# Inferno Canto 18

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> 
> Canto XVIII
> 
> Argument
> 
>      The Poet describes the situation and form of the eight circle, divided
> into ten gulfs, which contain as many different descriptions of fraudulent
> sinners; but in the present Canto he treats only of two sorts: the first is of
> those who, either for their own pleasure, or for that of another, have seduced
> any woman from her duty; and these are scourged of demons in the first gulf:
> the other sort is of flatterers, who in the second gulf are condemned to
> remain immersed in filth.
> 
> There is a place within the depths of Hell
> Call'd Malebolge, all of rock dark - stain'd
> With hue ferruginous, e'en as the steep
> That round it circling winds. Right in the midst
> Of that abominable region yawns
> A spacious gulf profound, whereof the frame
> Due time shall tell. The circle, that remains,
> Throughout its round, between the gulf and base
> Of the high craggy banks, successive forms
> Ten bastions, in its hollow bottom raised.
> 
> As where, to guard the walls, full many a foss
> Begirds some stately castle, sure defence
> Affording to the space within; so here
> Were model'd these: and as like fortresses,
> E'en from their threshold to the brink without,
> Are flank'd with bridges; from the rock's low base
> Thus flinty paths advanced, that 'cross the moles
> And dykes struck onward far as to the gulf,
> That in one bound collected cuts them off.
> Such was the place, wherein we found ourselves
> From Geryon's back dislodged. The bard to left
> Held on his way, and I behind him moved.
> 
> On our right hand new misery I saw,
> New pains, new executioner of wrath,
> That swarming peopled that first chasm. Below
> Were naked sinners. Hitherward they came,
> Meeting our faces, from the middle point;
> With us beyond, but with a larger stride.
> E'en thus the Romans,[1] when the year returns
> Of Jubilee, with better speed to rid
> The thronging multitudes, their means devise
> For such as pass the bridge; that on one side
> All front toward the castle, and approach
> Saint Peter's fane, on the other toward the mount.
> 
> [1: In the year 1300, Pope Boniface VIII, to remedy the inconvenience
> occasioned by the press over the bridge of St. Angelo during the time of the
> Jubilee, caused it to be divided lengthwise by a partition. G. Villani, who
> was present, describes the order that was preserved, lib. viii. c. xxxvi. It
> was at this time, and on this occasion, that he first conceived the design of
> "compiling his book."]
> 
> Each diverse way, along the grisly rock,
> Horn'd demons I beheld, with lashes huge,
> That on their back unmercifully smote.
> Ah! how they made them bound at the first stripe!
> None for the second waited, nor the third.
> 
> Meantime, as on I pass'd, one met my sight,
> Whom soon as view'd, "Of him," cried I, "not yet
> Mine eye hath had his fill." I therefore stay'd
> My feet to scan him, and the teacher kind
> Paused with me, and consented I should walk
> Backward a space; and the tormented spirit,
> Who thought to hide him, bent his visage down.
> But it avail'd him naught; for I exclaim'd:
> "Thou who dost cast thine eye upon the ground,
> Unless thy features do belie thee much,
> Venedico[2] art thou. But what brings thee
> Into this bitter seasoning?" He replied:
> "Unwillingly I answer to thy words.
> But thy clear speech, that to my mind recalls
> The world I once inhabited, constrains me.
> Know then 't was I who led fair Ghisola
> To do the Marquis' will, however fame
> The shameful tale have bruited. Nor alone
> Bologna hither sendeth me to mourn.
> Rather with us the place is so o'er throng'd,
> That not so many tongues this day are taught,
> Betwixt the Reno and Savena's stream,
> To answer Sipa[3] in their country's phrase.
> And if of that securer proof thou need,
> Remember but our craving thirst for gold."
> 
> [2: Venedico Caccianimico, a Bolognese, who prevailed on his sister
> Ghisola to prostitute herself to Obizzo da Este. (See Canto xii.)]
> 
> [3: "To answer Sipa." He denotes Bologna by its situation between the
> rivers Savena to the east and Reno to the west, and by a peculiarity of
> dialect, the use of the affirmative "sipa" instead either of "si" or of
> "sia."]
> 
> Him speaking thus, a demon with his throng
> Struck and exclaim'd, "Away, corrupter! here
> Women are none for sale." Forthwith I join'd
> My escort, and few paces thence we came
> To where a rock forth issued from the bank.
> That easily ascended, to the right
> Upon its splinter turning, we depart
> From those eternal barriers. When arrived
> Where, underneath, the gaping arch lets pass
> The scourged souls: "Pause here," the teacher said,
> "And let these others miserable now
> Strike on thy ken; faces not yet beheld,
> For that together they with us have walk'd."
> 
> From the old bridge we eyed the pack, who came
> From the other side toward us, like the rest,
> Excoriate from the lash. My gentle guide,
> By me unquestion'd, thus his speech resumed:
> "Behold that lofty shade, who this way tends,
> And seems too woe - begone to drop a tear.
> How yet the regal aspect he retains!
> Jason is he, whose skill and prowess won
> The ram from Colchis. To the Lemnian isle
> His passage thither led him, when those bold
> And pitiless women had slain all their males.
> There he with tokens and fair witching words
> Hypsipyle[4] beguiled, a virgin young,
> Who first had all the rest herself beguiled.
> Impregnated, he left her there forlorn.
> Such is the guilt condemns him to this pain.
> Here too Medea's injuries are avenged.
> All bear him company, who like deceit
> To his have practised. And thus much to know
> 
> [4: She deceived the other women, by concealing her father Thoas,
> when they slew their males.]
> 
> Of the first vale suffice thee, and of those
> Whom its keen torments urge." Now had we come
> Where, crossing the next pier, the straiten'd path
> Bestrides its shoulders to another arch.
> 
> Hence, in the second chasm we heard the ghosts,
> Who gibber in low melancholy sounds,
> With wide - stretch'd nostrils snort, and on themselves
> Smite with their palms. Upon the banks a scurf,
> From the foul steam condensed, encrusting hung,
> That held sharp combat with the sight and smell.
> 
> So hollow is the depth, that from no part,
> Save on the summit of the rocky span,
> Could I distinguish aught. Thus far we came;
> And thence I saw, within the foss below,
> A crowd immersed in ordure, that appear'd
> Draff of the human body. There beneath
> Searching with eye inquisitive, I mark'd
> One with his head so grimed, 't were hard to deem
> If he were clerk or layman. Loud he cried:
> "Why greedily thus bendest more on me,
> Than on these other filthy ones, thy ken?"
> 
> "Because, if true my memory," I replied,
> "I heretofore have seen thee with dry locks;
> And thou Alessio[5] art, of Lucca sprung.
> Therefore than all the rest I scan thee more."
> 
> [5: Of the old Interminei family.]
> 
> Then beating on his brain, these words he spake:
> "Me thus low down my flatteries have sunk,
> Wherewith I ne'er enough could glut my tongue."
> 
> My leader thus: "A little further stretch
> Thy face, that thou the visage well mayst note
> Of that besotted, sluttish courtesan,
> Who there doth rend her with defiled nails,
> Now crouching down, now risen on her feet.
> Thais[6] is this, the harlot, whose false lip
> Answer'd her doting paramour that ask'd,
> 'Thankest me much!' - 'Say rather, wondrously,'
> And, seeing this, here satiate be our view."
> 
> [6: "Thais." In the Eunuchus of Terence, Thraso asks if Thais was
> obliged to him for his present; and Gnatho replies, that she had expressed her
> obligation in the most forcible terms.]
>
> — *Inferno Canto 18*