CANTO VI.

Cerberus, that cruel beast, devoid of form,
Stands barking like a dog, with triple jaw,
O'er the sad souls forced downward by the storm.
Red are his eyes, large belly he displays,

A black and greasy beard: with savage claw

He seizes on the spirits, tears, and flays.

Like whelps they howl beneath the inclement rain; 19 And with one side the other side defending,

Oft turn themselves these wretched souls profane. When Cerberus view'd us, as we nearer came,

The enormous worm, his triple mouth extending, Show'd his huge tusks;-I shook through all my frame. Extended then his hands my faithful guide;

And when with earth he both of them had fill'd,
Cast it within those craving gullets wide.
E'en as a dog that barks with ravening jaw,

The moment that he tastes the food, is still'd,-
Intent alone to glut his greedy maw;

His filthy jaws so Cerberus ceased to use,

Who at the spirits with such fury storms,

That they full gladly would their hearing lose. Now o'er the shades, close pent to shun the sleet, We took our road, and on their empty forms, Which seem'd substantial, did we place our feet.

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Stretch'd on the ground, they all recumbent lay,
Save one, who from his seat uprose in haste,
As soon as he beheld us pass that way.
"O thou who visitest these realms," he said,
"Recal me to thy memory, if thou may'st,
For thou wert born before my spirit fled."
"The pain thou sufferest doth perhaps erase
Thy form,” I said, "so wholly from my mind,
It seems to me I ne'er beheld thy face:
But tell me who thou art, thus sadly thrust
Within this place of woe ;-though one may find
Pangs more intense, yet none can more disgust."
"Thy city," answer'd he, "where envy base

O'erflows all bounds that would its force restrain,
In life's sweet season was my dwelling place.
Ye, O my citizens, to mark my taste,

Erst named me Ciacco: here amid the rain
For gluttony thou see'st my body waste:
Nor I alone this weight of misery bear ;-

All these unhappy souls, condemn'd to smart
For like offences, like affliction share."

"O Ciacco," I replied, "thy misery

So weighs me down, it makes the tears to start:
But tell me, if thou knowest, what will be

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Attempted in the factious city next?

Doth one just man within its boundary dwell?
And why by such fierce discord is it vext?"
"After long struggle, blood," he said, “shall flow;
The woodland party shall at last prevail,

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And with dire slaughter chase away their foe. Yet, ere three years are past, shall fall their pride; 67 The other shall prove victor, by his aid

Who now cajoling, flatters either side.

Long time shall these their foreheads lift on high,
While heavy weights are on the other laid,
Though fierce their rage, and pitiful their cry.

Two just ones are there, but unheard their call;- 73
Envy, and Pride, and Avarice combine-

Three fatal sparks-to fire the hearts of all."

Here ended he his lamentable strain.

Then I: "More knowledge to impart be thine;

And farther converse I entreat thee deign.

Tegghiaio, Farinata, names of worth,

And Rusticucci, Mosca, with the rest

Who bent their minds to working good on earthSay where they are, in answer to my prayers;

And tell, to satisfy my longing breast,

If bliss in heaven, or woe in hell be theirs."

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"Mid blacker souls," he said, "they're doom'd to dwell;

If thou descend, for crime of different dye Thou wilt behold them buried deep in hell. But when to the sweet world thou shalt return, pray thee to revive my memory:

I

No more
I say;-no more seek thou to learn."
His stedfast eyes askance he then inclined,—
A moment gazed on me,-then downward bent,
And falling, join'd his other comrades blind.
"Ne'er shall he rise again," the master said,

66 Till, when the Power of vengeance shall be sent,
Th' angelic trumpet wake him from the dead.
Each soul shall then regain its mournful tomb;
Each shall its flesh and pristine form resume,
And hear pronounced the everlasting doom."
O'er rain and shadows thus we took our road-
A mixture foul;--and on the life to come
Some converse, journeying forward, we bestow'd:
When I : "O master, will these pangs be made

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More sharp, when sentence hath been past by heaven,

Or lessen'd, or remain thus fierce ?" He said:

"Remember, that the nearer each attains

A perfect state, a finer sense is given

To thrill with pleasures, or to throb with pains.

Though true perfection never can be their's,
Yet for this race accurst, in misery bound,

Heav'n, after judgment, worthier doom prepares."

Then speaking more than to repeat I care,

We made a circuit that sad coast around;

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And at the point, whence downward leads the stair, Plutus, the mighty enemy we found.

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NOTES.

Page 53. (Line 13.) Cerberus was a dog with three heads, feigned by the poets to keep watch at the gate of hell. His business here is, to punish the Gluttons. The Demons who are placed at the head of the several circles are for the most part symbols of the vices punished therein.

Page 54. (Line 49.) Envy was the peculiar vice of Florence, and the cause of the continual changes there taking place. See Canto xv. 68. (53.) Ciacco is a nick-name, signifying a hog, and here applied to a Florentine gentleman, who according to Boccaccio, possessed many good qualities, but was addicted to gluttony.

Page 55, (Line 61,) Florence. The supposed date of the poem being 1300, the future history is introduced in a prophetical manner. The factions of the Guelfs and Ghibellins had long desolated Italy ;-the former, partisans of the Pope-the latter, of the Emperor. Into these two parties almost every city was divided. At Florence the Guelfs had prevailed, and ba