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Dante's Inferno: Cantos 31-34

“Go to heaven for the climate, Hell for the company” (Twain, Mark).

            The human race is a race of sinners, in one way or another; it is undeniable.  It is in human nature to sin.   Many of the most important people in history are found in Hell, influential people who impact many others.  These people are not necessarily terrible; they just simply have committed a sin or sins in the eyes of God.  Upon Dante and Virgil entering the ninth circle of Hell, they approach the first ring of the ninth circle, known as Caina.  This ring is meant for the punishment of people who betrayed their kin, appropriately named after Cain, who in tales of the bible killed his own brother, Abel.  This tale is known across the Christian world, making Cain an influential person.  Humans make mistakes, everyone sins, and it is important to remember people for what good they did in life, not just their sins.  “‘I am alive’, I [Dante] said, ‘and if you seek game it may be precious to you above all else that my notes on this descent include your name.’  ‘Exactly the opposite is my wish and hope,’ he [the shade] answered, ‘Let me be’” (The Inferno, Canto 32, Lines 91-95).  The shade here, like many souls found in Hell, does not wish to be remembered for his sins, but rather for his good qualities.
            In the last canto of The Inferno, canto 34, Dante and Virgil meet Lucifer, Satan himself.  In the mouths of his three monstrous heads lie three of the most influential sinners in the history of man: Judas, Brutus, and Cassius.  These three men, although committing enormous sins of betrayal, all had good qualities in life as well as their bas qualities.  They are humans; humans who made mistakes, like all humans, just their mistakes were far more grave.  “‘That soul that suffers most,’ explains my Guide, ‘is Judas Iscariot, he who kicks his legs on the fiery chin and has his head inside.’” (The Inferno, Canto 34, Lines 61-63).  Judas, another famous biblical character, is ever so influential as to have helped shape the very tale of Christ.  Judas, prior to his falter, was a very virtuous man, one of Christ’s disciples.  Besides betraying Christ, Judas really wasn’t all that bad.  These people and there are many of them, who do make mistakes and end up in Hell, and still very much the same as the few people who live a completely sinless life and end up in heaven.  Brutus and Cassius, the two other sinners being eaten by Lucifer, are in much the same boat as Judas.  Brutus and Cassius were not terrible people all their life, but they did commit a terrible sin.  For this reason they lie in Hell, and for this reason Twain feels that one can “Go to heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.”

Dante's Inferno: Cantos 26-30

“Imagine a place where every horror comes to life, where every torture is real and time stands still (Iced Earth).”

            Half way through canto 26, Dante and Virgil find the evil counselors, those who planned evil scams and stole Gods virtues with bad intentions.  People such as Ulysses and Diomede reside here.  In life, Ulysses and Diomede helped to defeat the Trojans, by plotting and carrying out possibly the greatest scam of all time, the Trojan horse.  In Hell, they exist together in a double flame, hiding their respective shades.  “He [Virgil] answered me [Dante]: ‘Forever round this path Ulysses and Diomede move in such dress, united in pain as once they were in wrath’” (The Inferno, Canto 26, Lines 55-57).  The punishment is fitting; they reside in flames for they worked in mysterious ways in life, sneaking beneath the eyes of the enemy.  Now they are eternally hidden in a flame, hidden from the eyes of all, just as they hid from the eyes of others in life.  Their torture is fitting, causing their greatest horrors to come to life.  It is also everlasting; they forever round a path, too the point that time seems to stand still.
            In canto 28, the poets come across the sowers of religious discord: those who attempted to split or cause a schism in the church.  Here reside Mahomet and his son-in-law Ali.  In the eyes of Dante, these two represent the complete schism between Christianity and Mohammedanism.  In Hell, the sowers of discord are punished by a great demon wielding an enormous sword.  The demon, one by one, slits the shades with his sword, their wounds symbolically representing the schisms they cause in life.  Once their wounds heal, the demon gashes them once again.  “‘Behind us, warden of our mangled horde, the devil who butchers us and sends us marching waits to renew our wounds with his long sword when we have made the circuit of the pit; for by the time we stand again before him all the wounds he gave us last have knit’” (The Inferno, Canto 28, Lines 37-42).  Those who caused schisms in life face their greatest horror in Hell: having their own flesh slashed, inflicting a schism upon themselves, in a timeless act of brutality.
            In canto 29, Dante and Virgil continue on their journey through the abyss, eventually meeting with the falsifiers, essentially those who lied in life.  The falsifiers are punished by the suffering through all of their senses.  They live in darkness, a place filled with disgusting odor.  They are deprived of water, forever thirsty; they suffer from diseases, and a shrieking noise.  In life these shades corrupted society with their lies, deceiving the senses of others, and now their sense are forever punished.  “‘If all the misery that crams the hospitals of pestilence in Maremma, Valdichiano, and Sardinia in the summer months when death sits like a presence on the marsh air, were dumped into one trench – that might suggest their pain’” (The Inferno, Canto 29, Lines 45-50).  The shades here are appropriately punished for their sins.  Misleading others’ senses in life leads to an eternity of misleading for your own.  The shades here are truly experiencing their greatest horrors, horrors that will consume them for eternity, causing time to stand still, and their very existence to slip from their minds.

Iced Earth. “Dante’s Inferno.” Burnt Offerings. CD. 1995.

Dante's Inferno: Cantos 21-25

“A great flame follows a little spark” (The Divine Comedy).

In canto 21, Dante’s character and Virgil meet a group of demons guarding the Grafters who are eternally stuck in a bubbling tar.  These demons, like the sinners they guard, are also sinners in their own right; they are fallen angels, angels who have sinned.  The demons, just as the sinners, and every single being found in Hell, are not perfect, as they have sinned in some way.  Their imperfections can be seen in canto 22, when two of the demons, Grizzly and Hellken, engage in a fight.  “Grizzly turned his talons against Hellken, locked with him claw to claw above the ditch” (The Inferno, Canto 22 Lines 137-138).  These demons, fallen angels, have been cast into Hell for they are not perfect.  In this sense, they can be compared to the quote from The Divine Comedy in that their sins, the little spark, have earned them a one way ticket to Hell, the great flame.

In canto 23, the poets find those who were hypocrites in life.  Dante’s character, after speaking with two friars, spots Caiaphas, the chief hypocrite, who lies crucified to the floor of Hell.  In life, Caiaphas pushed forward the crucifixion of Jesus, with the explanation that one man should die for the nation so others do not, when in actuality his intentions were far from his explanation.  “‘That one [Caiaphas] nailed across the road counseled the Pharisees that it was fitting one man [Jesus] be tortured for the public good’” (The Inferno, Canto 23 Lines 106-108).  Caiaphas can be related to the quote from The Divine Comedy in that his act of promoting the crucifixion of Jesus, his little spark, led to his eternal fitting torture, his great flame.

In canto 24, Dante’s character and Virgil come across the thieves.  With the thieves are many serpents, snakes, and other reptiles, whose jobs are to bind the hands of the thieves and to perpetually torment them.  Dante’s character approaches one of the thieves who halfheartedly identifies himself as Vanni Fucci.  “‘I am Vanni Fucci, the beast.  A mule among men, I chose the bestial life above the human.  Savage Pistoia was my fitting den” (The Inferno, Canto 24 Lines 124-126).  In life, Fucci successfully stole treasure from the Sacristy, for, which others were blamed.  But now, in Hell, he receives his proper punishment along with the other thieves.  Like the other two examples cited, Fucci can be related to the quote from The Divine Comedy in that his sin can be seen as his little spark, and his punishment can be seen as his great flame. 

Dante's Inferno: Cantos 16-20

“There is no greater sorrow than to be mindful of the happy time in misery” (The Divine Comedy).

In Canto 16, Dante’s character and Virgil come across three highly emotional shades.  These shades approach Dante’s character for they recognize his clothing to be that of Florentine style, Florence being where they once had lived.  The “speaker” for the three shades, Jacopo Rusticucci, being far from laconic, enlightens Dante’s character with a description of each of the three, touching on important parts of their past lives.

“‘This peeled and naked soul who runs before me around this wheel, was higher than you think there in the world, in honor and degree.  Guido Guerra was the name he bore, the good Gualdrada’s grandson.  In his life he won great fame in counsel and in war’” (143-144).  Here Rusticucci speaks of Guido Guerra, who he says was a very honorable man of high degree during his life.  Rusticucci speaks in a tone of sorrow with a definite touch of yearning for the past.  Guerra, once an honorable man, has been reduced to a fatuous “naked soul.”  This tale causes distress among the shades as they speak of lost happy times in a most miserable one. 

“‘The other who behind me treads this sand was Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, whose good counsels the world would have done well to understand’” (144).  Here Rusticucci speaks of Aldobrandi with a tone of regret and a desire to relive the past.  He speaks of Aldobrandi as a wise man, almost too adroit for the commoner: one who “the world would have done well to understand.”  He talks of Aldobrandi in a way as if he craves another chance in life for he can remember the happy times he once lived, where now he can only speak of them in sorrow. 

“‘And I who share their torment, in my life was Jacopo Rusticucci; above all I owe my sorrows to a savage wife’” (144).  Rusticucci goes on to speak of himself, with only regret from his past life.  Although he speaks of sorrow in life, he speaks in a way as if he requests another chance in life.  This shows that indeed he is thinking of the happy times he once had in his past life, yearning to be human once again.  Upon ferreting Dante’s character, an actually human, Rusticucci becomes filled with excitement; it is patent that he wants to connect with his past life in any way possible.  He thinks of this past life day to day, in the most miserable place of all, Hell; this being a most superb punishment in of itself.

Dante\'s Inferno: Cantos 11-15

“In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost” (The Divine Comedy).

            During cantos 11-15 Dante’s Character and Virgil begin their journey into the depths of lower hell.  Here they come across many different sorts of sinners, but all having one thing in common: their lives can be summed up by the quote above from The Divine Comedy, along their respective journeys through life they came to a “dark wood,” and that “dark wood” caused them to loose the “straight way” through life to heaven.

            “Have you forgotten that your Ethics states the three main dispositions of the soul that lead to those offences Heaven hates- incontinence, malice, and bestiality” (107)?  Here Virgil restates the three major offenses that lead people to the “dark wood” in life, incontinence, malice, and bestiality.  When any of these three offenses are committed by one during their journey of life, they can be sure of finding a “dark wood” ahead.  Committing any of these offenses removes the divine light of God from one’s life, and subsequently causes one to loose the “straight way” through life.  This “straight way” becomes exchanged with rather a twisted one, leading straight to the depths of despair.

            “Then, unjustly blamed, my soul, in scorn, and think to be free of scorn in death, made me at last, though just, unjust to myself” (121).  The wood of the suicides, an area of Hell designated and well named for the people it contains.  Souls existing here, in life were troubled people, troubled such as the soul the reciting the quote above.  They were people who had reached a “dark wood” in their lives, whether it be their own doing or a simple misunderstanding.  Upon reaching this “dark wood,” these people lost sight of their lives and light of God; they lost the “straight way”.  The only just way to complete life, in the eyes of these people lost in the “dark wood”, was to be unjust to themselves, and in attempting to escape this “dark wood,” they ironically ended up being permanently part of a dark wood, the wood of suicides.

            “Then [Virgil] turned to me more gently.  ‘That,’ he said, ‘was one of the Seven who laid siege to Thebes.  Living, he scorned God, and among the dead he scorns Him yet’” (130).  Blasphemers, like the man described above by Virgil, are people who are violent against God.  In the eyes of a Christian, Blasphemers live a dark trouble life, a life spent in the “dark wood.”  In this “dark wood” people tend to loose the “straight way,” the “straight way” for a Blasphemer being his view of God.

Dante's Inferno: Cantos 6-10

“O human race born to fly upward, wherefore at a little wind dost thou fall.”

In the sixth canto of The Inferno, Dante’s character finds himself in the third circle of hell.  Here lie the Gluttons, people who made no use of their lives, their gifts from God.  The Gluttons are people who lived a life lurching in food and drinking to their consent, only producing garbage and filth.  “Your citizens nicknamed me Ciacco, The Hog: gluttony was my offense, and for it I lie here rotting like a swollen log.”(67)  The human race is born to fly upwards to heaven, but with even a slight offense such as gluttony, a wind interfering with one’s path, thou dost fall straight to Hell.  The Gluttons could have easily made it to the heavens if they would have kept their focus in life, but along their journey they became preoccupied, and let the wind take them on a passage straight to Hell.

In canto seven Dante’s character stumbles upon the fourth circle of Hell, a circle filled with hoarders and wasters, fitting an eternal battle with one another.  In life these people knew no moderation, they either kept or wasted everything, and there was no responsibility.  “Here, too, I saw a nation of lost souls, far more than were above: they strained their chests against enormous weights, and with mad howls rolled them at one another.  Then in haste they rolled them back, one party shouting out: ‘Why do you hoard?’ and the other: ‘Why do you waste?’”(73)  These people completely lost their focus in life; they were either too preoccupied with hoarding, or so irresponsible that they wasted everything.  They let their respective “winds” take hold of their lives and drag them straight to Hell. 

Later in the seventh canto, Dante’s character comes across the Sullen, souls eternally engulfed in the stinking waters of the Marsh of Styx.  The Sullen were people in life who refused to welcome the light of God and are now stuck in the murky waters of the Styx, singing an endless song.   “‘Sullen were we in the air made by the Sun; in the glory of his shining our hearts poured with a bitter smoke.  Sullen were we begun…’”(76)  This quote from The Inferno explains the offense of the Sullen; they started as normal humans created by the Sun (God), but during their creation, unlike other humans, their hearts poured with bitter smoke.  They refused to accept the light of God, their creator, and therefore will never fly upward to the heavens.  Instead they let there lives be controlled by the smoke in their hearts, a wind swirling in their bodies that led them to the denouncement of the light of God.  This same wind took them on a one way trip to Hell. 

Dante's Inferno: Cantos 1-5 Rewrite

“Consider your origin; you were not born to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.”

At the very beginning of The Inferno, Dante’s character finds himself before Virgil, his unsuspected guide through Hell to find God.  Dante’s character is unsure of himself and doesn’t believe that he is worthy of Virgil’s guidance through Hell.  Eventually, through the encouragement of Virgil, he does indeed set forth on his journey through Hell.  “‘…you follow me and I will be your guide and lead you forth through an eternal place.’”(31)  This instance relates to the quote from The Divine Comedy in that here Virgil can be seen as a symbol for virtue and knowledge, which Dante’s character is imminently following.  Virgil elucidates to Dante’s character of the knowledge of God, shows him not the path of the brute, but rather the path of virtue and knowledge.

Later in the first five cantos of The Inferno, there comes a point in time when Dante’s character comes across a group of people in Hell who don’t seem quite to fit; people such as the famous Greek poet Homer. 

“‘You do not question what souls these are that suffer here before you?  I wish you to know before you travel on that these were sinless.  And still their merits fail for they lacked Baptism’s grace, which is the door of the true faith you were born to.  Their birth fell before the age of Christian mysteries, and so they did not worship God’s Trinity in the fullest duty.  I am one of these.’”(50)

As explained here by Virgil, these people that don’t necessarily seem to fit in Hell, are placed in Hell, because they are not truly Christian.  This quote connects to the quote from The Divine Comedy in that the word brutes, as used by Dante, describes people who don’t celebrate Christianity.  These people are eschewed, imprecated by God for not living a life of virtue and knowledge as a Christian, but rather living life as a brute, an un-baptized individual.

In the fifth canto of The Inferno, Dante’s character finds himself in the second circle of Hell, a circle filled with people sentenced to the punishments of Hell on for living a life driven by love.  People such as Helen and Cleopatra are found in this second circle of Hell.  “‘Watch them.  When next they pass, call to them in the name of love that drives and damns them here.  In that name they will pause.’”(60)  This connects to the quote from The Divine Comedy in that the people in the second circle of Hell are also seen by Dante as brutes; they are careless and let their lives be driven only by love, not by knowledge, virtue, and the light of God.  The type of brute described here does not follow the life of a Christian, instead doing only what he or she loves, living an ebullient life, without a care for anything else. 

Dante Alighieri

Youth:

1. Born in 1265
2. Mother died
3. Orphaned during childhood

Middle Years:

1. Spoke in the Council of Hundred
2. Crowned one of the six supreme magistrates following the war between the “blacks” and the “whites”
3. Dante’s political career began
4. Began to get in trouble with the law and went into exile

Older Years:

1. Studied at Oxford and Paris
2. Began his true philosophizing
3. Began to formulate his solution to the evils
4. Comprised his expression of the trinity

a)      Inferno: the power of the father

b)      Purgatory: wisdom of the son

c)      Paradise: love of the holy spirit

5. Dante became ill and his death followed

Dante's Inferno: Cantos 1-5

“Consider your origin; you were not born to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.”

    At the beginning of the Inferno, Dante’s character is seen trapped in a place with two choices, one choice leading him to a fight resulting in sure death with a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf, the other way leading him on an onerous journey through Hell, escorted by Virgil.  He is faced with a choice, to follow the path of the brute and to rage against the leopard, the lion, and the she-wolf, but at a sure loss, or to follow the path of virtue and knowledge, lead by a man no more fitting than Virgil.  Dante’s character considers his choices: the choice to ignore Virgil’s word, to deny his existence, and to fight the three evil beasts, or the choice to follow Virgil on a true adventure of virtue and wisdom.  Obviously we know which choice to be imminent.

    Later, during the first five cantos of the Inferno, there comes a point in time when Dante’s character comes across a group of people in Hell who don’t seem quite to fit; people such as the famous Greek poet Homer, and even Virgil himself.  Dante’s character later finds out that these people, people like Virgil, are simply in Hell, because Christianity had not yet stumbled across; there was no way for them to live an honorable life for there was no Christianity.  In this sense, the word brutes in the quote above can be seen as people who didn’t celebrate Christianity for there was no Christianity to celebrate; these people are eschewed, imprecated by God without even being given the chance to live an “honorable” life.  And without Christianity, these “brutes” had no way of following a life of virtue and knowledge.

    Even later in the first five cantos Dante’s character comes across people sentenced to the punishments of Hell on the accounts of them simply loving others.  People such as Helen and Cleopatra are found in this second circle of Hell.  These people can also be seen as brutes in the sense that they did not think before they acted.  Helen started one of the most epic wars in all of history over the love for another man, without a care for the consequences, and therefore she belongs in the second circle of Hell.  The type of brute seen here does not account for others, instead only doing what her or she loves, living an ebullient life, without a care for knowledge or virtue.

 
Dante Alighieri

Youth:

1. Born in 1265
2. Mother died
3. Orphaned during childhood

Middle Years:

1. Spoke in the Council of Hundred
2. Crowned one of the six supreme magistrates following the war between the “blacks” and the “whites”
3. Began to get in trouble with the law and went into exile

Older Years:

1. Studied at Oxford and Paris
2. Began his true philosophizing
3. Began to formulate his solution to the evils
4. Comprised his expression of the trinity

a)      Inferno: the power of the father

b)      Purgatory: wisdom of the son

c)      Paradise: love of the holy spirit

Seperation of Church and State

Question(s):  Will the American government come to a place where a balance can be forged between religion and the state (or are we already there)?  How do you see the role of religion in the civil affairs of government in the United States?
 
            The separation of church and state has and always will be a debated topic.  In my opinion, church should be separated from state as best as possible, because inevitably different people celebrate different religions, and it would be unfair to have a state based on the ideals of one religion.  It is also impossible to have a state based on the ideals of all religions, for obvious reasons, and therefore, the only solution to appease all is to separate church from state.  This should work in theory, but in practice it is nearly impossible to achieve.
          American was founded upon the idea of separating church from state, but realistically I feel that this will never be totally achieved.  It will never be achieved, because the ideals of a state will always reflect the ideals of the current officials, and the ideals of those officials will be formed, at least in part, by their respective religious beliefs.  Therefore, state will always be affected be church, even if it may be indirectly.  It is nearly impossible to separate church from state, and religious connections can still be seen in our state to this day.  For instance, the most famed, the mentioning of God (capital G) in the Pledge of Allegiance.
            In addition to all this, many of our countries ideals, whether we agree with it or not, are based upon Christian beliefs.  For instance, some Asian religions celebrate polygamy, and encourage men to have more than one wife, but a man having more than one wife in America is considered unmoral and illegal.  It is possible to have your religious rights controlled by laws made by the state, even though church and state are supposed to be separated.  Even though many establishments have chosen to draw a line between church and state, it is unavoidable that their paths cross at least somewhere or another.

Leadership

Question(s): How do you truly know when someone is competent to lead? How do you define a great leader in terms of the qualities that he or she exhibits? Use examples from "The Iliad" to support your arguments.

    Being the leader of any administration or organization is a tough job, and should be a tough job.  This position should be filled by knowledgable people who know not only how to lead an organization and fill a place of leadership, but also know at least a little about what they are leading.  In the case of Harriet Miers, and FEMA director Browne, this is obviously not true.  Harriet Miers, appointed to be Supreme Court Judge, has never even been a judge in her life.  Browne, the ex-director of FEMA, knows absolutely nothing about post-disaster recovery, which is exactly what FEMA is designed to deal with.  It is clear, that these two "leaders" are definitly not fit for there respective jobs.  So, from this comes the question: how does one truely know is someone is competent to lead?
    Someone fit to be a leader has to know the people he or she is, and their lives, from a first hand sort of experience.  The leader of FEMA should be someone who has worked with FEMA for years, someone that knows the organization, and what it is about.  A leader should work his way up in the ranks of an organization, before he or she can even be considered to be a leader.  A good leader is not just someone who is friends with George Bush.  People who work there way up the ranks of an organization prior to becoming its leader will know how the company works from the ground level up. 
    Agamemnon, Achilles, Odysseus, and other of the major Greek Kings are all good leaders to some extent.  They all fight with the troops, live with their troops, know their troops, and how to deal with them.  They all know their "organization" from the ground up, and the only way that they are distinguished from their fellow "employees" is that they are the ones calling the shots.   Even though they are the ones making the decisions, they still fight side by side with their troops, they are one with their troops, and for that reason, they are all good leaders (at least to some extent).