Canto VI of Hell

The syndicates and the monster Memphré.
The raping of Proserpine by Pluton.

Al tornar de la mente, che si chiuse
dinanzi a la pietà d'i due cognati,
che di trestizia tutto mi confuse,

  novi tormenti e novi tormentati
mi veggio intorno, come ch'io mi mova
e ch'io mi volga, e come che io guati.

  Io sono al terzo cerchio, de la piova
etterna, maladetta, fredda e greve;
regola e qualità mai non l'è nova.

  Grandine grossa, acqua tinta e neve
per l'aere tenebroso si riversa;
pute la terra che questo riceve.

After having recovered my spirit lost in sadness by pity towards these two 
weeping sweethearts, our steps carried us in direction of the east by the road that goes 
around the country of Gog, passing by the localities of Piropolis, Arnold and Stanhope*. 
We approach the banks of a lake bordered with sinister shadows, with deep 
and mysterious waters,  it curves from the country of Gog up to Magog*. 

While penetrating in this pit, I see all around me, wherever I move, 
 turn around or look at,  new torments and new tormented. 
Insensitive to the prayers of St-Benoit*, we approach the third circle of Hell, 
that of the damn liquor, cold and eternal, which never changes neither its quality nor its violence: 
blackish water mixed with the viscous muds, coming from the heights of Tomifobia. 

It is the domain of Memphré*, cruel and monstrous beast, who barks like a dog, 
against the souls who are submerged there. 
Its eyes are lively red, its beard is black and fatty, its belly is broad
and its hands armed with claws; it scratches the spirits, skins them and cuts them up. 

The rain makes them howl with the dogs; from one of their sides, they make like 
a shield to the other side; they often turned around, those unhappy impious. 
When Memphré, such as a filthy worm, saw us, it opened its mouth and showed us its hooks; 
it rolled up its body in multiple volutes that sailed above the floods. 


My guide extended the palms of his hands, took some earth and threw it to with full hand,
in this avid throat. Such is this dog which barks and which howls and then calms itself 
as soon as it believes to bite its meat, because it does apply and madden itself and has no other means 
than to bark to make fear; such was the mouth of the demon Memphré, which bewail unceasingly 
and  dazes so hard the souls, that they would like to be deaf and not to hear anymore. 

We passed close to the shadows that throws down the heavy rain, and we pose 
our feet on these venal forms which seemed to be real bodies. 
They lay on the muddy ground, except one of them which rose to sit down; 
as soon as he saw us passing, he says: 
"Oh! you who is led to this hell, if you can recognize me, 
tell me if you are born before I die?
The shame that painted your face is perhaps what prevent me to recognize you,
as such as that it seems to me that I never saw you. But tell me who you are,  
you who is delivered to such sad and so painful place and to such a torment, 
if there is one greater, there is none so repugnant." 

He answered me as follows:

"I was at the service of the city, syndicate worker; your city that is full of injustice, 
that this lake overflows with it, was my residence in the serene life. 
You, my fellow-citizens, called me damn "col-bleu" for the  damnable sin of cupidity. 
As you see it, I deafened under the cries of the beast, because it is by our cries and our brass bands 
that we sinned. And my soul here is not the only one in pain; because all these other souls that you see, 
undergo the same sorrow for the same fault." 
And he added nothing else. 

"Col-bleu, your suffering touches me to such a point that it invites me to be finally delighted about it; 
but tell me, if you know it, where the members of your trade union will become from this,
 in prey at the exactions towards the citizen and if there is a Leader or a Prince or a Law 
to  reason them; and tell me why so much cupidity is bound to you?"

He answered me at once: 
"After a long fight, strikes and sabotages, we established the law of the 
Front Commun, helped by the trade unionists who came from everywhere; and our dogma 
drove out that of justice by  inflicting hard defeats to it. It helds the power for a long time, 
oppressing whoever did not believe in us, whatever their sufferings and their complaints. 
We did not gave a damn of the teaching of the Juste, we did respect no other laws 
than those that favoured us; thus, we adulterated the "Code du Travail"
 in blackmailing the Legislator in the name of our sacro-saints principles: 
blackmail, cupidity, demagogy, the three sparks which ignited our hearts; thus we overcame." 


 Here, he put an end to his fatal words and I told him: 
"I want you, still, that you speak to me about these Princes who should have control you 
and who did nothing, or who should have amended the laws and who did nothing,
 or who should have been on the side of the population and who did not do it, 
where are they now if you know it?" 

And he answered:
 "They are among the blackest souls; those sins against the right and justice 
plunge them to the deepness of hell; if you go down enough, you will be able to see them 
in company of our leaders with whom they still fornicate." 

Then, we passed through the ignoble mixture of the shadows and the rain, 
with slow steps, speaking a little about the future life. 
But we were suddenly stopped by a vast fire that devoured the Hell,
so intense that we do not dare to approach; and we remained there, looking, impotent, 
all these souls thrown into a panic who tried to escape the flames;  but they were pushed back unceasingly
 by devils, wearing helmets, gloves and masks, covered with long jackets and boots of yellow colour, 
they threatened them with their heavy axes or sprinkled them with their squib spitting fire. 

I was sad and impotent in front of this spectacle and I could only recall Hell, 
such as described to us, students, by the "frères des écoles chrétiennes", 
to keep us in the fear and to hold us out of the sin of desires. 

My Master understood my distress, this is why he says to me: 
"Think that, it is a district of your city that is burning, that these tortured victims
 are the poorest inhabitants of your city, that the devils who feed their torment are firemen 
and that they, thus, let burn your city and your fellow-citizens to blackwail you,
to defy your government and to obtain, that way, the most satisfactory "convention collective"." 

After having left this place, I said: 
"Baudelaire, all these torments, after the great judgement, will they decrease 
or will they be as painful, and will they be intended only to the impotent citizens 
or for the organizations which use, that way, the blackmail weapon?" 

And Baudelaire seemed mishapped, he spoke to me like if, 
only the eternal love could overcome all my doubts: 
"Remember what one taught you: Your soul, separated from your body, is imperfect, 
as your body which suffers from the absence of Jeanne, and you can hope to reach 
the perfect happiness, only by maintaining the hope of uniting your body 
to the soul of Jeanne, as for these damn souls who awaits the Last Judgement." 

We walked around this sea, while speaking more than my remarks let it suppose; 
we arrived where it does not dare any more to drink, we found Pluton there, 
the great enemy, who raped Proserpine and who deflowered her.