Canto V
CANTO V
The Poets descend from Limbo into the second circle of Hell, where they encounter Minos, the semi-bestial judge of the dead, before whom the souls of the damned must pass to confess their sins and receive their sentences. When he cries out to Dante, Virgil conjures him into silence as he had done before with Charon (1–24). The Pilgrim then begins to perceive the wailings of the lustful, whose spirits are ceaselessly wafted about by gusting blasts of wind (25–51). As a string of them comes darting by, Virgil points out illustrious examples of those undone by an excess of love: Semiramis, Dido, Cleopatra, Helen, Achilles, Paris, Tristan, and a thousand others. On viewing this air-borne parade, Dante is seized by pity (52–72). He wishes to speak with two spirits who appear to be particularly light upon the air, which seems to indicate the gustiness of their passions. When his Master has Dante entreat them in the name of that love which drives them, they respond promptly to his affectionate request (73–87). Francesca da Rimini speaks and tells how Love first enamored Paolo with her comeliness, how his attentions then ignited her affections in return, and how their indulged inclinations finally led to their deaths (88–108). Deeply moved, the Poet remains for a while lost in contemplation of their tragic fate and then, at Virgil’s instigation, asks how Love allowed them to manifest their hidden desires (109–120). Although pained in their present misery to recall the past happiness of their love, Francesca recounts how she and Paolo were once reading for their diversion the Arthurian tale of Lancelot. The description of his kiss of Guinevere proved too strong an incitement for their ready passions, and they read no more that day (121–138). Overwhelmed by pity for the two lovers, Dante faints and falls to the ground like a corpse (139–142).
1 So from the first of rings I made descent
Down to the second one, which bounds less space,[82]
But pain much greater, goading to lament.
4 There horrid Minos stands with snarling face,[83]
Examining offenses at the door,
And girds himself to judge and fix their place.
7 I mean when ill-born souls have come before
Him there, confessing all there is to tell,
That connoisseur of sins will see what floor
10 Will be the place assigned to each in Hell.
He girds his tail around himself to show
How many steps he sends it down to dwell.
13 Before him many always stand; they go
For judgment, each in turn, and first begin
To speak and hear, and then are cast below.
16 “O you approaching towards this woeful inn,”
As soon as he had seen me, Minos cried
And left what his great office there had been,
19 “Watch how you enter, watch whom you confide
In here; don’t let this wide gate fool you then.”
“Why are you shouting too?” my Guide replied;
22 “Do not impede his fated journey when
It thus is willed where power can agree
With what is wished, and do not ask again.”
25 And now the mournful notes begin to be
More audible; I’ve now attained the site
Where all those many wailings batter me.
28 I’ve reached a place that’s muted of all light,
That roars like billows when the tempest blows,
Embattled when conflicting stormwinds fight.
31 The hellish hurricane finds no repose,
But snatches up the spirits in its blast,
And, whirling round and smiting, torments those.
34 When they have reached the ruins there at last,[84]
Their shrieks are heard with wailing and lament,
And blasphemies against God’s might are cast.
37 I understood that to such torments went
Those damned as carnal sinners, who were lost
Submitting reason to their lustful bent.
40 And as the starlings’ wings in times of frost
Upbear them in a broad and crowded train,
So by that blast these evil souls are tossed.
43 Now here, now there, now up, now down they plane;
No hope has ever comforted their plight—
Not hope of rest, but of a lesser pain.
46 And as the cranes, which sing their lays in flight,
Will stretch their lengthy lines across the skies,
So wailing shadows came within my sight,
49 Whom batthng stormwinds carried in such wise
That I just had to say: “O Master, see!
Who are these people whom black airs chastise?”
52 “The first of those about whose history
You wish to know was empress,” then he said,
“A ruler over many tongues, but she
55 Was ruined by licentious vice and sped
To make lust licit in her law from need
To shed the blame to which she had been led.
58 She is Semíramis, of whom we read[85]
That she, succeeding Ninus as his bride,[86]
Once held the lands beneath the Sultan’s lead.[87]
61 The other stabbed herself from love and died,[88]
And to Sichaeus’ ashes proved untrue.[89]
Then wanton Cleopatra there is spied.[90]
64 See Helen too, because of whom were due[91]
Such times of ill; and see Achilles famed,[92]
Who at the end with love had battled too.
67 See Paris, Tristan….” Thus for me he named[93]
And pointed out a thousand shadowed wights,
Whom love from this, our earthly life, had claimed.
70 When I had heard what ancient dames and knights
My Teacher named, great pity seized me there,
And I felt so bewildered by these sights.
73 “I willingly would visit with that pair,
O Poet,” I began, “who jointly fly,
And seem to be so light upon the air.”
76 “You’ll see when they are nearer us, then by
The love,” he said, “that leads them on, beseech
The two of them, and thus they will draw nigh.”
79 And when the wind had brought them in our reach,
I raised my voice, “O weary souls,” I said,
“If None forbids it, come and join our speech.”[94]
82 And just as doves that longing calls are led
By their desires to reach a pleasant nest
Across the airs, their steady pinions spread,
85 So did those souls leave Dido and the rest.
Approaching through malignant airs, they flew—
Such force had my affectionate behest.
88 “O living one, benign and gracious too,[95]
You visit us through airs as dark as perse,
Who stained the earth with such a bloody spew;
91 Were but the King of all the Universe
Our friend, we’d ask His peace for someone who
Has pity on our evils so perverse.
94 But we shall hear and speak of all with you
Of which it pleases you to speak and hear,
While silent fall the winds as now they do.
97 The land in which I had my birth lies near[96]
The shore where there descends the river Po,
With streams that join it, to find peace and cheer.
100 That love which soon sets gentle hearts aglow
Took him with my fair body, which they let
Be torn from me—the way still hurts me so!
103 That love which spares none loved from love’s own net
Took me so strongly with delight he bred
That, as you see, it has not left me yet.
106 That love has led us to one death—ahead
For him who killed us will Caïna wait!”[97]
Thus borne from them to us, these words were said.
109 When I had heard these injured spirits’ fate,
I bowed my head and so long held it low
The Poet asked: “What do you contemplate?”
112 And when I answered, I began: “Oh, oh!
What gentle thoughts, and what great longing drew
Those spirits to the passage unto woe!”
115 I turned to speak to them and start anew:
“Francesca, how your torments cause my eyes
To weep out of compassion and of rue!
118 But tell me, in the time of gentle sighs,
With what, and in what way, did Love disclose
To you how dubious desires arise?”
121 She said to me: “There are no greater woes
Than to recall a happy time and steep
In misery, and that your Teacher knows.
124 But if your yearning is indeed so deep
To know the first root of the love we’ve got,
Then I shall do like those who speak and weep.
127 For our delight we read of Lancelot[98]
One day, how Love constrained him so—this plus
The fact we were alone, suspecting not.
130 That reading brought our eyes together thus
From time to time, and paled our faces’ tone,
And yet one single point defeated us.
133 When we read how the yearned-for smile was shown
A kiss in such a perfect lover’s way,
This one, who’ll never part from me, had grown
136 To tremble as he kissed my mouth. I say
That book was Gallehault; so was the bard[99]
Who wrote it too: we read no more that day.”
139 And as one spirit spoke in this regard,
The other wept; from pitying it all,
As though I just had died, I fainted hard
142 So that I fell the way a corpse would fall.