Betwixt the Reno and Savena's stream, Him speaking thus, a demon with his thong 65 70 Upon its splinter turning, we depart From those eternal barriers. When arrived Where, underneath, the gaping arch lets pass The scourged souls: "Pause here," the teacher said, 75 Strike on thy ken; faces not yet beheld, For that together they with us have walked." From the old bridge we eyed the pack, who came All bear him company, who like deceit To his have practised. And thus much to know Whom its keen torments urge." Now had we come 61. He denotes Bologna by its situation between the rivers Savena to the east, and Reno to the west of that city; and by a peculiarity of dialect, the use of the affirmative sipa instead either of si, or, as Monti will have it, of sia. The meaning is, that there are more Bolognese in the pit than are alive to-day. 75. The seducers; those we have hitherto seen are panders. 85. Born at Iolcus, son of Æson, and brought up by Chiron. His greatest exploit was the expedition to Colchis, with the other argonauts, to obtain the golden fleece. This he secured with the aid of Medea, daughter of Eetes, king of Colchis, whom he finally deserted. 90. Daughter of Thoas, king of Lemnos. She saved her father's life when the women of Lemnos, induced by Venus, murdered all the males. When Jason landed at the island, he won her love, but afterwards forsook her, in order to continue his journey to Colchis. Bestrides its shoulders to another arch. Hence, in the second chasm we heard the ghosts, With wide-stretched nostrils snort, and on themselves One with his head so grimed, 't were hard to deem Thy face, that thou the visage well mayst note 101. The second pit, that of the flatterers. 115. I.e. whether he had the tonsure or not. 120. Of an ancient and considerable family, called the Interminei. Benvenuto da Imola says of him," omnes unguebat, omnes lingebat, etiam vilissimos et mercenarios famulos." 130. He alludes to that passage in the Eunu chus of Terence, where Thraso asks if Thaïs CANTO XIX. ARGUMENT. They come to the third gulf, wherein are punished those who have been guilty of simony. These are fixed with the head downwards in certain apertures, so that no more of them than the legs appears without, and on the soles of their feet are seen burning flames. Dante is taken down by his guide into the bottom of the gulf; and there finds Pope Nicholas the Fifth, whose evil deeds, together with those of other pontiffs, are bitterly reprehended. Virgil then carries him up again to the arch, which affords them a passage over the following gulf. WOE to thee, Simon Magus! woe to you, His wretched followers! who the things of God, Now must the trumpet sound for you, since yours Wisdom Supreme! how wonderful the art, I saw the livid stone, throughout the sides All equal in their width, and circular each. Than, in Saint John's fair dome of me beloved, To save a whelming infant: and be this 5 ΙΟ 15 20 The motive of my deed. From out the mouth And of the legs high upward as the calf. 25 The soles were burning; whence the flexile joints 1. See Acts viii. 9 ff. From him comes the name of simony, the crime of buying or selling ecclesiastical preferment, the corrupt presentation of any one to an ecclesiastical benefice for money or reward. 30 18. The apertures in the rock were of the same dimensions as the fonts of St. John the Baptist at Florence, one of which Dante says, he had broken to rescue a child that was playing near and fell in. He intimates, that the motive of 6. "It is now time for me to describe your his breaking the font had been maliciously sin and its punishment." represented by his enemies. The surface, scarcely touching where it moves; I then: "As pleases thee, to me is best. "Whoe'er thou art, Sad spirit! thus reversed, and as a stake There stood I like the friar, that dost shrive A wretch for murder doomed, who, e'en when fixed, I felt as those who, piercing not the drift 37. The general slope of the eighth circle is toward the central abyss. Hence the bank of each pit, which is nearest the centre, is lower than the other. 51. Allusion to the terrible punishment for murder in the Middle Ages, by being buried alive, head downward. The municipal statute of Florence reads, "Assassinus trahatur ad caudam muli seu asini usque ad locum justitiæ et ibidem plantetur capite desorum, ita quod moriatur." 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 55. The spirit mistakes Dante for Boniface VIII., who was then alive; and who, he did not expect, would have arrived so soon. The "writing" spoken of is the book of the future, in which the damned may read, although the present is unknown to them. See Hell, x. 99 ff. Boniface died Oct. 12, 1303. 58. "Thou didst presume to arrive by fraudulent means at the papal power, and afterwards to abuse it." 59. Lady the church. I questioned. But already longer time Hath past, since my soles kindled, and I thus money. 74. Having 81. "Boniface will not stand here as long as I have stood, for the one who is to follow him will not be so long coming as he has been." Nicholas has been here twenty years (died in 1280). In 1303 Boniface died and took the place of Nicholas, thrusting him down below. Clement V., who in his turn follows Boniface, died April 20, 1314. Hence Boniface had to wait only about ten years. 80 85 90 95 100 86. Bertrand de Got, archbishop of Bordeaux, who succeeded to the pontificate in 1305, and assumed the title of Clement V. He transferred the holy see to Avignon, and was the slave of Philip le Bel of France. He 88. Son of Simon the High Priest. bought his high priesthood from King Antiochus. See 2 Maccabees iv. 90. As Antiochus favored Jason, so Philip le Bel favored the election of Clement V. 95. Matt. xvi. 19. 98. Matthias, elected apostle in place of Judas. Acts i. 15-26. 103. Charles of Anjou. Nicholas was charged with being bribed to consent to the conspiracy This passage proves that this part of Dante's to drive Charles from Sicily. poem was written after 1314. |