The Divine Comedy. Dante Alighieri

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      CANTO XVI

      NOW came I where the water's din was heard,

      As down it fell into the other round,

      Resounding like the hum of swarming bees:

      When forth together issu'd from a troop,

      That pass'd beneath the fierce tormenting storm,

      Three spirits, running swift. They towards us came,

      And each one cried aloud, "Oh do thou stay!

      Whom by the fashion of thy garb we deem

      To be some inmate of our evil land."

      Ah me! what wounds I mark'd upon their limbs,

      Recent and old, inflicted by the flames!

      E'en the remembrance of them grieves me yet.

      Attentive to their cry my teacher paus'd,

      And turn'd to me his visage, and then spake;

      "Wait now! our courtesy these merit well:

      And were 't not for the nature of the place,

      Whence glide the fiery darts, I should have said,

      That haste had better suited thee than them."

      They, when we stopp'd, resum'd their ancient wail,

      And soon as they had reach'd us, all the three

      Whirl'd round together in one restless wheel.

      As naked champions, smear'd with slippery oil,

      Are wont intent to watch their place of hold

      And vantage, ere in closer strife they meet;

      Thus each one, as he wheel'd, his countenance

      At me directed, so that opposite

      The neck mov'd ever to the twinkling feet.

      "If misery of this drear wilderness,"

      Thus one began, "added to our sad cheer

      And destitute, do call forth scorn on us

      And our entreaties, let our great renown

      Incline thee to inform us who thou art,

      That dost imprint with living feet unharm'd

      The soil of Hell. He, in whose track thou see'st

      My steps pursuing, naked though he be

      And reft of all, was of more high estate

      Than thou believest; grandchild of the chaste

      Gualdrada, him they Guidoguerra call'd,

      Who in his lifetime many a noble act

      Achiev'd, both by his wisdom and his sword.

      The other, next to me that beats the sand,

      Is Aldobrandi, name deserving well,

      In the upper world, of honour; and myself

      Who in this torment do partake with them,

      Am Rusticucci, whom, past doubt, my wife

      Of savage temper, more than aught beside

      Hath to this evil brought." If from the fire

      I had been shelter'd, down amidst them straight

      I then had cast me, nor my guide, I deem,

      Would have restrain'd my going; but that fear

      Of the dire burning vanquish'd the desire,

      Which made me eager of their wish'd embrace.

      I then began: "Not scorn, but grief much more,

      Such as long time alone can cure, your doom

      Fix'd deep within me, soon as this my lord

      Spake words, whose tenour taught me to expect

      That such a race, as ye are, was at hand.

      I am a countryman of yours, who still

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