Part 16 (1/2)

[368] _'Twas I, etc._: Some little time after the victory of Montaperti there was a great Ghibeline gathering from various cities at Empoli, when it was proposed, with general approval, to level Florence with the ground in revenge for the obstinate Guelfism of the population. Farinata roughly declared that as long as he lived and had a sword he would defend his native place, and in the face of this protest the resolution was departed from. It is difficult to understand how of all the Florentine n.o.bles, whose wealth consisted largely in house property, Farinata should have stood alone in protesting against the ruin of the city. But so it seems to have been; and in this great pa.s.sage Farinata is repaid for his service, in despite of Inferno.

[369] _Other laws_: Ciacco, in Canto vi., prophesied what was to happen in Florence, and Farinata has just told him that four years later than now he will have failed in an attempt to return from exile: yet Farinata does not know if his family is still being persecuted, and Cavalcanti fears that his son Guido is already numbered with the dead. Farinata replies that like the longsighted the shades can only see what is some distance off, and are ignorant of what is going on, or about to happen; which seems to imply that they forget what they once foresaw. Guido was to die within a few months, and the event was too close at hand to come within the range of his father's vision.

[370] _The Second Frederick_: The Emperor of that name who reigned from 1220 to 1250, and waged a life-long war with the Popes for supremacy in Italy. It is not however for his enmity with Rome that he is placed in the Sixth Circle, but for his Epicureanism--as Dante understood it. From his Sicilian court a spirit of free inquiry spread through the Peninsula. With men of the stamp of Farinata it would be converted into a crude materialism.

[371] _The Cardinal_: Ottaviano, of the powerful Tuscan family of the Ubaldini, a man of great political activity, and known in Tuscany as 'The Cardinal.' His sympathies were not with the Roman Court. The news of Montaperti filled him with delight, and later, when the Tuscan Ghibelines refused him money he had asked for, he burst out with 'And yet I have lost my soul for the Ghibelines--if I have a soul.' He died not earlier than 1273. After these ill.u.s.trious names Farinata scorns to mention meaner ones.

[372] _Ominous words_: Those in which Farinata foretold Dante's exile.

[373] _The stages, etc._: It is Cacciaguida, his ancestor, who in Paradise instructs Dante in what his future life is to be--one of poverty and exile (_Parad._ xvii.). This is, however, done at the request of Beatrice.

[374] _To the middle_: Turning to the left they cut across the circle till they reach the inner boundary of the city of tombs. Here there is no wall.

CANTO XI.

We at the margin of a lofty steep Made of great shattered stones in circle bent, Arrived where worser torments crowd the deep.

So horrible a stench and violent Was upward wafted from the vast abyss,[375]

Behind the cover we for shelter went Of a great tomb where I saw written this: 'Pope Anastasius[376] is within me thrust, Whom the straight way Photinus made to miss.'

'Now on our course a while we linger must,' 10 The Master said, 'be but our sense resigned A little to it, and the filthy gust We shall not heed.' Then I: 'Do thou but find Some compensation lest our time should run Wasted.' And he: 'Behold, 'twas in my mind.

Girt by the rocks before us, O my son, Lie three small circles,'[377] he began to tell, 'Graded like those with which thou now hast done, All of them filled with spirits miserable.

That sight[378] of them may thee henceforth suffice. 20 Hear how and wherefore in these groups they dwell.

Whate'er in Heaven's abhorred as wickedness Has injury[379] for its end; in others' bane By fraud resulting or in violent wise.

Since fraud to man alone[380] doth appertain, G.o.d hates it most; and hence the fraudulent band, Set lowest down, endure a fiercer pain.

Of the violent is the circle next at hand To us; and since three ways is violence shown, 'Tis in three several circuits built and planned. 30 To G.o.d, ourselves, or neighbours may be done Violence, or on the things by them possessed; As reasoning clear shall unto thee make known.

Our neighbour may by violence be distressed With grievous wounds, or slain; his goods and lands By havoc, fire, and plunder be oppressed.

Hence those who wound and slay with violent hands, Robbers, and spoilers, in the nearest round Are all tormented in their various bands.

Violent against himself may man be found, 40 And 'gainst his goods; therefore without avail They in the next are in repentance drowned Who on themselves loss of your world entail, Who gamble[381] and their substance madly spend, And who when called to joy lament and wail.

And even to G.o.d may violence extend By heart denial and by blasphemy, Scorning what nature doth in bounty lend.

Sodom and Cahors[382] hence are doomed to lie Within the narrowest circlet surely sealed; 50 And such as G.o.d within their hearts defy.

Fraud,[383] 'gainst whose bite no conscience findeth s.h.i.+eld, A man may use with one who in him lays Trust, or with those who no such credence yield.

Beneath this latter kind of it decays The bond of love which out of nature grew; Hence, in the second circle[384] herd the race To feigning given and flattery, who pursue Magic, false coining, theft, and simony, Pimps, barrators, and suchlike residue. 60 The other form of fraud makes nullity Of natural bonds; and, what is more than those, The special trust whence men on men rely.

Hence in the place whereon all things repose, The narrowest circle and the seat of Dis,[385]

Each traitor's gulfed in everlasting woes.'

'Thy explanation, Master, as to this Is clear,' I said, 'and thou hast plainly told Who are the people stowed in the abyss.

But tell why those the muddy marshes hold, 70 The tempest-driven, those beaten by the rain, And such as, meeting, virulently scold, Are not within the crimson city ta'en For punishment, if hateful unto G.o.d; And, if not hateful, wherefore doomed to pain?'

And he to me: 'Why wander thus abroad, More than is wont, thy wits? or how engrossed Is now thy mind, and on what things bestowed?

Hast thou the memory of the pa.s.sage lost In which thy Ethics[386] for their subject treat 80 Of the three moods by Heaven abhorred the most-- Malice and b.e.s.t.i.a.lity complete; And how, compared with these, incontinence Offends G.o.d less, and lesser blame doth meet?

If of this doctrine thou extract the sense, And call to memory what people are Above, outside, in endless penitence, Why from these guilty they are sundered far Thou shalt discern, and why on them alight The strokes of justice in less angry war.' 90 'O Sun that clearest every troubled sight, So charmed am I by thy resolving speech, Doubt yields me joy no less than knowing right.

Therefore, I pray, a little backward reach,'