Lit Trad 2 Divine Comedy Cantos 12-17

Front 1

Perhaps you think this is the Duke of Athens here, who, in the world above, whose brought your death. Be off, you beast; this man who comes has not been tutored bu your sister; all he wants in coming here is to observe your torments.

Back 1

Virgil

Front 2

Run toward the pass; it's better to descend while he's berserk.

Back 2

Virgil

Front 3

You wonder, perhaps, about that fallen mass, watched over by the inhuman rage I have just quenched. Now I would have you know: the other time that I descended into lower Hell, this mass of boulders had not yet collapsed; but if I reason rightly, it was just before the coming of the One who took from Dis the highest circle's splendid spoils that, on all sides, the steep and filthy valley had trembled so...

Back 3

virgil

Front 4

...I thought the universe felt love (by which, as some believe, the world has often been converted into chaos)_; and at that moment, here as well as elsewhere, these ancient boulders toppled, in this way. But fix your eyes below, upon the valley, for now we near the stream of blood, where those who injure others violently, boil.

Back 4

Virgil

Front 5

What punishment do you approach as you descend the slope? But speak from there; if not, I draw my bow.

Back 5

Nessus

Front 6

We shall make reply only to Chiron, when we reach his side; your hasty will has never served you well.

Back 6

Virgil

Front 7

That one is Nessus, who died because of lovely Deianira and of himself wrought vengeance for himself. And in the middle, gazing at his chest, is mighty chiron, tutor of Achilles; the third is Pholus, he who was so frenzied.

Back 7

Virgil

Front 8

And many thousands whell around the moat, their arrows aimed at any soul that thrusts above the blood more than its guilt allots.

Back 8

Virgil

Front 9

Have you noticed how he who walks behind moves what he touches? Dead soles are not accustomed to do that.

Back 9

Chiron

Front 10

He is indeed alive, and so alone it falls to me to show him the dark valley. Necessity has brought him here, not pleasure. For she who gave me this new task was one who had just come from singing halleluiah: he is no roobber; I am not a thief.

Back 10

Virgil

Front 11

But by the Power that permits my steps to journey on so wild a path, give us one of your band, to serve as our companion; and let him show us where to ford the ditch, and let him bear this man upon his back, for he's no spirit who can fly through the air.

Back 11

Virgil

Front 12

Then, return and be their guide; if other troops disturb you, fend them off.

Back 12

Chiron

Front 13

These are the tyrants who plunged their hands in blood and plundering. Here they lament their ruthless crimes; here are both Alexander and the fierce Dionysius, who brought such years of grief to Sicily.

Back 13

Nessus

Front 14

That brow with hair so black is Ezzelino; that other there, the blond one, is Obizzo of Este, he who was indeed undone, within the world above, by his fierce son.

Back 14

Nessus

Front 15

Now let him be your first guide, me your second.

Back 15

Nessus

Front 16

Within God's bosom, he impaled the heart that still drips blood upon the Thames.

Back 16

Nessus

Front 17

Just as you see that, on this side, the brook continually thins so I should have you know the rivulet, along the other side, will slowly deepen its bed, until it reaches once again the depth where tyranny must make lament.

Back 17

Nessus

Front 18

And there divine justice torments Attila he who was such a scourge upon the earth, and Pyrrhus, Sextus; to eternity it milks the tears that boiling brook unlocks from Rinier of corneto, Rinier Pazzo, those two waged such war upon the highroads.

Back 18

Nessus

Front 19

Before you enter farther know now you are within the second ring and shall be here until you reach the horrid sand; therefore look carefully; you'll see such things as would deprice my speech of all belief.

Back 19

Virgil

Front 20

If you would tear a little twig from any of these plants, the thoughts you have will also be cut off.

Back 20

Virgil

Front 21

Why do you tear me? Why do you break me off? Are you without the sentiment of pity? We once were men and now are arid stumps: your hand might well have shown us greater mercy had we been nothing more than souls of serpants.

Back 21

Pier della Vigna

Front 22

Wounded soul, if, earlier, he had been able to believe what he had only glimpsed within my poetry, then he would not have set his hand against you; but its incredibility made me urge him to do a deed that grieves me deeply.

Back 22

Virgil

Front 23

But tell him who you were, so that he may, to make amends, refresh your fame within the world above, where he can still return.

Back 23

Virgil

Front 24

Your sweeth speech draws me so that I cannot be still; and may it not oppress you, if I linger now in talk.

Back 24

Pier della Vigna

Front 25

I am the one who guarded both the keys of frederick's heart and turned them, locking and unlocking them with such dexterity that none but I could share his confidence; and I was faithful to my splendid office, so faithful that I lost both sleep and strength.

Back 25

Pier della Vigna

Front 26

The whore who never turned her harlot's eyes away from Caesar's dwelling, she who is the death of all and vice of every court, inflamed the minds of everyone against me; and those inflamed, then so inflamed Augustus that my delighted honors turned to saddness.

Back 26

Pier della Vigna

Front 27

My mind, because of its disdainful temper, believeing it could flee disdain through death, made me unjust against my own just self. I swear to you by the peculiar roots of this thornbush, I never broke my faith with him who was so worthy--with my lord. If one of you returns into the world then let him help my memory, which still lies prone beneath the battering of envy.

Back 27

Pier della Vigna

Front 28

Since he is silent, do not lose this chance, but speak and ask what you would know.

Back 28

Virgil

Front 29

Do you continue; ask of him whatever you believe I should request; I cannot, so much pity takes my heart.

Back 29

Dante

Front 30

Imprisoned spirit, so may this man do freely what you ask, may it please you to tell us something more of how the soul is bound into these knots and tell us, if you can, if any one can ever find his freedom from these limbs.

Back 30

Virgil

Front 31

7th Circle first ring

Back 31

Violence against neighbors

Front 32

Punishment in the 7th Circle

Back 32

Drowing in blood looked after by centaurs or else walking across a fiery land in fiery rain.

Front 33

You shall be answered promptly. When the savage spirit quits the body from which it has torn itself, then Minos sends it to the seventh maw. It falls into the wood, and there's no place to which it is allotted, but wherever fortune has flung that soul, that is the space where, even as a grain of spelt, it sprouts.

Back 33

Pier della Vigna

Front 34

It rises as a sapling, a wild plant; and then the Harpies, feeding on its leaves, cause pain and for that pain provide a vent. Like other souls, we shall seek out the flesh that we have left, but none of us shall wear it; it is not right for any man to have what he himself has cast aside.

Back 34

Pier della Vigna

Front 35

We'll drag our bodies here; they'll hang in this sad wood, each on the stump of its vindictive shade.

Back 35

Pier della Vigna

Front 36

Now come, death, quickly come!

Back 36

Lano

Front 37

Lano, your legs were not so nimble at the jousts of Toppo!

Back 37

Jocopo

Front 38

O Jacopo da Santo Andrea, what have you gained by using me as screen? Am I to blame for your indecent life?

Back 38

Florentine suicide

Front 39

Who were you, who stood bedide that bush, who were you, who through many wounds must breather with blood your melancholy words?

Back 39

Virgil

Front 40

O spirits who have come to witness the outrageous laceration that leaves so many of my branches torn, collect them at the foot of this sad thorn. My home was in the city whose first patron gave way to John the Baptist; for this reason he'll always use his art to make it sorrow; and if--along the crossing of the Arno--some effigy of Mars had not remained, those citizens who afterward rebuilt their city on the ashes that Attila had left to them, would have travailed in vain. I made--of my own house--my gallows place.

Back 40

Florentine suicide

Front 41

7th circle 3rd ring

Back 41

violent against God

Front 42

You who can defeat all things except for those tenacious demons who tried to block us at the entryway, who is that giant there, who does not seem to heed the singeing--he who lies and scorns and scowls, he whom the rains can't seem to soften?

Back 42

Dante

Front 43

That which I was in life, I am in death

Back 43

Capaneus

Front 44

Though Jove wear out the smith from whom he took, in wrath, the keen-edged thunderbolt with which on my last day I was to be transfixed; or if he tire the others, one by one, in Mongibello, at the sooty forge, while bellowing: 'O helo, good Vulcan, help!'--just as he did when there was war at Phlegra--and casts his shafts at me with all his force, not even then would he have happy vengeance.

Back 44

Capaneus

Front 45

O Capaneus, for your arrogance that is not quenched, you're punished all the more: no torture other than your own madness could offer pain enough to match your wrath.

Back 45

Virgil

Front 46

That man was one of seven kings besieging Thebes; he held--and still, it seems, holds--God in great disdain, desprizing Him; but as I told him now, his maledictions sit well as ornaments upon his chest.

Back 46

Virgil

Front 47

Now follow me and--take care--do not set your feet upon the sand that's burning hot, but always keep them back, close to the forest.

Back 47

Virgil

Front 48

Among all other things that I have shown you since we first made our way across the gate whose threshold is forbidden to no one, no thing has yet been witnessed by your eyes as notable as this red rivulet, which quenches every flame that bruns above it.

Back 48

Virgil

Front 49

A devastated land lies in midsea, a land that is called Crete under its king the world once lived chastely. Within that land there was a mountain blessed with leaves and waters, and they called it Ida; but it is withered now like some old thing.

Back 49

Virgil

Front 50

It once was chosen as a trusted cradle by Rhea for her son; to hide him better, when he cried out, she had her servants clamor. Within the mountain is a hge Old Man, who stands erect--his back turned toward Damietta--and looks at Rome as if it were his mirror.

Back 50

Virgil

Front 51

The old man's head is fashioned of fine gold, the purest silver forms his arms and chest, but he is made of brass down to the cleft; below that point he is of choisest iron except for his right foot, made of baked clay; and he rests more on this than on the left.

Back 51

Virgil

Front 52

Each part of him, except the gold, is cracked; and down that fissure there are tears that drip; when gathered, they pierce through that cavern's floor and, crossing rocks into this valley, form the Acheron and Styx and Phlegethon; and they make their way down this tight channel, they form Cocytus; since you are able to see what pool is, I'll not describe it here.

Back 52

Virgil

Front 53

But if the rivulet must follow such a course down from our world why can we see it only at this boundary?

Back 53

Dante

Front 54

You nkow this place is round; and though the way that you have come is long, and always toward the left and toward the bottom, you still have not completed all the circle: so that, if something new appears to us, it need not bring such wonder to your face.

Back 54

Virgil

Front 55

Where's Phlegethon and where is Lethe? You omit the second and say this rain of tears has formed the first.

Back 55

Dante

Front 56

I'm pleased indeed with all your questions; yet one of them might well have found its answer already--when you saw the red stream boiling. You shall see Lethe, but past this abyss, there where the spirits go to cleanse themselves when their repented guilt is set aside.

Back 56

Virgil

Front 57

The time has come to quit this wood; see that you follow close behind me; these margins form a path that does not scorch, and over them, all flaming vapor is quenched.

Back 57

Virgil

Front 58

This is marvelous!

Back 58

Brunetto Latino

Front 59

Are you here, Ser Brunetto?

Back 59

Dante

Front 60

My son, do not mind if Brunetto Latino lingers of a while with you and lets the file he's with pass on ahead.

Back 60

Brunetto Latino

Front 61

With all my strength, I pary you, stay; and if you'd have me rest awhile with you, I shall, if that please him with whom I go.

Back 61

Dante

Front 62

O son, whoever of this floxk stops but a moment, stays a hundred years and cannot shield himself when fire strikes. Therefore move on; below--but close--I'll follow; and then I shall rejoin my company, who go lamenting their eternal sorrows.

Back 62

Brunetto Latino

Front 63

What destiny or chance has led you here below before your last day came, and who is he who shows the way?

Back 63

Brunetto Latino

Front 64

If you pursue your star, you cannot fail to reach a splendid harbor if in fair life, I judged you properly; and if I had not died too soon for this, on seeing Heaven was so kind to you, I should have helped sustain you in your work.

Back 64

Brunetto Latino

Front 65

But that malicious, that ungrateful people come down, in ancient times, from Fiesole--still keeping something of the rock and mountain--for your good deeds, will be your enemey: and there is cause--among the sour sorbs, that sweet fig is not meant to bear its fruit.

Back 65

Brunetto Latino

Front 66

The world has long since called them blind, a people presumptuous, avaricious, envious; be sure to cleanse yourself of their foul ways. Your fortune holds in store such honor for you, one party and the other will be hungry for you--but keep the grass far from the goat.

Back 66

Brunetto Latino

Front 67

For let the beast of Fiesole find forage if still, among their dunt, it rises up--in which there lives again the sacred seed of those few Romans who remained in Florence when such a nest of wickedness was built.

Back 67

Brunetto Latino

Front 68

If my desire were answered totally you'd still be among, not banished from, humanity. Within my memory is fixed--and now moves me--your dear, your kind paternal image when, in the world above, from time to time you taught me how man makes himself eternal; and while I lice, my gratitude fr that must always be apparent in my words.

Back 68

Dante

Front 69

What you have told me of my course, I write: I keep it with another text, for comment by one who'll understand, if I may reach her. One thing alone I'd have ou plainly see: so long as I am not rebuked by conscience, I stand perpared for Fortune, came what may.

Back 69

Dante

Front 70

My ears find no new pledge in that prediction; therefore, let fortune turn her wheel as she may please, and let the peasant turn his mattock.

Back 70

Dante

Front 71

He who takes note of this has listened well

Back 71

Virgil

Front 72

To know of some is good; but ofr the rest, silence is to be praised; the time we have is short for so much talk. In brief, know that my company has clerics and men of letters and of fame--and all were stained by one same sin upon the earth.

Back 72

Brunetto Latino

Front 73

That sorry crowd holds Priscian and Francesco d'Accorso; and among them you can see, if you have any longing for such scurf, the one the Servant of His Servants sent from the Arno to the Bacchiglione's banks, and there he left his tendons strained by sin.

Back 73

Brunetto Latino

Front 74

I would say more; but both my walk and words must not be longer, for--beyond--I see new smoke emerging from the dandy bed. Now people come with whom I must not be. Let my Tesoro, in which I still live, be precious to you; and I ask no more.

Back 74

Brunetto Latino

Front 75

Stop, you who by your clothing seem to be someone who comes from our indecent country!

Back 75

3 Florentines

Front 76

Now wait: to these one must show courtesy. And were it not the nature of this place for shafts of fire to fall, I'd say that haste was seemlier for you than for those three.

Back 76

Virgil

Front 77

It the squalor of this shifting sand, together with our baked and barren features, makes us and our requests contemptible...

Back 77

3 Florentines

Front 78

Then may our fame incline your mind to tell us who you are, whose living feet can make their way through Hell with such assurance. He in whose steps you see me tread, although he now must wheel about both peeled and naked, was higher in degree then you believe...

Back 78

Jacopo Rusticucci

Front 79

He was a grandson of the good Gualdrada, and Guido Guerra was his name; in life his sword and his good sense accomplished much. The other, who, behind me, tramples sand--Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, one whose voice should have been heeded in the world above.

Back 79

Jacopo Rusticucci

Front 80

And I, who share this punishment with them, was Jacopo Rusticucci; certainly, more than all else, my savage wife destroyed me.

Back 80

Jacopo Rusticucci

Front 81

Your present state had fixed not scorn but sorrow in me--and so deeply that it will only disappear slowly--as soon as my lord spoke to me with words that made me understand what kind of men were coming toward us, men of worth like yours.

Back 81

Dante

Front 82

For I am of your city; and with fondness, I've always told and heard the others tell of both your actions and your honored names. I leave the gall and go for the sweet apples that I was promised by my truthful guide; but first I must descend into the center.

Back 82

Dante

Front 83

So may your soul long lead your limbs and may your fame shine after you tell us if courteys and valor still abide within our city as they did when we were there, or have they disappeared completely...

Back 83

Jacopo Rusticcui

Front 84

For Guiglielmo Borsiere, who only recently has come to share our torments, and goes there with our companions, has caused us much affliction with his words,

Back 84

Jacopo Rusticucci

Front 85

Newcomers to the city and quick gains have brought excess and arrogance to you, o Florence and you weep for it already!

Back 85

Dante

Front 86

If you can always offer a reply so readily to others then happy you who speak, at will, so clearly. So if you can escape these lands of darkness and see the lovely stars on your return, when you repeat with pleasure, 'I was there,' be sure you rmemeber us to men.

Back 86

3 Florentines

Front 87

And surely something strange must here reply to this strange sign--the sign my master follows with his eye.

Back 87

Dante

Front 88

Now there will soon emerge what I await and what your thought has conjured: it soon must be discovered to your sight.

Back 88

Virgil

Front 89

7th Circle 3rd Zone violence against:

Back 89

Nature

Front 90

Behold the beast who bears the pointed tail, who crosses mountains, shatters weapons, walls! Behold the one whose stench fills all the world!

Back 90

virgil

Front 91

Now we'd better bend our path a little, till we reach as far as that malicious beast which crouches over there.

Back 91

Virgil

Front 92

So that you may experience this ring in full, go now, I'll parley with this beast to see if he can lend us his strong shoulders.

Back 92

Virgil

Front 93

What are you doing in this pit? Now you be off; and since you're still alive, remember that my neighbor Vitaliano shall yet sit here, upon my left side.

Back 93

Paduan

Front 94

Among these Florentines, I'm Paduan; I often hear them thunder in my ears shouting, 'Now let the sovereign cavalier, the one who'll bring the purse with three goats, come!

Back 94

Paduan

Front 95

Be strong and daring now, for our descent is by this kind of stairs: your mount in front I want to be between, so that the tail can't do you any harm.

Back 95

Virgil

Front 96

See that you hold me tight.

Back 96

Virgil

Front 97

Now, Geryon move on; take care to keep your circles wide, your landing slow; remember the new weight you're carrying.

Back 97

Virgil

Front 98

That way's wrong!

Back 98

Icarus father