The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno

When I regained my senses, which had fled At my compassion for the kindred two, Which for pure sorrow quite had turned my head, New torments and a crowd of sufferers new I see around me as I move again,[274] Where’er I turn, where’er I bend my view. In the Third Circle am I of the rain Which, heavy, cold, eternal, big with woe, Doth always of one kind and force remain. Large hail and turbid water, mixed with snow,10 Keep pouring down athwart the murky air; And from the ground they fall on, stenches grow. The savage Cerberus,[275] a monster drear, Howls from his threefold throat with canine cries Above the people who are whelmèd there. Oily and black his beard, and red his eyes, His belly huge: claws from his fingers sprout. The shades he flays, hooks, rends in cruel wise. Beat by the rain these, dog-like, yelp and shout, And shield themselves in turn with either side;20 And oft[276] the wretched sinners turn about. When we by Cerberus, great worm,[277] were spied, He oped his mouths and all his fangs he showed, While not a limb did motionless abide. My Leader having spread his hands abroad, Filled both his fists with earth ta’en from the ground, And down the ravening gullets flung

the load. Then, as sharp set with hunger barks the hound, But is appeased when at his meat he gnaws, And, worrying it, forgets all else around;30 So with those filthy faces there it was Of the fiend Cerberus, who deafs the crowd Of souls till they from hearing fain would pause. We, travelling o’er the spirits who lay cowed And sorely by the grievous showers harassed, Upon their semblances[278] of bodies trod. Prone on the ground the whole of them were cast, Save one of them who sat upright with speed When he beheld that near to him we passed. ‘O thou who art through this Inferno led,[279]40 Me if thou canst,’ he asked me, ‘recognise; For ere I was dismantled thou wast made.’ And I to him: ‘Thy present tortured guise Perchance hath blurred my memory of thy face, Until it seems I ne’er on thee set eyes. But tell me who thou art, within this place So cruel set, exposed to such a pain, Than which, if greater, none has more disgrace.’ And he: ‘Thy city, swelling with the bane Of envy till the sack is running o’er,50 Me in the life serene did once contain. As Ciacco[280] me your citizens named of yore; And for the damning sin of gluttony I, as thou seest, am beaten by this shower. No

solitary woful soul am I, For all of these endure the selfsame doom For the same fault.’ Here ended his reply. I answered him, ‘O Ciacco, with such gloom Thy misery weighs me, I to weep am prone; But, if thou canst, declare to what shall come60 The citizens[281] of the divided town. Holds it one just man? And declare the cause Why ’tis of discord such a victim grown.’ Then he to me: ‘After[282] contentious pause Blood will be spilt; the boorish party[283] then Will chase the others forth with grievous loss. The former it behoves to fall again Within three suns, the others to ascend, Holpen[284] by him whose wiles ere now are plain. Long time, with heads held high, they’ll make to bend The other party under burdens dire,71 Howe’er themselves in tears and rage they spend. There are two just[285] men, at whom none inquire. Envy, and pride, and avarice, even these Are the three sparks have set all hearts on fire.’ With this the tearful sound he made to cease: And I to him, ‘Yet would I have thee tell— And of thy speech do thou the gift increase— Tegghiaio[286] and Farinata, honourable, James Rusticucci,[287] Mosca, Arrigo,80 With all the rest so studious to excel In good; where are

they? Help me this to know; Great hunger for the news hath seizèd me; Delights them Heaven, or tortures Hell below?’ He said: ‘Among the blackest souls they be; Them to the bottom weighs another sin. Shouldst thou so far descend, thou mayst them see. But when[288] the sweet world thou again dost win, I pray thee bring me among men to mind; No more I tell, nor new reply begin.’90 Then his straightforward eyes askance declined; He looked at me a moment ere his head He bowed; then fell flat ’mong the other blind. ‘Henceforth he waketh not,’ my Leader said, ‘Till he shall hear the angel’s trumpet sound, Ushering the hostile Judge. By every shade Its dismal sepulchre shall then be found, Its flesh and ancient form it shall resume, And list[289] what echoes in eternal round.’ So passed we where the shades and rainy spume100 Made filthy mixture, with steps taken slow; Touching a little on the world to come.[290] Wherefore I said: ‘Master, shall torments grow After the awful sentence hath been heard, Or lesser prove and not so fiercely glow?’ ‘Repair unto thy Science,’[291] was his word; ‘Which tells, as things approach a perfect state To keener joy or suffering they are stirred.

Therefore although this people cursed by fate Ne’er find perfection in its full extent,110 To it they then shall more approximate Than now.’[292] Our course we round the circle bent, Still holding speech, of which I nothing say, Until we came where down the pathway went: There found we Plutus, the great enemy.