Dante Test - Inferno 1-19, 23, 34

Where does Dante's journey in the Inferno begin?

The Dark Wood of Error

What does the Dark Wood of Error symbolize?

worldliness

What are the three beasts?

Leopard

Lion

She-Wolf

What does the leopard symbolize?

malice and fraud

What does the lion symbolize?

violence and ambition

What does the she-wolf symbolize?

incontinence

What is Virgil a personification of?

Human Reason

What is Beatrice a personification of?

Divine Love

Why must Virgil lead Dante to Beatrice?

Dante cannot come to Divine Love unaided; Reason must be his guide

Who sent whom to save Dante?

Virgin Mary sent Lucy and Rachel

Lucy and Rachel sent Beatrice

Beatrice sent Virgil

What is the Virgin Mary a personification of?

Compassion

What is Saint Lucy a personification of?

Divine Light

What is Rachel a personification of?

The Contemplative Life

Who is being punished in the first vestibule of Hell?

The Opportunists

Those in life who were neither good nor bad, but were only for themselves

The Outcasts who refused to take sides in the War of the Angels

What is the punishment in Hell for the Opportunists?

They eternally chase around a banner in the darkness while continually being stung by hornets and wasps

What is the Law of Dante's Hell?

Symbolic Retribution

as they sinned, so are they punished

Who is present among the Opportunists in the Vestibule of Hell?

Pope Celestine V

The first of the rivers in Hell

Acheron

Ferries souls from the Vestibule of Hell over to Hell proper for their eternal punishment

Charon

Who resides in Limbo?

The Virtuous Pagans

What is the punishment of the souls in Limbo?

Their only pain is that they have no hope

Who are the five greatest poets of all time who welcome Dante as the sixth?

Homer

Horace

Ovid

Lucan

Virgil

Where do the Master Souls of pagan antiquity reside within Limbo?

The Citadel of Human Reason

When do Virgil and Dante eventually emerge from Hell?

Dawn on Easter Sunday

What is the Second Circle of Hell?

the place where Hell Proper begins

Who guards the Second Circle of Hell?

Minos

What is the job of Minos?

He assigns to each damned soul their place in Hell for their eternal torment

What souls are punished in the Second Circle of Hell?

The Carnal

What is the punishment of the Carnal?

They are swept up forever in a wind storm/tempest

Who are some of the souls of the Carnal?

Cleopatra

Dido

Helen of Troy

Achilles

Paris

Tristan

Paolo and Francesca

What souls are punished in the Third Circle of Hell?

The Gluttons

What is the punishment of the Gluttons?

They lie forever swollen and miserable in a slushy paste of putrid sludge falling from the sky while Cerberus tears into their flesh

Who are some of the souls of the Gluttons?

Ciacco the Hog from Florence

Who is waiting at the beginning of the Fourth Circle?

Plutus, who menaces the Poets

He chants "Papa Satan, Papa Satan, Aleppy"

What souls are punished in the Fourth Circle?

The Hoarders and the Wasters

What is the punishment of the Hoarders/Wasters?

The Hoarders are on one side and the Wasters are on the other side and their push great boulders towards each other as they scream, and then separate, and then do it over and over and over again

Who are some of the souls of the Hoarders/Wasters?

Dante does not recognize any among them

What souls are punished in Circle Five?

The Wrathful and the Sullen

What is the punishment of the Wrathful and the Sullen?

the Wrathful are in the Marsh of Styx attacking one another

The Sullen are entombed under the mud of the Marsh of Styx --- the bubbles coming up to the surface are evidence of their presence

Who is the boatman of Styx?

Phlegyas

Virgil calms him down and convinces him to give them passage

Who are some of the souls of the Wrathful?

Philippo Argenti - he arises from the Marsh of Styx and tries to pull Dante in. Dante berates him, causing him to be torn apart by the other souls and invoking the praise of Virgil for his chastisement of such a sinner

What can Dante and Virgil see from across the Marsh of Styx?

The Tower of Dis

What is Dis?

the Capital of Hell

What does Dis stand in between?

Upper and Lower Hell

Who guards the Gate of Dis?

Rebellious Angels

they refuse to let the Poets pass

even Virgil is powerless against them

How does Virgil overpower the Rebellious Angels at the Gate of Dis?

He sends up a prayer and waits for a Heavenly Messenger

The Messenger eventually appears super casually and just touches the Gate of Dis to make it fly open

What happens while the Poets are waiting for Divine Aid?

Three furies appear and threaten to summon Medusa

What sinners are being punished in Circle Six?

The Heretics

How are the Heretics punished?

Tombs are scattered across a vast cemetery encircled in flames and the wailing Heretics can be heard from within the tombs

They know that after the Second Coming, the tombs will be sealed forever (right now the lids are off)

What kinds of heresies are the Heretics in Circle Six guilty of?

For Dante, these are particularly the souls who denied the immortality of the soul! How ironic...

Who are some of the souls of the Heretics?

Farinata degli Uberti = Ghibelline war hero from Tuscany

Cavalcante dei Cavalcanti = father of Guido Cavalcanti, a contemporary poet

Pope Anastasius

What is memory and knowledge like for the damned souls?

They can see the future but they are unaware of the present

Why do Dante and Virgil hesitate before entering the Seventh Circle?

the stench is so bad that they wait until they can grow accustomed to it

What souls lie in Round One of Circle Seven?

The Violent against Neighbors

What is the punishment of the Violent Against Neighbors?

They are boiled in a river of blood and are shot by Centaurs wielding arrows if they pop out of the river

Who guards the beginning of Circle Seven?

a Minotaur

Who are some of the souls of the Violent Against Neighbors?

Alexander the Great

Attila the Scourge of God

What happens between the Poets and the Centaurs?

The Centaurs give the Poets a hard time but Chiron, the chief of the Centaurs, assigns Nessus to guide them across the River of Blood (he carries them across)

What souls lie in Round Two of Circle Seven?

The Violent Against Themselves

What is the punishment of the Violent Against Themselves?

The souls of the Suicides are encased in thorny trees whose leaves are eaten by Harpies

The trees bleed when the Harpies wound them

The tree-souls are only able to speak when they are bleeding

They reside in the Wood of the Suicides

Who are some of the souls in the Wood of the Suicides?

Pier delle Vigne

Unknown Florentine Suicide (in a bush trampled by the hounds)

Who else appears in the Wood of the Suicides?

Jacomo da Sant'Andrea

Lano da Siena

(two Squanderers who are chased around by a pack of hounds)

What souls reside in Round Three of Circle Seven?

The Violent Against God, Nature, and Art

(Blasphemers, Sodomites, Usurers)

What is the punishment for the souls who are Violent Against God, Nature, and Art?

These sinners are punished to varying degrees by residing on burning hot sand while they are rained on with fire

Blasphemers = stretched out on the sand

Sodomites = run around in endless circles on the sand

Usurers = huddle on the sands

Who are some of the souls punished here?

Capaneus = the chief sinner here, still blaspheming God

Brunetto Latini = one of Dante's teachers in life; he was a Sodomite

Three Florentine Politicians whom Dante admired in life: Jacopo Rusticucci, Guido Guerra, Tegghiaio Aldobrandi

What is at the edge of Circle Seven?

A Great Cliff with a waterfall plunging down to Circle Eight of Hell

How do Dante and Virgil descend to Circle Eight?

Dante drops his cord from around his waist over the abyss and a monster, Geryon, comes up in response to give them a ride down

What does Geryon represent?

Geryon is the monster of Fraud

What is Circle Eight of Hell called?

Malebolge

What sinners are punished in Malebolge?

The Fraudulent and Malicious

What sinners are punished in Bolgia One of Circle Eight?

The Panderers and Seducers

How are the Panderers and Seducers punished?

They stand in filed lines while demons with pitchfork prod them to keep speed-walking around

Who are some of the souls of the Panderers and Seducers?

Venedico Caccianemico

Jason

What souls are being punished in Bolgia Two of Circle Eight?

The Flatterers

How are the Flatterers punished?

They are sunk in excrement

Who are some of the souls of the Flatterers?

Alessio Interminelli

Thais

What souls are being punished in Bolgia Three of Circle Eight?

The Simoniacs

How are the Simoniacs punished?

They are turned upside down in tubelike structures beneath the ground one on top of the other, head to toe with the soles of their feet ablaze

Who are some of the souls of the Simoniacs?

Pope Nicholas III , the chief sinner of the place

(skip ahead to Canto XXIII)

What souls are punished in the 6th Bolgia?

The Hypocrites

How are the Hypocrites punished?

walk around eternally while being weighed down by great leaden robes

the robes are shaped like monk's habits

Who are some of the souls of the Hypocrites?

Caiaphas

Two Jovial Friars

How is Caiaphas punished?

He is crucified to the floors of Hell itself by three great stakes and every passing sinner must walk upon him (he must suffer upon his body the weight of the world's hypocrisy in the same way that Christ had to suffer in his body the weight of the entire world's sin)

What do Virgil and Dante discover in the 6th Bolgia?

Malacoda lied to them about the bridges over the 6th Bolgia

(skip ahead to Canto XXXIV)

What does Virgil say to Dante as they enter the very last depth of Hell?

"On march the banners of the king of Hell."

Where is Satan?

In Cocytus, the Ninth Circle and Round Four of Judecca

the very abyss of Hell itself

Where does the wind in Cocytus come from?

Satan's wings beating like a giant windmill

What sinners are being punished here?

the Treacherous to their Masters

What is the punishment of the Treacherous to their Masters?

they lie completely sealed in ice in twisted and distorted positions. It is impossible to speak to them

What does Satan look like?

a giant bat

he has three faces to mock the Trinity

Who is Satan gnawing on in each of his three mouths?

Judas Iscariot

Brutus

Cassius

How do Virgil and Dante climb out of Hell?

They grab fistfulls of Satan's fur and climb down his giant belly and flanks

they pass the center of all gravity and emerge on the other side of the earth from where they entered

What river do Dante and Virgil follow on their way out of Hell?

Lethe

When do they emerge from Hell?

Dawn on Easter Sunday