He hurled him down, and over the hard crag

       Turned round, and never was a mastiff loosened

       In so much hurry to pursue a thief.

      The other sank, and rose again face downward;

       But the demons, under cover of the bridge,

       Cried: "Here the Santo Volto has no place!

      Here swims one otherwise than in the Serchio;

       Therefore, if for our gaffs thou wishest not,

       Do not uplift thyself above the pitch."

      They seized him then with more than a hundred rakes;

       They said: "It here behoves thee to dance covered,

       That, if thou canst, thou secretly mayest pilfer."

      Not otherwise the cooks their scullions make

       Immerse into the middle of the caldron

       The meat with hooks, so that it may not float.

      Said the good Master to me: "That it be not

       Apparent thou art here, crouch thyself down

       Behind a jag, that thou mayest have some screen;

      And for no outrage that is done to me

       Be thou afraid, because these things I know,

       For once before was I in such a scuffle."

      Then he passed on beyond the bridge's head,

       And as upon the sixth bank he arrived,

       Need was for him to have a steadfast front.

      With the same fury, and the same uproar,

       As dogs leap out upon a mendicant,

       Who on a sudden begs, where'er he stops,

      They issued from beneath the little bridge,

       And turned against him all their grappling-irons;

       But he cried out: "Be none of you malignant!

      Before those hooks of yours lay hold of me,

       Let one of you step forward, who may hear me,

       And then take counsel as to grappling me."

      They all cried out: "Let Malacoda go;"

       Whereat one started, and the rest stood still,

       And he came to him, saying: "What avails it?"

      "Thinkest thou, Malacoda, to behold me

       Advanced into this place," my Master said,

       "Safe hitherto from all your skill of fence,

      Without the will divine, and fate auspicious?

       Let me go on, for it in Heaven is willed

       That I another show this savage road."

      Then was his arrogance so humbled in him,

       That he let fall his grapnel at his feet,

       And to the others said: "Now strike him not."

      And unto me my Guide: "O thou, who sittest

       Among the splinters of the bridge crouched down,

       Securely now return to me again."

      Wherefore I started and came swiftly to him;

       And all the devils forward thrust themselves,

       So that I feared they would not keep their compact.

      And thus beheld I once afraid the soldiers

       Who issued under safeguard from Caprona,

       Seeing themselves among so many foes.

      Close did I press myself with all my person

       Beside my Leader, and turned not mine eyes

       From off their countenance, which was not good.

      They lowered their rakes, and "Wilt thou have me hit him,"

       They said to one another, "on the rump?"

       And answered: "Yes; see that thou nick him with it."

      But the same demon who was holding parley

       With my Conductor turned him very quickly,

       And said: "Be quiet, be quiet, Scarmiglione;"

      Then said to us: "You can no farther go

       Forward upon this crag, because is lying

       All shattered, at the bottom, the sixth arch.

      And if it still doth please you to go onward,

       Pursue your way along upon this rock;

       Near is another crag that yields a path.

      Yesterday, five hours later than this hour,

       One thousand and two hundred sixty-six

       Years were complete, that here the way was broken.