The Divine Comedy — Dante Alighieri

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Canto XIX. HELL. 73 Our Lord at first demanded from St. Peter, That in his charge the keys he should deliver ? * Follow thou Me/ was His demand far meeter. Saint Peter and the rest from Matthew never Asked gold or silver when they chose him free In the place which lost one guilty soul for ever. Therefore stay there, thou'rt punished properly. And of thy money, ill acquired, take care. Which against Carlos caused thy surquedry. And were it not that still there makes me spare That reverence for the highest keys I have, Which thou possessedst in a happier air, I would make use of words by far more grave ; Since the world saddens at thy avarice mean, Trampling the good and raising the deprave ; Pastors like ye the Evangelist did mean, When she who sate above the waters borne, Committing whoredoms with the kings was seen. She with seven heads in beauty had been born. And her ten horns in comely pride did hold, ^'^ The while to virtue was her husband sworn. Te've made your Q-od of silver and of gold, Ye from idolaters what line withdraws. Save they sin once, and ye a hundredfold ? Ah, Constantine, of how much ill was cause. Not thy conversion but the fatal dower Which the first wealthy father from thee draws !" And all the while to him such notes I pour, Whether 'twas rage or conscience that him smote. With both his legs he jerked and struggled sore. It pleased my leader clearly as I note. With such contented countenance did he hear The sound of words that honest truth denote. Then within both his arms he clasped me near. And when he held me closely to his breast Mounted the path he had descended there.

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Line 99. Carlos of Sicily, who excited Innocent's anger by refusing to give his daughter in marriage to one of the Pope's nephews. Line 109. The harlot on the waters is here clearly the Papacy, who while her own lord, the Pope, remained virtuous, in the early times was adorned with the seven heads— the cardinal virtues, and the ten horns — the ten sacraments of the Biomish ritual. Line 115. This triplet has been thus translated by Milton : — Ah ! Constantine, of how much ill was cause Not thy conversion, but those rich domains That the first wealthy Pope received of thee V ■ t(

74. HELL. Cahto XX. Nor wearied he to hold me closely prest, But to the summit of the arch he strode Which from the fourth to the fifth ridge was drest. There tenderly he placed his darling load, ^^° Down on the rock precipitously high, That unto goats had been a difficult road. And there another valley I descry.

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CANTO XX. In the fourth ward of Malebolge Dante sees the doomed passing in slow procession. On closer inspection he finds that their heads are tamed the face behind, and that they have consequently to walk backwards. These are necromancers who deceived themselves or others by attemptinsr to look into the future. Amongst them is Manto, the siffht of whom leads Yirgil into a digression on the origin of his native city. Op novel torture I must weave the verse, And to the twentieth Canto matter yield Of this first song, where Hell's dooms I rehearse. Already all my forces did I wield To gaze into the deeps o'er which I hung, ^ There where the anguish tears for ever rilled : And through the circular vale I saw them throng. Coming in tears and silence at the pace. At which on earth the Litanies are sung. As downwards sank my vision to their place. Miraculously did they seem deformed, Each one between the upper chest and face. For from the reins the visage was transformed. And since they could not therefore forward look, Compulsively they ever backwards swarmed. Perchance by force of paralytic stroke One might be twisted thus in branch and root, I think not, nor on such did ever look. If Gk)d permit thee, reader, to take fruit From thy perusal, now bethink thee each. How coiid I keep my eyes dry, looking to 't. When our own image, almost in my reach, I saw so twisted, that their weeping eyes With tears, adown its fissure, bathed their breach. Surely I wept, supported on a rise ^ Of that fire-hardened rock, so that my guide Said to me : " Thou too 'mongst the little wise ?

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