The Divine Comedy (Illustrated Edition). Dante Alighieri

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Who sets the world at chance,9 Diogenes,

      With Heraclitus, and Empedocles,

      And Anaxagoras, and Thales sage,

      Zeno, and Dioscorides well read

      In nature’s secret lore. Orpheus I mark’d

      And Linus, Tully and moral Seneca,

      Euclid and Ptolemy, Hippocrates,

      Galenus, Avicen, and him who made

That commentary vast, Averroes.10

      Of all to speak at full were vain attempt;

      For my wide theme so urges, that ofttimes

      My words fall short of what bechanc’d. In two

      The six associates part. Another way

      My sage guide leads me, from that air serene,

      Into a climate ever vex’d with storms:

      And to a part I come where no light shines.

      Footnotes

1 “Portal.” “Porta della fede.” This was an alteration made in the text by the Academicians della Crusca, on the authority, as it would appear, of only two manuscripts. The other reading is, “parte della fede,” “part of the faith.”

2 “Secret purport.” Lombardi well observes that Dante seems to have been restrained by awe and reverence from uttering the name of Christ in this place of torment; and that for the same cause, probably, it does not occur once throughout the whole of this first part of the poem.

3 “A puissant one.” Our Savior.

4 “The monarch of sublimest song.” Homer.

5 Daughter of Atlas, and mother of Dardanus, founder of Troy.

6 “Julia.” The daughter of Julius Cæsar, and wife of Pompey.

7 “The Soldan fierce.” Saladin, or Salaheddin, the rival of Richard Cœur de Lion.

8 “The master of the sapient throng.” “Maestro di color che sanno.” Aristotle.

9 “Who sets the world at chance.” Democritus, who maintained the world to have been formed by the fortuitous concourse of atoms.

10 Averroes, called by the Arabians Ibn Roschd, translated and commented on the works of Aristotle.

      Canto V

       Table of Contents

      ARGUMENT.—Coming into the second circle of Hell, Dante at the entrance beholds Minos the Infernal Judge, by whom he is admonished to beware how he enters those regions. Here he witnesses the punishment of carnal sinners, who are tossed about ceaselessly in the dark air by the most furious winds. Among these, he meets with Francesca of Rimini, through pity at whose sad tale he falls fainting to the ground.

      FROM the first circle I descended thus

      Down to the second, which, a lesser space

      Embracing, so much more of grief contains

      Provoking bitter moans. There, Minos stands

      Grinning with ghastly feature: he, of all

      Who enter, strict examining the crimes,

      Gives sentence, and dismisses them beneath,

      According as he foldeth him around:

      For when before him comes th’ ill fated soul,

      It all confesses; and that judge severe

      Of sins, considering what place in hell

      Suits the transgression, with his tail so oft

      Himself encircles, as degrees beneath

      He dooms it to descend. Before him stand

      Always a num’rous throng; and in his turn

      Each one to judgment passing, speaks, and hears

      His fate, thence downward to his dwelling hurl’d.

      “O thou! who to this residence of woe

      Approachest?” when he saw me coming, cried

      Minos, relinquishing his dread employ,

      “Look how thou enter here; beware in whom

      Thou place thy trust; let not the entrance broad

      Deceive thee to thy harm.” To him my guide:

      “Wherefore exclaimest? Hinder not his way

      By destiny appointed; so ’tis will’d

      Where will and power are one. Ask thou no more.”

      Now ’gin the rueful wailings to be heard.

      Now am I come where many a plaining voice

      Smites on mine ear. Into a place I came

      Where light was silent all. Bellowing there groan’d

      A noise as of a sea in tempest torn

      By warring winds. The stormy blast of hell

      With restless fury drives the spirits on

      Whirl’d round and dash’d amain with sore annoy.

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