Chapter VII: Canto I

DANTE,
DRIVEN BACK BY
THE THREE BEASTS

IN THE MID-JOURNEY OF OUR LIFE BELOW,
I FOUND MYSELF WITHIN A GLOOMY WOOD, ...
HOW FIRST I ENTERED, IT IS HARD TO SAY;
IN SUCH DEEP SLUMBER WERE MY SENSES BOUND, ...
BUT SOON AS I HAD REACHED A MOUNTAIN’S BASE, ...
TO CLIMB THE ASCENT I SCARCELY HAD ESSAYED,
WHEN LO! AN AGILE PANTHER BARRED MY WAY ...
... I SAW APPEAR
A LION’S FORM THAT BURST UPON MY SIGHT, ...
A SHE-WOLF TOO, ... RAVENOUS AND LEAN.
“THEE IT BEHOVES ANOTHER PATH TO TAKE, ...
FOR YONDER BEAST THAT FILLS THEE WITH DISMAY
DOTH NONE PERMIT TO JOURNEY O’ER HER ROAD ...
UNTIL THE GREYHOUND COME, TO MAKE HER DIE ...
HIM NEITHER LAND NOR LUCRE SHALL SUSTAIN
BY LOVE, BY WISDOM, AND BY VIRTUE FED; ...
BACK TO THE LIMITS OF HER NATIVE HELL,
WHENCE ENVY DREW HER FIRST--WITH POTENT SWAY
FROM TOWN TO TOWN SHALL HE THE BEAST REPEL.”
]

“THEN GRIEVED I, AND
I NOW DO GRIEVE
AGAIN WHEN I
DIRECT MY

MIND TO WHAT I SAW, AND
MORE REIN IN MY
THOUGHT THAN
I AM WONT”

INFERNO