The Eighth Circle. Fraud
The Eighth Trench. Fraudulent Counselors
Rejoice, O Florence, since thou art so great,
that thou dost beat thy wings o’er sea and land,
while ev’n through Hell thy name is spread abroad!
Among the thieves five such as these I found,
thy citizens, whence shame accrues to me,
nor to great honor risest thou thereby.
But if the truth be dreamed at dawn’s approach,
thou ’lt feel a little while from now what Prato,
of others not to speak, is craving for thee;
and were it now, it would not be too soon;
so were it, then, since thus it needs must be!
for it will grieve me more, the more I age.
We went away, and up the flight of stairs,
the bournes had formed for our descent before,
my Teacher climbed again, and drew me with him;
and as we followed up the lonely path
among the rocks and boulders of the crag,
our feet proceeded not without our hands.
I sorrowed then, and now again I sorrow,
when I direct my mind to what I saw,
and curb my genius more than I am wont,
lest it should run when virtue guides it not;
that, if a kindly star, or aught that’s better,
have blest me, I myself may not regret it.
As many glow-worms as the countryman, —
who on the hillside takes his rest, when he,
who lights the world, least hides his face from us,
while to the gnat the fly is giving way, —
sees down along the valley where, perchance,
he gathers in his grapes, or ploughs his field;
with just as many flames the whole eighth trench
was gleaming bright, as I perceived at once,
when I was where its bottom came in view.
As he who by the bears avenged himself,
beheld Elijah’s chariot when it left,
and when to heaven its horses rose erect,
since he could not so trace it with his eyes,
as to see more than just the flame alone,
when like a little cloud it rose on high;
of such a nature were the flames that moved
along the gulley of the ditch, for none
displays its theft, though each a sinner hides.
Risen up to look, I so stood on the bridge,
that without being pushed I would have fallen,
had I not grasped a great projecting rock.
My Leader, who perceived me thus intent,
then said: “The spirits are within the fires,
and each is swathed by that wherewith he burns.”
“My Teacher,” I replied, “I ’m more assured
through hearing thee, but deemed it so already,
and wished to ask thee: ‘Who is in the flame
which comes along so cloven at the top,
that from the pyre it seems to rise, whereon
Etèocles was with his brother placed?’”
He answered me: “Therein are both Ulysses
and Diomed tormented, who in pain
thus go together, as they did in wrath;
and in that flame of theirs they now…
