Part 2
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?”