The Seventh Circle. The Third Ring
Violence against Nature. Sodomites
I now was where the booming of the water,
which fell into the following round, was heard
like the dull, buzzing sound which bee-hives make;
when three shades separated from a group,
which ’neath the rain’s tormenting punishment
was passing by, and ran along together.
Toward us they came, and each of them cried out:
“Stop, thou, that by thy garb dost seem to us
a citizen of our corrupted town!”
Alas, what wounds I saw upon their limbs,
both old and recent, by the flames burnt in!
It pains me still but to remember them.
My Leader, giving heed to these their cries,
turned his face round toward me, and said: “Now wait!
To those men yonder courtesy is due;
and, were not for the fire, which, arrow-like,
the nature of the place shoots forth, I ’d say
that haste were more becoming thee than them.”
And they, when we had stopped, began again
their old refrain; and after they had reached us,
all three of them made of themselves a wheel.
As champions oiled and nude are wont to do,
when looking for an advantageous grip,
before they come to giving blows and wounds;
thus, as he wheeled, each turned his face toward me,
so that his feet continuous journey made
in opposite direction to his neck.
And one began: “Even if the wretched nature
of this soft place, and our burned, shrivelled faces
bring us and our requests into contempt,
still let our reputation bend thy mind
to tell us who thou art, that dost so safely
rub on the soil of Hell thy living feet.
He, in whose footprints thou dost see me tread,
was, though he go both nude and hairless now,
of higher rank then thou believest him.
He was the grandson of the good Gualdrada;
his name was Guido Guerra, and when alive,
his wisdom and his sword accomplished much.
The other, who behind me treads the sand,
Tegghiàio Aldobrandi is, whose voice
should have been welcomed in the world above.
And I, who with them am tormented here,
Iàcopo Rusticucci was; and surely
my shrewish wife than aught else hurts me more.”
If I had been protected from the fire,
I would have lept into their midst below,
and I believe my Leader had allowed it.
But since I should have burned and baked myself,
fear was victorious over my good will,
which made me eager to embrace them there.
I then began: “Your state impressed within me
not scorn, but so much pain, that only late
will all of it entirely disappear,
as soon as this my Lord said words to me,
because of which I thought within myself
that there were people coming such as you.
Of your own town am I, and evermore
have I your doings and your honored names
related, and heard mentioned, with regard.
I leave the gall, and for the sweet fruit go,
which my…
