by Dante
Here, as far as I could tell by listening, →
was no lamentation other than the sighs
27
that kept the air forever trembling.
These came from grief without torment
borne by vast crowds
30
of men, and women, and little children. →
My master began: ‘You do not ask about
the souls you see? I want you to know,
33
before you venture farther,
‘they did not sin. Though they have merit,
that is not enough, for they were unbaptized,
36
denied the gateway to the faith that you profess.
‘And if they lived before the Christians lived,
they did not worship God aright.
39
And among these I am one.
‘For such defects, and for no other fault,
we are lost, and afflicted but in this,
42
that without hope we live in longing.’ →
When I understood, great sadness seized my heart,
for then I knew that beings of great worth →
45
were here suspended in this Limbo. →
‘Tell me, master, tell me, sir,’ I began, →
seeking assurance in the faith
48
that conquers every doubt,
‘did ever anyone, either by his own
or by another’s merit, go forth from here
51
and rise to blessedness?’
And he, who understood my covert speech: →
‘I was new to this condition when I saw
54
a mighty one descend, crowned, with the sign of victory.
‘Out of our midst he plucked the shade →
of our first parent, of Abel his son, of Noah,
57
and of Moses, obedient in giving laws,
‘the patriarch Abraham, David the King,
Israel with his father and his sons,
60
and with Rachel, for whom he served so long,
‘as well as many others, and he made them blessed.
And, I would have you know, before these →
63
no human souls were saved.’
We did not halt our movement as he spoke,
but all the while were passing through a wood—
66
I mean a wood of thronging spirits.
We had not yet gone far from where I’d slept
when I beheld a blaze of light
69
that overcame a hemisphere of darkness,
though still a good way from it,
yet not so far but I discerned
72
an honorable company was gathered there. →
‘O you who honor art and knowledge, →
why are these so honored they are set
75
apart from the condition of the rest?’
And he answered: ‘Their honorable fame,
which echoes in your life above,
78
gains favor in Heaven, which thus advances them.’ →
Just then I heard a voice that said: →
‘Honor the loftiest of poets! →
81
His shade returns that had gone forth.’
When the voice had paused and there was silence,
I saw four worthy shades approach,
84
their countenances neither sad nor joyful.
The good master spoke: ‘Take note
of him who holds that sword in hand →
87
and comes as lord before the three:
‘He is Homer, sovereign poet. → →
Next comes Horace the satirist, →
90
Ovid is third, the last is Lucan. →
‘Since each is joined to me
in the name the one voice uttered,
93
they do me honor and, doing so, do well.’ →
There I saw assembled the fair school
of the lord of loftiest song, →
96
soaring like an eagle far above the rest.
After they conversed a while,
they turned to me with signs of greeting,
99
and my master smiled at this. →
And then they showed me greater honor still,
for they made me one of their company, →
102
so that I became the sixth amidst such wisdom. →
Thus we went onward to the light,
speaking of things that here are best unsaid, →
105
just as there it was fitting to express them.
We came to the foot of a noble castle, →
encircled seven times by towering walls,
108
defended round about by a fair stream.
Over this stream we moved as on dry land.
Through seven gates I entered with these sages
111
until we came to a fresh, green meadow.
People were there with grave, slow-moving eyes
and visages of great authority.
114
They seldom spoke, and then in gentle tones.
When we withdrew over to one side →
into an open space, high in the light,
117
we could observe them all.
There before me on the enameled green
the great spirits were revealed.
120
In my heart I exult at what I saw.
I saw Electra with many of her line, →
of whom I recognized Hector, Aeneas,
123
and Caesar, in arms, with his falcon eyes. →
I saw Camilla and Penthesilea. →
Seated apart I saw King Latinus,
126
and next to him Lavinia, his daughter.
I saw that Brutus who drove out Tarquinius, →
Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia.
129
And Saladin I saw, alone, apart. →
When I raised my eyes a little higher,
I saw the master of those who know, →
132
sitting among his philosophic kindred.
Eyes trained on him, all show him honor.
In front of all the rest and nearest him →
135
I saw Socrates and Plato.
I saw Democritus, who ascribes the world
to chance, Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales,
138
Empedocles, Heraclitus, and Zeno.
I saw the skilled collector of the qualities →
of things—I mean Dioscorides—and I saw
141
Orpheus, Cicero, Linus, and moral Seneca,
Euclid the geometer, and Ptolemy, →
Hippocrates, Avicenna, Galen,
144
and Averroes, who wrote the weighty glosses.
I cannot give account of all of them, →
for the length of my theme so drives me on
147
that often the telling comes short of the fact.
The company of six falls off to two
and my wise leader brings me by another way
out of the still, into the trembling, air.
151
And I come to a place where nothing shines.
OUTLINE: INFERNO V
1–3
descent to the second Circle: the lustful
4–15
proem: Minos judge of the damned
16–20
Minos attempts to discourage Dante
21–24
Virgil repeats his magical phrase (III.95–96)
25–30
again, impressions of sound are the first Dante has
31–39
the “he
llscape”: weeping, darkness, storm
40–49
two similes: starlings and cranes
50–51
Dante wants to know who are punished here; Virgil:
52–63
Semiramis, Dido, Cleopatra
64–69
Helen, Achilles, Paris, Tristan, and many others
70–78
Dante’s piteous reaction and desire to speak
79–81
he calls out to the pair of lovers
82–87
simile: doves returning to nest
88–108
Francesca’s first speech:
88–96
her kind words for Dante’s kindness
97–99
she is from Ravenna
100–108
Love … Love … Love…: her litany of joy, woe
109–111
Dante’s reaction and Virgil’s laconic question
112–120
Dante’s rumination and question to Francesca
121–138
Francesca’s second response:
121–126
despite the pain it will cause, she will speak
127–129
she and Paolo were reading of Lancelot in love
130–138
enflamed by the reading, they embraced
139–142
coda: Francesca concludes, Paolo weeps, Dante faints
INFERNO V
Thus I descended from the first circle →
down into the second, which girds a smaller space
3
but greater agony to goad lament.
There stands Minos, snarling, terrible. →
He examines each offender at the entrance,
6
judges and dispatches as he encoils himself. →
I mean that when the ill-begotten soul →
stands there before him it confesses all, →
9
and that accomplished judge of sins →
decides what place in Hell is fit for it,
then coils his tail around himself to count
12
how many circles down the soul must go.
Always before him stands a crowd of them,
going to judgment each in turn.
15
They tell, they hear, and then are hurled down.
‘O you who come to this abode of pain,’
said Minos when he saw me, pausing →
18
in the exercise of his high office, →
‘beware how you come in and whom you trust.
Don’t let the easy entrance fool you. →
21
And my leader to him: ‘Why all this shouting?
‘Hinder not his destined journey. →
It is so willed where will and power are one,
24
and ask no more.’
Now I can hear the screams →
of agony. Now I have come →
27
where a great wailing beats upon me.
I reached a place mute of all light,
which bellows as the sea in tempest
30
tossed by conflicting winds.
The hellish squall, which never rests,
sweeps spirits in its headlong rush,
33
tormenting, whirls and strikes them.
Caught in that path of violence, →
they shriek, weep, and lament.
36
Then how they curse the power of God!
I understood that to such torment
the carnal sinners are condemned,
39
they who make reason subject to desire.
As, in cold weather, the wings of starlings → →
bear them up in wide, dense flocks,
42
so does that blast propel the wicked spirits.
Here and there, down and up, it drives them.
Never are they comforted by hope
45
of rest or even lesser punishment.
Just as cranes chant their mournful songs, →
making a long line in the air,
48
thus I saw approach, heaving plaintive sighs,
shades lifted on that turbulence,
so that I said: ‘Master, who are these
51
whom the black air lashes?’
‘The first of them about whom
you would hear,’ he then replied,
54
‘was empress over many tongues.
‘She was so given to the vice of lechery
she made lust licit in her law
57
to take away the blame she had incurred.
‘She is Semiramis, of whom we read → →
that she, once Ninus’ wife, succeeded him.
60
She held sway in the land the Sultan rules.
‘Here is she who broke faith with the ashes → →
of Sichaeus and slew herself for love. →
63
The next is wanton Cleopatra. →
‘See Helen, for whose sake so many years
of ill rolled past. And see the great Achilles, →
66
who battled, at the last, with love.
‘See Paris, Tristan,’ and he showed me more
than a thousand shades, naming as he pointed,
69
whom love had parted from our life. →
When I heard my teacher name the ladies
and the knights of old, pity overcame me →
72
and I almost lost my senses.
I began: ‘Poet, gladly would I speak
with these two that move together →
75
and seem to be so light upon the wind.’
And he: ‘Once they are nearer, you will see: →
if you entreat them by the love
78
that leads them, they will come.’
As soon as the wind had bent them to us,
I raised my voice: ‘O wearied souls, →
81
if it is not forbidden, come speak with us.’
As doves, summoned by desire, their wings →
outstretched and motionless, move on the air,
84
borne by their will to the sweet nest,
so did these leave the troop where Dido is,
coming to us through the malignant air,
87
such force had my affectionate call.
‘O living creature, gracious and kind, →
that come through somber air to visit us
90
who stained the world with blood,
‘if the King of the universe were our friend → →
we would pray that He might give you peace,
93
since you show pity for our grievous plight.
‘We long to hear and speak of that
which you desire to speak and know,
96
here, while the wind has calmed.
‘On that shore where the river Po
with all its tributaries slows
99
to peaceful flow, there I was born.
‘Love, quick to kindle in the gentle heart, →
seized this man with the fair form taken from me.
102
The way of it afflicts me still. →
‘Love, which absolves no one beloved from loving, →
seized me so strongly with his charm that,
105
as you see, it has not left me yet.
‘Love brought us to one death.
Caïna waits for him who quenched our lives. →
108
These words were borne from them to us.
And when I’d heard those two afflicted souls →
I bowed my head and held it low until at last
111
the poet said: ‘What are your thoughts?’
In answer I replied: ‘Oh,
how many sweet thoughts, what great desire,
114
have brought them to this woeful pass!’
Then I turned to them again to speak
and I began: ‘Francesca, your torments
117
make me weep for grief and pity,
‘but tell me, in that season of sweet sighs, →
how and by what signs did Love
120
acquaint you with your hesitant desires?’
And she to me: ‘There is no greater sorrow →
than to recall our time of joy
123
in wretchedness—and this your teacher knows. →
‘But if you feel such longing
to know the first root of our love,
126
I shall tell as one who weeps in telling.
‘One day, to pass the time in pleasure, →
we read of Lancelot, how love enthralled him.
129
We were alone, without the least misgiving.
‘More than once that reading made our eyes meet
and drained the color from our faces.
132
Still, it was a single instant overcame us: →
‘When we read how the longed-for smile
was kissed by so renowned a lover, this man,
135
who never shall be parted from me,
‘all trembling, kissed me on my mouth.
A Galeotto was the book and he that wrote it. →
138
That day we read in it no further.’ →
While the one spirit said this
the other wept, so that for pity →
I swooned as if in death. →
142