第二十八篇就是用自由的散文，就是详尽地叙述，有谁能够把我所见到的流血和创伤描拟的淋漓尽致？不论那一种语言，在这里都是失败的，因为我们没有足够的语言，也没有足够的记忆力，可以包容这么多事物。
假如把所有在古普里亚地上流血的兵士聚合来，他们或是由于特洛亚人之故，或是由于持久的战争，如说实话的李维乌斯所述，此战役胜者获得戒指一大堆，或是由于抵抗圭斯卡尔多而受惨大的打击，或是由于普里亚人的不忠，尸骨堆积在切普拉诺，或是由于老阿拉尔多的奸诈诡计，不用兵刀而战胜在塔利亚科佐；假使他们一个个显示他们残缺的肢体，或是割断的身躯，如果和第九条沟里的悲惨景象相比，那些还算不了什么。
在那里我看见一个灵魂，他的伤口大得可以和没底的桶，或是失去一块桶壁的桶相比：从颈部起，一直裂开到肛门；在两腿之间、悬挂着他的大小肠；心和肺已经抛露在外面，还有那一切食物到里面就化为粪便的屎袋子。当我看他的时候，他也看着我，并且把他的胸膛用手撕开，他说：“你看我割裂得多么严重！你看穆罕默德毁坏得多么难看！哭泣着走在我前面的是阿里；他的面孔从头发裂开到嘴。其他你所看见的，他们在生时都欢喜散布谣言，挑拨离间，破坏人间的和睦，因此他们割裂成如此。在我后面的一片地方，有一个魔鬼，用他的刀残酷地分割我们，因为我们在沟里转了一圈以后，到了他的面前，所有的创伤已经恢复了。但是，你是准呢？你站在岩石之上沉思着，难道你对于已经判定的刑罚还要徘徊观望么？”我的老师回答道：“他还没有死呢；他不是因为犯了什么罪，要带到这里来受刑；不过是要给他一些经验，所以我我是已经死了，我负了引导他的责任，游历了这里一圈一圈的地狱，我对你说的都是真话。”当时有几百个灵魂听见他说的话，他们在沟底站着停了一会儿，呆呆注视我，惊奇使他们暂时忘记了痛苦。
“那末你不久就要再看见太阳了，请你转告教友多里奇诺：假如他不愿意很快地来追随我，那末他应当多准备些粮草，免得受到雪的压迫，使诺瓦腊人取得了胜利，否则他是不容易被捕的。”穆罕默德举起一足，对我说了上面这几句话，于是他迈步去了。
另有一个，他的喉咙已钻通了，鼻子到眼皮都割去了，只剩下一只耳朵，他和其余的都惊奇地看着我，从血淋淋的嘴里发出话音；他说：“你呀！你无罪到了这里，除非是相像的人大多了，我记得曾经在拉丁土地上看见过你；假如你要回去看到那从维切利到玛尔卡勃温和的原野，请你记起美第奇那。又请你转告两个法诺的绅士，圭多和安乔莱罗：除非我们的预言是错误的，会有人从船上把他们俩个扔出去，溺死在近卡托利卡之地，这是由于暴主的毒计。在塞浦路斯和马略卡两岛之间，海神从未看见过如此大的罪恶，就是海盗也不敢这样，就是希腊的海上英雄也没有这般。那个独眼的恶人，他统治着一块土地这是在我旁边的一个永不愿意看见的土地，他把这两个绅士请了来谈判，结果是他们不用为浮卡腊的风而祈祷了。”
于是我对他说：“假如你要我替你传信，请你告诉我，在你旁边的那一个为什么不愿意看见那块土地，并且请你把他指点出来，”那时他把手放在一个同伴的牙齿之间，把他的嘴扳开。说：“这个就是他，他是不说话的；这个流犯曾经熄灭凯撤的满腹狐疑，他说：一个人既有计算，若不迅速行动，必至后悔莫及。”哦！依我看来，库利奥是多么地痛苦呀！他的舌头已经断在他的喉咙里，他在生时太会说话了！
另一个的两只手已经斩断了，在阴暗的气氛之中，他举起他的残臂，因此血流满面，他说，“请你也想起莫斯卡，唉！他曾经说过：“事必有始有终！’这就是托斯卡那民众痛苦的根源。”我又加上一句：“并且使你的家族灭亡！”因此他痛的雪上加霜，疯狂一般地走去了。
我仍然在那里检阅着大队的伤员，我看见一个东西、我现在写着他心里还在胆战心惊，何况亲眼看见他呢！不过，当时我心里明白，我身边有这样一个好伙伴，他会撑住我的腰，因此使我保持了勇气。
我是真的看见了，现在似乎还看得见，一个没头的身躯向前行走着，和其他苦痛的灵魂一样地走着。他一只手提着他的头发，那个断头摆动着像一个灯笼；那个头向我们看看，叹道：“唉！”他把他自己做了一盏灯；他们是一分为二，二而合一；事情为什么如此呢？只有安排他的才会知道。
当他正走在桥下面的时候，他把他的头高高地举起来，使他挨近我们说话，他说道：“请看我残酷的刑罚。你是活着的，来参观已死的，你是否看见过有谁的刑罚大于我呢？因为你可以把我的消息带出去，我告诉你：我是鲍恩，我曾经在小王面前说大王的坏话。我使那父子二人互相争斗；亚希多弗不像我这样挑拨押沙龙和大卫。因为我把有血统关系的人类分裂了，所以我提着我的头，使他和他的基本躯干分开，所谓报复刑罚就体现在我的身上。”
Tell of the wounds and blood that now I saw,
Though he repeated oft the tale? No tongue
So vast a theme could equal, speech and thought
Both impotent alike. If in one band
Collected, stood the people all, who e'er
Pour'd on Apulia's happy soil their blood,
Slain by the Trojans, and in that long war
When of the rings the measur'd booty made
A pile so high, as Rome's historian writes
Who errs not, with the multitude, that felt
The grinding force of Guiscard's Norman steel,
And those the rest, whose bones are gather'd yet
At Ceperano, there where treachery
Branded th' Apulian name, or where beyond
Thy walls, O Tagliacozzo, without arms
The old Alardo conquer'd; and his limbs
One were to show transpierc'd, another his
Clean lopt away; a spectacle like this
Were but a thing of nought, to the' hideous sight
Of the ninth chasm. A rundlet, that hath lost
Its middle or side stave, gapes not so wide,
As one I mark'd, torn from the chin throughout
Down to the hinder passage: 'twixt the legs
Dangling his entrails hung, the midriff lay
Open to view, and wretched ventricle,
That turns th' englutted aliment to dross.
Whilst eagerly I fix on him my gaze,
He ey'd me, with his hands laid his breast bare,
And cried; "Now mark how I do rip me! lo!
"How is Mohammed mangled! before me
Walks Ali weeping, from the chin his face
Cleft to the forelock; and the others all
Whom here thou seest, while they liv'd, did sow
Scandal and schism, and therefore thus are rent.
A fiend is here behind, who with his sword
Hacks us thus cruelly, slivering again
Each of this ream, when we have compast round
The dismal way, for first our gashes close
Ere we repass before him. But say who
Art thou, that standest musing on the rock,
Haply so lingering to delay the pain
Sentenc'd upon thy crimes?"—"Him death not yet,"
My guide rejoin'd, "hath overta'en, nor sin
Conducts to torment; but, that he may make
Full trial of your state, I who am dead
Must through the depths of hell, from orb to orb,
Conduct him. Trust my words, for they are true."
More than a hundred spirits, when that they heard,
Stood in the foss to mark me, through amazed,
Forgetful of their pangs. "Thou, who perchance
Shalt shortly view the sun, this warning thou
Bear to Dolcino: bid him, if he wish not
Here soon to follow me, that with good store
Of food he arm him, lest impris'ning snows
Yield him a victim to Novara's power,
No easy conquest else." With foot uprais'd
For stepping, spake Mohammed, on the ground
Then fix'd it to depart. Another shade,
Pierc'd in the throat, his nostrils mutilate
E'en from beneath the eyebrows, and one ear
Lopt off, who with the rest through wonder stood
Gazing, before the rest advanc'd, and bar'd
His wind-pipe, that without was all o'ersmear'd
With crimson stain. "O thou!" said 'he, "whom sin
Condemns not, and whom erst (unless too near
Resemblance do deceive me) I aloft
Have seen on Latian ground, call thou to mind
Piero of Medicina, if again
Returning, thou behold'st the pleasant land
That from Vercelli slopes to Mercabo;
"And there instruct the twain, whom Fano boasts
Her worthiest sons, Guido and Angelo,
That if 't is giv'n us here to scan aright
The future, they out of life's tenement
Shall be cast forth, and whelm'd under the waves
Near to Cattolica, through perfidy
Of a fell tyrant. 'Twixt the Cyprian isle
And Balearic, ne'er hath Neptune seen
An injury so foul, by pirates done
Or Argive crew of old. That one-ey'd traitor
(Whose realm there is a spirit here were fain
His eye had still lack'd sight of) them shall bring
To conf'rence with him, then so shape his end,
That they shall need not 'gainst Focara's wind
Offer up vow nor pray'r." I answering thus:
"Declare, as thou dost wish that I above
May carry tidings of thee, who is he,
In whom that sight doth wake such sad remembrance?"
Forthwith he laid his hand on the cheek-bone
Of one, his fellow-spirit, and his jaws
Expanding, cried: "Lo! this is he I wot of;
He speaks not for himself: the outcast this
Who overwhelm'd the doubt in Caesar's mind,
Affirming that delay to men prepar'd
Was ever harmful. "Oh how terrified
Methought was Curio, from whose throat was cut
The tongue, which spake that hardy word. Then one
Maim'd of each hand, uplifted in the gloom
The bleeding stumps, that they with gory spots
Sullied his face, and cried: 'Remember thee
Of Mosca, too, I who, alas! exclaim'd,
"The deed once done there is an end," that prov'd
A seed of sorrow to the Tuscan race."
I added: "Ay, and death to thine own tribe."
Whence heaping woe on woe he hurried off,
As one grief stung to madness. But I there
Still linger'd to behold the troop, and saw
Things, such as I may fear without more proof
To tell of, but that conscience makes me firm,
The boon companion, who her strong breast-plate
Buckles on him, that feels no guilt within
And bids him on and fear not. Without doubt
I saw, and yet it seems to pass before me,
A headless trunk, that even as the rest
Of the sad flock pac'd onward. By the hair
It bore the sever'd member, lantern-wise
Pendent in hand, which look'd at us and said,
"Woe's me!" The spirit lighted thus himself,
And two there were in one, and one in two.
How that may be he knows who ordereth so.
When at the bridge's foot direct he stood,
His arm aloft he rear'd, thrusting the head
Full in our view, that nearer we might hear
The words, which thus it utter'd: "Now behold
This grievous torment, thou, who breathing go'st
To spy the dead; behold if any else
Be terrible as this. And that on earth
Thou mayst bear tidings of me, know that I
Am Bertrand, he of Born, who gave King John
The counsel mischievous. Father and son
I set at mutual war. For Absalom
And David more did not Ahitophel,
Spurring them on maliciously to strife.
For parting those so closely knit, my brain
Parted, alas! I carry from its source,
That in this trunk inhabits. Thus the law
Of retribution fiercely works in me."