L ' I N F E R N O

VEXILLA REGIS: ASCENT & DAMN!
216
VIRGIL:
INF C34 1-3 / DANTE INF C34 1-3 / KLINE
«Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni Vexilla Regis prodeunt inferni, the banners of the
verso di noi; però dinanzi mira», King of Hell advance towards us: so look in front
disse 'l maestro mio, «se tu 'l discerni». of you to see if you discern him,’ said my Master.
♫INFERNAL: A SINGLE LOUD NOTE * * * * * * * * * *
INF C34 2
INF C34 4-27 / KLINE
I seemed to see a tall structure, as a mill, that the wind turns, seems from a distance, when a dense mist breathes, or
when night falls in our hemisphere, and I shrank back behind my guide, because of the wind, since there was no
other shelter. I had already come, and with fear I put it into words, where the souls were completely enclosed, and
shone through like straw in glass. Some are lying down, some stand upright, one on its head, another on the soles of
its feet, another bent head to foot, like a bow. When we had gone on far enough, that my guide was able to show me
Lucifer, the monster who was once so fair, he removed himself from me, and made me stop, saying: ‘Behold Dis,
and behold the place where you must arm yourself with courage.’ Reader, do not ask how chilled and hoarse I
became, then, since I do not write it, since all words would fail to tell it. I did not die, yet I was not alive. Think,
yourself, now, if you have any grain of imagination, what I became, deprived of either state.
INF C34 28-33
The emperor of the sorrowful kingdom stood, waist upwards, from the ice, and I am nearer to a giant in size than the
giants are to one of his arms: think how great the whole is that corresponds to such a part. If he was once as fair, as
he is now ugly, and lifted up his forehead against his Maker, well may all evil flow from him. O how great a wonder
it seemed to me, when I saw three faces on his head! The one in front was fiery red: the other two were joined to it,
above the centre of each shoulder, and linked at the top, and the right hand one seemed whitish-yellow: the left was
black to look at, like those who come from where the Nile rises. Under each face sprang two vast wings, of a size fit
for such a bird: I never saw ship’s sails as wide. They had no feathers, but were like a bat’s in form and texture, and
he was flapping them, so that three winds blew out away from him, by which all Cocytus was frozen. He wept from
six eyes, and tears and bloody spume gushed down three chins. He chewed a sinner between his teeth, with every
mouth, like a grinder, so, in that way, he kept three of them in torment.
DANTE’S LUCIFER IS A GROTESQUE, IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT ON THE STAGE.
INF C34 68-81 / KLINE
But night is ascending, [6 PM Sat] and now we must go, since we have seen it all.’ I clasped his neck, as he wished,
and he seized the time and place, and when the wings were wide open, grasped Satan’s shaggy sides, and then from
tuft to tuft, climbed down, between the matted hair and frozen crust. When we had come to where the thigh joint
turns, just at the swelling of the haunch, my guide, with effort and difficulty, reversed his head to where his feet had
been, and grabbed the hair like a climber, so that I thought we were dropping back to Hell.
DANTE STARES AND STARTS FAINTING. VIRGIL HOLDS HIM UP AND STEPS FORWARD INTO
THE DARKNESS.
VIRGIL: or VIRGIL:
INF C34 82-84 / DANTE INF C34 82-84 / KLINE
Attienti ben, ché per cotali scale», Hold tight., said my guide, panting
disse 'l maestro, ansando com' uom lasso, like a man exhausted, ‘since by these stairs,
«conviensi dipartir da tanto male». we must depart from all this evil.’