Inferno
The Descent. Dante's Protest and Virgil's Appeal. The Intercession of the Three Ladies Benedight. Day was departing, and the embrowned air Released the animals that are on earth
Day was ending, and the darkening air
released all the earth's creatures
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VIRGIL AND DANTE
“Day was ending, and the darkening air”
As evening fell and all living creatures found rest from their labors,
I alone prepared myself to endure the battle—
both the struggle of the journey and the anguish it would bring,
which my unfailing memory will now retrace.
O Muses, O sublime genius, help me now!
O memory that recorded what I witnessed,
here your true nobility shall shine forth!
And I began: "Poet, you who guide me,
consider whether my courage is sufficient
before you entrust me to this terrible passage.
You tell me that Silvius's father,
while still mortal and corruptible,
journeyed to the immortal world in living flesh.
Yet if the Enemy of all evil showed such courtesy,
considering the momentous consequences
that would flow from him—who he was and what he would become—
this seems fitting to any thinking person.
For he was chosen in highest heaven
to be the father of noble Rome and her empire,
both of which, to speak truthfully,
were established as that sacred place
where the successor of great Peter holds his throne.
On that journey you celebrate,
he heard prophecies that became the foundation
of both his victory and the papal throne.
Later, the Chosen Vessel also traveled there
to bring back confirmation of that Faith
which opens the path to salvation.
But why should I go there? Who grants me this privilege?
I am not Aeneas, I am not Paul—
neither I nor anyone else thinks me worthy of this.
So if I agree to come,
I fear this journey may be folly.
You are wise and understand better than my words can say."
Like someone who changes his mind about what he wanted,
shifting his thoughts until his intention transforms completely
and he abandons his original plan entirely—
that's what I became on that dark slope,
because in my thinking I let slip away
the enterprise that had begun so eagerly.
"If I understand your meaning correctly,"
replied that shade of the great-souled one,
"your spirit is infected with cowardice,
which so often burdens a person
that it turns him back from noble endeavors,
the way a startled animal shies from shadows.
To free you from this fear,
I'll tell you why I came
and what I heard the first moment I felt sorrow for you.
I was among those who dwell in Limbo
when a Lady, blessed and beautiful, called to me
with such authority that I begged her to command me.
Her eyes shone brighter than stars,
and she began to speak, gentle and soft,
with an angelic voice, in her own tongue:
'O courteous spirit of Mantua,
whose fame still echoes in the world
and will endure as long as the world exists—
a friend of mine, though no friend of fortune,
finds himself so blocked on the desert slope
that terror has turned him from his path.
I fear from what I've heard of him in Heaven
that he may already be so lost
I have risen too late to help him.
Go now, and with your elegant speech
and whatever else is needed for his rescue,
help him so that I may be consoled.
I am Beatrice, who sends you on this mission.
I come from the place I long to return to.
Love moved me, Love compels me to speak.
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BEATRICE AND VIRGIL
“I am Beatrice, who sends you on this mission.”
When I stand before my Lord again,
I will often praise you to Him.'
She fell silent then, and I replied:
'O Lady of virtue, you alone
through whom humanity surpasses everything
contained within the smallest celestial sphere—
your command brings me such joy
that obeying, even if already accomplished, would seem slow.
You need not explain your wish further.
But tell me why you don't hesitate
to descend into this center of desolation
from that vast realm you burn to return to.'
'Since you wish to understand so deeply,'
she answered, 'I'll explain briefly
why I'm not afraid to enter here.
We should fear only those things
that have the power to harm others—
nothing else, for they hold no terror.
God in His mercy created me
so that your suffering cannot touch me,
nor do the flames of this burning reach me.
A gentle Lady in Heaven grieves
over the obstacle I'm sending you to remove,
breaking the stern judgment above.
She called Lucia to her and said:
"Your faithful one now needs you—
I entrust him to your care."
Lucia, enemy of all cruelty,
hurried away and came to where I sat
beside ancient Rachel.
"Beatrice," she said, "true praise of God,
why don't you help the one who loved you so much
that for you he rose above the common crowd?
Don't you hear the anguish in his cry?
Don't you see the death that attacks him
beside that flood where the sea holds no sway?"
Never were people in the world so swift
to pursue their good or flee from harm
as I, after hearing these words,
descended from my blessed throne,
trusting in your noble eloquence
that honors you and all who hear it.'
After speaking to me this way,
she turned away, her bright eyes filled with tears,
which made me hurry even faster to you.
I came to you as she wished,
and saved you from that savage beast
that blocked the short path up the beautiful mountain.
What is this, then? Why do you hesitate?
Why does such cowardice nest in your heart?
Where are your daring and courage,
when three such blessed Ladies
watch over you in Heaven's court,
and my words promise you such good?"
Like flowers that nocturnal cold
has bent and closed, but when the sun brightens them
lift themselves up, fully open on their stems—
so I became, my exhausted strength renewed,
and such good courage flowed into my heart
that I began to speak like a fearless man:
"O compassionate one who helped me!
And you, so courteous, who obeyed so quickly
the truthful words she spoke to you!
Your words have filled my heart with such desire
for this adventure that I have returned
to my original intention.
Now go—we share a single will.
You are my Leader, my Lord, and my Master."
I spoke these words to him, and when he moved forward,
I entered the deep and savage way.