The Divine Comedy Of Dante Alighieri Part 35

From what follows it is clear that Dante meant them to be meaningless.

Part of Nimrod's punishment is that he who brought about the confusion of tongues is now left with a language all to himself. It seems strange that commentators should have exhausted themselves in searching for a sense in words specially invented to have none.--In his _De Vulg. El._, i. 7, Dante enlarges upon the confusion of tongues, and speaks of the tower of Babel as having been begun by men on the persuasion of a giant.

[789] _Ephialtes_: One of the giants who in the war with the G.o.ds piled Ossa on Pelion.

[790] _Antaeus_: Is to be asked to lift them over the wall, because, unlike Nimrod, he can understand what is said to him, and, unlike Ephialtes, is not bound. Antaeus is free-handed because he took no part in the war with the G.o.ds.

[791] _The one thou'dst see_: Briareus. Virgil here gives Dante to know what is the truth about Briareus (see line 97, etc.). He is not, as he was fabled, a monster with a hundred hands, but is like Ephialtes, only fiercer to see. Hearing himself thus made light of Ephialtes trembles with anger, like a tower rocking in an earthquake.

[792] _Five ell_: Five ells make about thirty palms, so that Antaeus is of the same stature as that a.s.signed to Nimrod at line 65. This supports the view that the 'huger' of line 84 may apply to breadth rather than to height.

[793] _The fortune-haunted dell_: The valley of the Bagrada near Utica, where Scipio defeated Hannibal and won the surname of Africa.n.u.s. The giant Antaeus had, according to the legend, lived in that neighbourhood, with the flesh of lions for his food and his dwelling in a cave. He was son of the Earth, and could not be vanquished so long as he was able to touch the ground; and thus ere Hercules could give him a mortal hug he needed to swing him aloft. In the _Monarchia_, ii. 10, Dante refers to the combat between Hercules and Antaeus as an instance of the wager of battle corresponding to that between David and Goliath. Lucan's _Pharsalia_, a favourite authority with Dante, supplies him with these references to Scipio and Antaeus.

[794] _Cocytus_: The frozen lake fed by the waters of Phlegethon. See Canto xiv. at the end.

[795] _t.i.tyus, etc._: These were other giants, stated by Lucan to be less strong than Antaeus. This introduction of their names is therefore a piece of flattery to the monster. A light contemptuous turn is given by Virgil to his flattery when in the following sentence he bids Antaeus not curl his snout, but at once comply with the demand for aid. There is something genuinely Italian in the picture given of the giants in this Canto, as of creatures whose intellect bears no proportion to their bulk and brute strength. Mighty hunters like Nimrod, skilled in sounding the horn but feeble in reasoned speech, Frisians with great thews and long of limb, and German men-at-arms who traded in their rude valour, to the subtle Florentine in whom the ferment of the Renaissance was beginning to work were all specimens of Nature's handicraft that had better have been left unmade, were it not that wiser people could use them as tools.

[796] _Carisenda_: A tower still standing in Bologna, built at the beginning of the twelfth century, and, like many others of its kind in the city, erected not for strength but merely in order to dignify the family to whom it belonged. By way of further distinction to their owners, some of these towers were so constructed as to lean from the perpendicular. Carisenda, like its taller neighbour the Asinelli, still supplies a striking feature to the near and distant views of Bologna.

What is left of it hangs for more than two yards off the plumb. In the half-century after Dante's time it had, according to Benvenuto, lost something of its height. It would therefore as the poet saw it seem to be bending down even more than it now does to any one standing under it on the side it slopes to, when a cloud is drifting over it in the other direction.

CANTO x.x.xII.

Had I sonorous rough rhymes at command, Such as would suit the cavern terrible Rooted on which all the other ramparts stand, The sap of fancies which within me swell Closer I'd press; but since I have not these, With some misgiving I go on to tell.

For 'tis no task to play with as you please, Of all the world the bottom to portray, Nor one that with a baby speech[797] agrees.

But let those ladies help me with my lay 10 Who helped Amphion[798] walls round Thebes to pile, And faithful to the facts my words shall stay.

O 'bove all creatures wretched, for whose vile Abode 'tis hard to find a language fit, As sheep or goats ye had been happier! While We still were standing in the murky pit-- Beneath the giant's feet[799] set far below-- And at the high wall I was staring yet, When this I heard: 'Heed to thy steps[800] bestow, Lest haply by thy soles the heads be spurned 20 Of wretched brothers wearied in their woe.'

Before me, as on hearing this I turned, Beneath my feet a frozen lake,[801] its guise Rather of gla.s.s than water, I discerned.

In all its course on Austrian Danube lies No veil in time of winter near so thick, Nor on the Don beneath its frigid skies, As this was here; on which if Tabernicch[802]

Or Mount Pietrapana[803] should alight Not even the edge would answer with a creak. 30 And as the croaking frog holds well in sight Its muzzle from the pool, what time of year[804]

The peasant girl of gleaning dreams at night; The mourning shades in ice were covered here, Seen livid up to where we blush[805] with shame.

In stork-like music their teeth chattering were.

With downcast face stood every one of them: To cold from every mouth, and to despair From every eye, an ample witness came.

And having somewhat gazed around me there 40 I to my feet looked down, and saw two pressed So close together, tangled was their hair, 'Say, who are you with breast[806] thus strained to breast?'

I asked; whereon their necks they backward bent, And when their upturned faces lay at rest Their eyes, which earlier were but moistened, sent Tears o'er their eyelids: these the frost congealed And fettered fast[807] before they further went.

Plank set to plank no rivet ever held More firmly; wherefore, goat-like, either ghost 50 b.u.t.ted the other; so their wrath prevailed.

And one who wanted both ears, which the frost Had bitten off, with face still downward thrown, Asked: 'Why with us art thou so long engrossed?

If who that couple are thou'dst have made known-- The vale down which Bisenzio's floods decline Was once their father Albert's[808] and their own.

One body bore them: search the whole malign Cana,[809] and thou shalt not any see More worthy to be fixed in gelatine; 60 Not he whose breast and shadow equally Were by one thrust of Arthur's lance[810] pierced through: Nor yet Focaccia;[811] nor the one that me With his head hampers, blocking out my view, Whose name was Sa.s.sol Mascheroni:[812] well Thou must him know if thou art Tuscan too.

And that thou need'st not make me further tell-- I'm Camicion de' Pazzi,[813] and Carlin[814]

I weary for, whose guilt shall mine excel.'

A thousand faces saw I dog-like grin, 70 Frost-bound; whence I, as now, shall always shake Whenever sight of frozen pools I win.

While to the centre[815] we our way did make To which all things converging gravitate, And me that chill eternal caused to quake; Whether by fortune, providence, or fate, I know not, but as 'mong the heads I went I kicked one full in the face; who therefore straight 'Why trample on me?' snarled and made lament, 'Unless thou com'st to heap the vengeance high 80 For Montaperti,[816] why so virulent 'Gainst me?' I said: 'Await me here till I By him, O Master, shall be cleared of doubt;[817]

Then let my pace thy will be guided by.'

My Guide delayed, and I to him spake out, While he continued uttering curses shrill: 'Say, what art thou, at others thus to shout?'

'But who art thou, that goest at thy will Through Antenora,[818] trampling on the face Of others? 'Twere too much if thou wert still 90 In life.' 'I live, and it may help thy case,'

Was my reply, 'if thou renown wouldst gain, Should I thy name[819] upon my tablets place.'

And he: 'I for the opposite am fain.

Depart thou hence, nor work me further dool; Within this swamp thou flatterest all in vain.'

Then I began him by the scalp to pull, And 'Thou must tell how thou art called,' I said, 'Or soon thy hair will not be plentiful.'

And he: 'Though every hair thou from me shred 100 I will not tell thee, nor my face turn round; No, though a thousand times thou spurn my head.'

His locks ere this about my fist were wound, And many a tuft I tore, while dog-like wails Burst from him, and his eyes still sought the ground.

Then called another: 'Bocca, what now ails?

Is't not enough thy teeth go chattering there, But thou must bark? What devil thee a.s.sails?'

'Ah! now,' said I, 'thou need'st not aught declare, Accursed traitor; and true news of thee 110 To thy disgrace I to the world will bear.'

'Begone, tell what thou wilt,' he answered me; 'But, if thou issue hence, not silent keep[820]

Of him whose tongue but lately wagged so free.

He for the Frenchmen's money[821] here doth weep.

Him of Duera saw I, mayst thou tell, Where sinners shiver in the frozen deep.

Shouldst thou be asked who else within it dwell-- Thou hast the Beccheria[822] at thy side; Across whose neck the knife at Florence fell. 120 John Soldanieri[823] may be yonder spied With Ganellon,[824] and Tribaldell[825] who threw Faenza's gates, when slept the city, wide.'

Him had we left, our journey to pursue, When frozen in a hole[826] a pair I saw; One's head like the other's hat showed to the view.

And, as their bread men hunger-driven gnaw, The uppermost tore fiercely at his mate Where nape and brain-pan to a junction draw.

No worse by Tydeus[827] in his scornful hate 130 Were Menalippus' temples gnawed and hacked Than skull and all were torn by him irate.

'O thou who provest by such b.e.s.t.i.a.l act Hatred of him who by thy teeth is chewed, Declare thy motive,' said I, 'on this pact-- That if with reason thou with him hast feud, Knowing your names and manner of his crime I in the world[828] to thee will make it good; If what I speak with dry not ere the time.'

FOOTNOTES:

[797] _A baby speech_: 'A tongue that cries _mamma_ and _papa_' For his present purpose, he complains, he has not in Italian an adequate supply of rough high-sounding rhymes; but at least he will use only the best words that can be found. In another work (_De Vulg. El._ ii. 7) he instances _mamma_ and _babbo_ as words of a kind to be avoided by all who would write n.o.bly in Italian.

[798] _Amphion_: Who with his music charmed rocks from the mountain and heaped them in order for walls to Thebes.

[799] _The giant's feet_: Antaeus. A bank slopes from where the giants stand inside the wall down to the pit which is filled with the frozen Cocytus. This is the Ninth and inmost Circle, and is divided into four concentric rings--Cana, Antenora, Ptolomaea, and Judecca--where traitors of different kinds are punished.

[800] _Thy steps_: Dante alone is addressed, the speaker having seen him set heavily down upon the ice by Antaeus.

[801] _A frozen lake_: Cocytus. See _Inf._ xiv. 119.

[802] _Tabernicch_: It is not certain what mountain is here meant; probably Yavornick near Adelsberg in Carniola. It is mentioned, not for its size, but the harshness of its name.

[803] _Pietrapana_: A mountain between Modena and Lucca, visible from Pisa: Petra Apuana.

[804] _Time of year_: At harvest-time, when in the warm summer nights the wearied gleaner dreams of her day's work.

[805] _To where we blush_: The bodies of the shades are seen buried in the clear gla.s.sy ice, out of which their heads and necks stand free--as much as 'shows shame,' that is, blushes.

[806] _With breast, etc._: As could be seen through the clear ice.

[807] _Fettered fast_: Binding up their eyes. In the punishment of traitors is symbolised the hardness and coldness of their hearts to all the claims of blood, country, or friendship.

[808] _Their father Albert's_: Albert, of the family of the Counts Alberti, lord of the upper valley of the Bisenzio, near Florence. His sons, Alexander and Napoleon, slew one another in a quarrel regarding their inheritance.

[809] _Cana_: The outer ring of the Ninth Circle, and that in which are punished those treacherous to their kindred.--Here a place is reserved for Gianciotto Malatesta, the husband of Francesca (_Inf._ v. 107).

[810] _Arthur's lance_: Mordred, natural son of King Arthur, was slain by him in battle as a rebel and traitor. 'And the history says that after the lance-thrust Girflet plainly saw a ray of the sun pa.s.s through the hole of the wound.'--_Lancelot du Lac_.

[811] _Focaccia_: A member of the Pistoiese family of Cancellieri, in whose domestic feuds the parties of Whites and Blacks took rise. He a.s.sa.s.sinated one of his relatives and cut off the hand of another.