These did their faces irrigate with blood, Which, with their tears commingled, at their feet By the disgusting worms was gathered up. And when to gazing farther I betook me, People I saw on a great river's bank; Whence said I: "Master, now vouchsafe to me, Makes them appear so ready to pass over, And he to me: "These things shall all be known Then with mine eyes ashamed and downward cast, And lo! towards us coming in a boat An old man, hoary with the hair of eld, Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens; I come to lead you to the other shore, To the eternal shades in heat and frost. And thou, that yonder standest, living soul, Withdraw thee from these people, who are dead!” 70 75 80 85 90 He said: "By other ways, by other ports Thou to the shore shalt come, not here, for passage; A lighter vessel needs must carry thee." And unto him the Guide: "Vex thee not, Charon; It is so willed there where is power to do Of him the ferryman of the livid fen, Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame. But all those souls who weary were and naked 95 100 Their color changed and gnashed their teeth together, God they blasphemed and their progenitors, The human race, the place, the time, the seed Of their engendering and of their birth! Thereafter all together they drew back, Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore, Beckoning to them, collects them all together, First one and then another, till the branch 105 In similar wise the evil seed of Adam Throw themselves from that margin one by one, At signals, as a bird unto its lure. So they depart across the dusky wave, And ere upon the other side they land, Again on this side a new troop assembles. "My son," the courteous Master said to me, "All those who perish in the wrath of God Here meet together out of every land; And ready are they to pass o'er the river, Because celestial Justice spurs them on, So that their fear is turned into desire. This way there never passes a good soul; And hence if Charon doth complain of thee, 115 120 125 Well mayst thou know now what his speech imports." This being finished, all the dusk champaign Trembled so violently, that of that terror The recollection bathes me still with sweat. The land of tears gave forth a blast of wind, And fulminated a vermilion light, Which overmastered in me every sense, And as a man whom sleep hath seized I fell. 130 135 CANTO IV. ROKE the deep lethargy within my head BROKE A heavy thunder, so that I upstarted, Like to a person who by force is wakened; And round about I moved my rested eyes, Uprisen erect, and steadfastly I gazed, To recognize the place wherein I was. True is it, that upon the verge I found me Of the abysmal valley dolorous, That gathers thunder of infinite ululations. Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous, So that by fixing on its depths my sight Nothing whatever I discerned therein. "Let us descend now into the blind world," Began the Poet, pallid utterly; "I will be first, and thou shalt second be." And I, who of his color was aware, Said: "How shall I come, if thou art afraid, Who 'rt wont to be a comfort to my fears?" 5 10 15 And he to me: "The anguish of the people That pity which for terror thou hast taken. Thus he went in, and thus he made me enter There, in so far as I had power to hear, Were lamentations none, but only sighs, That tremulous made the everlasting air. And this arose from sorrow without torment, Which the crowds had, that 20 25 many were and great, 30 Of infants and of women and of men. To me the Master good: "Thou dost not ask go farther, "T is not enough, because they had not baptism, And if they were before Christianity, In the right manner they adored not God; For such defects, and not for other guilt, Lost are we, and are only so far punished, 35 40 |