Classic Poem

CANTO XXX.

Argument.

The same valley; other kinds of falsehood.

W HEN Juno's wrath wax'd high, in days of yore,
For Semeli, against the Theban race,
(As many a time she show'd) then did such sore
And frenzied madness fall on Athamas,
That he, when he his hapless wife descried,
With her two children clasp'd in her embrace,
" Now spread the nets, that I may snare, " he cried,
" The lioness and lion-cubs aright! "
And then his ruthless arms extended wide,
And one of them he seized, Learchus hight,
And dash'd him fiercely down against a stone;
While his sad mother, in her hasty flight,
Sprang with her burden where the billows moan
And when the Trojan pride that all things dared,
And king and kingdom were by fate cast down,
A mournful captive, Hecuba was spared,
Only to gaze on Polyxena dead
And on the ocean-strand to her appeared
The corpse of Polydorus, hither sped
By stormy waves; then madden'd by her woe,
Transformid, as a dog she howl'd and bay'd.
But ne'er did Thebes nor Troy such furies show,
Inspiring with their wrath so cruelly
Or man or beast, as in this vale I saw
In two, who did all pale and naked fly,
And strove to bite as they rush'd on in haste,
Even like a sow escaping from the sty.
One on Capocchio sprang, as on he pass'd,
And with his tusks he struck him on the neck,
So that he prone upon the earth was cast.
He of Arezzo, who with fear did shake,
Said: " Gianni Scacchi is yon madman's name,
Who fiercely on the rest his ire doth wreak. "
I said: " As thou wouldst not endure the same
Sharp teeth, then be not my request denied;
Say who his neighbour is that bears like blame. "
" It is the ancient shade, " he thus replied,
" Of wicked Myrrha; who unto her sire
In more than lawful love was erst allied;
For she to sin with him in guilt most dire,
Herself in other form did falsify:
And he who yonder runneth, to acquire
The fairest of the troop, with many a lie
Buoso Donati feign'd himself, and writ
His testament with due legality. "
After those frenzied ones did past me flit,
On whom my eyes were fix'd, I turn'd once more
Unto the wretched crew remaining yet.
One I beheld, who the same semblance wore
As doth a lute; if but his limbs had been
Cut off from where the thighs their burden bore.
The dropsy which deform'd him thus, I ween,
Did in such humours foul his blood convert,
With body swollen, and visage sad and lean;
And made him ever hold his lips apart,
As when with hectic fever ye respire,
And upwards one, one downwards doth revert
" O ye, who journey through the penal fire
Unharm'd (nor know I wherefore this should be), "
He said to us, " behold the pain most dire
Of Master Adam's doleful misery.
All I desired I had in life; and now,
Alas! a drop of water is to me
Denied. The streams which to the Arno flow
From the green hills by Casentino's plain,
With the cool moisture which their channels show,
Are ever in my sight; and not in vain;
Because their image parches me yet more
Than the disease which makes my visage lean.
The rigid justice, searching me so sore,
Draws from the place where I in guilt did 'bide
A pang to swell my sorrows' ample store.
There is Romena, where I falsified
The metal with the Baptist's image seal'd,
Wherefore a fiery death did me betide;
But if I here the wretched shades beheld
Of Guy, or Alexander, or their kin,
Than Branda's fount more dear such sight were held.
Already one of them doth mourn within,
If those wild, wandering spirits speak aright;
But what is that to me who power have none
To move a limb? If I were but so light
That I in hundred years one inch could go,
I had ere now set forth with all my might,
To seek him 'mid the filthy crew, although
The valley for eleven long miles doth wind,
And less than half in breadth it doth not show.
They caused me here to have such place assign'd;
For they to coin the florins did me guide,
Wherein three carats of alloy ye find. "
" Who may those wretches be, " I then replied,
" Who steam as a wet hand in winter frore,
And lying near to thy right hand abide? "
" I found them here, when I fell down, of yore,
From earth; nor have they moved since then, " he said,
" Nor deem I they will move for evermore.
Know, one is she who Joseph slanderid;
The other, Sinon, the false Greek of Troy:
And yon foul steam is by sharp fever fed "
And one of them, who felt, perchance, annoy,
To be so named in contumelious strain,
Now smote his paunch who erst used base alloy.
The swollen belly gave such sound again
As when ye strike a drum; then angrily
Its owner struck the other's face amain,
With hand as hard, and said: " Although ye see
My limbs so heavy from my sickness sore,
Yet for this purpose still my arm is free. "
The other said: " Less prompt thine arm, of yore,
When thee unto a fiery death they drew;
But when thou coinedst, 'twas as free and more. "
And then the dropsical: " Here speak'st thou true;
But not so true the counsel thou didst lend
To them of Troy, who soon thy guile did rue. "
" If I spake falsely, thou the coin didst blend
With false alloy; here for one crime I 'bide;
And thou for more than any other fiend. "
Thus Sinon spake; the swollen one then replied:
" Remember, perjured wretch, the horse, and grieve;
By the whole world thy treachery is 'spied. "
" Grieve thou, for thirst which thus thy tongue doth cleave, "
He answer'd; " and foul humours which prevail
To make thy belly as a hedge up-heave "
The coiner said: " Thou grinnest wide, as fell
As is thy wont, some evil words to speak:
If I have thirst, and humours which me swell,
Fever is thine, and much thy head doth ache;
And, sooth, to lick Narcissus' mirror, thou
Few words of invitation here wouldst take. "
On them my mind was fix'd intent; when lo!
My Master thus address'd me: " Now beware!
Because 'gainst thee well nigh my wrath doth glow. "
And when I heard his words this anger wear,
Turning to him, such shame my mind did fill,
Even yet in memory its pain I bear.
And like to him who dreams of his own ill,
And dreaming ever, would it were a dream;
And that which is, as though it were not, still
Desires: thus did I, who would fain to him
Have made excuse, excusing me, while yet,
Of this unto myself I did not deem.
" Less shame a greater fault would palliate, "
My Master said, " than thy defect hath been;
Thus, lay aside thy sorrow's heavy weight.
Remember, by thy side I still am seen,
If fate doth will that thou again shouldst go
Where any lie in such foul plight: I ween,
To list their words doth argue idle tastes and low. "