Dante's Hell Author:Dante Alighieri Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ARGUMENT. The end of the lirst day finds I )ante preparing for the battle with the ragged road, yet not without misgivings that his strength is equal to siu-h... more » a journey. " 1 am not yEneas; 1 am not Paul," he exclaims, as he remembers ttiat they alone ever walked the way before him. Virgil relmkes his pusillanimity, and tells him that he ciime to guide him by command of Beatrice, who saw and pitied him when lost in the dark wood. This cheers him, and without more ado, he departs on his great mission. CANTO II. Day was departing, and the dusky air Taking the creatures that are on the earth, From off their labors, and I, one alone, Myself preparing to sustain the war Both of the pity (1) and the rugged road, Which memory, that erreth not, shall tell. 0 Muse, O Genius high, assist me now ! O Memory, who inscribed what I beheld, Herein will all thy nobleness appear. Thus I began, " Poet who art my guide, (2) Mark well my strength, if it sufficient be, Before thou trust me to the dang'rous path. Thou sayest that the sire (3) of Sylvius went, While subject to corruption, to th' immortal world, And there was present in his mortal sense. But if the adversary of all ill (1) Pity for the sonls in Hell. (2) His guide is wisdom, of which Virgil is the symbol. (3) Et, qui te nomine reddet, Sylvius tineas.—Virgil. XXII HELL. CANTO II. Propitious proved, knowing the high effect, And who and what should yet result from him, It seems not strange to a discerning mind ; Since he of generous Rome and of her state Was chosen father in th' empyreal heaven. For this one and the other, sooth to say, Were both established for the holy place, Where the successor of great Peter sits. (4) And by this journey, whence he gained thy praise, He understood those things which were the ca...« less