English

Wha was ance like W ILLIE G AIRLACE ,
Wha in neighbouring town or farm?
Beauty's bloom shone in his fair face,
Deadly strength was in his arm.

Wha wi' Will could rin or wrastle?
Throw the sledge, or toss the bar?
Hap what would, he stood a castle,
Or for safety, or for war.

Warm his heart, and mild as manfu',
With the bauld he bauld could be;
But to friends wha had their handfu',

CANTO XXXIV

" The banners of the King of Hell proceed
Toward us, " my Guide said. " If thine eyes avail
To espy him, forward gaze and give good heed. "
As when the thick autumnal mists exhale,
Or when night draws down on our hemisphere,
A mill shows far away with turning sail,
Such structure to my eyes seemed now to appear;
And, for the wind that blew, I shrank behind

CANTO XXXIII

That sinner raised up from the brute repast
His mouth, wiping it on the hairs left few
About the head he had all behind made waste.
Then he began: " Thou willest that I renew
Desperate grief, strangling my very heart
Even at the thought, before I tell it you.
But if my words prove seed for fruit to start
Of infamy for the traitor I gnaw now

CANTO XXXII

I F I had rhymes to rasp and words to grate
Congenial with the grimness of the Pit
Whereon all the other scarps collect their weight,
I should crush out the juice of my conceit
More fully; but not having them, I fall
Into fear, being constrained to tell of it.
For to portray the bottom and core of all
The world is not feat to essay in sport,

CANTO XXXI

The self-same tongue first dealt to me the wound
So that it coloured both my cheeks with red,
And then itself restoring medicine found.
Thus have I heard that by Achilles sped
The spear, that was his father's, where it pierced
Brought hurt and then with healing comforted.
We turned our back upon the valley accurst
Up by the bank about its circle cast

CANTO XXX

What time revengeful Juno was inflamed
Through Semele against the Theban blood,
As otherwhiles like forfeit too she claimed,
Athamas fell to so insane a mood,
That seeing his wife go clasping in embrace
Of either arm her two sons, " In the wood
Spread we the nets, " he cried, " that lioness
And lion cubs may in the toils be found, "

CANTO XXIX

The many people and diverse wounds had made
The eyes of me so drunk, that they were faint
To tarry, and to weep out what on them weighed.
But Virgil said: " Why gazest still intent?
Why on the maimed unhappy shades below
Still lingering is thy vision wholly bent?
Thou hast not at the other chasms done so.
Consider, if all the tale thou wouldst complete,

CANTO XXVIII

Who even with words untrammelled, though 'twere told
Over and over, could tell full the tale
Of blood and wounds before me now unrolled?
Truly there is no tongue that could avail,
Seeing that our speech and memory are small
And for so great a comprehension fail.
Nay, were it possible to assemble all
Who of old upon Apulia's fated soil

CANTO XXVII

Quieted now, the flame rose all upright,
Having no more to speak, and with the accord
Of the sweet poet was moving from our sight
When another, that came on behind it, toward
Its summit caused us to direct our eyes
Because of the wild sound that from it roared.
As the Sicilian bull, that with the cries
Of him (and it was justice) bellowed first

CANTO XXVI

Rejoice , Florence, because thy fame is flown
Over earth and sea, winging the heavenly vault,
And even through Hell's regions is it known.
Among the Thieves I found five of that fault
Thy citizens, whence shame comes to my cheek,
Nor thou thine honour greatly dost exalt.
But if the truth in dream of morning speak,
Thou shalt in short time feel what upon thee