# Inferno Canto 10

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

---

> Christianity Index  Divine Comedy Index  Previous: Inferno Canto 9  Next: Inferno Canto 11  
> 
> Canto X
> 
> Argument
> 
>      Dante, having obtained permission from his guide, holds discourse with
> Farinata degli Uberti and Cavalcante Cavalcanti, who lie in their fiery tombs
> that are yet open, and not to be closed up till after the last judgment.
> Farinata predicts the Poet's exile from Florence; and shows him that the
> condemned have knowledge of future things, but are ignorant of what is at
> present passing, unless it be revealed by some newcomer from earth.
> 
> Now by a secret pathway we proceed,
> Between the walls, that hem the region round,
> And the tormented souls: my master first,
> I close behind his steps. "Virtue supreme!"
> I thus began: "Who through these ample orbs
> In circuit lead'st me, even as thou will'st;
> Speak thou, and satisfy my wish. May those,
> Who lie within these sepulchres, be seen?
> Already all the lids are raised, and none
> O'er them keeps watch." He thus in answer spake:
> "They shall be closed all, what - time they here
> From Josaphat[1] return'd shall come, and bring
> Their bodies, which above they now have left.
> The cemetery on this part obtain,
> With Epicurus, all his followers,
> Who with the body make the spirit die.
> Here therefore satisfaction shall be soon,
> Both to the question ask'd, and to the wish[2]
> Which thou conceal'st in silence." I replied:
> "I keep not, guide beloved! from thee my heart
> Secreted, but to shun vain length of words;
> A lesson erewhile taught me by thyself."
> 
> [1: "Josaphat." It seems to have been a common opinion among the
> Jews, as well as among many Christians, that the general judgment will be held
> in the valley of Josaphat, or Jehoshaphat. "I will also gather all nations,
> and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with
> them there for my people, and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered
> among the nations, and parted my land." - Joel, iii. 2.]
> 
> [2: "The wish." The wish that Dante had not expressed was to see and
> converse with the followers of Epicurus; among whom, we shall see, were
> Farinata degli Uberti and Cavalcante Cavalcanti.]
> 
> "O Tuscan! thou, who through the city of fire
> Alive art passing, so discreet of speech:
> Here, please thee, stay awhile. Thy utterance
> Declares the place of thy nativity
> To be that noble land, with which perchance
> 
> I too severely dealt." Sudden that sound
> Forth issued from a vault, whereat, in fear,
> I somewhat closer to my leader's side
> Approaching, he thus spake: "What dost thou? Turn:
> Lo! Farinata[3] there, who hath himself
> Uplifted: from his girdle upwards, all
> Exposed, behold him." On his face was mine
> Already fix'd: his breast and forehead there
> Erecting, seem'd as in high scorn he held
> E'en Hell. Between the sepulchres, to him
> My guide thrust me, with fearless hands and prompt;
> This warning added: "See thy words be clear."
> 
> [3: "Farinata." Farinata degli Uberti, a noble Florentine, was the
> leader of the Ghibelline faction, when they obtained a signal victory over the
> Guelfi at Montaperto, near the river Arbia. Macchiavelli calls him "a man of
> exalted soul, and great military talents." - "Hist. of Flor." b. ii. His
> grandson, Bonifacio, commonly called Fazio degli Uberti, wrote a poem,
> entitled the "Dittamonodo," in imitation of Dante.]
> 
> He, soon as there I stood at the tomb's foot,
> Eyed me a space; then in disdainful mood
> Address'd me: "Say what ancestors were thine."
> 
> I, willing to obey him, straight reveal'd
> The whole, nor kept back aught: whence he, his brow
> Somewhat uplifting, cried: "Fiercely were they
> Adverse to me, my party, and the blood
> From whence I sprang: twice,[4] therefore, I abroad
> Scatter'd them." "Though driven out, yet they each time
> From all parts," answer'd I, "return'd; an art
> Which yours have shown they are not skill'd to learn."
> 
> [4: "Twice." The first time in 1248, when they were driven out by
> Frederick the Second. See G. Villani, lib. vi. c. xxxiv.; and the second time
> in 1260. See note to v. 83.]
> 
> Then, peering forth from the unclosed jaw,
> Rose from his side a shade,[5] high as the chin,
> Leaning, methought, upon its knees upraised.
> It look'd around, as eager to explore
> If there were other with me; but perceiving
> That fond imagination quench'd, with tears
> Thus spake: "If thou through this blind prison go'st,
> Led by thy lofty genius and profound,
> 
> [5: "A shade." The spirit of Cavalcante Cavalcanti, a noble
> Florentine, of the Guelf party.]
> 
> Where is my son?[6] and wherefore not with thee?"
> I straight replied: "Not of myself I come;
> By him, who there expects me, through this clime
> Conducted, whom perchance Guido thy son
> Had in contempt."[7] Already had his words
> And mode of punishment read me his name,
> Whence I so fully answer'd. He at once
> Exclaim'd, up starting, "How! said'st thou, he had?
> No longer lives he? Strikes not on his eye
> The blessed daylight?" Then, of some delay
> I made ere my reply, aware, down fell
> Supine, nor after forth appear'd he more.
> Meanwhile the other, great of soul, near whom
> I yet was station'd, changed not countenance stern,
> Nor moved the neck, nor bent his ribbed side.
> "And if," continuing the first discourse,
> "They in this art," he cried, "small skill have shown;
> That doth torment me more e'en than this bed.
> But not yet fifty times[8] shall be relumed
> Her aspect, who reigns here queen of this realm,[9]
> Ere thou shalt know the full weight of that art.
> So to the pleasant world mayst thou return,
> As thou shalt tell me why, in all their laws,
> Against my kin this people is so fell."
> 
> "The slaughter[10] and great havoc," I replied,
> "That color'd Arbia's flood with crimson stain -
> 
> [6: "My son." Guido, the son of Cavalcante Cavalcanti; "he whom I
> call the first of my friends," says Dante in his "Vita Nuova" where the
> commencement of their friendship is related. From the character given of him
> by contemporary writers, his temper was well formed to assimilate with that of
> our Poet. "He was," according to G. Villani, lib. viii. c. xli., "of a
> philosophical and elegant mind, if he had not been too delicate and
> fastidious."]
> 
> [7: "_____ Guido they soon Had in contempt." Guido Cavalcanti, being
> more given to philosophy than poetry, was perhaps no great admirer of Virgil.]
> 
> [8: "Not yet fifty times." "Not fifty months shall be passed, before
> thou shalt learn, by woeful experience, the difficulty of returning from
> banishment to thy native city."]
> 
> [9: "Queen of this realm." The moon, one of whose titles in heathen
> mythology was Proserpine, queen of the shades below.]
> 
> [10: "The slaughter." "By means of Farinata degli Uberti, the Guelfi
> were conquered by the army of King Manfredi, near the river Arbia, with so
> great a slaughter, that those who escaped from that defeat took refuge, not in
> Florence, which city they considered as lost to them, but in Lucca." -
> Macchiavelli, "Hist. of Flor." b. ii. and G. Villani, lib. vi. c. lxxx. and
> lxxxi.]
> 
> To these impute, that in our hallow'd dome
> Such orisons[11] ascend." Sighing he shook
> The head, then thus resumed: "In that affray
> I stood not singly, nor, without just cause,
> Assuredly, should with the rest have stirr'd;
> But singly there I stood,[12] when, by consent
> Of all, Florence had to the ground been razed,
> The one who openly forbade the deed."
> 
> [11: "Such orisons." This appears to allude to certain prayers which
> were offered up in the churches of Florence, for deliverance from the hostile
> attempts of the Uberti; or, it may be that the public councils being held in
> churches, the speeches delivered in them against the Uberti are termed
> "orisons," or prayers.]
> 
> [12: "Singly there I stood." Guido Novello assembled a council of the
> Ghibellini at Empoli; where it was agreed by all, that, in order to maintain
> the ascendancy of the Ghibelline party in Tuscany, it was necessary to destroy
> Florence, which could serve only (the people of that city being Guelfi) to
> enable the party attached to the church to recover its strength. This cruel
> sentence, passed upon so noble a city, met with no opposition from any of its
> citizens or friends, except Farinata degli Uberti, who openly and without
> reserve forbade the measure; affirming, that he had endured so many hardships,
> with no other view than that of being able to pass his days in his own
> country. Macchiavelli, Hist. of Flor. b. ii.]
> 
> "So may thy lineage find at last repose,"
> I thus adjured him, "as thou solve this knot,
> Which now involves my mind. If right I hear,
> Ye seem to view beforehand that which time
> Leads with him, of the present uninform'd."
> 
> "We view, as one who hath an evil sight,"
> He answer'd, "plainly, objects far remote;
> So much of his large splendor yet imparts
> The Almighty Ruler: but when they approach,
> Or actually exist, our intellect
> Then wholly fails; nor of your human state,
> Except what others bring us, know we aught.
> Hence therefore mayst thou understand, that all
> Our knowledge in that instant shall expire,
> When on futurity the portals close."
> 
> Then conscious of my fault,[13] and by remorse
> Smitten, I added thus: "Now shalt thou say
> To him there fallen, that his offspring still
> Is to the living join'd; and bid him know,
> That if from answer, silent, I abstain'd,
> 
> [13: "My fault." Dante felt remorse for not having returned an
> immediate answer to the inquiry of Cavalcante, from which delay he was led to
> believe that his son Guido was no longer living.]
> 
> 'Twas that my thought was occupied, intent
> Upon that error, which thy help hath solved."
> 
> But now my master summoning me back
> I heard, and with more eager haste besought
> The spirit to inform me, who with him
> Partook his lot. He answer thus return'd:
> "More than a thousand with me here are laid.
> Within is Frederick,[14] second of that name,
> And the Lord Cardinal,[15] and of the rest
> I speak not." He, this said, from sight withdrew.
> But I my steps toward the ancient bard
> Reverting, remunated on the words
> Betokening me such ill. Onward he moved,
> And thus, in going, question'd: "Whence the amaze
> That holds thy senses wrapt?" I satisfied
> The inquiry, and the sage enjoin'd me straight:
> "Let thy safe memory store what thou hast heard,
> To thee importing harm; and note thou this,"
> With his raised finger bidding me take heed,
> "When thou shalt stand before her gracious beam,[16]
> Whose bright eye all surveys, she of thy life
> The future tenor will to thee unfold."
> 
> [14: "Frederick." The Emperor Frederick II., who died in 1250. See
> notes to Canto xiii.]
> 
> [15: "The Lord Cardinal." Ottaviano Ubaldini, a Florentine, made
> cardinal in 1245, and deceased about 1273. On account of his great influence,
> he was generally known by the appellation of "the Cardinal." It is reported of
> him that he declared if there were any such thing as a human soul he had lost
> his for the Ghibellini.]
> 
> [16: "Her gracious beam." Beatrice.]
> 
> Forthwith he to the left hand turn'd his feet:
> We left the wall, and toward the middle space
> Went by a path that to a valley strikes,
> Which e'en thus high exhaled its noisome steam.
>
> — *Inferno Canto 10*