Canto XIII
Canto XIII
English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
| 1 | NOT yet had Nessus reached the other side, |
| 2 | When we had put ourselves within a wood, |
| 3 | That was not marked by any path whatever. |
| 4 | Not foliage green, but of a dusky colour, |
| 5 | Not branches smooth, but gnarled and intertangled, |
| 6 | Not apple-trees were there, but thorns with poison. |
| 7 | Such tangled thickets have not, nor so dense, |
| 8 | Those savage wild beasts, that in hatred hold |
| 9 | 'Twixt Cecina and Corneto the tilled places. |
| 10 | There do the hideous Harpies make their nests, |
| 11 | Who chased the Trojans from the Strophades, |
| 12 | With sad announcement of impending doom; |
| 13 | Broad wings have they, and necks and faces human, |
| 14 | And feet with claws, and their great bellies fledged; |
| 15 | They make laments upon the wondrous trees. |
| 16 | And the good Master: Ere thou enter farther, |
| 17 | Know that thou art within the second round, |
| 18 | Thus he began to say, and shalt be, till |
| 19 | Thou comest out upon the horrible sand; |
| 20 | Therefore look well around, and thou shalt see |
| 21 | Things that will credence give unto my speech. |
| 22 | I heard on all sides lamentations uttered, |
| 23 | And person none beheld I who might make them, |
| 24 | Whence, utterly bewildered, I stood still. |
| 25 | I think he thought that I perhaps might think |
| 26 | So many voices issued through those trunks |
| 27 | From people who concealed themselves from us; |
| 28 | Therefore the Master said: If thou break off |
| 29 | Some little spray from any of these trees, |
| 30 | The thoughts thou hast will wholly be made vain. |
| 31 | Then stretched I forth my hand a little forward, |
| 32 | And plucked a branchlet off from a great thorn, |
| 33 | And the trunk cried, Why dost thou mangle me? |
| 34 | After it had become embrowned with blood, |
| 35 | It recommenced its cry: Why dost thou rend me |
| 36 | Hast thou no spirit of pity whatsoever ? |
| 37 | Men once we were, and now are changed to trees; |
| 38 | Indeed, thy hand should be more pitiful, |
| 39 | Even if the souls of serpents we had been. |
| 40 | As out of a green brand, that is on fire |
| 41 | At one of the ends, and from the other drips |
| 42 | And hisses with the wind that is escaping; |
| 43 | So from that splinter issued forth together |
| 44 | Both words and blood; whereat I let the tip |
| 45 | Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid. |
| 46 | ':Had he been able sooner to believe, |
| 47 | My Sage made answer, O thou wounded soul, |
| 48 | What only in my verses he has seen, |
| 49 | Not upon thee had he stretched forth his hand; |
| 50 | Whereas the thing incredible has caused me |
| 51 | To put him to an act which grieveth me. |
| 52 | But tell him who thou wast, so that by way |
| 53 | Of some amends thy fame he may refresh |
| 54 | Up in the world, to which he can return. |
| 55 | And the trunk said: So thy sweet words allure me, |
| 56 | I cannot silent be; and you be vexed not, |
| 57 | That I a little to discourse am tempted. |
| 58 | I am the one who both keys had in keeping |
| 59 | Of Frederick's heart, and turned them to and fro |
| 60 | So softly in unlocking and in locking, |
| 61 | That from his secrets most men I withheld; |
| 62 | Fidelity I bore the glorious office |
| 63 | So great, I lost thereby my sleep and pulses. |
| 64 | The courtesan who never from the dwelling |
| 65 | Of Caesar turned aside her strumpet eyes, |
| 66 | Death universal and the vice of courts, |
| 67 | Inflamed against me all the other minds, |
| 68 | And they, inflamed, did so inflame Augustus, |
| 69 | That my glad honours turned to dismal mournings. |
| 70 | My spirit, in disdainful exultation, |
| 71 | Thinking by dying to escape disdain, |
| 72 | Made me unjust against myself, the just. |
| 73 | I, by the roots unwonted of this wood, |
| 74 | Do swear to you that never broke I faith |
| 75 | Unto my lord, who was so worthy of honour; |
| 76 | And to the world if one of you return, |
| 77 | Let him my memory comfort, which is lying |
| 78 | Still prostrate from the blow that envy dealt it. |
| 79 | Waited awhile, and then: Since he is silent, |
| 80 | The Poet said to me, lose not the time, |
| 81 | But speak, and question him, if more may please thee. |
| 82 | Whence I to him: Do thou again inquire |
| 83 | Concerning what thou thinks't will satisfy me; |
| 84 | For I cannot, such pity is in my heart. |
| 85 | Therefore he recommenced: So may the man |
| 86 | Do for thee freely what thy speech implores, |
| 87 | Spirit incarcerate, again be pleased |
| 88 | To tell us in what way the soul is bound |
| 89 | Within these knots; and tell us, if thou canst |
| 90 | If any from such members e'er is freed. |
| 91 | Then blew the trunk amain, and afterward |
| 92 | The wind was into such a voice converted: |
| 93 | With brevity shall be replied to you. |
| 94 | When the exasperated soul abandons |
| 95 | The body whence it rent itself away, |
| 96 | Minos consigns it to the seventh abyss. |
| 97 | It falls into the forest, and no part |
| 98 | Is chosen for it; but where Fortune hurls it, |
| 99 | There like a grain of spelt it germinates. |
| 100 | It springs a sapling, and a forest tree; |
| 101 | The Harpies, feeding then upon its leaves, |
| 102 | Do pain create, and for the pain an outlet. |
| 103 | Like others for our spoils shall we return; |
| 104 | But not that any one may them revest, |
| 105 | For 'tis not just to have what one casts off. |
| 106 | Here we shall drag them, and along the dismal |
| 107 | Forest our bodies shall suspended be, |
| 108 | Each to the thorn of his molested shade. |
| 109 | We were attentive still unto the trunk, |
| 110 | Thinking that more it yet might wish to tell us, |
| 111 | When by a tumult we were overtaken, |
| 112 | In the same way as he is who perceives |
| 113 | The boar and chase approaching to his stand, |
| 114 | Who hears the crashing of the beasts and branches; |
| 115 | And two behold! upon our left-hand side, |
| 116 | Naked and scratched, fleeing so furiously, |
| 117 | That of the forest, every fan they broke. |
| 118 | He who was in advance: Now help, Death, help ! |
| 119 | And the other one, who seemed to lag too much, |
| 120 | Was shouting: Lano, were not so alert |
| 121 | Those legs of thine at joustings of the Toppo! |
| 122 | And then, perchance because his breath was failing, |
| 123 | He grouped himself together with a bush. |
| 124 | Behind them was the forest full of black |
| 125 | She-mastiffs, ravenous, and swift of foot |
| 126 | As greyhounds, who are issuing from the chain. |
| 127 | On him who had crouched down they set their teeth, |
| 128 | And him they lacerated piece by piece, |
| 129 | Thereafter bore away those aching members. |
| 130 | Thereat my Escort took me by the hand, |
| 131 | And led me to the bush, that all in vain |
| 132 | as weeping from its bloody lacerations. |
| 133 | O Jacopo, it said, of Sant' Andrea, |
| 134 | What helped it thee of me to make a screen? |
| 135 | What blame have I in thy nefarious life ? |
| 136 | When near him had the Master stayed his steps, |
| 137 | He said: Who wast thou, that through wounds so many |
| 138 | Art blowing out with blood thy dolorous speech? |
| 139 | And he to us: O souls, that hither come |
| 140 | To look upon the shameful massacre |
| 141 | That has so rent away from me my leaves, |
| 142 | Gather them up beneath the dismal bush; |
| 143 | I of that city was which to the Baptist |
| 144 | Changed its first patron, wherefore he for this |
| 145 | Forever with his art will make it sad. |
| 146 | And were it not that on the pass of Arno |
| 147 | Some glimpses of him are remaining still, |
| 148 | Those citizens, who afterwards rebuilt it |
| 149 | Upon the ashes left by Attila, |
| 150 | In vain had caused their labour to be done. |
| 151 | Of my own house I made myself a gibbet. |