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    "endpoint": "/api/sources/divine-comedy/inferno/canto-8.json"
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  "work": {
    "slug": "inferno",
    "name": "Inferno"
  },
  "parents": [
    {
      "slug": "divine-comedy",
      "name": "Divine Comedy",
      "url": "/sources/divine-comedy/"
    }
  ],
  "chapter": {
    "num": 8,
    "slug": "canto-8",
    "title": "Inferno · Canto 8",
    "of": 34,
    "words": 1289,
    "text": "## Inferno Canto 8\n\n\nCanto VIII\n\nArgument And Canto VIII\n\nA signal having been made from the tower, Phlegyas, the ferryman of the\nlake, speedily crosses it, and conveys Virgil and Dante to the other side. On\ntheir passage, they meet with Filippo Argenti, whose fury and torment are\ndescribed. They then arrive at the city of Dis, the entrance whereto is\ndenied, and the portals closed against them by many Demons.\n\nMy theme pursuing, I relate, that ere\nWe reach'd the lofty turret's base, our eyes\nIts height ascended, where we mark'd uphung\nTwo cressets, and another saw from far\nReturn the signal, so remote, that scarce\nThe eye could catch its beam. I, turning round\nTo the deep source of knowledge, thus inquired:\n\"Say what this means; and what, that other light\nIn answer set: what agency doth this?\"\n\n\"There on the filthy waters,\" he replied,\n\"E'en now what next awaits us mayst thou see,\nIf the marsh - gendered fog conceal it not.\"\n\nNever was arrow from the cord dismiss'd,\nThat ran its way so nimbly through the air,\nAs a small bark, that through the waves I spied\nToward us coming, under the sole sway\nOf one that ferried it, who cried aloud:\n\"Art thou arrived, fell spirit?\" - \"Phlegyas, Phlegyas,[1]\nThis time thou criest in vain,\" my lord replied;\n\"No longer shalt thou have us, but while o'er\nThe slimy pool we pass.\" As one who hears\nOf some great wrong he hath sustain'd, whereat\n\n[1: Phlegyas, so incensed against Apollo for having violated his\ndaughter Coronis, that he set fire to the temple of that deity, by whose\nvengeance he was cast into Tartarus. See Virgil, Aeneas, 1. vi. 618.]\n\nInly he pines: so Phlegyas inly pined\nIn his fierce ire. My guide, descending, stepp'd\nInto the skiff, and bade me enter next,\nClose at his side; nor, till my entrance, seem'd\nThe vessel freighted. Soon as both embark'd,\nCutting the waves, goes on the ancient prow,\nMore deeply than with others it is wont.\n\nWhile we our course o'er the dead channel held,\nOne drench'd in mire before me came, and said:\n\"Who art thou, that thus comest ere thine hour?\"\n\nI answer'd: \"Though I come, I tarry not:\nBut who art thou, that art become so foul?\"\n\n\"One, as thou seest, who mourn:\" he straight replied.\n\nTo which I thus: \"In mourning and in woe,\nCurst spirit! tarry thou. I know thee well,\nE'en thus in filth disguised.\" Then stretch'd he forth\nHands to the bark; whereof my teacher sage\nAware, thrusting him back: \"Away! down there\nTo the other dogs!\" then, with his arms my neck\nEncircling, kiss'd my cheek, and spake: \"O soul,\nJustly disdainful! blest was she in whom\nThou wast conceived. He in the world was one\nFor arrogance noted: to his memory\nNo virtue lends its lustre; even so\nHere is his shadow furious. There above,\nHow many now hold themselves mighty kings,\nWho here like swine shall wallow in the mire,\nLeaving behind them horrible dispraise.\"\n\nI then: \"Master! him fain would I behold\nWhelm'd in these dregs, before we quit the lake.\"\n\nHe thus: \"Or ever to thy view the shore\nBe offer'd, satisfied shall be that wish,\nWhich well deserves completion.\" Scarce his words\nWere ended, when I saw the miry tribes\nSet on him with such violence, that yet\nFor that render I thanks to God, and praise.\n\"To Filippo Argenti!\"[2] cried they all:\n\n[2: Boccaccio tells us, \"he was a man remarkable for the large\nproportions and extraordinary vigor of his bodily frame, and the extreme\nwaywardness and irascibility of his temper.\" - \"Decameron,\" G. ix. N. 8.]\n\nAnd on himself the moody Florentine\nTurn'd his avenging fangs. Him here we left,\nNor speak I of him more. But on mine ear\nSudden a sound of lamentation smote,\nWhereat mine eye unbarr'd I sent abroad.\n\nAnd thus the good instructor: \"Now, my son\nDraws near the city, that of Dis is named,\nWith its grave denizens, a mighty throng.\"\n\nI thus: \"The minarets already, Sir!\nThere, certes, in the valley I descry,\nGleaming vermilion, as if they from fire\nHad issued.\" He replied: \"Eternal fire,\nThat inward burns, shows them with ruddy flame\nIllumed; as in this nether Hell thou seest.\"\n\nWe came within the fosses deep, that moat\nThis region comfortless. The walls appear'd\nAs they were framed of iron. We had made\nWide circuit, ere a place we reach'd, where loud\nThe mariner cried vehement: \"Go forth:\nThe entrance is here.\" Upon the gates I spied\nMore than a thousand, who of old from Heaven\nWere shower'd. With ireful gestures, \"Who is this,\"\nThey cried, \"that, without death first felt, goes through\nThe regions of the dead?\" My sapient guide\nMade sign that he for secret parley wish'd;\nWhereat their angry scorn abating, thus\nThey spake: \"Come thou alone; and let him go,\nWho hath so hardily enter'd this realm.\nAlone return he by his witless way;\nIf well he knew it, let him prove. For thee,\nHere shalt thou tarry, who through clime so dark\nHast been his escort.\" Now bethink thee, reader!\nWhat cheer was mine at sound of those curst words.\nI did believe I never should return.\n\n\"O my loved guide! who more than seven times[3]\n\n[3: Seven times.\" The commentators, says Venturi, perplex themselves\nwith the inquiry what seven perils these were from which Dante had been\ndelivered by Virgil. Reckoning the beasts in the first Canto as one of them,\nand adding Charon, Minos, Cerberus, Plutus, Phlegyas, and Filippo Argenti, as\nso many others, we shall have the number; and if this be not satisfactory, we\nmay suppose a determinate to have been put for an indeterminate number.]\n\nSecurity hast render'd me, and drawn\nFrom peril deep, whereto I stood exposed,\nDesert me not,\" I cried, \"in this extreme.\nAnd, if our onward going be denied,\nTogether trace we back our steps with speed.\"\n\nMy liege, who thither had conducted me,\nReplied: \"Fear not: for of our passage none\nHath power to disappoint us, by such high\nAuthority permitted. But do thou\nExpect me here; meanwhile, thy wearied spirit\nComfort, and feed with kindly hope, assured\nI will not leave thee in this lower world.\"\nThis said, departs the sire benevolent,\nAnd quits me. Hesitating I remain\nAt war, 'twixt will and will not, in my thoughts.\n\nI could not hear what terms he offer'd them,\nBut they conferr'd not long, for all at once\nPellmell rush'd back within. Closed were the gates,\nBy those our adversaries, on the breast\nOf my liege lord: excluded, he return'd\nTo me with tardy steps. Upon the ground\nHis eyes were bent, and from his brow erased\nAll confidence, while thus in sighs he spake:\n\"Who hath denied me these abodes of woe?\"\nThen thus to me: \"That I am anger'd, think\nNo ground of terror: in this trial I\nShall vanquish, use what arts they may within\nFor hindrance. This their insolence, not new,[4]\nErewhile at gate less secret they display'd,\nWhich still is without bolt; upon its arch\nThou saw'st the deadly scroll: and even now,\nOn this side of its entrance, down the steep,\nPassing the circles, unescorted, comes\nOne whose strong might can open us this land.\"\n\n[4: Virgil assures our poet that these evil spirits had formerly\nshown the same insolence when our Saviour descended into hell. They attempted\nto prevent him from entering at the gate, over which Dante had read the fatal\ninscription. \"That gate which,\" says the Roman poet, \"an angel had just\npassed, by whose aid we shall overcome this opposition, and gain admittance\ninto the city.\"]",
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}