Inferno: Canto III

Through me men pass to city of great woe;
Through me men pass to endless misery;
Through me men pass where all the lost ones go.

Justice it was that moved my Maker high,
The Power of God it was that fashioned me,
Wisdom supreme and primal Charity.

Before me nothing was of things that be,
Save the eterne, and I eterne endure:
Ye that pass in, all hope abandon ye."

These words I saw, in characters obscure,
Enwritten o'er the summit of a gate.
"Master, their cruel drift is but too sure,"

I said: he skilled my thoughts to penetrate:
"Here it is meet thou leave all doubt behind;
'Tis meet that thou all baseness extirpate.

We to the place have come where thou wilt find,
E'en as I said, the people sorrow-fraught,
Those who have lost the Good supreme of mind."

Then me, his hand firm clasped in mine, he brought,
With joyful face that gave me comfort great,
Within the range of things in secret wrought.

There sighs and tears and groans disconsolate
So sounded through the starless firmament,
That at the outset I wept sore thereat.

Speech many-tongued and cries of dire lament,
Words full of wrath and accents of despair.
Deep voices hoarse and hands where woe found vent, —

These made a tumult whirling through the air.
For evermore, in timeless gloom the same.
As whirls the sand storm-driven here and there.

And I, upon whose brain strange wildness came,
Said, " Master, what is this that now I hear,
And who that race whom torment so doth tame?"

And he to me: "This wretched doom they bear,
The sorrow-smitten souls of those whose name"
Nor foul reproach nor glorious praise did share.

Mingled are they with those of evil fame,
The angels who nor rebels were, nor true
To God, but dwelt in isolated shame.

Heaven, fearing loss of beauty, spurned that crew;
Nor were they harboured in the depths of Hell,
Lest to the damned some glory might accrue."

And I: " O Master, what doom terrible
Makes them lament with such a bitter cry?"
And he: " Full briefly I the cause will tell.

No hope have these that they shall ever die,
And this blind life of theirs so base is shown,
All other doom they view with envious eye.

Their fame the world above leaves all unknown;
Mercy and Justice look on them with scorn.
Talk not of them; one glance, and then pass on."

And as I looked I saw a standard borne.
Which whirling moved with such a rapid flight,
It seemed to me all thought of rest to spurn;

And in its rear a long train came in sight,
Of people, so that scarce I held it true
Death had undone such legions infinite.

And when among the crowd some forms I knew,
I looked, and lo! I saw his spectre there
Who basely from his calling high withdrew.

Forthwith I understood and saw full clear,
These were the souls of all the caitiff host
Who neither God nor yet His foes could bear.

These wretched slaves, who ne'er true life could boast,
Were naked all, and, in full evil case,
By gnats and wasps were stung that filled that coast;

And streams of blood down-trickled on each face.
And, mingled with their tears, beneath their feet,
Were licked by worms that wriggled foul and base.

And when I further looked on that drear seat,"
On a great river's bank a troop I saw.
Wherefore I said, " O Master, I entreat

That I may know who these are, what the law
Which makes them seem so eager to pass o'er;
As through the dim light they my notice draw.""

And he to me: "Of this thou shalt know more,
When we our footsteps on the pathway set
That runs by Acheron's melancholy shore."

And then, with eyes where shame and awe were met,
For fear lest he my words displeased should mark,"
Till we the river reached I spake not yet.

And then behold! toward us came a bark.
Bearing an old man, white with hoary age,
And saying, " Woe to you, ye spirits dark;

Hope never ye to see Heaven's heritage:
I come to take you to the other coast.
Eternal gloom, and heat, and winter's rage.

And thou, who standest there, thou living ghost.
Withdraw thyself from these who come as dead."
But when he saw I did not leave that host,"

"By other ways, by other ports," he said,
"Thou wilt that region reach, not here: received
In lighter bark than mine thou shalt be led."

Then spake my Leader: " Charon, be not grieved;
This is there willed where Will and Power are one,
Nor question what should be at once believed."

Then quiet were those cheeks, with beard o'ergrown.
Of that old pilot of the livid lake.
Around whose eyes two fiery circles shone.

But those poor souls, whose naked forms did quake,
Changed colour when they heard his accents hoarse,
And gnashed their teeth, and then blaspheming spake

On God and kith and kin their bitter curse.
Mankind, the place, the time, the evil lot
Of their engendering, and their birth perverse.

Then drew they all together to one spot.
With bitter weeping, on that dreary shore,
Which waits each soul where fear of God dwells not.

And Charon, fiend with eyes that flamed all o'er,
With signs and nods around him gathers all,
And strikes each lingering spirit with his oar.

And as in autumn time the sere leaves fall,
Each after other, till the branch, left bare,
Yields to the earth its spoils funereal.

In like wise Adam's evil offspring fare."
They from that shore leap, beckoned, one by one,
As hawk that at its lure swoops down through air.

So they o'er those dark waters swift are gone.
And ere o' the further side they disembark.
On this another troop together run.

"My son," my kind guide's accents bade me hark,
"Those who beneath the wrath of God have died.
From all lands gather to this region dark,

And eager are to pass across the tide;
For God's stern justice so doth urge them on,
That fear becomes desire unsatisfied:

But never passeth here a guiltless one.
If, therefore, Charon vex his soul for thee.
What his words mean will now to thee be known."

So ended he, then shook exceedingly
That gloomy region, so that still my fear
Bathes me with sweat, though but in memory:

The tearful land sent forth a blast of air.
Whence there flashed forth as lightning's vermeil light,
Which not one organ of my sense did spare:

I fell as one whom slumber robs of sight.