Inferno
Canto IV
When the poet awakes he is on the farther side of Acheron and on the brink of the great Abyss. He descends with Virgil to the First Circle or Limbo, where are the souls of the unbaptised and of the virtuous heathen. Virgil describes the descent of Christ into Limbo. In a part which is more luminous they are greeted by Homer and other chief poets of antiquity; it is here that Virgil's own place is. Farther on is a noble castle, where are seen heroes and heroines of old, Aristotle, “the master of them that know,” and the philosophers, and other famous spirits.
Rumble of thunder upon my brain deep-drowsed
So shook the sleep that at the heavy sound
I started, like a man by force aroused.
And my now rested eyes casting around
I rose upright, with peering gaze intent
To know the place wherein myself I found.
True it is, I stood on the edge of the descent
Where the hollow of the gulf out of despair
Amasses thunder of infinite lament.
Sombre, profound, and brimmed with vaporous air [10]
It was, so that I, seeking to pierce through
To the very bottom, could see nothing there.
“Let us go down to the blind world below,”
Began the Poet, on a sudden pale.
“I shall be first, and thou behind me go.”
And I, who had marked his colour so to quail,
Said: “How shall I come where thou losest cheer
Who art wont over my falterings to prevail?”
And he to me: “The misery that is here,
Down among this folk, maketh my face wan [20]
With pity, which thine eyes mistake for fear.
Descend we: the long way constrains us on.”
So he entered, and he made me enter too,
On the first circle that the abyss doth zone.
Here was no sound that the ear could catch of rue,
Save only of sighs, that still as they complain
Make the eternal air tremble anew.
And this rose from the sorrow, unracked by pain,
That was in the great multitude below
Of children and of women and of mien. [30]
The good Master to me: “Wouldst thou not know
What spirits are these thou seest and hearest grieve?
Td have thee learn before thou farther go,
These sinned not: but the merit that they achieve[i]34. “These sinned not”: Virgil will not have Dante suppose for a moment that his companions in Limbus have been evildoers.
Helps not, since baptism was not theirs, the gate
Of that faith, which was given thee to believe.
And if ere Christ they came, untimely in date,
They worshipped not with right experience;
And I myself am numbered in their state.
For such defect and for no other offence [40]
We are lost, and only in so far amerced
That without hope we languish in suspense.”
I, when I heard this, to the heart was pierced,
Because I knew men to much virtue bred
Whose spirits in that Limbo were athirst.
“Tell me, my Master, tell me, Sir!” I said,[ii]46-48. As soon as Dante learns that Virgil’s soul dwells in Limbus, he is eager to receive from this witness corroboration of the doctrine of the descent of Christ into Hell.
Seized with a longing wholly to be assured
Of that faith wherein error cannot tread,
“Did ever any of those herein immured
By his own or other’s merit to bliss get free?” [50]
And he, aware what meant my covert word,
Answered: “I was yet new in this degree[iii]52. “I was yet new . . .”: Virgil died in the year 19 B.C.
When I saw one in power crowned appear[iv]53. “I saw one . . . appear”: Christ, who is never named in the Inferno.—“Crowned”: doubtless a cruciform nimbus. After the crucifixion Christ went down into Hell, and took from Limbus the souls of the worthy people of the Old Testament.
On whom the signs of victory were to see.
He took from us the shade of our first sire;[v]55. “Our first sire” is Adam.
Of his son Abel, and Noah of that same seed;
Moses, the obedient and the law-giver;
The patriarch, Abraham, and the King, David;
Israel with his father and with his sons;[vi]59. “Israel”: Jacob; “his father”: Isaac; “his sons”: his twelve children.
Rachel also, to win whom so much he did; [60][vii]60. To win Rachel, Jacob served Laban twice seven years: Gen. 29:18-28.
And many another; and made them blessed ones;
And I would have thee know that, before these,
There has been no human soul that he atones.”[viii]63. Before the descent of Christ all human souls went, if bad, to Hell; if good, to Limbus. Since that time Christian souls penitent at the moment of death have gone to Purgatory.
We ceased not to go on by slow degrees,
Though he spoke still, and past the wood had come,
The wood I mean of spirits thick like trees,
And, since my slumber, had not advanced therefrom
Far, when a radiant glow beyond us shone
Which overcame a hemisphere of gloom.
A little distance from us it lay on, [70]
Yet not so much but that I saw in part
What honourable folk that place had won.
“O thou that honourest Science and Art,
Who are these that have such honour and acclaim
That it removes them from the rest apart?”
And he to me: “The glory of the name[ix]76-78. God allows the intelligence, by the good use of which they won such renown on earth, to remain with them in the other world.
Which sounds of them above in the earthly sphere
Gains favour of Heaven which thus promoteth them.”
Meanwhile a voice was sounding in my ear:[x]79. We are not told which of the spirits utters the greeting to Virgil.
“Honour ye all the great Poet: his shade [80]
That had departed, now again is here.”
After the voice had paused and silent stayed,
I saw four great shades come with one accord.
They had an aspect neither gay nor sad.
The good Master began to speak his word:
“On him who bears the sword thine eyes now cast,[xi]86. “On him who bears . . .”: Homer, who is depicted with a sword because he sang of arms.
Who comes before the others, as their lord.
He is Homer, who all poets hath surpassed.
The next who comes is Horace, satirist,
Ovid the third, and Lucan is the last. [90]
Because each nature doth with mine consist
Through that name which the one voice glorifies
They do me honour, and themselves not least.”
Thus came that noble school before mine eyes
Assembling round the lord of loftiest style
Who over the others like an eagle flies.
After they had talked together a little while,
They turned to me and welcoming signs displayed:
At which salute I saw my Master smile.
And yet more honour unto me they paid, [100]
For me into their band did they invite,
So that I a sixth amid such wisdom made.
Thus we went moving onwards toward the light
Speaking such things as here were better mute,
Though there to speak them was both meet and right.
Now came we to a Noble Castle’s foot,
With lofty walls seven times engirdled round,[xii]107. The “Noble Castle,” or the Palace of Wisdom, is surrounded by seven walls representing the four moral virtues (prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice) and the three intellectual virtues (understanding, knowledge, and wisdom).
And a fair rivulet moated it about.
This we passed over as it had been dry ground.
Through seven gates entering with those sages, lo! [110][xiii]110. The gates probably symbolise the seven liberal arts of the trivium (grammar; logic, rhetoric) and the quadrivium (music, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy), which afford access to knowledge.
A meadow of fresh verdure there I found.
On it were people with grave eyes and slow,
And great authority was in their mien.
They spoke seldom, with mild voices and low.
Thus we retired on one side that demesne
Into an open, luminous, high place,
So that they stood where they could all be seen.
There on the green enamel, face to face,
Were shown me the great spirits, so that I
Exalt myself to have enjoyed such grace. [120]
I saw Electra in a great company[xiv]121. Electra, daughter of Atlas, and mother of Dardanus who was the founder of Troy.
Among whom Hector and Aeneas were,
‘And armèd Caesar with the falcon eye.
I saw Camilla and Penthesilea there[xv]124. Camilla: a warrior maiden (cf. Inf., I, 108); Penthesilea: queen of the Amazons.
Over against them, and the Latian King;
Lavinia his daughter sitting near;[xvi]126-28. “Lavinia”: wife of Aeneas; “Brutus”: Lucius Junius Brutus, implacable foe of the Tarquins; “Lucrece”: Lucretia, wife of Collatinus; “Julia”: daughter of Caesar, wife of Pompey; “Marcia”: wife of Cato of Utica; “Cornelia”: mother of the Gracchi.
‘That Brutus who drove out the proud Tarquin;
Lucrece, Cornelia, Julia, Marcia, four
Together, and by himself the Saladin.[xvii]129. “Saladin,” the model of chivalry, was sultan of Egypt and Syria in the twelfth century. He is different in race and religion from those mentioned hitherto.
When I had raised my eyes a little more, [130]
I saw the Master of those who know: he sate
‘Amid the sons Philosophy to him bore.
All do him honour, all eyes on him wait.
Here I beheld Plato and Socrates
Who of all are nearest to his high estate.
Democritus, whose world blind Chance decrees;
Diogenes, Thales, Anaxagoras;[xviii]137. “Thales” was one of the seven wise men of Greece.
Zeno, Heraclitus, and Empedocles:
Him who was skilled the virtue of plants to class,
Dioscorides, I saw and Orpheus’ shade; [140][xix]140. Orpheus is considered as a philosopher.
Tully's and Linus’; moral Seneca’s;[xx]141. “Tully,” or Cicero, was one of the first philosophers that Dante studied. “Linus”: an imaginary Greek poet (other texts have “Livy,” the Roman historian, who also wrote philosophical works). “Seneca” the moralist was thought to be a different person from the dramatist.
Euclid, and Ptolemy, who the stars surveyed;[xxi]142. “Ptolemy,” the great geographer and astronomer of Alexandria, who lived in the second century B.C.
Hippocrates, Avicenna, and Galen,[xxii]143. “Hippocrates, Avicenna, and Galen”: three famous physicians of Greece, Turkestan, and Mysia.
Averroes also, who the Comment made.[xxiii]144. “Averroes”: a Spanish Moor of the twelfth century, was a celebrated scholar and philosopher. Having read the works of Aristotle in ancient Syriac translations, he composed three commentaries on them; one of these was followed by St. Thomas.
I may not portray all in the full scene,
Being hurried on so by the long theme’s care,
That oft the word comes short of the thing seen.
The band of six to two hath dwindled, where[xxiv]148. The company of six dwindles to two—Virgil and Dante.
By another road the sage Escort inclines
Out of the quiet into the trembling air. [150]
I come to a place where there is naught that shines.