# Inferno Canto 31

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> 
> Canto XXXI
> 
> Argument
> 
>      The Poets, following the sound of a loud horn, are led by it to the ninth
> circle, in which there are four rounds, one enclosed within the other, and
> containing as many sorts of traitors; but the present Canto shows only that
> the circle is encompassed with Giants, one of whom. Antaeus, takes them both
> in his arms and places them at the bottom of the circle.
> 
> The very tongue, whose keen reproof before
> Had wounded me, that either cheek was stain'd,
> Now minister'd my cure. So have I heard,
> Achilles' and his father's javelin caused
> Pain first, and then the boon of health restored.
> 
> Turning our back upon the vale of woe,
> We cross'd the encircled mound in silence. There
> Was less than day and less than night, that far
> Mine eye advanced not: but I heard a horn
> Sounded so loud, the peal it rang had made
> The thunder feeble. Following its course
> The adverse way, my strained eyes were bent
> On that one spot. So terrible a blast
> Orlando[1] blew not, when that dismal rout
> O'er threw the host of Charlemain, and quench'd
> His saintly warfare. Thitherward not long
> My head was raised, when many a lofty tower
> Methought I spied. "Master," said I, "what land
> Is this?" He answer'd straight: "Too long a space
> Of intervening darkness has thine eye
> To traverse: thou hast therefore widely err'd
> In thy imagining. Thither arrived
> 
> [1: When Charlemain with all his peerage fell at Fontarabia." Milton,
> Paradis Lost, b. i. 586. See Warton's Hist. of Eng. Poetry, vol. i. sect. iii.
> p. 132. "This is the horn which Orlando won from the giant Jatmund, and which,
> as Turpin and the Islandic bards report, was endued with magical power, and
> might be heard at the distance of twenty miles." See the Paradise, Canto
> xviii.]
> 
> Thou well shalt see, how distance can delude
> The sense. A little therefore urge thee on."
> 
> Then tenderly he caught me by the hand;
> "Yet know," said he, "ere farther we advance,
> That it less strange may seem, these are not towers,
> But giants. In the pit they stand immersed,
> Each from his navel downward, round the bank."
> 
> As when a fog disperseth gradually,
> Our vision traces what the mist involves
> Condensed in air; so piercing through the gross
> And gloomy atmosphere, as more and more
> We near'd toward the brink, mine error fled
> And fear came o'er me. As with circling round
> Of turrets, Montereggion[2] crowns his walls;
> E'en thus the shore, encompassing the abyss,
> Was turreted with giants, half their length
> Uprearing, horrible, whom Jove from Heaven
> Yet threatens, when his muttering thunder rolls.
> 
> [2: A castle near Siena.]
> 
> Of one already I descried the face,
> Shoulders and breast, and of the belly huge
> Great part, and both arms down along his ribs.
> 
> All - teeming Nature, when her plastic hand
> Left framing of these monsters, did display
> Past doubt her wisdom, taking from mad War
> Such slaves to do his bidding; and if she
> Repent her not of the elephant and whale,
> Who ponders well confesses her therein
> Wiser and more discreet; for when brute force
> And evil will are back'd with subtlety,
> Resistance none avails. His visage seem'd
> In length and bulk, as doth the pine[3] that tops
> Saint Peter's Roman fane; and the other bones
> Of like proportion, so that from above
> The bank, which girdled him below, such height
> Arose his stature, that three Friezelanders
> 
> [3: "The pine." "The large pine of bronze, which once ornamented the
> top of the mole of Adrian, afterwards decorated the top of the belfry of St.
> Peter; and having (according to Buti) been thrown down by lightning, it was
> transferred to the place where it now is, in the Pope's garden, by the side of
> the great corridor of Belvedere. In the time of our Poet, the pine was then
> either on the belfry or on the steps of St. Peter's."]
> 
> Had striven in vain to reach but to his hair.
> Full thirty ample palms was he exposed
> Downward from whence a man his garment loops.
> "Raphel[4] bai ameth, sabi almi:"
> So shouted his fierce lips, which sweeter hymns
> Became not; and my guide address'd him thus:
> "O senseless spirit! let thy horn for thee
> Interpret: therewith vent thy rage, if rage
> Or other passion wring thee. Search thy neck,
> There shalt thou find the belt that binds it on.
> Spirit confused! lo, on thy mighty breast
> Where hangs the baldrick!" Then to me he spake:
> "He doth accuse himself. Nimrod is this,
> Through whose ill counsel in the world no more
> One tongue prevails. But pass we on, nor waste
> Our words; for so each language is to him,
> As his to others, understood by none."
> 
> [4: Unmeaning sounds, meant, it is supposed, to express the confusion
> at the building of Babel.]
> 
> Then to the leftward turning sped we forth,
> And at a sling's throw found another shade
> Far fiercer and more huge. I cannot say
> What master hand had girt him; but he held
> Behind the right arm fetter'd, and before,
> The other, with a chain, that fasten'd him
> From the neck down; and five times round his form
> Apparent met the wreathed links. "This proud one
> Would of his strength against almighty Jove
> Make trial," said my guide: "whence he is thus
> Requited: Ephialtes his they call.
> Great was his prowess, when the giants brought
> Fear on the gods: those arms, which then he plied,
> Now moves he never." Forthwith I return'd:
> "Fain would I, if't were possible, mine eyes,
> Of Briareus immeasurable, gain'd
> Experience next." He answered: "Thou shalt see
> Not far from hence Antaeus, who both speaks
> And is unfetter'd, who shall place us there
> Where guilt is at its depth. Far onward stands
> Whom thou wouldst fain behold, in chains, and made
> 
> Like to this spirit, save that in his looks
> More fell he seems." By violent earthquake rock'd
> Ne'er shook a tower, so reeling to its base,
> As Ephialtes. More than ever then
> I dreaded death; nor than the terror more
> Had needed, if I had not seen the cords
> That held him fast. We, straightway journeying on,
> Came to Antaeus, who, five ells complete
> Without the head, forth issued from the cave.
> 
> "O thou, who in the fortunate vale,[5] that made
> Great Scipio heir of glory, when his sword
> Drove back the troop of Hannibal in flight,
> Who thence of old didst carry for thy spoil
> An hundred lions; and if thou hadst fought
> In the high conflict on thy brethren's side,
> Seems as men yet believed, that through thine arm
> The sons of earth had conquer'd; now vouchsafe
> To place us down beneath, where numbing cold
> Locks up Cocytus. Force not that we crave
> Or Tityus' help or Typhon's. Here is one
> Can give what in this realm ye covet. Stoop
> Therefore, nor scornfully distort thy lip.
> He in the upper world can yet bestow
> Renown on thee; for he doth live, and looks
> For life yet longer, if before the time
> Grace call him not unto herself." Thus spake
> The teacher. He in haste forth stretch'd his hands,
> And caught my guide. Alcides[6] whilom felt
> That grapple, straiten'd sore. Soon as my guide
> Had felt it, he bespake me thus: "This way,
> That I may clasp thee;" then so caught me up,
> That we were both one burden. As appears
> The tower of Carisenda,[7] from beneath
> Where it doth lean, if chance a passing cloud
> So sail across, that opposite it hangs;
> Such then Antaeus seem'd, as at mine ease
> I mark'd him stooping. I were fain at times
> 
> [5: The country near Carthage.]
> 
> [6: The combat between Hercules (Alcides) and Antaeus is adduced by
> the poet in his treatise "De Monarchia," lib. ii., as proof of God's judgment
> displayed in the duel, according to the singular superstition of those times.]
> 
> [7: The leaning tower at Bologna.]
> 
> To have past another way. Yet in the abyss,
> That Lucifer with Judas low ingulfs,
> Lightly he placed us; nor, there leaning, stay'd;
> But rose, as in a bark the stately mast.
>
> — *Inferno Canto 31*