Canto V

English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1	Thus I descended out of the first circle
2	Down to the second, that less space begirds,
3	And so much greater dole, that goads to wailing.

4	There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls;
5	Examines the transgressions at the entrance;
6	Judges, and sends according as he girds him.

7	I say, that when the spirit evil-born
8	Cometh before him, wholly it confesses;
9	And this discriminator of transgressions

10	Seeth what place in Hell is meet for it;
11	Girds himself with his tail as many times
12	As grades he wishes it should be thrust down.

13	Always before him many of them stand;
14	They go by turns each one unto the judgment;
15	They speak, and hear, and then are downward hurled.

16	O thou, that to this dolorous hostelry
17	Comest, said Minos to me, when he saw me,
18	Leaving the practice of so great an office,

19	Look how thou enterest, and in whom thou trustest;
20	Let not the portal's amplitude deceive thee.
21	And unto him my Guide: Why criest thou too?

22	Do not impede his journey fate-ordained;
23	It is so willed there where is power to oo
24	That which is willed; and ask no further question.

25	And now begin the dolesome notes to grow
26	Audible unto me, now am I come
27	There where much lamentation strikes upon me.

28	I came into a place mute of all light,
29	Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest,
30	If by opposing winds 't is combated.

31	The infernal hurricane that never rests
32	Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine;
33	Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them.

34	When they arrive before the precipice,
35	There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments,
36	There they blaspheme the puissance divine.

37	I understood that unto such a torment
38	The carnal malefactors were condemned,
39	Who reason subjugate to appetite.

40	And as the wings of starlings bear them on
41	In the cold season in large band and full,
42	So doth that blast the spirits maledict;

43	It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them;
44	No hope doth comfort them for evermore,
45	Not of repose, but even of lesser pain.

46	And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays,
47	Making in air a long line of themselves,
48	So saw I coming, uttering lamentations,

49	Shadows borne onward by the aforesaid stress.
50	Whereupon said I: Master, who are those
51	People, whom the black air so castigates?

52	The first of those, of whom intelligence
53	Thou fain wouldst have, then said he unto me,
54	The empress was of many languages.

55	To sensual vices she was so abandoned,
56	That lustful she made licit in her law,
57	To remove the blame to which she had been led.

58	She is Semiramis of whom we read
59	That she succeeded Ninus, and was his spouse;
60	She held the land which now the Sultan rules.

61	The next is she who killed herself for love,
62	And broke faith with the ashes of Sichcaeus;
63	Then Cleopatra the voluptuous.

64	Helen I saw, for whom so many ruthless
65	Seasons revolved; and saw the great Achilles,
66	Who at the last hour combated with Love

67	Paris I saw, Tristan; and more than a thousand
68	Shades did he name and point out with his finger,
69	Whom Love had separated from our life.

70	After that I had listened to my Teacher,
71	Naming the dames of eld and cavaliers,
72	Pity prevailed, and I was nigh bewildered.

73	And I began: O Poet, willingly
74	Speak would I to those two, who go together,
75	And seem upon the wind to be so light.

76	And, he to me: Thou'lt mark, when they shall be
77	Nearer to us; and then do thou implore them
78	By love which leadeth them, and they will come.

79	Soon as the wind in our direction sways them,
80	My voice uplift I: O ye weary souls!
81	Come speak to us, if no one interdicts it.

82	As turtle-doves, called onward by desire,
83	With open and steady wings to the sweet nest
84	Fly through the air by their volition borne,

85	So came they from the band where Dido is,
86	Approaching us athwart the air malign,
87	So strong was the affectionate appeal.

88	O living creature gracious and benignant,
89	Who visiting goest through the purple air
90	Us, who have stained the world incarnadine,

91	If were the King of the Universe our friend,
92	We would pray unto him to give thee peace,
93	Since thou hast pity on our woe perverse.

94	Of what it pleases thee to hear and speak,
95	That will we hear, and we will speak to you,
96	While silent is the wind, as it is now.

97	Sitteth the city, wherein I was born,
98	Upon the sea-shore where the Po descends
99	To rest in peace with all his retinue.

100	Love, that on gentle heart doth swiftly seize,
101	Seized this man for the person beautiful
102	That was ta'en from me, and still the mode offends me.

103	Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving,
104	Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly,
105	That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me;

106	Love has conducted us unto one death;
107	Caina waiteth him who quenched our life!
108	These words were borne along from them to us.

109	As soon as I had heard those souls tormented,
110	I bowed my face, and so long held it down
111	Until the Poet said to me: What thinkest?

112	When I made answer, I began: Alas!
113	How many pleasant thoughts, how much desire,
114	Conducted these unto the dolorous pass!

115	Then unto them I turned me, and I spake,
116	And I began: Thine agonies, Francesca,
117	Sad and compassionate to weeping make me.

118	But tell me, at the time of those sweet sighs,
119	By what and in what manner Love conceded,
120	That you should know your dubious desires?

121	And she to me: There is no greater sorrow
122	Than to be mindful of the happy time
123	In misery, and that thy Teacher knows.

124	But, if to recognise the earliest root
125	Of love in us thou hast so great desire,
126	I will do even as he who weeps and speaks.

127	One day we reading were for our delight
128	Of Launcelot, how Love did him enthral.
129	Alone we were and without any fear.

130	Full many a time our eyes together drew
131	That reading, and drove the colour from our faces;
132	But one point only was it that o'ercame us.

133	When as we read of the much-longed-for smile
134	Being by such a noble lover kissed,
135	This one, who ne'er from me shall be divided,

136	Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating.
137	Galeotto was the book and he who wrote it.
138	That day no farther did we read therein.

139	And all the while one spirit uttered this,
140	The other one did weep so, that, for pity,
141	I swooned away as if I had been dying,

142	And fell, even as a dead body falls.

Write Spirit - Home | Contact

Sections

Personal tools

Canto V