The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno

The Ninth Circle--the Fourth Ring or Judecca, the deepest point of the Inferno and the Centre of the Universe--it is the place of those treacherous to their Lords or Benefactors...

'_Vexilla_[858] _Regis prodeunt Inferni_ Towards where we are; seek then with vision keen,' My Master bade, 'if trace of him thou spy.' As, when the exhalations dense have been,...

His mouth uplifting from the savage feast, The sinner[829] rubbed and wiped it free of gore On the hair of the head he from behind laid waste; And then began: 'Thou'dst have me...

Now lies[454] our way along one of the margins hard; Steam rising from the rivulet forms a cloud, Which 'gainst the fire doth brook and borders guard. Like walls the Flemings, t...

Now, having first erect and silent grown (For it would say no more), from us the flame, The Poet sweet consenting,[688] had moved on; And then our eyes were turned to one that c...

From the First Circle thus I downward went Into the Second,[248] which girds narrower space, But greater woe compelling loud lament. Minos[249] waits awful there and snarls, the...

Now could I hear the water as it fell To the next circle[479] with a murmuring sound Like what is heard from swarming hives to swell; When three shades all together with a bound...

In middle[160] of the journey of our days I found that I was in a darksome wood[161]-- The right road lost and vanished in the maze. Ah me! how hard to make it understood How ro...

Because of Semele[759] when Juno's ire Was fierce 'gainst all that were to Thebes allied, As had been proved by many an instance dire; So mad grew Athamas[760] that when he spie...

The many folk and wounds of divers kind Had flushed mine eyes and set them on the flow, Till I to weep and linger had a mind; But Virgil said to me: 'Why gazing so? Why still th...

Could any, even in words unclogged by rhyme Recount the wounds that now I saw,[715] and blood, Although he aimed at it time after time? Here every tongue must fail of what it wo...

And now advance we by a narrow track Between the torments and the ramparts high, My Master first, and I behind his back. 'O mighty Virtue,[352] at whose will am I Wheeled throug...

Me of my native place the dear constraint[433] Led to restore the leaves which round were strewn, To him whose voice by this time was grown faint. Thence came we where the secon...

O Simon Magus![534] ye his wretched crew! The gifts of God, ordained to be the bride Of righteousness, ye prostitute that you With gold and silver may be satisfied; Therefore fo...

Had I sonorous rough rhymes at command, Such as would suit the cavern terrible Rooted on which all the other ramparts stand, The sap of fancies which within me swell Closer I'd...

Resounding thunder broke the slumber deep That drowsed my senses, and myself I shook Like one by force awakened out of sleep. Then rising up I cast a steady look, With eyes refr...

Conversing still from bridge to bridge[575] we went; But what our words I in my Comedy Care not to tell. The top of the ascent Holding, we halted the next pit to spy Of Malebolg...

Rejoice, O Florence, in thy widening fame! Thy wings thou beatest over land and sea, And even through Inferno spreads thy name. Burghers of thine, five such were found by me Amo...

Now of new torment must my verses tell, And matter for the Twentieth Canto win Of Lay the First,[551] which treats of souls in Hell. Already was I eager to begin To peer into th...

The robber,[649] when his words were ended so, Made both the figs and lifted either fist, Shouting: 'There, God! for them at thee I throw.' Then were the snakes my friends; for...

Silent, alone, not now with company We onward went, one first and one behind, As Minor Friars[610] use to make their way. On Æsop's fable[611] wholly was my mind Intent, by reas...

'Behold the monster[496] with the pointed tail, Who passes mountains[497] and can entrance make Through arms and walls! who makes the whole world ail, Corrupted by him!' Thus my...

The hue which cowardice on my face did paint When I beheld my guide return again, Put his new colour[331] quicker 'neath restraint. Like one who listens did he fixed remain; For...

The place of our descent[392] before us lay Precipitous, and there was something more From sight of which all eyes had turned away. As at the ruin which upon the shore Of Adige[...

Ere Nessus landed on the other shore We for our part within a forest[418] drew, Which of no pathway any traces bore. Not green the foliage, but of dusky hue; Not smooth the boug...

Horsemen I've seen in march across the field, Hastening to charge, or, answering muster, stand, And sometimes too when forced their ground to yield; I have seen skirmishers upon...

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 a...

Of iron colour, and composed of stone, A place called Malebolge[515] is in Hell, Girt by a cliff of substance like its own. In that malignant region yawns a well[516] Right in t...

It was the close of day;[183] the twilight brown All living things on earth was setting free From toil, while I preparing was alone[184] To face the battle which awaited me, As...

We at the margin of a lofty steep Made of great shattered stones in circle bent, Arrived where worser torments crowd the deep. So horrible a stench and violent Was upward wafted...

I say, continuing,[312] that long before To its foundations we approachèd nigh Our eyes went travelling to the top of the tower; For, hung out there, two flames[313] we could es...

The very tongue that first had caused me pain, Biting till both my cheeks were crimsoned o'er, With healing medicine me restored again. So have I heard, the lance Achilles[781]...

In season of the new year, when the sun Beneath Aquarius[630] warms again his hair, And somewhat on the nights the days have won; When on the ground the hoar-frost painteth fair...

[296] _Pride_: Which in its way was a kind of greed--that of dominion. Similarly, the avarice represented by the wolf of Canto i. was seen to be the lust of aggrandisement. Virg...

Through me to the city dolorous lies the way, Who pass through me shall pains eternal prove, Through me are reached the people lost for aye. 'Twas Justice did my Glorious Maker...

Pape[293] Satan! Pape Satan! Aleppe! Plutus[294] began in accents rough and hard: And that mild Sage, all-knowing, said to me, For my encouragement: 'Pay no regard Unto thy fear...

[205] _Hard, etc._: The injunction to leave all hope behind makes Dante hesitate to enter. Virgil anticipates the objection before it is fully expressed, and reminds him that th...

of descent. It is a disputed point how far they do descend. Clearly it is further than merely from the bridge to the lower level of the wall dividing the Seventh from the Eighth...

[795] _Tityus, etc._: These were other giants, stated by Lucan to be less strong than Antæus. This introduction of their names is therefore a piece of flattery to the monster. A...

[790] _Antæus_: Is to be asked to lift them over the wall, because, unlike Nimrod, he can understand what is said to him, and, unlike Ephialtes, is not bound. Antæus is free-han...

[197] _Lucia_: The martyr saint of Syracuse. Witte (_Dante-Forschungen_, vol. ii. 30) suggests that Lucia Ubaldini may be meant, a thirteenth-century Florentine saint, and siste...

The Ninth Circle--that of the Traitors, is divided into four concentric rings, in which the sinners are plunged more or less deep in the ice of the frozen Cocytus--the Outer Rin...

The Eighth Circle, otherwise named Malebolge, which consists of ten concentric Pits or Moats connected by bridges of rock--in these are punished those guilty of Fraud of differe...

The Seventh Circle continued--the Third Division of it, consisting of a Waste of Sand on which descends an unceasing Shower of Fire-- in it are those guilty of Violence against...

The Seventh Circle, First Division--the Minotaur--the River of Blood, which forms the Outer Ring of the Seventh Circle-- in it are those guilty of Violence against others--the C...

The City of Dis, which is the Sixth Circle and that of the Heretics--the Furies and the Medusa head--the Messenger of Heaven who opens the gates for Virgil and Dante--the entran...

The Eighth Circle--Fifth Bolgia, where the Barrators, or corrupt officials, are plunged in the boiling pitch which fills the Bolgia--a Senator of Lucca is thrown in--the Malebra...

The Fourth Circle, which is that of the Avaricious and the Thriftless--Plutus--the Great Weights rolled by the sinners in opposite directions--Fortune--the Fifth Circle, which i...

The Ninth Circle, outside of which they remain till the end of this Canto--this, the Central Pit of Inferno, is encircled and guarded by Giants--Nimrod, Ephialtes, and Antæus--e...

The Eighth Circle--escape from the Fifth to the Sixth Bolgia, where the Hypocrites walk at a snail's pace, weighed down by Gilded Cloaks of lead--the Merry Friars Catalano and L...

The Seventh Circle continued--the Second Division consisting of a Tangled Wood in which are those guilty of Violence against themselves--the Harpies--Pier delle Vigne--Lano--Jac...