Canto Five

Pilgrim descends...

1 So I descended from the first enclosure
2 down to the second circle, that which girdles
3 less space but...
grief more great, that goads to weeping.

The way "selection" works...

7 I mean that when the spirit born to evil
8 appears before him, it confesses all;
9 and he, the connoisseur of sin, can tell

10 the depth in Hell appropriate to it...
14 each soul in turn advances toward that judgment;
15 they speak and hear, then they are cast below.

Cast down to...

31 The hellish hurricane, which never rests,
32 drives on the spirits with its violence:
33 wheeling and pounding, it harasses them.

(Longfellows translation of the same...)

31 The infernal hurricane that never rests
32 Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine;
33 Whirling them round, and smiting...
...it molests them.

34 When they come up against the ruined slope,
35 then there are cries and wailing and lament,
36 and there they curse the force of the divine.

37 I learned that those who undergo this torment
38 are damned because they sinned within the flesh,
39 subjecting reason to the rule of lust.

This is a place without rest...

44 There is no hope that ever comforts them
45 no hope for rest and none for lesser pain.

A place reserved for those whose lust makes...

56 ...license licit in her laws
57 to free her from the scandal she had caused.

A consuming and selfish "love"...

103 Love, that releases no beloved from loving
104 took hold of me so strongly through his beauty
105 that, as you see, it has not left me yet.

106 Love led the two of us unto one death.

Which in turn led pilgrim to remorse...

113 (Alas) how many gentle thoughts,
how deep a longing,
114 had led them to the agonizing pass!

And query...

118 But tell me, in the time of gentle sighs,
119 with what and in what way did Love allow you
120 to recognize your still uncertain longings?

(Longfellow...
119 By what and in what manner Love conceded,
120 That you should know your dubious desires?)

The "fall"...

127 One day, to pass the time away, we read
128 of Lancelot how love had overcome him.
129 We were alone, and we suspected nothing.

130 And time and time again that reading led
131 our eyes to meet, and made our faces pale,
132 and yet one point alone defeated us.

133 When we had read how the desired smile
134 was kissed by one who was so true a lover,
135 this one, who never shall be parted from me,

136 while all his body trembled, kissed my mouth.

Vicarious vice violates volition!

Thought...

It is possible to temporarily "justify" our habitual vice by internally "legalizing" it, but a "selfish love" is still essentially selfish...and leads to a more realistic assessment and judgement by a more objective judge.