Note 610 — Chapter XXII
Reading edition
When Enio determines to adventure into the cave of Purgatory, he gravely urges his servant, who is the gracioso of the piece, to go with him; to which the servant replies,—
I never heard before, that any man Took lackey with him when he went to hell! No,—to my native village will I haste, Where I can live in something like content; Or, if the matter must to goblins come, I think my wife will prove enough of one For my purgation.
Comedias, 1760, Tom. II. p. 264.
There is, however, a good deal that is solemn in this wild drama. Enio, when he goes to the infernal world, talks, in the spirit of Dante himself, of
Treading on the very ghosts of men.