CANTO V.

ARGUMENT.

Coming into the second circle of Hell, Dante at the entrance beholds Minos the Infernal Judge, by whom he is admonished to beware how he enters those regions. Here he witnesses the punishment of carnal sinners, who are tost about ceaselessly in the dark air by the most furious winds. Amongst these, he meets with Francesca of Rimini, through pity at whose sad tale he falls fainting to the ground.

FROM the first circle* I descended thus
Down to the second, which, a lesser space
Embracing, so much more of grief contains,
Provoking bitter moans. There Minos stands,
Grinning with ghastly feature :† he, of all
Who enter, strict examining the crimes,
Gives sentence, and dismisses them beneath,
According as he foldeth him around;

* From the first circle.] Chiabrera's twenty-first sonnet is on a painting, by Cesare Corte, from this Canto. Mr Fuseli, a much greater name, has lately employed his wonder-working pencil on the same subject.

Grinning with ghastly feature.] Hence Milton:

Death

Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile.

VOL. XLV.

G

P. L. b. ii. 845.

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For when before him comes th' ill-fated soul,
It all confesses; and that judge severe
Of sins, considering what place in hell
Suits the transgression, with his tail so oft
Himself encircles, as degrees beneath
He dooms it to descend. Before him stand
Alway a num'rous throng; and in his turn
Each one to judgment passing, speaks, and hears
His fate, thence downward to his dwelling hurl❜d.
"O thou! who to this residence of woe
Approachest?" when he saw me coming, cried
Minos, relinquishing his dread employ,
"Look how thou enter here; beware in whom
Thou place thy trust; let not the entrance broad
Deceive thee to thy harm." To him my guide :
"Wherefore exclaimest? Hinder not his way
By destiny appointed; so 't is will'd,

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Where will and power are one. Ask thou no more."
Now 'gin the rueful wailings to be heard.
Now am I come where many a plaining voice
Smites on mine ear. Into a place I came

Where light was silent all. Bellowing there groan'd
A noise, as of a sea in tempast torn

By warring winds. The stormy blast of hell
With restless fury drives the spirits on,

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Whirl'd round and dash'd amain with sore annoy.
When they arrive before the ruinous sweep,
There shrieks are heard, there lamentations, moans,
And blasphemies 'gainst the good Power in heaven.
I understood, that to this torment sad
The carnal sinners are condemn'd, in whom
Reason by lust is sway'd. As in large troops
And multitudinous, when winter reigns,
The starlings on their wings are borne abroad;
So bears the tyrannous gust those evil souls.

4Q

On this side and on that, above, below,

It drives them : hope of rest to solace them
Is none, nor e'en of milder pang. As cranes,*
Chanting their dol❜rous notes, traverse the sky,
Stretch'd out in long array; so I beheld

Spirits, who came loud wailing, hurried on

By their dire doom. Then I: "Instructor! who 50
Are these, by the black air so scourg'd?"-"The first
'Mong those, of whom thou question'st, he replied,"
"O'er many tongues was empress. She in vice
Of lux'ry was so shameless, that she made
Likingt be lawful by promulg'd decree,
To clear the blame she had herself incurr'd.
This is Semiramis, of whom 't is writ,

That she succeeded Ninus her espous❜d;

And held the land, which now the Soldan rules.
The next in amorous fury slew herself,

And to Sicheus' ashes broke her faith:
Then follows Cleopatra, lustful queen."

There mark'd I Helen, for whose sake so long
The time was fraught with evil; there the great
Achilles, who with love fought to the end,
Paris I saw, and Tristan; and beside,

A thousand more he show'd me, and by name

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* As Cranes.] This simile is imitated by Lorenzo de Medici, in his Ambra, a poem, first published by Mr. Roscoe, in the Appendix to his Life of Lorenzo.

Marking the tracts of air, the clamorous cranes
Wheel their due flight in varied ranks descried,
And each with outstretch'd neck his rank maintains,
In marshal'd order through th' etherial void.

Roscoe, v. i. c. v. p. 257, 4to. editə Compare Homer Il. iii. 3. Virgil En. 1. x. 261. Oppian Halieut lib. i. 620. Rucellai, Le Api. 942 and Dante's Purgatory, xxiv. 63% + Liking.] His lustes were as law in his degree.

Chaucer. Monke's Tale. Nero.

Pointed them out whom love bereav'd of life.

When I had heard my sage instructor name Those dames and knights of antique days, o'erpower'd By pity, well-nigh in amaze my mind

Was lost; and I began: "Bard! willingly

I would address those two together coming,
Which seem so light before the wind." He thus:
"Note thou, when nearer they to us approach.
Then by that love which carries them along,
Entreat; and they will come." Soon as the wind
Sway'd them toward us, I thus fram'd my speech:
"O wearied spirits! come, and hold discourse
'With us, if by none else restrain'd." As doves
By fond desire invited, on wide wings

And firm, to the ir sweet nest returning home,
Cleave the air, wafted by their will along;
Thus issu'd, from that troop where Dido ranks,
They, through the ill air speeding: with such force
My cry prevail'd, by strong affection urg'd.

"O gracious creature and benign! who go'st
Visiting, through this element obscure,*
Us, who the world with bloody stain imbru'd;
If, for a friend, the King of all, we own'd,
Our pray❜r to him should for thy peace arise,
Since thou hast pity on our evil plight.
Of whatsoc'er to hear or to discourse
It pleases thee, that will we hear, of that

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said by the com

*Element obscure.] "L'aer perso." Much is mentators concerning the exact sense of the word "perso." It cannot be explained in clearer terms than those used by Dante himself in his Convito: "Il perso e un colore misto di purpureo e nero, ma vince il nero." p. 185. "It is a colour mixed of purple and black, but the black prevails," The word recurs several times

in this Poem. Chaucer also uses it, in the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, Doctour of Phisike,

In sanguin and in perse he clad was alle.

As now, is mute.

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Freely with thee discourse, while e'er the wind,
The land,* that gave me birth,
Is situate on the coast, where Po descends
To rest in ocean with his sequent streams.
“Love, that in gentle heart is quickly learnt, †
Entangled him by that fair form, from me
Ta'en in such cruel sort, as grieves me still :
Love, that denial takes from none belov'd,‡
Caught me with pleasing him so passing well,
That, as thou see'st, he yet deserts me not,
Love brought us to one death: Cainas waits
The soul, who spilt our life." Such were their words;
At hearing which downward I bent my looks,
And held them there so long, that the bard cried:
"What art thou pond'ring "" I in answer thus:

The land.] Ravenna.

+ Love, that in gentle heart is quickly learnt.] Amor, ch' al cor gentil ratto s'apprende A line taken by Marino, Adone, c. cxli. st. 251.

That the reader of the original may not be misled as to the exact sense of the word " s'apprende," which I have rendered" is learnt" it may be right to apprize him that it signifies" is caught," and that it is a metaphor from a thing taking fire. Thus it is used by Guido Guinicelli, whom indeed our Poet seems here to have had in view. Fuoco d' Amore in gentil cor s'apprende,

Come vertute in pietra preziosa.

Sonetti, &c. di diversi Antichi Toscani. Ediz

Giuati. 1527. l. ix. p. 107.

The fire of love in gentle heart is caught,

As virtue in the precious stone.

Love, that denial takes from none belov'd]

Amor, ch' a null' amato amar perdona.

So Boccaccio, in his Filocopo, l. 1.

Amore mai non perdono l'amore a nullo amato.

And Pulci, in the Morgante Maggiore, c. iv.

E perche amor mal volontier perdona,

Che non sia al fin sempre anato chi ama.

Indeed many of the Italian poets have repeated this verse.
Caina.] The place to which murderers are doomed.