THE DIVINE COM EDY OF DANTE ALIGHIERI TRANSLATED BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW I follow here the footing of thy feete That with thy meaning so I may the rather meete Spenser. B O S T O N FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO SUCCESSORS TO TICKNOR AND FIELDS 1 8 7 1 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. University Press: W elch, Bigelow, & Co., C a m b r id g e . CONTENTS OF V O L . I I . PURGATORIO. CANTO I. Page The Shores of Purgatory. — Cato of Utica . I CANTO II. The Celestial Pilot. — C a s e l l a ..............................................................................7 CANTO III. The Foot of the Mountain. — Those who have died in Contumacy of Holy Church. — M a n fr e d i.......................................................................................13 CANTO IV. Farther Ascent of the Mountain. — The Negligent, who postponed Repentance till the last Hour. — Belacqua . 20 CANTO V. Those who died by Violence, but repentant. — Buonconte di Montefeltro. — La P i a ................................................................................................................ 26 CANTO VI. S o r d e l l o ................................................................................................................ 32 CANTO VII. The Valley of the Princes 39 IV Contents CANTO VIII. The Guardian Angels and the Serpent. — Nino di Gallura. — Currado Ma- la s p in a ................................................................................................................45 CANTO IX. Dante’s Dream of the Eagle. — The Gate of P u r g a to r y ...................................51 CANTO X. The First Circle. — The Proud. — The Sculptures on the Wall . 58 CANTO XI. Omberto di Santafiore. — Oderisi d’ Agobbio. — Provenzan Salvani. 6 4 CANTO XII. The Sculptures on the Pavement. — Ascent to the Second Circle . 7 1 CANTO XIII. The Second Circle. — The Envious. — Sapia of S i e n a ...................................77 CANTO XIV. Guido del Duca and Renier da C a l b o l i .............................................................84 CANTO XV. The Third Circle. — The I r a s c ib le ......................................................................91 CANTO XVI. Marco Lombardo........................................................................................................98 CANTO XVII. Dante’s Dream of Anger. — The Fourth Circle. — The Slothful . .105 Contents v CANTO XVIII. Virgil’s Discourse of Love. — The Abbot of San Z e n o ...................................111 CANTO XIX. Dante’s Dream of the Siren. — The Fifth Circle. — The Avaricious and Prod­ igal. — Pope Adrian V ...................................................................................... 118 CANTO X X . Hugh Capet. — The E a r t h q u a k e ......................................................................125 CANTO XXI. The Poet S t a t i u s .............................................................................. ........ 132 CANTO XXII. The Sixth Circle. — The Gluttonous. — The Mystic Tree . .138 CANTO XXIII. F o r e s e ................................................................................................................ 145 CANTO XXIV. Buonagiunta da Lucca. — Pope Martin IV., and o t h e r s ...................................151 CANTO XXV. Discourse of Statius on Generation. — The Seventh Circle. — The Wanton . 158 CANTO XXVI. Guido Guinicelli and Arnaldo D a n i e l l o .............................................................164 CANTO XXVII. Dante’s Sleep upon the Stairway, and his Dream of Leah. — Arrival at the Terrestrial P a r a d is e .......................................................................................171 VI Contents CANTO XXVIII. The Terrestrial Paradise. — The River Lethe. — Matilda . .178 CANTO XXIX. The Triumph of the Church .............................................................................. 185 CANTO XXX. B e a t r i c e ................................................................................................................ 192 CANTO XXXI. Reproaches of Beatrice and Confession of Dante. — The Passage of Lethe . 199 CANTO XXXII. The Tree of K n o w le d g e .......................................................................................... 206 CANTO XXXIII. The River E u n o e ................................................................................................... 213 N O T E S ....................................................................................................221 ILLUSTRATIONS. The Hero as P o e t ............................................................... ......... 365 D a n t e ............................................................................................................ 375 Dante and M i l t o n ..........................................................................................382 The Italian Pilgrim’s P r o g r e s s ............................................................... 384 Dante and T a c i t u s ...........................................................................................39° Dante’s L a n d s c a p e s ................................................................................. 394 Dante’s C r e e d ................................................................................................... 4QI The Divina C o m m e d ia ................................................................................. 4°3 ENTER, and I see thee in the gloom I O f the long aisles, O poet saturnine ! And strive to make my steps keep pace with thine. The air is filled with some unknown perfume ; T he congregation o f the dead make room For thee to pass ; the votive tapers shine ; Like rooks that haunt Ravenna's groves of pine The hovering echoes fly from tomb to tomb. From the confessionals I hear arise Rehearsals of forgotten tragedies, And lamentations from the crypts below; And then a voice celestial that begins W ith the pathetic words, “Although your sins As scarlet be,” and ends with “ as the snow.” "T^TITH snow-white veil and garments as of flame, She stands before thee, who so long ago Filled thy young heart with passion and the woe From which thy song and all its splendors came ; And while with stern rebuke she speaks thy name, The ice about thy heart melts as the snow On mountain heights, and in swift overflow Comes gushing from thy lips in sobs of shame. Thou makest full confession ; and a gleam, As of the dawn on some dark forest cast, Seems on thy lifted forehead to increase ; Lethe and Eunoe — the remembered dream And the forgotten sorrow — bring at last That perfect pardon which is perfect peace. PURGATORIO PURGATORIO. CANTO I. 'J 'O run o’er better waters hoists its sail The little vessel of my genius now, That leaves behind itself a sea so cruel; And of that second kingdom will I sing Wherein the human spirit doth purge itself, And to ascend to heaven becometh worthy. But let dead Poesy here rise again, O holy Muses, since that I am yours, And here Calliope somewhat ascend, M y song accompanying with that sound, O f which the miserable magpies felt The blow so great, that they despaired of pardon. Sweet color of the oriental sapphire, That was upgathered in the cloudless aspect O f the pure air, as far as the first circle, 2 The Divine Comedy Unto mine eyes did recommence delight Soon as I issued forth from the dead air, W hich had with sadness filled mine eyes and breast. The beauteous planet, that to love incites, Was making all the orient to laugh, 20 Veiling the Fishes that were in her escort. To the right hand I turned, and fixed my mind Upon the other pole, and saw four stars N e’er seen before save by the primal people. ' Rejoicing in their flamelets seemed the heaven. *s O thou septentrional and widowed site, Because thou art deprived of seeing these! When from regarding them I had withdrawn, Turning a little to the other pole, There where the Wain had disappeared already, 30 I saw beside me an old man alone, Worthy of so much reverence in his look, T hat more owes not to father any son. A long beard and with white hair intermingled H e wore, in semblance like unto the tresses, 35 O f which a double list fell on his breast. The rays of the four consecrated stars Did so adorn his countenance with light, That him I saw as were the sun before him. Purgatorio i. “ Who are you ? ye who, counter the blind river, Have fled away from the eternal prison ? ” Moving those venerable plumes, he said: “ Who guided you ? or who' has been your lamp In issuing forth out of the night profound, That ever black makes the infernal valley ? The laws of the abyss, are they thus broken ? Or is there changed in heaven some counsel new, That being damned ye come unto my grottos ? ” Then did my Leader lay his grasp upon me, And with his words, and with his hands and signs, Reverent he made in me my knees and brow; Then answered him : “ I came not of myself; A Lady from Heaven descended, at whose prayers I aided this one with my company. But since it is thy will more be unfolded Of our condition, how it truly is, Mine cannot be that this should be denied thee. T his one has never his last evening seen, But by his folly was so near to it That very little time was there to turn. As I have said, I unto him was sent To rescue him, and other way was none Than this to which I have myself betaken. 4 The Divine Comedy 1 5ve shown him all the people of perdition, And now those spirits