I saw them gather. (60)

And there we left him. And I say no more.
But such a wailing beat upon my ears,
I strained my eyes ahead to the far shore.

“My son,” the Master said, “the City called Dis
lies just ahead, the heavy citizens,
the swarming crowds of Hell’s metropolis.”

And I then: “Master, I already see
the glow of its red mosques, as if they came
hot from the forge to smolder in this valley.”

And my all-knowing Guide: “They are eternal
flues to eternal fire that rages in them
and makes them glow across this lower Hell.”

And as he spoke we entered the vast moat
of the sepulchre. Its wall seemed made of iron
and towered above us in our little boat. (75)

We circled through what seemed an endless distance
before the boatman ran his prow ashore
crying: “Out! Out! Get out! This is the entrance.”

Above the gates more than a thousand shades
of spirits purged from Heaven for its glory
cried angrily: “Who is it that invades

Death’s Kingdom in his life?” My Lord and Guide
advanced a step before me with a sign
that he wished to speak to some of them aside.

They quieted somewhat, and one called, “Come,
but come alone. And tell that other one,
who thought to walk so blithely through death’s kingdom,

he may go back along the same fool’s way
he came by. Let him try his living luck.
You who are dead can come only to stay.” (90)

Reader, judge for yourself, how each black word
fell on my ears to sink into my heart:
I lost hope of returning to the world.

“O my beloved Master, my Guide in peril,
who time and time again have seen me safely
along this way, and turned the power of evil,

stand by me now,” I cried, ”in my heart’s fright.
And if the dead forbid our journey to them,
let us go back together toward the light.”

My Guide then, in the greatness of his spirit:
“Take heart. Nothing can take our passage from us
when such a power has given warrant for it.

Wait here and feed your soul while I am gone
on comfort and good hope; I will not leave you
to wander in this underworld alone.” (105)

So the sweet Guide and Father leaves me here,
and I stay on in doubt with yes and no
dividing all my heart to hope and fear.

I could not hear my Lord’s words, but the pack
that gathered round him suddenly broke away
howling and jostling and went pouring back,

slamming the towering gate hard in his face.
That great Soul stood alone outside the wall.
Then he came back; his pain showed in his pace.

His eyes were fixed upon the ground, his brow
had sagged from its assurance. He sighed aloud:
“Who has forbidden me the halls of sorrow?”

And to me he said: “You need not be cast down
by my vexation, for whatever plot
these fiends may lay against us, we will go on. (120)

This insolence of theirs is nothing new:
they showed it once at a less secret gate
that still stands open for all that they could do-

the same gate where you read the dead inscription;
and through it at this moment a Great One comes.
Already he has passed it and moves down

ledge by dark ledge. He is one who needs no guide,
and at his touch all gates must spring aside.”

Notes

1. Returning to my theme: There is evidence that Dante stopped writing for a longer or shorter period between the seventh and eighth Cantos. None of the evidence is conclusive but it is quite clear that the plan of the Inferno changes from here on. Up to this point the Circles have been described in one canto apiece. if this was Dante’s original plan. Hell would have been concluded in five more Cantos. since there are only Nine Circles in all. But in the law journey the Eighth Circle alone occupies thirteen Cantos. Dante’s phrase may be simply transitional, but it certainly marks a change in the plan of the poem.

19. Phlegyas: Mythological King of Bocotia. He was the son of Ares (Mars) by a human mother. Angry at Apollo, who had seduced his daughter (Aesculapius was born of this union), he set fire to Apollo’s temple at Delphi. For this offense, the God killed him and threw his soul into Hades under sentence of eternal torment. Dante’, choice of a ferryman is especially apt.