Inferno: Canto Iii
INFERNO: CANTO III
"Through me, the way is to the suffering city;
Through me, the way is to eternal pain;
Through me, the way among the people lost.
It was Justice that moved my Creator;
Divine Omnipotence created me,
The highest Wisdom and the primal Love.
Before me there were no created things,
Only eternity, and I too, last eternal.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!"
These words in somber color I beheld
Written upon the summit of a gate;
I said: "Master, I sense much danger here!"
And he said to me, as one experienced:
"Here all suspicion must be abandoned,
All cowardice must be extinct.
We have come to the place that I told you of,
You will see the miserable people
Who have lost the good of intellect."
And then he laid his hand on mine,
Showing confidence, and I was comforted,
He led me in among the secret things.
There sighs, complaints, and loud laments
Resounded through the darkened, starless air,
Almost immediately, I began to weep.
Languages diverse, horrible dialects,
Accents of anger, words of agony,
Voices high and hoarse, and sounds of pounding flesh,
Made up a tumult that goes whirling on
Forever in that air which is forever black,
Even as sand still flies, though the whirlwind has stopped.
And I, holding my head in horror,
Said: "Master, what is this sound which I hear?
What people are these, which seem by pain so vanquished?"
And he said to me: "This miserable place
Maintains the melancholy souls of those
Who lived without infamy or praise.
They are commingled with that cowardly choir
Of Angels, who were not rebellious,
But nor were they faithful to God.
Because of their disloyalty, Heaven expelled them;
But the endless abyss will not receive them,
Because the damned would glorify them."
I asked: "O Master, what is so grievous
To these, that makes them lament so loud?"
He answered: "I will tell you very briefly.
These no longer have any hope of death;
This blind life of theirs is so debased,
They are envious of every other fate.
The world has no record of their existence;
Heaven's Mercy and Justice both disdain them. But,
Let us not speak of them, look only, and then pass."
And when I looked again, I beheld a banner,
Which, whirling round, ran on so rapidly,
That it seemed as though it never paused;
And after it there came so long a train
Of people, that I never would have believed
That Death could have possibly taken so many.
Among them were some that I recognized,
I looked, and I saw the ghost of him
Who made, through cowardice, the great refusal.
Then I understood, and was certain,
That this was the group of wretches
Hateful to God and to his enemies.
These miscreants, who never were alive,
Were naked, and were stung constantly
By the gadflies and the hornets that were there.
Their faces were covered with blood,
Which, with their tears, commingled at their feet,
And were gathered up by disgusting maggots.
And when I looked beyond them,
I saw people on the bank of a great river;
Then I said: "Master, I would like to know,
Who are those people, and what is it that
Makes them appear so ready to pass over,
As I can see, even in this dim light?"
And he to me: "These things will all be known to you,
As soon as we, ourselves, are standing
Upon that dismal shore of Acheron."
Then with my eyes ashamed and cast downward,
Fearing my words might be irritating to him,
I was silent until we reached the river.
And lo! coming towards us in a boat
An old man, with a head of white hair,
Crying out: "Woe unto you, you depraved souls!
Give up all hope of ever seeing Heaven;
I come to take you to the other shore,
To the eternal darkness of fire and of ice.
And you, standing over there, the living soul,
Get away from these people, who are dead!"
But when he saw that I did not leave, He said:
"By other ways, by other ports, to a different shore,
You shall come for passage, not here;
A lighter vessel is needed to carry you."
And to him, Virgil said: "Hold your anger, Charon;
It is willed by one who has the power to enforce
What they have willed; so question us no further."
At that, there was only silence from the fleecy cheeks
Of the ferryman, though his face was livid,
And his eyes were wheels of flame.
But all those souls who were weary and naked, their Color changed and they gnashed their teeth together,
As soon as they had heard Virgil's cruel words.
They blasphemed God and cursed their parents,
The human race, the place, the time, the very seed
That made them and of their own birth!
Then, all together, they drew back,
Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore,
Upon which waits every man who does not fear God.
Charon the demon, with his eyes of flame,
Beckons to them, collects them all together,
And beats with his oar whoever lags behind.
As in the autumn-time the leaves fall off,
First one and then another, till the branch
Surrenders all its spoils to the earth;
In similar fashion did these evil seeds of Adam throw Themselves from the group, one by one, into the boat
At Charon's signal, as a bird is called to its lure.
So they depart across the dusky wave,
And even before they have landed upon the other side,
Again on this side a new troop assembles.
"My son," The courteous Master said to me,
"All those who perish in the wrath of God
Here meet together out of every land;
And they are ready to pass over the river,
Because celestial Justice spurs them on,
So that their fear is turned into desire.
A good soul never passes this way;
And hence if Charon does complain about you,
You now understand why."
This being finished, suddenly the ground
Trembled so violently, that of that terror
Just remembering it, still bathes me with sweat.
The land of tears gave forth a blast of wind,
And a burst of bright red light,
Which overwhelmed me completely,
And as a man suddenly seized with exhaustion, I fell.