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THE
INFERNO" OR DANTE .
IN ENGLISH VERSE
BY
BRUCE WHYTE .
Charles liat Forda ,
1899
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Dante Collection .
GIVEN BY
CHARLES ELIOT NORTON ,
Class of 1846.
188
THE
“ INFERNO" OF DANTE .
A FREE TRANSLATION .
A FREE TRANSLATION ,
IN VERSE ,
OF THE
WITH A
BY
LONDON :
WRIGHT AND CO., 60, PALL MALL ,
AND
. SIMPKIN , MARSHALL, AND CO., STATIONERS' HALL COURT.
1859 .
20.57.1
1884 . va
Ref.éclatlin
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE.
tailor threading his needle, our modern Zoïli scout the simile,
not as inapposite, but because it is homely. Again, in the
xxiind Canto, where cheats of different kinds are immersed
in a lake of boiling pitch , some of them ascend to the
surface, merely showing their heads through fear of the im
pending demons. These he compares to frogs, who warily
mount to the surface of a pool, only showing their muzzles.
What a sinking in poetry ! What bathos ! Be it so . But
so long as it conveys to us a clear and very striking elucidation
of the main fact, we congratulate the poet on having selected it.
Two questions still remain to be discussed : the first is,
whether Dante may be regarded as the inventor of the
literary idiom of Italy ? If not, what important improve
ments he introduced into it, especially adapted to the
exigencies of poetry ? As to the first question, it might
suffice to observe that he had no such pretension. He
positively assures us, that long before the middle of the
thirteenth century, when he flourished, Italy possessed many
/
indigenous poets, whom he honoured with particular praise,
and awarded them a place in his poem, “ De Vulgari
Eloquio.” — Canto x. Still the question occurs, is it certain
that these poets invented or employed a language essentially
different from the popular dialects, and exclusively appro
priated to poetry ? Our answer is, that neither the one
nor the other can be positively affirmed , strong probability
is all we can adduce. That the Romance began to be em
ployed in literary compositions at a very early period is
indisputable. Indeed, it may be asserted without a figure,
that if it did not supersede the use of the Latin in its
decrepitude, it supported the latter during the middle age.
The invasion of Italy by the barbarians, the Bulgarians,
the Allemanni , the Lombards, &c. , far from being injurious
to the vulgar tongue, confirmed and extended its empire.
For there is good reason for believing that these hordes,
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE . XV
their poetry is very far from evincing that their efforts were
crowned with success. We venture to affirm that there is not
a verb in the Gai-Saber which does not present different and
irreconcilable forms in its infinitive as well as the other
moods and tenses. The persons do not regularly conform to
the number of subjects ; the substantive verb itself assumes
in the present of the infinitive three or four anomalies, esser ,
ester, ster, and er ; the conjugation of the possessive verb,
as given by Raynouard, elicits no less variety. With all its
defects, however, the Gai-Saber owed much to the academy.
It introduced a fixed rule for the government of words in and
out of regime, distinct tenses indicating the modifications of
time, the formation of the future by its natural elements, the
present of avere and the infinitive of other verbs, the inven
tion of the patriarchal signs EN and na for the distinction of
sex , and finally the establishment of rules for adapting me
trical partitions to the notes of the gamut, the indispensable
associates of their verse. It cannot be imagined that such
an example could have been lost on the neighbouring states ;
least of all on the Italians, who were for a time under the
sovereignty of Boson.
The brilliant but short-lived reign of the Gai - Saber ex
cited their emulation. They studied, imitated, and composed
in it, but as generally happens to the apes of novelty, they
more frequently adopted its defects than its beauties. Under
this fascination (and it continued for several years) the Italian
was on the point of becoming a mere dialect of the Provençal.
Fortunately, three memorable events prevented the catas
trophe : first, the rapid decay of the Gai- Saber; secondly,
the reign of Frederic II. in Sicily ; thirdly, the apparition
of Dante in the 13th century .
1st. When Provence became the seat of a distinct king
dom , when a new language had been adopted by the
court, by the nobility, by all who cultivated poetry either
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. xix
its author ; but we, who have spared no research, can fearlessly
assert that we have scarcely discovered a word in the poem
of which we have not found an etymon. As to those derived
from the Anglo- Saxon , Dante had not to travel far in quest
of them . That several Saxon tribes had established them
selves in Tuscany and other parts of Italy before the fall of
the Roman empire is unquestionable ; nor is it less certain
that they retained their language with religious care, inter
marrying exclusively with each other, and forming a distinct
colony, descendants of which we have witnessed in the moun
tains above Val Ombrosa * .
Besides enriching the Italian with elements derived from
all the above sources, he augmented its vocabulary by frequent
draughts from other branches of the Romance, not forgetting
the Gai-Saber, though then in its decline. That he made no
scruple to put it under contribution we admit, but upon the
whole there is no more analogy between the language of the
“ Divine Comedy ” and the former, than between the voice of
a Stentor and the trillings of a eunuch.
If it be asked what was the great, the essential improve
ment which he conferred on the literary idiom of his country,
we would answer that it consisted in the invention of imitative
versification . That phrase requires explanation. Of positive,
physical imitation , it is obvious there could be none ; but the
human mind is so constituted that we associate the sounds and
movements of certain words with the sounds and movements
of real objects. It would therefore be more logical to call
terms of that kind analogous ; but, in compliance with com
mon usage, we adopt the epithet imitative. Dante was posi
tively the first poet of modern times who attempted this
innovation . With that view , and for that purpose he modified
words foreign and indigenous in such various ways that we
CANTO I.
CANTO II.
CANTO III,.
CANTO IV.
CANTO V.
CANTO VI.
24 HELL.
CANTO VII.
CANTO VIII.
CANTO IX.
CANTO X.
CANTO XI.
1
HELL . 47
CANTO XII.
CANTO XIII.
58 HELL.
CANTO XIV.
CANTO XV .
66 HELL.
CANTO XVI.
1
HELL. 71
CANTO XVII.
CANTO XVIII.
1
HELL. : 77
CANTO XIX .
82 HELL.
CANTO XX.
CANTO XXI.
“ Ere with your hooks you seize me, let your chief
“ Advance and listen ; then, if so inclin'd,
“ Plunge me in yonder mass, like cheat or thief.”
" Go, Malacoda ! ” all the demons cried ;
" What wouldst thou ? ” he demanded . “ Speak ,be brief ! ”
“ Deems Malacoda, ” then the bard replied,
“ I would have pass'd th’ infernal realms secure
“ Unless the pow'r divine had been my guide ;
“ Let me proceed : it is decreed, be sure,
“ I should conduct a stranger thro’ this vale
“ Of horror ; what the Fates ordain endure."
At this the demon's pride began to fail ;
His fearful hook fell pow’rless at his feet :
He warn’d the crew to gripe not or assail
Their stranger guest. Now," Virgil cried, “ ' t is meet
“ To quit thy hiding place.” I heard, obey'd,
But trembled when I saw the host complete
Of devils, who with scowls their chief survey'd ;
I feared they might reject him or forego !
For I remember'd that the garrison
Who yielded up Caprona to the foe,
Were victims of the terms agreed upon.
I to my leader clung as infants do,
But could not, for a moment, cease to con
The dire expression of the fiends below .
One ask'd his fellow , “ Shall I prick the wight
• In ' s buttock ?” Aye ! ” the rest exclaim'd,
“ But hook him firmly in Malcoda's spite.”
Malcoda heard, and thus his vassal blam'd :
“ Hold ! hold , Scarmiglioné !—Dost thou slight
94 HELL.
66
Thy chief's behests ? or am I vainly nam'd ? ”
Then he address'd the bard : “ Thou canst not speed
By yonder rock , for ages now are past
“ Since the sixth bridge gave way ; it is indeed
" A total ruin : if desire thou hast
“ Still further to advance, thou must proceed
“ By one at hand, and surer than the last.
“ 'T is now twelve hundred years and sixty -six,
“ Bating five hours, since it demolish'd was.
“ Thither I send my vassals to transfix
“ The wretch who from the pitch his head withdraws;
“ Choice folks they are, thou need'st not fear their tricks.
“ Haste Calcabrina, Alichin, Cagnaz!
66 Do thou Barbarico conduct the van :
“ Let Libicocco, Farfarello, Draghignaz,
66 Ciriatto with his tusks, Graffiacan ,
“ Watch well the pitch , but let these strangers pass
“ Safe to the vaulted rocks that yonder span
“ The boiling ditch !” “ Ah me !” exclaim'd I then ,
“ What scowls, what menaces assail mine eyes !
“ Let us without an escort thread the glen ;
66 Thou know'st the road, their proffer'd aid despise.
Dost thou not mark each fellow of the ten
Gnashing his teeth, and how their chief replies ? ”
“ Let not thy looks, ” rejoined the bard , “ betray
“ The slightest fear. ” — The fiends the signal gave,
And turning to the left pursued their way.
HELL. 95
CANTO XXII.
CANTO XXIII.
CANTO XXIV .
CANTO XXV.
CANTO XXVI.
CANTO XXVII.
CANTO XXVIII.
CANTO XXIX .
CANTO XXX.
1
138 HELL .
CANTO XXXI.
“ Search round thy neck , and thou wilt find the cord
“ By which it hangs ; it compasses thy breast.
“ He heeds me not, he answers not a word.
“ Thou seest, my son, his jargon doth attest
“ The sequel of his crime. In him behold
- That famous Nimrod who, 't is manifest,
“ Was the sole cause why, as in days of old,
“ One only language did not still obtain.
“ But let us leave him ; unintelligible
“ Each to the other, why should we remain ? "
Then to the left we pass’d, and found a well
At distance from the first, which did contain
Another giant still more terrible.
Chain'd were his arms, but who secur'd them so
I cannot tell. The right was chain'd behind ;
The left, too, manacled descended low
Far as his waist, round which the chain was twin'd
Five times at least. His name I long’d to know,
When thus my chief: “ Most daring of his kind
“ This miscreant challeng'd mighty Jove to fight.
“ 'Tis Ephialtes, who the mountains rear'd ,
“ Ossa on Pelion, causing such affright
“ To gods of yore, by Greece and Rome rever'd.
“ His arms so potent once have lost their might.”
When from my leader's lips these words I heard,
I told him I desired that fiend to see,
Briareus, measureless if fame be true.
“ Too distant,” he replied , " by far is he.
“ Nearer to us Antæus thou wilt view,
" Who speaks distinctly, and like us is free.
142 HELL.
CANTO XXXII.
CANTO XXXIII.
CANTO XXXIV.
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PYRENAICA ;
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A free translation , in verse, of th
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