Then downward from the bridge's head we prest,

Hard by the mound that eighth in order stood,
And thence the gulf to me was manifest.
And there I saw such fearful multitude

Of serpents, and so manifold in kind
That now again the memory thicks my blood.
No more let Lybia's sands be borne in mind,
Though Elops, Cenchris, and Pareas be
With Jaculus and Amphisbona joined ;
So many pests, or so abhorred, nor she,

Though banded with all Ethiopia can
Produce, nor all the coasts of the Red Sea.
Thorough this dismallest fell foison ran

A naked and a panic-stricken crew,
Hopeless of hiding-place or talisman.

Their hands were tied behind with serpents, who
In front the tail and head together wound,
By which the loins of each were driven through.
And lo! at one who stood beneath our mound

A serpent darting, stung him in the place

Where to the neck the shoulder-blades are bound.

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No pen could i nor o so quickly trace

As he was fired, and burnt, and had to fall Consumed to ashes; then within a space,

As on the ground he lay demolished all,

Those ashes, self-impelled, began to rear

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Themselves upright, and their whole shape recal. 105
The Phoenix thus, as from great bards we hear,
Is wont to die, and then to new birth wake,
As he approaches his five-hundredth year;
Nor grain, nor blade, in life will he partake,

But what amomus weeps, and frankincense;
And myrrh and spikenard his last swathings make.
And as a man that falls, and knows not whence,
Through any fit, which mortal functions ties,

Or drawn to ground by devilish influence;
Who lifts himself and round him casts his eyes,

Wholly amated by the enormous pain

Which he has undergone, and stares, and sighs;
So looked the sinner when he rose again.

O how severe God's justice is to see,

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Which doth such pounding blows in vengeance rain!

My guide demanded who he was; and he
Replied, "Into the teeth of this fell glen,
Not long ago, I rained from Tuscany ;

A beast's life pleased me, not the life of men ;

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Mule that I was: John Fûtchi Beast has been 125

My name, and well Pistoya made my den."

"Charge him," said I, "to budge not, for I mean

To learn, down hither by what crime he came, In whom I knew a man of blood and spleen." The sinner understood, nor did he aim

To hide, but turned on me his brow and mind,

And crimsoned in the face for dreary shame:

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Then cried, "It grieves me more, that thou shouldst find

Me in the misery, which thou look'st upon, Than when I first the other life resigned.

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That which thou seek'st, I must perforce make known.
Thus low down I am sent, as being he
(Though the blame falsely was on others thrown)
That stole the fair plate from the sacristy;

But lest, if e'er thou quit these places dark,

Thou shouldst rejoice to tell this tale of me,

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Open thine ears to my proclaim, and hark!
Pistoya first of all her Blacks is peeled,

Then Florence must new men and counsels mark;

Mars draws a flame, in rolling clouds concealed,

Out of the vale of Mâgra, whence at last The battle breaks upon the Picene field,

In a pernicious and impetuous blast,

At which he suddenly the cloud shall split, And on the sword shall every White be past; And this I tell, that thou mayst wail for it."

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CANTO XXV.

As soon as thus the thief had ended, he

Lifting his hands a double fico wrought, And shouted, "Take it, God; I cast it thee." Then was I to be friends with serpents taught, For hereat one of them his neck embound, As if to say, "More shalt thou utter nought." Another coiled so fast his arms around,

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That not a joint the least way could he turn, And pinned him through, and overclenched the wound. Pistoya, O Pistoya, why not burn

Thyself at once, that none thy place may tell,
If thus to grow in guilt thy offspring learn?

Through all the circles of the lightless hell,
Spirit against God prouder I saw none,
Not him that from the walls of Thebæ fell.

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