Dante would not have been surprised by the many religious, social, political, scientific, intellectual, or economic changes that have taken place since his times. He would only have been surprised if the characters that inhabit his Inferno seem dated, almost denizens of another planet. But, of course, Dante’s characters are all too contemporary. It would not be difficult to compile a list of our acquaintances or colleagues and to place them in the appropriate places in Hell. More difficult, perhaps, would be a similar assignment of those we know to appropriate places in Purgatory or Paradise.
What explains our contemporary fascination with Dante is his attitude toward his characters. As members of a liberal, diverse, and tolerant culture typical of twenty-first-century democracies, at least in our ideals we tend to see everything and everyone from a variety of positive perspectives. We are asked to respect those with whom we disagree. The French maxim says it all—tout comprendre, c‘est tout pardoner (to understand all is to forgive all). Dante stands entirely outside such a “civilized,” politically correct perspective. For him, understanding does not imply justification, and Dante is the most judgmental of all poets. He believes that civilization involves understanding, an act of the intellect, but for Dante understanding leads inevitably to evaluation, judgment, and the assumption of a moral position based on very simple but immutable ethical and religious precepts. No situational ethics, no “I’m OK, you’re OK,” no automatic and naive acceptances of every point of view, no matter how ill founded. His energy derives from moral indignation—indignation about the corruption of the Church, about the corruption of Florence and most Italian or European cities, about the weakness of the Holy Roman Empire, and about the general wretched state of humanity. But his genius is based on something even more precious and more unusual—his love for truth and his ability to express it in timeless poetic form.
PETER BONDANELLA is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and Italian at Indiana University and a past President of the American Association for Italian Studies. His publications include a number of translations of Italian classics (Boccaccio, Cellini, Machiavelli, Vasari), books on Italian Renaissance literature (Machiavelli, Guicciardini) and Italian cinema (postwar Italian cinema, Fel lini, Rossellini), and a dictionary of Italian literature. At present, he is completing a book entitled Hollywood Italians: Dagos, Palookas, Romeos, Wise Guys, and Sopranos, a history of how Italian Americans have been depicted in American cinema.
“MAP OF HELL”
Canto I: Dante astray in the Dusky Wood
CANTO I
MILDWAY1 upon the journey of our life2 I found myself3 within a forest dark, For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say What was this forest savage, rough, and stern, Which in the very thought renews the fear.
So bitter is it, death is little more; But of the good4 to treat, which there I found, Speak will I of the other things I saw there.
I cannot well repeat how there I entered, So full was I of slumber at the moment In which I had abandoned the true way.
But after I had reached a mountain’s foot, At that point where the valley terminated, Which had with consternation pierced my heart,
Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders, Vested already with that planet’s raysa Which leadeth others right by every road.
Then was the fear a little quieted That in my heart’s lake5 had endured throughout The night, which I had passed so piteously.
And even as he,6 who, with distressful breath, Forth issued from the sea upon the shore, Turns to the water perilous and gazes;
So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward, Turn itself back to re-behold the passb Which never yet a living person left.
After my weary body I had rested, The way resumed I on the desert slope, So that the firm foot7 ever was the lower.
And lo! almost where the ascent began, A panther8 light and swift exceedingly, Which with a spotted skin was covered o‘er!
And never moved she from before my face, Nay, rather did impede so much my way, That many times I to return had turned.
The time was the beginning of the morning, And up the sun was mounting with those stars That with him were, what time the Love Divine
At first in motion set those beauteous things9; So were to me occasion of good hope, The variegated skin of that wild beast,
The hour of time, and the delicious season;c But not so much, that did not give me fear A lion’s aspect which appeared to me.
He seemed as if against me he were coming With head uplifted, and with ravenous hunger, So that it seemed the air was afraid of him;
And a she-wolf, that with all hungerings Seemed to be laden in her meagreness, And many folk has caused to live forlorn!
She brought upon me so much heaviness, With the affright that from her aspect came, That I the hope relinquished of the height.
And as he is who willingly acquires, And the time comes that causes him to lose, Who weeps in all his thoughts and is despondent,
E‘end such made me that beast withoutene peace,10 Which, coming on against me by degrees, Thrust me back thither where the sun is silent.f
While I was rushing downward to the lowland, Before mine eyes did one present himself, Who seemed from long-continued silence hoarse.
When I beheld him in the desert vast, “Have pity on me,”11 unto him I cried, “Whiche‘er thou art, or shade or real man!”
He answered me: “Not man; man once I was,12 And both my parents were of Lombardy, And Mantuans by country both of them.
Sub Julio was I born, though it was late, And lived at Rome under the good Augustus, During the time of false and lying gods.
A Poet was I, and I sang that just Son of Anchises,g who came forth from Troy, After that Ilionh the superb was burned.
But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance? Why climb‘st thou not the Mount Delectable,i Which is the source and cause of every joy?“
“Now, art thou that Virgilius13 and that fountain Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech?” I made response to him with bashful forehead.
“O, of the other poets honor and light, Avail me the long study and great love That have impelled me to explore thy volume!
Thou art my master, and my author thou, Thou art alone the one from whom I took The beautiful style14 that has done honor to me.
Behold the beast, for which I have turned back; Do thou protect me from her, famous Sage,15 For she doth make my veins and pulses tremble.“
“Thee it behoves to take another road,” Responded he, when he beheld me weeping, “If from this savage place thou wouldst escape;
Because this beast, at which thou criest out, Suffers not any one to pass her way, But so doth harass him, that she destroys him;
And has a nature so malign and ruthless, That never doth she glut her greedy will, And after food is hungrier than before.
Many the animals with whom she weds, And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain.
He shall not feed on either earth or pelf,j But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue; ‘Twixt Feltro and Feltro16 shall his nation be;
Of that low Italy shall he be the saviour, On whose account the maid Camilla died, Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds;17
Through every city shall he hunt her down, Until he shall have driven her back to Hell, There from whence envy first did let her loose.
Therefore I think and judge it for thy best Thou follow me, and I will be thy guide, And lead thee hence through the eternal place,
Where thou shalt hear the desperate lamentations, Shalt see the ancient spirits disconsolate, Who cry out each one for the second death;18
And thou shalt see those who contented are Within the fire, because they hope to come, Whene‘er it may be, to the blessed people;19
To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend, A soul shall be for that than I more worthy;20 With her at my departure I will leave thee;
Because that Emperor,k who reigns above, In that I was rebellious21 to his law, Wills that through me none come into his city.
He governs everywhere, and there he reigns; There is his city and his lofty throne; O happy he whom thereto he elects!“
And I to him: “Poet, I thee entreat, By that same God whom thou didst never know, So that I may escape this woe and worse,l
Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said, That I may see the portal of Saint Peter,22 And those thou makest so disconsolate.“
Then he moved on, and I behind him followed.
CANTO II
DAY was departing1, and the embrowned air, Released the animals that are on earth From their fatigues; and I the only one2
Made myself ready to sustain the war, Both of the way and likewise of the woe,3 Which memory4 shall retrace, that erreth not.
O Muses,5 O high genius,6 now assist me! O memory, that didst write down what I saw, Here thy nobility shall be manifest!
And I began: “Poet, who guidest me, Regard my manhood, if it be sufficient, Ere to the arduous passm thou dost confide me.
Thou sayest, that of Silvius the parent,7 While yet corruptible, unto the world Immortal went, and was there bodily.
But if the adversary of all eviln Was courteous, thinking of the high effect That issue would from him, and who, and what,
To men of intellect unmeet it seems not; For he was of great Rome, and of her empire In the empyreal heaven8 as father chosen;
The which and what, wishing to speak the truth, Were stablished as the holy place, wherein Sits the successor of the greatest Peter.9
Upon this journey, whence thou givest him vaunt, Things did he hear, which the occasion were Both of his victory and the papal mantle.
Thither went afterwards the Chosen Vessel,10 To bring back comfort thence unto that Faith, Which of salvation’s way is the beginning.
But I, why thither come, or who concedes it? I not Æneas am, I am not Paul,11 Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it.
Therefore, if I resign myself to come, I fear the coming may be ill-advised; Thou‘rt wise, and knowest better than I speak.“
And as he is, who unwills what he willed, And by new thoughts doth his intention change, So that from his design he quite withdraws,
Such I became, upon that dark hillside, Because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise,12 Which was so very prompt in the beginning.
“If I have well thy language understood,” Replied that shade of the Magnanimous, 13 “Thy soul attainted is with cowardice,
Which many times a man encumbers so, It turns him back from honored enterprise, As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy.14
That thou mayst free thee from this apprehension, I’ll tell thee why I came, and what I heard At the first moment when I grieved for thee.
Among those was I who are in suspense,15 And a fair, saintly Lady16 called to me In such wise, I besought her to command me.
Her eyes were shining brighter than the Star; And she began to say, gentle and low, With voice angelical, in her own language:
‘0 spirit courteous of Mantua, Of whom the fame still in the world endures, And shall endure, long-lasting as the world;17
A friend of mine,o and not the friend of fortune, Upon the desert slope is so impeded Upon his way, that he has turned through terror,
And may, I fear, already be so lost, That I too late have risen to his succor, From that which I have heard of him in Heaven.
Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate, And with what needful is for this release, Assist him so, that I may be consoled.
Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go; I come from there, where I would fain return; Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak.
When I shall be in presence of my Lord, Full often will I praise thee unto him.‘18 Then paused she, and thereafter I began:
‘0 Lady of virtue, thou alone through whom The human race exceedeth all contained Within the heaven that has the lesser circles,19
So grateful unto me is thy commandment, To obey, if ‘twere already done, were late; No farther need’st thou opep to me thy wish.
But the cause tell me why thou dost not shun The here descending down into this centre,20 From the vast placeq thou burnest to return to.‘
‘Since thou wouldst fain so inwardly discern, Briefly will I relate,’ she answered me, ‘Why I am not afraid to enter here.
Of those things only should one be afraid Which have the power of doing others harm; Of the rest, no; because they are not fearful.
God in his mercy such created me That misery of yours attains me not,21 Nor any flame assails me of this burning.
A gentle Ladyr is in Heaven, who grieves At this impediment, to which I send thee, So that stern judgment there above is broken.
In her entreaty she besought Lucía,22 And said, “Thy faithful one now stands in need Of thee, and unto thee I recommend him.”
Lucia, foe of all that cruel is, Hastened away, and came unto the place Where I was sitting with the ancient Rachel.23
“Beatrice,” said she, “the true praise of God, Why succorest thou not him, who loved thee so, For thee he issued from the vulgar herd?24
Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint? Dost thou not see the deaths that combats him Beside that flood,25 where ocean has no vaunt?“
Never were persons in the world so swift To work their weal and to escape their woe, As I, after such words as these were uttered,
Came hither downward from my blessed seat, Confiding in thy dignified discourse, Which honors thee, and those who’ve listened to it.‘
After she thus had spoken unto me, Weeping, her shining eyes she turned away; Whereby she made me swifter in my coming;
And unto thee I came, as she desired; I have delivered thee from that wild beast,26 Which barred the beautiful mountain’s short ascent.27
What is it, then? Why, why dost thou delay? Why is such baseness bedded in thy heart? Daring and hardihood why hast thou not,
Seeing that three such Ladies benedightt Are caring for thee in the court of Heaven, And so much good my speech doth promise thee?“
Even as the flowerets, by nocturnal chill, Bowed down and closed, when the sun whitens them, Uplift themselves all open on their stems;
Such I became with my exhausted strength, And such good courage to my heart there coursed, That I began, like an intrepid person:
“0 she compassionate, who succored me, And courteous thou, who hast obeyed so soon The words of truth which she addressed to thee!
Thou hast my heart so with desire disposed To the adventure, with these words of thine, That to my first intent I have returned.
Now go, for one sole will is in us both, Thou Leader, and thou Lord, and Master thou.“ Thus said I to him; and when he had moved,
I entered on the deep and savage way.28
Canto II: The Darkening Sky of the First Night
CANTO III
THROUGH me the way is to the city dolent; Through me the way is to eternal dole; Through me the way among the people lost.u
Justice incited my sublime Creator; Created me divine Omnipotence, The highest Wisdom and the primal Love.I
Before me there were no created things, Only eterne,v and I eternal last. All hope abandon, ye who enter in!“
These words in sombre color I beheld Written upon the summit of a gate; Whence I: “Their sense is, Master, hardw to me!”
And he to me, as one experienced: “Here all suspicion needs must be abandoned, All cowardice must needs be here extinct.
We to the place have come, where I have told thee Thou shalt behold the people dolorous Who have foregone the good of intellect.“2
And after he had laid his hand on mine With joyful mien, whence I was comforted, He led me in among the secret things.3
There sighs, complaints, and ululations loud Resounded through the air without a star, Whence I, at the beginning, wept4 thereat.
Languages diverse, horrible dialects, Accents of anger, words of agony, And voices high and hoarse, with sound of hands,5
Made up a tumult that goes whirling on Forever in that air forever black, Even as the sand doth, when the whirlwind breathes.
And I, who had my head with horror bound, Said: “Master, what is this which now I hear? What folk is this, which seems by pain so vanquished?
And he to me: “This miserable mode Maintain the melancholy souls of those Who lived withouten infamy or praise.6
Commingled are they with that caitiffx choir Of Angels, who have not rebellious been, Nor faithful were to God, but were for self.7
The heavens expelled them, not to be less fair; Nor them the nethermore abyss receives, For glory none the damned would have from them.“
And I: “0 Master, what so grievous is To these, that maketh them lament so sore?” He answered: “I will tell thee very briefly.
These people have not any hope of death; And this blind life of theirs is so debased, They envious are of every other fate.
No fame of them the world permits to be; Misericordy and Justice both disdain them. Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass.“
And I, who looked again, beheld a banner,8 Which, whirling round, ran on so rapidly, That of all pause it seemed to me indignant;
And after it there came so long a train Of people, that I ne‘er would have believed That ever Death so many had undone.
When some among them I had recognized, I looked, and I beheld the shade of him Who made through cowardice the great refusal.9
Forthwith I comprehended, and was certain, That this the sect was of the caitiff wretches Hateful to God and to his enemies.
These miscreants, who never were alive, Were naked, and were stung exceedingly By gadflies and by hornets that were there.
These did their faces irrigate with blood, Which, with their tears commingled, at their feet By the disgusting worms was gathered up.
And when to gazing farther I betook me, People I saw on a great river’s bank; Whence said I: “Master, now vouchsafe to me,
That I may know who these are, and what law Makes them appear so ready to pass over, As I discern athwart the feeble light.“
And he to me: “These things shall all be known To thee, as soon as we our footsteps stay. Upon the dismal shore of Acheron.”10
Then with mine eyes ashamed and downward cast, Fearing my words might irksome be to him, From speech refrained I till we reached the river.
And lo! towards us coming in a boat An old man,11 hoary with the hair of eld,z Crying: “Woe unto you, ye souls depraved!
Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens; I come to lead you to the other shore, To the eternal shades in heat and frost.
And thou, that yonder standest, living soul, Withdraw thee from these people, who are dead!“ But when he saw that I did not withdraw,
He said: “By other ways, by other ports Thou to the shore shalt come, not here, for passage; A lighter vessel needs must carry thee.“
And unto him the Guide: “Vex thee not, Charon; It is so willed there where is power to do That which is willed;12 and ask no further question.”
Thereat were quieted the fleecy cheeks Of him the ferryman of the livid fen, Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame.
But all those souls who weary were and naked Their color changed and gnashed their teeth together, As soon as they had heard those cruel words.
God they blasphemed and their progenitors, The human race, the place, the time, the seed Of their engendering and of their birth!
Thereafter all together they withdrew, Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore, Which waiteth every man who fears not God.
Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede,aa Beckoning to them, collects them all together, Beats with his oar whoever lags behind.
As in the autumn-time the leaves fall off, First one and then another, till the branch Unto the earth surrenders all its spoils;
In similar wise the evil seed of Adam Throw themselves from that margin one by one, At signals, as a bird unto its lure.
So they depart across the dusky wave, And ere upon the other side they land, Again on this side a new troop assembles.13
“My son,” the courteous Master14 said to me, “All those who perish in the wrath of God Here meet together out of every land;
And ready are they to pass o‘er the river, Because celestial Justice spurs them on,
Canto III The Doomed Souls embarking to cross the Acheron
So that their fear is turned into desire.
This way there never passeth a good soul; And hence if Charon doth complain of thee, Well mayst thou know now what his speech imports.“
This being finished, all the dusk champaign Trembled so violently, that of that terror The recollection bathes me still with sweat.15
The land of tears gave forth a blast of wind. And fulminated a vermilion light, Which overmastered in me every sense,
And as a man whom sleep doth seize I fell.16
CANTO IV
BROKE the deep lethargy within my head A heavy thunder, so that I upstarted, Like to a person who by force is wakened;
And round about I moved my rested eyes, Uprisen erect, and steadfastly I gazed, To recognize the place wherein I was.
True is it, that upon the verge I found me Of the abysmal valley dolorous, That gathers thunder of infinite ululations.
Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous, So that by fixing on its depths my sight Nothing whatever I discerned therein.
“Let us descend now into the blind world,” Began the Poet, pallid utterly;I “I will be first, and thou shalt second be.”
And I, who of his color was aware, Said: “How shall I come, if thou art afraid, Who‘rt wont to be a comfort to my fears?”
And he to me: “The anguish of the people Who are below here in my face depicts That pity which for terror thou hast taken.
Let us go on, for the long way impels us.“ Thus he went in, and thus he made me enter The foremost circle2 that surrounds the abyss.
There, in so far as I had power to hear, Were lamentations none, but only sighs, That tremulous made the everlasting air.
And this arose from sorrow without torment, Which the crowds had, that many were and great, Of infants and of women and of men.
To me the Master good: “Thou dost not ask What spirits these may be, which thou beholdest. Now will I have thee know, ere thou go farther,
That they sinned not; and if they merit had, ‘Tis not enough, because they had not baptism, Which is the portal of the Faith thou holdest;
And if they were before Christianity, In the right manner they adored not God; And among such as these am I myself.
For such defects, and not for other guilt, Lost are we, and are only so far punished, That without hope we live on in desire.“3
Great grief seized on my heart when this I heard, Because some people of much worthiness I knew, who, in that Limbo were suspended.4
“Tell me, my Master, tell me, thou my Lord,” Began I, with desire of being certain Of that Faith which o‘ercometh every error,
“Came any one by his own merit hence, Or by another‘s, who was blessed thereafter?” And he, who understood my covert speech,
Replied: “I was a novice in this state, When I saw hither come a Mighty One,5 With sign of victory incoronate.
Hence he drew forth the shade of the First Parent,ab And that of his son Abel, and of Noah, Of Moses the lawgiver, and the obedient
Abraham, patriarch, and David, king, Israelac with his father and his children, And Rachel, for whose sake he did so much,
And others many, and he made them blessed; And thou must know, that earlier than these Never were any human spirits saved.“6
We ceased not to advance because he spake, But still were passing onward through the forest, The forest, say I, of thick-crowded ghosts.
Not very far as yet our way had gone This side the summit, when I saw a fire That overcame a hemisphere of darkness.‘ 7
We were a little distant from it still, But not so far that I in part discerned not That honorable8 people held that place.
“0 thou who honorest every art and science, Who may these be, which such great honor have, That from the fashion of the rest it parts them?”
And he to me: “The honorable name, That sounds of them above there in thy life, Wins grace in Heaven, that so advances them.”
In the meantime a voice was heard by me: “All honor be to the pre-eminent Poet;9 His shade returns again, that was departed.”
After the voice had ceased and quiet was, Four mighty shades I saw approaching us; Semblance had they nor sorrowful nor glad.
To say to me began my gracious Master: “Him with that falchionad in his hand behold, Who comes before the three, even as their lord.
That one is Homer, Poet sovereign; He who comes next is Horace, the satirist; The third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan.10
Because to each of these with me applies The nameae that solitary voice proclaimed, They do me honor, and in that do well.“
Thus I beheld assemble the fair school Of that lord of the song pre-eminent,11 Who o‘er the others like an eagle soars.
When they together had discoursed somewhat, They turned to me with signs of salutation, And on beholding this, my Master smiled;
And more of honor still, much more, they did me, In that they made me one of their own band;12 So that the sixth was I, ‘mid so much wit.
Thus we went on as far as to the light, Things saying ‘tis becoming to keep silent, As was the saying of them where I was.
We came unto a noble castle’s foot, Seven times encompassed with lofty walls, Defended round by a fair rivulet;af
This we passed over even as firm ground; Through portals seven I entered with these Sages13 We came into a meadow of fresh verdure.
People were there with solemn eyes and slow, Of great authority in their countenance; They spake but seldom, and with gentle voices.
Thus we withdrew ourselves upon one side Into an opening luminous and lofty, So that they all of them were visible.
There opposite, upon the green enamel, Were pointed out to me the mighty spirits, Whom to have seen I feel myself exalted.
I saw Electra14 with companions many, ‘Mongst whom I knew both Hector and Æneas15 Cæsar in armor with gerfalconag eyes;16
I saw Camilla17 and Penthesilea18 On the other side, and saw the King Latinus, Who with Lavinia his daughter sat;19
I saw that Brutus20 who drove Tarquin forth, Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia,21 And saw alone, apart, the Saladin.22
When I had lifted up my brows a little, The Master I beheld of those who know, Sit with his philosophic family.
All gaze upon him, and all do him honor. There I beheld both Socrates and Plato,23 Who nearer him before the others stand;
Democritus,24 who puts the world on chance, Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales,25 Zeno, Empedocles, and Heraclitus;26
Of qualities I saw the good collector, Hight* Dioscorides; and Orpheus27 saw I, Tully and Livy, and moral Seneca,28
Euclid, geometrician, and Ptolemy,29 Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicenna,30 Averroes31 who the great Comment made.
I cannot all of them portray in full, Because so drives me onward the long theme, That many times the word comes short of fact.
The sixfold company in two divides; Another way my sapient Guide conducts me Forth from the quiet to the air that trembles;
And to a place I come where nothing shines.
Canto IV Hemer, the Class Pats
CANTO V
THus I descended out of the first circle Down to the second,1 that less space begirds, And so much greater dole,ah that goads to wailing.
There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls; Examines the transgressions at the entrance; Judges, and sends according as he girds him.
I say, that when the spirit evil-born Cometh before him, wholly it confesses; And this discriminator of transgressions
Seeth what place in Hell is meet for it; Girds himself with his tail as many times As grades he wishes it should be thrust down.2
Always before him many of them stand; They go by turns each one unto the judgment; They speak, and hear, and then are downward hurled.
“0 thou, that to this dolorous hostelry Comest,” said Minos to me, when he saw me, Leaving the practice of so great an office,
“Look how thou enterest, and in whom thou trustest; Let not the portal’s amplitude deceive thee.” And unto him my Guide: “Why criest thou too?
Do not impede his journey fate-ordained; It is so willed there where is power to do That which is willed; and ask no further question.“3
And now begin the dolesome notes to grow Audible unto me; now am I come There where much lamentation strikes upon me.
I came into a place mute of all light, Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest, If by opposing winds ‘tis combated.
The infernal hurricane4 that never rests Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine; Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them.
When they arrive before the precipice,5 There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments, There they blaspheme the puissance divine.ai
I understood that unto such a torment The carnal malefactors were condemned, Who reason subjugate to appetite.
And as the wings of starlings bear them on In the cold season in large band and full, So doth that blast the spirits maledict aj
It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them; No hope doth comfort them forevermore, Not of repose, but even of lesser pain.
And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays, Making in air a long line of themselves, So saw I coming, uttering lamentations,
Shadows borne onward by the aforesaid stress. Whereupon said I: “Master, who are those People, whom the black air so castigates?”
“The first of those, of whom intelligence Thou fain wouldst have,” then said he unto me, “The empress was of many languages.
To sensual vices she was so abandoned, That lustful she made licit in her law, To remove the blame to which she had been led.
She is Semiramis,6 of whom we read That she succeeded Ninus, and was his spouse; She held the land which now the Sultan rules.
The next is she who killed herself for love, And broke faith with the ashes of Sichaeus;7 Then Cleopatra the voluptuous.“8
Helen I saw, for whom so many ruthless Seasons revolved;9 and saw the great Achilles, Who at the last hour combated with Love.10
Paris11 I saw, Tristan;12 and more than a thousand Shades did he name and point out with his finger, Whom Love had separated from our life.
After that I had listened to my Teacher, Naming the dames of eld and cavaliers,ak Pity prevailed, and I was nigh bewildered.
And I began: “0 Poet, willingly Speak would I to those two,13 who together, And seem upon the wind to be so light.”
And he to me: “Thou‘lt mark, when they shall be Nearer to us; and then do thou implore them By love which leadeth them, and they will come.”
Soon as the wind in our direction sways them, My voice uplift I: “0 ye weary souls! Come speak to us, if no one interdicts it.”
As turtle-doves, called onward by desire, With open and steady wings to the sweet nest Fly through the air by their volition borne,
So came they from the band where Dido is, Approaching us athwart the air malign, So strong was the affectionate appeal.
“0 living creature gracious and benignant, Who visiting goest through the purple air Us, who have stained the world incarnadine,al
If were the King of the Universe our friend, We would pray unto him to give thee peace, Since thou hast pity on our woe perverse.
Of what it pleases thee to hear and speak, That will we hear, and we will speak to you, While silent is the wind, as it is now.
Sitteth the city, wherein I was born,am Upon the sea-shore where the Po descends To rest in peace with all his retinue.
Love, that on gentle heart doth swiftly seize, Seized this man for the person beautiful That was ta‘en from me, and still the mode offends me
Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving, Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly, That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me;
Love has conducted us unto one death; Caïna waiteth him who quenched our life!“14 These words were borne along from them to us.
As soon as I had heard those souls tormented, I bowed my face, and so long held it down Until the Poet said to me: “What thinkest?”
When I made answer, I began: “Alas! How many pleasant thoughts, how much desires?” Conducted these unto the dolorous pass!“
Then unto them I turned me, and I spake, And I began: “Thine agonies, Francesca, Sad and compassionate to weeping make me.
But tell me, at the time of those sweet sighs, By what and in what manner Love conceded, That you should know your dubious desires.“
And she to me: “There is no greater sorrow Than to be mindful of the happy time In misery, and that thy Teacher knows.
But, if to recognize the earliest root Of love in us thou hast so great desire, I will do even as he who weeps and speaks.
One day we reading were for our delight Of Launcelot, how Love did him enthrall. Alone we were and without any fear.
Full many a time our eyes together drew That reading, and drove the color from our faces; But one point only was it that o‘ercame us.
When as we read of the much longed-for smile Being by such a noble lover kissed, This man, who ne‘er from me shall be divided,
Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating. Galeotto was the book and he who wrote it.15 That day no farther did we read therein.“
And all the while one spirit uttered this, The other one did weep so, that, for pity, I swooned away as if I had been dying,
And fell, even as a dead body falls.16
Canto V: The Souls of Paolo and Francesca
CANTO VI
AT the return of consciousness, that closed Before the pity of those two relations, Which utterly with sadness had confused me,
New torments I behold, and new tormented Around me, whichsoever way I move, And whichsoever way I turn, and gaze.
In the third circle1 am I of the rain Eternal, maledict, and cold, and heavy; Its law and quality are never new.
Huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow, Athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain;an Noisome the earth is, that receiveth this.
Cerberus, monster cruel and uncouth, With his three gullets like a dog is barking, Over the people that are there submerged.
Red eyes he has, and unctuous beard and black, And belly large, and armed with claws his hands; He rends the spirits, flays, and quarters them.
Howl the rain maketh them like unto dogs; One side they make a shelter for the other; Oft turn themselves the wretched reprobates.
When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm!2 His mouths he opened, and displayed his tusks; Not a limb had he that was motionless.
And my Conductor, with his spans extended, Took of the earth, and with his fists well filled, He threw it into those rapacious gullets.3
Such as that dog is, who by barking craves, And quiet grows soon as his food he gnaws, For to devour it he but thinks and struggles,
The like became those muzzles filth-begrimed Of Cerberus the demon, who so thunders Over the souls that they would fain be deaf.
We passed across the shadows,4 which subdues The heavy rain-storm, and we placed our feet Upon their vanity that person seems.
They all were lying prone upon the earth, Excepting one, who sat upright as soon As he beheld us passing on before him.
“0 thou that art conducted through this Hell,” He said to me, “recall me, if thou canst; Thyself wast made before I was unmade.”5
And I to him: “The anguish which thou hast Perhaps doth draw thee out of my remembrance, So that it seems not I have ever seen thee.
But tell me who thou art, that in so doleful A place art put, and in such punishment, If some are greater, none is so displeasing.“
And he to me: “Thy city, which is full Of envy so that now the sack runs over, Held me within it in the life serene.
You citizens were wont to call me Ciacco;6 For the pernicious sin of gluttony I, as thou seest, am battered by this rain.
And I, sad soul, am not the only one, For all these suffer the like penalty For the like sin“; and word no more spake he.
I answered him: “Ciacco, thy wretchedness Weighs on me so that it to weep invites me;7 But tell me, if thou knowest, to what shall come
The citizens of the divided city; If any there be just; and the occasion Tell me why so much discord has assailed it.“
And he to me: “They, after long contention, Will come to bloodshed; and the rustic party Will drive the other out with much offence.
Then afterwards behoves it this one fall Within three suns, and rise again the other By force of him who now is on the coast.
High will it hold its forehead a long while, Keeping the other under heavy burdens, Howe‘er it weeps thereat and is indignant.
The just are two, and are not understood there;8 Envy and Arrogance and Avarice Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled.“
Here ended he his tearful utterance; And I to him: “I wish thee still to teach me, And make a gift to me of further speech.
Farinata and Tegghiaio, once so worthy, Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca,9 And others who on good deeds set their thoughts,
Say where they are, and cause that I may know them; For great desire constraineth me to learn If Heaven doth sweeten them, or Hell envenom.“
And he: “They are among the blacker souls; A different sin downweighs them to the bottom; If thou so far descendest, thou canst see them.
But when thou art again in the sweet world, I pray thee to the mind of others bring me;10 No more I tell thee and no more I answer.“
Then his straightforward eyes he turned askance, Eyed me a little, and then bowed his head; He fell therewith prone like the other blind.
And the Guide said to me: “He wakes no more This side the sound of the angelic trumpet; When shall approach the hostile Potentate,
Each one shall find again his dismal tomb, Shall reassume his flesh and his own figure, Shall hear what through eternity re-echoes.“
So we passed onward o‘er the filthy mixture Of shadows and of rain with footsteps slow, Touching a little on the future life.
Wherefore I said: “Master, these torments here, Will they increase after the mighty sentence, Or lesser be, or will they be as burning?”
And he to me: “Return unto thy science,11 Which wills, that as the thing more perfect is, The more it feels of pleasure and of pain.
Albeit that this people maledict To true perfection never can attain, Hereafter more than now they look to be.“
Round in a circle by that road we went, Speaking much more, which I do not repeat; We came unto the point where the descent is;
There we found Plutus12 the great enemy.
CANTO VII
PAPË Satan, Papë Satan, Aleppë!“1 Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began; And that benignant Sage, who all things knew,
Said, to encourage me: “Let not thy fear Harm thee; for any power that he may have Shall not prevent thy going down this crag.”
Then he turned round unto that bloated lip, And said: “Be silent, thou accursed wolf; Consume within thyself with thine own rage.
Not causeless is this journey to the abyss; Thus is it willed on high, where Michael wrought Vengeance upon the proud adultery.“2
Even as the sails inflated by the wind Together fall involved when snaps the mast, So fell the cruel monster to the earth.
Thus we descended into the fourth chasm,3 Gaining still farther on the dolesome shore Which all the woe of the universe insacks.
Justice of God, ah! who heaps up so many New toils and sufferings as I beheld? And why doth our transgression waste us so?
As doth the billow there upon Charybdis,4 That breaks itself on that which it encounters, So here the folk must dance their roundelay.5
Here saw I people, more than elsewhere, many, On one side and the other, with great howls, Rolling weights forward by main-force of chest.
They clashed together, and then at that point Each one turned backward, rolling retrograde, Crying, “Why keepest?” and, “Why squanderest thou?”
Canto VII Virgil shows Dante the Seuls of the Wrathful
Thus they returned along the lurid circle On either hand unto the opposite point, Shouting their shameful metre evermore.
Then each, when he arrived there, wheeled about Through his half-circle to another joust; And I, who had my heart pierced as it were,
Exclaimed: “My Master, now declare to me What people these are, and if all were clerks,ao These shaven crowns upon the left of us.”
And he to me: “All of them were asquintap In intellect in the first life, so much That there with measure they no spending made.
Clearly enough their voices bark it forth, Whene‘er they reach the two points of the circle, Where sunders them the opposite defect.
Clerks those were who no hairy covering Have on the head, and Popes and Cardinals, In whom doth avarice practise its excess.“
And I: “My Master, among such as these I ought forsooth to recognize some few, Who were infected with these maladies.”
And he to me: “Vain thought thou entertainest; The undiscerning life which made them sordid Now makes them unto all discernment dim.6
Forever shall they come to these two buttings; These from the sepulchre shall rise again With the fist closed, and these with tresses shorn.7
III giving and ill keeping the fair world Have ta‘en from them, and placed them in this scuffle; Whate’er it be, no words adorn I for it.
Now canst thou, Son, behold the transient farce Of goods that are committed unto Fortune, For which the human race each other buffet;
For all the gold that is beneath the moon, Or ever has been, of these weary souls Could never make a single one repose.“
“Master,” I said to him, “now tell me also What is this Fortune which thou speakest of, That has the world’s goods so within its clutches?”
And he to me: “0 creatures inbecile,aq What ignorance is this which doth beset you? Now will I have thee learn my judgment of her.
He whose omniscience everything transcends The heavens created, and gave who should guide them, That every part to every part may shine,
Distributing the light in equal measure; He in like manner to the mundane splendors Ordained a general ministress and guide,8
That she might change at times the empty treasures From race to race, from one blood to another, Beyond resistance of all human wisdom.
Therefore one people triumphs, and another Languishes, in pursuance of her judgment, Which hidden is, as in the grass a serpent.
Your knowledge has no counterstand against her; She makes provision, judges, and pursues Her governance, as theirs the other gods.
Her permutations have not any truce; Necessity makes her precipitate, So often cometh who his turn obtains.
And this is she who is so crucified Even by those who ought to give her praise, Giving her blame amiss, and bad repute.
But she is blissful, and she hears it not; Among the other primal creatures gladsome She turns her sphere, and blissful she rejoices.
Let us descend now unto greater woe; Already sinks each star that was ascending When I set out,9 and loitering is forbidden.“
We crossed the circle to the other bank, Near to a fountar that boils, and pours itself Along a gully that runs out of it.
The water was more sombre far than perse; And we, in company with the dusky waves, Made entrance downward by a path uncouth.
A marsh it makes, which has the name of Styx,10 This tristfulas brooklet, when it has descended Down to the foot of the malign gray shores.
And I, who stood intent upon beholding, Saw people mud-besprentat in that lagoon, All of them naked and with angry look.
They smote each other not alone with hands, But with the head and with the breast and feet, Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth.
Said the good Master: “Son, thou now beholdest The souls of those whom anger overcame;11 And likewise I would have thee know for certain
Beneath the water people are who sigh And make this water bubble at the surface, As the eye tells thee wheresoe‘er it turns.
Fixed in the mire they say, ‘We sullen were In the sweet air, which by the sun is gladdened, Bearing within ourselves the sluggish reek;
Now we are sullen in this sable mire.‘ This hymn do they keep gurgling in their throats, For with unbroken words they cannot say it.“
Thus we went circling round the filthy fen A great arc ‘twixt the dry bank and the swamp, With eyes turned unto those who gorge the mire;
Unto the foot of a tower we came at last.
CANTO VIII
I say, continuing,1 that long before We to the foot of that high tower had come, Our eyes went upward to the summit of it,
By reason of two flamelets we saw placed there,2 And from afar another answer them, So far, that hardly could the eye attain it.
And, to the sea of all discernment turned, I said: “What sayeth this, and what respondeth That other fire? and who are they that made it?”
And he to me: “Across the turbid waves What is expected thou canst now discern, If reek of the morass conceal it not.”
Cord never shot an arrow from itself That sped away athwart the air so swift, As I beheld a very little boat
Come o‘er the water tow’rds us at that moment, Under the guidance of a single pilot Who shouted, “Now art thou arrived, fell soul?”
“Phlegyas, Phlegyas,3 thou criest out in vain For this once,” said my Lord; “thou shalt not have us Longer than in the passing of the slough.”
As he who listens to some great deceit That has been done to him, and then resents it, Such became Phlegyas, in his gathered wrath.
My Guide descended down into the boat, And then he made me enter after him, And only when I entered seemed it laden.4
Soon as the Guide and I were in the boat, The antique prow goes on its way, dividing More of the water than ‘tis wont with others.
While we were running through the dead canal, Uprose in front of me one full of mire, And said, “Who‘rt thou that comest ere the hour?”
And I to him: “Although I come, I stay not; But who art thou that hast become so squalid?” “Thou seest that I am one who weeps,” he answered.
And I to him: “With weeping and with wailing, Thou spirit maledict, do thou remain; For thee I know, though thou art all defiled.”
Then stretched he both his hands unto the boat; Whereat my wary Master thrust him back, Saying, “Away there with the other dogs!”5
Thereafter with his arms he clasped my neck; He kissed my face, and said: “Disdainful soul, Blessed be she6 who bore thee in her bosom.
That was an arrogant person in the world; Goodness is none, that decks his memory; So likewise here his shade is furious.
How many are esteemed great kings up there, Who here shall be like unto swine in mire, Leaving behind them horrible dispraises!“
And I: “My Master, much should I be pleased, If I could see him soused into this broth, Before we issue forth out of the lake.”
And he to me: “Ere unto thee the shore Reveal itself, thou shalt be satisfied; Such a desire ‘tis meet thou shouldst enjoy.”
A little after that, I saw such havoc Made of him by the people of the mire, That still I praise and thank my God for it.
They all were shouting, “At Philippo Argenti!” And that exasperate spirit Florentine Turned round upon himself with his own teeth.
We left him there, and more of him I tell not; But on mine ears there smote a lamentation, Whence forward I intent unbar mine eyes.
Canto VIII. Phlegyas ferries Dante and Virgil across the Styx
And the good Master said: “Even now, my son, The city draweth near whose name is Dis,7 With the grave citizens, with the great throng.”
And I: “Its mosques8 already, Master, clearly Within there in the valley I discern Vermilion, as if issuing from the fire
They were.“ And he to me: ”The fire eternal9 That kindles them within makes them look red, As thou beholdest in this nether Hell.“
Then we arrived within the moats profound, That circumvallate that disconsolate city; The walls appeared to me to be of iron.
Not without making first a circuit wide, We came unto a place where loud the pilot Cried out to us, “Debark, here is the entrance.”
More than a thousand at the gates I saw Out of the Heavens rained down,10 who angrily Were saying, “Who is this that without death
Goes through the kingdom of the people dead?“ And my sagacious Master made a sign Of wishing secretly to speak with them.
A little then they quelled their great disdain, And said: “Come thou alone, and he begone Who has so boldly entered these dominions.
Let him return alone by his mad road; Try, if he can; for thou shalt here remain, Who hast escorted him through such dark regions.“
Think, Reader,II if I was discomforted At utterance of the accursed words; For never to return here I believed.
“0 my dear Guide, who more than seven timesau Hast rendered me security, and drawn me From imminent peril that before me stood,
Do not desert me,“ said I, ”thus undone; And if the going farther be denied us, Let us retrace our steps together swiftly.“
And that Lord, who had led me thitherward, Said unto me: “Fear not; because our passage None can take from us, it by Such is given.12
But here await me, and thy weary spirit Comfort and nourish with a better hope; For in this nether world I will not leave thee.“
So onward goes and there abandons me My Father sweet, and I remain in doubt, For No or Yes within my head contend.
I could not hear what he proposed to them; But with them there he did not linger long, Ere each within in rivalry ran back.
They closed the portals, those our adversaries, On my Lord’s breast, who had remained without And turned to me with footsteps far between.
His eyes cast down, his forehead shorn had he Of all its boldness, and he said, with sighs, “Who has denied to me the dolesome houses?”
And unto me: “Thou, because I am angry,13 Fear not, for I will conquer in the trial, Whatever for defence within be planned.
This arrogance of theirs is nothing new; For once they used it at less secret gate,14 Which finds itself without a fastening still.
O‘er it didst thou behold the dead inscription; And now this side of it descends the steep, Passing across the circles without escort,
One by whose means the city shall be opened.“15
CANTO IX
THAT hue which cowardice brought out on me, Beholding my Conductor backward turn, Sooner repressed within him his new color.1
He stopped attentive, like a man who listens, Because the eye could not conduct him far Through the black air, and through the heavy fog.
“Still it behoveth us to win the fight,” Began he; “Else ... Such offered us herself ... O how I long that some one here arrive!”
Well I perceived, as soon as the beginning He covered up with what came afterward, That they were words quite different from the first;
But none the less his saying gave me fear, Because I carried out the broken phrase, Perhaps to a worse meaning than he had.2
“Into this bottom of the doleful conchav Doth any e‘er descend from the first grade, Which for its pain has only hope cut off?”3
This question put I; and he answered me: “Seldom it comes to pass that one of us Maketh the journey upon which I go.
True is it, once before I here below Was conjured by that pitiless Erictho,4 Who summoned back the shades unto their bodies.
Naked of me short while the flesh had been, Before within that wall she made me enter, To bring a spirit from the circle of Judas;5
Canto LX,, Megaera, Tisiphene and Alecto
That is the lowest region and the darkest, And farthest from the heaven which circles all. Well know I the way;6 therefore be reassured.
This fen, which a prodigious stench exhales, Encompasseth about the city dolent, Where now we cannot enter without anger.“
And more he said, but not in mind I have it; Because mine eye had altogether drawn me Tow‘rds the high tower with the red-flaming summit,
Where in a moment saw I swift uprisen The three infernal Furies7 stained with blood, Who had the limbs of women and their mien,
And with the greenest hydras were begirt; Small serpents and cerastes were their tresses, Wherewith their horrid temples were entwined.
And he who well the handmaids of the Queen Of everlasting lamentation8 knew, Said unto me: “Behold the fierce Erinnys.
This is Megæra, on the left-hand side; She who is weeping on the right, Alecto; Tisiphone is between“; and then was silent.
Each one her breast was rending with her nails; They beat them with their palms, and cried so loud, That I for dread pressed close unto the Poet.
“Medusa9 come, so we to stone will change him!” All shouted looking down; “in evil hour Avenged we not on Theseus his assault!”10
“Turn thyself round, and keep thine eyes close shut, For if the Gorgon appear, and thou shouldst see it, No more returning upward would there be.”
Thus said the Master; and he turned me round Himself, and trusted not unto my hands So far as not to blind me with his own.
O ye who have undistempered intellects, Observe the doctrine that conceals itself Beneath the veil of the mysterious verses!11
And now there came across the turbid waves The clangor of a sound with terror fraught, Because of which both of the margins trembled;
Not otherwise it was than of a wind Impetuous on account of adverse heats, That smites the forest, and, without restraint,
The branches rends, beats down, and bears away; Right onward, laden with dust, it goes superb, And puts to flight the wild beasts and the shepherds.
Mine eyes he loosed, and said: “Direct the nerve Of vision now along that ancient foam, There yonder where that smoke is most intense.”
Even as the frogs before the hostile serpent Across the water scatter all abroad, Until each one is huddled in the earth,
More than a thousand ruined souls I saw, Thus fleeing from before one who on foot Was passing o‘er the Styx with soles unwet.12
From off his face he fanned that unctuous air, Waving his left hand oft in front of him, And only with that anguish seemed he weary.
Well I perceived one sent from Heaven was he, And to the Master turned; and he made sign That I should quiet stand, and bow before him.
Ah! how disdainful he appeared to me! He reached the gate, and with a little rod He opened it, for there was no resistance.
“0 banished out of Heaven, people despised!” 13 Thus he began upon the horrid threshold; “Whence is this arrogance within you couched?
Wherefore recalcitrate against that will, From which the end can never be cut off, And which has many times increased your pain?
What helpeth it to butt against the fates? Your Cerberus, if you remember well, For that still bears his chin and gullet peeled.“14
Then he returned along the miry road, And spake no word to us, but had the look Of one whom other care constrains and goads
Than that of him who in his presence is; And we our feet directed tow‘rds the city, After those holy words all confident.
Within we entered without any contest; And I, who inclination had to see What the condition such a fortress holds,
Soon as I was within, cast round mine eye, And see on every hand an ample plain, Full of distress and torment terrible.
Even as at Aries, where stagnant grows the Rhone, Even as at Pola near to the Quarnaro,15 That shuts in Italy and bathes its borders,
The sepulchres make all the place uneven; So likewise did they there on every side, Saving that there the manner was more bitter;
For flames between the sepulchres were scattered, By which they so intensely heated were, That iron more so asks not any art.
All of their coverings uplifted were, And from them issued forth such dire laments, Sooth seemed they of the wretched and tormented.
And I: “My Master, what are all those people Who, having sepulture within those tombs, Make themselves audible by doleful sighs?”
And he to me; “Here are the Heresiarchs,16 With their disciples of all sects, and much More than thou thinkest laden are the tombs.
Here like together with its like is buried; And more and less the monuments are heated.“ And when he to the right17 had turned, we passed
Between the torments and high parapets.
CANTO X
Now onward goes, along a narrow path Between the torments and the city wall, My Master, and I follow at his back.
“0 power supreme, that through these impious circles Turnest me,” I began, “as pleases thee, Speak to me, and my longings satisfy;
The people who are lying in these tombs, Might they be seen? already are uplifted The covers all, and no one keepeth guard.“
And he to me: “They all will be closed up When from Jehosaphat1 they shall return Here with the bodies they have left above.
Their cemetery have upon this side With Epicurus2 all his followers, Who with the body mortal make the soul;
But in the question thou dost put to me, Within here shalt thou soon be satisfied, And likewise in the wish thou keepest silent.“
And I: “Good Leader, I but keep concealed From thee my heart, that I may speak the less, Nor only now hast thou thereto disposed me.”
“0 Tuscan,3 thou who through the city of fire Goest alive, thus speaking modestly, Be pleased to stay thy footsteps in this place.
Thy mode of speaking makes thee manifest A native of that noble fatherland, To which perhaps I too molestfulaw was.“
Canto X Farmala degh Ubert addresses Dante
Upon a sudden issued forth this sound From out one of the tombs: wherefore I pressed, Fearing, a little nearer to my Leader.
And unto me he said: “Turn thee; what dost thou? Behold there Farinata who has risen; From the waist upwards wholly shalt thou see him.“
I had already fixed mine eyes on his, And he uprose erect with breast and front E‘en as if Hell he had in great despite.ax
And with courageous hands and prompt my Leader Thrust me between the sepulchres towards him, Exclaiming, “Let thy words explicit be.”
As soon as I was at the foot of his tomb, Somewhat he eyed me, and, as if disdainful, Then asked of me, “Who were thine ancestors?”
I, who desirous of obeying was, Concealed it not, but all revealed to him; Whereat he raised his brows a little upward.
Then said he: “Fiercely adverse have they been To me, and to my fathers, and my party; So that two several times I scattered them.”4
“If they were banished, they returned on all sides,” I answered him, “the first time and the second;5 But yours have not acquired that art aright.”
Then there uprose upon the sight, uncovered Down to the chin, a shadow at his side; I think that he had risen on his knees.
Round me he gazed, as if solicitude He had to see if some one else were with me; But after his suspicion was all spent,
Weeping, he said to me: “If through this blind Prison thou goest by loftiness of genius, Where is my son? and why is he not with thee?”
And I to him: “I come not of myself; He who is waiting yonder leads me here, Whom in disdain perhaps your Guido had.”6
His language and the mode of punishment Already unto me had read his name; On that account my answer was so full.
Up starting suddenly, he cried out: “How Saidst thou,—he had? Is he not still alive? Does not the sweet light strike upon his eyes?”
When he became aware of some delay, Which I before my answer made, supine He fell again, and forth appeared no more.
But the other, magnanimous, at whose desire I had remained, did not his aspect change, Neither his neck he moved, nor bent his side.
“And if,” continuing his first discourse, “They have that art,” he said, “not learned aright, That more tormenteth me, than doth this bed.
But fifty times shall not rekindled be The countenance of the Lady who reigns here,7 Ere thou shalt know how heavy is that art;
And as thou wouldst to the sweet world return, Say why that people is so pitiless Against my race in each one of its laws?“
Whence I to him: “The slaughter and great carnage Which have with crimson stained the Arbia,8 cause Such orisonsay in our temple to be made.”
After his head he with a sigh had shaken, “There I was not alone,” he said, “nor surely Without a cause had with the others moved.
But there I was alone, where every one Consented to the laying waste of Florence, He who defended her with open face.“
“Ah! so hereafter may your seed repose,” I him entreated, “solve for me that knot,9 Which has entangled my conceptions here.
It seems that you can see, if I hear rightly, Beforehand whatsoe‘er brings with it, And in the present have another mode.“
“We see, like those who have imperfect sight, The things,” he said, “that distant are from us; So much still shines on us the Sovereign Ruler.
When they draw near, or are, is wholly vain Our intellect, and if none brings it to us, Not anything know we of your human state.
Hence thou canst understand, that wholly dead Will be our knowledge from the moment when The portal of the future shall be closed.“
Then I, as if compunctious for my fault, Said: “Now, then, you will tell that fallen one, That still his son is with the living joined.
And if just now, in answering, I was dumb, Tell him I did it because I was thinking Already of the error you have solved me.“
And now my Master was recalling me, Wherefore more eagerly I prayed the spirit That he would tell me who was with him there.
He said: “With more than a thousand here I lie; Within here is the second Frederick, And the Cardinal,10 and of the rest I speak not.”
Thereon he hid himself; and I towards The ancient poet turned my steps, reflecting Upon that saying, which seemed hostile to me.
He moved along; and afterward, thus going, He said to me, “Why are thou so bewildered?” And I in his inquiry satisfied him.
“Let memory preserve what thou hast heard Against thyself,” that Sage commanded me, “And now attend here”; and he raised his finger.
“When thou shalt be before the radiance sweet Of her whose beauteous eyes all things behold, From her11 thou‘lt know the journey of thy life.”
Unto the left hand then he turned his feet; We left the wall, and went towards the middle, Along a path that strikes into a valley,
Which even up there unpleasant made its stench.
CANTO XI
UPON the margin of a lofty bank Which great rocks brokenI in a circle made, We came upon a still more cruel throng;
And there, by reason of the horrible Excess of stench the deep abyss throws out, We drew ourselves aside behind the cover
Of a great tomb, whereon I saw a writing, Which said: “Pope Anastasius2 I hold, Whom out of the right way Photinus drew.”
“Slow it behoveth our descent to be, So that the sense be first a little used To the sad blast, and then we shall not heed it.”
The Master thus; and unto him I said, “Some compensation find, that the time pass not Idly”; and he: “Thou seest I think of that.
My son, upon the inside of these rocks,“ Began he then to say, ”are three small circles,3 From grade to grade, like those which thou art leaving.
They all are full of spirits maledict; But that hereafter sight alone suffice thee, Hear how and wherefore they are in constraint.
Of every malice that wins hate in Heaven, Injury is the end; and all such end Either by force or fraud afflicteth others.4
But because fraud is man’s peculiar vice, More it displeaseth God; and so stand lowest The fraudulent, and greater dole assails them.
All the first circle of the Violent is; But since force may be used against three persons, In three rounds5 ‘tis divided and constructed.
To God, to ourselves, and to our neighbor can we Use force; I say on them and on their things, As thou shalt hear with reason manifest.
A death by violence, and painful wounds, Are to our neighbor given; and in his substance Ruin, and arson, and injurious levies;
Whence homicides, and he who smites unjustly, Marauders, and freebooters, the first round Tormenteth all in diverse companies.
Man may lay violent hands upon himself And his own goods; and therefore in the second Round must perforce without avail repent
Whoever of your world deprives himself, Who games, and dissipates his property, And weepeth there, where he should jocundaz be
Violence can be done the Deity, In heart denying and blaspheming Him, And by disdaining Nature and her bounty.
And for this reason doth the smallest round Seal with its signet Sodom and Cahors;6 And who, disdaining God, speaks from the heart.
Fraud, wherewithal is every conscience stung, A man may practice upon him who trusts, And him who doth no confidence imburse.
This latter mode, it would appear, dissevers Only the bond of love which Nature makes; Wherefore within the second circle nestle
Hypocrisy, flattery, and who deals in magic, Falsification, theft, and simony, Panders, and barrators, and the like filth.7
By the other mode, forgotten is that love Which Nature makes, and what is after added, From which there is a special faith engendered.
Hence in the smallest circle,8 where the point is Of the Universe, upon which Dis is seated, Whoe‘er betrays forever is consumed.“
And I: “My Master, clear enough proceeds Thy reasoning, and full well distinguishes This cavern and the people who possess it.
But tell me, those within the fat lagoon, Whom the wind drives, and whom the rain doth beat, And who encounter with such bitter tongues,
Wherefore are they inside of the red city Not punished, if God has them in his wrath, And if he has not, wherefore in such fashion?“9
And unto me he said: “Why wanders so Thine intellect from that which it is wont? Or, sooth, thy mind where is it elsewhere looking?
Hast thou no recollection of those words With which thine Ethics thoroughly discusses The dispositions three, that Heaven abides not,—
Incontinence, and Malice, and insane Bestiality?10 and how Incontinence Less God offendeth, and less blame attracts?
If thou regardest this conclusion well, And to they mind recallest who they are That up outside are undergoing penance,
Clearly wilt thou perceive why from these felons They separated are, and why less wrothba Justice divine doth smite them with its hammer.“
“O Sun, that healest all distempered vision, Thou dost content me so, when thou resolvest, That doubting pleases me no less than knowing!
Once more a little backward turn thee,“ said I, ”There where thou sayest that usury offends Goodness divine, and disengage the knot.“II
“Philosophy,” he said, “to him who heeds it, Noteth, not only in one place alone, After what manner Nature takes her course
From Intellect Divine, and from its art; And if thy Physics carefully thou notest, After not many pages shalt thou find,
That this your art as far as possible Follows, as the discipline doth the master; So that your art is, as it were, God’s grandchild.
From these two, if thou bringest to thy mind Genesis at the beginning, it behoves Mankind to gain their life and to advance;
And since the usurer takes another way, Nature herself and in her follower Disdains he, for elsewhere he puts his hope.12
But follow, now, as I would fain go on, For quivering are the Fishes on the horizon, And the Wain wholly over Caurus lies,13
And far beyond there we descend the crag.“
CANTO XII
THE place where to descend the bank we came Was alpine, and from what was there, moreover, Of such a kind that every eye would shun it.
Such as that ruin is which in the flank Smote, on this side of Trent, the Adige,1 Either by earthquake or by failing stay,
For from the mountain’s top, from which it moved, Unto the plain the cliff is shattered so, No path ‘twould give to him who was above;
Even such was the descent of that ravine, And on the border of the broken chasm The infamy of Crete2 was stretched along,
Who was conceived in the fictitious cow; And when he us beheld, he bit himself, Even as one whom anger racks within.
My Sage towards him shouted: “Peradventure Thou think‘st that here may be the Duke of Athens, Who in the world above brought death to thee?
Get thee gone, beast, for this one cometh not Instructed by thy sister, but he comes In order to behold your punishments.“
As is that bull who breaks loose at the moment In which he has received the mortal blow, Who cannot walk, but staggers here and there,
The Minotaur beheld I do the like; And he, the wary, cried: “Run to the passage; While he is wroth,bb ‘tis well thou shouldst descend.”
Thus down we took our way o‘er that discharge Of stones, which oftentimes did move themselves Beneath my feet, from the unwonted burden.3
Thoughtful I went; and he said: “Thou art thinking Perhaps upon this ruin, which is guarded By that brute anger which just now I quenched.
Now will I have thee know, the other time4 I here descended to the nether Hell, This precipice had not yet fallen down.
But truly, if I well discern, a little Before His coming who the mighty spoil Bore off from Dis, in the supernal circle,5
Upon all sides the deep and loathsome valley Trembled so, that I thought the Universe Was thrilled with love, by which there are who think
The world ofttimes converted into chaos;6 And at that moment this primeval crag Both here and elsewhere made such overthrow.
But fix thine eyes below; for draweth near The river of blood,7 within which boiling is Whoe‘er by violence doth injure others.“
O blind cupidity, O wrath insane, That spurs us onward so in our short life, And in the eternal then so badly steeps us!
I saw an ample moat bent like a bow, As one which all the plain encompasseth, Conformable to what my Guide had said.
And between this and the embankment’s foot Centaurs8 in file were running, armed with arrows, As in the world they used the chase to follow.
Beholding us descend, each one stood still, And from the squadron three detached themselves, With bows and arrows in advance selected;
And from afar one cried: “Unto what torment Come ye, who down the hillside are descending? Tell us from there; if not, I draw the bow.”
My Master said: “Our answer will we make To Chiron, there near by; in evil hour, That will of thine was evermore so hasty.”
Then touched he me, and said: “This one is Nessus, Who perished for the lovely Dejanira, And for himself, himself did vengeance take.
And he in the midst, who at his breast is gazing, Is the great Chiron, who brought up Achilles; That other Pholus is,9 who was so wrathful.
Thousands and thousands go about the moat Shooting with shafts whatever soul emerges Out of the blood, more than his crime allots.“
Near we approached unto those monsters fleet; Chiron an arrow took, and with the notch Backward upon his jaws he put his beard.
After he had uncovered his great mouth, He said to his companions: “Are you ware That he behind moveth whate‘er he touches?10
Thus are not wont to do the feet of dead men.“ And my good Guide, who now was at his breast, Where the two natures are together joined,
Replied; “Indeed he lives, and thus alone Me it behoves to show him the dark valley; Necessity, and not delight, impels us.
Some onebc withdrew from singing Halleluja, Who unto me committed this new office; No thief is he, norIathievish spirit.
But by that virtue through which I am moving My steps along this savage thoroughfare, Give us some one of thine, to be with us,
Canto XII The Minotaur on the Shattered Cliff
And who may show us where to pass the ford, And who may carry this man on his back; For ‘tis no spirit that can walk the air.“
Upon his right breast Chiron wheeled about, And said to Nessus: “Turn and do thou guide them, And warn aside, if other band should meet you.”
We with our faithful escort onward moved, Along the brink of the vermilion boiling, Wherein the boiled were uttering loud laments.
People I saw within up to the eyebrows, And the great Centaur said: “Tyrants are these, Who dealt in bloodshed and in pillaging.
Here they lament their pitiless mischiefs; here Is Alexander, and fierce Dionysius11 Who upon Sicily brought dolorous years.
That forehead there which has the hair so black Is Azzolin; and the other who is blond, Obizzo is of Esti, who, in truth,
Up in the world was by his step-son slain.“12 Then turned I to the Poet; and he said, ”Now he be first to thee, and second I.“13
A little farther on the Centaur stopped Above a folk, who far down as the throat Seemed from that boiling stream to issue forth.
A shade he showed us on one side alone, Saying: “He cleft asunder,14 in God’s bosom The heart that still upon the Thames is honored.”
Then people saw I, who from out the river Lifted their heads and also all the chest; And many among these I recognized.
Thus ever more and more grew shallower That blood, so that the feet alone it covered; And there across the moat our passage was.15
“Even as thou here upon this side beholdest The boiling stream, that ayebd diminishes,” The Centaur said, “I wish thee to believe
That on this other more and more declines Its bed, until it reunites itself Where it behoveth tyranny to groan.
Justice divine, upon this side, is goading That Attila, who was a scourge on earth, And Pyrrhus, and Sextus; and forever milks
The tears which with the boiling it unseals In Rinier da Corneto and Rinier Pazzo, Who made upon the highways so much war.“16
Then back he turned, and passed again the ford.
CANTO XIII
NOT yet had Nessus reached the other side, When we had put ourselves within a wood, That was not marked by any path whatever.
Not foliage green, but of a dusky color, Not branches smooth, but gnarled and intertangled, Not apple-trees were there, but thorns with poison.
Such tangled thickets have not, nor so dense, Those savage wild-beasts, that in hatred hold ‘Twixt Cecina and Corneto1 the tilled places.
There do the hideous Harpies make their nests, Who chased the Trojans from the Strophades,2 With sad announcement of impending doom;
Broad wings have they, and necks and faces human, And feet with claws, and their great bellies fledged; They make laments upon the wondrous trees.
And the good Master: “Ere thou enter farther, Know that thou art within the second round,” Thus he began to say, “and shalt be, till
Thou comest upon the horrible sand-waste; Therefore look well around, and thou shalt see Things that will credence give unto my speech.“
I heard on all sides lamentations uttered, And person none beheld I who might make them, Whence, utterly bewildered, I stood still.
I think he thought that I perhaps might think3 So many voices issued through those trunks From people who concealed themselves for us;
Therefore the Master said: “If thou break off Some little spray from any of these trees, The thoughts thou hast will wholly be made vain.“
Canto XIII: Harpies in the Forest of the Sundes
Then stretched I forth my hand a little forward, And plucked a branchlet off from a great thorn; And the trunk cried, “Why dost thou mangle me?”
After it had become embrowned with blood, It recommenced its cry: “Why dost thou rend me? Hast thou no spirit of pity whatsoever?
Men once we were, and now are changed to trees; Indeed, thy hand should be more pitiful, Even if the souls of serpents we had been.“
As out of a green brand, that is on fire At one of the ends, and from the other drips And hisses with the wind that is escaping;
So from that splinter issued forth together Both words and blood; whereat I let the tip Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid.
“Had he been able sooner to believe,” My Sage made answer, “O thou wounded soul, What only in my verses he has seen,4
Not upon thee had he stretched forth his hand; Whereas the thing incredible has caused me To put him to an act which grieveth me.
But tell him who thou wast, so that by way Of some amends thy fame he may refresh Up in the world, to which he can return.“
And the trunk said: “So thy sweet words allure me, I can not silent be; and you be vexed not, ThatIalittle to discourse am tempted.
I am the one who both keys had in keeping Of Frederick’s heart, and turned them to and fro So softly in unlocking and in locking,
That from his secrets most men I withheld; Fidelity I bore the glorious office So great, I lost thereby my sleep and pulses.
The courtesan5 who never from the dwelling Of Caesar turned aside her harlot eyes, Death universal and the vice of courts,
Inflamed against me all the other minds, And they, inflamed, did so inflame Augustus,6 That my glad honors to dismal mournings.
My spirit, in disdainful exultation, Thinking by dying to escape disdain, Made me unjust against myself, the just.
I, by the roots unwonted of this wood,7 Do swear to you that never broke I faith Unto my lord, who was so worthy of honor;
And to the world if one of you return, Let him my memory comfort, which is lying Still prostrate from the blow that envy dealt it.“
Waited awhile, and then: “Since he is silent,” The Poet said to me, “lose not the time, But speak, and question him, if more may please thee.”
Whence I to him: “Do thou again inquire Concerning what thou think‘st will satisfy me; For I cannot, such pity is in my heart.”8
Therefore he recommenced: “So may the man Do for thee freely what thy speech implores, Spirit incarcerate, again be pleased
To tell us in what way the soul is bound Within these knots; and tell us, if thou canst, If any from such members e‘er is freed.“
Then blew the trunk amain, and afterward The wind was into such a voice converted: “With brevity shall be replied to you.
When the exasperated soul abandons The body whence it rent itself away, Minos consigns it to the seventh abyss.
It falls into the forest, and no part Is chosen for it; but where Fortune hurls it, There like a grain of spelt it germinates.
It springs a sapling, and a forest tree; The Harpies, feeding then upon its leaves, Do pain create, and for the pain an outlet.
Like others for our spoils shall we return; But not that any one may them revest, For ‘tis not just to have what one casts off.
Here we shall drag them, and along the dismal Forest our bodies shall suspended be, Each to the thorn of his molested shade.“
We were attentive still unto the trunk, Thinking that more it yet might wish to tell us, When by a tumult we were overtaken,
In the same way as he is who perceives The boar and chase approaching to his stand, Who hears the crashing of the beasts and branches;
And two behold!9 upon our left-hand side, Naked and scratched, fleeing so furiously, That of the forest every fan they broke.
He who was in advance: “Now help, Death, help!” And the other one, who seemed to lag too much, Was shouting: “Lano, were not so alert
Those legs of thine at joustings of the Toppo!“ And then, perchance because his breath was failing, He grouped himself together with a bush.
Behind them was the forest full of black She-mastiffs, ravenous, and swift of foot As greyhounds, who are issuing from the chain.
On him who had crouched down they set their teeth, And him they lacerated piece by piece, Thereafter bore away those aching members.10
Thereat my Escort took me by the hand, And led me to the bush, that all in vain Was weeping from its bloody lacerations.
“O Jacopo,” it said, “of Sant’ Andrea, What helped it thee of me to make a screen? What blame have I in thy nefarious life?”
When near him had the Master stayed his steps, He said: “Who wast thou, that through wounds so many Art blowing out with blood thy dolorous speech?”
And he to us: “O souls, that hither come To look upon the shameful massacre That has so rent away from me my leaves,
Gather them up beneath the dismal bush; I of that city was which to the Baptist Changed its first patron, wherefore he for this
Forever with his art will make it sad.
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