Dante's Inferno - Dante Alighieri

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      "For every vein and pulse throughout my frame

      She hath made tremble." He, soon as he saw

      That I was weeping, answer'd, "Thou must needs

      Another way pursue, if thou wouldst 'scape

      From out that savage wilderness. This beast,

      At whom thou criest, her way will suffer none

      To pass, and no less hindrance makes than death:

      So bad and so accursed in her kind,

      That never sated is her ravenous will,

      Still after food more craving than before.

      To many an animal in wedlock vile

      She fastens, and shall yet to many more,

      Until that greyhound come, who shall destroy

      Her with sharp pain. He will not life support

      By earth nor its base metals, but by love,

      Wisdom, and virtue, and his land shall be

      The land 'twixt either Feltro. In his might

      Shall safety to Italia's plains arise,

      For whose fair realm, Camilla, virgin pure,

      Nisus, Euryalus, and Turnus fell.

      He with incessant chase through every town

      Shall worry, until he to hell at length

      Restore her, thence by envy first let loose.

      I for thy profit pond'ring now devise,

      That thou mayst follow me, and I thy guide

      Will lead thee hence through an eternal space,

      Where thou shalt hear despairing shrieks, and see

      Spirits of old tormented, who invoke

      A second death; and those next view, who dwell

      Content in fire, for that they hope to come,

      Whene'er the time may be, among the blest,

      Into whose regions if thou then desire

      T' ascend, a spirit worthier then I

      Must lead thee, in whose charge, when I depart,

      Thou shalt be left: for that Almighty King,

      Who reigns above, a rebel to his law,

      Adjudges me, and therefore hath decreed,

      That to his city none through me should come.

      He in all parts hath sway; there rules, there holds

      His citadel and throne. O happy those,

      Whom there he chooses!" I to him in few:

      "Bard! by that God, whom thou didst not adore,

      I do beseech thee (that this ill and worse

      I may escape) to lead me, where thou saidst,

      That I Saint Peter's gate may view, and those

      Who as thou tell'st, are in such dismal plight."

      Onward he mov'd, I close his steps pursu'd.

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      CANTO II

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      NOW was the day departing, and the air,

      Imbrown'd with shadows, from their toils releas'd

      All animals on earth; and I alone

      Prepar'd myself the conflict to sustain,

      Both of sad pity, and that perilous road,

      Which my unerring memory shall retrace.

      O Muses! O high genius! now vouchsafe

      Your aid! O mind! that all I saw hast kept

      Safe in a written record, here thy worth

      And eminent endowments come to proof.

      I thus began: "Bard! thou who art my guide,

      Consider well, if virtue be in me

      Sufficient, ere to this high enterprise

      Thou trust me. Thou hast told that Silvius' sire,

      Yet cloth'd in corruptible flesh, among

      Th' immortal tribes had entrance, and was there

      Sensible present. Yet if heaven's great Lord,

      Almighty foe to ill, such favour shew'd,

      In contemplation of the high effect,

      Both what and who from him should issue forth,

      It seems in reason's judgment well deserv'd:

      Sith he of Rome, and of Rome's empire wide,

      In heaven's empyreal height was chosen sire:

      Both which, if truth be spoken, were ordain'd

      And 'stablish'd for the holy place, where sits

      Who to great Peter's sacred chair succeeds.

      He from this journey, in thy song renown'd,

      Learn'd things, that to his victory gave rise

      And to the papal robe. In after-times

      The chosen vessel also travel'd there,

      To bring us back assurance in that faith,

      Which is the entrance to salvation's way.

      But I, why should I there presume? or who

      Permits it? not, Aeneas I nor Paul.

      Myself I deem not worthy, and none else

      Will deem me. I, if on this voyage then

      I venture, fear it will in folly end.

      Thou, who art wise, better my meaning know'st,

      Than I can speak." As one, who unresolves

      What he hath late resolv'd, and with new thoughts

      Changes his purpose, from his first intent

      Remov'd; e'en such was I on that dun coast,

      Wasting in thought my enterprise, at first

      So eagerly embrac'd. "If right thy words

      I scan," replied that shade magnanimous,

      "Thy soul is by vile fear assail'd, which oft

      So overcasts a man, that he recoils

      From noblest resolution, like a beast

      At some false semblance in the twilight gloom.

      That from this terror thou mayst free thyself,

      I will instruct thee why I came, and what

      I heard in that same instant, when for thee

      Grief touch'd me first. I was among the tribe,

      Who rest suspended, when a dame, so blest

      And lovely, I besought her to command,

      Call'd me; her eyes were brighter than the star

      Of day; and she with gentle voice and soft

      Angelically tun'd her speech address'd:

      "O courteous shade of Mantua! thou whose fame

      Yet lives, and shall live long as nature lasts!

      A friend, not of my fortune but myself,

      On the wide desert in his road

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