The Gate To Hell
"THROUGH ME THE ROAD TO THE CITY OF DESOLATION,
THROUGH ME THE ROAD TO SORROWS DIUTURNAL,
THROUGH ME THE ROAD AMONG THE LOST CREATION.
JUSTICE MOVED MY GREAT MAKER; GOD ETERNAL
WROUGHT ME: THE POWER, AND THE UNSEARCHABLY
HIGH WISDOM, AND THE PRIMAL LOVE SUPERNAL.
NOTHING ERE I WAS MADE WAS MADE TO BE
SAVE THINGS ETERNE, AND I ETERNE ABIDE;
LAY DOWN ALL HOPE, YOU THAT GO IN BY ME."
These words, of sombre colour, I descried
Writ on the lintel of a gateway; "Sir,
This sentence is right hard for me," I cried.
-Inferno III 1-12
Thus Dante finds himself at the gateway into Hell. The gate itself is
tall and wide, with no bars or door. After all, anyone can enter Hell.
The final line of the inscription is perhaps Dante's most famous, although
it is generally translated as "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."
Having previously been reassured by the famous poet Virgil (the Aeneid),
who accompanies him, Dante proceeds into Hell with the knowledge that his
beloved, Beatrice, has given him her blessing to advance into Paradise.
Proceed to the vestibule
Return to the introduction
Return to Nosferatu's Chapel
