Lower us now, nor disobliging show, To where Cocytus[794] fettered is by frost. To Tityus[795] nor to Typhon make us go. To grant what here is longed for he hath power, Cease them to curl thy snout, but bend thee low. He can for wage thy name on earth restore; He lives, and still expecteth to live long, If Grace recall him not before his hour.' So spake my Master. Then his hands he swung 130 Downward and seized my Leader in all haste-- Hands in whose grip even Hercules once was wrung. And Virgil when he felt them round him cast Said: 'That I may embrace thee, hither tend,' And in one bundle with him made me fast. And as to him that under Carisend[796] Stands on the side it leans to, while clouds fly Counter its slope, the tower appears to bend; Even so to me who stood attentive by Antæus seemed to stoop, and I, dismayed, 140 Had gladly sought another road to try. But us in the abyss he gently laid, Where Lucifer and Judas gulfed remain; Nor to it thus bent downward long time stayed, But like a ship's mast raised himself again. FOOTNOTES: [781] _Achilles_: The rust upon his lance had virtue to heal the wound. [782] _From that sad valley_: Leaving the Tenth and last Bolgia they climb the inner bank of it and approach the Ninth and last Circle, which consists of the pit of the Inferno. [783] _Roland_: Charles the Great, on his march north after defeating the Saracens at Saragossa, left Roland to bring up his rear-guard. The enemy fell on this in superior strength, and slew the Christians almost to a man. Then Roland, mortally wounded, sat down under a tree in Roncesvalles and blew upon his famous horn a blast so loud that it was heard by Charles at a distance of several miles.--The _Chansons de Geste_ were familiarly known to Italians of all classes. [784] _Then tenderly, etc._: The wound inflicted by his reproof has been already healed, but Virgil still behaves to Dante with more than his wonted gentleness. He will have him assured of his sympathy now that they are about to descend into the 'lowest depth of all wickedness.' [785] _Montereggioni_: A fortress about six miles from Siena, of which ample ruins still exist. It had no central keep, but twelve towers rose from its circular wall like spikes from the rim of a coronet. They had been added by the Sienese in 1260, and so were comparatively new in Dante's time.--As the towers stood round Montereggioni so the giants at regular intervals stand round the central pit. They have their foothold within the enclosing mound; and thus, to one looking at them from without, they are hidden by it up to their middle. As the embodiment of superhuman impious strength and pride they stand for warders of the utmost reach of Hell.