The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri (good e books to read txt) š
- Author: Dante Alighieri
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We to one side retirād, into a place Open and bright and lofty, whence each one Stood manifest to view. Incontinent There on the green enamel of the plain Were shown me the great spirits, by whose sight I am exalted in my own esteem.
Electra there I saw accompanied By many, among whom Hector I knew, Anchisesā pious son, and with hawkās eye Caesar all armād, and by Camilla there Penthesilea. On the other side
Old King Latinus, seated by his child Lavinia, and that Brutus I beheld, Who Tarquin chasād, Lucretia, Catoās wife Marcia, with Julia and Cornelia there; And sole apart retirād, the Soldan fierce.
Then when a little more I raisād my brow, I spied the master of the sapient throng, Seated amid the philosophic train.
Him all admire, all pay him revārence due.
There Socrates and Plato both I markād, 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 read
In natureās secret lore. Orpheus I markād And Linus, Tully and moral Seneca, Euclid and Ptolemy, Hippocrates,
Galenus, Avicen, and him who made
That commentary vast, Averroes.
Of all to speak at full were vain attempt; For my wide theme so urges, that ofttimes My words fall short of what bechancād. In two The six associates part. Another way My sage guide leads me, from that air serene, Into a climate ever vexād with storms: And to a part I come where no light shines.
CANTO V
FROM the first circle I descended thus Down to the second, which, a lesser space Embracing, so much more of grief contains Provoking bitter moans. There, Minos stands Grinning with ghastly feature: he, of all Who enter, strict examining the crimes, Gives sentence, and dismisses them beneath, According as he foldeth him around: For when before him comes thā ill fated soul, It all confesses; and that judge severe Of sins, considering what place in hell Suits the transgression, with his tail so oft Himself encircles, as degrees beneath He dooms it to descend. Before him stand Always a numārous throng; and in his turn Each one to judgment passing, speaks, and hears His fate, thence downward to his dwelling hurlād.
āO thou! who to this residence of woe Approachest?ā when he saw me coming, cried Minos, relinquishing his dread employ, āLook how thou enter here; beware in whom Thou place thy trust; let not the entrance broad Deceive thee to thy harm.ā To him my guide: āWherefore exclaimest? Hinder not his way By destiny appointed; so ātis willād Where will and power are one. Ask thou no more.ā
Now āgin the rueful wailings to be heard.
Now am I come where many a plaining voice Smites on mine ear. Into a place I came Where light was silent all. Bellowing there groanād A noise as of a sea in tempest torn By warring winds. The stormy blast of hell With restless fury drives the spirits on Whirlād round and dashād amain with sore annoy.
When they arrive before the ruinous sweep, There shrieks are heard, there lamentations, moans, And blasphemies āgainst the good Power in heaven.
I understood that to this torment sad The carnal sinners are condemnād, in whom Reason by lust is swayād. As in large troops And multitudinous, when winter reigns, The starlings on their wings are borne abroad; So bears the tyrannous gust those evil souls.
On this side and on that, above, below, It drives them: hope of rest to solace them Is none, nor eāen of milder pang. As cranes, Chanting their dolārous notes, traverse the sky, Stretchād out in long array: so I beheld Spirits, who came loud wailing, hurried on By their dire doom. Then I: āInstructor! who Are these, by the black air so scourgād?āāā The first āMong those, of whom thou questionāst,ā he replied, āOāer many tongues was empress. She in vice Of luxury was so shameless, that she made Liking be lawful by promulgād decree, To clear the blame she had herself incurrād.
This is Semiramis, of whom ātis writ, That she succeeded Ninus her espousād; And held the land, which now the Soldan rules.
The next in amorous fury slew herself, And to Sicheusā ashes broke her faith: Then follows Cleopatra, lustful queen.ā
There markād I Helen, for whose sake so long The time was fraught with evil; there the great Achilles, who with love fought to the end.
Paris I saw, and Tristan; and beside A thousand more he showād me, and by name Pointed them out, whom love bereavād of life.
When I had heard my sage instructor name Those dames and knights of antique days, oāerpowerād By pity, well-nigh in amaze my mind Was lost; and I began: āBard! willingly I would address those two together coming, Which seem so light before the wind.ā He thus: āNote thou, when nearer they to us approach.
Then by that love which carries them along, Entreat; and they will come.ā Soon as the wind Swayād them toward us, I thus framād my speech: āO wearied spirits! come, and hold discourse With us, if by none else restrainād.ā As doves By fond desire invited, on wide wings And firm, to their sweet nest returning home, Cleave the air, wafted by their will along; Thus issuād from that troop, where Dido ranks, They through the ill air speeding; with such force My cry prevailād by strong affection urgād.
āO gracious creature and benign! who goāst Visiting, through this element obscure, Us, who the world with bloody stain imbruād; If for a friend the King of all we ownād, Our prayār to him should for thy peace arise, Since thou hast pity on our evil plight.
()f whatsoeāer to hear or to discourse It pleases thee, that will we hear, of that Freely with thee discourse, while eāer the wind, As now, is mute. The land, that gave me birth, Is situate on the coast, where Po descends To rest in ocean with his sequent streams.
āLove, that in gentle heart is quickly learnt, Entangled him by that fair form, from me Taāen in such cruel sort, as grieves me still: Love, that denial takes from none belovād, Caught me with pleasing him so passing well, That, as thou seeāst, he yet deserts me not.
Love brought us to one death: Caina waits The soul, who spilt our life.ā Such were their words; At hearing which downward I bent my looks, And held them there so long, that the bard cried: āWhat art thou pondāring?ā I in answer thus: āAlas! by what sweet thoughts, what fond desire Must they at length to that ill pass have reachād!ā
Then turning, I to them my speech addressād.
And thus began: āFrancesca! your sad fate Even to tears my grief and pity moves.
But tell me; in the time of your sweet sighs, By what, and how love granted, that ye knew Your yet uncertain wishes?ā She replied: āNo greater grief than to remember days Of joy, when misāry is at hand! That kens Thy learnād instructor. Yet so eagerly If thou art bent to know the primal root, From whence our love gat being, I will do, As one, who weeps and tells his tale. One day For our delight we read of Lancelot, How him love thrallād. Alone we were, and no Suspicion near us. Ofttimes by that reading Our eyes were drawn together, and the hue Fled from our alterād cheek. But at one point Alone we fell. When of that smile we read, The wished smile, rapturously kissād By one so deep in love, then he, who neāer From me shall separate, at once my lips All trembling kissād. The book and writer both Were loveās purveyors. In its leaves that day We read no more.ā While thus one spirit spake, The other wailād so sorely, that heartstruck I through compassion fainting, seemād not far From death, and like a corpse fell to the ground.
CANTO VI
MY sense reviving, that erewhile had droopād With pity for the kindred shades, whence grief Oāercame me wholly, straight around I see New torments, new tormented souls, which way Soeāer I move, or turn, or bend my sight.
In the third circle I arrive, of showārs Ceaseless, accursed, heavy, and cold, unchangād For ever, both in kind and in degree.
Large hail, discolourād water, sleety flaw Through the dun midnight air streamād down amain: Stank all the land whereon that tempest fell.
Cerberus, cruel monster, fierce and strange, Through his wide threefold throat barks as a dog Over the multitude immersād beneath.
His eyes glare crimson, black his unctuous beard, His belly large, and clawād the hands, with which He tears the spirits, flays them, and their limbs Piecemeal disparts. Howling there spread, as curs, Under the rainy deluge, with one side The other screening, oft they roll them round, A wretched, godless crew. When that great worm Descried us, savage Cerberus, he opād His jaws, and the fangs showād us; not a limb Of him but trembled. Then my guide, his palms Expanding on the ground, thence filled with earth Raisād them, and cast it in his ravenous maw.
Eāen as a dog, that yelling bays for food His keeper, when the morsel comes, lets fall His fury, bent alone with eager haste To swallow it; so droppād the loathsome cheeks Of demon Cerberus, who thundāring stuns The spirits, that they for deafness wish in vain.
We, oāer the shades thrown prostrate by the brunt Of the heavy tempest passing, set our feet Upon their emptiness, that substance seemād.
They all along the earth extended lay Save one, that sudden raisād himself to sit, Soon as that way he saw us pass. āO thou!ā
He cried, āwho through the infernal shades art led, Own, if again thou knowāst me. Thou wast framād Or ere my frame was broken.ā I replied: āThe anguish thou endurāst perchance so takes Thy form from my remembrance, that it seems As if I saw thee never. But inform Me who thou art, that in a place so sad Art set, and in such torment, that although Other be greater, more disgustful none Can be imaginād.ā He in answer thus: āThy city heapād with envy to the brim, Ay that the measure overflows its bounds, Held me in brighter days. Ye citizens Were wont to name me Ciacco. For the sin Of gluttāny, damned vice, beneath this rain, Eāen as thou seeāst, I with fatigue am worn; Nor I sole spirit in this woe: all these Have by like crime incurrād like punishment.ā
No more he said, and I my speech resumād: āCiacco! thy dire affliction grieves me much, Even to tears. But tell me, if thou knowāst, What shall at length befall the citizens Of the divided city; whether any just one Inhabit there: and tell me of the cause, Whence jarring discord hath assailād it thus?ā
He then: āAfter long striving they will come To blood; and the wild party from the woods Will chase the other with much injury forth.
Then it behoves, that this must fall, within Three solar circles; and the other rise By borrowād force of one, who under shore Now rests. It shall a long space hold aloof Its forehead, keeping under heavy weight The other oppressād, indignant at the load, And grieving sore. The just are two in number, But they neglected. Avārice, envy, pride, Three fatal sparks, have set the hearts of all On fire.ā Here ceasād the lamentable sound; And I continuād thus: āStill would I learn More from thee, farther parley still entreat.
Of Farinata and Tegghiaio say,
They who so well deservād, of Giacopo, Arrigo, Mosca, and the rest, who bent Their minds on working good. Oh!
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