The canto begins with Dante trying to prepare himself for the
difficult journey. Lacking confidence, he compares himself to
the two figures who had previously visited the realms of the
dead: Aeneas, who visited the lower world in the sixth book of
the Aeneid, and St. Paul, who tells us in 2 Cor. 12 that he
traveled to Paradise. The former's experience prepared the way
for the Empire, and the latter's was fundamental in
strengthening the Church. By comparison, Dante asks, why should
an ordinary man like himself, without a comparable mission,
be granted visions of the afterlife? (Of course in this way
Dante is comparing himself with these two.)
Note that this is the first of many instances in which Dante
balances scriptural and classical illustrations, Church and
Empire. Also, the easily overlooked words "You say that..." (13)
may indicate that Dante did not accept the literal truth of
Virgil's account but looked for a deeper poetic truth, just as
he expects the reader to do in his own epic.
In order to bolster Dante's courage, Virgil must give arguments
which go deeper than reason. Virgil himself is not the source
of his own action. God has sanctioned Dante's rehabilitation,
and Virgil, as an embodiment of reason, is only the messenger
and agent. Virgil describes how the Virgin Mary, distressed
at Dante's situation, summons Lucia (probably St. Lucia of
Syracuse), who in turn summons Beatrice, who enlists the aid
of Virgil. Mary is traditionally the embodiment of mercy and
compassion; Lucia, or "light", seems to have been held in
particular veneration by Dante (98); and Beatrice, whose name
signifies blessedness, represents revelation, and is the core
link in Dante's journey to salvation. Among their many poetic
and spiritual functions, these three ladies serve to counter
the three beasts in Canto I.
Dante's journey thus has its origin not in the dark wood but in
Mary's act of pity, and the culmination of the journey will be
back at its source, in Heaven.
Virgil finishes his account by asking why, with three such
blessed ladies supporting him, as well as Virgil's own
encouragement, Dante still does not have enough confidence to
set out (121-126). Dante's strength revives, and he declares
that Virgil is now his guide and master for the journey.
Earth's surface — the dark wood________________ •
Vestibule
................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
.......................................Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
...................................River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto III
canto iii, text
return to menu
Friday, April 8, evening
The Gate of Hell, the Vestibule of Hell
The indecisive
The inscription above the open Gate of Hell is made especially
ominous by the repetition of the words, "Through me," three times.
Dante is here made aware of the judgmental nature of God. Virgil
immediately cautions him against cowardice (14-15), for unlike
the sinners they will witness, Dante still has the intellect
with which to see clearly and achieve salvation.
The Vestibule of Hell houses those who were lukewarm in life,
neither good nor bad, contributing nothing to human life.
Appropriately, the shades rush eternally after an aimlessly
whirling banner or standard (52). Both Heaven and Hell reject
them, and Dante shows his particular disdain by mentioning none
of them by name. Even the "cowardly creature" who "opts to
decline" greatness (59-60) is too obscure to identify with
complete certainty. The stinging of wasps and hornets (66)
indicates the pettiness of what irritated them in life, and,
like the whirling banner, is an example of contrapasso, the
appropriate, often ironic punishment or retribution engendered
by the sin itself.
The river Acheron ("joyless") flows between the Vestibule and
Hell proper. Like the other rivers of Hell, Dante took its name
from Virgil, who took it from Homer. The banks of Acheron are
crowded with souls waiting to be ferried across by Charon, the
classical boatman. Virgil explains their eagerness to cross as
the product of divine justice working automatically in them,
driving them to their eternal doom (124).
Charon recognizes that Dante is not one of the damned but one of
the elect, and refuses to take him across. Thus he orders him
to "take a lighter boat," (91) referring to the vessel piloted
by an angel to Mount Purgatory, which carries souls destined
for Heaven. Virgil chides Charon (93-96), in the first of many
explanatory threats which he will deliver to obstinate figures
in Hell.
A sudden earthquake, reminiscent of the one which preceded the
descent of Christ into Hell, shocks Dante into a swoon, so that
he will awaken in Canto IV on the other side of Acheron, without
having experienced the crossing.
This canto owes much to the sixth book of the Aeneid, in which
Aeneas visits the world of the dead. However, Dante is much
more dramatic than Virgil, whose tone is sublime, even, and
melancholy. In addition, the spells and tokens of magic which
are instrumental in Aeneas' journey are here replaced by reason
and spiritual forces.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule •
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto IV
canto iv, text
return to menu
Friday, April 8, evening
Circle I, Limbo
The unbaptized
A thunderclap awakens Dante on the other side of Acheron. From
the abyss below he hears wailing, and misinterprets Virgil's
look of pity for one of fear. Theybegin their descent to the
first circle of Hell.
Limbo was invented by the early Church fathers to serve as the
abode of two groups: unbaptized children and the virtuous
patriarchs of the Old Testament.The former, having neither
sinned nor believed in Christ, were to remain in Limbo forever.
The latter, believers in Christ by anticipation, were released
by Christ when he descended to Hell between the crucifixion and
the resurrection. The Church called this the Harrowing of Hell,
an event witnessedby Virgil, but interpreted by him as the coming
of "one who was mighty andpotent," (53) since he could not
understand the significance of Christ.
Dante takes the radical step of adding to these infants and
ancient Hebrews a third group, the virtuous pagans. These worthy
figures abide in a splendid castle representing natural wisdom
without Christian faith, from which emanates the light of human
genius. Among the honorable pagans are the five ancient poets
whom Dante most esteemed. Their acceptance of him as their sixth
signifies Dante's claim to equality, but the fact that they must
remain in Limbo while he advances demonstrates his claim to
an even higher ranking.
This is one of the most difficult cantos for a modern reader to
agree with. Although Dante is careful to show the greatest
respect and admiration for the poets, philosophers, scientists
and others who reside in the magnificent castle, he nevertheless
indicates that because they were ignorant of Christ, they cannot
progress to Purgatory or Heaven. Even Aristotle, to whom all
show admiration (133), and whose philosophy is so instrumental
in the Church's own cosmology, is precluded from advancing.
In addition, many readers cannot accept the perpetual condition
of unbaptized infants in Limbo, although there is no other choice,
given the logic of Dante's medieval scheme.
Finally, Limbo is obviously modelled on Virgil's Elysian Fields
in Book vi of the Aeneid.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo •
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto V
canto v, text
return to menu
Friday, April 8, night
Circle II
The carnal sinners or lustful
The sins of Circles II through V are in the general category of
incontinence,(as distinct from those of violence and fraud, in
lower circles). With this canto begins Hell proper, which we
confront immediately in the figure of Minos. This is one of the
pagan figures, not necessarily evil, whom Dante utilizes, often
turning them into demons. In Book xi of the Odyssey Minos, the
king of Crete, is the judge of the dead. Book vi of the Aeneid
continues the tradition. Dante has transformed him into a hideous
icon of cruelty and guilt. It is he who decides to which station
each sinner will be damned for eternity, indicating this by the
twists of his tail (11).
The lustful are blown about forever in darkness, a fitting
contrapasso to the blind, uncontrolled passion they allowed to
dominate them in life. Their sin is not that they pursued the
natural instinct of sex, but rather (39) that they "put reason
under lust's command." Unlike the sinners below, they are
presented without grotesqueness, and with a near compassion never
repeated in lower circles. This can be attributed to Dante's
inexperience at this initial stage of the journey, to the
lightness of the sin compared with others below, or perhaps to an
affinity and sympathy which Dante—whether traveller or poet—
felt with these sinners. While many shades are named and
commented upon, one example is portrayed in detail.
Dante's meeting with Paolo and Francesca is perhaps the most
widely known episode in the entire Comedy. Indeed, even in this
century, seven hundred years after the poem's appearance, a play,
Francesca da Rimini by d'Annunzio, and an opera by Zandonai based
upon the play, were written about the figure who inspired one of
Dante's most convincing creations. (The more popular orchestral
work by Tchaikovsky, Francesca da Rimini, was composed in 1876.)
The particular contrapasso portrayed here has an ironic perfection
impossible to improve upon. Illicit lovers in life, Paolo and
Francesca are condemned to an eternity of exactly what they would
hope for—floating on the wind in each other's arms. Dante's
attitude toward Francesca has been a matter of debate among
critics for centuries. In some readings, Dante the pilgrim, but
not the poet, is taken in by Francesca's genuine grace and smooth
talk. In others, the poet himself is seen to be charmed by her.
The most convincing view is that Dante the poet was truly moved by
Francesca's plight, but used the insight of his sympathy to
present a precise picture of her sin, whose sadly damning nature
he never lost sight of.
Just as the poet swooned in Canto III and was mysteriously
transported by higher powers across Acheron, so he swoons here and
awakens in the next circle.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners •
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto VI
canto vi, text
return to menu
Friday April 8, near midnight
Circle III
The gluttonous
Gluttony, the second sin of incontinence, has none of the
potential charm of lust. It makes beasts of men, deprives them
completely of their individuality, and is punished by eternal
groveling in mire and filth. Whereas lust has the possibility of
companionship, here each is alone in his degradation, cold and
miserable.
Cerberus, guardian of this circle, is taken from the mythological,
three-headed dog which guards the threshold of Hades. As always,
the guardian himself is the personification of the sin he is
guarding—in this case gluttony—and Virgil distracts him by
throwing earth down his gullets.
One shade, Ciacco, sits up as Dante and Virgil pass. The name
itself means "pig" or "piggish," and it is his image which leaves
a lasting impression of gluttony upon us. At the same time he
demonstrates the strange capacity of souls in Hell to see into the
future but not the past. In reponse to questioning by Dante, he
describes some of the political events Florence is soon to
experience, (see footnote to line 64), and informs him that several
men about whom he has inquired are further down in Hell. The
courteous, almost respectful tone which Dante adopts toward Ciacco
should not be surprising. There are at least two explanations
for it. First, Dante is still a novice pilgrim in Hell, not yet
disgusted with the sinners nor personally distant from them. And
second, he may have cleverly understood that this was the best way
to draw the glutton into revealing what he wanted to know.
After Ciacco falls down to join his companions, apparently
exhausted from the strain of talking to a real person, the canto
continues with Virgil and Dante engaging in conversation. The
only part of this which is revealed to us is Virgil's proof to
Dante that the sinners in Hell will feel increased torment after
the day of Judgment.
Unlike previous beasts, Plutus, guardian of the next circle,
appears in the last line of the canto devoted to this sin, but this
is appropriate to a personification of the prodigal and avaricious,
who always hunger for more than they are entitled to.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons •
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto VII
canto vii, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, just after midnight
Circle IV
The prodigal and avaricious
Circle V
The wrathful and sullen
Plutus, the classical god of wealth, guards those who loved money,
and their insubstantiality is portrayed by his immediate and total
collapse at Virgil's admonition. The two poets now encounter the
indistinguishable mass of misers and spendthrifts, those who were
so extreme in their use of worldly goods that they have lost all
individuality and are submerged in their sin. Virgil explains this
precisely in lines 51 to 54. The misers or hoarders are on the
poets' left, signifying the more despised of the two groups, for
their avarice was more inhuman. The clergy, whose betrayal of
Christianity always rouses Dante's fiercest reproach, comprise
a good many of these.
The two groups—apparently opposite but really two sides of the
same sin—perform a mutual dance which creates one broken circle
from their separate semi-circles. Rolling huge weights in a futile,
incomplete shifting of substance back and forth, they demonstrate how
in life they hindered the operation of Fortune, an angellic
intelligence whose purpose is to circulate goods among people and
power among nations. These sinners prevented the flow of goods by
hoarding or squandering, and their just contrapasso is to parody
the complete circle which they never fostered in life. The poets
descend to the fifth circle where Dante, following the Aeneid,
portrays the second river of Hell, Styx, as a marsh. Here the
fourth rank of the incontinent—the wrathful—are punished. On
the surface are muddy figures furiously attacking each other,
while the more sullen ones, those who kept their wrath bottled up
inside themselves, are sunk beneath the surface in filthy slime.
The division into these two groups derives from classifications by
Aristotle and Aquinas, and neatly parallels the earlier division
into two in the circle above.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious •
Circle V, wrathful and sullen •
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto VIII
canto viii, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, early hours
Circle V
The wrathful and sullen
The Gates of the City of Dis
For the first time Dante is mistaken for one of the damned.
Phlegyas, personification of anger and fury, races across the water
in his skiff in order to ferry the next wrathful soul to its place
in Styx. Virgil tells him to calm down, and as Phlegyas stews in
his own frustrated anger, the two poets enter his boat to be taken
onward. The prow sinks lower than usual under Dante's weight, for
the shades in Hell, while visible and tangible, have no mass.
A muddy figure rises up out of the slime, irate with Dante for
having come to Hell before his death. This is Filippo Argenti
degli Adimari, a nobleman of Florence whose family was reputedly
opposed to Dante. However, Dante's fierce response should not be
attributed entirely, or even primarily, to personal antagonism.
Nor is he simply being affected by the influence of the marsh,
that is, taking on the attributes of the sin he is observing.
He is somewhat uncontrolled when he says, "Weep in Hell," but he
is still a novice traveller, and hasn't yet learned to feel the
proper indignation without succumbing to it. Virgil, perhaps
still remembering Dante's less than perfect response to Francesca,
is pleased at the progress he is making, and congratulates him on
being appropriately indignant (43-45). It has been suggested that
Filippo Argenti represents a new class of Florentines whom Dante
holds reponsible for the city's social and political problems.
The attack would not be on the individual but rather on the social
class he represents. The travellers now confront a great wall
which encloses the city of Dis, marking the boundary between upper
and lower Hell. The sinners they have seen so far have been guilty
of sins of incontinence, lack of restraint on their passions, but
the sins of those below are more significant and permanent. Just
within the walls, in the sixth circle, they will meet the heretics,
who are not merely impulsive like the sinners above, but evilly
disposed. Violent sinners will be encountered in the seventh
circle, and the fraudulent sinners in the eighth and ninth.
The approach to the city in Phlegyas' boat is ominous. The long,
circuitous route, the red glow, the boatman's shouting, the
thousand ferocious spirits at the entrance—all of this makes a
terrifying introduction for the poet. Worse, it seems as if his
progress is to be blocked, for the angry spirits defy Virgil and
slam the gate in his face. On an allegorical level one can say
that the inquiring soul, probing evil, comes to a fearful stop and
cannot advance without assistance higher than reason. Indeed, the
soul even fears that reason, its only guide backward now that its
advance seems blocked, will abandon it (100). But Virgil assures
Dante that he will not leave him, and that their passage is
guaranteed. At that very moment help is on the way.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen •
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto IX
canto ix, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, early hours
The walls of the city of Dis
Circle VI
The heretics
This entire canto is dominated by the sense of fear. In terror
when the canto opens, Dante watches Virgil's apparent uncertainty
and begins to doubt whether reason can guide him securely through
Hell. Virgil assures him that he has descended to the lowest and
darkest depths of Hell, and can remember every inch of the way.
While they are waiting for divine aid, the three Furies suddenly
appear at the top of a tower and summon Medusa to turn Dante to
stone. Virgil covers Dante's eyes and warns him against looking
at the Gorgon, and at this point in the canto Dante asks the reader
to be alert to the teaching buried in his words. Although many
interpretations of this direct address to the reader have been offered,
perhaps Dante is simply asking us to see that the Furies represent
remorse, Medusa despair, and that the soul will be paralysed
without the help of grace. Of course the reference may be to the
insufficiency of reason to accomplish the journey, or there may be
an even larger referral to the poem as a whole.
A divine messenger arrives, opening the gate with his wand and
confronting the insolence of the damned with disdain. Immediately
inside the walls are the arch-heretics and their disciples. They
occupy a circle separate from the main division into three, for
they have sinned neither from weakness of flesh or mind, as have
the incontinent above, nor from violence or malice, as have those
below. Because these sinners denied Christianity, they are
punished outside the Christian framework of sin. Their sin is
more significant than the sins of incontinence, and lies below
them. But it is a sin of intellect and not a source of sinful
action, and thus lies above the more pernicious sins Dante is
yet to meet.
It is particularly ironic that those who denied the reality of a
future life, contending that the soul died with the body, should
spend that future life in tombs, which normally signify death.
The sin of heresy is the only sin punished in Hell which is
specifically Christian. All others are potential moral failings
for any human.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen •
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics •
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto X
canto x, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 8, early morning
Circle VI
The heretics
While all heretics are punished here, Dante writes only of Epicurus
and his followers. At the time, "Epicurean" was applied to
freethinkers who, esteeming nothing higher than comfort in this life,
denied the immortality of the soul.
The participants in the drama of this canto are three Florentines:
Dante, Farinata, and Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti. As the poets walk
along and Virgil explains why the Epicureans are here, Farinata
suddenly stands upright in his tomb and calls out to Dante, whose
Tuscan accent he recognizes. This Ghibelline leader, who died the
year before Dante's birth, had saved Florence from destruction
after the Ghibellines had defeated the Guelphs at Montaperti.
It is for this great act that Dante approaches him deferentially,
even using the respectful "voi", which he uses only for Farinata,
Cavalcante and Brunetto Latini in the entire Inferno.
Farinata's haughtiness is conspicuous in his question, "Who were
your ancestors?" (42), and in his disregard for Cavalcante's
interruption, continuing his speech as if nothing had interceded
(76). Farinata reveals to Dante that he will be exiled, and
explains that the damned can see into the future, know nothing but
what they are told of the present, and will no longer see anything
at the day of judgment.
Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti is the father of Dante's "first friend,"
Guido. The family were noble Guelphs of Florence, and the choice
of this figure not only juxtaposes a Guelph and a Ghibelline—
thus asserting that heresy cuts across party lines—but has the
further symmetry of Guido's being Farinata's son-in-law.
Cavalcante's placement in this circle is made plausible by
Boccaccio, who in his commentary on the Comedy says that both
he and his son were well-known Epicureans.
Cavalcante, consumed with family pride and the genius of his son,
demands toknow why Dante is not accompanied by Guido on his journey.
In a stanza whose meaning is much debated, Dante tries to indicate
that perhaps Guido lacked something required for the journey (61-63).
When Dante uses a verb in the past tense—"felt" —an alarmed
Cavalcante asks if Guido is still alive. Dante hesitates to answer,
aware that Guido is ill and dying in Florence, and Cavalcante,
taking his lack of response as an affirmation of his son's death,
falls back into the tomb.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics •
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XI
At the edge of the high bank leading down to the seventh circle
the poets encounter the tomb of Pope Anastasius II. Dante places
him here because for centuries he was erroneously thought to have
permitted Photinus, a deacon of Thessalonica, to take communion,
even though Photinus was a follower of the Acacian heresy which
denied the divinity of Christ.
Most of this undramatic canto consists of Virgil's outlining for
Dante the plan of Hell. The classification of sins is based upon
Aristotle (Ethics, vii), and Cicero (De Officiis, i, 13).
Aristotle divides bad conduct into incontinence (uncontrolled
appetite), bestiality (perverted appetite), and malice (abuse of
reason). Cicero wrote that wrong might be done by force or fraud,
fraud being the more contemptible. Dante adapts these two sources
to classify sins into those of incontinence (Circles II-V),
violence (Circle VII), and fraud (Circles VIII & IX). To these
sins of wrong behavior he adds, as we have seen, two circles of
wrong belief, one for the unbelievers (Circle I, Limbo) and one for
the heretics (Circle VI).
The circle of violence is subdivided into three rounds, comprising
those who do harm to others, to themselves and to God. The first
contains assassins, thieves and tyrants; the second contains the
suicides; the third contains blasphemers, sodomites and usurers.
While blasphemers are clearly appropriate, the other two deserve
some explanation: sodomites do violence against Nature, God's
minister;usurers do violence to human industry, the offspring of
Nature.
Circle VIII, the circle of simple fraud or malice, Malebolge, is
divided into ten bolgia, or pockets. The sinners in eight of these are
mentioned here, while "filthy vultures" suffices for the other two,
the fraudulent counselors and sowers of scandal and schism (60).
Circle IX, the circle of complex fraud or malice, is divided into
four regions.
After his outline, Virgil has to explain to his pupil why the sins
of incontinence are punished outside the walls of the city. He does
this by reminding Dante of Aristotle's description, in the Ethics,
of the three conditions revolting to Heaven (79-84).
Note that although they have already passed through Circles I
and VI, Virgil makes no reference to them, for the sins of these
circles are not covered by this system; that is, they are not sins
of incontinence, violence, or fraud. Observing the stars, Virgil
declares that they must be moving on.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics •
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XII
canto xii, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, four a.m.
Circle VII, Round I
The violent against others
The canto begins with the Minotaur, another of Dante's mythical
guardians who portray the sin of their circle to an extreme degree.
His fury at Virgil's confrontation symbolizes the impotence of
brutishnes before the challenge of reason.
The intellectual nature of the previous canto is replaced by the
largely physical quality of this one. The sinners, guilty of
violent, bloody acts,fulfill the law of contrapasso by their
immersion in a river of boiling blood, the seriousness of their
sin dictating how deeply in it they are sunk. Yet the sinners
themselves are much less prominent in this canto than their guards,
the Centaurs. These half-human, half-animal creatures are
appropriate to the bestial nature of the sinners they guard, yet
they are depicted with grace and dignity. Indeed, Virgil trusts
them enough to temporarily relinquish his leadership to them. Their contradictory depiction may be Dante's comment on the outward calm
and courtesy of Italian courtly life, which underneath is vulgar
and brutish.
Just as Virgil for a time takes second place (112-113), so Dante
removes himself from center stage by saying nothing throughout the
canto. He is an observer more than a participant, and his
perceptions serve to convince us, by their precision and realism,
that the fantastic world he is describing is tangible and true.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Ring 1 against others •
Ring 2
Ring 3
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XIII
canto xiii, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, before dawn
Circle VII, Round II
The violent against themselves
The canto opens with six instances of "no" or "not" in the first
seven lines, indicating the inherent negativity of suicide. The
dark, thorny wood is home to despairing souls who, having
separated themselves from their bodies before the time designated
by God, now live in sub-human bodies for eternity. It is fitting
that, having destroyed their corporeal selves by using a mobility
and freedom unknown to plant life, they should now be clothed in that
lower form. It is also fitting that as soon as the suicides have
heard Minos' sentence they fall into the wood at random, in no
predetermined spot, for they have put themselves beyond God's plan
by revolting against it. The image of the wood is clearly
influenced by lines 32-43 in Book III of the Aeneid.
The example Dante chooses to represent the suicides is Pier delle
Vigne, chancellor of the Emperor Frederick II. The choice is
subtle and daring,—as many of Dante's choices are—accentuating
the specific sin against the contrasting background of a fine
character. For Pier displays an obvious sense of self-worth and
dignity. Indeed, he did not kill himself out of misery, but out
of disdain for the disdain of others (70-71), thus foolishly
putting reputation above the injunction against suicide. To some
extent Pier is a reflection of Dante himself—a poet and politician
brought low in the world's eyes—and thus is bound to generate
sympathy in him. But Dante did not succumb to the temptation of
suicide or any other ultimate sin, and sees clearly the eternal
damnation which an otherwise excellent man brought upon himself.
Dante perhaps chose to write about Pier as a warning to himself,
housing him eternally in a wood which recalls the wild and dark wood
where Dante himself was lost in Canto I.
By medieval times suicide had a long history—at least since
Augustine—of being considered a crime as serious as murder in
Christian eyes. Both were attempts to shorten the term of life
assigned by God, and were acts of insubordination against Him.
Together with the suicides are the profligates or squanderers,
whose violence to their own earthly goods was a form of
self-ruination or suicide. They are differentiated from the
prodigal of the fourth circle, who were merely wasteful without
being violent. Two of them are pursued by swift black bitches
(126) who seem to symbolize the violence which drove these
sinners in their lives and now chases them for eternity.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Ring 1
Ring 2 against themselves •
Ring 3
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XIV
canto xiv, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, before dawn
Circle VII, Round III
The violent against God, Nature, Art
The lowest round of the seventh circle consists of a sandy plain
rained upon by eternal fire, clearly signifying the wrath of the
God the sinners defied. In one of three categories, all the
sinners here went against the divine plan for human existence.
Those who were violent against God himself, the blasphemers, lie
prostrate, facing the Heaven they scorned. The sodomites, who
sinned against God's child, Nature, run ceaselessly, driven by the
restlessness of their passion in life. The usurers, sinners
against art or industry, God's grandchild, crouch forever over
their moneybags. (In many lesser, supporting ways the theme of
antagonism to God's plan permeates the canto. For instance, Cato
and Alexander are mentioned not merely for the historical analogy
they offer, but because they pitted themselves in vain against
God's larger scheme.)
The first group is the smallest, overt blasphemy being unusual.
Surprisingly, its main representative is a pagan, Capaneus. One
of the seven kings who attacked Thebes, he challenged Jove and was
killed by a thunderbolt. Now, for eternity, he rages
uncontrollably and pretends not to be bothered by the fire,
a picture of furious, arrogant impotence.
Crossing the hot, sandy plain is a stream of blood, carried in a
channel whose bed and banks are made of stone. Virgil tells Dante
that since they arrived in Hell he has witnessed nothing as great
as this stream, which quenches the fire falling upon it and makes
it harmless (85-87). His appetite for knowledge whetted, Dante
begs to know more, and Virgil tells him the story of the Old Man
of Crete.
In antiquity the island of Crete—in the Mediterranean between
Egypt (the old world) and Greece (the new)—was thought of as
the cradle of Trojan (Roman) civilization, the central location
of the Golden Age. The image painted by Virgil derives from
Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel 2:31-33, modified to fit the
poem's needs. While Daniel interprets the figure of gold, silver,
brass, iron and clay as prophesying four kingdoms, here it represents
four degenerating stages of humanity. Only the gold head—
representing the condition of Adam and Eve before the fall—is
free from the crack down which flow the tears of man's sinful
history. This stream of misery descends to Hell to torment the
sinners who originally caused it, emerging as Acheron, Styx,
Phlegethon, and Cocytus.
The poets leave this ring by walking along the cool margins of
the river. The river's ability to lessen the heat could not be
merely a device to permit the poets to exit this circle. Perhaps
Dante wants the stream of human agony to soften the harsh
Christian vision of divine retribution.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Ring 1
Ring 2
Ring 3 against God, Nature, Art •
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XV
canto xv, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, before dawn
Circle VII, Round III
The violent against Nature, sodomites
Brunetto Latini was a prominent figure in Florence in the
generation preceding Dante's. Older than the poet by about
forty-five years, he was a respected civic leader, scholar,
translator of Cicero, intellectual and moral authority.
In 1260, while returning from the court of Alfonso X of Castile,
where he had been sent as ambassador, he learned of the Guelph loss
at Montaperti. Prudently remaining in France for the next six
years, he wrote his encyclopedia, Li livres dou Trésor,
in French, and a shorter didactic, allegorical work, the Tesoretto,
in Italian. When the Ghibellines were defeated at Benevento in
1266 he returned to Florence, serving in various public offices,
and dying in 1294.
While the majority of critics have assumed that Dante had some
private information indicating Brunetto's homosexuality, a
significant minority hold that sodomy is not Brunetto's sin.
A convincing case is made for a more intellectual vice, a mental
violence against Nature. Indeed, Brunetto shows no confidence in
the potential goodness of man, and as a thinker completely lacks
the benefit of the kind of grace bestowed upon his protegé,
Dante. His desire is for worldly fame and influence, and the very
last lines of the canto show him fit for—and trapped in—exactly such an ungodly achievement.
A third critical perspective holds that Brunetto's particular sin
is much less important than the fact that he has sinned at all.
Dante's surprise at finding him in Hell (29-30) demonstrates that
even those friends and figures we consider morally and
intellectually sound are fallible. He represents another self- warning to Dante, another semblance of himself which failed.
A fourth evaluation of Brunetto—held by a very small minority
of commentators—is that he sinned in exalting a language other
than his own (French) above his native tongue.
Aside from the question of his precise sin, Brunetto represents the
deterioration of Florence and the bankruptcy of his generation's
legacy. The city is even more corrupt now than it was before.
In this Brunetto is a counterpart to the Old Man of Crete in the
previous canto—specifically a symbol of deterioration for Dante's
own time. Thus his portrayal implies that Dante's poetic effort is
the only true salvation for Florence, and indeed Brunetto's own praise
for the younger man unknowingly proclaims this.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Ring 1
Ring 2
Ring 3 against God, Nature, Art •
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XVI
canto xvi, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, before dawn
Circle VII, Round III
The sodomites
Dante hears the distant roar of a waterfall, which grows louder
as he and Virgil advance. Three Florentine shades recognize his
dress and come to converse with him, continually turning together
like a wheel. These well-known citizens of Florence ask for news
of their city, and Dante delivers an invective against the
degeneracy of their mutual home. Throughout the scene there is a
stark contrast between the respect which these honored citizens
draw from Dante, and the sin for which they are eternally condemned.
Toward the end of the canto Dante cultivates a sense of mystery.
Virgil requests the rope around Dante's waist and flings it down
into the pit. He then reads Dante's thoughts, and, as both wait
expectantly, a strange creature approaches which Dante assures the
reader was actually there before his eyes. Commentators do not
agree about the significance of the cord. There is an
unsubstantiated story that the young Dante became a novice of the
Franciscan Order and later left it. The cord would symbolize external discipline against worldly temptations, and its being thrown away
would mean that Dante no longer needed this restraint of vows but
now had sufficient internal control and development. It is more
likely that the rope represents some quality which Dante no longer
relies upon and which he can fling as bait to the creature coming
into view. One candidate would be the quality of unfounded,
egocentric self-confidence. This might serve to satisfy and
ensnare the creature which in the next canto is portrayed as the
very image of fraud and deceit. Dante himself would no longer need
this flimsy support, but rather base himself in humility and
correct knowledge.
The entire canto is concerned with language, its plausibility
and veracity. The model from which the episode of the cord derives
—Virgil's account of Lacoon in Book II of the Aeneid—is itself
concerned with the mistrust of a spoken truth. Dante, complimented
by the three Florentines (80-81) on his clarity of speech, soon
afterward (123-136) feels compelled to promise the reader that the
fantastic story he is about to tell is true. Of course in asserting
that what is patently imaginary is indeed the truth, Dante preempts
us from disbelieving him. We go along with a fiction which
presents itself as truth, for the sake of uncovering the truth
concealed in the circles of Fraud and in the monster of deception
we are about to confront.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Ring 1
Ring 2
Ring 3 against God, Nature, Art •
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XVII
canto xvii, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, before dawn
Circle VII, Round III
The usurers
Virgil sends Dante to investigate the usurers, while he convinces
the beast Geryon to carry them down to the eighth circle. The
usurers are on the lip of the chasm, at the limit of the third
round, just as usury at the time was not quite fraudulent but on
the edge of fraud. Some commentators think Dante believed it was
a sin to profit by lending money, but the examples show that what
was being punished was deceitful usury by men of wealth. This was
antagonistic to true industry, "God's grandchild". Note that
Dante is unable to recognize any of these sinners, for the love
and pursuit of gold has worn away their human individuality,
leaving them identified only by the moneybags which hang about
them through eternity. Members of aristocratic families, they
are known by the animal emblems they wear. As the final sinners
of violence, yet with an asect of fraud, they make fitting
transitions to the next circle, where fraud dominates.
Geryon is another figure adapted from classical mythology. He was
a giant with three bodies who possibly ruled Spain, fed the flesh
of his guests to his sheep, and was slain by Hercules. Dante's
particular creation undoubtedly derives from Revelation 9:7-11
and to Pliny's description of a beast called a Mantichora, which
had the face of a man, body of a lion, and tail with a scorpion-like
sting (Historia Naturalis, viii, 30). Albert Magnus and Brunetto
Latini also describe such beasts. Ultimately, ancient Egypt is the
source (e.g. the sphynx), although Dante was probably unfamiliar
with Egypt directly.
The transition to the eighth circle, where the sins of fraud and
their punishments are even more severe than those Dante has
witnessed, is accomplished on the back of this personification of
fraud, Geryon. His "face of an honest man" (10) is clear to every
reader, and has historical roots in the common medieval belief
that scorpions had attractive faces. This is one of the few cantos
in the entire Commedia in which Dante is completely silent.
Indeed, he seems mesmerized into silence by the amazing and
frightening figure of Geryon, and too disdainful of the usurers
to say anything to them. His single attempt at speech (94) is
stifled by fear.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent •
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent •
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XVIII
canto xviii, text
return to menu
Saturday April 9, nearly dawn
Circle VIII, Malebolge, Bolgia I
The pimps and seducers
Bolgia II
The flatterers
The canto begins with a plain statement that "there is a place
called Malebolge in hell," as if to reveal the simplicity of fraud
beneath all its intricate deceptions. Its iron-colored stone
leaves no doubt that the sinners we find in the next thirteen cantos
are prisoners of their own twisted, morally insensitive devices.
Malebolge—evil pouches or pockets —is composed of ten concentric ditches or
bolgias, with ridges across them like spokes of a wheel.
In the first bolgia a file of pimps is circling one way and
another file of seducers the other, driven by horned demons—
horns being the traditional icon of adultery. The comparison of
this double file with the crowds in Rome during the Jubilee year
is more than mere imagery, for Pope Boniface VIII issued a Papal
Bull which granted indulgence to all pilgrims who stayed in Rome
for fifteen days, visited St. Peter's and St. Paul's, and
confessed and repented their sins.
Dante's disgust with the flatterers in the second bolgia is
reflected in the briefness with which he talks to them as a pilgrim,
or describes them here as a poet.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
bolgia 1, pimps and seducers •
bolgia 2, flatterers •
—-—-—- -
bolgia 8
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XIX
canto xix, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, nearly dawn
Circle VIII, Malebolge, Bolgia III
The simonists
The quiet contempt which Dante demonstrated in the previous canto
changes to righteous anger when he deals with the sin of simony,
the trafficking in sacred things. The very first words of the
canto are an invective against Simon Magus, the magician after
whom the sin is named.
The use of one's ecclesiastical position for personal profit was
regarded as an offense against the Holy Ghost, but to fit it into
his scheme Dante puts it into the category of fraud. The sinners
are upside down, symbolizing the perverse nature of their sin, and
since they have specifically betrayed God's trust—even more than
man's, which is secondary—they are burned by the fire of God's
anger on the soles of the feet.
For Dante, three of the popes who were his contemporaries exemplify
the sin at its worst. Nicholas III, down in one of the holes
(compared in lines 13-19 with baptismal fonts), mistakes Dante for
Boniface VIII, his successor in the hole. Aware in advance of when
Boniface is supposed to arrive, he cries out "this was not the
plan," (51). He then reveals that Clement V will be the third
in this perverse analogy to apostolic succession (81-88).
The narrative of Nicholas is delivered to Dante like a confession
(49), the layman receiving the Pope's account but certainly not
absolving him.
Reason occupies a particularly prominent place in this canto, as
portrayed by Virgil's actually carrying Dante down to interview
Nicholas and then back up again. Dante is operating under the
guidance of not just his own reason, but of Reason itself.
Furthermore, Virgil represents the Empire, which we know from
Dante's views in De Monarchia had a responsibility to guard its
own area of jurisdiction from the encroachment of the Church.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
—-—-—
bolgia 3, simonists •
—-—- -
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XX
canto xx, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, soon after dawn
Circle VIII, Malebolge, Bolgia IV
The diviners
Although Dante makes use of astrological images throughout the
Comedy, he follows Aquinas in his condemnation of astrology or any
other system of divination to foretell or control the future.
Dante believes sorcery, augury or any other magical activity is
sinful, a view which in fact was unpopular in medieval times,
being confirmed by only the Bible and Aquinas. While the stars
might have some influence on human dispositions, he holds, such
effects were minor and certainly unpredictable. It was
fundamentally the Will of God which determined the course of the
universe.
The contrapasso is effected by having the faces of those who
attempted to look into the future permanently fixed toward the
rear. Dante, moved to tears by this distortion of the human figure,
is rebuked by Virgil for showing pity, for such a response can only
question God's judgment. It is possible that Dante's compassion
derives from his once having appreciated the arts of divination, so
honored by the ancient poets he valued.
It is typical of Dante's sense of drama to use daring illustrations.
Here he selects one soothsayer from each of the great Latin poems
he admired: Virgil's Aeneid, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Statius'
Thebais, and Lucan's Pharsalia. He seems to be saying to his
contemporaries that the poetic charm and skill of these works has
deluded them into ignoring the sinful nature of divination.
In the medieval mind, Virgil was regarded as a magician, and his
writings were even utilized in a method of divination called
"sortes virgilianae." (Virgil still has this reputation in Naples.)
Dante is clearly using this canto to dissociate his master from
this popular misconception. Mantua is not founded by Manto but
merely named after her, and there was no augury in its naming (93).
Virgil is very clear about denying any rumors to the contrary (97-99).
And he is also quite devoid of sympathy in naming and describing to
Dante the sinners in this circle.
Interestingly, the account of Mantua's founding in this canto is
different from the one which Virgil himself describes in the
Aeneid, Book X, which concerned a different Manto. Dante had heard
of the Theban Manto, and must have believed Virgil's original story
was wrong. With grace and irony, he lets Virgil deliver the
correct version.
A reader of the entire Comedy might notice that in Purgatory XXII
Virgil places "the daughter of Tiresius" in Limbo, rather than
here in the fourth bolgia of Malebolge. Perhaps Dante wrote this
present canto first, with Virgil's original Manto in mind, but
later changed to Tiresius' daughter and forgot to correlate it with
Purgatory XXII.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
—-—- -
bolgia 4, diviners •
—-—- -
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XXI
canto xxi, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, about 7 a.m.
Circle VIII, Malebolge, Bolgia V
The grafters
The unusual amount of space devoted to the grafters—the next
three cantos—can perhaps be attributed to a personal motive.
The standard accusation of graft while Dante was in office was so
absurd that not even his enemies really believed it. He himself
did not deign to respond to it, and these cantos may be the reply
he withheld at that time. The farcical, slap-stick manner in which
the grafters and their demon tormentors are presented was perhaps
the most appropriate as well as personally satisfying way Dante
could deal with the issue.
The grafters are sunk in boiling pitch, corresponding to the dark,
secretive atmosphere in which they used to do their dirty work.
The way they scheme and cheat in the attempt to outwit and evade
their tormentors is also a continuation of their previous behavior.
Dante and Virgil watch the demons attack a senator from Lucca,
after which Virgil hides Dante from the demons while he goes to
negotiate with them. Holding off their attack with his words,
Virgil obtains a safe-conduct from Malacoda, the leader. He
thereupon calls Dante out of hiding, but soon discovers that the
nearest bridge across the sixth bolgia is shattered. Malacoda tries
to entrap them by informing them that there are other bridges ahead
still intact, and, like the perfect, wily official who disguises
his lies in a web of exactitude, tells them that this bridge
collapsed exactly 1266 years plus nineteen hours ago. Malacoda provides
for them an escort of ten demons, absurdly comic to the reader,
but so frightening to Dante that he suggests to Virgil that the two
of them run off and find their own way, since Virgil has already
been here.
The episode continues in the next canto.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
—-—- -
bolgia 5, grafters •
—-—- -
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XXII
canto xxii, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, about 8 a.m.
Circle VIII, Malebolge, Bolgia V
The grafters
Dante sees many grafters submerged in the pitch like frogs in
water up to their muzzles. When the demons—the Malebanche—
appear, the sinners duck down below the surface. One unidentified
Navarrese is hooked by the demon Grafficane, and as he is being
torn by Rubicante and others, Virgil questions him. He reveals
that below in the pitch are Fra Gomita and Michele Zanche. He
promises to lure some of his fellow sinners to the surface if the
demons will hide. Cagnazzo is suspicious, but Alichino goes along
with the plan, and as soon as the Malebranche have turned away,
the sinner dives down and escapes. Alichino pursues him futilely
and then Calcabrina races after Alichino, with whom he has a fight
above the pitch so that the two of them tumble in. Barbariccia
organizes their rescue, and in the confusion, Virgil and Dante
slip away.
In his riotous account of the grafters and their tormentors, Dante
seems to be dispensing with both his earlier accusors (the
tormentors) and those with whom he was falsely accused of
collaborating (the grafters). However, while many commentators see
a personal tone to the description of this bolgia, others feel
that such a view is purely speculative.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
—-—- -
bolgia 5, grafters •
—-—- -
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XXIII
canto xxiii, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, about 9 a.m.
Circle VIII, Malebolge, Bolgia VI
The hypocrites
Virgil and Dante feel in danger from the angry, fooled Malebranche,
and slide down the slope to the sixth bolgia, just ahead of their
pursuers.
Dante observes a line of weeping sinners, clothed in golden cloaks
lined with lead. Two of these hypocrites identify themselves as
Jovial Friars. Just as Dante begins to speak with them (110) he
notices the shade of Caiaphas, crucified and transfixed by three
stakes to the floor, so that every sinner here must tread on him.
The image is clear: he bears the weight of all the world's
hypocrisy, as Christ voluntarily bore the pain of the world's sin.
Similarly crucified are Annas and the other false counselors who
wanted to sacrifice Christ, really crucifying their own souls as
they crucified His body.
The Jovial Friars reveal that the travellers have to climb up a
rockslide in order to go on, and Virgil realizes that Malacoda lied
to him about the bridges over the sixth bolgia, all of which were
destroyed in the great earthquake at the moment of Christ's death.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
—-—- -
bolgia 5, grafters •
bolgia 6, hypocrites •
—-—- -
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XXIV
canto xxiv, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, about 11 a.m.
Circle VIII, Malebolge, Bolgia VII
The thieves
The travelers complete a difficult ascent up the ruins of the
fallen bridge. Dante loses his breath and sits down, but Virgil
encourages him onward. From the bridge over the seventh bolgia
they hear confused sounds from below, and at Dante's request Virgil
leads him down into the pit. Here serpents coil about the sinners,
binding their hands behind them and knotting themselves through the
loins. The analogy is clear: thieves are like serpents or reptiles,
and their hands, which are the usual agents of their thievery, are
here bound. Dante sees a serpent fly toward a sinner and pierce
the jugular vein, at which the sinner bursts into flame, collapses
to ashes, and takes shape once more (96-104). Again, just as
thieves take away the property of their victims, so they themselves
repeatedly undergo disintegration throughout eternity.
Dante is surprised to find Vanni Fucci in this bolgia, for in life
he was known for his anger and brutality. As insolent as he is,
the character is ashamed to confess that beneath his savagery—of
which he is proud—was the even worse offense of stealing from the
sacristy, for which he is being punished.
Deeply embarrassed at his admission, Fucci vents his malicious rage
against Dante by predicting terrible strife in Tuscany and the
dashing of Dante's political hopes.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
—-—- -
bolgia 6, hypocrites •
bolgia 7, thieves •
—-—- -
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XXV
canto xxv, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, nearly noon
Circle VIII, Malebolge, Bolgia VII
The thieves
In a crescendo of rage, Vanni Fucci makes an obscene gesture at
God, and is immobilized by tightly coiling serpents. The centaur
Cacus then speeds by angrily, carrying serpents and a
fire-breathing dragon on his back.
The rapid betrayals of the dog-eat-dog world of thieves, the
perpetual, reciprocal stealing, is represented by the animal-human
transformations of Agnello and Cianfa, and the interchange of form
between Buoso and Francesco. The occasional alternation in tense between present and future supports the sense of transformation.
Dante displays a somewhat disdainful attitude toward the use of
similar metamorphoses by Lucan and Ovid. He is not just claiming
to have done a better portrayal of transformation, but to have
displayed something deeper, the exchange of higher and lower
qualities between man and beast. This was necessary, for the sin
of thievery utilizes human powers in the service of brute material
possession.
Everything in this canto works toward a sense of reptilian coldness,
a lack of humanity, the absence of all feeling.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
—-—- -
bolgia 7, thieves •
—-—- -
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XXVI
canto xxvi, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, noon
Circle VIII, Malebolge, Bolgia VIII
The deceivers
The deceivers or evil counselors are those who in life used their
glibness and eloquence to mislead others. Because they possessed
and misused higher human capacities than those of previous sinners,
such as the thieves of the preceding canto, they have sinned more
severely and are placed deeper in Hell. The sinners are wrapped
in tongues of fire, which conceal them just as in life their speech
concealed their thought. It is possible that this particular
representation was suggested by the Epistle of James, which says
that "...the tongue is a fire, an unrighteous world among our members..
..setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell."
The narrative of Ulysses occupies nearly half the canto. The great,
colorful, wily Greek voyager is surely another of those figures
with whom Dante identifies, the victim or perpetrator of a sin into
which Dante himself might have fallen. Indeed, Dante perhaps
represents the quest for universal knowledge more than any other
person of his time, and as such would sympathize with the hunger for
understanding which drove Ulysses to his final doom. Deceiver from
the start—his accomplishments in the Trojan war were the result
of guile—he finally smooth-talks, cajoles and inspires his
followers on a disastrous voyage westward in search of experience.
Like Dante, the reader feels awe before a character brave and
adventurous enough to risk death on such a journey of discovery.
And just as the reader relishes the relief of this mini-epic in the
midst of the horrors of Hell, so, we might assume, did Dante
appreciate the opportunity to describe it.
The tale of this final voyage is, of course, Dante's invention,
although it is not completely without precedent. There was at
least one ancient tradition that Ulysses sailed through the pillars
of Hercules and founded Lisbon, and there were other tales of
voyagers to the Atlantic. The authenticated explorations of the
Portuguese were still two centuries in the future.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
—-—- -
bolgia 7, thieves •
bolgia 8, deceivers •
—-—- -
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XXVII
canto xxvii, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, noon
Circle VIII, Malebolge, Bolgia VIII
The deceivers
After the departure of Ulysses and Diomed, another flame, having
recognized Virgil's Lombard accent, approaches and asks the poets
for news of Romagna, his native land. This is Guido Da
Montefeltro, a renowned Ghibelline general who later became a
friar but betrayed his vows when he urged Pope Boniface VIII to use
fraud against the Colonna family. Boniface VIII—whom we know
from Canto XIX is due to arrive in Bolgia III—managed to trick
the otherwise shrewd Guido, by the promise of absolution, into
providing counsel toward his evil ends. This occurrence has been
independently confirmed, and thus is not Dante's invention. What
Dante did imagine was the battle for Guido's soul after his death.
St. Francis of Assisi is unsuccessful in claiming the soul, which is
taken by one of the black cherubim (112-113). That is, even though
the Pope had absolved him in advance, Guido's lack of true repentence
nullified the absolution. By contrast, Guido's son (Purgatory V)
undergoes a moment of genuine repentence and is saved, despite
having lived an unreligious life until then. In the two
contrasting stories Dante illustrates that the state of the soul
at death is the crucial factor in determining its eternal fate.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
—-—- -
bolgia 8, deceivers •
—-—- -
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XXVIII
canto xxviii, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, early afternon
Circle VIII, Malebolge, Bolgia IX
The sowers of scandal and schism
The sowers of scandal and schism are divided into three categories:
sowers of religious discord, political discord, and discord between
kinsmen. All are appropriately hacked to pieces by a demon with a
bloody sword, reconstituted, then hacked to pieces again and again
for eternity.
A modern reader is likely to be offended at the way Dante treats
Mohammed and Ali, his son-in-law. At the time, Islam was regarded
as the primary agent of Antichrist, some even believing that
Mohammed had originally been not just a Christian but a cardinal
who aspired to the papacy. Thus to the medieval mind he was a
symbol of the worst schism possible, the fracturing of the Church.
As an early follower of Mohammed and a future Caliph, Ali shared
responsibility for this alleged break with the Church. Dante may
have been aware that Ali was the leader of a schism within Islam
itself, thus reinforcing his status as a sower of schism. It is
clear that in the early fourteenth century Dante could not have
had sufficient knowledge of Islam to judge it properly.
Among the other sowers of schism punished in this bolgia is one
who would have been particularly significant to Dante or any other
Florentine. This is Mosca Dei Lamberti, whose advice to kill a
Buondelmonte bridegroom who jilted a lady of the Amidei family
instigated—according to local tradition—the ongoing, bloody
feud between the Guelphs and Ghibellines.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
—-—- -
bolgia 9, sowers of scanal and schism •
—-—- -
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XXIX
canto xxix, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, early afternoon
Circle VIII, Malebolge, Bolgia X
The falsifiers
Dante, who would remain and weep over the misery of the ninth
bolgia, and particularly over the plight of Geri del Bello, a
relative, is reproved and coaxed onward by Virgil, the voice of
reason.
The tenth bolgia is filled with a confusion of falsifiers. The
ones described fall into four categories: falsifiers of metals
(alchemists), of persons (impersonators), of coin (counterfeiters),
of words (liars). All suffer from diseases which change their
appearance, just as they themselves tried to change the appearance of
things and events in the world.
Only the alchemists are dealt with in this canto. It should be
noted that Aquinas distinguished two types of alchemy. To seek a
method of transforming lower metals into silver and gold was
acceptable, but the alchemical charlatanism which played on others'
ignorance and greed was not. This, of course, is the alchemy for
which Griffolino and Capocchio are being punished.
Dante erroneously thought that lepers were subject to a terrible
itch. The sinners' ceaseless scratching was meant to mimic their
continual petty deceptions in the world.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
—-—- -
bolgia 9, sowers of scandal and schism •
—-—- -
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XXX
canto xxx, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, early afternoon
Circle VIII, Malebolge, Bolgia X
The falsifiers
This canto deals with the three remaining categories of falsifiers:
impersonators, counterfeiters and liars. Unlike all other sinners
in Hell, the falsifiers are tortured from within themselves, rather
than from without. (We speak of the immediate agent of torture,
not the ultimate contrapasso punishment, which in all cases is engendered
by the sin within the sinner.) As the alchemists in the previous
canto were afflicted with leprosy, so the impersonators are mad, the
counterfeiters have dropsy, and the liars have a fever which makes
them smell. These sinners, who falsified nature, themselves, money
or language, have basically corrupted their own souls, which are
diseased for eternity.
The two illustrations of madness with which Dante begins the canto
are an ironic contrast to the madness of Schicchi and Myrrha. The
first of these classical torments was inflicted by the goddess
Juno, and the second by fortune, while the sinners portrayed here
brought about their own punishment through petty greed and cunning.
Master Adam, the counterfeiter, suffers from eternal thirst, and
is fittingly more parched by his own images of running water than
by the disease dessicating his face (64-68).
When one of the liars, Sinon the Greek, gets into an argument with
Master Adam, Dante watches with great interest until Virgil rebukes
him, as he did at the beginning of the previous canto. Dante
blushes at once, for he knows that sympathetic curiosity is an
unworthy stance toward such low behavior; nevertheless he needs
Virgil to break his fascination. The incident adds a final
metaphor to the theme of the canto, for Dante is being captured by
this utterly spurious quarrel, briefly falling prey to its falsity.
Indeed, through this display of curiosity he leaves Malebolge with
a fitting tribute to the subtle power of fraud.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
—-—- -
bolgia 10, falsifiers •
—-—- -
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Canto XXXI
canto xxxi, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, afternoon
The bank between Circles VIII and IX
The giants
Crossing from Malebolge to the central pit—a well at the bottom
of which lies Cocytus, the ninth circle—Dante seems to see a city
in the distance (21-22). As he comes closer he sees that what he
took for towers are in fact giants, visible above the rim of the
well from the waist up. Only a few of the giants are specifically
named. Ephialtes and Briareus were prominent at Phlegra, when the
giants threatened the gods. Ovid, Statius and Lucan all mention
this incident.
The giants are personifications of pride, and in this they are
exceeded only by Satan himself, whom they attend eternally.
Ephialtes and Briareus dared to challenge the Greek gods, Nimrod
tried to build a tower to heaven, and the mentioned Tityos and
Typhon insulted Jove. Lines 54-57 sum up the severe threat posed
by the giants, who combine evil will with both mental and physical
power. These are no longer local, individual examples of
incontinence, violence or fraud, whom the poets have met in
earlier circles, and who affect only themselves and those around
them. These are stupendous quantities of nearly unstoppable evil,
able to challenge the rulers of creation. Indeed, the enormity
these giants and their potential influence is represented by our
inability to measure their physical size, or to get a full view of
them at any single moment.
Among other items to note is the use of the word "tower" several
times. In equating the frightening giants with towers, Dante may
have been commenting on the proliferation of fortresses in his day.
For him these were symbols of arrogance and violence, physical
manifestations of the pride of the warring noble families.
Also note the absurd futility attributed to the giants. After
their various unsuccessful attempts at assuming ultimate power,
they stand impotent and defeated. Only Nimrod speaks, and he
babbles in a language which, appropriately, no one else can
understand. His blast of the horn has no more meaning than a
childish need to make noise, and he is stupid enough to forget
that the horn is hanging around his neck, right against his chest.
Finally, note that Antaeus, while not chained like the other
giants—for he did not participate in the assault upon the gods—
has a savage reputation in classical tales and is just as dumb as
the others in this circle. For by promising that Dante can spread
his fame above in the world, Virgil easily convinces the vain giant
to lower them in the palm of his hand to the floor of Hell.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent •
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors •
Canto XXXII
canto xxxii, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, late afernoon
Circle IX, Cocytus, Rings I and II, Caïna and Antenora
The traitors to kin and country
The river flowing from the fissure in the Old Man of Crete
(Canto XIV), into Malebolge (Canto XVIII), now freezes in a
circular plain at the bottom of Hell. The metaphor is clear, for
the heart of the traitor was the coldest heart of all. (Punishment
by ice was not unprecedented in previous visions of Hell, as in
the Visio Alberici. See the footnote to line 2 of this canto.)
Cocytus, the lake thus formed, is divided into four concentric
sections. Caïna, named for Cain, contains traitors to
kindred; Antenora, named for the Trojan Antenor, contains traitors
to country or party; Ptolomea, probably named for Ptolomy, a
captain of Jericho, contains traitors to guests; Judecca, named for
Judas, contains traitors to benefactors.
The traitors in Cocytus differ from all previous sinners in not
wanting news of themselves delivered to the world above (95-96).
Such reports would only increase the infamy in which they are
already held by the living. Although they attempt to conceal their
own identity, they eagerly betray the names and stories of those
around them.
In the first three sections the sinners are buried in the ice up
to their necks, while in the last they are completely submerged.
In Caïna, the traitors to kin are permitted to lower their
faces, letting them not only conceal their identities, but also
shield themselves somewhat from the cold wind and prevent their
tears from freezing their eyelids shut. In Antenora, where the
treacheries have been against the public welfare and thus are more
serious than the private treacheries of Caïna, the sinners'
necks are held firmly in the ice and they cannot lower their heads.
In Ptolomea, where the sinners violated a chosen friendship—as
distinct from an inherited bond of family and country—treachery
is punished even more severely, with the head bent uncomfortably
back. Finally in Judecca, where the traitors to benefactors have
in essence defied the entire structure of human relations, nothing
is visible above the ice.
At the end of this canto the poets witness two sinners crammed
into the same hole, one of them gnawing on the other. Their
story is left for the next canto.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Caïna •
Antenora •
Ptolomea
Judecca
Canto XXXIII
canto xxxiii, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, about 6 p.m.
Circle IX, Cocytus, Rings II and III, Antenora and Ptolomea
Traitors to country; traitors to guests and friends
The story told by Ugolino moves the reader to sympathize with the
sinner the way Francesca's tale in Canto V did, or Ulysses' account
in Canto XXVI. Indeed, in all three instances the poet is
challenging both the reader and himself to accept and understand
God's ultimate condemnation, in spite of the human response the
story evokes. In another sense Ugolino's story parallels
Francesca's, for she is forced to exist through eternity with the
one she loved, while Ugolino shares the same hole forever with the
one he hates. Remember that Ugolino is being punished for
betraying his party, the Guelphs. For commentary on his story, see
the footnote to line 14.
Treachery to guests and friends is punished by having one's soul
sent down to Ptolomea while one's body remains in the world. This
may have been suggested by Psalms 55: "....let them go down to Sheol alive....men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their
days..." or John13:27, speaking of Judas: "Then after the morsel,
Satan entered into him."
Ruggieri, often forgotten in the drama of Ugolino's narrative, is
being punished for his treachery toward Ugolino, who was once his
friend. Having withheld food from Ugolino, he is now himself eaten
by his victim. In order to acommodate the two kinds of treachery,
they must be buried at the unmarked boundary between Antenora and
Ptolomea.
To deceive a traitor was not only permissible, but admirable, and
those who had betrayed their guests or friends certainly had no
claim to humane treatment. Thus Dante feels no qualms about
betraying his own promise of lines 115-117. Note that this promise
is cleverly worded—that is, Dante is well aware that his downward
journey will go beneath the ice. In this way he deceives the
traitor not only in failing to do what he'd "promised," but through
the words themselves.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Caïna
Antenora •
Ptolomea •
Judecca
Canto XXXIV
canto xxxiv, text
return to menu
Saturday, April 9, about 7 p.m.
Circle IX, Cocytus, Ring IV, Judecca
Traitors to benefactors
"The banners of the King of Hell advance," Virgil begins, parodying
a medieval hymn as the two poets approach the figure of Lucifer,
himself a gross parody of the Godhead.
The traitors buried under the ice in this final section, Judecca,
are entirely out of communication with humanity, and we never even
know who they are. Only the greatest traitor of all—the
rebellious angel Lucifer—and the three souls he crunches in
his jaws, are identifiable.
Cast down from Heaven for rebelling against God, Lucifer (Satan,
Dis, Beelzebub) is fixed for eternity with his upper body
protruding into Hell. A parody or negative mirror of God, his
three faces are the opposites of God's love, wisdom and power. Like
the seraphim of Isaiah 6:2, and the four beasts around God's throne
in Revelation 4:8, he has six wings, a pair beneath each face.
From the wings under the face of hatred proceeds the wind of fraud
or malice; from the pair under the face of ignorance comes the wind
of violence; and from the pair under the face of impotence comes
the wind of incontinence.
Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Christ, is chewed by the red face
of hatred. As he sold Christ for silver, he is even worse than
the simonists, and receives an analogous, although more severe,
punishment, his head is stuck into one of Satan's jaws with his legs
outside. (There is also a similarity to Lucifer's own position in
relation to Hell.) Brutus and Cassius, betrayers of the Empire
through their assassination of Julius Caesar, are only slightly
less abominable, and are placed in the black face of ignorance and
the whitish yellow face of impotence, with their heads out.
Virgil announces (69) that they have seen all of Hell and that it
is time to leave. Using the "stairs" of Satan's hairy flanks,
Virgil leads Dante down through a crack in the ice and out the
other side. From this point they no longer descend, for they have
passed through the center of the earth, but face an upward climb
to the base of the Mountain of Purgatory. Without stopping to rest,
they pursue a winding path toward the earth's surface, and just before
dawn on Easter Sunday they emerge again to see the stars.
Earth's surface — the dark wood_______________________
Vestibule
..................................................... River Acheron
Circle I, limbo
Circle II, carnal sinners
Circle III, gluttons
Circle IV, prodigal and avaricious
Circle V, wrathful and sullen
...................................... Marsh of Styx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Walls of Dis
Circle VI, heretics
.................................. River Phlegethon
Circle VII, violent
Circle VIII, Malebolge, fraudulent
Circle IX, Cocytus, traitors
Caïna
Antenora
Ptolomea
Judecca •
SATAN •