Inferno: Canto XI

Upon the margin of a bank raised high,
Formed of great piles of broken rocks around.
We found a throng in yet worse misery;

And there, because that dread abyss profound
Sent forth its stench overwhelming far and wide,
A refuge we behind the cover found

Of a great tomb, where I a scroll descried,
Which said, " Pope Anastasius here I hold.
Whom from true path Photinus drew aside."

Slowly our course adown the vale we hold,
Till that our sense a little trained hath grown
To that foul blast; then use will make us bold."

The Master thus; and I spake: "This alone
I ask, find some amends that time pass by
Not lost.' And he: "Thou see'st I think thereon.

My son, within these stones that broken He
Three circles are there," he began to tell;
"From grade to grade, like those thou leav'st on high;

Filled full are they of spirits doomed to Hell.
But that henceforth it may suffice to see,
Hear how and why they he in bondage fell.

In every sin that earns Heaven's enmity,
Men aim at wronging others, and that aim
By force or fraud works out the injury.

But because fraud is man's peculiar blame,
God hates it more, and therefore lower stand
The fraudulent, and suffer greater shame.

The outer circle holds the fiercer band;
But because force is threefold in its kind.
In threefold circles it is built and planned.

In God, ourselves, our neighbour, we may find
The wronged in person, or in what they own.
As thou shalt hear with cause full clear assigned.

Or death or grievous wounds in malice done.
Are 'gainst our neighbour's self; against his right
Are rapine, arson, foul extortion.

Hence murderers, and those who wound in spite,
Robbers and brigands, these, in torments all.
In the first round find each a separate site.

Again, man's force upon himself may fall,
Or on his goods; so in the second round
Remorse that profits not must him enthral

Who of your world to rob himself is found,
Or gambles, or doth squander all he hath.
Or murmurs, where contentment should abound.

Force also against God may work in wrath,
When men in heart blaspheme Him or deny,
Or swerve from Nature and her bounteous path.

Wherefore within the smallest circle lie
Cahors and Sodom, marked with brand of shame,
And he who with his heart speaks blasphemy.

Fraud, that in every conscience worketh blame,
A man may work on him who gives him trust.
Or one who sees no ground to grant that same.

This latter mode but so far seems unjust
That it the natural bond of friendship breaks;
So in the second circle here are thrust

The hypocrites, the flatterers, he who takes
Men's souls with spells, the thief, the simonist,
Sin's filthiest brood, corrupters, pimps, and rakes.

But by the other mode that love is missed
Which Nature works, and that which with it blends.
And these a special confidence enlist.

Hence in the smallest circle that descends
To the world's centre, where Dis holds his throne,"
Such traitors lie in woe that never ends."

And I: ' O Master, clear enough is shown
Thy reasoning, and distinguishes aright
This pit and all it claimeth as its own.

But tell me, those within the lake's foul plight,
Whom the wind drives and whom the rainstorms beat,
And those who clash with words of sharpest spite.

Why dwell they not within this fiery seat.
Here punished, if beneath God's wrath they bide?
If not, why then such treatment do they meet?"

And he to me: " Oh, why thus turns aside
Thy wit to folly, as it never used?
Why to false issues is thy mind applied?

Dost not remember what thou hast perused.
The very words with which thine Ethics treat,
The threefold moods which stand of Heaven accused, —

Unbridled will, fixed evil, last we meet
Brutal excess, and how the unbridled will,
God, blaming less, with fewer stripes doth beat?

If thou this teaching but considerest still,
And call to thy remembrance who they are
Who higher up their penance dire fulfil.

Then thou wilt see why they are stationed far
From these offenders, why with torment less
The righteous strokes of God have power to mar."

'O Sun, who dost dim sight with healing bless.
Thou, when thou teachest, giv'st me such content,
That doubt and knowledge bring like happiness:

Once more," said I, "let thy glance back be bent,
There where thou said'st that usury offends
God's goodness; now untie that knot's intent."

"Whoso," he said, " to Wisdom high attends,
Learns evermore, not here or there alone.
How Nature takes its methods and its ends

From God, whose Mind in skill and art is shown;''
And if thou hast thy Physics well in mind,
Thou'lt find, ere many pages thou hast known.

Your Art, as far as may be, close behind
Follows, as scholars near their teacher tread;
So in your Art we may God's grandchild find.

By these two powers, if thou hast rightly read
The opening lore of Genesis, 'tis meet
The nations should in life's true course be led;

And since elsewhere the usurer turns his feet.
Nature herself, and in her follower too,"
He scorns, since elsewhere he his hope doth seat.

But follow now, for I would fain pursue
My course: the Fishes with the horizon blend,
Full over Caurus comes the Wain in view.

And far out yonder see the crags descend,