Page:Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867) v1.djvu/205

Rh Of ocean was the dolorous one aware,

Out of her senses like a dog she barked,

So much the anguish had her mind distorted;

But not of Thebes the furies nor the Trojan

Were ever seen in any one so cruel

In goading beasts, and much more human members,

As I beheld two shadows pale and naked,

Who, biting, in the manner ran along

That a boar does, when from the sty turned loose.

One to Capocchio came, and by the nape

Seized with its teeth his neck, so that in dragging

It made his belly grate the solid bottom.

And the Aretine, who trembling had remained,

Said to me: "That mad sprite is Gianni Schicchi,

And raving goes thus harrying other people."

"O," said I to him, "so may not the other

Set teeth on thee, let it not weary thee

To tell us who it is, ere it dart hence."

And he to me: "That is the ancient ghost

Of the nefarious Myrrha, who became

Beyond all rightful love her father's lover.

She came to sin with him after this manner,

By counterfeiting of another's form;

As he who goeth yonder undertook,