"THROUGH me you pass into the city of woe:Through me you pass into eternal pain:Through me among the people lost for aye.Justice the founder of my fabric mov'd:To rear me was the task of power divine,Supremest wisdom, and primeval love.Before me things create were none, save thingsEternal, and eternal I endure."All hope abandon ye who enter here."Such characters in colour dim I mark'dOver a portal's lofty arch inscrib'd:Whereat I thus: "Master, these words importHard meaning." He as one prepar'd replied:"Here thou must all distrust behind thee leave;Here be vile fear extinguish'd. We are comeWhere I have told thee we shall see the soulsTo misery doom'd, who intellectual goodHave lost." And when his hand he had stretch'd forthTo mine, with pleasant looks, whence I was cheer'd,Into that secret place he led me on.Here sighs with lamentations and loud moansResounded through the air pierc'd by no star,That e'en I wept at entering. Various tongues,Horrible languages, outcries of woe,Accents of anger, voices deep and hoarse,With hands together smote that swell'd the sounds,Made up a tumult, that for ever whirlsRound through that air with solid darkness stain'd,Like to the sand that in the whirlwind flies.I then, with error yet encompass'd, cried:"O master! What is this I hear? What raceAre these, who seem so overcome with woe?"He thus to me: "This miserable fateSuffer the wretched souls of those, who liv'dWithout or praise or blame, with that ill bandOf angels mix'd, who nor rebellious prov'dNor yet were true to God, but for themselvesWere only. From his bounds Heaven drove them forth,Not to impair his lustre, nor the depthOf Hell receives them, lest th' accursed tribeShould glory thence with exultation vain."I then: "Master! what doth aggrieve them thus,That they lament so loud?" He straight replied:"That will I tell thee briefly. These of deathNo hope may entertain: and their blind lifeSo meanly passes, that all other lotsThey envy. Fame of them the world hath none,Nor suffers; mercy and justice scorn them both.Speak not of them, but look, and pass them by."And I, who straightway look'd, beheld a flag,Which whirling ran around so rapidly,That it no pause obtain'd: and following cameSuch a long train of spirits, I should ne'erHave thought, that death so many had despoil'd.When some of these I recogniz'd, I sawAnd knew the shade of him, who to base fearYielding, abjur'd his high estate. ForthwithI understood for certain this the tribeOf those ill spirits both to God displeasingAnd to his foes. These wretches, who ne'er lived,Went on in nakedness, and sorely stungBy wasps and hornets, which bedew'd their cheeksWith blood, that mix'd with tears dropp'd to their feet,And by disgustful worms was gather'd there.Then looking farther onwards I beheldA throng upon the shore of a great stream:Whereat I thus: "Sir! grant me now to knowWhom here we view, and whence impell'd they seemSo eager to pass o'er, as I discernThrough the blear light?" He thus to me in few:"This shalt thou know, soon as our steps arriveBeside the woeful tide of Acheron."Then with eyes downward cast and fill'd with shame,Fearing my words offensive to his ear,Till we had reach'd the river, I from speechAbstain'd. And lo! toward us in a barkComes on an old man hoary white with eld,Crying, "Woe to you wicked spirits! hope notEver to see the sky again. I comeTo take you to the other shore across,Into eternal darkness, there to dwellIn fierce heat and in ice. And thou, who thereStandest, live spirit! get thee hence, and leaveThese who are dead." But soon as he beheldI left them not, "By other way," said he,"By other haven shalt thou come to shore,Not by this passage; thee a nimbler boatMust carry." Then to him thus spake my guide:"Charon! thyself torment not: so 't is will'd,Where will and power are one: ask thou no more."Straightway in silence fell the shaggy cheeksOf him the boatman o'er the livid lake,Around whose eyes glar'd wheeling flames. MeanwhileThose spirits, faint and naked, color chang'd,And gnash'd their teeth, soon as the cruel wordsThey heard. God and their parents they blasphem'd,The human kind, the place, the time, and seedThat did engender them and give them birth.Then all together sorely wailing drewTo the curs'd strand, that every man must passWho fears not God. Charon, demoniac form,With eyes of burning coal, collects them all,Beck'ning, and each, that lingers, with his oarStrikes. As fall off the light autumnal leaves,One still another following, till the boughStrews all its honours on the earth beneath;E'en in like manner Adam's evil broodCast themselves one by one down from the shore,Each at a beck, as falcon at his call.Thus go they over through the umber'd wave,And ever they on the opposing bankBe landed, on this side another throngStill gathers. "Son," thus spake the courteous guide,"Those, who die subject to the wrath of God,All here together come from every clime,And to o'erpass the river are not loth:For so heaven's justice goads them on, that fearIs turn'd into desire. Hence ne'er hath pastGood spirit. If of thee Charon complain,Now mayst thou know the import of his words."This said, the gloomy region trembling shookSo terribly, that yet with clammy dewsFear chills my brow. The sad earth gave a blast,That, lightening, shot forth a vermilion flame,Which all my senses conquer'd quite, and IDown dropp'd, as one with sudden slumber seiz'd.
Three steps above heaven part 2
BROKE the deep slumber in my brain a crashOf heavy thunder, that I shook myself,As one by main force rous'd. Risen upright,My rested eyes I mov'd around, and search'dWith fixed ken to know what place it was,Wherein I stood. For certain on the brinkI found me of the lamentable vale,The dread abyss, that joins a thund'rous soundOf plaints innumerable. Dark and deep,And thick with clouds o'erspread, mine eye in vainExplor'd its bottom, nor could aught discern."Now let us to the blind world there beneathDescend;" the bard began all pale of look:"I go the first, and thou shalt follow next."Then I his alter'd hue perceiving, thus:"How may I speed, if thou yieldest to dread,Who still art wont to comfort me in doubt?"He then: "The anguish of that race belowWith pity stains my cheek, which thou for fearMistakest. Let us on. Our length of wayUrges to haste." Onward, this said, he mov'd;And ent'ring led me with him on the boundsOf the first circle, that surrounds th' abyss.Here, as mine ear could note, no plaint was heardExcept of sighs, that made th' eternal airTremble, not caus'd by tortures, but from griefFelt by those multitudes, many and vast,Of men, women, and infants. Then to meThe gentle guide: "Inquir'st thou not what spiritsAre these, which thou beholdest? Ere thou passFarther, I would thou know, that these of sinWere blameless; and if aught they merited,It profits not, since baptism was not theirs,The portal to thy faith. If they beforeThe Gospel liv'd, they serv'd not God aright;And among such am I. For these defects,And for no other evil, we are lost;"Only so far afflicted, that we liveDesiring without hope." So grief assail'dMy heart at hearing this, for well I knewSuspended in that Limbo many a soulOf mighty worth. "O tell me, sire rever'd!Tell me, my master!" I began through wishOf full assurance in that holy faith,Which vanquishes all error; "say, did e'erAny, or through his own or other's merit,Come forth from thence, whom afterward was blest?"Piercing the secret purport of my speech,He answer'd: "I was new to that estate,When I beheld a puissant one arriveAmongst us, with victorious trophy crown'd.He forth the shade of our first parent drew,Abel his child, and Noah righteous man,Of Moses lawgiver for faith approv'd,Of patriarch Abraham, and David king,Israel with his sire and with his sons,Nor without Rachel whom so hard he won,And others many more, whom he to blissExalted. Before these, be thou assur'd,No spirit of human kind was ever sav'd."We, while he spake, ceas'd not our onward road,Still passing through the wood; for so I nameThose spirits thick beset. We were not farOn this side from the summit, when I kenn'dA flame, that o'er the darken'd hemispherePrevailing shin'd. Yet we a little spaceWere distant, not so far but I in partDiscover'd, that a tribe in honour highThat place possess'd. "O thou, who every artAnd science valu'st! who are these, that boastSuch honour, separate from all the rest?"He answer'd: "The renown of their great namesThat echoes through your world above, acquiresFavour in heaven, which holds them thus advanc'd."Meantime a voice I heard: "Honour the bardSublime! his shade returns that left us late!"No sooner ceas'd the sound, than I beheldFour mighty spirits toward us bend their steps,Of semblance neither sorrowful nor glad.When thus my master kind began: "Mark him,Who in his right hand bears that falchion keen,The other three preceding, as their lord.This is that Homer, of all bards supreme:Flaccus the next in satire's vein excelling;The third is Naso; Lucan is the last.Because they all that appellation own,With which the voice singly accosted me,Honouring they greet me thus, and well they judge."So I beheld united the bright schoolOf him the monarch of sublimest song,That o'er the others like an eagle soars.When they together short discourse had held,They turn'd to me, with salutation kindBeck'ning me; at the which my master smil'd:Nor was this all; but greater honour stillThey gave me, for they made me of their tribe;And I was sixth amid so learn'd a band.Far as the luminous beacon on we pass'dSpeaking of matters, then befitting wellTo speak, now fitter left untold. At footOf a magnificent castle we arriv'd,Seven times with lofty walls begirt, and roundDefended by a pleasant stream. O'er thisAs o'er dry land we pass'd. Next through seven gatesI with those sages enter'd, and we cameInto a mead with lively verdure fresh.There dwelt a race, who slow their eyes aroundMajestically mov'd, and in their portBore eminent authority; they spakeSeldom, but all their words were tuneful sweet.We to one side retir'd, into a placeOpen and bright and lofty, whence each oneStood manifest to view. IncontinentThere on the green enamel of the plainWere shown me the great spirits, by whose sightI am exalted in my own esteem.Electra there I saw accompaniedBy many, among whom Hector I knew,Anchises' pious son, and with hawk's eyeCaesar all arm'd, and by Camilla therePenthesilea. On the other sideOld King Latinus, seated by his childLavinia, and that Brutus I beheld,Who Tarquin chas'd, Lucretia, Cato's wifeMarcia, with Julia and Cornelia there;And sole apart retir'd, the Soldan fierce.Then when a little more I rais'd my brow,I spied the master of the sapient throng,Seated amid the philosophic train.Him all admire, all pay him rev'rence due.There Socrates and Plato both I mark'd,Nearest to him in rank; Democritus,Who sets the world at chance, Diogenes,With Heraclitus, and Empedocles,And Anaxagoras, and Thales sage,Zeno, and Dioscorides well readIn nature's secret lore. Orpheus I mark'dAnd Linus, Tully and moral Seneca,Euclid and Ptolemy, Hippocrates,Galenus, Avicen, and him who madeThat commentary vast, Averroes.Of all to speak at full were vain attempt;For my wide theme so urges, that ofttimesMy words fall short of what bechanc'd. In twoThe six associates part. Another wayMy sage guide leads me, from that air serene,Into a climate ever vex'd with storms:And to a part I come where no light shines. 2ff7e9595c
Comments