I have been wanting to read the Divine Comedy in Italian for some time, but I kept putting it off. I decided I would take it on, but over a much longer time. Here is my attempt, not only to read it, but to translate it, and really understand it.

Canto I 
“Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita 
Me ritrovai per una selva oscura 
Che la diritta via era smarrita.” 

‘In the middle of our life’s journey 
I found myself in a dark forest 
Having lost the straight path’ 

Dante finds himself off the ‘straight path’ in the middle of life, lost in a dark forest. A full life for medievals was 70 years (also according to Psalm 90:10), so Dante was 35 when this happened. The year was 1300. The dark path off of the straight way symbolizes being in a moral quandary. 

He relates the encounters however that led him to find something worthwhile there. 

“Io non so ben ridir com’I’ v’intrai, 
Tant’era pien di sonno a quel punto 
Che la verace via abbandonai.” 

He relates that he couldn’t explain exactly how he got there, other than he was so sleepy when he got off track. He finds himself at the foot of a hill at the entrance to the valley. As he is considering his place, he sees a leopard (representing lust/lack of restraint). Every time he tries to go around it, it is in his way. It’s almost dawn, so Dante takes some courage that he will soon be out of danger, when he next encounters a lion coming straight for him (representing pride and violence). While he had hoped to get up the hill and out of danger, he finds a she-wolf pressing in on him and he loses all hope and is driven back into the valley. 

As he finds himself deeper back into the woods, he spots a man and cries out for help.  

The man explains that he is no longer a man, but was one: a lombard, whose parents were from Mantova. He was a poet, who wrote about Aeneas.. 

Dante recognizes him as Virgil. Dante proclaims that Virgil is a hero of his and explains that the she-wolf is threatening him.  

Virgil explains that if Dante wishes to escape this place, he must take another journey, because this beast never lets anyone pass alive. The beast is said to be evil and cruel, never sated, and even after eating, is only the hungrier. The wolf represents greed and avarice- Many take her to wife, until a greyhound (salvation) comes that will kill her. This greyhound isn’t about land or luxury, but wisdom, love and strength. He will bring health to humbled Italy. 

“Molti son li animali a cui s’ammoglia, 
E più saranno ancora, infin che ‘l veltro 
Verrà, che la farà morir con doglia. 

Questi non ciberà terra né peltro, 
Ma sapienza, amore, e virtute, 
A sua nazion sarà tra feltro e feltro. 

Di quella umile Italian fia salute 
Per cui morì la vergine Cammilla, 
Eurialo e Turno e Niso di ferute.” 

Virgil explains that the greyhound, ‘salvation’ will hunt the wolf (greed) down and drive her back to hell, from whence envy set her on the world. 

Virgil then recommends that Dante allow him to be his guide through an eternal place, where he will hear the screams of the hopeless in hell. Then he will go to purgatory, and finally, if he so desires, will visit heaven – but led by another who is worthy since he, Virgil, is not. 

Dante responds that he is ready to follow. 

sì che ‘l piè fermo sempre era ‘l più basso 

Il piede fermo would be the left foot, which was considered symbolically as the side more beholden to the appetites. Apparently this signifies that while Dante wanted to climb, he was unable to bring himself out of the quagmire he was in. 

The beast symbolism is important too. The three beasts are a leopard/lynx, a lion, and a she-wolf. Medieval symbolism held these to represent, lust, pride, and avarice. This, say the comments, divide the sins into three classes theologians had derived from Satan’s temptation of Christ: the flesh would be the leopard, the world would be the wolf, and the lion represents the Devil. Dante may also be referencing Rome, through the city’s symbol of the she-wolf that fed Romulus and Remus, and the Church, whose corruption and avarice he saw as corrupting many souls. 

l’ora del tempo e la dolce stagione; 

This, I’m told, spells out the vernal equinox, when, according to tradition, the universe was created.  

Molti son li animali a cui s’ammoglia, 
e più saranno ancora, infin che ‘l veltro 
verrà, che la farà morir con doglia. 

Il ‘veltro’, the greyhound, represents ‘salvation’; possibly referring to the person Cangrande della Scala, Dante’s friend and patron. 

e sua nazion sarà tra feltro e feltro. 

This line is tricky to me, since I don’t understand its meaning. But the notes mention that Cangrande’s Verona lies between Feltre and Montefeltro, and also that election ballots were counted in urns lined with felt. The translator chose it to be suggestive of secret humble beginnings. 

anima fia a ciò più di me degna: 
con lei ti lascerò nel mio partire; 

Virgil refers to another who will have to lead Dante through heaven, since he himself can’t go- he refers to Beatrice. Beatrice means blessed, and historically references Beatrice Portinari (1266-90). 

Canto II 
The canto starts with nightfall and Dante, restless and unable to think, is second guessing whether he is worthy to undertake the journey. Dante notes that Aeneas had made the journey to the underworld, and Paul to heaven, but who was he, Dante, to do so? 

Virgil notes his cowardice and tells him how he, Virgil, was sent to help Dante. He says he was in limbo when a beautiful, heavenly woman, Beatrice, says that her friend is lost and in desperate need of help.  

Virgil responds that he will gladly do it, but wonders why she isn’t afraid to descend to hell. She says only the things that can hurt us cause fear, and since she has been remade in such a way that the fires of hell can’t touch her, she has no fear. She then mentions that the virgin Mary had asked Saint Lucia to help Dante. Lucia in turn sent Beatrice to undertake the journey, and she in turn has asked Virgil for helping through this first part. 

Virgil then exhorts Dante to press on since these three blessed women in heaven have seen his plight and undertaken to help him. Dante indeed takes courage at this and tells Virgil that he is ready, and they set off. 

Canto III 

They come to the gates of hell: 

Per me si va ne la città dolente, 
per me si va ne l’etterno dolore, 
per me si va tra la perduta gente. 

Giustizia mosse il mio alto fattore: 
fecemi la divina podestate, 
la somma sapienza e ‘l primo amore. 

Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create 
se non etterne, e io etterna duro. 
Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate’. 

‘Here one enters into the city of sorrow, 
here one enters into eternal pain, 
here one enters among the lost. 

Justice moved my most high maker: 
divine power made me, 
the sum of wisdom and the first love. 

Before me nothing was created 
except those eternal, as am I. 
Abandon all hope, you who enter’. 

The gates of Hell are said to be made by the Lord, by power, wisdom, and love; which may seem like a strange thing to us. How could love make a place of eternal punishment? Thomas Aquinas said that even when punishment can’t correct, it at least stops further sin. One of the notes mentions that punishment respects the dignity of the sinner, which grants him what his heart desired. For one that loves sin, hell is even more suitable than heaven, where, as Dante imagines it, the fire of the Lord’s love would be too much for the sinner. 

Virgil warns Dante to ditch all cowardice and doubt here at the door, he was going to see those who have lost the good of their intellect and who will be in pain. 

The first thing Dante sees, or hears, is a swirl of sighs, weeping, and troubles, which he describes as different languages and orribili favelle, horrible ways of expressing themselves, words of pain and accents of rage. These are the those that would neither devote their hearts to good or evil. They actively chose not to follow God, but now they are left to blindly follow a standard that never rests but merely goes around.  

Virgil tells him that they are nothings… non-entities…just look and then think no more of them. They are worthy of neither infamy or praise. 

Then Dante recognizes one, who, by cowardice, made the great refusal. This is assumed to be Celestine V, “a saintly monk who was elevated to the papacy, an office beyond his physical and political powers. He abdicated in 1294, cajoled to do so by his successor, Boniface VIII, who persuaded him that no man could mix himself up in the affairs of the world without falling into grave sin.” Boniface is a disaster for Dante personally and politically, who consigns him to the outer court of hell, here in his poem.  

In a mix of Greek mythology, Dante is ferried across the river by Charon. The ferryman calls Dante out as a living soul, who shouldn’t be there among the dead. Virgil tells Charon to hold his piece and get on with it. At this, the rest of those waiting to be ferried across erupt in rage and blaspheme whatever they can think of. Virgil and Dante cross over and then a blast occurs and Dante faints. 

Canto IV 

Dante is awoken again by a huge blast of thunder, and when he wakes up, he finds himself on the edge of a huge abyss. He and Virgil descend. In the first circle, or ring of hell, are people who are people who didn’t sin, but they were born before Christianity and saving baptism, so they aren’t allowed to enter Heaven. Virgil tells Dante that he himself is consigned to this first level. 

Dante asks is anyone has ever moved from here to heaven? Virgil notes that Dante is actually asking if it would be possible for Virgil to move from here, and says that when he was first here, Christ came and got the Old Testament saints. But Virgil assures him that other than these, no one was saved. 

They continue on and come to a place that is lit. Here are the pagan poets: Homer, Horace, Ovid, Lucan, and of course Virgil his guide… and then Dante has them welcoming him into this elite circle. Not exactly humble, but probably deserved. 

These 6 go on and come to a castle that contains many of the Greek and Roman historical figures, as well as several Muslims, Saladin, Avicenna and Averroes. After that, Virgil and Dante split off and come to a part of the circle they are in where there is no light. 

Canto V 

They descend from the outer ring to the second circle, which isn’t as big. There they are greeted by Minos, the legendary king of Crete who became the judge of the dead in the underworld in Greek mythology. Here he examines the sins of the sinners, and condemns them to one of the circles of hell, depending on how many times he wraps his tail around himself. On seeing Dante, he screams at him to beware of who he trusts, and not to be fooled by the wide path. Virgil tells Minos not to impede Dante because his journey is willed by from on high where what is wanted is what is done, no questions asked. 

In this circle are those that sinned through lust. They are whipped around continually in a whirlwind, which buffets them. The whirlwind represents the storm of passion that swept up those given to lust. Having given themselves over to passion, the whirlwind, in life, they are now completely ruled by it in the afterlife.  

Dante first comes across Semiramis, a historical Assyrian queen, who by the middle ages became a symbol of lust and promiscuity.  

The historical Semiramis was the wife of Shamshi-Adad V, who ruled from 824-811 BC. She ruled as a regent for 5 years before her son took the throne. According to Diodorus, a first century BC Greek historian, she was married to Onnes, a general under King Ninus. She became an advisor, and even led a troop of soldiers to great success. Ninus was struck by her and fell in love. He offered Onnes his own daughter as a swap, but when that was rejected, the King resorted to dire threats. Onnes eventually went mad and committed suicide, and Ninus married Semiramis. Prior to Christianity, there were some negative legends, but she was generally viewed positively. Perhaps in Orosius’ History against the Pagans, she was portrayed as legitimizing incestuous relationships. Petrarch identified her as one of the three female examples of evil love. 

The second is unnamed, except for she was unfaithful to the ashes of Sychaeus: which would make her Dido, the widow of Sychaeus in the Aeneid. She broke her vow to her dead husband when she fell in love with Aeneas and marries him. 

Cleopatra, who had taken three of Rome’s most powerful men as lovers before killing herself, and Helen of Troy are seen here. Paris, who kidnapped Hellen and precipitated the long Trojan war, and Achilles, who, because he loved her, was lured into a trap by Polyxena, a daughter of the King of Troy, are also mentioned. Finally Tristan, the Celtic knight who was sent to bring back the Irish princess Iseult, but fell in love with her. 

But while Dante sees these others, he speaks with Francesca da Rimini, asking her to explain how they ended up here. And it is Francesca who Dante portrays as emblematic of this sin. 

Francesca da Rimini (actually of Ravenna), was murdered by her husband Giovanni Malatesta, when he discovered his brother Paolo was having an affair with her. 

She explains that it happened when she and Paolo were both innocently reading the story of Lancelot, of King Arthur’s court.   

For pleasure, we were reading one day 
how love had gripped Lancelot; 
we were alone and suspected nothing. 

Several times that story caused our eyes 
to lock, and our faces colored; 
but one particular point conquered us. 

When we read of the smile of the desired one 
was kissed by the lover, 
this man, never to be separated from me, 

kissed my lips while trembling. 
The book, and its author, was the matchmaker! 
We read no more from that day on. 

The particular point that got them was when they read of “the smile of the desired one”, Guinevere, “was kissed by the lover”, Lancelot, so then Paolo, apparently inspired by the racy story, decided to enact it for himself and he kissed Francesca. 

The italian says: Galeotto fu ‘l libro e chi lo scrisse! 

Since I wasn’t aware of the reference, I had assumed the story was written by Galeotto… but apparently, Galeotto, or Galehaut, was the knight that facilitated the affair between Guinevere and Lancelot, and that name has now become the Italian word for a thing that acts as a matchmaker.  

So even in hell, Francesca continues to assert that it was the literature that caused them to fall, she was a mere passive object. She asserts: 

Amore, ch’a nullo amato amar perdona, 
mi prese del costui piacer sì forte, 
Love, which doesn’t allow a loved one 
not to love, held me with such a strong desire , 

In her mind this love was irresistible, so she could no other than go along with it. This is indicative of the justification, or rationalization, the mind will provide, for what we want.  

Dante seems to buy this, as he feels particularly sorry for the couple. But perhaps that’s because her language echos his own love poetry. 

Canto VI 
Dante comes to his senses… again… and finds himself now in the third circle of hell. Here is an endless rain that is cursed, cold and severe, which never changes. Mixed in are huge hailstones, tainted water and snow. They encounter the beast Cerberus, the mythological three-headed hound with a snake’s body. He threatens them, but Virgil chucks some mud at him and he shuts up.  

They are passing through shades that seem like humans, but they are insubstantial. One recognizes Dante and addresses him. It is “Ciacco”, a fellow Florentine, who has been condemned, as all on this level have been, of gluttony.  

Dante asks Ciacco for information about what will happen to Florence. Here it gets pretty obscure, but I’ll relate the explanatory notes. 

Ciacco says: After a long time of tension, the two parties come to blood, and the ‘wild’ (Whites) drives out its opposite faction.  

He continues saying that after three years, the opposite faction would rise (Blacks) with the force of “him that plays both sides”. The italian here is incomprehensible to me- tal che testé piaggia… is not an idiom that I could understand, but as I looked at the English translations, the modern Italian renderings, and explanations of the idiom, I believe it means that this guy was, as far as I can understand it, working both sides of the divide, and it seems everyone is agreed this was Pope Boniface VIII. 

Ciacco finishes by noting that the Blacks will then exalt themselves, while keeping the Whites down at the same time under heavy penalties. 

The wild party are the white Guelphs. Generally speaking, Guelphs supported the Pope, and Ghibellines supported the ‘Holy Roman Emperor’. If you didn’t know, after the fall of Rome, the German Kings took up the reign of the Holy Roman Empire. The Catholic church per se, continued in the east in Constantinople. But these German Kings, claiming the rights that came along with ruling in Italy, held they themselves were the true guardians of the church, the holy Roman empire. But then the Roman Popes claimed that for themselves too. To complicate matters, there were apparently factions within the broader camps themselves, and in Florence, while they all considered themselves Guelphs, there were two camps- white and black. The whites were followers of the Cerchi family, merchants that were relatively new to Florence and more recently settled there, hence known as ‘backwoods’ or selvaggi – wild men. 

The blacks followed the Donati family. In 1301, the Whites drove out the Blacks, but through the machinations of Pope Boniface VIII, the Blacks returned to power in 1302, and banished a bunch of Whites, including Dante himself. Dante never returned to Florence.  

Dante asks Ciacco for information about the fates of several other notable Florentines, who he considered good men: 

Farinata degli Uberti 
Tegghiaio degli Adimari 
Iacopo Rusticucci 
Arrigo dei Fifanti 
Mosca de’ Lamberti 

These men belonged to the generation preceding Dante. 

Ciacco says they are even further down in Hell, and then declares he will say no more and falls back into oblivion. 

Dante prods Virgil about the eventual fate of these souls when the final resurrection occurs. Christian theology holds that at the final resurrection, the dead will rise and be judged. At that point they will have their bodies and earthly forms back. 

Dante portrays the spirits in this time before the resurrection as not fully substantial. They are shades or shadows. He asks Virgil if things will be worse, better or the same for these after the resurrection, and Virgil tells him to return to his science, or maybe philosophy, particularly of Aristotle, that said the more complete the body is, the better it could feel both pleasure and pain. Then he says that despite the fact that those in hell will never reach perfection, they still await more at the resurrection than currently they have. To my mind, it would seem that would mean they will suffer even more. 

At the end, Dante and Virgil descend and met Plutus, or Hades, the Greek mythological god of the Underworld. By Dante’s time, Plutus was considered the god of wealth and riches.