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INDEX Introduction Dante's Life Minor Works in Latin Minor Works in Italian The "Sweet New Sryle" The
Divine Comedy
-- Title and Plan -- Date of Composition -- The "Marvelous Vision" -- Dante's "Sources" -- Conception of Universe -- The Political Dimention -- Interpretation -- The "contrapasso" -- Dante's Guides Inferno -- Structure & Content Inferno: Cantos Line Synopsis and Notes
Index and Glossary Selected Biblio Copyright © 2000 Created and Maintained by Gino Casagrande Updated 23.X.2004 |
DANTE'S
LIFE Dante Alighieri was born to a Guelph family in Florence in 1265. The Guelph was the party of the small nobility and of the artisans, while the Ghibelline was the party of of the feudal nobility. The Guelphs and the Ghibellines were opposing political factions of German origin. The names were used to designate, respectively, the papal party and the imperial party during the long period of struggle for supremacy between popes and emperors. In his youth Dante attended "the schools of the philosophers and those of the religious orders", as he tells us in his Convivio. The reference is certainly to the Dominican School of Santa Maria Novella where the works of Thomas Aquinas were studied, and to the Franciscan School of Santa Croce where the works of Bonaventure were read. He also tells us what were his preferred readings during this time, namely Boethius' On Consolation of Philosophy and Cicero's Laelius, or on Friendship. At the age of
twentyfour Dante participated as an assault cavalry man, for Guelph
Florence, in the battle of Campaldino
against the Ghibelline cities of Arezzo
, Pisa and Siena
lead by Buonconte da Montefeltro.
About this time he also begins his political career. This is an extremely
important period for the formation of Dante. During his first sweet new style experience, Dante follows the conception of love held by Cavalcanti. However, at a certain moment in his life and growth, Dante rediscovers, so to speak, the idea underlying the basic love conception expounded by Guinizzelli, and writes chapter XVIII of Vita Nuova. Guinizzelli had defined very well the poetics of the "sweet new style". In his philosophical canzone on love (Al cor gentil rempaira sempre amore) the first Guido is able to fuse Love and the gentle heart into a new unity, natural and necessary to each other. Also, and more importantly, in Guinizzelli's poem the lady assumes the qualities of an angel from heaven. She passes through the streets, inspiring noble sentiments in men, bestowing on them "salute", that is deliverance from evil. Therefore the true sweet new style poet will renounce to any idea of correspondence of love on the part of the lady, and will only be interested in singing the praise for this woman, a real woman sent from heaven to show a "miracle" on earth. Dante totally
embraces Guinizzelli's concept that love and the noble heart are one
thing only, making direct references to it in the Vita Nuova,
in the Convivio, in De vulgari eloquentia, and finally
also in the famous episode of Paolo
and Francesca in the fifth
canto of Inferno. In addition, and again more importantly, Dante takes
certain attributes given to the woman by Guinizzelli in his canzone
(such as, addressing God, the poet will say "she appeared as an Angel
from Your Kingdom./ Don't blame me if I fell in love with her"), re-elaborates
and refines them in such a way that he arrives at a new and unique
awareness, by which--as he tells us--he feels "impelled to take up
a new and nobler theme than before". So he writes Chapter XVIII of
Vita Nuova where he states that while once the aim of his love
was the expectation of the greeting from his beloved, now he feels
a joy that cannot fail him, and that the joy simply comes to him in
writing words of praise for his lady, without ever expecting any reward
whatsoever from her. This is the "new theme". In fact, this is almost
"too lofty of a theme", and Dante confesses that he is almost afraid
to enter upon it. Chapter XVIII of the Vita Nuova becomes ,
then, the starting point which serves as a prelude to the last chapter
of the work, with Dante's expressed promise that we have mentioned
above. Of course, it is also the starting point in Dante's long voyage
which will culminate, at the end of his Paradiso, in the vision
of the glory of this lady, that is "the blessed Beatrice, who beholds
the face of Him Who is blessed forever", as the Poet tells us at the
very end of the New Life. TITLE AND PLAN The Divine Comedy is a poem in the "vulgar language". It consists of one hundred cantos. There are about 15,000 lines of eleven syllables each, organized in tercets, or groups of three lines, each connected by rhyme with the next group. The rhyme pattern is therefor as follows: A B A, B C B, C D C, D E D, etc. The Divine Comedy is divided in three "cantiche": Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), Paradiso (Paradise). Each cantica contains thirty-three cantos, plus one canto of introduction to the whole at the beginning of Inferno, so that the first cantica has a total of 34 cantos. It is evident at once that the insistence on the number three is the large scheme of Dante's masterpiece. In addition, we also find multiples of "three" within each cantica: Hell has nine circles, Purgatory nine terraces, Paradise nine heavens. "Three" is a number with a typically symbolic meaning relating to the divine Trinity. (Here it is perhaps good to call back to mind some of the numbers, as for instance "nine", we have encountered in the Vita Nuova). Dante called
his masterpiece simply "Comedia" (Comedy),as opposed to "tragedy",
twice in Hell and once in his famous letter to Cangrande--the content
of this letter will be examined below. The adjective "divine" was
first used by Boccaccio. It became part of the title much later, and
precisely with an edition by Ludovico Dolce published in Venice by
Giolito de' Ferrari in 1555. The epithet "divine" has been used ever
since. In De vulgari eloquentia (II, iv) Dante says that tragedy
uses a high style, and comedy uses a low style. Moreover,in accordance
with medieval rhetorical theories, contrary to "tragedy", "comedy"
has a sad beginning and a happy ending, portrays people of humble
conditions, and uses frequently criticism and censure. In fact, in
his letter to Cangrande Dante justifies the title of Comedia given
to his masterpiece precisely on the basis of its plot line: a horrible
beginning and a happy ending. Dante Says: "In fact, at the beginning
the subject matter is horrible and frightening because it deals with
Hell, at the end happy desirable and pleasant because it deals with
Paradise. And the style is low and humble, because it is written in
the vulgar language, which is the language used [by all] including
women of humble conditions" (xiii, 31). Originally, at
the time of creation, earthly surface appeared delimited by two hemispheres,
with the southern part covered by land and the northern part covered
only by water. Then Lucifer,
or Satan, who had rebelled against God, was thrown from Heaven and
fell on the southern hemisphere. When Lucifer was falling, the land
there "for fear of him, made of the sea a veil and came to our hemisphere"
(Inferno XXXIV, 123-124), that is, the land withdrew under
the surface of the waters and emerged in our, the northern, hemisphere.
Lucifer fell into the waters and went all the way down to the center
of earth. At the same time, the land under water in Lucifer's path--"in
order, perhaps, to avoid contact with him"--recoiled and re-emerged
on the southern hemisphere, and formed the cone-shaped mountain of
Purgatory, while the empty space left behind, from the surface to
the center of earth, became the funnel-shaped pit of Hell. Earth, then,
is conceived by Dante, as a perfect sphere, motionless and suspended
in the void. At the center of the northern hemisphere, or land surface,
Dante locates Jerusalem, midway between the mouth of the Ganges
and the source of the Ebro rivers,
its two extreme points, respectively, east and west, 180 away from
each other. The Mountain of Purgatory and Jerusalem
are also 180 away from each other, and share the great meridian circle
which cuts the equator at a right angle and passes through the poles.
Taking Jerusalem as a point of reference, it then follows that its
east horizon coincides perfectly with Purgatory's west horizon, and
its west horizon is one and the same with Purgatory's east horizon.
Therefore, when it is noon in Jerusalem, it will be midnight on the
mountain of Purgatory, sunset at the mouth of the Ganges and sunrise
at the source of the Ebro. At the same time, during Dante's years, Florence was experiencing a tremendous demographic growth, due to an influx of people from the countryside. This was also true of other communes in Italy, but Florence's importance grew vis-a-vis her neighbouring cities in Tuscany and other cities in Italy and abroad. Around 1300 Florence is one of the three largest cities in Italy, with a population of more than 100.000 persons living within the city walls. In fact, in order to accommodate all the new comers, the city had to expand beyond its first circle of walls, into a second and a third. In Florence the construction of the third circle of walls had been approved by the city in 1284, before Dante reached his twentieth birthday, and the building of it continued throughout the Poet's lifetime. This is a period of transition, a period in which profound changes are taking place in the lifes of people. The old feudal system had been replaced, more or less rapidly, by the new more open and more dynamic bourgeois and pre-capitalistic system. Toward the end of the century, Italian cities were at the center of an inter continental commercial system that span "Overmountains"--that is into the central and northern European countries--and Overseas. In France alone, in the period 1260-1270, there were some twenty large Florentine companies doing business. At the beginning of the new century, the Florentine Banks of the Peruzzis and of the Bardis were dealing in money and instruments of credit all over Europe at an unprecedented rate. The Bardi Bank alone, in 1318, just a few years before Dante's death, had an account balance of almost one million gold florins--a pretty sum when we think that ten years later the city of Florence was proposing to buy the whole city of Lucca for the sum of 80.000 gloden florins! By now Florence had total economic independence, and in fact she had had it for some time, if already by 1255 we find an epigraph inscribed in stone on the Palace of the Podesta which reads that the City "possesses the sea, possesses the land, possesses the whole world"--a phrase that Dante will appropriate and use in Inferno in a bitter sarcasm against Florence! The fast demographic growth of the city created a number of inevitable social conflicts among its population. Conflicts between the rich and the poor, between the nobility and the bourgeoisie, between the old inhabitants of the city and the newcomers. Dante is strongly opposed to all these changes, and he is definitely for old times when, according to him, there was justice and morality. In canto XV of Paradiso, through his great grandfather's mouth, he will describe the Florence that is still contained within its first circle of walls in a nostalgic reminiscence of the good old times, times when the citizens lived in happy families and in a just civic society--as against present times when women are abandoned by husbands who are going abroad in search of new business. The city is not what it used to be, because "newcomers to the city and fast gain have created excess and arrogance in Florence" (Inferno XVI, 73-75). The above are
just minute examples of what we find in the Comedy. Practically
every Florentine--and non Florentine--Dante meets throughout his voyage
becomes a splendid occasion for him to lash out against present social,
moral and political decadence of Florence and Italy. Florence has
become the city of Satan because it coins and exports the accursed
Florin corrupting the whole world (Paradiso IX). But to Dante
the decadence of Florence is connected to the general decadence of
Italy, where chaos, injustice, hate, violence, wars and moral corruption
are rampant. These are the problems that characterize the ethical
and political situation of medieval Italy. According to Dante, at
the basis of this situation there is the clash between the Pope and
the Emperor. It is they who bear the responsibility because they have
divided and politicized Italian cities for their own gain. More specifically
and first of all is the fact that the last Emperors have not conformed
with the function established by God--that of keeping in check the
cities and the regions under their control. The weakness of the imperial
power has made possible the corruption of the Church which has unduly
appropriated to itself the temporal power belonging, by God's right,
to the Emperor. So both the Pope and the Emperor have failed their
missions--spiritual and temporal, respectively--entrusted separately
to each by God for the happiness and wellbeing of the people (Purgatorio
VI). Taken literally,
then, the subject of the Comedy, Dante says, "is the state of souls
after death". Taken allegorically, "the subject is man in his merits
and demerits he has acquired through the excercize of his free will,
and therefore earning just rewards or becoming liable of just punishments"
(¶ 8). Obviously the man Dante is talking about is Everyman. It is
Dante as the agent of the Comedy, that is to say Dante the Wayfarer,
as the fundamental participant in the voyage. Dante has become conscious
of his misery and sin and, through an act of his free will, has decided
to free himself from sin. So he undertakes the voyage not as a passive
spectator, but as an "actor" and participant who will recognize sin
in Hell, who will atone sins together with the souls of Purgatory,
and who will finally become purified in Paradise. In addition, in
the letter to Cangrande Dante tells us that the Comedy deals with
moral philosophy or ethics, that it "has been conceived not for the
sake of speculation, but for action" (¶ 16). He also tells us that
the end of the Comedy "is to remove those living in this life from
the state of misery and to lead them to the state of happiness" (¶
15). Therefore, Dante's voyage becomes a paradigmatic example valid
for every man. Since Dante began
writing the Comedy around 1307-8, that is some seven/eight years after
the voyage was to have taken place, he was able to make "prophesies"
and predictions of "future" events in the Poem that actually had already
happened. This gave Dante the opportunity to also use stratagems or
tricks as he does in Hell with his archenemy Pope Boniface the VIII
who died in 1303. (See Inferno XIX, 51 ff). In the Comedy
the actual word "contrapasso" is used by Bertrand
de Born who is punished in Canto XXVIII of Hell among the Sowers
of Scandal and Schism. Bertrand says: " Because I divided those so
joined / I carry, alas, my brains severd / from its source which is
within my trunk. / It is thus observed in me the law of counter-penalty"
(139-142). As in life Bertrand de Born, with his evil counsel,had
caused enmity and division between Henry III and his father Henry
II of England (that is, causing a severance within the body of a family),
so now in Hell Betrand's headless trunk moves around "carrying its
severed head by the hairs as if it were a lantern" (Inferno
XXVIII 119-122). VIRGIL. Virgil,
in the Comedy, symbolizes human reason, the rational faculty
as the first and basic guide for man's ethical life, the principle
that makes man distinguish between right and wrong. Virgil, a pre-Christian
author, was regarded in the Middle Ages as a sage. For Dante he is
"the light" and the guide that gives hope (Purgatorio 4 and
6). Also in his fourth Eclogue Virgil had written symbolically of
the coming of a wonder child and of the return to the golden age,
a period of justice and universal peace. In the Middle Ages this was
interpreted as prophetic of the coming of Christ. Of course, Virgil
had also written the Aeneid celebrating the founding of the Roman
Empire and Rome's contribution to universal civilization and justice.
In fact when Virgil appears to Dante, at the beginning of the Comedy,
he stresses these fundamental notions: he lived in Rome under the
Empire, and was the poet of Aeneas, the righteous man destine by divine
Providence to lay the basis of the Roman Empire. Dante greets Virgil
as his master and his author; "master" because of the "noble style",
or tragic style that Dante had used in his great allegorical and doctrinal
canzoni; "author", in the precise sense of the word explained by Dante
himself in the Convivio, namely "as a person worthy of being
believed and obeyed" (Convivio IV, v, 5). So, guided by Virgil
Dante will regain control of his own actions, in a sense of morality
and justice, through a decision of his own will, in order to understand
sin fully and completely--because for Dante, and for Everyman, this
is the only way to re-acquire moral freedom. BEATRICE. Beatrice,
in the Comedy, symbolizes divine knowledge, or theology. After the
rational level--with Virgil as a guide--whereby Dante has reached
the highest achievement that man as man can reach, with Beatrice we
climb to a higher, metaphysical level in which her voice will be necessary
in the explanation of phenomena which are beyond the comprehension
of human reason. Beatrice appears to Dante at the top of Purgatory,
in Earthly Paradise. At her appearance, she dramatically reproaches
Dante for having followed the wrong way after her death. After Beatrice's
rebuke, Dante recognizes his past sins and is taken by a strong sentiment
of repentance and shame. Here a full catharsis has taken place and
Dante is totally cleansed, and therefore he is immersed in Lethe,
the Purgatorial river of classical recollection whose waters cause
forgetfulness of the past. After this Matelda leads Dante to drink
of the waters of Eunoe, the river that restores the "memory of the
good", the final step in the ritual of purification. Dante is now
"pure and prepared to climb into the stars" with Beatrice as guide. a simplified
sketch of Inferno † __________________________________________________________________________________________ ANTE-HELL ________________________________________________________________________________________ NEUTRALS ______________________________________________________________________________________ A C H E R O N 1. LIMBO 6. HERETICS 7.1 VIOLENT:
against their neighbors 8.1 FRAUD:
panderers and seducers C O C Y T U
S 9.1 TREACHERY:
of kin / CAINA
U C F E R INFERNO: STRUCTURE AND CONTENT The topographic structure of Hell. As it has been mentioned, Hell is in the form of a huge funnel-shaped cavity under ground, beneath Jerusalem, and going all the way to the center of Earth (See sketch on previous page). It was created by Lucifer when he was thrown out of Heaven. Hell consists of nine concentric "circles" or regions diminishing in circumference as they descend toward the center. These are preceded by a vestibule, called Ante-Inferno and separated from Inferno proper by the river Acheron. Inferno proper is divided in an upper and a lower zone. The lower zone is envisioned by Dante much like a fortified city and is divided from the upper part by a marsh-like moat--called Styx--and a high wall. It is called the City of Dis, Dis being another name for Satan, and contains four circles. The other five circles make up the upper part. Each of the nine circles is designed for a particular sin, with the lightest sins near the top. The moral structure of Hell. To begin with, the moral structure of Hell is, first of all, characterized in accordance to two particular beliefs of Dante. One, the fact that he has a strong contemptuous attitude against those who "lived without blame and without praise", the cowardly, the neutrals, those lacking the courage to do neither good nor bad. Dante cannot stand them, and believes that they cannot even deserve to be in Hell proper. Therefore he puts them in a region apart. Two, the fact that he placed in Limbo (which in the official church view was reserved for only the unbaptized and for the just people of the Old Testament who believed in the coming of Christ) also those worthy Pagans who lived before the coming of Christ. This is a place particularly for pre-Christian poets and, of course, is Virgil's permanent abode. With the exclusion of these two large groups then, the whole moral structure of Hell follows basically a division into two main categories. In upper Hell are punished the so-called sins of incontinence, the lack of moderation or control in the natural appetite. So, in the four circles after Limbo are punished, in an increasing order of sinfulness, the lustful, the gluttons, the horderers-and-squanderers, and the wrathful. In lower Hell are punished sins of malice or the evil intent. And, again in an increasing order of sinfulness, we have the heretics, the violent (subdivided into three rings), the fraudulent (subdivided into ten "pouches"), and finally the traitors (subdivided into four zones). Inferno: Content Summary (See Sketch of Inferno). [Canti I-III].
The poem begins with the story of how one day Dante got lost in a
dark forest. While he is in the process of climbing up a hill he meets
three beasts which impede his passage and thrust him back where he
came from. At this point the Latin poet Virgil appears and encourages
Dante to follow him. He will guide Dante through Hell and Purgatory,
and then someone else will come to lead him through Paradise. The
two poets begin the journey and soon arrive in front of Hell's door.
They enter and find a group of souls, the Cowardly, who are
obliged to run continually after a flag. [Canti IV-VIII]. Further
on the two Poets cross the river Acheron and reach the first (1)
Circle of Hell where Limbo is located. This is the zone reserved
for those who died without having been baptized and for the ancient
Poets. Their "punishment" is only spiritual: they long to see God
and will never be satisfied. At the beginning of the second (2)
Circle is Minos who judges all incoming souls and sends them to
their appropriate Circle. Soon after, blown about by a continuous
storm, are condemned the Lustful. Here Dante has his great
encounter with the two lovers Paolo and Francesca. In the third (3)
Circle, under an incessant cold rain, are the Gluttons
tormented by the monster Cerberus. Here Dante hears from Ciacco the
first prophesy concerning him and Florence. Another monster, Pluto,
is the guardian of the next (4) Circle where, in two separate
groups, are the Hoarderers and the Squanderers, pushing
with their breasts big boulders in semicircles. Continuing their voyage
the two Poets descend into the fifth (5) Circle which is located
in a marsh called Styx. Here are condemned the Wrathful, some
half-immersed in the muddy waters, some totally immersed in it. [Canti
IX-XVII]. At the walls of the City of Dis, Dante and Virgil are
impeded passage by the demons who are guarding it. A heavenly Messanger
is required to help them enter. So they reach the sixth (6)
Circle where are condemned the Arch-Heretics in uncovered
flaming tombs. They cannot see the present, although can see the future.
Dante meets here the Ghibelline Farinata degli Uberti and Cavalcante
dei Cavalcanti, father of his dear friend Guido. The seventh (7)
Circle is for the Violent and is subdivided into three
rings: (7.1) The first ring punishes the Violent against
neighbors who are in a river of boiling blood. (7.2)
In the second ring are punished the Violent against themselves
or suicides who are here transformed into trees; and also the Violent
against their own possessions who are torn apart by hungry bitches.
(7.3) The third ring hosts three types of violent: a)
the Blasphemers, or violent against God; b) the Sodomites,
or violent against Nature; c) the Usurers, or violent
against Art. Here, among the sodomites, Dante has a memorable encounter
with his "mentor" Brunetto Latini. [Canti XVII-XXX]. The two
Poets descend into the eighth (8) Circle, reserved for the
Fraudulent. This is the most complex of all the Circles of
Hell. It is called Malebolge (Evil-pouches) and is subdivided
into ten "pouches". These are divided from each other by big walls
and connected by a series of bridges. In each pouch is condemned a
specific type of fraudulent sinners. (8.1) The first pouch
punishes the Panderers and Seducers who are scourged by horned
demons. (8.2) The second is reserved for the Flatterers
who are immersed in excrements. (8.3) The third is for Simonists
who are condemned head down into holes in the rock. (8.4)
In the fourth pouch are the Soothsayers who have their heads
turned backward. (8.5) The fifth pouch is for the Barrators
who are condemned into boiling pitch. (8.6) In the sixth are
the Hypocrites who walk slowly covered with caps of lead. (8.7)
The seventh pouch is dedicated to the Thieves who are bitten
by serpents. (8.8) In the eighth pouch are condemned the Fraudolent
Counselors who are totally enclosed in tongue-like flames. (8.9)
Here in the ninth pouch are the Sowers of Discord who
are condemned to be wounded again and again by demons. (8.10)
The last pouch is reserved for Falsifiers who are subdivided
in their turn into four groups [(8.10.1) Falsifiers of metals;
(8.10.2) Falsifiers of persons; (8.10.3) Falsifiers
of coins; (8.10.4) Falsifiers of words], each group
subject to a different punishment. [Canti XXXI-XXXIII]. The
ninth (9) Circle, which is the large well of the Giants, is
reached by Dante and Virgil with the help of one of the Giants, Anteo.
He takes the two Poets on his hands and deposit them into this frozen
lake which is called Cocito. The lake is frozen by the movement of
Lucifer's wings. Lucifer is located in the central point of the Circle
which is also the center of earth. Here in Cocito's ice are punished
the Traitors, and are separated into four zones. (9.1)
The first zone is called Caina, and is for Traitors of
relatives. (9.2) The second zone is called Antenora,
and is for Traitors of Country. (9.3) The third zone
is called Tolomea, and is for Traitors of guests. (9.4)
The fourth and last zone, called Judecca, is reserved for Traitors
against their benefactors. Here is Lucifer, King of Hell, with
his three heads and three mounths chewing three traitors: Judas, Brutus,
and Cassius. [Canto XXXIV]. At this point Dante and Virgil
begin their exit from Hell. They descend down Lucifer's body, then
turn around and ascend through a "hole built by nature" to the southern
hemisphere, arriving at the shore of the Mountain of Purgatory, and
seeing "once more the stars".
READING
DANTE"S INFERNO
CANTO 1
CANTO 2
CANTO 3
CANTO 4
CANTO 5
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| 1-33 Dante recovers and finds himself in the Third Circle. A storm of putrefaction falls constantly Stinking snow, dark and cold rain and hail mix in the mud. Here are the Gluttons and their bestial guardian Cerberus who is barking, doglike, and tearing the souls with his claws. |
THIRD CIRCLE. Contrapasso here is complex: the Gluttons here are condemned in all five senses. Taste and smell by the mud in which they lie; sight by the darkness; hearing by the barking of Cerberus; touch by the rain and the mud in which they must wallow. |
| 34-57 One of the shades asks Dante whether he recognizes him. Dante doesn't, and he reveals himself as Ciacco. |
Ciacco was a Florentine of Dante's time, well known for his gluttony, as Boccaccio tells us. Boccaccio speaks of him also in Decameron IX, 8. |
| 58-76 At the asking, Ciacco "prophesises" the Florentine historical events after 1300. He tells Dante that the citizens of the "divided city will come to blood and the party of the woods will chase away the other party". But then within three years the other party will prevail again, with the help of a powerful person, and will inflict heavy penalty on its enemies. |
On May Day 1300 the Whites (the party of the woods, because originally from the country) defeated the Blacks. But in less than three years, in April 1302, the banished Blacks returned to power with the help of Pope Boniface VIII. Because of this Dante had to go into exile. |
| 77-93 Dante asks Ciacco about some politically famous Florentines of the past. Ciacco tells Dante that he will meet them further down in Hell "among the blackest souls". They are Farinata,Teggiaio, Rusticucci and Mosca. At the end of their conversation, Ciacco begs Dante to recall him to men's memory when he returns to the "sweet world", after his voyage. |
Farinata degli Uberti is among the Heretics in Canto 10, Tegghiaio Aldobrandini and Jacopo Rusticucci are among the Sodomites in Canto XVI, and Mosca dei Lamberti is punished among the Sowers of Scandal in Canto XXVIII. The memory of the "sweet world" is the idea of wanting to be remembered on earth. It is common to many sinners of Hell and constitutes one of the leit-motifs of the Inferno. |
| 94-115 Dante asks Virgil whether after Judgment Day the damned souls will suffer more, less or the same. Virgil answers that they will suffer more. |
The Aristotelian doctrine that full perfection lies in the union of body and spirit was accepted by Medieval thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas, and hence also by Dante. After Judgment Day body and spirit will be reunited and hence perfection will be regained. Therefore the pains will also increase. |
| 1-15 PLUTUS, gardian of the Fourth Circle, tries to impede Virgil's and Dante's passage by howling some incomprehensible words. But Virgil commands him to be quite as Dante's voyage has been willed by Above. So the ferocious beast quietes down and falls to the ground. |
In Canto 3 (94-96) and in Canto 5 ( 22-23) Virgil had already warned, respectively, Charon and Minos not to attempt to impede Dante's "fated voyage, as it has been willed Above" Here we have two contrasting concepts: (1) the idea that Dante's voyage is wanted by God, for the ultimate salvation of all mankind, and (2) the attempted impediment of his voyage by the inhabitants of Hell. [More on this later]. |
| 16-66 The two Poets descend into the Fourth Circle where they see a great number of people in two opposite groups, each occupying opposite halves of the Circle: the Avaricious on one side, the Prodigals on the other. They are pushing with their chests big boulders, in semi circles. When they meet, they utter reciprocal insults, turn around and continue pushing the other way, and so on. Many of the avaricious sinners in their lives on earth were popes, cardinals and clerics. |
FOURTH CIRCLE. The Avaricious and the Prodigals are at opposite ends of a scale measuring and concerned with worldly goods. Their contrapasso is the following: as in life they had been excessively preoccupied in their hearts in the futile handling of worldly possessions, so now they have to push weights with their chests in a likewise futile "round dance". |
| 67-96 Dante wants to know from Virgil what is Fortune who "clutches the world's wealth"; and the master explains that Fortune is a celestial Intelligence ordained by God to govern wordly goods and to distribute them, without concern about human complaints and beyond the prevention of human wits, as human wisdom cannot oppose her force. |
Dante's conception of Fortune as a divine Intelligence in charge of the world's wealth goes counter-current to the tradition which saw Lady Luck as a blindfolded, capricious female turning the Wheel at random. Here Dante seems to correct a passage in his Convivio (IV,xi,6) where he states that wordly goods are imperfect and unjustly distributed. It is interesting to note that later on, in the Italian Humanism, a new conception will slowly come into being whereby man with his virtů can control and overcome Fortune [see Machiavelli].. |
| 97-108 It is now past midnight and begins the second day into the voyage. Dante and Virgil descend into the marsh-like river called Styx, where the Fifth Circle is located. |
FIFTH CIRCLE. Contrapasso: as the Wrathful were overtaken by various degree of wrath in life and vented or not their rage, so now they are immersed to various degrees in the marsh.. |
| 109-130 In the muddy Styx are immersed the Wrathful, some half way, some totally immersed. Those partially immersed tear each other to pieces. The others sigh making the waters above them bubble, as if they were gurgling words in their throat. In the meantime, Dante and Virgil had circled quite a bit around the Styx when they arrive at the foot of a tower. |
The episode of the Wrathful which begins here will continue into next Canto VIII--as Dante tells us at the beginning of that Canto. It is relevant to note that up to now the "episodes" have been restrained, so to speak, within each Canto. From now on, while the subject matter is becoming increasigly more complex, single Cantos will not be sufficient to contain the "episodes" any more. Of course, this also means that Dante has begun perfecting his poetical skill. |
| 1-30 A swift vessel comes toward Dante and Virgil. It is navigated by the wrathful guardian of the Fifth Circle, Phlegyas. He is going to ferry the two Poets across the marsh. |
Phlegyas is guardian of the Styx and also the symbol of rage. |
| 31-64
During the crossing, a "muddy" wrathful and bizarre soul tries to stop the boat and talk to Dante. He is rejected and rebuked by the Wayfarer who expresses the desire to see this soul undergo greater torments. So as it happens a group of souls jump on him and identify him as FILIPPO ARGENTI. |
We know nothing about Filippo Argenti, except what we are told by early commentators and by Boccaccio in his Decameron (IX,8) where Filippo is portrayed as an arrogant and irascible person. Critics have generally reproached Dante's fierce attitute of scorn against Filippo. But we have to remember that Filippo had stood up before Phlegyas' boat in an attempt to stop Dante's voyage. Again, this is an act of impediment of the "fated journey" and, as we have seen before, cannot be allowed. Here Dante doesn't need Virgil's help. He can address the impediment himself, but will have Virgil's full approval. |
| 65-81 In the meantime Virgil and Dante are approaching the walls of the City of Dis. Phlegyas shows them the gate and shouts at them to get off his boat. |
Dis is both the name of the lower realm of Hell, as well as another name for Satan, the king of Hell. |
| 82-130 A great multitude of demons gather at the gate of Dis trying to impede Virgil's and Dante's entrance. |
Virgil tries to calm them down but he cannot. |
| 1-33 Seeing all those demons and that it is impossibile for his guide to do anything, Dante is taken by deep fear. Virgil tries to comfort him by telling him that once before he himself went all the way down to the bottom of Hell, and hence he knows the way. |
This Canto is strictly connected with Canto 8. Here, however, in the emotional crescendo, Dante becomes for the first time unsure of his guide. |
| 34-60 At this moment Dante sees the three Furies appear to strengthen defence of the City. They make frightening gestures and threaten to call on Medusa to turn Dante into a stone. So Virgil makes Dante turn his back to the wall and tells him to keep his eyes shut |
The three Furies are the guardians of the City of Dis. Medusa is one of the three Gorgon sisters. She has serpents for hair. |
| 61-109 Virgil cannot overcome this impediment. Therefore the coming of a celestial Messanger will be necessary. He arrives, forces the doors open with a little wand, reproaches the wall defenders for having tried to obstruct heavenly justice, and turns back as fast as he has come. So Dante and Virgil can finally enter into the City of Dis. |
Here Virgil, as symbol of human reason, fails. This is the strongest impediment to the journey so far. Virgil reassurance to Dante that he knows the way,is of no use here. To open the way is necessary not simply human Reason, but the intervention of Grace. |
| 110-130 Once inside the City, Dante sees everywhere uncovered tombs inside of which there are hot flames and growing laments. Virgil informs Dante that inside those sepulchers are condemned the arch-Heretics. |
Inquisition tribunals to conduct inquests against suspected heretics were set up in 1233. Perhaps through analogy with Roman law on treason, burning at the stake was considered a fitting punishment for heretics. In reality burning of heretics was not a common practice in the Middle Ages. |
| 1-21 The burning coffins of the Sixth Circle are uncovered. Dante asks Virgil if he could see the souls inside. Virgil answers that after Judgment Day, those coffins will all be shut with souls and bodies inside. He also tells Dante that here are punished Epicurus and his followers, that is to say all those who believe that the individual soul dies with the body. |
SIXTH CIRCLE. The Heretics. In the Middle Ages the Greek philosopher Epicurus had become the symbol of all skeptical persons who denied the immortality of the soul. |
| 22-51 One of the shades has recognized Dante to be a Florentine by the way he speaks and asks him to stop a while. He is Farinata degli Uberti, also Florentine. Farinata and Dante have a rather brief and cutting exchange, belonging as they do to differing political parties. In the exchange are encapsulated the political fortunes of Guelfs and Ghibellines during a couple of scores, before and after the middle of the Century. |
Farinata was born to the noble family Degli Uberti, and became leader of the Ghibelline party in 1239. He helped to expel the Guelfs from Florence in 1248, but the Guelfs returned twice, in 1251 and 1266. Farinata is only concerned with politics. |
| 52-72 While Dante is having his exchange with Farinata, another shade rises all of a sudden from the coffin and wants to know from Dante where is his son. He is Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, father of Dante's dear friend Guido. Dante's answer is misunderstood by Cavalcante who now believes that his son is dead, and falls back into his coffin. |
Dante's friend, Guido Cavalcanti, was a famous poet of the "Sweet New Style". He was born around 1250 and died in August 1300. Thus, in the fictional time of Dante's voyage, Guido is still alive. In contrast to Farinata, Cavalcante is only concerned with family. |
| 73-93 After the "interruption" of Cavalcanti, the partisan exchange between Dante and Farinata continues. Then Farinata makes a prophesy about the political future of Florence after 1300 when the Guelfs will be expelled again from Florence. This, of course, involves Dante's own exile |
By interjecting family feeling (Cavalcante's story) into a political discourse (Farinata's concern), Dante seems to tell us that family is the small fundamental nucleus of a civilized state. |
| 94-120 Dante is confused by the fact that Farinata can see the future and Cavalcanti has no idea of the present. Farinata explains to him that the souls here can see the future, but as it approaches and becomes present their knowledge is totally lost. Therefore, he says, at the end of times, when future will be no more, also their knowledge will be totally in vain. Dante now understands and asks Farinata to tell Cavalcante that his son is still alive. Then Farinata mentions to Dante that among his group there is also Frederick II. |
The idea
that knowledge in these souls will be, at the end of times, totally
extinct, is part of the contrapasso. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor from 1215 to 1250, was well known for his efforts to reunite the Empire. He was also one of the poets in his famous Sicilian School at his court. |
| 1-13 The two Poets arrive at the edge of the Sixth Circle. The stench that comes from the Circle below is so strong that they decide to stop a while by a coffin in order to get somewhat accostumed to the smell. In the coffin there is the soul of Pope Anastasius II. |
Pope Anastasius II (496-498) was considered by all historians up to the XVI century as a follower of an heretical doctrine, later disproved. Dante may have confused him with Emperor Anastasius I (491-518) whose heretical inclination stirred religious unrest throughout the Empire. |
| 13-90 In order not to waste time, Virgil begins to explain to Dante how lower Hell is organized. He tells his pupil that there are three more Circles below: one for sinners of Violence and two for sinners of Fraud. Dante has some doubts and asks Virgil why the sinners they met in the upper part of Hell are not punished within the City of Dis. Virgil reminds him of what Aristotle said in his Ethics, namely that Incontinence is less offensive to God and therefore deserves a lesser punishment than Violence and Fraud. |
The moral
order of Hell and the distribution of sinners within it have been
discussed in the Introduction to Inferno.(See
above) The Ethics here is a reference to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. In Dante's times Aristotle was known to Europe only in Latin translations. |
| 95-115 Dante has one more doubt: why should usury be a kind of violence against God? Virgil again reminds him of what Aristotle said in his Physics: Nature is the daughetr of God and Art imitates Nature, therefore Art is the granddaughter of God . Usury is an unnatural use of Nature because the usurer earns his living not through work--as Genesis teaches--but without any effort, through gains made from interest on money loaned to the less fortunate. Usury therefore offends both Art and Nature and, of course, God. |
The reference here is to Aristotle's Physics "not many pages from the beginning". In fact here Virgil is referring to Chapter 2 of Book II where Aristotle sets forth the principle explained. In Genesis 3:17 and 19 is written that man must earn his bread |