Canto XXX
Canto XXX
English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
| 1 | 'TWAS at the time when Juno was enraged, |
| 2 | For Semele, against the Theban blood, |
| 3 | As she already more than once had shown, |
| 4 | So reft of reason Arthamas became, |
| 5 | That, seeing his own wife with children twain |
| 6 | Walking encumbered upon either hand, |
| 7 | He cried: Spread out the nets, that I may take |
| 8 | The lioness and her whelps upon the passage; |
| 9 | And then extended his unpitying claws, |
| 10 | Seizing the first, who had the name Learchus, |
| 11 | And whirled him round, and dashed him on a rock; |
| 12 | And she, with the other burthen, drowned herself;-- |
| 13 | And at the time when fortune downward hurled |
| 14 | The Trojan's arrogance, that all things dared, |
| 15 | So that the king was with his kingdom crushed, |
| 16 | Hecuba sad, disconsolate, and captive, |
| 17 | When lifeless she beheld Polyxena, |
| 18 | And of her Polydorus on the shore |
| 19 | Of ocean was the dolorous one aware, |
| 20 | Out of her senses like a dog she barked, |
| 21 | So much the anguish had her mind distorted; |
| 22 | But not of Thebes the furies nor the Trojan |
| 23 | Were ever seen in any one so cruel |
| 24 | In goading beasts, and much more human members, |
| 25 | As I beheld two shadows pale and naked, |
| 26 | Who, biting, in the manner ran along |
| 27 | That a boar does, when from the sty turned loose. |
| 28 | One to Capocchio came, and by the nape |
| 29 | Seized with its teeth his neck, so that in dragging |
| 30 | It made his belly grate the solid bottom. |
| 31 | And the Aretine, who trembling had remained, |
| 32 | Said to me: That mad sprite is Gianni Schicchi, |
| 33 | And raving goes thus harrying other people. |
| 34 | O, said I to him, so may not the other |
| 35 | Set teeth on thee, let it not weary thee |
| 36 | To tell us who it is, ere it dart hence. |
| 37 | And he to me: That is the ancient ghost |
| 38 | Of the nefarious Myrrha, who became |
| 39 | Beyond all rightful love her father's lover. |
| 40 | She came to sir with him after this manner, |
| 41 | By counterfeiting of another's form; |
| 42 | As he who goeth yonder undertook, |
| 43 | That he might gain the lady of the herd, |
| 44 | To counterfeit in himself Buoso Donati, |
| 45 | Making a will and giving it due form. |
| 46 | And after the two maniacs had passed |
| 47 | On whom I held mine eye, I turned it back |
| 48 | To look upon the other evil-born. |
| 49 | I saw one made in fashion of a lute, |
| 50 | If he had only had the groin cut off |
| 51 | Just at the point at which a man is forked. |
| 52 | The heavy dropsy, that so disproportions |
| 53 | The limbs with humours, which it ill concocts, |
| 54 | That the face corresponds not to the belly, |
| 55 | Compelled him so to hold his lips apart |
| 56 | As does the hectic, who because of thirst |
| 57 | One tow'rds the chin, the other upward turns. |
| 58 | O ye, who without any torment are, |
| 59 | And why I know not, in the world of woe, |
| 60 | He said to us, behold, and be attentive |
| 61 | Unto the misery of Master Adam; |
| 62 | I had while living much of what I wished, |
| 63 | And now, alas ! a drop of water crave. |
| 64 | The rivulets, that from the verdant hills |
| 65 | Of Cassentin descend down into Arno, |
| 66 | Making their channels to be cold and moist, |
| 67 | Ever before me stand, and not in vain; |
| 68 | For far more doth their image dry me up |
| 69 | Than the disease which strips my face of flesh. |
| 70 | The rigid justice that chastises me |
| 71 | Draweth occasion from the place in which |
| 72 | I sinned, to put the more my sighs in flight. |
| 73 | There is Romena, where I counterfeited |
| 74 | The currency imprinted with the Baptist, |
| 75 | For which I left my body burned above. |
| 76 | But if I here could see the tristful soul |
| 77 | Of Guido, or Alessandro, or their brother, |
| 78 | For Branda's fount I would Dot give the sight. |
| 79 | One is within already, if the raving |
| 80 | Shades that are going round about speak truth; |
| 81 | But what avails it me, whose limbs are tied ? |
| 82 | If I were only still so light, that in |
| 83 | A hundred years I could advance one inch, |
| 84 | I had already started on the way, |
| 85 | Seeking him out among this squalid folk, |
| 86 | Although the circuit be eleven miles, |
| 87 | And be not less than half a mile across. |
| 88 | For them am I in. such a family; |
| 89 | They did induce me into coining florins, |
| 90 | Which had three carats of impurity. |
| 91 | And I to him: Who are the two poor wretches |
| 92 | That smoke like unto a wet hand in winter, |
| 93 | Lying there close upon thy right-hand confines? |
| 94 | I found them here,replied he, when I rained |
| 95 | Into this chasm, and since they have not turned, |
| 96 | Nor do I think they will for evermore. |
| 97 | One the false woman is who accused Joseph, |
| 98 | The other the false Sinon, Greek of Troy; |
| 99 | From acute fever they send forth such reek. |
| 100 | And one of them, who felt himself annoyed |
| 101 | At being, peradventure, named so darkly, |
| 102 | Smote with the fist upon his hardened paunch. |
| 103 | It gave a sound, as if it were a drum; |
| 104 | And Master Adam smote him in the face, |
| 105 | With arm that did not seem to be less hard, |
| 106 | Saying to him: Although be taken from me |
| 107 | All motion, for my limbs that heavy are, |
| 108 | I have an arm unfettered for such need. |
| 109 | Whereat he answer made: When thou didst go |
| 110 | Unto the fire, thou hadst it not so ready: |
| 111 | But hadst it so and more when thou wast coining. |
| 112 | The dropsical: Thou sayest true in that; |
| 113 | But thou wast not so true a witness there, |
| 114 | Where thou wast questioned of the truth at Troy. |
| 115 | If I spake false, thou falsifiedst the coin, |
| 116 | Said Sinon; and for one fault I am here, |
| 117 | And thou for more than any other demon. |
| 118 | Remember,perjurer,about the horse, |
| 119 | He made reply who had the swollen belly, |
| 120 | And rueful be it thee the whole world knows it. |
| 121 | Rueful to thee the thirst be wherewith cracks |
| 122 | Thy tongue, the Greek said, and the putrid water |
| 123 | That hedges so thy paunch before thine eyes. |
| 124 | Then the false-coiner: So is gaping wide |
| 125 | Thy mouth for speaking evil, as 'tis wont; |
| 126 | Because if I have thirst, and humour stuff me |
| 127 | Thou hast the burning and the head that aches, |
| 128 | And to lick up the mirror of Narcissus |
| 129 | Thou wouldst not want words many to invite thee. |
| 130 | In listening to them was I wholly fixed, |
| 131 | When said the Master to me: Now just look, |
| 132 | For little wants it that I quarrel with thee. |
| 133 | When him I heard in anger speak to me, |
| 134 | I turned me round towards him with such shame |
| 135 | That still it eddies through my memory. |
| 136 | And as he is who dreams of his own harm, |
| 137 | Who dreaming wishes it may be a dream, |
| 138 | So that he craves what is, as if it were not; |
| 139 | Such I became, not having power to speak, |
| 140 | For to excuse myself I wished, and still |
| 141 | Excused myself, and did not think I did it. |
| 142 | Less shame doth wash away a greater fault, |
| 143 | The Master said, than this of thine has been; |
| 144 | Therefore thyself disburden of all sadness, |
| 145 | And make account that I am aye beside thee, |
| 146 | If e'er it come to pass that fortune bring thee |
| 147 | Where there are people in a like dispute; |
| 148 | Fora base wish it is to wish to hear it. |