
Attila who was a scourge on earth
- 135
And Pyrrhus and Sextus, and forever milks
-
-
"The tears, released by boiling blood from both
-
Rinier of Corneto and Rinier Pazzo
- Who
waged such open warfare on the highways."
-
- Then
he turned back and once more crossed the ford.
|
return
to Inferno XI