| |
| “SAY, 1 who is he around our mountain winds, | |
| Or ever death has pruned his wing to flight; | |
| That opens his eyes, and covers them at will?” | |
| “I know not who he is, but know thus much; | |
| He comes not singly. Do thou ask of him, | 5 |
| For thou art nearer to him; and take heed, | |
| Accost him gently, so that he may speak.” | |
| Thus on the right two spirits, bending each | |
| Toward the other, talk’d of me; then both | |
| Addressing me, their faces backward lean’d, | 10 |
| And thus the one 2 began: “O soul, who yet | |
| Pent in the body, tendest towards the sky! | |
| For charity, we pray thee, comfort us; | |
| Recounting whence thou comest, and who thou art: | |
| For thou dost make us, at the favor shown thee, | 15 |
| Marvel, as at a thing that ne’er hath been.” | |
| “There stretches through the midst of Tuscany,” | |
| I straight began, “a brooklet, 3 whose well-head | |
| Springs up in Falterona; with his race | |
| Not satisfied, when he some hundred miles | 20 |
| Hath measured. From his banks bring I this frame. | |
| To tell you who I am were words mis-spent: | |
| For yet my name scarce sounds on rumour’s lip.” | |
| “If well I do incorporate with my thought | |
| The meaning of thy speech,” said he, who first | 25 |
| Address’d me, “thou dost speak of Arno’s wave.” | |
| To whom the other: 4 “Why hath he conceal’d | |
| The title of that river, as a man | |
| Doth of some horrible thing?” The spirit, who | |
| Thereof was question’d, did acquit him thus: | 30 |
| “I know not: but ’tis fitting well the name | |
| Should perish of that vale; for from the source, 5 | |
| Where teems so plenteously the Alpine steep | |
| Maim’d of Pelorus, (that doth scarcely pass | |
| Beyond that limit), even to the point | 35 |
| Where unto ocean is restored what heaven | |
| Drains from the exhaustless store for all earth’s streams, | |
| Throughout the space is virtue worried down, | |
| As’t were a snake, by all, for mortal foe; | |
| Or through disastrous influence on the place, | 40 |
| Or else distortion of misguided wills | |
| That custom goads to evil: whence in those, | |
| The dwellers in that miserable vale, | |
| Nature is so transform’d, it seems as they | |
| Had shared of Circe’s feeding. ’Midst brute swine, 6 | 45 |
| Worthier of acorns than of other food | |
| Created for man’s use, he shapeth first | |
| His obscure way; then, sloping onward, finds | |
| Curs, 7 snarlers more in spite than power, from whom | |
| He turns with scorn aside: still journeying down, | 50 |
| By how much more the curst and luckless foss 8 | |
| Swells out to largeness, e’en so much it finds | |
| Dogs turning into wolves. 9 Descending still | |
| Through yet more hollow eddies, next he meets | |
| A race of foxes, 10 so replete with craft, | 55 |
| They do not fear that skill can master it. | |
| Nor will I cease because my words are heard 11 | |
| By other ears than thine. It shall be well | |
| For this man, 12 if he keep in memory | |
| What from no erring spirit I reveal. | 60 |
| Lo! I behold thy grandson, 13 that becomes | |
| A hunter of those wolves, upon the shore | |
| Of the fierce stream; and cows them all with dread. | |
| Their flesh, yet living, sets he up to sale, | |
| Then, like an aged beast, to slaughter dooms. | 65 |
| Many of life he reaves, himself of worth | |
| And goodly estimation. Smear’d with gore, | |
| Mark how he issues from the rueful wood; | |
| Leaving such havoc, that in thousand years | |
| It spreads not to prime lustihood again.” | 70 |
| As one, who tidings hears of woe to come, | |
| Changes his looks perturb’d, from whate’er part | |
| The peril grasp him; so beheld I change | |
| That spirit, who had turn’d to listen; struck | |
| With sadness, soon as he had caught the word. | 75 |
| His visage, and the other’s speech, did raise | |
| Desire in me to know the names of both; | |
| Whereof, with meek entreaty, I inquired. | |
| The shade, who late address’d me, thus resumed: | |
| “Thy wish imports, that I vouchsafe to do | 80 |
| For thy sake what thou wilt not do for mine. | |
| But, since God’s will is that so largely shine | |
| His grace in thee, I will be liberal too. | |
| Guido of Duca know then that I am. | |
| Envy so parch’d my blood, that had I seen | 85 |
| A fellow man made joyous, thou had’st mark’d | |
| A livid paleness overspread my cheek. | |
| Such harvest reap I of the seed I sow’d. | |
| O man! why place thy heart where there doth need | |
| Exclusion of participants in good? | 90 |
| This is Rinieri’s spirit; this, the boast | |
| And honour of the house of Calboli; | |
| Where of his worth no heritage remains. | |
| Nor his the only blood, that hath been stript | |
| (’Twixt Po, the mount, the Reno, and the shore 14) | 95 |
| Of all that truth or fancy asks for bliss: | |
| But, in those limits, such a growth has sprung | |
| Of rank and venom’d roots, as long would mock | |
| Slow culture’s toil. Where is good Lizio? 15 where | |
| Mainardi, Traversaro, and Carpigna? 16 | 100 |
| O bastard slips of old Romagna’s line! | |
| When in Bologna the low artisan, 17 | |
| And in Faenza yon Bernardin 18 sprouts, | |
| A gentle cyon from ignoble stem. | |
| Wonder not, Tuscan, if thou see me weep, | 105 |
| When I recall to mind those once loved names, | |
| Guido of Prata, 19 and of Azzo him 20 | |
| That dwelt with us; Tignoso 21 and his troop, | |
| With Traversaro’s house and Anastagio’s, 22 | |
| (Each race disherited); and beside these, | 110 |
| The ladies and the knights, the toils and ease, | |
| That witch’d us into love and courtesy; | |
| Where now such malice reigns in recreant hearts | |
| O Brettinoro! 23 wherefore tarriest still, | |
| Since forth of thee thy family hath gone, | 115 |
| And many, hating evil, join’d their steps? | |
| Well doeth he, that bids his lineage cease, | |
| Bagnacavallo; 24 Castrocaro ill, | |
| And Conio worse, 25 who care to propagate | |
| A race of Counties 26 from such blood as theirs. | 120 |
| Well shall ye also do, Pagani, 27 then | |
| When from amongst you hies your demon child; | |
| Not so, howe’er, that thenceforth there remain | |
| True proof of what ye were. O Hugolin, 28 | |
| Thou sprung of Fantolini’s line! thy name | 125 |
| Is safe; since none is look’d for after thee | |
| To cloud its lustre, warping from thy stock. | |
| But, Tuscan! go thy ways; for now I take | |
| Far more delight in weeping, than in words. | |
| Such pity for your sakes hath wrung my heart.” | 130 |
| We knew those gentle spirits, at parting, heard | |
| Our steps. Their silence therefore, of our way, | |
| Assured us. Soon as we had quitted them, | |
| Advancing onward, lo! a voice, that seem’d | |
| Like volley’d lightning, when it rives the air, | 135 |
| Met us, and shouted, “Whosoever finds | |
| Will slay me”; then fled from us, as the bolt | |
| Lanced sudden from a downward-rushing cloud. | |
| When it had given short truce unto our hearing, | |
| Behold the other with a crash as loud | 140 |
| As the quick-following thunder: “Mark in me | |
| Aglauros, turn’d to rock.” I, at the sound | |
| Retreating, drew more closely to my guide. | |
| Now in mute stillness rested all the air; | |
| And thus he spake: “There was the galling bit, | 145 |
| Which should keep man within his boundary. | |
| But your old enemy so baits the hook, | |
| He drags you eager to him. Hence nor curb | |
| Avails you, nor reclaiming call. Heaven calls, | |
| And, round about you wheeling, courts your gaze | 150 |
| With everlasting beauties. Yet your eye | |
| Turns with fond doting still upon the earth. | |
| Therefore He smites you who discerneth all.” | |
| |
| Note 1. “Say.” The two spirits who thus speak to each other are Guido del Duca, of Brettinoro, and Rinieri da Calboli, of Romagna. [back] |
| Note 2. “The one.” Guido del Duca. [back] |
| Note 3. The Arno, that rises in Falterona, a mountain in the Apennines. Its course is 120 miles. [back] |
| Note 4. Rinieri da Calboli. [back] |
| Note 5. From the rise of the Arno in the Apennines, whence Pelorus in Sicily was torn by a convulsion of the earth, even to the point where the same river unites with the ocean, Virtue is persecuted by all. [back] |
| Note 6. The people of Casentino. [back] |
| Note 7. “Curs.” The Arno leaves Arezzo about four miles to the left. [back] |
| Note 8. “Foss.” So in his anger he terms the Arno. [back] |
| Note 9. “Wolves.” The Florentines. [back] |
| Note 10. “Foxes.” The Pisans. [back] |
| Note 11. Guido still addresses Rinieri. [back] |
| Note 12. For Dante, who has told us that he comes from the banks of [back] |
| Note 13. “Thy grandson.” Fulcieri da Calboli, grandson of Rinieri da Calboli, who is here spoken to. The atrocities predicted came to pass in 1302. [back] |
| Note 14. The boundaries of Romagna. [back] |
| Note 15. “Lizio.” Lizio da Valbona introduced into Boccaccio’s Decameron, G. v. N. 4. [back] |
| Note 16. Arrigo Manardi, of Faenza, or, as some say, of Brettinoro; Pier Traversaro, Lord of Ravenna; and Guido di Carpigna, of Montefeltro. [back] |
| Note 17. One who had been a mechanic, named Lambertaccio, arrived at almost supreme power in Bologna. [back] |
| Note 18. Benardin di Fosco, a man of low origin, but great talents, who governed at Faenza. [back] |
| Note 19. “Prata.” A place between Faenza and Ravenna. [back] |
| Note 20. “Of Azzo him.” Ugolino, of the Ubaldini family in Tuscany. [back] |
| Note 21. Federigo Tignoso of Rimini. [back] |
| Note 22. Two noble families of Ravenna. [back] |
| Note 23. “O Brettinoro.” A beautifully situated castle in Romagna, the hospitable residence of Guido del Duca, who is here speaking. Landino relates that there were several of this family who, when a stranger arrived among them contended with one another by whom he should be entertained; and that in order to end this dispute, they set up a pillar with as many rings as there were father of families among them, a ring being assigned to each, and that accordingly as a stranger on his arrival hung his horse’s bridle on one or other of these, he became his guest to whom the ring belonged. [back] |
| Note 24. “Bagnacavallo.” A castle between Imola and Ravenna. [back] |
| Note 25. “———Castrocaro ill, and Conio worse.” Both in Romagna. [back] |
| Note 26. “Counties.” I have used this word here for “counts,” as it is in Shakespeare. [back] |
| Note 27. “Pagani.” The Pagani were lords of Faenza and Imola. One of them, Machinardo, was named “the Demon,” from his treachery. See Hell, Canto xxvii. 47 and note. [back] |
| Note 28. “Hugolin.” Ugolino Ubaldini, a noble and virtuous person in Faenza, who, on account of his age probably, was not likely to leave any offspring behind him. [back] |
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