Dante's Divine Comedy

• 1. Read lines 1-21. Along with the opening of Canto XXX, this epic simile is the most elaborate of the remaining introductory similes. Note the layering of levels of the cosmos that constitute its structure. How do you see that layering in lines 1-3, 4-6, 9-12, and 10-15.

Lines 1-3: the heavens, specifically the constellations

Lines 4-6: the earth

Lines 9-12: the weather

Lines 10-15: the human being subject to mutable passions

What are the foci of the simile in lines 17-18 and 18-21?

The change of Virgil’s expression compared to the melting frost in contrast to his laying “the plaster on the sore.”

The pilgrim’s response compared to the peasant’s initial dismay and later hope.

Note the changes in the world’s “face” parallel the changes in the faces of Virgil and the pilgrim.

Look at Exodus 16:14-21 for an image that parallels lines 16:14-21.

¹⁴ And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. ¹⁵ So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.

And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: ‘Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’”

¹⁷ Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. ¹⁸ So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need. ¹⁹ And Moses said, “Let no one leave any of it till morning.” ²⁰ Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. ²¹ So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.

Consider Psalm 23 in comparison to lines 13-15.

Some commentators recall Virgil’s Bucolics and Georgics, both pastoral in nature and the fact that in the Middle Ages Virgil was thought of as a “shepherd.”

Even today, we think of the shepherd in Psalm 23 as Christ, supported by John 21:17’s “feed my sheep.”

To what practice of poets does line 6 refer?

The practice is writing. No doubt Dante wrote with a quill pen.

Notice another simile involving writing in line 100.

What earlier scene in Inferno is recalled in line 19-21?

It recalls Virgil’s original rescue of the pilgrim, emphasizing the hopeful tone.

• 2. What impact does the sight of the “ruins” in lines 22-30?

It seems to revive Virgil’s confidence.

It also demonstrates that Catalano the hypocrite gave valuable advice regarding escaping the Sixth Bolgia than had Malacoda.

What virtues does Virgil exhibit in these lines?

You may see prudence, discretion, and fortitude, as if demonstrating the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance).

• 3. Look at lines 45-57. What is Virgil’s immediate exhortation for Dante the pilgrim?

Dante must not be sluggish or he will not succeed in his goal. In fact, failing to do so will result in no meaningful legacy at all. It is an appeal to the pilgrim’s spirit – even ambition.

Compare lines 49-51 to Wisdom 5:15: “For the hope of the wicked is as dust, which is blown away with the wind, and as a thin froth which is dispersed by the storm: and a smoke that is scattered abroad by the wind: and as the remembrance of a guest of one day that passeth by.”

Virgil’s words take on a similarly moralizing tone.

• 4. Interpret lines 55-57.

The climb from the bottom of Hell to the surface of the earth, or the climb to the top of Purgatory, either one could be “the longer stair.”

Look at lines 58-64. What is Dante doing as he climbs and why?

He seems to be trying to convince Virgil that as he climbs, he is doing much better than, in fact, he is.

How are the serpents as a punishment for the thieves reminiscent of Genesis 3:1-7? (lines 91-96)

The sinners are naked as are Adam and Eve in the Garden.

The archetypal thief is the devil, who stealthily entered the Garden and the serpent in order to steal mankind from God (as Augustine comments in his work on Genesis).

Adam’s sin included all others (murder because it caused his and Eve’s deaths, theft because the fruit was forbidden, and so forth).

In the Confessions, Augustine devotes most of Book 2 to explicating his adolescent theft of pears from a neighbor’s orchard as a type of Adam’s sin and of sin in general,

In the parable of the sheepfold (John 10:1-18), the thief is regularly identified as the devil.

• 5. Consider lines 91-118.

Are lines 106-111 appropriate or ironic in this description of the sinner reduced to ashes?

Dante juxtaposes an antithetical comparison with the mythical Phoenix, which lives for 500 years and then immolates itself on a pyre of spices, to be reborn from its ashes. The tale of the phoenix is also borrowed from Ovid.

What is the Christian symbolism in the myth of the Phoenix?

It is a symbol of resurrection. If interpreted in this way, the punishment of the thieves becomes a distorted imitation of the Crucifixion.

To what does Dante the poet compare Vanni Fucci in lines 112-114?

Vanni’s attitude is like that of one who has suffered demonic possession or an epileptic fit. Christ exorcises a “dumb spirit” in possession of a boy (Mark 9:17-18): “¹⁷ Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. ¹⁸ And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”

What may Dante be saying by giving Vanni Fucci line 126?

He may be suggesting that Pistoia was itself “a den of thieves,” evoking Christ’s words in Matthew 21:13 – “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.”

What prompts the pilgrim’s request of Virgil in lines 127-129?

Dante had known Vanni Fucci as violent criminal, the most serious being murder. He seems to be unaware of his thievery.

Lines 142-150 present the last of the prophecies aimed at Dante that will be heard in Inferno. Why does Vanni Fucci deliver this prophecy?

He does it out of spite (line 151). He is grieved by Dante’s seeing him and now knowing his eternal punishment.