And blame on her and scorn unjustly shift. But she is blest nor hears what any says, With other primal creatures turns her sphere, Jocund and glad, rejoicing in her ways. To greater woe now let us downward steer. The stars[308] which rose when I began to guide Are falling now, nor may we linger here.' We crossed the circle to the other side, 100 Arriving where a boiling fountain fell Into a brooklet by its streams supplied. In depth of hue the flood did perse[309] excel, And we, with this dim stream to lead us on, Descended by a pathway terrible. A marsh which by the name of Styx is known, Fed by this gloomy brook, lies at the base Of threatening cliffs hewn out of cold grey stone. And I, intent on study of the place,[310] Saw people in that ditch, mud-smeared. In it 110 All naked stood with anger-clouded face. Nor with their fists alone each fiercely hit The other, but with feet and chest and head, And with their teeth to shreds each other bit. 'Son, now behold,' the worthy Master said, 'The souls of those whom anger made a prize; And, further, I would have thee certified That 'neath the water people utter sighs, And make the bubbles to the surface come; As thou mayst see by casting round thine eyes. 120 Fixed in the mud they say: "We lived in gloom[311] In the sweet air made jocund by the day, Nursing within us melancholy fume. In this black mud we now our gloom display." This hymn with gurgling throats they strive to sound, Which they in speech unbroken fail to say.' And thus about the loathsome pool we wound For a wide arc, between the dry and soft, With eyes on those who gulp the filth, turned round. At last we reached a tower that soared aloft. 130 FOOTNOTES: [293] _Pape, etc._: These words have exercised the ingenuity of many scholars, who on the whole lean to the opinion that they contain an appeal to Satan against the invasion of his domain. Virgil seems to have understood them, but the text leaves it doubtful whether Dante himself did. Later on, but there with an obvious purpose, we find a line of pure gibberish (_Inf._ xxxi. 67). [294] _Plutus_: The god of riches; degraded here into a demon. He guards the Fourth Circle, which is that of the misers and spendthrifts. [295] _Wolf_: Frequently used by Dante as symbolical of greed. [296] _Pride_: Which in its way was a kind of greed--that of dominion. Similarly, the avarice represented by the wolf of Canto i. was seen to be the lust of aggrandisement. Virgil here answers Plutus's (supposed) appeal to Satan by referring to the higher Power, under whose protection he and his companion come.