Inferno, Canto 34
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Virgil announces the banners of Hell's king as the poets enter Judecca, where the traitors are wholly locked in ice. Lucifer appears as an immense, immobilized anti-image with three faces, six wings, and three mouths tearing Judas, Brutus, and Cassius. Virgil carries Dante down Lucifer's body, passes the center of all weight, turns into ascent, explains the cosmic inversion and southern hemisphere, and leads Dante through the hidden path until they emerge to see the stars again.
Narrative arc
- Virgil's parodic hymn-announcement leads Dante through Judecca's covered traitors toward Dis
- Dante's reader address, life-death suspension, and Lucifer's scale frame the fallen beauty of the emperor of Hell
- Lucifer's three faces, batlike wings, three winds, and tears freeze Cocytus and invert divine images
- Lucifer's three mouths grind Judas, Brutus, and Cassius before Virgil says night is rising and all has been seen
- Virgil seizes the moment, climbs down Lucifer, turns at the center, and brings Dante out through the rock
- Dante sees Lucifer upside down, hears the way is still long, and asks about the ice, inversion, and changed time
- Virgil explains the center of gravity, opposite hemisphere, Judecca's other face, Lucifer's fall, and the earth's displacement
- The hidden stream and path lead the poets upward from Hell into the clear world and back to the stars
Central themes
- betrayal
- frozen relation
- anti-love
- inversion
- exit
Virgil's parodic hymn-announcement leads Dante through Judecca's covered traitors toward Dis XXXIV.1–21
1«Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni
verso di noi; però dinanzi mira»,
disse ’l maestro mio, «se tu ’l discerni».
Come quando una grossa nebbia spira,
5o quando l’emisperio nostro annotta,
par di lungi un molin che ’l vento gira,
veder mi parve un tal dificio allotta;
poi per lo vento mi ristrinsi retro
al duca mio, ché non lì era altra grotta.
10Già era, e con paura il metto in metro,
là dove l’ombre tutte eran coperte,
e trasparien come festuca in vetro.
Altre sono a giacere; altre stanno erte,
quella col capo e quella con le piante;
15altra, com’ arco, il volto a’ piè rinverte.
Quando noi fummo fatti tanto avante,
ch’al mio maestro piacque di mostrarmi
la creatura ch’ebbe il bel sembiante,
d’innanzi mi si tolse e fé restarmi,
20«Ecco Dite», dicendo, «ed ecco il loco
ove convien che di fortezza t’armi».
1"Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni
come toward us; therefore look ahead,"
my master said, "if you can discern him."
As when a heavy fog breathes,
5or when our hemisphere darkens into night,
a mill appears far off, turned by the wind,
so I seemed then to see such a structure;
then because of the wind I drew close behind
my guide, for no other shelter was there.
10Already I was, and with fear I put it into meter,
where the shades were all covered over,
and showed through like straw in glass.
Some lie flat; others stand upright,
this one with the head, that one with the feet;
15another, like a bow, bends face back to feet.
When we had been brought so far ahead
that it pleased my master to show me
the creature who once had the fair semblance,
he moved from before me and made me stop,
20saying, "Here is Dis, and here the place
where you must arm yourself with fortitude."
Commentary
The opening turns on the retained Latin parody, the mill/wind image, Judecca's fully covered traitors, and Virgil's presentation of Dis.
XXXIV.1–3 The Latin hymn opening is retained with Dante's infernal alteration visible; the parody of the Cross hymn is not flattened.
XXXIV.1–3 The Latin hymn opening is retained with Dante's infernal alteration visible; the parody of the Cross hymn is not flattened. Line 1: The Latin hymn opening is retained with Dante's infernal alteration visible; the parody of the Cross hymn is not flattened.
XXXIV.1 The Latin hymn opening is retained with Dante's infernal alteration visible; the parody of the Cross hymn is not flattened. The Latin hymn opening is retained with Dante's infernal alteration visible; the parody of the Cross hymn is not flattened.
XXXIV.4–6 The hemisphere language prepares Virgil's later explanation of the center crossing and time reversal.
XXXIV.4–6 The hemisphere language prepares Virgil's later explanation of the center crossing and time reversal. Line 5: The hemisphere language prepares Virgil's later explanation of the center crossing and time reversal.
XXXIV.5 The hemisphere language prepares Virgil's later explanation of the center crossing and time reversal. The hemisphere language prepares Virgil's later explanation of the center crossing and time reversal.
XXXIV.10–12 The poet's fear in making verse answers the rough-rhyme anxiety at the start of Cocytus. This is Judecca, the final zone of Cocytus, though the name is not spoken until line 117.
XXXIV.10–12 The poet's fear in making verse answers the rough-rhyme anxiety at the start of Cocytus. Line 10: The poet's fear in making verse answers the rough-rhyme anxiety at the start of Cocytus. Line 11: This is Judecca, the final zone of Cocytus, though the name is not spoken until line 117.
XXXIV.10 The poet's fear in making verse answers the rough-rhyme anxiety at the start of Cocytus. The poet's fear in making verse answers the rough-rhyme anxiety at the start of Cocytus.
XXXIV.11 This is Judecca, the final zone of Cocytus, though the name is not spoken until line 117. This is Judecca, the final zone of Cocytus, though the name is not spoken until line 117.
XXXIV.16–18 Lucifer's lost beauty matters for the fall from angelic light into ugly privation.
XXXIV.16–18 Lucifer's lost beauty matters for the fall from angelic light into ugly privation. Line 18: Lucifer's lost beauty matters for the fall from angelic light into ugly privation.
XXXIV.18 Lucifer's lost beauty matters for the fall from angelic light into ugly privation. Lucifer's lost beauty matters for the fall from angelic light into ugly privation.
XXXIV.19–21 Dite is kept as Dis, now naming Lucifer himself after earlier city/lower-Hell uses.
XXXIV.19–21 Dite is kept as Dis, now naming Lucifer himself after earlier city/lower-Hell uses. Line 20: Dite is kept as Dis, now naming Lucifer himself after earlier city/lower-Hell uses.
XXXIV.20 Dite is kept as Dis, now naming Lucifer himself after earlier city/lower-Hell uses. Dite is kept as Dis, now naming Lucifer himself after earlier city/lower-Hell uses.
Dante's reader address, life-death suspension, and Lucifer's scale frame the fallen beauty of the emperor of Hell XXXIV.22–36
22Com’ io divenni allor gelato e fioco,
nol dimandar, lettor, ch’i’ non lo scrivo,
però ch’ogne parlar sarebbe poco.
25Io non mori’ e non rimasi vivo;
pensa oggimai per te, s’hai fior d’ingegno,
qual io divenni, d’uno e d’altro privo.
Lo ’mperador del doloroso regno
da mezzo ’l petto uscia fuor de la ghiaccia;
30e più con un gigante io mi convegno,
che i giganti non fan con le sue braccia:
vedi oggimai quant’ esser dee quel tutto
ch’a così fatta parte si confaccia.
S’el fu sì bel com’ elli è ora brutto,
35e contra ’l suo fattore alzò le ciglia,
ben dee da lui procedere ogne lutto.
22How I then became frozen and faint,
do not ask, reader, for I do not write it,
because every speech would be too little.
25I did not die, and I did not remain alive;
think now for yourself, if you have any flower of genius,
what I became, deprived of one and the other.
The emperor of the sorrowful kingdom
came out of the ice from mid-chest;
30and I match better with a giant
than giants do with his arms:
now see how great that whole must be
that conforms to such a part.
If he was as beautiful as he is now ugly,
35and raised his brows against his maker,
all grief must indeed proceed from him.
Commentary
Dante's reader address carries the gelato e fioco register, the neither-dead-nor-living claim, Lucifer's immense scale, lost beauty, rebellion, and the procession of grief from him.
XXXIV.22–24 Fioco is rendered locally as faint rather than hoarse because the scene emphasizes loss of life-force before the failed speech claim.
XXXIV.22–24 Fioco is rendered locally as faint rather than hoarse because the scene emphasizes loss of life-force before the failed speech claim. Line 22: Fioco is rendered locally as faint rather than hoarse because the scene emphasizes loss of life-force before the failed speech claim.
XXXIV.22 Fioco is rendered locally as faint rather than hoarse because the scene emphasizes loss of life-force before the failed speech claim. Fioco is rendered locally as faint rather than hoarse because the scene emphasizes loss of life-force before the failed speech claim.
XXXIV.25–27 The life/death suspension marks the threshold before the descent turns into ascent.
XXXIV.25–27 The life/death suspension marks the threshold before the descent turns into ascent. Line 25: The life/death suspension marks the threshold before the descent turns into ascent.
XXXIV.25 The life/death suspension marks the threshold before the descent turns into ascent. The life/death suspension marks the threshold before the descent turns into ascent.
XXXIV.28–30 The phrasing keeps the contrast with the true Emperor who reigns above from Inferno I.
XXXIV.28–30 The phrasing keeps the contrast with the true Emperor who reigns above from Inferno I. Line 28: The phrasing keeps the contrast with the true Emperor who reigns above from Inferno I.
XXXIV.28 The phrasing keeps the contrast with the true Emperor who reigns above from Inferno I. The phrasing keeps the contrast with the true Emperor who reigns above from Inferno I.
XXXIV.34–36 Procedere keeps theological pressure around procession/inversion.
XXXIV.34–36 Procedere keeps theological pressure around procession/inversion. Line 36: Procedere keeps theological pressure around procession/inversion.
XXXIV.36 Procedere keeps theological pressure around procession/inversion. Procedere keeps theological pressure around procession/inversion.
Lucifer's three faces, batlike wings, three winds, and tears freeze Cocytus and invert divine images XXXIV.37–54
37Oh quanto parve a me gran maraviglia
quand’ io vidi tre facce a la sua testa!
L’una dinanzi, e quella era vermiglia;
40l’altr’ eran due, che s’aggiugnieno a questa
sovresso ’l mezzo di ciascuna spalla,
e sé giugnieno al loco de la cresta:
e la destra parea tra bianca e gialla;
la sinistra a vedere era tal, quali
45vegnon di là onde ’l Nilo s’avvalla.
Sotto ciascuna uscivan due grand’ ali,
quanto si convenia a tanto uccello:
vele di mar non vid’ io mai cotali.
Non avean penne, ma di vispistrello
50era lor modo; e quelle svolazzava,
sì che tre venti si movean da ello:
quindi Cocito tutto s’aggelava.
Con sei occhi piangëa, e per tre menti
gocciava ’l pianto e sanguinosa bava.
37Oh how great a wonder it seemed to me
when I saw three faces on his head!
One was in front, and that one was vermilion;
40the others were two, joined to this one
just above the middle of each shoulder,
and joined each other at the place of the crest:
and the right one seemed between white and yellow;
the left, to look at, was like those
45who come from beyond where the Nile descends.
Under each came out two great wings,
as was fitting for so great a bird:
I never saw such sails at sea.
They had no feathers, but their manner
50was like a bat's; and he flapped them,
so that three winds were stirred from him:
from this all Cocytus froze.
With six eyes he was weeping, and down three chins
tears and bloody slobber dripped.
Commentary
Lucifer's three faces, colors, six batlike wings, winds, frozen Cocytus, tears, and bloody slobber form an anti-image field without turning the translation into theological commentary.
XXXIV.37–39 The three faces are left concrete in the line; comparison notes mark the anti-Trinitarian pressure.
XXXIV.37–39 The three faces are left concrete in the line; comparison notes mark the anti-Trinitarian pressure. Line 38: The three faces are left concrete in the line; comparison notes mark the anti-Trinitarian pressure.
XXXIV.38 The three faces are left concrete in the line; comparison notes mark the anti-Trinitarian pressure. The three faces are left concrete in the line; comparison notes mark the anti-Trinitarian pressure.
XXXIV.43–45 The line preserves Dante's medieval geography and racialized color-catalogue without modernizing or expanding it.
XXXIV.43–45 The line preserves Dante's medieval geography and racialized color-catalogue without modernizing or expanding it. Line 45: The line preserves Dante's medieval geography and racialized color-catalogue without modernizing or expanding it.
XXXIV.45 The line preserves Dante's medieval geography and racialized color-catalogue without modernizing or expanding it. The line preserves Dante's medieval geography and racialized color-catalogue without modernizing or expanding it.
XXXIV.52–54 Lucifer's wings answer Inferno XXXIII's wind question and make Cocytus' freezing physically visible.
XXXIV.52–54 Lucifer's wings answer Inferno XXXIII's wind question and make Cocytus' freezing physically visible. Line 52: Lucifer's wings answer Inferno XXXIII's wind question and make Cocytus' freezing physically visible.
XXXIV.52 Lucifer's wings answer Inferno XXXIII's wind question and make Cocytus' freezing physically visible. Lucifer's wings answer Inferno XXXIII's wind question and make Cocytus' freezing physically visible.
Lucifer's three mouths grind Judas, Brutus, and Cassius before Virgil says night is rising and all has been seen XXXIV.55–69
55Da ogne bocca dirompea co’ denti
un peccatore, a guisa di maciulla,
sì che tre ne facea così dolenti.
A quel dinanzi il mordere era nulla
verso ’l graffiar, che talvolta la schiena
60rimanea de la pelle tutta brulla.
«Quell’ anima là sù c’ha maggior pena»,
disse ’l maestro, «è Giuda Scarïotto,
che ’l capo ha dentro e fuor le gambe mena.
De li altri due c’hanno il capo di sotto,
65quel che pende dal nero ceffo è Bruto:
vedi come si storce, e non fa motto!;
e l’altro è Cassio, che par sì membruto.
Ma la notte risurge, e oramai
è da partir, ché tutto avem veduto».
55From every mouth he was tearing with his teeth
a sinner, in the manner of a flax-brake,
so that he made three of them so tormented.
For the one in front, the biting was nothing
beside the clawing, which sometimes left the back
60wholly bare of skin.
"That soul up there who has the greater pain,"
my master said, "is Judas Iscariot,
who has his head inside and kicks his legs outside.
Of the other two who have their heads below,
65the one who hangs from the black muzzle is Brutus:
see how he twists, and makes no word!
and the other is Cassius, who looks so powerful-limbed.
But night rises again, and by now
we must depart, for we have seen all."
Commentary
The translation keeps Judas, Brutus, and Cassius direct, with Judas receiving the greatest pain and Brutus marked by silent twisting.
XXXIV.55–57 Maciulla is kept as flax-brake to preserve the crushing agricultural machine image.
XXXIV.55–57 Maciulla is kept as flax-brake to preserve the crushing agricultural machine image. Line 56: Maciulla is kept as flax-brake to preserve the crushing agricultural machine image.
XXXIV.56 Maciulla is kept as flax-brake to preserve the crushing agricultural machine image. Maciulla is kept as flax-brake to preserve the crushing agricultural machine image.
XXXIV.61–63 Judas is distinguished from Brutus and Cassius by having his head inside Lucifer's mouth.
XXXIV.61–63 Judas is distinguished from Brutus and Cassius by having his head inside Lucifer's mouth. Line 63: Judas is distinguished from Brutus and Cassius by having his head inside Lucifer's mouth.
XXXIV.63 Judas is distinguished from Brutus and Cassius by having his head inside Lucifer's mouth. Judas is distinguished from Brutus and Cassius by having his head inside Lucifer's mouth.
XXXIV.64–66 The silence is retained plainly; it may carry Stoic or brutish pressure.
XXXIV.64–66 The silence is retained plainly; it may carry Stoic or brutish pressure. Line 66: The silence is retained plainly; it may carry Stoic or brutish pressure.
XXXIV.66 The silence is retained plainly; it may carry Stoic or brutish pressure. The silence is retained plainly; it may carry Stoic or brutish pressure.
XXXIV.67–69 The time signal sets up the hemisphere explanation after the center turn.
XXXIV.67–69 The time signal sets up the hemisphere explanation after the center turn. Line 68: The time signal sets up the hemisphere explanation after the center turn.
XXXIV.68 The time signal sets up the hemisphere explanation after the center turn. The time signal sets up the hemisphere explanation after the center turn.
Virgil seizes the moment, climbs down Lucifer, turns at the center, and brings Dante out through the rock XXXIV.70–87
70Com’ a lui piacque, il collo li avvinghiai;
ed el prese di tempo e loco poste,
e quando l’ali fuoro aperte assai,
appigliò sé a le vellute coste;
di vello in vello giù discese poscia
75tra ’l folto pelo e le gelate croste.
Quando noi fummo là dove la coscia
si volge, a punto in sul grosso de l’anche,
lo duca, con fatica e con angoscia,
volse la testa ov’ elli avea le zanche,
80e aggrappossi al pel com’ om che sale,
sì che ’n inferno i’ credea tornar anche.
«Attienti ben, ché per cotali scale»,
disse ’l maestro, ansando com’ uom lasso,
«conviensi dipartir da tanto male».
85Poi uscì fuor per lo fóro d’un sasso
e puose me in su l’orlo a sedere;
appresso porse a me l’accorto passo.
70As it pleased him, I clasped his neck;
and he took the appointed time and place,
and when the wings were opened wide enough,
he gripped the shaggy flanks;
from tuft to tuft he then descended down
75between the thick hair and the frozen crusts.
When we were where the thigh
turns, just at the thickness of the haunches,
the guide, with effort and with strain,
turned his head toward where he had had his legs,
80and grappled to the hair like one who climbs,
so that I believed we were returning into Hell again.
"Hold tight, for by such stairs,"
the master said, panting like a weary man,
"one must depart from so much evil."
85Then he went out through the hole in a rock
and set me to sit upon the edge;
afterward he brought his cautious step toward me.
Commentary
Virgil's physical action is sequenced clearly: Dante clasps him, Virgil times the wings, grips Lucifer's shaggy flanks, descends tuft by tuft, turns at the hip, and changes descent into ascent.
XXXIV.70–72 Line 70 begins the physical escape at the canto's center.
XXXIV.70–72 Line 70 begins the physical escape at the canto's center. Line 70: Line 70 begins the physical escape at the canto's center.
XXXIV.70 Line 70 begins the physical escape at the canto's center. Line 70 begins the physical escape at the canto's center.
XXXIV.79–81 The physical reversal is kept concrete because it marks the center crossing that Dante does not yet understand.
XXXIV.79–81 The physical reversal is kept concrete because it marks the center crossing that Dante does not yet understand. Line 79: The physical reversal is kept concrete because it marks the center crossing that Dante does not yet understand.
XXXIV.79 The physical reversal is kept concrete because it marks the center crossing that Dante does not yet understand. The physical reversal is kept concrete because it marks the center crossing that Dante does not yet understand.
XXXIV.82–84 The ladder/stair image turns Lucifer's body into the paradoxical exit from Hell.
XXXIV.82–84 The ladder/stair image turns Lucifer's body into the paradoxical exit from Hell. Line 84: The ladder/stair image turns Lucifer's body into the paradoxical exit from Hell.
XXXIV.84 The ladder/stair image turns Lucifer's body into the paradoxical exit from Hell. The ladder/stair image turns Lucifer's body into the paradoxical exit from Hell.
Dante sees Lucifer upside down, hears the way is still long, and asks about the ice, inversion, and changed time XXXIV.88–105
88Io levai li occhi e credetti vedere
Lucifero com’ io l’avea lasciato,
90e vidili le gambe in sù tenere;
e s’io divenni allora travagliato,
la gente grossa il pensi, che non vede
qual è quel punto ch’io avea passato.
«Lèvati sù», disse ’l maestro, «in piede:
95la via è lunga e ’l cammino è malvagio,
e già il sole a mezza terza riede».
Non era camminata di palagio
là ’v’ eravam, ma natural burella
ch’avea mal suolo e di lume disagio.
100«Prima ch’io de l’abisso mi divella,
maestro mio», diss’ io quando fui dritto,
«a trarmi d’erro un poco mi favella:
ov’ è la ghiaccia? e questi com’ è fitto
sì sottosopra? e come, in sì poc’ ora,
105da sera a mane ha fatto il sol tragitto?».
88I raised my eyes and thought to see
Lucifer as I had left him,
90and I saw him holding his legs upward;
and if I then became perplexed,
let dull-minded people think it, who do not see
what point it was that I had passed.
"Rise up," the master said, "to your feet:
95the way is long, and the road is rough,
and already the sun returns to mid-tierce."
No palace walk was it
where we were, but a natural cavern
that had bad ground and little light.
100"Before I tear myself from the abyss,
my master," I said when I was upright,
"speak a little to draw me out of error:
where is the ice? and how is this one fixed
so upside down? and how, in so little time,
105has the sun made its passage from evening to morning?"
Commentary
The post-turn confusion runs as follows: Dante sees Lucifer's legs upward, hears that the way and road remain hard, and asks three connected questions about the ice, the inversion, and the sun's apparent passage from evening to morning.
XXXIV.91–93 The point is the center of gravity, later explained at lines 109-111.
XXXIV.91–93 The point is the center of gravity, later explained at lines 109-111. Line 93: The point is the center of gravity, later explained at lines 109-111.
XXXIV.93 The point is the center of gravity, later explained at lines 109-111. The point is the center of gravity, later explained at lines 109-111.
XXXIV.94–96 Via and cammino are both kept in path language at the exact turn from infernal descent toward purgatorial ascent. The canonical-hour time signal is retained and carries into Purgatorio.
XXXIV.94–96 Via and cammino are both kept in path language at the exact turn from infernal descent toward purgatorial ascent. Line 95: Via and cammino are both kept in path language at the exact turn from infernal descent toward purgatorial ascent. Line 96: The canonical-hour time signal is retained and carries into Purgatorio.
XXXIV.95 Via and cammino are both kept in path language at the exact turn from infernal descent toward purgatorial ascent. Via and cammino are both kept in path language at the exact turn from infernal descent toward purgatorial ascent.
XXXIV.96 The canonical-hour time signal is retained and carries into Purgatorio. The canonical-hour time signal is retained and carries into Purgatorio.
Virgil explains the center of gravity, opposite hemisphere, Judecca's other face, Lucifer's fall, and the earth's displacement XXXIV.106–126
106Ed elli a me: «Tu imagini ancora
d’esser di là dal centro, ov’ io mi presi
al pel del vermo reo che ’l mondo fóra.
Di là fosti cotanto quant’ io scesi;
110quand’ io mi volsi, tu passasti ’l punto
al qual si traggon d’ogne parte i pesi.
E se’ or sotto l’emisperio giunto
ch’è contraposto a quel che la gran secca
coverchia, e sotto ’l cui colmo consunto
115fu l’uom che nacque e visse sanza pecca;
tu haï i piedi in su picciola spera
che l’altra faccia fa de la Giudecca.
Qui è da man, quando di là è sera;
e questi, che ne fé scala col pelo,
120fitto è ancora sì come prim’ era.
Da questa parte cadde giù dal cielo;
e la terra, che pria di qua si sporse,
per paura di lui fé del mar velo,
e venne a l’emisperio nostro; e forse
125per fuggir lui lasciò qui loco vòto
quella ch’appar di qua, e sù ricorse».
106And he to me: "You still imagine
that you are beyond the center, where I took hold
of the hair of the guilty worm who bores the world.
You were on that side as long as I descended;
110when I turned, you passed the point
toward which weights are drawn from every side.
And you have now come beneath the hemisphere
opposite to the one the great dry land
covers, and beneath whose summit was consumed
115the man who was born and lived without sin;
you have your feet upon the little sphere
that makes the other face of Judecca.
Here it is morning, when over there it is evening;
and this one, who made us a ladder with his hair,
120is still fixed just as he was before.
On this side he fell down from Heaven;
and the earth, which before stretched out here,
for fear of him made the sea its veil,
and came to our hemisphere; and perhaps
125to flee him, the land that appears on this side
left this empty place here and rushed upward."
Commentary
Virgil's cosmological explanation turns on the center of all weight, the opposite hemisphere, Jerusalem and the sinless man, Judecca's other face, Lucifer's fall, the sea veil, and the earth/Purgatory displacement.
XXXIV.106–108 Lucifer becomes the final and largest infernal worm image after Cerberus and Cocytus' devouring center.
XXXIV.106–108 Lucifer becomes the final and largest infernal worm image after Cerberus and Cocytus' devouring center. Line 108: Lucifer becomes the final and largest infernal worm image after Cerberus and Cocytus' devouring center.
XXXIV.108 Lucifer becomes the final and largest infernal worm image after Cerberus and Cocytus' devouring center. Lucifer becomes the final and largest infernal worm image after Cerberus and Cocytus' devouring center.
XXXIV.109–111 The line names the physical center of gravity and completes the descent-to-ascent inversion.
XXXIV.109–111 The line names the physical center of gravity and completes the descent-to-ascent inversion. Line 111: The line names the physical center of gravity and completes the descent-to-ascent inversion.
XXXIV.111 The line names the physical center of gravity and completes the descent-to-ascent inversion. The line names the physical center of gravity and completes the descent-to-ascent inversion.
XXXIV.115–117 The periphrasis keeps Virgil's limited naming of Christ in Hell. Judecca is finally named only after Dante has passed beneath it.
XXXIV.115–117 The periphrasis keeps Virgil's limited naming of Christ in Hell. Line 115: The periphrasis keeps Virgil's limited naming of Christ in Hell. Line 117: Judecca is finally named only after Dante has passed beneath it.
XXXIV.115 The periphrasis keeps Virgil's limited naming of Christ in Hell. The periphrasis keeps Virgil's limited naming of Christ in Hell.
XXXIV.117 Judecca is finally named only after Dante has passed beneath it. Judecca is finally named only after Dante has passed beneath it.
XXXIV.124–126 The syntax is resolved from line 126; the land that appears on this side points toward the mountain of Purgatory.
XXXIV.124–126 The syntax is resolved from line 126; the land that appears on this side points toward the mountain of Purgatory. Line 125: The syntax is resolved from line 126; the land that appears on this side points toward the mountain of Purgatory.
XXXIV.125 The syntax is resolved from line 126; the land that appears on this side points toward the mountain of Purgatory. The syntax is resolved from line 126; the land that appears on this side points toward the mountain of Purgatory.
The hidden stream and path lead the poets upward from Hell into the clear world and back to the stars XXXIV.127–139
127Luogo è là giù da Belzebù remoto
tanto quanto la tomba si distende,
che non per vista, ma per suono è noto
130d’un ruscelletto che quivi discende
per la buca d’un sasso, ch’elli ha roso,
col corso ch’elli avvolge, e poco pende.
Lo duca e io per quel cammino ascoso
intrammo a ritornar nel chiaro mondo;
135e sanza cura aver d’alcun riposo,
salimmo sù, el primo e io secondo,
tanto ch’i’ vidi de le cose belle
che porta ’l ciel, per un pertugio tondo.
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.
127There is a place down there, remote from Beelzebub
as far as the tomb extends,
known not by sight, but by sound
130of a little stream that descends there
through the hole in a rock, which it has gnawed,
with the course it winds, and it slopes only a little.
My guide and I by that hidden way
entered to return into the clear world;
135and without care for any rest,
we climbed upward, he first and I second,
until I saw some of the beautiful things
that heaven bears, through a round opening.
And from there we came out to see again the stars.
Commentary
The hidden stream and ascent carry sound-over-sight, Lethe/Purgatorio pressure, the hidden way, return to the clear world, regained sight of heavenly beauty, and the final stelle handoff to Purgatorio.
XXXIV.127–129 Tomba is kept as tomb, preserving the sepulchral shape of Lucifer's cavity.
XXXIV.127–129 Tomba is kept as tomb, preserving the sepulchral shape of Lucifer's cavity. Line 128: Tomba is kept as tomb, preserving the sepulchral shape of Lucifer's cavity.
XXXIV.128 Tomba is kept as tomb, preserving the sepulchral shape of Lucifer's cavity. Tomba is kept as tomb, preserving the sepulchral shape of Lucifer's cavity.
XXXIV.130–132 The hidden stream probably looks forward toward Purgatorio's river system, including Lethe.
XXXIV.130–132 The hidden stream probably looks forward toward Purgatorio's river system, including Lethe. Line 130: The hidden stream probably looks forward toward Purgatorio's river system, including Lethe.
XXXIV.130 The hidden stream probably looks forward toward Purgatorio's river system, including Lethe. The hidden stream probably looks forward toward Purgatorio's river system, including Lethe.
XXXIV.133–135 Cammino ascoso keeps path language moving from Inferno's descent into the concealed ascent.
XXXIV.133–135 Cammino ascoso keeps path language moving from Inferno's descent into the concealed ascent. Line 133: Cammino ascoso keeps path language moving from Inferno's descent into the concealed ascent.
XXXIV.133 Cammino ascoso keeps path language moving from Inferno's descent into the concealed ascent. Cammino ascoso keeps path language moving from Inferno's descent into the concealed ascent.
XXXIV.136–138 The cose belle answer Lucifer's lost beauty and mark the first regained sight of the ordered heavens.
XXXIV.136–138 The cose belle answer Lucifer's lost beauty and mark the first regained sight of the ordered heavens. Line 137: The cose belle answer Lucifer's lost beauty and mark the first regained sight of the ordered heavens.
XXXIV.137 The cose belle answer Lucifer's lost beauty and mark the first regained sight of the ordered heavens. The cose belle answer Lucifer's lost beauty and mark the first regained sight of the ordered heavens.
XXXIV.139 The final stelle closes Inferno and hands the poem toward Purgatorio's restored sky. The final stelle closes Inferno and hands the poem toward Purgatorio's restored sky.