Not far from hence Antæus, who both speaks More fell he seems." By violent earthquake rock'd I dreaded death; nor than the terror more That held him fast. We, straightway journeying on, "O thou, who in the fortunate vale," that made Grace call him not unto herself." Thus spake That grapple, straiten'd sore. Soon as my guide This way, That I may clasp thee;" then so caught me up, The tower of Carisenda, from beneath 5 The country near Carthage. The combat between Hercules (Alcides) and Antæus is adduced ("De Monarchia," lib. ii.) as proof of God's judgment displayed in the duel. The leaning tower at Bologna. Where it doth lean, if chance a passing cloud Lightly he placed us; nor, there leaning, stay'd; CANTO XXXII ARGUMENT. This Canto treats of the first, and, in part, of the second of those rounds, into which the ninth and last, or frozen circle, is divided. In the former, called Caïna, Dante finds Camiccione de' Pazzi, who gives him an account of other sinners who are there punished; and in the next, named Antenora, he hears in like manner from Bocca degli Abbati who his fellow-sufferers are. OULD I command rough rhymes and hoarse, to suit His firm abutment rears, then might the vein Of fancy rise full springing: but not mine To jest with, and demands a tongue not used Been flocks, or mountain goats. As down we stood Bespake me thus: "Look how thou walkest. Take And saw before and underneath my feet Not e'en its rim had creak'd. As peeps the frog A space I look'd around, then at my feet Whose bosoms thus together press," said I, "Who are ye?" At that sound their necks they bent; And one, from whom the cold both ears had reft, 1 "Tabernich or Pietrapana." The one a mountain in Sclavonia, the other in that tract of country_called the Garfagnana, not far from Lucca. Alessandro and Napoleone, sons of Alberto Alberti, who murdered each other. They were proprietors of the valley of Falterona, where the Bisenzio rises, falling into the Arno six miles from Florence. Not him, whose breast and shadow Arthur's hand But, passing 'midst the heads, my foot did strike With violent blow against the face of one. 66 66 Wherefore dost bruise me?" weeping he exclaim'd; Unless thy errand be some fresh revenge 8 For Montaperto, wherefore troublest me?" I thus: Instructor, now await me here, That I through him may rid me of my doubt: Thenceforth what haste thou wilt." The teacher paused And to that shade I spake, who bitterly 66 Still cursed me in his wrath. 'What art thou, speak, That railest thus on others?" He replied: "Now who art thou, that smiting others' cheeks, Mordred, son of King Arthur. In the romance of "Lancelot of the Lake," Arthur having discovered the traitorous intentions of his son, pierces him through with his lance, so that the sunbeam passes through the body. 4 Focaccia of Cancellieri (the Pistoian family), whose atrocious act of revenge against his uncle is said to have given rise to the parties, Bianchi and Neri, in the year 1300. Sassol Mascheroni, a Florentine, who murdered his uncle. • Camiccione de' Pazzi of Valdar no, by whom his kinsman Ubertino was treacherously put to death. 7" Carlino." One of the same family. He betrayed the Castel di Piano Travigne, in Valdarno, to the Florentines, after the refugees of the Bianca and Ghibelline party had defended it against a siege for twenty-nine days, in the summer of 1302. 8 The defeat of the Guelfi at Montaperto through the treachery of Bocca degli Abbati, who, during the engagement, cut off the hand of Giacopo del Vacca de' Pazzi, the Florentine standard-bearer. Through Antenora roamest, with such force That with the rest I may thy name enrol." 66 The contrary of what I covet most," Said he, "thou tender'st: hence! nor vex me more. Then seizing on his hinder scalp I cried: 66 66 'Rend all away," he answer'd, yet for that I will not tell, nor show thee, who I am, Though at my head thou pluck a thousand times." True tidings will I bear."-" Off!" he replied; "Tell what thou list: but, as thou 'scape from hence, • Buoso of Cremona, of the family of Duera, bribed by Guy de Montfort to leave a pass between Piedmont and Parma, with the defence of which he had been intrusted by the Ghibellines, open to the army of Charles of Anjou, A. D. 1265, at which the people of Cremona were so enraged that they extirpated the whole family. G. Villani. 10 Abbot of Vallombrosa, Pope's legate at Florence, beheaded for his intrigues with the Ghibellines. 66 11" Gianni Soldanieri," says Villani, Hist." lib. vii. c. xiv., put himself at the head of the people, in the hopes of rising into power, not aware that the result would be mischief to the Ghibelline party, and his own ruin," A. D. 1266. 12 The betrayer of Charlemain, mentioned by Archbishop Turpin. He is a type of treachery with the poets of the Middle Ages. 13 Tribaldello de' Manfredi, bribed to betray the city of Faenza, 1282. |