"Latians are we, whom thou so wasted seest, Both of us here," one weeping made reply; Down with this living man from cliff to cliff, And trembling each one turned himself to me, Saying: "Say unto them whate'er thou wishest." And I began, since he would have it so : "So may your memory not steal away men, In the first world from out the minds of Make you afraid to show yourselves to me." "I of Arezzo was," one made reply, "And Albert of Siena had me burned; But what I died for does not bring me here. 'Tis true I said to him, speaking in jest, That I could rise by flight into the air, And he who had conceit, but little wit, 95 100 105 110 Would have me show to him the art; and only For alchemy, which in the world I practised, So vain a people as the Sienese? Not for a certainty the French by far." Whereat the other leper, who had heard me, Replied unto my speech: "Taking out Stricca, Who knew the art of moderate expenses, And Niccold, who the luxurious use Of cloves discovered earliest of all Within that garden where such seed takes root; And taking out the band, among whom squandered Caccia d' Ascian his vineyards and vast woods, And where his wit the Abbagliato proffered! But, that thou know who thus doth second thee Against the Sienese, make sharp thine eye Tow'rds me, so that my face well answer thee, And thou shalt see I am Capocchio's shade, Who metals falsified by alchemy; Thou must remember, if I well descry thee, How I a skilful ape of nature was.' 115 120 125 130 135 CANTO XXX. WAS at the time when Juno was enraged, 'TWA For Semele, against the Theban blood, As she already more than once had shown, So reft of reason Athamas became, That, seeing his own wife with children twain He cried: "Spread out the nets, that I may take And then extended his unpitying claws, Seizing the first, who had the name Learchus, And whirled him round, and dashed him on a rock; And she, with the other burthen, drowned herself; And at the time when fortune downward hurled The Trojans' 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 5 10 15 Of ocean was the dolorous one aware, Out of her senses like a dog she barked, 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 In goading beasts, and much more human members, 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 to Capocchio came, and by the nape Seized with its teeth his neck, so that in dragging It made his belly grate the solid bottom. And the Aretine, who trembling had remained, Said to me: "That mad sprite is Gianni Schicchi, "O," said I to him, "so may not the other Set teeth on thee, let it not weary thee To tell us who it is, ere it dart hence." Of the nefarious Myrrha, who became 20 25 30 35 40 That he might gain the lady of the herd, To counterfeit in himself Buoso Donati, Making a will and giving it due form." On whom I held mine eye, I turned it back To look upon I saw one made in fashion of a lute, 45 If he had only had the groin cut off 50 Just at the point at which a man is forked. The heavy dropsy, that so disproportions The limbs with humors, which it ill concocts, 55 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, 60 65 |