Classic Poem

CANTO V.

Argument.

Minos judges the sinners, and assigns them their punishment. — The Second Circle, which is that of the incontinent — Francesca di Rimini.

F ROM the first circle downward did we go
Unto the second, which a smaller space
Contains, but as much more of bitter woe.
There Minos stood, with darkly-frowning face;
He searches out the sins of those who come;
He judges them, and sends them to their place.
'Tis said, when the lost souls unto their doom
Approach, each deed of guiltiness is told,
And he, the guardian of the place of gloom,
Perceives what gulf of hell their crime should hold,
As many grades as they must downward go,
So many times his tail doth round him fold.
Alway before him stands a mournful row:
Slowly in turn they come unto their fate;
They speak, and hear, and sink unto their woe.
" O thou, who comest to this dolorous gate, "
Said Minos, when he saw me enter there,
Leaving the office of such direful weight,
" Look well in whom thou trustest, and beware,
Although this place such ample entrance hath. "
My Master answer'd: " Why this angry air?
Stay not his fated journey with thy wrath:
Ask thou no more; for thus it hath been will'd,
Where Will and Power do hold one only path. "
And now the air with mournful notes was fill'd,
And we were come unto a dismal site,
Where many wailings through my spirit thrill'd.
I came unto a place devoid of light,
Still ever roaring as the stormy sea,
When the strong, adverse winds against it fight.
The hellish blasts, that never calm'd may be,
Do with their wrath these mournful spirits drive,
And strike and buffet them eternally.
When they before the shatter'd cliff arrive,
Here against Love Divine breaks forth their ire;
Laments and plaints and cries for ever strive.
And then I knew that to this torment dire
Those guilty ones were brought by carnal sin;
In life their reason bow'd before desire.
And as the starlings, borne upon the wing,
Fly in large flocks in the cold winter air,
Thus did the blast those wretched spirits fling
Through all that dreary clime, now here, now there;
And never may they hope for happier day
Of rest, or even a lesser pain to bear.
As cranes that fly, and, singing still their lay,
Stretch out their lengthen'd line against the sky,
Thus did I see this shadowy array,
Borne onward ever with a mournful cry.
I said: " My Master, who are those that so
By the black air are chasten'd dolefully? "
" The first of those whose story thou wouldst know, "
At once to me he courteously replied,
" Was one before whom many lands did bow.
In such luxurious vice did she abide,
That licence was made lawful 'neath her sway;
Thus to escape the shame of guilt she tried
She is Semiramis, of whom they say,
She was the wife of Ninus, and his heir;
She ruled where reigns the Sultan at this day.
And she who kill'd herself for love was there,
Who to Sichaeus' ashes broke her faith;
Then Cleopatra came, that wanton fair.
Helen, for whom were done such deeds of death,
I saw; and great Achilles, on that shore,
Who loved and fought until his latest breath.
Paris was there, and Tristan; many more
He show'd to me, and pointed out by name
Whom love from out the land of mortals bore.
After those knights and dames of ancient fame,
To me were shown by my instructor kind:
Deep grief and pity all my heart o'ercame
Then I began: " O Poet, do thou find
Some means that I may speak unto yon pair,
Who seem to fly so lightly on the wind "
He said: " When, borne along the doleful air,
They near us come, adjure them by the love
That leads them on, and they will hear thy prayer. "
And when they came, his counsel I did prove,
And said: " O sad and weary souls, be still
And speak, if none forbid. " And as the dove,
Whom the sweet calling of desire doth thrill,
With spread and moveless wing flies to the nest,
Borne onward only by the power of will,
Ev'n thus those two, departing from the rest,
Came toward us, through the darksome air malign:
So strong was the appeal to love addrest.
" O being, who art gracious and benign,
And through the dismal air thy way dost wend
To us, who left on earth a bloody sign,
If but the Sovereign Ruler were our friend,
We for thy happiness to him would pray,
Since thou to our sad case dost pity lend.
And now we willingly will hear, and say
Whatever thou wouldst know from this our speech,
What time the stormy wind doth silent stay.
The city of my birth is near the beach
Where, with its tributary streams, the Po
Flows to the sea, its place of rest to reach.
Love, that all gentle hearts so quickly know,
For my fair form, from me so foully ta'en,
Inspired the soul who by my side doth go.
Love that will have the loved to love again,
So bent my heart towards him, that, e'en yet,
He doth not leave me in this place of pain.
And love hath led us to a bloody fate;
For him who slew us waits the deepest hell. "
She said. And when I heard her thus narrate
The sorrows that those weary souls befel,
In saddest thought I stood, with downcast face;
Until the Poet said to me: " Now tell
The thing thou ponderest " I said, " Alas!
What love and musings sweet those two have led
The downward way unto this dolorous pass! "
Then unto them I turn'd myself and said:
" Francesca, on my soul thy sorrow lies
So pitiful, that these sad tears I shed;
But tell me, in the season of sweet sighs
How did it e'er befal that ye should show
Your mutual love unto each other's eyes? "
And she replied to me: " No greater woe
Can be, than to remember happy days,
In misery; this doth thy Leader know.
But, if desire to hear the early ways
Of our affection so thy spirit fill,
I speak as one who weeps for what he says.
One day we read, for pastime, how the thrill
Of love the heart of Lancelot had known;
We were alone, and had no thought of ill.
And often from the book our eyes had gone,
And often did our flushing cheeks grow pale;
But we were conquer'd by one word alone.
When we had read, within that ancient tale,
How sweet of such a loving one the kiss,
Then he, who from my side shall never fail,
His lips to mine all tremblingly did press;
Galeotto was the author, and his name:
That day we read no more. " And then while thus
One spake, such pity all my soul o'ercame,
Beholding the sad tears the other shed,
That on the strand of dark and dreadful fame,
Fainting, with sudden shock I fell, as falls the dead.