Dante's Divine Comedy

• 1. Read again lines 1-3, 91-105, and 131-136. What element does the imagery and diction in each passage have in common?

The recurring motif is water – though in the third passage, the water is figurative.

How is this element detected in the first instance?

It is detected by the sound it makes.

How powerful is the sound in the second instance?

It is powerful enough to make speech “almost impossible to hear.” (line 93)

What is its potential effect by the third instance?

If Dante and Virgil had been exposed to it much longer, it would have “drummed [them] deaf.” (line 105)

• 2. Of Canto XVI’s three episodes, the first is the pilgrim’s conversation with the so-called three noble Florentines. Read lines 7-9. How do they identify their connection to the pilgrim?

The are all from the same “crooked land,” Florence. This exclamation sets the topic of this canto: Florentine politics. The earliest canto of similar theme is Canto VI, where Ciacco, in fact, names these three Florentines.

What is Virgil’s characterization of the three Florentine sodomites?

He tells Dante he “should be courteous to men like these.” In fact, if it weren’t raining fire, he would advise Dante to descend to their level and run to them.

How do Virgil’s words echo Dante’s attitude toward Ser Brunetto Latini?

Dante showed nothing but respect for his inspiring teacher despite his sin.

What may Dante be saying about their sin in his description of their solution to the need to keep running?

They “wheel in a ring,” but each keeps his eyes on Dante by turning in his direction, their necks ever leaning opposite to their feet. There is a disparity of between their high courtesy and their concern for the public good (the path of their heads) and their homosexual conduct (the path of their feet). Of course, Brunetto displayed a like contrast between office, talent, and aims on the one hand and his sin on the other.

Though their nudity is like all other sinners in Hell, their comparison to wrestlers – “naked champions, muscles slicked with oil,/warily reaching where and when to seize/their chance before the jabs and punches fly . . .” (lines 22-24) evokes images of homosexual behaviors.

Who are the three men, and what do we know about them from the poem? What about knowledge from the notes?

Guido Guerra: “grandson of Gualdrada”; “he achieved much by judgment, and the sword.” (lines 34-39)

• His grandmother was a distant cousin of Dante’s.
• He was a member of one of the most powerful noble families in Tuscany.
• He was a chief leader of the Tuscan Guelfs.
• He led them back from exile to Florence after the Battle of Montaperti.
• He distinguished himself in battle at Benevento where the Guelphs lost.
• He led them to their restoration of power in Florence later.

Tegghiaio Aldobrandi: His “advice should have been welcomed in the world above.” (lines 40-41)

• He attempted to dissuade the Florentines from marching against the Sienese in what became the Battle of Montaperti.

Jacopo Rusticucci: He suffered because of “his shrewish wife.” (lines 43-45)

• Perhaps her shrewishness was his excuse for pursuing other men.
• He was a member of the lower nobility.
• The earliest commentators say that the hostility between him and his wife caused them to live apart and turned him against women in general.
• Others have a more distasteful explanation.

In Canto VI:79-81, Ciacco names all three (along with others, including Farinata), calling them men who “merit well.”

All of them were Guelph leaders.

All of them put true concerns for the city over those of party. (As did Farinata.)

Dante remembers their names from his youth and has revered them with “reverent love.” (lines 58-60)

Though Dante does not identify himself to these three, what information about himself does he reveal in lines 61-63?

He reveals that he has a heavenly destination but not before he has descended “to Hell’s dead center first.”

How does Rusticucci respond to Dante’s revelation?

He wishes him long life and a lasting reputation (lines 64-66)

What question is asked of Dante, and why is it asked?

He is asked if “courtesy and valor dwell/within our city as they used to do, or if they have departed from them all.” (lines 67-69)

• Courtesy refers to a sense of decency toward one’s fellows but more in the wider sense of a whole courtly code of living.
• Valor refers to a sense of showing attention to the worth of things by one’s own conduct.
• Both are societal values reflected in individual behavior.

The question is prompted by another Florentine sodomite’s recent arrival with his own news of Florence’s troubles. (lines 70-72)

What rhetorical form does Dante’s answer take? What is his answer? (lines 73-75)

This tercet constitutes another apostrophe, this time addressed to Florence (the only time in the entire comedy in which the name of Dante’s hometown is directly named.)

Dante’s answer is an accusation against the “new rich” moved in from outside the city. They have neither courtesy nor valor. Therefore, the cost is discord and division.

What do the three Florentines admire about Dante’s words? (line 81)

They most admire the boldness and freedom of his speech.

What request do they make of Dante? (lines 82-85)

Like Ciacco, they ask that Dante remember them to the living when (if?) he returns to the earthly life.

• 3. The last episode of this canto begins at line 88 following the departure of the three noble Florentines who leave in an instant. Lines 94-104 constitute the longest epic simile so far in the Commedia. What does Virgil require of Dante at this point?

He asks Dante to remove the rope he uses for a belt.

What had Dante once considered doing with it?

He “once or twice considered using it/to snare the leopard with the gaudy pelt.”

Specifically, how does he hand it over to Virgil?

He knots it and winds it up. (line 111)

Read lines 115-120. What does Virgil do with the rope (also called a cord by some translators)?

He tosses it over “the edge of the deep chasm” from which the waters from the Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon are falling.

What does Dante vaguely suspect regarding this action?

“Some strange new thing must correspond/to the strange gesture my good Teacher makes/and seconds with his gaze.” (lines 115-117)

What do you make of Dante’s apostrophe in lines 117-120?

Is it possible that Virgil can actually read Dante’s mind, or is he so sensitive and intuitive regarding events and Dante’s facial features and body language that he can accurately conclude what his charge is thinking?

This is the third of the apostrophes directed to the reader.

What does Virgil promise Dante is about to happen? (lines 121-123)

Virgil cryptically tells Dante, “You will soon see arise/what I await, and what you only dream/Soon it will be unveiled before your eyes.”

What do you make of lines 124-127?

When speaking a truth that seems a falsehood (as opposed to the lie that seems true, the theme of the circles of fraud), one may be blamed for lying without having done so (whereas the fraudulent, if successful, are credited with speaking the truth).

That a truth may have the face or appearance of a lie implies, of course, that a truth may also have the face of truth, be obviously true, and be immediately believed; this seems to be the case in lines 76-78: and note the emphasis on the pilgrim’s face in line 76.

Read lines 124-136. What advice is Dante giving regarding knowledge which, if shared, would appear to be untruthful?

He advises in such cases that a person say nothing.

What do you make of lines 127-136 that clearly ignore that advice just given?

Directly addressing the Reader, Dante insists that he, nevertheless, must speak something his readers will not believe. (This detail nudges toward the sins of the next two circles: those of fraud.)

He swears by the very words of his poem, making for an interesting contradiction. A follower of St. Thomas Aquinas, Dante was aware that Aquinas regarded poetry as a lie (just as Plato did). Therefore, he might be understood to guarantee the truth of a statement by swearing on a lie. After all, who could accept that a creature can swim in the air, at least anything larger than a bird.

[Note that Dante names his work here.]