And do you see
the broken surfaces of those water-holes
on every hand, boiling as if in pain?
There are souls beneath that water. Fixed in slime
they speak their piece, end it, and start again: (120)
‘Sullen were we in the air made sweet by the Sun;
in the glory of his shining our hearts poured
a bitter smoke. Sullen were we begun;
sullen we lie forever in this ditch.’
This litany they gargle in their throats
as if they sang, but lacked the words and pitch.”
Then circling on along that filthy wallow,
we picked our way between the bank and fen,
keeping our eyes on those foul souls that swallow
the slime of Hell. And so at last we came
to foot of a Great Tower that has no name.
Notes
1. Papa Satán, Papa Satán, aleppy: Virgil, the an-knowing, may understand these words, but no one familiar with merely human languages has deciphered them. In Canto XXXI the monster Nimrod utters a similar meaningless jargon, and Virgil there cites it as evidence of the dimness of his mind. Gibberish is certainly a characteristic appropriate to monsters, and since Dante takes pains to make the reference to Satan apparent in the gibberish, it is obviously infernal and debased, and that is almost certainly all he intended.
The word “papa” as used here probably means “Pope” rather than “father.” “Il papa santo” is the Pope. “Papa Satán” would be his opposite number. In the original the last word is “aleppe.” On the assumption that jargon translates jargon I have twisted it a bit to rhyme with “me.”
2. Plutus: In Greek mythology, Plutus was the God of Wealth. Many commentators suggest that Dante confused him with Pluto, the son of Saturn and God of the Underworld. But in that case, Plutus would be identical with Lucifer himself and would require a central place in Hell, whereas the classical function of Plutus as God of Material Wealth makes him the ideal overseer of the miserly and the prodigal.
22. Charybdis: A famous whirlpool in the Straits of Sicily.
68. Dame Fortune: A central figure in medieval mythology. She is almost invariably represented as a female figure holding an ever-revolving wheel symbolic of Chance. Dante Incorporates her into his scheme of the Universe, ranking her among the angels, and giving her a special office in the service of the Catholic God. This is the first of many passages in the Commedia in which Dante sets forth the details of the Divine Ordering of the universe.
84. none may foresee where she will set her heel: A literal translation of the original would be “She is hidden like a snake in the grass.” To avoid the comic overtone of that figure in English. I have substituted another figure which I believe expresses Dante’s intent without destroying his tone.
87. the other gods: Dante can only mean here “the other angels and ministers of God.”
97. But the stars that marked our starting fall away: It is now past midnight of Good Friday.
101. a black spring: All the waters of Hell derive from one source (see Canto XIV, lines 12 following). This black spring must therefore be the waters of Acheron boiling out of some subterranean passage.
THE FIFTH CIRCLE (THE WRATHFUL AND THE SULLEN)
Dante’s symbolism here is self-evident, but his reaction to these sinners is different from any we have observed thus far. Up to now he has either been appalled, or overcome by pity. In his ironic description of the Sullen he ridicules the damned for the first time. And in the next Canto he is to take pleasure (if only a passing pleasure) in increasing the sufferings of Filippo Argenti.
Dante will again be moved to pity as he descends the slopes of Hell. In fact, Virgil will find it necessary to scold him for pitying those whom God in His inifinite wisdom has damned. Gradually, however, Dante’s heart hardens against the damned as he descends lower and lower into Hell, and this development should be followed through the Inferno along with many other themes Dante carries and builds upon. There is no way of grasping the genius of Dante’s architectonic power without noting his careful development of such themes. Even beyond the brilliance of his details, Dante’s power is structural: everything relates to everything else.
107.
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