42
that gaudy beast, wild in its spotted pelt, but then good hope gave way and fear returned when the figure of a lion loomed up before me,
45
and he was coming straight toward me, it seemed, with head raised high, and furious with hunger— the air around him seemed to fear his presence.
48
And now a she-wolf came, that in her leanness seemed racked with every kind of greediness (how many people she has brought to grief!).
51
This last beast brought my spirit down so low with fear that seized me at the sight of her, I lost all hope of going up the hill.
54
As a man who, rejoicing in his gains, suddenly seeing his gain turn into loss, will grieve as he compares his then and now,
57
so she made me do, that relentless beast; coming toward me, slowly, step by step, she forced me back to where the sun is mute.
60
While I was rushing down to that low place, my eyes made out a figure coming toward me of one grown faint, perhaps from too much silence.
63
And when I saw him standing in this wasteland, “Have pity on my soul, ” I cried to him, “whichever you are, shade or living man!”
66
62. The approaching figure represents (though not exclusively, for he has other meanings) Reason or Natural Philosophy. The Pilgrim cannot proceed to the light of Divine Love (the mountaintop) until he has overcome the three beasts of his sin; and because it is impossible for man to cope with the beasts unaided, Virgil has been summoned to guide the Pilgrim.
63. The voice of Reason has been silent in the Pilgrim’s ear for a long time.
“No longer living man, though once I was, ” he said, “and my parents were from Lombardy, both of them were Mantuans by birth.
69
I was born, though somewhat late, sub Julio, and lived in Rome when good Augustus reigned, when still the false and lying gods were worshipped.
72
I was a poet and sang of that just man, son of Anchises, who sailed off from Troy after the burning of proud Ilium.
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But why retreat to so much misery? Why not climb up this blissful mountain here, the beginning and the source of all man’s joy?”
78
“Are you then Virgil, are you then that fount from which pours forth so rich a stream of words?” I said to him, bowing my head modestly.
81
“O light and honor of the other poets, may my long years of study, and that deep love that made me search your verses, help me now!
84
You are my teacher, the first of all my authors, and you alone the one from whom I took the noble style that was to bring me honor.
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You see the beast that forced me to retreat; save me from her, I beg you, famous sage, she makes me tremble, the blood throbs in my veins. ”
90
“But you must journey down another road, ” he answered, when he saw me lost in tears, “if ever you hope to leave this wilderness;
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this beast, the one you cry about in fear, allows no soul to succeed along her path, she blocks his way and puts an end to him.
96
91. Dante must choose another road because, in order to arrive at the Divine Light, it is necessary first to recognize the true nature of sin, renounce it, and pay penance for it.
She is by nature so perverse and vicious, her craving belly is never satisfied, still hungering for food the more she eats.
99
She mates with many creatures, and will go on mating with more until the greyhound comes and tracks her down to make her die in anguish.
102
He will not feed on either land or money: his wisdom, love, and virtue shall sustain him; he will be born between Feltro and Feltro.
105
He comes to save that fallen Italy for which the maid Camilla gave her life and Turnus, Nisus, Euryalus died of wounds.
108
And he will hunt for her through every city until he drives her back to Hell once more, whence Envy first unleashed her on mankind.
111
And so, I think it best you follow me for your own good, and I shall be your guide and lead you out through an eternal place
114
where you will hear desperate cries, and see tormented shades, some old as Hell itself, and know what second death is, from their screams.
117
And later you will see those who rejoice while they are burning, for they have hope of coming, whenever it may be, to join the blessèd—
120
101-111. The Greyhound has been identified with Henry VII, Charles Martel, and even Dante himself. It seems more plausible that the Greyhound represents Can Grande della Scala, the ruler of Verona from 1308 to 1329, whose “wisdom, love, and virtue” (104) were certainly well-known to Dante. Whoever the Greyhound may be, the prophecy would seem to indicate in a larger sense the establishment of a spiritual kingdom on earth in which “wisdom, love, and virtue” will replace the bestial sins of the world. Perhaps Dante had no specific person in mind.
107. Camilla was the valiant daughter of King Metabus, who was slain while fighting against the Trojans (Aeneid XI).
108. Turnus was the king of the Rutulians. Nisus and Euryalus were young Trojan warriors slain during a nocturnal raid on the camp of the Rutulians.
117. The “second” death is that of the soul, which occurs when the soul is damned.
to whom, if you too wish to make the climb, a spirit, worthier than I, must take you; I shall go back, leaving you in her care,
123
because that Emperor dwelling on high will not let me lead any to His city, since I in life rebelled against His law.
126
Everywhere He reigns, and there He rules; there is His city, there is His high throne. Oh, happy the one He makes His citizen!”
129
And I to him: “Poet, I beg of you, in the name of God, that God you never knew, save me from this evil place and worse,
132
lead me there to the place you spoke about that I may see the gate Saint Peter guards and those whose anguish you have told me of. ”
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Then he moved on, and I moved close behind him.
CANTO II
BUT THE PILGRIM begins to waver; he expresses to Virgil his misgivings about his ability to undertake the journey proposed by Virgil. His predecessors have been Aeneas and Saint Paul, and he feels unworthy to take his place in their company. But Virgil rebukes his cowardice, and relates the chain of events that led him to come to Dante. The Virgin Mary took pity on the Pilgrim in his despair and instructed Saint Lucia to aid him. The Saint turned to Beatrice because of Dante’s great love for her, and Beatrice in turn went down to Hell, into Limbo, and asked Virgil to guide her friend until that time when she herself would become his guide. The Pilgrim takes heart at Virgil’s explanation and agrees to follow him.
122. Just as Virgil, the pagan Roman poet, cannot enter the Christian Paradise because he lived before the birth of Christ and lacks knowledge of Christian salvation, so Reason can only guide the Pilgrim to a certain point: In order to enter Paradise, the Pilgrim’s guide must be Christian Grace or Revelation (Theology) in the figure of Beatrice.
124. Note the pagan terminology of Virgil’s reference to God: It expresses, as best it can, his unenlightened conception of the Supreme Authority.
The day was fading and the darkening air was releasing all the creatures on our earth from their daily tasks, and I, one man alone,
3
was making ready to endure the battle of the journey, and of the pity it involved, which my memory, unerring, shall now retrace.
6
O Muses! O high genius! Help me now! O memory that wrote down what I saw, here your true excellence shall be revealed!
9
Then I began: “O poet come to gui
de me, tell me if you think my worth sufficient before you trust me to this arduous road.
12
You wrote about young Sylvius’s father, who went beyond, with flesh corruptible, with all his senses, to the immortal realm;
15
but if the Adversary of all evil was kind to him, considering who he was, and the consequence that was to come from him,
18
this cannot seem, to thoughtful men, unfitting, for in the highest heaven he was chosen father of glorious Rome and of her empire,
21
and both the city and her lands, in truth, were established as the place of holiness where the successors of great Peter sit.
24
And from this journey you celebrate in verse, Aeneas learned those things that were to bring victory for him, and for Rome, the Papal seat;
27
then later the Chosen Vessel, Paul, ascended to ring back confirmation of that faith which is the first step on salvation’s road.
30
But why am I to go? Who allows me to? I am not Aeneas, I am not Paul, neither I nor any man would think me worthy;
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and so, if I should undertake the journey, I fear it might turn out an act of folly— you are wise, you see more than my words express. ”
36
As one who unwills what he willed, will change his purpose with some new second thought, completely quitting what he first had started,
39
so I did, standing there on that dark slope, thinking, ending the beginning of that venture I was so quick to take up at the start.
42
“If I have truly understood your words, ” that shade of magnanimity replied, “your soul is burdened with that cowardice
45
which often weighs so heavily on man, it turns him from a noble enterprise like a frightened beast that shies at its own shadow.
48
To free you from this fear, let me explain the reason I came here, the words I heard that first time I felt pity for your soul:
51
I was among those dead who are suspended, when a lady summoned me. She was so blessed and beautiful, I implored her to command me.
54
With eyes of light more bright than any star, in low, soft tones she started to address me in her own language, with an angel’s voice:
57
28-30. In his Second Epistle to the Corinthians (12:2-4), the apostle Paul alludes to his mystical elevation to the third heaven and to the arcane messages pronounced there.
’O noble soul, courteous Mantuan, whose fame the world continues to preserve and will preserve as long as world there is,
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my friend, who is no friend of Fortune’s, strays on a desert slope; so many obstacles have crossed his path, his fright has turned him back
63
I fear he may have gone so far astray, from what report has come to me in Heaven, that I may have started to his aid too late.
66
Now go, and with your elegance of speech, with whatever may be needed for his freedom, give him your help, and thereby bring me solace.
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I am Beatrice, who urges you to go; I come from the place I am longing to return to; love moved me, as it moves me now to speak.
72
When I return to stand before my Lord, often I shall sing your praises to Him. ’ And then she spoke no more. And I began,
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’O Lady of Grace, through whom alone mankind may go beyond all worldly things contained within the sphere that makes the smallest round,
78
your plea fills me with happy eagerness— to have obeyed already would still seem late! You needed only to express your wish.
81
But tell me how you dared to make this journey all the way down to this point of spacelessness, away from your spacious home that calls you back. ’
84
’Because your question searches for deep meaning, I shall explain in simple words, ’ she said, ’just why I have no fear of coming here.
87
A man must stand in fear of just those things that truly have the power to do us harm, of nothing else, for nothing else is fearsome.
90
God gave me such a nature through His Grace, the torments you must bear cannot affect me, nor are the fires of Hell a threat to me.
93
A gracious lady sits in Heaven grieving for what happened to the one I send you to, and her compassion breaks Heaven’s stern decree.
96
She called Lucia and making her request, she said, “Your faithful one is now in need of you, and to you I now commend his soul. ”
99
Lucia, the enemy of cruelty, hastened to make her way to where I was, sitting by the side of ancient Rachel,
102
and said to me: “Beatrice, God’s true praise, will you not help the one whose love was such it made him leave the vulgar crowd for you?
105
Do you not hear the pity of his weeping, do you not see what death it is that threatens him along that river the sea shall never conquer?”
108
There never was a wordly person living more anxious to promote his selfish gains than I was at the sound of words like these—
111
to leave my holy seat and come down here and place my trust in you, in your noble speech that honors you and all those who have heard it!’
114
When she had finished reasoning, she turned her shining eyes away, and there were tears. How eager then I was to come to you!
117
And I have come to you just as she wished, and I have freed you from the beast that stood blocking the quick way up the mount of bliss.
120
94. The lady is the Virgin Mary.
102. In the Dantean Paradise Rachel is seated by Beatrice.
So what is wrong? Why, why do you delay? Why are you such a coward in your heart, why aren’t you bold and free of all your fear,
123
when three such gracious ladies, who are blessed, watch out for you up there in Heaven’s court, and my words, too, bring promise of such good?”
126
As little flowers from the frosty night are closed and limp, and when the sun shines down on them, they rise to open on their stem,
129
my wilted strength began to bloom within me, and such warm courage flowed into my heart that I spoke like a man set free of fear.
132
“O she, compassionate, who moved to help me! And you, all kindness, in obeying quick those words of truth she brought with her for you—
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you and the words you spoke have moved my heart with such desire to continue onward that now I have returned to my first purpose.
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Let us start, for both our wills, joined now, are one. You are my guide, you are my lord and teacher. ” These were my words to him and, when he moved,
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I entered on that deep and rugged road.
CANTO III
AS THE TWO POETS enter the vestibule that leads to Hell itself, Dante sees the inscription above the gate, and he hears the screams of anguish from the damned souls. Rejected by God and not accepted by the powers of Hell, the first group of souls are “nowhere, ” because of their cowardly refusal to make a choice in life. Their punishment is to follow a banner at a furious pace forever, and to be tormented by flies and hornets. The Pilgrim recognizes several of these shades but mentions none by name. Next they come to the River Acheron, where they are greeted by the infernal boatman, Charon. Among those doomed souls who are to be ferried across the river, Charon sees the living man and challenges him, but Virgil lets it be known that his companion must pass. Then across the landscape rushes a howling wind, which blasts the Pilgrim out of his senses, and he falls to the ground.
I AM THE WAY INTO THE DOLEFUL CITY,
I
AM THE WAY INTO ETERNAL GRIEF,
I AM THE WAY TO A FORSAKEN RACE.
3
JUSTICE IT WAS THAT MOVED MY GREAT CREATOR;
DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE CREATED ME,
AND HIGHEST WISDOM JOINED WITH PRIMAL LOVE.
6
BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGS
WERE MADE, AND I SHALL LAST ETERNALLY.
ABANDON EVERY HOPE, ALL YOU WHO ENTER.
9
I saw these words spelled out in somber colors inscribed along the ledge above a gate; “Master, ” I said, “these words I see are cruel. ”
12
He answered me, speaking with experience: “Now here you must leave all distrust behind; let all your cowardice die on this spot.
15
We are at the place where earlier I said you could expect to see the suffering race of souls who lost the good of intellect. ”
18
Placing his hand on mine, smiling at me in such a way that I was reassured, he led me in, into those mysteries.
21
Here sighs and cries and shrieks of lamentation echoed throughout the starless air of Hell; at first these sounds resounding made me weep:
24
5-6. Divine Omnipotence, Highest Wisdom, and Primal Love are, respectively, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Thus, the gate of Hell was created by the Trinity moved by Justice.
18. Souls who have lost sight of God.
tongues confused, a language strained in anguish with cadences of anger, shrill outcries and raucous groans that joined with sounds of hands,
27
raising a whirling storm that turns itself forever through that air of endless black, like grains of sand swirling when a whirlwind blows.
30
And I, in the midst of all this circling horror, began, “Teacher, what are these sounds I hear? What souls are these so overwhelmed by grief?”
33
And he to me: “This wretched state of being is the fate of those sad souls who lived a life but lived it with no blame and with no praise.
36
They are mixed with that repulsive choir of angels neither faithful nor unfaithful to their God, who undecided stood but for themselves.
39