Dante's Divine Comedy

• 1. Which two of the eight epic conventions is represented in lines 1-12?

Epic simile – or, in this case, a mock epic simile because of the low reference in its final line.

Cataloging

Why is it an appropriate simile to construct in response to the Malebranche?

It compares the knightly or noblest forms of warfare and warriors to the most ignoble. Remember that the devils are at war with both God and man, no matter how ineffectual that war is in the end.

What is the subject matter and organization of the catalog’s first six lines (1-6)?

The first six lines detail military maneuvers arranged from heroic assaults and reviews to retreat (line 3), a suggestion of civil war (line 4), predatory raids (line 5), and sport (line 6).

What is the subject matter and organization of lines 7-9?

These lines detail the signals used in executing the previously listed actions.

How do lines 10-11 expand the scope of this catalog?

The details expand from horsemen (“cavalry”) to include both foot soldier and even naval vessels

• 2. Can you make any historical association with the fact that the infernal squadron consists of ten devils? (line 13)

Ten is the size of the basic organizational unit of the Roman legions.

What do you make of the proverbial line 15?

The “stews” are brothels or neighborhoods filled with brothels. Therefore, the proverb compares the denizens of a church to those of such a place. Clearly, the devils are not saints. Even their language is that of the Italian underworld.

• 3. Consider the simile in lines 19-24. Essentially, what are the two elements of the comparison?

Dolphins warning sailors of an approaching storm are compared to the sinners arching their own backsides briefly to alleviate the pain of the boiling pitch.

What, if anything, do lines 19-21 suggest concerning the unfolding action?

Perhaps they indicate that some manner of “storm” is approaching.

Consider the related simile in lines 25-30. Essentially, what are the two elements in it?

Bullfrogs crouching at the edge of a ditch are compared to sinners standing at the edge of the boiling pitch.

What action of the sinners do these lines depict?

Those who dare to rise out of the water quickly dive back in the moment they detect one or more of the devils approaching.

What is the effect of the simile in lines 34-36?

It produces a sense of the passivity of the hooked sinner and the pitch falling down his motionless body.

• 4. Consider the identifying story told by the sinner in lines 49-54. What do you learn of him?

He is the bastard son of a Navarrese woman whose father is guilty of violent waste and – perhaps suicide. In adulthood, he served the king of Navarre, Thibault (Tebaldo). In his office he took bribes until the king caught him.

What happens to the unidentified sinner before Virgil asks his final question of him? (lines 70-78)

Stormbreath yanks out an entire arm muscle from the sinner’s body, and Dragonsnout threatens to attack his legs us well, but Curlybeard, their leader, stops him.

Apparently oblivious of the obvious pain the man would be in, what is Virgil’s final question of him?

He wants to know the identify of the man he left under the pitch before coming to the surface.

What do we learn from his answer in lines 81-90?

The man is Friar Gomita, a Sardinian in service to the administrator of one of the island’s four districts. The friar was a grafter took bribes from his master’s enemies “to let them off scot-free.” (His master, Nino Visconti of Pisa, a judge, dismissed all complaints of grafting made against Friar Gomita, until facilitated the escape of prisoners. The judge then had the friar hanged.) The sinner calls him the “king of grafters.”

The sinner also mentions Michel Zanche of Logudoro, another of the four administrative districts. He, too, was apparently known for his grafting.

• 5. Finally, the unnamed Navarrese sinner offers more information regarding Italians in the boiling pitch (lines 97-105). What is the information, and why does he offer it?

The crafty sinner uses Dante and Virgil to set us countermeasures, offering to bring to the surface barrators who will speak their language, Tuscans and Lombards. (He has evidently caught the linguistic marks of their birthplaces in their accents).

[Apparently, Virgil has been speaking in a Lombard dialect.]

He explains that he will whistle to summon them, a signal the grafters typically use to alert others that the coast is clear to emerge from the boiling pitch. This signal will summon seven of his fellow sinners.

[Apparently, Virgil has been speaking in a Lombard dialect.]

How does the sinner’s plan play out. Especially, what role does telling the truth play in it? (lines 106-151)

Larddog (Cagnazzo) correctly suspects a trick (lines 106-108)

The Navarrese declares himself “an evil trickster,” and then claims to be “conniving greater sorrows for my friends.” (lines 110-111)

Harlequin (Alichino) is eager to accept the challenge. He directs the others to hide so as not to arouse the suspicion of the sinners to be summoned. (lines 112-117)

The devils out of the way, the Navarrese grafter dives into the pitch (lines 121-123)

Compare Larddog (Cagnazzo) and Harlequin (Alichino) in this fiasco to Dante and Virgil in Canto XXI, lines 127-135.

In both cases two observers have entirely different interpretations of the same phenomena. Both Dante and Larddog seem to see through their respective situations and are suspicious while both Virgil and Harlequin are overconfident in their own powers.

What is the ultimate outcome of the sinner’s ruse (lines 133-151)

Harlequin flies off toward the diving sinner who eludes the devil.

Tramplefrost takes out his frustration and anger on Harlequin, flying after him in a rage.

They catch each other in flight, engage in a fight and both fall into the pitch themselves.

Curlybeard dispatches four to the other side of the ditch filled with boiling pitch to assist in a rescue of their brother devils. They use their hooks to pull the flailing devils from the pitch.

What action is stated in the final line (line 151)?

Dante and Virgil depart the scene. Perhaps Virgil has finally recognized the untrustworthiness of the devils.