HELL. Данте Алигьери
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of light 55
with such fine folk inside I asked my guide,
“Why are these brightly lit and set apart?”
Said he, “Heaven ratifies the glory 58
given by art and story.” A great shout
rang out: “The prince of poetry is home,
returned to us from distant wandering!” 61
Four solemn figures came towards us then
with neither joy nor sorrow in their looks.
My guide explained, “Their leader with the sword 64
first sang of warfare – also was the first
to have his verse immortalised in books.
His name is Homer. Horace close behind 67
brought wit and satire into poetry;
next, Ovid, singer of love’s mysteries
and those transformed by angry deities; 70
and lastly Lucan, singer of civil strife
who knew that One in Heaven is lord of life.
These four are reigning kings of poetry 73
yet think (for it is true) I am the best.
I must confer with them, which is their due.”
76 The band of poets gathered round my guide.
He spoke with them and then at his request
made me the sixth in that small company
79 of eagle-winged strong souls whose poetry
outsoars the rest. My master smiled at this.
We walked together, these wise men and me,
82 slowly upon our way to better light,
talking of things profound and good to say,
six kindred souls within that gracious place
85 until a splendid city came in sight,
a stream of pure clear water flowing round.
We walked on it as though it were dry ground
88 then faced a gateway in a lofty wall
with seven towers. Passing between two,
I found a lovely space of smooth green lawn
91 where noble people, moving gracefully,
spoke to each other very quietly.
I asked my guide, “Master of every art,
94 what privileges these majestic folk, apart from obvious nobility?”
He said, “Their names still famously resound
97 on earth, and heavenly powers respect them too,
believing privileges are their due.”
We two then walked a little way apart
100 up a small hill. Good light allowed a view
of these great ghosts. Nothing so thrills my heart
as thinking of these spirits I have seen:
Electra, and the heroes she conceived; 103
Hector; Aeneas ancestor of Rome;
Caesar in armour with his hawk-like eye;
huntress Camilla; Amazon warrior 106
Penthesilea; first Latin king Latinus,
with daughter Lavinia; Brutus who
expelled Rome’s last king Tarquin; Julia – 109
Lucretia – Cornelia – Marcia –
standing apart, the mighty Saladin.
Raising my eyes I saw the kings of mind: 112
Aristotle master of those who know;
Socrates close behind; Plato also;
Democritus who said atoms and chance 115
made everything; cynic Diogenes;
Anaxagoras; the herbal healer
Dioscorides; Thales; Orpheus; 118
Tully; Livy; moralist Seneca;
geometer Euclid; geographical
astronomer Ptolemy; the doctors 121
Galen and Hippocrates; and the best
of Aristotle’s great expositors:
Avicenna and Averroes. O! 124
I cannot tell you all I saw because
too many times my words demean my thought.
My company was growing very small. 127
Our group of six had dwindled into two.
My bold wise guide and I at last withdrew
into a place where nothing shines all. 130
5: Minos. Doom of Adulterers
1 Descending to the second ledge of Hell,
a smaller circle of intenser pain,
I heard again the sound of sorrowing.
4 Here demon Minos with his dragon tail
grins as he passes judgement on the dead
then sends them down to their due punishment.
7 Each ghost before him gibbers out its crimes.
The times he winds his tail around himself
show to which depths the wicked ghost must go.
10 Hell has ten rings. The demon’s tail is long.
The throng of souls, ceaselessly pouring in,
are never slow in blurting out their sin,
13 then hurl themselves down through appalling space
onto the right ledge of the hellish pit
that is forever now their dwelling place.
16 “YOU have no place here!” Minos bawled at me,
seeing we did not pause but walked straight through,
not stopping to be judged, “Take care! Beware!
19 Hell’s open door is not kept wide for you!”
“Minos,” my guide replied, “forces too high
for you to know insist this man may go
unhurt through every door there is in Hell. 22
Our business is not yours, and so farewell.”
New sounds of lamentation reached my ear,
a rushing tumult mixed with howling yell. 25
We entered darkness – darkness bellowing
like ocean tempests combating together.
A hurricane of ghosts went wailing past 28
under the lofty cliff that was their coast.
I saw lost souls tossed, spinning in the blast
and buffeted again, again, again, 31
against the granite wall that penned them in.
I knew this endless storm of sorry souls
must be the just and proper doom of all 34
who sin because their overwhelming lust
quelled reason’s light. A rockslide in the cliff
had formed the gap we came through. Seeing us 37
the