And downward from the top of the hard bank
Supine he gave him to the pendent rock,
That one side of the other Bolgia walls. 45
Ne'er ran so swiftly water through a sluice
To turn the wheel of any land-built mill,
When nearest to the paddles it approaches,
As did my Master down along that border,
Bearing me with him on his breast away, 50
As his own son, and not as a companion.
Hardly the bed of the ravine below
His feet had reached, ere they had reached the hill
Right over us; but he was not afraid;
For the high Providence, which had ordained 55
To place them ministers of the fifth moat,
The power of thence departing took from all.
A painted people there below we found,
Who went about with footsteps very slow, 59
Weeping and in their semblance tired and vanquished.
They had on mantles with the hoods low down
Before their eyes, and fashioned of the cut
That in Cologne they for the monks are made.
Without, they gilded are so that it dazzles;
But inwardly all leaden and so heavy 65
That Frederick used to put them on of straw.
Page:Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867) v1.djvu/159
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Inferno XXIII.
139
