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 Lucìa,

And said, "Thy faithful one now stands in need
Of thee, and unto thee I recommend him."

Lucia, foe of all that cruel is,

66

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!

135

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,

I entered on the deep and savage way.

Thou Leader, and thou Lord, and Master thou."
Thus said I to him; and when he had moved,

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!"

5

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: 66

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.

45

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 Dank;

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. 66 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 sou

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 verrnilion light,
Which overmastered in me every sense,
And as a man whom sleep hath seized I fell.

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.