Dante's Divine Comedy

• 1. Lines 1-18 constitute a rather long introduction to Circle 8, the Malebolge. Dante coined the term from two Italian words: male, “evil”; and bolge, “pouches” or “sacks.” According to the first tercet, lines 1-3, of what is the terrain composed–and where have we seen that very material before?

It is made of iron-gray stone, the same stone that can be seen encircling the Third Ring of Circle 8. Note that in this tercet Dante is describing what he sees above him.

How do you see the topography described in the second tercet, lines 4-6?

Dante describes a great basin or well in the very center which drops far out of sight, more deeply into Hell.

In the third tercet, lines 7-9?

Around that abyss appear ten concentric “pockets” (bolgias, pouches, purses, ditches, etc.)

Interpret the imagery and meaning of the epic simile that fills lines 10-18.

The “pockets” or bolge are compared to both moats and defensive walls surrounding a castle. Of course, that “castle” lies at the bottom of the pit, the frozen lake of Cocytus. In addition, from ditch to ditch, he sees bridges connecting leading down toward the final edge.

Starting at line 16, the surrounding cliff is correlated with the central keep of a castle, and the central pit with the world surrounding the caste. The point is partly that this depth of Hell is a kind of perverted and inverted fortress, that of Satan, who is at war both with God and with the damned. That the pit truncates (“chops them short,” and gathers in the ridges emphasizes the ambiguous futility of the structure.

Further, the description of the valleys with their bridges surrounding the central pit evokes the image of a spider web. If seen as such, it is Satan who, like the larger species of spiders (think of Shelob in LOTR) that Pliny discusses in his Natural History.

• 2. What do you make of the way Dante and Virgil disembark from Geryon?

They do not dismount so much as they are “shaken from the monster Geryon’s back.” The demon monster has concluded whatever agreement Virgil had struck with him and rids himself of passengers he never wanted.

And, of course, they resume their leftward traveling.

Within the first bolgia Dante sees two sets of sinners being whipped so as they moved in opposite directions. What sinners constitute the two groups?

They are the panders who move from left to right – the direction opposite to the movement of Dante and Virgil. The seducers walk in the opposite direction, thereby moving in parallel with the pilgrim and his guide.

Symbolically, why may the whipping devils have horns? (line 35)

Perhaps the reason for the horns is that the immoral actions of the sinners themselves result in the cuckoldry of others. In addition, public whipping through the streets was a common medieval punishment.

• 3. How do you interpret lines 41-42?

“Fasted” seems to be a figurative word choice that suggests “I have seen him before and recently.”

Watch for other food metaphors in the rest of the Malebolge.

Who is the representative sinner here among the panders?

Venedico Caccianemico – an important Bolognese Guelph (You may find it interesting that his first name is derived from the Latin benedico, meaning “I bless,” and his surname means “drive away the enemy”

How does this sinner react to Dante’s walking a short way back to get a better look at him? (line 46-47)

He tries to “hide himself, lower in brow.”

What do you make of Dante’s question of the sinner in line 51?

The use of his metaphor seems to have been common in Florentine Italian. It is the second of the food images in a long line yet to come.

Early commentators observed the existence of a common grave for executed criminals outside Bologna, called the Salsa. In the Italian original, the word is plural, suggesting that Dante intends for it to refer to the repeated whip blows.

Does the sinner wish to respond?

No, he answers against his will.

Why, then, does he answer?

Dante’s speech recalls his native Bologna and, so, compels him to speak.

What is his answer?

He served as a pimp, perhaps forcing his sister Ghisolabella to sleep with the Marchese, some member of the powerful Este family.

He claims that natives of Bologna fill this circle of Hell.

When one of the whipping demons moves the sinner along, what crack does he make to him? (lines 66-67)

He tells Venedico that he needs to move along because he won’t find any women to sell here.

• 4. Who is the representative seducer?

Jason, leader of the Argonauts.

How is he different from Venedico Caccianemico and, in fact, most sinners in Hell other than Farinata and Capaneus?

Though whipped like every other sinner in this bolgia, Jason “does not seem to shed a tear for pain,” giving evidence, according to Virgil, of his kingliness. Virgil goes on to describe Jason as brave and intelligent.

[Dante will repeatedly allude to the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts in Paradiso.]

How does line 91 connect Jason to Pier delle Vigne, the three noble Florentine sodomites, and Dante himself?

Virgil remarks on Jason’s “words of sweetest skill.” In the original Italian, the word ornate, means ornate. He, too, is a rhetorician.

How do you interpret the contrapasso in the punishment of the panders and seducers?

That they are whipped perhaps alludes to their forcing their victims either to be used as whores or to submit to carnal efforts.

• 5. What is the sin punished in the second bolgia?

Flattery. It is understood that the flatterer exaggerates a sentiment that may not have been a true one in the first place. A harlot’s affirmation of affection is hardly to be trusted except insofar as her salesmanship is itself part of the purchase.

What is their punishment?

They dwell in a place the walls of which are “fungus-encrusted, thick with mold which rose in vapors from below and clung making a nauseous brawl with eyes and nose.” Further, the sinners are “plunged in just the sort of dung you dump from human privies and latrines.” (lines 106-108 and 113-114)

Do you care to discuss the contrapasso here?

OPEN QUESTION

What food image appears in line 118?

“Hunger.” It appears that the flatterers feed on the excrement in this bolgia.

Who is the first representative sinner?

Alessio Interminei. His surname suggests the interminability of the punishment.

Who is the second sinner?

Thais, a character from a play by the Roman playwright Terence. The play is entitled Eunuchus.

What do you think of her sin? What does it reveal about Dante and his theological sources for understanding this sin?