Canto XXI (Inferno)
Grafters, Malacoda
So from bridge to bridge, talking of matters
That my Comedy here has no care to sing,
We traveled on, and we had reached the summit
When we stopped to look at yet another gap
5 Of Malebolge and another empty sorrow:
And I saw how awesomely dark it was!
Just as at the arsenal of the Venetians
In wintertime the sticky pitch for caulking
The seams of the leaky vessels boils —
10 Since they cannot then set sail — and instead,
Some rebuild the keels, some plug up the ribs
Of hulls that rode on many voyagings,
Some hammer at the prow and some the stern,
Others cut oars, still others twist new rope,
15 Another sews patches on the jib and mainsail:
So, not by the fire but by the art of God,
Boiled, there below, a thick and sticky pitch
Which glue-coated the banks on every side.
I saw the pitch, but in it I saw nothing
20 Except the rising of the boiling bubbles,
The whole swelling up and sinking down.
While I stared down intently into it,
My guide, calling to me, "Watch out! Watch out!"
Drew me to his side from where I stood.
25 At that I turned around like someone anxious
To see whatever he is supposed to shun
While he remains so dashed by sudden panic
That he won’t stop his flight but will look back:
And I saw behind us a blackened devil
30 Come running up along the ridge’s length.
Ah, what a ferocious look he had!
And how fierce his actions seemed to me,
With his wings wide-open and his light feet!
Upon his shoulders, which were high and pointed,
35 He had loaded a sinner by both legs,
Gripping him in front by the ankles.
From our bridge he called, "Oh, Malebranche,
Here is one of Saint Zita’s elders!
Toss him below while I go back for more
40 "To that city which is so well supplied:
All men there, except Bonturo, are grafters!
In Lucca they will change no to yes for cash!"
He plunged the sinner down and turned about
Upon the rocky ridge: no hound freed from
45 Its leash ever chased a thief so swiftly!
The sinner sank and surfaced rear end-up,
But the demons under cover of the bridge
Shouted, "The Holy Face has no place here!
"Swimming here is not like in the Serchio!
50 If you don’t want to feel our grappling-hooks,
Don’t raise yourself up above that pitch!"
They chewed him with a hundred prongs or more,
Screaming, "Here you frolic under cover!
See if you can snitch the chance to surface!"
55 In just this way might cooks make their helpers
Plunge the meat down deep into the pot
With their forks, to keep it from floating up.
My gracious master said, "We don’t want them
To know that you are here, so crouch down low
60 Behind a crag to give yourself some cover.
"No matter what affronts they offer me,
Don’t be afraid: I know how things run here,
And I had a skirmish like this once before."
With this he passed beyond the top of the bridge
65 And, arriving upon the sixth embankment,
Had need to prove his show of self-reliance.
With just the same rage and roaring of dogs
When they rush out on some poor passing beggar
Who stops dead in his tracks and starts to beg,
70 So these devils, from beneath the bridge
Shot out with all their prongs aimed at my guide,
But he shouted, "Stop being savages!
"Before you would impale me with your forks,
One of you step forward to hear me out
75 And then resolve to grapple me or not."
They all shouted, "Malacoda should go!"
Then one of them moved up — the rest stood still —
And, approaching, asked, "How will that help him?"
"Do you think, Malacoda, I have come
80 So far, as you can see," my master said,
"Safe from all these counterblows of yours,
"Without the grace of God and a friendly fate?
Let us pass, since it is willed in heaven
That I show another along this savage path."
85 At this his pride became so crestfallen
That he let his hook drop right at his feet
And told the others, "Now, don’t any strike him!"
And my guide said to me, "You, crouching there
Among the shattered rockpiles of the bridge,
90 Now you can feel safe returning to me."
At that I moved and quickly came to him,
And the devils pressed forward all together;
I panicked that they might not keep their pact.
Just so, I once saw soldiers fill with panic,
95 As they filed from Caprona with safe conduct,
Seeing themselves surrounded by their foes.
With my whole body I pressed against my guide
And not for a moment would I take my eyes
From their looks that boded me no good.
100 They put out pitchforks, and "Shall I prick him,"
One said to the other, "on his bottom?"
And he answered, "Sure, let him have a nick!"
But Malacoda, who all the while was talking
To my master, whirled around suddenly
105 And yelled, "Stop, Scarmiglione, stop!"
Then he told us, "It’s impossible to go
Farther along this ridge since the sixth arch
Lies smashed into pieces at the bottom.
"But if you still are pleased to stroll ahead,
110 Then follow along the bluff until you come
To another ridge, nearby, that offers crossing.
"Yesterday, five hours from now, marked
One thousand two hundred and sixty-six years
Since this bridgeway crashed in ruins here.
115 "I am dispatching some of my troop there
To watch if anyone pops up for air —
Go along with them; they won’t hurt you.
"Front and center, Alichino and Calcabrina,"
He started off, "and you too, Cagnazzo!
120 And Barbariccia, lead the squad of ten.
"Take Libicocco and Draghignazzo,
And tusked Ciriatto and Graffiacane,
And Farfarello and mad Rubicante.
"Reconnoiter around the bubbling gluepot,
125 And see them safe as far as the next ridge
That spans all unbroken from den to den."
"O master," I said, "what am I looking at?
Ah, let us walk alone without an escort:
You know the way? I want no part of them!
130 "If you remain alert as usual,
Do you not notice how they grind their teeth
And how they threaten harm with their fierce looks?"
And he: "I have no wish to see you panic.
Let them grind away all that they want to:
135 They do it to impress the boiling wretches."
They turned around upon the left-face bank,
But first each pressed a tongue between his teeth
To sound a signal to their commandant,
And with his ass he blew a bugle-blast.
