Canto III
Notes on this work
THROUGH ME YOU REACH THE CITY OF DESPAIR.
THROUGH ME YOU REACH ETERNITY OF GRIEF.
THROUGH ME YOU REACH THE REGION OF THE LOST.
JUSTICE IT WAS MOVED MY HIGH ARCHITECT.
DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE CREATED ME,
TRANSCENDENT WISDOM AND PRIMORDIAL LOVE.
BEFORE ME ONLY ENDLESS THINGS WERE MADE
AND I TOO SHALL ENDURE WITHOUT AN END.
YOU THAT ENTER CAST ALL HOPE ASIDE.
These sombre-coloured words were what I saw
inscribed high up above an entranceway.
'Master,' I said, 'I find their meaning hard.'
And he replied, as one who knew the truth,
'Here all misgivings must be put aside
and every craven impulse must be stilled.
We've come now to the place I told you of
in which you'll see that miserable brood
who've lost the benefit of intellect.
When, looking in good spirits, he had laid
his hand on mine and I was reassured
he led me in, towards the mysteries.
Here howls and sighs and sounds of loud distress
reverberating through the starless air
initially brought tears into my eyes.
Outlandish tongues and brutal dialects,
the shouts of pain and wrath's cacophony,
cries shrill and hoarse, and added to all these
the noise of beating hands; all went to make
a tumult swirling on unceasingly
through that dark, time-forsaken atmosphere
like wreaths of sand that spiral in the wind.
And I with horrors circling round my head
said, 'Master what are all the sounds I hear
and who are these so overwhelmed with pain?'
And he to me, 'This dismal state of things
is what the paltry souls of those must bear
whose lives attracted neither praise nor blame. .
They're mixed together with that squalid choir,
the angels who were neither mutinous
nor true to God but served themselves alone;
and Heaven to keep its beauty unimpaired
rejected them and even Hell's own depths
won't welcome them, for fear its criminals
might profit from some glory they would bring.'
'Master,' I said, 'what is it weighs them down
and makes their lamentations so intense?'
He answered, 'Very briefly I'll explain.
The souls you speak of have no hope of death
and their blind lives are so contemptible
they envy all fates other than their own.
The world rubs out all record of their names.
Mercy and justice treat them with contempt.
Let's not discuss them; merely glance and pass.'
And as I gazed around I saw a flag
which swirled and raced along at such a speed
it seemed to have no power to stop itself.
Behind it such interminable files
of people trailed I never could have thought
death had undone so great a multitude.
Then having recognised a few of them
I saw and knew the shade of him who made
the great refusal out of cowardice.
At once I was convinced beyond all doubt
that this despicable array were those
both God and all his enemies reject.
These scum, who'd never really been alive,
ran naked and were stung repeatedly
by wasps and hornets swarming all around:
this made their faces stream with blood, that fell
and mingled with their tears, until at last
disgusting worms devoured it at their feet.
And then ahead of me, I saw a crowd
assembled on a great wide river's bank,
at which I asked my master, 'Who are these
and please explain what habit of the mind
has made them seem so keen to get across,
for thus it seems to me in this dim light.'
And he to me, 'Such things will be made plain
when later in our journey we shall stop
upon the shore of mournful Acheron.'
Then quite ashamed I went with downcast eyes.
Afraid my question had offended him
I held my tongue until we reached the stream.
And there, an old man, hair gone white with age
came steering straight toward us in a boat
exclaiming, 'Woe to you, perverted souls!
Don't ever hope to look on heaven now.
I've come to ship you to that other shore,
to everlasting shadow, fire and ice.
And you there, living soul, stand well apart
from those who are dead!' Then, seeing that I made
no move to go, he cried, 'You'll have to take
another route, use other ports than this
to reach the farther side. You can't cross here.
Some lighter craft must serve to ferry you.'
My guide said, 'Now then, Charon, calm yourself,
for this is willed where will and power are one;
all further questions are superfluous.'
His shaggy jaws were silenced by these words,
this ferryman who rode the livid marsh
around whose eyes were glowing wheels of fire.
But all the spirits, naked and worn out
changed colour and began to gnash their teeth
when once they heard the harsh and cruel words.
They cursed almighty God, their ancestors,
the human race, the time, the place, the seed
of their conception and nativity.
Then all of them together huddled off
with heavy tears towards the bitter shore
that waits for all who have no fear of God.
Demonic Charon, eyes like glowing coals,
makes signals to them, gathers them all up
and hits out at the stragglers with his oar.
As in the autumn leaf falls after leaf
until the branch can see spread out below
the sum of all its wealth upon the ground,
the evil seed of Adam, one by one,
detach themselves and slides from off the bank
when beckoned, like a falcon to its call.
So they are off across the dreary waves
and well before they've landed opposite
a fresh crowd has assembled on this side.
'My son,' the courteous master said, 'all those
who perish in God's anger now converge
upon this spot from every land on earth.
They're keen to make their crossing of the stream
for heavenly justice spurs them to the point
where terror is transformed into desire.
No virtuous spirit ever comes this way:
it's therefore now not hard to understand
why Charon grumbled at you as he did.'
Then after he'd said this, the bleak terrain
shook with such violence that even now
I sweat again with recollected fear.
The tear-soaked ground gave out a wind which flashed
vermilion, with a light that numbled all sense;
and I collapsed as though engulfed by sleep.