Dante's Divine Comedy

• 1. The apostrophe that opens Canto XXVI is a partner to the one in XXV.10-12 which condemns Pistoia. The words “you beat your wings over the land and seas” has aroused much comment among scholars. It is interesting to note that Dante’s surname Alighieri seems to derive from the Latin aliger, “winged.” Do references to flight occur elsewhere in Canto XXVI?

In addition to Florence in this apostrophe, the seafaring Ulysses is associated with “wings” in line 125.

Further, Dante’s understanding of rhetoric shuttles between the promise of a new city (lines 1-12) and the prophetic announcement of the destruction of the old one (136-142).

Perhaps Dante himself is as he makes his way closer to God.

• 2. How do you interpret lines 19-24?

Dante the Poet grieves when he approached the eighth bolgia. He also grieves as he writes about it. He is connecting the grief in the moment of writing with the grief experienced in the journey.

The phrase words “hold my genius under tighter rein/Lest without virtue’s guidance it run loose” employs a horse metaphor and recalls his boasting about outdoing Virgil, Ovid, and Lucan in the previous canto. Perhaps he is repenting of his boasting.

The Italian word “’ngegno” (line 21), translated “genius” by Esolen, was understood by Dante as the innate qualities of mind as opposed to those acquired by practice or knowledge. Ulysses quests for knowledge but also exhibits an innate mental capacity. (It is on page 264 in the Esolen translation. Dante omits the initial “i” and replaces it with an apostrophe.)

Holding his “genius under tighter rein” is exactly what Ulysses, we shall learn, did not do. Ulysses let his desire for knowledge “run loose” to the downfall of both himself and his men. Therefore, these lines may also be reflective on the sin punished here.

Lines 23-24 read “if my stars, or grace, has given me good,/I wont’s begrudge myself in its abuse.” The word “good” does not refer to salvation (since it does not given by the stars); that comes by God’s grace. The word more likely refers to Dante’s faculty of wit, which may be the gift of either nature or – in certain circumstances – God’s grace.

Apparently, Dante hopes to be exactly unlike Ulysses and use his gifts with righteous self-control.

• 3. What do you make of the epic simile in lines 25-33?

It recalls the winter simile regarding the vanishing frost at the beginning of Canto XXIV.

The scene of fireflies at dusk in summer contrasts with the intense suffering of the bolgia. That contrast creates a sense of distance between the hillside and the valley, reducing the sinners’ flames to minute proportions.

It also emphasizes the number of false counsellors, as numerous as fireflies. In a sense, it diminishes the significance of the sinners, especially of Ulysses, in the bolgia.

For the impact of punishment of the evil counsellors, check out James 3:4-6 . . .

What about the simile in lines 34-42?

The simile compares Elijah ascending to heaven on his fiery chariot to the sinners enveloped in flame within bolgia eight. Clearly, Elijah is antithetical to Ulysses. Elisha could see only the concealing fire as Elijah ascended; Dante can see nothing more than the flames enveloping the evil counselors.

It is also possible to see a struggle going on within Dante between pride in his journey and its end and the need for self-control and humility. It is easy to see a measure of pride in Elisha who asked Elijah for a double portion of the elder prophet’s spirit and his calling bears to devour the 42 boys who called him Baldy.

As Elisha sees himself as Elijah’s successor, to some degree Dante sees himself a successor to Virgil who is himself regarded in the Middle Ages as both poet and prophet.

Note lines 40-42. How does this tercet connect the evil counsellors to the previous canto?

The flames are said to have stolen the souls be enwrapping them and allowing them no overt identity.

How do lines 46-48 develop the role of the flames?

Virgil’s point seems to be that each of the flame-enclosed sinners is covered by the external sign of their inner ardor, their longing to captivate the minds of those upon whom they practiced their fraudulent work.

The flames declare the fire of intellect, of the malice that motivated the sinners’ counsels, and of the power of each sinner’s rhetoric.

• 4. What are the crimes of which Virgil accuses Ulysses and Diomedes? (lines 55-63)

Virgil lists three:

• the deception of the Trojan Horse (l. 59),
• the deception of Achilles, tricking him into entering the Trojan War, and
• theft of the Palladium for which the Trojan Horse was claimed to be a recompense.

Though not listed among these sins, the death of Deidamia, pregnant with Achilles’ child, is related in Statius’ Achilleid.

Dante probably followed the story of Ulysses and Diomede counselling the Trojan Antenor, Priam’s chief advisor, to steal the Palladium.

What is the “good” that comes from the Trojan Horse (line 59)?

Aeneas leads survivors on his own adventure westward with the purpose of founding Rome.

How do you understand Virgil’s response to Dante’s request to speak to Ulysses and Diomede (lines 70-75)?

He seems to see the request as a laudable one. (This is the first Homeric figure to speak in Inferno.)

Further, he insists that he do the talking lest the Greek heroes should disdain to answer a “barbarian.” According to one mythological account, Diomedes did not return home to Greece once he learned of his wife’s infidelity but instead ended up in Apulia (the “heel” of the Italian peninsula). The legend continues that some birds there came to be called Diomedian birds, their main trait being hostility to all barbarians and friendly only to Greeks.

Whether Virgil does address the pair in Greek (which he no doubt spoke) is up for debate since in the next canto the sinner to whom Virgil and Dante speak identifies Virgil as having spoken in a Lombard dialect. However, it should be remembered that Virgil consistently speaks to the classical figures they encounter.

What do you learn of Ulysses from his long speech (lines 94-99)

He launched his voyage of exploration after returning to Ithaca and defeating the suitors. Yet, he showed no affection for Telemachus, piety toward his father, nor love toward Penelope.

His sole goal is “to go forth/to gain experience of the world, and learn/of every human vice, and human worth.”

Can lines 98-99 be attributed to Dante’s quest?

Both men are on a journey at that moment to “learn of every human vice” and ultimately of “human worth.”

How do lines 100-102 depart from what you know of Ulysses/Odysseus in The Odyssey?

In Homer’s epic Odysseus arrives home in a Phaeacian ship, having lost all his men and his boat. Dante’s lines suggest he came home with one ship and enough men to constitute a crew for it.

How does he describe himself and his crew?

Stiff-necked and old

What do you make of his speech to his men when they reach the Straits of Gibraltar (the Pillars of Hercules (lines 112-120)?

Some read his oration to his crew a rallying cry to fulfill their humanity by exploring the world and questing for knowledge – a rather noble goal.

Others hear an echo of the serpent’s temptation of Eve, promising that she would become like God, knowing good and evil. (In fact, when Dante encounters Adam in Paradiso, Adam he talks about Ulysses as well.)

Others see this speech as Ulysses’ final act of evil counsel since he is leading his men to his death. (The Vivaldi brothers sailed through the Strait in 1291, seeking a route to India, but never returned. Without doubt, Dante knew of that failed voyage and may have seen Ulysses advising a doomed adventure.)

What do you make of lines 121-123?

Ulysses seems to be boasting and probably overstating the case, suggesting the men would not have hesitated to go on after hearing his words.

• 5. How does the epic simile in lines XVII: 7-15 set the reader up for Count Guido’s damnation?

As the Perillus, the creator of the Sicilian bull, was killed by being his own device’s first victim, so is Guido damned to eternal death in Hell through the agency of his own evil advice.

How does Dante attempt to persuade Guido da Montefeltro to identify himself (lines 55-57)

He ask him to identify himself as willingly as Dante has provided him with a detailed update on conditions in Romagna (lines 35-54) and offers to immortalize his name.

What is Guido’s response (lines 61-66).

He assents to answer but only because he doesn’t know that Dante will, in fact, be returning to the world of the living.

What do we learn of him in his response (lines 67-84)

He was a successful and well-known soldier and strategist.

He regards himself as more akin to the fox than the lion, clever more than violent.

As he aged, however, he repented of his life and became a lay friar among the Franciscans.

How does Guido’s speech connect him with Ulysses? (lines 79-81)

He uses a metaphor of the voyage of life. However, Ulysses’ final voyage is the antithesis of Guido’s retirement (until the Pope intervenes).

Who does he blame for his being in Hell (lines 85-93)

Boniface VIII whom he refers to as “the prince of the modern Pharisees.”

Interestingly, he accuses Boniface of violence against fellow Christians (rather than Saracens or Jews), disrespected the holy orders into which Guido had entered, and hypocritically told Guido that he would forgive, in fact could forgive, the sin he was asking Guido to commit in advance. In other words, Guido is guilty of both hypocrisy and evil counsel which should have placed him in this bolgia instead of that of the simoniacs.

What accusations does he charge to Boniface VIII in lines 86, 91-93, and 97?

He “wages war” against fellow Christians (line 86)

He ignores his own sacred office and orders as well as Guido’s religious profession (lines 91-93)

He is in a fever of pride (line 97)

How do lines 104-105 connect to Circle 0, Ante-Hell, or the Vestibule (call it what you will)?

The lines refer to Boniface’s persuading Celestine V to abdicate so that he could succeed to the papal throne himself.

If Guido repented and Boniface forgave him in advance for his “evil counsel,” why is he in Hell (line112-123)?

The black angel (cherub in the original Italian, the order of angels associated with knowledge) points out to St. Francis, “One who does not repent can’t be absolved,/nor can a man repent and will at once: the law of contradiction rules it out.”

In other words, basic logic disqualifies Boniface’s absolution of Guido. It further show Guido not to be as clever as he believed himself to be.

How does our final image of Guido (lines 130-132) contrast with our final image of Ulysses (lines 1-3)?

Ulysses’ flame is calm and steady while Guido’s is writhing.

Unlike Ulysses, who ends his speech with a certain majesty, Guido in sists upon his bitterness, realizing eternally his foolishness in his having given over his chance for love and salvation when he did the bidding of Boniface.