Canto XII

English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1	The place where to descend the bank we came
2	Was alpine, and from what was there, moreover,
3	Of such a kind that every eye would shun it.

4	Such as that ruin is which in the flank
5	Smote, on this side of Trent, the Adige,
6	Either by earthquake or by failing stay,

7	For from the mountain's top, from which it moved,
8	Unto the plain the cliff is shattered so,
9	Some path 'twould give to him who was above;

10	Even such was the descent of that ravine,
11	And on the border of the broken chasm
12	The infamy of Crete was stretched along,

13	Who was conceived in the fictitious cow;
14	And when he us beheld, he bit himself,
15	Even as one whom anger racks within.

16	My Sage towards him shouted-: Peradventure
17	Thou think'st that here may be the Duke of Athens,
18	Who in the world above brought death to thee?

19	Get thee gone, beast, for this one cometh not
20	Instructed by thy sister, but he comes
21	In order to behold your punishments.

22	As is that bull who breaks loose at the moment
23	In which he has received the mortal blow,
24	Who cannot walk, but staggers here and there,

25	The Minotaur beheld I do the like;
26	And he, the wary, cried: Run to the passage;
27	While he wroth, 'tis well thou shouldst descend.

28	Thus down we took our way o'er that discharge
29	Of stones, which oftentimes did move themselves
30	Beneath my feet, from the unwonted burden.

31	Thoughtful I wentand he said: Thou art thinking
32	Perhaps upon this ruin, which is guarded
33	By that brute anger which just now I quenched.

34	Now will I have thee know, the other time
35	I here descended to the nether Hell,
36	This precipice had not yet fallen down.

37	But truly, if I well discern, a little
38	Before His coming who the mighty spoil
39	Bore off from Dis, in the supernal circle,

40	Upon all sides the deep and loathsome valley
41	Trembled so, that I thought the Universe
42	Was thrilled with love, by which there are who think

43	The world ofttimes converted into chaos;
44	And at that moment this primeval crag
45	Both here and elsewhere made such overthrow.

46	But fix thine eyes below; for draweth near
47	The river of blood, within which boiling is
48	Whoe'er by violence doth injure others.

49	O blind cupidity, O wrath insane,
50	That spurs us onward so in our short life,
51	And in the eternal then so badly steeps us!

52	I saw an ample moat bent like a bow,
53	As one which a]l the plain encompasses,
54	Conformable to what my Guide had said.

55	And between this and the embankment's foot
56	Centaurs in file were running, armed with arrows,
57	As in the world they used the chase to follow.

58	Beholding us descend, each one stood still,
59	And from the squadron three detached themselves,
60	With bows and arrows in advance selected;

61	And from afar one cried: Unto what torment
62	Come ye, who down the hillside are descending?
63	Tell us from there; if not, I draw the bow.

64	My Master said: Our answer will we make
65	To Chiron, near you there; in evil hour,
66	That will of thine was evermore so hasty.

67	Then touched he me, and said: This one is Nessus,
68	Who perished for the lovely Dejanira,
69	And for himself, himself did vengeance take.

70	And he in the midst, who at his breast is gazing,
71	Is the great Chiron, who brought up Achilles;
72	That other Pholus is, who was so wrathful.

73	Thousands and thousands go about the moat
74	Shooting with shafts whatever soul emerges
75	Out of the blood, more than his crime allots.

76	Near we approached unto those monsters fleet;
77	Chiron an arrow took, and with the notch
78	Backward upon his jaws he put his beard.

79	After he had uncovered his great mouth,
80	He said to his companions: Are you ware
81	That he behind moveth whate'er he touches?

82	Thus are not wont to do the feet of dead men.
83	And my good Guide, who now was at his breast,
84	Where the two natures are together joined,

85	Replied: Indeed he lives, and thus alone
86	Me it behoves to show him the dark valley;
87	Necessity, and not delight, impels us.

88	Some one withdrew from singing Halleluja,
89	Who unto me committed this new office;
90	No thief is he, nor I a thievish spirit.

91	But by that virtue through which I am moving
92	My steps along this savage thoroughfare,
93	Give us some one of thine, to be with us,

94	And who may show us where to pass the ford,
95	And who may carry this one on his back;
96	For 'tis no spirit that can walk the air.

97	Upon his right breast Chiron wheeled about,
98	And said to Nessus: Turn and do thou guide them,
99	And warn aside, if other band may meet you.

100	We with our faithful escort onward moved
101	Along the brink of the vermilion boiling,
102	Wherein the boiled were uttering loud laments.

103	People I saw within up to the eyebrows,
104	And the great Centaur said: Tyrants are these,
105	Who dealt in bloodshed and in pillaging.

106	Here they lament their pitiless mischiefs; here
107	Is Alexander, and fierce Dionysius
108	Who upon Sicily brought dolorous years.

109	That forehead there which has the hair so black
110	Is Azzolin; and the other who is blond,
111	Obizzo is of Esti, who, in truth,

112	Up in the world was by his stepson slain.
113	Then turned I to the Poet; and he said,
114	Now he be first to thee, and second I.

115	A little farther on the Centaur stopped
116	Above a folk, who far down as the throat
117	Seemed from that boiling stream to issue forth.

118	A shade' he showed us on one side alone,
119	Saying: He cleft asunder in God's bosom
120	The heart that still upon the Thames is honoured.

121	Then people saw I, who from out the river
122	Lifted their heads and also all the chest;
123	And many among these I recognised.

124	Thus ever more and more grew shallower
125	That blood, so that the feet alone it covered;
126	And there across the moat our passage was.

127	Even as thou here upon this side beholdest
128	The boiling stream, that aye diminishes,
129	The Centaur said, I wish thee to believe

130	That on this other more and more declines
131	Its bed, until it reunites itself
132	Where it behoveth tyranny to groan.

133	Justice divine, upon this side, is goading
134	That Attila, who was a scourge on earth,
135	And Pyrrhus, and Sextus; and for ever milks

136	The tears which with the boiling it unseals
137	In Rinier da Corneto and Rinier Pazzo,
138	Who made upon the highways so much war.

139	Then back he turned, and passed again the ford.

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Canto XII