and more he said not. I answered him, "Ciacco, thy trouble so
weighs upon me, that it invites me to weeping; but tell me, if
thou canst, to what will come the citizens of the divided city;
if any one in it is just; and tell me the reason why such great
discord has assailed it."

[1] Ciacco, in popular speech, signifies a hog.


And he to me, "After long contention they will come to blood, and
the savage party will chase out the other with great injury.
Thereafter within three suns it behoves this to fall, and the
other to surmount through the force of one who even now is
tacking. It will hold high its front long time, keeping the other
under heavy burdens, however it may lament and be shamed thereat.
Two men are just, but there they are not heeded; Pride, Envy,
Avarice are the three sparks that have inflamed their hearts."[1]

Here he set end unto the lamentable sound.

[1] This prophecy relates to the dissensions and violence of the
parties of the Whites and the Blacks by which Florence was rent.
The "savage party" was that of the Whites, who were mainly
Ghibellines. The "one who even now is tacking" was the Pope,
Boniface VIII., who was playing fast and loose with both. Who the
"two just men" were is unknown.


And I to him, "Still I would that thou teach me, and that of more
speech thou make a gift to me. Farinata and the Tegghiaio who
were so worthy, Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and the Mosca, and the
rest who set their minds on well-doing, tell me where they are,
and cause that I may know them, for great desire constrains me to
learn if Heaven sweeten them, or Hell envenom.

And he, "They are among the blacker souls: a different sin weighs
them down to the bottom; if thou so far descendest, thou canst
see them. But when thou shalt be in the sweet world I pray thee
that thou bring me to the memory of others. More I say not to
thee, and more I answer thee not." His straight eyes he twisted
then awry, looked at me a little, and then bent his head, and
fell with it level with the other blind.

And the Leader said to me, "He wakes no more this side the sound
of the angelic trump. When the hostile Sovereign shall come, each
one will find again his dismal tomb, will take again his flesh
and his shape, will hear that which through eternity reechoes."

Thus we passed along with slow steps through the foul mixture of
the shades and of the rain, touching a little on the future life.
Wherefore I said, "Master, these torments will they increase
after the great sentence, or will they become less, or will they
be just as burning?" And he to me, "Return to thy science, which
declares that the more perfect a thing is the more it feels the
good, and so the pain. Though this accursed people never can
attain to true perfection, it expects thereafter to be more than
now."

We took a circling course along that road, speaking far more than
I repeat; and came to the point where the descent is. Here we
found Pluto,[1] the great enemy.

[1] Pluto appears here not as Hades, the god of the lower world,
but in his character as the giver of wealth.



CANTO VII. The Fourth Circle, that of the Avaricious and the
Prodigal.--Pluto.--Fortune.--The Styx.--The Fifth Circle, that of
the Wrathful and the Sullen.

"Pape Satan, pape Satan aleppe,"--began Pluto with his clucking
voice. And that gentle Sage, who knew everything, said to comfort
me, "Let not thy fear hurt thee; for whatso power he have shall
not take from thee the descent of this rock." Then he turned to
that swollen lip and said, "Be silent, accursed wolf! inwardly
consume thyself with thine own rage: not without cause is this
going to the abyss; it is willed on high, there where Michael did
vengeance on the proud adultery."[1] As sails swollen by the wind
fall in a heap when the mast snaps, so fell to earth the cruel
beast.

[1] Adultery, in the sense of infidelity to God.


Thus we descended into the fourth hollow, taking more of the
woeful bank that gathers in the evil of the whole universe. Ah,
Justice of God! Who heapeth up so many new travails and penalties
as I saw? And why doth our sin so waste us? As doth the wave,
yonder upon Charybdis, which is broken on that which it
encounters, so it behoves that here the people counterdance.

Here saw I people more than elsewhere many, and from one side and
the other with great howls rolling weights by force of chest.
They struck against each other, and then just there each turned,
rolling backward, crying, "Why keepest thou?" and "Why flingest
thou away?" Thus they turned through the dark circle on either
hand to the opposite point, still crying out their opprobrious
verse; then each, when he had come through his half circle,
wheeled round to the other joust.


<< previous page | next page >>

Jump to page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 |