Inferno, Canto 25
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Vanni Fucci seals his prophecy with obscene blasphemy, is silenced by serpents, Cacus appears as a mythic thief, and five Florentine thieves undergo grotesque human-serpent transformations that make theft a loss and exchange of bodily identity.
Narrative arc
- Vanni Fucci raises obscene figs against God, serpents silence him, and Dante turns his shame into an apostrophe against Pistoia
- Cacus charges in rage, covered with snakes and a dragon, and Virgil explains his bloody theft from Hercules' herd
- Three spirits interrupt the Cacus account, Cianfa is named, Dante signals silence, and the poet warns the reader of the unbelievable sight
- A six-footed serpent fastens on Agnello, fuses with him like hot wax, and leaves a perverse figure that is two and none
- A pepper-dark little serpent pierces a thief at the source of first nourishment, and the two stare as smoke meets between them
- Dante challenges Lucan and Ovid, claiming a metamorphosis where two natures exchange matter face to face
- The serpent and the wounded thief answer one another by exchanging limbs, skin, posture, face, tongue, speech, and species
- The transformed thief sends Buoso crawling, Dante names the seventh ballast, and Puccio Sciancato and Gaville close the canto
Central themes
- identity
- metamorphosis
- false counsel
- division
- falsification
Vanni Fucci raises obscene figs against God, serpents silence him, and Dante turns his shame into an apostrophe against Pistoia XXV.1–15
1Al fine de le sue parole il ladro
le mani alzò con amendue le fiche,
gridando: «Togli, Dio, ch’a te le squadro!».
Da indi in qua mi fuor le serpi amiche,
5perch’ una li s’avvolse allora al collo,
come dicesse ‘Non vo’ che più diche’;
e un’altra a le braccia, e rilegollo,
ribadendo sé stessa sì dinanzi,
che non potea con esse dare un crollo.
10Ahi Pistoia, Pistoia, ché non stanzi
d’incenerarti sì che più non duri,
poi che ’n mal fare il seme tuo avanzi?
Per tutt’ i cerchi de lo ’nferno scuri
non vidi spirto in Dio tanto superbo,
15non quel che cadde a Tebe giù da’ muri.
1At the close of his words, the thief
raised his hands with both the figs,
crying, "Take them, God, for I square them at you!"
From then on the serpents were my friends,
5because one at once wound itself around his neck,
as if it said, "I do not want you to say more";
and another around his arms, and bound him again,
riveting itself so in front
that with them he could not give a twitch.
10Ah Pistoia, Pistoia, why do you not resolve
to burn yourself to ash, so you endure no longer,
since in doing evil you surpass your seed?
Through all the dark circles of Hell
I saw no spirit so proud against God,
15not even the one who fell down from Thebes' walls.
Commentary
Vanni Fucci's obscene figs, the serpents' immediate silencing, Pistoia's self-incineration wish, and the Capaneus comparison keep blasphemy, civic shame, speech-loss, and serpent punishment linked.
XXV.1–3 Fiche names an obscene hand gesture aimed upward; the line keeps the gesture concrete. Squadro keeps the deliberate aiming or squaring of the blasphemous gesture.
XXV.1–3 Fiche names an obscene hand gesture aimed upward; the line keeps the gesture concrete. Line 2: Fiche names an obscene hand gesture aimed upward; the line keeps the gesture concrete. Line 3: Squadro keeps the deliberate aiming or squaring of the blasphemous gesture.
XXV.2 Fiche names an obscene hand gesture aimed upward; the line keeps the gesture concrete. Fiche names an obscene hand gesture aimed upward; the line keeps the gesture concrete.
XXV.3 Squadro keeps the deliberate aiming or squaring of the blasphemous gesture. Squadro keeps the deliberate aiming or squaring of the blasphemous gesture.
XXV.4–6 The serpent's action is translated as silencing speech, a recurring pressure through this canto.
XXV.4–6 The serpent's action is translated as silencing speech, a recurring pressure through this canto. Line 6: The serpent's action is translated as silencing speech, a recurring pressure through this canto.
XXV.6 The serpent's action is translated as silencing speech, a recurring pressure through this canto. The serpent's action is translated as silencing speech, a recurring pressure through this canto.
XXV.10–12 The self-incineration wish echoes Vanni Fucci's ash-and-reform punishment from Inferno XXIV. Seme is kept as seed rather than citizens or ancestors; the word still carries Pistoia's civic origin pressure.
XXV.10–12 The self-incineration wish echoes Vanni Fucci's ash-and-reform punishment from Inferno XXIV. Line 11: The self-incineration wish echoes Vanni Fucci's ash-and-reform punishment from Inferno XXIV. Line 12: Seme is kept as seed rather than citizens or ancestors; the word still carries Pistoia's civic origin pressure.
XXV.11 The self-incineration wish echoes Vanni Fucci's ash-and-reform punishment from Inferno XXIV. The self-incineration wish echoes Vanni Fucci's ash-and-reform punishment from Inferno XXIV.
XXV.12 Seme is kept as seed rather than citizens or ancestors; the word still carries Pistoia's civic origin pressure. Seme is kept as seed rather than citizens or ancestors; the word still carries Pistoia's civic origin pressure.
XXV.13–15 The comparison points back to Capaneus and makes Vanni's blasphemous pride exceed an already explicit anti-God figure.
XXV.13–15 The comparison points back to Capaneus and makes Vanni's blasphemous pride exceed an already explicit anti-God figure. Line 15: The comparison points back to Capaneus and makes Vanni's blasphemous pride exceed an already explicit anti-God figure.
XXV.15 The comparison points back to Capaneus and makes Vanni's blasphemous pride exceed an already explicit anti-God figure. The comparison points back to Capaneus and makes Vanni's blasphemous pride exceed an already explicit anti-God figure.
Cacus charges in rage, covered with snakes and a dragon, and Virgil explains his bloody theft from Hercules' herd XXV.16–33
16El si fuggì che non parlò più verbo;
e io vidi un centauro pien di rabbia
venir chiamando: «Ov’ è, ov’ è l’acerbo?».
Maremma non cred’ io che tante n’abbia,
20quante bisce elli avea su per la groppa
infin ove comincia nostra labbia.
Sovra le spalle, dietro da la coppa,
con l’ali aperte li giacea un draco;
e quello affuoca qualunque s’intoppa.
25Lo mio maestro disse: «Questi è Caco,
che, sotto ’l sasso di monte Aventino,
di sangue fece spesse volte laco.
Non va co’ suoi fratei per un cammino,
per lo furto che frodolente fece
30del grande armento ch’elli ebbe a vicino;
onde cessar le sue opere biece
sotto la mazza d’Ercule, che forse
gliene diè cento, e non sentì le diece».
16He fled, and spoke no further word;
and I saw a centaur full of rage
come calling, "Where is he, where is the bitter one?"
I do not think Maremma has as many snakes
20as he had along his back
up to where our human face begins.
Above his shoulders, behind his nape,
with wings spread open, a dragon lay on him;
and it sets fire to anyone it meets.
25My master said, "This is Cacus,
who, beneath the rock of Mount Aventine,
often made a lake of blood.
He does not go with his brothers on one path,
because of the fraudulent theft he made
30of the great herd that he had nearby;
from which his crooked works came to an end
under the mace of Hercules, who perhaps
gave him a hundred blows, and he did not feel ten."
Commentary
Cacus appears as a theft figure with centaur, dragon, blood, smoke, Hercules, and fraudulent-herd context; the translation keeps his path apart from the centaurs without over-explaining the myth inside the line.
XXV.16–18 Acerbo is provisional as bitter one; it keeps sharpness and moral rawness without resolving the insult too narrowly.
XXV.16–18 Acerbo is provisional as bitter one; it keeps sharpness and moral rawness without resolving the insult too narrowly. Line 18: Acerbo is provisional as bitter one; it keeps sharpness and moral rawness without resolving the insult too narrowly.
XXV.18 Acerbo is provisional as bitter one; it keeps sharpness and moral rawness without resolving the insult too narrowly. Acerbo is provisional as bitter one; it keeps sharpness and moral rawness without resolving the insult too narrowly.
XXV.19–21 Nostra labbia marks a body boundary; the translation keeps the human/animal division visible.
XXV.19–21 Nostra labbia marks a body boundary; the translation keeps the human/animal division visible. Line 21: Nostra labbia marks a body boundary; the translation keeps the human/animal division visible.
XXV.21 Nostra labbia marks a body boundary; the translation keeps the human/animal division visible. Nostra labbia marks a body boundary; the translation keeps the human/animal division visible.
XXV.22–24 The fire-breathing dragon keeps Cacus tied to smoke, fire, and theft-concealment imagery.
XXV.22–24 The fire-breathing dragon keeps Cacus tied to smoke, fire, and theft-concealment imagery. Line 24: The fire-breathing dragon keeps Cacus tied to smoke, fire, and theft-concealment imagery.
XXV.24 The fire-breathing dragon keeps Cacus tied to smoke, fire, and theft-concealment imagery. The fire-breathing dragon keeps Cacus tied to smoke, fire, and theft-concealment imagery.
XXV.25–27 Cacus is retained as the mythic thief whose fraudulent cattle theft frames the seventh bolgia.
XXV.25–27 Cacus is retained as the mythic thief whose fraudulent cattle theft frames the seventh bolgia. Line 25: Cacus is retained as the mythic thief whose fraudulent cattle theft frames the seventh bolgia.
XXV.25 Cacus is retained as the mythic thief whose fraudulent cattle theft frames the seventh bolgia. Cacus is retained as the mythic thief whose fraudulent cattle theft frames the seventh bolgia.
XXV.28–30 Cammino remains path language, here marking Cacus's separation from the other centaurs. The line keeps theft and fraud explicitly joined.
XXV.28–30 Cammino remains path language, here marking Cacus's separation from the other centaurs. Line 28: Cammino remains path language, here marking Cacus's separation from the other centaurs. Line 29: The line keeps theft and fraud explicitly joined.
XXV.28 Cammino remains path language, here marking Cacus's separation from the other centaurs. Cammino remains path language, here marking Cacus's separation from the other centaurs.
XXV.29 The line keeps theft and fraud explicitly joined. The line keeps theft and fraud explicitly joined.
XXV.31–33 Biece is rendered as crooked to keep the askew/envious moral angle.
XXV.31–33 Biece is rendered as crooked to keep the askew/envious moral angle. Line 31: Biece is rendered as crooked to keep the askew/envious moral angle.
XXV.31 Biece is rendered as crooked to keep the askew/envious moral angle. Biece is rendered as crooked to keep the askew/envious moral angle.
Three spirits interrupt the Cacus account, Cianfa is named, Dante signals silence, and the poet warns the reader of the unbelievable sight XXV.34–48
34Mentre che sì parlava, ed el trascorse,
35e tre spiriti venner sotto noi,
de’ quai né io né ’l duca mio s’accorse,
se non quando gridar: «Chi siete voi?»;
per che nostra novella si ristette,
e intendemmo pur ad essi poi.
40Io non li conoscea; ma ei seguette,
come suol seguitar per alcun caso,
che l’un nomar un altro convenette,
dicendo: «Cianfa dove fia rimaso?»;
per ch’io, acciò che ’l duca stesse attento,
45mi puosi ’l dito su dal mento al naso.
Se tu se’ or, lettore, a creder lento
ciò ch’io dirò, non sarà maraviglia,
ché io che ’l vidi, a pena il mi consento.
34While he was speaking so, and Cacus had run past,
35three spirits came beneath us,
of whom neither I nor my guide took notice,
except when they cried, "Who are you?";
so our story halted,
and then we turned our attention wholly to them.
40I did not know them; but it followed,
as it usually follows by some chance,
that one had to name another,
saying, "Where can Cianfa have remained?";
so I, so that my guide would stay attentive,
45put my finger upward from chin to nose.
If you, reader, are now slow to believe
what I shall say, it will be no wonder,
for I who saw it scarcely allow it to myself.
Commentary
The interruption by the three spirits and Dante's silence gesture form one quick movement from Virgil's Cacus explanation into the reader apostrophe and the unbelievable metamorphosis.
XXV.43–45 Cianfa is left in the line as a proper name, likely a Donati who takes the serpent role. The gesture enjoins silence and prepares the canto's next speech-loss event.
XXV.43–45 Cianfa is left in the line as a proper name, likely a Donati who takes the serpent role. Line 43: Cianfa is left in the line as a proper name, likely a Donati who takes the serpent role. Line 45: The gesture enjoins silence and prepares the canto's next speech-loss event.
XXV.43 Cianfa is left in the line as a proper name, likely a Donati who takes the serpent role. Cianfa is left in the line as a proper name, likely a Donati who takes the serpent role.
XXV.45 The gesture enjoins silence and prepares the canto's next speech-loss event. The gesture enjoins silence and prepares the canto's next speech-loss event.
XXV.46–48 The reader apostrophe supports the canto's claim to surpass ordinary believable metamorphosis.
XXV.46–48 The reader apostrophe supports the canto's claim to surpass ordinary believable metamorphosis. Line 48: The reader apostrophe supports the canto's claim to surpass ordinary believable metamorphosis.
XXV.48 The reader apostrophe supports the canto's claim to surpass ordinary believable metamorphosis. The reader apostrophe supports the canto's claim to surpass ordinary believable metamorphosis.
A six-footed serpent fastens on Agnello, fuses with him like hot wax, and leaves a perverse figure that is two and none XXV.49–78
49Com’ io tenea levate in lor le ciglia,
50e un serpente con sei piè si lancia
dinanzi a l’uno, e tutto a lui s’appiglia.
Co’ piè di mezzo li avvinse la pancia
e con li anterïor le braccia prese;
poi li addentò e l’una e l’altra guancia;
55li diretani a le cosce distese,
e miseli la coda tra ’mbedue
e dietro per le ren sù la ritese.
Ellera abbarbicata mai non fue
ad alber sì, come l’orribil fiera
60per l’altrui membra avviticchiò le sue.
Poi s’appiccar, come di calda cera
fossero stati, e mischiar lor colore,
né l’un né l’altro già parea quel ch’era:
come procede innanzi da l’ardore,
65per lo papiro suso, un color bruno
che non è nero ancora e ’l bianco more.
Li altri due ’l riguardavano, e ciascuno
gridava: «Omè, Agnel, come ti muti!
Vedi che già non se’ né due né uno».
70Già eran li due capi un divenuti,
quando n’apparver due figure miste
in una faccia, ov’ eran due perduti.
Fersi le braccia due di quattro liste;
le cosce con le gambe e ’l ventre e ’l casso
75divenner membra che non fuor mai viste.
Ogne primaio aspetto ivi era casso:
due e nessun l’imagine perversa
parea; e tal sen gio con lento passo.
49As I kept my eyes raised toward them,
50a serpent with six feet hurled itself
before one of them, and fastened all upon him.
With its middle feet it bound his belly,
and with its front ones seized his arms;
then bit into both one cheek and the other;
55the hind feet it stretched along his thighs,
and put its tail between the two
and drew it up behind along his loins.
Ivy was never rooted
to a tree so tightly as that horrible beast
60twined its own limbs around the other's.
Then they stuck together, as if they had been
made of hot wax, and mixed their color;
neither one nor the other now seemed what it was:
just as before the heat there runs,
65upward along paper, a brown color
that is not yet black, while the white dies.
The other two watched him, and each
cried, "Alas, Agnel, how you change!
See, already you are neither two nor one."
70Already the two heads had become one,
when two blended figures appeared to us
in one face, where two were lost.
Two arms were made out of four strips;
the thighs with the legs, the belly and the chest
75became members never seen before.
Every former appearance there was canceled:
two and none the perverse image
seemed; and so it went away with slow step.
Commentary
The Agnello/Cianfa fusion carries bodily precision, Ovidian pressure, identity loss, and the theft-as-loss-of-person motif; the translation keeps the graphic mechanics rather than smoothing them into abstraction.
XXV.52–54 The bite at the face begins a speech and identity attack, not merely a generic wound.
XXV.52–54 The bite at the face begins a speech and identity attack, not merely a generic wound. Line 54: The bite at the face begins a speech and identity attack, not merely a generic wound.
XXV.54 The bite at the face begins a speech and identity attack, not merely a generic wound. The bite at the face begins a speech and identity attack, not merely a generic wound.
XXV.55–57 The graphic placement keeps the sexual and generative pressure visible without explanatory expansion.
XXV.55–57 The graphic placement keeps the sexual and generative pressure visible without explanatory expansion. Line 57: The graphic placement keeps the sexual and generative pressure visible without explanatory expansion.
XXV.57 The graphic placement keeps the sexual and generative pressure visible without explanatory expansion. The graphic placement keeps the sexual and generative pressure visible without explanatory expansion.
XXV.58–60 The ivy/tree simile carries Ovidian fusion pressure and theft as bodily invasion.
XXV.58–60 The ivy/tree simile carries Ovidian fusion pressure and theft as bodily invasion. Line 60: The ivy/tree simile carries Ovidian fusion pressure and theft as bodily invasion.
XXV.60 The ivy/tree simile carries Ovidian fusion pressure and theft as bodily invasion. The ivy/tree simile carries Ovidian fusion pressure and theft as bodily invasion.
XXV.64–66 Paper and color change continue the writing-material imagery introduced in Inferno XXIV.
XXV.64–66 Paper and color change continue the writing-material imagery introduced in Inferno XXIV. Line 66: Paper and color change continue the writing-material imagery introduced in Inferno XXIV.
XXV.66 Paper and color change continue the writing-material imagery introduced in Inferno XXIV. Paper and color change continue the writing-material imagery introduced in Inferno XXIV.
XXV.67–69 Agnel is kept in Dante's local form; he is usually identified as Agnello Brunelleschi. The neither-two-nor-one formula is central to the canto's perverse identity logic and Ovidian pressure.
XXV.67–69 Agnel is kept in Dante's local form; he is usually identified as Agnello Brunelleschi. Line 68: Agnel is kept in Dante's local form; he is usually identified as Agnello Brunelleschi. Line 69: The neither-two-nor-one formula is central to the canto's perverse identity logic and Ovidian pressure.
XXV.68 Agnel is kept in Dante's local form; he is usually identified as Agnello Brunelleschi. Agnel is kept in Dante's local form; he is usually identified as Agnello Brunelleschi.
XXV.69 The neither-two-nor-one formula is central to the canto's perverse identity logic and Ovidian pressure. The neither-two-nor-one formula is central to the canto's perverse identity logic and Ovidian pressure.
XXV.76–78 Due e nessun keeps the identity contradiction sharper than a smoother paraphrase.
XXV.76–78 Due e nessun keeps the identity contradiction sharper than a smoother paraphrase. Line 78: Due e nessun keeps the identity contradiction sharper than a smoother paraphrase.
XXV.78 Due e nessun keeps the identity contradiction sharper than a smoother paraphrase. Due e nessun keeps the identity contradiction sharper than a smoother paraphrase.
A pepper-dark little serpent pierces a thief at the source of first nourishment, and the two stare as smoke meets between them XXV.79–93
79Come ’l ramarro sotto la gran fersa
80dei dì canicular, cangiando sepe,
folgore par se la via attraversa,
sì pareva, venendo verso l’epe
de li altri due, un serpentello acceso,
livido e nero come gran di pepe;
85e quella parte onde prima è preso
nostro alimento, a l’un di lor trafisse;
poi cadde giuso innanzi lui disteso.
Lo trafitto ’l mirò, ma nulla disse;
anzi, co’ piè fermati, sbadigliava
90pur come sonno o febbre l’assalisse.
Elli ’l serpente e quei lui riguardava;
l’un per la piaga e l’altro per la bocca
fummavan forte, e ’l fummo si scontrava.
79As the lizard beneath the great lash
80of dog-day heat, changing hedge,
seems lightning if it crosses the road,
so seemed, coming toward the bellies
of the other two, a little serpent on fire,
livid and black as a grain of pepper;
85and that part where our nourishment
is first received, it pierced in one of them;
then fell down stretched out before him.
The pierced one stared at it, but said nothing;
rather, with feet fixed, he yawned
90just as if sleep or fever assaulted him.
He looked at the serpent, and it at him;
one through the wound and the other through the mouth
smoked strongly, and the smoke met.
Commentary
The lizard simile, pepper-colored serpent, navel wound, sleep-or-fever stupor, reciprocal gaze, and meeting smoke form the threshold into the slower exchange transformation.
XXV.79–81 The dog-day heat keeps the natural-time pressure of the thieves' transformations active.
XXV.79–81 The dog-day heat keeps the natural-time pressure of the thieves' transformations active. Line 80: The dog-day heat keeps the natural-time pressure of the thieves' transformations active.
XXV.80 The dog-day heat keeps the natural-time pressure of the thieves' transformations active. The dog-day heat keeps the natural-time pressure of the thieves' transformations active.
XXV.82–84 Epe is rendered as bellies here, preserving the appetite/generative body zone rather than abstracting it. The pepper image keeps color, heat, and bite together.
XXV.82–84 Epe is rendered as bellies here, preserving the appetite/generative body zone rather than abstracting it. Line 82: Epe is rendered as bellies here, preserving the appetite/generative body zone rather than abstracting it. Line 84: The pepper image keeps color, heat, and bite together.
XXV.82 Epe is rendered as bellies here, preserving the appetite/generative body zone rather than abstracting it. Epe is rendered as bellies here, preserving the appetite/generative body zone rather than abstracting it.
XXV.84 The pepper image keeps color, heat, and bite together. The pepper image keeps color, heat, and bite together.
XXV.85–87 The periphrasis points to the navel and intensifies the canto's corrupted generation imagery.
XXV.85–87 The periphrasis points to the navel and intensifies the canto's corrupted generation imagery. Line 86: The periphrasis points to the navel and intensifies the canto's corrupted generation imagery.
XXV.86 The periphrasis points to the navel and intensifies the canto's corrupted generation imagery. The periphrasis points to the navel and intensifies the canto's corrupted generation imagery.
XXV.88–90 Sleep or fever keeps the snakebite stupor bodily and immediate.
XXV.88–90 Sleep or fever keeps the snakebite stupor bodily and immediate. Line 90: Sleep or fever keeps the snakebite stupor bodily and immediate.
XXV.90 Sleep or fever keeps the snakebite stupor bodily and immediate. Sleep or fever keeps the snakebite stupor bodily and immediate.
XXV.91–93 The reciprocal smoke is kept compact because it becomes the mechanism of exchange in the next passage.
XXV.91–93 The reciprocal smoke is kept compact because it becomes the mechanism of exchange in the next passage. Line 93: The reciprocal smoke is kept compact because it becomes the mechanism of exchange in the next passage.
XXV.93 The reciprocal smoke is kept compact because it becomes the mechanism of exchange in the next passage. The reciprocal smoke is kept compact because it becomes the mechanism of exchange in the next passage.
Dante challenges Lucan and Ovid, claiming a metamorphosis where two natures exchange matter face to face XXV.94–102
94Taccia Lucano ormai là dov’ e’ tocca
95del misero Sabello e di Nasidio,
e attenda a udir quel ch’or si scocca.
Taccia di Cadmo e d’Aretusa Ovidio,
ché se quello in serpente e quella in fonte
converte poetando, io non lo ’nvidio;
100ché due nature mai a fronte a fronte
non trasmutò sì ch’amendue le forme
a cambiar lor matera fosser pronte.
94Let Lucan now be silent where he touches
95on poor Sabellus and Nasidius,
and wait to hear what now is loosed.
Let Ovid be silent about Cadmus and Arethusa,
for if in poetry he converts him to a serpent
and her to a fountain, I do not envy him;
100for never did he transmute two natures
face to face so that both forms
were ready to exchange their matter.
Commentary
The Lucan and Ovid challenge is a poetic boast about metamorphosis and exchange of matter, not only as a source citation.
XXV.94–96 Lucan is challenged as a metamorphosis and serpent-death witness, not quoted or explained inside the line. Scocca preserves the bow-release metaphor behind the poet's boast.
XXV.94–96 Lucan is challenged as a metamorphosis and serpent-death witness, not quoted or explained inside the line. Line 94: Lucan is challenged as a metamorphosis and serpent-death witness, not quoted or explained inside the line. Line 96: Scocca preserves the bow-release metaphor behind the poet's boast.
XXV.94 Lucan is challenged as a metamorphosis and serpent-death witness, not quoted or explained inside the line. Lucan is challenged as a metamorphosis and serpent-death witness, not quoted or explained inside the line.
XXV.96 Scocca preserves the bow-release metaphor behind the poet's boast. Scocca preserves the bow-release metaphor behind the poet's boast.
XXV.97–99 Cadmus and Arethusa identify the Ovidian metamorphosis field Dante claims to surpass. Poetando is carried by in poetry; Dante's claim is about poetic making as well as bodily change.
XXV.97–99 Cadmus and Arethusa identify the Ovidian metamorphosis field Dante claims to surpass. Line 97: Cadmus and Arethusa identify the Ovidian metamorphosis field Dante claims to surpass. Line 99: Poetando is carried by in poetry; Dante's claim is about poetic making as well as bodily change.
XXV.97 Cadmus and Arethusa identify the Ovidian metamorphosis field Dante claims to surpass. Cadmus and Arethusa identify the Ovidian metamorphosis field Dante claims to surpass.
XXV.99 Poetando is carried by in poetry; Dante's claim is about poetic making as well as bodily change. Poetando is carried by in poetry; Dante's claim is about poetic making as well as bodily change.
XXV.100–102 Matter keeps the scholastic and bodily precision of the exchange.
XXV.100–102 Matter keeps the scholastic and bodily precision of the exchange. Line 102: Matter keeps the scholastic and bodily precision of the exchange.
XXV.102 Matter keeps the scholastic and bodily precision of the exchange. Matter keeps the scholastic and bodily precision of the exchange.
The serpent and the wounded thief answer one another by exchanging limbs, skin, posture, face, tongue, speech, and species XXV.103–138
103Insieme si rispuosero a tai norme,
che ’l serpente la coda in forca fesse,
105e ’l feruto ristrinse insieme l’orme.
Le gambe con le cosce seco stesse
s’appiccar sì, che ’n poco la giuntura
non facea segno alcun che si paresse.
Togliea la coda fessa la figura
110che si perdeva là, e la sua pelle
si facea molle, e quella di là dura.
Io vidi intrar le braccia per l’ascelle,
e i due piè de la fiera, ch’eran corti,
tanto allungar quanto accorciavan quelle.
115Poscia li piè di rietro, insieme attorti,
diventaron lo membro che l’uom cela,
e ’l misero del suo n’avea due porti.
Mentre che ’l fummo l’uno e l’altro vela
di color novo, e genera ’l pel suso
120per l’una parte e da l’altra il dipela,
l’un si levò e l’altro cadde giuso,
non torcendo però le lucerne empie,
sotto le quai ciascun cambiava muso.
Quel ch’era dritto, il trasse ver’ le tempie,
125e di troppa matera ch’in là venne
uscir li orecchi de le gote scempie;
ciò che non corse in dietro e si ritenne
di quel soverchio, fé naso a la faccia
e le labbra ingrossò quanto convenne.
130Quel che giacëa, il muso innanzi caccia,
e li orecchi ritira per la testa
come face le corna la lumaccia;
e la lingua, ch’avëa unita e presta
prima a parlar, si fende, e la forcuta
135ne l’altro si richiude; e ’l fummo resta.
L’anima ch’era fiera divenuta,
suffolando si fugge per la valle,
e l’altro dietro a lui parlando sputa.
103Together they answered each other by such rules,
that the serpent split his tail into a fork,
105and the wounded one drew his feet together.
The legs with the thighs, within themselves,
stuck together so that soon the joining
made no sign at all that could be seen.
The forked tail was taking the figure
110that was being lost there, and its skin
grew soft, while the other's there grew hard.
I saw the arms enter through the armpits,
and the two feet of the beast, which had been short,
lengthen as much as those were shortening.
115Then the hind feet, twisted together,
became the member that man conceals,
and the wretch bore two from his own.
While the smoke veils one and the other
with new color, and generates hair above
120on one side and on the other strips it off,
one rose up and the other fell down,
yet not turning aside the impious lamps
beneath which each was changing muzzle.
The one who was upright drew his toward the temples,
125and from the excess matter that came that way
ears came out of the hollow cheeks;
what did not run back and was retained
from that excess made a nose for the face
and thickened the lips as much as fitting.
130The one who was lying down thrusts his muzzle forward,
and draws his ears back into his head
as the snail does its horns;
and the tongue, which had been united and ready
before for speech, splits, and the forked one
135closes up in the other; and the smoke stops.
The soul that had become a beast,
hissing, flees along the valley,
and the other behind him spits as he speaks.
Commentary
The reciprocal transformation proceeds with step-by-step bodily continuity: tail, feet, legs, skin, arms, hidden member, hair, posture, eyes, face, tongue, smoke, hissing, and spitting.
XXV.103–105 The reciprocal answered keeps the exchange patterned rather than random.
XXV.103–105 The reciprocal answered keeps the exchange patterned rather than random. Line 103: The reciprocal answered keeps the exchange patterned rather than random.
XXV.103 The reciprocal answered keeps the exchange patterned rather than random. The reciprocal answered keeps the exchange patterned rather than random.
XXV.115–117 The line preserves Dante's bodily periphrasis, which echoes the opening figs and Fall imagery. The compressed line marks the reciprocal making of feet from the human member.
XXV.115–117 The line preserves Dante's bodily periphrasis, which echoes the opening figs and Fall imagery. Line 116: The line preserves Dante's bodily periphrasis, which echoes the opening figs and Fall imagery. Line 117: The compressed line marks the reciprocal making of feet from the human member.
XXV.116 The line preserves Dante's bodily periphrasis, which echoes the opening figs and Fall imagery. The line preserves Dante's bodily periphrasis, which echoes the opening figs and Fall imagery.
XXV.117 The compressed line marks the reciprocal making of feet from the human member. The compressed line marks the reciprocal making of feet from the human member.
XXV.121–123 Posture tracks the human/animal distinction while the forms exchange. Lucerne empie keeps the eye/light/body-soul pressure behind the reciprocal gaze.
XXV.121–123 Posture tracks the human/animal distinction while the forms exchange. Line 121: Posture tracks the human/animal distinction while the forms exchange. Line 122: Lucerne empie keeps the eye/light/body-soul pressure behind the reciprocal gaze.
XXV.121 Posture tracks the human/animal distinction while the forms exchange. Posture tracks the human/animal distinction while the forms exchange.
XXV.122 Lucerne empie keeps the eye/light/body-soul pressure behind the reciprocal gaze. Lucerne empie keeps the eye/light/body-soul pressure behind the reciprocal gaze.
XXV.124–126 The object is the transforming muzzle from the previous line.
XXV.124–126 The object is the transforming muzzle from the previous line. Line 124: The object is the transforming muzzle from the previous line.
XXV.124 The object is the transforming muzzle from the previous line. The object is the transforming muzzle from the previous line.
XXV.127–129 The plain nose leaves the Ovid/Naso wordplay implicit rather than forcing it into the translation.
XXV.127–129 The plain nose leaves the Ovid/Naso wordplay implicit rather than forcing it into the translation. Line 128: The plain nose leaves the Ovid/Naso wordplay implicit rather than forcing it into the translation.
XXV.128 The plain nose leaves the Ovid/Naso wordplay implicit rather than forcing it into the translation. The plain nose leaves the Ovid/Naso wordplay implicit rather than forcing it into the translation.
XXV.133–135 The split tongue is the transformation's final attack on rational speech.
XXV.133–135 The split tongue is the transformation's final attack on rational speech. Line 134: The split tongue is the transformation's final attack on rational speech.
XXV.134 The split tongue is the transformation's final attack on rational speech. The split tongue is the transformation's final attack on rational speech.
XXV.136–138 The canto exits the transformation through degraded speech: hissing and spitting.
XXV.136–138 The canto exits the transformation through degraded speech: hissing and spitting. Line 138: The canto exits the transformation through degraded speech: hissing and spitting.
XXV.138 The canto exits the transformation through degraded speech: hissing and spitting. The canto exits the transformation through degraded speech: hissing and spitting.
The transformed thief sends Buoso crawling, Dante names the seventh ballast, and Puccio Sciancato and Gaville close the canto XXV.139–151
139Poscia li volse le novelle spalle,
140e disse a l’altro: «I’ vo’ che Buoso corra,
com’ ho fatt’ io, carpon per questo calle».
Così vid’ io la settima zavorra
mutare e trasmutare; e qui mi scusi
la novità se fior la penna abborra.
145E avvegna che li occhi miei confusi
fossero alquanto e l’animo smagato,
non poter quei fuggirsi tanto chiusi,
ch’i’ non scorgessi ben Puccio Sciancato;
ed era quel che sol, di tre compagni
150che venner prima, non era mutato;
l’altr’ era quel che tu, Gaville, piagni.
139Then he turned his new shoulders to him,
140and said to the other, "I want Buoso to run,
as I have done, on all fours along this path."
Thus I saw the seventh ballast
change and transmute; and here let
novelty excuse me if my pen strays a little.
145And although my eyes were confused
somewhat, and my mind dismayed,
those souls could not flee so hidden
that I did not clearly make out Puccio Sciancato;
and he was the one alone, of the three companions
150who came before, who had not changed;
the other was the one whom you, Gaville, mourn.
Commentary
The Buoso, Puccio Sciancato, and Gaville close involves thief identifications, revenge context, carpon, and zavorra; the translation preserves Dante's final recognition.
XXV.139–141 Buoso is left as a proper name, likely a Donati; the passage also carries a revenge context. Carpon is kept as on all fours; calle remains path language inside Malebolge's engineered route.
XXV.139–141 Buoso is left as a proper name, likely a Donati; the passage also carries a revenge context. Line 140: Buoso is left as a proper name, likely a Donati; the passage also carries a revenge context. Line 141: Carpon is kept as on all fours; calle remains path language inside Malebolge's engineered route.
XXV.140 Buoso is left as a proper name, likely a Donati; the passage also carries a revenge context. Buoso is left as a proper name, likely a Donati; the passage also carries a revenge context.
XXV.141 Carpon is kept as on all fours; calle remains path language inside Malebolge's engineered route. Carpon is kept as on all fours; calle remains path language inside Malebolge's engineered route.
XXV.142–144 Zavorra is kept as ballast to preserve the bolgia-as-hull image and the canto's freight of unstable bodies. The paired verbs are key to the seventh bolgia's metamorphosis motif. The pen apology keeps writing and novel.
XXV.142–144 Zavorra is kept as ballast to preserve the bolgia-as-hull image and the canto's freight of unstable bodies. Line 142: Zavorra is kept as ballast to preserve the bolgia-as-hull image and the canto's freight of unstable bodies. Line 143: The paired verbs are key to the seventh bolgia's metamorphosis motif. Line 144: The pen apology keeps writing and novelty connected after the paper-burning simile.
XXV.142 Zavorra is kept as ballast to preserve the bolgia-as-hull image and the canto's freight of unstable bodies. Zavorra is kept as ballast to preserve the bolgia-as-hull image and the canto's freight of unstable bodies.
XXV.143 The paired verbs are key to the seventh bolgia's metamorphosis motif. The paired verbs are key to the seventh bolgia's metamorphosis motif.
XXV.144 The pen apology keeps writing and novelty connected after the paper-burning simile. The pen apology keeps writing and novelty connected after the paper-burning simile.
XXV.148–150 Puccio Sciancato remains untranslated as the recognized Florentine thief.
XXV.148–150 Puccio Sciancato remains untranslated as the recognized Florentine thief. Line 148: Puccio Sciancato remains untranslated as the recognized Florentine thief.
XXV.148 Puccio Sciancato remains untranslated as the recognized Florentine thief. Puccio Sciancato remains untranslated as the recognized Florentine thief.
XXV.151 Gaville points to Francesco de' Cavalcanti and revenge grief; the line keeps Dante's apostrophic close. Gaville points to Francesco de' Cavalcanti and revenge grief; the line keeps Dante's apostrophic close.