INFERNO, Episode 7. Virgil The Poet Becomes Virgil The Prophet: Inferno, Canto I, Lines 97 - 136

The end is nigh! Or at least the end of the first canto of INFERNO, the first canticle of Dante’s COMEDY. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I explore possibly the strangest part of this already strange canto: Virgil’s prophecies of the future—not only Dante’s future, but all of Italy’s, and maybe the world’s future, too, a glimpse of the Last Judgment, right here at the start of COMEDY.

Many readers have seen the first canto of INFERNO as actually the opening canto of the entire poem. And no wonder! So much goes on: from fear to beasts, from loneliness to haunting, to a pilgrim with no past to one with a foretold future. How much can Dante-the-poet cram into this canto? As much as Dante-the-pilgrim can withstand.

And maybe there’s another point, too. Maybe the poet wants this canto chock full of material to slow his readers down, to indicate that this poem will not be an easy ride, that we have to give it time to settle.

That’s what I want to do: slow-walk through Dante’s COMEDY. I think it’s what the poet wanted. And I think the poem demands it.

Here’s my English translation of the passage from the medieval Tuscan. If you want to have a more scholarly English translation, check out that by Robert and Jean Hollander or that by Stanley Lombardo.

INFERNO, Canto 1, Lines 97 - 136:

[Virgil continues:] “Her [the she-wolf’s] nature is so violent and insane

That her greedy hunger is never satisfied.

Once fed, she’s hungrier than ever!

“Many are the animals with which she mates,

And there will be even more, until the greyhound will come

Who will put her to a pain-filled death.

“He will not feed on land or wealth

But on wisdom, love, and virtue.

His birthplace is between Feltro and Feltro.

“He will be the salving of humble Italy

For which the virgin Camilla died,

As well as Euryalus, Turnus, and Nisus.

“He will hunt the beast in every little village

Until he sends her back to hell,

That place where envy first let her loose.

“Therefore, I think it’s wise and discerning

For you to follow me and I will be your guide,

And lead you from here to an eternal place

“Where you will hear the wailing of despair

And see the ancient souls in torment

Who eternally lament their second death.

“And then you’ll see the souls who are content

In the fire, because they hope to get to come among,

Whenever it may be, the blessed people.

“If you want to ascend to these,

There will be a soul more worthy than I.

I’ll leave you with her when I depart.

“For the emperor who sits on high

Has decided that I, who was a rebel against his law,

Should not ever get to come into his city.

“In every part he reigns and also rules.

There is his city and his high seat.

Happy is the one who he chooses to be there!”

And I to him, “Poet, I beg you,

By this God who you do not know,

In orde that I can get out of his evil and even worse,

“Lead me to the place you’ve described

So that I may see Saint Peter’s Gate,

And the ones you say are filled with sorrow.”

Then he started off, and I went behind him.