Gustave Doré

One and the same tongue did gnaw at me a priori,
   to the effect that it tinged either of my cheeks,
   then reapplied the treatment in my interests;
just like I hear the very lance of Achilles was
   accustomed to execute, and which his own
   father bestowed on him, with a grim tip, as
easily as a healing salve. We turned back upon
   the miserable valley, up along the ridge
   which wreathes it around, in crossing with no hint
of dialogue. It was less than night and just short
   of day-time, with the result that I could only
   sight ahead of us just a bit; however
I noticed a noise resounding at an elevated
   alcove, such that would make a thunderclap
   seem faint, as it focused my sight entirely
to one spot, running with respect to its own pathway
   along the fold. Following the mournful withdrawal,
   when Charlemagne lost his Christian rear-guard, not
even Roland sounded so awfully. I picked my
   head up in which direction a while, and thought I saw
   several towering buildings; so I asked, "Master,
do tell what land this is?" And to me, he said:
   "Because you let it go into the shadows for so long,
   you happen therefore to abhor your own
imagination. You will see real well, if you should
   unite yourself to one there, how deceiving the senses
   can be, from far off; so pinch yourself somewhat
harder to sting." Then he grabbed me carefully by the
   hand, and said: "Before we get any farther,
   so that the actual fact should seem less bizarre[30
to you, please understand that those aren't towers,
   but rather giants, & they're all within the pit, about
   the embankment, buried up to the belly-button."
Just like when a cloud scatters in the sky, as the sense of
   sight interprets, little by little, that which
   the cloud-cover conceals as weighing on th' atmosphere,
so did I -- in penetrating that grave and gloomy
   air, approaching ever nearer the very edge --
   abandon my errant ways, and greatly augmented my
fear; for just as Montereggione is topped with towers
   over its central court, the horrific giants --
   towering o'er the pit which the deepening well
encircles -- rise like towers with half their form's mass,
   against which Jove still menaces from the heavens,
   in his thunderstorms. And I was able to make out
the visage of some shade, the shoulders and breast and
   majority of his stomach, and that part about
   his flanks, alongside the arms. For certain, mother nature
did roughly as well, when she gave up the production
   of creatures so formed, to remove such combatants from
   the art of war. And if she regretted not the creation
of th' elephants, or whales, then everyone who views
   the situation with subtle frame of mind shall hold her
   to be the better justified and more proper for it; indeed,
where the mind's subjective argument gets mixed up with evil
   intent and powerful means, no one in th' universe is capable
   of making people provide safe haven in such a case.
My own face's aspect seemed drawn out and heavy,
   & like St. Peter's bronze pine-cone at Rome, the rest of his
   bones were in proportion to one's own; to such[60
extent, that the edge of the ridge, which formed a semi-circle
   on down into the center, did not disclose so much
   as that from above, i.e., that three men of Friesland
lined up end to end would not have been close enough;
   in fact, I could see thirty times the span of his length,
   down from the spot where a man fastens his mantle.
"Rapunzel, my... a Mecca saw, beyond me?!", the beastly mouth
   started to cry, with no more honey-sweet
   psalm appropriately fitting from it. And my guide
turned to him: "You foolish spirit, do stick to your horn,
   the one which you unload with, when anger or
   some other passion may take you! Go over
your own neck, and you'll find the rope which is strapped to your
   spine, you stupid ghost, to realize that it runs
   across your chest, like an heraldic band." Then Vergil
told me: "The accusation is his own; that right there
   is Nimrod -- it was by his evil intent that
   the original language of the whole world was put
into disuse. Let him alone there, & let us not
   speak idle words; for each language is thus nonsense
   to him, just like his to anyone else, since it
is familiar to no one." Therefore we made our trail a bit
   more lengthy, having turned left; and at the range
   of a crossbow firing, we discovered the other giant
even more wild and massive. I do not have the words
   to name that master craftsman who entrapped him
   thus, but held he one arm crooked before the other,
with the right one restrained by a chain which bound
   him from the neck down, such that the exposed portion
   was wrapped up to the fifth coiling. "This arrogant[90
fool wanted to try his strength against Jove on
   high," my noble lord argued, "hence such a great
   reward in his interests. His name is Ophialtes, and
he executed big-time efforts, when the race
   of giants made the gods afraid; still does he
   ever move not the arms which once he wielded."
And replied I, "If it were possible, I would
   that my very own eyes should acquire experience
   of the giant Briareus." Whence his reply:
"You're going to see Antaeus alongside
   the one who discourses and is dissipated, as
   he'll convey us to sin's profoundest abyss.
The shade you want to see, he is much deeper down, and he
   is bound and dealt with like this one, except
   that Antaeus looks even more fierce of face."
There was never yet an earthquake so forceful that
   it left a towering building stricken as strongly,
   like Ophialtes at the ready to rattle it.
Then would I have been terrified beyond the fear of death,
   having need of no further office for it -- aside from th'
   admitted scare, -- if I had not witnessed him cuffed.
We proceeded on even further next, and came
   before Antaeus, who was over twenty-five feet tall,
   not counting his head, which projected from out of
the cavern. "Hey you, who made Scipio a glorified heir,
   in that auspicious valley, when Hannibal withdrew
   with his forces, you who had a thousand lions as prey
to hunt, and whom -- had you been involved in the lofty
   war with your brotherhood -- still it seems like someone
   believes, you might have defeated the sons of th' earth:[120
set us down there, and don't disdain to do so, where
   river Cocytus is e'er locked in frigid chill.
   Don't send us down the Tityus or Tyhpon streams:
this man can give that which is desired here
   in hell, but please bend to yield a bit and do not
   curl your lip at me. He could yet still render
repute for you in the world, for he really exists,
   and expects to live a long life even still,
   provided that grace itself calls him not before one."
So did P. Virgilius Maro speak; and that giant
   reached his nervous hands out, to seize my lord, whence
   Hercules felt massively constricting grip.
Vergil himself, right as he felt he was being
   taken, told me, "Come over here, so I may get a
   hold of you"; then he made himself and mine
into a bundle. Just as it appears to one regarding
   the leaning tower of Garisenda, when a cloud
   sails above it, as the tower inclines in which
direction -- that's how Antaeus looked to me, as
   I kept an eye out for watching him leaning, & he
   was in such a state that I could've wished to travel
by a different road. Yet in gentle manner he set us
   on our course, to the abyss which is consumed with Lucifer
   and Judas; neither did he stay kneeling for long,
as he got right up like the mast on a ship.