The Divine Comedy (Illustrated) E-Book

Dante Alighieri

• Herausgeber: Kim Paradowski
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

• This is an Illustrated Edition featuring detailed artwork, a comprehensive summary, an author biography, and a complete list of major characters.

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is one of the greatest masterpieces of world literature—a visionary epic poem that takes readers on a profound spiritual and philosophical journey through the realms of the afterlife. Written in the early 14th century, this monumental work is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, each depicting Dante’s transformative passage under the guidance of the poet Virgil and, later, the radiant Beatrice.
As Dante travels through Hell’s terrifying circles, climbs the purifying mountain of Purgatory, and ascends to the celestial spheres of Paradise, he encounters mythological figures, historical personalities, and symbolic representations of human virtues and vices. Through vivid imagery, powerful allegory, and intricate poetic structure, Dante explores themes of justice, redemption, love, and divine order—crafting a timeless reflection on the human condition.
This special illustrated edition enriches the reading experience with striking visual interpretations of key scenes, bringing Dante’s epic vision to life. It also includes a clear and concise summary, an insightful biography of Dante Alighieri, and a helpful list of major characters to support readers, students, and scholars in understanding this complex and captivating work.

Leseprobe

The Divine Comedy

By

Dante Alighieri

ABOUT ALIGHIERI

Dante Alighieri was born in Florence, Italy, in 1265, during a time of intense political conflict and cultural change. He grew up in a modest but noble family and received a strong education in literature, philosophy, and the arts. From a young age, Dante showed a deep passion for poetry, inspired by the works of classical writers as well as the emerging Italian literary tradition. His early life in Florence exposed him to the vibrant intellectual world that would later shape the themes and language of his poetry.

A central influence in Dante’s life was Beatrice Portinari, a woman he met in childhood and admired from afar throughout his life. Although their interactions were limited, Beatrice became a symbol of ideal love and spiritual beauty in his writing. Her death in 1290 deeply affected Dante and inspired many of his early works, including La Vita Nuova. Through Beatrice, Dante developed the idea of love as a guiding force toward moral and spiritual growth, a theme that later became essential to The Divine Comedy.

Dante also became deeply involved in the political affairs of Florence. The city was divided between rival factions, and Dante’s growing influence eventually led to his election to public office. However, shifting alliances and rising tensions placed him on the losing side of a political struggle. In 1302, he was accused of corruption and sentenced to exile under threat of death if he returned. Forced to leave his beloved Florence, Dante spent the rest of his life moving from city to city, relying on wealthy patrons and friends for support.

During his long exile, Dante produced his greatest work, The Divine Comedy, a monumental poem that explores the soul’s journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Written in the Italian language rather than Latin, it helped establish Italian as a major literary language.

SUMMARY

The Divine Comedy begins with Dante lost in a dark forest, symbolizing confusion and moral struggle. He is blocked by three beasts representing sin, but he is rescued by the spirit of the poet Virgil. Virgil tells Dante he has been sent to guide him through the afterlife so he can find his way back to righteousness. Dante agrees, and they begin their journey.

Their first destination is Hell, a vast, descending realm shaped like a funnel. Hell is divided into nine circles, each punishing a different type of sin. Dante witnesses the suffering of souls who committed acts such as greed, violence, fraud, and betrayal. Through these scenes, he learns how sin corrupts the spirit and leads to eternal pain. The journey teaches him the consequences of moral weakness.

After leaving Hell, Dante and Virgil climb up Mount Purgatory, a place where repentant souls cleanse themselves of sins before entering Heaven. Purgatory is organized into terraces. Each terrace disciplines a particular vice, such as pride or envy. The souls here endure challenges that help them grow spiritually. Dante is moved by their hope and determination, realizing the importance of repentance and self-improvement.

At the summit of Mount Purgatory, Dante meets Beatrice, the woman who inspired his spiritual awakening. She becomes his guide through Heaven, a radiant realm made of nine celestial spheres. Each sphere is home to souls who embody different virtues. As they ascend, Dante witnesses increasing levels of harmony, light, and divine love. He learns how virtue leads the soul closer to perfection.

The journey ends in the highest realm, where Dante encounters the direct presence of God. He experiences a vision of pure unity, light, and love that surpasses human understanding. The vision transforms him, filling him with peace and clarity.

CHARACTERS LIST

Dante Alighieri – The protagonist and narrator; journeys through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.

Virgil– Dante’s guide through Hell and Purgatory; represents human reason.

Beatrice – Dante’s ideal woman and divine guide through Heaven.

Charon– The ferryman who carries souls across the river Acheron in Inferno.

Minos – The infernal judge who assigns souls to their circle of Hell.

Francesca da Rimini – A tragic soul punished for lust in the second circle of Hell.

Paolo Malatesta – Francesca’s lover, also punished for lust.

Count Ugolino – A soul in the lowest circles of Hell, known for his tragic tale of betrayal and starvation.

Satan (Lucifer) – The ruler of Hell, trapped in ice at its center.

Cato the Younger – Guardian of Purgatory’s entrance; symbolizes freedom.

Statius – A Roman poet who joins Dante and Virgil partway through Purgatory.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux – Dante’s final guide in Paradiso, helping him approach the vision of God.

Canto I

The dark forest⁠—The hill of Difficulty⁠—The panther, the lion, and the wolf⁠—Virgil.

Midway upon the journey of our life2I found myself within a forest dark,3For the straightforward pathway had been lost.Ah me! how hard a thing it is to sayWhat was this forest savage, rough, and stern,Which in the very thought renews the fear.So bitter is it, death is little more;But of the good to treat, which there I found,Speak will I of the other things I saw there.I cannot well repeat how there I entered,So full was I of slumber at the momentIn which I had abandoned the true way.But after I had reached a mountain’s foot,4At that point where the valley terminated,5Which had with consternation pierced my heart,Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders,Vested already with that planet’s rays6Which leadeth others right by every road.Then was the fear a little quietedThat in my heart’s lake had endured throughout7The night, which I had passed so piteously.And even as he, who, with distressful breath,Forth issued from the sea upon the shore,Turns to the water perilous and gazes;So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward,Turn itself back to re-behold the passWhich never yet a living person left.8After my weary body I had rested,The way resumed I on the desert slope,So that the firm foot ever was the lower.9And lo! almost where the ascent began,10A panther light and swift exceedingly,11Which with a spotted skin was covered o’er!And never moved she from before my face,Nay, rather did impede so much my way,That many times I to return had turned.12The time was the beginning of the morning,And up the sun was mounting with those stars13That with him were, what time the Love DivineAt first in motion set those beauteous things;So were to me occasion of good hope,The variegated skin of that wild beast,The hour of time, and the delicious season;But not so much, that did not give me fearA lion’s aspect which appeared to me.14He seemed as if against me he were comingWith head uplifted, and with ravenous hunger,So that it seemed the air was afraid of him;15And a she-wolf, that with all hungerings16Seemed to be laden in her meagreness,And many folk has caused to live forlorn!She brought upon me so much heaviness,With the affright that from her aspect came,That I the hope relinquished of the height.And as he is who willingly acquires,And the time comes that causes him to lose,Who weeps in all his thoughts and is despondent,E’en such made me that beast withouten peace,Which, coming on against me by degreesThrust me back thither where the sun is silent.17While I was rushing downward to the lowland,Before mine eyes did one present himself,Who seemed from long-continued silence hoarse.18When I beheld him in the desert vast,“Have pity on me,” unto him I cried,“Whiche’er thou art, or shade or real man!”He answered me: “Not man; man once I was,And both my parents were of Lombardy,And Mantuans by country both of them.Sub Julio was I born, though it was late,19And lived at Rome under the good Augustus,During the time of false and lying gods.A Poet was I, and I sang that justSon of Anchises, who came forth from Troy,After that Ilion the superb was burned.But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance?

Why climb’st thou not the Mount Delectable,Which is the source and cause of every joy?”“Now, art thou that Virgilius and that fountain20Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech?”I made response to him with bashful forehead.“O, of the other poets honor and light,Avail me the long study and great loveThat have impelled me to explore thy volume!Thou art my master, and my author thou,Thou art alone the one from whom I tookThe beautiful style that has done honor to me.21Behold the beast, for which I have turned back;Do thou protect me from her, famous Sage,For she doth make my veins and pulses tremble.”“Thee it behoves to take another road,”Responded he, when he beheld me weeping,“If from this savage place thou wouldst escape;Because this beast, at which thou criest out,Suffers not any one to pass her way,But so doth harass him, that she destroys him;And has a nature so malign and ruthless,That never doth she glut her greedy will,And after food is hungrier than before.Many the animals with whom she weds,And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound22Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain.He shall not feed on either earth or pelf,But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue;’Twixt Feltro and Feltro shall his nation be;Of that low Italy shall he be the saviour,23On whose account the maid Camilla died,Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds;Through every city shall he hunt her down,Until he shall have driven her back to Hell,There from whence envy first did let her loose.Therefore I think and judge it for thy bestThou follow me, and I will be thy guide,And lead thee hence through the eternal place,Where thou shalt hear the desperate lamentations,Shalt see the ancient spirits disconsolate,24Who cry out each one for the second death;And thou shalt see those who contented areWithin the fire, because they hope to come,Whene’er it may be, to the blessed people;To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend,A soul shall be for that than I more worthy;25With her at my departure I will leave thee;Because that Emperor, who reigns above,In that I was rebellious to his law,Wills that through me none come into his city.He governs everywhere, and there he reigns;There is his city and his lofty throne;O happy he whom thereto he elects!”And I to him: “Poet, I thee entreat,By that same God whom thou didst never know,So that I may escape this woe and worse,Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said,That I may see the portal of Saint Peter,And those thou makest so disconsolate.”Then he moved on, and I behind him followed.

Canto II

Dante’s protest and Virgil’s appeal⁠—The intercession of the Three Ladies Benedight.

Day was departing, and the embrowned air26Released the animals that are on earthFrom their fatigues; and I the only oneMade myself ready to sustain the war,Both of the way and likewise of the woe,Which memory that errs not shall retrace.O Muses, O high genius, now assist me!O memory, that didst write down what I saw,Here thy nobility shall be manifest!And I began: “Poet, who guidest me,Regard my manhood, if it be sufficient,Ere to the arduous pass thou dost confide me.Thou sayest, that of Silvius the parent,27While yet corruptible, unto the worldImmortal went, and was there bodily.But if the adversary of all evilWas courteous, thinking of the high effectThat issue would from him, and who, and what,To men of intellect unmeet it seems not;For he was of great Rome, and of her empireIn the empyreal heaven as father chosen;The which and what, wishing to speak the truth,Were stablished as the holy place, whereinSits the successor of the greatest Peter.28Upon this journey, whence thou givest him vaunt,Things did he hear, which the occasion wereBoth of his victory and the papal mantle.Thither went afterwards the Chosen Vessel,29To bring back comfort thence unto that Faith,Which of salvation’s way is the beginning.But I, why thither come, or who concedes it?I not Aeneas am, I am not Paul,Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it.Therefore, if I resign myself to come,I fear the coming may be ill-advised;Thou ’rt wise, and knowest better than I speak.”And as he is, who unwills what he willed,And by new thoughts doth his intention change,So that from his design he quite withdraws,Such I became, upon that dark hillside,Because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise,Which was so very prompt in the beginning.30“If I have well thy language understood,”Replied that shade of the Magnanimous,“Thy soul attainted is with cowardice,Which many times a man encumbers so,It turns him back from honored enterprise,As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy.That thou mayst free thee from this apprehension,I’ll tell thee why I came, and what I heardAt the first moment when I grieved for thee.Among those was I who are in suspense,31And a fair, saintly Lady called to meIn such wise, I besought her to command me.Her eyes where shining brighter than the Star;32And she began to say, gentle and low,33With voice angelical, in her own language:‘O spirit courteous of Mantua,Of whom the fame still in the world endures,And shall endure, long-lasting as the world;A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune,Upon the desert slope is so impededUpon his way, that he has turned through terror,And may, I fear, already be so lost,That I too late have risen to his succor,From that which I have heard of him in Heaven.Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate,34And with what needful is for his release,Assist him so, that I may be consoled.Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go;35I come from there, where I would fain return;Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak.When I shall be in presence of my Lord,Full often will I praise thee unto him.’Then paused she, and thereafter I began:‘O Lady of virtue, thou alone through whomThe human race exceedeth all containedWithin the heaven that has the lesser circles,36So grateful unto me is thy commandment,To obey, if ’twere already done, were late;No farther need’st thou ope to me thy wish.But the cause tell me why thou dost not shunThe here descending down into this centre,From the vast place thou burnest to return to.’37‘Since thou wouldst fain so inwardly discern,Briefly will I relate,’ she answered me,‘Why I am not afraid to enter here.Of those things only should one be afraidWhich have the power of doing others harm;Of the rest, no; because they are not fearful.God in his mercy such created meThat misery of yours attains me not,Nor any flame assails me of this burning.A gentle Lady is in Heaven, who grieves38At this impediment, to which I send thee,So that stern judgment there above is broken.In her entreaty she besought Lucìa,39And said, “Thy faithful one now stands in needOf thee, and unto thee I recommend him.”Lucìa, foe of all that cruel is,Hastened away, and came unto the placeWhere I was sitting with the ancient Rachel.40“Beatrice,” said she, “the true praise of God,Why succorest thou not him, who loved thee so,For thee he issued from the vulgar herd?Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint?Dost thou not see the death that combats himBeside that flood, where ocean has no vaunt?”41Never were persons in the world so swiftTo work their weal and to escape their woe,As I, after such words as these were uttered,Came hither downward from my blessed seat,Confiding in thy dignified discourse,Which honors thee, and those who’ve listened to it.’After she thus had spoken unto me,Weeping, her shining eyes she turned away;Whereby she made me swifter in my coming;And unto thee I came, as she desired;I have delivered thee from that wild beast,Which barred the beautiful mountain’s short ascent.What is it, then? Why, why dost thou delay?Why is such baseness bedded in thy heart?Daring and hardihood why hast thou not,Seeing that three such Ladies benedightAre caring for thee in the court of Heaven,And so much good my speech doth promise thee?”Even as the flowerets, by nocturnal chill,42Bowed down and closed, when the sun whitens them,Uplift themselves all open on their stems;Such I became with my exhausted strength,And such good courage to my heart there coursed,That I began, like an intrepid person:“O she compassionate, who succored me,And courteous thou, who hast obeyed so soonThe words of truth which she addressed to thee!Thou hast my heart so with desire disposedTo the adventure, with these words of thine,That to my first intent I have returned.Now go, for one sole will is in us both,Thou Leader, and thou Lord, and Master thou.”Thus said I to him; and when he had moved,I entered on the deep and savage way.

Canto III

The gate of Hell⁠—The inefficient or indifferent⁠—Pope Celestine V⁠—The shores of Acheron⁠—Charon⁠—The earthquake and the swoon.

“Through me the way is to the city dolent;43Through me the way is to eternal dole;Through me the way among the people lost.Justice incited my sublime Creator;Created me divine Omnipotence,The highest Wisdom and the primal Love.Before me there were no created things,

Only eterne, and I eternal last.All hope abandon, ye who enter in!”These words in sombre color I beheldWritten upon the summit of a gate;Whence I: “Their sense is, Master, hard to me!”And he to me, as one experienced:“Here all suspicion needs must be abandoned,All cowardice must needs be here extinct.We to the place have come, where I have told theeThou shalt behold the people dolorousWho have foregone the good of intellect.”44And after he had laid his hand on mineWith joyful mien, whence I was comforted,He led me in among the secret things.There sighs, complaints, and ululations loud45Resounded through the air without a star,Whence I, at the beginning, wept thereat.Languages diverse, horrible dialects,Accents of anger, words of agony,And voices high and hoarse, with sound of hands,Made up a tumult that goes whirling onForever in that air forever black,Even as the sand doth, when the whirlwind breathes.And I, who had my head with horror bound,Said: “Master, what is this which now I hear?What folk is this, which seems by pain so vanquished?”And he to me: “This miserable modeMaintain the melancholy souls of thoseWho lived withouten infamy or praise.46Commingled are they with that caitiff choirOf Angels, who have not rebellious been,Nor faithful were to God, but were for self.The heavens expelled them, not to be less fair;Nor them the nethermore abyss receives,For glory none the damned would have from them.”47And I: “O Master, what so grievous isTo these, that maketh them lament so sore?”He answered: “I will tell thee very briefly.These have no longer any hope of death;And this blind life of theirs is so debased,They envious are of every other fate.No fame of them the world permits to be;Misericord and Justice both disdain them.Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass.”And I, who looked again, beheld a banner,48Which, whirling round, ran on so rapidly,That of all pause it seemed to me indignant;And after it there came so long a trainOf people, that I ne’er would have believedThat ever Death so many had undone.When some among them I had recognized,I looked, and I beheld the shade of him49Who made through cowardice the great refusal.Forthwith I comprehended, and was certain,That this the sect was of the caitiff wretchesHateful to God and to his enemies.These miscreants, who never were alive,Were naked, and were stung exceedinglyBy gadflies and by hornets that were there.These did their faces irrigate with blood,Which, with their tears commingled, at their feetBy the disgusting worms was gathered up.And when to gazing farther I betook me,People I saw on a great river’s bank;Whence said I: “Master, now vouchsafe to me,That I may know who these are, and what lawMakes them appear so ready to pass over,As I discern athwart the dusky light.”50And he to me: “These things shall all be knownTo thee, as soon as we our footsteps stayUpon the dismal shore of Acheron.”Then with mine eyes ashamed and downward cast,Fearing my words might irksome be to him,From speech refrained I till we reached the river.And lo! towards us coming in a boat51An old man, hoary with the hair of eld,Crying: “Woe unto you, ye souls depraved!Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens;I come to lead you to the other shore,To the eternal shades in heat and frost.52And thou, that yonder standest, living soul,Withdraw thee from these people, who are dead!”53But when he saw that I did not withdraw,He said: “By other ways, by other portsThou to the shore shalt come, not here, for passage;A lighter vessel needs must carry thee.”54And unto him the Guide: “Vex thee not, Charon;55It is so willed there where is power to doThat which is willed; and farther question not.”Thereat were quieted the fleecy cheeksOf him the ferryman of the livid fen,Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame.But all those souls who weary were and nakedTheir color changed and gnashed their teeth together,As soon as they had heard those cruel words.God they blasphemed and their progenitors,The human race, the place, the time, the seedOf their engendering and of their birth!Thereafter all together they drew back,Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore,Which waiteth every man who fears not God.Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede,56Beckoning to them, collects them all together,Beats with his oar whoever lags behind.As in the autumn-time the leaves fall off,57First one and then another, till the branchUnto the earth surrenders all its spoils;In similar wise the evil seed of AdamThrow themselves from that margin one by one,At signals, as a bird unto its lure.So they depart across the dusky wave,And ere upon the other side they land,Again on this side a new troop assembles.“My son,” the courteous Master said to me,“All those who perish in the wrath of GodHere meet together out of every land;And ready are they to pass o’er the river,Because celestial Justice spurs them on,So that their fear is turned into desire.This way there never passes a good soul;And hence if Charon doth complain of thee,Well mayst thou know now what his speech imports.”This being finished, all the dusk champaignTrembled so violently, that of that terrorThe recollection bathes me still with sweat.The land of tears gave forth a blast of wind,And fulminated a vermilion light,Which overmastered in me every sense,And as a man whom sleep hath seized I fell.

Canto IV

The First Circle⁠—Limbo, or the border land of the unbaptized⁠—The four poets, Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan⁠—The noble castle of philosophy.

Broke the deep lethargy within my head58A heavy thunder, so that I upstarted,Like to a person who by force is wakened;And round about I moved my rested eyes,Uprisen erect, and steadfastly I gazed,To recognise the place wherein I was.True is it, that upon the verge I found meOf the abysmal valley dolorous,That gathers thunder of infinite ululations.Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous,59So that by fixing on its depths my sightNothing whatever I discerned therein.“Let us descend now into the blind world,”Began the Poet, pallid utterly;“I will be first, and thou shalt second be.”And I, who of his color was aware,Said: “How shall I come, if thou art afraid,Who ’rt wont to be a comfort to my fears?”And he to me: “The anguish of the peopleWho are below here in my face depictsThat pity which for terror thou hast taken.Let us go on, for the long way impels us.”Thus he went in, and thus he made me enterThe foremost circle that surrounds the abyss.There, in so far as I had power to hear,Were lamentations none, but only sighs,That tremulous made the everlasting air.And this arose from sorrow without torment,60Which the crowds had, that many were and great,Of infants and of women and of men.61To me the Master good: “Thou dost not askWhat spirits these, which thou beholdest, are?Now will I have thee know, ere thou go farther,That they sinned not; and if they merit had,’Tis not enough, because they had not baptismWhich is the portal of the Faith thou holdest;And if they were before Christianity,In the right manner they adored not God;And among such as these am I myself.For such defects, and not for other guilt,Lost are we, and are only so far punished,That without hope we live on in desire.”Great grief seized on my heart when this I heard,Because some people of much worthinessI knew, who in that Limbo were suspended.“Tell me, my Master, tell me, thou my Lord,”Began I, with desire of being certainOf that Faith which o’ercometh every error,“Came any one by his own merit hence,Or by another’s, who was blessed thereafter?”And he, who understood my covert speech,Replied: “I was a novice in this state,When I saw hither come a Mighty One,62With sign of victory incoronate.Hence he drew forth the shade of the First Parent,And that of his son Abel, and of Noah,Of Moses the lawgiver, and the obedientAbraham, patriarch, and David, king,Israel with his father and his children,And Rachel, for whose sake he did so much,And others many, and he made them blessed;And thou must know, that earlier than theseNever were any human spirits saved.”We ceased not to advance because he spake,But still were passing onward through the forest,The forest, say I, of thick-crowded ghosts.Not very far as yet our way had goneThis side the summit, when I saw a fireThat overcame a hemisphere of darkness.We were a little distant from it still,But not so far that I in part discerned notThat honorable people held that place.63“O thou who honorest every art and science,Who may these be, which such great honor have,That from the fashion of the rest it parts them?”And he to me: “The honorable name,That sounds of them above there in thy life,Wins grace in Heaven, that so advances them.”In the meantime a voice was heard by me:“All honor be to the preeminent Poet;His shade returns again, that was departed.”After the voice had ceased and quiet was,Four mighty shades I saw approaching us;

Semblance had they nor sorrowful nor glad.To say to me began my gracious Master:“Him with that falchion in his hand behold,64Who comes before the three, even as their lord.That one is Homer, Poet sovereign;He who comes next is Horace, the satirist;The third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan.Because to each of these with me appliesThe name that solitary voice proclaimed,They do me honor, and in that do well.”65Thus I beheld assemble the fair schoolOf that lord of the song preeminent,Who o’er the others like an eagle soars.When they together had discoursed somewhat,They turned to me with signs of salutation,And on beholding this, my Master smiled;And more of honor still, much more, they did me,66In that they made me one of their own band;So that the sixth was I, ’mid so much wit.Thus we went on as far as to the light,Things saying ’tis becoming to keep silent,As was the saying of them where I was.We came unto a noble castle’s foot,67Seven times encompassed with lofty walls,Defended round by a fair rivulet;This we passed over even as firm ground;Through portals seven I entered with these Sages;We came into a meadow of fresh verdure.People were there with solemn eyes and slow,Of great authority in their countenance;They spake but seldom, and with gentle voices.Thus we withdrew ourselves upon one sideInto an opening luminous and lofty,So that they all of them were visible.There opposite, upon the green enamel,68Were pointed out to me the mighty spirits,Whom to have seen I feel myself exalted.I saw Electra with companions many,’Mongst whom I knew both Hector and Aeneas,Caesar in armor with gerfalcon eyes;I saw Camilla and PenthesileaOn the other side, and saw the King Latinus,Who with Lavinia his daughter sat;I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin forth,Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia,69And saw alone, apart, the Saladin.70When I had lifted up my brows a little,The Master I beheld of those who know,Sit with his philosophic family.All gaze upon him, and all do him honor.There I beheld both Socrates and Plato,Who nearer him before the others stand;Democritus, who puts the world on chance,Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales,Zeno, Empedocles, and Heraclitus;Of qualities I saw the good collector,Hight Dioscorides; and Orpheus saw I,Tully and Livy, and moral Seneca,Euclid, geometrician, and Ptolemy,Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicenna,71Averroes, who the great Comment made.72I cannot all of them portray in full,Because so drives me onward the long theme,That many times the word comes short of fact.The sixfold company in two divides;Another way my sapient Guide conducts meForth from the quiet to the air that trembles;And to a place I come where nothing shines.

Canto V

The Second Circle⁠—Minos⁠—The wanton⁠—The infernal hurricane⁠—Francesca da Rimini.

Thus I descended out of the first circle73Down to the second, that less space begirds,74And so much greater dole, that goads to wailing.There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls;75Examines the transgressions at the entrance;Judges, and sends according as he girds him.I say, that when the spirit evil-bornCometh before him, wholly it confesses;And this discriminator of transgressionsSeeth what place in Hell is meet for it;Girds himself with his tail as many timesAs grades he wishes it should be thrust down.Always before him many of them stand;They go by turns each one unto the judgment;They speak, and hear, and then are downward hurled.“O thou, that to this dolorous hostelryComest,” said Minos to me, when he saw me,Leaving the practice of so great an office,“Look how thou enterest, and in whom thou trustest;Let not the portal’s amplitude deceive thee.”And unto him my Guide: “Why criest thou too?76Do not impede his journey fate-ordained;It is so willed there where is power to doThat which is willed; and ask no further question.”And now begin the dolesome notes to growAudible unto me; now am I comeThere where much lamentation strikes upon me.I came into a place mute of all light,77Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest,If by opposing winds ’tis combated.The infernal hurricane that never restsHurtles the spirits onward in its rapine;Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them.When they arrive before the precipice,There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments,There they blaspheme the puissance divine.I understood that unto such a tormentThe carnal malefactors were condemned,Who reason subjugate to appetite.And as the wings of starlings bear them onIn the cold season in large band and full,So doth that blast the spirits maledict;It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them;No hope doth comfort them forevermore,Not of repose, but even of lesser pain.And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays,Making in air a long line of themselves,So saw I coming, uttering lamentations,Shadows borne onward by the aforesaid stress.Whereupon said I: “Master, who are thosePeople, whom the black air so castigates?”78“The first of those, of whom intelligenceThou fain wouldst have,” then said he unto me,“The empress was of many languages.To sensual vices she was so abandoned,That lustful she made licit in her law,To remove the blame to which she had been led.She is Semiramis, of whom we readThat she succeeded Ninus, and was his spouse;She held the land which now the Sultan rules.The next is she who killed herself for love,79And broke faith with the ashes of Sichaeus;Then Cleopatra the voluptuous.”Helen I saw, for whom so many ruthlessSeasons revolved; and saw the great Achilles,80Who at the last hour combated with Love.Paris I saw, Tristan; and more than a thousand81Shades did he name and point out with his finger,Whom Love had separated from our life.After that I had listened to my Teacher,Naming the dames of eld and cavaliers,82Pity prevailed, and I was nigh bewildered.And I began: “O Poet, willinglySpeak would I to those two, who go together,And seem upon the wind to be so light.”And he to me: “Thou’lt mark, when they shall beNearer to us; and then do thou implore themBy love which leadeth them, and they will come.”Soon as the wind in our direction sways them,My voice uplift I: “O ye weary souls!Come speak to us, if no one interdicts it.”As turtledoves, called onward by desire,With open and steady wings to the sweet nestFly through the air by their volition borne,So came they from the band where Dido is,Approaching us athwart the air malign,So strong was the affectionate appeal.“O living creature gracious and benignant,Who visiting goest through the purple air83Us, who have stained the world incarnadine,If were the King of the Universe our friend,We would pray unto him to give thee peace,Since thou hast pity on our woe perverse.Of what it pleases thee to hear and speak,That will we hear, and we will speak to you,While silent is the wind, as it is now.Sitteth the city, wherein I was born,84Upon the seashore where the Po descendsTo rest in peace with all his retinue.85Love, that on gentle heart doth swiftly seize,Seized this man for the person beautifulThat was ta’en from me, and still the mode offends me.Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving,86Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly,87That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me;

Love has conducted us unto one death;Caïna waiteth him who quenched our life!”88These words were borne along from them to us.As soon as I had heard those souls tormented,I bowed my face, and so long held it downUntil the Poet said to me: “What thinkest?”When I made answer, I began: “Alas!How many pleasant thoughts, how much desire,Conducted these unto the dolorous pass!”Then unto them I turned me, and I spake,And I began: “Thine agonies, Francesca,Sad and compassionate to weeping make me.But tell me, at the time of those sweet sighs,By what and in what manner Love conceded,89That you should know your dubious desires?”And she to me: “There is no greater sorrow90Than to be mindful of the happy timeIn misery, and that thy Teacher knows.But, if to recognise the earliest rootOf love in us thou hast so great desire,I will do even as he who weeps and speaks.One day we reading were for our delightOf Launcelot, how Love did him enthrall.Alone we were and without any fear.Full many a time our eyes together drewThat reading, and drove the color from our faces;But one point only was it that o’ercame us.Whenas we read of the much longed-for smileBeing by such a noble lover kissed,This one, who ne’er from me shall be divided,Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating.Galeotto was the book and he who wrote it.That day no farther did we read therein.”And all the while one spirit uttered this,The other one did weep so, that, for pity,I swooned away as if I had been dying,And fell, even as a dead body falls.91

Canto VI

The Third Circle⁠—Cerberus⁠—The gluttonous⁠—The eternal rain⁠—Ciacco.

At the return of consciousness, that closedBefore the pity of those two relations,92Which utterly with sadness had confused me,New torments I behold, and new tormentedAround me, whichsoever way I move,And whichsoever way I turn, and gaze.In the third circle am I of the rain93Eternal, maledict, and cold, and heavy;Its law and quality are never new.Huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow,Athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain;Noisome the earth is, that receiveth this.Cerberus, monster cruel and uncouth,With his three gullets like a dog is barkingOver the people that are there submerged.Red eyes he has, and unctuous beard and black,And belly large, and armed with claws his hands;He rends the spirits, flays, and quarters them.Howl the rain maketh them like unto dogs;One side they make a shelter for the other;Oft turn themselves the wretched reprobates.When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm!His mouths he opened, and displayed his tusks;Not a limb had he that was motionless.And my Conductor, with his spans extended,Took of the earth, and with his fists well filled,He threw it into those rapacious gullets.Such as that dog is, who by barking craves,And quiet grows soon as his food he gnaws,For to devour it he but thinks and struggles,The like became those muzzles filth-begrimedOf Cerberus the demon, who so thundersOver the souls that they would fain be deaf.We passed across the shadows, which subduesThe heavy rainstorm, and we placed our feetUpon their vanity that person seems.They all were lying prone upon the earth,Excepting one, who sat upright as soonAs he beheld us passing on before him.“O thou that art conducted through this Hell,”He said to me, “recall me, if thou canst;Thyself wast made before I was unmade.”And I to him: “The anguish which thou hastPerhaps doth draw thee out of my remembrance,So that it seems not I have ever seen thee.But tell me who thou art, that in so dolefulA place art put, and in such punishment,If some are greater, none is so displeasing.”And he to me: “Thy city, which is fullOf envy so that now the sack runs over,Held me within it in the life serene.You citizens were wont to call me Ciacco;94For the pernicious sin of gluttonyI, as thou seest, am battered by this rain.And I, sad soul, am not the only one,For all these suffer the like penaltyFor the like sin”; and word no more spake he.I answered him: “Ciacco, thy wretchednessWeighs on me so that it to weep invites me;But tell me, if thou knowest, to what shall comeThe citizens of the divided city;If any there be just; and the occasionTell me why so much discord has assailed it.”And he to me: “They, after long contention,Will come to bloodshed; and the rustic party95Will drive the other out with much offence.Then afterwards behoves it this one fallWithin three suns, and rise again the otherBy force of him who now is on the coast.96High will it hold its forehead a long while,Keeping the other under heavy burdens,Howe’er it weeps thereat and is indignant.The just are two, and are not understood there;97Envy and Arrogance and AvariceAre the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled.”Here ended he his tearful utterance;And I to him: “I wish thee still to teach me,And make a gift to me of further speech.Farinata and Tegghiaio, once so worthy,Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca,98And others who on good deeds set their thoughts,Say where they are, and cause that I may know them;For great desire constraineth me to learnIf Heaven doth sweeten them, or Hell envenom.”And he: “They are among the blacker souls;A different sin downweighs them to the bottom;If thou so far descendest, thou canst see them.But when thou art again in the sweet world,I pray thee to the mind of others bring me;No more I tell thee and no more I answer.”Then his straightforward eyes he turned askance,Eyed me a little, and then bowed his head;He fell therewith prone like the other blind.And the Guide said to me: “He wakes no moreThis side the sound of the angelic trumpet;When shall approach the hostile Potentate,Each one shall find again his dismal tomb,Shall reassume his flesh and his own figure,Shall hear what through eternity reechoes.”So we passed onward o’er the filthy mixtureOf shadows and of rain with footsteps slow,Touching a little on the future life.Wherefore I said: “Master, these torments here,Will they increase after the mighty sentence,Or lesser be, or will they be as burning?”And he to me: “Return unto thy science,99Which wills, that as the thing more perfect is,The more it feels of pleasure and of pain.Albeit that this people maledictTo true perfection never can attain,Hereafter more than now they look to be.”Round in a circle by that road we went,Speaking much more, which I do not repeat;We came unto the point where the descent is;There we found Plutus the great enemy.100

Canto VII

The Fourth Circle⁠—Plutus⁠—The avaricious and the prodigal⁠—Fortune and her wheel⁠—The Fifth Circle⁠—Styx⁠—The irascible and the sullen.

“Papë Satàn, Papë Satàn, Aleppë!”101Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began;And that benignant Sage, who all things knew,Said, to encourage me: “Let not thy fearHarm thee; for any power that he may haveShall not prevent thy going down this crag.”Then he turned round unto that bloated lip,And said: “Be silent, thou accursed wolf;Consume within thyself with thine own rage.Not causeless is this journey to the abyss;Thus is it willed on high, where Michael wrought102Vengeance upon the proud adultery.”Even as the sails inflated by the windTogether fall involved when snaps the mast,So fell the cruel monster to the earth.Thus we descended into the fourth chasm,Gaining still farther on the dolesome shoreWhich all the woe of the universe insacks.Justice of God, ah! who heaps up so manyNew toils and sufferings as I beheld?And why doth our transgression waste us so?As doth the billow there upon Charybdis,That breaks itself on that which it encounters,So here the folk must dance their roundelay.103Here saw I people, more than elsewhere, many,On one side and the other, with great howls,Rolling weights forward by main-force of chest.104They clashed together, and then at that pointEach one turned backward, rolling retrograde,Crying, “Why keepest?” and, “Why squanderest thou?”Thus they returned along the lurid circleOn either hand unto the opposite point,Shouting their shameful metre evermore.Then each, when he arrived there, wheeled aboutThrough his half-circle to another joust;And I, who had my heart pierced as it were,Exclaimed: “My Master, now declare to meWhat people these are, and if all were clerks,These shaven crowns upon the left of us.”105And he to me: “All of them were asquintIn intellect in the first life, so muchThat there with measure they no spending made.Clearly enough their voices bark it forth,Whene’er they reach the two points of the circle,Where sunders them the opposite defect.Clerks those were who no hairy coveringHave on the head, and Popes and Cardinals,In whom doth Avarice practise its excess.”And I: “My Master, among such as theseI ought forsooth to recognise some few,Who were infected with these maladies.”And he to me: “Vain thought thou entertainest;The undiscerning life which made them sordidNow makes them unto all discernment dim.Forever shall they come to these two buttings;These from the sepulchre shall rise againWith the fist closed, and these with tresses shorn.Ill giving and ill keeping the fair world106Have ta’en from them, and placed them in this scuffle;Whate’er it be, no words adorn I for it.Now canst thou, Son, behold the transient farceOf goods that are committed unto Fortune,For which the human race each other buffet;For all the gold that is beneath the moon,Or ever has been, of these weary soulsCould never make a single one repose.”“Master,” I said to him, “now tell me alsoWhat is this Fortune which thou speakest of,107That has the world’s goods so within its clutches?”And he to me: “O creatures imbecile,What ignorance is this which doth beset you?Now will I have thee learn my judgment of her.He whose omniscience everything transcendsThe heavens created, and gave who should guide them,108That every part to every part may shine,Distributing the light in equal measure;He in like manner to the mundane splendorsOrdained a general ministress and guide,That she might change at times the empty treasuresFrom race to race, from one blood to another,Beyond resistance of all human wisdom.Therefore one people triumphs, and anotherLanguishes, in pursuance of her judgment,Which hidden is, as in the grass a serpent.Your knowledge has no counterstand against her;She makes provision, judges, and pursuesHer governance, as theirs the other gods.Her permutations have not any truce;Necessity makes her precipitate,So often cometh who his turn obtains.And this is she who is so crucifiedEven by those who ought to give her praise,Giving her blame amiss, and bad repute.But she is blissful, and she hears it not;Among the other primal creatures gladsomeShe turns her sphere, and blissful she rejoices.Let us descend now unto greater woe;Already sinks each star that was ascending109When I set out, and loitering is forbidden.”We crossed the circle to the other bank,Near to a fount that boils, and pours itselfAlong a gully that runs out of it.The water was more sombre far than perse;110And we, in company with the dusky waves,Made entrance downward by a path uncouth.A marsh it makes, which has the name of Styx,This tristful brooklet, when it has descendedDown to the foot of the malign gray shores.And I, who stood intent upon beholding,Saw people mud-besprent in that lagoon,All of them naked and with angry look.They smote each other not alone with hands,But with the head and with the breast and feet,Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth.Said the good Master: “Son, thou now beholdest111The souls of those whom anger overcame;And likewise I would have thee know for certainBeneath the water people are who sighAnd make this water bubble at the surface,As the eye tells thee wheresoe’er it turns.Fixed in the mire they say, ‘We sullen wereIn the sweet air, which by the sun is gladdened,Bearing within ourselves the sluggish reek;Now we are sullen in this sable mire.’This hymn do they keep gurgling in their throats,For with unbroken words they cannot say it.”Thus we went circling round the filthy fenA great arc ’twixt the dry bank and the swamp,With eyes turned unto those who gorge the mire;Unto the foot of a tower we came at last.

Canto VIII

Phlegyas⁠—Philippe Argenti⁠—The gate of the city of Dis.

I say, continuing, that long before112We to the foot of that high tower had come,Our eyes went upward to the summit of it,By reason of two flamelets we saw placed there,113And from afar another answer them,So far, that hardly could the eye attain it.And, to the sea of all discernment turned,I said: “What sayeth this, and what respondethThat other fire? and who are they that made it?”And he to me: “Across the turbid wavesWhat is expected thou canst now discern,If reek of the morass conceal it not.”Cord never shot an arrow from itselfThat sped away athwart the air so swift,As I beheld a very little boatCome o’er the water tow’rds us at that moment,Under the guidance of a single pilot,Who shouted, “Now art thou arrived, fell soul?”“Phlegyas, Phlegyas, thou criest out in vain114For this once,” said my Lord; “thou shalt not have usLonger than in the passing of the slough.”As he who listens to some great deceitThat has been done to him, and then resents it,Such became Phlegyas, in his gathered wrath.My Guide descended down into the boat,And then he made me enter after him,And only when I entered seemed it laden.115Soon as the Guide and I were in the boat,The antique prow goes on its way, dividingMore of the water than ’tis wont with others.While we were running through the dead canal,Uprose in front of me one full of mire,And said, “Who ’rt thou that comest ere the hour?”And I to him: “Although I come, I stay not;But who art thou that hast become so squalid?”“Thou seest that I am one who weeps,” he answered.And I to him: “With weeping and with wailing,Thou spirit maledict, do thou remain;For thee I know, though thou art all defiled.”Then stretched he both his hands unto the boat;Whereat my wary Master thrust him back,Saying, “Away there with the other dogs!”Thereafter with his arms he clasped my neck;

He kissed my face, and said: “Disdainful soul,Blessed be she who bore thee in her bosom.That was an arrogant person in the world;Goodness is none, that decks his memory;So likewise here his shade is furious.How many are esteemed great kings up there,116Who here shall be like unto swine in mire,Leaving behind them horrible dispraises!”117And I: “My Master, much should I be pleased,If I could see him soused into this broth,Before we issue forth out of the lake.”And he to me: “Ere unto thee the shoreReveal itself, thou shalt be satisfied;Such a desire ’tis meet thou shouldst enjoy.”A little after that, I saw such havocMade of him by the people of the mire,That still I praise and thank my God for it.They all were shouting, “At Philippo Argenti!”118And that exasperate spirit FlorentineTurned round upon himself with his own teeth.We left him there, and more of him I tell not;But on mine ears there smote a lamentation,Whence forward I intent unbar mine eyes.And the good Master said: “Even now, my son,The city draweth near whose name is Dis,With the grave citizens, with the great throng.”And I: “Its mosques already, Master, clearly119Within there in the valley I discernVermilion, as if issuing from the fireThey were.” And he to me: “The fire eternalThat kindles them within makes them look red,As thou beholdest in this nether Hell.”Then we arrived within the moats profound,That circumvallate that disconsolate city;The walls appeared to me to be of iron.120Not without making first a circuit wide,We came unto a place where loud the pilotCried out to us, “Debark, here is the entrance.”More than a thousand at the gates I sawOut of the Heavens rained down, who angrilyWere saying, “Who is this that without deathGoes through the kingdom of the people dead?”And my sagacious Master made a signOf wishing secretly to speak with them.A little then they quelled their great disdain,And said: “Come thou alone, and he begoneWho has so boldly entered these dominions.Let him return alone by his mad road;Try, if he can; for thou shalt here remain,Who hast escorted him through such dark regions.”Think, Reader, if I was discomfortedAt utterance of the accursed words;For never to return here I believed.“O my dear Guide, who more than seven timesHast rendered me security, and drawn meFrom imminent peril that before me stood,Do not desert me,” said I, “thus undone;And if the going farther be denied us,Let us retrace our steps together swiftly.”And that Lord, who had led me thitherward,Said unto me: “Fear not; because our passageNone can take from us, it by Such is given.But here await me, and thy weary spiritComfort and nourish with a better hope;For in this nether world I will not leave thee.”So onward goes and there abandons meMy Father sweet, and I remain in doubt,For No and Yes within my head contend.I could not hear what he proposed to them;But with them there he did not linger long,Ere each within in rivalry ran back.They closed the portals, those our adversaries,On my Lord’s breast, who had remained withoutAnd turned to me with footsteps far between.His eyes cast down, his forehead shorn had heOf all its boldness, and he said, with sighs,“Who has denied to me the dolesome houses?”And unto me: “Thou, because I am angry,Fear not, for I will conquer in the trial,Whatever for defence within be planned.This arrogance of theirs is nothing new;121For once they used it at less secret gate,122Which finds itself without a fastening still.O’er it didst thou behold the dead inscription;And now this side of it descends the steep,Passing across the circles without escort,One by whose means the city shall be opened.”123

Canto IX

The furies⁠—The angel⁠—The city of Dis⁠—The Sixth Circle⁠—Heresiarchs.

That hue which cowardice brought out on me,124Beholding my Conductor backward turn,Sooner repressed within him his new color.He stopped attentive, like a man who listens,Because the eye could not conduct him farThrough the black air, and through the heavy fog.“Still it behoveth us to win the fight,”Began he; “Else⁠ ⁠… Such offered us herself⁠ ⁠…125O how I long that someone here arrive!”126Well I perceived, as soon as the beginningHe covered up with what came afterward,That they were words quite different from the first;But none the less his saying gave me fear,Because I carried out the broken phrase,Perhaps to a worse meaning than he had.“Into this bottom of the doleful conch127Doth any e’er descend from the first grade,Which for its pain has only hope cut off?”This question put I; and he answered me:“Seldom it comes to pass that one of usMaketh the journey upon which I go.True is it, once before I here belowWas conjured by that pitiless Erictho,Who summoned back the shades unto their bodies.Naked of me short while the flesh had been,Before within that wall she made me enter,To bring a spirit from the circle of Judas;That is the lowest region and the darkest,And farthest from the heaven which circles all.Well know I the way; therefore be reassured.This fen, which a prodigious stench exhales,Encompasses about the city dolent,Where now we cannot enter without anger.”And more he said, but not in mind I have it;Because mine eye had altogether drawn meTow’rds the high tower with the red-flaming summit,Where in a moment saw I swift uprisenThe three infernal Furies stained with blood,Who had the limbs of women and their mien,And with the greenest hydras were begirt;Small serpents and cerastes were their tresses,Wherewith their horrid temples were entwined.And he who well the handmaids of the QueenOf everlasting lamentation knew,Said unto me: “Behold the fierce Erinnys.This is Megaera, on the left-hand side;She who is weeping on the right, Alecto;Tisiphone is between”; and then was silent.Each one her breast was rending with her nails;They beat them with their palms, and cried so loud,That I for dread pressed close unto the Poet.“Medusa come, so we to stone will change him!”128All shouted looking down; “in evil hourAvenged we not on Theseus his assault!”129“Turn thyself round, and keep thine eyes close shut,For if the Gorgon appear, and thou shouldst see it,No more returning upward would there be.”Thus said the Master; and he turned me roundHimself, and trusted not unto my handsSo far as not to blind me with his own.O ye who have undistempered intellects,Observe the doctrine that conceals itself130Beneath the veil of the mysterious verses!And now there came across the turbid wavesThe clangor of a sound with terror fraught,Because of which both of the margins trembled;Not otherwise it was than of a wind