Inferno: Canto VI

Then when the sense returned that I had lost,
Through pity for those two so near allied,
With pangs of sorrow stunned and tempest-tost.

New torments and new tortures on each side
I saw around me as I onward passed,
And turned, and here and there the prospect spied.

In the third circle, where the rain falls fast.
Am I, — eterne, curst, cold, and working woe,
Its law and state unchanged from first to last;

Huge hail, dark water, whirling clouds of snow
There through the murky air come sweeping on;
Foul smells the earth which drinks this in below.

And Cerberus, fierce beast, like whom is none.
Barks like a dog from out his triple jaws,
At all the tribe those waters close upon.

Red glare his eyes and taloned are his paws,
His belly large, his beard all greased and foul;
Those souls he tears, flays, quarters, with his claws.

That rain-storm makes them all like fierce dogs howl;
This side with that they vainly seek to screen,
And round and round those wretched sinners roll.

When Cerberus, that great serpent, us had seen.
His mouth he opened and his tusks were shown,
And not a limb was as it erst had been.

And then my Leader, with his palms out- thrown,"
Took of the earth, and filling full his hand,
Into those hungry gullets flung it down:

And as a dog who, craving food, doth stand
Barking, grows quiet while his food he gnaws,
And feels and fights at hunger's fierce command.

So was it with those vile and filthy jaws
Of Cerberus the fiend, who roars so dread.
The souls would fain that it might deafness cause.

And then upon those souls our feet did tread
Whom the fierce rain keeps prostrate on the ground,
In semblance men, yet shadows vain and dead.

Prone on their face they all of them were found,
Save one, who rose and upright sat when he
Beheld us passing, on our journey bound.

"O thou who thus art led this Hell to see,"
He spake, " recall me, if thou hast the power;
Thou had'st thy being ere I ceased to be."

And I to him: "Thy anguish keen and sore,
It may be, makes me utterly forget,
So that it seems I ne'er saw thee before;

But tell me who thou art, who thus art set
In such sad region, punishment so strange,
That worse may be, but fouler never yet?"

And he to me: "Thy city, where free range
Envy doth take, the sack's full measure crowned,"
Held me ere I that life serene did change;

You townsmen called me Ciacco, swinish hound;
For that foul sin of gluttonous appetite,
I, as thou see'st, am thus rain-pelted found.

Nor am I here alone in this ill plight,
For all thou see'st are subject to like pain
For like offence." Then utterance failed him quite;

And I replied: " Thy sorrows me constrain
To weep, Ciacco, for thy lot forlorn;
But say, know'st thou what future doth remain

For dwellers in that city, faction-torn;
If one just man there be; the occasion whence,
Tell me, that it by discord so is worn?"

And he to me: " From strife prolonged, intense,
They will to blood pass on; the wilder race
Will drive the other forth with much offence;

A little while, and this within the space
Of summers three shall fall, the other rise
By force of him who trims his sails apace.

Long will it lift its forehead to the skies,
Keeping the other under burdens sore,
Though it wax wroth and utter angry cries.

The just are two: and men heed these no more;
Envy and pride and avarice, these three
Are sparks that kindle fire in their hearts' core."

So his sad tearful utterance ended he;
And I to him: " More news I fain would hear,
And bounty of more converse grant to me:

Tegghiaio, Farinata, worthiest pair,
Mosca, Arrigo, Rusticucci too,"
And others who in good deeds strove to share.

Tell me where are they; let them come in view;
Strong wish constrains me; let me learn, I pray.
If Heaven console them or Hell make them rue?"

And he: "Among the blackest souls are they,
Sunk in the pit by other than my crime;
Thou may'st behold them, if so low thou stray.

But when thou art again in life's sweet clime,
I pray thee bring to others' thoughts my name:
I may not speak nor answer longer time."

Then his fixed steadfast gaze ascant became:
Awhile he glanced at me, then bowed his head,
Then fell, and with those blind ones bore his shame.

No more he rises," then my Teacher said,
"This side the angelic trumpet's awful sound,
When He shall come, the Potentate so dread.

And each, his own sad sepulchre refound.
Shall take again the flesh and form of man.
And hear what shall eternally resound."

So passed we through that mixture foul and wan
Of shadows and of rain-storm, pacing slow.
And on the life to come our converse ran.

Wherefore I said, " O Master, will this woe.
After the last great sentence, increase find.
Or lessen, or burn on, nor changing know?"

And he to me: "Thy science call to mind.
Which wills that as each thing perfection gains,
Or bliss or bale it feels in fuller kind;

Albeit this race, condemned to bitter pains.
The true perfection never more may reach,"
There more than here completeness it attains."

So wound we round that pathway, and our speech
We carried further than I now may tell;
And then we came where steps led down the breach.

And Plutus found, the deadliest foe in Hell.