{
  "meta": {
    "schema_version": "1.1",
    "endpoint": "/api/sources/divine-comedy/inferno/canto-17.json"
  },
  "work": {
    "slug": "inferno",
    "name": "Inferno"
  },
  "parents": [
    {
      "slug": "divine-comedy",
      "name": "Divine Comedy",
      "url": "/sources/divine-comedy/"
    }
  ],
  "chapter": {
    "num": 17,
    "slug": "canto-17",
    "title": "Inferno · Canto 17",
    "of": 34,
    "words": 1246,
    "text": "## Inferno Canto 17\n\n\nCanto XVII\n\nArgument\n\nThe monster Geryon is described; to whom while Virgil is speaking in\norder that he may carry them both down to the next circle, Dante, by\npermission, goes further along the edge of the void, to descry the third\nspecies of sinners contained in this compartment, namely, those who have done\nviolence to Art; and then returning to his master, they both descend, seated\non the back of Geryon.\n\n\"Lo! the fell monster[1] with the deadly sting,\nWho passes mountains, breaks through fenced walls\nAnd firm embattled spears, and with his filth\nTaints all the world.\" Thus me my guide address'd,\nAnd beckon'd him, that he should come to shore,\nNear to the stony causeway's utmost edge.\n\n[1: \"The fell monster.\" Fraud.]\n\nForthwith that image vile of Fraud appear'd,\nHis head and upper part exposed on land,\nBut laid not on the shore his bestial train.\nHis face the semblance of a just man's wore,\nSo kind and gracious was its outward cheer;\nThe rest was serpent all: two shaggy claws\nReach'd to the arm - pits; and the back and breast,\nAnd either side, were painted o'er with nodes\nAnd orbits. Colours variegated more\nNor Turks nor Tartars e'er on cloth of state\nWith interchangeable embroidery wove,\nNor spread Arachne o'er her curious loom.\nAs oft - times a light skiff, moor'd to the shore,\nStands part in water, part upon the land;\nOr, as where dwells the greedy German boor,\nThe beaver settles, watching for his prey;\nSo on the rim, that fenced the sand with rock,\nSat perch'd the fiend of evil. In the void\nGlancing, his tail upturn'd its venomous fork,\nWith sting like scorpion's arm'd. Then thus my guide,\n\"Now need our way must turn few steps apart,\nFar as to that ill beast, who couches there.\"\n\nThereat, toward the right our downward course\nWe shaped, and, better to escape the flame\nAnd burning marle, ten paces on the verge\nProceeded. Soon as we to him arrive,\nA little farther on mine eye beholds\nA tribe of spirits, seated on the sand\nNear to the void. Forthwith my master spake:\n\"That to the full thy knowledge may extend\nOf all this round contains, go now, and mark\nThe mien these wear: but hold not long discourse.\nTill thou returnest, I with him meantime\nWill parley, that to us he may vouchsafe\nThe aid of his strong shoulders.\" Thus alone,\nYet forward on the extremity I paced\nOf that seventh circle, where the mournful tribe\nWere seated. At the eyes forth gush'd their pangs,\nAgainst the vapors and the torrid soil\nAlternately their shifting hands they plied.\nThus use the dogs in summer still to ply\nTheir jaws and feet by turns, when bitten sore\nBy gnats, or flies, or gadflies swarming round.\n\nNoting the visages of some, who lay\nBeneath the pelting of that dolorous fire,\nOne of them all I knew not; but perceived,\nThat pendent from his neck each bore a pouch[2]\nWith colours and with emblems various mark'd,\nOn which it seem'd as if their eye did feed.\n\n[2: A purse, whereon the armorial bearings of each were emblazoned.\nAccording to Landino, our Poet implies that the usurer can pretend to no other\nhonor than such as he derives from his purse and his family. The description\nof persons by their heraldic insignia is remarkable.]\n\nAnd when, amongst them, looking round I came,\nA yellow purse[3] I saw with azure wrought,\nThat wore a lion's countenance and port.\nThen, still my sight pursuing its career,\nAnother[4] I beheld, than blood more red,\nA goose display of whiter wing than curd.\nAnd one, who bore a fat and azure swine[5]\nPictured on his white scrip, address'd me thus:\n\"What dost thou in this deep? Go now and know,\nSince yet thou livest, that my neighbor here\nVitaliano[6] on my left shall sit.\nA Paduan with these Florentines am I.\nOft - times they thunder in mine ears, exclaiming,\n'Oh! haste that noble knight[7], he who the pouch\nWith the three goats will bring.'\" This said, he writhed\nThe mouth, and loll'd the tongue out, like an ox\nThat licks his nostrils. I, lest longer stay\nHe ill might brook, who bade me stay not long,\nBackward my steps from those sad spirits turn'd.\n\n[3: \"A yellow purse.\" The arms of the Gianfigliazzi of Florence.]\n\n[4: The arms of the Ubbriachi, another Florentine family of high\ndistinction.]\n\n[5: The arms of the Scrovigni, a noble family of Padua.]\n\n[6: Vitaliano del Dente, a Paduan.]\n\n[7: Giovanni Bujamonti, the most infamous usurer of his time.]\n\nMy guide already seated on the haunch\nOf the fierce animal I found; and thus\nHe me encouraged. \"Be thou stout: be bold.\nDown such a steep flight must we now descend.\nMount thou before: for, that no power the tail\nMay have to harm thee, I will be i' th' midst.\"\nAs one, who hath an ague fit so near,\nHis nails already are turn'd blue, and he\nQuivers all o'er, if he but eye the shade;\nSuch was my cheer at hearing of his words.\nBut shame soon interposed her threat, who makes\nThe servant bold in presence of his lord.\n\nI settled me upon those shoulders huge,\nAnd would have said, but that the words to aid\nMy purpose came not, \"Look thou clasp me firm.\"\n\nBut he whose succour then not first I proved,\nSoon as I mounted, in his arms aloft,\nEmbracing, held me up; and thus he spake:\n\"Geryon! now move thee: be thy wheeling gyres\nOf ample circuit, easy thy descent.\nThink on the unusual burden thou sustain'st.\"\n\nAs a small vessel, backening out from land,\nHer station quits; so thence the monster loosed,\nAnd, when he felt himself at large, turn'd round\nThere, where the breast had been, his forked tail.\nThus, like an eel, outstretch'd at length he steer'd,\nGathering the air up with retractile claws.\n\nNot greater was the dread, when Phaeton\nThe reins let drop at random, whence high heaven,\nWhereof signs yet appear, was wrapt in flames;\nNor when ill - fated Icarus perceived,\nBy liquefaction of the scalded wax,\nThe trusted pennons loosen'd from his loins,\nHis sire exclaiming loud, \"Ill way thou keep'st,\"\nThan was my dread, when round me on each part\nThe air I view'd, and other object none\nSave the fell beast. He, slowly sailing, wheels\nHis downward motion, unobserved of me,\nBut that the wind, arising to my face,\nBreathes on me from below. Now on our right\nI heard the cataract beneath us leap\nWith hideous crash; whence bending down to explore,\nNew terror I conceived at the steep plunge;\nFor flames I saw, and wailings smote mine ear:\nSo that, all trembling, close I crouch'd my limbs,\nAnd then distinguish'd, unperceived before,\nBy the dread torments that on every side\nDrew nearer, how our downward course we wound.\n\nAs falcon, that hath long been on the wing,\nBut lure nor bid hath seen, while in despair\nThe falconer cries, \"Ah me! thou stoop'st to earth,\"\nWearied descends, whence nimbly he arose\nIn many an airy wheel, and lighting sits\nAt distance from his lord in angry mood;\nSo Geryon lighting places us on foot\nLow down at base of the deep - furrow'd rock,\nAnd, of his burden there discharged, forthwith\nSprang forward, like an arrow from the string.",
    "project_translation": false,
    "license": null,
    "methodology_url": null
  }
}