Inferno, Canto 28
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
In the ninth bolgia, Dante sees sowers of scandal, schism, discord, and division physically split apart: Mohammed and Ali name the punishment, Pier da Medicina warns of future treachery, Curio and Mosca show destructive counsel silenced and maimed, and Bertran de Born carries his severed head while naming the contrapasso.
Narrative arc
- The narrator declares ordinary speech inadequate, then piles up Puglia and Roman war wounds that still cannot match the ninth bolgia
- Mohammed opens his body, names Ali and the sowers of scandal and schism, and explains the devil who repeatedly splits them
- Mohammed questions Dante, Virgil explains the living journey, and Mohammed turns the encounter into a warning for Fra Dolcino
- Pier da Medicina speaks through a wounded windpipe and prophesies the treacherous drowning of the two best men of Fano
- Pier exposes silent Curio and Mosca, showing speech that launched civil war and factional violence now punished by mutilated organs of speech and action
- Dante invokes conscience as warrant, then sees the headless Bertran de Born carrying his own head like a lantern
- Bertran raises his severed head, names his bad counsel to the young king, and explicitly defines the punishment as contrapasso
Central themes
- identity
- metamorphosis
- false counsel
- division
- falsification
The narrator declares ordinary speech inadequate, then piles up Puglia and Roman war wounds that still cannot match the ninth bolgia XXVIII.1–21
1Chi poria mai pur con parole sciolte
dicer del sangue e de le piaghe a pieno
ch’i’ ora vidi, per narrar più volte?
Ogne lingua per certo verria meno
5per lo nostro sermone e per la mente
c’hanno a tanto comprender poco seno.
S’el s’aunasse ancor tutta la gente
che già, in su la fortunata terra
di Puglia, fu del suo sangue dolente
10per li Troiani e per la lunga guerra
che de l’anella fé sì alte spoglie,
come Livïo scrive, che non erra,
con quella che sentio di colpi doglie
per contastare a Ruberto Guiscardo;
15e l’altra il cui ossame ancor s’accoglie
a Ceperan, là dove fu bugiardo
ciascun Pugliese, e là da Tagliacozzo,
dove sanz’ arme vinse il vecchio Alardo;
e qual forato suo membro e qual mozzo
20mostrasse, d’aequar sarebbe nulla
il modo de la nona bolgia sozzo.
1Who could ever, even in unbound words
tell fully of the blood and of the wounds
that I now saw, though told again and again?
Every tongue surely would fall short
5because our speech and our mind
have too little breadth to comprehend so much.
If all the people were gathered again
who once, on the fated land
of Puglia, grieved over their blood
10because of the Trojans and the long war
that made such high spoils of rings,
as Livy writes, who does not err,
along with those who felt the pain of blows
for standing against Robert Guiscard,
15and the others whose bones are still gathered
at Ceperano, where every Apulian
was false, and there at Tagliacozzo,
where old Alardo won without arms,
and each showed a pierced limb
20or one chopped off, it would be nothing
to match the foul manner of the ninth bolgia.
Commentary
The long wound catalogue builds one escalating comparison rather than a series of disconnected historical examples.
XXVIII.1–3 parole sciolte is rendered as unbound words, preserving loosened/unmetered speech without making the opening merely prosaic.
XXVIII.1–3 parole sciolte is rendered as unbound words, preserving loosened/unmetered speech without making the opening merely prosaic. Line 1: parole sciolte is rendered as unbound words, preserving loosened/unmetered speech without making the opening merely prosaic.
XXVIII.1 parole sciolte is rendered as unbound words, preserving loosened/unmetered speech without making the opening merely prosaic. parole sciolte is rendered as unbound words, preserving loosened/unmetered speech without making the opening merely prosaic.
XXVIII.7–9 fortunata terra is taken as fated land in the war catalogue rather than fortunate in a positive sense.
XXVIII.7–9 fortunata terra is taken as fated land in the war catalogue rather than fortunate in a positive sense. Line 8: fortunata terra is taken as fated land in the war catalogue rather than fortunate in a positive sense.
XXVIII.8 fortunata terra is taken as fated land in the war catalogue rather than fortunate in a positive sense. fortunata terra is taken as fated land in the war catalogue rather than fortunate in a positive sense.
XXVIII.10–12 The rings are Cannae spoils from Roman equites reported by Livy; the line keeps the heap image compact.
XXVIII.10–12 The rings are Cannae spoils from Roman equites reported by Livy; the line keeps the heap image compact. Line 11: The rings are Cannae spoils from Roman equites reported by Livy; the line keeps the heap image compact.
XXVIII.11 The rings are Cannae spoils from Roman equites reported by Livy; the line keeps the heap image compact. The rings are Cannae spoils from Roman equites reported by Livy; the line keeps the heap image compact.
XXVIII.16–18 Ceperano and Tagliacozzo remain historically compact in the translation, with the betrayal and old Alardo strategy as their context.
XXVIII.16–18 Ceperano and Tagliacozzo remain historically compact in the translation, with the betrayal and old Alardo strategy as their context. Line 16: Ceperano and Tagliacozzo remain historically compact in the translation, with the betrayal and old Alardo strategy as their context.
XXVIII.16 Ceperano and Tagliacozzo remain historically compact in the translation, with the betrayal and old Alardo strategy as their context. Ceperano and Tagliacozzo remain historically compact in the translation, with the betrayal and old Alardo strategy as their context.
XXVIII.19–21 The canto-opening wound catalogue is deliberately inadequate before the ninth bolgia.
XXVIII.19–21 The canto-opening wound catalogue is deliberately inadequate before the ninth bolgia. Line 21: The canto-opening wound catalogue is deliberately inadequate before the ninth bolgia.
XXVIII.21 The canto-opening wound catalogue is deliberately inadequate before the ninth bolgia. The canto-opening wound catalogue is deliberately inadequate before the ninth bolgia.
Mohammed opens his body, names Ali and the sowers of scandal and schism, and explains the devil who repeatedly splits them XXVIII.22–42
22Già veggia, per mezzul perdere o lulla,
com’ io vidi un, così non si pertugia,
rotto dal mento infin dove si trulla.
25Tra le gambe pendevan le minugia;
la corata pareva e ’l tristo sacco
che merda fa di quel che si trangugia.
Mentre che tutto in lui veder m’attacco,
guardommi e con le man s’aperse il petto,
30dicendo: «Or vedi com’ io mi dilacco!
vedi come storpiato è Mäometto!
Dinanzi a me sen va piangendo Alì,
fesso nel volto dal mento al ciuffetto.
E tutti li altri che tu vedi qui,
35seminator di scandalo e di scisma
fuor vivi, e però son fessi così.
Un diavolo è qua dietro che n’accisma
sì crudelmente, al taglio de la spada
rimettendo ciascun di questa risma,
40quand’ avem volta la dolente strada;
però che le ferite son richiuse
prima ch’altri dinanzi li rivada.
22No cask, by losing middle-piece or stave,
was ever split open as I saw one was,
ripped from the chin down to where one breaks wind.
25Between his legs his entrails hung;
the vitals showed, and the wretched sack
that makes shit of what is swallowed.
While I fixed all my sight on him,
he looked at me and with his hands opened his chest,
30saying, "Now see how I split myself open!
see how mangled Mohammed is!
Ahead of me Ali goes weeping,
cleft in the face from chin to forelock.
And all the others whom you see here
35were sowers of scandal and schism while alive,
and therefore they are split like this.
A devil is back here who hews us
so cruelly, putting each of this ream
again to the cutting edge of the sword,
40when we have turned the grieving road;
because the wounds are closed again
before anyone passes back before him.
Commentary
The cask image, bodily exposure, Mohammed/Ali naming, scandalo e scisma, repeated cutting, and healing-before-recutting mechanics keep division physical, religious, verbal, and political.
XXVIII.22–24 The cask image keeps the split-container metaphor that prepares the canto's bodies, speech, communities, and kinship divisions.
XXVIII.22–24 The cask image keeps the split-container metaphor that prepares the canto's bodies, speech, communities, and kinship divisions. Line 22: The cask image keeps the split-container metaphor that prepares the canto's bodies, speech, communities, and kinship divisions.
XXVIII.22 The cask image keeps the split-container metaphor that prepares the canto's bodies, speech, communities, and kinship divisions. The cask image keeps the split-container metaphor that prepares the canto's bodies, speech, communities, and kinship divisions.
XXVIII.25–27 The crude bodily register follows Dante's direct merda rather than softening the contrapasso into decorum.
XXVIII.25–27 The crude bodily register follows Dante's direct merda rather than softening the contrapasso into decorum. Line 27: The crude bodily register follows Dante's direct merda rather than softening the contrapasso into decorum.
XXVIII.27 The crude bodily register follows Dante's direct merda rather than softening the contrapasso into decorum. The crude bodily register follows Dante's direct merda rather than softening the contrapasso into decorum.
XXVIII.28–30 dilacco is rendered as splitting himself open; the display is both wound and self-display.
XXVIII.28–30 dilacco is rendered as splitting himself open; the display is both wound and self-display. Line 30: dilacco is rendered as splitting himself open; the display is both wound and self-display.
XXVIII.30 dilacco is rendered as splitting himself open; the display is both wound and self-display. dilacco is rendered as splitting himself open; the display is both wound and self-display.
XXVIII.31–33 The translation uses Mohammed for Mäometto, while preserving Dante's medieval placement of him among schismatics.
XXVIII.31–33 The translation uses Mohammed for Mäometto, while preserving Dante's medieval placement of him among schismatics. Line 31: The translation uses Mohammed for Mäometto, while preserving Dante's medieval placement of him among schismatics.
XXVIII.31 The translation uses Mohammed for Mäometto, while preserving Dante's medieval placement of him among schismatics. The translation uses Mohammed for Mäometto, while preserving Dante's medieval placement of him among schismatics.
XXVIII.34–36 scandalo e scisma is kept as scandal and schism; scandal carries offense, stumbling, and division.
XXVIII.34–36 scandalo e scisma is kept as scandal and schism; scandal carries offense, stumbling, and division. Line 35: scandalo e scisma is kept as scandal and schism; scandal carries offense, stumbling, and division.
XXVIII.35 scandalo e scisma is kept as scandal and schism; scandal carries offense, stumbling, and division. scandalo e scisma is kept as scandal and schism; scandal carries offense, stumbling, and division.
XXVIII.37–39 accisma has preparation/equipment pressure as well as cutting; hews keeps the sword action visible.
XXVIII.37–39 accisma has preparation/equipment pressure as well as cutting; hews keeps the sword action visible. Line 37: accisma has preparation/equipment pressure as well as cutting; hews keeps the sword action visible.
XXVIII.37 accisma has preparation/equipment pressure as well as cutting; hews keeps the sword action visible. accisma has preparation/equipment pressure as well as cutting; hews keeps the sword action visible.
Mohammed questions Dante, Virgil explains the living journey, and Mohammed turns the encounter into a warning for Fra Dolcino XXVIII.43–63
43Ma tu chi se’ che ’n su lo scoglio muse,
forse per indugiar d’ire a la pena
45ch’è giudicata in su le tue accuse?».
«Né morte ’l giunse ancor, né colpa ’l mena»,
rispuose ’l mio maestro, «a tormentarlo;
ma per dar lui esperïenza piena,
a me, che morto son, convien menarlo
50per lo ’nferno qua giù di giro in giro;
e quest’ è ver così com’ io ti parlo».
Più fuor di cento che, quando l’udiro,
s’arrestaron nel fosso a riguardarmi
per maraviglia, oblïando il martiro.
55«Or dì a fra Dolcin dunque che s’armi,
tu che forse vedra’ il sole in breve,
s’ello non vuol qui tosto seguitarmi,
sì di vivanda, che stretta di neve
non rechi la vittoria al Noarese,
60ch’altrimenti acquistar non saria leve».
Poi che l’un piè per girsene sospese,
Mäometto mi disse esta parola;
indi a partirsi in terra lo distese.
43But who are you, who stand gaping on the ridge,
perhaps to delay going to the pain
45judged upon your accusations?"
"Neither has death reached him yet, nor does guilt lead him,"
my master answered, "to torment him;
but to give him full experience,
I, who am dead, must lead him
50through Hell down here, from circle to circle;
and this is true as I speak to you."
More than a hundred were there who, when they heard him,
stopped in the ditch to look at me,
from wonder forgetting their torment.
55"Now tell Fra Dolcino, then, to arm himself,
you who perhaps will see the sun before long,
if he does not want soon to follow me here,
with food, so that a press of snow
not bring victory to the Novarese,
60which otherwise would not be easy to win."
After he had lifted one foot to go away,
Mohammed said this word to me;
then, to depart, he set it on the ground.
Commentary
Virgil's explanation of Dante's living journey and Mohammed's Fra Dolcino warning turn especially on the suspended s'armi ... di vivanda construction and the snow/Novarese military context.
XXVIII.55–57 Fra Dolcino's warning depends on a suspended construction: he must arm himself with food against the snow siege.
XXVIII.55–57 Fra Dolcino's warning depends on a suspended construction: he must arm himself with food against the snow siege. Line 55: Fra Dolcino's warning depends on a suspended construction: he must arm himself with food against the snow siege.
XXVIII.55 Fra Dolcino's warning depends on a suspended construction: he must arm himself with food against the snow siege. Fra Dolcino's warning depends on a suspended construction: he must arm himself with food against the snow siege.
XXVIII.58–60 vivanda resolves the delayed object of s'armi; food is the practical weapon in the prophecy.
XXVIII.58–60 vivanda resolves the delayed object of s'armi; food is the practical weapon in the prophecy. Line 58: vivanda resolves the delayed object of s'armi; food is the practical weapon in the prophecy.
XXVIII.58 vivanda resolves the delayed object of s'armi; food is the practical weapon in the prophecy. vivanda resolves the delayed object of s'armi; food is the practical weapon in the prophecy.
Pier da Medicina speaks through a wounded windpipe and prophesies the treacherous drowning of the two best men of Fano XXVIII.64–90
64Un altro, che forata avea la gola
65e tronco ’l naso infin sotto le ciglia,
e non avea mai ch’una orecchia sola,
ristato a riguardar per maraviglia
con li altri, innanzi a li altri aprì la canna,
ch’era di fuor d’ogne parte vermiglia,
70e disse: «O tu cui colpa non condanna
e cu’ io vidi su in terra latina,
se troppa simiglianza non m’inganna,
rimembriti di Pier da Medicina,
se mai torni a veder lo dolce piano
75che da Vercelli a Marcabò dichina.
E fa saper a’ due miglior da Fano,
a messer Guido e anco ad Angiolello,
che, se l’antiveder qui non è vano,
gittati saran fuor di lor vasello
80e mazzerati presso a la Cattolica
per tradimento d’un tiranno fello.
Tra l’isola di Cipri e di Maiolica
non vide mai sì gran fallo Nettuno,
non da pirate, non da gente argolica.
85Quel traditor che vede pur con l’uno,
e tien la terra che tale qui meco
vorrebbe di vedere esser digiuno,
farà venirli a parlamento seco;
poi farà sì, ch’al vento di Focara
90non sarà lor mestier voto né preco».
64Another, who had his throat pierced through
65and his nose cut off up to beneath the brows,
and had no more than one ear only,
having stopped with the others to look in wonder,
opened his windpipe ahead of the others,
which outside was crimson everywhere,
70and said, "O you whom guilt does not condemn
and whom I saw above in Latin land,
if too much likeness does not deceive me,
remember Pier da Medicina,
if you ever return to see the sweet plain
75that slopes down from Vercelli to Marcabo.
And let the two best men of Fano know,
Messer Guido and also Angiolello,
that, if foresight here is not vain,
they will be thrown out of their vessel
80and drowned under stones near Cattolica
through the betrayal of a fierce tyrant.
Between the island of Cyprus and Majorca
Neptune never saw so great a crime,
not from pirates, not from Argive people.
85That traitor who sees with only one eye,
and holds the land that one here with me
would wish his eyes had fasted from seeing,
will make them come to parley with him;
then he will make it so that, from Focara's wind,
90they will need neither vow nor prayer."
Commentary
Pier da Medicina, the Fano victims, Cattolica, Malatestino, the Mediterranean range, and the Focara wind irony appear while the translation stays compact and non-explanatory.
XXVIII.79–81 mazzerati implies drowning under weights or stones, not simply falling from the boat.
XXVIII.79–81 mazzerati implies drowning under weights or stones, not simply falling from the boat. Line 80: mazzerati implies drowning under weights or stones, not simply falling from the boat.
XXVIII.80 mazzerati implies drowning under weights or stones, not simply falling from the boat. mazzerati implies drowning under weights or stones, not simply falling from the boat.
XXVIII.85–87 The one-eyed tyrant is Malatestino; the line keeps the identification implicit. The fasting image in digiuno is preserved as a bitter wish never to have seen the land.
XXVIII.85–87 The one-eyed tyrant is Malatestino; the line keeps the identification implicit. Line 85: The one-eyed tyrant is Malatestino; the line keeps the identification implicit. Line 87: The fasting image in digiuno is preserved as a bitter wish never to have seen the land.
XXVIII.85 The one-eyed tyrant is Malatestino; the line keeps the identification implicit. The one-eyed tyrant is Malatestino; the line keeps the identification implicit.
XXVIII.87 The fasting image in digiuno is preserved as a bitter wish never to have seen the land. The fasting image in digiuno is preserved as a bitter wish never to have seen the land.
XXVIII.88–90 The vow/prayer irony is that the murdered men will not need protection from Focara's wind.
XXVIII.88–90 The vow/prayer irony is that the murdered men will not need protection from Focara's wind. Line 90: The vow/prayer irony is that the murdered men will not need protection from Focara's wind.
XXVIII.90 The vow/prayer irony is that the murdered men will not need protection from Focara's wind. The vow/prayer irony is that the murdered men will not need protection from Focara's wind.
Pier exposes silent Curio and Mosca, showing speech that launched civil war and factional violence now punished by mutilated organs of speech and action XXVIII.91–111
91E io a lui: «Dimostrami e dichiara,
se vuo’ ch’i’ porti sù di te novella,
chi è colui da la veduta amara».
Allor puose la mano a la mascella
95d’un suo compagno e la bocca li aperse,
gridando: «Questi è desso, e non favella.
Questi, scacciato, il dubitar sommerse
in Cesare, affermando che ’l fornito
sempre con danno l’attender sofferse».
100Oh quanto mi pareva sbigottito
con la lingua tagliata ne la strozza
Curïo, ch’a dir fu così ardito!
E un ch’avea l’una e l’altra man mozza,
levando i moncherin per l’aura fosca,
105sì che ’l sangue facea la faccia sozza,
gridò: «Ricordera’ti anche del Mosca,
che disse, lasso!, “Capo ha cosa fatta”,
che fu mal seme per la gente tosca».
E io li aggiunsi: «E morte di tua schiatta»;
110per ch’elli, accumulando duol con duolo,
sen gio come persona trista e matta.
91And I to him: "Show me and explain,
if you want me to carry news of you above,
who is that one with the bitter sight."
Then he put his hand to the jaw
95of one of his companions and opened his mouth,
crying, "This is the one, and he does not speak.
This one, exiled, drowned the doubt
in Caesar, affirming that the ready man
always suffered harm from waiting."
100Oh how bewildered he seemed to me
with his tongue cut in his throat,
Curio, who was so bold to speak!
And one who had both hands cut off,
lifting the stumps through the dark air,
105so that the blood made his face foul,
cried, "You will remember Mosca too,
who said, alas, 'A thing done has an end,'
which was bad seed for the Tuscan people."
And I added to him, "And death for your clan";
110for which, heaping grief on grief,
he went away like a person sorrowful and crazed.
Commentary
Curio and Mosca receive speech-and-action punishments: opened jaws, cut tongue, severed hands, Caesar's drowned doubt, and the Tuscan seed of faction all extend the canto's division motif.
XXVIII.97–99 Curio's speech is reduced to another speaker opening his mouth; his proverb had helped remove Caesar's hesitation.
XXVIII.97–99 Curio's speech is reduced to another speaker opening his mouth; his proverb had helped remove Caesar's hesitation. Line 97: Curio's speech is reduced to another speaker opening his mouth; his proverb had helped remove Caesar's hesitation.
XXVIII.97 Curio's speech is reduced to another speaker opening his mouth; his proverb had helped remove Caesar's hesitation. Curio's speech is reduced to another speaker opening his mouth; his proverb had helped remove Caesar's hesitation.
XXVIII.106–108 Capo ha cosa fatta is rendered proverbially as an end, though the head/end pressure remains. Mosca's counsel is a seed of Tuscan factional violence, not a completed settlement.
XXVIII.106–108 Capo ha cosa fatta is rendered proverbially as an end, though the head/end pressure remains. Line 107: Capo ha cosa fatta is rendered proverbially as an end, though the head/end pressure remains. Line 108: Mosca's counsel is a seed of Tuscan factional violence, not a completed settlement.
XXVIII.107 Capo ha cosa fatta is rendered proverbially as an end, though the head/end pressure remains. Capo ha cosa fatta is rendered proverbially as an end, though the head/end pressure remains.
XXVIII.108 Mosca's counsel is a seed of Tuscan factional violence, not a completed settlement. Mosca's counsel is a seed of Tuscan factional violence, not a completed settlement.
Dante invokes conscience as warrant, then sees the headless Bertran de Born carrying his own head like a lantern XXVIII.112–126
112Ma io rimasi a riguardar lo stuolo,
e vidi cosa ch’io avrei paura,
sanza più prova, di contarla solo;
115se non che coscïenza m’assicura,
la buona compagnia che l’uom francheggia
sotto l’asbergo del sentirsi pura.
Io vidi certo, e ancor par ch’io ’l veggia,
un busto sanza capo andar sì come
120andavan li altri de la trista greggia;
e ’l capo tronco tenea per le chiome,
pesol con mano a guisa di lanterna:
e quel mirava noi e dicea: «Oh me!».
Di sé facea a sé stesso lucerna,
125ed eran due in uno e uno in due;
com’ esser può, quei sa che sì governa.
112But I remained to look at the troop,
and saw a thing that I would fear,
without further proof, even to tell by myself,
115except that conscience reassures me,
the good companion that sets a man free
beneath the hauberk of feeling itself pure.
Certainly I saw, and still it seems I see it,
a trunk without a head going just as
120the others of the sad flock were going;
and it held the severed head by the hair,
dangling in its hand in the manner of a lantern:
and that looked at us and said, "O me!"
Of itself it made a lamp for itself,
125and they were two in one and one in two;
how this can be, He knows who governs so.
Commentary
The conscience passage and the headless body carrying its own head keep the narrator's truth-warrant, the lantern image, and the two-in-one paradox visible.
XXVIII.115–117 francheggia is kept close to freedom language: conscience frees or emboldens the truthful narrator.
XXVIII.115–117 francheggia is kept close to freedom language: conscience frees or emboldens the truthful narrator. Line 116: francheggia is kept close to freedom language: conscience frees or emboldens the truthful narrator.
XXVIII.116 francheggia is kept close to freedom language: conscience frees or emboldens the truthful narrator. francheggia is kept close to freedom language: conscience frees or emboldens the truthful narrator.
XXVIII.121–123 Bertran's severed head makes literal the division of source, speech, sight, and political body.
XXVIII.121–123 Bertran's severed head makes literal the division of source, speech, sight, and political body. Line 121: Bertran's severed head makes literal the division of source, speech, sight, and political body.
XXVIII.121 Bertran's severed head makes literal the division of source, speech, sight, and political body. Bertran's severed head makes literal the division of source, speech, sight, and political body.
XXVIII.124–126 The theological limit is left in the line: only the One who governs can know how two-in-one works.
XXVIII.124–126 The theological limit is left in the line: only the One who governs can know how two-in-one works. Line 126: The theological limit is left in the line: only the One who governs can know how two-in-one works.
XXVIII.126 The theological limit is left in the line: only the One who governs can know how two-in-one works. The theological limit is left in the line: only the One who governs can know how two-in-one works.
Bertran raises his severed head, names his bad counsel to the young king, and explicitly defines the punishment as contrapasso XXVIII.127–142
127Quando diritto al piè del ponte fue,
levò ’l braccio alto con tutta la testa
per appressarne le parole sue,
130che fuoro: «Or vedi la pena molesta,
tu che, spirando, vai veggendo i morti:
vedi s’alcuna è grande come questa.
E perché tu di me novella porti,
sappi ch’i’ son Bertram dal Bornio, quelli
135che diedi al re giovane i ma’ conforti.
Io feci il padre e ’l figlio in sé ribelli;
Achitofèl non fé più d’Absalone
e di Davìd coi malvagi punzelli.
Perch’ io parti’ così giunte persone,
140partito porto il mio cerebro, lasso!,
dal suo principio ch’è in questo troncone.
Così s’osserva in me lo contrapasso».
127When it came straight to the foot of the bridge,
it lifted the arm high with all the head
to bring its words nearer to us,
130which were: "Now see the grievous penalty,
you who, breathing, go seeing the dead:
see if any is as great as this.
And so that you may carry news of me,
know that I am Bertran de Born, the one
135who gave the young king the bad counsels.
I made the father and the son rebel against each other;
Ahithophel did no more with Absalom
and David, with his wicked goads.
Because I parted persons so joined,
140parted I carry my brain, alas,
from its source, which is in this trunk.
Thus the contrapasso is observed in me."
Commentary
Bertran de Born, the young king, father-son rebellion, Ahithophel, wicked goads, divided source, and the explicit contrapasso form the secular-political counterpart to the opening religious schism.
XXVIII.133–135 ma' conforti is rendered as bad counsels to preserve both encouragement and destructive advice.
XXVIII.133–135 ma' conforti is rendered as bad counsels to preserve both encouragement and destructive advice. Line 135: ma' conforti is rendered as bad counsels to preserve both encouragement and destructive advice.
XXVIII.135 ma' conforti is rendered as bad counsels to preserve both encouragement and destructive advice. ma' conforti is rendered as bad counsels to preserve both encouragement and destructive advice.
XXVIII.136–138 Ahithophel supplies the biblical analogue for counsel that divides father and son.
XXVIII.136–138 Ahithophel supplies the biblical analogue for counsel that divides father and son. Line 138: Ahithophel supplies the biblical analogue for counsel that divides father and son.
XXVIII.138 Ahithophel supplies the biblical analogue for counsel that divides father and son. Ahithophel supplies the biblical analogue for counsel that divides father and son.
XXVIII.142 The Italian technical term contrapasso is retained because Dante names the principle explicitly here. The Italian technical term contrapasso is retained because Dante names the principle explicitly here.