Now my Master moves forward along a narrow path
between the torments and the city wall,
and I follow close behind him.
"O supreme power, who leads me as you will
through these circles of the damned," I began,
"speak to me and satisfy my longing—
The people lying in these tombs,
can they be seen? All the lids
are raised, and no one stands guard."
And he replied: "They will all be sealed shut
when they return from the valley of Jehoshaphat
with the bodies they left behind above.
On this side lies their cemetery,
with Epicurus and all his followers
who believe the soul dies with the body.
But the question you ask me now
will soon be answered here within,
along with the wish you keep silent."
And I said: "Good Leader, I only hide
my heart from you so I might speak less,
and this isn't the first time you've encouraged me to this."
"O Tuscan, you who pass alive
through this city of fire,
speaking so courteously,
please stop your steps in this place.
Your way of speaking reveals you
as native to that noble homeland
to which perhaps I brought too much harm."
Suddenly this voice burst forth
from one of the tombs, and I pressed closer
to my Leader in fear.
He said to me: "Turn around—what are you doing?
Look, there's Farinata rising up;
you'll see him completely
from the waist up."
I had already fixed my eyes on his,
and he rose upright with chest and brow
as if he held Hell itself
in utter contempt.
My Leader's bold and ready hands
pushed me toward him between the sepulchers,
saying, "Let your words be clear."
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FARINATA
“My Leader's bold and ready hands / pushed me toward him between the sepulchers, / saying, "Let your words be clear."”
When I reached the foot of his tomb,
he studied me for a moment, then,
as if disdainful, asked: "Who were your ancestors?"
Eager to obey, I concealed nothing
but revealed everything to him.
At this he raised his eyebrows slightly.
Then he said: "They were fierce enemies
to me, my fathers, and my party,
so I scattered them twice."
"If they were exiled, they returned both times
from every direction," I answered him,
"but your people never mastered that skill."
Then another shadow appeared beside him,
visible down to his chin—
I think he had risen to his knees.
He looked around me as if anxious
to see whether someone else was with me,
but when his doubt was satisfied,
weeping, he said: "If you pass through this blind
prison by virtue of your high genius,
where is my son? Why isn't he with you?"
And I replied: "I don't come by my own power.
He who waits over there leads me here—
the one your Guido perhaps held in scorn."
His words and the nature of his punishment
had already told me his name,
which is why my answer was so complete.
Suddenly starting up, he cried: "What
did you say—he held? Isn't he still alive?
Doesn't the sweet light still strike his eyes?"
When he noticed the delay
I made before answering, he fell
backward and appeared no more.
But the other, that great soul at whose request
I had stopped, didn't change expression—
he neither moved his neck nor bent his body.
"And if," continuing our first conversation,
"they haven't learned that skill well," he said,
"that torments me more than this bed.
But the face of the Queen who reigns here
won't be rekindled fifty times
before you'll know how hard that skill is.
And so you may return to the sweet world,
tell me: why is that people so merciless
against my family in all their laws?"
I answered him: "The slaughter and great carnage
that stained the Arbia red with blood—
that's why such prayers are made in our temple."
Shaking his head with a sigh, he said:
"I wasn't alone there, and surely
I didn't move with the others without cause.
But I was alone where everyone else
agreed to destroy Florence—
I alone defended her openly."
"Ah, so your descendants may find peace,"
I begged him, "untie this knot for me
that has tangled my understanding here.
It seems, if I hear correctly,
that you can see what time will bring,
but with the present it's different."
"We see like those with poor sight,"
he said, "things that are distant from us—
so much light the Supreme Ruler still gives us.
When they draw near or are present,
our understanding fails completely,
and unless someone brings us news,
we know nothing of your human condition.
So you can understand that our knowledge
will die completely when
the door to the future is closed."
Then I, as if sorry for my error,
said: "Now tell that fallen one
that his son is still joined with the living,
and if I was silent before in answering,
tell him it was because I was already thinking
about the confusion you've now resolved for me."
My Master was already calling me back,
so I begged the spirit more urgently
to tell me who was there with him.
He said: "I lie here with more than a thousand.
Inside here is the second Frederick
and the Cardinal—I won't speak of the others."
Then he hid himself, and I turned
toward the ancient poet, pondering
those words that seemed ominous to me.
He began walking, and as we went,
he said: "Why are you so troubled?"
I satisfied his question,
and that wise one commanded me:
"Keep in memory what you've heard against yourself,
and now listen carefully"—he raised his finger—
"when you stand before the sweet radiance
of her whose beautiful eyes see everything,
from her you'll learn your life's journey."
Then he turned his steps to the left.
We left the wall and headed toward the center
along a path that leads down to a valley
whose stench, even from up there,
was foul and overwhelming.