English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
| 1 | UPON the margin of a lofty bank |
| 2 | Which great rocks broken in a circle made, |
| 3 | We came upon a still more cruel throng; |
| 4 | And there, by reason of the horrible |
| 5 | Excess of stench the deep abyss throws out, |
| 6 | We drew ourselves aside behind the cover |
| 7 | Of a great tomb, whereon I saw a writing, |
| 8 | Which said: Pope Anastasius I hold, |
| 9 | Whom out of the right way Photinus drew. |
| 10 | Slow it behoveth our descent to be, |
| 11 | So that the sense be first a little used |
| 12 | To the sad blast, and then we shall not heed it. |
| 13 | The Master thus; and unto him I said, |
| 14 | Some compensation find, that the time pass not |
| 15 | Idly;and he: Thou seest I think of that. |
| 16 | My son, upon the inside of these rocks, |
| 17 | Began he then to say, are three small circles, |
| 18 | From grade to grade, like those which thou art leaving |
| 19 | They all are full of spirits maledict; |
| 20 | But that hereafter sight alone suffice thee, |
| 21 | Hear how and wherefore they are in constraint. |
| 22 | Of every malice that wins hate in Heaven, |
| 23 | Injury is the end; and all such end |
| 24 | Either by force or fraud afflicteth others. |
| 25 | But because fraud is man’s peculiar vice, |
| 26 | More it displeases God; and so stand lowest |
| 27 | The fraudulent, and greater dole assails them. |
| 28 | All the first circle of the Violent is; |
| 29 | But since force may be used against three persons, |
| 30 | In three rounds ’tis divided and constructed. |
| 31 | To God, to ourselves, and to our neighbour can we |
| 32 | Use force; I say on them and on their things, |
| 33 | As thou shalt hear with reason manifest. |
| 34 | A death by violence, and painful wounds, |
| 35 | Are to our neighbour given; and in his substance |
| 36 | Ruin, and arson, and injurious levies; |
| 37 | Whence homicides, and he who smites unjustly, |
| 38 | Marauders, and freebooters, the first round |
| 39 | Tormenteth all m companies diverse. |
| 40 | Man may lay violent hands upon himself |
| 41 | And his own goods; and therefore in the second |
| 42 | Round must perforce without avail repent |
| 43 | Whoever of your world deprives himself, |
| 44 | Who games, and dissipates his property, |
| 45 | And weepeth there, where he should jocund be. |
| 46 | Violence can be done the Deity, |
| 47 | In heart denying and blaspheming Him, |
| 48 | And by disdaining Nature and her bounty. |
| 49 | And for this reason doth the smallest round |
| 50 | Seal with its signet Sodom and Cahors, |
| 51 | And who, disdaining God, speaks from the heart. |
| 52 | Fraud, wherewithal is every conscience stung, |
| 53 | A man may practise upon him who trusts, |
| 54 | And him who doth no confidence imburse. |
| 55 | This latter mode, it would appear, dissevers |
| 56 | Only the bond of love which Nature makes; |
| 57 | Wherefore within the second circle nestle |
| 58 | Hypocrisy, flattery, and who deals in magic, |
| 59 | Falsification, theft, and simony, |
| 60 | Panders, and barrators, and the like-filth. |
| 61 | By the other mode, forgotten is that love |
| 62 | Which Nature makes, and what is after added, |
| 63 | From which there is a special faith engendered. |
| 64 | Hence in the smallest circle, where the point is |
| 65 | Of the Universe, upon which Dis is seated, |
| 66 | Whoe’er betrays for ever is consumed. |
| 67 | And I: My Master, clear enough proceeds |
| 68 | Thy reasoning, and full well distinguishes |
| 69 | This cavern and the people who possess it. |
| 70 | But tell me, those within the fat lagoon, |
| 71 | Whom the wind drives, and whom the rain doth beat, |
| 72 | And who encounter with such bitter tongues, |
| 73 | Wherefore are they inside of the red city |
| 74 | Not punished, if God has them in his wrath, |
| 75 | And if he has not, wherefore in such fashion? |
| 76 | And unto me he said: Why wanders so |
| 77 | Thine intellect from that which it is wont? |
| 78 | Or, sooth, thy mind where is it elsewhere looking? |
| 79 | Hast thou no recollection of those words |
| 80 | With which thine Ethics thoroughly discusses |
| 81 | The dispositions three, that Heaven abides not,– |
| 82 | Incontinence, and Malice, and insane |
| 83 | Bestiality ? and how Incontinence |
| 84 | Less God offendeth, and less blame attracts? |
| 85 | If thou regardest this conclusion well, |
| 86 | And to thy mind recallest who they are |
| 87 | That up outside are undergoing penance, |
| 88 | Clearly wilt thou perceive why from these felons |
| 89 | They separated are, and why less wroth |
| 90 | Justice divine doth smite them with its hammer. |
| 91 | O Sun, that healest all distempered vision, |
| 92 | Thou dost content me so, when thou resolvest, |
| 93 | That doubting pleases me no less than knowing! |
| 94 | Once more a little backward turn thee, said I, |
| 95 | There where thou sayest that usury offends |
| 96 | Goodness divine, and disengage the knot. |
| 97 | Philosophy, he said, to him who heeds it, |
| 98 | Noteth, not only in one place alone, |
| 99 | After what manner Nature takes her course |
| 100 | From Intellect Divine, and from its art; |
| 101 | And if thy Physics carefully thou notest, |
| 102 | After not many pages shalt thou find, |
| 103 | That this your art as far as possible |
| 104 | Follows, as the disciple doth the master; |
| 105 | So that your art is, as it were, God’s grandchild. |
| 106 | From these two, if thou bringest to thy mind |
| 107 | Genesis at the beginning, it behoves |
| 108 | Mankind to gain their life and to advance; |
| 109 | And since the usurer takes another way, |
| 110 | Nature herself and in her follower |
| 111 | Disdains he, for elsewhere he puts his hope. |
| 112 | But follow, now, as I would fain go on, |
| 113 | For quivering are the Fishes on the horizon, |
| 114 | And the Wain wholly over Caurus lies, |
| 115 | And far beyond there we descend the crag. |