Inferno: Canto VIII


But wait a second cause I'm getting way ahead of myself
Long before arriving where the edifice dwelt
- This high tower - before reaching that turret
Our eyes had been summoned upward to its black summit

Due to, all of a sudden, seeing two bright sparks lit
at the top and flash, catching the eye in the darkness
And way in the distance another flame signal answered this
So far away, it was hard to target

so I turned quick to that ocean of discernment
My guide and master, the noble Virgil, and said
'what messages are those first two flames sending
What did the other fire answer, and who set them?'

And so Virgil in turn turned to say
"If you fix you gaze out over the murky waves
The thing which is beckoned will be coming that way
As you'll see, if the foul gas of this morass doesn't get in the way."

The string of a bow never unleashed and flicked
a deadly arrow from its fearsome grip
To slip through the air with a speed so swift
As the speed I then witnessed a sciff possess

As it sped over the water towards us
with no evidence of how it was being propelled forward
And it was being guided by a single oarsman
Who hollered "finally, wicked soul, you have been caught then!"

"Phlegyas! Son of Mars, We hear you yell at us.
But for once your fiery cries are not relevant"
my lord said to him "our time in your custody is temporary
Only as long as necessary to get us across this estuary."

Phlegyas reacted like he'd just realised the fact
that he'd been knifed in the back,
And we glimpsed the fires of that rage that would have followed
When he learnt his daughter had been raped by the god Apollo

And he burned down that deity’s temple at Delphi
But my guide ignored it, and walked to the boat to board it
Then he signaled for me to follow him off the shore
And it was only when I got on board that the boat sank into the waters at all

At the exact instant that we had left the banks and stepped
on the deck of the boat it commenced travelling
The ancient prow of the boat splashing up
More water than it normally does with any of its usual cargo of passengers.




I felt nervous. My rage like a furnace,
As the boat ploughed through the sewage surface.
Then a mud caked muscular person, jumped up grabbed the boat and cried
'who are you that comes to this place before your time?'

though I was shocked, I angrily spat back in his face
"I might be here now, but I'll not remain trapped in this place;
Unlike you... Look at how you have become so disgusting?"
He answered, "Do you not pity me now that I am suffering?"

And I yelled at him, "no amount of suffering, weeping And wailing
can change the fact that you remain A disgraceful
wicked despised individual
For in spite of your being hideously disfigured, I recognise you still”


Then, like he did once in Florence, he tried to dive at me
Into the boat, to attack, bite and fight with me
But Virgil grabbed that bastard's wrists and threw him into the bogs
Yelling 'Get back down in the broth with the other dogs!'

And then Virgil passionately hugged me round the neck
He held me close, kissed my face and said
"Disdainful soul, you are correct to have contempt
Blessed be the woman who fed you from her breast.

That spirit, when living was riddled with arrogance
he attacked you and prevented you returning to Florence
and numberless other callous deeds accompany his name
So down here, he remains afflicted with malice the same.

There are so many exalted leaders alive now
Who will find that when they die will drown
Down here in the swamp, like swines in the slough
Leaving only horrible stains on their titles and crowns'

And I spoke out, ‘Master, my hate for him is so much
but it would assuage my wrath If I could only watch
that loathsome grot choke and cough,
consumed in gross broth, before we go forth.’

And he thus replied to me once more
'worry not, for well before you see the shore
This exact desire that you have expressed will manifest
For to want to have your revenge, is totally correct.'

And I watched a mass of naked souls getting charged and ready
to charge and fling themselves on Philip Argenti,
I'll never forget the gloriously gory bloodletting
and will thank God forever that I got to witness it all happen

A huge horde surrounded him and was yelling in a frenzy
'kill Philip Argenti! kill Philip Argenti!'
And even before they tore him apart to a bloody mess
he was biting his arms to shreds, ripping his own flesh








The boat left that mayhem behind
So no more will I talk of him, or bring him to mind
Because at that time, a horrid cry filled these ears of mine
And into the darkness ahead, I fixed my eyes

And my master said, 'listen to this
Right now we're drawing near to the city of Dis
The city in which every citizen lives in perpetual eclipse
In multitudes of a magnitude that defies estimates.

And I said to this: 'i can already dimly detect
And discern in the darkness some minarets
And domes Of mosques, looking vermilion red
As if from a giant fire they were being fed.'

And he said, 'Yes, for in this place flames do dwell
Kindled and lit for eternity, to burn and swell
This makes it all look red, and gives a sulphurous smell
For now you behold the nether Hell.'

After a spell, as we sped forth on that boat
We reached the zone of the deep set of moats
Which surround that dark woeful city entire
Whose high walls appear to be made of iron

But before our arrival, our pilot made a wider Circuit,
And we took in the heights of this furnace
filled city, then with curses he yelled at us
'get off the boat, you wretches. This is the entrance.'

Then commenced a deafening sound like a tornado
Of shouts and wails of more than a thousand fallen angels
Who were stationed guarding the gates of that prison
And were livid, spitting 'who is this still living

Without death, who dares to enter and step
Into the depths of this kingdom of the dead?'
And just then, my wise guide who was leading me
gave a signal that he wished to parlay with them secretly

And these former angels who all still
Evi dently felt in a state of war against heaven
Became slightly calmer and did say 'you come alone,
Send him home, who has so boldly entered our zone

Let him return back along his mad road
If he survives, he will be permitted to go
But you shall remain here below,
You who have escorted him through such dark abodes'

Think a while, reader, how I felt at that time
When i heard these threats to myself and my guide
For if I were to lose Virgil next to my side
I'd never return to this dimension of life


'o my dear guide who until now in this ride
More than seven times have rescued my hide
And kept me safe, pulling me back from the brink
Of Many myriad dangers in which I was about to sink


Please, I beg of you, do not leave me here
for if the way forward is no longer clear
And we are prevented from continuing our mission
Let's retrace our steps together back to the beginning'

And Virgil, my great poetic hero I had joined with
Who had led me this far with no disappointment
Said, 'have no fear, attempting to stop our journey is pointless
None can stand in our way, or void it, for it has been anointed


But I have an appointment to parlay with those demons
so wait for me right here - don’t worry, I’m not leaving
Nourish and comfort your weary spirit and be undeterred
for I will never abandon you here in this underworld”

at that point he goes ahead, and in spite of what he said
I feel a sense of abandonment, doubt and dread.
A sense of loneliness to be left by my adopted father
while in my head, no and yes each vie to be the master

I couldn't hear the words that passed between them
Or what he proposed to these dastardly demons
But he wasn't speaking with them a long time
Before they all turned tail and gruffly ran back inside

The battlement gates, which when behind
These enemies as if preparing to fight, slammed tight
Right on my Lord's face, who was still outside
And who returned to me with an uneasy stride

With downcast eyes, furrowed his brow became
and with all of his confidence and pride erased
And he said with a sigh, 'who has barred now the way
And denied me entry into the house of pain?'

And now he did say back to me 'look, just because I'm angry
Doesn't mean you need fear calamity
For I will conquer this challenge that stands in the way
Whatever efforts for defense they have planned within

The arrogance that they currently display
Is nothing new, for they used it also one momentous day
At that previous less secret gate, trying in vain to defend it
When the son of God walked this way, and it still hangs off its hinges

That gate over which you read that dreadful inscription
And right now on this side of it is descending
And passing across the circles without assistance
One whose mere presence will rip open this city in an instant."