The Divine Comedy ~ English Edition, translated by H.F. Cary - Inferno

Canto IV
English Edition, translated by H.F. Cary

Circle One: Limbo

The Virtuous Pagans

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1	BROKE the deep slumber in my brain a crash
2	Of heavy thunder, that I shook myself,
3	As one by main force rous'd. Risen upright,

4	My rested eyes I mov'd around, and search'd
5	With fixed ken to know what place it was,
6	Wherein I stood. For certain on the brink

7	I found me of the lamentable vale,
8	The dread abyss, that joins a thund'rous sound
9	Of plaints innumerable. Dark and deep,

10	And thick with clouds o'erspread, mine eye in vain
11	Explor'd its bottom, nor could aught discern.
12	Now let us to the blind world there beneath

13	Descend; the bard began all pale of look:
14	I go the first, and thou shalt follow next.
15	Then I his alter'd hue perceiving, thus:

16	How may I speed, if thou yieldest to dread,
17	Who still art wont to comfort me in doubt?
18	He then: The anguish of that race below

19	With pity stains my cheek, which thou for fear
20	Mistakest. Let us on. Our length of way
21	Urges to haste. Onward, this said, he mov'd;

22	And ent'ring led me with him on the bounds
23	Of the first circle, that surrounds th' abyss.
24	Here, as mine ear could note, no plaint was heard

25	Except of sighs, that made th' eternal air
26	Tremble, not caus'd by tortures, but from grief
27	Felt by those multitudes, many and vast,

28	Of men, women, and infants. Then to me
29	The gentle guide: Inquir'st thou not what spirits
30	Are these, which thou beholdest? Ere thou pass

31	Farther, I would thou know, that these of sin
32	Were blameless; and if aught they merited,
33	It profits not, since baptism was not theirs,

34	The portal to thy faith. If they before
35	The Gospel liv'd, they serv'd not God aright;
36	And among such am I. For these defects,

37	And for no other evil, we are lost;
38	Only so far afflicted, that we live
39	Desiring without hope. So grief assail'd

40	My heart at hearing this, for well I knew
41	Suspended in that Limbo many a soul
42	Of mighty worth. O tell me, sire rever'd!

43	Tell me, my master! I began through wish
44	Of full assurance in that holy faith,
45	Which vanquishes all error; say, did e'er

46	Any, or through his own or other's merit,
47	Come forth from thence, whom afterward was blest?
48	Piercing the secret purport of my speech,

49	He answer'd: I was new to that estate,
50	When I beheld a puissant one arrive
51	Amongst us, with victorious trophy crown'd.

52	He forth the shade of our first parent drew,
53	Abel his child, and Noah righteous man,
54	Of Moses lawgiver for faith approv'd,

55	Of patriarch Abraham, and David king,
56	Israel with his sire and with his sons,
57	Nor without Rachel whom so hard he won,

58	And others many more, whom he to bliss
59	Exalted. Before these, be thou assur'd,
60	No spirit of human kind was ever sav'd.

61	We, while he spake, ceas'd not our onward road,
62	Still passing through the wood; for so I name
63	Those spirits thick beset. We were not far

64	On this side from the summit, when I kenn'd
65	A flame, that o'er the darken'd hemisphere
66	Prevailing shin'd. Yet we a little space

67	Were distant, not so far but I in part
68	Discover'd, that a tribe in honour high
69	That place possess'd. O thou, who every art

70	And science valu'st! who are these, that boast
71	Such honour, separate from all the rest?
72	He answer'd: The renown of their great names

73	That echoes through your world above, acquires
74	Favour in heaven, which holds them thus advanc'd.
75	Meantime a voice I heard: Honour the bard

76	Sublime! his shade returns that left us late!
77	No sooner ceas'd the sound, than I beheld
78	Four mighty spirits toward us bend their steps,

79	Of semblance neither sorrowful nor glad.
80	When thus my master kind began: Mark him,
81	Who in his right hand bears that falchion keen,

82	The other three preceding, as their lord.
83	This is that Homer, of all bards supreme:
84	Flaccus the next in satire's vein excelling;

85	The third is Naso; Lucan is the last.
86	Because they all that appellation own,
87	With which the voice singly accosted me,

88	Honouring they greet me thus, and well they judge.
89	So I beheld united the bright school
90	Of him the monarch of sublimest song,

91	That o'er the others like an eagle soars.
92	When they together short discourse had held,
93	They turn'd to me, with salutation kind

94	Beck'ning me; at the which my master smil'd:
95	Nor was this all; but greater honour still
96	They gave me, for they made me of their tribe;

97	And I was sixth amid so learn'd a band.
98	Far as the luminous beacon on we pass'd
99	Speaking of matters, then befitting well

100	To speak, now fitter left untold. At foot
101	Of a magnificent castle we arriv'd,
102	Seven times with lofty walls begirt, and round

103	Defended by a pleasant stream. O'er this
104	As o'er dry land we pass'd. Next through seven gates
105	I with those sages enter'd, and we came

106	Into a mead with lively verdure fresh.
107	There dwelt a race, who slow their eyes around
108	Majestically mov'd, and in their port

109	Bore eminent authority; they spake
110	Seldom, but all their words were tuneful sweet.
111	We to one side retir'd, into a place

112	Open and bright and lofty, whence each one
113	Stood manifest to view. Incontinent
114	There on the green enamel of the plain

115	Were shown me the great spirits, by whose sight
116	I am exalted in my own esteem.
117	Electra there I saw accompanied

118	By many, among whom Hector I knew,
119	Anchises' pious son, and with hawk's eye
120	Caesar all arm'd, and by Camilla there

121	Penthesilea. On the other side
122	Old King Latinus, seated by his child
123	Lavinia, and that Brutus I beheld,

124	Who Tarquin chas'd, Lucretia, Cato's wife
125	Marcia, with Julia and Cornelia there;
126	And sole apart retir'd, the Soldan fierce.

127	Then when a little more I rais'd my brow,
128	I spied the master of the sapient throng,
129	Seated amid the philosophic train.

130	Him all admire, all pay him rev'rence due.
131	There Socrates and Plato both I mark'd,
132	Nearest to him in rank; Democritus,

133	Who sets the world at chance, Diogenes,
134	With Heraclitus, and Empedocles,
135	And Anaxagoras, and Thales sage,

136	Zeno, and Dioscorides well read
137	In nature's secret lore. Orpheus I mark'd
138	And Linus, Tully and moral Seneca,

139	Euclid and Ptolemy, Hippocrates,
140	Galenus, Avicen, and him who made
141	That commentary vast, Averroes.

142	Of all to speak at full were vain attempt;
143	For my wide theme so urges, that ofttimes
144	My words fall short of what bechanc'd. In two

145	The six associates part. Another way
146	My sage guide leads me, from that air serene,
147	Into a climate ever vex'd with storms:

148	And to a part I come where no light shines.

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