The Vision, or Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise of Dante Alighieri . ry rock His firm abutment rears, then might the vein Of fancy rise full springing : but not mine Such measures, and with faltering awe I touch The mighty theme ; for to describe the depth Of all the universe, is no emprize To jest with, and demands a tongue not used To infant babbling. But let them assist My song, the tuneful maidens, by whose aid 10 no THE VISION OF DANTE [Canto xxxii Amphion walled in Thebes ; so with the truth My speech shall best accord. Oh ill-starred folk, Beyond all others wretched ! who abide In such a m
The Vision, or Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise of Dante Alighieri . ry rock His firm abutment rears, then might the vein Of fancy rise full springing : but not mine Such measures, and with faltering awe I touch The mighty theme ; for to describe the depth Of all the universe, is no emprize To jest with, and demands a tongue not used To infant babbling. But let them assist My song, the tuneful maidens, by whose aid 10 no THE VISION OF DANTE [Canto xxxii Amphion walled in Thebes ; so with the truth My speech shall best accord. Oh ill-starred folk, Beyond all others wretched ! who abide In such a mansion, as scarce thought finds words To speak of, better had ye here on earth Been flocks, or mountain goats. As down we stood In the dark pit beneath the giants feet, But lower far than they, and I did gaze Still on the lofty battlement, a voice Bespake me thus : Look how thou walkest. Take Good heed, thy soles do tread not on the heads Of thy poor brethren. Thereupon I turned. And saw before and underneath my feet A lake, whose frozen surface liker seemed 20. To glass than water. Not so thick a veil In winter eer hath Austrian Danube spread Oer his still course, nor Tanais far remote Under the chilling sky. Rolled oer that mass Had Tabernicch or Pietrapana fallen, Not een its rim had creaked. As peeps the frog 30 Croaking above the wave, what time in dreams The village gleaner oft pursues her toil. So, to where modest shame appears, thus low Blue pinched and shrined in ice the spirits stood. Moving their teeth in shrill note like the stork. His face each downward held ; their mouth the cold, Their eyes expressed the dolour of their heart. A space I looked around, then at ray feetSaw two so strictly joined, that of their headThe very hairs were mingled. Tell me ye, 40 I Lines 11-89] HELL 111 Whose bosoms thus together press, said T, Who are ye ? At that sound their necks they bent; And when their looks were lifted up to me. Straightway their eyes, before all moist within, Dis
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