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    Dante's Inferno [translated]: Modern English Translation
    Dante's Inferno [translated]: Modern English Translation
    Dante's Inferno [translated]: Modern English Translation
    Ebook312 pages3 hours

    Dante's Inferno [translated]: Modern English Translation

    By Dante Alighieri

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    About this ebook

    Most English translations of INFERNO are full of colorful, but meaningless language based on today's modern standards. Some translations are so elaborate that they are as difficult to read as the original Italian version. This translation uses the Longfellow translation as a base, but replaces the obscure or antiquated verbiage with the language of Modern English. This translation could easily be read and understood by today's reader. Adding the illustrations by Gustave Dore brings this classic work to life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateJul 21, 2014
    ISBN9781483533919
    Dante's Inferno [translated]: Modern English Translation
    Author

    Dante Alighieri

    Dante Alighieri (Florencia, 1265 – Rávena, 1321), político, diplomático y poeta. En 1302 tuvo que exiliarse de su patria y ciudad natal, y a partir de entonces se vio obligado a procurarse moradas y protectores provisionales, razón por la cual mantener el prestigio que le había procurado su Vida nueva (c. 1294) era de vital importancia. La Comedia, en la que trabajó hasta el final de su vida, fue la consecuencia de ese propósito, y con los siglos se convirtió en una de las obras fundamentales de la literatura europea. Además de su obra poética, Dante escribió tratados políticos, filosóficos y literarios, como Convivio, De vulgari eloquentiao y De Monarchia.

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    Reviews for Dante's Inferno [translated]

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    • 4/5
      A handsome book, but a clunky and awkward translation.
    • 5/5
      Dante's journey through Hell ranks in my top 5 favorite books. I especially like this translation, as it keeps the language modern enough to be readable, but is still beautiful. Also, there are plenty of foot and end notes to explain middle age-phrases and historical references many people may not be familiar with.
    • 4/5
      I'm not a religious man in the least, but - like the great works of Classical composers, or the Sistine Chapel - that's hardly a consideration when reading a soaring work of near-ancient literature. Esolen's translation is marvellous, attempting to keep rhyme, meter and meaning in check, without ever sacrificing beauty. What results is a work of epic poetry which, while adhering to rules, is more than happy to flaunt them when necessary. Dante's vision is quite clever, and - although you will need copious notes at times to understand the medieval Italian history references - a sublimely beautiful piece.
    • 2/5
      Stick with the original, this is "clever" yet not "readable."
    • 4/5
      This is my first exposure to Dante's writing. I was looking for poetry by a different author when I came across this translation. When I saw the narrator, I decided it was time to read/hear some Dante :)

      Dante sure thought a lot of himself! Good grief, even when he's singing the praises of some denizen of limbo, he's doing so in the context of being the vehicle of their remembrance among the living. You've probably heard the idiom, "damning with faint praise." Over and over, Dante praises himself with faint condemnation. No, Dante, it's not actually all that terrible that you trembled with fear while faced with the horrors of the pit.

      I want to read an annotated translation of The Inferno. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure he was mocking and calling out some of his contemporaries, as well as commenting on figures from the past.

      Most of the work came from describing and talking to the denizens of the various neighborhood of perdition, but he didn't stint on describing the environs. He readily sketched the horrific backdrops to his interactions, giving just enough detail to be clear, but leaving space for the imagination to fill in the unmentioned horrors. This is not at all bedtime listening.

      I seemed to sense some negative commentary on Church doctrine, but I'm not sure if that was in the text, or if that came from my 20th/21st century perspective. For instance, he lamented the number of people, even great and good people, condemned to Limbo simply because they lived before the establishment of Christianity. To my ear, that's a reason to question the church - but to Dante it may have been just another thing that was and didn't need to be questioned.
    • 4/5
      I liked this classic poem more than I expected. I may have lucked out with the translation, but I found the Inferno much easier to read than the excerpts I remember from my high school textbook. I also had the added context of having taken several classes on Florentine history in college, and I could spot a few of the cultural references Dante makes. Overall, this made for much richer reading than I expected and I'm tempted to picked up the next two books in the Divine Comedy.
    • 2/5
      I have finally read the Inferno and if I am going to be honest, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. Not being a student of Italian literature and having read Clive James' English translation there was probably a lot I was missing, in the original, but I found that it was really just a horror story with the added s pice of the author being able to denigrate persons he didn't like. All this would have been extremely entertaining at the time when the names were topical, but I do not understand why it is considered such a classic. It was just a litany of various types of physical torture with no overarching point that I could see, except to list all that horror.
    • 5/5
      I have not read a huge number of translations of Dante, but of the one's that I've read Musa's is by far the best. Extremely readable but also quite complex. I would recommend this translation to anyone.
    • 4/5
      Dante's Inferno is the first part of an epic poem that rivals other greats like Ovid's Metamorphosis and Homer's Illiad and Odyssey. As one reads Dante, they must keep in mind that he was stifled politically. It has been said that without a proper avenue to voice his political distaste, Dante constructed his seven levels of Hell. Each level represents an action and it's subsequent punishment. At times the poem can become tedious and hard to follow, but there's a large amount of very memorable sequences that make this one of the greatest pieces of writing constructed.
    • 3/5
      I wanted to like this, but in the end it just got very repetitive and preachy to me. There was certainly some great symbols and imagery and the weird obsession with numerology was interesting but this semi-casual semi-academic reader could not be bothered to dig into all of the abstruse Italian references to by-gone politics family feuds etc... In some sense Dante's hubris annoyed me as well. Placing himself in his own epic, chatting it up with the greatest poets of the time etc... I know that a story is not the author but when the author directly inserts himself into that story, I don't know what I'm really to make of that.
    • 4/5
      I must admit I read this because of a class however I really enjoyed itThis is not a light reading it is dry and slow at times but I felt it was very interesting when you read it and connect it to other global ideas such as politics and religion
    • 5/5
      I've read this book, the first of three, in French, when I was 25, and I immediately was swept away by its poetic force, its classical symmetrical construction and its sharp and benign view on the human condition. Brilliantly composed. Each canto tells the story of several prominent historical persons, set in breathtaking landscapes. Tragedy is all around, sometimes with a comical touch, but almost always compassionate. The filosofical and theological dimensions are less prominent than in book II and III. I've reread this book in Dutch (both prose and lyrical translation) and in the original Italian. An everlasting treasure.
    • 4/5
      The primary virtue of the Oxford / Sinclair edition is the parallel text, which means that you can both appreciate the beauty of Dante's original, and make sure that you miss none of the finer points by following the English translation. Each canto has its own introduction and endnotes, which means that important contextual information is always at hand. Inferno is for me by far the most engaging cantica, as Dante creates ever more imaginative tortures for the souls condemned to each circle of Hell. An absolute classic.
    • 4/5
      I hate Shakespeare so I didn't think I'd like this, but I did. Really cool, every scene became real in my head, the black and white, cartoon version at least. The craziest part -- hell is real, to Dante and all the Catholics who read it when it was first published. How horrifying for them. Next time my grandmother wants me to go to mass with her, I'll go. He's a beautiful writer, and so modern but I don't know if thats just the English translation. Interesting perspectives on sin. It's like he knows to sin is a natural part of being human, which I keep forgetting. I hate to read those little summaries they give you because I want to read it the same way people have been for hundreds of years. He sort of invented hell, or he really saw it. The world was much more spiritual back then so to be honest I wouldn't rule it out. Maybe he saw all this in a dream. I don't know if I completely got this book but I'm just gonna keep reading it until I do. It's better if you don't read others' explanations of books like these, I think, because it is better to read it how people have always read it, and you can preserve your original reactions, based on your personal background in religion, nationality, language, faith, and sin. Maybe you think you belong in hell, maybe you think you belong in heaven, or maybe you don't believe in either or God or maybe you have your own definition of purgatory, and this will change the way we all feel about what Dante describes.
    • 1/5
      If you like reading about people boiled in a river of blood, forever immersed in shit, having their heads on backwards, split down the middle, beheaded, suffering eternal disease and itching, being frozen in ice, or lastly for those in the innermost circle of hell, you know, bad old Judas and Brutus, chewed by Satan himself (as well as in the other circles a myriad of other tortures, er, “just” punishments for sins on Earth per the Christian view of morality), well, this is the book for you! To me this book represents the worst of Christianity: eternal torment, eternal torture, and no mercy. It’s all cruel retribution, without pity. I fail to see how these sentiments are Christ-like even within the dogma of the religion, and I fail to see why anyone would ever view this as representative of an enlightened faith that should be aspired to. If you are inclined to read it this is a great edition – lots of annotation, illustrations, and a fresh translation … but I don’t recommend it.
    • 4/5
      It's interesting but I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. The morality seems rather heavy-handed, maybe I'm not digging deep enough into it.
    • 3/5
      Dieser Klassiker birgt so einige schöne, vielfältige und wundervolle Zitate, doch es ist kein einfaches Lesen. Oft fehlt dem modernen Leser das Wissen, um alle genannten Personen einordnen zu können. Dieser Mangel ist vermutlich dafür verantwortlich dafür, dass das Buch zwischen den Zitaten eher als Probe dient, wie gewillt man ist, sich durch seitenweise Verse durchzukämpfen. Leider geht darin die Schönheit und die Metaphorik des Textes für mich verloren. Vermutlich müsste man sich jeden Vers einzeln vornehmen, um das Werk wirklich zu verstehen.
    • 3/5
      On my trip to Italy I was able to re-read Dante's Inferno. I was struck by how he cleverly inserts his enemies and contemporary villains into the epic. Also, I cannot help but wonder if the ingenious torments he comes up for each sin are original with Dante. Of course, I love it that Dante doesn't hesitate to place Popes in various circles of Hell. The way he and Virgil have to dodge demons makes the trip an exciting adventure. I must admit I fully enjoyed this version by Charles Eliot Norton with the explanatory notes. I did want to add ...Fierce rivalries often split the dominant faction. So in 1302 the “Black” Guelfs, in alliance with Pope Boniface VIII, succeeded in expelling the “Whites.” Among the White Guelfs at this time was Dante (1265–1321), who had held public office. Doomed to spend the rest of his life in exile, he wrote the Divine Comedy while in exile. So, Dante puts Popes Nicholas, Boniface and Clement in the 8th and 9th circles of hell for fraud. Boniface is Dante's number one foe.
    • 3/5
      This was the most difficult book to understand i have ever read do to so many old local events and characters in it. It was hell but I am glad i got through it. it felt like an acomplishment
    • 5/5
      The four and 1/2 stars is for the translation, not the work itself which is a five star world masterpiece. Although Dante can drag here and there in his philosophical asides, no other artist has attempted to do what Dante has done in this work: take an almost universally held belief-in this case the afterlife, and more specifically here, hell, and completely realize it. In fact, his hell was so convincing that for many people it STILL is what they believe hell to be. Ciardi's translation is a good one and one that is used in schools; however, it does not keep the terza rima rhyme scheme, and its explanations and notes are not the best. I personally think Dorothy Sayer's translation is better.
    • 5/5
      It should not be surprising to hear me refer to Dante's Commedia as the greatest piece of literature ever written. This is a work that can never be read too many times and should never be read only once. Inferno is the first and most iconic piece of Dante's trilogy since it is set in Hell (which is surprisingly appealing to many people...). However, its depth far succeeds Hell's reaches and calls for a very conscientious approach to be grasped in any significant way. The Hollanders' translation I highly recommend when reading the book for a second or third time, otherwise one might easily become lost in Robert Hollander's lengthy (but interesting!) commentary.
    • 4/5
      I'd never read this, though references to it abound in countless books, movies, etc. I found the translation (having not even the slightest knowledge of Italian) very readable/accessible/beautiful in parts. Recommendation: if you want to find out the source of most of what we think about hell, go to hell...with Dante.
    • 5/5
      I find The Divine Comedy among the most amazing works I've ever read--despite that the work is essentially Christian Allegory and I'm an atheist. First and foremost for its structure. Recently I read Moby Dick and though it had powerful passages I found it self-indulgent and bloated and devoutly wished an editor had taken a hatchet to the numerous digressions. There is no such thing as digressions in Dante. I don't think I've ever read a more carefully crafted work. We visit three realms in three Canticas (Hell, Purgatory and Heaven) each of 33 cantos and in a terza rima verse in a triple rhyme scheme. Nothing is incidental or left to chance . That's not where the structure ends either. Hell has nine levels, it is an imaginary landscape worthy of Tolkien or Pratchett, both in large ways and small details. I found it fitting how Dante tied both sins and virtues to love--a sin was love misdirected or applied, and the lower you go in hell, the less love there is involved, until at the lowest reaches you find Satan and traitors encased in a lake of ice. Then there are all the striking phrases, plays of ideas and gorgeous imagery that comes through despite translations. This might be Christian Allegory, but unlike say John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress it's far from dry or tedious and is full of real life contemporaries of Dante and historical figures. There are also Dante's guides here. His Virgil is wonderful--and the perfect choice. The great Latin poet of the Aeneid leading the great Italian poet who made his Tuscan dialect the standard with his poetry. I've read the entire Divine Comedy but certainly Hell is what stays most vividly in my mind. I remember the people of Hell best. There's Virgil of course, who must remain in limbo for eternity because he wasn't a Christian. There's Francesca di Rimini and her lover, for their adultery forever condemned to be flung about in an eternal wind so that even Dante pities them. And that, of course, is the flip side of this. Dante's poem embodies the orthodox Roman Catholic Christianity of the 1300s and might give even Christians today pause. Even though I don't count myself a Christian, I get the appeal of hell. In fact, I can remember exactly when I understood it. When once upon a time I felt betrayed, and knew there was no recourse. The person involved would never get their comeuppance upon this Earth. How nice I thought, if there really was a God and a Hell to redress the balance. The virtue of any Hell therefore is justice. These are the words Dante tells us are at hell's entrance.THROUGH ME THE WAY INTO THE SUFFERING CITY,THROUGH ME THE WAY TO THE ETERNAL PAIN,THROUGH ME THE WAY THAT RUNS AMONG THE LOST. JUSTICE URGED ON MY HIGH ARTIFICER;MY MAKER WAS DIVINE AUTHORITY,THE HIGHEST WISDOM, AND THE PRIMAL LOVE. BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGSWERE MADE, AND I ENDURE ETERNALLY.ABANDON EVERY HOPE, WHO ENTER HERE.It's hard to see Dante's vision matching the orthodox doctrine as just however, even when I might agree a particular transgression deserves punishment. Never mind the virtuous and good in limbo because they weren't Christians or unbaptized or in hell because they committed suicide or were homosexual. And poor Cassio and Brutus, condemned to the lowest circle because they conspired to kill a tyrant who was destroying their republic. My biggest problem with hell is that it is eternal. Take all the worst tyrants who murdered millions, make them suffer not only the length of the lifetimes of their victims but all the years they might have had, I doubt if you add it up it comes to the age of the Earth--never mind eternity. Justice taken to extremes is not justice--it's vindictiveness and sadism. Something impossible for me to equate with "the primal love." Yet I loved this work so much upon my first read (I read the Dorothy Sayers translation) I went out and bought two other versions. One by Allen Mandelbaum (primarily because it was a dual language book with the Italian on one page facing the English translation) and a hardcover version translated by Charles Eliot Norton. Finally, before writing up my review and inspired by Matthew Pearl's The Dante Club, I got reacquainted by finding Longfellow's translation online. Of all of them, I greatly prefer Mandelbaum's translation. The others try to keep the rhyming and rhythm of the original and this means a sometimes tortured syntax and use of archaic words and the result is forced and often obscure, making the work much harder to read than it should be.
    • 3/5
      Approached through lots and lots of footnotes (how else can you read a 14th century Italian poet?) I felt I couldn’t really judge the poetry because of the translation issue. Dante imagined a place of eternal torments based on the teachings of his church, and peopled it with 14th century Florentines and ancient Greeks. Judgemental, narrow in historical approach and doctrinally cringe-worthy.
    • 1/5
      I read this when I was 13 or 14, and I really didn't like it. The only reason I got to finish this was because the required us to read it and pass a book report. The reason for my disapproval for this book is partly because I do not believe in Hell (yes I believe in Heaven but in Hell, hell no!). The second reason is because I'm not the least attracted to Dante's writing style.
    • 5/5
      The best description of Hell ever.
    • 5/5
      Poetry like this touches your soul Dante was a lot like Mozart a daring rebel and a genius
    • 5/5
      "In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself in a dark wood, having lost the straight path."With the famous words above Dante begins The Inferno, the first section of his Divine Comedy. Rereading this poem reminded me of the greatness of Dante's creation. As T. S. Eliot observed, "Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them, there is no third."("Dante" in Selected Essays of T. S. Eliot) While I would add Proust as a third, whether you agree with Eliot or not, Dante is magnificent in his ability to imagine the breadth and depth of humanity. In the Inferno the details are impressed on the reader through Dante's exceptional visual poetry. Whether the translation maintains the terza rima or not this comes through. Thus the poetry is relatively easy to read even though many of the allusions may escape the average reader. One gains from rereading the opportunity to deepen the understanding of the allusions and the images, the symbols and the subtle nuances of meaning that make this poem great. Further discussion with a group of serious readers adds to one's understanding, especially for a non-Catholic like myself.I look forward to further reading of Dante, for just as with other great books this one continues to yield new treasures.
    • 5/5
      To fully understand and fall in love with this trilogy, you really need to get a copy that explains who the people are and why Dante hates or admires them. This book changed the way I read books, and made me want to read more classic literature. The depictions of Hell are amazingly vivid, with your imagination filling in any gaps. Horror fans will love this book. Inferno is the easiest of the three poems to read, getting to near impossible with the final, Paradise. This trilogy makes me want to learn Italian, purely so I can read it in its full glory.M
    • 5/5
      Even though I'm not very big on religion, this is one of my favorite trilogies. I love the descriptions he gives of hell and heaven. They're very believable and made me picture them in a different way.

    Book preview

    Dante's Inferno [translated] - Dante Alighieri

    INFERNO: CANTO I - THE FOREST

    Midway through the journey of my life

    I found myself lost in a dark forest,

    Having wandered off the main path.

    It is hard for me to express in words

    How savage, rough, and stern this forest was to me.

    The very thought of it renews my fear.

    It was so bitter that death could not be worse;

    But in order to show you the good that I eventually found,

    I must first tell you of the other things I saw.

    I cannot remember how I entered the forest,

    My thoughts were full of other things

    When I wandered off the path.

    But then I had reached the foot of a mountain,

    At the point where the forest came to an end.

    Until that time, I felt lost, and my heart was full of fear.

    Then I looked up, and I saw its crest,

    Already bathed in the rays of the sun

    Which had lead many others to the right path.

    Then my fear was calmed a little

    And my heart was feeling stronger, having survived

    The night, which I had passed so piteously.

    And even as a man, who, with labored breathing,

    Crawls out of the sea and onto the shore,

    Will turn to look back at the perilous water;

    My soul, still fleeing from fear,

    Turned back to look at the pass

    Which no living person had ever left.

    After I rested my weary body,

    I resumed my journey along the mountain path,

    So narrow, that one foot was always lower on the slope.

    As soon as I started to climb, I saw

    A panther light and swift,

    Covered in her spotted skin!

    She never moved from my sight,

    And many times blocked my way,

    So that I had to turn off the path to retreat.

    It was still early in the morning,

    And the sun was rising, joining the last stars

    That were with him in the sky, since time had first begun

    When these wondrous things were first set in motion;

    So, I took all of these as a sign of good luck.

    The variegated skin of that wild beast,

    The early morning sun, and the joyous season;

    I was able to push my fear aside

    Until a lion appeared in front of me.

    He seemed as if he would charge at me

    With his head uplifted, and his hunger deep.

    Even the air on the mountain seemed afraid of him;

    Then a she-wolf appeared, that was long and lean.

    She seemed to be consumed in her greediness,

    That had caused many folks to live in fear!

    She made me feel so heavy in my heart,

    With the fear that came by just looking at her,

    That I relinquished all hope of making it to the top.

    And like a man who acquires many things,

    But then a time comes when he loses them,

    He weeps and becomes despondent over his loss.

    This is how I felt while being pressed by this relentless beast,

    And, coming towards me, closer and closer, step by step

    She moved me backward away from the sun.

    I turned and began to run to the bottom of the path,

    When suddenly, someone appeared in front of me,

    Who seemed hoarse from a long-continued silence.

    When I saw him standing alone in the vast desert,

    I cried out to him. "Have pity on me, whatever you are,

    Spirit or real man!" He answered me:

    "What am I?; Once I was a man,

    With parents from Lombardy,

    They were Mantuans both of them.

    I was born in the last days of the reign of Julius,

    And lived in Rome under good Augustus,

    During the time of false and lying gods.

    I was a poet, and I sang of that just

    Son of Anchises, who came out from Troy,

    After the city of Ilion was burned.

    But you, why are you going back to your miserable life?

    Why don't you climb to the top of the mountain,

    Which holds the source and cause of every great joy?"

    "Are you Virgil? That prolific poet

    Who has spread a river of speech so broad and wide?"

    I blushed and turned away from him.

    "Of all the poets great and small,

    It was your works I studied most and loved best.

    I spent many days exploring your verses!

    You are my master, and you are my sage,

    You, alone, are the one from whom I took

    The beautiful style that now honors me.

    See that beast? That is why I turned back;

    Please protect me from her, famous Sage,

    For she makes my heart race and my blood cold."

    It behooves you to take another road,

    He responded, when he saw how frightened I was,

    "If you wish to leave this savage place;

    Because this beast, which you fear so much,

    Will not allow anyone to pass this way,

    And she will harass him, till she destroys him;

    She has a nature so ruthless and cruel,

    That she never satisfies her greed,

    And after eating food is even hungrier than before.

    She mates with many animals, and there will be

    Many more, until the Hound comes, who will finally

    Make her perish in her own pain.

    He will not feed on either earth or wealth,

    But upon wisdom, and virtue and love;

    His nation will be between Feltro and Feltro;

    He will be the savior of all of Italy,

    On whose account the maid Camilla died,

    As did Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds;

    Through every city he will hunt her down,

    Until he has sent her back to Hell,

    The place where envy first let her loose.

    Therefore I think it best for you

    To follow me, and I will be your guide,

    And will lead you through the eternal place,

    Where you will hear the desperate cries of woe.

    You Will see the inconsolable ancient souls,

    Who cry out for a second death;

    And you will see those who are content

    Within the fire, because they hope to come,

    Whenever it may be, to blessed peace;

    At that time, if you still want to ascend to Heaven,

    A soul, more worthy than me, must take you there;

    And I will give you to her when I leave;

    You see, the Emperor, who reigns above,

    Because I was rebellious to his law,

    Will not allow anyone to come to his city through me.

    He governs everywhere, but he rules from there;

    There is his city and his lofty throne;

    And joyous are the ones that he selects!"

    And I said to him: "Poet, I beg you,

    By that same God whom you never knew,

    So that I may escape this woe and worse,

    Please take me to that glorious place,

    So that I can see the gates of Saint Peter,

    And also those whose anguish you have told me of."

    He nodded and then moved on, and I followed behind him.

    INFERNO: CANTO II - PLEA FOR VIRGIL'S HELP

    The sun was setting, and the darkened sky

    Released the other Earthly animals

    From their daily toils; and I alone

    Made myself ready to sustain the war,

    Both of the way and of the woe,

    Which I will, from memory, retrace as best I can.

    O Muses, O high genius, now assist me!

    O memory, that wrote down what I saw,

    Here your accuracy shall be revealed!

    And I began: "Poet, who guides me,

    Look into my soul, see if it is strong enough,

    For the arduous path you place me on.

    You once said, that Silvius the parent,

    While yet corruptible, went to the world

    Of the Immortal, and was there bodily.

    But the adversary of all evil

    Was courteous to him, knowing who he was

    And what would become of him,

    This, to thoughtful men, seems fitting for him;

    For he was from great Rome, and from her empire

    The leaders of the church of Heaven would rule;

    Going everywhere, speaking only the truth,

    He established the holy place, where

    The Popes, the successors of the great Peter, sit.

    Upon this journey, which you have written,

    Aeneas learned many things that would bring about

    Both his victory and the papal throne.

    And later came the Chosen Vessel, Paul,

    Who brought comfort to that Faith,

    Which is the beginning of salvation's way.

    But why was I chosen to come, and who allows it?

    I am not Aeneas, I am not Paul,

    Not I, nor others, think me worthy of it.

    Therefore, if I resign myself to come,

    I fear that coming may be ill-advised;

    You are wise, and know what I am saying."

    And as a man, who unwishes what he once wished,

    And by new thoughts does his intention change,

    So that from his original plan he withdraws,

    Such I became, upon that dark hillside,

    Because, in thinking, I understood the journey,

    Which seemed so simple in the beginning.

    If I understand what you are saying,

    Replied the ghost of Virgil,

    "Your soul is filled with cowardice,

    So many times a man's thoughts will waver,

    That it turns him back from honored paths,

    As false sight turns a beast, when he is afraid.

    So you can be free from this apprehension,

    I'll tell you why I came, and what I heard

    At the first moment when I grieved for you.

    I was among those who are in limbo,

    And a fair, saintly Lady called to me

    In such a way, I asked her to command me.

    Her eyes where shining brighter than the stars;

    And she began to say, gentle and low,

    With a voice angelic, in her own language:

    'O courteous spirit of Mantua,

    Of whose fame still endures in the world,

    And shall endure, as long as the world endures;

    A friend of mine, but not a fortunate friend,

    Is so impeded on the desert slope, that he has

    Turned from his path because he is afraid,

    And may, I fear, already be so lost,

    From what I have heard of him in Heaven,

    That I have risen to his aid too late.

    Please go now, and with your ornate speech,

    Say what he needs to hear for his release,

    Assist him please, that I may be consoled.

    Beatrice am I, who asks you to go;

    I come from Heaven, where I must return;

    Love moved me and compelled me to speak.

    When I am in the presence of my Lord,

    Every time will I praise you to him.'

    Then she paused, and thereafter I began:

    '0 Lady of virtue, through you alone

    The human race exceeds all things contained

    In heaven and Earth and all places in between.

    So grateful am I to obey your commandment,

    That if it were already done, it would be too late;

    You need not ask me again.

    But tell me why you chose to make this journey

    Descending down from heaven into this place,

    And leaving there, where you so wish to return.'

    'Since you have asked, briefly will I tell you,'

    She answered me,

    'Why am I not afraid to enter here?

    One should only be afraid of those things

    Which have the power of doing others harm;

    For the rest, fear not; because they are not fearful.

    God in his mercy has created me

    So that your misery affects me not,

    Nor any flame assails me of this burning.

    The Virgin Mary is in Heaven, and grieves

    At this impediment, to which I send you,

    Such

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