Dante's Divine Comedy

• 1. What is Dante’s disposition at the beginning of this canto? Why? (ll. 1-3)

He remains sad, still pitying Paolo and Francesca.

• 2. What is the punishment of the gluttonous – in detail? (ll. 7-12, 17-21, 27-33)

They lie on the ground while an unvarying cold rain pours down hail, snow, and foul water upon them and soaks the ground so that it stinks. (Cf. Wisdom 16:16 – “For the wicked that denied to know thee, were scourged by the strength of thy arm, being persecuted by strange waters, and hail, and rain, and consumed by fire.”

Cerberus, with his hook-like claws tears at and shreds the sinners to bits.

The downpour causes the damned to roll constantly from side to side in a fruitless attempt to shield themselves.

Further, Cerberus makes so much noise “Yammering in an agony of greed” and thundering at the souls that “they wish they could go deaf.” (lines 28-33)

• 3. How do you interpret the contrapasso of this punishment?

Among other things, our right-ordered consumption of food is meant to maintain our body temperature; in Hell the gluttons are eternally cold (line 8).

The sluggishness of the gluttons suggests their sedentary lives spent consuming food and drink far in excess of that necessary to sustain life. Ciacco is barely able to make himself sit up and is worn out by his brief conversation. (line 90)

Cerberus, the guardian of the third circle, symbolizes a mindless greed for food and drink: “straining to eat and nothing else” (line 29).

The gluttons themselves Dante describes as “yowling like dogs,” (line 19) the dog connecting to Cerberus and his ravenous image.

Dante’s describing the damned as “desecrating wretches” recalls Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 6:19 – “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” The gluttons have offended by desecrating the temple of the Holy Spirit, their own bodies.

The gluttons corrupted the natural desire for food and drink by turning it into an idol. All they produced in their sin was waste and garbage which now rains down upon them while they lie inert in the slop.

• 4. Dante has re-imagined Cerberus, the guardian of the third circle. What about Dante’s depiction of him connects him to the sin of gluttony? How is he like the serpent in Genesis?

Cerberus’s red eyes – perhaps bloodshot from partying too much and too late, his black beard greasy – perhaps from gluttonous eating habits, his large gut, and his clawed hands – perhaps for grasping his food all connect to gluttony.

First, in regard to his similarity to the serpent in Eden, Dante refers to Cerberus as “that great worm,” a word used in medieval times as an equivalent to serpents. (Even dragons were called worms.) Satan himself is called “an evil worm” in the 34^th canto.

Second, he eats dirt. (“So the Lord God said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.’” [Genesis 3:14])

• 5. What is the substance of Ciacco’s prophecy? (lines 64-75)

The newcomers (the White Guelfs led by Vieri de’ Cerchi) to Florence will drive the established power families (the Black Guelfs led by Corso Donati) out. (lines 65-66)

Within three years, Pope Boniface VIII will manipulate the situation so that the former rulers will return and exile the newcomers. (lines 67-69)

Pridefully, the old families will wield their power to make life more than difficult for the newcomers. (lines 70-72)

Two unidentified just men speak out against the avarice, pride, and envy of Florentines, but no one listens. (lines 73-75) [Dante may be comparing Florence to Sodom; the lines evoke the language of Abraham when bargaining with God to save Sodom for Lot’s sake. (Genesis 18:16-33) However, the “two men” also evoke Revelation 11:2-3 where the two witnesses will prophesy for 1260 days. Though three men are mentioned, Ezekiel 14:13-14 may also evoke the idea of a decided minority: ¹³ “Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. ¹⁴ Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,” says the Lord God.]

He also tells Dante that the men listed in lines 79-80 are doomed to circles far below where punishments are more dire for fouler sins In lines 85-86.

• 6. What do you make of Ciacco’s request of Dante?

It is unclear to whom Ciacco wishes to be remembered, but he also doesn’t mind their knowing where he is.

• 7. What is the “trump of doom” (lines 94-95)? How do lines 96-99 complete the concept?

It is an auditory signal of Christ’s return: “And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31); “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52); “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

Lines 96-99 refers to the Final Judgment where each resurrected person will face Christ’s judgment (only a shadow in the Hell that Dante visits): “And Jesus said, ‘For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.’” (John 9:39); “And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead.” (Acts 10:42)

• 8. What is Dante’s final question of Virgil (lines 103-105) and how does Virgil answer it (lines 111)?

Dante asks if the punishment of the damned will increase, decrease, or remain the same subsequent to the Final Judgment.

Virgil, referring to Aristotelian teaching that as a thing is perfected it feels greater pleasure, concludes that perfection would also bring “perfected” pain.

• 9. Who would you use as a representative sinner of gluttony?

Esau, Emperor Vitellius (briefly, successor to Nero), Augustus Gloop (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)