We were not far On this side from the summit, when I kenn'd A flame, that o'er the darken'd hemisphere Prevailing shined.Yet we a little space Were distant, not so far but I in part Discover'd that a tribe in honour high That place possess'd."O thou, who every art And science valuest I who are these that boast Such honour, separate from all the rest?"He answer'd: "The renown of their great names, That echoes through your world above, acquires Favour in heaven, which holds them thus advanced."Meantime a voice I heard: "Honour the bard Sublime! his shade returns, that left us late!
No sooner ceased the sound, than I beheld Four mighty spirits toward us bend their steps, Of semblance neither sorrowful nor glad.
When thus my master kind began: "Mark him, Who in his right hand bears that falchion keen, The other three preceding, as their lord.
This is that Homer, of all bards supreme:
Flaccus the next, in satire's vein excelling;The third is Naso; Lucan is the last.
Because they all that appellation own, With which the voice singly accosted me, Honouring they greet me thus, and well they judge."So I beheld united the bright school Of him the monarch of sublimest song,
That o'er the others like an eagle soars.
When they together short discourse had held, They turned to me, with salutation kind Beckoning me; at the which my master smiled Nor was this all; but greater honour still They gave me, for they made me of their tribe;And I was sixth amid so learn'd a band.
The bard sublime--Virgil.
The monarch of sublimest song--Homer.
II.Francesca da Rimini.
Francesca da Polenta was given in marriage by her father to Lanclotto da Rimini, a man brave, but of deformed person.His brother Paolo, who was exceedingly handsome, won her affections.
They were both put to death by Lagnciotto.
From the Inferno.
From Limbo the poet descends into the second circle, where the sin of lust is punished.The souls in this circle are driven forever round in a tyrannous gust of wind.They see Cleopatra and Helen and Paris and Tristan and many others whom Virgil names to the poet.Finally he sees two spirits approaching, whom he asks permission to address.To these he spoke:
"O wearied spirits! come, and hold discourse With us, if by none else restrain'd." As doves By fond desire invited, on wide wings And firm, to their sweet nest returning home, Cleave the air, wafted by their will along;Thus issued, from that troop where Dido ranks, They, through the ill air speeding--with such force My cry prevail'd, by strong affection urged.
"O gracious creature and benign! who go'st Visiting, through this element obscure, Us, who the world with bloody stain imbrued;If, for a friend, the King of all, we own'd, Our prayer to him should for thy peace arise, Since thou hast pity on our evil plight.
Of whatsoe'er to hear or to discourse It pleases thee, that will we hear, of that Freely with thee discourse, while e'er the wind, As now, is mute.The land that gave me birth, Is situate on the coast, where Po descends To rest in ocean with his sequent streams.
"Love, that in gentle heart is quickly learnt, Entangled him by that fair form, from me Ta'en in such cruel sort, as grieves me still!
Love, that denial takes from none beloved, Caught me with pleasing him so passing well, That, as thou seest' he yet deserts me not.
Love brought us to one death: Caina waits The soul, who split our life."Such were their words;
At hearing which, downward I bent my looks, And held them there so long, that the bard cried:
"What art thou pondering?" I in answer thus:
"Alas I by what sweet thoughts, what fond desire Must they at length to that ill pass have reach'd!"Then turning, I to them my speech addressed, And thus began: "Francesca! your sad fate Even to tears my grief and pity moves.
But tell me; in the time of your sweet sighs, By what, and how Love granted, that ye knew Your yet uncertain wishes?" She replied:
"No greater grief than to remember days Of joy, when misery is at hand.That kens Thy learn'd instructor.Yet so eagerly If thou art bent to know the primal root, From whence our love gat being, I will do As one, who weeps and tells his tale.One day, For our delight we read of Lancelot,
How him love thrall'd.Alone we were, and no Suspicion near us.Oft-times by that reading Our eyes were drawn together, and the hue Fled from our alter'd cheek.But at one point Alone we fell.When of that smile we read, The wished smile so rapturously kiss'd By one so deep in love, then he, who ne'er From me shall separate, at once my lips All trembling kiss'd.The book and writer both Were love's purveyors.In its leaves that day We read no more." While thus one spirit spake, The other wailed so sorely, that heart-struck I, through compassion fainting, seem'd not far From death, and like a corse fell to the ground.
The land that gave me birth--Ravenna.
Caina, the place to which murderers are doomed.
Lancelot, one of the knights of the Round Table, the lover of Queen Guinevere.
III.Farinata.--From the Inferno.
The poet and his guide descend through the third circle where the sin of gluttony is punished; through the fourth, where they find the prodigal and avaricious; through the fifth where immersed in a filthy pool are the souls of the irascible.The sixth circle is the city of Dis, with walls of heated iron, filled within with open fiery tombs from which issue the groans of the heretics who are punished here.With two of these, Farinata degli Uberti and Cavaleante Cavaleanti, Dante holds converse.
Farinata degli Uberti, a Florentine of great military ability, a leader of the Ghibelline, or imperial, party.
Cavaleante Cavaleanti, a Florentine, of the Guelph, or Papal, party.
Now by a secret pathway we proceed, Between the walls that hem the region round, And the tormented souls: my master first, I close behind his steps."Virtue supreme!"I thus began: "who through these ample orbs In circuit lead'st me, even as thou will'st;Speak thou, and satisfy my wish.May those, Who lie within these sepulchres, be seen?
