And as I walked along, and looked them o'er,

I saw in yellow purse an emblem blue,

That shape and 'havior of a lion wore.

Then in the further carriage of my view

Another, ruddier than blood, I note,

That held a goose of more than cream-white hue.
And then a spirit, on whose argent coat

In azure tint a teeming sow was set,

Cried to me,
Now go thy way, and since thou livest yet,
Know that my neighbor, named Vitalian,
This place upon my right-hand side must get.
I'm here with Florentines a Paduan;

"What dost thou along this moat?

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Full oft they shout, until I long to close My ear, 'Let come our sovereign lord, the man Who three male goats upon his budget shows." And at the word he writhed his mouth, and threw

His tongue out, like an ox that licks his nose.

Then fearing to provoke his anger, who

Had warned me but a little there to bide, From these forwearied spirits I withdrew.

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Already mounted I beheld my guide

Upon the back of that fell reptile, whence, "Now be thou bold and confident," he cried. "By such a staircase must we go down hence; Get thou in front, and I between will sit, That so the tail may do thee no offence."

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As one who hath so nigh the chilling fit

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Of ague, that with nails already white

He shivers in the shade he shrinks to quit,

Such, when those words were uttered, was my fright;

But shame fell on me from the threats he cast, Which makes a servant valiant in the sight

Of a good lord. Upon those shoulders vast

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I set myself; I would, but voice no more
Obeyed my thoughts, have said, "embrace me fast."
But he that oft had succored me before

In perilous time, soon as I'd mounted so,
Within his arms enwound me and upbore.
Then to the shape he said, "Now, Geryon, go;
Remember what new freight thou dost convey,
And make thy circuits large, thy sinking slow."

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As when a bark from haven making way

Goes backing out, so put forth Geryon there; But when his form on all sides found full play, Then stretching out his tail, he turned it where

His chest had been, and plied it like an eel, And gathered to him 'neath his claws the air. No greater dread, I think, did Phaethon feel

At letting go the reins, through which the round
Of heaven was fired, as lasting proofs reveal;
Nor Icarus ill-fated, when he found

The melting wax displume his loins, when cried
His father, "On an ill road art thou bound,"
Than mine was, when the air on every side
I felt, and from my prospect every show
Of substance but the savage beast had died.
He meantime circling and descending slow

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Swam on, but I perceived not that he stirred,

Save by a wind before me and below.

Already 'neath us on the right I heard

That cataract with hideous hurly break,
And cast mine eyes and head down thitherward.

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Then feared I more the swoop we had to make,

For fires I saw, and heard lamentings too,
And shrinking faster to my seat I take.
And now I saw, till then had 'scaped my view,

Our circling and descent, through the great pains That toward us now from many quarters drew. Like as a hawk that long on wing remains,

But when no bird nor lure appears in sight, "Alack thou sink'st," the falconer complainsDown comes he wearied, and his rapid flight

Throws in a hundred wheels, and sinks at last
Far from his master, filled with haughty spite;
So with us Geryon to the bottom past,

Close to the rocky precipice's foot,
And having from himself our persons cast,
Shot off, as arrow from the bow may shoot.

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CANTO XVIII.

THERE is a place in hell, called Evilpits,
All wrought in stone, of iron-colored grain,
As the round barrier is in which it fits.
Full in the middle of this baleful plain

There yawns a gulf, exceeding deep and wide,
Whose government due season shall explain.
Round therefore is the space that's left outside
This gulf, within the steep so hard and high.
And vallies ten the base of it divide.

As shows the pattern laid before the eye,

In place, where many trenches drawn before

Its ramparts, to defend a fortress lie;

Such was the appearance which these vallies bore,

And like as bridges from the gates are sent

Of such a castle to the outer shore;

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