Dante's Divine Comedy

• 1. From this initial short catalogue in lines 7-21, what may we conclude regarding Dante’s view of war?

He seems to regard it as sheer human butchery. Indeed, the rest of the canto offers an apparent image of a huge slaughter-house.

Do you believe the first 21 lines suggest anything about Dante’s potential as a writer of martial epics such as the Iliad, the Aeneid, and the Thebaid?

This is an OPEN QUESTION.

• 2. The rest of the canto does present as something of an elaborated catalogue. Who is the first sinner here?

Mohammed

What further function does he serve in the major “catalogue” of this canto?

He identifies most of the sinners brought to Dante’s attention.

How do the punishments of both Mohammed (lines 22-27) and his son-in-law Ali (lines 32-33) represent a “total schism”?

From Dante’s perspective, Mohammed is a heretical schismatic from Christianity and Ali, his third successor, occasions the schism between Sunni and Shiite Islam.

Further, the existential threat to Christianity posed by Islam appears to justify the chief place accorded him in this catalogue.

• 3. Consider lines 34-36. What is the function of this tercet?

In it Mohammed identifies the sin(s) punished in this bolgia: scandal, discord, and schism.

The key word here is scandal, derived from the Greek σκανδαλον, “stumbling block.”

Beyond the slashing itself, how is the punishment made more horrifying (lines 40-42)?

After each sinner suffers a slashing that is itself an individualized contrapasso, he marches around the circle as his wounds heal only to be once more inflicted when he completes the course.

What suspicion does Mohammed express that other sinners Dante encountered earlier above have also expressed (lines 43-45)?

Why is Dante here? Is he merely dawdling until he commences his punishment?

After naming Ali, who is the next potential denizen of the ninth bolgia does Mohammed names (line 55)?

Fra Dolcino

Why may we rightly regard this naming as maliciously ironic?

Because he can see the future, he already knows Dolcino’s destiny lies in this bolgia.

• 4. Who is the next sinner Virgil and Dante encounter (lines 64-90)?

Pier da Medicina

How do lines 76-81 recall Mohammed’s reference to Fra Dolcino?

He suggests that Dante warn Guido and Angiolello, “two princes of Fano,” that they will be tricked and killed at the order of Malatestino Malatesta, lord of Rimini.

Of course, he knows this fate is unavoidable since he has already “seen” it.

Whom does this sinner point out to them (lines 96-102)

Curio

What does his slashing reveal about his sin (lines 96-102)?

His is a sin of the tongue which he used, essentially, to divide Caesar and Pompey, Caesar’s father-in-law and precipitate the great civil war between them. Thus, he caused both a familial and a political divide.

He doesn’t talk because he can’t with a split tongue.

• 5. Who is the next sinner to speak (lines 103-112)?

Mosca (dei Lamberti)

How does Dante exacerbate Mosca’s suffering (line 109)

He tells Mosca that his words resulted in the demise of Mosca’s own family.

• 6. Who is the final sinner Dante encounters in this canto (lines 112-142)?

Bertran de Born

What do you make of (lines 112-117)?

Dante attests to the truth of the “impossible” sight of Bertran Born, holding his severed head in his hand.

“Pure” may be construed as “blameless.” He knows what he reports is true because he saw it.

Dante is adapting St. Paul’s “breastplate of righteousness” (Esolen uses “armor”) in Ephesians 6:14 to defend his purity. (Isaiah 59:17 uses the same imagery.)

Compare lines 130-132 to Lamentations 1:12—

“Is it nothing to you, all you who ^[a]pass by?
Behold and see
If there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
Which has been brought on me,
Which the Lord has inflicted
In the day of His fierce anger.”

In contrast, how do these lines make Bertran sound?

In a sense, they are part of Bertran’s punishment. The tough guy is portrayed as self-pitying.

Yes, he does condemn himself for his causing discord which he caused between Henry II of England and his son.

This schism is supported by Luke 11:17—"“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.”

It is also supported by Achitophel’s encouraging Absalom’s alienation from his father David as recorded in II Samuel 15:7—18:15.