The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (13 inch ebook reader .txt) ๐
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Dante Alighieriโs Divine Comedy is considered one of the greatest works in world literature, and it established the standardized Italian language that is used today. Writing between 1308 and 1320, Dante draws from countless subjects including Roman Catholic theology and philosophy, the struggle between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, Greek mythology, and geocentric cosmology to answer the age-old question: what does the afterlife look like? Danteโs vision of the answer, this three-volume epic poem, describes in great detail the systematic levels in Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.
The poem opens with Danteโs deathโnot his actual death that would come shortly after his workโs completion, but his fictional deathโwhere the author is found wandering in a dark forest. Blocked from climbing towards the bright light by a she-wolf, a leopard, and a lion, he is forced to walk further into the darkened valley and towards the gates of Hell. Dante and his guides must then travel through the nine circles of Hell, seven terraces of Purgatory, and nine spheres of Heaven to experience divine justice for earthly sins so that he may reach the Empyrean and receive Godโs love. On his journey, he will learn that one must be consciously devoted to the path of morality and righteousness, else one find oneself on a path towards sin.
This production is based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellowโs blank verse translation. Longfellow succeeds in capturing the original brilliance of Danteโs internal rhymes and hypnotic patterns while also retaining accuracy. It is said that the death of his young wife brought him closer to the melancholy spirit of Danteโs writing, which itself was shaped by his wounding exile from his beloved Florence in 1302.
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- Author: Dante Alighieri
Read book online ยซThe Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (13 inch ebook reader .txt) ๐ยป. Author - Dante Alighieri
But if the adversary of all evil
Was courteous, thinking of the high effect
That issue would from him, and who, and what,
To men of intellect unmeet it seems not;
For he was of great Rome, and of her empire
In the empyreal heaven as father chosen;
The which and what, wishing to speak the truth,
Were stablished as the holy place, wherein
Sits the successor of the greatest Peter.28
Upon this journey, whence thou givest him vaunt,
Things did he hear, which the occasion were
Both of his victory and the papal mantle.
Thither went afterwards the Chosen Vessel,29
To bring back comfort thence unto that Faith,
Which of salvationโs way is the beginning.
But I, why thither come, or who concedes it?
I not Aeneas am, I am not Paul,
Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it.
Therefore, if I resign myself to come,
I fear the coming may be ill-advised;
Thou โrt wise, and knowest better than I speak.โ
And as he is, who unwills what he willed,
And by new thoughts doth his intention change,
So that from his design he quite withdraws,
Such I became, upon that dark hillside,
Because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise,
Which was so very prompt in the beginning.30
โIf I have well thy language understood,โ
Replied that shade of the Magnanimous,
โThy soul attainted is with cowardice,
Which many times a man encumbers so,
It turns him back from honored enterprise,
As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy.
That thou mayst free thee from this apprehension,
Iโll tell thee why I came, and what I heard
At the first moment when I grieved for thee.
Among those was I who are in suspense,31
And a fair, saintly Lady called to me
In such wise, I besought her to command me.
Her eyes where shining brighter than the Star;32
And she began to say, gentle and low,33
With voice angelical, in her own language:
โO spirit courteous of Mantua,
Of whom the fame still in the world endures,
And shall endure, long-lasting as the world;
A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune,
Upon the desert slope is so impeded
Upon his way, that he has turned through terror,
And may, I fear, already be so lost,
That I too late have risen to his succor,
From that which I have heard of him in Heaven.
Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate,34
And with what needful is for his release,
Assist him so, that I may be consoled.
Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go;35
I come from there, where I would fain return;
Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak.
When I shall be in presence of my Lord,
Full often will I praise thee unto him.โ
Then paused she, and thereafter I began:
โO Lady of virtue, thou alone through whom
The human race exceedeth all contained
Within the heaven that has the lesser circles,36
So grateful unto me is thy commandment,
To obey, if โtwere already done, were late;
No farther needโst thou ope to me thy wish.
But the cause tell me why thou dost not shun
The here descending down into this centre,
From the vast place thou burnest to return to.โ37
โSince thou wouldst fain so inwardly discern,
Briefly will I relate,โ she answered me,
โWhy I am not afraid to enter here.
Of those things only should one be afraid
Which have the power of doing others harm;
Of the rest, no; because they are not fearful.
God in his mercy such created me
That misery of yours attains me not,
Nor any flame assails me of this burning.
A gentle Lady is in Heaven, who grieves38
At this impediment, to which I send thee,
So that stern judgment there above is broken.
In her entreaty she besought Lucรฌa,39
And said, โThy faithful one now stands in need
Of thee, and unto thee I recommend him.โ
Lucรฌa, foe of all that cruel is,
Hastened away, and came unto the place
Where I was sitting with the ancient Rachel.40
โBeatriceโ said she, โthe true praise of God,
Why succorest thou not him, who loved thee so,
For thee he issued from the vulgar herd?
Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint?
Dost thou not see the death that combats him
Beside that flood, where ocean has no vaunt?โ41
Never were persons in the world so swift
To work their weal and to escape their woe,
As I, after such words as these were uttered,
Came hither downward from my blessed seat,
Confiding in thy dignified discourse,
Which honors thee, and those whoโve listened to it.โ
After she thus had spoken unto me,
Weeping, her shining eyes she turned away;
Whereby she made me swifter in my coming;
And unto thee I came, as she desired;
I have delivered thee from that wild beast,
Which barred the beautiful mountainโs short ascent.
What is it, then? Why, why dost thou delay?
Why is such baseness bedded in thy heart?
Daring and hardihood why hast thou not,
Seeing that three such Ladies benedight
Are caring for thee in the court of Heaven,
And so much good my speech doth promise thee?โ
Even as the flowerets, by nocturnal chill,42
Bowed down and closed, when the sun whitens them,
Uplift themselves all open on their stems;
Such I became with my exhausted strength,
And such good courage to my heart there coursed,
That I began, like an intrepid person:
โO she compassionate, who succored me,
And courteous thou, who hast obeyed so soon
The words of truth which she addressed to thee!
Thou hast my heart so with desire disposed
To the adventure, with these words of thine,
That to my first intent I have returned.
Now go, for one sole will is in us both,
Thou Leader, and thou Lord, and Master thou.โ
Thus said I to him; and when
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