The Divine Comedy Selected Cantos: A Dual-Language Book

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INFERNO

Canto I

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita

mi ritrovai per una selva oscura

chè la diritta via era smarrita.

Ah quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura

esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte

che nel pensier rinova la paura!

Tant’è amara che poco è più morte;

ma per trattar del ben ch’io vi trovai,

dirò dell’altre cose ch’i’ v’ho scorte.

lo non so ben ridir com’io v’entrai,

tant’era pieno di sonno a quel punto

che la verace via abbandonai.

Ma poi ch’i’ fui al piè d’un colle giunto,

là dove terminava quella valle

che m’avea di paura il cor compunto,

guardai in alto, e vidi le sue spalle

vestite già de’ raggi del pianeta

che mena dritto altrui per ogni calle.

Allor fu la paura un poco queta

che nel lago del cor m’era durata

la notte ch’i’ passai con tanta pièta.

E come quei che con lena affannata

uscito fuor del pelago alla riva

si volge all’acqua perigliosa e guata,

così l’animo mio, ch’ancor fuggiva,

si volse a retro a rimirar lo passo

che non lasciò già mai persona viva.

HELL

Canto I

Midway in our life’s journey¹

I found I was² in a dark forest,

for I had strayed from the straight path.

Oh, how hard a thing it is to tell what it was like,

this wild, rough forest, difficult to traverse,

the thought of which brings back my fear!

It is so bitter that death is little less so;

but, to discourse on the benefits I found there,

I shall speak of the other things I perceived in it.

I cannot well report how I entered it,

so full of slumber was I at that moment

when I forsook the true way.

But after I had arrived at the foot of a hill

that formed the end of that valley

which had pierced my heart with fear,

I looked upward and saw the higher slopes

already mantled in the rays of the planet³

that guides one straight along every road.

Then that fear was somewhat calmed

which had remained in the pool of my heart

all that night I had spent in such anguish.

And like a man who, with panting breath,

having stepped forth out of the sea onto the shore,

turns back toward the perilous waters and gazes,

thus my mind, which was still fleeing,

turned back to look upon the passage⁴

that had never released a living person.

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1. That is, at age 35, taking 70 as a normal life span.

2. Or: I came to my senses.

3. The sun.

4. The forest.

Poi ch’èi posato un poco il corpo lasso,

ripresi via per la spiaggia diserta,

si che ’l piè fermo sempre era ’l più basso.

Ed ecco, quasi al cominciar dell’erta,

una lonza leggiera e presta molto,

che di pel maculato era coverta;

e non mi si partìa d’innanzi al volto,

anzi impediva tanto il mio cammino,

ch’i’ fui per ritornar più volte volto.

Temp’era dal principio del mattino,

e ’l sol montava ’n su con quelle stelle

ch’eran con lui quando l’amor divino

mosse di prima quelle cose belle;

sì ch’a bene sperar m’era cagione

di quella fera alia gaetta pelle

l’ora del tempo e la dolce stagione;

ma non sì che paura non mi desse

la vista che m’apparve d’un leone.

Questi parea che contra me venesse

con la test’alta e con rabbiosa fame,

sì che parea che l’aere ne temesse.

Ed una lupa, che di tutte brame

sembiava carca nella sua magrezza,

e molte genti fè già viver grame,

questa mi porse tanto di gravezza

con la paura ch’uscìa di sua vista,

ch’io perdei la speranza dell’altezza.

E qual è quei che volontieri acquista,

e giugne ’l tempo che perder lo face,

che ’n tutt’i suoi pensier piange e s’attrista;

tal mi fece la bestia sanza pace,

che, venendomi incontro, a poco a poco

mi ripigneva là dove ’l sol tace.

Mentre ch’i’ ruvinava in basso loco,

dinanzi alli occhi mi si fu offerto

chi per lungo silenzio parea fioco.

After I had rested my weary body a little,

I resumed my journey along the deserted rising ground,

in such a way that the foot with a firm hold was always the lower one.

And behold, almost at the beginning of the rise,

a nimble and very swift leopard,

which was covered with spotted fur;⁵

and it did not depart from before my face;

rather, it so obstructed my path

that I turned to go back several times.

The hour was very early in the morning,

and the sun was climbing upward in the company of those stars

which were with it when Divine Love

first set those beautiful objects in motion;⁶

so that the time of day and the mild season

gave me cause to entertain optimistic hopes

about that beast with the speckled coat;

but not so much so that I failed to take fright

at the sight of a lion that appeared before me.

It seemed to be coming at me

with its head held high and with a ravenous hunger,

so that the very air seemed to be afraid of it.

And a she-wolf, which, emaciated as she was,

seemed laden down with every sort of passion,

and had already made many people live in melancholy,

aroused so much distress in me

through the horror that issued from the sight of her

that I lost all hopes of gaining the heights.

And like a man who is fond of acquiring possessions,

and, when the time comes that causes him to lose them,

weeps and is saddened in all his thoughts,

thus was I affected by the animal devoid of peace,

which, coming at me, little by little

was urging me back to the place where the sun is absent.

While I was plunging down into the depths,

there appeared before my eyes

one who, through long silence, appeared feeble.⁷

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5. The three beasts obviously refer to three sins or moral shortcomings of Dantes, but the specific interpretations are hotly disputed.

6. It is late March or early April; the sun is in Aries; it was believed that the world was created in the springtime.

7. Vergil represents human reason, which becomes feeble through neglect and lack of use.

Quando vidi costui nel gran diserto,

«Miserere di me» gridai a lui,

«qual che tu sii, od ombra od omo certo!»

Rispuosemi: «Non omo, omo già fui,

e li parenti miei furon lombardi,

mantovani per patrïa ambedui.

Nacqui sub Julio, ancor che fosse tardi,

e vissi a Roma sotto ’l buono Augusto

al tempo delli dei falsi e bugiardi.

Poeta fui, e cantai di quel giusto

figliuol d’Anchise che venne da Troia,

poi che ’l superbo Ilion fu combusto.

Ma tu perchè ritomi a tanta noia?

perchè non sali il dilettoso monte

ch’è principio e cagion di tutta gioia?»

«Or se’ tu quel Virgilio e quella fonte

che spandi di parlar sì largo fiume?»

rispuos’io lui con vergognosa fronte.

«O delli altri poeti onore e lume,

vagliami ’l lungo studio e ’l grande amore

che m’ha fatto cercar lo tuo volume.

Tu se’ lo mio maestro e ’l mio autore;

tu se’ solo colui da cu’ io tolsi

lo bello stilo che m’ha fatto onore.

Vedi la bestia per cu’ io mi volsi:

aiutami da lei, famoso saggio,

ch’ella mi fa tremar le vene e i polsi.»

«A te convien tenere altro vïaggio»

rispuose poi che lagrimar mi vide,

«se vuo’ campar d’esto loco selvaggio:

chè questa bestia, per la qual tu gride,

non lascia altrui passar per la sua via,

ma tanto lo ’mpedisce che l’uccide;

e ha natura sì malvagia e ria,

che mai non empie la bramosa voglia,

e dopo ’l pasto ha più fame che pria.

Molti son li animali a cui s’ammoglia,

e più saranno ancora, infin che ’l Veltro

When I saw him in the great wasteland,

I called to him, "Take pity on me,

whoever you are, departed spirit or living man!"

He answered me: "I am no man, I once was a man,

and my parents were from northern Italy,

both natives of Mantua.

I was born when Julius Caesar ruled, though this was late in his reign,

and I lived in Rome under good Augustus

in the time of the false and lying gods.

I was a poet, and I sang about that righteous

son of Anchises⁸ who came from Troy

after haughty Ilium was burned.

But why are you returning to such distress?

Why do you not climb the delightful mountain

that is the beginning and cause of all joy?"

"Now, are you that famous Vergil, that fountain

which gushes forth so rich a stream of language?"

I answered him with a shamefaced brow.

"O honor and light of all other poets,

may I derive benefit from the long study and great love

that made me meditate upon your writings!

You are my teacher and my authority;

you alone are the man from whom I acquired

the elegant style that has won me honor.

See the beast that was the cause of my turning back:

help me against her, famous sage,

for she makes my veins and arteries tremble."

You must undertake a different journey,

he replied after seeing me shed tears,

"if you wish to escape from this wild spot:

for this beast, on account of which you are lamenting,

allows no man to pass her way,

but obstructs him until she kills him;

and her nature is so malevolent and evil

that she never satisfies her lustful cravings,

and, after her meal, is hungrier than before.

Many are the animals with which she mates,

and there will be more to come, until the Hound⁹

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8. The son of Anchises is Aeneas, hero of the Aeneid, Vergil’s major poem.

9. This messianic hero has been variously identified, often as Dantes Veronese host Cangrande della Sale.

verrà, che la farà morir con doglia.

Questi non ciberà terra nè peltro,

ma sapïenza, amore e virtute,

e sua nazion sarà tra feltro e feltro.

Di quella umile Italia fia salute

per cui morì la vergine Cammilla,

Eurialo e Turno e Niso di ferute.

Questi la caccerà per ogni villa,

fin che l’avrà rimessa nello ’nferno,

là onde invidia prima dipartilla.

Ond’io per lo tuo me’ penso e discerno

che tu mi segui, e io sarò tua guida,

e trarrotti di qui per luogo ettemo,

ove udirai le disperate strida,

vedrai li antichi spiriti dolenti,

che la seconda morte ciascun grida;

e vederai color che son contenti

nel foco, perchè speran di venire

quando che sia alle beate genti.

Alle qua’ poi se tu vorrai salire,

anima fia a ciò più di me degna:

con lei ti lascerò nel mio partire;

chè quello imperador che là su regna,

perch’io fu’ ribellante alla sua legge,

non vuol che ’n sua città per me si vegna.

In tutte parti impera e quivi regge;

quivi è la sua città e l’alto seggio:

oh felice colui cu’ ivi elegge!»

E io a lui: «Poeta, io ti richeggio

per quello Dio che tu non conoscesti,

acciò ch’io fugga questo male e peggio,

che tu mi meni là dove or dicesti,

sì ch’io veggia la porta di san Pietro

e color cui tu fai cotanto mesti.»

Allor si mosse, e io li tenni retro.

arrives that will make her die in grief.

He will not feed on lands or coin,

but on wisdom, love, and valor,

and he will be born between poor cloths of felt.¹⁰

He will be the salvation of that humble Italy

for whom the virgin Camilla,

Euryalus, Turnus, and Nisus died of their wounds.¹¹

He will hunt her down through every city

until he puts her back into Hell,

from which the Devil’s envy first let her loose.

Therefore, for your own good, I think and judge

that you should follow me; I shall be your guide

and I shall draw you away from here through an everlasting place

where you will hear the screams of despair

and see the ancient sorrowing spirits,

each of whom laments his second death;

next, you will see those who are contented

in the midst of their fire because they have hopes of arriving

among the blessed people whenever their time comes.

Then, if you wish to ascend to the last-named,

there will be a soul worthier of that than I am:

I shall leave you with her when I depart;

for that Emperor who reigns up there,

because I was a rebel to His law,

does not wish people to enter His city through my agency.¹²

He is supreme master everywhere, but His particular realm is there;

there lies His city and His lofty throne:

Oh, happy the man He chooses for abiding there!"

And I said to him: "Poet, I beseech you,

for the sake of that God you did not know,

so that I may escape from this evil and worse,

lead me to the places you mentioned,

so I can see Saint Peter’s gate

and those who you say are so unhappy."

Then he set forth and I kept behind him.

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10. This intentionally enigmatic line has been endlessly discussed; if Feltro is printed with a capital F both times, the reference may be to localities governed by Cangrande.

11. All four are characters in the Aeneid.

12. Or: does not wish me to enter His city.

Canto II

Lo giorno se n’andava, e l’aere bruno

toglieva li animai che sono in terra

dalle fatiche loro; e io sol uno

m’apparecchiava a sostener la guerra

sì del cammino e sì della pietate,

che ritrarrà la mente che non erra.

O muse, o alto ingegno, or m’aiutate;

o mente che scrivesti ciò ch’io vidi,