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INFERNO CANTO 06
Mandelbaum Tr. and Longfellow Tr.		 NotesAnn.

	Upon my mind's reviving-it had closed
on hearing the lament of those two kindred,
since sorrow had confounded me completely-

	AT the return of consciousness, that closed
Before the pity of those two relations, 
Which utterly with sadness had confused me,







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	I see new sufferings, new sufferers
surrounding me on every side, wherever
I move or turn about or set my eyes.

	New torments I behold, and new tormented
Around me, whichsoever way I move,
And whichsoever way I turn, and gaze.








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	I am in the third circle, filled with cold,
unending, heavy, and accursed rain;
its measure and its kind are never changed.

	In the third circle am I of the rain 
Eternal, maledict, and cold, and heavy;
Its law and quality are never new.






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	Gross hailstones, water gray with filth, and snow
come streaking down across the shadowed air;
the earth, as it receives that shower, stinks.

	Huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow,
Athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain;
Noisome the earth is, that receiveth this.








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	Over the souls of those submerged beneath
that mess, is an outlandish, vicious beast,
his three throats barking, doglike: Cerberus.

	Cerberus, monster cruel and uncouth,
With his three gullets like a dog is barking
Over the people that are there submerged.








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	His eyes are bloodred; greasy, black, his beard;
his belly bulges, and his hands are claws;
his talons tear and flay and rend the shades.

	Red eyes he has, and unctuous beard and black,
And belly large, and armed with claws his hands;
He rends the spirits, flays, and quarters them.








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	That downpour makes the sinners howl like dogs;
they use one of their sides to screen the other-
those miserable wretches turn and turn.

	Howl the rain maketh them like unto dogs;
One side they make a shelter for the other;
Oft turn themselves the wretched reprobates.








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	When Cerberus, the great worm, noticed us,
he opened wide his mouths, showed us his fangs;
there was no part of him that did not twitch.

	When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm !
 His mouths he opened, and displayed his tusks;
 Not a limb had he that was motionless.








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	My guide opened his hands to their full span,
plucked up some earth, and with his fists filled full
he hurled it straight into those famished jaws.

	And my Conductor, with his spans extended,
Took of the earth, and with his fists well filled,
He threw it into those rapacious gullets.








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	Just as a dog that barks with greedy hunger
will then fall quiet when he gnaws his food,
intent and straining hard to cram it in,

	Such as that dog is, who by barking craves,
And quiet grows soon as his food he gnaws,
For to devour it he but thinks and struggles,








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	so were the filthy faces of the demon
Cerberus transformed-after he'd stunned
the spirits so, they wished that they were deaf.

	The like became those muzzles filth-begrimed
Of Cerberus the demon, who so thunders
Over the souls that they would fain be deaf








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	We walked across the shades on whom there thuds
that heavy rain, and set our soles upon
their empty images that seem like persons.

	We passed across the shadows, which subdues
The heavy rain-storm, and we placed our feet 
Upon their vanity that person seems.








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	And all those spirits lay upon the ground,
except for one who sat erect as soon
as he caught sight of us in front of him.

	They all were lying prone upon the earth,
Excepting one, who sat upright as soon
As he beheld us passing on before him.








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	"O you who are conducted through this Hell,"
he said to me, "recall me, if you can;
for you, before I was unmade, were made."

	"O thou that art conducted through this Hell,"
He said to me, "recall me, if thou canst;
Thyself wast made before I was unmade."








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	And I to him: "It is perhaps your anguish
that snatches you out of my memory,
so that it seems that I have never seen you.

	And I to him: "The anguish which thou hast
Perhaps doth draw thee out of my remembrance,
So that it seems not I have ever seen thee.








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	But tell me who you are, you who are set
in such a dismal place, such punishment-
if other pains are more, none's more disgusting."

	But tell me who thou art, that in so doleful
A place art put, and in such punishment,
If some are greater, none is so displeasing."








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	And he to me: "Your city-one so full
of envy that its sack has always spilled-
that city held me in the sunlit life.

	And he to me: "Thy city, which is full
Of envy so that now the sack runs over,
Held me within it in the life serene.








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	The name you citizens gave me was Ciacco;
and for the damning sin of gluttony,
as you can see, I languish in the rain.

	You citizens were wont to call me Ciacco; 
For the pernicious sin of gluttony
I, as thou seest, am battered bv this rain






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	And I, a wretched soul, am not alone,
for all of these have this same penalty
for this same sin." And he said nothing more.

	And I, sad soul, am not the only one,
For all these suffer the like penalty
For the like sin, "and word no more spake he.








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	I answered him: "Ciacco, your suffering
so weights on me that I am forced to weep;
but tell me, if you know, what end awaits

	I answered him: "Ciacco, thy wretchedness
Weighs on me so that it to weep invites me;
But tell me, if thou knowest, to what shall come








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	the citizens of that divided city;
is any just man there? Tell me the reason
why it has been assailed by so much schism."

	The citizens of the divided city;
If any there be just; and the occasion
Tell me why so much discord has assailed it."








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	And he to me: "After long controversy,
they'll come to blood; the party of the woods
will chase the other out with much offense.

	And he to me: "They, after long contention,
Will come to bloodshed; and the rustic party 
Will drive the other out with much offence.







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	But then, within three suns, they too must fall;
at which the other party will prevail,
using the power of one who tacks his sails.

	Then afterwards behoves it this one fall
Within three suns, and rise again the other
By force of him who now is on the coast. 








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	This party will hold high its head for long
and heap great weights upon its enemies,
however much they weep indignantly.

	High will it hold its forehead a long while,
Keeping the other under heavy burdens,
Howe'er it weeps thereat and is indignant.








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	Two men are just, but no one listens to them.
Three sparks that set on fire every heart
are envy, pride, and avariciousness."

	The just are two, and are not understood there; 
Envy and Arrogance and Avarice
Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled."






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	With this, his words, inciting tears, were done;
and I to him: "I would learn more from you;
I ask you for a gift of further speech:

	Here ended he his tearful utterance;
And I to him: "I wish thee still to teach me,
And make a gift to me of further speech.








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	Tegghiaio, Farinata, men so worthy,
Arrigo, Mosca, Jacopo Rusticucci,
and all the rest whose minds bent toward the good,

	Farinata and Tegghiaio, once so worthy,
Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca, 
And others who on good deeds set their thoughts,







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	do tell me where they are and let me meet them;
for my great longing drives me on to learn
if Heaven sweetens or Hell poisons them."

	Say where they are, and cause that I may know them;
For great desire constraineth me to learn
If Heaven doth sweeten them, or Hell envenom."








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	And he: "They are among the blackest souls;
a different sin has dragged them to the bottom;
if you descend so low, there you can see them.

	And he: "They are among the blacker souls;
A different sin downweighs them to the bottom;
If thou so far descendest, thou canst see them.








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	But when you have returned to the sweet world,
I pray, recall me to men's memory:
I say no more to you, answer no more."

	But when thou art again in the sweet world,
I pray thee to the mind of others bring me;
No more I tell thee and no more I answer."








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	Then his straight gaze grew twisted and awry;
he looked at me awhile, then bent his head;
he fell as low as all his blind companions.

	Then his straightforward eyes he turned askance,
Eyed me a little, and then bowed his head;
He fell therewith prone like the other blind.








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	And my guide said to me: "He'll rise no more
until the blast of the angelic trumpet
upon the coming of the hostile Judge:

	And the Guide said to me: "He wakes no more
This side the sound of the angelic trumpet;
When shall approach the hostile Potentate,








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	each one shall see his sorry tomb again
and once again take on his flesh and form,
and hear what shall resound eternally."

	Each one shall find again his dismal tomb,
Shall reassume his flesh and his own figure,
Shall hear what through eternity re-echoes."








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	So did we pass across that squalid mixture
of shadows and of rain, our steps slowed down,
talking awhile about the life to come.

	So we passed onward o'er the filthy mixture
Of shadows and of rain with footsteps slow,
Touching a little on the future life.








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	At which I said: "And after the great sentence-
o master-will these torments grow, or else
be less, or will they be just as intense?"

	Wherefore I said: "Master, these torments here,
Will they increase after the mighty sentence,
Or lesser be, or will they be as burning?"








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	And he to me: "Remember now your science,
which says that when a thing has more perfection,
so much the greater is its pain or pleasure.

	And he to me: "Return unto thy science, 
Which wills, that as the thing more perfect is,
The more it feels of pleasure and of pain.






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	Though these accursed sinners never shall
attain the true perfection, yet they can
expect to be more perfect then than now."

	Albeit that this people maledict
To true perfection never can attain,
Hereafter more than now they look to be."








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	We took the circling way traced by that road;
we said much more than I can here recount;
we reached the point that marks the downward slope.

	Round in a circle by that road we went,
Speaking much more, which I do not repeat;
We came unto the point where the descent is;








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	Here we found Plutus, the great enemy.

	There we found Plutus the great enemy. 




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