The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri (good e books to read txt) š
- Author: Dante Alighieri
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Alone return he by his witless way; If well he know it, let him prove. For thee, Here shalt thou tarry, who through clime so dark Hast been his escort.ā Now bethink thee, reader!
What cheer was mine at sound of those cursād words.
I did believe I never should return.
āO my lovād guide! who more than seven times Security hast renderād me, and drawn From peril deep, whereto I stood exposād, Desert me not,ā I cried, āin this extreme.
And if our onward going be denied, Together trace we back our steps with speed.ā
My liege, who thither had conducted me, Replied: āFear not: for of our passage none Hath power to disappoint us, by such high Authority permitted. But do thou
Expect me here; meanwhile thy wearied spirit Comfort, and feed with kindly hope, assurād I will not leave thee in this lower world.ā
This said, departs the sire benevolent, And quits me. Hesitating I remain At war ātwixt will and will not in my thoughts.
I could not hear what terms he offerād them, But they conferrād not long, for all at once To trial fled within. Closād were the gates By those our adversaries on the breast Of my liege lord: excluded he returnād To me with tardy steps. Upon the ground His eyes were bent, and from his brow erasād All confidence, while thus with sighs he spake: āWho hath denied me these abodes of woe?ā
Then thus to me: āThat I am angerād, think No ground of terror: in this trial I Shall vanquish, use what arts they may within For hindrance. This their insolence, not new, Erewhile at gate less secret they displayād, Which still is without bolt; upon its arch Thou sawāst the deadly scroll: and even now On this side of its entrance, down the steep, Passing the circles, unescorted, comes One whose strong might can open us this land.ā
CANTO IX
THE hue, which coward dread on my pale cheeks Imprinted, when I saw my guide turn back, Chasād that from his which newly they had worn, And inwardly restrainād it. He, as one Who listens, stood attentive: for his eye Not far could lead him through the sable air, And the thick-gathāring cloud. āIt yet behooves We win this fightāāthus he beganāā if notā
Such aid to us is offerād. āOh, how long Me seems it, ere the promisād help arrive!ā
I noted, how the sequel of his words Clokād their beginning; for the last he spake Agreed not with the first. But not the less My fear was at his saying; sith I drew To import worse perchance, than that he held, His mutilated speech. āDoth ever any Into this rueful concaveās extreme depth Descend, out of the first degree, whose pain Is deprivation merely of sweet hope?ā
Thus I inquiring. āRarely,ā he replied, āIt chances, that among us any makes This journey, which I wend. Erewhile ātis true Once came I here beneath, conjurād by fell Erictho, sorceress, who compellād the shades Back to their bodies. No long space my flesh Was naked of me, when within these walls She made me enter, to draw forth a spirit From out of Judasā circle. Lowest place Is that of all, obscurest, and removād Farthest from heavānās all-circling orb. The road Full well I know: thou therefore rest secure.
That lake, the noisome stench exhaling, round The cityā of grief encompasses, which now We may not enter without rage.ā Yet more He added: but I hold it not in mind, For that mine eye toward the lofty tower Had drawn me wholly, to its burning top.
Where in an instant I beheld uprisen At once three hellish furies stainād with blood: In limb and motion feminine they seemād; Around them greenest hydras twisting rollād Their volumes; adders and cerastes crept Instead of hair, and their fierce temples bound.
He knowing well the miserable hags Who tend the queen of endless woe, thus spake: āMark thou each dire Erinnys. To the left This is Megaera; on the right hand she, Who wails, Alecto; and Tisiphone
Iā thā midst.ā This said, in silence he remainād Their breast they each one clawing tore; themselves Smote with their palms, and such shrill clamour raisād, That to the bard I clung, suspicion-bound.
āHasten Medusa: so to adamant
Him shall we change;ā all looking down exclaimād.
āEāen when by Theseusā might assailād, we took No ill revenge.ā āTurn thyself round, and keep Thy countānance hid; for if the Gorgon dire Be shown, and thou shouldst view it, thy return Upwards would be for ever lost.ā This said, Himself my gentle master turnād me round, Nor trusted he my hands, but with his own He also hid me. Ye of intellect
Sound and entire, mark well the lore concealād Under close texture of the mystic strain!
And now there came oāer the perturbed waves Loud-crashing, terrible, a sound that made Either shore tremble, as if of a wind Impetuous, from conflicting vapours sprung, That āgainst some forest driving all its might, Plucks off the branches, beats them down and hurls Afar; then onward passing proudly sweeps Its whirlwind rage, while beasts and shepherds fly.
Mine eyes he loosād, and spake: āAnd now direct Thy visual nerve along that ancient foam, There, thickest where the smoke ascends.ā As frogs Before their foe the serpent, through the wave Ply swiftly all, till at the ground each one Lies on a heap; more than a thousand spirits Destroyād, so saw I fleeing before one Who passād with unwet feet the Stygian sound.
He, from his face removing the gross air, Oft his left hand forth stretchād, and seemād alone By that annoyance wearied. I perceivād That he was sent from heavān, and to my guide Turnād me, who signal made that I should stand Quiet, and bend to him. Ah me! how full Of noble anger seemād he! To the gate He came, and with his wand touchād it, whereat Open without impediment it flew.
āOutcasts of heavān! O abject race and scornād!ā
Began he on the horrid grunsel standing, āWhence doth this wild excess of insolence Lodge in you? wherefore kick you āgainst that will Neāer frustrate of its end, and which so oft Hath laid on you enforcement of your pangs?
What profits at the fays to but the horn?
Your Cerberus, if ye remember, hence Bears still, peelād of their hair, his throat and maw.ā
This said, he turnād back oāer the filthy way, And syllable to us spake none, but wore The semblance of a man by other care Beset, and keenly pressād, than thought of him Who in his presence stands. Then we our steps Toward that territory movād, secure After the hallowād words. We unopposād There enterād; and my mind eager to learn What state a fortress like to that might hold, I soon as enterād throw mine eye around, And see on every part wide-stretching space Replete with bitter pain and torment ill.
As where Rhone stagnates on the plains of Arles, Or as at Pola, near Quarnaroās gulf, That closes Italy and laves her bounds, The place is all thick spread with sepulchres; So was it here, save what in horror here Excellād: for āmidst the graves were scattered flames, Wherewith intensely all throughout they burnād, That iron for no craft there hotter needs.
Their lids all hung suspended, and beneath From them forth issuād lamentable moans, Such as the sad and torturād well might raise.
I thus: āMaster! say who are these, interrād Within these vaults, of whom distinct we hear The dolorous sighs?ā He answer thus returnād: āThe arch-heretics are here, accompanied By every sect their followers; and much more, Than thou believest, tombs are freighted: like With like is buried; and the monuments Are different in degrees of heat. āThis said, He to the right hand turning, on we passād Betwixt the afflicted and the ramparts high.
CANTO X
NOW by a secret pathway we proceed, Between the walls, that hem the region round, And the tormented souls: my master first, I close behind his steps. āVirtue supreme!ā
I thus began; āwho through these ample orbs In circuit leadāst me, even as thou willāst, Speak thou, and satisfy my wish. May those, Who lie within these sepulchres, be seen?
Already all the lids are raisād, and none Oāer them keeps watch.ā He thus in answer spake āThey shall be closed all, what-time they here From Josaphat returnād shall come, and bring Their bodies, which above they now have left.
The cemetery on this part obtain
With Epicurus all his followers,
Who with the body make the spirit die.
Here therefore satisfaction shall be soon Both to the question askād, and to the wish, Which thou concealāst in silence.ā I replied: āI keep not, guide belovād! from thee my heart Secreted, but to shun vain length of words, A lesson erewhile taught me by thyself.ā
āO Tuscan! thou who through the city of fire Alive art passing, so discreet of speech!
Here please thee stay awhile. Thy utterance Declares the place of thy nativity To be that noble land, with which perchance I too severely dealt.ā Sudden that sound Forth issuād from a vault, whereat in fear I somewhat closer to my leaderās side Approaching, he thus spake: āWhat dost thou? Turn.
Lo, Farinata, there! who hath himself Uplifted: from his girdle upwards all Exposād behold him.ā On his face was mine Already fixād; his breast and forehead there Erecting, seemād as in high scorn he held Eāen hell. Between the sepulchres to him My guide thrust me with fearless hands and prompt, This warning added: āSee thy words be clear!ā
He, soon as there I stood at the tombās foot, Eyād me a space, then in disdainful mood Addressād me: āSay, what ancestors were thine?ā
I, willing to obey him, straight revealād The whole, nor kept back aught: whence he, his brow Somewhat uplifting, cried: āFiercely were they Adverse to me, my party, and the blood From whence I sprang: twice therefore I abroad Scatterād them.ā āThough drivān out, yet they each time From all parts,ā answerād I, āreturnād; an art Which yours have shown, they are not skillād to learn.ā
Then, peering forth from the unclosed jaw, Rose from his side a shade, high as the chin, Leaning, methought, upon its knees upraisād.
It lookād around, as eager to explore If there were other with me; but perceiving That fond imagination quenchād, with tears Thus spake: āIf thou through this blind prison goāst.
Led by thy lofty genius and profound, Where is my son? and wherefore not with thee?ā
I straight replied: āNot of myself I come, By him, who there expects me, through this clime Conducted, whom perchance Guido thy son Had in contempt.ā Already had his words And mode of punishment read me his name, Whence I so fully answerād. He at once Exclaimād, up starting, āHow! saidāst thou he HAD?
No longer lives he? Strikes not on his eye The blessed daylight?ā Then of some delay I made ere my reply aware, down fell Supine, not after forth appearād he more.
Meanwhile the other, great of soul, near whom I yet was stationād, changād not countānance stern, Nor movād the neck, nor bent his ribbed side.
āAnd if,ā continuing the first discourse, āThey in this art,ā he cried, āsmall skill have shown, That doth torment me more eāen than this bed.
But not yet fifty times shall be relumād Her aspect, who reigns here Queen of this realm, Ere thou shalt know the full weight of that art.
So to the pleasant world mayst thou return, As thou shalt tell me, why in all their laws, Against my kin this people is so fell?ā
āThe slaughter and great havoc,ā
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