Inferno: Canto Vi
INFERNO: CANTO VI
When I recovered my consciousness,
Which I had lost in sadness for those two lovers,
I was dazed and confused by my surroundings,
I saw more suffering all around me, anywhere I moved,
Whichever way I turned, and everywhere I looked,
New souls were being tormented.
I was in the third circle, filled with rain,
Falling eternal, cursed, cold, and heavy;
Ever pounding, never easing, never ending.
Huge hail, dirty water, and tainted snow,
Fell in torrents through the murky air;
Grinding the pungent earth where ever it landed.
Cerberus, the cruel and uncouth monster,
With his three heads, each like a dog, was barking
Over the people that were submerged within the muck.
His eyes were red, and his beard was black with slobber,
His belly large, and armed with claws on his hands;
He slashes the spirits, flays, and quarters them.
The tortured spirits howl like dogs;
Lying on one side to try to protect the other;
Then turning again, this mass of wretched sinners.
When Cerberus saw us, the horrible beast,
His mouths opened, and he displayed his tusks;
Every limb on his body twitched and twisted.
And my Guide, with his arms extended,
Picked up handfuls of dirt, and with his fists filled,
He threw it into those cavernous throats.
And as a dog, who is constantly barking,
Then grows quiet as soon as he gnaws his food,
For his entire focus turns to eating,
So it was with the muzzles of the filth-begrimed
Cerberus, the demon, who thunders over the souls
So loud that they wished they were deaf.
We passed across the spirits, buried under
The heavy rain-storm, and we placed our feet
Upon the emptiness that was once their bodies.
They were all lying on the ground,
Except one, who sat up as soon
As he saw us passing before him.
"You, who are conducted through this Hell,"
He said to me, "Remember me, if you can;
Because you were born before I had died."
And I said to him: "The anguish which you have
Perhaps makes you escape my memory,
But I don't think I have ever seen you.
So tell me who you are, that you were put
In so miserable a place, to suffer such punishment.
I may yet see worse places, but none so foul."
And he said to me: "Your city, which is so full of envy
That it overflows on all sides,
Once held a serene life for me as well.
Your people gave me the name Ciacco, the Pig;
And for my sin of gluttony, as you see,
I am forever battered by this rain.
And I am not the only one,
For everyone here suffers the same penalty
For the same sin;" And then he spoke no more.
I answered him: "Ciacco, your wretchedness
Weighs on me so that it almost brings me to tears;
But tell me, if you know, what will happen
To the citizens of Florence, the divided city;
Are there any who are honest and just?
Tell me why so much trouble has come there."
And he said to me: "After the tensions become too great,
There will come the bloodshed; and the old party
Will drive the others out by force.
After that, they will also fall
Within three days, and the other will rise again
Lead by one who now is on the coast.
They will hold their heads high,
Keeping the other under heavy burdens,
No matter how they weep and cry in shame.
There are two just men there, but no one listens to them;
Envy and Arrogance and Avarice
Are the three sparks that have all hearts burning."
Here he ended his tearful speech;
And I said to him: "I wish you would teach me,
And speak to me further.
Farinata and Tegghiaio, were once worthy,
Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca,
And others who thought to do good deeds,
Tell me where they are, and what has become of them;
For I would very much like to know
If they have gone to Heaven, or if Hell has taken them."
And he said: "They are among the evil souls;
A different sin drags them down to the bottom;
If you continue to descend, you will see them.
But when you are again in the sweet world,
Please speak of me to others so that I am remembered;
I will say no more, nor answer any more questions."
Then turned his eyes and looked away,
He looked at me again, and then bowed his head;
Then he fell back to the ground like the other blind souls.
And my Guide said to me: "He will not wake up again
Until the Angel's trumpet blows;
And the unforgiving judge arrives,
Each one will find his dismal tomb,
Reassume his flesh and his own figure,
And will hear of their sins echoing through eternity."
So we continued on over the filthy mixture
Of shadows and of rain with slow footsteps,
Talking about the afterlife.
Then I said: "Master, these torments here,
Will they increase after the mighty judgment,
Or will they lessen, or will they remain the same?"
And he said to me: "Remember the lesson you have learned in life,
Which says, that the more perfect a thing is,
The more it feels the pleasure and the pain.
Although those poor and tortured souls
Can never attain true perfection,
Their future holds an even greater pain."
We continued walking around the circle,
Speaking much more, which I will not repeat;
Until we came unto the point where the road descends;
There we found Plutus the enemy of all mankind.