第二十六篇佛罗伦萨呀，你高兴吧！因为你已经大得不得了。在海上，在陆上，你的名字到处飞扬着，就是在地狱里面，到处也扩散着呢！在窃贼之中，我已经知道有五个，都是你有名的市民；我的心里觉得惭愧，恐怕你也不会什么光荣吧！假如近日早晨的梦是灵验的，那就不必说别处，就是普拉托的急恨你不久就会觉察了。虽然这个怨恨已在发展，现在你还没有发觉，但是迟早终究要临头的！使我更加忧虑的，是我还没有看见你不幸的时候就已经老了。
我们离开那里，从原来的石阶走上去，我的引路人在前面拉着我。我们在崎岖的山路上面，寂寞地赶着路程，不用手帮忙，脚不敢踏上前去。当时我回忆刚才所看见的，我心里很悲伤；就是现在回忆起来，我心里仍旧悲伤呢；但是我在这里比平常还要控制我的情绪，深伯他不受正道的驱使；假如有一颗吉星给我优良的天赐，我决不敢随便乱用他。
好像一个农夫，歇息在小山上面，在那照耀地球的太阳露面最长的季节，在那苍蝇给蚊子让位的时候。他看见许多萤火虫，在山谷间飞，那里可能种着什么东西，如葡萄之类；现在我所看见的也是如此，在第八条沟里，到处都是一团一团的火燃烧着。又好像那个受了嘲笑以后两只熊替他报仇的一样，他看见以利亚的马直立了起来，把他的马车拉向天空。当时他并未看见什么，只看见有一小块火云，渐渐升起；这里也是如此，在沟底我只看见火团来来往往，却看不出火团里面有些什么，也许每个火团裹着一个罪人，但是别人看不见他。
我站在桥上，低着头注视着下面；假如我的手不攀牢一块岩石，那末就是没有人推我，我也要跌下去的。那时我的引路人看见我这样专心观看，他说：“在这些火团里面的都是罪人，每个罪人都被烧他的火包围着呢。”我答道：“老师，听了你的话，我更加坚定了我的想法了，因为我已经猜想到这里的事情就是如此！但是前面来的一个火团，他的尖顶分开，就像忒俄克勒斯的葬火远离他弟弟的葬火一样，请问你这里面是谁？”他回答我道：“在这个火团里面，尤利西斯和狄俄墨得斯遭受着痛苦，他们同行着。因为他们是如此遭遇神怒的。他们在火里哭泣，因为他们施马腹藏兵的诡计，因此城门开了。那里逃出罗马的高贵种子；他们在火里呻吟，因为他们的狡猾诡诈，因此使戴伊达密妞临终还悲怜着阿基琉斯；他们在火里哀叹，因为他们偷窃了帕拉斯神像。”
我说：“假如他们在火里能够说话，那末，我的老师，我请求你一千次，不要阻止我等候那尖顶分开的火团走到这里；你知道我弓着腰等在这里，是多么地期盼着呀！”他回答我道：“你的要求值得赞赏，所以我接受了；不过，你的舌头要加以控制，由我一个人说话；因为我知道你的愿望，又因为他们是希腊人，或者他们轻视你的语言呢。”
当那火团到了合适的地点在合适的时候，我听见我的引路人这样说：“哦！你们两个在一个火团里，假如我在世时对于你们有功劳，假如我写的高贵的诗篇，对于你们多少有点价值，那末请你们留步吧，请你们其中的一个告诉我们：他是怎么迷了路，路，怎样遇上了死神？”
那团火中较高大的一个尖顶开始摇晃了，喃喃出声，很像风中的烛光。稍后，那尖顶忽前忽后，很像说话的舌头，有话语出来了；他说：“刻尔吉幽禁我后来到埃阿斯名叫卡那塔的地方，有一年多；当我离开她的时候，也不是幼子之教，也不是老父之养，也不是娇妻潘奈洛佩之爱，可以克制我浪迹天涯，历览人间善恶的热情。于是我坐着一只船，带着我剩下来的几个伙伴，向着无边的大海驶去了。我看到南北两岸，远至西班牙和摩洛哥；我又看到萨丁和海中其他各岛。当我们到了一个狭窄的海峡，在那里赫拉克勒斯竖起了他的界石，指示人类不要再向前进，那时我和我的伙伴已经上了年纪了，难于行动了；在右边，我放弃了塞维利亚；在左边，我放弃了休达，于是我对伙伴说：‘兄弟们。你们历尽千难万险，现在到西方了；你们保留最后的一些精力，现在还可以一用，你们应当追随太阳，再寻找绝无人迹之地！可想想你们是何等的种族：不应当像野兽一样地活着，应当追求正道，追求知识。’我稍微说了几句，我的伙伴都渴望着继续航行，就是我自己也再不能够阻挡他们，于是把船艄转向着晨光。划着我们的桨，很像鸟的两翼，大胆地向前驶去，常常偏向着左方。在夜间，我看见另一极的众星，我们的已经低落下去了，有的已经没入海波了。自从我们赶着这个艰难的航程，月亮已经有圆缺过有五次了；那时在远处我们隐约地看见一座山，他的高度是我生平中没有看见过的。我们大家都很快乐，可是快乐一会儿就变为悲伤了；因为从新大陆起了大风波，打击着我们的船头。风浪冲击着我们的船在海里旋转了三次；在第四次，船尾竖起向着天，船头没入水里；似乎是取悦于另一个，那海水把我们吞没下去了。”
Hast thriven, that o'er land and sea thy wings
Thou beatest, and thy name spreads over hell!
Among the plund'rers such the three I found
Thy citizens, whence shame to me thy son,
And no proud honour to thyself redounds.
But if our minds, when dreaming near the dawn,
Are of the truth presageful, thou ere long
Shalt feel what Prato, (not to say the rest)
Would fain might come upon thee; and that chance
Were in good time, if it befell thee now.
Would so it were, since it must needs befall!
For as time wears me, I shall grieve the more.
We from the depth departed; and my guide
Remounting scal'd the flinty steps, which late
We downward trac'd, and drew me up the steep.
Pursuing thus our solitary way
Among the crags and splinters of the rock,
Sped not our feet without the help of hands.
Then sorrow seiz'd me, which e'en now revives,
As my thought turns again to what I saw,
And, more than I am wont, I rein and curb
The powers of nature in me, lest they run
Where Virtue guides not; that if aught of good
My gentle star, or something better gave me,
I envy not myself the precious boon.
As in that season, when the sun least veils
His face that lightens all, what time the fly
Gives way to the shrill gnat, the peasant then
Upon some cliff reclin'd, beneath him sees
Fire-flies innumerous spangling o'er the vale,
Vineyard or tilth, where his day-labour lies:
With flames so numberless throughout its space
Shone the eighth chasm, apparent, when the depth
Was to my view expos'd. As he, whose wrongs
The bears aveng'd, at its departure saw
Elijah's chariot, when the steeds erect
Rais'd their steep flight for heav'n; his eyes meanwhile,
Straining pursu'd them, till the flame alone
Upsoaring like a misty speck he kenn'd;
E'en thus along the gulf moves every flame,
A sinner so enfolded close in each,
That none exhibits token of the theft.
Upon the bridge I forward bent to look,
And grasp'd a flinty mass, or else had fall'n,
Though push'd not from the height. The guide, who mark'd
How I did gaze attentive, thus began:
"Within these ardours are the spirits, each
Swath'd in confining fire."—"Master, thy word,"
I answer'd, "hath assur'd me; yet I deem'd
Already of the truth, already wish'd
To ask thee, who is in yon fire, that comes
So parted at the summit, as it seem'd
Ascending from that funeral pile, where lay
The Theban brothers?" He replied: "Within
Ulysses there and Diomede endure
Their penal tortures, thus to vengeance now
Together hasting, as erewhile to wrath.
These in the flame with ceaseless groans deplore
The ambush of the horse, that open'd wide
A portal for that goodly seed to pass,
Which sow'd imperial Rome; nor less the guile
Lament they, whence of her Achilles 'reft
Deidamia yet in death complains.
And there is rued the stratagem, that Troy
Of her Palladium spoil'd."—"If they have power
Of utt'rance from within these sparks," said I,
"O master! think my prayer a thousand fold
In repetition urg'd, that thou vouchsafe
To pause, till here the horned flame arrive.
See, how toward it with desire I bend."
He thus: "Thy prayer is worthy of much praise,
And I accept it therefore: but do thou
Thy tongue refrain: to question them be mine,
For I divine thy wish: and they perchance,
For they were Greeks, might shun discourse with thee."
When there the flame had come, where time and place
Seem'd fitting to my guide, he thus began:
"O ye, who dwell two spirits in one fire!
If living I of you did merit aught,
Whate'er the measure were of that desert,
When in the world my lofty strain I pour'd,
Move ye not on, till one of you unfold
In what clime death o'ertook him self-destroy'd."
Of the old flame forthwith the greater horn
Began to roll, murmuring, as a fire
That labours with the wind, then to and fro
Wagging the top, as a tongue uttering sounds,
Threw out its voice, and spake: "When I escap'd
From Circe, who beyond a circling year
Had held me near Caieta, by her charms,
Ere thus Aeneas yet had nam'd the shore,
Nor fondness for my son, nor reverence
Of my old father, nor return of love,
That should have crown'd Penelope with joy,
Could overcome in me the zeal I had
T' explore the world, and search the ways of life,
Man's evil and his virtue. Forth I sail'd
Into the deep illimitable main,
With but one bark, and the small faithful band
That yet cleav'd to me. As Iberia far,
Far as Morocco either shore I saw,
And the Sardinian and each isle beside
Which round that ocean bathes. Tardy with age
Were I and my companions, when we came
To the strait pass, where Hercules ordain'd
The bound'ries not to be o'erstepp'd by man.
The walls of Seville to my right I left,
On the' other hand already Ceuta past.
"O brothers!" I began, "who to the west
Through perils without number now have reach'd,
To this the short remaining watch, that yet
Our senses have to wake, refuse not proof
Of the unpeopled world, following the track
Of Phoebus. Call to mind from whence we sprang:
Ye were not form'd to live the life of brutes
But virtue to pursue and knowledge high."
With these few words I sharpen'd for the voyage
The mind of my associates, that I then
Could scarcely have withheld them. To the dawn
Our poop we turn'd, and for the witless flight
Made our oars wings, still gaining on the left.
Each star of the' other pole night now beheld,
And ours so low, that from the ocean-floor
It rose not. Five times re-illum'd, as oft
Vanish'd the light from underneath the moon
Since the deep way we enter'd, when from far
Appear'd a mountain dim, loftiest methought
Of all I e'er beheld. Joy seiz'd us straight,
But soon to mourning changed. From the new land
A whirlwind sprung, and at her foremost side
Did strike the vessel. Thrice it whirl'd her round
With all the waves, the fourth time lifted up
The poop, and sank the prow: so fate decreed:
And over us the booming billow clos'd."