Part 53

And if of elephants and whales she doth not Repent her, whosoever looketh subtly More just and more discreet will hold her for it;

For where the argument of intellect Is added unto evil will and power, No rampart can the people make against it.

His face appeared to me as long and large As is at Rome the pine-cone of Saint Peter’s, And in proportion were the other bones;

So that the margin, which an apron was Down from the middle, showed so much of him Above it, that to reach up to his hair

Three Frieslanders in vain had vaunted them; For I beheld thirty great palms of him Down from the place where man his mantle buckles.

“Raphael mai amech izabi almi,” Began to clamour the ferocious mouth, To which were not befitting sweeter psalms.

And unto him my Guide: “Soul idiotic, Keep to thy horn, and vent thyself with that, When wrath or other passion touches thee.

Search round thy neck, and thou wilt find the belt Which keeps it fastened, O bewildered soul, And see it, where it bars thy mighty breast.”

Then said to me: “He doth himself accuse; This one is Nimrod, by whose evil thought One language in the world is not still used.

Here let us leave him and not speak in vain; For even such to him is every language As his to others, which to none is known.”

Therefore a longer journey did we make, Turned to the left, and a crossbow-shot oft We found another far more fierce and large.

In binding him, who might the master be I cannot say; but he had pinioned close Behind the right arm, and in front the other,

With chains, that held him so begirt about From the neck down, that on the part uncovered It wound itself as far as the fifth gyre.

“This proud one wished to make experiment Of his own power against the Supreme Jove,” My Leader said, “whence he has such a guerdon.

Ephialtes is his name; he showed great prowess. What time the giants terrified the gods; The arms he wielded never more he moves.”

And I to him: “If possible, I should wish That of the measureless Briareus These eyes of mine might have experience.”

Whence he replied: “Thou shalt behold Antaeus Close by here, who can speak and is unbound, Who at the bottom of all crime shall place us.

Much farther yon is he whom thou wouldst see, And he is bound, and fashioned like to this one, Save that he seems in aspect more ferocious.”

There never was an earthquake of such might That it could shake a tower so violently, As Ephialtes suddenly shook himself.

Then was I more afraid of death than ever, For nothing more was needful than the fear, If I had not beheld the manacles.

Then we proceeded farther in advance, And to Antaeus came, who, full five ells Without the head, forth issued from the cavern.

“O thou, who in the valley fortunate, Which Scipio the heir of glory made, When Hannibal turned back with all his hosts,

Once brought’st a thousand lions for thy prey, And who, hadst thou been at the mighty war Among thy brothers, some it seems still think

The sons of Earth the victory would have gained: Place us below, nor be disdainful of it, There where the cold doth lock Cocytus up.

Make us not go to Tityus nor Typhoeus; This one can give of that which here is longed for; Therefore stoop down, and do not curl thy lip.

Still in the world can he restore thy fame; Because he lives, and still expects long life, If to itself Grace call him not untimely.”

So said the Master; and in haste the other His hands extended and took up my Guide,— Hands whose great pressure Hercules once felt.

Virgilius, when he felt himself embraced, Said unto me: “Draw nigh, that I may take thee;” Then of himself and me one bundle made.