Dante's Divine Comedy

Where is Dante at the beginning of this canto? What is the significance of the auditory image that assaults him there? How is Limbo a “blind world” (line 13)?

“upon the brink of the valley of the sorrowful abyss”

“the roar of endless woe”

Those who inhabit it were blind to the light of Christ (though not to the light of intellect).

Lest you think Limbo doesn’t sound like such a bad place, consider these facts: 1) The great multitude of cowards whom Dante and Virgil first encounter occupy space at the level of the Gate of Hell. 2) Before the travelers can enter Limbo, they must make their first descent. (line 13)

Dante is still making mistakes. What is his first in Canto IV? How is it resolved?

He believes Virgil has turned pale out of fear of the descent, but Virgil explains pity for those in anguish has caused the change.

What sound does Dante hear in Limbo? Why?

He hears “only sighs.” Those who dwell there sigh because they lack baptism and mourn for what they have lost. Dante calls baptism “the one gate to the faith.” (line 36) Further, they “did not give God homage as they ought.” (line 38) He ends by saying that “hopeless, we live forever in desire.” [It is correct to say “live” since all who have ever been born live forever as part of Christ’s work, either in Hell or in Heaven. The Church also taught that unbaptized babies went to Limbo but said nothing about virtuous pagans.]

How do you see contrapasso in this canto? [OPEN]

The first circle into which they descend is called Limbo (line 45), which means “rim” or “edge.” How does that name fit the architecture of Inferno?

It lies on the upper edge of Hell, the rim.

Lines 53-54 refer to the so-called Harrowing of Hell. Medieval Catholicism taught that after his death on the cross, Christ descended into Hell and liberated those biblical figures who had believed in His coming. In light of this information and Virgil’s reporting on it, what can you conclude about Virgil’s knowledge of those he names as being liberated from Limbo?

He saw Christ. He has knowledge of biblical teachings recorded in the Old Testament, especially the existence of Adam and Eve, the details of the Flood, the giving of the Law by, Moses, the calling of Abraham, the kingship of David, the life of Jacob (and of his wife Rachel and his sons).

Consider lines 64-72. How does Dante describe the initial terrain of Limbo? What is unique about Limbo in all of Hell? What does Dante first notice about the people who dwell in that unique feature?

“a forest . . . thicketed with souls” (line 65); “a ring of light” (line 68); “people to be honored held that place” (line 72)

Take a look at the handout entitled “Classical and Medieval Virtues.” For which collection of virtues are these people in the light to be honored? Do those virtues alone permit them the light in which they live?

The intellectual virtues and, perhaps, the moral virtues. (lines 76-77) Esolen notes, “Human achievement in the arts and sciences merits honor even among those just men who will never see God: so precious is that intellect whereby we can truly be said to have been made in God’s image.”

No, the “grace of Heaven” permits and grants it. (line 78)

To what category of people do those in lines 85-90 belong? How do you interpret lines 100-102? How does it add to or detract from your view of Dante the poet?

They are all poets. As he says, they honored him by including him among their group. As Esolen says, “False modesty is but a small-minded form of pride, and Dante, like the other great-souled men in his narrative, will have none of it.”

It is interesting to note that the five poets each represent a particular area of poetry:

• Virgil – master of language & form (Aeneid)
• Homer – epic poetry (Iliad & Odyssey)
• Horace – satirical poetry (Ars Poetica)
• Ovid – lyric poetry (Metamorphoses)
• Lucan – historical narrative poetry (Pharsalia)

The classical allusions that Dante uses throughout the Comedy derive from Virgil, Ovid, and Lucan.

According to Esolen, the castle (lines 106-111) to which Virgil conducts Dante represent the seven branches of learning in medieval schools, the trivium and the quadrivium.

Another translator, Robert M. Durling, has a different interpretation.

Therefore, the castle may symbolize classical civilization as does the light.

Durling adds that some early commentators considered the stream to represent worldly temptations which must be shunned for learning (hence the poets walk on the water but do not become immersed in it) while later commentators have suggested it represents eloquence.

The translator John Ciardi adds one more possible interpretation of the walls, the seven branches of philosophy: physics, metaphysics, ethics, politics, economics, mathematics, and dialectics.

The green meadow derives from Virgil’s Elysian Fields where the virtuous dead reside.

What epic convention is represented in lines 31, 53, 55, and 131?

Epithets: 31 – Virgil, 53 – Christ, 55 – Adam, and 131 - Aristotle

What epic convention is represented in lines 55-60? In lines 85-90? In lines 121-129? In lines 131-145? How does each differ from the others? Whose inclusion surprises you?

They are all catalogues. The first is a catalogue of Biblical figures delivered from Limbo and taken to Heaven by Christ. The second lists the great classical poets whom Dante admired. The third is a catalogue of legendary Roman figures involved in the city’s eventual founding encountered by Aeneas. The fourth includes philosophers, scientists, a musician, an orator, a historian, a moralist, scientists, and two Muslim philosophers.