THE DIVINE COMEDY: Inferno, Purgatorio & Paradiso (3 Classic Translations in One Edition). Dante Alighieri
Чтение книги онлайн.

Читать онлайн книгу THE DIVINE COMEDY: Inferno, Purgatorio & Paradiso (3 Classic Translations in One Edition) - Dante Alighieri страница 47

СКАЧАТЬ and heard him by the others nam'd

       Geri of Bello. Thou so wholly then

       Wert busied with his spirit, who once rul'd

       The towers of Hautefort, that thou lookedst not

       That way, ere he was gone."—"O guide belov'd!

       His violent death yet unaveng'd," said I,

       "By any, who are partners in his shame,

       Made him contemptuous: therefore, as I think,

       He pass'd me speechless by; and doing so

       Hath made me more compassionate his fate."

       So we discours'd to where the rock first show'd

       The other valley, had more light been there,

       E'en to the lowest depth. Soon as we came

       O'er the last cloister in the dismal rounds

       Of Malebolge, and the brotherhood

       Were to our view expos'd, then many a dart

       Of sore lament assail'd me, headed all

       With points of thrilling pity, that I clos'd

       Both ears against the volley with mine hands.

       As were the torment, if each lazar-house

       Of Valdichiana, in the sultry time

       'Twixt July and September, with the isle

       Sardinia and Maremma's pestilent fen,

       Had heap'd their maladies all in one foss

       Together; such was here the torment: dire

       The stench, as issuing steams from fester'd limbs.

       We on the utmost shore of the long rock

       Descended still to leftward. Then my sight

       Was livelier to explore the depth, wherein

       The minister of the most mighty Lord,

       All-searching Justice, dooms to punishment

       The forgers noted on her dread record.

29-273b.jpg (50K)

       More rueful was it not methinks to see

       The nation in Aegina droop, what time

       Each living thing, e'en to the little worm,

       All fell, so full of malice was the air

       (And afterward, as bards of yore have told,

       The ancient people were restor'd anew

       From seed of emmets) than was here to see

       The spirits, that languish'd through the murky vale

       Up-pil'd on many a stack. Confus'd they lay,

       One o'er the belly, o'er the shoulders one

       Roll'd of another; sideling crawl'd a third

       Along the dismal pathway. Step by step

       We journey'd on, in silence looking round

       And list'ning those diseas'd, who strove in vain

       To lift their forms. Then two I mark'd, that sat

       Propp'd 'gainst each other, as two brazen pans

       Set to retain the heat. From head to foot,

       A tetter bark'd them round. Nor saw I e'er

       Groom currying so fast, for whom his lord

       Impatient waited, or himself perchance

       Tir'd with long watching, as of these each one

       Plied quickly his keen nails, through furiousness

       Of ne'er abated pruriency. The crust

       Came drawn from underneath in flakes, like scales

       Scrap'd from the bream or fish of broader mail.

29-275b.jpg (63K)

       "O thou, who with thy fingers rendest off

       Thy coat of proof," thus spake my guide to one,

       "And sometimes makest tearing pincers of them,

       Tell me if any born of Latian land

       Be among these within: so may thy nails

       Serve thee for everlasting to this toil."

       "Both are of Latium," weeping he replied,

       "Whom tortur'd thus thou seest: but who art thou

       That hast inquir'd of us?" To whom my guide:

       "One that descend with this man, who yet lives,

       From rock to rock, and show him hell's abyss."

       Then started they asunder, and each turn'd

       Trembling toward us, with the rest, whose ear

       Those words redounding struck. To me my liege

       Address'd him: "Speak to them whate'er thou list."

       And I therewith began: "So may no time

       Filch your remembrance from the thoughts of men

       In th' upper world, but after many suns

       Survive it, as ye tell me, who ye are,

       And of what race ye come. Your punishment,

       Unseemly and disgustful in its kind,

       Deter you not from opening thus much to me."

       "Arezzo was my dwelling," answer'd one,

       "And me Albero of Sienna brought

       To die by fire; but that, for which I died,

       Leads me not here. True is in sport I told him,

       That I had learn'd to wing my flight in air.

       And he admiring much, as he was void

       Of wisdom, will'd СКАЧАТЬ