Inferno: Canto VI
At the return of
consciousness, that closed
Before
the pity of those two relations,
Which utterly with sadness had confused me,
New torments I
behold, and new tormented
Around
me, whichsoever way I move,
And whichsoever way I turn, and gaze.
In the third circle
am I of the rain
Eternal,
maledict, and cold, and heavy;
Its law and quality are never new.
Huge hail, and
water sombre-hued, and snow,
Athwart
the tenebrous air pour down amain;
Noisome the earth is, that receiveth this.
Cerberus, monster
cruel and uncouth,
With
his three gullets like a dog is barking
Over the people that are there submerged.
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.
Howl the rain
maketh them like unto dogs;
One
side they make a shelter for the other;
Oft turn themselves the wretched reprobates.
When Cerberus
perceived us, the great worm!
His mouths he opened, and displayed his tusks;
Not a limb had he that was motionless.
And my Conductor,
with his spans extended,
Took
of the earth, and with his fists well filled,
He threw it into those rapacious gullets.
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,
The like became
those muzzles filth-begrimed
Of
Cerberus the demon, who so thunders
Over the souls that they would fain be deaf.
We passed across
the shadows, which subdues
The
heavy rain-storm, and we placed our feet
Upon their vanity that person seems.
They all were lying
prone upon the earth,
Excepting
one, who sat upright as soon
As he beheld us passing on before him.
"O thou that art
conducted through this Hell,"
He
said to me, "recall me, if thou canst;
Thyself wast made before I was unmade."
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.
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."
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.
You citizens were
wont to call me Ciacco;
For
the pernicious sin of gluttony
I, as thou seest, am battered by this rain.
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.
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
The citizens of the
divided city;
If
any there be just; and the occasion
Tell me why so much discord has assailed it."
And he to me:
"They, after long contention,
Will
come to bloodshed; and the rustic party
Will drive the other out with much offence.
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.
High will it hold
its forehead a long while,
Keeping
the other under heavy burdens,
Howe'er it weeps thereat and is indignant.
The just are two,
and are not understood there;
Envy
and Arrogance and Avarice
Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled."
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.
Farinata and
Tegghiaio, once so worthy,
Jacopo
Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca,
And others who on good deeds set their thoughts,
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."
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.
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."
Then his
straightforward eyes he turned askance,
Eyed
me a little, and then bowed his head;
He fell therewith prone like the other blind.
And the Guide said
to me: "He wakes no more
This
side the sound of the angelic trumpet;
When shall approach the hostile Potentate,
Each one shall find
again his dismal tomb,
Shall
reassume his flesh and his own figure,
Shall hear what through eternity re-echoes."
So we passed onward
o'er the filthy mixture
Of
shadows and of rain with footsteps slow,
Touching a little on the future life.
Wherefore I said:
"Master, these torments here,
Will
they increase after the mighty sentence,
Or lesser be, or will they be as burning?"
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.
Albeit that this
people maledict
To
true perfection never can attain,
Hereafter more than now they look to be."
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;
There we found
Plutus the great enemy.
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