And those the rest, whose bones are gather'd yet Were but a thing of naught, to the hideous sight He eyed me, with his hands laid his breast bare, Sentenced upon thy crimes." "Him death not yet," Must through the depths of Hell, from orb to orb, The army of Manfredi, which, through the treachery of the Apulian troops, was overcome by Charles of Anjou in 1265. See the Purgatory, Canto iii. "O Tagliacozzo." He alludes to the victory which Charles gained over Conradino, by the sage advice of the Sieur de Valeri, in 1268. The disciple of Mohammed. More than a hundred spirits, when that they heard, Stood in the foss to mark me through amaze 66 Forgetful of their pangs. Thou, who perchance With crimson stain. "O thou!" said he, "whom sin Have seen on Latian ground, call thou to mind Returning, thou behold'st the pleasant land' That from Vercelli slopes to Marcabò; 8 And there instruct the twain, whom Fano boasts 5" Dolcino." In 1305, a friar, called Dolcino, who belonged to no regular order, contrived to raise in Novara, in Lombardy, a large company of the meaner sort of people, declaring himself to be a true apostle of Christ and promulgating a community of property and of wives, with many other such heretical doctrines. He blamed the Pope, cardinals, and other prelates of the holy Church, for not observing their duty, nor leading the angelic life, and affirmed that he ought to be pope. He was followed by more than three thousand men and women, who lived promiscuously on the mountains together, like beasts, and, when they wanted provisions, supplied themselves by depredation and rapine. After two years, many were struck with compunction at the dissolute life they led, and his sect was much That if 'tis given us here to scan aright The future, they out of life's tenement Shall be cast forth, and whelm'd under the waves Of a fell tyrant. 'Twixt the Cyprian isle Or Argive crew of old. That one-eyed traitor 66 May carry tidings of thee, who is he, In whom that sight doth wake such sad remembrance." Of one, his fellow-spirit, and his jaws 10 Expanding, cried: "Lo! this is he I wot of: Methought was Curio, from whose throat was cut The bleeding stumps, that they with gory spots "Focara's wind." Focara is a mountain, from which a wind blows that is peculiarly dangerous to the navigators of that coast. 10 The doubt in Cæsar's mind." Curio, whose speech (according to Lucan) determined Julius Cæsar to proceed when he had arrived at Rimini (the ancient Ariminum), and doubted whether he should prosecute the civil war. 11" Mosca." Buondelmonte was engaged to marry a lady of the Amidei family, but broke his promise, and united himself to one of the Donati. This was so much resented by the former, that a meeting of themselves and their kinsmen was held, to consider of the best means of revenging the insult. Mosca degli Uberti, or de' Lamberti, persuaded them to resolve on the assassination of Buondelmonte, exclaiming to them, "the thing once done, there is an end." This counsel and its effects were the source of many terrible calamities to the State of Florence. "This murder," says G. Villani, lib. v. cap. xxxviii, was the cause and beginning of the accursed Guelf and Ghibelline parties in Florence." It happened in 1215. See the "Paradise," Canto xvi. 139. 66 'The deed once done, there is an end,' that proved I added: "Ay, and death to thine own tribe." 66 Be terrible as this. And, that on earth Thou mayst bear tidings of me, know that I 12 Am Bertrand, he of Born, who gave King John 12" Bertrand." Bertrand de Born, Vicomte de Hautefort, near Perigueux in Guienne, who incited John to rebel against his father, Henry II of England. Bertrand holds a distinguished place among the Provençal poets. CANTO XXIX ARGUMENT.-Dante, at the desire of Virgil, proceeds onward to the bridge that crosses the tenth gulf, from whence he hears the cries of the alchemists and forgers, who are tormented therein; but not being able to discern anything on account of the darkness, they descend the rock, that bounds this, the last of the compartments in which the eighth circle is divided, and then behold the spirits who are afflicted by divers plagues and diseases. Two of them, namely, Grifolino of Arezzo, and Capocchio of Siena, are introduced speaking. S O were mine eyes inebriate with the view Of the vast multitude, whom various wounds This weakness. Know, if thou wouldst number them, Its circuit, and already is the moon Beneath our feet: the time permitted now Is short; and more, not seen, remains to see." "If thou," I straight replied, "hadst weigh'd the cause, For which I look'd, thou hadst perchance excused The tarrying still." My leader part pursued There is a spirit dwells, one of my blood, Then spake my master: "Let thy soul no more 1" Geri of Bello." A kinsman of the Poet's, who was murdered by one of the Sacchetti family. His being placed here, may be consid ered as a proof that Dante was more impartial in the allotment of his punishments than has generally been supposed. |