| 1 |
Already I was in a place where one heard the thundering of the water falling into the next circle, like the rumbling that beehives make, |
| 4 |
when three shades came running together out of a herd passing by beneath the rain of the harsh punishment. |
| 7 |
They were coming toward us, and each was shouting: “Stop, you who by your clothes seem to be someone from our depraved city.” |
| 10 |
Alas, what wounds I saw in their members, recent and old, burned into them by the flames! It still pains me when I remember. |
| 13 |
At their shouts my teacher paused; he turned his face toward me and: “Now wait,” he said, “to these we should be courteous. |
| 16 |
And if it were not for the fire that the nature of the place pours down, I would say that haste would more become you than them.” |
| 19 |
When we stood still, they began again their former verse; and on reaching us they made a wheel of themselves, all three. |
| 22 |
As is the custom of wrestlers, naked and oiled, spying out their holds and their advantage before they come to blows and wounds: |
| 25 |
so they wheeled, and each kept his face toward me, so that their necks made a constant motion contrary to their feet. |
| 28 |
And: “If the wretchedness of this vile place brings us and our prayers to scorn,” one began, “and our darkened, scorched appearance, |
| 31 |
let our fame incline your spirit to tell us who you are, who so confidently step with your living feet through Hell. |
| 34 |
This man, in whose steps you see me tread, though he now goes naked and hairless, was of higher degree than you believe: |
| 37 |
he was the grandson of the good Gualdrada; Guido Guerra was his name, and in his life he accomplished much with wisdom and the sword. |
| 40 |
The other, who wears the sand behind me, is Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, whose words should have been more pleasing in the world above. |
| 43 |
And I, placed on the cross with them, was Iacopo Rusticucci, and certainly my fierce wife harms me more than anything else.” |
| 46 |
If I had been protected from the fire, I would have thrown myself down there among them, and I believe my teacher would have suffered it; |
| 49 |
but because I would have burned and cooked myself, fear vanquished the good will that made me greedy to embrace them. |
| 52 |
Then I began: “Not scorn, but grief was fixed in me by your condition, so great that it will long endure, |
| 55 |
as soon as my lord here said words that made me think people such as yourselves were coming. |
| 58 |
I am from your city, and always your works and your honored names I have repeated and heard with affection. |
| 61 |
I am leaving the bitter and seek the sweet fruit promised me by my truthful leader; but first I must plunge as far as the center.” |
| 64 |
“So may your soul long guide your body,” he replied then, “and so may your fame shine after you, |
| 67 |
tell if courtesy and valor dwell in our city as they used to do, or if they have utterly forsaken it: |
| 70 |
for Guiglielmo Borsiere, who has been grieving with us but a short time and goes there with our companions, causes us much pain with his words about it.” |
| 73 |
“The new people and the rapid gains have generated pride and excess, Florence, in you, so that you already weep for it.” |
| 76 |
So I cried with face uplifted; and the three, who took that as my reply, looked at each other as one looks at the truth. |
| 79 |
“If at other times it costs you so little,” they all replied, “to satisfy others, happy are you, if you speak so readily! |
| 82 |
Therefore, if you escape these dark places and go back to see the beautiful stars, when it will be pleasant to say, ‘I was,’ |
| 85 |
see that you speak of us to people.” Then they broke the wheel, and their quick legs seemed wings to their flight. |
| 88 |
An amen could not be said more quickly than they disappeared; so my master judged we should move on. |
| 91 |
I was following him, and we had not walked far, when the sound of the water was so close to us that we could hardly have heard each other speak. |
| 94 |
Like that river which is first to take its own course toward the east, after Monte Viso, on the left side of the Apennines, |
| 97 |
which is called Acquacheta above, before it falls down into the low bed and loses that name at Forli, |
| 100 |
as it thunders there above San Benedetto de l’Alpe, when falling in one cascade where it usually descends by a thousand: |
| 103 |
so down from a steep cliff we found that dark water resounding, such that in a short while it would have harmed our ears. |
| 106 |
I had a cord girding me, and with it I had thought at times to capture the leopard with the spotted hide. |
| 109 |
After I had untied it from around me, as my leader had commanded me, I held it out to him knotted and wound. |
| 112 |
And he turned toward his right side and somewhat far from the bank threw it down into that deep pit. |
| 115 |
“Some new thing must answer,” I was saying to myself, “the strange sign that my master is following with his eyes.” |
| 118 |
Ah, how cautious men should be in the presence of those who not only see our actions but with their wisdom see our inner thoughts! |
| 121 |
He said to me: “Soon what I expect, what your thoughts are dreaming, will come up; soon it will be revealed to your sight.” |
| 124 |
Always to that truth which has the face of falsehood one should close one’s lips as long as one can, for without any guilt it brings shame; |
| 127 |
but here I cannot conceal it, and by the notes of this comedy, reader, I swear to you, so may they not fail to find long favor, |
| 130 |
that I saw, through that thick dark air, a figure come swimming upward, fearful to the most confident heart, |
| 133 |
as one returns who at times goes down to release an anchor caught on a rock or other thing hidden in the sea, |
| 136 |
and reaches upward as he draws in his feet. |
