Often, because of love, actions are committed that go beyond understanding. It is customary for poets, having experienced love, to dedicate their writings to the object of feelings. But if this poet is still a person with a difficult fate and, at the same time, is not devoid of genius, there is a possibility that he is capable of writing one of the greatest works in the world. This was Dante Alighieri. His “Divine Comedy” - a masterpiece of world literature - continues to be interesting to the world 700 years after its creation.
“The Divine Comedy” was created in the second period of the great poet’s life - the period of exile (1302 - 1321). By the time he began work on the Comedy, he was already looking for a haven for soul and body among the cities and states of Italy, and the love of his life, Beatrice, had already fallen asleep for several years (1290), having become a victim of a plague epidemic. Writing was a kind of consolation for Dante in his difficult life. It is unlikely that he then counted on worldwide fame or memory for centuries. But the genius of the author and the value of his poem did not allow him to be forgotten.
Genre and direction
"Comedy" is a special work in the history of world literature. If you look at it in a broad way, it is a poem. In a narrower sense, it is impossible to determine whether it belongs to one of the varieties of this genre. The problem here is that there are no more such works in terms of content. It is impossible to come up with a name that would reflect the meaning of the text. Dante decided to call the work “Comedy” by Giovanni Boccaccio, following the logic of Aristotle’s teaching on drama, where comedy was a work that started out bad and ended well. The epithet “divine” was invented in the 16th century.
In direction, this is a classic work of the Italian Renaissance. Dante's poem is characterized by special national elegance, rich imagery and accuracy. With all this, the poet also does not neglect the sublimity and freedom of thought. All these features were characteristic of the Renaissance poetry of Italy. It is they who form that unique style of Italian poetry of the 13th - 17th centuries.
Composition
Taken as a whole, the core of the poem is the hero's journey. The work consists of three parts, consisting of one hundred songs. The first part is “Hell”. It contains 34 songs, while "Purgatory" and "Paradise" have 33 songs each. The author's choice is not accidental. “Hell” stood out as a place in which there can be no harmony, well, and there are more inhabitants there.
Description of Hell
"Hell" represents nine circles. Sinners are ranked there according to the severity of their fall. Dante took Aristotle's Ethics as the basis for this system. Thus, from the second to the fifth circles they punish for the results of human intemperance:
- in the second circle - for lust;
- in the third - for gluttony;
- in the fourth - for stinginess with wastefulness;
- in the fifth - for anger;
In the sixth and seventh for the consequences of atrocities:
- in the sixth for false teachings
- in the seventh for violence, murder and suicide
In the eighth and ninth for lying and all its derivatives. A worse fate awaits Dante's traitors. According to the logic of modern, and even then, people, the most serious sin is murder. But Aristotle probably believed that a person cannot always control the desire to kill because of bestial nature, while lying is an exclusively conscious matter. Dante apparently followed the same concept.
In Inferno, everyone is Dante's political and personal enemies. Also there he placed all those who were of a different faith, seemed immoral to the poet and simply did not live like a Christian.
Description of Purgatory
"Purgatory" contains seven circles that correspond to the seven sins. The Catholic Church later called them mortal sins (those that can be “prayed away”). In Dante they are arranged from the hardest to the most tolerable. He did this because his path should represent the path of ascent to Paradise.
Description of paradise
"Paradise" is performed in nine circles, named after the main planets of the solar system. Here are Christian martyrs, saints and scientists, participants in the crusades, monks, church fathers, and, of course, Beatrice, who is located not just anywhere, but in the Empyrean - the ninth circle, which is represented in the form of a luminous rose, which can be interpreted as a place where God is. Despite all the Christian orthodoxy of the poem, Dante gives the circles of Paradise the names of the planets, which in meaning correspond to the names of the gods of Roman mythology. For example, the third circle (Venus) is the abode of lovers, and the sixth (Mars) is the place for warriors for the faith.
About what?
Giovanni Boccaccio, when writing a sonnet on behalf of Dante, dedicated to the purpose of the poem, said the following: “To entertain posterity and instruct in the faith.” This is true: “The Divine Comedy” can serve as an instruction in faith, because it is based on Christian teaching and clearly shows what and who will face for disobedience. And, as they say, she can entertain. Considering, for example, the fact that “Paradise” is the most unreadable part of the poem, since all the entertainment that a person loves is described in the previous two chapters, well, or the fact that the work is dedicated to Dante’s love. Moreover, the function that, as Boccaccio said, entertains, can even compete in its importance with the function of edification. After all, the poet, of course, was more of a romantic than a satirist. He wrote about himself and for himself: everyone who prevented him from living is in hell, the poem is for his beloved, and Dante’s companion and mentor, Virgil, is the favorite poet of the great Florentine (it is known that he knew his “Aeneid” by heart).
Dante's image
Dante is the main character of the poem. It is noteworthy that in the entire book his name is not indicated anywhere, except perhaps on the cover. The narration comes from his perspective, and all the other characters call him “you.” The narrator and the author have a lot in common. The "Dark Forest" in which the first one finds himself at the very beginning is the exile of the real Dante from Florence, the moment when he was truly in turmoil. And Virgil from the poem is the writings of a Roman poet that actually existed for the exile. Just as his poetry guided Dante through difficulties here, so in the afterlife Virgil is his “teacher and beloved example.” In the character system, the ancient Roman poet also personifies wisdom. The hero shows himself most well in relation to sinners who offended him personally during his lifetime. He even tells some of them in the poem that they deserve it.
Themes
- The main theme of the poem is love. The poets of the Renaissance began to elevate the earthly woman to heaven, often calling her Madonna. Love, according to Dante, is the cause and beginning of everything. She is the stimulus for writing the poem, the reason for his journey already in the context of the work, and most importantly, the reason for the beginning and existence of the Universe, as is commonly believed in Christian theology.
- Edification is the next theme of the Comedy. Dante, like everyone else in those days, felt a great responsibility for earthly life before the heavenly world. For the reader, he can act as a teacher who gives everyone what they deserve. It is clear that in the context of the poem, the inhabitants of the underworld were located as the author describes them, by the will of the Almighty.
- Policy. Dante's work can safely be called political. The poet always believed in the benefits of the emperor's power and wanted such power for his country. In total, his ideological enemies, as well as the enemies of the empire, like Caesar's murderers, experience the most terrible suffering in hell.
- Strength of mind. Dante often falls into confusion when he finds himself in the afterlife, but Virgil tells him not to do this, not stopping at any danger. However, even under unusual circumstances, the hero shows himself with dignity. He cannot not be afraid at all, since he is a man, but even for a man his fear is insignificant, which is an example of exemplary will. This will did not break even in the face of difficulties in real life the poet, nor in his book adventure.
Issues
- The fight for the ideal. Dante strived for his goals both in real life and in the poem. Once a political activist, he continues to defend his interests, branding all those who are in opposition to him and do bad things. The author, of course, cannot call himself a saint, but nevertheless he takes responsibility by distributing sinners to their places. The ideal in this matter for him is Christian teaching and his own views.
- Correlation between the earthly and afterlife worlds. Many of those who lived, according to Dante, or according to Christian law, unrighteously, but, for example, for their own pleasure and benefit for themselves, find themselves in the most terrible places in hell. At the same time, in paradise there are martyrs or those who during their lifetime became famous for great and useful deeds. The concept of punishment and reward, developed by Christian theology, exists as a moral guide for most people today.
- Death. When his beloved died, the poet was very sad. His love was not destined to come true and be embodied on earth. “The Divine Comedy” is an attempt to reunite, at least briefly, with a woman who has been lost forever.
Meaning
“The Divine Comedy” fulfills all the functions that the author intended for this work. It is a moral and humanistic ideal for everyone. Reading the “Comedy” evokes many emotions, through which a person learns what is good and what is bad, and experiences purification, the so-called “catharsis,” as Aristotle dubbed this state of mind. Through the suffering experienced in the process of reading the everyday description of hell, a person comprehends divine wisdom. As a result, he treats his actions and thoughts more responsibly, because the justice laid down from above will punish his sins. In a bright and talented manner, the artist of the word, like an icon painter, depicted scenes of reprisals against vices that enlighten the common people, popularizing and chewing on the content of the Holy Scriptures. Dante's audience, of course, is more demanding, because they are literate, wealthy and perspicacious, but, nevertheless, they are not alien to sinfulness. Such people tended to distrust the direct moralizing of preachers and theological works, and here the exquisitely written “Divine Comedy” came to the aid of virtue, which carried the same educational and moral charge, but did it in a secularly sophisticated way. The main idea of the work is expressed in this healing influence on those who are burdened with power and money.
The ideals of love, justice and the strength of the human spirit at all times are the basis of our existence, and in Dante’s work they are glorified and shown in all their significance. “The Divine Comedy” teaches a person to strive for the high destiny with which God has honored him.
Peculiarities
“The Divine Comedy” has the most important aesthetic significance because of the theme of human love that has turned into tragedy and the rich artistic world of the poem. All of the above, together with a special poetic cast and unprecedented functional diversity, make this work one of the most outstanding in world literature.
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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, moreover, from the XXI canto of Hell it is clear that Dante assumes the beginning of his pilgrimage in 1300, during the jubilee declared by Pope Boniface VIII, on Holy Week on Good Friday - the year in which he was 35 years old, although his poem was written much later; therefore, all incidents that happened later than this year are given as predictions.
Dark forest, according to the usual interpretation of almost all commentators, 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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The action of “The Divine Comedy” begins from the moment when the lyrical hero (or Dante himself), shocked by the death of his beloved Beatrice, tries to survive his grief, setting it out in poetry in order to record it as specifically as possible and thereby preserve the unique image of his beloved. But here it turns out that her immaculate personality is already not subject to death and oblivion. She becomes a guide, the savior of the poet from inevitable death.
Beatrice, with the help of Virgil, the ancient Roman poet, accompanies the living lyrical hero - Dante - around all the horrors of Hell, making an almost sacred journey from being to non-existence, when the poet, just like the mythological Orpheus, descends into the underworld to save his Eurydice. On the gates of Hell it is written “Abandon all hope,” but Virgil advises Dante to get rid of fear and trepidation of the unknown, because only with open eyes can a person comprehend the source of evil.
Sandro Botticelli, "Portrait of Dante"
Hell for Dante is not a materialized place, but a state of soul of a sinned person, constantly tormented by remorse. Dante inhabited the circles of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, guided by his likes and dislikes, his ideals and ideas. For him, for his friends, love was the highest expression of the independence and unpredictability of the freedom of the human person: this is freedom from traditions and dogmas, and freedom from the authorities of the church fathers, and freedom from various universal models of human existence.
Love with a capital “L” comes to the fore, aimed not at the realistic (in the medieval sense) absorption of individuality into a ruthless collective integrity, but towards the unique image of the truly existing Beatrice. For Dante, Beatrice is the embodiment of the entire universe in the most concrete and colorful image. And what could be more attractive to a poet than the figure of a young Florentine woman, accidentally met on a narrow street of an ancient city? This is how Dante realizes the synthesis of thought and concrete, artistic, emotional comprehension of the world. In the first song of Paradise, Dante listens to the concept of reality from the lips of Beatrice and is unable to take his eyes off her emerald eyes. This scene is the embodiment of deep ideological and psychological shifts, when artistic comprehension of reality strives to become intellectual.
Illustration for The Divine Comedy, 1827
The afterlife appears before the reader in the form of a solid building, the architecture of which is calculated in the smallest detail, and the coordinates of space and time are distinguished by mathematical and astronomical accuracy, complete numerological and esoteric overtones.
The number three and its derivative, nine, appear most often in the text of the comedy: a three-line stanza (terzina), which became the poetic basis of the work, which in turn is divided into three parts - cantics. Minus the first, introductory song, 33 songs are devoted to the depiction of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, and each part of the text ends with the same word - stars (stelle). To this same mystical digital series One can also include the three colors of clothes in which Beatrice is clothed, three symbolic beasts, the three mouths of Lucifer and the same number of sinners devoured by him, the triple distribution of Hell with nine circles. This entire clearly constructed system gives rise to a surprisingly harmonious and coherent hierarchy of the world, created according to unwritten divine laws.
The Tuscan dialect became the basis of the literary Italian language
Speaking about Dante and his “Divine Comedy”, one cannot help but note the special status that the great poet’s homeland – Florence – had in a host of other cities of the Apennine Peninsula. Florence is not only the city where the Accademia del Chimento raised the banner of experimental knowledge of the world. This is a place where nature was looked at as closely as anywhere else, a place of passionate artistic sensationalism, where rational vision replaced religion. They looked at the world through the eyes of an artist, with elation and worship of beauty.
The initial collection of ancient manuscripts reflected a shift in the center of gravity of intellectual interests to the device inner world and the creativity of man himself. Space ceased to be the habitat of God, and they began to treat nature from the point of view of earthly existence, they looked for answers to questions understandable to man, and took them in earthly, applied mechanics. New look thinking - natural philosophy - humanized nature itself.
The topography of Dante's Hell and the structure of Purgatory and Paradise follow from the recognition of loyalty and courage as the highest virtues: at the center of Hell, in the teeth of Satan, there are traitors, and the distribution of places in Purgatory and Paradise directly corresponds to the moral ideals of the Florentine exile.
By the way, everything we know about Dante’s life is known to us from his own memoirs, set out in The Divine Comedy. He was born in 1265 in Florence and remained loyal to his hometown all his life. Dante wrote about his teacher Brunetto Latini and his talented friend Guido Cavalcanti. The life of the great poet and philosopher took place in the circumstances of a very long conflict between the emperor and the Pope. Latini, Dante's mentor, was a man with encyclopedic knowledge and based his views on the sayings of Cicero, Seneca, Aristotle and, of course, the Bible, the main book of the Middle Ages. It was Latini who most influenced the development of the personality of Buddhism. a great Renaissance humanist.
Dante's path was replete with obstacles when the poet was faced with a difficult choice: for example, he was forced to contribute to the expulsion of his friend Guido from Florence. Reflecting on the theme of the vicissitudes of his fate, Dante in the poem “New Life” devotes many fragments to his friend Cavalcanti. Here Dante created the unforgettable image of his first youthful love - Beatrice. Biographers identify Dante's lover with Beatrice Portinari, who died at the age of 25 in Florence in 1290. Dante and Beatrice became the same textbook embodiment of true lovers as Petrarch and Laura, Tristan and Isolde, Romeo and Juliet.
Dante spoke to his beloved Beatrice twice in his life
In 1295, Dante entered the guild, membership in which opened the way for him into politics. Just at this time, the struggle between the emperor and the Pope intensified, so that Florence was divided into two opposing factions - the “black” Guelphs, led by Corso Donati, and the “white” Guelphs, to whose camp Dante himself belonged. The Whites were victorious and drove their opponents out of the city. In 1300, Dante was elected to the city council - it was here that the poet’s brilliant oratory abilities were fully revealed.
Dante increasingly began to oppose himself to the Pope, participating in various anti-clerical coalitions. By that time, the “blacks” had stepped up their activities, burst into the city and dealt with their political opponents. Dante was summoned several times to testify before the city council, but each time he ignored these demands, so on March 10, 1302, Dante and 14 other members of the “white” party were sentenced to death in absentia. To save himself, the poet was forced to leave his hometown. Disillusioned with the possibility of changing the political state of affairs, he began to write his life's work - The Divine Comedy.
Sandro Botticelli "Hell, Canto XVIII"
In the 14th century, in The Divine Comedy, the truth revealed to the poet who visited Hell, Purgatory and Paradise is no longer canonical, it appears to him as a result of his own, individual efforts, his emotional and intellectual impulse, he hears the truth from the lips of Beatrice . For Dante, an idea is the “thought of God”: “Everything that will die and everything that will not die is / Only a reflection of the Thought to which the Almighty / With His Love gives existence.”
Dante's path of love is the path of perception of divine light, a force that simultaneously elevates and destroys a person. In The Divine Comedy, Dante placed special emphasis on the color symbolism of the Universe he depicted. If Hell is typical dark colors, then the path from Hell to Heaven is a transition from dark and gloomy to light and shining, while in Purgatory there is a change in lighting. For the three steps at the gates of Purgatory, symbolic colors are allocated: white - the innocence of the baby, crimson - the sinfulness of the earthly being, red - redemption, the blood of which whitens so that, closing this color series, white appears again as a harmonious combination of the previous symbols.
“We do not live in this world for death to find us in blissful laziness.”
In November 1308, Henry VII became king of Germany, and in July 1309, the new Pope Clement V declared him king of Italy and invited him to Rome, where the magnificent coronation of the new emperor of the Holy Roman Empire took place. Dante, who was an ally of Henry, returned to politics, where he was able to use his literary experience productively, writing many pamphlets and speaking publicly. In 1316, Dante finally moved to Ravenna, where he was invited to spend the rest of his days by the city's lord, philanthropist and patron of the arts, Guido da Polenta.
In the summer of 1321, Dante, as ambassador of Ravenna, went to Venice with a mission to make peace with the Doge's Republic. Having completed an important assignment, on the way home Dante falls ill with malaria (like his late friend Guido) and suddenly dies on the night of September 13-14, 1321.
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 the immortal poem, most struck 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 mostly of 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. Dodging in deep sleep from the straight road, Dante awakens in a dark forest, with a faint flicker month goes by further and, before daylight, reaches the base of the hill, the top of which is illuminated by the 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, moreover, from the XXI canto of Hell it is clear that Dante assumes the beginning of his pilgrimage in 1300, during the jubilee declared by Pope Boniface VIII, on Holy Week on Good Friday - the year in which he was 35 years old, 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 love40. 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 the entire Christian world” (Pur. XX, 44), the Lion 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 with cruel execution (Ada XXXXV, 55–67). – Sub Julio is one of those Latin expressions that are found so much 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 the temporal power of the popes. 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 one4. 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 Silvius 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 obstacles 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 appeal76. “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 words112. 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
Your short path 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 cover142. 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 Spirit7. 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 wondrous 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, favor73. 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 the pagan with the Christian was a common practice in medieval art: the exterior of Gothic churches was often decorated with mythological figures. – Charon in the Last Judgment Michel 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 the general outline and the correct sequence of the three main divisions of hell, in which ice is located on the very 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 abyss136. 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 a deep sleep. In the same mystical dream he ascends to the gates of purgatory (Purgatory IX, 19ff.). He also falls asleep before entering the earthly paradise (Pur. XXVII, 91 et d).
Halfway through life, I - Dante - got lost in a dense forest. It’s scary, there are wild animals all around - allegories of vices; nowhere to go. And then a ghost appears, who turns out to be the shadow of my beloved ancient Roman poet Virgil. I ask him for help. He promises to take me from here to wander through the afterlife so that I can see Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. I'm ready to follow him.
Yes, but am I capable of such a journey? I became timid and hesitated. Virgil reproached me, telling me that Beatrice herself (my late beloved) came down to him from Heaven to Hell and asked him to be my guide in my wanderings in the afterlife. If so, then you cannot hesitate, you need determination. Guide me, my teacher and mentor!
There is an inscription above the entrance to Hell that takes away all hope from those entering. We entered. Here, right behind the entrance, the pitiful souls of those who did neither good nor evil during their lives groan. Next is the Acheron River. Through it, the ferocious Charon transports the dead on a boat. To us - with them. “But you’re not dead!” - Charon shouts angrily at me. Virgil pacified him. Let's swim. A roar was heard from afar, the wind was blowing, and flames flashed. I lost my senses...
The first circle of Hell is Limbo. Here the souls of unbaptized babies and glorious pagans languish - warriors, sages, poets (including Virgil). They do not suffer, but only grieve that they, as non-Christians, have no place in Paradise. Virgil and I joined the great poets of antiquity, the first of whom was Homer. They walked sedately and talked about unearthly things.
At the descent into the second circle of the underworld, the demon Minos determines which sinner should be cast into which place of Hell. He reacted to me in the same way as Charon, and Virgil pacified him in the same way. We saw the souls of voluptuaries (Cleopatra, Helen the Beautiful, etc.) carried away by a hellish whirlwind. Among them is Francesca, and here she is inseparable from her lover. Immense mutual passion led them to tragic death. With deep compassion for them, I fainted again.
In the third circle, the bestial dog Cerberus rages. He started to bark at us, but Virgil pacified him too. Here the souls of those who sinned with gluttony are lying in the mud, under a heavy downpour. Among them is my fellow countryman, the Florentine Ciacco. We talked about destinies hometown. Chacko asked me to remind living people about him when I return to earth.
The demon guarding the fourth circle, where spendthrifts and misers are executed (among the latter there are many clergy - popes, cardinals) - Plutos. Virgil also had to besiege him in order to get rid of him. From the fourth we descended into the fifth circle, where the angry and lazy suffer, mired in the swamps of the Stygian lowland. We approached some tower.
This is a whole fortress, around it there is a vast reservoir, in the canoe there is an oarsman, the demon Phlegius. After another squabble we sat down with him and sailed. Some sinner tried to cling to the side, I cursed him, and Virgil pushed him away. Before us is the hellish city of Deet. Any dead evil spirits prevent us from entering it. Virgil, leaving me (oh, scary alone!), went to find out what was the matter, and returned concerned, but hopeful.
And then the hellish furies appeared before us, threatening us. A heavenly messenger who suddenly appeared and curbed their anger came to the rescue. We entered Deet. Everywhere there are tombs engulfed in flames, from which the groans of heretics can be heard. We make our way along a narrow road between the tombs.
A mighty figure suddenly emerged from one of the tombs. This is Farinata, my ancestors were his political opponents. In me, having heard my conversation with Virgil, he guessed a fellow countryman by the dialect. Proud, he seemed to despise the entire abyss of Hell. We argued with him, and then another head poked out from a neighboring tomb: this is the father of my friend Guido! It seemed to him that I was dead and that his son was also dead, and he fell on his face in despair. Farinata, calm him down; Guido is alive!
Near the descent from the sixth circle to the seventh, above the grave of the heretic Pope Anastasius, Virgil explained to me the structure of the remaining three circles of Hell, tapering downwards (towards the center of the earth), and what sins are punishable in which zone of which circle.
The seventh circle is compressed by mountains and is guarded by the half-bull demon Minotaur, who roared menacingly at us. Virgil shouted at him, and we hastened to move away. They saw a stream boiling with blood, in which tyrants and robbers were boiling, and from the shore centaurs were shooting at them with bows. The centaur Nessus became our guide, told us about the executed rapists and helped us ford the boiling river.
All around there are thorny thickets without greenery. I broke some branch, and black blood flowed from it, and the trunk groaned. It turns out that these bushes are the souls of suicides (violators of their own flesh). They are pecked by the hellish birds Harpies, trampled by the running dead, causing them unbearable pain. One trampled bush asked me to collect the broken branches and return them to him. It turned out that the unfortunate man was my fellow countryman. I complied with his request and we moved on. We see sand, flakes of fire fly down on top of it, scorching sinners who scream and moan - all except one: he lies silent. Who is this? King Kapanei, a proud and gloomy atheist, struck down by the gods for his obstinacy. He is still true to himself: he either remains silent or loudly curses the gods. “You are your own tormentor!” - Virgil shouted over him...
But the souls of new sinners are moving towards us, tormented by fire. Among them I hardly recognized my venerable teacher Brunetto Latini. He is among those who are guilty of same-sex love. We started talking. Brunetto predicted that glory awaits me in the world of the living, but there will also be many hardships that must be resisted. The teacher bequeathed to me to take care of his main work, in which he is alive - “Treasure”.
And three more sinners (same sin) dance in the fire. All Florentines, former respected citizens. I talked to them about the misfortunes of our hometown. They asked me to tell my living fellow countrymen that I saw them. Then Virgil led me to a deep hole in the eighth circle. A hellish beast will bring us down there. He's already climbing towards us from there.
This is the mottled tailed Geryon. While he is preparing to descend, there is still time to look at the last martyrs of the seventh circle - the moneylenders, tossing about in a whirlwind of flaming dust. From their necks hang colorful wallets with different coats of arms. I didn't talk to them. Let's hit the road! We sit down with Virgil astride Geryon and - oh horror! - we are gradually flying into failure, to new torment. We went down. Geryon immediately flew away.
The eighth circle is divided into ten ditches called Zlopazuchami. In the first ditch, pimps and seducers of women are executed, in the second - flatterers. Pimps are brutally scourged by horned demons, flatterers sit in a liquid mass of stinking feces - the stench is unbearable. By the way, one whore was punished here not for fornication, but for flattering her lover, saying that she felt good with him.
The next ditch (third cavity) is lined with stone, mottled with round holes, from which protrude the burning legs of high-ranking clergy who traded in church positions. Their heads and torsos are pinched by the holes in the stone wall. Their successors, when they die, will also kick their flaming legs in their place, completely pushing their predecessors into stone. This is how Pope Orsini explained it to me, at first mistaking me for his successor.
In the fourth sinus, soothsayers, astrologers, and sorceresses suffer. Their necks are twisted so that when they sob, they wet their backsides with their tears, not their chests. I myself burst into tears when I saw such a mockery of people, and Virgil shamed me; It’s a sin to feel sorry for sinners! But he, too, with sympathy, told me about his fellow countrywoman, the soothsayer Manto, after whom Mantua, the homeland of my glorious mentor, was named.
The fifth ditch is filled with boiling tar, into which the devils Gripes, black, winged, throw bribe takers and make sure that they do not stick out, otherwise they will hook the sinner and finish him off in the most cruel way. The devils have nicknames: Evil-Tail, Crooked-Winged, etc. We will have to go through part of the further path in their creepy company. They make faces, show their tongues, their boss made a deafening obscene sound with his backside. I've never heard anything like this before! We walk with them along the ditch, the sinners dive into the tar - they hide, and one hesitated, and they immediately pulled him out with hooks, intending to torment him, but first they allowed us to talk with him. The poor fellow, by cunning, lulled the vigilance of the Grudgers and dived back - they did not have time to catch him. The irritated devils fought among themselves, two of them fell into the tar. In the confusion, we hastened to leave, but it was not to be! They are flying after us. Virgil, picking me up, barely managed to run across to the sixth bosom, where they are not the masters. Here the hypocrites languish under the weight of lead and gilded clothing. And here is the crucified (nailed to the ground with stakes) Jewish high priest, who insisted on the execution of Christ. He is trampled underfoot by hypocrites weighed down with lead.
The transition was difficult: along a rocky path - into the seventh sinus. Thieves live here, bitten by monstrous poisonous snakes. From these bites they crumble into dust, but are immediately restored to their appearance. Among them is Vanni Fucci, who robbed the sacristy and blamed it on someone else. A rude and blasphemous man: he sent God away, holding up two figs. Immediately the snakes attacked him (I love them for this). Then I watched as a certain snake merged with one of the thieves, after which it took on his appearance and stood on its feet, and the thief crawled away, becoming a reptile. Miracles! You won’t find such metamorphoses in Ovid either.
Rejoice, Florence: these thieves are your offspring! It's a shame... And in the eighth ditch live treacherous advisers. Among them is Ulysses (Odysseus), his soul is imprisoned in a flame that can speak! So, we heard the story of Ulysses about his death: eager to know the unknown, he sailed with a handful of daredevils to the other side of the world, was shipwrecked and, together with his friends, drowned far from the world inhabited by people.
Another speaking flame, in which the soul of the evil adviser, who did not call himself by name, is hidden, told me about his sin: this adviser helped the Pope in one unrighteous deed - counting on the Pope to forgive him his sin. Heaven is more tolerant of the simple-minded sinner than of those who hope to be saved by repentance. We moved to the ninth ditch, where the sowers of unrest are executed.
Here they are, the instigators of bloody strife and religious unrest. The devil will mutilate them with a heavy sword, cut off their noses and ears, and crush their skulls. Here are Mohammed, and Curio, who encouraged Caesar to civil war, and the beheaded troubadour warrior Bertrand de Born (he carries his head in his hand like a lantern, and she exclaims: “Woe!”).
Then I met my relative, angry with me because his violent death remained unavenged. Then we moved to the tenth ditch, where the alchemists suffer from the eternal itch. One of them was burned for jokingly boasting that he could fly - he became a victim of denunciation. He ended up in Hell not for this, but as an alchemist. Those who pretended to be other people, counterfeiters and liars in general are executed here. Two of them fought among themselves and then argued for a long time (Master Adam, who mixed copper into gold coins, and the ancient Greek Sinon, who deceived the Trojans). Virgil reproached me for the curiosity with which I listened to them.
Our journey through the Sinisters ends. We approached the well leading from the eighth circle of Hell to the ninth. There are ancient giants, titans. Among them were Nimrod, who angrily shouted something to us in an incomprehensible language, and Antaeus, who, at the request of Virgil, lowered us to the bottom of the well on his huge palm, and immediately straightened up.
So, we are at the bottom of the universe, near the center of the globe. In front of us is an icy lake, those who betrayed their loved ones were frozen into it. I accidentally hit one on the head with my foot, he screamed and refused to identify himself. Then I grabbed his hair, and then someone called his name. Scoundrel, now I know who you are, and I will tell people about you! And he: “Lie whatever you want, about me and about others!” And here is an ice pit, in which one dead man gnaws the skull of another. I ask: for what? Looking up from his victim, he answered me. He, Count Ugolino, takes revenge on his former like-minded friend who betrayed him, Archbishop Ruggieri, who starved him and his children by imprisoning them in the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Their suffering was unbearable, the children died in front of their father’s eyes, he was the last to die. Shame on Pisa! Let's move on. Who is this in front of us? Alberigo? But, as far as I know, he didn’t die, so how did he end up in Hell? It also happens: the villain’s body still lives, but his soul is already in the underworld.
In the center of the earth, the ruler of Hell, Lucifer, frozen in ice, cast out from heaven and hollowed out the abyss of the underworld in his fall, disfigured, three-faced. Judas sticks out of his first mouth, Brutus from the second, Cassius from the third, He chews them and torments them with his claws. The worst of all is the most vile traitor - Judas. A well stretches from Lucifer leading to the surface of the opposite earthly hemisphere. We squeezed through, rose to the surface and saw the stars.
Purgatory
May the Muses help me sing of the second kingdom! His guard, Elder Cato, greeted us unfriendly: who are they? How dare you come here? Virgil explained and, wanting to appease Cato, spoke warmly of his wife Marcia. What does Marcia have to do with this? Go to the seashore, you need to wash yourself! We are going. Here it is, the distance of the sea. And there is abundant dew in the coastal grasses. With it, Virgil washed away the soot of abandoned Hell from my face.
From the distance of the sea, a boat controlled by an angel is sailing towards us. It contains the souls of the deceased who were lucky enough not to go to Hell. They landed, went ashore, and the angel swam away. The shadows of the arrivals crowded around us, and in one I recognized my friend, the singer Cosella. I wanted to hug him, but the shadow is insubstantial - I hugged myself. Cosella, at my request, began to sing about love, everyone listened, but then Cato appeared, shouted at everyone (they weren’t busy!), and we hurried to the mountain of Purgatory.
Virgil was dissatisfied with himself: he gave a reason to yell at himself... Now we need to reconnoiter the upcoming road. Let's see where the arriving shadows will move. And they themselves just noticed that I am not a shadow: I do not let light pass through me. We were surprised. Virgil explained everything to them. “Come with us,” they invited.
So, let's hurry to the foot of the purgatory mountain. But is everyone in a hurry, is everyone so impatient? Over there, near a large stone, there is a group of people who are not in a hurry to climb up: they say, they will have time; climb the one who is itching. Among these sloths I recognized my friend Belakva. It’s nice to see that he, even in life an enemy of all haste, is true to himself.
In the foothills of Purgatory, I had the opportunity to communicate with the shadows of victims of violent death. Many of them were serious sinners, but when they said goodbye to life, they managed to sincerely repent and therefore did not end up in Hell. What a shame for the devil, who has lost his prey! He, however, found a way to get even: not having gained power over the soul of the repentant dead sinner, he violated his murdered body.
Not far from all this we saw the regal and majestic shadow of Sordello. He and Virgil, recognizing each other as fellow-country poets (Mantuans), embraced brotherly. Here is an example for you, Italy, a dirty brothel, where the bonds of brotherhood are completely broken! Especially you, my Florence, are good, you can’t say anything... Wake up, look at yourself...
Sordello agrees to be our guide to Purgatory. It is a great honor for him to help the venerable Virgil. Conversing sedately, we approached a flowering, fragrant valley, where, preparing to spend the night, the shadows of high-ranking persons - European sovereigns - settled down. We watched them from afar, listening to their consonant singing.
The evening hour has come, when desires draw those who have sailed back to their loved ones, and you remember the bitter moment of farewell; when sadness takes hold of the pilgrim and he hears how the distant chime cries bitterly about the irrevocable day... An insidious serpent of temptation crawled into the valley of rest of earthly rulers, but the angels who arrived drove him out.
I lay down on the grass, fell asleep and in a dream was transported to the gates of Purgatory. The angel guarding them inscribed the same letter on my forehead seven times - the first in the word “sin” (seven deadly sins; these letters will be erased one by one from my forehead as I ascend the purgatory mountain). We entered the second kingdom of the afterlife, the gates closed behind us.
The ascent began. We are in the first circle of Purgatory, where the proud atone for their sin. In shame of pride, statues were erected here that embody the idea of high feat - humility. And here are the shadows of the purifying proud: unbending during life, here they, as punishment for their sin, bend under the weight of the stone blocks piled on them.
“Our Father...” - this prayer was sung by the bent and proud people. Among them is the miniature artist Oderiz, who during his lifetime boasted of his great fame. Now, he says, he realized that there is nothing to boast about: everyone is equal in the face of death - both the old man and the baby who stammered “yum-yum”, and glory comes and goes. The sooner you understand this and find the strength to curb your pride and humble yourself, the better.
Under our feet are bas-reliefs depicting scenes of punished pride: Lucifer and Briareus cast out from heaven, King Saul, Holofernes and others. Our stay in the first circle ends. An angel who appeared erased one of the seven letters from my forehead - as a sign that I had overcome the sin of pride. Virgil smiled at me.
We went up to the second circle. There are envious people here, they are temporarily blinded, their formerly “envious” eyes do not see anything. Here is a woman who, out of envy, wished harm to her fellow countrymen and rejoiced at their failures... In this circle, after death, I will not be cleansed for long, because I rarely and few envied anyone. But in the past circle of proud people - probably for a long time.
Here they are, blinded sinners, whose blood was once burned by envy. In the silence, the words of the first envious man, Cain, sounded thunderous: “Whoever meets me will kill me!” In fear, I clung to Virgil, and the wise leader told me bitter words that the highest eternal light is inaccessible to envious people, carried away by earthly lures.
We passed the second circle. The angel appeared to us again, and now only five letters remained on my forehead, which we have to get rid of in the future. We are in the third circle. A cruel vision of human rage flashed before our eyes (the crowd stoned a meek young man). In this circle those possessed by anger are purified.
Even in the darkness of Hell there was no such black darkness as in this circle, where the rage of the angry is humbled. One of them, the Lombardian Marco, got into a conversation with me and expressed the idea that everything that happens in the world cannot be understood as a consequence of the activity of higher heavenly powers: this would mean denying the freedom of human will and absolving man of responsibility for what he has done.
Reader, have you ever wandered in the mountains on a foggy evening, when you can hardly see the sun? That's how we are... I felt the touch of an angel's wing on my forehead - another letter was erased. We climbed to the fourth circle, illuminated by the last ray of sunset. Here the lazy are purified, whose love for good was slow.
Sloths here must run quickly, not allowing any indulgence in their lifetime sin. Let them be inspired by the examples of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, as we know, had to hurry, or Caesar with his amazing efficiency. They ran past us and disappeared. I want to sleep. I sleep and dream...
I dreamed of a disgusting woman who, before my eyes, turned into a beauty, who was immediately put to shame and turned into an even worse ugly woman (here is the imaginary attractiveness of vice!). Another letter disappeared from my forehead: it means I have conquered such a vice as laziness. We rise to the fifth circle - to the misers and spendthrifts.
Stinginess, greed, greed for gold are disgusting vices. Molten gold was once poured down the throat of one obsessed with greed: drink to your health! I feel uncomfortable surrounded by misers, and then there was an earthquake. From what? In my ignorance I don’t know...
It turned out that the shaking of the mountain was caused by rejoicing that one of the souls was purified and ready to ascend: this is the Roman poet Statius, an admirer of Virgil, rejoiced that from now on he will accompany us on the path to the purgatory peak.
Another letter has been erased from my forehead, denoting the sin of stinginess. By the way, was Statius, who languished in the fifth round, stingy? On the contrary, he is wasteful, but these two extremes are punished together. Now we are in the sixth circle, where gluttons are purified. Here it would be good to remember that gluttony was not characteristic of Christian ascetics.
Former gluttons are destined to suffer the pangs of hunger: they are emaciated, skin and bones. Among them I discovered my late friend and fellow countryman Forese. We talked about our own things, scolded Florence, Forese spoke condemningly about the dissolute ladies of this city. I told my friend about Virgil and about my hopes of seeing my beloved Beatrice in the afterlife.
I had a conversation about literature with one of the gluttons, a former poet of the old school. He admitted that my like-minded people, supporters of the “new sweet style,” had achieved much more in love poetry than he himself and the masters close to him. Meanwhile, the penultimate letter has been erased from my forehead, and the path to the highest, seventh circle of Purgatory is open to me.
And I keep remembering the thin, hungry gluttons: how did they get so thin? After all, these are shadows, not bodies, and it would not be fitting for them to starve. Virgil explained: the shadows, although incorporeal, exactly repeat the outlines of the implied bodies (which would become thin without food). Here, in the seventh circle, the voluptuaries scorched by fire are purified. They burn, sing and praise examples of abstinence and chastity.
The voluptuaries, engulfed in flames, were divided into two groups: those who indulged in same-sex love and those who knew no limits in bisexual intercourse. Among the latter are the poets Guido Guinizelli and the Provencal Arnald, who elegantly greeted us in his dialect.
And now we ourselves need to go through the wall of fire. I was scared, but my mentor said that this was the way to Beatrice (to the Earthly Paradise, located on top of the purgatory mountain). And so the three of us (Statsius with us) walk, scorched by the flames. We passed, we moved on, it was getting dark, we stopped to rest, I slept; and when I woke up, Virgil turned to me with the last word of parting words and approval, That’s it, from now on he will be silent...
We are in the Earthly Paradise, in a blooming grove resounding with the chirping of birds. I saw a beautiful donna singing and picking flowers. She said that there was a golden age here, innocence flourished, but then, among these flowers and fruits, the happiness of the first people was destroyed in sin. Hearing this, I looked at Virgil and Statius: both were smiling blissfully.
Oh Eva! It was so good here, you ruined everything with your daring! Living lights float past us, righteous elders in snow-white robes, crowned with roses and lilies, walk under them, and wonderful beauties dance. I couldn't stop looking at this amazing picture. And suddenly I saw her - the one I love. Shocked, I made an involuntary movement, as if trying to press myself closer to Virgil. But he disappeared, my father and savior! I burst into tears. “Dante, Virgil will not return. But you won't have to cry for him. Look at me, it's me, Beatrice! How did you get here?” - she asked angrily. Then a voice asked her why she was so strict with me. She answered that I, seduced by the lure of pleasure, was unfaithful to her after her death. Do I admit my guilt? Oh yes, tears of shame and repentance choke me, I lowered my head. "Raise your beard!" - she said sharply, not ordering him to take his eyes off her. I lost consciousness and woke up immersed in Lethe - a river that grants oblivion of committed sins. Beatrice, look now at the one who is so devoted to you and so longed for you. After a ten-year separation, I looked into her eyes, and my vision was temporarily dimmed by their dazzling brilliance. Having regained my sight, I saw a lot of beauty in the Earthly Paradise, but suddenly all this was replaced by cruel visions: monsters, desecration of sacred things, debauchery.
Beatrice deeply grieved, realizing how much evil was hidden in these visions revealed to us, but expressed confidence that the forces of good would ultimately defeat evil. We approached the Evnoe River, drinking from which strengthens the memory of the good you have done. Statius and I washed ourselves in this river. A sip of her sweetest water poured new strength into me. Now I am pure and worthy to rise to the stars.
Paradise
From the Earthly Paradise, Beatrice and I will fly together to the Heavenly Paradise, to heights beyond the comprehension of mortals. I didn’t even notice how they took off, looking at the sun. Am I really capable of doing this while still alive? However, Beatrice was not surprised by this: a purified person is spiritual, and a spirit not burdened with sins is lighter than ether.
Friends, let's part here - don't read further: you will disappear in the vastness of the incomprehensible! But if you have an insatiable hunger for spiritual food, then go ahead, follow me! We are in the first sky of Paradise - in the sky of the Moon, which Beatrice called the first star; plunged into its depths, although it is difficult to imagine a force capable of placing one closed body (which I am) into another closed body (the Moon).
In the depths of the Moon we encountered the souls of nuns kidnapped from monasteries and forcibly married off. Not through their own fault, but they did not keep the vow of virginity given during tonsure, and therefore are no longer available to them. high skies. Do they regret it? Oh no! To regret would mean to disagree with the highest righteous will.
But still I am perplexed: why are they to blame for submitting to violence? Why don't they rise above the sphere of the Moon? It is not the victim who should be blamed, but the rapist! But Beatrice explained that the victim also bears a certain responsibility for the violence committed against her, if, while resisting, she did not show heroic fortitude.
Failure to fulfill a vow, Beatrice argues, is practically irreparable with good deeds (too many need to be done to atone for guilt). We flew to the second heaven of Paradise - to Mercury. The souls of ambitious righteous people live here. These are no longer shadows, unlike the previous inhabitants of the underworld, but lights: they shine and radiate. One of them glowed especially brightly, rejoicing in communicating with me. It turned out that this was the Roman emperor, legislator Justinian. He realizes that being in the sphere of Mercury (and not higher) is the limit for him, for ambitious people, doing good deeds for the sake of their own glory (that is, loving themselves first of all), missed the ray of true love for the deity.
Justinian's light merged with the dance of lights - other righteous souls. I thought about it, and the train of my thoughts led me to the question: why did God the Father sacrifice his son? It was possible just like that, by the supreme will, to forgive people for the sin of Adam! Beatrice explained: the highest justice demanded that humanity itself atone for its guilt. It is incapable of this, and it was necessary to impregnate an earthly woman so that the son (Christ), combining the human with the divine, could do this.
We flew to the third heaven - to Venus, where the souls of the loving are blissful, shining in the fiery depths of this star. One of these spirit-lights is the Hungarian king Charles Martel, who, speaking to me, expressed the idea that a person can realize his abilities only by acting in a field that meets the needs of his nature: it is bad if a born warrior becomes a priest...
Sweet is the radiance of other loving souls. How much blissful light and heavenly laughter there is here! And below (in Hell) the shadows grew sad and gloomy... One of the lights spoke to me (troubadour Folko) - he condemned the church authorities, selfish popes and cardinals. Florence is the city of the devil. But nothing, he believes, will get better soon.
The fourth star is the Sun, the abode of the sages. Here shines the spirit of the great theologian Thomas Aquinas. He greeted me joyfully and showed me other sages. Their consonant singing reminded me of a church gospel.
Thomas told me about Francis of Assisi - the second (after Christ) wife of Poverty. It was following his example that the monks, including his closest disciples, began to walk barefoot. He lived a holy life and died - a naked man on bare ground - in the bosom of Poverty.
Not only I, but also the lights - the spirits of the sages - listened to Thomas's speech, stopping singing and twirling in the dance. Then Franciscan Bonaventure took the floor. In response to the praise given to his teacher by the Dominican Thomas, he glorified Thomas’s teacher, Dominic, a farmer and servant of Christ. Who now continued his work? There are no worthy ones.
And again Thomas took the floor. He talks about the great merits of King Solomon: he asked God for intelligence and wisdom - not to solve theological issues, but to intelligently rule the people, that is, royal wisdom, which was granted to him. People, do not judge each other hastily! This one is busy with a good deed, the other with an evil one, but what if the first one falls and the second one rises?
What will happen to the inhabitants of the Sun on the day of judgment, when the spirits take on flesh? They are so bright and spiritual that it is difficult to imagine them materialized. Our stay here is over, we have flown to the fifth heaven - to Mars, where the sparkling spirits of warriors for the faith are arranged in the shape of a cross and a sweet hymn sounds.
One of the lights forming this marvelous cross, without going beyond its limits, moved downwards, closer to me. This is the spirit of my valiant great-great-grandfather, the warrior Kachchagvida. He greeted me and praised the glorious time in which he lived on earth and which - alas! - passed, replaced by worse times.
I am proud of my ancestor, my origin (it turns out that you can experience such a feeling not only on the vain earth, but also in Paradise!). Cacciaguida told me about himself and about his ancestors, born in Florence, whose coat of arms - a white lily - is now stained with blood.
I want to find out from him, the clairvoyant, about my future fate. What lies ahead for me? He replied that I would be expelled from Florence, in joyless wanderings I would learn the bitterness of other people's bread and the steepness of other people's stairs. To my credit, I will not associate with unclean political groups, but I will become my own party. In the end, my opponents will be put to shame, and triumph awaits me.
Cacciaguida and Beatrice encouraged me. Your stay on Mars is over. Now - from the fifth heaven to the sixth, from red Mars to white Jupiter, where the souls of the just soar. Their lights form letters, letters - first into a call for justice, and then into the figure of an eagle, a symbol of just imperial power, unknown, sinful, tormented earth, but established in heaven.
This majestic eagle entered into conversation with me. He calls himself “I”, but I hear “we” (fair power is collegial!). He understands what I myself cannot understand: why is Paradise open only to Christians? What is wrong with a virtuous Hindu who does not know Christ at all? I still don’t understand. And it’s true, the eagle admits, that a bad Christian is worse than a good Persian or Ethiopian.
The eagle personifies the idea of justice, and its main thing is not its claws or beak, but its all-seeing eye, composed of the most worthy light-spirits. The pupil is the soul of the king and psalmist David, the souls of pre-Christian righteous people shine in the eyelashes (and didn’t I just mistakenly talk about Paradise “only for Christians”? This is how to give vent to doubts!).
We ascended to the seventh heaven - to Saturn. This is the abode of contemplatives. Beatrice has become even more beautiful and brighter. She did not smile at me - otherwise she would have completely incinerated me and blinded me. The blessed spirits of the contemplators were silent and did not sing - otherwise they would have deafened me. The sacred luminary, theologian Pietro Damiano, told me about this.
The spirit of Benedict, after whom one of the monastic orders is named, angrily condemned modern self-interested monks. After listening to him, we rushed to the eighth heaven, to the constellation Gemini, under which I was born, saw the sun for the first time and breathed the air of Tuscany. From its height I looked down, and my gaze, passing through the seven heavenly spheres we had visited, fell on the ridiculously small globe of the earth, this handful of dust with all its rivers and mountain steeps.
Thousands of lights burn in the eighth sky - these are the triumphant spirits of the great righteous. Intoxicated by them, my vision intensified, and now even Beatrice’s smile will not blind me. She smiled wonderfully at me and again prompted me to turn my gaze to the luminous spirits who sang a hymn to the Queen of Heaven - the Holy Virgin Mary.
Beatrice asked the apostles to talk to me. How far have I penetrated into the mysteries of sacred truths? The Apostle Peter asked me about the essence of faith. My answer: faith is an argument for the invisible; mortals cannot see with their own eyes what is revealed here in Paradise, but may they believe in a miracle without having visual evidence of its truth. Peter was pleased with my answer.
Will I, the author of the sacred poem, see my homeland? Will I be crowned with laurels where I was baptized? The Apostle James asked me a question about the essence of hope. My answer: hope is the expectation of future deserved and God-given glory. Delighted, Jacob was illuminated.
Next up is the question of love. The Apostle John asked it to me. In answering, I did not forget to say that love turns us to God, to the word of truth. Everyone rejoiced. The exam (what is Faith, Hope, Love?) was successfully completed. I saw the radiant soul of our forefather Adam, who lived briefly in the Earthly Paradise, expelled from there to earth; after the death of one who languished in Limbo for a long time; then moved here.
Four lights glow before me: three apostles and Adam. Suddenly Peter turned purple and exclaimed: “My earthly throne has been captured, my throne, my throne!” Peter hates his successor, the Pope. And it’s time for us to part with the eighth heaven and ascend to the ninth, supreme and crystal. With unearthly joy, laughing, Beatrice threw me into a rapidly rotating sphere and ascended herself.
The first thing I saw in the sphere of the ninth heaven was a dazzling point, a symbol of the deity. Lights rotate around her - nine concentric angelic circles. Those closest to the deity and therefore smaller are seraphim and cherubim, the most distant and extensive are archangels and simply angels. On earth we are accustomed to thinking that the great is greater than the small, but here, as you can see, the opposite is true.
Angels, Beatrice told me, are the same age as the universe. Their rapid rotation is the source of all the movement that occurs in the Universe. Those who hastened to fall away from their host were cast into Hell, and those who remained are still ecstatically circling in Paradise, and they do not need to think, want, or remember: they are completely satisfied!
Ascension to the Empyrean - the highest region of the Universe - is the last. I again looked at the one whose growing beauty in Paradise lifted me from heights to heights. Pure light surrounds us. There are sparkles and flowers everywhere - these are angels and blessed souls. They merge into a kind of shining river, and then take the form of a huge paradise rose.
Contemplating the rose and comprehending the general plan of Paradise, I wanted to ask Beatrice about something, but I saw not her, but a clear-eyed old man in white. He pointed upward. I looked - she was shining in an unattainable height, and I called out to her: “O donna, who left a mark in Hell, granting me help! In everything I see, I recognize your goodness. I followed you from slavery to freedom. Keep me safe in the future, so that my spirit, worthy of you, may be freed from the flesh!” She looked at me with a smile and turned to the eternal shrine. All.
The old man in white is Saint Bernard. From now on he is my mentor. We continue to contemplate the rose of the Empyrean. The souls of virgin babies also shine in it. This is understandable, but why were there souls of babies here and there in Hell - they couldn’t be vicious, unlike these? God knows best what potentials - good or bad - are inherent in which infant soul. So Bernard explained and began to pray.
Bernard prayed to the Virgin Mary for me - to help me. Then he gave me a sign to look up. Looking closely, I see the supreme and brightest light. At the same time, he did not go blind, but gained the highest truth. I contemplate the deity in his luminous trinity. And I am drawn to him by Love, which moves both the sun and the stars.
