Omnes relinquite spes, o vos intrantes - Dante Alighieri

Bien noté que del cielo era enviado,
y me volví al maestro que hizo un signo
de que estuviera quieto y me inclinase.
¡Cuán lleno de desdén me parecía!
Llegó a la puerta, y con una varita
la abrió sin encontrar impedimento.
«¡Oh, arrojados del cielo, despreciados!
-gritóles él desde el umbral horrible-.
¿Cómo es que aún conserváis esta arrogancia?

These innumerable seekers of safety first, and last, who take no risk either of suffering in a good cause or of scandal in a bad one, are here manifestly, nakedly, that which they were in life, the waste and rubbish of the universe, of no account to the world, unfit for Heaven and barely admitted to Hell. They have no need to die, for they ‘never were alive’.

And you will taste the saltiness of bread when offered by another’s hand – as, too, how hard it is to climb a stranger’s stair.