Part 26 (2/2)

The frighted wretch began once more to say, 'Tuscans or Lombards, I will bring them nigh.

But let the Malebranche first give way, 100 That of their vengeance they may not have fear, And I to this same place where now I stay For me, who am but one, will bring seven near When I shall whistle as we use to do Whenever on the surface we appear.'

On this Cagnazzo up his muzzle threw, Shaking his head and saying: 'Hear the cheat He has contrived, to throw himself below.'

Then he who in devices was complete: 'Far too malicious, in good sooth,' replied, 110 'When for my friends I plan a sorer fate.'

This, Alichin withstood not but denied The others' counsel,[605] saying: 'If thou fling Thyself hence, thee I strive not to outstride.

But o'er the pitch I'll dart upon the wing.

Leave we the ridge,[606] and be the bank a s.h.i.+eld; And see if thou canst all of us outspring.'

O Reader, hear a novel trick revealed.

All to the other side turned round their eyes, He first[607] who slowest was the boon to yield. 120 In choice of time the Navarrese was wise; Taking firm stand, himself he forward flung, Eluding thus their hostile purposes.

Then with compunction each of them was stung, But he the most[608] whose slackness made them fail; Therefore he started, 'Caught!' upon his tongue.

But little it bested, nor could prevail His wings 'gainst fear. Below the other went, While he with upturned breast aloft did sail.

And as the falcon, when, on its descent, 130 The wild duck suddenly dives out of sight, Returns outwitted back, and malcontent; To be befooled filled Calcabrin with spite.

Hovering he followed, wis.h.i.+ng in his mind The wretch escaping should leave cause for fight.

When the barrator vanished, from behind He on his comrade with his talons fell And clawed him, 'bove the moat with him entwined.

The other was a spar-hawk terrible To claw in turn; together then the two 140 Plunged in the boiling pool. The heat full well How to unlock their fierce embraces knew; But yet they had no power[609] to rise again, So were their wings all plastered o'er with glue.

Then Barbariccia, mourning with his train, Caused four to fly forth to the other side With all their grapplers. Swift their flight was ta'en.

Down to the place from either hand they glide, Reaching their hooks to those who were limed fast, And now beneath the sc.u.m were being fried. 150 And from them thus engaged we onward pa.s.sed.

FOOTNOTES:

[594] _O Aretines_: Dante is mentioned as having taken part in the campaign of 1289 against Arezzo, in the course of which the battle of Campaldino was fought. But the text can hardly refer to what he witnessed in that campaign, as the field of it was almost confined to the Casentino, and little more than a formal entrance was made on the true Aretine territory; while the chronicles make no mention of jousts and forays. There is, however, no reason to think but that Dante was engaged in the attack made by Florence on the Ghibeline Arezzo in the early summer of the preceding year. In a few days the Florentines and their allies had taken above forty castles and strongholds, and devastated the enemy's country far and near; and, though unable to take the capital, they held all kinds of warlike games in front of it. Dante was then twenty-three years of age, and according to the Florentine const.i.tution of that period would, in a full muster of the militia, be required to serve as a cavalier without pay, and providing his own horse and arms.

[595] _Bell_: The use of the bell for martial music was common in the Italy of the thirteenth century. The great war-bell of the Florentines was carried with them into the field.

[596] _Beneath the bubbles, etc._: As the barrators took toll of the administration of justice and appointment to offices, something always sticking to their palms, so now they are plunged in the pitch; and as they denied to others what should be the common blessing of justice, now they cannot so much as breathe the air without paying dearly for it to the demons.

[597] _Their names_: The names of all the demons. All of them urge Rubicante, the 'mad red devil,' to flay the victim, s.h.i.+ning and sleek with the hot pitch, who is held fast by Graffiacane.

[598] _In kingdom of Navarre, etc._: The commentators give the name of John Paul to this shade, but all that is known of him is found in the text.

[599] _Thiebault_: King of Navarre and second of that name. He accompanied his father-in-law, Saint Louis, to Tunis, and died on his way back, in 1270.

[600] _A Latian_: An Italian.

[601] _From one, etc._: A Sardinian. The barrator prolongs his answer so as to procure a respite from the fangs of his tormentors.

[602] _Gomita of Gallura_: 'Friar Gomita' was high in favour with Nino Visconti (_Purg._ viii. 53), the lord of Gallura, one of the provinces into which Sardinia was divided under the Pisans. At last, after bearing long with him, the 'gentle Judge Nino' hanged Gomita for setting prisoners free for bribes.

[603] _Don Michael Zanche_: Enzo, King of Sardinia, married Adelasia, the lady of LoG.o.doro, one of the four Sardinian judgedoms or provinces.

Of this province Zanche, seneschal to Enzo, acquired the government during the long imprisonment of his master, or upon his death in 1273.

Zanche's daughter was married to Branca d'Oria, by whom Zanche was treacherously slain in 1275 (_Inf._ x.x.xiii. 137). There seems to be nothing extant to support the accusation implied in the text.

[604] _They gossip, etc._: Zanche's experience of Sardinia was of an earlier date than Gomita's. It has been claimed for, or charged against, the Sardinians, that more than other men they delight in gossip touching their native country. These two, if it can be supposed that, plunged among and choked with pitch, they still cared for Sardinian talk, would find material enough in the troubled history of their land. In 1300 it belonged partly to Genoa and partly to Pisa.

[605] _The others' counsel_: Alichino, confident in his own powers, is willing to risk an experiment with the sinner. The other devils count a bird in the hand worth two in the bush.

[606] _The ridge_: Not the crown of the great rocky barrier between the Fifth and the Sixth Bolgias, for it is not on that the devils are standing; neither are they allowed to pa.s.s over it (_Inf._ xxiii. 55).

We are to figure them to ourselves as standing on a ledge running between the fosse and the foot of the enclosing rocky steep--a pathway continued under the bridges and all round the Bolgia for their convenience as guardians of it. The bank adjoining the pitch will serve as a screen for the sinner if the demons retire to the other side of this ledge.

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