The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri E-Book

Dante Alighieri

• Herausgeber: Phoemixx Classics Ebooks
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 563

Beschreibung

This first volume of Robert Durling's new translation of The Divine Comedy brings a new power and accuracy to the rendering of Dante's extraordinary vision of Hell, with all its terror, pathos, and humor. Remarkably true to both the letter and spirit of this central work of Western literature, Durling's is a prose translation (the first to appear in twenty-five years), and is thus free of the exigencies of meter and rhyme that hamper recent verse translations. As Durling notes, "the closely literal style is a conscious effort to convey in part the nature of Dante's Italian, notoriously craggy and difficult even for Italians." Rigorously accurate as to meaning, it is both clear and supple, while preserving to an unparalleled degree the order and emphases of Dante's complex syntax.The Durling-Martinez Inferno is also user-friendly. The Italian text, newly edited, is printed on each verso page; the English mirrors it in such a way that readers can easily find themselves in relation to the original terza rima. Designed with the first-time reader of Dante in mind, the volume includes comprehensive notes and textual commentary by Martinez and Durling: both are life-long students of Dante and other medieval writers (their Purgatorio and Paradiso will appear next year). Their introduction is a small masterpiece of its kind in presenting lucidly and concisely the historical and conceptual background of the poem. Sixteen short essays are provided that offer new inquiry into such topics as the autobiographical nature of the poem, Dante's views on homosexuality, and the recurrent, problematic body analogy (Hell has a structure parallel to that of the human body). The extensive notes, containing much new material, explain the historical, literary, and doctrinal references, present what is known about the damned souls Dante meets --from the lovers who spend eternity in the whirlwind of their passion, to Count Ugolino, who perpetually gnaws at his enemy's skull--disentangle the vexed party politics of Guelfs and Ghibellines, illuminate difficult and disputed passages, and shed light on some of Dante's unresolved conflicts.

Leseprobe

Dante Alighieri

The Divine Comedy

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INFERNO

Inferno: Canto I

Midway upon the journey of our life   I found myself 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 good 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 rays   Which leadeth others right by every road.

Then was the fear a little quieted   That in my heart's lake had endured throughout   The night, which I had passed so piteously.

And even as he, 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 pass   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 foot ever was the lower.

And lo! almost where the ascent began,   A panther 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 things;   So were to me occasion of good hope,   The variegated skin of that wild beast,

The hour of time, and the delicious season;   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'en such made me that beast withouten peace,   Which, coming on against me by degrees   Thrust me back thither where the sun is silent.

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," unto him I cried,   "Whiche'er thou art, or shade or real man!"

He answered me: "Not man; man once I was,   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, who came forth from Troy,   After that Ilion the superb was burned.

But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance?   Why climb'st thou not the Mount Delectable,   Which is the source and cause of every joy?"

"Now, art thou that Virgilius 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 honour 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 style that has done honour to me.

Behold the beast, for which I have turned back;   Do thou protect me from her, famous Sage,   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,   But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue;   'Twixt Feltro and Feltro 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;

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;

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;

To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend,   A soul shall be for that than I more worthy;   With her at my departure I will leave thee;

Because that Emperor, who reigns above,   In that I was rebellious 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,

Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said,   That I may see the portal of Saint Peter,   And those thou makest so disconsolate."

Then he moved on, and I behind him followed.

Inferno: Canto II

Day was departing, and the embrowned air   Released the animals that are on earth   From their fatigues; and I the only one

Made myself ready to sustain the war,   Both of the way and likewise of the woe,   Which memory that errs not shall retrace.

O Muses, O high genius, 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 pass thou dost confide me.

Thou sayest, that of Silvius the parent,   While yet corruptible, unto the world   Immortal went, and was there bodily.

But if the adversary of all evil   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 heaven 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.

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,   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 Aeneas am, I am not Paul,   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,   Which was so very prompt in the beginning.

"If I have well thy language understood,"   Replied that shade of the Magnanimous,   "Thy soul attainted is with cowardice,

Which many times a man encumbers so,   It turns him back from honoured enterprise,   As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy.

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,   And a fair, saintly Lady called to me   In such wise, I besought her to command me.

Her eyes where shining brighter than the Star;   And she began to say, gentle and low,   With voice angelical, in her own language:

'O spirit courteous of Mantua,   Of whom the fame still in the world endures,   And shall endure, long-lasting as the world;

A friend of mine, 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 succour,   From that which I have heard of him in Heaven.

Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate,   And with what needful is for his 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.'   Then paused she, and thereafter I began:

'O Lady of virtue, thou alone through whom   The human race exceedeth all contained   Within the heaven that has the lesser circles,

So grateful unto me is thy commandment,   To obey, if 'twere already done, were late;   No farther need'st thou ope to me thy wish.

But the cause tell me why thou dost not shun   The here descending down into this centre,   From the vast place 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,   Nor any flame assails me of this burning.

A gentle Lady 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 Lucia,   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.

"Beatrice" said she, "the true praise of God,   Why succourest thou not him, who loved thee so,   For thee he issued from the vulgar herd?

Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint?   Dost thou not see the death that combats him   Beside that flood, 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 honours 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,   Which barred the beautiful mountain's short ascent.

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 benedight   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:

"O she compassionate, who succoured 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.

Inferno: 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.

Justice incited my sublime Creator;   Created me divine Omnipotence,   The highest Wisdom and the primal Love.

Before me there were no created things,   Only eterne, and I eternal last.   All hope abandon, ye who enter in!"

These words in sombre colour I beheld   Written upon the summit of a gate;   Whence I: "Their sense is, Master, hard 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."

And after he had laid his hand on mine   With joyful mien, whence I was comforted,   He led me in among the secret things.

There sighs, complaints, and ululations loud   Resounded through the air without a star,   Whence I, at the beginning, wept thereat.

Languages diverse, horrible dialects,   Accents of anger, words of agony,   And voices high and hoarse, with sound of hands,

Made up a tumult that goes whirling on   For ever in that air for ever 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.

Commingled are they with that caitiff choir   Of Angels, who have not rebellious been,   Nor faithful were to God, but were for self.

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: "O Master, what so grievous is   To these, that maketh them lament so sore?"   He answered: "I will tell thee very briefly.

These have no longer 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;   Misericord and Justice both disdain them.   Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass."

And I, who looked again, beheld a banner,   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 recognised,   I looked, and I beheld the shade of him   Who made through cowardice the great refusal.

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 dusky 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."

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, hoary with the hair of eld,   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; and farther question not."

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 colour 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 drew back,   Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore,   Which waiteth every man who fears not God.

Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede,   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.

"My son," the courteous Master 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,   So that their fear is turned into desire.

This way there never passes 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.

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 hath seized I fell.

Inferno: 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 recognise 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 will be first, and thou shalt second be."

And I, who of his colour 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 circle that surrounds the abyss.

There, as it seemed to me from listening,   Were lamentations none, but only sighs,   That tremble 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, which thou beholdest, are?   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."

Great grief seized on my heart when this I heard,   Because some people of much worthiness   I knew, who in that Limbo were suspended.

"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,   With sign of victory incoronate.

Hence he drew forth the shade of the First Parent,   And that of his son Abel, and of Noah,   Of Moses the lawgiver, and the obedient

Abraham, patriarch, and David, king,   Israel 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."

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.

We were a little distant from it still,   But not so far that I in part discerned not   That honourable people held that place.

"O thou who honourest every art and science,   Who may these be, which such great honour have,   That from the fashion of the rest it parts them?"

And he to me: "The honourable name,   That sounds of them above there in thy life,   Wins grace in Heaven, that so advances them."

In the mean time a voice was heard by me:   "All honour be to the pre-eminent Poet;   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 falchion 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.

Because to each of these with me applies   The name that solitary voice proclaimed,   They do me honour, and in that do well."

Thus I beheld assemble the fair school   Of that lord of the song pre-eminent,   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 honour still, much more, they did me,   In that they made me one of their own band;   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;

This we passed over even as firm ground;   Through portals seven I entered with these Sages;   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 Electra with companions many,   'Mongst whom I knew both Hector and Aeneas,   Caesar in armour with gerfalcon eyes;

I saw Camilla and Penthesilea   On the other side, and saw the King Latinus,   Who with Lavinia his daughter sat;

I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin forth,   Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia,   And saw alone, apart, the Saladin.

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 honour.   There I beheld both Socrates and Plato,   Who nearer him before the others stand;

Democritus, who puts the world on chance,   Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales,   Zeno, Empedocles, and Heraclitus;

Of qualities I saw the good collector,   Hight Dioscorides; and Orpheus saw I,   Tully and Livy, and moral Seneca,

Euclid, geometrician, and Ptolemy,   Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicenna,   Averroes, who the great Comment made.

I cannot all of them pourtray 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.

Inferno: Canto V

Thus I descended out of the first circle   Down to the second, that less space begirds,   And so much greater dole, 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.

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.

"O 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."

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 't is combated.

The infernal hurricane that never rests   Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine;   Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them.

When they arrive before the precipice,   There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments,   There they blaspheme the puissance divine.

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;

It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them;   No hope doth comfort them for evermore,   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, 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;   Then Cleopatra the voluptuous."

Helen I saw, for whom so many ruthless   Seasons revolved; and saw the great Achilles,   Who at the last hour combated with Love.

Paris I saw, Tristan; 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,   Pity prevailed, and I was nigh bewildered.

And I began: "O Poet, willingly   Speak would I to those two, who go 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: "O 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.

"O living creature gracious and benignant,   Who visiting goest through the purple air   Us, who have stained the world incarnadine,

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,   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;   Caina waiteth him who quenched our life!"   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 desire,   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 recognise 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 enthral.   Alone we were and without any fear.

Full many a time our eyes together drew   That reading, and drove the colour 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 one, who ne'er from me shall be divided,

Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating.   Galeotto was the book and he who wrote it.   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.

Inferno: 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 circle 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;   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!    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.

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, 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.

"O thou that art conducted through this Hell,"   He said to me, "recall me, if thou canst;   Thyself wast made before I was unmade."

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;   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;   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;   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,   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;   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,   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 Plutus the great enemy.

Inferno: Canto VII

"Pape Satan, Pape Satan, Aleppe!"   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."

Even as the sails inflated by the wind   Involved together fall when snaps the mast,   So fell the cruel monster to the earth.

Thus we descended into the fourth chasm,   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,   That breaks itself on that which it encounters,   So here the folk must dance their roundelay.

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?"

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,   These shaven crowns upon the left of us."

And he to me: "All of them were asquint   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 recognise 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.

Forever shall they come to these two buttings;   These from the sepulchre shall rise again   With the fist closed, and these with tresses shorn.

Ill 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: "O creatures imbecile,   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 splendours   Ordained a general ministress and guide,

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, and loitering is forbidden."

We crossed the circle to the other bank,   Near to a fount 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,   This tristful brooklet, when it has descended   Down to the foot of the malign gray shores.

And I, who stood intent upon beholding,   Saw people mud-besprent 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;   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.

Inferno: Canto VIII

I say, continuing, 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,   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, 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.

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!"

Thereafter with his arms he clasped my neck;   He kissed my face, and said: "Disdainful soul,   Blessed be she 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.

And the good Master said: "Even now, my Son,   The city draweth near whose name is Dis,   With the grave citizens, with the great throng."

And I: "Its mosques 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 eternal   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, 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, if I was discomforted   At utterance of the accursed words;   For never to return here I believed.

"O my dear Guide, who more than seven times   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.

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 and 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,   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,   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."

Inferno: Canto IX

That hue which cowardice brought out on me,   Beholding my Conductor backward turn,   Sooner repressed within him his new colour.

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.

"Into this bottom of the doleful conch   Doth any e'er descend from the first grade,   Which for its pain has only hope cut off?"

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,   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;

That is the lowest region and the darkest,   And farthest from the heaven which circles all.   Well know I the way; therefore be reassured.

This fen, which a prodigious stench exhales,   Encompasses 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 Furies 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 lamentation knew,   Said unto me: "Behold the fierce Erinnys.

This is Megaera, 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.

"Medusa come, so we to stone will change him!"   All shouted looking down; "in evil hour   Avenged we not on Theseus his assault!"

"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!

And now there came across the turbid waves   The clangour 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.

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.

"O banished out of Heaven, people despised!"   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."

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 Arles, where stagnant grows the Rhone,   Even as at Pola near to the Quarnaro,   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,   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 right had turned, we passed

Between the torments and high parapets.

Inferno: Canto X

Now onward goes, along a narrow path   Between the torments and the city wall,   My Master, and I follow at his back.

"O 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 Jehoshaphat they shall return   Here with the bodies they have left above.

Their cemetery have upon this side   With Epicurus 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."

"O Tuscan, 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 molestful was."

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.

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."

"If they were banished, they returned on all sides,"   I answered him, "the first time and the second;   But yours have not acquired that art aright."

Then there uprose upon the sight, uncovered