English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
| 1 | Now was I where was heard the reverberation |
| 2 | Of water falling into the next round, |
| 3 | Like to that humming which the beehives make, |
| 4 | When shadows three together started forth, |
| 5 | Running, from out a company that passed |
| 6 | Beneath the rain of the sharp martyrdom. |
| 7 | Towards us came they, and each one cried out: |
| 8 | Stop, thou; for by thy garb to us thou seemest |
| 9 | To be some one of our depraved city. |
| 10 | Ah me ! what wounds I saw upon their limbs, |
| 11 | Recent and ancient by the flames burnt in! |
| 12 | It pains me still but to remember it. |
| 13 | Unto their cries my teacher paused attentive; |
| 14 | He turned his face towards me, and Now wait, |
| 15 | He said; to these we should be courteous. |
| 16 | And if it were not for the fire that darts |
| 17 | The nature of this region, I should say |
| 18 | That haste were more becoming thee than them. |
| 19 | As soon as we stood still, they recommenced |
| 20 | The old refrain, and when they overtook us, |
| 21 | Formed of themselves a wheel, all three of them. |
| 22 | As champions stripped and oiled are wont to do, |
| 23 | Watching for their advantage and their hold, |
| 24 | Before they come to blows and thrusts between them, |
| 25 | Thus, wheeling round, did every one his visage |
| 26 | Direct to me, so that in opposite wise |
| 27 | His neck and feet continual journey made. |
| 28 | And,If the misery of this soft place |
| 29 | Bring in disdain ourselves and our entreaties, |
| 30 | Began one, and our aspect black and blistered. |
| 31 | Let the renown of us thy mind incline |
| 32 | To tell us who thou art, who thus securely |
| 33 | Thy living feet dost move along through Hell. |
| 34 | He in whose footprints thou dost see me treading, |
| 35 | Naked and skinless though he now may go, |
| 36 | Was of a greater rank than thou dost think; |
| 37 | He was the grandson of the good Gualdrada; |
| 38 | His name was Guidoguerra, and in life |
| 39 | Much did he with his wisdom and his sword. |
| 40 | The other, who close by me treads the sand, |
| 41 | Tegghiaio Aldobrandi is, whose fame |
| 42 | Above there in the world should welcome be. |
| 43 | And I, who with them on the cross am placed, |
| 44 | Jacopo Rusticucci was; and truly |
| 45 | My savage wife, more than aught else, doth harm me. |
| 46 | Could I have been protected from the fire, |
| 47 | Below I should have thrown myself among them, |
| 48 | And think the Teacher would have suffered it; |
| 49 | But as I should have burned and baked myself, |
| 50 | My terror overmastered my good will, |
| 51 | Which made me greedy of embracing them. |
| 52 | Then I began: Sorrow and not disdain |
| 53 | Did your condition fix within me so, |
| 54 | That tardily it wholly is stripped off, |
| 55 | As soon as this my Lord said unto me |
| 56 | Words, on account of which I thought within me |
| 57 | That people such as you are were approaching. |
| 58 | I of your city am; and evermore |
| 59 | Your labours and your honourable names |
| 60 | I with affection have retraced and heard. |
| 61 | I leave the gall, and go for the sweet fruits |
| 62 | Promised to me by the veracious Leader; |
| 63 | But to the centre first I needs must plunge. |
| 64 | So may the soul for a long while conduct |
| 65 | Those limbs of thine, did he make answer |
| 66 | And so may thy renown shine after thee, |
| 67 | Valour and courtesy, say if they dwell |
| 68 | Within our city, as they used to do, |
| 69 | Or if they wholly have gone out of it; |
| 70 | For Guglielmo Borsier, who is in torment |
| 71 | With us of late, and goes there with his comrades, |
| 72 | Doth greatly mortify us with his words. |
| 73 | The new inhabitants and the sudden gains, |
| 74 | Pride and extravagance have in thee engendered, |
| 75 | Florence, so that thou weep’st thereat already! |
| 76 | In this wise I exclaimed with face uplifted; |
| 77 | And the three, taking that for my reply, |
| 78 | Looked at each other, as one looks at truth |
| 79 | If other times so little it doth cost thee, |
| 80 | Replied they all, to satisfy another, |
| 81 | Happy art thou, thus speaking at thy will ! |
| 82 | Therefore, if thou escape from these dark places, |
| 83 | And come to rebehold the beauteous stars, |
| 84 | When it shall pleasure thee to say, ‘I was,’ |
| 85 | See that thou speak of us unto the people. |
| 86 | Then they broke up the wheel, and in their flight |
| 87 | It seemed as if their agile legs were wings. |
| 88 | Not an Amen could possibly be said |
| 89 | So rapidly as they had disappeared; |
| 90 | Wherefore the Master deemed best to depart. |
| 91 | I followed him, and little had we gone, |
| 92 | Before the sound of water was so near us, |
| 93 | That speaking we should hardly have been heard. |
| 94 | Even as that stream which holdeth its own course |
| 95 | The first from Monte Veso tow’rds the East, |
| 96 | Upon the left-hand slope of Apennine, |
| 97 | Which is above called Acquacheta, ere |
| 98 | It down descendeth into its low bed, |
| 99 | And at Forli is vacant of that name, |
| 100 | Reverberates there above San Benedetto |
| 101 | From Alps, by falling at a single leap, |
| 102 | Where for a thousand there were room enough; |
| 103 | Thus downward from a bank precipitate, |
| 104 | We found resounding that dark-tinted water, |
| 105 | So that it soon the ear would have offended. |
| 106 | I had a cord around about me girt, |
| 107 | And therewithal I whilom had designed |
| 108 | To take the panther with the painted skin. |
| 109 | After I this had all from me unloosed, |
| 110 | As my Conductor had commanded me, |
| 111 | I reached it to him, gathered up and coiled |
| 112 | Whereat he turned himself to the right side, |
| 113 | And at a little distance from the verge, |
| 114 | He cast it down into that deep abyss. |
| 115 | It must needs be some novelty respond, |
| 116 | I said within myself, to the new signal |
| 117 | The Master with his eye is following so. |
| 118 | Ah me I how very cautious men should be |
| 119 | With those who not alone behold the act, |
| 120 | But with their wisdom look into the thoughts! |
| 121 | He said to me: Soon there will upward come |
| 122 | What I await; and what thy thought is dreaming |
| 123 | Must soon reveal itself unto thy sight. |
| 124 | Aye to that truth which has the face of falsehood, |
| 125 | A man should close his lips as far as may be, |
| 126 | Because without his fault it causes shame; |
| 127 | But here I cannot; and, Reader, by the notes |
| 128 | Of this my Comedy to thee I swear, |
| 129 | So may they not be void of lasting favour, |
| 130 | Athwart that dense and darksome atmosphere |
| 131 | I saw a figure swimming upward come, |
| 132 | Marvellous unto every steadfast heart, |
| 133 | Even as he returns who goeth down |
| 134 | Sometimes to clear an anchor, which has grappled |
| 135 | Reef,or aught else that in the sea is hidden, |
| 136 | Who upward stretches, and draws in his feet. |