"O compassionate she who succored me! and thou courteous one that didst quickly obey the true words she gave thee! With thy words thou hast so disposed my heart to go that I have returned to my first intent." Now go on, for one sole will is in us both: Thou art the guide, the lord, the master." Thus spake I to him; and when he moved I entered on the deep, wild way.

CANTO III, Lines 1-18.

Through me is the way into the doleful city; through me the way to endless suffering; through me the way among the lost people. Justice incited my high maker: divine power made me-the highest wisdom and the primal love. Before me nothing was made unless eternal, and eternal I endure. Abandon all hope, ye who enter! These words, of color obscure, I saw written over a gate.

Perch'io; Maestro, il senso lor m'è duro. Ed egli a me, come persona accorta: Qui si convien lasciare ogni sospetto; Ogni viltà convien che qui sia morta. Noi siam venuti al luogo ov'io t'ho detto, Che tu vedrai le genti dolorose,

Ch'hanno perduto il ben dello intelletto.

Lines 43-57.

Ed io: Maestro, che è tanto greve
A lor, che lamentar gli fa sì forte?
Rispose: Dicerolti molto breve.
Questi non hanno speranza di morte,
E la lor cieca vita è tanto bassa,
Che invidiosi son d'ogni altra sorte.
Fama di loro il mondo esser non lassa,
Misericordia e giustizia gli sdegna:
Non ragioniam di lor, ma guarda e passa.
Ed io, che riguardai, vidi una insegna,
Che girando correva tanto ratta,

Che d'ogni posa mi pareva indegna:

E dietro le venia si lunga tratta

Lines 43-57: These are the people who never

Whereat I: "Master, their meaning is hard to me." And he to me, as one who knows: "Here must all fear be left, all cowardice must here be dead. We are come to the place where I told thee thou shouldst see the woeful people who have lost the blessings of the understanding."

Lines 43-57.

And I: "Master, what is so grievous to them that makes them lament so bitterly? He answered: "I will tell thee very briefly. These have no hope of death, and their blind life is so mean that they are envious of every other lot. The world allows not any report of them, mercy and justice disdain them. Let us not speak of them, but look and pass on." And as I looked I saw a banner that whirling rushed so quickly that it seemed to scorn repose. behind it came so long a train

really lived-were neither good nor bad.

And

Di gente, ch'i' non avrei mai creduto,
Che morte tanta n'avesse disfatta.

CANTO IV, Lines 40-45.

Per tai difetti, non per altro rio,
Semo perduti, e sol di tanto offesi,
Che senza speme vivemo in disio.
Gran duol mi prese al cor quando lo intesi,
Perocchè genti di molto valore

Conobbi, che in quel limbo eran sospesi.

Lines 79-105.

Intanto voce fu per me udita:

Onorate l'altissimo poeta;

L'ombra sua torna, ch'era dipartita. Poichè la voce fu restata e queta,

Vidi quattro grand'ombre a noi venire; Sembianza avevan nè trista nè lieta.

Lo buon Maestro cominciò a dire:

Mira colui con quella spada in mano, Che vien dinanzi a' tre si come sire. Quegli è Omero poeta sovrano,

L'altro è Orazio satiro, che viene,

Ovidio è il terzo, e l'ultimo Lucano.

of people that I could never have believed death had undone so many.

CANTO IV, Lines 40-45.

For such defects and not for other guilt are we lost, and only so far punished that without hope we live in desire. Great sad

ness seized my heart when I heard this, for I knew men of much worth who were suspended in that limbo.

Lines 79-105.

Meanwhile I heard a voice: Honor the loftiest poet; his shade that was departed is returned." When the voice had paused and was silent I saw four great shades coming to us that had an aspect neither sad nor joyous. The good master began to speak: "Mark him with that sword in hand, who comes before the three as their lord. That is Homer the sovereign poet. The next who comes is Horace the satirist. Ovid is the third, and the last is Lucan.