| When I had journeyed half of our life's way,
I found myself within a shadowed forest,
for I had lost the path that does not stray.
| 3 |
| Ah, it is hard to speak of what it was,
that savage forest, dense and difficult,
which even in recall renews my fear:
| 6 |
| so bitter-death is hardly more severe!
But to retell the good discovered there,
I'll also tell the other things I saw.
| 9 |
| I cannot clearly say how I had entered
the wood; I was so full of sleep just at
the point where I abandoned the true path.
| 12 |
| But when I'd reached the bottom of a hill-
it rose along the boundary of the valley
that had harassed my heart with so much fear-
| 15 |
| I looked on high and I saw its shoulders clothed
already by the rays of that same planet
which serves to lead men straight along all roads.
| 18 |
| At this my fear was somewhat quieted,
for through the night of sorrow I had spent,
the lake within my heart felt terror present.
| 21 |
| And just as he who, with exhausted breath,
having escaped from sea to shore, turns back
to watch the dangerous waters he has quit,
| 24 |
| so did my spirit, still a fugitive,
turn back to look intently at the pass
that never has let any man survive.
| 27 |
| I let my tired body rest awhile.
Moving again, I tried the lonely slope-
my firm foot always was the one below.
| 30 |
| And almost where the hillside starts to rise-
Look there!-a leopard, very quick and lithe,
a leopard covered with a spotted hide.
| 33 |
| He did not disappear from sight, but stayed;
indeed, he so impeded my ascent
that I had often to turn back again.
| 36 |
| The time was the beginning of the morning;
the sun was rising now in fellowship
with the same stars that had escorted it
| 39 |
| when Divine Love first moved those things of beauty;
so that the hour and the gentle season
gave me good cause for hopefulness on seeing
| 42 |
| that beast before me with his speckled skin;
but hope was hardly able to prevent
the fear I felt when I beheld a lion.
| 45 |
| His head held high and ravenous with hunger-
even the air around him seemed to shudder-
this lion seemed to make his way against me.
| 48 |
| And then a she-wolf showed herself; she seemed
to carry every craving in her leanness;
she had already brought despair to many.
| 51 |
| The very sight of her so weighted me
with fearfulness that I abandoned hope
of ever climbing up that mountain slope.
| 54 |
| Even as he who glories while he gains
will, when the time has come to tally loss,
lament with every thought and turn despondent,
| 57 |
| so was I when I faced that restless beast,
which, even as she stalked me, step by step
had thrust me back to where the sun is speechless.
| 60 |
| While I retreated down to lower ground,
before my eyes there suddenly appeared
one who seemed faint because of the long silence.
| 63 |
| When I saw him in that vast wilderness,
"Have pity on me," were the words I cried,
"whatever you may be- a shade, a man."
| 66 |
| He answered me: "Not man; I once was man.
Both of my parents came from Lombardy,
and both claimed Mantua as native city.
| 69 |
| And I was born, though late, sub julio,
and lived in Rome under the good Augustus-
the season of the false and lying gods.
| 72 |
| I was a poet, and I sang the righteous
son of Anchises who had come from Troy
when flames destroyed the pride of Ilium.
| 75 |
| But why do you return to wretchedness?
Why not climb up the mountain of delight,
the origin and cause of every joy?"
| 78 |
| "And are you then that Virgil, you the fountain
that freely pours so rich a stream of speech?"
I answered him with shame upon my brow.
| 81 |
| "O light and honour of all other poets,
may my long study and the intense love
that made me search your volume serve me now.
| 84 |
| You are my master and my author, you-
the only one from whom my writing drew
the noble style for which I had been honored.
| 87 |
| You see the beast that made me turn aside;
help me, o famous sage, to stand against her,
for she has made my blood and pulses shudder."
| 90 |
| "It is another path that you must take,"
he answered when he saw my tearfulness,
"if you would leave this savage wilderness;
| 93 |
| the beast that is the cause of your outcry
allows no man to pass along her track,
but blocks him even to the point of death;
| 96 |
| her nature is so squalid, so malicious
that she can never sate her greedy will;
when she has fed, she's hungrier than ever.
| 99 |
| She mates with many living souls and shall
yet mate with many more, until the Greyhound
arrives, inflicting painful death on her.
| 102 |
| That Hound will never feed on land or pewter,
but find his fare in wisdom, love, and virtue;
his place of birth shall be between two felts.
| 105 |
| He will restore low-lying Italy
for which the maid Camilla died of wounds,
and Nisus, Turnus and Euryalus.
| 108 |
| And he will hunt that beast through every city
until he thrusts her back again to Hell,
from which she was first sent above by envy.
| 111 |
| Therefore, I think and judge it best for you
to follow me, and I shall guide you, taking
you from this place through an eternal place,
| 114 |
| where you shall hear the howls of desperation
and see the ancient spirits in their pain,
as each of them laments his second death;
| 117 |
| and shall see those souls who are content
within the fire, for they hope to reach-
whenever that may be-to the blessed people.
| 120 |
| If you would then ascend as high as these,
a soul more worthy than I am will guide you;
I'll leave you in her care when I depart,
| 123 |
| because that Emperor who reigns above,
since I have been rebellious rebellious to His law,
will not allow me entry to His city.
| 126 |
| He governs everywhere, but rules from there;
there is His city, His high capital:
o happy those He chooses to be there!"
| 129 |
| And I replied: "O poet-by that God
whom you had never come to know-I beg you,
that I may flee this evil and worse evils,
| 132 |
| to lead me to the place of which you spoke,
that I may see the gateway of Saint Peter
and those whom you describe as sorrowful."
| 135 |
| Then he set out, and I moved on behind him.
| 136 |
|
|
