Dante's Divine Comedy

• 1. With what epic convention does yet another canto (XXXI) open?

Epic simile which compares Virgil’s rebuking tongue to Peleus’ spear that could wound with one strike and heal with a second.

The allusion to Roland blowing his horn in the battle of Roncesvalles where Roland blew his horn to signal for help though Charlemagne and his troops were so far away, they could not come to his aid may be contrasted with figures named in this canto, including Ganelon who betrayed Roland to the Saracens. If so, who corresponds invertedly to each of the following: Roland, Charlemagne, and Ganelon?

Since Roland blows his horn, his contrasting counterpart is Nimrod who may be interpreted as signaling his emperor of the threat of intruders, Dante and Virgil.

That emperor has to be Satan (as, indeed, Satan is called in XXXIV.28)

If anyone betrays his emperor by assisting the invaders, as Ganelon does, that person would be Antaeus who deposits the pilgrim and his master directly on the level of Cocytus.

That means Dante and Virgil correspond to the Saracens since their invasion of Satan’s realm is complete.

Nimrod’s inclusion along with the other giants alludes to which of the seven deadly sins?

Pride

• 2. Lines 1-9 of Canto XXXII are an apology. For what?

Dante begins with a claim that words cannot fully capture the horror of Cocytus. This signals the canto’s solemnity and heightens its dramatic impact.

His conception of this circle, the center of the entire universe, does NOT come short of the conception of the place but not the words. In something of a hyperbole, he asserts such description is not for a tongue capable only of babytalk.

The words “mama” (mamma) and “daddy” (babbo) are explicitly words that Dante himself proscribed from the illustrious vernacular of poetry.

What is the significance of lines 10-12?

They are an invocation to the Muses, beseeching their help with this impossible linguistic task. It is the second invocation in the poem.

The lines include an allusion to Horace’s Ars Poetica where the ancient poet tells of the Greek poet Amphion who, through the magic of his lyre-playing, compelled the rocks of Mt. Cithaeron to move down the mountain and, of their own accord, create the walls of Thebes.

Dante is not asking for the Muses’ help to build a city but the image that will do justice to his conception of the Ninth Circle.

The frozen landscape is stark and monochromatic. Dante uses minimal imagery to emphasize stillness and death.

• 3. What is the name of the Ninth Circle (lines 22-24)? What is it?

Cocytus. It is the fourth river of Hell: the others in order of appearance are the Acheron, the Styx, and the Phlegethon.

In general, what are the names of the first two rings of the Ninth Circle? What is punished

Complex fraud

What are the names of the first two divisions?

The first Caina, for those treacherous to family members and named for the first murderer of a family member, and the second is Antenora, for those treacherous to the state or party and named for the Trojan who betrayed his city to the Greeks because Paris refused to return Helen.

In Caina, the sinners have their heads facing downwards. Their mouths clatter with the cold, their eyes run with tears (lines 34-39, 46-48).

In Antenora, the sinners there have their faces looking up because they are lower in the ice. (line 78)

What is the punishment of these sinners as described in a series of three similes (lines 22-30)?

They are trapped in ice at varying depths that vary from ring to ring.

It is so thick that even had a mountain fallen upon it, it would not have even creaked.

• 4. How exactly does he first encounter the first two sinners in Caina (lines 40-41)?

He notices them at his feet, frozen in the ice, the hair on both their heads entangled.

Who speaks in lines 54-69?

Camicione de’Pazzi (line 67-68)

Does he, as others in Hell have surmised, believe Dante is a sinner doomed to this location (line 52-54)?

He asks, “What mirror are you staring at in us?” The pronoun “us” refers to the sinners here.

How does Dante learn their names and those in Caina (lines 55-69)?

Camicione identifies them:

• The two with entangled hair are brothers, Alessandro and Napoleone degli Alberti, counts of Mangona. Apparently, they killed one another in anger. This information is not directly stated but has been identified since the earliest commentators on the poem.
• Modred who is not named directly but alluded to by the story of his death at the hands of King Arthur
• Focaccia, the nickname of Vanni dei Cancellieri of Pistoia, a White Guelph and murderer of other Guelphs according to various commentators
• Sassol Mascheroni, a Florentine who murdered a relative reputed by various commentators to have murdered a relative in a quarrel over an inheritance

Who is the last person Camicione names and why does he name him (lines 69)?

Carlino, a relative of Camicione who will commit a still greater sin, betraying a White stronghold in the Val d’Arno to Black forces for money

• 5. Who is the first sinner encountered in Antenora (lines 79-81)?

Bocca degli Abati, a traitor who caused the Guelphs to lose the Battle of Montaperti by cutting off the arm of his own standard-bearer.

Remember that Virgil chastised Dante for his listening intently to the battle of words between Master Adam and Sinon in Canto XXX. Why might he respond as he does to Dante’s request to pause so that he can engage with Bocca (lines 82-85)?

One might argue that Dante is actively engaged in remonstrating with a wrongdoer, earning Virgil’s full support.

How does the interaction with Bocca proceed (lines 87-112)?

First, Dante rebukes Bocca for his bad manners in so rudely berating a mortal on a special mission in Hell, to which Bocca continues his complaint,

Second, Dante offers Bocca fame if Bocca will identify himself, but Bocca tells Dante to “Get lost.”

Third, Dante threatens Bocca with a physical assault, but Bocca defies him.

Fourth, Dante pulls out Bocca’s hair in great clumps, in response to which Bocca yowls, moving another sinner to speak Bocca’s name.

Finally, Dante rejoices in his victory while Bocca remains sullen.

What is the substance of lines 113-123?

In revenge on Buoso da Duera who named him, Bocca reveals the names of other denizens of the second ring, beginning with Buoso himself.

He next names Beccheria and Soldanieri.

Finally he names Ganelon who betrayed Charlemagne’s rear guard at Roncesvalles (as noted in the lines concerning Nimrod’s horn in the previous canto).

Can the ripping out of Bocca’s hair be justified as the high-minded execution of divine justice that many commentators have suggested without positing a vengeful God siding with the Florentine Guelphs?

This is an OPEN QUESTION.

• 6. What is going on in lines 124-132?

Dante observes two sinners, one with head above the other’s.

The Poet blends an ordinary scene of a hungry man wolfing down a loaf of bread with a classical borrowing from Statius describing Tydeus asking his men (as he is dying) to cut off the head of Melanippus, whom he has just slain, but who had first given him his own mortal blow. With savage joy Tydeus, dying, chews upon the head of the man he killed.

What offer does the pilgrim make to the man gnawing on the other’s head (lines 136-139)

If the man will reveal his name, Dante will present to the world his case (so it may judge whether or not his wrath is justified.

• How does the frozen landscape reflect Dante’s theology of sin?
• Why does Dante treat political betrayal with such personal intensity?
• What does the breakdown of speech in this canto suggest about the nature of treachery?
• How does Dante’s behavior toward Bocca challenge or reinforce the poem’s moral authority?
• In what ways does Canto 32 function as a structural hinge for Cantos 33–34?