Verrai a piaggia, non qui, per passare; Ciò che si vuole, e più non dimandare.' Al nocchier della livida palude, Che intorno agli occhi avea di fiamme rote. Ratto che inteser le parole crude. L'umana specie, il luogo, il tempo e il seme Di lor semenza e di lor nascimenti. Poi si ritrasser tutte quante insieme, 95 100 105 Forte piangendo, alla riva malvagia Che attende ciascun uom che Dio non teme. Caron dimonio, con occhi di bragia, 93. Charon sees that Dante is destined to be carried, after death, to Purgatory in the angel's boat described in Purg. II, 10-51. 95. Virgil makes use of this formula on other occasions; cf. Inf. V, 23. 97. Cf. Æn., VI, 298–300: 'Portitor has horrendus aquas et flumina servat Charon, like most of the classical guardians retained in Dante's Hell, becomes a demonic figure; his 'fiery eyes' become 'encircled with wheels of flame.' III. S' adagia, 'takes his ease.' Guittone d' Arezzo, in his poem Ai lasso, 1. 68, uses v' adagia, meaning 'suits you.' 112. Cf. Æn., VI, 309-10: 'Quam multa in sylvis autumni frigore primo The simile is evidently suggested by Virgil, but Dante adds the descriptive 'I' una appresso dell' altra' and the pathetic touch of the last clause. Nearly always, when Dante borrows a simile, he makes it more vivid or more human. L' una appresso dell' altra, infin che il ramo Gittansi di quel lito ad una ad una Ed avanti che sian di là discese, 115 120 125 E però se Caron di te si lagna, Ben puoi saper omai che il suo dir suona.' Finito questo, la buia campagna 130 Tremò sì forte che dello spavento La mente di sudore ancor mi bagna. Che balenò una luce vermiglia, La qual mi vinse ciascun sentimento; 135 117. 'As a bird comes down at its call,' i. e., the call by which the hunter lures it. The poem is full of figures taken from bird-hunting, the favorite sport of the nobility in the Middle Ages. 126. Any reality seems to them less intolerable than the apprehension. 127. Cf. En., VI, 563: 'Nulli fas casto sceleratum insistere limen.' 129. See note on 1." 93. 132. Mente, 'memory.' CANTO IV ARGUMENT A THUNDER clap announces the consummation of the miracle. Dante finds himself on the brink of the cliff that surrounds the dark abyss. A 'roar of countless wails' greets his ear. At this sound, Virgil, who later in the journey sternly rebukes Dante for his sympathy with the damned, himself turns pale with pity: while Reason, face to face with sin, can feel only abhorrence, it may well be moved to anguish by contemplation of sin's consequences. The descent of the bank brings the poets to the first circle of Hell, the Limbus. The Church fathers defined the Limbus as an underground place, near Hell and Purgatory, the abode of the souls of unbaptized children and, until the Harrowing of Hell, of the virtuous members of the Old Church; the only punishment is exile from God's presence; the patriarchs were cheered by hope of ultimate rescue. Salvation can be won only through faith in Christ: the ancient Hebrews believed in Christ to come, Christians believe in Christ already descended and arisen. Admission to community with Christ, which redeems man from original sin, must be sanctified by prescribed rites in Christian times by baptism. After the crucifixion Christ went down into Hell, -breaking the gates, which have ever since remained open, - and took from Limbus the souls of the worthy people of the Old Testament. The doctrine of the Harrowing of Hell is foreshadowed in Messianic tradition. In the Bible only passing references to it are to be found: as in Ephesians iv, 9; I Epistle of Peter iii, 19 and iv, 6; also, according to St. Augustine, in Ps. cvii (Vulgate cvi), 14. It is mentioned in the apocryphal Gospel of Peter and described in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. It remained for Dante to place in his Limbus the souls of virtuous pagans. These, as they had never believed in Christ, were not saved, but remained with the unbaptized infants. Only Cato of Utica, who appears in the first canto of the Purgatorio, was apparently released, and is working out his salvation on the Island of Purgatory; how his entrance into the Church is to be effected, we are not told. It is interesting to note that in the Æneid, VI, 426-9, the children are on the outer edge of the lower world - 'infantumque animæ flentes in limine primo.' Dante's Limbus is shrouded in darkness, and the air quivers with sighs. Such is the life of those devoid of true knowledge of God: their minds are enveloped in ignorance, and their hearts are full of a vague longing forever unsatisfied. But those among them who combine wisdom with virtue are illumined by mortal intelligence a light dim compared with the vision of God, but bright beside the obscurity in which their less gifted fellows dwell. The state of the heathen sages of old is symbolized by the 'nobile castello,' the Palace of Wisdom (or, as some understand it, of Fame), where the great souls congregate, 'neither happy nor sad,' enjoying the companionship of their peers and the light of human knowledge. Dante's description of them is reminiscent of Virgil's Elysian Fields in Æn., VI, 637 ff. For a discussion of the Limbus, see M. Scherillo in Bull., VIII, 1; for the palace, A. Fiammazzo, Intorno al "Nobile Castello" in Giorn. dant., VIII, 25; for the descent of Christ into Hell, M. Dods, Forerunners of Dante, 1903, pp. 83 ff. Ruppemi l'alto sonno nella testa Un greve tuono, sì ch' io mi riscossi, Per conoscer lo loco dov' io fossi. Tanto che, per ficcar lo viso al fondo, Io non vi discerneva alcuna cosa. 'Or discendiam quaggiù nel cieco mondo,' Cominciò il poeta tutto smorto; 'Io sarò primo, e tu sarai secondo.' Ed io, che del color mi fui accorto, 2. Tuono, probably the peal which followed the lightning of III, 134. Inasmuch as lines 2 and 3 point to a sudden noise, this 'thunder' can hardly be identical with that of I. 9. 4. Riposato, recovered from the dazzling effect of the flash. 9. In the Visio S. Pauli there is a 'tonitruum' of groans and sighs. 11. Per ficcar, 'however intently I fixed.' Dissi: 'Come verrò, se tu paventi, Che suoli al mio dubbiare esser conforto?' Così si mise, e così mi fe' entrare Non avea pianto, ma' che di sospiri, 20 25 Ciò avvenia di duol senza martiri Ch' avean le turbe, ch' eran molte e grandi, 30 Lo buon Maestro a me: 'Tu non dimandi Che spiriti son questi che tu vedi? Che senza speme vivemo in disio.' 25. Secondo che, 'as far as one could judge.' 35 40 26. Ma' che, 'except.' Ma', from Latin magis, is equivalent to più. 33. Andi vada. Virgil will not have Dante suppose for a moment that his companions in Limbus have been evildoers. 38. Adorar adorarono. = 40. Rio, 'crime.' 41. Semo, equivalent to siamo, was common in early Italian. 42. In Dante's time the ending -emo, in the first person plural of verbs of the second and third conjugations, had not yet been quite supplanted by -iamo. |