Week Two: Cantos 6 - 10

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.

Second Five Cantos (6 - 10)

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) What do we take from the use of classical reference to guard dog Cerberus? What type of torment is this for those in the pit and how is it fitting? Why is it that Cerberus is quieted here? Let's compare this to the classical reference to Cerberus in Virgil's writing (description below). What is Dante doing here by changing the honey-cake for the slop on the ground of this circle? 
When Aeneas visited the Underworld, he had some more than necessary help from the Sybil of Cumae, who threw Cerberus a honey-cake, spiced with few “drowsy essences.” Cerberus ate it and fell asleep in no time. The expression “a sop for Cerberus” originates in this story: it means quieting an uncooperative person by giving him a bribe.
Source: https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Creatures/Cerberus/cerberus.html

2) Why are people punished in hell the way that they are? At some point in the poem Dante mentions the contrapasso, the idea that punishment fits the crime in a sort of equal and opposite way. This would have reflected the way that punishment was understood at the Dante's time. Is there anything more complex going on here? Back in Canto 3, we are told that souls are impatient to get to their place in hell. In what way are sins seen differently by the sinner themselves as compared to how they are seen by the observer? Is it punishment or is it giving the sinner exactly what they want, albeit without the pretense that they put on it? 

3) The sin of greed is portrayed here in an unconventional way. We see those that accumulate and those that squander, both are excesses, but are both greed? What is Dante saying here about our own judgement about what is appropriate? Can we invoke an Aristotelean mean here, or is something more complex going on? Why does Dante the poet direct our attention to the fact that there are so many tonsured people here? 

4) We get to Styx, which is a swamp. What is going on here? What kind of punishment is this? Why are we told that these people failed to enjoy the sweet air and sunshine in their life and are now in this place here? 

5) What is going on with Dante's desire to see Argenti punished here? Is Dante taking on the characteristics of each circle of hell as he passes through them? Does sin have this sort of gravity that it mutates what is around it? Why does Virgil call this praiseworthy? What kind of justice is represented by hell? What is God's righteous vendetta in hell? 

6) What is going on with the gates of Dis? Why can Virgil not get pass this point? In the Aeneid, Virgil did not take his story into lower hell. At this point we have to think about the geography of hell and what we have already been through. What is the difference between those in hell but outside the gate and those in hell that are further on and inside the gate? Are sins ranked? If they are ranked, how?

7)  There is a reference to Matthew 27:51 here that discusses the veil being lifted. In the gospel Matthew describes the veil of the temple being ripped, removed, and the truth of the word of God is revealed. Dante wants us to look at the classical texts the same way that we would see truth in the Old Testament, being fulfilled in Christ. What would that mean here? Why Medusa as a representation of the problem of using classic texts? How does Dante use all this drama at the gates of Dis to really drive home the complexities of struggling with revelation? 

8) What is Heresy here in Canto 10? Why does Epicureanism get such a special treatment? Why might these great leaders be in tombs attached to all their followers? How can people in hell still be proud and seem to be disdainful of their punishment? 

9) If Dante is struggling with the guilt of having participated in the exile of his friend Cavalcante, how do we see it here? When his father asks about him, why is Dante silent? How might Dante's guilt here give us some insight into what is going on in this circle of hell? How might patriotism and filial love get distorted? What does that have to do with Dante's own story of exile that is part of the underlying motivation for this poem? 

 

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