Dante Inferno Canto 11 translated by D. B.

Gain
With the curved bank of a steep brink, all lain
With enormous broken rocks, as our gain,
We saw below a crueler den of pain.
We were forced back from the abyss`s brink
By an overflow of disgusting stink.
Crouched in a tomb I saw written on its skin:
"Anastasius the pope lies within;
Photinus lured him from the straight to sin".
My master: "Delay here and we`ll not find
These vile fumes trouble our untroubled mind".
And I: "See that our stay here`s not in vain".
" `tis just this", said he, "that I shall attain".
This was the lesson learned of my dear sire`s:
Within these boulders` bounds are three more gyres,
Set like those above in concentric spires,
Soul~packed. If told, sight alone will avail
To tell how and why they are now in gaol.
All malice seeks to hurt, since it is flawed,
An end achieved by violence or by fraud,
Both sins with Heaven`s hate as their reward.
Since man and man alone is fraud`s sole host,
God hates it more and so fraudsters e`er roast
Far `neath th` others, so they will suffer most.
The first gyre below belongs to the brute,
Who attacks three kinds (hence three circles suit),
God, self and others, them or else their lot;
All this, explained, will not be soon forgot.
Brutes kill or wound or else there`s little left
After arson, devastation or theft.
Murderers, plunderers, destroyers, those who maim,
Are punished here, though their set`s not the same.
Men maim their selves or gods; the second grade
Holds, paying debts that never can be paid,
The killers of themselves, self~robbers they,
Or those who gamble all their wealth away,
So sad when it were better to be gay.
They`re brutes too who distrust Him and who curse,
Despising Him and all his universe.
And so the smallest round stamps with its shame
Both Sodom and Cahors and all whose fame
Lies in hating God and his great name.
Now fraud, that gnaws the conscience of its thrall,
Is used on one whose trust in you`s his caul,
Or else on one who has no trust at all.
The bond of love gives man his only joy;
`tis this the later sort burns to destroy.
`tis in the second circle that there dwells
The hypocrite and the dabbler in spells,
The falsifier, simonist and thief,
The flatterer, pander, all givers of grief.
The fraudsters of the former kind all bust
The bond `twixt men which forms a special trust.
And so it is the smallest of the gyres
At earth` core, Pluto` great throne, that inspires
The fate of traitors, the eternal fires".
"What I know of this pit and of its crew,
Master", I said in turn, "I owe to you.
But what of those wind~beat and driven by rain,
Each with a tongue to serve his shrill campaign,
Who know naught but what their slime swamps contain?
Why fill they not the city red with fire
If they have truly earned the good God`s ire,
Or, if not, why O why`s their plight so dire?"
And he: "I`ve missed the point you have in mind.
Your thoughts have wandered to a beetling blind.
Has Aristotle`s 'Ethics' failed to school?
Who are the three opposed to Heaven`s rule?
The lustful, the malicious and the brute;
Of them the lustful`s the least dissolute.
Consider well this doctrine and recall
The souls above suffering outside the wall.
You`ll see why they are sundered and confess
`tis right that God`s ire should afflict them less".
"Dim sight blesses the light, O Sun, you show.
When you resolve my doubts you charm me so
That being perplexed`s as pleasant as to know.
Master, you said that usury`s a blot
Against God`s goodness. Please untie that knot".
So I, and he: "Not one, but many a time
Philosophy points out to one who`d climb
How nature takes her course from the Sublime
Intellect and His Art; note that, then turn
The pages of your 'Physics' and discern,
Not far from the beginning, how your art
Can play a pert apprentice`s part,
And have God as the sire of its own sire.
From art and nature man was meant t` acquire
His daily bread to live; this you will find
In 'Genesis', if it`s not slipped your mind.
The usurer, who is himself forsworn,
Treats Nature and her pupil too with scorn.
Now follow me; I think we should now start;
The Wain is now right o`er Caurus` part.
Horizon~high the twinkling Fisges swim.
Go on and down, right o`er the chasm`s rim".