Inferno, Canto 30
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
The tenth bolgia intensifies falsification from matter into person, coinage, testimony, and speech. After Athamas and Hecuba frame madness as distorted mind and body, Gianni Schicchi and Myrrha tear through the bolgia as counterfeiters of personhood; Master Adam appears swollen by dropsy, tormented by the memory of Casentino streams and by hatred for the Romena forgers; Potiphar's wife and Sinon expose false witness; then Adam and Sinon sink into an abusive quarrel until Virgil rebukes Dante's base desire to keep listening.
Narrative arc
- Athamas and Hecuba frame madness before the rabid impersonators bite and drag Capocchio
- The Aretine identifies Gianni Schicchi and Myrrha as falsifiers of personhood, sex, inheritance, and legal form
- Dante turns from the rabid shades to Master Adam's lute-shaped body, dropsy, thirst, and disordered proportions
- Master Adam presents his misery through thirst, Casentino water, rigid justice, Romena, and the Baptist's counterfeit florins
- Adam's speech turns from self-pity to vengeance against the Guidi brothers and the three-carat dross in the florins
- Dante asks about the steaming pair, and Adam names Potiphar's wife and Sinon as false witnesses
- Sinon and Master Adam trade blows and taunts, turning false coinage and false testimony into degraded truth-speaking
- Dante is fixed on the quarrel until Virgil's anger, shame, dream-like self-excuse, and the rebuke of base desire restore judgment
Central themes
- identity
- metamorphosis
- false counsel
- division
- falsification
Athamas and Hecuba frame madness before the rabid impersonators bite and drag Capocchio XXX.1–30
1Nel tempo che Iunone era crucciata
per Semelè contra ’l sangue tebano,
come mostrò una e altra fïata,
Atamante divenne tanto insano,
5che veggendo la moglie con due figli
andar carcata da ciascuna mano,
gridò: «Tendiam le reti, sì ch’io pigli
la leonessa e ’ leoncini al varco»;
e poi distese i dispietati artigli,
10prendendo l’un ch’avea nome Learco,
e rotollo e percosselo ad un sasso;
e quella s’annegò con l’altro carco.
E quando la fortuna volse in basso
l’altezza de’ Troian che tutto ardiva,
15sì che ’nsieme col regno il re fu casso,
Ecuba trista, misera e cattiva,
poscia che vide Polissena morta,
e del suo Polidoro in su la riva
del mar si fu la dolorosa accorta,
20forsennata latrò sì come cane;
tanto il dolor le fé la mente torta.
Ma né di Tebe furie né troiane
si vider mäi in alcun tanto crude,
non punger bestie, nonché membra umane,
25quant’ io vidi in due ombre smorte e nude,
che mordendo correvan di quel modo
che ’l porco quando del porcil si schiude.
L’una giunse a Capocchio, e in sul nodo
del collo l’assannò, sì che, tirando,
30grattar li fece il ventre al fondo sodo.
1At the time when Juno was enraged
for Semele against the Theban blood,
as she showed once and again,
Athamas became so insane
5that, seeing his wife with two sons
walking burdened at each hand,
he cried: "Let us stretch the nets, so I may catch
the lioness and her cubs at the pass";
and then he stretched out his pitiless claws,
10taking the one whose name was Learchus,
and whirled him and struck him against a rock;
and she drowned herself with the other burden.
And when Fortune turned downward
the height of the Trojans, which dared all,
15so that, with the kingdom, the king was broken,
Hecuba, sad, wretched, and captive,
after she saw Polyxena dead,
and, on the shore, of her Polydorus
the grieving woman became aware,
20out of her mind, she barked like a dog;
so much had grief twisted her mind.
But neither Theban nor Trojan furies
were ever seen in anyone so cruel,
not in goading beasts, much less human limbs,
25as I saw in two pale and naked shades,
who ran biting in the same way
as a hog when the sty is opened.
One reached Capocchio and, at the knot
of his neck, bit him so that, dragging him,
30it made his belly scrape the solid floor.
Commentary
The Athamas and Hecuba similes carry Ovidian madness and metamorphosis pressure, not decorative myth. The animal sequence moves from lioness/cubs and claws through dog to hog, preparing the rabid impersonators and Capocchio's dragged body.
XXX.4–6 carcata begins a burden field that returns in Ino's altro carco and in the poem's burden motif.
XXX.4–6 carcata begins a burden field that returns in Ino's altro carco and in the poem's burden motif. Line 6: carcata begins a burden field that returns in Ino's altro carco and in the poem's burden motif.
XXX.6 carcata begins a burden field that returns in Ino's altro carco and in the poem's burden motif. carcata begins a burden field that returns in Ino's altro carco and in the poem's burden motif.
XXX.10–12 The line keeps burden for carco, preserving the child, body, and chosen-burden pressure without explaining the myth inside the line.
XXX.10–12 The line keeps burden for carco, preserving the child, body, and chosen-burden pressure without explaining the myth inside the line. Line 12: The line keeps burden for carco, preserving the child, body, and chosen-burden pressure without explaining the myth inside the line.
XXX.12 The line keeps burden for carco, preserving the child, body, and chosen-burden pressure without explaining the myth inside the line. The line keeps burden for carco, preserving the child, body, and chosen-burden pressure without explaining the myth inside the line.
XXX.13–15 Capitalized as personified Fortune, coordinated with the recurring Fortune entry. casso is kept as broken/voided rather than only killed, preserving the collapse of king and polity.
XXX.13–15 Capitalized as personified Fortune, coordinated with the recurring Fortune entry. Line 13: Capitalized as personified Fortune, coordinated with the recurring Fortune entry. Line 15: casso is kept as broken/voided rather than only killed, preserving the collapse of king and polity.
XXX.13 Capitalized as personified Fortune, coordinated with the recurring Fortune entry. Capitalized as personified Fortune, coordinated with the recurring Fortune entry.
XXX.15 casso is kept as broken/voided rather than only killed, preserving the collapse of king and polity. casso is kept as broken/voided rather than only killed, preserving the collapse of king and polity.
XXX.16–18 cattiva is rendered locally as captive to preserve the Trojan war aftermath and enslavement context.
XXX.16–18 cattiva is rendered locally as captive to preserve the Trojan war aftermath and enslavement context. Line 16: cattiva is rendered locally as captive to preserve the Trojan war aftermath and enslavement context.
XXX.16 cattiva is rendered locally as captive to preserve the Trojan war aftermath and enslavement context. cattiva is rendered locally as captive to preserve the Trojan war aftermath and enslavement context.
XXX.19–21 The line keeps mind because the canto's falsifiers repeatedly deform identity, speech, and self-perception.
XXX.19–21 The line keeps mind because the canto's falsifiers repeatedly deform identity, speech, and self-perception. Line 21: The line keeps mind because the canto's falsifiers repeatedly deform identity, speech, and self-perception.
XXX.21 The line keeps mind because the canto's falsifiers repeatedly deform identity, speech, and self-perception. The line keeps mind because the canto's falsifiers repeatedly deform identity, speech, and self-perception.
The Aretine identifies Gianni Schicchi and Myrrha as falsifiers of personhood, sex, inheritance, and legal form XXX.31–45
31E l’Aretin che rimase, tremando
mi disse: «Quel folletto è Gianni Schicchi,
e va rabbioso altrui così conciando».
«Oh», diss’ io lui, «se l’altro non ti ficchi
35li denti a dosso, non ti sia fatica
a dir chi è, pria che di qui si spicchi».
Ed elli a me: «Quell’ è l’anima antica
di Mirra scellerata, che divenne
al padre, fuor del dritto amore, amica.
40Questa a peccar con esso così venne,
falsificando sé in altrui forma,
come l’altro che là sen va, sostenne,
per guadagnar la donna de la torma,
falsificare in sé Buoso Donati,
45testando e dando al testamento norma».
31And the Aretine who remained, trembling,
said to me: "That mad spirit is Gianni Schicchi,
and he goes rabid, handling others so."
"Oh," I said to him, "so may the other not sink
35his teeth into your back, may it be no labor
to tell who he is before he springs away from here."
And he to me: "That is the ancient soul
of wicked Myrrha, who became
her father's lover, outside rightful love.
40She came to sin with him in this way,
by falsifying herself in another's form,
just as the other, who goes away there, dared,
to gain the lady of the herd,
to falsify Buoso Donati in himself,
45making a will and giving the testament legal form."
Commentary
Gianni Schicchi and Myrrha turn on falsified personhood: Myrrha falsifies herself in another form, while Schicchi falsifies Buoso Donati in himself through a testament with legal form. The deliberate awkwardness in line 44 preserves Dante's symmetry.
XXX.31–33 The Aretine is Griffolino, continuing the Inferno XXIX alchemist scene. folletto is rendered by sense and action rather than with a folklore noun that would over-color the line.
XXX.31–33 The Aretine is Griffolino, continuing the Inferno XXIX alchemist scene. Line 31: The Aretine is Griffolino, continuing the Inferno XXIX alchemist scene. Line 32: folletto is rendered by sense and action rather than with a folklore noun that would over-color the line.
XXX.31 The Aretine is Griffolino, continuing the Inferno XXIX alchemist scene. The Aretine is Griffolino, continuing the Inferno XXIX alchemist scene.
XXX.32 folletto is rendered by sense and action rather than with a folklore noun that would over-color the line. folletto is rendered by sense and action rather than with a folklore noun that would over-color the line.
XXX.37–39 The translation keeps rightful love because the canto's sexual impersonation is an error of love and form, not only a legal fraud.
XXX.37–39 The translation keeps rightful love because the canto's sexual impersonation is an error of love and form, not only a legal fraud. Line 39: The translation keeps rightful love because the canto's sexual impersonation is an error of love and form, not only a legal fraud.
XXX.39 The translation keeps rightful love because the canto's sexual impersonation is an error of love and form, not only a legal fraud. The translation keeps rightful love because the canto's sexual impersonation is an error of love and form, not only a legal fraud.
XXX.40–42 The line preserves falsifying herself to keep impersonation inside the broader tenth-bolgia category.
XXX.40–42 The line preserves falsifying herself to keep impersonation inside the broader tenth-bolgia category. Line 41: The line preserves falsifying herself to keep impersonation inside the broader tenth-bolgia category.
XXX.41 The line preserves falsifying herself to keep impersonation inside the broader tenth-bolgia category. The line preserves falsifying herself to keep impersonation inside the broader tenth-bolgia category.
XXX.43–45 donna de la torma is kept compact as lady of the herd, traditionally the prized mare or mule. Awkwardness is intentional: it preserves the antithetical falsificando sé / falsificare in sé symmetr.
XXX.43–45 donna de la torma is kept compact as lady of the herd, traditionally the prized mare or mule. Line 43: donna de la torma is kept compact as lady of the herd, traditionally the prized mare or mule. Line 44: Awkwardness is intentional: it preserves the antithetical falsificando sé / falsificare in sé symmetry.
XXX.43 donna de la torma is kept compact as lady of the herd, traditionally the prized mare or mule. donna de la torma is kept compact as lady of the herd, traditionally the prized mare or mule.
XXX.44 Awkwardness is intentional: it preserves the antithetical falsificando sé / falsificare in sé symmetry. Awkwardness is intentional: it preserves the antithetical falsificando sé / falsificare in sé symmetry.
Dante turns from the rabid shades to Master Adam's lute-shaped body, dropsy, thirst, and disordered proportions XXX.46–57
46E poi che i due rabbiosi fuor passati
sovra cu’ io avea l’occhio tenuto,
rivolsilo a guardar li altri mal nati.
Io vidi un, fatto a guisa di lëuto,
50pur ch’elli avesse avuta l’anguinaia
tronca da l’altro che l’uomo ha forcuto.
La grave idropesì, che sì dispaia
le membra con l’omor che mal converte,
che ’l viso non risponde a la ventraia,
55faceva lui tener le labbra aperte
come l’etico fa, che per la sete
l’un verso ’l mento e l’altro in sù rinverte.
46And after the two rabid ones had passed
on whom I had kept my eye,
I turned it back to look at the other ill-born souls.
I saw one made in the shape of a lute,
50if only he had had the groin
cut off from the other part where man is forked.
The heavy dropsy, which so unpairs
the limbs with the humor it converts badly,
so that the face does not answer to the belly,
55made him hold his lips open
as the consumptive does, who through thirst
turns one toward the chin and the other upward.
Commentary
Master Adam's shape appears through the lute image, groin/fork syntax, heavy dropsy, bad conversion of humor, face-belly disproportion, and unpaired lips so the grotesque body remains medically and musically precise.
XXX.46–48 mal nati is kept as ill-born to preserve the falsified generation/personhood pressure.
XXX.46–48 mal nati is kept as ill-born to preserve the falsified generation/personhood pressure. Line 48: mal nati is kept as ill-born to preserve the falsified generation/personhood pressure.
XXX.48 mal nati is kept as ill-born to preserve the falsified generation/personhood pressure. mal nati is kept as ill-born to preserve the falsified generation/personhood pressure.
XXX.52–54 unpairs keeps Dante's bodily disproportion and harsh technical register.
XXX.52–54 unpairs keeps Dante's bodily disproportion and harsh technical register. Line 52: unpairs keeps Dante's bodily disproportion and harsh technical register.
XXX.52 unpairs keeps Dante's bodily disproportion and harsh technical register. unpairs keeps Dante's bodily disproportion and harsh technical register.
Master Adam presents his misery through thirst, Casentino water, rigid justice, Romena, and the Baptist's counterfeit florins XXX.58–75
58«O voi che sanz’ alcuna pena siete,
e non so io perché, nel mondo gramo»,
60diss’ elli a noi, «guardate e attendete
a la miseria del maestro Adamo;
io ebbi, vivo, assai di quel ch’i’ volli,
e ora, lasso!, un gocciol d’acqua bramo.
Li ruscelletti che d’i verdi colli
65del Casentin discendon giuso in Arno,
faccendo i lor canali freddi e molli,
sempre mi stanno innanzi, e non indarno,
ché l’imagine lor vie più m’asciuga
che ’l male ond’ io nel volto mi discarno.
70La rigida giustizia che mi fruga
tragge cagion del loco ov’ io peccai
a metter più li miei sospiri in fuga.
Ivi è Romena, là dov’ io falsai
la lega suggellata del Batista;
75per ch’io il corpo sù arso lasciai.
58"O you who are without any punishment,
and I do not know why, in the grim world,"
60he said to us, "look and attend
to the misery of Master Adam;
alive, I had plenty of what I wanted,
and now, alas, I crave one drop of water.
The little streams that from the green hills
65of Casentino come down into Arno,
making their channels cool and moist,
stand always before me, and not in vain,
for their image dries me out far more
than the sickness that strips flesh from my face.
70The rigid justice that probes me
draws cause from the place where I sinned
to drive my sighs out all the more.
There is Romena, where I falsified
the alloy sealed with the Baptist;
75for which I left my body burned above.
Commentary
Adam's opening appeal carries biblical lament pressure, Casentino geography, the water-memory torment, rigid justice, Romena, the Baptist's seal, and the coinage/alloy context. The translation keeps the true image of water punishing a maker of false images.
XXX.58–60 The appeal echoes lamentation and spectacle language without expanding the biblical resonance into the line.
XXX.58–60 The appeal echoes lamentation and spectacle language without expanding the biblical resonance into the line. Line 60: The appeal echoes lamentation and spectacle language without expanding the biblical resonance into the line.
XXX.60 The appeal echoes lamentation and spectacle language without expanding the biblical resonance into the line. The appeal echoes lamentation and spectacle language without expanding the biblical resonance into the line.
XXX.61–63 The water craving echoes the Lazarus/rich-man pressure and stays direct.
XXX.61–63 The water craving echoes the Lazarus/rich-man pressure and stays direct. Line 63: The water craving echoes the Lazarus/rich-man pressure and stays direct.
XXX.63 The water craving echoes the Lazarus/rich-man pressure and stays direct. The water craving echoes the Lazarus/rich-man pressure and stays direct.
XXX.67–69 The torment is the true image of water punishing a maker of false images.
XXX.67–69 The torment is the true image of water punishing a maker of false images. Line 68: The torment is the true image of water punishing a maker of false images.
XXX.68 The torment is the true image of water punishing a maker of false images. The torment is the true image of water punishing a maker of false images.
XXX.70–72 rigida giustizia is kept severe and active; probes preserves the internal torment of memory and place.
XXX.70–72 rigida giustizia is kept severe and active; probes preserves the internal torment of memory and place. Line 70: rigida giustizia is kept severe and active; probes preserves the internal torment of memory and place.
XXX.70 rigida giustizia is kept severe and active; probes preserves the internal torment of memory and place. rigida giustizia is kept severe and active; probes preserves the internal torment of memory and place.
XXX.73–75 lega is alloy here, though covenant/social-bond resonance remains; the Baptist seal remains explicit.
XXX.73–75 lega is alloy here, though covenant/social-bond resonance remains; the Baptist seal remains explicit. Line 74: lega is alloy here, though covenant/social-bond resonance remains; the Baptist seal remains explicit.
XXX.74 lega is alloy here, though covenant/social-bond resonance remains; the Baptist seal remains explicit. lega is alloy here, though covenant/social-bond resonance remains; the Baptist seal remains explicit.
Adam's speech turns from self-pity to vengeance against the Guidi brothers and the three-carat dross in the florins XXX.76–90
76Ma s’io vedessi qui l’anima trista
di Guido o d’Alessandro o di lor frate,
per Fonte Branda non darei la vista.
Dentro c’è l’una già, se l’arrabbiate
80ombre che vanno intorno dicon vero;
ma che mi val, c’ho le membra legate?
S’io fossi pur di tanto ancor leggero
ch’i’ potessi in cent’ anni andare un’oncia,
io sarei messo già per lo sentiero,
85cercando lui tra questa gente sconcia,
con tutto ch’ella volge undici miglia,
e men d’un mezzo di traverso non ci ha.
Io son per lor tra sì fatta famiglia;
e’ m’indussero a batter li fiorini
90ch’avevan tre carati di mondiglia».
76But if I saw here the sad soul
of Guido or Alessandro or their brother,
I would not trade that sight for Fonte Branda.
One is already inside, if the rabid
80shades who go around tell the truth;
but what good is that to me, since my limbs are bound?
If I were still only so light
that I could move an inch in a hundred years,
I would already have set out on the path,
85searching for him among this foul people,
although it circles eleven miles
and is not less than half a mile across.
Through them I am among such a family;
they led me to mint the florins
90that had three carats of dross."
Commentary
The turn from self-pity to vengeance keeps Adam's desire to see the Guidi brothers punished morally revealing. Bound, family, mint, and dross were retained for the liga/lega, household, and counterfeit-florin fields.
XXX.76–78 The sight of vengeance is preferred even to water; the line keeps the spring name rather than glossing it.
XXX.76–78 The sight of vengeance is preferred even to water; the line keeps the spring name rather than glossing it. Line 78: The sight of vengeance is preferred even to water; the line keeps the spring name rather than glossing it.
XXX.78 The sight of vengeance is preferred even to water; the line keeps the spring name rather than glossing it. The sight of vengeance is preferred even to water; the line keeps the spring name rather than glossing it.
XXX.79–81 che mi val keeps worth/benefit pressure near the coinage scene; bound also resonates with lega.
XXX.79–81 che mi val keeps worth/benefit pressure near the coinage scene; bound also resonates with lega. Line 81: che mi val keeps worth/benefit pressure near the coinage scene; bound also resonates with lega.
XXX.81 che mi val keeps worth/benefit pressure near the coinage scene; bound also resonates with lega. che mi val keeps worth/benefit pressure near the coinage scene; bound also resonates with lega.
XXX.85–87 The tenth bolgia's scale echoes the measured geography from Inferno XXIX.
XXX.85–87 The tenth bolgia's scale echoes the measured geography from Inferno XXIX. Line 87: The tenth bolgia's scale echoes the measured geography from Inferno XXIX.
XXX.87 The tenth bolgia's scale echoes the measured geography from Inferno XXIX. The tenth bolgia's scale echoes the measured geography from Inferno XXIX.
XXX.88–90 famiglia is retained as family to preserve Adam's social contempt and human-family irony. dross keeps the residue/impurity sense of mondiglia and the technical coinage context.
XXX.88–90 famiglia is retained as family to preserve Adam's social contempt and human-family irony. Line 88: famiglia is retained as family to preserve Adam's social contempt and human-family irony. Line 90: dross keeps the residue/impurity sense of mondiglia and the technical coinage context.
XXX.88 famiglia is retained as family to preserve Adam's social contempt and human-family irony. famiglia is retained as family to preserve Adam's social contempt and human-family irony.
XXX.90 dross keeps the residue/impurity sense of mondiglia and the technical coinage context. dross keeps the residue/impurity sense of mondiglia and the technical coinage context.
Dante asks about the steaming pair, and Adam names Potiphar's wife and Sinon as false witnesses XXX.91–99
91E io a lui: «Chi son li due tapini
che fumman come man bagnate ’l verno,
giacendo stretti a’ tuoi destri confini?».
«Qui li trovai—e poi volta non dierno—»,
95rispuose, «quando piovvi in questo greppo,
e non credo che dieno in sempiterno.
L’una è la falsa ch’accusò Gioseppo;
l’altr’ è ’l falso Sinon greco di Troia:
per febbre aguta gittan tanto leppo».
91And I to him: "Who are the two wretches
who steam like wet hands in winter,
lying close against your right boundary?"
"Here I found them--and since then they have not turned,"
95he answered, "when I rained down into this pit,
and I do not think they will for eternity.
One is the false woman who accused Joseph;
the other is false Sinon, Greek of Troy:
through acute fever they cast out such a stench."
Commentary
Potiphar's wife and Sinon are false-witness figures. Their fever-smoke and stench were kept bodily and connected to false testimony rather than treated as generic illness.
XXX.91–93 boundary keeps the grotesque geography created by Adam's swollen body.
XXX.91–93 boundary keeps the grotesque geography created by Adam's swollen body. Line 93: boundary keeps the grotesque geography created by Adam's swollen body.
XXX.93 boundary keeps the grotesque geography created by Adam's swollen body. boundary keeps the grotesque geography created by Adam's swollen body.
XXX.94–96 piovvi keeps the downward arrival into the bolgia; rocky slope renders greppo locally.
XXX.94–96 piovvi keeps the downward arrival into the bolgia; rocky slope renders greppo locally. Line 95: piovvi keeps the downward arrival into the bolgia; rocky slope renders greppo locally.
XXX.95 piovvi keeps the downward arrival into the bolgia; rocky slope renders greppo locally. piovvi keeps the downward arrival into the bolgia; rocky slope renders greppo locally.
XXX.97–99 leppo is rendered as stench, tying false witness to bodily corruption and Geryon's fraud-stench field.
XXX.97–99 leppo is rendered as stench, tying false witness to bodily corruption and Geryon's fraud-stench field. Line 99: leppo is rendered as stench, tying false witness to bodily corruption and Geryon's fraud-stench field.
XXX.99 leppo is rendered as stench, tying false witness to bodily corruption and Geryon's fraud-stench field. leppo is rendered as stench, tying false witness to bodily corruption and Geryon's fraud-stench field.
Sinon and Master Adam trade blows and taunts, turning false coinage and false testimony into degraded truth-speaking XXX.100–129
100E l’un di lor, che si recò a noia
forse d’esser nomato sì oscuro,
col pugno li percosse l’epa croia.
Quella sonò come fosse un tamburo;
e mastro Adamo li percosse il volto
105col braccio suo, che non parve men duro,
dicendo a lui: «Ancor che mi sia tolto
lo muover per le membra che son gravi,
ho io il braccio a tal mestiere sciolto».
Ond’ ei rispuose: «Quando tu andavi
110al fuoco, non l’avei tu così presto;
ma sì e più l’avei quando coniavi».
E l’idropico: «Tu di’ ver di questo:
ma tu non fosti sì ver testimonio
là ’ve del ver fosti a Troia richesto».
115«S’io dissi falso, e tu falsasti il conio»,
disse Sinon; «e son qui per un fallo,
e tu per più ch’alcun altro demonio!».
«Ricorditi, spergiuro, del cavallo»,
rispuose quel ch’avëa infiata l’epa;
120«e sieti reo che tutto il mondo sallo!».
«E te sia rea la sete onde ti crepa»,
disse ’l Greco, «la lingua, e l’acqua marcia
che ’l ventre innanzi a li occhi sì t’assiepa!».
Allora il monetier: «Così si squarcia
125la bocca tua per tuo mal come suole;
ché, s’i’ ho sete e omor mi rinfarcia,
tu hai l’arsura e ’l capo che ti duole,
e per leccar lo specchio di Narcisso,
non vorresti a ’nvitar molte parole».
100And one of them, who perhaps grew annoyed
at being named so darkly,
struck him with his fist on the hard belly.
It sounded as if it were a drum;
and Master Adam struck him in the face
105with his arm, which seemed no less hard,
saying to him: "Though it has been taken from me
to move, because my limbs are heavy,
I have my arm free for such work."
Then he replied: "When you went
110to the fire, you did not have it so ready;
but you had it so, and more, when you coined."
And the dropsied one: "You speak truth in this;
but you were not so true a witness
there, where you were asked for truth at Troy."
115"If I spoke false, you falsified the coin,"
said Sinon; "and I am here for one fault,
and you for more than any other demon!"
"Remember, perjurer, the horse,"
replied the one whose belly was swollen;
120"and let it hurt you that the whole world knows it!"
"And may the thirst be pain to you, the thirst
that cracks your tongue," said the Greek, "and the rotten water
that fences your belly before your eyes!"
Then the coiner: "So your mouth splits open
125for your own harm, as it usually does;
for if I have thirst and humor stuffs me,
you have burning fever and an aching head,
and to lick the mirror of Narcissus,
you would not want many words of invitation."
Commentary
The flyting between Adam and Sinon keeps the low comic violence without making the English merely slangy. The blows, drum-belly, minting hand, truth/testimony exchange, horse, thirst, fenced belly, and Narcissus mirror form mirrored degradations of speech.
XXX.100–102 epa croia is treated as hard belly/liver in the hydropic body rather than softened to a generic abdomen.
XXX.100–102 epa croia is treated as hard belly/liver in the hydropic body rather than softened to a generic abdomen. Line 102: epa croia is treated as hard belly/liver in the hydropic body rather than softened to a generic abdomen.
XXX.102 epa croia is treated as hard belly/liver in the hydropic body rather than softened to a generic abdomen. epa croia is treated as hard belly/liver in the hydropic body rather than softened to a generic abdomen.
XXX.109–111 The taunt links Adam's blow to the hammering/minting action of his sin.
XXX.109–111 The taunt links Adam's blow to the hammering/minting action of his sin. Line 111: The taunt links Adam's blow to the hammering/minting action of his sin.
XXX.111 The taunt links Adam's blow to the hammering/minting action of his sin. The taunt links Adam's blow to the hammering/minting action of his sin.
XXX.112–114 Truth-language is kept explicit because the quarrel forces falsifiers to speak bitter truths.
XXX.112–114 Truth-language is kept explicit because the quarrel forces falsifiers to speak bitter truths. Line 114: Truth-language is kept explicit because the quarrel forces falsifiers to speak bitter truths.
XXX.114 Truth-language is kept explicit because the quarrel forces falsifiers to speak bitter truths. Truth-language is kept explicit because the quarrel forces falsifiers to speak bitter truths.
XXX.118–120 tutto il mondo is kept as the whole world to preserve the public-memory punishment.
XXX.118–120 tutto il mondo is kept as the whole world to preserve the public-memory punishment. Line 120: tutto il mondo is kept as the whole world to preserve the public-memory punishment.
XXX.120 tutto il mondo is kept as the whole world to preserve the public-memory punishment. tutto il mondo is kept as the whole world to preserve the public-memory punishment.
XXX.121–123 assiepa is rendered as fences, keeping the swollen belly as an obstacle to sight.
XXX.121–123 assiepa is rendered as fences, keeping the swollen belly as an obstacle to sight. Line 123: assiepa is rendered as fences, keeping the swollen belly as an obstacle to sight.
XXX.123 assiepa is rendered as fences, keeping the swollen belly as an obstacle to sight. assiepa is rendered as fences, keeping the swollen belly as an obstacle to sight.
XXX.127–129 Narcissus closes the water-image chain by turning desire, mirror, and self-fixation back on the quarrel.
XXX.127–129 Narcissus closes the water-image chain by turning desire, mirror, and self-fixation back on the quarrel. Line 128: Narcissus closes the water-image chain by turning desire, mirror, and self-fixation back on the quarrel.
XXX.128 Narcissus closes the water-image chain by turning desire, mirror, and self-fixation back on the quarrel. Narcissus closes the water-image chain by turning desire, mirror, and self-fixation back on the quarrel.
Dante is fixed on the quarrel until Virgil's anger, shame, dream-like self-excuse, and the rebuke of base desire restore judgment XXX.130–148
130Ad ascoltarli er’ io del tutto fisso,
quando ’l maestro mi disse: «Or pur mira,
che per poco che teco non mi risso!».
Quand’ io ’l senti’ a me parlar con ira,
volsimi verso lui con tal vergogna,
135ch’ancor per la memoria mi si gira.
Qual è colui che suo dannaggio sogna,
che sognando desidera sognare,
sì che quel ch’è, come non fosse, agogna,
tal mi fec’ io, non possendo parlare,
140che disïava scusarmi, e scusava
me tuttavia, e nol mi credea fare.
«Maggior difetto men vergogna lava»,
disse ’l maestro, «che ’l tuo non è stato;
però d’ogne trestizia ti disgrava.
145E fa ragion ch’io ti sia sempre allato,
se più avvien che fortuna t’accoglia
dove sien genti in simigliante piato:
ché voler ciò udire è bassa voglia».
130I was wholly fixed on listening to them,
when the master said to me: "Now just keep staring,
for I am close to quarreling with you!"
When I heard him speak to me in anger,
I turned toward him with such shame
135that it still circles through my memory.
As one who dreams his own harm,
and, dreaming, wishes he were dreaming,
so that he craves what is as if it were not,
so I became, unable to speak,
140for I desired to excuse myself, and kept excusing
myself all the while, and did not think I did.
"A greater fault is washed by less shame,"
said the master, "than yours has been;
therefore unburden yourself of every sadness.
145And keep in mind that I am always at your side,
if it should happen again that Fortune brings you
where people are in a similar quarrel:
for to want to hear that is a base desire."
Commentary
Virgil's rebuke is a stronger version of the Inferno XXIX gaze correction: Dante's fixed listening becomes a base desire, shame returns him to himself, and Virgil's presence functions as disciplined judgment beside the pilgrim.
XXX.130–132 Dante's fixation repeats the dangerous gaze pattern from Inferno XXIX and now attaches to low comic abuse. mira is rendered as staring to expose Virgil's rebuke of Dante's fascinated looking.
XXX.130–132 Dante's fixation repeats the dangerous gaze pattern from Inferno XXIX and now attaches to low comic abuse. Line 130: Dante's fixation repeats the dangerous gaze pattern from Inferno XXIX and now attaches to low comic abuse. Line 131: mira is rendered as staring to expose Virgil's rebuke of Dante's fascinated looking.
XXX.130 Dante's fixation repeats the dangerous gaze pattern from Inferno XXIX and now attaches to low comic abuse. Dante's fixation repeats the dangerous gaze pattern from Inferno XXIX and now attaches to low comic abuse.
XXX.131 mira is rendered as staring to expose Virgil's rebuke of Dante's fascinated looking. mira is rendered as staring to expose Virgil's rebuke of Dante's fascinated looking.
XXX.133–135 The memory line keeps the narrator's retrospective shame as moral recovery, not only embarrassment.
XXX.133–135 The memory line keeps the narrator's retrospective shame as moral recovery, not only embarrassment. Line 135: The memory line keeps the narrator's retrospective shame as moral recovery, not only embarrassment.
XXX.135 The memory line keeps the narrator's retrospective shame as moral recovery, not only embarrassment. The memory line keeps the narrator's retrospective shame as moral recovery, not only embarrassment.
XXX.136–138 The dream simile converts false perception into self-knowledge; craves keeps desire-language active.
XXX.136–138 The dream simile converts false perception into self-knowledge; craves keeps desire-language active. Line 138: The dream simile converts false perception into self-knowledge; craves keeps desire-language active.
XXX.138 The dream simile converts false perception into self-knowledge; craves keeps desire-language active. The dream simile converts false perception into self-knowledge; craves keeps desire-language active.
XXX.142–144 disgrava is rendered with unburden to preserve the canto's burden vocabulary while avoiding an invented doctrinal gloss.
XXX.142–144 disgrava is rendered with unburden to preserve the canto's burden vocabulary while avoiding an invented doctrinal gloss. Line 144: disgrava is rendered with unburden to preserve the canto's burden vocabulary while avoiding an invented doctrinal gloss.
XXX.144 disgrava is rendered with unburden to preserve the canto's burden vocabulary while avoiding an invented doctrinal gloss. disgrava is rendered with unburden to preserve the canto's burden vocabulary while avoiding an invented doctrinal gloss.
XXX.148 bassa voglia is kept as base desire, tying Dante's listening appetite to the larger education of desire. bassa voglia is kept as base desire, tying Dante's listening appetite to the larger education of desire.