15 (p. 6) famous Sage: Dante and his contemporaries considered classical poets not only to be literary figures but also learned men, paragons of wisdom—that is, sages. Farther on in the poem (in canto IV: no), Dante will call Homer, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan ”sages,“ and he uses this term again in Purgatory XXIII: 8 to describe Virgil and Statius.
16 (p. 6) ‘Twixt Feltro and Feltro: Virgil’s prediction that a greyhound (veltro in Italian) will come to save Italy is one of the most controversial passages in the Inferno. Most commentators identify the greyhound with Cangrande della Scala, who ruled the northern Italian city of Verona between 1308 and 1329. Cangrande’s birthplace of Verona is located between the towns of Feltro and Montefeltro. Two other such political prophecies are to be found in Purgatory XXXIII: 37-45; and Paradise XXVII: 142-148.
17 (p. 6) Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds: In Virgil’s Aeneid, Camilla was the daughter of King Metabus, who was killed fighting against the Trojans. Turnus also died fighting the Trojans, while Euryalus and Nisus were young Trojans killed in the invasion of Italy. See the Aeneid, Books IX and XII.
18 (p. 6) second death: For Dante, the first death is that of the physical body, while the second death—that of the soul after it is condemned during the Last Judgment—is far more horrifying.
19 (p. 6) ”those who contented are... to the blessed people“. Hell’s punishments are eternal, while Purgatory’s are temporary. Thus souls condemned only to the purifying punishments of Purgatory are ”contented“ because they know their eventual salvation is guaranteed.
20 (p. 7) ”A soul shall be for that than I more worthy“: Virgil alludes to the fact that Beatrice will eventually replace him as Dante the Pilgrim’s guide, since, as a pagan poet, Virgil is only able to understand a part of God’s divine plan of salvation.
21 (p. 7) rebellious: While it is difficult to conceive of Virgil rebelling against a Christ he could not have known, as a pagan he was guilty of original sin and in spite of his many personal merits, he will be forever denied the blessedness known by the souls who reach Paradise. It should be remembered that Dante the Poet has created a fiction bordering on heresy by placing Virgil and other classical poets he admired in a Christian Limbo, an act of poetic license that the Catholic Church would never have sanctioned.
22 (p. 7) portal of Saint Peter: There is no gate guarded by Saint Peter in Dante’s Paradise. Most commentators believe this line refers, instead, to the gate of Purgatory, since in Purgatory IX: 104-128, we learn that a gate is guarded by an angel who received the keys to it from Saint Peter. It is, of course, possible that Dante does also refer here to the popular belief that Saint Peter guards the ”pearly gates.“
CANTO II
1 (p. 8) Day was departing: An entire day has passed since Dante the Pilgrim began the futile attempt to climb the mountain.
2 (p. 8) I the only one: Since Dante the Pilgrim is a living human being and Virgil is a shade, Dante can technically describe himself as alone.
3 (p.8) Made myself ready to sustain the war, both of the way and likewise of the woe: Dante the Pilgrim must first overcome both the physical dangers along the way of his journey but even more important, he must also learn to overcome the pity (pietade, a term Longfellow renders as ”woe“) he will feel when he observes the sufferings of the damned. As shall become clearer in later sections of the poem, one of the most important lessons Dante the Pilgrim needs to learn in Hell is that God’s punishments are perfectly just. Human pity for the damned is a sure sign of spiritual weakness. Dante the Poet, of course, has already learned this lesson and is merciless to the damned, since his superior and subsequent perspective is derived from completing the journey to Paradise that he reports in the poem.
4 (p. 8) memory: By claiming that Dante the Pilgrim remembers a real journey, Dante the Poet rejects the notion that the journey through the three realms of the afterlife is merely a vision or a dream. The fiction of the entire poem is that the journey is real.
5 (p. 8) O Muses: This invocation of the poetic muses imitates Dante’s model, the classic epic of Virgil and others. The fact that Dante invokes the Muses in canto II rather than in canto I (unlike similar invocations in canto I of Purgatory and canto I of Paradise) suggests to most critics that Dante considers Inferno I as a kind of prologue to the entire poem. In fact, the Inferno contains 34 cantos (one prologue and 33 others), while both Purgatory and Paradise contain 33 cantos. The total number is 100, a figure Dante and his contemporaries considered a perfect number.
6 (p. 8) O high genius: This refers either to Dante’s own genius as a poet or, as some critics claim, to Virgil’s genius or even to the genius of God Himself If the praise refers to a request for God’s assistance, Dante thus invokes help from both classical and Christian forces.
7 (p. 8) of Silvius the parent: The parent of Silvius was Aeneas (Aeneid, Book VI). According to Virgil, Aeneas descended into the Underworld while still alive (”while yet corruptible,“ as Longfellow renders the original Italian in 1. 14).
8 (p. 8) the empyreal heaven: In the Ptolemaic system of the universe, the Empyrean Heaven is the tenth, or outermost, sphere. Dante and his contemporaries considered this place to be the residence of God.
9 (p. 8) the holy place, wherein sits the successor of the greatest Peter: As the founder of ancient Rome, Aeneas also served to found ”the holy place“ of the Eternal City, the residence of the Christian popes, the successors to Saint Peter.
10 (p. 9) the Chosen Vessel: Saint Paul is called ”the Chosen Vessel“ in the Bible, Acts 9:15. In II Corinthians 12: 2-4., Paul recounts his ascent to Heaven while still alive. Dante and other medieval readers would also have been familiar with the Visio Sancti Pauli, an account of Paul’s journey to the kingdom of the dead.
11 (p. 9) I not Aeneas am, I am not Paul: While Dante the Pilgrim complains that he is neither Aeneas nor Paul (both of whom supposedly visited Hell before him), Dante the Poet in fact implies that his protagonist is precisely the successor to both Aeneas and Paul, combining some characteristics of both the classical hero and the Christian saint.
12 (p. 9) And by new thoughts doth his intention change ... because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise: In other words, ”I undid the enterprise“: Dante is saying that the time that elapsed between the moment he decided to undertake the journey to the moment he became afraid to do so was instantaneous—it was as rapid as thought itself.
13 (p. 9) the Magnanimous: Here Dante the Poet calls Virgil magnanimous (meaning courageous) to contrast his apparent courage to Dante the Pilgrim’s cowardice.
14 (p.9) ”As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy“: Dante is referring to the way a beast shies away from a shadow.
15 (p. ) ”Among those... who are in suspense“: As we shall learn in canto IV, the virtuous pagan souls, such as Virgil, dwell in Limbo in a kind of suspension—suspended or set apart physically from the rest of Hell proper, and suspended spiritually from the damned undergoing punishment.
16 (p. 9) a fair, saintly Lady: Beatrice, Dante’s beloved muse who died in 1290 and, the Poet believes, surely dwells in Heaven, takes pity on the Pilgrim’s plight and begins a chain of events to rescue him that will involve not only Saint Lucia or Lucy, but also the Virgin Mary. To Dante, Beatrice is indeed saintly, and in his La Vita Nuova (The New Life), he celebrates her as a woman who brings salvation.
17 (p. 9) long-lasting as the world: This the first of many inci dences in the Inferno in which its inhabitants consider earthly fame to be their only means of immortality, since their souls will never reach the realm of the blessed in Paradise.
18 (p. 10) ”Full often will I praise thee unto him“: It is unclear why Beatrice promises to praise Virgil to God, since there is no chance of salvation for him, just as it is puzzling that Virgil immediately recognizes Beatrice in Limbo, where we shall subsequently discover he resides—he died in 19 B.C., many centuries before Beatrice’s earthly existence.
19 (p. 10) ”O Lady of virtue ...
the lesser circles“: Virgil is claiming that Beatrice has a universal importance for all mankind and influences human affairs in the sublunary and sinful world of earth, where Fortune controls human destiny through divine guidance.
20 (p. 10) ”tell me why thou dost not shun the here descending down into this centre“: Inhabitants of Paradise, like Beatrice, follow the Ptolemaic system and consider Earth to be the center of the universe. Hell, in the center of Earth, is therefore a place that they desire to avoid.
21 (p. 10) ”That misery of yours attains me not“: As part of God’s divine plan and His generosity, the blessed in Paradise are not capable of feeling pity for the souls of the damned or the shades in Limbo. Dante the Pilgrim, however, must be purged of the weak emotion of pity during his journey through Hell.
22 (p. II) Lucìa: Saint Lucy of Syracuse was a Christian martyr considered to be the patron saint of eye ailments. Her name means ”light,“ and Beatrice will refer significantly to her ”shining eyes“ in 1. 116, ”her shining eyes she turned away.“ Lucia returns in Purgatory IX: 52-63 and again in Paradise XXXII: 137-138.
23 (p. 11) the ancient Rachel: In Genesis, Rachel is the sister of Leah and the wife of Jacob. According to Christian tradition, Rachel is a symbol of the contemplative life and Leah is a symbol of the active life. Rachel is seated near Beatrice when Dante the Pilgrim reaches Paradise.
24 (p. 11) the vulgar herd: Lucia reminds Beatrice that in Dante’s life on Earth as a poet, her influence as a real, living woman raised him above his contemporaries. Dante’s Vita Nuova recounts this influence.
25 (p. 11) ”Beside that flood, where ocean has no vaunt“. This is the same river, or flood, that Dante calls a sea in canto I: 22-27. Since this water does not flow into the ocean, the ocean has no vaunt, or claim, over it.
26 (p. 11) that wild beast: This is the she-wolf of canto I: 49-60 that initially prevented Dante the Pilgrim from climbing the mountain.
27 (p. 11) the beautiful mountain’s short ascent: Unable to climb the mountain by the easy, short path, Dante the Pilgrim (along with the reader of the poem) will be forced to follow the more arduous, difficult path, enabling him to understand fully the organization of Hell and the system of its punishments.
28 (p. 12) the deep and savage way: This is a reference to the ”forest dark“ of canto I: 2 and the ”arduous pass“ of canto II: 12. The journey proper may now commence, and it will be both a literal passage through the physical territory of Hell and a spiritual journey through the dark forest of human sin.
CANTO III
1 (p. 14) ”Created me divine Omnipotence, the highest Wisdom and the primal Love“: Omnipotence (or Power), Wisdom, and Love are qualities traditionally associated with the three persons of the Holy Trinity.
2 (p. 14) the good of intellect: This is ultimately God, defined as the source of all truth. Aristotle, in his Ethics, defines truth as the good of the intellect.
3 (p. 14) the secret things: These things are secret because they are hidden from the living, since few mortals have ever visited Hell ibefore Dante’s arrival.
4 (p. 15) Whence I, at the beginning, wept. The first sensory impressions of Hell derive from the sound of the wailing souls, and the pilgrim’s tearful reaction demonstrates that he has yet to learn to disregard the human sentiment of pity and to consider the punishments the damned receive as just.
5 (p. 15) with sound of hands: Sinners strike themselves with open palms in their misery, beating their breasts.
6 (p. 15) ”those who lived withouten infamy or praise“: Entering what is the Vestibule of Hell, the Pilgrim first encounters the souls of sinners who in life were neither horrible nor meritorious—they were merely neutral or lukewarm. Dante found such neutrality over important questions so reprehensible that he leaves these sinners unworthy even of a special place in Hell.
7 (p. 15) ”Of Angels, who have not rebellious been, nor faitbful were to God, but were for self“: This group of sinners represents the neutral angels, who refused to take sides when Lucifer rebelled against God.
8 (p. 15) a banner; The rebel angels from Heaven and the lukewarm on Earth are punished according to the nature of their sin. They are condemned for eternity to chase aimlessly after a banner without an insignia. As their sin involved taking no position, now they are condemned forever to follow a neutral cause (the lack of insignia underlining the emptiness of their hellish fate). This first punishment represents a perfect example of the governing principle behind Hell’s punishments, the famous contrapasso of canto XXVIII: 142,which Longfellow renders as ”counterpoise.“ Punishments either resemble the sin (as in this case) or may even be exactly the opposite of a sin. At any rate, they are always appropriate to the sin, are punished in quite specific ways, and are always strikingly graphic.
9 (p. 16) Who made through cowardice the great refusal: Most commentators identify this figure with Pope Celestine V, who resigned the papacy five months after his election in 1294. It was rumored that another of Dante’s least favorite figures, Cardinal Benedetto Caetani, who succeeded Celestine as Pope Boniface VIII, had hidden in Celestine’s bedroom and pretended to be an angel urging the aged pope to abdicate! One obstacle to identifying this figure with Celestine is the fact that Celestine was renowned for his humility and canonized in 1313. Other suggestions include Esau, who in Genesis renounces his rights to Jacob, and Pontius Pilate, whose refusal to pronounce a sentence on Christ indirectly led to his Crucifixion.
10 (p. 16) the dismal shore of Acheron: In classical mythology and literature, this is one of the five rivers of Hades, the others being Styx, Phlegethon, Cocytus, and Lethe (all of which Dante will eventually include in his poem). Dante discusses the Acheron in canto XIV: 112-120, and Virgil describes it in the Aeneid, Book VI.
11 (p. 16) An old man: In Greek mythology, Charon is the boatman who ferries the souls of the dead across the river Styx to Hades. In the Inferno, Charon fulfills this task across the Acheron from the Vestibule of Hell to Hell proper.
12 (p. 17) ”By other ways, by other ports... there where is power to do that which is willer“: Charon recognizes that unlike the other shades, Dante is alive and a physical being. He initially refuses him passage until Virgil informs Charon that Dante’s journey is ordered by God in Heaven (”there where is power to do that which is willed“). The fact that Charon declares the pilgrim will come ”by other ports“ is a prophecy that Dante will eventually reach Purgatory and ultimately Paradise.
13 (p. 17) As in the autumn-time... a new troop assembles: This majestic simile combines two references to Virgil’s poetry: Aeneid, Book VI, and Georgics, Book II.
14 (p. 17) the courteous Master: Virgil is courteous because he answers the Pilgrim’s questions before they are posed, explaining that the damned actually desire their punishments.
15 (p. 18) The recollection bathes me still with sweat: Here Dante the Poet interjects his personal memory of the event when he, as Dante the Pilgrim, encountered this frightful scene in a real journey, not in a dream. It is always important to bear in mind that Dante presents the events he relates as real, as opposed to something remembered from a dream vision—this is the key to Dante’s poetics in the Inferno.
16 . (p. 18) And as a man whom sleep doth seize I fell: Dante the Poet remains unable to explain why he swooned into unconsciousness, and the reader is not given a precise description of exactly how he crossed the river. The pilgrim will swoon again at the conclusion of Inferno V.
CANTO IV
1 (p. 19) ”Let us descend now into the blind world,“ began the Poet, pallid utterly: The world of Limbo, where Virgil resides, is ”blind,“ or dark, without the benefit of the sun. Virgil’s pallor reflects his compassion for his companions in Limbo, not pity for the souls undergoing harsher punishments in Hell proper.
2 (p. 19) The foremost circle: Limbo is the first circle of Hell.
3 (p. 20) ”witbout hope we live on in desire“: According to Church doctrine, only infants who were not baptized inhabited Li
mbo after Christ harrowed Hell, when, after his death and before his earthly resurrection, he took the Hebrew patriarchs and matriarchs out of Hell and up to Paradise with him. Dante’s addition of the virtuous pagans to Limbo is a bold invention rooted in his love for classical antiquity. Nevertheless, the virtuous pagans are denied the vision of God, the goal toward which their thwarted desire is directed.
4 (p. 20) in that Limbo were suspended: The virtuous pagans are literally suspended, or separated, from the geographical location of Hell proper and are figuratively suspended from its tortures. The word Limbo is derived from the Latin límbus, meaning edge, hem, or border.
5 (p. 20) a Mighty One: The reference is to Christ during the Harrowing of Hell. In medieval and Renaissance art, the Harrowing of Hell was a popular theme. In the period between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, Christ—usually represented carrying a white banner with a red cross—descended into Hell to rescue certain souls held there since the beginning of the world. There is little basis in scripture for this event, but by the fourth century A.D. it had become an article of Catholic faith. During the course of The Divine Comedy, the following Old Testament figures are mentioned as having been saved: Adam, Eve, Abel, Noah, Moses, Abraham, David, Jacob, Jacob’s twelve sons, Rachel, Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, Ruth, Samuel, Rahab, Solomon, Joshua, Judas Maccabeus, and Ezechiel.
6 (p. 21) ”Never were any human spirits saved“: This line basically affirms Church dogma that no one without baptism can be saved. The souls that Christ removed from Hell during the Harrowing of Hell were saved by a special and theologically exceptional dispensation.
7 (p. 21) I saw a fire that overcame a hemisphere of darkness: The light, which in line 106 we will learn emanates from ”a noble castle’s foot,“ overcomes Hell’s darkness, because it is from the place where the virtuous pagans of Limbo reside.
The Inferno (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Page 18