Dante, Inferno
Paolo, Francesca’s Silent Companion
The second-circle pair approaches together and is compared to doves returning to a nest. Francesca says that the man caught by love for her still does not leave her. Her account describes the companion’s trembling kiss during their shared reading. While one spirit tells the story, the other weeps. This edition’s canto speech does not itself give his name; Paolo is the conventional identification of the companion, not a name quoted from that speech.
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In the sources
The encounter
LiteraryThe second-circle pair approaches together and is compared to doves returning to a nest. Francesca says that the man caught by love for her still does not leave her.
Further detail
LiteraryHer account describes the companion’s trembling kiss during their shared reading. While one spirit tells the story, the other weeps. This edition’s canto speech does not itself give his name; Paolo is the conventional identification of the companion, not a name quoted from that speech.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows the exact supplied Thompson & Thomas edition of H. F. Cary’s translation. Figures, places and events belong to Dante’s literary vision; their assigned roles are distinguished from historical biography, other classical traditions and independently established descriptions of an afterlife.
Original passages
Source 1
Dante's Inferno
he yet deserts me not. Love brought us to one death : Caina waits The soul, who spilt our life." Such were their words; At hearingOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 45
Passage read against the exact edition’s extracted canto text; whitespace normalised and original-leaf mapping checked. Plate art separately visually inspected.
- Edition
- IMJ-0082-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0082-E001-P0045
- Original scan leaf
- 52
- Recorded leaf number
- 52
- Current Reader position
- 45
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Dante's Inferno
The other wail'd so sorely, that heart-struck I, through compassion fainting, seem'd not far From death, and like a corse fell to the ground.Open this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 46
Passage read against the exact edition’s extracted canto text; whitespace normalised and original-leaf mapping checked. Plate art separately visually inspected.
- Edition
- IMJ-0082-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0082-E001-P0046
- Original scan leaf
- 53
- Recorded leaf number
- 53
- Current Reader position
- 46
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Illustrations
Continue exploring
Literary & Visionary Figures ↗
Francesca of Rimini in the Inferno
The speaking soul who recalls a shared death and a romance read with her companion.
Same subject and traditionAlberigo and the Frozen Tears
The speaker who requests relief from the ice over his eyes but does not receive it.
Same subject and traditionAlessio of Lucca among the Flatterers
The recognised speaker who attributes his place in the second ditch to excessive flattery.
Same subject and traditionBertran de Born’s Speaking Head
The head-bearing speaker who explains his division through a division he claims to have caused.