This is the end!
Canto XXVII has Virgil letting Ulysses leave, but he's quickly replaced. This flame is making a strange noise. This new sinner, according to Dante, sounds like a dying bull. This sinner is in a lot of pain, so much that Dante can't understand him. Finally, he gets his words out and he asks Virgil to stay and talk. Virgil tells Dante to talk to this sinner because he's Italian. This sinner talks about the city of Romagna and how it's being pillaged. Dane asks this sinner his name. The sinner was a soldier who repented his sins and became a Franciscan monk. This sinner's name is Guido da Montefeltro. As a young man, the sinner was an all-together bad person: backstabber, liar, cheater, etc. Realizing he was a bad person, he became a friar. Guess who ruined his life though? Pope Boniface. Boniface is fighting with Christian families who oppose him. He tells Guido that if he sides with him, he'll clear all his sins. So the Pope can wage war on innocents because of Guido. When Guido dies, a black demon takes him to Hell. After his story, Guido leaves. Our pilgrims leave as well and cross the bridge into the next pouch.
Canto XXVIII takes us to the ninth pouch. So many pouches! Dante is at a loss for words. Nothing can capture the degree of suffering and all of the "blood and wounds" in the pouch. A sinner comes up to Dante literally ripped to shreds. His body is cut down the middle so his insides are hanging out. Luckily for Dante, the sinner opens his chest for Dante to see. The sinner introduces himself as Mohammed. He gestures to another sinner, whose face is cut in half. His name is Ali and he's responsible for splitting the Muslims into the Sunnis and Shiites. Mohammed says they're all sowers of dissension and they're punished by being cut in half. The sinners walk in circles until they get to a demon with a sword who cuts them in half. They eventually heal then get cut again. Pretty gruesome. Mohammad asks why Dante isn't cut and Virgil says he's alive and on a trip sanctioned by God. That's a big deal to the sinners. Mohammad wants Dante to tell his friend Fra Dolcino to not die of starvation (but he does). Another guy, with his throat cut open, talks to Dante. He is Pier da Medicina. Pier wants a message to be taken to the living world, too. Dante agrees. Another man, Curio, comes to talk to Dante. Curio is the one who convinced Caesar to betray Pompey and invade Rome, which started a civil war. In Hell, Curio's tongue is cut in half so he can't speak. The next guy who talks to Dante is Mosca, who has his hands chopped off. Dante tells him off. The next is the most grotesque sinner yet. This guy is carrying his head like a lantern. He tells Dante to see if he can find anyone in Hell who suffers more than him. He is Bertran de Born, the man who turned Prince Henry against his father, King Henry II. Because he divided a father from his son, Bertran is punished to carry his own head.
Canto XXIX is in the tenth pouch. So many pouches! Dante's pretty upset about seeing all these gross things. Virgil tells Dante to suck is up. Why was Dante crying? He saw a sinner from his own family. Virgil doesn't care; he tells him to forget about it. They walk and talk and at the top of the bridge crossing into the last pouch, they hear a scream. Dante and Virgil keep walking on. They get to the bottom of a bank. Sinners here have a terrible disease. Dante sees two sinners propped against each other. The two sinners are hitting each other with their claws (yeah, claws). Virgil tells the two guys to stop, and asks them if they're Italian. Yes, they're Italian and yes, they want to know who they are. Dante gets the sinners to say who they are. The first one says he's mad at the Bishop of Siena. He was practicing alchemy and got caught. This guy's name is Griffolino. Dante says that his people are so vain. Another sinner agrees with Dante. This guy is Capocchio, who is an alchemist as well. Irony: he's from Sienna, too.
Canto XXX (30!!) starts with Dante giving us some epic similes. Google them. There's a shade who runs over Capocchio and bites him in the neck. Gross. Griffolino says that this is Gianni Schicchi, whose crime is impersonation. In his friend's will, Gianni said he was someone else so he could get a horse. Dante asks about another sinner. She's a princess named Myrrha. She fell in love with her father, impersonated another woman, and slept with him. Gross, gross, gross. Dante lets these guys pass on by and checks out the rest of the sinners. One sinner is contorted into a lute, has the skin of his face rotting off, and is bloated from disease. This guy says he is Master Adam. His punishment is craving water. He counterfeited coins. He wants to find Guido (remember him?) and punish him because apparently it's Guido's fault he's here. Dante doesn't care and ask who the two sinners are that are sitting beside Master Adam. FYI, their bodies are smoking. Master Adam says one is Potiphar's wife--the lady who falsely accused Joseph of raping her--and Sinon of the Greeks. He tricked the Trojans into taking the Trojan horse into their city. They both have a fever which makes their skin smoke. Sinon starts fighting with Master Adam because he's insulted. Virgil breaks things up and warns Dante to stop watching the argument because it's pointless. Dante apologizes. Virgil is always right.
Canto XXXI has Dante and Virgil walking towards the ninth (and last!) circle. Problem: it's dark. Good thing they can hear, right? They can, and hear a bugle. Suddenly, Dante can see. He sees hundreds of towers. He thinks it's a city, but of course, Virgil says, you'll see when we get there. He apparently has a change of heart though, and says that those towers are actually giants trapped in the central pit of Hell. Dante is a little scared about that. They get to the giants and they are, well, giant. They're huge. One speaks gibberish and Virgil tells him to hush. Dante asks who this giant is. Guess what his name is? Nimrod. Nimrod (makes me chuckle) was the king of Babylon. Remember those people? They built the Tower of Babel. This is Nimrod's punishment: he can't speak a language anyone can understand. Makes sense. They come to a giant bigger and scarier than Nimrod. He's retrained by chains. This guy is Ephialtes, who challenged the gods back in the day. Now he's restrained forever. Dante asks when they can see another giant, Briareus. Virgil didn't really listen and says they'll see Anteaus soon and he'll take us to the bottom. He finally answers Dante and says they'll see Briareus soon. They reach Antaeus. Virgil asks them to take them below. He does. They finally get to the last circle.
Canto XXXII has Dante, again, at a loss for words. He and Virgil are really at the bottom of Hell. Dante looks out at the frozen river before them. The ice is super thick. The sinners here are in the ice up to their chins. They keep their heads down and curse the cold. Dante sees two sinners whose hair is tangled together, and he asks who they are. They've been crying, so their tears have frozen their mouths shut. Can't talk, Dante. A sinner says they are the Bisenzio twins, who killed each other because of politics. The speaker says he is Camiscione dei Pazzi, who killed a family member for political power. Walking forward, Dante kicks a sinner in the head. Dante stops to figure out who this guy is. The sinner doesn't really want to talk to Dante. Dante hulks out on the guy and grabs him by the neck. He screams at him, telling him to tell Dante who he is or he'll keep pulling until he pulls out all of his hair. What? Roid-rage, Dante. The sinner doesn't care and Dante makes good on his threat. As the guy is screaming, another sinner tells Bocca to shut up. Now we know his name. Dante trash talks him, then they leave.
Canto XXXIII is ridiculously long. FYI. A sinner, bleeding from the head, begins to talk to Dante. He is Count Ugolino. Right now he's eating Archbishop Ruggieri (yes, eating). Ugolino says that the Archbishop tricked him then killed him. Ugolino was a magistrate of Pisa. He was eventually exiled from Pisa. Ruggieri invites Ugolino back into the city, but then betrays him. Ugolino is locked in a tower for a long time. He's pretty much starved out with his sons. Makes sense why he's eating Ruggieri. Dante and Virgil move on. They pass through another ring. Dante is starting to feel cold and he's going numb. He feels a wind, which is weird. He asks Virgil what's up. Imagine this: Virgil doesn't answer just says, yeah, you'll find out soon. A sinner yells at them. Dante wants the sinner's name and story. Fra Alberigo says that he had his relatives killed at a dinner. This fun place, has the ability to take a soul via demon without the person actually dying. So, Alberigo doesn't know if he's already dead. Antoerh sinner, Branca Doria, is recognized and he's still alive. This means a demon has possessed his earthly body.
Canto XXXIV (finally!) starts with Latin that says, "The banners of the King of Hell draw closer." Sweet. Dante is told to keep his eyes open for Lucifer. The wind is going crazy right now, so Dante uses Virgil as a shield. Virgil announces they're in Dis. Dante tells the reader, "I did not die, and I was not alive." Interesting. He sees Lucifer. He's so ugly. He has three heads--one red, one yellow, one black--and underneath each head there is a pair of huge wings. Source of the wind. Lucifer is crying out of his six eyes. His tears fall into his three mouths. He's eating sinners, by the way. In the middle mouth, there is a sinner there. It's Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus. The man in the black mouth is Brutus, who betrayed Julius Caesar. The last sinner is Cassius, who also betrayed Caesar. Virgil says it's time to go. Guess what? It's hard leaving Hell. Dante jumps on Virgil's back as Virgil jumps onto Lucifer. He rappels down using Lucifer's hairy skin as rope. Nasty. Once they get to the nether-region, Virgil starts going up Lucifer's legs. Dante freaks, but Virgil says, yeah, we're leaving Hell. Virgil takes a breather and sets Dante down for a moment. Dante leans over to look back up Lucifer's torso, but the world has flipped. Instead of seeing Lucifer's chest, he sees his legs. Virgil says, let's go. They start walking. Dante asks what just happened. Virgil says they're no longer in the northern hemisphere. Oh. Right. Medieval people thought Lucifer's body spanned the diameter of the earth. Now you know. Now it's dawn. Dante and Virgil find a cave. They follow a stream back to the surface of the world. They emerge under to see the stars.
That's is, folks. To the pits of Hell and back. Next post is about why teaching this thing is important.
Also, you should read the rest of The Divine Comedy, just so you feel fulfilled.
Cassy
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