Have thought that death so many had despoil'd. By wasps and hornets, which bedew'd their cheeks A throng upon the shore of a great stream: Whereat I thus: "Sir! grant me now to know Whom here we view, and whence impell'd they seem So eager to pass o'er, as I discern Through the blear light2?" He thus to me in few : "This shalt thou know, soon as our steps arrive Beside the woeful tide of Acheron." Then with eyes downward cast, and fill'd with shame, Fearing my words offensive to his ear, Till we had reach'd the river, I from speech Who to base fear Yielding, abjured his high estate. This is commonly understood of Celestine the Fifth, who abdicated the papal power in 1294. Venturi mentions a work written by Innocenzio Barcellini, of the Celestine order, and printed at Milan in 1701, in which an attempt is made to put a different interpretation on this passage. Lombardi would apply it to some one of Dante's fellowcitizens, who, refusing, through avarice or want of spirit, to support the party of the Bianchi at Florence, had been the main occasion of the miseries that befell them. But the testimony of Fazio degli Uberti, who lived so near the time of our author, seems almost decisive on this point. He expressly speaks of the Pope Celestine as being in hell. See the Dittamondo, L. iv. cap. xxi. The usual interpretation is further confirmed in a passage in Canto xxvii. v. 101. Petrarch, while he passes a high encomium on Celestine for his abdication of the papal power, gives us to understand that there were others who thought it a disgraceful act. the De Vitâ Solit. b. ii. sect. iii. c. 18. 2 Through the blear light.] Lo fioco lume. So Filicaja, canz. vi. st. 12: 3 An old man.] Qual fioco lume. Portitor has horrendus aquas et flumina servat See Virg. En. lib. vi. 298. Crying, "Woe to you, wicked spirits! hope not In fierce heat and in ice1. And thou, who there I left them not, "By other way," said he, 66 By other haven shalt thou come to shore, Not by this passage; thee a nimbler boat2 Must carry." Then to him thus spake my guide: "Charon! thyself torment not: so 't is will'd, Where will and power are one: ask thou no more." Straightway in silence fell the shaggy cheeks Of him, the boatman o'er the livid lake3, Around whose eyes glared wheeling flames. Meanwhile Those spirits, faint and naked, colour changed, Then all together sorely wailing drew 1 In fierce heat and in ice.] The bitter change Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce, Their soft ethereal warmth. Milton, P. L. b. ii. 601. -The delighted spirit To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice. Shaksp. Measure for Measure, a. iii. s. 1. See note to C. xxxii. 23. 2 A nimbler boat.] He perhaps alludes to the bark "swift and light," in which the Angel conducts the spirits to Purgatory. See Purg. c. ii. 40. 3 The livid lake.] Vada livida. Virg. Æn. lib. vi. 320. -Totius ut lacûs putidæque paludis Lividissima, maximeque est profunda vorago. 4 With eyes of burning coal.] Catullus, xviii. 10. His looks were dreadful, and his fiery eyes, Spenser, F. Q. b. vi. c. vii. st. 42. Strikes. As fall off the light autumnal leaves', One still another following, till the bough Strews all its honours on the earth beneath; E'en in like manner Adam's evil brood Cast themselves, one by one, down from the shore, Each at a beck, as falcon at his call2. Thus go they over through the umber'd wave; And ever they on the opposing bank Be landed, on this side another throng Still gathers. "Son," thus spake the courteous guide, For so heaven's justice goads them on, that fear This said, the gloomy region trembling shook So terribly, that yet with clammy dews Fear chills my brow. The sad earth gave a blast, CANTO IV. ARGUMENT. The poet, being roused by a clap of thunder, and following his guide onwards, descends into Limbo, which is the first circle of Hell, where he finds the souls of those, who, although they have lived virtuously and have not to suffer for great sins, nevertheless, through lack of baptism, merit not the bliss of Paradise. Hence he is led on by Virgil to descend into the second circle. BROKE the deep slumber in my brain a crash 1 As fall off the light autumnal leaves.] Quam multa in silvis autumni frigore primo Virg. Æn. lib. vi. 309. Thick as autumnal leaves, that strew the brooks High over-arch'd imbower. Milton, P. L. b. i. 304. Compare Apoll. Rhod. lib. iv. p. 214. as a bird 2 As falcon at his call.] This is Vellutello's explanation, and seems preferable to that commonly given: that is enticed to the cage by the call of another." My rested eyes I moved around, and search'd, The dread abyss, that joins a thundrous sound1 Now let us to the blind world there beneath Descend;" the bard began, all pale of look: "I go the first, and thou shalt follow next." Then I, his alter'd hue perceiving, thus: "How may I speed, if thou yieldest to dread, Who still art wont to comfort me in doubt ?" He then: "The anguish of that race below With pity stains my cheek, which thou for fear Mistakest. Let us on. Our length of way Urges to haste." Onward, this said, he moved; And entering led me with him, on the bounds Of the first circle that surrounds the abyss. Here, as mine ear could note, no plaint was heard Except of sighs, that made the eternal air Tremble, not caused by tortures, but from grief Felt by those multitudes, many and vast, Of men, women, and infants. Then to me The gentle guide: "Inquirest thou not what spirits Are these which thou beholdest? Ere thou pass Farther, I would thou know, that these of sin Were blameless; and if aught they merited, It profits not, since baptism was not theirs, The portal to thy faith. If they before The Gospel lived, they served not God aright; And among such am I. For these defects, And for no other evil, we are lost; Only so far afflicted, that we live Desiring without hope3." Sore grief assail'd 1 A thundrous sound.] Imitated, as Mr. Thyer has remarked, by Milton, P. L. b. viii. 242: -But long, ere our approaching, heard Noise, other than the sound of dance or song, 2 Portal.] "Porta della fede." This was an alteration made in the text by the Academicians della Crusca, on the authority, as it would appear, of only two MSS. reading is " parte della fede;" "part of the faith." 3 Desiring without hope.] The other And with desire to languish without hope. My heart at hearing this, for well I knew Of mighty worth. "O tell me, sire revered! Which vanquishes all error; 66 say, did e'er Any, or through his own or other's merit, Come forth from thence, who afterward was blest ?" Piercing the secret purport1 of my speech, He answer'd: "I was new to that estate, When I beheld a puissant one2 arrive Amongst us, with victorious trophy crown'd. He forth the shade of our first parent drew, Abel his child, and Noah righteous man, Of Moses lawgiver for faith approved, Of patriarch Abraham, and David king, Israel with his sire and with his sons, Nor without Rachel whom so hard he won, And others many more, whom he to bliss Exalted. Before these, be thou assured, No spirit of human kind was ever saved." We, while he spake, ceased not our onward road, Still passing through the wood; for so I name Those spirits thick beset. We were not far On this side from the summit, when I kenn'd A flame, that o'er the darken'd hemisphere Prevailing shined. Yet we a little space Were distant, not so far but I in part Discover'd that a tribe in honour high 1 Secret purport.] Lombardi well observes, that Dante seems to have been restrained by awe and reverence from uttering the name of Christ in this place of torment; and that for the same cause, probably, it does not occur once throughout the whole of this first part of the poem. 2 A puissant one.] Our Saviour. 3 He forth.] The author of the Quadriregio has introduced a sublime description into his imitation of this passage:Pose le reni là dove si serra; Ma Cristo lui e 'l catarcion d' acciajo L. ii. Satan hung writhing round the bolt; but him, The huge portcullis, and those gates of brass, cap. 3. Christ threw to earth. As down the cavern stream'd The radiance: "Light," said Adam, "this, that breathed First on me. Thou art come, expected Lord!" Much that follows is closely copied by Frezzi from our poet. |