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    "slug": "inferno",
    "name": "Inferno"
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      "slug": "divine-comedy",
      "name": "Divine Comedy",
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  "chapter": {
    "num": 16,
    "slug": "canto-16",
    "title": "Inferno · Canto 16",
    "of": 34,
    "words": 1684,
    "text": "## Inferno Canto 16\n\n\nCanto XVI\n\nArgument\n\nJourneying along the pier, which crosses the sand, they are now so near\nthe end of it as to hear the noise of the stream falling into the eighth\ncircle, when they meet the spirits of three military men; who judging Dante,\nfrom his dress, to be a countryman of theirs, entreat him to stop. He complies\nand speaks with them. The two Poets then reach the place where the water\ndescends, being the termination of this third compartment in the seventh\ncircle; and here Virgil, having thrown down into the hollow a cord, wherewith\nDante was girt, they behold at that signal a monstrous and horrible figure\ncome swimming up to them.\n\nNow came I where the water's din was heard\nAs down it fell into the other round,\nResounding like the hum of swarming bees:\nWhen forth together issued from a troop,\nThat pass'd beneath the fierce tormenting storm,\nThree spirits, running swift. They toward us came,\nAnd each one cried aloud, \"Oh! do thou stay,\nWhom, by the fashion of thy garb, we deem\nTo be some inmate of our evil land.\"\n\nAh me! what wounds I mark'd upon their limbs,\nRecent and old, inflicted by the flames.\nE'en the remembrance of them grieves me yet.\n\nAttentive to their cry, my teacher paused,\nAnd turned to me his visage, and then spake:\n\"Wait now: our courtesy these merit well:\nAnd were't not for the nature of the place,\nWhence glide the fiery darts, I should have said,\nThat haste had better suited thee than them.\"\n\nThey, when we stopp'd, resumed their ancient wail,\nAnd, soon as they had reach'd us, all the three\nWhirl'd round together in one restless wheel.\nAs naked champions, smear'd with slippery oil\nAre wont, intent, to watch their place of hold\nAnd vantage, ere in closer strife they meet;\nThus each one, as he wheel'd, his countenance\nAt me directed, so that opposite\nThe neck moved ever to the twinkling feet.\n\n\"If woe of this unsound and dreary waste,\"\nThus one began, \"added to our sad cheer\nThus peel'd with flame, do call forth scorn on us\nAnd our entreaties, let our great renown\nIncline thee to inform us who thou art,\nThat dost imprint, with living feet unharm'd,\nThe soil of Hell. He, in whose track thou seest\nMy steps pursuing, naked though he be\nAnd reft of all, was of more high estate\nThan thou believest; grandchild of the chaste\nGualdrada,[1] him they Guidoguerra call'd,\nWho in his lifetime many a noble act\nAchieved, both by his wisdom and his sword.\nThe other, next to me that beats the sand,\nIs Aldobrandi,[2] name deserving well,\nIn the upper world, of honor; and myself,\nWho in this torment do partake with them,\nAm Rusticucci,[3] whom, past doubt, my wife,\nOf savage temper, more than aught beside\nHath to this evil brought.\" If from the fire\nI had been shelter'd, down amidst them straight\nI then had cast me; nor my guide, I deem,\nWould have restrain'd my going: but that fear\nOf the dire burning vanquish'd the desire,\nWhich made me eager of their wish'd embrace.\n\n[1: Gualdrada.\" Gualdrada was the daughter of Bellincione Berti, of\nwhom mention is made in the Paradise, Cantos xv and xvi. He was of the family\nof Ravignani, a branch of the Adimari. The Emperor Otho IV being at a festival\nin Florence, where Gualdrada was present, was struck with her beauty; and\ninquiring who she was, was answered by Bellincione, that she was the daughter\nof one who, if it was his Majesty's pleasure, would make her admit the honor\nof his salute. On overhearing this, she arose from her seat, and blushing,\ndesired her father that he would not be so liberal in his offers. The Emperor\nwas delighted by her resolute modesty, and calling to him Guido, one of his\nbarons, gave her to him in marriage; at the same time raising him to the rank\nof a count, and bestowing on her the whole of Casentino, and a part of the\nterritory of Romagna, as her portion. Two sons were the offspring of this\nunion, Guglielmo and Ruggieri; the latter was father of Guidoguerra, who, at\nthe head of four hundred Florentines of the Guelf party, was signally\ninstrumental to the victory of Charles of Anjou at Benevento, over Manfredi,\nKing of Naples, in 1265. One consequence of this was the expulsion of the\nGhibellini and the re - establishment of the Guelfi at Florence.]\n\n[2: Tegghiaio Aldobrandi endeavored to dissuade the Florentines from\nthe attack which they meditated against the Siennese; the rejection of his\ncounsel occasioned the defeat which the former sustained at Montaperto, and\nthe consequent banishment of the Guelfi from Florence.]\n\n[3: Giacopo Rusticucci, a Florentine, remarkable for his opulence and\ngenerosity of spirit.]\n\nI then began: \"Nor scorn, but grief much more,\nSuch as long time alone can cure, your doom\nFix'd deep within me, soon as this my lord\nSpake words, whose tenor taught me to expect\nThat such a race, as ye are, was at hand.\nI am a countryman of yours, who still\nAffectionate have utter'd, and have heard\nYour deeds and names renown'd. Leaving the gall,\nFor the sweet fruit I go, that a sure guide\nHath promised to me. But behoves, that far\nAs to the centre first I downward tend.\"\n\n\"So may long space thy spirit guide thy limbs,\"\nHe answer straight return'd; \"and so thy fame\nShine bright when thou art gone, as thou shalt tell,\nIf courtesy and valor, as they wont,\nDwell in our city, or have vanish'd clean:\nFor one amidst us late condemn'd to wail,\nBorsiere,[4] yonder walking with his peers,\nGrieves us no little by the news he brings.\"\n\n[4: Guglielmo Borsiere, a Florentine, whom Boccaccio terms \" a man of\ncourteous and elegant manners, and of great readiness in conversation.\"]\n\n\"An upstart multitude and sudden gains,\nPride and excess, O Florence! have in thee\nEngender'd, so that now in tears thou mourn'st!\"\n\nThus cried I, with my face upraised, and they\nAll three, who for an answer took my words,\nLook'd at each other, as men look when truth\nComes to their ear. \"If at so little cost,\"\nThey all at once rejoin'd, \"thou satisfy\nOthers who question thee, O happy thou!\nGifted with words so apt to speak thy thought.\nWherefore, if thou escape this darksome clime,\nReturning to behold the radiant stars,\nWhen thou with pleasure shalt retrace the past,[5]\nSee that of us thou speak among mankind.\"\nThis said, they broke the circle, and so swift\nFled, that as pinions seem'd their nimble feet.\n\n[5: \"Quando ti giovera dicere io fui.\" So Tasso, \"G.L.\" c. xv. st.\n38: \"Quando mi giovera narrar altrui Le novita vedute, e dire; io fui.\"]\n\nNot in so short a time might one have said\n\"Amen,\" as they had vanish'd. Straight my guide\nPursued his track. I follow'd: and small space\nHad we past onward, when the water's sound\nWas now so near at hand, that we had scarce\nHeard one another's speech for the loud din.\n\nE'en as the river,[6] that first holds its course\nUnmingled from the Mount of Vesulo,\nOn the left side of Apennine, toward\nThe east, which Acquacheta higher up\nThey call, ere it descend into the vale,\nAt Forli,[7] by that name no longer known,\nRebellows o'er Saint Benedict, roll'd on\nFrom the Alpine summit down a precipice,\nWhere space[8] enough to lodge a thousand spreads;\nThus downward from a craggy steep we found\nThat this dark wave resounded, roaring loud,\nSo that the ear its clamour soon had stunn'd.\n\n[6: He compares the fall of Phlegethon to that of the Montone (a\nriver in Romagna) form the Apennines above the Abbey of St. Benedict. All the\nother streams that rise between the sources of the Po and the Montone, and\nfall from the left side of the Apennines, join the Po and accompany it to the\nsea.]\n\n[7: There it loses the name of Acquacheta, and takes that of\nMontone.]\n\n[8: Either because the abbey was capable of containing more than\nthose who occupied it, or because (says Landino) the lords of that territory\nhad intended to build a castle near the water - fall, and to collect within\nits walls the population of the neighboring villages.]\n\nI had a cord[9] that braced my girdle round,\nWherewith I erst had thought fast bound to take\nThe painted leopard. This when I had all\nUnloosen'd from me (so my master bade)\nI gather'd up, and stretch'd it forth to him.\nThen to the right he turn'd, and from the brink\nStanding few paces distant, cast it down\nInto the deep abyss. \"And somewhat strange,\"\nThus to myself I spake, \"signal so strange\nBetokens, which my guide with earnest eye\nThus follows.\" Ah! what caution must men use\nWith those who look not at the deed alone,\nBut spy into the thoughts with subtle skill.\n\n[9: \"A cord.\" It is believed that our poet in early life, had entered\ninto the order of St. Francis. By observing the rules of that profession he\nhad designed \"to take the painted leopard\" (that animal represented Pleasure)\n\"with this cord.\")]\n\n\"Quickly shall come,\" he said, \"what I expect;\nThine eye discover quickly that, whereof\nThy thought is dreaming.\" Ever to that truth,\nWhich but the semblance of a falsehood wears,\nA man, if possible, should bar his lip;\nSince, although blameless, he incurs reproach.\nBut silence here were vain; and by these notes,\nWhich now I sing, reader, I swear to thee,\nSo may they favor find to latest times!\nThat through the gross and murky air I spied\nA shape come swimming up, that might have quell'd\nThe stoutest heart with wonder; in such guise\nAs one returns, who hath been down to loose\nAn anchor grappled fast against some rock,\nOr to aught else that in the salt wave lies,\nWho, upward springing, close draws in his feet.",
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