INFERNO CANTO 5 wheeling and pounding, it harasses them. of evil had to pass; see great Achilles,
5.1 So I descended from the first enclosure who finally met love-in his last battle.
down to the second circle, that which girdles 5.34 When they come up against the ruined slope,
less space but grief more great, that goads to then there are cries and wailing and lament, 5.67 See Paris, Tristan . . ."-and he pointed out
weeping. and there they curse the force of the divine. and named to me more than a thousand shades
departed from our life because of love.
5.4 There dreadful Minos stands, gnashing his teeth: 5.37 I learned that those who undergo this torment
examining the sins of those who enter, are damned because they sinned within the flesh, 5.70 No sooner had I heard my teacher name
he judges and assigns as his tail twines. subjecting reason to the rule of lust. the ancient ladies and the knights, than pity
seized me, and I was like a man astray.
5.7 I mean that when the spirit born to evil 5.40 And as, in the cold season, starlings' wings
appears before him, it confesses all; bear them along in broad and crowded ranks 5.73 My first words: "Poet, I should willingly
and he, the connoisseur of sin, can tell so does that blast bear on the guilty spirits: speak with those two who go together there
and seem so lightly carried by the wind."
5.10 the depth in Hell appropriate to it; now here, now there, now down, now up, it drives 5.43 as many times as Minos wraps his tail them. 5.76 And he to me: "You'll see when they draw closer around himself, that marks the sinner's level. There is no hope that ever comforts them-- to us, and then you may appeal to them
no hope for rest and none for lesser pain. by that love which impels them. They will come."
5.13 Always there is a crowd that stands before him:
each soul in turn advances toward that judgment; 5.46 And just as cranes in flight will chant their lays, 5.79 No sooner had the wind bent them toward us they speak and hear, then they are cast below. arraying their long file across the air, than I urged on my voice: "O battered souls
so did the shades I saw approaching, borne if One does not forbid it, speak with us."
5.16 Arresting his extraordinary task,
Minos, as soon as he had seen me, said: 5.49 by that assailing wind, lament and moan; 5.82 Even as doves when summoned by desire, "O you who reach this house of suffering, so that I asked him: "Master, who are those borne forward by their will, move through the air
who suffer punishment in this dark air?" with wings uplifted, still, to their sweet nest,
5.19 be careful how you enter, whom you trust;
the gate is wide, but do not be deceived!" 5.52 "The first of those about whose history 5.85 those spirits left the ranks where Dido suffers To which my guide replied: "But why protest? you want to know," my master then told me approaching us through the malignant air;
"once ruled as empress over many nations. so powerful had been my loving cry.
5.22 Do not attempt to block his fated path:
our passage has been willed above, where One 5.55 Her vice of lust became so customary 5.88 "O living being, gracious and benign, can do what He has willed; and ask no more." that she made license licit in her laws who through the darkened air have come to visit
to free her from the scandal she had caused. our souls that stained the world with blood, if He
5.25 Now notes of desperation have begun
to overtake my hearing; now I come 5.58 She is Semíramis, of whom we read 5.91 who rules the universe were friend to us where mighty lamentation beats against me. that she was Ninus' wife and his successor: then we should pray to Him to give you peace,
she held the land the Sultan now commands. for you have pitied our atrocious state.
5.28 I reached a place where every light is muted,
which bellows like the sea beneath a tempest, 5.61 That other spirit killed herself for love, 5.94 Whatever pleases you to hear and speak when it is battered by opposing winds. and she betrayed the ashes of Sychaeus; will please us, too, to hear and speak with you,
the wanton Cleopatra follows next. now while the wind is silent, in this place.
5.31 The hellish hurricane, which never rests,
drives on the spirits with its violence: 5.64 See Helen, for whose sake so many years 5.97 The land where I was born lies on that shore to which the Po together with the waters my tale to you as one who weeps and speaks.
that follow it descends to final rest.
5.12 One day, to pass the time away, we read 5.10 7 Love, that can quickly seize the gentle heart, 0 of Lancelot-how love had overcome him.
took hold of him because of the fair body We were alone, and we suspected nothing.
taken from me-how that was done: still wounds me.
5.13 And time and time again that reading led 5.10 0 Love, that releases no beloved from loving 3 our eyes to meet, and made our faces pale,
took hold of me so strongly through his beauty and yet one point alone defeated us.
that, as you see, it has not left me yet.
5.13 When we had read how the desired smile 5.10 3 Love led the two of us unto one death. 6 was kissed by one who was so true a lover,
Caïna waits for him who took our life." this one, who never shall be parted from me,
These words were borne across from them to us.
5.13 while all his body trembled, kissed my mouth. 5.10 6 When I had listened to those injured souls, 9 A Gallehault indeed, that book and he
I bent my head and held it low until who wrote it, too; that day we read no more."
the poet asked of me: "What are you thinking?"
5.13 And while one spirit said these words to me, 5.11 9 When I replied, my words began: "Alas, 2 the other wept, so that-because of pity-
how many gentle thoughts, how deep a longing, I fainted, as if I had met my death.
had led them to the agonizing pass!"
5.14 And then I fell as a dead body falls. 5.11 2 Then I addressed my speech again to them, 5
and I began: "Francesca, your afflictions
move me to tears of sorrow and of pity.
5.11 But tell me, in the time of gentle sighs, 8 with what and in what way did Love allow you
to recognize your still uncertain longings?"
5.12 And she to me: "There is no greater sorrow 1 than thinking back upon a happy time
in misery and this your teacher knows.
5.12 Yet if you long so much to understand 4 the first root of our love, then I shall tell