Dante's Divine Comedy 2

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=== Page 33: ===
Chapter title: Beatrice

Dante: However...

Dante: Will there be in me enough strength of mind?

Dante: To leave from this world of our mortal things,
For the darkest one of divine origin,

Dante: Do they not say that no one can return?


=== Page 34: ===
Dante: Should I tread in Hell and find no exit,

Would I not in Hell forever wander?

Is not such risk too much for a poet
To bear upon his frame, trembling and frail?

=== Page 35: ===
Dante: Maestro!?

Dante: W... what path do you lead on, / what do you plan?

Dante: Does not such a journey as you intend
Require more strength than truly I possess?


=== Page 36: ===
Dante: You sang, that of Silvius the parent*,
While yet corruptible, unto Hades
Immortal went, and was there bodily.

* Silvius was one of Aeneas' children. Thus, Dante is talking about Aeneas.
(long note:) Ancient poetry, which Dante's style is similar to, would often refer to people by who their father was or, in this case, who they were the father of. Silvius was one of the children of Aeneas; thus, here, Dante refers to Aeneas (who visited Hell itself in the Aeneid).


Dante: But he was, of great Rome and of her empire,
Chosen as father by the empyreal heavens!

Dante: And traveled as well did the great Saint Paul,
To bring us back assurance in such faith,
But not for good reason was he a saint!

Dante: I am not Aeneas!

Dante: Nor am I Paul!

Dante: I am Dante, a poet, nothing more;
To look upon Hell and mortal remain,

For myself, what proof of such can there be?

=== Page 37: ===
Virgil: Is your soul... / tainted with cowardice?

Virgil: A body of flesh you possess, yet weak
Your soul is? You hold cowardly fear
Which many times a man encumbers so:
It turns him back from honored enterprise,
As shadows do a beast, when he is shy.

=== Page 38: ===
Virgil: But much like a beast a man is, it seems,
And in fear, men oft change their desires.

Virgil: That you might free yourself from apprehension,
I'll tell you why I came, and what I heard
At the first moment when I grieved for you.

Virgil:Among those was I who are in suspense*,
And a fair, saintly Lady called to me.
The name of that Lady was Beatrice!

* He's referring to Purgatory.

Dante: Oooohh!!

=== Page 39: ===
Dante: BEATRIIIICE!

=== Page 40: ===
Narration:
In the year 1274, aged 9,
Dante met with a beautiful young girl.

Beatrice was the name of that young girl,

Only a few months younger than Dante.

His heart with strange excitement pulsating,
In awe Dante stood before the maiden.

And from that start, Dante knew himself moved,

A willing victim of "love at first sight".

=== Page 41: ===
Narration:
And so in Dante's mind did Beatrice
For the whole of the poet's life remain.

When Dante in his eighteenth year of life,

By fated chance he again met Beatrice,
Her more beautiful by every day passed.

=== Page 42: ===
Dante: Beatrice...

=== Page 43: ===
Narration:
By Beatrice reminded of first love,
The poet within began to flourish,
And poems of love, of Beatrice, he wrote.

Guido Cavalcanti, famous poet,
Took careful note of Dante's early work.

=== Page 44: ===
Narration:
And so a prosperous friendship then formed,
Between the skilled poet and young Dante,
Their skills each polished by other's critique.

Truly, Beatrice and Cavalcanti
Together built Dante's maturity.

However...

In 1290, her beauty unsurpassed,
Seven years after last meeting Dante,
Aged twenty-five, Beatrice left this world
For that lofty realm which suits her better.

To heal his harsh sorrow, Dante hid
Among the works of great philosophers,
Like ancient Cicero*, wholly absorbed.

* Cicero (pronounced "kikero") was a Roman statesman and philosopher probably better known for his political career.

=== Page 45: ===
Narration:
Two years after the death of Beatrice,
La Vita Nuova, Dante's first opus,
Was composed with both poems and narrative,
Thoughts unfolded after tightened meter*.

* La Vita Nuova was written in prosimetric style, where the writing alternates between prose and poetry. Dante used the prose sections as commentaries, explaining each poem in the context of his life. The background on the preceding pages about Beatrice is from La Vita Nuova, not La Divina Commedia. Go likely chose to integrate it because La Vita Nuova is important background material for anyone wishing to really understand the Divine Comedy.

Poems of love for Beatrice comprised it,
So collected with narration between.

Within it, by divine gift as comfort
To men, Beatrice to Earth was given.
But then the Heavens saw us ungrateful,
And called once more their angel to their side.

=== Page 46: ===
Beatrice:
A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune,
Upon the desert slope is so impeded
Upon his way, that he has turned through terror

And may, I fear, already be so lost,
That I too late have risen to his succour.

From Heaven I've come to Purgatory,
To ask of you, spirit of Mantua*:
Assist him so, that I may be consoled.

* Region of Italy where Virgil is from.

=== Page 47: ===
Virgil: Thus you know, to save you was asked of me.

Dante: Oohh, Beatrice... she...

Virgil: Correct; she was Beatrice who asked me,
That beautiful lady who you so loved.

She who had left this world too early,
Who now in that blissful kingdom resides,

That same woman still watches over you!

What is it, then? Why, why do you delay?

=== Page 48: ===
Dante: I understand, no more proof do I need!
If that fair lady watches over me,
Then I fear not the depths of Hell itself!

Virgil: Then let us go; now we shall walk though Hell!
For that, Dante, is thus your only path!

Dante: Yes!

=== Page 49: ===
Dante: And thus, I, Dante, shall go into Hell.

Virgil: That is, before you now, the mouth of Hell.

Virgil: The gate of Hell!

Dante: That is the sombre gate of Hell itself!