Chapter I: Preface

A Translator who has never felt his self-imposed task to be a light one may be excused from entering into explanations that would but too naturally take the form of apologies. I will only say that while I have striven to be as faithful as I could to the words as well as to the sense of my author, the following translation is not offered as being always closely literal. The kind of verse employed I believe to be that best fitted to give some idea, however faint, of the rigidly measured and yet easy strength of Dante's _terza rima_; but whoever chooses to adopt it with its constantly recurring demand for rhymes necessarily becomes in some degree its servant. Such students as wish to follow the poet word by word will always find what they need in Dr. J. A. Carlyle's excellent prose version of the _Inferno_, a work to which I have to acknowledge my own indebtedness at many points.

The matter of the notes, it is needless to say, has been in very great part found ready to my hand in existing Commentaries. My edition of John Villani is that of Florence, 1823.

The Note at page cx was printed before it had been resolved to provide the volume with a copy of Giotto's portrait of Dante. I have to thank the Council of the Arundel Society for their kind permission to Messrs. Dawson to make use of their lithograph of Mr. Seymour Kirkup's invaluable sketch in the production of the Frontispiece--a privilege that would have been taken more advantage of had it not been deemed advisable to work chiefly from the photograph of the same sketch, given in the third volume of the late Lord Vernon's sumptuous and rare edition of the _Inferno_ (Florence, 1865). In this Vernon photograph, as well as in the Arundel Society's chromolithograph, the disfiguring mark on the face caused by the damage to the plaster of the fresco is faithfully reproduced. A less degree of fidelity has been observed in the Frontispiece; although the restoration has not been carried the length of replacing the lost eye.

EDINBURGH, _February_, 1884.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

FLORENCE AND DANTE, xvii

GIOTTO'S PORTRAIT OF DANTE, cx

The Inferno.

CANTO I.

The Slumber--the Wood--the Hill--the three Beasts--Virgil--the
Veltro or Greyhound, 1

CANTO II.

Dante's misgivings--Virgil's account of how he was induced to
come to his help--the three Heavenly Ladies--the beginning of
the Journey, 9

CANTO III.

The Gate of Inferno--the Vestibule of the Caitiffs--the Great
Refusal--Acheron--Charon--the Earthquake--the Slumber of Dante, 17

CANTO IV.

The First Circle, which is the Limbo of the Unbaptized and of
the Virtuous Heathen--the Great Poets--the Noble Castle--the
Sages and Worthies of the ancient world, 24

CANTO V.

The Second Circle, which is that of Carnal Sinners--Minos--the
Tempest--The Troop of those who died because of their Love--
Francesca da Rimini--Dante's Swoon, 32

CANTO VI.

The Third Circle, which is that of the Gluttonous--the Hail and
Rain and Snow--Cerberus--Ciacco and his Prophecy, 40

CANTO VII.

The Fourth Circle, which is that of the Avaricious and the
Thriftless--Plutus--the Great Weights rolled by the sinners in
opposite directions--Fortune--the Fifth Circle, which is that
of the Wrathful--Styx--the Lofty Tower, 47

CANTO VIII.

The Fifth Circle continued--the Signals--Phlegyas--the Skiff--
Philip Argenti--the City of Dis--the Fallen Angels--the Rebuff
of Virgil, 55

CANTO IX.

The City of Dis, which is the Sixth Circle and that of the
Heretics--the Furies and the Medusa head--the Messenger of Heaven
who opens the gates for Virgil and Dante--the entrance to the
City--the red-hot Tombs, 62

CANTO X.

The Sixth Circle continued--Farinata degli Uberti--Cavalcante dei
Cavalcanti--Farinata's prophecy--Frederick II., 69

CANTO XI.

The Sixth Circle continued--Pope Anastasius--Virgil explains on
what principle sinners are classified in Inferno--Usury, 77

CANTO XII.

The Seventh Circle, First Division--the Minotaur--the River
of Blood, which forms the Outer Ring of the Seventh Circle--
in it are those guilty of Violence against others--the
Centaurs--Tyrants--Robbers and Murderers--Ezzelino Romano--
Guy of Montfort--the Passage of the River of Blood, 84

CANTO XIII.

The Seventh Circle continued--the Second Division consisting
of a Tangled Wood in which are those guilty of Violence against
themselves--the Harpies--Pier delle Vigne--Lano--Jacopo da Sant'
Andrea--Florence and its Patrons, 91

CANTO XIV.

The Seventh Circle continued--the Third Division of it, consisting
of a Waste of Sand on which descends an unceasing Shower of Fire--
in it are those guilty of Violence against God, against Nature,
and against Art--Capaneus--the Crimson Brook--the Statue of Time--
the Infernal Rivers, 98

CANTO XV.

The Seventh Circle continued--the Violent against Nature--
Brunetto Latini--Francesco d'Accorso--Andrea de' Mozzi, Bishop
of Florence, 106

CANTO XVI.

The Seventh Circle continued--the Violent against Nature--
Guidoguerra, Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, and Jacopo Rusticucci--
the Cataract--the Cord--Geryon, 115

CANTO XVII.

The Seventh Circle continued--the Violent against Art--Usurers--
the descent on Geryon's back into the Eighth Circle, 123

CANTO XVIII.

The Eighth Circle, otherwise named Malebolge, which consists of
ten concentric Pits or Moats connected by bridges of rock--in
these are punished those guilty of Fraud of different kinds--
First Bolgia or Moat, where are Panders and Seducers, scourged
by Demons--Venedico Caccianimico--Jason--Second Bolgia, where
are Flatterers plunged in filth--Alessio Interminei, 130

CANTO XIX.

The Eighth Circle--Third Bolgia, where are the Simoniacs, stuck
head downwards in holes in the rock--Pope Nicholas III.--the
Donation of Constantine, 137

CANTO XX.

The Eighth Circle--Fourth Bolgia, where are Diviners and Sorcerers
in endless procession, with their heads twisted on their necks--
Amphiaräus--Tiresias--Aruns--Manto and the foundation of Mantua--
Eurypylus--Michael Scott--Guido Bonatti--Asdente, 145

CANTO XXI.

The Eighth Circle--Fifth Bolgia, where the Barrators, or corrupt
officials, are plunged in the boiling pitch which fills the
Bolgia--a Senator of Lucca is thrown in--the Malebranche, or
Demons who guard the Moat--the Devilish Escort, 153

CANTO XXII.

The Eighth Circle--Fifth Bolgia continued--the Navarese--trick
played by him on the Demons--Fra Gomita--Michael Zanche--the
Demons fall foul of one another, 161

CANTO XXIII.

The Eighth Circle--escape from the Fifth to the Sixth Bolgia,
where the Hypocrites walk at a snail's pace, weighed down
by Gilded Cloaks of lead--the Merry Friars Catalano and
Loderingo--Caiaphas, 168

CANTO XXIV.

The Eighth Circle--arduous passage over the cliff into the Seventh
Bolgia, where the Thieves are tormented by Serpents, and are
constantly undergoing a hideous metamorphosis--Vanni Fucci, 176

CANTO XXV.

The Eighth Circle--Seventh Bolgia continued--Cacus--Agnello
Brunelleschi, Buoso degli Abati, Puccio Sciancato, Cianfa Donati,
and Guercio Cavalcanti, 184

CANTO XXVI.

The Eighth Circle--Eighth Bolgia, where are the Evil Counsellors,
wrapped each in his own Flame--Ulysses tells how he met with
death, 192

CANTO XXVII.

The Eighth Circle--Eighth Bolgia continued--Guido of Montefeltro--
the Cities of Romagna--Guido and Boniface VIII., 200

CANTO XXVIII.

The Eighth Circle--Ninth Bolgia, where the Schismatics in Church
and State are for ever being dismembered--Mahomet--Fra Dolcino--
Pier da Medicina--Curio--Mosca--Bertrand de Born, 209

CANTO XXIX.

The Eighth Circle--Ninth Bolgia continued--Geri del Bello--Tenth
Bolgia, where Counterfeiters of various kinds, as Alchemists and
Forgers, are tormented with loathsome diseases--Griffolino of
Arezzo--Capocchio on the Sienese, 217

CANTO XXX.

The Eighth Circle--Tenth Bolgia continued--Myrrha--Gianni
Schicchi--Master Adam and his confession--Sinon, 225

CANTO XXXI.

The Ninth Circle, outside of which they remain till the end of
this Canto--this, the Central Pit of Inferno, is encircled and
guarded by Giants--Nimrod, Ephialtes, and Antæus--entrance to
the Pit, 233

CANTO XXXII.

The Ninth Circle--that of the Traitors, is divided into four
concentric rings, in which the sinners are plunged more or less
deep in the ice of the frozen Cocytus--the Outer Ring is Caïna,
where are those who contrived the murder of their Kindred--
Camicion de' Pazzi--Antenora, the Second Ring, where are such
as betrayed their Country--Bocca degli Abati--Buoso da Duera--
Ugolino, 241

CANTO XXXIII.

The Ninth Circle--Antenora continued--Ugolino and his tale--the
Third Ring, or Ptolomæa, where are those treacherous to their
Friends--Friar Alberigo--Branca d'Oria, 249