Of all I e'er beheld. Joy seized us straight; But soon to mourning changed. From the new land CANTO XXVII ARGUMENT.-The Poet, treating of the same punishment as in the last Canto, relates that he turned toward a flame in which was the Count Guido da Montefeltro, whose inquiries respecting the state of Romagna he answers; and Guido is thereby induced to declare who he is, and why condemned to that torment. OW upward rose the flame, and still'd its light N° To speak no more, and now pass'd on with leave Another, from whose top a sound confused, Forth issuing, drew our eyes that way to look. His cries first echoed who had shaped its mould, Tormented, that the brazen monster seem'd Pierced through with pain; thus, while no way they found, Nor avenue immediate through the flame, Into its language turn'd the dismal words: But soon as they had won their passage forth, Up from the point, which vibrating obey'd Their motion at the tongue, these sounds were heard: "O thou! to whom I now direct my voice, That lately didst exclaim in Lombard phrase, placed in the ocean, reaching as far as to the lunar circle, So that the waters of the deluge did not reach it."-" Sent." lib. ii. dist. unlikely that our author borrowed from some legend of the Middle Ages) may have taken its rise partly from the obscure oracle returned by the ghost of Tiresias to Ulysses (eleventh book of the "Odyssey "), and partly from the fate which there was reason to suppose had befallen some adventurous explorers of the Atlantic Ocean. 1 The engine of torture invented by Perillus, for the tyrant Phalaris. 'Depart thou; I solicit thee no more;' Whence Tiber first unlocks his mighty flood." 2 Montefeltro. 6 3" Polenta's eagle." Guido Novello da Polenta, who bore an eagle for his coat-of-arms. The name of Polenta was derived from a castle so called in the neighborhood of Brittonoro. Cervia is a small maritime city, about fifteen miles to the south of Ravenna. Guido was the son of Ostasio da Polenta, and made himself master of Ravenna in 1265. In 1322 he was deprived of his sovereignty, and died at Bologna in 1323. This last and most munificent patron of Dante is enumerated among the poets of his time. The territory of Forli, the 'inhabitants of which, in 1282, were enabled, by the stratagem of Guido da Montefeltro, the governor, to defeat the French army by which it had been besieged. See G. Villani, lib. vii. c. lxxxi. The Poet informs Guido, its former ruler, that it is now in the possession of Sinibaldo Ordolaffi, whom he designates by his coat-of-arms, a lion vert. 5 Malatesta and Malatestino his son, lords of Rimini, called from their ferocity, the mastiffs of Verrucchio, which was the name of their castle. Malatestino was, perhaps, the husband of Francesca, daughter of Guido da Polenta. See notes to Canto v. 113. 6 Montagna de' Parcitati, a noble and leader of the Ghibelline party at Rimini, murdered by Malatestino. "Lamone's city, and Santerno's,' range 66 Now tell us, I entreat thee, who art thou: Then roar'd awhile the fire, its sharpen'd point Has found his upward way, I answer thee, 10 "A man of arms at first, I clothed me, then To have made amends. And certainly my hope Wretch that I was; and well it had bested me. Lamone is the river at Faenza, and Santerno at Imola. 8 Machinardo Pagano, whose arms were a lion azure on a field argent. See also " Purgatory," Canto xiv. 122. 9 Cesena, situated at the foot of a mountain, and washed by the river 10 Guido da Montefeltro. The chief of the new Pharisees" meantime, Had fought," nor traffick'd in the Soldan's land), To cure his leprosy, Sylvester's aid; This man besought: my counsel to that end Seem'd drunken: but forthwith he thus resumed: I hitherto absolve thee. In return, Teach me my purpose so to execute, "Then, yielding to the forceful arguments, And answer'd: 'Father! since thou washest me 66 When I was number'd with the dead, then came He met, who cried, 'Wrong me not; he is mine, 12 Boniface VIII, whose enmity to the family of Colonna prompted him to destroy their houses near the Lateran. Wishing to obtain possession of their other seat, Penestrino, he consulted with Guido da Montefeltro, offering him absolution for his past sins, as well as for that which he was then tempting him to commit. Guido's advice was that kind words and fair promises would put his enemies into his power; and they accordingly soon afterward fell into the snare laid for them, 1298. 13 Alluding to the renegade Christians, by whom the Saracens, in April, 1291, were assisted to recover St. John d'Acre, the last possession of the Christians in the Holy Land. 14 Celestine V. See Canto iii. No power can the impenitent absolve; Nor to repent, and will, at once consist, Oh misery! how I shook myself, when he Seized me, and cried, 'Thou haply thought'st me not To Minos down he bore me; and the judge Twined eight times round his callous back the tail, Must vanish.' Hence, perdition-doom'd, I rove When he had thus fulfill'd his words, the flame And writhing its sharp horn. We onward went, Of those who load them with committed sin. CANTO XXVIII ARGUMENT.-They arrive in the ninth gulf, where the sowers of scandal, schismatics, and heretics, are seen with their limbs maimed or divided in different ways. Among these the Poet finds Mohammed, Piero da Medicina, Curio, Mosca, and Bertrand de Born. 'HO, e'en in words unfetter'd, might at full W Tell of the wounds and blood that now I saw, Robert Guiscard, conqueror of Naples, died 1110. See Paradise, Canto xviii. |