The Divine Comedy (Complete Annotated Edition). Dante Alighieri

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      ARGUMENT.—Descending by a very rugged way into the seventh circle, where the violent are punished, Dante and his leader find it guarded by the Minotaur; whose fury being pacified by Virgil, they step downward from crag to crag; till, drawing near the bottom, they descry a river of blood, wherein are tormented such as have committed violence against their neighbor. At these, when they strive to emerge from the blood, a troop of Centaurs, running along the side of the river, aim their arrows; and three of their band opposing our travellers at the foot of the steep, Virgil prevails so far that one consents to carry them both across the stream; and on their passage, Dante is informed by him of the course of the river, and of those that are punished therein.

      THE place where to descend the precipice

      We came, was rough as Alp, and on its verge

      Such object lay, as every eye would shun.

As is that ruin, which Adice’s stream1

      On this side Trento struck, should’ring the wave,

      Or loos’d by earthquake or for lack of prop;

      For from the mountain’s summit, whence it mov’d

      To the low level, so the headlong rock

      Is shiver’d, that some passage it might give

      To him who from above would pass; e’en such

      Into the chasm was that descent: and there

      At point of the disparted ridge lay stretch’d

The infamy of Crete,2 detested brood

Of the feign’d heifer:3 and at sight of us

      It gnaw’d itself, as one with rage distract.

      To him my guide exclaim’d: “Perchance thou deem’st

The King of Athens4 here, who, in the world

      Above, thy death contriv’d. Monster! avaunt!

He comes not tutor’d by thy sister’s art,5

      But to behold your torments is he come.”

      Like to a bull, that with impetuous spring

      Darts, at the moment when the fatal blow

      Hath struck him, but unable to proceed

      Plunges on either side; so saw I plunge

      The Minotaur; whereat the sage exclaim’d:

      “Run to the passage! while he storms, ’t is well

      That thou descend.” Thus down our road we took

      Through those dilapidated crags, that oft

      Mov’d underneath my feet, to weight like theirs

      Unus’d. I pond’ring went, and thus he spake:

      “Perhaps thy thoughts are of this ruin’d steep,

      Guarded by the brute violence, which I

      Have vanquish’d now. Know then, that when I erst

      Hither descended to the nether hell,

      This rock was not yet fallen. But past doubt

(If well I mark) not long ere He arrived,6

      Who carried off from Dis the mighty spoil

      Of the highest circle, then through all its bounds

      Such trembling seiz’d the deep concave and foul,

      I thought the universe was thrill’d with love,

      Whereby, there are who deem, the world hath oft

      Been into chaos turn’d: and in that point,

      Here, and elsewhere, that old rock toppled down.

      But fix thine eyes beneath: the river of blood

      Approaches, in the which all those are steep’d,

      Who have by violence injur’d.” O blind lust!

      O foolish wrath! who so dost goad us on

      In the brief life, and in the eternal then

      Thus miserably o’erwhelm us. I beheld

      An ample foss, that in a bow was bent,

      As circling all the plain; for so my guide

      Had told. Between it and the rampart’s base

      On trail ran Centaurs, with keen arrows arm’d,

      As to the chase they on the earth were wont.

      At seeing us descend they each one stood;

      And issuing from the troop, three sped with bows

      And missile weapons chosen first; of whom

      One cried from far: “Say to what pain ye come

      Condemn’d, who down this steep have journied? Speak

      From whence ye stand, or else the bow I draw.”

      To whom my guide: “Our answer shall be made

      To Chiron, there, when nearer him we come.

      Ill was thy mind, thus ever quick and rash.”

      Then me he touch’d, and spake: “Nessus is this,

      Who for the fair Deianira died,

And wrought himself revenge7 for his own fate.

      He in the midst, that on his breast looks down,

      Is the great Chiron who Achilles nurs’d;

      That other Pholus, prone to wrath.” Around

      The foss these go by thousands, aiming shafts

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