The Sixth Circle. Heresy
The Distribution of the Damned in the Inferno
Upon the utmost verge of a high bank,
formed in a circle by great broken rocks,
we came upon a still more cruel pack;
and there, by reason of the horrible
excess of stench the deep abyss exhales,
for shelter we withdrew behind the lid
of a large tomb, whereon I saw a scroll
which said: “Pope Anastasius I contain,
whom out of the right way Photinus drew.”
“Our going down from here must be delayed,
so that our sense may first get used a little
to this foul blast; we shall not mind it then.”
The Teacher thus; and I: “Find thou therefor
some compensation, lest our time be lost.”
And he to me: “See how I think of this.”
“My son, within these rocks,” he then began,
“are three small circles which, from grade to grade,
are similar to those thou leavest now.
Full of accursèd spirits are they all;
but that hereafter sight alone suffice thee,
hear how, and wherefore they are packed together.
Of all wrong-doing which in Heaven wins hate
injustice is the end, and each such end
aggrieves by either violence or fraud.
But whereas fraud is man’s peculiar evil,
God hates it most; therefore the fraudulent
are down below, and greater pain assails them.
All the first circle holds the violent;
but since against three persons force is used,
its shape divides it into three great rings.
Both against God, one’s neighbor, and one ’s self
may force be used; against themselves, I mean,
and what is theirs, as clearly shown thou ’lt hear.
By force both death and painful wounds are given
one ’s neighbor, and thereby his property
is ruined, burned, and by extortions robbed;
the first ring, hence, torments in separate troops
all homicides and those that smite with malice,
spoilers of property and highway robbers.
Upon oneself may one lay violent hands,
and on one ’s goods; hence in the second ring
must needs repentant be without avail
whoever of your world deprives himself,
gambles away and dissipates his means,
and weepeth there where he should joyful be.
’Gainst God may force be used, by wittingly
denying that He is, by blasphemy,
and by disprizing Nature and His Goodness;
and therefore with its mark the lesser ring
sealeth both Sodom and Cahors, and him
who, speaking from his heart, despises God.
And fraud, whereby all consciences are bitten,
one may employ against a man who trusts him,
and ’gainst a man who storeth up no trust.
This latter kind of fraud would seem to kill
only the bond of love which Nature makes;
hence in the second circle make their nest
hypocrisy, and flatteries, and workers
of magic, coining, theft and simony,
panders and grafters, and such filth as these.
In the other way forgotten is the love
which Nature makes, and that which afterward
is joined thereto, whence special trust is born;
hence in the smallest…
