It is important to acknowledge that Romantic readers have a point. Had Dante thought that all those in hell deserved as little attention as the saved afford them, in other words, if he felt about them as do Beatrice and the descended angel, he could have begun the poem in purgatory, offering a brief notice of the pains of the damned, of which it is better, he might have had the guardian of purgatory say, not to speak. But he was interested in them, and not only as negative exemplars for those Christians who need to reaffirm their faith and will. The saints may have no interest in the damned, but neither we nor Dante are saints. And thus, one might argue, Inferno, the most effective part of the poem, in human terms, deals with the problem (sin) and not its solution (faith and good works). Do we have sympathy for the damned, at least those of them that reveal traits that we admire (effective rhetoric, strong feeling, a sense of their personal wrongness, even, at times, courtesy)? Of course we do. Yet we should be aware that there is a trap for us if we go too far. We need to learn to read ironically (a word that is only used once in all Dante’s works, in the incomplete thought that ends what we have of De vulgari eloquentia [II.xiv]), finding an angle of vision that corresponds to the author’s, who expresses thoughts through his characters that need to be examined with care. That is a difficult goal.
Nonetheless, it is noteworthy (though rarely, if ever, noted) that the “best” people in hell are not necessarily those whom we tend to admire most. They include those who were involved in Florentine public affairs, always championing the cause of good governance: Ciacco (Inf. VI), Farinata degli Uberti (X), Brunetto Latini (XV), Jacopo Rusticucci and his mates (XVI), even Mosca dei Lamberti (XXVIII). All of these are unusual among the denizens of hell in that they either own up to their sins (not making an effort to persuade Dante of their innocence or simply to avoid his questions about their guilt) or want to be remembered for their good deeds on earth. That the “standard list” of sympathetic sinners only mentions two of them (Farinata and Brunetto) is informative: Francesca da Rimini (canto V), Farinata, Pier delle Vigne (XIII), Brunetto, Ulysses (XXVI), and Ugolino della Gherardesca (XXXIII). Francesca, Pier, Ulysses, and Ugolino all try to convince Dante of their worthiness, avoiding the subject of their sins. Their behavior in this regard might serve as a clue to an attentive reader. On this score, Ciacco is a good deal more reliable a witness than is Francesca.
There is more to say about many things. The text of the poem awaits, with annotations that will address many of these. Your translators wish you an invigorated journey through hell (not a bad place once you get used to it) and your commentator hopes that you will find his remarks helpful.
Robert Hollander
Tortola, 23 February 2000
The Inferno: English
OUTLINE: INFERNO I
1–9
Dante, having lost his way, in a dark wood
10–21
hint of dawn: the sun on a mountaintop
22–27
simile: survivor of shipwreck looking back at sea
28–36
journey resumed; ascending the slope; a leopard
37–43
dawn and reassurance
44–54
a lion renews his fear; a she-wolf drives him back
55–60
simile: merchant (or gambler?) losing everything
61–66
apparition (of Virgil) and Dante’s first words
67–75
Virgil identifies himself
76–78
his pointed question to Dante
79–90
Dante’s recognition, praise of Virgil; plea for aid
91–100
Virgil’s warning: power of the she-wolf
101–111
Virgil’s prophecy of the hound that will defeat her
112–120
Virgil will guide Dante through two realms to a third
121–129
Virgil: a second guide will take him to those in bliss, since he is not allowed into that realm
130–135
Dante agrees to be led through the first two realms
136
the two set out
INFERNO I
Midway in the journey of our life →
I came to myself in a dark wood, →
3
for the straight way was lost. →
Ah, how hard it is to tell
the nature of that wood, savage, dense and harsh—
6
the very thought of it renews my fear!
It is so bitter death is hardly more so. →
But to set forth the good I found →
9
I will recount the other things I saw.
How I came there I cannot really tell,
I was so full of sleep →
12
when I forsook the one true way.
But when I reached the foot of a hill, →
there where the valley ended →
15
that had pierced my heart with fear, →
looking up, I saw its shoulders
arrayed in the first light of the planet →
18
that leads men straight, no matter what their road. →
Then the fear that had endured
in the lake of my heart, all the night →
21
I spent in such distress, was calmed.
And as one who, with laboring breath, →
has escaped from the deep to the shore
24
turns and looks back at the perilous waters,
so my mind, still in flight,
turned back to look once more upon the pass →
27
no mortal being ever left alive.
After I rested my wearied flesh a while,
I took my way again along the desert slope,
30
my firm foot always lower than the other. →
But now, near the beginning of the steep,
a leopard light and swift →
and covered with a spotted pelt →
refused to back away from me
but so impeded, barred the way,
36
that many times I turned to go back down.
It was the hour of morning,
when the sun mounts with those stars →
39
that shone with it when God’s own love
first set in motion those fair things,
so that, despite that beast with gaudy fur,
42
I still could hope for good, encouraged
by the hour of the day and the sweet season,
only to be struck by fear
45
when I beheld a lion in my way.
He seemed about to pounce—
his head held high and furious with hunger—
48
so that the air appeared to tremble at him.
And then a she-wolf who, all hide and bones,
seemed charged with all the appetites
51
that have made many live in wretchedness
so weighed my spirits down with terror,
which welled up at the sight of her,
54
that I lost hope of making the ascent.
And like one who rejoices in his gains →
but when the time comes and he loses,
57
turns all his thought to sadness and lament,
such did the restless beast make me—
coming against me, step by step,
60
it drove me down to where the sun is silent.
While I was fleeing to a lower place, →
before my eyes a figure showed, →
63
faint, in the wide silence. →
When I saw him in that vast desert, →
‘Have mercy on me, whatever you are,’ →
66
I cried, ‘whether shade
or living man!’
He answered: ’Not a man, though once I was. →
My parents were from Lombardy—
69
Mantua was their homeland.
‘I was born sub Julio, though late in his time, →
and lived at Rome, under good Augustus
72
in an age of false and lying gods.
‘I was a poet and I sang →
the just son of Anchises come from Troy →
75
after proud Ilium was put to flame. →
‘But you, why are you turning back to misery?
Why do you not climb the peak that gives delight, →
78
origin and cause of every joy?’
‘Are you then Virgil, the fountainhead →
that pours so full a stream of speech?’
81
I answered him, my head bent low in shame. →
‘O glory and light of all other poets,
let my long study and great love avail
84
that made me delve so deep into your volume. →
‘You are my teacher and my author.
You are the one from whom alone I took →
87
the noble style that has brought me honor.
‘See the beast that forced me to turn back.
Save me from her, famous sage—
90
she makes my veins and pulses tremble.’
‘It is another path that you must follow,’
he answered, when he saw me weeping,
93
‘if you would flee this wild and savage place.
‘For the beast that moves you to cry out
lets no man pass her way,
96
but so besets him that she slays him.
‘Her nature is so vicious and malign
her greedy appetite is never sated—
99
after she feeds she is hungrier than ever.
‘Many are the creatures that she mates with, →
and there will yet be more, until the hound
102
shall come who’ll make her die in pain.
‘He shall not feed on lands or lucre
but on wisdom, love, and power.
105
Between felt and felt shall be his birth.
‘He shall be the salvation of low-lying Italy, →
for which maiden Camilla, Euryalus, →
108
Turnus, and Nisus died of their wounds.
‘He shall hunt the beast through every town →
till he has sent her back to Hell
111
whence primal envy set her loose.
‘Therefore, for your sake, I think it wise
you follow me: I will be your guide,
114
leading you, from here, through an eternal place
‘where you shall hear despairing cries
and see those ancient souls in pain
117
as they bewail their second death. →
‘Then you shall see the ones who are content
to burn because they hope to come,
120
whenever it may be, among the blessed.
‘Should you desire to ascend to these,
you’ll find a soul more fit to lead than I: →
123
I’ll leave you in her care when I depart.
‘For the Emperor who has His seat on high
wills not, because I was a rebel to His law, →
126
that I should make my way into His city.
‘In every part He reigns and there He rules.
There is His city and His lofty seat.
129
Happy the one whom He elects to be there!’
And I answered: ‘Poet, I entreat you
by the God you did not know,
132
so that I may escape this harm and worse, →
‘lead me to the realms you’ve just described
that I may see Saint Peter’s gate →
and those you tell me are so sorrowful.’
136
Then he set out and I came on behind him.
OUTLINE: INFERNO II
1–6
Dante, “alone” with Virgil, prepares for the journey
7–9
invocation (Muses, “lofty genius”); his worthy memory
10–36
Dante’s uncertainty as to his qualifications
37–42
simile: a man unwilling to do what he has resolved
43–48
Virgil: Dante is a coward
49–74
Virgil tells of his encounter with Beatrice in Limbo
75–84
Virgil will lead Dante; why is Beatrice not fearful?
85–93
Beatrice’s response: the saved are proof against hell
94–114
a lady in heaven (Mary), Lucy, and Beatrice all help
115–120
tears of Beatrice induce Virgil to begin at once
121–126
Virgil chides Dante for his cowardice
127–130
simile: flowers raised and opened by sun
131–135
Dante’s renewed vigor; debt to Beatrice and to Virgil
136–140
Dante has again embraced his first resolve
141–142
the two again set out
INFERNO II
Day was departing and the darkened air →
released the creatures of the earth
3
from their labor, and I, alone, →
prepared to face the struggle— →
of the way and of the pity of it—
6
which memory, unerring, shall retrace. →
O Muses, O lofty genius, aid me now! →
O memory, that set down what I saw,
9
here shall your worth be shown.
I began: ‘Poet, you who guide me, →
consider if my powers will suffice
12
before you trust me to this arduous passage. →
‘You tell of the father of Sylvius; →
that he, still subject to corruption, went
15
to the eternal world while in the flesh. →
‘But that the adversary of all evil showed; →
such favor to him, considering who and what he was,
18
and the high sequel that would spring from him,
‘seems not unfitting to a man who understands. →
For in the Empyrean he was chosen
21
to father holy Rome and her dominion,
‘both of these established—if we would speak; →
the truth—to be the sacred precinct where
24
successors of great Peter have their throne.
‘On this journey, for which you grant him glory,
he heard the words that prompted him; →
27
to victory and prepared the Papal mantle. →
‘Later, the Chosen Vessel went there; →
to bring back confirmation of our faith,
30
the first step in our journey to salvation.
‘But why should I go there? who allows it?
I am not Aeneas, nor am I Paul. →
33
Neither I nor any think me fit for this. →
‘And so, if I commit myself to come,
I fear it may be madness. You are wise,
36
you understand what I cannot express.’
And as one who unwills what he has willed, →
changing his intent on second thought
39
so that he quite gives over what he has begun,
such a man was I on that dark slope.
&
nbsp; With too much thinking I had undone; →
42
the enterprise so quick in its inception.
‘If I have rightly understood your words,’ →
replied the shade of that great soul,
45
‘your spirit is assailed by cowardice,
‘which many a time so weighs upon a man
it turns him back from noble enterprise,
48
the way a beast shies from a shadow. →
‘To free you from this fear
I’ll tell you why I came and what I heard
51
when first I felt compassion for you.
‘I was among the ones who are suspended; →
when a lady called me, so blessèd and so fair; →
54
that I implored her to command me.
‘Her eyes shone brighter than the stars.
Gentle and clear, the words she spoke to me— →
57
an angel’s voice was in her speech:
‘ “O courteous Mantuan spirit, →
whose fame continues in the world