Home

The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri. The Italian Text with a Translation in English Blank Verse and a Commentary by Courtney Langdon, vol. 1 (Inferno) (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1918).

Author: Dante Alighieri
Translator: Courtney Langdon

Part of: The Divine Comedy, in 3 vols. (Langdon trans.)

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.

Copyright information:

The text is in the public domain.

Fair use statement:

This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit.

CANTO IV

The First Circle. The Limbo, or Borderland, of Unbaptized Innocents and Worthies, and Illustrious Pagans. Virgil. Aristotle

The picture of the negative punishment (?) of the pagan-minded in this canto should be understood as applying to the pagan-minded in modern and contemporary, as well as in ancient times. It is merely a poetical statement of an obvious and acknowledged fact. A materialistic or merely intellectualistic conception of life, necessarily involves a lack of happiness open only to those who can accept the joyous Christian view of life. The fate of individuals in “another world” is, in this case as in all others, on the knees of a Justice whose other name is Love, to which can be also left the little children whom Dante describes as being in the border state.

Most texts read in line parte, “a part,” instead of porta, “gateway,” which latter, however, best describes the symbolic function of baptism.