Read-Think-b4-u-Write

Canto XXI – Circle Nine (Cocytus) – Treachery Danté takes the rebuke at the end of Canto XXX just as “we turned our backs on the dismal valley.” They hear a “horn-blast that would have made the loudest thunderclap seem faint” and turn to look at “a range of lofty towers . . . Master, tell me, what city is this?” Virgil tells him “your eyesight is deceived by distance . . . these are not towers, but giants and, from the navel down, each stands behind the bank that rings the pit.” They approach one who just talks nonsense. Virgil says, “This is Nimrod, because of whose vile plan the world no longer speaks a single tongue” to remind readers of his association with the Tower of Babel and the resulting confusion of language. Virgil brushes off Nimrod and they proceed. They see the chained giant Epihialtes who “joined the great assault when giants put gods in fear” during classical times. In other words, he tried to rebel against the gods—not a good move. Antaeus, another classic...

Canto XXV - Circle Eight, Bolgia Seven - Thieves  After the ornament-stealing, Vanni, tells Danté his fate, he blasphemes by making some kind of finger gesture towards god. Let's just say he gave god the finger. Danté now believes that the "serpents were my friends" as they coiled around Vanni's neck. Soon a centaur approaches and "on his shoulders crouched a dragon with its wings spread wide that sets on fire whatever it encounters."The dragon sits atop Cacus, the son of Vulcan who was killed by Hercules for stealing cattle as told in Virgil'sAeneid. But in the AeneidCacus is not a centaur, he is a man who exhales smoke and fire. It seems Danté took some liberties here and what this displays is that Danté is willing to revise the Aeneid to make it work for him in The Inferno . Three souls then shout at Danté and Virgil, "You, who are you?" Danté is amazed when a "reptile with six legs propels itself at one of them, and fastene...

Canto XIX - Circle Eight, Bolgia Three - Simony Simony is the practice of buying and selling God's favor. The  sinners in this bolgia are planted head down in what look like baptismal fonts,  their feet exposed and flaming. As an aside,  Dant é also tells the story of how he saved someone stuck in a baptismal font from drowning by breaking it with a sledge hammer.  The punishment for those who commit simony is reminiscent of St. Peter's upside-down crucifixion and the way that assassins were treated by planting them upside in a hole, leaving them to suffocate. Their punishment is appropriate because simoners are assassinating the reputation of the church. Danté speaks to one whose feet burns brighter than the rest and commands he confess. The shade replies, "Is that you already, Boniface?" referring to Pope Boniface VIII who has lined his own purse with money from "the beautiful Lady" (the church). But this shade is Pope Nicholas...

Canto XVI - Circle Seven, Ring Three - Blasphemers, Usurers, and Sodomites (?) Danté is accosted by three shades from his hometown, Florence, a "degenerate" city. These men are covered with sores and joined together like a wheel "their feet moved forward while their necks were straining back." These sinners are punished by continual movement, reflecting their agitated lives. Two of the men are Guido Guerra and Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, Guelph powerhouses and usurers. The speaker is Iacopo Rusticucci, another Guelph and possible homosexual. We again run into a problem when looking at sodomy. Rusticucci says, "It was my bestial wife, more than all else, who brought me to this pass." Some say this line means his wife drove him to homosexuality while others believe that his wife enjoyed anal sex (a sin at the time). The reader never actually meet homosexuals in Hell, so this can be interpreted in many ways. Something to consider is that homosexuality is punish...

Canto XIII - Circle Seven, Ring Two - Suicides and Spendthrifts Danté and Virgil enter a wood where the "filthy Harpies nest." Talk about metafiction. We have Danté writing about creatures from the Aeneid written by Virgil, his guide through Hell, in a poem about Christianity . . . but I digress. The wood (the only vegetation in Hell besides the meadows of limbo) is populated by brambles that, when broken, can speak. Dante breaks off a branch. "Are you completely without pity?" the branch laments as it "blisters and hisses." The bramble was once Pier delle Vigne, a minister to Emperor Frederick II. Remember, the Ghibellines supported the Holy Roman Emperor, while the Guelphs (Dante's party) supported the pope. Delle Vigne rose to power quickly and held sway at court for about 20 years until he was accused of stealing from the treasury. He was blinded and thrown into prison where he committed suicide "to escape from scorn." "R...

Canto X - Circle Six: Heresy Heresy can be a bit prickly among modern day folk because they are far too intelligent to believe in god or a higher power. That is exactly what Dant é was writing about in the early fourteenth century: pride leads to heresy. What's even weirder today is the proliferation of ghost "reality" shows and people that believe in zombies and vampires. Oh, but you don't believe in zombies or vampires, do you? You're way too smart for that. There is heresy in every age and it involves what we, as a society, are forbidden to criticize. Can't think of anything? What is the worst epithet you can be labeled? How about racist or homophobic? Like George Orwell once said, "The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. " Canto X takes us to Circle Six where we meet the shade of Farinata delgi Uberti, a Ghebelline (Dant...