The Divine Comedy Of Dante Alighieri Part 8

[188] _Papal gown_: 'The great mantle' Dante elsewhere terms it; the emblem of the Papal dignity. It was only in Dante's own time that coronation began to take the place of invest.i.ture with the mantle.

[189] _Chosen Vessel_: Paul, who like aeneas visited the other world, though not the same region of it. Throughout the poem instances drawn from profane history, and even poetry and mythology, are given as of authority equal to those from Christian sources.

[190] _A dame_: Beatrice, the heroine of the _Vita Nuova_, at the close of which Dante promises some day to say of her what was never yet said of any woman. She died in 1290, aged twenty-four. In the _Comedy_ she fills different parts: she is the glorified Beatrice Portinari whom Dante first knew as a fair Florentine girl; but she also represents heavenly truth, or the knowledge of it--the handmaid of eternal life.

Theology is too hard and technical a term to bestow on her. Virgil, for his part, represents the knowledge that men may acquire of Divine law by the use of their reason, helped by such illumination as was enjoyed by the virtuous heathen. In other words, he is the exponent of the Divine revelation involved in the Imperial system--for the Empire was never far from Dante's thoughts. To him it meant the perfection of just rule, in which due cognisance is taken of every right and of every duty. The relation Dante bears to these two is that of erring humanity struggling to the light. Virgil leads him as far as he can, and then commits him to the holier rule of Beatrice. But the poem would lose its charm if the allegorical meaning of every pa.s.sage were too closely insisted on. And, worse than that, it cannot always be found.

[191] _Dubious state_: The limbo of the virtuous heathen (Canto iv.).

[192] _The star_: In the _Vita Nuova_ Dante speaks of the star in the singular when he means the stars.

[193] _In narrowest s.p.a.ce_: The heaven of the moon, on the Ptolemaic system the lowest of the seven planets. Below it there is only the heaven of fire, to which all the flames of earth are attracted. The meaning is, above all on earth.

[194] _The region vast_: The empyrean, or tenth and highest heaven of all. It is an addition by the Christian astronomers to the heavens of the Ptolemaic system, and extends above the _primum mobile_, which imparts to all beneath it a common motion, while leaving its own special motion to each. The empyrean is the heaven of Divine rest.

[195] _Burning_: 'Flame of this burning,' allegorical, as applied to the limbo where Virgil had his abode. He and his companions suffer only from unfulfilled but lofty desire (_Inf._ iv. 41).

[196] _A n.o.ble lady_: The Virgin Mary, of whom it is said (_Parad._ x.x.xiii. 16) that her 'benignity not only succours those who ask, but often antic.i.p.ates their demand;' as here. She is the symbol of Divine grace in its widest sense. Neither Christ nor Mary is mentioned by name in the _Inferno_.

[197] _Lucia_: The martyr saint of Syracuse. Witte (_Dante-Forschungen_, vol. ii. 30) suggests that Lucia Ubaldini may be meant, a thirteenth-century Florentine saint, and sister of the Cardinal (_Inf._ x. 120). The day devoted to her memory was the 30th of May. Dante was born in May, and if it could be proved that he was born on the 30th of the month the suggestion would be plausible. But for the greater Lucy is to be said that she was especially helpful to those troubled in their eyesight, as Dante was at one time of his life. Here she is the symbol of illuminating grace.

[198] _Thy va.s.sal_: Saint Lucy being held in special veneration by Dante; or only that he was one that sought light. The word _fedele_ may of course, as it usually is, be read in its primary sense of 'faithful one;' but it is old Italian for va.s.sal; and to take the reference to be to the duty of the overlord to help his dependant in need seems to give force to the appeal.

[199] _Rachel_: Symbol of the contemplative life.

[200] _A flood, etc._: 'The sea of troubles' in which Dante is involved.

[201] _Tears_: Beatrice weeps for human misery--especially that of Dante--though unaffected by the view of the sufferings of Inferno.

[202] _My Guide, etc._: After hearing how Virgil was moved to come, Dante accepts him not only for his guide, as he did at the close of the First Canto, but for his lord and master as well.

CANTO III.

Through me to the city dolorous lies the way, Who pa.s.s through me shall pains eternal prove, Through me are reached the people lost for aye.

'Twas Justice did my Glorious Maker move; I was created by the Power Divine,[203]

The Highest Wisdom, and the Primal Love.

No thing's creation earlier was than mine, If not eternal;[204] I for aye endure: Ye who make entrance, every hope resign!

These words beheld I writ in hue obscure 10 On summit of a gateway; wherefore I: 'Hard[205] is their meaning, Master.' Like one sure Beforehand of my thought, he made reply: 'Here it behoves to leave all fears behind; All cowardice behoveth here to die.

For now the place I told thee of we find, Where thou the miserable folk shouldst see Who the true good[206] of reason have resigned.'

Then, with a glance of glad serenity, He took my hand in his, which made me bold, 20 And brought me in where secret things there be.

There sighs and plaints and wailings uncontrolled The dim and starless air resounded through; Nor at the first could I from tears withhold.

The various languages and words of woe, The uncouth accents,[207] mixed with angry cries And smiting palms and voices loud and low, Composed a tumult which doth circling rise For ever in that air obscured for aye; As when the sand upon the whirlwind flies. 30 And, horror-stricken,[208] I began to say: 'Master, what sound can this be that I hear, And who the folk thus whelmed in misery?'

And he replied: 'In this condition drear Are held the souls of that inglorious crew Who lived unhonoured, but from guilt kept clear.

Mingled they are with caitiff angels, who, Though from avowed rebellion they refrained, Disloyal to G.o.d, did selfish ends pursue.

Heaven hurled them forth, lest they her beauty stained; Received they are not by the nether h.e.l.l, 41 Else triumph[209] thence were by the guilty gained.'

And I: 'What bear they, Master, to compel Their lamentations in such grievous tone?'

He answered: 'In few words I will thee tell.

No hope of death is to the wretches known; So dim the life and abject where they sigh They count all sufferings easier than their own.

Of them the world endures no memory; Mercy and justice them alike disdain. 50 Speak we not of them: glance, and pa.s.s them by.'

I saw a banner[210] when I looked again, Which, always whirling round, advanced in haste As if despising steadfast to remain.

And after it so many people chased In long procession, I should not have said That death[211] had ever wrought such countless waste.

Some first I recognised, and then the shade I saw and knew of him, the search to close, Whose dastard soul the great refusal[212] made. 60 Straightway I knew and was a.s.sured that those Were of the tribe of caitiffs,[213] even the race Despised of G.o.d and hated of His foes.

The wretches, who when living showed no trace Of life, went naked, and were fiercely stung By wasps and hornets swarming in that place.

Blood drawn by these out of their faces sprung And, mingled with their tears, was at their feet Sucked up by loathsome worms it fell among.

Casting mine eyes beyond, of these replete, 70 People I saw beside an ample stream, Whereon I said: 'O Master, I entreat, Tell who these are, and by what law they seem Impatient till across the river gone; As I distinguish by this feeble gleam.'

And he: 'These things shall unto thee be known What time our footsteps shall at rest be found Upon the woful sh.o.r.es of Acheron.'

Then with ashamed eyes cast on the ground, Fearing my words were irksome in his ear, 80 Until we reached the stream I made no sound.

And toward us, lo, within a bark drew near A veteran[214] who with ancient hair was white, Shouting: 'Ye souls depraved, be filled with fear.

Hope never more of Heaven to win the sight; I come to take you to the other strand, To frost and fire and everlasting night.

And thou, O living soul, who there dost stand, From 'mong the dead withdraw thee.' Then, aware That not at all I stirred at his command, 90 'By other ways,[215] from other ports thou'lt fare; But they will lead thee to another sh.o.r.e, And 'tis a skiff more buoyant must thee bear.'

And then my leader: 'Charon, be not sore, For thus it has been willed where power ne'er came Short of the will; thou therefore ask no more.'

And hereupon his s.h.a.ggy cheeks grew tame Who is the pilot of the livid pool, And round about whose eyes glowed wheels of flame.

But all the shades, naked and spent with dool, 100 Stood chattering with their teeth, and changing hue Soon as they heard the words unmerciful.

G.o.d they blasphemed, and families whence they grew; Mankind, the time, place, seed in which began Their lives, and seed whence they were born. Then drew They crowding all together, as they ran, Bitterly weeping, to the accursed sh.o.r.e Predestinate for every G.o.dless man.

The demon Charon, with eyes evermore Aglow, makes signals, gathering them all; 110 And whoso lingers smiteth with his oar.

And as the faded leaves of autumn fall One after the other, till at last the bough Sees on the ground spread all its coronal; With Adam's evil seed so haps it now: At signs each falls in turn from off the coast, As fowls[216] into the ambush fluttering go.

The gloomy waters thus by them are crossed, And ere upon the further side they land, On this, anew, is gathering a host. 120 'Son,' said the courteous Master,[217] 'understand, All such as in the wrath of G.o.d expire, From every country muster on this strand.

To cross the river they are all on fire; Their wills by Heavenly justice goaded on Until their terror merges in desire.

This way no righteous soul has ever gone; Wherefore[218] of thee if Charon should complain, Now art thou sure what by his words is shown.'

When he had uttered this the dismal plain 130 Trembled[219] so violently, my terror past Recalling now, I'm bathed in sweat again.

Out of the tearful ground there moaned a blast Whence lightning flashed forth red and terrible, Which vanquished all my senses; and, as cast In sudden slumber, to the ground I fell.

FOOTNOTES:

[203] _Power Divine, etc._: The Persons of the Trinity, described by their attributes.

[204] _If not eternal_: Only the angels and the heavenly spheres were created before Inferno. The creation of man came later. But from _Inf._ x.x.xiv. 124 it appears that Inferno was hollowed out of the earth; and at _Parad._ vii. 124 the earth is declared to be 'corruptible and enduring short while;' therefore not eternal.

[205] _Hard, etc._: The injunction to leave all hope behind makes Dante hesitate to enter. Virgil antic.i.p.ates the objection before it is fully expressed, and reminds him that the pa.s.sage through Inferno is to be only one stage of his journey. Not by this gate will he seek to quit it.

[206] _True good, etc._: Truth in its highest form--the contemplation of G.o.d.

[207] _Uncouth accents_: 'Like German,' says Boccaccio.

[208] _Horror-stricken_: 'My head enveloped in horror.' Some texts have 'error,' and this yields a better meaning--that Dante is amazed to have come full into the crowd of suffering shades before he has even crossed Acheron. If with the best texts 'horror' be read, the meaning seems to be that he is so overwhelmed by fear as to lose his presence of mind.

They are not yet in the true Inferno, but only in the vestibule or forecourt of it--the flat rim which runs round the edge of the pit.

[209] _Else triumph, etc._: The satisfaction of the rebel angels at finding that they endured no worse punishment than that of such as remained neutral.

[210] _A banner_: Emblem of the instability of those who would never take a side.

[211] _That death, etc._: The touch is very characteristic of Dante. He feigns astonishment at finding that such a proportion of mankind can preserve so pitiful a middle course between good and evil, and spend lives that are only 'a kind of--as it were.'

[212] _The great refusal_: Dante recognises him, and so he who made the great refusal must have been a contemporary. Almost beyond doubt Celestine V. is meant, who was in 1294 elected Pope against his will, and resigned the tiara after wearing it a few months; the only Pope who ever resigned it, unless we count Clement I. As he was not canonized till 1326, Dante was free to form his own judgment of his conduct. It has been objected that Dante would not treat with contumely a man so devout as Celestine. But what specially fits him to be the representative caitiff is just that, being himself virtuous, he pusillanimously threw away the greatest opportunity of doing good. By his resignation Boniface VIII. became Pope, to whose meddling in Florentine affairs it was that Dante owed his banishment. Indirectly, therefore, he owed it to the resignation of Celestine; so that here we have the first of many private scores to be paid off in the course of the _Comedy_. Celestine's resignation is referred to (_Inf._ xxvii.

104).--Esau and the rich young man in the Gospel have both been suggested in place of Celestine. To either of them there lies the objection that Dante could not have recognised him. And, besides, Dante's contemporaries appear at once to have discovered Celestine in him who made the great refusal. In Paradise the poet is told by his ancestor Cacciaguida that his rebuke is to be like the wind, which strikes most fiercely on the loftiest summits (_Parad._ xvii. 133); and it agrees well with such a profession, that the first stroke he deals in the _Comedy_ is at a Pope.