The Divine Comedy ~ English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - Inferno

Canto II
English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Entry

The Descent

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1	DAY was departing, and the embrowned air
2	Released the animals that are on earth
3	From their fatigues; and I the only one

4	Made myself ready to sustain the war,
5	Both of the way and likewise of the woe,
6	Which memory that errs not shall retrace.

7	O Muses, O high genius, now assist me!
8	O memory, that didst write dowll what I saw,
9	Here thy nobility shall be manifest !

10	And I began: Poet, who guidest me,
11	Regard my manhood, if it be sufficient.
12	Ere to the arduous pass thou dost confide me.

13	Thou sayest, that of Silvius the parent,
14	While yet corruptible, unto the world
15	Immortal went, and was there bodily.

16	But if the adversary of all evil
17	Was courteous, thinking of the high effect
18	That issue would from him, and who, and what,

19	To men of intellect unmeet it seems not;
20	For he was of great Rome, and of her empire
21	In the empyreal heaven as father chosen;

22	The which and what, wishing to speak the truth,
23	Were stablished as the ho]y place, wherein
24	Sits the successor of the greatest Peter.

25	Upon this journey, whence thou givest him vaunt,
26	Things did he hear, which the occasion were
27	Both of his victory and the papal mantle.

28	Thither went afterwards the Chosen Vessel,
29	To bring back comfort thence unto that Faith,
30	Which of salvation's way is the beginning.

31	But I, why thither come, or who concedes it?
32	I not Aenas am, I am not Paul,
33	Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it.

34	Therefore, if I resign myself to come,
35	I fear the coming may be ill-advised;
36	Thou'rt wise, and knowest better than I speak.

37	And as he is, who unwills what he willed,
38	And by new thoughts doth his intention change,
39	So that from his design he quite withdraws,

40	Such I became, upon that dark hillside,
41	Because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise,
42	Which was so very prompt in the beginning.

43	If I have well thy language understood,
44	Replied that shade of the Magnanimous,
45	Thy soul attainted is with cowardice,

46	Which many times a man encumbers so,
47	It turns him back from honoured enterprise,
48	As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy.

49	That thou mayst free thee from this apprehension,
50	I'll tell thee why I came, and what I heard
51	At the first moment when I grieved for thee.

52	Among those was I who are in suspense,
53	And a fair, saintly Lady called to me
54	In such wise, I besought her to command me.

55	Her eyes where shining brighter than the Star;
56	And she began to say, gentle and low,
57	With voice angelical, in her own language

58	'O spirit courteous of Mantua,
59	Of whom the fame still in the world endures,
60	And shall endure, long-lasting as the world;

61	A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune,
62	Upon the desert slope is so impeded
63	Upon his way, that he has turned through terror,

64	And may, I fear, already be so lost,
65	That I too late have risen to his succour,
66	From that which I have heard of him in Heaven.

67	Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate,
68	And with what needful is for his release,
69	Assist him so, that I may be consoled.

70	Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go;
71	I come from there, where I would fain return;
72	Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak.

73	When I shall be in presence of my Lord,
74	Full often will I praise thee unto him.'
75	Then paused she, and thereafter I began:

76	'O Lady of virtue, thou alone through whom
77	The human race exceedeth all contained
78	Within the heaven that has the lesser circles,

79	So grateful unto me is thy commandment,
80	To obey, if 'twere already done, were late;
81	No farther need'st thou ope to me thy wish.

82	But the cause tell me why thou dost not shun
83	The here descending down into this centre,
84	From the vast place thou burnest to return to.'

85	'Since thou wouldst fain so inwardly discern,
86	Briefly will I relate,'she answered me,
87	'Why I am not afraid to enter here.

88	Of those things only should one be afraid
89	Which have the power of doing others harm;
90	Of the rest, no; because they are not fearful.

91	God in his mercy such created me
92	That misery of yours attains me not,
93	Nor any flame assails me of this burning

94	gentle Lady is in Heaven, who grieves
95	At this impediment, to which I send thee,
96	So that stern judgment there above is broken.

97	In her entreaty she besought Lucia,
98	And said, Thy faithful one now stands in need
99	Of thee, and unto thee I recommend him.

100	Lucia,a, foe of all that cruel is,
101	Hastened away, and came unto the place
102	Where I was sitting with the ancient Rachel.

103	Beatrice said she, the true praise of God,
104	Why succourest thou not him, who loved thee so,
105	For thee he issued from the vulgar herd?

106	Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint?
107	Dost thou not see the death that combats him
108	Beside that flood, where ocean has no vaunt?

109	Never were persons in the world so swift
110	To work their weal and to escape their woe,
111	As I, after such words as these were uttered,

112	Came hither downward from my blessed seat
113	Confiding in thy dignified discourse,
114	Which honours thee, and those who've listened to it.'

115	After she thus had spoken unto me,
116	Weeping, her shining eyes she turned away;
117	Whereby she made me swifter in my coming;

118	And unto thee I came, as she desired;
119	I have delivered thee from that wild beast,
120	Which barred the beautiful mountain's short ascent.

121	What is it, then ? Why, why dost thou delay?
122	Why is such baseness bedded in thy heart?
123	Daring and hardihood why hast thou not,

124	Seeing that three such Ladies benedight
125	Are caring for thee in the court of Heaven,
126	And so much good my speech doth promise thee ?

127	Even as the flowerets, by nocturnal chill,
128	Bowed down and closed, when the sun whitens them,
129	Uplift themselves all open on their stems;

130	Such I became with my exhausted strength,
131	And such good courage to my heart there coursed,
132	That I began, like an intrepid person:

133	O she compassionate, who succoured me,
134	And courteous thou, who hast obeyed so soon
135	The words of truth which she addressed to thee!

136	Thou hast my heart so with desire disposed
137	To the adventure, with these words of thine,
138	That to my first intent I have returned.

139	Now go, for one sole will is in us both,
140	Thou Leader, and thou Lord, and Master thou.
141	Thus said I to him; and when he had moved,

142	I entered on the deep and savage way.

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