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2 6 8 I n t e r p r e t a t i o n Volume 41 / Issue 3and beasts far greater than elephants.But try to look a little at that large door80 opposite, placed at the intersection,and into which we will enter, although it is late.”And before I made any answershe moved away, and said: “One must alwaystake pleasure when there is no cost.85 But in order that, when you are inside,you may know every effect of the placeand better consider what you see,you must comprehend that, under every roofof these rooms there is for a reason90 some of these brutes, as I already told you.This one alone does not uphold the rule,and, as happens in your Mallevato 14into which goes to dwell every prisoner,here and there in this place I am showing you,95 can each beast go to enjoy himself,that are in the cells of this cloister;such that, by seeing this one, you get an idea of them all,without seeing again the others one by one,which would be too many scattered steps.100 Also in this part gather togetherbeasts that are of greater knowledge,greater rank and greater fortune.And if they seem beasts in appearance,well you will know some of them in part from105 their manner, gestures, eyes, and presence.”As she spoke, we came to the placewhere the door in its entirety appeared,with its features bit by bit.A figure, that seemed alive,110 was in front carved from marbleabove the great arch that covered the door:14The Upper and Lower Mallevato were two of seven divisions of the Stinche prison complex, Florence’slargest and most important for more than five hundred years. The upper section housed atribunal while in the lower prisoner-scribes copied manuscripts and thereby gained the privilege ofliving in a larger, more comfortable room, also called a mallevato. Macchiavelli was briefly held in theStinche in 1513 for questioning related to an anti-Medici conspiracy.