Page:Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867) v1.djvu/126



HERE is a place in Hell called Malebolge,

Wholly of stone and of an iron color,

As is the circle that around it turns.

Right in the middle of the field malign

There yawns a well exceeding wide and deep,

Of which its place the structure will recount.

Round, then, is that enclosure which remains

Between the well and foot of the high, hard bank,

And has distinct in valleys ten its bottom.

As where for the protection of the walls

Many and many moats surround the castles,

The part in which they are a figure forms,

Just such an image those presented there;

And as about such strongholds from their gates

Unto the outer bank are little bridges,

So from the precipice's base did crags

Project, which intersected dikes and moats,

Unto the well that truncates and collects them.