It seems in reason's judgment well deserved:
Sith he of Rome and of Rome's empire wide,
In heaven's empyreal height was chosen sire:
Both which, if truth be spoken, were ordained
And 'stablished for the holy place, where sits
Who to great Peter's sacred chair succeeds.
He from this journey, in thy song renowned,
Learned things, that to his victory gave rise
And to the papal robe. In after-times
The chosen vessel also travelled there,
To bring us back assurance in that faith
Which is the entrance to salvation's way.
But I, why should I there presume? or who
Permits it? not Æneas I, nor Paul,
Myself I deem not worthy, and none else
Will deem me. I, if on this voyage then

I venture, fear it will in folly end.

Thou, who art wise, better my meaning know'st

Than I can speak.' As one, who unresolves

What he hath late resolved, and with new thoughts

40

Changes his purpose, from his first intent

Removed; e'en such was I on that dun coast,
Wasting in thought my enterprise, at first
So eagerly embraced. "If right thy words
I scan," replied that shade magnanimous,
"Thy soul is by vile fear assailed, which oft
So overcasts a man, that he recoils
From noblest resolution, like a beast

At some false semblance in the twilight gloom.
That from this terror thou mayst free thyself,

I will instruct thee why I came, and what
I heard in that same instant, when for thee
Grief touched me first. I was among the tribe,
Who rest suspended, when a dame, so blest
And lovely I besought her to command,
Called me; her eyes were brighter than the star
Of day; and she, with gentle voice and soft,
Angelically tuned, her speech addressed:

"O courteous shade of Mantua! thou whose fame
Yet lives, and shall live long as nature lasts!
A friend, not of my fortune but myself,

23. Empyreal height = the Empyrean, which surrounds the nine heavens and is the seat of the Godhead.

26. The Pope.

30. St. Paul. Acts ix. 15. "But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way; for he is a chosen vessel unto me."

"Se l'alma avete offesa da viltate."

45

50%

55

60

53. The spirits in Limbo, neither admitted to a state of glory nor doomed to punishment. 61. This translation is based upon a wrong interpretation of the original, —

"L'amico mio e non della ventura,"

46. "L'anima tua è da viltate offesa." So which is more accurately translated by Longin Berni, Orl. Inn. iii. i. 53.

fellow,

On the wide desert in his road has met

65

Speed now,

Hindrance so great, that he through fear has turned.
Now much I dread lest he past help have strayed,
And I be risen too late for his relief,
From what in heaven of him I heard.
And by thy eloquent persuasive tongue,
And by all means for his deliverance meet,
Assist him. So to me will comfort spring.
I, who bid thee on this errand forth,

70

Am Beatrice; from a place I come

Revisited with joy. Love brought me thence,

Who prompts my speech. When in my Master's sight

I stand, thy praise to him I oft will tell.'

"She then was silent, and I thus began:

75

'O Lady! by whose influence alone,

Mankind excels whatever is contained

Within that heaven which hath the smallest orb,

So thy command delights me, that to obey,

*If it were done already, would seem late.

80

No need hast thou further to speak thy will;

Yet tell the reason, why thou art not loth

To leave that ample space, where to return
Thou burnest, for this centre here beneath.'

"She then 'Since thou so deeply wouldst inquire,

I will instruct thee briefly, why no dread

Hinders my entrance here. Those things alone
Are to be feared, whence evil may proceed;
None else, for none are terrible beside.

I am so framed by God, thanks to his grace!
That any sufferance of your misery

Touches me not, nor flame of that fierce fire
Assails me. In high heaven a blessed dame
Resides, who mourns with such effectual grief
That hindrance, which I send thee to remove,
That God's stern judgment to her will inclines.
To Lucia calling, her she thus bespake:
"Now doth thy faithful servant need thy aid,
And I commend him to thee." At her word
Sped Lucia, of all cruelty the foe,
And coming to the place, where I abode

"A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune," meaning neither more nor less than "my unfortunate friend."

71. Beatrice Portinari, his early love for whom Dante describes in the New Life. Symbolically she represents Divine Wisdom, or Theology, or according to Scartazzini, Ecclesiastical Authority.

85

90

95

100

lunar heaven, which, being the lowest of all, has the smallest circle.

83. The Empyrean.

84. Earth is in the centre of the heavenly spheres; Hell extends to the centre of the earth. 93. The Virgin Mary; symbolically, Divine Mercy.

97. Lucia, the martyr of Syracuse, symbol

78. Every other thing comprised within the of Illuminating Grace.

Seated with Rachel, her of ancient days,

She thus addressed me: "Thou true praise of God!
Beatrice! why is not thy succor 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,

105

annoy,

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
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 marked it, into honor brings.'
"When she had ended, her bright beaming eyes
Tearful she turned aside; whereat I felt
Redoubled zeal to serve thee. As she willed,
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
Harbor vile fear? why hast not courage there,
And noble daring; since three maids, so blest,

ΠΟ

115

120

Thy safety plan, e'en in the court of heaven;

125

And so much certain good my words forebode?"
As florets, by the frosty air of night

Bent down and closed, when day has blanched their leaves,

Rise all unfolded on their spiry stems;

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 past 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.

"THROUGH 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.
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 marked
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 extinguished. We are come
Where I have told thee we shall see the souls
To misery doomed, who intellectual good

Have lost." And when his hand he had stretched forth

5

ΙΟ

15

To mine, with pleasant looks, whence I was cheered,
Into that secret place he led me on.

Here sighs, with lamentations and loud moans,

20

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 swelled the sounds,
Made up a tumult, that forever whirls

5. The three persons of the blessed Trinity. 7. The things created before Hell are the angels, the heavens (and the matter out of which the earth is formed); these are eternal. After Hell were created the earth, as to form, —men, animals, plants, etc., and these are not eternal.

9. "Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch' entrate." So Berni, Orl. Inn. i. 8. 53.

"Lascia pur della vita ogni speranza." 17. Intellectual good knowledge of God.

25

21. "Post hæc omnia ad loca tartarea, et ad os infernalis baratri deductus sum, qui simile videbatur puteo, loca vero eadem horridis tenebris, fætoribus exhalantibus, stridoribus quoque et nimiis plena erant ejulatibus, juxta quem infernum vermis erat infinitæ magnitudinis, ligatus maxima catena." Alberici Visio, § 9.

23. In the earlier circles of Hell Dante is moved to tears at the sufferings of the sinners. Later, however, pity gives way to indignation. and often bitter scorn.

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

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 mixed, 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

30

35

29.

Of Hell receives them, lest the accursed tribe

40

Should glory thence with exultation vain."

I then: "Master! what doth aggrieve them thus,

45

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 looked, beheld a flag,
Which whirling ran around so rapidly,
That it no pause obtained: and following came
Such a long train of spirits, I should ne'er
Have thought that death so many had despoiled.
When some of these I recognized, I saw
And knew the shade of him, who to base fear
Yielding, abjured his high estate. Forthwith
I understood, for certain, this the tribe
Of those ill spirits both to God displeasing

"Unnumbered as the sands

Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid soil,

Levied to side with warring winds, and

47.

50

55

"Cancelled from heaven and sacred memory,

Nameless in dark oblivion let them dwell.'

Milton, P. L. vi. 380. "Therefore eternal silence be their doom." Ibid. 385.

50. The flag represents those who in life were blown about by every wind of doctrine. Cf.

"All the grisly legions that troop Under the sooty flag of Acheron."

Milton, Comus. 56. Most commentators take this to be the hermit Pietro del Murrone, elected pope under the name of Celestine V, and induced by fraudulent means to abdicate, thus making way for his successor Boniface VIII. He was imprisoned by the latter and died in 1295.