The Falsifiers (continued) — Canto XXX

In the time when Juno was incensed Against the Theban blood on account of Semele, As she had shown already more than once, Athamas became so insane, that seeing His wife come laden upon either hand With her two sons, he cried: "Spread out the nets, So that I take the lioness and the cubs Upon the pass;" and then stretched forth his claws, Pitiless, seizing one who had the name Of Learchus, and whirled him and dashed him Upon a rock; and she drowned with the other.

And at the time when fortune downward hurled The Trojan's arrogance, that all things dared, So that the king was with his kingdom crushed, Hecuba sad, disconsolate, and captive, When lifeless she beheld Polyxena, And of her Polydorus on the shore Of the salt sea discovered the sad one, Frantic she barked, even as a dog; So much the anguish had her mind distorted.

But not of Thebes the furies nor the Trojan Were ever seen in any one so cruel, Not in the goading beasts, much less in human limbs, As I beheld two shadows pale and naked, Who, biting, in the manner ran along That a boar does, when from the sty turned loose.

One came to Capocchio, and by the nape Seized with its teeth his neck, so that in dragging It made his belly along the solid bottom scrape. And the Aretine, who trembling still remained, Said to me: "That mad sprite is Gianni Schicchi, And raving goes thus harrying other people."

"O," said I unto him, "so may the other Not fix its teeth on thee, let it not weary thee To tell us who it is, ere it depart." And he to me: "That is the ancient ghost Of the nefarious Myrrha, who became Beyond all rightful love her father's lover. She came to sin with him after this manner, By counterfeiting of another's form; As the other, who goes yonder, undertook, That he might gain the lady of the herd, To counterfeit in himself Buoso Donati, Making a will and giving it due form."

And after the two rabid ones had passed, On whom I held mine eye, I turned it back To look upon the other evil-born. I saw one made in fashion of a lute, If he had only had the groin cut off Just at the point at which a man is forked.

The heavy dropsy, that so disproportions The limbs with humour, which it ill concocts, That the face corresponds not to the paunch, Compelled him so to hold his lips apart As does the hectic, who because of thirst One tow'rds the chin, the other upward turns.

"O ye, who without any torment are, And why I know not, in the world of woe," He said to us, "behold, and be attentive Unto the misery of Master Adam. I had while living much of what I wished, And now, alas! a drop of water crave. The rivulets, that from the verdant hills Of Cassentin descend down into Arno, Making their channels to be cold and moist, Ever before me stand, and not in vain; For far more doth their image dry me up Than the disease which strips my face of flesh."

"The rigid justice that doth search me out Draws from the place in which I sinned, to put My sighs the more in flight. There is Romena, where I counterfeited The currency imprided with the Baptist, For which on earth I left my body burnt. But if I here could see the wretched soul Of Guido, or Alessandro, or their brother, For Branda's fount I would not give the sight. One is within already, if the raving Shades that go round about speak verily; But what avails it me, whose limbs are tied?"

"If I were only still so light, that in A hundred years I could advance one inch, I had already started on the way, Seeking for him among this squalid folk, Although the circuit be eleven miles, And be not less than half a mile across. For them am I in such a family; They did induce me into coining florins, Which had at least three carats of alloy."

And I to him: "Who are the two poor wretches That smoke like unto a wet hand in winter, Lying there close upon thy right-hand confines?" "I found them here," replied he, "when I rained Into this chasm, and since they have not turned, Nor do I think they will for evermore. The one is the false woman who accused Joseph, The other the false Sinon, Greek of Troy; From acute fever they send forth such reek."

And one of them, who felt himself annoyed At being, peradventure, named so darkly, Smote with the fist upon his hardened paunch. It gave a sound, as if it were a drum; And Master Adam smote him in the face, With arm that did not seem to be less hard, Saying to him: "Although be taken from me All motion, for my limbs that heavy are, I have an arm still free for such a need."

Whereat he answered: "When thou wentest to the fire, Thou hadst it not so ready at command; But hadst it so and more when thou wast coining." The dropsied one: "Herein thou sayest true; But thou wast not so true a witness there, Where thou wast questioned of the truth at Troy." "If I spake false, thou falsifiedst the coin," Said Sinon; "and for one fault I am here, And thou for more than any other demon."

"Remember, perjurer, upon the horse," He answered who had the inflated paunch, "And rueful be it thee the whole world knows it." "And rueful unto thee the thirst be wherewith Thy tongue is cracked," the Greek said, "and the foul water That hedges so thy paunch before thine eyes."

Then the coiner: "So is gaping wide Thy mouth for speaking evil, as 'tis wont; Because if I have thirst, and humour stuff me, Thou hast the burning and the head that aches, And to lick up the mirror of Narcissus Thou wouldst not want words of invitation."

In listening to them was I wholly fixed, When said the Master to me: "Now just look! For little wants it that I quarrel with thee." When him I heard in anger speak to me, I turned me round towards him with such shame That still it eddies through my memory. And as he is who dreams of his own harm, Who dreaming wishes it may be a dream, So that he craves what is, as if it were not; Such I became, not having power to speak, For to excuse myself I wished, and still Excused myself, and did not think I did it.

"Less shame doth wash away a greater fault," The Master said, "than this of thine has been; Therefore thyself disburden of all sadness, And make account that I am aye beside thee, If ever it befall that fortune bring thee Where there are people in a like dispute; For a base wish it is to wish to hear it."