And I commend him to thee.' At her word
Sped Lucia, of all cruelty the foe,

And coming to the place, where I abode
Seated with Rachel, her of ancient days,

She thus address'd me: "Thou true praise of God!
Beatrice! why is not thy succour lent

To him, who so much loved thee, as to leave

For thy sake all the multitude admires?

Dost thou not hear how pitiful his wail,

Nor mark the death, which in the torrent flood,
Swoln mightier than a sea, him struggling holds?"
Ne'er among men did any with such speed
Haste to their profit, flee from their annoy,
As, when these words were spoken, I came here,
Down from my blessed seat, trusting the force
Of thy pure eloquence, which thee, and all
Who well have mark'd it, into honor brings.'
"When she had ended, her bright beaming eyes
Tearful she turn'd aside; whereat I felt
Redoubled zeal to serve thee. As she will'd,
Thus am I come: I saved thee from the beast,
Who thy near way across the goodly mount
Prevented. What is this comes o'er thee then?
Why, why dost thou hang back? why in thy breast
Harbour vile fear? why hast not courage there,
And noble daring; since three maids," so blest,
Thy safety plan, e'en in the court of Heaven;
And so much certain good my words forebode?"
As florets, by the frosty air of night

Bent down and closed, when day has blanch'd their leaves,
Rise all unfolded on their spiry stems;

So was my fainting vigor new restored,

And to my heart such kindly courage ran,
That I as one undaunted soon replied:

"O full of pity she, who undertook

My succour! and thou kind, who didst perform
So soon her true behest! With such desire
Thou hast disposed me to renew my voyage,

"Three maids." The Divine Mercy, Lucia and Beatrice.

That my first purpose fully is resumed.
Lead on one only will is in us both.
Thou art my guide, my master thou, and lord."
So spake I; and when he had onward moved,
I enter'd on the deep and woody way.

CANTO III

ARGUMENT. Dante, following Virgil, comes to the gate of Hell; where, after having read the dreadful words that are written thereon, they both enter. Here, as he understands from Virgil, those were punished who had passed their time (for living it could not be called) in a state of apathy and indifference both to good and evil. Then pursuing their way, they arrive at the river Acheron; and there find the old ferryman Charon, who takes the spirits over to the opposite shore; which, as soon as Dante reaches, he is seized with terror, and falls into a trance.

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"T

|HROUGH me you pass into the city of woe:

Through me you pass into eternal pain:
Through me among the people lost for aye.
Justice the founder of my fabric moved:
To rear me was the task of Power divine,
Supremest Wisdom, and primeval Love.1
Before me things create were none, save things
Eternal, and eternal I endure.

All hope abandon, ye who enter here."

Such characters, in color dim, I mark'd
Over a portal's lofty arch inscribed.

Whereat I thus: "Master, these words import
Hard meaning." He as one prepared replied:
"Here thou must all distrust behind thee leave;
Here be vile fear extinguish'd. We are come
Where I have told thee we shall see the souls
To misery doom'd, who intellectual good

Have lost." And when his hand he had stretch'd forth
To mine, with pleasant looks, whence I was cheer'd,
Into that secret place he led me on.

Here sighs, with lamentations and loud moans,

"Power," "Wisdom," "Love," the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity.

Resounded through the air pierced by no star,
That e'en I wept at entering. Various tongues,
Horrible languages, outcries of woe,

Accents of anger, voices deep and hoarse,

With hands together smote that swell'd the sounds,
Made up a tumult, that forever whirls

Round through that air with solid darkness stain'd,
Like to the sand that in the whirlwind flies.

2

I then, with error yet encompast, cried:
"O master! what is this I hear? what race
Are these, who seem so overcome with woe?"
He thus to me: "This miserable fate
Suffer the wretched souls of those, who lived
Without or praise or blame, with that ill band
Of angels mix'd, who nor rebellious proved,
Nor yet were true to God, but for themselves
Were only. From his bounds Heaven drove them forth
Not to impair his lustre; nor the depth

Of Hell receives them, lest the accursed tribe
Should glory thence with exultation vain."

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I then: Master! what doth aggrieve them thus,
That they lament so loud?" He straight replied:
"That will I tell thee briefly. These of death
No hope may entertain: and their blind life
So meanly passes, that all other lots

They envy. Fame of them the world hath none,
Nor suffers; Mercy and Justice scorn them both.
Speak not of them, but look, and pass them by."

And I, who straightway look'd, beheld a flag,
Which whirling ran around so rapidly,
That it no pause obtain'd: and following came
Such a long train of spirits, I should ne'er
Have thought that death so many had despoil'd.
When some of these I recognized, I saw
And knew the shade of him, who to base fear3

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The correct translation is "horror, not error."-Editor's note. 8 This is commonly understood of Celestine V, who abdicated the papal power in I 294. Venturi mentions a work written by Innocenzio Barcellini, of the Celestine

Yielding, abjured his high estate. Forthwith
I understood, for certain, this the tribe

Of those ill spirits both to God displeasing

And to His foes. These wretches, who ne'er lived,
Went on in nakedness, and sorely stung

By wasps and hornets, which bedew'd their cheeks
With blood, that, mix'd with tears, dropp'd to their feet,
And by disgustful worms was gather'd there.

Then looking further onwards, I beheld

A throng upon the shore of a great stream:
Whereat I thus: "Sir! grant me now to know
Whom here we view, and whence impell'd they seem
So eager to pass o'er, as I discern

Through the blear light?" He thus to me in few:

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This shalt thou know, soon as our steps arrive
Beside the woful tide of Acheron."

Then with eyes downward cast, and fill'd with shame,
Fearing my words offensive to his ear,

Till we had reach'd the river, I from speech
Abstain'd. And lo! toward us in a bark
Comes on an old man, hoary white with eld,

Crying, "Woe to you, wicked spirits! hope not
Ever to see the sky again. I come
To take you to the other shore across,
Into eternal darkness, there to dwell

In fierce heat and in ice. And thou, who there
Standest, live spirit! get thee hence, and leave
These who are dead." But soon as he beheld
I left them not, "By other way," said he,
"By other haven shalt thou come to shore,
Not by this passage; thee a nimbler boat
Must carry." Then to him thus spake my guide:
"Charon! thyself torment not: so 'tis will'd,
Where will and power are one: ask thou no more."
Straightway in silence fell the shaggy cheeks
Of him, the boatman o'er the livid lake,

the party of the Bianchi at Flor-
ence, had been the main occasion
of the miseries that befell them.
But the testimony of Fazio degli
Uberti, who lived so near the time

of our author, seems almost decisive on this point. He expressly speaks of the Pope Celestine as being in Hell.

Around whose eyes glared wheeling flames. Meanwhile
Those spirits, faint and naked, color changed,
And gnash'd their teeth, soon as the cruel words
They heard. God and their parents they blasphemed,
The human kind, the place, the time, and seed,
That did engender them and give them birth,
Then all together sorely wailing drew
To the curst strand, that every man must pass
Who fears not God. Charon, demoniac form,
With eyes of burning coal, collects them all,
Beckoning, and each, that lingers, with his oar
Strikes. As fall off the light autumnal leaves
One still another following, till the bough
Strews all its honours on the earth beneath;
E'en in like manner Adam's evil brood

Cast themselves, one by one, down from the shore,
Each at a beck, as falcon at his call.*

Thus go they over through the umber'd wave;
And ever they on the opposing bank

Be landed, on this side another throng

Still gathers. "Son," thus spake the courteous guide,
"Those who die subject to the wrath of God
All here together come from every clime

And to o'erpass the river are not loth:

For so Heaven's justice goads them on, that fear
Is turn'd into desire. Hence ne'er hath past
Good spirit. If of thee Charon complain,
Now mayst thou know the import of his words."

This said, the gloomy region trembling shook
So terribly, that yet with clammy dews
Fear chills my brow. The sad earth gave a blast,
That, lightening, shot forth a vermilion flame,
Which all my senses conquer'd quite, and I

Down dropp'd, as one with sudden slumber seized.

4"As a falcon at his call." This given: as a bird that is enticed to the cage by the call of another."

is Vellutello's explanation, and seems preferable to that commonly