Inferno, Canto 33
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Ugolino lifts his mouth from Ruggieri's skull and renews the grief of his prison, dream, locked tower, starving children, and final hunger, after which the poet denounces Pisa. The poets pass deeper into Cocytus, where Ptolomea's traitors to guests lie on their backs with frozen tears sealing their eyes. Brother Alberigo explains the living-body demon claim and names Branca Doria, then Dante refuses to clear his eyes and closes the canto by denouncing Genoa.
Narrative arc
- Ugolino lifts his mouth from Ruggieri's skull and agrees to renew grief so his words can bear infamy
- The Hunger Tower and prophetic wolf dream set up the locked-door death of Ugolino's children
- Ugolino recounts the sealed tower, his stony silence, the children's offer, their deaths, and hunger's final power
- Ugolino returns to gnawing Ruggieri and the poet curses Pisa for punishing the children
- The poets enter Ptolomea, where frozen tears block the eyes and Dante feels the wind of the final pit
- Brother Alberigo asks for his eyes to be cleared, names himself, and explains Ptolomea's living-body demon punishment
- Branca Doria's living damnation, Dante's refusal to clear Alberigo's eyes, and the denunciation of Genoa close the canto
Central themes
- betrayal
- frozen relation
- anti-love
- inversion
- exit
Ugolino lifts his mouth from Ruggieri's skull and agrees to renew grief so his words can bear infamy XXXIII.1–21
1La bocca sollevò dal fiero pasto
quel peccator, forbendola a’ capelli
del capo ch’elli avea di retro guasto.
Poi cominciò: «Tu vuo’ ch’io rinovelli
5disperato dolor che ’l cor mi preme
già pur pensando, pria ch’io ne favelli.
Ma se le mie parole esser dien seme
che frutti infamia al traditor ch’i’ rodo,
parlar e lagrimar vedrai insieme.
10Io non so chi tu se’ né per che modo
venuto se’ qua giù; ma fiorentino
mi sembri veramente quand’ io t’odo.
Tu dei saper ch’i’ fui conte Ugolino,
e questi è l’arcivescovo Ruggieri:
15or ti dirò perché i son tal vicino.
Che per l’effetto de’ suo’ mai pensieri,
fidandomi di lui, io fossi preso
e poscia morto, dir non è mestieri;
però quel che non puoi avere inteso,
20cioè come la morte mia fu cruda,
udirai, e saprai s’e’ m’ha offeso.
1That sinner lifted his mouth from the savage meal,
wiping it on the hair
of the head he had ruined from behind.
Then he began: "You want me to renew
5the desperate grief that presses on my heart
even merely thinking of it, before I speak.
But if my words are to be seed
that bears infamy for the traitor I gnaw,
you will see me speak and weep together.
10I do not know who you are, nor by what way
you have come down here; but Florentine
you truly seem to me when I hear you.
You must know that I was Count Ugolino,
and this is Archbishop Ruggieri:
15now I will tell you why I am such a neighbor to him.
How, through the outcome of his evil designs,
trusting him, I was taken
and afterward killed need not be said;
but what you cannot have heard,
20that is, how cruel my death was,
you shall hear, and you shall know whether he wronged me.
Commentary
Ugolino's opening turns on renewed grief, seed/fruit infamy, Florentine speech recognition, and neighbor language. The translation keeps the Aeneid pressure and rhetorical self-presentation available without becoming commentary.
XXXIII.1–3 Fiero pasto keeps the bestial violence of the skull-gnawing handoff from Inferno XXXII.
XXXIII.1–3 Fiero pasto keeps the bestial violence of the skull-gnawing handoff from Inferno XXXII. Line 1: Fiero pasto keeps the bestial violence of the skull-gnawing handoff from Inferno XXXII.
XXXIII.1 Fiero pasto keeps the bestial violence of the skull-gnawing handoff from Inferno XXXII. Fiero pasto keeps the bestial violence of the skull-gnawing handoff from Inferno XXXII.
XXXIII.4–6 Rinovelli carries the Aeneid echo of renewing grief, but the line stays direct rather than explanatory.
XXXIII.4–6 Rinovelli carries the Aeneid echo of renewing grief, but the line stays direct rather than explanatory. Line 4: Rinovelli carries the Aeneid echo of renewing grief, but the line stays direct rather than explanatory.
XXXIII.4 Rinovelli carries the Aeneid echo of renewing grief, but the line stays direct rather than explanatory. Rinovelli carries the Aeneid echo of renewing grief, but the line stays direct rather than explanatory.
XXXIII.7–9 The seed/fruit image anticipates Alberigo's bad orchard and the canto's exposed failures of hospitality and kinship.
XXXIII.7–9 The seed/fruit image anticipates Alberigo's bad orchard and the canto's exposed failures of hospitality and kinship. Line 8: The seed/fruit image anticipates Alberigo's bad orchard and the canto's exposed failures of hospitality and kinship.
XXXIII.8 The seed/fruit image anticipates Alberigo's bad orchard and the canto's exposed failures of hospitality and kinship. The seed/fruit image anticipates Alberigo's bad orchard and the canto's exposed failures of hospitality and kinship.
XXXIII.10–12 Speech recognition continues the Inferno X and XXVII motif: accent identifies, authorizes, and exposes.
XXXIII.10–12 Speech recognition continues the Inferno X and XXVII motif: accent identifies, authorizes, and exposes. Line 12: Speech recognition continues the Inferno X and XXVII motif: accent identifies, authorizes, and exposes.
XXXIII.12 Speech recognition continues the Inferno X and XXVII motif: accent identifies, authorizes, and exposes. Speech recognition continues the Inferno X and XXVII motif: accent identifies, authorizes, and exposes.
XXXIII.13–15 Vicino keeps social-neighbor language under treacherous hatred.
XXXIII.13–15 Vicino keeps social-neighbor language under treacherous hatred. Line 15: Vicino keeps social-neighbor language under treacherous hatred.
XXXIII.15 Vicino keeps social-neighbor language under treacherous hatred. Vicino keeps social-neighbor language under treacherous hatred.
XXXIII.19–21 Offeso remains juridical and relational; Ugolino asks the story itself to prove injury.
XXXIII.19–21 Offeso remains juridical and relational; Ugolino asks the story itself to prove injury. Line 21: Offeso remains juridical and relational; Ugolino asks the story itself to prove injury.
XXXIII.21 Offeso remains juridical and relational; Ugolino asks the story itself to prove injury. Offeso remains juridical and relational; Ugolino asks the story itself to prove injury.
The Hunger Tower and prophetic wolf dream set up the locked-door death of Ugolino's children XXXIII.22–39
22Breve pertugio dentro da la Muda,
la qual per me ha ’l titol de la fame,
e che conviene ancor ch’altrui si chiuda,
25m’avea mostrato per lo suo forame
più lune già, quand’ io feci ’l mal sonno
che del futuro mi squarciò ’l velame.
Questi pareva a me maestro e donno,
cacciando il lupo e ’ lupicini al monte
30per che i Pisan veder Lucca non ponno.
Con cagne magre, studïose e conte
Gualandi con Sismondi e con Lanfranchi
s’avea messi dinanzi da la fronte.
In picciol corso mi parieno stanchi
35lo padre e ’ figli, e con l’agute scane
mi parea lor veder fender li fianchi.
Quando fui desto innanzi la dimane,
pianger senti’ fra ’l sonno i miei figliuoli
ch’eran con meco, e dimandar del pane.
22A narrow opening inside the Muda,
which because of me bears the title of Hunger,
and where others still must be shut in,
25had shown me through its hole
many moons already, when I dreamed the bad dream
that tore the veil of the future for me.
This man seemed to me master and lord,
hunting the wolf and the little wolves on the mountain
30because of which the Pisans cannot see Lucca.
With lean, eager, and trained hounds,
Gualandi with Sismondi and Lanfranchi
he had set before him at the front.
In a short run they seemed tired to me,
35the father and the sons, and with sharp fangs
I seemed to see their flanks split open.
When I woke before morning,
I heard my sons, who were with me,
weeping in their sleep and asking for bread.
Commentary
The translation preserves the dream's hunting violence and leaves the historical sons/grandsons issue open.
XXXIII.22–24 Muda is left as the local tower/prison name; the following line supplies its Hunger title.
XXXIII.22–24 Muda is left as the local tower/prison name; the following line supplies its Hunger title. Line 22: Muda is left as the local tower/prison name; the following line supplies its Hunger title.
XXXIII.22 Muda is left as the local tower/prison name; the following line supplies its Hunger title. Muda is left as the local tower/prison name; the following line supplies its Hunger title.
XXXIII.25–27 The veil image is kept direct; its prophetic force and biblical rent-veil pressure remain in play.
XXXIII.25–27 The veil image is kept direct; its prophetic force and biblical rent-veil pressure remain in play. Line 27: The veil image is kept direct; its prophetic force and biblical rent-veil pressure remain in play.
XXXIII.27 The veil image is kept direct; its prophetic force and biblical rent-veil pressure remain in play. The veil image is kept direct; its prophetic force and biblical rent-veil pressure remain in play.
XXXIII.31–33 Cagne is rendered as hounds to keep the hunting image primary in modern English; conte is trained/knowing rather than noble.
XXXIII.31–33 Cagne is rendered as hounds to keep the hunting image primary in modern English; conte is trained/knowing rather than noble. Line 31: Cagne is rendered as hounds to keep the hunting image primary in modern English; conte is trained/knowing rather than noble.
XXXIII.31 Cagne is rendered as hounds to keep the hunting image primary in modern English; conte is trained/knowing rather than noble. Cagne is rendered as hounds to keep the hunting image primary in modern English; conte is trained/knowing rather than noble.
XXXIII.37–39 Figliuoli is kept as sons in the line; the historical sons/grandsons and child-language pressure remain open.
XXXIII.37–39 Figliuoli is kept as sons in the line; the historical sons/grandsons and child-language pressure remain open. Line 38: Figliuoli is kept as sons in the line; the historical sons/grandsons and child-language pressure remain open.
XXXIII.38 Figliuoli is kept as sons in the line; the historical sons/grandsons and child-language pressure remain open. Figliuoli is kept as sons in the line; the historical sons/grandsons and child-language pressure remain open.
Ugolino recounts the sealed tower, his stony silence, the children's offer, their deaths, and hunger's final power XXXIII.40–75
40Ben se’ crudel, se tu già non ti duoli
pensando ciò che ’l mio cor s’annunziava;
e se non piangi, di che pianger suoli?
Già eran desti, e l’ora s’appressava
che ’l cibo ne solëa essere addotto,
45e per suo sogno ciascun dubitava;
e io senti’ chiavar l’uscio di sotto
a l’orribile torre; ond’ io guardai
nel viso a’ mie’ figliuoi sanza far motto.
Io non piangëa, sì dentro impetrai:
50piangevan elli; e Anselmuccio mio
disse: “Tu guardi sì, padre! che hai?”.
Perciò non lagrimai né rispuos’ io
tutto quel giorno né la notte appresso,
infin che l’altro sol nel mondo uscìo.
55Come un poco di raggio si fu messo
nel doloroso carcere, e io scorsi
per quattro visi il mio aspetto stesso,
ambo le man per lo dolor mi morsi;
ed ei, pensando ch’io ’l fessi per voglia
60di manicar, di sùbito levorsi
e disser: “Padre, assai ci fia men doglia
se tu mangi di noi: tu ne vestisti
queste misere carni, e tu le spoglia”.
Queta’mi allor per non farli più tristi;
65lo dì e l’altro stemmo tutti muti;
ahi dura terra, perché non t’apristi?
Poscia che fummo al quarto dì venuti,
Gaddo mi si gittò disteso a’ piedi,
dicendo: “Padre mio, ché non m’aiuti?”.
70Quivi morì; e come tu mi vedi,
vid’ io cascar li tre ad uno ad uno
tra ’l quinto dì e ’l sesto; ond’ io mi diedi,
già cieco, a brancolar sovra ciascuno,
e due dì li chiamai, poi che fur morti.
75Poscia, più che ’l dolor, poté ’l digiuno».
40You are surely cruel if you do not already grieve,
thinking what my heart announced to me;
and if you do not weep, what do you usually weep for?
They were already awake, and the hour drew near
when food used to be brought to us,
45and each one feared because of his own dream;
and I heard the door below the horrible tower
being nailed shut; then I looked
into my sons' faces without saying a word.
I did not weep, so turned to stone within:
50they wept; and my Anselmuccio
said: "Father, why do you look so? What is wrong?"
So I did not shed tears, nor did I answer
through all that day or the following night,
until the next sun came out into the world.
55When a little ray had entered
the sorrowful prison, and I saw
across four faces my own appearance,
I bit both my hands from grief;
and they, thinking I did it from a desire
60to eat, suddenly rose up
and said: "Father, it will be much less pain for us
if you eat of us: you clothed us
in this miserable flesh, so strip it off."
Then I quieted myself so as not to make them sadder;
65that day and the next we all stayed mute;
ah, hard earth, why did you not open?
After we had come to the fourth day,
Gaddo threw himself stretched out at my feet,
saying: "My father, why do you not help me?"
70There he died; and as you see me,
I saw the three fall one by one
between the fifth day and the sixth; then I gave myself,
already blind, to groping over each one,
and for two days I called them after they were dead.
75Then hunger had more power than grief."
Commentary
The tower scene turns on Ugolino's appeal to pity, his stony silence, the children's flesh/clothing offer, Gaddo's cry, blindness, and the line-75 hunger crux. Then hunger had more power than grief intentionally does not decide between death by starvation and the darker cannibalistic possibility.
XXXIII.40–42 Annunziava is left as announced, preserving the charged prophetic and rhetorical pressure.
XXXIII.40–42 Annunziava is left as announced, preserving the charged prophetic and rhetorical pressure. Line 41: Annunziava is left as announced, preserving the charged prophetic and rhetorical pressure.
XXXIII.41 Annunziava is left as announced, preserving the charged prophetic and rhetorical pressure. Annunziava is left as announced, preserving the charged prophetic and rhetorical pressure.
XXXIII.49–51 Impetrai keeps the Medusa-like hardening and Cocytus fixity active.
XXXIII.49–51 Impetrai keeps the Medusa-like hardening and Cocytus fixity active. Line 49: Impetrai keeps the Medusa-like hardening and Cocytus fixity active.
XXXIII.49 Impetrai keeps the Medusa-like hardening and Cocytus fixity active. Impetrai keeps the Medusa-like hardening and Cocytus fixity active.
XXXIII.55–57 The self-recognition across the children's faces is kept literal, carrying inheritance, guilt, and pity.
XXXIII.55–57 The self-recognition across the children's faces is kept literal, carrying inheritance, guilt, and pity. Line 57: The self-recognition across the children's faces is kept literal, carrying inheritance, guilt, and pity.
XXXIII.57 The self-recognition across the children's faces is kept literal, carrying inheritance, guilt, and pity. The self-recognition across the children's faces is kept literal, carrying inheritance, guilt, and pity.
XXXIII.58–60 Dolor includes grief, rage, anguish, and revenge pressure; grief is provisional and read against line 75. Manicar keeps the bodily, colloquial eating pressure beneath the high tragic scene.
XXXIII.58–60 Dolor includes grief, rage, anguish, and revenge pressure; grief is provisional and read against line 75. Line 58: Dolor includes grief, rage, anguish, and revenge pressure; grief is provisional and read against line 75. Line 60: Manicar keeps the bodily, colloquial eating pressure beneath the high tragic scene.
XXXIII.58 Dolor includes grief, rage, anguish, and revenge pressure; grief is provisional and read against line 75. Dolor includes grief, rage, anguish, and revenge pressure; grief is provisional and read against line 75.
XXXIII.60 Manicar keeps the bodily, colloquial eating pressure beneath the high tragic scene. Manicar keeps the bodily, colloquial eating pressure beneath the high tragic scene.
XXXIII.61–63 The clothing/flesh metaphor is preserved without deciding how far the line presses Eucharistic or Job echoes.
XXXIII.61–63 The clothing/flesh metaphor is preserved without deciding how far the line presses Eucharistic or Job echoes. Line 63: The clothing/flesh metaphor is preserved without deciding how far the line presses Eucharistic or Job echoes.
XXXIII.63 The clothing/flesh metaphor is preserved without deciding how far the line presses Eucharistic or Job echoes. The clothing/flesh metaphor is preserved without deciding how far the line presses Eucharistic or Job echoes.
XXXIII.67–69 The direct cry is preserved; possible Passion echoes remain in play.
XXXIII.67–69 The direct cry is preserved; possible Passion echoes remain in play. Line 69: The direct cry is preserved; possible Passion echoes remain in play.
XXXIII.69 The direct cry is preserved; possible Passion echoes remain in play. The direct cry is preserved; possible Passion echoes remain in play.
XXXIII.73–75 A major crux: the line may mean hunger killed Ugolino after grief could not, or that hunger overcame grief in a darker cannibalistic sense. The English keeps the ambiguity rather than resolving it.
XXXIII.73–75 A major crux: the line may mean hunger killed Ugolino after grief could not, or that hunger overcame grief in a darker cannibalistic sense. Line 75: A major crux: the line may mean hunger killed Ugolino after grief could not, or that hunger overcame grief in a darker cannibalistic sense. The English keeps the ambiguity rather than resolving it.
XXXIII.75 A major crux: the line may mean hunger killed Ugolino after grief could not, or that hunger overcame grief in a darker cannibalistic sense. A major crux: the line may mean hunger killed Ugolino after grief could not, or that hunger overcame grief in a darker cannibalistic sense. The English keeps the ambiguity rather than resolving it.
Ugolino returns to gnawing Ruggieri and the poet curses Pisa for punishing the children XXXIII.76–90
76Quand’ ebbe detto ciò, con li occhi torti
riprese ’l teschio misero co’ denti,
che furo a l’osso, come d’un can, forti.
Ahi Pisa, vituperio de le genti
80del bel paese là dove ’l sì suona,
poi che i vicini a te punir son lenti,
muovasi la Capraia e la Gorgona,
e faccian siepe ad Arno in su la foce,
sì ch’elli annieghi in te ogne persona!
85Che se ’l conte Ugolino aveva voce
d’aver tradita te de le castella,
non dovei tu i figliuoi porre a tal croce.
Innocenti facea l’età novella,
novella Tebe, Uguiccione e ’l Brigata
90e li altri due che ’l canto suso appella.
76When he had said this, with twisted eyes
he took up the wretched skull again with his teeth,
which were strong against the bone, like a dog's.
Ah Pisa, disgrace of the peoples
80of the fair land where si is heard,
since your neighbors are slow to punish you,
let Capraia and Gorgona move,
and make a hedge across the Arno at its mouth,
so that it may drown every person in you!
85For if Count Ugolino was reputed
to have betrayed your castles,
you should not have put his sons to such a cross.
Their young age made them innocent,
O new Thebes, Uguiccione and Brigata
90and the other two whom the song above names.
Commentary
The return to Ruggieri's skull carries dog/hunting imagery, and the Pisa apostrophe turns on the fair land of si, Capraia/Gorgona, Arno, castles, croce, young age, and new Thebes.
XXXIII.76–78 The dog image gathers the dream's hunting dogs and Cocytus' bestial treachery.
XXXIII.76–78 The dog image gathers the dream's hunting dogs and Cocytus' bestial treachery. Line 78: The dog image gathers the dream's hunting dogs and Cocytus' bestial treachery.
XXXIII.78 The dog image gathers the dream's hunting dogs and Cocytus' bestial treachery. The dog image gathers the dream's hunting dogs and Cocytus' bestial treachery.
XXXIII.79–81 The language marker si is kept to preserve Dante's vernacular-geographic frame.
XXXIII.79–81 The language marker si is kept to preserve Dante's vernacular-geographic frame. Line 80: The language marker si is kept to preserve Dante's vernacular-geographic frame.
XXXIII.80 The language marker si is kept to preserve Dante's vernacular-geographic frame. The language marker si is kept to preserve Dante's vernacular-geographic frame.
XXXIII.85–87 Croce keeps both torture and cross-pressure visible after Gaddo's cry.
XXXIII.85–87 Croce keeps both torture and cross-pressure visible after Gaddo's cry. Line 87: Croce keeps both torture and cross-pressure visible after Gaddo's cry.
XXXIII.87 Croce keeps both torture and cross-pressure visible after Gaddo's cry. Croce keeps both torture and cross-pressure visible after Gaddo's cry.
XXXIII.88–90 Novella is split between young age and new Thebes, a civic/classical allusion.
XXXIII.88–90 Novella is split between young age and new Thebes, a civic/classical allusion. Line 89: Novella is split between young age and new Thebes, a civic/classical allusion.
XXXIII.89 Novella is split between young age and new Thebes, a civic/classical allusion. Novella is split between young age and new Thebes, a civic/classical allusion.
The poets enter Ptolomea, where frozen tears block the eyes and Dante feels the wind of the final pit XXXIII.91–108
91Noi passammo oltre, là ’ve la gelata
ruvidamente un’altra gente fascia,
non volta in giù, ma tutta riversata.
Lo pianto stesso lì pianger non lascia,
95e ’l duol che truova in su li occhi rintoppo,
si volge in entro a far crescer l’ambascia;
ché le lagrime prime fanno groppo,
e sì come visiere di cristallo,
rïempion sotto ’l ciglio tutto il coppo.
100E avvegna che, sì come d’un callo,
per la freddura ciascun sentimento
cessato avesse del mio viso stallo,
già mi parea sentire alquanto vento;
per ch’io: «Maestro mio, questo chi move?
105non è qua giù ogne vapore spento?».
Ond’ elli a me: «Avaccio sarai dove
di ciò ti farà l’occhio la risposta,
veggendo la cagion che ’l fiato piove».
91We passed on, where the frozen crust
roughly swathes another people,
not turned downward, but wholly thrown back.
There weeping itself does not let them weep,
95and the grief that finds a barrier at the eyes
turns inward to make the anguish grow;
for the first tears make a knot,
and like crystal visors
fill the whole hollow beneath the brow.
100And although, as with a callus,
through the cold every sensation
had left its station in my face,
already I seemed to feel some wind;
so I said: "My master, who moves this wind?
105is not every vapor extinguished down here?"
Then he said to me: "Soon you will be where
your eye will give you the answer to this,
seeing the cause that rains down this breath."
Commentary
The Ptolomea transition preserves the changed posture of the shades, frozen tears as crystal visors, blocked sight, inward pressure of grief, Dante's numbed face, and the wind question that points toward Lucifer without naming him.
XXXIII.91–93 This marks the clear transition from Antenora toward Ptolomea.
XXXIII.91–93 This marks the clear transition from Antenora toward Ptolomea. Line 91: This marks the clear transition from Antenora toward Ptolomea.
XXXIII.91 This marks the clear transition from Antenora toward Ptolomea. This marks the clear transition from Antenora toward Ptolomea.
XXXIII.100–102 Stallo is rendered as station to keep the bodily lodging image.
XXXIII.100–102 Stallo is rendered as station to keep the bodily lodging image. Line 102: Stallo is rendered as station to keep the bodily lodging image.
XXXIII.102 Stallo is rendered as station to keep the bodily lodging image. Stallo is rendered as station to keep the bodily lodging image.
XXXIII.103–105 The question asks who moves the wind, preparing Lucifer as cause without naming him yet.
XXXIII.103–105 The question asks who moves the wind, preparing Lucifer as cause without naming him yet. Line 104: The question asks who moves the wind, preparing Lucifer as cause without naming him yet.
XXXIII.104 The question asks who moves the wind, preparing Lucifer as cause without naming him yet. The question asks who moves the wind, preparing Lucifer as cause without naming him yet.
Brother Alberigo asks for his eyes to be cleared, names himself, and explains Ptolomea's living-body demon punishment XXXIII.109–138
109E un de’ tristi de la fredda crosta
110gridò a noi: «O anime crudeli
tanto che data v’è l’ultima posta,
levatemi dal viso i duri veli,
sì ch’ïo sfoghi ’l duol che ’l cor m’impregna,
un poco, pria che ’l pianto si raggeli».
115Per ch’io a lui: «Se vuo’ ch’i’ ti sovvegna,
dimmi chi se’, e s’io non ti disbrigo,
al fondo de la ghiaccia ir mi convegna».
Rispuose adunque: «I’ son frate Alberigo;
i’ son quel da le frutta del mal orto,
120che qui riprendo dattero per figo».
«Oh», diss’ io lui, «or se’ tu ancor morto?».
Ed elli a me: «Come ’l mio corpo stea
nel mondo sù, nulla scïenza porto.
Cotal vantaggio ha questa Tolomea,
125che spesse volte l’anima ci cade
innanzi ch’Atropòs mossa le dea.
E perché tu più volentier mi rade
le ’nvetrïate lagrime dal volto,
sappie che, tosto che l’anima trade
130come fec’ ïo, il corpo suo l’è tolto
da un demonio, che poscia il governa
mentre che ’l tempo suo tutto sia vòlto.
Ella ruina in sì fatta cisterna;
e forse pare ancor lo corpo suso
135de l’ombra che di qua dietro mi verna.
Tu ’l dei saper, se tu vien pur mo giuso:
elli è ser Branca Doria, e son più anni
poscia passati ch’el fu sì racchiuso».
109And one of the wretches of the cold crust
110cried to us: "O souls so cruel
that the last station has been given to you,
lift the hard veils from my face,
so that I may vent the grief that fills my heart
a little, before the weeping freezes again."
115So I to him: "If you want me to help you,
tell me who you are, and if I do not free you,
may I be made to go to the bottom of the ice."
Then he answered: "I am Brother Alberigo;
I am the man of the evil orchard's fruits,
120and here I am paid back dates for figs."
"Oh," I said to him, "are you already dead?"
And he to me: "How my body fares
in the world above, I have no knowledge.
This Ptolomea has such a privilege:
125that often the soul falls here
before Atropos gives it motion.
And so that you may more willingly scrape
the glassy tears from my face,
know that, as soon as the soul betrays
130as I did, its body is taken from it
by a demon, who then governs it
until all its time has run its course.
It falls headlong into such a cistern;
and perhaps above there still appears the body
135of the shade that winters here behind me.
You must know him, if you have only just come down:
he is Ser Branca Doria, and many years
have passed since he was enclosed in this way."
Commentary
Alberigo's plea and self-identification involve ultima posta, hard veils, Dante's strained promise, the evil orchard, date-for-fig proverb, Ptolomea, Atropos, demon-governed living bodies, and Branca Doria's premature damnation.
XXXIII.109–111 Ultima posta is kept as assigned station; Alberigo mistakes the travelers for the worst souls.
XXXIII.109–111 Ultima posta is kept as assigned station; Alberigo mistakes the travelers for the worst souls. Line 111: Ultima posta is kept as assigned station; Alberigo mistakes the travelers for the worst souls.
XXXIII.111 Ultima posta is kept as assigned station; Alberigo mistakes the travelers for the worst souls. Ultima posta is kept as assigned station; Alberigo mistakes the travelers for the worst souls.
XXXIII.112–114 The English carries un poco into the two-line sentence for natural syntax while preserving line alignment.
XXXIII.112–114 The English carries un poco into the two-line sentence for natural syntax while preserving line alignment. Line 114: The English carries un poco into the two-line sentence for natural syntax while preserving line alignment.
XXXIII.114 The English carries un poco into the two-line sentence for natural syntax while preserving line alignment. The English carries un poco into the two-line sentence for natural syntax while preserving line alignment.
XXXIII.115–117 Dante's oath is ethically strained because the descent will happen anyway and he later refuses the promised aid.
XXXIII.115–117 Dante's oath is ethically strained because the descent will happen anyway and he later refuses the promised aid. Line 117: Dante's oath is ethically strained because the descent will happen anyway and he later refuses the promised aid.
XXXIII.117 Dante's oath is ethically strained because the descent will happen anyway and he later refuses the promised aid. Dante's oath is ethically strained because the descent will happen anyway and he later refuses the promised aid.
XXXIII.118–120 The proverbial fruit exchange is kept concrete; it marks Alberigo's murderous hospitality and contrapasso.
XXXIII.118–120 The proverbial fruit exchange is kept concrete; it marks Alberigo's murderous hospitality and contrapasso. Line 120: The proverbial fruit exchange is kept concrete; it marks Alberigo's murderous hospitality and contrapasso.
XXXIII.120 The proverbial fruit exchange is kept concrete; it marks Alberigo's murderous hospitality and contrapasso. The proverbial fruit exchange is kept concrete; it marks Alberigo's murderous hospitality and contrapasso.
XXXIII.121–123 Scïenza is literal knowledge here, not Virgil's earlier philosophical science.
XXXIII.121–123 Scïenza is literal knowledge here, not Virgil's earlier philosophical science. Line 123: Scïenza is literal knowledge here, not Virgil's earlier philosophical science.
XXXIII.123 Scïenza is literal knowledge here, not Virgil's earlier philosophical science. Scïenza is literal knowledge here, not Virgil's earlier philosophical science.
XXXIII.124–126 Ptolomea names the third Cocytus zone, and its name points to guest-betrayal. The Fate is kept in the line; the phrasing preserves the strange premature fall before ordinary death.
XXXIII.124–126 Ptolomea names the third Cocytus zone, and its name points to guest-betrayal. Line 124: Ptolomea names the third Cocytus zone, and its name points to guest-betrayal. Line 126: The Fate is kept in the line; the phrasing preserves the strange premature fall before ordinary death.
XXXIII.124 Ptolomea names the third Cocytus zone, and its name points to guest-betrayal. Ptolomea names the third Cocytus zone, and its name points to guest-betrayal.
XXXIII.126 The Fate is kept in the line; the phrasing preserves the strange premature fall before ordinary death. The Fate is kept in the line; the phrasing preserves the strange premature fall before ordinary death.
XXXIII.127–129 Glassy keeps the frozen-tear transformation close to the Italian.
XXXIII.127–129 Glassy keeps the frozen-tear transformation close to the Italian. Line 128: Glassy keeps the frozen-tear transformation close to the Italian.
XXXIII.128 Glassy keeps the frozen-tear transformation close to the Italian. Glassy keeps the frozen-tear transformation close to the Italian.
XXXIII.133–135 Verna is kept as winters, preserving the bitter seasonal joke in Cocytus.
XXXIII.133–135 Verna is kept as winters, preserving the bitter seasonal joke in Cocytus. Line 135: Verna is kept as winters, preserving the bitter seasonal joke in Cocytus.
XXXIII.135 Verna is kept as winters, preserving the bitter seasonal joke in Cocytus. Verna is kept as winters, preserving the bitter seasonal joke in Cocytus.
Branca Doria's living damnation, Dante's refusal to clear Alberigo's eyes, and the denunciation of Genoa close the canto XXXIII.139–157
139«Io credo», diss’ io lui, «che tu m’inganni;
140ché Branca Doria non morì unquanche,
e mangia e bee e dorme e veste panni».
«Nel fosso sù», diss’ el, «de’ Malebranche,
là dove bolle la tenace pece,
non era ancora giunto Michel Zanche,
145che questi lasciò il diavolo in sua vece
nel corpo suo, ed un suo prossimano
che ’l tradimento insieme con lui fece.
Ma distendi oggimai in qua la mano;
aprimi li occhi». E io non gliel’ apersi;
150e cortesia fu lui esser villano.
Ahi Genovesi, uomini diversi
d’ogne costume e pien d’ogne magagna,
perché non siete voi del mondo spersi?
Ché col peggiore spirto di Romagna
155trovai di voi un tal, che per sua opra
in anima in Cocito già si bagna,
e in corpo par vivo ancor di sopra.
139"I believe," I said to him, "that you deceive me;
140for Branca Doria has never died,
and he eats and drinks and sleeps and wears clothes."
"In the upper ditch of the Malebranche," he said,
where the sticky pitch boils,
Michel Zanche had not yet arrived,
145when this man left a devil in his stead
inside his body, and in that of a kinsman
who did the treachery together with him.
But now stretch your hand this way;
open my eyes." And I did not open them for him;
150and it was courtesy to be rude to him.
Ah Genoese, men estranged
from every good custom and full of every flaw,
why are you not driven from the world?
For with the worst spirit of Romagna
155I found one of you such that, by his deed,
in soul he already bathes in Cocytus,
and in body still seems alive above.
Commentary
The Branca Doria exchange turns on Dante's disbelief, the Malebranche/Michel Zanche cross-reference, the kinsman, Dante's refusal to clear Alberigo's eyes, inverted courtesy, and the closing Genoa apostrophe.
XXXIII.145–147 Branca Doria's relation back to Michel Zanche links Ptolomea with the earlier barrators' bolgia without collapsing the sins.
XXXIII.145–147 Branca Doria's relation back to Michel Zanche links Ptolomea with the earlier barrators' bolgia without collapsing the sins. Line 147: Branca Doria's relation back to Michel Zanche links Ptolomea with the earlier barrators' bolgia without collapsing the sins.
XXXIII.147 Branca Doria's relation back to Michel Zanche links Ptolomea with the earlier barrators' bolgia without collapsing the sins. Branca Doria's relation back to Michel Zanche links Ptolomea with the earlier barrators' bolgia without collapsing the sins.
XXXIII.148–150 Dante refuses the aid he promised, a deliberate ethical reversal at the bottom of treachery. Cortesia is inverted locally: proper conduct toward divine justice looks like rudeness to the damned.
XXXIII.148–150 Dante refuses the aid he promised, a deliberate ethical reversal at the bottom of treachery. Line 149: Dante refuses the aid he promised, a deliberate ethical reversal at the bottom of treachery. Line 150: Cortesia is inverted locally: proper conduct toward divine justice looks like rudeness to the damned.
XXXIII.149 Dante refuses the aid he promised, a deliberate ethical reversal at the bottom of treachery. Dante refuses the aid he promised, a deliberate ethical reversal at the bottom of treachery.
XXXIII.150 Cortesia is inverted locally: proper conduct toward divine justice looks like rudeness to the damned. Cortesia is inverted locally: proper conduct toward divine justice looks like rudeness to the damned.
XXXIII.154–156 The Romagna spirit is Alberigo; the Genoese target is Branca Doria.
XXXIII.154–156 The Romagna spirit is Alberigo; the Genoese target is Branca Doria. Line 154: The Romagna spirit is Alberigo; the Genoese target is Branca Doria.
XXXIII.154 The Romagna spirit is Alberigo; the Genoese target is Branca Doria. The Romagna spirit is Alberigo; the Genoese target is Branca Doria.