William Blake

At the tail-end of his comments, the thief raised
   his hands in obscene gestures, crying out,
   "Just take it, God, whatever I coveted in
your sight!" Thereupon from which point, the snakes
   cozied up him, to th' effect that one was curling
   about his neck, as if to say, 'You, don't talk
any more'; another serpent riveted his
   wrists together on its own, binding him up front
   so he could not even collapse, for his arms.
Oh Pistoia, Pistoia, why didn't you mandate
   being torched so hard that you last no longer,
   so as to profit your own seed in doing wrong?
Throughout all the shady circles of inferno,
   I saw not a shade so arrogant in God's sight,
   not even the man who was fallen, below
the walls of Thebes. He ran away so fast, I've
   not another word; and I saw a Centaur
   foaming at the mouth shout upon his arrival:
"Where is he, where's the bitter one?" I do
   not think Maremma's swamp had so many serpents as
   that monster from the nape, to the start of human form.
Around his shoulders, behind his neck, a
   dragon draped with wings outstretched; and that monster
   does burn anyone it happened upon. My
master stated: "This one is Cacus: under
   the rockface of the Aventine mount, he
   often formed a river made of blood. He wanders
not with his own brothers over the pathway,
   due to the theft he executed in fraud,
   over the great herd that was near to him;[30
hence he desisted from his twisted efforts
   under the blows of Hercules' club, with as many
   as a hundred blows -- he felt maybe ten of them."
As Vergil spoke, the Centaur moved on, & three
   shades came right up to us, not one of which
   got noticed by me or my guide, except when shouting:
"Who are you all?"; our discourse broke off at
   that, & focused we on these spirits alone.
   I did not recognize them; however it came to pass,
as is accustomed to occur by some kind of chance --
   that it is fitting for one man to call upon
   another in name, -- he asked, "Where did Cianfa
get left?"; in response to which, to make certain
   that my leader noted the same things, I
   signaled him with my finger, from chin to nose.
If you, oh reader, are now slow to believe
   what I have to tell you, it will be no great marvel:
   for I, who saw it, scarcely grant such of myself.
As I beheld them wide-eyed, a six-legged
   serpent darted to the fore of the one thief,
   seizing every last part of him. It gripped
him by the midriff with its middle legs,
   and with its forelegs grabbed hold of his arms;
   then it sank its teeth into one cheek and the
next; the serpent extended its backside
   to the thighs, with its tail placed between both legs,
   and snaked it through again, to his lower back.
No ivy has yet clung to a tree with
   such force, as that horrendous beast did act
   like tendrils over the sinner's other limbs.[60
Then were they set on fire, as if they had been made
   of heated candle-wax, and blended their colors, with
   neither one nor th' other appearing as it
was before: just like how a brownish hue proceeds
   before the burning o'er a piece of paper which is
   no longer black, as the whiteness dies aflame.
The other two shades did a double-take on him, as
   each of them cried out, "Oh no, Agnello, how quiet
   you've grown! See to it that you are neither one nor two."
Their two heads had already become just
   a single form, when their two intermingled figures
   appeared as one sole face, where both were lost.
It made its arms into two, from four members;
   the flanks, with the hams and the stomach and
   its abdomen turned into limbs, the likes of
which were never before seen. Every last trace
   of the prior being was wiped out: the unnatural
   image appeared as both two and no one; and its breast
as such went with slow, heavy gait. As the garden
   lizard, under the lash of mid-summer ennui,
   does seem to shed shuddering, with a great many
alterations in kind -- like flash of lightning on the
   road -- it looked just like so, going along
   on its belly with th' other two snakes, a vibrant
serpent, scaly and dark like blackened pepper; and
   that area that first touched the parts of the body
   which nourish us, it impaled one of them; then
the shade dropped down, laid low right before it. He
   marveled at the wound, without uttering a word; rather,
   with feet planted, it made a yawn, as if o'ercome by[90
sleepiness or fever. The serpent looked this over,
   & he looked into it once again; the first shade
   was bleeding out from the scourge, with the other
foaming at the mouth, as their vapor mingled.
   Let Lucan, who authored story of poor Sabellus
   and Nasidius, fall silent and listen hard to what's
next: let Ovid cease, that wrote of Cadmus
   and Arethusa, as I have no need to envy him,
   turning one into the snake, her into a fountain-head;
for he never had two forms of nature
   alter face-to-face, such that both figures were
   so susceptible to change of their very substance.
The reaction was along such lines, as the reptile
   divided its tail into a fork, &
   the wounded man drew his feet tight together.
His thighs were burning red, along with his
   sides, so that what little contact was there,
   gave not a sign which made a showing of joints.
The tail assumed the form which was lost thereby,
   & did soften its scales, as the other figure
   stiffened its skin. I watched it penetrate
his arms beneath the pits, with the two lower
   limbs of the monster, which were drawn up short,
   stretched as far as its arms. Then the hind-limbs,
twisting up together, became a part
   of the masculine member, the poor shade having
   extended both th' appendages from his own.
Meanwhile, as the smoke was obscuring Guercio and
   Buoso with a new shade, exposing hair in one
   area and stripping it from another part,[120
the former got up with the other falling
   down, but neither diverted their unholy
   evil eyes, before which each exchanged its nose.
The shade which was vertical drew his snout back to the
   temples, and from the excess of flesh which
   remained, did ears egress from his foolish cheeks;
that which did not run along the ear, but
   was retained from th' excess matter, formed the nose
   on its face, as the lips were swollen to
the obligatory girth. He that was lying spread,
   let his muzzle advance, and withdrew the ears
   back into his head, as the snail does with its
tentacles; the tongue, which had been intact and so quick
   to speak right off, was split, and the forked tongue
    on the other shade, reunited; the smoke lingered.
The spirit which had turned wild beast fled hissing a-
   cross the wasted valley, & th' other shade spoke
   sputtering after it. Next turned he his novel
torso full frontal at them, and told the other one, "I'll
   have Buoso driven on all fours, just as I went, o'er
   this road!" Thus I witnessed the seventh dead weight alter
and transform; herein must I apologize for
   the novelty, if my penmanship has gone a
   little off. It just so happened -- with my eyes more
than a bit mixed-up, and my soul in dismay, --
   these monsters were incapable of fleeing, so
   thick as thieves, I could not quite make out Puccio
Sciancato; and he was that one, of the trio
   companies which came first, that was alone un-
   affected; the other shade was that thief whom[150
the township of Gaville, you sinners, does bewail.