Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Inferno–Canto 1

inferno 1
 

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When I had journeyed half of our life's way,

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I found myself within a shadowed forest,

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for I had lost the path that does not stray.

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Ah, it is hard to speak of what it was,

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that savage forest, dense and difficult,

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which even in recall renews my fear:

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so bitter death is hardly more severe!

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But to retell the good discovered there,

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I'll also tell the other things I saw.

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I cannot clearly say how I had entered

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the wood; I was so full of sleep just at

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the point where I abandoned the true path.

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But when I'd reached the bottom of a hill

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it rose along the boundary of the valley

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that had harassed my heart with so much fear

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I looked on high and saw its shoulders clothed

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already by the rays of that same planet

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which serves to lead men straight along all roads.

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At this my fear was somewhat quieted;

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for through the night of sorrow I had spent,

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the lake within my heart felt terror present.

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And just as he who, with exhausted breath,

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having escaped from sea to shore, turns back

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to watch the dangerous waters he has quit,

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so did my spirit, still a fugitive,

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turn back to look intently at the pass

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that never has let any man survive.

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I let my tired body rest awhile.

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Moving again, I tried the lonely slope

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my firm foot always was the one below.

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And almost where the hillside starts to rise

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look there!-a leopard, very quick and lithe,

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a leopard covered with a spotted hide.

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He did not disappear from sight, but stayed;

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indeed, he so impeded my ascent

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that I had often to turn back again.

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The time was the beginning of the morning;

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the sun was rising now in fellowship

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with the same stars that had escorted it

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when Divine Love first moved those things of beauty;

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so that the hour and the gentle season

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gave me good cause for hopefulness on seeing

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that beast before me with his speckled skin;

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but hope was hardly able to prevent

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the fear I felt when I beheld a lion.

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His head held high and ravenous with hunger

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even the air around him seemed to shudder

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this lion seemed to make his way against me.

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And then a she-wolf showed herself; she seemed

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to carry every craving in her leanness;

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she had already brought despair to many.

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The very sight of her so weighted me

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with fearfulness that I abandoned hope

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of ever climbing up that mountain slope.

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Even as he who glories while he gains

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will, when the time has come to tally loss,

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lament with every thought and turn despondent,

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so was I when I faced that restless beast

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which, even as she stalked me, step by step

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had thrust me back to where the sun is speechless.

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While I retreated down to lower ground,

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before my eyes there suddenly appeared

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one who seemed faint because of the long silence.

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When I saw him in that vast wilderness,

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Have pity on me, were the words I cried

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whatever you may be a shade, a man.

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He answered me: Not man; I once was man.

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Both of my parents came from Lombardy,

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and both claimed Mantua as native city.

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And I was born, though late, sub Julio, and

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lived in Rome under the good Augustus the

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season of the false and lying gods.

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I was a poet, and I sang the righteous

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son of Anchises who had come from

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Troy when flames destroyed the pride of Ilium.

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But why do you return to wretchedness?

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Why not climb up the mountain of delight,

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the origin and cause of every joy?

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And are you then that Virgil, you the fountain

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that freely pours so rich a stream of speech? I

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answered him with shame upon my brow.

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O light and honor of all other poets, may my

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long study and the intense love that made me

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search your volume serve me now.

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You are my master and my author, you

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the only one from whom my writing drew the

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noble style for which I have been honored.

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You see the beast that made me turn aside;

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help me, o famous sage, to stand against her, for

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she has made my blood and pulses shudder.

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It is another path that you must take,

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he answered when he saw my tearfulness,

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if you would leave this savage wilderness;

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the beast that is the cause of your outcry

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allows no man to pass along her track, but

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blocks him even to the point of death;

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her nature is so squalid, so malicious

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that she can never sate her greedy will;

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when she has fed, she's hungrier than ever.

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She mates with many living souls and shall

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yet mate with many more, until the Greyhound

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arrives, inflicting painful death on her.

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That Hound will never feed on land or pewter,

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but find his fare in wisdom, love, and virtue; his

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place of birth shall be between two felts.

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He will restore low-lying Italy for which

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the maid Camilla died of wounds, and

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Nisus, Turnus, and Euryalus.

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And he will hunt that beast through every city

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until he thrusts her back again to Hell from

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which she was first sent above by envy.

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Therefore, I think and judge it best for you

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to follow me, and I shall guide you, taking

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you from this place through an eternal place,

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where you shall hear the howls of desperation

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and see the ancient spirits in their pain, as each

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of them laments his second death;

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and you shall see those souls who are content

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within the fire, for they hope to reach

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whenever that may be the blessed people.

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If you would then ascend as high as these,

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a soul more worthy than I am will guide

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you I'll leave you in her care when I depart,

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because that Emperor who reigns above,

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since I have been rebellious to His law,

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will not allow me entry to His city.

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He governs everywhere, but rules from there;

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there is His city, His high capital: o happy

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those He chooses to be there!

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And I replied: O poet by that God whom

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you had never come to know I beg you, that I

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may flee this evil and worse evils,

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to lead me to the place of which you spoke,

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that I may see the gateway of Saint Peter and

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those whom you describe as sorrowful.

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Then he set out, and I moved on behind him.

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