DANTE’S INFERNO: A RETELLING IN PROSE
By David Bruce
Copyright 2009 by David Bruce
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Dedicated with Love to Josephine Saturday Bruce
***
Introduction
Contrapasso is divine punishment or divine retribution. It is a punishment that is appropriate for the sin. (Note the word “sin” here instead of “crime.” Not all sins are crimes. It is not against the law to be a glutton.)
If you are unfamiliar with Dante and The Divine Comedy, you may want to read the Background Information at the end first.
Chapter 1: The Dark Wood of Error
Just before Good Friday, April 8, 1300, Dante woke up to find himself in a dark wood. How he got there he did not know because he had wandered from the correct path little by little, not realizing for a long time that he had wandered from the straight path and was instead on the path of error. But midway in the threescore and ten years allotted to human beings in the Bible, the 35-year-old Dante had finally awoken to find out that he was not on the path he wanted to be on. Instead, he was in a dark wood in a dark valley, far from the light he wanted to see. And he felt fear rather than the reassurance he wanted to feel.
But Dante looked up and saw the light shining on the top of a hill. Light shows human beings the correct path to take, and light calms fears. A swimmer who has escaped dangerous waters will take a look at the waters when he is safe on shore. So Dante, who felt safer but still had a long way to go before he reached the light, looked at the dark path and the dark valley while resting before he attempted to climb the hill and reach the light.
The climb was harder than he expected because of Dante’s weakness—one foot dragged behind the other. Worse, Dante was not alone. Just as he began the climb upward, a leopard blocked his path. Everywhere Dante went, the leopard went. Dante was unable to climb upward. Just when Dante thought that he could get past the leopard, a lion appeared and blocked his path. And then still more trouble! A she-wolf appeared, and again Dante’s path upward was blocked. Dante was unable to climb upward; instead, the she-wolf, hungry, walked toward him, forcing him down the hill into the dark wood and the dark valley.
If Dante were to ever climb upward, he needed help. Some things cannot be accomplished alone. Some things require help in order to be accomplished, and some things require divine help in order to be accomplished.
Just then, Dante saw a figure coming toward him, and he cried out, “Whoever you are, have pity on me, whether you be a man or a spirit!”
The figure replied, “I am no longer a living man, although I lived in Rome while Caesar Augustus ruled, in a time when the wrong gods were worshipped. I was a poet, and as a poet I told the story of Aeneas, a refugee who survived the burning of Troy. But why aren’t you climbing toward the light? This dark wood is no place to be.”
I know why you can’t climb toward the light, the figure — Virgil — thought. You have sinned, and you are in the dark wood of error. Your sins are keeping you from climbing toward the light. The leopard is a manifestation of the sins of incontinence, the lion is a manifestation of the sins of violence, and the she-wolf is a manifestation of the sins of fraud. Sometimes, sins take on material form. Dante, I am aware that you have messed up your life so much that you need help to reach the light. Fortunately for you, help is here.
“Are you Virgil, author of the Aeneid? Can you now help me, who have spent so much time studying and adoring your poetry?” Dante asked. “You, Virgil, taught me to write poetry. You, Virgil, taught me the style that has been so much admired. A beast has kept me from climbing to the light. Save me from the beast!”
“I can help you to go further toward the light,” Virgil replied, “but we must go in another direction. The beast that keeps you from climbing the hill and reaching the light allows no one to get past her. She always blocks travelers. This she has always done and will continue to do until a champion arises to slay her. Such a champion will not be concerned with money or property, but will concern himself with wisdom, love, excellence, and virtue. The beast will not survive the encounter with the champion.
“But follow me. I will be your guide, and I will take you most of the way through your journey. First we shall visit a place of screams, and then we shall visit a place where souls rejoice in what may seem like punishment because they know that they shall reach Paradise. I shall take you as far as I can, and then a soul worthier than I am shall take you the rest of the way to your destination. I cannot take you that far because I did not worship the Supreme Emperor in the right way. The Supreme Emperor is the ruler of everything, and all of his citizens are happy.”
“Poet,” Dante begged, “in the name of that God whom you did not worship rightly, please save me from this dark wood. Lead me to the place you mention, and let me see the gate that Saint Peter guards.”
Virgil led the way, and Dante followed him.
Chapter 2: Dante Hesitates
The night began to fall, and although most men were preparing for bed and sleep, Dante was preparing for a rough journey in which he would battle the pity that he could so easily feel for other people. To tell this journey later, he would require the help of the Muses.
Dante was troubled. He said to Virgil, “Tell me if you think that I am able to undertake this journey. You wrote about Aeneas, who visited the Land of the Dead while he was still living. He deserved such special consideration because of who he is: the founder of the Roman people. And Rome became not just the center of an empire, but also the residence of the Popes. Aeneas learned much in the Land of the Dead—much that would help him as he fought to establish himself in Italy and to create the people who would found Rome and the papal seat.
“Another person who visited the Land of the Dead is Saint Paul, as we read in the Visio Sancti Pauli. He brought back from the Land of the Dead confirmation of the Christian faith.
“But who am I to make such a journey? I am not Aeneas. I am not Saint Paul. I do not think that I am worthy to undertake such a journey, and I cannot believe that any other man would think that I am worthy of undertaking it.
“But what do you think? You are wise.”
Dante was having second thoughts, and no wonder. This journey was not through pleasant country. This was not a journey of a tourist. Instead, this was a journey through a land of screams.
“A great journey is ahead of you,” Virgil replied, “yet you are shying away from it like a coward or an animal that is afraid of its own shadow. To put courage in your heart, let me explain why I am here. Let me explain the pity I felt when I learned that you had strayed from the path of truth and had found yourself in the dark wood of error.
“I was in Limbo with the other souls who deserve neither torture nor bliss. A beautiful and blessed lady came to me, and I knew immediately that I would do whatever she asked me to do.
“She addressed me, ‘Noble poet, who has been, is, and will be famous as long as human beings read poetry, a man has strayed from the path of truth and needs your help, if help is not too late to reach him and guide him. I want you to go and be his guide, and take him through the dark places. My name is Beatrice, and this man loved me while I was alive.’
“‘Lady, I will do all that you ask,’ I replied, ‘but please tell me how you come to be here. Obviously, you come from a much different place, so why are you here in Limbo, the first Circle of Hell?’
“‘I have no fear of Limbo, no fear of Hell,’ Beatrice told me. ‘Once souls are in the place from which I come, souls are incapable of being separated from God and they are incapable of ever feeling the other torments of Hell. The Queen of Heaven helps people in need, and she knows that this man needs help. She called Saint Lucia, to whom this man is devoted, and asked her to find a way to help him. Knowing that this man loved me while I was alive, Saint Lucia came to me and requested, “Beatrice, a man needs help. Can you help the man who loved you so much while you were alive?” I then came to you, and I have asked that you be a guide for this man.’
“And so, Dante, I came quickly to you,” Virgil said. “Why are you afraid? Three heavenly ladies—Beatrice, Saint Lucia, and the Queen of Heaven herself—are all looking out for you. With three such champions on your side, what have you to be afraid of?”
The courage rose in Dante just as flowers rise toward sunshine.
“My courage has revived,” Dante said. “Beatrice and you are helping me, and I am eager to begin my journey. Let us start at once, as each of us is eager to do. You are my guide, and you are my teacher.”
Virgil led the way along a rugged path; Dante followed him.
Chapter 3: The Gate of Hell
They arrived at a gate. Written on the ledge above the gate were these words:
“I am the way to a place of sorrow.
“I am the way to grief that lasts forever.
“I am the way to souls who are forsaken forever.
“Justice moved the creator of this place.
“Divine omnipotence created this place.
“As did Divine omniscience and Divine love.
“Before me only eternal things were made,
“And I am an eternal thing.
“Abandon all of your hopes, all of you who enter.”
Dante looked at the words above the gate, and then he said to Virgil, “These words are cruel.”
Virgil thought, This is the beginning of your journey to truth, Dante, and you are still naïve. These words are not cruel. Anyone who is in the Inferno deserves to be here—the Supreme Emperor does not make mistakes.
Virgil said to Dante, “Be brave now. Trust me, your guide. Now you will begin to see the souls who have lost the good of intellect.”
Virgil thought, Human beings can tell the difference between good and evil. This is something that animals cannot do. A dog does not feel guilty if it eats the food of another dog. Human beings ought to use their intellect to determine the right thing to do and then use their free will to do it. The unrepentant sinners whom Dante will see being punished in the Inferno and outside its gate did not use their intellect and free will to do these things.
Dante and Virgil heard shrieks piercing the air, and Dante asked Virgil, “Why are these souls grieving?”
Virgil replied, “Outside the gate leading to the Inferno are the souls of those who never took a stand in life. While living, they were neither for good nor for evil, and now that they are dead, neither Heaven nor Hell wants them. These wretched souls who lived without taking a stand are punished with the angels who remained uncommitted during Lucifer’s rebellion against the Supreme Emperor. They did not commit themselves to evil, nor did they commit themselves to good. Even the souls in Hell feel superior to them because the souls in Hell made a choice: they chose evil.”
Dante then asked, “How are these uncommitted souls being punished?”
Virgil replied, “These souls did not truly live, and therefore they will not truly die and go to a final destination, whether Heaven or Hell. Even torment in Hell is preferable to what these souls feel. In addition, these souls did no lasting good or harm on Earth, and they will be not be remembered on Earth.”
Dante looked at the souls, and he recognized a few of them, but he had no desire to remember or to record their names. They had done nothing to be remembered for, so their names ought to be forgotten.
Dante looked, and he saw their punishment: The souls were never still, for they continually chased a banner that continually moved and never took a stand. As the souls ran, hornets and wasps stung their naked bodies, and their blood and pus and tears ran down their bodies to the maggots on the ground.
Virgil thought, In life, the uncommitted souls did not follow a banner; in death, they follow a banner endlessly, running after it as it travels here and here, never remaining in one place. Similarly, in life, these noncommitted souls never staked out a firm position. In life, these souls never felt deeply, either for good or for evil. Now, these souls do feel deeply, as hornets and wasps bite them. They bleed from the bites, and maggots eat the pus that flows to the ground. This punishment is fitting. What these souls avoided doing in life, they now do in death. Divine retribution is always deserved, and it is always fitting. Divine retribution is known as contrapasso.
Dante then looked and saw another group of souls who had gathered at the shore of a river, and he saw that they looked eager for what was about to happen to them, although Dante knew that what was about to happen to them could not be desirable. He asked Virgil, “Who are these souls, and why do they look so eager?”
Virgil replied, “That river is called the Acheron, and I will explain all to you when we reach it.”
Dante stayed quiet; he worried that he had been too inquisitive.
Crossing the river in a boat was an aged man who shouted, “Grief is coming for you. No hope of Heaven exists for you. I will take you across the river to a place of darkness, ice, and fire.”
Seeing Dante, a living soul, the old man—Charon, the ferryman—thought, Living souls always bring me trouble. Hercules once came down to the Inferno and carried out of it Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog of Hell. I want no part of a living man in the Inferno.
He shouted at Dante, “Living soul, go away. Stay away from the dead.”
Dante did not move, so Charon added, “You cannot come this way. If you enter the Inferno, you must use a different boat.”
Virgil spoke, “Charon, this is not the time for anger. This living soul is here because omnipotent power has sent him here. You need know nothing more.”
Virgil’s words quieted Charon, but Charon’s eyes glowed deep in his eye sockets.
The souls on the riverbank were naked and shivering with fright, remembering what Charon had said about their doom. They were also cursing and blaspheming; they blasphemed God, and they cursed their parents and the day they were born and the entire human species, preferring that the entire human species should never have existed rather than for them to be where they now were. Crying, they waited for Charon’s boat to reach the riverbank, and then they boarded the boat as Charon hit with an oar any stragglers. The souls jumped into the boat like leaves falling from trees in autumn.
Virgil explained, “Whenever anyone dies without first having repented, they assemble here no matter where and when they died. They are eager to cross the river, be judged, and be punished, although at the same time they dread it. These souls were eager to sin while they were alive on Earth, so Divine Justice makes them eager for the punishment they so dread. The Supreme Emperor does not make mistakes, and every soul who is punished here deserves that punishment. When Charon makes it clear that he doesn’t want you here, it is a compliment.”
An earthquake moved the land, and a wind swept the terrain. Dante was so frightened that he fainted.
Chapter 4: Limbo
Thunder sounded, and Dante awoke from his sleep. Charon had already ferried Dante and Virgil across the Acheron, and Dante saw before him the brink of Hell, a deep and dark and hazy place of agonized cries. Dante looked down, but he could see nothing clearly.
Virgil, his face very pale, told Dante, “Let us climb down now. I will go first; follow me.”
“You are afraid, Virgil,” Dante said. “If you are afraid of this place, how can I descend into it?”
“I am not afraid,” Virgil replied. “My face is pale because I feel pity for the souls in Limbo, the first Circle of the Inferno. The color of fear is also the color of pity. Let us go. We have a long journey ahead of us.”
Dante and Virgil walked down into the first Circle of Hell. There Dante heard no screams, but only sighs. Grief need not be accompanied by torture. Men, women, and infants were in this Circle.
“You aren’t asking me which souls reside here,” Virgil said to Dante, “but you ought to know that. It is part of the education you will receive in the Inferno. These souls did not sin, but they deserve to be here nevertheless. Even the souls who did great things while they were alive deserve to be here. Some souls were not baptized while they were alive, and as your faith tells you, baptism opens up Paradise. Or, if the soul lived before Christ was born, the soul did not worship God in the proper way. I myself lived before Christ and failed to worship God in the proper way. For these reasons, these souls—including myself—deserve to be here. We have no hope of ever achieving Paradise, yet we continually desire Paradise.”
Dante, like Virgil, pitied the souls here. He asked Virgil, “Have any souls ever left here, either through their own merit or through the help of another?”
Virgil knew the event that Dante was elliptically referring to—the harrowing of Hell by Christ—and he replied, “I was not long a resident here when a Mighty Warrior came and rescued out of this place such great forebears and Jews as Adam, Abel, Noah, Moses, Abraham, King David, Rachel, and many more. These souls deserved their salvation, and they were the first to be saved of all the souls who have ever existed.”
Virgil and Dante continued walking as they talked, traveling through a wood, and Dante saw a fire lighting a residence where honorable souls gathered. “Obviously, this is a special place. Which souls enjoy the honor of residing here?”
“Those souls are still renowned in the living world,” Virgil replied. “Their renown above also wins them special honor here.”
Dante heard a voice saying, “The renowned poet who left us has returned. Let us greet him.”
Four souls began walking toward Virgil and Dante.
Virgil identified them, “The soul in the lead, carrying a sword, is Homer, the mighty author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, epic poems about the Trojan War and its aftermath. Next is Horace, author of Satires, which teaches morality. Then comes Ovid, the author of the Metamorphoses, which collected many myths involving metamorphoses or transformations. Finally comes Lucan, the author of the Pharsalia, an epic poem about the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great.”
Together, the group, including Virgil, consisted of the greatest poets of antiquity. By honoring Virgil, the four great poets honored poetry.
The five poets of antiquity talked together briefly, and then they motioned for Dante to join them, an honor that made Virgil smile. And yes, it was a great honor, indeed. Dante’s place as a poet is among the greatest poets of all time.
As they talked, they drew near the light. Arriving, they saw a castle circled by seven high walls and by a stream. Dante and the other poets needed no bridge to cross the stream; they walked on water as if they were walking on solid ground.
Passing through seven gates in the seven walls, they arrived at a meadow where renowned souls dwelled. Looking around, Dante recognized many of the souls. He saw heroes and heroines such as Aeneas, the hero of Virgil’s Aeneid who survived the fall of Troy, took his father and son out of the city (although his wife perished), and led the Trojan survivors to Carthage and then to Italy, where he became the founder of the Roman people. He also saw Lavinia, the Italian princess whom Aeneas married in Italy. She and Aeneas became important ancestors of the Romans. Camilla, a female warrior who fought for the Italians against Aeneas in Italy, was also present.
Among the philosophers whom Dante saw were Democritus, a Greek philosopher who believed in the theory of atoms: the idea that matter is composed of imperishable and indivisible units. Dante also saw Diogenes of Sinope, aka “the Cynic,” a Greek philosopher who advocated self-control and abstinence; and he saw Euclid, who is famous for his writing about geometry.
Dante also saw three great Muslims: the philosopher Avicenna, a Persian physician, philosopher, and scientist who memorized the Qur’an; the philosopher Averroës, an Arab who wanted to reconcile Aristotelianism with Islam; and the sultan Saladin, a great Muslim general and leader who captured Jerusalem from the Crusaders.
The Supreme Emperor is not prejudiced, Virgil thought, except against unrepentant sinners. When Muslims deserve a place of honor, and yes, in the Inferno, this castle in Limbo is a place of honor, they get it.
Virgil led the way once more. Dante followed him, leaving behind the virtuous pagans, and they arrived at a place of darkness.
Chapter 5: The Lustful
Dante and Virgil descended, and they saw Minos, judge of the souls of the damned. Minos is a judge who never errs, but Minos is a monster. He has a long tail, and after he hears a sinner confess his or her sins he wraps his tail around himself to indicate in which Circle of Hell the sinner will be punished. If Minos wraps his tail around himself three times, the sinner will eternally be punished in Circle 3. He then uses his tail to hurl the sinner down closer to where the sinner belongs.
Seeing Dante, Minos said to him, “You have come to an eternal place of pain. Be careful here. Enter carefully, and while you are here, be careful whom you trust. Do not allow anyone to fool you.”
Ever cautious, Virgil thought, Charon the ferryman tried to keep Dante out of the Inferno. Everything that Minos says is wise, but I don’t want him to scare Dante—Dante must travel through the Inferno.
Virgil said to Minos, “Don’t try to keep Dante from descending further. This journey is according to the will of the Supreme Emperor. That is all you need to know.”
Virgil and Dante passed by Minos, and they began to hear cries in the air. They reached a place of darkness and a storm. The tempestuous winds blow, and as they blow, the sinners caught in its grasp go high or low and from side to side with no control over their speed or position. The tempestuous winds blow them around Circle 2, and whenever they come to the place nearest to Minos, the sinners curse God.
Here in Circle 2 the sinners who are guilty of lust are condemned to eternal torment. These sinners ignored reason and did not control their lust.
Here we see the first of four Circles that punish the incontinent, Virgil thought. These incontinent sinners gave up the good of intellect in order to give rein to their passion for sin. Instead of using reason to control themselves, they gave up control over themselves and engaged—enthusiastically—in sin.
Here we see a contrapasso. These sinners did not want to control themselves and their lust, and here they are not in control of themselves. They do not decide where to go; the tempest winds blow them around the Circle. The sinners control nothing.
Dante saw many souls, and he asked Virgil, “Who are some of the souls whom I see being blown by the wind?”
Virgil replied, “Semiramis, an Assyrian queen of Babylon, was known for her lechery. She had the laws changed so she could marry her own son.
“Dido is also here. As you know, she had an affair with Aeneas, and when he left her in order to pursue his destiny, she committed suicide.”
Virgil thought, Dido could have appeared in a lower Circle—the Circle devoted to punishing the suicides—but Minos the judge felt that it was more appropriate for her to be punished here. Minos is the perfect judge. The Supreme Emperor chose him, and neither the Supreme Emperor nor Minos makes mistakes.
Virgil continued, “Paris and Helen of Troy are here. Paris ran off with Helen, the wife of Menelaus. Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon and a Greek army followed the pair to Troy, where the Trojan War was fought to get Helen back for Menelaus.
“Achilles, the Greek hero of the Trojan War, is also here. He fell in love with Polyxena, a daughter of Priam and Hecuba, the Trojan King and Queen, and he agreed to switch sides from the Greeks to the Trojans in order to marry her. However, at the wedding Paris treacherously killed him.
“You also see Cleopatra here. The Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra had love affairs with both Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony.”
Virgil thought, Like Dido, Cleopatra committed suicide—she allowed a poisonous snake to bite her—and so Minos could have sentenced her to a lower Circle in Hell, but lust was the greatest of her sins, so Minos sentenced her to eternal punishment in Circle 2.
Dante then said, “Virgil, I see two souls whom I would like to talk to in particular.”
“If you would like to talk to them, you can,” Virgil replied. “When they come close, call to them and they will come to you.”
When the two souls came close, Dante said, “Souls, if it is not forbidden, please speak to us.”
The two souls, male and female, like two doves leaving a flock, left the other souls and descended toward Dante and Virgil.
“O living creature,” said the female, addressing Dante.
I know you, Virgil thought. You are Francesca da Rimini, and you are eloquent and charming. Still, you are where you belong. I know that, and I wish that Dante knew that, but he is still naïve because it is early in his journey.
If Dante were older and wiser, he would wonder why you called him “O living creature.” Dante is a living human being, not a creature. He is not an animal. Why are you referring to him as something that is less than human? I know why.
The sin of incontinence is about rejecting one’s humanity. We are humans, not animals, yet animals rut without having recourse to reason first. Instead of making use of their intellect and free will, the incontinent sinners ignore those things. A human being can use intellect to figure out how much and what kind of sex to engage in, and a continent person uses his or her free will to resist illicit sex and to engage only in consensual and legitimate sex, but an incontinent person ignores his or her humanity and acts like an animal that is incapable of understanding the difference between right and wrong.
A human being can use intellect to know that adultery should be avoided and a human being can use free will to resist the temptation of adultery, but Francesca ignored her own humanity and succumbed to the temptation of committing adultery.
By committing adultery, Francesca did not recognize her own humanity, and by calling Dante a “living creature” rather than a human being, she is not recognizing his humanity.
Reason was not in control of Francesca while she was alive—desire was.
Francesca continued, “You are so gracious and you are so kind. I am honored that you have made your way here to pay us a social call.”
Virgil thought, Why do you think that Dante is paying you a social call? Dante is not in the Inferno specifically to pay a visit to you. He is in the Inferno to discover what he must do to stay out of the Inferno after he is dead. Dante woke up in the dark wood of error, and this journey he is taking is intended to save his soul.
You think it is all about you, don’t you, Francisca? Like many other sinners in the Inferno, you think that you are the center of the universe.
Francesca continued, “If only we were friends with the King of Kings, we would request of Him that he be with you.”
Virgil thought, And why do you say ‘if only we were friends with the King of Kings’? Don’t you know where you are, Francesca? You are in the Inferno, suffering eternal torment. You will never leave here. Being damned for eternity is not like a little social quarrel that can be fixed with a few eloquent and charming words.
Francesca continued, “Love conquered this one and made him want the beauty of my body. Love conquered me and made me delight in him who never leaves me. Love led us to be murdered suddenly. The one who murdered us will end up deep in Hell, in Caina.”
Interesting, Virgil thought. You are like most of the sinners in the Inferno. You don’t blame yourself. Right now, you are blaming Love. Love—so you think—excuses you from the responsibility of using your reason to figure out right from wrong.
But you don’t really believe that, do you, Francesca? If Love excuses you for committing adultery, that person who murdered you would be excused because he loved you. I know your story, Francesca. I know how you died.
And why are you referring to your partner in sin—the one by your side whom you committed adultery with—as “this one” instead of by his name? I know his name; it is Paolo. You can’t stand him now, can you, Francesca? Every time you look at him, you are reminded of why you are in the Inferno. That is part of your eternal punishment, isn’t it, Francesca?
Dante was silent for a while, and then Virgil asked him, “What are you thinking about?”
Dante sighed and said, “These two loved each other so much.”
Wrong answer, Virgil thought. Those two sinned, those two did not repent, and those two are exactly where they belong.
Then Dante turned to the two sinners and said to Francesca, “I pity you because of the torment you are suffering. But how did love lead you to commit the act that got you here?”
Francesca replied, “Remembering the happiness of the past will only increase the unhappiness of the present, but I will tell you. We were reading the tale of Lancelot and his love for the Queen. We were alone, for no one ever suspected us. We read about Lancelot kissing the lips he longed for, and this one by my side kissed me. The book we read was our Galehot. We closed the book, and that day we read no more.”
I can’t believe that Dante is falling for this rubbish, Virgil thought. He doesn’t know that Francesca is spinning him. She is telling only part of the story. She is leaving out all of the parts that would instantly condemn her. For example, she is leaving out of her story these important facts: 1) She and Paolo are married, but not to each other, 2) She is Paolo’s sister-in-law, and 3) Her husband found her and his brother in bed together, and he killed them both.
In addition, once again Francesca is blaming not herself, but something else. Previously, she blamed Love. Now she is blaming a book: a book about the love of Sir Lancelot for Queen Guinever. But what kind of love was that? It was an adulterous love. Queen Guinever was married to King Arthur, and Sir Lancelot had taken an oath to be loyal to the King. And what happened as a result of that adulterous love affair? War broke out, King Arthur was mortally wounded, and Camelot fell as a center of civilization with the result that England fell back into the Dark Ages.
That book was your Galehot, you say. Galehot was the go-between for Lancelot and Guinever; he was no one you should want to know.
Plus, you did not read that book correctly. That book warns against adultery. Nothing good came out of the adulterous love affair of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinever. If you had read that book as the moral warning it is, instead of as the pornography you took it to be, you would not have committed adultery and you would not now be here.
You say, “We closed the book, and that day we read no more.” Limbo has a library, and I have read a sentence much like that before in the Confessions of Saint Augustine. Paolo’s name means Paul, and Saint Augustine was converted to Christianity by reading the work of Saint Paul. Like Francesca and Paolo, Augustine read a book. Augustine’s book was by Saint Paul, who told him to turn to Christ. Augustine did that. Augustine wrote, “No further would I read; nor needed I.” Instead of reading further, Augustine converted to Christianity. Augustine’s reading led him to turn to God, but Francesca and Paolo’s reading turned them away from God.
Hearing Francesca’s final words, Dante fainted out of pity for her and Paolo.
Dante, Virgil thought, you are still naïve, and you have allowed yourself to be scammed. God does not make mistakes. Francesca and Paolo are here because they deserve to be here. Exactly the same thing is true of every other sinner in the Inferno. Other sinners will try to scam you, and I hope that you wise up soon.
You are supposed to learn from these encounters, Dante. You are supposed to learn to take responsibility for your actions and not blame other people and things. You are supposed to learn that you have reason to help you decide what is right and what is wrong. You are supposed to learn that you have free will, which you can use to choose to do what is right and to avoid doing what is wrong. If you are going to stay out of the Inferno, these are some of the things you must learn. I can’t learn them for you.
Chapter 6: The Gluttonous
When Dante regained consciousness, he discovered that he was in a new section of Hell—the third Circle. Here cold rain and hail and snow fell incessantly, creating mud and a stink like that of a gigantic garbage dump.
Dante and Virgil saw Cerberus, a three-headed dog with a swollen belly whose job was to howl incessantly to make the sinners here wish they were deaf, although the sinners also howled. Cerberus is also the guard of the third Circle. Like the sinners, Cerberus was a glutton, and Cerberus often bit the gluttons.
Once again we see a Circle that is devoted to punishing sinners who are guilty of incontinence, Virgil thought. These sinners were not able to control themselves. They put their desires ahead of their reason. They made their desires—not their reason—supreme in their lives. These sinners ate or drank way too much. They became obese or alcoholic.
Virgil had been this way before, and he knew what to do. To keep Cerberus busy long enough that he and Dante could pass, Virgil threw heaps of mud down Cerberus’ three throats. Busy swallowing the mud, Cerberus let them pass.
The sinners whom Dante and Virgil passed lay on the ground. They seemed to have human form, but they lacked bodies. Only on Judgment Day would their souls be reunited with their bodies.
One sinner saw Dante and quickly sat up and said, “Do you know who I am? We lived at the same time for a while.”
Dante looked closely at the sinner, but he admitted, “Your punishment must have changed you because I don’t recognize you. But please tell who you are.”
The sinner said, “Your own city—Florence, which is filled with envious people—once claimed me as a citizen. I am damned to this Circle because of my sin of gluttony. The Florentines gave me a nickname: Ciacco.”
Ciacco is a fitting name for a glutton such as you, Virgil thought. It means Hog or Pig.
“Ciacco,” Dante said, “I pity you, and I want to cry, but since you mentioned Florence, can you tell me what will happen to that city that I love? The city has two political parties that fight each other. What is going to happen to them? Are all the men in Florence envious?”
“After much more fighting, one party will drive out the other party,” Ciacco replied. “Then within three years the positions will be reversed, and the party that was victorious will be defeated, and the party that was defeated will be victorious. Two men in Florence are just, but no one will listen to them.”
I understand more than you do, Dante, Virgil thought. Ciacco is making a prophecy of your upcoming exile when you will be forbidden ever to return to your beloved Florence on pain of death. Like the other souls in the Inferno, I am able to see the future. However, I won’t tell you about your upcoming exile. I am your teacher, but teachers don’t tell all they know. Some things are better for a student to think about and discover for him- or herself.
Dante asked, “Can you give me some more information, please? What has happened to Farinata degli Uberti, to Tegghiaio Aldobrandini, to Jacopo Rusticucci, and to Mosca dei Lamberti? Where are they? Are they in Heaven or in Hell?”
“They are in Hell,” Ciacco answered. “Their sins are worse than mine, so they are in deeper Circles than I am. If you continue your journey downward, you will see them. But if you ever make it again to the sweet, living world, remember me and ask our mutual friends to remember me.”
The deeper we go into Hell, the worse the sins that are being punished, Virgil thought. High in Hell, many of the sinners still want to be remembered on Earth. Very low in Hell, many of the sinners prefer to be entirely forgotten on Earth because of the vileness of their sins.
Ciacco’s gaze lost focus. He squinted, and then he lay down again in the mud with the other gluttons.
Virgil told Dante, “Ciacco will stay like that until Judgment Day. On that day, his soul will be reunited with his body.”
“What will happen when his soul is reunited with his body?” Dante asked. “Will his torment be increased or lessened or just the same as now?”
“You have studied philosophy,” Virgil replied. “Human beings were created with both a body and a soul. Together, body and soul are more perfect than they are separately. What is perfect can feel more perfectly than what is not perfect can feel. The sinners in Hell will feel their pain more intently, and the saved souls in the Supreme Emperor’s kingdom will feel their bliss more intently.”
They continued walking.
This is another example of contrapasso, Virgil thought. Mud is plentiful in the third Circle of the Inferno because rain is always falling. The gluttons wanted to enjoy the good things, but now they are forced to live in uncomfortable surroundings—surroundings much like a muddy pigsty. The gluttons made pigs of themselves while living, and now, although they are dead, they live like pigs. The gluttons sleep in the mud like pigs, just like a glutton would go to sleep after enjoying a huge meal. After talking with Dante, Ciacco was unable to focus his eyes; he is now in a stupor, just as a glutton would be in a stupor after eating a huge meal. In addition, Cerberus bites the gluttons the way that the gluttons bit into their food.
Dante and Virgil then saw Plutus, the arch-enemy of Humankind.
Chapter 7: The Wasters, Hoarders, Wrathful, and Sullen
As Virgil and Dante approached him, Plutus clucked the nonsense words “Papa Satan, pape Satan aleppe!”
Virgil reassured Dante, “Plutus has no power to stop you from continuing your journey. Therefore, do not be afraid.”
Virgil then turned on the wolf-like Plutus and shouted, “Be quiet! This man here is on a mission from the Supreme Emperor!”
Plutus, deflated like a sail in a calm, sank to the ground and was quiet.
Plutus is an appropriate guard for Circle 4, Virgil thought. Plutus is also known as Pluto, and he is the pagan god of wealth, as well as the god who ruled the Underworld. It is fitting that he rules the Underworld because much wealth (gold, silver, diamonds) comes from under the ground. His association with wealth makes him a fitting guard for the sinners in Circle 4: the wasters and the hoarders.
Virgil and Dante saw many souls now—more than in the Circles they had already passed through. These souls pushed heavy weights before them in the Circle, and when they met, they crashed the heavy weights together. One group shouted, “Why hoard?” The other group shouted, “Why waste?” Then they went around the Circle again, and they crashed their heavy weights together again, and they shouted again.
“Who are these sinners?” Dante asked Virgil. “From their haircuts, I see that many of them were priests. Were they all priests on this side?”
“These sinners were incontinent when it came to wealth,” Virgil replied. “Neither group could control themselves. One group hoarded their wealth, while the other group wasted their wealth. Many of the sinners you see here were Popes, cardinals, and priests—such people are unfortunately prone to greediness.”
Here we see two groups of sinners being punished together because their sins, although opposites, are closely related, Virgil thought. The wasters and the hoarders are people who either saved as much money as possible and never spent it or people who spent every penny they could and never saved anything. Both types of people are sinners. To be good with money, living people need to spend some money to acquire necessities and good things; however, they also need to have an emergency fund. When it comes to money, living people need to seek a mean between extremes.
Limbo has a library, and so I am familiar with the work of Aristotle, whom I also studied while I was alive and who is also in Limbo so that I can consult him, Virgil thought. The theory of the mean between extremes is a famous part of Aristotle’s ethical thought. He believed in moderation—as most Greeks did. If you had too much or too little of something, you would suffer from an excess or a deficiency of that thing. Think about food. If you eat too much food, you will be overweight. If you eat too little food, you will be underweight. You need to eat the right amount of food so that you will have a healthy weight. What you need is exactly the right amount. A different example: Courage is the mean between the extremes of cowardice (deficiency) and rashness (excess). The sinners here failed to find the mean between the extremes of miserliness and of wastefulness.
“Shouldn’t I be able to recognize some of the sinners here?” Dante asked Virgil.
“No, you won’t be able to recognize anybody here,” Virgil replied. “Because of their sinful relationship with wealth, these sinners failed to accomplish anything notable while they were alive. They failed to accomplish something great for Humankind. Because of that, they have no distinguishing characteristics here.
“Well, they do have some distinguishing characteristics, Those who are misers have tight fists; those who are wasters are without hair because they have spent even the hair on their heads. But as for recognizing a sinner and knowing his or her name, forget it.
“These sinners are exactly where they belong. They overvalued either wealth or what wealth can buy, and now no amount of wealth can rescue them from Hell. In Hell as in the living world, they bicker over what belongs to Fortune.”
“Who or what is this Fortune that you mention?” Dante asked.
“Fortune controls all the wealth that ever was and ever will be,” Virgil replied. “Fortune is a minister of God. She sees that money goes from person to person, family to family, country to country. She controls the Wheel of Fortune. At times, a person may be at the top of the Wheel of Fortune and be very prosperous, but as the Wheel turns, that person’s prosperity decreases. The thing to do is to know that the Wheel of Fortune will turn. While riding high on the Wheel of Fortune, save some wealth so that you are at least somewhat prepared when you are riding low on the Wheel of Fortune. The same applies to families and to countries. The Wheel of Fortune turns for individuals, for families as a whole, and for entire countries.
“Human beings dislike Fortune, but they should recognize that she is doing the work of the Supreme Emperor.
“But now let us continue on our journey.”
Virgil and Dante continued walking. They came to a spring, which created a stream of grey water, and they walked along the stream on a rough path. As they walked, the stream of grey water turned into a marsh that Dante learned is named the Styx.
In the marsh they saw muddy, angry sinners moving around and fighting each other. Not only did they hit each other with their hands, but they also kicked and bit each other—so great was their anger.
Virgil said, “Here in this Circle—Circle 5—you see those who could not control their anger. We see the sinners on top of the marsh, yet other sinners are below the marsh, revealing their presence only by the bubbles rising to the top of the marsh.
“These sinners below the marsh say, if you listen closely, ‘We were sluggish while we were alive, and in our heart was the smoke of sloth. Now we are punished in the muck of Styx.’ So they say, but not clearly.”
The sinners below the marsh are the slothful, Virgil thought. The slothful should have pursued the right things while they were alive, but they were slothful—lazy—and did not pursue them with the zeal that they ought to have shown for the right things. Along with their sloth, they were sullen—they bottled up their anger. It would have been better for them if they had expressed vigorous and righteous anger at sin and sinners.
Virgil and Dante continued walking along the path by the marsh. Eventually, they reached a high tower.
Chapter 8: The Boatman Phlegyas and Filippo Argenti
Before Dante and Virgil reached the foot of the high tower, they saw some lights. Two small lights appeared at the top of the tower, and then another light appeared far in the distance. They seemed to be signal lights. The presence of Dante and Virgil had been noticed, and someone or something had been alerted.
Dante asked Virgil, “What is happening here? What do the signal lights mean?”
Virgil replied, “The one who has been summoned is already approaching us across the swamp of the Styx. You should be able to see him approaching us now.”
Dante looked and saw a boat crossing the swamp. Only one being was on the boat, and he shouted at Dante and Virgil, “You belong to me, now.”
“Phlegyas, you are wrong,” Virgil replied. “You will have our company only as long as it takes you to ferry us across the swamp.”
Phlegyas was angry. He had thought that Dante was a new soul who would be tormented in the lower Circles of Hell, but he was mistaken.
You are still angry, Phlegyas, Virgil thought. You have been angry for a long time. You became angry when the god Apollo raped your daughter. You were so angry that you set fire to Apollo’s temple at Delphi. Because of that, Apollo killed you. You are a fitting guardian for Circle 5 of Hell, the Circle that punishes the wrathful.
Phlegyas may have been angry at Dante and Virgil, but nevertheless he knew that he had to ferry them across the Styx. Virgil boarded the boat first. Because souls have no weight, the boat did not sink lower into the water. Dante then boarded the boat, which sank lower into the water, revealing that a living human being was on board.
As the boat crossed the Styx, a sinner in the water saw how heavily loaded the boat was. Knowing that a living human being was on board, and curious, and perhaps wanting to do violence to a living human being, the muddy sinner rose out of the muddy water and asked, “Who are you, still-living human? Why do you come here before you are dead?”
Dante replied, “I may have come here, but I will not stay here. Who are you, ugly and muddy sinner?”
The sinner replied. “I am one who cries.”
“I recognize you,” Dante said. “And may you cry and mourn here forever, damn you.”
The muddy sinner reached toward the boat, but the ever-vigilant Virgil, Dante’s guardian, shoved the soul away from the boat, shouting, “Stay away! Stay with the other sinners!”
Virgil then hugged Dante and said, “You have acted rightly. Blessed are you and the womb that bore you. This sinner was arrogant and no good memories of him exist in the living world. And here he is angry forever. Many living men are like this sinner. They think that they are VIPs in the living world, but after they die they will wallow in the mud of the Styx like pigs in a pigsty.”
Yes, you have acted correctly, Virgil thought. Previously, you felt pity for the sinners. You pitied Francesca da Rimini, charming bitch that she was. You also pitied Ciacco. None of these sinners deserves any pity whatsoever. All of them are exactly where they deserve to be. God does not make mistakes. You are learning, Dante. You are at least beginning to feel righteous indignation, which is the mean between the extremes of irrational anger and sullenness. Sullenness, of course, is bottled-up anger.
Dante said to Virgil, “I would like to see this sinner punished even more.”
“You will see just that,” Virgil replied. “A wish such as that deserves to be fulfilled.”
Almost immediately, a group of sinners saw the sinner whom Dante hated. They shouted, “Get Filippo Argenti,” and they mangled him, making Dante happy.
Dante then began to hear the noise of wailing, and he looked at the tower, which was growing nearer.
“The tower is part of the city of Dis—the city of Lucifer,” Virgil said. “Its walls are high, and its residents are fierce.”
“I can see part of the city now,” Dante said. “I see mosques burning with flames.”
“The burning of the mosques provides a reddish light for the lower Circles of Hell,” Virgil said.
The boat arrived at the city of Dis. Wanting to get rid of his passengers quickly, Phlegyas shouted, “Get out of my boat now! This is the entrance you seek!”
Dante and Virgil disembarked, and they saw more than a thousand fallen angels—those who had rebelled with Lucifer against God—on the walls of the city. The fallen angels realized that Dante was still alive, and they shouted at him, “Who are you? What living person dares to come into the Land of the Dead? You, dead soul, may approach the city but the living being may not. You, dead soul, will stay here with us—we will force you to. Let the living being try to retrace, alone, his steps to the living world—if he dares!”
Hearing this, Dante felt great fear. Virgil had been his guide and guardian throughout the Land of the Dead. He did not want to go anywhere in the Inferno without him. He cried to Virgil, “Please don’t leave me. You have been my protector, and I need you. If we cannot go forward, let us retrace our steps together.”
Virgil replied, “Fear not. No one can prevent us from continuing our journey. Think of the Supreme Emperor and the three Heavenly ladies who want us to take this journey. I will talk to the fallen angels alone, Stay here. Don’t worry—I won’t leave you alone in the Land of the Dead.”
Dante stayed where he was, and Virgil walked off. He did not go out of Dante’s sight, but Dante was unable to hear what Virgil and the fallen angels said to each other. Then the fallen angels raced back to the city of Dis.
Virgil was upset when he returned to Dante. Virgil’s eyes were downcast, and he murmured, “Who are such beings to forbid me to visit the lower Circles of Hell?”
Then Virgil said to Dante, “Don’t worry. This is a minor, temporary setback. These fallen angels cannot keep us from our journey. These fallen angels cause trouble, although they are always conquered. Once they tried to bar the gate into Hell to keep the Mighty Warrior from breaking into Hell and carrying away from Limbo the souls who belong in Paradise. The Mighty Warrior defeated the angels, and now the gate into Hell is always open, forever and forever. Earlier, you saw the words that were written above that gate.
“Already, Heavenly help is on its way. I understand much that concerns reason, but I cannot do everything. This time I need help from Heaven, and that help is already on its way. The Heavenly help will open the gate of Dis so that we may continue on our journey.”
Chapter 9: The City of Dis
Dante’s face had paled with fear as he saw that Virgil was returning after his unsuccessful attempt to convince the fallen angels to allow them to pass through the gates of the city of Dis.
Virgil waited, looking worried and saying, “We must pass through the gates. Nothing can prevent us from doing that. After all, we have been promised help. Or—no, we will receive help, but it is taking more time than I like for help to get to us.”
Dante was afraid, and he asked Virgil, “Has anyone ever traveled to the bottom of the Inferno from Limbo?”
“That is an unusual journey to take,” Virgil replied, “but I have traveled it before. Not long after I died, the sorceress Erichtho summoned my spirit to her and gave me a task to travel to the pit of Judas at the bottom of the Inferno and bring out a spirit for her to consult. This is something she had done before. While I was still alive, she sent a soul to the bottom of the Inferno to retrieve another soul who would foretell the victor of the Battle of Pharsalia, in which the forces of Julius Caesar defeated the forces of Pompey. Because I have traveled throughout the Inferno, I well know the path that we will take and I am familiar with the place we are now. This swamp of the Styx completely surrounds the city of Dis, which we will enter although not—as you know—without some trouble.”
As they talked, Dante looked up at the city, and above its walls he suddenly saw the three Furies—the Erinyes—fly. They were winged avenging spirits covered with blood—they had snakes for hair, and their purpose in the ancient world was to wreck vengeance against children who killed their parents. These were the avenging spirits who pursued Orestes after he killed his mother, who had killed his father.
Virgil looked up, and he saw the Furies, whom he recognized: “Look! Megaera is on the left, Alecto on the right, and Tisiphone in the middle!” Virgil knew much about the Furies. Alecto had maddened Queen Amata and Turnus to rebel against and fight Aeneas when he and his refugee Trojans tried to establish themselves in Italy. Virgil knew how dangerous the Furies could be.
The Furies hovered in the air, shrieking and tearing their skin with their fingernails, drawing blood. They shouted, “Come, Medusa, and turn this living man into stone. We let Theseus get away from us too easily.”
This is a threat that needs to be taken seriously, Virgil thought. Any living human being who looks at Medusa, who also has snakes for hair, will instantly be turned into stone. In addition, the Furies and Medusa are still angry because Hercules released Theseus from the Inferno when he came into the Inferno to take Cerberus the three-headed dog to the Land of the Living.
Virgil told Dante, “Turn around and cover your eyes because if you see Medusa your journey is over and you will not return to the Land of the Living.”
Dante did as he was told, and Virgil also covered Dante’s eyes with his hands. In doing so, both Dante and Virgil underestimated the power of God and of God’s helpers.
Now came an important event. Sound blasted through the Inferno, and Hell trembled. A hurricane will tear through a forest, uprooting trees and destroying everything in its path. Such seemed to be this sound.
Virgil removed his hands from over Dante’s eyes and told him, “Turn around and look.”
Dante saw over a thousand sinners diving into the muddy marsh of the Styx the way that frogs will dive into the water to get away from snakes, their natural enemies. Then he saw a good angel walking on the water of the Styx, which did not even wet his feet. The good angel did not fear; instead, the good angel was filled with scorn for the sinners and the fallen angels.
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