Part 13 (2/2)

We to the moat profound at length were brought, Which girds that city all disconsolate; The walls around it seemed of iron wrought.

Not without fetching first a compa.s.s great, We came to where with angry cry at last: 80 'Get out,' the boatman yelled; 'behold the gate!'[325]

More than a thousand, who from Heaven[326] were cast, I saw above the gates, who furiously Demanded: 'Who, ere death on him has pa.s.sed, Holds through the region of the dead his way?'

And my wise Master made to them a sign That he had something secretly to say.

Then ceased they somewhat from their great disdain, And said: 'Come thou, but let that one be gone Who thus presumptuous enters on this reign. 90 Let him retrace his madcap way alone, If he but can; thou meanwhile lingering here, Through such dark regions who hast led him down.'

Judge, reader, if I was not filled with fear, Hearing the words of this accursed threat; For of return my hopes extinguished were.

'Beloved Guide, who more than seven times[327] set Me in security, and safely brought Through frightful dangers in my progress met, Leave me not thus undone;' I him besought: 100 'If further progress be to us denied, Let us retreat together, tarrying not.'

The Lord who led me thither then replied: 'Fear not: by One so great has been a.s.signed Our pa.s.sage, vainly were all hindrance tried.

Await me here, and let thy fainting mind Be comforted and with good hope be fed, Not to be left in this low world behind.'

Thus goes he, thus am I abandoned By my sweet Father. I in doubt remain, 110 With Yes and No[328] contending in my head.

I could not hear what speech he did maintain, But no long time conferred he in that place, Till, to be first, all inward raced again.

And then the gates were closed in my Lord's face By these our enemies; outside stood he; Then backward turned to me with lingering pace, With downcast eyes, and all the bravery Stripped from his brows; and he exclaimed with sighs; 'Who dare[329] deny the doleful seats to me!' 120 And then he said: 'Although my wrath arise, Fear not, for I to victory will pursue, Howe'er within they plot, the enterprise.

This arrogance of theirs is nothing new; They showed it[330] once at a less secret door Which stands unbolted since. Thou didst it view, And saw the dark-writ legend which it bore.

Thence, even now, is one who hastens down Through all the circles, guideless, to this sh.o.r.e, And he shall win us entrance to the town.' 130

FOOTNOTES:

[312] _Continuing_: The account of the Fifth Circle, begun in the preceding Canto, is continued in this. It is impossible to adopt Boccaccio's story of how the first seven Cantos were found among a heap of other papers, years after Dante's exile began; and that 'continuing'

marks the resumption of his work. The word most probably suggested the invention of the incident, or at least led to the identification of some ma.n.u.script that may have been sent to Dante, with the opening pages of the _Comedy_. If the tale were true, not only must Ciacco's prophecy (_Inf._ vi.) have been interpolated, but we should be obliged to hold that Dante began the poem while he was a prosperous citizen.--Boccaccio himself in his Comment on the _Comedy_ points out the difficulty of reconciling the story with Ciacco's prophecy.

[313] _Two flames_: Denoting the number of pa.s.sengers who are to be conveyed across the Stygian pool. It is a signal for the ferryman, and is answered by a light hung out on the battlements of the city of Dis.

[314] _Guilty sprite_: Only one is addressed; whether Virgil or Dante is not clear.

[315] _Phlegyas_: Who burnt the temple of Apollo at Delphi in revenge for the violation of his daughter by the G.o.d.

[316] _Deeper, etc._: Because used to carry only shades.

[317] _Ere thy period_: The curiosity of the shade is excited by the sinking of the boat in the water. He a.s.sumes that Dante will one day be condemned to Inferno. Neither Francesca nor Ciacco made a like mistake.

[318] _One who weeps_: He is ashamed to tell his name, and hopes in his vile disguise to remain unknown by Dante, whose Florentine speech and dress, and perhaps whose features, he has now recognised.

[319] _Soul disdainful_: Dante has been found guilty of here glorying in the same sin which he so severely reprobates in others. But, without question, of set purpose he here contrasts righteous indignation with the ign.o.ble rage punished in this circle. With his quick temper and zeal so often kindling into flame, he may have felt a special personal need of emphasising the distinction.

[320] _Names o'erwhelmed, etc._: 'Horrible reproaches.'

[321] _Philip Argenti_: A Florentine gentleman related to the great family of the Adimari, and a contemporary of Dante's. Boccaccio in his commentary describes him as a cavalier, very rich, and so ostentatious that he once shod his horse with silver, whence his surname. In the _Decameron_ (ix. 8) he is introduced as violently a.s.saulting--tearing out his hair and dragging him in the mire--the victim of a practical joke played by the Ciacco of Canto vi. Some, without reason, suppose that Dante shows such severity to him because he was a Black, and so a political opponent of his own.

[322] _Dis_: A name of Pluto, the G.o.d of the infernal regions.

[323] _Burghers_: The city of Dis composes the Sixth Circle, and, as immediately appears, is populated by demons. The sinners punished in it are not mentioned at all in this Canto, and it seems more reasonable to apply _burghers_ to the demons than to the shades. They are called _gravi_, generally taken to mean sore burdened, and the description is then applicable to the shades; but _grave_ also bears the sense of cruel, and may describe the fierceness of the devils. Though the city is inhabited by the subjects of Dis, he is found as Lucifer at the very bottom of the pit. By some critics the whole of the lower Inferno, all that lies beyond this point, is regarded as being the city of Dis. But it is the Sixth Circle, with its minarets, that is the city; its walls, however, serving as bulwarks for all the lower Inferno. The shape of the city is, of course, that of a circular belt. Here it may be noted that the Fifth and Sixth Circles are on the same level; the water of Styx, which as a marsh covers the Fifth, is gathered into a moat to surround the walls of the Sixth.

[324] _Mosques_: The feature of an Infidel city that first struck crusader and pilgrim.

[325] _The gate_: They have floated across the stagnant marsh into the deeper waters of the moat, and up to the gate where Phlegyas is used to land his pa.s.sengers. It may be a question whether his services are required for all who are doomed to the lower Inferno, or only for those bound to the city.

[326] _From Heaven_: 'Rained from Heaven.' Fallen angels.

[327] _Seven times_: Given as a round number.

[328] _Yes and No_: He will return--He will not return. The demons have said that Virgil shall remain, and he has promised Dante not to desert him.

<script>