Inferno, Canto - I

Midway in the journey of our life
I came to myself in a dark wood,

3

for the straight way was lost.
Ah, how hard it is to tell
the nature of that wood, savage, dense and harsh—

6

the very thought of it renews my fear!
It is so bitter death is hardly more so.
But to set forth the good I found

9

I will recount the other things I saw.
How I came there I cannot really tell,
I was so full of sleep

12

when I forsook the one true way.
But when I reached the foot of a hill,
there where the valley ended

15

that had pierced my heart with fear,
looking up, I saw its shoulders
arrayed in the first light of the planet

18

that leads men straight, no matter what their road.
Then the fear that had endured
in the lake of my heart, all the night

21

I spent in such distress, was calmed.
And as one who, with laboring breath,
has escaped from the deep to the shores

24

turns and looks back at the perilous waters,
so my mind, still in flight,
turned back to look once more upon the pass

27

no mortal being ever left alive.
After I rested my wearied flesh a while,
I took my way again along the desert slope,

30

my firm foot always lower than the other.
But now, near the beginning of the steep,
a leopard light and swift

33

and covered with a spotted pelt
refused to back away from me
but so impeded, barred the way,

36

that many times I turned to go back down.
It was the hour of morning,
when the sun mounts with those stars

39

that shone with it when God's own love
first set in motion those fair things,
so that, despite that beast with gaudy fur,

42

I still could hope for good, encouraged
by the hour of the day and the sweet season,
only to be struck by fear

45

when I beheld a lion in my way.
He seemed about to pounce
his head held high and furious with hunger—

48

so that the air appeared to tremble at him.
And then a she-wolf who, all hide and bones,
seemed charged with all the appetites—

51

that have made many live in wretchedness
so weighed my spirits down with terror,
which welled up at the sight of her,

54

that I lost hope of making the ascent.
And like one who rejoices in his gains
but when the time comes and he loses,

57

turns all his thought to sadness and lament,
such did the restless beast make me—
coming against me, step by step,

60

it drove me down to where the sun is silent.
While I was fleeing to a lower place,
before my eyes a figure showed,

63

faint, in the wide silence.
When I saw him in that vast desert,
'Have mercy on me, whatever you are,'

66

I cried, 'whether shade or living man!'
He answered: 'Not a man, though once I was.
My parents were from Lombardy—

69

Mantua was their homeland.
'I was born sub Julio, though late in his time,
and lived at Rome, under good Augustus

72

in an age of false and lying gods.
'I was a poet and I sang
the just son of Anchises come from Troy

75

after proud Ilium was put to flame.
'But you, why are you turning back to misery?
Why do you not climb the peak that gives delight,

78

origin and cause of every joy?'
'Are you then Virgil, the fountainhead
that pours so full a stream of speech?'

81

I answered him, my head bent low in shame.
'O glory and light of all other poets,
let my long study and great love avail

84

that made me delve so deep into your volume.
'You are my teacher and my author.
You are the one from whom alone I took

87

the noble style that has brought me honor.
'See the beast that forced me to turn back.
Save me from her, famous sage—

90

she makes my veins and pulses tremble.'
'It is another path that you must follow,'
he answered, when he saw me weeping,

93

'if you would flee this wild and savage place.
'For the beast that moves you to cry out
lets no man pass her way,

96

but so besets him that she slays him.
'Her nature is so vicious and malign
her greedy appetite is never sated—

99

after she feeds she is hungrier than ever.
'Many are the creatures that she mates with,
and there will yet be more, until the hound

102

shall come who'll make her die in pain.
'He shall not feed on lands or lucre
but on wisdom, love, and power.

105

Between felt and felt shall be his birth.
'He shall be the salvation of low-lying Italy,
for which maiden Camilla, Euryalus,

108

Turnus, and Nisus died of their wounds.
'He shall hunt the beast through every town
till he has sent her back to Hell

111

whence primal envy set her loose.
'Therefore, for your sake, I think it wise
you follow me: I will be your guide,

114

leading you, from here, through an eternal place
'where you shall hear despairing cries
and see those ancient souls in pain

117

as they bewail their second death.
'Then you will see the ones who are content
to burn because they hope to come,

120

whenever it may be, among the blessed.
'Should you desire to ascend to these,
you'll find a soul more fit to lead than I:

123

I'll leave you in her care when I depart.
'For the Emperor who has his seat on high
wills not, because I was a rebel to His law,

126

that I should make my way into His city.
'In every part He reigns and there He rules.
There is His city and His lofty seat.

129

Happy the one whom He elects to be there!'
And I answered: 'Poet, I entreat you
by the God you did not know,

132

so that I may escape this harm and worse,
'lead me to the realms you've just described
that I may see Saint Peter's gate

135

and those you tell me are so sorrowful.'
Then he set out and I came on behind him.

Comedy

Inferno, Canto - II

Day was departing and the darkened air
released the creatures of the earth

3

from their labor, and I, alone,
prepared to face the struggle—
of the way and of the pity of it—

6

which memory, unerring, shall retrace.
O Muses, O lofty genius, aid me now!
O memory, that set down what I saw,

9

here shall your worth be shown.
I began: 'Poet, you who guide me,
consider if my powers will suffice

12

before you trust me to this arduous passage.
'You tell of the father of Sylvius
that he, still subject to corruption, went

15

to the eternal world while in the flesh.
'But that the adversary of all evil showed
such favor to him, considering who and what he was,

18

and the high sequel that would spring from him,
'seems not unfitting to a man who understands.
For in the Empyrean he was chosen

21

to father holy Rome and her dominion,
'both of these established—if we would speak
the truth—to be the sacred precinct where

24

successors of great Peter have their throne.
'On this journey, for which you grant him glory,
he heard the words that prompted him

27

to victory and prepared the Papal mantle.
'Later, the Chosen Vessel went there
to bring back confirmation of our faith,

30

the first step in our journey to salvation.
'But why should I go there? who allows it?
I am not Aeneas, nor am I Paul.

33

Neither I nor any think me fit for this.
'And so, if I commit myself to come,
I fear it may be madness. You are wise,

36

you understand what I cannot express.'
And as one who unwills what he has willed,
changing his intent on second thought

39

so that he quite gives over what he has begun,
such a man was I on that dark slope.
With too much thinking I had undone

42

the enterprise so quick in its inception.
'If I have rightly understood your words,'
replied the shade of that great soul,

45

'your spirit is assailed by cowardice,
'which many a time so weighs upon a man
it turns him back from noble enterprise,

48

the way a beast shies from a shadow.
'To free you from this fear
I'll tell you why I came and what I heard

51

when first I felt compassion for you.
'I was among the ones who are suspended
when a lady called me, so blessèd and so fair

54

that I implored her to command me.
'Her eyes shone brighter than the stars.
Gentle and clear, the words she spoke to me—

57

an angel's voice was in her speech:
' "O courteous Mantuan spirit,
whose fame continues in the world

60

and shall continue while the world endures,
' "my friend, who is no friend of Fortune,
is so hindered on his way upon the desert slope

63

that, in his terror, he has turned back,
' "and, from what I hear of him in Heaven,
I fear he has gone so far astray

66

that I arose too late to help him.
' "Set out, and with your polished words
and whatever else is needed for his safety,

69

go to his aid, that I may be consoled.
' "I who bid you go am Beatrice.
I come from where I most desire to return.

72

The love that moved me makes me speak.
' "And when I am before my Lord
often will I offer praise of you to Him."

75

Then she fell silent. And I began:
' "O lady of such virtue that by it alone
the human race surpasses all that lies

78

within the smallest compass of the heavens,
' "so pleased am I at your command that my consent,
were it already given, would be given late.

81

You have but to make your desire known.
' "But tell me why you do not hesitate
to descend into the center of the earth

84

from the unbounded space you long for."
' "Since you are so eager to know more,"
she answered, "I shall be brief in telling you

87

why I am not afraid to enter here.
' "We should fear those things alone
that have the power to harm.

90

Nothing else is frightening.
' "I am made such by God's grace
that your affliction does not touch,

93

nor can these fires assail me.
' "There is a gracious lady in Heaven so moved
by pity at his peril, she breaks stern judgment

96

there above and bids me send you to him.
' "She summoned Lucy and made this request:
«Your faithful one is now in need of you

99

and I commend him to your care.»
' "Lucy, the enemy of every cruelty,
arose and came to where I sat

102

at venerable Rachel's side,
' "and said: «Beatrice, true praise of God,
why do you not help the one who loved you so

105

that for your sake he left the vulgar herd?
' "«Do you not hear the anguish in his tears?
Do you not see the death besetting him

108

on the swollen river where the sea cannot prevail?»
' "Never were men on earth so swift to seek
their good or to escape their harm as I,

111

after these words were spoken,
' "to descend here from my blessèd seat,
trusting to the noble speech that honors you

114

and those who have paid it heed."
'After she had said these things to me,
she turned away her eyes, now bright with tears,

117

making me more eager to set out.
'And so I came to you just as she wished.
I saved you from the beast denying you

120

the short way to the mountain of delight.
'What then? Why, why do you delay?
Why do you let such cowardice rule your heart?

123

Why are you not more spirited and sure,
'when three such blessèd ladies
care for you in Heaven's court

126

and my words promise so much good?'
As little flowers, bent and closed
with chill of night, when the sun

129

lights them, stand all open on their stems,
such, in my failing strength, did I become.
And so much courage poured into my heart

132

that I began, as one made resolute:
'O how compassionate was she to help me,
how courteous were you, so ready to obey

135

the truthful words she spoke to you!
'Your words have made my heart
so eager for the journey

138

that I've returned to my first intent.
'Set out then, for one will prompts us both.
You are my leader, you my lord and master,'

141

I said to him, and when he moved ahead
I entered on the deep and savage way.

Comedy

Inferno, Canto - III

THROUGH ME THE WAY TO THE CITY OF WOE,
THROUGH ME THE WAY INTO ETERNAL PAIN,

3

THROUGH ME THE WAY AMONG THE LOST.
JUSTICE MOVED MY MAKER ON HIGH.
DIVINE POWER MADE ME,

6

WISDOM SUPREME, AND PRIMAL LOVE.
BEFORE ME NOTHING WAS BUT THINGS ETERNAL,
AND I ENDURE ETERNALLY.

9

ABANDON ALL HOPE, YOU WHO ENTER HERE.
These words, dark in hue, I saw inscribed
over an archway. And then I said:

12

'Master, for me their meaning is hard.'
And he, as one who understood:
'Here you must banish all distrust,

15

here must all cowardice be slain.
'We have come to where I said
you would see the miserable sinners

18

who have lost the good of the intellect.'
And after he had put his hand on mine
with a reassuring look that gave me comfort,

21

he led me toward things unknown to man.
Now sighs, loud wailing, lamentation
resounded through the starless air,

24

so that I too began to weep.
Unfamiliar tongues, horrendous accents,
words of suffering, cries of rage, voices

27

loud and faint, the sound of slapping hands—
all these made a tumult, always whirling
in that black and timeless air,

30

as sand is swirled in a whirlwind.
And I, my head encircled by error, said:
'Master, what is this I hear, and what people

33

are these so overcome by pain?'
And he to me: 'This miserable state is borne
by the wretched souls of those who lived

36

without disgrace yet without praise.
'They intermingle with that wicked band
of angels, not rebellious and not faithful

39

to God, who held themselves apart.
'Loath to impair its beauty, Heaven casts them out,
and depth of Hell does not receive them

42

lest on their account the evil angels gloat.'
And I: 'Master, what is so grievous to them,
that they lament so bitterly?'

45

He replied: 'I can tell you in few words.
'They have no hope of death,
and their blind life is so abject

48

that they are envious of every other lot.
'The world does not permit report of them.
Mercy and justice hold them in contempt.

51

Let us not speak of them—look and pass by.'
And I, all eyes, made out a whirling banner
that ran so fast it seemed as though

54

it never could find rest.
Behind it came so long a file of people
that I could not believe

57

death had undone so many.
After I recognized a few of these,
I saw and knew the shade of him

60

who, through cowardice, made the great refusal.
At once with certainty I understood
this was that worthless crew

63

hateful alike to God and to His foes.
These wretches, who never were alive,
were naked and beset

66

by stinging flies and wasps
that made their faces stream with blood,
which, mingled with their tears,

69

was gathered at their feet by loathsome worms.
And then, fixing my gaze farther on,
I saw souls standing on the shore of a wide river,

72

and so I said: 'Master, permit me first
'to know who they are and then what inner law
makes them so eager for the crossing,

75

or so it seems in this dim light.'
And he to me: 'You shall know these things,
but not before we stay our steps

78

on the mournful shore of Acheron.'
Then, my eyes cast down with shame,
fearing my words displeased him,

81

I did not speak until we reached that stream.
And now, coming toward us in a boat,
an old man, his hair white with age, cried out:

84

'Woe unto you, you wicked souls,
'give up all hope of ever seeing heaven.
I come to take you to the other shore,

87

into eternal darkness, into heat and chill.
'And you there, you living soul,
move aside from these now dead.'

90

But when he saw I did not move,
he said: 'By another way, another port,
not here, you'll come to shore and cross.

93

A lighter ship must carry you.'
And my leader: 'Charon, do not torment yourself.
It is so willed where will and power are one,

96

and ask no more.'
That stilled the shaggy jowls
of the pilot of the livid marsh,

99

about whose eyes burned wheels of flame.
But those souls, naked and desolate,
lost their color. With chattering teeth

102

they heard his brutal words.
They blasphemed God, their parents,
the human race, the place, the time, the seed

105

of their begetting and their birth.
Then, weeping bitterly, they drew together
to the accursèd shore that waits

108

for every man who fears not God.
Charon the demon, with eyes of glowing coals,
beckons to them, herds them all aboard,

111

striking anyone who slackens with his oar.
Just as in autumn the leaves fall away,
one, and then another, until the bough

114

sees all its spoil upon the ground,
so the wicked seed of Adam fling themselves
one by one from shore, at his signal,

117

as does a falcon at its summons.
Thus they depart over dark water,
and before they have landed on the other side

120

another crowd has gathered on this shore.
'My son,' said the courteous master,
'all those who die in the wrath of God

123

assemble here from every land.
'And they are eager to cross the river,
for the justice of God so spurs them on

126

their very fear is turned to longing.
'No good soul ever crosses at this place.
Thus, if Charon complains on your account,

129

now you can grasp the meaning of his words.'
When he had ended, the gloomy plain shook
with such force, the memory of my terror

132

makes me again break out in sweat.
From the weeping ground there sprang a wind,
flaming with vermilion light,

135

which overmastered all my senses,
and I dropped like a man pulled down by sleep.

Comedy

Inferno, Canto - IV

A heavy thunderclap broke my deep sleep
so that I started up like one

3

shaken awake by force.
With rested eyes, I stood
and looked about me, then fixed my gaze

6

to make out where I was.
I found myself upon the brink
of an abyss of suffering

9

filled with the roar of endless woe.
It was full of vapor, dark and deep.
Straining my eyes toward the bottom,

12

I could see nothing.
'Now let us descend into the blind world
down there,' began the poet, gone pale.

15

'I will be first and you come after.'
And I, noting his pallor, said:
'How shall I come if you're afraid,

18

you, who give me comfort when I falter?'
And he to me: 'The anguish of the souls
below us paints my face

21

with pity you mistake for fear.
'Let us go, for the long road calls us.'
Thus he went first and had me enter

24

the first circle girding the abyss.
Here, as far as I could tell by listening,
was no lamentation other than the sighs

27

that kept the air forever trembling.
These came from grief without torment
borne by vast crowds

30

of men, and women, and little children.
My master began: 'You do not ask about
the souls you see? I want you to know,

33

before you venture farther,
'they did not sin. Though they have merit,
that is not enough, for they were unbaptised,

36

denied the gateway to the faith that you profess.
'And if they lived before the Christians lived,
they did not worship God aright.

39

And among these I am one.
'For such defects, and for no other fault,
we are lost, and afflicted but in this,

42

that without hope we live in longing.'
When I understood, great sadness seized my heart,
for then I knew that beings of great worth

45

were here suspended in this Limbo.
'Tell me, master, tell me, sir,' I began,
seeking assurance in the faith

48

that conquers every doubt,
'did ever anyone, either by his own
or by another's merit, go forth from here

51

and rise to blessedness?'
And he, who understood my covert speech:
'I was new to this condition when I saw

54

a mighty one descend, crowned, with the sign of victory.
'Out of our midst he plucked the shade
of our first parent, of Abel his son, of Noah,

57

and of Moses, obedient in giving laws,
'the patriarch Abraham, and King David,
Israel with his father and his sons,

60

and with Rachel, for whom he served so long,
'as well as many others, and he made them blessed.
And, I would have you know, before these

63

no human souls were saved.'
We did not halt our movement as he spoke,
but all the while were passing through a wood—

66

I mean a wood of thronging spirits.
We had not yet gone far from where I'd slept
when I beheld a blaze of light

69

that overcame a hemisphere of darkness,
though still a good way from it,
yet not so far but I discerned

72

an honorable company was gathered there.
'O you who honor art and knowledge,
why are these so honored they are set

75

apart from the condition of the rest?'
And he answered: 'Their honorable fame,
which echoes in your life above,

78

gains favor in Heaven, which thus advances them.'
Just then I heard a voice that said:
'Honor the loftiest of poets!

81

His shade returns that had gone forth.'
When the voice had paused and there was silence,
I saw four worthy shades approach,

84

their countenances neither sad nor joyful.
The good master spoke: 'Take note
of him who holds that sword in hand

87

and comes as lord before the three:
'He is Homer, sovereign poet.
Next comes Horace the satirist,

90

Ovid is third, the last is Lucan.
'Since each is joined to me
in the name the one voice uttered,

93

they do me honor and, doing so, do well.'
There I saw assembled the fair school
of the lord of loftiest song,

96

soaring like an eagle far above the rest.
After they conversed a while,
they turned to me with signs of greeting,

99

and my master smiled at this.
And then they showed me greater honor still,
for they made me one of their company,

102

so that I became the sixth amidst such wisdom.
Thus we went onward to the light,
speaking of things that here are best unsaid,

105

just as there it was fitting to express them.
We came to the foot of a noble castle,
encircled seven times by towering walls,

108

defended round about by a fair stream.
Over this stream we moved as on dry land.
Through seven gates I entered with these sages

111

until we came to a fresh, green meadow.
People were there with grave, slow-moving eyes
and visages of great authority.

114

They seldom spoke, and then in gentle tones.
When we withdrew over to one side
into an open space, high in the light,

117

we could observe them all.
There before me on the enameled green
the great spirits were revealed.

120

In my heart I exult at what I saw.
I saw Electra with many of her line,
of whom I recognized Hector, Aeneas,

123

and Caesar, in arms, with his falcon eyes.
I saw Camilla and Penthesilea.
Seated apart I saw King Latinus,

126

and next to him Lavinia, his daughter.
I saw that Brutus who drove out Tarquinius,
Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia.

129

And Saladin I saw, alone, apart.
When I raised my eyes a little higher,
I saw the master of those who know,

132

sitting among his philosophic kindred.
Eyes trained on him, all show him honor.
In front of all the rest and nearest him

135

I saw Socrates and Plato.
I saw Democritus, who ascribes the world
to chance, Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales,

138

Empedocles, Heraclitus, and Zeno.
I saw the skilled collector of the qualities
of things—I mean Dioscorides—and I saw

141

Orpheus, Cicero, Linus, and moral Seneca,
Euclid the geometer, and Ptolemy,
Hippocrates, Avicenna, Galen,

144

and Averroes, who wrote the weighty glosses.
I cannot give account of all of them,
for the length of my theme so drives me on

147

that often the telling comes short of the fact.
The company of six falls off to two
and my wise leader brings me by another way

150

out of the still, into the trembling, air.
And I come to a place where nothing shines.

Comedy

Inferno, Canto - V

Thus I descended from the first circle
down into the second, which girds a smaller space

3

but greater agony to goad lament.
There stands Minos, snarling, terrible.
He examines each offender at the entrance,

6

judges and dispatches as he encoils himself.
I mean that when the ill-begotten soul
stands there before him it confesses all,

9

and that accomplished judge of sins
decides what place in Hell is fit for it,
then coils his tail around himself to count

12

how many circles down the soul must go.
Always before him stands a crowd of them,
going to judgment each in turn.

15

They tell, they hear, and then are hurled down.
'O you who come to this abode of pain,'
said Minos when he saw me, pausing

18

in the exercise of his high office,
'beware how you come in and whom you trust.
Don't let the easy entrance fool you.'

21

And my leader to him: 'Why all this shouting?
'Hinder not his destined journey.
It is so willed where will and power are one,

24

and ask no more.'
Now I can hear the screams
of agony. Now I have come

27

where a great wailing beats upon me.
I reached a place mute of all light,
which bellows as the sea in tempest

30

tossed by conflicting winds.
The hellish squall, which never rests,
sweeps spirits in its headlong rush,

33

tormenting, whirls and strikes them.
Caught in that path of violence,
they shriek, weep, and lament.

36

Then how they curse the power of God!
I understood that to such torment
the carnal sinners are condemned,

39

they who make reason subject to desire.
As, in cold weather, the wings of starlings
bear them up in wide, dense flocks,

42

so does that blast propel the wicked spirits.
Here and there, down and up, it drives them.
Never are they comforted by hope

45

of rest or even lesser punishment.
Just as cranes chant their mournful songs,
making a long line in the air,

48

thus I saw approach, heaving plaintive sighs,
shades lifted on that turbulence,
so that I said: 'Master, who are these

51

whom the black air lashes?'
'The first of them about whom
you would hear,' he then replied,

54

'was empress over many tongues.
'She was so given to the vice of lechery
she made lust licit in her law

57

to take away the blame she had incurred.
'She is Semiramis, of whom we read
that she, once Ninus' wife, succeeded him.

60

She held sway in the land the Sultan rules.
'Here is she who broke faith with the ashes
of Sichaeus and slew herself for love.

63

The next is wanton Cleopatra.
'See Helen, for whose sake so many years
of ill rolled past. And see the great Achilles,

66

who battled, at the last, with love.
'See Paris, Tristan,' and he showed me more
than a thousand shades, naming as he pointed,

69

whom love had parted from our life.
When I heard my teacher name the ladies
and the knights of old, pity overcame me

72

and I almost lost my senses.
I began: 'Poet, gladly would I speak
with these two that move together

75

and seem to be so light upon the wind.'
And he: 'Once they are nearer, you will see:
if you entreat them by the love

78

that leads them, they will come.'
As soon as the wind had bent them to us,
I raised my voice: 'O wearied souls,

81

if it is not forbidden, come speak with us.'
As doves, summoned by desire, their wings
outstretched and motionless, move on the air,

84

borne by their will to the sweet nest,
so did these leave the troop where Dido is,
coming to us through the malignant air,

87

such force had my affectionate call.
'O living creature, gracious and kind,
that come through somber air to visit us

90

who stained the world with blood,
'if the King of the universe were our friend
we would pray that He might give you peace,

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since you show pity for our grievous plight.
'We long to hear and speak of that
which you desire to speak and know,

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here, while the wind has calmed.
'On that shore where the river Po
with all its tributaries slows

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to peaceful flow, there I was born.
'Love, quick to kindle in the gentle heart,
seized this man with the fair form taken from me.

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The way of it afflicts me still.
'Love, which absolves no one beloved from loving,
seized me so strongly with his charm that,

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as you see, it has not left me yet.
'Love brought us to one death.
Caïna waits for him who quenched our lives.'

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These words were borne from them to us.
And when I heard those two afflicted souls
I bowed my head and held it low until at last

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the poet said: 'What are your thoughts?'
In answer I replied: 'Oh,
how many sweet thoughts, what great desire,

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have brought them to this woeful pass!'
Then I turned to them again to speak
and I began: 'Francesca, your torments

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make me weep for grief and pity,
'but tell me, in that season of sweet sighs,
how and by what signs did Love

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acquaint you with your hesitant desires?'
And she to me: 'There is no greater sorrow
than to recall our time of joy

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in wretchedness—and this your teacher knows.
'But if you feel such longing
to know the first root of our love,

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I shall tell as one who weeps in telling.
'One day, to pass the time in pleasure,
we read of Lancelot, how love enthralled him.

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We were alone, without the least misgiving.
'More than once that reading made our eyes meet
and drained the color from our faces.

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Still, it was a single instant overcame us:
'When we read how the longed-for smile
was kissed by so renowned a lover, this man,

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who never shall be parted from me,
'all trembling, kissed me on my mouth.
That book was a pander and he who wrote it.

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That day we read in it no further.'
While the one spirit said this
the other wept, so that for pity

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I swooned as if in death.
And down I fell as a dead body falls.