With sting like scorpion's arm'd. Then thus my guide: Thereat, toward the right our downward course Near to the void. Forthwith my master spake : Of that seventh circle, where the mournful tribe And when, amongst them, looking round I came, 1 A pouch.] A purse, whereon the armorial bearings of each were emblazoned. According to Landino, our Poet implies that the usurer can pretend to no other honour than such as he derives from his purse and his family. The description of persons by their heraldic insignia is remarkable both on the present and several other occasions in this poem. 2A yellow purse.] The arms of the Gianfigliazzi of Florence. 3 Another. Those of the Ubbriachi, another Florentine family of high distinction. A fat and azure swine.] The arms of the Scrovigni, a noble family of Padua. Vitaliano1 on my left shall sit. A Paduan with these Florentines am I. Oft-times they thunder in mine ears, exclaiming, 'With the three goats will bring."" This said, he writhed I settled me upon those shoulders huge, Soon as I mounted, in his arms aloft, Embracing, held me up; and thus he spake : Think on the unusual burden thou sustain'st." As a small vessel, backening out from land, 1 Vitaliano.] Vitaliano del Dente, a Paduan. 2 That noble knight.] Giovanni Bujamonti, a Florentine usurer, the most infamous of his time. 3 Goats.] Monti, in his Proposta, had introduced a facetious dialogue on the supposed mistake made in the interpretation of this word "Becchi" by the compilers of the Della Crusca Dictionary, who translated it "goats," instead of "beaks." He afterwards saw his own error, and had the ingenuousness to confess it in the Appendix, p. 274. Having in the former editions of this work been betrayed into the same misunderstanding of my author, I cannot do less than follow so good an example, by acknowledging and correcting it. As one.] Dante trembled with fear, like a man who, expecting the return of a quartan ague, shakes even at the sight of a place made cool by the shade. 5 But shame.] I have followed the reading in Vellutello's edition, Ma vergogna mi fe le sue minacce ; which appears preferable to the common one, Ma vergogna mi fer, etc. It is necessary that I should observe this, because it has been imputed to me as a mistake. There, where the breast had been, his forked tail. Not greater was the dread, when Phaëton By liquefaction of the scalded wax, The trusted pennons loosen'd from his loins, Save the fell beast. He, slowly sailing, wheels Breathes on me from below. Now on our right I heard the cataract beneath us leap With hideous crash; whence bending down to explore, For flames I saw, and wailings smote mine ear: CANTO XVIII. Argument. The Poet describes the situation and form of the eighth circle, divided into ten gulfs, which contain as many different descriptions of fraudulent sinners; but in the present Canto he treats only of two sorts: the first is of those who, either for their own pleasure, or for that of another, have seduced any woman from her duty; and these are scourged of demons in the first gulf: the other sort is of flatterers, who in the second gulf are condemned to remain immersed in filth. THERE is a place within the depths of hell With hue ferruginous, e'en as the steep That round it circling winds. Right in the midst A spacious gulf profound, whereof the frame As where, to guard the walls, full many a foss On our right hand new misery I saw, 1 Sure defence.] La parte dov' e' son rendon sicura. This is the common reading; besides which there are two others: the former of which two, Lombardi says, is found in Daniello's edition, printed at Venice, 1568; in that printed in the same city with the commentaries of Landino and Vellutello, 1572; and also in some MSS. The latter, which has very much the appearance of being genuine, was adopted by Lombardi himself, on the authority of a text supposed to be in the handwriting of Filippo Villani, but so defaced by the alterations made in it by some less skilful hand, that the traces of the old ink were with difficulty recovered; and it has, since the publication of Lombardi's edition, been met with also in the Monte Casino MS. Monti is decided in favour of Lombardi's reading, and Biagioli opposed to it. 2 With us beyond.] Beyond the middle point they tended the same way with us, but their pace was quicker than ours. 3 E'en thus the Romans.] In the year 1300, Pope Boniface VIII., to remedy the inconvenience occasioned by the press of people who were passing over the bridge of St. Angelo during the time of the Jubilee, caused it to be divided lengthwise by a partition; and ordered, that all those who were going to St. Peter's should keep one side, and those returning the other. G. Villani, who was present, describes the order that was preserved, lib. 8. cap. xxxvi. It was at this time, and on this occasion, as the honest historian tells us, that he first conceived the design of "compiling his book," Of Jubilee, with better speed to rid The thronging multitudes, their means devise Saint Peter's fane, on the other towards the mount. Ah! how they made them bound at the first stripe! Meantime, as on I pass'd, one met my sight, "Unwillingly I answer to thy words. But thy clear speech, that to my mind recalls Nor alone, Bologna hither sendeth me to mourn. Him speaking thus, a demon with his thong 1 I therefore stay'd.] “I piedi affissi" is the reading of the Nidobeatina edition; but Lombardi is under an error, when he tells us that the other editions have "gli occhi affissi ;" for Vellutello's at least, printed in 1544, agrees with the Nidobeatina. 2 Venedico.] Venedico Caccianimico, a Bolognese, who prevailed on his sister Ghisola to prostitute herself to Obizzo da Este, Marquis of Ferrara, whom we have seen among the tyrants, Canto xii. 3 Seasoning.] Salse. Monti, in his Proposta, following Benvenuto da Imola, takes this to be the name of a place. If so, a play must have been intended on the word, which cannot be preserved in English. 4 To answer Sipa.] He denotes Bologna by its situation between the rivers Savena to the east, and Reno to the west of that city; and by a peculiarity of dialect, the use of the affirmative sipa instead either of si, or, as Monti will have it, of sia. |