THE DIVINE COMEDY: Inferno, Purgatorio & Paradiso (3 Classic Translations in One Edition). Dante Alighieri

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       He then: "The anguish of that race below

       With pity stains my cheek, which thou for fear

       Mistakest. Let us on. Our length of way

       Urges to haste." Onward, this said, he mov'd;

       And ent'ring led me with him on the bounds

       Of the first circle, that surrounds th' abyss.

       Here, as mine ear could note, no plaint was heard

       Except of sighs, that made th' eternal air

       Tremble, not caus'd by tortures, but from grief

       Felt by those multitudes, many and vast,

       Of men, women, and infants. Then to me

       The gentle guide: "Inquir'st thou not what spirits

       Are these, which thou beholdest? Ere thou pass

       Farther, I would thou know, that these of sin

       Were blameless; and if aught they merited,

       It profits not, since baptism was not theirs,

       The portal to thy faith. If they before

       The Gospel liv'd, they serv'd not God aright;

       And among such am I. For these defects,

       And for no other evil, we are lost;