Let's dive right into the text, shall we?
Canto XVIII takes us into the eighth circle of Hell. Remember all those sections and rings of the seventh circle? Well, the eighth has pouches. The eighth's nickname is Malebolge, which essentially means evil pouches. Sounds fun, right? Virgil leads Dante to the leftmost side of the circle and Dante views the sinners on the right. These sinners are naked and marching in a long line where they are whipped on every side by demons with horns. Dante locks eyes with one of the sinners and realizes he knows him. The sinner tries to hide his face, but Dante knows it's Venedico Caccianemico. Dante, without being subtle, asks him why he's in Hell. Venedico says he pandered his sister, Ghisolabella, into doing sexual favors. Yes, pandering means pimping back in the day. Venedico says that he's not the only Bolognese guy in Hell. At this point, a demon hits Venedico on the head, pretty much saying, "Shut up." Dante and Virgil start walking again. The sinners marching, being tormented by demons, starts walking in the same direction as Dante and Virgil. Virgil says, "Hey, Dante. Look there. It's Jason of the Argonauts." What? What is Jason doing in Hell? Well, Virgil explains, Jason, being the dashing man he is, impregnated Hypsipyle of Lemnos, and left her pregnant so he could go steal the Golden Fleece. After this chipper tale, the two cross a bridge into the second pouch (remember, we're in the evil pouches), where flatterers are submerged in a ditch full of bodily wastes. These sinners scream and fight amongst themselves. They're so disgusting that their moans turn into mold that grows on their bodies. Dante and Virgil are watching the sinners from a bridge, and Dante, again, thinks he recognizes someone. This sinner yells at him, asking why he's singled him out. Dante says that he knows him as Alessio Interminei of Lucca. Alessio hits himself repeatedly over the head, and says that he's in Hell because he's a flatterer. Virgil says, "Hey, Dante. Look over there, this time. It's Thais." Thais was a courtesan (prostitute), who gave excessive thanks to her lover for sex. Virgil and Dante decide it's time to move on.
Canto XIX starts with Dante going on a tirade about simonists. Simonists are clerics who sell absolution for money. Chaucer will talk about this in The Canterbury Tales, as well. Dante says these sinners fornicate for gold and silver. Pretty heavy accusations. Now, Dante and Virgil are in the third pouch. That's where the simonists are. What's their punishment? They are buried upside-down in holes where their feet stick out. Their feet are burnt by flames. What does this mean for the simonists? Eternal suffocation. Dante sees that one sinner is exposed to redder flames than any other sinner. Dante asks Virgil why. Virgil, doing his not-answering bit, suggests they go find out. At the feet of the sinner, Dante asks to name himself. Dante, imagine, is now taking on the role of a friar at the confession. Ironically (comically?), the sinner mistakes Dante for his successor in simony, Pope Boniface VIII, coming to take his place in Hell. He obviously can't see Dante, so this makes sense. Virgil orders Dante to tell the man (Nicholas), that he isn't Boniface. Pope Nicholas changes his tune and, being annoyed, asks what they want from him. He goes into a story about how he was a great pope, but he used simony to try and get more money for his family. He explains that for simonists, that once their successor shows up in Hell, they drop farther into the rock they're buried in, making the whole third pouch bedrock buried simonists. Pope Nicholas says that following Pope Boniface, there will be an even worse Pope on the way, Pope Clement V. Dante is tired of this talk and eventually says that Nicholas had what was coming for him. Dante goes on a diatribe about how Rome, the papal seat, is like a whore who has sex with kings for money. Popes are idolaters, and he even says Constantine funded the Church after his conversion to Christianity. Virgil is proud of Dante's anger and carries him across the bridge to the fourth pouch. They walk across the steep valley.
Canto XX has Dante looking at a group of sinners walking very slowly, as if in a procession. Upon further inspection, Dante sees that these sinners have their heads turned backwards on their shoulders so they must walk backwards (since they can't see in front of them). Gross. Dante is appalled by what he sees and has tears in his eyes. Virgil gets mad. Dante shouldn't have pity for these sinners. Virgil tells him to look at the sinners. There's Amphiaraus, a king who saw his defeat and tried to hide; there's Tiresias (remember him??), who changed himself from a man to a woman then back to a man; Aruns, who foretold of Caesar's victory; and a witch named Manto, which Mantua--Virgil's hometown--is named after. As you might have guessed, Dante wants to know who some more sinners are. Virgil shows him Calchas (from the Aeneid), Michael Scot and Guido Bonatti who are both atrologers, and Asdente who was a shoemaker/soothsayer. Virgil says it's time to move on because the moon is getting low on the horizon.
Canto XXI takes us into the fifth pouch. It's rather dark here. As Dante is trying to gather himself in the darkness, Virgil tells him to be careful. Dante turns around and almost faints at the sight of a black demon running towards them. The demon doesn't really care about Dante or Virgil because he has a sinner thrown over his shoulder. Dante tells us that this sinner is a barrator, or a corrupt politician from Lucca. The demon proceeds to throw the sinner into a boiling river and calls his demon friends, or Evil-Claws (Malebranche), to come join. They congregate around the sinner and poke and push him under the water with pitchforks and hooks. Virgil tells Dante to keep down so the demons don't see them. That's great advice, but Virgil doesn't listen to himself. He goes up to the demons and tells them to put their weapons down. Seriously, Virgil? Smart move. The demons laugh at him. The leader, Malacoda or Evil-Tail, asks why a living dude is down in Hell. Virgil says, "Because God wills it." Evil-Tail thinks that's a good reason and says he won't mess with Dante. Virgil tells Dante to come over. One demon says they should stab Dante in the butt with a pitchfork. They all laugh, but Malacoda says they better not do that. He then tells Virgil they can't keep walking the way they're going because the bridge is broken. He volunteers ten of his demon minions (is that repetitive?) to accompany them to the next bridge that is intact, as long as they keep torturing sinners along the way. Dante doesn't trust anyone but Virgil, and he doesn't want to die at the hands of these demons. Virgil tries to comfort Dante, saying that the demons are only evil toward the sinners. As they walk, the demons think it would be funny to fart. Maybe that's the only kind of humor demons enjoy.
Canto XXII starts with Dante not really enjoying the demons' flatulence. I bet it smells awful. They keep walking. Dante stares and looks for more sinners. One of the demons, Grafficane, catches a sinner. He tells Rubicante, another demon, to put his claws into the sinner. Dante tells Virgil to stop by asking the sinner some questions. Virgil asks the sinner where he was born. The sinner says that he was born in Northern Spain. He gives more background information, but never his name. Virgil gets the information he wanted and watches as another demon, Ciriatto, rips the sinner open. Barbariccia, the farting demon, wants Virgil to keep questioning the sinner. Virgil asks if he has any Italian friends in Hell. He says yes and points to one, wishing that he was not in the situation he is in. The demons are frenzied at this point and start ripping at the sinner's flesh. Barbariccia tells them to stop. Virgil asks who the Italian is. The sinner says it's Fra Gomita, a clergyman. Fra Gomita always managed to take gold from the people he worked for. He's a swindler like his friend Don Michele Zanche. The nameless sinner is so freaked out by the demons that he says he'll get him friends out of the pitch if they show him mercy. As the demons are laughing, the sinner escapes. This obviously doesn't make the demons happy. While they're arguing amongst themselves, Dante and Virgil sneak away.
Canto XXIII starts with our two pilgrims running away from the demons. Dante is so scared that his hair literally curls up. Dante tells Virgil that they should hide because he hears demons coming. Virgil thinks that's a pretty good idea. The demons are getting pretty close, so in a hurry, Virgil picks Dante up and they run to the edge of a cliff. They slide down the cliff. Just as they get to the bottom, the demons scream because they can't cross the border into the next pouch. Dante and Virgil find the next group of sinners. These guys are walking around in circles and dressed in gold cloaks. The cloaks are heavy because they're lined on the inside with lead. A sinner recognizes Dante's accent and tells them to stop. Dante and Virgil join the circle and talk to the two men who are wondering why a live guy is in Hell. Dante asks who they are and why they have this punishment. They tell Dante they are hypocrites. Dante is about to tell them off, but he sees something is crucified. It's a naked sinner crucified to the ground. Dante is told that the crucified man is Caiaphas, a priest who came up with the idea to crucify Jesus. Caiaphas's family is also affected by his punishment. Virgil asks the guys if there's a way another bridge close by. Virgil finds out the demons lied because the bridge is broken but there's enough debris they can still cross. The guys are astonished that they actually trusted demons because they're liars. Virgil leaves in a huff with Dante at his heels.
Canto XXIV begins with Virgil telling Dante to keep moving down the rocky bank. Dante tells us that if Virgil wasn't there he would have given up a long time ago. Dante keeps chatting and a voice from the next pouch answers him. It's too dark for Dante to see who's talking to him. They cross the bridge to try and find him. They get to a valley filled with snakes. With these snakes are sinners. The snakes are a little possessed and do things like tie themselves around the sinners. As soon as the sinners are bitten by the snakes they turn into piles of ash, but only for a moment, because they re-form. Virgil asks a sinner who recently turned back from ash who he is. The sinner says he is Vanni Fucci and he's from Pistoia. Dante tells Virgil he knew who Vanni was and that he should actually be in the fifth circle. Vanni says that he was a thief; he stole from a church. Vanni then talks about the future of Florence and Dante's exile because his political party will fall.
Canto XXV starts with Vanni finishing his rant then makes a blasphemous gesture towards God. Dante isn't too happy with him. Just then, snakes come and wrap around Vanni so he can't move. A centaur comes by covered in snakes, too. Virgil tells us that his is Cacus. Cacus stole cattle from Hercules and Hercules punished him by beating him to death. A voice calls out, "Who are you?" We don't know who this question is directed to. A sinner asks where Ciafna is. Ciafna pops out, but it's not a human. Ciafna is a serpent with six legs. Ciafna starts to devour the sinner who called him. If that isn't weird enough, they begin to meld together. A whole bunch of things happen and Dante goes into detail about how the snakes start attacking sinners.
Canto XXVI takes us to the next pouch (that's eight if you haven't been counting). They have to crawl on their hands and knees to get to the next valley. Dante says that these thieves and counselors should have used their abilities for good. In this pouch, there's a ton of flames. Why? Each flame is a sinner . Dante asks who the double-flame sinner is approaching them. Virgil says it's Ulysses and Diomedes (I know. When I first read it I was a little outraged that they were in Hell). Virgil says that they were responsible for the Trojan horse and pillaging of Athena's temple. Virgil told us this in the Aeneid. Dante wants to talk to them, but Virgil says that he'll do the talking. Virgil asks how they died. Ulysses says that what was covered in the Odyssey doesn't quite tell his whole story. He sailed past Spain and Morocco, which was like the edge of the world. Ulysses makes them keep sailing because no one else had ever sailed that far. They find the Mount of Purgatory. God says this is far enough and sends a whirlwind and everyone dies. The end.
What a good day for learning about Dante's Hell. Next post is summarizing the rest of the text!
Cassy
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