To human kind. But in another path
The usurer walks; and Nature in herself
And in her follower thus he sets at nought,
Placing elsewhere his hope. But follow now
My steps on forward journey bent; for now
The Pisces play with undulating glance
Along the horizon, and the Wain2 lies all
O'er the north-west; and onward there a space
Is our steep passage down the rocky height."

CANTO XII.

Argument.

Descending by a very rugged way into the seventh circle, where the violent are punished, Dante and his leader find it guarded by the Minotaur; whose fury being pacified by Virgil, they step downwards from crag to crag; till, drawing near the bottom, they descry a river of blood, wherein are tormented such as have committed violence against their neighbour. At these, when they strive to emerge from the blood, a troop of Centaurs, running along the side of the river, aim their arrows; and three of their band opposing our travellers at the foot of the steep, Virgil prevails so far, that one consents to carry them both across the stream; and on their passage, Dante is informed by him of the course of the river, and of those that are punished therein.

THE place, where to descend the precipice

We came, was rough as Alp; and on its verge
Such object lay, as every eye would shun.

As is that ruin, which Adice's stream

On this side Trento struck, shouldering the wave,
Or loosed by earthquake or for lack of prop;
For from the mountain's summit, whence it moved
To the low level, so the headlong rock

Is shiver'd, that some passage it might give

1 Placing elsewhere his hope.] The usurer, trusting in the produce of his wealth lent out on usury, despises nature directly, because he does not avail himself of her means for maintaining or enriching himself; and indirectly, because he does not avail himself of the means which art, the follower and imitator of nature, would afford him for the same purposes.

2 The Wain.] The constellation Boötes, or Charles's Wain.

3 Adice's stream.] After a great deal having been said on the subject, it still appears very uncertain at what part of the river this fall of the mountain happened.

Some passage.] Lombardi erroneously, I think, understands by "alcuna via" "no passage" in which sense "alcuno" is certainly sometimes used by some old writers. Monti, as usual, agrees with Lombardi. See Note to c. iii. v. 40.

To him who from above would pass ; c'en such
Into the chasm was that descent: and there
At point of the disparted ridge lay stretch'd
The infamy of Crete,1 detested brood

Of the feigned heifer: 2 and at sight of us
It gnaw'd itself, as one with rage distract.

To him my guide exclaim'd: "Perchance thou deem'st
The king of Athens 3 here, who, in the world
Above, thy death contrived. Monster! avaunt!
He comes not tutor'd by thy sister's art,
But to behold your torments is he come."
Like to a bull, that with impetuous spring
Darts, at the moment when the fatal blow
Hath struck him, but unable to proceed
Plunges on either side; so saw I plunge
The Minotaur; whereat the sage exclaim'd:
"Run to the passage! while he storms, 'tis well
That thou descend." Thus down our road we took
Through those dilapidated crags, that oft

Moved underneath my feet, to weight like theirs
Unused. I pondering went, and thus he spake:
"Perhaps thy thoughts are of this ruin'd steep,
Guarded by the brute violence, which I

Have vanquish'd now. Know then, that when I erst

1 The infamy of Crete.] The Minotaur.

The feign'd heifer.] Pasiphaë.

3 The king of Athens.] Theseus, who was enabled by the instruction of Ariadne, the sister of the Minotaur, to destroy that monster. "Duca d'Atene." So Chaucer calls Theseus:

Whilom, as olde stories tellen us,

There was a duk, that highte Theseus. The Knighte's Tale. And Shakspeare: Happy be Theseus, our renowned Duke.

Midsummer Night's Dream, act i. sc. 1.

"This is in reality," observes Mr. Douce, "no misapplication of a modern title, as Mr. Stevens conceived, but a legitimate use of the word in its primitive Latin sense of leader, and so it is often used in the Bible. Shakspeare might have found Duke Theseus in the Book of Troy, or in Turberville's Orid's Epistles. See the argument to that of Phædra and Hippolytus." Douce's Ilustrations of Shakspeare, 8vo, 18C7, vol. i. p. 179.

Thy sister's art.] Ariadne.

5 Like to a bull.]

Hither descended to the nether hell,

3

This rock was not yet fallen. But past doubt.
(If well I mark) not long ere He arrived,1
Who carried off from Dis the mighty spoil
Of the highest circle, then through all its bounds
Such trembling seized the deep concave and foul,
I thought the universe was thrill'd with love,
Whereby, there are who deem, the world hath oft
Been into chaos turn'd: 2 and in that point,
Here, and elsewhere, that old rock toppled down.
But fix thine eyes beneath the river of blood
Approaches, in the which all those are steep'd,
Who have by violence injured." O blind lust!
O foolish wrath! who so dost goad us on
In the brief life, and in the eternal then
Thus miserably o'erwhelm us. I beheld
An ample foss, that in a bow was bent,
As circling all the plain; for so my guide
Had told. Between it and the rampart's base,
On trail ran Centaurs, with keen arrows arm'd,
As to the chase they on the earth were wont.

At seeing us descend they each one stood;
And issuing from the troop, thrce sped with bows
And missile weapons chosen first; of whom

One cried from far: "Say, to what pain ye come
Condemn'd, who down this steep have journey'd. Speak
From whence ye stand, or else the bow I draw."

To whom my guide: "Our answer shall be made
To Chiron, there, when nearer him we come.
Ill was thy mind, thus ever quick and rash."
Then me he touch'd, and spake: "Nessus is this,
Who for the fair Deianira died,

And wrought himself revenge for his own fate.
He in the midst, that on his breast looks down,
Is the great Chiron who Achilles nursed;
That other, Pholus, prone to wrath." Around

1 He arrived.] Our Saviour, who, according to Dante, when he ascended from hell, carried with him the souls of the Patriarchs, and of other just men, out of the first circle. See Canto iv.

Been into chaos turn'd.] This opinion is attributed to Empedocles.

3 The river of blood.] Deinde vidi locum (Qu. lacum?) magnum totum, ut mihi videbatur, plenum sanguine. Sed dixit mihi Apostolus, sed non sanguis, sed ignis est ad concremandos homicidas, et odiosos deputatus. Hanc tamen similitudinem propter sanguinis effusionem retinet. Alberici Visio, sec. 7.

And wrought himself revenge.] Nessus, when dying by the hand of Hercules, charged Deianira to preserve the gore from his wound; for that if the affections of Hercules should at any time be estranged from her, it would act as a charm, and recall them. Deïanira had occasion to try the experiment; and the venom acting, as Nessus had intended, caused Hercules to expire in torments. See the Trachinic of Sophocles.

The foss these go by thousands, aiming shafts
At whatsoever spirit dares emerge 1

From out the blood, more than his guilt allow.
We to those beasts, that rapid strode along,
Drew near; when Chiron took an arrow forth,
And with the notch push'd back his shaggy beard
To the cheek-bone, then, his great mouth to view
Exposing, to his fellows thus exclaim'd:
"Are ye aware, that he who comes behind
Moves what he touches? The feet of the dead
Are not so wont." My trusty guide, who now
Stood near his breast, where the two natures join,
Thus made reply: "He is indeed alive,
And solitary so must needs by me

Be shown the gloomy vale, thereto induced
By strict necessity, not by delight.
She left her joyful harpings in the sky,
Who this new office to my care consign'd.
He is no robber, no dark spirit I.

But by that virtue, which empowers my step
To tread so wild a path, grant us, I pray,
One of thy band, whom we may trust secure,
Who to the ford may lead us, and convey
Across, him mounted on his back; for he
Is not a spirit that may walk the air."

Then on his right breast turning, Chiron thus
To Nessus2 spake: "Return, and be their guide.
And if ye chance to cross another troop,

Command them keep aloof." Onward we moved,
The faithful escort by our side, along

The border of the crimson-seething flood,

Whence, from those steep'd within, loud shrieks arose.

Some there I mark'd, as high as to their brow
Immersed, of whom the mighty Centaur thus:
"These are the souls of tyrants, who were given
To blood and rapine. Here they wail aloud

1 Emerge.] Multos in eis vidi usque ad talos demergi, alios usque ad genua, vel femora, alios usque ad pectus juxta peccati vidi modum: alios vero qui majoris criminis noxa tenebantur in ipsis summitatibus supersedere conspexi. Alberici Visio, sec. 3.

2 Nessus.] Our Poet was probably induced, by the following line in Ovid, to assign to Nessus the task of conducting them over the ford:

Metam. lib. 9.

Nessus adit membrisque valens scitusque vadorum.
And Ovid's authority was Sophocles, who says of this Centaur :
*Ος τὸν βαθύῤῥουν ποταμὸν Εύηνον βροτούς
Μισθοῦ πόρευε χερσὶν οὔτε πομπίμοις
Κώταις ἐρέσσαν, οὔτ. λαίφεσιν νεώς.

He in his arms, across Evenus' stream
Deep-flowing, bore the passenger for hire,
Without or sail or billow-cleaving oar.

Trach. 570.

Their merciless wrongs. Here Alexander dwells,
And Dionysius fell, who many a year

Of woe wrought for fair Sicily. That brow,
Whereon the hair so jetty clustering hangs,
Is Azzolino; that with flaxen locks
Obizzo of Este, in the world destroy'd
By his foul step-son." To the bard revered
I turn'd me round, and thus he spake: "Let him
Be to thee now first leader, me but next

To him in rank." Then further on a space
The Centaur paused, near some, who at the throat
Were extant from the wave; and, showing us
A spirit by itself apart retired,

Exclaim'd: "He 3 in God's bosom smote the heart,
Which yet is honour'd on the bank of Thames."
A race I next espied who held the head,
And even all the bust, above the stream.
'Midst these I many a face remember'd well.
Thus shallow more and more the blood became,
So that at last it but imbrued the feet;
And there our passage lay athwart the foss.
"As ever on this side the boiling wave
Thou seest diminishing," the Centaur said,

1 Azzolino.] Azzolino, or Ezzolino di Romano, a most cruel tyrant in the Marca Trivigiana, Lord of Padua, Vicenza, Verona, and Brescia, who died in 1260. His atrocities form the subject of a Latin tragedy, called Eccerinis, by Albertino Mussato, of Padua, the contemporary of Dante, and the most elegant writer of Latin verse of that age. See also the Paradise, Canto ix. ; Berni, Orl. Inn. lib. 2. c. xxv. st. 50; Ariosto, Orl. Fur. c. iii. st. 33; and Tassoni, Secchia Rapita, c. viii. st. 11.

2 Obizzo of Este.] Marquis of Ferrara and of the Marca d'Ancona was murdered by his own son (whom, for that most unnatural act, Dante calls his step-son) for the sake of the treasures which his rapacity had amassed. See Ariosto, Orl. Fur. c. iii. st. 32. He died in 1293, according to Gibbon, Ant. of the House of Brunswick, Posth. Works, vol. ii. 4to.

3 He.]. Henrie, the brother of this Edmund, and son to the foresaid king of Almaine (Richard, brother of Henry III. of England) as he returned from Affrike, where he had been with Prince Edward, was slain at Viterbo in Italy (whither he was come about business which he had to do with the Pope) by the hand of Guy de Montfort, the son of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, in revenge of the same Simon's death. The murther was committed afore the high altar, as the same Henrie kneeled there to hear divine service." A.D. 1272. Holinshed's Chron. p. 275. See also Giov..Villani, Hist. lib. 7. cap. xl., where it is said "that the heart of Henry was put into a golden cup, and placed on a pillar at London bridge over the river Thames, for a memorial to the English of the said outrage.' Lombardi suggests that" ancor si cola" in the text may mean, not that "the heart was still honoured," but that it was put into a perforated cup in order that the blood dripping from it might excite the spectators to revenge. This is surely too improbable.

Un poco prima dove piu si stava

Sicuro Enrico, il conte di Monforte
L'alma del corpo col coltel gli cava.

Fazio degli Uberti, Dittamondo, lib. 2. cap. xxix.