1–12. If I had … from the fact: As in 28.1—6, the poet disclaims the ability to describe what he sees, in this case the bottom of Hell, the center of the cosmos. The poet does indeed find “harsh and clacking rhymes,” but the question of how language can “suit” a place of such horror remains through these final cantos.
1. harsh and clucking rhymes: As in English, the Italian for “clucking” (chioccio, also used at 7.2) is onomatopoetic, like numerous other words in the canto (see lines 9, 30, 35, and 105). That the significance of onomatopoetic words is their sound, their acoustic “matter,“ suits them to the dense material center of the cosmos. Dante’s word rime means both ”rhymes“ and ”verses” (see Convivio 4.2.12: rima is “all the speaking that falls in numbers and regulated time and rhymed consonance”).
2–3. the dreadful hole … point their weight: The pilgrim approaches the center of the earth, the focus of the weight of the geocentric universe. See Cicero, Somnium Scipionis 4.9: “And that one that is ninth, in the middle—the earth— is the lowest and does not move, and on it the weight of all the others is borne” (see 11.64–65, 31.123, 34.111, and lines 73–74).
4. press out the juice from my concept: An image from wine or oil making, in which screw-driven presses squeeze the juice from the fruit; this is a well-established image of the Last Judgment (based on the imagery of Matthew 13, 20, and 24 and on Apoc. 14.18—20). Implicit here is the idea that the poet’s concept creates pressure within him; note the relation of this pressure to the pressure driving tears from the souls (lines 38—39), and the weight bearing down on the center of the earth.
7. to take in jest: Dante’s word for “jest” isgabbo, the name of a Provencal literary genre (the gab [mockery]) consisting, as the name suggests, of mockery, challenges, and boasting (Ahern in Ledum Dantis Cahfomiana). The canto has much sardonic “gallows humor.”
8. describing the bottom of the universe: “Describing” means both “narrating in words” and “circumscribing,” as if with compasses, “as if the poet were building the bottom of Hell in describing it” (Singleton); see “enclosing” in line 11.
9. a tongue that calls mommy or daddy: Describing Hell is no child’s play. As this and the next canto will prove, it is also not a task for a tongue that speaks the tender words between child and parent, expressing natural love; in these cantos, natural human relations are banished. Such words as mamma and babbo are in De vulgari eloquentia 2.7.4 explicitly excluded from the “tragic” style (see the note to 21.2). See line 139 and note.
10. those ladies … who helped Amphion enclose Thebes: In his second invocation to the Muses (“those ladies”; the first is 2.7), Dante alludes to the poet Amphion, who, like Orpheus, charmed inanimate objects with the help of the Muses. In the traditional story (found in Horace, Statius, Macrobius, and Brunetto Latini), Amphion’s poetry causes the rocks to move to form the walls of Thebes. Dante is also echoing Statius, who compares himself, as author of the Thebaid, with Amphion (Achilleid 1.13); Dante, too, “must join rhyme to rhyme in order to wall up the city of Hell” (Benvenuto). The motif of the ponderous rocks enclosing Thebes repeats the theme of weight and pressure in lines 3–5.
12. so that the word … from the fact: Platonic tradition (Timaeus 29b; see Boethius, Consolation 3.12.38) recommends there be resemblance (Boethius says “consanguinity”) between words and the things they describe.
15. better had you here been sheep or goats: That is, animals without rational souls. See Matt. 26.24: “it were better for him, if that man had not been born” (said ofjudas, who was to betray Christ). For sheep and goats in the context of judgment, see Matt. 25.32–33 (and line 50). See also 19.132 and note.
17–18. far below … the high wall: This suggests that the giants must be standing on a ledge of rock well above the pit of Cocytus itself. Allegorically speaking, to be “under the feet” of the giants means to be under the mass of earth that the giants—“sons of the earth”—represent; the giants were compared to a circle of walls (31.40–44).
21. your wretched weary brothers: Since Italian often omits possessives, Dante’s de’fratei [of the brothers] is ambiguous. The speaker may be claiming brotherhood with the pilgrim, referring to the other damned as his “brothers,” or, if he is one of the sons of Alberto of Mangona (lines 40–42), simply referring to himself and his brother. In any case, the mention of brotherhood is ironic: it is those who betrayed kinsmen who are punished here.
23–24. a lake … not of water: Medieval science held that ice frozen long enough became rock crystal; the cold was thought of as pressure, “squeezing out the moisture” (Albertus Magnus; see Durling and Martinez 1990).
25–27. So thick a veil … freezing sky: Both the Danube and the Don (Tanai) run into the Black Sea; the Danube through modern Austria and Hungary, the Don through Ukraine. For Italians, these were typical far northern rivers, known to freeze over in winter, mentioned as such by Macrobius (Commentarii 2.7.20).
28–29. if Tamberlic should fall on it, or Pietrapana: Tamberlicchi or Tambernicchi is thought to be Mount Tambura in the Apuan Alps near Lucca, in northwestern Tuscany; Pietrapana (or Petra Apuana) is in the same range. The geography has shifted from the faraway Thebes, Danube, and Don, to the familiar (and see 33.30). The circle of the traitors is heavily populated with Tuscans who were nearly contemporaries of Dante (see line 66).
The imagined falling of mountains recalls the attempt of the giants to pile Pelion on Ossa (see the note to 31.94–95).
31–33. as the frog … dreams of gleaning: The simile strikes the only lyrical, bucolic note in these harsh cantos; for other bucolic similes, see 25.1–21 and 26.25–30.
34. up to where shame appears: The image of the souls buried in ice to their necks (shame appears in the neck and head) recalls other “immersion” images (see 8.53, 12.116–17, 17.9, 31.32–33).
36. playing the tune of the stork: The stork’s name in Latin (ciconia, pronounced kikonia) was originally onomatopoetic, reflecting the idea that storks made sound by clacking their beaks (cf. Met. 6.96: “crepitante ciconia rostro” [the stork with rattling beak]) (see lines 106–8 and 139, with notes).
37. held his face turned down: For this posture, expressing shame, see 25.121 and note; see 32.45, 53, and 105. Almost wholly immersed in the dense matter of the center of the universe, these souls can barely lift their faces upward in the typically human attitude.
38–39. from their mouths … exact testimony among them: The chattering of teeth is the testimony exacted by the cold, the weeping is that exacted by their guilt; the souls are testifying before each other (tra lor). The emphasis on eyes and mouth will dominate the canto. The passage establishes a relation between the cold and the force of the traitors’ grief: the external cold and pressure lock in expression, while the internal pressure of grief squeezes it out: the souls are pressed between the two. The cold is of course also the coldness of heart (the “stony heart” of Ezek. 11.19 and 36.26) that made them traitors.
41. I looked down at my feet: The attitude of the pilgrim’s head now matches that of the traitors.
41–42. two … the hair of their heads was mingled: See Statius, Theb. 12.385–86: “amplexu miscent avide lacrimasque comasque” [embracing, they greedily mingle both tears and hair]. In Par. 32.68–72, Esau and Jacob (for Augustine, archetypes of the two cities) are said to be distinguished by the color of their hair (as in Gen. 25.25).
43. you who so press your breasts together: Gmelin calls lines 43–48 a “parodic love-kiss” (also describing 25.54). In many medieval illustrations of the zodiac, the Twins of Gemini (often identified as Castor and Pollux) were represented embracing; Castor and Pollux were emblems of fraternal love, as the Theban brothers were of fraternal hatred (see the note to 26.52–54). See Paolo and Francesca, the first paired souls in Hell, whose destiny was sealed by a kiss in 5.136–38 (cf. lines 58, 61–62 and notes).
47–50. and the cold … so tight: A prime example of the idea of cold exerting pressure.
48. locked them up: The antecedent of “them” (li) is “eyes” in line 46.
49–50. Board with board … so tight: A brilliant example both of the violent harshness invoked in lines 1–12 and of spatial construction: in normal word order, the logic is spranga non rinse mai legno con legno cost forte [clamp never bound board with board so tightly], but the inversion makes the two words for “board” contiguous {legno legno), surrounded by con … spranga (as if “with … a clamp”).
51. they like two goats butted together: For the goat signifying the reprobate, see line 15 and note. In Theb. 4.397–400, the duel of Eteocles and Polynices is foreseen in terms of a fight between bulls:
… similes video concurrere tauros;
idem ambobus honos unusque ab origine sanguis
ardua conlatis obnixi cornua miscent
frontibus alternaque truces moriuntur in ira.
[I see matching bulls run at each other;
alike in honor, and of one blood,
their brows colliding, they mingle proud horns as they strive,
and, savage in mutual rage, they die.]
54. Why do you mirror yourself in us: Often taken in a weak sense (“why do you stare?”); but reference to the glassy ice (line 24) and to the pilgrim’s imminent imitation of the traitors’ violence (lines 98–105) make the reference much richer (see the note to 30.131–32).
56–57. where the Bisenzio descends … and to them: The Bisenzio flows into the Arno near Signa, ten miles downriver from Florence; in its valley were located Vernia and Cerbaia, castles belonging to Count Alberto of Mangona. The old commentators say that Count Alberto’s two sons, Napoleone and Alessandro, fought over their inheritance and ultimately killed each other (date uncertain, between 1282 and 1286). In 1280, the brothers had been formally reconciled, exchanging the kiss of peace (see line 43 and note).
58. From one body they were born: The expression compresses the brothers back to their single origin; compare the note to line 51, and Tlreb. 11.407–8 on the duel of Eteocles and Polynices: “stat … unius ingens/ bellum uteri” [behold … the great strife of a single womb].
58. Caina: Named by Francesca in 5.107 as the destination of her killer (her husband Gianciotto), Caina is named for Cain, who killed his brother Abel out of envy and was exiled, branded with a mark to prevent anyone from killing him (Gen. 4.8–15) (see the note to 10.67–69). For Augustine, Cain was the founder of the Earthly City of ambition, rivalry, and fratricide: in this sense, Caina is part of the foundation of Hell itself.
60. a soul worthier to be fixed in gelatine: Gallows humor: the ice is like jellied aspic (these words [gelo, gelalina, jellied] are all derived from Latingelu [frost, cold]), and the speaker adopts an inverted criterion of worth among the “worst souls in Hell” (see line 69 and note; 33.124 and note).
61–62. him whose breast … the hand of Arthur: Dante refers to the prose Mort le roi Artu [Death of King Arthur] (conclusion of the Vulgate Cycle, to which belongs the Lancelot, the book read by Paolo and Francesca; see 5.127–28 and note). In the Mort, Arthur kills Mordred with a savage lance thrust: “and the story says that, after the lance was removed, a ray of sunlight passed through the wound. …” Officially Arthur’s nephew, Mordred was in fact Arthur’s son by his sister Morgan le Fay; he betrayed Arthur by attempting a coup d’état while Arthur was in France, warring upon Lancelot.
63. Focaccia: Vanni de’ Cancellieri of Pistoia, said by the early chroniclers to have murdered his father or uncle. He was blamed by the Florentines as the originator of the division between Whites and Blacks.
63–64. who so encumbers me with his head: The souls are obstacles and encumbrances to one another (as they are literally stumbling blocks, “scandals,” for the pilgrim; see line 78). Compare Master Adam, his sight blocked by his belly (30.123), and the Pisans (33.29–30).
65. Sassol Mascheroni: A member of the Florentine family of the Toschi; he murdered his uncle’s only son for the sake of an inheritance, which fell to Sassolo when the uncle died shortly thereafter. He was punished by being rolled through the city in a barrel full of nails, and then beheaded (l’Anonimo).
68. Camiscion de’ Pazzi: Alberto or Umberto Camiscione, one of the Pazzi of the Valdarno; he is said to have killed his kinsman Ubertino for his castles.
69. I await Carlino to excuse me: This soul will be “excused” because Carlino de’ Pazzi, also a relation, will be so much worse. Dino Compagni (Chronicle 2.28) reports that Carlino, holding a fortress for the White Guelfs, betrayed it for money, in a move that undermined the White exiles’ 1302 campaign (see Petrocchi 1984) (cf. the note to 24.142–50).
70. faces made doglike: Dante’s word here (cagnazzo) is obscure. It seems to mean “purple,” the color of a clog’s lips and nose (for other dog imagery, see line 105 and 33.78); for the devil named Cagnazzo, see the note to 21.118–23.
72. frozen fords: The pilgrim now passes from Caina to the next zone, Antenora (see line 88). Commentators note that Dante’s putting two lists of five persons each in this canto (lines 55–69, 116–23) recalls a technique of the sirventese, described in Vita nuova 6, which lists names of contemporary persons (cf. “Io son venuto al punto de la rota,” lines 53–58).
76. wish or destiny or fortune: Recalls 15.46; note the addition of “wish” to the usual formula.
78–123. I struck my foot … Faenza when it slept: This remarkable episode, with the pilgrim tearing out the hair of a traitor who will not identify himself, is a main focus of the canto. With the pilgrim’s betrayal of brother Alberigo (33.109–50), it is the most striking instance in the Inferno of the pilgrim’s becoming involved in the sins he is visiting. It does not follow, however, that the vengeance meted out is unjust; the pilgrim’s role is suited to the place where pity is dead, among those who have violated all bonds.
The episode also explores the pilgrim’s (and the poet’s) deep identification with the factional politics of his day. He acts on his own (82–85) and is taken for one of the dead traitors (90) or as the avenger (80–81) of the treachery that decided a particularly bloody battle (Montaperti; see 10.32–33 and 85–87, with notes); he is even taken for a devil (108; cf. 33.110–11).
78. I struck my foot: This kick (cf. lines 19–21) makes the traitor’s head a “stumbling block,” a “scandal” (see 28.35, with note, and Matt. 13.41). The kick also recalls the blow on the cheek the Gospel urges us to forgive (Matt. 5.39). The principles of love and retaliation are sharply juxtaposed in the next canto.
80–81. vengeance for Montaperti: Not named until line 106, the speaker is Bocca degli Abati, notorious for striking off the hand of the Guelf standard-bearer at the decisive moment of the batde of Montaperti, causing the Guelf defeat. Bocca, a Ghibelline, had remained in Florence after the expulsion of his party in 1258, pretending to sympathize with the Guelf cause.
87. Who are you, to reproach others: See Matt. 7.4: “How sayest thou to thy brother: Let me cast the mote out of thy eye; and behold a beam is in thine own eye?” See Additional Note 15.
88. Antenora: The second subdivison of the ice, for those who betray nation, city, or party, is named after Antenor, the Trojan lord and companion of Aeneas. In the tradition of Troy stories represented by the Roman de Troie, Antenor is a traitor who helps the Greeks take the city; tradition makes him the founder of Padua.
91–94. I am alive … what I’m greedy for: Dante offers this traitor a bargain or pact, to exchange fame for his revelation of his identity; the soul violently rejects it (see the note to line 135).
97–105. Then I seized … eyes kept down: Dante’s canzone “Cosi nel mio parlar voglio esser aspro,” one of the rime petrose or “stony rhymes,” lines 66–78, imagines seizing the lady by the hair and making violent love to her (see Durling and Martinez 1990). Other echoes of these poems, which use harsh rhymes to invoke the hardness of crystal and risk the peril of petrifaction by a Medusa-like lady, occur in lines 1–12 and 22–23.
106–8. What’s wrong … tickling you: Bocca, whose name means “mouth” (note the emphasis on all the sounds he makes), is betrayed by another of the traitors.
113–23. do not be silent … when it slept: Bocca, his name revealed, takes his own revenge (and dictates some of the poem), revealing the identities of five more traitors, like Camiscione in lines 55–69.
116. him from Duera: Buoso da Duera of Cremona. During the campaign of Charles of Anjou against Manfred (1265; see 28.16 and note), Buoso used French gold to bribe the Marchese Pallavicino and the Lombard Ghibellines to allow the passage of the French troops toward Parma, “because of which the people of Cremona, in a fury, destroyed the lineage of those of Duera” (Villani, Chronicle 7.4).
117. where the sinners keep cool: The expression star fresco [to be in for it] may have already been proverbial in Dante’s day; it has been so ever since.
119. that Beccheria: Tesauro di Beccheria of Pavia, abbot of Vallombrosa and papal legate in Florence for Pope Alexander IV. After the Ghibellines were expelled in July 1258, he was seized by the Florentines on charges of conspiring with the exiles. Although many doubted his guilt, he was tortured and beheaded; the Florentines were excommunicated by the pope.
121. Gianni de’ Soldanier: After the defeat of Manfred in 1266, the Florentine Gianni de’ Soldanieri became a Guelf in order to secure power (Villani, Chronicle 7.14). The Soldanieri were an old Ghibelline family that suffered heavily in the proscriptions of 1302, which included Dante.
122. Ganelon: With Judas, the archetypal medieval traitor. According to the Old French Song of Roland, Ganelon, Roland’s stepfather, was bribed by the Saracen king Marsilio (at Saragossa) to betray his stepson and the whole rear guard of Charlemagne’s army, causing the massacre of Roncesvalles (see 31.16–18 and notes). After the battle, Ganelon was tried, found guilty, and torn apart by four horses.
122. Tebaldello: A member of the Ghibelline Zambrasi family of Faenza; he avenged a private grudge against the Lambertazzi, a Bolognese family that had taken refuge there after their expulsion from Bologna in 1274. On the morning of November 13, 1280, Tebaldello opened the gates of Faenza to the Bolognese Guelfs, who entered the city and massacred their enemies.
125. two frozen in one hole: At close quarters, like Napoleone and Alessandro (line 41). A series of puns, focused on the mouth, speech, and eating, links Dante’s word for “hole,” buca (in Latin, “mouth”), Bocca’s name (106), and the first word of the next canto (33.1), “mouth” (bocca).
127. as bread is eaten by the starving: The verb here, manduca, is identical with the vulgar Latin manducare, used in the New Testament of the Eucharistic meal (see Luke 22.11, 15;John 6.54) (see 33.59–63 and notes). For cannibalism and “mad bestiality,” see the note to 11.81–83.
129. there where the brain joins the nape: Dante’s word (nuca) is an Arabic medical term for the point where the brain joins the spinal marrow in the vertebral column (Nardi 1944).
130–31. not otherwise did Tydeus … in his rage: See Theb. 8.745–64: dying of a wound from Menalippus’s spear, the hero Tydeus asks for the head of his killer, whom Tydeus has also cut down with a spear-cast. For him, Menalippus’s severed head is a version of the Medusa: the mirror showing him his own death (see the note to 33.55–57). When it is brought to him, Tydeus, goaded by the Fury, falls on it and gnaws at it, just as Minerva is bringing the laurel wreath to honor his valor (8.760–61): “atque ilium effracti perfusum tabe cerebri/ aspicit et vivo scelerantem sanguine fauces” [she gazes at him, soaked with gore from the shattered brain, defiling his mouth with living blood]. She turns away. Tydeus’s hatred drives off his “immortal glory” (note cappello, line 126, which can mean “wreath”).
130, 134. did … gnaw … you are eating: In both cases, Dante uses the reflexive pronoun (si rose, ti mangi), emphasizing the ferocity of the eater.
133. such a bestial sign: The expression “bestial sign” is an oxymoron, since beasts, lacking reason, are not able to signify.
135. with this pact: Instead of the fame he offered Bocca, here the pilgrim promises infamy for the eater’s enemy. Dante’s word for “pact” is convegno [convention] (cf. Shoaf 1988).
139. if that with which I speak does not dry up: If his tongue does not dry—that is, if he stays alive. References to the mouth or to speech have been frequent in this canto (see lines 6, 9, 14, 36, 38, 107–8, 115, and 116).