The Thieves (continued) — Canto XXV

At the conclusion of his words, the thief Lifted 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 neck As if it said: "I will not thou speak more;" And round his arms another, and rebound him, Cliching itself together so in front, That with them he could not a motion make.

Pistoia, ah, Pistoia! why resolve not To 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 rage Come crying out: "Where is, where is the scoffer?" I do not think Maremma has so many Snakes as he had upon his equine back, Where the human part begins.

Upon his 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, who Beneath the rock upon Mount Aventine Created oftentimes a lake of blood. He goes not on the same road with his brothers, By reason of the fraudulent theft he made Of the great herd, which he had near to him; Whereat his tortuous actions found an end Beneath the mace of Hercules, who perhaps Gave him a hundred, and he felt not ten."

While he was speaking thus, and those ran by, Lo! three spirits came beneath us, of whom Neither I nor my Leader was aware, Until the moment when they cried: "Who are you?" On which account our story ceased, and then We gave our whole attention unto them.

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, now slow to believe What 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 forth In 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 hinder feet 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 barbs Unto a tree so, as this horrible reptile Upon the other's limbs entwined its own.

Then they stuck close, as if of heated wax They had been made, and mingled their complexions; Neither the one nor other seemed now what He was before; even as proceedeth on Before the flame a colour brown and dark, Which is not black as yet, and the white dies.

Be silent, Lucan, now where thou dost treat Of wretched Sabellus and Nasidius, And wait to hear what now comes forth. Be silent Ovid, of Cadmus and Arethusa; For if he to a serpent him converts, Or her into a fountain, in his verse, I envy him not; for two natures never Front to front transmuted he, so that Both forms to interchange their matter ready were.

Together they responded in such wise, That to a fork the serpent cleft his tail, And he that was wounded closed his feet together. The legs together with the thighs themselves Adhered so, that in little time the juncture No sign whatever made that was apparent. He with the cloven tail assumed the figure The other one was losing, and his skin Became 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 smoke with a new colour Covers, and generates the hair on one, And depilates it from the other part, The one rose upright, and the other fell, Not turning aside however their impious lamps, Beneath which each one changed his countenance. 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 retained Of that excess made to the face a nose, And the lips thickened far as was befitting.

He who lay prostrate thrust his muzzle forward, And backward drew the ears into his head, In the same manner as the snail its horns; And so the tongue, which was entire and apt For speech before, is cleft, and the bi-forked In 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.