The very tongue that first had caused me pain, Biting till both my cheeks were crimsoned o'er, With healing medicine me restored again. So have I heard, the lance Achilles[781] bore, Which earlier was his father's, first would wound And then to health the wounded part restore. From that sad valley[782] we our backs turned round, Up the encircling rampart making way Nor uttering, as we crossed it, any sound. Here was it less than night and less than day, 10 And scarce I saw at all what lay ahead; But of a trumpet the sonorous bray-- No thunder-peal were heard beside it--led Mine eyes along the line by which it passed, Till on one spot their gaze concentrated. When by the dolorous rout was overcast The sacred enterprise of Charlemagne Roland[783] blew not so terrible a blast. Short time my head was that way turned, when plain I many lofty towers appeared to see. 20 'Master, what town is this?' I asked. 'Since fain Thou art,' he said, 'to pierce the obscurity While yet through distance 'tis inscrutable, Thou must of error needs the victim be. Arriving there thou shalt distinguish well How much by distance was thy sense betrayed; Therefore to swifter course thyself compel.' Then tenderly[784] he took my hand, and said: 'Ere we pass further I would have thee know, That at the fact thou mayst be less dismayed, 30 These are not towers but giants; in a row Set round the brink each in the pit abides, His navel hidden and the parts below.' And even as when the veil of mist divides Little by little dawns upon the sight What the obscuring vapour earlier hides; So, piercing the gross air uncheered by light, As I step after step drew near the bound My error fled, but I was filled with fright. As Montereggion[785] with towers is crowned 40 Which from the walls encircling it arise; So, rising from the pit's encircling mound, Half of their bodies towered before mine eyes-- Dread giants, still by Jupiter defied From Heaven whene'er it thunders in the skies. The face of one already I descried, His shoulders, breast, and down his belly far, And both his arms dependent by his side. When Nature ceased such creatures as these are To form, she of a surety wisely wrought 50 Wresting from Mars such ministers of war. And though she rue not that to life she brought The whale and elephant, who deep shall read Will justify her wisdom in his thought; For when the powers of intellect are wed To strength and evil will, with them made one, The race of man is helpless left indeed. As large and long as is St. Peter's cone[786] At Rome, the face appeared; of every limb On scale like this was fashioned every bone. 60