Franz von Bayros

At the time when Juno was in a rage against
   the heritage of Thebes, on account of Semele, as she did
   demonstrate on occasion, it drove Athamas
so out of his mind that when catching sight of his wife
   with their two children -- as they marched, with either
   one at her arms, -- he screamed: "Let's spread the nets,
so I can try for the lioness and her
   cubs at the crossing." -- and so it extended its
   unholy claws, and seized the son whose name was Learcus,
and mangled him to death, to dash against
   a bolder; and that lady drowned herself with
   her other offspring. And when fortune itself
took the proud pinnacle of the men of Troy which
   every one hazarded, so that the king was
   wiped out at the same time as the realm, melancholy
Hecuba, pathetic and taken captive -- after she saw
   Polyxena murdered, and witnessed Polydorus
   in death upon the sea-shore, -- did the poor wretch go
crazy, screaming mad barking like a dog -- that's
   how great the grief was, which unhinged her mind.
   No Theban fury or Trojan warrior was ever witnessed
in so uncivilized a state against anyone --
   no animal mauling either, despite the human
   parts, -- as I saw among those two twisted and
naked shades, which were running around chomping
   in just the same way that a pig does, when
   the sty is thrown open. Th' one shade charged Capocchio,
and dug its teeth into the nape of his neck hard enough
   to draw him off and grind him face-down along
   the rough ground. The guy from Arezzo told me then,[30
as he stayed there trembling: "That ogre is Gianni
   Schicchi, who does go wild around the others,
   thrashing about like so." "Oh," told I him, "if
the other demon thrusts not its teeth into your
   back, do not make it worth your while to tell
   who he is, before he gets up & out of here."
And to me, he said: "That shade, he's the ancient
   spirit of Myrrha turned to wickedness, as she usurped
   her father, outside the bounds of love proper, too fond.
This female committed sin with him, dissimulating
   herself in the form of another's guise, just like
   that other fellow who's prancing about there,
did he venture, to take the lady as compensation
   at the tourney, in order to defraud Buoso Donati
   of his identity, feeling him out and giving due form
to his will." As soon as the two rabid shades,
   on whom I had my eyes, had passed by, turned I
   to look upon the other evil-born seeds.
I saw one, fashioned in the form of a lute,
   cut as he was from the groin, where a man is split
   like some fork in the road. The state of heavy dropsy, --
which so disorders the limbs and members of
   the body with humors undigested, that somebody's
   face seems to be at odds with the belly's paunch --
it did pry his lips apart, just like a hectic patient does,
   with one curling upwards in thirst, and th' other
   lip drooping at the chin. "You souls who exist
without any eternal punishment, though
   I know not how, in the wretched world," said he
   to us, "look here and pay attention to[60
the narrative of Master Adam's misery;
   when alive, I had more than enough of
   that which I did want, but now, oh poor me!,
a drop of water do I crave. The rivulets which
   run from the green hills of Casentino down
   upon the Arno, making their channels cold and
soggy, they are always before my eyes, and happen
   to succeed, for th' image of their ways dehydrates
   me more than the evil sickness wasting away
the look on my face. The uncompromising form of
   justice which puts me to the wrack, does account
   for the spot where I sinned, so I could put my own sighs
even more to flight. Thence Romena, the city
   where I falsified the local currency in th' image
   of the Baptist -- for such a sin did I leave my body
burned up there. However, if I could behold
   Guido's mournful soul, or Alessandro, or e'en
   their brothers, I would not trade the vision for all of
Fonte Branda! There is already the one shade in
   there, if the irate ghosts which circulate around it
   speak the truth; but as to what it's worth to me, my
hands are tied on that? If I were only still of such
   lightness that I could move so much as an inch
   per hundred years, I would have already gotten going
on the way, searching for him among all these
   deformed ethnicities, within a populace that's
   twisted about some eleven miles in all, and takes
not half a mile as the crow would fly. Because of
   them, I'm present among a family so formed; and they
   prevailed upon me to produce florins which were made[90
with three carats of dross." And to him, said I: "Who're the
   two sods that are fuming like quick hands steam in the winter
   cold, as they lie along your right-hand confines?" He
replied, "I found them here -- and they still have
   yet to make any change, since I fell like rain into this
   chasm, and believe I that neither will roll over for all time.
The first shade is the false witness who made the accusation
   against Joseph; the other one is untruthful Sinon
   the Greek from Troy: they stink so bad due to a raging fever."
And one of the shades of the dead, which had come to
   the point of perturbed, perhaps, at being named
   in such obscure sense, struck him with one punch
in his stiff belly. That paunch resounded as if it
   were a drum; master Adam punched him in the face
   with a full blow, one which looked to be about
as hard, informing him, "Albeit my movement
   of limbs grown too heavy having been already
   removed, I kept my arm relaxed at the ready."
Thereupon said the shade to him, "When you entered into the
   fire, you may not have been so ready as
   this; and it possessed you the more, when you resorted
to counterfeiting." And the dropsied one replied,
   "You must be right about this, however you
   delivered not so true a testimonial at that time when
you were expected to be accurate at Troy."
   Said Sinon, "Well if I spoke falsely, then you made
   bad coinage, & they're here over a hard-dick flaw,
with you being here even longer than th' other monster."
   "I swear I pray you to, so remember the horseman,"
   replied the shade who had the swollen abdomen --[120
"and may it torment you that all the world is aware!"
   "Well torment to you too, with that tongue-torching thirst,"
   the Greek shade said, "and filthy waters which swell your
belly out to your eyeballs!!" Thus, so the counterfeiter:
   "Let disease pry open your jaws, in exchange for your
   evil, as usual: now, if I do feel thirst or
reinforce my own distress, then you should take the burning
   heat to be a mere headache, & by licking the hand-mirror
   of Narcissus himself, would you be unwilling
to cooperate with numerous statements." Entirely
   intent to fixing my ears on them as I was, when
   master Vergil told me: "Jusst keep looking now,
so as to minimize the chance of my getting into a brawl
   with you!" When I felt he was speaking to me in anger,
   I turned right to him with such humility, that still
reaches me by way of recollection. Such a man as he
   that dreams up his own ruin, one who truly desires to
   dream about dreaming, every bit as much as that shade
of a man, not as he wishes he were, like I do myself,
   when unable to utter a sentence -- as I yearned for a form
   of excuse to argue -- nevertheless did he forgive
me, and believed he was acting in my defense, in which case.
   "Lesser shame washes away a more sizable fault," said
   the master poet, "than that one of yours which is no longer such:
so let go of your burden of sadness. And know for sure that
   I would forever be with you, if it should happen that fortune
   brings you to where you recognize people fighting like this:
because wanting to hear it is a low-down desire."