Canto XVI. Guidoguerra, Aldobrandi, and Rusticucci. Cataract of the River of Blood.

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      Now was I where was heard the reverberation

       Of water falling into the next round,

       Like to that humming which the beehives make,

      When shadows three together started forth,

       Running, from out a company that passed

       Beneath the rain of the sharp martyrdom.

      Towards us came they, and each one cried out:

       "Stop, thou; for by thy garb to us thou seemest

       To be some one of our depraved city."

      Ah me! what wounds I saw upon their limbs,

       Recent and ancient by the flames burnt in!

       It pains me still but to remember it.

      Unto their cries my Teacher paused attentive;

       He turned his face towards me, and "Now wait,"

       He said; "to these we should be courteous.

      And if it were not for the fire that darts

       The nature of this region, I should say

       That haste were more becoming thee than them."

      As soon as we stood still, they recommenced

       The old refrain, and when they overtook us,

       Formed of themselves a wheel, all three of them.

      As champions stripped and oiled are wont to do,

       Watching for their advantage and their hold,

       Before they come to blows and thrusts between them,

      Thus, wheeling round, did every one his visage

       Direct to me, so that in opposite wise

       His neck and feet continual journey made.

      And, "If the misery of this soft place

       Bring in disdain ourselves and our entreaties,"

       Began one, "and our aspect black and blistered,

      Let the renown of us thy mind incline

       To tell us who thou art, who thus securely

       Thy living feet dost move along through Hell.

      He in whose footprints thou dost see me treading,

       Naked and skinless though he now may go,

       Was of a greater rank than thou dost think;

      He was the grandson of the good Gualdrada;

       His name was Guidoguerra, and in life

       Much did he with his wisdom and his sword.

      The other, who close by me treads the sand,

       Tegghiaio Aldobrandi is, whose fame

       Above there in the world should welcome be.

      And I, who with them on the cross am placed,

       Jacopo Rusticucci was; and truly

       My savage wife, more than aught else, doth harm me."

      Could I have been protected from the fire,

       Below I should have thrown myself among them,

       And think the Teacher would have suffered it;

      But as I should have burned and baked myself,

       My terror overmastered my good will,

       Which made me greedy of embracing them.

      Then I began: "Sorrow and not disdain

       Did your condition fix within me so,

       That tardily it wholly is stripped off,

      As soon as this my Lord said unto me

       Words, on account of which I thought within me

       That people such as you are were approaching.

      I of your city am; and evermore

       Your labours and your honourable names

       I with affection have retraced and heard.

      I leave the gall, and go for the sweet fruits

       Promised to me by the veracious Leader;

       But to the centre first I needs must plunge."

      "So may the soul for a long while conduct

       Those limbs of thine," did he make answer then,

       "And so may thy renown shine after thee,

      Valour and courtesy, say if they dwell

       Within our city, as they used to do,

       Or if they wholly have gone out of it;

      For Guglielmo Borsier, who is in torment

       With us of late, and goes there with his comrades,

       Doth greatly mortify us with his words."

      "The