Summary of Canto: Inferno IV
1-3
4-12
13-18
19-22
23-30
31-42
43-45
46-50
51-63
64-72
73-75
76-78
79-81
82-93
94-102
103-105
106-117
118-129
130-144
145-147
148-151
Dante awakened by 'thunder' (after 'lightning')
once again Dante cannot see in the darkness
Virgil's pallor entering the first Circle
Virgil says his face is pale from pity, not fear
to Dante the lament here seems less mournful (sighs)
Virgil is eager for Dante's questions about those who
dwell in Limbo, sinless, but without faith
Dante grieves, realizing many good people are here
Dante: has anyone gone from Limbo to heaven?
Virgil describes the harrowing of hell, which he saw
the lightest place in hell: honorable souls
Dante: why are these set apart in the light?
Virgil: their fame on earth has this result in heaven
Dante hears a voice welcome Virgil on his return
the poets (Homer, Horace, Ovid, Lucan) approach
the 'school' greets Dante and includes him among them
unreported discourse of the six poets
the 'noble castle' and its inner meadow
Greeks, Romans, and Saladin: active life (14 named)
Greeks, Romans, Arabs: contemplative life (21 named)
the poet insists on his inability to give a full account
Virgil and Dante move on to less peaceful precincts
1 A heavy thunderclap broke my deep sleep
2 so that I started up like one
3 shaken awake by force.
4 With rested eyes, I stood
5 and looked about me, then fixed my gaze
6 to make out where I was.
7 I found myself upon the brink
8 of an abyss of suffering
9 filled with the roar of endless woe.
10 It was full of vapor, dark and deep.
11 Straining my eyes toward the bottom,
12 I could see nothing.
13 'Now let us descend into the blind world
14 down there,' began the poet, gone pale.
15 'I will be first and you come after.'
16 And I, noting his pallor, said:
17 'How shall I come if you're afraid,
18 you, who give me comfort when I falter?'
19 And he to me: 'The anguish of the souls
20 below us paints my face
Where is Dante when he awakes from his swoon?
What causes Dante to wake from his swoon?
What causes the thunder Dante heard?
21 with pity you mistake for fear.
22 'Let us go, for the long road calls us.'
23 Thus he went first and had me enter
24 the first circle girding the abyss.
25 Here, as far as I could tell by listening,
26 was no lamentation other than the sighs
27 that kept the air forever trembling.
28 These came from grief without torment
29 borne by vast crowds
30 of men, and women, and little children.
31 My master began: 'You do not ask about
32 the souls you see? I want you to know,
33 before you venture farther,
34 'they did not sin. Though they have merit,
35 that is not enough, for they were unbaptized,
36 denied the gateway to the faith that you profess.
37 'And if they lived before the Christians lived,
38 they did not worship God aright.
39 And among these I am one.
40 'For such defects, and for no other fault,
41 we are lost, and afflicted but in this,
42 that without hope we live in longing.'
43 When I understood, great sadness seized my heart,
44 for then I knew that beings of great worth
45 were here suspended in this Limbo.
46 'Tell me, master, tell me, sir,' I began,
47 seeking assurance in the faith
48 that conquers every doubt,
49 'did ever anyone, either by his own
50 or by another's merit, go forth from here
51 and rise to blessedness?'
52 And he, who understood my covert speech:
53 'I was new to this condition when I saw
54 a mighty one descend, crowned, with the sign of victory.
55 'Out of our midst he plucked the shade
56 of our first parent, of Abel his son, of Noah,
57 and of Moses, obedient in giving laws,
58 'the patriarch Abraham, and David the king,
59 Israel with his father and his sons,
60 and with Rachel, for whom he served so long,
61 'as well as many others, and he made them blessed.
62 And, I would have you know, before these
63 no human souls were saved.'
64 We did not halt our movement as he spoke,
65 but all the while were passing through a wood -66 I mean a wood of thronging spirits.
67 We had not yet gone far from where I'd slept
68 when I beheld a blaze of light
What is the sound of the First
Circumference?
Who(type of sin) is in the First Circle?
Why is the First Circle called “Limbo”?
Who is the first father that the one
with crowns took from the First
Circle?
Note: “one with a crown” (Jesus)
came and freed some; it is significant
that while Virgil and Dante are in the
pit, the name of Jesus is not spoken
aloud.
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that overcame a hemisphere of darkness,
though still a good way from it,
yet not so far but I discerned
an honorable company was gathered there.
'O you who honor art and knowledge,
why are these so honored they are set
apart from the condition of the rest?'
And he answered: 'Their honorable fame,
which echoes in your life above,
gains favor in Heaven, which thus advances them.'
Just then I heard a voice that said:
'Honor the loftiest of poets!
His shade returns that had gone forth.'
When the voice had paused and there was silence,
I saw four worthy shades approach,
their countenances neither sad nor joyful.
The good master spoke: 'Take note
of him who holds that sword in hand
and comes as lord before the three:
'He is Homer, sovereign poet.
Next comes Horace the satirist,
Ovid is third, the last is Lucan.
'Since each is joined to me
in the name the one voice uttered,
they do me honor and, doing so, do well.'
There I saw assembled the fair school
of the lord of loftiest song,
soaring like an eagle far above the rest.
After they conversed a while,
they turned to me with signs of greeting,
and my master smiled at this.
And then they showed me greater honor still,
for they made me one of their company,
so that I became the sixth amidst such wisdom.
Thus we went onward to the light,
speaking of things that here are best unsaid,
just as there it was fitting to express them.
We came to the foot of a noble castle,
encircled seven times by towering walls,
defended round about by a fair stream.
Over this stream we moved as on dry land.
Through seven gates I entered with these sages
until we came to a fresh, green meadow.
People were there with grave, slow-moving eyes
and visages of great authority.
They seldom spoke, and then in gentle tones.
When we withdrew over to one side
into an open space, high in the light,
Who are the four mighty shades?
Note: Who are these guys??
Homer (ancient Greek poet and author of The
Iliad and The Odyssey),
Horace (ancient Latin poet who lived in
Rome), Ovid (ancient Roman poet who wrote
of creation until the
time of Caesar), and Lucan (ancient Roman
poet who wrote of Caesar).
Why did Dante include these particular men?
Describe where they reside.
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we could observe them all.
There before me on the enameled green
the great spirits were revealed.
In my heart I exult at what I saw.
I saw Electra with many of her line,
of whom I recognized Hector, Aeneas,
and Caesar, in arms, with his falcon eyes.
I saw Camilla and Penthesilea.
Seated apart I saw King Latinus,
and next to him Lavinia, his daughter.
I saw that Brutus who drove out Tarquinius,
Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia.
And Saladin I saw, alone, apart.
When I raised my eyes a little higher,
I saw the master of those who know,
sitting among his philosophic kindred.
Eyes trained on him, all show him honor.
In front of all the rest and nearest him
I saw Socrates and Plato.
I saw Democritus, who ascribes the world
to chance, Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales,
Empedocles, Heraclitus, and Zeno.
I saw the skilled collector of the qualities
of things -- I mean Dioscorides -- and I saw
Orpheus, Cicero, Linus, and moral Seneca,
Euclid the geometer, and Ptolemy,
Hippocrates, Avicenna, Galen,
and Averroes, who wrote the weighty glosses.
I cannot give account of all of them,
for the length of my theme so drives me on
that often the telling comes short of the fact.
The company of six falls off to two
and my wise leader brings me by another way
out of the still, into the trembling, air.
And I come to a place where nothing shines.
Dante sees Electra (daughter of Atlas and mother of
Dardanus, the founder of Troy), Caesar dictator of
Rome 100–44 B.C.), Camilla (maiden−warrior
dedicated to the service of Diana, the goddess of the
hunt), Penthesilea (queen of the Amazons and killed by
Achilles), Latinus (king of Latium where Aeneas
lands), Lavinia (daughter of Latinus and wife of
Aeneas), Brutus (aroused the Romans to overthrow
Tarquinius Superbus, who had a son that had angered
Lucretia),Marcia (Cato’s wife, who was given to a
friend, and returned to Cato of Utica), Cornelia (wife
of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and mother of two
famous Tribunes; celebrated by people of Rome), Julia
(daughter of Julius Caesar), Lucrece (woman outraged
by son of Tarquinius Superbus), Saladin (Sultan of
Egypt, model of chivalry, and hero of the Third
Crusade in the twelfth century)
What is the occupation of the “men that
know”?
Aristotle (the master of the men who know),
Socrates (philosopher of Athens), Plato
(philosopher of Athens and student of Socrates),
Diogenes (Greek philosopher), Thales (Ionic
philosopher and one of the seven wise men of
Greece), Zeno (Greek philosopher), Democritus
(philosopher), Empedocles (Greek philosopher
who established idea of four elements—earth,
water, air, fire), and others.
Dante says that the group of six dwindles
to two. What does he mean?
Summary of Canto: Inferno V
1-3
4-15
16-20
21-24
25-30
31-39
40-49
50-51
52-63
descent to the second Circle: the lustful
introduction: Minos judge of the damned
Minos attempts to discourage Dante
Virgil repeats his magical phrase (III.95-96)
again, impressions of sound are the first Dante has
the 'hellscape': weeping, darkness, storm
two similes: starlings and cranes
Dante wants to know who are punished here; Virgil:
Semiramis, Dido, Cleopatra
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79-81
82-87
88-108
88-96
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100-108
109-111
112-120
121-138
121-126
127-129
130-138
139-142
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Helen, Achilles, Paris, Tristan, and many others
Dante's piteous reaction and desire to speak
he calls out to the pair of lovers
simile: doves returning to nest
Francesca's first speech:
her kind words for Dante's kindness
she is from Ravenna
Love... Love... Love... : her litany of joy, woe
Dante's reaction and Virgil's laconic question
Dante's rumination and question to Francesca
Francesca's second response:
despite the pain it will cause, she will speak
she and Paolo were reading of Lancelot in love
enflamed by the reading, they embraced
coda: Francesca concludes, Paolo weeps, Dante faints
Thus I descended from the first circle
down into the second, which girds a smaller space
but greater agony to goad lament.
There stands Minos, snarling, terrible.
He examines each offender at the entrance,
judges and dispatches as he encoils himself.
I mean that when the ill-begotten soul
stands there before him it confesses all,
and that accomplished judge of sins
decides what place in Hell is fit for it,
then coils his tail around himself to count
how many circles down the soul must go.
Always before him stands a crowd of them,
going to judgment each in turn.
They tell, they hear, and then are hurled down.
'O you who come to this abode of pain,'
said Minos when he saw me, pausing
in the exercise of his high office,
'beware how you come in and whom you trust.
Don't let the easy entrance fool you.'
And my leader to him: 'Why all this shouting?
'Hinder not his destined journey.
It is so willed where will and power are one,
and ask no more.'
Now I can hear the screams
of agony. Now I have come
where a great wailing beats upon me.
I reached a place mute of all light,
which bellows as the sea in tempest
tossed by conflicting winds.
The hellish squall, which never rests,
How does Minos, the judge, indicate
what circle of Hell the condemned
must endure?
In Canto III and in Canto V Dante
refers to” will and power being one.”
Where is this place where will and
power are one?
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sweeps spirits in its headlong rush,
tormenting, whirls and strikes them.
Caught in that path of violence,
they shriek, weep, and lament.
Then how they curse the power of God!
I understood that to such torment
the carnal sinners are condemned,
they who make reason subject to desire.
As, in cold weather, the wings of starlings
bear them up in wide, dense flocks,
so does that blast propel the wicked spirits.
Here and there, down and up, it drives them.
Never are they comforted by hope
of rest or even lesser punishment.
Just as cranes chant their mournful songs,
making a long line in the air,
thus I saw approach, heaving plaintive sighs,
shades lifted on that turbulence,
so that I said: 'Master, who are these
whom the black air lashes?'
'The first of them about whom
you would hear,' he then replied,
'was empress over many tongues.
'She was so given to the vice of lechery
she made lust licit in her law
to take away the blame she had incurred.
'She is Semiramis, of whom we read
that she, once Ninus' wife, succeeded him.
She held sway in the land the Sultan rules.
'Here is she who broke faith with the ashes
of Sichaeus and slew herself for love.
The next is wanton Cleopatra.
'See Helen, for whose sake so many years
of ill rolled past. And see the great Achilles,
who battled, at the last, with love.
'See Paris, Tristan,' and he showed me more
than a thousand shades, naming as he pointed,
whom love had parted from our life.
When I heard my teacher name the ladies
and the knights of old, pity overcame me
and I almost lost my senses.
I began: 'Poet, gladly would I speak
with these two that move together
and seem to be so light upon the wind.'
And he: 'Once they are nearer, you will see:
if you entreat them by the love
that leads them, they will come.'
As soon as the wind had bent them to us,
What is the punishment in this Second
Circle? What is their sin?
Note: Among the souls, Virgil notes “the mistress
of Babylon.” “Babylon” could refer to the ancient
city of Babylon in Asia Minor or to the great tower
where Scripture says that many languages began.
(The construction of the tower was a result of a
desire for or a lust for power.) Two famous women
are residents of the Second Circle: Cleopatra (the
Egyptian queen and lover of Antony and Julius
Caesar) and Helen (wife of King Menelaus of
Sparta and prisoner of Paris of Troy). The men
Include: Achilles (Greek warrior killed by the
Trojans by promising him the hand of a Trojan
woman if he would join their cause), Paris (Trojan
captor of Helen), and Tristram (lover of the wife of
King Mark of Cornwall and killed by King Mark
upon his discovery).
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I raised my voice: 'O wearied souls,
if it is not forbidden, come speak with us.'
As doves, summoned by desire, their wings
outstretched and motionless, move on the air,
borne by their will to the sweet nest,
so did these leave the troop where Dido is,
coming to us through the malignant air,
such force had my affectionate call.
'O living creature, gracious and kind,
that come through somber air to visit us
who stained the world with blood,
'if the King of the universe were our friend
we would pray that He might give you peace,
since you show pity for our grievous plight.
'We long to hear and speak of that
which you desire to speak and know,
here, while the wind has calmed.
'On that shore where the river Po
with all its tributaries slows
to peaceful flow, there I was born.
'Love, quick to kindle in the gentle heart,
seized this man with the fair form taken from me.
The way of it afflicts me still.
'Love, which absolves no one beloved from loving,
seized me so strongly with his charm that,
as you see, it has not left me yet.
'Love brought us to one death.
Caïna waits for him who quenched our lives.'
These words were borne from them to us.
And when I heard two those afflicted souls
I bowed my head and held it low until at last
the poet said: 'What are your thoughts?'
In answer I replied: 'Oh,
how many sweet thoughts, what great desire,
have brought them to this woeful pass!'
Then I turned to them again to speak
and I began: 'Francesca, your torments
make me weep for grief and pity,
'but tell me, in that season of sweet sighs,
how and by what signs did Love
acquaint you with your hesitant desires?'
And she to me: 'There is no greater sorrow
than to recall our time of joy
in wretchedness -- and this your teacher knows.
'But if you feel such longing
to know the first root of our love,
I shall tell as one who weeps in telling.
'One day, to pass the time in pleasure,
How did Francesca die?
How does Dante react to Francesca’s
tale?
Why does Francesca’s heart still hurt
and ache? What does Francesca say is
the greatest sadness in this place?
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we read of Lancelot, how love enthralled him.
We were alone, without the least misgiving.
'More than once that reading made our eyes meet
and drained the color from our faces.
Still, it was a single instant overcame us:
'When we read how the longed-for smile
was kissed by so renowned a lover, this man,
who never shall be parted from me,
'all trembling, kissed me on my mouth.
A Galeotto was the book and he that wrote it.
That day we read in it no further.'
While the one spirit said this
the other wept, so that for pity
I swooned as if in death.
And down I fell as a dead body falls.
What caused Francesca to commit
the sin of lust with Paolo?
Why does Dante not tell the reader
of the trip from Circle One to Circle
Two and from Circle Two to Circle
Three? Why can he not remember?
Summary of Canto: Inferno VI
1-6
7-12
13-21
22-27
28-33
34-37
38-42
43-48
49-57
58-63
64-72
73-76
77-84
85-87
88-90
91-93
94-99
100-111
112-115
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2
3
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6
7
Dante recovers from his syncope to find a new place
the third Circle: cold downpour on stinking ground
Cerberus presides, barking; he flays the sinners
Cerberus's opposition and Virgil's 'sop' for him
simile: dog ravenously gulping food
Dante and Virgil pass over the prone shades
Florence: Ciacco recognizes Dante and presents self
Dante does not recognize him, transfigured by pain
Ciacco identifies himself and his sin: gluttony
Dante asks his views on the likely future of the city
Ciacco: first the Whites, then the Blacks, will win
the just are few, the sinners many
Dante wants to know the afterlife of five townsmen
Ciacco: all are in hell, as Dante will perhaps see
Ciacco would like to be remembered to those above
he returns to his hebetude
Virgil: he will wake no more until the last trumpet
Virgil on the increase of eternal pain for the damned
they talk until they are ready to descend: Plutus
With my returning senses that had failed
at the piteous state of those two kindred,
which had confounded me with grief,
new torments and new souls in torment
I see about me, wherever I may move,
or turn, or set my gaze.
I am in the third circle, of eternal,
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hateful rain, cold and leaden,
changeless in its monotony.
Heavy hailstones, filthy water, and snow
pour down through gloomy air.
The ground it falls on reeks.
Cerberus, fierce and monstrous beast,
barks from three gullets like a dog
over the people underneath that muck.
His eyes are red, his beard a greasy black,
his belly swollen. With his taloned hands
he claws the spirits, flays and quarters them.
The rain makes them howl like dogs.
The unholy wretches often turn their bodies,
making of one side a shield for the other.
When Cerberus -- that huge worm -- noticed us,
he opened up his jaws and showed his fangs.
There was no part of him he held in check.
But then my leader spread his hands,
picked up some earth, and with full fists
tossed soil into the ravenous gullets.
As the dog that yelps with craving
grows quiet while it chews its food,
absorbed in trying to devour it,
the foul heads of that demon Cerberus were stilled,
who otherwise so thunders on the souls
they would as soon be deaf.
We were passing over shades sprawled
under heavy rain, setting our feet
upon their emptiness, which seems real bodies.
All of them were lying on the ground,
except for one who sat bolt upright
when he saw us pass before him.
'O you who come escorted through this Hell,'
he said, 'if you can, bring me back to mind.
You were made before I was undone.'
And I to him: 'The punishment you suffer
may be blotting you from memory:
it doesn't seem to me I've ever seen you.
'But tell me who you are to have been put
into this misery with such a penalty
that none, though harsher, is more loathsome.'
And he to me: 'Your city, so full of envy
that now the sack spills over,
held me in its confines in the sunlit life.
'You my townsmen called me Ciacco.
For the pernicious fault of gluttony,
as you can see, I'm prostrate in this rain.
'And in my misery I am not alone.
What is the atmosphere like in Circle
Three? Who is the guardian of Circle
Three. Describe him. How does he respond
to the visitors?
What were the souls eating in this
circle of Hell?
Of what crimes were the souls in
Circle Three guilty? From where did
the soul who talks to Dante and Virgil
in Circle Three come?
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All those here share a single penalty
for the same fault.' He said no more.
I answered him: 'Ciacco, your distress so weighs
on me it bids me weep. But tell me,
if you can, what shall be the fate
'of the citizens within the riven city?
Are any in it just? And tell me why
such discord has assailed it.'
And he to me: 'After long feuding
they shall come to blood. The rustic faction,
having done great harm, will drive the others out.
'But it in turn shall fall to them,
within three years, by power of him
who now just bides his time.
'These in their arrogance will long subject
the other faction to their heavy yoke,
despite its weeping and its shame.
'Two men are just and are not heeded there.
Pride, envy, and avarice are the sparks
that have set the hearts of all on fire.'
With that he ended his distressing words.
And I to him: 'I wish you would instruct me more,
granting me the gift of further speech.
'Farinata and Tegghiaio, who were so worthy,
Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca,
and the rest whose minds were bent on doing good,
'tell me where they are and how they fare.
For great desire presses me to learn
whether Heaven sweetens or Hell embitters them.'
And he: 'They are among the blacker souls.
Different vices weigh them toward the bottom,
as you shall see if you descend that far.
'But when you have returned to the sweet world
I pray you bring me to men's memory.
I say no more nor answer you again.'
With that his clear eyes lost their focus.
He gazed at me until his head drooped down.
Then he fell back among his blind companions.
And my leader said: 'He wakes no more
until angelic trumpets sound
the advent of the hostile Power.
'Then each shall find again his miserable tomb,
shall take again his flesh and form,
and hear the judgment that eternally resounds.'
So we passed on through the foul mix
of shades and rain with lagging steps,
touching a little on the life to come.
'Master,' I asked, 'after the great Judgment
Note: the word (Name) Ciacco means
"pig."
What are the three sparks from Hell sowed
in every person’s breast?
Dante asks about several acquaintances,
what is their fate?
What is the hostile "Power?”
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will these torments be greater, less,
or will they stay as harsh as they are now?'
And he replied: 'Return to your science,
which has it that, in measure of a thing's perfection,
it feels both more of pleasure and of pain.
'Although these accursèd people
will never come to true perfection,
they will be nearer it than they are now.'
We went along that curving road,
with much more talk than I repeat,
and reached the point of our descent.
And there we came on Plutus, our great foe.
Who is the great enemy that Dante and
Virgil will find at the next descent?
Summary of Canto: Inferno XXXIV
iv. Judecca (lords and benefactors)
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Virgil's Latin beginning
simile: mill seen through fog or twilight
Dante retreats behind Virgil to escape the wind
the souls here are completely covered by ice
Virgil announces Satan and encourages Dante
the seventh address to the reader in Inferno
Lucifer: his size, his ugliness
his three-faced head: white-yellow: Cassius; red: Judas; black: Brutus
his six wings, congealing Cocytus
tears from his six eyes mix with blood at his chins
each of his three jaws chews a sinner; with his talons he flays the one in the
center
Virgil identifies Judas, Brutus, and Cassius
Virgil: it is time to depart, we have seen it all the ascent
Dante attaches himself to Virgil; they turn around
Virgil's encouragement: 'hold fast'
arrival at a ledge; Dante sees Lucifer's legs above
Virgil: it is already 7:30 am Saturday
Dante's three questions: (1) where's the ice? (2)why is Lucifer upside down? (3)
how is it already morning?
Virgil's responses: (1) behind us; (3) because of where we are; (2) Lucifer's fall
a watercourse leads them gently upward
they return to earth, under heaven.
'Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni
toward us. Look straight before you
and see if you can make him out,' my master said.
As when a thick mist rises, or when our hemisphere
darkens to night, one may discern
a distant windmill by its turning sails,
Note: Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni --Literally meaning
"The banners of the king of Hell draw closer."
Also an invocation (prayer) closely tied to Good
Friday/Easter in the Catholic Church.
Vexilla regis prodeunt,
fulget crucis mysterium,
quo carne carnis conditor
suspensus est patibulo.
"The standards of the King are raised,
the mystery of the Cross shines,
on which the creator of flesh was hung
in the flesh upon the gibbet."
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it seemed to me I saw such a contrivance.
And, to avoid the wind, I drew in close
behind my leader: there was nowhere else to hide.
Now -- and I shudder as I write it out in verse -I was where the shades were wholly covered,
showing through like bits of straw in glass.
Some are lying down, still others stand erect:
some with their heads, and some their footsoles, up,
some bent like bows, their faces to their toes.
When we had gotten far enough along
that my master was pleased to let me see
the creature who was once so fair of face,
he took a step aside, then brought me to a halt:
'Look there at Dis! And see the place
where you must arm yourself with fortitude.'
Then how faint and frozen I became,
reader, do not ask, for I do not write it,
since any words would fail to be enough.
It was not death, nor could one call it life.
Imagine, if you have the wit,
what I became, deprived of either state.
The emperor of the woeful kingdom
rose from the ice below his breast,
and I in size am closer to a giant
than giants are when measured to his arms.
Judge, then, what the whole must be
that is proportional to such a part.
If he was fair as he is hideous now,
and raised his brow in scorn of his creator,
he is fit to be the source of every sorrow.
Oh, what a wonder it appeared to me
when I perceived three faces on his head.
The first, in front, was red in color.
Another two he had, each joined with this,
above the midpoint of each shoulder,
and all the three united at the crest.
The one on the right was a whitish yellow,
while the left-hand one was tinted like the people
living at the sources of the Nile.
Beneath each face two mighty wings emerged,
such as befit so vast a bird:
I never saw such massive sails at sea.
They were featherless and fashioned
like a bat's wings. When he flapped them,
he sent forth three separate winds,
the sources of the ice upon Cocytus.
Out of six eyes he wept and his three chins
dripped tears and drooled blood-red saliva.
What does Dante do for “shelter” from the
horrors of this Circle?
What name does Dante (Virgil) give Satan in
Canto XXXIV?
Why can Dante not describe all the sights he
sees in Canto XXXIV?
How does Satan’s size compare with that of
the giants?
Describe Satan’s “face.”
What keeps Cocytus (literally meaning "the
river of wailing") frozen?
What falls from Satan’s chin?
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With his teeth, just like a hackle
pounding flax, he champed a sinner
in each mouth, tormenting three at once.
For the one in front the gnawing was a trifle
to the clawing, for from time to time
his back was left with not a shred of skin.
'That soul up there who bears the greatest pain,'
said the master, 'is Judas Iscariot, who has
his head within and outside flails his legs.
'As for the other two, whose heads are dangling down,
Brutus is hanging from the swarthy snout -see how he writhes and utters not a word! -'and from the other, Cassius, so large of limb.
But night is rising in the sky. It is time
for us to leave, for we have seen it all.'
At his request I clasped him round the neck.
When the wings had opened wide enough
he chose the proper time and place
and took a handhold on those hairy flanks.
Then from hank to hank he clambered down
between the thick pelt and the crusted ice.
When we had come to where the thighbone
swivels, at the broad part of the hips,
my leader, with much strain of limb and breath,
turned his head where Satan had his shanks
and clung to the hair like a man who climbed upward,
so that I thought we were heading back to Hell.
'Hold on tight, for by such rungs as these,'
said my master, panting like a man exhausted,
'must we take leave of so much evil.'
Then out through an opening in the rock he went,
setting me down upon its edge to rest.
And then, with quick and cautious steps, he joined me.
I raised my eyes, thinking I would see
Lucifer still the same as I had left him,
but saw him with his legs held upward.
And if I became confused, let those dull minds
who fail to see what point I'd passed
comprehend what I felt then.
The master said to me: 'Get to your feet,
for the way is long and the road not easy,
and the sun returns to middle tierce.'
It was not the great hall of a palace,
where we were, but a natural dungeon,
rough underfoot and wanting light.
'Master, before I tear myself from this abyss,'
I said once I had risen,
'say a few words to rid me of my doubt.
What is Satan doing to the sinners in Region IV?
What is the sin of Iscariot?
Name the shades that Satan is devouring.
How are Dante and Virgil able to climb out of the
pit?
How is Lucifer positioned in Hell?
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'Where is the ice? Why is this one fixed now
upside down? And how in so few hours
has the sun moved from evening into morning?'
And he to me: 'You imagine you are still
beyond the center, where I grasped the hair
of the guilty worm by whom the world is pierced.
'So you were, as long as I descended,
but, when I turned around, you passed the point
to which all weights are drawn from every side.
'You are now beneath the hemisphere
opposite the one that canopies the landmass -and underneath its zenith that Man was slain
'who without sin was born and sinless lived.
You have your feet upon a little sphere
that forms Judecca's other face.
'Here it is morning when it is evening there,
and the one whose hair provided us a ladder
is fixed exactly as he was before.
'It was on this side that he fell from Heaven.
And the dry land that used to stand, above,
in fear of him immersed itself in water
'and fled into our hemisphere. And perhaps
to escape from him the land we'll find above
created this lacuna when it rushed back up.'
As far as one can get from Beelzebub,
in the remotest corner of this cavern,
there is a place one cannot find by sight,
but by the sound of a narrow stream that trickles
through a channel it has cut into the rock
in its meanderings, making a gentle slope.
Into that hidden passage my guide and I
entered, to find again the world of light,
and, without thinking of a moment's rest,
we climbed up, he first and I behind him,
far enough to see, through a round opening,
a few of those fair things the heavens bear.
Then we came forth, to see again the stars.
Dante (Virgil) says that he grasps the hair of the
guilty Worm. To what is he referring?
What is the name of Region IV?
Where are the two poets? What can they again
see?
Note: Symbolism is used in the description of Satan.
His colors refer to the colors of people all over the
world. If Lucifer’s present ugliness is equivalent to
his earlier beauty before his desert, his betrayal must
have been monstrous to have created such
hideousness.
The canto ends with the hopefulness of upward
motion as well as the word stars as they once again
see the night sky.