The Ghent Review Volume1, Number 1, summer 2016 | Page 23

When he saw me weeping, he answered: ‘You must go another road, if you
wish to escape this savage place. This creature, that distresses you, allows
no man to cross her path, but obstructs him, to destroy him, and she has so
vicious and perverse a nature, that she never sates her greedy appetite, and
after food is hungrier than before.’
Inferno Canto I:100-111 The salvation of Italy
‘Many are the creatures she mates with, and there will be many more, until
the Greyhound comes who will make her die in pain. He will not feed himself
on land or wealth, but on wisdom, love and virtue, and his birthplace will lie
between Feltro and Feltro. He will be the salvation of that lower Italy for
which virgin Camilla died of wounds, and Euryalus, Turnus, and Nisus. He
will chase the she-wolf through every city, until he has returned her to Hell,
from which envy first loosed her.’
Inferno Canto I:112-136 Virgil will be his guide through Hell
‘It is best, as I think and understand, for you to follow me, and I will be your
guide, and lead you from here through an eternal space where you will hear
the desparate shouts, will see the ancient spirits in pain, so that each one
cries out for a second death: and then you will see others at peace in the
flames, because they hope to come, whenever it may be, among the blessed.
Then if you desire to climb to them, there will be a spirit, fitter than I am, to
guide you, and I will leave you with her, when we part, since the Lord, who
rules above, does not wish me to enter his city, because I was rebellious to
his law.