Week Four: Cantos 16 - 20



For the purposes of this discussion, we will follow the structure of Baylor's 100 Days of Dante to frame our discussion. Feel free to use whatever translation you have access to (more is better) to follow along with the poem.

Fourth Five Cantos: 16 - 20


The questions this week are adapted from the 100 days of Dante, Bishop Barron, and my own reading

I am linking here to a web resource for a conversational version of the text.

Some Prompts:

1) When we see class rank (nobility -- Rusticucci, Guido Guerra, Aldobrandi) come up in the 16th canto, what is Dante doing here? In what ways does noble standing matter to Dante even here in hell? How has hell changed it? Is it revealed in any new light? Quote from the 16th canto below: 
My teacher listened to their cries, turned his face towards me, and said: ‘Wait, now: courtesy is owed them, and if there were not this fire, that the place’s nature rains down, I would say that you were more hasty than them.’
2) In what ways is Dante misled by focusing on the fortunes of Florence? In what ways are these individuals a warning?

3) What is going on with the usurers in Canto 17? Would it make a difference if some of Dante's own family is involved with banking? He goes over and looks and doesn't notice his own family, who does he see and what is implied?

4) How is usury a crime against nature? By what process does nature reproduce, and what is the artificial path that reproduction takes here in usury? What does this mean for our contemporary world? Is nature relevant to what we consider to be important, or is it all artificial? Is there something to be learned here about orienting everything to God? Can our contemporary world be reconciled with this notion? 

5) What is fraud marked by such a sharp descent? What would happen if Dante tried to turn back now? What relationship does a poet have with the notion of fraud?

6) How does a brother and sister relationship turning into opportunism mark a type of fraud? Is this a good transition into understanding what fraud will be for the rest of the 8th circle? How is pimping different than lust?

7) Does Dante add much to the discussion of Simony here? How important is it to relate all of this back to the story of Simon Magnus from Acts 8: 9-25: 
"When Simon saw that the Spirit was conferred by the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me this power too, so that anyone upon whom I lay my hands may receive the holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your money perish with you, because you thought that you could buy the gift of God with money. You have no share or lot in this matter, for your heart is not upright before God. Repent of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your intention may be forgiven." verses18-22
8) What is the role of Florence here in explaining civic virtue? Florence is all about politics, specifically factions. Dante also talks about the church and empire. These also have factions and strategy. In what ways does Hell reflect broken civic virtues? What are the "politics" of Hell? In what way do we think that this will differ from later discussions in purgatory and paradise? Will those Cantos have lessons about the civic life, or is the focus on these topics evidence of damnation? 



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