English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
| 1 | IF I had rhymes both rough and stridulous, |
| 2 | As were appropriate to the dismal hole |
| 3 | Down upon which thrust all the other rocks, |
| 4 | I would press out the juice of my conception |
| 5 | More fully; but because I have them not, |
| 6 | Not without fear I bring myself to speak; |
| 7 | For ’tis no enterprise to take in jest, |
| 8 | To sketch the bottom of all the universe, |
| 9 | Nor for a tongue that cries Mamma and Babbo. |
| 10 | But may those Ladies help this verse of mine, |
| 11 | Who helped Amphion in enclosing Thebes, |
| 12 | That from the fact the word be not diverse. |
| 13 | O rabble ill-begotten above all, |
| 14 | Who’re in the place to speak of which is hard, |
| 15 | ‘Twere better ye had here been sheep or goats ! |
| 16 | When we were down within the darksome well, |
| 17 | Beneath the giant’s feet, but lower far, |
| 18 | And I was scanning still the lofty wall, |
| 19 | heard it said to me: Look how thou steppest! |
| 20 | Take heed thou do not trample with thy feet |
| 21 | The heads of the tired, miserable brothers! |
| 22 | Whereat I turned me round, and saw before me |
| 23 | And underfoot a lake, that from the frost |
| 24 | The semblance had of glass, and not of water. |
| 25 | So thick a veil ne’er made upon its current |
| 26 | In winter-time Danube in Austria, |
| 27 | Nor there beneath the frigid sky the Don, |
| 28 | As there was here; so that if Tambernich |
| 29 | Had fallen upon it, or Pietrapana, |
| 30 | E’en at the edge ‘twould not have given a creak. |
| 31 | And as to croak the frog doth place himself |
| 32 | With muzzle out of water,–when is dreaming |
| 33 | Of gleaning oftentimes the peasant-girl,– |
| 34 | Livid, as far down as where shame appears, |
| 35 | Were the disconsolate shades within the ice, |
| 36 | Setting their teeth unto the note of storks. |
| 37 | Each one his countenance held downward bent: |
| 38 | From mouth the cold, from eyes the doeful heart |
| 39 | Among them witness of itself procures. |
| 40 | When round about me somewhat I had looked, |
| 41 | I downward turned me, and saw two so close, |
| 42 | The hair upon their heads together mingled. |
| 43 | Ye who so strain your breasts together, tell me, |
| 44 | I said. who are you; and they bent their necks, |
| 45 | And when to me their faces they had lifted, |
| 46 | Their eyes, which first were only moist within, |
| 47 | Gushed o’er the eyelids, and the frost congealed |
| 48 | The tears between, and locked them up again. |
| 49 | Clamp never bound together wood with wood |
| 50 | So strongly; whereat they, like two he-goats, |
| 51 | Butted together, so much wrath o’ercame them. |
| 52 | And one, who had by reason of the cold |
| 53 | Lost both his ears, still with his visage downward, |
| 54 | Said: Why dost thou so mirror thyself in us? |
| 55 | If thou desire to know who these two are, |
| 56 | The valley whence Bisenzio descends |
| 57 | Belonged to them and to their father Albert. |
| 58 | They from one body came, and all Caina |
| 59 | Thou shalt search through, and shalt not find a shade |
| 60 | More worthy to be fixed in gelatine; |
| 61 | Not he in whom were broken breast and shadow |
| 62 | At one and the same blow by Arthur’s hand; |
| 63 | Focaccia not; not he who me encumbers |
| 64 | So with his head I see no farther forward, |
| 65 | And bore the name of Sassol Mascheroni; |
| 66 | Well knowest thou who he was, if thou artTuscan. |
| 67 | And that thou put me not to further speech, |
| 68 | Know that I Camicion de’ Pazzi was, |
| 69 | And wait Carlino to exonerate me. |
| 70 | Then I beheld a thousand faces, made |
| 71 | Purple with cold; whence o’er me comes a shudder, |
| 72 | And evermore will come, at frozen ponds. |
| 73 | And while we were advancing tow’rds the middle, |
| 74 | Where everything of weight unites together, |
| 75 | And I was shivering in the eternal shade, |
| 76 | Whether ’twere will, or destiny, or chance, |
| 77 | I know not; but in walking ‘mong the heads |
| 78 | I struck my foot hard in the face of one. |
| 79 | And I: My Master, now wait here for me, |
| 80 | That I through him may issue from a doubt; |
| 81 | Then thou mayst hurry me, as thou shalt wish. |
| 82 | The Leader stopped; and to that one I said |
| 83 | Who was blaspheming vehemently still: |
| 84 | Who art thou, that thus reprehendest others? |
| 85 | Now who art thou, that goest through Antenora |
| 86 | Smiting, replied he, other people’s cheeks, |
| 87 | So that, if thou wert living, ’twere too much? |
| 88 | Living I am, and dear to thee it may be, |
| 89 | Was my response, ‘ if thou demandest fame, |
| 90 | That ‘mid the other notes thy name I place. |
| 91 | And he to me: For the reverse I long; |
| 92 | Take thyself hence, and give me no more trouble; |
| 93 | For ill thou knowest to flatter in this hollow. |
| 94 | Then by the scalp behind I seized upon him, |
| 95 | And said: It must needs be thou name thyself, |
| 96 | Or not a hair remain upon thee here. |
| 97 | Whence he to me: Though thou strip off my hair, |
| 98 | I will not tell thee who I am, nor show thee, |
| 99 | If on my head a thousand times thou fall. |
| 100 | I had his hair in hand already twisted, |
| 101 | And more than one shock of it had pulled out, |
| 102 | He barking, with his eyes held firmly down, |
| 103 | When cried another: What doth ail thee, Bocca? |
| 104 | Is’t not enough to clatter with thy jaws, |
| 105 | But thou must bark ? what devil touches thee? |
| 106 | Now, said I,I care not to have thee speak, |
| 107 | Accursed traitor; for unto thy shame |
| 108 | I will report of thee veracious news. |
| 109 | Begone, replied he,and tell what thou wilt, |
| 110 | But be not silent, if thou issue hence, |
| 111 | Of him who had just now his tongue so prompt; |
| 112 | He weepeth here the silver of the French; |
| 113 | ‘I saw,’ thus canst thou phrase it, ‘ him of Duera |
| 114 | There where the sinners stand out in the cold.’ |
| 115 | If thou shouldst questioned be who else was there, |
| 116 | Thou hast beside thee him of Beccaria, |
| 117 | Of whom the gorget Florence slit asunder; |
| 118 | Gianni del Soldanier, I think, may be |
| 119 | Yonder with Ganellon, and Tebaldello |
| 120 | Who oped Faenza when the people slep |
| 121 | Already we had gone away from him, |
| 122 | When I beheld two frozen in one hole, |
| 123 | So that one head a hood was to the other; |
| 124 | And even as bread through hunger is devoured, |
| 125 | The uppermost on the other set his teeth, |
| 126 | There where the brain is to the nape united. |
| 127 | Not in another fashion Tydeus gnawed |
| 128 | The temples of Menalippus in disdain, |
| 129 | Than that one di-l the skull and the other things. |
| 130 | O thou, who showest by such bestial sign |
| 131 | Thy hatred against him whom thou art eating, |
| 132 | Tell me the wherefore, said I,with this compact, us |
| 133 | That if thou rightfully of him complain, |
| 134 | In knowing who ye are, and his transgression, |
| 135 | I in the world above repay thee for it, |
| 136 | If that wherewith I speak be not dried up. |