Broke the deep lethargy within my head A heavy thunder, so that I upstarted, ⁠Like to a person who by force is wakened; And round about I moved my rested eyes, ⁠Uprisen erect, and steadfastly I gazed, ⁠To recognize the place wherein I was. True is it, that upon the verge I found me ⁠Of the abysmal valley dolorous, ⁠That gathers thunder of infinite ululations. Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous, ⁠So that by fixing on its depths my sight ⁠Nothing whatever I discerned therein. “Let us descend now into the blind world,” ⁠Began the Poet, pallid utterly; ⁠”I will be first, and thou shalt second be.” And I, who of his color was aware, ⁠Said: “How shall I come, if thou art afraid, ⁠Who ‘rt wont to be a comfort to my fears?” And he to me: “The anguish of the people ⁠Who are below here in my face depicts ⁠That pity which for terror thou hast taken. Let us go on, for the long way impels us.” ⁠Thus he went in, and thus he made me enter ⁠The foremost circle that surrounds the abyss. There, in so far as I had power to hear, ⁠Were lamentations none, but only sighs, ⁠That tremulous made the everlasting air. And this arose from sorrow without torment, ⁠Which the crowds had, that many were and great, ⁠Of infants and of women and of men. To me the Master good: “Thou dost not ask ⁠What spirits these, which thou beholdest, are? ⁠Now will I have thee know, ere thou go farther, That they sinned not; and if they merit had, ⁠’T is not enough, because they had not baptism, ⁠Which is the portal of the Faith thou holdest; And if they were before Christianity, ⁠In the right manner they adored not God; ⁠And among such as these am I myself. For such defects, and not for other guilt, ⁠Lost are we, and are only so far punished, ⁠That without hope we live on in desire.” Great grief seized on my heart when this I heard, ⁠Because some people of much worthiness ⁠I knew, who in that Limbo were suspended. “Tell me, my Master, tell me, thou my Lord,” ⁠Began I, with desire of being certain ⁠Of that Faith which o’ercometh every error, “Came any one by his own merit hence, ⁠Or by another’s, who was blessed thereafter?” ⁠And he, who understood my covert speech, Replied: “I was a novice in this state, ⁠When I saw hither come a Mighty One, ⁠With sign of victory incoronate. Hence he drew forth the shade of the First Parent, ⁠And that of his son Abel, and of Noah, ⁠Of Moses the lawgiver, and the obedient Abraham, patriarch, and David, king, ⁠Israel with his father and his children, ⁠And Rachel, for whose sake he did so much, And others many, and he made them blessed; ⁠And thou must know, that earlier than these ⁠Never were any human spirits saved.” We ceased not to advance because he spake, ⁠But still were passing onward through the forest, ⁠The forest, say I, of thick-crowded ghosts. Not very far as yet our way had gone ⁠This side the summit, when I saw a fire ⁠That overcame a hemisphere of darkness. We were a little distant from it still, ⁠But not so far that I in part discerned not ⁠That honorable people held that place. “O thou who honorest every art and science, ⁠Who may these be, which such great honor have, ⁠That from the fashion of the rest it parts them?” And he to me: “The honorable name, ⁠That sounds of them above there in thy life, ⁠Wins grace in Heaven, that so advances them.” In the mean time a voice was heard by me: ⁠”All honor be to the pre-eminent Poet; ⁠His shade returns again, that was departed.” After the voice had ceased and quiet was, ⁠Four mighty shades I saw approaching us; ⁠Semblance had they nor sorrowful nor glad. To say to me began my gracious Master: ⁠”Him with that falchion in his hand behold, ⁠Who comes before the three, even as their lord. That one is Homer, Poet sovereign; ⁠He who comes next is Horace, the satirist; ⁠The third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan. Because to each of these with me applies ⁠The name that solitary voice proclaimed, ⁠They do me honor, and in that do well.” Thus I beheld assemble the fair school ⁠Of that lord of the song pre-eminent, ⁠Who o’er the others like an eagle soars. When they together had discoursed somewhat, ⁠They turned to me with signs of salutation, ⁠And on beholding this, my Master smiled; And more of honor still, much more, they did me, ⁠In that they made me one of their own band; ⁠So that the sixth was I, ‘mid so much wit. Thus we went on as far as to the light, ⁠Things saying ‘t is becoming to keep silent, ⁠As was the saying of them where I was. We came unto a noble castle’s foot, ⁠Seven times encompassed with lofty walls, ⁠Defended round by a fair rivulet; This we passed over even as firm ground; ⁠Through portals seven I entered with these Sages; ⁠We came into a meadow of fresh verdure. People were there with solemn eyes and slow, ⁠Of great authority in their countenance; ⁠They spake but seldom, and with gentle voices. Thus we withdrew ourselves upon one side ⁠Into an opening luminous and lofty, ⁠So that they all of them were visible. There opposite, upon the green enamel, ⁠Were pointed out to me the mighty spirits, ⁠Whom to have seen I feel myself exalted. I saw Electra with companions many, ⁠’Mongst whom I knew both Hector and Æneas, ⁠Cæsar in armor with gerfalcon eyes; I saw Camilla and Penthesilea ⁠On the other side, and saw the King Latinus, ⁠Who with Lavinia his daughter sat; I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin forth, ⁠Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia, ⁠And saw alone, apart, the Saladin. When I had lifted up my brows a little, ⁠The Master I beheld of those who know, ⁠Sit with his philosophic family. All gaze upon him, and all do him honor. ⁠There I beheld both Socrates and Plato, ⁠Who nearer him before the others stand; Democritus, who puts the world on chance, ⁠Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales, ⁠Zeno, Empedocles, and Heraclitus; Of qualities I saw the good collector, ⁠Hight Dioscorides; and Orpheus saw I, ⁠Tully and Livy, and moral Seneca, Euclid, geometrician, and Ptolemy, ⁠Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicenna, ⁠Averroes, who the great Comment made. I cannot all of them portray in full, ⁠Because so drives me onward the long theme, ⁠That many times the word comes short of fact. The sixfold company in two divides; ⁠Another way my sapient Guide conducts me ⁠Forth from the quiet to the air that trembles; And to a place I come where nothing shines.