Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy author. Read the book “The Divine Comedy” online in full - Dante Alighieri - MyBook. Encrypted biography: what can you learn about the poet by reading “Hell”

In his amazing, terrifying creation" The Divine Comedy"Dante Alighieri painted pictures of the punishments of sinners. The expression “9 circles of hell” received a vivid visualization, which undoubtedly had a strong effect on believers. And in our time, Dante’s work is studied and interpreted, because as long as religion continues to exist, punishments will continue to be relevant for transgressions before God. Our article is devoted to describing the circles of hell according to famous work. Let us imagine the unique picture that stretches before the eyes of the heroes of the Divine Comedy.

Generalized features of Hell according to Dante

Traveling through the terrible circles of hell, you can see a pattern. The first circles represent eternal punishments for intemperance during life. The further you go, the less material human sins are, that is, they affect the moral aspects of life. Accordingly, with each round the torture of sinners becomes more terrible. The way Dante presented the 9 circles of hell to readers causes a storm of emotions and, as we hope and what the ancient author hoped for, will warn people from bad deeds. Dante's pictorial representation of the geography of hell, naturally, was not the original information. The poet expressed the experience and theories of philosophers and scientist predecessors, describing the 9 circles of hell. According to the Bible, such a concept is expressed in seven levels that cleanse the souls of sinners.

Thus, Dante in his work relies on the centric structure of hell, where groups of circles are characterized by different severity of sins. As we have already noticed, the closer to the center, the more serious the sin.

Aristotle in his work “Ethics” classifies sins into categories: the first is intemperance, the second is violence against others and oneself, the third category is deception and betrayal.

Now we will embark on a journey through the world, where punishment reigns, and every offense is repaid in full - we begin to get acquainted with the circles of hell.

First lap. Limbo

In the first circle of hell, the suffering of sinners is painless. The punishment here is eternal sorrow, and it fell to the lot of those who were not baptized.

Thus, among the grieving souls on Limbo there are the righteous from (Noah, Abraham, Moses), ancient philosophers (including Virgil). The circle is guarded by Charon - the same carrier of souls through Next - about the interesting things that Dante's "Divine Comedy" contains, on other circles.

Circle two. Voluptuousness

In the second circle, created to punish those who are intemperate in love during life, sinners are guarded by the very father of the monster Minotaur. Here he also acts as a fair judge, distributing souls into appropriate circles.

There is constant darkness in this circle, in which a hurricane rages. The souls of those who cheated on their spouse are mercilessly thrown by the wind.

Circle three. Gluttony

In the third circle of hellish torment are those who were incontinent in food during their lifetime. The glutton is showered with cold rain, there is eternal mud underfoot.

A hellish dog with three heads, Cerberus, is assigned as guard to the gluttons. Those sinful souls that fall into his clutches, he gnaws. And we will continue to delve into how Dante presented the 9 circles of hell.

Circle four. Greed

On the next round, the punishments become even harsher. Here are the souls of those who were greedy in different areas life. The punishment looks like this: on a vast plain, two masses of souls push huge stones towards each other. When the lines collide, you have to separate again and start the work again.

Plutos, the wealth mentioned in Homer's Odyssey, stands guard over greedy sinners.

Circle five. Anger and laziness

The fifth circle is a wide swamp. Violent and lazy souls fight incessantly while swimming in swamp water. Phlegias, the founder of the Phlegian robbers, the son of Ares, was assigned as a guard to the circle of terrible punishments.

Circle six. False teachers and heretics

Anyone who preached other gods and misled peoples ended up in the seventh (according to Dante) circle of hell. In the Burning City are the souls of such sinners. There they suffer in open, hot, oven-like graves. They are guarding them scary monsters- mythical Fury sisters with snakes instead of hair. Between the sixth and next circles there is a fetid ditch demarcating it. Distant regions begin, where people are tortured for even more serious sins.

Seventh circle. Murderers and rapists

The 9 circles of hell presented by Dante continue with the seventh - a place where the souls of murderers of various types, including suicides and tyrants, are tormented.

The murderers and perpetrators of violence are in the middle of the steppe, over which a fiery rain is pouring. It scorches sinners, and here they are torn apart by dogs, caught and tortured by harpies. Even trees, forever standing helpless, are turned into murderers in the seventh circle of hell. The terrible mythical monster Minotaur watches over the souls regularly being tortured.

Circle eight. Deceived

Ahead of us are the most impressive of the 9 circles of hell. According to the Christian Bible, just like in other religions, deceivers are subject to one of the most severe punishments. So in Dante they got a place so destructive that only immortal souls can exist here.

The eighth circle represents the Sinisters - 10 ditches in which fortune-tellers and soothsayers, delinquent priests, hypocrites, sorcerers, false witnesses, and alchemists walk among the sewage. Sinners are boiled in tar, beaten with hooks, chained to rocks and their feet doused with fire. They are tormented by various reptiles and diseases. The giant Geryon stands guard here.

Circle nine, center. Traitors and Traitors

In the center of hell, according to Dante's poem, there is Lucifer frozen in the icy lake Cocytus. His face is turned down. He also tortures other famous traitors: Judas, Brutus, Cassius.

In the midst of the hellish cold, all the other betrayed souls are also tormented. They are guarded by the giant Antaeus, the traitor to the Spartans Ephialtes and the son of Uranus and Gaia of the Briares.

Conclusion

Finally, we have emerged from the hellish world created by Dante Alighieri. The “Divine Comedy,” the content of which we have thus covered, is a work that has come down to us through the centuries thanks to its ability to impress the minds of readers. The work is deservedly considered a classic and a must-read.

Now we know on what basis the legendary Dante created the 9 circles of hell, and what they are. Let us note once again that the pictures that appear before readers amaze with their scale and content: as if all of man’s fear of death was embodied in a single thought, expressed by the poem “The Divine Comedy”. If this book is not yet open in front of you, the 9 circles of hell are quite ready to accommodate your soul...

© Publishing House "E" LLC, 2017

Hell

Song one

The poet says that, having gotten lost in a dark, dense forest and encountering various obstacles to reach the top of the mountain, he was overtaken by Virgil. The latter promised to show him the torment of sinners in Hell and Purgatory and said that then Beatrice would show the poet the Paradise abode. The poet followed Virgil.

1 Once upon a time I was in my middle years
IN dense forest I went in and got lost.
The direct and correct trail was lost...

4 There are no words that I can use to decide
The forest is gloomy and gloomy to describe,
Where my brain froze and the secret horror lasted:

7 So even death cannot be frightening...
But in that forest, dressed in ominous darkness,
In the midst of horrors I found grace.

10 I found myself in a wild thicket; nowhere there
I couldn’t find it, I was in some kind of sleep,
A familiar path by all signs.

13 The desert was all around me,
Where my heart sank with involuntary horror.
I saw in front of me later

16 The foot of the mountain. She was
In the rays of the shining light of a joyful day
And was gilded by the light of the sun from above,

19 Who drove away involuntary fear from me.
The confusion in my soul has been erased,
How darkness perishes from bright fire.

22 Like one cast ashore in a wreck
Exhausted swimmer struggling against the wave
Looks back where the sea is in a frenzy

25 He is promised a painful end;
So I looked around fearfully,
Like a timid, tired fugitive,

28 So that once again on the terrible path it is sad,
Taking a breath, take a look:
Until now, everything that is alive has died,

31 Completing that impassable path.
Lost strength, like a corpse, exhausted
I went down quietly to rest,

34 But again, having overcome weariness,
He took a step forward along the steepness,
Higher, higher every moment.

37 I was walking forward, and suddenly someone came towards me
A leopard appeared, covered with motley skin
And with spots on the arched back.

40 I, like a passerby taken by surprise,
I look: he doesn’t take his eyes off me
With determination similar to a challenge to me,

43 And he blocks the way, lying down on it,
So I began to think about retreat.
It was morning in the sky at that hour.

46 The earth woke up after awakening,
And the sun floated in the blue sky,
That sun that in the days of peace

49 Lighted up for the first time, greeted by everyone
The radiance of the stars, with their clear, gentle light...
Encouraged by a cheerful, bright day,

52 With a ruddy and solemn dawn,
I endured the leopard's anger without fear,
But a new horror awaited me:

55 Suddenly a lion appeared in front of me.
Throwing his head back, he proudly
He walked towards me: I stood there, subdued.

58 He looked into the eyes so greedily and firmly,
That I trembled like a leaf then;
I look: behind him is a wolf’s face.

61 She was terribly thin:
Insatiable greed seemed
The she-wolf is always suppressed.

64 I have appeared before people more than once
She is like their death... She is in me
I glared at you with monstrous glances,

67 And she became full of despair again
My soul. That courage has disappeared
Which was supposed to lead

70 Me to the top of the mountain. Like a greedy miser
Crying, having lost capital,
In which I saw happiness, the good of life,

73 So before the wild beast I wept,
The path traveled, losing step by step,
And again I ran down the steep slope

76 To those abysses and gaping ravines,
Where you can no longer see the shine of the sun
And the night is dark under the eternal, black flag.

79 Sliding down from rapids to rapids,
I met a man that time.
Pretending to be silent,

82 It was as if fate had taught him this way
To the silence that has lost its voice,
Seeing a stranger in front of you.

85 In the dead desert I cried loudly:
“Whoever you are - alive or a ghost,
Save me!" And the ghost answered:

88 “Once upon a time I was a living creation;
Now a dead man stands in front of you.
I was born in the same village in Mantua;

91 My father formerly lived in Lombardy.
I began my life under Julia and in Rome
In the age of Augustus he lived long, finally,

94 When their false gods
People counted idols. Then
I was a poet, wrote poetry, and with them

97 Aeneas also sang those years
When the walls of Ilion fell...
Why are you rushing down here?

100 To the abode of sorrow, gnashing and groaning?
Why from the path to the dwelling of eternal blessings
Under the blessed shine of the sky

103 Do you strive for darkness uncontrollably?
Go ahead and spare no effort!”
And, blushing, I made a sign to him

106 And he asked: “Are you Virgil,
All poets have greatness and light?
Let it be about my delight and strength

109 My love for you, holy poet,
My weak work and creations will tell
And what I studied for many years

112 Your great works 1 .
Look: I tremble before the beast,
All the veins tensed. I'm looking for salvation

115 Singer, I am looking for your help.”
"You must look for a different way,
And I want to show this path.”

118 I heard the words from the poet’s lips:
“Know, a terrible beast-monster has long
This path is severely blocked by everyone

121 And it destroys and torments everyone equally.
The monster is so greedy and cruel,
That it will never be satisfied

124 And the victims vomit in the blink of an eye.
An uncountable number of people will come to his death
Pathetic creations descend from afar, -

127 And such evil will live long,
Until Dog the Hunter 2 fights the beast,
So that no more harm could be done

130 Monster. The Dog the Hunter will be proud
Not by pathetic lust for power, but in it
Both wisdom and greatness will be reflected,

133 And we will call it homeland
The country from Feltro to Feltro 3. Powers
He will dedicate to Italy; we are waiting,

136 What will rise with him again from the grave
Italy, where blood was shed before,
The blood of the virgin, warlike Camilla,

139 Where Turnus and Nis found their hour of death 4 .
Pursue from hail to hail
He will be this she-wolf more than once,

142 Until she is cast into the crater of Hell,
Where was she expelled from?
Only with envy... I need to save you

145 From these places where destruction is so certain;
Follow me, you won't feel bad
I will lead you out - that’s why I’ve been given power -

148 You through the region of eternity from here,
Through the area where you will hear in the darkness
Moanings and cries, where, like a miracle,

151 Visions of the dead on earth
Secondary death is expected and will not happen 5
And from prayer they rush to blasphemy.

154 Then they will rush before you
Jubilant ghosts on fire
In the hope that they will open before them,

157 Perhaps the doors are in heaven's side
And their sins will be atoned for by suffering.
But if you turn to me

160 With the desire to be in Paradise - that desire
My soul has long been full -
That is, the soul is different: according to deeds

163 She is more worthy of me, and I
I'll hand you over to her at heaven's door
And I will leave, melting my sadness.

166 I was born in a different and dark faith,
No one has brought him to insight,
And now there is no place for me in the heavenly sphere,

169 And I will not show the way to Eden.
Who controls the sun and these stars,
Who reigns for centuries over the world to all,

172 That abode is Paradise... In this world
Blessed are all those whom they have sought!” Became
Then I look for support in the poet:

175 “Save me, poet! – I begged. -
Save me from terrible disasters
And bring me to the area of ​​death so that he knows

178 I am the sorrow of the shadows of the languishing, unhappy,
And lead me to those sacred gates,
Where is Saint Peter the abode of beautiful souls

181 The century is guarding. I want to be there."
My guide directed his steps forward,
And I followed on his heels.

He could not call his work a tragedy only because those, like all genres of “high literature,” were written in Latin. Dante wrote it in his native Italian. “The Divine Comedy” is the fruit of the entire second half of Dante’s life and work. This work most fully reflected the poet’s worldview. Dante appears here as the last great poet of the Middle Ages, a poet who continues the line of development of feudal literature.

Editions

Translations into Russian

• A. S. Norova, “Excerpt from the 3rd song of the poem Hell” (“Son of the Fatherland”, 1823, No. 30);
• F. Fan-Dim, “Hell”, translation from Italian (St. Petersburg, 1842-48; prose);
• D. E. Min “Hell”, translation in the size of the original (Moscow, 1856);
• D. E. Min, “The First Song of Purgatory” (“Russian Vest.”, 1865, 9);
• V. A. Petrova, “The Divine Comedy” (translated with Italian terzas, St. Petersburg, 1871, 3rd edition 1872; translated only “Hell”);
• D. Minaev, “The Divine Comedy” (LPts. and St. Petersburg. 1874, 1875, 1876, 1879, translated not from the original, in terzas);
• P. I. Weinberg, “Hell”, canto 3, “Vestn. Heb., 1875, No. 5);
• Golovanov N. N., “The Divine Comedy” (1899-1902);
• M. L. Lozinsky, “The Divine Comedy” (, Stalin Prize);
• A. A. Ilyushin (created in the 1980s, first partial publication in 1988, full publication in 1995);
• V. S. Lemport, “The Divine Comedy” (1996-1997);
• V. G. Marantsman, (St. Petersburg, 2006).

Structure

The Divine Comedy is constructed extremely symmetrically. It is divided into three parts: the first part (“Hell”) consists of 34 songs, the second (“Purgatory”) and the third (“Paradise”) - 33 songs each. The first part consists of two introductory songs and 32 describing hell, since there can be no harmony in it. The poem is written in terzas - stanzas consisting of three lines. This tendency towards certain numbers is explained by the fact that Dante gave them a mystical interpretation - so the number 3 is associated with the Christian idea of ​​the Trinity, the number 33 should remind of the years of the earthly life of Jesus Christ, etc. In total, there are 100 songs in the Divine Comedy (the number is 100 - a symbol of perfection).

Plot

Dante's meeting with Virgil and the beginning of their journey through the underworld (medieval miniature)

According to Catholic tradition, the afterlife consists of hell, where eternally condemned sinners go, purgatory- the location of sinners atoning for their sins, and Raya- abode of the blessed.

Dante details this idea and describes the structure of the underworld, recording with graphic certainty all the details of its architectonics. In the opening song, Dante tells how, having reached the middle life path, once got lost in a dense forest and, like the poet Virgil, having saved him from three wild animals that blocked his path, he invited Dante to travel through the afterlife. Having learned that Virgil was sent to Beatrice, Dante’s deceased beloved, he surrenders without trepidation to the poet’s leadership.

Hell

Hell looks like a colossal funnel consisting of concentric circles, the narrow end of which rests on the center of the earth. Having passed the threshold of hell, inhabited by the souls of insignificant, indecisive people, they enter the first circle of hell, the so-called limbo (A., IV, 25-151), where the souls of virtuous pagans reside, who have not known the true God, but have approached this knowledge and beyond then freed from hellish torment. Here Dante sees outstanding representatives ancient culture- Aristotle, Euripides, Homer, etc. The next circle is filled with the souls of people who once indulged in unbridled passion. Among those carried by the wild whirlwind, Dante sees Francesca da Rimini and her lover Paolo, fallen victims forbidden love to each other. As Dante, accompanied by Virgil, descends lower and lower, he witnesses the torment of gluttons forced to suffer from rain and hail, misers and spendthrifts tirelessly rolling huge stones, angry ones getting bogged down in the swamp. They are followed by heretics and heresiarchs engulfed in eternal flames (among them Emperor Frederick II, Pope Anastasius II), tyrants and murderers floating in streams of boiling blood, suicides turned into plants, blasphemers and rapists burned by falling flames, deceivers of all kinds, torment which are very diverse. Finally, Dante enters the final, 9th circle of hell, reserved for the most terrible criminals. Here is the abode of traitors and traitors, the greatest of them - Judas Iscariot, Brutus and Cassius - they are gnawing with his three mouths Lucifer, the angel who once rebelled against God, the king of evil, doomed to imprisonment in the center of the earth. The last song of the first part of the poem ends with a description of the terrible appearance of Lucifer.

Purgatory

Purgatory

Having passed the narrow corridor connecting the center of the earth with the second hemisphere, Dante and Virgil emerge on the surface of the earth. There, in the middle of an island surrounded by the ocean, a mountain rises in the form of a truncated cone - purgatory, like hell, consisting of a series of circles that narrow as they approach the top of the mountain. The angel guarding the entrance to purgatory allows Dante into the first circle of purgatory, having previously drawn seven Ps (Peccatum - sin) on his forehead with a sword, that is, a symbol of the seven deadly sins. As Dante rises higher and higher, passing one circle after another, these letters disappear, so that when Dante, having reached the top of the mountain, enters the “earthly paradise” located at the top of the latter, he is already free from the signs inscribed by the guardian of purgatory. The circles of the latter are inhabited by the souls of sinners atoning for their sins. Here the proud are purified, forced to bend under the burden of weights pressing on their backs, the envious, the angry, the careless, the greedy, etc. Virgil brings Dante to the gates of heaven, where he, as someone who has not known baptism, has no access.

Paradise

In the earthly paradise, Virgil is replaced by Beatrice, seated on a chariot drawn by a vulture (an allegory of the triumphant church); she encourages Dante to repentance, and then takes him, enlightened, to heaven. The final part of the poem is dedicated to Dante's wanderings through the heavenly paradise. The latter consists of seven spheres encircling the earth and corresponding to the seven planets (according to the then widespread Ptolemaic system): the spheres of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, etc., followed by the spheres of the fixed stars and the crystal sphere, - behind the crystal sphere is the Empyrean, - the infinite the region inhabited by the blessed contemplating God is the last sphere that gives life to everything that exists. Flying through the spheres, led by Bernard, Dante sees the Emperor Justinian, introducing him to the history of the Roman Empire, teachers of the faith, martyrs for the faith, whose shining souls form a sparkling cross; ascending higher and higher, Dante sees Christ and the Virgin Mary, angels and, finally, the “heavenly Rose” - the abode of the blessed - is revealed before him. Here Dante partakes of the highest grace, achieving communion with the Creator.

"Comedy" is Dante's last and most mature work.

Analysis of the work

In form, the poem is an afterlife vision, of which there were many in medieval literature. Like the medieval poets, it rests on an allegorical core. So the dense forest, in which the poet got lost halfway through his earthly existence, is a symbol of life’s complications. The three animals that attack him there: a lynx, a lion and a she-wolf are the three most powerful passions: sensuality, lust for power, greed. These allegories are also given a political interpretation: the lynx is Florence, the spots on the skin of which should indicate the enmity of the Guelph and Ghibelline parties. The lion is a symbol of brute physical strength - France; she-wolf, greedy and lustful - papal curia. These beasts threaten the national unity of Italy, which Dante dreamed of, a unity cemented by domination feudal monarchy(some literary historians give Dante's entire poem a political interpretation). Virgil saves the poet from the beasts - reason sent to the poet Beatrice (theology - faith). Virgil leads Dante through hell to purgatory and on the threshold of heaven gives way to Beatrice. The meaning of this allegory is that reason saves a person from passions, and knowledge of divine science brings eternal bliss.

The Divine Comedy is imbued with the author's political tendencies. Dante never misses an opportunity to reckon with his ideological, even personal enemies; he hates usurers, condemns credit as “usury”, condemns his age as the age of profit and love of money. In his opinion, money is the source of all kinds of evil. He contrasts the dark present with the bright past of bourgeois Florence - feudal Florence, when simplicity of morals, moderation, knightly “courtesy” (“Paradise”, Cacciaguida’s story), and a feudal empire reigned (cf. Dante’s treatise “On the Monarchy”). The terzas of "Purgatory" accompanying the appearance of Sordello (Ahi serva Italia) sound like a real hosanna of Ghibellinism. Dante treats the papacy as a principle with the greatest respect, although he hates its individual representatives, especially those who contributed to the consolidation of the bourgeois system in Italy; Dante meets some popes in hell. His religion is Catholicism, although a personal element is woven into it, alien to the old orthodoxy, although mysticism and the Franciscan pantheistic religion of love, which are accepted with all passion, are also a sharp deviation from classical Catholicism. His philosophy is theology, his science is scholasticism, his poetry is allegory. Ascetic ideals in Dante have not yet died, and he considers free love to be a grave sin (Hell, 2nd circle, the famous episode with Francesca da Rimini and Paolo). But for him, love that attracts to the object of worship with a pure platonic impulse is not a sin (cf. “New Life”, Dante’s love for Beatrice). This is a great world force that “moves the sun and other luminaries.” And humility is no longer an unconditional virtue. “Whoever does not renew his strength in glory with victory will not taste the fruit he obtained in the struggle.” And the spirit of inquisitiveness, the desire to expand the circle of knowledge and acquaintance with the world, combined with “virtue” (virtute e conoscenza), encouraging heroic daring, is proclaimed as an ideal.

Dante built his vision from pieces of real life. The design of the afterlife was based on individual corners of Italy, which are placed in it with clear graphic contours. And there are so many living ones scattered throughout the poem human images, so many typical figures, so many vivid psychological situations that literature even now continues to draw from there. People who suffer in hell, repent in purgatory (and the volume and nature of sin corresponds to the volume and nature of punishment), are in bliss in paradise - all living people. In these hundreds of figures, no two are identical. In this huge gallery of historical figures there is not a single image that has not been cut by the poet’s unmistakable plastic intuition. It was not for nothing that Florence experienced a period of such intense economic and cultural growth. That acute sense of landscape and man, which is shown in the Comedy and which the world learned from Dante, was possible only in the social environment of Florence, which was far ahead of the rest of Europe. Individual episodes of the poem, such as Francesca and Paolo, Farinata in his red-hot grave, Ugolino with the children, Capaneus and Ulysses, in no way similar to ancient images, the Black Cherub with subtle devilish logic, Sordello on his stone, still produce strong impression.

The concept of Hell in The Divine Comedy

Dante and Virgil in Hell

In front of the entrance are pitiful souls who did neither good nor evil during their lives, including “a bad flock of angels” who were neither with the devil nor with God.

• 1st circle (Limbo). Unbaptized Infants and Virtuous Non-Christians.
• 2nd circle. Voluptuaries (fornicators and adulterers).
• 3rd circle. Gluttons, gluttons.
• 4th circle. Misers and spendthrifts (love of excessive spending).
• 5th circle (Stygian swamp). Angry and lazy.
• 6th circle (city of Dit). Heretics and false teachers.
• 7th circle.
  • 1st belt. Violent people against their neighbors and their property (tyrants and robbers).
  • 2nd belt. Rapists against themselves (suicides) and against their property (gamblers and spendthrifts, that is, senseless destroyers of their property).
  • 3rd belt. Rapists against deity (blasphemers), against nature (sodomites) and art (extortion).
• 8th circle. Those who deceived those who did not trust. It consists of ten ditches (Zlopazukhi, or Evil Crevices), which are separated from each other by ramparts (rifts). Toward the center, the area of ​​the Evil Crevices slopes, so that each subsequent ditch and each subsequent rampart are located slightly lower than the previous ones, and the outer, concave slope of each ditch is higher than the inner, curved slope ( Hell , XXIV, 37-40). The first shaft is adjacent to the circular wall. In the center yawns the depth of a wide and dark well, at the bottom of which lies the last, ninth, circle of Hell. From the foot of the stone heights (v. 16), that is, from the circular wall, stone ridges run in radii, like the spokes of a wheel, to this well, crossing ditches and ramparts, and above the ditches they bend in the form of bridges or vaults. In Evil Crevices, deceivers are punished who deceived people who are not connected with them by special bonds of trust.
  • 1st ditch Pimps and Seducers.
  • 2nd ditch Flatterers.
  • 3rd ditch Holy merchants, high-ranking clergy who traded in church positions.
  • 4th ditch Soothsayers, fortune tellers, astrologers, witches.
  • 5th ditch Bribe takers, bribe takers.
  • 6th ditch Hypocrites.
  • 7th ditch The thieves .
  • 8th ditch Crafty advisors.
  • 9th ditch Instigators of discord (Mohammed, Ali, Dolcino and others).
  • 10th ditch Alchemists, false witnesses, counterfeiters.
• 9th circle. Those who deceived those who trusted. Ice Lake Cocytus.
  • Belt of Cain. Traitors to relatives.
  • Antenor's belt. Traitors to the motherland and like-minded people.
  • Tolomei's Belt. Traitors to friends and dinner companions.
  • Giudecca Belt. Traitors to benefactors, divine and human majesty.
  • In the middle, in the center of the universe, frozen into an ice floe (Lucifer) torments in his three mouths the traitors to the majesty of the earthly and heavenly (Judas, Brutus and Cassius).

Building a model of Hell ( Hell , XI, 16-66), Dante follows Aristotle, who in his “Ethics” (Book VII, Chapter I) classifies the sins of intemperance (incontinenza) into the 1st category, and the sins of violence (“violent bestiality" or matta bestialitade), to 3 - sins of deception ("malice" or malizia). In Dante, circles 2-5 are for intemperate people, circle 7 is for rapists, circles 8-9 are for deceivers (the 8th is simply for deceivers, the 9th is for traitors). Thus, the more material the sin, the more forgivable it is.

Heretics - apostates from the faith and deniers of God - are specially singled out from the host of sinners filling the upper and lower circles into the sixth circle. In the abyss of lower Hell (A., VIII, 75), with three ledges, like three steps, there are three circles - from the seventh to the ninth. In these circles, anger that uses either force (violence) or deception is punished.

The concept of Purgatory in the Divine Comedy

The three holy virtues - the so-called "theological" ones - are faith, hope and love. The rest are the four “basic” or “natural” (see note Ch., I, 23-27).

Dante depicts it as a huge mountain rising in the southern hemisphere in the middle of the Ocean. It looks like a truncated cone. The coastal strip and the lower part of the mountain form the Pre-Purgatory, and the upper part is surrounded by seven ledges (seven circles of Purgatory itself). On the flat top of the mountain, Dante places the deserted forest of the Earthly Paradise.

Virgil expounds the doctrine of love as the source of all good and evil and explains the gradation of the circles of Purgatory: circles I, II, III - love for “other people's evil,” that is, malice (pride, envy, anger); circle IV - insufficient love for true good (despondency); circles V, VI, VII - excessive love for false benefits (greed, gluttony, voluptuousness). The circles correspond to the biblical mortal sins.

• Prepurgatory
  • The foot of Mount Purgatory. Here the newly arrived souls of the dead await access to Purgatory. Those who died under church excommunication, but repented of their sins before death, wait for a period thirty times longer than the time they spent in “discord with the church.”
  • First ledge. Negligent, who delayed repentance until the hour of death.
  • Second ledge. Negligent people who died a violent death.
• Valley of the Earthly Rulers (not related to Purgatory)
• 1st circle. Proud people.
• 2nd circle. Envious people.
• 3rd circle. Angry.
• 4th circle. Dull.
• 5th circle. Misers and spendthrifts.
• 6th circle. Gluttonies.
• 7th circle. Voluptuous people.
• Earthly paradise.

The concept of Heaven in the Divine Comedy

(in brackets are examples of personalities given by Dante)

• 1 sky(Moon) - the abode of those who observe duty (Jephthah, Agamemnon, Constance of Normandy).
• 2 sky(Mercury) is the abode of reformers (Justinian) and innocent victims (Iphigenia).
• 3 sky(Venus) - the abode of lovers (Charles Martell, Cunizza, Folco of Marseilles, Dido, “Rhodopean woman”, Raava).
• 4 heaven(Sun) is the abode of sages and great scientists. They form two circles (“round dance”).
  • 1st circle: Thomas Aquinas, Albert von Bolstedt, Francesco Graziano, Peter of Lombardy, Dionysius the Areopagite, Paulus Orosius, Boethius, Isidore of Seville, Bede the Venerable, Rickard, Siger of Brabant.
  • 2nd circle: Bonaventure, Franciscans Augustine and Illuminati, Hugon, Peter the Eater, Peter of Spain, John Chrysostom, Anselm, Aelius Donatus, Rabanus the Maurus, Joachim.
• 5 sky(Mars) is the abode of warriors for the faith (Joshua, Judas Maccabee, Roland, Godfrey of Bouillon, Robert Guiscard).
• 6 sky(Jupiter) is the abode of just rulers (biblical kings David and Hezekiah, Emperor Trajan, King Guglielmo II the Good and the hero of the Aeneid, Ripheus).
• 7 heaven(Saturn) - the abode of theologians and monks (Benedict of Nursia, Peter Damiani).
• 8 sky(sphere of stars).
• 9 sky(Prime Mover, crystal sky). Dante describes the structure of the heavenly inhabitants (see The ranks of angels).
• 10 sky(Empyrean) - Flaming Rose and Radiant River (the core of the rose and the arena of the heavenly amphitheater) - the abode of the Deity. Blessed souls sit on the banks of the river (the steps of the amphitheater, which is divided into 2 more semicircles - the Old Testament and the New Testament). Mary (Mother of God) is at the head, below her are Adam and Peter, Moses, Rachel and Beatrice, Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, Ruth, etc. John is sitting opposite, below him are Lucia, Francis, Benedict, Augustine, etc.

Scientific points, misconceptions and comments

• Hell , XI, 113-114. The constellation Pisces rose above the horizon, and Voz(constellation Ursa Major) inclined to the northwest(Kavr; lat. Caurus- the name of the north-west wind). This means there are two hours left before sunrise.
• Hell , XXIX, 9. That their route is twenty-two miles around.(about the inhabitants of the tenth ditch of the eighth circle) - judging by the medieval approximation of the number Pi, the diameter of the last circle of Hell is 7 miles.
• Hell , XXX, 74. Baptist sealed alloy- Florentine gold coin, florin (fiormo). On the front side was the patron saint of the city, John the Baptist, and on the reverse side was the Florentine coat of arms, the lily (fiore - flower, hence the name of the coin).
• Hell , XXXIV, 139. Each of the three cants of the Divine Comedy ends with the word “luminaries” (stelle - stars).
• Purgatory , I, 19-21. Beacon of love, beautiful planet- that is, Venus, eclipsing with its brightness the constellation Pisces in which it was located.
• Purgatory , I, 22. To the spine- that is, to the celestial pole, in this case the south.
• Purgatory , I, 30. Chariot- Ursa Major hidden behind the horizon.
• Purgatory , II, 1-3. According to Dante, Mount Purgatory and Jerusalem are located at opposite ends of the earth's diameter, so they have a common horizon. In the northern hemisphere, the apex of the celestial meridian (“midday circle”) crossing this horizon is above Jerusalem. At the hour described, the sun, visible in Jerusalem, was setting, soon to appear in the sky of Purgatory.
• Purgatory , II, 4-6. And the night...- According to medieval geography, Jerusalem lies in the very middle of the land, located in the northern hemisphere between the Arctic Circle and the equator and extending from west to east by only longitudes. The remaining three quarters globe covered by the waters of the Ocean. Equally distant from Jerusalem are: in the extreme east - the mouth of the Ganges, in the extreme west - the Pillars of Hercules, Spain and Morocco. When the sun sets in Jerusalem, night approaches from the direction of the Ganges. At the described time of year, that is, at the time spring equinox, the night holds scales in its hands, that is, it is in the constellation Libra, opposing the Sun, located in the constellation Aries. In the fall, when she “overcomes” the day and becomes longer than it, she will leave the constellation Libra, that is, she will “drop” them.
• Purgatory , III, 37. Quia- a Latin word meaning “because”, and in the Middle Ages it was also used in the sense of quod (“that”). Scholastic science, following Aristotle, distinguished between two types of knowledge: scire quia- knowledge of existing - and scire propter quid- knowledge of the reasons for existing things. Virgil advises people to be content with the first kind of knowledge, without delving into the reasons for what exists.
• Purgatory , IV, 71-72. The Road Where the Unlucky Phaeton Ruled- zodiac.
• Purgatory , XXIII, 32-33. Who is looking for "omo"...- it was believed that in the features of a human face one could read “Homo Dei” (“Man of God”), with the eyes depicting two “Os”, and the eyebrows and nose representing the letter M.
• Purgatory , XXVIII, 97-108. According to Aristotelian physics, “wet vapors” generate atmospheric precipitation, and “dry vapors” generate wind. Matelda explains that only below the level of the gates of Purgatory are such disturbances generated by steam, which “following the heat,” that is, under the influence of the sun’s heat, rises from the water and from the earth; at the height of the Earthly Paradise, only a uniform wind remains, caused by the rotation of the first firmament.
• Purgatory , XXVIII, 82-83. Twelve venerable elders- twenty-four books of the Old Testament.
• Purgatory , XXXIII, 43. Five hundred fifteen- a mysterious designation for the coming deliverer of the church and restorer of the empire, who will destroy the “thief” (the harlot of Song XXXII, who took someone else’s place) and the “giant” (the French king). The numbers DXV form, when the signs are rearranged, the word DVX (leader), and the oldest commentators interpret it this way.
• Purgatory , XXXIII, 139. The score is due from the beginning- In the construction of the Divine Comedy, Dante observes strict symmetry. Each of its three parts (cantik) contains 33 songs; “Hell” also contains one more song, which serves as an introduction to the entire poem. The volume of each of the hundred songs is approximately the same.
• Paradise , XIII, 51. And there is no other center in the circle- There cannot be two opinions, just as in a circle only one center is possible.
• Paradise , XIV, 102. The sacred sign was composed of two rays, which is hidden within the boundaries of the quadrants- segments of adjacent quadrants (quarters) of a circle form a cross sign.
• Paradise , XVIII, 113. In Lilley M- Gothic M resembles a fleur-de-lis.
• Paradise XXV, 101-102: If Cancer had a similar pearl...- From December 21 to January 21, the constellation rises at sunset

New life

The Divine Comedy

Translation from Italian by A. Efros, M. Lozinsky.

Introductory article by B. Krzhevsky.

Notes by E. Solonovich, S. Averintsev, A. Mikhailov, M. Lozinsky.

Illustrations by Gustov Dore.

B. Krzhevsky. DANTE

The name of Dante, along with the names of Shakespeare and Raphael, has been transformed in our minds into a symbolic designation of the most precious and intimate achievements of the culture of modern times. The three of them are synthetic images of her; they summarize, define and predict her character, essence and direction.

Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in May 1265. He traced his family back to Roman citizens and was inclined to emphasize his nobility, although in fact he belonged to the middle class. We know almost nothing about his parents; we have only fragmentary information about his childhood and youth. When he was nine years old (as Dante tells it in “New Life”), he fell in love with a girl his own age, and the memory of this love transformed his entire soul and life. This love determined the ideal and sublime unity that is so striking in Dante’s work. Based on random references to the poet, it can be established that he received a very superficial and insufficient education, which he expanded and brought to an exceptional completeness for those times thanks to hard work in adulthood. Apparently, in his early years he showed a certain inclination towards science and poetry. At twenty-four years of age, he took part in military operations against neighboring cities - Arezzo (Battle of Campaldino) and Pisa (Siege of Caprona). In 1296 he married, and in 1300 he carried out important diplomatic missions and performed the duties of a prior. Dante plays a significant public role and takes an active part in politics hometown.

Florence was experiencing a difficult political and economic crisis at that time. In essence, it was a struggle of the bourgeoisie, realizing its political significance, against the hereditary aristocracy. This circumstance explains why, by the middle of the 13th century, traditional political slogans - Guelphs (supporters of the pope) and Ghibellines (supporters of the imperial power) - did not contain a positive content. Such parties emerged in a number of cities, and everywhere the struggle was waged for the political dominance of classes and led to the expulsion of one of the warring parties. In exile, yesterday's enemies, who found themselves outside the boundaries of their hometown, united, fraternized and jointly opposed their recent like-minded people. All of Italy was divided into two camps: one side (the Ghibellines) defended an archaic era that had passed into the realm of legend and fought for a kind of feudal-democratic republic, autocratic and tyrannical, the other (the Guelphs) stood for a new order of things and sought to organize a republic of merchants and artisans . This economic and social struggle was supported, with varying degrees of success and in equally violent ways, by popes and secular foreign sovereigns who dreamed of realizing the medieval ideal of a worldwide Roman monarchy. Peculiar local conditions caused fragmentation and stratification within the two main parties, so that Dante, who considered himself a Guelph, belonged to a special wing of them, the so-called whites, led by the Cerchi family; Along with them there were “blacks”, led by the Donati family. This division followed the expulsion of the Ghibellines and reflected the different orientations of individual sections of the Guelph population.

The Donati mastered the methods of struggle of the aristocrats and managed to attract small artisans and villagers who had little understanding of political affairs. In this state of affairs, it was advantageous for them to enlist the support of Pope Boniface VIII and thereby deprive the more peaceful, moderate side - the “whites” - of any influence. The latter relied on large workshops and sought to create a position for Florence independent of the influence of the aristocracy and the pope.

The internal schism was cleverly exploited by Boniface VIII. Hiding behind the pretext of pacifying the parties, the pope sent to Florence Carla Valois, brother of the French king Philip the Fair, and his arrival was for the “blacks” a signal for repression against the “whites”.

While Dante represented the interests of his like-minded people at the papal court (January 1302), the “blacks” in Florence put him on trial, accused him of bribery, bribery, intrigue against the church and sentenced him to exile for two years, a large fine and deprivation of rights hold public positions. Since Dante was not able to appeal this decision, the judges decided to banish him forever, and if he appeared in Florence, he was burned at the stake.

The undeserved blow deeply offended Dante's proud soul. This was a blatant injustice. His ardent and selfless desire to work for the benefit of his beloved Florence was trampled into the mud. During the years 1302–1304, Dante intended to return to Florence in alliance with other "whites" exiled by the Ghibellines, but the picture of personal intrigue and debauchery in their camp repulsed him. He separated from his like-minded people and organized a “party of himself.” For twenty years, the poet wandered around Italy, enjoying the support of enlightened magnates and rulers of individual cities. Little is known about the years of these wanderings; we know, however, that Dante visited Verona, Casentin, Lunigiana, Ravenna.

The last outbreak of Dante's political hopes dates back to 1310: at this time Emperor Henry VII of Luxembourg arrived in Italy, on whom the Ghibellines had high hopes. But Henry died in 1313 and did not have time to give any of them access to Florence. The poet's expulsion was confirmed by decree on November 6, 1315, and he was twice excluded from the list of amnestied citizens (in 1311 and 1316).

Dante spent his last years in Verona and Ravenna and died in Ravenna, surrounded by the attention and care of his last patron, Guido Novello da Polenta. Dante’s body rests in Ravenna even now, despite all the attempts of Florence to return to its walls the ashes of the one whom it failed to protect during his lifetime.

A sad and anxious life completely tormented Dante’s soul, but at the same time it prepared and predetermined his greatness as a poet. His work, undoubtedly, could not have been molded into the forms that it took if Dante had quietly lived his life in Florence and devoted his leisure time to public affairs. The years of exile brought to life and largely determined the pathos and mood of the Divine Comedy.

For us, Dante is first and foremost a poet, the author of the New Life and the Divine Comedy. Not all fans of his poetry have read “The Feast” or even “Poems.” Even fewer readers find his Latin treatises: “On Popular Eloquence” and “On the Monarchy.”

For a complete and comprehensive interpretation of his personality, these works are absolutely necessary. They show that genius poet was a thinker, scientist and politician. Contemporaries valued this scholarship no less, and in other cases even more, than the poetic merits of his works.

It is quite natural, however, that Dante’s poetic fame rests entirely on his youthful novel (“New Life”) and on the grandiose edifice of the “Divine Comedy.” All other works have an auxiliary meaning and serve as an introduction and commentary to them. Of particular note are “Poems” (“Rime”) - a collection of lyrical poems, many of which differ sharply in style and tone from the plays chosen for “New Life”.

The beginning of Dante’s work is closely connected with a new direction in the history of Italian poetry, known as the school of the “sweet new style” (Dante’s term). In addition to Dante, it included his close friend Guido Cavalcanti, Lapo Giani, Cino da Pistoia and others. The program and creative results of this literary direction They differ sharply from the previous ones (Sicilian and Bolognese schools), which were still strongly associated with foreign, Provençal models.

Current page: 1 (book has 9 pages in total)

Dante Alighieri
The Divine Comedy
Hell

Translated from the Italian size of the original

Dmitry Min.

Preface

More than ten years have passed since I first decided to try my hand at translation. Divina Commedia Danta Alighieri. At first I had no intention of translating it completely; but only in the form of experience did he translate into Russian those passages that, when reading immortal poem, most amazed me with their greatness. Little by little, however, as you study Divina Commedia, and feeling that I was able to overcome, at least in part, one of the most important obstacles in a difficult task - the size of the original, within two years I managed to complete the translation of the first part of Dante's Poem - Inferno. More than anyone aware of the weakness of my work, I hid it under a bushel for a long time, until finally the encouraging judgments of my friends, to whom I read excerpts from my translation, and the even more unusually flattering review of Mr. Professor S.P. Shevyrev forced me in 1841, for the first time, presented to the public with the V song of Hell, published in the same year in Moskvityanin. After that, I published another excerpt in Sovremennik, published by Mr. Pletnev, and finally, in 1849, songs XXI and XXII in Moskvityanin.

Having made sure that my work is not completely insignificant and if it does not have any special merits, then at least it is quite close to the original, I now decide to fully present it to the judgment of lovers and connoisseurs of such a colossal creation as Divna Socialtia Danta Alighieri.

I consider it necessary to say a few words about the publication of my translation itself.

A poet like Dante, who reflected in his creation, as in a mirror, all the ideas and beliefs of his time, filled with so many relationships to all branches of the then knowledge, cannot be understood without explaining the many hints found in his poem: historical, theological, philosophical, astronomical, etc. Therefore, all the best editions of Dante's Poem, even in Italy, and especially in Germany, where the study of Dante has become almost universal, are always accompanied by a more or less multifaceted commentary. But compiling a commentary is an extremely difficult task: in addition to a deep study of the poet himself, his language, his views on the world and humanity, it requires a thorough knowledge of the history of the century, this extremely remarkable time, when a terrible struggle of ideas arose, the struggle between spiritual and secular power. Moreover, Dante is a mystical poet; The main idea of ​​his poem is understood and explained differently by different commentators and translators.

Not having so much extensive information, having not studied the poet to such depth, I in no way take upon myself the responsibility, passing on a weak copy from the immortal original, to be at the same time his interpreter. I will limit myself to adding only those explanations without which the non-connoisseur reader is unable to comprehend a highly original creation, and, consequently, is unable to enjoy its beauties. These explanations will consist for the most part in historical, geographical and some other indications related to the science of that time, especially astronomy, physics and natural history. My main leaders in this matter will be German translators and interpreters: Karl Witte, Wagner, Kannegiesser and especially Kopish and Philalethes (Prince John of Saxony). Where necessary, I will quote from the Bible, comparing them with the Vulgate - the source from which Dante drew so abundantly. As for the mysticism of Dante's Poem, I will give, as briefly as possible, only those explanations that are most accepted, without going into any of my own assumptions.

Finally, most of the publications and translations of Dante are usually preceded by the life of the poet and the history of his time. No matter how important these aids are for a clear understanding of the wonderfully mysterious creation, I cannot currently add them to the publication of my translation; however, I would not refuse this work if the interest aroused by my translation required it from me.

I consider myself quite happy if my translation, no matter how colorless it is in front of the unattainable beauties of the original, will retain so much of its greatness that in the reader who did not enjoy the beauties Divina Commedia in the original, will arouse the desire to study it in the original. Studying Dante for people who love and comprehend the graceful and great gives the same pleasure as reading other poets of genius: Homer, Aeschylus, Shakespeare and Goethe.

I leave it to people who are more knowledgeable than me to judge whether I was able to retain in my translation even a faint spark of that divine fire with which the gigantic building is illuminated - that poem that Philalethes so successfully compared with a Gothic cathedral, fantastically bizarre in detail, marvelously beautiful, majestic and solemn overall. I am not afraid of the strict verdict of learned criticism, who amused myself with the thought that I was the first to decide to translate a part of the immortal creation into the Russian language, so capable of reproducing everything great. But horrified by the thought that with a daring feat I offended the poet’s shadow, I address her in his own words:

Vagliami "l lungo studio e "l grande amore,
Che m"han fatto cercar lo tuo volume.

Inf. Cant I, 83–84.

Canto I

Content. Having turned away from the straight road in deep sleep, Dante awakens in a dark forest, with the faint flickering of the moon he goes further and, before the day dawn, reaches the base of a hill, the top of which is illuminated rising sun. Having rested from fatigue, the poet ascends the hill; but three monsters - a Leopard with a motley skin, a hungry Lion and a skinny Wolf - block his way. The latter frightens Dante so much that he is ready to return to the forest, when Virgil’s shadow suddenly appears. Dante begs her for help. Virgil, to console him, predicts that the She-Wolf, who frightened him there, will soon die from the Dog, and, to lead him out of the dark forest, offers herself to him as a guide on his journey through Hell and Purgatory, adding that if he wishes to ascend later to Heaven, he will find a counselor who is a hundred times more worthy of him. Dante accepts his offer and follows him.

1. In the middle of our life's path, 1
According to the monk Gilarius, Dante began to write his poem in Latin. The first three verses were:
Ultima regna canam, fluido contermina mundo, Spiritibus quae lata patent, quae praemia solvuut Pro meritis cuicunque suis (data lege tonantis). - “In dimidio dierum meorum vadam adportas infori.” Vulgat. Biblia.
In the middle of the and. roads, i.e., at the 35th year of life, an age that Dante in his Convito calls the pinnacle of human life. By all accounts, Dante was born in 1265: therefore, he was 35 years old in 1300; but, in addition, from the XXI song of Hell it is clear that Dante assumes the beginning of his journey in 1300, during the jubilee declared by Pope Boniface VIII, on Holy Week on Good Friday, the year he turned 35, although his poem was written much later; therefore, all incidents that happened later than this year are given as predictions.

Overwhelmed by sleep, I entered the dark forest, 2
Dark forest, according to the usual interpretation of almost all commentators, it means human life in general, and in relation to the poet - his own life in particular, that is, a life full of delusions, overwhelmed by passions. Others, by the name of forest, mean the political state of Florence at that time (which Dante calls trista selva, Clean XIV, 64), and, combining all the symbols of this mystical song into one, give it political meaning. For example: as Count Perticari (Apolog. di Dante. Vol. II, p. 2: fec. 38: 386 della Proposta) explains this song: in 1300, in the 35th year of his life, Dante, elected prior of Florence, was soon convinced of the troubles , intrigues and frenzies of parties, that the true path to the public good is lost, and that he himself is in dark forest disasters and exiles. When he tried to climb hills, the pinnacle of state happiness, he was presented with insurmountable obstacles from his native city (Leopard with a motley skin), pride and ambition of the French king Philip the Fair and his brother Charles of Valois (Leo) and the self-interest and ambitious plans of Pope Boniface VIII (She-wolf). Then, indulging in his poetic passion and placing all his hope in the military talents of Charlemagne, Lord of Verona ( Dog), he wrote his poem, where, with the assistance of spiritual contemplation (donna gentile) heavenly enlightenment (Luchia) and theology ( Beatrice), guided by reason, human wisdom, personified in poetry (Virgil), he goes through places of punishment, purification and reward, thus punishing vices, consoling and correcting weaknesses and rewarding virtue by immersion in the contemplation of the highest good. From this it is clear that the ultimate goal of the poem is to call a vicious nation, torn apart by strife, to political, moral and religious unity.

The true path is lost in the hour of anxiety.

4. Ah! it's hard to say how scary it was
This forest, so wild, so dense and fierce, 3
Fierce – an epithet not peculiar to the forest; but just as the forest has a mystical meaning here and means, according to some, human life, and according to others, Florence, agitated by the discord of parties, then this expression, I think, will not seem entirely inappropriate.

That in his thoughts he renewed my fear. 4
Dante escaped this life, full of passions and delusions, especially the discord of the party, into which he had to plunge as the ruler of Florence; but this life was so terrible that the memory of it again gives birth to horror in him.

7. And death is only a little more bitter than this turmoil! 5
In the original: “It (the forest) is so bitter that death is a little more painful.” – The eternally bitter world (Io mondo senia fine amaro) is hell (Paradise XVII. 112). “Just as material death destroys our earthly existence, so moral death deprives us of clear consciousness, the free manifestation of our will, and therefore moral death is slightly better than material death itself.” Streckfuss.

But to talk about the goodness of heaven,
I’ll tell you everything I saw in those minutes. 6
About those visions that the poet talks about from verses 31–64.

10. And I myself don’t know how I entered the forest:
I fell into such a deep sleep 7
Dream means, on the one hand, human weakness, darkening of the inner light, lack of self-knowledge, in a word - sleep of the spirit; on the other hand, sleep is a transition to the spiritual world (See Ada III, 136).

At that moment when the true path disappeared.

13. When I woke up near the hill, 8
Hill, according to the explanation of most commentators, it means virtue, according to others, ascent to the highest good. In the original, Dante awakens at the foot of a hill; base of the hill- the beginning of salvation, that minute when a saving doubt arises in our soul, the fatal thought that the path along which we have followed until this moment is false.

Where is the limit of that vale? 9
The limits of the vale. The vale is a temporary area of ​​life, which we usually call the vale of tears and disasters. From the XX Song of Hell, Art. 127–130, it is clear that in this vale the flickering of the month served as the poet’s guiding light. The month signifies the faint light of human wisdom. You save.

In which horror entered my heart, -

16. I looked up and saw the head of the hill
In the rays of the planet that is on the straight road 10
The planet that leads people on a straight path is the sun, which, according to the Ptolemaic system, belongs to the planets. The sun here has not only the meaning of a material luminary, but, in contrast to the month (philosophy), it is complete, direct knowledge, divine inspiration. You save.

Leads people to accomplish good deeds.

19. Then my fear, so much, fell silent for a while.
Over the sea of ​​hearts raging into the night,
Which proceeded with so much anxiety. 11
Even a glimpse of divine knowledge is already able to reduce in us partly the false fear of the earthly vale; but it completely disappears only when we are completely filled with the fear of the Lord, like Beatrice (Ada II, 82–93). You save.

22. And how, having managed to overcome the storm,
Stepping barely breathing onto the shore from the sea,
Keeps your eyes on the dangerous waves:

25. So I, still arguing with fear in my soul,
He looked back and fixed his gaze there, 12
That is, he looked into the dark forest and this vale of disasters, in which to remain means to die morally.

Where no one alive walked without grief.

28. And having rested in the desert from labor,
I went again, and my stronghold is strong
It was always in the lower leg. 13
When climbing, the leg on which we rely is always lower. “Ascending from the lower to the higher, we move forward slowly, only step by step, only then, as we firmly and truly stand on the lower: spiritual ascent is subject to the same laws as physical.” Streckfuss.

31. And now, almost at the beginning of the steep mountain,
Covered with motley skin, circling,
Leopard rushes both light and agile. 14
Leopard (uncia, leuncia, lynx, catus pardus Oken), according to the interpretation of ancient commentators, means voluptuousness, Leo - pride or lust for power, She-Wolf - self-interest and stinginess; others, especially the newest ones, see Florence and the Guelphs in Leo, France and especially Charles Valois in Leo, the Pope or the Roman Curia in She-Wolf, and, according to this, give the entire first song a purely political meaning. According to Kannegiesser's explanation, Leopard, Leo and She-Wolf mean three degrees of sensuality, moral corruption of people: Leopard is awakening sensuality, as indicated by its speed and agility, motley skin and persistence; The lion is a sensuality that has already awakened, prevailing and not hidden, demanding satisfaction: therefore he is depicted with a majestic (in the original: raised) head, hungry, angry to the point that the air around him shudders; finally, the She-Wolf is the image of those who have completely given themselves over to sin, which is why it is said that she has already been the poison of life for many, and therefore she completely deprives Dante of peace and constantly drives him more and more into the vale of moral death.

34. The monster did not run away from sight;
But before that my path was blocked,
I thought about escaping downstairs more than once.
37. The day was already dawning, and the sun was setting out on its journey
With a crowd of stars, as in the moment when it
Suddenly I felt a sense of divine love

40. Your first move, illuminated with beauty; 15
In this terzina the time of the poet’s journey is determined. It, as stated above, began on Good Friday in Holy Week, or March 25: therefore, around the spring equinox. However, Philalethes, based on the XXI canto of Hell, believes that Dante began his journey on April 4. – Divine love, according to Dante, there is a reason for the movement of celestial bodies. – A crowd of stars denotes the constellation Aries, into which the sun enters at this time.

And everything flattered me with hope then:
Animal luxurious fleece,

43. The hour of morning and the young star. 16
The poet, enlivened by the radiance of the sun and the season (spring), hopes to kill Leopard and steal his motley skin. If Bars means Florence, then the calm state of this city in the spring of 1300, when the White and Black parties were in apparently perfect agreement with each other, could indeed give rise to some hope for the duration of peace in a superficial observer of events. But this calm was only apparent.

But again fear awakened in my heart
A fierce Lion, appearing with proud strength. 17
As a symbol of France, which "darkens all christian world"(Pure. XX, 44), Leo here represents violence, a terrifying material force.

46. ​​He seemed to come out to me,
Hungry, angry, with a majestic head,
And, it seemed, the air was trembling.

49. He walked with the She-Wolf, lean and crafty, 18
Dante turned the wolf of Scripture into a she-wolf (lupa) and even more harshly outlined the greed of the Roman Curia (if it should be understood under the name She-Wolf), for lupa in Latin has another meaning. Dante's entire poem is directed against the Roman Curia (Ada VII, 33 et seq., XIX, 1–6 and 90-117, XXVII, 70 et seq.; Pur. XVI, 100 et seq., XIX, 97 et seq., XXXII , 103–160; Raya IX, 125, etc., XII, 88, etc., XV, 142, XVII, 50, etc., XVIII, 118–136, XXI, 125–142, XXII, 76, etc. , XXVII, 19 126).

What, in thinness is full of everyone’s desires,
For many, this life was poison.

52. She was such a hindrance to me,
What, frightened by the stern appearance,
I was losing hope of going up.

55. And like a miser, always ready to save,
When the terrible hour of loss comes,
Sad and crying with every new thought:

58. So the beast in me shook the calm,
And, coming to meet me, he drove all the time
Me to the land where the sun's ray has faded.

61. While I was falling headlong into terrible darkness,
An unexpected friend appeared before my eyes,
Voiceless from long silence. 19
Mute, in the original: fioco hoarse. This is a clever hint at the indifference of Dante's contemporaries to the study of Virgil's works.

64. “Have mercy on me!” I suddenly cried out 20
In the original: Miserere de me, and there is an appeal not to Virgil alone, but also to divine goodness. At the foot of Mount Purgatory, the souls of those violently killed sing the same thing. (Pure V, 24.)

When I saw him in a deserted field,
“O whoever you are: a man or a spirit?”

67. And he: “I am a spirit, I am no longer a man;
I had Lombard parents, 21
68. Virgil was born in the town of Andes, the present village of Bande, otherwise Pietola, near Mantua, on the Mincio. His father, according to some reports, was a farmer, according to others, a potter.

But in Mantua those born into poverty.

70. Sub Julio I saw the light late 22
He was born in 684 AD. Rama, 70 years BC, under the consuls M. Licinius Crassus and Prince. Pompey the Great, on the Ides of October, which, according to the current calendar, corresponds to October 15. – Virgil, poet of the Roman Empire (princeps poetarum), saying that he was born under Julius Caesar, wants to glorify his name: Dante looks at Caesar as a representative of the Roman Empire; those who betrayed Caesar, Brutus and Cassius, are punished by him cruel execution(Ada XXХГV, 55–67). – Sub Julio there's one of those Latin expressions, of which there are so many found in Dante’s poem, according to the general custom of not only poets and prose writers of that time.

And in Rome he lived in the happy age of Augustus;
In the days of the gods I became numb in false faith. 23
With these words, Virgil seems to want to justify himself in his paganism.

73. I was a poet, and I sang the truthful
Ankhiz's son, who built a new city,
When the arrogant Ilion was burned.

76. But why are you running back into this darkness?
Why are you not in a hurry to the joyful mountains,
To the beginning and cause of all joy? 24
Virgil asks why Dante, being a Christian, did not rush to the true path leading to a happy mountain or hill? - Dante, without answering him to this, pours out animated praise to the poet. This seems to express the desire of the poet, who has experienced the sorrows of life, to find solace in poetry.

79. – “Oh, are you Virgil, that stream that
The waves of words roll like a wide river?”
I answered, bowing my eyes shyly. 25
Virgil in the Middle Ages was in great respect: the common people looked at him as a sorcerer and soothsayer, enthusiasts as a semi-Christian, the reason for which, in addition to his fame, passed down from antiquity, was his famous fourth eclogue. He was the favorite poet of Dante, who taught him for a long time and valued him unusually highly, as can be seen from many places in his poem. However, Dante’s Virgil is not only his favorite poet, but also a symbol of human wisdom, knowledge, and philosophy in general, in contrast to Beatrice, who, as we will see in her place, personifies divine wisdom - Theology.

82. “O wondrous light, oh the honor of other singers!
Be kind to me for my long study
And for the love for the beauty of your poems.

85. You are my author, my mentor in song;
You were the one from whom I took
A wonderful style that has earned me praise. 26
That is, the style is Italian. Dante was already famous for his Vita Nuova and poems (Rime).

88. Look: here is the beast, I ran before him...
Save me, O wise one, in this valley...
It’s in my veins, it stirs the blood in my heart.

91. – “You must take a different path from now on,”
He answered, seeing my sorrow,
“If you don’t want to die here in the desert.

94. This fierce beast that has troubled your chest,
On his way he does not let others through,
But, having stopped the path, he destroys everyone in battle.

97. And he has such a harmful property,
That greed is not satisfied by anything,
Following the food, he pushes even harder.

100. He is associated with many animals,
And with many more he will copulate;
But the Dog is near, before whom he will die. 27
Under the name of the Dog (in the original: greyhound - veltro) most commentators mean Cana Grande (Great) della Scala, ruler of Verona, a noble youth, a stronghold of the Ghibellines and subsequently the representative of the Emperor in Italy, on whom Dante and his party had great hopes, but who while Dante's hopes began to be realized, he died in 1329 at the age of 40. But since Kan was born in 1290, and in 1300, the year of Dante’s journey in the grave world, he was 10 years old, it must be thought that Dante inserted this prediction about him later, or completely redid the beginning of the poem. Troya(Veltro allegorlco di Dante. Fir. 1826) in this Dog they see Uguccione della Fagiola, the leader of the Canov troops, the same one to whom he dedicated his Hell (Paradise is dedicated to Can), and who even before 1300 and before 1308, when Can was still young , rebelled for the Ghibellines in Romagna and Tuscany against the Guelphs and secular power dad. Be that as it may, Dante hid with them the one who should be understood by the symbol of the Dog: perhaps the state of political affairs of that time required this.

103. Not copper and earth will turn into food for the Dog, 28
Copper is used here instead of metal in general, as in the original: peltro (in Latin peltrum), a mixture of tin and silver, instead of silver or gold. The meaning is this: he will not be seduced by the acquisition of possessions (land), or wealth, but by virtue, wisdom and love.

But virtue, wisdom and love;
Between Feltro and between Feltro the Dog will be born. 29
Between Feltro and between Feltro. If we understand by the name of the Dog Can the Great, then this verse defines his possessions: all of Marcha Trivigiana, where the city of Feltre is located, and all of Romagna, where Mount Feltre is: therefore, all of Lombardy.

106. He will save Italy again for the slave, 30
In the original: umile Italia. It seems that Dante here imitated Virgil, who said in canto 3 of the Aeneid: humllemque videmus Italiam.

In whose honor the maiden Camilla died,
Turnus, Euriades and Nisus shed blood.

109. The strength of the She-Wolf will rush from city to city,
Until she is imprisoned in hell,
Where did envy let her into the world? 31
"Invidia autem diaboli mors introivit in orbem terrarum." Vulg.

113. So believe me, not to your detriment:
Follow me; to the fatal region,
Your leader, I will lead you from here.

115. You will hear desperate, evil grief; 32
The souls of the great men of antiquity, kept, according to the concepts of the Catholic Church, on the eve of Hell or Limbo and not saved by baptism. They died in body, but desire a second death, that is, the destruction of the soul.

You will see a host of ancient souls in that country,
Those who vainly call for a second death.

118. You will see the quiet ones who are on fire 33
Souls in Purgatory.

They live in hope that to the empyrean
Someday they too will ascend.

121. But I don’t dare bring you into the empyrean:
There is a soul there that is a hundred times more worthy; 34
An allusion to Beatrice appearing to Dante in the earthly paradise (Pure XXX) and leading him to heaven.

When I am separated, I will leave you with her.

124. Zane Monarch, whose power is like an adversary 35
In the original: Imperadore. The Emperor, as the highest judge on earth, seems to the poet the most worthy likeness of the Supreme Judge in heaven.

I did not know, now it forbids me
Lead you into His holy city. 36
God does not want human reason (Virgil) to achieve the highest heavenly bliss, which is a gift from above. You save.

127. He is the King everywhere, but there He rules: 37
According to Dante, the power of God dominates everywhere, but His throne is in the highest heaven (empyrean), in which the other nine circles of heaven revolve around the earth, which, according to the Ptolemaic system, constitutes the center of the universe.

There is His city and unapproachable light;
O happy is he who enters His city!”

130. And I: “I pray to you, poet,
That Lord, you did not glorify Him, -
May I avoid this and greater troubles, 38
Greater troubles, that is, hell, through which I will go.

133. Lead to the land where you directed the path:
And I will ascend to the holy gates of Peter, 39
The Holy Gates of Petrov are the gates described in Pure. IX, 76. The mourners are the inhabitants of hell.

And I will see those whose sorrow you presented to me.”

136. Here he went, and I followed him.

Canto II

Content. Evening is coming. Dante, calling on the muses for help, tells how at the very beginning of the journey a doubt arose in his soul: whether he had enough strength for a bold feat. Virgil reproaches Dante for his cowardice and, encouraging him to perform a feat, explains to him the reason for his coming: how, on the eve of hell, Beatrice appeared to him and how she begged him to save the dying man. Encouraged by this news, Dante accepts his first intention, and both wanderers set off on their destined path.

1. The day was passing and darkness fell in the valleys, 40
Evening of March 25, or, according to Philalethes, April 8.

Allowing everyone on earth to rest
From their labors; I'm the only one

4. Prepared for battle - on a dangerous journey,
For work, for sorrow, what is the true story about?
I dare to draw from memory.

7. O highest spirit, O muses, calls to you!
O genius, describe everything that I have matured,
May your proud flight appear!

10. I began like this: “With all the power of my soul
Measure first, travel poet;
Then hurry with me on a brave journey. 41
The whole day passes in fluctuations of the mind; night comes and with it new doubts: the determination excited by reason has disappeared, and faith wavers. Dante asks himself: is he capable of performing a brave feat?

13. You said that Sylvius is the parent, 42
Aeneas, the son of Venus and Anchises, the father of Silvius from Lavinia, led by the Sibyl of Cumae, descended into Tartarus (Enemda VI) in order to learn from the shadow of his father, Anchises, how he could defeat Turnus, the king of the Rutuli.

Still alive and decaying, he descended
Witness to the underground monastery.

16. But if the lot decreed this for him,
Then remembering how much fame he gained
And who is this husband? How truthful was he?

19. A sound mind will consider him worthy:
He was chosen in order to create
Great Rome and to be the father of the state, -

22. The powers of the one where – truly speaking – * 43
To truly say - a hint that the Ghibelline spirit is prompting him to hide the truth, or to say the opposite. Lonbardi.

The Lord himself set the sacred throne
The Petrov governors should sit down.

25. In this journey - you glorified him with them -
He learned the way to victory over the enemy
And he gave the tiara to the popes.

28………………… …………………………..
………………… ………………………………
………………… ………………………………

31. But should I go? who gave me permission?

34. And so, if I perform a daring feat,
I'm afraid he'll blame me for madness.
Sage, you will understand more clearly than I say.”

37. Like someone who wants, but begins to fear,
Full of new thoughts, changing his plan,
Rejecting what I wanted to decide:

40. So I languished in that dark jungle,
And, having thought it over, he threw it again,
At least he was devoted to her alone at first.

43. “Since I have fully penetrated the meaning of the word,”
The shadow said to the generous one,
“Your soul is ready to experience fear.

46. ​​Fear of people takes away every day
From honest deeds, like a false ghost
It frightens the horse when a shadow falls.

49. But listen - and dispel the anxious fear, -
What is my coming wine
And what the immutable lot revealed to me.

52. I was with those whose lot is not complete; 44
That is, in Limbo, where the great men of antiquity are placed (see note to Hell. I, 115). – Whose fate is not complete in the original: che son sospesi. The pagans imprisoned in Limbo remain in doubt about their final fate; they are in a middle state between torment and bliss and are awaiting the Last Judgment (Ada IV, 31–45, and Pure III, 40 etc.).

There, hearing the voice of the beautiful Messenger, 45
Beautiful messenger(in the subtext donna beata e bella) - Beatrice, a symbol of divine teaching, theology (see below article 70, note). - “Divine teaching descends to the languid human mind, which once did not listen to God, so that it fulfills its true purpose - to lead man.” You save.

I asked: what will she command?

55. Brighter than a star, a clear ray burned in my eyes, 46
Under the name stars here of course the sun, which is primarily called a star (Daniello, Landino, Velluteno, etc.). Heavenly wisdom in the Bible is often compared to the sun; so about her in the book. Wise One VII, 39, it is said: “This is more beautiful than the sun, and more than any arrangement of stars, the first is found equal to light.”

And in a quiet, harmonious tongue in response
She spoke like a sweet-voiced angel:

58. “O Mantua, affable poet,
Whose glory filled the light far away
And it will be there as long as the light lasts! 47
The light will last. I followed here the text of the Nidobeatan manuscripts, the libraries of Corsini, Chigi, etc., which is followed by Lombardi and Wagner (Il Parnasso Ilaliano), where: quanto "I mondo (in others: moto) lontana*

61. My favorite, but not the favorite of rock,
I met the obstacle on the empty shore
And he runs back, frightened and cruel.

64. And I am afraid: so he went astray on him,
Isn’t it too late that I came with salvation?
How in heaven there was news of this to me.

67. Move forward with wise conviction
Prepare everything for his salvation:
Deliver him and be my consolation,

70. I, Beatrice, beg again...... 48
Beatrice, the daughter of a wealthy Florentine citizen Folco Portinari, whom Dante, still 9 years old, met for the first time on the first day of May 1274. According to the custom of that time, the first of May was celebrated with songs, dances and festivities. Folso Portinari invited his neighbor and friend, Allighiero Allighieri, father of Dante, and his whole family to his holiday. Then, during children's games, Dante fell passionately in love with the eight-year-old daughter of Folco Portinari, however, in such a way that Beatrice never knew about his love. This is Boccaccio's story about Dante's love - a story, perhaps somewhat embellished with poetic fiction. However, Dante himself spoke about his love in sonnets and canzones (Rime) and especially in his Vita Nuova. Beatrice, who later married her husband, died in 1290 at the age of 26. Despite the fact that Dante retained the feeling of first love throughout his life, soon after Beatrice’s death he married Gemma Donati and had six sons and one daughter from her. He was not happy in his marriage and even divorced his wife. – By the symbol of Beatrice, as we have repeatedly said, Dante means theology, the favorite science of his time, a science that he studied deeply in Bologna, Padova and Paris.

………………… ………………………………
………………… ………………………………

73. There, before my Lord, with compassion,
Poet, I will often boast about you.”
I fell silent here, I began with an appeal

76. “O grace, by which alone
Our mortal race has surpassed all creation
Under the sky that completes a smaller circle! 49
Look at the sky that makes a circle. Here, of course, is the moon, which, belonging to the planets in the Ptolemaic system, rotates closer than all other luminaries to the earth and, therefore, makes a smaller circle (see note to Hell. I, 127). The meaning is this: man, by divine teaching, surpasses all creatures in the sublunary world.

79. Your commands to me are so sweet,
That I am ready to accomplish them immediately;
Don't repeat your prayer.

82. But explain: how can you descend
Without trembling into the universal middle 50
World Middle(original: in queeto centro). The earth (see note to Hell I, 127), according to Ptolemy, is located in the middle of the universe. Dante's hell is located inside the earth, as we will see below: therefore, according to his concepts, it constitutes the real center of the whole world.

From the mountainous countries, where are you going to soar? -

85. – “When you want to know the reason for it,”
She advertised, “I’ll give you a short answer,
Almost without fear I will go down to you into the abyss.

88. One should only fear that harm
Inflicts on us: what a fruitless fear,
How is it not fear of something in which there is no fear? 51
Only then do we not feel fear not only of earthly horrors, but also of hell, when, like Beatrice, we are imbued with divine wisdom, the fear of the Lord. (See note Ad. I, 19–21).

91. Thus I was created by the goodness of the Lord,
That your sorrow does not burden me
And the flames of the underworld do not harm me. 52
Although Virgil and other virtuous pagans are not punished with any torment, and although there is no hellfire in Limbo, Beatrice’s words are nevertheless true, because Limbo is still part of hell.

94 There a certain Intercessor mourns
About who I am sending you to,
And for her the cruel trial is broken. 53
Cruel judge(original: duro giudicio). The poet meant: “Judicium durissimum iis, qui praesunt, fiet” Sapient IV, 6.

97. She, having raised Lucia…. 54
Lucia(from lux, light), as a martyr of the Catholic Church, is called to the aid of those who suffer from bodily eyes. This seems to have led Dante to choose her preferentially for the role she plays in his poem. She is mentioned in Pure. IX, 55, and Rae, XXVII.

Advertisement: Your faithful one is waiting for you in tears,
And from here I entrust it to you.

100. And Lucia, the hard-hearted enemy,
Having moved forward, she spoke to me where forever
With ancient Rachel I will sit in the rays: 55
Rachel is a symbol of contemplative life (Pur. XVXII, 100–108), like her sister, Leah, of active life. – Dante very thoughtfully places the divine teaching (Beatrice) near Rachel, eternally immersed in the contemplation of the ineffable Good of Landino.

103. “Oh Beatrice, a heartfelt hymn to the Creator!
Save the one who loved you so much
What has become alien to you to the careless crowd. 56
With his love for Beatrice Portinari, Dante rose above the crowd, on the one hand, indulging in poetry, on the other, studying theology, which Beatrice personifies.

106. Do you not hear how sad his crying is?
Can't you see the death he fought?
In the river, in front of it is the ocean without strength?

109. No one in the world has strived so quickly 57
Under the name rivers(in the original: fiumana, whirlpool, gurges, aquaram congeries, Vocab. della Crueca) refers to the worries of life; the storms of everyday misfortunes surpass all the turbulence of the ocean.

From destruction, or to one’s own gain,
How my flight accelerated from those words

112. From the bench of the blessed to the abysses of the earth -
You gave me faith with wise words,
And honor to you and to those who listen to them!”

115. Then, having told me this, with tears
Grief raised a radiant gaze,
And I flowed in the fastest steps.

118. And, as desired, he arrived at that time,
When this beast stopped in a deserted field
Is yours shortcut to that beautiful mountain.

121. So what? why, why does he hesitate longer?
What kind of low fear do you harbor in your heart?
What happened to courage, to good will...

124. ……………………………………………………
………………… ………………………………
…………………………………………………?»

127. And like flowers, in the cold of the night
Bent over, in the silver of the day's rays
They stand with their heads open on the branches:

130. Thus I was raised by my valor;
Such wondrous courage flowed into my chest,
What did I begin, as if I had thrown off the burden of chains:

133. “Oh glory to her, giver of goodness!
O honor to you, that right words
He believed and did not slow down!

136. So my heart longs for your footsteps
You kindled your journey with your wise words,
That I return to the first thought myself.

139. Let's go: hope is strong in the new heart -
You are the leader, the teacher, you are my master!”
So I said, and under his cover

142. Descended through a wooded path into the darkness of the abyss.

Canto III

Content. Poets come to the door of hell. Dante reads the inscription above it and is horrified; but, encouraged by Virgil, he follows him into the dark abyss. Sighs, loud cries and screams deafen Dante: he cries and learns from his leader that here, still outside the bounds of hell, the souls of insignificant people, those who did not act, and cowards, with whom the choirs of angels are mixed, are being punished in the midst of eternal darkness. who did not take the side of His adversary. Then the poets come to the first hellish river - Acheron. The gray-haired Charon, the helmsman of hell, does not want to accept Dante into his boat, saying that he will penetrate into hell in a different way, and transports a crowd of the dead to the other side of the Acheron. Then the banks of the infernal river shake, a whirlwind rises, lightning flashes and Dante falls unconscious.

1. Here I enter the mournful city to torment,
Here I enter into the eternal torment,
Here I enter the fallen generations.

4. My eternal Architect has been moved by truth:
The Lord's power, the omnipotent mind
And the first loves of the Holy Spirit

7. I was created before all creation,
But after the eternal, and I don’t have a century.
Abandon hope, everyone who comes here! 58
The famous inscription above the door of hell. The first three verses express the teaching of the church about the infinity of hellish torment, the fourth indicates the reason for the creation of hell - the Justice of God. The last verse expresses the hopelessness of the condemned. – There is no way to fully convey this marvelous inscription in all its gloomy grandeur; after many futile attempts, I settled on this translation as being closer to the original.

10. In such words, which had a dark color,
I matured the inscription above the entrance to the execution area
And he said: “The meaning of it is cruel to me, poet!”

13. And like a sage, he spoke, full of affection:
“There is no room for any doubts here,
Here let all the vanity of fear die.

16. This is the land where, as I said, we will see
An unfortunate race that has lost its soul
The light of reason with the most holy good. 59
Light of the mind(in the original il ben dello "ntelletto) there is God. The wicked have lost the knowledge of God, the only good of souls.

19. And took my hand with your hand*
With a calm face my spirit was encouraged
And he entered with me into the secrets of the abyss. 60
Virgil introduces Dante under the arch of the earth, which, according to the poet’s idea, covers the huge funnel-shaped abyss of hell. We will say more about the architecture of Dante's Inferno in its own place; Here we will only note that this abyss, wide at the top, gradually narrows towards the bottom. Its sides consist of ledges, or circles, completely dark and only in places illuminated by underground fire. The uppermost outskirts of hell, directly under the arch of earth that covers it, constitutes the dwelling of the insignificant ones that Dante speaks of here.

22. There in the air without sun and luminaries
Sighs, cries and screams rumble in the abyss,
And I cried as soon as I entered there.

25. A mixture of languages, speeches of a terrible cabal,
Gusts of anger, groans of terrible pain
And with a splash of hands, now a hoarse voice, now wild,

28. They give birth to a roar, and it swirls throughout the century
In the abyss, covered with timeless darkness,
Like dust when the aquilon spins.

31. And I, with my head twisted in horror, 61
With a head twisted in horror. I followed the text adopted by Wagner; (d"error la testa cinta; in other publications; d"error la testa cinta (by ignorance of the midwife).

He asked: “My teacher, what do I hear?
Who are these people, so killed by grief? -

34. And he answered: “This vile execution
That sad family is punishing………………..
……………………………………………………………….62
Sad kind(in the original: l "anime triste; tristo has the meaning of sad and evil, dark), who has not deserved either blasphemy or glory in life, there is a countless crowd of insignificant people who did not act, who did not distinguish their memory with either good or evil deeds. That is why they will forever remain unnoticed even by justice itself: there is no destruction for them, there is no judgment for them, and that is why they envy every fate. How, people who did not act, who never lived, as the poet puts it, the world forgot about them; they are not worth participating; they are not even worth talking about. Eternal darkness looms over them, like over the dark forest in the first canto (also Ada IV, 65–66), which is their faithful representative. Just as in life they were occupied by petty worries, insignificant passions and desires, so here they are tormented by the most useless insects - flies and wasps. The blood now shed by them for the first time can only serve as food for vile worms. You save and Streckfuss.

37. Those choirs of evil angels are mixed with him,
That they stood up for themselves,
……………………………………………………………….

40. ………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………»

43. – “Teacher,” I asked, “what is the burden
Are they being forced to complain like this?” -
And he: “I won’t waste time for them,

46. ​​The hope of death does not shine for the blind,
And blind life is so unbearable,
That each fate is enviable to them,

49. Their trace in the world disappeared faster than smoke;
There is no compassion for them, the court despised them,
What do they say about them? take a look and pass by!”

52. And I looked and saw the banner there:
It was soaring as it ran,
That, it seemed, rest was not his destiny. 63
Among the insignificant, Dante also places cowards, whose banner, cowardly abandoned by them in life, is now doomed to eternal flight, so fast that it seems he will never stop. – Not for him- in the original it is even stronger: Che d "ogni posa mi pareva indegna (unworthy of any peace).

55. Behind him ran a line of dead so abundant,
That I could not believe that the lot would overthrow
Such a multitude in the darkness of the grave.

57. And I, recognizing some there, went up
I looked and saw the shadow of the one who
Out of baseness he rejected the great gift, 64
No matter how colorless or dark the life of the people condemned here is, Dante recognizes some of them, but who exactly, he does not consider worthy to say. He especially points to the shadow of someone who has rejected a great gift. Commentators guess in her that Esau, who ceded the right of birthright to his brother Jacob; then the Emperor Diocletian, who in old age resigned his imperial dignity; then Pope Celestine V who, through the machinations of Bonaiface VIII, refused the papal tiara in favor of the latter. Finally, some see here a timid fellow citizen of Dante, Torreggiano dei Cerchi, a supporter of the Whites, who did not support his party.

61. I instantly understood - my eyes were convinced of that -
What is this mob……………………….
……………………………………………………………….

64. A despised race that never lived,
Kicked and pale, was wounded by swarms
And the flies and wasps that flocked there.

67. Blood rolled down their faces in streams,
And mixed with a stream of tears, in the dust,
At the feet, eaten by vile worms.

70. And I, straining my eyesight, far away
I saw a crowd on the shore of the great
Rivers and said: “Leader, favor

73. Explain to me: what does a host mean?
And what attracts him from all sides,
How can I see through the darkness in the wild valley? -

76. – “You will find out about this,” he answered me,
When we reach the shore of Krutovo,
Where Acheron flooded with swamp 65
Dante places the Acheron of the ancients on the uppermost edge of the funnel-shaped abyss of hell in the form of a stagnant swamp.

79. And I lowered my embarrassed gaze again 66
Throughout the poem, Dante portrays with extraordinary tenderness his attitude towards Virgil as a student to a teacher, achieving an almost dramatic effect.

And, so as not to offend the leader, to the shores
I walked along the river without saying a word.

82. And now the boat is rowing towards us
A stern old man with ancient hair, 67
The old man is stern– Charon, to whom Dante in Art. 109 gives the appearance of a demon with wheels of fire around his eyes. We will see below that Dante turned many mythical figures of antiquity into demons: this is exactly what the monks of the Middle Ages did with the ancient gods. Mythological figures in Dante's Poem mostly have a deep allegorical meaning, or serve a technical purpose, giving plastic roundness to the whole. However, the habit of mixing pagan with Christian was common in medieval art: the exterior of Gothic churches was often decorated with mythological figures. – Charon in Last Judgment Michele Angelo wrote based on Dante's idea. Ampere.

Shouting: “Oh woe, you evil ones, woe to you!

85. Here say goodbye to heaven forever:
I'm going to throw you over the edge
Into eternal darkness and into heat and cold with ice. 68
Darkness, heat and cold characterize in general terms and in the correct sequence the three main divisions of hell, in which ice is found in two. (Ada XXXIV).

88. And you, living soul, in this order,
Part with this dead crowd!
But seeing that I was standing motionless:

91. “In another way,” he said, “in another wave,
Not here, you will penetrate into the sad land:
The lightest boat will rush you like an arrow. 69
Dante is not a light shadow like other souls, and therefore the weight of his body would be too burdensome for the light boat of shadows.

94. And the leader to him: “Harom, do not forbid!
So there want where every wish is
There is a law: old man, don’t ask! 70
That is, in the sky. With these same words, Virgil tames the wrath of Minos, the infernal judge (Ada V, 22–24).

97. The swaying of the shaggy cheeks has died down here 71
A plastically faithful image of a toothless old man who, when he speaks, makes his cheeks and beard move violently.

At the helmsman, but the wheels of fire
The sparkle around the eyes intensified.

100. There is a host of shadows, agitated chaos, 72
These are the souls of other sinners who do not belong to the host of insignificant ones and must hear a sentence from Minos, according to which they will take their places in hell.

His face became confused, his teeth chattered,
As soon as Charon pronounced the menacing judgment, 73
Charon's words plunge sinners into horror and despair. Their state at this decisive moment is presented in an inimitably terrible way.

103. And he cursed his parents with blasphemies,
The whole race of people, place of birth, hour
And the seed of the seed with their tribes.

106. Then all the shadows, crowding into a single host,
They burst into tears on the cruel shore,
Where will there be everyone in whom the fear of God has faded away?

109. Charon, the demon, has a sparkling eye like coal,
Alluring, he drives a host of shadows into the boat,
Strikes the stragglers over the stream with an oar. 74
Imitation of Virgil, although Dante’s comparison is incomparably more beautiful:
Quam multa in silvis antumni frigore primoLapsa cadunt folia. Aeneid. VI, 309–310.

112. How the bore circles in the forest in autumn
Behind the leaf is a leaf, until its impulses
They will not throw all the luxury of the branches into dust:

115. Like the wicked race of Adam,
Behind the shadow is a shadow, rushing from the banks,
To the rower's sign, like a falcon to calls.

118. So everyone floats through the muddy darkness of the shafts,
And before they go ashore sleepy,
In that country a new host is already ready.

121. “My son,” said the benevolent teacher,
“Before the Lord those who died in sins
From all lands they soar to the bottomless river 75
This is Virgil's answer to the question asked of him by Dante above (vv. 72–75).

124. And they hurry through it in tears;
God's justice motivates them
So fear turned into desire. 76
Justice, which prompted God to create a place of execution, encourages sinners, as if of their own free will, to occupy the monastery prepared for them.

127. A good soul does not penetrate into hell,
And if here you are greeted like this by a rower,
Then you yourself will understand what this cry means.” -

130. Silenced. Then the whole gloomy valley is all around
I was so shaken that I'm still in cold sweat
It sprinkles me, as soon as I remember it.

133. A whirlwind rushed through this tearful valley,
The crimson ray flashed from all sides
And, having lost my senses, in a desperate abyss

136. I fell like one who is overcome by sleep. 77
Dante covered his crossing of the Acheron with an impenetrable secret. The poet falls into a sleep, during which he is miraculously transported to the other shore, just as in the first canto (Ada I, 10–12) he enters a dark forest in deep sleep. In the same mystical dream he ascends to the gates of purgatory (Pur. IX. 19ff.). He also falls asleep before entering the earthly paradise (Pur. XXVII, 91 et d).