The Inferno (The Divine Comedy series Book 1)

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The Inferno (The Divine Comedy series Book 1) Page 9

by Dante


  so all around me in this landscape

  117

  the many tombs held even greater sorrow.

  For here the graves were strewn with flames

  that made them glow with heat

  120

  hotter than iron is before it’s worked.

  All their covers were propped open and from them

  issued such dire lamentation it was clear

  123

  it came from wretches in despair and pain.

  And I: ‘Master, who are these souls

  entombed within these chests and who make known

  126

  their plight with sighs of sorrow?’

  And he: ‘Here, with all their followers, →

  are the arch-heretics of every sect.

  129

  The tombs are far more laden than you think.

  ‘Like is buried here with like,

  though their graves burn with unlike heat.’

  Then, once he had turned to his right, →

  133

  we passed between the torments and the lofty ramparts.

  OUTLINE: INFERNO X

  1–3

  Dante & Virgil among the sepulchres

  4–9

  Dante curious about their uncovered inhabitants

  10–12

  Virgil: the tombs will be closed after Judgment Day

  13–18

  Virgil: here you will see the Epicureans, and Farinata

  19–21

  Dante was silent about this wish only to please Virgil

  22–51

  Dante’s first exchange with Farinata:

  22–27

  Farinata’s recognition of a fellow Tuscan

  28–33

  Dante’s fear and Virgil’s rebuke

  34–39

  Farinata’s scornful air and Virgil’s encouragement

  40–42

  Farinata: from whom are you descended?

  43–48

  Dante’s answer and Farinata’s rejoinder

  49–51

  Dante’s similar thrust

  52–72

  interruption: Dante’s exchange with Cavalcante:

  52–60

  Cavalcante’s abject appearance: where is his son?

  61–63

  Dante comes not by his own powers; he is led

  64–66

  he knows Cavalcante from his words and situation

  67–72

  the father assumes his son is dead and falls back

  73–93

  Dante’s second exchange with Farinata:

  73–81

  Farinata now turns Dante’s thrust back on him

  82–84

  why are the Florentines merciless to his family?

  85–87

  Dante: they do not forget the battle of Montaperti

  88–93

  Farinata’s plea: it was he who preserved the city

  94–99

  Dante: what do the damned know of future and present?

  100–108

  Farinata explains their condition in these respects

  109–114

  Dante’s apology to Cavalcante addressed to Farinata

  115–120

  Frederick II and Ottaviano degli Ubaldini punished here

  121–132

  Virgil reassures Dante about his future

  133–136

  coda: resumption of leftward direction in descent

  INFERNO X

  Now my master takes a hidden path →

  between the city’s ramparts and the torments,

  3

  and I come close behind him.

  ‘O lofty virtue,’ I began, ‘who lead me

  as you will around these impious circles, →

  6

  speak to me and satisfy my wishes.

  ‘The souls that lie within the sepulchres,

  may they be seen? For all the lids are raised →

  9

  and there is no one standing guard.’

  And he to me: ‘All will be shut and sealed

  when the souls return from Jehosaphat →

  12

  with the bodies they have left above.

  ‘Here Epicurus and all his followers,

  who hold the soul dies with the body, →

  15

  have their burial place.

  ‘But soon your need to have an answer

  will be satisfied right here,

  18

  as will the wish you hide from me.’ →

  And I: ‘Good leader, from you I do not keep

  my heart concealed except to speak few words—

  21

  as you’ve from time to time advised.’

  ‘O Tuscan, passing through the city of fire, →

  alive, and with such courtesy of speech,

  24

  if it would please you, stay your steps awhile.

  ‘Your way of speaking makes it clear →

  that you are native to that noble city

  27

  to which I was perhaps too cruel.’ →

  This voice came suddenly

  from one sarcophagus, so that, startled,

  30

  I drew closer to my leader.

  And he to me: ‘Turn back! What are you doing?

  Look, there Farinata stands erect— →

  33

  you can see all of him from the waist up.’ →

  Already I had fixed my gaze on his.

  And he was rising, lifting chest and brow →

  36

  as though he held all Hell in utter scorn.

  At which my leader: ‘Choose your words with care,’

  and his hands, ready, encouraging,

  39

  thrust me toward him among the tombs.

  When I stood at the foot of his tomb

  he looked at me a moment. Then he asked,

  42

  almost in disdain: ‘Who were your ancestors?’ →

  And I, eager, held nothing back,

  but told him who they were,

  45

  at which he barely raised his eyebrows →

  and said: ‘They were most bitter enemies →

  to me, my forebears, and my party—

  48

  not once, but twice, I had to drive them out.’

  ‘If they were banished,’ I responded, ‘they returned →

  from every quarter both the first time and the second,

  51

  a skill that Yours have failed to learn as well.’

  Then, beside him, in the open tomb, up came →

  a shade, visible to the chin: I think

  54

  he had raised himself upon his knees.

  He looked around me as though he wished to see

  if someone else were with me,

  57

  and when his hesitant hopes were crushed,

  weeping, he said: ‘If you pass through this dark →

  prison by virtue of your lofty genius, →

  60

  where is my son and why is he not with you?’ →

  And I to him: ‘I come not on my own: →

  he who stands there waiting leads me through, →

  63

  perhaps to one Your Guido held in scorn.’

  His words and the manner of his punishment

  already had revealed his name to me,

  66

  and thus was my reply so to the point.

  Suddenly erect, he cried: ‘What? →

  Did you say “he held”? Lives he not still?

  69

  Does not the sweet light fall upon his eyes?’

  When he perceived that I made some delay →

  before I answered, he fell backward

  72

  and showed himself no more.

  But the other, that great soul at whose wish →

  I had stopped, did not change countenance,

  75


  nor bend his neck, nor move his chest.

  And he, continuing from where he’d paused: →

  ‘That they have badly learned this skill

  78

  torments me more than does this bed.

  ‘But the face of the lady reigning here →

  will be rekindled not fifty times before you too

  81

  shall know how difficult a skill that is to learn.

  ‘And, so may you return to the sweet world, →

  tell me, why are your people,

  84

  in every edict, so pitiless against my kin?’

  Then I to him: ‘The havoc and great slaughter →

  that dyed the Arbia red caused them to raise

  87

  such prayers in our temple.’

  He sighed and shook his head, then spoke:

  ‘I was not alone, nor surely without cause →

  90

  would I have acted with the rest.

  ‘But it was I alone, when all agreed

  to make an end of Florence, I alone

  93

  who dared speak out in her defense.’

  ‘So may Your seed sometime find peace, →

  pray untie for me this knot,’ I begged him,

  96

  ‘which has entangled and confused my judgment.

  ‘From what I hear, it seems

  you see beforehand that which time will bring,

  99

  but cannot know what happens in the present.’

  ‘We see, like those with faulty vision, →

  things at a distance,’ he replied. ‘That much,

  102

  for us, the mighty Ruler’s light still shines.

  ‘When things draw near or happen now,

  our minds are useless. Without the words of others

  105

  we can know nothing of your human state.

  ‘Thus it follows that all our knowledge

  will perish at the very moment

  108

  the portals of the future close.’

  Then, remorseful for my fault, I said: →

  ‘Will You tell him who fell back down

  111

  his son is still among the living?

  ‘And let him know, if I was slow to answer,

  it was because I was preoccupied

  114

  with doubts You have resolved for me.’

  And now my master summoned me,

  so that I begged the spirit to reveal,

  117

  at once, who else was down there with him.

  His answer was: ‘More than a thousand lie

  here with me: both the second Frederick →

  120

  and the Cardinal. Of the rest I do not speak.’ →

  With that he dropped from sight. I turned my steps

  to the venerable poet, mulling

  123

  those words that seemed to augur ill. →

  He started out, and then, as we were going,

  asked: ‘Why are you so bewildered?’ →

  126

  And I answered fully what he asked.

  ‘Keep in mind what you have heard against you,

  but also now give heed to this,’

  129

  the sage insisted—and he raised one finger.

  ‘When you shall stand before the radiance →

  of her whose fair eyes see and understand,

  132

  from her you’ll learn the journey of your life.’

  Then he turned his footsteps to the left. →

  Leaving the wall, we headed toward the center

  along a path that leads into a pit.

  136

  Its stench offended even at that height.

  OUTLINE: INFERNO XI

  1–9

  a second group of heretics: Pope Anastasius

  10–15

  the stench of sin from lower hell

  16–27

  Virgil’s description of the sins of lower hell: malice resulting in use of violence or fraud

  28–51

  violence (Circle 7) vs. neighbor, self, or God

  52–60

  fraud (Circle 8) vs. others

  61–66

  treachery, a worse form of fraud (Circle 9)

  67–75

  Dante’s question: why are not the inhabitants of Circles 2–5 punished in Dis?

  76–90

  Virgil’s answer: incontinence less offensive to God than malice and mad brutishness

  91–96

  Dante still puzzled by Virgil’s words about usury

  97–111

  Virgil on the sin against art, “God’s grandchild”

  112–115

  coda: Virgil announces it is time to go (ca. 4 am)

  INFERNO XI

  At the brink of a high bank formed

  by broken boulders in a circle

  3

  we stopped above a still more grievous throng. →

  Here, the unbearable foul stench

  belched from that bottomless abyss

  6

  made us draw back behind the slab →

  of an imposing tomb, on which I saw inscribed

  the words: ‘I hold Pope Anastasius: →

  9

  Photinus drew him from the right and proper path.’

  ‘We must delay descending so our sense, →

  inured to that vile stench,

  12

  no longer heeds it.’

  So spoke the master. I replied: ‘I know

  you’ll find a useful way to pass this time.’

  15

  And he: ‘You’ll see that is my plan.’

  ‘My son,’ he then began, ‘beneath these rocks

  there are three circles, smaller, one below the other,

  18

  but otherwise like those you leave behind.

  ‘All these are filled with souls condemned.

  So that the sight alone may later be enough,

  21

  know how and why they are confined this way.

  ‘Every evil deed despised in Heaven →

  has as its end injustice. Each such end

  24

  harms someone else through either force or fraud.

  ‘But since the vice of fraud is man’s alone,

  it more displeases God, and thus the fraudulent

  27

  are lower down, assailed by greater pain.

  ‘The first circle holds the violent →

  but is divided and constructed in three rings,

  30

  since violence takes three different forms.

  ‘Violence may be aimed at God, oneself,

  or at one’s neighbor—thus against all three

  33

  or their possessions—as I shall now explain.

  ‘Violent death and grievous wounds may be inflicted →

  upon a neighbor or, upon his goods,

  36

  pillage, arson, and violent theft.

  ‘And so murderers and everyone who wounds

  unjustly, spoilers and plunderers—the first ring

  39

  punishes all these in separate groups.

  ‘A man may lay injurious hands upon himself →

  or on his goods, and for that reason

  42

  in the second ring must he repent in vain

  ‘who robs himself of the world above

  or gambles away and wastes his substance,

  45

  lamenting when he should rejoice.

  ‘Violence may be committed against God →

  when we deny and curse Him in our hearts,

  48

  or when we scorn nature and her bounty.

  ‘And so the smallest ring stamps with its seal

  both Sodom and Cahors and those

  51

  who scorn Him with their hearts and tongues.
/>   ‘Fraud gnaws at every conscience, →

  whether used on him who trusted

  54

  or on one who lacked such faith.

  ‘Fraud against the latter only severs

  the bond of love that nature makes.

  57

  Thus in the second circle nest

  ‘hypocrisy, flatteries, and sorcerers;

  lies, theft, and simony;

  60

  panders, barrators, and all such filth.

  ‘Fraud against the trusting fails to heed →

  not only natural love but the added bond

  63

  of faith, which forms a special kind of trust.

  ‘Therefore, in the tightest circle,

  the center of the universe and seat of Dis,

  66

  all traitors are consumed eternally.’

  And I: ‘Master, your account is clear →

  and clearly designates the nature

  69

  of this abyss and its inhabitants.

  ‘But tell me, those spirits in the viscous marsh,

  those the wind drives, those the rain beats down on,

  72

  those clashing with such bitter tongues,

  ‘why are they not punished inside the fiery city

  if God’s anger is upon them?

  75

  And if not, why are they so afflicted?’

  And he: ‘Not often do your wits stray →

  far afield, as they do now—or is your mind

  78

  bent on pursuing other thoughts?

  ‘Do you not recall the words

  your Ethics uses to expound

  81

  the three dispositions Heaven opposes,

  ‘incontinence, malice, and mad brutishness,

  and how incontinence offends God less

  84

  and incurs a lesser blame?

 

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