Whence I my guide addressed: "See that thou find

Some spirit, whose name may by his deeds be known;

And to that end look round thee as thou go'st."

70

75

Then one, who understood the Tuscan voice,
Cried after us aloud: "Hold in your feet,
Ye who so swiftly speed through the dusk air.
Perchance from me thou shalt obtain thy wish."
Whereat my leader, turning, me bespake:
“Pause, and then onward at their pace proceed."
I stayed, and saw two spirits in whose look
Impatient eagerness of mind was marked
To overtake me; but the load they bare
And narrow path retarded their approach.

Soon as arrived, they with an eye askance
Perused me, but spake not: then turning, each
To other thus conferring said: "This one
Seems, by the action of his throat, alive;
And, be they dead, what privilege allows
They walk unmantled by the cumbrous stole?"
Then thus to me: 66
Tuscan, who visitest
The college of the mourning hypocrites,
Disdain not to instruct us who thou art."

66

By Arno's pleasant stream," I thus replied,
"In the great city I was bred and grew,
And wear the body I have ever worn.

But who are ye, from whom such mighty grief,
As now I witness, courseth down your cheeks?
What torment breaks forth in this bitter woe?"
"Our bonnets gleaming bright with orange hue,"
One of them answered, "are so leaden gross,
That with their weight they make the balances
To crack beneath them. Joyous friars we were,

treason by wrapping them up in lead and casting them into a furnace. Philalethes thinks the story doubtful, however.

the functions of the real body, except breathing, the essential sign of life. Hence they notice by the motion of his throat that he is alive. The

76. Farinata had also recognized Dante by same thing is alluded to in Purg. ii. 64. his speech. See Canto x. 25.

84. The "load" is the heavy cloak.

87. Perused = rimiraron = examined carefully. Cary has taken this rare use of the word from Milton. Cf.

96. Florence.

104. "Those who ruled the city of Florence on the part of the Ghibellines perceiving this discontent and murmuring, which they were fearful might produce a rebellion against them

Myself I then perused, and limb by limb selves, in order to satisfy the people, made Surveyed."

choice of two knights, Frati Godenti (joyous

89. The spirits, according to Dante, have all friars) of Bologna, on whom they conferred the

105

Bologna's natives; Catalano I,

He Loderingo named; and by thy land
Together taken, as men use to take

A single and indifferent arbiter,

To reconcile their strifes. How there we sped,
Gardingo's vicinage can best declare."

"O friars!" I began, "your miseries—"
But there brake off, for one had caught mine eye,
Fixed to a cross with three stakes on the ground:
He, when he saw me, writhed himself, throughout
Distorted, ruffling with deep sighs his beard.
And Catalano, who thereof was 'ware,
Thus spake : "That pierced spirit, whom intent
Thou view'st, was he who gave the Pharisees
Counsel, that it were fitting for one man
To suffer for the people. He doth lie
Transverse; nor any passes, but him first
Behoves make feeling trial how each weighs.
In straits like this along the foss are placed
The father of his consort, and the rest
Partakers in that council, seed of ill
And sorrow to the Jews." I noted then,
How Virgil gazed with wonder upon him,
Thus abjectly extended on the cross
In banishment eternal. To the friar

He next his words addressed: "We pray ye tell,

chief power in Florence; one named M. Catalano de' Malavolti, the other M. Loderingo degli Andalò; one an adherent of the Guelph, the other of the Ghibelline party. It is to be remarked, that the Joyous Friars were called Knights of St. Mary, and became knights on taking that habit their robes were white, the mantle sable, and the arms a white field and red cross with two stars their office was to defend widows and orphans; they were to act as mediators; they had internal regulations, like other religious bodies. The above-mentioned M. Loderingo was the founder of that order. But it was not long before they too well deserved the appellation given them, and were found to be more bent on enjoying themselves than on any other object. These two friars were called in by the Florentines, and had a residence assigned them in the palace belonging to the people, over against the Abbey. Such was the dependence placed on the character of their order, that it was expected they would be impartial, and would save the commonwealth any unnecessary expense; instead of which, though inclined to opposite parties, they secretly and hypocritically concurred in promoting their own

advantage rather than the public good." G. Villani, vii. 13. This happened in 1266.

105. Catalano, of the Guelph family Malavolti in Bologna. Born about 1210; head of government of Bologna 1265, of Florence 1266. Died in 1285.

106. Loderingo of the Ghibelline family of Andolò in Bologna, born about 1215, founder of the order of Joyous Friars. Died in 1293.

110. The name of that part of the city which was inhabited by the powerful Ghibelline family of the Uberti, and destroyed under the partial and iniquitous administration of Catalano and Loderingo. It is here that the Palazzo Vecchio was afterwards built.

III. Dante was about to utter words of reproach, when his attention is drawn to Caïaphas, extended on the ground.

117. Caïaphas. "It is expedient for us that one man should die for the people," John xi 50; also xviii. 14.

124. Annas, father-in-law to Caïaphas. John xviii. 13.

127. Virgil is astonished because on his former journey he had not seen Caïaphas, as the crucifixion of Our Saviour had not yet taken place.

If so be lawful, whether on our right
Lies any opening in the rock, whereby
We both may issue hence, without constraint
On the dark angels, that compelled they come
To lead us from this depth." He thus replied:
"Nearer than thou dost hope, there is a rock
From the great circle moving, which o'ersteps
Each vale of horror, save that here his cope
Is shattered. By the ruin ye may mount:
For on the side it slants, and most the height
Rises below." With head bent down awhile

135

140

My leader stood; then spake: "He warned us ill,

Who yonder hangs the sinners on his hook."
To whom the friar: "At Bologna erst

I

many vices of the devil heard;

145

Among the rest was said, 'He is a liar,

And the father of lies!"" When he had spoke,

My leader with large strides proceeded on,
Somewhat disturbed with anger in his look.
I therefore left the spirits heavy laden,
And, following, his beloved footsteps marked.

150

CANTO XXIV.

ARGUMENT.

Under the escort of his faithful master, Dante not without difficulty makes his way out of the sixth gulf; and in the seventh, sees the robbers tormented by venomous and pestilent serpents. The soul of Vanni Fucci, who had pillaged the sacristy of Saint James in Pistoia, predicts some calamities that impended over that city, and over the Florentines.

IN the year's early nonage, when the sun
Tempers his tresses in Aquarius' urn,

And now towards equal day the nights recede;
Whenas the rime upon the earth puts on
Her dazzling sister's image, but not long
Her milder sway endures; then riseth up
The village hind, whom fails his wintry store,
And looking out beholds the plain around
All whitened; whence impatiently he smites
His thighs, and to his hut returning in,

5

5. The frost which covers the ground looks like snow.

9. He is in despair, thinking that the snow has come to prevent him from leading the flock to pasture.

There paces to and fro, wailing his lot,

As a discomfited and helpless man;

Then comes he forth again, and feels new hope

Spring in his bosom, finding e'en thus soon

20

The world hath changed its countenance, grasps his crook, 15
And forth to pasture drives his little flock:
So me my guide disheartened, when I saw
His troubled forehead; and so speedily
That ill was cured; for at the fallen bridge
Arriving, towards me with a look as sweet,
He turned him back, as that I first beheld
At the steep mountain's foot. Regarding well
The ruin, and some counsel first maintained
With his own thought, he opened wide his arm
And took me up. As one, who, while he works,
Computes his labor's issue, that he seems
Still to foresee the effect; so lifting me
Up to the summit of one peak, he fixed
His eye upon another.
Said he, "but first make
As will sustain thee."

66

Grapple that,"
proof, if it be such
For one capt with lead

This were no journey. Scarcely he, though light,
And I, though onward pushed from crag to crag,
Could mount. And if the precinct of this coast
Were not less ample than the last, for him

I know not, but my strength had surely failed.
But Malebolge all toward the mouth
Inclining of the nethermost abyss,

25

30

35

I could no further, but did seat me there.
"Now needs thy best of man; so spake my guide :
"For not on downy plumes, nor under shade
Of canopy reposing, fame is won;

45

Without which whosoe'er consumes his days,
Leaveth such vestige of himself on earth,
As smoke in air or foam upon the wave.
Thou therefore rise: vanquish thy weariness
By the mind's effort, in each struggle formed
To vanquish, if she suffer not the weight
Of her corporeal frame to crush her down.
A longer ladder yet remains to scale.
From these to have escaped sufficeth not,
If well thou note me, profit by my words."

I straightway rose, and showed myself less spent
Than I in truth did feel me. "On," I cried,
"For I am stout and fearless." Up the rock
Our way we held, more rugged than before,
Narrower, and steeper far to climb. From talk
I ceased not, as we journeyed, so to seem
Least faint; whereat a voice from the other foss
Did issue forth, for utterance suited ill.
Though on the arch that crosses there I stood,
What were the words I knew not, but who spake
Seemed moved in anger. Down I stooped to look;
But my quick eye might reach not to the depth
For shrouding darkness; wherefore thus I spake :.
"To the next circle, teacher, bend thy steps,
And from the wall dismount we; for as hence
I hear and understand not, so I see
Beneath, and naught discern.". "I answer not,"
Said he," but by the deed. To fair request
Silent performance maketh best return."

We from the bridge's head descended, where

To the eighth mound it joins; and then, the chasm

Opening to view, I saw a crowd within

Of serpents terrible, so strange of shape

80

And hideous, that remembrance in my veins