Canto I quotes
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Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita,mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,ché la diritta via era smarrita.
lines 1–3
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When I had journeyed half of our life's way,I found myself within a shadowed forest,for I had lost the path that does not stray.(tr. Mandelbaum)
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Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, For the straight-forward pathway had been lost.(tr. Longfellow)
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Io non so ben ridir com' io v'entrai,tanto era pien di sonno in su quel puntoche la verace via abbandonai;
lines 10-12
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I cannot well repeat how there I entered,So full was I of slumber at the momentIn which I had abandoned the true way.(tr. Longfellow)
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E come quei che con lena affannata,uscito fuor del pelago a la riva,si volge a l'acqua perigliosa e guata.
lines 22–24
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And just as he who, with exhausted breath,having escaped from the sea to shore,turns to the perilous waters and gazes.(tr. Mandelbaum).
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così l' animo mio, che ancor fuggiva,si volse indietro a rimirar lo passoche non lasciò giammai persona viva.
lines 25-27
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So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward,Turn itself back to re-behold the passWhich never yet a living person left.(tr. Longfellow)
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ed ha natura sì malvagia e ria,che mai non empie la bramosa voglia,e dopo il pasto ha più fame che pria.
lines 97-99
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And has a nature so malign and ruthless,That never doth she glut her greedy will,And after food is hungrier than before.(tr. Longfellow)