Inferno, Canto 31
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
At the edge of the central well, the same Virgilian speech that wounded Dante with shame now heals him. The poets leave the falsifiers in silence, cross the dim bank, and follow a terrifying horn toward what Dante mistakes for towers. Virgil corrects the optical error: they are giants, half-submerged around the pit. The canto moves from distorted perception into distorted scale, from reason joined to evil will and power into Nimrod's Babel-isolated speech, Ephialtes' chained pride, and Antaeus' fame-hungry usefulness. Antaeus gathers Virgil and Dante into one bundle and lowers them to the bottom where Cocytus and treachery begin.
Narrative arc
- Virgil's rebuke becomes medicine, like Achilles' inherited spear that wounds and heals
- The poets leave the miserable valley in silence and hear a horn more terrible than Roland's
- Dante mistakes giants for towers until Virgil corrects his distant sight before they advance
- Fog clears into fear as the giants tower above the pit and Nature is praised for withdrawing such force from Mars
- Nimrod's meaningless cry, horn, and Babel punishment make language itself fail
- The leftward path reaches chained Ephialtes, whose proud strength shakes like a tower and terrifies Dante
- Virgil petitions Antaeus with epic praise, Cocytus, and the promise of fame through the living pilgrim
- Antaeus gathers both poets, bends like the Garisenda, sets them into the devouring bottom, and rises like a mast
Central themes
- betrayal
- frozen relation
- anti-love
- inversion
- exit
Virgil's rebuke becomes medicine, like Achilles' inherited spear that wounds and heals XXXI.1–6
1Una medesma lingua pria mi morse,
sì che mi tinse l’una e l’altra guancia,
e poi la medicina mi riporse;
così od’ io che solea far la lancia
5d’Achille e del suo padre esser cagione
prima di trista e poi di buona mancia.
1One and the same tongue first bit me,
so that it colored both my cheeks,
and then offered the medicine back to me;
so I hear the lance of Achilles
5and of his father once was the cause
first of a painful, then of a good reward.
Commentary
The opening continues Virgil's Inferno XXX rebuke: corrective speech wounds and heals. The Achilles/Peleus spear allusion was retained as mythic comparison.
XXXI.1–3 The line looks back to Virgil's rebuke at the end of Inferno XXX: speech wounds so that it can heal. The syntax keeps the healer as the same tongue that wounded, matching the canto's discipline of perception and speech.
XXXI.1–3 The line looks back to Virgil's rebuke at the end of Inferno XXX: speech wounds so that it can heal. Line 1: The line looks back to Virgil's rebuke at the end of Inferno XXX: speech wounds so that it can heal. Line 3: The syntax keeps the healer as the same tongue that wounded, matching the canto's discipline of perception and speech.
XXXI.1 The line looks back to Virgil's rebuke at the end of Inferno XXX: speech wounds so that it can heal. The line looks back to Virgil's rebuke at the end of Inferno XXX: speech wounds so that it can heal.
XXXI.3 The syntax keeps the healer as the same tongue that wounded, matching the canto's discipline of perception and speech. The syntax keeps the healer as the same tongue that wounded, matching the canto's discipline of perception and speech.
XXXI.4–6 The mythic reference is to the Pelean spear that could heal the wound it gave.
XXXI.4–6 The mythic reference is to the Pelean spear that could heal the wound it gave. Line 5: The mythic reference is to the Pelean spear that could heal the wound it gave.
XXXI.5 The mythic reference is to the Pelean spear that could heal the wound it gave. The mythic reference is to the Pelean spear that could heal the wound it gave.
The poets leave the miserable valley in silence and hear a horn more terrible than Roland's XXXI.7–18
7Noi demmo il dosso al misero vallone
su per la ripa che ’l cinge dintorno,
attraversando sanza alcun sermone.
10Quiv’ era men che notte e men che giorno,
sì che ’l viso m’andava innanzi poco;
ma io senti’ sonare un alto corno,
tanto ch’avrebbe ogne tuon fatto fioco,
che, contra sé la sua via seguitando,
15dirizzò li occhi miei tutti ad un loco.
Dopo la dolorosa rotta, quando
Carlo Magno perdé la santa gesta,
non sonò sì terribilmente Orlando.
7We turned our backs on the miserable valley,
up along the bank that girds it all around,
crossing over without any speech.
10There it was less than night and less than day,
so that my sight went only a little before me;
but I heard a loud horn sound,
so loud it would have made every thunderclap faint,
so that, following its path back against itself,
15it directed my eyes all to one place.
After the sorrowful rout, when
Charlemagne lost the holy company,
Orlando did not sound so terribly.
Commentary
The silent crossing, dim light, horn path, and Roland allusion keep sound guiding sight while perception remains unreliable. Fioco is faintness of thunder rather than hoarseness.
XXXI.7–9 The silence follows the low quarrel of Inferno XXX and prepares the canto's failure-of-language field.
XXXI.7–9 The silence follows the low quarrel of Inferno XXX and prepares the canto's failure-of-language field. Line 9: The silence follows the low quarrel of Inferno XXX and prepares the canto's failure-of-language field.
XXXI.9 The silence follows the low quarrel of Inferno XXX and prepares the canto's failure-of-language field. The silence follows the low quarrel of Inferno XXX and prepares the canto's failure-of-language field.
XXXI.13–15 fioco is local sound weakness here, not the hoarse speech of earlier cantos. The horn's sound leads Dante's eyes backward along its path, another sight/sound inversion before the tower error.
XXXI.13–15 fioco is local sound weakness here, not the hoarse speech of earlier cantos. Line 13: fioco is local sound weakness here, not the hoarse speech of earlier cantos. Line 14: The horn's sound leads Dante's eyes backward along its path, another sight/sound inversion before the tower error.
XXXI.13 fioco is local sound weakness here, not the hoarse speech of earlier cantos. fioco is local sound weakness here, not the hoarse speech of earlier cantos.
XXXI.14 The horn's sound leads Dante's eyes backward along its path, another sight/sound inversion before the tower error. The horn's sound leads Dante's eyes backward along its path, another sight/sound inversion before the tower error.
XXXI.16–18 Roland and Roncesvalles add a Christian epic counterpoint to the canto's giant and heroic scale.
XXXI.16–18 Roland and Roncesvalles add a Christian epic counterpoint to the canto's giant and heroic scale. Line 17: Roland and Roncesvalles add a Christian epic counterpoint to the canto's giant and heroic scale.
XXXI.17 Roland and Roncesvalles add a Christian epic counterpoint to the canto's giant and heroic scale. Roland and Roncesvalles add a Christian epic counterpoint to the canto's giant and heroic scale.
Dante mistakes giants for towers until Virgil corrects his distant sight before they advance XXXI.19–33
19Poco portäi in là volta la testa,
20che me parve veder molte alte torri;
ond’ io: «Maestro, dì, che terra è questa?».
Ed elli a me: «Però che tu trascorri
per le tenebre troppo da la lungi,
avvien che poi nel maginare abborri.
25Tu vedrai ben, se tu là ti congiungi,
quanto ’l senso s’inganna di lontano;
però alquanto più te stesso pungi».
Poi caramente mi prese per mano
e disse: «Pria che noi siam più avanti,
30acciò che ’l fatto men ti paia strano,
sappi che non son torri, ma giganti,
e son nel pozzo intorno da la ripa
da l’umbilico in giuso tutti quanti».
19I had carried my head that way only a little
20when I seemed to see many high towers;
so I said: “Master, tell me, what city is this?”
And he to me: “Because you range
too far through the darkness from a distance,
it happens that your imagining goes astray.
25You will see well, when you arrive there,
how much sense deceives itself from far away;
therefore spur yourself a little more.”
Then tenderly he took me by the hand
and said: “Before we are farther on,
30so that the fact may seem less strange to you,
know that they are not towers, but giants,
and they are in the well, around the bank,
all of them from the navel downward.”
Commentary
The tower/city error arises from distant sight and imagination rather than ignorance alone. Virgil's hand-taking and correction keep the education of perception active before the giants are named.
XXXI.19–21 The tower error sets up the Montereggioni and Garisenda similes and links pride to distorted perception. terra is rendered locally as city because Dante thinks he sees towers, while the earth/giants field remains acti.
XXXI.19–21 The tower error sets up the Montereggioni and Garisenda similes and links pride to distorted perception. Line 20: The tower error sets up the Montereggioni and Garisenda similes and links pride to distorted perception. Line 21: terra is rendered locally as city because Dante thinks he sees towers, while the earth/giants field remains active in the canto.
XXXI.20 The tower error sets up the Montereggioni and Garisenda similes and links pride to distorted perception. The tower error sets up the Montereggioni and Garisenda similes and links pride to distorted perception.
XXXI.21 terra is rendered locally as city because Dante thinks he sees towers, while the earth/giants field remains active in the canto. terra is rendered locally as city because Dante thinks he sees towers, while the earth/giants field remains active in the canto.
XXXI.25–27 The line is a compact statement of the canto's education of perception.
XXXI.25–27 The line is a compact statement of the canto's education of perception. Line 26: The line is a compact statement of the canto's education of perception.
XXXI.26 The line is a compact statement of the canto's education of perception. The line is a compact statement of the canto's education of perception.
XXXI.31–33 The giants' half-exposed bodies parallel earlier threshold figures and prepare the fully frozen bodies of Cocytus.
XXXI.31–33 The giants' half-exposed bodies parallel earlier threshold figures and prepare the fully frozen bodies of Cocytus. Line 33: The giants' half-exposed bodies parallel earlier threshold figures and prepare the fully frozen bodies of Cocytus.
XXXI.33 The giants' half-exposed bodies parallel earlier threshold figures and prepare the fully frozen bodies of Cocytus. The giants' half-exposed bodies parallel earlier threshold figures and prepare the fully frozen bodies of Cocytus.
Fog clears into fear as the giants tower above the pit and Nature is praised for withdrawing such force from Mars XXXI.34–66
34Come quando la nebbia si dissipa,
35lo sguardo a poco a poco raffigura
ciò che cela ’l vapor che l’aere stipa,
così forando l’aura grossa e scura,
più e più appressando ver’ la sponda,
fuggiemi errore e cresciemi paura;
40però che, come su la cerchia tonda
Montereggion di torri si corona,
così la proda che ’l pozzo circonda
torreggiavan di mezza la persona
li orribili giganti, cui minaccia
45Giove del cielo ancora quando tuona.
E io scorgeva già d’alcun la faccia,
le spalle e ’l petto e del ventre gran parte,
e per le coste giù ambo le braccia.
Natura certo, quando lasciò l’arte
50di sì fatti animali, assai fé bene
per tòrre tali essecutori a Marte.
E s’ella d’elefanti e di balene
non si pente, chi guarda sottilmente,
più giusta e più discreta la ne tene;
55ché dove l’argomento de la mente
s’aggiugne al mal volere e a la possa,
nessun riparo vi può far la gente.
La faccia sua mi parea lunga e grossa
come la pina di San Pietro a Roma,
60e a sua proporzione eran l’altre ossa;
sì che la ripa, ch’era perizoma
dal mezzo in giù, ne mostrava ben tanto
di sovra, che di giugnere a la chioma
tre Frison s’averien dato mal vanto;
65però ch’i’ ne vedea trenta gran palmi
dal loco in giù dov’ omo affibbia ’l manto.
34As when the fog begins to dissipate,
35the gaze little by little makes out
what the vapor crowding the air conceals,
so, piercing the thick and dark atmosphere,
drawing closer and closer toward the edge,
error fled from me and fear grew in me;
40for as, upon its rounded circuit,
Montereggioni crowns itself with towers,
so the rim that circles the well
there towered, from halfway up their persons,
of the horrible giants, whom Jove
45still threatens from heaven when he thunders.
And I already made out the face of one,
the shoulders and chest and a great part of the belly,
and both arms hanging down along the ribs.
Nature surely, when she left the art
50of animals made like these, did very well
to take such executors away from Mars.
And if she does not repent of elephants
and whales, whoever looks with subtlety
holds her more just and more discerning for it;
55for where the reasoning of the mind
is joined to evil will and power,
no defense can the people make against it.
His face seemed to me long and broad,
like Saint Peter's pine cone in Rome,
60and his other bones were in the same proportion;
so that the bank, which was an apron
from the middle down, showed enough of him
above, that to reach his hair
three Frisians would have boasted in vain;
65for I saw thirty great palms of him
down from the place where a man buckles his mantle.
Commentary
The fog simile, Montereggioni, half-exposed bodies, Nature/Mars reflection, argomento de la mente, pine cone, apron, Frisians, and mantle measure work together as one scale-and-pride passage. The translation keeps reason joined to evil will and power as the canto's moral thesis.
XXXI.37–39 Corrected perception does not comfort Dante here; it makes the real danger clearer.
XXXI.37–39 Corrected perception does not comfort Dante here; it makes the real danger clearer. Line 39: Corrected perception does not comfort Dante here; it makes the real danger clearer.
XXXI.39 Corrected perception does not comfort Dante here; it makes the real danger clearer. Corrected perception does not comfort Dante here; it makes the real danger clearer.
XXXI.40–42 The fortress simile keeps civic tower-pride and the earlier city error active.
XXXI.40–42 The fortress simile keeps civic tower-pride and the earlier city error active. Line 41: The fortress simile keeps civic tower-pride and the earlier city error active.
XXXI.41 The fortress simile keeps civic tower-pride and the earlier city error active. The fortress simile keeps civic tower-pride and the earlier city error active.
XXXI.43–45 Classical Jove is left in place, with the poem's providential judgment pressure carried by context rather than substitution.
XXXI.43–45 Classical Jove is left in place, with the poem's providential judgment pressure carried by context rather than substitution. Line 45: Classical Jove is left in place, with the poem's providential judgment pressure carried by context rather than substitution.
XXXI.45 Classical Jove is left in place, with the poem's providential judgment pressure carried by context rather than substitution. Classical Jove is left in place, with the poem's providential judgment pressure carried by context rather than substitution.
XXXI.49–51 arte is retained as craft/art, now applied to Nature's production of bodies rather than human counterfeit or divine punishment. Executors keeps the force of agents who would carry war's violence into action.
XXXI.49–51 arte is retained as craft/art, now applied to Nature's production of bodies rather than human counterfeit or divine punishment. Line 49: arte is retained as craft/art, now applied to Nature's production of bodies rather than human counterfeit or divine punishment. Line 51: Executors keeps the force of agents who would carry war's violence into action.
XXXI.49 arte is retained as craft/art, now applied to Nature's production of bodies rather than human counterfeit or divine punishment. arte is retained as craft/art, now applied to Nature's production of bodies rather than human counterfeit or divine punishment.
XXXI.51 Executors keeps the force of agents who would carry war's violence into action. Executors keeps the force of agents who would carry war's violence into action.
XXXI.55–57 Argomento de la mente is kept as reasoning rather than cleverness so intellect's moral danger remains explicit. This is the canto's moral thesis for gigantic force: intellect, will, and power become indefensible when.
XXXI.55–57 Argomento de la mente is kept as reasoning rather than cleverness so intellect's moral danger remains explicit. Line 55: Argomento de la mente is kept as reasoning rather than cleverness so intellect's moral danger remains explicit. Line 57: This is the canto's moral thesis for gigantic force: intellect, will, and power become indefensible when ordered toward evil.
XXXI.55 Argomento de la mente is kept as reasoning rather than cleverness so intellect's moral danger remains explicit. Argomento de la mente is kept as reasoning rather than cleverness so intellect's moral danger remains explicit.
XXXI.57 This is the canto's moral thesis for gigantic force: intellect, will, and power become indefensible when ordered toward evil. This is the canto's moral thesis for gigantic force: intellect, will, and power become indefensible when ordered toward evil.
XXXI.58–60 The bronze pine cone gives a concrete Roman measure for giant scale without trying to rationalize all lower-Hell measurements.
XXXI.58–60 The bronze pine cone gives a concrete Roman measure for giant scale without trying to rationalize all lower-Hell measurements. Line 59: The bronze pine cone gives a concrete Roman measure for giant scale without trying to rationalize all lower-Hell measurements.
XXXI.59 The bronze pine cone gives a concrete Roman measure for giant scale without trying to rationalize all lower-Hell measurements. The bronze pine cone gives a concrete Roman measure for giant scale without trying to rationalize all lower-Hell measurements.
XXXI.61–63 Perizoma is rendered as apron to preserve the biblical fig-leaf/body-division pressure without expanding the line.
XXXI.61–63 Perizoma is rendered as apron to preserve the biblical fig-leaf/body-division pressure without expanding the line. Line 61: Perizoma is rendered as apron to preserve the biblical fig-leaf/body-division pressure without expanding the line.
XXXI.61 Perizoma is rendered as apron to preserve the biblical fig-leaf/body-division pressure without expanding the line. Perizoma is rendered as apron to preserve the biblical fig-leaf/body-division pressure without expanding the line.
XXXI.64–66 The Frisians are retained as the conventional tall-northern measure in the comparison.
XXXI.64–66 The Frisians are retained as the conventional tall-northern measure in the comparison. Line 64: The Frisians are retained as the conventional tall-northern measure in the comparison.
XXXI.64 The Frisians are retained as the conventional tall-northern measure in the comparison. The Frisians are retained as the conventional tall-northern measure in the comparison.
Nimrod's meaningless cry, horn, and Babel punishment make language itself fail XXXI.67–81
67«Raphèl maì amècche zabì almi»,
cominciò a gridar la fiera bocca,
cui non si convenia più dolci salmi.
70E ’l duca mio ver’ lui: «Anima sciocca,
tienti col corno, e con quel ti disfoga
quand’ ira o altra passïon ti tocca!
Cércati al collo, e troverai la soga
che ’l tien legato, o anima confusa,
75e vedi lui che ’l gran petto ti doga».
Poi disse a me: «Elli stessi s’accusa;
questi è Nembrotto per lo cui mal coto
pur un linguaggio nel mondo non s’usa.
Lasciànlo stare e non parliamo a vòto;
80ché così è a lui ciascun linguaggio
come ’l suo ad altrui, ch’a nullo è noto».
67“Raphèl maì amècche zabì almi,”
the savage mouth began to shout,
for which no sweeter psalms were fitting.
70And my guide, toward him: “Foolish soul,
keep to your horn, and with that vent yourself
when anger or some other passion touches you!
Search at your neck, and you will find the rope
that holds it fast, O confused soul,
75and see it banding your great chest.”
Then he said to me: “He accuses himself;
this is Nimrod, through whose evil thought
one sole language is no longer used in the world.
Let us leave him be, and not speak in vain;
80for every language is to him
as his is to others: known to none.”
Commentary
Nimrod's cry is left undeciphered. Babel punishment appears as mutual unintelligibility: he accuses himself, but no shared language can remain.
XXXI.67–69 Nimrod's words are left as unreadable sound; the point is not decipherment but Babel-isolated speech. The psalm contrast keeps ordered communal song against Babel confusion.
XXXI.67–69 Nimrod's words are left as unreadable sound; the point is not decipherment but Babel-isolated speech. Line 67: Nimrod's words are left as unreadable sound; the point is not decipherment but Babel-isolated speech. Line 69: The psalm contrast keeps ordered communal song against Babel confusion.
XXXI.67 Nimrod's words are left as unreadable sound; the point is not decipherment but Babel-isolated speech. Nimrod's words are left as unreadable sound; the point is not decipherment but Babel-isolated speech.
XXXI.69 The psalm contrast keeps ordered communal song against Babel confusion. The psalm contrast keeps ordered communal song against Babel confusion.
XXXI.70–72 Virgil reduces Nimrod's expression to passion rather than intelligible speech.
XXXI.70–72 Virgil reduces Nimrod's expression to passion rather than intelligible speech. Line 72: Virgil reduces Nimrod's expression to passion rather than intelligible speech.
XXXI.72 Virgil reduces Nimrod's expression to passion rather than intelligible speech. Virgil reduces Nimrod's expression to passion rather than intelligible speech.
XXXI.73–75 Doga is rendered as banding across the chest, keeping the barrel-stave/strap image.
XXXI.73–75 Doga is rendered as banding across the chest, keeping the barrel-stave/strap image. Line 75: Doga is rendered as banding across the chest, keeping the barrel-stave/strap image.
XXXI.75 Doga is rendered as banding across the chest, keeping the barrel-stave/strap image. Doga is rendered as banding across the chest, keeping the barrel-stave/strap image.
XXXI.76–78 The conventional English name is used while the source line's Nembrotto remains visible. The Babel punishment is stated as the loss of shared language, not merely Nimrod's private incoherence.
XXXI.76–78 The conventional English name is used while the source line's Nembrotto remains visible. Line 77: The conventional English name is used while the source line's Nembrotto remains visible. Line 78: The Babel punishment is stated as the loss of shared language, not merely Nimrod's private incoherence.
XXXI.77 The conventional English name is used while the source line's Nembrotto remains visible. The conventional English name is used while the source line's Nembrotto remains visible.
XXXI.78 The Babel punishment is stated as the loss of shared language, not merely Nimrod's private incoherence. The Babel punishment is stated as the loss of shared language, not merely Nimrod's private incoherence.
XXXI.79–81 The chiasm of mutual unintelligibility seals Nimrod off from both receiving and giving speech.
XXXI.79–81 The chiasm of mutual unintelligibility seals Nimrod off from both receiving and giving speech. Line 81: The chiasm of mutual unintelligibility seals Nimrod off from both receiving and giving speech.
XXXI.81 The chiasm of mutual unintelligibility seals Nimrod off from both receiving and giving speech. The chiasm of mutual unintelligibility seals Nimrod off from both receiving and giving speech.
The leftward path reaches chained Ephialtes, whose proud strength shakes like a tower and terrifies Dante XXXI.82–111
82Facemmo adunque più lungo vïaggio,
vòlti a sinistra; e al trar d’un balestro
trovammo l’altro assai più fero e maggio.
85A cigner lui qual che fosse ’l maestro,
non so io dir, ma el tenea soccinto
dinanzi l’altro e dietro il braccio destro
d’una catena che ’l tenea avvinto
dal collo in giù, sì che ’n su lo scoperto
90si ravvolgëa infino al giro quinto.
«Questo superbo volle esser esperto
di sua potenza contra ’l sommo Giove»,
disse ’l mio duca, «ond’ elli ha cotal merto.
Fïalte ha nome, e fece le gran prove
95quando i giganti fer paura a’ dèi;
le braccia ch’el menò, già mai non move».
E io a lui: «S’esser puote, io vorrei
che de lo smisurato Brïareo
esperïenza avesser li occhi mei».
100Ond’ ei rispuose: «Tu vedrai Anteo
presso di qui che parla ed è disciolto,
che ne porrà nel fondo d’ogne reo.
Quel che tu vuo’ veder, più là è molto
ed è legato e fatto come questo,
105salvo che più feroce par nel volto».
Non fu tremoto già tanto rubesto,
che scotesse una torre così forte,
come Fïalte a scuotersi fu presto.
Allor temett’ io più che mai la morte,
110e non v’era mestier più che la dotta,
s’io non avessi viste le ritorte.
82So we made a longer journey,
turned to the left; and at a crossbow's range
we found the other, much fiercer and larger.
85Whoever was the master that bound him,
I cannot say, but he held him strapped
with the other arm in front and the right behind,
by a chain that held him fastened
from the neck down, so that on what was exposed
90it wound around as far as the fifth coil.
“This proud one wanted to make trial
of his power against supreme Jove,”
my guide said, “and so he has such reward.
Ephialtes is his name, and he did his mighty deeds
95when the giants made the gods afraid;
the arms he wielded, he never moves again.”
And I to him: “If it can be, I would wish
that of the measureless Briareus
my eyes might have experience.”
100So he replied: “You will see Antaeus
near here, who speaks and is unbound,
and he will set us in the bottom of every evil.
The one you want to see is much farther on
and is bound and made like this one,
105except that he seems fiercer in the face.”
No earthquake was ever so fierce
that it shook a tower so violently
as Ephialtes was quick to shake himself.
Then I feared death more than ever,
110and nothing more than the fright would have been needed,
if I had not seen the bonds.
Commentary
The leftward journey to Ephialtes carries the binding syntax, proud trial against Jove, Briareus contrast, tower-shaking earthquake, and Dante's death-fear relieved only by visible bonds.
XXXI.82–84 The leftward movement continues the tracked directional pattern in lower Hell.
XXXI.82–84 The leftward movement continues the tracked directional pattern in lower Hell. Line 83: The leftward movement continues the tracked directional pattern in lower Hell.
XXXI.83 The leftward movement continues the tracked directional pattern in lower Hell. The leftward movement continues the tracked directional pattern in lower Hell.
XXXI.85–87 The unnamed binder is left unnamed, as in the Italian; the binding may be divine or angelic.
XXXI.85–87 The unnamed binder is left unnamed, as in the Italian; the binding may be divine or angelic. Line 85: The unnamed binder is left unnamed, as in the Italian; the binding may be divine or angelic.
XXXI.85 The unnamed binder is left unnamed, as in the Italian; the binding may be divine or angelic. The unnamed binder is left unnamed, as in the Italian; the binding may be divine or angelic.
XXXI.91–93 Superbo makes giant pride explicit and aligns Ephialtes with the tower/pride field. Reward is ironic desert: the giant's own chosen measure returns as confinement.
XXXI.91–93 Superbo makes giant pride explicit and aligns Ephialtes with the tower/pride field. Line 91: Superbo makes giant pride explicit and aligns Ephialtes with the tower/pride field. Line 93: Reward is ironic desert: the giant's own chosen measure returns as confinement.
XXXI.91 Superbo makes giant pride explicit and aligns Ephialtes with the tower/pride field. Superbo makes giant pride explicit and aligns Ephialtes with the tower/pride field.
XXXI.93 Reward is ironic desert: the giant's own chosen measure returns as confinement. Reward is ironic desert: the giant's own chosen measure returns as confinement.
XXXI.94–96 The punishment fixes the exact instrument of rebellion.
XXXI.94–96 The punishment fixes the exact instrument of rebellion. Line 96: The punishment fixes the exact instrument of rebellion.
XXXI.96 The punishment fixes the exact instrument of rebellion. The punishment fixes the exact instrument of rebellion.
XXXI.97–99 Smisurato keeps measure/excess pressure around gigantic scale. The unusual phrasing keeps Dante's desire to verify by sight inside the canto's perception training.
XXXI.97–99 Smisurato keeps measure/excess pressure around gigantic scale. Line 98: Smisurato keeps measure/excess pressure around gigantic scale. Line 99: The unusual phrasing keeps Dante's desire to verify by sight inside the canto's perception training.
XXXI.98 Smisurato keeps measure/excess pressure around gigantic scale. Smisurato keeps measure/excess pressure around gigantic scale.
XXXI.99 The unusual phrasing keeps Dante's desire to verify by sight inside the canto's perception training. The unusual phrasing keeps Dante's desire to verify by sight inside the canto's perception training.
XXXI.100–102 Antaeus can speak and is unbound because he is useful to the journey, not because he is morally free. The phrase points into Cocytus and treachery without yet naming the subdivisions.
XXXI.100–102 Antaeus can speak and is unbound because he is useful to the journey, not because he is morally free. Line 101: Antaeus can speak and is unbound because he is useful to the journey, not because he is morally free. Line 102: The phrase points into Cocytus and treachery without yet naming the subdivisions.
XXXI.101 Antaeus can speak and is unbound because he is useful to the journey, not because he is morally free. Antaeus can speak and is unbound because he is useful to the journey, not because he is morally free.
XXXI.102 The phrase points into Cocytus and treachery without yet naming the subdivisions. The phrase points into Cocytus and treachery without yet naming the subdivisions.
XXXI.106–108 The tower comparison returns at the moment when Ephialtes' bound force makes the earlier error dangerous again.
XXXI.106–108 The tower comparison returns at the moment when Ephialtes' bound force makes the earlier error dangerous again. Line 107: The tower comparison returns at the moment when Ephialtes' bound force makes the earlier error dangerous again.
XXXI.107 The tower comparison returns at the moment when Ephialtes' bound force makes the earlier error dangerous again. The tower comparison returns at the moment when Ephialtes' bound force makes the earlier error dangerous again.
XXXI.109–111 The line is treated as fear sufficient to kill, in keeping with the surrounding syntax.
XXXI.109–111 The line is treated as fear sufficient to kill, in keeping with the surrounding syntax. Line 110: The line is treated as fear sufficient to kill, in keeping with the surrounding syntax.
XXXI.110 The line is treated as fear sufficient to kill, in keeping with the surrounding syntax. The line is treated as fear sufficient to kill, in keeping with the surrounding syntax.
Virgil petitions Antaeus with epic praise, Cocytus, and the promise of fame through the living pilgrim XXXI.112–129
112Noi procedemmo più avante allotta,
e venimmo ad Anteo, che ben cinque alle,
sanza la testa, uscia fuor de la grotta.
115«O tu che ne la fortunata valle
che fece Scipïon di gloria reda,
quand’ Anibàl co’ suoi diede le spalle,
recasti già mille leon per preda,
e che, se fossi stato a l’alta guerra
120de’ tuoi fratelli, ancor par che si creda
ch’avrebber vinto i figli de la terra:
mettine giù, e non ten vegna schifo,
dove Cocito la freddura serra.
Non ci fare ire a Tizio né a Tifo:
125questi può dar di quel che qui si brama;
però ti china e non torcer lo grifo.
Ancor ti può nel mondo render fama,
ch’el vive, e lunga vita ancor aspetta
se ’nnanzi tempo grazia a sé nol chiama».
112Then we went on farther,
and came to Antaeus, who, a full five ells,
not counting the head, emerged from the cave.
115“O you who in the fortunate valley
that made Scipio heir of glory,
when Hannibal and his men turned their backs,
once carried off a thousand lions as prey,
and who, if you had been at the high war
120of your brothers, it still seems believed
that the sons of earth would have won:
put us down, and do not scorn it,
where the cold locks Cocytus.
Do not make us go to Tityus or Typhon:
125this man can give what is longed for here;
therefore bend down and do not twist your snout.
He can still give you fame in the world,
for he lives, and still expects long life,
if grace does not call him to itself before his time.”
Commentary
Virgil's speech to Antaeus is formal praise and tactical bargaining, not reverence. Zama, Scipio, Hannibal, lions, the sons of earth, Cocytus, Tityus, Typhon, fame, and grace carry the speech's compression and tone.
XXXI.115–117 Virgil begins an aretalogical praise-petition, tactically flattering Antaeus rather than arguing theology. The Zama allusion joins Roman history to the Antaeus/Hercules tradition.
XXXI.115–117 Virgil begins an aretalogical praise-petition, tactically flattering Antaeus rather than arguing theology. Line 115: Virgil begins an aretalogical praise-petition, tactically flattering Antaeus rather than arguing theology. Line 117: The Zama allusion joins Roman history to the Antaeus/Hercules tradition.
XXXI.115 Virgil begins an aretalogical praise-petition, tactically flattering Antaeus rather than arguing theology. Virgil begins an aretalogical praise-petition, tactically flattering Antaeus rather than arguing theology.
XXXI.117 The Zama allusion joins Roman history to the Antaeus/Hercules tradition. The Zama allusion joins Roman history to the Antaeus/Hercules tradition.
XXXI.121–123 The earth-born giants continue the terra field opened by Dante's mistaken question at line 21. This is the immediate handoff from Malebolge into the frozen lake of treachery.
XXXI.121–123 The earth-born giants continue the terra field opened by Dante's mistaken question at line 21. Line 121: The earth-born giants continue the terra field opened by Dante's mistaken question at line 21. Line 123: This is the immediate handoff from Malebolge into the frozen lake of treachery.
XXXI.121 The earth-born giants continue the terra field opened by Dante's mistaken question at line 21. The earth-born giants continue the terra field opened by Dante's mistaken question at line 21.
XXXI.123 This is the immediate handoff from Malebolge into the frozen lake of treachery. This is the immediate handoff from Malebolge into the frozen lake of treachery.
XXXI.124–126 The unnamed object is fame: Virgil leverages Antaeus' appetite for earthly remembrance.
XXXI.124–126 The unnamed object is fame: Virgil leverages Antaeus' appetite for earthly remembrance. Line 125: The unnamed object is fame: Virgil leverages Antaeus' appetite for earthly remembrance.
XXXI.125 The unnamed object is fame: Virgil leverages Antaeus' appetite for earthly remembrance. The unnamed object is fame: Virgil leverages Antaeus' appetite for earthly remembrance.
XXXI.127–129 Fame is not salvific here; it is a tactical currency Virgil spends through Dante's future poem. The conditional keeps Dante's living future under grace rather than autonomous expectation.
XXXI.127–129 Fame is not salvific here; it is a tactical currency Virgil spends through Dante's future poem. Line 127: Fame is not salvific here; it is a tactical currency Virgil spends through Dante's future poem. Line 129: The conditional keeps Dante's living future under grace rather than autonomous expectation.
XXXI.127 Fame is not salvific here; it is a tactical currency Virgil spends through Dante's future poem. Fame is not salvific here; it is a tactical currency Virgil spends through Dante's future poem.
XXXI.129 The conditional keeps Dante's living future under grace rather than autonomous expectation. The conditional keeps Dante's living future under grace rather than autonomous expectation.
Antaeus gathers both poets, bends like the Garisenda, sets them into the devouring bottom, and rises like a mast XXXI.130–145
130Così disse ’l maestro; e quelli in fretta
le man distese, e prese ’l duca mio,
ond’ Ercule sentì già grande stretta.
Virgilio, quando prender si sentio,
disse a me: «Fatti qua, sì ch’io ti prenda»;
135poi fece sì ch’un fascio era elli e io.
Qual pare a riguardar la Carisenda
sotto ’l chinato, quando un nuvol vada
sovr’ essa sì, ched ella incontro penda:
tal parve Antëo a me che stava a bada
140di vederlo chinare, e fu tal ora
ch’i’ avrei voluto ir per altra strada.
Ma lievemente al fondo che divora
Lucifero con Giuda, ci sposò;
né, sì chinato, lì fece dimora,
145e come albero in nave si levò.
130So spoke the master; and he in haste
stretched out his hands and took my guide,
with which Hercules once felt a great grip.
Virgil, when he felt himself taken,
said to me: “Come here, so that I may take you”;
135then he made himself and me one bundle.
As the Garisenda appears when seen
from beneath the leaning side, when a cloud goes
over it so that it seems to lean against it:
so Antaeus seemed to me as I stood intent
140on seeing him bend; and this was such an hour
that I would have wanted to go by another road.
But lightly, at the bottom that devours
Lucifer with Judas, he set us down;
nor, so bent over, did he linger there,
145but like a mast in a ship, he rose.
Commentary
The final lowering draws on Hercules, fascio, the Garisenda optical simile, the other-road recoil, Lucifer/Judas, and the mast image. The passage completes the canto's tower/giant/ship-pride verticality while delivering the poets into the frozen bottom.
XXXI.130–132 The Hercules echo tests the living pilgrim against heroic force while keeping Antaeus subordinate to the journey.
XXXI.130–132 The Hercules echo tests the living pilgrim against heroic force while keeping Antaeus subordinate to the journey. Line 132: The Hercules echo tests the living pilgrim against heroic force while keeping Antaeus subordinate to the journey.
XXXI.132 The Hercules echo tests the living pilgrim against heroic force while keeping Antaeus subordinate to the journey. The Hercules echo tests the living pilgrim against heroic force while keeping Antaeus subordinate to the journey.
XXXI.133–135 Fascio is kept as bundle: Virgil literally gathers the pilgrim into the descent's burden.
XXXI.133–135 Fascio is kept as bundle: Virgil literally gathers the pilgrim into the descent's burden. Line 135: Fascio is kept as bundle: Virgil literally gathers the pilgrim into the descent's burden.
XXXI.135 Fascio is kept as bundle: Virgil literally gathers the pilgrim into the descent's burden. Fascio is kept as bundle: Virgil literally gathers the pilgrim into the descent's burden.
XXXI.136–138 Carisenda is the Garisenda tower of Bologna; the tower image completes the canto's misperception and pride arc.
XXXI.136–138 Carisenda is the Garisenda tower of Bologna; the tower image completes the canto's misperception and pride arc. Line 136: Carisenda is the Garisenda tower of Bologna; the tower image completes the canto's misperception and pride arc.
XXXI.136 Carisenda is the Garisenda tower of Bologna; the tower image completes the canto's misperception and pride arc. Carisenda is the Garisenda tower of Bologna; the tower image completes the canto's misperception and pride arc.
XXXI.139–141 The path language marks Dante's recoil even as the necessary descent continues.
XXXI.139–141 The path language marks Dante's recoil even as the necessary descent continues. Line 141: The path language marks Dante's recoil even as the necessary descent continues.
XXXI.141 The path language marks Dante's recoil even as the necessary descent continues. The path language marks Dante's recoil even as the necessary descent continues.
XXXI.142–144 The line names the final center before the narrative has visually reached Lucifer, tightening the threshold into Cocytus.
XXXI.142–144 The line names the final center before the narrative has visually reached Lucifer, tightening the threshold into Cocytus. Line 143: The line names the final center before the narrative has visually reached Lucifer, tightening the threshold into Cocytus.
XXXI.143 The line names the final center before the narrative has visually reached Lucifer, tightening the threshold into Cocytus. The line names the final center before the narrative has visually reached Lucifer, tightening the threshold into Cocytus.
XXXI.145 The ship-mast image gives the last giant a proud verticality even after his service to the descent. The ship-mast image gives the last giant a proud verticality even after his service to the descent.