Inferno: Canto XXVAt the conclusion of his words, the thiefLifted his hands aloft with both the figs,Crying: “Take that, God, for at thee I aim them.”From that time forth the serpents were my friends;For one entwined itself about his neckAs if it said: “I will not thou speak more;”And round his arms another, and rebound him,Clinching itself together so in front,That with them he could not a motion make.Pistoia, ah, Pistoia! why resolve notTo burn thyself to ashes and so perish,Since in ill-doing thou thy seed excellest?Through all the sombre circles of this Hell,Spirit I saw not against God so proud,Not he who fell at Thebes down from the walls!He fled away, and spake no further word;And I beheld a Centaur full of rageCome crying out: “Where is, where is the scoffer?”I do not think Maremma has so manySerpents as he had all along his back,As far as where our countenance begins.Upon the shoulders, just behind the nape,With wings wide open was a dragon lying,And he sets fire to all that he encounters.My Master said: “That one is Cacus, whoBeneath the rock upon Mount AventineCreated oftentimes a lake of blood.He goes not on the same road with his brothers,By reason of the fraudulent theft he madeOf the great herd, which he had near to him;Whereat his tortuous actions ceased beneathThe mace of Hercules, who peradventureGave him a hundred, and he felt not ten.”While he was speaking thus, he had passed by,And spirits three had underneath us come,Of which nor I aware was, nor my Leader,Until what time they shouted: “Who are you?”On which account our story made a halt,And then we were intent on them alone.I did not know them; but it came to pass,As it is wont to happen by some chance,That one to name the other was compelled,Exclaiming: “Where can Cianfa have remained?”Whence I, so that the Leader might attend,Upward from chin to nose my finger laid.If thou art, Reader, slow now to believeWhat I shall say, it will no marvel be,For I who saw it hardly can admit it.As I was holding raised on them my brows,Behold! a serpent with six feet darts forthIn front of one, and fastens wholly on him.With middle feet it bound him round the paunch,And with the forward ones his arms it seized;Then thrust its teeth through one cheek and the other;The hindermost it stretched upon his thighs,And put its tail through in between the two,And up behind along the reins outspread it.Ivy was never fastened by its barbsUnto a tree so, as this horrible reptileUpon the other’s limbs entwined its own.Then they stuck close, as if of heated waxThey had been made, and intermixed their colour;Nor one nor other seemed now what he was;E’en as proceedeth on before the flameUpward along the paper a brown colour,Which is not black as yet, and the white dies.The other two looked on, and each of themCried out: “O me, Agnello, how thou changest!Behold, thou now art neither two nor one.”Already the two heads had one become,When there appeared to us two figures mingledInto one face, wherein the two were lost.Of the four lists were fashioned the two arms,The thighs and legs, the belly and the chestMembers became that never yet were seen.Every original aspect there was cancelled;Two and yet none did the perverted imageAppear, and such departed with slow pace.Even as a lizard, under the great scourgeOf days canicular, exchanging hedge,Lightning appeareth if the road it cross;Thus did appear, coming towards the belliesOf the two others, a small fiery serpent,Livid and black as is a peppercorn.And in that part whereat is first receivedOur aliment, it one of them transfixed;Then downward fell in front of him extended.The one transfixed looked at it, but said naught;Nay, rather with feet motionless he yawned,Just as if sleep or fever had assailed him.He at the serpent gazed, and it at him;One through the wound, the other through the mouthSmoked violently, and the smoke commingled.Henceforth be silent Lucan, where he mentionsWretched Sabellus and Nassidius,And wait to hear what now shall be shot forth.Be silent Ovid, of Cadmus and Arethusa;For if him to a snake, her to fountain,Converts he fabling, that I grudge him not;Because two natures never front to frontHas he transmuted, so that both the formsTo interchange their matter ready were.Together they responded in such wise,That to a fork the serpent cleft his tail,And eke the wounded drew his feet together.The legs together with the thighs themselvesAdhered so, that in little time the junctureNo sign whatever made that was apparent.He with the cloven tail assumed the figureThe other one was losing, and his skinBecame elastic, and the other’s hard.I saw the arms draw inward at the armpits,And both feet of the reptile, that were short,Lengthen as much as those contracted were.Thereafter the hind feet, together twisted,Became the member that a man conceals,And of his own the wretch had two created.While both of them the exhalation veilsWith a new colour, and engenders hairOn one of them and depilates the other,The one uprose and down the other fell,Though turning not away their impious lamps,Underneath which each one his muzzle changed.He who was standing drew it tow’rds the temples,And from excess of matter, which came thither,Issued the ears from out the hollow cheeks;What did not backward run and was retainedOf that excess made to the face a nose,And the lips thickened far as was befitting.He who lay prostrate thrusts his muzzle forward,And backward draws the ears into his head,In the same manner as the snail its horns;And so the tongue, which was entire and aptFor speech before, is cleft, and the bi-forkedIn the other closes up, and the smoke ceases.The soul, which to a reptile had been changed,Along the valley hissing takes to flight,And after him the other speaking sputters.Then did he turn upon him his new shoulders,And said to the other: “I’ll have Buoso run,Crawling as I have done, along this road.”In this way I beheld the seventh ballastShift and reshift, and here be my excuseThe novelty, if aught my pen transgress.And notwithstanding that mine eyes might beSomewhat bewildered, and my mind dismayed,They could not flee away so secretlyBut that I plainly saw Puccio Sciancato;And he it was who sole of three companions,Which came in the beginning, was not changed;The other was he whom thou, Gaville, weepest.
At the conclusion of his words, the thiefLifted his hands aloft with both the figs,Crying: “Take that, God, for at thee I aim them.”
From that time forth the serpents were my friends;For one entwined itself about his neckAs if it said: “I will not thou speak more;”
And round his arms another, and rebound him,Clinching itself together so in front,That with them he could not a motion make.
Pistoia, ah, Pistoia! why resolve notTo burn thyself to ashes and so perish,Since in ill-doing thou thy seed excellest?
Through all the sombre circles of this Hell,Spirit I saw not against God so proud,Not he who fell at Thebes down from the walls!
He fled away, and spake no further word;And I beheld a Centaur full of rageCome crying out: “Where is, where is the scoffer?”
I do not think Maremma has so manySerpents as he had all along his back,As far as where our countenance begins.
Upon the shoulders, just behind the nape,With wings wide open was a dragon lying,And he sets fire to all that he encounters.
My Master said: “That one is Cacus, whoBeneath the rock upon Mount AventineCreated oftentimes a lake of blood.
He goes not on the same road with his brothers,By reason of the fraudulent theft he madeOf the great herd, which he had near to him;
Whereat his tortuous actions ceased beneathThe mace of Hercules, who peradventureGave him a hundred, and he felt not ten.”
While he was speaking thus, he had passed by,And spirits three had underneath us come,Of which nor I aware was, nor my Leader,
Until what time they shouted: “Who are you?”On which account our story made a halt,And then we were intent on them alone.
I did not know them; but it came to pass,As it is wont to happen by some chance,That one to name the other was compelled,
Exclaiming: “Where can Cianfa have remained?”Whence I, so that the Leader might attend,Upward from chin to nose my finger laid.
If thou art, Reader, slow now to believeWhat I shall say, it will no marvel be,For I who saw it hardly can admit it.
As I was holding raised on them my brows,Behold! a serpent with six feet darts forthIn front of one, and fastens wholly on him.
With middle feet it bound him round the paunch,And with the forward ones his arms it seized;Then thrust its teeth through one cheek and the other;
The hindermost it stretched upon his thighs,And put its tail through in between the two,And up behind along the reins outspread it.
Ivy was never fastened by its barbsUnto a tree so, as this horrible reptileUpon the other’s limbs entwined its own.
Then they stuck close, as if of heated waxThey had been made, and intermixed their colour;Nor one nor other seemed now what he was;
E’en as proceedeth on before the flameUpward along the paper a brown colour,Which is not black as yet, and the white dies.
The other two looked on, and each of themCried out: “O me, Agnello, how thou changest!Behold, thou now art neither two nor one.”
Already the two heads had one become,When there appeared to us two figures mingledInto one face, wherein the two were lost.
Of the four lists were fashioned the two arms,The thighs and legs, the belly and the chestMembers became that never yet were seen.
Every original aspect there was cancelled;Two and yet none did the perverted imageAppear, and such departed with slow pace.
Even as a lizard, under the great scourgeOf days canicular, exchanging hedge,Lightning appeareth if the road it cross;
Thus did appear, coming towards the belliesOf the two others, a small fiery serpent,Livid and black as is a peppercorn.
And in that part whereat is first receivedOur aliment, it one of them transfixed;Then downward fell in front of him extended.
The one transfixed looked at it, but said naught;Nay, rather with feet motionless he yawned,Just as if sleep or fever had assailed him.
He at the serpent gazed, and it at him;One through the wound, the other through the mouthSmoked violently, and the smoke commingled.
Henceforth be silent Lucan, where he mentionsWretched Sabellus and Nassidius,And wait to hear what now shall be shot forth.
Be silent Ovid, of Cadmus and Arethusa;For if him to a snake, her to fountain,Converts he fabling, that I grudge him not;
Because two natures never front to frontHas he transmuted, so that both the formsTo interchange their matter ready were.
Together they responded in such wise,That to a fork the serpent cleft his tail,And eke the wounded drew his feet together.
The legs together with the thighs themselvesAdhered so, that in little time the junctureNo sign whatever made that was apparent.
He with the cloven tail assumed the figureThe other one was losing, and his skinBecame elastic, and the other’s hard.
I saw the arms draw inward at the armpits,And both feet of the reptile, that were short,Lengthen as much as those contracted were.
Thereafter the hind feet, together twisted,Became the member that a man conceals,And of his own the wretch had two created.
While both of them the exhalation veilsWith a new colour, and engenders hairOn one of them and depilates the other,
The one uprose and down the other fell,Though turning not away their impious lamps,Underneath which each one his muzzle changed.
He who was standing drew it tow’rds the temples,And from excess of matter, which came thither,Issued the ears from out the hollow cheeks;
What did not backward run and was retainedOf that excess made to the face a nose,And the lips thickened far as was befitting.
He who lay prostrate thrusts his muzzle forward,And backward draws the ears into his head,In the same manner as the snail its horns;
And so the tongue, which was entire and aptFor speech before, is cleft, and the bi-forkedIn the other closes up, and the smoke ceases.
The soul, which to a reptile had been changed,Along the valley hissing takes to flight,And after him the other speaking sputters.
Then did he turn upon him his new shoulders,And said to the other: “I’ll have Buoso run,Crawling as I have done, along this road.”
In this way I beheld the seventh ballastShift and reshift, and here be my excuseThe novelty, if aught my pen transgress.
And notwithstanding that mine eyes might beSomewhat bewildered, and my mind dismayed,They could not flee away so secretly
But that I plainly saw Puccio Sciancato;And he it was who sole of three companions,Which came in the beginning, was not changed;
The other was he whom thou, Gaville, weepest.