At the heart of Dante's poem lies the recognition by mankind of their sins and the ascent to spiritual life and to God. According to the poet, in order to find peace of mind, it is necessary to go through all the circles of hell and give up blessings, and redeem sins with suffering. Each of the three chapters of the poem includes 33 songs. "Hell", "Purgatory" and "Paradise" are the eloquent names of the parts that make up the "Divine Comedy". The summary makes it possible to comprehend the main idea of the poem.
Dante Alighieri created the poem during the years of exile, shortly before his death. She is recognized in world literature as a brilliant creation. The author himself gave her the name "Comedy". So in those days it was customary to call any work that has a happy ending. "Divine" Boccaccio called her, thus putting the highest mark.
Dante's poem "The Divine Comedy", a summary of which schoolchildren pass in the 9th grade, is hardly perceived by modern teenagers. A detailed analysis of some songs cannot give a complete picture of the work, especially considering today's attitude to religion and human sins. However, an acquaintance, albeit an overview, with the work of Dante is necessary to create a complete picture of world fiction.
"The Divine Comedy". Summary of the chapter "Hell"
The protagonist of the work is Dante himself, to whom the shadow of the famous poet Virgil appears with a proposal to make a trip to Dante. ).
The path of the actors begins from hell. In front of the entrance to it are miserable souls who, during their lifetime, did neither good nor evil. Outside the gate flows the river Acheron, through which Charon transports the dead. Heroes are approaching the circles of hell:
Having passed all the circles of hell, Dante and his companion went upstairs and saw the stars.
"The Divine Comedy". Brief summary of the part "Purgatory"
The protagonist and his guide end up in purgatory. Here they are met by the guard Cato, who sends them to the sea to wash. The companions go to the water, where Virgil washes away the soot of the underworld from Dante's face. At this time, a boat sails up to the travelers, which is ruled by an angel. He lands on the shore the souls of the dead who did not go to hell. With them, the heroes make a journey to the mountain of purgatory. On the way, they meet fellow countryman Virgil, the poet Sordello, who joins them.
Dante falls asleep and is transported in a dream to the gates of purgatory. Here the angel writes seven letters on the forehead of the poet, denoting the Hero goes through all the circles of purgatory, being cleansed of sins. After passing each circle, the angel erases from Dante's forehead the letter of the overcome sin. On the last lap, the poet must pass through the flames of fire. Dante is afraid, but Virgil convinces him. The poet passes the test of fire and goes to heaven, where Beatrice is waiting for him. Virgil falls silent and disappears forever. The beloved washes Dante in the sacred river, and the poet feels strength pouring into his body.
"The Divine Comedy". Summary of the part "Paradise"
Beloved ascend to heaven. To the surprise of the protagonist, he was able to take off. Beatrice explained to him that souls not burdened with sins are light. Lovers pass through all heavenly skies:
- the first sky of the moon, where the souls of the nuns are;
- the second is Mercury for the ambitious righteous;
- the third is Venus, the souls of the loving ones rest here;
- the fourth - the Sun, intended for the sages;
- the fifth is Mars, which receives warriors;
- the sixth - Jupiter, for the souls of the just;
- the seventh is Saturn, where the souls of contemplators are;
- the eighth is for the spirits of the great righteous;
- ninth - here are angels and archangels, seraphim and cherubim.
After ascending to the last heaven, the hero sees the Virgin Mary. She is among the shining rays. Dante raises his head up to the bright and blinding light and finds the highest truth. He sees the deity in his trinity.
The idea of the work
It is believed that the impetus for the creation of the Divine Comedy was a dream that Dante had in 1300, i.e. at the age of 35 (according to medieval ideas, this is half of life), which is confirmed by the first lines of the work:
Having passed half of earthly life,
I found myself in a dark forest
Having lost the right path in the darkness of the valley.
("Hell", song I, 1-4)
Having finished his work in 1321, Dante called it “Commedia” (“La Commedia”), meaning by this its average style, which did not contradict medieval genre definitions: any poetic work of the middle style with a frightening beginning and a happy ending, written by in the vernacular and not devoid of entertainment. Here is the work of Dante, written in Italian, tells how the poet, in the middle of his life's journey, got lost in a dark forest (an allegory of earthly life) and, full of fear and confusion, is looking for the lost "right path" (an allegory of the ideal), but the road to him three beasts block (an allegory of human vices). Dangerous beasts are driven away by Virgil (an allegory of earthly wisdom), who was summoned from the depths of hell by Beatrice (heavenly wisdom), who ordered him to save her friend. The story of the poet's wanderings in the underworld ends with a description of Paradise. In Dante's time, the concept of "comedy" did not include either the dramatic specifics of this genre, or the intention to arouse laughter from readers.
After the death of Dante, his first biographer, Giovanni Boccaccio, added the epithet "divine" ("divina") to the title of the work, which meant the work was extremely beautiful and perfect.
This epithet quickly grew to the work of Dante, because. was very apt: "The Divine Comedy", written in a simple style, gave a picture of divine creation, the afterlife as some kind of eternal life, for which temporary earthly life is only a preparation. The Lord God does not appear on the pages of the work, but the presence of the Creator of the Universe is felt everywhere.
2.2. Place of the Divine Comedy
in the genre system of the Middle Ages
Working on The Divine Comedy, Dante relied on the artistic experience of all previous literature - both ancient and medieval. He was exemplified by such ancient authors as Homer, who sent his Odysseus to the realm of the dead, and Virgil (Dante's favorite poet, whom he called his "leader, master, teacher"), in whom Aeneas, the protagonist of the poem "Aeneid", also descends to Tartarus to see his father. The plot of Dante's work reproduces the scheme of the genre of "visions", or "going through torment", that was popular in medieval clerical literature. poetic stories about the journey of the soul during sleep through the afterlife.
Researchers of Dante's work note the echoes of the Divine Comedy with the Vision of Tnugdal, written in the 12th century. in Ireland in Latin: the soul of the knight Tnugdal, who did not honor God's church, during a three-day sleep makes a journey through hell, where he sees the torment of sinners, and through the Silver and Gold cities, as well as through the city of Precious stones, where the souls of the righteous dwell; having received a good lesson, she returns to the body of a knight, and he becomes the most conscientious parishioner of the church.
Usually in medieval visions, the role of a guide in the afterlife was played by an angel, and the main task of the visions was to distract a person from worldly fuss, show him the sinfulness of earthly life and encourage him to turn his thoughts to the afterlife. In addition, it should be remembered that for a medieval person, the reality surrounding him was an occasion for allegory, for guessing what was hidden behind it. In literature, this manifested itself in the presence of several levels on which the poetic image is read as the meaning of the work becomes more complicated.
Following this medieval tradition, Dante put four meanings into his work: literal, allegorical, moral, and anagogical.
The literal meaning is the image of the fate of people after death, a description of the afterlife.
The allegorical meaning is an expression of the idea of being in an abstract form: everything in the world moves from darkness to light, from suffering to joy, from error to truth, from bad to good.
The moral meaning is the idea of retribution for all earthly affairs in the afterlife.
Anagogic sense, i.e. The highest meaning of the "Divine Comedy" was for Dante in the desire to sing Beatrice and the great power of love for her, which saved him from delusions and allowed him to write a poem. The anagogical meaning also assumed an intuitive comprehension of the divine idea through the perception of the beauty of poetry itself - the divine language, although it was created by the mind of a poet, an earthly person.
Catholic symbolism and allegorism, permeating the entire poem of Dante, connect his work with purely medieval traditions. Each plot point in the poem, each image and situation can be interpreted not only literally, but also allegorically, moreover, in several ways. Let us recall how, at the beginning of his poem, Dante tells about himself: “After half my earthly life, // I found myself in a gloomy forest, // Having lost the right path in the darkness of the valley.” In this "wild forest, dense and threatening," he was almost torn to pieces by three terrible beasts - a lion, a she-wolf and a lynx. He is led out of the forest by Virgil, who was sent to him by Beatrice. The entire first song of the poem is a continuous allegory, which is commented as follows: “... in the moral sense, these animals mean vices that are most dangerous for humanity: a panther is a lie, betrayal and voluptuousness, a lion is pride, violence, a she-wolf is greed and selfishness. In an allegorical sense, the panther means the Florentine Republic, as well as other Italian oligarchies, the lion - the rulers - tyrants, such as the French king Philip IV the Handsome, the she-wolf - the papal curia. Anagogically, i.e. in the highest symbolic meaning, the three beasts represent evil forces that impede the ascent of man to perfection. And the ascent to it is the plot of the poem, which consists of three parts (“Hell”, “Purgatory”, “Paradise”), and each part (not counting the introductory to “Hell”) includes 33 songs (kantiks), which is 100 in total (33x3 = 99 + 1 = 100). One hundred is the square of the perfect number 10 and, therefore, the mathematical image of the highest perfection.
The ascent to perfection from the forest darkness begins (the forest, as already noted, is an allegory of earthly life full of sinful delusions), accompanied by Virgil, who embodies the earthly mind. The shadow of Virgil, to help Dante, summoned from the depths of hell the shadow of St. Beatrice. And this is also an allegory: heavenly wisdom comes to save a person, sending him reason (reason is the threshold of faith). But the earthly mind is able to perceive only sad or tragic, but this mind is not able to embrace the divine greatness and joy of bliss, therefore, on the threshold of Paradise, Virgil leaves Dante, and Beatrice herself, an allegory of love, beauty and heavenly wisdom, becomes his guide.
Dante follows Beatrice, carried away by the power of his love. His love is now cleansed of everything earthly, sinful. It becomes a symbol of virtue and religion, and its ultimate goal is the contemplation of God, who himself is "the love that moves the sun and the luminaries."
Each part has its own allegorical encoding: Hell is the embodiment of the terrible and ugly, Purgatory is the embodiment of correctable vices and quenchable sadness, Paradise is an allegory of beauty and joy.
Dante's journey through Hell, hand in hand with Virgil, showing him the various torments of sinners, symbolizes the process of awakening human consciousness under the influence of earthly wisdom. To leave the path of delusion, a person must know himself. All sins punished in Hell entail a form of punishment that allegorically depicts the state of mind of people subject to this vice: the angry, for example, are immersed in a stinking swamp in which they fiercely fight with each other. "Purgatory" and "Paradise" are also filled with moral allegories. According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, those sinners who are not condemned to eternal torment and can still be cleansed of their sins remain in Purgatory. The internal process of this cleansing is symbolized by the seven letters P (the initial letter of the Latin word peccatum, "sin"), inscribed with an angel's sword on the forehead of the poet and denoting the seven deadly sins. These letters are erased one by one as Dante passes through the steps of Purgatory.
All of the above details: the plot of the poem, which tells about the author's journey during a "sleep, vision" through the afterlife, accompanied by a guide, and its allegoricalness, and the use of religious symbolism and the magic of numbers, according to which the numbers 3 are sacred (three parts of the poem) , 9 (nine circles of Hell, nine celestial spheres of Paradise, two Prepurgatory and seven steps of Purgatory - also nine in total) and 10 is the perfect number, and the aspiration from the sinfulness of the earthly world to the perfection of the heavenly world, where only one can find true Love and Faith and to contemplate the Almighty - bring Dante's "Divine Comedy" closer to the "vision" genre popular in the Middle Ages.
2.3. Features of the "Divine Comedy" Dante,
distinguishing it from the medieval genre of "vision"
Medieval "visions" indeed prepared many details that were included in Dante's "Divine Comedy", but the poet greatly modified this genre.
According to medieval tradition, only saints, from the dead, were allowed into the depths of hell, and sometimes the Mother of God descended there, an angel could act as a guide. Dante, firstly, presented in his work not only the depths of Hell, but the entire universe (Hell, Purgatory, Paradise). Secondly, he himself, a living, sinful person, passed through all areas of the afterlife, made this universe a part of his personal life. In addition, during his journey through Hell and Purgatory, Dante is accompanied not by an angel, but by the pagan Virgil, an ancient poet who in the Middle Ages was considered a “Christian before Christ” (based on the interpretation of Virgil’s eclogue IV, in which he allegedly predicted the birth of a miraculous baby, with the advent of which the “golden age” will come on earth).
Another difference between Dante's poem and the clerical literature of the Middle Ages is that he does not seek to distract a person from a sinful life. On the contrary, its goal is to reflect real earthly life as fully as possible. He does judgment on human crimes and vices, not for the sake of denying earthly life as such, but in the name of correcting it, in order to force people to behave properly; it does not lead a person away from reality, but plunges him into it.
In the chapter "Hell" Dante shows a whole gallery of living people endowed with various passions. And if in medieval visions the most general, schematic image of sinners was given, then in Dante the images of sinners are specific and individual, deeply different from each other, although they are outlined with only two or three strokes. The poet all the time operates with material taken from living Italian reality - material that is modern and even topical for the first readers of his work, i.e. the afterlife is not opposed to real life, but continues it, reflecting the relations existing in it. In Dante's Hell, political passions rage, as on earth, sinners have conversations and disputes with Dante on modern political topics.
In the tenth song of "Hell", Farinata talks about politics with Dante, whose unbroken spirit rises from the flames. In Hell, Farinata suffers for being a follower of Epicurus, but his conversation with Dante only concerns Florentine politics. Farinata was one of the most famous politicians of Florence in the 12th century, the leader of the Florentine gibbels. Dante admires the mighty will and heroism of Farinata, who saved his native city from ruin and now,
... brow and chest uplifting imperiously,
Hell seemed to be looking down with contempt.
("Hell", Song X, 34-45)
The very idea of afterlife retribution thus acquires a political connotation in Dante: many of his political enemies reside in Hell.
Academician D.S. Likhachev formulated the concept of the Pre-Renaissance - that transitional period when Dante lived and worked: “The main difference between the Pre-Renaissance and the real Renaissance was that the general “movement towards man”, which characterizes both the Pre-Renaissance and the Renaissance, has not yet freed itself from its religious shell." Indeed, when analyzing Dante's Divine Comedy, we see that the role of religious consciousness in his work is quite large, and this is manifested in the system of images, allegorism, biblical symbolism, etc., as already mentioned above.
But Dante is unique in that he combined extremes. Medieval “vision” with its hierarchy of meanings, sequentially built - from the literal meaning of the event to its sacred, anagogical interpretation, is turned not only upwards - to the Divine meaning and perfection, but also, at the will of the author, to history and politics. As noted by M.M. Bakhtin, analyzing the semantic structure of the work, Dante's historical and political conception, his understanding of the progressive and reactionary forces of historical development (a very deep understanding) is drawn into its vertical hierarchy. Therefore, the images and ideas that fill the vertical world are filled with a powerful desire to break out of it and enter a productive historical horizontal line, to settle down not in the upward direction, but forward ... "
Many images and situations of the Divine Comedy, in addition to the moral and religious meaning, have a political meaning. The dense forest, for example, is not only an allegory of earthly existence, but also an allegory of the cruel historical time in which the poet lived, this forest symbolizes the anarchy reigning in Italy; Virgil, who glorified the Roman Empire in his Aeneid, symbolizes the Ghibelline idea of a world monarchy, which alone, according to Dante, can establish peace on earth; the three kingdoms of the afterlife symbolize the earthly world, transformed according to the idea of strict justice. In Hell, the popes who fought the Ghibellines find their place; Brutus and Cassius, who betrayed Caesar, are declared, like Judas, who betrayed Christ, the greatest criminals.
In contrast to the moral and religious allegories that bring The Divine Comedy closer to the literature of the Middle Ages, political symbols and allusions give it a secular imprint, atypical for medieval literature.
But this does not exhaust the deep inconsistency of Dante's poem as a work that stands at the turn of two great eras. In the poetics of the Divine Comedy, as in Dante's mind, elements of the old and the new are intertwined in the most bizarre way.
For example, throughout the poem, the author carries the idea that earthly life is a preparation for a future, eternal life. But at the same time, he reveals an interest in earthly life and even reconsiders a number of church dogmas and prejudices from this point of view. For example, the church considers carnal love to be sinful, and Dante places "those whom the earthly flesh called, who betrayed the mind to the power of lust" in the second circle of Hell. Here are Francesca and Paolo, a couple in love caught kissing by Francesca's old and ugly husband over the pages of a chivalric novel about Lancelot that taught them to love. The fifth song of "Hell" tells how Dante's attention was attracted by a modest couple, unusual in that a man and a woman, hand in hand, rush past, not parting like a pair of doves. This is Francesca and Paolo. Virgil, at his request, stops the whirlwind, and allows sinners to approach Dante in order to tell him about their fate. After hearing their story, Dante faints. Here is how he writes about it in the poem: "... and the anguish of their hearts// My forehead was covered with mortal sweat;// And I fell as a dead man falls." This was the reaction of a Renaissance man, and not at all an orthodox medieval ascetic, who should have rejoiced that sinners were exemplarily punished.
Dante also critically reviews other ascetic ideals of the church, extolling such qualities of people as the inquisitiveness of the mind, the thirst for knowledge, the desire to go beyond the narrow circle of ordinary concepts and ideas, severely condemned by the church. An example of this is the image of Ulysses (Odysseus), close to the author himself and a wandering fate, and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge: neither tenderness for his son, nor fear of his father, nor love for Penelope could stop this ancient hero in his desire to "explore the world's far horizons" .
Dante's interest in real, earthly life is also manifested in his appeal to the natural world. Thus, describing the torments of sinners in Hell (Ode XXXII), he illustrates them with pictures of nature: traitors immersed in an icy lake are compared to a frog that tries to put its stigma out of a pond to croak.
The chapter "Hell" is dark abysses, crimson flames, bloody rivers, ice smooth as glass. In "Purgatory" and "Paradise" landscapes are permeated with light, white, green, scarlet colors prevail here.
The feeling of nature, the ability to convey its beauty and originality make Dante already a man of the new time, because. medieval man was alien to such an intense interest in the external material world.
All the above features of Dante's Divine Comedy testify to the fact that in this work elements of the old and the new are bizarrely intertwined, old genre traditions are being destroyed. With his attitude, his metaphorical vision, Dante hurries up a new picture of the world and creates it. Thus, describing the ascent of his heroes to Purgatory, the poet draws a picture of the Universe, based on the ideas of the ancient cosmographer Ptolemy, and supplements it with three areas located within the Earth: Hell, Purgatory, and also the Earthly Paradise.
Hell is a funnel in the Northern Hemisphere, reaching to the center of the Earth. It is formed by the fall of Lucifer, an angel who rebelled against God. Together with his demon minions, Lucifer was cast down by God from the height of the ninth heaven. Having pierced the Earth with himself, he froze into the ice of Lake Cocytus at the bottom of Hell. Part of the land, squeezed to the surface in the southern hemisphere against the place of the fall of Lucifer, formed the mountain of Purgatory, washed by the waves of the ocean that rushed there. On the “cut” peak of Purgatory, as if hovering above it, there is an Earthly Paradise. But according to medieval ideas, both Hell and Purgatory were underground. The man had no choice: the sky is far away! Bringing Purgatory to the surface of the Earth in his structure of the world, Dante thereby affirms the greatness and power of a person who has a life choice: the path to heaven, to Paradise, is getting closer. And Dante himself makes this path, freeing himself from sins, but not by the church way, not through prayers, fasting and abstinence, but guided by reason (Virgil) and high love (Beatrice). It is this path that leads him to the contemplation of the Divine light. Hence one of the most important ideas of the Divine Comedy: man is not a nonentity; relying on what is given to him from above - on reason and love, he can reach God, he can achieve everything. Thus, in The Divine Comedy, the idea of man as the center of the universe arises - Renaissance anthropocentrism, the humanism of a new era - the Renaissance is born.
The figurative meaning of the “Divine Comedy”, which has absorbed a lot, is, according to Yu. Olesha, “a whole fire of fantasy” and sums up a huge era, the Middle Ages, and not in its individual parts, but as a whole, and opens a new era - Revival.
Dante's innovation, therefore, lies in the fact that, using medieval structures, he fills them with a new, renaissance meaning.
2.4. "Divine Comedy" Dante from the point of view
modern genre system
When working on a work, each writer relies to a greater or lesser extent on the experience of his predecessors, uses the historically established methods of text organization that are characteristic of works of a particular genre.
As the literary process develops, genres do not remain the same, they change their content and content. In addition, genre is not only a characteristic of a work in terms of its content, form, or their unity. The genre expresses the relationship between the one who creates a work of art and the one who perceives it, i.e. Genre is a historically understandable type of form-content unity in literature.
From the point of view of Dante and the first readers of his work, there was nothing unreal in the Divine Comedy. In the gospel, the apostle Paul reported that he knew a Christian who, fourteen years ago, was taken to paradise and heard "unspeakable words" that a person cannot retell. This story was beyond doubt. Equally reliable for a medieval person was the fact that on Good Friday, 1300, Dante, in a dream-vision, “fell into a gloomy forest”, and then, having passed the dark pits of Hell, the cliffs of Purgatory illuminated by the weak dawn sun and overcoming the nine shining heavens of Paradise, ascended to the abode of God - the Empyrean.
If for Dante’s contemporaries in The Divine Comedy the genre of “vision” was easily guessed, and comprehending the levels of the meaning of the work did not seem to be an insurmountable difficulty, then over time the meaning of the work for readers was increasingly obscured, and its genre nature was comprehended within the framework of the existing at a certain moment and already familiar genre system, and from the point of view of a new worldview and a new look at a person.
Dante's "Divine Comedy" is called an encyclopedia of medieval life, because. it is not only the result of the development of the ideological, political and artistic thought of the poet, but also provides a grandiose philosophical and artistic synthesis of the entire medieval culture, like an epic, depicting reality in all its diversity, intertwining reality and fantasy.
But the Divine Comedy, despite its grandiose design, cannot be called an epic work, because the epic is objective, presupposes the self-elimination of the author, depicts a world outside the author. Dante, on the other hand, begins to talk about himself (“... I found myself in a gloomy forest ...”), he is the protagonist of the poem, combining the characteristic features of a lyrical hero whose thoughts, feelings, experiences are reflected in the work, the narrator (Dante talks about himself and other people or some events) and the object of the narration. At the same time, the image of the hero is not identical to the image of the author. The hero of the Divine Comedy is emotional: he can be angry with traitors; hot-tempered but respectful with Farinata; full of pity and sympathy for Francesca and Paolo. The author, who himself designed this whole world and populated it with souls at his own discretion, is omniscient, strict and objective.
It is the image of Dante, in all three of his hypostases, that is the connecting center of the various elements of the artistic system of the Divine Comedy. The poet not only and even not so much describes what appears to his eyes, but comprehends, experiences all events, inviting the reader to sympathy and empathy. After all, if Hell, according to medieval ideas, is punishment, the punishment of sinners, presented in the form of a faceless, screaming crowd, then Dante’s Hell is a fair retribution for an unworthy life, for deviation from moral norms and rules, and sinners are suffering people, with their own names, destinies, many of which the author deeply sympathizes (recall his reaction to the love story of Francesca and Paolo).
Thus, in Dante's Divine Comedy, the depiction of life combines the epic and the lyrical. This is a poetic narrative about the actions and experiences of the characters, and at the same time, the experiences of the poet-narrator are clearly expressed in it.
The Divine Comedy is, by its very nature, a fantastic work. The poet, equal to the Creator, builds his own poetic world, while the author's fantasy is based on the impressions of real life. So, when describing the torment of the covetous, thrown into boiling tar, Dante recalls the naval arsenal in Venice, where ships are caulked in melted tar (“Hell”, Canto XXI). At the same time, the demons make sure that the sinners do not float to the top, and push them with hooks into the pitch, like cooks when they “heat meat with forks in a cauldron.” Creating the fantastic, Dante is not afraid of being reminded of the earthly, on the contrary, he is constantly trying to get the reader to recognize the real world. Thus, the pictures of Hell, presented to the eyes of Dante and Virgil, are fantastic in the highest degree. But this transcendent fantasy quite accurately reflects the reality of modern Italy for the author (scientists have calculated that out of 79 personified inhabitants of Hell, almost half of his fellow Florentines - 32 people).
In The Divine Comedy, the action appears as a live event, as if unfolding right before our eyes, and this provides a complete illusion of the reality of what is happening, which brings Dante's work closer to drama, as well as dialogues that also allow dramatizing the action.
An example of this is the dialogue between Dante and Virgil in the scene of their ascent to Purgatory: surprisingly accurately, with knowledge of the matter, Dante poses natural-philosophical questions and himself, through the mouth of Virgil, answers them. Both the dialogue itself and the amazingly convincing small details of the narrative provide a complete illusion of the reality of what is happening, as if everything is happening in front of the readers.
All the noted features of the Divine Comedy make it possible to attribute it to lyrical-epic works and qualify it as a fantastic poem, in which the epic principle prevails, supplemented by lyric-dramatic elements.
At the same time, a global picture of the world that goes beyond the real world, recreated by the power of Dante's imagination, and the correlation of this world with the personal fate of the poet himself, his beloved Beatrice and Virgil - a teacher and friend, as well as the issues raised by the author of the universe, the purpose and meaning of human existence , responsibility for one’s actions allow us to say that Dante’s “Divine Comedy” is a poem of a universal philosophical nature: it is comparable to such works that are a “synthesis of genres”, such as Goethe’s tragedy “Faust”, which is also close to the poem in many genre features and combining epic, lyrics, drama, and M. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita", created under the influence of both Dante and Goethe.
The Divine Comedy (1307-1321) is one of the greatest monuments of world literature, a synthesis of the medieval worldview and a harbinger of the Renaissance, the brightest embodiment of Dante's "personal model" - one of the most influential in world literature.
The plot of the poem develops in two plans. The first is a story about Dante's journey through the afterlife, which is conducted in chronological order. This plan allows the development of the second plan of narration - separate stories of the souls of those people with whom the poet meets.
Dante gave his poem the name "Comedy" (the medieval meaning of the word: a work with a happy ending). The name "Divine Comedy" belongs to D. Boccaccio, the great Italian writer of the Renaissance, the first researcher of Dante's work. At the same time, Boccaccio did not mean at all the content of the poem, where it is about traveling through the afterlife and contemplating God, “divine” in his mouth meant “beautiful”.
In terms of genre, the Divine Comedy is associated with the ancient tradition (first of all, Virgil's Aeneid) and bears the features of the medieval genre of vision (compare with The Vision of Tnugdal in the section Latin Literature).
Features of the medieval worldview are also found in the composition of the "Divine Comedy", in which the role of mystical numbers 3, 9, 100, etc. is great. The poem is divided into three canticles (parts) - "Hell", "Purgatory", "Paradise", in accordance with medieval ideas about the structure of the afterlife.Each canticle has 33 songs, in total, together with the introductory song, the poem consists of 100 songs.Hell is divided into 9 circles in accordance with the severity and nature of sins.On 7 ledges of Purgatory (mountains on the opposite side Earth) 7 deadly sins are punished: pride, envy, anger, despondency, greed, gluttony and fornication (here the sins are not so serious, so the punishment is not eternal). a mystical number 9 arises. Paradise consists of 9 spheres (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, stars, Empyrean - the seat of Divine light).
The number 3 is also present in the stanza of the poem, which is divided into terts - three lines with the rhyme aba bcb cdc ded, etc. Here you can draw a parallel with the Gothic style in medieval architecture. In a Gothic cathedral, all elements - architectural structures, sculptures placed in niches, ornament, etc. - do not exist separately from each other, but together form a vertical movement from bottom to top. In the same way, a tercine is incomplete without a next tercine, where the unrhymed second line is twice supported by the rhyme, but a new unrhymed line appears, requiring the appearance of the next tercine.
The doctrine of the four senses, expounded by Dante in the Feast, is applicable to his poem. Its literal meaning is the image of the fate of people after death. The allegorical meaning lies in the idea of retribution: a person endowed with free will will be punished for his sins and rewarded for a virtuous life. The moral meaning of the poem is expressed in the poet's desire to keep people from evil and direct them to good. The anagogical meaning of the Divine Comedy, that is, the highest meaning of the poem, lies for Dante in the desire to sing of Beatrice and the great power of love for her, which saved him from delusions and allowed him to write a poem.
At the heart of the artistic world and the poetic form of the poem are allegorical and symbolic features, characteristic of medieval literature. The space in the poem is concentric (consists of circles) and at the same time is subject to a vertical line running from the center of the Earth (at the same time the center of the Universe and the lowest point of Hell, where Satan is punished) in two directions - to the surface of the Earth, where people live, and to Purgatory and Earthly Paradise on the other side of the Earth, and then - to the spheres of Paradise up to the Empyrean, the seat of God. Time is also twofold: on the one hand, it is limited to the spring of 1300; on the other hand, in the stories of souls in the afterlife, they are concentrated
both antiquity (from Homer to Augustine), and all subsequent times up to the present; moreover, the poem contains predictions of the future. So, the great-great-grandfather Dante Kachchagvida makes a prediction in the sphere of Mars, predicting the poet's exile from Florence (also a false prediction, since the poem was already written in exile) and the future triumph of the poet. There is no historicism as a principle in the poem. People who lived in different centuries are compared together, time disappears, turning either into a point or into eternity.
The role of the Divine Comedy in shaping a new view of man is great. The poet traveling through the afterlife is freed from sins not in the traditional church way, not through prayers, fasting and abstinence, but guided by reason and high love. It is this path that leads him to the contemplation of the Divine light. So, a person is not a nonentity, reason and love help him to achieve God, to achieve everything. Dante, summing up the achievements of medieval culture, came to the Renaissance anthropocentrism (the idea of man as the center of the universe), to the humanism of the Renaissance *.
HELL
SONG ONE
1 Halfway through the wanderings of our lives[††††††††††††††††††] ‡‡‡‡ ‡],
Well attempts to go back failed me.
4 Oh, will I tell about him, mighty,
About the wild forest, goblin whirlwind,
Where was my poor mind tormented by fear?
7 Such bitterness is hardly sweeter than death;
But through that I joined the good And saw the world in an unprecedented light.
10 I don’t know how I ended up in that forest,
In a dream, I strayed along its impassability,
When I lost my true path,
13 But near the hill I came to the foot,
With which the square of the valley was fenced,
All with the same fear in the heart, with the same trembling
16 Looked up - in the sky flared up
A star whose bright beam, lit in the darkness
The whole hill was lit up with radiance, it seemed.
"Hell" Song I (poet in a dark forest, the appearance of three animals, the arrival of Virgil). Drawing by an Italian artist of the 15th century. Sandro Botticelli.
19 Then fear, not so intense, Weakened, subsiding in the depths of the heart With the end of the night, spent in torment.
22 And like a swimmer who, heaving his chest,
He came out of the sea and, standing on the shore,
Looks back, where the evil storm howls,
25 Likewise, my spirit, slowing down in its run, Turned towards the deserted valley,
Where life almost stopped forever.
28 Having rested my body, I moved uphill,
Pressing on the ground with a strengthened foot And feeling solid support in it.
31 Having walked a little along the mountain path,
I see: a light panther4 jumping,
With a spotted skin, circling before me.
34 Motley, and winds before the eyes.
The way is blocking - I already wanted to return Back with light steps.
37 It was an early hour, and the sun was rising, Accompanied by the same stars,
With whose marvelous host the luminary was mated,
40 When this world was created by love...
I am not afraid of a motley and elegant beast, And moreover - as a messenger of blessings is realized
43 Dawn hour, so gratifying to the traveler.
But - again horror: I see a Lion appearing before me, angry and merciless.
46 Comes close to me in no way ... Enraged by the smoothness, the mane is tousled; It felt like the air was shaking.
49 Behind him is a she-wolf, thin and lascivious;
Through her greed, which has no measure,
The life of many has become bitter and dreary.
52 So terrible was the sight of the gray robber,
That, exhausted in a dejected spirit,
In the fact that I will ascend, I instantly lost faith.
55 The miser, all his life dried up over riches,
And, as it happens, suddenly parting with them, Sip of torment drinks hardly bitter,
58 Than I, vilely oppressed by a beast And forced to retreat ingloriously There, where the voice of the extinguished sun sinks.
61 I would have been overthrown, having lost my strength, but someone appeared to my salvation,
A mute witness to this unequal struggle[***********************].
64 “Oh, help me, heed my prayer,” My cry resounded over the hateful valley.
Whoever you are: a person, a shadow ... "
67 He answered: “Not a man, but he was;
My father and my mother are Lombards, they called Mantua their dear land.
70 Born sub Julio3, did not have to know him; He lived in Rome, which was ruled by good Augustus, - And he could not help but worship false gods.
73 I was a poet who sang of the goodness of the Son of Anchises," who left Troy,
When her majesty burned down.
76 Why are you hurrying back the path?
Why is the top of this mountain charming -
Joy joy - despised by you?
79 "So you are Virgil, the source of wonderful Words that flow like a wide river?" - Ashamed, I called out to the shadow, dear to me,
82 "O light and glory of poets, many
Love your creations
I considered it a high honor to study them.
85 Teacher, Master! I am preparing myself
To that in which he succeeded in part: so that my verse of Your verses would be akin to eloquence.
88 Look: I am oppressing this she-wolf;
Venerable husband, come to the rescue;
I am afraid, and my trembling has not subsided ... "
91 "You must choose a different path -
He, seeing my tears, answers, -
And do not return to the wild log.
94 The beast that spits out your cry from your mouth,
He became like an obstacle on this path and immediately kills everyone passing by.
97 Such a disposition: there is neither worse, nor more evil than Her, tormented by ardent greed, -
The more she eats, the more hungry she is...
100 Lives in intercourse with various animals,
He will persuade many, but the period of debauchery is short: The Coming One will bite into her with his teeth.
103 Not bread, not gold in heavy chests -
But his wisdom, love, virtue will lift him up through Felt-and-Felt7.
106 Italy he will become a benefactor,
In whose name Camilla died,
Turi, Euryalus and Nis are at the height of their powers.
109 From city to city he will drive the scarecrow, In order to cast him into the abyss of Hell, From where envy emitted him.
112 You need to follow me on the path:
I will lead you to the eternal kingdom -
Go bolder, misguided child!
115 You will hear how the ancient spirits cry out in anguish, that in great trouble Loudly and in vain death calls the second.
118 You will see the fire with an alotongue,
Ide those are burning who are not deprived of hope To live in a better world with a little joy.
121 When you reward you to the heights, a soul worthy of mine will accept you":
Saying goodbye to me, you will see her eyelids.
124 Creator, whose name I did not know how to praise,
Those who were like me, as well as those who are with them, will not be allowed into the area of prosperity.
127 The whole world is ruled by its perfection,
There, in the capital of his indescribable Only children of happiness taste bliss.
130 And I told him: “O crowned poet!
For the sake of the Creator, whose will you did not know,
From the worst evils, from this foggy wilderness,
133 Lead me to the city of eternal pain.
Vouchsafe to stand at the gates of Saint Peter; Let's hurry from these desert vales!
136 He moved, I followed, ready for anything.
CANTO TWO
1 The day was leaving, and the darkened air Promised the laborers a sweet rest From their worries; and I'm just a dream despised,
4 He was preparing himself for the upcoming fight With the vicissitudes of the painful road (Keep them, memory, in lofty order!).
7 O Muses! I will entrust to you my anxieties;
O mind, squeezed into the lines of a manuscript, Create this essay in the proper style10!
CANTO THREE
1 “Enter by me into the mournful city of torment, Enter by me to merge with eternal pain, Enter by me to the hosts of fallen shadows.
4 My creator is right, driven by fate.
I was created by the almighty power, the highest wisdom and the first love.
7 Ancient I of every creature, in the world of existence,
Except only the eternal, and I will remain forever. Abandon hope, you who go through me."
10 The letters of these niello mark the entrance there;
I, not understanding them, am confused and anxious"
Said, "Master, my fear is endless."
13 And he, a teacher of insight, strict:
“Here you will leave all your doubts, Here you will suppress your miserable trembling.
16 We will visit, I say, villages,
Where you will see the unfortunate sufferers, Forever deprived of the good of understanding.
19 And, clasping my hand with the tips of your fingers,
With a cheerful face, giving me courage, He led me to a crowd of indefinite campers ...
22 I sigh and weep, I cry out to those who mourn,
That the whole starless ether was announced, I answered with a groaning sob.
25 Multilingual was the hubbub of sadness,
Horror, pain, immeasurable rage:
The wheezes and sobs gurgled,
28 Rushing in circles in the semi-darkness of the cave:
Like grains of sand in the air,
When an unfaithful hurricane takes them.
31 I am frightened, not daring to move,
He asked: “Master, who are they?
By what suffering do they bend so heavily?”
34 And he told me: “Neither good nor evil -
Pitiful souls; neither praise nor scolding Did their earthly deeds deserve.
37 They are in one camp with the angels,
With those that were not useful to God,
Although they did not dare to support the uprising ...
40 And the heavenly haven does not accept them,
And reject them, disdain them,
Dark Hell deep abysses"12.
43 And I: “Master, such bitter
Why do sufferers come out with tears?
The answer is in short, simple words:
46 "Wishing for death, they do not find it,
And this life weighs heavily on them,
And sorrows, of which there is no bitterer, are tormented.
49 The world does not remember their deeds, their lies and falsehoods;
No mercy for them, no justice:
What to talk about them - looked - and further.
52 And it became clear, I only dared to look, -
They fly in a circle, cutting through the air,
A monstrous patchwork banner.
55 And after them the crowd - and such,
What a wonder you will give, looking at the hurrying:
Has dashing death struck down so many?
58 I recognized some of these mourners13;
Among them is the one who shamefully renounced From higher goals, enduring blessings14.
61 And it became clear to me that, undoubtedly,
Both to God and to the enemies of the shrine The essence of this absurd sect is disgusting.
64 Dead in life - and executed now:
Horseflies bite them and sting wasps -
Miserable gang of evil enemies;
67 They run in confusion, both naked and barefoot,
Blood flows from them, along with tears,
It is swallowed by bloodsucking worms.
70 And then, I see with my own eyes -
Great osprey on the bank of the stream;
I rivers: “Teacher, what fates
73 Here are these people, and what is the background of the fact that we are pushing their host steadily To the river, so dimly visible from afar?
76 And he: “You learn about it without hindrance,
When we are directed towards the right goal,
Let's step on the sad shore of Acheron.
79 Downcast eyes - ashamed, in fact,
Ask so often for explanations, -
I walked to the river; we made it in time:
82 Meet us, on a boat, among his possessions Sailed a formidable old man, he was gray-haired and ancient, Shouted: “Damn you, rabble of criminal shadows!
85 Heaven curses you, your destiny is deplorable:
To eternal darkness, to cold and heat, I will take you to the other shore, I am angry.
88 And you, alive in body and soul,
Why are you standing here if you're not dead?"
I was motionless. He, shaking his beard:
91 “Come on, let’s get out of here turn (s) wai!
Find a lighter boat and see
Don’t poke your nose at me, since your end is not fast!”
94 To him my leader: “Hey, Charon, be quiet!
That is the will of those who are there, to whom the Ways are open to fulfill the will. So shut up!”
97 Woolly cheeks immediately froze At the boatman of these leaden swamps;
The fire of the eyes, spinning, squirted through the orbits.
100 And the dead, from his harsh words, became even paler and more terrible,
And there was a frequent clang of their teeth.
103 They cursed God and their ancestors,
The whole human race, your birthday,
The forces that gave them earthly life.
106 Then all gathered without exception,
Loudly sobbing near the waters of the afterlife,
Destined to those who do not honor Providence.
109 Charon, a demon, with a gleam of coal-like eyes And calls them with shouts authoritatively,
With a heavy oar, he beats the sluggish.
112 And like the leaves of a rainy autumn
From the trees they fly into the mud and into the puddles directly, -
To meet his unfortunate fate
115 The evil seed of Adam strives,
Like a bird lured into a net,
To Charon in the boat to sit there.
118 Amid the gloomy waves, this dull plow rushes,
And did not have time to finish the water way -
New waiting hosts are crowding again ...
121 “My son,” my noble leader said to me, “All the dead that angered God,
They are drawn here, to this hopeless land.
124 And they are hurried, the road beckons them;
That is the highest providence, that confusion drives them into the abyss of fear, anxiety pushes them.
127 And there are no souls here that were created for good, -
That's why Charon was so furious,
Seeing you in this region of darkness.
130 As soon as he had finished, a roar swept over the dark steppe, shaking the expanse; Cold sweat dampened my forehead.
133 The wind blew, covering the land of sorrow;
Crimson flame, suddenly kindled over her, Blinded my eyes, depriving me of feelings;
136 And I fell on my face, as if struck by a heavy sleep.
SONG FOUR
1 My deep sleep was soon disturbed by a heavy rumble; with difficulty I woke up
Like a man who is forcibly awakened.
4 Rising to his feet, his whole body started up And, in order to remember what was happening to me and where I am,
He glanced around without hesitation.
7 We stood, and near us, blackening.
The abyss yawned; from the depths of the pitch A roar rushed towards us - louder, more audible.
1° What was going on there, in these boundless mists, - Trying to understand, straining eyes,
In my efforts I struggled unsuccessfully.
13 "The fatal abyss of the blind world ... -
The poet began and became mortally pale, -
I'm going there. You are following, walking behind me ... "
16 But I saw that his face was colorless,
And rivers: “Well, how can I follow you,
If your sudden fright is noticeable to me?
19 And he: “I will not hide my sadness About the people whom we will soon see.
Do not fear, do not think, grief owns me.
22 Let's go, our way is long; into the circle first vnvdem". ... So we descended into the blackness of the open abyss,
Whose first belt is invisible to me yet...
25 Do not cry, do not groan - there reigned a tearless sigh, giving rise to trembling in the eternal ether,
In the starless darkness poured everywhere.
28 In this world, women and children suffer painless grief, together with men,
Their darkness and darkness, their circle of all gatherings is wider...15
31 Good teacher to me: “Aren't you waiting for news About what kind of spirits are hovering here?
Find out before you leave: to their credit,
34 They are without sin: but not for the sake of merit,
If the one who acquired them was not baptized: A place alien to this faith is in the first circle.
37 To them, born before Christ's birth,
It is not given to know how to praise God.
And I was just as uninitiated.
40 Not otherwise severely punished,
But only for this; contrary to wishes
We languish in Limbo with eternal anxiety.
43 My heart was troubled by compassion:
Glorious people in regretful sorrow Are doomed here to heavy sighs...
67 Not far from the place we departed,
Where I was sleeping, and suddenly I see: a flame is burning,
And the darkness recedes, oppressed by light.
70 From afar, this light is barely visible to us,
But it is clear: the place where the glare flickers,
It was occupied by glorious men.
73 “O great torch of knowledge and arts!
What, tell me, venerable masters Are turned to us by venerable faces?
76 And he: “You are glad to see eminent men,
Whose resounding glory the pillar ascended, magnificent, pleasing to the sky, famous in the world.
79 Then I heard a voice:
"Pay respect to the best poet,
Whose spirit comes to us out of darkness, exalted.
82 And I saw when I heard this speech:
Four shadows march sedately,
Coming closer to us, heading towards the light.
85 The good teacher said with inspiration:
“With a sword in his hand, out of the hazy fog, the one whose name is sacred forever comes out:
88 Homer the great, the leader of the poets of the camp;
Behind him is Horace, sophisticated in satire,
Further Ovtsdiy, ahead of Lucan *.
91 I am connected with them, their brother in lyre,
And the words sounded right,
Honored by the praise of the most glorious in the world.
94 So, I have chosen the flower of a stately school.
Creator of high, marvelous chants,
Whose eagle flew from heaven to the valleys.
97 Behold, a glad of their shadows came up with us,
They approached me with greetings,
And MY LEADER and genius smiled at me.
100 I was honored - to the poets
To join, having become one with them, -
And I became the sixth in this community.
103 So we went to the light, speaking in peace About what it would be necessary to be silent about,
If only earthly things had not departed from us...
SONG FIVE16
25 ... Here I hear how they are poured out of mournful souls,
Pennies are rushing; I have entered the limit
Where the shadows groan, forever full of tears.
28 Rays are futile to sound efforts,
And the roar is deaf - so the abyss of the sea howls
With oncoming whirlwinds that crossed their wings at once.
31 That is the wind of hell, not knowing rest,
Carries away the souls of the unfortunate sufferers,
Rotating them in a darkened space.
" Lucan - a Roman poet of the 1st century AD The most glorious in the world is Homer.
34 Flying in a circle in terrible torment,
They gnash and cry and moan
Threats to God come in vain.
37 In the abyss of sorrow for that they drown,
That surrendered to the power of the temptations of the flesh, Dragging their minds into a sinful pool.
40 And like starlings, barely visible in flight,
Cold drives south in large flocks,
So I matured these bad ones, lost in the account:
43 Above, below, and here, and there - what about them?
And there is no hope for them to be relieved, -
So that the torments were not so evil ...
46 Like cranes, whose song is so melancholy,
When they rush in the skies like a wedge,
They wailed in sorrowful anguish,
49 With the same anguish - sad, crane-like. I rek: "Master, who are they,
Languishing in the desert air?
52 “One of them - you are like this for the first time
You will find out here, - he answered solidly, - Many tribes bowed before her;
55 She profligated so shamelessly,
That fornication was recognized as a universal law, To look not so unseemly:
58 Semiramide[†††††††††††††††††††]! Her legitimate husband
There was Ning, who left the land to his wife,
What became the land conquered by the Sultan.
61 Here is the one whose days the ardor of love subtracted -
She was unfaithful to the dead Siheyu;
Here is Cleopatra, whoring without rules.
64 You see Helen - there were many troubles and hardships with her, and you see Achilles,
That he fell, he was struck by his love.
- And so it was told about many
70 How many names did my leader Donn call me, cavaliers, tormented by sorrows, - My heart trembled, compressed by compassion.
73 I said: “My poet, in the midst of a host of oppressed Ones, I would ask two, flying side by side, Easily carried away by a gust of wind”1.
76 And he told me: “You follow them with your eyes;
As they get closer, address them with a speech, Invoking love for torment and joy.
79 The wind hastened our meeting with them,
And I called out: “O despondent souls,
What has befallen you as a human being?"
82 Like doves, attracted by the call of their native nests, spreading their wings, Flying to their sweet haven, unforgettable,
85 So these, leaving Dvdona's retinue,
To us rushed to my voice calling, My tenderness to them willingly glorified:
- “O benevolent, affectionate living,
To us, who have stained the earth with burning blood!
91 If the king of the universe were our friend, He would be prayed for your peace For your compassion for our torments.
94 To broadcast and listen to us is twice as gratifying,
If you ask for this conversation,
And the evil howling of the storm ceased.
97 I was born near the shores, where in the sea
With a family of fast tributaries, the Po flows in, Aiming to disappear into the vast expanse.
100 Love suddenly scorches the heart:
He was captivated by a beautiful body,
That, having fallen into the dust, is now decaying.
103 The love of the beloved commanded:
He captivated me so much that believe:
I still haven't warmed to him.
106 Love for the one brought us to death,
Cain" will accept our villain, -
Thus the spirits spoke to us.
109 Bitterly regretting the mournful shadows,
I involuntarily bowed my head to my chest.
The poet asked: "What are you?" (I was like in a dream).
112 I answered, “Oh, how it hurts!
What delight - how sweet hopes - They were drawn into the abyss of disaster willfully!
115 And, waiting for plaintive confessions,
He said: “Francesca, I shed tears with you, listening to your stories of suffering.
118 Tell me, at the time of the sweetest dream, Fanned by bliss and love,
Who inspired you with secret passions?”
121 And to me she: “He suffers the worst pain,
Who remembers the wondrous time In misfortunes - like the leader that is here with you.
124 Who woke us up by opening us for the first time
The call of tender passion - do you want to know it? My answer will be a mournful groan.
127 Once read jokes together
About Launcelot8, obsessed with passion:
Alone, without fear, without care...
130 Then they did not know - fortunately or unfortunately Our eyes met; we faded...
Do not resist the sweet attack:
133 As soon as we had time to read about it,
Like a kiss, the circle of love closed,
The one with whom I am still in this limit,
136 Trembling, he touched my lips with his mouth.
And Galeotom[‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡] this book became:
None of us returned to her that day.”
139 While one shadow was broadcasting all this,
Another was crying. Deprived of all strength - so compassionate soul -
142 I fell on my back, as if slain by death. CANTO TEN "*
22 ... “The Tuscan, coming with a hail of flame, Alive, decently restrained in speeches, Here slow down the step, carrying you into the distance.
25 Sounds your conversation over the sultry abyss,
Like an echo of the glorious homeland that I plunged into whirlwinds of restless turmoil.
28 Suddenly, such a speech burst out
One of the cancers, and, shuddering, I clung to the leader, then I will not hide the fact that I was shy.
31 And he said to me: “Why are you afraid?
That Farinata6; you see, he, getting up,
Already up to the waist above the cancer has risen,
34 I froze, staring at him,
And he lifted his forehead and chest arrogantly, It seemed, despising the abyss of Hell.
37 I was led by MY LEADER at ease To him, bypassing other graves,
Saying: "Talk to him frankly."
40 And then, looking at me for the first time,
He casually threw a question from the coffin:
“And your ancestors - who were they?”20
43 I, answering, did not pass the truth,
He explained everything and tried to be accurate. He listened and silently moved his eyebrows.
46 Then: "This kind was willing to harm us - Me and my brethren, and twice He was struck down by our powerful pressure."
49 “But it was possible for those who were expelled back, -
I rivers - to return; and twice, not me. It’s worse for yours - happiness is perverted.
52 And then - a neighboring phenomenon of the shadow of Radom from the crayfish head appeared,
The owner of which knelt down."
55 He looked around - as if, it seemed, Wanted to see someone with me;
When that hope is shattered,
58 Groaning, he said: “If your high mind brought you to this blind Prison, Tell me, where is my son? Why not with you?”6
61 And I told him: “I am here, led by the command of the One whose providence is beyond understanding,
But your Guido was rejected at once.
64 His words, and the way of torment They said who he was, that he was waiting for an answer,
And I answered at once, without delay.
67 He jumped up and cried out; “How is it?
Was he rejected? No living native? Eyes do not see the sweet light?
"Hell". Canto X (in the middle - Dante with Farinata and Cavalcante Cavalcanti; on the left - Dante retires in sadness). Drawing by Sandro Botticelli.
70 And before I could utter a word,
As if stammering before answering, - He fell down - and did not arise again.
73 But that, the other, that proud man, whom I had to meet earlier, stood, towering,
All in the same position, as I could see.
76 And he said, returning to the previous topic: “Thought that our happiness has betrayed22,
Worse than the flour here, I am tormented.
79 But she, under whose authority we are, will not succeed,
23
Fifty times to set fire to your sovereign face, - You yourself will be crushed by an evil misfortune.
82 I wish you a glorious return to the world ...
Tell me: why is this grief for all of me -
Does your wayward law oppress them today?”
85 And I: “In memory of the bloody dispute,
Arbia, as you know, who has turned purple, -
This is how we pray in our cathedral.”
88 And he, with a sigh that showed despondency:
“I was not alone there, and it was not in vain that all the others who were there had to fight.
91 But I was alone when hourly
They could turn Florence into rubble,
And I defended the city at a dangerous moment.
94 “Oh, that your world would be found by descendants! - I exclaimed, - but, I beg you, remove the traces that have entangled my mind.
97 You sagaciously see the future -
Only the present - what we are close to - Is drawn to you in a distorted form.
100 “We, seers, only aspire into the distance,” he said to me, “our leader, much revered, shines in our eyes with a distant light25.
103 And what is near, what is near, is not for us to judge; and how do you live there -
That we represent according to other people's slander.
106 So, it is clear that all our knowledge will perish, die at that moment predicted,
How the door to the future will be closed forever.
109 Pricked with innermost guilt,
I say: "Tell the fallen glad
His son lives, his unforgettable one lives.
112 He was silent about what happened to his child,
I am only because I strove to comprehend That which I have comprehended today with a spiritual look.
115 Teacher of the rivers, so that I hurry.
Saying goodbye to the spirit, I asked him to name those with whom he languished with pleasure.
118 And he: “They are more than a thousand; in this host the shadow of Federico the second is hidden,
And the cardinal ... 6 I don’t remember the rest.
121 Zasim disappeared. And my ancient piita,
To whom I turned my steps in anxiety,
I felt that my thought was entangled in turmoil.
124 We went together further along the road,
And he asked: "Well, why are you so lost?"
I explained. My mentor is strict for me:
127 “Remember this! But be sure -
He raised his finger in deep thought - More precisely, your lot will be measured
130 In the sweetest light by the omniscient eye of the One from whom you will surely know Your earthly path, which is destined by fate.
133 /l
He took to the left; we walked measuredly Away from the wall, down, circle to the middle,
And it was felt - it smelled stinking, bad
136 Where we were going - in a gloomy basin.
SONG FOURTEEN”
43 I said: “Master! - You, invincible Who passed all the way, excluding the approach To the gates of iron, guarded by demons, -
46 Who is this huge, "that, neglecting
Heat, lies, so gloomy and so proud; Doesn’t it groan softly under this rain?”
49 And he, in perseverance, indestructibly firm,
Understanding my question, he shouted defiantly: “As I lived, so I will remain dead.
52 Let the blacksmith of Zeus sweat at the forge, Making arrows of thunder -
To strike me, as it was of old, stubbornly;
55 And let other masters sweat
On Mongibello in the forge faded Under the cry: "Vulka-an! Help-might-and!",
58 As it was in those days over Flegra, "The sovereign avenger will not break me, No matter how he throws lava spewing."
61 Then my teacher exclaimed passionately,
Louder than I have ever heard before:
"O Kapanei, you are your own tormentor,
64 You are overflowing with pride,
There is no more evil and obscene torture for you,
Than your rage - there is no such in sight.
67 And, turning to me, he said more calmly: “He was one of those seven kings, That Thebes of old was threatened with slaughter;
70 Despised God as well as now he;
I told him that he strictly watches over himself: he is still, they say, arrogant.
73 Follow me, try dear
Do not step into the combustible sand, Stay near the forest - you will avoid burns.
SONG NINETEENTH'7
1 O Simon Magus, O those who are at one with him!
God's deeds, defiling the holy purity with self-interest by the malicious,
4 Did you carry silver? A gold coin?
Let the trumpet sound reproach you,
In the bosom of the third fallen cursed!
7 Another recess below us:
The same ditch, the arc above it is the same,
And we are above it, on the very hill.
10 O higher mind, how do you penetrate into the sky, and into the earth, and into the unholy world,
And how do you show your kindness!
13 And the bottom of the moat and the banks are washed away,
Dressed in stone, full of holes with capacity - if you could see them -
16 Like round and large fonts,
Those in my beautiful San Giovanni[********************] managed to serve many baptized.
19 One of them I broke in a recent year,
When the one who was baptized was drowning in it, -28 Here is the document given to me as an excuse.
22 Of these wells protruding were
Sinners' legs are seen upside down
And deep into their bodies, they went into the stone.
- Flames fluttered over each heel;
- It's like slathering oil on something.
So the fire slid from the toes to the toes of the fold.
31 "Who is this," I asked, "what kind of trouble wrecks Him more than all the burnt ones,
And scarlet fire dances, biting him?
34 And the leader: “It is not worth letting us miss; Let me let you down closer to him -
He will answer for himself why he is in such jams.
37 And I: “It is good for me - after all, you
You want it yourself, leader, firm in decisions; If you are inclined, then I bow lower.
40 We went to the left along the fourth dam And overcame a difficult descent to the hollow,
The moat is perforated and filled with a heavy stone.
43 Leader, take care of me like a son,
He let me in as soon as we approached To that teary-footed man.
46 “Oh, whoever you are, so executed, Driven like a pile, head down into the ground29, Respond if you can, stinging spirit!” -
49 I told him, and what he will answer, I will listen,
As a confessor, condemned to death, I accept the pre-death confession.
52 His answer was the most absurd:
"Are you here, are you here? Before the deadline, Boniface?
And what about the book, did it deceive?
55 Or, satiated, have you decided to part With the beautiful bottom, having achieved it by deceit and making it tormented a lot?
58 Likewise I stood, confused,
Who did not understand anything from the answer And involuntarily is silent, ashamed.
61 Virgil to me: “And you say to this:
“Not that, not that I, whose name you shouted!” And I answered with the words of the poet,
64 The restless spirit kicked its feet
And he sighed, and, really, almost crying, He said: “Why did you call me?
67 If it is your task to find out who I am,
And you followed this disturbing path,
Know: in a magnificent robe, there is a lot of meaning in the world,
70 She-bear was the son of I - that is not false! Alchen: May the cubs be strong!
Now he himself is hopelessly squeezed into the purse ...
73 Under my head pressed into stone
The darkness of holy merchants, my greedy forerunners, Simonians, money-grubbers.
76 There I will hide from the merciless fires,
A little bit I will be replaced here by the one whom I am waiting for (I thought - I waited) in gloomy torments.
79 But I'm here longer than he, dancing In the fire, will have to stick around shamefully,
And why so - I will immediately explain.
82 After him to us the one with a black soul,
A shepherd without a law will sink from the West -
And it will cover us with its absurd shadow.
85 New Jason[††††††††††††††††††††]! As the one in the Book of the Law (Look at the Maccabees) was a caressing king, -
So gentle with this crown of France.
88 I was not prompted to bold speeches,
But nevertheless he said his word:
“Tell me, was wealth seduced
91 Did our Lord expect treasures from Saint Peter, when he, having the keys,
"Follow me!" - heard the sound of a call.
94 Peter and other gold from Matthew
They didn't take it when it was decided by lot
Whose place will be the fallen villain6.
97 Execute! It was not in vain that your guilt was punished;
And keep an eye on the money
Whose amount was collected against Karl.
100 When it would not be worthless to swear
Over the supreme power of the keys, acquired by You on that day, fine for you,
103 I would pour out many indignant speeches;
Given to you greedy, covetous people, To oppress the good and exalt the foul-smelling.
106 Your host was foreseen by the Evangelist In the one that sat down over the waters, a lot of Fornication with kings in an unclean triumph ";
109 And seven-headed and ten-horned,
She had strength and majesty,
While the husband was right, strict life.
112 Your god is silver and gold. All decorum Forgotten: even an idolater Honors one, you are a hundred, as I could comprehend.
115 O Konstantin, you are not so bad, dead man,
That he turned, but by the fact that a rich canon accepted a donation from you! ”
118 While melodious verbal outpourings
Mine flowed, he - angry, whether ashamed - Repaired all the same kicks with his feet.
121 In the eyes of the poet, flashing, did not go out
Sparks of contentment: he was paternally sympathetic to my fair words.
SONG TWENTY-FOUR"
1 At the beginning of the year, very young,
Aquarius caresses the sun's curls And half a day is ready to cover the night;
4 Everywhere the frost on the ground sparkles,
White brother "is like his own,
But, formerly caustic, now it droops;
7 The peasant, the one whose meager bread is unsatisfactory,
And there is no stern - smooth surface: the field has turned white;
Spit with annoyance: "Be you unlike" ...
10 Wanders around the house, grumbling every now and then,
Confused, poor, and groans and groans;
An will come out again - everything is merry,
18 The whole world, elegant in multicolor, is drowning ...
Glad and the owner: he takes a twig -
Walk, sheep! - and graze them drives.
16 So my teacher, having first fallen into a rut,
It made me sad and very worried
But only he saw the ruin of the bridge ...
19 He cheered up in an instant and came to life,
He threw me a look - with the same look he multiplied my strength at the foot of the mountains.
CANTO TWENTY-EIGHT
1 Who could, even loosely expressed,
All blood, I burn everything and all the flour -
To what I saw, to give calculus?
4 Any tongue would stumble at the sound,
And speech - on the word, and on thought - the mind; Science is powerless to accommodate this.
7 And let all the nations come together,
Not forgotten by the Pulian land",
Which we know from many stories;
10 Those who tormented by a long war
The Romans, who paid tribute with the rings of the fallen, As Livy writes, strong in righteousness,
13 And the crowds of formidable fighters who fought Under the banner of Ruber Guiscard,
And, the ashes of the bloody host of trampled
16 Near Cheperano, where, without waiting for a blow,
The Puglians lay down, and at Tagliacozzo the intrigue of old Alar succeeded,
19 And I would have seen how much blood is shed,
Gaping wounds - everything would not be so depressed,
As in the ninth ditch, where you have to stay.
22 Like a barrel without a bottom, perforated through and through -
From the mouth to where the excrement is,
Inwardly, one of them was revealed to the eye.
25 Intestines hung disgustingly between the knees,
One could see the heart and stomach sack,
Stuffed with gum, stained with feces.
28 Here, under my gaze, he shuddered sensitively, Opened his chest with his hands, saying at the same time:
“Do you see how terribly torn I am all over!?
31 Do you see what happened to Mohammed?
Ali follows me crying,
His entire skull was smashed with brass knuckles.
34 And all the others - do you see them?
They are guilty of strife, schisms among the living, so they were cut.
37 There behind the devil, in heavy paws he rotates the sword and terribly maims us -
We take away the wounds on the bodies and foreheads;
40 As soon as they heal, he will maim us again,
When we reach the ring road To him again, - our pain will last forever.
118 Behold, I saw, approaching us, walking,
A torso without a head - and soon Caught up with us, stepping among others;
121 And cut off, with horror in her eyes,
Head, hand holding curls,
Hanging like a lantern, she exclaimed: "Woe!"
124 Well, the lamp ... No, it's incomprehensible;
Two in one, and one in two; how can you? The one who rules inviolably knows that.
127 Stop under the bridge, carefully He raised his hand with his head,
So that it would be better for us to speak disturbingly
130 Sounds are heard, and rivers: “You, I understand,
Alive - and you look at me, inanimate, Tormented by my torment;
134 If you want to hear a word about me,
Know: I am Bertrand de Born, the one who started To teach the young king to be bad.
CANTO THIRTY-TWO"
1 If my verse were sharp and hoarse, Evil - all in this very deep hole,
Where the wicked path descends in circles,
4 I would be stronger and squeeze more juice
From content; and so - let's face it -
And out of place, and not enough use;
7 Is it a joke? this hole is
Go describe it! - the bottom of the universe!
You can’t lisp here: dad, they say, or mom ...
10 Muses, incline to the inspired soul,
As to Amphion, who raised FivG, -
And let me do the work that was foretold to me.
13 O mob! bad! You were in vain people:
In order to avoid unspeakable torment There would be - goats, or shy sheep ...
16 In the darkness of the well, we stretched out our hands At the feet of the giant and descended below,
And suddenly I heard strange sounds,
19 Then the words: “You should stomp more quietly On the heads of the oppressed brethren And, perhaps, raise your legs higher!”
22 I took a closer look: the request is - how not to heed it? I see an ice lake under me -
The expanse of glassy, not watery expanses.
34 So, frozen in an ice floe until a secret ud,
Teeth chattering like a stork's beak, Mournful shadows stuck out from there.
37 They bent their faces down;
The cold brought their mouths together, sadness in their eyes - Vtsdat around, grieved, toiling.
124 We've moved on. Here is the ice grave.
He looked - there are two inseparably merged, One head covered the other.
127 And like a hungry man for the bread he got,
So the top bit into the bottom in the scruff, Crushing and the neck and the skull is broken.
130 The back of the head, crushed by teeth, crunched,
Like the forehead of Menalippus when the mortal duel ended with Tydeus33.
133 “You, indefatigable villain!
You, possessed by animal fury! Confess: your cruel plots
136 What, I asked, was the cause? If you are right, then I, having learned what is the matter,
In the world, I will be your only protector,
139 If the gift of speech will not be completely lost.
CANTO THIRTY-THREE
1 Lifting up his mouth from the monstrous poison,
The fierce sinner wiped them with the hair of the Head, whose skull was gnawed from behind.
3 And he said: “Do you want to crush my heart with past sorrows, so that they carry their burden, Before I express grief in words?
10 I do not know who you are and what path
He came here - both non-torque and long,
But your Tuscan accent... No, I won't hide it
13 You must know: I was Count U Golino34, the Archbishop Ruggieri is here with me For good reason we are neighbors!
16 That would have sufficed, at least,
That I owe him my death,
My faith in him as an ally.
19 But no man was told
All the horror of death that fell to my lot. Judge about everything, you are not bound by ignorance!
99 p u
In a stuffy dungeon I knew bondage -
Since then it has been called the Glad Tower, It torments other unfortunate people with the same pain, -
25 Into my prison the light of uncountable moons fell Through the bars... There, I remember, I had an ominous dream - in it my lot was guessed:
28 The hunted wolf with cubs tried to run away from the hunters along the mountain road,
Ide view of Pisa suddenly opened up.
31 With a pack of dogs running swiftly,
The Gualacdi, together with Sismondi, the Lanfrancs, stubbornly strove for their prey.
34 The spirit of living bait inflamed the dogs:
Father and children, having caught, they killed And tore apart the mortal remains ...
"Hell". Canto XXXIV (three faces of Saatana). Fragment of a drawing by Sandro Botticelli.
37 But then the groans woke me up
my children; in a dream of the poor thing, tormented,
They cried, they asked me for bread.
40 You are cruel, if their bitter fate does not touch you: was the burningness of your eyes of bloody tears familiar?
43 But the painful slumber was interrupted...
Will they let us write? I doubted:
Illness tormented me with bad forebodings.
46 And suddenly behind the door - we hear - there was a knock. Entrance clogged ... Our scores with life Will end soon. My mind was in the way;
49 To the crying children, standing half-turned,
On the. I looked at them. Poor Anselmushka shouted to me: "Daddy! Why are you looking like that? What are you doing?
52 Petrified, silent and pale,
Without tears, without thoughts, unable to open the mouth, To at least utter a sound in response,
55 I only woke up a day later and saw the dear Sons writhing in flour,
When a vague beam faintly illuminated them.
58 In anguish, I began to bite my hands,
Well, they, thinking that they were trying to saturate themselves with their own meat, were frightened:
61 “Father,” they said, “it is easier for us if you eat us at once; you gave us earthly flesh - Take it back. So that in that terrible hour they
64 Do not see how I suffer and yearn,
I calmed down... Two days passed...
Oh, if only the earth would open up damp!
67 On the fourth day we met the arrival,
Like the lips of a fallen Gaddo;
“Father, help me,” they whispered;
70 As you me here, so I am in the Tower of Glad I saw children, how they went out, weakening,
How each one fell dead at my feet.
73 Already blind, for about two days I Wandered among them and felt their corpses.
Then ... but the hunger was stronger than grief.
76 Having squinted his eyes, he again his teeth,
Like a hungry dog, he plunged with anger into that miserable skull, tormented roughly.
79 O Pisa, your shame will cover with contempt
The land of the fortunate, whose speech is sweet-tongued35. Your neighbor does not threaten you with extermination -
82 So let Capraia with the Gorgon "powerfully rise from the bottom, damming Arno,
So that all your unfortunate people drown!
"Kapraia is an island at the confluence of the Arno into the sea, Gorgona is an island in the Tirenian Sea.
CANTO THIRTY-FOUR
28 The prince of darkness, over whom all Hell is heaped up, He lifted half his chest of ice;
And the giant is more like me,
31 Than his hand (that you may number,
What he is in full growth, and the power of vision Appeared to us fully comprehended).
34 Anciently beautiful, today is disgust itself,
He raised his presumptuous gaze on his creator - He is the embodiment of all vices and evil!
37 And it was necessary to have a VCD so vile - His head was equipped with three faces!
The first, above the chest, red, savage;
40 And two on the sides, the place of their junction is Above the shoulders; with a brutal look Every face looked wildly around the neighborhood.
43 The right one seemed to be yellow-white,
And the left one, like those who lived for a long time Near the falls of the Nile, is blackened36.
46 Under each is a pair of the broadest wings,
How befits a bird so mighty;
Goldfinches never matured with such a sail *.
49 Without feathers, like a bat;
He rotated them, and three winds, blowing,
They flew, each - a viscous jet;
52 From these streams, Cocytus froze, freezing.
Six eyes sobbed; three mouths through the lips Saliva oozed, turning pink with blood.
55 And here, and here, and there they gnawed at the sinner; there are only three of them,
And they endure the torment.
58 Of these, in special middle restlessness:
The gnawing one rips off the skin from his back with his claws - the torture is twice as hard.
61 “Here is the spirit that suffers the most, Judas,” said the leader, “Iscariot, Whose back is clawed, head is tormented by a tooth.
64 Chewed the legs of another like dumplings,
This, black-faced; this is the soul of Brutus -
Swallowing his tongue, he writhes ugly.
67 And this is Cassius - you see, the whole body is swollen.
But it got dark; you've seen everything you need to. Get ready: there will be a steep descent.
PURGATORY
(Having passed Hell, Dante and Virgil enter Purgatory; it is located on the opposite earthly hemisphere, covered by the Great Ocean, and is an island on which the highest mountain rises; the mountain is divided into seven ledges, or circles, in each of which purification from one of the seven deadly sins: pride, envy, anger, despondency, covetousness, gluttony and fornication.Before entering the first circle, travelers pass another threshold, after passing the seventh circle, they enter the Earthly Paradise, where Virgil leaves Dante, and where Dante meets again with Beatrice.)
SONG ONE
1 For the best waves, I will raise the sail today Over the speedy boat of understanding, Leaving the water, whose name is fury”;
4 of the Second Kingdom
From where the mountain world of good heavens is not Ordered to souls after purification.
"Water, whose name is rage: Hell. The second kingdom is Purgatory.
13 Sweet strength of sapphire blue, Eastern bliss is purer and more tender,
Again I intoxicated my eyes with light, -
16 The horizons of the first appeared brighter, That I slipped out of the dead child, Hanging heavily, like a yoke around the neck.
19 The star of love, dreams of morning joy, So shone, laughing, the edge of the east, That Pisces was eclipsed, the planet of their row [*************************].
115 Dawn glimmered amid the sparse darkness - Guessed in the vague distance A ghostly glimpse of the trembling of the sea.
118 We walked alone in a deserted field,
Torya path through barely visible bevels - As if on the same difficult path ...
121 And we came to the line where the dew
Struggling with the sun, where in shady places Bunches of sprinkling herbs are gray-white;
124 Bowing his palms to herbs, drops of pure The teacher scored in handfuls, I offered Him cheeks, all in streaming tears,
127 And he washed them, delivered them forever
My face from the hellish soot, so dark, That it seemed to me - it has rusted in me ...
130 And behold, before us is a huge ocean:
From here there is no return for those who have sailed - And the waves run in a series of indefatigable ...
CANTO THIRTY
28 In the flickering of lilies, as in a white cloud, Manifested in the splendor of an angelic feast,
My vision was clear to my eyes,
31 In a wreath of olives, under the brightest ether
Fatoyu - donna "; her cloak is green, The living flame is scarlet porphyry.
34 And my spirit, once captivated by it,
Even though the time has passed,
When he trembled before her, in love,
37 But by the understanding (not through sight) of the hidden power that proceeded from her,
I felt the burden of the old love again.
40 When, finally, with a glance, having begun to see clearly, I knew the power that pierced me For the first time in childhood, the valor of blooming,
43 I looked to the left - the trembling made me tired, Like a child that runs to its mother in fright to protect,
46 To tell Virgil about heart drama:
They say, “my blood at this moment, the inexpressible To the ashes, burns the flame of the former passion”;
49 But then Virgil left instantly
Me, Virgil, my sweetest father, Virgil, revealed to me for salvation.
52 In gardens forbidden to our mother,
The dew is pure, but black tears are flowing From my faded eyes, the bitterest current.
55 "Dante, Virgil will not return,
But do not weep, but do not weep in vain: You will have to weep for something else.
58 Like an admiral, whose word at a dangerous moment Sounds, calling the squadron to battle,
And over the waves the powerful voice grows stronger,
61 On the chariot, on the left, across the river,
The one from whom I heard my name (Inscribed involuntarily by me),
64 Stood: donna among the angels, Merged with them before in general rejoicing,
She fixed her eyes on me.
67 Under the veil of her outline
Vague: the foliage of Minerva "has twisted the forehead - here contemplation would be in vain.
70 Royally restrained and angry,
So as not to pour out all her anger in an angry cry, So she continued, remaining hidden:
73 “Look at me! Either me or Beatrice.
But how did you climb these mountains,
To the abode of happiness, knowledge and greatness?
76 I lowered my eyes to the waters of the stream,
But I saw my reflection
He took them to the grass without enduring shame.
79 Like a mother who scolds her son in anger,
So is she, - and the taste of love in such a harsh expression seemed bitter to me.
82 She fell silent. Immediately a chorus rang out of the Angels: "In te, Domine speravi."
At the sounds of pedes meosb he broke off.
85 Like snowy, frozen lava in ice In the forested mountains of Italy - at the right time,
When Borey rushes through the oak forest,
88 (But only the breath of the South, devoid of shadows, will fan the frozen mountain,
Like a candle, melt ice jam), -
91 Without tears and sighs, without plaintive songs I stood frozen until I heard the chants Consonant with the eternal spheres.
CANTO THIRTY-ONE
1 "O you who stand near the holy stream,"
So, directing the speech to me,
To hurt like a sword, any word,
* She spoke without wasting time:
“Tell me, tell me, is that right? Confess to everything you must, if I'm right.
7 I was embarrassed, unable to justify myself,
My voice froze as if in a kind of trembling,
Gone inside, not daring to be heard aloud.
10 waited. Then she said, “So what?
Answer me: the evil memory of the past has not yet been washed away with water - it will be washed away later.
13 Fear and embarrassment, mingled all together, Such a “Yes” was expelled from my mouth,
What would not be heard blindly.
16 Like a bow that is broken too much, - He will send an arrow to a distant goal,
But this shot will hardly hit the target, -
19 So I collapsed, burdened with grief,
All exhausted from tears and sighs,
And my dejected voice weakened...
22 She said to me: “Among all good desires,
Inspired to you by me for salvation,
Knowing the sweetness of the best hopes,
25 What ditches and chains are before you
Did you see that, timid, you did not dare to follow the path straight ahead?
28 What a temptation, vain, captivated,
What promises hastily entrusted,
Why did your spirit rush to meet them?
31 Sighing through tears - bitterly, inconsolably, And straining his melancholy voice,
To answer clearly and diligently,
34 Weeping, I said: "Vanity, deceitful,
The affairs of the world fascinated me,
After you left for a better world.”
49 “Nature, books - did you find in them Sweetness such as my body Before the destruction of its wondrous members?
52 And if their sweetness flew away With my death - which of the mortals managed to become Your desired? ..
55 You should have followed me at the first of the first blows of Fate -
To the true blessings, away from the blessings of the infidels.
58 You shouldn't have made your flight harder with new guilt - does the girl beckon,
For a moment he is seduced by another futility.
61 It is easy to catch or hurt a hawk,
But for an adult bird, the experience of a difficult life - From arrows and nets, is a sure damper.
64 I am like a child who listens to reproach,
He lowers his eyes - the poor thing is ashamed,
And the shame of any grief is more hateful, -
67 Stood. She told me: “Though it is clear,
How you suffer - come on, up your beard! Suffer in spite of what is doubly insulting.
70 Powerful oak is lighter in bad weather Crashes in a storm - ours or flying From the edge of Yarbya whirlwinds wander around,
73 Than I lifted my chin trembling; The face was called a “beard” - Such a word and poison is not sweeter.
RAI
(After reconciling with Dante, Beatrice leads him through the nine celestial spheres to the empyrean - the "rose of light" of the higher heavens - the seat of the deity. This part of the work devotes especially much space to theological scholasticism.)
SONG ONE
1 The glory of the one who moves the whole universe, Shining penetratingly, flows:
There, a greater one pours; here, a smaller light splashes.
4 In the sky, where it shines brightest,
I was and did what the efforts to tell are in vain for those who were able to descend;
7 For, approaching the object of desire,
Our mind strives to the depths of the wonderful,
Deprived of the limp powers of memory.
10 However, everything that in the kingdom of heaven the mind absorbed into itself in the form of a treasure,
Will give content now to my songs.
13 O Apollo38, I have to do the last work: so be with me from this hour,
If your laurel is destined to me, as a reward.
16 I have hitherto been from the peaks of Parnassus now you need both
If I run Pegasus for the rest.
Paradise". Song XXX (living flowers and a swarm of sparks over a fiery river). Drawing by Sandro Botticelli.
19 Enter into my chest, so that it sings to choking, As if Marsyas ” longed for victory, The one whose womb was torn out of the skin.
22 Divine prowess! O omniscient!
Revealing to me the shadows of the holy kingdom, Clear up the image that entered my memory,
25 And I will stand under the canopy of laurel -
To receive your crown, which the inspired word deserves by You about the eternal.
28 Rarely plucked - so that the heart grieves - This leaf to the triumph of Caesar eh, the poet; Rarely whose glory does he turn his head.
‘Marsyas is a satyr, a rival of Apollo in music, from whom the latter, having defeated him, tore off his skin.
31 And the god of Delphi with a smile of greeting Would honor those who were deceived by the leaves of Penea [‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡] and hungers for them like light.
34 A small spark will kindle a flame:
Following me, perhaps, to the sympathetic Kirra.” Prayers will ascend with the best voices.
37 Mortals are coming from different points in the world of His lamp; but only one can merge four circles with three crosses
40 In the best aspirations with the best star - Then the seal in worldly wax Will be more clearly displayed by unearthly power.
43 Soft morning light - to us, and hard dusk From us flowed in different hemispheres;
To us, near that point "of the day, sparkles sparkled;
46 In the sun, on which it is forbidden for creatures to see,
Beatrice pierced her eyes: so look And the eagle's eye is beyond the power of the king.
49 Like a ray born from another, spun into the heights, ready, like a wanderer,
Who is pulled back by the memory of the house,
52 So my gaze, capable of being ignited by it Aspiration to the sun, stared at the same place - Not like a human being, but as in the afterlife.
55 Who found himself in the beyond,
He can do more and sees more clearly,
Like a man who sheltered in a Bose.
58 I was an eye on high for a short time, I am higher,
I saw only sparks that flared up in the heat,
As if iron was heated in a furnace.
61 It seemed to me that the day was twice brighter,
As if the Almighty kindled in reality In the distant sky, suddenly the sun is different.
64 And Beatrice the gaze that attracts me,
She sent to where the eternal halls are;
Well, I - to her, looking away from the burning heights.
67 My light healed her eyes burns,
And I was like Glaucus
After that, the gods shared power with him.
70 This to the human higher increase Can not be told, but enough of an example -
All that is known about Glaucus.
73 Was it that I became a spirit, faith
And was it so - it was only revealed to you, Love, whose will the sphere was revealed to me
76 Good heavens: with the eternal orbit of star rotation, you identified me,
With your harmony of worlds inescapable.
79 And in the sky the sun was flaming scarlet It rained with light, and its streams Into its lakes poured unprecedentedly.
82 And the sudden ringing, and the scope of the wide Beams - everything was new, burning, tormented by the thirst to penetrate these miracles into the sources.
85 She who understands everything that happened to me,
Without waiting for my question
In reassurance, she opened her mouth
88 And she began: “To see beyond the nose,
You part with the unfaithful imagination,
Discarding him forever as a hindrance.
91 You are not on the ground, as you thought, but you rush to the spheral Limits faster than lightning, Meet them flying with immeasurable expanses.
94 And I cast aside doubts, satisfied,
Her short rejoicing smile,
But right there, full of new thoughtlessness,
97 He said: “I will not fall into the past mistakes;
Divit is different: is my body lighter,
Why is this ether both fiery and unsteady?”
100 She sighed and looked like that,
How a mother looks, sympathizing with her son,
What fell ill and raves every now and then,
103 And she began: “Everything I look at,
In a natural order is based:
In it the world accepts the divine mask.
106 In it, the rudiments of the Highest creatures gain eternal strength, which in the comprehension of this Structure should not be lacking.
109 And he, about which my instruction,
One for all, whether someone is closer, someone is far from the First Essence, which erected the structure.
112 They all swim - whether there, here -
In the vast sea of being and noisy,
Their instinct, given to them at the beginning, leads them.
115 He raises the flame! - to the limits of the moon;
Earth into a single it! - the lump binds;
He sends hearts trembling! - sentient creatures.
118 Not only shoots the lower creature[*************************]
This bow is excellent, but also those
In whom both reason and love are burning.
121 And providence that is over them all,
With a motionless light in the upper sky of Paradise Encompasses the sphere, the fastest in the striving6.
124 This force drags us there,
Now she has lowered her elastic bowstring And rushes, directing her to the desired goal.
127 But often the form and essence of each other Do not accept: a lot depends on the material that stagnates tightly.
130 The Creator of another, for example, will exalt,
And the one, even though he was given a mighty push,
He will go astray and his flight will reduce
133 (You saw how heavenly fire falls from a cloud), if, moreover, the temptation, though false, but tenacious, attracts.
- So do not be surprised that you can make a rise as well as a waterfall - overthrow:
- It would be better then to be amazed,
You - a living fire - would begin to creep along the ground ... "
142 - And again she raised her forehead to the sky.
CANTO THIRTY-ONE
“So the Holy Host3 appeared to me in a snow-white rose, with whom Christ was united by His Blood in marriage symbiosis;
4 The other regiment that saw, sang, flew, falling in love with the glory of the Almighty, with whom In such a perfect good was found,
7 Like bees swarming to and from the flowers,
To their own - where they will work to their heart's content - chambers,
10 Roses descended into elegant decoration From the petals and rose again There, where it is gratifying to be in eternal love.
13 All faces were of living fire,
The wings are golden, the rest is white So much so that there is no such snow.
16 Descending into the flower, this assembly flamed peacefully, invariably amicably,
And it blew with everything that it had.
19 It, between the heights and the flower of the pearly Mass of thickening, did not obscure the brilliance,
And there was no need to strain your eyesight.
22 All-penetrating, heavenly shrine0 Irresistible light streams everywhere,
So nothing here is a curtain for her.
25 Here to the ancient, as well as to the new people4
It is given to love this tearless land,
Rejoicing at his symbol as a miracle.
28 O threefold light and one star,
That you do not live here, shining in their eyes!
Tilt your gaze over our formidable storm!
31 Well, if a barbarian (who came from the region,
Above which Gelika is circling, meticulously Watching her son - seeing him off every day),
34 Seeing Rome, and how luxurious everything is in it,
And rise above the world of the Lateran,
He opened his mouth and wondered wildly,
37 Then I, coming out of the fog to Shine,
To the eternal from time, to the people,
What is healthy and wise - from the Florentines of the camp,
40 How marveled at his rising!
And rejoiced - straight up,
And he was both mute and deaf - to please himself ...
43 Like a pilgrim at the door of the temple,
Where the duty was fulfilled his vow,
Glad with this message to flow Semo and Ovamo,
46 So, immersed in the depths of the living light With my eyes, I felt how the Waves overcame him - now that one, then this one.
49 I did it - faces brightened with grace,
They radiated with bright greetings of smiles, Flamed with dignity and honor.
52 I learned the general plan of Paradise, for to
To this capable my gaze opened,
But on the details - not quite flexible.
55 I turned to ask about them
What did you miss and what did you stumble over?
58 Ready to listen to her - but another answered me ...
I wanted to see Beatrice - in vain:
My old man's gaze met her.
61 He himself is all in white, his eyes shine clearly,
And he is good, and he is happy, and full of effort To be like a father and help all the time.
64 Where is Beatrice? I asked hastily.
And he: “To fulfill your wish I am called by her from the point of abundance;
67 of the Third Circle
She deserves this in possession.
70 I did not answer, raised my eyes higher:
I see her under a radiant crown,
Light reflecting the eternal, in the throne niche.
73 It seemed, from the firmament, announced by thunder,
Stronger than the mortal eye will not move away,
To the bottom of the abyss of the sea immersed,
76 How is mine lagging behind Beatrice; hide She did not have a chance, however; and my eyelids feat I look at her.
79 “Oh donna, you, in whom all my hopes Have come true, as soon as, granting me help, You have crossed the fatal line of Hell,
82 Where was your trace! In everything that I see
Your strength and your good And kindness and valor I recognize.
85 According to you, without slowing down,
Ways I was drawn from slavery to freedom:
You gave me this courage.
88 Continue to keep me in your generosity,
So that my spirit is healed from now on,
He threw off the burden of the flesh to those who pleased you.
91 So I called to her; she was away, not
Approaching me, she only looked with a smile -
And turned back to the eternal shrine.
94 The blessed old man of the rivers said the word of the promise:
“I will help you to satisfy your way; about this Request was and love whispered to me.
97 Get used to this garden flower with your eyes,
With the play of rays and rays of a billion,
You, illumined by divine light.
100 Queen of the sky, who instilled heat yes
The ardor of love for me, to help us, the brothers on high, Deeming worthy of the faithful Bernard.
103 Just like a stranger from distant Croatia To venerate our Veronika3 He yearns to pray for this grace,
106 Which in the world is not dearer and more beautiful;
"Christ Jesus, my lord and God,
So what is your denunciation? ”-
109 So tenderness - similar to what was said -
I felt before the one for whom in life the Spirit of contemplation was dearest of all.
112 “Son of grace,” so he began, “do not look down, otherwise you will never see All that is glorious in the joys of the homeland;
115 But opening their eyelids to the heights,
You will see in the mountainous circle the throne of the queen, Whose kingdom is entrusted to guardianship.
"® And it was revealed to me, slightly raised the pupils:
As in the early morning the edge of the east is brighter,
Than the west, if the ray of the daylight flared up,
121 So here, as far as the eye could reach
(As if from a valley gliding over the peaks), The brightest light was seen from one side.
124 And as if there, where, revealed to us in those days,
The carriage of the Phaeton flared up, terribly planning,
But not suffocating the desert skies,
127 So a peaceful banner unfolded here And shone the very center of heaven,
But the flames did not flare up along the edges.
130 And in the center of that host of wonderful angels, Spreading thousands of wings as wide as possible, Shining differently, feasts an honest feast;
The name of Veronica, with whose handkerchief Christ wiped sweat and blood from his face, is the name of the image of Christ's face imprinted on this handkerchief, which is stored in Rome.
Woz Phaethon - a solar chariot that flared up, “planning brightly” (flaming), “but not dominating” (not being sufficient) “heavens”, for the departure ended in disaster and the light faded.
133 Games and songs are at this feast The laughter of beauty, that promising joy,
Nothing is equal in the world.
136 And if the word were even sweeter than Imagination - and then b, I'm sure,
I didn't make a proper speech.
139 Bernard, seeing how my delight is immeasurable Before that which burned him, he gazed there, And now he has become so inflamed with passion,
142 That the gaze is stronger and mine is inflamed.
SONG THREE THREE
49 And so Bernard gave me a sign, smiling,
For me to look up but already I looked there myself, staring at that height.
52 And my eyes, miraculously clearer,
Deeper and deeper into the radiance delved,
In the heavenly light of truth - and I merged with it.
55 Now my visions exceeded
Possibility of the word; was unable to enter What he saw in the memory of the tablet.
58 As we do not remember the radiant-winged dreams, Waking up, we only feel excitement,
But we won't hold back those lovely visions,
61 So it is with me: I was passionately excited by His insight - both sweet and sweet Those feelings, but I can’t give them a form.
64 This is how dull snow melts in the sun;
So the wind blew away the light heap of leaves With the important prophecies of Sibylla.
* The prophetess Sibylla made her notes on woody leaves, which were then carried by the wind, so that the text could not be restored.
67 Oh light supreme and so far away
From the intellect of mortals, give me at least a share of That charm, since I was so carried away by it!
70 Give me the power of speech, and let me speak,
And at least with a single spark of your glory, I can satisfy the people of the future.
73 Returning my memory, your majestic brilliance Will sound my verse, that brothers and sisters Will show the victory of your state ...
76 And the living beam was, it seemed to me, sharp:
So we endure the brightness, but if you recoil - Everything will fade and the visum nostrum will die out.
79 So that my eyesight, I thought, should not be allowed to fade,
I will watch ... And a miracle! - I had a chance to look into the prototype of the infinite Power.
82 You are generous, mercy, that the eternal light Gave me to see, to my call The response is ready to send a counter!
85 Marveling, as a diva, visions influx,
I have matured a book that is woven with love From sheets, in a world dedicated to breaking6,
88 In her essence I am a case with their flesh and blood Spiritually merged so inexpressibly,
That I will not say anything, not prone to vainglory.
91 The universality of bonds is undivided
Connected, I matured (the depth shone brightly), They, and I was unusually glad.
* Vision is ours (lat.).
The book of the deity, the pages of which are scattered all over the world (“betrayed”, scattered), appeared here in its indissoluble unity.
94 One moment is more marco here,
Than twenty-five centuries are opaque Since the day Neptune noticed the shadow of Argo41.
97 My mind, caught in sweet nets,
He was motionless, observing, sensitive, Inflamed, being in the light.
100 And break away - I do not write in vain like this -
From those rays it was impossible for me All the time that was there, the gap.
103 For all that is outside them is insignificant;
And in them everything that is desired is pleasant, And completely and trustworthy.
106 But my speech will be purely meager:
At least I remember something, but everything is like a baby, Nurse's breast sucking toothlessly.
109 Light? oh, not that: he won’t change with
That, for this reason, his sovereign status is equal to himself, not a renovationist in anything.
112 No, this vision has become a power unequal to itself in me by that minute,
Merged it with the holiness of the capital,
115 And to me a deep and clear prasuti
The image was revealed by this light in a three-circle About three colors, but identical to kruti42.
118 Two circles are exactly like iridin arcs
(The third was the fire, the glow was lit from them) They shone wonderfully, reflected in each other.
121 Oh, if only a word would contain my thought!
But I see that there is nothing to match her,
And there are no words for her - not just a few.
124 O eternal light, which is only understood by itself And reassured by its understanding And in whose rays everything gleefully drowns!
127 In the rotation, shining with radiance,
What is so wonderful in you reflected,
As I saw, I am intoxicated with the merger with him,
130 In the middle bloomed brightly
That whose likeness is our appearance;
All my vision stared into this image,
133 Like a geometer who takes a pencil and
In an effort to measure the circle3, he searches in vain for the Key to solving formulas in jumble,
136 Such was I near the tricolor Trinity;
How is this image merged with the circle? - I thought, But the question was unanswered:
139 There is no hope for one's own wings;
And behold, the brilliance of my thought overtook In the performance of a passionate effort.
142 Imagination, losing power, wilted,
But will, thirst, who knows me,
Attracted by the circles of the eternal cycle
145 Love that moves both the sun and the stars.
* Measure the circle - solve the problem of squaring the circle. b “Izhe me vedosta” (old glory) - who led me.
The meaning of the name "Divine Comedy"
The interpretation of the meaning of the poem is possible in several perspectives of vision. In a literal sense, this is really a journey of the soul after death in the other world. But, in addition to the literal, the allegorical understanding of the poem is also legitimate, that is, every event, every detail carries an additional meaning.
According to traditional religious ideas, hell is a place where sinners are. Suffering because of the sins committed in purgatory is for those who have the opportunity to be cleansed and saved for a new life. Paradise is a reward for those who have lived a righteous life. We are talking about the moral assessment of people's actions: where exactly does a person's soul go after death is determined by its earthly life.
So even in the literal interpretation of the poem, the world of people is delimited into the righteous and sinners. However, in The Divine Comedy, we are not talking about individuals, but the insults created by the author symbolize certain principles or phenomena. So, the image of Virgil, who accompanies the protagonist on a journey through the circles of hell, is not only an image of the poet Virgil, but embodies the principle of knowing the world, devoid of faith. Dante recognizes the greatness of Virgil, nevertheless depicts him as a resident of hell. Beatrice is not only an image of a beloved woman, but also an allegory of love, saving and all-forgiving.
The allegories in the poem are also ambiguous. For example, the animals that meet on Dante's path in the dense forest are endowed with traditional meanings for the Middle Ages: the lynx symbolizes deceit, the she-wolf - gluttony, the lion - pride. There is another interpretation of the images depicted by the poet: the lynx is Dante's political enemies, the lion is the king of France, the she-wolf is the Roman papacy. The meanings of the allegories are layered one on top of the other, providing the work with additional dimensions.
The journey itself is an extended allegory - it is the search for the right spiritual path for a person surrounded by sins, temptations and passions. Choosing a path is a search for the meaning of life. The main action takes place in the soul of the lyrical hero. The whole journey is carried out in the mind of the poet. Having learned what a crash is, having gone through the circles of hell, changes occur in the soul of the poet, he rises to the realization of the most important truths about the world and about himself.
It is in the part that depicts paradise that the main secret of life, which lies in love, is revealed. Not only in love for a single and beautiful woman, but in all-consuming and all-forgiving love, love in the broadest sense of the word. Love as a driving force, a force that moves the heavenly bodies. Dante leads us to the idea that God is love.
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 terts, 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 penchant for 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 (number 100 - 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 introductory song, Dante tells how, having reached the middle of his life, he once got lost in a dense forest and how the poet Virgil, having saved him from three wild animals that blocked his path, invited Dante to make a journey through the afterlife. Having learned that Virgil was sent to Beatrice, Dante's deceased beloved, 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 limb (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 outstanding representatives of 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, who fell victim to 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 drawn 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 the crystal one, - behind the crystal sphere is the Empyrean, - the 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. Lion - a symbol of brute 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 of 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 keen sense of landscape and man, which is shown in the Comedy and which the world learned from Dante, was possible only in the social environment 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 the 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 part is surrounded by seven ledges (seven circles of Purgatory itself). 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, Folko 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 Donat, 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 the features of a human face one can read “Homo Dei” (“Man of God”), with the eyes depicting two “Os”, 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 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 digits 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 December 21 to January 21 at sunset, the constellation
