nly a short distance in this direction before he saw a huge lion coming
toward him. In greater haste than before he turned into still another
path. His heart was beating very fast now, and he hastened along without
taking much notice of what lay before him. Suddenly he came upon a lean
and hungry wolf, which looked as if he could devour half a dozen men.
Dante turned and fled back into the dark woods, "where the sun was
silent." He thought, "What is the use of trying to get out of this
terrible forest? There are wild beasts on every side. If I escape one I
am sure to be devoured by another; I might as well give up trying." He
had now lost all hope.

Just at this moment he saw a man coming towards him. The face of the man
was beaming with smiles as if he had some good news to tell. Dante ran
forward to meet him, crying, "Have mercy on me, whoever you are! See
that beast from which I have fled! My body is trembling yet with
fright."

The strange man, whose name was Virgil, told Dante that he had come to
help him, but that they would have to go by another path to get out of
this savage wilderness. He then explained that they must go down through
a deep, bad-smelling and dark hole in the ground, and must meet with
many disagreeable things and crawl through much dirt and filth; but
after they had gone through this close, dirty tunnel, they would again
see the light, and if they had strength enough to climb, they might in
the end get to a delightful spot on the top of the mountain called the
Terrestrial Paradise, from which lovely place Dante could go home if he
wanted to.

At first Dante was afraid to go with Virgil, although he had often read
the wise and noble books which the latter had written. But when he
heard that Beatrice, whom he had loved as he loved no one else on earth,
had come from Heaven in the form of a bright Angel to urge Virgil to
come to him, his heart was so filled with joy that he at once renewed
his courage, and told Virgil to go forward, promising that he would
trust him as a guide.

They then began their perilous journey. The dark pit through which they
were to pass was the shape of an immense funnel or a cone turned upside
down. It was so large that it reached from the surface down to the very
center of the earth. Indeed, though it was as twilight where they
entered, and was quite wide and airy, yet as they slowly traveled down
its rocky sides the place grew darker and narrower and the air more