109

Whence he, who had at hand a precious store
Of wiles: "Well versed in malice sure am I,
To make my own companions smart the more!"
Then burst forth Alichin, inflamed with heat,
Thwarting the rest: "Plunge, if thou dare to try;-
I shall not follow thee with speed of feet,
But wings shall bear me o'er the boiling pitch:
Let's hie behind the bank, and we shall see
If thou alone canst all of us o'erreach."
Now for fresh sport, O ye who read, prepare.
Each from the bank his eyes withdrew ;-first he
Who offer'd chief resistance to the snare.

Well chose his time the sinner of Navarre ;

Fixt firm his feet-leapt down-and in a trice
From the projected plot escaped afar.
Each demon instantly with rage was fraught,

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121

He most, who had encouraged this device; Wherefore he flew, exclaiming: "Thou art caught."

E'en wings could not o'ertake :-one dived below,

Up came the other from his vain career.

Thus, when the falcon swoops his wings in air,
The duck dives instant, and eludes the blow;
Back turns the baffled falcon in despair.

127

Him Calcabrina follow'd, in despite

Thus to be duped; yet still so fair a cause

Of quarrelling affords him vast delight;

And since no more the barterer there he view'd,
On his companions straight he turn'd his claws;
A mighty struggle o'er the trench ensued.
But Alichino was a hawk well tried,
Nor inexpert in clawing:-fell the twain
Down to the middle of the boiling tide.

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139

The heat soon parted them within the ditch,
But all attempt to raise themselves was vain ;
Like birdlime glued their wings the adhesive pitch.
Now Barbariccia, grieving with his band,

Sent four of them the grappling irons to bear

To the other side; and they at his command
Full rapidly unto their station hied.

145

They stretch'd their hooks to aid the entangled pair,
Who now were burning in the glowing tide;
And we advancing, left them floundering there.

151

NOTES.

Page 191. (Line 1.) "The signal of departure made by Barbariccia to his companions has given occasion to the poet

of making a grand and sublime opening to the present canto. ....Many beauties are scattered throughout this canto, of a description pleasing, not to the many, but the few, who seek them in nature, whence the poet has drawn them, and invested them with their own simple and characteristic colours."— Biagioli. Dante sarcastically continues his description of the devils' march; and says, that having heard all kinds of military music, he never witnessed such a strange signal as that by which the demons were directed.

Page 193. (Line 48.) The name of this barterer was Ciampolo, in the service of Thibault, King of Navarre. For an account of this king, see Mariana, Storia di Spagna, lxiii. c. 9.

Page 194. (Line 81.) The friar Gomita being entrusted with the government of Gallura, one of the four jurisdictions into which Sardinia was divided, received a bribe from his master's enemies, and let them escape.

Page 195. (Line 88.) Michael Zanche was governor of Logodoro, another of the four Sardinian jurisdictions. (96.) Barbariccia, seeing Farfarello preparing to strike Dante, makes this exclamation, adapted to the wings he wore, and the form of his eyes.

Page 196. (Line 119.) " According to the proposal of Alichin, the fiends retired, and for a moment withdrew their eyes from the bank to give the sinner a chance."-Venturi.

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ARGUMENT.

DANTE is saved by Virgil from the demons who pursue them. In the sixth chasm are punished the Hypocrites, who are condemned to pace continually round the gulph under the pressure of cloaks which are gilt without, but lined inside with lead. Catalano. Loderingo. Caiaphas. Annas.

SILENT, apart, companionless we went,

The one before, the other close behind,

Like minor friars upon their journey bent.
On Æsop's fable were my thoughts employ'd,
How (this encounter brought it to my mind,)
The frog and mouse were by the kite destroy'd.

eyes

For greater likeness bear not Yes and Yea,

Than, if attentively compared they be,

From first to last these scenes of strife display.

7

1

As from one thought another oft will start,

So rose from this another presently,

Which with redoubled terror fill'd my heart.

For I consider'd:-Mock'd and injured thus

And we the cause ;-full surely they have ground
To feel annoy, and will be wroth with us.
If rage be engrafted on the spite they bear,
They will pursue, more vengeful than the hound
Who gripes within his teeth some timid hare.
E'en now my locks stood bristling with affright,
As I intently listen'd in the rear;

"O master," I exclaim'd: "the demons' spite
Fills me with dread, unless thou canst conceal
Thyself and me; behold! they now are near,
And I already seem their hooks to feel."
"Were I a mirror, not thine outward face

Should I," he said, "more speedily receive,

Than doth my soul thy inward wish embrace.
Thy thought e'en now assimilates to mine,

And so alike the expression which they give,
That I from both have form'd the same design.

If on the right the bank is so inclined

19

25

31

That to the pit adjoining we may hie,

This fancied chase we soon shall leave behind."

Scarce had he time his counsel to suggest,
Ere I beheld the fiends approaching nigh,

With wings outspread, our progress to arrest.