Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

Who, mean of soul, the great refusa: made.
Straight I perceived, and instant recognized

In that vast concourse the assembly vile
Of those by God and by his foes despised.
These wretched ones, who never were alive,
All naked stood, full sorely stung the while
By wasps and hornets that around them drive.
The cruel swarm bedewed their cheeks with blood,
Which trickled to their feet with many a tear,
Where worms disgusting drank the mingled flood.
Then, onward as I stretched mine eye, I saw

A mighty stream, with numbers standing near;
Whereat I said: "O master! by what law

Do these sad souls, whose state I fain would learn,
So eagerly to cross the river haste,

As by the doubtful twilight I discern ?"

"These things," he answered me, "shall all be told, Soon as our feet upon the bank are placed

Of Acheron, that mournful river old.”

[blocks in formation]

Mine eyes cast down, my looks o'erwhelmed with shame, 79 Fearing my questions had displeased the sage,

I spake not till beside the stream we came.

Lo! in a vessel o'er the gloomy tide

[ocr errors]

An old man comes-his locks all white with age :—
"Woe, woe to you, ye guilty souls!" he cried;

Hope not that heaven shall ever bless your sight:
I come to bear you to the other shore,-
To ice, and fire, in realms of endless night:
And thou-who breathest still the vital air-
Begone-nor stay with these who live no more."
But when he saw that yet I lingered there—
"By other port," he said, " by other way,
And not by this, a passage must thou find;
Thee a far lighter vessel shall convey."
"Charon," my guide returned, "thy wrath restrain:

85

91

60. This is generally understood to mean Celestine V. whom Boniface persuaded to abdicate, and having obtained the Popedom himself, imprisoned, till he died. See canto xxvii. 105.

64. i. e. "who

never used their reason," as Dante explains in his Convito Trat. ii. c 8. 83. Charon, the ferryman of Acheron. 93. That by which the spirits pass to Purgatory. See Purg. ü. 40.

Thus it is willed where will and power are joined;
Therefore submit, nor question us again."
The dark lake's pilot heard;-and at the sound
Fell instant his rough cheeks, while flashing ranged
His angry eyes in flaming circles round.

97

But they-soon as these threatenings met their ear—
Poor, naked, weary souls-their colour changed;
And their teeth chattered through excess of fear.
God they blasphemed, their parents, man's whole race, 103
The hour, the spot,-and e'en the very seed
To which their miserable life they trace.
Then, while full bitterly their sorrows flowed,
They gathered to that evil strand, decreed
To all who live not in the fear of God.
Charon, the fiend, with eyes of living coal,

Beckoning the mournful troop, collects them there,
And with his oar strikes each reluctant soul.

As leaves in autumn, borne before the wind,
Drop one by one, until the branch, laid bare,
Sees all its honours to the earth consigned:
So from that coast, at his dread signal, all

The guilty race of Adam downward pour,-
Each, as a falcon, answering to the call.
Thus pass they slowly o'er the water brown;
And ere they land on the opposing shore,

109

115

Fresh numbers from this bank come crowding down. "All those, my son," exclaimed the courteous guide, 121 "Who in the wrath of the Almighty die,

Are gathered here from every region wide:
Goaded by heavenly Justice in its ire,

To pass the stream they rush thus hastily;
So that their fear is turned into desire.
By virtuous soul this wave is never crossed;
Wherefore, if Charon warn thee to depart,
The meaning of his words will not be lost."
This converse closed-the dusky region dread
Trembled so awfully, that o'er my heart
Doth terror still a chilly moisture shed.

127

95. The will and the act of the Almighty are one. 114. The read. ing of" vede" is adopted by Tasso in preference to that of “renda "

[graphic][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Sent forth a blast that melancholy realm,
Which flashing a vermilion light around,
At once did all my senses overwhelm ;
And down I sank, like one in slumber bound.

CANTO IV.

ARGUMENT.

133

Dante, roused from his swoon by a sound of lamentations like thunder finds himself on the brink of the Vale of Woe. He follows his guide down into Limbo, where darkness reigns, till he arrives at the luminous habitation of the Poets, who receive him into their band, and shew him the honoured spirits of Antiquity. When they leave him, he re-enters the region of darkness.

BROKE the deep slumber in my brain a hoarse
And heavy thunder:-starting at the sound,
I shook, like one who is aroused by force,
And straightway rising, turned my rested eye
With stedfast gaze, if haply, looking round,
The place wherein I was I might descry.
Beneath me lay, in truth, the Vale of Woe,
In whose abyss eternal groans unite,

And blend their thunders in the depth below.
Obscure it was, so cloudy-deep-and dense,

That though to pierce the gloom I strained my sight, Nought could I see within the gulf immense. "Now go we down to dusky regions blind," The poet said, with visage deadly pale; "I lead the way-do thou pursue behind." Then I exclaimed, of his pale looks aware, "How shall I speed, if even thou dost quail, Thou-who art wont to cheer me in despair ?" He answered me: "The loud laments I hear From tortured souls beneath us, on my face Pourtray that pity thou mistak'st for fear: But let us on-for we have far to go."

He led me then within that circle's space Which first encompasseth the Vale of Woe. No wailings there were audible;-the sound Of sighs alone was heard-convulsive sighs That shook the everlasting air around.

1

13

19

25

2. This thunder proceeded from the accumulated groans in the vale of

700.

Soe line 7

« AnteriorContinuar »