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1832-1883
FrenchRomanticpainter, sculptor, illustrator and printmaker
The Inferno, Canto 8, lines 39-41: My teacher sage Aware, thrusting him back: "Away! down there To the' other dogs!"
Etching
Extract from Dante's The Divine Comedy, "Hell", Canto 8, lines 30-50. Translation by The Rev. H. F. Cary, M.A.
While we our course o'er the dead channel held.
One drench'd in mire before me came, and said;
"Who art thou, that thou comest ere thine hour?"
I answer'd: "Though I come, I tarry not;
But who art thou, that art become so foul?"
"One, as thou seest, who mourn: " he straight replied.
To which I thus: " In mourning and in woe,
Curs'd spirit! tarry thou. I know thee well,
E'en thus in filth disguis'd." Then stretch'd he forth
Hands to the bark; whereof my teacher sage
Aware, thrusting him back: "Away! down there
To the' other dogs!" then, with his arms my neck
Encircling, kiss'd my cheek, and spake: "O soul
Justly disdainful! blest was she in whom
Thou was conceiv'd! He in the world was one
For arrogance noted; to his memory
No virtue lends its lustre; even so
Here is his shadow furious. There above
How many now hold themselves mighty kings
Who here like swine shall wallow in the mire,
Leaving behind them horrible dispraise!"
While we our course o'er the dead channel held.
One drench'd in mire before me came, and said;
"Who art thou, that thou comest ere thine hour?"
I answer'd: "Though I come, I tarry not;
But who art thou, that art become so foul?"
"One, as thou seest, who mourn: " he straight replied.
To which I thus: " In mourning and in woe,
Curs'd spirit! tarry thou. I know thee well,
E'en thus in filth disguis'd." Then stretch'd he forth
Hands to the bark; whereof my teacher sage
Aware, thrusting him back: "Away! down there
To the' other dogs!" then, with his arms my neck
Encircling, kiss'd my cheek, and spake: "O soul
Justly disdainful! blest was she in whom
Thou was conceiv'd! He in the world was one
For arrogance noted; to his memory
No virtue lends its lustre; even so
Here is his shadow furious. There above
How many now hold themselves mighty kings
Who here like swine shall wallow in the mire,
Leaving behind them horrible dispraise!"
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