s: Prince of the new Pharisees having war near the Lateran,--and


s: Christian, and none of them had been to conquer Acre, nor a


s: trafficker in the land of the Soldan,--regarded in himself


s: neither his supreme office, nor the holy orders, nor


s: in me that cord which is wont to make those girt with it more


s: lean; but as Constantine besought Sylvester within Soracte to


s: cure his leprosy, so this one besought me as master to cure


s: his proud fever. He asked counsel of me, and I kept silence,


s: because his words seemed drunken. And then he said to me, 'Let


s: not thy heart mistrust; from now I absolve thee, and do thou


s: teach me to act so that I may throw Palestrina to the ground.


s: Heaven can I lock and unlock, as thou knowest; for two are the


s: keys that my predecessor held not dear.' Then his grave arguments


s: 'Father, since thou washest me of that sin wherein I now must


s: fall, long promise with short keeping will make thee triumph on


s: the High Seat.' Francis came for me afterwards, when I was


s: dead, but one of the Black Cherubim said to him, 'Bear him not


s: away; do me not wrong; he must come down among my drudges because


s: at his hair; for he who repents not cannot be absolved, nor can


s: repentance and will exist together, because of the contradiction


s: that allows it not.' O woeful me! how I shuddered when he took


s: me, saying to me, 'Perhaps thou didst not think that I was a


s: logician.' To Minos he bore me; and he twined his tail eight


s: times round his hard back, and, after he had bitten it in great


s: rage, he said, 'This is one of the sinners of the thievish fire.'


s: rankle." When he had thus completed his speech the flame,


s: sorrowing, departed, twisting and flapping its sharp horn.


s: With the Colonna family, whose stronghold was Palestrina.


s: Not one had been a renegade, to help the Saracens at the


s: It was for this service that Constantine was supposed to have


s: made Sylvester "the first rich Father." See Canto xiv. His


s: predecessor, Celestine V., had renounced the papacy.


s: St. Francis came for his soul, as that of one of the brethren


s: We passed onward, I and my Leader, along the crag, far as upon


s: the next arch that covers the ditch in which the fee is paid


s: by those who, sowing discord, win their burden.


s: CANTO XXVIII. Eighth Circle: ninth pit: sowers of discord and


s: schism.--Mahomet and Ali.--Fra Dolcino.--Pier da Medicina.


s: Who, even with words unfettered, could ever tell in full of


s: the blood and of the wounds that I now saw, though many times


s: narrating? Every tongue assuredly would come short, by reason of


s: our speech and our memory that have small capacity to comprise so


s: If all the people were again assembled, that of old upon


s: the fateful land of Apulia lamented for their blood shed by the


s: Trojans, and in the long war that made such high spoil of the


s: rings, as Livy writes, who erreth not; with those that, by


s: resisting Robert Guiscard, felt the pain of blows, and the


s: rest whose bones are still heaped up at Ceperano, where every


s: Apullan was false, and there by Tagliacozzo, where without


s: arms the old Alardo conquered,--and one should show his limb


s: pierced through, and one his lopped off, it would be nothing to


s: The spoils of the battle of Canon, in the second Punic War.


s: The Norman conqueror and Duke of Apulia. He died in 1085.


s: Where, in 1266, the leaders of the army of Manfred, King of


s: Apulia and Sicily, treacherously went over to Charles of Anjou.


s: Here, in 1265, Conradin, the nephew of Manfred, was defeated


s: and taken prisoner. The victory was won by a stratagem devised by


s: Truly cask, by losing mid-board or cross-piece, is not so split


s: open as one I saw cleft from the chin to where the wind is


s: broken: between his legs were hanging his entrails, his


s: inner parts were visible, and the dismal sack that makes ordure


s: of what is swallowed. Whilst all on seeing him I fix myself, he


s: looked at me, and with his hands opened his breast, saying, "Now


s: see how I rend myself, see how mangled is Mahomet. Ali  goeth


s: before me weeping, cleft in the face from chin to forelock; and


s: all the others whom thou seest here were, when living, sowers of


s: scandal and of schism, and therefore are they so cleft. A devil


s: is here behind, that adjusts us so cruelly, putting again to the


s: edge of the sword each of this crew, when we have turned the


s: doleful road, because the wounds are closed up ere one passes


s: again before him. But thou, who art thou, that musest on the


s: crag, perchance to delay going to the punishment that is adjudged


s: replied my Master, "nor doth sin lead him to torment him; but, in


s: Cousin and son-in-law of Mahomet, and himself the head of a


s: When the soul appears before Minos, every sin is confessed.


s: More than a hundred there were that, when they heard him, stopped


s: wonder. "Now, say to Fra Dolcino, then, thou who perchance


s: shalt shortly see the sun, if he wish not soon to follow me here,


s: easy":--after he had lifted one foot to go on Mahomet said to me


s: these words, then on the ground he stretched it to depart.


s: A noted heretic and reformer, who for two years maintained


s: himself in Lombardy against the forces of the Pope, but finally,


s: being reduced by famine in time of snow, in 1807, was taken


s: Another who had his throat pierced and his nose cut off up under


s: his brows, and had but one ear only, having stopped to look in


s: wonder with the rest, before the rest opened his gullet, which


s: outwardly was all crimson, and said, "O thou whom sin condemns


s: not, and whom of old I saw above in the Latian land, if too great


s: thou return to see the sweet plain that from Vercelli slopes to


s: Marcabb, and make known to the two best of Fano, to Messer Guido


s: and likewise to Angiolello, that, if foresight here be not


s: vain, they will be cast forth from their vessel and drowned near


s: to the Cattolica, by treachery of a fell tyrant. Between the


s: islands of Cyprus and Majorca Neptune never saw so great a crime,


s: sees only with one eye, and holds the city from sight of which


s: one who is here with me would fain have fasted, will make them


s: come to parley with him; then will act so that against the wind


s: of Focara they will not need or vow or prayer." And I to him,


s: "Show to me and declare, if thou wishest that I carry up news of


s: thee, who is he of the bitter sight?" Then he put his hand on


s: the jaw of one of his companions, and opened the mouth of him,


s: crying, "This is he, and he speaks not; this outcast stifled the


s: doubt in Caesar, by affirming that the man prepared always


s: suffered harm from delay." Oh, how dismayed, with his tongue slit


s: Medicina is a town in the Bolognese district. Piero was a


s: Guido del Cassero and Angiolello da Cagnano, treacherously


s: drowned by order of the one-eyed Malatestino, lord of Rimini.


s: The city of Rimini, which Curio would wish never to have


s: A high foreland near the Cattolica, between Rimini and Fano,


s: He to whom the sight of Rimini had been bitter.


s: Curio the Tribune, banished from Rome, fled to Caesar


s: delaying to cross the Rubicon, and urged him on, with the


s: argument, according to Lucan, "Tolle moras, semper nocuit


s: And one who had both hands lopped off, lifting the stumps through


s: "Thou shalt remember Mosca, too, who said, alas! 'Thing done


s: has an end,' which was the seed of ill for the Tuscan people."


s: And I added thereto, "And death to thine own race." Whereat he,


s: accumulating woe on woe, went away like a person sad and


s: In 1215 one of the Buondelmonti, plighted to a maiden of the


s: Amidei, broke faith, and engaged himself to a damsel of the


s: Donati. The family of the girl who had been thus slighted took


s: counsel how to avenge the affront, and Mosca de' Lamberti gave


s: the ill advice to murder the young Buondelmonte. The murder was


s: the beginning of long woe to Florence, and of the division of her


s: But I remained to look at the crowd, and I saw a thing that I


s: should be afraid, without more proof, only to tell, were it not


s: that conscience reassures me, the good companion that emboldens


s: man under the hauberk of feeling himself pure. I saw in truth,


s: and still I seem to see it, a trunk without a head going along


s: even as the others of the dismal flock were going. And it was


s: holding the cut-off head by its hair, dangling in hand like a


s: lantern. And it gazed on us, and said, "O me!" Of itself it was


s: making for itself a lamp; and they were two in one, and one in


s: two. How it can be He knows who so ordains. When it was right at


s: the foot of the bridge, it lifted its arm high with the whole


s: head, in order to approach its words to us, which were, "Now see


s: the dire punishment, thou that, breathing, goest seeing the dead:


s: carry news of me, know that I am Bertran de Born, he that gave


s: to the young king the ill encouragements. I made father and son


s: rebellious to each other. Ahithophel did not more with Absalom


s: and with David by his wicked goadings. Because I divided


s: persons so united, I bear my brain, alas! divided from its source


s: The famous troubadour who incited the young Prince Henry to


s: rebellion against his father, Henry II. of England. The prince


s: CANTO XXIX. Eighth Circle ninth pit.--Geri del Bello.--Tenth pit:


s: The many people and the diverse wounds had so inebriated mine


s: eyes that they were fain to stay for weeping. But Virgil said to


s: me, "What art thou still watching? why is thy sight still fixed


s: down there among the dismal mutilated shades? Thou hast not done


s: so at the other pits; consider if thou thinkest to count them,


s: that the valley circles two and twenty miles; and already the


s: moon is beneath our feet; the time is little now that is conceded


s: looking perhaps thou wouldst have permitted me yet to stay."


s: Meanwhile my Leader went on, and I behind him went, already


s: waking reply, and adding, "Within that cavern where I just now


s: was holding my eyes so fixedly, I think that a spirit of my own


s: blood weeps the sin that down there costs so dear." Then said the


s: of the little bridge pointing at thee, and threatening fiercely


s: with his finger, and I heard him called Geri del Bello. Thou


s: wert then so completely engaged on him who of old held


s: Hautefort that thou didst not look that way till he had


s: departed." "O my Leader," said I, "the violent death which is not


s: indignant, wherefore, as I deem, he went on without speaking to


s: me, and thereby has he made me pity him the more."


s: A cousin or uncle of Dante's father, of whom little is known


s: but what may be inferred from Dante's words and from the place he


s: Thus we spake far as the place on the crag which first shows the


s: next valley, if more light were there, quite to the bottom. When


s: we were above the last cloister of Malebolge so that its lay


s: brothers could appear to our sight, divers lamentations pierced


s: me, that had their arrows barbed with pity; wherefore I covered


s: Such pain as there would be if, between July and September, from


s: the hospitals of Valdichiana and of Maremma and of Sardinia


s: the sick should all be in one ditch together, such was there


s: here; and such stench came forth therefrom, as is wont to come


s: from putrescent limbs. We descended upon the last bank of the


s: long crag, ever to the left hand, and then my sight became more


s: vivid down toward the bottom, where the ministress of the High


s: Lord--infallible Justice--punishes the falsifiers whom on earth


s: Unhealthy regions, noted for the prevalence of malarial


s: I do not think it was a greater sorrow to see the whole people in


s: animals, even to the little worm, all fell dead (and afterwards


s: the ancient people, according as the poets hold for sure, were


s: restored by seed of ants), than it was to see the spirits


s: languishing in different heaps through that dark valley. This one


s: path. Step by step we went without speech, looking at and


s: listening to the sick, who could not lift their persons.


s: I saw two seated leaning on each other, as pan is leaned against


s: pan to warm, spotted from head to foot with scabs; and never did


s: I see currycomb plied by a boy for whom his lord is waiting nor


s: by one who keeps awake unwillingly, as each often plied the bite


s: of his nails upon himself, because of the great rage of his


s: itching which has no other relief. And the nails dragged down the


s: "O thou, that with thy fingers dost dismail thyself," began my


s: Leader unto one of them, "and who sometimes makest pincers of


s: them, tell me if any Latian is among those who are here


s: within: so may thy nails suffice thee eternally for this work."


s: "Latians are we whom here thou seest so defaced, both of us,"


s: replied one weeping, "but thou, who art thou that hast asked of


s: us?" And the Leader said, "I am one that descends with this


s: living man down from ledge to ledge, and I intend to show Hell to


s: turned to me, together with others that heard him by rebound. The


s: them what thou wilt;" and I began, since he was willing, "So may


s: memory of you not steal away in the first world from human minds,


s: race; let not your disfiguring and loathsome punishment fright


s: you from disclosing yourselves unto me." "I was from Arezzo,"


s: replied one of them, "and Albero of Siena had me put in the


s: fire; but that for which I died brings me not here. True it is


s: that I said to him, speaking in jest, I knew how to raise myself


s: through the air in flight, and he, who had vain desire and little


s: did not make him Daedalus, made me be burned by one that held


s: him as a son; but to the last pit of the ten, for the alchemy


s: that I practiced in the world, Minos, to whom it is not allowed


s: to err, condemned me." And I said to the Poet, "Now was ever


s: people so vain as the Sienese? surely not so the French by much."


s: Niccolo, who first invented the costly custom of the clove in


s: the garden where such seed takes root; and except the brigade in


s: which Caccia of Asciano wasted his vineyard and his great wood,


s: and the Abbagliato showed his wit. But that thou mayest know who


s: thus seconds thee against the Sienese, so sharpen thine eye


s: toward me that my face may answer well to thee, so shalt thou see


s: alchemy; and thou shouldst recollect, if I descry thee aright,


s: This is supposed to be one Griffolino, of whom nothing is


s: Ironical; these youths all being members of the company known


s: as the brigata godereccia or spendereccia, the joyous or


s: The use of rich and expensive spices in cookery.


s: CANTO XXX. Eighth Circle: tenth pit: falsifiers of all


s: sorts.--Myrrha.--Gianni Schicchi.--Master Adam.--Sinon of Troy.


s: At the time when Juno was wroth because of Semele against the


s: Theban blood, as she showed more than once, Athamas became so


s: two sons, cried out, "Spread we the nets, so that I may take the


s: lioness and the young lions at the pass," and then he stretched


s: out his pitiless talons, taking the one who was named Learchus,


s: and whirled him and struck him on a rock; and she drowned herself


s: all-daring loftiness of the Trojans, so that together with the


s: kingdom the king was undone, Hecuba, sad, wretched, and captive,


s: when she saw Polyxena dead, and woeful descried her Polydorus on


s: the sea-bank, frantic, barked like a dog,--to such degree had


s: But neither the furies of Thebes, nor the Trojan, were ever seen


s: toward any one so cruel, whether in goading beasts or human


s: limbs, as I saw two shades pallid and naked who, biting, were


s: running in the way that a boar does when from the sty he breaks


s: loose. One came at Capocchio, and on the nape of his neck struck


s: his teeth, so that dragging him he made his belly scratch along


s: the solid bottom. And the Aretine, who remained trembling,


s: said to me, "That goblin is Gianni Schicchi, and rabid he goes


s: thus maltreating others." "Oh," said I to him, "so may time other


s: is ere it start hence." And he to me, "That is the ancient soul


s: of profligate Myrrha, who became her father's lover beyond


s: rightful love. She came to sinning with him by falsifying herself


s: undertook, in order to gain the lady of the herd, to


s: counterfeit Buoso Donati, making a will and giving to the will


s: No mad rages were ever so merciless as those of these furious


s: Buoso Donati had died without making a will, whereupon his


s: nephew suborned Gianni Schicchi to personate the dead man in bed,


s: clause leaving to himself a favorite mare of Buoso's, the best in


s: And after the two rabid ones upon whom I had kept my eye had


s: disappeared, I turned it to look at the other miscreants. I saw


s: one made in fashion of a lute, had he but only had his groin cut


s: off at the part where man is forked. The heavy hydropsy which,


s: with the humor that it ill digests, so unmates the members that


s: the face corresponds not with the belly, was making him hold his


s: lips open as the hectic does, who for thirst turns one toward his


s: "Oh ye, who are without any punishment, and I know not why, in


s: the dismal world," said he to us, "look and attend to the misery


s: of Master Adam. Living, I had enough of what I wished, and now,


s: alas! I long for a drop of water. The rivulets that from the


s: green hills of the Casentino descend into the Arno, making their


s: channels cool and soft, stand ever before me, and not in vain;


s: for their image dries me up far more than the disease which


s: strips my face of flesh. The rigid justice that scourges me draws


s: in flight. There is Romena, where I falsified the alloy stamped


s: with the Baptist, for which on earth I left my body burned.


s: But if here I could see the wretched soul of Guido or of


s: Alessandro, or of their brother, for Fount Branda I would


s: not give the sight. One of them is here within already, if the


s: rating shades who go around speak true. But what does it avail me


s: hundred years I could go an inch, I should already have set out


s: along the path, seeking for him among this disfigured folk,


s: although it circles round eleven miles, and is not less than half


s: induced me to strike the forms that had full three carats of base


s: smoking like a wet hand in winter, lying close to your confines


s: on the right?" "Here I found them," he answered, "when I


s: rained down into this trough, and they have not since given a


s: turn, and I do not believe they will give one to all eternity.


s: One is the false woman that accused Joseph, the other is the


s: false Sinon the Greek, from Troy; because of their sharp fever


s: The florin which bore on the obverse the figure of John the


s: Baptist, the protecting saint of Florence.


s: The noted fountain in Siena, or perhaps one in Romena.


s: And one of them who took it ill perchance at being named so


s: darkly, with his fist struck him on his stiff paunch; it sounded


s: as if it were a drum; and Master Adam struck him on the face with


s: because of my heavy limbs, moving hence be taken from me, I have


s: an arm free for such need." Whereon he replied, "When thou wast


s: going to the fire thou hadst it not thus ready, but so and more


s: thou hadst it when thou wast coining." And the hydropic, "Thou


s: sayst true in this, but thou wast not so true a witness there


s: where thou wast questioned of the truth at Troy." "If I spake


s: false, thou didst falsify the coin," said Sinon, "and I am here


s: for a single sin, and thou for more than any other demon."


s: "Remember, perjured one, the horse," answered he who had the


s: puffed up paunch, "and be it ill for thee that the whole world


s: knows it." "And be ill for thee the thirst which cracks thy


s: tongue," said the Greek, "and the putrid water that makes thy


s: belly thus a hedge before thine eyes." Then the coiner, "So yawns


s: and humor stuffs me out, thou hast the burning, and the head that


s: To listen to them was I wholly fixed, when the Master said to me,


s: thee." When I heard him speak to me with anger, I turned me


s: toward him with such shame that still it circles through my


s: memory. And as is he that dreams of his harm, and, dreaming,


s: desires to dream, so that that which is he craves as if it were


s: not, such I became, not being able to speak, for I desired to


s: excuse myself, and I was indeed excusing myself, and did not


s: think that I was doing it. "Less shame doth wash away a greater


s: fault than thine hath been," said the Master; therefore disburden


s: in similar brawl; for the wish to hear it is a base wish."


s: CANTO XXXI. The Giants around the Eighth Circle.--Nimrod.


s: --Ephialtes.--Antaeus sets the Poets down in the Ninth Circle.


s: One and the same tongue first stung me, so that it tinged both


s: my cheeks, and then supplied the medicine to me. Thus do I


s: hear that the lance of Achilles and of his father was wont to


s: be cause first of a sad and then of a good gift. We turned our


s: back to the wretched valley, up along the bank that girds it


s: round, crossing without any speech. Here it was less than night


s: and less than day, so that my sight went little forward; but I


s: heard a horn sounding so loud that it would have made every


s: thunder faint, which directed my eyes, following its course


s: Probably from Ovid, who more than once refers to the magic


s: power of the spear which had been given to Peleus by Chiron.


s: Shakespeare too had heard of it, and applies it, precisely as


s: Whose smile and frown, like to Achilles' spear,


s: Is able with the charge to kill and cure.


s: The tenth and last pit. My eyes went in the direction whence


s: After the dolorous rout when Charlemagne lost the holy gest,


s: Roland sounded not so terribly. Shortwhile did I carry my head


s: turned thitherward, when it seemed to me I saw many high towers;


s: whereon I, "Master, say, what city is this?" And he to me,


s: "Because too far away thou peerest through the darkness, it


s: happens that thou dost err in thy imagining. Thou shalt see well,


s: deceived; therefore somewhat more spur thyself on;" Then


s: tenderly he took me by the hand, and said, "Before we go further


s: forward, in order that the fact may seem less strange to thee,


s: know that they are not towers, but giants, and they are in the


s: abyss round about the bank, from the navel downward, one and


s: Empeint le bien, par grant vertut le sunet.


s: Halt sunt li pui e la voiz est mult lunge,


s: The central deep of Hell, dividing the eighth circle from


s: As when the mist is dissipating, the look little by little shapes


s: pierced the gross and dark air as we drew nearer and nearer to


s: the verge, error fled from me and fear grew upon me. For as above


s: towers, so with half their body the horrible giants, whom Jove


s: still threatens from heaven when he thunders, betowered the bank


s: The towers of Montereggione in ruin still crown its broken


s: wall, and may be seen from the railroad not far from Siena, on


s: And I discerned now the face of one, his shoulders, and his


s: breast, and great part of his belly, and down along his sides


s: both his arms. Nature, surely, when she left the art of such like


s: subtly holds her more just and more discreet therefor; for


s: where the faculty of the mind is added to evil will and to power,


s: its proportion were his other bones; so that the bank, which was


s: an apron from his middle downward, showed of him fully so much


s: above, that to reach to his hair three Frieslanders would have


s: made ill vaunt. For I saw of him thirty great palms down from the


s: Of bronze, that came from the Mausoleum of Hadrian, and


s: in Dante's time stood in the fore-court of St. Peter's, and is


s: "Raphel mai amech zabi almi," the fierce mouth, to which sweeter


s: psalms were not befitting, began to cry. And my Leader toward


s: him, "Foolish soul! Keep to thy horn, and with that vent thyself


s: when anger or other passion touches thee; seek at thy neck, and


s: thou wilt find the cord that holds it tied, O soul confused! and


s: see it lying athwart thy great breast." Then he said to me, "He


s: himself accuses himself; this is Nimrod, because of whose evil


s: thought the world uses not one language only. Let us leave him,


s: and let us not speak in vain, for so is every language to him, as


s: Then turning to the left, we pursued our way, and at a


s: crossbow's shot we found the next, far more fierce and larger.


s: Who the master was for binding him I cannot tell; but he had his


s: right arm fastened behind, and the other in front, by a chain


s: that held him entwined from the neck downward, so that upon his


s: uncovered part it was wound as far as the fifth coil. "This


s: proud one wished to make trial of his power against the supreme


s: Jove," said my Leader, "wherefore he has such reward;


s: Ephialtes is his name, and he made his great endeavors when


s: the giants made the Gods afraid; the arms which he plied he moves


s: Iphimedeia bore to Poseidon two sons, "but they were short-


s: lived, godlike Otus and far-famed Ephialtes whom the fruitful


s: Earth nourished to be the tallest and much the most beautiful of


s: mortals except renowned Orion, for at nine years old they were


s: nine cubits in breadth, and nine fathoms tall. They even


s: threatened the immortals, raising the din of tumultuous war on


s: Olympus, and strove to set Ossa upon Olympus and wood-clad Pelion


s: And I to him, "If it may be, I should like my eyes to have


s: experience of the huge Briareus."  Whereon he answered, "Thou


s: shalt see Antaeus close at hand here, who speaks, and is


s: unbound, and will set us at the bottom of all sin. Him whom


s: thou wishest to see is much farther on, and is bound and


s: fashioned like this one, save that he seems more ferocious in his


s: "Him of the hundred hands whom the Gods call Briareus."


s: Because he took no part in the war of his brethren against


s: the Gods. What Dante tells of him is derived from Lucan,


s: Never was earthquake so mighty that it shook a tower as violently


s: I fear death; and there had been no need of more than the fright,


s: and came to Antaeus, who full five ells, besides his head, issued


s: made Scipio the heir of glory when Hannibal and his followers


s: turned their backs, didst bring of old a thousand lions for


s: booty,--and it still seems credible that hadst thou been at the


s: high war of thy brothers, the sons of the Earth would have


s: conquered,--set us below, and disdain thou not to do so, where


s: the cold locks up Cocytus. Make us not go to Tityus, nor to


s: Typhon; this one can give of that which here is longed for;


s: therefore stoop, and curl not thy snout. He yet can restore


s: fame to thee in the world; for he is living, and still expects


s: long life, if Grace doth not untimely call him to itself." Thus


s: said the Master; and he in haste stretched out those hands, whose


s: he felt himself taken up, said to me, "Come hither so that I take


s: leaning side, the Carisenda seems to look when a cloud is


s: going over so that the tower hangs counter to it, thus seemed


s: Antaeus to me that stood attent to see him bend; and it was a


s: moment when I could have wished to go by another road. But


s: lightly on the bottom that swallows Lucifer with Judas he set us


s: down; nor, thus bent, did he there make stay, and like a mast in


s: Lucan (Phars. iv. 600), naming these giants, says they were


s: less strong than Antaeus; wherefore there is subtle flattery in


s: The more inclined of the two famous leaning towers at


s: Bologna. As the cloud goes over it, the tower seems to bend to


s: meet it. So Coleridge in his Ode to Dejection:


s: And those thin clouds above, in flakes and bars,


s: That give sway their motion to the stars.


s: CANTO XXXII. Ninth Circle: traitors. First ring: Caina.--Counts


s: of Mangona.--Camicion de' Pazzi.--Second ring: Antenora.--Bocca


s: degli Abati.--Buoso da Duera.--Count Ugolino.


s: If I had rhymes both harsh and raucous, such as would befit the


s: dismal hole on which thrust all the other rocks, I would


s: press out the juice of my conception more fully; but since I have


s: describe the bottom of the whole universe is no enterprise to


s: take up in jest, nor a tongue that cries mamma or babbo. But


s: may those Dames aid my verse who aided Amphion to close in


s: Thebes; so that from the fact the speech be not diverse.


s: O populace miscreant above all, that art in the place whereof to


s: speak is hard, better had ye been here or sheep or goats!


s: When we were down in the dark abyss beneath the feet of the


s: giant, but far lower, and I was gazing still at the high wall, I


s: heard say to me, "Beware how thou steppest; take heed thou


s: trample not with thy soles the heads of the wretched weary


s: brethren." Whereat I turned, and saw before me, and under my


s: feet, a lake which through frost had semblance of glass and not


s: The Danube in Austria makes not for its current so thick a veil


s: in winter, nor the Don yonder under the cold sky, as there was


s: here; for if Tambernich  had fallen thereupon, or


s: Pietrapana, it would not even at the edge have given a creak.


s: And as to croak the frog lies with muzzle out of the water, what


s: time oft dreams the peasant girl of gleaning, so, livid up to


s: where shame appears, were the woeful shades within the ice,


s: setting their teeth to the note of the stork. Every one held


s: his face turned downward; from the mouth the cold, and from the


s: eyes the sad heart compels witness of itself among them.


s: A mountain, the locality of which is unknown.


s: When I had looked round awhile, I turned to my feet, and saw two


s: so close that they had the hair of their heads mixed together.


s: "Tell me, ye who so press tight your breasts," said I, "who are


s: ye?" And they bent their necks, and after they had raised their


s: faces to rue, their eyes, which before were moist only within,


s: gushed up through the lids, and the frost bound the tears between


s: so strongly; wherefore they like two he goats butted together,


s: And one who had lost both his ears through the cold, still with


s: his face downward, said to me, "Why dost thou so mirror thyself


s: on us? If thou wouldst know who are these two, the valley whence


s: the Bisenzio descends belonged to their father Albert, and to


s: them. From one body they issued, and all Caina thou mayst


s: search, and thou wilt not find shade more worthy to be fixed in


s: ice; not he whose breast and shadow were broken by one and the


s: same blow by the hand of Arthur; not Focaccia; not he who


s: encumbers me with his head, so that I cannot see beyond, and was


s: named Sassol Mascheroni: if thou art Tuscan, well knowest thou


s: now who he was. And that thou mayst not put me to more speech,


s: know that I was Camicion de' Pazzi, and I await Carlino that


s: They were of the Alberti, counts of Mangona, in Tuscany, and


s: The first division of this ninth and lowest circle of Hell.


s: From the crimes of Focaccia, a member of the great


s: Cancellieri family of Pistoia, began the feud of the Black and


s: the White factions, which long raged in Pistoia and in Florence.


s: A Florentine who murdered his nephew for an inheritance.


s: A murderer of one of his kinsmen, whose crime was surpassed


s: by that of Carlino de' Pazzi, who, in 1302, betrayed a band of


s: the Florentine exiles who had taken refuge in a stronghold of his


s: Then I saw a thousand faces made currish by the cold, whence


s: shuddering comes to me, and will always come, at frozen pools.


s: And while we were going toward the centre to which tends every


s: weight, and I was trembling in the eternal shade, whether it was


s: will or destiny, or fortune I know not, but, walking among the


s: heads, I struck my foot hard in the face of one. Wailing he cried


s: increase the vengeance of Mont' Aperti, why dost thou molest me?"


s: from a doubt by means of this one, then thou shalt make me hasten


s: shade who was bitterly blaspheming still, "Who art thou that thus


s: the Antenora," he answered, "smiting the cheeks of others, so


s: that if thou wert alive, it would be too much?" "Alive I am, and


s: it may be dear to thee," was my reply, "if thou demandest fame,


s: that I should set thy name amid the other notes." And he to me,


s: "For the contrary do I long; take thyself hence, and give me no


s: more trouble, for ill thou knowest to flatter on this plain."


s: Then I took him by the hair of the crown, and said, "It shall


s: needs be that thou name thyself, or that not a hair remain upon


s: thee here." Whereon he to me, "Though thou strip me of hair, I


s: will not tell thee who I am, nor will I show it to thee if a


s: thousand times thou fallest on my head."


s: The second division of the ninth circle; so named after the


s: Trojan who, though of good repute in Homer, was charged by a


s: later tradition with having betrayed Troy.


s: I already had his hair twisted in my hand, and had pulled out


s: more than one shock, he barking, with his eyes kept close down,


s: when another cried out, "What ails thee, Bocca? Is it not


s: enough for thee to make music with thy jaws, but thou must bark?


s: What devil has hold of thee?" "Now," said I, "I would not have


s: thee speak, accursed traitor, for to thy shame will I carry true


s: news of thee." "Begone," he answered, "and relate what thou wilt,


s: who now had his tongue so ready. He weeps here the money of the


s: French; I saw, thou canst say, him of Duera, there where the


s: sinners stand cooling. Shouldst thou be asked who else was there,


s: cut. Gianni del Soldanier  I think is farther on with


s: Ganellon and Tribaldello, who opened Faenza when it


s: Bocca degli Abati, the most noted of Florentine traitors, who


s: in the heat of the battle of Mont' Aperti, in 1260, cut off the


s: hand of the standard-bearer of the cavalry, so that the standard


s: fell, and the Guelphs of Florence, disheartened thereby, were put


s: Buoso da Duera of Cremona, who, for a bribe, let pass near


s: Parma, without resistance, the cavalry of Charles of Anjou, led


s: by Gui de Montfort to the conquest of Naples in 1265.


s: Legato, beheaded by the Florentines in 1258, because of his


s: treacherous dealings with the exiled Ghibellines.


s: A Ghibelline leader, who, after the defeat of Manfred in


s: Ganellon, the traitor who brought about the defeat at


s: He betrayed Faenza to the French, in 1282.


s: We had now parted from him when I saw two frozen in one hole, so


s: that the head of one was a hood for the other. And as bread is


s: devoured in hunger, so the uppermost one set his teeth upon the


s: other where the brain joins with the nape. Not otherwise Tydeus


s: gnawed for spite the temples of Menalippus than this one did the


s: skull and the other parts. "O thou! that by so bestial a sign


s: showest hatred against him whom thou dost eat, tell me the


s: wherefore," said I, "with this compact, that if thou rightfully


s: of him complainest, I, knowing who ye are, and his sin, may yet


s: recompense thee for it in the world above, if that with which I


s: CANTO XXXIII. Ninth circle: traitors. Second ring:


s: Antenora.--Count Ugolino.--Third ring Ptolomaea.--Brother


s: From his savage repast that sinner raised his mouth, wiping it


s: with the hair of the head that he had spoiled behind: then he


s: began, "Thou willest that I renew a desperate grief that


s: oppresses my heart already only in thinking ere I speak of it.


s: But, if my words are to be seed that may bear fruit of infamy for


s: once. I know not who thou art, nor by what mode thou art come


s: down hither, but Florentine thou seemest to me truly when I hear


s: thee. Thou hast to know that I was the Count Ugolino and he the


s: Archbishop Ruggieri. Now will I tell thee why I am such a


s: neighbor. That by the effect of his evil thoughts, I, trusting to


s: But that which thou canst not have heard, namely, how cruel was


s: my death, thou shalt hear, and shalt know if he hath wronged me.


s: In July, 1288, Ugolino della Gherardesca, Count of


s: Donoratico, head of a faction of the Guelphs in Pisa, in order to


s: lordship of the city, treacherously joined forces with the


s: Archbishop Ruggieri degli Ubaldini, head of the Ghibellines, and


s: drove Nino and his followers from the city. The archbishop


s: thereupon took advantage of the weakening of the Guelphs and


s: excited the populace against Ugolino, charging him with having


s: for a bribe restored to Florence and Lucca some of their towns of


s: followers, attacked Count Ugolino in his house, took him


s: prisoner, with two of his sons and two of his grandsons, and shut


s: March, on the arrival of Count Guido da Montefeltro (see Canto


s: xvii), as Captain of Pisa, they were starved to death.


s: "A narrow slit in the mew, which from me has the name of Famine,


s: and in which others yet must be shut up, had already shown me


s: through its opening many moons, when I had the bad dream that


s: rent for me the veil of the future. "This one appeared to me


s: master and lord, chasing the wolf and his whelps upon the


s: mountain for which the Pisans cannot see Lucca. With lean,


s: eager, and trained hounds, Gualandi with Sismondi and with


s: Lanfranchi he had put before him at the front. After short


s: course, the father and his sons seemed to me weary, and it seemed


s: Three powerful Ghibelline families of Pisa.


s: "When I awoke before the morrow, I heard my sons, who were with


s: me, wailing in their sleep, and asking for bread. Truly thou art


s: cruel if already thou grievest not, thinking on what my heart


s: foretold; and if thou weepest not, at what art thou wont to weep?


s: apprehensive. And I heard the door below of the horrible tower


s: locking up; whereat I looked on the faces of my sons without


s: saying a word. I wept not, I was so turned to stone within. They


s: wept; and my poor little Anselm said, 'Thou lookest so, father,


s: what aileth thee?' Yet I did not weep; nor did I answer all that


s: day, nor the night after, until the next sun came out upon the


s: world. When a little ray entered the woeful prison, and I


s: discerned by their four faces my own very aspect, both my hands I


s: eating, of a sudden rose, and said, 'Father, it will be far less


s: pain to us if thou eat of us; thou didst clothe us with this


s: wretched flesh, and do thou strip it off.' I quieted me then, not


s: Ah, thou hard earth! why didst thou not open? After we had come


s: to the fourth day, Gaddo threw himself stretched out at my feet,


s: saying, 'My father, why dost thou not help me?' Here he died:


s: and, even as thou seest me, I saw the three fall one by one


s: between the fifth day and the sixth; then I betook me, already


s: blind, to groping over each, and two days I called them after


s: they were dead: then fasting had more power than grief."


s: When he had said this, with his eyes distorted, he seized again


s: the wretched skull with his teeth, that were strong as a dog's


s: Ah Pisa! reproach of the people of the fair country where the si


s: doth sound, since thy neighbors are slow to punish thee, let


s: Caprara and Gorgona  move and make a hedge for Arno at its


s: mouth, so that it drown every person in thee; for if Count


s: Ugolino had repute of having betrayed thee in thy towns, thou


s: oughtest not to have set his sons on such a cross. Their young


s: age, thou modern Thebes! made Uguccione and the Brigata innocent,


s: Italy, whose language Dante calls il volgare di ci. (Convito,


s: Two little islands not far from the mouth of the Arno, on


s: We passed onward to where the ice roughly enswathes another folk,


s: block, and like a visor of crystal fill all the cup beneath the


s: And although, because of the cold, as from a callus, all feeling


s: had left its abode in my face, it now seemed to me I felt some


s: wind, wherefore I, "My Master, who moves this? Is not every


s: vapor quenched here below?" Whereon he to me, "Speedily shalt


s: thou be where thine eye shall make answer to thee of this,


s: beholding the cause that rains down the blast."


s: Wind being supposed to be cansed by the action of the sun on


s: And one of the wretches of the cold crust cried out to us, "O


s: souls so cruel that the last station is given to you, lift from


s: my eyes the hard veils, so that I may vent the grief that swells


s: my heart, a little ere the weeping re-congeal!" Wherefore I to


s: him, "If thou wilt that I relieve thee, tell me who thou art, and


s: ice." He replied then, "I am friar Alberigo; I am he of the


s: fruits of the bad garden, and here I receive a date for a fig."


s: "Oh!" said I to him; "art thou now already dead?" And he to


s: me, "How it may go with my body in the world above I bear no


s: knowledge. Such vantage hath this Ptolomaea that oftentime the


s: soul falls hither ere Atropos hath given motion to it. And


s: that thou may the more willingly scrape the glassy tears from my


s: face, know that soon as the soul betrays, as I did, its body is


s: taken from it by a demon, who thereafter governs it until its


s: time be all revolved. The soul falls headlong into this cistern,


s: and perchance the body of the shade that here behind me winters


s: still appears above; thou oughtest to know him if thou comest


s: down but now. He is Ser Branca d' Oria, and many years have


s: passed since he was thus shut up." "I think," said I to him,


s: "that thou deceivest me, for Branca d' Oria is not yet dead, and


s: he eats, and drinks, and sleeps, and puts on clothes." "In the


s: ditch of the Malebranche above," he said, "there where the


s: tenacious pitch is boiling, Michel Zanche had not yet arrived


s: when this one left in his own stead a devil in his body, and in


s: that of one of his near kin, who committed the treachery together


s: me." And I opened them not for him, and to be rude to him was


s: (see Canto xxiii). Having received a blow from one of his


s: kinsmen, he pretended to forgive it, and invited him and his son


s: to a feast. Toward the end of the meal he gave a preconcerted


s: signal by calling out, "Bring the fruit," upon which his


s: emissaries rushed in and killed the two guests. The "fruit of


s: A fig is the cheapest of Tuscan fruits; the imported date is


s: The third ring of ice, named for that Ptolemy of Jericho who


s: That is, before its life on earth is ended.


s: Murderer, in 1275, of his father-in-law, Michel Zanche.


s: Already heard of in the fifth pit (Canto xxii. 88).


s: Ah Genoese! men strange to all morality and full of all


s: corruption, why are ye not scattered from the world? For with the


s: deeds in soul he is bathed in Cocytus, and in body he seems still


s: CANTO XXXIV. Ninth Circle: traitors. Fourth ring: Judecca.--


s: Lucifer.--Judas, Brutus and Cassius.--Centre of the universe.--


s: Passage from Hell.--Ascent to the surface of the Southern


s: "Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni, toward us; therefore look in


s: front," said my Master; "if thou discernest him." As a mill that


s: the wind turns seems from afar when a thick fog breathes, or when


s: "The banners of the King of Hell advance." Vexilla Regis


s: prodeunt are the first words of a hymn in honor of the Cross,


s: sung at vespers on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross


s: Then, because of the wind, I drew me behind my Leader; for there


s: was no other shelter. I was now, and with fear I put it in verse,


s: like a straw in glass. Some are lying; some stand erect, this on


s: his head, and that on his soles; another like a bow inverts his


s: In the fourth, innermost ring of ice of the ninth circle, the


s: When we had gone so far forward that it pleased my Master to show


s: took himself and made me stop, saying, "Behold Dis, and behold


s: the place where it is needful that with fortitude thou arm thee."


s: write it not, because all speech would be little. I did not die,


s: and I did not remain alive. Think now for thyself, if thou hast


s: grain of wit, what I became, deprived of one and the other.


s: The emperor of the woeful realm from his midbreast issued forth


s: from the ice; and I match better with a giant, than the giants do


s: corresponds to such parts. If he was as fair as he now is foul,


s: and against his Maker lifted up his brow, surely may all


s: tribulation proceed from him. Oh how great a marvel it seemed to


s: me, when I saw three faces on his head! one in front, and that


s: was red; the others were two that were joined to this above the


s: very middle of each shoulder, and they were joined together at


s: the place of the crest; and the right seemed between white and


s: yellow, the left was such to sight as those who come from where


s: the Nile flows valleyward. Beneath each came forth two great


s: wings, of size befitting so huge a bird. Sails of the sea never


s: saw I such. They had no feathers, but their fashion was of a bat;


s: and over three chins trickled the tears and bloody drivel. With


s: each mouth he was crushing a sinner with his teeth, in manner of


s: a brake, so that he thus was making three of them woeful. To the


s: one in front the biting was nothing to the clawing, so that


s: sometimes his spine remained all stripped of skin.


s: "That soul up there which has the greatest punishment," said the


s: Master, "is Judas Iscariot, who has his head within, and plies


s: his legs outside. Of the other two who have their heads down, he


s: who hangs from the black muzzle is Brutus; see how he writhes and


s: large-limbed. But the night is rising again, and now we must


s: As was his pleasure, I clasped his neck, and he took opportunity


s: of time and place, and when the wings were opened wide he caught


s: hold on the shaggy flanks; from shag to shag he then descended


s: between the bushy hair and the frozen crusts. When we were just


s: where the thigh turns on the thick of the haunch, my Leader, with


s: shanks, and clambered by the hair as a man that ascends, so that


s: "Cling fast hold," said the Master, panting like one weary, "for


s: by such stairs it behoves to depart from so much evil." Then he


s: came forth through the opening of a rock, and placed me upon its


s: edge to sit; then stretched toward me his cautious step.


s: I raised my eyes, and thought to see Lucifer as I had left him,


s: and I saw him holding his legs upward. And if I then became


s: perplexed, let the dull folk think it that see not what that


s: This point is the centre of the universe; when Virgil had


s: turned upon the haunch of Lucifer, the passage had been made from


s: is the mountain of Purgatory. In changing one hemisphere for the


s: other there is a change of time of twelve hours. A second


s: Saturday morning begins for the poets, and they pass nearly as


s: long a time as they have been in Hell, that is, twenty-four


s: hours, in traversing the long and hard way that leads through the


s: "Rise up," said the Master, "on thy feet; the way is long and the


s: Tierce is the church office sung at the third hour of the


s: day, and the name is given to the first three hours after


s: sunrise. Midtierce consequently here means about half-past seven


s: o'clock. In Hell Dante never mentions the sun to mark division of


s: It was no hallway of a palace where we were, but a natural


s: dungeon that had a bad floor, and lack of light. "Before I tear


s: me from the abyss," said I when I had risen up, "my Master, speak


s: this one, how is he fixed thus upside down? and how in such short


s: "Thou imaginest that thou still art on the other side of the


s: centre where I laid hold on the hair of the guilty Worm that


s: pierces the world. On that side wast thou so long as I descended;


s: whatever has weight is drawn; and thou art now arrived beneath


s: the hemisphere opposite to that which the great dry land covers,


s: and beneath whose zenith the Man was slain who was born and lived


s: forms the other face of the Judecca. Here it is morning when


s: there it is evening; and he who made for us a stairway with his


s: hair is still fixed even as he was before. Upon this side he fell


s: here, through fear of him made of the sea a veil, and came to


s: your hemisphere; and perchance to flee from him that land


s: which on this side appears left here this empty space and upward


s: A place is there below, stretching as far from Beelzebub as his


s: tomb extends, which not by sight is known, but by the sound of


s: a rivulet that here descends along the hollow of a rock that it


s: has gnawed with its course that winds and little falls. My Leader


s: world. And without care, to have any repose, we mounted up, he


s: first and I second, till through a round opening I saw of those


s: beauteous things which heaven bears, and thence we came forth to


s: Hell is his tomb; this vacant dark passage through the


s: opposite hemisphere is, of course, of the same depth as Hell from


s: Etext scanned by Dianne Bean of Phoenix, Arizona.


s: CANTO I. Invocation to the Muses.--Dawn of Easter on the shore of


s: CANTO II. Sunrise.--The Poets on the shore.--Coming of a boat,


s: guided by an angel, bearing souls to Purgatory.--Their


s: landing.--Casella and his song.--Cato hurries the souls to the


s: CANTO III. Ante-Purgatory.--Souls of those who have died in


s: CANTO IV. Ante-Purgatory.--Ascent to a shelf of the


s: mountain.--The negligent, who postponed repentance to the last


s: CANTO V. Ante-Purgatory.--Spirits who had delayed repentance, and


s: CANTO VI. Ante-Purgatory.--More spirits who had deferred


s: repentance till they were overtaken by a violent death.--Efficacy


s: CANTO VII. Virgil makes himself known to Sordello.--Sordello


s: leads the Poets to the Valley of the Princes who have been


s: negligent of salvation.--He points them out by name.


s: CANTO VIII. Valley of the Princes.--Two Guardian Angels.--Nino


s: CANTO IX. Slumber and Dream of Dante.--The Eagle.--Lucia.--The


s: Gate of Purgatory.--The Angelic Gatekeeper.--Seven P's inscribed


s: on Dante's Forehead.--Entrance to the First Ledge.


s: CANTO X. First Ledge the Proud.--Examples of humility sculptured


s: CANTO XI. First Ledge: the Proud.--Prayer.--Omberto


s: CANTO XII. First Ledge: the Proud.--Examples of the punishment of


s: one of the P's.--Ascent to the Second Ledge.


s: CANTO XIII. Second Ledge: the Envious.--Examples of Love.--The


s: Shades in haircloth, and with sealed eyes.--Sapla of Siena.


s: CANTO XIV. Second Ledge: the Envious.--Guido del Duca.--Rinieri


s: de' Calboli.--Examples of the punishment of Envy.


s: CANTO XV. Second Ledge: the Envious.--An Angel removes the second


s: CANTO XVI. Third Ledge: the Wrathful.--Marco Lombardo.--His


s: discourse on Free Will, and the Corruption of the World.


s: CANTO XVII. Third Ledge: the Wrathful.--Issue from the


s: Smoke.--Vision of examples of Anger--Ascent to the Fourth Ledge,


s: where Sloth is purged--Second Nightfall--Virgil explains how Love


s: CANTO XVIII. Fourth Ledge: the Slothful.--Discourse of Virgil on


s: Love and Free Will.---Throng of Spirits running in haste to


s: redeem their Sin.--The Abbot of San Zeno.--Dante falls asleep.


s: CANTO XIX. Fourth Ledge: the Slothful.--Dante dreams of the


s: CANTO XX. Fifth Ledge: the Avaricious.--The Spirits celebrate


s: examples of Poverty and Bounty.--Hugh Capet.--His discourse on


s: his descendants.--Trembling of the Mountain.


s: CANTO XXI. Fifth Ledge: the Avaricious.--Statius.--Cause of the


s: trembling of the Mountain.--Statius does honor to Virgil.


s: CANTO XXII. Ascent to the Sixth Ledge--Discourse of Statius and


s: CANTO XXIII. Sixth Ledge the Gluttonous.--Forese


s: Donati.--Nella.--Rebuke of the women of Florence.


s: CANTO XXIV. Sixth Ledge: the Gluttonous.--Forese


s: Donati.--Bonagiunta of Lucca.--Pope Martin IV.--Ubaldin dalla


s: concerning Gentucca, and of Forese concerning Corso de'


s: CANTO XXV. Ascent to the Seventh Ledge.--Discourse of Statius on


s: generation, the infusion of the Soul into the body, and the


s: corporeal semblance of Souls after death.--The Seventh Ledge:the


s: Lustful.--The mode of their Purification.


s: CANTO XXVI. Seventh Ledge: the Lustful.--Sinners in the fire,


s: going in opposite directions.--Guido Guinicelli.--Arnaut Daniel.


s: CANTO XXVII. Seventh Ledge: the Lustful.--Passage through the


s: Flames.--Stairway in the rock.--Night upon the stairs.--Dream of


s: Dante.--Morning.--Ascent to the Earthly Paradise.--Last words of


s: CANTO XXVIII. The Earthly Paradise.--The Forest.--A Lady


s: gathering flowers on the bank of a little stream.--Discourse with


s: CANTO XXIX. The Earthly Paradise.--Mystic Procession or Triumph


s: CANTO XXX. The Earthly Paradise.--Beatrice appears.--Departure of


s: CANTO XXXI. The Earthly Paradise.--Reproachful discourse of


s: Beatrice, and confession of Dante.--Passage of Lethe.--Appeal of


s: CANTO XXXII. The Earthly Paradise.--Return of the Triumphal


s: procession.--The Chariot bound to the Mystic Tree.--Sleep of


s: Dante.--His waking to find the Triumph departed.--Transformation


s: CANTO XXXIII. The Earthly Paradise.--Prophecy of Beatrice


s: concerning one who shall restore the Empire.--Her discourse with


s: Dante.--The river Eunoe.--Dante drinks of it, and is fit to


s: CANTO I. Invocation to the Muses.--Dawn of Easter on the shore of


s: To run over better waters the little vessel of my genius now


s: hoists its sails, and leaves behind itself a sea so cruel; and I


s: will sing of that second realm where the human spirit is purified


s: But here let dead poesy rise again, O holy Muses, since yours I


s: am, and here let Calliope somewhat mount up, accompanying my song


s: The nine daughters of Pieros, king of Emathia, who,


s: contending in song with the Muses, were for their presumption


s: A sweet color of oriental sapphire, which was gathering in the


s: serene aspect of the sky, pure even to the first circle,


s: renewed delight to my eyes soon as I issued forth from the dead


s: air that had afflicted my eyes and my breast. The fair planet


s: which incites to love was making all the Orient to smile, veiling


s: hand, and fixed my mind upon the other pole, and saw four stars


s: never seen save by the first people. The heavens appeared to


s: rejoice in their flamelets. O widowed northern region, since thou


s: By "the first circle," Dante seems to mean the horizon.


s: At the spring equinox Venus is in the sign of the Pisces,


s: which immediately precedes that of Aries, in which is the Sun.


s: The time indicated is therefore an hour or more before sunrise on


s: When I had withdrawn from regarding them, turning me a little to


s: the other pole, there whence the Wain had already disappeared, I


s: saw close to me an old man alone, worthy in look of so much


s: reverence that no son owes more unto his father. He wore a


s: long beard and mingled with white hair, like his locks, of which


s: a double list fell upon his breast. The rays of the four holy


s: stars so adorned his face with light, that I saw him, as if the


s: These stars are the symbols of the four Cardinal Virtues,--


s: Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice,--the virtues of


s: active life, sufficient to guide men in the right path, but not


s: to bring them to Paradise. By the first people arc probably meant


s: the Southern hemisphere. According to the geography of the time


s: Asia and Africa lay north of the equator, so that even to their


s: inhabitants these stars were invisible. Possibly the meaning is


s: that these stars, symbolizing the cardinal virtues, had been


s: This old man, as soon appears, is the younger Cato, and the


s: office here given to him of warden of the souls in the outer


s: region of Purgatory was suggested by the position assigned to him


s: It has been objected to Virgil's thus putting him in Elysium,


s: that as a suicide his place was in the Mourning Fields. A similar


s: suicides in the seventh circle of Hell (Canto XIII.). "But," says


s: enough for him that Cato was one who from his character in life


s: might be justly conceived of as lawgiver to the dead." So Dante,


s: using Cato as an allegoric figure, regards him as one who, before


s: Monarchia (ii. 5), "that he might kindle the love of liberty in


s: the world, showed how precious it was, by preferring death with


s: liberty to life without it." This liberty is the type of that


s: spiritual freedom which Dante is seeking, and which, being the


s: perfect conformity of the human will to the will of God, is the


s: In the region of Purgatory outside the gate, the souls have not


s: yet attained this freedom; they are on the way to it, and Cato is


s: "Who are ye that counter to the blind stream have fled from the


s: eternal prison?" said he, moving those venerable plumes. "Who has


s: the abyss thus broken? or is a new design changed in heaven that,


s: My Leader then took hold of me, and with words, and with hands,


s: and with signs, made my legs and my brow reverent. Then he


s: answered him, "Of myself I came not; a Lady descended from


s: Heaven, through whose prayers I succored this man with my


s: company. But since it is thy will that more of our condition be


s: unfolded to thee as it truly is, mine cannot be that to thee this


s: his folly was so near thereto that very little time there was to


s: turn. Even as I have said, I was sent to him to rescue him, and


s: there was no other way than this, along which I have set myself.


s: I have shown to him all the guilty people; and now I intend to


s: show him those spirits that purge themselves under thy ward. How


s: I have led him, it would be long to tell thee; from on high


s: descends power that aids me to conduct him to see thee and to


s: hear thee. Now may it please thee to approve his coming. He goes


s: seeking liberty, which is so dear, as he knows who for her


s: refuses life. Thou knowest it, for death for her sake was not


s: hitter to thee in Utica, where thou didst leave the garment that


s: on the great day shall he so bright. The eternal edicts are not


s: violated by us, for this one is alive, and Minos does not bind


s: me; but I am of the circle where are the chaste eyes of thy


s: Marcia, who in her look still prays thee, O holy breast, that for


s: us; let us go on through thy seven realms. Thanks unto thee


s: will I carry back to her, if to be mentioned there below thou


s: "Marcia so pleased my eyes while I was on earth," said he then,


s: "that whatsoever grace she wished from me I did it; now, that on


s: the other side of the evil stream she dwells, she can no more


s: move me, by that law which was made when thence I issued


s: forth. But if a Lady of heaven move and direct thee, as thou


s: sayest, there is no need of flattery; suffice it fully to thee


s: that for her sake thou askest me. Go then, and see thou gird this


s: remove all sully from it, for it were not befitting to go with


s: eye overcast by any cloud before the first minister that is of


s: those of Paradise. This little island, round about at its base,


s: down there yonder where the wave heats it, bears rushes upon its


s: soft ooze. No plant of other kind, that might put forth leaf or


s: grow hard, can there have life, because it yields not to the


s: shocks. Thereafter let not your return be this way; the Sun which


s: The law that the redeemed cannot be touched by other than


s: So he disappeared, and I rose up, without speaking, and drew me


s: close to my Leader, and turned my eyes to him. He began, "Son,


s: follow my steps; let us turn back, for this plain slopes that way


s: The dawn was vanquishing the matin hour which fled before it, so


s: that from afar I discerned the trembling of the sea. We set forth


s: he has lost, and, till he come to it, seems to himself to go in


s: vain. When we were where the dew contends with the sun, and,


s: through being in a place where there is shade, is little


s: dissipated, my Master softly placed both his hands outspread upon


s: him my tear-stained cheeks. Here he wholly uncovered that color


s: Allegorically, when the soul has entered upon the way of


s: purification Reason, with the dew of repentance, washes off the


s: stain of sin, and girds the spirit with humility.


s: We came, then, to the desert shore that never saw navigate its


s: waters one who afterwards had experience of return. Here he girt


s: me, even as pleased the other. O marvel! that such as he plucked


s: the humble plant, it instantly sprang up again there whence he


s: The goods of the spirit are not diminished by appropriation.


s: CANTO II. Sunrise.--The Poets on the shore.--Coming of a boat,


s: guided by an angel, bearing souls to Purgatory.--Their


s: landing.--Casella and his song.--Cato hurries the souls to the


s: Now had the sun reached the horizon whose meridian circle covers


s: Jerusalem with its highest point; and the night which circles


s: opposite to it was issuing forth from Ganges with the Scales that


s: white and red cheeks of the beautiful Aurora by too much age were


s: Purgatory and Jerusalem are antipodal, and in one direction


s: the Ganges or India was arbitrarily assumed to be their common


s: horizon. The night is here taken as the point of the Heavens


s: opposite the sun, and the sun being in Aries, the night is in


s: Libra. When night exceeds, that is, at the autumnal equinox, when


s: drop from her hand, since the sun enters Libra.


s: We were still alongside the sea, like folk who are thinking of


s: their road, who go in heart and linger in body; and lo! as, at


s: approach of the morning, through the dense vapors Mars glows


s: ruddy, down in the west above the ocean floor, such appeared to


s: me,--so may I again behold it!--a light along the sea coming so


s: swiftly that no flight equals its motion. From which when I had a


s: brighter become and larger. Then on each side of it appeared to


s: me a something, I know not what, white, and beneath, little by


s: little, another came forth from it. My Master still said not a


s: word, until the first white things showed themselves wings; then,


s: thou bend thy knees. Lo! the Angel of God: fold thy hands;


s: henceforth shalt thou see such officials. See how he scorns human


s: toward heaven, stroking the air with his eternal feathers that


s: Then, as nearer and nearer toward us came the Bird Divine, the


s: brighter he appeared; so that near by my eye endured him not, but


s: very swift and light so that the water swallowed naught of it. At


s: he would make blessed; and more than a hundred spirits sat


s: together with one voice, with whatso of that psalm is after


s: written. Then he made the sign of holy cross upon them; whereon


s: they all threw themselves upon the strand; and he went away swift


s: The crowd which remained there seemed strange to the place,


s: gazing round about like him who of new things makes essay. On all


s: midheaven the Capricorn, was shooting forth the day, when the


s: new people raised their brow toward us, saying to us, "If ye


s: know, show us the way to go unto the mountain." And Virgil


s: answered, "Ye believe, perchance, that we are acquainted with


s: this place, but we are pilgrims even as ye are. Just now we came,


s: difficult that the ascent henceforth will seem play to us.


s: When Aries, in which the Sun was rising, is on the horizon,


s: The souls who had become aware concerning me by my breathing,


s: that I was still alive, marvelling became deadly pale. And as to


s: a messenger who bears an olive branch the folk press to hear


s: news, and no one shows himself shy of crowding, so, at the sight


s: of me, those fortunate souls stopped still, all of them, as if


s: forgetting to go to make themselves fair.


s: I saw one of them drawing forward to embrace me with so great


s: affection that it moved me to do the like. O shades empty save in


s: returned with them unto my breast. With marvel, I believe, I


s: painted me; wherefore the shade smiled and drew back, and I,


s: following it, pressed forward, Gently it said, that I should


s: pause; then I knew who it was, and I prayed it that to speak with


s: in the mortal body, so loosed from it I love thee; therefore I


s: "Casella mine, in order to return another time to this place


s: where I am, do I make this journey," said I, "but from thee how


s: "How has thy coming hither been delayed so long since thy


s: And he to me, "No wrong has been done me if he who takes both


s: when and whom it pleases him ofttimes hath denied to me this


s: passage; for of a just will his own is made. Truly for three


s: months he has taken with all peace whoso has wished to enter.


s: Wherefore I who was now turned to the seashore where the water of


s: outlet has he now turned his wing, because always those assemble


s: there who towards Acheron do not descend."


s: That is, of the Divine Will; but there is no explanation of


s: The Tiber is the local symbol of the Church of Rome, from


s: whose bosom those who die at peace with her pass to Purgatory.


s: The Jubilee, proclaimed by Boniface VIII., had begun at


s: Christmas, 1299, so that for three months now the Celestial Pilot


s: And I, "If a new law take not from thee memory or practice of the


s: it please thee therewith somewhat to comfort my soul, which


s: coming hither with its body is so wearied."


s: "Love which in my mind discourseth with me," began he then so


s: sweetly that the sweetness still within me sounds. My Master,


s: and I, and that folk who were with him, appeared so content as if


s: The first verse of a canzone by Dante; the canzone is the


s: second of those upon which he comments in his Convito.


s: Every English reader recalls Milton's Sonnet to Mr. Henry


s: "Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher


s: Than his Casella, whom he woo'd to sing,


s: Nothing is known of Casella beyond what is implied in Dante's


s: We were all fixed and attentive to his notes; and lo! the


s: venerable old man crying, "What is this, ye laggard spirits? What


s: the slough that lets not God be manifest to you."


s: As, when gathering grain or tare, the doves assembled at their


s: feeding, quiet, without display of their accustomed pride, if


s: aught appear of which they are afraid, suddenly let the food


s: alone, because they are assailed by a greater care, so I saw that


s: one that goes but knows not where he may come out. Nor was our


s: CANTO III. Ante-Purgatory.--Souls of those who have died in


s: Inasmuch as the sudden flight had scattered them over the plain,


s: turned to the mount whereto reason spurs us, I drew me close to


s: my trusty companion. And how should I without him have run? Who


s: would have drawn me up over the mountain? He seemed to me of his


s: own self remorseful. O conscience, upright and stainless, how


s: When his feet left the haste that takes the seemliness from every


s: attention, as though eager, and I turned my face unto the hill


s: that towards the heaven rises highest from the sea. The sun,


s: which behind was flaming ruddy, was broken in front of me by the


s: figure that the staying of its rays upon me formed. When I saw


s: the ground darkened only in front of me, I turned me to my side


s: with fear of being abandoned: and my Comfort, wholly turning to


s: me, began to say, "Why dost thou still distrust? Dost thou not


s: believe me with thee, and that I guide thee? It is now evening


s: there where the body is buried within which I cast a shadow;


s: Naples holds it, and from Brundusium it is taken; if now in front


s: which one hinders not the other's radiance. To suffer torments,


s: both hot and cold, bodies like this the Power ordains, which


s: wills not that how it acts be revealed to us. Mad is he who hopes


s: quia;; for if ye had been able to see everything, need had not


s: been for Mary to hear child: and ye have seen desiring


s: fruitlessly men such  that their desire would have been


s: quieted, which is given them eternally for a grief. I speak of


s: Aristotle and of Plato, and of many others;" and here he bowed


s: his front, and said no more, and remained disturbed.


s: Quic is used here, as often in mediaeval Latin, for quod. The


s: meaning is, Be content to know that the thing is, seek not to


s: know WHY or HOW--propter quid--it is as it is.


s: We had come, meanwhile, to the foot of the mountain; here we


s: found the rock so steep, that there the legs would be agile in


s: vain. Between Lerici and Turbia the most deserted, the most


s: secluded way is a stair easy and open, compared with that. "Now


s: who knows on which hand the hillside slopes," said my Master,


s: staying his step, "so that he can ascend who goeth without


s: Lerici on the Gulf of Spezzia, and Turbia, just above Monaco,


s: are at the two ends of the Riviera; between them the mountains


s: rise steeply from the shore, along which in Dante's time there


s: And while he was holding his face low, questioning his mind about


s: appeared to me a company of souls who were moving their feet


s: towards us, and seemed not, so slowly were they coming. "Lift,"


s: said I to the Master, "thine eyes, lo! on this side who will give


s: they come slowly, and do thou confirm thy hope, sweet son.


s: That people was still as far, I mean after a thousand steps of


s: ours, as a good thrower would cast with his hand, when they all


s: pressed up to the hard masses of the high bank, and stood still


s: and close, as one who goes in doubt stops to look. "O ye who


s: have made good ends, O spirits already elect," Virgil began, "by


s: that peace which I believe is awaited by you all, tell us, where


s: the mountain lies so that the going up is possible; for to lose


s: time is most displeasing to him who knows most."


s: They stopped, surprised, at seeing Virgil and Dante advancing


s: to the left, against the rule in Purgatory, where the course is


s: always to the right, symbolizing progress in good. In Hell the


s: As the sheep come forth from the fold by ones, and twos, and


s: threes, and the others stand timid, holding eye and muzzle to the


s: themselves to her if she stop, silly and quiet, and wherefore


s: know not; so I saw then moving to approach, the head of that


s: fortunate flock, modest in face and dignified in gait.


s: When those in front saw the light broken on the ground at my


s: right side, so that the shadow fell from me on the cliff, they


s: stopped, and drew somewhat back; and all the rest who were coming


s: asking, I confess to you that this is a human body which you see,


s: thereat, but believe that not without power that comes from


s: heaven he seeks to surmount this wall." Thus the Master:and that


s: worthy people said, "Turn, enter in advance, then;" with the


s: backs of their hands making sign. And one of them began, "Whoever


s: world thou didst ever see me?" I turned me toward him, and looked


s: aspect, but a blow had divided one of his eyebrows.


s: When I had humbly disclaimed having ever seen him, he said, "Now


s: look!" and he showed me a wound at the top of his breast. Then he


s: Constance; wherefore I pray thee, that when thou returnest, thou


s: go to my beautiful daughter, mother of the honor of Sicily and


s: of Aragon, and tell to her the truth if aught else be told. After


s: weeping, to Him who pardons willingly. Horrible were my sins, but


s: turns to it. If the Pastor of Cosenza, who was set on the hunt


s: of me by Clement, had then rightly read this page in God, the


s: bones of my body would still be at the head of the bridge near


s: Benevento, under the guard of the heavy cairn. Now the rain


s: bathes them, and the wind moves them forth from the kingdom,


s: almost along the Verde, whither he transferred them with


s: extinguished light. By their  malediction the Eternal Love


s: is not so lost that it cannot return, while hope hath speck of


s: green. True is it, that whoso dies in contumacy of Holy Church,


s: though he repent him at the end, needs must stay outside upon


s: this bank thirtyfold the whole time that he has been in his


s: presumption, if such decree become not shorter through good


s: prayers. See now if thou canst make me glad, revealing to my good


s: for here through those on earth much is gained."


s: The natural son of the Emperor Frederick II. He was born in


s: Anjou was called by Pope Urban IV. to contend against him, and in


s: Constance, the daughter of Manfred, was married to Peter of


s: Aragon. She had three sons, Alphonso, James, and Frederick.


s: Alphonso succeeded his father in Aragon, and James in Sicily, but


s: Frederick King of Sicily. Manfred naturally speaks favorably of


s: them, but Dante himself thought ill of James and Frederick. See


s: The Archbishop of Cosenza, at command of the Pope, Clement


s: threw it unburied, as the body of one excommunicated, on the bank


s: Not with candles burning as in proper funeral rites.


s: This seems to be a doctrine peculiar to Dante. The value of


s: the prayers of the good on earth in shortening the period of


s: suffering of the souls in Purgatory is more than once referred to


s: CANTO IV. Ante-Purgatory.--Ascent to a shelf of the


s: mountain.--The negligent, who postponed repentance to the last


s: When through delights, or through pains which some power of ours


s: may experience, the soul is all concentrated thereon, it seems


s: that to no other faculty it may attend; and this is counter to


s: the error which believes that one soul above another is kindled


s: in us. And therefore, when a thing is heard or seen, which may


s: hold the soul intently turned to it, the time passes, and the man


s: another is that which keeps the soul entire; the latter is as it


s: Were it true that, as according to the Platonists, there were


s: more than one soul in man, he might give attention to two things


s: at once. But when one faculty is free and called into activity,


s: the rest of the soul is as it were bound in inaction.


s: Of this had I true experience, hearing that spirit and wondering;


s: noticed it, when we came where those souls all together cried out


s: A larger opening the man of the farm often hedges up with a


s: forkful of his thorns, when the  grape grows dark, than was the


s: passage through which my Leader and I behind ascended alone, when


s: Noli, one mounts up Bismantova to its peak, with only the


s: feet; but here it behoves that one fly, I mean with the swift


s: wings and with the feathers of great desire, behind that guide


s: who gave me hope and made a light for me. We ascended in through


s: the broken rock, and on each side the border pressed on us, and


s: the ground beneath required both feet and hands.


s: These all are places difficult of access.


s: When we were upon the upper edge of the high bank on the open


s: slope, "My Master," said I, "what way shall we take?" And he to


s: me, "Let no step of thine fall back, always win up the mountain


s: behind me, till some sage guide appear for us."


s: The summit was so high it surpassed the sight and the side


s: steeper far than a line from the mid quadrant to the centre. I


s: was weary, when I began, "O sweet Father, turn and regard howl


s: remain alone if thou dost not stop." "My son," said he, "far as


s: here drag thyself," pointing me to a ledge a little above, which


s: on that side circles all the hill. His words so spurred me, that


s: I forced myself, scrambling after him, until the belt was beneath


s: had ascended, for to look back is wont to encourage one. I first


s: turned my eyes to the low shores, then I raised them to the sun,


s: and wondered that on the left we were struck by it. The Poet


s: perceived clearly that I was standing all bewildered at the


s: chariot of the light, where between us and Aquilo, it was


s: entering. Whereupon he to me, "If Castor and Pollux were in


s: company with that mirror  which up and down guides with its


s: light, thou wouldst see the ruddy Zodiac revolving still closer


s: to the Bears, if it went not out of its old road. How that may


s: be, if thou wishest to be able to think, collected in thyself


s: imagine Zion and this mountain to stand upon the earth so that


s: both have one sole horizon, and different hemispheres; then thou


s: wilt see that the road which Phaethon, to his harm, knew not how


s: to drive, must needs pass on the one side of this mountain, and


s: on the other side of that, if thy intelligence right clearly


s: heeds." "Surely, my Master," said I, "never yet saw I so clearly,


s: mid-circle of the supernal motion, which is called Equator in a


s: certain art, and which always remains between the sun and the


s: winter, for the reason that thou tellest, from here departs


s: toward the north, while the Hebrews saw it toward the warm


s: region. But, if it please thee, willingly I would know how far we


s: below it is hard, and the higher one goes the less it hurts;


s: therefore when it shall seem so pleasant to thee that the going


s: up will be easy to thee as going down the current in a vessel,


s: then wilt thou be at the end of this path; there repose from toil


s: A steeper inclination than that of an angle of forty-five


s: The brightness of the sun is the reflection of the Divine


s: If the sun were in the sign of the Gemini instead of being in


s: Aries it would make the Zodiac ruddy still farther to the north.


s: In Purgatory the sun being seen from south of the equator is on


s: the left hand, while at Jerusalem, in the northern hemisphere, it


s: And when he had said his word, a voice near by sounded,


s: "Perchance thou wilt be first constrained to sit." At the sound


s: of it each of us turned, and we saw at the left a great stone


s: which neither he nor I before had noticed. Thither we drew; and


s: there were persons who were staying in the shadow behind the


s: rock, as one through indolence sets himself to stay. And one of


s: them, who seemed to me weary, was seated, and was clasping his


s: knees, holding his face down low between them. "O sweet my Lord,"


s: sloth were his sister." Then that one turned to us and gave heed,


s: thou, for thou art valiant." I recognized then who he was, and


s: that effort which was still quickening my breath a little


s: hindered not my going to him, and after I had reached him, he


s: scarce raised his head, saying, "Hast thou clearly seen how the


s: sun over thy left shoulder drives his chariot?"


s: His slothful acts and his short words moved my lips a little to a


s: now, but tell me why just here thou art seated? awaitest thou


s: a guide, or has only thy wonted mood recaptured thee?" And he,


s: "Brother, what imports the going up? For the bird of God that


s: sitteth at the gate would not let me go to the torments. It first


s: unless the prayer first aid me which rises up from a heart that


s: lives in grace: what avails the other which is not heard in


s: Belacqua, according to Benvenuto da Imola, was a Florentine,


s: a maker of citherns and other musical instruments; he carved with


s: played on them. Dante, because of his love of music, had been


s: He had feared lest Belacqua might be in Hell.


s: And now the Poet in front of me was ascending, and he said, "Come


s: on the shore the night now covers with her foot Morocco."


s: CANTO V. Ante-Purgatory.--Spirits who had delayed repentance, and


s: I had now parted from those shades, and was following the


s: footsteps of my Leader, when behind me, pointing his finger, one


s: cried out, "Look, the ray seems not to shine on the left hand of


s: that lower one, and as if alive he seems to hear himself." I


s: turned my eyes at the sound of these words, and I saw them


s: watching, for marvel, only me, only me, and the light which was


s: "Why is thy mind so hampered," said the Master, "that thou


s: slackenest thy going? What matters to thee that which here is


s: whispered? Come after me, and let the people talk. Stand as a


s: tower firm, that never wags its top for blowing of the winds; for


s: himself his aim, for the force of one weakens the other." What


s: could I answer, save "I come"? I said it, overspread somewhat


s: with the color, which, at times, makes a man worthy of pardon.


s: And meanwhile across upon the mountain side, a little in front of


s: they observed that I gave not place for passage of the rays


s: through my body, they changed their song into a long and hoarse


s: "Oh!" and two of them, in form of messengers, ran to meet us, and


s: Master, "Ye can go back, and report to them who sent you, that


s: the body of this one is true flesh. If, as I suppose, they


s: stopped because of seeing his shadow, enough is answered them;


s: let them do him honor and he may he dear to them."


s: Never did I see enkindled vapors at early night so swiftly cleave


s: the others, gave a turn toward us, like a troop that runs without


s: pray thee," said the Poet; "wherefore still go on, and in going


s: listen." "O soul," they came crying, "that goest to be happy with


s: look if thou hast ever seen any one of us, so that thou mayest


s: carry news of him to earth. Ah, why dost thou go on? Ah, why dost


s: sinners up to the last hour; then light from Heaven made us


s: mindful, so that both penitent and pardoning we issued forth from


s: see him." And I, "Although I gaze upon your faces, not one I


s: recognize; but if aught that I can do be pleasing to you, spirits


s: me, following the feet of such a guide, seek for itself from


s: world to world." And one began, "Each of us trusts in thy good


s: turn without thy swearing it, provided want of power cut not off


s: the will; wherefore I, who alone before the others speak, pray


s: thee, if ever thou see that land that sits between Romagna and


s: the land of Charles, that thou be courteous to me with thy


s: prayers in Fano, so that for me good orisons be made, whereby I


s: may purge away my grave offences. Thence was I; but the deep


s: wounds, wherefrom issued the blood in which I had my seat,


s: were given me in the bosom of the Endoneuria, there  where I


s: thought to be most secure; he of Este had it done, who held me in


s: Mira, when I was overtaken at Oriaco, I should still be yonder


s: where men breathe. I ran to the marsh, and the reeds and the mire


s: Elect from birth to the joys of Paradise, in contrast with


s: The March of Ancona, between the Romagna and the kingdom of


s: Naples, then held by Charles II. of Anjou. It is Jacopo del


s: Cassero who speaks. He was a noted and valiant member of the


s: leading Guelph family in Fano. On his way to take the place of


s: Podesta of Milan, in 1298, he was assassinated by the minions of


s: Azzo VIII. of Este, whom he had offended.


s: The life of all flesh is the blood thereof." Levit., xvii.


s: That is to say, in the territory of the Paduans, whose city


s: was reputed to have been founded by Antenor.


s: Mira is a little settlement on the bank of one of the canals


s: of the Brenta. Why flight thither would have been safe is mere


s: Then said another, "Ah! so may that desire be fulfilled which


s: draws thee to the high mountain,  with good piety help thou mine.


s: no care for me, wherefore I go among these with downcast front."


s: And I to him, "What violence, or what chance so carried thee


s: astray from Campaldino, that thy burial place was never


s: known?" "Oh!" replied he, "at foot of the Casentino crosses a


s: stream, named the Archiano, which rises in the Apennine above the


s: pierced in the throat, flying on foot, and bloodying the plain.


s: Here I lost my sight, and I ended my speech with the name of


s: Mary, and here I fell, and my flesh remained alone. I will tell


s: the truth, and do thou repeat it among the living. The Angel of


s: God took me, and he of Hell cried out, "O thou from Heaven, why


s: dost thou rob me? Thou bearest away for thyself the eternal


s: part of him for one little tear which takes him from me; but of


s: the rest I will make other disposal." Thou knowest well how in


s: the air is condensed that moist vapor which turns to water soon


s: as it rises where the cold seizes it. He joined that evil will,


s: which seeketh only evil, with intelligence, and moved the mist


s: and the wind by the power that his own nature gave. Then when the


s: to the great chain, and made the frost above so intense that the


s: pregnant air was turned to water. The rain fell, and to the


s: gullies came of it what the earth did not endure, and as it


s: gathered in great streams it rushed so swiftly towards the royal


s: river that nothing held it back. The robust Archiano found my


s: frozen body near its outlet, and pushed it into the Arno, and


s: loosed on my breast the cross which I made of myself when the


s: pain overcame me. It rolled me along its banks, and along its


s: bottom, then with its spoil it covered and girt me."


s: Son of Count Guido da Montefeltro, the treacherous counsellor


s: who had told his story to Dante in Hell, Canto XXVII. Joan was


s: The battle of Campaldino, in which Dante himself, perhaps,


s: took part, was fought on the 11th of June, 1289, between the


s: the captain of the Aretines. Campaldino is a little plain in the


s: The convent of the Calmaldoli, founded by St. Romualdo of


s: Being lost at its junction with the Arno.


s: St. Francis and one of the black Cherubim had had a similar


s: contention, as will be remembered, over the soul of Buonconte's


s: "Ah! when thou shalt have returned unto the world, and rested


s: from the long journey," the third spirit followed on the second,


s: "be mindful of me, who am Pia. Siena made me, Maremma unmade


s: me; he knows it who with his gem ringed me, betrothed before."


s: This sad Pia is supposed to have belonged to the Sienese


s: family of the Tolomei, and to have been the wife of Nello or


s: Paganello de' Pannocchieschi, who was reported to have had her


s: put to death in his stronghold of Pietra in the Tuscan Maremma.


s: Her fate seems the more pitiable that she does not pray Dante to


s: seek for her the prayers of any living person. The last words of


s: Pia are obscure, and are interpreted variously. Possibly the


s: "betrothed before" hints at a source of jealousy as the motive of


s: CANTO VI. Ante-Purgatory.--More spirits who had deferred


s: repentance till they were overtaken by a violent death.--Efficacy


s: When a game of dice is broken up, he who loses remains sorrowful,


s: the folk go along; one goes before and one plucks him from


s: behind, and at his side one brings himself to mind. He does not


s: stop; listens to one and the other the man to whom he reaches


s: forth his hand presses on him no longer, and thus from the throng


s: face to them this way and that; and, promising, I loosed myself


s: Here was the Aretine, who from the fierce arms of Ghin di


s: Tacco had his death; and the other who was drowned when running


s: in pursuit. Here Federigo Novello  was praying with hands


s: outstretched, and he of Pisa, who made the good Marzucco seem


s: strong. I saw Count Orso; and the soul divided from its body


s: by spite and by envy, as it said, and not for fault committed,


s: Pierre do la Brosse, I mean; and here let the Lady of Brabant


s: take forethought, while she is on earth, so that for this she be


s: The Aretine was Messer Benincasa da Laterina, a learned


s: judge, who had condemned to death for their crimes two relatives


s: of Ghin di Tacco, the most famous freebooter of the day, whose


s: headquarters were between Siena and Rome. Some time after, Messer


s: Another Aretine, of the Tarlati family, concerning whose


s: death the early commentators are at variance. Benvenuto da Imola


s: says that, hotly pursuing his enemies, his horse carried him into


s: foes turned upon him and slew him with their arrows.


s: circumstances of whose death, said to have taken place in 1291,


s: nothing certain is known. Benvenuto says, he was multum probus, a


s: Of him of Pisa different stories are told. Benvenuto says, "I


s: have heard from the good Boccaccio, whom I trust more than the


s: others, that Marzucco was a good man of the city of Pisa, whose


s: son was beheaded by order of Count Ugolino, the tyrant, who


s: commanded that his body should remain unburied. In the evening


s: his father went to the Count, as a stranger unconcerned in the


s: matter, and, without tears or other sign of grief, said, 'Surely,


s: buried, and not left cruelly as food for dogs.' Then the Count,


s: recognizing him, said astonished, 'Go, your patience overcomes my


s: Of Count Orso nothing is known with certainty.


s: Pierre de is Brosse was chamberlain and confidant of Philip


s: the Bold of France. He lost the king's favor, and charges of


s: wrong-doing being brought against him he was hung. It was


s: reported that his death was brought about through jealousy by


s: Mary of Brabant, the second wife of Philip. She lived till 1321,


s: so that Dante's warning may have reached her ears.


s: When I was free from each and all those shades who prayed only


s: that some one else should pray, so that their becoming holy may


s: be speeded, I began, "It seems that thou deniest to me, O Light


s: of mine, expressly, in a certain text, that orison can bend


s: decree of Heaven, and this folk pray only for this, -- shall then


s: Virgil represents Palinurus as begging to be allowed to cross


s: the Styx, while his body was still unburied and without due


s: funeral rites. To this petition the Sibyl answers:--Desine fata


s: Deum flecti sperare precando:--Cease to hope that the decrees of


s: the gods can be changed by prayer."--Aeneid, vi. 376.


s: And he to me, "My writing is plain, and the hope of these is not


s: fallacious, if well it is regarded with sound mind; for top of


s: judgment vails not itself because a fire of love may, in one


s: instant, fulfil that which he who is stationed here must satisfy.


s: amended by a prayer, because the prayer was disjoined from God.


s: But truly in regard to so deep a doubt decide thou not, unless


s: she tell thee who shall be a light between the truth and the


s: understanding. I know not if thou understandest; I speak of


s: Beatrice. Thou shalt see her above, smiling and happy, upon the


s: The question, being one that relates to the Divine will,


s: cannot be answered with full assurance by human reason.


s: And I, "My lord, let us go on with greater speed, for now I mu


s: not weary as before; and behold now how the bill casts its


s: shadow." "We will go forward with this day," he answered, "as


s: much further as we shall yet be able; but the fact is of other


s: form than thou supposest. Before thou art there-above thou wilt


s: see him return, who is now hidden by the hill-side so that thou


s: dost not make his rays to break. But see there a soul which


s: seated all alone is looking toward us; it will point out to us


s: the speediest way." We came to it. O Lombard soul, how lofty and


s: scornful wast thou; and in the movement of thine eyes grave and


s: slow! It said not anything to us, but let us go on, looking only


s: in manner of a lion when he couches. Virgil, however, drew near


s: to it, praying that it would show to us the best ascent; and it


s: answered not to his request, but of our country and life it asked


s: itself recluse, rose toward him from the place where erst it was,


s: Sordello, who lived early in the thirteenth century, was of


s: the family of the Visconti of Mantua. He left his native land and


s: Provence, but his fame belonged to Italy.


s: Ah, servile Italy, hostel of grief! ship without pilot in great


s: tempest! not lady of provinces, but a brothel! that gentle soul


s: was so ready, only at the sweet sound of his native land, to give


s: living men exist not without war, and of those whom one wall and


s: one moat shut in one doth gnaw the other. Search, wretched one,


s: around the shores, thy seaboard, and then look within thy bosom,


s: if any part in thee enjoyeth peace! What avails it that for thee


s: Justinian should mend the bridle, if the saddle be empty? Without


s: devout and let Caesar sit in the saddle, if thou rightly


s: understandest what God notes for thee! Look how fell this wild


s: beast has become, through not being corrected by the spurs, since


s: abandonest her who has become untamed and savage, and oughtest to


s: successor may have fear of it!  For thou and thy father,


s: retained up there by greed, have suffered the garden of the


s: empire to become desert. Come thou to see Montecchi and


s: Cappelletti, Monaldi and Filippeschi, thou man without care:


s: those already wretched, and these in dread. Come, cruel one,


s: come, and see the distress of thy nobility, and cure their hurts;


s: Rome, that weeps, widowed and alone, and day and night cries, "My


s: to be shamed by thine own renown! And if it be lawful for me, O


s: Supreme Jove that wast on earth crucified for us, are thy just


s: eyes turned aside elsewhere? Or is it preparation, that in the


s: abyss of thy counsel thou art making for some good utterly cut


s: off from our perception? For the cities of Italy are all full of


s: tyrants, and every churl that comes playing the partisan becomes


s: The Church-folk, the clergy, for whom God has ordained, --


s: "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's."


s: Albert of Hapsburg, son of the Emperor Rudolph, was elected


s: King of the Romans in 1298, but like his father never went to


s: Italy to he crowned. He was murdered by his nephew, John, called


s: the parricide, in 1308, at Konigsfelden. The successor of Albert


s: was Henry VII. of Luxemborg, who came to Italy in 1311, was


s: crowned at Rome in 1312, and died at Buonconvento the next year.


s: Famous families, the first two of Verona, the last two of


s: Orvieto, at enmity with each other in their respective


s: The Counts of Santafiora were once the most powerful


s: Ghibelline nobles in the Sienese territory. Their power had


s: declined since the Hohenstaufen Emperors had been succeeded by


s: the Hapsburgs, and they were now subjected to the Guelphs of


s: That is, a hitter opponent of the empire, as the Consul M.


s: My Florence! surely thou mayst be content with this digression,


s: which toucheth thee not, thanks to thy people that for itself


s: takes heed. Many have justice at heart but shoot slowly, in order


s: the edge of its lips. Many reject the common burden, but thy


s: people, eager, replies without being called on, and cries, "I


s: load myself." Now be thou glad, for thou hast truly wherefore:


s: thou rich, thou in peace, thou wise. If I speak the truth, the


s: result hides it not. Athens and Lacedaemon, that made the ancient


s: sign, compared with thee that makest such finespun provisions,


s: that to mid November reaches not, what thou in October spinnest.


s: How often in the time that thou rememberest, law, money, office,


s: and custom, hast thou changed, and renewed thy members! And if


s: thou mind thee well and see the light, thou wilt see thyself


s: resembling a sick woman, who cannot find repose upon the


s: feathers, but with her tossing seeks to relieve her pain.


s: CANTO VII. Virgil makes himself known to Sordello.--Sordello


s: leads the Poets to the Valley of the Princes who have been


s: negligent of salvation.--He points them out by name.


s: After the becoming and glad salutations had been repeated three


s: and four times, Sordello drew back and said, "Ye, who are ye?"


s: "Before the souls worthy to ascend to God were turned unto this


s: mountain, my bones had been buried by Octavian; I am Virgil, and


s: for no other sin did I lose heaven, but for not having faith,"


s: As is he who suddenly sees a thing before him whereat he marvels,


s: seemed that shade, and then he bent down his brow, and humbly


s: turned again toward him and embraced him where the inferior takes


s: "O glory of the Latins," said he, "through whom our language


s: showed what it could do, O honor eternal of the place wherefrom I


s: cloister." "Through all the circles of the realm of woe," replied


s: it I come. Not by doing, but by not doing have I lost the sight


s: of the high Sun whom thou desirest, and who by me was known late.


s: only, where the lamentations sound not as wailings, but are


s: sighs; there stay I with the little innocents bitten by the teeth


s: with those who were not vested with the three holy virtues, and


s: without vice knew the others and followed all of them. But if


s: thou knowest and canst, give us some direction whereby we may


s: come more speedily there where Purgatory has its true beginning."


s: me to go upward and around; so far as I can go I join myself to


s: thee as guide. But see how already the day declines, and to go up


s: fair sojourn. There are souls here on the right apart; if thou


s: consentest to me I will lead thee to them, and not without


s: delight will they be known to thee." "How is this?" was answered,


s: another, or would he not be able to ascend?" And the good


s: Sordello drew his finger on the ground, saying, "See, only this


s: line thou couldst not pass after set of sun; not because aught


s: else save the nocturnal darkness would give hindrance to going


s: up; that hampers the will with impotence. One could, indeed,


s: in it turn downward and walk the hillside wandering around,


s: while the horizon holds the day shut up." Then my Lord, as if


s: wondering, said, "Lead us, then, there where thou sayest one may


s: The virtuous Heathen did not possess the so-called