Dante Alighieri

"The Divine Comedy"

Hell

Halfway through life, I - Dante - got lost in a dense forest. It's scary, wild animals are all around - allegories of vices; nowhere to go. And then a ghost appears, which turned out to be the shadow of my favorite ancient Roman poet Virgil. I ask him for help. He promises to take me from here to the afterlife so that I can see Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. I am ready to follow him.

Yes, but am I capable of such a journey? I hesitated and hesitated. Virgil reproached me, telling me that Beatrice herself (my late beloved) descended to him from Paradise to Hell and asked him to be my guide in wandering through the afterlife. If so, then we must not hesitate, we need determination. Lead me, my teacher and mentor!

Above the entrance to Hell is an inscription that takes away all hope from those who enter. We entered. Here, right behind the entrance, the pitiful souls of those who did not create either good or evil during their lifetime groan. Next is the Acheron River. Through it, the ferocious Charon transports the dead on a boat. We are with them. "But you're not dead!" Charon shouts angrily at me. Virgil subdued him. We swam. From a distance a roar is heard, the wind blows, a flame flashed. I lost my senses...

The first circle of Hell is Limbo. Here the souls of unbaptized babies and glorious pagans languish - warriors, sages, poets (including Virgil). They do not suffer, but only grieve that they, as non-Christians, have no place in Paradise. Virgil and I joined the great poets of antiquity, the first of which was Homer. Gradually walked and talked about the unearthly.

At the descent into the second circle of the underworld, the demon Minos determines which sinner to which place in Hell should be cast down. He reacted to me in the same way as Charon, and Virgil pacified him in the same way. We saw the souls of voluptuaries (Cleopatra, Elena the Beautiful, etc.) carried away by the infernal whirlwind. Francesca is among them, and here she is inseparable from her lover. Immeasurable mutual passion led them to a tragic death. Deeply sympathizing with them, I again fainted.

In the third circle, the bestial dog Cerberus rages. He barked at us, but Virgil subdued him too. Here, lying in the mud, under a heavy downpour, are the souls of those who have sinned with gluttony. Among them is my countryman, the Florentine Chacko. We talked about the fate of our native city. Chacko asked me to remind living people of him when I return to earth.

The demon guarding the fourth circle, where spendthrifts and misers are executed (among the latter there are many clerics - popes, cardinals) - Plutos. Virgil also had to besiege him to get rid of. From the fourth they descended into the fifth circle, where the angry and lazy are tormented, mired in the swamps of the Stygian lowland. We approached a tower.

This is a whole fortress, around it is a vast reservoir, in the canoe is a rower, the demon Phlegius. After another squabble, we sat down to him, we swim. Some sinner tried to cling to the side, I scolded him, and Virgil pushed him away. Before us is the hellish city of Dit. Any dead evil spirits prevents us from entering it. Virgil, leaving me (oh, it's scary to be alone!), went to find out what was the matter, returned worried, but reassured.

And then the infernal furies appeared before us, threatening. A heavenly messenger suddenly appeared and curbed their anger. We entered Dit. Everywhere are tombs engulfed in flames, from which the groans of heretics are heard. On a narrow road we make our way between the tombs.

From one of the tombs, a mighty figure suddenly emerged. This is Farinata, my ancestors were his political opponents. In me, having heard my conversation with Virgil, he guessed from the dialect of the countryman. Proud, he seemed to despise the whole abyss of Hell. We argued with him, and then another head popped out from a nearby tomb: yes, this is the father of my friend Guido! It seemed to him that I was a dead man and that his son had also died, and he fell on his face in despair. Farinata, calm him down; Guido lives!

Near the descent from the sixth circle to the seventh, over the grave of the heretic pope Anastasius, Virgil explained to me the structure of the remaining three circles of Hell, tapering downwards (towards the center of the earth), and what sins are punished in which zone of which circle.

The seventh circle is compressed by mountains and guarded by the half-bull demon Minotaur, who roared menacingly at us. Virgil yelled at him, and we hurried to move away. We saw a blood-boiling stream in which tyrants and robbers boil, and from the shore centaurs shoot at them with bows. Centaur Ness became our guide, told about the executed rapists and helped to ford the boiling river.

Around thorny thickets without greenery. I broke some branch, and black blood flowed from it, and the trunk groaned. It turns out that these bushes are the souls of suicides (rapists over their own flesh). They are pecked by the infernal birds of the Harpy, trampled by the running dead, causing them unbearable pain. One trampled bush asked me to collect the broken branches and return them to him. It turned out that the unfortunate man was my countryman. I complied with his request and we moved on. We see sand, flakes of fire fall on it from above, scorching sinners who scream and groan - all except one: he lies silently. Who is it? The king of Kapanei, a proud and gloomy atheist, slain by the gods for his obstinacy. Even now he is true to himself: either he is silent, or he loudly curses the gods. "You are your own torturer!" Virgil yelled at him...

But towards us, tormented by fire, the souls of new sinners are moving. Among them, I hardly recognized my highly esteemed teacher Brunetto Latini. He is among those who are guilty of a tendency to same-sex love. We started talking. Brunetto predicted that glory awaits me in the world of the living, but there will also be many hardships that must be resisted. The teacher bequeathed to me to take care of his main work, in which he lives, - "Treasure".

And three more sinners (the sin is the same) are dancing in the fire. All Florentines, former respected citizens. I talked to them about the misfortunes of our hometown. They asked me to tell the living countrymen that I saw them. Then Virgil led me to a deep pit in the eighth circle. An infernal beast will bring us down there. He is already climbing to us from there.

This is a motley tailed Geryon. While he prepares to descend, there is still time to look at the last martyrs of the seventh circle - usurers, toiling in a whirlwind of flaming dust. Hanging from their necks are multi-colored purses with different coats of arms. I didn't talk to them. Let's hit the road! We sit down with Virgil astride Geryon and - oh horror! - we are smoothly flying into failure, to new torments. Went down. Gerion immediately flew away.

The eighth circle is divided into ten ditches, called Angry Sinuses. Pimps and seducers of women are executed in the first ditch, and flatterers are executed in the second. Procurers are brutally scourged by horned demons, flatterers sit in a liquid mass of stinking feces - the stench is unbearable. By the way, one whore is punished here not because she fornicated, but because she flattered her lover, saying that she was fine with him.

The next ditch (the third bosom) is lined with stone, full of round holes, from which stick out the burning legs of high-ranking clerics who traded in church positions. Their heads and torsos are clamped by holes in the stone wall. Their successors, when they die, will also jerk their flaming legs in their place, completely squeezing their predecessors into stone. This is how Papa Orsini explained it to me, at first mistaking me for his successor.

Soothsayers, astrologers, sorceresses suffer in the fourth sinus. Their necks are twisted in such a way that, when weeping, they irrigate their backs with tears, not their chests. I myself wept when I saw such a mockery of people, and Virgil shamed me; it's a sin to pity sinners! But he also told me with sympathy about his countrywoman, the soothsayer Manto, after whom Mantua, the birthplace of my glorious mentor, was named.

The fifth ditch is filled with boiling tar, into which the evil-handed devils, black, winged, throw bribe-takers and make sure that they do not stick out, otherwise they will hook the sinner with hooks and finish him off in the most cruel way. The devils have nicknames: Evil-tail, Cross-winged, etc. We will have to go part of the further path in their terrible company. They grimacing, showing tongues, their boss made a deafening obscene sound from behind. I have never heard of this before! We walk with them along the ditch, the sinners dive into the tar - they hide, but one hesitated, and they immediately pulled him out with hooks, intending to torment him, but first they allowed us to talk with him. The poor fellow lulled the vigilance of the Grudgers by cunning and dived back - they did not have time to catch him. Irritated devils fought among themselves, two fell into the tar. In the confusion, we hurried to leave, but no such luck! They fly after us. Virgil, picking me up, barely managed to run across to the sixth bosom, where they are not masters. Here hypocrites languish under the weight of leaden gilded robes. And here is the crucified (nailed to the ground with stakes) Jewish high priest, who insisted on the execution of Christ. He is trampled underfoot by lead-heavy hypocrites.

The transition was difficult: by a rocky path - into the seventh bosom. Thieves live here, bitten by monstrous poisonous snakes. From these bites, they crumble to dust, but are immediately restored to their appearance. Among them is Vanni Fucci, who robbed the sacristy and blamed someone else. A rude and blasphemous man: He sent God away, lifting up two figs. Immediately snakes attacked him (I love them for this). Then I watched how a certain snake merged with one of the thieves, after which it took on its form and stood up, and the thief crawled away, becoming a reptile reptile. Miracles! You will not find such metamorphoses in Ovid either.

Rejoice, Florence: these thieves are your offspring! It's a shame ... And in the eighth ditch live insidious advisers. Among them is Ulysses (Odysseus), his soul imprisoned in a flame that can speak! So, we heard the story of Ulysses about his death: thirsty to know the unknown, he sailed with a handful of daredevils to the other side of the world, suffered a shipwreck and, together with his friends, drowned away from the world inhabited by people.

Another talking flame, in which the soul of a crafty adviser who did not identify himself by name, is hidden, told me about his sin: this adviser helped the Pope in one unrighteous deed - counting on the fact that the pope would forgive him his sin. Heaven is more tolerant of the simple-hearted sinner than of those who hope to be saved by repentance. We crossed into the ninth ditch, where the sowers of unrest are executed.

Here they are, the instigators of bloody strife and religious unrest. The devil will maim them with a heavy sword, cut off their noses and ears, crush their skulls. Here is Mohammed, and Curio, who encouraged Caesar to civil war, and the beheaded troubadour warrior Bertrand de Born (he carries his head in his hand like a lantern, and she exclaims: “Woe!”).

Next, I met my relative, angry with me because his violent death remained unavenged. Then we moved on to the tenth ditch, where the alchemists suffer from an eternal itch. One of them was burned because he jokingly boasted that he could fly - he became a victim of a denunciation. He ended up in Hell not for this, but as an alchemist. Here, those who pretended to be other people, counterfeiters and liars in general are executed. Two of them fought among themselves and then quarreled for a long time (master Adam, who mixed copper into gold coins, and ancient greek Sinon, who deceived the Trojans). Virgil rebuked me for the curiosity with which I listened to them.

Our journey through the Spitefuls is coming to an end. We came to the well leading from the eighth circle of Hell to the ninth. There are ancient giants, titans. Among them are Nimrod, who angrily shouted something to us in an incomprehensible language, and Antaeus, who, at the request of Virgil, lowered us to the bottom of the well on his huge palm, and he immediately straightened up.

So, we are at the bottom of the universe, near the center of the globe. Before us is an icy lake, those who betrayed their relatives froze into it. I accidentally kicked one of them on the head, he yelled, but refused to name himself. Then I grabbed his hair, and then someone called his name. Scoundrel, now I know who you are, and I will tell people about you! And he: “Lie whatever you want, about me and about others!” And here is the ice pit, in which one dead man gnaws the skull of another. I ask: for what? Looking up from his victim, he answered me. He, Count Ugolino, takes revenge on his former associate, Archbishop Ruggieri, who betrayed him, who starved him and his children, imprisoning them in the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Their suffering was unbearable, the children were dying in front of their father, he was the last to die. Shame on Pisa! Let's go further. And who is in front of us? Alberigo? But he, as far as I know, did not die, so how did he end up in Hell? It also happens: the body of the villain still lives, but the soul is already in the underworld.

In the center of the earth, the ruler of Hell, Lucifer, frozen into ice, cast down from heaven and hollowed out the abyss of hell in his fall, disfigured, three-faced. From his first mouth Judas sticks out, from the second Brutus, from the third Cassius, He chews them and torments them with claws. Worst of all is the most vile traitor - Judas. A well stretches from Lucifer, leading to the surface of the opposite earth hemisphere. We squeezed into it, rose to the surface and saw the stars.

Purgatory

May the Muses help me to sing the second kingdom! His guard Elder Cato met us unfriendly: who are they? how dare you come here? Virgil explained and, wishing to propitiate Cato, spoke warmly about his wife Marcia. Why is Marcia here? Go to the seashore, you need to wash! We are going. Here it is, the sea distance. And in the coastal grasses - abundant dew. With it Virgil washed away the soot of abandoned Hell from my face.

A boat controlled by an angel is sailing towards us from the distance of the sea. It contains the souls of the dead, who were lucky enough not to go to Hell. They moored, went ashore, and the angel swam away. The shadows of the arrivals crowded around us, and in one I recognized my friend, the singer Cosella. I wanted to hug him, but the shadow is incorporeal - I hugged myself. Cosella, at my request, sang about love, everyone listened, but then Cato appeared, shouted at everyone (they didn’t do business!), And we hurried to the Mount of Purgatory.

Virgil was dissatisfied with himself: he gave a reason to shout at himself ... Now we need to scout the upcoming road. Let's see where the arriving shadows go. And they themselves have just noticed that I am not a shadow: I do not let light pass through me. Surprised. Virgil explained everything to them. “Come with us,” they invited.

So, we hasten to the foot of the purgatory mountain. But is everyone in a hurry, is everyone really impatient? There, near a large stone, there is a group of people who are not in a hurry to climb up: they say, they will have time; climb the one who itchs. Among these sloths I recognized my friend Belacqua. It is pleasant to see that he, and in life the enemy of any haste, is true to himself.

In the foothills of Purgatory, I had the opportunity to communicate with the shadows of the victims of violent death. Many of them were fair sinners, but, saying goodbye to life, they managed to sincerely repent and therefore did not go to Hell. Such a vexation for the devil, who has lost his prey! However, he found how to win back: not having gained power over the soul of a repentant dead sinner, he outraged his murdered body.

Not far from all this, we saw the regal and majestic shadow of Sordello. He and Virgil, recognizing each other as fellow countryman poets (Mantuans), embraced brotherly. Here is an example for you, Italy, a dirty brothel, where the bonds of brotherhood are completely broken! Especially you, my Florence, are good, you won’t say anything ... Wake up, look at yourself ...

Sordello agrees to be our guide to Purgatory. It is a great honor for him to help the highly esteemed Virgil. Conversing sedately, we approached a flowering fragrant valley, where, preparing for the night, the shadows of high-ranking persons - European sovereigns - settled down. We watched them from afar, listening to their consonant singing.

The evening hour has come, when desires draw those who have sailed back to their loved ones, and you remember the bitter moment of farewell; when sadness dominates the pilgrim and he hears how a distant chime cries bitterly about the day of irretrievable... An insidious serpent of temptation crawled into the valley of rest of earthly rulers, but the angels who arrived expelled it.

I lay down on the grass, fell asleep, and in my dream was transferred to the gates of Purgatory. The angel guarding them inscribed on my forehead seven times the same letter - the first in the word "sin" (seven deadly sins; these letters will be erased from my forehead one by one as we ascend the mountain of purgatory). We entered the second realm of the afterlife, the gates closed behind us.

The ascent has begun. We are in the first circle of Purgatory, where the proud atone for their sin. To shame pride, statues were erected here, embodying the idea of ​​a high feat - humility. And here are the shadows of the arrogant being cleansed: unbending during life, here, as a punishment for their sin, they bend under the weight of the stone blocks heaped on them.

"Our Father ..." - this prayer was sung by the bent and proud. Among them is the miniaturist Oderiz, who during his lifetime boasted of his loud fame. Now, he says, he realized that there is nothing to boast about: everyone is equal in the face of death - both the decrepit old man and the baby murmuring “yum-yum”, and glory comes and goes. The sooner you understand this and find the strength in yourself to curb your pride, to humble yourself, the better.

Under our feet we have bas-reliefs depicting scenes of punished pride: Lucifer and Briares cast down from heaven, King Saul, Holofernes and others. Our stay in the first round is coming to an end. The angel who appeared wiped one of the seven letters off my forehead as a sign that I had overcome the sin of pride. Virgil smiled at me.

We went up to the second round. There are envious people here, they are temporarily blinded, their former "envious" eyes do not see anything. Here is a woman who, out of envy, wished harm to her countrymen and rejoiced in their failures ... In this circle, after death, I will not be cleansed for long, because I rarely and few people envied. But in the past circle of proud people - probably for a long time.

Here they are, blinded sinners whose blood once burned with envy. In the silence, the words of the first envious person, Cain, sounded thunderous: “The one who meets me will kill me!” In fear, I clung to Virgil, and the wise leader told me bitter words that the highest eternal light is inaccessible to envious people who are carried away by earthly lures.

Passed the second round. Again an angel appeared to us, and now only five letters remained on my forehead, which I have to get rid of in the future. We are in the third round. A cruel vision of human fury flashed before our eyes (the crowd stoned a meek youth with stones). In this circle, those possessed by anger are purified.

Even in the darkness of Hell there was no such black haze as in this circle, where the fury of the angry is subdued. One of them, the Lombard Marco, talked to me and expressed the idea that everything that happens in the world cannot be understood as a consequence of the activity of higher heavenly powers: this would mean denying the freedom of human will and removing from a person responsibility for what he has done.

Reader, have you ever wandered in the mountains on a foggy evening, when the sun is almost invisible? That's how we are… I felt the touch of an angel's wing on my forehead — another letter was erased. We climbed to the fourth circle, illuminated by the last ray of sunset. Here the lazy ones are cleansed, whose love for the good was slow.

Sloths here must run swiftly, not allowing any indulgence in their lifetime sin. Let them be inspired by the examples of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, as you know, had to hurry, or Caesar with his amazing quickness. They ran past us and disappeared. I want to sleep. I sleep and dream...

I dreamed of a disgusting woman, who turned into a beauty before my eyes, who was immediately put to shame and turned into an even worse ugly woman (here she is, the imaginary attractiveness of vice!). Another letter disappeared from my forehead: I, therefore, defeated such a vice as laziness. We rise to the fifth circle - to the misers and spenders.

Avarice, greed, greed for gold are disgusting vices. Molten gold was once poured down the throat of one obsessed with greed: drink to your health! I don't feel comfortable being surrounded by misers, and then there was an earthquake. From what? Due to my ignorance, I don't know...

It turned out that the shaking of the mountain was caused by jubilation over the fact that one of the souls was cleansed and ready for ascent: this is the Roman poet Statius, an admirer of Virgil, who was delighted that from now on he will accompany us on the path to the purgatory peak.

Another letter, denoting the sin of avarice, was erased from my forehead. By the way, was Statius, languishing in the fifth round, stingy? On the contrary, it is wasteful, but these two extremes are punished jointly. Now we are in the sixth circle, where gluttons are cleansed. Here it would not be bad to remember that gluttony was not characteristic of Christian ascetics.

Former gluttons are destined to the pangs of hunger: emaciated, skin and bones. Among them I found my late friend and countryman Forese. They talked about their own, scolded Florence, Forese condemningly spoke about the dissolute ladies of this city. I told my friend about Virgil and my hopes of seeing my beloved Beatrice in the afterlife.

With one of the gluttons former poet old school, I had a conversation about literature. He acknowledged that my like-minded supporters of the "new sweet style" had achieved love poetry much more than he himself and the masters close to him. Meanwhile, the penultimate letter has been erased from my forehead, and the path to the highest, seventh circle of Purgatory is open to me.

And I still remember the thin, hungry gluttons: how did they become so emaciated? After all, these are shadows, not bodies, and they would not have to starve. Virgil explained that the shadows, although incorporeal, exactly repeat the outlines of the implied bodies (which would lose weight without food). Here, in the seventh circle, the voluptuaries scorched by fire are purified. They burn, sing and praise examples of temperance and chastity.

The voluptuaries engulfed in flames were divided into two groups: those who indulged in same-sex love and those who did not know the limits in bisexual intercourse. Among the latter are the poets Guido Guinicelli and the Provençal Arnald, who greeted us exquisitely in his own dialect.

And now we ourselves have to go through the wall of fire. I was scared, but my mentor said that this is the path to Beatrice (to the Earthly Paradise, located on the top of the mountain of purgatory). And so the three of us (Statius with us) go, scorched by the flames. We passed, we move on, it is getting dark, we stopped to rest, I slept; and when I woke up, Virgil turned to me with last word parting words and approval, Everything, from now on he will be silent ...

We are in earthly paradise, in a blooming grove resounding with the chirping of birds. I saw a beautiful donna singing and picking flowers. She said that there was a golden age here, innocence shone, but then, among these flowers and fruits, the happiness of the first people was destroyed in sin. When I heard this, I looked at Virgil and Statius: they were both smiling blissfully.

Oh Eve! It was so good here, you ruined everything with your daring! Live fires float past us, righteous elders in snow-white robes, crowned with roses and lilies, march under them, wonderful beauties dance. I couldn't get enough of this amazing picture. And suddenly I saw her - the one I love. Shocked, I made an involuntary movement, as if trying to cling to Virgil. But he disappeared, my father and savior! I sobbed. “Dante, Virgil is not coming back. But you don't have to cry for him. Look at me, it's me, Beatrice! And how did you get here? she asked angrily. Then a voice asked her why she was so strict with me. She replied that I, seduced by the lure of pleasures, had been unfaithful to her after her death. Do I plead guilty? Oh yes, tears of shame and remorse choke me, I lowered my head. "Raise your beard!" she said sharply, not ordering her to take her eyes off her. I lost my senses, and woke up immersed in Oblivion - a river that grants oblivion of committed sins. Beatrice, look now at the one who is so devoted to you and so eager for you. After a ten-year separation, I looked into her eyes, and my vision was temporarily dimmed by their dazzling brilliance. Having regained my sight, I saw a lot of beauty in the Earthly Paradise, but suddenly all this was replaced by cruel visions: monsters, desecration of the shrine, debauchery.

Beatrice grieved deeply, realizing how much evil lies in these visions revealed to us, but she expressed her confidence that the forces of good will ultimately defeat evil. We approached the river Evnoe, drinking from which you strengthen the memory of the good you have done. Statius and I bathed in this river. sip it sweetest water gave me new energy. Now I am pure and worthy to climb the stars.

Paradise

From the Earthly Paradise, Beatrice and I will fly together to the Heavenly, to heights inaccessible to the comprehension of mortals. I did not notice how they took off, looking at the sun. Am I, staying alive, capable of this? However, Beatrice was not surprised by this: a purified person is spiritual, and a spirit not burdened with sins is lighter than ether.

Friends, let's part here - do not read further: you will be lost in the vastness of the incomprehensible! But if you are insatiably hungry for spiritual food, then go ahead, follow me! We are in the first sky of Paradise - in the sky of the Moon, which Beatrice called the first star; plunged into its bowels, although it is difficult to imagine a force capable of containing one closed body (which I am) into another closed body (the Moon).

In the bowels of the moon, we met the souls of nuns kidnapped from monasteries and forcibly married. Through no fault of their own, they did not keep the vow of virginity given during the tonsure, and therefore the higher heavens are inaccessible to them. Do they regret it? Oh no! To regret would mean not to agree with the highest righteous will.

And yet I wonder: why are they to blame, submitting to violence? Why can't they rise above the sphere of the Moon? Blame the rapist, not the victim! But Beatrice explained that the victim also bears a certain responsibility for the violence committed against her, if, in resisting, she did not show heroic fortitude.

Failure to fulfill a vow, Beatrice argues, is almost irreparable by good deeds (there is too much to do to atone for guilt). We flew to the second heaven of Paradise - to Mercury. Here dwell the souls of the ambitious righteous. These are no longer shadows, unlike the previous inhabitants. afterlife, and the lights: shine and radiate. One of them flared up especially brightly, rejoicing in communication with me. It turned out that this was the Roman emperor, legislator Justinian. He is aware that being in the sphere of Mercury (and not higher) is the limit for him, because the ambitious, doing good deeds for their own glory (that is, loving themselves first of all), missed the ray true love to the deity.

The light of Justinian merged with the dance of lights - other righteous souls. I thought, and the course of my thoughts led me to the question: why did God the Father sacrifice his son? It was possible just like that, by the supreme will, to forgive people the sin of Adam! Beatrice explained: the highest justice demanded that humanity itself atone for its guilt. It is incapable of this, and it was necessary to impregnate an earthly woman so that the son (Christ), combining the human with the divine, could do this.

We flew to the third heaven - to Venus, where the souls of the loving ones bliss, shining in the fiery depths of this star. One of these spirit-lights is the Hungarian king Karl Martel, who, speaking to me, expressed the idea that a person can realize his abilities only by acting in a field that meets the needs of his nature: it’s bad if a born warrior becomes a priest ...

Sweet is the radiance of other loving souls. How much blessed light, heavenly laughter is here! And below (in Hell) the shadows thickened gloomily and gloomily... One of the lights spoke to me (troubadour Folco) - he condemned church authorities, self-serving popes and cardinals. Florence is the city of the devil. But nothing, he believes, it will get better soon.

The fourth star is the Sun, the abode of the sages. Here shines the spirit of the great theologian Thomas Aquinas. He joyfully greeted me, showed me other sages. Their consonant singing reminded me of church evangelism.

Thomas told me about Francis of Assisi, the second (after Christ) wife of Poverty. Following his example, the monks, including his closest students, began to walk barefoot. He lived a holy life and died naked man on bare earth - in the bosom of Poverty.

Not only I, but also the lights - the spirits of the sages - listened to the speech of Thomas, stopping singing and dancing. Then the Franciscan Bonaventure took the floor. In response to the praise given to his teacher by the Dominican Thomas, he glorified Thomas' teacher, Dominic, a farmer and servant of Christ. Who now continued his work? There are none worthy.

And again Thomas took the floor. He talks about the great virtues of King Solomon: he asked God for intelligence, wisdom - not to solve theological issues, but to reasonably rule the people, that is, royal wisdom, which was granted to him. People, do not judge each other hastily! This one is busy with a good deed, the other with an evil one, but what if the first falls and the second rises?

What will happen to the inhabitants of the Sun on the Day of Judgment, when the spirits become flesh? They are so bright and spiritual that it is difficult to imagine them materialized. Our stay here is over, we flew to the fifth heaven - to Mars, where the sparkling spirits of warriors for the faith settled down in the shape of a cross and a sweet hymn sounds.

One of the lights that form this marvelous cross, without going beyond its limits, moved downwards, closer to me. This is the spirit of my valiant great-great-grandfather, the warrior Kachchagvida. He greeted me and praised the glorious time in which he lived on earth and which, alas! - passed, replaced by a worse time.

I am proud of my ancestor, my origin (it turns out that one can experience such a feeling not only on a vain earth, but also in Paradise!). Cacchagvida told me about himself and about his ancestors, born in Florence, whose coat of arms - a white lily - is now stained with blood.

I want to learn from him, a clairvoyant, about my future fate. What lies ahead for me? He replied that I would be expelled from Florence, that in my joyless wanderings I would know the bitterness of someone else's bread and the steepness of someone else's stairs. To my credit, I will not associate with impure political factions, but I will become my own party. In the end, my opponents will be put to shame, and a triumph awaits me.

Cacchagvida and Beatrice encouraged me. Ended up on Mars. Now - from the fifth heaven to the sixth, from the red Mars to the white Jupiter, where the souls of the just hover. Their lights are formed into letters, into letters - first into a call for justice, and then into the figure of an eagle, a symbol of the just imperial power, unknown, sinful, suffering earth, but affirmed in heaven.

This majestic eagle entered into a conversation with me. He calls himself “I”, but I hear “we” (just power is collegial!). He understands what I myself cannot understand: why is Paradise open only to Christians? What is wrong with a virtuous Hindu who does not know Christ at all? So I don't understand. And even that is true, the eagle admits, that a bad Christian is worse than a glorious Persian or Ethiopian.

The eagle personifies the idea of ​​justice, and its main thing is not claws or a beak, but an all-seeing eye, made up of the most worthy light-spirits. The pupil is the soul of the king and the psalmist David, the souls of the pre-Christian righteous shine in the eyelashes (and I just blunderedly talked about Paradise “only for Christians”? That's how to give vent to doubts!).

We ascended to the seventh heaven - to Saturn. This is the abode of contemplators. Beatrice has become even more beautiful and brighter. She did not smile at me - otherwise she would have completely incinerated me and blinded me. The blessed spirits of the contemplators were silent, did not sing - otherwise they would have deafened me. This was told to me by the sacred torch, the theologian Pietro Damiano.

The spirit of Benedict, after whom one of the monastic orders is named, angrily condemned the modern self-serving monks. After listening to him, we rushed to the eighth heaven, to the constellation of Gemini, under which I was born, saw the sun for the first time and breathed in the air of Tuscany. From its height, I looked down, and my gaze, passing through the seven heavenly spheres we visited, fell on a ridiculously small earthly ball, this handful of dust with all its rivers and mountain steeps.

Thousands of fires are burning in the eighth heaven - these are the triumphant spirits of the great righteous. Intoxicated by them, my vision has increased, and now even Beatrice's smile will not blind me. She smiled wonderfully at me and again prompted me to turn my eyes to the radiant spirits who sang a hymn to the queen of heaven - the holy virgin Mary.

Beatrice asked the apostles to talk to me. To what extent have I penetrated the mysteries of sacred truths? The Apostle Peter asked me about the essence of faith. My answer: faith is an argument in favor of the invisible; mortals cannot see with their own eyes what is revealed here in Paradise—but let them believe in a miracle, having no visual evidence of its truth. Peter was satisfied with my answer.

Will I, the author of the sacred poem, see my homeland? Will I be crowned with laurels where I was baptized? The apostle James asked me about the essence of hope. My answer is: hope is the expectation of a future well-deserved and God-given glory. Delighted, Jacob lit up.

Next up is the question of love. The apostle John gave it to me. Answering, I did not forget to say that love turns us to God, to the word of truth. Everyone rejoiced. The exam (what is Faith, Hope, Love?) was successfully completed. I saw the radiant soul of our forefather Adam, who lived for a short time in the Earthly Paradise, expelled from there to earth; after the death of long languishing in Limbo; then moved here.

Four lights blaze before me: the three apostles and Adam. Suddenly Peter turned purple and exclaimed: “My earthly throne has been seized, my throne, my throne!” Peter hates his successor, the pope. And it is time for us to part with the eighth heaven and ascend to the ninth, supreme and crystal. With unearthly joy, laughing, Beatrice threw me at & nb

Hell

My name is Dante. Once I got lost in the forest and began to ask for help from the ghost of the poet Virgil who appeared. After he told me that my beloved, the now deceased Beatrice, asked him to guide me through the afterlife, I decided to go. We entered Hell, where I heard the groaning of the souls of people in life, who did not do good and evil. Dul strong wind, there was a roar, flames sparkled.

Limbo is the first circle of Hell, in which the souls of unbaptized babies, pagans, are located. These souls do not suffer, but only grieve that they did not find a place in Paradise. Before the descent into the second circle stands the demon Minos, who decides where in Hell it is necessary to determine the sinner. The third circle collected souls who, during their lifetime, sinned by overeating and were guarded by Cerberus.

Plutos is the demon who was responsible for the fourth circle. Spoilers and misers were punished here, among them were popes, cardinals. The fifth circle is for the evil and lazy. In the sixth circle, the tombs of the heretics burned.

The seventh circle was guarded by the half-bull demon Minotaur. I saw rapists, tyrants and robbers boiling in a boiling river. We were surrounded by thorny bushes, as it turned out, these were the souls of suicides.

The eighth circle was divided into nine ditches. The first is for pimps and seducers of women. The second ditch is for flatterers who were in the liquid mass of feces. The third ditch for the torture of high-ranking confessors who traded in church positions. The fourth ditch (bosom) is intended for the punishment of witches, soothsayers, astrologers. The fifth moat with boiling tar, where the devils threw the bribe-takers. In the sixth bosom we met the hypocrites. When I got into the seventh ditch, I saw how thieves were punished with poisonous snakes. The eighth ditch for the punishment of treacherous advisers. Sowers of unrest were executed in the ninth bosom. They cut off their noses, ears, broke their skulls. We have crossed into the tenth ditch, reserved for alchemists, counterfeiters, and liars.

In the ninth circle of Hell, there was an icy lake, in which the souls who betrayed their relatives froze.

Lucifer, the ruler of Hell, is frozen in the center of the earth. Judas stuck out in his first mouth, Brutus in another, and Cassius in the third.

Purgatory

In Purgatory, I conversed with the shadows of victims of violent death. They did not end up in Hell because they had time to repent before they died.

In the first circle of Purgatory, the proud atoned for their sins, singing the prayer “Our Father ... The second circle gathered envious people. The third circle is for sinners who have been cleansed of their anger. The fourth circle is for the purification of the lazy, who during life were in no hurry to reach for the good. The fifth circle is a gathering of misers and spendthrifts who were obsessed with such vices as greed, greed for gold.

The sixth circle for the purification of gluttons. Having passed it, we are on our way to the seventh circle of Purgatory, the highest circle. Here the voluptuaries undergo purification by fire. In order to get to Paradise, we also had to go through a wall of fire.

In Paradise, I heard the beautiful chirping of birds, and before us stretched a grove, all in flowers. I admired everything that surrounded me. Elders in white robes passed by. And here she is before me - my beloved Beatrice. With her appearance, my guide Virgil disappeared.

Paradise

From the Earthly Paradise, my beloved and I flew to the heavenly heights. The first heaven of Paradise is the Moon. Here we met the souls of nuns who, against their will, did not keep the vow of virginity and were forcibly married. In the second heaven of Paradise - Mercury, the souls of the righteous gathered, they shone and radiated light. Venus is the third heaven of paradise. Here dwell the souls of the loving.

The fourth Star is the Sun, it united the sages. The fifth heaven is Mars. Here the spirits of the warriors gathered, and the sound of a hymn was heard. From Mars we flew to Jupiter, the sixth heaven. Here dwell the souls of the righteous. Then we flew to the seventh heaven, where the contemplatives lived. The eighth heaven is the constellation Gemini and the abode for the spirits of the righteous. Then Biatrice lifted me up to the ninth heaven, supreme and crystal.

The plot of the work revolves around the protagonist Dante, who, at the age of 35, by the will of fate, ended up in a terrible forest in 1300. There he meets the spirit of a popular poet ancient rome Virgil, who gives the word to the hero to lead him to Paradise through the gates of Hell and Purgatory. Dante trusts his companion and therefore agrees to travel to another world.

The journey begins at the gates of Hell. Dante sees in front of the gate the souls of miserable people who have done neither good nor bad deeds. Further, circles of hell appear in front of the heroes. There are only nine of them.

Circle 1 is called limbo, the souls of unbaptized babies and those who have not committed bad deeds live here. Wise men belong to this group of people: Socrates, Virgil.

The 2nd circle is reserved for libertines, and it is under the protection of Minos. Here is the soul of Cleopatra and Francesca.

Circle 3 is for gluttons and ate. The entrance is guarded scary dog Cerberus, which has three heads instead of one. In this place, it almost always rains heavily, and the souls constantly take mud baths. Here Dante met his friend Chacko, who took the word from the poet that he would remind him on earth.

The 4th circle is for the greedy, petty and embezzlers, many of them were priests in a past life. There is a circle along the security Plutos.

Circle 5 is reserved for envious people and those who experience anger.

The 6th circle is for heretics. It is located near the hellish city of Dita, around which there was a reservoir.

Circle 7 is reserved for suicides, pawnbrokers, blasphemers, criminals. When Dante accidentally touched a branch of a plant, groans were heard from this side. The fact is that these are the souls of suicides that torment the Harpies, while delivering them intolerable pain. The Minotaur guards this circle. The centaurs fired arrows at the sinners. New sinners were brought to the circle. Among them was the teacher of the poet Brunetto Latini, who was accused of same-sex sexual relations. He asked Dante to save him famous work"Treasure". Brunetto predicted great fame for his student. Not far from him were 3 more sinners who were accused for the same reason. In a past life, they were respected Florentines. The unknown beast Geryon helped us to descend into the eighth circle. Heroes smoothly flew down.

8 circle - for two-faced, seducers, swindlers, pimps, sectarians. It includes 10 ditches, referred to as Spitefuls.

In the first bosom, the lecherous of the fair sex are tested, and in the second - toadies, who sit in a stinking mass - metabolic products. But the wicked are tormented by evil demons.

In the third bosom, the lower limbs of the clergy who sold church positions stick out. The head and the rest of the body are compressed by hard blocks. They will completely sink into the stones after their successors fall into this ditch.

In the fourth ditch, the execution of witches, fortune-tellers takes place. Their necks are twisted. It's a pitiful sight. Even Dante began to feel sorry for these people.

In the fifth ditch completely in burning pitch. Bribers are suffering here. They are tossed in turn into the boiling mixture by the devils of the Gritty. Dante and Virgil had to go on with these devils. They behaved nicely. The boss generally did such a thing that the travelers were simply shocked by his behavior. A terribly loud sound was heard from his anus, which frightened the poet and Virgil. One sinner floated out of the resin, they wanted to grab him with hooks, but at first they were allowed to talk with the heroes. He cheated and quickly dived back. The two devils started fighting because of this. Dante and his friend barely had time to "make legs" in the next bosom.

In the seventh bosom, thieves are punished, who are bitten by their venom of snakes.

And in the eighth sinus are tricky advisers.

In the ninth - there are leaders of uprisings, riots. The devil crushes their skulls into small pieces.

The 9th circle is for the souls of traitors. In this circle there is an icy lake, where those who have previously betrayed their closest people are completely immersed in their whole body. At the head of all circles, in the very center, stands the leader of the other world, Lucifer.

After a long journey through all the circles of hell, the heroes saw the stars.

Purgatory

Dante and his companion approached Purgatory. Here they were met not very friendly by the old guard Cato, who sent the guests to the sea to wash. Travelers are on their way to the water, where Virgil washes his friend's face from the dirt of the other world. At this moment, a boat sails up to the satellites, which is controlled by an angel. The angel wrote on the forehead of the poet's head 7 letters "G", which meant "sin". Climbing the Mount of Purgatory, every sin will be erased. In the boat were the souls of the dead, who were lucky and they did not end up in hell. Dante recognized one soul, it was his friend Cosella, who, at the request of the hero, sang a beautiful song about love. The sweet atmosphere was broken by an angry Cato, who appeared and scolded everyone.

The companions headed towards the Mount of Purgatory. On the way to the mountain, Dante met another friend of the poet Sordello. He agreed to lead the travelers to Purgatory.

In the 1st circle, the know-it-alls and the askers are cleansed of their sins. They hold on to huge concrete blocks.

In the 2nd circle, envious souls atone for their sins. They have no vision, they are deprived of this sensory feeling.

In the 3rd circle - souls engulfed in anger. There was darkness around here, which humbled their anger.

In the 4th circle - lazy people who are required to run very fast.

In the 5th round, greedy and wasteful souls are cleansed.

In the 6th circle, gluttons and eaters, who are subjected to hunger pangs, atone for their sin.

Here is the final circle and one letter on the travelers' foreheads.

In the 7th circle, the lecherous who praise temperance and chastity are cleansed.

Dante passed through the fiery wall and ended up in Heaven-Earth.

Paradise

Paradise was in flowering plants. It was very beautiful there. Peace and tranquility prevailed. Old men and young people walked in white robes, with wreaths on their heads, made of beautiful flowers. Here Dante met his beloved, who washed him with a magical river. The poet immediately felt a surge of strength and remembered all his good deeds. Dante was cleansed of sins and was ready to fly with his beloved to Paradise-Heavenly.

The 1st heaven of Paradise is on the Moon. There were the souls of nuns who were not given in marriage of their own free will.

The 2nd heaven is near Mercury. Here the souls of holy people shine.

3rd heaven - on Venus, the souls of friendly people enjoy.

4th heaven - Sun. Here are the souls of the sages. Next - Mars and Jupiter, where souls live fair people. Their souls unite and create the image of an eagle, which symbolizes justice.

The eagle began to talk with the poet. The bird has wonderful eyesight, its eye is replaced by the most reliable lights.

7th heaven is on Saturn. This is the habitat of the observers. Dante looked down and saw a tiny ball - the planet Earth.

The 8th heaven is illuminated by the souls of the most holy people. Dante talked with the apostle Peter and John. Their conversation was about faith, about great feelings.

The very last, supreme ninth heaven.

The first thing the poet drew attention to was the brightest point, which symbolizes the deity. The rings rotate around this point. Close to the deity angels and archangels.

Then they ascended to the Empyrean - the highest region of the Galaxy. Here he saw Bernard, his mentor, pointing up. Dante, together with his mentor, began to admire the beautiful rose of the Empyrean, where the souls of innocent babies shone. Looking up, the poet saw the supreme deity.

Picture or drawing of Dante - The Divine Comedy

Other retellings for the reader's diary

• Summary of the Breadwinner Mamin-Sibiryak

  The work shows the poor and hopeless life of the Piskunov family. The breadwinner-father died, this deprived the mother of the family of the opportunity to engage in spinning - there was no money.

• Summary Prishvin's Blue Dragonfly
• Summary Boy and Lynx Seton-Thompson

  We are talking about a broken old willow due to a strong whirlwind, in which an adult lynx settled. There she prepared a place for her future children. She was in poor health. The bad weather favored them for foraging.

• Summary of The Legend of Robin Hood
• Summary of Zhitkov Stray cat

  The book tells about a man who lived on the seashore. He went fishing every day. His house was guarded big dog, whose name was Ryabka. He often talked to the dog. And she understood him

He could not call his work a tragedy only because those, like all genres of "high literature", were written in Latin. Dante wrote it in his native Italian. The Divine Comedy is the fruit of the entire second half of Dante's life and work. In this work, the worldview of the poet was reflected with the greatest completeness. Dante appears here as the last great poet of the Middle Ages, a poet who continues the line of development of feudal literature.

Editions

Translations into Russian

• A. S. Norova, “An excerpt from the 3rd song of the poem Hell” (“Son of the Fatherland”, 1823, No. 30);
• F. Fan-Dim, "Hell", translated from Italian (St. Petersburg, 1842-48; prose);
• D. E. Min "Hell", translation in the size of the original (Moscow, 1856);
• D. E. Min, "The First Song of Purgatory" ("Russian Vest.", 1865, 9);
• V. A. Petrova, “The Divine Comedy” (translated with Italian words, St. Petersburg, 1871, 3rd edition 1872; translated only “Hell”);
• D. Minaev, "The Divine Comedy" (Lpts. and St. Petersburg. 1874, 1875, 1876, 1879, translated not from the original, in terts);
• P. I. Weinberg, “Hell”, song 3, “Vestn. Evr.", 1875, No. 5);
• Golovanov N. N., "The Divine Comedy" (1899-1902);
• M. L. Lozinsky, "The Divine Comedy" (, Stalin Prize);
• A. A. Ilyushin (created in the 1980s, first partial publication in 1988, full edition in 1995);
• V. S. Lemport, The Divine Comedy (1996-1997);
• V. G. Marantsman, (St. Petersburg, 2006).

Structure

The Divine Comedy is extremely symmetrical. It is divided into three parts: the first part ("Hell") consists of 34 songs, the second ("Purgatory") and the third ("Paradise") - 33 songs each. The first part consists of two introductory songs and 32 describing hell, since there can be no harmony in it. The poem is written in tertsina - stanzas, consisting of three lines. This tendency to certain numbers is explained by the fact that Dante gave them a mystical interpretation - so the number 3 is associated with the Christian idea of ​​​​the Trinity, the number 33 should remind you of the years of the earthly life of Jesus Christ, etc. There are 100 songs in the Divine Comedy (the number 100 is a symbol of perfection).

Plot

Dante's meeting with Virgil and the beginning of their journey through the underworld (medieval miniature)

According to Catholic tradition, the afterlife consists of hell where forever condemned sinners go, purgatory- the places of residence of sinners atoning for their sins, and Raya- the abode of the blessed.

Dante details this representation and describes the device of the afterlife, fixing all the details of its architectonics with graphic certainty. In the opening song, Dante tells how he, having reached the middle life path, once got lost in a dense forest and, like the poet Virgil, having saved him from three wild animals that blocked his path, invited Dante to make a journey through the afterlife. Upon learning that Virgil had been sent to Beatrice, dead lover Dante, he surrenders without trepidation to the leadership of the poet.

Hell

Hell looks like a colossal funnel, consisting of concentric circles, the narrow end of which rests on the center of the earth. Having passed the threshold of hell, inhabited by the souls of insignificant, indecisive people, they enter the first circle of hell, the so-called limbo (A., IV, 25-151), where the souls of virtuous pagans reside, who did not know the true God, but who approached this knowledge and beyond then delivered from hellish torments. Here Dante sees prominent representatives ancient culture- Aristotle, Euripides, Homer, etc. The next circle is filled with the souls of people who once indulged in unbridled passion. Among those carried by a wild whirlwind, Dante sees Francesca da Rimini and her beloved Paolo, fallen victim forbidden love for each other. As Dante, accompanied by Virgil, descends lower and lower, he becomes a witness to the torment of gluttons, forced to suffer from rain and hail, misers and spendthrifts, tirelessly rolling huge stones, angry, bogged down in a swamp. They are followed by heretics and heresiarchs engulfed in eternal flames (among them Emperor Frederick II, Pope Anastasius II), tyrants and murderers swimming in streams of boiling blood, suicides turned into plants, blasphemers and rapists burned by falling flames, deceivers of all kinds, torments which are very varied. Finally, Dante enters the last, 9th circle of hell, intended for the most terrible criminals. Here is the abode of traitors and traitors, of which the greatest are Judas Iscariot, Brutus and Cassius, they are gnawed with their three mouths by Lucifer, an angel who once rebelled against God, the king of evil, doomed to imprisonment in the center of the earth. The description of the terrible appearance of Lucifer ends the last song of the first part of the poem.

Purgatory

Purgatory

Having passed a narrow corridor connecting the center of the earth with the second hemisphere, Dante and Virgil come to the surface of the earth. There, in the middle of the island surrounded by the ocean, a mountain rises in the form of a truncated cone - purgatory, like hell, consisting of a series of circles that narrow as they approach the top of the mountain. The angel guarding the entrance to purgatory lets Dante into the first circle of purgatory, having previously drawn seven P (Peccatum - sin) on his forehead with a sword, that is, a symbol of the seven deadly sins. As Dante rises higher and higher, bypassing one circle after another, these letters disappear, so that when Dante, having reached the top of the mountain, enters the "earthly paradise" located on the top of the latter, he is already free from the signs inscribed by the guardian of purgatory. The circles of the latter are inhabited by the souls of sinners atoning for their sins. Here the proud are cleansed, forced to bend under the burden of weights pressing their backs, envious, angry, negligent, greedy, etc. Virgil brings Dante to the gates of paradise, where he, as someone who did not know baptism, has no access.

Paradise

In the earthly paradise, Virgil is replaced by Beatrice, seated on a chariot drawn by a vulture (an allegory of the triumphant church); she prompts Dante to repentance, and then lifts him, enlightened, to heaven. The final part of the poem is devoted to Dante's wanderings in the heavenly paradise. The latter consists of seven spheres encircling the earth and corresponding to seven planets (according to the then widespread Ptolemaic system): the spheres of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, etc., followed by the spheres of fixed stars and crystal, - the crystal sphere is Empyrean, - infinite the region inhabited by the blessed, contemplating God, is the last sphere that gives life to all that exists. Flying through the spheres, led by Bernard, Dante sees the emperor Justinian, introducing him to the history of the Roman Empire, teachers of the faith, martyrs for the faith, whose shining souls form a sparkling cross; Rising higher and higher, Dante sees Christ and the Virgin Mary, angels, and, finally, the “Heavenly Rose” is revealed before him - the abode of the blessed. Here Dante partakes of the highest grace, reaching communion with the Creator.

The Comedy is Dante's last and most mature work.

Analysis of the work

In form, the poem is an afterlife vision, of which there were many in medieval literature. Like the medieval poets, it rests on an allegorical core. So the dense forest, in which the poet got lost halfway through earthly existence, is a symbol of life's complications. Three beasts that attack him there: a lynx, a lion and a wolf - the three most powerful passions: sensuality, lust for power, greed. These allegories are also given a political interpretation: the lynx is Florence, the spots on the skin of which should indicate the enmity of the Guelph and Ghibelline parties. The lion is a symbol of the rough physical strength- France; she-wolf, greedy and lustful - papal curia. These beasts threaten the national unity of Italy, which Dante dreamed of, a unity held together by the rule of a feudal monarchy (some literary historians give Dante's entire poem a political interpretation). Virgil saves the poet from the beasts - the mind sent to the poet Beatrice (theology - faith). Virgil leads Dante through hell to purgatory, and on the threshold of paradise gives way to Beatrice. The meaning of this allegory is that reason saves a person from passions, and knowledge of divine science delivers eternal bliss.

The Divine Comedy is imbued with the political tendencies of the author. Dante never misses an opportunity to reckon with his ideological, even personal enemies; he hates usurers, condemns credit as "excess", condemns his own age as an age of profit and avarice. In his opinion, money is the source of all evils. He contrasts the dark present with the bright past of bourgeois Florence - feudal Florence, when simplicity of morals, moderation, chivalrous "knowledge" ("Paradise", the story of Cacchagvida), the feudal empire (cf. Dante's treatise "On the Monarchy") dominated. The tercines of "Purgatory", accompanying the appearance of Sordello (Ahi serva Italia), sound like a real hosanna of Ghibellinism. Dante treats the papacy as a principle with the greatest respect, although he hates individual representatives of it, especially those who contributed to the strengthening of the bourgeois system in Italy; some dads Dante meets in hell. His religion is Catholicism, although a personal element is already woven into it, alien to the old orthodoxy, although mysticism and the Franciscan pantheistic religion of love, which are accepted with all passion, are also a sharp deviation from classical Catholicism. His philosophy is theology, his science is scholasticism, his poetry is allegory. Ascetic ideals in Dante have not yet died, and he regards free love as a grave sin (Hell, 2nd circle, the famous episode with Francesca da Rimini and Paolo). But it is not a sin for him to love, which attracts to the object of worship with a pure platonic impulse (cf. "New Life", Dante's love for Beatrice). This is a great world force that "moves the sun and other luminaries." And humility is no longer an absolute virtue. “Whoever in glory does not renew his strength with victory will not taste the fruit that he obtained in the struggle.” And the spirit of inquisitiveness, the desire to widen the circle of knowledge and acquaintance with the world, combined with “virtue” (virtute e conoscenza), which encourages heroic daring, is proclaimed an ideal.

Dante built his vision from pieces real life. Separate corners of Italy, which are placed in it with clear graphic contours, went to the construction of the afterlife. And so many living human images are scattered in the poem, so many typical figures, so many vivid psychological situations that literature still continues to draw from there. People who suffer in hell, repent in purgatory (moreover, the volume and nature of the punishment corresponds to the volume and nature of sin), abide in bliss in paradise - all living people. In these hundreds of figures, no two are the same. In this huge gallery of historical figures there is not a single image that has not been cut by the poet's unmistakable plastic intuition. No wonder Florence experienced a period of such intense economic and cultural upsurge. That thrill landscape and man, which is shown in the Comedy and which the world learned from Dante, was possible only in the social situation of Florence, which was far ahead of the rest of Europe. Separate episodes of the poem, such as Francesca and Paolo, Farinata in his red-hot grave, Ugolino with children, Capaneus and Ulysses, in no way similar to ancient images, the Black Cherub with subtle devilish logic, Sordello on his stone, are produced to this day strong impression.

The Concept of Hell in The Divine Comedy

Dante and Virgil in Hell

In front of the entrance are pitiful souls who did neither good nor evil during their lifetime, including “bad flock of angels”, who were neither with the devil nor with God.

• 1st circle (Limb). Unbaptized Infants and Virtuous Non-Christians.
• 2nd circle. Voluptuaries (fornicators and adulterers).
• 3rd circle. Gluttons, gluttons.
• 4th circle. Covetous and spendthrifts (love of excessive spending).
• 5th circle (Stygian swamp). Angry and lazy.
• 6th circle (city of Dit). Heretics and false teachers.
• 7th round.
  • 1st belt. Violators over the neighbor and over his property (tyrants and robbers).
  • 2nd belt. Violators of themselves (suicides) and of their property (players and wasters, that is, senseless destroyers of their property).
  • 3rd belt. Violators of the deity (blasphemers), against nature (sodomites) and art (extortion).
• 8th round. Deceived the disbelievers. It consists of ten ditches (Zlopazuhi, or Evil Slits), which are separated from each other by ramparts (rifts). Towards the center, the area of ​​Evil Slits slopes, so that each next ditch and each next shaft are located somewhat lower than the previous ones, and the outer, concave slope of each ditch is higher than the inner, curved slope ( Hell , XXIV, 37-40). The first shaft adjoins the circular wall. In the center gapes the depth of a wide and dark well, at the bottom of which lies the last, ninth, circle of Hell. From the foot of the stone heights (v. 16), that is, from the circular wall, stone ridges go to this well in radii, like the spokes of a wheel, crossing ditches and ramparts, and above the ditches they bend in the form of bridges, or vaults. In Evil Slits, deceivers are punished who deceive people who are not connected with them by special bonds of trust.
  • 1st ditch. Procurers and seducers.
  • 2nd ditch. Flatterers.
  • 3rd ditch. Holy merchants, high-ranking clerics who traded in church positions.
  • 4th ditch. Soothsayers, fortune tellers, astrologers, sorceresses.
  • 5th ditch. Bribers, bribe-takers.
  • 6th ditch. Hypocrites.
  • 7th ditch. The thieves .
  • 8th ditch. Wicked advisers.
  • 9th ditch. The instigators of discord (Mohammed, Ali, Dolcino and others).
  • 10th ditch. Alchemists, perjurers, counterfeiters.
• 9th round. Deceived those who trusted. Ice lake Cocytus.
  • Belt of Cain. Family traitors.
  • Belt of Antenor. Traitors of the motherland and like-minded people.
  • Belt of Tolomei. Traitors of friends and companions.
  • Giudecca belt. Traitors of benefactors, majesty divine and human.
  • In the middle, in the center of the universe, frozen into an ice floe (Lucifer) torments in his three mouths traitors to the majesty of the earthly and heavenly (Judas, Brutus and Cassius).

Building a model of Hell ( Hell , XI, 16-66), Dante follows Aristotle, who in his "Ethics" (book VII, ch. I) refers to the 1st category the sins of intemperance (incontinenza), to the 2nd - the sins of violence ("violent bestiality" or matta bestialitade), to 3 - sins of deceit ("malice" or malizia). Dante has circles 2-5 for the intemperate, 7th for rapists, 8-9 for deceivers (8th is just for deceivers, 9th is for traitors). Thus, the more material the sin, the more forgivable it is.

Heretics - apostates from the faith and deniers of God - are singled out especially from the host of sinners who fill the upper and lower circles, in the sixth circle. In the abyss of the lower Hell (A., VIII, 75), three ledges, like three steps, are three circles - from the seventh to the ninth. In these circles, malice is punished, wielding either force (violence) or deceit.

The Concept of Purgatory in The Divine Comedy

Three holy virtues - the so-called "theological" - faith, hope and love. The rest are four "basic" or "natural" (see note Ch., I, 23-27).

Dante depicts him as a huge mountain rising in southern hemisphere in the middle of the ocean. It has the shape of a truncated cone. The coastline and the lower part of the mountain form the Prepurgatory, and the upper one is surrounded by seven ledges (seven circles of Purgatory proper). On the flat top of the mountain, Dante places the desert forest of the Earthly Paradise.

Virgil expounds the doctrine of love as the source of all good and evil and explains the gradation of the circles of Purgatory: circles I, II, III - love for "another evil", that is, malevolence (pride, envy, anger); circle IV - insufficient love for the true good (despondency); circles V, VI, VII - excessive love for false goods (covetousness, gluttony, voluptuousness). The circles correspond to the biblical deadly sins.

• Prepurgatory
  • The foot of Mount Purgatory. Here, the newly arrived souls of the dead await access to Purgatory. Those who died under church excommunication, but repented of their sins before death, wait for a period thirty times longer than the time that they spent in "strife with the church."
  • First ledge. Careless, until the hour of death they hesitated to repent.
  • Second ledge. Careless, died a violent death.
• Valley of Earthly Lords (does not apply to Purgatory)
• 1st circle. Proud.
• 2nd circle. Envious.
• 3rd circle. Angry.
• 4th circle. Dull.
• 5th round. Buyers and spendthrifts.
• 6th round. Gluttons.
• 7th round. Voluptuaries.
• Earthly paradise.

The concept of Paradise in The Divine Comedy

(in brackets - examples of personalities given by Dante)

• 1 sky(Moon) - the abode of those who observe duty (Jephthah, Agamemnon, Constance of Norman).
• 2 sky(Mercury) - the abode of the reformers (Justinian) and the innocent victims (Iphigenia).
• 3 sky(Venus) - the abode of lovers (Karl Martell, Kunitzsa, Folco of Marseilles, Dido, "Rhodopeian", Raava).
• 4 sky(Sun) - the abode of sages and great scientists. They form two circles ("round dance").
  • 1st circle: Thomas Aquinas, Albert von Bolstedt, Francesco Gratiano, Peter of Lombard, Dionysius the Areopagite, Paul Orosius, Boethius, Isidore of Seville, Bede the Venerable, Ricard, Seeger of Brabant.
  • 2nd circle: Bonaventure, Franciscans Augustine and Illuminati, Hugon, Peter the Eater, Peter of Spain, John Chrysostom, Anselm, Elius Donatus, Raban Maurus, Joachim.
• 5 sky(Mars) - the abode of warriors for the faith (Jesus Nun, Judas Maccabee, Roland, Gottfried of Bouillon, Robert Guiscard).
• 6 sky(Jupiter) - the abode of just rulers (biblical kings David and Hezekiah, Emperor Trajan, King Guglielmo II the Good and the hero of the "Aeneid" Ripheus).
• 7 sky(Saturn) - the abode of theologians and monks (Benedict of Nursia, Peter Damiani).
• 8 sky(sphere of stars).
• 9 sky(The prime mover, crystal sky). Dante describes the structure of the heavenly inhabitants (see Orders of Angels).
• 10 sky(Empyrean) - Flaming Rose and Radiant River (the core of the rose and the arena of the heavenly amphitheater) - the abode of the Deity. On the banks of the river (the steps of the amphitheater, which is divided into 2 more semicircles - the Old Testament and the New Testament), blessed souls sit. Mary (Our Lady) - at the head, under her - Adam and Peter, Moses, Rachel and Beatrice, Sarah, Rebekah, Judith, Ruth, etc. John sits opposite, below him - Lucia, Francis, Benedict, Augustine, etc.

Scientific moments, misconceptions and comments

• Hell , xi, 113-114. The constellation Pisces rose above the horizon, and Woz(constellation Ursa Major) tilted to the northwest(Kavr; lat. Caurus is the name of the northwest wind. This means that there are two hours left before sunrise.
• Hell , XXIX, 9. That their way is twenty-two district miles.(about the inhabitants of the tenth ditch of the eighth circle) - judging by the medieval approximation of the number Pi, the diameter of the last circle of Hell is 7 miles.
• Hell , XXX, 74. Baptist sealed alloy- golden Florentine coin, florin (fiormo). On its front side, the patron of the city, John the Baptist, was depicted, and on the reverse side, the Florentine coat of arms, a lily (fiore is a flower, hence the name of the coin).
• Hell , XXXIV, 139. The word "luminaries" (stelle - stars) ends each of the three canticles of the Divine Comedy.
• Purgatory , I, 19-21. Beacon of love, beautiful planet- that is, Venus, eclipsing with its brightness the constellation Pisces, in which it was located.
• Purgatory , I, 22. To awn- that is, to the celestial pole, in this case the south.
• Purgatory , I, 30. Chariot- Ursa Major, hidden over the horizon.
• Purgatory , II, 1-3. According to Dante, the Mount of Purgatory and Jerusalem are located at opposite ends of the earth's diameter, so they have a common horizon. In the northern hemisphere, the top of the celestial meridian ("half-day circle") that crosses this horizon falls over Jerusalem. At the hour described, the sun, visible in Jerusalem, was sinking, to soon appear in the sky of Purgatory.
• Purgatory , II, 4-6. And the night...- According to medieval geography, Jerusalem lies in the very middle of the land, located in the northern hemisphere between the Arctic Circle and the Equator, and extending from west to east by only longitudes. The remaining three quarters of the globe are covered by the waters of the Ocean. Equally distant from Jerusalem are: in the extreme east - the mouth of the Ganges, in the extreme west - the Pillars of Hercules, Spain and Morocco. When the sun sets in Jerusalem, night approaches from the Ganges. At the time of the year described, that is, at the time of the vernal equinox, the night holds the scales in its hands, that is, it is in the constellation Libraopposing the Sun, which is in the constellation Aries. In the autumn, when she “overcomes” the day and becomes longer than it, she will leave the constellation Libra, that is, she will “drop” them.
• Purgatory , III, 37. Quia- a Latin word meaning "because", and in the Middle Ages it was also used in the sense of quod ("what"). Scholastic science, following Aristotle, distinguished between two kinds of knowledge: scire quia- knowledge of the existing - and scire propter quid- knowledge of the causes of the existing. Virgil advises people to be content with the first kind of knowledge, without delving into the causes of what is.
• Purgatory , IV, 71-72. The road where the unfortunate Phaeton ruled- zodiac.
• Purgatory , XXIII, 32-33. Who is looking for "omo"...- it was believed that in features human face you can read "Homo Dei" ("Man of God"), with the eyes depicting two "O", and the eyebrows and nose - the letter M.
• Purgatory , XXVIII, 97-108. According to Aristotelian physics, atmospheric precipitation is generated by "wet vapor", and wind is generated by "dry vapor". Matelda explains that only below the level of the gates of Purgatory are there such disturbances, generated by steam, which "follows the heat", that is, under the influence of solar heat, rises from the water and from the earth; at the height of the Earthly Paradise, only a uniform wind remains, caused by the rotation of the first firmament.
• Purgatory , XXVIII, 82-83. Twelve four venerable elders- twenty-four books of the Old Testament.
• Purgatory , XXXIII, 43. five hundred fifteen- a mysterious designation of the coming deliverer of the church and the restorer of the empire, who will destroy the "thief" (the harlot of song XXXII, who took someone else's place) and the "giant" (the French king). The numbers DXV form, when the signs are rearranged, the word DVX (leader), and the oldest commentators interpret it that way.
• Purgatory , XXXIII, 139. Account set from the beginning- In the construction of the Divine Comedy, Dante observes strict symmetry. In each of its three parts (cantik) - 33 songs; "Hell" contains, in addition, another song that serves as an introduction to the whole poem. The volume of each of the hundred songs is approximately the same.
• Paradise , XIII, 51. And there is no other center in the circle- there cannot be two opinions, just as only one center is possible in a circle.
• Paradise , XIV, 102. The sacred sign was composed of two rays, which is hidden within the borders of the quadrants.- segments of adjacent quadrants (quarters) of the circle form the sign of the cross.
• Paradise , XVIII, 113. In Lily M- The Gothic M resembles a fleur-de-lis.
• Paradise , XXV, 101-102: If Cancer has a similar pearl ...- FROM

The poem "The Divine Comedy" by Alighieri, written in the period 1308-1321, is outstanding work medieval literature and culture in general. The poem became the pinnacle of Dante's work, the embodiment of his worldview, as well as a real encyclopedia of the philosophical, scientific and theological knowledge of his time.

For a reader's diary and preparation for a literature lesson, we recommend reading the online summary of the Divine Comedy chapter by chapter.

main characters

Dante- the main character was the author himself, Dante Alighieri.

Other characters

Virgil- the shadow of the great poet and thinker, who became Dante's guide through Hell and Purgatory.

Beatrice- the shadow of beloved Dante, who died 10 years ago, a guide to the Earthly paradise.

Bernard- theologian, who became the third guide of Dante to the Lord God.

Hell

Canto 1-2

AT adulthood Dante "find himself in a gloomy forest", dull and frightening. He tried to reach the mountains, gilded by the first rays of the sun, but without success.

In the forest, Dante was the spirit of Virgil - "the honor and light of all the singers of the earth", who offered to go on a journey through Hell and Purgatory to get to the cherished Paradise. Dante was afraid to go on the road, but, having learned that Beatrice had said the word for him - his beloved, who died in her youth, agreed to go through all the circles of Hell.

Canto 3

At the gates of Hell, Dante shared his fears with Virgil, but he replied that "here fear should not give advice." Taking Dante's hand, he led him inside, where they were deafened by "sighs, weeping and frenzied screams". The hero learned that there were those “insignificant ones who will not be taken by either God or the adversaries of God’s will.”

Canto 4

Approaching the river, Dante noticed the old man Charon, who transported the souls of the dead to the other side, where the first circle of Hell - Limbo - began. It was a place in which the souls of unbaptized babies and those who "worshiped God in a different way than we should" mourned. Here Dante met the great poets and philosophers of antiquity: Homer, Horace, Ovid, Lucan.

Canto 5

The second circle of Hell, in which the demon Minos was in charge, was created "for those whom the earthly flesh called, who betrayed the mind to the power of lust."

Canto 6

At the entrance to the third circle of Hell, sinners were met by "three-eyed Cerberus, predatory and huge." Under the incessant rain and hail, the souls of gluttons languished here.

Canto 7

The next circle of Hell, guarded by the bestial demon Plutus, served as a place of detention for misers and playboys.

Canto 8-11

In the fifth circle of Hell, Dante saw suffering souls ruined by laziness and anger.

Soon, the city of Dit appeared before the travelers, the entrance to which was guarded by hordes of demons. After a short conversation, they let the brave travelers inside.

Here Dante met Medusa Gorgon, but, warned by Virgil, he managed to close his eyes in time - “it’s terrible to see the face of the Gorgon”, which can blind a person forever.

In the sixth circle of Hell, Dante met the souls of heretics languishing in the tombs.

Virgil explained to his companion how the last three circles are arranged, located in the lower tier of Hell, at the very center of the Earth.

Song 12-16

The wild and vicious Minotaur stood guard over the seventh circle of Hell. A bloody seething stream devoured here those “who inflicted violence on their neighbor”, and from above they were fired from bows by centaurs.

In the second belt of the seventh circle, Dante met only thorny plants, into which the souls of suicides were turned.

Blasphemers languished in the third zone of the seventh circle, on whose unruly heads "a fire blizzard descended."

Virgil explained to Dante that they would soon descend into the center of Hell.

Song 17-30

Before the travelers from the bottomless abyss, Gerion appeared - the infernal guard of the eighth circle, where deceivers were severely punished. They sat on his back, and rushed to the bottom of the abyss.

The eighth circle of Hell consisted of ten Evil Slits - deep ditches of a concentric shape. In the first of them, demons beat seducers and panders with whips, in the second ditch before the travelers "crowds of people stuck in fetid feces" appeared - such was the fate of all flatterers.

In the third slot, holy merchants were punished - ministers of the church who traded in church positions during their lifetime. Their bodies were squeezed by huge boulders, and their heels were engulfed in flames.

The next ditch belonged to soothsayers and clairvoyants, each of which was "strangely twisted in the place where the chest fits the face."

In the fifth slot of the eighth circle, the souls of bribe-takers writhed in torment, immersed in boiling tar.

Crowds of sinners walked in the sixth ditch “with a leisurely step, without hope, with tears, wearily moving forward” - they were hypocrites dressed in lead cloaks.

The seventh gap served as a dungeon for thieves, where their bodies were incinerated and fell to pieces, only to be reassembled into the body - such a punishment continued endlessly.

The eighth ditch was intended for crafty advisers.

In the ninth slot, Satan crushed the heads of all the instigators of enthusiasm, chopped off their ears and noses.

The counterfeiters had a sad fate in the last slot of the eighth circle of Hell, where they suffered from fetid scabies.

Canto 31-34

Dante and Virgil saw a "formation of giants" who were punished by not being able to move.

The travelers reached the well, where "a new giant, Antaeus, arose from a dark basin." Virgil appeased him, and the giant transferred them "to the abyss, where Judas is swallowed up by the ultimate darkness and Lucifer."

At the bottom of the well was the icy lake Cocytus, in which "the souls of sinners turned blue from ice" - this was the last circle of Hell. Here the souls of traitors suffered.

In the center of the icy lake was the Three-faced Lucifer. In one of his mouths was Judas, in the second - Brutus, and in the third - Cassius. Their sins were much more terrible than all the others.

Virgil informed Dante that their journey through the circles of Hell had come to an end, and now they could see heaven.

Purgatory

Canto 1-8

The travelers "went out on a deserted shore", and Dante was immensely glad to see again sunlight. They met a boat, driven by a beautiful angel, who brought the souls of dead people to the foot of the mountain.

Among them were sinners who had time to repent of their wicked deeds before death, brave warriors who fell in battle, infrequent, who died a violent death.

Dante admired the night sky when three bright stars appeared on it, “lighting up the firmament around the awn” - symbols of faith, hope and love.

Canto 9-26

Virgil and the other shadows needed no rest, while an exhausted Dante fell into deep dream. When he woke up, he was extremely surprised and frightened - the sun shone brightly and "the sea spread out before his eyes." Virgil said that while the poet was sleeping, Saint Lucia appeared and carried him to the very entrance to Purgatory.

Approaching the rock, the travelers saw "three large steps, of different colors, and a gatekeeper who closed his mouth." The angel who guarded the gates to Purgatory drew the letter “P” on the forehead of each of them, the trace of which was supposed to disappear as they moved to the top of the rock.

Purgatory was also divided into parts - circles. In the first circle were "Christians with proud hearts". Large blocks of stone pressed on their backs, and they held on with the last of their strength, bending under a heavy weight. However, the shadows sang praises to the Lord and asked to guide people on the right path.

The second circle of Purgatory was intended for the envious, who were deprived of sight here.

Unexpectedly, a new brilliance "hit" Dante's eyes. Virgil explained that an angel had approached them to "say the way was open". So the travelers ended up in the third circle, designed to purify souls poisoned by anger. The "dark and nightlike" smoke blinded them, making them think of meekness and humility.

The next circle of Purgatory was assigned to those souls who indulged in despondency during their lifetime. From one of the souls, Dante learned that "love of goodness, incomplete and dull, is given power here."

In the fifth circle were the spendthrifts and misers, and the sixth circle was intended for gluttons. They were destined to experience terrible pangs of hunger until the souls sincerely repent and atone for their sins.

The seventh circle of Purgatory was intended for voluptuaries who "forgot about the human law, in a hurry to satiate passion, like cattle in a hurry." They cleansed their souls by burning in fire and singing odes to a chaste life.

Song 27-33

By this point, Dante had almost all the letters erased from his forehead - he was ready to enter into the "God's forest, shady and alive." This was the Earthly Paradise, in which all mankind would have lived, if Eve had not violated the ban.

Here Dante met his beloved Beatrice, who died at the age of 25. Virgil disappeared, and Beatrice took his place near Dante. With its help, the poet was able to see with his own eyes all the nine circles of Hell and the seven circles of Purgatory, and realize how dangerous it is to sin in earthly life.

Beatrice asked her lover, who was only a guest in the Lord's forest, not to forget to describe everything that he saw here - "for the good of the world, where goodness is persecuted."

Paradise

Canto 1-2

“Beatrice stared into the sun with her gaze,” and Dante, imperceptibly to himself, began to ascend with his beloved into the heavenly spheres. The entire space of Heavenly Paradise was divided into heavens.

As Beatrice explained, the celestial spheres revolve with the crystal ninth heaven, the Prime Mover. Angels set them in motion.

Canto 3-28

Together with Beatrice, Dante ended up in the first sky - the sky of the Moon - the closest luminary to the earth. Here they met the souls of nuns who were given in marriage against their will. One of them told the poet that they were in the first heaven because, although they were victims of violence, they did not show the necessary fortitude. So Dante learned that "every country in heaven is Paradise, at least to a different extent, for it is unequally watered with mercy."

In the second heaven - Mercury - the souls of the righteous awaited the wanderers, which radiated a particularly bright light.

In the third heaven called Venus, the souls of the loving souls bathed in grace and joy.

In the fourth celestial sphere - the Sun - Dante and Beatrice met the wise men. Then they got into the fifth heaven, where “in the depths of Mars, twined with stars, from two rays, a sacred sign was composed,” that is, a cross. Dante heard the enchanting sounds of the song, whose words he could not understand, but enjoyed the melodic sound. Looking at the sparkling cross, the poet realized that it was a song of praise to Jesus Christ.

The sixth heaven - the planet Jupiter - was "full of sparkling love". Here the souls of the just have found their refuge. Letters began to appear from individual sparkling particles. Dante put them into words and read the biblical saying, and then the figure of an eagle appeared before his eyes - a symbol of power and justice that reigned in heaven.

Beatrice urged her lover to move on, and they ascended to the seventh heaven - the planet Saturn. They noticed the "army of fires", but in this celestial sphere, sweet-voiced singing was not heard, as in the previous heavens. Here were the souls who dedicated themselves to the service of the Almighty. This place was so far from the earth that Dante, looking down, was surprised at how tiny the globe had become.

Beloved ones rushed to the eighth, starry sky, where the great righteous found eternal shelter. By rejecting worldly wealth, they managed to amass spiritual treasures that they now enjoyed. The apostles Peter, John, James began to talk with Dante. Here the poet saw the soul of Adam, which radiated an unusually bright light.

Arriving in the ninth, crystal sky, Beatrice reported that "the whole fruit of the heavenly revolution" was collected here. The first thing the poet saw in this celestial sphere was “a point that shed such a sharp light” that he was forced to look away. This dazzling dot symbolized a deity. The fires whirled around her, from which all nine angelic circles of Paradise were created.

Song 29-33

Beatrice told Dante "where, when and how" the angels were created. Thanks to their continuous rapid movement, the entire Universe also rotated.

Beloved ascended to the Empyrean - the highest realm, where Dante saw his new mentor - Bernard, a mystic theologian. Dressed in a snow-white robe, "he was so affectionate, as only a gentle parent can be." Meanwhile, Beatrice, having fulfilled her mission, returned to her place in Paradise.

In the center of the amphitheater sat the one "whose face is most similar to Christ" - the Virgin Mary. Next to her sat Adam, John the Baptist, the Apostle Peter. The elder turned to the Virgin Mary with a request that she help Dante, and then called on the poet to look up. When he raised his eyes, he saw an unusually bright radiance - "The Highest Light, so exalted above the thought of the earth." He did not have enough words to convey his shock and delight from what he saw.

So Dante found the greatest of all truths - he saw God in his trinity. Having survived the moment of the highest spiritual tension, he became exhausted. However, the insight he experienced forever determined his life - “But passion and will already strove for me, as if the wheel is given an even run, love that moves the sun and the luminaries.”

Conclusion

Alighieri's poem based on Christian doctrine, clearly demonstrated what punishment awaited the sinners for the atrocities they had committed. And at the same time, she showed how comprehensive God's mercy can be to people who live an honest and righteous life.

After getting acquainted with brief retelling"The Divine Comedy", we recommend reading the book by Dante Alighieri in full.

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Dante Alighieri 1265-1321

Divine Comedy (La Divina Commedia) - Poem (1307-1321)

Halfway through life, I - Dante - got lost in a dense forest. It's scary, wild animals are all around - allegories of vices; nowhere to go. And then a ghost appears, which turned out to be the shadow of my favorite ancient Roman poet Virgil. I ask him for help. He promises to take me from here to the afterlife so that I can see Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. I am ready to follow him.

Yes, but am I capable of such a journey? I hesitated and hesitated. Virgil reproached me, telling me that Beatrice herself (my late beloved) descended to him from Paradise to Hell and asked him to be my guide in wandering through the afterlife. If so, then we must not hesitate, we need determination. Lead me, my teacher and mentor!

Above the entrance to Hell is an inscription that takes away all hope from those who enter. We entered. Here, right behind the entrance, the pitiful souls of those who did not create either good or evil during their lifetime groan. Further on, the Acheron River, through which the ferocious Charon transports the dead on a boat. We are with them. "But you're not dead!" Charon shouts angrily at me. Virgil subdued him. We swam. From a distance a roar is heard, the wind blows, a flame flashed. I lost my senses...

The first circle of Hell is Limbo. Here the souls of unbaptized babies and glorious pagans languish - warriors, sages, poets (including Virgil). They do not suffer, but only grieve that they, as non-Christians, have no place in Paradise. Virgil and I joined the great poets of antiquity, the first of which was Homer. Gradually walked and talked about the unearthly.

At the descent into the second circle of the underworld, the demon Minos determines which sinner to which place in Hell should be cast down. He reacted to me in the same way as Charon, and Virgil pacified him in the same way. We saw the souls of voluptuaries (Cleopatra, Elena the Beautiful, etc.) carried away by the infernal whirlwind. Francesca is among them, and here she is inseparable from her lover. Immeasurable mutual passion led them to a tragic death. Deeply sympathizing with them, I again fainted.

In the third circle, the bestial dog Cerberus rages. He barked at us, but Virgil subdued him too. Here, lying in the mud, under a heavy downpour, are the souls of those who have sinned with gluttony. Among them is my countryman, the Florentine Chacko. We talked about the fate of our native city. Chacko asked me to remind living people of him when I return to earth.

The demon guarding the fourth circle, where spendthrifts and misers are executed (among the latter there are many clerics - popes, cardinals), is Plutos. Virgil also had to besiege him to get rid of. From the fourth they descended into the fifth circle, where the angry and lazy are tormented, mired in the swamps of the Stygian lowland. We approached a tower.

This is a whole fortress, around it is a vast pond, in the canoe - a rower, the demon Phlegius. After another squabble sat down to him, we swim. Some sinner tried to cling to the side, I scolded him, and Virgil pushed him away. Before us is the hellish city of Dit. Any dead evil spirits prevents us from entering it. Virgil, leaving me (oh, it's scary to be alone!), went to find out what was the matter, returned worried, but reassured.

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And then the infernal furies appeared before us, threatening. A heavenly messenger suddenly appeared and curbed their anger. We entered Dit. Everywhere are tombs engulfed in flames, from which the groans of heretics are heard. On a narrow road we make our way between the tombs.

From one of the tombs, a mighty figure suddenly emerged. This is Farinata, my ancestors were his political opponents. In me, having heard my conversation with Virgil, he guessed from the dialect of the countryman. Proud, he seemed to despise the whole abyss of Hell, We argued with him, and then another head popped out of a nearby tomb: yes, this is the father of my friend Guido! It seemed to him that I was a dead man and that his son had also died, and he fell on his face in despair. Farinata, calm him down; Guido lives!

Near the descent from the sixth circle to the seventh, over the grave of the pan-heretic Anastasius, Virgil explained to me the structure of the remaining three circles of Hell, tapering downwards (towards the center of the earth), and what sins are punished in which zone of which circle.

The seventh circle is compressed by mountains and guarded by the half-bull demon Minotaur, who roared menacingly at us. Virgil yelled at him, and we hurried to move away. We saw a blood-boiling stream in which tyrants and robbers boil, and from the shore centaurs shoot at them with bows. Centaur Ness became our guide, told about the executed rapists and helped to ford the boiling river.

Around thorny thickets without greenery. I broke some branch, and black blood flowed from it, and the trunk groaned. It turns out that these bushes are the souls of suicides (rapists over their own flesh). They are pecked by the infernal birds of the Harpy, trampled by the running dead, causing them unbearable pain. One trampled bush asked me to collect the broken branches and return them to him. It turned out that the unfortunate man was my countryman. I complied with his request and we moved on. We see - sand, flakes of fire fly down on it, scorching the sinners, who scream and groan - all except one: he lies silently. Who is it? King of Kapanei, a proud and gloomy atheist, slain by the gods for his obstinacy. Even now he is true to himself: either he is silent, or he loudly curses the gods. "You're your own tormentor!" Virgil yelled at him...

But towards us, tormented by fire, the souls of new sinners are moving. Among them, I hardly recognized my highly esteemed teacher Brunetto Latini. He is among those who are guilty of a tendency to same-sex love. We started talking. Brunetto predicted that glory awaits me in the world of the living, but there will also be many hardships that must be resisted. The teacher bequeathed to me to take care of his main work, in which he lives, - "Treasure".

And three more sinners (the sin is the same) are dancing in the fire. All Florentines, former respected citizens. I talked to them about the misfortunes of our hometown. They asked me to tell the living countrymen that I saw them. Then Virgil led me to a deep pit in the eighth circle. An infernal beast will bring us down there. He is already climbing to us from there.

This is a motley tailed Gerion. While he prepares to descend, there is still time to look at the last martyrs of the seventh circle - usurers, toiling in a whirlwind of flaming dust. Hanging from their necks are multi-colored purses with different coats of arms. I didn't talk to them. Let's hit the road! We sit down with Virgil astride Geryon and - oh horror! - we are smoothly flying into failure, to new torments. Went down. Gerion immediately flew away.

The eighth circle is divided into ten ditches, called Angry Sinuses. Pimps and seducers of women are executed in the first ditch, and flatterers are executed in the second. Procurers are brutally scourged by horned demons, flatterers sit in a liquid mass of stinking feces - the stench is unbearable. By the way, one whore is punished here not because she fornicated, but because she flattered her lover, saying that she was fine with him.

The next ditch (the third bosom) is lined with stone, full of round holes, from which stick out the burning legs of high-ranking clerics who traded in church positions. Their heads and torsos are clamped by holes in the stone wall. Their successors, when they die, will also jerk their flaming legs in their place, completely squeezing their predecessors into stone. This is how Papa Orsini explained it to me, at first mistaking me for his successor.

In the fourth sinus, soothsayers, astrologers, sorceresses are tormented. Their necks are twisted in such a way that, when weeping, they irrigate their backs with tears, not their chests. I myself wept when I saw such a mockery of people, and Virgil shamed me; it's a sin to pity sinners! But he also told me with sympathy about his fellow countrywoman, the soothsayer Manto, whose name was given to Mantua - the birthplace of my glorious mentor.

The fifth ditch is filled with boiling tar, into which the evil-handed devils, black, winged, throw bribe-takers and make sure that they do not stick out, otherwise they will hook the sinner with hooks and finish him off in the most cruel way. The devils have nicknames: Evil-tail, Cross-winged, etc. We will have to go part of the further path in their terrible company. They grimacing, sticking out their tongues, their boss made a deafening obscene sound from behind. I have never heard of such a thing! We walk with them along the ditch, the sinners dive into the tar - they hide, and one hesitated, and they immediately pulled him out with hooks, intending to torment him, but first they allowed us to talk with him. The poor cunning lulled the vigilance of the Zlokhvatov and dived back - they did not have time to catch him. Irritated devils fought among themselves, two fell into the tar. In the confusion, we hurried to leave, but no such luck! They fly after us. Virgil, picking me up, barely managed to run across to the sixth bosom, where they are not masters. Here hypocrites languish under the weight of leaden gilded robes. And here is the crucified (nailed to the ground with stakes) Jewish high priest, who insisted on the execution of Christ. He is trampled underfoot by lead-heavy hypocrites.

The transition was difficult: by a rocky path - into the seventh bosom. Thieves live here, bitten by monstrous poisonous snakes. From these bites, they crumble to dust, but are immediately restored to their appearance. Among them is Vanni Fucci, who robbed the sacristy and blamed someone else. A rude and blaspheming man: he sent God "to hell", holding up two figs. Immediately snakes attacked him (I love them for this). Then I watched how a certain snake merged with one of the thieves, after which it took on its form and stood up, and the thief crawled away, becoming a reptile reptile. Miracles! You will not find such metamorphoses in Ovid,

Rejoice, Florence: these thieves are your offspring! It's a shame... And treacherous advisers live in the eighth ditch. Among them is ULYSSES (Odysseus), his soul imprisoned in a flame that can speak! So, we heard the story of Ulysses about his death: thirsty to know the unknown, he sailed with a handful of daredevils to the other side of the world, suffered a shipwreck and, together with his friends, drowned away from the world inhabited by people,

Another talking flame, in which the soul of a crafty adviser who did not name himself, was hidden, told me about his sin: this adviser helped the Pope in one unrighteous deed - counting on the fact that the pope would forgive him his sin. Heaven is more tolerant of the simple-hearted sinner than of those who hope to be saved by repentance. We crossed into the ninth ditch, where the sowers of unrest are executed.

Here they are, the instigators of bloody strife and religious unrest. The devil will maim them with a heavy sword, cut off their noses and ears, crush their skulls. Here is Mohammed, and Curio, who encouraged Caesar to civil war, and the beheaded troubadour warrior Bertrand de Born (he carries his head in his hand like a lantern, and she exclaims: "Woe!").

Next, I met my relative, angry with me because his violent death remained unavenged. Then we moved on to the tenth ditch, where the alchemists itch forever. One of them was burned because he jokingly boasted that he could fly - he became a victim of a denunciation. He ended up in Hell not for this, but as an alchemist. Here, those who pretended to be other people, counterfeiters and liars in general are executed. Two of them fought among themselves and then quarreled for a long time (master Adam, who mixed copper into gold coins, and the ancient Greek Sinon, who deceived the Trojans). Virgil rebuked me for the curiosity with which I listened to them.

Our journey through the Spitefuls is coming to an end. We came to the well leading from the eighth circle of Hell to the ninth. There are ancient giants, titans. Among them are Nimrod, who angrily shouted something to us in an incomprehensible language, and Antaeus, who, at the request of Virgil, lowered us to the bottom of the well on his huge palm, and he immediately straightened up.

So, we are at the bottom of the universe, near the center of the globe. Before us is an icy lake, those who betrayed their relatives froze into it. I accidentally kicked one of them on the head, he yelled, but refused to name himself. Then I grabbed his hair, and then someone called his name. Scoundrel, now I know who you are, and I will tell people about you! And he: "Lie whatever you want, about me and about others!" And here is the ice pit, in which one dead man gnaws the skull of another. I ask: for what? Looking up from his victim, he answered me. He, Count Ugolino, takes revenge on his former associate, Archbishop Ruggieri, who betrayed him, who starved him and his children, imprisoning them in the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Their suffering was unbearable, the children were dying in front of their father, he was the last to die. Shame on Pisa! We go further. And who is in front of us? Alberigo? But he, as far as I know, did not die, so how did he end up in Hell? It also happens: the body of the villain is still alive, but the soul is already in the underworld.

In the center of the earth, the ruler of Hell, Lucifer, frozen into ice, cast down from heaven and hollowed out the abyss of hell in his fall, disfigured, three-faced. Judas sticks out of his first mouth, Brutus from the second, Cassius from the third, He chews them and torments them with claws. Worst of all is the most vile traitor - Judas. A well stretches from Lucifer, leading to the surface of the opposite earth hemisphere. We squeezed into it, rose to the surface and saw the stars.

PURGATORY

May the Muses help me to sing the second kingdom! His guard Elder Cato met us unfriendly: who are they? how dare you come here? Virgil explained and, wishing to propitiate Cato, spoke warmly about his wife Marcia. Why is Marcia here? Go to the seashore, you need to wash! We are going. Here it is, the sea distance. And in the coastal grasses - abundant dew. With it Virgil washed away the soot of abandoned Hell from my face.

A boat controlled by an angel is sailing towards us from the sea distance. It contains the souls of the dead, who were lucky enough not to go to Hell. They moored, went ashore, and the angel swam away. The shadows of the arrivals crowded around us, and in one I recognized my friend, the singer Cosella. I wanted to hug him, but the shadow is incorporeal - I hugged myself. Cosella, at my request, sang about love, everyone listened, but then Cato appeared, shouted at everyone (they didn’t do business!), And we hurried to the Mount of Purgatory.

Virgil was dissatisfied with himself: he gave a reason to shout at himself ... Now we need to reconnoiter the upcoming road. Let's see where the arriving shadows go. And they themselves have just noticed that I am not a shadow: I do not let light pass through me. Surprised. Virgil explained everything to them. "Come with us," they invited.

So, we hasten to the foot of the purgatory mountain. But is everyone in a hurry, is everyone really impatient? There, near a large stone, there is a group of people who are not in a hurry to climb up: they say, they will have time; climb the one who itchs. Among these sloths I recognized my friend Belacqua. It is pleasant to see that he, and in life the enemy of any haste, is true to himself.

In the foothills of Purgatory, I had the opportunity to communicate with the shadows of the victims of violent death. Many of them were fair sinners, but, saying goodbye to life, they managed to sincerely repent and therefore did not go to Hell. Such a vexation for the devil, who has lost his prey! However, he found how to win back: not having gained power over the soul of a repentant dead sinner, he outraged his murdered body.

Not far from all this, we saw the regal and majestic shadow of Sordello. He and Virgil, recognizing each other as fellow countryman poets (Mantuans), embraced brotherly. Here is an example for you, Italy, a dirty brothel, where the bonds of brotherhood are completely broken! Especially you, my Florence, are good, you won't say anything... Wake up, look at yourself...

Sordello agrees to be our guide to Purgatory. It is a great honor for him to help the highly esteemed Virgil. Conversing sedately, we approached a flowering fragrant valley, where, preparing for an overnight stay, the shadows of high-ranking persons - European sovereigns - settled down. We watched them from afar, listening to their consonant singing.

The evening hour has come, when desires draw those who have sailed back to their loved ones, and you remember the bitter moment of farewell; when sadness dominates the pilgrim and he hears how the distant chime weeps bitterly about the day of irretrievable... An insidious serpent of temptation crawled into the valley of rest of the earthly rulers, but the angels who arrived expelled it.

I lay down on the grass, fell asleep, and in my dream was carried to the gates of Purgatory. The angel guarding them inscribed on my forehead seven times the same letter - the first in the word "sin" (seven deadly sins; these letters will be erased from my forehead in turn as we ascend the mountain of purgatory). We entered the second realm of the afterlife, the gates closed behind us.

The ascent has begun. We are in the first circle of Purgatory, where the proud atone for their sin. To shame pride, statues were erected here, embodying the idea of ​​a high feat - humility. And here are the shadows of the arrogant being cleansed: unbending during life, here, as a punishment for their sin, they bend under the weight of the stone blocks heaped on them.

"Our Father ..." - this prayer was sung by the bent and proud. Among them is the miniaturist Oderiz, who during his lifetime boasted of his loud fame. Now, he says, he realized that there is nothing to boast about: everyone is equal in the face of death - both the decrepit old man and the baby who murmured “yum-yum”, and glory comes and goes. The sooner you understand this and find the strength in yourself to curb your pride, to humble yourself, the better.

Under our feet are bas-reliefs depicting scenes of punished pride: Lucifer and Briares cast down from heaven, King Saul, Holofernes and others. Our stay in the first round is coming to an end. The angel who appeared erased one of the seven letters from my forehead - as a sign that I had overcome the sin of pride. Virgil smiled at me

We went up to the second round. There are envious people here, they are temporarily blinded, their former "envious" eyes do not see anything. Here is a woman who, out of envy, wished harm to her countrymen and rejoiced in their failures ... In this circle, after death, I will not be cleansed for long, because I rarely and few people envied. But in the past circle of proud people - probably for a long time.

Here they are, blinded sinners whose blood once burned with envy. In the silence, the words of the first envious person, Cain, sounded thunderous: "The one who meets me will kill me!" In fear, I clung to Virgil, and the wise leader told me bitter words that the highest eternal light is inaccessible to envious people who are carried away by earthly lures.

Passed the second round. Again an angel appeared to us, and now only five letters remained on my forehead, which I have to get rid of in the future. We are in the third round. A cruel vision of human fury flashed before our eyes (the crowd stoned a meek youth with stones). In this circle, those possessed by anger are purified.

Even in the darkness of Hell there was no such black haze as in this circle, where the fury of the angry is subdued. One of them, the Lombard Marco, talked to me and expressed the idea that everything that happens in the world cannot be understood as a consequence of the activity of higher heavenly powers: this would mean denying the freedom of human will and removing from a person responsibility for what he has done.

Reader, have you ever wandered in the mountains on a foggy evening, when the sun is almost invisible? That's how we are... I felt the touch of an angel's wing on my forehead - another letter was erased. We climbed into the fourth circle, illuminated by the last ray of sunset. Here the lazy ones are cleansed, whose love for the good was slow.

Sloths here must run swiftly, not allowing any indulgence in their lifetime sin. Let them be inspired by the examples of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, as you know, had to hurry, or Caesar with his amazing quickness. They ran past us and disappeared. I want to sleep. I sleep and dream...

I dreamed of a disgusting woman, who turned into a beauty before my eyes, who was immediately put to shame and turned into an even worse ugly woman (here she is, the imaginary attractiveness of vice!). Another letter has disappeared from my forehead: I, therefore, have conquered such a vice as laziness. We rise to the fifth circle - to the misers and spenders.

Avarice, greed, greed for gold are disgusting vices. Molten gold was once poured down the throat of one obsessed with greed: drink to your health! I don't feel comfortable being surrounded by misers, and then there was an earthquake. From what? Due to my ignorance, I don't know...

It turned out that the shaking of the mountain was caused by jubilation over the fact that one of the souls was cleansed and ready for ascent: this is the Roman poet Statius, an admirer of Virgil, who was delighted that from now on he will accompany us on the path to the purgatory peak.

Another letter, denoting the sin of avarice, was erased from my forehead. By the way, was Statius, languishing in the fifth round, stingy? On the contrary, it is wasteful, but these two extremes are punished jointly. Now we are in the sixth circle, where gluttons are cleansed. Here it would not be bad to remember that gluttony was not characteristic of Christian ascetics.

Former gluttons are destined to the pangs of hunger: emaciated, skin and bones. Among them I found my late friend and countryman Forese. They talked about their own, scolded Florence, Forese condemningly spoke about the dissolute ladies of this city. I told my friend about Virgil and my hopes of seeing my beloved Beatrice in the afterlife.

With one of the gluttons, a former poet of the old school, I had a conversation about literature. He acknowledged that my associates, supporters of the "new sweet style", achieved much more in love poetry than he himself and the masters close to him. Meanwhile, the penultimate letter has been erased from my forehead, and the path to the highest, seventh circle of Purgatory is open to me.

And I still remember the thin, hungry gluttons: how did they become so emaciated? After all, these are shadows, not bodies, and they would not have to starve. Virgil explained that the shadows, although incorporeal, exactly repeat the outlines of the implied bodies (which would lose weight without food). Here, in the seventh circle, the voluptuaries scorched by fire are cleansed. They burn, sing and praise examples of temperance and chastity.

The voluptuaries engulfed in flames were divided into two groups: those who indulged in same-sex love and those who did not know the limits in bisexual intercourse. Among the latter are the poets Guido Guinicelli and the Provençal Arnald, who greeted us exquisitely in his dialect.

And now we ourselves have to go through the wall of fire. I was scared, but my mentor said that this is the path to Beatrice (to the Earthly Paradise, located on the top of the mountain of purgatory). And so the three of us (Statius with us) go, scorched by the flames. We passed, we move on, it is getting dark, we stopped to rest, I slept; and when I woke up, Virgil turned to me with the last word of parting words and approval, Everything, from now on he will be silent ...

We are in the Earthly Paradise, in a blooming grove resounding with the chirping of birds. I saw a beautiful donna singing and picking flowers. She said that there was a golden age here, innocence shone, but then, among these flowers and fruits, the happiness of the first people was destroyed in sin. When I heard this, I looked at Virgil and Statius: they were both smiling blissfully.

Oh Eve! It was so good here, you ruined everything with your daring! Live fires float past us, righteous elders in snow-white robes, crowned with roses and lilies, march under them, wonderful beauties dance. I couldn't get enough of this amazing picture. And suddenly I saw her - the one I love. Shocked, I made an involuntary movement, as if trying to cling to Virgil. But he disappeared, my father and savior! I sobbed. "Dante, Virgil will not return. But you will not have to cry for him. Look at me, it's me, Beatrice! And how did you get here?" she asked angrily. Then a voice asked her why she was so hard on me. She replied that I, seduced by the lure of pleasures, had been unfaithful to her after her death. Do I plead guilty? Oh yes, tears of shame and remorse choke me, I lowered my head. "Raise your beard!" she said sharply, not ordering her to take her eyes off her. I lost my senses, and woke up immersed in Oblivion - a river that bestows oblivion of committed sins. Beatrice, look now at the one who is so devoted to you and so eager for you. After a ten-year separation, I looked into her eyes, and my vision was temporarily dimmed by their dazzling brilliance. Having regained my sight, I saw a lot of beauty in the Earthly Paradise, but suddenly all this was replaced by cruel visions: monsters, desecration of the shrine, debauchery.

Beatrice mourned deeply, realizing how much evil lay in these visions revealed to us, but expressed her confidence that the forces of good would eventually defeat evil. We approached the river Evnoe, drinking from which you strengthen the memory of the good you have done. Statius and I bathed in this river. A sip of her sweetest water poured new strength into me. Now I am pure and worthy to climb the stars.

From the Earthly Paradise, Beatrice and I will fly together to the Heavenly, to heights inaccessible to the comprehension of mortals. I did not notice how they took off, looking at the sun. Am I, staying alive, capable of this? However, Beatrice was not surprised by this: a purified person is spiritual, and a spirit not burdened with sins is lighter than ether.

Friends, let's part here - do not read further: you will be lost in the vastness of the incomprehensible! But if you are insatiably hungry for spiritual food - then go ahead, follow me! We are in the first sky of Paradise - in the sky of the Moon, which Beatrice called the first star; plunged into its bowels, although it is difficult to imagine a force capable of containing one closed body (which I am) into another closed body (into the Moon),

In the bowels of the moon, we met the souls of nuns kidnapped from monasteries and forcibly married. Through no fault of their own, they did not keep the vow of virginity given during the tonsure, and therefore the higher heavens are inaccessible to them. Do they regret it? Oh no! To regret would mean not to agree with the highest righteous will.

And yet I wonder: why are they to blame, submitting to violence? Why can't they rise above the sphere of the Moon? Blame the rapist, not the victim! But Beatrice explained that the victim also bears a certain responsibility for the violence committed against her, if, in resisting, she did not show heroic fortitude.

Failure to fulfill a vow, Beatrice argues, is almost irreparable by good deeds (there is too much to do to atone for guilt). We flew to the second heaven of Paradise - to Mercury. Here dwell the souls of the ambitious righteous. These are no longer shadows, unlike the previous inhabitants of the afterlife, but lights: they shine and radiate. One of them flared up especially brightly, rejoicing in communication with me. It turned out that this was the Roman emperor, legislator Justinian. He is aware that being in the sphere of Mercury (and not higher) is the limit for him, for the ambitious, doing good deeds for their own glory (that is, loving themselves first of all), missed the ray of true love for the deity.

The light of Justinian merged with a dance of lights - other righteous souls. I thought, and the course of my thoughts led me to the question: why did God the Father sacrifice a son? It was possible just like that, by the supreme will, to forgive people the sin of Adam! Beatrice explained: the highest justice demanded that humanity itself atone for its guilt. It is incapable of this, and it was necessary to impregnate an earthly woman so that the son (Christ), combining the human with the divine, could do this.

We flew to the third heaven - to Venus, where the souls of the loving ones bliss, shining in the fiery depths of this star. One of these spirit-lights is the Hungarian king Charles Martel, who, speaking to me, expressed the idea that a person can realize his abilities only by acting in a field that meets the needs of his nature: it’s bad if a born warrior becomes a priest ...

Sweet is the radiance of other loving souls. How much blessed light, heavenly laughter is here! And below (in Hell) the shadows thickened gloomily and gloomily ... One of the lights spoke to me (troubadour Folco) - he condemned the church authorities, self-serving popes and cardinals. Florence is the city of the devil. But nothing, he believes, it will get better soon.

The fourth star is the Sun, the abode of the sages. Here shines the spirit of the great theologian Thomas Aquinas. He joyfully greeted me, showed me other sages. Their consonant singing reminded me of church evangelism.

Thomas told me about Francis of Assisi - the second (after Christ) wife of Poverty. Following his example, the monks, including his closest students, began to walk barefoot. He lived a holy life and died - a naked man on bare earth - in the bosom of Poverty.

Not only I, but also the lights - the spirits of the sages - listened to the speech of Thomas, stopping singing and dancing. Then the Franciscan Bonaventure took the floor. In response to the praise given to his teacher by the Dominican Thomas, he glorified Thomas' teacher, Dominic, a farmer and servant of Christ. Who now continued his work? There are none worthy.

And again Thomas took the floor. He talks about the great virtues of King Solomon: he asked God for wisdom, wisdom - not to solve theological issues, but to reasonably rule the people, that is, royal wisdom, which was granted to him. People, do not judge each other hastily! This one is busy with a good deed, that one with an evil one, but what if the first falls and the second rises?

What will happen to the inhabitants of the Sun on the Day of Judgment, when the spirits become flesh? They are so bright and spiritual that it is difficult to imagine them materialized. Our stay here is over, we flew to the fifth heaven - to Mars, where the sparkling spirits of warriors for the faith settled down in the shape of a cross and a sweet hymn sounds.

One of the lights that form this marvelous cross, without going beyond its limits, moved downwards, closer to me. This is the spirit of my valiant great-great-grandfather, the warrior Kachchagvida. He greeted me and praised the glorious time in which he lived on earth and which - alas! - passed, replaced by the worst time.

I am proud of my ancestor, my origin (it turns out that one can experience such a feeling not only on a vain earth, but also in Paradise!). Cacchagvida told me about himself and about his ancestors, born in Florence, whose coat of arms - a white lily - is now stained with blood.

I want to learn from him, a clairvoyant, about my future fate. What lies ahead for me? He replied that I would be expelled from Florence, that in my joyless wanderings I would know the bitterness of someone else's bread and the steepness of someone else's stairs. To my credit, I will not associate with impure political factions, but I will become my own party. In the end, my adversaries will be put to shame, and triumph awaits me.

Cacchagvida and Beatrice encouraged me. Ended up on Mars. Now - from the fifth heaven to the sixth, from the red Mars to the white Jupiter, where the souls of the righteous hover. Their lights are formed into letters, into letters - first into a call for justice, and then into the figure of an eagle, a symbol of just imperial power, an unknown, sinful, suffering earth, but established in heaven.

This majestic eagle entered into a conversation with me. He calls himself "I", but I hear "we" (a just power is collegial!). He understands what I myself cannot understand: why is Paradise open only to Christians? What is wrong with a virtuous Hindu who does not know Christ at all? So I don't understand. And it’s true, the eagle admits, that a bad Christian is worse than a glorious Persian or Ethiopian,

The eagle personifies the idea of ​​justice, and its main thing is not claws or a beak, but an all-seeing eye, made up of the most worthy light-spirits. The pupil is the soul of the king and the psalmist David, the souls of the pre-Christian righteous shine in the eyelashes (and I just blunderedly talked about Paradise "only for Christians"? That's how to give vent to doubts!).

We ascended to the seventh heaven - to Saturn. This is the abode of contemplators. Beatrice has become even more beautiful and brighter. She did not smile at me - otherwise she would have completely incinerated me and blinded me. The blessed spirits of the contemplators were silent, did not sing - otherwise they would have deafened me. The sacred light, the theologian Pietro Damiano, told me about this.

The spirit of Benedict, after whom one of the monastic orders is named, angrily condemned the modern self-serving monks. After listening to him, we rushed to the eighth heaven, to the constellation of Gemini, under which I was born, saw the sun for the first time and breathed in the air of Tuscany. From its height, I looked down, and my gaze, passing through the seven heavenly spheres we visited, fell on a ridiculously small earthly ball, this handful of dust with all its rivers and mountain steeps.

Thousands of lights are burning in the eighth sky - these are the triumphant spirits of the great righteous. Intoxicated by them, my vision has increased, and now even Beatrice's smile will not blind me. She smiled wonderfully at me and again prompted me to turn my eyes to the radiant spirits who sang a hymn to the queen of heaven - the holy virgin Mary.

Beatrice asked the apostles to talk to me. To what extent have I penetrated the mysteries of sacred truths? The Apostle Peter asked me about the essence of faith. My answer: faith is an argument in favor of the invisible; mortals cannot see with their own eyes what is revealed here in Paradise - but let them believe in a miracle, having no visual evidence of its truth. Peter was satisfied with my answer.

Will I, the author of the sacred poem, see my homeland? Will I be crowned with laurels where I was baptized? The apostle James asked me about the essence of hope. My answer is: hope is the expectation of a future well-deserved and God-given glory. Delighted, Jacob lit up.

Next up is the question of love. The apostle John gave it to me. Answering, I did not forget to say that love turns us to God, to the word of truth. Everyone rejoiced. The exam (what is Faith, Hope, Love?) was successfully completed. I saw the radiant soul of our forefather Adam, who lived for a short time in the Earthly Paradise, expelled from there to earth; after the death of long languishing in Limbo; then moved here.

Four lights blaze before me: the three apostles and Adam. Suddenly Peter turned purple and exclaimed: "My earthly throne has been seized, my throne, my throne!" Peter hates his successor - the pope. And it is time for us to part with the eighth heaven and ascend to the ninth, supreme and crystal. With unearthly joy, laughing, Beatrice threw me into a rapidly spinning sphere and ascended herself.

The first thing I saw in the sphere of the ninth heaven was a dazzling dot, the symbol of a deity. Lights revolve around her - nine concentric angelic circles. The closest to the deity and therefore smaller are the seraphim and cherubim, the most distant and extensive are the archangels and just angels. People on earth are accustomed to think that the great is greater than the small, but here, as you can see, the opposite is true.

Angels, Beatrice told me, are the same age as the universe. Their rapid rotation is the source of all the movement that takes place in the Universe. Those who hurried to fall away from their host were cast down to Hell, and those who remained are still rapturously circling in Paradise, and they do not need to think, want, remember: they are completely satisfied!

Ascension to the Empyrean - the highest region of the Universe - is the last. I again looked at her, whose beauty, growing in Paradise, raised me from heights to heights. We are surrounded by pure light. Everywhere sparks and flowers are angels and blissful souls. They merge into a kind of radiant river, and then take the form of a huge heavenly rose.

Contemplating the rose and comprehending the general plan of Paradise, I wanted to ask Beatrice something, but I saw not her, but a clear-eyed old man in white. He pointed up. I look - she glows in an inaccessible height, and I called out to her: "Oh donna, who left a mark in Hell, granting me help! In everything I see, I am aware of your good. I followed you from slavery to freedom. Keep me in the future so that my spirit, worthy of you, may be freed from the flesh!" She looked at me with a smile and turned to the eternal shrine. Everything.

The old man in white is Saint Bernard. From now on, he is my mentor. We continue to contemplate the Empyrean rose with him. The souls of immaculate babies also shine in it. This is understandable, but why were the souls of babies in some places in Hell - they can't be vicious, unlike these? God knows better what potentials - good or bad - are laid in what infant soul. So Bernard explained and began to pray.

Bernard prayed to the Virgin Mary for me - to help me. Then he gave me a sign to look up. Peering, I see the supreme and brightest light. At the same time, he was not blind, but he gained the highest truth. I contemplate the deity in his radiant trinity. And love draws me to him, which moves both the sun and the stars.