Within this place, down shaken from the back
Of Geryon, we found us; and the Poet 20
Held to the left, and I moved on behind.
Upon my right hand I beheld new anguish,
New torments, and new wielders of the lash,
Wherewith the foremost Bolgia was replete.
Down at the bottom were the sinners naked; 25
This side the middle came they facing us,
Beyond it, with us, but with greater steps;
Even as the Romans, for the mighty host,
The year of Jubilee, upon the bridge,
Have chosen a mode to pass the people over; 30
For all upon one side towards the Castle
Their faces have, and go unto Saint Peter's;
On the other side they go towards the Mountain.
This side and that, along the livid stone
Beheld I hornëd demons with great scourges, 35
Who cruelly were beating them behind.
Ah me! how they did make them lift their legs
At the first blows! and sooth not any one
The second waited for, nor for the third.
While I was going on, mine eyes by one 40
Encountered were; and straight I said: "Already
With sight of this one I am not unfed."
Page:Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867) v1.djvu/127
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Inferno XVIII.
107
