The Inferno of Dante Alighieri

By iUniverse

THE INFERNO OF DANTE ALIGHIERI
TRANSLATED IN TRIPLE-RHYME
WITH AN INTRODUCTION, NOTES AND COMMENTARY

This vigorous translation of the Inferno, the first part of Dante's Divine Comedy, makes accessible to the modern reader the poet's descent through the nine circles of Hell. Rendered in clear, lively English, it is almost unique in retaining the difficult triple-rhyme scheme of the original, while remaining faithful to the meaning. The introduction, footnotes and commentaries clarify the poem without being burdensome, and an associated web site provides illustrations and further background.

"I was constantly amazed and charmed with the facility with which Zimmerman's translation manages to put Dante's common Italian language into vernacular speech in English, giving it-with no loss of its important classical allusions or its lyrical impact-all the immediacy and suspense of a contemporary thriller."
-Samsara Review

"The major virtue of Seth Zimmerman's translation lies in its idiomatic, direct, unpretentious style."
-Metamorphoses
The cover shows the thief Agnello in the eighth circle. From the mobile Inferno installation of Janet Van Fleet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jun 28, 2003
• ISBN: 9781469724485

Book preview

Diagram of Inferno

119816_text.pdf

Canto I

Notes and Commentary

1. IIn Convivio, Dante puts life’s midpoint at 35 years, half the lifespan of three score and ten in Ps. 90:10. Born in 1265, the poet begins his journey on the eve of Good Friday, 1300.

The dark wood is not only the poet’s life, but also the political wilderness of Florence and Italy.

17. In the Ptolomeic system the sun—here symbolizing God—was a planet circling the earth.

32-60. Commentators disagree, but the leopard is generally thought to symbolize lust, the lion pride, and the wolf avarice; they also represent Hell’s division into the sins of fraud, violence and incontinence. See Jer. 5:6.

35-39. The sun was supposed to have been in Aries when God created the world. Since this astronomical arrangement is actually impossible for the year 1300, Dante is creating an idealized Easter. The sweet season is spring. 62. The figure is Virgil, who in line 70 says that he was born in the time of Julius Caesar—actually, in 70 B.C. 74. Aeneas.

102-104. The greyhound, identified with Henry VII, Charles Martel, Dante, and others, is most plausibly Dante’s benefactor, Cangrande della Scala of Verona, whose birthplace is between Feltre in Venetia and Montefeltro in Romagna. In any event, he is to be a national savior. 107-108. All figures in Virgil’s Aeneid. 118. The souls in Purgatory.

122-124. Virgil and reason can guide Dante only through Hell and Purgatory; Grace or revelation must lead him through Paradise in the form of Beatrice. Virgil is excluded from the city of the God he did not worship, having been born before Christ. Canto IV explains his place among the virtuous pagans in Limbo.

135. Most likely the gate of Purgatory, since Dante mentions no gate in Paradise.

Night of Thursday, April 7, through dawn of Good Friday, April 8,1300; the dark wood.

At the age of thirty-five, Dante realizes that he is lost in the dark wood of worldliness, ignorance, and sin. He tries to escape by climbing a sunlit mountain—an ascent which may signify his quest for enlightenment, or, less likely, his hopes for a better life through philosophy or even a successful career. His advance is blocked by three beasts which represent evil tendencies: the leopard (lust), the lion (pride), and the wolf (avarice). These will later correspond to the three divisions of Hell where the sins of incontinence, bestiality, and fraud are punished. In the course of the poem Dante personally admits to the first two.

As Dante is being driven back down the mountain he meets the shade of Virgil, his ideal poet. This representative of reason—blurred and dim from long silence, both in the world and in Dante’s consideration—declares that the only route of escape is back down through Hell. That is, one must comprehend evil before one can master it. He also foretells the coming of a world redeemer, a Hound which will drive the wolf of covetousness back into Hell. The identity of the Hound is a subject of critical debate, but the most common interpretation is that it is Dante’s future benefactor, Cangrande della Scala (great dog), ruler of Verona from 1308 to 1329 and an Imperial viceroy, whose birthplace,

Verona, lies between Feltre and Montefeltro. However, the prediction may have been less specific, referring to an Emperor who would come at the end of the world to restore justice and balance. A third possibility—if one takes the word feltro to mean felt or coarse cloth—is that salvation would come from those who wear the robes of poverty. There are several other possibilities, and it is likely that Dante intended both a historical and spiritual meaning.

Virgil offers to lead Dante through Hell and Purgatory, after which a soul more worthy than he would become his guide, for Virgil is not permitted into Heaven. Dante accepts, and they set off on the journey.

Canto I hints at many themes which will be developed in the Comedy, not the least of which is its physical division into the wild and dark wood (2), corresponding to Hell, the lonely slope (29), corresponding to Purgatory, and the sunlit mountain (16, 77), corresponding to Heaven.

Thus begins this journey which is at once personal—a voyage of discovery and revelation for the sake of Dante’s salvation—and universal—a moral and spiritual education for all men and women.

Canto II

Notes and Commentary

II7. It is in the classical tradition of epics to invoke the muses; similar invocations occur in the first cantos of Purgatorio and Paradiso.

13-27. Silvius was the son of Aeneas and Lavinia. See the Aeneid, Book VI, in which Aeneas visits Hades, the underworld of the dead, and learns that he is to found the city of Rome. While Virgil forecasts the glories of the Roman Empire, Dante sees beyond this to the glories of the Church as well. 28. St. Paul is called the Vas electionis, or Chosen Vessel, in Acts 9:15. 28-30. 2 Cor. 12:2 refers to St. Paul’s ascent to the third Heaven; the medieval Visio Sancti Pauli describes his journey through Hell.

52. The suspended souls are those in Limbo, who desire to see God, but have

no hope of doing so. See Canto IV.

71. Beatrice descended from Paradise for this meeting.

76-78. Divine Wisdom, represented by Beatrice, lifts humanity higher than the sphere of the moon, the nearest to earth. 94. The Virgin Mary.

97. Lucia is probably the third century martyr from Syracuse, the patron saint of sight. Dante may have had a personal reason for selecting her to be the symbol of Divine Light or Illuminating Grace, for according to the Vita nuova and Convivio he had trouble with his eyes.

102. Rachel and her sister Leah, both wives of Jacob, represent the contemplative and active life. See Gen. 29:16ff. 107. This death is his possible eternal damnation.

Good Friday, April 8, sunset; at the foot of the mountain.

The canto begins with Dante trying to prepare himself for the difficult journey. Lacking confidence, he compares himself to the two figures who had previously visited the realms of the dead: Aeneas, who visited the lower world in the Aeneid, Book VI and St. Paul, who tells us in 2 Cor. 12 that he traveled to Paradise. The former’s experience prepared the way for the Empire, and the latter’s was fundamental in strengthening the Church. By comparison, Dante asks, why should an ordinary man like himself, without a comparable mission, be granted visions of the afterlife? (Of course in this way Dante is comparing himself with these two.) Note that this is the first of many instances in which Dante balances scriptural and classical illustrations, Church and Empire. Also, the easily overlooked words You say that… (13) may indicate that Dante did not accept the literal truth of Virgil’s account but looked for a deeper poetic truth, just as he expects the reader to do in his own epic.

In order to bolster Dante’s courage, Virgil must give arguments which go deeper than reason. Virgil himself is not the source of his own action. God has sanctioned Dante’s rehabilitation, and Virgil, as an embodiment of reason, is only the messenger and agent. Virgil describes how the Virgin Mary, distressed at Dante’s situation, summons Lucia (probably St. Lucia of Syracuse), who in turn summons Beatrice, who enlists the aid of Virgil. Mary is traditionally the embodiment of mercy and compassion; Lucia, or light, seems to have been held in particular veneration by Dante (98); and Beatrice, whose name signifies blessedness, represents revelation, and is the core link in Dante’s journey to salvation. Among their many poetic and spiritual functions, these three ladies serve to counter the three beasts in Canto I.

Dante’s journey thus has its origin not in the dark wood but in Mary’s act of pity, and the culmination of the journey will be back at its source, in Heaven.

Virgil finishes his account by asking why, with three such blessed ladies supporting him, as well as Virgil’s own encouragement, Dante still does not have enough confidence to set out (121-126). Dante’s strength revives, and he declares that Virgil is now his guide and master for the journey.

Canto III