Read Dante's Inferno for Free Online Page A

to was the edge of a steep bank
    Composed of broken concrete, mud and steel,
    And here the stench was so powerful
    We had to step back from the precipice.
    Not far from where we stood, Berrigan
    Drew my attention to a giant skip
    Awaiting collection. On stepping closer,
    I saw it was labelled DISSERTATIONS .
    Berrigan noticed the look of shock on my face,
    And tried to reassure me: ‘Not all
    Dissertations suffer this ignoble fate,’
    He said, ‘these are the ones that didn’t toe the
    Line, students who used Freud with Jungians,
    Others who used Derrida with Lacanians.
    The rest are stored in the library.
    Until our noses get used to the stink
    We’d better shelter behind this skip,
    Once we’ve been here a bit you’ll hardly notice it.’
    ‘Is there something we can do to pass the time?’
    I asked. ‘Don’t worry,’ said Berrigan, ‘I’ve
    Thought of that.’ He began to roll a huge joint,
    And as he did so, he said: ‘Beneath these rocks

    Lie many more souls packed in; and since later
    The sight of them will be enough, I’ll tell you a
    Little about them.’ ‘While you’re at it,’ I added,
    ‘Could you also explain the layout of the campus?
    At times I find it hard to fathom.’
    ‘That’s a tough ask,’ he said, ‘but I’ll do my best.
    Putting it simply, things used to be arranged
    Round the five squares and the points of the compass,
    But as the campus expanded, this system
    Became rapidly obsolete. Besides, it was
    Never very helpful –
    Students could rarely find their way to class.
    In fact, there’s a rumour that a student
    From the 1960s is still walking about somewhere,
    Looking for the Lecture Theatre Block.
    The new layout (which in reality
    Coexists alongside the old one,
    Like the imperial and metric systems)
    Is simpler: the campus is divided into Zones,
    1–9, and each Zone into Areas, A–Z.
    This system has the advantage of allowing
    For almost infinite expansion,
    And it’s useful in case of fire drills and the like,
    Which round here are pretty common, as you can imagine.’
    Berrigan stopped for a moment, to lick the joint,
    And I took the opportunity to ask
    About the souls who were confined below.
    ‘OK,’ he said, ‘Martin Luther King put it well
    When he said, “Those who assert that evil means
    Can lead to good ends are deceiving themselves.”
    All malice has injustice as its end,
    And this is achieved by violence or by fraud;
    As fraud belongs exclusively to humanity

    It is all the more despicable.
    In the first Zone below, Zone 7,
    You’ll find the violent, but since there are different
    Kinds of violence, it’s divided into
    Three Areas: 7A contains
    Homicides, 7B suicides and
    Squanderers, 7C the blasphemers
    And usurers, amongst others.
    Beyond that, in Zones 8 and 9, as you’ll
    See, things get worse: down there you’ll find all
    Sorts of fraud of the worst kind: hypocrites,
    Of which there’s no shortage amongst academics,
    Those who waste their time making crazy predictions,
    Cheats and thieves, moneygrubbers, grafters
    And like filth.’ ‘Master,’ I said, ‘I’m beginning
    To get the picture, but tell me, what about
    The souls we passed earlier on, those
    Swept by the winds and lashed by the hoses,
    Those stuck in the muddy swamp, why aren’t they
    Too shut inside the burning gates?’
    ‘Didn’t they teach you anything at that
    Grammar school of yours? You mean you haven’t
    Read the
Nicomachean Ethics
? Where do I
    Begin? Aristotle distinguishes between
    Three kinds of wrong: to put it crudely,
    He calls them incontinence, malice, and
    Bestiality. Incontinence, he argues,
    Is the least of the three evils, and if
    You think back to the kind of shades we met
    Early on in our journey, you’ll see why they
    Suffer less. Are you with me?’ ‘I was never
    Too hot at classics,’ I said, ‘I once got
    2% in a Latin exam, but I get your drift.

    Tell me, though, what’s the problem with usury?
    Surely we need people to lend us