Inferno: Canto XI

High on a bank's extremest verge we stood,
Where stones enormous form'd a precipice.
Whence greater agony beneath we view'd.

And here to such excess was prevalent
The horrid fume which rose from the abyss.
That we withdrew behind a monument

Whose lid gave shelter, and whereon I read
Inscribed: — "Pope Anastasius I contain.
Whom from the path direct Photinus led."

"Now it behoves us slowly to descend,
That by degrees our sense we may constrain
To bear the stench, that will no more offend."

Thus spake my guide. "Lest time be idly spent,
Do thou," I said, "some compensation find."
"On that," he answer'd, "are my thoughts intent.

Within these rocks, my son, I'd have thee know,
Three lesser circles in gradation wind.
E'en like to those which thou art leaving now.

Fill'd are they all with souls accurst for aye;
But that the sight of them may hence suffice.
Hear how and why imprisoned thus they lie.

Of every malice that in heaven's abhorr'd.
The aim is injury; and all such vice
Brings grief to others, or by force or fraud.

But as deceit is man's peculiar stain,
God hates it most; hence those who use deceit
Are placed below, and rack'd by greater pain.

With those to violence prone this space abounds;
But since in threefold mode men practise it.
The circle is disposed in triple rounds.

Against our God— ourselves— our neighbours — force
Is exercised; 'gainst them and what belongs
To them I mean, as shall be proved in course.

By force and painful wounds may death be brought
Upon our neighbour, and may grievous wrongs
By fire and rapine on his goods be wrought.

Hence murderers, and all with violent hands,
Spoilers and robbers, each in the first round
Their torment find, arranged in various bands.

Against himself man may be violent.
And his possessions; wherefore each is found
Within the second circle, penitent

In vain, whoever doth his life destroy,
And wastes the substance for his use supplied; —
Grieving, where all was given him to enjoy.

Force may be offer'd to the Deity,
When he is cursed and in the heart denied.
And nature's goodness held in contumely:

Wherefore the lesser circle sets its seal
On Sodom and on Cahors, and on each
Who for his God no reverence doth feel.

Fraud — whence to every breast remorse ensues —
Man uses, when he tries to overreach
Or him who trusteth, or doth trust refuse.

This latter mode appears to cut in twain
The bond of social love which nature ties;
Whence to the second circle appertain

Witchcraft, hypocrisy, and flattery.
Falsehood, with secret theft, and simonies;
Whoremongers, barterers, and such infamy.

The other mode breaks nature's bond of love,
As well as that, which added unto this
The source of special confidence doth prove.

Hence in the minor circle, where is placed
The centre of the world and seat of Dis,
Each traitor is for ever doom'd to waste."

Then I replied: "Thy argument is clear,
And is full well adapted to explain
This gulf profound, and all in torment here.

But tell me, — those within the muddy marsh,
Driv'n by the wind, — those beaten by the rain, —
And those who meeting use such language harsh —

Tell me, — within the city fraught with fire,
If God is wrath, why not consumed are they?
Or else, why are they in such penance dire?"

"Wherefore from its accustomed seat," he said,
"Wanders thy intellect so far astray?
Or to what other object hath it fled?

Dost thou forget thine ethics, where is given
A treatise on the crimes that cause offence
More than all others to the King of Heaven —

Incontinence — and bestiality —
With malice foul? — and how incontinence
Is less offensive to the Deity?

If thou considerest this sentence well,
And duly callest to thy memory
Those who without, in deep repentance, dwell.

Soon wilt thou see why from these shades of guilt
They are removed; and why a less degree
Of punishment hath heavenly justice dealt,"

O sun, that healest all distemper'd sight,
Such joy I feel when clouds thou hast dispersed.
That doubt no less than knowledge gives delight!

"Turn thee," — quoth I, — "a little back again
To where, thou said'st, the usurer dwells accurst.
And why he God offendeth, now explain,"

"To him," he said, "who rightly marks the sense,
Philosophy not once alone hath told
How clearly, from Divine Intelligence,

Nature derives the knowledge of her course;
And thou wilt find, ere turning many a fold,
(If well thou note thy physical discourse,)

That as the youth obeys his master's nod,
E'en so is nature's path pursued by art:
Thus art is second in descent from God,

These too, if Genesis thou call to mind.
Should wisdom in the ways of life impart.
And man instruct to benefit his kind.

But since the usurer works by other ways,
Daring both art and nature to despise.
Towards his Maker he contempt betrays.

But let us on, — for twinkling in the east
High in the welkin now the Pisces rise;
O'er Caurus, Charleses Wain appears to rest.

And far the steep descent in prospect lies. I