nte, the names of two Italians, Friar Gomita and Michel Zanche who are
likewise suffering in the boiling pitch. Ciampolo, to save himself from
further maltreatment and to escape from his captors, now has recourse to
stratagem. He promises that if they consent to withdraw out of sight he
will whistle a signal that will be recognized only by his hapless
comrades; the two Italians and five others will then come to the surface
for cool air. The fiends may then have not one, but seven to rend! The
crafty plan succeeds. The demons withdraw behind the crags and then
Ciampolo plunges deeply into the boiling pitch. Two devils, endeavoring
to swoop down upon him now beyond their reach, fall upon each other in
brutal fury, while the rest of the troop hurry to the opposite shore to
rescue the belimed pair. Here is Dante's description of the farce:

"As dolphins, when with the arch of the back; they make sign to
mariners that they may prepare to save their ship: so now and then, to
ease the punishment, some sinner showed his back and hid in less time
than it lightens. And as at the edge of the water of a ditch, the frogs
stand only with their muzzles out, so that they hide their feet and
other bulk: thus stood on every hand the sinners; but as Barbariccia
approached, they instantly retired beneath the seething. I saw, and my
heart still shudders thereat, one linger so, as it will happen that one
frog remains while the other spouts away; and Graffiancane, who was
nearest to him, hooked his pitchy locks and haled him up, so that to me
he seemed an otter.

"I already knew the name of every one, so well I noted them as they were
chosen, and when they called each other, listened how. 'O Rubicante, see
thou plant thy clutches on him, and flay him!' shouted together all the
accursed _crew_. And I: 'Master, learn if thou canst, who is that
piteous _wight_, fallen into the hands of his adversaries.' My Guide
drew close to (his side) and asked him whence he came; and he replied:
'I was born in the kingdom of Navarre. My mother placed me as servant of
a lord; for she had borne me to a ribald master of himself and of his
substance. Then I was domestic with the good King Thibault; here I set
myself to doing barratry, of which I render reckoning in this heat.' And
Ciriatto, from whose mouth on either side came forth a tusk as from a
hog, made him feel how one of them did rip. Amongst evil cats the mouse
had come; but Barbariccia locked him in his