Commentary
Inferno 2: Second Beginning
Commentary and translation by J. Simon Harris (Copyright © J. Simon Harris).
Italian text adapted from Project Gutenberg.
1-9: Invocation to the Muses.
25-48: I am not Aeneas, I am not Paul.
49-69: A lady summons Virgil.
70-93: I am Beatrice.
94-114: Beatrice, Lucy, and a noble lady.
115-126: Virgil encourages Dante.
127-142: A single will is in us both.
Invocation to the Muses.
1 The day had been departing, and the brown
2 air took the creatures of the earth from their
3 fatigue and toil; and I myself alone
4 prepared to carry on the battle there
5 of both the journey and the pity as well,
6 which memory will retrace that doesn’t err.
7 O Muses, O high genius, give me help;
8 O memory which, what I saw, inscribed,
9 here your nobility will show itself.
1 Lo giorno se n’andava, e l’aere bruno
2 toglieva li animai che sono in terra
3 da le fatiche loro; e io sol uno
4 m’apparecchiava a sostener la guerra
5 sì del cammino e sì de la pietate,
6 che ritrarrà la mente che non erra.
7 O muse, o alto ingegno, or m’aiutate;
8 o mente che scrivesti ciò ch’io vidi,
9 qui si parrà la tua nobilitate.
1-3
The opening stanza echoes several passages in Virgil’s Aeneid; but in particular, see Aeneid IX.224-225, and consider the context. In Aeneid IX, Nisus and Euryalus (who are mentioned in Inferno 1.108; see note) are preparing together to battle through enemy territory and journey into the heart of Italy, where Aeneas has already gone; they are bold and eager to meet what awaits them, even if it is their certain doom. Here in Inferno 2, by contrast, Dante prepares alone to “battle” through Hell and journey into the heart of the earth, where Aeneas has already gone; but he is timid and afraid of what awaits him, even if it is his own salvation.
3
I myself alone: Ital. io sol uno, a triple-oneness that emphasizes the pilgrim’s isolation (despite the presence of Virgil, who is after all a shade). But the phrase also evokes the Christian triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), emphasizing His presence even when the pilgrim is alone.
6
memory: Dante presents his journey through the afterlife, in his living body, as a real historical event, not a dream or vision. As Charles Singleton aptly puts it, “The fiction of the Comedy is that it is not fiction.” The poet Dante remembers the journey, and is now recording it for us.
7
The invocation of the Muse is traditional at the outset of an epic poem: Homer invokes the Muse in the opening lines of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and Virgil does so in the eighth line of the Aeneid. It is tempting to view Canto 2, with Dante’s delayed invocation, as the proper start of the Inferno, with the first canto as a sort of prologue to the whole Comedy.
Muses: All nine Muses are invoked, and this is the first of nine invocations in the Comedy. Dante associates the number nine with divine miracles (and in particular with Beatrice): as three is the root of nine, so the Holy Trinity is the root of a divine miracle (see Vita Nuova 29).
high genius: Dante’s own genius, perhaps, or that of God.
The pilgrim compares himself to Aeneas.
10 I began: “Poet who would be my guide,
11 see if my virtue’s strong enough to send
12 me on into the passage deep and wide.
13 You say that the father of Silvius went
14 himself into the deathless and primeval
15 world, corruptible still and with his sense.
16 But, if the Adversary of all evil
17 was kind to him, judging the high effect
18 that issued from him, and the things and people,
19 he seems worthy to a man of intellect;
20 for he was chosen for imperial Rome,
21 by empyreal Heaven, as father elect:
22 which state and empire, if the truth be known,
23 were then established as the holy place
24 where great Peter’s successor sits the throne.
10 Io cominciai: «Poeta che mi guidi,
11 guarda la mia virtù s’ell’ è possente,
12 prima ch’a l’alto passo tu mi fidi.
13 Tu dici che di Silvïo il parente,
14 corruttibile ancora, ad immortale
15 secolo andò, e fu sensibilmente.
16 Però, se l’avversario d’ogne male
17 cortese i fu, pensando l’alto effetto
18 ch’uscir dovea di lui, e ’l chi e ’l quale
19 non pare indegno ad omo d’intelletto;
20 ch’e’ fu de l’alma Roma e di suo impero
21 ne l’empireo ciel per padre eletto:
22 la quale e ’l quale, a voler dir lo vero,
23 fu stabilita per lo loco santo
24 u’ siede il successor del maggior Piero.
12
the passage deep and wide: Ital. l’alto passo (“deep passage”), which could refer to the way into Hell, or to the poem itself (a literary passage).
13
father of Silvius: Aeneas, who goes to the underworld in Aeneid VI. Silvius is Aeneas’ son with his second wife Lavinia (a Latin princess); he is mentioned only briefly in Aeneid VI, as the progenitor of the line of kings who would one day found Rome. This connection to Rome may explain why Dante names Silvius rather than Ascanius (also called Iulus), Aeneas’ son with his first wife Creusa (a Trojan princess), who is a major character in the Aeneid.
16
Adversary of all evil: Ital. l’avversario d’ogne male, a curious name for God—the name Satan is Hebrew for “adversary” or “accuser.”
17
kind: Ital. cortese, “courteous,” like a beneficent king to his courtier.
18
and the things and people: Ital. e ’l chi e ’l quale, “and the who and the what,” which can also refer to Aeneas himself (who and what he was)—the pious prince of Troy and son of a goddess (Venus is his mother). From Aeneas came the city and empire of Rome, and the Roman people; he is the forebear of Julius Caesar and Augustus; and his early actions, in the fullness of time, prepared the world for the Messiah (see note to 1.71).
20
imperial Rome: Ital. l’alma Roma e di suo impero, “mother Rome and her empire.” I deferred some of this to line 22, where I used “which state and empire” to render Ital. la quale e ’l quale (“both of which”).
21
empyreal Heaven: The Empyrean, the highest heaven, a realm of fire and light where the blessed dwell with God beyond the celestial spheres.
22
if the truth be known: This is likely a dig at Pope Clement V, who moved the papacy from Rome to France in 1305 (see note to 19.83).
24
great Peter’s successor: The pope (see note to 1.134). As Aeneas is the predecessor of Roman emperors, so St. Peter is the predecessor of popes.
I am not Aeneas, I am not Paul.
25 Through this venture for which you give him praise,
26 he came to know the things that would occasion
27 his victory and the papal mantle’s place.
28 The chosen vessel then went to those places,
29 to bring us comfort in that faith and creed
30 which starts us on the pathway to salvation.
31 But why should I come there? who chooses me?
32 I am not Aeneas, I am not Paul;
33 I’m not worthy, as I and others believe.
34 If I allow myself to come at all,
35 I fear my coming may be madness still.
36 You’re wise; and you hear better than I talk.”
37 And as is he who unwills what he wills,
38 and for new thoughts exchanges his intent,
39 so all that he began is unfulfilled,
40 so I became on that dark hillside then,
41 for, thinking, I consumed the enterprise
42 that I had been so ready to begin.
43 “If I have clearly heard your words,” replied
44 that shadow of the magnanimous man,
45 “your soul is stung by cowardice; which lies
46 so heavy, many times, upon a man,
47 it turns him back from honored enterprise,
48 like false shapes in the shadows that beasts glance.
25 Per quest’ andata onde li dai tu vanto,
26 intese cose che furon cagione
27 di sua vittoria e del papale ammanto.
28 Andovvi poi lo Vas d’elezïone,
29 per recarne conforto a quella fede
30 ch’è principio a la via di salvazione.
31 Ma io, perché venirvi? o chi ’l concede?
32 Io non Enëa, io non Paulo sono;
33 me degno a ciò né io né altri ’l crede.
34 Per che, se del venire io m’abbandono,
35 temo che la venuta non sia folle.
36 Se’ savio; intendi me’ ch’i’ non ragiono».
37 E qual è quei che disvuol ciò che volle
38 e per novi pensier cangia proposta,
39 sì che dal cominciar tutto si tolle,
40 tal mi fec’ ïo ’n quella oscura costa,
41 perché, pensando, consumai la ’mpresa
42 che fu nel cominciar cotanto tosta.
43 «S’i’ ho ben la parola tua intesa»,
44 rispuose del magnanimo quell’ ombra,
45 «l’anima tua è da viltade offesa;
46 la qual molte fïate l’omo ingombra
47 sì che d’onrata impresa lo rivolve,
48 come falso veder bestia quand’ ombra.
28
chosen vessel: St. Paul, the “chosen vessel” of the faith, who spread the gospel to “gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15). In 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, he claims he was “caught up” into Paradise.
32
Speaking to the Sibyl (his guide), Aeneas also names two mortals (Theseus and Hercules) who went to the underworld before him (Aeneid VI.122-123). But Aeneas tries to convince the Sibyl of his worth (“my lineage too is from highest Jove”), whereas Dante tries to dissuade Virgil.
43-45
Virgil calls out Dante’s false modesty for the cowardice it is.
44
magnanimous: “Great of soul.” Dante’s use of the term suggests its opposite, pusillanimous (“small of soul”), which the pilgrim is in danger of becoming here. The small-souled are faint of heart and shrink from things they are worthy of; while the great-souled, worthy of great things, rise to the challenge (see Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica 2-2.133).
A lady summons Virgil.
49 That you may free yourself now from this fright,
50 I’ll tell you why I came and what I heard
51 when I first grieved for you and for your plight.
52 I was among those in suspense, at first,
53 and a beautiful blessed woman from afar
54 came calling, so I asked to be at her
55 command. Her eyes shone brighter than the stars;
56 and she began to speak so soft and plain,
57 that in her speech, a voice angelic starts:
58 ‘O courteous Mantuan soul, whose fame
59 is still enduring in the world today,
60 and will endure as long as the world remains,
61 a friend of mine, and not a friend of fate,
62 is so impeded in his journey on
63 the desert slope, that fear turns him away;
64 and I’m afraid he may be so far gone,
65 that I’m too late to rise to give him help,
66 from what I’ve heard of him in Heaven beyond.
67 Now move, and with your ornate words as well
68 as anything that his survival needs,
69 so I may be consoled, you give him help.
49 Da questa tema acciò che tu ti solve,
50 dirotti perch’ io venni e quel ch’io ’ntesi
51 nel primo punto che di te mi dolve.
52 Io era tra color che son sospesi,
53 e donna mi chiamò beata e bella,
54 tal che di comandare io la richiesi.
55 Lucevan li occhi suoi più che la stella;
56 e cominciommi a dir soave e piana,
57 con angelica voce, in sua favella:
58 “O anima cortese mantoana,
59 di cui la fama ancor nel mondo dura,
60 e durerà quanto ’l mondo lontana,
61 l’amico mio, e non de la ventura,
62 ne la diserta piaggia è impedito
63 sì nel cammin, che vòlt’ è per paura;
64 e temo che non sia già sì smarrito,
65 ch’io mi sia tardi al soccorso levata,
66 per quel ch’i’ ho di lui nel cielo udito.
67 Or movi, e con la tua parola ornata
68 e con ciò c’ha mestieri al suo campare,
69 l’aiuta sì ch’i’ ne sia consolata.
49
free yourself: Virgil can only guide if Dante chooses to follow.
54-55
I asked to be at her command: Virgil, in acting at the behest of a beautiful lady, follows the medieval norms of courtesy. The allegorical dimension may become clearer when we understand who the woman is.
56
soft and plain: Humble and plainspoken, in the low comic style characteristic of biblical authors (see note to 1.87).
58-60
The lady’s first rhetorical flourish is at odds with Virgil’s characterization of her speech as “soft and plain.” Rather, she opens in a lofty style that Virgil can readily appreciate. Her appeal to worldly fame, which appears to flatter Virgil as intended, is almost a veiled insult to the damned: such fame will endure only as long as the world—not eternally.
61
fate: Ital. ventura, from the Latin meaning “what things will come,” conceptually related to Ital. fortuna (“fortune”). Of course this hints at the ill fortune that led the pilgrim to the dark forest; but it also forebodes the unfortunate fate of the poet, who will be exiled after the poem’s events.
63
fear: Ital. paura, which appears five times in the first canto. The lady affirms that the pilgrim’s fear, more than any impediment, deters him.
64
I’m afraid: Ital. temo, which speaks to the same emotion as paura in the line above. The lady’s fear arises out of compassion and spurs her to action; but the pilgrim’s fear arises from self-doubt and paralyzes him.
66
from what I’ve heard: Does she really rely on secondhand gossip?
67
ornate words: Adorned and eloquent, in the high tragic style characteristic of classical epic poets, in pointed contrast to the lady’s “soft and plain” speech (line 56; see note). Dante uses a similar expression (while discussing the high style of his own canzone) in Convivio 2.11, where he makes a distinction between the bounty (goodness) and the beauty of any speech: “for the bounty is in the sense, and the beauty is in the ornament of the words; and each one is a delight, although the bounty may be especially delightful.” The superiority of the low style follows immediately from this distinction: if plainspoken words are at all delightful, the delight must follow from the bounty of their sense (that is, the goodness in their meaning); but ornamented words may be delightful for their beauty, even if their meaning is lacking in goodness. To make this clear, we will encounter a character deep in the Inferno whose “ornate speech” is intentionally deceptive (Inferno 18.91; see note). Much of Canto 2 is a rhetorical tussle between the low (plain) style and the high (ornate) style.
69
consoled: The word brings to mind the Consolation of Philosophy, “that little-known book of Boëthius in which, imprisoned and outcast, he had consoled himself” (Convivio 2.12). In the book, Boëthius holds an extended conversation with Lady Philosophy; they discuss the nature of happiness, the transience of material things, and the vicissitudes of fortune, ultimately concluding that the mind must seek within itself to find true happiness. When Dante was disconsolate over the death of his beloved Beatrice, he read Boëthius’ masterpiece (along with Cicero’s On Friendship) to learn how to console himself when no one else could. He fell in love with philosophy, immersing himself in it for some thirty months, during which time he forgot about Beatrice entirely. Here in the Comedy, for a split second, we might imagine that the lady speaking to Virgil is that same Lady Philosophy whom Dante fell in love with after the death of Beatrice (despite that it is she, and not Dante, who seeks consolation here)—until she names herself in the following line.
I am Beatrice.
70 I am Beatrice who’s making you proceed;
71 I come from where I yearn to go again;
72 love has moved me, which also makes me speak.
73 When I have come before my Lord again,
74 I shall commend you often to Him now.’
75 Then she was silent, and so I commenced:
76 ‘O lady of virtue, who alone are how
77 the human race exceeds all else beneath
78 that heaven with its circles lowest down,
79 so pleasing your commandment is to me,
80 that to obey it now is still too late;
81 there’s no more need to show me what you need.
82 But tell me why you do not hesitate
83 to come down here into this center, when
84 you’re burning to return to the ample place.’
85 ‘Because you want to know so much within,
86 I’ll tell you briefly,’ she replied to me,
87 ‘why I am not afraid to come herein.
88 One ought to be afraid of just those things
89 that have the power of harming others; but
90 not other things, for they aren’t frightening.
91 I have been made by God, His mercy, such
92 that no flame from this blaze harasses me,
93 nor by your misery can I be touched.
70 I’ son Beatrice che ti faccio andare;
71 vegno del loco ove tornar disio;
72 amor mi mosse, che mi fa parlare.
73 Quando sarò dinanzi al segnor mio,
74 di te mi loderò sovente a lui”.
75 Tacette allora, e poi comincia’ io:
76 “O donna di virtù sola per cui
77 l’umana spezie eccede ogne contento
78 di quel ciel c’ha minor li cerchi sui,
79 tanto m’aggrada il tuo comandamento,
80 che l’ubidir, se già fosse, m’è tardi;
81 più non t’è uo’ ch’aprirmi il tuo talento.
82 Ma dimmi la cagion che non ti guardi
83 de lo scender qua giuso in questo centro
84 de l’ampio loco ove tornar tu ardi”.
85 “Da che tu vuo’ saver cotanto a dentro,
86 dirotti brievemente”, mi rispuose,
87 “perch’ i’ non temo di venir qua entro.
88 Temer si dee di sole quelle cose
89 c’hanno potenza di fare altrui male;
90 de l’altre no, ché non son paurose.
91 I’ son fatta da Dio, sua mercé, tale,
92 che la vostra miseria non mi tange,
93 né fiamma d’esto ’ncendio non m’assale.
70
I am Beatrice: There cannot be a more concise and plainspoken self-introduction; compare this to Virgil’s long and stately self-introduction, in which he doesn’t even reveal his own name (1.67-75).
Beatrice: Beatrice Portinari, the love of Dante’s youth in Florence, and the subject of his Vita Nuova (New Life), a little book of poetry and autobiographical commentary. Their relationship was never physical (both were in arranged marriages with other people): in the Vita Nuova, Beatrice evolves from Dante’s childhood infatuation to a kind of personal Jesus (a role which she seems to resume here, sending salvation to Dante in his time of peril). Her untimely death at the age of twenty-four shaped his personal and poetic career. At the end of the Vita Nuova, Dante writes: “A miraculous vision appeared to me, in which I saw things that made me decide not to say more of this blessed lady until I’m able to more worthily treat of her… I hope to say of her what has never been said of any woman.” The Comedy is this promised sequel to the Vita Nuova.
72
love has moved me: Not necessarily Beatrice’s love for Dante, but as we shall see, love descending through intermediaries from on high.
74
I shall commend you often to him now: Glossing this line, sixteenth century commentator Lodovico Castelvetro cynically asks (and answers), “What does this amount to for Virgil, who is damned? certainly nothing.” But it isn’t clear that Virgil fully understands his situation; if he views God as a mere emperor, a commendation may be valuable to him.
76-78
This tercet points to the allegorical significance of Beatrice, which will become gradually clearer over the course of the journey. Whereas Virgil is a figure of the human intellect (or reason), Beatrice is a figure of divine wisdom. Virgil can guide Dante to the greatest heights of rational knowledge (that knowledge which the human mind can discover by itself); Beatrice can guide him to a higher understanding of revealed knowledge (the Christian truths, which are revealed by God’s word). In Christianity, a soul can only attain to Heaven through divine wisdom, and only divine wisdom can elevate the soul above worldly concerns.
If the allegory is clear enough, the tercet is still puzzling in the literal sense. How does Virgil—the real Virgil—immediately recognize Beatrice in these terms? In Vita Nuova 2, Dante writes that she “was called Beatrice by many who knew not what to call her.” This must be because her name, Beatrice, means “she who beatifies”—that is, she who confers the highest possible happiness (beatitude, or bliss). For Virgil, the passage in the Vita Nuova is flipped around: he doesn’t know her name by who she is, but he seems to recognize who she must be by her name.
78
that heaven: The Heaven of the Moon, lowest of the heavens in the Ptolemaic cosmos; all that is beneath it is the world (and the Inferno).
83
this center: Hell, the center of everything in the Ptolemaic universe (as medieval Christians conceived it).
84
burning: In Aristotelian physics, the element of fire tends to rise towards its natural place in the highest terrestrial (elemental) sphere. See, for example, Aristotle’s Physics II.1; for a discussion of the four elements, see Aristotle’s On Generation and Corruption.
ample place: The Empyrean, the highest celestial sphere where the saints abide with God, which encompasses the entire Ptolemaic universe.
92
this blaze: Looking back from Inferno 4, this phrase is problematic, since there is no punishing hellfire where Virgil resides (an illuminating fire is mentioned in 4.68). “This blaze” could be a generic nod to the punishments in Hell (borrowed from biblical references), or it may even refer to the ardor with which Beatrice “burns” to return to Heaven (2.84).
93
As Mark Scarbrough puts it in his podcast, Walking with Dante, the blessed don’t give a damn about the damned (as we will learn in time). See Walking with Dante 11, around 14:30.
Beatrice, Lucy, and a noble lady.
94 A noble lady is in Heaven, who weeps
95 for this impediment I send you to,
96 so that hard judgment there above is breached.
97 She asked for Lucy in her plea for you,
98 and said: —Now he has need of you, your faithful
99 believer, and I’m trusting him to you.—
100 Lucy, enemy of everything hateful,
101 moved off, and then she came upon the spot
102 where I was sitting with the ancient Rachel.
103 She said: —Beatrice, the true praise of God,
104 why aren’t you helping him who loved you so,
105 that he emerged, for you, from the common mob?
106 Do you not hear the pity of his moan?
107 do you not see the death he fights against
108 on the torrent where the sea can’t even boast?—
109 Nobody in the world has ever been
110 so quick to seek their profit nor to flee
111 their loss, as I, upon such words, was then
112 to come down here from off my blessed seat,
113 now trusting in your true and honest speech,
114 which honors you and those who’ve heard you speak.’
94 Donna è gentil nel ciel che si compiange
95 di questo ’mpedimento ov’ io ti mando,
96 sì che duro giudicio là sù frange.
97 Questa chiese Lucia in suo dimando
98 e disse:—Or ha bisogno il tuo fedele
99 di te, e io a te lo raccomando—.
100 Lucia, nimica di ciascun crudele,
101 si mosse, e venne al loco dov’ i’ era,
102 che mi sedea con l’antica Rachele.
103 Disse:—Beatrice, loda di Dio vera,
104 ché non soccorri quei che t’amò tanto,
105 ch’uscì per te de la volgare schiera?
106 Non odi tu la pieta del suo pianto,
107 non vedi tu la morte che ’l combatte
108 su la fiumana ove ’l mar non ha vanto?—.
109 Al mondo non fur mai persone ratte
110 a far lor pro o a fuggir lor danno,
111 com’ io, dopo cotai parole fatte,
112 venni qua giù del mio beato scanno,
113 fidandomi del tuo parlare onesto,
114 ch’onora te e quei ch’udito l’hanno”.
94-114
Beatrice represents the entire drama leading to Dante’s rescue as an exercise in courtly manners in the heavenly court of God—that is, in terms that Virgil, who sees God as an emperor, can understand. I’m reminded of the talking constellations at the start of It’s a Wonderful Life.
94
noble lady: Mary the virgin mother of Jesus, mediator of God’s grace and supreme intercessor on behalf of sinners in Catholic theology.
97
Lucy: St. Lucy of Syracuse, martyred as a virgin in AD 304, who is associated with sight and illumination (her name means “light”). Early commentators see her as a figure of illuminating grace (the grace of God which illuminates the intellect with higher truths).
98
The dialogue is three layers deep here: Virgil said that Beatrice said that Mary said… we have only a third-hand account of Mary’s words.
100
everything hateful: Ital. ciascun crudele, “each cruel [person]” or perhaps “each cruel[ty].”
102
Rachel: Daughter of Laban and second wife of Jacob (Israel) in Genesis. Jacob fell in love with her after seeing her at a well, and he worked seven years for Laban in exchange for her hand in marriage. At the end of seven years, Laban tricked Jacob into marrying Rachel’s older sister, Leah; but he agreed to let him marry Rachel as well, in exchange for an additional seven years of labor (the story is told in Genesis 29). In traditional exegesis, Leah is interpreted as the active life, and Rachel as the contemplative life (see, for example, Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica 2-2.182.2). So if Beatrice has a seat beside Rachel in Heaven, allegorically this suggests that divine wisdom and the contemplative life go hand in hand.
105
This may indicate Dante’s turn to theology over other pursuits, or maybe the elevation of his poetic style above the poetry of romantic love.
108
torrent: This points back not to Dante’s literal situation (lost in the dark wood), but to the simile in which his mind is compared to a man coming ashore from the deep (Inferno 1.22-27; see note). He is drowning without Beatrice.
109-111
Compare to Inferno 1.55-57:
And as is he who willfully makes gains,
and the time comes that causes him to lose,
who weeps in all his thoughts and grieves with pain;
113
true and honest speech: Ital. parlare onesto (“honest speech”), but the Italian word onesto can also connote “honorable.”
Virgil encourages Dante.
115 After she’d reasoned all of this with me,
116 she turned her bright and tearful eyes aside;
117 which only made me come more rapidly.
118 And as she wished, I came here by your side;
119 I raised you from the beast that took away
120 the short walk up the lovely mountainside.
121 And so: what is it? why, why do you stay?
122 why lodge such cowardice into your heart?
123 why does your liberty and courage fade?
124 as long as three such blessed ladies are
125 in Heaven’s court who care for you, and all
126 my words promise such good if you depart?”
115 Poscia che m’ebbe ragionato questo,
116 li occhi lucenti lagrimando volse,
117 per che mi fece del venir più presto.
118 E venni a te così com’ ella volse:
119 d’inanzi a quella fiera ti levai
120 che del bel monte il corto andar ti tolse.
121 Dunque: che è? perché, perché restai,
122 perché tanta viltà nel core allette,
123 perché ardire e franchezza non hai,
124 poscia che tai tre donne benedette
125 curan di te ne la corte del cielo,
126 e ’l mio parlar tanto ben ti promette?».
115
reasoned: Reason is the best way to convince the human intellect…
116
tearful eyes: …but the human Virgil is also convinced by tears.
124
three such blessed ladies: Mary, Beatrice, and Lucy, kind of a feminine counterpart to the Holy Trinity, cutting the Father’s “hard judgment” with compassion (line 96). It is easy to forget just how radical it was for Dante to include Beatrice among these prominent blessed women.
A single will is in us both.
127 As little flowers in a cold night’s frost
128 bent and furled, when the sunlight strikes them, stand
129 up straight and fully open on their stalks,
130 so I did, with my strength exhausted, and
131 throughout my heart such wholesome courage coursed,
132 that I began a liberated man:
133 “Oh merciful she who helped me out before!
134 and courteous you who obeyed right then
135 the true and genuine words that she put forth!
136 With such desire to come, my heart has been
137 disposed, that only with the words you spoke,
138 I’ve turned to my original intent.
139 Now go, for a single will is in us both:
140 you guide, you lord, you master, lead the way.”
141 So I told him; and when he’d moved to go,
142 I entered through the deep and wild way.
127 Quali fioretti dal notturno gelo
128 chinati e chiusi, poi che ’l sol li ’mbianca,
129 si drizzan tutti aperti in loro stelo,
130 tal mi fec’ io di mia virtude stanca,
131 e tanto buono ardire al cor mi corse,
132 ch’i’ cominciai come persona franca:
133 «Oh pietosa colei che mi soccorse!
134 e te cortese ch’ubidisti tosto
135 a le vere parole che ti porse!
136 Tu m’hai con disiderio il cor disposto
137 sì al venir con le parole tue,
138 ch’i’ son tornato nel primo proposto.
139 Or va, ch’un sol volere è d’ambedue:
140 tu duca, tu segnore e tu maestro».
141 Così li dissi; e poi che mosso fue,
142 intrai per lo cammino alto e silvestro.
127-129
A beautiful little figure of resurrection.
136-138
Literally, Dante’s will has been persuaded by Virgil’s reasoned words; allegorically, the will (Dante) has been persuaded by rational argument (Virgil’s reasoned words). Thus the allegory aligns with the literal narrative.
139-140
These lines first emphasize the literal dimension (Dante and Virgil cannot each have a will unless they are complete persons), then the allegorical (the will submits to the intellect as its guide, lord, and master).
142
way: Ital. cammino, which also appears in the first line of the poem, “knitting together the two proemial cantos,” as Robert Hollander puts it in his gloss.
Likewise, the first two cantos end in the same way: Virgil moves on, and Dante follows after him. Inferno 2 seems to take a step backward before moving forward, much as Genesis 2 takes a backward step after the events of Genesis 1. But now we are finally on our way.