Dante's Divine Comedy

• 1. Where exactly are Dante and Virgil at the beginning of Canto 12? (lines 1-9)

They are where they were when they paused their journey to accustom themselves to the stench wafting up from Lower Hell (11.10-12) and during which pause Virgil explained the organizational structure and principles of (11.26-111).

How does Virgil explain the ruggedness of the terrain of their immediate descent? (lines 31-45)

The tumbled rocks and rough terrain were created when Christ descended into Hell. Dante treats the Harrowing not only as a theological event but as a cosmological and geological one. Christ’s descent: shakes Hell’s foundations, reshapes its topography, and creates the very path Dante must walk

Virgil’s explanation in lines 40-43 is based on the cosmogony of Empedocles. What does Virgil’s offering of this explanation suggest about the fullness of his understanding of the Harrowing of Hell?

Virgil’s explanation of what happened in the immediate aftermath of the Crucifixion shows a correct temporal and physical understanding (he, after all, actually witnessed these phenomena 53 years after he arrived in Limbo). However, his use of the Greek poet and philosopher Empedocles as authority shows his ingrained pagan way of accounting for one of Christianity’s greatest miracles, Christ’s ransoming of souls committed to Hell. According to Empedocles (IV.138), in addition to the four elements (earth, water, air, fire) there were two others, and these governed the universe in alternating movements of love (concord) and hatred (chaos). As chaos moves toward concord, crowned by love, that very order, momentarily established, at once recedes and moves back toward chaos. This “circular” theory of history is intrinsically opposed to the Christian view, in which Christ’s establishment of love as a universal principle redeemed history once and for all. In Virgil’s understanding, the climactic event in Christian history marked only the beginning of a (final?) stage of chaos.

How many times now has Virgil employed the Harrowing of Hell and what has it explained each time?

He references the Harrowing three other times:

In IV.52-63, Virgil explains that a “Mighty One”, crowned with victory, descended to Limbo and took Adam, Abel, Noah, and many others into blessedness. Here he references the Harrowing 1) to explain the only historical exception to Limb’s rule of no salvation, 2) to clarify the theological status of virtuous pagans and Old Testament figures, and 3) to establish Christ’s authority as the one figure who can break Hell’s boundaries. Harrowing of Hell to explain why the infernal powers cannot ultimately prevent divine intervention and why Dante should not fear.

In IX.22-30 and 64-105, Virgil refers to the Harrowing of Hell 1) to explain why the demons’ resistance cannot stop Dante’s journey, 2) to reassure Dante that divine authority has already conquered Hell’s rebellious forces, and to frame the Harrowing as a precedent for the present divine intervention.

[We will also hear another indirect reference in XXI.52-57.]

• 2. Who is the guardian of the Seventh Circle?

The Minotaur

What is the full mythological background of this figure? (See Esolen’s notes as well as lines 16-21.)

The story begins not with the monster, but with Crete’s royal lineage.

• Zeus and Europa: Minos is born from the union of Zeus and Europa, making him semi-divine. When Europa’s husband Asterion dies, Minos claims the throne.
• To prove divine favor, Minos prays to Poseidon to send a bull from the sea, promising to sacrifice it. Poseidon sends a magnificent white bull.
• Minos, captivated by the bull’s beauty, breaks his vow and sacrifices a lesser animal instead.
• NOTE: In Canto V, line 4, “Horrible Minos grunts like a bull.” These words are at Esolen’s discretion, and they offer a glimpse into his thinking.

This act of hubris triggers the entire chain of events.

As punishment for Minos’ deceit:

• Poseidon causes Pasiphaë, Minos’ wife (a daughter of Helios), to develop an overpowering, divinely induced desire for the bull.
• Pasiphaë enlists the master craftsman Daedalus, who constructs a hollow wooden cow in which she can hide.
• The bull mates with the disguised Pasiphaë, and she conceives a monstrous child.

This child is born Asterion (or Asterius), later known as the Minotaur—literally “the Bull of Minos.”

The Minotaur is described as:

• Body of a man, head of a bull (sometimes also a bull’s tail).
• A being of hybrid monstrosity, neither fully human nor fully animal.
• A symbol of unnatural union, divine punishment, and the breakdown of proper cosmic order.

Minos, horrified and ashamed, seeks to hide the creature.

To contain the Minotaur:

• Minos commands Daedalus to build an elaborate, inescapable maze—the Labyrinth—beneath the palace at Knossos.
• The Labyrinth becomes both a prison and a ritual space, a place where the Minotaur is fed human victims.

The Minotaur grows to adulthood in darkness, becoming increasingly savage.

The next phase of the myth ties Crete to Athens:

• Minos’ son Androgeos is killed in Athens under murky circumstances.
• In retaliation, Minos forces Athens to send seven young men and seven young women every nine years (or annually, in some versions) to be devoured by the Minotaur.

This ritualized sacrifice becomes a symbol of Athenian humiliation.

The hero Theseus volunteers to end the suffering:

• He sails with the third tribute group to Crete.
• Ariadne, daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë, falls in love with him and gives him a ball of thread (the clew) to navigate the Labyrinth.
• Theseus kills the Minotaur—usually with a sword or club—and escapes the maze by following the thread.

This act becomes one of the foundational hero myths of Athens.

How does this guardian’s background and nature as depicted in this canto make it appropriate for the entire Seventh Circle? (You may find it helpful to refer to XI.29-51 in addition to lines 10-15, 22-25 in this canto.)

The Minotaur’s back story involves murder, uncontrolled desire leading to an unnatural (bestial) union, murder, human sacrifice, and blasphemous actions.

Does the Minotaur pose any real threat to Dante?

Apparently, it does. We have seen Dante afraid when facing earlier guardians, most recently the Fallen Angels. Here, Virgil advises Dante to move quickly while the beast is essentially throwing a fit. (lines 25-27)

• 3. In detail, what is the punishment of those violent against their neighbors (lines 46-48, 54-57, 73-75, 103-105, 115-117, 121-122, 124-125).

These sinners occupy the Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood. Sinners are immersed to different depth depending on the severity of their violence: murderous tyrants up to their eyebrows, homicides up to their throats, plunderers up to their waists, and an unspecified group up to their ankles. The centaurs shoot arrows at any soul who tries to rise above the level of blood assigned to him.

How do you interpret the contrapasso in this round of the Seventh Circle?

Because they spilled blood, they are now submerged – to varying degrees, according to the crime, in boiling blood. It is boiling because they murdered in the heat of violent passion. The centaurs represent bestial violence, mirroring the violent impulses of the sinners.

As among the Avaricious, here there is no individual representative sinner with whom Dante converses. What, if anything, do you make of those sinners whom Nessus names?

The names offer a moral taxonomy of violence. They fall into three overlapping categories: ancient world tyrants (Alexander and Dionysus), barbarian devastators of Italy (Attila), and contemporary Italian marauders (Ezzelino, Obizzo d’Este). In a sense, this continuum of bloodshed makes the Phlegethon a historical river, flowing through time as well as Hell. For Dante’s first readers, the list first offers nods at familiar ancient villains, then moves uncomfortably closer to home, forcing him to confront Italy’s own moral collapse.

In addition, Ezzelino is the archetype of Ghibelline brutality, and Obizzo a Guelph tyrant whose murder is attributed to his own son.

His list reflects the political theology of his Monarchia in poetic form: Illegitimate power is always founded on violence, and violence destroys itself.

Who do you believe Dante might add to the Phlegethon if he were aware of history from his time to our own?

Adolph Hitler, Talaat Pasha (directed Armenian genocide), Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong, and others are sadly possible.

• 4. What purpose does the apostrophe of lines 49-51 serve? Do you agree? If so, why? If not, why not?

The apostrophe identifies two of the most immediate causes of violent acts, cupidity and wrath. This ethical reflection suggests the fundamental key for interpreting the whole canto—obtuse greed for worldly goods, “blind cupidity,” prompts people to make violence, to “foolish anger.”

At the root of the sins of tyranny, of which those Dante witnesses were guilty, lies avarice directed against those close by. Perfectly, suited to the zone of the Inferno reserved for “mad bestiality” are the ancient monsters who guard the abyss and he first category of the damned of the seventh circle—the Minotaur and the Centaurs—because of their bestial and human nature, the principal features of their histories, and the way their animality overwhelms reason (here illustrated by the bestial fury of the Minotaur and the sadistic task assigned to the Centaurs.

• 5. How are the centaurs appropriate sub-guardians/punishers of the violent against their neighbors?

Their mythological history makes them nearly perfect representations of the sin of violence against others.

How does the background mythology connected to Nessus support the purpose and nature of this Round (lines 67-69 along with Esolen’s note?

Nessus tried to rape Deianira, but Hercules shot him with a poisoned arrow. Before he died, he dipped a tunic into his own now poisoned blood. He then gave it to Deianira, telling her that whoever put on that tunic would become enamored of her. Years later, when Hercules fell in love with Iole, Deianira gave him the tunic. He put it on, experienced excruciating pain, and committed suicide to end his agony. Vengeful, Nessus displays his connection to violence against others, and precisely that “difficult” anger described by St. Thomas.

Interestingly, Ovid describes Nessus with the words “scitus vada,” an expert in fords. This occurs in Metamorphoses 9.125 (in the Latin original).

What about Pholus?

Pholus’s violence is tempered by reason. He has no better nature to recommend him. Like Nessus, he died at the hands of Hercules but as the result of an accident. He himself dropped one of Hercules’ poisoned arrows on his foot and died.

How is Chiron unique among the centaurs?

While both Nessus and Pholus were sired by Ixion, Chiron’s father was Saturn. Chiron educated Achilles, Aesculapius, Hercules, and many other famous Greeks. When Virgil recognizes him, he knows Chiron must be the leader of the centaurs.

Chiron’s bowed head may be intended to suggest wisdom or an attitude of meditation, but it also serves to direct the reader’s gaze to the creature’s breast, where its two natures, human and bestial, are joined.

Do you see anything interesting in lines 28-30 and 79-82 on the one hand and lines 76-78 on the other?

In lines 28-30, Dante first mentions that the fallen rocks move under his weight.

In lines 79-82, Chiron notices the same effect of Dante’s movements on the terrain.

In both instances, the movement of the rocks is due to Dante’s solid body, unlike the shades who inhabit the realm of Hell. However, in lines 76-78, Chiron is capable of moving his beard as though it were physical.

• 6. How does Virgil’s explanation of his accompanying a living man (lines 85-90) compare to his conversations with other guardians?

In the cases of Charon, Minos, and Plutus, Dante’s words are harsh and peremptory.

With Charon, Virgil responds to his unwillingness to let Dante cross the Acheron: “Be still!/No questions—only know that this is willed/where power is power to do whatever it will.” (III.94-96)

With Minos, as he did with Charon, Virgil dismissively states, “No questions – only know that this is willed where power is power to do whatever it will.” (V.22-24)

With Plutus, Virgil insulting commands, “Shut up, you cursed wolf of Hell!/Swallow your rage and let it gnaw your guts!/His passage to the hollows has it cause./It is willed from on hight, whence Michael brought/vengeance against the arrogant revolt.” (VII.8-12)

With Chiron, however, Virgil briefly retells the story of Beatrice coming to ask him to guide Dante on this journey. This is one of the few references to Beatrice within Hell. An appeal to such authority is perhaps made to Chiron in view of his unusual rational powers.

What do you make of Virgil’s use of the word necessity in line 87?

The word is most appropriate because Dante’s journey began in Heaven at the will of the Virgin Mary. What is willed in Heaven must be; it is necessary.