The Divine Comedy

CANTO I

Midway through our life’s journey, I once found
myself in a dark wood, for I had strayed
from the straight pathway to this tangled ground.
How hard it is to tell of, overlaid
with harsh and savage growth, so wild and raw                             5
the thought of it still makes me feel afraid.
Death scarce could be more bitter. But to draw
the lessons of the good that came my way,
I will describe the other things I saw.
Just how I entered there I cannot say,                                    10
so full of sleep when I began to veer,
I didn’t see that I had gone astray
from the true path. But once I had drawn near
the bottom of a hill at the far remove
of the valley that had pierced my heart with fear,                        15
I saw its shoulders mantled from above
by the rays of the planet that gives light
to guide our steps, wherever we may rove.
At last I felt some calming of the fright
that kept my heart’s lake roiling in unrest                               20
while I endured the long and piteous night.
And as a drowning man with heaving chest
escapes the current and, once safe on shore,
turns back to see the dangers he has passed,
so too my mind, still lost in flight, once more                          25
turned back to see the passage that had never
let anyone escape alive before.
I paused to let my weary limbs recover,
and then began to climb the lone hillside,
my fixed foot always lower than the other.                                30
But I had hardly started when I spied
a leopard in my pathway, lithe and fleet,
all covered with a sleek and spotted hide.
And as I faced it, it would not retreat,
but paced before me and so blocked my way                                 35
that more than once I had to turn my feet
to retrace my steps. It was the break of day,
the sun was mounting in the morning sky
with the same stars as when that whole array
of lovely things was set in motion by                                      40
divine Love. The sweet season of the year
and the hour made me think that I might try
to evade that bright–skinned beast as it came near,
but then I felt my good hopes quickly fade
and in an instant I was numbed with fear                                   45
to see a lion in my path that made
straight for me, head held high and ravenous,
and seemed to make the very air afraid.
A she—wolf came, so lean it seemed it was
laden with every craving. Those who seek                                   50
fulfillment there find only wretchedness.
The sight of this one made me feel so weak,
so overcome with dread, that instantly
I lost all hope of climbing to the peak.
A man is eager in prosperity,                                             55
but when time brings him losses, he’ll be found
wallowing in tears and misery.
So I felt as the she–wolf pressed me round
relentlessly, and bit by bit I stepped
back where the sun is mute on the low ground.                         60
And as I drove myself into the depth,
a shape came into sight before me, wan
as if from a long silence it had kept.
Seeing him in that great desert, I began
to call out. “Miserere—on me,” I cried,                                    65
“whatever you are, shade or solid man!”
“Not man, although I once was,” he replied.
“My parents were both Mantuans. I descend
from those of Lombardy on either side,
born sub Julio, at the latter end.                                         70
Under the good Augustus I lived in Rome
in days when false and lying gods still reigned.
I was a poet, and I sang of him,
Anchises’ righteous son, who sailed from Troy
after the burning of proud Ilium.                                         75
But why do you turn back toward trouble? Why
not climb up the delectable mount instead,
the origin and cause of every joy?”
“Are you that Virgil then, that fountainhead
that spills so great a stream of eloquence?”                               80
I said this with a shame—filled brow, and said:
“Glory and light of poets, may my intense
love and long study of your poetry
avail me now for my deliverance.
You are my master, my authority.                                           85
It is from you alone I learned to write
in the noble style that has honored me.
You see what made me turn back from the height.
Illustrious sage, please help me to confound
this beast that makes my pulses shake with fright.”                    90
“You had best go another way around,”
he answered, seeing tears start from my eyes,
“if you hope to escape this savage ground,
because this creature that provokes your cries
allows no man to get the best of her,                                  95
but blocks each one, attacking till he dies.
Of such a vile and vicious character
and greedy appetite, she’s never sated.
When she has fed, she’s even hungrier.
Many the animals with whom she’s mated.                                  100
Her couplings, till her painful deathblow’s dealt
by the greyhound, will go on unabated.
This greyhound will feed not on land or wealth,
but virtue, love, and wisdom. He will be
born in the region between felt and felt.                                 105
He will restore low—lying Italy,
for which Euryalus, Turnus, the maid Camilla,
and Nisus gave their life’s blood. Tirelessly
he’ll track the beast through every town until
he comes at last to drive her back into                                   110
that Hell from which she sprang at Envy’s will.
Therefore, I think it would be best for you
to follow me. I’ll be your guide, and I
will lead you out of here and take you through
an eternal place where you will be met by                            115
the shriekings of despair and you will see
ancient tormented spirits as they cry
aloud at the second death. Then you will be
with those who are content within the fire,
for they hope to join the blest eventually.                         120
You’ll see those blest, if that is your desire,
with a worthier soul than I. Into her hands
I will place you when I can go no higher.
That Emperor who presides above commands,
since I did not heed His law, that none may gain                       125
entrance through me to where His city stands.
His rule is everywhere. There is His reign,
His city, and His throne! Happy are they
He chooses to inhabit that domain!”
“Poet,” I said to him, “so that I may                                     130
escape this harm and worse that may await,
in the name of the God you never knew, I pray
you lead me out to see Saint Peter’s gate
and all those souls that you have told me of,
who must endure their miserable state.”                                  135
I followed him as he began to move.

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From The Divine Comedy. Used with permission of the publisher, Liveright. Translation copyright © 2024 by Michael Palma.