One bridge ended and the next began
As we walked and talked about things
Outside the range of this Comedy;
At the high point we stopped to inspect
the next valley
Of Malebolge, expecting to see the
usual set of sinners
Weeping in vain. It was oddly dark,
Just like in winter at the Venetian
Arsenal Shipyard,
When the soft sticky tar
For caulking leaky ships is bubbling,
And where, since they can’t set off,
One person builds a new ship from the
bottom up,
Another plugs the seams of a well-worn
hull,
One hammers at the bow, another at the
stern,
One planes oars, someone twists rigging
rope,
One mends the staysail, another the
mizzen-sail. 15
So it was here, not by fire but by
divine ingenuity,
That a thick pitch was boiling below,
Turning the banks into a glue trap.
I saw it, but nothing in it, except the bubbles
That rose from the boiling and the
surface as a whole
Swelling up, then settling again.
I was focused on the pitch
When my teacher yelled, “Look out!”
And with a single sudden motion, yanked
me closer.
I quickly wheeled around like someone
in a hurry
To see what needs escaping, and who
then,
Panicked, keeps running while looking
Without stopping to stare. Behind us,
I saw a devil in a black leather jacket
racing
In our direction across the rocky
ridge. 30
He looked fierce and acted wild—
Touching down from time to time,
Then scurrying along with his wings
still outstretched.
He had a sinner slung over his
shoulder,
Which was sharp and held high; his
talons were hooked
Through the tendons of the ankles.
He shouted down, “Hey Psycho-Clawz of
the Fifth Bridge,
Here’s an Alderman from Santa Zita;
Push him under while I go back to the
city for another.
It’s endless. Everyone there is on the
take,
Except Bonturo! You know how money
converts
Every No to a Yes over there—snap—like
that!”
He tossed him in, then ran back
Along the stony crag; a pit bull
unleashed
On a burglar never ran faster. 45
The sinner went under, then rose
doubled over,
Tarred bottom up; the devils under the
ridge yelled,
“This is no place for an ebony Holy
Face!
You can’t jellyfish float here! It’s
not the Serchio!
Unless you wanna piece of claw,
Don’t come up out of the pitch.”
Over a hundred jabbed him with
pitchforks,
Taunting, “You have to live undercover
now! That way,
When you’re on the take, you can keep
it a secret!”
They poked him down like a cook has the
kitchen help
Plunge the meat down with a skewer
When it floats to the top of the pot.
My street-savvy teacher said,
“It’s better they don’t see you’re
here.
Crouch down behind this rock. 60
And don’t worry when they come at me.
Everything will be fine. I know about
these things.
I was once in a turf war exactly like
this.”
He strode the length of the bridge
To the bank of the sixth crevice; at
that point,
He needed to look like he knew what he
was doing.
With the unchecked fury of a pack of
feral dogs
That rushes to attack a beggar,
Forcing him to freeze and beg from where
he is,
They bolted out from beneath the bridge
With forks raised—but Virgil shouted,
“Stand back! Don’t be rash!
Before you touch me with one of those
forks,
I suggest someone come forward to hear
me out—
After that, you can decide whether to
stab me.” 75
They all agreed: “It has to be Badass.”
We waited until he emerged from the
pack,
Muttering, “As if this will do him any
good—”
My teacher said, “Think about it,
Badass,
Could I have safely come this far
In spite of the countless obstacles
Unless I’d been guided by divine will
and a promise
Of success? Let us through. Heaven
wants me
To show someone this soul-crushing
way.”
With that, his high-blown pride broke
under him
And he dropped the fork at this feet
and turned
To the others: “Fine, don’t anyone stab
him, at least for now.”
My teacher called out, “You,
Behind those boulders on the bridge,
It’s okay to come out here with me.” 90
At that, I stood up and ran over to
him;
The devils lunged forward, making me
doubt
They intended to keep the agreement.
I thought of the cease-fire at Caprona—
The terrified departing troops marched
out
Into the midst of a mob of jeering
enemies.
I pressed my body close against my
teacher’s
And kept my eyes fixed on their faces,
Which were far from friendly. They were
gesturing
With their forks and goading one
another; one said,
“Wanna see me poke his butt?” to which
the other
Answered, “You gotta make sure you
really gouge it.”
The devil named Badass, who was
speaking to my teacher,
Quickly spun around and snapped,
“Down, Scumbutt! Down!” 105
He then told us, “You can’t continue
along this ridge
Because here the arch over the sixth
ditch
Is nothing but a pile of rock at the
bottom of the fissure.
If you still want to go forward, walk
along the lip of the cliff
Between the pitch and the next pocket;
There’s another ridge you can cross not
far from here.
In five hours, precisely one thousand
and two hundred
Sixty-six years plus one day
Will have passed since this bridge
collapsed.
I was just getting ready to send some
of my workers that way
To check to see if anyone’s taking the
air above the pitch—
Go with them, they won’t hurt you.”
“Come here, Killer Clown, and Ilse the
Witch,”
He began. “You too, Mad Dog;
And Barbie, you be squad leader. 120
Let’s have Qaddafi too, and Dragan Nikolic,
Roadhog with his tusks, and Irma the
Beast,
Fubar, and Crazy Rummy.
Look all around the boiling glue pot.
Take care of these two until you reach
the next intact ridge
That crosses the crevice.”
“Really, teacher!” I said, “This does
not look good!
Please, let’s just the two of us go on
alone;
As long as you know the way, I don’t
want an escort!
You usually know what’s what! Don’t you
see
They’re showing their teeth
And making ugly faces?”
“Don’t act like a baby. They can show
their teeth
All they want. They’re doing it for the
benefit
Of the sorry ones boiling in the tar.” 135
They swung around to the left and
proceeded along
The bank—but first, each used his
tongue
To signal their leader with a
raspberry;
He, in turn, responded with a toot from
his bugle-butt.
Notes to Canto
XXI
N.B.: Various commentators have made
convincing arguments that the names of the twelve demons who appear in Canto
XXI are all corruptions of names of Florentine leaders responsible for Dante’s
banishment. The Italian names he assigned them in the original are provided in
the following notes.
3. My Comedy: In a letter to his patron,
Cangrande, Dante explains that he calls his poem a “comedy” because it begins
in difficulty and ends in happiness; other have also pointed out that the poem
is a comedy because it’s written in the vernacular style. Dante refers to
Virgil’s poem as “tragedy” because it is written in a lofty style and has an
unhappy ending. Hollander (376–377, 392).
7. the
Venetian Arsenal Shipyard: Built in 1104 and enlarged in 1303–1304 and
1325, the Venetian Arsenal was one of the most important shipyards in Europe.
It had a perimeter of approximately two miles and a fortress-like construction
with high walls and watchtowers. Today parts of it are used as exhibition
spaces during the biannual international art fair known as the Venice Biennale.
37. “Hey
Psycho-Clawz of the Fifth Bridge: The devils are called Malebranche, a
combination of the word male (“evil”)
and branche (“claws”—also “talons” or
“clutches” or “jaws”). These demons carry pitchforks and have long birdlike
talons and a wide wingspan.
38. Here’s
an Alderman from Santa Zita: According to Singleton (2:367), the fourteenth-century
writer Guido da Pisa identified the unnamed soul as Martino Bottario (or
Bottai), a corrupt magistrate from the city-state of Lucca. The city’s patron
saint is Santa Zita (c. 1212–1227), a servant who became the patron saint of
domestic workers and an aide in the finding of lost keys; she came from a
village not far from Lucca.
40–41. It’s endless. Everyone there is on the take,/Except Bonturo!:
Bonturo Dati (d. 1324), head of the popular party of Lucca, while maintaining
an official anti-corruption stance, was profligate in his buying and selling of
public offices. It is said he owned the city.
48. This
is no place for an ebony Holy Face: The Volto Santo (Sacred Face) is a
first-century crucifix carved from dark wood. It was brought to Lucca from the
Holy Land in 742.
49. You
can’t jellyfish float here! It’s not the Serchio!: The Serchio is a river
near Lucca.
63. I
was once in a turf war exactly like this: Virgil may be referring to a
scuffle he had with the same demons when he was sent to Hell by Erichtho (Canto
IX, 22–27), or he may be alluding to his more recent standoff with the demons
at the gates of Dis (Canto VIII, 83).
76. They
all agreed: “It has to be Badass.”: The demon’s name in the Italian, Malacoda,
is formed by combining mala (“bad” or
“evil”) with coda (“tail” or “tail
end”).
85. With that, his high-blown pride broke under
him: Shakespeare, The Life of King
Henry the Eighth (III.ii.422–427):
Cardinal
Wolsey. Like little wanton boys that swim on
bladders,
This many summers in a sea of glory,
But far beyond my depth: my high-blown pride
At length broke under me, and now has left me,
Weary and old with service, to the mercy
Of a rude stream, that must for ever hide me.
This many summers in a sea of glory,
But far beyond my depth: my high-blown pride
At length broke under me, and now has left me,
Weary and old with service, to the mercy
Of a rude stream, that must for ever hide me.
94–96. I thought of the cease-fire at Caprona . . . a mob of jeering enemies:
In 1289, shortly after the death of Count Ugolino, the Guelph leader of Pisa,
the Guelphs were expelled from the city. Guelph troops from Lucca and Florence
besieged the city and captured several castles, including the one at Caprona.
According to Benvenuto, Dante took part in the siege.
105. “Down, Scumbutt! Down!”: The demon’s name is Scarmiglione. The word scarmigliato means “disheveled” or “unkempt.”
Samuel Beckett borrowed from both Canto XXI and Canto XXII for his poem
“Malacoda”; he gives the name Malacoda to an undertaker and the name Scarmilion
to his assistant. In Beckett’s poem, Dante’s Posa, posa, Scarmiglione becomes “stay Scarmilion stay stay.”
111. There’s another ridge you can cross not far from here: As Virgil
and Dante will soon discover in Canto XXIII,
the demon is lying; none of the bridges from the fifth valley to the sixth are
intact.
112–114. In five hours, precisely one thousand and two hundred/Sixty-six years
plus one day/Will have passed since this bridge collapsed: This very exact
reference is a way of indicating that it is 7:00 a.m. on Good Friday. The earthquake that occurred when Christ died
also caused damage to the seventh circle, where the violent are punished (Canto
XII, 45).
118. “Come here, Killer Clown and Ilse the Witch”: The name Alichino is
possibly from arlecchino, Italian for
“harlequin”; this clownish acrobatic character of the commedia dell’arte is thought by some to have originated in a
clown-devil character in early medieval passion plays. John Wayne Gacy, a
serial killer from Chicago, who, between 1972 and 1978, raped and murdered at
least thirty-three teenage boys and young men, was referred to as “the killer
clown” because he entertained at children’s parties as a clown called Pogo.
John Kifner, “Man Who Killed 33 Is Executed in Illinois,” New York Times, May 10, 1994.
The demon Calcabrina’s name has been
variously translated as “grace stomper” (Lansing); or one who “can walk on
brine” (Mandelbaum); or one who “tramples on the hoar-frost” or “tramples on the
Bianchi” (Scartazinni). The Bianchi (Whites) were that faction of the Guelph
party to which Dante belonged. They took their name from Bianca Cancellieri.
Ilse (pronounced “Ilsa”) Koch was known as Die Hexe von Buchenwald (“the Witch [or
Bitch] of Buchenwald”). She was the sadistic wife of Karl Koch, the Nazi
commandant of Buchenwald, where she served as an overseer. She was notorious for
her cruelty to prisoners and kept a collection of tattooed skin removed from
the bodies of prisoners. After she was initially sentenced to death by a U.S.
military tribunal, a U.S. Army review board, “in a series of clandestine
procedures,” commuted her sentence to four years. She was later retried by a
German court and sentenced to life in prison; she committed suicide in her cell
in 1967. Joshua M. Greene, “Military Tribunals: A Cautionary Tale of Secret
Trials Past,” New York Times, July
22, 2003.
119. You too, Mad Dog: This demon’s name, Cagnazzo, is translated
variously as “low hound,” “mad dog,” “nasty dog,” and “raging and biting dog.”
The word appears to refer obliquely to the purplish color of the nose of the
dog. MD 20/20, also
known popularly as Mad Dog 20/20, is an inexpensive high-alcohol American wine
fortified with sugar and artificial flavors such as pink grapefruit, wild
berry, and Hawaiian blue. Also known as “ghetto wine” and “poverty punch,” the
product is marketed to inner-city low-income groups and university students.
Some cities in the Northwest have banned the product. Chelsea Bannach, “Fewer
Alcohol Crimes in Ban Area,” Seattle
Times, April 17, 2011. It is bottled by the Mogen David Wine Company in
Westfield, New York.
120. Barbie, you be squad leader: Barbariccia’s name derives from barba (“beard”) and riccia (“curly”). Dante designates him the leader of the group of
ten. The name has been linked to that of Jacopo Ricci, corporal of the city of Florence
at the time Dante was exiled. In medieval times physiognomists associated a
curly beard with fraud and malice. A barb, in addition to being the curled hair
of some animals, is a sharp hook. Nicholas “Klaus” Barbie, a member of the Nazi
Gestapo who reached the comparable rank of captain, was known as “the Butcher
of Lyon” for the extravagant brutality of his sadistic torture. He escaped
immediate postwar prosecution for war crimes, initially with the aid of
American intelligence agents, and lived in Bolivia, where he was involved in
drug trafficking, until he was extradited to France in 1983 to stand trial for
crimes against humanity. “Klaus Barbie and the United States Government: A Report to the Attorney General of the United States, August 1983, U.S. Department of Justice" (available as a pdf at www.justice.gov/criminal/). He was sentenced to prison in 1987 and died of cancer there in 1991.
121. Let’s have Qaddafi too, and Dragan Nikolic: In the original poem,
the name Libicocco may gesture toward Libya—as in “Libyan Hothead” (see Richard
Lansing, ed., The Dante Encyclopedia,
302) or to lustful desire, as in libido,
from the Latin libere (“to be
pleasing”). Vernon (2:173) points out that the deserts of Libya “were thought
to be peopled by multitudes of demons.” In 1969, Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi,
the eccentric dictator of Libya, led a military coup that toppled the first and
only king of Libya, Idris I, who had served as monarch for seventeen years. A
civil war supported by NATO air strikes began in Libya in February 2011.
“Allies Open Air Assault on Qaddafi’s Forces in Libya,” New York Times, March 20, 2011. On October 20, 2011 Gaddafi was
captured and killed by Libyan rebel forces. “An Erratic Leader, Brutal and
Defiant to the End,” New York Times,
October 21, 2011.
The name Draghignazzo appears to be a portmanteau word formed from drago ("dragon") and sghignazzo ("sneer" or "smirk"). Dragan Nikolic was a commander of the Susica detention camp at Vlasenica, near the Bosnian-Serbian border, during the Bosnian War (1992-1995); he pled guilty in 2003 to allowing “guards and Serbian soldiers
to come, night after night, and abuse and rape Muslim and other non-Serbian girls
and women.” He took personal responsibility for at least nine murders and multiple
incidences of extreme torture, including using an iron bar to knock out
prisoners’ teeth and break their ribs. Marlise Simons, “Serb at Hague Pleads
Guilty to Brutalities,” New York Times,
September 5, 2003.
122. Roadhog with his tusks, and Irma the Beast: The devil Cirïatto has
tusks like a boar, or wild hog. Webster’s dictionary defines a road hog as "a driver of an automobile vehicle who obstructs others especially by occupying part of another's traffic lane." Its first known use was in 1891. Today the term is commonly used to describe any selfish or aggressive driver.
Q: You thought it very clever to
have a whip made in the factory and even when the Commandant told you to stop using
it you went on, did you not? A: Yes.
Q: What was this whip really made
of? A: Cellophane paper plaited like a pigtail. It was
translucent like white glass.
Q: The type of whip you would use
for a horse? A: Yes.
Q: Then most of these prisoners who
said they saw you carrying a riding whip were not far wrong, were they? A: No, they were not wrong.
Q: Did the other Aufseherinnen have
these whips made too? A: No.
Q: It was just your bright
idea? A: Yes.
Q: In Lager “C” you used to carry a
walking stick too, and sometimes you beat people with the whip and sometimes
with the stick? A:
Yes.
Q: Were you allowed to beat
people? A: No.
Q: So it was not a question of
having orders from your Superiors to do it. You did this against orders, did
you? A: Yes.
“Irma Grese: Excerpts from the Belsen
Trial and Biography,” Holocaust Education and Archive Research Team,
http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/trials/grese.html.
123. Fubar, and Crazy Rummy: The demon Farfarello’s
name possibly means “goblin”; goblins are mischievous or evil sprites. The
acronym fubar stands for “fouled up
beyond all recognition.” The earliest print usage is in Yank, the U.S. Army magazine, on January 7, 1944. “The FUBAR
Squadron . . . FUBAR? It means ‘Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition.’” A related
term, snafu, was already in use: “The
Army has a laconic term for chronic befuddlement: snafu, situation normal; all fouled up.” A series of
animated cartoons commissioned by the U.S. military during World War II
featured characters with these names. The 1944 cartoon Three Brothers also included Tarfu: "things are really fouled up," or "totally and royally fouled up." In speech, the F-word is commonly substituted for "fouled." Sheidlower, The F-Word.
125–126. Take care of these two until you reach the next intact ridge/That
crosses the crevice: The demons, knowing there is no unbroken ridge,
understand this to mean they should attack Dante and Virgil later.
137–139. but first, each used his tongue/To signal their leader with a
raspberry;//He, in turn, responded with a toot from his bugle-butt: The
demons’ crude gestures can be read as a sly nonverbal conversation about their
evil intentions.
