Canto VI
CANTO VI
As Dante comes to, he finds himself in the third circle of Hell, where the gluttonous writhe in a fetid mire beneath a deluge of foul rain, hail, and snow. There Cerberus, a three-headed, wide-bellied, dog-like figure, flays the squirming souls with his talons. Spotting the Poets, he quivers with dumb rage, baring his fangs. Virgil then hurls two fistfuls of mud into his open gullets, appeasing his rabid appetite as he and his charge pass on, treading upon the supine spirits (1–36). One shade, however, whom vice has disfigured beyond recognition, bolts up and identifies himself as the glutton Ciacco, a fellow Florentine (37–57). Seizing the opportunity, the Pilgrim queries him about the city’s future, its present condition, and the past causes of its division. In response his townsman predicts the exile of the White Guelphs, Dante’s own party, from the city; declares its present injustice; and explains it through envy, pride, and avarice (58–75). The Poet questions him further about the fate of certain Florentine worthies antedating the feud between White and Black Guelphs, and Ciacco replies that Dante will meet them in the lower regions of Hell. Asking to be remembered on earth, he then sinks into a cross-eyed stupor (76–93). Virgil says that Ciacco will not wake again until the general resurrection and the Day of Judgment, which makes the Pilgrim wonder about the punishment of the resurrected body. If having a body is part of the soul’s perfection, his Master explains, then both reward and punishment will be more perfect in the body (94–111). The Travelers now follow a curve to where the road descends and discover Pluto, the great enemy (112–115).
1 My mind reviving, which had closed before
The sad condition of those kindred two,[100]
Who troubled me with sorrow all the more,
4 I spy new torments all around and new
Tormented souls, wherever it may be
That I might move, or turn, or set my view.
7 I stand in Hell’s third ring; eternally[101]
The cursèd, cold, and heavy rains here blow.
It never changes rule or quality.
10 Large stones of hail, a filthy rain, and snow
Come pouring downwards through the darksome air;
The earth smells fetid that receives this flow.
13 There’s Cerberus, a beast both fierce and rare;[102]
With triple gullet like a dog he brays
Above the people who are sunken there.
16 His beard is greasy black, his eyes ablaze,
His belly wide, his hands with talons crowned;
The spirits there he quarters, rends, and flays.
19 The rainstorm keeps them howhng like a hound
While with one side they screen the other side;
Those godless wretches often turn around.
22 When Cerberus, that giant worm, had spied
The two of us, no limb of his held still;
He bared his fangs, his mouths all opened wide.
25 My Guide extended both his palms to fill
His fists with mud he gathered from the mire,
And in those famished jaws he threw that swill.
28 Like rabid dogs all barking with desire,
Which then grow quiet when they chew their feed,
Intent and strained to gulp it down entire,
31 So were those filthy faces in the greed
Of demon Cerberus, who so could roar
Those spirits wished that they were deaf indeed.
34 We passed on shadows whom the heavy pour
Of rain subdues and trod their empty show,
Which seemed like living bodies as before.
37 And on the ground they all were lying low,
Except for one who sat up when his shade
Had seen us pass in front of him, and so,
40 “O you, who through this Hell are led,” he prayed,
“Do try to recognize me, if you can,
For you were made before I was unmade.”
43 “Perhaps your agony,” I then began,
“Withdraws you from my mind, for as of yet
It seems I never saw you as a man.
46 Say who you are, in such great pain and set
In such a dismal place that should one meet
A greater pain, more loathsome is not met.”
49 He said to me: “Your city, so replete[103]
With envy that its sack now overflows,
Once held me in a life serenely sweet.
52 You townsmen called me ‘Ciacco,’ and my woes[104]
Are for the damning fault of gluttony—
You see me broken by the rainfall’s blows.
55 My soul is not alone in misery:
For one same fault all these are overcome
By one same pain”—he said no more to me.
58 “O Ciacco, your distress,” I said in sum,
“So weighs on me it bids me weep your fate.
But tell me, if you know, what will become
61 Of citizens of that divided state,
If anyone is just, and why and whence
Such discord has assailed it so of late.”
64 He: “After long contention, the events[105]
Will come to blood; the rustic band will cast
The other faction out with much offense.
67 This party too will have to fall at last
Within three suns; the other will hold sway
By dint of one who tacks his sails so fast.[106]
70 The ones will long hold high their heads and weigh
Down others under heavy loads they bear,
Whatever tears and shame they might display.
73 Though two are just, they are not heeded there,[107]
For envy, pride, and avarice beget
Three suchlike sparks that put all hearts aflare.”
76 And here to tearful sounds an end was set.
I said to him: “Instruct me once again,
And make a gift of speaking further yet.
79 Tegghiaío, Farinata, worthy men,[108]
Arrigo, Mosca, with Jacopo, and[109]
All those who set their minds on goodness then,
82 Tell where they are, so I know how they stand;
For great desire is urging me to know
If Heaven sweetens or Hell galls their band.”
85 “They are among the blackest souls below,
Weighed to the bottom by a different crime.
You’ll see,” he said, “if you descend so low.
88 When you return up to that sweeter clime,
I pray, have other men call me to mind;
I will not speak nor answer one more time.”
91 With that his even gaze grew disaligned,
He looked at me a while, then bent his head,
And fell as low as all the other blind.
94 “This one will wake no more,” my Leader said,
“Until the angel’s trumpet sounds the doom
And the opposing Power comes ahead.[110]
97 Each one will see again the sorry tomb,
Take on his flesh and body’s form anew,
And hear eternally his sentence boom.”
100 Amid a filthy mixture, we passed through
The shades and rain but kept our paces slow,
And touched upon the future life some too.
103 I asked: “O Master, will these torments grow
With that great Judgment passed, or will they wane,
Or will they always keep on burning so?”
106 He said: “Recall how science would maintain[111]
The more perfection something has, the more
It feels of pleasure and, as well, of pain.
109 Although this cursèd people will not soar
To true perfection, still they look to end
Much nearer than they were to it before.”
112 We made a circle round the roadway’s bend,
While saying more than I can here relate,
Then came to where it started to descend:
115 There Pluto’s found, that enemy so great.[112]