Through me you pass into the city of woe Through me you pass into eternal pain All hope abandon, ye who enter here
Accents of anger, voices hoarse Made up a tumult that forever whirls
From his bounds heaven drove them forth Hell receives them
No hope may entertain The tribe of those ill spirits both To god displeasing and to his foes
Mercy and justice scorn them both God and their parents they blasphemed
Drawn to the cursed strand That every man must pass Who fears not god
Charon, demoniac form With eyes of burning coal Collects them all
[IV:]
Now let us to the blind world there beneath And entering the first circle that surrounds the abyss No plaint was heard, except of sighs Not caused by tortures, but from grief For these defects and for no other evil We are lost, desiring without hope