# Inferno Canto 27

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

---

> Christianity Index  Divine Comedy Index  Previous: Inferno Canto 26  Next: Inferno Canto 28  
> 
> Canto XXVII
> 
> Argument
> 
>      The Poet, treating of the same punishment as in the last Canto, relates
> that he turned toward a flame in which was the Count Guido da Montefeltro,
> whose inquiries respecting the state of Romagna he answers; and Guido is
> thereby induced to declare who he is, and why condemned to that torment.
> 
> Now upward rose the flame, and still'd its light
> To speak no more, and now pass'd on with leave
> From the mild poet gain'd; when following came
> Another, from whose top a sound confused,
> Forth issuing, drew our eyes that way to look.
> 
> As the Sicilian bull,[1] that rightfully
> His cries first echoed who had shaped its mould,
> Did so rebellow, with the voice of him
> Tormented, that the brazen monster seem'd
> Pierced through with pain; thus, while no way they found,
> Nor avenue immediate through the flame,
> Into its language turn'd the dismal words:
> But soon as they had won their passage forth,
> Up from the point, which vibrating obey'd
> Their motion at the tongue, these sounds were heard:
> "O thou! to whom I now direct my voice,
> That lately didst exclaim in Lombard phrase,
> 'Depart thou; I solicit thee no more;'
> Though somewhat tardy I perchance arrive,
> Let it not irk thee here to pause awhile,
> 
> [1: The engine of torture invented by Perillus, for the tyrant
> Phalaris.]
> 
> And with me parley: lo! it irks not me,
> And yet I burn. If but e'en now thou fall
> Into this blind world, from that pleasant land
> Of Latium, whence I draw my sum of guilt,
> Tell me if those who in Romagna dwell
> Have peace or war. For of the mountains there[2]
> Was I, betwixt Urbino and the height
> Whence Tiber first unlocks his mighty flood."
> 
> [2: Montefeltro.]
> 
> Leaning I listen'd yet with heedful ear,
> When, as he touch'd my side, the leader thus:
> "Speak thou: he is a Latian." My reply
> Was ready, and I spake without delay:
> "O spirit! who art hidden here below,
> Never was thy Romagna without war
> In her proud tyrants' bosoms, nor is now:
> But open war there left I none. The state,
> Ravenna hath maintain'd this many a year,
> Is steadfast. There Polenta's eagle[3] broods;
> And in his broad circumference of plume
> O'ershadows Cervia. The green talons grasp
> The land,[4] that stood erewhile the proof so long
> And piled in bloody heap the host of France.
> 
> [3: Polenta's eagle." Guido Novello da Polenta, who bore an eagle for
> his coat - of - arms. The name of Polenta was derived from a castle so called
> in the neighborhood of Brittonoro. Cervia is a small maritime city, about
> fifteen miles to the south of Ravenna. Guido was the son of Ostasio da
> Polenta, and made himself master of Ravenna in 1265. In 1322 he was deprived
> of his sovereignty, and died at Bologna in 1323. This last and most munificent
> patron of Dante is enumerated among the poets of his time.]
> 
> [4: The territory of Forli, the inhabitants of which, in 1282, were
> enabled, by the stratagem of Guido da Montefeltro, the governor, to defeat the
> French army by which it had been besieged. See G. Villani, lib. vii. c. lxxxi.
> The Poet informs Guido, its former ruler, that it is now in the possession of
> Sinibaldo Ordolaffi, whom he designates by his coat - of - arms, a lion vert.]
> 
> "The old mastiff of Verrucchio and the young,[5]
> That tore Montagna[6] in their wrath, still make,
> Where they are wont, an augre of their fangs.
> 
> [5: Malatesta and Malatestino his son, lords of Rimini, called from
> their ferocity, the mastiffs of Verrucchio, which was the name of their
> castle. Malatestino was, perhaps, the husband of Francesca, daughter of Guido
> da Polenta. See notes to Canto v. 113.]
> 
> [6: Montagna de' Parcitati, a noble and leader of the Ghibelline
> party at Rimini, murdered by Malatestino.]
> 
> "Lamone's city, and Santerno's,[7] range
> 
> [7: Lamone is the river at Faenza, and Santerno at Imola.]
> 
> Under the lion of the snowy lair,[8]
> Inconstant partisan, that changeth sides,
> Or ever summer yields to winter's frost.
> And she, whose flank is wash'd of Savio's wave,[9]
> As 'twixt the level and the steep she lies,
> Lives so 'twixt tyrant power and liberty.
> 
> [8: Machinardo Pagano, whose arms were a lion azure on a field
> argent. See also Purgatory, Canto xiv. 122]
> 
> [9: Cesena, situated at the foot of a mountain, and washed by the
> river Savio, that often descends with a swollen and rapid stream from the
> Apennines.]
> 
> "Now tell us, I entreat thee, who art thou:
> Be not more hard than others. In the world,
> So may thy name still rear its forehead high."
> 
> Then roar'd awhile the fire, its sharpen'd point
> On either side waved, and thus breathed at last:
> "If I did think my answer were to one
> Who ever could return unto the world,
> This flame should rest unshaken. But since ne'er,
> If true be told me, any from this depth
> Has found his upward way, I answer thee,
> Nor fear lest infamy record the words.
> 
> "A man of arms[10] at first, I clothed me then
> In good Saint Francis' girdle, hoping so
> To have made amends. And certainly my hope
> Had fail'd not, but that he, whom curses light on,
> The high priest,[11] again seduced me into sin.
> And how, and wherefore, listen while I tell.
> Long as this spirit moved the bones and pulp
> My mother gave me, less my deeds bespake
> The nature of the lion than the fox.
> All ways of winding subtlety I knew,
> And with such art conducted, that the sound
> Reach'd the world's limit. Soon as to that part
> Of life I found me come, and when each behoves
> To lower sails and gather in the lines;
> That, which before had pleased me, then I rued,
> And to repentance and confession turn'd,
> Wretch that I was; and well it had bestead me.
> 
> [10: Guido da Montefeltro.]
> 
> [11: Boniface VIII.]
> 
> The chief of the new Pharisees[12] meantime,
> Waging his warfare near the Lateran,
> Not with the Saracens or Jews (his foes
> All Christians were, nor against Acre one
> Had fought,[13] nor traffick'd in the Soldan's land),
> He, his great charge nor sacred ministry,
> In himself reverenced, nor in me that cord
> Whsch used to mark with leanness whom it girded.
> As in Soracte, Constantine besought,
> To cure his leprosy, Sylvester's aid;
> So me, to cure the fever of his pride,
> This man besought: my counsel to that end
> He ask'd; and I was silent; for his words
> Seem'd drunken: but forthwith he thus resumed:
> 'From thy heart banish fear: of all offence
> I hitherto absolve thee. In return,
> Teach me my purpose so to execute,
> That Penestrino cumber earth no more.
> Heaven, as thou knowest, I have power to shut
> And open: and the keys are therefore twain,
> The which my predecessor[14] meanly prized.'
> 
> [12: Boniface, VIII, whose enmity to the family of Colonna prompted
> him to destroy their houses near the Lateran. Wishing to obtain possession of
> their other seat, Penestrino, he consulted with Guido da Montefeltro, offering
> him absolution for his past sins, as well as for that which he was then
> tempting him to commit. Guido's advice was that kind words and fair promises
> would put his enemies into his power; and they accordingly soon afterward fell
> into the snare laid for them, 1298.]
> 
> [13: Alluding to the renegade Christians, by whom the Saracens, in
> April, 1291, were assisted to recover St. John d'Acre, the last possession of
> the Christians in the Holy Land.]
> 
> [14: Celestine V. See notes to Canto iii]
> 
> "Then, yielding to the forceful arguments,
> Of silence, as more perilous I deem'd,
> And answer'd: 'Father! since thou washest me
> Clear of that guilt wherein I now must fall,
> Large promise with performance scant, be sure,
> Shall make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.'
> 
> "When I was number'd with the dead, then came
> Saint Francis for me; but a cherub dark
> He met, who cried, 'Wrong me not; he is mine,
> And must below to join the wretched crew,
> 
> For the deceitful counsel which he gave.
> E'er since I watch'd him, hovering at his hair.
> No power can the impenitent absolve;
> Nor to repent, and will, at once consist,
> By contradiction absolute forbid.'
> Oh misery! how I shook myself, when he
> Seized me, and cried, "Thou haply thought'st me not
> A disputant in logic so exact!'
> To Minos down he bore me; and the judge
> Twined eight times round his callous back the tail,
> Which biting with excess of rage, he spake:
> 'This is a guilty soul, that in the fire
> Must vanish.' Hence, perdition - doom'd, I rove
> A prey to rankling sorrow, in this garb."
> 
> When he had thus fulfill'd his words, the flame
> In dolour parted, beating to and fro,
> And writhing its sharp horn. We onward went,
> I and my leader, up along the rock,
> Far as another arch, that overhangs
> The foss, wherein the penalty is paid
> Of those who load them with committed sin.
>
> — *Inferno Canto 27*