"Ан me! O Satan! Satan1!" loud exclaim'd
Plutus, in accent hoarse of wild alarm:
And the kind sage, whom no event surprised,
To comfort me thus spake : "Let not thy fear
Harm thee, for power in him, be sure, is none
To hinder down this rock thy safe descent."
Then to that swoln lip turning, "Peace!" he cried,
"Curst wolf! thy fury inward on thyself [found,
Prey, and consume thee! Through the dark pro-
Not without cause, he passes. So 't is will'd
On high, there where the great Archangel pour'd
Heaven's vengeance on the first adulterer proud2.
As sails, full spread and bellying with the wind,
Drop suddenly collapsed, if the mast split;
So to the ground down dropp'd the cruel fiend.

Thus we, descending to the fourth steep ledge,
Gain'd on the dismal shore, that all the woe
Hems in of all the universe. Ah me!
Almighty Justice! in what store thou heap'st3
New pains, new troubles, as I here beheld.

1 Ah me! O Satan! Satan!]

Pape Satan, Pape Satan, aleppe.

Pape is said by the commentators to be the same as the Latin word papa! "strange!" Of aleppe they do not give a more satisfactory account.

See the Life of Benvenuto Cellini, translated by Dr. Nugent, v. ii. b. iii. c. vii. p. 113, where he mentions "having heard the words Paix, paix, Satan! allez, pair! in the courts of justice at Paris. I recollected what Dante said, when he with his master Virgil entered the gates of hell: for Dante, and Giotto the painter, were together in France, and visited Paris with particular attention, where the court of justice may be considered as hell. Hence it is that Dante, who was likewise perfect master of the French, made use of that expression; and I have often been surprised that it was never understood in that sense."

2 The first adulterer proud.] Satan. The word "fornication," or "adultery," "strupo," is here used for a revolt of the affections from God, according to the sense in which it is often applied in Scripture. But Monti, following Grassi's "Essay on Synonymes,", supposes. strupo" to mean "troop"; the word strup" being still used in the Piemontese dialect for "a flock of sheep," and answering to "troupeau" in French. In that case," superbo strupo would signify "the troop of rebel angels who sinned through pride."

3 In what store thou heap'st.] Some understand "chi stipa to mean either "who can imagine," or "who can describe the torments," &c. I have followed Landino, whose words, though very plain, seem to have been mistaken by Lombardi: "Chi stipa, chi accumula, ed insieme raccoglie; quasi dica, tu giustizia aduni tanti supplicii."

Wherefore doth fault of ours bring us to this?
E'en as a billow1, on Charybdis rising,
Against encounter'd billow dashing breaks;
Such is the dance this wretched race must lead,
Whom more than elsewhere numerous here I found.
From one side and the other, with loud voice,
Both roll'd on weights, by main force of their breasts,
Then smote together, and each one forthwith
Roll'd them back voluble, turning again;
Exclaiming these, "Why holdest thou so fast?"
Those answering, "And why castest thou away?"
So, still repeating their despiteful song,
They to the opposite point, on either hand,
Traversed the horrid circle; then arrived, [space
Both turn'd them round, and through the middle
Conflicting met again. At sight whereof

I, stung with grief, thus spake: "O say, my guide!
What race is this. Were these, whose heads are shorn,
On our left hand, all separate to the church ?"
He straight replied: "In their first life, these all
In mind were so distorted, that they made,
According to due measure, of their wealth

No use.

This clearly from their words collect, Which they howl forth, at each extremity Arriving of the circle, where their crime Contrary in kind disparts them. To the church Were separate those, that with no hairy cowls Are crown'd, both Popes and Cardinals2, o'er whom Avarice dominion absolute maintains."

I then: ""Mid such as these some needs must be, Whom I shall recognise, that with the blot Of these foul sins were stain'd." He answering thus: "Vain thought conceivest thou. That ignoble life, Which made them vile before, now makes them dark,

1 E'en as a billow.]

As when two billows in the Irish sowndes,
Forcibly driven with contrarie tides,
Do meet together, each aback rebounds
With roaring rage, and dashing on all sides,
That filleth all the sea with foam, divides
The doubtful current into divers wayes.

Spenser, F. Q. b. iv. c. i. st. 42.

2 Popes and Cardinals.] Ariosto having personified Avarice as a strange and hideous monster, says of her

Peggio facea nella Romana corte,

Che v'avea uccisi Cardinali e Papi.

Orl. Fur. c. xxvi. st. 32.

Worse did she in the Court of Rome, for there
She had slain Popes and Cardinals.

And to all knowledge indiscernible.

For ever they shall meet in this rude shock: These from the tomb with clenched grasp shall rise, Those with close-shaven locks. That ill they gave, And ill they kept, hath of the beauteous world Deprived, and set them at this strife, which needs No labour'd phrase of mine to set it off.

66

Now mayst thou see, my son! how brief, how vain,
The goods committed into Fortune's hands,
For which the human race keep such a coil!
Not all the gold1 that is beneath the moon,
Or ever hath been, of these toil-worn souls
Might purchase rest for one." I thus rejoin'd:
'My guide! of thee this also would I learn ;
This Fortune, that thou speak'st of, what it is,
Whose talons grasp the blessings of the world."
He thus: "O beings blind! what ignorance
Besets you! Now my judgment hear and mark.
He, whose transcendent wisdom2
passes all,
The heavens creating, gave them ruling powers
To guide them; so that each part3 shines to each,
Their light in equal distribution pour'd.
By similar appointment he ordain'd,
Over the world's bright images to rule,
Superintendence of a guiding hand

66

And general minister, which, at due time,
May change the empty vantages of life
From race to race, from one to other's blood,
Beyond prevention of man's wisest care :
Wherefore one nation rises into sway,
Another languishes, e'en as her will
Decrees, from us conceal'd, as in the grass
The serpent train. Against her nought avails
Your utmost wisdom. She with foresight plans,

1 Not all the gold.] Tutto l'oro ch' è sotto la luna.

For all the gode under the colde mone.

Chaucer, Legende of Hypermnestra.

2 He, whose transcendent wisdom.] Compare Frezzi:
Dio è primo prince in ogni parte
Sempre e di tutto, &c.

П Quadrir. lib. ii. cap. ii.

3 Each part.] Each hemisphere of the heavens shines upon that hemisphere of the earth which is placed under it.

4 General minister.] Lombardi cites an apposite passage from Augustin, De Civitate Dei, lib. v. :-" Nos eas causas, quæ dicuntur fortuitæ (unde etiam fortuna nomen accepit) non dicimus nullas, sed latentes, easque tribuimus, vel veri Dei, vel quorumlibet spirituum voluntati."

Judges, and carries on her reign, as theirs
The other powers divine. Her changes know
None intermission: by necessity1

She is made swift, so frequent come who claim
Succession in her favours. This is she,
So execrated e'en by those whose debt
To her is rather praise: they wrongfully
With blame requite her, and with evil word;
But she is blessed, and for that recks not:
Amidst the other primal beings glad,
Rolls on her sphere, and in her bliss exults.
Now on our way pass we, to heavier woe
Descending : for each star2 is falling now,
That mounted at our entrance, and forbids
Too long our tarrying." We the circle cross'd
To the next steep, arriving at a well,
That boiling pours itself down to a foss

Sluiced from its source. Far murkier was the wave
Than sablest grain: and we in company

Of the inky waters, journeying by their side,
Enter'd, though by a different track3, beneath.
Into a lake, the Stygian named, expands

The dismal stream, when it hath reach'd the foot
Of the grey wither'd cliffs. Intent I stood
To gaze, and in the marish sunk descried
A miry tribe, all naked, and with looks
Betokening rage. They with their hands alone
Struck not, but with the head, the breast, the feet,
Cutting each other piecemeal with their fangs.

1 By necessity.] This sentiment called forth the reprehension of Francesco Stabili, commonly called Cecco d'Ascoli, in his Acerba, lib. i. c. i.

In ciò peccasti, O Fiorentin poeta,

Ponendo che li ben della fortuna
Necessitati sieno con lor meta.
Non è fortuna, cui ragion non vinca,
pensa Dante, se prova nessuna

Or

Si può più fare che questa convinca.

Herein, O bard of Florence, didst thou err,

Laying it down that fortune's largesses

Are fated to their goal. Fortune is none,

That reason cannot conquer. Mark thou, Dante,
If any argument may gainsay this.

2 Each star.] So Boccaccio: "Giù ogni stella a cader cominciò, che salia." Dec. G. 3. at the end.

3 A different track.] Una via diversa. Some understand this "a strange path"; as the word is used in the preceding Canto; "fiera crudele e diversa," "monster fierce and strange"; and in the Vita Nuova, "visi diversi ed orribili a vedere," "visages strange and horrible to see."

The good instructor spake: "Now seest thou, son! The souls of those, whom anger overcame. This too for certain know, that underneath The water dwells a multitude, whose sighs Into these bubbles make the surface heave, As thine eye tells thee wheresoe'er it turn. Fix'd in the slime, they say: Sad once were we, In the sweet air made gladsome by the sun, Carrying a foul and lazy mist within :

6

Now in these murky settlings are we sad.' Such dolorous strain they gurgle in their throats, But word distinct can utter none.' Our route Thus compass'd we, a segment widely stretch'd Between the dry embankment, and the core Of the loath'd pool, turning meanwhile our eyes Downward on those who gulp'd its muddy lees; Nor stopp'd, till to a tower's low base we came.

mm

CANTO VIII.

ARGUMENT.

A signal having been made from the tower, Phlegyas, the ferryman of the lake, speedily crosses it, and conveys Virgil and Dante to the other side. On their passage, they meet with Filippo Argenti, whose fury and torment are described. They then arrive at the city of Dis, the entrance whereto is denied, and the portals closed against them by many Demons.

My theme pursuing1, I relate, that ere
We reach'd the lofty turret's base, our eyes
Its height ascended, where we mark'd uphung
Two cressets, and another saw from far

1 My theme pursuing.] It is related by some of the early commentators, that the seven preceding Cantos were found at Florence after our Poet's banishment, by some one, who was searching over his papers, which were left in that city; that by this person they were taken to Dino Frescobaldi; and that he, being much delighted with them, forwarded them to the Marchese Morello Malaspina, at whose entreaty the poem was resumed. This account, though very circumstantially related, is rendered improbable by the prophecy of Ciacco in the sixth Canto, which must have been written after the events to which it alludes. The manner, in which the present Canto opens, furnishes no proof of the truth of the report; for, as Maffei remarks in his Osservazioni Letterarie, tom. ii. p. 249, referred to by Lombardi, it might as well be affirmed that Ariosto was interrupted in his Orlando Furioso, because he begins c. xvi.

Dico la bella storia ripigliando.

And c. xxii.

Ma tornando al lavor, che vario ordisco.