# Inferno Canto 22

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

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> 
> Canto XXII
> 
> Argument
> 
>      Virgil and Dante proceed, accompanied by the Demons, and see other
> sinners of the same description in the same gulf. The device of Ciampolo, one
> of these, to escape from the Demons, who had laid hold on him.
> 
> It hath been heretofore my chance to see
> Horsemen with martial order shifting camp,
> To onset sallying, or in muster ranged,
> Or in retreat sometimes outstretch'd for flight:
> Light - armed squadrons and fleet foragers
> Scouring thy plains, Arezzo! have I seen,
> And clashing tournaments, and titling jousts,
> Now with the sound of trumpets, now of bells,
> Tabors,[1] or signals made from castled heights,
> And with inventions multiform, our own,
> Or introduced from foreign land; but ne'er
> To such a strange recorder I beheld,
> In evolution moving, horse nor foot,
> Nor ship, the tack'd by sign from land or star.
> 
> [1: "Tabour, a drum, a common accompaniment of war, is mentioned as
> one of the instruments of martial music in this battle (in Richard Coeur - de
> - Lion) with characteristical propriety. It was imported into the European
> armies from the Saracens in the holy war." Warton's Hist. of English Poetry,
> vi.i. (a) 4, p. 167.]
> 
> With the ten Demons on our way we went;
> Ah, fearful company! but in the church
> With saints, with gluttons at the tavern's mess.
> 
> Still earnest on the pitch I gazed, to mark
> All things whate'er the chasm contain'd, and those
> Who burn'd within. As dolphins that, in sign
> To mariners, heave high their arched backs,
> That thence forewarn'd they may advise to save
> Their threaten'd vessel; so, at intervals,
> To ease the pain, his back some sinner show'd,
> Then hid more nimbly than the lightning - glance.
> 
> E'en as the frogs, that of a watery moat
> Stand at the brink, with the jaws only out,
> Their feet and of the trunk all else conceal'd,
> Thus on each part the sinners stood; but soon
> As Barbariccia was at hand, so they
> Drew back under the wave. I saw, and yet
> 
> My heart doth stragger, one, that waited thus,
> As it befalls that oft one frog remains,
> While the next springs away: and Graffiacan,
> Who of the fiends was nearest, grappling seized
> His clotted locks, and dragg'd him sprawling up,
> That he appear'd to me an otter. Each
> Already by their names I knew, so well
> When they were chosen I observed, and mark'd
> How one the other call'd. "O Rubicant!
> See that his hide thou with thy talons flay,"
> Shouted together all the cursed crew.
> 
> Then I: "Inform thee, Master! if thou may,
> What wretched soul is this, on whom their hands
> His foes have laid." My leader to his side
> Approach'd, and whence he came inquired; to whom
> Was answer'd thus: "Born in Navarre's domain,[2]
> My mother placed me in a lord's retinue:
> For she had borne me to a losel vile,
> A spendthrift of his substance and himself.
> The good King Thibault[3] after that I served:
> To peculating here my thoughts were turn'd,
> Whereof I give account in this dire heat."
> 
> [2: His name is said to be Ciampolo.]
> 
> [3: "Thibault I, King of Navarre, died on June 8, 1233, as much to be
> commended for the desire he showed of aiding the war in the Holy Land, as
> reprehensible and faulty for his design of oppressing the rights and
> privileges of the Church. Thibault undoubtedly mertis praise, as for his other
> endowments, so especially for his cultivation of the liberal arts, his
> exercise and knowledge of music and poetry, in which he so much excelled that
> he was accustomed to compose verses and sing them to the viol, and to exhibit
> his poetical compositions publicly in his palace, that they might be
> criticised by all."]
> 
> Straight Ciriatto, from whose mouth a tusk
> Issued on either side, as from a boar,
> Ripp'd him with one of these. 'Twixt evil claws
> The mouse had fallen: but Barbariccia cried,
> Seizing him with both arms: "Stand thou apart
> While I do fix him on my prong transpierced."
> Then added, turning to my guide his face,
> "Inquire of him, if more thou wish to learn,
> Ere he again be rent." My leader thus:
> "Then tell us of the partners in thy guilt;
> Knowest thou any sprung of Latin land
> 
> Under the tar?" "I parted," he replied,
> "But now from one, who sojourn'd not far thence;
> So were I under shelter now with him,
> Nor hook nor talon then should scare me more."
> 
> "Too long we suffer," Libicocco cried;
> Then, darting forth a prong, seized on his arm,
> And mangled bore away the sinewy part.
> Him Draghinazzo by his thighs beneath
> Would next have caught; whence angrily their chief,
> Turning on all sides round, with threatening brow
> Restrain'd them. When their strife a little ceased,
> Of him, who yet was gazing on his wound,
> My teacher thus without delay inquired:
> "Who was the spirit, from whom by evil hap
> Parting, as thou hast told, thou camest to shore?"
> 
> "It was the friar Gomita,"[4] he rejoin'd,
> "He of Gallura, vessel of all guile,
> Who had his master's enemies in hand,
> And used them so that they commend him well.
> Money he took, and them at large dismiss'd;
> So he reports; and in each other charge
> Committed to his keeping play'd the part
> Of barterer to the height. With him doth herd
> The chief of Logodoro, Michel Zanche.[5]
> Sardinia is a theme whereof their tongue
> Is never weary. Out! alas! behold
> That other, how he grins. More would I say,
> But tremble lest he mean to maul me sore."
> 
> [4: He was intrusted by Nino de' Visconti with the government of
> Gallura, one of the four jurisdictions of Sardinia. He took a bribe from his
> master's enemies and allowed them to escape. See also Canto xxxiii and
> Purgatory, Canto viii.]
> 
> [5: President of Logodoro, of the four Sardinian jurisdictions. See
> Canto xxxiii. Note to v. 136.]
> 
> Their captain then to Farfarello turning,
> Who roll'd his moony eyes in act to strike,
> Rebuked him thus: "Off, cursed bird! avaunt!"
> 
> "If ye desire to see or hear," he thus
> Quaking with dread resumed, "or Tuscan spirits
> Or Lombard, I will cause them to appear.
> Meantime let these ill talons bate their fury,
> So that no vengeance they may fear from them,
> 
> And I, remaining in this self - same place,
> Will, for myself but one, make seven appear,
> When my shrill whistle shall be heard; for so
> Our custom is to call each other up."
> 
> Cagnazzo at that word deriding grinn'd,
> Then wagg'd the head and spake: "Hear his device,
> Mischievous as he is, to plunge him down."
> 
> Whereto he thus, who fail'd not in rich store
> Of nice - wove toils: "Mischief, forsooth, extreme!
> Meant only to procure myself more woe."
> 
> No longer Alichino then refrain'd,
> But thus, the rest gainsaying, him bespake:
> "If thou do cast thee down, I not on foot
> Will chase thee, but above the pitch will beat
> My plumes. Quit we the vantage ground, and let
> The bank be as a shield; that we may see,
> If singly thou prevail against us all."
> 
> Now, reader, of new sport expect to hear.
> 
> They each one turn'd his eyes to the other shore,
> He first, who was the hardest to persuade.
> The spirit of Navarre chose well his time,
> Planted his feet on land, and at one leap
> Escaping, disappointed their resolve.
> 
> Them quick resentment stung, but him the most
> Who was the cause of failure: in pursuit
> He therefore sped, exclaiming, "Thou art caught."
> 
> But little it avail'd; terror outstripp'd
> His following flight; the other plunged beneath,
> And he with upward pinion raised his breast:
> E'en thus the water - fowl, when she perceives
> The falcon near, dives instant down, while he
> Enraged and spent retires. That mockery
> In Calcabrina fury stirr'd, who flew
> After him, with desire of strife inflamed;
> And, for the barterer had 'scaped, so turn'd
> His talons on his comrade. O'er the dyke
> In grapple close they join'd; but the other proved
> A goshawk able to rend well his foe;
> And in the boiling lake both fell. The heat
> Was umpire soon between them; but in vain
> To lift themselves they strove, so fast were glued
> Their pennons. Barbariccia, as the rest,
> That chance lamenting, four in flight despatch'd
> From the other coast, with all their weapons arm'd.
> They, to their post on each side speedily
> Descending, stretch'd their hooks toward the fiends,
> Who flounder'd, inly burning from their scars:
> And we departing left them to that broil.
>
> — *Inferno Canto 22*