L ' I N F E R N O

206
INF C32 25-30 / DANTE
The Danube, in Austria, never formed so thick a veil for its winter course, nor the Don, far off under the frozen sky,
as was here: if Mount Tambernic in the east, or Mount Pietrapana, had fallen on it, it would not have even creaked at
the margin.
INF C32 31-33 / DANTE
E come a gracidar si sta la rana As frogs sit croaking with their muzzles
col muso fuor de l'acqua, quando sogna above water, at the time when peasant
di spigolar sovente la villana, women often dream of gleaning,
INF C32 34-36 / DANTE
livide, insin là dove appar vergogna so the sad shadows sat sit, in the ice.,
eran l'ombre dolenti ne la ghiaccia, livid to where the blush of shame appears,
mettendo i denti in nota di cicogna. chattering with their teeth, like storks.
INF C32 37-39 / DANTE
Ognuna in giù tenea volta la faccia; Each one held his face turned down:
da bocca il freddo, e da li occhi il cor tristo the The cold is witnessed, amongst them,
tra lor testimonianza si procaccia. by their mouths: and their sad hearts, by their eyes.
INF C32 40-72 / KLINE
When I had a looked around awhile, turning to my feet, I saw two, so compressed together, that the hair of their
heads was intermingled. I said: ‘Tell me, you, who press your bodies together so: who are you?’ And they twisted
their necks up, and when they had lifted their faces towards me, their eyes, which were only moist, inwardly, before,
gushed at the lids, and the frost iced fast the tears, between them, and sealed them up again. No vice ever clamped
wood to wood as firmly: so that they butted one another like two he-goats, overcome by such rage. And one, who
had lost both ears to the cold, with his face still turned down, said: ‘Why are you staring at us, so fiercely? If you
want to know who these two are, they are the degli Alberti, Allesandro and Napoleone: the valley where the
Bisenzio runs down, was theirs and their father Alberto’s. They issued from one body, and you can search the
whole Caïna, and will not find shades more worthy of being set in ice: not even Mordred, whose chest and shadow,
were pierced, at one blow, by his father’s, King Arthur’s, lance: nor Focaccia: nor this one, who obstructs my face
with his head, so that I cannot see further, who was named Sassol Mascheroni. If you are a Tuscan, now, you know
truly what he was. And so that you do not put me to more speech, know that I am Camicion de’ Pazzi, and am
waiting for Carlino, my kinsman, to outdo me.’ Afterwards I saw a thousand faces, made doglike by the cold, at
which a trembling overcomes me, and always will, when I think of the frozen fords.
DANTE AND VIRGIL BEGIN WALKING OFF. DANTE, VERSIFYING, (NEARLY?) TRIPS OVER
BOCCA./.URANIA.
DANTE:
INF C32 31-33 / DANTE INF C32 31-33 / KLINE
E come a gracidar si sta la rana As frogs sit croaking with their muzzles
col muso fuor de l'acqua, quando sogna above water, at the time when peasant
di spigolar sovente la villana, women often dream of gleaning,
INF C32 34-36 / DANTE
livide, insin là dove appar vergogna so the sad shadows sat, in the ice,
eran l'ombre dolenti ne la ghiaccia, livid to where the blush of shame appears,
mettendo i denti in nota di cicogna. chattering with their teeth, like storks.
INF C32 37-39 / DANTE
Ognuna in giù tenea volta la faccia; Each one held his face turned down:
da bocca il freddo, e da li occhi il cor tristo the cold is witnessed, amongst them,
tra lor testimonianza si procaccia. by their mouths: and their sad hearts, by their eyes.
INF C32 73-78 / KLINE
And, whether it was will, or fate or chance, I do not know: but walking, among the heads, I struck my foot violently
against one face.
BOCCA / URANIA:
INF C32 79-81 / DANTE INF C32 79-81 / KLINE
Piangendo mi sgridò: Perché mi peste? Weeping it cried out to me: Why do you
se tu non vieni a crescer la vendetta trample on me? If you do not come to increase the
di Montaperti, perché mi moleste?. revenge for Montaperti, why do you trouble me?