The Divine Comedy by Dante, Illustrated, Hell, Volume 04
Translated by Henry Francis Cary
Dante descends deeper into Hell, where the air grows foul and the suffering intensifies. In the fourth circle, he witnesses the gluttons and misers eternally pushing massive boulders, each group condemning the other in a futile循环 of accusation, their earthly greed reduced to this grotesque physical labor. His guide Virgil explains the nature of Fortune, that wheel of chance which elevates and debases mortal wealth without justice or reason. Beyond lies the Stygian marsh, where the wrathful drown in black slime while the sullen sink beneath its surface, trapped in hatred both violent and melancholic. As they approach the iron city of Dis, the true walls of Hell proper, Dante confronts the point of no return: here, even the fallen angels refuse entry, and the poet must find courage he did not know he possessed. This is not mere punishment catalogued but a mirror held to the soul, each circle revealing how mortals hollow themselves through desire. To read Dante's Inferno is to descend willingly into the abyss and return, changed, with stories to tell.
